#hi hana!! it's nice to finally meet u!

[leetaehwan]

some cozy chris for @channieblossoms | happy holidays from your stayblr secret santa! ✨

bonus ! and a very Berry christmas ! ♡

#stayblrsecretsanta23 #bystay #staysource #channiesnet #stray kids #skz #bang chan #userbeepls #usersa #melontrack #usertsu #userjinnie #ninisdarlings #kass.skz #kass.gif #hi hana!! it's nice to finally meet u! #i went with the cute bf chan vibes (also my fav genre of him) i hope u like it! 😊 #also sorry the blonde chan ones are so crunchy youtube lied to me there was no way that video was 1080p </3

[hoonligan]

PAPER RINGS!

chapter four: chocolate

written ! 1.3k + not proofread🥲

masterlist - previous chapter - next chapter

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“oh hello nice to meet you! you’re from enhypen right? we met your group earlier but you weren’t there along with your other member jake” you said taking his hand shaking lightly, he gives you a small smile looking down at the connected hands then back at you. “ah yeah sorry about that, jake got hungry so we went to get snacks. he found out there was a chocolate fountain and he hasnt left the snackbar since” with light laughter he gently lets go of your hand and brings his hands into his pockets. you laugh looking across the venue to the other snackbar that held the chocolate fountain, you see jake with a bunch of different things covered in chocolate on a plate, he has a marshmallow on a stick and he watches it get covered in chocolate with amazement”

“he’s like that all the time” sunghoon chuckles lightly bringing your attention back to him. you look back at him to see him already looking at you. you quickly avert eye contact with light blush on your cheeks and look back at his member who adds another chocolate covered snack to his collection. “oh and congrats on your debut, i realized i havent congratulated you and your group yet” sunghoon adds while shifting on his feet lightly. “oh yes! thank you so much!” you say looking back at him, “i didnt realize it could be this successful, its such a good feeling to see something you worked so hard on exceed all expectations” you say proudly looking down at your water tracing the rim of the glass.

sunghoon watches you with an admiring gaze, seeing you like this makes his chest feel warm. he brushes it off as the feeling of happiness to see another idol succeed. “yeah it really is an amazing feeling” he finally shifts his gaze to the crowd of people chatting off. “i’ve heard you are an ex-figure skater” you say abrubtly making him snap his gaze back to you. “oh yes i am” he says as he combs his hair back with his fingers. your heart gushes at the sight, “do you still skate? sorry if thats insensitive to ask, i dont know if you stopped on bad terms or- ” sunghoon cuts you off “its not insensitive its okay, and yes i still do skate just not nearly as much as i used to” he looks down at his feet fidgeting, he looks back up “do you like coffee ice cream?” he asks with a serious face.

you tilt your head to the side confused where his serious tone came from. “uhmmm not that much why?” his eyes widen at this admission, “what why not! its like the best ice cream flavor!” he states as if its a fact. “i dont know, i prefer vanilla anyways!” you say laughing lightly. “thats such a basic flavor come on” he says with a playful roll of his eyes, “i think the term is “CLASSIC”” narrowing your eyes at him lightly. “okay do you at least like chocolate ice cream” he asks seriously once again. “i dont and i will never change my mind” you say laughing. “oh my god youre insane, i cant believe this” he says laughing incredulousy.

you two talked for a couple hours, topics changing from ice cream flavors to what animals would you want to be to how you would survive the zombie apocalypse.

“eunbyeol oh my god there you are, we were looking for you for hours” you see hana approach you and sunghoon. “oh sorry i didnt realize you met someone here..?” sunghoon picks up on the cue, “oh sorry im park sungoon nice to meet you!” he says bowing lightly. “oh hello nice to meet sunbaenim, you im cheon haneul! you can call me hana!” she says bowing as well. “sorry to interrupt your conversation but manager tang says its time for us to leave” hana says apologetically, she look at you and gestures to the other group members standing near the entrance of the venue getting ready to leave, “oh! oh my god has it been that long? we got carried away sorry, ill be right there” you say as u checked your watch. hana nods and walks back to the group

“sorry for taking up this much of your time” he says with a bashful smile, “no its fine! i didnt realize the time either” you say as you set down the glass of water that fell empty after the hours on conversation. you turn back to sunghoon who was already looking at you (is this a habit of his???) you think, you avert eye contact once again, (is that a habit of hers??) he thinks.

“well it was super nice to meet you! i had alot of fun talking to you” you bow, “i had fun as well thanks for keeping me company, get home safe!” he says with a little wave, you smile and nod and start to walk away. sunghoon doesnt want to stop talking to you, he contemplates asking you for your number, what if you’ll get weirded out? what if you think he’s a creep? screw it. he catches up to you easily with long strides, he grabs ahold of your wrist gently from behind you. you’re startled at the contact and look up behind you to see the culprit, you look at him confused “so sorry but i really enjoyed talking to you and i was wondering if i could get your number? sorry if thats too soon to say, i still want to continue our conversation on who would survive the zombie apocalypse longer” he says really fast you almost didnt catch it.

you smile up at him as he gently lets go of your wrist. youre surprised at his admission, you feel so flattered that someone liked talking to you this much to ask for your number. he took your surprise as rejection and started thinking he just made a fool out of himself, he was just about to say nevermind when you said “yeah sure do you have your phone with you?” he feels like a weight has been lifted off his chest, he swiftly takes out his phone and inputs the password, he navigates it to the contacts app and gets the contact profile ready. he hands you the phone and you quickly typed down your phone number. you input a contact name as well and smile as you handed it back to him, “eunbyeol! come on!” you hear someone shout from behind you, “i really have to go now! thank you again sunghoon!” you ran off to your group members and as you exited the venue you looked back to see him already smiling at you, you gave him a little wave and left.

sunghoon looks back down at his phone to see the contact profile, he smiles once again as he types down a message as he hits send, he feels a hand grab his shoulder, “there you are! where have you been! we were looking for you earlier” he looks behind him to see jake with chocolate residue around his mouth, “you have a chocolate mustache!” sunghoon says quickly taking a picture of the sight and running off laughing. “HEY DELETE THAT STOP” jake says wiping his mouth and chasing after sunghoon.

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you finally arrived back home after such a long night, you go into your room and do your nightly routine, getting ready for bed. as you get into your covers you see your phone on your nightstand and realize you forgot it, you decide to just check if you missed anything, you see a few missed calls and messages from your group members asking where you were, a notif from your period tracker saying your period is in 6 days, and a message from an unknown number.

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likes and reblogs are appreciated <3

note! the way i literally dont know how to write to save my life😭😭👎🏻👎🏻

SYNOPSIS! han eunbyeol just debuted as a member of hybe’s first girl group BLOOM! their debut is a huge success, to celebrate hybe arranges a company party, inviting other groups to celebrate the debut success of their first girl group. at said party eunbyeol is introduced to park sunghoon, both immediately feel a connection. exchanging numbers to keep in contact the two talked everyday, getting closer with each message. as time goes by the two slowly fall for each other, but what happens when our darling eunbyeol who never puts herself first, finds out that her best friend fell for sunghoon too.

#enhypen #enhypen imagines #enhypen smau #sunghoon smau #enhypen au #enhypen fic #enhypen oneshots #kpop smau #kpopidol #park sunghoon #sunghoon fluff #park sunghoon au #sunghoon x oc #sunghoon fanfic #park sunghoon imagines #sunghoon social media au #sunghoon au #sunghoon #jake sim #kim sunoo #park jay #niki #heeseung #jungwon

[mypunkpansexualtwin]

Surprise, surprise! A third timely post for pegoryu week! I'll definitely be passing the fuck out after this.

As per usual, bulk under the cut, link in the notes, and all my love to those who recommend it to their friends!

Ryuji was running, feet pounding against the concrete hard enough to rattle his teeth, cold air sharp against his face, lungs burning for a break as the shout echoed off the nearby buildings.

“GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE YOU DAMN BRAT!”

His old man was mad at him again, and maybe he had it coming this time, yelling at him the way he had when he overheard the grownups talking. But this was supposed to be a nice vacation for New Year’s with his grandparents in the country. His father said he’d taken the week off for family, and promised him he was gonna be better when the new year started. Turned out that was a load of crap; he didn’t take the time off, he’d been suspended for a week for turning up drunk on the job. Drunk and pissed off, just like he was now, not ten minutes after the first New Year’s countdown Ryuji had ever been allowed to stay up for. Bastard was never gonna change.

“I HATE YOU, YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!” Ryuji screamed back as tears blurred his vision. “GET AWAY FROM ME!” He had no idea which way he was going, half blind from crying and unfamiliar with his surroundings. Ignoring the string of profanity being bellowed behind him, he turned off the path and into the darker, wilder area behind the shrine. Why weren’t any of the adults nearby stopping his father? Why wasn’t anyone helping? Crunching footsteps were drawing closer with each step and he could feel another sob trying to bubble up out of his throat. The old bastard was too close and he could already feel the bruises he was gonna have when a hand caught him by the back of the shirt and hauled him back--

--into a nearby shrub. Panic was still too loud in his brain and he thrashed in his assailant’s grip before realizing that the hands holding him were too small, too soft, too gentle--

“Shhh,” A small voice soothed in his ear, soft enough he almost didn’t hear it over his father stomping through the undergrowth nearby. Part of Ryuji was too wound up, wanted to bite the hand over his mouth and keep running, but the rest of him recognized that’d just give away his hiding spot and get both of them caught. Instead he wrapped a hand around their wrist and felt them pull him closer. In spite of his old man being within arm’s reach and out for blood worse than he’d seen in a long time, Ryuji relaxed. Just a little.

After a few moments, his father muttered darkly under his breath and started kicking at some of the bushes around him. Ryuji gripped the wrist in his hand a little tighter as his father’s foot brushed their hiding spot. His mystery rescuer let go of his jacket to hold his free hand and squeeze it reassuringly. Seconds stretched on for ages as his old man got closer and closer, and Ryuji’s heart hammered in his chest like it was trying to break out and escape. Finally, another voice called out, pulling his old man’s attention away from them. One of his aunts had appeared long enough to drag her drunken brother away before he could embarrass the family any further.

A few seconds after they disappeared from view, Ryuji untangled himself and lurched out of his hiding spot. He dusted himself off after sprawling out clumsily in the dirt, then checked himself over; kinda dusty, a few scratches on his face from the whippy little branches he’d run though, and… Crap.

“Aww man, I lost one of my mittens. I only just got those for Christmas,” he grumbled.

“We can look for it on the way back to the shrine.” His mystery rescuer had apparently just clambered out of their hiding spot too. Ryuji was ready to wave them off and tell them to not worry about it, but when he finally got a good look at them it was like every word he’d ever learned went on their own vacation.

“Whoa… Are you an angel or somethin’?” He blurted instead. This kid definitely looked like an angel, with a pretty round face almost as soft as the wild black curls around it and grey eyes that looked like nighttime--stars and all under the moonlight--that were almost too big for their face. Way too pretty to be a boy, especially with eyelashes like flower petals and a voice as soft and sweet as a music box. Yeah, probably an angel, definitely a girl. Only seven years old and Ryuji had already found his soulmate. Hiding in a shrub. Wearing a Buchimaru hat.

Mystery girl blushed and giggled behind a matching Buchimaru glove. “No, I’m just Akira. Akira Kurusu, first grade. What does your mitten look like?” Huh, never met a girl named Akira.

“Uh, like this? It’s a yellow Featherman one.” He held up the hand that still had a mitten on, then awkwardly thrust it out for a handshake. “A-and I’m Ryuji Sakamoto, also in first grade! Nice to meetcha, Kicchan!” Akira took the handshake with a small, shy smile, blushing bright enough that she almost matched the red jacket she was wrapped up in.

“Um. Nice to meet you too, Ryuji.” She thought for a moment, then moved around to his side and took his other hand in both of hers, warm even through the gloves. It was his turn to blush. “Here, so your hand doesn’t get cold while we look for your mitten.” Akira pulled him along and he needed a minute to remember how to walk so he didn’t fall over. She seemed to have things handled guiding them back out.

“You came from this way, right?” She looked back and tipped her head towards a hole through the undergrowth where his father had crashed through. Ryuji nodded and she pulled him along a little more insistently, scanning the path for any flash of yellow.

“Thanks for savin’ me, by the way. Kinda thought I was doomed back there.” Ryuji scratched the back of his neck. Kicchan shrugged but didn’t pause their trek or her search for his mitten.

“You needed help. I had a hiding spot. Figured I could share,” she explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Like every adult he’d run past hadn’t ignored him.

Ryuji nodded anyways. It was them who got it wrong, not Akira. “Right. Why were you hidin’ anyways?” Something in his stomach twisted at the thought of her running away from a dad as shitty as his. His fingers tightened around her hand just a little; he was gonna protect her twice as hard if that was the case.

Kicchan picked up a flash of yellow sticking out from under a pile of dead leaves, then frowned when it turned out to be a hamburger wrapper. “Don’t lemme forget to throw this away,” she crumpled it up and stuck it in her pocket. “I was back here ‘cause the shrine was too loud. I come back here sometimes when I need quiet. Then I heard someone yelling and stomping around, so I hid. And then you ran by.” She turned back and smiled at him and wow. People talked about getting butterflies in your stomach around someone you liked, but he was pretty sure he had Mothra rampaging around in his gut. “Oh!”

“Huh?” Ryuji was dragged along as Akira jogged up to a tree that he’d whipped around hoping to shake the old man off. Then she reached up for-- “Oh! My mitten!” It had gotten stuck to the bark somehow when he’d pushed off of it. Akira pulled it down and presented it to Ryuji with a flourish and a grin.

He took it and quickly crammed his hand back into it, then wiggled and flexed his fingers until it sat right again. After several minutes of not having a hand in it, the mitten had gone cold. And his fingers felt even colder not wrapped up with Akira’s.

“Hey, uh Kicchan? C-could we still hold hands?” He asked. “Um! J-just so I don’t lose you and get lost! That’s all!”

Kicchan giggled again, just as red as her coat again as she held her hand out for him. “Sure thing, Ryuji.” One reassuring squeeze later and they were walking again. “But we aren’t very far now, you can hear all the people from here.”

Ryuji strained his ears listening, then chuckled nervously because she was right. “Oh. You can, huh? W-well, still. Better safe than sorry.” They swung their hands between them for a few steps. “Hey, is it okay that I’m callin’ you Kicchan? You’re just callin’ me Ryuji, I ain’t bein’ rude am I?”

“Hm? No, it’s fine. I, um. Like it,” she mumbled and tucked her face into her coat. “Your name’s just nice to say is all. Ry~u~ji~♪!” Akira enunciated his name in a singsong that probably would’ve sounded mocking from anyone else. But from her it just sounded like music. He couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up in his chest and the grin that broke out across his face.

“Yeah, well. Yours is nicer!” Ryuji declared loudly as they walked out of the trees and through the crowd of adults still celebrating. “A~ki~ra~♪!” He sang back, although not nearly as nice. Kicchan still seemed happy with it, if that smile was anything to go by. Like the sun breaking through the clouds and wow. Wow. He was gonna marry her when he grew up. Ryuji didn’t even care about all the people staring at them as they walked by, as long as he got to keep that smile.

“Ry~u~ji~♪!”

“A~ki~ra~♪!”

“Ry~u~ji~♪!”

“A~ki~ra~♪!”

“Ryuji!” The two of them jumped at the voice that rang out behind them. “Ryuji, there you are!”

“Mom!”

His mother skidded to a stop in front of them and threw her arms around him, squeezing him tight. “Oh, I was so worried, sunshine, I’m so sorry. Are you alright? Did he--?”

Ryuji wiggled free of her grip long enough to loop his free arm around her and return the hug. He brushed a hand lightly over a bruise above her eyebrow that hadn’t been there earlier, and she shook her hair over her eyes to try and cover it back up. That bastard. No need to worry her, then. “I’m fine, mom. I’m fast as lightnin’ remember? Plus my new friend saved me! We hid until Aunt Manaka got him.” Hana’s eyes flicked back to the kid holding onto her son’s hand, now trying to hide behind him. “‘S okay, Kicchan, it’s just my mom. She’s nice.”

Akira had tucked herself down into her shoulders and her voice was muffled through the collar of her coat. “H’lo. I’m Akira.”

Hana smiled warmly at Akira and held out a hand for her to shake. “Hello, Akira-chan, my name’s Hana Sakamoto. Thank you for taking care of my boy.” Kicchan took it cautiously, but stayed tucked behind a Ryuji who was awkwardly pretzeled from still trying to hold onto both of them.

“Y’r welcome. He’s nice, I like him,” Akira mumbled and took her hand back to cling to Ryuji’s arm with both. Ryuji blushed again and his mom grinned at him.

She straightened up and ruffled her son’s hair affectionately. “I like him, too. He’s a good kid. And so are you, Akira-chan. How ‘bout I treat you two to some cocoa and taiyaki to warm back up, and then we can find your folks too, kiddo.” Akira nodded and pointed to a nearby storefront that was still lit up. “Perfect! So I know red bean is Ryuji’s favorite, how about you?”

Akira was being quiet enough that even Ryuji, already at her level, still had to listen hard to hear her. “Chocolate, please.” There was no way his mom could hear her.

“Chocolate for Kicchan, please!” Ryuji relayed for them.

Hana nodded approvingly. “Chocolate and hot cocoa, I like your style.” She took Ryuji’s other hand and led them through the crowd to the convenience store taking full advantage of the New Year’s revelers. Ryuji and Akira stayed outside, still holding hands and leaned up against the wall while she went in. Better that than drag the kids through a bunch of unsteady adults bickering over snacks. She returned with a hot cocoa and a taiyaki for each of them after a few minutes and Ryuji and Akira finally, hesitantly let go of each other long enough to eat.

“Th’nk you,” Akira mumbled.

“Kicchan says thanks!”

“Just Kicchan, huh?” His mom teased.

“Wh- I do too!”

Hana laughed, then craned her neck to look through the thinning crowd. “So where are your parents--”

“Akira! Akira, there you are!” A woman with dark curls and grey eyes called out, striding through the crowd like a fish moving through water.

Kicchan straightened up and waved with her half-eaten taiyaki. “Hi mama!” She called louder than Ryuji thought she was capable of. “Where’s papa? I wanted him to meet my new friend.”

The woman, apparently Mrs. Kurusu, frowned that Adults Having Adult Problems frown. “He got called into work, apparently the man who was supposed to be on shift is indisposed,” she explained in the kind of tone that folks tended to use about his old man. “So we need to get going soon.”

“Awww.”

“I know, dear.” Akira’s mom turned to Ryuji’s mom. “Thank you for watching my son. Can I at least pay you back for the snacks?” She gestured to the three of them--wait, hold up, what?

“Your son?!” Ryuji yelped. Akira tilted her--his head at Ryuji in confusion.

“Yeah? What, did you think I was a girl or something?” He giggled, and it didn’t sound any different than before. But it was. But it wasn’t.

“Uh, yeah! Boys ain’t allowed to be that pretty! It’s illegal! You gotta like, go to Pretty Jail or somethin’!” Ryuji shouted and pointed an accusing mitten at him. Akira was still laughing at him, still smiling that smile that was still making his stomach all flippy. Their moms were laughing at him too; Ryuji’s loud and shameless in a way he hadn’t heard in a while, Akira’s in a soft way that just made Akira make more sense.

“That’s okay. I’ll just break out,” Akira shrugged, then looked up at his mother. “Can my friend stay the night? He’s really nice. And so is Sakamoto-san.”

Ryuji bounced on his toes a few times. “Oh! Can I?” Okay, so Akira was a boy. That just meant they could hang out more instead. Maybe he hadn’t met his soulmate in a shrub, maybe he wasn’t gonna marry Akira someday, but he could definitely go for a sleepover.

“I don’t think…” Kurusu-san started, but her eyes caught on Hana’s forehead and she hesitated. Their moms seemed to have one of those ‘Grownups Having A Whole Conversation Without Talking’ looks before she started talking again. “Actually, that sounds like a lovely idea, honey. You boys look to be about the same size. You can share one of your extra sets of pajamas,” she said more to Akira than anyone else. “And Sakamoto-san can come over for tea while your father’s at work. I could use the company.” The last bit was aimed at Ryuji’s mom with a smile, but the tone felt like when he was being told to do his chores. Don’t argue with me, it’s for your own good.

Hana smiled tiredly, then nodded and sighed. “Alright, alright, I know when I’m outvoted. I’ll follow you,” she said to Kurusu-san.

“Woohoo!” Ryuji pumped his fist and grabbed at Akira’s shoulder. “We’re gonna stay up all night watching Featherman!”

The other boy nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! I got the whole box set for Christmas!”

“Sweet!”

Hana interjected with a hand on Ryuji’s shoulder to slow his bouncing, “boys, it is well past midnight, I’d be surprised if you didn’t fall asleep as soon as you’re in pajamas.”

Ryuji pouted up at her. “I ain’t ti--” he paused as he was overwhelmed by a yawn that almost popped his jaw, “--ired, I’ll be fine.”

Akira fell into step with his mother, then froze and whipped around to Ryuji. “Wait! I didn’t make my wish yet! We gotta make a wish at the shrine!”

His hand was ridiculously warm as it wrapped around Ryuji’s, probably from holding the cocoa that he’d hastily dropped in the trash. Before Ryuji could react, Kicchan had grabbed him and was dragging him back in the direction they’d come from.

“Akira!” Kurusu-san called sharply.

“BerightbackIpromise!” He called back to his mom as Ryuji stumbled along with him. They came to a clumsy stop in front of the offertory box and Akira started rifling through his pockets. He frowned at the crumpled burger wrapper he’d meant to throw away, crammed it back into a different pocket, then pulled out two five-hundred yen coins. “One for me and one for you,” he announced proudly and pressed one of them into the palm of Ryuji’s mitten. Rather than argue that he could pay for his own, because honestly he had no idea if he could, he nodded and closed his hand around the gift.

Ryuji watched Akira carefully, then did his best to copy his movements. He hadn’t really done this before without his mom to remind him how, but he knew exactly what he was gonna wish for. Marrying him was definitely probably off the table, but...

I wanna see Kicchan again after we leave.

A few minutes later, they were jogging back to where their moms were waiting for them.

“So, what’d you two wish for?” Hana asked and waggled her eyebrows at Ryuji.

Both boys blushed, looked at each other, and then quickly looked away before falling into step to leave. Their mumbled answers tangled together as they spoke at the same time.

“S-same as always, I guess.”

“‘S a secret.”

Ryuji hoped they wished for the same thing.

---

Three years later his mother divorced that deadbeat asshole, after advice from a stranger to save up behind the drunken bastard’s back, and the help of a lawyer named Kurusu. They had never had time before or a reason after to go back to that little town in the country.

---

Ryuji was running, feet pounding against the concrete hard enough to rattle his teeth, cold air sharp against his face, knee aching for a break as the shout echoed off the nearby buildings.

“Dammit! Screw that pervy teacher!”

“...pervy teacher?”

Ryuji whipped around to the voice behind him, already on the defensive. “What do you want? You plannin’ on rattin’ me out to Kamo… shi… da?”

He couldn’t help but trail off because he knew that face, nerd glasses or no; wild curls like storm clouds, grey eyes almost too big for the face they were set in, voice a hell of a lot deeper after nearly a decade but just as soft, and built in a lanky way that probably hadn’t been mistaken for a girl in years.

“Kicchan? The hell are you doing here?” Ryuji blinked a few times and watched Akira’s posture melt from tense apprehension to open surprise. Then he smiled like sunlight breaking through the clouds and wow. After all those years, there was Mothra in his stomach again. He had been putting off that particular revelation for a while, hadn’t he?

“Ryuji!”

#my writing #persona 5 #pegoryu week 2021 #pegoryu #the return of hana san! #uhh don't let the warning tags throw you off it is actually very sweet

[syncopatedid]

ああああああああああああ the final installment of the audio reading of the Kazetsuyo manga is out and I am feeling words tonight so let’s do this last spurt!

Shindo is finally awake!

Still disorientated with his surroundings, Shindo panics and starts feeling around his neck for the sash. Yuki produces it, and tells him it’s been properly received and thanks him for it. Shindo thought he had merely dreamt about it, but Haiji says that was 4 hours ago and Shindo should go lie down some more. Shindo declines and asks Hana for a mask instead. (wear your masks, fam!)

Yuki, Haiji and KK call the others who have been waiting anxiously for updates, and they start fussing over Shindo all at once. Yuki: “I already told you we’d call you back. What are you, kids?” Nico: “Easy for you to say when you’re next to Shindo and know his condition!”. Ouji remarks that Shindo’s got them worried sick, and gets teased by one of the twins about being “so worried” that he even finished reading all the manga he had brought along with him.

Nico sees the weather report on the TV and says tomorrow will be a snow day, and asks what they should do. Musa says he’d never seen snow before, which prompts Shindo to invite him to come visit his hometown after the Ekiden. KK interrupts a sweet Musa-Shindo exchange to interject that “that’s nice and all but we’re still going to be in trouble if it snows tomorrow” (Son can you like CHILL about running for 5 seconds!!) Haiji tells them to just stop talking over one another lmao. Haiji then continues: whatever it is, it’s all thanks to Shindo that they are able to run the return leg of the race, and instructs everyone to rest up properly in preparation of tomorrow. Everybody gathers round and part ways for the night with a promise that they’d all be smiling when they meet up again at the finish line:

“See you at Otemachi!”

Haiji and KK are just about to leave for their hotel at Yokohama when KK's phone starts buzzing. Yuki thinks it’s King calling again and Haiji asks KK if he’s going to answer it, but Shindo has figured out it’s a call from KK’s family.

Shindo says he’s observed that KK’s been “getting a lot of calls ever since they got in during December” and he had been ignoring them all, then asks if KK’s family could be calling him because they are worried about him.  KK says “there’s no way”, and talks about how his dad is a running maniac and is probably “just being noisy about it since he heard we got into the Hakone Ekiden”. Shindo’s all, “then all the more you should---” but gets cut off by Yuki. KK then talks about how his dad had high hopes for him that he couldn’t live up to, and they haven’t spoken to each other since KK dropped out of his HS running club and later left for Tokyo. Yuki remarks to Shindo that every family has their own circumstances - Haiji, Shindo, KK, even himself-- and sometimes it’s just better to be apart from them (YUKI NO I AM CRYING???). But Shindo rebukes him and says: “What about the feelings of those left behind?” and Haiji, KK and Yuki fell silent. Shindo again encourages KK to answer: “All they want is to see that you’re doing well in your running”.

=== Jan 3, 6am ===

Yuki sees Hana sitting by the heater and asks what she’s doing, and she says she’s warming up the soles of Yuki’s shoes so it’s more comfortable to run in them, a tip she learned from Teito U. Just then Shindo walks over.

Shindo: “Yuki-san, you forgot your ipod.” (Yuki: D8 ~!! ) Yuki tells Shindo not to push himself and go back to sleep, but Shindo insists he’s feeling okay after a night’s rest, and that he’ll accompany Yuki for his jog. Yuki tells Shindo he’s an idiot because it’s snowing outside.

Shindo laments that he’s not feeling it, and Yuki offers his ipod music to listen to. Shindo: “??? He runs with this kind of music?”. The music is HOWLING HEX by All Night Fox (and yes it’s a real album that exists)! Shindo apologizes to Yuki for yesterday’s poor showing and failing to meet the  goal of keeping their time difference “within 10 minutes” from the top team (which meant Yuki and the others now has a bigger time handicap to overcome), saying that Yuki’s morale must be pretty low right now... Yuki immediately lectures him that nobody’s thinking that. If anything, they're all grateful to Shindo because they are able to run all thanks to him. Shindo wants to say something but starts coughing again, which irritates Yuki who immediately orders Shindo to return back to the lodge to get some rest. Shindo stubbornly refuses.

Shindo: “Because today’s the last one, isn’t it?”

The truth is, Shindo’s really frustrated about his results, and wants to do a “revenge race” again next year to show his gratitude to everyone, but Yuki, Haiji and King will be graduating after this and they will not have the chance to run as a team again.   Shindo: “This one year is the last year where all of us will be doing it together. That’s why...” 

“...until the time you get to the starting line, please let me stay by your side.”

...AND YUKI WAS MOVED TO TEARS!!! (Shindo’s attack was SUPER EFFECTIVE!)

...and he immediately gets embarrassed about it because “What the hell, I’m not that kind of character...!!!”  to get emotional over all that "friendship is magic” or “springtime of youth” shtick... which he’s totally made fun of the others for.  But ah well.

Yuki: “Don’t you tell anyone about this (me crying)”. Shindo: “I won’t.” Yuki: “Especially not King.”

MOST IMPORTANT OMAKE STILLS

KK: “Please wait for me. Tomorrow, I’ll get that sash over to you as fast as possible.”

Nico: “YUKIIIIIIIIIII!!!!”

Yuki: “SENPAI!!!”

Haiji: “Me too. Running together with you all this past year has been so unbearably fun...”

...and then I cry again. THE END!!

#Kazetsuyo #Run with the wind #Kaze ga tsuyoku fuiteiru #Kazetsuyo manga #WHAT DO I DO WITH ALL THESE FEELS #Three years soon and I'm still not okay

[settersprouts]

꒦ ikanaide : chapter three ! ꒦

病欠

. . : iwaizumi gets sick and doesn't tell oikawa. oikawa notices he's not at school and skips practice for the first time to take care of him.

or, iwaizumi doesn't like to take medicine and oikawa can cook.

sniffles. coughs. that's all that could be heard through the iwaizumi household at five am, the time hajime iwaizumi was supposed to be getting ready for school. hanako iwaizumi sighed, not ready to deal with a sick hajime. reluctantly making his way out of the bed he shared with aiya, he got a bucket, a couple of rags, and starting the trek to his son's room.

``hey-`` hanako started, but was interrupted by a coughing fit. ``hajime. how you feeling?``

his son smiled up at him grimly, wiping at the snot in his nose. ``like shit.``

``language.``

``sorry.``

hanako let out another sigh, wringing one of the rags out and placing the damp cloth on his forehead. ``symptoms?``

``cough, sneezing, my nose is runny- and my throat hurts,`` iwaizumi managed, his voice dry and scratchy.

``that bad, huh?`` hanako set the bucket down on the floor, pulling out his phone and thumbing at his screen. ``i'll text your coach and teachers to let them know you can't make it.``

iwaizumi nodded, letting out a small groan. his eyes suddenly flung wide open, and he sat up abruptly, scaring hanako a little. ``don't tell oikawa! he's going to try and skip school to take care of me, i'm sure.``

hanako chuckled, giving his son a little thumbs up and pushing him back down. ``i got it. i'll just let him figure it out himself.``

his son sighed in relief, letting his entire body relax. ``thanks, old man.``

``i'm not old. want some oatmeal?``

``that'd be great. thank you.``

a smile pulled at hanako's lips. ``alright, coming right up, kiddo.`` he made his way out of iwaizumi's room, leaving the door open so air could filter through.

``don't make it sweet! i hate it sweet!``

``i know that!``

hanako made his way into the kitchen, almost running into his wife. ``whoa- oh, good morning, love.``

``morning, hanako.`` aiya yawned, her face contorting into an expression of confusion. ``where's hajime? he should be getting his breakfast ready by now.``

``the kid's sick,`` hanako replied, kissing his wife on the cheek. ``i'm getting him some oatmeal for breakfast.``

aiya nodded, opening a drawer and pulling out a thermometer. she handed it to her husband. ``make sure to take his temperature, too. i want to know if i need to have a doctor over.``

hanako deadpanned, letting out a gruff laugh. ``babe, that's a meat thermometer.``

``oh, is it?`` she smiled apologetically, putting it back and switching it with the other thermometer. ``here, take this, then.``

he reached out to grab at the cool metal, letting it sit in his breast pocket as he got iwaizumi's oatmeal ready. ``can you go get him some cough medicine, or something for his throat? hajime says it's sore.``

his wife nodded, and padded over to the fridge, reaching above it to open the medicine cabinet. she sorted through bottles and bottles of over-the-counter medicine, before finally reaching the cough and sore-throat remedies. pouring a little bit into a plastic cup, aiya put the bottle back and closed the cabinet, placing the cup onto the tray with her son's water glass and oatmeal on it. ``there. have you called hajime's school, yet?``

hanako nodded. ``mhm. already done. hajime doesn't want oikawa-kun to know he's sick yet, so don't tell his mother. knowing her, she'll spill the beans somehow.``

aiya let out a soft laugh, covering her mouth as she did so. ``i understand. he'll probably want to skip school and tend to hajime all day.``

``that boy is something else.``

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

oikawa tapped his foot impatiently, standing at the intersection where he and iwaizumi usually meet up. they were supposed to get there early so oikawa could grab something from the convenience store- it was his nephew's birthday, after all, and he wanted to buy some red velvet cake mix.

he let out a sigh, pulling out his phone to check the messages he had with the ace.

› Messages with : Iwaizumi, Hajime

[Sent:To Oikawa, Toorū] go to sleep already, you idiot

[Sent:To Oikawa, Toorū] i know you're up watching volleyball matches

[Sent:To Oikawa, Toorū] it's late, get some rest or i'll hit you

¹¹⁻³⁹ ᴾᴹ

[Sent:From Oikawa, Toorū] yeah, yeah, got it iwa-chan ಠ_ಠ

[Sent:From Oikawa, Toorū] you don't have to be so rude, you know

[Sent:From Oikawa, Toorū] and why r u so obsessed w hitting me ?

¹¹⁻⁴⁰ ᴾᴹ

[Sent:To Oikawa, Toorū] goodnight

¹¹⁻⁴⁰ ᴾᴹ

[Sent:From Oikawa, Toorū] goodnight, iwa-chan :D

¹¹⁻⁴¹ ᴾᴹ

[Sent:From Oikawa, Toorū] morning, iwa (*ﾟｰﾟ)ゞ

⁰⁵⁻³⁰ ᴬᴹ

[Sent:From Oikawa, Toorū] where r u 人´∀｀) i'm @ the intersection

⁰⁶⁻⁰⁴ ᴬᴹ

[Sent:From Oikawa, Toorū] iwa we're gonna be late i need to go to the store φ(。。*)

⁰⁶⁻⁰⁵ ᴬᴹ

[Sent:From Oikawa, Toorū] iwa-chan i'm leaving you >:p

⁰⁶⁻⁰⁷ ᴬᴹ

[Sent:From Oikawa, Toorū] im gonna kill you when i see you

⁰⁶⁻¹³ ᴬᴹ

despite what the messages ensued, he still hadn't left without iwaizumi. he let out another sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. he really had to leave, but he didn't want the ace to be mad once he figured out oikawa had went on without him. oikawa inhaled through his nose, and out through his mouth. pushing aside the fear of a very angry iwaizumi showing up to first period with homicide on his mind.

the sun was rising and starting to shine brightly, slightly blinding oikawa as he glanced at the star. if iwaizumi were here, he would've already been geeking out about it to him, trying to annoy the vice. he wasn't really that obsessed with space and extraterrestrial life, oikawa just liked to annoy his best friends.

``hey, oikawa!`` the setter turned at his name being called, and was instantly greeted with someone running straight into him. arms wrapped around his torso in what he thought was a hug, but couldn't be sure, since all the wind was knocked out of him in the process. familiar tufts of pink-brown hair tickled his nose, and his lips pulled into a small, genuine smile. he wrapped his arms around the attacker's torso, too, breathing in the scent he considered a second home.

``hey, makki. morning.`` oikawa smiled, pulling away to see his friend's beaming face.

hanamaki linked arms with oikawa, pulling him along. ``c'mon, we're going to be late for class!``

oikawa looked down at his phone, checking the time. 06:19 AM, it read. ``makki, it's only six twenty. we have plenty of time.``

``but..`` makki groaned, making a big show of rolling his head back and exposing his neck to the sky. whether or not that was an impression of oikawa on one of his days, oikawa may never know. ``we can be early for once.``

``class doesn't start until seven thirty.`` oikawa sang, pulling away from makki's grip and dragging him along. ``plus, i gotta get something from the store for takeru's birthday.``

his companion made an 'o' shape with his mouth, succumbing to oikawa's charms and letting himself be lead to the nearest store. ``nice. what are you getting?``

``cake mix. red velvet.``

``red velvet? holy shit, can i come to the party?`` hanamaki gasped, giving his friend his full attention now. oikawa laughed, and nodded.

``yeah. i was planning on inviting you and mattsun anyways.`` he replied, scratching the back of his neck. ``iwa-chan gets a free pass, since my mom knows him.``

makki gasped in mock offense, holding his free hand to his heart. ``she knows me too! how come i don't get a free pass? does she not like me?``

oikawa shrugged. ``well, you're kind of.. how can i say this. um-`` he laughed nervously, ``-too energetic, for her taste?``

``this is atrocious. i even did her dishes for her, once.``

``key word, once.`` oikawa retorted, eyeing the store up ahead. ``oh hey, look, there's sakanoshita. think we'll find cake mix there?``

hanamaki shrugged.  ``probably. doesn't karasuno's coach work there?``

oikawa nodded. ``hopefully tobio-chan didn't stop by on his way to school. i think i might throw up if i see him.``

``how immature.``

the two of them made their way into the small store, muttering a little "pardon the intrusion!" to the staff, who turned out to be a short, older woman, not karasuno's coach. they both let out a sigh of relief- anything could've happened if it was ukai who was sitting in the little swivel chair behind the counter. possibly just them having to endure the shameless torments from the latter, but who knows.

oikawa and hanamaki glanced at the small signs labeling the aisles, quickly finding the one they were looking for and walked down to the middle, where all the cake mixes lay. the captain sifted through the red velvet mixes while the other eyed the brownie batter with starry eyes. oikawa skimmed the backs of four boxes he settled on, tossing them all into the little basket he had picked up as soon as they walked in. turning to his partner, he couldn't help but let the wide smile overcome his facial features. hanamaki was practically drooling at the pictures of the brownies on the boxes.

he padded over to the wing-spiker and picked up a box, tossing it into the basket as well and waltzed out of the aisle- hanamaki at his heels. ``whoa, are you seriously buying that for me?``

oikawa shook his head. ``for me. to make for you when you come over later.`` he stuck out his tongue at his partner, smiling at the laugh he was able to get out of him.

``sure, whatever you say.``

the captain turned to the lady at the desk, reading the nametag on her shirt. hana sakanoshita. ah. so she was the owner. sakanoshita smiled at him, taking the bag out of his hands and scanning the barcodes on the backs of the boxes. ``find everything okay, honey?``

``yep, great, thank you! could we also get two packs of that strawberry gum?`` he pointed, putting on one of his award-winning smiles. she seemed to melt at this and nodded, quickly bagging up his stuff and handing his credit card back.

``you have a good day, boys.`` she said, waving at them as they exited. the two smiled and waved back, turning towards aoba johsai and resuming their trek.

hanamaki checked his phone, letting out a sharp whistle. ``nice. we didn't take as long as i expected- we have fifteen minutes 'till first period.``

oikawa grinned. ``told you so.``

``yeah, yeah. oh- by the way, where's iwaizumi?`` hanamaki looked around as if he were looking for the teen, turning back to oikawa once he figured out he really wasn't there with them. ``he walks with you, right?``

the latter shrugged, pulling out his own gum pack and popping a strip into his mouth. ``dunno. he didn't show at the intersection where we meet up, so i just went along without him. he didn't answer any of my texts, either.``

``huh.`` hanamaki said, putting his index finger and thumb on his chin in a thinking pose. ``that's weird. maybe he overslept?``

``doubt it. the man sleeps with his phone on so loud, he'll wake up immediately as soon as he hears one of my texts. plus, he has like, fifty alarms back-to-back to wake him up.`` oikawa replied, shutting down makki's theory so fast, he didn't even see it coming.

makki sighed. ``ah. i see.`` he shook his head as to clear his mind of any stray thoughts, and extended his hand. ``i want some gum. hand it over, peasant.``

``yes, my lord.`` oikawa said jokingly, gracefully whipping out the pack of strawberry gum and placing it in his hands. he folded makki's fingers around it, never breaking eye contact with his teammate. ``here it is. do what you wish with it.``

the two snickered at their antics, slinging their arms around one another. ``we're so going to be late.``

``yeah, probably.``

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

``oh, yeah, we're so sorry ms. sato. we got stuck in traffic- there was an accident over by my house.`` makki sighed dramatically, shaking his head slightly. ``we would've gotten a late pass, but we didn't think we were going to be so late.``

ms. sato shook her head quickly, smiling at the teen. ``it's okay, hanamaki-kun. just try not to let this happen too much, okay?``

hanamaki nodded. ``yes, ma'am.`` oikawa mentally facepalmed at his antics, and the two walked to the back to sit down in their seats, next to matsukawa, who was struggling to keep a laugh in.

``jesus,`` matsukawa breathed, ``the amount of bullshit in that was immaculate.``

``right?`` he and hanamaki fistbumped, grinning widely like the idiots they were.

oikawa sighed, turning his head slightly to talk to iwaizumi, then stopping himself before he could say anything. iwaizumi's desk stood empty next to his own. the captain frowned, checking his phone for any recent texts from the ace. nothing popped up.

makki slung an arm over oikawa, concern lining his features. ``hey, what's up?``

``he still isn't here.`` he pointed to iwaizumi's desk, the frown growing by the minute. ``and he's not answering. makki, i'm worried.``

a head full of black, unruly hair obscured the view he had of his phone. matsukawa laughed, stepping back. ``so he didn't tell you guys?`` when hanamaki and oikawa looked at him with confused expressions, he chuckled, and continued. ``guys, he's sick. coach was talking about it with ms. sato this morning. if you got here earlier you would've known.``

the captain facepalmed. ``of course, that makes sense. why couldn't he have told me though?``

``dunno.`` mattsun ignored the small pout resting on his captain's lips, shoving at his shoulder a bit. ``lighten up. he probably didn't want you to skip school and take care of him.``

oikawa let out a puff of air. ``yeah, okay. you're probably right.`` he was about to continue but ms. sato had started class, and a comfortable silence fell upon them as they gave the woman their full attention. makki and mattsun glanced at oikawa, worry clearly etched on their faces. perhaps they shouldn't have told him what happened with his best friend.

``oikawa,`` ms. sato supplied, stalking over to his desk and setting two thick packets on the hard wood. ``here's iwaizumi-kun's work. i trust you'll be able to get this to him?``

the latter sighed, looking up towards his sensei with the fakest smile he could muster. ``yes, sato-san, i'll give this to him as soon as i see him.``

ms. sato smiled, patting the boy's head and walking back to the front of the class. ``alright, so, has anyone written down the notes on the board?``

oikawa glanced at the chalkboard, internally groaning as he noticed it was completely filled with notes. where the hell did she find the time to write all that?

he let out the fifth-hundredth sigh that day, picking up his pencil and getting to work. iwaizumi totally owed him.

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

``you want to, what?`` coach irihata stared at his pupil, shock painting his features. oikawa stood before him, fumbling with his practice clothes, a faint blush plastered over his cheeks and nose. ``you want to skip practice?``

``yes.`` oikawa nodded. ``it's only for today, so i can go home and take care of iwa-chan. he has a lot of work to catch up on,`` he added, holding up the many papers he had collected from his professors in each class, since his and iwaizumi's timestables were identical.

irihata stared at him some more, then shook his head quickly, smiling at him. ``alright. i don't see why not.``

oikawa brightened, clearly glad by the news. ``thank you so much! i promise i'll make it up to you!`` he chimed, switching his volleyball shoes for a pair of regular sneakers. ``all your meals this week, on me!``

``you don't have to- and he's out the door.`` irihata sighed, glancing at the now agape gym door. the warm afternoon breeze rushed in, leaving an unpleasant, humid feeling. mizoguchi came up behind him, watching oikawa sprint off into the distance. ``that boy is something else, isn't he?``

``definitely.`` mizoguchi laughed, walking forward to close the doors. ``iwaizumi's lucky to have a good friend like him.``

the older coach nodded. ``we're all glad to know him.``

dammit, someone's talking about me, oikawa thought, as he sneezed for the seventh time since leaving aoba johsai. he rubbed his nose, pissed off at the irritation of his sensitive organ. his legs already burned- he had sprinted all the way to the intersection, and was now leaning on a streetlamp, catching his breath. he probably should've put on his knee brace if he knew he was going to exert a little energy on running home, but he was in a rush.

pulling out his phone, he quickly navigated to his email, frowning at the lack of messages from his dear friend hajime iwaizumi. he hadn't read the texts either, so he probably was really exhausted. slipping the device back into his pocket, he started the rest of his trek home, popping another strip of gum into his mouth.

the grocery bag swinging on his arm contained all the contents oikawa thought iwaizumi would need : some cough and cold medicine, a couple of boxes of tissues, a mask for himself, disposable rags, and a heating pad. the materials cost him about ¥800 each, which wasn't that expensive.

finally, after what had seemed like forever, the captain had arrived at iwaizumi's house. there were no cars in the driveway, which meant his parents weren't home. what were they thinking, leaving poor iwa-chan alone while he's sick? oikawa frowned at this. what a silly idea.

he flipped up the doormat, grabbing the key that was strategically placed underneath and unlocked the door. pushing it open, he let out a little ``yahoo~ anyone home?`` to let iwaizumi know he was there. he wasn't expecting a reaction, so seeing iwaizumi come downstairs to greet him kind of scared him out of his wits a little bit.

``jesus! iwa-chan, can't you warn a dude first?`` oikawa panted, placing a hand over his heart. the ace deadpanned, walking over and snatching the bags out of his hands.

``what the hell do you think you're doing here? i'm sick, go home.`` he retorted, his eyebrows furrowing so much, they looked like they were attached to his eyes. he sifted through the bag, pausing once he realized what the plastic bag contained. ``what is this?``

oikawa rolled his eyes, taking the bag back and setting its' contents on the kitchen counter. ``it's for you. you're sick, so i decided to skip practice to come here and take care of you, and to reteach everything that you missed today.`` he replied nonchalantly, shoving iwaizumi towards the direction of his bedroom. ``go back to bed, i'll cook you some lunch, since i'm sure you didn't eat yet.``

iwaizumi didn't reply, because (a) he was right. and (b) he was shocked that the toorū oikawa skipped volleyball practice for him.

``anyways,`` oikawa said, opening his fridge and scanning its' contents. ``how do you feel about egg?``

``i can eat it. i don't feel nauseous or anything,`` iwa replied, sitting on one of the stools at the kitchen counter. ``and wait- you're going to cook?``

the setter turned around, tying an apron around his waist. ``yeah?``

iwaizumi blinked, shaking his head and leaning down on his forearms. ``nothing. continue. don't burn down my kitchen.``

oikawa grinned, having just been granted permission to make his best friend's food. ``alright! on it, iwa-chan!``

``shut up and start cooking.``

⚝──⭒─⭑─⭒──⚝

``you have to take it, iwa-chan!``

``NO! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!`` iwaizumi jumped onto his couch, holding a fork towards oikawa like a weapon. ``GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME.``

oikawa let out yet another sigh. ``jeez, if i knew you were going to be this bratty about taking your medicine, i wouldn't have came.`` he took another dangerous step towards iwaizumi, holding out a glass of water and a small cup of liquid cough medicine. ``iwa-chan, if you don't take this, you'll never get better.``

``so? that thing's disgusting.`` iwaizumi fake-retched, the look of disgust on his face almost believable. he should've taken the drama course at school.

another step. ``you seem to have forgotten that i have a kid nephew, who i always got to take his medicine, no matter how big of a tantrum he threw about it.`` another step. ``you're acting like a toddler. just take your medicine and get better.``

``assikawa, if you so as much take one more goddamn step towards me, i'll kill you.`` iwaizumi growled, clenching the fork tighter. of course he wouldn't kill him, he'd just said that to frighten him. somehow, oikawa didn't seemed phased, and took another step.

``hajime iwaizumi. if you don't come down off that couch and take your medicine right now, so help me god, i will bring my mother here and she will be furious when she realizes how much of a tantrum you're putting up right now.`` the setter mused, shaking the glass of water like he was calling him towards him, like a dog. iwaizumi gulped. the aura surrounding oikawa was downright terrifying. his eyes seemed almost lifeless, and it scared the wits out of him. ``on the count of three. if you haven't taken the medicine by then, i'm calling her. one.``

iwaizumi flinched, backing up slightly. could he make it out the front door without oikawa catching him? probably not. his legs were longer, so he'd cover more ground easily.

``two.``

how bad would the punishment be if he just didn't take the medicine? it's not like oikawa would actually call his mother, he wouldn't do that. right?

``three-``

``okay!`` iwaizumi jumped off the couch, grabbing the medicine and pouring it down his throat. he made a face of disgust, snatching the glass of water out of his hand and gulping that down too. he shuddered, trying to force himself to keep the atrocious liquid down. ``there. happy?``

``very.`` oikawa grinned, patting iwaizumi's head. ``good job.``

the ace burned with pride at the praise, letting oikawa's nimble fingers tread through his hair. ``thanks for coming over.``

``of course.`` his friend replied, giving the shorter a warm hug. ``don't mention it. i'll skip practice for you every time.``

``you better not.``

oikawa smiled. ``no promises.``

─── sick day.

chapter 4 !

#oikawa tooru #sickfic #sickness #iwa's sick #iwaizumi hajime #iwaoi #iwaoi fluff

[jaehyun-eclipsed]

Before I Met You | Twenty-Two: Part One

Next Update: ~February 15, 2021 **2/13/21 update: The next update may be delayed until the second week of March. I apologize for the delay -- school has been quite busy this semester, so I’m working a lot slower than anticipated. Thanks for your patience! **3/27/21 Update: My sincerest apologies. I didn’t plan very well with scheduling... I’m finishing up a big project with school and am hoping to release the next chapter next weekend!

Pairing: NCT (Jaehyun, Lucas, Mark, Jaemin, Johnny) X Reader/OC

Genre: Romance, Angst, Coming of Age

Summary: Four. There were four people before I fell in love with you… Here are their stories.

Author’s Note: Hello! This is a slightly shorter update. Things are getting busy for me again, so I’m going to try to do updates once a month or so rather than going MIA for a few months. Thanks for being patient and don’t be afraid to say hello or send any feedback!

Before I Met You Masterlist

Prev | Next

My eyes slowly open and I blink a few times to adjust to the stream of light coming through the blinds. Sitting up, I look around. This is my room. This is my bed. My blanket. My dog. I give the plush a squeeze. Everything is here and I’m okay.

My breath hitches upon seeing the packages of pistachios and cookies on my desk. Johnny left them here and now everything is more clear as to why I feel so dreary upon waking up. I was hoping last night didn’t play out the way it actually had, but I’m a bit too smart for my own good to trick myself.

I imagine he probably won’t miss them if I didn’t return them to him, but I don’t want them to go stale in my room. Plus, I would like to say goodbye.

Slowly, I place my feet into my slippers and wash up in the bathroom. My grandma wanted to take my dad and me out to lunch to celebrate the end of the semester. I’m looking forward to the meal, but I seem to have lost my appetite. There’s sort of this nerve wracking feeling inside me despite my calm demeanor. Like an overwhelming amount of cortisol is being pumped through my body and I’m working on autopilot to move around and pack up my belongings without feeling any depletion of energy.

Is this what it’s like to have a crush on a boy and to know he returns your affections?

I thought I’d be happier. More giddy.

But really, I’m just nervous. And perhaps it’s because I know there’s a bit of a complication: Johnny still needs to break up with his girlfriend. 

All of those corny movie plots with the assholes are brought to my head. The guy never breaks up with his old girlfriend before he gets with the new one. Even in real life, it’s always messy.

“I’ll do it soon,” he says.

“When the time is right,” he says.

But then he never does.

I wanted to hope that this wouldn’t be the case. Which is why I didn’t want anything to go too far last night. And so, I firmly decide that I’m not getting together with him until things are cleared up.

But I really want this to work out. I really do.

Everything will be fine.

I take a deep breath. Smile to myself.

Everything will be just fine.

I receive a text that my dad will be here to pick me up in a half hour. So I grab the snack bags and run upstairs. When Johnny answers the door, he looks surprised to see me, almost as if he had been afraid he scared me off last night and I wouldn’t want anything to do with him ever again.

My gaze falls. “Um, you left these in my room,” I say and hold out the snacks.

It takes him a moment before he takes the packages from me, apparently careful not to brush his hands against mine.

“You don’t want any?” he asks.

I shake my head. “No, thanks. I’m going to lunch soon.”

We linger in the doorway for several more moments in silence. I’m gnawing on my lip and shifting my gaze to different points on the floor. I think Johnny’s watching me, but I still can’t bring myself to look at him.

“Have a good break,” he says, his statement coming out as more of a question due to an uncertainty of what to say.

“Yeah, you too.” I smile lightly and as if out of reflex, I perch up onto my tiptoes and throw my right arm around Johnny’s neck, pulling him close for a hug goodbye. He jumps slightly at my sudden contact, but wraps one arm around my waist. Quickly, I release him, take one last glance, offer a smile, and turn around to walk back to my room.

When I return to my room, I check my phone and see a text from Johnny.

J: do u need help carrying your bags downstairs?

Me: No, that’s okay. I only have a couple bags. I can get them myself

Me: Thanks though

J: np

There’s a pause.

J: I’ll call u tonite?

I nod to myself before typing back a response.

Me: Yeah

Me: Talk to you later

J: :3

 “You’re not eating very much,” Dad remarks.

I push a dumpling around on my plate with my chopsticks. “I don’t feel that hungry… even though I do want to eat this.”

“What happened last night?”

I proceed to tell my dad all of the events of last night—Hendery’s unawareness, lunch, the bookstore, the movie, Minji, the confession.  I really liked Johnny, but I had no idea how this was going to work out—or even if it would work out.  

“Don’t worry too much about it. Things always work themselves out,” he says.

I know what this means. Implicitly, he’s saying that if it’s meant to work out, it will. And if not… then I guess that’s just the way it is and I’ll have to accept that too. It’s just hard when feelings are messy. You want it to work out, but you expect the worse as a defense mechanism in case it doesn’t end up working out.

That evening, Johnny calls me just before he’s about to go to sleep.

“Hii,” he sings into the phone. “How was your day?”

I smile upon hearing his voice. “Hey, it was all right. How was yours?”

“It was good,” he responds. “Was thinking about you a lot.”

“Aww,” I coo. “Really?”

“Yeah, I know I saw you earlier, but I miss you.” He sighs. “And now I have to wait an entire month before I get to see you again.”

I press my lips together. I let out a sigh of disappointment. “Yeah, a whole month. But we can still talk on the phone!”

“Yeah!”

There’s a brief silence as I deliberate over whether or not I want to ask my next question. The answer is of no real consequence, but I’m curious.

“Hey, I wanna ask you something,” I say. “When did you start to like me?”

Johnny chuckles. “I knew you were gonna ask that,” he says. “I don’t know. Sometime during dead week.”

“Did you know that I liked you?”

“Yeah, I kinda figured you did. That’s why I decided to tell you.” I hear him let out a breath and picture him shrugging. “You kept wanting to hang out with me so I thought you had to have some feelings for me.”

Nodding to myself, I bite my lip in thinking about last night. “You know,” I begin. “I did want you to hold me last night…”

“I know,” he says simply. “We’ll just have to wait until after break. And then we can have sleepovers!”

“How are we going to have sleepovers if Jia is in my room and Hendery is in your room?”

“Hendery never sleeps in his room. He’s always with Yeeun and sleeps in her room.”

My face scrunches into an expression of confusion. “Are they… are they dating?”

“Yeah.”

Despite the fact that I’m looking forward to going home and telling Hana and Hyojin everything that’s happened, I really want to skip over a month to be back with Johnny.

Hopefully by that time, he’ll be single.

“Hey, so,” he begins hesitantly. I hear him shifting around in bed, the shuffling of his blankets echoes through the phone. “I probably won’t be able to talk to you much tomorrow.”

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the day he’s meeting Minji.

Tomorrow is the day he’s supposed to break up with Minji.

Johnny is supposed to go into the city, meet Minji, break up with her, and then go home in the evening. There are a ton of questions running through my head. Is Johnny going to meet up with her and break up with her right then and there? Why doesn’t he just call her to tell her it’s off? Isn’t it kind of inconsiderate to go out with your girlfriend the entire day, knowing in the back of your head that you’re going to break up with her, but go about the day like nothing’s wrong?

It’s not really any of my business and the more I think about it, the more unsettled I become.

“Okay…” I say finally.

“I’ll send you pictures throughout the day though! To let you know what I’m doing!” he says cheerfully.

It’s clearly an attempt to make me feel better about the situation. Though, I find it strange that he’s so casual about the whole thing. Like sending pictures to me while on an outing with his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend is totally fine. Wouldn’t she get suspicious? And won’t I feel… envious? Why do I want to know what he’s doing on a date?

Like Dad said: everything will work itself out.

“You okay?” he suddenly asks.

It takes me a few moments to respond, but I say, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Okay, I’m going to go to bed now. Goodnight! I miss you!”

“Goodnight.”

“He’s really cute, Y/N,” Hana says excitedly.

“I know, right?!” I respond with an equal amount of enthusiasm. “I’m just wondering what’s going on today with him. He may not break up with her.” I sigh. “In which case, I’ll just have to let it go… and continue to be single. Almost twenty-one years strong!”

I pump my fist into the air even though Hana can’t see it over the phone. She chuckles lightly and murmurs some general words of encouragement for me not to give up yet.

“I’d just be careful, Y/N,” she says hesitantly. “He sounds like a nice guy, but you never know.”

The weight on my shoulders returns as I take her words to heart. I know she’s right… even before this I was weary of the whole thing. But I think it should work out. I really like him and I enjoy talking to him. Just take it slow and things will be fine.

“So what about your love life, Hana? Did you meet anyone during the semester?”

There’s a silence before I finally hear Hana release the breath she’s been holding followed by a click of her tongue. “I want to ask your opinion on something, but I’m afraid you’ll judge me for it.”

I frown, slightly upset that she would be so afraid of my opinion. “What’s up?”

“Well, I kinda like one of my housemates…”

I blink several times. “Okay. There’s nothing wrong with that. We’re in the same boat—”

“No, we’re not,” she says quickly. “See, so, his name is Jinhyung… we had a class together and he asked if I wanted to study with him in his room. We have another roommate named Joon and I think Joon has had a crush on me and he gets upset whenever he sees me hanging out with Jinhyung. Joon has a whiteboard and he wrote some house rules on it. The first was ‘clean your own dishes’ and the second is ‘no fucking your housemates.’”

I begin laughing. “Wait, so obviously he doesn’t want you and Jinhyung getting together… but what if you said you would sleep with him?”

“I—I don’t know! I guess it doesn’t apply to him!”

“That’s hypocritical. Anyway, continue…”

“Well, Jinhyung made a joke that he and I already broke one of those rules and Joon got really upset. But uh, one day, I texted him to ask if he wanted to study and he actually thought I meant real studying and then realized what I meant. So we talked about it and—oh my gosh I’m so scared to tell you.”

I remain silent, patiently waiting for her to continue. Though, I think I know where this is going.

“I slept with him,” she finally admits.

“So… what? Was it good?”

“Uh—I—I, yeah, I guess so.” She sounds shocked. “You don’t—you don’t think it’s bad?”

I shrug. “No, you guys talked about it, right? Like you discussed what both of you wanted out of this?”

“Yeah, basically. Like we’re just doing this for fun. No strings attached.”

“So you’re basically friends with benefits,” I say more as a statement than a question.  

“Yeah,” she confirms. “Gosh, I was so scared you would disapprove.”

“You two talked about it and it was consensual. So as long as both of you are on the same page, I don’t see anything wrong with it. I think you need to be careful because feelings can get complicated, but right now it seems fine.”

Right then, my phone vibrates and I see a text from Johnny.

J: Hey! I hope ur day went well!

J: Uh I can’t really talk right now, but long story short it got late so Minji is spending the night

J: I’m going home in the morning I’ll talk to u tmrw! 😘

I guess I unknowingly let out a sound of disappointment because Hana proceeds to ask me what’s wrong.

“His girlfriend is spending the night and he’s going to go home tomorrow.”

“What?!” she exclaims in disbelief.

“I mean”—I bite my lip and then frown— “I didn’t ask how this was going to go down, but I didn’t think it would lead to this.”

Hana and I are both quiet for a minute. There’s something I’m wondering about and my guess is that Hana’s silence means she’s thinking the same thing. Neither of us want to ask it though because I think we both know the answer. What else would you do if your long distance girlfriend came to visit and she ended up spending the night with you and both of you are alone since your roommate has gone home for break?

But if you’re going to break up, would you still do it?

Or is it a simple decision because you’d view it as a “last pleasure goodbye”?

“Are you okay?” she asks, her tone full of concern.

I bite my lip as I stare at the message, responding a quick “Okay” and leaving it at that.

“Not really,” I say honestly.

“I think you should just go to sleep and wait and see what happens tomorrow.”

And this is what I was afraid of… that Johnny would go meet his girlfriend and tell me he was going to break up with her and then just… not be able to go through with it. Which is exactly why I wanted to be careful about getting my hopes up.

“Yeah, you’re right,” I say. “No good overthinking the whole thing. Thanks.”

“Of course. Goodnight, friend!”

“Goodnight.”

I clutch my phone in both of my hands and let them rest on top of the blankets as I lie staring at the ceiling. I know I need to be careful. I usually am. Just take it slow. See what happens tomorrow.

“Do you want oatmeal with pumpkin?” my grandma asks.

“Okay.”

It’s nearly noon as I watch my grandma spoon some oatmeal into a bowl and then bring over a jar of cane sugar for me to sprinkle on top. We’re staying here for a few days before driving back to Oregon. Normally, I’d have distractions because I’d have to study, but since I’m on break, I slept in and there isn’t much to do besides watch movies and wait.

Surprisingly, scrolling through today’s headlines is rather boring. I answer a few messages from Chaeyoung and feel my heart leap as soon as I see a text from Johnny.  

J: Everything’s all good!

I purse my lips. Everything’s all good? What does that mean? He broke up with her? Things are good?

“Dad?” I call as he walks into the living room.

“Yes?”

“Johnny just texted me saying, ‘Everything’s all good,’” I say. “What does that mean?”

“I guess… Everything’s been cleared up?” There’s a tone of slight uncertainty in his answer.

I look down at my phone again and read a second message.

J: Do u want to call soon? Im almost home

“He wants to call soon,” I say aloud. “You think he’ll tell me what happened?”

“Probably.”

Me: Okay!

Slowly, I eat my oatmeal. The ticking of the clock makes me anxious and impatient. What happened? He told her and it was all good? Did he sleep with her last night and then dump her—that’s kinda rough. Wouldn’t it have been better to dump her before going out?

His voice is like warm honey when he greets me, like there’s a renewed happiness and joy in his tone. It almost sounds like there was nothing ever wrong to begin with. Like today is just a normal day and he’s calling his girlfriend like usual.

“How has your day been?” he asks.

“Uh, well, I woke up at like eleven and had some oatmeal.” I hold my phone between my ear and shoulder and place my laptop onto the nightstand next to the bed. Gripping the phone to my ear again, I continue. “I was just browsing through YouTube, but I couldn’t find anything to watch.”

“Well, you can talk to me now!”

“How’s your day been?” I ask immediately.

“Oh, it was fine. I got home like an hour ago and my mom made me lunch,” he says. “And now I’m talking to you!”

His lack of disclosure is quite evident. He’s keeping it to a minimum and only directly answering what he’s asked.

“So how’d everything go?”

“Oh.” He says it like he wasn’t expecting me to ask. “It was okay.”

I wait a few moments before asking him what happened.

“She spent the night and in the morning we took BART back and got off and I told her at the last stop,” he says.

“What—what did you tell her?”

“I told her that there was someone else and she said she sort of figured that’s what happened,” he responds. “It also turns out that she was sort of cheating on me with someone at school.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, so, whatever.” I catch him let out a sharp breath before his voice changes to a more positive tone. “But everything is all clear and good now!”

Assuming this is all true, it’s interesting that Minji was also being unfaithful. I don’t ask for the details, but at the very least, it seems like both of them were emotionally cheating. Seems a bit sad though that they’d rather keep the other person around rather than break up with them. Clearly they had both lost interest in each other. Why continue? Complacency? Security? Fear of being alone? All of the above?

“I’m kinda sad that we have to wait until break before we can see each other again,” he says.

“Yeah, but it’s only a month!” I respond, attempting to be optimistic.

“But aren’t you graduating in a year?”

“Yes.”

I can tell he’s pouting a bit from his tone. “That’s not very long. We’ll have to have lots of sleepovers!”

“Johnny, we have school and studying.”

“Be prepared not to sleep!”

My face grows hot as I realize the implications. There was nothing preventing us from becoming a couple other than my own hesitance. And then there were things like holding hands, first kiss, and all that—things I’ve never done with anyone before and I wasn’t quite sure if he knew or suspected.

Sex. I’ve never had sex.

I didn’t want to give the impression that I had never experienced it before, but when it came down to it, he’d figure it out pretty quickly.

“But I have morning classes!” I argue.

“Hmph. Weekends then!”

I’m at a loss of what to say when he continues.

“Don’t worry. I’m responsible! We support each other!”

A smile makes its way onto my lips. “Yes,” I reply simply.  

“I’ll keep you safe.”

Prev | Next

Before I Met You Masterlist

Masterlist

#nct #nct 127 #jung jaehyun #na jaemin #mark lee #lucas wong #nct dream #nct u #superm #before I met you

[chibistarlyte]

😪 😡👉

;u; thank you for the ask!!!! <3 (also i’m so sorry i’m very wordy when it comes to this stuff, i can’t shut up lol)

😪: a piece that was meant to be short but took on a life of its own

for this one, i’m gonna name a whole series but it’s kat’s @sunshineijirou and my tododeku+kiribaku series where the two couples go on double dates. originally kat meant for it to be just a cute little oneshot and brought me onto it to help her flesh out the tododeku bits, and now as it stands, we have two fics published and...three? four more? partially written, including the tododeku ‘getting together’ fic that i’m currently working on as a prequel of sorts. i don’t know how one fic idea spawned into the beast that it is now but i love it. xD

😡: a paragraph/section that gave me a lot of trouble

i had a lot of trouble with the first part of shouto’s introductory chapter in be the very best (like no hero ever was) (bnha/pokemon au). particularly this part:

 “Hi, Shouto. You can call me Hana,” Hana said with a smile. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

 Shouto nodded silently, not trusting his voice with the anger that swirled inside of him. When that didn’t raise a response from the boy, Hana tried again.

 “Are you ready to meet your new Pokémon?” she asked. “He’s excited to meet you!”

 “I…” Shouto started, then stopped, his words getting caught in his throat. He didn’t want this, he didn’t want this, he didn’t want this!  

 He wanted to be able to choose his own Pokémon…to go out and catch it like all the other kids…

 Why did his father have to force him into everything?!  

 He took an unconscious step back, away from Hana, his hands curled into fists and clutched tightly at his chest.

 Enji sighed heavily from behind him and gave Shouto a rough shove. “Shouto...have you forgotten your manners?” he chided his child gruffly. “Kirishima-san asked you a question.”

 “Hey, now…” Hana started, her dark brows furrowed. “He doesn’t have to talk to me if he doesn’t want to, there’s no need to force him.”

 Crossing his arms, Enji just scoffed as if Shouto was causing him the biggest inconvenience of his life.

 Shouto looked at Hana, who was watching him with patient eyes and the tiniest smile that he could just barely see. He felt tears welling up, the tear duct of his injured eye already prematurely leaking salty fluid that burned the still healing skin. Shouto hiccuped, trying to keep the sobs from coming out.

 He needed to get away...needed to hide. He couldn’t show weakness.

 Shouto turned on his heel and ran, past the car that brought him here, past the fence that separated the breeding clinic from the outside forest.

not only was it difficult for me to write because, well, endeavor is a dick, but i also share a lot of similarities with shouto regarding childhood trauma and any time i have to write about it, it can be tough for me to get through. but with kat’s help, i got there in the end, and shouto got to meet his vulpix for the first time~

👉: a WIP i’d like to try and finish next year

i really want to work on/finish a 5+1 todokiri fic i started a couple months ago (gosh am i a sucker for rarepair todo ships...that boy deserves so much love from pretty much anyone honestly), it’s got a lot of comedy to it and it’s gonna be really fluffy, which is sort of outside my wheelhouse (i do a lot of angst...mostly unintentionally...whoops) but i can’t wait to actually get it finished!

#edwardslostalchemy #ally answers asks

[bts-reveries]

daddy diaries

“What if they don’t like me,” you ask Taehyung for the umpteenth time. He rolls his eyes, pressing the doorbell.

“If Yoongi hyung likes you, everyone else will too. Yoongi hyung is the hardest one to please,” Taehyung says, turning his head to give you a closed smile.

“And how do you know Yoongi likes me?” You asked, raising an eyebrow.

“His princess loves you, he has to like you,” he states as if it’s so obvious, and that’s when the door swings open.

“YOU’RE HERE,” a new face yelled. He was very… energetic. The man turns towards you, shoving his hands in his pocket, looking you up and down. You tilt your head to the side, giving him a questioning look. 

“Sooo.. you must be Yn,” he flashes you a smile. 

“You are so cringey,” Taehyung says, pushing past the man, who you have yet to know the name of, and pulling you in with him. 

“W-who, who was that?” you ask Taehyung.

“That’s Hoseok, or Hobi, kids call him Uncle Hobi. It’s only me and him in the whole group who’s still single, well, without a kid you know. So don’t expect that to happen with anyone else,” he laughs, “plus, you’re not my type.” You gasp, slapping his arm playfully, making him laugh more. 

“I’m Hoseok by the way!” Hoseok yells from across the room, he was by the kitchen, holding 2L bottles of soda in his hands now. You turn to his voice and gave him a smile and wave.

“Why are you so shy?” Taehyung says, elbowing your side.

“I’m nervous!” You whisper, turning to look around the place. For someone who lives alone, his house was hUGE. He seems well off, and everything looked expensive. Hmm.. I wonder what he does for a living. 

“Hey, hyung, are the others here?” Taehyung asks the older one, Hoseok’s head pops out of the kitchen, facing into the living room where the two of you were standing. 

“Only Namjoon, Moonji, Yoongi, Hana, Jungkook, Sian, and Rina,” he lists.

“Waah~~ That’s… a lot of people,” you gape. Taehyung scoffs out a laugh.

“And three of them are babies, you’ll be fine,” he says to you in reassurance. 

“Are they in the theater room hyung?” He yells towards the kitchen. Then Hoseok yells back a ‘yes’ in reply. T-there’s a theater in here?

“Come on,” Taehyung says, grabbing your arm and pulling you towards the room.

“There’s a theater in this house? How big is this thing,” you ask in curiosity and wonder. 

“Yes, it’s just a room with a few couches and a projector, nothing grand. He has a gaming room too and a dance room.” Your mouth forms an ‘o’ shape. He must be rich then. 

Taehyung opens the door and instantly a few screams were heard.

“Uncle Taetae you’re here!”

“Uncle Tae!!”

“YN UNNIE~!” You hear, and a small girl runs towards you.

“O! Hana, hello,” you greet the little one, picking her up and giving her a hug.

“I’m so happy you’re here,” she says, holding your face in her little hands.

“Hana,” Taehyung calls, holding a little girl in his arms while a small boy was clinging to his leg. “Can you introduce Yn to everyone?” Hana nods, pushing out of your hold to get to the ground. She first points to the small boy around Taehyung’s legs.

“This is Sian, he’s three like me, but I’m older so I’m his noona.” You laugh and extend your hand to the little one.

“Nice to meet you Sian, I’m Yn.” Sian shyly puts his hands in yours and just looks at you with big, round eyes. 

“His mommy and daddy are over there,” Hana points and you see a young couple smiling at you and waving. You smile and wave back.

“This is Moonji, she’s still a baby. She’s like two,” Hana explains. 

“Hello,” you say softly to the younger one. She just looks at you, resting her head on Taehyung’s shoulder.

“Unnie come here, let me introduce you to her dad.” Hana pulls you towards a tall man with dark brown hair. He had a cute dimple when he smiled and he extended a long arm to you.

“Hi, I’m Namjoon,” he greets. Why are all these dads so handsome. Is this what happens when you have kids. 

“H-hi, nice to meet you, I’m Yn,” you smile back, starting to feel flustered, “your daughter is very cute by the way.” You felt like you needed to mention it. Namjoon laughs, and started thanking you. The same adorable smile still plastered on his face.

“She gets it from her mom,” he says, which makes you wonder how pretty she must look. Before you can ask where her mom is, because you wanted to meet her as well, Hana pulls you to the next couple. The one she pointed to as Sian’s parents. 

“This is Sianie’s parents,” she reminds you. You nod and introduced yourself first this time.

“I’m glad you can make it, I’m Jungkook, and this is my girlfriend, the mother of my son, the love of my lif--”

“Shut up,” the woman says, pushing Jungkook slightly, before cracking a small smile.

“I’m Rina, I’m so happy to see another girl around here,” she laughs. “Sometimes being with seven idiots-- I mean, guys, seven guys, is like having seven extra kids and it drives us moms crazy.” You let out a laugh, starting to feel more at ease. 

“Well I’m not a mom, but I’ll help with all the kids, so don’t worry.”

“Oh, there’s actually only two moms here,” Jungkook clarifies.

“Just Rina and Mae, Jin hyung’s wife. The third one’s Jimin’s fiancee. The boys really out numbers the girls here, so when we told the girls that there’s a new addition to our group, they were extremely happy to find out it was you, Yn,” Jungkook smiles. Your eyebrows curve upwards as the words made your heart melt. New addition. Wow. 

“Unnie~~ let’s go play with daddy,” Hana says pulling you away from the couple and dragging you to her dad.

“Hey Yoongi,” you greet him with a smile and he scoots over on his place on the couch to give you room to sit.

“Unnie come sit with us!” Hana yells, bringing you down to sit with her.

“WE’RE HERE IS EVERYONE HERE!”

The loud voice made you jump and lean towards Hana, who’s in between you and Yoongi.

“Oh! Sorry sweetie,” you say quickly, caressing the back of her head. Your head whip to the origin of the sound. How did that loud voice, come out of such a small person??

“Aghh, Jiminssi, you scared everyone!” Jungkook yells.

“Uncle Jimin! Auntie Yuna!” Sian yells, running towards the two. You’re guessing those are the engaged couple. 

“Why are you making your entrance so loud Jiminie,” Taehyung asks in a much lower voice than Jimin’s, sitting down next to you on the couch.

Jimin is panting now. It seems like he just ran all the way here from when he got to the building.

“Are-- Are--  we the-- last ones?” He pants. 

“Ah the tweet,” Namjoon remembers, he shakes his head, “no, Jin hyung seems to be the last one here. Can’t blame the guy, he has three kids to take care of.” 

Jimin sighs in relief, dropping down to the floor and just laying there.

Yoongi clears his throat, attempting to get Jimin’s attention. “Ya~ shouldn’t you introduce yourself?” He asks, when the younger one lifts one eye open to look at his hyung. 

“Hm? To who?” His eyes pass Yoongi’s, then Hana’s, before passing yours and looking at Taehyung’s eyes, then suddenly switching back to yours.

“O!” He shoots up to his feet and he’s suddenly in front of you.

“Hi, I’m sorry about that, I’m Jimin.” You laugh, greeting and introducing yourself back to him.

“This is my ex-girlfriend, Yuna,” he says, pulling his fiancee to his side, who pinches his side. “Ah!”

“He keeps doing that, “ she laughs, “hello, it’s very nice to meet you Yn. I hope we all get along well, I’m excited to be friends with you!” 

“Thank you! I’m very thankful to have met this little girl and her dad that I get to meet all of you,” you smile, everyone else is oh so kind to you. 

“YAH!~” Once again, your eyes widen and your body shook at the loud voice, ruining the once soft scene that was just playing before you.

You look up to see a man with wide shoulders, a baby in his arms, and two little ones by his leg, followed by a woman behind him.

“Ya~ hyung, doesn’t your kids get deaf by hearing you talk so loudly all the time,” Taehyung complains, sticking a finger in his ear and moving it up and down.

“I would’ve gotten here earlier but the kids wouldn’t cooperate and we couldn’t get them in the car unless we gave them a treat. I’m really starting to think the world follows Jimin on twitter and does whatever he tweets about me,” he says really fast in one breath. Jimin smiles so wide that his eyes disappear and he topples over, falling once more to the ground.

Wow, it really is chaotic here. Your head turn to Yoongi, who’s calmly just watching everyone with a straight face. How can he be so calm and quiet with all his friends being this crazy.

“Yn, this is the oldest of the group,” Taehyung introduces. “Jin hyung and his wife, Mae, and their three kids, Minseok, Soojin, and little Haneul.” Taehyung points to each one as he says their names. You learned thirteen names in less than an hour. Wow. Good luck to you.

Now that everyone has came, the host, Hoseok, walks into the room, carrying bowls of popcorn, while a few of the guys helped with bringing in some snacks and drinks as well. And finally, when everything was settled, the kids had their snacks, and so did the babies, the room was finally at peace and quiet. Everyone paying attention as the film began to play. As you heard from Taehyung, this was just the start. After the movie ends and the kids are put to sleep is when the real party begins. 

❀ ❀ ❀

daddy diaries

❀part five: new addition❀

→singledad!yoongi x baker!reader

a/n: to be continued 😔✊🏼✊🏼

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#bts-reveries #bts #bts x reader #bts x you #bts au #bts dad #bts dad au #bts smau #bts social media au #bts fluff #bts drabble #bts oneshot #yoongi #yoongi x reader #yoongi x you #yoongi au #yoongi dad #yoongi dad au #yoongi smau #yoongi social media au #yoongi fluff #yoongi drabble #yoongi oneshot #taehyung x reader #taehyung fluff #taehyung smau #taehyung social media au #namjoon smau #jin smau #hoseok smau

[realmeisstuff]

NIGHT SHIFT

(Hoshi Fanfic)

Her lids were getting heavier, but her gaze was going back and forth to the patient that she was supposedly looking after. It's not that she didn't want to do this job, it's just that the silence bores her.

Since they have fewer clients, the hospital had to lay off some employees, and luckily (unluckily) she was chosen to stay. But the downside is that she had to be on her own during night shifts.

She was actually an introvert, but right now she craves for an interesting conversation. One she wouldn't get from a confused, aphasic patient. But she didn't want to complain, afterall, she was there to work.

But then she just had to finish everything by 2am unintentionally, which left her with 6 hours time to kill, since the patient was stable.

She searched for her friends who might be awake at this hour, but there was none (obviously). Feeling daring, she tried to search for an app where she could chat someone. She really just wanted to talk to anyone, even though she knew what mostly happens in random chats, but of course she wouldn't cross that line.

First, she had to pick the gender she's interested in, then she had to click her age. Certainly, this is some dating modus that she's not looking for, but then again, she was bored. She picked Watashi wa Hana as her nickname, just because.

Most private chats would start with the usual "Hi" and "Hello", then random people with weird nicknames, would ask what country she's from. She contemplated for a bit whether to be honest, but she realized that lying would kinda be stupid.

To filter the chatboxes that kept appearing, she started the conversation with, "I'm kinda curious, why did you join this app?" As predicted, most would be so straight forward and would ask if she could send pics or do some sexy stuffs. Those private chats would automatically be deleted, she's not here for this.

TigerEyes would like to chat with you. She read. Unlike the others, he didn't start with the usual intro.

TigerEyes: r u Japanese?

WatashiWaHana: No, just got it from the lyrics of my favorite song

TigerEyes: Which is?

She immediately got that spark igniting within her, the same she got whenever she speaks to someone about her favorite music or other interests. She felt the need to promote but realized that she needed to tone it down.

WatashiWaHana: Some Japanese song. I think the title is Fallin' Flower. Sounds so catchy.

TigerEyes: Maybe I'll check it out. I'm boooooooored

That caught her attention, maybe he's just like her.

WatashiwaHana: Me too. Why did you join this app? I'm curious

TigerEyes: Hmm to have fun ofc. (Another predictable answer, she thought) Why, do you have anything else in mind?

Why does that sound so. . .provocative. Or was it just her imaginations?

WatashiwaHana:I like conversations, I just wanted someone to talk to. I'm bored

TigerEyes: okaaay, let's start a conversation then. What are your interests?

Hmmm nice, at least someone with sense, she said to herself. Maybe he'd be worth talking to.

WatashiwaHana: I like travelling, dancing, music. How 'bout u?

TigerEyes: I like dancing too, I sometimes do choreographies 😉

WH: That's impressive, you must be so creative.

TigerEyes: Yes I am, I could be sooo creative, I could fulfill your fantasies.

That was disappointing. She huffed.

She tapped her phone, while deciding whether to reply or not. It was the longest convo she had here so far, it seems like a waste to delete this chatbox.

TigerEyes: What are your fantasies?

She decided to be playful.

WH: I have lots of fantasies. In what exactly?

TigerEyes: Hmmm..What do you expect from this conversation?

He seems like a much more deeper person than she expected, but she get it that he's trying to be like everyone else who uses this app.

WH: I really just wanted to converse with someone, but I get what most people wanted to gain from this.

Most people? That didn't sound right for him, he didn't like to be like everyone else. But he gets why she thinks that way. He wanted to blame it to this stupid app, while denying his true intentions from awhile ago.

WH: It's cliche, really

TigerEyes: Fun

WH: Am I boring you already? (She laughed nervously, it's just how introverts are, she expected this already) Anyways nice chatting with you

She almost turned off her phone, when

TigerEyes: Wait. Let's make this interesting then

WH: Depends on your idea of interesting

TigerEyes: Oh no, depends on yours. What do you want? You told me you want  conversations. So let's do that 😁

WH: Do you have any acquaintances here?

TE: I'm actually new here. Honestly I had a girlfriend but we broke up. I kinda miss her especially when I needed a company

WH: Oh that sucks. Do you want to tell me about it? They say that talking 'bout it helps you move on

TE:********

WH: You don't want to? That's okay.

She's starting to like this convo. Opening up is something that truly starts real conversations, and you rarely get that from strangers especially on online dating chat apps.

TE: How about you? Do you have some fantasies? How he should be? How he should treat you?

WH: I actually don't have anyone. Maybe that's why I donloaded this app 'coz I want someone to talk to. Maybe that's my fantasy. Chilling at the house with someone special, without fearing of not being able to go home.

TE: Don't regret. I still believe that best things are waiting for us. I'm willing to listen, just be yourself and tell me things. Like...umm ...what's your ideal date? If ever you meet that someone

WH: I want something cozy. Like lots of cuddles, coffee, movies and conversations, what's yours?

TE: I would like to take her to a romantic dinner date. Enjoy a sip of wine. Dance while holding her close and looking into her eyes.

WH: Sounds romantic. Kinda reminds me of romcom movies

TE: Thanks for the compliment.

WH: Have you done that with someone?

He didn't want to remember but it's too hard to forget.

TE: Yes. I did it with her before. I like taking her on surprised trips. She likes natural and serene places.

WH: Give me a recommendation where to go then

TE: Why? I thought you're single 😂

WH: Can't I go there alone? I told you I like travelling.

TE: Maybe you'd like to travel with me then. I could be your tour guide.

WH: Hmmmmm

TE: What? I don't bite! I have tiger eyes, but believe me I'm actually a hamster at heart

That made her chuckle. This guy seems so cute. It made her wonder why his ex- girlfriend broke up with him. He seems nice.

WH: I'd like that.

Now she didn't see that coming. Never had she ever thought that being bored during night shift would lead to meeting someone. Now she just have to wait 'til the pandemic is over to finally have that trip with her newfound friend.

#seventeenfic #hoshific #chat #kindatruestory

[bangtaninink]

Sanctuary by Joji + jungkook + fuckbuddy au (hi i love u ❤️)

Sanctuary

    here’s the song!

“So then she says to the guy, ‘listen you piece of sh–’” The ringing of your phone cuts you off mid-sentence. “Hold on.”

You reach into your bag, rummaging around to find your phone amongst all your belongings, rolling your eyes and grinning when you notice who the caller is, turning your phone around to show Hyemi before answering.

“911, what’s your emergency?” you answer, Hyemi snorting quietly.

“Hi, yeah, I’d like to report a murder,” Jeongguk says, smile clear in his voice.

“Ah. And who has been murdered?”

“Not who – what. My dick’s been murdered, ma’am. See, this chick’s been ignoring me for, like, three weeks or somethin’. Granted, I know she had her period somewhere in the middle of it, but a majority of the time, she kept sayin’, ‘Guk, I gotta work,’ or, ‘Jeongguk, I’m a little busy right now, but I’ll call you later’. Like, damn. I get it: she’s got a life. But like… ‘m horny. And I just got back from Busan, spent way too much time fishing with my uncle, I think I smell like fish–”

“You know, that doesn’t sound very appealing,” you interrupt.

“Okay, that’s fair. But, like… can you just… you… come over. Please.”

“Alright, alright.” You laugh quietly, following behind Hyemi as she walks over to the front counter to pay. “Calm down, desperado. Give me, like, half an hour to take this new dress home and shave, and I’ll be right over.”

“Ooh. New dress, huh?” Jeongguk says. “Wait. No. Off topic. Look. Just come over, okay? You don’t have to shave… you don’t have to change… just… I miss you. So come over already.”

“Aww,” you coo, laughing as you put the new dress down onto the counter, reaching into your bag for your wallet with your free hand. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you sound like you’re in love with me, Jeon Jeongguk.”

Hyemi pretends to gag as you hear Jeongguk snort in your ear.

“You know what I’m in love with? Your tits, your ass, but most importantly, your pu–”

“Will that be cash or card?”

                                                         〰️

The door opens before you’ve even managed to knock.

“Finally,” Jeongguk moans, pulling you into the apartment as you perch your sunglasses on top of your head, heels clicking against the hardwood floor.

“I’m good, Guk. Thanks for asking,” you say, laughing as you shake your head.

Yoongi steps out of another room, half asleep, hair disarrayed, stopping in his tracks when he notices you.

“Wh–? Oh. Long time, no see, princess,” he says, chuckling.

“Hey, Yoongs. How’ve you been? How’s work?”

“Eh. It’s happening. Made it to ten thousand streams on Soundcloud the other day.”

“On your Agust D mixtape? Hey, I listened to that! I really like it. It was really cool.”

“Ah. Thanks,” he replies, rubbing the back of his neck. “How’ve you been? Thriving, I bet, if the news is anythin’ to go by.”

“I’ve been alright. Busy, as usual. We’re slowly getting closer to Christmas, so we’ve been workin’ on making sure there aren’t any hiccups during produc–”

“Hey, hey, hey. Less talk, more fuck, please,” Jeongguk interrupts, tugging on your wrist.

You share a look with Yoongi, the both of you rolling your eyes.

“No Hoseok?” you ask, walking towards Jeongguk’s room.

“I think he’ll be home in an hour or somethin’,” Yoongi replies, giving you a tired wave as he disappears into the kitchen.

Jeongguk nudges the door of his bedroom shut with the heel of his foot once you’re inside. You put your purse and shopping bags down, taking your sunglasses off your head to put them down on his bedside table. You haven’t even gotten settled by the time Jeongguk has come up behind you, sweeping your hair off your shoulder and pressing his lips to your neck, reaching up to pull off your cardigan.

“You’re pretty impatient today, Jeon,” you chuckle, leaning back against Jeongguk’s chest.

“Like I said,” he mutters against your skin. “It’s been three weeks, _____. I saw you on Yonhap and jerked off to a five second clip of you just before the commercial break.”

“Jesus.”

He turns you around to face him, pulling you close before leaning in the kiss you, untucking your sweater shirt from your jeans.

“You sound like you haven’t fucked anyone since the last time I was here,” you say, smiling against his lips, amused. To your surprise, Jeongguk leans back, looking at you with furrowed eyebrows.

“I haven’t,” he replies, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“What? Why not?”

“Wh– why would I? Wait, have you? Is that why you haven’t been here in three w–”

“Jeongguk. We have a new release in, like, a month and a half. You think I have the time to find another dick?” you scoff.

“Aww. How cute.”

You roll your eyes and shake your head, shoving Jeongguk’s chest to push him down onto his bed.

                                                        〰️

Next to you, Jeongguk sits back against the headboard, joint held between his lips as he cups his hand around the flame from his lighter and ignites the end.

“I have a favour to ask of you,” he says, exhaling a cloud of smoke, the smell of weed tickling your nose.

“Yeah, Guk. I’ll put my finger in your ass again, just not tonight,” you say, not looking away from your phone.

“No, not that. Well… maybe later.” You snort. “No, uh… I was wondering if you could help me with something. Taehyung’s sister’s friend or his lab partner or… whatever the fuck she is. I’m not really sure who she is at this point. She can’t take a hint, and we’re all going out to dinner tonight, and Tae said that she’s gonna be there or some shit, so…”

“You want me to come, pretend I’m heart eyes for the Jeon! and get her to hop off your dick for all eternity,” you finish.

Jeongguk grins, offering the joint to you.

                                                        〰️

Jeongguk plays with the fork resting on the napkin in front of him while the rest of the group talk amongst themselves, careful to avoid meeting Hana’s eye across the table. After today’s little afternoon delight, you’d stayed for a chat with Yoongi and Hoseok, but ultimately announced you’d have to go home before you could join them at dinner. You assured Jeongguk you’d be going – repeated yourself multiple times before you’d even made it out the door – but warned them that you might be a little late.

“And then, this guy,” Jimin says, laughing as he motions towards Jeongguk. “He says, “yeah, but why can’t I have both?”

“That’s fucked up,” Namjoon laughs, taking a sip of his beer.

“I think it’s cute,” Hana says, nodding her head frantically, turning in Jeongguk’s direction, hoping he’ll turn her way.

“You… think it’s cute that Jeongguk saw some twins and immediately entertained the idea of fucking them at the same time with a cigarette in each hand?” Hoseok asks, eyebrows furrowed.

“Y-yeah. Of course. Jeongguk oppa’s cute whatever he says or does.”

“Yikes,” Yoongi mutters, eyes wide as he turns away.

From behind him, Jeongguk suddenly hears a rise in conversation and hushed words erupting in the rest of the restaurant, and he straightens up in his seat, realising it’s because…

“Hey, guys. Sorry I’m late.”

Now Jeongguk takes a look at Hana, revels in the way her eyes widen with surprise, watching you walk up to the table, unbothered by the sea of phones pointed her way. Jeongguk meets Hoseok’s gaze, who barely manages to conceal his amused grin behind his own glass of beer.

“I hope you guys haven’t been waiting for too long,” you say, slipping off your coat and draping it over the back of your chair. You smile at everyone around the table, before leaning over Jeongguk’s shoulder, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Hey, babe.”

“Hey. How was work?” Jeongguk asks, pulling your chair out for you.

“Mmm, hectic – as usual. Dad’s been driving me crazy trying to get everything sorted in time for the launch. Ugh, I am ready for a good, long holiday after this. Or a massage.”

“You’re… y-you’re…” You turn to look at the new face at the table, head tilted slightly with curiosity. “You’re _____.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” you say, reaching for Jeongguk’s beer. “And, you are?”

“I, um… I’m Hana,” she says. “Wow, you’re… you own Samsung.”

“Well, my family does. How do you know the guys?”

“Oh, I’m… I-I’m Taehyung’s co-worker. Yeah. Yeah, we work together.”

“Oh, that’s cool! Lucky you. I love cats, but… I’m allergic.”

“Dogs are just as cute, don’t worry,” Taehyung laughs. “Alrighty, guys. Are we ready to order because I am starving.”

                                                        〰️

“_____! _____! Can we get a photo?”

“Sorry, guys. I really have to go,” you say, shooting the crowd an apologetic smile as you step out of the restaurant, Jeongguk’s hand on your lower back.

“Must be nice,” he says, chuckling.

“Could say the same to you,” you reply, grinning. “You have the youngest daughter of the family that owns Samsung as your own personal fuckbuddy, and now, the entire country’s gonna know it. On top of that, you’ve successfully managed to get Hana to hop off your dick for all eternity. Thoughts?”

“Hmm.” Jeongguk juts out his chin, eyes narrowed. “You wanna promo my Soundcloud on your Insta?”

#jeon jeongguk #jungkook #bts #bangtan #fwb!au #r #anon #IM HEART EYES FOR JOJI #you guys have the best taste in music i swear!!! #(also: i love u too)

[youngieun]

i do // lee jihoon

lee jihoon x female reader

word count: 1,517

warnings: mention guns?

genres: fluff, angst, but mostly fluff(?)

ゞ synopsis: when you had jihoon as your partner and he’s annoying but at same time he makes your heart fluttering.

ゞ a/n: hello, everyone! seems like this was my first time wrote some scenarios in English. you might find grammar errors or something else, cause yes English isn’t my first language. but i hope i could share what i’ve wrote to you all and i hope you enjoyed it! thank u, nice to meet u!

here you go again, sitting in front of jihoon who have been staring at you for ten minutes straight. you exactly don’t know what’s on his mind right now, but he’s looking at you with his smirk. only one thing that you know about his smirk, there’ll be something bad happen to both of you.

“kiss me.”

your eyes widened. “what—wait no! we’re in public, jihoon!” You’re looking at the whole café to check the situation and return to face jihoon whose already leaned on the table with one of his hands in his chin and looking at you with wide smile on his face.

“why are you so surprised? It’s not like our first time kissing in public, though. we even kissed in subway two days ago.”  jihoon says as he reached for your hands and pulled you closer to him.

jihoon giggled and tuck the strand of your hair behind your ears, “those guys are looking at us right now, if you don’t want us to be caught, then do what i said.” he whispered in front of your face while his fingers running through your cheeks softly.

“you kissed me last night, didn’t you?”

“oh? i thought you were drunk enough.”

“try something new, jihoon. i’m sick of your lips.”

“then, how about more than a kiss?”

“get out of here, jihoon. i’ll do this mission alone,” you said as you saw two man with black glasses behind jihoon walking towards you and him.

“fuck it.” you hissed then reached jihoon’s neck to pulled his face closer to yours and bring his lips onto yours. you can feel jihoon smiles while responding to what you did.

after thirty seconds, you pushing him away and suddenly you felt so hot. being partners with jihoon for almost one year was never easy for you, he’s the only one whose never awkward for doing such of this things meanwhile you felt like there’s something in your stomach and your heart feels about to brusted.

It’s right, whenever you had jihoon as your partner, the mission went very smoothly. that’s why your boss always stick both of you together. and the point is you got your promotion in the office right after you got jihoon as your partner. work under one of secret institutions in your country was a worst decision you’ve ever made. cause you have to be a girl behind the gun and a girl whose ready to die if the missions were failed. and your rivals is no joke, they’re criminals in luxury suit and wear one billion dollars on their wrist. yes, they’re one of them who you can called mafia.

“i promise, if we cleared this mission, i’ll take you to wherever you want. but, you have to promise me one thing.” said jihoon before he get up from his chair and put his hat on.

“promise you what?”

“stay alive.”

when you met jihoon for the first time, he was a quite and careless person and don’t forget he’s also a shy person. and when you had your first mission with him, he’s a good fighter. you always had wounds here and there but not with him. the way he leads you is something the most you adored from him until now. and also, the way he always promise to buy you anything or bring you to everywhere you want after both of you cleared the missions is the reason why you always keep yourself to stay alive, cause he’s never broke his promises.

he’s always gonna be your first. your first male partner, your first male housemate and also your first kiss. and don’t forget about his being a good teaser, he always teases you whenever he wants, or maybe give you a bunch of kisses on your face everyday without being awkward.

you ever asked him if he’s like you or something and he only laughed as answer to your question and give you another question like—perhaps, do you need another kiss? and also the way he always says that your lips were so sweet after he kissed you was something that could make your heart fluterring more than anything.

jihoon could be a different person while he’s on missions. like now, he’s staring at you while his hands are busy preparing his guns and put it behind his jacket. you don’t know how dangerous the mission is right now, but his eyes told you that you should be careful.

“jihoon… are you scared?”

“from what? this mission or losing you?”

you look at his eyes when he said that. “why are so sure you might losing me tonight?”

“cause all they want is you. look, listen to me, i don’t know how the fuck our boss using you as a thing to make those bastards come to us, but i’ll protect you as much i can and you should do it too for yourself.” his hands still busy with those guns.

“what about you? are you sure you can protect yourself?” you asked him.

his eyes back at you, “what makes you think that way?”

“cause i’m scared i might losing you too tonight.”

his hands reached your shoulders right now, he brings his face closer to yours and stare at your eyes deeper and deeper.

“none of us will losing each other tonight. you got it?”

you nodded and give him one more question which is makes him being a stone for one minutes. “do you love me?”

his eyes still on you, you don’t know what it means but a second later he leaned and crashed his lips on yours and you put your hands on his neck and hug him tightly to make the kisses more deeper cause it feels like this is the last time you could kissed him.

you felt so dizzy right now, also your hands got a shot and it really hurts. you get up with all the strength that you had and looking around you, you gulped cause it’s so dark and you can saw people that you have been fought with before were already dead in the ground, it’s such an honor for you that you weren’t one of them. you take a walk to get out of this place and looking for jihoon.

after called his name for a million times, you realized that he’s not here anymore. you’re getting scared and start to run with your weak legs. tears were falling down on your face, you don’t have an idea where are you right now.

you bring yourself until you finally reached the city, you stopped a taxi and told the driver your office’s address. you think that jihoon might be right there. your tears keep falling down and made the driver worried. he even asked you if you need to go to hospital or not but you shake your head instead.

when you finally arrived at your office you gave the driver money that you always keep on your jacket’s pocket, cause you know this kind of situation might be happen and it happened. you saw your co-workers start to run to you as your body getting weaker, before you passed out someone has already catch you.

you open your eyes slowly and found your friends waiting for you. “jihoon,” you take a breath, “where’s jihoon?”

none of them answer your question and you start to crying again, “jihoon is not here.” you whispered to yourself.

you decided to go home with one of your friends, she keeps telling you that you’ve worked hard and save one of the most important institution in this country. you didn’t remember anything except that you shoot a guy right in his head. you didn’t have an idea where jihoon is as you could remember was his last shout for you if there’s someone behind you.

“take a rest, the company said that you got your full vacation this year and you can back whenever you ready.” hana said to you and you nodded then get out of the car.

you walk in to your apartments building and take the elevator to reach the floor where your and jihoon’s room is. oh yes, jihoon. what if he died?

you wiped away your tears and press the code. it was so dark inside, so you turn on the lights and then close your mouth when you finally saw someone who you thought he was already died.

he’s there. jihoon’s there. still with his jacket and his cap, you walk towards him as you could hear he says something like, “we’re home.”

you take off his cap and tears falling down again as you see his eyes were so red and his lips bleeding. for the first time of your life you finally saw him bleeding.

“what have they done to you?” you asked him.

he cupped your cheeks with his trembling hands. “i do."

you stared at him with confused looks. with his deep voice he says something you thought he would never say it to you. “i love you.”

ゞ another note: kjasjaksjak i’m sorry if there’s something you couldn’t understand or maybe you found it weird cause my grammar errrr so freakin error. i never thought i finally wrote this haha. please, kindly correct me in many aspects esp my grammar and words. i’d love to if you wanna talk to me and let’s be friends! 

#SEVENTEEN #Jihoon scenarios #Woozi scenarios #Woozi fluff #Jihoon angst #Woozi angst #Jihoon fluff #seventeen scenarios #seventeen angst #seventeen imagines #jihoon imagines #woozi au #seventeen fluff #seventeen au

[inkth]

cream of the crop pt. 1

pairing → mygxreader

genre → angst (in future parts), fluff

warnings → for this part, there are no warnings

word count → 6.6k

okAY so fyi this is unedited for now and i might come back to switch certain things up but oh my god in bon voyage there was a part where yoongi got a strawberry milkshake and i stg this was in my wip waaaay before that so when i saw the gif i think i wailed a bit bc he made it literally canon my friends!!!! hope u enjoy this guys im chwishfsdkfhl

Yoongi just wanted a god damn strawberry milkshake to release work stress. not to be grabbed by the arm by a stranger begging him to role play as some perfect boyfriend or another.

There are a variety of absurd experiences Min Yoongi has been unfortunate enough to cross within his current lifetime.

Thinking back, there was that time Yoongi picked up the phone to his childhood best friend Kim Namjoon, who thought he was being robbed by foreigners on the side of the street at one in the afternoon, and frantically asked Yoongi to please come save him by the way its the sidewalk on 44th street bring a gun!

“What kind of fucking robbers let you make a phone call, dumbass?” Yoongi barked into the phone, pretty upset that his afternoon nap was interrupted by some nonsensical disturbance.

“Oh shit Yoongi, you’re probably right,” Namjoon exhales and stays on the phone with him though, as he tries to solve the mystery of the tourists who just wanted to let Namjoon know that he had dropped a couple bills. They were discreetly carrying knives because they were opening a wood carving stand a block over, Namjoon explained later. Yoongi was quite the unamused listener.

There was another time in his already awfully long life when Yoongi himself was found caught in the middle of a fight between a Minecraft gamer and a ballerina carrying a flower vase, but that was a long story where it finally ended with him being released from custody as soon as the police had determined his innocence.

Or that other glitch in his simulation of a life when he had to bring nine cats home with him after work. Yoongi never knew he had a cat allergy, but he learned it the hard way that night as he sneezed so hard for so long till he couldn’t hear anything out of his ears.

So when Yoongi is feeling something in the air tickle his nugget of a brain that he should skip his ritual milkshake tonight and head on home right away to avoid whatever this coming disturbance is, Yoongi does what Yoongi does best, and he ignores his intuition because who cares, what Yoongi wants is his McFreaking milkshake.

Everything goes smoothly. Yoongi successfully orders a milkshake at the bar. He successfully receives the right order. He successfully starts to drink the milkshake in the quiet serenity of two am on a Monday. 

But then he fails to leave as soon as she comes in the door, the same girl who legitimately flings the entrance open like some wild animal and he is so horrified he can’t look away from this scene and makes the mistake of meeting your gaze.

The damage is done, however. He knows you’ve selected him as your prey among the barren tables save for one lady picking up fries togo and the waitress staring at you in fear.

“Lady, please get off me,” he groans, pulling your fingers off his biceps as if they’re blood hungry leeches. His arm is free for maybe a second before your fingers fly back, grip stronger than before and this time Yoongi really can’t do much with just the one tired, exhausted hand; the one that isn’t holding the milkshake glass. 

He’s whispering a string of curses and damnations at One Week Ago Yoongi for slacking with working out. Or any of his past Yoongis, really. He rests his head on the tips of his fingers, weighing down on his elbow angled onto the table.

“You don’t understand,” you wheeze dramatically, eyes round with terror. Uh, hello? I don’t care enough to understand, Yoongi mentally comments. “My parents, they-“

Sure, you might’ve been exaggerating everything a little, but what’s a little show and extravagance when your damn life is on the line? A matter of life and death knows no tranquility.

He looks at you half lidded; boredom and ‘are you really still talking to me Ican’tbelievetheaudacity’ washing over his face doing a whole awful lot to create a grave aura around him. You can physically see the deathly ash gray energy come off him in waves like something from an anime.

At this point, Yoongi’s thinking he might just ditch you, make a run for it to never see your crazy ass again and the idea is so tempting but instead, he responds. He’s not too sure why, although it’s probably ‘cause he’s paid an awful lot for this deliciously overpriced milkshake that has yet to be completely consumed. But the fact of the matter is he does respond, even thought you’re clearly not in the right state of mind and he really should be telling you to go home.

“Listen, they’re not gunna care if your boyfriend’s a bum. It’s your life anyways, why would they care?” Yoongi notices he’s got about another sip or two of his milkshake and then he can hightail it outta this joint and a certain spazz grabbing onto him.

You let go of his arm, thinking maybe you came off a little too strong and run your hands over your hair to pat down the flyaways contributing to the messy, crazed look.

“Now, I really absolutely must get going… miss,” Yoongi has finished his drink with a content sigh, a little disappointed that the experience was partially ruined with your improv tug of war, but content nonetheless. “Don’t worry, I’ll go ahead and take care of your water,” he reassures you dryly and stands up from the bar’s long legged chair, grabbing his expensive leather jacket. The best purchase he’s ever made in his life, he tends to overshare this fact to anything or anyone with two ears and legs, seeing as how he wears it everyday through wind, rain and the scorching heat.

Your eyes flash in one last lunge of desperation and your integrity flies out the window and disappears into the sky like a balloon. Floating away… peacefully, gone forever till all that’s left is your soulless body embarrassing yourself like this on a Monday at two am.

“Please,” you choke out one last time and sincerity taints your voice, everything you’ve depended on relying on this thin line of his consent. 

There’s something about it that Yoongi finds himself hesitating for as his mind reels from the way your fingers grip the end of his jacket sleeve. 

“I really, truly only need your help for a couple days. I-I’ll even pay you.”

Your eyes dart to the floor from his face with your final push, unable to face rejection one last time from help you so ridiculously need. His body halts, and with this, you take it as a sign for your fingers to relax and stop holding his like some child refusing to let go of their lollipop. 

There’s one thing the weary should know, and it’s that one specific thing hits a chord with Min Yoongi that makes him who he is.

“Shit.”

Hana looks up at you in what seemed like concern and a bit of ‘damn, you live like this?’ tainting her face. You keep going back and forth between looking down at your most recent message on your phone and up to her face, still contorted in confusion unable to face the reality that is your life right now.

You’re not okay, this can’t be happening — everything you had worked up for up until this point, only to be destroyed by your parents’ wrath would be the endgame for your life. You need to lie down and forget this day even happened.

“Are you, okay?” She can’t help but emphasize the ‘okay’ with leaning her head in a tilt.

“Hana,” you squeak out, hands pressed against your eyes till you see stars. It’s late, you’re braincell-less from such last minute studying and you’re absolutely, completely fucked. And not in the nice way you normally would want to be.

“My parents are coming over and want to meet Jungkook.”

Hana lets out a strangled gurgle of terror from the back of her throat as she runs her hands through her dark hair and crawls over to you to peer at your phone screen. Now that she knows you’re fucked, you want to throw your phone out the window and run away. Or just throw yourself out the window. You stand up from your sitting position on the floor and take deep breaths counting to ten and back again.

“Oh my god,” she whispers. “You’re screwed.”

You twist your face and tell her, “Thank you so very much for the vote of confidence! I’ll just have to remember that while trying to explain everything to my parents.”

Hana’s pained smile emits an apologetic vibe as she continues to voice her thoughts. “Damn. Seriously though… what’re you gonna do, I mean. You still have… two days?”

“I don’t even know anymore,” you wail, falling back to the floor and hoping it’ll somehow open up, and take your body into the recesses of the earthy ground. “Is a day or two even enough time for him to come back from that trip?”

“Wait, you mean you would have your parents actually meet him?” Hana looks over at you incredulously. “Like, we’re talking about your boyfriend Jeon Jungkook, right?”

Backtrack – So, okay, yes maybe you had a few flaws. One of them was the fact that you were maybe a little too prideful. As in it’d physically pain you for your parents to know that your boyfriend was a bum who did absolutely nothing.

You had lied to your parents from the very beginning, pulling off the scam with a few explanations here and there saying, “Oh, no he’s too shy. He won’t take pictures!” when your parents wanted to see who this guy was. The occasional “He can’t meet up with us because he’s studying for his very big exam haha you know how these studious nerds are sorry!”

You wince from her tone, speaking as if he’s a demon sent from hell, and start collecting strands of your hair to comb through with worry.

“I mean, if he were here I could play him up as the guy I made him out to be,” you mused. “They don’t even know what he looks like. Probably think he’s afraid of cameras, poor baby.”

Hana looks slightly revolted from your gently verbalized “uwu” and snaps her fingers to garner your attention back onto the matter at hand.

“Wait- I,” you sat back up, all the blood rushing this way and that causing a weird feeling to consume you and you see black for a good three seconds before it dissipates. “Don’t judge me for what I’m about to say.”

“Done,” Hana nods. “I live with you and judge you enough already.”

You look at her unimpressed, lips curled into an unamused smile.

“How about I get a fake boyfriend? Like, right now?”

Hana doesn’t even know where to begin she laughs because she thinks you’re literally joking but then stops when she knows you’re not. “Uh, you do realize it is two am, Y/N. Where are you planning on going to look for an accomplice to role play your perfect boyfriend?”

“Honestly speaking, I’ll probably have to go to a bar or something.” Just saying this out loud was enough to acknowledge that you yourself were not thinking straight.

“You’re just going to walk into a bar and pick up the first dude you lay eyes on is what you’re implying…” Hana trails off, as she begins to re-evaluate the situation. “Are you okay?”

“No,” you sigh, brushing off your jeans as you stand up. “But this is my only option.”

“Well, you could always tell the truth to your mom and dad. You don’t have to be so full of it, Y/N. And listen, you’re 20 going on 21… how much longer are you going to hide this from your parents? You’re literally an adult.”

You frown and start walking out of the room, grabbing a jacket before you head outside and to the car. “I’m not full of it,” you defend your poor self. “I just need my parents to think I’m living my best life with the best boyfriend so they don’t rub in how they were right all this time or whatever overprotective shit they wanna pull on me.”

Hana holds up her hands as an act of surrendering and picks up your phone from the floor to hand it to you. Before it’s passed off however, a pinging sounds and she calls out the notification.

“Your mom texted you to say–“ Hana squints from how dark your phone’s lighting is. “They’re actually planning on starting to drive over tonight and should make it here by tomorrow evening?”

You start to panic, countless thoughts crashing the calm of your mind like stormy waves as you start to assess your problem at hand. You need to find a fake boyfriend, said fake boyfriend must learn what must be learned about you and said fake boyfriend will need to do a good enough job to keep your parents away forever and hopefully this will work because you don’t know what you’ll do the next time your parents come to “check up” on you because they think something’s fishy with this hypothetical fake boyfriend.

You let out what sounds like something between a sob and a groan as you snatch the phone from Hana’s hands and run out of the house, debating between driving to the nearest diner or running away from home.

See, the problem with your parents were that they were overbearing to the point that they even hated the fact you decided to attend college out of state. Mind them, it was only one state away, but it did absolutely nothing to soothe their constant fretting over your wellbeing and life. You were fed up with the relentlessly strict parental control and went crazy in college – finally dating, drinking and partying – although it was still at a good minimum.

To expose to your parents that you were dating an undecided major who spent the money he could scrounge around for on video games was a one-way ticket to hell so in order to save face and keep up the façade that you in fact were living your best life possible, you dreamt up of the littlest, white lie.

Your boyfriend was a perfect boy. One grade above you, one his way to graduating as a summa cum laude. He had an internship and was already guaranteed a job after college as a biomedical engineering major. You painted the perfect picture so you could present yourself in the best way possible to your parents.

The way your hard work was about to be shattered by the way so many coincidences piled on top of each other was a bit frustrating to say the least. You weren’t sure how you kept this a secret for so long and frankly, how your parents didn’t doubt you from the start but now they believed him to be a camera shy, facetime shy boy that only spent his time studying.

You didn’t even want to start on the numerous occasions you and Jungkook had ended a night fighting because of this ridiculous situation, that sure, you put yourselves in. You weren’t sure why you did this, but of course it wasn’t because you were too prideful.

Yoongi never lets money slip out of his hands. Call him frugal, call him thrifty, he doesn’t care. He just knows that if it’s worth the price, he’ll do it.

“Fine. I’ll do this. But I want cash and I want half of the end amount right now,” he knows he’s being demanding and it does look like you reek of eau de poor college student but with the request you’re making, he thinks it’s only fair.

You look teeny tiny and exhausted from the way you crumple your body on the seat next to him and it’s annoying how much work you’re going through because of a simple lie, but you can’t back out now. The way you’ve been explaining the situation to him is really making you sound a little crazy but hey, you’re only human and this isn’t the weirdest situation Yoongi has ever been in.

“How is this even going to work?” Yoongi looks at you as if you haven’t thought this far ahead. “Haven’t they seen his face? Is he even okay with this? Are you running a scam show? If this turns out to be a mess, I want no part of the repercussions.” He squints at you and crosses his arms, eyeing you suspiciously.

“I’m not stupid,” you roll your eyes and scrunch your face from irritation. “They’ve never seen pictures or anything of his face. I’m thankful my boyfriend doesn’t have social media, but I mean, even if he did my parents are technologically inept, anyways.”

“This is so extra, this is like, almost kind of idiotically stupid,” with a snort, Yoongi continues to doubt you. “I can’t believe I agreed to this. You better pay me the remaining amount as soon as this shit’s done. I’ve got things to do.”

“I’m sure you have so much stuff to do concerning your things,” you bite back and have to hold steady the urge to punch his weak looking noodle arm. Just keep thinking about how grateful you are that this sort of handsome spawn of the devil is agreeing to save your ass and livelihood.

He huffs and has the audacity to look offended, loosely crossing his arms across his chest. “Whatever, run this by me again.”

“Okay,” you sigh. You nearly teeter off the edge of the stool from sleepiness, an untouched glass of water in front of you and you watch the droplets trickle down the sides of the condensating cup. “My name is Y/N and yours is Jeon Jungkook. I’m 20 and you’re 21…”

You start to list off factual information and the details get a little blurry as they re-enter his mind because now it’s almost 3:20 in the morning and Yoongi just wanted a fucking milkshake but now it’s like he’s in college all over again, cramming all the notes and tidbits of information he can into his mind to purge it in five hours on the dreadful test. Even though Yoongi’s suffering, he starts noticing these things about you that’s definitely a little confusing to him and gets him a little worked up but in all the right ways.

He pays attention to the way when you laugh you move to cover your mouth with your hand, it’s kind of endearing. Sure, he’ll admit he thought you were pretty behind the air of desperation and super strange vibes you let out when you first marched into the door. Like, perhaps very pretty. He’s not sure but it might be something to do with the shape of your eyes and the pink of your lips. But the tendency you have to tilt your head when you smile is something that Yoongi starts noticing too and–

Yoongi catches himself thinking these thoughts that are so out of bounds and unnecessarily loud. It’s okay, he mentally argues. These are fake boyfriend feelings and it is late. I am exhausted, I don’t know what I am talking about.

And there you have it folks. Yoongi solves this problem of the Case of Weird Emotions with a simple answer. He’s just a really good fucking actor and can get into character so well that he starts thinking the way his character would. That’s all. And now Yoongi is mentally punching himself because he sounds really fucking weird. And fuck, he needs to stop cursing because he needs to be a well polished, dapper, perfect boyfriend.

He shudders and you see it, not because you’ve been looking at him but because he does it in a really obvious way that calls for attention in your peripheral vision.

“Are you alright?” You ask warily, eyeing him because what if he’s having a spasm attack holy shit?

Yoongi grunts with his absurdly deep voice and says, “Yeah, go on.”

“I wish we had more time,” you whine, rubbing your probably bloated face with sweater paws and something tickles Yoongi’s heart from the way you look and speak although he does his best to ignore it.

“It’s okay, I’ll remember this, I’m pretty sure… let’s just try and come up with a code word or something for me. Like, if I don’t know something I’ll say or do something and you’ll cover for me.”

You nod your head and for the first time that night it seems like you really smile and it’s cute, but not cute enough to swindle Min Yoongi’s heart. Of course not.

“Do you know how to crack your fingers?” You ask after a few moments of deep contemplation.

Yoongi suddenly looks small because he’s shoving his hands in between his thighs to cover them from the cold and you almost coo as he nods his head yes.

“Great,” you look away from his figure to calm yourself. “Just do that and then I’ll fill in. That’s the signal.”

“Does this mean we’re done now?” Yoongi’s voice has gotten raspy over the span of time you’ve spent with him because of how he spent most of it just listening to you and barely opened his mouth.

“I dunno,” you nervously gnaw on your lower lip, another habit Yoongi has picked up on fondly. Or not fondly, not at all… at least only fondly with fake boyfriend feelings. “I’m really not sure how this is going to turn out. Thankfully my friend is going to stay at a friend’s house to avoid more possible complications.”

“Alright then, give me a call tomorrow morning and I’ll get over to your place by two in the afternoon.”

You shake your head, “No, come earlier. We need as much time as possible to go over this. Remember? They’re arriving sometime that night.”

Yoongi groans from the revolting sentence he has just been forced to hear and he cries, “But I can’t! You’ve kept me up for this long evil lady, I should’ve been in bed falling asleep hours ago!”

“I’m sorry,” you feebly offer. “But I really need to nail in a lot more with you.”

Yoongi grumbles a wide variety of things under his breath comprised of but not limited to, “You’re lucky you’re cute”, “Fuck, I need a good ten hours of sleep to retain all this information, though” and “Damn it, I want my money”.

“Fine– 11 is the earliest I’ll be there. And are you sure you’re okay with giving me your freaking address? You’re going to let a stranger know where you live and you’re fine with it,” Yoongi lowers his tone towards the last bit in uncertainty.

“I’ll be fine because my roommate is a police force trainee who has armed me with a panic button along with pepper spray. You’ve been warned,” you wiggle your brows. “Plus you’re my fake boyfriend and you want the money. I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven.”

You both get up from your chairs, leaving cash tips and Yoongi’s expression changes into one of respect and newfound admiration.

“Duly noted,” he chuckles as he holds the door open for you to walk through, the brisk, autumnal air enveloping you.

Outside in the parking lot you head towards your car and see only a couple other vehicles, one of them being a motorcycle and you don’t think twice about it till Yoongi is waving goodbye to you as he walks in the direction of it.

“Wait,” you call out and Yoongi immediately halts, turning to face you with an expectant raise of his brow. “That’s your ride?” You point at the motorcycle.

He smirks and shoves his hands into his leather jacket as deep black as the galaxy and his hair swirls around from the wind above his twinkling eyes.

“Isn’t she beautiful?”

You groan, wondering if you have enough money to fork up however much it would cost to rent a car. You’re pretty sure you don’t, but if it’s for this boy, the best you could pick out on a quiet Monday morning at two, the cream of the crop, you’ve really got no other choice.

You just hope this cream of the crop has a license to drive a car.

The next morning you wake up at eight, sitting up in your plush bed as memories of last night flood your mind in horror. Restless sleep tightened your neck through the night, stress eating away at you and your ability to sleep peacefully.

You groan, peeking at your alarm clock and take a deep breath before you whip your hair out of your face and harden your resolve by sheer will. You pull of the covers and step out of your room, trailing for the kitchen in order to brew yourself some deeply needed coffee.

“Coffee first,” you mumble. Priorities.

Hana is sitting in the living room, a mug on the coffee table in front of her. She looks up as soon as she sees you enter from the short hallway.

“Mornin’ sunshine, there’s some coffee left for you,” she chippers cheerfully. “You got up pretty early. You’re meeting the man of the hour soon, right?”

“Meh, don’t remind me,” you grumble, shuffling into the kitchen and from the coffee machine, you see her kick her slippers off and finish the last of her homework. You pour the still hot liquid holy grail into your Totoro mug and start to mix in cream and sugar seeing as how you’re not as abhorrent as Hana with her love of black coffee.

“But damn, you were just a wreck last night,” Hana teases. “I can’t believe you really got someone to do something this crazy for a girl they just met.”

“It was the money,” you point out, sipping the first few tastes of coffee. It needs a bit more sugar. “I’m so fucken exhausted! Listen, I don’t even have that kind of money to pay him.” You can hear your stash of hidden cash for emergencies underneath your drawer already crying for help. This could qualify as an emergency, you doubtfully suppose.

Hana is still recovering from the surprise of hearing your insane plan worked, even if she found out last night. You remember how you entered the house, satisfied with how quote on quote smoothly the ordeal went even if you were about to be $600 short on money and stressfully sleep deprived the next morning. Hana walked out of her room with sleepy eyes and a bit of bedhead to you getting ready for bed so early in the morning, although she gained a bit of consciousness after hearing how your plan had indeed, succeeded.

Now that it’s the morning and your adrenaline rush had bled away and you’re in a clearer state of mind, doubt starts to trickle in and you are wondering what in hell you were thinking in the first place. You shake the thoughts away and focus on the task at hand.

“I’ll be getting out of the house soon,” Hana comments, starting to pack up whatever textbooks and notes she’ll need for the next day or two.

“You’re the amazingest,” you gratefully smile at her and try to convey your upmost sincerity. As best you could, at least.

“Yes,” she agrees mindlessly. “I am, aren’t I? I am so amazing—so amazing that I am literally leaving the apartment that I share with you for you and the stranger to bond and learn how to role play as lovers. It sounds crazy, I know, but here we are.”

Your smile fades away as you look at her in playful disbelief. “Go to your room, pack your granny underwear and your granny clothes, and leave this household!”

Hana scrunches her nose in distaste, “They’re not granny clothes! They’re retro! And thongs or whatever strip of fabric you claim are underwear are so uncomfortable, literally leavemealonegoodnightDevil!”

You laugh as she prances to her room to stuff her duffle bag full of clothes she’ll need in order to survive for the time she’s gone and you glance at the clock to see it read 8:30, and you go off to your room to get ready for the very. Incredibly. Extremely, long day ahead.

It is at ten that you have finished cleaning up your room, taken a quick shower and waved off Hana out of the home you two share. You walk back inside after seeing her depart safely promising to text you when she arrives, even though it’s the daytime and she’s just a good ten feet away, you never know what could happen. Even if she’s almost a police officer. 

Which, speaking of, she has reminded you countlessly about, telling you to pass on the message that she will personally come to fuck him up if anything happens to you. You appease her with saying you will, but you sure as hell don’t plan on doing so. 

Closing the door, you sigh deeply and it leaves you a little lightheaded as you lean your back against the door.

“Oh, shit.”

It hits you then that this is really happening. Like, your idiotic plan your brain thought up of that you thought was foolproof was really happening. There were so many holes that could expose you in a second and the thought of you being ousted in front of your parents tugged at your pride riddled mind.

The anxiety twitches your fingers as you pull up your phone and it leaves you staring at his message from last night.

yoongi: see u at 10:30

You forget he suddenly promised an earlier time at the last minute and you reckon you’ve got yourself about twenty or so minutes for him to show up at your door. It’s enough time for you to beat your face with makeup and put on some presentable clothes.

At 10:30 sharp he arrives at the door and it catches you by surprise because he doesn’t seem to be an advocate for timeliness. You tug down at your cropped sweater one last time before you open the door to see Yoongi in all his slightly bloated, freshly showered glory.

He looks a bit nervous, seeing as how he kept worrying over this very situation he should never have gotten himself into over the night not to mention what if you sent him the wrong address. Yoongi’s eyes flit from your face to the room behind you but he manages to keep his jittery 

“Hey,” you sigh in relief. “Thank goodness you’re here. And thanks for coming so early.”

Yoongi loses a bit of the nervousness in his system and seems a bit more relaxed than he was when you first met him, probably because he’s gotten a better grip of his surroundings than last night, when he was completely hit with a curveball. In the face. At 500 miles per hour. In the form of you. HIs face loses the tension in the muscles and his lips take on a nonchalant smile. You also notice he’s wearing the same leather jacket as last night and you wonder if he has anything else available to wear.

“No worries,” he says in that gruff voice of his but he clears his throat quickly and yeah, you notice he’s still pretty high strung. This whole tribulation is probably a first for him too.

“Come on in,” you gesture inside, and make space for him to make through. Not that he needed much anyways being the tiny man he is.

“Alright,” he mutters, stepping into the apartment and slipping off his shoes. He doesn’t really pay attention to the apartment anymore but rather your outfit. You wearing sweatpants that still hug your legs and figure looks really good with the bit of skin exposed under the hem of your cropped Adidas sweater and Oh my God shut up, he scolds his train of thought.

It’s just that psychology of attraction at first sight, or whatever. Sure, it’s not his first time meeting you, sure, but you two have only recently met. Yoongi is certain he is a man of strong will. He would never let himself start feelings these things for someone who is already in a relationship.

He tears his gaze away from you before you can notice his burning stare and starts to run his eyes over the layout.

“Well,” you laugh strangely, trying to cover your skittishness. “This is where I live. I guess we can run over what we talked about last night over there on the couch.”

You point at the black sofa and Yoongi nods, walking over to sit down stiffly.

“Did you want something to drink?” You ask, noticing the way he stays pretty quiet. This won’t do. Your fake boyfriend is a great conversationalist.

“No, I’m fine, let’s just go over what we have to. I don’t wanna mess up…” Yoongi trails off and a hint of concern tinges his voice as you smile.

“Sounds good,” you agree.

“Okay, first things first,” you start reciting the basics as you are sat next to him. Yoongi does a really good job of staying on task at first, he swears. He’s listening intently but all of a sudden he’s thinking about how sweet and pretty your voice is and next thing he knows he’s thinking about how hard it is to just even meet your gaze, because your eyes are just such a wonderful outlet of all your emotions it’s really hard to meet them and not just go on and dive into the pool that is you and then—

“We might have to gel your hair back,” you muse softly and Yoongi is shaken out of his schoolboy crush-like trance.

“Fuck no. No,” Yoongi is firm with his decision, holding his hand out to emphasize his stance. “The forehead stays covered.”

You can’t help but let out a laugh as you cover your mouth with your hand and say, “Fine.”

Yoongi notices once again how you have a habit of doing that when laughing and he hates how it’s pretty adorable. 

“How did you get here, anyways?” You ask suddenly. “Not with your bike, I hope…?”

Yoongi grins at you and you notice that he’s one of those gummy grinners and it does a little something to you but you avoid it at all costs and swallow it down.

“I Ubered here,” he said simply. “I figured I could say my car’s in the shop if your parents ask.”

You widen your eyes and nod in approval. “Brilliant! That’s really good Yoongi, thank God I don’t have to pay for a rent a car.”

“Speaking of payment,” Yoongi is reminded of your debt to him at the passing mention of money but is glowing from your praise. “Need I say more? Don’t worry about the Uber fee, I won’t be holding those against you, call it service.”

“How kind of you,” you grimace, hearing the cries of your emergency money once more, as you tell him to stay put. “I’ll be right back with half of it.”

When you count out 300 and carefully tuck the rest away, you turn around to walk out only to see Yoongi peering in your door, arms crossed and looking quite interested.

You jump at the sudden intrusion-like non-intrusion and scowl, asking, “What are you doing here? You scared me shitless and you’re very lucky I didn’t shriek.”

He shrugged, tousling his dark hair from his eyes and replied, “If I’m gonna be your fake boyfriend, I should know what your room looks like. As your fake boyfriend, of course.”

You groan and tell him, “Get a good, quick look around, because here’s your money and now we’re leaving.” You slap the wad of cash onto his unsuspecting palm and push his shoulders out the door.

“I know you kind of know me because of all the information I might’ve been burning into your mind the past 24 hours about yours truly, but I barely know a thing about you and we’re really acquaintences at best, still.”

Yoongi lets you lead him out of the hall into the living room and with a quick look at your lockscreen, you see that it’s still only 11:14. He stuffs the money in the back pocket of his jeans, which fit him quite nicely around the thigh area, if you may say so yourself. 

“Fine,” he mutters and you barely catch it with your already dull hearing.

“What’s fine?” You ask, sitting down on the sofa as he takes a seat as well.

“I said, fine. What do you wanna know about me?” He asks, finding interest in the boring coffee table.

“Uh,” you trail off, unprepared for this kind of a question. “Wait, do I want to know more about you? I should be thinking of you as my boyfriend Jungkook, putting history and information behind you would make it too easy for me to differentiate…”

Yoongi rolls his eyes with a condescending sigh that you somehow know isn’t very genuine. “Just ask three things about me, so we’re not complete strangers,” he offers a compromising deal.

You let it sit with you for a second. If you made a slip up would you be able to recover? It was already hard enough, calling him Yoongi—already so hard enough that it was weird to remind yourself you’d have to be calling him Jungkook in a few hours. Eh, screw it.

“Where do you work?” You ask your first question tentatively.

“I work as a part time server for now,” he replies as if it’s something of a bother. “At the barbecue place downtown.” You have a brief idea of where it is, having passed by it a few times while you were in the vicinity.

“Alright,” you huffed. “What’s your other part time?”

Yoongi looks a bit confused at first with the way you worded it, but he catches on quickly seeing as how he’s got a fast train of thought.

“Oh, yeah. You remember my bike? I wanna go into autotech service. Or something like that, like engineering,” he vocalizes his thoughts and grows a bit red.

“That’s really awesome,” you smile at him and he grows comforted by the idea of you approving his passion. Although he shouldn’t be so—

“Do you have a girlfriend?” This question takes you back by surprise too, and you swear it was a slip of your tongue.

“I—“ Yoongi wasn’t ready, didn’t even think you were one bit interested in his love life but he answers directly. “No.”

For some reason you like hearing that answer, something like satisfaction burns at your tongue and heart and you don’t understand why when you have a perfectly cute boyfriend named Jeon Jungkook (the real one) you can call yours.

“Sorry, I didn’t know where that came from,” you giggle nervously.

Yoongi brushes it off and breathes evenly. He’s not sure why he’s worked up uncomfortably like this and he wants to skip to the part where this is all over and he goes back to moping around, living out his normal, daily routine.

We are acquaintances, he keeps reminding himself.

You two end up talking about yourselves a bit more, because pictures of your dog reminds him of his dog and from there the conversation flows a little too perfectly because now you’re intrigued by the mystery that is Min Yoongi and you want to know more and everything about him. This goes on for the next six hours and it’s filled with so much talking and laughing and you’ve even cooked up lunch because oh my goodness you found ingredients to make pancakes.

Then dawn rolls around as if it’s only been a mere thirty minutes and to be honest, it feels likes you know Min Yoongi more than your own boyfriend Jeon Jungkook.

You shake that last thought off, startled from the way you so abruptly stated that. Internally, of course. 

Yoongi’s barely opened his mouth to ask you another question when-

The doorbell rings and it echoes throughout the inside of your home and holy shit it feels so intimidating and loud and Yoongi just isn’t ready, but can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now if he’s this scared of what’s to come. 

You glance at him almost as if you’re seeking refuge in someone’s comfort so he grits his teeth a bit because between the two of you, he realizes he’s got to stay the rock.

Yoongi narrows his eyes until they resemble somewhat to a feline’s. He’s the rock.

And not just in the Dwayne Johnson sort of way.

oooooookay oh my goodness this is unedited but i wanted it off my shoulders before i got to work so here this is please enjoy but send me feedback or anything you'd like through my inbox thanks!!!

#95line.net #bts #bts yoongi #bts min yoongi #yoongi #suga #bts suga #min yoongi #yoongi fanfic #yoongi fluff #yoongi oneshot #bts fanfic #yoongi fic #yoongi drabbles #ein writes #suga fanfic #suga fic #yoongi series #ff: cotc pt one #ff: cotc

[kcithnam]

       –– a very long overdue intro . 

keith nam –– jeon jungkook fc

birthday: February 2, 1999 - 19 yrs old ; aquarius 

child of hephaestus, been at camp for 19 years

winner of title “camp’s baby” 

but now he’s just “camp’s biggest idiot” tbh 

backstory, ok ! basically his mother, hana nam, was a woman who fixed cars for a living. it’s the only thing she knew how to do and the only thing she was really good at. what she gets was enough to get her by alone and she managed to survive for so long on her own. she never had a family and was by herself. 

in a strange series of events, she had fallen in love, and in a very short time, found herself pregnant and abandoned.

poor thing had no fucking idea what to do so she took care of keith on her own for a year. they always struggled, and barely got by with having money for food. it’s a miracle that keith didn’t die

hephaestus, late asf, noticed how the little family’s life wasn’t getting any better. keith’s mother was getting weaker and looking more stressed every day. so his ass finally took pity and came back to her, and explained to her who he actually was. obviously hana was confused? shook ? and ofc hephy was trying not to scare her or accidentally make her go crazy

it took a lot of convincing and talking things out, even going as far as claiming keith right in front of her, until hana agreed to hephaestus’ offer of taking keith to camp halfblood. he was only a one year old little boy, but she knew she couldn’t take care of him on her own 

chiron wouldn’t have just taken a little baby into the camp, of course ? that’s dumb ? but also, he can’t say no to , u know , a fucking god lol. mr d didn’t give a shit so, chiron had no choice but to take keith in

hana was worried about keith, but chiron explained to her more about the camp and showed her around. she eventually managed to leave keith with them, along with a letter that she gave chiron and made him promise to give the little boy when he’s old enough to be able to understand. 

ever since then, keith had grown up in the camp. he was taken care of by a lot of the older campers who loved him and volunteered to do it, especially a lot of the hephaestus kids who couldn’t get over how adorable he can be. 

he turned out to be a really fun kid to be around, and he was really smart when it came to building things in the hephaestus cabin. 

when he turned around 11, chiron felt he was ready to be given the letter hana wrote. especially since keith asked about her a lot at some point of his life. basically she wrote about herself and why she left him at the camp really early. it was a really long letter that was several pages long, and in the end, it had a promise of coming back to see keith on his 20th birthday. ever since he read it, he had treasured it and was waiting for the day he turns twenty to meet her for the first time

there are a few lil things/hcs i have about him ? so here we go 

if i could describe keith, i would show you this, this, and this 

he’s generally a happy and nice person who likes being friends with anyone

there’s ppl who dislike him, obviously, and he tends to avoid them 

weapons? don’t know them. he’s awful when it comes to swords and any manual weapon in general. he spent a lot of his time practicing and he got a little better at it, but he honestly prefers building his own weapons instead. example: johnny, his war robot

how he didn’t die yet? idk honestly 

when he was growing up, he saw how the general idea was for boys to date girls, but he’s never liked one himself ? he tried but didn’t like anything to do with having a crush on a girl and that was when a friend in the aphrodite cabin let him know that ... dude , u might not be into them at all if u know what i mean 

that was when keith had his gay enlightenment lmao 

he bought an old used yellow truck and the dude who sold it to him was like . lmao it doesn’t run at all but ok u can have it for cheap. keith fixed it himself and added a lot of things to it so it rly looks like an obnoxious car out of the future

actually, better yet, it lowkey looks like the car from back to the future except it’s a yellow truck fhjfhfjh

if you know the reference of his name being keith and him having a yellow truck, ily

#nectarintro #this is late #like rly rly late #two months late lol #i didn't proofread and i think there's more ? idk

[zigsexual]

Theoreticals; part 2 (maxwell x mc)

part one.

merry christmas and merry maxwell-is-finally-an-LI!!!!! this is part two of theoreticals, the third part will be the last one and then this will be done, i promise.

this is the final companion piece to hypotheticals and empiricals, and honestly if you haven’t read those then u probably should because this one has a lot of plot throwback and also tbh its like very divergent from the main storyline seeing as i started writing it in JULY

summary: the coronation is actually happening feat. private planes, maxwell as a baby????? an unfortunate run in with some potpourri, dancing, drake, and an uber driver

word count: 4100+

In what can only be described as a full circle moment, Riley grips the sides of the gilded sink in front of her and stares herself down in the mirror yet again, willing some semblance of courage to emerge and push her out the bathroom door into the waiting ballroom. So far, no such luck — though she’s at least kept from crying this time around. A small victory, considering how long the assembly line of official royal makeup artists had spent on her face.

She’d never even seen Liam on the plane — he’d been stuck in the so-called “diplomat suite” the entire flight — but the anxiety of the potential encounter had kept her on-edge the whole time. Perhaps she could’ve deluded herself for a moment that she’d escaped unscathed, if it weren’t for the familiar crest on the tiny card left for her in the palace powder room. Of course Liam would apologize for not being able to see her, of course he would send a note. It’s the royal thing to do.

Her red dress, albeit beautiful, feels like a lie. Maybe that’s what’s keeping her stuck in this room. She wants nothing more than to go unnoticed, to slip away quietly, as softly as the satin of the gown.

“Riley?” Hana’s waiting at the door, having promised she wouldn’t head into the celebration without her. “Do you need help with anything?”

Wordlessly, Riley turns away from her damaged reflection and opens the door, managing a weak smile for her equally as flustered friend. Honestly, she shouldn’t be the one causing a scene when Hana has enough on her plate to topple even the most practiced façade. “Nah, I’m good. Shall we?”

They find Drake easily enough: he’s sulking by the appetizers. Riley is fairly certain her presence won’t help his mood much, but there isn’t anyone else she and Hana can hang with. He looks up when he sees them approaching, then right back down at the glass in his hands as soon as his eyes fall on Riley’s dress.

Riley plucks some shrimp cocktail off a nearby plate and sinks against the wall next to him.

“You look… nice,” he manages, still deliberately not catching her eye. Hana has been apprehended by some noble near the pâté bar and is shooting furtive glances in their direction, but he doesn’t seem to be letting up.

“Looks like you’re stuck with just me,” Riley says, biting into her shrimp. “Sorry.”

“Eh,” Drake shrugs. “You’re not the worst person here, Aldridge.”

Riley glances over at his drink. “Whiskey?”

In response, he merely raises it up and takes a long sip. “Maxwell?”

“Touché.”

Drake nods, surveying the room. Riley follows his gaze through the throngs of dancing courtiers, the exact opposite of the lives they both should be living. Liam is at the center of it all, shaking hands with dignitaries and bowing to nobles, pressing kisses to cheeks as he greets what must be the hundredth well-wisher today, each time still somehow fresh. Something in her heart aches for him, though she knows it’s not the ache he would want it to be.

“If it makes you feel any better, it just… happened,” she says. “I mean, it wasn’t like — god, I don’t know.”

“Does anyone?”

She reaches over, pulls the whiskey from his hands, and throws back a long drink. He surveys her warily as she swallows, holding it back out to him.

“Thanks.”

“Well, I guess if I’m offering.”

Riley leans her head back against the wall, staring up at the intricately decorated ceiling. Trust the palace to keep even their ceilings interesting. “I know he’s great. Liam, I mean. Like, I know that.”

“No one’s arguing that point.”

She turns her head to face him, even as he doesn’t meet her eyes. “You’ll make sure he gets someone great, right? That he’s happy when all this mess is over?”

“I wish I could promise you that.”

He looks tired.

“Aldridge…”

“Don’t lecture me, or whatever.”

“I wasn’t.”

She eats another shrimp.

He sighs. “Look, I know it’s been kind of… weird, between us.”

Riley scoffs, still chewing. “Oh, you think? I can’t catch a date in New York for four years and now suddenly I’m like, a Cordonian ten. I mean,” she swallows, shaking her head, “what are the standards in this country when it comes to women? Have any of you ever seen one, or is it just like, Madeleine and Olivia all the damn time?”

“You underestimate yourself,” Drake says.

“Okay, well, you would say that, since you’re a biased Cordonian party.”

He laughs, rolling his eyes. “Sure, whatever. I’m just trying to say… obviously I care about you, regardless.”

“Yeah,” Riley nods. “Yeah, I know.”

The background chatter of the room fills the silent space between them, an amicable sort of antisocial moment blooming, like a flower you never particularly wanted, but aren’t entirely unhappy with. Riley looks out towards the ballroom floor and sees Hana, caught up in a traditional dance with the same guy from the pâté bar. She looks about as thrilled as she did near the appetizers, and Riley makes a mental note to plot some diversionary tactic to save her.

Drake seems to be lost in thought. He looks rather sheepish, worn down by their moment of honesty and clearly dreaming of anywhere but here. God, he has this brooding loner shit down to an art by now.

“So,” She elbows him as he lifts up his glass to take a sip. “When did you first realize you wanted to jump me?”

He coughs violently, tensing up and glaring at her. “Jesus, Riley.”

She tilts her head and smiles. “Just curious.”

“Fine, two can play at that game. When did you first realize you wanted to jump Maxwell?”

“I don’t know, I told you. It just happened.”

“Sure.”

“He’s just…” She looks up, searching for the words. “He’s the only one who makes me feel like all of this crazy shit is worth something, y’know? Like… like I’m actually supposed to be here.” She gestures out at the crowd of guests. “Even with all this, he doesn’t ask to me to be anything other than who I already am. He’s always treated me like I matter, even back in New York in my godawful bar clothes — he believed in me. He believes in me. Even when I don’t.”

She turns to Drake, and his expression is one of somber resignation.

“Cool.” He looks at his glass, then downs the rest of the drink. “Can’t wait to give the wedding toast.”

She makes a face in an attempt to hide the blush rising in her cheeks. “Who said you were invited?”

In response, he merely raises an eyebrow.

She sighs. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”

He shrugs. “Who else is there to tell?”

There’s a pause between them, and then she hears the voice.

“Riley?”

Distant, but. It’s him.

Drake rolls his eyes, but there’s a hint of a smile at his lips. “I’m gonna get a double,” he says, sidling away from the wall and raising his glass to her in exit. “Cheers.”

She opens her mouth to reply, but the moment is lost as he slips away through the crowd, head down. The image of his shattered face in the study washes over her; the way his eyes traveled down her dress just now. She recalls how just yesterday his expression had hardened, guarded, as she stumbled over her words trying to explain the circumstances of her and Maxwell; only the ghost of a feeling left in his eyes as he stood behind the desk like it was a shield.

Her heart aches a little for him too. But it could never be enough.

When she turns, Maxwell is just a few feet from her, adorable as ever. “Sorry. Did I interrupt?”

“Actually, your timing is uncharacteristically impeccable.” She holds out her hand. “Shrimp?”

“I’ve already had like fifteen,” he laughs.

“Oh, well, in that case.” Riley pops the last bite in her mouth. “What’s up?”

“It’s the sponsors dance,” he says, running his hand through his hair absently, “It’s sort of a tradition, for the suitors to have one last display together.”

“Oh, fuck,” Riley squeezes her eyes shut, grimacing. “I have to dance in front of everyone again, don’t I?”

“Well, pretty much this entire thing has been in front of everyone, so…”

“Not helping.”

Maxwell puts his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry. It’ll be fun. Unless you want to dance with Bertrand?”

She finally cracks a smile, and he lets his hand fall down to hers, pulling her gently in the direction of the assembling couples in the ballroom.

When they step out onto the floor, Riley is struck with a sudden acute awareness of how ridiculously enormous the ball is. It feels like the entire population of Cordonia is smashed into this one room, watching her.

She tightens her grip on Maxwell’s hand. “I really don’t know how to dance, Maxwell. Like I truly have no idea what I’m doing.”

“It’s okay,” he says, “I’ll lead you. You did fine with the waltz at Olivia’s place; you just have to follow what I do.”

“Yeah, but Olivia’s place wasn’t the biggest fucking event of this entire country.”

“Neither is this one, to be honest.” Maxwell glances around at the crowd. “We had a much better turnout when One Direction toured here.”

“I’m serious!” Riley hisses, but the laughter in her eyes betrays her. Maxwell smiles, taking her other hand in his and placing it on his shoulder.

“You keep your hand here, on the seam,” he explains, slipping his free arm around her to rest his hand against her shoulder blade. “Then you hold your arm with mine out at an angle like this.”

The music is starting up, and she can feel her heartbeat quickening.

“I’m sorry,” she says, “My hand is like, really sweaty.”

“You’ll be fine,” Maxwell reassures. “It’s three steps, okay? Just do what I’m doing.”

She nods, looking down at his feet, trying her best to memorize the one-two-three of the tempo.

He watches her watching him. “You’re awfully calm, all things considering.”

She flicks her eyes back up to his face, raising an eyebrow. “’All things considering’?”

“Ah — you know what I mean.”

She ducks her head to hide her smile, focusing on the movements of the rhythm. Honestly, it’s hopeless and she knows it, but he doesn’t seem to care. She’s a little stiff, a little cumbersome, but when she steps on his foot for the third time he conceals the twinge of pain that flashes across his face fairly well.

“Sorry,” she says.

“It’s fine. You’re fine.”

“Well, also the hand, too. It’s really sweaty.”

“Not that sweaty.”

“That’s so sweet, but you’re lying.”

She holds his shoulder tighter, pulling him imperceptibly closer. He looks at her, like he’s seeing into her soul, like he knows exactly how her fingers have found purchase in the same place the night before.

“I, um,” she has to look away, to regain her composure for a moment, “I’m gonna… I’m gonna miss —”

“Tell me more about New York,” he says suddenly.

“Oh. Okay. The bad stuff, or just the good stuff?”

“All the stuff.”

She thinks, and the music fills the silence between them. She only stumbles a little on the twirl.

“Alright. So there’s this homeless guy outside my subway stop — well, let me clarify, there’s almost always a homeless guy outside every subway stop, but this one is the same guy every day. I usually pass him if I’m working a night shift, and I guess he must recognize me by now because he always says, ‘keep fighting!’ whenever I see him.”

“Keep fighting what?”

“I don’t know. ‘The Man,’ I guess? Anyway that’s not even… that’s not even a good story, I don’t know why I told you — shit! Sorry, oh god, that’s your foot.”

“I’ve been through worse, promise. Keep going.”

“Okay. Um, anyway, what I was trying to get at there is that there’s a local camaraderie, almost like… patriotism? I guess you could call it that. Sort of this feeling that you’re all in it together, but no one’s going to fuck with you. Or maybe that’s just the US in general.”

“I wouldn’t know, you’re one of the only Americans I’ve met.”

“Really?”

“Apples aren’t the biggest tourist attraction.”

“You know they call New York ‘The Big Apple’?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She shifts her weight, trying to match his pace. “Your turn now; tell me about Cordonia.”

“What do you want to know?”

Riley shakes her head at him. “You always say that! Maybe I don’t want to ask. Maybe I want you to tell me what you think I should know.”

Somehow throughout the course of the dance, they’ve gotten considerably closer: his hand has fallen to her waist, her fingers curled around his shoulder like a lifeline. Riley feels a rush of something warm and dizzy, struck with the thought of leaning in and resting her head against his chest, of closing her eyes and giving up on the pretenses and just — being.

“Okay,” he looks up, thinking, “Well, my family had this country estate, sort of out more in the hills, near Applewood. Really ridiculous house with a vineyard and a stable and tennis courts and all that. And before my mom died, we used to spend the summers there, get away from the court for a while.”

“How old were you? When… when your mom…?”

He tries to smile, to reassure her maybe, but it doesn’t hit his eyes. “Not old enough.”

She squeezes his hand.

“So, um, the summer, that’s when most of the noble houses get out of the capitol. A lot of them go to the beach, or to the lake, but we were out in the fields and there wasn’t much else around for miles. I used to think it was so boring, just us out there playing doubles or polo, and I’d try and convince my mom to have all these garden parties just so I could see someone else my age. I’d take the horses out as far as I could get them, and I was always getting lost, and Bertrand always had to come and find me — god, I must have annoyed him to death —”

“You, lost?” Riley grins. “I’d never believe it.”

“Very funny.”

There’s barely a whisper of space between them now.

“Anyway, I —” he purses his lips, “Well, my dad sold the estate after my mom died. We just… never went back. I wish I could take you; I keep thinking about it, wondering what it’s like there now. Sometimes I feel like that place is all I have left of my mom. And it’s been so… comfortable, having you in the house all the time. I… I don’t know what I’m saying. I just wish she could’ve met you.”

“Max…” she starts to say, trailing off before anything of substance emerges. Her mind floods with memories: laughing with her dress stuck over her head, the swell of bravery with his hand in hers at the breakfast table, his sad smile as he stood in her room holding her suitcase.

She bites her lip hard against the feeling, but it wells up inside her anyway, unquenchable and strong. It’s almost freeing, finally having something so terrifying being so palpable. Her hands are trembling.

“Hey,” Maxwell says, his voice lowered. “Riley, are you crying?”

“No,” she says, but she is.

He looks both startled and shattered, and seeing him like that breaks apart her final shreds of composure. The tears blur her vision, cut down her face in crooked lines.

“I just…. I, um,” she swallows hard, shaking her head. “I have to… give me a minute, okay?”

She doesn’t wait for him to reply, only pulls away, wiping roughly at her eyes with the back of her hand. This isn’t how she wanted tonight to go; this isn’t how she wanted him to remember her.

She walks quickly off the ballroom floor, head bowed and cursing the flamboyant red dress she had thought so momentous at the time. She’d give anything to be back in her forgettable blue thing right now.

The bathroom is just outside the ballroom entrance, much to her relief, and she crumples against the door the moment it’s shut. The wave of emotion is beginning to subside, but the aftershocks are brutal and raw. She reaches for one of the ridiculous monogrammed hand towels hung about the room and presses her face into it, breathing slowly.

It’s barely been a minute before the door swings open and Riley lets out a tiny shriek, stumbling forward. She hears a loud scoff from behind her, and whirls around in defensive mode, only to find herself face to face with a scowling Olivia.

“What the fuck?” Riley squeaks out, steadying herself on a towel rack. “This bathroom is occupied!”

Olivia puts a hand on her hip, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, I know. And it’s about to be even more occupied, so move over.”

She shoves herself in even as Riley stands agape, still clutching the towels. Olivia motions towards the door, but when Riley continues to stare, she sighs and kicks it closed with one strappy stiletto.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Riley squeaks.

Olivia surveys her warily. “You’re hardly the one who should be asking that. What are you doing crying in palace ballrooms? God, you’re embarrassing.”

Riley wipes at the smudged mascara under her eyes. “Just my luck that you’re the person who follows me in here.”

Olivia sighs, examining her nails. “Look, I’m not here to give you a pep talk. I’ve been trying to get you alone all night.” She glances back up, her expression unreadable. “We need to have a chat. This is as good an excuse as any.”

Riley sets the towels down near the sink, reaching up to rub at her temples once her hands are free. “Well, get it over with. This night couldn’t possibly suck more.”

“And people say I’m dramatic.” Olivia crosses her arms, but the guarded expression doesn’t change. “Look, you know what this is about. You’re not exactly subtle. Flirting at brunch? That atrocious shirt dress that was clearly unplanned? All those long-suffering looks?”

Of all the things Olivia might want to fling at her now, this was the last one she could have expected. Riley freezes, then slowly lowers her hands down, staring up at Olivia. “Sorry… what?”

She rolls her eyes. “Don’t bother being coy about it. I make a point of knowing everyone’s business, especially when it’s juicy. And you, Miss America, are fresh squeezed.”

“God, really?” Riley grimaces. “Can’t you just accuse me of some shit like a normal person?”

“Fine.” Olivia steps back, surveying Riley disdainfully. “How long have you been fucking him?”

“Fucking who?” She stares. “Liam?”

Olivia barks out a laugh. “No, oh my god! Don’t flatter yourself. Liam is such a virgin. Trust me, if he so much as saw a boob, I would know. I’m talking about your man on the side. You know: brown hair, blue eyes, always wears the same shirt?”

Oh god. Oh, shit.

“I—” Riley tries to come up with an excuse, but Olivia just stares her down even more, and look — everyone has a breaking point.

“Fuck.” Her shoulders slump, and she falls back against the sink, running a hand through her hair. “How did you know?”

Olivia throws up her hands. “God, I just told you how. Honestly, you think nobody saw you come out of the Beaumont hookup study with your hair looking even worse than usual? I know scandals when I see them. I only came on Liam’s plane today to confirm my suspicions. I do have my own plane, you know.”

“Of course you do.” Riley replies dryly.

“But that’s beside the point.” Olivia leans against a table laden with potpourri, tapping her fingernails against one of the bowls. “You’re really going to stand here and cry about your double life while the rest of us get flushed down the drain? This isn’t a joke, you know. This is a crown.”

“I know.”

“And to think that Liam is out there probably planning to make you the Queen, god knows why, and you’re off dreaming of sucking some broke asshole’s dick —”

Riley straightens up, eyes wide. “Who told you that?”

“What?” Olivia blinks at her, disinterested. “That you suck dick?”

“No, I was talking about the Beaumonts being broke. God, Bertrand is going to absolutely slaughter me for letting that one get out.” She groans, twisting her fingers back into her hair, before narrowing her eyes at Olivia. “Hey, and you know what? Fuck you, really, because it’s not like I wanted —”

Olivia cuts her off sharply, “Holy shit, you’re fucking Bertrand?”

“What?!” Riley screeches. “God, no! No, Jesus fucking Christ, no.” She gags, partly in pantomime and partly at the sheer horror of the mental image. “I would rather peel all the skin off my whole body and bathe in bleach.”

“Then why are you even talking about the Beaumonts?” Olivia’s veneer of authority has begun to wear down, and she looks almost confused now, her fingernails tapping even faster.

Riley swallows.

“What you said, before…” She can already feel the blood draining from her face, the sweat pooling in her clenched hands, “My, um, my ‘man on the side’? Uh… who were you talking about?”

“Who the fuck do you think?” Olivia says. “The only broke asshole in everyday chambray who you ever talk to.”

“Oh my god,” Riley’s mouth falls open. “Drake?”

She can almost see the wheels in Olivia’s head spinning full gear now, desperately piecing together the new information that she, in all her punchdrunk idiocy, had quite literally volunteered. God, truly her finest hour. Shitshow part three.

Olivia is lost in thought, eyebrows furrowed, crunching pieces of potpourri into dust between her fingers as she thinks.

“So,” she finally says, “You’re… not fucking Drake.”

“No.”

“And the Beaumonts are… broke?”

Riley bites her lip. “Yeah, can you maybe not tell —”

“Shut up.” Olivia holds up a hand. “You’re telling me that when you disappeared during that god-awful croquet game, you weren’t inside getting it on in the Beaumont study?”

Riley hesitates.

Olivia raises an eyebrow. “I see.”

She studies Riley for a moment, then her entire expression changes to one of absolute dumbfounded shock.

“Oh my god,” she whispers, stepping closer and looking Riley directly in the eyes. “… Maxwell?”

Riley’s resolve fails, and everything comes tumbling out before she can stop it, “Olivia, please, don’t say anything, I am going to talk to Liam tonight I promise I am going to set everything right and then I’ll leave court okay? I’ll leave, I don’t want to keep fucking things up anymore, but just please don’t tell Madeleine or whoever else in your harem of cronies wants to ruin my life, because frankly I am just done, I’m tired, and I just —” she takes a deep breath, then sinks down onto the toilet seat in a heap of red satin. “God, I don’t know.”

Olivia watches her talk, expression unreadable, her eyes flickering across Riley’s face. She appears almost like a movie critic, surveying an art, pen poised to decide its fate.

When Riley stills, Olivia squats down, level with her. “Okay, first of all? Let’s get one thing straight. Never in my life would I tell any sort of information to Madeleine. That woman is a scum-sucking witch plucked from the ninth circle of hell and stapled into the body of some 90’s has-been CW actor with a penchant for off-season jewel tones. She is the bubonic plague in human form and I loathe her.”

“Oh,” Riley says. “Um. My mistake.”

“Second,” Olivia stands, brushing off her dress, “You’re an idiot. A prince wants to marry you, and you seriously want to jump Maxwell? You do know that when he was thirteen he still believed in Santa Claus, right?”

Riley shrugs.

Olivia waves her hand dismissively, “You know what, whatever. Your funeral. I just wanted to know that I was right, and seeing as you’re just as guilty as presumed, I’m counting this one as a win.”

Riley stands up begrudgingly, shaking out the wrinkles in her dress. “I hate you.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. I hate you too.” Olivia has a hand on the doorknob, but at the sound of Riley’s shoes on the marble floor, she turns back.

“Hey,” she says, “Question: if you’re not fucking Drake, do you know if anyone else is fucking him?”

“Uh, not that I know of.” Riley cocks her head. “Why?”

“No reason,” Olivia says coyly, shutting the door behind her with a decisive click.

part three.

#the royal romance #mc x maxwell #maxwell x mc #trr fanfic #trr #my fic #hehehe did u see how i snuck in some subtle dralivia #who me? of course me #thank god this shit is done wow i only have the last part left #gonna try and not make that take 10000 years #i love my riley i wish i could talk shit like her in the actual book #alas

[liamzigmichael4ever]

The Royal Romance (Liam's POV)

Vanillabeann

Summary:

Liam never thought about marrying for anyone except his country, but when he meets Riley at his bachelor party in New York, things start to change. He becomes selfish for the first time and actually wants something for his own happiness. Will he marry his true love or will some greater force try to take them down?

This is The Royal Romance, but in Liam's POV.

Notes:

Hi, I wrote a oneshot for this series, if you want to check that out to get an idea of how I see their relationship. But actually... while writing this, I had kind of an epiphany. I didn't realize how big a little kid Riley is, until I was really taking in their words and writing them down again. I showed it more... And I'm trying to get Liam's thoughts right, but he's a little hard for me for some reason. softer people like that are harder for me to write. It's in his POV, but I cannot write a story that will match up with the exact choices that all of you made, so I did the ones I made. Have fun, and please comment!! I'd love to hear what you guys think! Like seriously, feedback means a lot to me. Okay, bye 

Also i do not own this story. A writer wrote this story on his archive on our own page. I think he needs more recognition for it. So i asked if i could post this and he said yes. So here goes. I hope u enjoy. And please like and comment so i can show him how much we like his story. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

: Once Upon a TimeChapter Text

Hush fell upon the room as Liam walked into the ballroom with poise and grace. He was trained for this… Liam knew he had to step up to throne once his brother, Leo, abdicated it, and he had been told over and over how important it was to pick the right queen to rule Cordornia with. He had a responsibility to his people, but Liam now knows he has a responsibility to himself, and his own happiness. It’s not just about Cordonia anymore. Because now that he knows what true happiness is, there’s no way he can live without her.

His eyes searched the elegantly decorated room until they fell on the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen. Dressed in red gown that flowed down her body like water and stuck to her hips and curves like a second skin. She was just breathtaking, and Liam meant it in the most literal way. He knew she was the one. He knew he wanted to marry her not just for his own pleasure and love for her, but he also knew she was what this country needed. Riley didn’t beat around the bush, and he knew how well she was with people and building her connections in this country like it was her own. He couldn’t even tell she wasn’t born into this life, and part of Liam felt guilty for pulling her from much simpler times, but he was selfish and he wanted her to himself, so he was grateful that she traveled all this way for him.

He made his way over to who he wanted more than life, and smiled charmingly at her beautiful face. Riley was talking to the other ladies in waiting, which he was happy she had learned to fit in, especially finding such a close friend in Hana. But he wanted nothing more than for her to be in his arms, so a dance seemed awfully fitting without whisking her away and just holding her like he so desperately wanted to do.

“Riley… may I have this dance?”

Her eyes shined at him and she took his hand gracefully with a smile radiating off her pretty lips. “I’d love to.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He guided Riley out to the dance floor of the grand ballroom. The orchestra he had tuned out at just the site of her breathtaking form, graced his ears again with beautiful violins and other instruments. Liam guided her through the waltz, her red gown swirling with each twirl they made, and batting at his legs. He liked the feeling. It proved how close she was to him and how he could almost tug her waist against him and slow dance with her head resting on his shoulder like he’s wanted to do so many times in the past.

“To think, a few months ago, I didn’t even know the first steps to a waltz.”

Her smile was just gorgeous, Liam couldn’t get over it. “And now, no one would ever know that you weren’t born into this life.” The thought made him frown like it always has. “I hope you never have cause to regret coming here.”

Liam has to say, her surprised expression was quite adorable and he did feel a little proud for making her show him that face because he feels like it’s always her surprising him all the time.

“Why would you say that?”

Still… the way she doesn’t even realize what she's giving up made him feel special. Like the thought never crossed her mind and like she felt anything was worth it if it meant being with him. That made his frown lessen, but the conversation still made him anxious. “Well, so much has happened and…” The song suddenly slows to an end, and pulls his attention for a moment. Liam’s hand lingers on her waist which he still had the desire to tug against him, with his eyes searching her beautiful ones. “I need to talk to you.” He frowned, anxious about the conversation and what it may bring.

She looked concerned at his expression and squeezed his clothing where her hand was resting. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s been impossible to get even a moment alone with you these last few days, but I need to know—”

“Ahem!” Olivia got both of their attention with a clear of her throat and smiled tightly at them both. “Prince Liam, may I be so bold as to cut in?”

He was upset at yet another moment of theirs cut short, but Olivia was his childhood friend, and his duties as a prince was not exactly welcoming of ignoring one of his ladies in waiting. “Of course.”

“We’ll… talk later?” Riley’s unsure voice called out, and he smiled at her with a firm nod.

“Yes.”

As Olivia and him glide away, he kept his eyes on Riley for a moment, watching as she exits the dance floor and finds Drake to converse with. He noticed Drake’s shocked face at the site of her, but Liam just tried to ignore his jealously and focus on Olivia.

“I hope you're having a great night.”

Olivia smiled that special smile she only seemed to show him and and tightened her hand in his. “I can think of one way to make it better.”

He knows what she’s insinuating, and he feels bad that he can only pick one queen to be, but he only wants one, and he wants one in particular that Liam knows will change his life and country for the better. His eyes glanced over to Riley again at the thought of her, and somehow… seeing the far away look in both her and Drake’s eyes, he knew they were reminiscing in the past and it made him do the same as well. To the time he and Riley had their fateful encounter which changed his life drastically and will continue to change it for the better.

It was a few months ago on his visit to the states for his bachelor party. Drake suggested a bar, probably happy to be in America where all the food isn’t fancy and he can enjoy some more hearty cuisine. By the time Liam had made it back from the bathroom, she was already at their table… dressed in her waitress uniform which did nothing for her beauty but she had such a gorgeous face. When she tuned around, Liam couldn’t help but smile at her. “Sorry I’m late. Thank you for your patience Miss…?”

“Uh, Riley…”

She looked cute with her mouth agape like that, and he met it with a grin. “Charmed to make your acquaintance, Riley.”

“Trust me… the pleasure is all mine.” She finally smiled so beautifully at him. “It’s nice to meet you.” Then she looked down at her pad and moved one hand up to brush some hair out of her eyes. “Now let me put your order in. Be right back.”

She walked away, giving Liam time to sit down next to his three friends and relax a bit for his bachelor party. That came up short when Maxwell gave him a sturdy size up, but eventually grinned. “You seem happy.”

“Yes, I’m just enjoying my bachelor party.”

That was partially true, because he suddenly was having a very good time, but he knows one way this trip could have gone better. The evening was full of old stories, laughs and lots of greasy food and whisky, to Drake’s enjoyment. Through the evening, Liam quite enjoyed Riley’s intelligence and sass, and he asked his three friends if it was okay to invite her for the rest of the night, and everyone seemed okay with it, except for maybe Drake who he thought was a little annoyed. But this was his bachelor party and he wanted to invite her for some reason, so he did.

He tapped Riley on the shoulder when she was wiping up a table and smiled when she turned around. “I think we’re about ready to head out. I just wanted to thank you... and apologize.” He reached a hand behind his head to scratch at his neck a bit bashfully before he dropped it back down quickly. “I know we kept you late and my friends can be… demanding.”

“Demanding?” Riley smiled with a dismissive wave. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

Liam grinned. “I got the feeling that you could take care of yourself.” Then his smile faltered a bit as nerves started to kick in. “If you don’t have any other plans tonight, maybe I can make it up to you by buying you a drink. We’re about to head to a club.”

“Oh?” Her head tilted to the side with a locket of hair falling over her eye. She quickly brushed it away and stared up at him with interest. “Which one?”

“We were hoping you might have some advice about that. We’re not from around here.”

“Hmm…I recommend going…” she blew out a silent raspberry and looked to the side in deep thought. She was pretty damn adorable. “I would go to a gorgeous secret cove by the beach. Forget the club.”

Liam grinned again. She really was different. “You know… that actually sounds perfect. To be honest, I’m getting a little tired of the usual bachelor party antics.” He took a step back and gestured for her to follow. “Lead the way!”

“Sure!” She still didn’t move forward though and stuffed the rag she was cleaning with in her apron. “Let me finish up here and I’ll meet you out front…”

Oh, how embarrassing… he forget she has to close the place. Maybe if they didn’t stay so late, she could have been done quicker. But he still nodded kindly, and excused himself with the rest of his friends to patiently wait for her to be done. While outside, Maxwell told some story that happened at one of his famous parties. But Liam quickly turned around when he heard Riley clear her throat. And his jaw dropped to the floor. She cleaned up really well, wearing tight dark jeans, a raspberry colored shirt and leather jacket. Just speechless.

“Wow.” Drake’s comment pulled his attention from Riley, and he stared at his best friend in shock. Drake was never one to compliment some random woman like that, even if he didn’t mean to.

“Wow?” Riley raised an amused brow at him.

“I… almost didn’t recognize you.”

“That uniform wasn’t doing you justice.” Tariq said.

He noticed Riley’s eyes on him, like she was waiting to hear his opinion, but Maxwell spoke before Liam could even think of complimenting her. His throat got awfully dry once he saw her.

“Yeah, the waitress is hot.” Maxwell beamed.

That pulled Liam’s attention, making him glare at the youngest Beaumont brother, and clear his throat. “Ahem. Her name is Riley and I doubt she appreciates you talking about her like that.”

“Right. Sorry, Riley.” Maxwell didn’t seem very sorry. “I meant to say you look lovely. Now let’s get this party going!”

“So she’s our tour guide now?” Drake asked.

Technically speaking, yes. Liam really just needed an excuse for her to come so he could get to know her better. The question is why would he put so much effort into a girl who he knows wouldn’t be coming to Cordonia? Was it because she wasn’t fighting for his hand? Because she just thought of him as Liam, the foreigner with an European accent? Either way, he was still happy she was here, but he had to use the excuse of tour guide.

“Riley was kind enough to agree to show us around. She’s doing us a favor, so play nice.”

The short limo ride was filled with Maxwell telling yet another one of his famous stories, but it wasn’t long before they all piled out and made their way to the ocean. Liam was happy when all his friends looked happy with the place, especially drake who looked very at home here. Maxwell was just ready for some fun, and Liam isn’t too sure how Tariq feels about all this sand, but he seemed to be enjoying himself.

“We should build a bonfire.” Drake suggested while quickly searching the beach for any logs he could use or kindling. Yes, Drake would like it here.

“I’m not doing manual labor.” Tariq said.

“Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to.” Drake sighed with an annoyed expression. “What I meant was I’ll go build a bonfire.”

“This place is awesome!” Maxwell started to unbutton his pants, for some reason skipping right over his shirt. “Skinny dipping!”

“Keep your pants on, Maxwell!” Tariq ran after him.

“Thank you for bringing us here.” Liam turned towards Riley and smiled at her for the who knows what time tonight. “I can tell the guys are enjoying themselves already.”

“I bet you’re used to putting everyone else first.”

A breeze picked up around them just as she looked at him, her hair batting in the wind and laying all over the place. Once it died down, she continued to stare at him, like her eyes could see his deepest secrets that nobody else has managed to know.

“And why would you say that?”

“I can tell. I’m good at reading people.” She ran a hand through her hair to fix it, her eyes still staring right through his act. “No, forget about your friends. What about you? Do you like it here?”

“I love it.”

It was true and she seemed happy with that, moving her gaze back out to the water to stare at the seemingly endless ocean. “It’s my secret spot so I’m really trusting you.”

“I’ll do my best to be worthy of that trust.” She met his gaze with another beautiful grin, but he remembered something that came with being on the beach. “Though there’s just one problem… How am I supposed to buy you that drink?”

“You’ll think of something. Or maybe you’ll just keep owing me.”

Well then he better think of something because he probably won’t ever see her again after this. “Fair enough.” The idea of never seeing her again put a little damper on his mood. “So what should we do?”

“We should…” her eyes glanced at the ocean, seeing Maxwell and Tariq splashing around, then moved over to right. “Climb up that cliff!”

“Way up there?”

His surprised face made her giggle. “Try to keep up!”

Then she ran towards the cliff, kicking up sand along the way, then finding foot holes to scale up the face. Liam ran after her, laughing all the same and following her all the way to the top. She huffed something once she got there, then extended her hand out to pull him the rest of the way. Her hand was so small, but sturdy, like she’d be there when he needs her. “Thanks.”

They look out at the view, the ocean waves silent to their ears, but making him appreciate the scene before him. The sky was beautiful… he could see the stars and how many there were.

“What do you think?”

“Huh?” He asked rather unintelligently and stared at her with furrowed brows.

“The view. Worth the climb, right?”

“Oh,” Liam grinned. “Definitely.” They both looked back out at the ocean again, watching the moon dance on the waves and wind shift the clouds above. Liam turned to the side when he noticed Riley shiver, and he frowned. “Cold?”

“Maybe just a little...” Her voice trembled.

“I see the guys got the bonfire going. Let’s head back down and warm up.”

They both got comfortable in the sand, the warm heat filling Liam’s soul and keeping him toasty. Riley visibly warmed as well, and he had the desire to wrap his arm around her, but he kept his head level. Drake, Maxwell, and Tariq were plying nearby in the water, so it was just the two of them close and getting toasty.

“Tonights been quite the adventure…” He sighed. “I never thought my night out on the town would end up like this. You’re really something else, aren’t you?”

Riley laughed. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“Believe me, it is. Spending time with you tonight has been the most fun I’ve had this entire vacation.”

That made her frown a bit and look up at him with a sad expression. “I guess that means you haven’t really been enjoying yourself very much.”

“It’s been wonderful, but there’s something missing.” Liam sighed yet again and looked out to the water with a longing look, the breeze batting against his hair and ruffling in the wind. “I really wanted to do one thing in particular while I was here…”

“And what’s that?”

“It’s… well…” He met her gaze again with a bashful expression. “You’re probably going to think it’s silly but I’ve always wanted to see the Statue of Liberty…” Liam frowned at the thought of it. “It wasn’t really in the guys’ plan, so we just never got around to it. And now it’s my last day here… I don’t mean to sound so ungrateful. It was thoughtful of my friends to throw me this bachelor party. They’ve done their best, but I’m not in the mood to celebrate.”

“Wait a second, it’s your bachelor party?” Her brows furrowed and she suddenly looked a tad bit angry. “You’re pretty flirty for an engaged guy. I don’t think your fiancée would be too happy about that.”

“That’s the funny thing.” He’s sure such a tradition would be odd to an American, but he was suddenly being honest so he wasn’t going to stop now. “I actually don’t know who I’m going to marry yet… Only that I’ll have to pick my fiancée by the end of the year.”

Her brows furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The truth is Riley…” He shakily exhaled, but met her gaze fully so she could see his sincerity. “I’m the crown prince of Cordonia.”

All Riley did was blink a bit cutely. “You’re a prince? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Perhaps I should have been more upfront with you…” Especially since she’s taking it rather well. “But I’m not normally allowed to go around without the royal guard, and I was only allowed out on the condition that I keep my identity a secret.” He ran an exasperated hand through his hair and sighed. “Just for one day, I wanted to be free. But I’m very aware I have a duty to the monarchy. I’ve never known anything else.” Then he paused and looked at her curiously. “But what about you? You could be anything, do anything. What drives you, Riley?”

“What I want is to see the world.” Her eyes suddenly shined like she was a little child in line at the store to buy her most favorite toy, and she could hardly stand still. “I’m saving up, but one day, I’m going to see everything. The northern lights, the Eiffel Tower, Machu Picchu…”

“That’s beautiful, Riley.”

It really was and he envied her. She’s just like his brother and Liam envied him sometimes. Being free of the throne and being able to travel wherever your heart desires must be nice. The thought made him look back out to the water, and watch his friends mess around, splashing water at each other and having fun.

“Got ya, Tariq!” Maxwell yelled while slapping water in his direction.

Tariq jumped out of the way, and stomped his foot down in frustration. “I told you, these shoes are leather!”

“Awh, lighten up Tariq.” Drake rolled his eyes. “You’ve got what, a hundred pairs?”

“Looks like your friends are having fun...”

It seemed Riley was watching them as well. “Good, I’m happy for them. They deserve to have fun.” Then he looked down at the fire sadly, hand moving side to side against the warm sand from the flame. “Tomorrow, it’s back to Cordonia for the start to the social season.”

“But it’s not tomorrow yet.”

He popped his head up. “What are you suggesting?”

“You said you wanted to see the Statue of Liberty.” She raised a brow like she was daring him to deny it. “Let’s do it! I know a place where we can catch a boat tour! Best view in town!”

“Right now?” He gestured to the moon which was high in the sky. “But it’s way past midnight. Won’t all the tours be closed?”

“Oh… right.” Her lips jutted out in a pout. “I forgot how late it’s gotten.” But then a huge smile broke out on her lips, and she pulled her cellphone out. “In that case, you’re lucky. I can call in a favor.”

“A favor? And just like that you can get us on a tour boat after midnight to see the Statue of Liberty.” He said the whole line to make sure she understood what she said she could do, but Riley just shrugged a bit dismissively like it didn’t matter either way.

“Well, maybe a few favors, actually, but I have some friends who owe me.” Then she turned to him and smiled big. “It won’t be easy but I know this is important to you so... let’s go!”

“Right now?”

“It’s only getting later every minute we wait.” Her brow ticked like she was getting impatient, before she gestured a hand to his friends in the water. “Besides, it looks like the guys are busy enough. I bet they won’t even notice you’re gone.”

“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?”

“Nope.” She placed both hands on her hips and smiled triumphantly like a kid who just made a basket after trying for 20th time.

Liam sighed a bit amused but put both hands up. “Then I happily surrender to your demands.”

A short while later, they both stood at the docks while overlooking the city skyline. It was gorgeous. New York City was truly the city that never sleeps with all the lights lit up and the beeping of car horns.

His gaze moved downward to stare a Riley’s pretty face who still looked quite pleased with herself, even if Liam can’t believe that this is actually happening.

“And here we wait.” She announced matter of factly with her hands still held on her hips.

Liam couldn’t help the amused smile on his lips. “For?”

“A magical boat I’ve summoned just for you.” She’s flippin adorable.

“Not a bad view.” He stared at the skyline for a moment before his eyes flickered over to Riley again. He likes this one better.

“Now, “Riley turned her gaze to him and grinned. He couldn’t help but smile back. “I’m dying to know why you’re so eager to see the Statue of Liberty.”

He thought it was obvious. “Can’t you guess?”

“Because she symbolizes freedom?”

Liam nodded, staring out at the water with a faraway gaze. “Freedom is something I’ve always wanted. But I’ve always known that my role would require me to give up much of what I desire.”

“You’re the prince. Can’t you do what you want, at least some of the time?”

“As a member of the royal family, my actions reflect on my house and all of Cordonia.” His eyes found hers again and he looked at her seriously. “It’s something I’ve never been allowed to forget. No matter how bad I may want to.”

Like now… he wants nothing more than to act on these blooming feelings for the woman in front of him, but his better judgement was getting in the way. He can’t. He can’t have a rendezvous with an American girl he just met. But that doesn’t mean these feelings of longing aren’t there. He wants to hold her, touch her… he wants to learn everything about her. Liam wishes he could forget his responsibilities and just run away from it to get to know this girl. He wishes he could do so many things with her, but he cares too much for his people. He won’t put them in danger. He won’t let another son of the king advocate the throne again. Cordonia needs him. Even if he feels like he needs Riley, Cordonia is more important than himself.

“Liam…” Just then, Liam heard the blast of a horn. Looking out, he sees a nice tour boat approaching. “There’s our ride!”

It’s hard to believe this is actually happening, but there they are, standing on the deck of a private boat tour to see the Statue of Liberty under the stars and moon. She’s really something else.

“Part of me didn’t think you’d pull this off.”

“You didn’t think I could pull it off?” She held her chin high in defiance like she took it to heart. “You just don’t know me very well.”

“You’re right.” Liam chuckled. “But I’d like to fix that. You’re fascinating Riley.” He smiled at her so softly and leaned against the side of the boat so he was closer to her face. “Why are you doing this for me?”

“You seemed like you needed it.” She said it like it was obvious.

“That’s… so sweet of you.” He was a little shocked. “To be honest, no ones ever done anything like this for me before.”

“Really?” Now it was Riley who was shocked. “Come on, you’re a prince. I bet people do things for you all the time.”

“I do get all the perks that come with being royalty, but no ones ever seen me as just… me.” He stared at her seriously and held himself back from brushing the hair out of her eyes. “No ones ever listened to me the way you do. No ones ever come up with a spur-of-the-moment plan to make my dreams come true.”

“Liam…” she was breathless for a moment. “What else do you dream about?”

“Finding someone. Someone who can be the queen that Cordonia needs.”

“And… also someone you fall in love with, right?”

Liam shook his head. “That’s never been part of the criteria the Cordonian Council uses.”

The boat slowed to a lower speed, and it made him turn his head as the mists of the harbor parted. In the distance, the Statue of Liberty appears. Liam can feel Riley’s eyes on him, but all he can do is stare. He’s speechless. She's… just gorgeous. Everything he wants to be is that statue. Free, but proud. Proud of his beautiful country.

“So? What do you think?”

“Magnificent.” He still couldn’t look away. “I’ve heard that art has meaning because of what it makes the viewer feel. Whether it’s ink splatters on a canvas or the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it only matters if it moves you.”

“And?”

“And right now, looking at this view with you,” he finally tore his eyes away from Lady Liberty to gaze at Riley. “I feel like anything is possible. Thank you for this moment Riley. This feeling… this means more to me than you could ever know.”

“Liam…” Riley breathed.

“I want you to know I admire you. Your adventurous spirit, the way you follow your heart.”

“You can live that way too.” She took a step closer, and Liam hadn’t even realized he had been moving closer until he also took a step.

“If only. My whole life I’ve prepared myself to do what’s best for Cordonia.”

“Well we’re not in Cordonia now.”

It’s like she was trying to give him excuses stay or at least do what Liam so desperately wanted to do. Her voice was a whisper as she looked up at him, and he drew his hand out to touch her cheek. Before Liam every realized it, Riley’s lips were on his passionately. He held her in his arms while he could and closed his eyes with their lips locked. All too soon though, Riley pulled away, and he rested his forehead on hers while he stared into her eyes which twinkled with mirth.

“You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”

She smiled playfully. “I try.”

“I’m glad to have met you Riley.” He kissed her one last time for good measure, then pulled away completely with his hand holding her small one. “I’ll never forget this night.”

#trr #choices you play #liam pov #liam #drake #maxwell beaumont #vanillabean #riley #the royal romance #the start of something #king liam #prince liam