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dreamescapeswriting · 3 years

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Under Pressure ~ HJS [Request]

WORD COUNT: 2.2K

GENRE: Stressed reader, angst with a fluffy ending, establish-relationship, Sweet boyfriend Jisung

PAIRING: Jisung x Fem!Reader

A/N: I hope you enjoy this sweetie! @crispy-chan

The moment Jisung walked into the cafe he knew there was something wrong with you, normally you would rush over to him with a smile across your face ready to greet him and get him sat down but today you were nowhere to be seen. You worked in a small cafe just around the corner from the JYP building so whenever Jisung had a break or some free time he would dress up in a cap, glasses and mask to come and meet you, it had been that way since the start of your relationship. It wasn't often that you got to spend time alone together so you took every opportunity you could to get together.

"Take a seat, I'll be with you in just a moment," A new worker said as he took Jisung over to a booth, Jisung kept glancing around the cafe. It wasn't that large so there weren't that many places that you could have been hiding from him, you couldn't have been on your break since it was a rush time in the cafe. The time was busiest since everyone wanted to have something to eat before heading to their offices for the rest of the afternoon.

"If you're looking for Y/n, she's in the back." The manager said as she caught Jisung looking around, of course, she knew who he was since he came into the cafe frequently enough.

"Go back and see her, she looks tired though." Jisung knew you'd been a little more stressed than usual lately because you had assignments and exam's coming up but you were smart there was nothing you couldn't handle.

"Thanks," He mumbled heading through the kitchen door and towards the small office you were cramped inside of with books surrounding you.

"This is where they keep the princess?" He chuckled sitting down beside you on one of the chairs and staring at the books that were in front of you. You must have been so lost in the words as you hadn't even noticed someone sitting next to you until Jisung touched your cheek.

"Shit!" You screamed out jumping back on the seat and looking at him, your eyes were wide with fear and Jisung laughed softly.

"You didn't hear me?" You shook your head, greeting him with a quick peck on the cheek before looking back down at your book. There were five exam's you were crunching for this week and not one of them was going to leave you enough time to also finish four assessments that you had to write up. Everything felt as though it was piling up on top of you, Jisung reached his hand out and touched yours instantly making you feel calmer with the smallest of touches.

"Relax, you're ready for these exams." He whispered encouragingly to you as he began to rub your knuckles softly, he knew how hard you were on yourself about things but he didn't want you to start beating yourself up over anything.

"When was the last time you got some sleep? I mean real sleep, not what you and Chan call sleep," He mumbled as he watched you, your eyes had bags underneath them so he knew you hadn't slept well for days.

"I slept last night," You lied. He knew you were lying since you wouldn't look at him and you scratched the base of your neck it was your give-away sign.

"Want me to come around tomorrow? I'll cook us something to eat and we can study together...I'll ask you questions," You smiled at the thought of him helping you study despite having no idea what you had to do for those exams.

"That would be great...But can you get-" He kissed your lips to stop you from asking if he could get the time off, if it was for you he would do anything in his power.

"Consider me already there, no go home and get some real sleep." He begged you as he looked at you, cupping your face in his hands while he rubbed his thumb under your eyes. You snuggled into his touch enjoying the feeling of his skin on yours,

"I have another shift, I only had a two-hour break to cram some studying into. I'll go home after," You promised as he got up from the chair to walk him out, Jisung knew from the wording of your sentence that you would go home but that didn't mean you would rest.

"Just promise me you'll get rest," You nodded at him, quickly kissing him before heading over to the till to help your manager take orders and serve the customers that were inside.

Jisung sighed to himself as he watched you plaster on a fake energetic smile for people and he headed out of the cafe wondering what he was going to have to do to get you to sleep.

The next day Jisung had text you non-stop to find out what you wanted him to cook and what time you wanted him to come around to the apartment but there had been no responses from you for the last four hours.

"Maybe she's asleep or doing some studying," Chan tried to calm down Jisung's racing thoughts but he'd been worried about you since leaving the cafe yesterday. After seeing the state you were in he couldn't help but be filled with worry that you were going to end up crashing or passing out from exhaustion.

"Babe, I got the ingredients for your favourite meal and Felix made brownies for us to share," Jisung announced as he unlocked the door to your apartment with his spare key but there was no response. He knew you were home because your favourite pair of shoes were by the door and your lights were all on,

"Babe?" He called out, taking off his shoes and heading into the kitchen where he saw a cold pot of tea sitting on the side with some tablets that were open. Paracetamol and ibuprofen were sitting there with a half-drunken glass of water, he hated the thought of you having a headache as much as he hated the fact that you were staying awake so much.

"Y/N?" He whispered as he walked further into the apartment in case you were asleep somewhere you shouldn't have been and that was when he saw you. Fast asleep with your head laying on top of your textbooks, highlight in hand as you snored softly. He sighed to himself as he walked over to you, you were out cold.

"What am I going to do with you?" He chuckled to himself as he got closer to you, spotting that you had a sticky note pressed against your face and a bright coloured highlighter marker on your cheek.

"Cute," He whispered making sure to snap a photo of the moment before he attempted to move you to your bedroom.

"Here we go," He grunted as he laid you down in the bed, carefully taking off your jeans so you wouldn't have to sleep in the horrible fabric, he pulled the sheets over your body before leaving a gentle kiss on your forehead.

"Sleep well beautiful," He said before leaving the room to go and clean up your apartment. It was the least he could since it was in such a mess, you must not have had much time to clean between, work and studying and he didn't blame you. Beginning in the dining room where he had found you he started by collecting your notes together, sliding everything into the correct books before leaving to go and clean up the kitchen.

Waking up to the smell of cooking you sat up in bed, holding your head as the headache still hadn't left yet.

"Fuck," You whispered to yourself as you kicked yourself out from the bed only to remember the last thing you had been doing was waiting for your tutor to call you on the laptop at the kitchen table and now you were in bed with no pants on.

"Shit!" You yelled out running into the hallway and into the kitchen to see Jisung standing over the over stirring something in a large pot, he jumped when he heard you running to your laptop that was now shut down and everything was cleared away.

"Where are my notes?! Did my tutor call?! Why are you here?!" Your voice was hoarse as you panicked at Jisung but this only filled him with more worry as he thought you were getting sick.

"I came in and you were asleep so I cleaned up for you, I figured it was no big deal-"

"No big deal?! Jisung I had a fucking meeting to be at! Did you not think about that when you moved me?!" You snapped as you began trying to load your laptop up as fast as you could,

"No, I was too busy worrying my girlfriend had overworked himself," He answered snarkily as he poured some soup into a bowl and brought it over to the table for you but you didn't even thank him or glance away from your laptop.

"Great! Just fucking great I missed my meeting and now I'm going to be behind on the studying!" As you yelled out in frustration you went to pull your legs into your chest, knocking the table ultimately knocking the soup over and spilling it over your books.

"Fuck sake Jisung!" You screamed picking up the books and trying to clean them before the hot liquid ruined the notes and books that you desperately needed.

"Y/n, calm down." Jisung tried to take the books from you to help but you let tears roll down your face as you saw everything that was inside was ruined, notes smudged over that was unreadable, pages were sticking together. Everything you had been working so hard on was gone within seconds.

"This is your fault! Why should I calm down?! Why are you even here!?" You snapped once again, throwing the books down onto the table as you cried to yourself. The stress of your exams, working and your lack of sleep all finally hitting you at once as you broke down into a pool of tears, Jisung let out a breath as he saw you. He knew you weren't mad at him so he wasn't going to get upset over you yelling at him,

"For this exact reason, you're too stressed...You haven't been sleeping Y/n...I came by to help," You shook your head as you stared at the ruined notes,

"Everything is gone, I'm going to fail my exams." You whimpered as Jisung pulled you into his embrace and kissed the top of your head trying to remind you that it was going to be fine but you kept shaking your head and telling him that everything was gone.

"You're so smart Y/n, you already know everything that was going to be in the exam." He whispered, kissing the top of your head as he tried to get you to calm down but nothing was going to work. The tiredness you were experiencing with the small cold you were getting was making you overreact to everything and right now it was the end of the world as you knew it.

"You don't get it because you never had to do this! Not all of us can just get out of school and just go on to be famous!" You snapped at him, trying to push him away as you sobbed into your hands but he wasn't going to let you go that easily.

When you woke up again you were curled up against Jisung in your bed, his arms were wrapped around you tightly as he snored and you whined feeling sweaty from being so close to him.

"You're finally awake?" You stared at Jisung confused as he questioned you,

"What do you mean finally?" He sat you both up as he looked at you sighing,

"You passed out after eating dinner with me and it's been a day since. You've been in and out of sleep since, waking up to pee and drink water." He looked at you with sad eyes, reaching up to feel how hot your skin was and smiling to himself as he realised you weren't as hot as you were the day before.

"Your temperature's gone down so that's good." You looked at him with a frown and he kissed your forehead softly,

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," You mumbled as you remember everything that had happened the day before, yelling at him for something you had done.

"Don't worry about it. Your tutor called and I explained that you were sick, he's extending your assessments and allowing you to retake the exams when you're better." A wave of relief washed over you as you looked at Jisung, no idea how you were ever going to thank him for what he did.

"I'll never stop thanking you," You snuggled into him, kissing his shoulder as he shook his head at you.

"Just make sure you get enough rest, that's the only thanks I need." He told you as he held you closer to him.

Tagline: @taestannie @kneel-begyourpardon @acciocriativity @sw33tnight @that-anxious-bisexual

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threecrowsinatrenchcoat · 3 years

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Plant Your Hope With Good Seeds

Dukeceit Week Day 3: Snakes/Bugs

Remus and Janus break up. But literally everyone knows that's not what they want. Everyone, including their plants.

AO3 Link: [here]

Word Count: 4337

Warnings: n/a

@dukeceitweek <3

Unknown Number

hey so i kno i said i wouldnt text u but rupert isnt doin good. can i bring him back? he misses u

Janus stared at the text for several minutes. Rupert was, of course, the Monstera Variegata that he and Remus had raised together all the way from propagation. It had been one of the pride and joys of their plant collection. Losing Rupert in the split had hurt almost as much as losing Remus.

...Almost.

Janus

Is it getting enough light? Remember it needed the grow light even next to the window.

Janus texted back against his better judgement. He and Remus were broken up. They’d agreed not to text for a while. They’d agreed to give each other space, get used to being apart.

It sucked, though. The apartment felt empty without Remus and half their plant collection.

Unknown Number

ya i kno. but i don’t have any south facign windows here. our place is better

Unknown Number

i mean ur place

Janus sighed morosely. Well, if it was for Rupert…

Janus

Fine. Rupert can come back.

Unknown Number

yay! ill be in town this weekend. ill bring him ok?

Janus

Ok.

And then Janus promptly threw his phone across the room.

Because here’s the thing. Janus and Remus were broken up. Remus had moved eight hours away and everything. He’d been accepted into the Nuclear Engineering graduate program a state away, and they had both heard too many horror stories about long-distance relationships to brother trying. So they’d had a very civil and mutual split. Janus kept the apartment. Remus took the TV. And they’d divided their plant family between them: they each kept their favorites, and Remus had taken the hardier plants, while Janus kept the ones that were likely not to survive an interstate move.

And then… Remus left.

And Janus had not immediately wanted him back. Not at all.

(And, of course, Janus was lying to himself.)

Remus texted him Saturday morning that he was on his way, and Janus spent the first few hours of the wait stress-cleaning. He then checked on every single plant in the apartment. Watered the ones that needed it. Rotated some of the more vivacious growers so that they wouldn’t lean full-body toward their light source. Moved his small army of Sansevierias out to the apartment balcony for some extra sun.

Then, when all that still failed to fill up the entire eight hours of waiting, he started stress-cooking. So by the time Remus texted that he’d just gotten off the highway, Janus had himself a pot of minestrone soup simmering on the stove, a tray of made-from-scratch lasagna in the oven, and was mixing up a batch of double chocolate chip cookies.

There was no way he was going to eat all this food himself, he realized. He was so used to booking big meals like this, because Remus ate like he was three people. And lasagna was his favorite.

“Oh, Jake, what am I doing?” he groaned to the N’Joy Pothos that cascaded down the side of the refrigerator. And then his doorbell rang.

Janus opened the door to find Remus, dancing awkwardly from foot to foot, with his face half-hidden behind the green-and-white leaves of Rupert.

“...Hey,” Remus said, sounding sheepish. Janus’ heart clenched.

“Hi,” he said. They stood there in the doorway for a full minute before Janus stepped back and motioned for Remus to follow. Remus hesitated, but obeyed.

“Uh… I’ll just…” Remus looked around. Janus hated how uncomfortable he looked. Until about two weeks ago, this had been Remus’ apartment, too. “Can I put him in his old spot?”

“Sure,” Janus replied with a nod. Rupert’s old spot had been in the bedroom, where the big, beautiful south-facing window let in a ton of light. He’d moved Venus de Milos, his Marble Queen Pothos, and La Hoya Jackson, the finicky Hoya Carnosa that Remus had wanted but didn’t expect to make the 8-hour drive without going into shock, to free up Rupert’s spot. Remus hesitated again, before he nodded awkwardly and wandered off to the bedroom, all three feet of plant and two gallons of soil in tow. Janus went to the oven and took out the lasagna.

“Howl looks good,” Remus said when he came back into the kitchen. Janus glanced up from where he was laying balls of cookie dough out onto baking sheets.

“Thank you,” he replied. Howl was their dramatic fiddle leaf fig tree, which had decided to throw a fit just before Remus left. “I switched it to a terracotta pot with peat moss and pearlite, and doubled its water intake. It seems to be tolerating it well.”

“Good.” There was a long pause. Then,” How are you?”

Janus looked back to the cookies. “I’m doing well,” he lied. “And you? Do you start class soon?”

“Next week,” Remus answered. “And, uh. Yeah, I’m doin’ good.” Another long pause. “Uh… I’ll just. Head out, I guess.”

“You could stay,” Janus blurted out. Shit. “For dinner, I mean.” He gestured to the tray of lasagna, fresh from the oven. “If you want.”

Remus gave him an uncharacteristically shy smile, then nodded slowly. He didn’t say anything, though, so Janus just gestured for him to take a seat at the table. And then he joined him, a plate of lasagna for each of them.

“So tell me, how’s living with Roman again?” Janus asked, a few bites into the meal, because he could not take the awkward silence a moment longer.

“It’s ok,” Remus answered. He shoveled another forkful of lasagna into his mouth. “This is really good, Jan.”

Janus smiled softly. “Thank you.” A pause. “Roman doesn’t mind all the plants?”

“Nah, he’s dating this guy Patton who apparently loves plants, so the apartment being full of houseplants is a huge plus to him now.”

“Good for him.” The oven timer went off, startling him slightly. He started to get up, but Remus waved him off.

“I got ‘em, you did all the cooking.”

Janus didn’t protest. Remus got up and took the cookies out of the oven. And he even moved them to a cooling rack like Janus had taught him to do. He came back to the table.

“How’s work?”

Janus sighed. “Oh, terrible as always,” he answered. “I really must start looking for a new job.”

“Finally getting fed up?” Remus teased. Janus rolled his eyes. More seriously, Remus continued, “You deserve better, Jan. You gotta find some place that treats you right and pays you what you’re worth.”

“Thank you, Remus.”

“And hey, just sayin’, I still think you’d make an excellent stripper.”

Janus snorted at that. “I haven’t fully ruled out that particular career change.”

They fell easily back into their usual banter, lingering late into the night over a dessert of milk and cookies. It was pushing 10pm when Remus glanced at his phone and cursed softly. Janus glanced at his phone as well.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you so late,” he said. Remus shrugged.

“Nah, it’s cool. Thanks for dinner, Jan. It was real good, as always.”

“Where are you staying?”

“Uh… well, the plan was to stay with Logan, but I guess he had some kind of family emergency, so I don’t wanna trouble him. I’ll probably see if I can find a hotel room.”

Janus’ brow furrowed at that. “Why don’t you just stay here?”

“Oh, uh. I don’t wanna trouble you. I kinda feel like I already overstayed my welcome a bit?”

“Nonsense. A hotel room will cost you at least $100 for the night, and that’s simply ridiculous,” Janus insisted. “You should just stay here.”

Remus worried at his lip, which Janus knew meant he was mulling over his options. Then, he nodded. “If it’s not a bother?”

“Of course not. You’re not a bother, Remus.”

Remus’ eyes softened, and he smiled. “Ok. Thank you. Oh… lemmie go get my overnight back outta my truck.”

When Remus came back inside, Janus had just about finished making up the couch.

“Hey, you don’t gotta get all fancy,” Remus teased. “You know I can sleep basically anywhere.”

“This is for me,” Janus replied. He fluffed up one of the pillows a bit more. “You take the bed.”

An odd look flashed across Remus’ face. “No way, Jan. I’m good on the couch.”

“Remus, you just drove eight hours, and you’re doing it again tomorrow. I am not letting you fuck up your back.”

‘I don’t-”

“Yes you do, no matter how often you say you can sleep anywhere,” Janus scoffed. “You can’t lie to me.”

Remus’ eyes softened, and after a moment, he sighed. “Ok, Jan. But what about you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You hate sleeping on couches.”

“It’s only one night-”

“And don’t you work tomorrow?”

“Yes, but-”

“You’re going to be so grumpy at work without a proper night’s sleep.”

“I’m usually grumpy at work anyway,” Janus pointed out. Remus snorted.

“Ok, that’s true. But I don’t want you to be even grumpier,” he said. “Let’s just share the bed.”

Janus eyed him for a moment. This was a terrible idea. They should not do this.

“Ok,” Janus said anyway.

They got ready for bed in awkward silence, which just made Janus miss Remus’ long, rambling chatter that much more. When Janus finished in the bathroom, he found Remus sitting gingerly on what used to be his side of the bed. Janus came over and sat down on the other side.

“Hey, uh… thanks,” Remus said. “For lettin’ me stay.”

“Of course,” Janus answered. “I… I still think of you as a friend, Remus.”

At that. Remus grimaced slightly. He didn’t say anything, seeming unable to find the right words. Before he could, Janus pulled back the top blankets on the bed and laid down. After a moment, Remus did the same.

“Good night, Remus,” Janus said quietly.

“...Good night, Janus,” Remus answered. Then he reached over and shut off the light.

Remus played that night over and over in his head in the days after he got home, and each and every time, he was just as stumped.

He knew, in his brain, why he and Janus had broken up. It had been the only thing that made sense at the time, when the facts were just that Remus was moving away to pursue a lifelong dream, and Janus would never ever try to stop him from doing so. So they broke up. It made sense… right?

But… That morning, he’d woken up to Janus curled up in his arms, face smushed against Remus’ neck, and… Remus had completely forgotten why they had even broken up in the first place.

Remus was back at Roman’s apartment, now. Eight hours away in his own cold bed, arms empty of the man he loved, just staring at the ceiling. A sharp knock on his door snapped him out of his daze.

“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty,” Roman called. “Don’t you have class in like an hour?”

“Fuck!” Remus scrambled to get up, but succeeded only in rolling out of the bed.

“Don’t forget to lock the door when you leave,” Roman added. Clearly he was unconcerned by the loud “thump” of a body hitting the floor.

“Yup, got it,” Remus groaned in reply. He staggered, successfully this time, to his feet.

Getting dressed was a rushed affair of ‘grab whatever’s closest,’ and soon he emerged from the bedroom with one shoe on, the other in his hand, and his backpack slung over one shoulder. He rushed into the kitchen to grab the travel mug of coffee Janus always set out for him in the mornings. And then the realization hit: Janus didn’t live here.

Remus dropped his shoe.

The rest of the day went about as well as it could have gone without any coffee- that is to say, terribly. He got lost trying to get to campus, then he got lost again trying to get to class. Then he got stuck in traffic on the way back to Roman’s apartment. And then, to top it all off, the grocery store had been out of his favorite chips.

So here he was, mopey and chip-less, and fucking exhausted. He dumped his backpack and collapsed face-first onto the couch. Roman, who happened to be sitting on said couch, made a noise of protest.

“Move, I need to sulk,” Remus mumbled, though his voice was thoroughly muffled by Roman’s thigh, since that was where his face had landed.

“What on earth do you need to sulk for?” Roman asked incredulously. He moved to shove Remus off of him, but Remus went full ragdoll, and Roman couldn’t do a damn thing. “You are a grown man, you know.”

Remus turned his head just enough to stick his tongue out at Roman. Roman stuck his tongue out back.

“I had a terrible day, I earned a good sulk.”

“Didn’t like your classes?”

“Nah, they were great.”

“Professors?”

“Great.”

“Classmates?”

“Great.”

“Then Zeus Almighty, what are you so mopey-dopey about?” Roman remanded.

Remus squirmed around so he was laying on his back, head still in Roman’s lap, to look up at his brother. “So… uh… you promise not to get all, like. I told you so and shit?”

“You miss Janus!”

“No! I-”

“You do!” Roman crowed triumphantly. Remus rolled onto his side so he didn’t have to look at his brother’s dumb gloaty face.

“...Maybe,” he groaned. Abruptly, he clamored to his feet and started for the stairs. “I gotta go build a chair.”

“Carpentry won’t solve your relationship problems,” Roman called after him.

“I know,” Remus called back. “Wrong type of wood.” If Roman had a response to that, Remus was already out the door and didn’t have to hear it.

Patton found him out in front of the apartment building some time later, a jigsaw in hand, and a pile of cut wooden dowels at his feet.

“Hey, kiddo, what are you up to?”

Remus looked up from where he was balancing a plank of wood precariously across a milk crate, because his work table was one of the things he’d had to leave behind at Janus’ place.

“Oh, hey. Ro-bro’s upstairs.”

Patton gave him the sort of smile teachers gave to the kid they caught eating glue for the fourth time. “That doesn’t look super safe. Do you want any help?”

Remus took in Patton’s soft blue sweater and the dad-jeans from the nicer end of his closet, as well as the reusable grocery store bag that smelled suspiciously like some kind of lovely home-cooked meal; he shook his head. “You look dressed for a date night,” he said. “I don’t wanna fuck up two relationships this week.”

Patton’s eyes, impossibly, got even bigger and softer than they normally were, which honestly was quite the feat. He walked over to the stairs but, instead of making his way up to Roman’s apartment, he plopped down on the third step, facing Remus. Remus stared, bewildered.

“Uh, what’chu doin’ there, pops?”

“Well, it just sounded like you needed to talk,” Patton replied cheerfully. “So here I am.”

Remus stared a moment longer, somehow even more bewildered than before. “Uh…”

“I know I haven’t known you very long,” Patton continued. “But something tells me you’re the type of person who busts out the power tools when you’re upset.”

“How the hell can you tell that?”

Patton glanced over his shoulder, then leaned forward slightly. “Because,” he said, voice lowered conspiratorially. “I’m like that too.”

Remus blinked. “You?”

“Yup! I replaced all the tables and chairs in my house with ones I made myself after my last breakup,” Patton giggled. “Only two of them collapsed when I sat in them, too!”

Remus glanced down at the jigsaw in his hands, and then he sighed. He set it down, and went to sit next to Patton on the steps.

“Ok, well. Yeah, maybe I’m kinda upset.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yeah? No? Maybe?”

“Yup, those are your three options!” Patton teased. Remus rolled his eyes.

“Ok, fine. You win, daddy-o. I’m upset because I miss my boyfriend. Or, well, my ex-boyfriend. I want him to be my boyfriend again.”

“Have you told him that?”

“Of course not,” Remus whined.

“Why not?”

“Because… I mean. It wouldn’t change anything. I still moved away. And I don’t even know if he’d want to be my boyfriend again either. Maybe he’s happier now.”

“You don’t know that,” Patton said gently. “Sure, maybe the circumstances aren’t the best right now, but if you both want it, things have a funny way of working out. But you have to talk to him.”

“I…” Remus paused. And then he sighed deeply. “I guess you’re right. Hey thanks, that did actually sorta help.”

Patton offered him a gentle smile. “Of course, Remus! Any time!”

“Hey!”

They both turned to see Roman standing at the top of the stairs, arms crossed.

“My own brother, hogging my boyfriend like this! The betrayal-”

“Relax, Ro, he’s not my type,” Remus shot back. “I prefer sarcastic little menaces.”

Patton giggled at that. He stood up and patted Remus on the shoulder. “I hope things work out,” he said. Remus smiled back.

“Yeah, I hope so too.”

Really, he just wanted Janus to be happy. Ideally with him, but if Janus was happier without him, well… so be it.

- - -

Janus was miserable.

“Dude, c’mon,” Virgil grumbled, immediately upon seeing the state of the apartment. “You’ve been watering your plants and filling the humidifiers, but you can’t be bothered to throw out your gross pizza boxes?” A pause. “Wait, you don’t even like pizza, what the hell.”

Janus just shrugged. After letting Virgil and Logan into the apartment, he’d gone straight back into blanket-burrito-on-the-couch mode. And really, he’d only bothered to get up and let them inside in the first place because Virgil had threatened to axe down the door- and Janus knew for a fact that Virgil owned multiple axes.

“I believe he is engaging in what is described as ‘emotional eating,’ or using food as a coping mechanism in a time of stress and emotional turmoil,” Logan said helpfully. Virgil just huffed.

“That’s fine and all, but Jesus Christ, dude.” He gestured around the livingroom where… ok, yeah, it was a mess.

“Did you two come here just to insult me?” Janus grumbled. His face was half-mashed into a pillow, though, so who knows how much of that was actually discernible.

“We came to make sure you were still alive,” Virgil snapped, indicating that at least most of what Janus had said was discernible. “You weren’t answering any texts.”

“Yes, and you called out of work three days in a row,” Logan added. “We are concerned for you, Janus.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Janus lied from the comfort of his depression blanket burrito. He was not particularly surprised when neither Virgil or Logan looked even remotely convinced.

“Alright, drastic measure time,” Virgil growled. He walked over to the window, and picked up the young Burgundy Rubber Tree Janus had yet to name. Janus sat bolt upright.

“Virgil? Don’t you dare-”

Virgil walked past him and vanished down the hall. When he came back, his hands were empty, and he had a smirk on his face.

“Oh, fuck you,” Janus hissed. He dragged himself up off the couch to go rescue the poor thing, finding it stashed in the dark, windowless bathroom. When he came back to the livingroom, Virgil and Logan were sprawled across the couch.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Janus set the rubber tree back on the windowsill alongside the Snake Plant Army. “Ok, I’m up. Are you heathens happy now?”

“I take offense to that,” Logan muttered, while Virgil just crossed his arms and said, curtly, “Spill it.”

“Spill what?”

“Why are you so upset?”

“I’m not upset-”

“Falsehood,” Logan interrupted. “I have known you since high school, Janus, and I have never seen you like this before. It is highly alarming.”

“Is this about Remus?” Virgil asked.

“No,” Janus said immediately. “Of course not.”

Virgil and Logan exchanged a Look. Janus groaned.

“Fuck. Ok, fine. Maybe it is.”

“Was that so hard?” Virgil asked.

“Yes.”

“You-”

“Janus,” Logan interrupted Virgil’s retort. “It is my understanding that emotional distress is often alleviated through, as they say, ‘talking it out.’ It is clear you are not handling the break-up as well as you initially believed-”

“Of course I’m not!” Janus snapped. He took a deep breath, and turned back to the plants on his windowsill. Kaa, the Sansevieria Moonshine Remus had gotten for Janus as an anniversary present last year, was already leaning slightly toward the window again. He rotated it, and a few of the other snake plants on the sill. And then he realized the others had been quiet for far too long. He turned to find them both watching him with sympathetic expressions. “What?”

“Keep going,” Virgil prompted. Janus sighed. He felt exhausted.

“Of course I’m not,” he said again. “Because I love Remus.”

“And?” Virgil prompted.

“...And I didn’t want us to break up,” he finished, feeling glum. Wordlessly, Virgil stood up, and approached Janus, arms out. Janus stepped into the embrace. Nobody said anything; Janus didn’t cry, but he stood there for a long time. Then, he stepped back.

“Thank you,” he said, and he meant it. Virgil gave him a small smile. Logan cocked his head, seeming confused.

“I don’t understand. You just… needed a hug?”

“Hugs are great, Logan,” Virgil replied. “You should try them sometime- hey, where are you going?”

Janus strode past them both, beelining for his bedroom to find his laptop. Over his shoulder, he answered, “To fill out some job applications.”

- - -

Remus was outside building a new bookshelf- because Patton was moving in, and Roman's teenie-tiny sad little excuse for a bookshelf, which held only Disney DVDs and no actual books, wouldn’t suffice for all of Patton’s cookbooks- when his phone rang. Which was weird, because nobody ever called him, because he never fucking answered.

“Not interested, Mr. Spam Man,” he crooned over the sound of the generic iPhone ringtone. He was learning how to do kerf bending for this bookcase, and goddamn it he wasn’t going to be distracted by-

His phone started ringing again. He swore and ripped off his gloves to silence his phone. But as he did so, he realized the number flashing across his screen was a familiar one.

“Janus? Are you ok?” he answered the call, half panicked, because Janus hated phone calls almost as much as he did.

“Hi. Yes, everything’s fine.” Janus sounded slightly hysterical, which made Remus feel even more frantic. “Where are you?”

“I’m at Roman’s. Are you sure you’re ok-”

“Great, don’t leave. I’ll be right there.”

“What does that mean-” Remus demanded, but the line was already dead. Remus swore again. He briefly considered calling him back, because what the actual fuck was that all about, but he was only about 30 seconds into that brief consideration before a familiar car tearing through the apartment complex parking lot caught his attention. He quickly brushed as much of the sawdust off his clothes as he could because holy shit Janus had just parked right there in front of Roman’s apartment.

Remus watched, dumbfounded, as Janus scrambled out of his car- dressed in his very nice black suit and pale yellow button-up- and came running across the lawn toward where Remus was working. He had a tiny plant clutched to his chest.

“Uh, Jan, you good?” Remus asked. Janus stopped in front of him and doubled over, breathless, for a few moments. Then, he straightened up, and fixed Remus with a look of sheer determination.

“Remus. I want to get back together.”

Remus’ heart, the traitorous bastard, leaped up into his throat and blocked all his words from coming out.

“It’s… it’s ok if you don’t want that,” Janus continued. His look of determination faltered slightly. “It’s ok. But I needed to tell you. Because I love you, so much. And I… I didn’t want you to think I didn’t, even if you don't-”

Remus found his words abruptly. “Jan, fuck! I do! I do love you. I never stopped loving you. All I want is to be with you.”

Janus’ eyes softened. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Good, because I’ve just been offered a job here.”

Remus choked. Janus was eyeing him smugly. “You. Just like that, you got a job here?”

“Just like that,” Janus grinned. “I just came from the interview. They offered me a position on the spot.”

Remus couldn't help himself any longer. He lurched forward and pulled Janus tightly into his arms.

“Hey, be careful,” Janus said, though he made absolutely no effort to get out of Remus’ embrace. “You’ll crush our new son.”

Remus pulled back just enough to look at the small plant Janus held in his hands, and only then did his brain register what it was.

“Is! Is that-”

“Yes,” Janus replied, holding up the tiny Drosera Capensis seedling. Remus had wanted one of these for ages.

“For me?”

“Well, for us, ideally,” Janus answered, with a shy smile. “But, mostly for you, yes.”

Remus gently plucked the baby octopus plant- their new son!- from Janus’ hands, and placed it carefully on top of the milk crate that was serving as his carpentry workbench. Then, he hoisted Janus up off the ground and spun him around.

“Oh- Re-” Janus exclaimed, though he was laughing. “Put me down!”

“No!” Remus trilled. He spun Janus around once more. Then he just stood there, holding Janus, gazing up at him. Janus’ eyes grew soft. Slowly, he carded his fingers through Remus’ hair.

“Hey,” Janus said.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

Remus set Janus down, but kept his arms still wrapped tightly around him. His heart felt warm.

“Hey.”

Janus looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“I love you, too.”

#dukeceit #dukeceitweek #remus sanders #janus sanders #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #kye writes

42 notes · View notes

whatareyousearchingfordean · 4 years

Text

Happiness Continues

Part 2: 5 Weeks Pregnant

Summary: Y/n comes down with an unexplainable bug and tries to chalk it up to stress at work. But after a conversation with her sister-in-law, realization hits her that it’s not in fact a bug at all.

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Plus Size Reader

Word Count: 3.8K+

Warnings: Language, nausea and vomiting, discussion of surprise pregnancy

Author’s Note: Welcome back to the party everyone. Let’s get started! Special thanks to my always hype woman @waywardbeanie and my amazingly patient beta @emoryhemsworth Please enjoy some reviews from friends who have the luxury of a few sneak peeks. xoxo Alex

“I never thought I would have to engage in fisticuffs with Jensen, but here we go lol” @jensengirl83

“Y’all are gonna love it.” @emoryhemsworth

Catch up with the series masterlist and then check out Alexandra’s Library for more by yours truly!

The whole church was bustling as the pastor released the congregation for the day. It had been a nice sermon that Y/n hadn’t exactly paid attention to. All morning her body had been feeling iffy. It was something that she couldn’t exactly place, she just felt...off. Y/n assumed she was just coming down with a bug. By the time they had made it to the church, she was ready for a nap. In all honesty, she had to fight to keep her eyes open as their pastor droned on, which she did feel bad about.

Y/n was rolling her tongue about as Jensen drove them off to Jared and Gen’s for their usual Sunday brunch. Gen had woken up late with the kids and therefore the Padalecki’s had skipped church that day. That meant Y/n didn’t have to help cook, a fact which she was grateful for considering the spinning going on in her head.

“You’re quiet over there,” Jensen noted as they walked to the front door, their fingers entwined between them.

“I just feel off this morning,” Y/n explained. “I’m not sure what it is.”

“You think you’re coming down with something?” Jensen pushed open the door, letting themselves into the house.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you have been stressed lately. First, there was everything that happened at work and then the move. It’s a lot for anybody. Your body is probably worn down.” His words trailed off as Shep came running to greet them at the door. Jensen ruffled the kid’s hair as he came to hug them both.

“Hmm, remind me to chug some orange juice then,” she commented before turning her attention to her nephew. Shep went into a deep explanation about how his mother had let him help cook their brunch, telling them both how he only dropped a few eggshells into the bowl.

Y/n was laughing along with him as they went deeper into the house. It wasn’t until she rounded the front staircase that the smell of cooking bacon and pancakes hit her nose, causing a wave of nausea to roll through her. Planting her feet, she dropped Jensen’s hand and ran to the nearest powder room, the door slamming behind her.

Y/n had to spit the saliva pooling in her mouth into the sink, taking deep breaths through her nose to will away the rolling inside her. Puking was the worst thing in her mind, and she would do anything to avoid an episode. This time she was successful, rinsing her mouth with water from the faucet helping to calm inside her.

“Y/n/n,” Jensen turned the knob, waiting for a protest from her that didn’t come before pushing the door open, “Are you okay?”

Y/n shook her head, afraid if she spoke it would open the faucet inside her. “Do we need to go home?”

“No,” she swallowed down the bile and took another deep breath. “You eat, I’m just gonna lie down.”

“Okay,” Jensen relented, running his hand down the back of her head and pulling her in so he could place a kiss to her forehead. “You’re sure?”

“I just—” a hiccup tore through her, threatening to destroy all she was fighting down. “I just need a minute.” She managed to get the words out before leaving her husband standing in the doorway to the bathroom. As she headed off for the couch in Jared’s office, Jensen made his way back to where Jared and Gen were waiting, both of them staring at him in anticipation upon his return.

“Is she alright?” Gen asked as she flipped a pancake on the griddle.

“She says she is, but she’s gonna just lie this one out I think. Earlier she mentioned that she felt off.” Jensen took a coffee mug from the counter and filled it before sitting at the table. “I think she’s running herself into the ground. She’s trying to do more than one person should take on.”

“Just make sure she gets a lot of fluids and some rest, and she’ll be good as new,” Jared noted as he tapped Tom’s hand when he reached out to grab something from Shep’s plate.

“I hope so…”

Y/n had no sooner lain her head on the throw pillow than passed out. Jensen had to shake her a little harder than usual to wake her when the family had finished brunch. Y/n had felt far better after her nap, the events of the morning all but forgotten once she got home, though she didn’t push her luck with eating anything that evening. Mosty she drank a lot of juice, her cure-all.

****

Soft pop music played on from the lobby of her office. Mondays in her office were usually casual, filled with standard meetings and the answering of emails. Today was no different, well, besides the fact that she couldn’t keep her eyes open. The long paragraphs on her screen began to run together and she kept having to reread them over. It was when her eyelids eventually started to droop that she sighed in defeat.

Y/n pushed her chair away from her desk and went to close her door. She leaned out the doorway quickly to speak to her assistant. “I’m taking an early lunch, field my calls for a few hours, please?” Abby nodded her head and Y/n closed the door behind her. She sauntered over to the stiff couch that sat along the far wall of her office. Plopping down on the decorative piece, she kicked off her heels and laid out across it.

She was out as soon as her eyes closed.

The sharp trill of her cell phone jolted her awake. The sudden change in her position had her stomach flipping. Gingerly, she brought her hand up to her mouth and she paused to allow the bout of nausea to pass her. By the time she got her bearings, her phone had ceased ringing. Y/n slipped her heels back on her feet and made her way to her desk to retrieve her cell. The time across the screen indicated she had been out for two hours. She let out a huff, assuming she would get a thirty-minute cat nap before finishing her day. Now she felt bad about leaving Abby out there to answer all her calls during that time.

The missed call indicated that it was from her husband. As she sat down behind her desk, she redialed his number. He answered on the second ring.

“Hey honey,” she could practically see his smile through the phone.

“Hey,” her voice was hoarse as she answered him.

“Babe, you okay?” The change in his tone had Y/n picturing him sitting up straight wherever he was.

“Uh, I don’t really know. I just took a two-hour nap in my office, though,” Y/n’s eyes drifted shut again as she rubbed a hand over her face.

“Are you still feeling sick?” Y/n grunted out a response. “Well, I was calling to ask what you wanted for dinner, but now I’m thinking maybe you should come home, you don’t sound too well. Take the day off.”

“I think maybe you’re right.” There was nothing big happening today. They had survived the last two hours without her, they could make it through the rest of the day. “I’ll be home in ten, love you.”

“Love you too, see you soon.” The line clicked as Jensen hung up the phone. Y/n collected her things and headed out of the office. She let Abby know she was taking a sick day on her way out, the woman wishing her well as she exited.

She barely remembered the drive home, only registering that she was even in the car once she parked it in the garage. The smell of cooking chicken hit her nose as soon as she entered the house, sending waves through her stomach. Y/n dropped her purse in the hallway, booking it past Jensen, who stood in front of a large pot on the stove, and straight to the nearest bathroom, her hand over her mouth to keep from making a mess.

Her knees hit the tile hard as she leaned over the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach into the bowl. Jensen was right behind her, pulling her hair back and holding it out of harm's way. Gently he rubbed small circles on her back until she was dry heaving, nothing left to come up. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and fell against the wall near the toilet. Her eyes were watering and her nose was running. Jensen stood and ran a washcloth under the tap before kneeling back in front of her to wipe her face.

“I was going to make you some soup, but apparently that’s now out of the question.” He tried to smile for her, but it was tight and unconvincing.

“Maybe just some crackers for now,” she rasped, smiling back at him so he knew that she appreciated the sentiment. Jensen snorted with a shake of his head. It was just like his wife, making jokes as she sat on the bathroom floor where she had just vomited her guts out.

“Alright, what do you say we get you into bed?” He cocked his head at her as he continued to wipe away what makeup he could from her face. She nodded enthusiastically, allowing him to help her to her feet. She followed him through the house and to their bedroom. Jensen went to her dresser and pulled out a pair of pajamas as she began to disrobe. He tossed the cotton garments her way before going to turn down the bed.

“I’m going to finish the soup anyway, in case you’re up for it later,” he said, tossing their throw pillows across the room and pulling back the thick comforter. “Holler if you need me, yeah?” Y/n crawled into the open bed, the cool sheets feeling amazing against her heated skin.

“Thank you.” The smile on her face was weak.

“That’s what I’m here for. Get some rest.” Jensen leaned down and tucked her into the bed, placing a soft kiss against the clammy skin of her forehead. She watched as he sauntered out of the room, shutting off the light as he went. For the second time that day, she was asleep before she knew it.

****

That week, Monday’s events had all but become her routine. Y/n had stopped eating breakfast before work, which tended to help her get through the day, though she was still opting for a quick nap during her lunch break seeing as she wasn’t eating anyway, a fact which she was skillfully keeping from her husband. He worried about her far too much, and if he knew she still wasn’t feeling well, he’d insist on her calling her doctor, which was the last thing she wanted to do. Y/n hated the doctor almost as much as she hated airports.

It was harder to hide from him at night, even though she found once she was home from work she could keep food down for longer. As long as it was something light, her stomach handled it well. As far as she knew, he was not suspicious.

She was wrong.

Gen had called her asking if she wanted to go with her to the park with the kids, which Y/n would never turn down as it was an opportunity to be with her niece and nephews. What she didn’t know is Jensen had asked Gen to pump Y/n for information. He knew she wasn’t eating and sleeping a lot more than usual, and he was just being the concerned husband.

“So, how have you been this week?” Gen asked as they sat down on the bench to watch the kids run amok.

“Not, bad I guess.”

“So you think you’re over whatever happened on Sunday?” Gen pushed, watching her kids on the playground.

“Eh, whatever it is, I have it under control,” Y/n played off her concerns, not exactly worried about it herself. If she was being frank, she didn’t have time to be worried about it. Her skincare line was launching in a few weeks and there was still so much to get done. She had press releases to approve, and a pop-up event downtown that she was to attend when the brand premiered at Ulta. No, it wasn’t her concern right now. Everything was under control.

“That doesn’t sound convincing.”

“It’s just some sort of bug. I’ll be fine. I’ve only gotten sick a couple of times.” Gen snapped her head to her sister-in-law, a frown etched on her features.

“You’ve been getting sick all week?”

“That’s not what I said,” Y/n groaned, knowing full well Gen was spiraling into mom-mode.

“But you’ve been nauseous, yeah?”

“I mean off and on, but I’ve been able to eat and keep it down most meals. It’s the ‘not being able to keep my eyes open’ that’s pissing me off. I know I’m probably overdoing it but I don’t have the luxury of thinking about that now. I can sleep when this line has launched.”

“Sounds like when I was pregnant with Shep. All I did during the first trimester was sleep and puke. It was exhausting. Try sucking on lollipops, it helps.” Y/n nodded as Gen jumped up to reprimand Odette for going up the slide instead of down it. Her words rang around in Y/n’s head as she watched the small brunette grab her godchild and pull her off the slide.

There was no way…

Y/n whipped her phone out of her pocket, quickly thumbing through her calendar, looking for an appointment. The further she went back in weeks the more nervous she became. She found it in the middle of May, the red indicating that it had been canceled after it already read that it was a makeup appointment. She hadn’t been back since the beginning of the year. Panic set in, which was not doing anything for the state of her stomach at the moment. She sat there, counting back the days since her last period, the hammering of her heart increasing as the number of days increased. Y/n had missed her period and not even noticed. She really was an idiot, she thought to herself

For the rest of her visit, she tried to remain level headed. In reality, she wanted nothing more than to run to the nearest drug store, which was exactly what she did the second that Gen rounded up three tired kids to take home and put to bed. There was a store just two blocks out of her way home which she went straight for the second she turned over the ignition in her Jeep. Slipping inside the small store, she grabbed one of every brand of pregnancy test they sold there, and quietly slipped back out.

Y/n rolled the brown paper bag up tightly in her fist as she raced inside the house. Every sense was heightened as she made her way through the house, keeping an eye out for her husband, but she found him nowhere as she entered, assuming that he was already in the bedroom. She stopped outside the bedroom door, shimmying off her jacket and rolling her secret up inside before entering.

Jensen sat up as she entered, but she just muttered something about having to pee as she passed, which wasn’t exactly a lie. There wasn’t even enough time for him to say hello before she was catching the lock on the door behind her.

The first thing she did was dump the contents of the paper bag onto the counter, organizing the tests on the counter as she skimmed over the instructions. The bottle of water she chugged on the drive over was starting to do its job, making her antsy as she read over what to do. Most of the tests had the same instructions inside, making things easier for her overall. Her shaky fingers ripped into the boxes, tossing the torn cardboard into the trash as she went.

It took all of five minutes to find out whether or not she was, in fact, pregnant, but it was the longest five minutes of her life. She was sure Jensen was probably wondering if she was having more stomach issues with the amount of time she had spent behind the locked door.

When the appropriate time had passed, Y/n flipped the tests over, her hands passing through each one quicker than the last, and all of them telling her the same thing.

Y/n’s fingers gripped into the marble countertop, the five pregnancy tests sitting inside the sink. Their answer to her question was definite. There were no ‘maybes’ about it, no one and a half lines or ‘possibles’ etched into the screen. Each test was flashing back up at her like neon signs.

She was pregnant.

Outside the bathroom door, her husband was unknowingly lounging in their bed. He was without a care and probably mindlessly scrolling through his Twitter feed like every other night before bed, and she was about to destroy that façade with two simple words.

The nervous woman ran her hands through her hair before shaking out her limbs. She took a few deep breaths before steeling herself to go out and tell him. Dragging it out wouldn’t do anyone any good. Even though this wasn’t planned, both of them had made known their wishes for a family, and it was in this that fact that she was even able to muster up the courage to tell him she had fucked up. Because it was the truth, she had fucked up, major.

Plastering a smile on her face, she pulled open the door, making sure to shut it behind her to hide the tests until she could break the news. Y/n stalked over to where Jensen was lounging, his legs crossed at the ankle with one hand behind his head, the other scrolling through his phone. His brow was scrunched as he concentrated on whatever he was reading on the tiny screen. She climbed onto the bed and over to his side before stopping to sit back on her knees.

“Hey, babe,” his voice was soft and his eyes heavy. Jensen put the phone down and put his hand on her bare knee, rubbing soft circles there.

“Jensen, I’ve got to tell you something.” It took everything in her to quell the shake in her voice as her heart rate picked up. But of course, him and his damn perceptiveness had to pick up on it in a millisecond.

Jensen’s brows knit together and he sat up a little in the bed. “What’s wrong, babe?”

“I’m…” Her breath caught in her throat as the reality of their situation kept washing over her in droves. Jesus, Y/n, spit it out, she thought. “I’m pregnant.”

Silence fell over the room once she finally managed to get the words out. Y/n watched her husband as his tongue poked out between his teeth and his jaw clenched as he tried to figure out the words he wanted to say. The lack of reaction had her stomach flipping on itself, which, giving her current situation, was not helping anything. Y/n swallowed down nausea to push her husband into talking.

“Jay, please say something.”

“How did this happen?”

“With the insanity at work and the move I just... I missed a couple of appointments with my gynecologist. I missed my shot,” she explained, hoping he didn’t hate her.

“Fuck, Y/n!” He fell back into the bed, the inflection in his words the worst possible thing she could hear. The sheer rumble of it in the quiet room was enough to make her flinch back from the man she loved. Jensen ran both of his large hands down his face before continuing. “This wasn’t supposed to happen now, I was supposed to have more time.”

“What?” His words made no sense to her. As far as she knew, Jensen wanted kids. It was something they had talked about before they were ever an item. Had she been wrong? Were the two of them somehow not on the same page about this? Y/n tried to rack her brain for a moment in time where that could have changed but she was coming up empty.

“I was supposed to have more time with you. Just the two of us before we did this, before late-night feedings and diapers, before everything changes forever,” He explained further. His words calmed down her racing heart and mind, but only a little. Now she felt more guilty than she already was. All he wanted was to be with her and she had ruined his plans.

“I’m sorry,” Y/n whispered, casting her eyes down to where her fingers were fiddling with the hem of her shirt. The tears that had been threatening to fall this whole time had finally made a break for it, leaving shining tracks down her cheeks.

“Oh, Y/n,” he sighed, taking her hand in his and pulling her to lay in his side. Y/n shoved her face into his chest, trying her hardest not to break into a full sob as he rubbed his hand into her back. After everything she did, she couldn’t believe that Jensen was the one that had to console her. It should be the other way around, right? It was her who had fucked up and ruined their plans for their future together, not him, after all.

“I’m sorry,” she couldn’t stop the words that came out of her mouth this time. Y/n would tell him she was sorry until she was blue in the face.

“I know, honey,” Jensen murmured into her hair before placing a kiss to the crown of her head. He continued to rub his hand along her back, waiting for her breathing to even before breaking the silence.

“You’re really pregnant?” He asked, his voice much softer this time.

“If the five pregnancy tests in the sink have any say, then yes.” His chuckle shook his body and Y/n relished in the vibration of it against her cheek.

“This isn’t how or when I picture this happening, I won’t lie about that, but honey, we’re having a baby, this is a good thing.” The way his voice rose at the end of his sentence had Y/n pulling out of her hiding space in his side, looking up to see him smiling down at her.

“You’re not mad? You don’t hate me?” Her hope was threatening to spill out of her mouth like vomit as she rubbed the wetness from her cheeks.

“No,” Jensen shook his head. “I love you, more today than yesterday, and more tomorrow than today, and I will love this baby just as much.”

Y/n shook her head before diving into her husband, nuzzling her face into his neck. “I love you too.”

“Y/n,” Jensen laughed, the sound breathy as it escaped his chest. “We’re having a baby!”

Part 3: 8 Weeks Pregnant

Forevers: @22sarah08 @akshi8278 @anathewierdo @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce @callmekda @dawnie1988 @deanwanddamons @ellewritesfix05 @emoryhemsworth @flamencodiva @foxyjwls007 @hobby27 @janicho88 @jensengirl83 @katehuntington @lyarr24 @malfoysqueen14 @mrsjenniferwinchester @msmarvelouswinchester @polina-93 @sleepylunarwolf @stiles-stilinski-24-dylan @smol-and-grumpy @superfanficnatural @supraveng @talesmaniac89 @tranquility-or-chaos @waywardbeanie @winchest09

Continues: @ashleyrose0117 @austin-winchester67 @colbyskoalas @deanmonandnegansbitch @deans-baby-momma @death-unbecomes-you @dvnmbabe @harryhook-lover @let-me-luve-you @lunarmoon8 @onethirstyunicorn @parinarain @rebelemilu @smoothdogsgirl @spnfamily-j2 @stoneyggirl @squirrelnotsam @traceyaudette @zpandaqueen

227 notes · View notes

iamcath · 3 years

Text

Only Exception

Atsumu is tired of and doesn't want to believe in love anymore. Every time he lets himself fall for someone he always ends up getting hurt, cheated on and left alone. It’s the cycle he didn’t want to go through anymore. He might as well grow old all by himself while he drinks a hot coffee on his porch someday. It would be fine, he doesn’t need anyone. In anyways, he can still just annoy Osamu if he gets bored.

When he thought he had actually made up his mind, he met Shouyou once again. The last time he saw the small middle blocker with ginger hair was during their senior year at Nationals. He heard from Tobio and Bokuto that Shouyou decided to go to Rio(a country on the other side of the world) and play beach volleyball instead, which maybe not a bad thing really. He always keeps tabs of the boy's whereabouts just because he couldn’t forget him, not with that amazing passion and bottomless hunger to play volleyball that the boy has that haunted him all those years. There’s no way he can forget Shouyou, not when he made the promise that he will definitely set for him one day.

“Hi, Miya-san! It was nice seeing you again!” the gingered boy greeted with a beaming smile on his face. A smile that almost blinded him that he thought he was directly looking at the sun. It seems nothing has changed with Shouyou except his tanned skin that shows some freckles on his face and his very toned and well built body build. Rio indeed does him good. Who lets Shouyou be so hot and sexy that he almost forgot that they aren’t alone and everyone is looking at them.

“Shouyou-kun. We’re gonna be teammates. I prefer that you call me Atsumu or else I won’t set the ball to you.” he said, disrupting his thoughts in his head when Bokuto hit him in the back. Shouyou hesitates for a second, not sure if he can do that because he thinks it would be rude but then, if Atsumu prefers and says it’s alright for him to do so then it wouldn’t be a problem, “Alright, Atsu..Atsumu-san.” Shouyou said as he let off a ridiculous perfect smile that Atsumu wished that he would always see.

Wait… Pause for a moment… What did he just wish? Hold on.. He thought to himself as he shook his head. There’s no time for him to fall for someone nor like someone. Even if he does, he would rather pick up a stone and thwack it directly to his head.

' It's too dangerous to be around with Shouyou' he warns himself and from then on, he always gets his guards up, not letting the embodiment of the sun tear down his high walls. He must protect his heart now because he can no longer allow himself to be careless and get himself hurt once again. Seriously, who invented love anyway?

Osamu is getting really annoyed by his constant yapping over Shouyou whom he said that he didn’t like but can’t shut his trap out ever since Shouyou joined the Black Jackals.

“What the fuck is wrong with you this time?” Osamu annoyingly asked as he handed a plate of onigiris to Atsumu, who started banging his head on the table, “Eat and get lost. You are bad for the business.”

“You should comfort me instead of insulting the hell out of me everytime I come here.. I’m your ‘twin brother’ for fuck sake.” He demanded as if it wasn’t obvious how pathetic he looks while he sulks, giving Osamu a major headache. He was about to say something to his dumb blonde twin when someone open the store door.

Osamu and him, in unison, look at the door to see who is coming in. Oh and speaking of the devil, it was Shouyou. Atsumu strengthened his posture and tried to act cool while Osamu greeted the ginger boy. Shouyou looks at them with a confused face as he says, “Did I interrupt something? Sorry.. I-” which Atsumu quickly cut off, flinching his hands in the air, “You didn’t. Me and this shithead are just having our usual conversation. Nothing special.” Osamu ignored his insult as he squinted his eyes on him. Atsumu squinted his eyes back at his twin, delivering a message that says, ‘ Don’t you dare try to say shit to Shouyou-kun or I will commit arson on your fucking store.’

Osamu rolled his eyes at him and told Shouyou to take a seat, “I have a special one here that I wanted you to try out, Shouyou-kun. Would you like to try it out?”

“Oh sure.. I’m hungry and would love to be your guinea pig Osamu-san.” Shouyou answered brightly and took a sit beside Atsumu. He was so overwhelmed by the sun's presence that he couldn't even utter a single word.

“Atsumu-san, are you alright?”

“Of course I am more than alright. Want to do extra training later?”

“Yes, sure!! That would be great! I actually want to try something new with you.”

‘ Something new? What does that supposed to mean Shou-kun?’. He thought that he almost choked up while he was drinking his water. He knows what Shouyou means, he does. It was just his gay compulsiveness that's thinking.

Shouyou is so kind to him and he feels like he was treating him more differently than the others. He knows that it was wrong for him to give meaning to every Shouyou’s actions but how can he look the other way, when the bright sunshine human being is slowly consuming him?. He didn’t want this. Not anymore.

Osamu asked him this once, “You keep saying you’re done with love as if everyone and everybody that goes your way will only hurt you. What if someone comes and that someone is willing to prove that they’re not like the others, wouldn't it be a waste to let it go? You’re already concluding something that has not even started yet.” His twin can be rude and a jerk often but sometimes, Osamu surely knows how to open his mouth and say things that he didn’t even want to hear because it absolutely makes sense.

Atsumu found himself waking up to an unfamiliar smell that probably came from the kitchen. He’s head really hurts and he still feels like throwing up. He got himself so drunk last night at the victory party that he can’t hardly remember what happened. But before he can think about what kind of stupidity he did last night, he must know first where he is. He scans his surroundings, looking for his phone first, where he finds it at the side table near the bed. He's gonna check it out later and it’s not like there is someone looking for him or something.

He wasn’t sure who brought him to this place until he saw the picture frame at the study table. It belongs to Shouyou and inside the frame, it was his picture together with his mother and his sister, Natsu-chan. Shouyou brought him to his apartment.

He finally decided to get up and see where Shouyou at and what he was doing early this morning. Shouyou’s apartment is not that big. A one bedroom, small living room and small kitchen with one bathroom is good enough for one person to be living with.

“You’re finally awake, Atsumu-san. Hangover?” Shouyou asked immediately once he saw him get out of the bedroom while his hands were busy mixing and cooking something on the pot that smelled appetizing. He didn’t know that Shouyou could cook but when it comes to Shouyou, nothing is impossible. That is why… Wait.. what the hell he should do now? It finally sunk in to him that he’s in Shouyou's apartment and they were alone. Just the two of them. He started to get so nervous that he could feel some cold sweats at the back of his neck but he needed to play it cool or else Shouyou might feel awkward too with his presence and that’s the last thing he wanted to happen.

“Yeah. Heads hurt like crazy” he answered as he let off a fake chuckle.

“It must be.. You were so wasted last night that you can’t even tell me what your address is. I should have called Osamu-san to ask, but… It was so late and he was probably sleeping. Didn’t want to bother him, that is why I brought you home with me. I’m sorry if I didn’t ask for your permission first..”

“No, I should apologize for getting so drunk last night and for causing you trouble. I didn’t know what had gotten into me. That’s the first time I got myself so drunk to the point of being wasted.”

“That’s fine Atsumu-san.. You can drink all you want as long as I’m with you. I mean.. If you don’t mind having me around.”

'If you don't mind having me around' these words were lingering in his head, like one of his favorite songs that he listened to when he was happy. It was so nice to hear Shouyou say that. As if he wants him to be with him for as long as he wants.

"Shouyou-kun.. Do you.. perhaps… like me?" He accidentally mumbled.

' Crap' he wasn't supposed to say that but due to the words Shouyou spokes, the question just fucking slipped out on his mouth. 'Fuck it' he thought, he can just make an excuse later, like he wasn't sober and they can just forget about it. He wanted to storm out of Shouyou's apartment and buried himself somewhere where nobody could find him and his body.

"I do.. I do like you Atsumu-san. I thought I was being obvious already but maybe I wasn't." Shouyou shyingly said, turning off the gas stove and transferring the miso soup on the bowl to serve him.

'What the actual fuck? Oh wait.. maybe he likes him as a brother or a friend?' A platonic relationship is ideal for them because there's no way Shouyou will like him.. Not when everyone arounds them adores and loves him.

"You do? What kind of like is that? Like as a brother or a friend?" He asked, playing dumb, denying everything because if he won't, he probably gonna say that he likes him too that it's driving him crazy already.

"Not that kind of like Atsumu-san.. More like, a like that I want to be with you always, protect, love , make you happy kind of like, like.." Shouyou straightly forwarded said.

He was stunned. He can't even move an inch to where he is. He remembered all his past relationships and what they have done to him. He wanted to believe it because he wanted to be with Shouyou too but he was too scared. What if he gets hurt again? He can afford another heartbreak. It will definitely ruin him and everything about him.

"Shouyou-kun.. I-" he was about to say something when Shouyou cutted him off.

"You don't have to like me back, Atsumu-san.. I just wanted to tell you because I wanted you to be aware of me. So don't worry.. You must be hungry, eat first and then drink this medicine. It would help you get rid of your hangover." Shouyou said with a smile on his face.

He wanted to say something but he felt like if he did, things between them would really get awkward. He wasn't sure if the smile that Shouyou wears in front of him was real or fake but he felt something was already off about him.

He shouldn't have asked that stupid question because from the start he was aware. He didn't just bring it up because he was afraid to hear that he was right. He doesn't want to lose Shouyou this way or not in any way.

' What if someone comes and that someone is willing to prove that they’re not like the others, wouldn't it be a waste to let it go? You’re already concluding something that has not even started yet.' he suddenly remembered what Osamu had said to him before. He was full of 'what ifs' but he never thought of 'what could have been'. Maybe, just maybe.. Shouyou is really different. There wasn't a time that he could think of, where Shouyou didn't laugh to the stupidest, cringest, annoying and you can call it whatever you want jokes. Shouyou always cheered him up whenever he felt kind of down and always told him that he would hit his toss no matter how off and ugly it was which would never happen Shouyou said because for him, he's the best and greatest setter that he could ever have. He always compliments him no matter how big or small his accomplishment was.

"Shou-kun.." he called out, wanting the sun's attention to turn fully to him.

"Yes, Atsumu-san? Didn't you like your food? I can cook you something else.."

"No, Shou-kun.. Can you listen to me?" He asked and the ginger boy nodded his head.

If he wants to try it all over again, he should first explain everything to him and let Shouyou understand why he's so afraid of falling in love. He explained everything to him, he didn't even leave even the slightest details. He wanted Shouyou to see him for what and who he really is. The Atsumu who acted so tough, self-less and confident inside the court is not the same Atsumu outside the court. This tough, self-less and confident persona of him is also scared, selfish and insecure. Those were the things that Shouyou needs to embrace and accept if he still decides that he still wants to be with him.

Shouyou stood up from his chair and kneel down before him. He held his hands, and put them closer to his lips and kissed it.

"I'm sorry if I took too long to come into your life. But you know.. It's better late than never.. right? I wanted to be the best for you because you are the first person who has seen and acknowledged me as a valuable player. I still remember your promise. It finally came true. And.. I was so happy to be playing with you and got the chance to be with you. It's anything that I could ask for." Shouyou paused for a second and reached out his cheek, caressing it gently as he continued, "I can't promise that I can take all the hurt away but what I can offer is to share the burden with you until you can finally say that the pain that you went through before was worth it. That your past relationships didn't work out because you are actually for me. That all the things you've been through leads you all the way to me. Let's take it slow. One step at a time. I'm a very patient man after all." Shouyou finished.

Tears started streaming down to his face as he said, "You're such a smooth talker.. You know that?"

Shouyou gently wipes his tears away as he smiles at him "Am I? Very well then.. I will take that as a compliment."

Shouyou faced him, eye to eye level. His hands still on his cheeks. He never understood how those hands were so warm that he felt like he was finally home after a tiring day. Like, if he can relive one moment in his life, this is the moment he will play for a thousand times and will never get sick of it.

He closed his eyes and he knew, his walls were already teared down from the very first moment he saw Shouyou's face again after seven years.

His lips and Shouyou's lips meet for the first time and he wonders where those lips have been, that he waited seven years to taste them. It was a messy kiss at first but as time went by it turned out so passionate that he never wanted it to stop if it weren't for their lips being swollen.

He never intends to let anyone in his life again. He was determined to live his life alone but thinking how silly it was, it made him laugh.

Shouyou is the only exception. A risk that he will gladly take over and a dozen times again. A 'what could have been' that he was thankful for but will never be a 'what if' that he'll regret later on.

#atsuhina #hinata shoyou #miya atsumu #osahinaifyousquintharder #aficthatinspiredbymylosingstreak #haikyuu

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prayedtoyou · 4 years

Text

elevator confessions

Destiel // 1.6k words // general audiences // mentions of past canon MCD

i was inspired by this adorable fanart by @kamicom because it kinda looks like they’re in an elevator and i just had to write something. i know it’s an older fanart, but i just saw it for the first time ever yesterday and i absolutely adore it and i think we could all use a little love confession and some fluff. so, without further adieu ~

“How did you know Amanda Lay?”

The girl—Emily, Dean remembers—hands him and Cas a couple cups of coffee. It’s early morning and smells like the rain they drove through on the ride here the night before. The windows of her high rise Seattle apartment are all open and a soft breeze rustles a magazine on the coffee table, moves the floor-length curtains. The apartment is stunning in a shabby chic sort of way, full of floral designs and soft throw blankets. It’s not really Dean’s taste, but it’s spotless. Dean wonders if she’s been cleaning through her sadness.

“We went to grad school together.” She takes a seat in the white armchair across from the couch Dean and Cas are sat on. Her face is expressionless but her eyes are swollen. Dean’s seen it plenty of times before; people repress their grief around other people in the aftermath of a death so no one can see them falling apart. Dean’s been there himself more times than he’d like to remember. “We met in the food court between classes and clicked right away. We started living together a year after we met.” She looks from Dean to Cas and back to Dean. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think I had to talk to the cops about this, I wasn’t there.”

“The FBI takes things a little more seriously and we have to run our own investigation,” Dean explains. He takes a sip of his coffee and flips open his notepad. “I know this must be very difficult for you, but we appreciate any information you can give us.”

“The FBI is involved in a . . . bear attack?”

“Killers are very creative nowadays, Ms. Maxwell,” Dean continues quickly when he sees Cas’s mouth open up. He told Cas not to talk too much, since he was never really all that great at undercover work. “We have reason to believe that a person may have done this with their own makeshift claws.”

Dean knew there was no delicate way to put that, but he didn’t have to recite the words like they were out of a script. That’s the downside of having so much experience, sometimes you forget that other people care more than you do.

Emily’s stoic expression holds while she processes Dean’s words, but it breaks down slowly, and then, all all at once, she begins to shake under waves of sobbing. Her hands come up to cover her face as the gasping and wailing fill the otherwise composed apartment. Cas looks at Dean, clearly uncomfortable and unsure of what to do.

“Who would do that?” she shrieks, looking between Dean and Cas with tears streaming down her face, hands in fists on her knees. “To another person? To Amanda? Why would they do that to her? She didn’t do anything wrong!”

Dean opens his mouth to offer some sort of rehearsed condolence, but abandons the idea when she wraps her arms around her middle and bows her head over her lap, the crying continuing. She looks like she’s about to be sick.

Cas leans over and whispers, “Dean, what’s happening?”

It takes everything in him not to roll his eyes. “She just lost her friend, Agent Kossoff. She’s sad.”

“She wasn’t just my friend!” Emily blurts around a hiccup, pulling herself up enough to cast her angry red eyes at them. “I was in love with her! She was the love of my life and I never—” hic “—I never—” hic “—told her!”

Understanding floods through Dean. It hits painfully close to home, but he doesn’t have the time to think about it. He pushes the box of tissues on the table closer to her, hoping that’s what she needs right now. He watches as she takes one to mop up her tears and then another to loudly blow her nose. She’s an absolute wreck. A flash of a memory—knuckles against a back door, carrying a body inside, burning his best friend—knocks a little breath out of him. He pushes it away.

“I was going to tell her on her birthday,” she blubbers quietly, sobs subsiding. “I had this big plan with flowers and wine and some rom-coms. She never really liked parties, so I thought it could just be the two of us, and I could talk to her about it. But at the last minute she said she wanted to go hiking with her sister. I told her to be safe and call me if she had signal, but the next time I saw her was on the news.”

Dean pulls a few pages of his notepad back and finds a name. “Her sister, Kelsey, said that it happened while Amanda was out looking for some water, but Kelsey wasn’t attacked. Was there anyone who would have ever wanted to hurt Amanda?”

Emily shakes her head. “Amanda was the kindest person I’ve ever met. She was a veterinarian, for crying out loud, all she wanted to do was take care of animals and volunteer at the soup kitchen and paint. Everyone loved her.”

Dean nods, scratching a few words on his notepad. He glances at Cas who’s already looking at him, but quickly looks away.

There isn’t much else she could tell them and Dean’s sure that she would rather be alone to cope with her loss than continue to be questioned by strangers, so he stands and Cas follows suit. He hands her a card. “We appreciate your time, Emily. If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to call.”

She takes the card with a nod and nothing else. Dean and Cas let themselves out and press the button for the elevator. It’s quiet between them as they wait for the car. Dean worries his lip, thinking about the times he lost Cas and regretted not telling him.

He should tell him. Before it’s really too late. Cas could die tomorrow—hell, he could die today on this case—and he’d never know.

Maybe Amanda knew and she went hiking because she was too afraid to deal with it. Maybe she thought avoiding Emily would make it feel less like breaking her heart. Maybe Cas knows, too. Maybe that’s why he never seems to stick around longer than a week or two at a time.

The elevator doors open for them and they step inside. Cas isn’t looking at Dean, more concerned with wringing his hands together like he’s nervous. Dean’s never seen him do that before; he looks so human doing it.

He should tell him. Cas is human now, so he’s vulnerable. The elevator cords could snap and they could fall 15 floors to their death. Someone could hit them on the drive back to the motel and crush them against the side of a building. Lightning could strike, a 10th story potted plant could fall, a dog could maul one of them and it’d all be over. He should tell him.

Dean Winchester has never been rumored to be a coward, not since he spent decades hunting monsters and staring Death in the face and fighting God himself. But this is different. This is scary—putting it all on the line to risk losing one of the most important people in his life. Still, he should tell him.

It’s just not the right time. Which is a problem, because it’s never the right time. He could have told him when he first started having these feelings, when they were new and confusing, but how could he explain something he didn’t even understand? He could have told him when he was planning on blowing up Amara and himself, but what would be the point in admitting his feelings when he was just about to die? He could have told him when Cas came back from the Empty, all shiny and new and lost, but there was too much else going on to worry about emotions. He could have told him in purgatory, both times, he could have told him in the hushed hours of the night when he knew Cas was watching over him, he could have told him, he should have told him, he should tell him, he—

“Dean?”

Cas’s voice startles him out of his internal argument. Cas is still distressing his hands and his gaze is zeroed in on the floor.

“Hm?” he replies.

Cas doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. He said Dean’s name so quietly he’s starting to wonder if he even said it at all.

“I . . .” Dean hears Cas audibly swallow and take a deep breath. “I love you.”

Dean’s brain short circuits. Cas didn’t really just say he loved him, did he?

“Hmm,” he hums in response. What does one even say to that? Yeah, I love you too and I have for years but I was too much of a pussy to say anything. And maybe also, Did you just have the same internal monologue as me and beat me to the punch? Perhaps with a side of, Was I even going to take that punch or just continue to repress my feelings for another ten years?

None of those things come out. Instead, he does what he does best and Dean Winchesters his way through it. He wraps an arm around Cas’s neck like it’s no big deal and pulls him in close enough to press a long kiss to his cheekbone. Cas is stiff for a moment, then relaxes and worms an arm around Dean’s waist.

“I love you, too,” Dean says against Cas’s skin.

Cas turns to face him and Dean turns at the same time and their mouths find each other without preamble.

When the elevator opens to the lobby, they walk out to the car like that, wrapped around each other, and then they hold hands in Baby, and then they meet up with Sam at the motel with smiles and breakfast sandwiches. Sam doesn’t say anything, but Dean thinks he knows. And that’s enough for now.

tags under the cut!

#fanfic #my writing

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gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights · 4 years

Link

Rating: G

Summary: When Marinette has to cook for her family reunion, Adrien offers to help. Only one problem: he has no idea how to cook. With Plagg's help, Adrien proposes a Disney-inspired solution that will either keep him from making a fool of himself, or backfire terribly. (Spoiler alert: it backfires terribly.) A university-aged Adrinette reveal fic.

Word Count: 6437

XXX

“Plagg, what am I going to do? I don’t know how to cook!” Adrien pulled at his hair as he paced circles around his apartment.

Plagg, meanwhile, lazily hovered with his paws crossed behind his head. “Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you tried to swoop in like some kind of superhero.”

“I am a superhero.” Not that it mattered, because his superpower was destruction. Maybe his Lady would’ve been able to help Marinette cook dinner for her family reunion, but Adrien was … well. Even though the cat miraculous didn’t actually make him more disaster prone, he had enough bad luck in the kitchen on his own. He’d survived on spaghetti and takeout since moving into his own apartment this semester.

“Why don’t you just tell her you can’t do it? Something came up. You fell headfirst into a pool of cream cheese. You got zapped by an akuma and all your hair fell out.”

“That hasn’t happened in at least a month. Besides, I can’t flake out on Marinette. She needs me.” He stood up straighter.

“What she needs is someone who won’t turn soup into an explosive. What about your friend Alya? Isn’t her mom some kind of chef?”

“She’s out of town for Christmas. Nino too, or I’d ask him to help me.” Did he know anyone else who could teach him how to cook in one night? Kagami was back in Japan, Chloe wouldn’t touch an oven to save her life, Luka was on tour with XY… Ladybug was pretty much his only friend still in town. She would probably be willing to teach him, but on their last patrol she’d mentioned she’d be busy the next few days with her own plans.

“You need to get some more friends, kid.”

“It’s kind of late for that,” Adrien murmured. Too many people in his classes were more interested in the Gabriel name than in him. Besides, he might not have made a lot of new friends, but he’d gotten much closer to Marinette and his old friends now that he had more control over his schedule.

“Well, as your very first and best friend—”

“Chloe was technically my first friend.”

Plagg glared. “As your first and best friend, I will help you for the low low price of two wheels of Camembert.”

Adrien stopped pacing. He only realized he’d ended up in the bathroom when he caught a glimpse of his reflection.

“Wait. You know how to cook?”

Plagg scoffed. “I’ve been alive since the dawn of time. I’ve picked up a thing or two.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “You also thought that my blender was a jet tub for kwamis.”

“Okay, so you humans have invented some fancy new gadgets since I was last out, big deal. I still know more about cooking than you.”

Unfortunately, he was probably right.

“Alright. Deal.” Adrien held out a finger, and he and Plagg shook on it.

“Alright, loverboy, let’s get cooking.”

XXX

“No, not like that! What are you trying to do, knock someone out with that thing?”

“At least I wouldn’t do it with the smell!” Adrien instinctively waved the frying pan in front of his nose, and the burned remnants of roux glopped out onto the tile.

“Coward. It’ll taste good once you put it all together.”

Adrien wasn’t convinced. But then again, he hadn’t followed Plagg’s instructions exactly. Plagg never gave him quite enough time to pour the ingredients in the pan or measure the spices with the little spoons.

“I wish you’d be able to help me while I’m there.” Adrien sighed. “I’m going to forget all of this as soon as I leave.”

“You can’t be good at everything, I guess.” Plagg shrugged. “You can still always call your girlfriend and say you gave up.”

“She’s a good friend. We’ve been over this.” He’d promised not to call Marinette ‘just a friend’ on the grounds that she deserved better than that. But she still wasn’t his girlfriend. Which was fine, so why did his stomach sink slightly? Probably just nervousness about the task ahead of him.

“And I’m not giving up. What if you just … hid in my hair and whispered advice?”

Plagg tapped his chin. “Maybe if you wear a hat …” A grin suddenly split his tiny face. “Hey, what if you wore that ug—uh, that beret Ladybug gave you? You know, from your fan club?”

“Great idea!” Adrien bolted out of the bathroom and towards his closet. He wore the hat every once in a while—its ridiculous energy was too good to leave hidden like it had been in lycée. He made a special point of wearing it to every meeting with his dad, though he did feel a little bit nervous of wearing it around Marinette. She was in their university’s design program; she’d probably think it was tacky.

Oh well. He’d probably been tackier around her before.

“You sure you’ll fit in here?” Adrien squinted at the underside of the beret before pulling it over his hair.

“Looks cozy enough to me.” Plagg slipped under, and Adrien felt him shuffle around. Unfortunately, his voice was too muffled for Adrien to make out after that.

“Plagg?”

“Blegh.” The kwami scrambled back out and scraped his tongue with his paws. “Your hair tastes like shampoo. I can’t talk without getting a mouthful of it.”

“Guess that isn’t going to work …” He pursed his lips as he adjusted the beret. “It’s too bad real life isn’t like Ratatouille. You could just tug on my hair and do all the cooking for me.”

Unless …?

“Oh no, don’t give me that look.” Plagg crossed his arms. “That’s just a movie. Though it would be nice to show you what it feels like to get dragged around for a change …”

“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?” Adrien didn’t really think it would work either, but Plagg was magic.

“Fine. But I’m upping my price to three wheels.”

Plagg slipped back under the beret, and Adrien felt a tugging sensation on his scalp. But nothing seemed to happen.

“Guess that was a pretty dumb idea,” he admitted sheepishly.

Then green light crackled from his ring.

His arms flung into the air.

“Ack! Plagg, did you do that?”

Adrien heard a muffled cackle from under the hat. Then his legs started walking towards the refrigerator.

“Okay, so this is … working? This is working!”

Plagg missed a few times before guiding his hand to pull open the fridge. Of course, his next step was to reach for a wedge of Camembert and hold it up to his head.

“The sweet taste of victory,” Plagg said while popping out to swallow the wedge whole.

“More like the rotten taste of old cheese.”

But Adrien still grinned. However Plagg had pulled off his puppeteer trick, Adrien wasn’t going to make a fool of himself tomorrow.

XXX

“Adrien!” Marinette threw her arms around him as soon as she opened the door. “Thank goodness you’re here. My parents just called and they got a last-minute order and—eep!” She sprung back, her eyes wide as she stared at his beret.

“Come on, it’s not that bad.” He rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to feel embarrassed. Marinette wouldn’t judge him based on what he wore. “It was an old gift. I like that it drives my father crazy.”

Plus, Ladybug had hand-delivered it, but she probably didn’t care about that.

“W-well then, it’s perfect.” She grinned too wide. “I just don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a hat before.”

“You’ve definitely—”

“Anyway, no time for that! There’s only five hours before Uncle Wang gets here. Nonna is already at my parent’s, and my other grandma and grandpa are coming for the first time since Mom moved here. Not to mention fourteen of my cousins I’ve never met and their parents!” Marinette rushed towards the small kitchen, which was already full of steaming pots and used pans. She threw on her pink oven mitts and pulled a tray of golden-brown pastries out of the oven.

Adrien swallowed. Marinette’s kitchen might look like a war zone, but she clearly knew what she was doing. What if he just got in the way?

“How did you end up in charge of the food?” he asked while throwing on a mint-green apron from inside the pantry door. Her great-uncle was a world-class chef, and her parents owned a bakery. Her grandpa Rolland had even taught mice how to bake.

“I’m not in charge. I just need to help a little since Uncle Wang is running late, and the reunion starts tonight, and Grandpa won’t bake anything in bulk because ‘that’s not how it’s done’’—she used a gruff imitation of his voice—“and my parents have so much bakery work to do. I’m just trying to do what I can.”

She sighed as she stirred a pot of wonton soup. “Unfortunately, I can’t do a lot.”

“What are you talking about? It looks like you could feed an army with all this.”

He carefully dodged Marinette as she scrambled in a drawer for a fork. She tested the rice noodles boiling behind the soup, then grimaced and slumped against the counter, fork nearly slipping from her fingers. Her hair was falling out of her bun, and flour smudged her pink apron, contrasting with the splatters of dark sauce.

“I hope so. There’s just … so much to live up to, you know? Everyone on both sides of my family cooks. And now I have to merge styles from two different cultures in a way that will please everyone …”

Her gaze swept across the counter, where dumplings and quiches, brothy soups and thin crêpes—even ratatouille, ironically—lay in various stages of completion. The savory and sweet fragrances somehow melded together in harmony.

“I know I can’t understand how hard that must be. About trying to bridge two different sides of your family, I mean. But you’re amazing, Marinette.” He stepped closer to her and brushed a streak of flour off of her cheek. “You’ve already worked so hard on all this; I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t love it. May I?”

He gestured to a spoon sitting in one of the soups, and she nodded. He raised it to his lips and sipped the tangy broth. A bit of crunchy bamboo shoot added texture to the savory liquid. He didn’t want to eat too much—it was for her family, not him—but if it weren’t for that, he could’ve downed the whole bowl. He could practically taste the love and care she’d put into it.

“See? Amazing.” He grinned. “Just like the rest of the food we’re going to make.”

At least, the food she made would be amazing. He just hoped that what he made with Plagg’s help would be edible. And not offend her family.

Her lips parted before curving into a smile. “Right. Thank you, Adrien.”

She paused, staring for a moment, until one of the shallow pots started bubbling over.

“Ack! The filling!”

She rushed to switch off the burner and remove the lid before sighing loudly. “I think it’s still alright. Now I just need to fold this into the dough …”

“Can I help with that?” he asked, feeling like a rock in the middle of a river as Marinette flowed between the cooking stations around him.

“Huh? Oh—um, why don’t you work on filling the crêpes instead? This baozi is a Chinese dish, and it’s my first time making it by myself. Not that I don’t appreciate the offer! You were so sweet to come at all, and—”

“Marinette.” He squeezed her shoulder gently, wishing he could relieve some ot the tension there. “I’ll do the crêpes.”

She let out a breath. “Thanks. I was going to do a pear-hazelnut filling, if you’re okay with that? The pears are in the bottom right drawer of the fridge, and the hazelnuts are on the middle shelf in the panty. All the spices are up there.” She pointed to the cabinet above the sink.

“Sounds perfect,” he said with the fake confidence he usually saved for his modeling jobs.

Before he could ask for a recipe, she went back to work, leaving him to his own devices in front of a stack of unfilled crêpes. A mixture of the rich smells and his own nerves started to turn his stomach.

“Are you ready, Plagg?” he whispered, adjusting his beret.

In response, his scalp twinged, and then his hand rose and formed a thumbs-up.

“Well, here we go.” He cracked his knuckles.

He rinsed out a pan that it looked like Marinette had previously used for some kind of stir fry. That wouldn’t be a problem, would it? It looked like every other pan in the apartment was in use already.

Marinette didn’t stop to correct him. Then again, she seemed to be in ten places at once, adding spices and stirring and adjusting dials and rummaging through cupboards, all in between filling her baozi. Watching her work was so mesmerizing it was almost too easy to ignore his own job.

Until Plagg started tugging his hair again, anyway.

This is going to be weird, he thought while Plagg directed his hands to chop the pears. He was pretty sure he could’ve done that himself—he didn’t want his kwami chopping off one of his fingers. But resisting at this point would just increase his chances of accidentally getting stabbed.

Besides, Plagg was fast. He diced the five pears in the time it probably would’ve taken Adrien to cut up one. Granted, he also left a juicy mess on the counter, but it sounded like they were on too much of a deadline to worry about that.

Plagg tossed them into the pan, cores and all. Adrien frowned at that.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he muttered.

“What?” Marinette asked from where she was stretching out dough.

“Um, nothing! I just, uh, talk to myself while I cook.”

“Oh, me too. I was just trying not to do it in front of you. You know, in case I sounded crazy.” She laughed, seeming to release a little bit of tension. “I think I picked it up from my mom. She always says the steps out loud as she does them so she doesn’t forget which one she’s on.”

He smiled at the image of her doing this with Mrs. Cheng. “Did you cook with your mom a lot?”

“I don’t think I’d say a lot. I was pretty busy in lycée, and I didn’t appreciate her culture as much as I do now. I wish I would’ve learned more.”

“It looks like you learned a lot if you can put all this together.”

She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Thanks. That means a lot.”

He retrieved the hazelnuts and tossed them into the pan. She still had her back to him, the baozi taking up most of her attention. Should he ask her to check his work so far? Plagg didn’t hesitate to nab some spices from the high cabinet and start sprinkling them into the pan.

“Wait—not that one!” he hissed, trying to drop the shaker that read chili powder before Plagg could add it.

“Adrien? Is something wrong?”

He spun, quickly shoving the container behind his back. “No! Everything’s just peachy—er, pear-y.”

She giggled at his joke, even though it had to be one of his lamest puns yet.

“Okay, but you can let me know if you need help. Sorry I just kind of threw you into this.” Her arm gently brushed his as she dialed back the heat on the noodles. “Um—is there a reason you’re holding chili powder?”

“I was just moving it so I could reach the, uh…”

Plagg helpfully directed his arm towards a different spice.

“... garlic salt?”

Marinette blinked, and he hastily shoved the garlic salt back, selecting cinnamon instead. He should’ve known that trusting the kwami who liked eating rotten cheese would be a mistake.

“You’re so funny, Adrien.” She laughed again. “But, um, you might want to double check your pears. I think some of those still have the cores in them.”

His face flushed. Thanks a lot, Plagg.

He picked out the cores with a pair of tongs, hoping that his kwami wouldn’t try to take over again. Adrien might be bad at cooking, but at least he wasn’t going to try and poison Marinette’s family.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have much idea of what to do next. He’d turned the burner on high, and the pears were starting to sizzle. How did nuts cook? That didn’t make a lot of sense to him. He probably needed something liquidy to go with them, right?

Aaaand the pears already smelled like they were burning. He quickly flipped back the knob while he searched for something to turn into a sauce. Milk? That would make it nice and creamy, right?

He grabbed the half-gallon from the fridge and splashed a bit into the pan. Drops splattered the counter, and he winced.

That was when Plagg again decided to take over. Adrien grit his teeth as he selected the block of muenster from the cheese drawer. That definitely didn’t belong in the crêpe filling, but Adrien couldn’t get him to stop without making a scene in front of Marinette. Who would then wonder why he was yelling at himself, and either think he was insane or find out his secret identity. Both of which would be unacceptable.

He growled, hoping Plagg would get the message. If he did, he didn’t show it. At least Marinette didn’t hear over her own soft humming.

The sliced cheese went into the pan, plopping wetly in the milk. Maybe the finished product would surprise him, and cheese and pears would create a tasty sweet-savory combo, and Marinette would be super impressed by his originality, and she’d invite him over to cook with him again, and they’d make a cute romantic dinner together …

He banished that daydream before he could think too much of it.

By that point Plagg was using his arm to whisk the milk and melting cheese together. The pears and hazelnuts had settled to the bottom of the pan. He frowned as the whisk failed to unstick them.

“This isn’t working,” he said under his breath. “We might need to start over.”

He swore he could hear Plagg’s irritated sigh. But the kwami jerked the pan up, taking it towards the sink.

“Hey, what are you—Plagg!” he shouted before he could stop himself.

Plagg dropped the pan in the sink, spraying hot milk-cheese-pear slime all over the backsplash. And all over Adrien’s apron.

And, most importantly, all over his face.

“Adrien!” Marinette dropped her unfinished dumpling back on the counter. Filling spilled out as she rushed to his side. “Are you okay? What happened?”

He hurriedly tried to splash cold water on his face, but spilled it more down his shirt than anything. She offered him a damp hand towel, which was much more helpful.

“I’m so sorry.” His face still burned, but not from the hot food.

“It’s okay! Accidents happen—trust me, I would know.” She smiled before her eyes widened. “Oh no, your beret!”

“What?” He slapped his hands to his head, prompting a tiny yelp from Plagg. So he was still there. Under his hat. Which was still on his head. Phew.

“It’s got milk on it.” Marinette reached up like she intended to take it off.

“No!” he shouted, and she stepped back, startled.

“S-sorry! I just thought I’d help you clean it off, since it seems so, um, important to you.”

“I like it with the milk on it. It adds, uh, character?”

He heard Plagg snicker from beneath the beret.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. “If you need to take a break, or, um, get a new shirt … n-not that I want you to take off your shirt! Uh—forget I said that.”

She shook her head, and more strands fell out of her bun.

He frowned down at his shirt. Unfortunately, the splatter had made it under his apron, and his shirt was pretty gross. He even felt a slimy pear sliding down under his collar.

“I’m okay,” he said. “Finishing all the food for your reunion is more important.”

“No, don’t worry. I can handle it. Just having you here to keep me from freaking out has helped more than you know.”

She took the towel back from him with a smile. Frankly, he was still surprised she wasn’t angry with him. He’d come to help, and all he’d done so far was waste her time.

“I’m really not bothering you?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck. Bad idea. His hands were still a bit wet and sticky.

“You could never bother me, Adrien.” Her cheeks pinked before she turned back to fiddle with the soup.

“Really? I thought …” He bit his lip, remembering how many times he’d startled Marinette before. How many times he’d seemed to make her uncomfortable, or awkward, or … he wasn’t really sure what. There had always been something keeping them apart, no matter how close they became.

Maybe it’s just your little crush, Plagg would’ve teased. Thankfully, he wasn’t going to talk while trapped under the beret.

“Thought what?” she asked once she’d added some seasonings to the soup.

“I thought I’d be your last pick for cooking help,” he said, which wasn’t quite a lie. “I didn’t want to tell you, but I … well, I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

Best to just admit it now, rather than after he’d ruined her family reunion.

Marinette blinked before covering her mouth. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve known you probably never cooked at your house. And here I am just asking you to throw together a crêpe filling!”

“It’s okay! I’m the one who’s sorry. I should’ve told you, I just … I wanted to impress you.”

Maybe he shouldn’t have admitted that much. He was sure he heard Plagg laughing from under his hat.

“You … wanted to impress … me?” She pointed to herself, as if there was anyone else in the kitchen he might have been talking about.

“Is that really so surprising?”

“Uh—yeah, actually.” Marinette stared at him like he’d grown a second head. Plagg hadn’t peeked out, had he? “I might be able to cook, but you’re good at everything. Fencing, basketball, Mandarin—which took me ages to get halfway decent at—not to mention you’re drop-dead gorgeous—”

His heart stopped. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head.

“I mean—you’re a model; of course you’re gorgeous! It’s literally your job. I bet people call you gorgeous all the time.”

“Not when I’m covered in slimy food, though.” He grinned. She thought he was drop-dead gorgeous! Maybe he hadn’t made too much of a mess after all.

“Well—you would be a lot more gorgeous if you took off that stupid beret!” She pointed at his head.

“W-what?” He pulled it down over his ears. “This is my emotional support beret. I can’t take it off or I’ll cry.”

“Why did you have to pick that one, though? It’s so—I don’t know!” She gestured vaguely. “It looks like a fourteen-year-old made it!”

He pouted at her. “Hey, be nice. It was probably fashionable in Brazil at the time.”

It did look pretty silly, but that was its appeal. Fashion-savvy Marinette probably wouldn’t understand that.

“R-right. In Brazil.” She shook her head. “Why do you like it though?”

He blushed. Aside from spitting in the face of the Gabriel brand, it also reminded him of the day Ladybug had appeared in his room. That serendipitous event had never happened before or since.

“How embarrassing does it sound if I say my old crush delivered it to me?”

“Your—your crush?” She blinked. “But then—you had a crush on Ladybug?”

The soup started bubbling again, but she made no move to quiet it.

“Of course I have a crush on Ladybug. I’m pretty sure all of Paris has a crush on—wait, how did you know Ladybug was the one to deliver it?”

Marinette’s face went pale. “I—um, well, I … I think the soup is burning!”

She rushed to stir it again, but Adrien caught her hand.

“Wait, Marinette, please.” His heart beat faster. He’d never told anyone about Ladybug’s visit. She hadn’t been surprised when he mentioned Brazil, either.

But what could he say? Come out and ask her if she was Ladybug? That would be too good to be true, right? Marinette couldn’t be Ladybug; he’d seen them together once. But he’d pulled crazy stunts to protect his identity too.

She bit her lip, but didn’t pull her hand from his.

“I can’t answer that question, Adrien.”

It wasn’t a confirmation. But it wasn’t a denial either.

It had been five years. Five years, and he still didn’t know who his partner was. If she was here, in front of him, after all this time …

… he’d still respect her choice not to tell him. As much as it hurt, he’d do it.

“Alright.” He sighed. “I get it.”

An uncomfortable silence pushed between them, punctured only by the bubbling soup and beeping oven. The first batch of Marinette’s baozi was done; she removed them without speaking.

Why couldn’t they go back to five minutes ago, when she’d called him gorgeous? He was already thrilled to hear Marinette say that. But if she was his Lady too? He’d melt just like that cheese in the pan.

It was going to drive him crazy if he thought about it too long. He turned on the faucet, hoping that the loud water would drown out his thoughts as he did the dishes. At least that was one task he could accomplish without ruining any more of Marinette’s food.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, barely audible over the running tap.

“What for?” He was the one pushing the boundaries between them. If she was even Ladybug at all. Maybe he’d managed to misinterpret everything, but he couldn’t see how.

“For not being honest with you. I wish I could, I swear.” Her hands squeezed her dough, and it oozed out between her fingers.

“I’m sure you have your reasons,” he said with resignation. Ladybug was the Guardian. She couldn’t risk revealing her identity. Even if it felt unfair, he should be used to it by now.

But before, you didn’t think Ladybug was one of your best friends.

Even more than that, if he was honest with himself. He’d wanted to be closer to Marinette for a long time now. What if he was just deluding himself with wishful thinking?

“I wish I didn’t, sometimes,” she murmured.

He switched off the faucet and turned to face her. Maybe some things needed to stay secret, but not everything.

“Marinette?” He swallowed.

She looked up from where she’d been absently rolling the dough again. So much for not wasting her time.

“Y-yeah?”

He didn’t expect to confess to her while standing in her kitchen, with Plagg hiding under his old beret, with his clothes covered in the ruined crêpe filling. But it was important, and if he could finally admit it to himself, the least he could do was admit it to her.

“I don’t just have a crush on Ladybug.”

“You—you don’t?”

Was it just his imagination, or did she deflate a little?

“She’s still very important to me. I know she always will be. But I’ve come to realize how important you are to me, too.” He watched her face as he spoke, but her wide eyes were impossible to read. Hopefully he wasn’t ruining everything with what he was about to say.

“I like you, Marinette. As more than a friend. And I would never want to make you uncomfortable. All I’ve ever wanted is to be closer to you.”

For a moment, her face didn’t change. She just stood there, staring blankly, like someone had pressed a pause button. He would’ve thought Bunnyx had stopped time to reset his screw-up if it weren’t for the soup continuing to boil over.

“Marinette?” he prodded, his stomach beginning to bubble as nervously as that soup.

She jumped. “Yes, I—comfort you me make—yike lou—”

A stream of incoherent noises followed that. Oh no, he’d broken her! Why couldn’t Plagg have taken over and stopped him from talking?

“—ugh! I thought I dopped stewing this years ago!” She dropped her burning face into her hands.

Adrien reached out to touch her shoulder and then thought better of it. His arm fell limply to his side.

“I’m so sorry. You can just forget I said anything. I’ll—I’ll let you finish up the food and get out of your way—”

“No!” She waved her hands, startling him so bad he stepped back—and slipped in a puddle of spilled dishwater.

“Adrien!” She caught the front of his apron as he fell, but that just meant she was pulled down on top of him.

He yelped as his head cracked against the linoleum. At least she landed on his chest, his arms cradling her.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry—AAAAAH!”

“What, what!?” He sat up as she scrambled off of him.

That was when he caught sight of the striped beret lying in the puddle next to him.

Oh no.

Plagg laughed nervously from where he was tangled in Adrien’s hair. “Hey, Pigtails.”

“Chat?” Marinette smacked her hands to her cheeks. “You’re—you’re Chat Noir?”

“Surprise!” Plagg wasn’t in Adrien’s line of sight, but he could hear the grin in his kwami’s voice.

“Where’s Bunnyx when you need her?” Adrien groaned. Not only was his confession a total bust, but he also ended up giving away his most important secret.

And he still didn’t know for sure that she was Ladybug.

“You’re Chat Noir.” Marinette plopped down into the puddle beside him. “Adrien is Chat Noir.”

“Yeah, yeah, we got that,” Plagg said. “Are you gonna put the poor kid out of his misery or not?”

“Huh?” She blinked.

“He’s in love with you. Hopelessly, stupidly in love with you. He loves you almost as much as I love cheese.”

That was a pretty big point in favor of Marinette being Ladybug. He guessed he should count himself lucky, but that also meant he’d just slipped and fallen in dirty dishwater in front of not only Marinette, but Ladybug.

He closed his eyes. “Plagg, please let me die in peace.”

“... Adrien?”

He felt her breath fan over his face, and his eyes back snapped open.

Her gray-blue eyes were hovering right above him. Well, he had said he wanted to be closer to her.

“Y-yeah?”

“Please don’t die,” she said softly. Her hand came up to cradle the side of his face—or maybe she was just trying to make sure he hadn’t bruised himself. “I l-love you too.”

Every one of his brain cells fizzled out. She. Loved him?

“I think I am dead.” He smiled, reaching his arms around her. “I’m pretty sure I just went to heaven.”

Her face flushed. “You’re always going to be that cheesy, aren’t you?”

“Are you really surprised, Princess?”

“No.” She leaned in, brushing her nose against his. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Ew, gross.” Plagg gagged. “This isn’t the kind of cheese I signed up for.”

“You’re the one who said she should put me out of my misery.”

“Yeah, well I think you both need to put this food out of its misery. The soup’s burning.”

Marinette sprung up, eyes wide. “Oh no! We still have to get everything ready! And the crêpe filling isn’t done and I haven’t finished the baozi—”

“It’s okay! We can still get it all done … somehow.” Adrien winced as he stood up. Now they were both covered in a mix of dishwater and crêpe filling. “Just keep Plagg away from it all. He’s the reason I ruined the pears. Oh, and he’s the reason I was wearing that beret, too.”

She went back to work as if nothing had changed between them. It was honestly kind of amazing how quickly she had the noodles and soup under control, like she hadn’t just been freaking out moments before.

“He’s got as awful taste in fashion as he does in food?” she asked.

“No—well, probably, but that’s not important. The beret was to hide him so he could help me cook. Like in Ratatouille.”

She blinked. “That works?”

“It would work better if my kwami knew how to cook, but yeah.”

“Hmm …” She tapped her lips—lips he would hopefully be able to kiss once all this was taken care of, he thought with a giddy grin—before snapping her fingers. “That’s it! I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before!”

“What’s it? Wait—Marinette, where are you going?”

“You’ll see!” She winked before disappearing behind her bedroom door.

He gave the soup a careful stir while waiting for her to come back.

“You’re welcome.” Plagg crossed his arms and smirked irritatingly.

“For what?” Adrien scowled. “All you did was give away my identity and embarrass me in front of the love of my life!”

“Love of your life?” Marinette appeared behind him.

He nearly knocked over the pot of soup. It was what he deserved for startling her so much back in lycée, he guessed.

Plagg snickered. “Bold words coming from the guy who called her a good friend earlier.”

“She is a good friend! And the love of my life! She’s Ladybug, Plagg!”

He pointed to the giant red-and-black egg in Marinette’s arms. The Miracle Box. She was Ladybug!

“You didn’t know that when you said it five seconds ago,” Plagg pointed out.

“Yeah, well—I guessed it,” he huffed.

It had been the only answer that made sense. And it was true. Hopefully he could blame the tears pricking his eyes on the onion in the soup. If not, though, crying over his amazing partner (who loved him!) was probably still the least embarrassing thing he’d done today.

Tikki poked her head out of a cookie jar. By now he’d been startled so many times that her presence hardly registered.

“Don’t worry, Adrien. Marinette has said way more embarrassing stuff than that.”

“Which we won’t repeat in front of him,” Marinette said dangerously.

His head was still spinning from all the revelations. Of course, he wasn’t too surprised—who else but Marinette was amazing enough to be Ladybug?—but it was still a lot to take in at once.

“While I definitely want to hear about that later, what’s the Miracle Box out for? Is there a kwami of cooking? Or do you think Sass could give us a Second Chance on all this mess?” he asked, trying to bring his focus back to the problem at hand.

“What you said about Plagg gave me an idea.” She punched in a code on the spots, and the egg cracked open to reveal the miraculouses. “He might not know how to cook, but I’m sure some of the other kwamis do. And if not, I’m sure they can follow directions.”

“Great idea, Marinette!” Tikki clapped. “Wayzz and Pollen are pretty good at cooking, from what I remember. Orikko is too, but you shouldn’t cook chicken in front of him.”

“Makes sense.” Adrien nodded before turning to Marinette. “You think they’ll be enough to make up for how badly I messed up?”

“Of course they will. We’re Ladybug and Chat Noir; there’s no mess we can’t fix.” She smiled as she equipped the bracelet and hair comb, then passed the Miracle Box to him. “Have Tikki help you pick out a few more kwamis. Together we’ll get this done in time. I know it.”

Relief washed over him, and he smiled back.

“As you wish, My Lady.”

XXX

“You’re sure I won’t be intruding?” Adrien asked as they pulled up to her parents’ bakery.

“Of course not. There’s no way my family would leave out my boyfriend.” She shifted her tupperware to her other arm and reached up to adjust his (newly cleaned) beret. “Even if he has terrible fashion sense.”

“It’s a Marinette original! There’s nothing more fashionable than that!”

“An original from when I was fourteen!” she pouted.

“It’s too late, Bugaboo. I’m never taking it off.” He kissed her forehead.

“I’ll make you a new one. Anything would be better than mixing lacy hearts and stripes.”

“I guess that’s fair. But I’ll still treasure this one forever.”

She rolled her eyes affectionately as she pushed open the bakery door.

Not long after, Adrien, Marinette, and her family were settled around the dining room table, a feast of French and Chinese cuisine in front of them. The two sides of her family mingled, mixing as seamlessly as the dishes. Rolland was deep in conversation with Wang about traditional cooking techniques in France versus China. Gina (who’d insisted he just call ‘Grandma’) was regaling two of Marinette’s cousins with tales from her travels. More of her younger cousins ran around the table, barefoot soles slapping against the hardwood floor, their hands occasionally reaching up to snag a dumpling or croissant. It was a tight fit, but Adrien didn’t mind. He was thrilled to be included at all.

While they ate dinner, he kept catching her looking at the hat. But every time she did, he’d make eye contact with her, and then she’d blush and smile bright enough that it was worth every glare.

“So, what are you up to these days, son?” Tom asked over his bowl of wonton soup.

Son. Already, Marinette’s parents felt more like family than his own. He would love to be part of her family for as long as she would let him.

Hopefully forever.

“Oh, not much.” He put an arm around Marinette. “Just learning how to cook from your amazing daughter.”

He winked, and she blushed again. Red was her color in and out of the suit, it seemed.

“He needs all the help he can get. You should’ve seen what he almost put in the crêpes today.”

Tom laughed. “Well, it looks like it all turned out perfect. Thanks for your help, both of you.”

Under the table, Adrien and Marinette shared a fistbump. This wasn’t the first adventure they tackled together, and it wouldn’t be the last.

#miraculous ladybug #fic tag #adrinette #adrienette #reveal #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #tali writes #ml

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sou-ver-2-0 · 4 years

Note

What if,,,, Sara Adopted Gin? Also I’m looking forward to staying here!

I’m sorry for making you wait so long! I wasn’t expecting a drabble prompt right away, and this prompt threw me off guard. I didn’t know how to tackle this idea literally, since it’s pretty important to me that Sara is a kid who lives with her parents. I know you can change anything in an AU, but making Sara so independent wouldn’t feel like Sara to me… So, I decided to tackle the idea figuratively instead. I still tried to make this a cute story for Sara and Gin, so I hope you will enjoy!

Becoming Mom

Gin spat out his soup on the table. “This is too spicy, meow!”

The crying doll Tia Safalin wrung her hands in despair and stared mournfully at the ceiling. “Does no one appreciate my cooking?”

Gin barked at her loudly in response. Sitting next to him, Sara covered her mouth with a napkin to hide her smile.

“No one at all?” Safalin sobbed.

“I hate peppers, woof! Stupid Melon Soda Lady. I thought you knew everything about us!”

“B-but peppers are necessary for the flavor! Please, please try again!”

The boy howled like a wolf and tossed his spoon at her. Safalin squeaked and blocked her face with her large hat. When she peeked out again, she was pouting.

“Little boy, if you won’t eat your meal, you’ll receive a penalty—”

Sara had heard enough. She stood straight up and looked at the pathetic Floor Master with steel in her eyes. “He said he doesn’t like peppers!” she said fiercely.

Safalin cowed. “What? This doesn’t concern you…”

“Make the soup again without peppers,” Sara insisted. Gin howled again, and Sara put her hands on the child’s shoulders, quieting him.

Safalin blinked rapidly as though she would burst into tears. Sara held her breath and stood her ground. She tried to pretend that this was just another kendo match in middle school, and the doll in front of her was just an annoying opponent. Just a bully classmate. Sara had dealt with far more fearsome opponents than this.

The doll broke eye contact first. “Very well! I’ll just make another pot of soup with no peppers then! Since trying new food is apparently a crime!” She waved her arms melodramatically and swept out of the room. Behind the door, they heard the sound of loud weeping.

Sara’s knees buckled and she sat back down. She shut her eyes and realized that she was shaking. What was I thinking?! I could have gotten myself killed over something stupid…

“GO SARA!! WOOO!!”

Sara opened her eyes and saw the room was suddenly energized. Nao was cheering Sara’s name and clapping. Beside her, Reko whistled. Across the room, Alice joined in the applause with some choice words to describe how even prison meals were better than Safalin’s garbage. Q-Taro thumped his silverware on the table and cheered louder than anyone, his voice booming.

Sitting across from her, Keiji gave the girl a thumbs-up and grinned. “That’s our Sara,” he said.

“I—come on, you guys—”

Sara was interrupted by Gin throwing his arms around her waist and hugging her tight. “You were so cool, Big Sis Sara!

Sara had to smile. Gin could melt her heart like nobody else could.

She looked across the room once more at everyone’s smiling faces. On the opposite end of the room, she saw Kanna clapping timidly. And beside the girl was Sou, whose face was as red as their soup. He rolled his eyes and laid his hand over Kanna’s, silencing her. Sara locked eyes with him and frowned. The man visibly gulped and he broke eye contact first, just like the cowardly doll had done. He buried his face in his empty bowl as though he were still eating it.

Sara grinned wider and leaned her head on top of Gin’s. Maybe that stunt was worth it after all.

…

After dinner, Sara walked with Gin back to his room. She was still worried about him, and she could tell that the kid was delighted to have her company.

“Hey Big Sis Sara?”

“Mm-hm?”

“Um…Was I wrong to spit out my food, meow?”

Sara blinked in surprise at Gin’s unusual self-consciousness. The boy normally did and said whatever he pleased. “Why are you asking me now?”

Gin kicked the floor in embarrassment. “The last time I spat out my food, Mom said I was a bad boy, woof…”

“That’s different,” Sara retorted confidently. “Your mom is your mom. She loves you. Of course you should respect her. But Tia Safalin isn’t your mom! She’s our kidnapper. So she doesn’t deserve anything from us! You behaved exactly like you should!”

Gin’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yes!”

Gin skipped ahead of her down the hall. “Okay! You’re my mom now, meow!”

“What?!” Sara caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder again. “N-now hold on a minute! I’m still getting used to being a big sister!”

“Oh…Woof…” Gin smiled bashfully. “I’m sorry, Big Sis Sara…”

“It’s fine.”

They were standing outside the door to Gin’s room. Gin wasn’t moving.

“You should get some sleep, Gin,” Sara said as gently as she could.

“Um…” Gin’s eyes watered. “Big Sis Sara, would you stay with me? Just for a little bit, meow. I’m a big boy. I don’t need…” He trailed off.

Sara softened. “Of course I will. But you have to let us in, first!”

Gin wiped his eyes and grinned at her. He quickly opened his door and pushed Sara inside.

Shortly afterwards, Sara found herself sitting on the edge of Gin’s bed and holding the boy’s hand. Gin was lying down under his blanket and holding Mew-Chan with his other arm. He wanted to chat for a while about all the attractions he had participated in today, and about all the people he had talked to, and which of their companions he liked, and which ones he didn’t, and what he would be doing if he were back in school now…

Gin finally yawned. He seemed to be drifting off. “Sweet dreams, Mom,” he said.

Sara squeezed Gin’s hand. She didn’t say anything for a minute. “Sweet dreams, Gin,” she replied.

She wasn’t sure if he had heard her. His eyes were closed. Sara let go of Gin’s hand and he didn’t object, so he must have been asleep. She gently stroked his hair, like she imagined his mother would want to do if she were here.

After sitting there a while longer—Sara couldn’t tell how long—she finally stood up and headed back to her own room. Her eyes were burning so she walked quickly, not wanting anyone to see her cry.

I miss you, Mom. I hope you’re okay. I hope Dad found you and took you to the hospital. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. I hope you’re both okay. I miss you Mom. It’s hard to be you, Mom. I wish you were here.

#yttd #your turn to die #kimi ga shine #sara chidouin #gin ibushi #your turn to die spoilers #sara and gin #my fanfiction #fanfiction #mine #I apologize if this isn't exactly what you wanted but I hope you still enjoy it!#It was honestly really fun for me to write when I finally made time for it :) I love writing fanfiction #And this turned out much better than I thought it would!!

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blondsauduun-reads · 3 years

Text

Really Something

Pairing: Julie x Luke

Word count: 2k

Warnings: Flu? I think some light swearing?

Plot: Request from @riverdalefan2019 - The guys all went to college and Luke meets his roommate Julie instant attraction but neither want to mess up there room situation but one week it changes and Luke gets sick with the flu and Julie takes care of him, and while bed ridden truths are admitted about falling for each other and they get together please.

A/N: This was my first request ever so. Be nice. Also I hope I did well and did more or less what you had in mind!!!

Ah, first day of college. You can smell the nervousness and the panic of the freshmen, the exasperation and exhaustion of the sophomores and juniors, and the will to finally pass this year of the seniors.

Wasn’t like that for Julie Molina though. She was excited, full of life, willing to ace every single test and assignment.

She was strolling through campus, looking at the buildings, the people, listening to music. Looking everywhere but ahead and listening to nothing except Harry Styles on her earbuds.

“Hey! Watch out!” A brunet guy raised his voice, bringing her back to the real world, where she’d just thrown this guy’s stuff on the ground.

“Shi- I’m so sorry, wait, let me help,” she immediately dropped to the floor and helped the guy pick up his stuff, which was all cables and CDs.

“I’m Julie. Hi.” Once everything was back in the box, she tried to introduce herself.

“Luke, a pleasure.” He smiled.

A brief moment of epiphany where he realized Julie was absolutely stunning, and she realized Luke was breathtakingly cute.

“Luke!” Some other masculine voice broke him out of his trance. “C’mon, we have to get the room, now!” The guy, presumably Luke’s future roommate, had blond and very shiny hair, and was accompanied by a punk-looking black-haired guy too.

“See you around!” She said, also turning to where her dorm room was

Julie walked into the building, looking for room 195.

Entering the building, finding the correct floor, the right wing and making all the right turns in the hallways.

It was a lovely room, had two beds, two desks, two dressers, and a questionable rug on the floor.

“They really got you two a double room? And what about me, man?” Luke said from outside, kind of jumping around. “Who gon’ be my roomie?”

“Dude, calm down.” The blond guy from earlier said, grabbing his shoulders, so he stopped jumping around. “Me and Reg two doors down that way. Chill.”

“Yeah!” Reggie said, “And maybe, you even get that cute girl you were talking to earlier, huh?” he added, wiggling his brows.

“You mean me?” Julie said, popping her head out the door to the hall.

“Yeah!” He said. “I’m Reggie, this is Alex, and this,” Reggie shoved Luke inside the room. “Is your roomie.” He waved bye and dragged the blond along back to their dorm.

“Luke, right?” Julie asked, not that she’d ever forget his name, though.

“Yep, and you're Julie” He smiled, she smiled, they set ground rules, like not bringing boyfriends or girlfriends over and like not going through each others’ stuff, and they got to decorating and unpacking.

“Damn, the theater majors really are blasting Hamilton across the hall, geez.” Julie said, coming into the room she and Luke had been sharing for five weeks, with a plastic bag with their dinner in it inside.

“Oh I know.” Luke spun around with his desk chair and stood up to greet Julie and help her set the table -which they bought one week after moving in, at a thrift shop for like, five bucks- “It’s been like that since you left.” He rolled his eyes, making her laugh. It was nice to know that he could make her laugh.

“I hate this rug, it’s like, stepping on sandpaper.” She mentioned the almost brown rug under their feet, which hadn’t been clean since the university bought it. That made him snicker and nod. “We should clean it.”

Christmas break was finally here. The roommates of dorm nº195 and dorm nº190 -Alex and Reg- were pretty tight knit by then, and all of them were staying at campus for the holiday, because Julie couldn’t afford going to Puerto Rico on Christmas, and the boys didn’t really like family time anyway, so they stayed with Julie.

For Christmas they had lunch at Julie and Luke’s dorm, because surprisingly it was the least messy of the two rooms, and because somehow, their kitchenette had a stove, which wasn’t actually allowed, but, whatever, it’s just soup. So, their Christmas lunch was soup and a rotisserie chicken.

Gifts were exchanged! Alex got some new fancy socks, a snapback with a goat and some new drumsticks because Reggie accidentally broke them two weeks ago, Reggie got some fierce new boots, an ugly christmas sweater which he actually loved and a goldfish from Petco, Luke got a collection of new notebooks -because he seemed to burn through an entire one in less than a month-, yet another flannel shirt, and some fuzzy socks -from Julie, because he always stole hers, despite the rule that said to not go through each others’ stuff, and always ended up stretching them out so that they didn’t fit her anymore-, and Julie received a denim jacket -which she had deemed her favorite since that day-, a couple of potted plants, and a big hoodie -which wasn’t actually big, it was Luke’s size, which apparently she loved, because she had stolen every single one of his hoodies without asking (he was out and the dorm didn’t have any heating, ok?), and always seemed to put them back in their place, until the day Luke saw her wearing one, almost fainted because of how cute she looked, and suddenly it made sense why his hoodies always smelt like her (not that he ever mentioned that, though)-. So yeah, they had a nice Christmas.

Today was December 27th and the two of them were cleaning the rug (outside and on the pavement, which had been lined with a piece of plastic), because today was the sunniest day they’d had all the month.)

“Hey!” Julie laughed when Luke splashed some of the water-soap solution on her.

“What?” He acted as if he was doing a completely normal, mature thing. “Looks like you need a thorough scrubbing too, Julie.” Oh boy.

“Uh? Excuse you sir, at least I wear sleeves.” She soaked up good her sponge in the soapy water, “Because, if you had actual tees, I wouldn’t be able-” No sleeves, and as usual, the arm hole on his shirt was so big it reached his lower ribs. “- to do this!” Shaboom. She threw the sponge into the sleeve hole, directly into his shirt.

“You just started a war, Molina!” He fished the wet sponge out of his clothes and threw it at her face.

Julie soaked the sponge up again and threw it at his face, somehow he lost balance and fell onto the semi-dirty wet rug.

“A war that you have lost, Patterson.” She said, hovering over him, claiming her victory.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” He pulled on the arm that was supporting her over him, so now she lost balance, fell on the wet rug too, and somehow threw the whole bucket of water on them.

“Well, it’s soap and water, so we’re not technically dirty, right?” He chuckled.

“You’re really something Luke. Really something.” Well. In that particular moment, he was a wet music major with a tummy full of christmas food. But Julie meant that he was really something, to her.

But unfortunately, and in that case, really something also meant he was really prone to catching nasty colds.

“Luke, your fever is getting real high, real fast.” Julie said, looking at the thermometer which clearly indicated 104ºF and 40ºC.

“If I’d have known that all it takes is a fever for you to call me hot, I would’ve gotten sick earlier.” He answered, from under his blanket.

“Shit, he’s even worse than usual.” Alex said through Julie’s phone, which was on speaker and on the table.

“We’ll come by after class, bring him some antipyretics or something. Good luck!” He said, before hanging up.

“That’s it.” She said. “I’m going to the store.” She couldn’t stand Luke looking so sick and weak, she missed the healthy and boyish Luke. She was going to get soup ingredients at the store.

“Luke, you’ll-” She turned around to tell him he should rest, but found him sleeping already. “Rest, and get better.” She kissed his forehead, still feeling him burning up, and went on her way. Luke smiled in his sleep.

“Hey, Luke.” She shook his shoulder gently to wake him up. “You’ve slept the whole afternoon, I made dinner.”

Luke woke up, kinda. He could smell spices.

“But it’s not done yet, and you need to take a shower.”

“What, why?”

“Well, you’re sweaty and feverish, so a room temperature shower will do you good.” She said, going to grab something out of her drawer. “And use this with your body soap.”She handed him a fancy little bottle that spelled Alcoholado on the front in a very worn down paper stuck to it.

“Okay.” He put up no resistance, just grabbing his Manly Man 2-in-1 Shampoo and Soap, his towel, some crocs for the shower (which everyone complained about, but whatever) a clean set of pjs, the bottle she had given him, stuffed it into his backpack, and went to the bathrooms.

Twenty minutes after, he was back, the table was almost set, two big bowls of something that looked like soup on the table, the trashcan full of plastic wrappers and veggie rests from the soup, the leftover ingredients tucked away in the only cabinet their kitchenette had, and a medium pot of soup on the stove, which wasn’t on anymore, but the soup on the inside still steamed a bit. And Julie in her christmas-gift-hoodie and some sweats.

“What was that thing you gave me?” Luke asked, looking at the bottle he held in his hand and throwing his bag on his bed.

“Alcoholado, my Abuela made it and gave me half a dozen bottles for college. It’s supposed to calm fevers and help with colds.” Julie said, putting the cutlery on the table and sitting down.

“And this is chicken Asopao, my Abuela also made it for me when I was sick.”

“Julie, you really didn’t-”

“In first place, yeah I did, it’s my fault you’re sick; and in second, I care about you, Luke.”

Luke almost fucking fainted, but decided that sitting on the chair and eating the Asopao she’d made was way better.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” he said, cleaning up the table and everything with her. “ I feel a lot better.”

“I’m happy I did!” She said, somehow earning a nice hug from him.

After they broke apart the hug, they turned off the lights and went to sleep.

Julie was woken up at 4 am by Luke’s coughing, and went to check on him immediately.

She checked his temperature, which was somehow very cold, despite him being wrapped in a pair of blankets.

“I-I’m cold,” He muttered half asleep.

“Yeah, I can feel that.” She rushed to her bed again and pulled a thick duvet from under it, went back to Luke and laid it on him. “Better?”

“No.” He said, hesitantly. “Cuddle with me maybe?”

Julie thought about it. This would only make her heart flutter and turn her feelings towards him more intense, but he was sick because of her and she’d lose a bit of her dignity to make him feel better if that’s what it took.

“Scoot over.” She said softly, holding up the blankets so she could get under them.

Twenty seconds after, they were both cuddling very comfortably in his bed, Luke was beginning to warm up, when he made a comment;

“I know why I’m in love with you, Julie.” She opened her eyes in a heartbeat, but stood still, thinking about what to tell him, and if she should respond at all.

“It’s because you’re caring and lovable and kind and just, overall amazing.” He said sleepily, before she could say anything.

“I love you too, Luke.” She kissed the crown of his head, Yes they were spooning and she was big spoon. “Sleep now, though. You need it.”

They wiggled closer to one another, and finally fell asleep, under three blankets and had very sweet dreams.

#julie and the phantoms #julie molina #luke patterson #luke x julie #juke #jatp juke #juke one shot #jatp one shot #julie jatp #jatp julie #luke jatp #jatp luke #julie and the phantoms one shot #julie x luke

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sw124 · 3 years

Text

Gift for @ghostgirlvii-art

Lunch with friends

Sans checked the bag, everything was packed. Diapers, teething ring, bottles, change of clothes in case of a mess and lastly a starry blanket. Papyrus may give him grief about being lazy sometimes but when it came to his siblings he never joked around. He zipped the bag up and sat back down on the couch, Papyrus was still getting ready. He flopped his head back, already feeling sleep coming on...he would have succumbed to it if not for the tiny bundle crawling on to his lap.

Opening one eye socket, watching a tiny skeleton crawl over his legs, turning to try and push their way behind him. Chuckling as he sat forward letting them crawl behind him...well he thought they were going to crawl behind him instead they were now trying to climb on him now.

“Havin fun?” Sans chuckled, the infant cooed as their little hands gripped his shoulders...mostly his jacket.

“Awe why do I have to ‘shoulder the burden’ huh?”

Sans almost bursted out laughing when he heard Papyrus scream from upstairs, even though they weren’t in the same room Papyrus could tell when Sans told a pun.

“Sans I can hear you punning! Stop it now!” Papyrus stormed out of his room.

Choosing to wear a orange turtleneck sweater and black pressed jeans, Sans wasn’t too surprised. Sure he hadn’t worn those jeans in a while but since they were going to see Azul he wanted to look his best.

“C’mon bro I was just trying to get this monkey off my back.” Sans wince playfully when Papyrus let out a growl.

The puns and scolding only stopped when Lane started whining, gently tugging at Sans hoodie. He turned and pulled her back into his lap, he gave her a little peck on her forehead before standing up.

“Its ok Laney, we’re just playing.” Sans nuzzled her.

Papyrus sighed and grabbed the diaper bag, he reached and gently rubbed his sisters head. Giving a small giggle when she leaned into his touch, almost like a kitten would.

“Alright little sister lets get your coat on and we’ll be off!” Papyrus puffed his chest out and walked towards the coat rack, the only coat hanging up was a tiny little red one with flowers on it. Once her coat was on the three walked out and towards Azul’s home.

They didn’t have far to walk since she lived just up the way, despite that Lane was still squirming and fussing. As much as he tried Sans just couldn’t get her to calm down.

“Geez Lane you got a rash or something?”

Pap leaned forward to look at his sister, she was chewing on Sans hoodie. “I think she’s got a new tooth growing in, she’s chewing on your hood.”

“Gee thats great...” Sans groaned.

Before long they were at Azul’s house, they didn’t have to knock, the door flung open, Papyrus ready to embrace his love ....accept Lane was scooped up into Azul’s arms. Much to Pap’s disappointment.

“Laney! How you doing sweetie?!”

Pap couldn’t fault her, she had such a soft spot for children especially babies like his little sister. That and he got a nice big smooch on the mouth when she was done fawning over Lane.

“I’m glad you guys could come over, its nice having company over once in a while.” Azul smiled letting them inside.

“Thanks for inviting us.” Said Sans.

“Yes! Thank you very much, its also nice to get Lane out and about.” Said Papyrus setting the diaper bag by the couch.

“What you don’t let her out and play?” Azul teased. “Its not that, last time I took Lane with me to meet Undyne and....well lets just say things got a little...overwhelming for her.”

Papyrus winced recalling Lane’s first meeting with the captain of the royal guards, it wasn’t Undyne’s loud personality or anything that was a surprise...it was when they started sparing and Lane got scared...thinking Papyrus was going to get hurt.

“Oh yeah I heard about that, I’m surprised thats the only thing she got upset about...an speaking of which.” Azul looked at Lane who was squirming.

“She’s got a new tooth growing in so...” Sans trailed off a little, Azul smiled and without uttering a single word whisked Lane off into the kitchen, pulled open the fridge and pulled out a tiny jar.

“Whats that?” Pap asked.

“Its a teething salve my mom used when I was little, this’ll stop the irritation.” Taking a small amount on her finger she gingerly rubbed the salve on Lane’s budding teeth.

Almost instantly Lane stopped squirming and relaxed. Color the skeleton brothers impressed.

“I’ll make you guys a jar later, just rub it on any new tooth coming in at least once a day.” Azul smiled as she turned and started pulling out items from her cupboards. “Well now that problems taken care of its time we get down to cooking, we’re making stew.”

Pap didn’t have to hear anymore, already pulling out a large stock pot. Sans got out some spoons and started washing the veggies Azul had laid out, he got that done in less then a minute.

He noticed Azul was doing everything with one hand since she was still holding Lane, he reached to take her back...but Azul turned and with a devilish smirk replied...

“Nope, she’s mine now.”

Sans just stared...as Azul effortlessly chopped veggies with one hand with ease. All while holding Lane and from time to time pausing to give the little infant a playful raspberry on her cheek.

“Sans stop lazing about and help.” Pap scolded already getting the other ingredients out of the fridge.

Sans still couldn’t stop staring, still taken aback by the fact Azul was doing everything with one hand and suddenly being denied to take his sister back.

“Uh...you don’t find this strange?” Asked Sans, taking some ingredients from Papyrus.

“It’d be strange if you were actually being productive.” Replied Papyrus, Azul gave off a little ‘ooo’ for the solid burn.

“Want some ice for that burn Sansy?” Teased Azul.

Sans gave a tight, not so amused smile in her direction before getting back to the tasks at hand. The kitchen bustled with the three adults moving from one side of the room to the other, before long all the ingredients were in the large stock pot and was simmering on a low heat.

“Ok, we let this sit for at least half an hour then we can eat.” Azul smiled as she moved to the living room, the skeleton brothers followed.

Finally Azul relinquished Lane from her hold but only to play on the floor with some of the toys brought for her. Pap sat by Azul while Sans took the arm chair near the TV, the three started chatting about daily things. Occasionally pausing to watch Lane attempt to climb something such as Sans leg or even the couch the love birds were sitting on.

[thirty minutes later]

Sans gently pushed the highchair up to the table by him, Azul and Papyrus were setting the table and setting the bowls of soup out. Once done they sat down and started having lunch. Sans from time to time helped feed Lane.

The soup was delicious, a thick cheesy an milky broth loaded with vegetables. Azul loved this soup, it was just such a comfort dish full of nostalgia. Her mother would make this soup once in a while when Snowdin got colder at times or when she had a bad day at school.

A particular memory she loved was when she was little and invited Papyrus to her house for a birthday sleep over. The two of them sitting in their homemade pillow with stacks of their favorite books and bowls filled to the brim of this soup. They ate so much of it they were too full to eat any of the cake her mother had made, but that was ok they got to have the cake for breakfast the next day.

Papyrus happily spooned more of this delicious soup into his mouth, sure it wasn’t spaghetti but it was a major acception to his culinary rule. Azul tilted her head to watch Sans feed Lane, she smiled as Lane held on to Sans hand and was mimicking the motions.

“This is good.” Said Sans taking a moment to eat some of his soup.

“It’s delicious, absolutely delicious!” Pap exclaimed, simply enraptured in the taste.

Azul chuckled “I made plenty so take some home if you want, oh Sans careful there..”

Sans looked to see Lane about to stick her hand into her bowl but he was quick to catch her, not cause it would make a mess but because the soup was still very warm.

Lane whined at Sans but was pacified with another spoonful of soup.

“Good save there.” Azul chuckled as she ladled another helping of soup into her bowl.

“Yeah..heh she’s already finished two bowls aready and she still wants more, not just Azul but Lane too.” Sans smirked, Azul eyed him back before playfully throwing her napkin at him.

“Alright that was a decent comeback, but your right one thing Lanes got quite an appetite.” Said Azul.

“She’s a growing skeleton, she needs all the calcium and nutrients she needs to become as strong and as great as her older brother!” Papyrus again puffed out his chest, beaming with pride.

“Yeah with you two...I’m sure she’ll turn out perfect no matter what.”

The three adults shared a small chortle before returning to their food, everyone sitting together at one table, reminiscing, daydreaming and simply chatting about the past, present and future...all while enjoying a nice bowl...of warm soup.

End

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youarejesting · 4 years

Text

Femme: 39

[MASTERLIST]

Pairing: BTS - OT7 x Reader,

Rating: Mature.

Warnings: Food poisoning, pregnancy, sex, exhibitionism, voyeurism, overstimulation, mentions of past sexual acts: oral receiving, public/work sex.

Length: 2.4k words

Announcement: I am going through a Flare-up at the moment and have been having trouble remembering things, forgot I put food in the microwave and didn’t eat all day. Forgot to pick my sister's kids up from school (they are all safe don’t worry, they were picked up late). I get kind of scared when things like this happen. If there is anything major missing in this chapter let me know. If I forgot some tags let me know. Love you all.

Recap: Fun in America.

Waking just past midnight to a queasy feeling in your stomach you shuffled out of bed. The soft sheets enriched with the scent of juicy pear seductive gardenia and musky vanilla, it was Jungkook’s very own blend. It was home. You vaguely remember falling asleep and Jungkook carrying you to into the apartment before cuddling with you on his bed.

Jungkook didn’t stir as you slid out from under the sheets. He remained still, in his rather eccentric sleeping position -legs crossed under the blankets- it was an adorable quirk that you had grown accustomed to. You had no time to admire the strong maknae as the sick feeling grew a small burn in your chest.

The walk to the bathroom was hauntingly still and silent, the air of the apartment cool against your feverish skin. The bathroom had a small flickering glow under the door. Pressing the handle down and stepping inside the smell hit you, it was your favourite candle narcissus, patchouli and amber mixed with something horrific like stomach acid.

Bile hit the back of your throat and you slapped your hand over your mouth holding back from throwing up across the bathroom floor. Beside the toilet, leaning against the wall was Jimin moaning in his sleep. Namjoon was lying beside the bathtub, eyes closed and looking gaunt. Both had a glossy sheen of sweat across their brow.

Rushing across the space you hunched over the toilet, emptying the contents of your stomach. Jimin woke, eyes barely open reaching forward to rub your back. His eyes had a dark shadow underneath which was stretched ominously by the flickering candlelight.

“Did you have the same meal as us on the flight, we think it wasn’t cooked? Jin Hyung has gone to get some medicine, please hang on a little more. He is waiting for the pharmacy to open.” His voice sounded so rough his throat seemed to be causing him a lot of pain.

You sat opposite Jimin a sad smile blooming on his pale face. Wiping the tears from your eyes, you groaned “don’t look at me I am hideous” “I am marrying you and I vow to love you in sickness and in health” he pulled you forward to lay across the cool tiles, he laid your head on his thigh and you instinctively wrapped your arms around his waist. He patted your head sweetly.

Falling asleep once more, however, this time in the bathroom. No one stirred until the sun started to rise, your stomach grumbling with an insatiable hunger. Slipping from Jimin’s hold and stepping over Namjoon who was so sick his cheeks flushed like he was blushing. You gently shut the bathroom door, the cool air of the apartment greeting you for a second time this very morning.

Jin stepped in through the front door dropping his keys, shoes, coat, everything, but the bag of medicine from the pharmacy. He walked past you in a hurry, straight into the bathroom. He was worried about the boys and you found yourself smiling softly at how kind and caring he was. The poor boys were suffering, you felt bad for them, food poisoning was pretty serious stuff. But why did you get sick you had different meals

Making some toast, hoping it could ease your stomach, you opened your presents box from the boys next door. It was filled with snacks from your country. Grabbing your favourite spread and enjoyed your toast happily. Your cold had almost passed your nose still a little sniffly but you felt better.

Deciding to move the boys to the living room futons you took your time in caring for them. A water bottle and a bucket by their side as you waved the other boys off to work. Assuring them the two would recover quickly with some rest and fluids.

Setting up the video cameras in front of the kitchen, you were going to make chicken noodle soup, it would just take a while as it has to simmer for a few hours. After putting everything in the pot, you began a time-lapse video aimed at the stove to watch the soup come together and sat down in the sun.

You were happy it was finally getting warmer, you wanted to work as soon as you could. The sitting around and American burgers made your ass and hips a size bigger. The boys didn’t see this as a problem complimenting you, especially when they took you from behind.

Yoongi couldn’t stop mentioning it when he finally got to fulfil his dream of placing his glass whiskey on the small of your back. He would scold you if you spilt any, while he pleasured you with his mouth.

But you guess carrying sickness meant you shouldn’t work just yet, the boys seemed to strengthen by noon, but, you still cuddled the day away. Filming as you continued the chicken noodle soup recipe. It amused you greatly when Hoseok got home and started singing behind you “chicken noodle soup” repeatedly.

Everyone was feeling better after a bowl of soup that night and you read a few comments together. Your channel and social media accounts had been blowing up since your television appearance.

Another week passed and whatever sickness it was, passed through the boys a few at a time. You stayed by their side keeping them healthy, trying not to get sick yourself, tying their hair back whilst they vomited. Finally, it was gone along with winter, you grinned getting a call about work and you pulled out your uniform ready to start in the morning.

Waking up early you excitedly brushed your hair and teeth, slipping into your uniform was a struggle. You felt kind of bloated. With a sigh, you headed to work with the boys wishing them good luck and you got to work. Moon Inshik watched you working and he smiled fondly, he left to run an errand coming back before you were to go on lunch “I remember when my wife first got pregnant” he smiled “she couldn’t stop eating these, she said they helped settle her stomach when she was feeling sick”

You smiled taking them and then frozen, “wait what? Pregnant? I can’t be pregna- oh my god, I am pregnant” mouth falling open in shock. “I am sorry I thought you knew” he held your hand, “how about we pack up early, today and I can drive you to the doctors for a check-up, then you can find out for sure”

You didn’t realise how much you needed Moon Inshik, he was the only parental figure you had and you were thankful for all his advice and support. He drove you to the clinic and you sat in the waiting room nervously. He held your hand and told you stories of his family when they were young and having kids.

“I’m sorry I just feel so alone, like my mother should be here holding my hand” you refused to cry, you had shed too many tears already. “What was your friend's name the one with the baby, I can call him if you would like?” You sniffed blinking your eyes until they dried “please can we?”

Jiyong arrived as you were called into the room, he took your hand and walked you inside. He spoke to you about everything and anything, keeping you distracted. “I really liked garlic while I was pregnant, drove the boys crazy when I tried to kiss them”

The doctor put a cold gel on your lower tummy and pressed the transducer probe. He wasn’t particularly rough, but you did need a full bladder for the ultrasound and his pushing wasn’t helping, “this is your baby here, you seem to be about eight or nine weeks along and everything looks normal and healthy, I will take a picture to send home. There are always many babies conceived at the end of the year.”

“Would you like to know the father?” “Yes please,” he sent away some amniotic fluid to be tested with the boys recorded DNA. “You’re having a baby congratulations mummy” Jiyong hugged you, you were shaking lip blubbering, “let it out, sweetheart”

Sobs racked your body as it all sank in you were going to be a mother. “Finally a friend for my misuk” “We can’t tell anyone until after sixteen weeks” “Of course I won’t say a word” Jiyong smiled

Convincing your boss to let you continue working as long as you never overexert yourself. You all went to lunch, Jiyong said he would make you some stylish maternity clothes, pulling out a sketchbook while you ate. Moon Inshik smiled helping you plan in your book everything you needed to get ready for a baby.

With a list in your bag, you met Jungkook at his work. He was working with a class, he was looking like a man, gone was the maknae. Glistening in sweat his hair slicked back in a ponytail as he demonstrated and led the workout.

You sat by the side of the room and Jungkook smiled “ladies gentleman we got a guest present let’s not get slack now” they finished up there lesson and Jungkook took them through their stretches, you sat beside him on the stage and stretched slowly with him, it took some strain off your hips.

Jungkook introduced you, “say hello to my fiance, she is gorgeous, is she not” Some of the other women married and single seemed to glare at you. After class, everyone was packing up their things and leaving you helped Jungkook pack up the equipment hearing the girls talk, “how can he love someone who is so fat?”

“Actually I am six months pregnant,” you lied smoothly, their eyes widened in shock. “I have gotten big haven’t I, but you can’t have everything can you, I mean I was luckily enough to have no morning sickness, so of course I had to gain weight”

They stormed out muttering how you were a lucky bitch, she had forgotten her bag and you kicked it off to the side. Jungkook had finished packing up and you pounced kissing him on the small stage he worked on. “Jungkook I need you.”

He moaned and kissed you hungrily, you pulled down his sweats and pushed him to sit down removing your underwear. He kissed you like you were water in the desert. Your sensitive breasts through your work dress were rubbing against his tank clad chest which felt so strong and powerful being so fresh from his workout. His hips thrusting deeply into you his muscular arms holding you firmly.

You were physically holding yourself back from coming, trying to prolong the feeling when over his shoulder, you saw the door open, and a few of the girls walk back in. You were being vocal as always and he was growling how you were his and he didn’t want to share. The friction between you was driving you both crazy each in an unspoken war on who could hold out the longest.

Your eyes met the three onlookers you were thankful Jungkook hadn’t noticed them of this would be over instantly. He whispered in your ear telling you he wasn’t going to lose. His hips tilted forwards inside you rubbing against your G-spot and A-spot. Your back arched pressing your chest forward. Nuzzling his face between your breasts he moaned.

“Come on, I can’t hold on anymore,” His voice was a cross between a growl and a whimper, he was begging and commending all in one. his hands were shaking around your waist. You were going to give the three women in the room a triumphant smirk as they left but you came hard around him.

Walls clenching with a strength you had never felt before, this was so intense and heated you could feel your pulse drumming deep inside you. Jungkook must have feal it too because every beat made his body twitch just a little as his hips occasionally rutted forward in aftershocks.

Usually, he liked to relax for a few moments afterwards before removing himself from inside you, because he knew how sensitive you were after sex. But he whimpered ripping himself from you his seed spilling out “Your pulse it’s too much”

Strolling back through the streets from Jungkook’s work you spotted Jimin waiting on the corner. He looked up and smiled brightly, you carefully crossed the street and you shared a hug, before walking hand in each boys hand.

A little further up the street, you spotted Seokjin looking in the window of a high-end Femme store right outside the grand hotel with which he worked. You hugged him and buried your face in his chest.

“You're so cuddly today?” Jimin grinned “did you have a good day at work?”

Lying about your day at work telling them what you had done before going to the clinic. The walk home was too quick and you hadn’t decided whether you were going to reveal the news. You untied your shoes and hung up your coat and bag. Jin who had sat on the step to untie his shoes held out your slippers helping you into them.

Feeling a little thoughtful, you started to imagine how much room a baby could take up. The dining table could fit a highchair, Walking down the hall you poked your head into each bedroom.

Sneaking down the other hallway you stepped into Namjoon’s office, he was in the middle of a conference call eyes meeting yours questioningly. You gave him an okay sign and looked around. This was an option but you didn’t want to steal his space. Walking back out to the hallway and into the next room.

Yoongi’s studio was dark and clean despite a few coffee mugs. He was listening to music turning noticing you searching his studio with calculating eyes. He didn’t get a chance to ask as you had already left. and you looked around and frowned leaving.

You went to the last door in the house and opened it, it was full of boxes. “What are you doing Jagiya?” Jumping out of your skin you clutched your chest.

“I almost peed myself, why the hell would you sneak up on me” Scolding him only made his smile brighter. He pulled you to his chest apologizing his warm body felt like the sleeping under the sun in spring. “What is this room used for?”

“Storage mostly, we always want to clean it and make a computer room but we all have been too lazy to sort through the stuff” You looked at him and began looking at the boxes each were labelled and with a grin you sent a group text.

[You: I want to clean out the spare room.]

Femme Media 39

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years

Note

Prompt: Your OC falls ill with a fever and a character of your choice tries to take care of them, but fails miserably

“Mingfei…”

He looked up half into a breakfast burrito. “Oh! Senpai! Morning!”

“I have a favor to ask you.” Johann Chu had just gotten off a plane the night before and here he was up this early in the morning?

“Uh… sure whatever you need!”

“Charlotte wasn’t badly hurt yesterday but until that dark essence from the dragon leaves her body, she’ll be feverish for a while.” He said.

“Oh right…” The school had been attacked by a dragon that came awake right under the library. It wasn’t large, but it was powerful. It killed everyone in the lab, blasted its way out of the underground bunker, killed more students and damaged buildings before it was finally taken down. Survivors all came down sick from the effect of the dragons dark glassy projectiles. Even though Carli only got a few scratches, she was no exception. At least she managed to stay out of the hospital.

“Schneider has me reviewing footage among other things. I can’t get out of it. Can you watch over her for me? I know this will probably set you behind on your studies. I’ll handle any make up work.” He said, lowering his eyes.

Mingfei scrambled out of his seat. “What’s with that look? I’d be glad to!” He chuckled. “The place is in chaos, we have to all work together to pick up the pieces.”

“I’m glad you can help.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a key card. “Here’s the key to her room. Guard this with your life.” He tapped it against Mingfei’s chest. “You’re the only one I can trust with it.”

“Woah! Senpai!” Mortified, he took the key card and quickly pocketed it before anyone else could see.

“I’ll text you the list I need done today. Even if you can’t do everything… it’s a big weight off… thanks.”

“Weight huh?” He put one hand on his hip. “You must really care about her a lot.”

“She needs to catch up and fast. The more time she can spend doing that, the better.” Johann said looking down at his phone as he sent Mingfei the list. “She can’t do anything right now, but at least I can keep this set back from being worse than it is…”

Mingfei held up his hands. “Yeah! Yeah I get it. Study and training...” This guy.

“Alright, see you later.” He turned and walked away.

Mingfei watched him go with a soft sigh. “How’d you even get a key card to a girl’s room ...” He huffed to himself. “Probably the only guy in the school who could have it and not try anything.”

He paused. “Wait… He told me ‘you’re the only one he can trust with it’? Ahhh!” Mingfei moaned with despair. “So brutal! At least threaten to kill me if I try anything! Why do you have to assume I won’t? ”

Mingfei made his way over to her dorm. “She lives here?”

It was the richest area on campus. In fact, it was the Student Council’s exclusive living space. Caesar must have put her up here. “Lucky…”

A few students eyed him with suspicion and disdain until they realized he was the other S-ranker, and then they put on some smiles and waved. He couldn’t imagine her being happy in such a hoity-toity place.

He swiped the card to her building and went up the stairs to her flat. He knocked softly. “Carli? I’m coming in…”

No response. Why was his heart pounding so hard? Right. He’d never been in a girl’s dorm before. “Senpai… you’re a maniac… doing this so easily!” He muttered.

He put one hand on the knob and slowly pushed his way in. She wasn’t around. She must be in bed. “Wow… this place is so… nice.” His eyes roamed about, taking in the fancy furniture, plush carpet and high ceilings. “Well… let’s see what I need to do. I’ll make this quick.”

Johann had added a note. “If you could, take her temperature when you get there. There’s an infrared thermometer in the bathroom. Do your best with the food. The ingredients are in the fridge. You just need to put it together. Thanks again.”

“If you think of anything else, just let me know.” He responded.

He opened the attachment. His jaw dropped. What was this long list?! Was he her personal servant? He imagined him in a butler’s attire while Carli was in a princess dress, crown and all. How did he find the time? Did the guy sleep at all?

“There’s no way I can finish all this…” He moaned, moving to the bathroom. It was huge! “Are you going to make me look for it…?” He cringed and opened the medicine cabinet. Immediately a bottle fell to the floor. He picked it up. He didn’t mean to look at the label. It was just where his eyes fell.

Prozac.

He stood silent a moment. He couldn’t blame her. With her family gone and all the unspeakable things she had to witness, it was no wonder.

He put it back where he found it and took the thermometer.

The door to her bedroom was open. A nightlight was on next to the bed. A voice activated speaker played sounds crashing ocean waves.

Heart slamming, he came a little closer. “Carli?”

No reply.

He straightened up and walked even closer. Her bed was huge and covered with books and electronics. It made her look even smaller. He sat down on the mattress. He wouldn’t need to wake her up to take her temperature.

He put the scanner up to her forehead. 40 C… that was pretty high. He let out a breath and texted it to Johann.

Instantly he got a response. “If it goes any higher, take her to the clinic and let me know.”

“Right.”

“Lu-Senpai?”

Mingfei dropped his phone. “Carli! Sorry! I didn’t mean to…”

She was sitting up, one strappy sleeve of her cut off tank top drifting down her shoulder. It read, ‘Kiss the Cutie!’ across her chest. She smiled. “Nihao!”

Mingfei’s face grew hot. His throat closed. “W...what are you doing wearing that?!” He didn’t mean to ask that outloud! He clapped a hand over his mouth. Were they just together for classes? Was this more serious than he thought?

She looked confused for a moment. “Oh… uh… Nono bought it for me. Do you like it?”

He was screaming inside. What was Nono trying to make Johann do?! He imagined that Scarlet Witch chuckling with imperious laughter, scrolling through online clothing stores for the sexiest clothes to gift Carli.

He cleared his throat. “I’m just here to help out. Uh… Joh… Johann had some things he had to do so… Yeah…”

“Oh…” Her eyes fell. “That’s really cool… you’re a cool guy.”

“I’m na… I’m nah...nahnah…” He had to get himself together. “Wow! You’re out of it! Here just…” He gingerly lifted her sleeve back over her shoulder. But it dropped back down, even farther this time!

He averted his eyes. “Ca...can you…?”

Carli adjusted it. “Oh, sorry.” She pointed over to the desk. “I did my best on some of the exercises I didn’t get done yestereday. Can you take those to him? My writing is a little messy but I think I did alright.”

“You’re worried about studying with a high fever? No way!” Mingfei blinked.

“Yeah well…” She plopped back down into her soft feather pillow. “I couldn’t do much.”

Mingfei looked at the list. “I’ll let you rest. I’ll get the homework to him.”

First order of business was starting the soup. Johann had arranged and labeled her entire fridge and freezer with planned meals but they weren’t’ good for the ill. Mingfei couldn’t find his way around the kitchen and it took him a while to figure out where the pots were. “Okay uh… recipe… there… um… water, then just throw everything in? Great. Easy enough. Raise heat to simmer…. For 2 hours…”

“That done…” He crossed it off.

“Carli… All the girls hate you so much right now.” Laundry, dusting, changing the water on the humidifier. He couldn’t imagine Johann doing all this, or even Carli letting him. It must just be a list of everything he could think she might need and couldn’t do herself.

And he couldn’t even admit that he cared. He set the laundry basket on the floor and felt something touch his foot. He looked down and turned ashen.

Her panties. Suddenly, he didn’t care how clueless Johann was about girls.

I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!!!!!

#Johann Chu #Lu Mingfei #More like Lu Ming-fail #Nono #Caesar Gattuso #ask #Dragon raja #Fanfiction #Writing

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anotheronechicagobog · 4 years

Text

Dunder Mifflin Meets Intelligence AKA

Volomag and Vodka Part 2

Warnings: swearing, mention of vomit, numerous times, pranks

Written by @anotheronechicagobog

A/N I hope you guys laugh at this as much as I did writing it. The pranks are from a show called “The Office U.S.”, I do not own that or One Chicago Also, Kevin’s sister Vinessa makes an appearance

Whoever coined the term ‘morning sickness’ deserves a slow and painful death. Kim thought bitterly as she was hugging the toilet at ten at night. “Kim? I made you some ginger tea and I got you a glass of water.”

“I fucking love you.”All Adam could do was laugh as he sat on the edge of the bathtub and gathered Kim’s hair in one hand and rubbed his hand up and down her back. Kim let out a grateful hum before her stomach lurched again. The gruesome sound of Kim spewing more stomach acid (because let’s face it, there’s nothing else left for her to throw up) into the porcelain toilet bowl.

Several minutes later Kim felt better, not good, but better. She felt okay enough to get off the floor. She stood up and grabbed the glass of water Adan had brought her from the sink counter and washed out her mouth before grabbing her toothbrush to complete the process of removing the acidic bitterness from her mouth. By the time she raised the mug of tea to her lips it was cold. “Thank you, Adam. For everything.” Her eyes met his in the mirror as he came up behind her to wrap his arms around her middle. “No thanks is necessary. This feels like a dream come true.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I... I don’t think that I’ve been this happy in a long time. I know that we’ve had our issues, but I love you. I have for years. Even when we broke up, I can’t stop. Even if I wanted to.”

“I love you too.” And she did. She might not know where she stands with him right now, she might not want to be labelled as his girlfriend right now, but she does love him. Dating after Adam was hard because she was always comparing them. No matter who they were or how much she tried to stop it, none of them came even close to the bar that Adam had raised. “C’mon,” he kissed the crown of her head, “let’s go to bed, we’ve got work in the morning and you might wake up a few more times in the night.” She smiled softly as he guided her towards her bedroom.

They hadn’t moved in together, but they were looking for a place. Three bedrooms. One for the baby, and one per adult. Adam and Kim, they had such a dramatic history, that they weren’t actually sure how to handle it. They wanted to have this baby, they wanted to parent together, they just weren’t sure if they should be in a relationship while doing so. It was a complicated situation, but they were doing their best to make it work.

————————————————————————————————————

The next day Kim was standing behind the desk at the 21st district. It was a... Unique change, because despite her bubbly personality, she’d managed to be grumpier than Trudy was behind the desk. It had absolutely nothing to do with the work, the officers, or the civilians, and everything to do with her pregnancy symptoms. Nausea and soreness kept her awake at night, causing her to be exhausted and in need of coffee, but she can’t have coffee! And on top of all that, people were constantly bringing food in that thrust her into a constant state of “if I don’t keep my mouth closed I’m going to hurl on everything in front of me, yes I have tried ginger ale, saltines, and ginger tea, and no, none of them have worked”. She was excited to be a mom but she was ready to behead somebody.

“Hey mama, how are you holding up?” Trudy, yes she was letting Kim call her by her first name now, had become her saving grace. Since Kim was covering the desk Trudy was free to do work in the back office and go on patrol. In return, Trudy was making sure Kim always water, Gatorade, and Polish beef barley soup (it was the only thing that didn’t make her hurl). “I haven’t disintegrated anyone with a glare today, so good.”

“Ha! Well, I brought another blue raspberry one for you. I’m gonna head out with Tay for the day since O’Donnel is out sick today.”

“I’m so glad that you were able to get her assigned to 21 again. I missed her.”

“Spare me the love fest, Burgess.” Her tone may have been snappy but the smile on her face and light in her eyes gave away just how happy she was. “Have a good day Sargent.”

“You too.”

————————————————————————————————————

Hailey and Vanessa had been keeping her up to date with all the goofiness of intelligence. All the jokes and all the pranks. When they noticed that Kim looked like she was going to cry, scream, and throw up, they figured they should do something to cheer her up. And since nothing ridiculously funny was happening on its own, they decided to make it happen, with some inspiration from one Jim Halpert.

First, they decided to try one of Vanessa’s favourites. The vending machine prank. They grabbed all of the small knick-knacks from the guys’ desks (excluding Voight because they didn’t have a death wish) and convinced the vending machine guy to let them put them in the vending machine. Adam’s Groot bobblehead, name plaque, and Chicago Bears bouncy ball, in places C4, D2, and H7 respectively. Kevin’s Chicago Blackhawks hockey puck, large globe pencil sharpener, and small Chicago bears teddy bear, in places A6, I3, and F2. Jay’s magic 8 ball, Deadpool figurine, and ‘cereal killer’ spoon, in places G5, D9, and A3.

Second, they moved Kevin’s desk into the bathroom. Phones, computers all plugged in. And aside from the items in the vending machine, all were where they normally were on Kevin’s desk. Vanessa even placed all of his files in order and each spine of the folder a couple of centimetres forward each level. So it looked kind of like a staircase made of folders, and that was how he always did it, according to Vanessa. That earned the dark-haired woman a knowing chuckle from Hailey who, Vanessa reminded, really didn’t have room to talk.

Third, they moved Jay’s desk into the corner of the bullpen, where Al’s used to be, and put a large navy blanket over it. Figuring that was enough to keep his desk out of sight. Together, with some scrap wood from one bewildered Matt Casey, they wrapped the pieces of wood together in such a way that they imitated a desk, a chair, a computer monitor, a phone (that one was a pain), his file divider, pencil cup, pencils and pens, and stacks of files. They were both so proud when the got to look at the finished product.

Fourth, Hailey had gone to a hardware store and gotten a spool of red wire. She plugged on end into Adam’s monitor before placing the wiring with tape along the front of his desk, the floor, all around the edge of the break room, out into the bullpen again, before going down the hallway to the interrogation room, up the wall across from the gun safes, attached to a plastic tub filled with neon coloured ping pong balls. This one went a little off-script, but they were both excited to see how it would turn out.

Fifth and finally, they took the containers out of the fridge that they had made first so that the contents would have time to solidify. Taking off the lids of the three containers, the two women flipped them over quickly onto plates. Thankfully the jello stayed completely intact, each confection clearly showing the mugs inside.

Giggling they stood back and high fived, feeling good and excited for the next day. A heavy cough interrupted them from their internal praise and sense of accomplishment. “Sargent. Hi. What are you doing here so late? We don’t have a case.”

“I was about to ask you two ladies the same thing Upton.” The two women looked at each other and sighed, knowing they were caught, Hailey answered.

“We were setting up pranks for the guys.”

“Don’t you two think that’s a bit childish?”

“It’s to cheer Kim up. She’s been so stressed, and the pregnancy symptoms have been so awful that we thought she needed a good laugh. Plus, it’s not like the guys will get mad at us. Adam and Kevin will go puppy-eyed once they realize this was all for Kim, and Jay’s in love with Hailey so he won’t be mad at her, and he can’t be mad at me if he isn’t mad at her since we came up with all of this together.”

“Hey! He doesn’t... Whatever,” she muttered when she saw the look Voight gave her, “Plus, we didn’t do anything that involved your office, your stuff, or you.”

“... Alright. At least there’ll be some entertainment to distract from the boredom of spending all day doing paperwork. Now get out of here, get some sleep, you have to be back here in five hours.”

————————————————————————————————————

“... Where is my desk?”

“Forget that, why is mine wrapped up like some kind of present?”

“Mine looks fine... But different? Does that even make sense?”

“I’m gonna need coffee if I’m gonna deal with whatever th fuck this is.”

“Start a big pot, Kev.”

“Hey what is this red wire? And duct tape?”

“It’s a computer, Ruzek. It has wires.”

“Thank you for your sarcasm Rojas, but seriously, what is going on? And why are your and Hailey’s desks normal?” Hailey pulled out her phone and started recording Adam as he unplugged the red wire and pulling it up. The duct tape came up with a sticky ripping sound. Everyone watched closely and angeled themselves to get a better look as the tape lifted up from the bullpen floor and continued into the breakroom, Adam growled in frustration as he exited the breakroom pulling the wire up just after he had entered and gone in a circle. Everyone followed him curiously as he went down the hall to the interrogation room, just as Jay was about to shout out an agitated question, the tape went up the wall. When Adam gave a final tug, the last bit of tape came off the wall, but he’d also pulled the rest of the wire, at what it was connected to, down to him. Causing started gasps and shouts from the guys as 100 neon ping-pong balls rained down from the ceiling all over them. “Okay seriously, what was that?!” Hailey, Vanessa, and Voight were all in the background enjoying the show.

“Wait, wait... Do you hear that?” The shouts stopped and everyone strained their ears to listen to what Kevin was pointing out. A desk phone ringing. From the men’s bathroom. Voight subtly took Hailey’s phone to continue the recording. “What the hell?!” Kevin, Adam, and Jay had found Kevin’s desk in the bathroom. Looking confused as hell he looked to his brothers before picking up the phone. “... Hello? Oh, hi Vinessa. Listen I’m gonna have to call you back, something’s going on at work. I love you okay? Say ‘hi’ to auntie for me... Okay, I’ll tell Kim you say ‘hi’. Bye.” He hung up the phone before sitting down and stretching his arms out over his desk. Almost nothing is out of place. “What the ACTUAL fuck?! And where is my hockey puck?!”

“Okay, now I’m even more curious as to why my desk is wrapped up like a birthday present.” Numbly nodding their heads all the men left the bathroom and cornered Jay’s desk. Vanessa had Hailey’s phone and she watched with her boss and roommate as they did their best not to blow their cover. Jay shook his head, puzzled at the state of his desk before putting his arm on his desk and plopping down in his chair... Everything immediately collapsed. Leaving the girls pushing back tears as Jay tried to stand up in the sea of slippery wrapping paper and wood. “Fucking hell someone please tell me that the coffee is done.” He looked like Bambi on ice trying to get up as Kevin hollered from the breakroom, “pot’s done! And thank fucking God for that! Hey! Why is my hockey puck in the vending machine?!” Hailey and Jay followed the crowd in last, Hailey having to help her partner get up. They entered and Adam looked like he was about to blow a gasket. “My name plaque! Groot! Who- Why would someone do this?!”

“Who the fuck put Deadpool in the vending machine?! And where is my desk?!”

Taking shaky breaths all the boys muttered the holy word; “coffee.” Kevin went to get the creamer when he stopped dead in his tracks. Three thuds later, and each of the boys’ favourite mugs were on the counter, floating in piss yellow jello. “Why is my mug in jello?”

“I washed these last night! First the ping-pong balls and now this?!” Adam reached into the jello and pulled his mug out, the jiggly substance still visible inside the mug. The two pranksters (and witness) burst into tear-jerking laughter. Hailey snatched her phone back and sloppily emailed the video to Kim before the boys could stop her. “O-oh - oh m-y- Fu- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“You two did this?!” The girls quickly got off the floor and hauled ass to the women’s bathroom. The lock clicked just as the guys reached the door. “Hey!”

“Get out here now!”

“What did we do to deserve this?!” Their voices were lost in a mixture of laughter and yelling. Hailey and Vanessa were curled up on the floor hugging their stomachs and each other as the laughter became painful.

Suddenly the yelling stopped, and their boss’ voice made it’s way to the two hyenas. “I think it’s time to explain, ladies.” They took deep breaths, their laughter finally coming to an end. They untangled themselves and stood up, but didn’t dare leave the sanctuary of the ladies’ room. “Kim’s been really sad lately. We wanted to cheer her up.”

“And you thought that pranking us was the best way to do it, Hailey?!”

“Yeah, Jay. We all get a kick from joking around now and then, and she’s told Vanessa and I numerous times that sending pics and videos of funny work mishaps brightens her day.”

“We just wanted her to smile again, guys. She constantly looks like she’s about to burst into tears or rip someone’s throat out with her teeth.”

“... Fair enough. I know that this has been hard for everyone, but Kim and I really appreciate your support.” The click of the lock and squeeze of the door had Jay looking into the delighted eyes of his favourite person and... he wasn’t angry. He’d calmed down when they were talking about Kim, but seeing Hailey smile? Really, truly smile? He’d do anything for that. Vanessa stepped out of the way, and into Kevin as Jay wrapped Hailey in his arms, tucking his face into the crook of her neck.

“Kim is my best friend.”

“Hey!”

“Shut it, Adam. Kim is my best friend. Thanks for caring about her.”

“Don’t thank me, it was really, really fun.” And just like that, the intense emotional mood was broken. Causing laughter, from everyone this time, to reign supreme.

“As much as I love this... I’ll call it team bonding and get HR paperwork on hand, we have a desk day today. And we all need to work. So let’s put Atwater and Halstead’s desks back in their rightful places.”

“Okay seriously, where did the two of you put my desk, Hails?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The signature footsteps of Trudy Platt raced up the stairs to the intelligence bullpen, drawing all eyes to her. “Can any of you explain why Kim had to excuse herself to the back room to roll on the floor laughing?”

#adam ruzek #hailey upton #chicago pd #kim burgess #vanessa rojas #kevin atwater #jay hastead #hank voight #adam ruzek x kim burgess #burzek #baby burzek #upstead fic #upstead #hailey x jay #jay halstead x hailey upton #kojas #kevin atwater x vanessa rojas #one chicago

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jenovahh · 4 years

Text

The Honey Pot - Ch. 6 - Little Lady

“You disgust me.”

Your own words ring throughout your head, playing over and over like a bad record.

Your hands still feel warm from the heat you felt of your hands around his neck.

What’s worse is they are shaking; trembling so violently that you realize it’s not just your hands shaking, but your entire body. You clutch yourself tight as you huddle upon your bed, chin tucked to your chest as you try to pull yourself together.

Projection was a funny thing, you muse darkly, thinking of how much you hated how you even attempted to squeeze the life from his lungs. To try and kill a man prone on the floor and defenseless…

The one you were disgusted with was yourself.

When it came down to it, you could not kill.

He said it himself; you had the skill. You had the power, the strength. But when it came to actually getting the deed done, to follow through on such a terrible threat--

You fell short.

Thinking now about those cold looks you’ve seen in his eyes, you see now that Zenos truly was serious about having no qualms of killing those who failed him. When you had held back on him that day in the gym, there would’ve been no beat down and demoting you to being some lackey.

He would’ve killed you.

The thought is harrowing as much as it is infuriating, to see how little he values the life of others. It makes you wonder how he could’ve grown up to be so callous; you knew rich people saw the masses as nothing but metaphorical ants, but to actually be so heartless to follow through on killing someone…

A light knock jolts you from your downward spiral, your eyes darting to the door. Before you can even get your mouth open to ask who stands on the other side it slides open, Zenos standing before you.

He’s changed out of his workout clothes. He wears pants that look too casual to be slacks, yet too expensive to be jeans, paired with a simple printed t-shirt. Paired with his long hair now unbound, he almost looks like he could pass for a band member and not the son of a CEO. “Have you finished sulking?” He asks, his one visible eyebrow arched.

Glaring at him, you can’t help but snarl. “I’m not sulking, you bastard.”

“You keep calling me outside of my name and yet expect differently of me. What is it I always hear those commoners say...do unto others, or something of the like?” He ponders dramatically, bracing his form against the doorframe. He looks completely at ease, as if he wasn’t daring you to kill him but half a bell ago. “Granted what you call me doesn’t matter. Address me however you like.” He grins deviously, eyes smug.

You try to find it in yourself to get angrier, but you’re too mentally exhausted from earlier to deal with his obvious baiting. “Well then, Garlean scum, why don’t you fuck off and leave me to my sulking as you call it?” You bite out, giving him no room to guess exactly how you’re feeling.

“Believe me, little savage, I’ve plenty other things that require my attention, but you are perhaps the biggest investment I’ve made for the foreseeable future.” He chuckles lowly, and you can hear his chest rumble with the baritone of his voice. “You’ve been so busy wallowing in your self-pity that you’ve missed lunch entirely.”

Your eyebrows perk up at that, glancing at the alarm clock on the nearby nightstand. Sure enough, it is well past noon. Fighting to keep the upper hand, you turn back to resume your glare at him. “I’d rather starve.”

“And I’d rather you not. While tedious, I’m not above throwing you over my shoulder or dragging you down the hall like the beast you are.” His tone is teasing, but you can hear the underlying threat. “As I said, you are an investment. You’ve not studied anatomy, so it’s safe to deduce you know nothing of proper nutrition. You will receive proper nourishment...understood?”

There’s an almost crushing weight to his stare, one that even you struggle to stand against. Pursing your lips together, you finally look elsewhere. “If you put me on a diet, then I really will kill you.” You huff, eyebrows furrowed together.

“Excellent. Now get up, so that we may go to the kitchens.” He stands back to his full height, crossing his arms over his chest. He watches lazily as you climb out of the bed, tugging on the slippers one foot at a time.

“Taking me there yourself? Isn’t that grunt work?” You sass, coming to stand before him at the door. Backing away, he begins to stride down the hallway but you don’t miss the smirk on his face.

“Doing something so menial would usually be beneath me...but I have my own curiosity to sate.” He admits, long legs carrying him quickly through the halls. You try to keep step without looking too silly, though if anything is laughable, it’s how he towers over the majority of his employees. They all immediately shuffle to the sides as he strolls down the middle of the hall, almost pressing against the walls in some cases.

“Curiosity?” You echo, arching an eyebrow at him as he turns a corner and through a door. If he didn’t stop talking about you as if you were some kind of animal…

Looking up, you’ve already arrived at your destination, hearing the sound of shuffling feet, mild chatter, metal hitting metal. The kitchen is as big as anything else in the house, housing an equally large staff to match. The head chef circles around as best he can due his bulk as a Roegadyn.

“Lyngsath.” Zenos speaks, his voice naturally carrying over the din of soups bubbling and idle chatter. The entire room seems to freeze for a moment as they acknowledge his presence. A chorus of “good afternoon” is muttered before everyone hurriedly returns to their work. The chef bows respectfully before carefully working his way towards the two of you.

“A pleasure to see you this fine day, Lord Zenos. How can I be of assistance?” Lyngsath greets, carefully removing an oven mitt. Though he speaks proper Eorzean like most employees on the estate, he cannot hide the La Noscean accent he carries.

“I see that your staff is currently in the process of preparing dinner, but I require lunch to be made for this new employee.” Zenos drones, his eyes drifting down to you. Lyngsath finally looks at you as well, giving you a quick once over. “She is my bodyguard.”

The Roegadyn’s eyebrows shoot up at that, a burly hand coming to scratch at his beard. “You? Needin’ a bodyguard?” he says in disbelief, so shocked that he slips into his accent in full, eyes taking a closer look at you.

“Indeed.” Zenos smirks, having not looked away from you. “As such, you are to make sure she gets the proper nutrition she needs to maintain her proper bulk and energy.” The orders are clearly for Lyngsath, but he has not looked away from you once. You hold back a growl as you realize he is threatening Lyngsath’s life should you fail to eat.

“Bastard.” You mouth, to which Zenos’ smirk only grows wider.

“She won’t be eating with the family, however I trust I can leave it to you to make sure she shows up to eat. Am I understood?” Zenos asks, finally turning back to face Lyngsath. The Roegadyn in question gives a fierce nod, eyes glancing back to you. “Of course, Lord Zenos.” He responds.

“I will have her height and weight and other such things sent to your inbox. For now, if anything remains from lunch, serve it to her.” Seemingly finished here, Zenos begins to head for the door. “Oh, and savage…”

You don’t bother facing him to acknowledge his insult.

He chuckles lowly behind you. “I expect you to behave when not under my supervision. Enjoy what free time you have left, won’t you?” The sound of the door opening and his retreating footsteps let you know he’s gone, your body relaxing immediately. With him gone, you take glance at where he once was, making a face at nothing but air before turning back to face the kitchen.

Everyone is staring at you.

“H-Hello?” You mumble shyly, which seems to spur everyone back into action.

Lyngsath clears his throat before extending his hand. “Though you already know my name now, I think I should properly introduce myself. The name’s Lyngsath, head chef for the Galvus household.” His grip is firm as you shake it, his hand encompassing yours entirely. “Forgive my bumbling earlier; I find it quite hard to believe that Lord Zenos would require any kind of protection, Miss…”

“Honey.” You supply, giving one last firm squeeze before pulling your hand away. “I also don’t know why he needs me around, but a job’s a job, eh?” You smile, and you can see him visibly relax.

“Certainly true, little lady. Let’s get ya fed, eh?” He chortles, meandering his way back through the kitchen. You follow him as he makes his way over to a nearby industrial refrigerator, opening its doors and peeking inside. “We usually don’t keep much in terms of leftovers; everything for the family is cooked fresh, everyday. Even the staff that stay nearby the grounds don’t get access to the family’s kitchen; the young master must hold you in high esteem.”

You release an unladylike snort at that. “I suppose you could call it that. He just thinks--” You cut yourself off for a moment, remembering Ardbert’s words. “...that I am skilled enough to protect him.” You finish as smoothly as possible, watching as he pulls a tin pan out of the fridge. Uncovering the lid, you can see some sort of pan-seared fish inside, and by the Twelve does it look delicious.

“Lucky for you, its not been coolin’ off for long, so give me a moment to warm it up for ya.” Balancing the pan in one hand, he crosses to grab a skillet and sets it on top of the stove. “Go on and find a seat Miss; I’ll have this warmed up for ya soon enough.”

Nodding, you look around and notice a door on the far wall. Pushing past the busy staff, you slip through and find yourself in an elegant dining room. A lengthy table made of what must be carved mahogany sits in the middle, covered in fine porcelain plates and what must be actual silverware. High backed chairs circle the table which is clearly set for tonight’s dinner, and the visage is so pretty you feel like you’ve stepped into a movie.

Circling the table, you eye each plate, staring unashamed at the intricate hand painted designs, admiring the craftsmanship. A candelabra sits in the middle, clearly for show but no less impressive with its beautiful wrought iron. You wonder if guests are allowed to eat in here, or if this dining room is solely for family use. The silverware is so immaculate you have no trouble spotting your own reflection, your hand reaching out before you can stop yourself.

“You are new.”

A deep voice stops your hand in its tracks.

“Little lady, I’ve prepared your lunch,” Lyngsath sings as he shoulders the door open, plate in hand. He freezes in place, eyes on the source of the voice. “Lord Varis!”

Following his gaze, you meet the cold, hard stare of Varis zos Galvus, head of Galvus industries. He is far more intimidating in person than on the television you note, seeing that he is equally tall as Zenos, if not slightly taller. His platinum blonde hair is gathered in a low ponytail that reaches down his back, ends neatly clipped. Dressed for business, his suit fits him like a glove, sharp and tailored and meant to accentuate his figure. A single eyebrow is arched in question as he quickly glances at Lyngsath.

“Lyngsath. Might you know who this...person is?” Varis begins, eyes drifting back to you. If Zenos’ gaze upon you was analytical, Varis’ was downright scrutinous. You couldn’t help but shift in unease, something about his look making you wish you were anywhere but here.

“Why yes, this is the young master’s bodyguard. He had tasked me with ensuring she had eaten properly.” Lyngsath answers, his accent almost nonexistent.

Both of Varis’ eyebrows raise at the chef’s answer, though it was so slight if you had blinked you would have missed it. “Bodyguard?” He mutters, and you swear there is a slight hint of amusement to it. Slowly, he takes measured steps in your direction. “So. Either my son has found someone with skills that rival his own…” Varis trails off, and one would think he was talking to himself if he were not speaking so clearly. “Or he has found a suitable stand in to please me.” Standing before you, much like his son, he is able to look down on you with ease. You could’ve sworn all Garleans were not so tall. “Which then, are you?”

Pursing your lips, you meet the unwavering gaze of the CEO. Your mind races malms a minute as you choose your words carefully. It stands to reason that Varis has the same intellect as his son, and you cannot afford to blow your cover. “Your son wishes he were my rival.”

Goddamnit.

Amusement mixed with surprise flashes through his golden stare, the corners of his lips twitching just slightly. “Curious…” He murmurs, a hand reaching up for your hair. You frown as you sit there and let him take a lock between his fingers, observing it for what, you did not know. “What a mouthy savage.”

You can’t fix your face fast enough, glaring at the taller man with all the fury you can muster. He remains undeterred, still not having released your hair as he continues his appraisal of you. “Tell me, savage, how did my son come across you then?”

You ignore him, for you know if you open your stupid mouth, whatever comes out will blow your cover entirely. Varis huffs a laugh at your silence, releasing the lock of hair. “I would think you smart enough to answer a question when you are asked.” His voice is low, dangerous, but you feel no fear. “Answer me, savage.” His hand moves to reach higher in your hair but you grip his hand to stop him.

You do not hide your hate as you glare up at Varis, his eyes widening slightly.

Good. At least someone in this family seemed to have some sense of self preservation.

Your next words are a hiss between your bared teeth. “You keep callin’ me savage, I’m not gonna,”

“Father.”

Your eyes dart to the opulent door on the far side of the room, where Zenos stands, door knob clutched in his hand. His expression is emotionless, but the tone of his voice betrays him.

He sounds downright murderous.

“You’ve returned.”

#zenos #zenos yae galvus #ff14 #FFXIV #Final Fantasy XIV #THP

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iamkatehardy · 5 years

Text

Best F...ucking Pain in the Ass (Alfie Solomons x Reader)

Requested by: @changrettawife with prompts #46 – Can I kiss you right now? And #77 – Are you jealous? , where Alfie and (Y/N) are best friends and when Alfie sees her dancing with another man he feels jealous, realizing how he really feels about her.

Warnings: Threats of violence ( but come on, it’s Alfie, what did you expect?!😂)

Part I

Alfie wasn’t the easiest person on Earth to deal with; not anymore… Not since his return from France, after the war.

Dangerous, acting like a deranged man most of the times, he became rather more violent and intimidating than the smiling kindhearted boy you grew up with. The new Alfie warded off everyone who dared to try to enter his world, whether as a partner in business, or as a partner in life. He had trust issues that got in the way of every single relationship he had, never believing people could have good intentions.

Things were different with you. His reputation preceded him, but that didn’t push you away, nothing did, no matter how hard he tried to. Alfie didn’t hate you, and you were pretty much the only person he could fully trust; the only reason why he had ever tried to push you away had to do with his biggest fear: ending up hurting you and losing you.

You had always been there, even in the darkest and worst moment, and that’s exactly where you wanted to be, even though his new philosophy was opposite to everything you believed in. What motivated you the most to keep by his side, was the belief that that trapped inside that new Alfie was the person you once met, and that one day he’d rise from the ashes. You could see the old Alfie from time to time, through a smile, or a sparkle in his eye, that kept you hoping.

“Come on Alfie, don’t be a bore.” – You pouted, in a desperate attempt to make him leave the bakery for once. Alfie didn’t even move his eyes from the paperwork. – “Alfred…”

“Don’t fucking Alfred me; you know I fucking hate it, aye?” – His big finger was pointed at you, but you only found it even more amusing.

“Well, I’m sorry Alfred.” – After he signed a paper, you forcedly took it off his desk; smirking, you made a paper plane out of it and threw it across the room.

“Stop it (Y/N); I’ve killed people for far less.” - Incredulous, he got up, getting the crumpled paper in his big hands and trying to fix it, while giving you a threatening look. – “I don’t fucking go out, I don’t fucking dance, and I’m not your fucking bodyguard! I’m busy, a’ight?”

“Auch… You’re so bitter… Cold like a river in the winter! Luckily, I’m hot enough to melt you! Come on, there’s a whole world to explore outside the bakery.” – You sat on his chair, crossing your arms in protest.

“No.”

“Alfie!”

“Well, at least we’re not in the Alfred phase anymore, thanks Heavens!”

“Alfred…”

“Why did I fucking talk…” – He muttered, raising his hands to Heaven.

You got up, wrapping your arms around his neck and giving him a pleading look.

“No, not that look…” – He closed his eyes wide shut, taking a deep breath. You knew he couldn’t resist it. – “You manipulative little thing!” – He half smiled. “ Maybe another time, ok? Today I’m busy sweetie, I really can’t.” – He rubbed your back. – “Now could you pleeeease not fuck my contracts? I’m asking nicely, just this once, aye?”

“Ugh. Fine, but I’ll be back Alfie! I‘m not giving up!” – Punching his chest lightly, you gave him a determined look.

Alfie was a creature of habit; stepping out of his comfort zone certainly wasn’t one of them. Being stood up by him wasn’t properly news, especially when it came to having fun, or going out in any case; he was always too busy, and when he wasn’t, he’d come up with another excuse. Your persistence wasn’t anything new for him either, so he knew that sooner or later he’d have to give in and join you in at least one fun night, but not that night.

“It’s his loss, not mine.” - You yammered, trying to convince yourself of that, on your way to The Eden Club.

The arrival of the Peaky boys caused quite a stir; you were bubbling over with curiosity to witness their power and luxuries with your own eyes, that night would be a good opportunity to do it.

Alfie had forbidden you to enter that club when Sabini ran the place, but he didn’t say a word about going there while it was under the Shelbys’ management; after all, they were a kind of partners, it wouldn’t hurt to take a look…Plus you had always heard “Out of sight, out of mind”, and Mr. Solomons wasn’t anywhere near the club.

You heard a lot about how the Club had changed, and though you couldn’t make comparisons, because you had never been there before, everything you heard didn’t make justice to how lavish the place looked. From the place itself to the people, everything was wonderfully good-looking, and you were no exception.

The only Shelby you knew was Tommy, who was a little piece of Heaven, and unfortunately wasn’t there, but it didn’t take long until you caught another Shelby’s eye. Proud and wasted as he was, Arthur didn’t take long until he introduced himself and offered you a drink, and another, and another. He was in the sweet talk game with you all night long; it was in his blood: he always got what he wanted, and he wanted you. Any girl in there would’ve been easier to get, they crawled to his feet to get his attention, but Arthur was willing to spend all the time it would take to get you, he kind of liked the challenge for once in his life.

You danced, laughed, and drank until you were three sheets to the wind; although nothing happened between you and Arthur that night, except for one or two teasing kisses, you promised you’d be paying him another visit soon, to solve your unfinished business. In the end of the night, you were kind of glad Alfie didn’t want to come, because you had a blast.

After a wild night like that, you felt more drowsy than usual, so you just slept the whole day, skipping your usual visit to Alfie. His office was silent, way quieter than it was when you were around, too quiet for Alfie’s taste, although he would never admit it. He kept looking at his watch every five minutes, and when he wasn’t checking the time, he was staring at the door, waiting impatiently for the moment you’d storm in and mess with him as usual; he even roamed the corridors of the distillery, wondering if you were around talking to his men and lost track of time before paying him a visit, but you were nowhere to be found.

Alfie close his eyes sighing, and then he looked at the telephone, over his half-moon glasses. He didn’t want to throw in the towel and call you, because it was you who didn’t show up, so in his opinion you should be the one calling and giving explanations, but he missed you and this time he didn’t want his pride to be responsible for screwing up; after some beard strokes and mumbled curse words, he eventually called you.

“Yes?”

“(Y/N), I was fuckin’ worried!” – Alfie couldn’t say some three word sentences, like I miss you, I adore you , I need you, or I love you, so he came up with different excuses to call.

“Alfie! I thought you were dancing or something, to rejoice your peaceful day in the bakery!” – You speech was still a little bit slurred.

He didn’t mention how painful the “peaceful” day actually was for him, how much you were missed, to the point even his men asked what happened to you.

“You always show up after work, and today you didn’t…I though you fuckin’ died!”

“No, I’m a tough cookie Alfred! So, you already know I’m alive, anything else or can I go back to my beauty sleep?”

“ I… Maybe…” – He made lines and sketches on the paper ahead of him, trying to find the right words.

“Spit it out!” – You ranted in frustration, with a groggy voice.

“Maybe we could have dinner tonight? You know, you could come to my place, we could catch up…” – At this point Alfie was so nervous he started sketching wildly in the most important contract he signed that day, without even noticing.

“Catch up?! Alfie, we hang out every fucking day…”

“Right… I… Right…I’m sorry I disturbed you, pet, see you anther time.” - There was disappointment in his voice, after so many years you could recognize it, and just when he was about to hang up you sighed.

“Alfie, wait!”

“Yeah?” – His eyes shone a little brighter.

“No Matzoh Ball soup?” – You sighed loudly before giggling

“No Matzoh Ball soup, I promise.” – A soft laugh escaped his throat.

“Great, your Matzoh Ball soup sucks!” – You said teasingly. – “Then it’s a date! I’ll be there at 8, is that ok?”

“Fuckin’ great, love! See you at 8.” – He rubbed his hands, feeling in the seventh heaven.

Having dinner with Alfie wasn’t the only thing you planned for the night, so you got a little more dolled up than usual. The finger wave hairstyle was perfect to compliment your features, your makeup highlighted your startling eyes and the scarlet in your lips made them even more bewitching, and to top it off you chose an evening beaded dress that ended just below your knee and let show your voluptuous silhouette, ready to kill it that night.

When Alfie opened the door, he was baffled; leaning against the door frame, he tried to ignore the knot in his stomach, and the adrenaline that the sight of you provoked in him.

“Can I come in or…?” – You titled your head lightly, with a sunny smile.

“Sure…” – He stroked his hair, waking up from his daze, but watching you with amazement as you got past him.

“Thank god, because I’m starving…” – You threw your fur coat on the sofa and headed to the kitchen, sniffing and snooping the pots and pans. Alfie followed you, taking a small bit with a spoon.

“Beware, it’s fuckin’ hot.” – He gave you a taste, letting his hand gently under your chin, so your dress wouldn’t be ruined in case something fell.

“Oh… OHHH…” - You spoke with your mouth still full; one of the good things of being around Alfie was the fact you didn’t have to be politically correct or worried with norms, you could be yourself and it was enough. – “My body is ready… My body is fucking ready!” – You rolled your eyes in delight. – “You know, if you ever give up the gangster life, you can be a chef Alfie! I’d be supportive of that.”

The dinner was delicious, and you had a great time goofing around with him, over couple glasses of wine. Alfie was so awestruck by your radiance that his only regret was that he didn’t make something more outstanding, or perhaps dare something more romantic.

You gracefully got up, walking up to him and leaned down, getting closer. He felt the knot in his stomach tightening a little bit more, but remained seemingly calmed, except for a swift gasp that escaped him as he gazed at your lips. You took his watch in his hand, checking the time. His hand slid down your cheek, in a soft caress, almost involuntarily.

“I’ve got to go.” - You turned your face, kissing his hand softly.

“Already?! But it’s still early.” – Straightening in the chair, he put his watch back in his pocket, wishing you had never seen it, hoping you wouldn’t leave.

“Places to go… People to meet…” – You smirked.

“Sit down, miss.” – His eyebrows furrowed, as he rested his elbows on the table, wringing his hands. – “What place would that be?”

“The Eden…”

“The fucking what?! Say it again love, because I think I’m not hearing properly.”

“The Eden Club.” – You stated calmly, sitting on the edge of the table.

“Didn’t I expressly prohibit you from fuckin’ going there, aye?” - He got up quickly, furious, and his chair fell with a loud noise.

“Because there was bad blood between you and Sabini, Alfie. And I never stepped there while Sabini owned the place… But now it’s not Sabini’s anymore… It’s Shelbys’!”

“Oh it’s Shelbys’ now?! No shit! “ – He crossed his arms, furrowing his brows even more. – “They are fucking gangsters (Y/N)! Now, you stay away from the fuckin’ Shelbys, a’ight?!” – He pointed his finger right to your face.

“Alfie… You’re a fuckin gangster! Now get your hand of my face, you don’t get to say where I go, or with who, as long as I remember!” – You slapped his hand.

“They are fuckin’ crazy, and dangerous… Oh god, you’re doing this to push me, innit?” – He rubbed his face, letting out a loud grunt

“You know what’s fucking mad?! You, a fucking gangster, telling me they are crazy, and dangerous! They are not, they are nice, tall, handsome, elegant, gallant, good looking, sweetly perfumed….”

“No, seriously (Y/N), gimme a fuckin’ break…”

“Are you jealous?” – You smirked.

“Fuck me! No!” – He tried to argue against what you just said, but he was betrayed by his facial expression, that contradicted his words.

“Well, you can’t stop me from going...”

“Then I’m going with you!” – He glared at you.

“So, let me see if I got this straight…. You never want to go out with me, but now that you’re having a tantrum , you want to come?! I didn’t invite you!”

“If I’m not going, you’re not going! Consider this my compensation for declining all the previous invitations, aye? I’m not throwing you to the wolves… And I’m not letting you throw yourself to the wolves either… Just fucking wait here! And don’t try to sneak out, it’s all locked.” – He walked away, going to his room and slamming the door behind him. – “Fucking handsome, fucking elegant… Fucking hell!”

You put his chair in place and sat down, waiting for him. He decided to take a hot bath first, and then trimmed his beard with sharp, precise lines, before combing his hair; never had he ever spent so much time in front of a mirror.

“Alfiiiiie, I’m late already!” – You shouted.

“Five fucking minutes!” - Alfie sat on his bed, facing his open wardrobe, deciding what he’d wear, to be handsome and elegant.

“I’ll break down the door, if your five minutes last for two hours.”

He chose the best suit he had in his closet; it could be considered pretty stylish, but for him it was just uncomfortable, something he’d only be willing to wear for you. He felt like a monkey when he was inside that suit; he had only use it once, to attend his cousin’s marriage, and just because his mother made him do it. It wasn’t baggy or sloppy as he usually was;it was the perfect fit, and unlike him, anyone else would’ve thought that he looked like a new man, a classy, charming Alfie Solomons.

“Alfie, I swear to god, I will kill…”

Alfie walked through the door and you stopped talking. You stared up at him, amazed at how much more beautiful he was when he was that careful with himself. He always was, but tonight, he was even more.

“Alfie?” – You got up.- “No…Who are you, and what have you done to Alfie Solomons ?!” – You bend down, leaning your head on his stomach.- “Did you eat him?” – You got up, with a smug face. – “No… You don’t eat pork.”

“Shut up.”

“ Sorry, you’re really good-looking, I’m not used!” – You linked your arm on his, leaving home and walking to the car.

“Wait…” – When you were about to open the door of the car, Alfie opened it for you, making you a sign to get in.

“Well, thank you.” – You smiled, and leaned to open his door from the inside, as reply to his courtesy.

The ride to the club was quiet. Vanity, courtesy, and gentleness, all in the same day, coming from Alfie… How were you supposed to know what the hell to say? He got out of the car, and around to your side, before you could say anything; he helped you out, offering his arm like he did before. And finally there he was, in the last place on Earth he’d want to be: The Eden Club.

“I’ll be watching you the entire time, and protecting you…”

“I don’t need protection Alfie, I’m just fine! Now, go your way, get yourself a nice lady, and let me have fun, ok?”

Your words stung, and left him dumbfound. He didn’t want any nice lady, and he didn’t think you’d be able to dismiss him like that, but he just lowered his head, nodded and walked to the bar; Alfie wasn’t the one to drink a lot, but something told him he’d need a stiff drink in him that night.

“Pretty woman, here you are…” – Arthur snuck up behind you, grabbing you by the waist. – “Finally! Thought you weren’t coming anymore! “– You could feel his moustache tickling your ear as he whispered. – “Would you like to dance?”

“I would love to!”

Arthur wasn’t as handsome as Tommy, but he was surprisingly charming. He could be a crude chap in certain cases, but with Alfie you had learnt that crude can be damn sexy sometimes. Your hips swayed to the rhythm of the music, and Arthur had a look of wonder in his face; it didn’t take long until he was whispering flirtatious thing on your ear once again. His hands roamed eagerly over you, as he pulled you closer and close, nibbling your ear.

Alfie took a swig of his drink and turned around, coming across you and Arthur, and how steamy things were getting between you. He couldn’t stop rage from bubbling up, so he clenched his fists and got up, coming closer. When he got to you, he grabbed Arthur by the arm, pushing him away from you.

“Get your fucking hands off her! You fuckin’ Shelbys, aye, come to my fuckin’ town, mess with our fuckin’ women…”

Alfie was really short-tempered, but Arthur could be just as hothead. You started to panicked, not knowing what could happen. Everyone stopped what they were doing, to see the two worst motherfuckers in town fighting.

“Listen,Solomons…” – Taking a deep breath, Arthur shook the sleeve where Alfie grabbed him, with disgust, as if it had dirt. – “It’s not Alfie Town, so it’s not your fuckin’ town...” – He pointed at you. – “Com’ere, please.” - You approached hesitantly, and he took your hands on his, inspecting them. – “No ring in this one… No ring in this one either… Right, it’s not your fuckin woman, mate, so fuck off.” – Arthur pointed his finger threateningly at Alfie.

Alfie took a deep breath and pulled his coat slightly aside, revealing his gun. He was always ready to fight, especially when it came to protect you; he wouldn’t think twice before shooting Arthur if he laid his hands on you once again.

“You’ve got a nerve, coming in my club, insulting me and threatening me! You think you’re big, and you’re bad, but I’m teaching you a fucking lesson!” – He walked furiously to Alfie, but you quickly got in the way.

“Arthur, no. We’re leaving.” – You put your hands up, as a sign of peace. – “We came together, and we’re leaving now, this is just a big misunderstanding.”

“This is no fucking misunderstanding, (Y/N), if he dares to touch you again, he’ll be one-handed by the morning.” – Alfie was sweating, his face so red he was about to explode.

“Out of deference to you, I’m not killing him…” – Arthur slid a hand on his slick hair. - “But you, you filthy Jew, get out and don’t step in my fucking club again, or I’ll fucking slice you and feed you to the stray dogs!” – He pushed Alfie violently.

Before Alfie could fight back, you dragged him out of the Club.

“Are you nuts?!” – Already out of the club, you balled up your hand into a fist, whacking it against his chest, but not hard enough to hurt him. – “You tell me they are dangerous, and then you confront him like that?” –. Everyone was watching you, shouting at mighty Mr. Solomons, who was double your size, and usually killed who dared to look at him wrong. – “Are you trying to get yourself killed, Alfred?”

“Look, pet, I’m sorry I ruined your night, a’ight? But I couldn’t help it…When I saw his thirsty, nasty, filthy hands on you… You don’t know how he treats women, a’ight, I couldn’t let that happen! I don’t want him to treat you like that; I don’t want anyone to treat you like that.” – Alfie sat down on the sidewalk, rubbing his hands and looking down, noticeably shaken. He was telling the truth, but not the totality of it. Seeing you with Arthur made him remember how much he hated how the Shelbys played women, but also how much it actually hurt to see you with another man, although he knew it would inevitably happen in the future.

One of the things you hated the most was that you couldn’t be mad at Alfie, not even when you really wanted to. He had been an ass, he always was, but sometimes he was an ass with good intentions, and it touched your heart. You sat down by his side, laying your head on his shoulder. He’d normally shake you off, but he just let you do it.

“You get all fancy, just to get us kicked out of the club, huh? An attitude that definitely has Alfie Solomons written all over it.“ – You lighted a cigarette, to relieve the tension.

“I didn’t get fancy to come in the club, love… And I fuckin’ hate it anyway.” – He loosened the collar of his shirt and messed his hair, going back to the disheveled Alfie you knew.

“That’s great, I like that Alfie better.” – You threw the cigarette away, laying your hands over your knees, and turning to contemplate him for a while.

“Oh really?! I though you liked the Shelby style better!” – He moved his hands, slightly irritated. – “All fucking refined, and fucking handsome, and fucking gallant, and I don’t know what the fuck else!” – He got up. - “Pretty much everything this Alfie is not.”

For a second you just looked at him, surprised; but you couldn’t help it, the next second you burst out laughing.

“What’s funny?!” – He furrowed his brows, but you couldn’t stop laughing. – “What’s fuckin’ funny, aye (Y/N)?!” – He grabbed your wrist, getting you up and making you face him.

“You’re so absurd Alfie…” – You said, getting your breath back.

“Right, absurd… I’m so glad you’re pointing that out, (Y/N), ‘cause I completely forgot to add that to the list of bad fucking things about me!”

“Like you forgot to add all the good things…” – You shrugged. – “Alfie… I don’t need you to put a fashionable suit, or cologne, or to trim your bear-like beard…” – Your cold fingers traced his jaw slowly. – “ I’m fuckin’ happy with the scruffy beard, the smell of cheap rum, the wrinkled shirt, the sweaty hair out of its place, the cane…. I like all of that, ok?”

“I don’t get it…” - Alfie looked at you, confused. He thought you deserved better, and he thought you probably thought just the same.

“You’re a pain in the ass, moody, grumpy, and fucking messy… But that’s my Alfie, you know? I don’t really care about the handsome Shlebys, or anyone else are….Or whatever else you think matters more to me than you, for the matter. “

He really liked how the words my Alfie sounded coming from you; he had never wanted to be anyone’s, or so he thought, but you and life showed him how wrong he was.

“You’re big, and you’re bad… But I love you like that, like mad, you fuckin’ fool!” – You punched him playfully.

“Can I kiss you right now?” - He whispered, even though you were alone.

“No, you fucking can’t! That’s what you get for being a dick, Alfie!

A silent laugh escaped his lips, and before you could say anything else, he pulled you against his chest, allowing you to feel his rapid heart rate, as his lips finally met yours. You gasped; just like Alfie, you had been waiting for that moment for far too long. His lips were softer than you thought they’d be, and his kiss way gentler than you’d expect; it felt as if your mouths danced, synchronized, , at the rhythm of the love you felt for each other, and neither of you wanted them to ever stop. He was so passionate you totally surrendered; he kissed you with his lips, with his hands, with his racing heart, and with his soul, which you thought was long lost; that was the most exhilarating feeling you had ever experienced. After some long minute you broke the kiss, to get your breath back, and lifted your hand as if you were going to slap him for kissing you. Alfie stared at your hand, then met your gaze again.

“You know, you almost got me there… “– He smirked. – “ Your only mistake was hesitating. Should’ve fuckin’ hit me in the first five seconds after the kiss, aye? It would’ve been more convincing.” – He grabbed your hand, planting a kiss on it. – “ Love, if you’re gonna threat someone, act like you fuckin’ mean it! You’re learning from the best, make use of this valuable little lesson!”

“Fuck you Alfie! You talk too much…” – You cupped his face in your both hands and leaned in for another hungry kiss, one that made you both smile.

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