#hell house contestant | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

punkshort · 6 months

Text

i'll be home for christmas | part two

Pairing: Joel Miller x f!reader

Summary: Having just caught your fiancé cheating on you, you decide to come back home from the big city to Austin for the month of December to try to figure out your next step. You had no idea you would be getting more than you bargained for with the handsome single dad who built your parents' house.

Chapter Warnings: no outbreak, modern day but Joel is 40, language, fluff, very soft!joel, flirting, kissing, hallmark movie tropes up the wazoo, mentions of infidelity, mentions of divorce, reader's sister is pregnant, hurt/comfort, explicit smut (18+MDNI), (somewhat) unproteced piv sex, angst (but you know there will be a happy ending, this is Hallmark, after all)

WC: 12K

A/N: I am so overwhelmed at the response I received for part one. No contest, it's my most successful story to date, and I can't thank you all enough ❤️ I really hope you enjoy this part just as much. Please read the warnings, this has some (very sweet and soft) smut at the end, so if it isn't your thing, feel free to skip it.

Series Masterlist

Joel sat in his truck, the engine long cooled down by now, as he stared blankly at his garage door, waiting for the stupid grin to leave his face before he went inside to face his brother. But he had been sitting there for almost twenty minutes, and he was still smiling behind the back of his hand.

That date with you was perfect. Well, he could have done without getting knocked on his ass by some kid, but it worked out for him in the end, so he didn't mind.

Goddamn, did you make him feel good. There was no way he would be able to sleep that night, he was sure of it. Not after the way you looked at him, touched him, kissed him. A big part of him wondered for a long time if he would spend the rest of his life alone, believing that lightning doesn't strike twice, that he would never find anyone who would look at him and want him the way you did.

He ignored the nagging voice in the back of his head that reminded him you didn't live there, that you would be going back to New York in a couple short weeks. He couldn't let that bring him down just yet, that was a problem for another day. Right now, his only problem was resisting the urge to drive back to your house and scoop you up in his arms so he could make you feel as good as he felt.

It was close to midnight, so he caved and went inside, hoping his brother would be too groggy to interrogate him. When he walked in and saw Tommy and Sarah lounging on the couch, wide awake and watching some action flick, his face fell.

"Hey, it is way past your bedtime, the hell are you doin'?" Joel scolded, sliding off his boots.

"Dad, c'mon, it's the weekend," Sarah whined.

"Don't care, you know the rules," he told her, trying to sound firm, but he had such a soft spot for her that he never succeeded in sounding threatening.

"But it's a special occasion, I wanted to hear how your date went," she grinned, sitting up and wiggling her eyebrows. Joel's jaw dropped and shot a glare at his brother while stretching his arms out at his side in disbelief.

"Oh, come on, she practically dragged it outta me," Tommy smirked.

"Unbelievable," Joel muttered, collapsing on the end of the couch and rubbing his eyes.

"So?" Sarah pushed, tucking her legs underneath her excitedly.

"I ain't talkin' about this with you," he said, biting his cheek as he stared at the TV.

"Why not?" she pouted, but Joel just shook his head.

"Go brush your teeth," he said.

"Fine," she replied, rolling her eyes as she made her way to the stairs. "But I'll get it out of you one day."

She stomped upstairs and it wasn't until Joel heard the water running that he turned to his brother.

"What the hell, Tommy? You know I didn't want her knowin' about that," he said, exasperated.

"Oh, relax," Tommy said, stretching his arms above his head. "She's sixteen, Joel. She's smart. She figured it out herself, I just confirmed it after gettin' the third degree."

Joel sighed and tipped his head back onto the sofa, closing his eyes.

"Christ," he muttered.

"What's the big deal?"

Joel sat up and opened his eyes.

"Big deal is, she lives in New York. There's no future there, we were just hangin' out, and I don't need Sarah gettin' her hopes up," Joel explained, trying to downplay his feelings, but his chest squeezed at the thought of you leaving one day.

"Ever hear of long distance?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That never works," Joel replied, shaking his head.

"Well, maybe you should make it work," he said, sitting up and muting the TV. "You know, Sarah just wants you to be happy, Joel. We both do," Tommy said somberly. "Told me tonight she's worried about you bein' all alone when she goes off to college."

"I'll be alright," he said gruffly, although the same thought was plaguing his mind recently, as well.

Tommy stared at his brother a moment as Joel watched the TV, pretending to follow the story even though there was no audio. He decided to drop it for now and changed the subject.

"So, you gonna tell me how it went or what?"

Joel bit his lower lip, trying to keep himself from smiling, but he failed. Tommy noticed right away and grinned, leaning forward to tap his knee.

"I know that look," he said, still grinning.

"Yeah, alright," Joel finally said with a smile. "It was great. Really fuckin' great."

"Hell yeah!" Tommy yelled, and Joel immediately shushed him, pointing upstairs.

"She's funny and she's sweet, we had a real nice time," Joel said, his grin permanently etched on his face now.

"I figured it went well since you got home so late," Tommy replied with a wink.

"I ain't gonna sleep with her on the first date," he whispered, just in case Sarah was listening. He settled back into the couch as Tommy turned the TV volume back on, letting the movie play for a minute before adding, "She's a good kisser, though."

"Oh, I can't wait to meet this girl," Tommy chuckled with a shake of his head. "Haven't seen you smile this much in years."

"Yeah, well," Joel replied noncommittally, still smiling like an idiot and staring at the TV. He decided to stay downstairs that night, finishing the movie and then starting another one on the couch long after Tommy left, unable to quiet down his mind long enough to fall asleep until nearly three in the morning.

You woke up the next day, stretching your arms above your head with a big yawn, not ready to get out of bed yet but the voices downstairs told you it must have been late. With a groan, you reached over and snatched your phone off the charger. When you saw you had a text waiting for you, your heart skipped a beat until you read Sydney's name and not Joel's. Your eyes flicked to the top of the screen, noting it was close to ten in the morning, before sliding open the text.

Sydney: sorry forgot to reply yesterday. I saw will at black & blue, he was hammered and falling all over the place

You scowled, not interested in whatever your ex was up to, so you replied with just the thumbs up emoji and set your phone back down.

Staring at the ceiling, you dreamily thought about your date with Joel. God, he really took you by surprise. You were proud of yourself for taking that first big step forward and putting yourself out there again, but you had no idea it would feel like this. You weren't even sure you ever felt like this with Will. Even when things were good, Will never treated you the way Joel did last night. He was so earnest and respectful, opening doors for you and actually listening to you talk about work. And he didn't even try to feel you up, either, although you probably wouldn't have minded. Maybe it was those Southern manners you were missing this whole time.

With a groan, you dropped your phone back on the nightstand and swung your legs over the edge of your bed, wrapping yourself in your robe, still not expecting it to be so cold in Texas. Even though it was December, it was unusual.

You made your way into the kitchen and made a beeline for the coffee, tossing a wave in the direction of your parents sitting with your sister and brother in law in the living room.

"She lives!" Cassie exclaimed with a smug look on her face. You held your mug up to your lips and blew on the liquid, frowning when the whole family was looking at you with matching, goofy smirks.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" your mom asked innocently. You squinted at her as you sat down, not buying it.

"How was your date?" your sister asked. You took a sip of coffee before replying.

"Good," you said simply, nodding your head. Your mom and dad exchanged a look and you frowned again, getting annoyed.

"What?" you asked loudly.

"Nothing!" your dad said, looking back down at his newspaper. Who even still gets the newspaper delivered anymore, anyway?

"Josh, what's going on?" you asked your sister's husband, knowing he was the weakest link. He glanced nervously between you and Cassie.

"They saw you and Joel on the Ring camera," he blurted out, and your family all groaned in unison. Your face flushed beet red, gawking at them all in disbelief.

"Are you kidding me?" you screeched.

"We didn't mean to, Bucky. Dad was reviewing the footage because he couldn't find the newspaper this morning and, well..." your mom trailed off, trying to hide her smile.

"Oh my god," you whined, tucking your legs to your chest and hiding your face.

"Looked like the date was a little more than good," Cassie teased, and you smacked her on the leg.

"I can't believe this," you mumbled to yourself, hiding your face behind your coffee mug and praying someone would change the subject. "How much did you see?"

"Just from when he pulled in the driveway til when you went inside," your mom said with a shrug.

"That's, like, everything, Mom! Oh my god!" Your face was hot with embarrassment now.

"He looks like a good kisser, is he a good kisser?" Cassie asked.

"Shut up!" you whined, covering your face with your free hand.

"There's nothin' to be embarrassed about, he was a gentleman. Held the door open for you and everythin'," your dad murmured, and you groaned.

"Can we talk about literally anything else, please?" you begged.

"Of course!" your mom said, her eyes flicking around the room, waiting for someone to say something, but nobody spoke.

"I'm sorry, Buck, but you gotta see the the smile on his face after you went inside, it was so cute," Cassie said, pulling out her phone.

"I'm going upstairs!" you announced, jumping up from the couch.

"Wait! Are you still coming by later to help paint the nursery?"

"I don't know, are there any cameras there?" you shouted over your shoulder as your climbed the stairs with your coffee to hide in the sanctity of the guest bedroom.

"Well, no. Only because I haven't set the baby monitor up yet," Cassie called back and giggled when she heard you slam your door.

Grumbling to yourself, you flopped back into bed and picked up your phone, looking for a distraction from your embarrassment. You quickly found one when you saw you had a missed text from Joel.

Joel Miller: Question for you - when is the earliest you should text someone without looking too pathetic after you've had the best date of your life?

You grinned as you typed out a response.

You: answer - whatever time you sent this text :)

Joel Miller: Oh, good. Thought I scared you off, sent that about ten minutes ago.

You: sorry, I was downstairs talking to my family, forgot to bring my phone. And I don't think you could ever scare me off

You almost told him about the doorbell camera fiasco, but decided against it. Picking up your mug, you tried not to stare too hard at your phone as you waited for a reply.

Joel Miller: What are you doing later?

Your heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing him again so soon, then quickly stopped yourself, remembering your promise to your sister.

You: I told my sister I would help paint the nursery...

Joel Miller: That's a shame. I was hoping you could teach me something again.

You: oh? lol

Joel Miller: I just realized how that sounded - I meant wrapping Christmas presents for Sarah. I'm awful at it and I have another hunch gift wrapping is a secret talent of yours.

You giggled and rolled over in bed, your embarrassment long forgotten now.

You: you might be right... how about tomorrow?

Joel took the porch steps two at a time, eager to see you again and it hadn't even been a full two days. His finger barely pressed the doorbell when he heard your voice call out I got it! and the door swung open. You smiled up at him, your eyes lighting up before dropping your gaze to his mouth.

"Hi," you said breathlessly.

"Hey," he replied, swallowing roughly.

"Have a nice time, Bucky!" your mom's voice rang out somewhere behind you as you shut the door quickly. Joel grinned, his gaze drifting from your eyes to your mouth before leaning in. You put your hand on his chest and tilted your head back before grabbing his hand and leading him to his truck. Confused, he followed behind and tried not to stare too long at the way your jeans perfectly hugged your ass.

You led him to the passenger side of the truck, but when he reached out to open the door, you snaked your hand up to wrap around the back of his neck, pulling his face down for a searing kiss only when you were sure you were hidden from view.

"Would I sound crazy if I said I missed you?" you whispered.

"No," Joel replied, shaking his head and trying to calm his pounding heart. "Couldn't stop thinkin' 'bout you."

"Me, too," you admitted softly, gazing up at him with your beautiful eyes all wide and burning with desire.

He cradled your face in his calloused hand, the other flattened firmly against the truck door behind you as he stared into your eyes, fighting the urge to pick you up and wrap your legs around his waist so he could pin you against his truck and let you feel just how badly he missed you.

Then, you heard your dad's SUV unlock and your eyes widened in panic.

"Shit," you muttered. "We should go. I think they're heading out."

"Alright, maybe I should say 'hi' real quick," he said, pushing himself off the truck and letting his hand drop from your face.

"No! That's okay, we'll be stuck here forever if you do," you said hurriedly. He gave you a curious smile but agreed before opening the door for you and hopping into the driver's seat.

He waited until he backed out of the driveway and was heading down your street before shooting you a sideways glance.

"Everythin' okay?"

You sighed and rubbed your palms over your face before clearing your throat.

"So, remember the other night on the porch, after you dropped me off?"

He smirked and nodded.

"Yeah, I think I remember," he teased.

"Well," you began. "My family saw us on the doorbell camera the next morning," you cringed.

He laughed, throwing his head back just a bit so he could still keep an eye on the road, and shook his head.

"Oh, I hate those fuckin' things," he said, but he was still laughing.

You grinned, your nerves and unease dissipating quickly.

"You're not embarrassed?"

"Nah," he said with a shrug, then turned his head briefly to look at you. "I'm sure we put on a good show."

You giggled, your cheeks tinting pink, and turned your head to look out the window.

"Alright," he said after a minute. "I've waited long enough and I gotta ask."

You swiveled back towards him, waiting for him to continue.

"What's the story with the nickname?"

You groaned and squeezed your eyes shut.

"It's so unbelievably stupid," you said, but he shook his head.

"Well, now you gotta tell me."

"Fine," you said, rolling your eyes, but your playful smile gave you away.

"It's Buck, or Bucky. Short for Bucket," you began.

"Bucket?" he repeated, bewildered.

"I warned you it was stupid!" you protested, and he chuckled. "Anyway, when I was little, my sister and her friends had a sleepover one time, and I overheard them swearing."

"Okay," Joel said slowly, nodding along while he kept his eyes pinned to the road.

"I always looked up to my sister, I was like her shadow when I was younger. So, when I heard them swearing, I wanted to be like them, too, you know?"

"Yeah, I follow," he replied, still not sure how the story related to your nickname.

"Well, thing is, I misheard them. They were saying 'fuck it', but I heard 'bucket'," you explained. "So I went to school and, thinking I sounded cool, I would say 'bucket' to all my friends. We were little, they had no idea what I was talking about, so I explained to them it's a swear word. Before I knew it, I had the whole class saying 'bucket' any time someone dropped something, or got a bad grade on a test, or whatever."

Joel howled with laughter, gripping the steering wheel for dear life as he tried to make it safely into his driveway.

"The principal called my parents and told them what was happening," you continued, joining in and giggling. "They got me home, and-" you doubled over, clutching your stomach as Joel put the truck in park and slumped over the steering wheel, his body shaking as he laughed.

"And I had to tell them the whole story, about why I kept saying it and-" you wiped the tears from your eyes as you took a deep breath. "And - oh my god - my sister got grounded for two weeks-" Another fit of laughter washed over Joel, tears streaming down his face.

"Wait, wait," he gasped, unbuckling his seatbelt so he could turn to face you. "You got in trouble in school, and your sister ended up gettin' punished?"

"Yes!" you squeaked, still giggling.

"Oh, shit," he breathed, panting as he leaned the back of his head against the seat rest. "Can't believe you thought that was stupid. That's gotta be the funniest thing I heard in a long while."

"Well, I'm glad I could brighten your day," you said, still grinning.

He rolled his head back towards you, his soft gaze drifting up and down your frame quickly before stopping on your eyes.

"You really do, y'know," he said quietly, and you furrowed your brow, tilting your head in confusion.

"Brighten my day," he clarified.

You bit your lower lip and smiled, looking away as the flush began to return to your cheeks.

"Come on, charmer. Why don't we go teach you how to wrap presents?"

You never really gave much thought as to what Joel's house would look like, but once you saw it, it immediately felt like him. It was a smaller, two bedroom house. When you first walked in, you entered a living room with a leather couch and an oversized recliner. A big screen TV was front and center across from the couch, with a few framed pictures of Joel and Sarah mounted on the wall next to it.

"You want somethin' to drink?" Joel asked, making sure to slide the coat from your shoulders before shrugging off his own.

"Maybe just water," you said, following him into the kitchen. You gasped when you saw his cupboards and immediately rushed over to them while he pulled two bottles of water from the stainless steel fridge.

"Oh my god, Joel," you whispered, running your fingers gently over the designs. Each one looked different but somehow they all were cohesive. Some had small flowers or butterflies carved into the corners, while others had simple, yet intricate designs grooved into the wood.

"Had to practice somehow," he said, feeling his cheeks flush as he walked over to hand you your water.

"God, it's so beautiful," you said breathlessly, unable to look away from the dark, stained wood. Your fingers danced over some stars etched into one of doors, your eyes wide with awe, but he was focused entirely on you. He couldn't get enough of watching the delicate features on your face light up whenever you found something new that pleased you.

"How long does this take for you to do?" you asked, finally dragging your eyes away to look up at him. Your throat tightened when you noticed the heat behind his stare, your pulse fluttering in your neck.

"Depends," he murmured. "Some are faster than others, but I prefer to go slow and take my time. Anythin' worthwhile takes time. Gotta show it respect, gotta care for it."

His low and sultry tone made your face flush, forgetting for a moment you were talking about woodworking.

"Y-yeah," you stammered, clearing your throat. Suddenly, you were feeling short of breath. "That makes sense."

He gazed down at you for another moment, his eyes slowly raking over your face as if committing it to memory before speaking again. Your entire body felt hot, and you cursed yourself for wearing such a thick sweater.

"Ready to go upstairs?" he murmured, still staring at you in a way that made your spine tingle.

"Huh?" you whispered, completely entranced by his deep, brown eyes.

"The presents?" he reminded you with a small smirk.

"Oh, right," you said, finally blinking and looking away. You shakily opened your water bottle after he turned around to lead you to the stairs, your mouth suddenly extremely dry.

As you walked up the steps, you tried to get a look at the pictures that lined the wall, but it was difficult to do without tripping. You thought you had finally gotten your head on straight after that moment in the kitchen, but when you realized he was leading you to his bedroom, you felt the tremble return to your hands.

"Sorry, had to hide everythin' in my closet, she's too nosy," he said over his shoulder.

"No problem," you squeaked, trying not to stare at his neatly made bed. Your eyes briefly drifted over the end tables filled with personal effects. You thought you saw a chapstick, a cord for a phone charger, and a worn paperback book, but you didn't want him to catch you, so you looked away quickly.

He opened his closet and you were surprised to find his clothes packed away so neatly. For a bachelor, he kept a really clean house. He pulled out the bags of gifts from the shelf above his clothes, then the wrapping paper, which was leaning against the corner.

"D'you think we got enough room?" he asked, glancing around at the floor.

"Yeah, of course," you said, sitting down crossed legged on the carpet. You reached out for the wrapping paper and rolled it out in front of you as he sat down at your side, taking out her gifts one by one. You felt yourself involuntarily clench as you watched his large hands deftly lay out each item on the floor, his muscles twitching slightly under the tanned skin of his exposed forearms.

"I know what you're thinkin'," he said, and your eyes widened in surprise. "I spoil her, I know, but she's such a good kid, I can't help myself."

That was definitely not what you were thinking, but you chose to keep that to yourself.

"I think it's sweet," you told him. "You seem like a really good dad."

Now it was his turn to blush. He tried to turn his head away so you wouldn't see, murmuring his thanks as you each picked an item to start. After a quick tutorial, which included way too much tape and ripped paper, Joel finally seemed to get the technique down. It only took until about halfway through the pile for you to muster up the courage to bring up a topic you couldn't help but be curious about.

"So," you began, hoping you came off nonchalant. "Is Sarah with her mom this Christmas, or..."

Joel's fingers fumbled for a moment with the wrapping paper, but he quickly recovered.

"Uh, no," he replied, keeping his eyes cast down on the shoe box in front of him. "She's not in Sarah's life anymore."

"Oh," you said, unable to keep the surprise from your voice, but you didn't push him any further. Your mind was scrambling, trying to think of something else to talk about, when he sighed and leaned back, abandoning the gift.

"I'm sorry, this is all so new to me, I probably should've told you about her sooner," he said, feeling guilty, but you quickly shook your head.

"No, you don't have to-"

"I want to," he said, cutting you off. You clamped your mouth shut and turned your body so you could give him your full attention, leaving the hair dryer you were wrapping on the floor next to you.

He drew a shaky breath in and looked up at the ceiling before speaking.

"There's not much to say, really. I'm still not always sure what happened," he began. You nodded, staying quiet and letting him take his time. "We were together since high school, ended up stayin' together after graduation. Sarah was a surprise, we were both still so young but we made it work. It was hard, but once me and Tommy got the business goin', it made things a bit easier."

Your fingers tangled together in your lap as you listened, refusing to say anything until he was done. His gaze drifted towards a fixed point on the wall as he continued.

"From what I gathered, she felt like havin' Sarah so young robbed her from doin' certain things in life," he said heavily. "Said she couldn't do it anymore. Didn't want her life to pass her by and be full of regret."

You bit your lip. The pain was clear as day on his face and it was making your chest ache.

"Well, anyway. I thought maybe she would go off for a couple months, do whatever it was she thought she was missin' out on. Parties, college... other men," he added the last part quietly, and you dropped your gaze to the floor. "Get it out of her system, y'know? But she just... never came back. Eventually, the calls came less and less, and I put two and two together. Didn't even get a courtesy call before I got served with the papers."

He rubbed his eyes, trying so hard not to look like a blubbering idiot in front of you. You reached your hand out and placed it gently on his knee, giving him a reassuring squeeze. He dropped his hand from his face to cover yours, staring at your coupled hands for a moment.

"Joel-"

"It was just so fuckin' hard on Sarah, y'know?" he said, his voice cracking. "I had no idea what to tell her. She cried almost every night, askin' me why her mom didn't love her anymore."

"Oh, Joel," you whispered, unable to hold back any longer. You closed the small gap between you, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and pulling him into your chest, your fingers gently raking through his hair. "I'm so sorry," you told him, burying your nose in the hair on top of his head, breathing in the citrus scent from his shampoo.

He didn't say a word. He just tugged you closer and closed his eyes, leaning into your comforting touch with a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry," he finally managed to croak out. "I'm throwin' way too much at you, I know you didn't sign up for this."

"Shh," you whispered into his hair, then tilted his face up to look at you, his dark brown eyes glassy with unshed tears. "It's okay," you murmured, pressing a soft kiss against his lips. A solitary tear slipped down his cheek when he pulled back to look deep into your eyes.

"It's okay," you repeated, wiping away the tear with the pad of your thumb before placing another gentle kiss against his lips.

He hummed contently against your mouth, sliding his hand up to the back of your neck and pressing his lips more firmly against your own, scared to let you go because if he did, he was sure he would fall apart.

Your grip on his hair tightened as he leaned forward, one strong arm wrapped around your midsection and the other pressed against your back. You mumbled something against his mouth when he tried to lay you down and knocked over a small pile of DVDs.

"Fuck," he whispered and, oh god, the way he said it made your legs turn to jelly and your cheeks flare with heat.

Frustrated, he tightened his grip around you and lifted you up, refusing to break the kiss. A tiny, high pitched squeak slipped past your lips as you wrapped your legs around his hips, letting him carry you to his bed.

He laid you down carefully on top of his plush, navy striped comforter. You sighed into his mouth, your legs loosening around his waist and falling open while you dragged your hands out of his hair and down to his shoulders, wrapping your fingers around his biceps to keep him close. He hovered above you, balancing all his weight on his elbows while his fingers played with the ends of your impossibly soft hair.

He slipped his tongue easily past your lips with a low groan, the noise going straight to your core, making the ache between your legs almost painful while your tongue danced with his, the two already so familiar with each other.

You tipped your head back with a gasp, desperate for air, but he kept going, unable to stop himself. His lips brushed against your jaw before his teeth and prickly beard scraped against the sensitive skin behind your earlobe. You let out a needy whimper and arched your back at the sensation, pushing your breasts into his broad chest as goosebumps spread over your whole body.

"Oh god, Joel," you whined softly, squeezing your eyes shut.

"Yeah, baby?" he replied, his voice thick and muffled against your neck. Baby. Jesus, this man was unraveling you so fast, it was making your head spin.

"I-I know we said this was casual, but-" the words got trapped in your throat as you cut yourself off, unable to finish your thought.

"I know," he said, his voice strained. "Fuck, I know."

He lifted his head away from your neck as he stared down at you, patting your hair back and away from your face as he panted slightly for breath.

You looked up at him, eyes watering as you tried not to think about your time coming to an end in a couple short weeks. You could tell he was thinking the same but didn't want to say it, the pain behind his eyes was obvious.

He blinked a couple times, the clouds clearing as he forced himself to focus on the present. He had you here in his arms, in his bed, underneath him right now. And he was going to be damned if he didn't soak up every single second.

He leaned back down and locked his lips on yours again, this time moving slower, more gentle and tender. He wanted to treat you right. You deserved it, and he wasn't going to give you anything less than what you deserved while he still had you.

You loosened your grip on his arms and allowed your hands to drift to the buttons of his flannel, slowly and shakily undoing them. His heart began to slam against his chest when he realized what you were doing, his mind going fuzzy with desire.

He pulled his head back when you were about halfway down his shirt, looking down hazily at your fingers working open the buttons as he desperately tried to think straight.

"Dad?" Sarah called from downstairs, the front door slamming shut. "Are you here?"

"Shit," Joel mumbled, scrambling off of you as he clumsily tried to redo his buttons. You jumped off the bed, leaning over so you could see into the mirror above his dresser, raking your hands through your tangled hair and quickly fixing your sweater.

"Yeah!" Joel shouted back, glancing over at you to make sure you were decent. "Sorry," he whispered, but you just grinned. Then his eyes fell to the half wrapped presents on the floor.

"Wait! Don't come up-" he called out as he heard her skipping up the steps. Joel grabbed your arm and pulled you out of the room, closing the door behind you both just in time.

"What? Why?" Sarah asked, then froze when she saw you. She looked up at Joel, then back to you, and a slow smile spread across her face.

"Ohhh..." she said with her hands on her hips. "Now I see."

"N-no, it's not what it looks like, she was just helpin' me wrap some gifts," Joel stammered, jutting his thumb over his shoulder. You shifted your weight nervously as you looked back and forth between them.

"Then why are you missing a button on your shirt?"

You both glanced down at his flannel, and she was right. He missed fixing a button in all the chaos. Your face flushed beet red as you stared at the ground while Joel hurriedly fixed the button, cursing under his breath. When you dared to look back up at his daughter, she was smirking playfully at you. Joel cleared his throat.

"Sarah, this is-"

"Yeah, I know, I remember from the party. The pretty dress, right?" she asked, and you nodded.

"Yeah, that's right. Nice to see you again," you said awkwardly.

She nodded, still smirking and looking at you and Joel. You could tell she loved catching her dad in this uncomfortable situation.

"Oh, crap. I forgot. Uncle Tommy is waiting for you in the driveway, said he needed your help unloading some work stuff out from the back of his truck," Sarah said.

"Ah, dammit, alright. You okay for a couple minutes?" he asked you, eyebrows raised.

"Of course," you said. He nodded, walking down the hall past Sarah, muttering "be good" to her as he walked by.

You listened as Joel made his way down the stairs and out the front door, leaving you and Sarah in silence, still staring at one another.

"I'm sorry, we really were wrapping gifts," you assured her.

"It's okay," she said with a shrug. "Last year he used duct tape on my presents, I know he needs the help."

You giggled, causing her to laugh, as well.

"Do you play an instrument?" you asked, just noticing the case on the floor next to her feet.

"Yeah, violin. I had practice after school today," she said, picking it up.

"Oh, cool. I played piano growing up, but I was never any good," you said, sliding your hands in the back pockets of your jeans.

"I have my school's Christmas recital on Friday," she said. "My first solo."

"Oh my god!" you said, clapping your hands together, genuinely impressed. "That's incredible! You must be so excited!"

"Yeah, at first, but now I'm getting nervous," she said, glancing down at the case in her hand. "You wanna hear me play?"

"Duh. Absolutely," you said with a grin. Her eyes lit up and a huge smile spread across her face again.

"O-okay. This is my room right here," she said, turning to her right and opening the door. "Sorry it's messy, my dad's gonna kill me."

"It's totally fine," you said, walking in and sitting down at the edge of her bed. You glanced around the room as she set up her music stand. On the pink walls, she had posters up of her favorite bands with a calendar and string lights draped across the room.

"I really like your room," you said, squinting to look at the stickers and drawings she had on her headboard.

"Thanks," she said sheepishly. "My dad let me do whatever I wanted."

You were about to comment on the various trophies she had on her windowsill when Sarah spoke again.

"Just so you know, I don't mind that you're seeing my dad."

Your eyes shot up to hers in surprise, not sure what to say. You hadn't really had a chance to talk to Joel about your relationship and how that would affect his daughter.

"He's been in such a good mood this past week, and he won't tell me but I know it's because of you," she said, pinning you with a familiar brown gaze.

"Oh, that's so sweet, Sarah," you said, finally finding your voice. "Thank you. That means a lot."

"You're welcome," she said. "I just want him to be happy again."

You dropped your gaze to your lap, your chest tightening at the thought of Joel being so lonely all these years.

"Me, too," you whispered, still looking down. Sarah regarded you for a minute before slapping her palms against the tops of her thighs and leaned down to pick up her violin.

"You ready?" she asked. You looked up and nodded, giving her an encouraging smile and sat back to listen as she began playing a hauntingly beautiful version of 'Silent Night'.

Sarah got about halfway through the song when she hit the wrong note and abruptly stopped, dropping her chin to her chest in frustration.

"Hey, it's okay," Joel heard you say softly as he walked back up the stairs. He paused at the top, right outside Sarah's room to listen.

"It's okay to make mistakes. Just go slower, take your time. Anything worthwhile takes time," you told her, and he smiled when he heard his earlier words to you repeated back to his daughter. He took a step forward to lean against the doorframe and watch the two of you, your back to him as you sat on her bed.

"Okay," Sarah said, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes before lifting the violin to her chin and starting over.

Joel listened to Sarah play the same song he's heard a million times already in just the past month alone, but kept his eyes trained on you. The way you gave her your full, undivided attention and encouraged her with a smile or a thumbs up when she would glance over at you shyly made his chest ache.

When Sarah successfully finished the song with no mistakes, you jumped up from the bed, clapping and cheering for her, making Sarah giggle and hide behind her hands.

Fuck, this was going to be so hard.

"Dad?" Sarah asked the next morning over her bowl of cereal.

"Yeah, baby girl?" he replied, frowning as he pulled his bread from the toaster. He sucked his fingertips into his mouth, trying to bring some relief to the quickly reddening skin.

"Can your friend come to my recital tomorrow?"

Joel froze, his fingers still pressed against his tongue as he slowly turned around to look at her. He dropped his hand and took a deep breath.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," he replied.

"You don't think she would wanna go?" Sarah asked, her eyebrows pinched together.

"No, it's not that, I'm sure she would," he said, trying to find the right words.

"Then what's the problem?"

Joel sighed and picked his mug up from the counter, then walked over to join her at the table.

"She doesn't live here, baby. She's goin' back to New York in another week or so, I don't want you gettin' too attached," he finally admitted, watching Sarah closely as she considered his words.

"Well, you guys like each other, right?" she asked, and Joel smirked.

"Yeah, but it ain't that simple."

"Yes, it is, Dad," she said, rolling her eyes and dipping her spoon back into her bowl. "My friend Katy was dating this guy last year and he switched schools over the summer. They're still together, it doesn't matter," Sarah said with a shrug, taking a bite of cereal.

If the topic didn't fill Joel with a sense of dread, he would have chuckled at the comparison, but instead he just sat there quietly, watching his daughter as she finished her cereal and scrolled on her phone.

Sarah pulled on her backpack and was sliding on her sneakers to catch the bus when she called back to Joel over her shoulder.

"Just ask her, okay? Please, Dad?"

Joel sighed, hanging his head between his shoulders and paused his hands over the dishes in the sink.

"Alright," he relented, and he heard Sarah clap her hands behind him before slamming the front door shut.

You: good morning :)

Joel Miller: Good Morning, sweetheart. I didn't think you would be up this early.

You: couldn't fall back asleep. What are you doing

Joel Miller: Just getting to work. Why couldn't you fall back asleep?

You thought about it for a minute from under the pile of blankets on your bed, rolling to your side before answering.

You: I was thinking about you...

Joel Miller: Good thoughts, I hope?

You: VERY ;)

His throat went dry when he opened the text. He glanced around outside his car window, making sure he was still the only one on the job site before replying.

Joel Miller: What are you trying to tell me, baby?

You smirked and bit down on your lip.

You: I was wishing you were in bed with me right now

"Shit," he muttered to himself, glancing around once again before adjusting his pants.

Joel Miller: Me too, what are you wearing?

The answer came back almost immediately.

You: nothing

He groaned and rubbed his palms roughly over his face.

Joel Miller: You're killing me, baby. I have to get working in a minute.

You: i'm sorry ;)

You: I promised my parents I would go to dinner with them tonight, but are you free tomorrow?

Joel took a deep breath, trying to clear the onslaught of inappropriate thoughts from his head when he remembered his promise to Sarah.

Joel Miller: It's Sarah's recital tomorrow night. She asked me to invite you this morning, did you want to go?

He nervously chewed his cheek for a moment before sending another text.

Joel Miller: No pressure, I can tell her you're busy.

He sent his second text right as your reply came through.

You: I would love to!

He grinned and raked his fingers through his hair. Tommy's knuckles tapped on the outside of Joel's window, making him jump. He held up a finger before sending you a quick answer.

Joel Miller: Sounds great. I'll pick you up. Try to go back to sleep. Dream of me.

Joel opened the door and slid his phone in his back pocket, a stupid grin etched across his face as he joined his brother in the half-built storefront they were working on.

"Oh man, you got it bad," Tommy said with a chuckle when he saw the look on Joel's face.

"Alright, what do you think of this one?" you asked Cassie as you stepped out of the bathroom modeling the sixth dress of the day.

"I liked the red one better," she said, glancing up from her phone.

"Are you sure? This one is a little more chic," you said, twisting around to look at your backside in the mirror.

"It's a high school recital, Buck. I don't think anyone is expecting 'chic'," she teased, and you rolled your eyes.

"Well, I just want to look nice, is all," you said, sitting next to her on your bed in a huff. You tapped your phone screen, frowning when all you had was another text from Sydney and nothing from Joel. You opened it up anyway, curiosity getting the best of you.

Sydney: OMG!!!!!!

You sent back three question marks and locked your phone with a sigh.

"You still wanna get together next week so we can look at apartments online for you?" she asked.

"Yeah," you said sadly, looking out the window.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," you told her. "Just not ready to go back yet."

"Could that be because of a certain sexy contractor?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at you.

"Shut up," you smirked, tossing a pillow at her lightly.

"Ooo you like him! Lookit how red you're getting!"

"I'm gonna kill you when that baby's out, you know that, right?" you giggled.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Cassie said, looking back down at her phone as the smile slowly faded from her face. "You know you don't have to go back, right?"

"What do you mean? My job is there, my life is there... everything is there," you replied. "Of course I have to go back."

"What life, though?" she asked, and you frowned at her. "Seriously, Buck. Aside from your job, which you hate, what's left?"

"Well, my friends are there. And I don't hate my job that much. I mean, everyone hates their job a little bit," you said with a shrug.

"Is this what you expected to do when you were in college? Is this what you wanted?" Cassie pressed, sitting up on the bed. "Are you even happy?"

You paused, letting her words roll around in your head for a moment.

"Well, I mean..." you trailed off, not sure how to answer her question.

"If you have to think about it this long, I think you know the answer," your sister said quietly. You groaned and rolled off the bed.

"I'm going back. I have to. I can't just give up because some guy broke my heart," you said, turning around so she could unzip the back of your dress.

"I'm just saying, think about it," Cassie replied. "I wouldn't hate it if my child's aunt was in their life more than twice a year!" she called after you as you shut the door to the bathroom.

Joel eagerly jogged up the porch steps and rang the doorbell, very aware of the camera this time while he fiddled with the cuffs on his dark red button down shirt. He heard high heels clicking on the other side of the door and the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile, which quickly vanished when you opened the door and he saw the dress you were wearing.

"Hi," you said with a shy smile, pulling a soft looking white cardigan on over your shoulders.

He thought he had greeted you. He could have sworn he said something, anything, that didn't make him look like a complete idiot, but apparently nothing came out because you scrunched your eyebrows together when you saw his face.

"Are you okay?" you asked, pulling the door shut behind you.

"Yeah, it's just - Jesus, you look so good," he managed to finally say, tilting his head back to stare up at the roof of the porch for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"Thank you," you said with a giggle. "You don't look half bad, yourself."

He rubbed his forehead, exasperated and flustered before pulling you quickly into his arms and latching his mouth onto yours with a groan.

"Joel," you pulled back breathlessly with a small smile and leaned your head to the side, trying to silently remind him of the doorbell. His eyes raked over you hungrily before shaking his head and pulling you back into a deep kiss.

Fuck the camera, let them see.

You giggled against his mouth, causing him to smile and break the kiss.

"Come on, I wanna get good seats," you said, rubbing your thumb over his lower lip to wipe off your lipstick that transferred. It caused his stomach to clench. That sweet, little intimate gesture made him ache for more so badly that he could hardly breathe.

He walked you around the front of his truck, opening the door and giving you a hand so you could hop onto the seat, the gorgeous red dress you were wearing hugging your curves just right and distracting him to no end.

On the walk around to the driver's side, he mentally scolded himself, reminding himself over and over that tonight was a big deal for his little girl and he needed to stay focused.

As he drove down the street, he realized that his hand instinctively found yours across the seat, his body craving the warmth and softness of your own. How on earth was he going to go back to the life he had before, now that he knows what it's like to bask in the heat of your touch?

Once he got to the school, he found a parking spot and jumped out of the truck. You had figured out by now that he preferred you to wait so he could open the car door for you, so you did. Swinging your legs over the side of the seat, you slid down into his waiting arms, your hands gently coming to rest on the tops of his shoulders. He gazed down at you with his arms loosely hanging around your waist. You saw his adam's apple bob in his throat while he let himself get lost in your warm, beautiful eyes. You lifted a finger from his shoulder, tracing an invisible line down the side of his cheek as you stared up at him with your plush lips parted so invitingly that it made his knees weak.

"Joel! Hey!" Tommy's voice called out from behind, snapping you both out of the moment. Joel sighed and untangled himself from you, taking your hand and leading you forward so he could shut the door before turning around to find his brother.

You could see the family resemblance immediately as Tommy approached you with a wide grin. His hair was a bit darker and a lot longer, and his beard was less full than Joel's, but he had the same soft, brown eyes that you had grown to know and love.

Love? Oh, no.

"Hey, Tommy," Joel said as he got closer, his hand pressed firmly on the small of your back. "This is-"

"Oh, I know who she is. How're you doin', darlin'?" Tommy asked, pulling you into a bear hug, taking you by surprise.

"I-I'm good," you squeaked shyly once he released you. "Nice to meet you."

"I've been dyin' to meet the little lady who's got my brother all wrapped up," he replied with a grin.

"Tommy!" Joel seethed warningly at your side, but you just giggled.

"I'm just messin' around. She knows that, right?" he said, shoving his hands in his coat pocket and rolling on the balls of his feet. "Supposed to snow next week, can you believe it?"

"Yeah, I heard we might get a couple feet," Joel said, steering you toward the doors to the auditorium. "Better get your shovel ready."

You settled in between the two brothers as you found a decent spot in the fourth row. Joel draped his arm around the back of your chair while he chatted with Tommy about work. You inadvertently leaned to the side and rested your shoulder against his chest as you glanced around the room, admiring the lit up garlands around the windows and Christmas trees on the stage with fake presents underneath.

When their conversation died down, Tommy pulled out his phone and began scrolling through social media, holding it low between his spread knees with his chin tucked into his chest.

Joel tilted his face forward to press his lips on the top of your head, breathing in a deep and contented breath. A small smile played across your lips as you turned your gaze up towards him, resting your cheek gently on his shoulder. He looked down at you with a smile and planted a chaste kiss on your forehead, and as each of you slid your eyes closed for a moment, Tommy angled his phone to snap a quick picture, smiling to himself and making a mental note to show his brother later.

The lights dimmed and you all straightened up in your seats. You listened to the music teacher make a small speech at the beginning and politely clapped afterwards. You saw Sarah twice throughout the concert as part of the orchestra, smiling at how focused and beautiful she looked in her white dress. As the concert wound down, Sarah finally came out on stage for her solo, and the three of you eagerly leaned forward. At the last minute, you remembered to pull out your phone and start a video, telling yourself you were doing it for Joel so that he could be in the moment, but you knew you would end up watching it by yourself when you went back to New York City.

The performance was flawless. When it was over, the three of you lept up from your seats, cheering, jumping and clapping, making her wave and blush as she exited the stage. You sat down, giggling, as the people surrounding you gave you all polite smiles and chuckles, then quieted down for the finale.

When the lights came back up, everyone stood from their seats, murmuring and laughing while waiting for their kids to come out from backstage and take pictures. You saw a flash of white out of the corner of your eye and moved out of the way just in time for Sarah to run and jump up into Joel's arms, burying her face in his neck. He squeezed his eyes shut, his arms wrapped around her tightly, murmuring praise in her ear. You felt warmth spread across your chest as you watched them have their moment, the corners of your mouth turned up into a smile with your hands clasped together against your chest.

He let her down gently and she turned to give Tommy a quick hug. He spun her around, making her giggle and fidget with her dress before she turned to you.

"You came!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms loosely around your waist. Your eyes widened in surprise, not expecting such affection from her, but you quickly returned the hug.

"Of course I came! Thank you for inviting me," you said, pulling back with a grin. "You were absolutely perfect, I took a video, I'll send it to your dad so he can show you later."

"I did exactly what you told me, I slowed down and took my time," she beamed, and it gave you a new feeling deep in your chest that you never felt before.

"That's great, Sarah," you replied, your throat tight with emotion. Tommy dropped his gaze from you and ticked his jaw to the side, finally understanding why Joel was hesitant to let Sarah know about the two of you.

"Dad?" Sarah asked, turning away from you. "Can I sleep over at Katy's? She's having a bunch of girls over and her mom said it was okay."

"Uh, sure, baby girl. Don't you need clothes and stuff?"

"I have stuff I keep here in my locker for gym," she said.

"Well, alright, lemme talk to her mom first," he replied, glancing around the room.

"Thank you! She's right over here," she said, grabbing his hand. "Thanks for coming!" she called back last minute over her shoulder to you and Tommy, and you both smiled and waved as she dragged her father across the room.

"She's so talented," you said, turning to Tommy. He looked down at you and gave you a weak smile.

"Yeah, she's somethin' else," he said with a nod. "Hey, listen. I'm havin' a get together next week at my house. Little Christmas party, I guess. I invited a guy I met at your parents' house - Josh? He's comin' with his wife, Joel and Sarah'll be there, I'd love for you to come by if you can."

"Josh is my brother in law," you clarified for him. "That sounds great, I'll be there, thank you."

"You're welcome," Tommy said, then his brows pinched together as he opened his mouth again to speak. "Joel might kill me for sayin' this, but you gotta know how happy you've -"

"Ready to go?" Joel asked, sneaking up beside you. Tommy cleared his throat and gave his brother an innocent smile.

"Yep," you replied, dropping your hand to find his at your side, lacing your fingers together and giving him a gentle squeeze.

After saying goodbye to Tommy, Joel slowly led you through the parking lot to his truck, desperately trying to think of something else you could do, not ready to drop you off yet. He knew the time you had together was coming to an end, and he wanted to soak up every precious second. Especially after the way he saw you with Sarah: so warm and sweet and patient. He couldn't remember the last time he saw his daughter's eyes light up that way.

He prided himself on being a good father since his wife left. Always making sure to put Sarah first, that she got everything she could ever want or need. Especially his love. When his ex abandoned them, he made sure Sarah got every ounce of love he had, hoping it would help make up for the loss. But as hard as he tried, he could never fully fill both roles. There were just some things that a mother provided for her daughter that Joel couldn't give.

He didn't realize it until he saw you with Sarah earlier that night, and then it felt like everything shifted into focus for the first time in his life.

He held out his hand to help you get back into his truck, making sure your legs were safely tucked in before he gently shut the door.

Sitting in the driver's seat gripping the steering wheel, he stared straight ahead for a moment in complete silence, the keys still in his coat pocket while his mind reeled.

"Is everything okay?" you asked timidly. He blinked and turned to you.

"Yeah," he said hoarsely. He swallowed and looked at his watch.

"You wanna get coffee or somethin'? I know it's gettin' late but I'm sure some place's open," he said, deep in thought as he considered the cafés nearby.

"Don't you have coffee at your house?" you asked shyly. His eyes snapped up to yours and he saw the flush creeping up your neck and the rapid rise and fall of your chest.

Oh.

"Yeah, yes," he croaked, nervously clearing his throat. "Let's do that. I have- yeah, good idea," he stammered, fumbling with the keys in his pocket.

You smirked as you watched his shaky hand turn the key in the ignition. He twisted around to back out of the parking spot, and this time you gave into temptation, unbuckling your seatbelt so you could slide over and tuck yourself under his arm. He immediately pulled you closer, not even caring that you weren't wearing your seatbelt. He would make sure to drive safe. Nothing could possibly ruin that night. He wouldn't let it.

At stop lights, you would run your hand up his chest and plant small kisses against the corner of his mouth, filling him with a radiating bliss he never felt before.

Once you got back to his house, you shrugged off your sweater and trailed behind him as he made his way into the kitchen. You leaned against the wall and watched as he opened one of the cupboards - the one with the small birds carved into the bottom - and pulled down a can of coffee.

"I don't think I have any decaf," he said turning to look at you.

"I don't want coffee, Joel," you said lowly. He swallowed roughly and put the can on the counter.

"What d'you want, then?"

You pushed yourself off the wall and slowly walked towards him, his eyes skating up and down your body as you approached. Wrapping your arms around his waist, you tilted your face up to gaze at him, your mouth hovering over his own.

"I want you."

His eyes fluttered closed as your lips slotted against his, his rough hands immediately coming up to cup your smooth face, holding you firmly against his mouth. Christ, he would never get tired of kissing you. If he could do it every single day for the rest of his life, he would. He knew it seemed crazy. He knew you just met, but he couldn't help the way you made him feel.

"Let's go upstairs," you whispered, nipping at his lower lip.

He couldn't speak. He just nodded in a daze and let you lead him coyly up the steps, then turned around to walk backwards down the hall towards his bedroom so you could pull him tightly against your body. His big hands gripped your waist while his tongue slipped past your lips, searching for its mate.

You reached behind you blindly, your hand fighting with the doorknob as his big frame caged you in against the wood, his masculine scent invading your senses and making it difficult to think. Finally, the door swung open and you both stumbled in, a giggle erupting from your throat as your fingers got to work undoing the buttons on his dress shirt.

You hurriedly tugged his button down off, leaving it in a heap on the floor as you slid your palms underneath the white t-shirt he had on, feeling the warm skin of his stomach and chest for the first time.

"Off," you whispered, your heart getting stuck in your throat when he yanked the shirt over his head, leaving his upper body completely bare to you. Your mouth went dry as you drank him in, then lunged forward, your lips brushing up his sternum until you reached his collarbone. You sucked on a bit of tanned skin there with a moan, then slipped your tongue out to press wetly against the red mark you left, feeling drunk off the taste of his sweat.

He gently pushed you backwards so he could ease you down onto his bed, his breath growing erratic and desperate with each little bite you left on his chest. God, has anyone ever desired him this much before? Has he really been missing out on this his entire life?

"Baby, we're gonna have to stop soon if you don't want this to go any further," he murmured. He found himself in the familiar position of hovering above you while his hand slid down your leg and toyed with the hem of your dress.

"I don't think I can take much more, tell me to stop," he whispered when you didn't answer, running the tip of his nose softly against your cheek.

"I don't want you to stop," you gasped as his fingers slipped underneath your dress. You tilted your head back and moaned when you felt his fingertips brush against the damp fabric of your panties.

His mouth hungrily devoured the exposed cleavage of your breasts, growing frustrated with the fabric of your dress keeping him from seeing all of you.

"Sit up," he demanded, leaning back and pulling his hand from between your legs. You obeyed, and he made short work of your zipper, pulling it all the way down so you could shimmy out, leaving you in just your underwear.

"Oh, fuck," he whispered when he realized you weren't wearing a bra. You let yourself fall back gently on the bed, spreading your arms out above your head so he could see every inch of you in the moonlight.

He couldn't believe this was actually happening. He kept waiting for his alarm to go off and reality to slap him across the face, but it never came. His heart was pounding so fast, he was sure you could hear it as he leaned back down and nibbled at your exposed jaw while his calloused hand cupped your soft breast, his thumb flicking over your hardening nipple.

You scraped your nails over his shoulders and down his chest as you arched your back, pressing into his hand, needing to feel the heat of his skin against your own. Your stomach flipped as you made your way down to his belt, and with shaky fingers, pulled hastily at the leather.

Yanking the belt through the loops with one swift motion, you flung it across the room, making him chuckle against your skin. When you started to work on popping open the button on his dress pants, a devastating thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Shit, wait," he said, putting his hand on top of yours. You frowned up at him, your chest heaving, as you gave him a confused look.

"I don't have any protection," he said through gritted teeth. He hung his head and squeezed his eyes shut angrily. "I-I haven't been with anyone since my ex, and I never thought... fuck," he said, clenching his jaw.

You weighed your options for about half a second before tugging his chin up, forcing him to look at you.

"I'm still on birth control," you told him, searching his eyes. "I mean, only if you're comfortable with it, we don't have to," you said, but in your head you were chanting please, please, please.

"Are you sure?" he asked, panting for air. "I don't wanna make you feel like -"

"Yes," you said, cutting him off by grabbing his face. "Yes. I'm sure, Joel. Please," you whimpered, pulling him back down to you, his mouth crashing down on yours again.

"Please," you whispered again, tipping your head back as his lips left a trail of soft kisses down your throat. "Please, Joel, I need you."

His mouth stuttered against your neck. Hearing you beg and say you needed him when he never thought he would ever be needed like this in his whole life made his mind go blank.

"Okay," he rasped. "Okay, baby."

He tugged at the zipper on his black pants and pulled them off as quickly as he could without leaving you. You reached down to help him, hooking your fingers over the band of his boxers and shoving them down. He kicked them off before yanking down your panties, dropping them on the floor next to his clothes.

You eagerly spread your legs so he could settle his hips between them. You glanced down with a small gasp when you saw the size of him and you felt your cheeks flare. Jesus Christ.

He didn't seem to notice your reaction when he was too wrapped up in staring at the wet heat between your legs, pulsing and waiting, just for him. He slid a finger gently between your folds, making you moan and your back arch. Fuck, he loved how responsive you were to his touch.

He readjusted so he was kneeling between your legs. His palms slid up your calves, past your knees and to your inner thighs, pressing them down into the mattress so you were spread wide.

He lined himself up at your center, glancing up at you quickly to make sure you were ready. You swallowed and nodded, your eyes filled with desire, desire for him, something he still couldn't fathom but decided not to question. He pressed forward gently, notching himself against you before falling forward on his elbows.

He kissed the tip of your nose as he eased himself inside you, pausing when he heard you gasp and felt you tense under him.

"More," you finally croaked, your nails coming up to rake against his scalp. He let out the breath he was holding and pushed in further, his eyes fluttering shut and his mouth falling open as he felt you slowly stretch around him so perfectly, like you were made just for him.

"Oh, god," he sighed, dropping his face to the crook of your neck after he fully sheathed himself inside you. He dragged his mouth across your chest, leaving a wet trail from his tongue and red marks from his scratchy beard in his wake. He waited until he felt your muscles relax under him before he slowly rolled his hips, dragging himself in and out as his teeth scraped over your tightening nipples. You moaned his name softly, the sound permanently etched in his brain, a sound he will refuse to forget for the rest of his life.

He began to roll his hips faster at your encouragement, becoming obsessed with the way you felt and the sounds you made, and it was all for him. He spent so much of his life giving to everyone around him, he never truly felt like anyone was able or willing to give him what he needed in return until now. The recognition was depressing and freeing at the same time. Now that he finally had what he always wanted, what he always needed, he was going to lose you and there was nothing he could do about it.

Each moan from your throat and each kiss from your lips dragged him down deeper and deeper until he collided head first with the stunning, yet so painfully obvious, realization that he was deliriously in love with you. It was insane, he knew that. But it didn't make it any less true.

"Joel," you gasped, pulling him out of his trance and back to the present.

"Yeah, baby? I'm here. I'm right here," he whispered, planting soft kisses all over your face.

You bit down on your lower lip and squeezed your eyes shut. The sheer intensity behind his gaze coupled with the agony of only getting to experience this for one more short week made tears burn in the backs of your eyes.

You felt your orgasm begin to swell deep in your belly while your breath became more ragged and your vision went spotty. It shouldn't feel this good. This was cruel, to be able to experience something like this just to have it brutally ripped away from you. It wasn't fair, yet you never wanted it to stop.

He could feel it. It's been years, and it was never, ever like this, but he still knew. The way you whimpered and clawed at his back while your walls squeezed him so tightly, he thought he might pass out.

"Open your eyes," he panted. "I wanna look at you."

You forced your eyes open, now unable to hold back the tears that pooled there as two drops trickled down the side of your face, getting lost in your hair.

"It's okay, I got you," he whispered lovingly, staring deep into your eyes, seeing everything you didn't dare say out loud.

"You can let go, baby," he told you, his hips snapping against you ruthlessly, desperate to come at the same time.

You felt the wave rip through you like fire, the power and emotion behind it unlike anything you ever felt before. More tears poured from your eyes as you cried out his name, your thighs squeezing his hips so tightly you weren't sure you would be able to stand after.

He followed seconds later with a deep groan, spilling himself deep inside you while murmuring praise and wiping away your tears with his thumb.

"Why're you cryin', did I hurt you?" he asked, his voice filled with so much concern that it broke your heart. You shook your head, wiping the tears away with the back of your hand, but fresh ones just took their place.

"C'mon, talk to me," he urged, leaning up a bit as he softened inside you.

"What are we gonna do, Joel?" you blubbered pathetically. He took a shaky breath in and tenderly tucked your hair behind your ear.

"I don't know, baby, but we'll figure somethin' out. We gotta," he said with a sigh.

"I can't lose you," you whispered, pressing your forehead against his and closing your eyes.

"You'll never lose me, I can promise you that," he replied, pressing a gentle kiss against your swollen lips.

He waited until your tears slowed down before sliding out of you with a hiss. Rolling off to your side, he wrapped his arms around your middle and pulled you close against his chest, and as you finally drifted off in his embrace, he thought about all of the options available before you, determined to find a solution.

Tag list: @lola8888673 @pedropascalsbbg @nandan11 @sushiumex @serenadingtigers @jjlevin @survivingandenduring @amyispxnk @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @merz-8 @wonyoungismind @fandomscollide @anoverwhelmingdin @cayleejx16 @msjjekyll @lizzie-cakes @hexedbywanda @harriedandharassed @joeldjarin - lmk if i missed anyone, if your name is crossed out it means it won't let me tag you

1K notes · View notes

i-yap · 14 days

Text

Batboys+bruce x y/n thoughts

Now "the man" is dick grayson. Batman literally said Nightwing is what Batman should have been. He is kind he is understanding he is caring and patient and honestly if you are a little broken, u are assigned to dick . He is wanted by everyone, this is the guy you take home. this is the man who buys you flowers and serenades you and always keeps your boundaries in mind. this is the man that can read you like an open book. that sees the real you no matter how hard you try to hide. Not saying he doesn't have issues, he sucks at communication and commitment. he has a saviours complex. But with the right person, it just fades away and all there is left is the perfect man to marry and have kids and save the world. - aka the married couple

BUT jason is "the man for a woman" . He practically worships the ground you walk on( he lowkey does , like if you're away from the house he'll look at the apartment floor and be like...wheeererrr isss myyyy y/nnnn ) He will leave everything behind for you, will kill everyone no questions asked. Its really heavy and passionate and a little crazy but that's jason for you . It can be a lot for someone who needs personal space or has commitment issues or issues opening up. You got to be really kind, patient and loving when it comes to jason. Very good at reading people and a giver. - aka morticia and gomez

AND Bruce , that dude has a lot of responsibilities. He has no time, he is so busy, he is so tired, he cant be with someone seriously...but why does he want you so bad. You'll have to be strong and patient and forgiving and kind. You will have to force your way into his life and pull him away from all the madness. you are the golden saviour that drags him away from the hell he has been sinking into. pulls him away, encourages him to retire and shows him what a normal life and sleep schedule looks like. After all he has done and given, he deserves to retire with the woman he loves. In many comics, bruce becomes evil from this long life of crime fighting and paranoia or is killed . You save him, teach him that he can too have everything he tries to give other people. A family, peace and love- aka the saving grace

NOW Tim isnt like that at all He is free in all ways the other batboys are not. Dick is so tied down with his superhero responsibilities and jason is so needy and a little demanding to be with . Bruce is tired and not as full of energy . But you can be a kid with tim. there is spontaneity , there is adventure, there is freedom and rebellion and expression of self. The actual teenage love, lets go for a drive and end up in a bull riding contest tim wins and then shut down that ring so no bull is every hurt again. Teeths turning blue from that slushie that just gave him freezebrain. - aka teenage dirtbags

420 notes · View notes

ameliathornromance · 2 months

Text

Once a year, the Clan held a fun rough-housing tournament. It’s nothing serious, just something fun for all the Orcs to do during the Summer. Injuries were normal, but it was always done in good faith and there was never any bad blood by the end of it.

And for some reason, completely beyond your Orc Boyfriends mind, you decided that you wanted to join in for this year.

“No.” He had said, the moment you expressed interest in the tournament. “You’ll be turned into a blueberry pancake.”

“No I won’t.” You had replied. You gave a few playful jabs at his toned stomach. He barely felt them, “see? I can land a few good hits. There are humans who fight Orcs all the time.”

Your Orcs’ arms crossed his chest, scowling down at you. “I’m serious Love. Those humans you speak of are trained for years to hunt down Orcs.” He scoffed, “they use dirty tricks and have no honour.”

You sighed, frowning. “It looks like fun.”

“Your idea of fun is strange.”

“Says the Orc who participates in a yearly fighting contest.”

Your Orc held this information from you, but in his opinion, if you were given the proper training, you could easily body several of his others without breaking a sweat. You have the determination to do it, it’s just the physical strength you would have to make up for.

But the thought of you getting hurt in the process – which you would, Orcs do not hold back, even when rough-housing – made his stomach churn with anxiety.

A few days go by, there’s nothing particularly abnormal about them. The only exception being that, you came to bed, later and later.

Your Orc would always hear the sound of the tent flaps opening and closing, the pressure of your weight on the side of the bed. He didn’t know what you were up to, and when he questioned you about it after the third night, you brushed it off: “Ah, some of the cooks needed help with prep for next weeks meals. Y’know, with the tournament coming up and all that.”

Soon, the night before the start of the tournament came and he was alone. He was waiting for you to come to bed. He always fell asleep faster when you were with him and given what was going to happen the next day, he needed to be at his best.

A couple of minutes past from your usual arrival time, causing your boyfriend to sit up and watch the tent flaps. And then, as he yawned, the tent flaps opened and in you walked.

All tiredness vanished from your Orc in an instant. Your face was bruised, your nose a river of blood. You panted hard as you locked eyes with your Orc Boyfriend.

He froze, unable to believe what he was seeing.

You raised a hand as he shot up, “what happened?” He asked, immediately. Rage began to burn bright and hot in his chest.

“Baby I know what this looks like-”

“Who did this to you?” He cut you off. He took your head in his hand and turned your head side to side, examining the injuries in the low candle light, “why didn’t you shout for me? Did you leave the camp? You know you shouldn’t at this time of-”

“No!” You snapped. Your outburst caused your Orc to retract his hands away from you. “There’s a perfectly good explanation for this.”

His scowl didn’t move. You sighed, rubbing your forehead. “I know you said that I shouldn’t be training for the tournament… But I asked Grok to show me how to fight.”

“Grok!?” Your Orc snapped. “Grok the Bonebreaker?!”

Grok the ‘Bonebreaker’ as humans called him, known for leaving human hunting parties with their bones shattered, but alive enough to be heard screaming for help. Grok was the strongest of all the Orcs in the camp.

He knew his own strength, why would he beat you so badly for training?

“He’s been running me through fighting drills for the past few nights… Tonight he told me to come at him with every thing I had.”

Your Orc Boyfriend had heard enough. He went to move past you, to find Grok and beat the hell out of him. You were just a human being and a woman on top of that, how could he have been so harsh on you?!

“Baby, stop!” You threw your hands out in front of him, “let me finish!”

Your Orc stopped, “no, someone has to teach him a lesson for being so dishonourable-”

“There’s a small problem with that…” You spoke, quickly.

The Orc stopped, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. “What?”

He stared at you, waiting for his answer. What he didn’t expect, was a large grin to spread over your face, eyes glinting with triumph. “Grok is already in the medical tent being seen by the old man because I beat the shit out of him.”

Your Orc’s jaw dropped. He stared at you. "What... How..."

You weren’t strong or tall by any means, you didn't even really have any muscle. Your Orc wanted to be angry, be upset with Grok that he hadn’t held back with you… But all that was overcome by sheer pride.

Your Orc Boyfriend stumbled back, clutching onto his head as if a headache had attacked him. A small chuckle arose in his throat, that then turned into a burst of laughter.

He swept you up in his arms. You gave a yelp of surprise, throwing your arms around your boyfriends neck.

“I can’t-” He pressed his forehead against yours, his laughter dying down, “I can’t believe that I thought you wouldn’t be able to fend for yourself in a fight! Yet here you are, alive and breathing after taking on Grok the Bonebreaker!”

Squeezing you in his arms, he lowered his voice, “this,” he says, “this is why I chose you as my partner, my love.” As he planted a kiss on your cheek, he set you down on your shared bed and sighed.

He took your hands in his, looking down at them settled in your lap. "I'm sorry I didn't think you would..."

"Baby, it's fine." You smiled, making him look up at you. "I understand what you mean now and I'm sorry I didn't tell you what I was doing," wincing, you grazed your nose with your finger. "I think I'll stick to just watching the tournaments from now on."

Relief washed over your Orc, earning another chuckle from him. He sighed, contentedly. “I’m going to kill that Bonebreaker bastard tomorrow.”

He’ll be bragging about this ‘til the end of time – his girlfriend, the human woman, was able to land Grok the Bonebreaker in the medical tent.

Patreon

#monster romance #monster x female #monster x you #orc x reader #monster x human #monster x reader #orc fiction #monster lover #orc boyfriend #orc romance #fantasy world #fantasy #fantasy fiction #fantasy writer #fantasy writing

459 notes · View notes

fiendishfables · 3 months

Note

I would love to see this- Lucifer is the strongest entity in Hell, and it turns him on like nothing else when his lover wrestles him for dominance. He will go straight up feral over that.

Lucifer Morningstar wrestling his S/O for dominance...

Headcanons + Drabble

warnings: nsfw, hints at degradation, mentions of blood, biting, scratching, power-dynamics, rough(er) love

words: 806

a/n: I had way too much fun with this- thanks for this lovely, unique ask, I hope I did it justice! It was a bit difficult for my pee brain to come up with things to write, but the people need to be fed; here is your feast

✡ It's hot, its rough, and it's primal

✡ Ideally, Lucifer never tended to like it when anyone challenged his authority, no matter what over

✡ But if you, his lover, did so, he had the benefits of being able to take you however he pleased after you get the chide out of your system (with consent of course), knowing damn well how much it riles him up

✡ When the two of you wrestle, its almost like two wild animals, fighting for a meal that could very well end up being your last before a harsh winter rolls in

✡ It doesn't take long for his demon form to make an appearance during your steamy game, allowing him a decent advantage over your regular strength capabilities; you often call him out for 'cheating', but seeing him in such a feral state turns you on like nothing else

✡ You can feel him getting hard the first few minutes of your rough-housing, telling you all you need to know about how much he really enjoys doing things like this with you. His deep, guttural groans are hard to ignore, his wings flaring up as they batter your body with feather-light touches

✡ His claws and fangs are really coming out now. His claws are dug deep into your skin, leaving light (yet effective) scratches on your skin, as he watches the blood well up on the line of the cut, proceeding to then lean down and let his forked tongue lick off the excess mess his claws left behind

✡ Bite marks will litter your body, blood complimenting those areas as well. The stinging sensation they leave can not go unnoticed and they only help add to the different emotions you are feeling in the current moment

✡ Having someone to challenge him, both mentally and physically, gets him going; its admirably hot how you continue to protest that you could take him down if you wanted to, and he likes seeing that smug, confident smirk of yours turn to one of pure pleasure and ecstasy as he proves you wrong, over and over again

✡ Knowing he holds the most power possible for a being in any hellish realm, makes it all the more fun when you try and downgrade that title, even if just in the slightest bit; it's your own little game you like to play with one another, a common game of cat and mouse, or rather, Devil and prey

✡ Lucifer is ravaging your body, fully claiming you this time, letting you know that there is no one but himself that can hold this power over you; it reminds you that he will always be in charge one way or another, no matter how much you question

✡ In the long run though, you both love these feral moments in your relationship, getting to express your shared love for one another even in such a strange, somewhat brutal way

✡ He loves fighting for his right to dominate you, and he never fails to claim it.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

The heavy panting and notable scent of sweat on the pair of your bodies seemed to go unnoticed, as the two of you were locked in both an intense staring contest, and a physical fight between your bodies; fingers were locked together, arms continually pushing at the other in an attempt to overthrow them. Your bare skin rubs against each other feverishly, his hard cock still buried deep within you from earlier.

"Do you really think you can overpower me in a battle for dominance, darling? I suggest you give in and just let your King take care of you."

His voice was smooth, soothing almost, aside from his heavy breaths filling your ears. He still sounded like an angel to you all the same.

A feral one.

The two of you had been at this now for a good half-n-hour, trying to secure your position as the dominant party in the sheets for the night, but Lucifer had you pinned underneath his own pale body at this point, using the enhanced strength from his demon form to keep you where you were.

The fight for dominance had been over just as soon as it had started; you both knew this from the beginning.

No matter if you were to be above or beneath him, he would always find a way to end out on top of it all, including yourself.

And by all the Gods, if that didn't make him even sexier in your eyes.

You would easily give yourself up to Lucifer whenever he wanted or needed you; there was no doubt about it and you both shared that same knowledge.

But maybe, if this is where challenging him for dominance got you, then you'd have to indulge in the action more often.

1K notes · View notes

royaltozaki · 1 month

Text

sun-kissed

bachelorette series - trailer • part 1 • part 2 • part 3 • part 5

synopsis: an unexpected arrest deters filming for day 4 so instead, y/n and sana spend the day together. almost like a date?

warnings: mentions of child pedophilia! suggestive, cursing - i forget to tag that alot bcs its in all my fics but just assume its always there oop

w/c: 5.2k

a/n: okay this took me way longer than it should’ve to write but i think it’s maybe my favourite chapter so far… or maybe i’m soft rn 🤭 enjoy!

⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆

could they have made any less of a scene?

the sirens have stopped but the blue and red lights continue to blaze as you stand in shock with the rest of the contestants while the cops raid the mansion.

sana had been taken away by the producers as soon as the police cars had pulled up.

when they're finally done checking the mansion, they walk out a cuffed wonsik. his head is down, refusing to look at any of you, hands behind his back as he's shoved into the back of the police car.

none of you had a clue what was going on, you were all enjoying the third rose ceremony and nothing could've predicted where this night had led you.

eventually, after the police have long driven away, the producers return with sana who looks a little shaken up. you head towards her immediately, wrapping your arms around her shoulders, but she can't seem to face you, eyes blank as she follows the producers instructions for everyone to come back into the mansion.

"sana? sana?" you're trying to get her attention, shaking her slightly.

she snaps out of it with a blink, looking up at you in confusion, "hm?"

"you okay? kinda lost you back there."

"mm yeah i just- it was just really unexpected."

"what was?"

she nods her head towards the producers who are now standing in front of the leftover contestants preparing to make an announcement.

"okay guys so we only just found this out but wonsik has been arrested on charges of owning child pornography, engaging in pedophilic acts, and sexual assault of a minor. the police have searched the house and confiscated all of his items and any incriminating evidence they could use in court. as you all know, we do conduct background checks on all contestants before they are accepted onto this show, and we apologise that this incident has been overseen. we won't be editing wonsik's arrest out of tonight's episode, but he has obviously been eliminated. we'll take tomorrow off filming to allow you all a small break and please do let us know if you have any concerns moving forward with filming."

what the actual fuck?

as soon as the producers are done with their announcement everyone is talking on top of each other, trying to figure out just what the hell happened and how this happened under everyone's noses.

"did you know?"

"holy shit i never saw that coming out of him-"

"man its always the quiet ones that are the most fucked up-"

you turn to sana in shock, feeling much like how she had looked just a little earlier. "sana?"

she's still a little distracted when she looks at you, "hmm? i'm tired y/n. let's go back home?"

you're nodding quickly, leading her away from the aftermath to the quiet cool of the outside air. you wave down your driver and quickly lead sana inside, stuttering out directions to your villa and sitting back, sneaking a glance at sana who's looking out the window with glazed eyes.

the drive back is silent save for the low hum of the engine. you're a little surprised when sana shuffles closer to you, linking her arm through yours and placing her head on your shoulder, still not saying anything.

you take her hand in yours, interlock your fingers, and lean your head on hers. the rest of the short drive is spent like this, the silence is thoughtful, but not awkward.

even as you arrive back at the house, your hands never leave each other's, you lead her towards your shared bathroom and brush your teeth side by side. only letting go of each other when you both go to start your nighttime skincare routines.

sana has a much more intricate routine than you because of her obsession with all things health-related and her need to take care of her skin well. so you finish earlier than her, mumbling a quick goodnight while she's still bent over the sink and moving past her to retire yourself to bed.

you close all the blinds, intending to have a full night's rest and wake up late tomorrow because filming was cancelled, climbing under your sheets and sighing at the feeling of soft fabric against your skin.

your eyes are slowly drifting shut when your door peeks open, and sana's slipping in, closing the door behind her, shrouding the room in darkness again. she tiptoes to the edge of your bed, lifting the cover and sliding inside, cold feet come to entangle themselves with your legs, shuffling close as you get a whiff of her night serum, the sweet, tangy smell of mandarin subtly descending upon your senses.

"this is okay right?" she's murmuring against you, you're lying face to face, eyes sleepily open while your eyes readjust to the darkness, making out the soft curl of her eyelashes and the perfect slant of her nose.

you hum against her, sliding an arm over her waist and pulling her closer, resting your foreheads together and closing your eyes comfortably.

you think she's drifted off to sleep after a few minutes, but she speaks up in a whisper, barely there, you wouldn't have heard her if you weren't almost lip to lip, "y/n?"

"hm?"

you feel the soft breath of her sigh against your lips, "i... i should've known... he- i could've put him away faster- i gave him a platform- he was on national television and oh y/n, kids the kids he took advantage of could've seen him on tv and thought-" she's slowly panicking the tone of her voice getting shakier as she spirals and allows herself to voice her thoughts out loud for the first time, "-thought that he was in the right that it was okay that there were no consequences and then i kissed him oh my god i kissed him y/n and what kinda message does that send like-"

"sana sana baby shh, shh c'mere-" you're pulling her into you, tucking her head under yours and she starts crying and shuddering, hands twisted at the collar of your shirt.

"i just- like what's worse is i actually liked him-"

"mm no no sweetie stop stop. listen no-one knew what he was okay? it's not your fault you fell for him you can't blame yourself for that. he literally came here with the intention of making you do that you were just another one of his unlucky victims okay? and look, once this gets out on the news he's not going to have that platform anymore okay? in fact he'll probably hate that he came on here because he's going to be even more infamous than if he had stayed anonymous. we can only be real and truthful going forward so that those poor kids are validated in their feelings. he's going to be put away for a long long time now and he's not gonna have the chance to pull any more of that shit okay?"

she's sniffling into your shirt, listening to you talk and soothe her. you continue whispering sweet reassurances into the night, waiting for her to calm down.

she sniffles again, finally looking up at you, eyes red and snot dribbling out of her nose, your heart aches, "can we go out tomorrow? just us, like old times."

you smile at her request, nodding and pressing a gentle kiss onto her forehead, "of course baby. we can go do whatever you want. i promise i'll be yours for the whole day."

she's smiling, thanking you softly and closing her eyes. you wait to hear the her breath slow into quiet even snores before you stop stroking her hair, just holding her against you and closing your own eyes. drifting off to sleep with the adorable mimimimi sound she lets out only when she's exhausted and sleeping well.

⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆

the next morning the both of you wake up around 10am, a comfortable time that allowed you to sleep-in, but not so much that you'd miss out on the entire day.

some producers stop by to check in on sana and go through a small debrief of everything that's happened and what they have left to film in the show.

you can tell she's still a little on edge and wants to get away from everything as fast as possible so you politely ask the producers for time off today and to leave the both of you alone until tomorrow since no filming was happening anyway.

eventually, they're leaving and sana's throwing on casual white pants, a light cardigan on top of a knit button-up, sunnies, grabbing her prada handbag and she's ready to go.

you're lucky you have so many things at your disposal, even multiple cars in the garage to pick from as you grab a random set of keys and click unlock. spotting a white convertible respond with its headlights flashing twice and leading sana towards the car, hopping in. sana's mood has already improved greatly, bubbling with excitement as she lists off some names of a couple restaurants you could try in town for lunch. you smile at her nodding along and humming as you start the engine, pulling out of the garage and onto the valley road, turning on the radio and laughing at the way sana almost jumps out of her seat, neck craning up, eyes closing, letting the wind sprinkled with a hint of sea salt blow through her hair, breathing in a deep breath of satisfaction.

you know you're meant to keep your eyes on the road but it was empty anyway and sana looked so so beautiful. you traced the slope of her nose, down to the curve of her lips as she smiles, the sharp lines of her jaw, and the smooth plane of skin at her neck.

she's peeking an eye open at you, laughing when you realise you've been caught, her giggle high and airy. you loved her so much. and it was getting harder and harder to say that to her without it meaning something a little more.

you're pulling into town soon, she's babbling excitedly and pointing at things that interest her with the curiosity of a child, you're trying to find parking and smoothly drive into an angled spot just in front of the restaurant you had both decided on.

you're jumping out of the car and running to the other side to get her door, and she's giggling and smiling when you take her hand, pressing a sweet kiss to her knuckles, and helping her out of the car.

you enter the bustling shop hand in hand, smiling kindly at the waiter who greets you and ushers you to a table situated next to a large window, allowing a picturesque view into the bay area with a couple fishing boats coming back in after an early morning.

you continue your act of chivalry, pulling out her chair before she sits, and then walking over to take your own seat across from her.

you both glance over the menu enjoying the hum of a busy eatery.

"do you know what you want yet y/n?"

the words on the menu were quickly meshing together, lots of french and seafood terms you wouldn't be able to take a first guess at the meaning of. you pout and shake your head.

she giggles at your antics, "it's okay i'll order for us." she's waving over the same waiter who greeted you at the door, then listing off a few menu items, her french sounding poised and elegant, though you knew she had not-so-secretly spent a year obsessing over french ballet and had even taken up a few lessons herself, only to realise she was much too clumsy to continue it. she had thanked your mutual friend mina for the gracious lessons but resorted to attempting to learn french as an outlet for her obsession.

"-leave out the pickles in everything. and that'll be all thankyou."

your heart picks up a little at the small gesture. you despised anything with pickles in it, and she knew that, making sure you wouldn't have to pick out any of those sickly green slices.

you smile in thanks when the waiter leaves with your order, only to come back quickly afterwards with a bottle of chardonnay which she pours into two elegantly carved wine glasses she's brought along with her.

you raise your eyebrows at sana, questioning the alcohol, but she only sits forward, propping an elbow up on the table and leaning her head into it with a smile.

"day drinking?"

"what? i'll drink yours if you don't want it."

you roll your eyes at her affectionately, taking the glass and sipping, humming at the sweet and tangy bitterness that fills your mouth.

she copies your actions with a beam, setting her glass back down and licking her lips. you follow the action.

"is there anything else specific that you wanted to do today?" you're asking her, taking another sip from your glass.

"mm, not really. i don't mind as long as i'm with you."

"glad to know you're feeling well enough again to flirt."

"oh always with you baby. you're the only one for me."

"that's a bold faced lie and you know it."

she pouts at that, and you can't help yourself, leaning forward and pressing lightly on her bottom lip.

"stop that. put that back in there."

she licks your finger and you hiss, pulling away quickly in mock disgust while she laughs, "please you've made me suck on your fingers and now you're grossed out?"

the waiter decides to come with your first dish at that exact moment, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she overheard sana's comment, you don't fare much better when you flare up in embarrassment, hastily wiping your finger on your skirt and babbling out a loud thank you to the waiter.

you glare at sana who's trying her hardest not to laugh, no shame whatsoever, shaking in her seat at the effort of keeping it in, her lips pursed and eyes twinkling.

"you're so going to get it when we get back." you mumble as you stab into a mussel on the plate in front of you.

"awwwwh poor baby's embarrassed, don't worry, mommy will make it better."

your fork drops at the term and you feel yourself going extraordinarily red. she's laughing now, loud and boisterous, drawing the attention of a few onlookers and you throw your napkin at her, whining and slinking back into your chair trying to hide your face.

it's a few seconds after you've folded you arms across your chest and tucked your chin in, willing the heat in your cheeks to go away while staring into your lap, that sana's stopped laughing.

she picks up a mussel with her fork and holds it out to you, leaning forward onto the table again, eyes bright making an 'ahh' sound.

you turn your head, not giving her the satisfaction of paying her attention, but she's persistent, "c'mon y/n. i'm sorry i won't tease anymore i promise."

it's no surprise that you can't resist her, rolling your eyes and opening your mouth, accepting the fleshy piece of seafood and chewing. she's smiling and poking her own piece to put in her mouth, humming at the taste and making sure it was to your liking as well.

the rest of lunch is spent like this, playful and fun, it's good to be able to feel like yourselves again after all the hectic film shooting.

you're standing up to grab the bill after you're both finished when sana shakes her head at you, "i got it already don't worry."

"huh? what do you mean?"

"i told the waiter earlier in french so you wouldn't know. just let me treat this time? i still haven't really been able to thank you for coming along with me for this."

"what? sana this was like... a one hundred dollar meal at least. don't be silly let me pay you back."

she's humming and putting her cardigan back on, standing up and walking in front of you, "pay me back by winning something for me at the arcade?"

you sigh, grumbling along as she giggles at you, taking your hand and leading you out of the restaurant, thanking your waiter who still looks a little off-put by you, and walking down the street to where you had spotted the small arcade earlier.

you purchase a hefty amount of arcade tokens and get straight into all the classics. sana just barely won air hockey against you, jumping and whooping with every goal, you have to take off your jacket midway through the game, sweating as you try and focus on hitting the little puck. you get her back on the dance machines though, you can't keep in the laugh when she somehow ends up sprawled on the floor, limbs tangled and missing every following beat.

you cycle through the arcade, speeding through mario kart and midnight run, shooting with abysmal accuracy at the gun games, trying your hand at some of the more unique japanese arcade games they have (which sana completely destroys you at), and eventually ending up at the wide variety of claw machines.

sana's pulling you towards one with spy x family collectibles, and you furrow your eyebrows in concentration as you try to get the small anya keychain for her.

she's giving you instructions from the side of the machine, trying to give you as much perspective as possible before the time runs out and the claw drops. you wait with baited breath as it grabs the keychain, comes back up with a whir, and then... the keychain falls out at the bump at the top of the machine.

you don't even hesitate when you push in another token, determined to win this one thing.

sana's with you the whole way, her reactions only getting more and more expressive with each loss.

you're probably on your 9th try, the claw grabs onto the keychain, lifts it up, and with a whoop the keychain's falling successfully into the claim box. sana's caterwauling and jumping into your arms and you lift her up in glee, spinning her around once before setting her back down. you bend down to pick up the keychain, presenting it to sana with a flourish, and then she's kissing your cheek and squeezing you against her in a hug, thank yous spilling out of her in rapid succession.

you giggle against her, hugging back, relishing in the contact.

after you exchange your arcade tickets for prizes, you head down towards the docks, stopping for some ice cream before making it to the boardwalk.

there are a few other couples doing the same thing, and when you nod politely to an elderly couple holding hands, you're hit with the abrupt realisation that you and sana must look like a couple right now. unless people were homophobic, then you'd just be a couple of close friends, maybe roommates.

you're suddenly hyperaware of the sweat starting to collect on your palm, releasing her hand and wiping it on your skirt when she looks at you with a cocked head, mid-lick of her ice cream cone, eyes wide.

you switch your own ice cream cone to your other hand so it looks like you had an excuse to let go, avoiding her questioning gaze.

eventually you both decide to sit down at the end of the boardwalk, legs dangling over the edge and looking out across the bay. there weren't any boats currently docked in so you had a clear view of the blue vastness in front of you.

sana's leaning in and looking up at you with puppy dog eyes.

"...what?"

she doesn't speak, her eyes darting down to your own ice cream cone and back up.

you roll your eyes and hold it out for her.

she's grinning and sticking out her tongue to lick a long strip along the side of your cone, humming in satisfaction.

"wanna try mine?"

"i'm okay thanks."

she's pouting and you can't have that so you lean in and lick some of hers, cringing at the overly sweet taste of artificial fairy floss but the smile she gives you afterwards makes up for it.

you both sit back and enjoy the light afternoon breeze, a calming presence after the hectic running around you did at the arcade.

"i missed this." sana speaks up first.

"me too."

"things have been pretty crazy with the house. i'm really glad that you're here with me though."

you turn to her and smile, "i'm glad you let me come."

"of course. the home visits later on are gonna get a little crazy. every season those are always full of drama."

"do you know who you want to end up there yet? your final four?"

she hums, thinking for a little, "still not really. we have... nine- wait no, eight since wonsik's a pedophile. so jacky, eunji, jihyo, momo, jun, jiwon, nayeon, and dae."

"it's a good mix i think. they all have different types of chemistry with you."

you're distracted by a buzz on your phone, taking it out and opening your messages.

miyeon: y/n!!!!! i just saw the news about wonsik! its everywhere rn r u guys okay?

"who's that?" sana's looking at your with a curious lilt in her voice.

you hesitate to respond, knowing how she reacted the last time you and miyeon were together.

"oh just my uncle. he's asking what to get my mum for her birthday later. you'd think he'd know since they're siblings but..." you trail off, typing a quick response back to miyeon.

y/n: it was crazy no one saw it coming! the producers called off filming today.. probably so they can deal with all the legal disputes that'll come up bcs of this

you tuck your phone back into your jacket, ignoring the new messages you get. you could respond to miyeon later. today was meant for you and sana.

sana's sighing and leaning her head on your shoulder, "wish i wore swimmers. it's such nice weather and the water looks soo good."

"we can head back and go for a swim in the pool if you want? we haven't had a chance to use it yet. may as well get the most out of being the main character on this show."

she's up in seconds, grinning, all fatigue gone as she practically prances back towards the car, only turning back to yell at you to hurry up.

you beam at her, running to catch up, laughing and smiling, just the two of you.

⋆｡‧˚ʚ♡ɞ˚‧｡⋆

sana's yelping when you cannonball into the deep end of the pool, splashing her with cold water in your wake.

"y/n!!"

you break the surface grinning and laughing, trying to splash more water on her.

"sto- stop! y/n oh my god-"

"hurry uppppppp! it's not cold if you get it over and done with!"

"no! i need to put on sunscreen first!"

"sunscreen? it's 4pm!"

"there are still UV rays at this time! i don't want to die from skin cancer and if you're a good girl you'll get out and let me put sunscreen on you too."

you narrow your eyes at her while she's lathering her legs with the white cream.

you decide to ignore her, diving into the pool and resurfacing a few times, splashing around by yourself while she takes her sweet time. to be honest, you're glad for the coolness the pool offers you, when sana first stepped out in her pale yellow bikini, you had felt your cheeks blush all the way up to the tips of your ears. you'd avoided her gaze quickly, instead opting for racing her outside and jumping in right away.

now that she wasn't watching you though, you couldn't help the way your eyes drifted over to her. she had finished with her legs and was now applying lotion to her arms. you traced the outline of her-

"y/n!"

you startle in the water, and she's looking at you curiously when you make a sort of weird strangled sound and water goes swashing around. "y-yeah?" you clear your throat, hoping you weren't as red as you felt.

"can you help with my back? i can't reach." she's looking at you with a dangerous pout, eyes pleading.

you mumble incoherently as you swim towards the shallow end, stepping out of the pool and grabbing the sunscreen bottle from her, gesturing for her to turn around while she grins at you.

you squirt some of the lotion onto your hand, rubbing it diligently into her back. you knew how much she cared for her skin, and even though you cared significantly less for your own, it mattered to her so you had to make sure you did a good job.

the problem arose when you started reaching her lower back. the pressure you've been applying becomes considerably less when you realise just how close you are to sana's ass. sana's very very attractive ass, only emphasised in these bikini bottoms.

"feeling shy y/n?"

"s-shut up."

"you can do my ass too if you want y'know. it's not like it's anything you haven't felt before."

you can picture the cheeky smirk on her face while you recap the sunscreen bottle after you're finished. and really, you just felt like you had to do something about that so before you know it, a hand's coming down and smacking her, a loud resounding slap followed closely by sana's yelp.

you're jumping back into the pool, trying to push the image of her cheeks rippling in the most perfect way to the very back of your mind.

when you break the surface again with a bubbly laugh she's still standing by the side of the pool, arms crossed and an unimpressed look on her face.

"did you just spank me y/n?"

you stick your tongue out her in defiance, sending a splash of water her way.

"oh you are so dead!" she's jumping in now, and you're scrambling away trying to put as much distance between you two as possible. but she closes in quickly, tackling you underwater and pulling you down so you're both submerged.

you're grinning and then you're laughing, but not in a good way because her fingers are at your sides tickling you and digging into all of the sensitive points in your body she's discovered over the time you've known each other.

you spend the next few minutes trying to one up one another, droplets of water flying everywhere, noisy screeches and laughs sounding out. you're lucky this mansion of a house was situated in the valleys with no neighbours or you most definitely would've gotten a noise complaint.

eventually, you decide to call a truce, cheeks sore from smiling, stomach sore from laughing. you float onto your back, closing your eyes and letting out a loud sigh in comfort. you can feel sana floating next to you, your heads next to each other, hearts beating in tandem.

she’s speaking up after a minute, "cats or dogs?"

you snort, "i don't mind."

you can hear the whine in her voice, "just pick one."

you hum thinking about it for a little, "whatever suits my lifestyle better i guess. if i'm really busy with work or i have to stay home a lot then probably a cat. but if i have a big backyard or something then probably a dog. knowing me though, i'll probably end up with cats. i'm too lazy to keep up with the energy dogs have."

"not with me though right?"

"what? of course not with you. also, you're not a dog sana."

"people say i look like a shiba inu."

"that's not the same thing."

she giggles a little before sighing, "you suit cats. okay. it's decided. we're getting a cat when we go home."

"huh?!"

she's breaking into high-pitched laughter again and you can only find yourself to be slightly concerned over whether she's being serious or not. you could deal with that at a much later date though. you drift back into a comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of the night wildlife slowly wake up in the valleys next to you.

"y/n?"

"hmm?"

"i love you."

your eyes are opening now, heart rate picking up. there's no reason to panic right? she meant it as a friend. a friend. so why was it so hard to say it back to her? as a friend?

instead, you say, "enjoy our date that much minatozaki?"

she doesn't respond with the same teasing tone you're expecting, "i really did." all honest and pure.

you're gulping, "...me too."

you know she's standing when you feel light waves push against your body, so you lift yourself up, looking at her puzzled, but she only goes to stand in front of you, grabbing your arms and wrapping them around her waist.

you let her, squeezing slightly and dropping your head onto her shoulder, your eyes drinking in the pinks and oranges of the sunrise.

"you're not gonna say it back?"

you stiffen behind her, "what?"

"you know what."

she's tightening her hold around you even before you try to subconsciously escape.

you let out an almost-laugh breath, "...i love you too sana."

"was that so hard?" she's turning now, pupils dilated when they meet yours, pink lips slightly parted, noses almost touching.

you're shaking your head no, breath caught up in your throat.

a crinkle appears between her eyebrows, you have the urge to smooth it out, "are you lying?"

another shake of your head.

you feel her breath against your lips as she lets out a soft exhale, the tightening of her hands against your forearms helping ground you, if only slightly.

"i hope one day you'll be able to tell me the truth." you're confused, what was she talking about? "for now i guess this is fine." and then she's leaning in and pressing her lips against yours.

its almost an automatic reaction now. your mouth is moving against hers even before your brain registers you're kissing.

she's sweet, she always is. but this kiss is a little different. it's not filled with passion or heat, not like all your previous kisses that have always led to tangled limbs and heavy breaths. it's soft, tender, like she's trying to tell you something with her lips. you just weren't particularly versed in this form of sana communication yet to be able to tell what that was.

when she breaks away, the sun is dipping behind the horizon, her forehead leaned against yours, breaths coming in shorter after the lack of air.

she shivers a little when a cool gust of wind starts up.

"inside?" you ask.

she nods, letting you go, and following you out of the pool to dry off.

the rest of the night, even when you end up sprawled on messy sheets, sweat coating your bodies and arms around each other, your lips still tingle from her kiss in the pool. you fall asleep dreaming of small kittens, ice-cream, and sana.

#sana #minatozaki sana #twice sana #sana x reader #sana x f!reader #sana x fem!reader #twice x reader #twice x f!reader #twice x fem!reader #twice imagines #sana imagines #royaltozaki

269 notes · View notes

munsster · 1 year

Note

hii!! i'd like to request a steve harrington x fem!reader fic pls <33 reader confesses to steve, but he says he doesn't like her. then reader's all 'okay fine, i'm gonna move on' and when she actually does that, steve is 🥺 lots of angst please and some steve grovelling teehee <33

gut feeling

A/N: okay yes 😏 i screwed this up the littlest bit, but i hope it still tickles ur fancy. also i’ve seen this done for king!steve and i wanted to write it for s4 steven

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

Summary: You have big feelings for Steve, he’s just not sure he feels the same way. 3.6k words.

Warnings: angst, but it resolves into fluff, unrequited love trope, lots of feelings, friends to lovers?, CURSING!, italics, established friendship, feat. Keith 😑

"You think it would be gross if we kissed?"

Steve thinks you might actually sound hurt, but he also thinks the face he's making is hilarious beyond belief: kind of contorted and screwed inward, nose scrunched and trying really hard to batten down a grin. You glare at him from the passenger's seat, arms crossed tight over your green Family Video vest.

You think he's wonderful despite his naiveté. If only he knew how handsome you thought he was, all caramel locks and big brown eyes and the kind of smile that reaches his eyes before he's even thought of it. No wonder he has an ego up to the moon. No wonder he still manages to weasel his way into the creases and crevices of any living creature's heart. Even yours. Hell, especially yours.

"Yeah, duh!"—and he's so sure of it, you could cry—"You're like the little sister I never had!"

You chuckle but you look like you're about to hurl yourself out of the car or get yourself arrested for manslaughter. Thank God he's only a block away from your house, or he'd never see the light of day again. Does he really think of you like that? The soft laughter peters out into a grating silence that burns right down your throat and feels like hard metal settling in your lungs.

He doesn't dare glance over at you. He only bites down hard around nothing and grimaces, eyes set hard on the lines dashing beneath the grill of his car. Jesus Christ, he does not think of you like that. And he begs whatever stupid pride is keeping him steady in this nonexistent pissing contest to leave it be, but its jaw is set in the tender meat of the game.

"Don't have to be so jovial about it," you grumble.

"What?"

"Mine's on the left," you grumble, nodding out the window. Oh, he's definitely in trouble. You only ignore him like this when he's done something boyish to a fault.

"I know. I drive you home every—hey!"

"Bye," you coo, booking it up the steps to your door, refusing to turn over your shoulder for fear that you'll burst into tears upon seeing him smile or frown or crack the slightest look of confusion.

He watches you slam the door and rolls the passenger window up with a frustrated sigh. Where the Hell did that come from and why. All while you're sitting against the foot of your bed, chattering into the phone at Robin, still wearing your uniform and tugging at strands of your hair as expletives weave themselves between every three words.

"Oh my Fucking God, I'm so fucking embarrassed right now, Robs—Does he—? Does he think I'm some sort of fuckin' baby? I just don't—"

"He's just being Steve, okay? He probably didn't mean it—"

"The way he looked at me, Robin, I felt like a fucking imbecile. Of all the dickheads in the world I could fall for, my heart chose Harrington? Maybe I'm the idiot." You sigh and kick your feet out, the frustration winding up new nerves and letting them go like tight springs to fling out over your body.

She sighs and it rattles through the grainy speaker. "You're not an idiot; he has his moments. Don't beat yourself up, you know how he gets. He's probably not thinking straight, just... tell him? The worst he can say is—"

"That I'm like a sister to him? Oh, how delightful. That's even worse than just flat out admitting I'm unattractive."

"You're not unattractive, don't do that."

"I am to him," you groan.

"Hey," she hums after a beat of crackling silence. You close your eyes and grip the sickly yellow receiver a little tighter.

"I really like him."

"I know."

"And it sucks."

"I know." The other end rustles and you let out a curt sigh just as you move to stand. "I love you, and I'm here for you. Especially when dumb boys make you feel like shit. You'll always be the most amazing and most beautiful girl in my life, don't forget that."

"Thank you. I'll see you, Robs."

"Take it easy."

—

Steve wakes up to an ache in his neck and a soreness in his knuckles. You didn't call him last night. And he's assuming you didn't call him before school this morning because his alarm clock flashes eleven, first period starts at eight-thirty, and the tone his ancient landline emits is shrill enough to deafen a man. Let alone wake him up in a cold sweat. He concocts a sick feeling in his stomach of burnt orange shame and maroon guilt because he has to wait until closing shift tonight to explain himself to you.

But by then, he's feeling spiteful. You weren't home when he went to pick you up and he waited ten minutes and knocked on the door in bulk. Until someone who was not you answered and told him that you'd gotten a ride with some jerk from the Hawkins High football team. That's not how it was originally said, but that's how he heard it. So you're avoiding him? It makes him spit up a little in his mouth, and he's going about twenty over the speed limit the entire way to make it on time.

By the time he can fling open the glass door and hear the sound of the tiny bell, he spots you in the back corner with a stack of tapes under your arm. Listening to music. To drown him out. And it makes him frown. Six hours. That's how long he'd have to endure this, then he could go home and not call you and not be able to sleep.

The casette in your Walkman can only run for so long, right? But he watches you rewind it after an hour and a half and slumps against the front desk when you grab a new stack of tapes from behind him. He simmers down after the first half of the shift, and of course, the fact that you won't talk to him rubs him the wrong way, but what's even worse is that now you're bumming rides off of losers on the worst football team in all of Indiana.

He gets worked up thinking about that guy's motivation and how many times he probably tried to make a pass at you. Steve would never do that to you. Even if he wanted to, he's a gentleman at heart. He could beat that jerk to a pulp just imagining him giving you the look. God forbid that sucker puts his hands on you. Steve would get charged with battery before ever letting that happen.

It's not like he can say anything to you about it either. He's pissed, and he knows himself. He'd get all angry and confrontational, and you deserve better than that. It's his fault you got there first, and it's his fault you got to stocking, and it's his fault you're tuning him out. But he didn't think what he said last night would be worth all that trouble.

"If you keep up the optic blast, I'm gonna buy you a ruby-quartz visored monocle." And that droning voice could only belong to one overbearing manager.

"What do you need, Keith?" Steve grumbles, and out of the corner of his eye, he catches you looking to the front of the store to watch the encounter with a smirk.

"Duty calls, Harrington. Corporate sent us more shelf space. Need someone to unload it into the office," Keith murmurs, shooting a glance your way, "And, uh... it's kind of unwieldy, so get the kid to help you out."

It makes Steve's eye twitch because you're not some kid. And if you heard Keith refer to you as such, you'd unleash a fleet of curses on him. Only Steve is allowed to call you that. Because it's funny, duh. You're a year younger than him, obviously he's going to use that to his comedic advantage. Oh.

He lets out a sigh—"alright"—and leaves Keith to man the front while he skirts to the back of the store and leads you by the hand through the office.

"'The Hell, Harrington?" you hiss, but you keep your fingers locked between Steve's, abandoning the rest of the tapes on Keith's desk and jogging to catch up with his stride. As forward and demanding as his grip may be, you have to admit, the warmth of his palm is comforting and it makes your heart race because you've never held hands with Steve before. And in any other circumstance, you might've been able to enjoy it a little more.

"Keith told me to tell you that you have to help me bring a shelf in from the truck."

"Oh, I have to?" you bark, now pulling your hand away and putting your headphones around your neck once you exit through the back door with him. "And you didn't think to give me a warning before yanking on my arm?"

"Yes, you have to, and maybe if you weren't listening to that shit so loud, you would've been in the loop." It comes out far more harsh than he intended, and that was exactly what he was afraid of happening in a confrontation with you. His brow softens, and the tension in his upper back and jaw dissipates into his own self-pity party. "And I didn't yank on your arm. Or at least I didn't mean to, so I'm sorry for that much."

Steve hops up into the truck and offers you a hand you don't take as much as you both wish you would have. Because he looks like a kicked puppy, and you have to stop yourself from cheering yourself on. Maybe this will be your first literal step towards getting over him. Once and for all.

After about fifteen minutes of heaving and ho-ing, the two of you manage to haul the shelf into the office as per Keith's request. He was right: it was unwieldy. The awkward grip spots caused a lot of overlap, and you both flinched away from the physical contact in a matter of milliseconds. But Steve couldn't deny he felt bad, and you couldn't deny that you definitely still had feelings for him.

You grab your previously abandoned stack of tapes to scurry out of the office, but Steve stops you by the elbow. And you glare back at him.

"Sorry. The... yanking, I know"—he shoves his hands in his pockets and looks down—"Look, I'm not entirely sure what happened last night in the car, but it clearly made you uncomfortable, and I'd like to apologize."

He can see the neurons firing when he looks you in the eye, but he can also see that his apology wasn't effective in the slightest. Because you're still anger-ridden and fuming at him. You put your headphones on and go back to restocking shelves.

He checks the digital clock above the door. Two hours till eleven. Great.

And they creep by like refrigerated molasses. Second by second. Every time he glances at the clock, only a minute has passed. Eventually, though, he starts cleaning up for closing: vacuuming, cleaning the windows, fixing the display. And he finds himself getting a little more efficient at checking tapes back in and rewinding them only so you'll cruise by the front—scowling at him, but nonetheless at him—to grab a new stack and shelf it.

Five minutes to closing and a sleek, blue sedan pulls into the parking lot, and you practically beam at it, grinning and skipping to the front. You grab your bag from under the counter next to Steve's hip and shove your Walkman into it.

"You know, my car works perfectly fine," he grumbles, "don't have to replace me with some football jerk." He knows that struck a nerve because your smile immediately flickers away into a squint.

"That football jerk is bilingual, a painter, and lets me listen to the music I like in his car."

"But that's not the rules," he whines, desperately defending himself against some sports guy who's probably taking advantage of you.

"Well, I like him and he's nice to me." You sling your bag over your shoulder triumphantly, marching towards the door.

Steve is aghast at the implication. He thought you liked listening to the radio. Plus he took Spanish and art for the required two years, it's not that great of an achievement.

Still, he sputters out, "Yeah, well—"

You wave over your shoulder. "Later, Steve."

Since when did he become such a loser.

He watches jerk-face open the car door for you then glance over to wave at him with a perfect smile and perfect hair and perfect manners. What an asshole. Steve does not wave back.

—

"That's the kinda guy she likes?" he fusses into the phone, palming his face while Robin chuckles on the other line. This whole time he thought for sure you liked the self-assured, cocky, college-age boy type. And now you're dating a high schooler. Come on, jerk-face is not even that good looking.

"First of all, they're not dating. Second of all, don't lie to make yourself feel better; even I can admit he's basically a Greek god," Robin says, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "Third... why do you care? You’re acting like it’s your job to protect her, but it’s not. She’s an adult now, you know, she can take her of herself.”

He lets out a puff of air through his nose, blinking hard and leaning into the pale yellow receiver. Then mumbling: "She told you."

And she replies, cheerily: "Yup."

"Well—! I just... don't want to see her get hurt. I know that type of guy. I used to be that type of guy. He's bad news, I can tell."

"Right,” Robin scoffs, “It's definitely not because you love her.”

"I don't love her. She's just a baby, and we don't even like the same things. It would never work out between us, there's no connection." They both know it’s a lame excuse, but it’s worked up until this moment. It’s worked since the day you met. You’re too young, the end. Sure, you can be cute sometimes, but you’re also a pain in the ass and you two could never get along long enough to stitch together a real relationship.

But Robin sees through all of that shit. And she’s over it.

“Okay, maybe, but she listens when you talk about cars, and you buy the albums she likes even when she only mentions them once. Plus, you both love Dustin like he's an extra limb”—she’s right, you love that kid to death and Lord knows Steve looks after him like a son—“I think as much as you wretch and complain over her being too young and the connection not 'being there', it seems like you try an awful lot to get her to like you."

He immediately rejects the idea with a scoff.

"Of course I’d want a cool person to like me, old fuckin’ habits die hard. But that's all. She's cool and has a good sense of style and tells the best jokes and makes me feel smart and listens to me, and right now I'm feeling pretty crazy because maybe I do love her and I blew it because... because? Because I don’t know why—but she's probably sitting in some jerk's car listening to her favorite songs and watching him paint the sunset while speaking Spanish or whatever."

Robin closes her eyes, and Steve’s annoyed by the fact that he can hear her smirking. "Jesus Christ, I need to start charging you idiots for my time"—and she sighs—"Just... tell her all that cheese. And maybe throw in an apology or two. I don't know, do what you usually do when you pick up girls.”

He’s frustrated. And annoyed. But he throws a thanks at her anyway and stomps down the stairs and to his beamer. It’s not until he’s shrouded in the piercing light of the convenience store that he realizes three things: he’s still in his work uniform, it’s midnight, and he’s pretty sure he does love you. He grabs a bouquet, not even realizing it’s a bouquet of amaryllis and baby’s breath—he’d prefer roses, but ‘tis not the season, as the cashier told him.

Minutes later, he’s muttering under his breath like he’s mad, waiting for someone to answer your door. And thank God you do.

“Steve—?”

“Oh, shit, did I—were you—?”

“Oh, no, I was just…”—thinking about him—“nothin’. What’re you doing here?”

He pushes a furious hand through his hair, then tucks a chunk behind his ear, worrying at his bottom lip. More nervous than he’s been in his whole life. Then he flashes those soft brown eyes at you, and you’re toast. You step onto your doormat and shut the door behind you because he starts into his sentence like a blazing fire:

"I feel so stupid, and I’m sorry for saying you're like a little sister to me; I don’t believe that, and it couldn’t be further from the truth. You're not like a sister to me, you're like the only thing that matters and I feel like I wanna learn another language for you and take a cooking class for you and listen to your music with you. I just, I mean I’m trying to say you make me want to be a better person, and I feel like I’m already a better person whenever I’m around you. I... what I’m saying—and I promise I’m getting to it—is that I’m sorry for being so stupid and not seeing it before, but I think you're beautiful and I'd be honored if you'd forgive me and maybe consider letting me take you out sometime. Like on a date."

He’s breathing heavily, looking and feeling manic, and your eyes are wide as you slowly process his confession. It goes down like sweet wine, floral down your throat and settling in your tummy like candy. But still: what the fuck? Is he insane? Are you insane?

His hair is flopped to one side, and his work vest is snug around his shoulders. You step forward slowly, and the creases in his forehead seem to go smooth. And you point to the bouquet.

“For me?”

Steve glances down. "Oh, yeah, got em for you. Sorry they're not roses, it's not—"

"I love them, thank you."

He nods. And you smile. And despite how beautiful the soft pink and white flowers are, you’re not particularly focused on their safety when you hook your arms beneath his and rope him into a hug. It’s clearly just what he needed when he goes pliant and heavy against your chest, smiling into your neck as his hands wrap over your shoulders.

"I think we might both be stupid,” you whisper.

He chuckles. "Yup. Just a couple of stupids. Geez, what kinda pair are we?" You both pull away. Only to look at each other squarely. To see a smile creep and creep across the other’s face. And he cocks a brow and says, "By the way, worst twenty-four hours of my life—"

And that’s saying something after the last three years.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Steve, I was just so—"

"I know."

"So confused and disappointed, it was—"

"Torture, yeah, don't even think about doing that ever again,” he teases, pinching your side and scrunching his nose when you pinch him back.

"Yeah. Well, never tell me I’m like a little sister to you ever again.”

Gross.

"I don't plan on it"

With the slow bat of your lashes, and the tender curve of your lips, he can’t not think about kissing you. Not in this light. Not under the meddling moon, and not holding your waist like cupping pools of honey.

Then you look away. For all the shit you talk, he manages to make you far more shy than he ever anticipates. And it gives him butterflies to see you duck away.

"You know, I think you're pretty beautiful yourself, Harrington.”

Oh, he’s blushing now. The blood gushes hot to his face, he could sweat buckets right here and now. You can probably hear his heartbeat. Jesus Christ, what’ve you done to him? You can tell he’s nervous when he chuckles softly. "Does this mean I can start giving you rides again?"

You pretend to weigh your options. As if there would ever be a better alternative. "Only if you let me play my music sometimes.”

"Absolutely. I never liked the radio much anyway."

You let go of him only to cradle your bouquet in both hands, admiring the petals while Steve puts his hands back in his pockets.

"Then I'll see you later," he says. Grinning ear to ear, mind you.

"Yeah,” you coo, “I’ll see you."

With one hand on his shoulder, you plant a kiss on his willing cheek and let him go. But before he can make it to his car you holler, “Wait!” and he jogs back over to you.

"Did I forget somethin’?"

“Yeah,” you poke, "you forgot about our date."

He tilts his head a little, brows furrowed. "Our... our date? What do you mean our… Ohhhh”—he nods in understanding, suddenly hit with a wave of excitement and embarrassment—"Does tomorrow work? We could grab lunch or dinner or something and maybe stop by the arcade or—oh, the fair's in town, that could be kinda fun, unless you don't want to, I mean—"

"Steve?" you hum.

“Mhm?”

"I'd love to."

And suddenly his ego is miles through the roof; he's nodding and grinning and it’s like he can’t wait to wake up tomorrow just to see you again.

"Me too. Okay. Yeah! I'll see you then."

"Bye, Stevie.” You give him a small wave, and the shroud of plastic around the bouquet crinkles like the corners of his eyes at the idea of tomorrow.

masterlist

#steve harrington fluff #steve harrington angst #unrequited crush #stranger things #x reader #stranger things x y/n #stranger things x reader #fluff #steve harrington #st4 #stranger things 4 #x fem!reader #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x reader #angst #best friends to lovers #friends to lovers

2K notes · View notes

hannie-dul-set · 6 months

Text

HOME FOR THE BITCHLESS [8].

SYNOPSIS. wherein your friend offers a room for you to crash in while your dorm is being renovated, but fails to mention that your new housemates don’t know how to talk to women (oh, and they also have an ongoing bet about you, too).

PAIRINGS. choi soobin, choi beomgyu, lee heeseung, park jongseong, sim jaeyun, park sunghoon x female! reader. GENRE. housemates! au, rom-com, sitcom, reverse harem time baby. WARNINGS. swearing, vomit, heeseung is sick, tormenting said sick man, sex jokes, and loser hee backstory reveal. WORD COUNT. 3.8k.

NOTE. merry christmas. my gift for u all is the heeseung chapter. let's pretend that it's still summer for the sake of the fic yes thank u hope u enjoy.

MASTERLIST | NEXT >

CHAPTER 8 — hot, drenched, and sweaty.

“I THINK HEESEUNG IS IN A FIGHT CLUB.” That unprompted statement catches the interest of all the four boys currently in the living room. Soobin looks up from his half-finished crocheted bonnet, Jake and Jay pause their game of scrabble, and Sunghoon drops a rubik’s cube on your face because you gallantly decided to use his lap as a pillow on the lounge sofa.

“Oh god, I’m— I’m sorry,” he sputters out an apology. You take this as a sign to stop invading his space. “What do you mean though? Fight club? Heeseung?”

“Listen.”

You spring up from your position, sitting with a very determined look on your face which simply prompts their attention further. “Heeseung leaves the house at exactly 10 p.m. every Saturday night and comes back at like two in the morning. I asked him about is once, and all he said is that he’s doing ‘business,’ whatever the fuck that means. It’s suspicious as hell.”

The only reason why you were up at 2 a.m. to catch him in the act in the first place is because one time, you challenged Beomgyu and Jake to a no-sleeping contest and those two are the most gullible and have the most money from the lot. Little did those suckers know that you slept for fifteen hours prior to challenging them. They dozed off at the thirty six hour mark while you were still awake enough to catch Heeseung sneaking into the house at the devil’s hour.

After that, you had more money in your bank account, and a new curiosity that’s begging to be satisfied.

“I think he’s in an underground fighting club,” you declare. “There’s no other reason.”

“No, no,” Jay contends. “It might be something else. He could be a stripper.”

A silent moment of consideration.

Then you all release a unified, “Nah.”

“Maybe it’s private,” says Sungoon. “What—whatever it is, it could be none of our business.”

He has a point, but you’re nosy and bored. So are Jake and Jay because turns out, today’s a Saturday, and you have nothing to do, and you’re acquitted from any charges of instigating things because it’s Jay who announces, “Should we follow him?”

You grin. Sunghoon doesn’t approve of your expression. “We should follow him.”

“I’ll keep a lookout.”

“Text us when he’s about to leave.”

“You got it.”

Thus starts your mission of finding out whether Heeseung is secretly an underground fighter or a stripper. Sunghoon refused to be a part of it, but Soobin wasn’t strong enough to deny your puppy dog eyes, so it’s you, him, Jake, and Jay who might be charged for stalking and invasion of privacy because the moment you get a signal from Jake that “the target is out of the house, over,” the four of you, willingly or otherwise, start to tail him.

It’s disconcertingly easy to follow Heeseung without him noticing the four not so discreet people lagging behind him. When he takes off on a bus, you quickly hail a taxi for the four of you to jump inside of and continue the trail.

“I think—I think we should head back,” says Soobin, squeezing his arms against his torso because there are three of you cramped in the backseat. “The sky is glum. I think it’s gonna rain.”

“The sky is glum because it’s the fucking night. Mr. Sun has died. Wait, he just got off the bus. Let’s go, let’s go before we lose him!”

As you stalk down the sidewalk, you can’t help but feel a sense of deja vu because you swear you’ve crossed this same path before. You’ve been here before. You’re sure of it, and it’s not just because this area is just around your university, of which you haven’t stepped foot on since the beginning of summer and since living with Jake and his friends.

“Hey, he’s over there, he’s going to that cafe.”

Your deja vu is answered when the familiar facade of The Lounge shows up right before you. Heeseung enters the building. Sunghoon knew all along, that fucking rat. That’s why was so against this plot, that’s why he refused to tag along with you. “I’m going in,” says Jay. You postpone your revenge plan against Sunghoon for later and quickly follow behind Jay into the cafe. Once you enter however, it starts pouring.

The clear glass windows of the place get stained by an assault of raindrops. Crap. None of you brought an umbrella. “I knew it was going to rain…” Soobin laments, and you pat circles against his back to apologize for doubting him, further telling him that he has a knack for weather prediction and if he’s considering switching career paths.

“What now?” Jake asks.

“We can wait for the rain to stop or call Sunghoon to pick us up and bring us umbrellas,” you tell them. “For now, let’s find out what the fuck Lee Heeseung is up to here. This wasn’t part of any of our calculations.” The calculations being either violence or promiscuity. You didn’t make a lot of calculations.

The problem is, Heeseung is nowhere to be found. You end up ordering some drinks and food and decide to settle in a booth at the corner of the place so that you guys can have a full and complete view of the cafe’s entire interior, yet you still can’t find him, so you end up reminiscing the time Sunghoon dumped your lemonade on you which catapulted your hobby of messing with these guys because they become so nervous around you it’s funny.

“Did we enter the wrong building? Did he catch us tailing him and left through the back door?!”

You doubt Jake’s presumptions, and you’re correct to doubt him because right at that moment, Heeseung finally shows his stupid fucking face.

Not only does he show his stupid fucking face— he shows his stupid fucking face on the mini stage in the other corner of the cafe with a freaking guitar. What? So he’s not an underground fighter? Heeseung leans into the mic and a singular “ah,” resounds from the speakers mounted on the walls, muting down the muffled sound of the rain outside in that single instant.

When Heeseung starts to play the instrument followed by the sound of his voice, the rain is forgotten entirely.

This is a surprise. This is unexpected.

“This is disappointing,” says Jay, and you snap your head at him with eyes wide in alarm and disbelief because what does he mean disappointing? Disappointing where? You’ve been living with an angel all this time and you didn’t know?

“Yeah, it’d be cooler if he was in a fight club,” Jake adds, as if their friend isn’t putting the Billboard’s Hot 100 to shame right now. What kind of bullshit are they saying?

“Did you guys know he could sing like that?”

The three look at you, even Soobin, and respond with a yes, a nod, a hum. Your mouth gapes. But you don’t get why you’re surprised when these guys have known each other for years prior to you barging in unannounced— so, of course they know, of course you don’t, and in the midst of all this, your thoughts are interrupted by the sharp screech from the speakers, because Heeseung has stopped singing, and is instead now looking at your table, looking more alarmed than you.

You’re pretty sure your eyes met before he decided to bolt out of the cafe.

“Oh, he’s getting off stage. Maybe he’s going to greet u— why is he skipping our table? Why is he running outside? Hyung, wait!”

None of you end up chasing after him because it’s still pouring outside, and you can already predict what the aftermath of this is going to be. Thus concludes your mission of finding out whether or not Heeseung is secretly an underground fighter or a stripper, with the answer amounting to neither because Heeseung is a performer during The Lounge’s open mic nights, and you don’t get why he’s been acting so secretive about it all this time.

Heeseung wakes up feeling like shit. And not the regular kind of shit. He feels like Satan just chewed him up, only to spit him back out— slobber and the inferno’s of hell included because he’s sweating through his shirt, his blanket feels like a prison, but if he kicks it of, he gets attacked by cold flashes, so he’s in a sticky and uncomfortable limbo between overheating and freezing to fucking death.

His throat is dry. The only thing that escapes his throat is a guttural and inhuman rasp. He wouldn’t be this sick if he didn’t run out in the rain last night.

Rather, he wouldn’t have ran out if you weren’t there last night.

Heeseung rolls to his side with a groan of pain and anguish, muffled against the pillow as a different kind of fevered heat washes over his face. Seriously. Why the fuck were you there last night? He could give less than two shits if his roommates find out that he sings Taylor Swift every weekend at The Lounge, but you— you’re a different story. Because he knows you’re gonna use this information against him somehow, just like how you like to fuck around with his friends.

Too much. Heeseung has always thought you were a bit too much for him. The time you chased Beomgyu around the house in the dress(?) Jay made is the only evidence he needs to affirm that.

Then again, maybe he shouldn’t have bolted out like that immediately after meeting your eyes. You already suspect that you gross him out (which, by the way, couldn’t be more wrong) for always running away from the threat of skin-to-skin contact with you. Why was it raining when it’s still summer, anyway? It’s like that night was a curse made especially for him.

He curls up further into a ball, hoping you just forget about it all and don’t question him about it.

Yet the very opposite happens because what interrupts his spiraling thoughts is the sound of your voice— already threatening a wave of torment.

“Oh, god. You’re in a worse state than I thought.”

Heeseung regrets springing up from his bed because his head immediately gets slammed by the recoil of a headache. “Why...why are you here?” he barely scratches out. You’re by the doorframe, arms crossed and eyes laced with pity. He didn’t even hear the door opening.

“Jake told me about your illness,” you say, walking over to the side of his bed and Heeseung flinches back the moment you set yourself down on the mattress. “He said you have a chronic case of bitchless syndrome.

He looks at you. Your face is dead serious. Heeseung feels a drop of sweat trickling down his neck, then you break into that devious smile of yours and laugh out a grin.

“Kidding. Jake would never say that. He told me you were sick and needed someone to nurse you up, so here I am.”

Holy shit. Heeseung lets out a breath, nearly teetering off his bed to maintain a comfortable enough distance from your overwhelming presence. “Why—” some throat phlegm cuts him off. He lets out a violent cough before reclaiming his voice. “Why you? I—I mean, why did Jake ask you?”

“Ouch?” you remark. “No one else is around. Jake’s out hiking, apparently. Sunghoon’s covering someone’s shift. Beomgyu’s obviously still at his parents. Jay says he’s out on a mission, and Soobin left the house with a giant backpack. I was too afraid to ask. Anyway, I know my very physical presence disgusts you, but deal with it for now, you goober. You look like hell.”

“That’s— that’s not—” You take this opportunity to pull his sweaty blanket off in one swift movement. “That’s not it! You don’t— don’t disgust me, I’m just— you know—”

“I know, I just wanted to fuck with you.”

You’re grinning. You haphazardly fold the sheet before throwing it down to the foot of the bed, sitting over it. Heeseung feels the blood drain from his face— “Anyway, sit up and let me feel you up,” —only for the blood to shoot right back up and nearly knocks him out unconscious. “Feel your temperature up, perv. I’m not taking advantage of a sick man. C’mere, let me see how sick you are.”

Heeseung, however, still has enough marbles to quickly evade your incoming hand. He swerves to the right. You blink at him, arm reaching out to thin air, before trying again, only for Heeseung to swat your hand away with gritted teeth and fearing for his life. “S—sorry,” he chokes out. He sees the glint in your eyes. Crap. He shouldn’t have done that.

“For fuck’s sake, just let me check your temperature— Heeseung! What the hell?!”

“Just—just leave me alone!”

Earlier, Heeseung thought he was about to die. He didn’t think he had enough strength to fight for his life as he squirms underneath you on the bed, driven solely by the desire to protect his fucking pride because there’s no way in hell he’s letting you touch him when he’s all gross and sweaty and gross from the fever. There’s no way in hell he’s letting that happen.

“What are you—”

He yanks out his blanket from underneath you, causing you to roll of his bed and he throws the sheet over his red, hot, and burning face because holy fuck. Holy shit. That was a close call.

When he peeks out from the blanket, Heeseung instantaneously feels a threat to his life.

You’re glaring at him. You look like you want to skin him alive and he gulps and nudges himself away, ass nearly falling off the bed when you get up from the floor and dust yourself off. “Okay,” you huff. “Fine. Have it your way. Die from a heatstroke, or whatever the fuck. I’ll be downstairs if you need me, and if you do, I’m expecting you to get down on your knees and beg because every time you’ve swatted my hand away was an additional jab at my pride.”

Okay, damn. You leave his room, not without slamming his door close to emphasize your anger, and on top of feeling like absolute crap, Heeseung now also feels guilty as hell.

“Fuck,” he rasps out. It’s not like he’s doing it out of malice, or hate, or because he thinks you’re a germ that he cannot touch, like you always accuse him with. Heeseung still remembers how his whole no touching quirk started: sixteen years-old, when Heeseung finally mustered the courage to hold his first girlfriend’s hand, only for her to laugh and joke and pull away while saying, “ew, gross. Your hand is all sweaty.”

Twenty-two year old Heeseung has been traumatized to this very day.

Especially now when he’s all disgusting and icky and very much ew and gross because of his fever. Stupid, he knows, but the last thing he’d want to see is a disgusted grimace from your face the moment the back of your hand presses against his damp and sticky, sickness-induced forehead. However, it seems like he’s been inflicting to you the very injury he’s been trying to protect himself by constantly avoiding the threat of contact of your skin against his.

Stupid. It’s really stupid.

But he can’t avoid dehydration by simply ignoring the dryness of his mouth. With much struggle, Heeseung forces himself out of the bed, despairing the amount of stairs he has to climb down— and the suggestion of calling for you help does tease his brain for a split second, but decides against it with a shake of his head as he continues the awful trip to the living room, body weighing thirty times heavier, and skull feeling like it’s about to crack itself open.

The problem is, his skull does almost end up getting cracked open. Because as he’s finally nearing the bottom floor, he misses a step, causing him to hit the ground with a harsh thud.

“Ugh,” he grunts, pushing himself with his forearms, but he stops, nearly face planting into the floor once more because you’re there, you’re walking up to him, looking down at him, and holding a cold and refreshing glass of water above his head like some sort of fucked up display of powerplay against a sick and thirsty man.

“Need any help?” you hum.

“I’m fine,” Heeseung tries once more to get up only to feel the nausea rise up to his head, and he stops, pauses, and decides that the floor is more comfortable after all. He looks up at you. “Can I...can I get a sip from your glass?”

There’s a glint in your eyes. You crouch down. “Sorry, what was that?”

Are you enjoying this? Do you like watching him in pain? (Likely answer is yes because you yourself have admitted that you enjoy their suffering and torment). “Water,” he rasps out. “Can I drink some of your water?”

“This?” You swirl the glass in your hand, ice clacking against the crystal, before taking a long, tortuous sip on the straw (why does it have a straw?) Heeseung swallows down his spit. “Say please,” you say with a smile. Heeseung chokes on said fucking spit and hacks out a cough because you’re fucking insane.

He feels his face grow hotter. And it’s definitely not just from the fever.

“P—please, give me some of your water.”

You don’t prolong his agony any further and hand him over the glass.

“Need any help getting up?” you ask as you watch him agonizingly sit up against the bottom steps and toss down the water into his throat in one shot as if it was at a company dinner. He wipes his lips with the back of his hand and feels your disappointed stare pricking his conscience. “I can’t help you unless you ask me to, Heeseung.”

He frowns, deflating. “But I’m all gross and sweaty.”

The last thing he expects you to do is to roll your eyes at him and stand up with an arm stretched out.

And the next thing he knows is that you’re lugging him over to the couch, an arm around his waist, his around your shoulder, and you set him down the cushions with a grunt. “Jeez, I’m not made for manhandling men,” you say, very dubiously. “Lie down.” And when he doesn’t lie down, wide-eyed and unresponsive, you poke his forehead and he tips back, falling into the couch.

What…what is going on...

“You know, I’m very tempted to ask you to take your shirt off just to laugh at your reaction, but you actually look like you’re about to die, so I decided against it. Aren’t I sweet?”

You’re back with a basin and some towels (when did you disappear?) and Heeseung’s brain starts malfunctioning, growing dizzier and dizzier by the second when you touch his jaw, damp towel wiping off the sweat coating his face and neck and he feels his throat tightening. “Christ. I think your temp is over forty degrees, my guy,” you say, squeezing the towel over the basin. “Hello? Heeseung? What the hell, did you catch Sunghoon’s disease? Are you unable to talk to me now, too?”

“It’s—it’s not that,” he chokes out. He’s about to justify himself, but you press your palm against his forehead, cutting off all the oxygen pipes leading up to his brain, and he feels like passing the fuck out.

Shit. Shit. Holy shit.

“Ah,” you say. “You’re not running away.”

He’s not. He’s not running away. But he feels a different sort of problem coming up.

“I think I’m gonna throw up.”

You blink at him. This doesn’t help his case at all.

“Wow, this is an upgrade,” you say from the other side of the bathroom door while Heeseung pukes his guts out into the toilet. Heavy metal playing from his phone is trying to block the noises out. He’s heaving over the bowl and wants to kill himself from embarrassment. “Now my very presence makes you vomit. I’m sorry for everything so far.”

There’s a flush. The music stops. Heeseung cracks the door open and you pass him a glass of water without some bedroom-esque powerplay this time. “Seriously, why did you run off into the rain last night? Look where it got you.” It’s a shocker that you haven’t told him he’s gross yet. You’re standing there in front of the bathroom and in front of the mess of his post-vomit presence, and all you’re doing is looking at him in worry.

“I wasn’t expecting you guys to be there,” he says, still sounding like death, and you take the now empty glass from him and head over to the kitchen, pointing at his makeshift deathbed on the couch.

“I wasn’t expecting you to give Mariah Carey a run for her money, either.” After you place the glass into the sink, you’re back to the living room. He’s down on the sofa, eyelids heavy, unable to say or do anything when you push back his hair to place a damp towel on his forehead. “Like damn, I knew you guys have known each other for a while now, but I totally felt like an outsider when I was the only one surprised to hear you sing.”

You’re not making fun of him. You don’t make a comment about how sticky his skin feels or how gross his sweat-drenched shirt is.

“I like your voice. Too bad it sounds like shit right now, but you should let me hear you again once you feel better.” The doorbell rings. “Oh, right, I ordered some porridge. You can feed yourself, right? Hold on, let me get it.”

He hears your footsteps padding across the floor, unable to find the strength to open his eyes as the coolness of the cloth seeps into his forehead. Heeseung has always thought you were a bit too much— case in point, everything that just happened and all the other times you’ve teased, tormented, and actively tortured to the point of tears all the inhabitants of this god forsaken house.

Yet it is also your excessive nature that has let Sunghoon speak more than five words around you, that has stopped Beomgyu from hermitting in his room twenty-four-seven, that has helped Soobin and Jay in two very important instances this summer, and has allowed Jake to offer you a spot in their lives after leaving that room on the third floor empty for a good two years.

“Fuck, I can’t believe they left me behind with a sick man when I can barely even take care of myself.”

You’re back. He opens his eyes and tries to lift himself up but his body is way too heavy. “Uh,” he says. “Can you…please…open the container for me?” He doesn’t miss your amused fucking grin when he mumbles out the please.

“Ah. Open up.”

Heeseung has always felt you were too much. Maybe it’s his fever talking, maybe it’s not, but maybe too much exactly what he needs right now.

HOME FOR THE BITCHLESS. © hannie-dul-set, 2023.

#lee heeseung x reader #heeseung x reader #enhypen x reader #enha x reader #tomorrow x together x reader #txt x reader #heeseung x you #txt scenarios #enhypen scenarios #choi soobin x reader #choi beomgyu x reader #park sunghoon x reader #sim jaeyun x reader

460 notes · View notes

tip-top-cloud-surfer · 7 months

Text

The Danger Zone (Part 8) - Hangman

Pairing: Hangman / Fem!Bradshaw!Reader | OC

Word Count: 3.3k

This work, all my works, and my entire blog are 18+ ONLY

Warnings: Unplanned Pregnancy; Angst; Arguing/Fighting; Some Crying; Overprotective Family; Background Relationships; Use of "You," No Use of Y/N, No Set Physical Description

Summary: You and Jake tell Bradley about the baby.

Series Master List

Master List

A.N. Two chapters in one week! Hope that you guys enjoy Bradley’s reaction!

A pin could have dropped in that moment and it would have sounded like a bomb went off in Maverick’s house. It was that silent.

Bradley’s face was slowly growing red with anger, though he didn’t open his mouth. Yet. After a brief staring contest with your brother, you pulled Jake further into the house. Bradley was burning holes into Jake’s head and Jake was returning the sharp look with a sense of defiance that was not going to be productive in the long run.

You glanced up at Emma, who was staring at her husband with concern, and then Maverick, who was looking between Rooster and Hangman, like he was waiting for one of them to jump at each other. Holding in your emotions and trying to keep up a face of calm despite the tension, you turned back to your brother.

“Bradley,” you started off with carefully, “you can stop glaring at Jake now.”

“So, the whole ‘nothing is going on between us’ was a big fat lie then?” Bradley asked rhetorically, turning to look at you.

“Maybe we were worried that you would be hostile to the news,” you commented in return, staring down your brother for a moment. When he scoffed at your answer, you added, “Clearly we were wrong.”

“Is this some kind of joke?” Bradley continued, causing you to purse your lips together.

“No, it’s not. It’s real.”

Bradley turned to Maverick, who turned to him with a rather stoic expression. Maverick glanced over at you and Jake, not judging but not necessarily overly supportive either, before turning back to Bradley. Frowning, Bradley turned back to you and Jake, who hadn’t moved to release your hand.

“And when the hell did this start?”

“Around the time that you guys got back from your last deployment,” you lied, taking the lead on the questions.

“You’ve been hiding this for five months?”

“More or less.”

“More or less?” Bradley repeated with an attitude.

“Should we start dinner then?” Emma cut in, grabbing her husband’s shoulder with a sharp squeeze. “Before it gets cold?”

“Yes,” you agreed with Emma.

“Great,” she replied, walking around and quickly grabbing all of the knives off of the table in quick succession. “We won’t be needing these today.”

The five of you sat down at the table and passed around dinner. Rooster continued to glare at Jake and Jake was very happy to return the glare. Maverick kept an eye on them as he was sitting in between them, but you weren’t fully convinced that nothing would happen.

Jake and Bradley had a history of being volatile around each other, and you just raised the stakes. And you were only going to raise them even higher.

“Aren’t you going to ask us how we met, Brad?” you questioned, causing your brother to turn to shoot you a look.

“Of all of my teammates, of all of my squads, of all the guys in the fucking world, you had to pick him?” Bradley scoffed, gesturing to Jake, who narrowed his eyes at Rooster’s comment. “The only one that I specifically told you to stay away from.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that,” you replied, returning your brother’s look.

“Did you ever think that maybe there was a reason why I told you to stay away from him?”

“Am I not allowed to make my own decisions? Am I not allowed to have my own opinions on people?” you scoffed, leaning forward in your seat. “And just because someone has a problem with you, that doesn’t mean that they have a problem with me too.”

“Fine, then I’ll ask you, Seresin,” Bradley stated, turning to Jake, “Why, out of all of the girls in Miramar, were you going after my sister?”

“Why did you go after Emma?” Jake asked rhetorically. “We found each other attractive and we had some stuff in common.”

“What the hell could you possibly have in common?”

“We both think that you’re overreacting right now, to start off with,” Jake replied, causing Maverick to sigh and reach for his beer.

“And what’s your favorite trait of my sister?” Bradley asked, narrowing his eyes. “Since you know her so well.”

“She takes what life throws at her and keeps moving forward with her chin up. She doesn’t let anyone or anything slow her down for too long.”

Emma nodded, quite honestly looking impressed with Jake’s answer, while Bradley only continued to glare at Jake. You quietly let your heart flutter a bit in your chest but you kept your gaze on the ground. Maverick, glancing between Jake and Bradley, decided to take the lead for a moment.

“When did you two actually meet and get together then?”

“We met for the first time at Brad and Emma’s wedding,” you started off with, sharing a look with Jake as you reached for your water. “But we didn’t really talk too much.” It wasn’t too big of a lie, but maybe a stretch of the truth. “Then we talked a lot the night that you guys came back from your last deployment and started going out a little while after that.”

“Well, I have to ask,” Rooster drawled sarcastically, “who made the first move?”

“I did,” you replied simply.

“You did?” Bradley and Maverick asked at the same time, both looking surprised.

“Yes.”

“You did?” Bradley repeated.

“Are you going deaf?” you countered, straightening up more. “Yes, I did.”

“Why?”

“Bradley,” Emma sighed, rubbing her face.

“Because I was attracted to him,” you explained, not quite having the courage to look over at Jake while you spoke. “Is that a crime?”

“No, it’s not,” Emma replied to your defense.

“It’s a concern,” Bradley stated, earning a look from his wife.

“Anyways,” you cut in, “we’re dating and we’re going to move in together.”

You hoped that breaking it piece by piece would help ease Bradley’s reaction and avoid an explosion. And you really just hoped that your calculations weren’t too far off.

“You’re moving—do you even know him!?” Bradley snapped, causing you to roll your eyes at him and lean back in your seat. “You can’t just move in with a guy you just met!”

“We’ve known each other for over a year and we’ve been dating for a few months,” you replied calmly. “It’s not like we’re teenagers who don’t know what we’re doing.”

“Do you know what you’re doing?”

“Yes,” you snapped back defensively.

“Who’s apartment?” Maverick asked, causing you to turn to him.

“Jake’s for now,” you stated, glancing at Jake from the corner of your eye.

“Why?” Bradley scoffed.

“It’s nicer and my lease is up first.”

“Why the rush?” Bradley pressed on, feeling that something was off with the whole situation.

“When you know, you know,” you replied, dodging the question.

“That's a bullshit answer.”

“It’s still an answer,” you scoffed right back at your brother.

“Who’s idea was that then? The whole moving in together one?”

“Mine,” Jake answered honestly.

“Of course, it was,” Bradley replied, finding some new ammunition against Jake. “And why did you—the guy who told me at Coyote’s bachelor party that he wasn’t the type to settle down and have the ‘white picket fence’ life—suggest that the two of you should move in together after dating for five months?”

“Bradley,” you snapped, though it lacked substantial force behind it.

You weren’t sure if the comment that Bradley was referring to actually came out of Jake’s mouth or if he actually meant it, but either way it was taking you a moment to process. You did the math and remembered that Coyote’s bachelor party was during the time where you were ignoring Jake. Maybe that had a role in it? But you didn’t want to dwell on it in front of your brother and Mav. You had to stay focused.

“And how long was your most serious relationship again, Hangman? Last you told me, it wasn’t even a year.”

“Stop being a dick, Bradley,” you replied, this time with more force.

“Honestly, do you really think that this is going to last?” Bradley directed at you, causing you to narrow your eyes. “Where do you see this relationship actually going?”

“Why don’t you just wait and see, Rooster?” Jake drawled, drawing Bradley’s glare to him. “Because I’m pretty sure that she can figure out what’s right for her.”

“Or what’s right for you?” Bradley countered. “Because those are two different things, Seresin.”

“Bradley,” Emma called, trying to ease the tension a bit more, “let her make her own choices. You telling her that it’s a bad idea isn’t going to lead to the result that you want.”

“Thank you, Emma,” Jake spoke up, causing Bradley to roll his eyes dramatically.

“You seriously think that you see a long-term future with him? Like marriage? Kids? All of that shit?” Bradley questioned you again.

“Yes, I do,” you spoke so quietly that no one really heard you.

“What?”

“Yes, I do,” you said louder despite the fact that your leg was starting to nervously bounce.

“You’re serious?” Bradley demanded of you, almost scoffing in disbelief. “You didn’t marry Connor and you were with him for five years and you’re telling me that you’ve spent what? A couple of months with Hangman? And you can already see a long-term future with him? That you’re already moving in with him? Really?”

“Bradley,” Emma warned him.

“You’re such a fucking asshole!” you snapped, getting to your feet.

Maverick called your name, trying to keep the peace, but you ignored him. Tossing your napkin down onto the table with a huff, you rounded on your brother.

“And you wonder why I don’t tell you shit! Stop acting like you’re a goddamn saint, Bradley! You’re not! You never have been! I’m not the only one who can mess up! We’re both screw ups! We’re both fucked in the head! And Mom would be so proud of us and how we turned out, wouldn’t she!?”

Letting the tension roll off of your shoulders, you slowly sank down into your seat, the reality of your words hitting you. Not because you felt bad about what you yelled at your brother, but because of where your thoughts suddenly landed.

Staring down at your hands for a second, you tried to discreetly wipe the tears that leaked from your eye before they got too far. Rubbing a tear between your finger and thumb, you felt Jake’s hand on your thigh, silently reminding you that he was there.

You hadn’t really dwelled on how your mom would have reacted to the news about the baby, if she was still alive. You didn’t let yourself, actually.

After your mom died and definitely after Bradley left you behind with Maverick while he figured out his own life, you really buried all of that. You didn’t let yourself think about what your mom would have said or thought in these situations. You locked it all up and buried the key.

She would have had an opinion, certainly. She probably would have had some sharp words with a sweet Southern coating that would have struck far more fear into Jake than anything that Bradley could throw at him. But she was the type to give a hug out as quickly as a threat, so you assumed that all would have been forgiven once she knew he was serious.

And you realized with a shaking hand that you desperately wanted your mom there with you. She didn’t even get to see you in a prom dress or have a crush, for hell’s sake.

Sharing a glance with Jake, who looked concerned for you, you slowly turned back to Bradley. Your brother’s anger was gone for now, his expression mirroring Jake’s own concerned one. But you had a feeling that you would see the anger slowly seep into his gaze again shortly.

“You want to know what’s really going on?” you asked, staring down at your hands.

“Of course, I do,” Bradley replied immediately.

“Alright,” you began. Picking up your head, you locked eyes with your brother. “I’m pregnant.”

“You . . .” Bradley paused, looking like his brain short circuited for a moment. “You’re . . .”

“Yes,” you confirmed, nodding slowly.

You got up from the table and grabbed your purse. Rifling around, you pulled out your ultrasound photo and moved to hand it over to Bradley. He took it carefully, still stunned, and when he saw your name stamped in the margin of the photo, he knew that it was true.

It wasn’t a joke—you were pregnant with Jake’s baby.

You held your breath a bit, waiting for him to react and gripped the back of the seat tightly as you stayed standing. You could also see Maverick and Jake on the edges of their seats, waiting for his reaction. Bradley silently held out the ultrasound photo to Emma, who took it from him carefully, before turning back to Jake.

And then you saw the flash.

“You son of a bitch!” Bradley roared, leaping to his feet.

Chairs clattered and scratched against the floor as Jake and Maverick jumped to their feet too. Emma was yelling after her husband and you were calling after Jake, though when you moved to grab him, Emma pulled you back a step. Maverick put himself in between Bradley and Jake, keeping them separated with a hand on each of their chests.

Rooster was boiling with rage, looking madder than a bull, and Jake appeared firm in the fact that he wasn’t going to back down. Maverick certainly had his work cut out for him.

“You got my little sister pregnant, Seresin!?”

“And your little tantrum doesn’t change that!”

“I don’t care, you fucking bastard!”

“Bradley, stop!”

“Do you even love her!?” Bradley demanded from Jake. “Do you even care about her!?”

“Of course, I care about her!”

“Then why did you get her pregnant!?”

“I didn’t mean to do it, it was just something that happened!”

“Bradley, stop it!” you shouted at your brother. “Jake!”

“Are you even going to stay around to meet the kid or are you going to leave them hanging?”

“Bradley!”

“Both of you need to sit down now,” Maverick snapped, somehow managing to hold them apart. “You’re stressing her out!”

“He’s the one stressing her out!” Jake scoffed, glaring at Bradley. “She’s been worried about you reacting like a toddler for weeks!”

“Jake!”

“She’s stressed because you knocked her up, you moron!”

“Bradley, stop it!”

“Sit down!” Maverick snapped, but neither Bradley nor Jake seemed to be willing to back down.

“You’re not her fucking protector! She’s an adult, Rooster, for fuck’s sake!”

“I know her and I know that I’ll be the one consoling her when your ass gets cold feet, Seresin!”

“ENOUGH!”

The argument stopped immediately and everyone turned to where Emma was standing at the other end of the table. She certainly wasn’t the most imposing woman, but she had the ability to make her voice thunder across the room. And if her voice didn’t strike fear in them, her glare definitely did.

“Now!”

Though he didn’t look happy about it, Bradley stepped back from Maverick and begrudgingly retook his seat. When Jake didn’t move from where he was standing, Emma pointed aggressively at his chair and wore an expression that screamed ‘try me bitch.’ Letting out a quiet mutter, Jake sat back down in his chair.

“Now, the two of you are going to sit down and have a conversation like adults because you’re two grown ass men and not children.” Turning to Rooster first, Emma asked, “Is your support for your sister or your niece or nephew going to change depending on who the baby’s dad is?”

“Of course not,” Rooster replied defensively. “In this case, it’s only increasing it actually.”

“And Hangman, are you going to let what Bradley thinks about you change how you feel about her or the baby?”

“Absolutely not,” Jake stated, staring down Rooster with a challenging expression.

“Good, so you can both agree that your first priority is making sure that she and the baby are happy and healthy?” With sharp nods from Jake and Bradley, Emma continued, “Good. Now figure your shit out like adults.”

“Thank you,” you breathed out, pulling her in for a tight hug that she quickly returned.

“Anytime.”

Emma gave you a tight hug, shooting both Bradley and Jake a look to be on their best behavior. Jake eventually let out a quiet chuckle as he turned back to Rooster.

“Guess we know who wears the pants in your relationship,” Jake commented with a smirk, causing Maverick to shake his head.

“I’d look to your right there, Hangman.”

Jake turned his head to find you shooting him a sharp look. Emma laughed to herself when Jake suddenly appeared sheepish about his comment.

Rooster rolled his eyes again and looked at his hands, actually taking the time to process the news. He turned to share a look with Maverick before looking over at you, to find that you were looking at him with a quietly terrified expression as you clung to Emma for a moment. Letting out a breath, he slowly got to his feet. He walked around the table towards you, completely ignoring Jake, and stopped a few steps away from you.

Emma released you and moved to put herself in between Bradley and Jake, just in case. Bradley gave you a moment before he swallowed his annoyance and his pride and focused on your happiness for the first time since he found out about the whole situation. Though he also didn’t want to completely lie and pretend like he was overjoyed with the news.

“The storage unit,” Bradley began, causing you to raise an eyebrow.

“What about it?”

“It has the old paintings that Mom made,” Bradley continued, earning a slow nod in return from you. “From our old nursery.”

“I remember,” you agreed quietly. “I triple wrapped them myself so that they’d be preserved.”

“Did you want them? For you and . . . your baby?” Bradley offered after a few more moments of silence and tension.

You nodded slowly, starting to tear up again, when Bradley reached forward. Pulling you into a hug, Bradley rested his head on top of your own as you let out a few tears into his shirt. It reminded him of when you were little and he’d comfort you when a storm struck or when you were scared for your mom. He gave you a squeeze that you returned silently.

“You’re going to be a mom,” he replied quietly.

“You’re going to be an uncle,” you returned in the same tone.

“You know I’m here if you need anything. Emma too. We’re both here for you and the baby. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“I’m not.”

Bradley opened his mouth, but when he saw Emma’s look, he closed it. While your face was still tucked into Bradley’s shoulder, he looked over at where Jake was still sitting at the table. Did Jake look thrilled? No, definitely not. But he didn’t look completely irate when he met Bradley’s gaze. Bradley, however, did not hide the fact that he still wanted to punch Jake in the face for what he did.

“Whatever you need,” Bradley repeated as he and Jake glared at each other.

Tags (PRETTY PLEASE have your AGE on your blog or message me about it to be tagged--thank you!):

[If I missed you, don’t feel bad about asking to be tagged again! But please make sure that your age is in your bio/comment/etc. Thanks!]

@mrsjobarnes @wishiwasacasualfan @bethabear12 @everythingmarveltopgun @hardballoonlove @mavrellover91 @fangirlvoice @senjoritanana @sophslastbraincell @xoxabbs88xox @emma8895eb @dempy @harperdoodle @itsmytimetoodream @sarahjoestewy-blog @the-annoying-fan @athenabarnes @midnightmagpiemama @praline357 @sucker4seresin @sunsetsimpsblog @sgt-barnesveins @abaker74 @shanimallina87 @kellyIs04 @trickphotography2 @kmc1989 @boiolay @offical-potato @topgun-imagines @caitsymichelle13 @daddymack01 @hangmandruigandmav @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @lilylilyyyyyy @lillunna @bcon24 @sky0401 @ashcosmo @blackwidownat2814 @specialagentjackbauer @imareallygoodlawyersbrick @percysaidnever @silenthappyplace @buckysteveloki-me @havlindzk @hookslove1592 @mamachasesmayhem @aviatorobsessed @marvelogic @ems-alexandra @harrysgothicbitch @owenniasstars

500 notes · View notes

togrowoldinv · 7 months

Text

Hot Chocolate

Natasha Romanoff x Female Reader

The family plus Yelena spends time decorating for the holidays

Note: Very soft stuff here y’all. Enjoy it!

Natasha Masterlist 1, Natasha Masterlist 2, Natasha Masterlist 3, Main Masterlist

Soft music fills the room as Natasha watches the scene before her.

You’re at the coffee table putting toppings on everyone’s hot chocolate. Belle is right by your side, telling you how many marshmallows she wants.

Ali and Ivan are standing by the tree, arguing about what tree topper will look best. Taylor and Jack sit by the fireplace in their cozy winter clothes.

Yelena and Fanny are on the couch chilling. She only offers her input to poke fun at Natasha or if one of the kids sweettalk her into helping with the tree. Belle’s sweet words and eyes usually do the trick.

Later on, the team will be over for a late Thanksgiving and early holiday celebration.

Natasha has no idea how she ended up this lucky. She catches your eye, and you share a soft smile with her.

“Belle, can you ask Mama how many marshmallows she wants?” You ask the little girl.

She stands from beside you and waltzes over to Natasha, undoubtedly her favorite mom. Belle reaches her arms up and Nat lifts her up to settle on her hips.

“Hi printsessa,” Natasha greets her.

“Hi Mama,” Belle replies. “How many mallows do you want?”

“Hm,” Natasha pretends to think hard. “What about 100?”

“100?!” Belle asks, her mouth dropping. She turns her head to you. “Mommy, do we have enough room for 100?”

“No, we do not,” you say, a chuckle following her reaction. “Ask Mama to give you a reasonable number please.”

“You’re no fun,” Natasha pouts.

“It’s okay, Mama. I’ll get you as many as I can,” Belle says before squirming out of Nat’s arms.

Natasha grins and walks around the couch. She places a soft hand on Ali and Ivan’s shoulders as she makes her way around the room. Taylor reaches for her, and she easily brings the girl into her arms. She drops a kiss to Jack’s head before she walks to sit next to Yelena.

“What no motherly hug or kiss for me?” Yelena jokes.

“Oh, my bad,” Natasha says. She grins mischievously.

Yelena gets up from the couch quickly and Natasha follows her, leaving Taylor on the couch. The two women chase each other with no regard for the furniture or the tree.

“Hey! Both of you stop right now,” you turn on your mom voice. All of the kids’ ears perk up. Natasha halts immediately. She looks at you to see a serious face. “No horseplay in the house.”

“Sorry, detka,” Natasha says. She nudges Yelena’s shoulder.

“Oh, yes. Sorry, y/n,” Yelena says.

“It’s okay,” you say. “It’s hot chocolate time.”

“Yay!” Taylor cheers from the couch. Yelena reaches over and lifts the girl up, throwing her in the air and catching her a few times until Taylor is giggling too much to continue.

Natasha makes her way to help you pass out the drinks. She then settles next to you on the recliner. You’re practically sitting in her lap, but she isn’t complaining.

“What does everyone want to make sure we do this year for the holidays?” Natasha asks.

The kids think while Yelena speaks up first.

“Can we have a big holiday party?” Yelena asks.

“We’re literally doing that in two hours,” Nat replies.

“What? I’m not dressed!” Yelena panics. She runs upstairs and you all laugh at her.

Natasha keeps the conversation going, “Al, what about you?”

“A Christmas movie marathon,” Ali says.

“Great answer,” you reply. “Ivan?”

“A cookie decorating contest,” he says.

“Everything is a contest for you,” Ali says, huffing with annoyance.

“That’s because I’m talented as hell,” Ivan says.

“Language!” Natasha scolds him.

You can’t help but laugh as she realizes she’s turning into Steve. Belle raises her hand like she’s in school. Nat calls on her.

“I want to read Christmas bedtime stories every night,” Belle says.

“Now that’s an idea,” you say.

“Yeah, we can do that baby,” Natasha agrees. Belle grins from ear to ear. “Jack attack, what about you?”

“Um, I don’t know. Maybe go see some lights,” Jack says.

“There’s some displays in town. We could definitely go,” you say. “And that leaves Miss Taylor.”

“Yeah, what do you want to do for Christmas, Taylor?” Jack asks. The little girl shrugs.

“What about making gingerbread houses?” Ali pitches.

“Okay,” Taylor says simply. “I’ll need help.”

“We’ll do it together as a team,” Natasha says.

You kiss her cheek and listen in as the kids talk to each other about anything and everything. You need to get up and cook for the party, but being here with your family is more fun.

Natasha feels the same way. She holds you close and thinks about her wonderful family. It will be a happy holiday season, and she can’t wait.

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff #soft natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff fluff #natasha romanoff comfort #yelena belova

435 notes · View notes

dazed-and-confused23 · 1 month

Note

I love your latest entries with Dusty the Deathclaw😄 So you think you could do something with Cooper where he and the reader are visiting GoodNeighbor again with a juvenile Deathclaw with them? And when John goes to welcome them back, he jumps back a bit and asking why the HELL does the reader have a Deathclaw.😂 Only for said reader to give their pet Deathclaw some affectionate horn scratches and reply

“My wasteland baby! Isn’t he adorable?”

Bonus if said Wasteland baby still has some flesh hanging from their mouth having eaten a raider not too long ago.

@odditycircus-2002 this was a fantastic Lil prompt to see after the angst I've been typing up. Thank you so much! ❤️ I hope I did this justice!

Dear Hearts and Gentle People 14

Masterlist

Warnings: blood and violence drug use too

It's been a couple of years since you and Cooper had mosied up to the Commonwealth, and with Dusty now apart of the family, you thought it was high time that you introduce the juvenile to the stationary member of your group. The deathclaw stood taller than you now but was definitely still considered young by deathclaw standards. Plus, you'd been missing John lately, and it would be good to see him again.

The beast trotted behind you, his nose close to the ground as he cattalogged the new scents around him. Cooper followed just past Dusty, his rifle out, and ready for anything that might want to lose a fight. However, it turned out that very few people wanted to tangle with a ghoul of his reputation who had a deathclaw as a pet, young or not.

"I doubt Goodneighbor will be too happy with me if we come waltzing in with Dusty. Can you stay out here with him while I go get John?" You ask your ghoulish companion once the gate to Goodneighbor appeared around the corner. Someone must have recently cleared out the usual super mutants that hung around, for it was relatively safe in the city this evening.

Cooper sighs dramatically and rolled his eyes, though you could see a smirk pulling at his lips, "Don't make me wait too long, Sugar. Might go wonderin' off without you."

You scoff, "You wouldn't."

Cooper smirks right back and leans in, "Try me, smoothskin."

You search his golden gaze, and then your lips curl up in an amused, smug grin, "Dusty wouldn't let you."

The ghoul opens his mouth to protest, only to fall silent, lips tugging down into a small frown. Shit. He knows you're right about that one. Dusty would follow you to the ends of hell if you let the juvenile. He scoffs and breaks the staring contest, "Whatever, you win."

You smile in victory and then step in front of Dusty. The deathclaw coos and grunts at you, hunching down to rub the bottom of his jaw along your shoulder and cheek, "Awe. Yeah, I'll be right back, sweetie. Be good for Coop, okay?"

Dusty is smart enough to know what you're saying but whines all the same when you press a quick kiss to the tip of his nose and then disappear behind the red door. He swings his massive head around and eyes Cooper, who rolls his eyes at the baby's behavior.

"Don't look at me like that. You heard her."

The beast grunts and flops on the road, a displeased growl rumbling up and out of him. Dusty didn't like it when he couldn't scent you or feel you. His eyesight was terrible, so it left him to rely on his other, hightened scenses to track his human. A deeper, more vicious growl echos in the air when he sniffs deeply and catches the foul smell of the big lumbering mutants. They were close.

You darted through Goodneighbor, waving to Daisy and K-L-E-0, who waved back at you. As much as you wanted to stop and chat, you needed to hurry. You jank open the door to the old state house and lope up the stairs, stopping at the top floor and grinning when you catch sight of Hancock lounging on his couch, feet kicked up on the table and an inhaler of jet in his hand.

"Well, well. I come all this way, and this is the kinda welcome I get."

John jerks up on the couch, black eyes going wide as he turns and looks at you. He shoves himself off the couch and closes the distance, grabbing you by the jaw to swing you in for a kiss full of longing. You kiss the mayor back, holding tight to his red overcoat.

Your face is flushed by the time John breaks the kiss, resting his brow against your own as he takes in your lovely features. There are a couple more lines on your face and a new scar across your nose, but you're just as beautiful as the day he last saw you.

"If I'd known you were coming around, I would have had the whole town throw a party," Hancock quips with a dry laugh and then kisses you again, just cause he could, "Fuck. I missed you, Sunshine."

You hum and hold John tight, burring your face in his chest with a happy little grin, "Mhmm. I missed you too, Hancock."

The ghoul pulls away from you to take you in again. John needed to make sure that you weren't some kind of jet induced fever dream, but no. You were here in his house, with him. His hands trailed from your sides to cup your ass, and Hancock leaned down to press kisses to the collom of your throat.

"How about you show me how much you missed me then, Sunshine."

You selfishly enjoyed the attention for a moment before pulling away from him with a guilty smirk. John narrows his eyes down at you, curious.

"I need to show you something, and you've got to promise me you won't freak out," you say, and you're already tugging at his arm, leading him to the spiral staircase and out of the state house. You don't give Hancock time to process, you wanted this to he a surprise.

Outside the gate, Cooper sneers in disgust as he wipes the sole of his boot on the asphalt not stained in super mutant blood. A trio of them had attacked not a minute after you disappeared inside of Goodneighbor, leaving the ghoul and the half grown dealthclaw to defend themselves.

Not that it was a very hard fight, mind you. Cooper was well versed in violence, and Dusty wasn't a pushover either. He is shouldering his rifle when the door to the settlement opens up, and you and Hancock come waltzing out, all smiles.

"'Bout fuckin' time you showed up, smoothskin. Left me and Dusty here to clean up the big greenies," Cooper snarks at you and gives Hancock a mean grin, all teeth and hunger, "Nice to see you again, Mayor."

John hits the brake, stopping in his tracks and you with him. You grunt at the suddenness of it and turn around to look at him with a cocked brow. The ghoul stares at Dusty with a look of fear, his black eyes wide as he reaches for the shotgun he stupidity left behind in his room.

"Sunshine, that's a deathclaw," He spits, and back peddles, but you let go, allowing him to keep his distance from the golden scaled 6 foot tall deathclaw that feasts on the body of a downed super mutant. His face and entire front are soaked in gore, and the sounds he makes are enough to turn anyone's stomach as he enjoys his meal.

"Can't leave you alone for five minutes, can I?" You quip, and Dusty perks up at the sound of your voice. He raises his head, his horns are about halfway down his face now, around eye level. The deathclaw swings around and makes a soft cooing sound when he picks up your scent and sees the blurry outline of your figure. He lopes forward, dropping to his front claws, and you grab his jaws when he gets close enough, grinning down at him.

"You're such a good boy, Dusty. I'm glad you got a snack," you say and scratch the soft scales of his throat, "I've got someone I want you to meet."

He recognizes that phase. You have used it a couple of times before with other humans that we weren't allowed to eat. Dusty's focused on the red blob behind you. His human points to the figure, and he breathes it deeply, taking in the scent of acidic chems and warm radiation that the other ghoul carries. The deathclaw memorizes it and stores it into the cattalog of "do not eat."

Hancock is frozen the entire time, and Cooper laughs at the other ghoul, breaking the mayor out of his spell, "What's wrong, John? Scared?"

The mayor just tosses his arms at the frigging beast of death, all snuggled up to the smoothskin and snarked right back, "How about you tell me just what the hell's going on, Cowboy?"

Cooper does just that, explaining how you found him and John really begins think this is really a fever dream like he'd thought before, when there is a loud snuffle in front of him, and he is faced with the gruesome visage of the juvenile deathclaw.

You smile at him, "Trust me, John. It's fine, I promise," you murmur, and John must be crazy because he does. Hancock takes a trembling breath and faces the beast.

"Dusty, this is John Hancock. John, this is Dusty."

#cooper howard #fallout #fallout prime #fallout tv series #cooper howard x reader #x reader #the ghoul x reader #dear hears and gentle people #deathclaws #john hancock x reader #john hancock

175 notes · View notes

babymetaldoll · 7 months

Text

The annual BAU Halloween Costume Competition (Spencer Reid x fem!Bau reader)

Summary: Spencer wants to win a costume competition, but wins your heart instead. Word Count: 2.6K Warnings: Other than cursing? extreme fluff. A/N: Happy Halloreid and Gublerween everyone!! and if you celebrate it, happy Ieroween as well! Masterlist

No one could ever say Penelope Garcia threw lousy Halloween parties. They were always fun, with the best food and theme. Over the years, she had organized incredible celebrations for the entire BAU family. It was her moment to shine. Decorations were always spot on, the altar was always ready for pictures of long-lost loved ones. There were theme cocktails and food, but by far, the most important event of the night was the Halloween costume competition.

It had started as a joke during their first Halloween celebration, and over the years, it had turned into the main event of the night. Each year, Penelope made sure she had a prize for the winner of first place and a little something for second and third. In fact, she usually got something for everybody who participated in the party, 'cos that's the kind of host Garcia was.

And that year wasn't the exception.

The entire team was excited about the celebration. They needed a moment to relax after the last couple of cases they had had. Well, the entire team except for Spencer Walter Reid. Instead of looking forward to the celebration, he was freaking out trying to find the best costume to finally win the BAU Costume Competition. Why? because he was the only member of the team who had never won first place. Hell! He never even got second or third. He just got a participation price every year. And he hated it.

Halloween was Spencer's favorite holiday. He wasn't really into Christmas, it was too emotional and it reminded him of all the holidays he spent alone with his mother growing up, and how sometimes she wouldn't even remember it was Christmas. New Year wasn't his type of celebration 'cos he wasn't a party guy. He didn't enjoy clubbing and his definition of a fun evening included a bunch of books, herbal tea, and his couch. Not to mention Valentines. That was a miserable holiday for Reid. He never had a date that day, and the only girl he wanted to ask out was - at least according to his own words - way out of his league. So, to sum it up, Spencer's favorite holiday was Halloween and he couldn't even win a work costume competition.

He felt it was personal that year. He had to win. He had to have his moment of joy.

- "See you all guys tonight in my house!"- Garcia was beaming as she stood in front of the team that October 31st during their daily morning meeting.- "Everything is ready! We are going to have so much fun!"

- "We'll be there at seven. Savannah is very excited."- Morgan clapped his hands once and chuckled- "And you can all forget about winning this year's costume contest, 'cos me and my girl are gonna kill it."

- "I don't know, me and Will have a matching costume that could be the best one yet."- JJ smiled confidently at Morgan and Spencer frowned.

- "Do couples' costumes get more points?"- the young doctor asked, confused.

- "No, but they are fun!"- Garcia explained with a huge grin. - "Do you have your costume ready, boy wonder?"

- "Yes, and I don't mean to get cocky, but I'm sure this year you are all going to be amazed."- Reid answered with a smirk on his face.

- "No more Doctor Who then?"- Emily teased, chuckling- "You didn't knit any scarf this year."

- "My knitting skills are saved for Whovian's conventions only."- Spencer replied, making Em laugh. - "And I won't say a thing about my costume, it will be a surprise."

- "Hey, Spencer."- Garcia whispered and grabbed his sleeve as they all walked out of the briefing room, forcing him to stay behind with her.- "I was wondering if you are planning to ask (Y/N) out, or if you are going together to the party."

And Spencer's heart stopped. He opened his eyes and stared at his friend in disbelief. Not that he thought no one knew about his crush on his teammate. He just wasn't ready to deal with it just yet.

- "Ok, breathe, Reid!"- Garcia shook his arm as he nearly panicked in silence, standing in front of her. - "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but it's getting painful to watch. She likes you too!"

- "I don't... I don't feel."- Spencer tried to rearrange the words in his head, but failed. Instead, all he managed to do was frown and sigh.

- "Wow, an IQ of 187 slashed to nothing just like that. It's amazing. You hear the legends about it, but when you see it happen, it's disturbing."- Penelope did her best not to laugh at Spencer's humiliated face. His cheeks were burning as he kept trying to explain what was happening inside his brilliant brain.

- "You don't get it, I can't ask (Y/N) out! We work together! We are on the same FBI team! What if it doesn't work? What if I lose my friend all because I thought I had a shot with her? or worse! What if she doesn't like me that way, and she laughs in my face? How do I work with her after that?"

- "But how do you live with yourself now?"- Garcia whispered after Spencer's speech.- "You are alone, loving a girl in silence. That's even worse than failing. That's just being miserable."

Spencer didn't reply. He stared at Garcia in silence as she cut him a short smile and gave him a small hug.

- "I know you love Halloween, maybe tonight could be your night."

That poor man just wanted to win a simple Halloween costume contest, and now he wasn't sure he actually wanted to go to that celebration.

Spencer took his time getting ready for the party. He had picked a Beetlejuice costume that went with his crazy natural hair. He did his makeup, put on the stripped suit, combed his crazy hair, and stared at his reflection in the mirror.

- "You might not get the girl tonight, but you are getting your first prize in that costume competition."- he assured himself in the mirror before leaving his bathroom, ready to go to Garcia's.

- "Reid! Wait for me!"- (Y/N) shouted as she ran to cross the street, holding her bag and wig in place. Spencer turned and stared at her, feeling the wind was knocked out of his lungs. She looked hot. Not good. Hot. Smoking hot. So hot he couldn't help but scan her outfit up and down before he even tried to speak. She was dressed as Lydia Deetz, wearing a red dress that hugged her body in all the right places.

- "Wh... wh... w... wow."- that was all he could say when she smiled at him staring at his costume.

- "I know, right?! I can't believe we are matching!! I had no idea you were coming as Beetlejuice!"

- "I... when I... I really... wow."- Spencer was glad no one could see him making a fool out of himself. Well. no one but the co-worker he loved. Yet, he knew if Morgan or Rossi saw him, it would be worse.

- "You look amazing, Spencer!"- (Y/N) smiled and rubbed his arm as he just stared at her, trying to form an intelligent sentence.

- "Thank you, so do you."- that was all he managed to say. (Y/N) continued smiling as she walked inside the building and into the elevator. Spencer just followed her in silence, trying to make his brain function again.

- "Oh my god!! You look amazing (Y/N)!"- Garcia nearly yelled as she opened the door and found her teammates in the hall. - "And! Oh, Jesus!! You are matching costumes too! This is amazing!"- Spencer smiled, awkwardly, thinking his friend was already one or two cocktails in, which meant that in about half an hour she was potentially going to start embarrassing him in front of (Y/N).

- "So you really wanted the extra point for matching costumes?"- JJ teased Spencer as he and (Y/N) walked into the apartment.

- "You said there were no extra points!"- he replied immediately, hoping no one would start teasing him right away. Because, obviously they would.

- "There are no extra points, but there is extra fun when you get back home."- Morgan teased him, holding Savannah's waist as she stood next to him.- "Is that your plan too, kids?"

- "You guys look amazing!"- (Y/N) ignored Derek's comment and smiled at them. They were dressed as Aladdin and Princess Jazmine.

- "Not really creepy, though."- Spencer added.- "And Halloween is the night to be creepy."

- "You are creepy all year long."- Morgan's snarky comment was ignored when Garcia walked over with drinks for everybody. JJ and Will were dressed as Harley Quinn and The Joker, Rossi was dressed as Dracula, Hotch was Neo, from Matrix, Emily was Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction, and Garcia was Tiffany, Chucky's girlfriend. Sergio, her cat, was walking around the apartment in a tiny Chucky costume.

If you asked Spencer, he was sure he had a chance to win the competition that year. If only he could focus on it. But with (Y/N) dressed as his character's bride, dancing with Em and JJ, he had trouble thinking clearly.

- "Ok, loverboy. How did you manage to keep it in the dark about this?"- Derek asked Spencer after an hour or so into the celebration. Reid was standing next to a table, holding a drink and staring at (Y/N) dancing, not even being subtle.

- "About what?"

- "You two are clearly together. When did that happen?"

- "What? No... we... I am... she doesn't. We aren't.... no!"- he tried to explain and failed in the process. Derek raised an eyebrow staring at him, and Reid made his best effort to explain his mind. - "We didn't plan this, it just happened. I had no idea she was gonna show up dressed as Lydia."

- "Kid, you don't have to lie anymore. I'm glad things worked your way."

- "We are not together. She doesn't... we haven't. It.. it's not gonna happen, Ever!"- Spencer wanted to storm out, but he stayed still. Instead of leaving, he turned around and looked at the table, avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room. Morgan walked a step closer and stood next to his friend.

- "You didn't plan this? You are not dating?"- and Reid just shook his head,- "And what are you waiting for?"

- "It's not gonna work."

- "Of course it won't. Not if you have a lousy attitude. She loves you, stop being a coward and kiss her."

- "Easy for you to say, no girl has ever rejected you."

- "Come on, kid. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. As far as I know, she likes you too. Now go there and ask her to dance."- before Spencer could argue, Morgan walked away. And the young doctor stood there, staring at the guacamole bowl, not able to move.

- "What caught your eyes?"- (Y/N)'s voice nearly gave him a heart attack. She just stood next to him with a big smile and stared at the food on the table.- "Hungry?"

- "I'm... I'm... the cheese board looks great."- he mumbled and mentally facepalmed himself for making such a stupid comment.

- "It does! Garcia has really outdone herself this year. And last year was already pretty awesome."- Spencer didn't reply, he just stared at the food, avoiding eye contact, in a desperate attempt to keep his brain working. But (Y/N) just sighed, and after a few seconds of silence, she just walked away. Reid closed his eyes and bit his lips.

- "Well done, asshole. You really know how to look like a jerk."- he argued with himself.

- "Everybody! Get together! we are gonna vote for this year's best costume!"- Penelope clapped a few times and stood in front of the group, next to the altar with pictures of their loved ones.

- "As every year, we'll choose the winner with our clap-o-meter"- which they didn't really have, but the costume with the louder reaction from the team was the winner.

- "First we have the Joker and Harley Quinn."- JJ and Will walked to the front and the entire room started clapping.

- "Then we have Aladdin and Jasmine."- Morgan held Savannah's hand and walked in front of their friends. Everybody clapped as Savannah did a little dance and Morgan rubbed a golden lamp. Spencer looked at (Y/N), she was clapping and smiling, looking as happy as ever.

- "Next one, Beetlejuice and Ly..."

- "No!"- Spencer interrupted Garcia, raising his arm.- "We didn't come together as a couple."- and as soon as he delivered those words, Spencer turned and looked at (Y/N). Her smile was long gone from her face. Instead, she stared at him in shock. She was hurt, she was embarrassed. And most of all, she was storming out of the apartment.

- "Shit!"- Spencer whispered as she quickly followed her, as all their friends stared at them in silence. They were all thinking pretty much the same: he had fucked it up and he better fixed it.

- "(Y/N) wait!"- Spencer ran after her and held her arm before she reached the stairs.-

- "No, Spencer! I'm done! I know you hate me, but you don't have to be so mean! I thought we could work together and be civil, but clearly, you don't stand me! So, please! let me go home so you can enjoy your evening at peace."

Spencer stared at her in shock. That's what he had accomplished. That she thought he hated her. And all because he didn't know how to act around her anymore.

- "(Y/N), no. I don't hate you."

- "Don't lie! You are just gonna make it worse. I know you hate me, you never talk to me, you walk away whenever I show up, and clearly, you don't wanna participate in a silly costume competition with me!"- (Y/N) pulled her arm from Spencer's hand and started walking down the stairs. But before she could go too far, Spencer held her hand and stopped her.

- "I don't hate you, I fucking love you! I have no idea how to act when you are around! I can't even speak when you are looking at me!"- he blurted out, not even thinking. (Y/N) stared at him, frowning. None of them said a word for a few seconds until she managed to whisper.

- "What?"

- "I... love... I love you."- Spencer repeated, in a softer voice. (Y/N) took a step closer and tried to read his face, looking for any sign of deceit. But there wasn't. Instead, he stared at her in adoration, waiting to see if his words had had any kind of effect on her.

- "You do?"- she asked, and Spencer blinked, nodding- "'Cos I love you too. So much."- she whispered, blushing.

- "You... do?"- Spencer nearly choked with the words. (Y/N) nodded and smiled, as the two of them fell silent one more time

- "Now kiss the girl, damn it!!"- Rossi yelled from inside the apartment, making them giggle. Spencer held (Y/N)'s hand and moved closer to her, staring right at her lips. She smiled in anticipation and nearly had a heart attack when she felt Spencer's lips on hers, kissing her so slowly, carefully, and sweetly, like she was made of crystal.

After a few seconds, they moved apart from each other and simply smiled, still in disbelief.

- "Do you... wanna go back inside?"- (Y/N) whispered, and pointed to Garcia's apartment.

- "Or... would you like to go out on a date?"- Spencer suggested, and her eyes shone in excitement.

- "A date on Halloween sounds like the best plan ever. But I thought this year you wanted to win the costume contest."

- "A date with you is the best prize ever."- Spencer replied and held her hand, leading the way downstairs.

#spencer reid #criminal minds #mgg #babymetaldoll writes #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid x fem!bau reader #hardcore fluff

339 notes · View notes

harrowedsoup · 1 year

Text

I wish Canaan House had lasted long enough for everyone to see Harrow and Gideon fight.

Like almost no one really took Harrow as seriously as she wanted after the first couple of days, Palamedes was ready to make her matching friendship bracelets. But pretty much everyone, besides the sixth, was at least mostly believing that Gideon was … normal. They thought she was a cav that wasn’t trained to be a cav but still incredibly good at fighting- they had no way of knowing what her personality was.

And can you imagine Harrow and Gideon fighting in front of people that have never heard Gideon speak before???? Gideon and Harrow tend to argue like it’s a poetry slam /your mama contest, which while incredibly entertaining isn’t very dignified. Gideon has to have at least one insult based on Harrow’s looks (because she’s been looking) while Harrow calls Gideon an idiot even though Gideon’s been using incredibly articulate insults.

Hell, I would just love to see people hear Harrow call her Griddle !

#the locked tomb #gideon nav #harrow nonagesimus #griddlehark

909 notes · View notes

saythenametotheworld · 2 months

Text

Message in a Bottle [2]

Genre: strangers to lovers; fluff; slow burn Pairing: Choi Seungcheol x Reader Warnings: mature themes, suggestive Notes: 14k words, song prompt was Message in a Bottle by Taylor Swift. The love this received was overwhelming. thanks sm. Synopsis: What's next for you and Seungcheol? You have no idea yet, but boy you're so eager to find out. Taglist: @brownsugarbaybee, @shuamorollss, @kpopficenjoyer

[Part 1]

Dinner was just okay. For you, at least. Everyone else seems to be having a good time. You’re not trying to be a spoilsport, but you can’t help but space out whenever you remember the encounter with Seungcheol earlier that night. It excites and enrages you at the same time. Part of you wanted to drag Seungcheol out so you could talk properly. Another part wants him to disappear and never show himself again.

“He’s in the market. A little older, but he’s a great man. You can try shooting your shot,” the professor joked after one student asked if Seungcheol was married.

“Tell us, Seungcheol-nim; are you seeing anyone right now?” Sua chimed.

Seungcheol chuckled nervously, rubbing his hands over his thighs. “No, I’m not.”

His response was met with squeals from all the girls except you. When your gazes met, you raised an eyebrow at him as if to ask him what he was looking at you for.

“But I already have someone I like,” he added, not tearing his eyes away from you.

The girls squealed again, giddy and taken by the conversation. You, on the other hand, were looking away, trying to calm your heart. Seungcheol saw you get flustered but you rolled your eyes at him and started drinking with the others.

It was about 9pm when everyone decided it was time to go. The professor had to leave early, so Seungcheol—despite not wanting to do it, had to drive his uncle to his house. He couldn’t even say goodbye to you because he didn’t want to raise suspicions.

When your classmates suggested that you go for drinks in a nearby pub, you joined them intending to loosen up. But then your male classmates began hitting on you which was annoying, especially since one of them can't seem to take 'no' for an answer.

“I said,” you barked at the guy who kept badgering you with annoying questions, “LEAVE. ME. ALONE.”

You turned to finish your conversation with Haeyoon but your jerk of a classmate jeered. “Why are you being such a snob? Do you think you’re so pretty because I’m flirting with you? Bitch, you’re just another girl in a pool or hundreds. I can find others way prettier than you’ll ever dream to be.”

“I can find others bleh bleh bleh,” you mocked, rolling your eyes. "Then go find them and leave me alone."

"Crude ass bitch."

"Why this little—" You stood up from your seat and looked around in search of any security personnel. When you spotted one, you pointed at him and shouted, “Excuse me! This guy is harassing us!”

“What? Me?”

The security quickly came over holding a baton and being followed by service staff. Your classmate was escorted out and while you felt proud of yourself, your other classmates seemed unimpressed.

“Damn it, y/n. You’re such a bore.”

“He was just joking around. No need to be so sensitive.”

These people are so wrong to contest with you when your liquid courage is in effect. “If you can’t stand it, then leave,” you countered, smirking.

“Yeah! Get your enabler asses out of here,” some of your female friends jeered.

“Go to a club or something!” Dahee, another close friend of yours, hollered.

Several of them started leaving but most of the girls stayed behind, drinking the night away and looking to get wasted. Your table was rowdy with laughter, giggles, games, and occasional gossip. By midnight, you were starting to feel numb so you stayed seated, barely participating in the games anymore.

“Y/n?” You looked up when you heard someone call your name. Squinting a little, you tried to recognize the man before you. “You’re pretty drunk. Do you need me to take you home?”

“What the hell? I thought you were him,” you pouted, rolling your eyes at Jinwoo. He just laughed.

“Who do you mean?” he questioned, holding your hand. “Come on now before you get completely wasted.”

“Jinwoo,” one of your friends called. “What are you doing here?”

Jinwoo scratched his nape. “Someone told me you guys were here so I came over.”

Haeyoon tilted her head. “Really? Come join us, then. It looks like y/n isn’t ready to leave yet.”

You grinned and raised your hand. “Absolutely not, love,” you chimed, taking the glass she was handing to you.

Jinwoo gave up trying to convince you and stayed to join you instead. At first, he was fun to have around. He was funny and joined in on the games. But a few drinks later, you noticed he was getting handsy so you tried to move away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked after you scooted away from him for the third time.

“Go away, Jinwoo,” you told him before standing up. You steadied your pace, keeping your eyes locked on the bathroom sign across the room. Just as you were about to reach it, Jinwoo caught up to you and helped you stand steadily.

“Let me help you,” he offered, placing his hand on your waist and the other on your shoulder. The contact made you shudder so you pushed him back.

“I’m fine, Jinwoo.”

He chuckled. “No, you’re not. Come on, just let me help.”

This time, he grabbed your waist with both hands. You squirmed, trying to get away but you couldn’t because the alcohol had weakened your limbs.

“Get off me, you–” You punched his face but it was too weak to do anything. He trapped your hands in his and pulled you in a tight hug.

“It’s okay, y/n. I got you,” he whispered in your ear, giving you goosebumps all over. He then grabbed a handful of your ass and you were so horrified that you gathered every energy in your body to push him away.

“Go away you asshole!” you hollered, nearly sobbing.

“Hey!” said Seungcheol, landing a heavy punch on Jinwoo’s face that sent him staggering backward. You fell on the floor, knees weakened as you watched Seungcheol being restrained and other people helping Jinwoo up. Your friends heard the commotion and they rushed over to help you up.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Jinwoo fumed, the corner of his mouth bleeding where Seungcheol punched him.

“You stay away from her!” Seungcheol hollered back, trying to attack but he was being restrained. “How dare you touch her, you fucking prick!”

“Fuck you!”

Seungcheol hissed. “No, fuck you!”

Everything else happened abruptly. Police were called and they were both taken to the station for questioning. As you sat with your friends in the waiting area, you listened to Jinwoo's rant about how Seungcheol attacked him and how he was the victim and Seungcheol should be locked up.

“Sir, no one here is getting locked up except you,” the police officer deadpanned. “This isn’t about physical assault. It’s a sexual harassment complaint.”

“Sexual harassment?” he repeated mockingly. “Who? Her?” he pointed at you. “I never harassed her. She was drunk and she was being clingy to me.”

“That’s not what the witnesses said.”

“Well, they’re all lying.”

The police officer rolled his eyes as if he was getting bored. “Are you sure you want to do this? My colleagues are obtaining CCTV footage from the establishment as we speak. I wonder what that video will tell us.”

Jinwoo closed his mouth and glared at you. You glared back, disgusted. He then looked at Seungcheol and then faced the officer. “What about me? I was assaulted. He attacked me.”

The officer shook his head as he toggled to his computer. “If you want, you can file a complaint against him. But if I were you, I wouldn’t dream of it. He was in the wrong but he acted out of protection for Miss y/n here. Plus he’s a lawyer. Don’t push your luck.”

Jinwoo swallowed upon hearing that Seungcheol was a lawyer. Seungcheol, on the other hand, looked at him with an arrogant expression, enjoying the sight of Jinwoo crumbling beside him.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Seungcheol asked for the nth time tonight. You pulled his coat tighter around your body and nodded. “That asshole.”

“Thanks for coming, Cheol,” you told him, smiling sheepishly.

“Yeah, thanks for coming Seungcheol-nim,” Haeyoon added. “How did you know where we were though?”

Seungcheol smiled. “I heard from someone.”

“Gosh, I still can’t believe Jinwoo did that,” Dahee mused. “I know he had a huge crush on you but I didn’t think he’d harass you like that.”

“Right? He didn’t look like someone who would do that. Was he just pretending to be a nice guy all this time?” Haeyoon sighed.

Dahee gasped in horror. “Guys, I think he did well hiding his true self.”

While your friends shuddered at Jinwoo pretending to be a good guy, Seungcheol tugged your elbow. “Should I drive you back to your apartment? Yoori and Seolhee must be worried.”

“Yeah, they’d probably freak out if they found out,” you chuckled, sighing. “Should I just keep it a secret?”

“You can, but for now, you should get some rest,” he suggested and you nodded in approval.

Your friend heard your conversation and interjected. “I’m sorry, Seungcheol-nim but we can’t let you take her home.”

“No, we can’t. No offense but we won’t feel at ease if we leave her with you. Especially after tonight.”

You chuckled. “Girls, I’m fine. I know him personally.”

“Are you sure? You personally knew Jinwoo too.”

Seungcheol cut in. “How about I drive everyone home?”

And he did. He drove you and your friends to your homes, all while keeping up with your friends’ questions. He told them you were a close friend of his when they asked how you knew each other. At some point, you tried to mediate and get them to stop being inquisitive but they kept going. You were able to relax only after Seungcheol had dropped everyone else and it was only just the two of you in the car.

You leaned your head on the backrest of your seat, closing your eyes to help alleviate your ringing headache. Seeing your tired expression, Seungcheol reached to touch your shoulder.

"Are you alright? Don't worry, we're almost at your apartment."

You hummed. "Thanks for coming, Cheol. But how did you know we were there?"

Seungcheol chuckled shyly. "I, uh... I went back to the restaurant and asked around until someone told me they heard you were going to that pub."

"You asked around? I thought you were a lawyer, not a detective?" you quipped and he laughed.

“You did well protecting yourself back there,” he told you, smiling as he squeezed your shoulder before letting go. “I’ll make sure to put that guy on the record.”

You scoffed, thinking that was too much of a punishment considering nothing major happened. But you didn’t try to change his mind because you too, want to make sure Jinwoo regrets his actions.

“I always believed I was a good judge of character,” you chuckled, shaking your head. “Damn him.”

Seungcheol just scoffed as he pulled over by the sidewalk in front of your apartment. “Can we talk tomorrow?”

You opened your eyes, peeked outside the window, and then looked at Seungcheol with a smile. Nodding your head, you said, “Okay. Let’s do that.”

Seungcheol smiled back, reaching for your hand and squeezing it gently. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”

You were half-asleep as you entered the apartment complex. For a while, the house was filled with questions and worried expressions from Seolhee and Yoori. You’re not sure what Seungcheol told them but they eventually stopped nagging and brought you in to get some rest.

When you woke up the next morning, your head was so painful that you feared it would break. As you tried to rise out of bed, you found yourself sniffing and realized you had caught a cold.

“Argh,” you groaned, falling back into bed when you couldn’t find the strength to get up.

Luckily, it was the weekend and you had no classes so you stayed in bed all day, watching a romance flick and eating your sickness away. Seolhee took good care of you, although she never stopped nagging and scolding you. You took it all in stride, happy to receive her help without asking for it. You have yet to tell them about the incident with Jinwoo and while you have no intention to keep it a secret, you decided to put it off for later. As impulsive as they are, you feared Seungcheol would end up lawyering them both out of jail for physical assault.

It was almost dinnertime when Yoori arrived with some news. "You have a guest," she announced as soon as she walked into the apartment. You craned your neck to look in the foyer and found Seungcheol towing behind Yoori. Then you remembered that you made plans with him last night.

“Cheol?” you called out, surprised. He smiled sheepishly, showing a small wave. You then noticed the paper bag in his hand as you strode over to greet him. “What are you doing here?”

“Me?” He pointed to himself. “Oh, I heard you were sick so I thought I’d drop by. Here.”

“How did you know?” you asked as you took the paper bag of food and another bag from a drugstore from his hands.

“Yoori told me. I asked her because I was worried after you wouldn’t respond to my texts so… yeah,” he explained, flattening his lips into a shy smile.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” Yoori called out. “Come in and join us for dinner.”

“No, I’m fine. I have dinner plans with my parents.”

“Are you sure? You should just eat since you’re already here.”

Seungcheol beamed. “I’d love to, Yoori, but I have to go.”

Yoori shrugged. “Alright, then. Maybe next time,” she said before heading to the kitchen.

You walked Seungcheol out of the door and bade him goodbye. “You didn’t have to come, you know.”

“I know,” he chimed, his face stricken with worry. “I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

You looked down at your feet, attempting to hide your flaring cheeks. “Well, you’ve seen me. I’m fine. It’s just a cold.”

“Get some rest, okay? Let’s talk soon.”

You nodded, only glancing at him ever so briefly. “I’ll text you back.”

“Alright, y/n.”

“Alright, Cheol.”

“Alright…”

When you went back inside, you pouted at Yoori and said, “Don’t you care about my heart at all?”

“Why do you think I told him you were sick?”

“Why?”

Yoori snickered. “To see how he would react about it, why else?”

You rolled your eyes at her before sitting on your place at the table. Then you caught Seolhee's gaze and realized she'd been staring at you. "What?"

Seolhee tutted and shook her head in disappointment. "You forgave him too quickly."

"So what if she did? They both like each other."

"He made her ugly cry," Seolhee reminded. "You don't easily forgive someone who makes you ugly cry."

Yoori was shaking her head as she placed a plate on the table. "As long as he's willing to make up for it, he's fine."

"Wasn't it you who said you'll kill him?"

"Guys," you interjected. Your roommates fell quiet and you were able to eat in peace.

A whole month. That was how much time you had to get over Seungcheol. Although you didn’t completely erase your feelings for him, you were doing a good job getting over him. Just as you were about to move on, he had to come back and do this. He had to show up and ask you to try again. How many times has it been? Each time you find a reason to stop, he always comes strutting back in like he rightfully belonged in your life. You thought this time would be the last, but then he does it again.

“I guess the universe wants to see us together,” you mumbled while you sat on your bed, scrolling through your phone gallery and looking at the pictures you took with Seungcheol. “Did it have to be this complicated, though?”

You tapped on his face on the screen, aggressively thumbing his head so the photo zoomed in and out several times. You were doing that when your phone rang and you accidentally tapped the End button to Seungcheol’s call. You gasped, shrieked, and dropped your phone in panic.

Steps thundered on the floor from outside before Yoori’s head peeked through your door. “What happened?”

You pouted at your friend. “Cheol called and I declined by accident.”

Worry left Yoori’s face almost immediately, replaced with that of deadpanned annoyance. “This bitch.”

Yoori left your room just as your phone started ringing again. You picked it up quickly and checked to see if it was Seungcheol. When you confirmed it, you cleared your throat and waited a few seconds before answering.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” he greeted back, his voice reverberating beautifully in your ears. You had no idea you missed it until you heard it again.

“Hi, Cheol. What’s up?” you replied, hoping nonchalance would hide your excitement. “Sorry I hung up on your first call. I tapped the wrong button,” you told him, hoping he wouldn’t ask why. You’re not about to tell him you pressed the wrong button because you were giddily tapping on his picture!

“It’s alright. I figured that much,” he chimed. There’s a lilt in his voice, making you assume he was in good spirits at the moment. “What are you doing?”

“Me? I just finished getting ready for bed.” You tucked yourself under your blanket, basking in the warmth.

Seungcheol hummed. “Your meds?”

“Done.”

“With lots of water?”

You rolled your eyes, but you were smiling from ear to ear. “Yes, Doctor Cheol.”

He chuckled from the other line. “Alright. Good girl.”

Your heart leaped. “What am I, a child?” He just laughed. You could hear faint music from his line. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing much. I’m at home on my laptop,” he replied and then chuckled. "Million Dollar Smile, huh? Who came up with that?" he added.

Your brows creased, confused. "A million what?"

"A Million Dollar Smile."

"I don't get it."

"That's your title. Apparently, your peers call you the Beauty with a Million-Dollar Smile."

"Me? They call me that?"

"Oh, you didn't know?"

You shuddered, the hairs on your arms raising. "That's so creepy."

Seungcheol's laughter filled your ears. "I think they meant it as a compliment."

You shook your shoulders and head to get rid of the cringe feeling. "Well, they're creepy."

"You seriously didn't know? There are plenty of articles about you in the university forum. Most of them mentioned your title."

You laughed incredulously. "I don't hop on the forum and look up articles about me. That sounds so narcissis— wait are you reading about me? Right now?"

"I am," he replied nonchalantly. "They write about you a lot, you know. All good things. I didn't know you were an athlete. Tennis?"

"I'm not," you chuckled, rolling on the other side of your bed. "I only played for the sports meet because no one in my department wanted to."

“We should play sometimes.”

You rolled your eyes, albeit he couldn’t see it. “Do you even know how many plans you’ve made with me already?”

He chuckled. “Have they all piled up? We should probably do something about it soon.”

“There. Another plan.”

Seungcheol laughed from the other line and you couldn’t help smiling at the image of him in your head, laughing wholeheartedly. “Get well soon, y/n. Let’s catch up on everything we missed.”

“Alright.”

“I missed you.”

You froze, dumbfounded by his unexpected confession. For a minute, there was nothing but silence between the two of you, as you were carefully considering the correct approach to his statement.

“I’m sorry, y/n. I was…” he paused, sighing. “I was wrong. So wrong. I was clueless. I had no idea what I wanted. I ended up pushing you away. For that, I’m very sorry.”

“It’s okay, Cheol,” you told him softly. It’s not, obviously. But you didn’t want to dwell on it anymore. You only want to focus on the now and see where it takes you. Finally, Seungcheol was clear with his intentions. What else should stop you from doing the same?

There’s no reason to decline his affection, especially when you know you want it too. You wished for this day to come, you craved it, prayed for it, and hoped it would happen despite the impossibility of it. Now that it’s here, on a silver platter, willingly being served to you, why should you decline it? Your heart is fragile, it breaks so easily but it heals as quickly. The best thing about this heartbreak is that it was Seungcheol himself who was trying to mend the broken pieces back together.

You welcomed Monday with a bad headache. No, you're not sick anymore but rumors are going around about you and that was what’s making your head throb terribly. People at school had been talking about you dating an older guy, and allegedly breaking off his previous relationship. It was posted by The Gossiper, a notorious gossip monger in your university who operates on anonymity. You have no idea where or who tipped them but the boys at school who used to try every means to sweep you off your feet are now calling you a hoe in the online university forum, while some girls are now considering you an enemy for not being a "girl's girl". Of course, rumors are only rumors, and you don't give a damn about the people talking crap behind your back, but it was still a terrible situation to deal with on the first day of the week.

"By older guy, are they referring to Seungcheol-nim?" Haeyoon asked during lunch. You placed your chopsticks back on your tray and started massaging your temples.

"Really, Haeyoon? Right in front of my special jajjangmyeon?" you groaned, pretending to be offended. "You couldn't wait till we get a taste before spoiling everything?"

Haeyoon pressed her hands together and bowed. "I'm so sorry, special jajjangmyeon."

You and your friends laughed as you started eating. Sua, however, wants to know more about the rumors.

"Seungcheol-nim? Is he the older guy from the Gossiper's post?" asked Sua, looking curious.

Dahee sniggered. "If y/n is seeing anyone, we'd be the first to know. Right, y/n?"

At that moment, Yoori appeared next to Dahee, placing her tray on the table as she shook her head. "Wrong. We'll find out first because we're flatmates."

"Ugh, what a show-off," Dahee sneered, nudging Yoori's arm as the latter sat next to her.

Sua tapped on the table to get your attention. "The anonymous post said they saw you with the older guy though. They also said they knew him and he broke up with his girlfriend because of you."

"Don't believe everything you see online, Sua," Dahee chided gently, giving Sua a stern gaze.

"So it's not true, then? The rumor?" Sua questioned so you shook your head in response.

"No," you replied curtly. If people you barely know are curious about the truthfulness of the rumors, of course, your friends would be too. Still, you don't see the need to explain to anyone why and how the gossip in the hallways is false. Saying it isn't true should be enough. Sure you can divulge details if you want to, but you won't because you are entitled to your privacy and so is Seungcheol. You don't want everything that went down between the two of you to become a topic for other people's mouths to feast on.

"Then what’s going on between you and Seungcheol-nim?" Sua pressed on, earning her a few annoyed looks from your other friends.

"None of your business, girl," said Yoori, placing a piece of sliced orange on Sua's tray. "Stop asking and just eat."

There are reasons why Sua seemed like she was being alienated from your friend group. First, you weren't friends with her in the first place. She just started following Dahee around and casually joined your circle. Second, you have a feeling Sua is spilling private details about you and your friends to other people. No one was able to prove it yet, but ever since she joined your circle, you've been hearing other people talk about things that only you and your friends were supposed to know. It might all be just an assumption and you could be wrong about her, but she's a writer for the school paper which also handles the gossip account in the university's online forum.

“Hey.” Yoori nudged you. “We’re going to a concert tonight, me and Seolhee. Would you like to come?”

You shook your head. “I am…” you trailed off, hesitating. “...going out tonight. I made plans. Have fun though.”

Yoori flashed a menacing smile, making you laugh and say, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

She shrugged, still sporting the smile. “When was the last time you made plans with a guy?”

“How do you even know it’s a guy?”

“Roommates for three years, friends for five. I know you inside and out, y/n,” she teased and it made you giggle, shyly looking away and touching your blushing cheeks. Yoori cooed at you, “Don’t you think you forgave him too quickly?”

“Did I?” you asked, pondering on the question. Indeed, it was such a quick forgiveness. He didn’t even need to put in too much effort to win you back. But then again, you know what you want: him. Why would you prolong the process when you can just open your arms and welcome him wholeheartedly? It may be foolish, and there’s a chance that you may be making wrong decisions. But weirdly enough, you were willing to take the gamble and bet your whole heart on it.

Seungcheol’s smile was ear-to-ear when he saw you outside the CoffeeHouse. You couldn’t hide your delight either, waving at him as you walked to where he was waiting for you.

“How were your classes?” was the first thing he asked you and it made you roll your eyes and groan.

“Ugh, really? That’s what you want to talk about? I should have gone to the concert,” you retorted, chucking your phone into your bag.

“What concert?” he asked as he opened the car door for you. You got into the car and waited until he was in the driver’s seat before answering.

“It’s by a band we like. Seolhee and Yoori are going.” You pulled the seatbelt over your body and tried to lock it but your backpack on your lap is making it hard for you to reach the lock.

Seungcheol leaned over, surprising you with his sudden movement and how close he had gotten to you in a split second. He locked the seatbelt with ease, withdrawing to sit properly like he didn’t just give you a minor heart attack.

“Did you want to go? You should’ve told me. We could’ve just rescheduled,” he stated, eyes focused on the road the moment he turned his engine on.

You cleared your throat. “It would be fun, but I didn’t feel like it. Besides, we had plans.”

“Right,” he replied, gleaming. “So, what’s the plan?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s on your mind? What should we do tonight?”

You scoffed, eyeing him with furrowed brows. “Are you telling me you don’t have a real plan?”

Seungcheol chuckled nervously.

“Why did you ask me out if you didn’t know what we should do?”

“To be honest, I didn’t think you’d accept the invitation. So, right now, I’m just improvising.”

“Improvising?” you repeated, chuckling. “Doesn’t seem like you at all.”

“I know,” he gave up. “You’ll have to forgive me, this is kind of a new territory because I’ve only known spontaneity when I met you.”

Your jaw dropped but you closed it again before he could catch you. Then you glanced outside the car, your hands over your mouth out of sheer shock. You don’t know why he said it like it was an embarrassing thing to say because the effect on you was entirely different. You’re realizing right then that Choi Seungcheol can sweep you off your feet so easily without even trying too hard.

You exhaled and snickered at him. “Your rizz is quite something, Choi Seungcheol.”

“Rizz?” he questioned, briefly glancing at you.

You gawked at him and then remembered that he’s the technologically challenged lawyer who’s almost thirty. “It’s nothing. You won’t get it.”

Seungcheol shrugged. “I’m pretty smart if you explain it properly.”

“It’s slang,” you began but then hesitated. “You know what, don’t worry about it. I meant it as a compliment.”

He chuckled. “Well, thank you very much. Your rizz is quite something too.”

His reply made you laugh and from then on, you two have never stopped laughing in the car on your way to nowhere.

Your first date with Seungcheol went like that, driving around the city and eating takeout in the car. As the night grew later and the streets stretched longer, you noticed that you’d reached the outskirts of the city, so you rolled the window down, pushing your hand out to feel the cool air. Seungcheol noticed this and smiled.

“What time is your bedtime today?” he asked so you glanced at the time on the dashboard. 11:45 pm.

“It’s a little early, but we should probably head back,” you told him. You didn’t want to go home just yet, but you have class tomorrow and you were certain Seungcheol has to go to work early too.

“Alright,” he replied, slowing down as he prepared to turn back.

You spotted a cafe up ahead so you tapped on his arm. “Later, after we go to that cafe.”

And you did. You went inside the cafe, admired the warm ambiance, and took a few pictures to commemorate it. Seungcheol was reluctant, but you managed to convince him to pose for one picture only.

“Old people are spoilsports,” you complained jokingly, feigning disappointment as you checked how the photo came out. While you were looking down at your phone, you felt an arm around your shoulder, making you glance at it only to find Seungcheol raising his phone camera as he pulled you closer to him.

“Smile, y/n,” he lilted. You panicked at the proximity, but you managed to squeeze out a big grin for the photo. As quickly as it took to capture the photo, Seungcheol parted from you, smiling as he stared at his phone screen for a minute.

You turned away, touching your warm cheeks and hoping you were not blushing too much. Then you cleared your throat and side-eyed him. “I thought you didn’t know how to use a phone?” you quipped, hoping humor would hide your glee.

“I never said that,” he insisted. “And, hey, come on. It’s a selfie. Even babies know how to take one.”

You snickered, pleased to have riled him up even jokingly. He approached the counter with you behind him. After telling the barista his order, he turned to you to ask, “Spanish latte with oat milk?”

“Yeah,” you replied, nodding with a smile. He gave the barista your order too and since there were only a handful of customers, Seungcheol was told he could just wait by the counter for your orders.

Seungcheol was all smiles when he approached your table with a tray. As he pushed your coffee towards you on the table, you eyed his iced coffee that was so dark you could barely see the ice in it.

“Aren’t you cold?” you asked.

Seungcheol understood what you meant by the question. “I am but I like cold coffee.”

“I can see that,” you chuckled, blowing the steam from your hot mug. “But why?”

“I haven’t told you yet?” he wondered and you shrugged in response. “Hmmh, I thought I told you everything.”

“Not nearly,” you jeered. “You rarely shared anything about yourself.”

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I told you things I haven’t told other people.”

You nodded. “Yeah, but you haven’t told me the most basic things about you. You know, things people usually talk about when getting to know someone. Your favorite color or food. Your family, your workplace, and things like that. You never even told me you had a pet. And,” you paused, pointed at his coffee, and added, “why you like your coffee like that.”

He looked at his coffee and then back to you. “I didn’t realize that.”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to tell me anything. I was just under the impression that whenever you’re with me, you tend to detach yourself from your life outside our friendship. Like you’re just Cheol, not the Lawyer Choi Seungcheol from a very wealthy family and works in a very big law firm and has a pet he calls Kkuma.”

“I do, don’t I?” he gleamed, like he was only now realizing that fact. “I think you’re right.”

“About everything?”

“Yeah, about everything.”

You chuckled, passing it all off as a joke. But Seungcheol was serious, and so for the entire time that you sat in that cafe, he talked about himself and everything you needed to know about him.

Friday.

“Can’t we sue them for defamation? Maybe cyber-bullying or something like that?”

You walked in on Yoori and Seolhee scrolling through a laptop in the living room. As you watched their concerned expressions, you went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. Seolhee spotted you then.

“There you are!” she sighed, looking like she just had the most stressful day of her life so far. “The Gossiper is at it again.”

“What is it this time?” you deadpanned. For the entire week, every single day, The Gossiper always had ‘something new’ to write about you. First, it was about your rumored beau. Second, your past relationships were brought up. And then they started doubting your good grades and good relationship with your professors, calling it unusual and suspicious after revealing that your parents were legacies—as if a good half of the student body aren’t legacies themselves. Just yesterday, they claimed that your mother’s cram school isn’t inclusive and accepts only the rich kids. At this point, nothing they write can surprise you anymore with its incredulousness.

“I can’t even bring myself to read it again,” Seolhee replied, pushing the laptop towards you when you sat with them.

What’s the truth about Miss Million-Dollar-Smile’s tutoring jobs?

According to the article, a close confidant of yours told them that your part-time tutoring gigs during your sophomore year were actually escort jobs, adding that your clients aren’t middle schoolers but their rich fathers. You were so appalled that your jaw hung open the entire time you were reading the article. Yoori had to prompt you because you were staring at the screen with such an expression.

“Crazy, isn’t it?” Seolhee commented.

“Crazy? It’s not just crazy,” Yoori scoffed, exasperated. “They’ve gone too far! This Gossiper, whoever this is, they need jail time.”

People are now calling you two-faced, claiming you had been pretending to be a decent girl all this time. Some were saying you were hiding behind a righteous, goody-two-shoes persona. Not to mention the amount of people calling your slurs like a hoe, a social climber, homewrecker, the list just goes on.

“Why are they so obsessed with you all of a sudden? Honestly, where is this aggression coming from?” Yoori added. Truth be told, you don't care. You're about to graduate anyway. As long as they don’t do any real damage to you, you don’t care what they say.

“Let them be,” you told your friends, smiling meekly. “Who knows, maybe if we ignore them, they’ll leave me alone.”

“What about all these people commenting about you and calling you names?”

You shrugged. “Let them talk. I’ll see it as a form of charity. Their lives are boring and so unhappy that they’d rather talk shit about someone they barely know. At least I get to help make their days interesting.”

“You’re nuts,” Yoori exhaled. “Seriously, you’re so unbelievably optimistic. That’s not normal.”

You grinned at her. “You know what they say, there’s a silver lining in every difficult situation. You just need to find it.”

“And who said that exactly?” Seolhee asked so you turned to her and shrugged.

“Me.” You snickered. “I made it up based on a very common thought that’s been cited hundreds or thousands of times already by probably millions of people. My mind is so impressive.”

Your friends laughed and seeing their smiling faces eased your heart. To be completely honest, the backlash you were getting scared you. You tried your best to not care but little by little, it has started to get to you. Before walking down the halls, you first need to take a minute to think, calm your nerves, and condition your mind to ignore the murmurs and the looks you keep getting from people you barely even know. As much as you look forward to another day, a small part of you is afraid that there might be new gossip about you being discussed online. Even outside the campus, sometimes you are overcome by an eerie feeling that people are staring at you judgmentally. Of course, you are more confident than scared, but the little girl inside you who’s cowering in fear of the people talking about you is slowly growing to take up a larger space.

“Hi!” Seungcheol greeted into your ear, making you jolt in your seat at the cafe. Your reaction made him chuckle. But when he saw that you weren’t laughing, he cleared his throat and said, “Am I late?”

“No, I’m just early,” you replied, sighing quietly.

“I see. I came here as quickly as I could,” he told you as he took off his coat and placed it on the backrest of his chair.

You hummed. “Have you ordered?”

“I have, yes,” he beamed and you tried your best to smile back but couldn’t. It really couldn’t be helped that you were feeling down today.

Mingyu came at that moment, the tray in his hand told you he was carrying Seungcheol’s order with him. He smiled at each of you and greeted you with a jovial, “Good evening!”

“Evening, Gyu,” you replied, flattening your lips together in a smile that didn’t reach your eyes.

“Oh, wow, the vibe is so weird here,” he noted, shifting eyes from you to Seungcheol. “Did you guys fight?”

“Did you make my order right?” Seungcheol retorted but Mingyu ignored him as he placed the coffee and pastry on the table.

“What did the Landlord do?” he asked you. On a normal day, you would have had a witty response to that, and then you would bicker with Mingyu for a bit. But today as much as you would enjoy a regular battle of wits with this giant himbo, your energy to socialize is at an all-time low.

“I didn’t do anything,” Seungcheol insisted, but then he did a double take to look at you. “Or… did I?”

Mingyu chortled. “Crush him up, y/n. He might be bigger than you are, but you can pulverize him just fine with that snarky—”

“Just go away, man,” Seungcheol scolded, playfully hitting Mingyu’s abdomen with the back of his hand. “Go entertain your fans or something.”

“Aha!” Mingyu exclaimed, pointing a finger at Seungcheol. “You’re picking up a thing or two from y/n!”

You smirked and then rolled your eyes. “Yeah, go away, Gyu. Your fanmeet is starting.”

Mingyu was pouting when he left your table and Seungcheol snickered at him as he did. He always found it entertaining to watch you bicker, even calling it a real-time UFC without the physical fighting. You stared at Seungcheol, examining his features as if you hadn’t already memorized them by heart. Still, you always find something new to admire about him. Today, it was his hair which has grown a little longer than when you first met him. Your hand on the table twitched, overcome by an urge to reach forward and run your fingers through his head of soft-looking brown hair.

“What are you reading?” he questioned, motioning at the Kindle tablet in your hand.

“Nothing that would be interesting to you,” you said sheepishly, putting the device face-down on the table. You hadn’t meant for your response to be off-putting, but it came out that way and you kinda regretted it.

“How do you know that?” he asked so you shrugged unsurely. Then he added, “Anything you do is interesting to me, y/n,”

A smile crept up on your lips before you could even think of hiding it, and Seungcheol’s face lit up when he saw it. His smile gradually became bigger and there was even a faint tint of blushing on his cheek.

“God,” he muttered, looking down and covering his face with his hands. You scowled, wondering what was wrong with him. He was mumbling incoherently and you tried to listen but you didn’t catch a single word.

“What’s that?” you questioned, so he looked up at you looking utterly defeated.

“Nothing. You’re cute, that’s all.”

You scoffed loudly, so much so that you choked a little. You had to clear your throat but you declined when Seungcheol offered you water. “I’m fine. Stop flirting with me, Cheol.”

He just shrugged. “I beg your pardon. But what else should I be doing if not to flirt with you?”

“I don’t know. Just be normal. You know? Like you used to be?”

He still had a clueless look on his face. “I can’t.”

“Of course, you can.”

“I know, but I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? That’s dumb.”

“I wasn’t in love with you then. Now that I am, I can’t.”

“Why you—” You stopped, looked away, and laughed derisively. When you looked back at him, he had a proud look on his face. “Since when were you so smooth?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grinned, sipping from his straw as he looked away from you.

You just chuckled, shaking your head as you took your fork and started eating your cake. “This is so good.”

“Is it? Can I have a bite?”

You hummed as you nodded, and then pushed the plate towards him. He grabbed his fork and took a slice. And so you sat there, eating pastry, drinking coffee, and just letting the time pass by without caring about it.

On the weekend he took you to play tennis in a posh neighborhood, where you met some of his friends. He had brought it up the last time you hung out and asked if you would like to join them.

“You might find them a little boring, but they’re nice people,” he had told you at the time.

Since you had no plans and you were also curious about his friends, you agreed. You realized as soon as you were introduced that Seungcheol hung out with people who were just like him. Not only did they seem more mature than you were, but they were also evidently wealthy. Nevertheless, they were nice to you and acknowledged you with respect. And contrary to what Seungcheol said, they were fun to hang out with and you were convinced Seungcheol was the Designated Serious Friend™ in their trio dynamic.

Through a round of Flip-a-Coin, you got paired up with Seungcheol’s friend for the game who made you promise not to show them any mercy. In the end, you massacred your opponents and won free coffee and food at the clubhouse restaurant.

“I’m guessing you’re over that other girl?” your game partner asked Seungcheol over coffee after the game.

The other one protested. “Hey, Hyunwoo! Why would you ruin the mood like that?”

“It’s an important conversation to have!” Hyunwoo contested. “He was so smitten by her that he blamed himself for the breakup. In his eyes, that girl can do no wrong.”

“Wait, you’re right. He downright worshipped her. He even said he would wait until she’s ready to come back to him,” Suhwan added, shaking his head. “Man, those were troubled times.”

“Yeah, troubled times,” Hyunwoo affirmed.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you guys,” Seungcheol told his friends. To you, he said, “Ignore them.”

You nodded with a smile, taking a sip of your juice to look away. Honestly, you were curious about Seungcheol and Mina—about how it ended, and the reason why. But you were too shy to ask and while you were hoping his friends would let it slip, they only made comments here and there and never said anything explanatory. All that you got was that the breakup was bad, and they disliked her from then on.

Hyunwoo nudged your shoulder, and seeing your proximity made Seungcheol tut at him. Hyunwoo just laughed at him before asking you, “Has he told you about Mina yet?”

You shrugged. “Only that he was trying to get back with her.”

The chorus of a baffled “What?!” from Hyunwoo and Suhwan was loud and comical.

“You’re still trying to get back with her?” Suhwan asked Seungcheol who looked perplexed.

“I’m not!” Seungcheol insisted, giving you a bewildered glance as his friends bombarded him with questions. You snickered quietly, watching him defend himself from your seat. When their overlapping questions became too rowdy, Seungcheol stood up in an attempt to silence them.

“I like y/n so much!” he shouted, silencing his friends and grabbing the attention of everyone else in the restaurant. He gawked at your dumbstruck expression, and then looked around at the people in the hall. Embarrassed, he sat back on his chair, playfully hitting his two friends before sinking low in his seat.

“What was that?” Hyunwoo teased.

Seungcheol mumbled in his seat, looking away to avoid your gaze and everyone else’s. He quietly sipped on his coffee while the guys continued talking to you. You were shocked at Seungcheol’s admission, but you had no time to process it because his friends are full of energy and are very talkative. So the only thing you can do was watch Seungcheol wallow in embarrassment, stealing glances at you and looking away each time you caught his eyes.

After coffee, you trekked back to the court to collect your belongings and head home. On your way there, both Suhwan and Hyunwoo were on either side of you, while Seungcheol was towing behind like a loner.

“So what I’m saying is, whatever happened between them is not our dirty laundry to air out,” Hyunwoo stated. “But, if it’s true what Seungcheol said that he’s serious about you, you can trust him.”

“Yeah, you can,” Suhwan affirmed. “He has changed a lot these days, you know. He’s less sullen and more talkative than before. He also smiles a whole lot more. I’m sure you have something to do with that.

“He’s funny now too,” Hyunwoo sniggered. “That man can’t crack a joke. But now, he has become the wittiest out of the three of us.”

“I am flattered,” you replied shyly. “But I take no credit. He’s funny in his own little way.”

Suhwan laughed a little too loudly as if he heard the most ridiculous thing ever. Meanwhile, Hyunwoo was shaking his head in disappointment.

“Damn, you must really like him,” Hyunwoo sighed. “The only way you’d willingly say something like that is if you like him.”

“I’d say, she’s head over heels in love with him.”

Hyunwoo nodded. “Yeah, that’s the perfect definition.”

You chuckled, your cheeks hot and red. “I’m serious. I mean, obviously, his humor is not his defining trait, but he’s not that bad.”

“Ah,” Suhwan deadpanned, then looked at Hyunwoo. “Head-over-heels.”

“Head-over-heels,” Hyunwoo affirmed and it made you holler with laughter.

“Hey, what are you guys telling her this time?” Seungcheol called from behind you, catching up to shove Suhwan and take his place next to you.

Seungcheol glared at his friends who were grinning as they enjoyed getting a rise out of him. While Hyunwoo and Suhwan lagged behind to give you privacy, you nudged Seungcheol’s arm, making him look at you.

“Ignore them,” he told you.

You just smiled as you linked his arm with yours. Seungcheol saw that and it made him smile. And so you walked holding his arm, while he held your hand in place with his big palm. For the rest of the day, the massive grin on Seungcheol’s lips never left his face.

On Monday afternoon, you sat in a burger joint with your friends for lunch, talking about the upcoming school event and the things that would take place on that day. It was quiet and peaceful until Yoori suddenly stood up and slammed her hands on the table, startling all of you.

"That backstabbing tramp!" she fumed.

You blinked a few times, wondering what was up. Your friends must be wondering the same thing too but you all remained quiet, waiting for her to explain what's going on. She glanced at you and then pushed her laptop towards you. Without asking, you and your friends squeezed together to look at whatever Yoori was trying to show you on the laptop. The first thing you saw was the image of you stepping into a car that you recognized right away. It was the day you went to the bridge with Seungcheol. Shocked to find out you were photographed, you held the edges of the laptop to read the gossip.

Dahee started reading it aloud. "CAUGHT IN THE ACT! The university's sweetheart on a rendezvous! Looks like y/n's older man is not only older but also loaded. Thanks to an anonymous tipper, we managed to take the mask off of this mysterious older man. Turns out he's an alumnus who graduated from Law School at our university: Choi Seungcheol."

"It's Sua," Yoori declared, pointing at the laptop while gritting her teeth. "I swear to god that girl— gosh, I'm so annoyed right now."

"We don't know for sure if it was her," you sighed. Of course, you're thinking it was Sua. As far as you know, no one else in your friend group would blab about Seungcheol. But now that you're staring at Seungcheol's face in the article, you realize you've been out and about with him these past few months. Anyone could have seen you. Heck, that day when you got into his car, someone from school must have seen you too. You can't single out Sua anymore.

"It was her! I just know!" Yoori insisted. "The picture doesn't even show Seungcheo-nim at all so I'm sure whoever took this picture didn’t know him. Unless one of you went telling other people about Seungcheol-nim, the anonymous tipper is Sua! She told the Gossiper about him!"

You heaved a sigh and stood up, grabbing your belongings and then stuffing them in your bag. "Let's just leave it. There's no point in fighting any of that. The Gossiper can say anything about me to the world for all I care."

"But y/n. She's gone too far. Last time it was about your family. Just the other day there was one about your tutoring job! Now this?" Haeyoon ranted.

You gave them a reassuring smile. "It's fine, girls. We know none of it was true. As long as you believe my words over theirs, I'll be fine."

"I hate you," Yoori sneered. "You're too kind." No, you’re not, but you just had to be for the sake of your peace.

You tried your best to ignore the articles online as you were busy preparing for the school event. As a senior, you were tasked with an important role in your department’s fundraising booth. Food is where there is money, so you decided to set up a pastry booth. All planning and facilitating were done by you and a group of students from your department while the rest were responsible for the food production. Aside from that, you had to play for your department in the games as well. This time, it wasn’t tennis, but a game of scavenger hunt against other departments.

You got busy for the next few days, so much so that you kept declining Seungcheol’s invitation to go out. He was understanding and kept cheering you on the whole time. He made sure you were getting some rest, eating well, and taking care of your health despite being busy. He did so by texting you reminders and sending food to you from time to time. It was endearing and it surely helped make days bearable for you.

“Are you ready?” your department head asked you and your teammate for the scavenger hunt.

“Yes, sir!” you replied in unison, both excited and nervous about the games.

The game began after a quick briefing on the rules and mechanics. The game was easy, you just needed to follow the map and search the designated area for treasure chests. The first group to collect a certain amount of treasure within the given time limit wins the hunt. Half an hour in and your teammate already found one for your team. You were feeling fired up.

“I’m confused about this part of the map,” you told your teammate halfway through the four-hour hunt. “There are two pathways here but the map only showed one.”

“You’re right. I was just about to tell you about that too.”

You were in the Culinary building, as it was the venue of the hunt. At this point, you only need two more treasures to win the game but you’re on a roadblock because of the map.

“Should we split up?” you suggested.

“Can we do that?”

You shrugged. “There wasn’t anything in the rules against splitting up.”

“I know, but what if something happens to either of us?” she asked, looking sheepish.

“Like anything would happen to us in the school,” you chuckled at her, but you knew she had a point. “How about this, we split up for a bit, figure out the map issue, and convene as soon as we can. I’ll call you after twenty minutes for updates.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

You high-fived before you each picked a path to follow. You found yourself walking to the deserted kitchen, which you assumed was the place where Culinary students hold practicals or something like that. Since there was no hint that the area was part of the hunt, you continued walking. As you did, you heard a loud thud coming from the pantry. That caught your attention but you chose to ignore it and continued following your map. But then someone called your name from the pantry, making you glance back in curiosity.

“Who’s there?” you called out, slowly making your way to the area. You reached the pantry room and looked around for any signs of a person but there was no one there. So you walked further into the room, and as you did, the air grew colder and colder until you found that the door to the cold storage was left open. Exhaling sharply in your attempt to quell the cold, you concluded that someone had left it open by accident.

“I know you’re here,” you called out, looking around as you reached for the cold storage door. “Come out or I’ll leave.”

There was no response from anywhere, so you just sighed and shook your head in disappointment. This is no time to be scared of ghosts or whatever. It’s broad daylight and whoever called you there is a living person. What for? Probably to pull a prank or something. Ridiculous.

That was your line of thought before a sudden sharp spike of pain on the back of your head silenced your brain. It slowly faded into a ringing ache as you fell on the cold floor with a thud, your eyesight blurring into nothingness before you completely blacked out.

Next thing you know, you were on a stretcher, being hauled into an ambulance. You’re lightheaded and weak, and you can barely make out the figures of people around the stretcher, calling your name in fading voices. Your entire body is numb, so much so that you feel like your limbs are gone. Terrified, you let out a slow exhale before falling back into a stupor.

When you woke up, you were greeted by Seungcheol’s worry-stricken face, talking to someone from across the room. He was holding your hand, and only when you moved it did he notice that you’d woken up. He leaped from his seat, staring at you with widened eyes.

“Are you alright?” he asked repeatedly, and you could only respond with a weak smile. Your other friends surrounded you, the doctor was called, and your parents arrived in the room looking extremely worried.

By the time everyone calmed down, you were sitting on the bed, feeling warm and cozy in your clothes. Your mother was peeling an orange for you while continuously nagging. Yoori and Seolhee are across the room on a couch, quietly chatting with Seungcheol. You watched as your father told him something that made him stand up and follow him to the door.

“Where are they going?” you asked Yoori and Seolhee.

Seolhee glanced at you. “Oh, they’re heading out to get your medical certificate.”

“What for?” you asked.

“Your father is adamant that someone must be held accountable for what happened to you,” your mother stated, exhaling sharply. “Especially since it’s an assault.”

And then you remembered. Someone had hit your head that day. Someone deliberately locked you in there and left you to die. This wasn’t an accident. Someone out there has it out on you and was prepared to commit a crime just to hurt you.

“What have they got so far?” you asked and your mother tutted sternly.

“Don’t worry yourself about it, dear,” she chided softly, tucking away stray strands of hair on your face. “For now, you should focus on getting well.”

You saw your friends nodding in agreement. Yoori said, “I’m sure they will figure it out. Your well-being is more important.”

“And that man,” your mom trailed off, placing the orange in your hand before giving you a teasing smile. “Seungcheol, was it? Is he your boyfriend?”

“Mom! No!” you hollered, hotness building up on your face. “He’s not.”

“Why not?” she exclaimed, flabbergasted. “He’s a good guy!”

“That’s what you said about Yeol too.”

She shook her head. “No, I was wrong about Yeol. This time, I’m sure of it. He cares for you.”

You looked down, feeling shy to admit something. “I know he does.”

“You know? Good. So, why aren’t you dating him?”

Yoori cut in at that moment. “Wait, hold up. You guys aren’t dating yet?”

You shook your head at her. “You know we’re not, Yoori.”

“That’s what I thought too but he didn’t act like it.”

You wanted to ask what she meant, giddy to hear anything about Seungcheol that you had missed in the last two days that you were passed out in bed. But before you could ask, your father came back with Seungcheol.

“We’re going up to the station,” your father told you as he approached you to give you a kiss on your forehead. “We’ll talk to the police and sort things out. They might drop by later to talk to you. You don’t have to worry about anything, alright? Just tell them what you remember.”

“Okay, Dad,” you beamed, nodding. You turned to Seungcheol who approached your bed as soon as your mom and dad gave him the space. “Thanks, Cheol. For being here and for helping my dad.”

He smiled sweetly, reaching for your hand and squeezing it affectionately. “Anything for you, y/n.” He placed a hand on your head, patting your hair down gently. “Get some rest. I’ll see you later, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Alright, good girl,” he chimed.

He then left with your father, and your mother went to send them out. Yoori and Seolhee were quick to come near you and squealed as quietly as they could.

“What was that? Did he just call you a good girl?”

Yoori teased. “My god, y/n. I didn’t know you had that kind of kink.”

“What the hell are you even talking about?” you scolded, scandalized, but then you covered your face, too shy to admit that you did like it when he said what he said.

Both your father and Seungcheol refused to tell you anything new about the case, but they assured you that they’re taking immediate action about it. You went back to school after a week, despite your mother’s disagreement. You’re alright now and you didn’t want to waste time at home when you should be catching up on your lessons.

People congratulated you for getting out of the hospital, while others expressed their sorrow about the accident. You were the subject of their pity for a whole day, but they eventually went back to talking about your romantic exploits the very next day, especially after The Gossiper posted another ‘exclusive’ about you. At this point, you truly, genuinely don’t care anymore. You’ve gone through a near-death experience, nothing the Gossiper can say will scare you anymore.

“Miss y/n?” the professor called as soon as he entered the classroom. You raised your hand in response. “You’re being called up at the dean’s office.”

The office was five floors up and the walk there took about five minutes, and your heart hasn’t stopped beating wildly ever since you left your classroom. When you pushed the door open, you found your friends there–Yoori, Dahee, and Haeyoon. All three of them were present in the scavenger hunt during the incident; Yoori as a facilitator, Dahee and Haeyoon as fellow participants. Yoori tapped the space next to her, inviting you to sit there.

“What’s going on? Is this about the incident?”

Yoori shrugged. “That’s what we thought too. Seungcheol-nim is inside with the dean.”

“Seungcheol is?” you repeated, glancing at the inner office. As you did, its door opened and the dean came out with Seungcheol towing behind her.

He spotted you and flashed a small smile. He looked rather professional today, in a complete set of suits with a briefcase and an envelope in his hand that the dean just handed back to him.

“All four of you are here. We just need to wait for Miss Min Sua.”

Alas, you knew this would happen. The school has to do something about the incident, and this must be the day it all unfolds. Although you were impatiently waiting for this, you were clueless as to how things would pan out.

The office door opened, revealing Sua. Her face contorted to annoyance when she saw who else was inside. It seemed like she was thinking about turning back but the dean told her to come in and sit down.

“This here is Lawyer Choi Seungcheol. He’s here as Miss y/n’s legal counsel,” the dean introduced and you all made a slight bow as a greeting. “It has come to my attention that the recent incident in the Culinary building wasn’t an accident but a premeditated attack on y/n by Min Sua.”

“I beg your pardon?” Sua interjected.

“And it is not a baseless accusation as Lawyer Choi here has provided ample evidence to prove the matter,” the dean continued, placing a stack of photographs on the table. Your friends picked them up to check and you saw that those were screenshots of CCTV footage showing how Sua deliberately locked you in the cold storage.

“That’s bullshit!” Sua bellowed.

Calmly, the dean said, “Correction, that is evidence and you will do well to remember that profanity is not to be spoken in my office, Miss Min Sua.”

Sua sat back, annoyed. She caught your gaze and glared at you.

“Given the gravity of the situation, they have decided to push through with the investigation and you will be taken in for questioning,” the Dean continued and Sua looked horrified. “We would like to avoid a scene, so some school staff with escort you to the gate where the police will be waiting for you. You will go away quietly, without causing a ruckus.”

You clenched your fists, steadying your breathing as you listened some more.

“And I, as the dean, demand that you apologize to Miss Y/n before you leave.”

Sua scoffed arrogantly. “Y/N can go kill herself and drop dead.”

“Min Sua!” Yoori scolded but the dean showed her palm to tell everyone to be quiet.

“Miss Min, this is a serious offense,” the dean said sternly. “Your actions were rash and dangerous. You assaulted a student and left her to die. It’s attempted murder. Whatever was y/n’s fault, if she had one, that is not enough justification to attempt murder.”

“I wasn’t gonna murder her,” she clapped back. “It was just to teach her a lesson. You see, she’s fine and healthy. And she’s very alive… unfortunately.”

“Min Sua, you sick bitch!” Haeyoon blurted, standing up to attack Sua but you and Yoori held her back. “You sociopathic bitch! How dare you?!”

“Everybody calm down! Let’s all calm down for a second,” the dean declared, knocking on the wooden table with her knuckles.

“Miss Min, I’m afraid we’ll have to sort this out in a criminal court. We tried to be civil and give you a chance to apologize with sincerity. Since you’ve shown no remorse for your actions, the police will be here in a minute.”

“I don’t think that necessary,” you told Seungcheol but your voice was drowned by Sua maniacal laughter.

“You can’t send me to jail. Who do you think you are? He can’t do that. Right, Dahee? Haeyoon?” Dahee just looked away while Haeyoon glared at Sua. “Fucking traitors.”

“What was that?” Haeyoon exclaimed, walking up to Sua but Dahee was quick to stop her. “What did you just call us?”

“Traitors!” Sua screamed at the top of her lungs, veins almost popping from her forehead and neck. “You call yourselves my friends but you’re siding with her? You’re both traitors! You all are!”

“You’re the traitor, Sua!” Haeyoon hollered back, struggling to get out of Dahee’s grasp as she tried to approach Sua. “You’re the snake! You kept hanging out with us, you ate at our table, and we treated you like a friend but you kept backstabbing us! And you know what? We all thought that was the worst you could do, but no. You tried to murder someone! You’re a sick sociopath with zero remorse and accountability!”

Sua shrieked. “You never made me feel welcome! You didn’t care about me and only focused on yourselves! Is that how you treat a friend?”

“That’s not a good reason to take someone’s life, Sua! What you did was sick. And if you don’t realize that you’re in the wrong, then you seriously need help,” Yoori argued.

“Guys, that’s enough,” you tried to mediate, hoping to end the argument and continue talking in a civil manner. “We didn’t come here to fight.”

“Oh please, y/n,” Sua spat, giving you a disgusted look. “Always the rational one. Always the smartest. Always the bigger person in the room. Don’t you get tired of keeping that facade?”

“I don’t want to argue with you, Sua.”

“Fine, Miss Beautiful and Kind. You shouldn’t bother yourself with someone like me, pathetic, pitiful, a sick criminal,” she scorned, laughing derisively. It was also at that moment that three police officers entered the room. Sua scoffed at them. “You want to send me to jail? That’s fine. I’ll beat it out of there and come back to kill every single one of you. When that happens, I’ll make sure to do it right!”

She tried to push the officers away but she was restrained with ease and put in handcuffs. She kept cursing everyone—you, the dean, your friends, Seungcheol, and even the police. Slurs were spoken and her manic laughter filled the room.

“Min Sua,” you called sternly, making Sua stop squirming.

She had a smug smile on her face. “Are you happy now? Everyone hates me. My friends have turned their backs on me. I’m ruined and I’m going to jail. Everyone’s on your side. Are you satisfied?”

“The only one who finds happiness in other people’s misery is you, Min Sua.”

“You’re right. I’d love to see you miserable. But why won’t you fucking weep? You won’t even fucking die!” The frigid, cold-blooded smile Sua flashed sent chills down your spine.

For a second, your heart faltered with fear but it was soon replaced with pity. Pity for Sua and the life she was willing to throw away just because she was overcome by envy and spite. She needed help and you hoped you could give it to her, but all you can afford is to hope she finds that help somewhere. You don’t want anything to do with her anymore. You want to completely cut ties with her and forget this ugly phase in your life. You want it over and you want it to be over now.

“From the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the best, Min Sua,” you told her. She just scoffed as she was being taken away by the police, her laughter echoing down the halls.

You watched her leave with her shoulder rocking as she laughed. Her manic laughter will surely haunt you for the next few days. You will surely be wary of everyone around you, suspicious that someone might harm you or that one of them is Sua getting ready to attack you. Try as you might to appear calm and collected, not too deep inside, you are scared–terrified to the bone. You are shaken and nervous. Will this event let you sleep? You’re not so sure. It has given you a few sleepless nights already. It might get worse now that you’ve found out that the person responsible for your near-death is not even slightly remorseful.

The deep, but soothing voice of Choi Seungcheol as he called your name pulled you out of your musings, quieting your brain and calming your heart. He placed a hand on your shoulder, squeezing it gently as if to comfort you. “Are you okay?”

“No,” you confessed, but you gave him a smile. “But I’ll be fine.”

He held your hand, massaged it in his hand, and gave you a comforting smile. “I got you.”

“Thank you,” you beamed. Behind him, the office door opened and your friends came out. You took your hand from Seungcheol’s hold and approached your friends with an embrace. For a while, you stayed in their arms, finding solace in their warmth. “Thanks, guys.”

“Everything’s gonna be fine, love,” Yoori assured you.

“I know. Thank you.”

The last few days were crazy. While the school and Seungcheol tried their best not to cause a stir, Sua was the one who made a spectacle of herself; shouting down the halls as she was being taken away and laughing like she was unhinged. For days, it was the talk of the school, with most of them saying she was a psychopath and would probably be sent to an asylum instead of jail.

Two days later, you were called to court for her arraignment, which didn’t even take long because Sua pleaded guilty–despite the discouragement of her lawyer. She also admitted to spreading rumors and gossip about you and confessed that she’s running the gossip blog in the school portal. Everything she said, you already knew, but it still shocked you to hear it directly from her.

Seungcheol told you there would be no need for you to attend any trial because the judge accepted her plea and offered her a deal. You were both saddened and relieved by that news. Saddened because Sua was still a part of your life, and at one point you were genuinely friends with her. Relieved because you never had to deal with it again, or see her in person anymore.

After that, the next several days were an ecstatic blur. Your grades were good. Your friends are great, And your relationship with Seungcheol is progressing steadily. You went out on dates, tried new and old things together, and got to know each other very well. He introduced you to his parents too, this time, as someone he was trying to date. It was also worth noting that he had been spending time with your father. Whatever it is that they bond about, you honestly have no idea but you’re happy that they get along.

You could swear you’re already dating, but no words have been spoken yet to confirm this. And during the routine dinner date that you do once a week, you were so in awe of his entire being that you suddenly thought to ask him the question.

“When will you ask me to be your girlfriend?” you asked and it made him choke on his food. You watch him cough for a while, rubbing his chest as soon as he can breathe properly. With a smile, you pushed the glass of water towards him so he could drink.

“Thanks,” he mumbled before taking a long sip.

“So?” you inquired after he had put the glass back down. “Whennnn?”

“This is not the place or situation that I envisioned in my head whenever I think about asking you to be my girlfriend,” he confessed, clearing his throat out of shyness. “Can I ask you today, though?” he asked with uncertainty in his tone but you still nodded enthusiastically. Seungcheol chuckled fondly, reaching for your face to squeeze your cheek. “You’re so adorable.”

“I knooow! Ask me now!”

Seungcheol scrunched his nose. “I don’t think I should. It’s not that I don’t want to, but it wouldn’t be special if I didn’t do it properly. You know, with proper preparation, a proper setup, and whatnot.”

“Does it matter? We like each other, don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do.”

“And we’re pretty much dating already. Just ask me so we could make it official,” you suggested and again, Seungcheol laughed at your cute eagerness. “If you don’t ask me, I’ll ask you.”

“Okay, alright. I’ll ask you,” he blurted, giving up. You smiled widely, giving him your hands when he reached for them on the table. You straightened up in your seat, waiting for him to say the words. With a smile, Seungcheol said, “Let’s date officially, y/n.”

You scowled. “Are you serious? That sounds so unromantic.”

He laughed heartily. “What do you mean? How?”

“Will you be my girlfriend, y/n? Just like that,” you coached, Seungcheol shook his head. “Ah, come on! Just do it!”

“Okay. Y/n, will you be my girlfriend?”

You smiled, contented. Seungcheol smiled back and for a while, you stayed smiling at each other, the happiness and love in your eyes were so evident. One would look at you and envy how much you adored each other.

“I’ll think about it,” you said briskly, retracting your hand swiftly and taking a swig of your beer.

Seungcheol just exhaled and shook his head, a fond smile still on his lips. You then held his hand just as he was about to pick up his glass.

He gawked at you and you told him, “Okay. I will be your girlfriend.”

He couldn’t help laughing, eyes gleaming as he grinned. He squeezed your hand and kissed the back of it. “Y/n, you have no idea how much I adore you.”

After dinner, you went down the beach and sat next to him on the sand, leaning your body on his chest while his arm was over your shoulder. His thumb is rubbing your shoulder, occasionally squeezing it as he talks.

“You know, I have thought of at least a dozen scenarios in my head about the day we’d finally start dating,” he continued. “This was not how I imagined it would play out.”

You giggled, nuzzling closer to him. His body is warm, combatting the cool wind that’s blowing against your skin. “Please don’t be cheesy and say you think about me all the time.”

“As a matter of fact, I do think about you all the time,” he confessed, making you laugh heartily.

“No, you don’t,” you insisted and Seungcheol laughed, making his body vibrate against your ear.

“You’re right, I don’t. But I do think about you 80 percent of the time.”

You hummed, contented. The sound of the sea harmonized with the sound of his beating heart. It feels like you could just stay here forever and that would be enough for you. The road to this wasn’t a smooth one, but when you finally arrived, it was most fulfilling and beautiful. Your heart is at ease; happy, content, and over the moon.

“So,” he prompted after a few minutes of silence. “Do you wanna go back to the car and kiss?”

You pulled away from him, throwing your head back as you laughed. Seungcheol watched you with fondness in his eyes, enamored and totally taken by you.

“You can’t be naughty on your first day of being in a relationship.”

Seungcheol shrugged. “It’s just a kiss.”

You scoffed and mocked him. “Just a kiss.”

“I swear,” he insisted. “But we can make out too. You decide.”

You playfully hit his chest. Then you scoot closer to him and leaned forward to press a soft kiss on his cheek. And then on his forehead, his nose, the corner of his lips, and then the other corner. You showered his face with chaste little kisses, and he seemed to enjoy it until he realized you were purposely avoiding his lips despite him offering it each time. He eventually dodged your kisses and tutted, and you sniggered at his annoyed expression. He cupped your cheeks, pulling you so he could kiss your lips, ever so gently, like the gentleman that he is.

When he pulled away, he stared at you and exhaled contently. “You’re everything I want, y/n. Everything, and more.”

You smiled back, loving how his eyes were gleaming and beautiful. “Took you long enough to realize that.”

Seungcheol laughed, forever amused by your wit and adorable tendency to ruin a heartfelt moment with banter. Maybe, that’s what made him fall for you in the first place.

“My god, I could kiss you forever,” he blurted.

“Well. don’t be shy now,” you quipped so he kissed you again.

Dating Seungcheol turned out to be more adorable than surreal. He was adorable, often stumbling on his words and feeling shy around you. It was ridiculous, considering he never acted this way before, and also endearing since you knew he liked you so much that he kept making a fool of himself. An adorable fool, if you do say so yourself.

“Are you sure you want to come over?” he would ask whenever you made plans to sleep together in his flat. “You don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable.”

“Cheol, I was there last night,” you would remind him.

“I know, but still? What if you change your mind?”

And you would assure him. “Then you’ll send me home if I did. Although, I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

He often acted all flustered and shy, but when you’re alone with him, he gets so comfortable that he forgets personal space. He would be all over you, wrapping his arms around you while you make food in the kitchen or something. When you’re watching TV, he’d have you lay on his lap, playing with your hair throughout the movie. Even when he’s working on his laptop and you’re on your phone, he’d be beside you, your shoulders pressed together or your back leaning on his chest while he locks you in one arm. And your favorite thing to do with him was to read. He had a huge window balcony in his apartment and when you started dating, you turned it into a reading nook. There, you would read for hours, quietly basking in the sun while Seungcheol sat with his back on the wall and you’re prostrated on the balcony floor with your Kindle.

You can’t even begin to talk about the intimacy that you share under the sheets. Long story short, he was intense—the good kind of intense, but still intense. Yoori must be right after all.

“That reminds me,” Seungcheol said over dinner with your friends where the case with Sua was discussed. A few months have passed since then and today, you were told that she had been convicted. “I looked up The Gossiper.”

You looked up at him, curious. “You did?”

“Yes and it’s an awful page,” he replied, shaking his head. “The school must not care about ethical journalism.”

You chuckled. “It’s not a big deal anymore. They’ve stopped posting since Sua left.”

“The articles stopped, but people still talk about you, you know,” Seolhee sneered.

“I know,” you snorted. “They’ll get tired of it.”

Yoori turned to Seungcheol. “They keep saying she’s got a sugar daddy.”

“Funny thing is,” Haeyoon chuckled. “The sugar daddy is you, Seungcheol-nim.”

The table laughed at that and so the night went on with more laughter, good food, and good conversations.

You and Seungcheol stumbled into his apartment, both drunk and giggling when he bumped his forehead against yours as he tried to kiss you. He groaned for a minute, rubbing his forehead and yours before swooping in for another kiss. You inhaled his scent, along with the fiery hotness engulfing your whole being. His arms were strong and muscular around your body, and his lips were urgent against yours; sucking, nipping, smooching.

“Let’s take this inside, shall we?” he asked, although you knew it was a statement and not a question.

With a swift movement, Seungcheol lifted you off your feet, his lips finding the supple skin of your neck. The moan you let out was ecstatic and he kept going until he had brought you across the room, then placed you on the long couch.

“I thought you wanted the bed?” you asked, grinning as you helped him strip off his coat.

“I don’t think I can wait,” he breathed before leaning to ravage your neck once again. Your head automatically tilted back, your lips parting, as you closed your eyes in ecstasy.

“Cheol,” you whispered.

Seungcheol stopped to take off his shirt and then yours when you lifted your hands up. He marveled at your beauty, taking in your shape, your curves, your skin, your moles, everything. “God, you’re beautiful.”

“Take me, Cheol,” you begged.

You didn’t need to tell him twice because that’s exactly what he planned on doing.

“It’s her.”

“Who?”

“Her. Over there. Y/n from Arts and Sciences.”

“Oh! The one with the sugar daddy?”

“Shh, she’s passing this way.”

Haeyoon glared at the gossiping girls as you passed them, while you continued walking without paying them any attention.

“These people think you’re deaf,” Haeyoon spat, annoyed.

“I thought we agreed to leave them alone?” Dahee reminded and Haeyoon groaned.

“I can’t stand them.”

You beamed at your friend as you snaked your hands around her arms and leaned on her shoulder while you walked. “Your aggression towards my haters is making me feel loved and special.”

Haeyoon rolled her eyes. “What do I do to convert your optimism into passive-aggressive rage towards those gossiping skanks?”

You ignored her questions, giving her your sweetest smile instead. Haeyoon was laughing on your other side.

“Seriously, if I was in your situation, I would be in jail by now,” Haeyoon added.

You released her from your embrace and shrugged. “You can consider yourself lucky. Jail doesn’t look good you, love.”

“Speaking of love,” Dahee interjected as you neared the steps of the main university building. “Mr. Lover Boy decided to show up today.”

You followed the direction of her gaze and your mouth hung open at the sight before you. Waiting below the steps was Seungcheol, looking handsome and chic as he leaned against his equally chic car. He’s looking down at his phone, typing away while several students take notice of his stylish appearance. There are murmurs around, all of them sounding impressed and curious.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket so you fished it out to see Seungcheol’s name on your screen, calling. Instead of answering, you locked your screen and walked up to him. The sounds of amazement from onlookers as they watched you approach your boyfriend gave you pride.

“Isn’t that y/n?”

“It is. OMG, the rumors must be true that his boyfriend is loaded.”

“Doesn’t he look too young to be a sugar daddy though?”

“Sugar daddy or not, that guy is hot!”

Seungcheol’s face lit up as soon as he saw you. “Hi, baby,” he greeted. “I was just calling you.”

“I know,” you beamed. Seungcheol tucked his phone away before leaning to kiss your cheek. His arms around your waist were for everybody to see.

“Shall we?” he asked, opening the car door for you.

“Thanks.”

As if to further stoke the fire, Seungcheol didn’t drive away as soon as he got into the car. Instead, he gently pulled you by the nape and gave you a sweet kiss on the lips. In the corner of your eye, you can see people swooning outside. You smiled into the kiss.

“I must say, your showmanship is top-tier,” you commented and it made him chuckle.

“I did good, didn’t I?”

“You did amazing, babe,” you replied, caressing his cheek and then giving him a quick kiss.

“Let’s go. The wakepark will close soon!”

You rolled your eyes. “Relax. It’s 10 am.”

Seungcheol shook his head, his face bright with excitement. “The earlier we get there, the more time we’ll have to enjoy it.”

You laughed heartily, adoring your giddy boyfriend even more than you already do.

[fin]

154 notes · View notes