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#it came out of nowhere like it stung my heart like I’m both very confused and very uncomfortable
boom-bakugou · 4 years
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‘Wherever You Are’ - Shoto Todoroki/Eijiro Kirishima
A/N: This piece is for my @bnhabookclub bingo card! I’m crossing out “Be Quiet” and ‘Heated Argument’. I would also like to thank @honeytama @shoutogepi and @dragonhrte for beta reading <333
Pairings: Pro Hero!Todoroki x F!Reader / Pro Hero!Kirishima x F!Reader
Warnings: 18+, smut, mutual masturbation, minor temperature play, minor angst!
Summary: Todoroki already broke your heart when he said he was leaving for 6 months, but Kirishima can glue your broken heart back together before he returns...right?
Word Count: 5.2k
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“6 months.”
The words stung more than they should’ve. Half a year of not being able to see his face, hold his hand, sleep together in the same bed.
“Does it have to be so long? Do you really have to go?”
God your mind ran at a hundred miles a minute. Searching his face for any semblance of wanting to rethink the offer about heroing in America. But the sympathetic glance in his eyes was enough to tell you what his words could not.
Of course you were proud of him, of course you were. It wasn’t a minor thing in his career and not many heroes would be selected for such an astounding opportunity. Top heroes in Japan touring around America to show their quirks and how different cultures portrayed their heroes. A bit flamboyant for Todoroki but you presumed he was only following as Deku and Ground Zero were also picked for the once-in-a-lifetime gig.
“I’ll be back before you know it baby, I promise.”
So you took that promise to heart.
-
In the following months leading to his departure, there was a heavy air between the two of you that wouldn’t be mentioned. As if you both knew the inevitable was coming. How would you two manage a relationship from thousands of miles away? You had read every article on the internet, even bought books and followed tags that allowed you to know how to keep the fire burning between the two of you.
Shoto was typically quiet, he always was. But as he began packing his bags for the long tour, he was deathly silent. The guilt of leaving you by yourself in your shared home burning him up inside. He knew he had to say something to you about this whole ordeal, but how could he? He was taking this life changing decision and ruining what you two had perfectly here. But you two could survive right? Or was that the right decision overall? Was prolonging you two the right decision?
It all came down to the day he had to leave. Helping him pack the last of his necessities into his very packed suitcases which had been neatly placed upon your shared bed.
“I completely forgot to ask, how’re you getting to the airport?”
“Bakugou and Midoriya are dropping me off.”
Oh. You had hoped you could get those final moments of couples bliss before he left, but you couldn’t not indulge in having the two young heroes watch in jealousy of you and your boyfriend.
“Can I come? See you off before you leave?”
Your tone was so bittersweet. Not really wanting to see him leave into the airport gates.
“Of course you can.” Todoroki zipped up his final case before pressing a chaste kiss upon your forehead, lingering for a moment to then head to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for you both.
The familiar ring of Todoroki’s phone signified that Bakugou and Midoriya were outside. Bakugou had convinced Kirishima to drive them to the airport (which he did not appreciate as it was far too early for him) and he was the one to head up to help Todoroki with his cases.
“I’ll get that for you Y/N, no worries.” His toothy grin glimmered to you as he picked up the heavy case with ease. It must be fun being a pro-hero.
The ride to the airport was sweet, despite being squashed in the back with Bakugou and Todoroki. It was mostly filled with inside jokes between the four boys and Bakugou screaming for the aux cord because ‘Shitty hair’s music is shitty’. You’d miss the small moments like these.
After checking the three men and their bags to the plane, Todoroki and you parted from the group to have a few last moments together before it would only be facetimes and snapchat stories in seeing each other’s lives.
“Y/N you know this will be difficult right?”
“I know, but I’ve planned everything out! We’re gonna be fine.”
“I’m going to be so busy though, I’ll barely have time for calls and I’ll be so tired at the end of my day and-“
“That’s why when we do call, it’ll be so much more special! We have date nights planned and-“
“Y/N, look I just don’t think I want to push this.”
You could have almost spat your coffee out at his interruption. He wasn’t even looking at you, springing this up on you in your last moments before not seeing him for 6 whole months.
“Wh-what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that… I don’t know, maybe you should see other people. I just don’t think- with how busy I am-it willon’t work.”
You hadn’t even realised you were crying. Your glare towards him basically begging for him to look you in the eyes. Coward.
“So you won’t even try?”
“I just don’t see the point-“
“The point in us?” The daggers in your voice finally made him look up at you, the snivelling mess he had made you into. He had gotten your hopes up that it would work, that you’d still be there for him and support him. “Have fun on your tour Todoroki.”
You left your coffee half drunk, not even wanting the takeaway cup with his name on it. It wasn’t worth your time.
“Hey Kirishima could I have the keys to your car? I just wanna sit down for a bit.” Your eyes were practically glued to the floor, as a means to not show him that you were seconds from fully breaking down.
“Sure, but, aren’t you gonna say goodbye to Sho?” He reluctantly pulled his keys out from his sweatpants pocket, dangling them in front of you in hopes that he could see your expression.
“He just did.” You try your best not to snatch them from him but your attempt fails. You just wanted to be out of there. Even pushing past Bakugou and Midoriya to exit the building and sit alone with your thoughts.
Selfish bastard. If he’d been thinking about this for so long why not just break up with you when he first told you? Why wait so fucking long for him to just break your heart when you did so much to salvage anything if things got bad? You hit your hand on the steering wheel so hard that the horn beeps and you sob more from the fright. You must’ve looked insane.
Kirishima arrived back at his car about 10 minutes later. Sliding out from the driver’s position to the passenger seat silently, you had at least cleaned yourself up a bit in the thought of knowing that he would soon be back.
“So, he told me.” Kirishima breaks the silence. Hands gripping the wheel with a nervous intent. Knowing it’s a very touchy subject.
“Yeah?”
“It’s gonna be fine y’know? At least he’s not like in your face or anything or you can’t awkwardly bump into him in the street.” His attempts to pick up the mood fall on deaf ears.
“He didn’t have to drag me along for the ride though.” Your tears slide down your face and pool on your neck, not even having the strength within you to wipe them away.
“Well we’re all here for you no matter what Y/N-“
“Can I go to yours for a bit? I know it’s early I just… don’t want to go back to the flat just yet.”
“Course you can.”
-
Staying at Kirishima’s became a regular thing. Not really being able to confine yourself to the four walls of the apartment you used to share with Shoto.
He’d let you sleep in his spare room, his gym equipment keeping you company in the night. It was a fine arrangement. Kirishima was always so nice to you when you were with Todoroki, and since your abrupt breakup; you had an inkling that Kirishima wasn’t on the best of terms with him anymore.
The barren walls and blankets kept you safe from old memories, but your mind followed through with the nightmares.
Your body shook from the antagonising scowl upon Todoroki’s face, it was terrifying but mostly upsetting. You couldn’t help but sob yourself awake. Your pillow a wet mess and your throat dry from screaming.
“Y/N?”
Kirishima stood in your doorway, the light from the hallway pooling around him and the sympathetic gaze in his tired eyes.
“Nightmares?”
You nodded, sitting yourself up in bed and wiping the wet from your cheeks. Kirishima sat on the edge of your bed, rubbing your leg comfortingly over the duvet.
“Do you need anything?” The tired croak in his voice broke your heart further. You felt like such a burden.
“No I’m okay; thank you.” With a small smile, Kirishima got up to go back to bed before you intervened. “Wait- will you stay with me?”
There’s a small glimmer of confusion that passes over Kirishima’s face, but in the end he accepts. You’d known each other for many years and had many sleepovers in each other's dorms that this was nothing new.
Taking off his dressing gown, Kirishima was dressed in a slightly ripped top of his own ‘Red Riot’ merch and loose-fitting boxers. It took you a few moments to drink him in, this really was the most intimate you’d ever seen him.
And that’s how it went for 5 months, just you and Kirishima periodically sleeping in each other's beds to just be with each other. Nothing explicit or sexual, just sometimes touching feet or waking up near enough in each other’s arms.
Until 2 weeks before Deku, Bakugou and Todoroki were meant to come home.
Whether it was the heat of the night or just an off day from not having been intimate for so long you couldn’t help but just need someone to touch you so badly. Thankfully Kirishima was in his room so you at least had some alone time to run your fingers against your slick folds, fingers sopping wet from just how aroused you actually were.
It was infuriating about how you could barely get yourself off, and stifling your moans with a weak lip bite was getting you absolutely nowhere. You knew how thin Kirishima’s walls could be from that night he brought a girl home once. You barely got a lick of sleep just from the noise… or from the slight twinge of jealousy.
Because it had become such a norm to you both, you hadn’t even noticed Kirishima enter your room with your eyelids pressed shut trying to picture any sort of scenario to get the edge off. So when you felt him tugging at your covers; your whole body turned to ice.
“Kiri wait-“
But it was far too late. He had no choice but to see the bottom half of you completely naked and drenched in your own slick.
“Oh fuck Y/N- I-I’m so sorry look I’ll go I should’ve knocked- fuck I’m sorry.” Even in the darkness of your room you could clearly see the blush on his face as if it was illuminative. You also couldn’t peel your eyes away from the rising tent in his sweatpants. You could’ve licked your lips at the sight.
“It’s alright- I’m sorry I didn’t notice you sooner.” You tried your best to catch your breath, with no real success as your tone was so ragged. You covered yourself up and place your hands on top of your covers; allowing for some form of minor stimulation to yourself without Kirishima noticing.
“D-Do you want me to help?” He sounded so innocent but the way he licked his lips sent chills to your spine. Could you really sleep with your best friend?
“I-I don’t know, but- you obviously need some help yourself.” You do your best to joke about the awkward situation, something that was rather natural for your friendship. Kirishima couldn’t help but slyly place his hands over his crotch despite you already noticing the dark grey patch of pre-cum staining the fabric.
“Well… we could just… masturbate together?” The thought hung in the air for a brief moment as it washed over the both of you, Kirishima gulping as the silence lasted longer than expected.
“Okay…” Your tone was hesitant but he could tell by how dilated your pupils were that this would probably be something neither of the two of you would mention in the morning. He’d be okay with that… maybe. Maybe not.
Sliding to his usual side of the bed, he leaned against the headboard and you sat yourself up a bit further. Pulling the covers to the side so everything was fully out in the open again. You could hear Kirishima hiss between his teeth at the sight of you even more drenched at the thought of you two doing this together. You watched with the same anticipation as him as he pulled his sweatpants down to let his cock spring free. The sight of it so red and flush couldn’t stop your hand from sliding back down to your heat.
Seeing the two of you like this was enough to get you both off, the room was filled with an air of silence but it wasn’t heavy. No, it was littered with the soft moans of you and your best friend.
Your eyes traced each other’s bodies as if you needed to discover every inch of each other with just your eyes. You’d seen Kirishima without his shirt many timesa time but you could practically beg for it just to see the way his muscles move as he pumped his cock. Kirishima gave you the same attentive look as he studied the way your fingers slid in and out of yourself.
After a few minutes of pleasure filled and moan ridden ecstasy; your hand began to cramp and the frustration of still not being able to get yourself off had tears streaming down your face.
“Fuck Kiri-“ You whined, hearing his name come out of your mouth was a sinful kiss to his ears. He wanted to hear it all the time.
“Yeah, me too princess.” He sounded so low it was basically a grunt of a sentence. “Do you want me to-?”
“Please.” He didn’t have to wait, you lifted away your tired hand from yourself and he slid along the bed to run his fingers up your slit. Just the feeling of another person touching you so intimately was enough to release the tension from your sore head, the scream released from your throat could’ve made him come undone right then and there.
“Just like that baby?” Kirishima’s calloused fingers danced delicately along your folds, squeezing ever so gently at your clit making your back arch. Your hand drifted along his midriff until it found the way to the bottom of his cock. He hissed at the feeling of your hand around him and his fingers stuttered against your core.
“Please, mmmf… need you in me.” You managed to choke out. Kirishima didn’t need another sign as he plunged two fingers into your wet self. He set his hand just above your head, leaning down on you as you fisted his member at the same rate he thrusted his fingers in and out of you.
You both silently knew that it’d be too weird if you two actually had sex. You were just helping each other in a time of need.
Kirishima pressed his knuckles down on the spongy part of your insides, making your hand falter aagainst him before finding your way to pick up your pace again.
“Fuck fuck, Y/N- I’m so fucking close.” Kirishima forced the words out of his mouth as he watched you writhe in pleasure underneath him.
“Me too Kiri oh fuck-“ You could feel the coil tightening within you ready to burst and you felt him twitch beneath your hand.
“Fucking hell fuck Y/N I lo-.” The sound of him moaning as he came into your hand and parts of your stomach drowned out his sentence and the way he curled his fingers while inside of you was enough to also tip you over the edge, grabbing his shoulder with your free hand for a reason to ground you to reality.
Catching your breath, Kirishima slid away from above you. The reality of the situation almost settling in for the two of you. He lifted the waistband of his sweatpants up before pressing a chaste kiss on your head. He wished he would have lingered longer.
“I’ll get something to help you clean up.” He returned with two hot flannels, rubbing wherever his come had landed on you and using the other to wipe any sweat or where your slick had coated your thighs.
“Thank you Kirishima.” Your throat croaked from the pleasure of it all, Kirishima couldn’t help but give a short chuckle as he crawled into bed with you after throwing the flannels in the washing machine.
“I should be thanking you too.”
With that you both fell asleep, a little closer to each other than usual. But, what was he going to say before he got interrupted? You didn’t have time to think of that now.
-
Within two weeks, you and Kirishima had become a lot closer after your little ‘sexual altercation’. Your social media was flooded with photos of you and him going out to eat and going to the movies together and just dumb stuff you’d do at his apartment. So after 6 months of living on and off together; you two decided that you’d officially become roommates. Not a couple just… roommates.
“You gonna need any help or anything?” Kirishima smiled as you opened the door to your old apartment you used to share with Todoroki. Thankfully for the last time.
“Just go to work silly. I'm just grabbing the last of my stuff. It's nothing big, just clothes and ornaments.” You waver him off with a shake of your hand. “You gotta head to work and finish that paperwork.”
That earned a groan from him.
“I’d rather be manly and helpful to you.” He leaned his arm against the doorframe as you unlocked the door.
“Yeah? Well you can go and be manly and helpful to the public, I’ll see you later Kiri.” You smirk, he rolls his eyes. You parted with a small hug and you began to get started to clean up the final things in your old apartment with Todoroki.
It looked almost barren now, you didn’t realise how much of you was in this house and not him. He was always reserved, unlike Kirishima. Even though it was never a fully agreed upon thing that you were living with Kiri as you’d come back to this old house for most of the week- it didn’t feel like home. But it did with Kirishima.
You placed old bedcovers and old clothes into a cardboard box, humming to yourself at the glee of not being alone in the birdcage of your ex. You didn’t even hear the keys go in the door. It wasn’t until you were exiting your old shared bedroom with the box in hand did you notice him. You couldn’t help but drop the box as there was Todoroki, unchanged from the day he left you at that airport cafe.
“Y/N?”
“I was just leaving.”
“Leaving where? Where’ve all your things gone?” He couldn’t not help but notice your decorum missing, it brought life into the modern studio apartment.
“I don’t live here anymore Todoroki. I’m just getting my things and going home.” You attempt to save yourself the embarrassment of already dropping the box by spitting back with venom.
The look of confusion on the bicoloured man’s face was evident. You had no time to play his games.
“I live with Kirishima, I’m getting the last of my things. I didn’t even realise you’d be home today.” You sigh. Though, maybe you subconsciously did. Maybe you knew that he’d be home today and that’s why you decided today was the day you’d get the rest of your things.
“I thought you were getting a bit close.” Todoroki grumbled under his breath, but he knew you heard him. “Always on dates together, always at his house.”
The loud ‘hah’ you let out of your mouth was a jutter in the conversation, Todoroki was obviously taken aback.
“What’s it even to you? Why should you give a shit about my life when you just up and disappeared for 6 months on your own volition huh?” You spat despite your whole body shaking, you couldn’t have missed him right? “You left me alone even when I supported you, did all that shit to make sure we’d stay in contact and now you have the nerve to be jealous?”
His eyes scanned your face before watching you intently, crossing the space between you to finally stand in front of you. You could smell his cologne, citrus and sharp. You’d forgotten how much you missed that smell.
“I didn’t know how much I’d missed you Y/N.” You could feel his breath fan your face catching your own ever so slightly. “I missed you so fucking much baby.”
“Todoroki-“
“Come on baby tell me you didn’t miss me too.” His voice was so soft and sweet to your ears, you couldn’t even stop him from leaning in so close to your face.
“I-“ But before you could speak his lips had encapsulated yours, the box in your hands losing grip.
God had you missed his lips upon yours, you sunk into the kiss as if you had never slept and he was the comfiest bed on earth. He pushed the box from your hands and it landed to the floor with a large thud, taking you by surprise. Yet despite you breaking the kiss from the surprise he swooped you back to having his lips against yours once again.
Kicking the cardboard from the separation of the two of you, Todoroki pulled you close. Taking you in his arms and furthering the kiss. He’d gotten more toned in the months that he’d been gone, your hands dancing over his muscles which were taught against his jumper.
“I should’ve never fucking left you baby girl.” He moaned against your lips, hand to the back of your neck as he drank you in. “Never. I missed you so fucking much.”
Sliding his hands from your neck to your lower back until he reached your thighs, Todoroki pulled you up and you gripped onto his waist as if it was clockwork. How could you have ever thought about anyone else but him? Todoroki walked with ease with you around him to your old bedroom, and when he lay you on your bed it didn’t feel so small anymore.
Buzz Buzz
“Fuck- Shoto my phone,” You whined as Todoroki left nipping kisses down your neck, you shifted beneath him to grab your phone from your back pocket to only see Kirishima’s name flash before you. You could feel Shoto’s heterochromic gaze as the photo of you and Kirishima lit up the screen.
“Answer it-“ Todoroki’s voice was a commanding growl and by the way he squeezed your breasts roughly you couldn’t help but coincide. “Answer it, but be quiet.”
With a gulp you shakily clicked to answer the call and put it on speaker as Todoroki began to slide down your jeans.
“Hey Y/N! Look I know this is out of the blue and I’m at work but- I can’t just stop thinking about us and you know… what we did.” Kirishima’s voice rang through the phone and you feel that Todoroki’s eyes could have pierced through you right then and there.
“But I just think you know with everything we’ve been through together- god this is so not manly asking over the phone but… do you wanna go on a date sometime? I’ll take you out somewhere nice and proper.”
Todoroki rolled his hips into your clothed core after taking off your jeans and a moan threatened to erupt from your throat. Sliding your underwear down his fingers pressed against your wetness and slid down before he bent his head down licking a strip against your sensitive clit. He knew your body like the back of his hand- you missed his gentle touch.
“And I know it might be weird because of Todoroki but he broke up with you so it’s understandable right?” Todoroki’s grip on your thigh became tighter as he lapped your pussy you thought that if you bit your lip any harder it would surely bleed. “I talked with Bakugou about it and he didn’t exactly give the best advice but… I like you… a lot Y/N.”
You couldn’t help but let out a whimpering moan as Todoroki slipped his tongue inside of you and moved in and out of you slowly, relishing the small moans you made.
“Y/N? Are you there? You okay?”
Todoroki’s hand left your thigh and he sat up, allowing for his bulge to once again grind against your core. You gasp at the friction of his jeans against your sensitive clit.
“Y/N? Hello? Please tell me you’re alright?”
With a swift grab of your phone and a hand pressed to your lips; Todoroki began to basically growl back at Kirishima.
“She’s busy.”
Making a scene of pressing the end call button, Todoroki through your phone to the carpeted floor where it thankfully didn’t smash.
“Shoto!”
“So you’ve been messing about with Kirishima, baby?” You whimper at his words as he harshly presses his bulge against you. “Also, didn’t I tell you to be quiet?”
He grasps your chin with his forefinger and his thumb, placing a gentle kiss against your lips before bringing his other hand and slapping your ass hard. You wail at the contact which only gives Todoroki a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.
“It was only once Shoto I promise-“
“Shh shh shh, your filthy mouth needs to be quiet baby girl.” Todoroki leans up from you and begins to unbuckle his belt painfully slowly. His hand gestures afterwards as if telling you to finish disrobing yourself by yourself. “I should’ve never left you, no one else gets to know that this pretty little pussy is mine and mine alone. Got that princess?”
He brings his belt to slap against your thigh when you don’t give him a reply immediately, to which you soon nod your head.
“Let me hear your words baby girl.” His hands slide down to his boxers, jerking himself off as if to tease you as you couldn’t fully picture how he was fisting his cock right now.
“I’m yours Shoto, nobody else’s. Only ever yours.” You’re a whimpering mess and you try to cling to him desperately. He lets out a low chuckle before pulling his boxers fully down and letting his cock spring free.
Todoroki settles himself in between your legs, savouring a taste of your slick before angling his body back up so you were face to face, leaving wet kisses down your neck but biting at all the sweet spots he knew too well.
“Gonna mark you so that everybody knows that you belong to me.” His voice whispered against your skin, the tip of his member prodding against your folds; sliding up and down against you for some friction.
Shoto made his way back up from your nipples to your mouth before pressing his lips against you hungrily. He settled his hips neatly against yours and you instinctively wrapped your thighs around him as he pushed inside of you. Moaning into the kiss with each thrust until he completely bottomed out inside of you. You felt so full and right, you were Todoroki’s.
“God princess I forgot how much you felt like you were made for me.” Todoroki grunts as he begins to set a pace for himself, entangling his hands in your hair and tugging slightly so he has free reign over your neck for every bite and mark he saw fit. “Isn’t that right baby?”
“Yes- fuck me Shoto I’m all yours.” You dig your nails into his back, hard enough to leave marks tomorrow. Shoto starts pistoning his hips into you and you both can’t help but groan at the friction of your two bodies melding together.
Shoto slides his hand up your body until he reached the small of your back, arching you at a deeper angle into him as he fucked you directly into the bed. The sound it made only added to the erotic symphony of your bedroom combined with your moans and the wet skin slapping together. You fist your hands into the sheets in fear of clawing Todoroki’s back any more and you swore you could’ve torn the covers.
“Does that feel good princess? Am I the only one who knows how to make you feel as good as this?” Todoroki’s laugh is almost sinister as he brings his right hand to your clit, making it drop in temperature just to see you squirm.
“You make me feel so fucking good Shoto- so full I only want you- I only need you. Fuck I’m gonna-“
“You gonna come for me princess? Gonna come all around my cock? Good girl, come on come for me.” He whispered into your neck, feeling you tighten around him. Your back arched even further as you came undone around him, pushing himself even further into you to feel you convulse against his cock.
“Shit Y/N!” He groans, absolutely exasperated as he comes inside of you. Letting hot spurts of come dribble out from your pussy. His hands slide from your sides and into your hands as intertwines your fingers together. Shoto catches his breath, his bicoloured hair stuck to his forehead with sweat as he leans into your chest- the two of your synchronising your breathing together.
“Did you miss that my baby? Miss me taking care of you like that?” Todoroki showers your fluttering body with kisses as he pulls himself out of you. Your heart raced but also the pang of guilt was there from the phone call from Kirishima.
“I missed you Sho.”
Todoroki took care of your heavily bruised body, apologising for the bruises upon your waist where he gripped you too tightly and covering you up tightly into your old bedsheets to lay together just like the old days.
However Kirishima was just glad he had a lock on his office door. He gripped his phone tightly in his hands after hearing your orgasm brought him to his own. The pretty profanities that fell out your mouth drove him insane. He’d have to seriously clean himself up after jacking off to your explicit moans from over the phone. Did Todoroki mean to hang up? He didn’t care right now, he just cared about good he could still make you feel.
He was going to make you his. Todoroki or not.
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dreamescapeswriting · 4 years
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BTS Reaction || Angsty Arguments [Request]
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A/N: Angst ending!!! GIMMIE! Yes! Bring me back to my angst ways please
Seokjin:
Namjoon smirked as you showed him what you had gotten Jin that morning, it was just another small present to add to the pile of other presents you'd gotten already.
"You sure he has no idea?" You were scared that somehow Jin had managed to find out what was happening behind his back. You and Namjoon had spent weeks planning this surprise Birthday party and you didn't want anything to go wrong. It was the first time his Birthday would be spent at home and not at events like all the years before so you wanted to do something kind of special and Namjoon agreed to help you. The venue was ready and booked, everything was pristine and ready to go except for his gifts. You felt like you couldn't find anything that was going to be as perfect for Jin, what could you get the man that had almost everything he wanted in his life.
"He's clueless, thinks we're all going for a meal together and then heading home." Namjoon laughed sitting back in his chair and watching you, he knew how much stress you were under for all of this to go right but he also knew there was nothing he could do to reassure you that it was going to be fine.
"What are you getting him?" You questioned looking away from your phone, you were sitting on sites looking for the perfect thing but nothing was jumping out at you. You and Jin had been together for three years and you knew him like the back of your hand but it didn't make gift buying any easier for him.
"Not sure yet, me and Yoongi are going out later to shop. Wanna come?" You nodded and looked at the time, it was getting close to 1 pm which meant Jin would be back from lunch soon and you didn't want him to catch you walking around BigHit with no explanation as to why you were there.
"I'll text you the details," Namjoon said watching you get up from his sofa - leaving the bag of decorations and smaller presents in his studio so that Jin couldn't find them.
"What are you doing here?" You almost jumped out of your skin as you shut the door and heard Jin's voice ringing through the air,
"You scared me." You laughed looking up at him but he wasn't laughing. He looked pissed off at the fact that you were there in the first place,
"Why were you bothering Namjoon?" You didn't know what his tone was for, all you did was walk out of a studio it was no big deal.
"We're busy so why don't you just leave us alone?" You frowned as he gave you a dirty look, in all three years of you dating he'd never once looked at you like this before.
"I was just talking to Namjoon about-"
"About what? We're fucking busy Y/n, gosh you're always here!" You blinked at him and tried to ignore the staff members that had turned around to watch what was happening.
"You're always clingy onto me and the other guys, do you have any idea how annoying it is to go somewhere and expect to find peace but," He threw his hands into the air feeling defeated,
"Here you are again being a whiney bitch!" Your heart crushed as he called you a bitch to your face, he was turning red in the face with anger and you could feel your cheeks heating up because of all the people turning to watch the show. Namjoon's studio door opened and he frowned at the sight,
"Jin Y/n was just talking-"
"I know, fucking annoying isn't it. Always talking! Always clinging onto us," You looked at the floor and then up to Namjoon shaking your head you just wanted to get out of the building and away from Jin but he was continuing his speech about you being clingy.
(X)
Jin threw his keys onto the coffee table as he walked through the door of your shared apartment, he expected to see you standing and waiting for him as you usually were but you weren't there.
"Y/n?" His voice rang through the air but you didn't stop packing everything into the bag you were carrying, you'd beaten him home by five minutes so you already had a bunch of stuff shoved into a bag.
"Baby? What are you doing?" His hands touched your arms but you moved away from him and took the bag into the bathroom, giving him the silent treatment was easier than talking to him right now.
"Y/n?" You slammed the cupboard door shut and zipped the bag up and came out of the bathroom slinging the bag over your shoulder and heading for the bedroom door. Your hand reached the handle when you felt his on your wrist,
"Please don't leave me." He whimpered but you took his hand off you and headed down the stairs, you couldn't even look at him without feeling hurt but you knew it wasn't going to end well. Something was brewing and it was bubbling so much everything was going to blow.
"Why are you doing this?" The bag slipped from your shoulder and hit the floor with a light thud, you slowly turned back to look at him.
"Why am I doing this? Maybe because I'm clingy? or annoying? You take the pick of your words Jin and tell me." His mouth hung open as he remembered what he'd said earlier in the day but he wasn't defending his actions.
"Exactly! That's why I'm leaving, I'll leave and you won't have to deal with me being clingy or annoying okay? Tell Namjoon that the party was a huge mistake he'll know what you mean." You went to walk out of the door when he begged you to stop,
"What?" You snapped back at him and for a split second you thought he was going to rush over and hold you but he took the necklace that was around your neck and snapped the chain. It was what you kept a promise ring he had given you on.
"Right, wouldn't want me to pawn it in or anything." You picked up the bag and walked out of the front door slamming it behind you as you walked down the street. You had nowhere to go, the only money you had on you was enough for one night a hotel but the closest hotel wasn't for miles away from you. You felt alone and stranded but there was no way you were going back.
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Yoongi:
You'd been planning the entire event with Jungkook for months, everything had to be a surprise from Yoongi. The boys tried every year to surprise him for his birthday but it always failed because Yoongi knew when they were up to something however, it was different this year. This year they had you and they knew that you could lie convincingly to Yoongi thanks to your acting background.
"So I'm thinking, I take him out for a one on one meal and then bring him to the venue?" You told Jungkook as you looked over everything, you were both sitting in your apartment talking about the plans. The party was in less than a week and you wanted to make sure it was going to go off without a hitch.
"Sounds good, I can't believe he has no idea." Jungkook laughed looking through the bags of decorations. You'd been storing everything at your small apartment since you and Yoongi barely hung out there - it was normally at the dorms or his apartment where you would spend your time together.
"I'm glad he has no idea, but I'll be even happier when all of this is over and I can quit lying to him." You laughed and looked over at the door as the doorbell rang,
"I only called ten minutes ago, that's some fast pizza." You grabbed your purse and headed over to the door to answer it,
"Yoongi?" You said his name a little louder so Jungkook would hear and begin rushing to pack everything away, you'd gotten this far without him realising you weren't about to let him catch onto everything now.
"You okay?" Yoongi asked, a little confused as to why you were blocking him from coming into the apartment, normally you'd let him just walk right in but the door had been locked.
"Waiting for pizza, come in." You moved out of the way and prayed that Jungkook had hidden everything.
"You alone?" Yoongi questioned, he saw a pair of men's shoes by the door and there was a man's jacket on the arm of the sofa.
"Yeah," Jungkook had clearly hidden away for a reason so you went along with it but Yoongi knew you were lying.
"Why-" The doorbell rang and you rushed away from the awkward tension to go and answer it,
"Thank you!" You took the pizza back into the living room and Yoongi stood there with his arms folded over his chest as he stared at you.
"If you aren't alone why two pizzas?" You started to stutter for something to say but he shook his head at you,
"I should haven't listened to what people were saying, where is he?!" His started raising his voice but you were still stuck on what he had said.
"What do people say?"
"That you're a whore, only with me for money and we all know it's true." That one stung, you looked at him still trying to find something to say back to him.
"Where is he then? The guy you're cheating on me with?!" His voice got so loud you dropped the pizza boxes onto the floor but he continued to yell at you.
"I'm not cheating on you Yoongi, I was-"
"Men's shoes, a man's jacket? But no, of course, you're not cheating on me. They were right though! Fucking slut," You felt your heart convulse as he spat the words out like they meant nothing, that they held no value when they did. With every word that flew from his mouth, you felt your heart crush all the more.
"Stop it!" You begged but he continued to call you the mean things and you ended up crying in front of him, you'd completely forgotten that somewhere in your very small apartment was Jungkook listen to everything that was happening.
"Whoever he is, I hope he can deal with how annoying you are, because I can't." You wiped your eyes not being able to stand this anymore, it was like hell the way he was talking to you.
"Leave. Leave right now." Your voice was stern and he cocked his head to the sighed and laughed at you.
"You're the one crying because you got found out cheating." You sobbed as he stared at you like that. Like you were nothing to him when less than two months ago he told you he loved you and was planning a future with you.
"Get out." You tried to tell him but it was more of a beg that came from your lips,
"Fuck off. I hope he enjoys it until you cheat on him!" He kicked over the table as he walked out of the house, slamming the front door behind him as he did so. Once you knew his car as gone you slid down the wall of your apartment bringing your knees into your chest as you sobbed into them.
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Hoseok:
This wasn't your idea it had been Jiwoo’s idea, you wanted to do something special for Hobi's birthday since it would be the first time you were celebrating together with him and his family.
"I was thinking we could all go out to some kind of meal, or we could throw a small party. Us, his friends and a couple of old school friends." She said as she grabbed her cup of hot chocolate, you were in a small cafe around the corner from the BigHit building. This was nothing new, you and Jiwoo would meet up and have meals occasionally and get to know one another. She treated you like a sibling and you loved it, you felt so welcomed into the family by all of them and it was a wonderful feeling.
"I think the boys would love that as well, it's been a while since everyone was together like that." You said to her as you put your cup down and looked at your phone. Hoseok had been ignoring you all morning since you had a small fight about going to see Jiwoo. You didn't see the big deal about it and he hadn't explained why he was so mad all morning about it. He just went to work mad and ignored you after the fight, it annoyed you but you assumed he just needed to let off some steam.
"Everything okay? You haven't stopped checking your phone." She laughed and you nodded at her,
"Yeah we're just-" You stopped when you saw Hoseok walking into the cafe with the boys, all of them laughing and joking until Hoseok locked eyes with you and his smile dropped. He rushed over to the table,
"Can I talk to you alone?" He had another smile across his face but you could already tell it wasn't a good smile, it was the kind of smile you faked when you didn't want people to know that you were fighting with one another. You followed him towards the toilets of the cafe and he stared at you waiting for an answer,
"What?" You whispered looking at him, he folded his arms over his chest and shook his head at you.
"I told you not to meet up with her," You frowned,
"I didn't see the big deal-"
"She thinks you're annoying, she doesn't like you. She just puts up with you because you're dating me. None of my family actually like you...The boys don't either." You stared at him, he couldn't be serious? This had been Jiwoo’s idea in the first place. To come here and plan the whole birthday for him and Jimin had been your best friend since you were kids together.
"You're joking, right? Jimin and I have been friends since we could walk." You laughed nervously but you stopped instantly when you realised he was being serious,
"For your information, Jiwoo invited me here to plan your birthday so maybe you're projecting, maybe you find me annoying?" He nodded and looked at you.
"Yeah, you're right I do." You nodded without saying another word and walked out, going back over to the table without uttering a word to anyone you left the cafe.
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Namjoon:
Jungkook had been trying to stall you from going to see Namjoon for the last ten minutes,
"Come on. I just have to ask him one question." You laughed at Jungkook who was still trying to do anything to get you to stay with him in the dance studio, that was when it hit you. He was trying so hard to keep you in one place and you were filled with dread as you realised there was probably only one reason why.
"Look! I'm staying," You lied, you sat on the chair closest to the door while he got himself ready to show you a dance that he'd 'been wanting to show you all week' it was a lie. Jungkook never danced in front of anyone but the boys unless there was a concert on or a teacher was helping them. The second his back was turned you were out of the door and in the elevator going up to Namjoon's studio, you were probably overthinking. You and Namjoon had been together for four years, he wasn't just going to throw that away. He was probably just busy, you hand hovered over the door handle as you debated about walking inside with yourself. It wasn't until you heard shuffling that you pushed the door open and there right in front of you was Namjoon, with another girl making out on his desk. He was stood between her legs as she held them open for him, his dick inside of her and your world came to a crashing halt. You slammed the door and tried to rush down the hall but Jin was coming up to you and Namjoon was screaming your name.
(X)
"Come out! I- Y/n! We have to talk about this." Namjoon was trying to open the studio door that you'd locked yourself behind but it wasn't working, you sat on the sofa inside there and pulled your knees into your chest. All that filled your head was him and that girl on his desk, him and that girl in your bed and him and that girl...Just him and her always.
"Y/n! We have to talk about it!" You couldn't even begin to form words, your throat was dry and your blood was running cold. You wanted to leave but there was no way out except facing him and what he had done to you.
"You can't hide in there forever." You looked at the door, he was yelling at you as though this was your fault. As though you coming into the studio and finding him balls deep in another woman was your fault and not his.
"No, you're right!" You flung yourself up and opened the door trying to move past him but he blocked you inside.
"Let me out." Your voice was blank, no emotion as you tried to ignore his pleas for you to listen to him. You'd only come to see him and ask what he would want for his birthday. You'd been planning a beautiful party with Jin all week and in one fell swoop, it was all ruined.
"Talk to me." He begged holding onto your wrist, your eyes travelled down to look at them.
"Talk to you? Okay, let's talk about how you were balls deep in someone that wasn't me? Talk about how you had Jungkook lie and get me to stay downstairs, does everyone know about her or are their multiple others too?" He shook his head at you as you went to walk away from him,
"It's your fault you know!" You froze in place as his words registered in your head.
"My fault?" You turned around to face him and he nodded while shrugging his shoulders,
"If you weren't so busy with Jin all of the time maybe I wouldn't have slept with someone else." You pretended to understand his logic and nodded along with what he was saying to you.
"Yeah, yeah. You're so right Namjoon, from now on I'll wait on you hand and foot. I'll never leave your side okay?" You asked sarcastically turning to leave once again he shouted something but you continued walking away from him - holding up your middle finger at him as you strolled away from him. You'd done your best not to cry in front of him but you knew the moment you got home to the shared apartment you were going to break into pieces.
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Jimin:
You'd spent months saving up the money to get the tickets to go and see Jimin, you'd been together for three years but you still never let him pay for anything that you knew you could pay for but this time was different. This time he had no idea you were flying out to go and see him on tour, it was his birthday and you wanted to spend the week together instead of apart as you had done for the last three years. Jungkook had helped you with arranging taxi's for when you got to London and helping you book the hotel room next door to Jimin's.
"You look great, he's going to love this." Jungkook said as you came out of the bathroom wearing Jimin's favourite outfit on you, you did a small spin in the room before posing for Jungkook and bursting into laughter. Jimin was at the concert venue getting some extra practice in and Jungkook was agreeing to take you to the venue for the surprise to be a little special and he was going to record everything as well.
"Let's go."
(X)
"Jimin! Go again!" Someone called out from backstage, you were sitting at the side with Jungkook still hidden from Jimin but he just caught your laughter and he groaned into his mic.
"Follows me everywhere." He had a laugh in his voice so you figured he was joking,
"That laugh, it haunts me! Follows me everywhere just like they do." You froze in place as he made a joke about you following him everywhere, Jungkook stared at you not knowing what to do in this sort of situation, he stumbled backwards and knocked a bunch of microphones stands over and Jimin looked over at you both.
"See! Follows me everywhere!" He yelled and you could tell he was mad about it, you stared down at the floor as you felt stage managers all turning to look at you. Jimin walked over to you and took you to one of the changing rooms backstage not realising he still had a microphone on himself as he did so.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded answers slamming the door behind him and staring at you, he folded his arms over his chest looking you up and down.
"It's your birthday, I wanted to surprise you." He groaned running his hands through his hair as though he was the frustrated one here and that you hadn't just heard what he said about you on stage.
"Surprise me, sure. With how fucking obsessive you are? You always show up everywhere. I can't go anywhere or do anything without you popping up and asking me questions about it! Do you know how suffocating that is!? To have you breathing down my neck all of the time?!" You looked down at the floor trying not to cry in front of him right now, you just figured he was under a lot of pressure and he didn't mean what he was saying to you. Someone began tapping on the door but he continued to ramble on,
"You're always there! Everywhere I turn! There you are, smiling, laughing and acting like the perfect partner when you're just so god damn fucking annoying!" You flinched as he yelled and his voice echoed through the venue then it hit you hard, he was still wearing a small microphone on his shirt and you knew that everyone inside the building had heard every single word he'd been saying to you.
"Where are you going!?" He yelled as you pushed past him and opened the door, Jungkook was standing there with his hand up as if he was going to knock on the door but you pushed past him and ran towards the taxi bay outside.
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Taehyung:
"Come on!" You giggled moving Taehyung's chair out from under his desk at home. You'd been trying to get him to leave with you for the last hour but he hadn't moved. He'd decided that the game was far more important than spending time with his partner. The reason you were so stressed about getting him to leave was that you'd planned the best surprise birthday party for him and you were waiting for him to go and see it. All of the boys, friends and staff members were at the venue waiting for you to come but you were late.
"Fuck! Alright! I'm coming!" You ignored the tone of his voice knowing you'd probably annoyed him too much, he'd said he wanted to play the game but you'd been begging for him to come with you.
"Okay good! Wear my favourite shirt on you," You giggled but he ignored you and followed you down the stairs in the same shirt he'd worn all night and all morning.
"What are we waiting for? You were in such a rush two minutes ago." You nodded and slowly walked out of the apartment texting the boys that you were finally on your way to them but Taehyung seemed to be in a really bad mood.
"Smile baby, it's your birthday." You cooed reaching up to poke his cheek but he shoved your hand away from him and walked out of the door. You followed beside him in silence as you tried to make sure he went in the right direction, they were all waiting at the local cafe that they'd been pimping out with directions.
"It's my birthday, you're right. I should be at home relaxing instead of out with my-" He continued rambling but you couldn't hear him because he was mumbling under his breath.
"What?" You giggled thinking he was just joking about something but he stopped in his tracks and stared at you.
"I said instead of out with you, you're being so annoying and incredibly clingy tonight! Fuck! I just wanted to stay at home and play videos games but No! You had to drug us out to some lame cafe!" You stood still as he yelled at you in the street, you and Taehyung rarely fought and when you did he never yelled at you. Neither of you yelled at one another because you both hated it, you hated getting mad at each other. You found no use for fighting, if you had a problem it was best to talk about it calmly but that wasn't how Taehyung was feeling tonight.
"You find me annoying?" You stuttered out and he scoffed in response,
"Yes, I find you annoying, I find you clingy and I'm not the only one. All the boys agree with me, you've done nothing but bother them all week!" Everything he was saying was all starting to hit you at once, like being hit by a truck. You chest physical started to hurt as he continued to list off everything he thought about you that week alone,
"Just keep coming with me." You whispered trying to make him see that this wasn't you trying to be annoying but nice. He followed behind you in silence and you stood outside the cafe, no one could tell from the outside that the inside was done up to look special for him.
"See! Another dumb idea of yours! A cafe! It's my birthday, we could have at least gone somewhere nice." The boys watched from the inside as Tae started yelling at you and you were shaking your head trying to convince him to go inside.
"Leave me alone! Fuck! I can't believe we've made it this far in our relationship." You froze in place and stared at him, blinking as he said that before walking away from you.
"Don't leave me. Don't you dare leave me!" But he did just that, he walked away as though leaving you in the street crying was no big deal to him. You sniffled and took in a deep breath as you turned around to see Hoseok standing in the door,
"The party's cancelled, I'll pay for everything." You whispered pushing past them and into the small cafe to find the manager.
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Jungkook:
You slowly walked around the gaming room in the shared apartment you had with Jungkook, you'd been living together for six months and it had been the best six months of your life.
"What exactly am I looking for?" You asked Namjoon down the phone as you walked around the room, he'd gone into town for you to get Jungkook's gift but he needed a little help.
"It'll be on his desk, a controller." You walked over and spotted the battered controller that Jungkook owned, it was broken due to all the times that he smashed it around whenever he lost control over a game.
"Got it, sending you pictures now." You and Namjoon had been planning the perfect birthday surprise party for Jungkook, usually, he and Namjoon would share a party but this year you decided to throw a surprise party for Jungkook. You took photographs of the controller and sent them over to Namjoon, you went to place the controller down when you heard the front door slam making you jump in surprise. The controller slipped out of your hand and onto the floor finally breaking as it got its final blow.
"Shit." You whispered trying to clean it up before Jungkook walked into the room but it was too late, he stared at you and then down at what you were doing.
"For fuck sake!" He yelled making you jump a little, he bent down and began cleaning up the broken pieces,
"You break everything you touch!" He yelled and you moved away from him trying to tell him it was already broken before you touched it but it was no use. He wasn't going to listen to reason after he just found his controller smashed up,
"You can't just leave shit alone that doesn't belong to you?!" You looked at him stuttering out an apology but it wasn't good enough for him he was pissed off at you,
"Why are you even in here?! This is my space to get away from you!" He yelled and you stumbled out of the room and watching him slamming the door in your face, he continued rambling on the words he was saying, complaining about you as if you weren't stood a couple of steps away from the door.
(X)
"I didn't mean to break it." You defended later that night but he was shaking his head at you already,
"Just go away, you're so fucking clingy." He grumbled throwing the pieces of the broken controller into the bin, he clearly wasn't over it yet.
"It was an accident Kookie." Your hands came into contact with his back but he shoved you away,
"I said leave me alone! Fuck! Do I need to say it in another language for you to understand?! Leave me alone!" You tried to say something else and he started shaking his head,
"You know what, just fucking leave. Pack your shit! and get out of my house!" He yelled looking at you, you looked him in the eyes and he was serious about every word he was saying.
"Jungkook?"
"I said get out!" You nodded without another word and left him standing in the living room while you rushed upstairs to pack as much as you could into one bag. 
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Tagline: 
@writingdreamsnottragedies @yoongisdumplingcheeks @snowy-meowl @snowy-meowl @lynnthevirgo @jooniesdarlingdimples @fan-ati--c @lyoongx @mitzwinchester @callingmyangel​ @rjsmochii @btsiguess-kpop @kneel-begyourpardon @taestannie
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xerxia31 · 3 years
Text
the Big Bang - an Everlark ficlet
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Inspired by a story I read on CNN, that I couldn’t get out of my head. A warning - there are shades of dub-con here that may be disturbing to some readers. Rated M.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Peeta Mellark was fit to be tied.
“I don’t know what you want me to say here, boy,” Haymitch drawled. “You knew where these characters were heading when you signed on.”
“Come on, Haymitch,” Peeta growled. He was standing in Haymitch Abernathy’s office, holding the week’s script while Haymitch, head writer and executive producer of the hit series The Arena, in which Peeta starred, stared at him from under a mop of greasy, overlong hair. Until now, Peeta had loved working on the show, loved the ensemble cast, loved the interesting storylines and well-written scripts.
But not today.
“They’ve been growing together slowly for three damned seasons and now, this week, bam!” Peeta clapped his hands for emphasis, “out of nowhere you have three fucking sex scenes in the script.” For three seasons the show had been teasing a relationship between the character Peeta played, macho FBI agent Barley St James, and his shy, brainy colleague, Allium Winterland. It was a fantastic story, well paced, the dialogue between them always fun. Nearly three years they’d been teasing the audience with it.
And now this week’s script turned everything on it’s head. “You’re just screwing with us.” There was no way the timing was coincidental. Because the actress who played Allium, the actress he’d be stripping down to his skivvies and dry-humping with on national television? She was none other than his now-ex-girlfriend.
Haymitch glanced away. Peeta thought it was in shame until Haymitch spoke.
“You might as well come in, Sweetheart,” Haymitch said, and Peeta spun to look behind him. “We were talking about you.”
Katniss Everdeen was standing just outside Haymitch’s open door. It was the first time Peeta had laid eyes on her in the flesh in two weeks. Two fucking weeks! He hadn’t seen her since the night she walked out of their house.
He knew where she’d gone though, the whole fucking world did. All of the gossip rags, and even the more reputable news sites, were reporting how her on again off again affair with one Gale Hawthorne, star of multiple movie franchises and People magazine’s sexiest man alive 2018, was definitely on again. 
“Story of my life,” Katniss muttered as she walked the rest of the way through the door, schooling her expression into a dispassionate scowl as she did. Peeta had no idea why she went into acting, he could read her every emotion through the impassive mask. He always could. Today was no exception, her mask might be in place, but her eyes were flashing with fury, and something that looked suspiciously like hurt.
She didn’t acknowledge Peeta at all, striding into the room on silent feet and stopping a solid six feet away. Her arms were crossed protectively over her chest, but her copy of the script was clenched in one fist. No doubt she’d been planning on storming in here to blast Haymitch. But Peeta beat her to it.
“Save your breath, Sweetheart,” Haymitch said. “Like I told the boy, you knew this was coming.”
“It’s fine,” she said, shooting a cool look in Peeta’s direction. “I’m a professional.” Then she turned, and strutted back out the door, back straight, long, black braid swinging. He could only watch, jaw clenched.
“Brrr,” Haymitch said. “You two have got a lot of warming up to do before showtime.” He was right, of course, and Peeta knew it. The audience would be expecting a pair of lovebirds. Not two people who could barely look each other in the eye.
“Whatever,” Peeta grunted. She wanted to play it that way? He could be cold too.
o-o-o
The table read went smooth as silk. Katniss sat on one side of the room, chatting lightly with their costar Delly Cartwright between scenes, Peeta sat on the other, joking with Cressida Faulkner, who was directing that week’s episode. Most of the cast had no clue Peeta and Katniss had broken up, because most of them never knew they’d been an item at all. Haymitch had figured it out somehow, clearly, but none of the other cast noticed anything was amiss. 
The following day’s rehearsal, not so much. Rehearsals were always in costume and filmed, so that the production team could splice in any good bits that came out of them. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence in TV, especially in a weekly series where time was tight. Peeta was used to it.
His first few scenes were fine, his lines came easily, he hit every mark. Then came the first scene he and Katniss shared that week, the one that led up to the first of the three fucking sex scenes. 
She walked onto the set, and Peeta’s heart did a slow tumble in his chest. She was utterly beautiful, her hair loose and flowing, and wearing a dress patterned with autumn leaves. Soft orange, his favourite colour.
The colour of heartbreak.
They both stumbled through their lines, avoiding each other's eyes, interacting stiffing and unnaturally. Cressida halted the scene over and over again. It was a huge drag on the rest of the cast, slowing down everything.
Peeta’s only solace was that Katniss looked as miserable as he felt.
Peeta left as soon as rehearsal ended and headed for the gym. The call sheet had them both in an evening meeting at the studio, and he was going to need to work off some steam before he faced her again.
He should have asked, though, what the meeting was about. Because when he got back to the studio he found Katniss, dressed in leggings and a tiny little tank top, her face bare and so pretty, sitting cross-legged on a gym mat and chatting with a willowy brunette who gave off crunchy granola vibes. “Did I miss the memo about mandatory yoga?” he drawled. 
Katniss scowled, but the brunette smiled beatifically. “Hello Mr. Mellark,” she said softly, her voice like windchimes, musical and irritating. “I’m Annie Cresta, your intimacy coordinator.”
Peeta was too confused to make a joke. “My what now?”
Annie laughed. “Intimacy coordinator,” she repeated. “It’s my job to choreograph simulated sex scenes for actors.”
“I think we know how sex works,” Peeta grumbled, and Katniss flushed, obvious without the stage makeup caked on her skin, then looked down at her lap. But Annie was undeterred.
“Of course,” she said gently. “But it’s about more than just choreography. It’s about helping you both to be comfortable, about navigating respect and consent and keeping the set safe.”
Peeta had heard about this, once before maybe, in the wake of the #metoo movement. But he’d never worked with one before. Katniss must have requested it. Figured she couldn’t even trust him to be a professional on the set. “With all due respect, Ms. Cresta,” Peeta said. “I don’t think we need this. We’ve both filmed scenes like this before.” Not with each other, but that was a minor point.
Katniss, to his surprise, looked inclined to agree. Annie just smiled.
“Not negotiable, I’m afraid,” she said. “All of Panem Entertainment’s productions must have an intimacy coordinator on set.” Peeta frowned, they were in the third season of filming, he’d never seen Annie before. As if reading his mind, she nodded. “I worked with Thresh Watts and Rue Lamonte last year.” That scene had been filmed on a closed set, Peeta had seen the finished product, but not any of the lead-up, and it hadn’t occurred to him at the time to ask about it.
Peeta sighed, and resigned himself to having a stranger teach him how to have fake sex with his real ex-girlfriend.
“Have a seat,” Annie said, indicating the mat beside Katniss. Peeta gritted his teeth, but he sat, his knee brushing hers.
She didn’t react.
“Now,” Annie said. “Communication is key.” Peeta snorted, and Katniss scowled at him. Communication. With the woman who had spoken a single word to him in the past 15 days. Sure. "The most important thing is that the people involved feel safe.”
“Why would we feel unsafe?” Peeta interrupted. There was a Cubs game on TV tonight, he’d rather be watching that.
Annie was unperturbed. “You're revealing a lot in a scene, you're going to places where you're vulnerable, and that requires an awful lot of trust," she said, looking pointedly between Peeta and Katniss. He wondered with some annoyance just how much Katniss had revealed to Annie about their situation before he’d walked in. “I have the script, and an outline of how your director wants it to look. But you two will need to talk with each other and with me and say, 'What are you comfortable with? What are you not comfortable with?'”
“I don’t want kissing,” Katniss blurted, then flushed again. “I mean,” she amended, “I’m not sure I can concentrate on both that and lines and choreography.” Peeta knew that was bullshit, in three seasons he could count on one hand the number of times Katniss had forgotten a line or missed a mark. 
She just didn’t want to kiss him. And it stung. 
Annie nodded. “We can work around that,” she said. “There will need to be some close up shots of you kissing, but they can be filmed separately from the simulated sex.”
Great, Peeta thought. Their characters had kissed a lot over the past three seasons, but that had been easy. They were both professionals, and kissing Katniss for the camera had been no big deal. Fun, even, in a comfortable, familiar way. Never sexual, there was always too much lipstick and stage makeup to worry about for there ever to be more than a peck. But steady, and comforting.
He doubted it’d be like that now. Or ever again.
“Let’s start with directorial expectations,” Annie began. “I’ve been given a timeline for the scenes and an outline of the specific angles that are expected. The most challenging part, from an intimacy perspective, is likely to be the third, which will be shot side angle with you, Peeta, on top of Katniss and no sheets to shield anything. We’ll have to block arms and leg placements carefully, and it’s likely you’ll both feel very vulnerable.”
Peeta didn’t see how that would be difficult, yet when Annie positioned him kneeling between Katniss’s thighs, a ridiculous little brocade cushion between their bodies, it was incredibly awkward. Katniss couldn’t hide in this position, with their faces only inches apart, and he couldn’t ignore, looking into her silver eyes, just how much he’d lost.
Two hours of rolling around on the floor, blocking arm and hand and leg movements sucked any sexy out of the scene. It felt robotic and contrived and awkward as hell. Katniss, for her part, looked fucking miserable. “Well,” Annie said finally. “I’m sensing some discomfort, so I think we should close for the evening.”
Peeta rolled onto his back on the mat and stared at the ceiling. Why was this so fucking hard? He was an actor, for god’s sake. He’d filmed sex scenes before, and none of them felt this shitty.
“I think we could do with a couple more rehearsals,” Annie said. “I’ll ask Cressida to schedule some.” Just fucking great, Peeta thought.
Annie floated away like an ethereal being. Katniss hung back, maybe to talk with him, maybe just to avoid Annie. But he wasn’t in the mood. He’d been subjected to her stony silences for two days, his heart hurt and his pride was dented and he just needed to get out and lick his wounds.
“Peeta,” Katniss said softly. Peeta held up his hand.
“Not now,” was all he said.
She scowled. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
Peeta almost leapt to his feet, his exhaustion morphing into rage. “Look, you haven’t said a damned word to me in weeks, you haven’t even come home for your things, and now you want to talk?” Peeta spat, cringing internally at his use of the word home to describe the house where they’d been living together until two weeks ago.
Katniss looked puzzled, under all of that anger. “Jo said you threw everything away.” Johanna Mason was a mutual… well... not quite friend. Peeta had often accompanied her to awards shows, in the early days of her career when she was concerned that if it got out that she preferred women, it would stop her from getting leading lady roles. She didn’t need to worry about that anymore, she was a bonafide A-lister these days, and her relationship with an adorably bubbly talk show host was in every magazine. But Jo generally had her own unknowable agenda and sometimes she liked to stir up shit just for fun. 
“You think I’d do that?” he asked, voice deceptively soft. He might have thought about it, fantasized about it really, when he found out who she was staying with. But he had more dignity than that, and she damned well should know it.
In fact, everything was exactly as she’d left it when she stomped out of their home, out of his life, 15 days ago. Her toothbrush was beside the bathroom sink, her favourite sweater on her favourite chair. A shabby silver-framed picture of her parents nestled between their awards. All of the homey pieces of her life, all of her simple treasures, abandoned. 
Katniss shrugged, like she didn’t care, like his worth, his honour, the life they’d built together, was inconsequential, and it just pissed Peeta off more. He hated her ice princess routine, hated how fucking above it all she was. She’d always been good at freezing him out, at making him chase her, but no more. He didn’t have to put up with her stone cold shit.
“Get you crap or I will toss it,” he seethed, walking away. She didn’t call after him, but then she never did.
o-o-o
Haymitch dropped two of the three sex scenes from the script. Peeta should have been relieved, he was relieved. But he also felt sick about it. Like he was destroying his career.
The tension on set was obvious and palpable now, and he knew it looked like he was the cause. Katniss, always quiet, remained quiet. But Peeta couldn’t fake it, once the cameras stopped. Cold didn’t come naturally to him, and too often he veered into mean and snappish. 
He had to figure out a way to get past this, to get past his anger, his hurt, and work with Katniss again. But he had no idea how.
Peeta leaned back in his favourite club chair, in the cozy den at the back of his house, and allowed himself to relive that day, the day it had all come crashing down. Until then, he’d thought he had it all, had the world in the palm of his hand. A great job, a comfortable home and the most radiant woman in the world in his bed every night. 
Katniss Everdeen had been a child star on a hugely popular sitcom. He knew her only by name when she showed up to screen test with him. He’d been expecting a cute little moppet. Instead, she was a silver-eyed stunner. And right off the bat, he was a goner.
They clicked, in almost every way. Working together was a joy, chatting together between takes a delight. He loved her intelligence and wry sense of humour. They moved from friends to more at breakneck speed, but it never felt too fast.
She was insistent that they keep a lid on their relationship, even when they eventually moved in together. He understood it, her previous relationship, also with a costar, had been documented to death, she’d been hounded and harassed by the paparazzi constantly, even now they followed her everywhere. He didn’t love keeping them a secret, but he loved Katniss, so he acquiesced. 
And that day, the day it all fell apart? It was supposed to be a good day, a great day. The first day of their two-week mid-season filming break. They had grand plans to do nothing but each other. Peeta had run a few errands, then stopped by his agent’s office to sign a couple of endorsement contracts.
That’s when the shit started.
“I figured you’d want to hear it from me first,” Finnick Odair, the best agent in the business, said with a grimace. He handed Peeta a tablet. Loaded up was the National Enquirer, his mother’s smirking face beside a promotional shot of Peeta and Katniss, and the headline, ‘It’s Real’. His fucking mother had struck again. It wasn’t the first time she’d sold Peeta out to the tabloids.
“Shit,” Peeta murmured. Not because the headline wasn’t true, it was. But Katniss guarded her privacy with clenched fists, and for two years, they’d barely let anyone in on their secret. Finn knew, but he was very discreet and like he’d said when Peeta had first hired him, he couldn’t protect Peeta unless he knew all of his secrets.
“She’s going to be pissed, huh?” Finn said sympathetically.
He didn’t know the half of it.
Peeta was in a foul temper and all he wanted was his quiet house and a couple of fingers of scotch before he had to deal with Katniss, who was sure to be furious. But no, he wouldn’t even get that. Because Rye was standing at his front door when he arrived home. Peeta groaned, and parked in front of the house, instead of pulling into the garage, where the door he generally entered by was. They’d chosen this place because the gated community was supposed to offer them more privacy and security. He was going to have to talk with the guard at the gate again. Just because Rye looked like his brother didn’t mean Peeta wanted him here. 
“Peet,” Rye said genially as Peeta unlocked the seldom-used front door. 
“What do you want, Rye?” Peeta really had no time for his brother’s bullshit, not that day of all days, and he hadn’t bothered hiding his annoyance.
“I can’t just pop by to see my little brother?” Rye never came by unless he wanted something. Often it was money. Rye seldom worked, preferring to live off his association with Peeta There were a lot of people in LA who would wine and dine the families of celebrities, looking for an in. Rye had brought him a few abominable scripts over the years from people who’d promised him a big finders fee if he could get Peeta to sign on.
“Cut to the chase, Rye,” Peeta said impatiently. There was a small liquor cabinet in the living room closest to the front door. Not that they ever lived in this room. It was only for show, the place where outsiders were held, away from the parts of the house where they actually did their living.
“Fine,” Rye laughed. “Tell me it isn’t true, little brother,” he said. There was no point pretending Peeta didn’t know what he was talking about. Rye was a terrible gossip hound. Peeta shook his head. “Thank god,” Rye said. “You can do so much better than that. She’s not very big, and definitely not hot.” 
Peeta sighed. Rye’s taste in women only included girls who fawned all over him. Katniss would never make that list. 
“Where did Mom come up with that idea anyway?” Rye asked, eyeing the single glass Peeta poured with interest. Peeta was not going to offer him a drink. He wasn’t going to do anything that suggested Rye was welcome to stay. “It’s pretty fucking crazy, even for her.”
“I don’t know,” Peeta grumbled. He knew exactly where. She must have listened in on one of Peeta’s calls with his father. His dad was his best friend, Peeta just couldn’t keep secrets from him. But the old man wasn’t always careful when he talked to Peeta.
“Katniss Everdeen. As fucking if. You have much better taste than that,” Rye laughed. “Remember that chick you were with a couple of years ago? The one who was in Playboy?”
“Cashmere Solomon,” Peeta muttered half under his breath. He’s gone out with her twice, and she’d been a nightmare, only interested in what he could do for her celebrity.
“She was hot,” Rye nodded. “I hooked up with her, after.” That was more than Peeta needed to know.
“Look,” Peeta started, an attempt to get rid of Rye, to get back to his plans for a few quiet minutes before Katniss got home and he’d have to have another, very different conversation on this topic.
“Mom’s a mental case,” Rye interrupted. “Like you’d ever stoop low enough to fuck that Everdeen chick. Stuck up little bitch like that? You’ve got more pride.”
“Are we done?” Peeta was bone weary, and not at all in the mood to listen to one of his brother’s diatribes. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to do tonight.”
“Right, right,” Rye said. Peeta didn’t give a damn whether his brother believed him or not. He started to guide Rye back to the entryway. “I don’t know how Hawthorne puts up with her, “ Rye said. “Rumour has it she’s completely frigid.”
Peeta laughed, he couldn’t help it. Katniss was the furthest thing in the world from frigid, she was a live wire in bed, far and away the best sex of his life. And she had broken up with Gale Hawthorne some four years earlier, but the media still wrote about them as if they were just taking a break.
“Listen,” Rye said, though Peeta was already shepherding him towards the door. “I know this girl, Glimmer her name is. Tits for miles! She’s working on a pilot.” Working on a pilot was LA code for unemployed. “She’s so hot,” Rye continued, oblivious to Peeta’s irritation, “spend a little time with her, I’ll get my pap friend to follow you. That’ll make the Enquirer story go away. Kill any hint of association with that little piece of work.”
“Bye, Rye, Peeta said, pushing his brother through the door.
“Call me,” Rye said, and Peeta slammed the door in his face, flipping the bolt. Idiot. He exhaled slowly, then turned.
Katniss was standing behind him. Shit. How much of Rye’s crap had she heard?
“How could you let him talk about me that way,” she asked, her voice low and dangerous.
Peeta cringed. Evidently most of it. “What was I supposed to say? You don’t want him to know we’re together.”
“We have to be together for you to defend me?” Katniss asked, incredulous. “Women are only worth defending if you’re fucking them?”
Peeta rolled his eyes. “Don’t give me that bullshit,” he said. “You know I’m not like that.”
“Do I?” Katniss was pacing, little mincing steps that would fit on a pie plate. “Sure as hell didn’t sound like it.”
“What was I supposed to say?” Peeta was yelling. He flung his arms wide, expensive scotch sloshed over the edge of his glass, splashed his watch. Just great.
“How about ‘Katniss isn’t a stuck up little bitch’ for starters?”
“Jesus, Katniss, why do you even care? You know he’s an asshole.”
“He said awful things about me, in my own home, and you just stood there and nodded, like you agreed,” Katniss snapped. “That was a total dick move.”
“Well excuse-fucking-me,” Peeta said, “but it’s not even your house.” She lived there, but the lease was in his name. Her official address was an empty condo in Van Nuys, so that people wouldn’t figure out they were shacked up together. He hated the cloak and dagger bullshit, but she’d insisted.
Katniss froze, face twisted in disgust. “You’re right,” she said quietly. “It’s not.”
Before Peeta even had a chance to respond, the door was slamming behind her.
Peeta knew, even before she’d gotten to her car, that he was wrong. But he was angry, angry with his mother, angry with his brother, and pissed as hell that Katniss insisted on hiding, like he was some dirty secret instead of the man she’d been dating for two years.
She didn’t come home that evening. Peeta wasn’t completely surprised. It wasn’t the first time she’d frozen him out. He’d give her the night, then apologize in the morning.
But when morning came, his phone had blown up with texts. TMZ was running a spread of pictures, grainy and obviously through a long lens. Katniss, standing on a balcony, and not alone. With her was Gale-fucking-Hawthorne, her ex. She was locked in his embrace wearing only a robe, while he was in boxers. The gossip sites were having a field day, former lovers reunited.
Peeta, still in bed, dialed his phone. She answered on the second ring, voice hoarse. “Are you with Gale?” Peeta asked with no preamble.
There was the slightest of pauses. “Yes,” Katniss said.
“You couldn’t fucking wait to go rushing back to his bed?” Peeta yelled. “Or maybe you never really left?”
The line died in his hand. It was the last time they’d spoken, until now.
o-o-o
Katniss made no further attempt to talk to Peeta, outside of what they said on the soundstage. She’d doubled down on the ice princess routine, speaking to him in cold, overly formal tones when the cameras weren’t rolling.
 Working with Annie Cresta hadn’t gotten any better either, but at least they’d managed to memorise a routine—hand here, thigh there, twist this way, arch like that. Annie insisted it would look a lot more natural than it felt. Peeta wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t care. He just wanted the thing done.
The scene was set for late afternoon, after the rest of principal photography was done for the episode and the lion’s share of cast and crew had left. “Saving the best for last,” Cressida chirped, but no one really believed that.
Katniss had a rider in her contract specifying no nudity, Peeta knew that. He hadn’t bothered with one himself, he didn’t care who saw him, but Katniss had always been uncomfortable baring everything. In other scenes, the production sometimes used a body double for Katniss. But this scene, the scene, would be her and him, on a bed, doing choreographed dry humping. It had to be her, there wasn’t any other choice.
Haymitch wasn’t on set, something Peeta suspected was Katniss’s doing, but he appreciated it. The crew was at a bare minimum, to make it easier for the actors, but it was still a lot of people. Cressida was directing, busily setting up the scene. Two female grips he’d never met before were behind the stationary cameras, two of his favourite camera guys—Castor and Pollox—had the handhelds. Two more grips had the boom mics, a gaffer adjusted the lights, and a set designer, Octavia, was fussing over the bedding, rumpling it in an artistic way that Peeta knew from rehearsal would last about twelve seconds before they destroyed it. Annie, strangely, was nowhere to be seen. He’d thought that, as their intimacy coordinator, she’d be there to coach when they actually filmed. Apparently not.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Cressida called out, affecting a carefree tone. Peeta knew it was an act, an attempt to get all of them to relax. The antagonism and animosity between the two leads wasn’t exactly a secret, not anymore, and the mood on the small soundstage was tense. No one was looking forward to this.
Katniss had seen him naked a thousand times, had touched and stroked and tasted every inch of his body. Still, it was strange, even on a closed set, to be standing in front of her wearing nothing but a sock tied to his dick. She was clutching the edges of her pink silk robe so tightly her knuckles were white, and looking everywhere but at him.
Cinna approached and helped Katniss out of her robe, careful not to disrupt the cascade of windblown curls Peeta knew had likely taken an hour and several cans of product to achieve. Katniss’s hair was naturally pin straight, yet they were always curling it in the show, and she hated it. So focussed was Peeta on her hair that he didn’t notice what she was wearing until Cinna stepped away, leaving Katniss standing beside the bed in a pair of pasties and an adhesive pad that covered her pubic hair and not much else. Peeta couldn’t help but stare. It was far less than he was expecting, Annie had told him Katniss would be wearing a pair of flesh coloured panties and a little tube top over her boobs. “The sides of her underwear showed in the test shots,” Castor muttered in his ear. “Haymitch insisted on that instead.”
For half a minute, Peeta felt really bad for Katniss, knowing her discomfort, knowing what it was costing her to stand under the lights and in front of so many people wearing little more than three bandaids. But then she sighed, and barked, “can we just get this over with?” and any sympathy Peeta felt for her evaporated like spring snow.
The scene opened with them both on the bed. They’d practiced the routine, both on floor mats and on a set bed. But in rehearsal, they’d been clothed, pillows between them to minimise contact.
No longer.
Now, they were essentially naked, skin pressed to skin, staring wide-eyed at each other. She was so soft under him, fit him so perfectly. Her breath—sharp, nervous little pants—caressed his jaw, his throat. Her hands, small but so much stronger than they looked, clutched at this back.
His dick twitched and hardened, he couldn’t fucking help it. They’d fucked a thousand times over the previous two years, he’d always been insanely attracted to her. His dick didn’t know that this time it wasn’t real. He clenched his teeth and kept going. There was no way, positioned as they were, to prevent her from feeling it. 
Katniss smirked at him, just a fleeting little hint of amusement, but coupled with his embarrassment at getting turned on when the ice fucking queen clearly felt nothing it was too much. Rage flooded his veins like venom. He sneered down at Katniss, uncaring if the handycam caught his expression. Then he deliberately rocked against her, rubbing his hard cock against her core, only a little strip of fabric and a glorified sock between them. 
Her breath caught, a choked little sound. 
“Like that, princess?” he spat, lowering his mouth to her ear. “You like knowing that you can still get me hot?”
She moaned softly. It just made him angrier. Was she acting, or actually responding? Was she thinking about Gale while he was grinding against her? Had she always been thinking about him?
The few lines he was supposed to say flew out of his head. “Does your boyfriend get you hot like this?” he groaned instead, anger and lust combining. “Do you moan for him like you did for me?” Her hands, which had been moving through the choreography much more fluidly than in rehearsal suddenly froze. “Does he fill you up as good as I did?”
“Peeta,” Katniss whispered, a hint of warning in her tone. But he was too mad. Mad and heartsick and wildly turned on, it was a potent brew. He couldn’t stop. He ground harder against her, his chest rasping against her breasts, bare but for a pair of stickers. He nipped at her earlobe with sharp teeth, and her gasp was loud over his harsh breaths.
“Do you melt for him, ice princess?” She said nothing, but he didn’t care. He angled his hips and thrust hard, the way he knew she liked. He rocked over and over again, forgetting about the others in the room, lost in Katniss, however fake it might be.
“Do you want to give them a show,” he growled against her throat. “Take off the guard? One last fuck, for old times sake?”
“Stop,” she said, so faintly it was barely a breath. “Please.” Peeta pulled back. Beneath him, Katniss’s eyes were screwed tightly shut, tears leaking from the corners. The anger rushed away, leaving him horrified and utterly ashamed. 
He rolled away and climbed off the bed. “Need a break,” he grunted. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Katniss had curled onto her side, facing away, naked and vulnerable. The need to comfort her battled with the sick feeling in his gut over how cruel he’d been. How completely unlike himself.
Cressida called out to him, but he didn’t want to hear whatever she was going to say. Couldn’t stay another minute on that set.
He pushed past Castor who was staring open-mouthed, the camera on his shoulder still blinking as it ran, and stomped to his dressing room. There, he sank into a chair, the leather sticking to his bare ass. He pulled the modesty bag off his now-deflated cock and dropped his head into his hands.
How had it gotten to this?
How had he gotten to the point where he was tormenting the woman he loved more than life with fake sex on their job site? Bullying her to tears in front of their crew. 
He was disgusted with himself. That wasn’t who he was.
He needed to go to Katniss and apologise, for more than just the scene. 
Fifteen minutes later, he’d calmed down and thrown on sweats. Katniss’s dressing room door was closed, but he knew she wasn’t in there. He walked past the small set and the little office Annie had used, but he knew she wouldn’t be there either.
Down the hall, past craft services stood the door to the electrical room. It was never locked. Peeta pushed inside. Past all of the clutter and detritus of broken light stands and boxes of cables was another door, narrow and unmarked. A steep set of metal stairs lay beyond it, and at the top a door he had to duck to walk through.
Then he was standing on the roof, a soft Burbank breeze ruffling his hair.
It wasn’t anything special, this part of the roof, gravel-topped and housing the building’s HVAC system. But it was their spot, a place no one else ever went. A place they could find some measure of solitude in the midst of a busy studio. No one ever disturbed them up here.
Katniss was sitting on the low ledge that bisected the roof, wrapped in a robe, her pink silk clad back to him. He knew she must have heard his approach, the gravel beneath him crunched with every step. But she didn’t move, didn’t react as he straddled the cement to lower himself beside her.
She didn’t turn towards him, but she didn’t need to. Her profile said everything: smudged makeup, red nose, puffy eyes. The breeze caught loose tendrils of her hair, blowing them around her face but she was still and silent save for her uneven breaths. An island in a tempest. Her eyes remained fixed on the horizon, past the endless parking lots and low studio buildings to where the sun was sinking low, bathing the sky in soft orange. Her silence wasn’t icy tonight. Pain radiated from every line, every curve.
“I’m sorry,” Peeta started. Katniss nodded, her posture otherwise unchanged. “I was a complete dick in there, and you didn’t deserve any of that. It was inexcusable.” He took a deep breath, steeling himself. “I don’t want to go on like this. Making out for the cameras, then ignoring each other when they’re off. I was hoping that if I stopped being so, you know, wounded, we could take a shot at being friends?” It would certainly make their jobs a lot easier.
“I’ve never slept with Gale,” she said softly, and Peeta startled. That wasn’t even possible. She’d run right back to him, was living with him again.
As if reading his mind, Katniss continued. “He’s been a good friend to me, a brother in some ways. But we’ve never had a physical relationship.”
“Bullshit,” Peeta sputtered, conciliatory tone gone. “You were with him for years.”
Katniss glanced at him then, a half smirk twisting her lips. “You were with Johanna for years too,” she said.
“You know that wasn’t real. And Gale isn’t gay.”
Katniss shrugged, and turned back to the horizon. 
Peeta continued to watch her. He knew all of her expressions, her every tell. She wasn’t lying.
“Why,” he started, then stopped. That wasn’t the question he really needed an answer to. “You let me think you were together.”
“Maybe I wanted to hurt you,” she whispered. “Like you hurt me.”
Mission accomplished, he thought. He’d been in fucking agony since he saw the TMZ pictures, and the ones that followed; Katniss and Gale riding in his convertible, Katniss and Gale leaving a trendy LA cafe, Katniss and Gale sipping wine on the balcony of his oceanfront estate. It had been a form of masochism, adding her name to his news alerts and reading the day's gossip about her blossoming relationship with Gale Hawthorne.
Could it really have all been fake?
Katniss and Gale had been on the same sitcom as children, had played cousins. So when, years later, they moved in together, of course everyone assumed they were together. They’d certainly never done anything to contradict it.
“You never mentioned that before,” Peeta said quietly. Not that Gale’s name had come up often in their time together, but they’d talked about past relationships, and she’d never said that Gale had been nothing more than a friend. She’d really never said anything about her years with Gale, and that had always made Peeta insecure, wondering if she’d still harboured feelings for him. If she kept their relationship a secret not from the world, but from Gale Hawthorne. Katniss shrugged.
“I didn’t think it would matter. You’re in the business, you know how often dating is just for show.”
He did. But he’d been upfront with Katniss about Jo, he’d never let her think there was anything there. That she hadn’t given him the same respect, hadn’t trusted him, was gutting.
“He kissed me, once,” Katniss said, and Peeta’s stomach clenched in inappropriate jealousy. “I was seventeen. It was the summer after we’d both finished filming Seam Street, but before he got his big break on that superhero movie. Back when we thought we might still be normal.” She was smiling sadly, lost in the moment. “We both gagged,” she continued, and Peeta’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. Katniss laughed softly, but it wasn’t at Peeta. It was at whatever she was remembering. “All of those childhood friends to lovers tropes, it definitely wasn’t like that for me and Gale. Kissing him was…” Katniss trailed off, shuddering. “I love Gale, he’s mine, I’m his. But not like that.
“But it didn’t matter. Once the media decided we were together, they invented stories. Every time we went anywhere together, they took pictures and manipulated them to fit whatever story they’d decided to write about us that week.” Katniss sighed, and rubbed her eyes. “We couldn’t have a life, outside of each other. Anytime either of us was seen with another person, the tabloids went crazy. I got my own place, tried to put some distance there. But it didn’t stop.
“And after he started dating Claudia, it all got worse,” she said. “The media, and fans who decided that he and I belonged together, they couldn’t let it go. They hounded her incessantly, called her a homewrecker and things far worse. Trolled her on social media, harassed her family, and anything either of us tried to get them to back off only made things worse. When she finally broke things off with him, he blamed me, at least a bit.” She paused, and sniffled. “It’s why we’ve barely talked over the past few years. First because it bothered Claudia, and then because Gale was so pissed off. It came close to destroying our friendship.”
Peeta sat in stunned silence as realisation washed over him. “That’s why you wanted to keep us a secret,” he said. “You were protecting me.” 
“Private,” she said. “Not secret. And that’s what you and I do, protect each other. Or did,” she added softly. 
But he hadn’t protected her. Not on the set, and not from his brother’s vitriol.
“I’m sorry,” Peeta said. “I shouldn’t have let Rye talk shit about you. And I shouldn’t have been all defensive when you rightly called me on it.”
She nodded again, but didn’t turn towards him. And he didn’t know how to bridge the gulf. He’d been wrong, on so many levels. But she hadn’t trusted him, and still didn’t. She could have eased so many of his insecurities just by being honest. But she hadn’t.
He wanted to fix things. He wanted to be with her again, this time with more openness and honesty. To build a better relationship, one they both deserved. He wasn’t sure if it was possible with so much hurt between them. But he wanted to try. He just needed to get Katniss on the same page, and he knew from experience that wasn’t likely to be easy. 
“We should go back,” Peeta said what felt like an hour later. The sun was almost gone, and though the air still held the perpetual California heat, Katniss was shivering in the breeze. “I’m done being a wounded prick, I promise.”
Katniss turned to him, finally. She still looked so sad, with her red eyes and ruined makeup. His heart clenched. “Cressida called shooting for the day,” she said. “Didn’t think either of us was in a good place to continue.” Haymitch would doubtless be pissed, any disruption in the schedule was tens of thousands of dollars wasted. Peeta sighed, but he knew it was the right call. 
“Probably for the best,” Peeta said. “We’re a mess.”
Katniss laughed, just slightly, and Peeta grinned at her. When he extended his hand to help her up, she took it, and it felt so good to feel her fingers entwined with his again, not for show but in actual friendship.
They walked back to the dressing rooms together. “Do you maybe want to get dinner together?” Peeta asked, and he knew he sounded small and uncertain. But to his surprise, Katniss nodded.
“I’d like that,” she said.
They walked out to the lot thirty minutes later, and Peeta led her to his car. She was wearing jeans and a little tank top, her hair pulled back in a no-fuss braid and a pair of sunglasses shielding eyes that still bore traces of the evening’s emotions. She was in every way Katniss, the woman he loved. But he could feel her holding back, feel the stiffness and uncertainty in the way she looked at him, spoke to him. Not intentional, simply reflexive, like she was trying to keep her heart safe. From him. The wall between them loomed large. It was going to take a Herculean effort to break it down.
There was a restaurant, Sae’s, not too far from the house they’d shared. It catered to people like them. The front was nothing so much as a shabby little diner, but in the back were private, windowless rooms where they could have a meal without prying eyes.
Peeta ordered pasta and Katniss got her favourite goat cheese and apple panini. But the way she pushed the food around on her plate spoke to how distressed she still was. Katniss typically ate with gusto, like she was afraid she’d never see food again. 
He left her be, keeping conversation light, trying to ease her back into being comfortable with him. Joking with her, the way he always had. She smiled, but it felt hollow. If anything, she seemed to get more sad as the meal wore on. Peeta’s spirits flagged.
He paid the bill, and they headed out the back door. There, he stopped, and pulled Katniss to stand in front of him. 
“Talk to me,” Peeta said, voice gruff with guilt.
“About what?” She wasn’t being flippant, if anything, she sounded defeated.
“Katniss,” he sighed. She looked up at him, eyes unfathomable, dark pools in the lamplight. He could tell she was trying to psych herself up to talk. So he leaned against the restaurant wall and waited.
“I’m sorry, okay,” she said finally, and it wasn’t what he was expecting. “I’m sorry that keeping us a secret hurt you. It was never my intention to hurt you.”
Peeta opened his mouth, to say he understood better now, but she pushed on.
“And it didn’t mean I loved you any less.”
“Loved?” Her use of past tense gutted him. “Not anymore?”
In the deep shadows of the single street light, he could see her face crumple. She wrapped her arms around her body, as if shielding herself from another blow. “Does it matter?” Her words were choked, he could hear she was fighting tears again. “I know what you think of me.”
“Katniss,” he said, the word regret-soaked. 
“Frigid little ice princess,” she parroted, but there was no anger. Only pain. 
“I didn’t mean it,” Peeta said. “I know that’s not you.” She played at being cold sometimes. But underneath, she was a flame, burning bright.
“Everyone thinks that about me. They always have.”
“I don’t,” Peeta said, and he let the pleading come through in his voice, let her hear his own pain. “I know you’re not cold. You’re the girl on fire.” Katniss’s lips twitched at the old nickname, one she’d gotten as a teenager in an action movie. But her heartbroken expression didn’t change. “I was angry, and wounded, and I lashed out. I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” she said, then she was wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. Peeta pulled her in close and buried his face in her hair. It was the first time he’d felt whole in more than two weeks, like the broken piece of his soul had returned. 
Her little body shook against him, he knew she was crying. “Shhh,” he said, stroking her back. “Shhh. It’s going to be okay.” It was. He’d make sure of it.
“Just missed you so much,” she muttered. His heart soared.
“I love you,” he whispered. “Please come home.” 
She didn’t say anything. But he felt her nod against his chest. And it was enough.
He took her back to his place, to their place. They were both exhausted, emotions raw, and had an early morning call, to redo the evening’s ruined scene. But she climbed into bed beside him, and he held her all night.
They were quiet the next morning, tentative and uncertain around each other, but they were together, and Peeta was committed to making things better, for both of them. He’d be patient. He’d communicate better. He’d lost the love of his life once, he wouldn’t let it happen again. 
They climbed back into his car, since hers was at the studio, but as soon as the garage door opened Peeta saw Rye there, waving his phone. Beside him, Katniss tensed, and shrank down into her seat. He could almost smell her pain. Just fucking great. The moron had to show up now, when they had barely started patching things together. 
“I’ve been calling you all morning,” Rye said as soon as Peeta stepped out of the car. It was just past eight, Rye didn’t typically get up before noon. Peeta suspected he hadn’t yet been to bed.
“Go home, Rye,” Peeta said. “This isn’t the time.”
“They’re saying this is you and that Everdeen chick,” Rye insisted, shaking his phone in Peeta’s face. Sure enough, on the screen was a dark and blurry shot of him, holding Katniss in his arms. Her face wasn’t visible, but her long black braid and sweet little ass were perfectly recognisable. Fuck. He thought they’d be safe at Sae’s. But he’d been wrong. Again. “I already told the Hollywood Reporter it was fake, that you wouldn’t slum with the likes of that—”
“Shut up!” Peeta roared, and for once, Rye stopped talking. “Katniss is the woman I love, and I won’t listen to you disparage her anymore,” Peeta said. “Now get the fuck out of here and stop fucking talking to the media about me.” Peeta was seething. He was going to make sure that security guard was fired. Maybe his boss too. And his boss’s boss.
Rye backed away, hands held up in supplication. “Sure, yeah,” he said quickly. “I’ll just get out of your hair. We’ll talk more later, yeah?”
Peeta didn’t dignify that with an answer. He spun on his heel, to head back to the car. But Katniss was there already, standing just behind him. She must have heard everything they’d said, and worse, Rye would have seen her there. He flinched, but she just smiled at him, then walked straight into his arms.
“Thank you,” she said. 
Fuck. She didn’t need to thank him for defending her, it’s what any decent person would do. “I should have said that last time,” he admitted, tightening his hold on her.
“You said it this time,” she said. Then she stretched up onto her toes, and kissed him.
Relief and disbelief and so much love flooded Peeta. He cupped her ass in his hands and hoisted her into his arms, his lips never leaving hers.
He knew Rye was watching. Knew that some of their neighbours could see them too. “We should go back to the garage,” he whispered between kisses that were growing too hot for the street. “People are watching.”
“Let them,” she gasped. “I don't want to hide how I feel about you. Not anymore.”
He laughed against her lips, and kissed her more.
o-o-o
She was sitting in her favourite chair, a mug of camomile tea forgotten beside her, when Peeta got home. He glanced at the television glowing on the wall and groaned. “Access Hollywood? Really?” Katniss, his Katniss, was watching the creme de la creme of shitty tabloid TV. 
Their relationship had been dissected endlessly by the gossip shows in the four months since they’d been outed, first by his attention-seeking mother, then by a slightly risqué public display of affection in front of their house that had been captured on cellphone video by multiple sources. Peeta understood so much better now why Katniss had tried so hard to avoid unwanted exposure. He was sick to death of the coverage.
But they were handling it together. 
“Shhh,” she said, grinning. “They’re discussing whether we really did the deed while shooting Allium and Barley’s big scene.” Peeta glanced back at the television. The banner read 15 Times 'Love' Scenes On Screen Were Real.
“Oh my god,” Peeta groaned, and sank into the chair beside Katniss’s, covering his face with his hands.
The day after their disastrous first attempt at filming, they’d gone back to the set and found Haymitch waiting for them. The crusty old bastard had actually apologised for putting them in such a shitty position, and told them he’d take the scene out, make it a fade to black.
“No,” Katniss had said, silver eyes brighter than they’d been all week. “The script needs the scene. Our fans need it. And we’re ready this time.”
The second attempt had been so much better. It was still awkward, the choreography still felt strange. One of her pasties came unstuck and ended up caught in his chest hair. Twice they had to cut filming when Katniss started giggling. 
Peeta had been loath to watch it, once it’d been edited. Afraid to reopen the barely healing wounds. But the end result, just as Annie promised, looked real. The cameras caught their very real joy at being reunited, their very real love for one another. And those things made the very fake sex look like something more.
They’d filmed several more sex scenes over the course of finishing the season, each easier than the last. Communication, it turned out, did make the scenes less awkward. And it helped with their real relationship too.
But the first scene, the one that Peeta still cringed thinking about, that episode had aired just days ago.
The television sound cut off abruptly and Katniss burst into laughter. Peeta peeked out from between his fingers. Frozen on the big screen was a shot of Peeta’s ass in all of its hi-def glory, and Mario Lopez was pointing to a spot just between his thighs where apparently a hint of nutsack had been caught by the camera. 
Well that brought unwanted exposure to a whole new level. 
Peeta groaned. “I’m putting a nudity rider in my next contract,” he mumbled.
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fatefulfaerie · 3 years
Text
Abnormality
Zelink Week 2021 prompt #6/7 @zelinkweek2021
Word Count: 2,225
Incarnation: Age of Calamity
Additional Prompts Followed: Timeline Alteration
“UTA” inspired by the “TVA” of the Disney+ series “Loki”
Trigger Warnings: abduction, brainwashing
Before Link knew it, he was being pushed along a dark hallway, hands tied and feet tripping on each other when he was pushed too abruptly.
“Faster.”
He could barely see, but long, blinking blue lights told him it was a narrow space, and his boots sounded as if they were walking on steel. He walked faster nonetheless. His own iron armor made even more of a ruckus.
“Where are you taking me?” He asked over his shoulder to the man who was pushing him. “What’s going on?”
He was in Hyrule Field last he remembered, returning to the castle after battling a Moblin. He saw an odd, egg-shaped robot and the next thing he knew he was pushed to the ground, landing in the steel trappings of wherever he was now. He was brought to his feet and pushed whenever his captor thought his pacing was too slow.
The man never answered. Link was blasted with light when a door opened as if automatically with the same noise as a sword slinking into a sheath. Link, who marvelled at such unprecedented technology, was pushed in before he could remark at it. The man behind him was gone when those same doors closed behind him.
Link looked behind him and there were no longer doors, just a wall. So he looked in front of him.
The room was clad with a silver material unlike stone. Angles jutted out at odd places and Link had never before seen architecture like this as he slowly paced forward towards the table.
Someone cleared their throat, a woman. Link’s head popped directly forward.
“Name?” She asked.
“What’s going on?”
“Name?” She repeated. It seemed Link found another person who would not humor his questions.
“Link,” he answered.
The receptionist seemed annoyed, eyes rolling to the back of her head and her eyelids fluttering. Link wondered what he did to upset her, but she scribbled something down on a piece of paper nonetheless.
“Birthdate?”
“August 16th,” Link replied. “But--”
“You have been charged with the crime of temporal misdemeanors,” she interrupted. “How do you plead?”
Link’s mouth moved but no sound came out.
“T-temp…” he tried, but failed. “What even is that? What did I do?”
“How do you plead?” She asked. There seemed to be no negotiation.
“G-guilty,” Link stammered. “I guess.”
She pointed her pen to the left, where there was now an opening, a doorless entrance.
“Step onto the platform for processing please.”
Link hesitated.
“Now,” she said without even looking up, and so Link did as he was asked, stepping onto the platform with oddly textured lines. With a jolt, it moved him along, Link’s arms drifting from his sides and knees bending as if bracing for danger. But before he could even get a sight of what was in this next room, his vision was clouded by white mist, a substance that shot a tingling feeling throughout his entire body until he couldn’t even feel his body. He was paralyzed completely and before he could fall, mechanized hands clutched his limbs, his arms, his legs. He felt his armor being stripped off but he didn’t have the control over his eyes to see who was doing it or where it was going, to object to showing this much skin and feeling this vulnerable in a strange place. Neither could he employ his vocal nodes to object to the last bit of clothing being removed until he was left only with a blue Sheikah-grade undergarment covering his most private area.
He could still see though, still tell he was being moved along into the futuristic building with no discernible connection to anything he had ever seen in Hyrule.
When he finally stopped, he stopped in front of a man behind a podium. Around Link were burn marks and the foul smell of burning flesh. His heart began to race.
“Link 816-D, you have been--”
But the echoey voice of doom was stopped when someone came racing through a now opened door, a woman in a blue dress with jagged and yet structured patterned white lines. The dress was far too tight and far too short for anything fashionable in Hyrule, but the dark-haired woman looked professional and put-together nonetheless. The fact that her dress almost exposed her knees was the least of Link’s concerns, it was just odd.
He definitely was not in Hyrule.
“He is to be questioned,” the woman said. Link couldn’t deny she was beautiful. He tried not to think about it. “Concerning the matter of the leading variant at large.”
“Very well.”
Link felt the greatest sense of relief when he was able to move again, permitted to step off the platform, and given garments to clothe himself in. They actually quite resembled the white and blue that everyone in this place wore, Link given white pants, a blue shirt, and a jacket that said “variant” on the back.
He stayed silent until the woman sat him down in a room, sitting across from him with a welcoming smile.
“Sorry about all that,” she said with her hands clasped into each other and her elbows on the table. “We don’t have the best reception here at the UTA. Let’s just say you are very lucky to be with me right now.”
Link didn’t quite know what to say.
“I-I’m sorry but…” Link stammered. “What is the UTA? Why...w-why am I here and...who are you?”
She pursed her lips.
“Somehow I always forget you guys come in here with no context,” she said, almost apologetically. “Allow me to explain. My name is Whitney and I am an employee of the UTA, which stands for the Unified Timeline Authority. We are in charge of making sure that the timeline is pure of contamination such as unauthorized time travel, timeline splits, and nexus events that cause timeline splits. We have worked long and hard to turn a chaotic and temporally lawless timeline of Hyrule into a unified and cohesive timeline. We work tirelessly to make sure the timeline stays straight, and doesn’t veer off from the set path.”
It sounded rehearsed to Link, but more than that, it sounded confusing. He got bits of it but he still stared, overwhelmed beyond belief.
“Okay, okay,” Whitney said, pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil. She started drawing a straight line on the page.
“Here is your timeline. You pull the sword at thirteen but you put it back, right? You didn’t tell anyone?”
Link nodded.
“Okay so time moves along and you age, as you know.”
She started drawing another line, exactly parallel to the first.
“Meanwhile, there is an alternate universe where you do keep the sword. Believe it or not, these both are heading towards the same destination until BAM!”
She stopped drawing the first line abruptly and let the second keep going straight. She continued the first with a line askew, making an angle.
“You encounter the little robot and everything changes. The destination is put in jeopardy at a rate we’ve never seen before. So we step in.”
“You have seen the robot so we took you. We also took the robot so he can do no further damage. We then go to where the robot came from in the first place and make sure he doesn’t come again. Thus, we have two robots. Both are now destroyed. Now I know what you’re thinking. Two robots but one of you, how does that fix it? Eliminating the second robot made it so that it never contaminated your timeline, and so there is now another Link that made it to the destination, the event where all alternate timelines become one. Thus you are the extra Link, a variant.”
She erased some of both lines and made it so that the two lines converged into one, drawing a dot at the exact place where they did and labeling it “the destination”.
“So I’m here because I saw the robot?”
“Not quite. You see, we could have wiped your memories or even wiped you but we took the opportunity to gain some…intel…about another variant.”
“Who?” Link asked.
“You,” she answered simply.
“What?”
She almost laughed.
From below the desk she pulled out a clipboard, the exact one that Link saw that first woman with. She handed it over to Link, who took it and knitted his brow at what he saw.
At least half of the names on each and every of the many pages were either Link, Zelda, or Ganon, each name accompanied by two to four numbers and a single capital letter.
In the middle of the last page was what the judge called him, Link 816-D.
“Yeah sorry about that,” she said. Of all the things she could apologize for, she sounded too casual to be apologizing for any of them, for kidnapping him, for stealing the armor he earned, for uprooting his life. “You are actually the fourth Link to come in with that birthday, thus Link 816-D.”
Link put the clipboard down slowly, and returned his gaze back to the diagram.
“The destination,” he said, before looking up. “What is it? Why is it so important that you can’t have it not happen?”
The destination is the singular moment where we were finally able to unify the timeline into one. We refer to it as the calamity.”
The word struck fear into Link’s heart.
“C-calamity…” he began, attempting to fight his shock at how cheery she said that word, how casually she referred to something that could kill thousands of people. “As in Calamity Ganon? Are you serious? You...y-you want that to happen? Do you realize what that means?”
Whitney nodded.
“It’s unfortunate,” she said. “But it was necessary that we let it happen. The near destruction of Hyrule was the only way to unify the parallel timelines. It isn’t the first time we took advantage of a disaster to slowly work towards unification. There used to be three separate timelines that were nowhere near parallel, mind you.”
Link went pale, cold. His eyes stung and his lungs paused. Not only did they permit the calamity but they let entire kingdoms be destroyed for their order.
For some reason Whitney assumed that Link was just as comfortable as her with the situation.
“The variant we are concerned with exists in the single timeline beyond the destination but the variant is trying to undo the calamity, and we need to know why. Activating that robot and sending him across parallel timelines was his first attempt. He is, of course, only a variant of you, but we feel that questioning you will lead to a bit of clarity as far as his motives. If you submit to questioning right here and now, we can offer you a job, you won’t have to worry about being destroyed or anything. I used to be a variant, too, you know. All of us were variants once. We’d love to have you join us.”
Link wondered how long this woman had been here for her words to sound so fake, so insincere, so rehearsed. Perhaps she was kidnapped as a child, perhaps she was raised by other people like her, who lost themselves gradually.
Thus Link most assuredly did not want the job, did not want to be a part of something that trades apocalypses for senseless organization, that trades lives for convenience.
The kingdom of Hyrule he once served not ten minutes ago was so much more…
It was...
Well he supposed they were no better, doing those same things, just on a smaller scale.
So he could either work for the UTA or be destroyed like the variants who did not comply. He could die for his morals or he could sacrifice them.
But perhaps there was a third option, one where he fought for his morals, destroyed the UTA from the inside.
“I’ll take the job,” he finally said, Whitney smiled. “But I have to ask...you said you were a variant...who were you?”
It didn’t seem like a question that was commonly asked, and she hesitated. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to answer, it was more like she genuinely forgot. Link narrowed his eyes.
“I was a variant of Princess Zelda,” she said. “I used to go by Hilda but when I got here they labeled me as Zelda 108-A. I was taken the moment Lorule got it’s own Triforce. Lorule was destroyed by the UTA, but...it was already a mess.” Whitney shrugged. “It was probably for the best.”
Her entire kingdom was destroyed and she showed so little empathy. Link could hardly believe it. She was so casual about it, like she was talking about what she had for lunch.
“A friend got taken alongside me but,” she laughed. “You know it’s funny I don’t remember their name.” She shrugged again. “Must not have been a very good friend. I’m sure you’ll be a better one.”
Link pitied that poor friend. He could very well have been her best friend, could have refused to comply and could have been erased from her memory so that she would comply, would slowly lose herself and become another drone of the UTA.
Link inwardly refused to resign to the same fate, to maybe, if possible, save her too.
“What is your first question for me?”
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Text
Wrath and Rage
Wrath x reader
Word Count: 1762
Summary: Wrath already had a queen when he was summoned to Emilia’s side. Needless to say she wasn’t happy about his absence. 
Note: He’s hot, and I had a plot bunny. don’t worry about it
You didn’t bother to hide the laugh that bubbled up from your throat at what your husband just told you. “So you got spooked and dropped your knife, is that it?”
Those golden eyes of his seemed to glow with irritation as he looked over at you. “Well, I don’t exactly want humans to know I’m around, now do I?”
This time you scoffed. “If some little witch managed to figure out that she’d just laid eyes on Prince Wrath himself based on that teensy little interaction, I’d want to meet her and shake her hand.”
“But the knife--”
“Is no indication of who you are on its own, and you damn well know it.” You slid your hands down the front of his shirt, fingers deftly opening it button by button. “Relax, my darling. You’ve been running around like a chicken with your head cut off about this whole Pride thing for so long. I’ve hardly seen you in weeks.”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s a lie, and you know it.”
You did. The trips never took very long at all, after all, but you still missed him. Before this it’d been centuries since he’d been away from you in the human world for any real length of time. “Be that as it may . . .” You slid the shirt off of him and allowed your fingers to trail down the golden snake on his left arm, a mark that had an exact twin on your own skin. “All you have to do,” you kissed that shoulder, “in order to keep Pride’s whole search,” this kiss was to his neck, “a secret,” jaw, “is get it back before the little witch does anything stupid.” That last bit was whispered next to his ear.
Then his lips were suddenly on yours, as demanding as ever as he shoved you against the wall. He tugged at the laces to your pants while his lips moved to your neck.
“See what you miss when you’re--” your teasing voice cut off when the heat of his body suddenly disappeared, “gone.” You opened your eyes. Sure enough, Wrath was nowhere to be found. Anger flared through you, its presence making the shadows writhe around you.
The only reason he would leave like that would be a summoning, something out of his control. And the only person dumb enough to summon a prince of Hell would be that. Fucking. Witch. Rage, the emotion your power stemmed from, swelled throughout your body.
She will pay for this.
~
Little did you know that in the human realm, your husband was thinking something similar. 
The combination of Emilia’s staring and the searing mark that’d appeared on his normally-clear arm set his teeth on edge. It shouldn’t be possible, a second betrothal spell in addition to the already fulfilled one he had with you--willingly, he might add--; yet there it was. Moon-shaped and clashing with his color scheme.
Still, he didn’t let on to what it truly meant. Odds were good that it wouldn’t amount to anything anyway, especially if he had a say. And if it did . . . Heaven help the woman that had to face the ire of the Queen of House Wrath.
~
In your time spent forcefully separated from each other, you and Wrath found yourselves weaving a complicated web to end this stupid endeavor in your favor, not the way Emilia wanted. And as soon as she agreed to marry Pride, your victory was sealed. Hours before that, when he’d died in the human realm, Wrath explained fully what had been going on since the messengers that’d been frantically flitting between you two could only convey so much, and you’d spent the time planning the final pieces of this battle of wits.
And enjoying each other’s company, but that was neither here nor there.
When it came time for Wrath to retrieve her, you lounged on the bed as he dressed, crown and all. “You can’t kill her when we return,” Wrath was saying while you watched him.
Your eyes moved to stare hatefully where their mark of betrothal used to reside. “I am aware,” you bit out.
“Are you?” There was an evil little smirk on his face when he turned to look at you. “Because your shadow seems to have other ideas.”
Sure enough, when you glanced down you saw that your shadow seemed to be holding a knife. Always the cause of your bad poker face, that thing. With a flare of gold in your eyes, you brought the shadow back under control, and it resumed being a silhouetted version of you, nothing more. The frown that’d been on your face since this mess started though, that stayed stubbornly in place.
Wrath took that as his cue to sweep closer elegantly, fingers trailing lightly down the golden body of the snake on your arm. “I swore to you the day we married that no one would ever come between us, did I not?”
“You did.” And Hell if your voice didn’t sound sullen despite yourself. You wanted to be unbothered by this. Truly, you did. But it was just so . . . unsettling to hear that someone had (however ignorantly) tried to steal him from you.
His free hand drifted over to grab the crown that still rested on the duvet. Your crown. The match to his own with spikes sharp enough to kill a man if you so chose. “Have I ever given reason for you to doubt that vow?”
“You haven’t.” That was true. A demon like Lust might have warranted such a fear, but Wrath was another kind of beast, an honest one. At least when it mattered. Mattered to you, that is. A warmth settled in your chest as your fingers moved to lightly hold his.
“Then why are you doubting me now?” his lips were pressed to your temple and he placed the crown on your head as he murmured the question.
Moments like this you remembered why you married him with perfect clarity. For the first time since he was stolen weeks ago a heat other than rage burned through you like a flashfire. “It’s not that I doubt you,” you said, turning so you could see his fierce, golden eyes. “It’s that I hate her.”
“Soon enough she will be Pride’s problem,” he soothed, “not ours.”
“Good,” you snarled before sealing your lips against his.
~
If Wrath’s lips were swollen suspiciously when he stepped out of the shadows to bring her to Pride, Emilia couldn’t work up the courage to comment on it. She was already in this mess with these demons so much deeper than she ever expected; she didn’t think her heart could take the stress of picking that particular fight on top of everything else. Besides, they weren’t bonded anymore; it wasn’t any of her business who he did or didn’t kiss.
Still, for some reason her heart stung at the thought of him with someone else after all they’d been through together.
But then they were bantering like it was all normal.
And then she was trying to scream in agony as it felt like someone lit her soul ablaze.
And then they were standing in a throne room steeped in black and gold and red.
This wasn’t House Pride, she realized abruptly. These were Wrath’s colors through and through.
“You’ll have to forgive the brief stop here,” a woman’s voice called Emilia’s attention to the front of the room. She was beautiful. Leather pants, a billowing shirt, boots that looked artfully worn-in, all steeped in nothing but black. The only spot of color in her wardrobe was the golden crown atop her head. A flash of gold on the back of her hand drew Emilia’s attention. “A prince of Hell like my husband can only travel directly from the human realm to his home. An envoy from Pride awaits outside to escort you to your Betrothed.”
Emilia’s ears started and were still ringing at the word ‘husband’ by the time she finished talking. The gold she’d noticed on her hand. It was an exact copy of the snake she’d seen on Wrath’s body the night she summoned him. Confusion lanced through her. “What--”
You laughed, cutting her off. This was rich. “You never stopped to wonder what the mark on his other arm was?” You rose from your seat, shadows coiling around your feet menacingly. “You’re dumber than I thought.”
Emilia could only stare at the approaching figure, alarmed by the casual display of power as well as the pitch black veil surrounding her that was every bit as threatening as the black and gold one around Wrath. She had to fight to retain any form of dignity and stay carefully neutral-faced when Wrath’s hand settled on the woman’s lower back in a display so casual it couldn’t have been faked.
“How terrible to meet you,” you scoffed. “You can call me Rage.”
A fitting emotion for such a terrifying queen, Emilia supposed.
“I think it goes without saying that if I ever see you lurking around my husband again, not even your betrothal to my brother-in-law will save you.”
Said husband had a look of evil smugness on his handsome face that made Emilia recoil a little. Then a thought occurred to her. “If you already have a queen, then why--”
“Was everyone pushing me to make it official with you?” Wrath cut her off, one eyebrow arching. “That answer is quite simple if you think about it.”
“Which is exactly why she hasn’t figured it out,” you smirked. “They don’t like me because I’m not intimidated by them just existing as princes of Hell.” You turned to face Wrath, loving the automatic way his eyes trailed over your form heatedly. He’d been worked up since the two of you dressed; there hadn’t been time to burn off some of the aggression that danced within both of you. “ Now,” you addressed her even as your hand moved to cup his face, thumb skimming along his cheekbone appreciatively, “you’ve robbed me of Wrath here for quite long enough on top of forcing me to singlehandedly deal with the idiocy of lower demons. You’re lucky I don’t kill you for the former, and I hate you even more for the latter, so kindly get the hell out of House Wrath.”
You didn’t spare the girl a glance as a guard moved to escort her out. No, you only had eyes for your husband . . . at least until your eyes closed when you dragged him down for a bruising kiss.
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firefistlaw · 4 years
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I hope I didn't miss the time, but if I did you can delete this. I was just gonna request about a female crew member that has a crush on Zoro, but feels he's into strong women. She's an arrow shooter so she thinks she physically isn't qualified, so she decides to try to train like him in secret. However one day he catches her and she ends up hurting herself somehow? (Like something fell on her foot or something). Again I'm so sorry if I'm late I just got the notification.
A/N: I hope this is alright I kind of mixed a scenario and headcanons together, I hope that’s okay!
Zoro catches y/n training in secret + she hurts herself 
It started with a meaningless comment on his side: “They’ll crush y/n if they come too close to her.” 
He probably didn’t think twice about it, you doubted he thought about anything twice these days, but it didn’t leave any less impact on you 
Admittedly, you were not the best at fist-fighting or anything and some part of you knew, you were better off in the distance with an arrow and enough wind, but hearing him implying you were too weak to defend yourself if it came down to it? yeah. it kinda stung. 
That was when you decided to train and become stronger. He liked strong women, he smirked at strong women - Zoro was a strong man oh what a man he was who wanted a strong partner.. right? So what better way to become stronger than doing his own training routine?
It didn’t take long for you to figure out the times he’d walk to his training room, it also didn’t take long for you to figure out how to silently sneak into the room yourself once the air was clear ..as clear as zoro left it to be
The plan worked perfectly, no one noticed anything and you almost got away with it... but, lucky you, something had to go wrong after all 
Your chest was heaving with exhaustion after you did your daily set of sit-ups - they were nowhere near the amount Zoro did - but they still left you breathless and drops of sweat rolling down your face
Being fired up by the thought of making progress, you walked farther into the circled room, the single barbell your next target. Earlier you could hear Zoro pushing the heavy metal around, so the thought of using the same equipment as him almost made you excited 
You were pushing the long barbell out of your way, when the door to the hall sprung open suddenly, causing you to squeak in surprise and losing your balance
what happened after that was a blur. One second you were standing, the next second you were on the floor, butt aching, having tripped over the silver metal and awkwardly twisting your ankle in the process
and if the pain couldn’t have been enough: the cause of your disruption, surprise, insecurities, attraction and also your newfound embarrassment was standing a few meters away from you, bare chest glistening with sweat, sweatpants hanging low on his hips and towel covering half of his green mosshead
Oh what a sight that was. You were in love and honestly? Understandable. The warmth practically ran to your cheeks
“Y/N?” He just said then, frozen at the door, “What are you doing?”
It was uncommon for anyone to be here, especially not so close after he left himself, so the words were stuck in your throat, silence tensing between you two
You were still laying on the floor, eyes big like a deer caught in headlights when Zoro walked to your figure and crouched down, the towel still hanging on top of his head. His eye mustered you curiously. You wanted to scream.
“Are you hurt?” He asked then and barely tapped your ankle, your leg twitching at the slight touch “Should I call Chopper?”
You gulped.
“No.. I’m alright.” You spoke through gritted teeth and finally came back to your senses. You experimentally turned your foot, noting the pain to be worse than you had expected, but still got up quickly - catching the swordsman off guard. “Sorry, I have to go.”
“Wait, what were you--” But you were already taking a step, the pain shooting through your whole leg like a bullet. But, of course, Zoro was standing suddenly as well, large hand gripping your forearm swiftly. “What were you doing here?”
His hand was softer then you expected it to be, your heart jumping at the contact of your skin, “Uh... training?”  Duh. You almost slapped yourself.
He just blinked, “You never train like this.” His hand was still gripping your arm, head now pointing to the barbells on the floor. “Why now?”
“I want to become... stronger.” You answered truthfully then, your hand touching the side of your neck bashfully. Deciding that your answer was enough for now, you tried to walk away again- but the pain grew with the weight on your ankle and sure enough, you had to rise your foot to stop the pain, your eyes squeezing at the movement, almost losing your balance yet again
He was at your side instantly, supporting your weight with ease. “Are you an idiot? Don’t move if it hurts!” One arm was gripping your waist, while the other slung your arm over his shoulders
“Sorry I’m not strong enough then!” you suddenly snapped at him, embarrassment and frustration coming to surface. “Must be so unattractive, huh?” 
You expected him to let go of your arm then, but you didn’t expect him to slightly lean his body towards yours, so your eyes were on the same level. He looked confused, almost angry too. “Who said that?” But you just huffed. “Are you being an Idiot on purpose? Who said that to you?” 
You both reached the door, the staircase in the hall already coming to view, you trying your best to concentrate on Sunny’s wooden flooring and not on Zoro’s hot skin at your side.
“That’s what you think, right? That I’m weak. And that’s unattractive.” 
Zoro looked at you then, mustering your tense stare to the staircase. If you would have turned your head, you would have caught his cheeks slightly changing colour. “I did?” He closed his eye then, sigh leaving his lips. “Climb on my back.” 
You gulped, either you declined and made the situation worse than it should be or you let yourself be carried by the man who made your heart jump since the first day of seeing him. You were still thinking, but he was already crouching down in front of you, his muscular back moving with ease. 
You softly swung your arms around his neck then, your insides screaming at the feeling of you being pressed against his warm back. Even though he had been training not too long ago, he didn’t even smell bad. In fact, he smelled better than you would have imagined. A very own scent that made the warmth in your cheeks deepen. 
With his hands gripping your knees, he took the first few steps. 
Choppers closed door came closer. “If you’re weak, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. You think Luffy lets just anyone join?” He mumbled, a huff leaving his mouth. You were still embarrassed, the throbbing in your ankle not stopping. “Your arrows hit almost every time. I don’t get what you’re talking about.”
“Whatever.” You just mumbled, preparing yourself to forget about this silly crush on Zoro forever. Never speak of him again, forgetting about this insane attraction you felt for him. “Just let me down.” 
“Next time just come train with me.” He continued, catching you by surprise, still not letting your figure go. The heart in your chest jumped at that. Train? Together? With him? You must have heard wrong. 
You both arrived in front of the wooden door in that moment, no other sounds than your breathing being heard. Zoro rapped his fingers against the door once, then twice. He turned his head when the tapping of Choppers feet echoed in the closed room in front of you two. 
His eyes met yours before the door opened, the tip of his nose brushing against yours for a brief second, his next words causing a frenzy in your stomach, 
“I could think of worse things than having you close to me. Trust me, you’re anything, but unattractive.” He smirked. “And I mean it.”
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itseivwhore · 4 years
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|Ezio Auditore x Reader| (Modern)
My house is just beside a little forest,so I often go there almost all the time.But during the Summer I specifically go in that forest to pick up some blackberries that grow there every year.The other day I went there to pick them up…for finding out that there was absolutely NOTHING.I honestly was pretty disappointed.But I enjoyed walking in that forest like always,it was like:COTTAGECORE VIBES CHEEEEEEEKK!!!And why just a mini one-shot with Ezio?I don’t know,most likely because me and my friend have been talking about him A LOT lately ( ;) ti amo tanto),and he was the first one that came in my mind.So sì,have this little little little drabble I wrote just for fun.
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°Of sunkissed skin and brown eyes°
~~~~~
Slowly,almost lazily walking side by side,shoulders brushing against each other,the sound of their light,velvety footsteps on the grass was the only sound that interrupted the quiet of that late August afternoon;a fresh breeze moved the branches of the tall trees that flanked them;the sun,shyly hidden behind thick,grey clouds-a presage od an eminent rain-still gave out some weak,warm rays that blended into the treetops,casting a carpet of strange shadows on a soft,green ground.
The wind that there was on that evening carried with it the pleasant and light smell of the last trees in bloom;and it also carried away,and above all,their discreet and silent promises of love,whispered in barely audible murmurs,their happy phrases,their delicate laughters:that quiet breeze led them away,held them and kept them with it,making them slowly dance in the air for a few endless moments,and entrusted them to the dark sky.
They walked together,side by side,talking,smiling,kissing,laughing:fingers touching each other slowly,craving their delicate touches,shiny eyes meeting,the intense gaze of him lost in the soft one of her,looking at her as if she was something unique,rare,ancestral,a precious to treasure:Y/n was the object of a deep and unimaginable admiration for Ezio.
He loved to see her walk,so gracefully,among the tall trees,her hands resting gently on their old dark barks;he loved to see how her h/c hair fluttering slightly when she moved,and how she closed her eyes,being caressed and rocked by the breeze,to say the least;he adored,in a boundless and indescribable way,how the corners of her mouth raised up in a proud and mischievous smile whenever she discovered he was watching her;he adored seeing her e/c eyes litting up with a genuine happiness when she managed to find more blackbarries;he adored how she lowly hissed when some thorns of the tangles stung her.
The young Auditore was totally and utterly enamoured by every little gesture she did,by every word and sound that left her lips,by every aspect of her whole being:he was anamoured by Y/n.He loved her madly,insanely,immensely.
And she loved him just as much:Y/n loved the way he followed her every steps;loved how she caught him-very often too-watching her with a dreamy expression on his face;she loved how the weak sunbeams kissed his tan skin,and how it made his brown eyes became lighter,pools of acient honey;she loved how he always guided her through the old path,his warm,big hand on her shoulder,adoring at how his touch and grip felt firm yet gentle on her skin;she loved to hear his warnings,said with such a caring and worried voice.
They were both glad and happy to be there,on the green hills of Tuscany,undisturbed,together.
It was Ezio’s idea to go and pick up some blackbarries that grew right on some hills,that gave a wonderful view of the vast green fields not far from his villa;and certainly Y/n did not think twice about it,accepting.
~~~
The young woman sharply turned around when she heard Ezio humming loudly:an expression of pure pleasure was on his face,eyes closed and lips wet and dirty with the dark juices of the blackberries he was eating,one hand inside the wooden basket full of those little black fruits he was holding.
“Ezio!“ Y/n shouted,trying to assume a serious expression,but failing miserably in seeing his face.Hearing himself called so loudly,the guy opened his eyes in a flash,finding himself in front of his fiancée.
”Cosa?“ he asked her,raising up an eyebrow,throwing yet another blackberry inside his mouth,a provocative gesture on his part,smiling smugly when the young woman gave him an exasperated look,amusement glistening in his brown eyes.
"I told you that you can’t eat them” she answered him in a calm voice,taking a few steps forward and approaching him,gently taking the basket from his hands,turning around again and resuming on picking up some more blackberries.
“Sì,you told me that I can’t eat some of them…” he started in a nonchalant tone “But you didn’t tell me that I couldn’t eat them all,dolcezza” Ezio replied in a smart voice,stretching an arm out from behind her and taking another little fruit,swiftly taking his hand away when she slightly slapped it.
“I remind you that we need them for the cake.We can’t eat the cake if we don’t have enough blackberries.Simple as that” Y/n explained calmly,her concentrated gaze did not move from the tangle where the berries grew,carefully picking them one by one,for then placing them in the basket.
As she continued to do this,she heard Ezio chuckling silently,and almost suddenly she felt his hands resting on her hips,taking in her curves,humming lowly,endless shivers running along her back when she felt his velvety touch on her body,his hot breath against her skin.
“I would rather eat something else…” the young man purred in a low,sensual and temptalizing voice;and she swore to feel and perceive a smug little smile when he pressed his lips against her neck,leaving a trail of lazy and chaste kisses allong her skin,smiling against the soft flesh when he heard her laughing,writhing under his touch when he playfully bit her cheek.
Grabbing her waist,squeezing them sometimes,he suddenly turned her around,making the young woman face him.She tilted her head to one side in an interrogatory gesture when she noticed that he was looking at her in a confused manner,thick eyebrows frowning in a thoughtful expression.
“I’m worried” he finally spoke,raising his chin up and looking down at her,only the cheerful singing of the swallows interrupting the quite that had suddenly fallen between the young couple.Y/n meanwhile,looked at him with an expression of pure concern,her e/c eyes never leaving his brown ones.
“You didn’t kiss me yet” Ezio concluded in a strong tone,taking an attitude of sorrow,looking at her with a false disappointment,the slight smirk he had on his scarred lips just miserably betrayed his offended expression.On the other hand,she burst into a purely amused laugh as she heard the firm statement of her boyfriend,deteaching from him slightly.
“I thought you were serious!” she exclaimed,looking at him in a surprised way,laughing again:but the young Auditore always kept his seriousness.
“What makes you think that I was not?” Ezio asked her with a determined tone,raising an eyebrow in a smart way,spreading his arms,amazed when he saw Y/n take a few steps back and come back to pick up the blackberries.
“I kissed you some minutes ago” she defended herself,making a vague gesture with her hands,biting her bottom lip when she was sure that he couldn’t see her action:she knew very well that nothing and nobody would stop him to get what he wanted…and she also knew,very well,that Ezio knew how to be persuading.
“I will die” he replied promptly,
his loud voice,his theatrical and dramatic ways;and once again on that late afternoon at the end of Summer,she found herself in his strong arms,swinging gently and slowly from one side to the other,as if he were cradling her.
“Of what?” Y/n then asked,resting a hand gently on his arm around her side,beginning to caress his knuckles,her voice only a light,barely audible whisper for the rest of the world if not for him.
“Of starvation.I need your kisses.Ora” saying that with such need and desire-nowhere close in being malicious-he gently took her chin between two fingers,moving her head to the side,bringing his face closer to her one.And they kissed,slowly,lovingly,soft lips against each other,the hand that previously was on his arm,slided up behind his neck,pulling him closer.
They both deteached from the long,almost breathtaking kiss,him only humming lowly as he pressed yet another kiss on her cheek,purposedly snuggling his bearded face on her skin,closing his eyes when he heard the melodic sound of her giggles leaving her mouth once again in that endless afternoon.Y/n sighed slightly,relaxing,leaning her back against his broad chest,his chin now placed on her shoulder.
“Happy?” she suddenly asked him,looking over her shoulder to caste a small,pleasured smile forming on his lips as he nodded slowly,the arms around her middle just tightening more.
“Tantissimo” he murmured in a low and happy voice,Y/n only smiling more widely every time he spoke in Italian;she loved everything about that part of him:when he would mutter curses under his breath when he was focused,or when he would call her with sweet nicknames that never failed to make her heart flutter;or when,in the heat of the moment,with her between his arms,with his forehead pressed against her own,with a burning flame in his eyes,he whispered on her lips how much he loved her in his language.
But the young woman shook her head slightly,feeling her cheeks heating up at the memories of all these passionate nights.Ezio’s low voice near your her helped her to concentrate again.
“Guarda” he whispered to her in a thread of voice,his arm sliding from around her body,his hand now resting on her waist,squeezing slightly,enough to completely catch her attention.Y/n closely followed his gaze,beyond the hills,where vast green soils alternated with numerous orchards and vineyards.
“There is an abandoned church,beyond that hill…do you see it?” Ezio pointed out to her,stretching an arm out and pointing to what used to be a stone building,erecting,though in its smallness,among the sumptuous and shapely hills,a small tower supported next to the church.
“One day I will take you there” Ezio promised her,whispering this in a candid tone,pressing a light kiss on her cheek.She turned around slowly,her e/c eyes meeting his brown ones,getting lost in these two big cesspools,no longer illuminated by the rays of the sun.She looked at his calm face for a few moments,thoughtful.
“Why not now? Why not today?” Y/n asked,hoping that made her beautiful e/c eyes glisten;the corners of her mouth that rose in a small smile fought between hilarity and seriousness when she saw that,once again,Ezio quickly took another blackberry from the basket.Holding the fruit,he pointed up at the sky:the grey clouds,which used to be just a few dark wads in a bright sky,were now bigger,obscuring the sun’s rays once and for all,thus hiding a magnificent sunset hidden under that thick layer of clouds.
“It will rain soon” the young Auditore explained to her,chewing the little berry fruit with taste,humming loudly,savoring its sweet taste.A thunder growled loudly all of a sudden,the loud sound that,once repeated in deep echoes in that quiet atmosphere,was gradually fading away.
But when Ezio lowered his gaze on her,seeing how hopeful her eyes where,how pleading her face looked,a low chuckle left his mouth,stretching a hand out and carressing her soft cheek with the back of his hand.He slightly sighed,a ghost of a smile tugging his lips up.
“I just am not able to say ‘no’ to you,mh?”
~~~
They immediately arrived in the abandoned church,both of them breathlessly,pants taking their breath away,their chests rising and lowering quickly,their hearts beating wildly,their hair wet and sticky on their faces.It started raining just when they had just begun to make their way to the church;at first walking quickly,and then beginning to run under what had become a downpour,holding hands.
Y/n let go of her hand from his own,starting to slowly walk inside the church,her soft and flush steps resounded in a thousand echoes,breaking against the old dark walls of the church.Stretching a hand out,she started to trace the dirty stained glass of the long,tall mosaics with her fingers,looking with absorbed and amazed air at all that surrounded her.The wild ivy had penetrated through the chipped windows,continuing its path and climbing even the cold walls of that forgotten place,though fascinating in all its decadence.
Ezio,who up to that moment had been bent in two,with his hands resting on his knees to catch his breath,looked fascinated and captured by the figure of Y/n,who had now stopped in the middle of old wooden benches while she was looking at the paintings ruined by the years.He smiled to himself,his eyes did not move away from her even for a moment,observing her intensely.
“I just could take you right here,you know that,tesoro?Mh?” he uttered from all of sudden,smirking with a knowing grin when she turned around and looked at him in an amazed way,his excited eyes wondered all over her body,noticing how her wet clothes hugged her body more.
All thanks to the rain.
“In a church?” Y/n asked in a perplexed tone,raising her eyebrows,gesturing at the place around them,stepping forwards towards Ezio,placing both of her hands on his chest,running them up and down on his broad shoulders,playing with some strand of his wet,dark hair.His hands found her hips,pulling her closer against himself,squeezing them,grimacing a bit as he placed and moved his glance around the church;then lowering his gaze down on her again,humming,giving her an inviting smile.
“It’s deconsecrated.I do not see the problem”
And perhaps Ezio was persuadable enough,with his soft gestures and with his velvet words,to convince her;and perhaps,most probably,in that place which had once been sacred,holy,both the noisy rain and their heated,passionate sounds resounded inside that church.
°*~ TrAnSlAtIoNs! ~*°
“Cosa?” = what?;
“Sì” = yes;
“Dolcezza” = literally,sweetness.Sweetheart/sweetie;
“Ora” = now;
“Tantissimo” = very much;
“Guarda” = look;
“Tesoro” = darling.
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tmntxreader-fics · 4 years
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TMNT Leo x Reader: Warming Up To You
Summary: You had long dismissed the idea of becoming friends with the icy leader in blue as it seemed to be an impossible mission. Finally, both of your frustrations lead to an explosive encounter; providing you both the opportunity to warm up to each other.
Find Raph’s Version HERE!
A/N: I HAVEN’T WRITTEN IN A WHILE I’M SUPER RUSTY.  Yeehaw we got a LEO version of this fic!!! We stan a tsundere king. He’s almost got a predatory vibe to him and I’m not exactly sure where it came from but I think it’s kinda hot so here we go. 
WARNINGS: Cursing, Leo scaring the reader half to death during a sparring match, AND TYPOS!
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You’d think that Raphael would be the unapproachable one. 
In fact, even Donatello had the potential to be unreachable when any one of his projects were involved. 
But the leader of the group? You’d have figured that at least he would be someone who had qualities relating to friendliness. The success of his role depends on being communicative; surely he would carry that trait off the battlefield?
You were so wrong. 
When you had first arrived you’d assumed his indifference to you was simply because of your unfamiliarity. You were, of course, a stranger. He had a duty to protect his family and you were obviously a threat to that; there was no way he’d give you the opportunity to ruin the life they had set up for themselves. 
However, as the months rolled by, he never came around. 
Each attempt to conversate was blown off with a polite exit or an awkwardly executed excuse to avoid talking. You were literally only asking about the weather, not attempting to uncover his family secrets. 
You watched the way he interacted with April and Casey, maybe he was simply a quiet person. Lo and behold, he had absolutely no issue speaking to them. He spoke, he joked, asked them to join him when eating and hung around them fairly often when not attending to his duties or training. 
Something in your chest stung with each rejection and you couldn’t help but become slightly bitter with the attitude he held towards you- simply because you knew it was you that he was avoiding. After a few days of digesting this new revelation, you decided that if you genuinely made him uncomfortable with your attempts of friendliness then you would step back completely and remain professional. 
Each time he asked you a question when mapping out a mission, you’d begun to clip your tone just as he had been. Each word was stiff and your sentences were minimal. While the others were a little confused by the change, Leo refused to pay you any attention. He probably appreciated the intangible distance you had put between you and him. 
The third time you’d done this, it was clear that he, in fact, was not appreciative. At the strange silence that stretched across the table, you looked up from the sheet beneath you to catch eye contact with Leo. His gaze was narrowed, the piercing blue was almost suffocating. Your heart leaped into your throat and you stood frozen in place when his bottom lip curled a little; a clear implication of frustration. He leaned back and opened his mouth as if he were preparing to say something or question you. 
Then he closed it. 
There was absolutely no logical reason for him to be irritated with you. You weren’t withholding information from him and you were effectively communicating your points. 
Raising an eyebrow, you rested a hand on your hips; daring him to make a comment. Instead, the leader grit his teeth, exhaling slowly before returning his gaze to the strategy splayed across the table. There’s a long silence before he continued to talk- but at that point, your heart was beating too loud for you to focus on his words. 
Raphael glanced between his brother and yourself, a picture of bewilderment. You ignored him. 
Just as you had ignored Leo for the entirety of the following week. 
Well, perhaps ignore is the incorrect term; rather, you were indifferent to his presence. 
Each time you were alone in the kitchen together, you made no effort to spark a conversation with him. Instead, you’d nod your acknowledgment before making a swift exit- just as he had done to you countless times. 
What had piqued your curiosity was the fact that all of a sudden, the number of times you’d been caught in a situation alone with Leo has risen significantly. He had begun to appear in places that you’d otherwise never see him, at times that were completely off from his usual schedule. 
The most drastic example would be today’s training session. You had swaggered into the room, ready to provoke Raph until he snapped and kicked your ass. It had become a sort of unorthodox tradition, one that left you sore but you’d look forward to it nonetheless. It was the only time for you to really test your skills without him worrying too much about being careful with you. 
However, this particular session made you halt your steps, suspended in motion within the doorway. 
Leonardo was there. 
You blinked. 
He’s still there. Brandishing his katanas with lethal grace and performing his kata’s flawlessly. Raphael was nowhere to be seen and you’re just about to turn tail and escape before you make eye contact with the turtle in the center of the room. His gaze was intense and the air felt different, as if it were alight with a thick tension. 
Leonardo didn’t avert his stare like he usually did; instead, he lowered his arms to his side and straightened his stance. You gulped and your brain worked to churn out an excuse to leave, the last thing you wanted was to have the leader judge your training routine. 
“I’ll just come back later then,” you blurted, shattering the silence with a small wince. To your surprise, he had shaken his head almost immediately. 
“No,” he began, eyeing you carefully. “I’ll stay to my side of the room while you train.” 
Your breath hitched and it felt as though someone had stuffed cotton into your mouth. “Uh,” you desperately searched for another excuse, “I usually spar with Raph. I’ll just come back another time.” 
You thought you had him, there’s no way he could come up with a rebuttal unless he planned to bring in Raphael. However, when his reply was almost instantaneous, your heart thrashed in your chest. 
“Spar with me.” 
You blinked at him. “What?”
He spun a sword in his hand before moving to rest his weapons against the wall. Leonardo turned back to you with a raised eyebrow ridge. “Spar. With. Me.” 
“I can’t,” you heard yourself say, your voice almost a whisper as you took an involuntary step back. Your heart pounded beneath your rib cage at the mere thought of training with the blue-clad turtle. 
“Sure you can,” he said with a slight shrug, slowly advancing towards you. Each step he took made you want to flinch away. 
Raphael was an intensely brutish opponent but his techniques were very straight forward. Everything about him was bared for you to see, unashamed in his temperamental disposition and foul language. Leonardo was a completely different story, the idea of being put against him in a sparring session genuinely terrified you. 
Especially with the new demeanor he had obtained, one that was almost predatory in nature. He was frustrated and you could clearly sense it. 
“It’s fine I’ll just wait for Raph,” your voice was a breathy whisper as he came to a stop only a couple feet before you. That was the closest he had ever been to you voluntarily, usually opting to steer clear of you as if you were the plague. 
His eyes flashed an electric blue, crackling with an energy that you had never seen from him previously. He reached for the bag in your hand, maintaining eye contact as he gripped it tightly, skin brushing against yours. “I insist.” 
You swallowed heavily when you realized he was no longer asking you.
After nodding quickly, you're finally able to catch your breath when he leaned back with your gym bag in his hold. 
Following him further into the room, he placed down your things and met you in the center. He didn’t say anything for a long moment, simply taking to observing you. 
“How do you want to do this?” You questioned, nervousness rattling around your stomach as he rolls his shoulders lightly. 
“Win by submission.”
The simple statement had you grimacing.  
"I really don't think this is a good idea," you muttered, casting your gaze to the floor.
"Then stop thinking," he said, supplying a solution you would never enact. You rolled your eyes, glancing at him with a bemused expression.
"For someone who's meant to be wise, you're not exactly adept at giving good advice," you snarked, fuelled by the growing stress and pressure of your current situation. You were in uncharted waters with your new opponent; someone you had spent so long playing against with an unrecognized advantage on your side. Now that he had finally given you what you wanted, you realized that maybe gaining his attention wasn't as satisfying as you'd originally thought. More like terrifying.
His eyes hardened at your words and you immediately knew you had made a mistake by jabbing at his position. "Get into your stance," he ordered with a narrowed gaze, "now."
"I really don't-" you began, heart thrashing with panic when he cut you off.
"Now," he repeated.
Hesitantly, you shifted your feet into the correct position, raising your shaking hands to guard your face. You felt as though you were going to be sick when he bowed, a sign that the sparring session had begun.
He returned his gaze to meet yours as he straightened up and you could hear the blood rushing through your ears. Yes, you thought, puking could definitely be an option here. Your bottom lip quivered on par with your trembling hands guarding your face.
This was not right. 
You had sparred with Raphael, of all people, multiple times. You never feared an ass whooping from the temperamental turtle; so, why are you afraid of the leader? Someone who has constantly exercised restraint where his brothers would usually indulge? Out of all of them, he would be the least likely to hurt you. Hell, Raphael had fractured bones every now and then.  
The leader launched forward, breaking you from your chain of thought as you sloppily dodged a reaching fist. 
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. 
You stumbled backward, forced to be on the defense. There was no time to even attempt an offense with the speed that Leonardo was operating at. He was a flurry of kicks and well-placed punches and you knew that you were immediately being overwhelmed. 
“Leonardo,” you rasped desperately, squeaking when he answered only with a sweeping leg in which you barely escaped. The intensity of this fight was way too high for a spar that had only begun 20 seconds ago. 
“Just hold on!” You cried out after a failed attempt to throw your own punch. Another right jab on your behalf had only resulted in you almost being snatched up by the blue-clad whirlwind. 
Each attack that he executed had built in the force behind it, forcing you back with each blow. You were quickly realizing that physically blocking his moves was not going to work out well for you and you opted to jump out of the way instead. 
All of a sudden you felt like this was less of a sparring match and more of a slaughter-to-be. 
“Press pause!” Your screech was reinforced by sheer panic when he feigned right and you fell right into his trap as you twisted your body away from him. Leo moved with you and you squeaked when he finally caught a tight grip on your arm. 
In that split-moment, your eyes met his, an electric blue that made your wildly racing heart just stop. His hooded gaze was steely and the pent up frustration was thinly veiled, boiling beneath his skin and communicated through his movements. 
You suddenly realized that this fight was about to end very, very quickly. 
With a flash of his teeth, Leonardo wrenched you towards him. 
You can’t breathe as your splayed palms connect with his chest, your body pressed against his. His hands moved down to your waist and you want to puke when you instantly realize he’s about to launch a very painful maneuver on you. 
It felt as though everything was suddenly in slow motion as his fingers tightened above your hips, bringing you off the ground. You had no idea how to stop him, how to save yourself from what was about to occur. Racking your brain, you screamed the only words that came to mind and prayed that they would work. 
“I submit!” 
Leo’s entire body froze as if someone had pressed the pause button on his remote controller. You could hear the blood rushing through your ears, mingled with his unusually labored breathing. 
“I’m sorry, okay?” Your words were nothing but a breathless whimper and you squeezed your eyes shut in an attempt to stop your body from trembling. “I submit.” 
There’s a pregnant pause, in which neither of you moved. You were vaguely aware of your face buried in his chest, latching onto his shell as if that would’ve stopped the further attacks. The feel of his body rhythmically rising and falling beneath you with each breath felt strange, you would have almost described it as intimate if it weren’t for the current situation. You only noticed that you were suspended a few inches off the ground when Leo, ever so gently, lowered you back down. 
“I’m sorry,” you repeated quietly, heart pounding in your chest. “I don’t know what you want from me.” 
And it was out. 
Leo’s fingers tightened fractionally on your waist and you heard him take a sharp breath. 
Then he sighed. 
“I’m the one who should be apologizing,” he murmured, his voice rumbling in his chest against your ear. 
You don’t know why but for some reason you weren’t actually expecting a response from him. You’d almost expected him to disappear in a puff of smoke, something he had done many times in your presence when you confronted him with conversations. 
“I tried to keep a respectful distance,” Leo began, faltering slightly in his words. You held your breath. “I didn’t mean for it to become like this.” 
You assumed that “this” meant growing bitter and resentful towards each other for absolutely no logical reason with no visible end. 
“Respectful?” You couldn’t help but scoff softly, pulling your face away from his shell. You turned your gaze upwards to meet his, startled by the close proximity. “You gave me the complete cold shoulder. Ostracized me.” 
Leo’s gaze narrowed slightly, electric blue gaze searching your own for an answer to a question only he knew. “You certainly weren’t innocent, either.” 
You felt the heat rush to your face, indignation building in your chest as you hissed, “don’t make me say “you started it”. Don’t make me do it.” 
He sighed through his nose and glanced away for a brief moment before turning back to you, “I know, I’m sorry. I was avoiding distraction by avoiding you and it was the wrong choice to make.” 
You frowned lightly, “distraction?” You scoffed as you glared up at him with guarded eyes, “You’re fine with April O’Neil but I’m the distraction?” 
You watched as his jaw moved while he grit his teeth. That electric gaze flickered away from you, suddenly seeming insecure. “You’re different,” he muttered finally, voice softer than you had ever heard it. 
Suddenly you’re very aware of his gentle but firm grip on your waist, his thumb subconsciously rubbing lightly against your skin. His hands were hot, setting alight every place that they touched. 
It seemed you were not the only one suddenly aware of your compromising position. 
Leo was observing you intently, lips parting when his gaze traveled to where your hands rested against his shell. You couldn’t bring yourself to correct your position even when under his study. 
“Let’s start over,” you whispered, watching him snap his attention back to you at the words. 
There’s silence between you both until Leo swallowed thickly, exhaling a shaky breath. Extending an olive branch would be your final attempt, your last hurrah. The air was charged with energy you couldn’t decipher as you leaned into him, meeting his bewildered stare imploringly. He doesn’t budge other than the grip on your body tightening a fraction. 
You’re almost prepared for rejection until you catch the corner of his mouth shifting upward ever so slightly. 
“I’m Leonardo,” he said, and your hearth thrashed in your chest as a charming smile stretched against his full lips. “It’s really nice to meet you.” 
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Undercover Lover prt 25
25
Eren’s plans too a slight turn for the worse. First came sweating with a fever, then nausea, then came throwing up, and finally came being transferred to hospital when his nose started pouring blood and the precinct medic started yelling for an ambulance. Ah. The joys of being handcuffed to a bed. He remembered them well from. Actually, he didn’t. He didn’t remember much about the first few days after Marco had died, it’d all been a blur, but Armin was there to tell him they had to restrain him because he hadn’t taken the news very well. Rushed into emergency, people were yelling, he wasn’t sure he wasn’t one of them as the bright lights assaulted his eyes. Ultimately he lost a day and woke up to Pixis peeling a mandarin while he worked his way through a bottle of brandy. He’d had a severe reaction to alpha suppressants, going slightly feral, his knee had been busted by an officer claiming self defence. Not that he’d been informed who they were but it could have only been one of Rod’s small time thugs trying to get one last hit in in case he shuffled off the mortal realm. Pixis rather jovial as he recounted what Eren had missed. Eren not so jovial as his right knee stung like a bitch.
Things became a real party when Hannes came by to check on his condition. Two of the best men he knew happened to both be functional alcoholics and seemed to delight in exchanging stories of his bullheadedness and opinions on brandy. With fresh officers at his door, and denied pain medication thanks to being a “druggy”, sleep offered the only relief in the whole situation. Levi was fucking going to love this. So, it was Sunday morning he appeared before the magistrate, a special favour called in by Pixis, his bail set and paid, before he was forced onto Hannes... who insisted repeatedly he needed monitoring after his reaction. Now knowing what the hell was going on, Hannes had signed a non-disclosure form, which unfortunately didn’t stop him from giving him hell the moment they’d climbed into Hannes’s blue truck. They’d taken his crutches off him, leaving him hobbling into court with his damn moon boot. Climbing into Hanne’s truck wasn’t so bad, but the idea of climbing out wasn’t appealing. All he wanted was to go home to Levi’s apartment and sleep.
“Eren, I’m talking to you”
Ugh. Red lights. He hated them. Sighing, Eren looked to Hannes tiredly. His head was throbbing, couldn’t the man take pity on him until they’d gotten home? Which reminded him, he still hadn’t contacted Levi. Great. Levi would think he was blowing him off on purpose or some shit
“You know I couldn’t tell you”
“You could have told me something”
“I didn’t exactly plan on being stabbed”
The light turned green, Eren wondering why it couldn’t have done so sooner to save his sanity from this. Maybe he should risk throwing himself out the car? Surely it couldn’t be as bad as Hannes’s “dad tone”
“That’s not the point”
“Undercover work means you don’t talk. I’ve worked my arse off for this...”
“I could have helped...”
Curse Hannes. The man more of a father to him than his own father. Grisha... He’d been there when Eren was younger... then shit happened and now he was pretty much dead to his father... but that was metaphorically. Getting caught in this mess could literally cost Hannes his life
“I didn’t want you to know. Rod is bad news. Between illegal fighting, money laundering, and drug shipments, the last thing I needed was him coming after you. I’ll bet he’s already got someone tracking you down. Going home won’t be safe”
Hannes raised an eyebrow
“That bad?”
“I honestly don’t know why I’ve been released with a clear threat to my life. This is exactly why I didn’t want to get any closer to Levi”
He wanted to see Levi. The second time he’d woken, he’d looked to the side of his bed, thinking Levi would be there. That he wasn’t... it sent Eren’s mind to all the possible dark places
“I don’t think that’s possible. You’re lucky Pixis and Shadis covered for you. The documentation’s been edited...”
“Too late. By now Rod will know I’m an omega of some sort...”
“Then there’s no way you can possibly go back there”
“What am I supposed to do then? Pixis asked me to dig into a certain associate of Rod’s that’s being released...”
“You could ask Levi”
“No”
Absolutely not. No. He wasn’t getting Levi involved. He needed to extract him, yet Levi wasn’t the kind of man to follow anyone he didn’t know in an act of blind faith
“Eren, I think he...”
“I’m not costing him his life! His apartment won’t be safe anymore, and I don’t know if he’s even going to make it home in one piece! Where the hell are we going?”
“Pixis set you up with an alternative place to stay”
“Please tell me we’re not staying at yours”
“Then I won’t”
“Hannes!”
“You need monitoring. A huge dose of alpha suppressants entered your system. There may be more side effects”
“Shouldn’t it be out my system by now?”
“Your system is confused at the best of times. I’ve got the spare room set up, and Levi is welcome to stay”
How could Hannes smile? How could he let Eren into his home knowing he might just get killed for his generosity?!
“How is that not getting you involved?! How do you not get how dangerous this is?”
“And you’re like a son to me. Of course I’m going to be there. I couldn’t be there for your mother, so at least let me be there for you”
Fuck... Hannes... He made it hard to look him in the face when it came to the serious stuff
“That wasn’t you fault”
“I was in the ER at the time...”
He didn’t want to go there. He didn’t want to go anywhere except maybe to Eldia in Marley to see Levi
“She was already sick, just no one knew it... okay. It’s not your fault and you don’t have to act like you have some big debt. You don’t. I can’t contact Levi, I don’t know where my phone ended up, but he’s back Monday”
“Then I’ll take you to see him after work. Try to tolerate this old man until then”
*
Eren wasn’t sure if “tolerate” was the right word for the situation. Hannes’s wife had died due to complications from pneumonia years ago now, and the man embraced a kind of eclectic messiness where he knew where things were and no one else did. Finally medicated, Eren spent most of what was left of the Sunday in bed, a good thing too as Hannes woke him the following morning having decided he should come with him to the clinic where he could keep an eye on him.
Begrudgingly, Eren went. Pixis having gifted Hannes money to buy him something to wear might have been the highlight of damn day. They’d stopped into the local mall before work, Eren grabbing the first shirt and pair jeans that fitted, then remember he needed underwear and fresh socks, Hannes grabbing junk food as he said he needed the sugar to concentrate on the day ahead. Everything being scentless should have made him happy, he had the chance at a semi-fresh start seeing he couldn’t go back to work in a moonboot and Rod probably didn’t want him there... Sniffing his old clothes as he bagged them, they stank of him and his changing pheromones. Unexpected tears welling up in his eyes as the feeling of loneliness struck him out of nowhere. He missed Levi’s scent and now he was crying in the public toilets, missing a man who’d probably got the complete wrong idea about why he hadn’t contacted him. If Levi were there, he’d use some sentence with far too many “shits” in it to describe both the location and him being a brat... Fuck. He just wanted to see him again.
Unable to perk back up, Eren spent the day in a flunk. Using Hannes’s second consulting room, he had nothing to do but sleep and play around on the internet, but there were only so many cat videos a man could watch before boredom set in and both options became boring. His boredom had him almost calling work to see if Rod had returned, though the person he really wanted to call was Levi, who’s number was stuck in his flat phone. He’d offered to pick up lunch for Hannes, but Hannes firmly shut him down over wandering around while unstable. Even if he couldn’t smell himself, Hannes assured him he was steadily releasing a distressed scent that could be picked up on by the wrong kind of alpha. Eren didn’t know what Hannes expected to happen. If anyone made a pass at him, he’d ignore them, and if he couldn’t, he had two very handy weapons to get his point across. This was worse than being in prison. With nothing better to do, he took a page out of Levi’s book, starting to clean up the examination room before Hannes came to tell him he was being too noisy. He couldn’t help it. Sitting still was not his forte.
The hours between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm dragged on. The last hour the worst as anxiety gnawed at Eren’s stomach and he worried his lip until it bled. Everytime he glanced at the clock it seemed to mock him by having moved a minute or two at the time. Levi had to be home by now. He’d have gotten home and seen Eren wasn’t there. He would have been cranky “the brat” had disobeyed him... or maybe he was relieved to come home and find the man who’d thrown his life into chaos gone. Having someone to care about was hard enough, let alone the extra worry given it was his mate who’d spent the past few days surrounded by god only knows what. What if Levi had found someone better in their time apart? What if he’d slept with someone? They weren’t exactly dating, so Eren didn’t have the right to be mad if he did... even if Levi said he didn’t sleep around, alcohol seemed to lower the man’s defences... and hell, Levi was so good in bed... just thinking about Levi like that was enough to make him slick, then whimper at the idea of someone else being beneath his alpha. Fucking anxiety fucking sucked...
*
Hannes accompanied Eren to Levi’s apartment. They kind of had a ready made cover story seeing Eren’s knee was currently stuffed and it kind of was work related. Knocking on the alpha’s door, Eren’s heart was hammering in his chest. He didn’t want Levi to start yelling, though he may just deserve it. He also feared seeing the alpha hurt seeing Levi was terrible at taking care of his own injuries after a fight.
Knocking again, Levi kept him waiting... Eren finding himself nearly in tears again. Knocking for a third time finally summoned the alpha from the depths of his apartment
“Fuck off, Hanji! I’m not in the fucking mood!”
Hearing Levi’s voice made Eren’s heart give a weird beat. For a moment the omega thought he’d be left out on in the hallway, until the door finally cracked open, Eren immediately stumbling forward to throw his arms around Levi, not entirely sure why, only that he wanted to hug him because he’d come home safely.
“What the shit?”
He’d take it. Forcing himself off Levi, Eren tried to smile. The short alpha wearing a very grumpy expression as he crossed his arms and scowled up at him. Not that he’d admit it, yet Levi seemed shorter than he remembered him being
“I’m so sorry. I had an accident and my phone’s been flat so I couldn’t let you know”
Levi’s gaze travelled downwards, narrowing as his gaze came to Eren’s knee
“What the fuck happened?!”
“Twisted my knee. I’ve been at Hannes’s, but it’s nothing really”
“Tch. Do you know how worried I was?”
Eren melted. He wanted to sweep Levi back into his arms, but the alpha had only just showered by the look of him
“I’m really sorry. Hannes has been monitoring me to make sure I don’t have a reaction to the medication... Can we come in?”
“It’s your fucking apartment too”
Thank god Levi was acting like himself. Sure, he was kind of sad the alpha hadn’t immediately let them in, but he’d come back from being with Rod unscathed
“Right... it’s really good to see you”
“Tch. Quit being emotional, it’s only been a few days. Come on in already, before you disturb the neighbours”
Limping his way into the apartment, Hannes followed as Eren made his way over to the sofa. Everywhere filled with Levi’s scent that washed over him like a welcome breeze on a hot day. In the kitchen, Levi immediately went to making tea, Eren smiling at the very Levi action
“How the shit did he manage to get into trouble the moment I left town?”
Eren pouted a little. He hadn’t meant for anything that’d happened to go down
“I...”
“I’m not asking you, I’m asking Hannes”
Hannes sighed, shooting Eren a glance that Eren failed to read
“He got arrested for possession. That’s how he busted his knee. They gave him alpha suppressants, so I’ve had him with me so I can monitor his condition”
Hannes was a dirty rotten traitor. Sure, he might have to explain to Levi what’d happened before the alpha went back to work, but couldn’t Hannes just let him have this?
“Shit!”
Dropping the tea canister, Levi stood there with tea leaves across the kitchen bench. Normally he’d be rushing to clean up the mess, but instead his eyes were firmly on Eren
“I... it’s not so bad. I’m on bail... at least they didn’t throw me back into holding until I see the magistrate”
“You fucking got arrested?!”
“At the garage. I guess I’m fired now”
Leaning against the bench, Levi pushed himself back as he dropped his head
“It was Rod, wasn’t it?”
Fuck. Levi getting into with Rod was the last thing they needed
“Probably... Look, it’s okay. The job there was only going to be temporary...”
Raising his head, Levi showed a rare fit of anger as he kicked the counter door
“Fuck the job. Hannes, will he be okay?”
“He had a pretty bad reaction, but the drugs seem to be out his system now. Given it was a high dose, I’d like him to stay with me for now”
Couldn’t Hannes ease him into all of this? Eren had no idea how he was going to ask Levi to come with them, but throwing everything at him wasn’t the right way to do things
“Hannes!”
“Don’t give me that. You know that I also want Levi to stay for the time being to make sure your hormones settle”
There should really be an age limit for sass. Eren had the sneaking suspicion that it being past “scotch o’clock” was making the doctor cranky. Shit, he was starting to blush simply looking at Levi. Stupid earlier thoughts coming to mind as Levi made him blush harder by asking
“Couldn’t he remain here?”
Hannes shook his head
“I’d like him where I have access to him immediately if something happens. He’s been given the wrong suppressants previously, yet that wasn’t during presentation. I’d also like to keep him in an environment without scent cancellers and monitor his changes”
Eren huffed. He was 27 not 7, or 17. Shouldn’t he have some say?
“I’m not a pet. And I would prefer to stay here”
“Brat, Hannes knows more about this than we do. If he says it’s necessary, then you should stay with him”
“But I want to stay with you!”
Oh. Fuck. Now he’d done it. Raising his voice, both sets of eyes were on him as he died a little internally. His selfishness talking, as he personally wanted to stay by Levi’s side and not just for Levi’s protection. Surprisingly Levi chuckled at his outburst, unsurprisingly, it brought tears to Eren’s eyes as his face burned. Shitty stupid dynamics... He was going to blame them until hell froze over. Hannes placed his hand on Eren’s leg, his tone softening
“Eren...”
“Forget it. I’m going to pack”
“We’re not done talking about this. I’m not...”
Nope. He’d embarrassed himself... again. Why did he have to keep making a total fool out of himself when Levi was in the room? Levi was never going to believe he was a Detective with the Paradis Narcotics Division even if Eren looked him dead in the eyes and told him the goddamn truth about why he was really in Shinganshima. He used to have underlinings. He used to handle cases. He used to handle goddamn briefings and even guest lectured once when meth was in its infancy stage on the island
“It’s alright, Hannes. I fucking get it”
Storming out the room, with his crutches and damn moon boot, his mood hardly conveyed how angry he was at himself. Keeping himself from slamming the bedroom door behind him, he felt all of 17 again. Levi’s scent seemed to follow him in. Sadness hung in the room, and the omega supposed he deserved that much as he sank onto the edge of what had been his bed.
How was he supposed to sort things out with Levi within two weeks?
Three months... they’d been in each other’s orbit for three months. How did explain things to Levi and not make it sound as if he’d spend three months playing the man? Hannes was his friend from his past. Levi had to place a heck of a lot trust in the beta not to be lying to him about the situation. Had Eren been in Levi’s shoes, he could easily see how the results had been faked to keep him close. But he liked him... as a person. He’d liked him before his body started reacting. The crass frankness so damn refreshing after so many lies and the creation of his carefully constructed facade. Now he was sitting in the room Levi had been kind enough to loan him... crying because he couldn’t have things his own way.
Levi came after him. Letting himself into the space, Eren’s face was buried in his hands. Men weren’t meant to fall apart and cry like this. That’s what pretty much every piece of media out there said. His mother used to tease him for showing his emotions, until one day his tears seemed to just dry up
“You okay, brat?”
“I think I’m in the middle of a mental breakdown or a tantrum. I can’t quite decide”
Sighing at him, Levi dropped himself down to sit next to him. Eren resisting the urge to lean into the warmth he knew he’d find in Levi
“Tch. It sounds to me like you’ve had a pretty shitty last few days”
“No where near as shitty as yours, I’m sure”
Being with Rod that long, Eren would have snapped and he knew it. Work was one thing, playing nice and being up close another thing entirely
“It’s over. That’s the main thing”
“Us or Rod?”
“Tch. You really do like to leap to the worst fucking conclusions”
That wasn’t an answer
“I’m sorry”
“Stop it. Now, talk to me. What happened with the medication?”
Telling Levi felt like crying wolf. It was done. No body had the ability to go back in time and change things, nor could they see the future. Mumbling, he wiped at his eyes
“You know the police use emergency suppressants when arresting someone considered violent...”
“Tch. For fuck’s sake. Have you had...”
“I haven’t had symptoms... I thought I was, but it was a bad reaction... You must have thought I was ignoring you”
Levi took a moment to reply. The alpha a master at stomach dropping pauses
“I did. I wasn’t too impressed to find you’d left”
Fuck. Levi’s tone didn’t hold any accusations, only a kind of melancholy that smacked Eren like a guilt train t the face
“I was going to, but... shit. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing... again”
“Sitting on your shitty bed having a cry?”
“There’s that. I kept wondering how you were and if Rod was using this chance to dispose of you now that he’d gotten rid of me”
“With the amount of money I made that fat fuck, his little pecker has never been harder”
Things couldn’t get much worse. Letting himself lean against Levi, Levi didn’t push him away. Eren indulging himself a little more as he kissed the alpha’s shoulder
“I’m... I don’t know why I did that... I’m... I’m really glad you’re safe”
And he sincerely meant that. Levi going missing in Marley would have been so easy to cover up and explain
“Don’t go getting too soft on me, brat. From what I hear, we’re both in the shit”
“I don’t know when I’m going before court. Hannes spoke on my behalf. The cops probably know I’m a shitty beta-omega”
“Rod probably knows too”
“Yeah. Fuck... I keep bringing shit to your doorstep”
“Hannes might be shitty, but he’s not shit. You shouldn’t talk about your friends like that”
Fucking Levi. Despite his low mood, Levi had him snorting with laughter
“This coming from the man who calls his best friends “Eyebrows” and “Shitty Foureyes””
Levi bumped him with his elbow, Eren nearly delirious at all the attention he was getting... really, his face couldn’t possibly feel any warmer at this stage. It had to be the onset of a fever or something
“I know what I’m talking about. Look. Hannes’s place is probably safer than here right now”
“I know that. But I didn’t want him involved like this. I can’t help but feel once Rod learns I’ve walked, shit is going to hit the fan. I don’t want you caught in it”
“Tch. You don’t have to worry about me. I can handle myself”
“I know. Blame the hormones... I’m sorry. I’m not going to make you leave your home for me. I’ll stay with Hannes like a good little omega”
Once again Levi hit him with another of those long pauses. The alpha turning his face away from him
“I’m not good at this shit... I don’t know why, but... I didn’t like you not being here when I got home. It just... shit... I’m not saying this shit right. Fucking hell”
Okay... That sounded suspiciously like caring
“You missed me?”
“Tch. Don’t get too full of yourself... but maybe something like that. Look. I don’t want to stay at Hannes’s but the bigger problem is if you get sick again. So... maybe... for a couple of fucking days, it wouldn’t be so fucking bad”
He didn’t want Levi walking into Hannes’s without being prepared
“His house is a mess and the bathroom has something growing in the corner of the shower. Kind of fucked my knee up so not really able to get that low to the ground”
Growling, the alpha pulled away. Levi running his finger through his short black hair, Eren swallowing hard at the casual kind of sexiness oozing off the alpha. Shit... Maybe he wasn’t just hot...
“Of course it fucking does. I don’t know what an alpha does. I didn’t know if I should go get you. Or if you’d been hurt. Or if you’d fucked off back to your apartment thinking you shouldn’t be here...I didn’t know if you were dead somewhere... Fuck, brat... just shut up and accept some fucking help for once”
Please for the love all things sacred don’t let Levi notice he was starting to slick. Or that the alpha’s scent was starting to change to something way too tempting. Swallowing nervously, Eren forced himself off the bed. Accepting help... It made him feel infinitely worse about the coming two weeks
“If you’re coming, you should probably pack”
“I’m already packed. I haven’t unpacked”
“Then... pack some more... I don’t know”
“Eren...”
“I’m not good at this help thing... and things have all gone to shit. Can I have a few moments alone?”
Levi sighed at him
“Alright. I’m a bit reluctant though. I wouldn’t be surprised if you tripped and attacked the furniture in your state”
“In my defence, I didn’t ask for a fucked knee”
“No. I’m not impressed by that at all”
How Eren wanted to confess then have Levi fix things, but he was in far too deep. Four days he’d been mostly okay, 5 minutes with Levi and he was back to being a mess
“That’s what happens when you put someone with my past in with a bunch of cops. I’m grateful I didn’t end up in a ditch. You should probably pack your work things... and the bed isn’t really the greatest. We’re staying in Phillip’s room and it hasn’t changed since he moved out to go to college”
“What size is the bed?”
Eren blinked, the realised it was a valid question seeing he’d practically insinuated they’d be sleeping in it together
“Queen. Thankfully”
“I’ll pack my own bedding. I don’t want to think about the amount of spoof lingering on those sheets”
“They’ve been washed...”
“I’m sure they have been. Fine. Pack your stuff. But you better call out if you need help”
Both of them knew he wouldn’t, still, Eren forced a strained smile as he answered. If living with Hannes failed to scare Levi away, then maybe nothing ever would?
“Yeah. Will do”
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eddieeatsass · 4 years
Text
I’ll Trade you a Myth for a Kiss
Summary: “Derry’s kissing bridge was a little slice of romance in an otherwise unromantic town. Derry Maine didn’t exactly inspire one’s heart to soar, but something about that bridge caused a fluttering in the hearts of every person that passed it. Richie didn’t believe the myth. He was well past the age where he listened to make believe stories about true love and the promise of forever. Real life didn’t hold such fates, if it did, Richie wouldn’t be a closeted gay kid painfully in love with his straight best friend.” Pairing: Reddie Rating: T
Read on AO3
Derry’s kissing bridge was a little slice of romance in an otherwise unromantic town. Derry Maine didn’t exactly inspire one’s heart to soar, but something about that bridge caused a fluttering in the hearts of every person that passed it.
It wasn’t that the bridge was particularly beautiful, in fact it was pretty ugly with its decaying wood frame, rickety beams that split and splintered any hand that touched them, and sun-faded paint job.
It was the lore attached to the bridge, passed down through the hushed whispers of Derry residents for decades, that lured people into its hold. It was said that if you kissed someone under the bridge, they would be solidified as your soulmate; a metaphorical binding of spirits between two lovers.
Richie didn’t believe the myth. He was well past the age where he listened to make believe stories about true love and the promise of forever. Real life didn’t hold such fates, if it did, Richie wouldn’t be a closeted gay kid painfully in love with his straight best friend.
So, be it the fact that there was no actual evidence to the validity of the tall tale, or the fact that that very bridge had been the location at which his dear friend Ben had almost been murdered by Henry Bowers and his goons, Richie just didn’t have that much faith in the bridge’s supposed positive energy.
Much to Richie’s dismay, however, his cynicism didn’t do much to deter the way his heart rate spiked when he found himself sitting under that very bridge in the company of said best friend.
 They hadn’t planned on ending up here. Their day had started out much like any other; they’d met their friends at the quarry, soaked themselves and their undergarments in the deep jade water before laying out in the sun to dry. Music rang from Beverly’s small portable radio as they shared jokes and stories until the sun began to set.
They’d all gone their separate ways when there’d been no more daylight to suck out of the sun, the presence of fireflies lighting their ways home. Eddie’s bike had been confiscated by Sonia for god knows what number of reasons, so he relied on Richie to be his chauffer for the day.
And chauffer he did. Richie relished in the tight grip of Eddie’s arms around his torso, the way he’d mutter a ‘slow down trashmouth’ against Richie’s neck when he went too fast, or the little yip that he’d let out when they went over a speed bump, soaring weightlessly through the air for one blissful moment before crashing back down to reality.
He’d enjoyed chauffeuring right up until the moment he rode over broken glass, popping his tire and sending him and Eddie tumbling to the ground.
They’d been lucky, veering into grass right before impact, so their injuries were minor. But Eddie still insisted to treat them before they continued home, blabbering on about infections and amputations and- Richie didn’t listen to the rest.
It hadn’t taken long for Richie to recognize exactly where they were. His bike had decided to commit suicide right next to the infamous kissing bridge, which he’d taken home a thousand times and kissed at exactly zero times.
 “Richie.” Eddie repeated, finally garnering the attention of Richie’s quickly waning mind. Eddie waved his small disinfectant pack in the air as if an obvious gesture of irritation.
“Right, sorry Eds!” Richie scurried over to where Eddie had sat himself down on a fallen tree trunk, a miniature pharmacy set out before them all thanks to his fanny pack.
“Let me see your legs.” Eddie instructed, already loaded with a disinfectant wipe and a look of determination on his small features. It was far too cute for Richie to handle, and it made his insides churn uncomfortably. As usual he defaulted to humor, hoping it would ease his nerves.
“That’s what your mom said last night.”
“Richie! Ugh, gross.” Eddie’s nose scrunched up in disgust and Richie’s plan backfired.
With a rosy tint to his cheeks that Richie prayed Eddie couldn’t see in the dark, he sat down beside Eddie and presented him with two freshly scraped kneecaps.
Richie let out a string of curses as Eddie began cleaning the wound, but once the sting of peroxide passed, he noticed how gentle Eddie was being.
“Batman or Mickey Mouse?”
Richie looked up from where Eddie’s hand laid gently upon his knee, meeting round chestnut eyes that reflected the moonlight. Richie’s mind went blank.
“What?” He asked dumbly.
“Bandaids, do you want Batman or Mickey Mouse?”
Richie’s heart did about three backflips before he was finally able to answer, stuttering out a weak response that was not up to par with his usual.
"You know I've always been a Mickey man, myself."
Eddie quirked his lips, not quite a smile but also not the annoyance Richie was usually met with. He watched as Eddie reached into his fanny pack and pulled out a bandaid, unwrapping it carefully before moving to apply it to Richie's left knee. It barely covered the scrape, but they both knew it was for show more than function. Eddie liked knowing he'd taken care of someone, the bandaid standing out like a gold star sticker on a quiz. He nodded to himself, satisfied, before moving to tend to Richie's other knee.
 The process was much the same. It stung when Eddie applied the alcohol, Richie's heart skipped a beat when Eddie got too close, and then there was a distorted Mickey Mouse stating up at the both of them from where it sat over bloodied skin.
Richie spoke before thinking, his mouth always faster than his brain.
"What, no kiss, Dr. K?"
Eddie rolled his eyes, but if Richie wasn't mistaken, he also noted a slight rosiness rising to Eddie's cheeks.
"We're not five, Richie. I'm not gonna kiss your knee better. Also, ew."
"Who said I was talking about my knee?"
They both froze; Richie, horrified by the deception of his own thoughts, and Eddie, shocked by Richie's boldness.
"I-I-I meant my dick." Richie tried to recover, his tone none too convincing. But bless Eddie, whether truly oblivious or just pretending to be, responded by smacking Richie's chest.
It caused Richie to tumble backwards off their makeshift bench, falling into foliage that almost entirely ate him up.
“Oh my god! Richie!” Eddie’s tone shifted into concern, his body moving faster than such a little frame should be able to as he leaned over to offer Richie a hand up. Richie, widely known for acting before he thinks, took the opportunity to pull Eddie down alongside him.
The sound of breaking tree branches, rustled leaves, and tiny shrieks alerted Richie to the fact that Eddie did not land beside him as planned. In fact, a quick glance around him confirmed that Eddie was nowhere near Richie any longer.
“EDS!?” Richie’s voice was high pitched and frantic.
“Down here, asshole.”
The response, though obviously irate, still brought comfort to his beating heart.
“One second- shit- I gotta- fuck-”
Richie was stumbling over himself, squinting his eyes as he tried to see any minute flash of brown hair peeking through the dark. Richie fumbled around in his pocket, grabbing on to the lanyard that held his keys and, thankfully, a small flashlight. It wasn’t much, but it helped illuminate that area where Eddie’s voice called from.
Richie felt horrible when he realized they’d been right next to a hill, and his action had flung Eddie right down it. He spotted a small moving figure right at the bottom, underneath the looming darkness of the bridge, and set off towards it.
Getting down the hill without falling was tricky, but Richie somehow managed it. When he came upon Eddie, the smaller boy was attempting to dust the dirt off from his body. Richie decided not to note how fruitless his effort was, instead allowing Eddie to believe he had some control over the germs he’d been unceremoniously thrown into.
“Sorry about that, Eddie. You’re just so tiny, you weigh next to nothing.” Richie tried to pass off his comment as a joke, hoping it would lead them back into their usual back-and-forth. He’d never actually admit that he loved how tiny Eddie was compared to him, because that would mean admitting a whole slew of other things that he wasn’t ready to face.
“Not everyone can be Andre the giant, you ever-growing fuck. It’s not my fault my body doesn’t want to become a skyscraper.” Eddie countered.
Richie straightened his back, beginning to feign confusion as he aimed the flashlight above Eddie’s head.
“Eddie? Eddie???” Richie pretended to search for him, looking left and right but always above the line of sight where Eddie sat.
“You’re obnoxious.” Eddie stated.
“Eddie? Is that you? Where are ya boy-” Richie’s joke was cut short when Eddie swatted the flashlight out of his hand. It hit the ground with a wet splat, landing in a pile of mud just on the edge of the water.
Richie laughed heartily. He leaned down to pick it up when his gaze followed the stream of light to where it pointed right at an etching in the wooden beam that held the bridge above their heads.
Richie walked closer to it, crouching next to the engraving and tracing it with his finger. In the middle of a heart were two initials: G + H.
“How much you wanna bet that one’s Greta and Henry?”
“A thousand bucks.” Richie huffed, rolling his eyes at the thought of them carving this into the bridge after sharing a cigarette musky lip-lock.
“Good, they deserve each other. They can rot together for eternity. Thank you, magic bridge.” Eddie tapped the pillar gently, as if patting someone’s shoulder.
“Come on, you believe in this crap?” Richie stretched back up to full height.
Eddie seemed to mull the question over in his head before answering.
“I mean… what’s the harm in entertaining the idea?” Eddie’s voice had a bashful tone to it that Richie had never heard before. It made his skin prickle with warmth.
“I just never took you for the romantic type, Eds.” Richie tried to soften his voice, encouraged it to come out a little less like a tease and a little more like a confession. It seemed to have the desired effect when Richie pointed the light at Eddie and noticed a blush on his cheeks.
“Have you kissed anyone down here?” Eddie asked suddenly, the boldness shocking Richie into silence (which was rare).
Richie instinctively puffed his chest out, a bravado thick on his lips and ready to be spoken, but it deflated as quickly as it was triggered. Eddie was being vulnerable with Richie in a way that he never was, and if Richie messed this up, he might as well be damning himself to a future where Eddie didn’t trust him with moments like this. There was no greater fear than that.
“No.” Richie answered honestly, kicking a nearby rock into the water.
“Have you kissed anyone?” Eddie’s voice was barely above a whisper, almost inaudible over the sound of the crickets and the trickle of the stream.
Richie’s heart lurched in his chest so strongly it almost made him lose his balance. His eyes bugged out behind his coke bottle frames, trying to make sense of why Eddie was asking these questions. With a thick swallow, he answered.
“Yeah, only twice.” He knew he’d boasted about much more, that if the losers had been keeping tally, Richie’s supposed trysts were up in the double digits by now. But he didn’t feel like lying or keeping up some kind of charade. Not here, not alone with Eddie. “Once in 7th grade with Trisha Saunders, and then at the beginning of 8th grade with Megan DeLaurence.”
Eddie nodded sagely, looking down at his feet.
“I haven’t kissed anyone yet. I think I might be the last of the Losers who hasn’t.”
The way Eddie’s shoulders slumped made Richie want to reach forward and hold him up. His fingers twitched at the effort it took to hold himself back.
“It’s not a competition, Eddie. No one’s judging you.” Richie said earnestly, taking a step towards Eddie’s frame. Was he shivering? It had gotten kind of cold in the time they’d been standing down here. Richie hadn’t even noticed the nip of September beginning to creep in, he’d been warmed from the flush of being so close to Eddie; something he realized he’d gotten accustom to any time Eddie was around.
“Eds.” Richie sighed, beginning to unbutton the long-sleeved printed shirt he wore over his t-shirt. Once he shrugged it off, he took another step towards Eddie and draped the garment across his shoulders, making sure not to focus on how it dwarfed Eddie’s already miniscule frame.
Richie had abandoned his tiny flashlight, allowing it to dangle from a droopy hand and angle light out into the water. The darkness sheathed them from reading one another’s expressions, giving Richie the false confidence, it took for him to lean in and press his lips against Eddie’s.
The kiss wasn’t long, nor was it filled with passion. It was probably closer to the type of kiss you give your aunt at Christmas, just a chaste peck on the lips. But despite the nature of the kiss, it still left Richie buzzing from head to toe in a way that no other kiss had done before.
Sure, kissing Trisha and Megan had been fine. Richie had chalked it up to experience, telling himself that the reason he hadn’t felt anything was because he wasn’t used to it yet. But with Eddie it was a whole different world. Such a small touch had made him lightheaded, left him itching to go in for more and not stop until his lungs gave out.
Richie realized then that the silence had stretched out between them, Eddie obviously confused and, Richie realized with a pang in his heart, probably horrified.
“T-there.” Richie tripped over his words, cursing his nerves for mistaking him for Bill. He cleared his throat and tried again. “There. Now you’ve kissed someone.”
Eddie still didn’t respond, and Richie’s heartrate began to tick up into something erratic.
After a pause that probably aged Richie ten years, Eddie finally let out a laugh. A small titter that dissolved all the anxiety Richie was harboring.
“You dumbass.” Eddie giggled. “Now we’re stuck together forever!”
Richie couldn’t hold back the grin that stretched his cheeks so wide they burned. If believing that him and Eddie were now solidified as soulmates meant also believing in some invisible universal force carried on for decades by a fucking bridge, then so be it. He’d believe in every fairytale ever told if it meant being with Eddie.
Richie scratched the back of his neck, a nervous twitch he’d had since childhood. He only hoped that Eddie couldn’t see it.
“Yeah, I guess I kinda screwed the pooch on that one huh.”
“I mean, there’s worse people to be stuck with for life.” Eddie countered.
“Well I am honored I’m not the worst.”
“That honor is gonna have to go to Henry.”
“Well, we don’t have to worry about him because he’s already promised to Greta for eternity. We’re clear.”
“Good. He can have Greta as long as I can have you.”
Richie’s brain stopped functioning, all reasonable responses escaping his mind. ‘As long as I can have you’. Richie would be repeating that to himself as a lullaby from now until forever.
“You can have me.” Richie responded on a shaky exhale.
Eddie’s breathing sounded just as unsteady as it filled the space between them. With nervous hands, Richie brought the flashlight back up to illuminate Eddie’s face. He was quivering, although Richie wasn’t certain whether it was still from the cold, or from the same feeling that had caused Richie’s limbs to feel like rubber.
“We gotta get you home before you become an Edsicle.” Richie teased, breaking the tension between them and leading them back into safe territory. Eddie rolled his eyes, but traces of laughter were evident in his small smile. He shouldered Richie out of the way gently, passing him and making his way back over to the hill that he’d fallen down.
“Well, you better help me back up this hill then.” He demanded.
Richie bounded over to him with newfound glee in his heart, vowing to never take the prospect of magic bridges for granted ever again.
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chaptersinprogress · 4 years
Text
demolition lovers  |  4
"P'King!"
Sighing, he closed his eyes and sent the heavens a quick prayer for patience. Speak of the devil.
Rating: T
Warnings: mild swearing
Pairings: Ram/King; Bohn/Duen
King frowned as he checked his watch. What was taking Bohn so long? Surely the meeting with the professors hadn't run that late. He sighed and shot Mek a text.
K: I'm at the Gear Statue. Where are you guys? Is the case still being discussed?
M: Still outside the Dean's office. They're taking longer than expected. Might be more serious than we thought.
K: Damn. Still can't believe it was the archi department the nongs brawled with. We've always had a decent relationship with them.
M: Yeah. But don't worry, we haven't seen any sign of the med kid yet. We'll make sure Bohn doesn't run into him.
K: Thanks. Sorry for taking up your afternoon.
M: Bohn's our friend, it's nothing.
King pocketed his phone with a smile. Mek and Boss were far too good to them. He swung his bag onto his shoulder as he got up. He'd better go find the Year 1s now, or he'd be late for their tutoring session.
"P'King!"
Sighing, he closed his eyes and sent the heavens a quick prayer for patience. Speak of the devil. Opening his eyes, he found Duen standing in front of him, holding a bouquet of flowers.
"N'Duen," he said coldly.
Duen flinched slightly at his tone. "Ah, sorry to trouble you, P'King. Do you mind helping me pass this to P'Bohn? I didn't manage to find him this morning to pass them to him myself."
"Don't worry, you can consider the deal over. You needn't bother."
"But I want to," Duen replied slightly desperately. "I have to make it up for hurting him."
King let his eyes fall to the bouquet Duen clutched. Purple hyacinths were interspersed with daffodils, all enclosed within a ring of fresh snowdrops. He mentally catalogued the flowers - forgiveness, new beginnings, hope.
"And why should I pass this to Bohn?" he asked. "What are you expecting, N'Duen?"
"I...I..." began Duen, stammering. He took a deep breath. "I wish to court P'Bohn!"
King raised his eyebrows. "Oh? But I thought you found his attention... troublesome."
Duen flushed. "I didn't mean it that way! It's just... P'Bohn can be kind of forceful. And there are a lot of people who aren't happy about his attention being on me, so...um... they take it out on me. It's a bit scary sometimes," he admitted.
King felt himself soften slightly. He'd grown up with Bohn and knew first-hand just how aggressive he could get when he wanted something. That and people could get very ugly sometimes, especially when it came to matters of the heart. 
No wonder the kid had reacted so strongly. The stress of being pushed around by Bohn and the others had slowly built until he'd finally exploded. Bohn had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"But are you willing to deal with this?" King pressed. "There will probably be many times in the future that situations like this occur again. Who's to say that you won't react the way you did again? I don't want to watch my best friend get hurt."
Duen considered the question carefully. "P'King, I cannot guarantee you that I will never hurt P'Bohn again. We are both human, and we will end up making mistakes, some of which will hurt each other."
"But I can promise you that I've had the week to think about this,” he continued. “And I'm sure that P'Bohn is worth the effort. The future may be uncertain, but I'm willing to apologise for the mistakes I've made and will end up making. And if P'Bohn will have me, I hope to stay by his side for a long time."
King searched Duen's face for the slightest hint of insincerity, finding none. And the fact was, the type of relationship Duen and Bohn had was between the two of them. He had no right to determine it. Caving, he took the bouquet.
"Fine. I'll help you pass this to Bohn. But- !" he said as a smile spread across Duen's face. "First you'll need to convince Bohn to accept you on your own. Then you'll have to convince me that you're a good match for him."
Duen nodded frantically. "Yes, P'King! Thank you for giving me a chance!"
King sighed, already beginning to regret the decision. "Alright, alright. Scram," he said, walking off to find the Year 1s.
"P'King, over here!" shouted Phu.
King raised his hand in acknowledgement and strode over to the group of Years 1s huddled together at a bench in the Engineering Faculty's garden.
"Hello nongs, I've heard that you need some help. Your midterms coming up?" he asked, leaning against the side of the table.
Phu nodded frantically. "Yes Phi, but we're all lost when it comes to indeterminate forms of limits and L'Hospital's rule."
"Ah. Yeah, it can be a bit tricky to wrap your head around at first. Let me see, we can work through an example together."
King spent the next ten minutes explaining the concepts, first to the entire group, then tailoring the explanation to suit the individuals who still couldn't fully grasp it. When he had satisfactorily cleared the theoretical doubts, he assigned the group a set of questions from the textbook to try applying what they had learnt.
After giving them five minutes to attempt the questions on their own, he began walking around, checking their work and offering corrections and guidance to those who needed it. As he pointed out a mistake to one of the students, he heard Phu call out.
"Ram! I saved you a seat. Hurry up, P'King has already started tutoring!"
King felt his heart rate pick up. What were the chances that this was some other 1st year engineering student also named Ram?
He felt more than saw someone settle down opposite the student he was helping. King's palms grew sweaty. Still torn between wanting to know and remaining ignorant of who exactly had joined them, he forced himself to focus on the worksheet.
When he finished pointing out the errors and could delay no further, he slowly straightened up. His eyes dragged across the books stacked on the table to muscular forearms encased in a crisp white shirt, travelling along the length of a slim black tie, before arriving at a familiar face.
King swallowed heavily as Ram looked up at him, expression carefully blank.
"Ah P'King, do you mind explaining the concepts again to Ram?" asked Phu. "Sorry he's late, I forgot to mention to you that he had a prior commitment."
King hastily turned to face Phu, grateful for the opportunity to look away. "No worries, Nong. I'll be right there."
He made his way over to Ram at snail-pace, desperately trying to prolong the time it took to reach his ill-fated crush. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to burst right out of his chest.
Finally reaching Ram's shoulder, King took a deep breath before speaking. "So, um, do you have any particular questions or do you want me to start from the top?"
Ram nodded sharply. King waited for Ram to clarify which of the two he was referring to but received no answer.
"You do understand Thai, right?" he asked carefully.
Ram gave another jerky nod. When no further reply came, King ran a hand through his hair. "From the top then, I assume. Turn your textbook to the chapter on indefinite limits, we'll start from there."
He muddled his way through the explanations, relying on Ram's nods and head shakes to gauge his understanding. Assigning Ram a couple of questions, he stepped back and took a few moments to collect himself.
Shit. Having to tutor his crush was pure torture. He had been hyper-aware of himself the entire time - every breath, every tiny motion he made, and even the volume of his voice. The stress of having to be near Ram was going to be the death of him.
"P'King," Phu called. "Ram's having difficulty with this question."
Pulling himself together, King braced a hand on the table and leaned over Ram's shoulder to study the problem. As he did so, he caught a whiff of Ram's cologne - a heady blend of musk, wood and leather. The scent hung seductively in the air.
King inhaled deeply, subtly trying to fill his lungs with it. Too distracted by the smell to concentrate on anything else, he stared at the paper blankly, not processing a single word.
Ram turned his head slightly to stare at his suddenly all-too-quiet senior. The movement caused his nose to lightly brush against King's cheek. The touch burnt like the white heat of a comet trail and yanked the senior back to the present.
King jerked away like he'd been stung.
"I...er...I forgot about a meeting. Gotta go now," he stammered, grabbing his bag and the bouquet from Duen off the bench. "N'Phu, send me a photo of the question. I'll get back to you later," he said before promptly fleeing, leaving the 1st year students staring after him in confusion.
Bohn stroked a smooth petal delicately. "What did you say the flowers meant again?"
"Forgiveness, new beginnings and hope," came King's muffled voice from where he'd buried his face in the mound of pillows littering Bohn's bed.
Bohn hid the smile that had slowly begun to spread across his face in the bouquet. "King, he went through the trouble of making an apology bouquet."
"Yay... lucky you..."
Bohn shot his friend a glare. "What's your problem? You've been like that for half an hour already."
"Don't remind me," King moaned, attempting to smother himself with the pillows. "Or better yet, just kill me now."
"You have five seconds to start talking before I come over there and make you talk," Bohn threatened. "Five. Four. Thre-"
King threw a pillow at him without looking. It bounced off the edge of the couch, nowhere near Bohn. Grabbing it, Bohn chucked it back at King, and unlike his friend, nailed him right in the head.
"Ow! Alright! He was part of the group I had to tutor today and then I went and fucked it all up with my stupid crush, happy?!"
"What did y- "
Bohn's phone pinged. Deciding to drop the subject for the moment, Bohn reached over and picked it up. Reading the message, he whooped and jumped on top of King.
"He asked me out! King, Duen asked me out!"
King lifted his head up with a groan and wheezed, "He did what now?"
"He asked me out!" yelled Bohn into his ear. "Our usual bar, tomorrow night at 9!"
"Ok, ok, I heard you now get off me," King pleaded, gasping for breath.
Bohn promptly rolled off him and moved to text Duen. King put an immediate stop to that by grabbing Bohn's arm.
"Wait, are you sure you want to accept? This is the same guy who rejected you a week ago that we're talking about."
Bohn raised an imperious eyebrow. "Of course I'm sure. I always get what I want."
King sighed and let Bohn get back to texting Duen. He pulled out his own phone. Like hell was he letting Bohn walk into this on his own.
K: Our resident idiot has decided to accept that kid's request for a date tomorrow
P: You serious? The same one he was avoiding at the fundraiser?
K: Yeah. A bouquet of flowers is all it took for that resolve to collapse like a house of cards.
P: What's the plan?
K: I'm gonna go with. No way in hell am I going to leave them alone till I'm sure of his intentions.
P: Text me the address and time, I'll be there
K: No way. You have your hazing trip the next morning. Are you not planning to sleep? You're not coming.
P: You're not my dad. And that's my problem. Besides, Bohn's given you the slip plenty of times. As long as he doesn't know I'm there, we can keep an eye on him.
K: Fine. The usual bar, 9pm. I'll let you know if there's a change of plans.
P: Got it
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ofmythsandmadness · 4 years
Text
Drunken Words, Sober Thoughts (Part Two).
SUMMARY: after a rough night, all Y/N wants to do is brew a couple cups of coffee and common sense and drown her sorrows alive. but that’s all snatched away from her when someone decides to pay her a morning visit. WARNING: angst, foul language. PAIRING: Diego Hargreeves x reader WORD COUNT: 3205.
part one found here.
A/N: this is SO late to come...I’m so sorry, folks. but here it is, in all its horrible glory. it’s been a crazy couple weeks but I’m happy that I actually got this done (I was worried it wasn’t actually going to happen, but here we are). enjoy, lovelies.
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LET IT BE KNOWN, Y/N HATED ANSWERING THE DOOR.
When one lived in an apartment complex filled with batshit crazies one would do their absolute best to avoid, answering the door was a nightmare. There were very few actual reasons to answer the door, and none of those really applied to late morning after a shit night. Honestly, she was not sure why she went to it in the first place.
But she went. A fatal mistake, leaving her gasping for air, standing in her mis-matched socks and old gym shorts with far too many mysterious stains to count. There she was, regretting just about every single thing in her gross hot pants and the worst breath known to man, staring gape-faced at the person waiting at the other end of the door.
“...oh.”
“Hi.”
“What are - what - what are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well - I mean - I - you left,” she blurted, finally setting on two words to spit out instead of spluttering in his face. “Left, gave me a stupid note and that’s it, so I thought that was...man, I don’t know. Forgive me if I’m a little confused as to what you’re doing at my door this early in the morning.”
Diego frowned, shrinking into himself at the harsh tone. “Uh, sorry,” was all he muttered back, unable to stammer out something stronger.
She sighed and shuffled so the door was properly open and he could come in. “No, I should be sorry. Just come in.” Y/N stifled a yawn even while closing the door. “I just woke up n’I haven’t had coffee yet. I’m a little bitter.” Sure, because that was the reason.
“Right. Well, would this,” he paused, lifting his hands to show off two cups, “help?”
Despite herself, Y/N smiled slightly. Was she happy to see him? No, she really could have done without that angst so bright and early and honestly, seeing his face made her want to scream (and not in a good way). It would have been better to have the day off from seeing him, the two of them avoiding one another until he could look her in the eye and pretend like nothing happened. She preferred that to awkward NOT one-night-stand run-ins.
But he had coffee and she did not have any of that without him there, so she would cope with the mandatory side effects. Gratefully, she took the steaming cup and downed a gulp, wincing at the burning throat. “Thanks.”
“Sure. N-no problem.” He paused, clearing his throat. “Figured I owed that much to you.”
Her first thought went to a simple ‘huh’, but luckily she was able to cut herself short. No point running through that awkward exchange when she knew what could come and that it would get the two of them nowhere. She was way too peeved to play into the simper and fluffy nonsense that was her delusional heart. Y/N downed one more gulp of steaming coffee to steel her nerves and slammed the cup down.
“What are you doing here, right now?” More of a command than a question.
“I told you.”
“No, actually you did not tell me anything. And again, forgive me for being a little point-blank right now, Diego, but -” her coffee-free hand raised and flailed about rather gracelessly. “You show up with coffee after a dismal, three word - actually, two words and an initial - note and honestly, I’d be fine with all of this if you had just been a bit...let’s say, wordy with your explanation. Or your arrival at fu-I don’t even know what time it is, that’s how confused I am right now.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. No - yeah - I’m fine,” she snapped, folding her arms across herself as though they were a protective barrier between him and her beating heart. “Okay, so - that’s not the point. I want to know...I mean…” her irritated confidence was draining out of her, leaving her clambering for the next words in front of his wide eyes, trying to come up with another question when the words would not come out. All there was in her mouth was the shit taste of coffee, mixing with faint mint and whatever saliva had not dried right up. Was she going to vomit, right then and there? Hell, maybe.
“I can leave, if-if-”
“No,” she threw out, far too fast for her to catch the word. “I mean...I don’t want you to leave.”
“Oh.”
She sighed once more. “I’m just tired, is all. It was a long night, and if I’m being honest? I wasn’t expecting to see anyone, least of all you, this early in the morning. You’re welcome to be here, stay, do whatever - if I could just have like, ten to change and fix myself up? Then we can talk. Or whatever.”
That was code for lose her shit in her bedroom for nine minutes and then rush to make herself presentable in the last sixty seconds of chaos.
She expected a nod and acceptance to her request, leaving her already turning away from Diego, but that did not come. Instead, he caught her arm and shook his head gently. “I’m not staying long.”
Her lips pursed. The arm he had just held fell limply back to her side. “Huh?”
“I just came by to c-clear things up.”
“Oh…” She had no clue what to do with that. “Okay…?”
“I left the note there, but then A-Allison told me I had to come back.”
“Hold up, Allison?”
Diego nodded, groaning as he rubbed the side of his head. “She ran into me, made me - it doesn’t matter. And before you ask - no, she didn’t, you know, ‘make’ me.”
“Mm. Thanks for the clarification.” Y/N loved Allison, she really did, but one could never be too sure with the Hargreeves siblings. “But why are you here, Diego? I - I mean - it’s Saturday, you’ve got work to do, shit to get ready for the crazy vigilante weekend set ahead. All this-”
“-how do y-you always know so much about me?”
Y/N stopped short, whirling around to stare at him dead. Once more she was caught off guard and directed onto a totally different path of conversation, led along by his pleading, dark eyes and the vague statements he seemed to love throwing her way. “What?”
“You always know every single damn thing. Everything.” His hand came down from his head, in the shape of a fist, only to ram against her kitchen counter. She saw a flash of pain erupt across his face, but he of course, said nothing about it. “And I know jackshit.”
“So? What’s that gotta do with anything?”
“You - you - I - you do so much, an’ you do so much shit for me. But e’ery time I come around it’s like you shut down and I barely fuckin’ get to know your middle name!”
“Come on, you know my middle name.”
“Do I?”
“Diego, - holy - what?” She had said that word far too many times at that point - and yet she could not stop herself from mumbling it over and over in disbelief. “I’m so fucking confused right now. Why’d you come over here to yell at me for my middle name?”
“I didn’t! I - god, you’re getting me all mixed up!”
To that, she rolled her eyes. Gone was the flustered nature; all she could think about was her utter frustration, mingling with anger and the fact she had missed out on a rare chance to sleep well. All this yelling was giving her a headache, and that was just the tip of the fucking iceberg, wasn’t it?
“You know what? I’m not doing this right now,” she muttered. One hand moved to massage at her temples, trying to heed off the incoming migraine. “Unless you’ve got something to say, something actually important, I’m busy. You should, uh, leave.”
Y/N did not look towards Diego, could not in her anger, but if she had maybe she would understand a little better. His face had fallen, and for once the expression was readable - one of failure. There was a good reason to be there and it was not to bring up stupid topics and toy with her. With both of them.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I just have things to do.” What a painfully bad lie. She really had to try a bit harder - but it was far too hard just then. Even looking at him was difficult, then. “We can talk later if you want my social security number n’shit too.”
That jab clearly stung, but she really did not care (or tried to tell herself she did not). She wanted to say a whole lot more, but the words clung to the roof of her mouth and threatened to choke her out if she so much and dared to begin any of them. All she could do was start wringing her hands and focus on anything but him.
“Fine.” His words were heavy, hitting her like a sledgehammer and she struggled to hold the weight without breaking face. “Sure.”
“We can talk later-”
“S’okay,” he grumbled, already twisting away. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have come.”
“Oh, my fucking jeez, Diego.”
That was meant to be an aside, but it came out much louder and angrier than she had meant - and Diego heard it perfectly. He did not turn to her, but his back did stiffen and she knew that his made up face of pretend calm had most definitely cracked.
Y/N was left with two options. One, she could try to play it off, shove him out the door - pull that whole shebang, which would leave her probably only angrier and more hurt and neither of them with a solution. It might be easier for the first ten minutes or so, but she would regret it more than anything coming out of the entire interaction. But the second...well, if she was honest with herself, it was scary as all hell. She would much rather face ten thousand apocalypses than go with the second option - but was there any real choice? Sure it might hurt, but she could get over it. And really, he was probably already well aware of her badly disguised feelings anyways.
So, she erupted, swinging over to stand in front of him. Her chin jutted out and up, trying to seem bigger than she really was. “I’m done with these games, Diego Hargreeves. We keep going around in these circles where you get to hurt me - unintentionally or not - and I let you do it because I care too damn much about you. And I pretend like nothing ever happened, and I’m there for you time and time again with no complaints like a fucking housewife. But you know what? I’m done. I’m not dealing with this back and forth and now this setback from you. I’m not going to be fine with this anymore!”
“What-” 
-but with a swipe of her hand, he was silenced, cut off by her ever rising voice. “You know why I know everything about you, Diego? Because you tell me, because I’m always there, always listening, always breaking my back to be around you even when you hurt me. You come by, or I come to you, and while you’re drunk as a skunk you sit on my couch and smile this great big stupid smile and tell me everything and just about anything on your mind. And the worst of it - oh, the worst is, you are so wasted you don’t even care about me, and you lie your ass off. You tell me I’m beautiful, that I’m the finest girl you’ve ever met, that you l-love me, and I let you! I stand and take her - why, I still haven’t figured it out!
“And you know why I don’t do the same with you? Because - because - because,” she paused, gasping for air and another train of thought, “because I can’t afford to let go and let you know what’s swimming around in my head. Because where you smile and lie off your ass that you think of me as anything more than a friend, I - I - I don’t feel that same way. I care about you, Diego, and more’n just as a buddy, a pal - I like you. And I wanted to tell you for the longest time, but then you started doing this! And then every day when you wake up, you forget all about it, and I’m left feelin’ miserable, knowing you’ll never feel anything close to what I feel about you.”
Y/N finally stopped, once more eagerly sucking in air. She had not realised how loud she had grown until she had to cough to clear her suddenly scratchy throat. Her eyes slid up to meet Diego’s, but after seeing his wide look of shock, they had to dart away. Shit.
“I’m sorry - I mean, I’m not,” she sighed. Carefully, her feet shuffled away, giving her space to exhale. “I just didn’t want to keep going on with that. But, m’sorry to spring it on you...sort of. I mean - nevermind. You can head out now, catch you later.”
Y/N moved to slide over to the door just a couple feet away, but just before she could turn, his arm shot out to take her wrist. Gasping slightly, she paused, looking down at his hand and then up at him. “What-”
“-would you just stand still?” Diego mumbled, stepping closer and then even nearer, so they were just a breath away from fully touching. His other hand found hers, then drifting up her waist where they gently sat. Y/N simply stood, almost frozen as he moved in what felt like slow motion towards her (in reality, it was barely two seconds of time passed, but what could she say?). Just as her eyes flew open and moved to find his, hoping to get an answer for just what was happening, his lips were on hers.
She found herself stuck, eyes still wide and hands resting awkwardly by her waist as he pressed into her. The kiss was light, soft against her lips and really unmoving - not exactly what she had imagined before, but to be fair, that was totally her frozen fault. Just, in the half-second of him kissing her, she had managed to lose all sense of reality or self, and struggled to even discern where she was. Let alone the fact that he was completely sober and kissing her.
The slow-motion second passed, though, and he was pulling back. Diego’s face had fallen and he looked down on her, a dismal expression on his face. Only then did Y/N find herself working again. As he pouted, slowly withdrawing his arms from her waist, she smiled and moved closer in.
“What are you doing?”
The only available response to that would be his own phrase shot back, a chuckled “would you just stand still?” before she was reaching up and resting her hands on his cheeks, melting into him. Unlike her, Diego reciprocated, melting into the embrace like a pat of butter. Her hands moved to be wrapped around his neck and his held her tight against him, as though he feared she would be torn from him at any second.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I liked it.”
He smiled, gently, more genuinely than he had in a while - sober, at least. “Not about the kiss - though for the record, I liked it too.”
“Mm,” she grinned, “so what’s the sorry for?”
“Everything else.”
“Elaborate?”
Diego hung his head. “I’ve been a dick. I never meant for this to go on like this, for so long - I just couldn’t t-t-talk to you, ‘bout - a-a-and-”
“-just breathe. Take your time.”
His hands shook as they cradled her own, but his grip tightened - like it was a lifeline securing him back in place. “I - I - I screwed up. Kept screwing up. I know. But you would just sh-sh-show up, and I couldn’t st-st-st-op my mouth. God, you looked so beautiful.”
Y/N, though she tried to fight against it, smiled. It was not enough of an apology to soothe the ache, or the countless midnights wasted on hurt and anger towards what she thought was her unrequited love. But in the moment, she really was not thinking about that pain or what was to come - rather, her thoughts were on what was in front of her. Who was in front of her.
“Look,” she began, softly, “I’m not gonna say that I’m okay with what you did, over and over and over again. It hurt like hell. But I gotta say, at the moment, this...this is sort of okay. And, if you kiss me a couple more times, it might even be a solid in-the-moment apology.”
“You deserve so much better n’this.”
She mocked a pout. “What do you mean?”
“I”m serious, Y/N. You’re too good for me.”
“Okay, so you’re going straight for cheese, huh?”
“Would you just be serious for a second?” he pleaded. As she laughed and pulled away, he tugged harder, as though begging her to physically accept his words. “I mean all this! I know - I can’t be who you want me to be.”
At that, she sobered up. “Who exactly do you think I want you to be, Diego? I mean, lordy, we’ve known each other forever, you know almost everything about me and my life. And I know almost all of you and yours. Barring all the shitty drunken confessions you denied over and over again, I know you’re a good guy. You don’t need to come in here, kiss me like that and then tell me you don’t wanna do this!”
“I do want to do this.”
“Then hush up and let’s enjoy this moment.”
“No, stop Y/N - I’m serious.”
“I am too, you dork.” She tugged at his hands, pulling them back around her waist. Her head still ached, but the pain had dulled - she connected it to Diego’s presence and touch though that was highly improbable. But she was giddy and over the stress of yelling at him and wanting more and more from him. Instead, she was content to sway and kiss him in the warm rays of that Saturday morning, with her hair a fuzzy halo around her head and toes curling in at his warm hold. It was a messy, lame image but at that moment, it was pure euphoria.
“We can deal with all the apologies and details and shit later,” she began, with an unavoidable smile still licking her lips. “But when I say I really, really don’t want to do that right now, I mean that.”
Diego’s eyes flitted about her face, resting on her own upturned gaze before drifting down to her lips. She felt his grip tighten around her. “You’re an-an - you’re an angel.”
“Ha. Funny.”
“I mean that, now shuddup,” he mumbled, and before she could retort to him, his lips were on hers and all she could do was smile and accept.
There would be time to talk after.
TAG LIST: @heda-mikaelson @rosa-berberifolia
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twiceinadream · 4 years
Text
“I’m being gay with you.”
Requested: Yup
Request: could you write a nachaeng's first kiss scenario please :>
a/u: Hey, guys! So I’ve been gone for a while, and I’m finally posting! Yay! This was honestly supposed to be a small one shot but I kinda blew it out of proportion, and it’s now my longest one. So please enjoy and thank you to everyone who has supported me both and old, and @princesskdh for helping me through some pretty rough writer’s block. Thank you all again! (P.S. Thank you all so much for 1.2K+ followers)
Category: Angst and Fluff
Word Count: 1.5K
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Chaeyoung sighed as she stared down at her notes, formulas filled the lines of her notebook as her eyes began drifting to the girl beside her, her lab partner, Im Nayeon. The spoiled rich girl of JYP Academy was the lab partner of the renowned delinquent. The world really did work in mysterious ways. “Chaeyoung-ssi. Chaeyoung-ssi!” Chaeyoung shook her head as she tore her gaze from her lab partner and to the teacher in front of her.
The girl gave her a smile as she was met face to face with her teacher, “Yes, Miss Park.” Her smirk made the older woman’s blood boil as she gripped the paper in her hand harder.
“The principle would like to see you.” Chaeyoung just shrugged as she gathered her things and gave Nayeon a small smile.
“See you later beautiful.” As soon as the words left the younger girl’s mouth she was out of the room in a flash as she quietly celebrated in the hallway, ‘Ahh! I just did that! I hope she knows I’m being gay with her.’ Chae did a small dance of joy before she quickly straightened up and popped the collar of her leather jacket, clearing her throat as she made her way to the front office.
The silence was deafening as the man across the young girl sighed heavily, “Chaeyoung-ssi, I am well aware of your reputation around the academy and I’m not blind to your antics. But you need to start getting your act together.” Chaeyoung just rolled her eyes as she slouched into the chair.
“What for?” The man behind the desk gave a small smile, a smile that made Chaeyoung’s skin crawl.
“Oh you know, the usual. Being banned from all school activities and possible suspension.” Suddenly he had the young girl’s attention as she sat up in the chair.
“Banned from school activities!? Like the, Winter Ball!?” The principle gave her a confused look as she seemed to have complete disregard at the mention of suspension, but be concerned over the upcoming Ball.
“But also sus…” the man sighed, “Yes. If your continue on your ‘delinquent streak’ you will be ineligible for the Winter Ball.” Chaeyoung nodded as she rose from the chair.
“So be it.”
Chaeyoung crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall behind her. Today was the day, the day she would ask Im Nayeon to the Winter Ball. The shorter girl tracked her as she moved through the cafeteria to keep an eye on her for when she would finally sit. Bingo.
The shorter girl smiled to herself as she moved away from the wall and into the sea of people parting as she walked through, her sights set on one girl. A halo seemed to glow around Nayeon as Chaeyoung came closer, her prominent laugh filled the room as her heart began to pound in her ears, the light in Chaeyoung’s eyes growing brighter. When out of nowhere her vision went black as she ran into someone, “What the h…” Chae shook her head as she backed up, her eyes settling on the chest of the girl that had gotten in her way, her eyes trailing up to her face. Her beauty leaving Chaeyoung absolutely floored as her mouth fell agape, her mind reeling as she noticed the girl began speaking to her.
But Chae had been too focused on watching her lips that she was only able to catch the last few words, “...the Winter Ball with me.” Chaeyoung blinked as the cafeteria suddenly became silent, she could no longer hear Nayeon’s laugh as she stared up at the girl in front of her.
“Yes.” The answer left her mouth before she had to process what had been said to her, and as suddenly as the mystery girl had appeared she was gone, and a piece of paper was left in Chaeyoung’s hand as her eyes wandered to where Nayeon was. Her heart sinking as she was met with the sight of the all star jock, Yoo Jeongyeon smiling up at her as she made the older girl laugh, Chaeyoung felt her heart seize as she opened the folded paper in her hand. ‘Here’s my number, and by the way, my name is Chou Tzuyu.’
The night had finally arrived and dread seemed to fill Chaeyoung’s mind as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her suit looked great and her hair had been freshly cut, her makeup done simply. But as well as her night had been going something felt like something was missing, and to Chae’s shame she knew exactly why. It wasn’t Tzuyu’s fault, the girl was actually very sweet even with how painfully shy she was.
Chaeyoung smiled to her mother as she wished her goodnight and made her way to her car, sighing as she started the car and drove to Tzuyu’s house. She had only known her for a few weeks but Chaeng could feel that a friendship had begun to bloom between them and before she could get lost in her thoughts any further she pulled into the Chou resident’s driveway. She turned her car off as she got out and made her way to the door, knocking a few times as she waited on the porch. A few moments passed before the door opened to reveal what looked like a literal angel in Chae’s eyes.
Tzuyu smiled shyly as Chaeyoung complimented her, taking her hand as she led her to her car, opening the door for her as they began their drive to the academy.
When they had gotten into the gym it seemed so crowded with students that Chae had no idea how they were ever gonna get through, but they somehow managed and were now dancing the night away (I’m sorry) as the bass seemed to shake the building. She and Tzuyu smiled at each other as the people around them seemed to push them closer, and for a moment Chae had actually forgotten about Nayeon as she left to get herself and Tzuyu some punch.
As Chaeyoung muscled her way through the crowd and back to Tzuyu she nearly dropped the drinks in her hands as her eyes were met with the sight of Tzuyu locking lips with Jeongyeon. The scene made Chaeyoung’s heart break all over again, her eyes stung as she tore her gaze from the sight; pushing past the people around her as she threw the drinks in the trash and ran out the gym doors.
The cold night air filled her senses as she sat on the steps of the gymnasium, cold concrete below her as she looked up to the sky. The stars were brighter than usual tonight ad Chae smiled to herself, until the sound of soft sobs broke through the night’s silence. Chaeyoung was quick to turn around to make sure whoever was behind was okay, not expecting to be greeted with the sight of Nayeon.
She looked more beautiful than ever, even with her makeup running slightly and hiccuped sobs replacing her usual carefree laugh. Chaeyoung frowned as she stood taking off her jacket, silently placing it on Nayeon’s shoulders. The older girl didn’t even need to look to know who it was, she just wrapped her arms around Chaeyoung’s neck as she cried into the shorter girl’s shoulder.
The action taking Chae by surprise as she froze in Nayeon’s hold, quickly relaxing as she tentatively wrapped her arms around Nayeon’s waist; holding onto her tightly till her cries ceased and she pulled away from her. Nayeon sniffled as she gave Chaeyoung a weak smile, “Thanks.” The younger girl smiled back as she put her hands in her pockets unsure of what to do with them.
“No problem. You look beautiful.” Nayeon let out a small laugh as she looked down at herself.
“You’re just being nice. I look like a mess.”
Chaeyoung scoffed in offense, “Well excuse me, if I find this ‘mess’ beautiful.” The older girl just rolled her eyes as she pushed Chae’s shoulder.
“Then you must be copper and tellurium. Because you’re CuTe.” Chaeyoung shook her head as she and Nayeon shared a laugh.
“Wow, I’m impressed you actually listen to Miss Park. I always thought you were too busy staring at her chest.” Nayeon scoffed as Chaeyoung laughed.
“You really have a way with girls, Chaeyoung-ah.” Chae just smirked.
“Well, I am being gay with you.” Nayeon laughed, a real one. The sound making Chaeyoung’s heart beat faster.
“In that case. I am too.” Chaeyoung felt her eyes widen as she looked at Nayeon in disbelief. Her body barely registering Nayeon pulling her into her arms again.
“Unnie. What are you doing?” The older girl shrugged.
“Payback to our dates.”
Suddenly Nayeon’s lips were on Chaeyoung’s. The younger girl could feel her heart pound in her chest as she melted into the kiss, their lips moving in synch as Chaeyoung pulled Nayeon closer. Their bodies fit perfectly with each other, as Chaeyoung’s eyes slid closed as stars erupted in her vision.
Chae couldn’t help but smile against Nayeon’s lips, as she pulled the older girl closer again.
Finally. She had finally found what she had been missing.
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bjy-on-ao3 · 3 years
Text
Cat-Scratch Fever
(You can find a link to the AO3 version of this, as well as the rest of my fics on the ‘Masterlist’ section of the blog.)
As someone who has very short nails and can’t stand them getting long, I do wonder how people get things done with long nails, tbh. That aside, this was spawned from staring too long at Satan’s ‘Why Do People Love Cats’ and seeing that his nails are a decent length. (Technically I think even Beel’s are also longer, but idk if it’s just the same for all the brothers and I’m very blind.) I am also a big fan of ‘claws’ on demons/etc.
(Also for those who don’t know ‘Cat-Scratch Fever’ is both supposedly a real thing, as well as a Ted Nugent song, but this is named mostly for the cat-pun.)
Cat-Scratch Fever (F!Reader/Satan)
Tags/Warnings Mildly Dubious Consent, Scratching, Sadism, Masochism, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Rough S*x, Creampie
Summary Reader makes a passing comment about Satan’s nails. Satan feels offended and decides to punish them in a way he deems suits the offense.  
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You had innocently commented about Satan's nails earlier that day, genuinely curious how he managed to get anything done with them so long. “Why bother to keep them so long? Don’t they get in the way?” You had quipped about his green-painted claws. 
Unfortunately for you - or perhaps, fortunately, based on who you asked - the Avatar of Wrath had taken your offhanded comment as a slight, though also as an opportunity. When it came down to it, many things made Satan cross, even little things, but he was adept at keeping his wrath hidden. Along with his temper, Satan possessed a vindictive streak that likely wouldn’t have been a surprise to learn about. Ordinarily, he might pay back someone for inciting his ire in a manner purely for his amusement, but he had a sense this time it might be in your favor as well. At least depending on your capacity for pain. 
That afternoon, he asked you to his room and you came willingly, having no reason to be suspicious of the invitation. You enjoyed your time with Satan, even when you considered his tendency toward anger. Despite his wrathful nature, you found him far quieter and pleasant to be around than most inhabitants of the Devildom. That was to say nothing of your delight at having access to the vast collection of books he kept for himself in his bedroom. But Satan wasn't of a mind to let you indulge in his tomes - not today at least. No, he was here to teach you the more fun uses of his long nails.
He cut to the chase quickly after closing his door behind you with a ‘click’. Within seconds, he drew you securely into his arms, one hand clutching at your face harshly, fingers digging into your jaw. Instantly you felt your face flush hotly, quickly flustered by the closeness.  "Satan, what's gotten into-"
"Shhh," he hushed you. "You wanted to know why I keep my nails long." He reminded you matter-of-factly, green eyes boring into yours. He pressed his nails lightly into your skin as he spoke, a sensation that tickled and stung. "I'm going to show you. And I’m going to teach you why you shouldn’t question someone else’s appearance.”
An undercurrent of anger trickled into his voice and you realized, somehow, your comment from before must have irked him. While you weren’t sure what he was going to show you exactly, you gleaned from his words and tone you were going to be punished for the slight against him. You hadn’t thought what you said would offend Satan, but there was no taking it back now.
You started to babble an apology - or perhaps an excuse - but his grip strengthened and you stopped, wincing as the manicured tips of his nails pricked your skin. Rendered silent from his command and grasp, you waited with bated breath for whatever he was plotting. You knew that if you wanted, you could stop him with a single word, but part of you wanted to find out what Satan was going to show you. A part bold enough - or stupid enough - to risk the temper of a demon second only to Lucifer in sadism.
A small smirk quirked Satan’s lips at your resignment to his whims. It seemed you were willing to make amends by receiving his punishment and he was quite pleased. He inclined his head toward your lips slowly, studying your face. You watched him as intently as he watched you, your eyes at first locked with his but flickering to his lips the closer he came. Unconsciously, your lips parted as Satan’s brushed them, the moment tense, like a rubber band, stretched near its breaking point.
When Satan’s lips met yours, there was no gentleness, only an overwhelming blaze of dominance and fervor. His nails scraped cruelly against your skin in complement to his rough kiss. At the sting a yelp rang out from you, muffled by his lips. Satan took advantage of your mouth opening wider, slipping his tongue past your lips and forcing your tongue to twine with his. Despite the sharp prick of his nails, a low groan followed your yelp and your eyes slipped shut.
Satan’s other hand swept up, outlining your jaw in a ticklish, almost tender fashion before moving back down your neck and carving an angry trail into your skin. You whimpered at the newest burn, though a rush of heat of a different sort rose to dull the pain. Your neck and face felt far too hot and despite being freed from Satan’s embrace you remained pressed against him. 
The callous fingers clawing at your neck moved away in favor of the hem of your shirt and slipped beneath it.They smoothed up your back, all gentle fingertip. The first wave of pain had begun to ebb and you had started to grow used to Satan’s harsh hold on your jaw when his other hand reached the nape of your neck. Jolts of hot pain rolled over your skin again as Satan dragged his nails down your back, marking up even more of your skin.
You arched away from the sting, though you had nowhere to go, already pressed flushed against Satan. You succeeded only in pushing yourself more firmly against him. He groaned, devouring the string of whines that fled your lips at the burning touch of his nails. A single smooth roll of his hips let you feel just how excited your body and pain had made him. The suggestive motion was enough to send a shiver down your spine that was much more pleasurable than the ache of his scratches.
The hand on your back pressed flat against the mistreated skin, using the leverage to steer you somewhere. That somewhere turned out to be his bed, your feet stumbling over a few books stacked beside it. Your eyes popped open when he sat down, pulling you with him and dragging you into his lap until you were straddling him. The kiss was broken, but your faces remained dangerously close. Close enough for you to be both appreciative and fearful of the predatory, mischievous gleam in his eyes.
Satan’s sadism was no secret - none of the brothers did much to hide or deny their frightening sides. Yet the swirl of perverse pleasure in Satan’s eyes was something new. You knew he got a kick out of tormenting Lucifer or pulling pranks, but the looks he had then were nothing quite so fierce and intense as what you were looking into.
His bruising grip on your jaw dropped, both hands reaching to the bottom of your shirt and pulling it up. Heart racing and skin burning, you lifted your arms to let him tug it over your head and toss it away. His eyes greedily trailed over your skin, eyeing the expanse unmarred by his touch. He would need to fix that. Pushing one hand into the small of your back and forcing you to bow toward him, he bent his lips to the marks he had already left, nipping and kissing. His other hand tended to your unbroken skin, quickly resolving the lack of angry marks along your torso and stomach.
You hissed out a string of curses, fisting your fingers in his sweater, desperate to ground yourself against the pain that somehow was beginning to make your skin burn and buzz in some strange bliss. The warmth of his mouth on your abused skin made the pain white-hot at first but became more soothing the longer he lapped at it. Still, it wasn’t enough to block out the new pain blossoming across your abdomen. “Aa, Satan, fuck, please...” you whimpered, voice cracking in your plea 
You weren’t sure what you were pleading for. You didn’t know whether you wanted him to stop or hurt you more until you were half-delirious. You were utterly torn and confused. Heat washed over your lower body in a primal surge amidst the throbbing pain, gathering especially strongly at the apex of your thighs. Satan was no fool and could tell the difference between the angry color his nails left behind and the pleasant flush of arousal on your skin. The knowledge only more firmly fixed the impish smile on his lips.
“Begging won’t do any good,” he denied, skating his lips over one of your breasts in another deceptively light touch. “There isn’t any talking your way out. Besides, you look so irresistible like this.”
His lips wrapped around one nipple, sucking roughly and scraping his teeth over it. You cried out, the sound strangled and pathetic. He treated the other nipple in the same way and you sucked in a desperate breath. The beat of your heart pounded ruthlessly, every stinging scratch throbbing in time with it. Your cunt pulsed with it, too, a much more pleasurable sensation than your burning skin. 
You tried biting down on your lip to stifle your whimpers and gasps as if you might quiet the pain with them. Satan noticed quickly, looking up at your face from beneath hooded eyes alight with his wrath and hunger. “Open up, I want to hear you,” he demanded, prising your lip from your teeth with his thumb until your mouth hung open again.
His hand left your back, looping around to your waistband and unbuttoning your pants, pulling them down. Keeping you from catching your lip between your teeth again, he dipped a hand into your panties and felt your body tense. He didn’t claw at your soft, slippery folds as your pain addled mind expected,  instead using his nails to drag teasingly over the sensitive skin. A shudder ran down your back and the noise that drifted from your lips was an erotic blend, combining the pleasure of his touch and the ache of your sore skin. One finger teased your slit - dripping despite the lingering ripples of pains wracking your body.
“Enjoying your punishment, hmm? You’re so wet,” Satan teased.
Your whimpers of pain morphed gradually into more pleasured ones, interrupted by longer, lower moans as he eased two fingers into you. His thumb reached up to your clit, rubbing firm circles over it in time with the stroke of his curled fingers. Satisfied you wouldn’t try to quiet yourself again, his thumb left your lips and returned to savaging your body. Added to the rising swell of pleasure the fingers in your cunt were pulling from you, the pain of his nails biting into your skin was something else entirely. It still stung, making you whine and gasp, but the uncomfortable edge was dulled, the remainder accentuating the pleasure building inside you.
Satan’s attention was rapt on your face again, studying each tiny expression, your features twisting between bliss and torment. The sight made his dick twitch, already hard and longing to be released from the confines of his pants. He pushed away the impatient voice in the back of his mind that urged him to be done with the foreplay. To say the idea of stuffing you with his cock and raking his nails across your skin while buried inside you was enticing would have been an understatement. But he was thoroughly enjoying the moment at hand as well. 
You writhed against the contrasting feelings, your body beginning to quake as he fucked you on his fingers and dug his nails into your back. Your cunt bore down more and more around his fingers, each time sending a jolt through you that left you short of breath. “Fuck, it hurts,” you panted out, body drawn taut, the warring sensations threatening to tear you apart.
“Hm, have you had enough then? Learned your lesson?” Satan mused coyly, though he had no real intention of letting you go just yet. Your lesson was learned when he decided it was and no sooner
“N-no, don’t stop, please, all of it. Keep going,” you begged between labored breaths and whimpers,
Satan’s brows quirked curiously, pleasantly surprised by how well you were taking to his punishment. His cock ached, straining against his pants at your breathy pleas. The nagging, greedy voice from before continued to repeat its demands fitfully, louder by the second and making his blood roil. But Satan’s patience and will was greater than that.
He pumped his fingers steadily into your dripping cunt, more wetness gathering around them, rubbing a little harder on your clit. His nails shifted from digging into your skin to teasingly skimming the lurid marks. Among your myriad whimpers and moans, your voice pitched higher, each sound shorter and breathier. The pulse of your cunt grew in frequency, squeezing him tightly until you felt fit to burst.
You were passingly amazed Satan was able to bring you to the peak of bliss despite inflicting so much pain, but there was little room for coherent thought for long. All you could truly focus on was the twin pulse of pain and pleasure, liquid heat building in your core higher, higher, and higher.
When Satan pulled his fingers away from your swollen folds at the precipice of your orgasm, it was a pain much deeper and stinging than the sharp, hard touch of his nails. It was a loss, an ache bone-deep that made you whine, high-pitched and pitiful. “Satan, please, please,” you chanted almost incoherently, slumping against his shoulder and burying your face in his neck.
You ground your hips against his, desperate to gain back the bliss that had been overwhelming the pain and turning it into a pleasant buzz. Satan smirked, the hand on your back falling still and holding you to him tightly while he raised the other coated in your slick to his lips. He cleaned his fingers diligently, a lewd sucking sound and a ‘pop’ drawing your attention. Already trembling in his lap, a more violent shudder worked its way through you at his bawdy display. “What did I say about begging?” He rumbled, meeting your gaze wolfishly.
Your mouth opened and closed several times as you fought your muddled brain for words. “But I-” you paused - if he didn’t want you to beg, what did he want? “I’m sorry… for questioning your nails,” you mumbled. You weren‘t sure if an apology was what Satan desired, but it was worth a try.
Satan’s simper grew, pleased with your words. “Mmm, I don’t think saying you’re sorry is enough. You’ll need to prove to me you’re sorry,” he said, adjusting you in his lap. 
Your breath caught in your throat and your drumming heart skipped a beat as he moved his hands to his belt, unbuckling it and undoing his pants, You swallowed hard at the sight of his cock as he pulled it from his boxers, stiff and eagerly oozing pre-cum from the swollen head. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled your panties away, proceeding to scissor his fingers between your lips and spread you open for him. “Show me how sorry you are and scream for me, hmm?” He purred, teasing your entrance with the head of his dick.
Without further preamble, Satan thrust up into your heat, half burying himself in one stroke. His hands snaked to the curve of your hips, the familiar burn of his nails digging into your skin returning as he forced you to take more of his cock. You let out a guttural groan when he bottomed out, your hips flush, and a similar sound escaped Satan. He nipped at your earlobe roughly, grinding himself against you in a sloppy circle, letting you feel all of him, hot and hard and unrelenting.
He abandoned the smaller, gentler motion, drawing back and lifting you out of his lap, only to slam back home and pull you down hard. Each cruel thrust ached but you couldn’t deny how good it felt as well. Your cunt only reinforced the feeling, hugging him greedily, as if unwilling to let him go. You tried to match his pace, rocking your hips into his and failing to match his vigor, but doing enough to angle his cock just so that when he pushed back inside it made your legs weak.
The same sensation Satan had wrung from you before with his fingers was blooming again, even more intense from the orgasm abandoned beforehand and the full feeling of his cock driving into you. You felt as if you might combust at any moment and burn down in a roaring blaze of bliss. You couldn’t help but do as Satan had asked, mouth dropping open wide as you rode him, a lewd chorus erupting from your lips.
With each thrust, your shouts of pleasure grew, higher and more urgent. When, at last, you reached the edge of ecstasy and tumbled past it, your screams reached a height that made your throat feel raw. Satan’s name rolled off your tongue many times without hesitation and the rhythm of your hips stuttered, any coherence and focus dwindling. Satan’s pace didn’t slow, however, though you thought you heard a sound like a growl come from him. 
He bucked his hips harder, the delicious ache making you whimper even as you came back down from your orgasm. But Satan wasn’t nearly done with you and each harsh push back inside sent aftershocks through you, each their own kind of pain in your post-orgasmic sensitivity. “Satan, aa, I can’t take anymore,” you moaned, leaning and tucking your face into his neck again and clamping down on his shoulders with both hands.
  Had Satan been feeling merciful, he might have let you off then, but he was determined to see your ‘punishment’ through, as well as chase his own climax. He mouthed at your neck for a moment, littering it with sharp bites before ghosting his lips along your ear. “I thought you were sorry? You’ll have to take a little more if you want me to forgive you,” he said, his voice a lusty hush.
You whined in answer but didn’t speak out against your treatment further. Satan moved one hand from your hips, trailing it between your legs as you continued to ride him despite your protests. When the pads of his fingers slipped across your clit, the fire in your belly was reignited, cresting quickly toward another crescendo. Your lewd sounds had become weak, airy, and cracked, inciting Satan to pick up his pace, feeling his release approaching.
“Cum for me again and I’ll forgive you,” he promised, the rock of his hips beginning to stutter, though their press remained hard and merciless.
You whimpered his name, breath hitching as your painful pleasure reached a fever pitch and exploded. Your cunt fluttered around him frantically, tears welling up in the corners of your eyes as the second orgasm overtook you. Finally urged to his limit as well, Satan followed after several hard thrusts. The nails of the hand on your hip dug in the most cruelly yet and one of your moans twisted into a strangled yelp. He spilled into you in long, hot pumps, groaning your name. Then all was still and silent.
Your brain felt completely fried, body tingling and aching from the mixture of torment and euphoria. You weren’t sure where each began and the other ended, each beat of your heart making your body throb. Your breathing was labored, short, and beside your ear, so was Satan’s. “Good girl,” he breathed tiredly, a husky tone lingering in his voice.
Withdrawing from you, Satan didn’t let go, lying back and pulling you with him so you were splayed across his chest. You were too exhausted to complain or try to move. “Think before you speak next time, hmm?” Satan began.
You nodded weakly against his skin but didn’t say a word, trying to catch your breath and waiting for your pulse to stop racing. “Or I might have to punish you again.”
The ultimatum made you shudder against him. A part of you wasn’t sure if more punishment was a bad thing or not.
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Text
❉ 139 Dreams (Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu) Memory
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📑 Table of Contents
Genre: Fluff, Slice of Life, Friendship, Angst, Drama ☁
Word Count: 4,826 ☁
Pairing: Reader x Tetsutetsu ☁
World: Boku no Hero Academia ☁
Author’s Note: First time writing for Tetsu and he’s probably so out of character haha I don’t know why, but it was so hard to focus on writing this and I’m not sure if it was the fic doing it or just because I can’t focus on one thing for more than two seconds (thanks tumblr). But I powered through and I think the ending is okay?? Either way, enjoy nearly 5,000 words of Tetsu pft Oh, by the way, I cried working on the middle so good luck.
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚: *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: . ☁
Your earliest memory that you could recall was about Tetsutetsu, standing over you with a curious expression on his chubby cheeks. It was the height of summer, cicadas singing without pause as the sun beamed down with angry rays of heat. You hated the summer, but your mother was tired of you spending all your free time on the computer, so she ordered you outside to get some exercise. And at the age of six, who were you to argue? Plus, she threatened to cut the internet cord if you didn’t so so, which was a big motivator.
This boy, with his mop of silver hair and black eyes, teeth as sharp as a razor and eyes lined with tan-colored spikes, had seen you fall dramatically to the grass and had rushed over to make sure you were not injured. Screaming in your face admittedly wasn’t the best way to approach someone that might be injured, but his worry touched your heart, even if you didn’t realize it at the time.
As the two of you sat there, talking about all of the things you both enjoyed or couldn’t stand, time quickly ticked by and, before you knew it, the sun was hiding behind the mountains in the distance. You had, surprisingly, completely forgotten about the internet and the anime you had been binging that morning.
When he noticed the darkness quickly setting in, he stood up and offered you his hand. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”
“Sure,” your hand slid into his own and he pulled you up with little effort, but he didn’t release your hand, nor did you try to pull away. “Ne, what’s your name? Mine is Y/N.”
He grinned widely, his shark-like teeth glinting under the light of the streetlamp. “My name’s Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu! Remember it, because I’m gonna be a pro-hero!”
You honestly didn’t know how to feel, unable to wrap your young mind around how a parent could doom their child with such a name. Did his family hate him? Was it some sort of dare gone wrong? As badly as you wanted to ask him about it, you thought it rude to do so. “Thanks for walking me home, future hero.”
Before you could pull your hand away, he increased his grip. “Can we hang out tomorrow, too?”
You considered this for a moment before nodding, offering him a grin. “Sure!”
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚: *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: . ☁
The second memory that sprang to your mind took place when you were just twelve years old. Spring was coming to a close and you had decided to confess your feelings for your classmate, Yui. The pink-haired boy was your first crush and your first heartbreak, and you had made the mistake of confessing to him during lunch, surrounded by your peers.
It didn’t go well.
“I’m sorry, Y/N, but -”
“He would never like you!” Yua, his twin sister, forced herself between the two of you, her loud voice drawing the attention of the other students. “You’re too ugly for him and you look like a hippo! Hippo Y/N, hippo Y/N!”
Tears stung at your eyes as you looked to Yui, waiting for him to stick up for you, but he only turned his head away, eyes cast toward the ground. The other students soon joined Yua in her teasing.
“Hippo Y/N! Hippo Y/N! Hippo Y/N!”
Your sneakers squeaked across the floor as you ran toward the door, tears blurring your vision. Your nearly ran into Tetsu and his friend as they entered the lunchroom, but you dodged his hands when he tried to reach for you. His brow furrowed in confusion as he stared at your retreating form. Why were you crying? And then he heard the other kids chanting and laughing. As badly as he wanted to yell at Yua, who was clearly the mastermind, you were his top priority. He had to make sure you were okay, but… where had you gone?
The roof was off-limits to the students because of how rusted the railing was, so the doors were kept locked. That meant nothing to you, though, as your quirk, Key, was able to easily bypass this. It was a fairly simple quirk that allowed you to create a key for any lock you touched, but it disappeared after use.
The janitor had left the door unlocked once, allowing a group of girls to skip class by hiding out on the roof. When the staff found out about this, the janitor was fired and the girls received a month of detention each. Since then, the roof has remained unused, no one wanting to risk spending a month with Jamison-sensei. The place was perfect for you to hide away from the other students.
You headed to the far side of the roof, sliding down the side of the metal air conditioning unit, the fan whirring loudly. The sound helped to block out the sound of your sobs, though you did try to muffle them by stuffing your face against your knees.
Tetsu was panicking as he ran through the school, trying to find his best friend, but you were nowhere in sight. As he rounded the corner, he suddenly came to a stop, spying the thin staircase that led directly to the roof. Something compelled him forward and he raced up the stairs without a second thought. Though the door was closed tight, his eyes just barely caught sight of the gray dust left behind in the lock from your quirk – a fine, barely visible powder.
He pushed the door open, the metal creaking loudly. A choked sob reached his ears, making his heart seize painfully as he followed the sound, finding you curled up within yourself, body shaking. The sight left him feeling a pain he had never before felt and he didn’t hesitate to throw his arms around you, whispering softly into your ear as you clung to his shirt as if your life depended on it.
It took a couple of days before you were back to your normal self, and you were surprised that the other kids weren’t still teasing you. While you assumed they had just gotten bored and moved on, the truth was that Tetsu had yelled at anyone he found to be making fun of you, threatening to pound them senseless if they didn’t stop.
You didn’t need to know that.
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚: *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: . ☁
You never wanted to be a hero. Really, there wasn’t anything that you wanted for the future, you were just kind of living life and enjoying your youth by binge-watching anime. Maybe you could be a video game designer? Or perhaps you could get a job at the local internet provider. Maybe then they would have better download speeds because it takes far too long to download your anime.
Tetsutetsu was different. He had been motivated to be a hero since he was a child, and he was training hard to get accepted into U.A. high, the leading school for hero hopefuls. Being his best friend meant that he forced you into training with him and even managed to convince you to sign up for the entrance exam alongside him, which you thought was a complete waste of time. After all, how could someone with a Key quirk become a pro hero? Still, you wanted to support your best friend and you had nothing better to do, so you agreed.
The written test was troublesome, mostly because you couldn’t stay focused with a winged boy sitting to your left. His wings would react to his thoughts and feelings, so they kept expanding and shuddering and you couldn’t possibly concentrate until you touched them.
He did not appreciate that.
When it came to the physical test, you had a lot more fun than you had expected. With Tetsu’s training, you were able to dodge most of the robot’s attacks, though one did sock you in the gut, leaving a nasty bruise. While dodging, you just had to locate a control panel or emergency shut off switch, to which your quirk became quite useful. It was pretty cool to see so many different types of quirks in action, you had to admit.
There was one person specifically that caught your eye; a blonde boy with some kind of explosion quirk. Though he didn’t seem to be anything too impressive, he was so aggressive and angry that you couldn’t help feeling intrigued. He was someone that definitely demanded attention.
When the results of the exam finally came in, you were surprised to find that you had been accepted into the hero course. You immediately headed over to Tetsu’s house to see if he had gotten his letter, as well. He had, but was too afraid to open it and made you do so for him.
“You got in!” You grinned after the holographic video ended. “Congratulations, Tetsu!”
He threw his arms around you, sniffling as he tried to hold back his tears. “I got in!!” And then he paused, pulling back so he could look at you. “Did you?”
“Yup! Class… A, I think?”
Tetsu’s smile faltered for half a second, barely noticeable to most, but very much so to yourself. “That’s… great!”
“What’s wrong?” your brow furrowed.
“It’s nothing. I was just hoping we’d be in the same class!”
“Oh, yeah, that does suck. But we’ll still be best friends, don’t worry!”
You made the mistake of believing him.
You’d pay for that later.
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚: *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: . ☁
You remembered it like it was yesterday, though it had been about two weeks already. It was, by far, your most painful memory to date, but you couldn’t help feeling like it was all your fault. You had misinterpreted the signs or just missed them altogether. What kind of friend were you? After everything he had done for you over the years, this is how you repay him.
You stole his dream away from him.
It was right after the announcement for the sports festival. The other classes had gathered outside of class 1-A, scoping out the competition because, after you all had been attacked by villains, your class was front-page news. Tetsu was also there, yelling up a storm as he usually did. You couldn’t help but giggle at his antics, but he didn’t appreciate that.
His eyes narrowed at you, fists clenched tightly at his sides. When he spoke, his voice wasn’t raised like normal, it was deadly calm. “You think this is funny, Y/N? This has always been a joke to you. You don’t even want to be a hero, but you get put in class A… you’re pathetic!”
It left like his words had been turned into sharp arrows, piercing your heart with each sentence. In all of the years you’ve known him, he had never talked to you like that, never raised his voice or gotten angry at you. So what had changed?
“Tetsu, I…” But what could you say that didn’t make things worse? He was right, after all.
Bakugo, who you had gotten close to since starting at U.A., scoffed as he threw his back over his shoulder. “You’re just mad because you know you’re beneath us,”
“Katsuki,” you hissed, smacking his shoulder. “Stop trying to make things worse!”
Tetsu’s lip curled back in disgust as he watched you, not missing how you used the boy’s first name. He had witnessed first hand how close you had gotten to the ash blonde and he didn’t like it. “Y/N, this is my declaration! I will beat you in the sports festival and take your spot in class A!”
“Ha! You can try, you damned extra, but you won’t get far! Let’s go, Y/N!” Bakugo took off down the hall.
You turned your attention back to Tetsu with a frown, but he only scoffed and walked in the opposite direction. You could only stand there feeling like shit, watching your best friend walk away from you.
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚: *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: . ☁
You sighed as you fell into your seat, eyes trained on the window beside your desk. The sky was dark grey, completely blocking out the sun. Rain fell in heavy sheets, the wind blowing hard enough to knock thin branches from nearby trees. The forecast had said nothing about rain and, just twenty minutes ago, the sun was shining without a cloud in sight.
‘Maybe I have a secret quirk that changes the weather according to my mood,’ you sighed again, burying your face in your arms that sat atop the desk. It certainly reflected your current mood. You had been thinking on it a lot and you came to realize that Tetsu had been slowly distancing himself from you since the day you both were accepted at U.A. You had just assumed he was spending time with his new classmates so you didn’t pressure him, but now you wondered if that had been his subtle way of reaching out to you.
You wanted nothing more than to fix this, but you didn’t know how. You had gone to class B to try and talk it out, but that annoying prick, Monoma, had blocked your way, not missing a beat when it came to insulting class A. For some reason, though, he was careful not to insult you, which you did find strange, but you had more important things to worry about.
“Damn it, Y/N, if you sigh one more damn time I’m gonna kick your ass!” Bakugo jumped out of his seat, slamming his foot on your desk.
You only groaned in response, the sound muffled by your arms.
Kirishima frowned as he approached. “What’s wrong, Y/N?”
You muttered a response, but it was impossible to make out.
“Speak up, damn it!!”
You lifted your head, eyes glassy as you tried not to cry. Seeing this threw Bakugo off guard and he froze, not knowing how to respond. Your eyes met the red rubies of Kirishima, who reminded you so much of Tetsu. You would give anything to fix your relationship with him.
And then it struck you like a bolt of lightning splitting the sky. You knew what you had to do. You jumped out of your chair, startling the two boys who called your name as you ran from the room, nearly hitting Todoroki in your haste.
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚: *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: . ☁
“Please, sensei!” You pleaded, bending at the waist as you bowed at the two pro heroes standing before you.
Aizawa rubbed the back of his messy locks, feeling annoyed with your request. “That isn’t possible, Y/N.”
“But why not?” You demanded, straightening your back so you could look him in the eye.
Kan grunted, folding his arms over his chest. “He has to earn his place, not be given it by someone that’s trying to win brownie points.”
“I’m not trying to win brownie points,” you snapped, fists clenching at your sides. “He has more than earned it! I shouldn’t even be here, he should!”
“Calm down,” Aizawa ordered, narrowing his eyes in warning.
“Not until you let Tetsu take my place! I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be a hero! All of this is meaningless to me if I lose him in the process!” Tears flowed down your cheeks but you didn’t care.
Aizawa’s expression softened as he stepped forward, his hand resting on your head. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but this is not the way to fix it.”
“I don’t know what else to do, sensei.” You sobbed, looking into his tired eyes. “Tell me what to do,”
“Talk to him and tell him how you feel. That’s the best advice I can give.”
“He won’t talk to me!”
“He doesn’t have to talk, he just has to listen.” He ruffled your hair. “You may not think so, but you belong here. You earned your place. Now go on, go fix this problem. I won’t have you distracted and causing problems.”
“Yes, sensei…” you muttered, rubbing at your eyes as you left the room. Maybe he was right – Tetsu didn’t have to talk to you, and even if he walked away, as long as he heard what you had to say, that was enough. You could only hope that your words would reach him.
With your mind made up, you furiously wiped away your tears before heading for class B. Most of the students had already left the class, but the most important one was still there, but so was Monoma. When the blonde noticed you in the doorway, he sprung up like a Jack in the box.
“What are you doing here, hmm? Did you get lost? Makes sense since from class -”
“Get out of my way!” You snapped, eyes narrowed at him. Even with your eyes red and puffy, he scared of what you might do, but Monoma was an egotistical idiot that didn’t know when to quit.
He laughed loudly, his tone going up an octave to mirror his nervousness. “Class A isn’t at all heroic! You’re all a bunch of villains in training!”
You rolled your eyes before turning your attention to Tetsu. He had clearly heard the commotion, but he continued to write in his book as if you didn’t exist. You swallowed hard, “Tetsu -”
“He doesn’t want to associate with villains from class A!”
“Tetsu,” you called desperately. “You don’t have to respond, but please just listen to what I have to say! I’m a selfish jerk that doesn’t deserve to have such a good friend. You’ve always been there for me no matter what and… all of my best memories are with you! I applied for U.A. because you asked me to, but a part of me did it because I was scared of losing you. I never intended to hurt you or take your place and you’re right, I am pathetic… but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know how to fix this, Tetsu. You’ve always been better than me at solving problems. You’re better than me at everything! A better friend, a better fighter, a better person.”
While his hand stilled, he didn’t lift his gaze from the book. You were well aware of all the eyes on you, his classmates and several students that had been passing by. You probably looked like a fool, but you didn’t care.
“Do you remember the day we met? You told me to remember your name because you were going to be a pro hero one day. The truth is… You’re already a hero. My hero! You’ve always been there for me. A shoulder to cry on when I’m sad. A friend to confide in when I’m stressed. A knight in shining armor when someone messes with me. I can’t believe it took me so long to realize it, but… I’m in love with you, Tetsu. I have been since the first day we met. I’m so sorry for betraying you, I never meant… I didn’t…” Tears stung your eyes again and you didn’t bother holding them back. “I’m sorry,”
Having said your peace and knowing that Tetsu had no intention of responding, you turned around and left the room, hanging your head as the gathered students whispered about you. You had bore your heart for all to see and, while it hurt like nothing you had felt before, somehow you felt a bit lighter.
People always say you shouldn’t make decisions when you’re emotional, but they fail to realize that’s when you’re most motivated. With this in mind, you waited until class A was empty before slipping a folded piece of paper onto Aizawa’s desk – it was your resignation from from U.A. high. The whole point of coming here was to be with Tetsu because you were scared of losing him, but look where that got you. If Tetsu wasn’t by your side, you didn’t want to be at U.A. anymore.
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚: *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: . ☁
BANG
The sudden, loud sound from downstairs jolted you from your sleep, nearly causing you to fall off the bed. A week had passed since you left U.A. and several of your classmates had been trying to contact you, including Bakugo who liked yo bang on your door for thirty fucking minutes, threatening to “burn your ass to ash”. Thankfully, your parents had gone overseas last week and weren’t do back for the rest of the month.
But that left you to wallow in self-pity and binge watch anime filled with romantic drama and tears. Your room was a mess, tissues thrown everywhere, clothes literring the floor, and empty ramen cups stacked up by the desk. Another bang sounded from downstairs and you glanced at the clock.
Six pm. That was a bit early for Bakugo’s visit, but maybe he was trying to catch you off guard. Either way, you couldn’t be botheted, choosing to fall back against the mattress and cover your body with the comforter. In your cocoon, you felt safe and it was the closest you had felt to content since falling out with Tetsu. Your heart clenched painfully just at the thought of him. Yui may have been your first crush, but Tetsu was definitely your first love and boy did it hurt a lot worse than just some crush.
SLAM!
You jumped in surprise, shooting up in bed. Bakugo was persistant, sure, but not that persistent. It sounded like the front of your house collapsed! Panicked, you hurried off the bed while simultaneously trying to throw off the comforter, but your foot got stuck and you ended up falling to the wooden floor face first.
Footsteps echoed loudly as they ran up the stairs to your room, the bedroom door opened with such a force that it bounced off the wall. “Y/N!”
That familiar voice made your head snap up, reddened from the impact to the floor. “T-Tetsu?”
His face was hard and angry, but it softened just a bit when he saw you on the floor. Normally, he would have run to you without a second thought to make sure you were okay, but with everything that had happened, he couldn’t bring himself to do so.
You slowly sat back onto your knees, legs on either side of your body. “Did you break into my house?”
His body tensed up, a small line of pink coming across his cheeks. “I, uh… You wouldn’t answer the door!”
You scoffed. “I wonder how many criminals have tried that excuse.”
An awkward silence settled over the room and neither of you seemed capable of facing the other. Had you ever felt this awkward around him before? You scanned your memory, but every instance you could think of with him felt warm and comforting. You wanted that back, but… just like a piece of water, once it was crumbled up into a ball, no matter how much time you spend trying to smooth it out, it can never be perfect again. And that terrified you.
Unable to take the silence any longer, you finally spoke up, but your voice wasn’t nearly as strong as you wished it was. “What are you doing here?”
“Did you really drop out of U.A.?” he didn’t even give you a chance to respond. “Are you stupid?! Do you have any idea how many kids would kill to get into U.A.?! Into the hero course?! And you just three it away like it was nothing!”
A surge of anger rushed over you as you got to your feet, eyes narrowed at your former best friend. “What the fuck do you care for, huh? I can’t fucking win with you anymore, Tetsu! I didnt even want to apply, but I did it for you and when I got accepted, you got pissed at me because they put me in class A. And then when I give up my spot and leave the program, you’re still not happy! What do you want from me, huh?! You want me to just roll over and die so you don’t have to -!”
Tetsu couldn’t control himself. One minute he was standing in the doorway and the next he had rushed forward, his palm connecting with your cheek.
SMACK
Your eyes widened as your head tilted to the side, cheek stinging from the impact. ‘He just… hit me?’
“Don’t ever say that!” he cried, tears stinging at his eyes. “I can’t live without you, Y/N!”
You didn’t know what to say as the boy fell to his knees, tears falling down his eyes as his body shook. You had never seen him so upset, so vulnerable before. He was always strong and filled with positivity and hope, but now… He was just as broken as you were. You kneeled in front of him, hands suspended in mid-air as you tried to decide if you should comfort him or not. You didn’t want to make the situation worse, but he made the decision for you, throwing himself against your body and burying his face in your chest. You didn’t hesitate to wrap your arms around him, gently running your fingers through his mane of silver hair.
“I’m sorry,” he sobbed, fingers digging into your back. “I just wanted to be your hero but then you got put in class A and started doing better than me! I got jealous and I said things I didn’t mean, I… god I’m so sorry!!”
You softly shushed him, your hand running across the length of his back just as he had done to you so many times in the past. “Its okay, Tetsu, I unders -”
“It’s not!” he cried. “I pushed you away, right into the arms of that damned Bakugo!”
“Katsuki?” Your brow furrowed. “What does he have to do with anything?”
“You think I haven’t noticed how close the two of you are? He’s your new best friend, right?”
“No!” You grabbed his shoulders, pushing him back so you could see his eyes, your hands gently cupping his face. “You are my best friend, Tetsu. You always have been and always will be. I consider Katsuki a friend, sure, but he’s got nothing on you!”
His eyes met yours, his large hands sliding over your own. “In class, did you… did you mean what you said?”
With a blush in your cheeks, you nodded, offering him a smile. “I did. I love you, Tetsutetsu. You’re my everything and I can’t stand the thought of losing you.”
“I love you, too.” He suddenly leaned forward, his lips capturing your own. In that moment, nothing else mattered. The fight was forgotten, the words scrubbed free from both of your memories. All that mattered was here and now, wrapped up in each other’s arms.
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚: *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: . ☁
You stood on the porch, leaning on the wooden railing as you watched the wind blowing the field of flowers in the distance. The house you lived in was just outside the city, within a small town that valued nature over the overwhelming number of buildings the city offered. Plus, there was little crime in the area, making it a safe place to live for families.
The screen door squeaked as it was opened and shut, the wooden floor creaking under the weight as Tetsu stepped up behind you, his arms sliding around your waist, his warm chest pressed up against your back.
“What are you doing out here?” he questioned, voice groggy after having just woken up. A gust of wind blew across the house. “It’s so hot outside, you should come back inside where it’s cool.”
You chuckled, leaning back against him. “It hasn’t been this hot in a while. It brought back some memories.”
He hummed, his lips lazily moving across your neck. “Good ones?”
“The day we met, actually. It was also this hot.”
“Yeah, it was, but your mom still made you go outside.” Tetsu chuckled. “She threatened your internet, right?”
“Yes!” You scowled at the memory, crossing your arms over your chest. “The nerve of that woman. I would never be so cruel to my child!”
He quirked a brow, turning you around to face him. “You’re planning to have a child without me?!”
You pretended to think on it a moment, laughing when he pouted at you. “Hmm, I was thinking of having a kid with that pro hero, what was his name – – Real Steel, that’s it!”
“Oh?” he smirked, leaning down to pepper kisses across your neck. “And what makes him so special?”
You groaned when he bit down softly on your flesh. “He’s such a handsome man. Strong and caring, and those abs, my god.” As if to prove your point, your hand ran under his shirt, nails scraping across his stomach. His muscles tensed and he groaned against your skin.
“You’re such a tease, Y/N.”
You chuckled, tugging at your husband’s hair so your lips could meet his. “But I’m your tease, Tetsu~”
Tetsu smiled warmly, claiming your lips with every ounce of love within his body. Yes, you were definitely his, but he was just as much yours.
☾ ⋆*・゚:⋆*・゚: *⋆.*:・゚ .: ⋆*・゚: . ☁
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past3lw1ngs · 4 years
Text
||Pure Meets Evil|| Jaehyun Fanfic Chapter 1:
Word count: 4,003
Pages: 9
Summary of chapter: Yerin is being followed by someone who Jaehyun, her best friend, is acquainted to and takes action, but will he be able it stop him?
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I always felt as if someone was constantly watching me. I felt it in the back of my head whenever I walked down the empty, dark streets at night. I felt in the air while silence filled my ears, as I stood at an isolated corridor at school. I felt it every time I laid in bed and tried to go to sleep, but there was never anything. In my thoughts, everything was in my head and that I was just going crazy.
There I was, like most nights, laying in my bed in silence as my eyes glanced at the dark ceiling above me. The very bit of light from the full moon shined through my curtains, lighting up the room in just the right places. Like my closet, which I never tend to leave open, but I must have forgotten tonight. I was never a huge believer of ghosts or any type of creature that would scream danger, but a part of that would always stick in the back of my mind. Gently, I pushed myself up to a sitting position, my hands holding me up as I scanned my room. I felt it again. The company of something, or someone. I sighed in frustration as I pulled the covers away from me and slid off my bed without hesitation. It was time to get out again. I put on my casual black hoodie that was sitting on top of my chair beside my desk. I made no effort to even change out of my pajamas. I would come back either way, lay back down and fall into a deep sleep.
Quietly, I opened my window, got out, slowly closed it and scurried off into the mysterious streets that awaited me to walk on. It had been two weeks continuously not having the best of sleep as I deeply wished, but something called for me to be out there. The streets were lightly damped from the storm that had occurred a few hours ago, and it had finally calmed down. I cursed at myself as I realized I didn’t choose the proper shoes for this type of weather. My favorite navy blue converse were now getting soaking wet and dirty from all the mud I had been stepping on to get out of my house. I sighed in defeat trying to relax myself as I walked down the familiar streets that I have known my whole life. I knew every inch of every corner, every store, and even the people. I know the best coffee shop in town, sadly it wasn’t opened during this time. A loud church bell was heard from afar indicating it was already midnight, but it wasn't time to go back just yet. 
I roamed around downtown and peacefully looked around the place where usually there was a horde of people walking up and down the streets. Not even cars would pass around this time, which made it look a bit sketchy, but that's just how it was in towns like this. Just a few steps before passing my favorite coffee shop, I heard something. There were footsteps, but I wasn’t sure if they were mine. I stopped and stood there for a while to see if I was hearing correctly. I turn my head to look behind me, all my eyes met were the empty streets just as they were before. I fluttered my eyes in confusion, lightly scoffing at myself as I continued my path. I was definitely hearing things now. I might have spoken too soon, because I could now clearly hear the mix matched sound of footsteps that soon synchronized with mine. I quickly turned around as my eyes widened, and my heart rate fastened. Nothing was there.
“Hello?” what a fool of me to speak out at a time like this. This was something you should never do whenever you feel someone is following you. Number one rule whenever I watched a horror movie, what a lesson it was to me huh?
Facing forward once again, a black figure roughly clashed onto my shoulder with immense force making me fall onto the ground. It all happened so fast, and the person came out of nowhere. I couldn’t distinguish any features. I turned around to find the person was now out of sight, and I laid on the floor trying to help myself breathe.
“Yerin, are you okay?” a familiar voice was heard. I snapped my head in front of me again and saw my best friend Jaehyun in front of me clutching onto a brown bag with both arms, a worried expression on his face. I slowly got up and looked behind me again to see if the rude person who decided to bump into me was still there, but no luck.
“Yeah,” I panted out as I tried to make sense of the situation. However, I was curious as to why Jaehyun was out this late.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I wiped whatever dirt was on my now soaked pajamas.
“I went to the grocery store to get a few things my mom needed, but I stopped by a friend's house on the way and I got a bit too comfortable.” He explained as he scanned my body for any injuries.
“Are you okay?” he added.
“I’m fine, I just need to go home now,” I was too mortified to continue walking, but luckily Jaehyun offered to walk me home since my house was on the way to his.
“You seem a little too comfortable walking down these streets at night..” Jaehyun broke the silence that filled the air as they walked down their main street. I couldn't help but smile at how observant he was when it came to people and certain things. He probably already knew I had been leaving my house at night to take these walks. Jaehyun was very smart, kind and generous. He always thought about everyone else before himself, which was why he was such a great friend, but it was me he should be less worried about.
“I guess I am,” I quickly replied sticking my hands into my pocket.
“It’s dangerous you know? Especially with what just happened you should consider,” he looked over to me, as I looked at him as well. His dark brown hair softly framed his well structured jawline, a few strands of hair covering his forehead giving him an innocent look. Did I forget to mention that my best friend was handsome? I wasn’t sure if he knew it, but everyone in school certainly did and that would never go unnoticed. Girls from all different years asked for me to talk to him for them, or try and convince me to get them his number.
“Don’t worry I won’t,''I said as he gave me a soft smile.
“By the way, I got a call from a random girl today, and she said something along the lines of ‘your friend gave me your number’. Do you have any idea who that might be?” he raised an eyebrow as he side eyed me.
Well that little shit. I had specifically told her not to say anything. “Nope,” I simply answered. He squinted his eyes and kept his gaze set on me as I tried not to make eye contact.
“It was probably Lucas, he seems the type to give a random girl their friends number if they ask for it,”.
“Lucas may be...special sometimes, but I think I know exactly who would do it,” he smiled as he kept on going. He knew it was me, but he always loved to tease people.
“Not me for sure, maybe your friends,” I once again defended myself.
“Brothers,” he corrected me. Of course he would think of them as brothers. He's known them his whole life.
“Just like how I consider you a sister,” he added. Well, that stung a little. I was glad he cared about me enough to consider me family, but it strangely made me feel weird inside. He suddenly wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. 
I grab his hand throw it off me and spaced myself from him. “What? Are you getting all soft on me now?” I joked, as he lightly nudge me on my arm letting out a chuckle. We continued to walk on the sidewalk as we reminisced on some memories we had since we met. Walking with him made me forget all about what happened just a few minutes ago. It was more comforting to walk with someone else, rather than by yourself. Especially at night.
“Remember last year’s winter you and I sneaked out at night to go to that park near the school just to have a snowball fight? You slipped on ice and your face landed on the snow.” he struggled to finish the last few words as he almost burst out laughing.
“Yeah, that was not funny and fun at all. That snow was hard that it actually gave me a scratch on my nose,” In all honesty, looking back at it was pretty funny, but I had to much pride at the moment to even laugh along with him. 
“Is it okay now?” he asked as he lightly touched my nose with the tip of his finger, a smile forming on my lips.
“Well, do you remember the time you tried to jump over a bunch of chairs and ended up hitting your little shrimp?” I fought back a smirk tugging on my lips.
“Woah, hold on. How would you even know if it’s little?” he questioned as he gave me a mischievous smirk, and all I could do was blush like an idiot. That was a great comeback, and I had nothing to retort back. He laughed at my state and I couldn't help but laugh along this time. We are so comfortable with each other, it's starting to make me believe that's one of the reasons we are best friends. We knew how to joke around with each other, and talk about even the weirdest parts of being a human. It was all natural with him. I didn't realize I had been staring at him for a while until he mentioned it.
“What am I took handsome? Are you finally realizing it?” he joked as he came to a halt all of a sudden. I looked at him in confusion, but then realized we were already outside my house.
“Oh, I'm home,” I came out of my daze.
“Yeah, You were pretty distracted by my intriguing face,” he bounced his eyebrows, and I rolled my eyes at how conceited he was being at the moment. It was all part of his act to be funny of course.
“See you tomorrow loser,” he lightly pushed me towards the door, as he continued walking.
“Yeah I don't know if you will,” I joked.. I turned away from him and began walking to my window. I cracked it open and entered my room, once again I was met by the darkness. The moon that once lit up inside had subsided, but at least now I felt at ease.
I kept my eyes on her. I had to make sure she would get home safely. If I hadn’t been there, he would have. 
~
Waking up always gave me the realization that staying up late was a horrible idea, but I always seemed to do it anyways. I looked over to the alarm clock with my eyes half open due to the puffiness. 6:34am. I usually never woke around this time, but I knew that if I didn’t awake at this very moment I might not wake up at all. Lifting the covers away from my body I sit on the edge of my bed and dangle my feet. After a few seconds I stood up and walked over to my closet and picked out an outfit for the day. I was never really fancy with my clothes, I usually had a casual style. Whatever was comfortable I would wear. I picked out a black, long sleeve turtleneck, along with some skinny jeans and my second favorite vanilla colored vans. This was casual for me.
After fixing my hair and my face I headed downstairs to find that my parents were already gone for work. I always checked the table to see if they left a little sticky note for me to read. They always did. 
We will be home a little late this evening we have dinner to be with a few important people. Don’t go to sleep too late. 
-Mom and Dad
I crumbled the little note in my hand and threw it on the ground. They always had these important dinners and I always stayed at home alone, with a cup of ramen usually. Heading out of my house, I saw Jaehyun slowly arriving at my door and gave me a small wave. I smiled and began to walk towards him.
“Well, look who shows their face after all,” he brought up the conversation from last night.
“I changed my mind,” I replied nonchalantly as we began our walk to school. 
“I figured I'd have to see you at school so might as well get over my fear once and for all,” I joked.
“Where's Lucas?” I asked looking around. Lucas usually tagged along with Jaehyun when walking to school in the morning. It would only make sense since they lived a few houses away from each other.
“I don't know. He’s probably having trouble trying to work the coffee machine. Trust me, he really does not know how to use it,” he emphasized on the last sentence. I hummed in response.
“Hey, whats up guys?” a raven haired boy came out of nowhere and stood next to Jaehyun.
“Taeyong, hey I see you finally fixed your hair,” I ruffled his locks around as he tried to keep my hands away from his precious, gorgeous hair. The previous days he tried to dye his hair to a very unrealistic color and he thought he could do it himself. In the end, it looked as if a blind lady tried to fry his hair with a flamethrower.
“For your information It wasn't as bad as it looked, and when exactly will you fix yours?” He jokingly spat, Jaehyun bursting out in laughter. I rolled my eyes in pretend annoyance. 
“Where’s Johnny?” I asked trying to change the subject, but honestly I already knew where Johnny was. He was probably curled up in his warm bed still sleeping like there is no tomorrow. How jealous I am of him at this very moment.
“You know him, sleeping. I called him this morning and when he answered he told me to ‘fuck off’,” Taeyong explained as he shoved his small hands into his pocket. I couldn’t help but notice whatever he was wearing was working wonders for him. He looked slimmer with that plain white buttoned up shirt, and those regular black jeans that elongated his legs. Even though he was a complete ass at times, he was a handsome guy and occasionally sweet, surprisingly. In fact, all of Jaehyun’s friends were somehow handsome and it amazed me how I was always surrounded by all these handsome boys.
Arriving to school you three were greeted by the rest of your friends which consisted of Athena, Mark,Yuta, and Ten. They all circled around each other laughing their asses off. Mark was doing some weird things that could have been the cause of the sudden outbursts of laughter.
“Yerin!” my other best friend Athena came towards me.
“Hello to you” I chuckle, as Athena seemed worried beside what was happening.
“I forgot to do the history homework please tell me you did it,” she seemed desperate in a funny way of course.
“My dog ate my homework,” I gave her a fake pout.
“Let’s go inside so I can copy it,” Athena innocently dragged me towards the entrance of the school. I looked back to look at Jaehyun who was staring back at me with a smile. I felt a tug inside me and this was happening more often whenever I was around him. I felt my cheeks heat up as soon as I turned to face forward.
“Are you blushing?” Athena didn’t leave it unnoticed. She turned around and tried to see who made me rose up all of a sudden, which made me jump into defensive mode. 
“Who is it?” she kept moving around trying to see just who it was that is until I lightly shook her a bit and made her face me.
“No one,”  I replied in an annoyed tone.
“Oh, I get it. It was Jaehyun wasn’t it?” She gave me one of her mischievous smirks.
“Look, I may not do my homework, but I'm not stupid. I just forget to do my homework. You've had a crush on him for a while and I know it,”.
I sighed, she was right. I did, but it was that type of crush I would and could never admit. I also knew that a crush was such an understatement, especially with what I was feeling for Jaehyun was totally different.
“Yeah, well you’re wrong. He is one of my best friends along with you. Does that mean you’re my crush as well?” I tried to steer this crush talk somewhere else as I dug my hand into my bag to find the homework she had asked for.
“Oh my god I hope not,” she made a face in disgust.
“Okay, and since we are pointing things out. It shouldn’t go unmentioned of how you have the slightest crush on question Mark,” I returned the mischievous look as I handed her my homework. Her mouth went agape as her cheeks turned a light pink and took the paper out of my hands in embarrassment.
“Better be done copying by lunch,” I said before I walked towards my first period class.
Throughout the whole day at school I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched every second. Something in the back of my head kept telling me to look at my surroundings, but I tried to ignore it. I waved it off as if it was just a normal thing that everyone experiences. 
       After school I met up with Jaehyun and we walked towards downtown, to our favorite coffee shop. We didn't stay there for too long since the shop was filling up with a tremendous amount of students. Leaving the shop, I couldn't help but notice how strangely Jaehyun was acting. He kept fiddling with his coffee cup, and kept a tight grip on his book bag as if someone was about to snatch it away. Then he would look around and behind him trying to seem discreet. I clear my throat and look towards him trying to seem indifferent.
“You're still coming over right?” I asked, but I got no response. He seemed to be distracted and occupied.
“Jaehyun?” he snapped his head towards me, his eyebrows rose and gave me his attention.
“Are you okay?”
He suddenly stopped walking. I stopped along with him and stood there waiting for his answer. 
“I'm sorry, I totally forgot that I had to meet up with a teacher for a makeup test and if I don't show up I'll fail.” he finally explained.
“So, I guess you won't be coming tonight?” I tried to give a small smile.
“No, I have things to take care of first,” he said feeling guilty for the change of plans.
“Okay, no worries. Good luck on the test,” I gave him a genuine smile and walked off.
~
I watched her walk away and I made sure she was out of sight before I made my next move. I walked the opposite way and headed back to the coffee shop we were just in. By the alley there he stood, leaning against the wall with his hands crossed over his chest. It didn't phase him to see me after all these years.
“I didn't think angels were capable of lying...” he pushed himself off the wall with his foot and slowly stepped forward.
“I suggest you leave.” Jaehyun warned, his tone becoming firm.
“Or what? Are you going to to flap me with your wings?” he chuckled, darkness omitting every inch of him.
“What are you doing here?”
The figure came out of the alley and light shed onto similar features. They surely looked very much alike. A smirk appeared on his small lips as he stared Jaehyun down.
“I came back to take what's mine” his voice had irritation and anger that had been built up for God knows how long.
“Back off, stop trying to take what's been claimed,” Jaehyun stepped forward warning the guy once again.
“You couldn't even hurt a fly, what makes you think you could touch me.” they kept towering over each other even though they were the same height. “Besides, whatever pain I receive you feel twice as much,”
Jaehyun could feel the anger that this man had, deep inside him. He knew that this guy could make him feel things that he couldn't feel before he came to earth. Maybe coming into a human form had its downsides, and this was one of them. The guy walked off and made sure to bump into Jaehyun’s shoulder for effect. 
He had to do something about him, but how could he when he was too weak to do so?
~~
The day turned into night quickly. The sky was already dark and it was barely 7 o'clock. I guess we all know what time of the year was here. I sat on the leather sofa as I dug my hand into the bowl of popcorn. I had been watching That 70's Show all day long since I got home from school. Grabbing another handful of popcorn I shoved it into my mouth. My doorbell suddenly rang through the empty home making me sit up in curiosity of who it could be. Jaehyun wasn't coming by since he had ‘important’ things to do. Gosh, he sounded like my parents.
 I place the bowl on the sofa, get up and go see just who it was at the door. 
“Who is it?” I call out to make sure it wasn't some stranger I was opening the door to. However, there was no response. I had to trust my gut that it wasn't someone so bad. I unlocked the doorknob and opened the door. Wow, what a surprise.
“So, you came after all?” I rolled my eyes at how silly he was. Something was different about him. I stared at him trying to figure out just what it was.
“Why are you dressed like that? Are you going emo on me now?” I asked as I leaned against the door, but he again didn't respond to my joke. He looked rather good the way he was dressed. Something different and edgy.
“Can I come in?” a smirk was spread on his lips, his tone deeper than usual. He didn't wait for me to respond, he simply came in and kept his onyx eyes fixed on me. Something was definitely off about Jaehyun right now.
I close the door as soon as he stepped in and turn to face him with a confused look on my face. “Am I missing something here? Why are you dressed like Johnny Depp are you going to a Halloween party or something? Because I hate to break it to you, it’s not Halloween yet”.
He turned to face me once again and in that very moment I felt my phone vibrate from my pocket. I slipped it out and checked to see I had a message from...Jaehyun?
Hey, I got done with the test early and came home to change. Can I still come by?
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