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taehyungs-perm · 4 years

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strawberry girl pt 2

taehyung x reader; college au; childhood best friends to lovers au; jock!fratboy taehyung

genre: fluff; major angst lol

word count: 11k

summary: i can pretend i don’t miss you. i can pretend i dont care. all i want to do is kiss you. what a shame you’re not here

part 1 here part 3 here; part 4 here; part 5

playlist vibes

electric | alina baraz ft khalid

goodnight n go | ariana grande

here | alessia cara

teenage dream | katy perry

floating | alina baraz ft khalid

singularity | bts

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------You woke up in a panic to the shrill sound of your phone alarm. You turned over to your side to shut off the alarm, briefly glancing at your roommate’s empty bed. 10:34. You rubbed your eyes while yawning, you had a restless night of sleep. You couldn’t stop thinking about Taehyung. You felt butterflies in your heart when you thought back to last night: the way he called you cute, the way he hugged you, the way he nuzzled the crook of your neck. But those warm feelings were immediately squashed when your phone buzzed.

Tae: hey so i got a bit held up but i just need to shower and ill be at lilys! I’m sorry!! 🥺

Then, you remembered what actually went down last night. Jennie telling you Taehyung would never even look at someone like you, some girl grinding on Taehyung, and, oh yea, the fact that he fucked some girl last night and that’s definitely the reason why he’s late this morning. Your mind was swimming with thoughts. You exhaled deeply and sat up in your bed, staring at your wall covered in polaroids. Taehyung doesn't like me. Why would he like me? You’ve seen the girls he’s been with. They are so beautiful. How could someone like you even compare?

You fell back into your pillows and wrapped your arms around your fluffy white pillow, hugging it. And you don’t like him either. You can’t. Because you can’t handle all the pain that comes with it. Your phone buzzed again.

Tae: should be there in 10

You: same

It was definitely a lie but you doubted Taehyung would be on time.

Tae: ur lying. Ur def just lying in ur bed. Bet ur still in pajamas

How the fuck did he know you so well.

You: 🖕🏽

Tae: 🥰

God, he is such a headass you thought, shaking your head. You managed to pull yourself out of bed but all the while you got ready, you kept thinking about him. You wondered if he thought about you as much as you thought about him. Probably not.

You were definitely 20 minutes late but you really didn’t care since it was just Taehyung. You pulled open the door of the diner and inhaled the scent of freshly cooked waffles and fried eggs. You scanned the restaurant and saw Taehyung sitting in a corner booth. He was wearing a light grey sweatshirt. You loved that sweatshirt. You thought he always looked adorable wearing it. You walked over and sat across from him. He was so absorbed in his texts that he didn’t notice you sit down.

You stared at him and he still didn’t look up. Annoyed, you huffed loudly but he still was preoccupied in his phone.

Fine. He’s being a little bitch then. You leaned over and flicked his forehead and he yelped loudly.

“Ow! What the fuck was that for?” He said whining.

You huffed, “Oh shut up. I’ve been sitting here for like ever and you've been just staring at your phone.”

He was rubbing his forehead, “Sorry I didn’t mean to ignore you. It’s just like there’s a lot happening at once.”

You were about to ask him what was going on but then the waitress came by to take your orders.

You ordered chocolate chip waffles and Taehyung ordered 4 different dishes. You glared at him as the waitress took your menus away.

“What? I’m hungry.” he said innocently.

“Whatever. You're paying. Anyways, what’s going on?”

“Oh yea, so like we just have this huge game coming up next week. It’s against our rival school and it’s the championship game.”

You interrupted “It’s the championship game already?”

He gruffed, “You would know if you came to any of my games.”

Oh shit. Taehyung had been asking you to come to at least one of his games, but you had been brushing it off. You had been giving him the excuse of having too much school work. The truth was you didn’t really want to go to his games and see his personal cheerleading squad on their knees for him. Hana went to a few games to see Jungkook play and she told you about them. Jennie was the leader of the group of the three girls and they were at every game, wearing their cheerleading uniforms, screaming Taehyung's name. The very notion of it made you feel nauseous so you just avoided going to any of his games just so you didn’t have to witness it. It’s not that you had a direct issue with the girls themselves but they were just a reminder that Taehyung would never look at you the same way he looked at them.

“Oh sorry. I told you it w-“

He interjected, “Yea, I know you said you needed to study.” He looked upset. Fuck. The words came out of your mouth before you realized, “I promise I’ll be there for the game next Saturday.”

His eyes lit up, “Really?”

You nodded, “Okay so continue.”

“Yea, so we are all really stressed about the game and like Hobi hyung wants us to practice everyday for like 3 to 4 hours until the big game. But like I’m trying to take school more seriously now, and I don’t know how I can manage that much soccer on top of school. Namjoon hyung is on my side but like there’s just this huge argument in our group chat right now.” Taehyung was rubbing circles on the temples of his head.

His phone started buzzing, like he received a chain of texts. Then he growled. You were in shock. You had never seen Taehyung this pissed off before.

“Then this fucking girl won’t leave me alone.”

You were kind of scared but you asked in a calm voice, “What girl?”

“The girl from last night. She keeps fucking texting me. She won’t stop.”

“What’s she saying?”

“She keeps asking to hang out. And I don’t want to. I told her last night before anything happened that this was just a hookup. Just sex. And if she wanted something more or if she wasn’t okay with that, then I would stop. But she said she was fine with it. Then it took me forever for her to get out of my room this morning.”

“Taehyung!”

“What? “

“You kicked her out? That’s so mean!”

“I didn’t kick her out. I just said I had shit to do so I needed to get ready. But she wanted to stay and I thought she wanted to fuck again and like we did which is why I was late. But she’s still texting me. And I told her nicely that I just wanted to stay friends, but she’s relentless!”

“If she’s bothering you that much, just block her number.”

“Can I? Would that be mean?”

“Well...kinda but like if she’s causing you stress then it’s fair.”

“Okay bet.”

He instantly looked relieved. He was about to say something but then the waitress arrived with your food.

After hearing about Taehyungs fuckboi antics from last night and apparently this morning, you suddenly lost your appetite. You started slowly cutting small pieces of your waffle.

Taehyung asked in a concerned voice “Hey. Why aren’t you eating?”

“Oh. I’m just stressed. About school.”

Taehyung pointed his fork at you with his mouth full of waffles, “You need to find a stress outlet.”

You rolled your eyes, “I do have a stress outlet. I bake.”

He covered his mouth with his hand, laughing, “Clearly that’s doing jack shit. You need something better.”

You threw your hands up, exasperated, “What then? What do you suggest for a stress reliever?” Even though the cause of your lack of appetite wasn’t stress, you did feel like picking up new habits could help with your overall anxieties.

Taehyung looked you straight in the eyes and said confidently, “Dick.”

You choked at his bluntness, “Excuse me?”

He shrugged and continued to shovel waffles in his mouth, “You need dick. You’re so tightly wound up. You just need some dick to relax”

You scoffed at his words, “Taehyung, unlike you my life doesn’t revolve around sex okay? I’m honestly doing perfectly fine on my own.”

He looked at you with serious concern, “Okay, tell me this when’s the last time you got laid.”

Oh god, you were not going to tell Taehyung about your completely nonexistent sex and romantic life.

You forced your eyes to the table, looking at the marble pattern, “Uh it’s been awhile.”

He asked curiously, “How long like 2 weeks? Or..”

You moved your eyes to your plate and said quietly, “I don’t know.”

You were staring at the syrup patterns in your waffle and Taehyung seemed to be getting fed up, “Cmon _____ I tell you about my life, just tell me.”

You snapped, angrily glaring at him, “Taehyung it’s really fucking hard to get laid when you haven’t even kissed a guy yet.”

You saw his eyes widen in shock.

This is so fucking embarrassing. You covered your face with your hands, mortified.

Great now he thinks I’m a prude or a weirdo. With your million thoughts running through your mind, you realized that Taehyung was silent this whole time.

You couldn’t take the awkward silence anymore, “Okay, I’m going to leave since like it’s really fucking awkward now.” You began to slide out of the booth, but then Taehyung grabbed your hand, “No! Sorry I didn’t mean to make it weird. I’m just shocked I guess.”

You sunk back down into the booth seat and snatched your hand away from him.

“I don’t really think it’s a big deal that you haven’t done anything but like is there a reason why?”

“I dunno. School is just like all I focus on so it’s kept me busy.”

“That’s such bullshit. School doesn’t occupy every waking moment of your life so there’s obviously more to it.”

You racked your brain. There were many reasons why. One of them sitting across the table in front of you. You could give him a partial truth. You sighed and fiddled with your fingers, “Because I want my firsts to be with someone I love. I’m so scared of regretting it if I just gave away those special moments to someone who didn’t actually care about me.” You paused then continued, “It’s dumb I know.”

Taehyung smiled, “That’s not dumb at all. I had no idea you were a romantic.”

You squinted at him, “Yea well if you tell anyone I will personally see to it that Hoseok makes you run laps until you puke.”

Taehyung rubbed his forehead with his hand, “You give a fucking headache you know that right? There’s this one side of you that’s like an innocent naive romantic and there’s the other side of you that will start a fight with anyone who underestimates you.”

You took your straw wrapper, crumbled it, and flicked it at Taehyung, “Fuck off. I’m not that complicated.”

He, of course, dodged it, “It’s okay cause I’m the only who knows both sides of you” he said with a wink.

You internally winced because he had no idea how right he was.

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You left the diner about 20 minutes later as Taehyung said he had soccer practice soon and you needed to get some work done. You were going through your mental checklist of things that needed to be done: I need to go to the grocery store and pick up some actual food I need to revise for chemistry because there’s an exam coming up. You were so invested in your thoughts that as you unlocked your room door you didn’t hear the distinct voices coming from inside.

Your thoughts of your checklist were interrupted as you saw Hana and Jungkook laying in her bed (fully clothed thank god).

Your eyes widened and your jaw dropped at the sight. At the beginning of their friends with benefits relationship, Hana made it very clear to Jungkook, they would never hook up in her room. As a result, Jungkook had never been over. You knew Jungkook from your writing course. You and him worked together sometimes, but you two weren’t close friends.

“Hey _____,” Jungkook said from the bed, in a casual voice.

“Um hey Jungkook,” you tried to say as calmly as possible because, internally, you were freaking out. If he was here, it meant something had definitely changed with Hana and Jungkook’s relationship at the frat party last night. You made eye contact with Hana and her face was completely red.

“So where were you this morning ________?” Hana said, trying to maintain a calm demeanor.

You set your purse on the swivel chair next to your desk and held up your bag of uneaten waffles, “I was at breakfast with Tae.”

“Oh nice. Are those.... leftovers?” Jungkook said in an innocent voice.

You threw the bag at him and he caught it, “Go for it. I didn’t really have much of an appetite.”

“Bet thanks,” he said, opening the paper bag and pulling out the cardboard box containing your chocolate chip waffles.

Hana looked disgusted and exclaimed, “You are not eating on my bed and getting crumbs everywhere!” Before Jungkook could retort, Hana pushed him to the ground.

“Ouch!” He said rubbing his leg that he bumped against the side of the bed.

The room was awkwardly silent because you and Hana were both staring at each other, trying your best not to laugh at the situation.

Jungkook broke the silence in a careful tone with a mouth full of waffles,”I thought Taehyung was...ya know..with someone.” He looked back and forth between you and Hana.

You said quietly, “Yea...he was.”

Hana folded her arms across her chest and said forcefully, “I don’t get him, _______. Like he literally doesn’t make any sense. I saw him last night. He was being so flirty with you. But then he goes and fucks some random girl? He’s just making things so confusing for you.”

You sighed and looked at the ground, “There isn’t anything to be confused about. He doesn’t like me. And I don’t like him. We’re just friends.”

“Well, why do you sound so sad then?” Jungkook asked from the ground. Fuck I forgot he was here.

You snapped, “I’m not sad. I’m fine. I don’t give a shit about who Taehyung hooks up with.”

Jungkook raises his hands in defeat, “Okay okay. But like I want to say, I’ve spent a lot of time with Taehyung these past few months and I’ve never seen him happier. And I know it’s cause you are in his life again. I don’t really know what his feelings are but I do know that you mean a lot to him.”

What does that mean? Does that mean he could maybe like me? No that’s crazy. He’s still fucking different girls every weekend. He couldn’t do that if he had feelings for me.

Hana shook her head, “I don’t know. This all feels really weird to me. Boys are so fucking oblivious. Men are trash.” Jungkook looked up at her and pouted.

“Except for you...I guess” she said looking down at him

You were so shocked at what was happening in front of so you just blurted out, “Okay I really need to ask because I’m so fucking weirded out right now, but are you two together?”

Jungkooks jaw dropped and he turned to face Hana. He said, hurt, “You didn’t tell ________ about us?”

“Oh shut up Jungkook. We’ve literally been together since last night. When would I have told her?“

You cleared your throat, “Wait wait just to clarify....you two are dating?”

Jungkook stood up and wrapped his arms around Hana tightly,“Yep she’s my girlfriend.”

Hana nodded weakly, “Yea I’m dating this idiot.”

You clapped your hands together, “Oh my gosh I’m so happy for you two! I’ve been rooting for this since Jungkook sent you that candy bouquet.”

Jungkook's phone started ringing and he looked at you, “It’s your man.” He answered the call before you could say anything.

“Hey man, what’s up?” Jungkook paused before his eyes widened in realization, “Oh fuck I completely forgot. I’ll be there now.”

He hung up the call and quickly started putting on his shoes and jacket, “I forgot we had a practice scheduled for today. I’m so fucking late.”

Hana rolled her eyes, “You are so clueless”

Jungkook was about to leave but he walked over to Hana and planted a kiss on her cheek, “I’m your clueless boyfriend now.”

You saw her cheeks turn red and you knew she was head over heels for Jeon Jungkook.

“Ugh just go to practice,” she said trying to remain cool.

“Bye ______! Bye, love! I’ll text you when I’m done.” he slammed the door shut.

You turned to Hana and smiled widely teasingly, “Someone’s in loveeee.”

“God I hate this,” Hana said, drowning her face in a pillow.

“You’re so whipped. But good thing he’s a simp too. You’re both perfect for each other.”

She removed her face from the pillow and looked at you with a love struck gaze, “I am so whipped. I really like him ________. And I really like being with him. I never thought I would say this but he makes me really happy.”

Your heart melted at her words. Hana was only this sappy when she really meant it. You felt a sudden ping of sadness in your heart. It’s not that you didn’t want it. You wanted love. You wanted romance. But in order for any of that to happen, someone has to like you back. Someone has to want you in that way. And that’s only something that could happen in your dreams because you had always been the girl no one had a crush on. So your fairytale romance was something that was unattainable for you. You knew if you voiced these thoughts to Hana, she would tell you that you needed to try first. That you needed to actually tell that special someone that you liked them. But you couldn’t do that because you were so afraid of rejection, so afraid of letting someone in and having them walk right out.

She noticed your change in expression softly, “Hey. What’s actually going on with Taehyung?”

You laid flat on your bed and exhaled deeply, “I don’t know. I just know I feel really unsure but I really don’t think I like him. I also think I need to stop hanging out with him.”

She didn't press further, “If you think that’s what you need, I’ll support you.”

“Thank you Hana.” You were glad she didn’t start any arguments with you. She just listened to your wishes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------You had been sitting in the library all morning trying to avoid Taehyung. Just all of the things that he did this past week had been making you feel ~things~ but you felt sure that you didn’t like him. You knew if you hid out in the library Taehyung would never find you mostly because you were certain he had never stepped foot in the library. You told Hana where you were and made her promise to not tell Taehyung so you were quite surprised when you heard a chair pull out in front of you and there was Taehyung and his mischievous smile.

“Hey strawberry girl,” he said plopping down in the chair in front of you.

You asked in a concerning tone, “Taehyung.... you realize you’re in the library right? Like you aren’t lost?”

He was wearing black sweatpants with a plain white t-shirt. He looked like the dictionary definition of a fuckboi with his backwards black SnapBack on. With a confident smile on his face as he took out his laptop from his bag he stated, “Nope I’m exactly where I need to be.”

Alright what game is he playing? “What the fuck are you doing here?” you said in a harsh whisper.

“You know what I realized? Everyone thinks you’re this naive innocent girl but I swear we have not had a single conversation where you didn’t say fuck.” He saw your pissed off face and then went on to say, “But if you are so curious, I’m here to do work. You’ve bailed on me all week claiming you had ‘work’ so here I am. You’ve really forced my hand. Bringing me to the library to study. Imagine that.”

“Taehyung, I came here to do work alone because you always distract me.”You looked up from your books and noticed the sly glint in his eye and realized what you had done. But it was too late.

Taehyung broke out into his signature huge smile and said, “Oh so you find me distracting?”

“That’s not what I meant Taehyung. I mea-”

He ran his hand through his hair and raised his eyebrow at you, “Is it because of my insanely good looks or because of my witty charms?”

You dropped your head against the notebook lying out in front of you and then looked Taehyung directly in the eyes saying, “God, I hate you”

He raised his eyebrow in a cocky manner with a wide grin on his face, “You're lying.”

“Oh fuck off.”

“It’s okay cause I know you love me.”

Your stomach did a flip flop. You caught yourself; he didn’t know anything because there was nothing to know.

“How the fuck did you know I was here?” you said exasperated.

“Your best friend has a weak will. Maybe don’t trust her with secrets.” He then did his annoying wink that always sent chills up your spine.

Why did Hana tell him? Whatever. It was too late now. You resumed taking your notes and luckily Taehyung was able to do his work quietly.

You became absorbed in your biology textbook until you heard a squeal, “Taehyung!”

You looked up and saw a really pretty girl standing by your table. She looked vaguely familiar but you couldn’t place where exactly you had seen her. She had a huge smile on her face as she was intently staring at Taehyung.

Taehyung looked up from his laptop with a bit of a shocked expression on his face. He glanced at you quickly and then looked at the girl, “oh hey Eunjae.”

She was twirling the front strand of her hair with her finger and giggled, “What are you doing here at the library? I’ve never seen you here before.”

He chuckled nervously and nodded his head to you, “I’m here studying with _________.”

She turned her head to you and flashed a gorgeous smile. You gave a smile back and then went back to looking at your notebook. “So what are you studying?” She said leaning her hands on the table, craning her neck to see his laptop.

“Um I’m working on a paper. It’s due next week so I’m trying to work on it before I get busy with practice,” Taehyung said, typing on his computer.

“Oh yea! The championship is next Saturday. I’m so excited to be there to cheer for you! I've been to every game this season so I would never miss your biggest game!” Eunjae said gushingly.

“Oh wow. That’s really nice of you to come to every game.” Taehyung said.

Ugh. If he’s going to flirt, why does he have to do it in front of me? You tried hard to focus on your biology notes but the conversation between Eunjae and Taehyung was especially distracting. You were hoping she would leave soon so you could study in peace but once she pulled out the chair next to Taehyung to sit down, you knew she wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon.

You tried to tune out their conversation but something Eunjae said caught your attention. You weren’t sure exactly how Eunjae and Taehyung knew each other. You figured it was because she came to every game but even Taehyung didn’t know that. Then she said softly, but definitely loud enough for you to hear, “You know, Tae, I had a really good time with you last weekend. I was wondering if we could maybe hang out this weekend or something.”

Last weekend? Then it clicked. Eunjae was the girl at the frat party. She was the girl who was sitting on Taehyung's lap. I guess Taehyung never actually blocked her number. Of course he wouldn’t. She’s a really pretty girl giving him attention. You internally rolled your eyes.

You heard Taehyung clear his throat, “Uh yea. That sounds good. But like this would be just as friends?“

She gave a high pitch laugh “Of course! I just want us to be friends. And then I mean, whatever happens, happens right?”

Taehyung said, “Yea I mean that’s fine with me.”

You hoped the conversation would end there because it was becoming excruciatingly awkward for you since both of them were blatantly ignoring your presence. But of course it didn’t end there, and Eunjae began talking about the cheer team to Taehyung.

You didn’t want to be rude but you honestly felt yourself losing brain cells at this conversation.

You had enough of their flirting because it was distracting you from doing your work. Not because you were jealous or anything. You closed your notebook and started packing your stuff. The sound of your backpack zipper caught Taehyung's attention and snapped him out of his conversation with Eunjae.

“Hey _______ you're done studying?”

You didn’t really wanna want to get into a conversation with Taeyhyung so you simply nodded.

But of course Taehyung wasn’t satisfied, “So what are you doing now?”

You rolled your eyes. Why couldn’t he for once mind his own business? Eunjae desperately wanted his attention. Why couldn’t he just give it to her and not involve you?

“Back to my dorm.” you said not looking at him. “Bye Eunjae. Bye Tae.” And you stalked off.

You didn’t look back at him.

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You were going to murder Hana. You told her specifically not to tell Taehyung where you were. But what did she do? She told taehyung.

You burst your room dorm open and there she was laying on her bed, with her laptop balanced on her knees.

You smiled sweetly at her, “Hana, I'm going to kill you.”

“Perfect, because I’m really sick of studying for chemistry and if you could kill me before our exam next Wednesday, that would be great.” she said excitedly.

You dumped your stuff on the ground and jumped onto your bed, “Maybe then I won’t kill you, so you can suffer.”

She laughed, “Okay okay but what did I do?”

You tapped your index finger to your cheek, pretending to think, “Um...lemme jog your memory. Did a certain headass ask where I was today?”

Her smile dropped from her face, “Oh fuck.”

“Yea oh fuck. I told you that no matter what, Kim Taehyung was to not find me. What happened?” you exclaimed as you slammed your head against your pillow.

Hana sat up straight in her bed, crossing her legs beneath her, “I’m sorry okay! I really did try to keep it a secret but he came over here because you weren't answering your phone. And I told him you were busy and he just kept on badgering me. I ended up telling him to shut him up.”

“Ugh. He actually came here? That’s so gross. Did he say what he wanted?”

“No he just said he needed to see you. Did he ask you anything at the library?”

You thought about it for a minute, “No he didn’t ask me anything.”

“Well then,” Hana said in a smug voice, crossing her arms.

You turned your head to face her, “What?”

“It’s obvious _______.”

“What’s obvious?”

“Oh my gosh how are you this dense? He likes you.”

You scoffed in disbelief, “He doesn’t.”

“Cmon _______. When he came in here he was begging for me to tell him where you were, it was annoying but he was so genuine. I can tell there’s something.”

“There’s nothing.” you said flatly, turning away from Hana.

She said insistingly, “Why are you being so negative about this? He’s trying so much with you!”

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, “Hana, I can’t fucking like him. I did once and it fucked me over.”

She went quiet. “What happened?”

“When we were highschool, I liked him. I’m pretty sure I loved Tae. And I was so sure he felt the same way. He gave me so much attention just like now. He cared about me so much. I was so convinced he liked me too. And when I was going to tell him, he said he started dating someone. And that someone became his forever for highschool. It fucking hurted so much, seeing him with her. It broke my heart over and over. And I just needed to get the fuck away from him. Because the worst part was, he had no fucking idea I was hurting so bad. So yea, I don’t think he likes me and even so, I don’t like him anymore. I honestly don’t have the emotional capacity to fall in love again.”

Hana whispered, “I’m sorry. I think you’ve moved on and I don’t want you to go through it again. Whatever it is, I’ll be there for you. I’ll help you keep your distance from Taehyung.”

You opened your eyes and looked at her. You were so grateful to have such an understanding friend like Hana, “Thanks. You’re such a good friend.”

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Your plan to keep distance from Taehyung was going down the drain really quickly. It started off with an unlikely text.

Jimin: hey ________ this is last minute but i had an idea. This is jimin btw.

Jimin texting you was a bit out of place. You had only exchanged brief hellos and words when you encountered each other.

You: hey jimin. whats ur idea

Jimin: taes birthday is during break so I was thinking we could surprise him and celebrate it early.

You: when were you thinking

Jimin: this Saturday. That way we can all have some fun before finals and the soccer match

This Saturday was a bit soon but you figured if anyone could pull it off, it was Jimin.

You: sounds good. But we better start planning right away

Jimin: already on it. Jin hyung said we could use his apartment

Kim Seokjin. You hadn’t personally met the guy but you knew he was on the soccer team and in the BTS frat. However, since he was a senior, he lived in an apartment off campus.

You: bet. We need to figure out food, desserts, and invites

Jimin: do you want to meet up tonight to figure out all the details

You: sure.

Jimin: you can come by the frat tonight. Taehyung will probably be out.

After finishing some homework, you grabbed your jacket and walked over to the BTS frat. As you approached the door, you saw Jungkook and Hana leaving.

“_______? Are you here to see Taehyung? I think he just left,” she said with concerning eyes.

“Hey Hana. I’m actually here to see Jimin.”

Her mouth gaped open but before she could ask you any questions Jungkook pulled her along.

“Sorry, love, but you can interrogate ______ later. We’re going to be late!”

“Bye Hana! “ you called as she waved bye.

You walked into the house and saw Jimin sitting there with Namjoon and Hoseok. You knew Namjoon because he was your biology lab TA. He had helped you with many frustrating biology labs and he was probably the only reason why you were passing the class. You only heard about Hobi from Tae’s stories of soccer practice.

“Hey_____!” `Jimin called motioning for you to sit down.

“Hey,” you gave a little wave to all of them.

Hobi smiled brightly “I don’t think we’ve met properly but I’m Hobi. “

You smiled and introduced yourself to him.

“Finished with your biology lab presentation?” Namjoon said with his dimpled smile.

You chuckled nervously and brushed your hair behind your ear “Uhh working on it. It’s taking much longer than I thought it would.”

“Phylum Nematoda is definitely a hard topic because there’s not that much information,” he said understandingly.

“I know and it’s jus-“

Jimin interjected your incoming rant, “As riveting biology lab is, we are here for a reason.”

“Right! So Yoongi is taking care of the catering. He has a family restaurant that he claims served the best korean food in the area so we don’t need to worry about that,” Hobi said reading off his phone.

“And Jimin knows all of Taehyung's friends so he will take care of all the invites,” Namjoon said.

“And all there’s left is the theme and desserts,” Jimin confidently stated.

You were confused “Theme? Why do we need a theme?”

“It would be fun ________!” Jimin said. “It can be lowkey but I was thinking we should do a formal theme. To appeal to Taehyung's bougie side.”

You thought for a moment and nodded, “Taehyung honestly does love getting dressed up.”

Hobi stood up from the couch and said, “Okay so then it’s settled. Everything is planned.”

Namjoon laughed and you chimed in, “Not yet. But I can take care of the last part. I’ll order a cake for Taehyung and have it delivered to Jin’s apartment.”

Jimin stood up and stretched his arms, “Okay, now everything is planned.”

You got up and said goodbye to Namjoon and Hobi as Jimin walked with you to the door.

Jimin smiled at you, “Thanks for coming and helping us plan this. Taehyung’s going to love it. He’ll definitely surprised”

You both stepped outside and stood on the porch. “I mean I’m not sure how much I’m doing but I'm glad to help,” You said with a light laugh.

“Well we’ll try to clean up Jin hyung’s apartment and decorate it on Saturday before the party. If you're free, we could definitely use the help then.”

“Yea I’ll be there. You can text me the details.”

You were about to head down the steps and say bye to Jimin when you saw Taehyung and someone else walking up to the house.

You were trying to see if there was maybe a way you could hide from him or leave from a side path but it was too late. Taehyung had seen you.

“_______! You’re here? You didn’t tell me you would be coming over” he said walking onto the porch. You didn’t recognize the girl he was with but with her arms wrapped around Taehyung, it was clear that they were going to hook up.

You gave Jimin a panicked look. Before you could say anything Jimin put his arm around your shoulder, just like how Taehyung did at the party, and said, “Well she wasn’t here to see you. She was here to hang out with me.”

You smiled weakly ,“Yep. Jimin and I were just studying chemistry. We have an exam coming up/”

“Yep chemistry,” he said nodding.

Taehyung had a weird look as if he were mad or something. His eyes lit up with a dangerous, angry glint that sent a shiver down your spine, “Oh. That’s nice. I didn’t realize you guys studied together.”

You knew Taehyung well enough to know that he was using his fake polite voice. Jimin glanced at you and you realized he also knew that Taehyung was angry.

“I just was having some trouble and _______ said she would help.”

Taehyung's eyes narrowed, “Maybe you should just get a tutor next time.”

You could sense the tension escalating, “Yea that’s probably for the best. I don’t think I was very helpful anyways.”

Taehyung opened his mouth to say some retort but the girl by his side whined, “Taehyung, can we please go inside?”

You smirked. Taehyung had been kind of irritating you with his weird interrogation so you plastered a fake smile and said in a fake sweet voice “Yea Taehyung. You should go inside. It’s getting cold out here. Bye Jimin.” You waved bye to Jimin and gave a glare to Taehyung.

God, boys give you a fucking migraine.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You and Taehyung had been in that weird fight for about a day before things went back to normal. He just texted you as if nothing happened

Tae: are you busy Saturday night?

Saturday evening was Taehyung's surprise party so hopefully he wasn’t making plans then.

You: uh not sure yet. What’s up?

Tae: the guys are having a dinner to like get hyped for the game next week. Do u wanna come?

Ah. That must have been the excuse to get Taehyung to Jin’s apartment.

You: lolll no way. but try to have fun and not stress out about the game

Tae: ugh ig. wish you wanted to come tho :(

You: we can hang out some another time.

Tae: you say that EVERYTIME.

You: i mean it this time

Tae: i’m holding you to it 🍓 girl

You turned off your phone and tried to fall asleep but the warm fuzzy feeling in your heart kept you awake. The sound of your phone ringing woke you up.

You answered the phone groggily “Hello?”

“_______? Did you just wake up? I told you I was going to pick you up at 9:30!”

You looked at your phone. 9:21. Fuck.

“I’m up and ready Jimin. No need to freak out.”

“Good cause I’ll be there in five.”

Hana groaned from her bed, “Why are you up this early?”

“I have to go help set up but I should be back by 4.”

“You better. We have to get ready together.”

You quickly brushed, washed your face, and pulled on sweatpants and a hoodie. By the time you had your shoes on, Jimin was texting you to come outside. You said bye to Hana and raced out the door. You spotted Jimin waving in his black Audi and jumped in the car. You and Jimin chatted on the way there. You found yourself actually enjoying Jimin's company. He was very smart which you already knew since he was taking the same pre-med courses as you but he was also very sweet and funny. He pulled up to a very tall apartment building and you both got out of the car. You helped take out some of the boxes from Jimin's trunk that had tablecloths, plates, and other silverware. You two made your way up to the 7th floor where Jin lived. Jimin led you to his door and knocked. The door swung open and there was Kim seokjin.

“Jimin! You’re late! It’s 9:41 and you said you would be here by 9:40.”

“Shut up, hyung,” he said, shaking his head.

You got a good look at Jin and he looked like he came off of the vogue runway with his blue button down tucked into brown slacks. Were all of Taehyung's friends seriously good looking? You finally understood why there was so much hype around them. They were all hardworking, handsome, but also genuinely kind, funny, down to earth guys.

Jin took the box from your arms and said, “You must be ________. Nice to finally meet you. I’m Jin. I’m the most handsome and funny one of the BTS frat.”

You were taken aback by his forward ness but went along with his comment, “I mean your only competition is Taehyung and Jimin so no wonder that is.”

He laughed loudly, “See even she agrees and she just met me Jimin.”

Jimin rolled his eyes as he put down the boxes, “You can’t encourage him. It’ll only get worse”

Jimin, Jin and you cleaned his apartment and began to decorate. After listening to what it seemed like the 30th dad joke from Jin, you heard the doorbell ring. Jimin went over to the door and it was a guy who looked like Jin’s age carrying foil covered trays. He was wearing an oversized flannel and black skinny jeans.

“I brought the food but there’s still a shit ton more trays in my car,” he said as he entered.

He placed the trays in the kitchen and looked at you, “Who are you?”

“I’m _______” you said as you took the tray Jimin handed to you.

“Ah you're Taehyungie's girl. I’m yoongi, one of his hyungs on the team.”

You placed the tray on the table, “Nice to meet you. But I’m not Taehyung's girl. Just a friend.”

He laughed, “Maybe you should tell him that. He’s constantly talking about you. ________ made me cupcakes. ________ helped me study. ________ went to breakfast with me.“

You fought back a blush and said in a bored tone, “Yea well, We’re just friends. He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him. I’m so sure at this party he won’t even talk to me. I bet he’ll be busy with Jennie or something.” You felt like Taehyung always got distracted with other people whenever you guys went out. That’s why it always ended with you ditching Taehyung.

“Really? I’ll take that bet. $20?” Yoongi stuck out his hand.

“Bet,” you said, shaking his hand. “He has to imitate the conversation and it can’t be small talk.”

Yoongi nodded in agreement picking up a tray and putting it in the oven,“Can’t wait to make $20 tonight.”

“In your dreams.” you said as you helped him put another tray in the oven.

The cake you ordered got delivered and Jin placed the large strawberry chocolate cake in the fridge.

Since everything was ready, you and Jimin were about to head out from Jin's apartment.

Hobi called from the kitchen in a stern voice, “You both have to be here by 7:30 otherwise I will make you run laps.”

You and Jimin laughed and said goodbye to Hobi.

By the time you got to your dorm, you were kinda exhausted but Hana wouldn't hear it.

“Get up!” She said tugging your arm as you laid on your bed. You reluctantly got up and got ready with Hana. Hana had to force you to actually buy a nice outfit for Taehyung's birthday because you had left most of your nice clothing at home. You helped lace up the back of Hana’s dress and looked at her in admiration. She was wearing a satin navy blue dress that coordinated perfectly with Jungkook's navy suit.

You opted for a floor length skirt that was black with dark pink and white flowers and simple black top.

Once you and Hana were finally ready your phone read 7:15. Hana and you raced out the door after putting on your shoes and found Jungkook leaning against his car outside.

He walked up to Hana and placed a kiss on her cheek and smiled, “Wow, love, you look...so beautiful. I mean you always do but wow.”

Hana gave a shy laugh ,“You have such a way with words. You look handsome too, I guess. C'mon we have to go! Hobi is going to kill us.”

Jungkook opened the door for Hana and looked at you and smirked, “Wow ________ not wearing jeans. It’s a fucking miracle. But I guess she’ll do anything for Tae. Am I right?”

He opened the door for you and you narrowed your eyes at him, “I suggest you watch it Jeon Jungkook if you still want me to proofread your next essay.”

He smirked at you as he hopped into the driver's seat and drove to Jin's apartment.

You hadn’t realized how many people Jimin invited until you went up into Jin's apartment. Jimin had invited, of course, Jennie and the cheerleading squad, some guys from some other frats like EXO and ATEEZ and sororities like TWICE and LOONA. It honestly felt like way too many people but Taehyung was a social butterfly.

By 8:00 Namjoon arrived at Jin's apartment with Taehyung in tow. The surprise went well but you couldn’t really see much as you lingered in the back of the crowd with Yoongi.

“You know you can’t actively hide from Taehyung. That’s not a part of the bet,” Yoongi said as he shoved his hands in his dress pants pockets.

“I’m not actively hiding. I just don’t like crowds,” You said shrugging your shoulders.

Yoongi nodded, understanding the feeling. You got a glimpse of Taehyung and he looked like he just got off of a photo shoot for GQ with his black curly hair and silver earrings. He was wearing a fitting black suit with white shirt and black Tie. Instead of a handkerchief, he had a dark pink carnation pinned to his suit jacket. He was saying hello to everyone, greeting all of his guests in a friendly manner and genuinely chatting with them. You really liked that about Taehyung. He obviously had his people he didn’t like but he was always kind to everyone. He was heading in your direction but Taehyung got pulled aside by Jennie. She pulled him to the couch and practically sat on top of him. Jennie looked really pretty wearing a short satin dark green dress. You sighed, once again feeling those familiar feelings of insecurity. You knew once Jennie got to Taehyung, he would be completely distracted by her. Well at least I’ll get $20 out of it. You sat down on the opposite side of the couch and looked around.

Hana was dancing with Jungkook. Hobi and Jin were trying to get more people up and having fun. Namjoon was with his girlfriend, talking with Yoongi and a couple other guys.

You were wondering where Jimin went but then you felt someone sit next to you on the couch and heard his voice, “Hey _________ why aren’t you dancing?”

You turned to Jimin and saw his beautiful smile flashing at you, “Not really one for dancing I guess. Hana’s the one who dances.”

“Bullshit. Everyone dances. You just gotta be comfortable and have fun.”

“I guess.” You shrugged “There’s just a lot of people here.”

He smiled sheepishly, “Yea I guess I went overboard with the invites.”

“Well I mean as long as Taehyung is enjoying himself,” you said trailing off and glancing in the direction of him. Jennie was still on him, with her hands traveling on his jacket and his tie. You felt a bit nauseous at the sight.

“I think Taehyung is having a good time,” Jimin said laughing at him and Jennie.

You felt that Jimin might have sensed a bit of sadness from you at the fact that you had worked hard on this party for Taehyung and he wasn’t even talking to you as Jimin spent the next hour or so sitting and talking with you.

You could totally understand how Jimin got so many girls with his enchanting smile and charming personality. Your conversation about the stupidity of learning about the cow digestive system in biology was interrupted by Hobi calling everyone over to cut the cake.

Jin placed the cake you had specially ordered for Taehyung in front of him. Taehyung glanced at you for a second because who else would get him a cake covered in your shared favorite fruit. Jennie clung to his arm and squealed, “Okay let’s sing!”

After singing happy birthday, Jin sliced the cake while you and Yoongi took out the food.

“Seems like you’ll be giving me $20 tonight,” you said softly to Yoongi.

“Hmm, I'm still pretty confident. A little hindered for sure, but I do think you’ll be the one losing twenty bucks,” he said smoothly, uncovering the foil from the trays.

You shook your head and resumed sitting on the couch while everyone got food and cake.

You were scrolling through Instagram and suddenly felt your arm being pulled.

By the time you fully registered what was going on, you realized you were being dragged to the guest bedroom in Jin's apartment.

“Ow what the fuck!” You exclaimed, yanking your arm from the person's grip. You looked up and you saw Kim Taehyung.

He closed the door of the bedroom and walked right up to you. You had to almost crane your neck to look up at him. He looked pissed off. It was kinda hard to tell because his curls covered his eyes slightly but you could tell by his silence he was mad. But you were annoyed at his behavior: him ignoring you all night, Jennie being all over him, and him physically dragging you from the party.

You crossed your arms, “What’s your problem Taehyung? Why did you do that?”

Probably not the best way to start off a conversation with the birthday boy but you didn’t really care.

“Excuse me? You’re asking me what my problem is?” Had his voice always been this deep or is it because he’s angry?

“That’s what I fucking said, right?” You said back aggressively.

Then he growled. You had never been particularly intimidated by Taehyung but right now, you were questioning all of that.

“How about the fact that you didn’t talk to me all night? It’s my party for me and you spent the entire night eye fucking Park Jimin. You were talking to him all night and didn’t say a word to me!” He leaned his face closely to yours. His eyes were a fierce obsidian. You could smell his cologne, your knees went weak.

Why the fuck was he acting like this? Was he being jealous or was he actually just mad his friend didn’t say hi? Probably the second one.

You put crossed your arms defensively and stabbed your index finger into his chest, refusing to back down, “Okay Taehyung, chill the fuck out. I was just talking to Jimin because he sat next to me and actually talked to me. You literally went and said hi to everyone but me so it seems like you were ignoring me. Also, how could I come and talk to you when Jennie was sitting on your dick the entire party?”

He scoffed at you, “She wasn’t sitting on my dick. You could have walked over and just said hi. I don’t get why you’re hanging out so much. You’re mine.”

You widened your eyes at his words but before you could say anything He cleared his throat, “I mean you’re my friend.”

You were getting fed up with Taehyung's childish behavior, “Okay first of all, we are just friends. And I’m allowed to have other friends that aren’t you. And you don’t get to say anything about me talking to Jimin because that’s more than you did. Sometimes, I don’t understand you, Taehyung. I never say anything about the way you live your life so why are you saying shit about mine. But I guess if it isn’t clear enough, Jimin and I are friends and if your whiny male ego can’t handle that, then maybe we shouldn’t be friends.” You narrowed your eyes at him and then left the room.

You were furious. How dare he say anything about you when all you do is try to be a good friend? This just reaffirmed your feelings about Taehyung: you didn’t like him. He was completely reckless. He was being so weirdly possessive and jealous even though you two were not dating and didn’t have feelings for each other.

You put your face in your hands and sighed deeply. You felt completely drained and just wanted to go back to your bed to curl up and watch a documentary. These past couple weeks had been so busy that you barely stress baked other than the cookies you made on Monday.

You felt someone sit besides you on the couch and you peeked out of your hands. It was Taehyung. His head hung low with his curls completely covering his eyes.

He whispered in a hoarse voice, “I’m sorry. I'm a dick. And inconsiderate. And a jerk. And I shouldn’t have said those things. I don’t know why I did but I did. And I’m sorry.”

He looked at you and you saw his puppy dog eyes and melted immediately. How the fuck does he have so much control over you?

“It’s okay,” you said quietly

“No it’s not. You didn’t deserve that. You literally planned this party for me. You’re such a caring friend and I’m an asshat.”

You laughed softly, “I mean that’s true but it’s okay cause I know you're sorry.”

“Do you wanna get out of here?”

“What? Like leave?”

“Yea. I like this party and all but it's getting a little hard to breathe in here,” He said tugging on his shirt collar.

You laughed, “I’m always down to ditch a party.”

He pulled you up by the hand and led you through the crowd. He grabbed something from one of the coats hanging by the door and walked out of Jin's apartment with you in tow. You honestly had no idea where you were going but Taehyung kept a firm grip on your hand as he pressed the G button on the elevator.

“Taehyung where are we going?” You said insistently.

“Just relax. Don’t worry. I’ll bring you back to his apartment in one piece,” He said with that iconic mischievous glint in his eye. He led you to Jimin's black audi and opened the door for you. You got in and then he got into the driver's seat.

“Does Jimin know you took his car?” you said pointedly.

“Jimins has been pissing me off and it’s my birthday so he’ll be fine,” Taehyung said as he put his hand behind your chair looking to the rear view window to back up.

You kinda forgot about the destination part of the journey as Taehyung drove. You got lost in the moment of chatting with him about his friends while The Weeknd played in the background. You snapped back to reality when Taehyung put the car in park and you looked around. He had parked in a vacant parking lot overlooking the sea. You stepped out of the car and heard the soft crashing of waves. The scent of salt water immediately relaxed you.

“Nice right?” Taehyung said, making his way to the hood of the car.

You nodded, taking in the beauty and calming scenery, “How did you find this place?”

“I came out to take photos this morning and I drove around the area and stumbled on this place. I knew you would love it.” He sat on the hood of the car and patted the space next to him. You hopped onto the hood of the car and stared at Taehyung. You were always aware that Taehyung was insanely good looking but moments like this where you two were alone and you could clearly see him made you really appreciate everything about him. His boyish innocence, his kind nature, his ability to actually apologize for his actions. It only took the words ‘I’m sorry’ from Taehyung to make you forgive him.

Your eyes drifted to shine that caught your eyes. It came from the rings on his hands. His fucking hands. How the fuck did Taehyung make hands look attractive? You loved the way he wore simple silver rings on his long fingers, the way he always wore the same three bracelets on his wrists, and his vintage Cartier watch on his right hand he received from his parents. You realized you had been staring at his hands for quite some time because he waved his hand in front of your face and said, “Hello? Earth to _______? Why are you staring at my hands?”

You felt a blush creep over your face.“Oh sorry. I just was looking at your rings. It’s cool,” You tried to say as nonchalantly as possible.

“Thanks. I saw Jimin wearing rings the other day and it looked really good so I decided to incorporate it into my style.“

You cleared your throat, trying to change the subject, “So are you and Jennie like together or?”

He chuckled nervously and started to mess with hair like he usually did when he was getting nervous, “No. I mean like we fuck occasionally but like we aren’t an official couple.”

“Oh. That makes sense. I just wasn’t sure with the way she was acting today. It seemed like you guys were a couple. Other than the fact you weren’t matching.” You said with a small laugh.

“Yea. I’m honestly not sure why she’s like that. Whenever she sees me when there are other people around, she gets so clingy. And I don’t really know what to say to her because I’ve made it clear that it’s just sex,” he said, adjusting his watch on his hand. Then he looked at you, “Why do you ask?”

“Oh no reason. Just wanted to make sure.”

“Why? If I said we were together, would you ditch me again?” Taehyung said in a serious tone.

You realized he was referencing how you two became distant once he started dating Yejin.

“Taehyung, it’s more complicated than that.”

“Why is it complicated? You gave me a completely bullshit answer when I asked you.”

You sighed and turned your gaze away from him to the blue sea in front of you, “Because Tae, you can’t have a girlfriend and a girl best friend. Your girlfriend should be your girl best friend. Having both makes things complicated and I didn’t want to fuck anything up between you and Yejin. It was just easier to become distant from you.” That was partly the truth. You didn’t want to be that girl in the relationship and you truly felt that Yejin and Taehyung's relationship deserved to grow without any obstacles. Because that’s what you were: an obstacle in their love.

Taehyung gently placed his hand over yours, “I wish you told me that. I thought you hated me or something.”

You tore your gaze from the crashing waves and looked into Taehyung's dark eyes “I could never hate you.”

He smiled and winked, “Don’t worry. I know that strawberry girl. It’s comforting to know you’re just as whipped for me as I am for you.”

You pushed his shoulder, “Shut up. I’m not fucking whipped for your dumbass.”

He went quiet for a moment and looked deep into your eyes, “I think it’s really sweet you're waiting for love. That you want to experience your firsts with someone you love.”

“You don’t have to say that. It’s really fucking lame.” you said, playing with the ends of your hair, twisting the strands around your fingers.

“I don't think so. It actually makes perfect sense for you.”

“What do you mean?” you said confused, not understanding what he was saying.

“I mean there's a lot of different types of girls. Some like to fuck different people and some would rather not. And that's all fine because everyone has their preferences and a right to live their life the way they want to. I think girls like you are meant for something lasting, girls like you are meant for love.”

You wish you could tell him all of your insecurities about love and romance; that you couldn't possibly fathom someone liking you back but of course, you had insecurities about talking about your insecurities.

All you said was, “One day.”

“I think you’ll find the love of your life soon. You better introduce me to him right away.” He said chuckling, bumping his shoulder against yours.

It was getting really dark but you and Taehyung kept talking as if you had all the time in the world.

“Okay, what’s your favorite quote?” Taehyung excitedly asked. He always came up with the most random but interesting questions to ask you.

“Like from a movie or book or show or poetry?”

“Anything. I know you watch and read a lot of stuff so you must have some lines that have stuck with you.”

“Um. Lemme think. You have to do yours too.”

“Okay bet. Well mine is ‘I wish they would only take me as I am’. Van Gogh said it,” he said in a soft tone.

“Why do you like it?”

“I just...feel like everyone has this perception of me you know? And I have to live up to it.”

“What perception do you think people have of you?”

“I guess the perception that I’m some stupid frat boy who only cares about soccer. I can’t have things I care about like photography or school. I constantly have to be this upbeat happy guy. I can’t have other feelings than that. I can’t have people I care about like my hyungs or you. And I’m automatically a douche for sleeping around. I mean I just wish people understood that I never try to fuck with feelings and I’m always upfront about everything. And no one ever wants to talk to me and get to know who I am. It feels like everyone wants something from me. I just wish” he exhaled deeply, like all of his anxieties were coming out of him, “that people took me as I am.”

You were quiet for a moment. Taehyung had a lot of expectations weighing on him and you had never really considered this internal conflict he was having. You said sincerely, “I hope you get to a point in your life where you don’t have to pretend for other people.”

“I don’t have to pretend when I’m with you.”

You smiled at him “I like the real Taehyung. The one who likes sitting by the ocean and taking pictures of his friends.”

He leaned back on his arms “I’m hoping other people will too. Okay, your turn.”

“Um okay, so mine is from a book. ‘Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done’. It’s from the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.”

“Why do you like that quote?”

You thought for a moment carefully choosing your words, “Because so many people are hard on themselves. Myself included. And we like to beat ourselves up for the mistakes we made. Just dwell on it and let these mistakes define us. It’s hard to pick yourself back up and move forward. But I guess that quote gives me hope. For myself, for humanity.”

Taehyung nodded “I agree. It’s beautiful. I think, humans as a whole, we just are wired to constantly critique ourselves.”

You added, “And also, as a society, we tend to dehumanize anyone who does make a mistake. Like with our system of law and order. Our entire justice system is fucked and is a form of systemic racism that cultivates a binary understanding of morality. It punishes individuals who make mistakes rather than working on reform. It’s just-” you realized you had been talking for a while and turned red, “Sorry I kinda just went off there”

Taehyung just stared at you with awe, “No I like hearing you talk. You’re so fucking smart. Keep going, I wanna hear more about how our justice system is fucked.”

You felt your heart flutter at his words. You continued to explain to Taehyung about the internalized racism in the American justice system and the contemporary issues that are rooted in the systemic oppression of people of color as he listened intently.

After talking for a little while longer, Taehyung glanced at his watch. “It’s almost midnight. We should probably head back.”

You agreed and went to the car. The drive back was peaceful, with you two just enjoying each other’s company. Taehyung parked Jimin's car and you guys headed up to Jin’s apartment.

Before you knocked on Jin's apartment door, Taehyung pulled you to the side. He was holding your hand gently, “Hey. I’m really sorry for how I acted today. It was really bad and you had every right to be mad at me.”

“Tae I told you. It’s okay I’m over it.”

“I know. Thanks for making this night fun.” Then he leaned and planted a kiss on your forehead. You felt his warmth envelop you. Your cheeks turned red immediately and you felt your heart pounding. It felt like time had slowed down as his eyes completely entranced yours. Completely mesmerized, you thought, All I really want to know is what’s running through your mind when you look at me.

You tried to ignore the feeling of your heart melting so you crossed your arms defensively and retorted, “Even though you ditched the fucking party I planned.”

He smirked and knocked on Jin's door, “We both know you wanted to leave.”

Yoongi opened the door and when he saw the two of you standing at the door, a huge smile spread on his face, “Well. Look who it is. I guess the lovely matching couple finally decided to join the party.”

You and Taehyung looked at each other. Fuck. It does look like you’re matching. Taehyung's dark pink carnation pinned to his black and white suit coordinated perfectly with your pink and white flowered black skirt.

“Fuck off,” you glared at Yoongi.

Taehyung just laughed and entered the apartment. As you brushed past Yoongi, he snarked “So where’s my $20?”

You flipped him off, “You’ll get it later.”

You saw that most people were gone which was a bit strange but it made clean up easier. It was just the BTS guys, Hana and you at Jin's apartment from what you could tell. You got to helping Hana clean up all the trash lying around. You were pretty absorbed in cleaning up and didn’t notice all the snickering coming from the direction of the BTS guys.

You looked at Hana in confusion and she shrugged her shoulders, also confused what they were talking about.

You heard Jimin and Hobi laughing really hard and looked over. You saw them doubled over in laughter and a very angry Jin.

“Why the fuck is this happening to me?” He grumbled.

Jungkook patted his shoulders, “Hey hyung. You just gotta let it go. It’s his birthday.”

Then it clicked to you that you hadn’t seen Taehyung since you guys entered the apartment. Hana and you walked over to the kitchen where they all were standing.

Hana, with her hands on her hips, stated, “What in the world is going on? Why are you guys laughing and why is Jin mad?”

They all go silent and look at you.

You furrow your eyebrows, “What? Why are you all looking at me?”

Then you hear it. A very loud and clear moan of Taehyung's name by none other than Jennie. Somehow you manage to remain emotionless and maintain a stone cold face but internally you felt your heart sink to the ground.

“So you guys were laughing over the fact that Taehyung is fucking Jennie in Jin’s guestroom?” You scoffed, “How old are you guys? Five? I’m trying to go home as soon as possible so if we could all hurry this all up, it would make my life infinitely easier.”

You turned your back to the group and hope they bought your indifferent reaction. You continued to clean the apartment and tried to breathe shallow breaths. You tried to ignore the sounds coming from the room as much as you could but Jennie and Taehyung were being very vocal. You felt sick, with waves of nausea hitting you. After 20 minutes, you felt like your head and heart were going to explode.

“Hey Hana. I’m really tired so I’m going to head back.”

She had a concerned look on her face, “Do you want me to come with you?”

“No, no I’m fine. I’m going to crash as soon as I get back.”

She nodded, “Okay text me when you reach.”

You gave her a hug and waved bye to the guys. You somehow were able to find the strength to make it back to your dorm.

The second you closed the door to your dorm, you sunk to the ground and the tears you had kept in came pouring out.

It hurt.

Fuck it hurt.

author’s note: thanks for reading! lmk if ur enjoying the fic so far and if u would like to be tagged. pt 3 will be up soon!

tags: @fleurmoon @tangledsparkles @chocolatebelievercrusade @brokenobserver @ncitydreamies @soulstaes @bonnyskies @thelilbutifulthings @busansgloss @imluckybitches @xlectrahearts

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spine-buster · 4 years

Text

l i p s l i k e t h e g a l a x y ’ s e d g e | elias pettersson

Summary: Every new relationship has its growing pains, its ups and downs. But Svea and Elias are back in Sweden, where everything is perfect. And besides, they were best friends before they started their relationship. So are the growing pains the same?

Word Count: ~14.3k

A/N: Have I become obsessed with Elias Pettersson? Mayhaps. Am I gonna do anything about it????? NO!!!!!!!!!! Some more Incredibly Soft Bitch™ hours here, along with some light smut which hopefully makes for a good time. I’d love to hear your thoughts on part two!

PART ONE - MADE OF OUTER SPACE //

Svea promised Elias she was going to make waffles.

She stood in his kitchen in his apartment in Sundsvall, the morning sun illuminating the apartment as she opened all the windows to let the light in. Before she did anything for the waffles, she made coffee. After – and only after – she had her first sip did she take out all the ingredients they had bought yesterday: fresh strawberries and blueberries, the pure maple syrup they’d smuggled back from Vancouver; and, of course, all the necessities for the waffles. After washing the fruit and slicing the strawberries, she plugged in the waffle iron to heat it up and began measuring everything into a bowl and whisking it all together.

It was only then that she felt a pair of arms snake around her midsection, making her jump at the unexpected touch. When she got over her initial shock, she placed her hands over his arms. She could feel his lips kiss her neck and drag their way up to her ear. She closed her eyes and had to keep herself from sighing. “Good morning, Elias.”

He hummed into her skin to acknowledge what she said, but continued to kiss along her neck and jawline. His hands slipped underneath her shirt – his shirt, technically – and onto the exposed skin of her stomach. Except he didn’t just stop there; he kept moving higher and higher, cupping her breasts in his hands. She couldn’t hold in her sigh anymore, letting out a breathy sigh as she gripped onto the edge of the countertop. She could feel him press up against her back. “Elias…”

“That’s my shirt, pretty girl,” he mumbled against her skin.

“Yeah…” she tried to collect herself. “So what? I’ve been wearing your shirts for days now,” she said, because it was the truth. They’d gotten back to Sweden almost two weeks ago, and after visiting and catching up with family the first week, they’d retreated back to his apartment in Sundsvall. In that time, they’d been…busy. Elias had apparently wanted to keep his promise about making up for lost time and making love on every room and surface of his apartment. They’d been exploring, so to speak: what they liked and didn’t like; what set them off and what didn’t; what drove them crazy and what they could do without. It was a definite learning curve for two shy people who didn’t have any experience with anyone but each other, but that was the exact thing that kept them both sane – that they were learning together. As corny as it sounded, it was their saving grace. They were shy, but they didn’t have to be shy with each other. They were quiet, but they didn’t have to be quiet with each other.

When he began to nip at the skin of her neck, Svea bit her lip. She couldn’t believe he still wanted it, barely awake and his voice still sleepy, after all the sex they’d been having. He even had the audacity to pinch her nipples quickly, causing her to squirm. “Elias…”

“Come back to bed,” he whispered in her ear.

It took everything in her to shake her head and deny him. If only because she was actually looking forward to the waffles. “But what about your waffles? These ingredients will be wasted.”

Elias stopped his movements. He looked at everything on the counter and the waffle iron heating up, and he came to his senses. “You’re making me choose between waffles and sex?”

Svea snorted. “I think I am.”

“How dare you.”

They both broke out into a fit of giggles. His arms around her waist loosened, but he put his hands on her hips to spin her around. “Give me one kiss and I’ll leave you alone.”

“I doubt that.”

“I promise,” his tone was begging. “One kiss.”

Svea digressed. She stood on her tip-toes (the problem of someone who was only five-foot-two) and wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he craned his neck down (the problem of someone who was six-foot-two) to kiss her. When their lips met, there was a fire ignited inside Svea and Elias that they’d gotten used to over the last few days. Elias put so much passion into the kiss – as he did with every kiss – but she knew there was more to this one because he wanted to leave her completely dazed. His lips practically engulfed hers and his tongue filled her mouth. She couldn’t help but moan into the kiss, especially as he finished it off, biting down on her bottom lip and dragging it away with him, leaving her wanting so much more.

“Fuck you, Elias,” she barely got out, keeping her eyes closed to savour the moment.

“I’ve been trying to convince you to but you want to make waffles instead.”

Okay, that brought her back to the present. She glared at him before pinching his arm and shoving him away playfully so she could get back to the bowl of waffle mix. “Get out of the kitchen.”

When the waffles were finished and plated as fashionably as Svea could present them, she brought them outside to the balcony where Elias was waiting patiently. He smiled as it was placed in front of him, taking his phone out and snapping a picture of it. “It looks better than the Vancouver ones we get,” he said.

“No they don’t,” Svea laughed. “Stop trying to butter me up so you can have sex with me after.” She paused for dramatic effect. “I’ll do it anyway.”

They ate in relative silence, admiring the stillness of the morning and the sound of the water splashing up against the bottom of the building. The city was just waking up, and from across the harbour Svea could see a few cars on the road. The tranquility of Sundsvall was what she loved: it was a city (at least compared to Ånge), but not too big, the people were nice and unobtrusive, and, of course, being on the water was beautiful. The Bottenhavet was practically always freezing but it was still her favourite, and she loved to jog along the paths in the city that were carved near the water. She’d take similar jogs around the water in Vancouver, mainly in David Lam Park since it was so close to the apartment, but it wasn’t the same. She absolutely loved Vancouver, and could see herself living there for a very long time, perhaps always, but it wasn’t home. Home was Sweden. Home is Sweden. Home was the streets of Ågne and Sundsvall and Timrå and Stockholm and everything in between; home was the drives she and her family would take all around Sweden to see the country; home was dad’s homemade Swedish meatballs and mom’s pickled herring and Sigrid’s egg coffee recipe that was to die for; home was Irene’s warm hugs and Torbjörn’s infections smile and Emil’s dumb jokes.

Home was sitting on a balcony with Elias eating homemade waffles and having him look into her blue eyes like they held the water of the seven seas.

When they were finished, Svea moved to lie down on the couch as Elias brought the plates to the kitchen. When he came back outside, he practically collapsed on top of her. He lay his head on her chest, wrapping one arm around her while the other snuck underneath his shirt she was wearing, feeling her skin, not caring how much he was pushing it up. Svea began running her fingers through his hair and he practically purred at the action.

Svea could feel his breathing steady, and she wondered if he really did fall asleep again as he lay on top of her. When she felt his thumb draw circles along the skin of her ribcage, she got her answer. That was nice, because she had some things on her mind.

“Elias?” she asked finally in her trademark sweet voice.

“Svea?” he asked back, mimicking the sweetness.

She made sure to keep running her fingers through his hair. “Were you lying to me when you told me you bought this place because you know how much I like the water?”

“Of course not,” he said. He remembered telling her at Brock’s house in Minnesota when they were in a situation similar to this one, and he didn’t regret it. It wasn’t something he would be able to keep a secret forever. “Why would you think I was lying?”

“I don’t know…” she said uneasily. She sighed slightly. “I just…I just didn’t really think you made big decisions like that with me in mind.”

Elias looked up at her. “Svea, I only make big decisions like that with you in mind.”

“Really?”

He nuzzled his head back against her chest. “I wanted to put your name on the deed with mine but my lawyer and my mom said I should talk to you about it first so I didn’t scare you,” he mumbled.

Svea’s body stiffened. Elias felt it, and looked up at her again. “Elias, you can’t be serious.”

“Why wouldn’t I be serious?”

“This is a whole apartment.”

“So?”

“Elias.”

He made a face, pushing himself further up her body so he could kiss her. His lips were so soft and for a moment, Svea forgot about everything. He had that effect on her. “It was always going to be this way. Don’t you think? You were always going to be in my life. I was always going to be in yours. There was never anything that was going to separate us.”

“I know,” she nodded her head confidently. “I just…I don’t know. But we were just best friends, Elias. It’s not like we were together like we are now.”

Elias shrugged his shoulders. “That didn’t matter to me,” he said. “I would have given you everything, even if you didn’t ask. I still would.” He paused for a moment. “You know that, right Svea? You have to know that. I’d give you anything.”

Svea nodded her head silently. She did know. She always knew. It was just different hearing it said out loud, confirmed by Elias now that they were actually together and in a relationship, rather than just best friends. It was a dichotomy of everything feeling new, yet already knowing every sentiment – that he loved her, that he’d give her the world if he could. So instead of thinking about it anymore, she acted. She kissed him again, and as they kept kissing, he moaned, and as he moaned, Svea felt him getting hard against her thigh, and as she felt him get harder, she grinded her hips into his desperately, and as she grinded her hips, he took off her bottoms, and she took off his, and suddenly, there were pantsless on his balcony.

“I want to be on top this time,” she mumbled as Elias kissed down her neck.

He audibly groaned at her request. “Get on top, then,” he said quickly, wrapping his arms around her and leaning back, bringing her body with him.

Svea lowered herself on top of him slowly, but once he bottomed out, they both moaned out in pleasure. She kept her top on, because it was one of Elias’s Tre Kronor shirts, and she knew he found it hot. His hands squeezed her thighs as he looked up at her through hooded eyes. “You were always meant to be here,” he mumbled out. “On top of me. Under me. Beside me. Wherever. But with me.”

Svea nodded her head as she began to rock back and forth. “I know.”

“And if I have anything to do with it, you’ll always be on top of me,” he made a quick joke.

Svea smiled as she slapped his chest. He leaned forward to give her a cheeky kiss. “I love you, Elias,” she said.

“I love you too, Svea.”

>< >< >< >< ><

“Tequiiiiiiilllllllllaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!”

Elias let Tequila lick his face as she wagged her tail and barked excitedly. Emil and Fanny laughed as Elias got on his knees and Tequila practically climbed on top of him, way too excited to see him. He lay down with her on top of him. “Oh, God,” Emil chuckled, shaking his head. “This is never gonna end now. We may as well all just leave them together.”

“I haven’t seen her in months,” Elias mumbled in between him giving Tequila kisses and Tequila slobbering kisses all over him. “Let me be.”

“Is that what it’s like in bed with him, Svea?”

Elias kicked his brother’s shin, causing Emil to yelp out in pain. Fanny followed up with a slap to the arm. Comments like this were to be expected from Emil after they told their families. Everybody was so nonchalant about it that Elias and Svea were almost offended. “Oh, finally?” was her mother’s and Sigrid’s reaction. Her father had the gall to joke, “Weren’t you two always together?”. Torbjörn asked, “Okay…and?” and Irene actually said, “Are we supposed to be surprised?”. Suffice to say, Elias and Svea did not get the reaction they thought they would. It was part hilarious, part annoying.

“She’s good with two longer walks or three short walks a day,” Fanny explained. “Always with the harness. And she eats when we eat – well, right after we eat. The cup to measure is in the kibble bag. And the cats – we try to brush them twice a week. They eat at the same time as Tequila—”

“You told us! We know how to take care of animals, Fanny,” Elias said as he rubbed Tequila’s belly.

“Quiet!” Svea shushed him. “They’re her babies, Elias.” She turned back to Fanny. “Go on.”

“She’s good with the crate at night, but if she gets fussy just put a treat in there. It works every time,” Fanny continued. “And…I think that’s it? I’ll still be available by text if anything happens.”

“I’ll make sure to send you daily pupdates,” Svea smiled. “Have fun with your family.”

“Are you kids going to be okay in the big bad city all alone?” Emil joked again.

They were back in Ånge, which made his joke all the more nuanced. “We can call the neighbours if we feel scared at night,” Svea said. “Hopefully they have an extra bed.”

“Extra two beds. I don’t want any funny business while we’re away that leads to a niece or nephew in nine months.”

Elias kicked him in the shin again. “Fanny, you guys gotta go now before I beat him up.”

The girls hugged as Emil got into the driver’s seat of the car. Elias finally stood up and made Tequila sit as they waved at Emil and Fanny. They drove away slowly, and once they were out of sight, Elias turned to Svea. “Alone in Ånge,” he smiled.

“It sounds like the title of a horror movie.”

Elias snorted, shaking his head. “I’m serious. I don’t think I’ve ever been alone in Ånge for years.”

He made a point. Svea’s parents were already in Torremolinos, Spain, for an extended vacation. Elias had made sure to buy his parents a trip to the Algarve in Portugal so they could spend some time in the southern European sun, too. Sigrid was in Stockholm, as she usually was, and now, Emil and Fanny were going on a quick camping vacation with her family. Elias and Svea were tasked to take care of all the animals while Emil and Fanny were gone for the week. As if they needed to be asked. “You’re actually right,” Svea commented. “No family to visit or spend time with. What are we going to do with ourselves now that no-one is here?”

“We could rent all the Austin Powers movies again and eat every chip bag in the city,” Elias smiled.

“Or we could rent The Prince and Me and I can fantasize about falling in love with a Danish prince and making out with him in the stacks of the library,” Svea wiggled her eyebrows.

Elias feigned hurt in his face. “You fantasize about that when you have a Swedish boyfriend right here?”

She shrugged innocently. “Maybe.”

“How about we watch Brooklyn 9-9 instead,” Elias offered.

“So I can fantasize about Jake Peralta?”

Elias grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him playfully, leaning down to kiss her so she’d shut up. “You’re killing me here,” he mumbled against her lips. “Should I put on a detective outfit?”

Svea giggled uncontrollably as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again. “How about I go to the supermarket to load up on snacks, and you get Tequila settled in and pick something for us to watch?”

Elias smiled. “You trust me to pick something?”

“We’ll probably end up making out halfway through anyway.”

He kissed her again. “I made the smartest decision of my fucking life.”

Svea went inside Elias’s parents’ house briefly to get the keys to the car, driving quickly to the supermarket to pick up a couple of bags of chips, but also some crackers and different cheeses so they could class it up a little bit. Knowing Elias, he would appreciate the “healthier” option. She quickly grabbed a basket and began roaming through the store, picking up the crackers and a slice of brie, her favourite.

“Svea? Is that you?” she heard a voice behind her. She whipped around to see a familiar face – Emma Gardner, an old classmate that she had a few classes with in high school. They’d kept in touch on and off, but there was no bad blood between them when they didn’t talk, and Svea knew there wasn’t a bad bone in Emma’s body. “Oh my God, I thought I heard that you’d be back in town for the summer!”

The two girls hugged, warm and friendly and with an easiness that two friends who hadn’t seen each other in a while always had. “Yeah, I’ve been back in Sundsvall for a while now, but back in Ånge for at least a week with Elias watching Emil and Fanny’s dog,” Svea explained.

“Of course,” Emma smiled. “Where you are, Elias isn’t far behind. Look at Vancouver.”

“Exactly,” Svea giggled, loving how Emma framed it. Svea always made a point about Elias following her to Vancouver and not the other way around, and although she usually said it in a joking manner, she was glad the sentiment was catching on with others. Elias would even say the same thing, so it wasn’t like he cared how he looked like in the situation.

“Listen, if you’re in town for the week, Jonas and I are having a dinner party on Friday,” Emma said. “Just something small, you know how it is. It would be lovely if you and Elias came. I know Jonas would love seeing him again.”

Svea smiled. “I’m sure he’d love to see Jonas again too. I’ll mention it to him,” she said. “Do you want me to make anything?”

“Everybody is preparing a main dish,” Emma said. “Make whatever you want and then bring it over my parents’ place at seven. They’re in Gothenburg visiting Sara.”

“Will do.”

Emma gave her one last, big, genuine smile. “It’s so nice to see old friends again,” she mused. “We all change so much but when we get together, it’s like everything is still the same.”

>< >< >< >< ><

Elias made sure to get all his kisses in before he and Svea walked over to Emma Gardner’s house, Svea holding a tray of homemade sesame chicken while he carried a bottle of wine. They didn’t hold hands, because Elias didn’t want people to know. And they weren’t going to tell anybody tonight; as far as everyone else was concerned, they were still just best friends. It was a mutual decision, but one provoked by Elias. It wasn’t that he was ashamed; it was just that he was already the subject of a lot of gossip in Ånge, and he didn’t want to be the subject of more. Not only that – and more importantly – he didn’t want Svea to be the subject of gossip at all. People their age knowing they finally got together wouldn’t shut up about it. He wanted everything and everyone to be quiet. If he had it his way, everyone would find out when they were out of Ånge and back in Vancouver. That way he didn’t have to talk about it. That way he didn’t have to field questions from old classmates about how they got together.

They arrived at the house, Elias handing Jonas the bottle of wine and Svea handing the dish of sesame chicken to Emma, who took it happily and immediately placed it on the dining table as Elias and Svea took off their shoes. They saw three familiar faces in the apartment – old schoolmates Erik, Kristina, and Oliver – and met three new faces: Magnus, Kristina’s boyfriend; Axel, Oliver’s boyfriend, and Oscar, a university friend of Jonas’s who was visiting from Karlstad.

The wine was already poured. Everyone was standing in around in the living room chatting when Elias and Svea arrived, and they were just waiting for one more couple – Brigitte, another former classmate, and her boyfriend Soren. The boys in attendance were pretty thrilled to see Elias, and they immediately stole him away from Svea, asking about hockey – the NHL, Vancouver, and the girls. Svea settled into conversation with the ladies, telling them about school and Vancouver – the restaurants, the nightlife, the boys.

When the doorbell rang and old classmate Brigitte Danielsson walked through the door, an older boyfriend in tow who introduced himself as Soren Hölmberg, Svea tried not to let her disdain show. She never liked Brigitte. Pretentious in high school despite having no reason to be, Brigitte would use her good looks and conniving charm to make friends, get ahead, and ultimately get what she wanted. Svea couldn’t ever imagine thinking she was better than someone else, so Brigitte’s general attitude always baffled her.

Emma asked Svea to run to the fridge to get the white wine out of the freezer. Brigitte followed behind her to uncork her bottle of red. “Why am I not surprised to see you and Elias coming together?” Brigitte smiled like the Cheshire cat as she stuck the corkscrew into the top of the bottle.

“There’s no reason you should be. You know what Elias and I are like,” Svea brushed off the comment, waiting to use the same corkscrew.

“So nothing has changed since high school?”

“We’re still best friends, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“So neither of you have moved on,” Brigitte commented.

Svea bit her tongue. She wanted to say so much to Brigitte but knew she couldn’t. At least, not here. If Svea saw her at the supermarket at any point during her remaining time in Ånge she’d give her a piece of her mind. Beyond that, the last thing Brigitte said to her before they went into the kitchen together was “hi”. It was a bit forward talking about something so personal with a person you haven’t seen in almost three years, Svea thought. “There was no reason to move on. What would we have moved on to?”

“I don’t know,” Brigitte shrugged her shoulders, but she knew exactly what she was doing and exactly what she was implying. Svea knew Brigitte and, suffice to say, she hadn’t changed since high school. “People who are more like you. It’s hard to believe the quiet alien boy who was a prodigy in hockey and had girls flinging themselves on him left, right, and centre stuck around with the quiet girl whose head was always in a book instead of in his lap, that’s all,” she said, sliding the corkscrew across the counter before walking away and back into the dining area.

Brigitte knew nothing. Move on to people ‘more like you’? There was nobody in the world more like her than Elias. Svea rolled her eyes before uncorking the bottle and walking back to the dining table. Almost everyone had already taken their seats, and Svea found her spot beside Elias. Jonas began passing around the food. Soon, everybody’s plates were filled with food and glasses were filled with wine.

The discussion around the dinner table was mostly to do with university – once the hockey talk was over. Everyone was in varying programs, so it was mostly just a discussion of what new things everybody was learning – the things they’d read, the classes they’d taken, things that opened their eyes and things that made them think. It was a lot of shared experiences, a lot of expanded horizons for a bunch of kids from a tiny town in Sweden who went to high school in a small city in Sweden. Talks about literature they’d read – Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner in American Literature, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck in Voices from the Great Depression, essays from Nick Bostrom and Per Bauhn and novellas by Ingmar Bergman. Social contracts written by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Politics in Sweden and the European Union.

That’s when things got interesting.

“You can’t honestly believe that,” Svea deadpanned to Soren as she let her ice cream liquify in her small bowl. People at the other end of the table were discussing something else, but Svea had the absolute delight of sitting across from this 26-year-old bozo who did things like say ‘To be devil’s advocate’ just so he could say something provocative or against the norm. He was that type of asshole and, in a mean-spirited fashion, Svea thought him to be a perfect match for Brigitte. “Trickle-down economics doesn’t work. I don’t know how you can think that it does. The capitalist system does not work in favour of society’s poorest citizens. It just doesn’t. Trickle-down economics was just invented by fat rich guys to give themselves tax breaks so they can hoard all their money and not pay their workers liveable wages.”

“Are you saying they don’t create jobs?” Soren smiled at her patronizingly.

“Maybe you don’t understand the words that are coming out of my mouth. I never said a thing about job creation,” Svea retorted. “I’m saying that it’s inevitable that a capitalist system exploits its most vulnerable workers. And for you to sit there and say that it works when it so obviously doesn’t is just ignorant.”

“But the most vulnerable needs jobs, don’t they?” he pressed.

“The most vulnerable in society require justice, equality, dignity – so many other things before they need a job. And unless society’s systems are created and executed to help create that justice, equality, and dignity, they’ll never get it. But they should fight to get it. They have a right to.”

“So you adhere to Hobbes’s view on the social contract then? That people should depose of governments and systems that they don’t like because they don’t get what they want from it?”

Svea furrowed her brows. She wanted to wipe that smug, pretentious, pompous, dastardly smile off his face. “You have your social contracts mixed up, sweetheart. It was Locke, not Hobbes, who believed that when the king or the ruler becomes a tyrant and acts against the interests of the people, the people have a right and an obligation to resist his authority so the social contract can be dissolved and the process of creating a new political society can happen. It’s not about getting what they want, it’s about upholding the contract. That’s what it’s called a social contract. Anybody who’s taken an introduction to philosophy class knows that’s Locke because it inspired Thomas Jefferson and the other leaders of the American Revolution.”

Svea was getting heated. Elias’s eyes had been darting back and forth between her and Soren, trying to take in everything they were saying. It was hard to follow for him. He had no clue what they were talking about. “Be careful, Soren,” Brigitte spoke up, smiling mischievously behind her wine glass. “Svea won all the debating awards in high school.”

“That’s easy when you’re in Norrland,” he quipped, to which Brigitte laughed. Svea wasn’t laughing. Soren took notice. “Oh come on, Svea. I’m just messing with you. It’s just some friendly banter. Has a guy never flirted with you before?” he asked. Was that meant to be flirting?! Svea still didn’t respond. “You get quite feisty. Are you like this in your tutorials, too? You must get really good marks for participation.”

“I get good marks for everything,” she said dismissively.

Soren didn’t let up. After the third and fourth glasses of wine were poured, and after everyone retired to the couches or the floor, lighting their cigarettes because any twenty-somethings who fancied themselves as intellectuals took up smoking to look and play the part, Soren continued to chat with Svea. Jonas and Oscar struck up a conversation with Elias, and he was trying to be polite in engaging with them while also eavesdropping on Svea and Soren. He couldn’t help it. They continued to discuss things he had no clue about, but he still listened. Still made sure Soren wasn’t trying to…pull anything. He was older and smarter and had a nice head of hair and a good beard and every time Elias looked at him, he wanted to punch him. He didn’t like how close he was standing to Svea. He didn’t like how Soren looked at her how he looked at her. Shouldn’t he be focused on Brigitte – on at least her fifth glass of wine and chain-smoking in a chair next to the front window – anyway?

“The term you’re looking for is American exceptionalism,” he heard Svea say.

“That essay was a complete farce.”

“The film American History X with Edward Norton would be a good education for you on how white power movements target youth to brainwash them.”

“It’s pretty clear as day that Donald Trump stokes the fires of white nationalism. How can you say it doesn’t? What happened in Charlottesville was a disgrace. And no, it’s not freedom of speech. No. No it isn’t – not to me. Not in the Canadian sense. No, no – Americans have amendments – Americans do. Not Canadians. Canadians have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And if your speech promotes hate against an identifiable group, it’s no longer just free speech, it’s hate speech. It’s – no, stop – it’s hate speech and it should have consequences. It’s not free speech.”

They disappeared. Soren led Svea into the kitchen, probably to get more wine or to offer her one of those awful and disgusting herbal cigarettes he’d rolled himself like a dick, and Elias couldn’t see them, couldn’t hear them. He got nervous. It wasn’t that he needed to be in sight of Svea at all times, like some overprotective asshole, but he didn’t like Soren. And when he didn’t like somebody, he didn’t trust them. Especially with Svea. But he tried to calm down, to think nothing of it. He thought about how he should probably google what a social contract was when they got back home. How he should google what American exceptionalism is.

Elias because increasingly aware of the differences between him and Svea. For all that they were the same, their fundamental difference – and perhaps the one most glaringly obvious to him now – was that she knew all of this stuff and he didn’t. She knew what a social contract was, what American exceptionalism was, who all these different political figures and philosophers were and he just…didn’t. And because he didn’t, he couldn’t ask her about it. He couldn’t talk to her about it. No wonder she’d barely stayed quiet all evening, and was barely staying quiet now with Soren – she could actually talk about it! Speak her mind! Show off what she knew! She couldn’t do that with him. She couldn’t do that when hockey occupied his life more than anything, when he traveled, when he knew what she was studying but didn’t know about what she was studying. He was out of touch, so different than everyone else in the room, definitely not as smart as Svea and it wasn’t even close.

He tried not to think about it, but it was all he could think about.

Eventually, Svea and Soren came back. Elias didn’t know how long it had been; he couldn’t tell. But Kristina and Magnus had already left, so Svea wanted to leave too. They hugged everybody, and said their goodbyes, and put on their shoes, and closed the door behind them. As they walked up the street, far enough away from the house, she grabbed his hand. “Did you like that?” she asked. Her voice was soft.

Elias nodded his head. “It was nice to see everyone. To see what they’ve all done since we left school.”

“Too bad we had to see Brigitte again,” Svea quipped. “Soren was interesting, too.”

Interesting. Interesting. Elias nodded his head. “He seemed very worldly.”

“You know he’s like, almost twenty-seven?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Seemed weird to me that he was hanging out with a bunch of 21 year olds trying to prove he was smarter than everyone else.”

When they got back to the house, they let Tequila out one last time before going upstairs and getting into bed. Svea could tell something was up with Elias, but it was one in the morning and she didn’t want to press it. He was probably just mentally exhausted like she was – being around a big group of people for so long took a lot out of them. And it was different when it was a big group of people you knew versus a group of people you knew but didn’t converse with a lot on a daily basis. So instead of asking about it, Svea instead cuddled up to him over the covers, draping an arm over him and giving him one last kiss before falling asleep, hoping it would help.

***

Svea hadn’t slept well all night. Because of Elias.

The way that he was clutching on to her, like she was a feather and would fly away at the slightest bit of wind, confirmed to her that there was something wrong. Elias liked to always be touching her in some way or another, especially in the last few weeks – hand holding, hand on thigh, sitting close – but this felt different. This felt like something was wrong, that there was something bothering him that he wasn’t verbalizing, and it was eating him up inside. He’d been tossing and turning the whole night (she’d felt it). He’d gotten up a few times throughout the night to go to the washroom or the kitchen for water, taking longer than she would have liked each time.

His body was so rigid, so cold. So different from how it usually felt.

“What’s wrong, Elias?” she asked softly, looking up at him though she kept her head on his chest. She brought one of her hands up to cup his face gently. He leaned into her touch.

“Nothing. Don’t worry,” he said.

She pushed herself up, still on top of him but perching herself against her elbow. “Stop lying to me.”

“Svea…”

“Elias, you always tell me you would never lie to me,” she used his own words. He knew she was right, but it pained him to make her worry over something so…stupid. “Did somebody say something last night? Was it Brigitte?”

Elias shook his head. “It wasn’t Brigitte.”

“Then what is it?”

Elias took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. He didn’t want to get emotional in front of her, even though he was getting emotional. Just thinking about it made his heart hurt and head spin. “Am I holding you back?” he asked softly, but directly, looking into her eyes. “Be honest.”

Svea furrowed her brows. She didn’t quite understand his question. “Holding me back from what?”

“From…I don’t know. Things you want to do. Things you want to talk about, since I can’t talk about them.”

She could see the tears begin to well in his eyes, and in that small, emotional moment she knew. She knew what he meant by his question, what he meant by his words. It made her heart break realizing he was thinking this way, that he could ever think this way. “Elias, no.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“Elias, no,” she said more emphatically.

“Because you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met,” he huffed out nervously, his cheeks red and the first tear escaping down his eye.

She shook her head and used her thumb to wipe it away. “I’m not that smart.”

“Yes you are!” he affirmed, his voice cracking. More tears escaped now, and she moved even closer to him as she continued to wipe them all away. “You’re the smartest person to me. You know so much about politics and geography and history and philosophy, and you always explain it so well, and I’m just…just here, being a hockey player, and you could be…you could be out there, talking to all these different, like, intellectual people—”

“Elias—”

“—instead of having to explain stupid things to me—”

“Elias,” she said sternly. “Elias, stop it. I would rather be with you than anywhere else in the world.”

“You were talking to that guy last night, and I know, I know you weren’t flirting or anything, but I know he was, and he was able to talk to you about all these different things, and then I thought about how bad you must want to talk about that sort of stuff all the time because that’s what you’re going to school for, and you can’t with me, you just can’t, and it was awful just sitting there and not being able to contribute because I have absolutely no clue what a social contract is or what any of it means—”

“Elias,” she interrupted him. She knew it was eating Elias up inside. “Soren was some pretentious pseudo-intellectual who didn’t even know Vancouver was in Canada. He made me so mad by insisting that Vancouver was in the States that I almost slapped in at the party. He’s Brigitte’s boyfriend – I should have known anyone that hands out with her would be that way – but he’s an idiot, Elias, the worst kind of idiot. The type that thinks he’s not an idiot just because he reads books and went to university.”

Elias was silent. He sniffled a few times, wiping away his own tears. “I know it sounds selfish of me to say, but I don’t want to lose you, Svea. I just got you.”

“You’ll never lose me, Elias,” she whispered, her thumb grazing over his lips lightly.

“And you know how much I love you, right?” he asked, his voice still a bit shaky even though she shot down any notion that Soren was match to Elias, or equal to him in any way. “Svea, in my eyes you hung the moon in the sky. You’re the sun and the stars and I just live in your universe,” he said.

Svea nodded his head. “I love you more than anything, Elias. I don’t want you ever thinking you’re holding me back or anything like that. You’re the only one for me in this whole damn universe. We wouldn’t have stayed best friends for so long if you weren’t.” She paused briefly. “Do you remember what you told me at Brock’s?”

“I can’t now. I’m too emotional,” he admitted.

“When I asked you if you ever get sick of me because we’re always together, you said that we’re an extension of the other, and you said if you couldn’t be in the same room with yourself all the time, then who can you be with,” she recounted his words. He nodded and stayed silent to catch his breath. “If I could go anywhere, to any planet, to any star, to any galaxy at the edge of the universe, I’d just want to be in a room with you.”

Tears poured out of Elias’s eyes at her words, and he clung onto her with everything he had in him as he buried his face into the crook of her neck. She felt his tears on her skin, and she clung on to him as tightly as he clung on to her. She held him for a while, rubbing soothing circles onto his back.

She let him cry. It was important to let him cry.

When his shaking stopped and his breathing steadied, and she knew it was safe, Svea was able to look him in the eye again. He was no longer embarrassed. Nothing was off limits now. “You’re the only person in this world for me, Elias. Nobody else comes close.”

He nodded. He understood.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too,” he said.

“Show me,” she urged. “Show me how much you love me.”

Almost immediately he began kissing Svea – big, wet, open mouth kisses that left her completely breathless and utterly hypnotized the longer they went on, and they went on for a long time – longer than she was used to, but she wasn’t exactly complaining. More kisses, more heat. More touching. More moaning. More hands wandering, more hands squeezing. His hand traveled down to her core. Svea’s breath hitched in her throat at his touch. She mewled into a kiss. “Elias—”

“Shhh…” he began kissing down her neck. She mewled out again as he teased her hot core without any warning. She squeezed her legs together, the sensation new. “I’m gonna show you how much I love you.”

“Show me,” Svea nodded quickly. “Show me I’m yours.”

The words were simple and innocent but it ignited something within Elias. He rolled her over onto her back, fussing with her shirt before tugging it up and over her head and diving right towards her breasts, capturing a nipple in his mouth. Svea let out a surprised gasp. She could feel him roll his tongue and she closed her eyes. She arched her back at his touch. “Elias—" she stuttered out, unable to form any other words besides his name. When he was done with her breasts he kissed a trail down to the waistband of her pajama pants before pulling them and her underwear off all in one go, flinging them across the room. “Elias—”

No warning. No precursor. He just dove right in. Svea shrieked out at the feeling of his tongue between her folds. It was all new to her, and she didn’t know how to feel – the only thing she knew was that it felt good. Like, really good. It took her a while to get to her senses before she could speak. “Elias—” she gulped. “El…Elias—”

“S’it feel good?” he mumbled against her lips.

She nodded her head feverishly. “Y—Y—Yes,” she barely managed to get out. She’d never felt anything like it. “Fuck, Elias” she huffed.

“Tell me what you want,” he mumbled again, snaking his hands up to squeeze her breasts.

She could barely think. “I want…”

“Come on, pretty girl,” he cooed.

“I want you to make me cum, Elias,” she was barely able to breathe.

Elias continued with as much passion and enthusiasm as she’d ever seen, thoroughly and honestly enjoying the experience of eating her out like she was his favourite meal even though he hadn’t tasted her yet. His laps were rhythmic and perfect, his sucking flawless and immaculate. Like everything else he did in his life, Elias was perfect at it. Svea was seeing stars. She arched her back again, huffing and puffing and trying not to go crazy. “I’m so close, Elias.”

“Cum for me, Svea. Let me taste you.”

When she came, her entire body shook; every part of her, from head to toe, felt like it was on fire. She cried out, chanting his name over and over again like a prayer before squeezing his head between her thighs. When he lapped up every last drip, he rose from his position, moving to kiss her. She tasted herself on his lips and groaned. She wrapped her legs around him and he snuck his hand between them and positioned himself at her entrance, teasing her. She was barely recovered from her orgasm when she felt the tip of his hard cock teasing her. She dug her nails into the skin of his back. “Fuck me, Elias,” she mewled out, knowing it would drive him crazy – wanting to drive him crazy. “Show me I’m yours.”

Everything about them up until now had been so soft, but this was different. There was a different sort of intensity now, a different sort of pleasure and a different sort of love they were both feeling. He entered her in one quick thrust, making her cry out again. There was nothing soft about the way he proceeded to fuck her – he felt possessive and selfish and greedy all at once, wanting her only for himself. The sounds she was letting out told him she wanted it that way – she liked what he was doing, and how he was doing it, and she wanted to be only his instead of being anyone else’s. That gave him the confidence to keep going, to keep fucking her like he was, because if she wanted it, and wanted it that way, that’s all that mattered.

He looked her right in the eye as he thrust in and out of her. “I’m yours,” his voice was deep and serious. “I’m yours and you’re mine.”

“I’m yours and you’re mine,” Svea repeated after him.

They came together. Svea’s orgasm felt more powerful than her fist, and she could feel Elias filling her up, his body shaking after his last thrusts. He collapsed on top of her and buried his face in her neck. They caught their breaths slow and steady, trying to make the feeling last. He was still inside her when she felt his lips grazing the skin of her neck, dragging their way up to her jawline and to her ear. “I’m yours and you’re mine,” he whispered.

She smiled. “I’m yours and you’re mine.”

>< >< >< >< ><

“What would you classmates say if you showed up to class with a Louis Vuitton backpack?”

Svea gave Elias one of her looks as he browsed through the backpacks at the Louis Vuitton store in Stockholm, Emil behind him trying one on and Fanny beside her, looking down at the jewelry in the glass case. “Don’t even think about it,” she mumbled. In their last few days in Stockholm, Elias had been beyond generous with her. She felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. “And it’s summer. Don’t make me think about school.”

From beside her, Fanny laughed. “You already bought her the Chanel bag, Elias.”

“And the Prada sunglasses,” Emil quipped.

“And the tickets for tomorrow night even though they were sold out,” Fanny added again.

The more they listed, the redder Svea got. She looked to Elias. He shrugged. “She might need another bag. You never know.”

Fanny looked over at Svea dramatically. “Do you need another bag?” she asked, a smirk on her face.

“What I need is food,” Svea giggled. She saw Elias smirking from his spot. “But I know we’ll be here another hour until Emil tries on all the backpacks and makes a decision.”

“You know me very well, Svea,” Emil said absent-mindedly, still checking himself out in the mirror.

As they sauntered around the store, looking at all the pretty things while Elias helped Emil decide on a backpack, Svea and Fanny chatted and looked at wallets and the limited edition purses, which cost about double what Svea was paying in tuition at UBC. Svea always loved Fanny – she was funny and bubbly and had her head on straight. Plus, she was an animal lover and let Svea come over any time she wanted to play and cuddle with Tequila, Whiskey, and Diesel. Svea appreciated her kindness.

“I didn’t think it was possible to see Elias even happier, but I think he is,” she mentioned when they were far enough away from the boys, pretending to look at the shoes. “I mean, he’s always happy with you, no matter what you guys are doing, but now especially so.”

“You think so?” Svea blushed.

“Oh, I know so,” Fanny nodded. “Everyone can see it. Even yesterday…you didn’t see, but when we were all at lunch at that pasta place, he just stared at you for a good, like, fifteen seconds. Just in awe of you.”

“What was I doing?”

“Stuffing tagliatelle into your face.”

Both girls giggled but a shiver ran up Svea’s spine. She hadn’t caught him doing that – and she didn’t know if she would have wanted to. “I hope I looked semi-attractive doing it and didn’t have alfredo sauce spilling down my chin.”

“I think it’s just that…well, now that you two are together, everything is just…the way it should be, you know?” Fanny continued. “Me and Emil, you and Elias…Irene and Törbjörn were over the moon when you guys told them. Over. The. Moon.”

“Really? They seemed pretty…unsurprised when we told them.”

“Oh, well of course we were all unsurprised. But that doesn’t mean they were any less happy,” Fanny explained. “They were over the moon that it happened now instead of you guys dancing around it for the next few years. You know they love you, Svea.”

“Did we keep them waiting too long?” Svea joked.

“You kept all of us waiting long enough.”

After Emil bought his new backpack, they headed to Griffin’s Steakhouse, one of the best in Stockholm, for dinner. Elias was recognized by a few people as they were waiting for their table, and he politely took pictures with them. Svea was sure she was in the background of some of them, holding her Chanel and Prada shopping bags like some sort of bougie creeper. It happened quite a bit in Vancouver as well, and everyone was generally nice and polite about it. Elias made time for the kids especially, but in this case, it was mostly grown men. Nobody bothered them while eating, which is all that mattered.

They walked back to the hotel. Emil and Fanny hugged and said goodnight to Elias and Svea before walking down the hallway to their room. Elias stuck their key card in the door. He threw his bags down onto the bed and collapsed on it, starfish style, as Svea giggled. “I’m going to take a shower,” she said, placing her bags neatly on the chair at the desk. Elias groaned in response. “Are you going to be okay if I leave you alone or do you need help changing into your pajamas?” she asked like he was a little kid.

She heard him snort. “As much as I want you to peel every article of clothing off of me, I’ll leave you be.”

Svea took a long shower – long enough for her to feel completely cleansed of the day. She put one of the luxurious bathrobes on, tightening it around her waist before brushing her teeth, putting on her moisturizer, and grabbing her hairbrush. As she brushed through her short hair, she heard the door handle turn. Elias’s head popped through. “Hey.”

She looked over at him squeezing his way through the door. He still hadn’t changed into his pajamas. She wondered if he’d stayed on the bed face down like a starfish for the duration of her shower. “Could have knocked,” she smirked.

“Cause I haven’t seen you naked?”

She scrunched her face at him as she sat on the toilet, continuing to brush out the tangles in her hair. “Is there something wrong?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I just wanted to give you something.”

“If it’s your dick, the time has passed for shower sex.”

“No, it’s…”

As he trailed off, Svea noticed for the first time that he was very clearly holding something behind his back. She was skeptical. “What’d you do, Elias?”

“You know when you and Fanny were in Chanel? Before Emil and I came in?”

“Yeah…”

Slowly, his hands came forward from behind his back to reveal a box wrapped in white paper and sealed on the edges with a wax seal. She didn’t recognize anything special about it, or know what it was at first. He handed it to her and she examined it quickly. “What is it?”

“Why don’t you open it?”

She placed it in her lap and unwrapped it delicately, making sure not to break the wax seal. It must have been important, she thought, if the thing was wax sealed. Unfolding the paper and peeling it back gently, she saw a red box. Cartier. She looked up at Elias. “What did you do?” she repeated, her voice more accusatory but also more nervous than it was moments earlier.

“Svea, come on. Open it.”

She pushed the small button. Inside, the infamous Love bracelet in gold sat staring back at her on its plush velvet. It was shiny and sparkled in the light of the bathroom as Svea held it in her lap, staring at it like it wasn’t real. In real life, she didn’t get things like this. She didn’t even come close to them. Now, that had changed. “Elias…” she whispered.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“Of course I like it.”

“I know it’s kinda like, basic or whatever…like a lot of people have them—”

“I don’t know a lot of people who have them,” Svea interrupted him. “The only person I know who has them is Grace and that’s because she bought them for herself.”

“Yeah,” Elias nodded quickly. “I just thought…well…look on the inside,” he said, suddenly so shy and nervous about it all.

She took it off its holder and held it up to her eye. She saw the traditional engravings of Cartier, the gold quality, and everything else. But then something else caught her eye. Some intricate script. Small, but legible.

I’m yours and you’re mine

She stared at Elias. “You didn’t.”

He only smiled. He bent down on his knees in front of her, in between her legs, resting his hands on her thighs over the plush fabric of the robe. He could see her admiring it, taking a second look at the engraving and at how much the gold shone in the light. “Can I put it on you?” he asked softly.

Svea nodded. He grabbed the screwdriver from the box and screwed it onto her wrist easily, taking his time, making sure to make every moment last. He knew that it was just a piece of jewelry – an expensive piece of jewelry – but she so obviously loved it, and loved the sentiment, and he was an extremely sentimental person, which is why he got it for her in the first place. They stayed silent until he was finished, and even then, they only smiled at each other – bashful smiles, their cheeks red at the simplicity yet intimacy of the moment. He couldn’t help but lean up slightly to give her a quick kiss. “Won’t be the last time I kneel in front of you, you know.”

Svea smiled even wider, but shook her head playfully. “If you say so. We’re only twenty-one.”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” he said, giving her another quick kiss. “If you wanted to get married tomorrow, I’d do it.”

“I know you would. That’s why we can’t,” she giggled.

“I love you, you know. As much as hockey is my life, sometimes I just wish it could be summer all the time so I get to spend it with you,” he whispered.

That was something new. Elias loved her, but he was only ever obsessed with hockey. It was his entire life. It was the other love of his life, and how he made his living – how he was able to afford Cartier bracelets and Chanel bags and surprise Coldplay tickets even though they were sold out months ago. To hear that he wanted it to be summer all the time – a time when he couldn’t play hockey – was new. He’d never said anything like that before. She didn’t know if he’d openly admit that to anyone else besides her, either. She felt privileged knowing, but now she was also the gatekeeper of the secret.

He picked her up. She yelped slightly, giggling all the way to the bed where he plopped her down. By this point, her robe had become loose, and she took it off to change into her pajamas. She tucked herself into bed, Elias slipping in beside her, cuddling up to her. In almost no time, she felt his breathing steady and he was peacefully asleep.

She wasn’t.

She tried to fall asleep like a regular person, especially because of the day they had ahead of them tomorrow, but she couldn’t. She kept thinking about what he said. Sometimes I wish it could be summer all the time. Did he really mean that? Or was he just saying things for the sake of saying them? Because he was in love? Because he was letting that feeling of intense love overtake him? Svea knew hockey meant more to him than a lot of other things – than most things – though Elias was always intent on being remembered for being a good person rather than just being a good hockey player. Did he only want her in the summer, when he didn’t have to think about hockey?

She tossed and turned thinking about that question. And when she couldn’t toss and turn anymore, when she couldn’t stare up at the ceiling anymore, she got out of bed gently, making sure not to wake him. She walked over to the sliding door and stepped out onto the balcony, breathing in the night air.

Did Elias only want a summertime Svea? Did he only want the version of her that he was with now? She thought about what she was like during the summer – happier, less stressed, more carefree about everything. No wonder, since she didn’t have readings and assignments to worry about. And it was no wonder now, since this was essentially her last summer before things got really serious. She had a lot of decisions to make in the upcoming year about her future and what career path she wanted to go down. She was taking the GRE in case she wanted to pursue a Master’s in public policy. She was taking the LSAT in case she wanted to pursue law school. She was sure there was some other entrance exam out there that she needed to take if she wanted to go into something else, too. Another thing to stress her out.

What if she couldn’t always be summertime Svea for him? Elias deserved her at her best, not when she was tired and stressed out and crying over bad marks and awful professors. She knew she couldn’t always be her best for him, especially now that they were in a relationship. Friendships were different – they just were. Relationships were an entirely different ballgame, and Svea wondered if they were going to be able to maintain what they had and were experiencing right now: the laughter, the fun, the joking, the good sex. The good parts. Would they be able to withstand the hard parts: the stress, the pressure, the traveling, the bad games, the bad marks? One part of her said of course they could, because they’d been doing it for years. Another part of her said things are different now, and they can never go back to what they were.

Svea didn’t know what to think.

***

“There’s something wrong.”

Svea had been sipping on her beer as she and Elias were waiting outside of the stadium’s washrooms for Fanny and Emil. The opening band had finished their set, and now everybody was waiting for Coldplay to take the stage. Svea was giddy-nervous, having remembered how amazing the band was live last time she saw them with Sigrid at least five years ago now, but the thoughts from last night were stuck in the back of her mind.

“What do you mean?” Svea asked innocently. “You think Emil got stuck in a toilet or something?”

“No. Something’s wrong with you,” he clarified. “What’s been bugging you since this morning?”

So he knew. And judging by the look on his face, and how close he was, she wasn’t going to be able to get out of this. She knew she should have been honest with him from the beginning, but she was being stupid. “Elias…”

“It’s not the bracelet, is it?” he asked, reaching out slightly to grab her wrist where it lay. “If you don’t like it—”

“No no, Elias, I love it,” she said, looking down briefly at his hand now holding hers. “It’s just…you know how yesterday when you said you sometimes wish it was summer all the time so you’d get to spend it with me?”

“Yeah…”

She gulped. “I feel like you might have an idealized version of me in your mind…like, like a summertime Svea, where I’m not stressed about school or finding a job or missing my family, but then when September comes around and you’re in hockey mode and I’m in school mode and everything changes it’s going to be much different…and I don’t know if I can, or will be able to be, summertime Svea for you.”.

Elias had furrowed his brows the second she mentioned ‘idealized version of me’. He listened to her ramble, and the silence he took afterwards made Svea the tiniest bit nervous. “You don’t need to be summertime Svea for me,” he said finally, choosing his words precisely, but using her own words too. “You don’t need to be anything for me besides you.”

“Yeah, but—”

“But nothing, Svea.”

“I don’t…I don’t want to let you down.”

Now Elias really furrowed his brows. “How could you ever let me down?” he asked. She shrugged her shoulders. “Svea, you remember what I told you after Soren?” he asked. Svea nodded her head. “You’re the sun and the stars, Svea. You give me life no matter what you do. Don’t you get that? I know that you have a lot of big decisions coming up this year and I know there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs for you this year, and for me, but there’s nobody I’d rather experience them with than you. Whatever they are.”

She nodded her head. They way that he said it – the way he said anything – made her want to cry. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”

“I just want to be what you deserve,” she said.

“You are what I deserve,” he said, leaning down to kiss her quickly. “Actually, no – not even. I don’t deserve you.”

Svea couldn’t help but smirk, and as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss Elias again, she couldn’t stop. She kissed and kissed and kissed, and she didn’t care who saw them. She loved him, she loved him so much, and even though they were insecure sometimes, as most people were, they loved each other, they loved each other, and that’s all that mattered.

“You guys are gross,” Emil’s voice interrupted, his voice playfully disgusted at the sight before him. “Every time I look at you guys, you’re kissing. Do you guys even breathe?”

“Shut up Emil,” Svea huffed, unable to suppress her smile.

When they got back to their section of the floor, they only had to wait five minutes for the lights to dim and Coldplay to take the stage. Svea began screaming her head off and she and Fanny danced and swayed along to the music, singing along at the top of their lungs song after song. As she sang, Svea could feel herself letting things go – anything negative was escaping her body and being replaced with pure joy and elation. Any worries she had about the upcoming year were gone; any worries she had about anything were gone, replaced only with a need to live in the moment, to appreciate everything she had, to recognize what she’d done in her life thus far that brought her to this exact moment, singing and swaying to Coldplay in Stockholm.

Svea felt Elias wrap his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on top of her head as he began to sway with her. And as she felt him lean his head down to give her light kisses on her temple and cheek, it cemented the fact that there was no place she would rather be.

>< >< >< >< ><

Like any good Swedes, Elias and Svea had been looking forward to Midsommar.

Elias had a huge extended family, who usually rented a massive marquee and perched it on the banks of Ångesjön and had a massive dinner and party on the Friday night. His grandmother was making his favourite dish, sausage stroganoff, and of course, all the other foods and delicacies associated with the Midsommar celebration. Between family, friends, and neighbours invited to the festivities, they were anticipating around seventy people.

Elias couldn’t keep his eyes off Svea ever since she arrived at his house with her parents and Sigrid wearing a white and floral embroidered dress that fell just above her knees; he couldn’t keep his eyes off her as they drove to the marquee on the lake, where members of his family were already setting up the maypole; and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her now, as she was sitting at a table with some of his younger female cousins, helping them make flower wreaths to wear as crowns.

“You and Svea are the talk of everyone here,” Sigrid said as she watched Elias watching Svea. They were sitting at their own table, scrubbing the potatoes that would be used for later.

“Are we?”

“They’re saying the same things we did. ‘Oh, finally?’ and ‘It’s about time.’ You know, the usual,” she giggled. Elias knew that just a few weeks ago at Emma and Jonas’s dinner they hadn’t said anything because they wanted to keep it a secret, but there was no use now. He knew word would have gotten around eventually, and that there was no use stopping it. Besides, this way would make it trickle down from old people to people his age, anyway. “So many girls in Ånge will be heartbroken,” Sigrid joked.

Elias shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t really care about that – he never did. A lot of girls didn’t like how close he was to Svea and had gotten jealous over the years. He didn’t even think twice about it. “So long as the most important girl isn’t heartbroken, that’s all that matters,” he said.

“I don’t think she ever could be with you,” Sigrid said, looking at Svea at the table with some extended Pettersson cousins. “Besides, we all know you’re not capable of heartbreak. You’re too much of a good boy.”

Elias laughed, knowing that Sigrid was right. There was a constant sentiment in the Pettersson household that Irene and Törbjörn never had to ‘worry’ about Elias. The only times he would be out late was when he was at the rink; he always did fairly well in school, behaved, was nice to the other kids and to the teachers; and he didn’t have any dangerous vices like drinking or drugs, save for maybe being obsessed with his phone. It was more than he could say for a lot of his peers, but then again, many of them didn’t have the singular focus of hockey in their life, driving them to achieve a nearly impossible goal of playing in the NHL. “I can be a bad boy, though,” he said.

“Oh yeah? How? Staying up past your bedtime?” Sigrid quipped.

“Ask your sister.”

Sigrid’s jaw dropped and she pretended to convulse. “Oh my God I think I’m gonna throw up,” she mumbled, covering her mouth for dramatic effect as Elias laughed and laughed and laughed. “You’re gross. Stop violating my sister’s innocence.”

“I don’t know if I’d call her innocent.”

“That’s it, I’m leaving,” Sigrid said, setting her scrubber down and getting up to leave. Elias laughed as he watched her go inside the marquee to one of the coolers and grab a drink, shaking his head as he smiled to himself and continued to scrub the potatoes.

***

“Sveeeeaaaa,” Elinor, one of Elias’s little cousins, handed Svea her flower crown. Many of the cousins had made theirs before coming, perhaps with their parents, but others hadn’t. Svea took the opportunity to help them, setting up a little station at one of the picnic tables filled with flowers and leaves. This was her favourite part of Midsommar anyway (save for maybe a drunken Små grodorna dance), so she really didn’t mind. Three cousins had already finished, and she was left with sisters Elinor and Eliza. “The leaves I’m trying to put on aren’t staying. Can you help me?”

“Of course my darling,” she smiled, putting her own crown down delicately to help with Elinor’s.

Eliza came over too to watch Svea put the leaves on. As she looked between the leaves being fastened on the wreath and Svea’s concentrated face, a thought came to her mind. She’d seen something earlier and needed to get to the bottom of it. “Svea?”

“Yes Eliza?”

“Are you and Elias finally boyfriend and girlfriend?”

Svea smiled, if only at the use of the word finally. It seemed like even the kids had been waiting for them to get together. “Yes. We’re finally boyfriend and girlfriend,” she said. “Why do you ask?”

“We saw you holding hands,” Elinor piped up, as if she was bursting at the seams to say something but didn’t because Eliza, as the older sister, needed to mention it first. “And then before you came and sat down with us, he kissed the top of your head like Emil kisses Fanny. And we know that boyfriends and girlfriends hold hands and kiss.”

Svea smiled from ear to ear at their innocence. At only nine and ten years old, they would see something like that and think that it was something boyfriends and girlfriends did. It was only natural to come to that conclusion. “Does it make you happy to see Elias and I as boyfriend and girlfriend?”

Both of the girls nodded their head enthusiastically. “You’ve always been around,” Elinor said.

“It’s like you were always part of our family anyway,” Eliza added.

“Are your mommy and daddy happy that you have a boyfriend?” Elinor asked.

“I think they’re happy that it’s Elias,” she sort-of joked, even though she knew the girls wouldn’t get it. “But yes, they’re happy I have a boyfriend who they know loves me.”

“My daddy says we’re not allowed to date until we’re thirty,” Eliza said. “Are you thirty?”

Svea snorted. “No my darling, I’m not thirty. I’m only twenty-one.”

Eliza shot her sister a look when Svea revealed her age. “We need to talk to dad,” she said sternly, and Elinor nodded her head.

Svea couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear. It was hilarious, but she didn’t want to be responsible for the girls’ revolt against their father. She stuck one last flower into the crown before turning towards Elinor. “Well, here you go Elinor. Can I put your crown on you?” Elinor smiled as Svea put the flower crown on, adjusting it with her hair and making sure it wasn’t going to fall off. “You look like a princess!” Svea exclaimed. “A beautiful Swedish princess.”

“The most beautiful Swedish princess ever,” Elias’s voice suddenly appeared beside her. Svea smiled quickly at him before he crouched down so he could be eye level with Elinor. “What do you say to Svea?”

“Thank you, Svea,” the girls said in unison. Svea grabbed Eliza’s crown and put it on her too before the girls skipped away happily towards their other cousins.

Elias took the opportunity to slip in beside Svea on the picnic bench and get close to her. He saw her crown laying on the table and picked it up delicately, making sure not to ruin any of the small flowers. “May I?” he asked.

“Of course.”

Svea bowed her head and Elias put the crown on her, adjusting in with her hair much like she did with the girls. When she raised her head again, Elias was met with her smiling eyes, a playful grin appearing on her face. He blushed, letting a bashful smile overtake his face. “You’re so beautiful, Svea. So, so beautiful,” he whispered.

“It looks nice?” she asked.

He could only nod his head. He leaned in to kiss her, unable to detach his lips after a few kisses because his pure desire for her. Sitting there in her dress with her crown was too much to bear for him. He was simultaneously the smartest man in the world for bagging her yet the stupidest man in the world for waiting so long. He placed his hand on her thigh underneath the table as she pulled away. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“And you look beautiful. I mean, you always look beautiful, but you look especially beautiful today.”

Svea smiled. “And you look so handsome with potato skin dirt in between your fingernails.”

Elias snorted. As they giggled, he leaned in to kiss her again. “I can’t believe I got so lucky,” he mumbled against her lips.

“Likewise,” Svea smiled.

***

Midsommar had been a huge success. There was lunch, and the traditional drinking of nubbe and singing nubbevisor. Then there was the små grodorna dance around the maypole with everyone, followed by a generous slice of strawberry cake. Almost everyone – kids and adults alike – participated in the games: tug of war, horseshoe tossing, and potato sack races – for most of the afternoon. After drinking the afternoon away and stuffing themselves with barbecue at dinner, Svea and Elias found themselves inside the marquee with everyone else, dancing along to the traditional dansband music being played.

They were a bit drunk, and a lot happy.

After dancing a bit with Emil and one of Elias’s uncles, Svea found herself attached to Elias, smiling and giggling as he twirled her around and tried his best to keep to the beat of the music despite how much he drank. She’d tried to absorb some of the alcohol in her system by eating extra cookies, but it didn’t seem to work. That didn’t matter though – all that did matter was that she was having fun dancing with Elias. She was having fun twirling with Elias. She was having fun singing with Elias.

She wanted to have more fun with Elias.

When they had to take a break, simply to just get more water to stay hydrated, she came up with an idea. She stuffed the last cookie she had into her mouth and stuffed the napkin into her bra before she grabbed his hand and tugged gently on it to get his attention. “Can we take a walk?” she asked, trying to sound sweet despite the cookie. “I need some air.”

“Yeah. Yeah of course,” Elias said, screwing on the bottlecap for his water. He took a step before stopping. “You’re not gonna throw up, are you?”

“No no. Just want some air, and some alone time with you,” she admitted as they stepped out of the marquee. The sun wasn’t exactly setting across the lake (it being midsommar and all) but it did leave the sky streaked in all sorts of beautiful colours – pinks and oranges and reds, all beautiful and blending into one another.

They walked along the lake, far enough that the dansband music became only a muffled noise in the background and the lights around the tent looked like stars in the sky. They held hands the entire way, admiring the views over the lake, until they finally came to a stop. As they sat down on the grass together, looking out at the lake as they leaned back on their elbows, Svea turned towards Elias. “Are you having fun?” she asked.

He nodded his head. “Of course I am,” he responded, smiling at her. “Are you?”

Svea nodded her head. “Always when I’m with you.”

“Have you sobered up a bit? Did the cookies help?”

She let out a giggle as she nodded her head. “Kiss me, Elias.”

Like many other times when their lips met, once they started, they couldn’t stop. Small kisses at first, then big, wet, open-mouth kisses that Elias could get drunk on so easily. He found his hands going straight towards Svea’s chest, feeling her up through the fabric of her dress before pushing the straps down slightly. Before he could do anything else, he felt Svea pushing him down onto his back, her body half-hovering over him as she perched herself up on her elbow.

Her free hand was initially on his chest, but the more they kissed, and the more heated things got, the further down it went. When he felt it at the top of his pants, there was a sharp intake of breath and he stopped kissing her. “S…Svea what are you doing?” he whispered.

“Shhh…” she cooed, placing butterfly kisses along his jawline. Maybe it was the alcohol making her so bold, but she knew she was being so, and that it was a surprise to Elias. He’d enjoyed his beer too, but he held his alcohol better. Never mind the fact that, technically, seventy family and friends were a ten minute walk away. She fiddled with the button on his pants until it was undone, and followed up with pulling his zipper down. “Is that okay?”

He nodded his head fervently, letting out a jagged sigh. She pushed his pants and underwear down slightly to free his cock. Before she went any further, she brought her hand up and made sure Elias was looking at her as she licked her hand and spit on it. He let out an indescribable sound – something between a groan, a yelp, and a cry. “Svea—what’re you—where’re you—” he stuttered out.

“Shhh,” she cooed again. She looked at him but he looked at her hand slipping down to his hardening member. He was already a little hard due to all the kissing, but the second she touched his cock with her wet hand, he swore he got even harder. “I want to make you feel good, Elias,” she whispered, wrapping her hand around his cock. “Does it feel good?”

He nodded, unable to formulate words. Okay, so his girlfriend was going to jack him off on the banks of the Ångesjön. No no – not going to – she was jacking him off right this second and he was getting harder and harder the more her hand moved up and down his shaft. God, of all the times he did this alone in his room in Ånge or Timrå or Växjö or Sundsvall or Vancouver or anywhere else in the God damn world thinking about her, her specifically, and now she was here, doing it for him, in a flower crown and dress with one strap pulled down, exposing her bralette…fuck. FUCK. He couldn’t believe this was happening to him. He couldn’t believe she was doing this. He couldn’t believe—

“Kiss me, Elias,” she practically commanded, dragging him away from his selfish thoughts.

He did, hot and wet and like a teenager who didn’t know how to kiss, with his tongue everywhere as he reached up to drag her bralette strap down with her dress strap to expose a breast. He moved down to her jaw and clavicle, eventually kissing her breast. She let out sighs and mewls as his hands squeezed and his tongue grazed over her nipple quickly, but his mind kept going back to what she was doing and how hot it was. “D’you like this?” Svea asked.

“Fuck yes.”

“Are you close?”

“Spit on your hand again.”

She did as she was told, reaching back down to keep up her movements. She felt Elias’s breaths get more laboured and when he bucked his hips ever so slightly, she knew what she had to do. She moved down slightly. The loss of her breasts near his face made Elias whine. “What’re you—” he began to ask, but he couldn’t even finish his sentence, because by the time the words came out, he knew what she was doing, and he felt like he was going to pass out.

He watched as she pushed the fabric of her dress with her free hand. She lowered her upper body towards his cock, making sure to give him a perfect view. “D’you like that?”

“Svea—”

“Do you?”

“Yes!” he whispered harshly. “Fuck, fuck yes I like it.”

She pushed her breasts together, trying to get some cleavage as a visual for him, even though she didn’t have a lot to work with. “Cum for me baby,” she purred.

“Sv—”

“Cum for me, Elias. I wanna see your cum on me.”

Elias felt a tidal wave of pleasure pass through him as he saw himself emptied onto Svea’s chest, her hand continuing to pump and stroke him for all that he was worth so he could continue to feel the pleasure he was feeling. He had to close his eyes momentarily, the sight before him of Svea’s chest with his cum on it almost too much for him to take in. When he opened his eyes again, she was on her last, gentle strokes, a small smile playing on her face. That made him want to do it all over again, even though he’d barely come down as is. “Holy fucking shit,” he could barely catch his breath.

“You like what you see?” she asked,

He couldn’t believe what she’d asked him to do, and that he actually followed through. “Fucking hell, Svea. Of course I do.”

She let out a short giggle, biting her bottom lip. “This is the dirtiest thing I’ve ever done,” she admitted. While it may have been extremely tame for some people, it wasn’t for her. Maybe she’d eventually grow to think it was tame, but it wasn’t right now. It was hot and it was impulsive and it was everything she could have wanted in the moment, everything she could have needed in the moment alone with Elias.

Elias dragged her back up by the arm, giving her a giant kiss. “You’re going to fucking kill me,” he mumbled, his breath steadier now. “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Maybe I’ll do it more often,” she offered.

Elias wrapped his arms around her body. “You do whatever you want and whatever’s comfortable, pretty girl.”

She grabbed the napkin that she’d stuffed into her bra earlier in the night that had fallen out during their activities – the one that held the cookies she’d sobered up on – to clean her chest. Elias wasn’t dejected as he watched her clean up, but he knew he’d want to see it on her again. When there wasn’t anything left on her, he leaned forward and placed kisses all over her chest, capturing her nipples in his mouth again and sucking gently before finally letting her pull up her bralette and the fabric of her dress. He fixed his underwear and pants, and soon enough, to an unassuming eye, it looked like nothing had even happened between them. “I’m going to fuck you on the car ride home,” he blurted out.

“With Sigrid there?” she quipped, reminding him that they had to drive her sister.

“Sigrid can go with your parents. She’ll understand. Just talk to her.”

“And if she refuses?”

“Then I’ll fuck you in my bed at home.”

“With your parents in the house? And Emil and Fanny?” she asked again, giggling. He wasn’t thinking straight. He had only one thing on the mind. “Fat chance.”

“We can be quiet,” he said, almost like he was trying to convince himself.

She gave him a look. “I can’t. And I know for a fact you can’t shut up.”

Elias made a pissy face, upset at all the roadblocks in what he thought was a straightforward, foolproof plan. He pulled her body to lie against his side, and when she snuggled into him, she lay her head on his chest. They were quiet for a few moments, recollecting what just happened while staring at all the colours in the sky over the lake. Elias kissed the crown of her head. He knew they would have to get back to the tent soon too, so people wouldn’t get suspicious. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too.”

“And I meant what I said, you know,” he continued. “Do whatever’s comfortable for you. You don’t have to feel forced to—”

“I know, Elias,” she smiled, kissing him again. “You don’t have to say it. I know.”

***

Elias and Svea integrated back into the party inconspicuously. They resumed their dansband dancing together, twirling and swinging again, holding each other close as laughter filled the space between them. Törbjörn stole her away for a dance, and her father too for a few. Elinor and Eliza were passed out on chairs despite the loud music. Fanny and Emil danced beside them. Sigrid danced with Elias’s younger cousins.

Everything was right in the world.

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daddysfangirls-marvel · 5 years

Text

Finally stepping up

Request

warning: angst, fluff,

Request: Well my request is kinda have a long story about tony stark having a daughter reader through a one night stand and their relationship is strained (u know tony, drinking working and sex with other women) While tony while in Afghanistan she ran away because of stane because she overheard stane and he heard her listening and threatened that he will kill her or something like that or she had enough of tony's shit.

It was her birthday she was turning eleven her father promised to take her out for a special birthday dinner. She had put on her best dress and shoes and a button that she got from Pepper that said, birthday girl. She was so excited sitting on the couch. She was alone, besides Jarvis. Pepper had left because something important came up and Tony said he was right around the and she believed him and now it was going on for three hours and her father was still wasn’t here and she was all alone.

But she was still excited because it was her birthday, it was her day, and her father promised a special dinner. So she continued to wait.

An hour later (y/n) was woken up by a large bang sitting up she hit her head. It was then that she realized she had fallen asleep under the coffee table. Much like her father she had the ability to sleep anywhere but her bed. (Y/n) was about to rush out from under the table when she heard voices one was her father and the other one an unfamiliar female. She hid back under the table and listened. She watched as they stumbled around giggling and laughing as the trip on the stairs. They continued all the way up to his bedroom.

She flinched as she heard his door slam shut then her tears spill. She climbs out from under the table she rips off her button and runs to her room. Getting her blanket and Pillow (y/n) curls up in her tub and cries herself to sleep.

Pepper had just sent some reporter packing after finding her wandering the hall in nothing but a thong and tony’s shirt near (Y/n)’s room. She was mad- NO she was fuming she was fucking pissed. Tony had an award ceremony the night before and he had straight up told her he was going to miss it she was okay with that assuming he was keeping the promise he had given to his daughter a few days prior but that’s not what happened. Instead, he went out partying and brought a blonde bimbo report who fell for his charm home for one night. What made it even worse was she knew that this reporter would bite them in the ass later.

“Do you know what yesterday was?” Pepper asked her anger was very clear Tony flinched when he heard her voice and quickly put distance between them with a table.

“I know, I know the award thing I missed it and I’m sorry but in my defense, I told you beforehand that didn’t want to go and that I wasn’t going and you said or you looked okay with it.”

“yes, I was okay with it because I assumed you would be spending the night with your daughter ya know because it was her GOD DAMN BIRTHDAY. That little girl cried herself to sleep last night as you were in between the legs of that blonde bitch. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Tony groaned as he dropped his head in his hands he didn’t have a good excuse “ I forgot”

“FORGETTING ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH. Especially when I left all these messages for you” Pepper clicked his computer screen and all the birthday messages reminding him of his daughter popped up.

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t apologizes to me go apologies to your daughter. She is the one who sat up alone waiting for you all night, she is the one who's heartbroken, she is the one whose promise you broke. You go apologizes to her NOOOOOW”

As Pepper began to screaming Tony rushed out of the door and up the stairs rushing to his daughter’s room. He busted through her door and fell on to her floor he crawls to her bed and pulls the covers back and finds it empty. When he turns around he flinches and yelps as he finds Peper behind him. She points a stern and scary finger to the bathroom Tony nods understanding and follows her finger feeling her glare burn his back. He gently knocks on the door when he hears a growl behind him he decides that was the wrong response he opens the door, the growling stops.

Peaking in the bathroom he sees a pile of blankets in the tub slowly he walks in and kneels before the tub. Pulling back the covers he sees (y/n) doing a terrible job of pretending to be asleep. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her face was scrunched up as she held on to her pillow tightly, it was a specially made pillow shaped like Captain America’s shield.

Tony smiled and he caressed her cheek with his finger “Good morning, darling. I owe you an apologie. I’m sorry I missed your big day I got caught up and forgot I’m so sorry. “ (Y/n) began to squirm away from his touch “I’ll make it up to you. How about me and you have breakfast together?”

She slowly opens her eyes “ Can Pepper come with?” she whispered

“Of course, I mean who’s going to cook breakfast because I sure can’t. And I know you don't want burnt pancakes and eggs” she laughed it was true Tony did not have a culinary bone in his body and she knew it, they all knew it. “ Okay now how about you get dressed I’ll meet you downstairs.” He kisses her forehead and helps her out of the tub and watches as she runs off to her closet.

Tony turns to Pepper she gives him an approving nod then shooshes him out so they could go downstairs and make breakfast together.

Pepper had taught Tony and (y/n) how to make strawberry waffles, more so (y/n) than Tony. They all had a nice breakfast together before Pepper realized how Late Tony was, then rushed them all out.

“You’re late,” Rhodey said as Tony get out the car.

“I was having Birthday waffles with my daughter.” Rhodey looks over his shoulder at Pepper who was in the car she nods and he understands does ask anything further. He brushes Tony off with two soldiers and leans into the car.

“Happy late birthday, sweetheart. Here I got you something. I hope you like it” He gives her her gift and blows her a kiss as he rushes to catch the plane.

“BRING MY DADDY BACK WE’VE GOT A DINNER DATE” she sticks her head out the window and shouts. He gives her a thumbs up and nods he’d bring him back.

But he doesn’t.

(Y/n) Cries hard and long when her father doesn’t come up. No one knows what to do.

Despise everything that happens (y/n) refuses to leave her home in Miami and go to her mother. It isn’t that her mother is bad or anything she just didn’t want to leave any of her father behind and this house this home was everything of her father. She couldn’t take it away and she definitely couldn’t leave it.

Pepper and Happy stayed with her in the house until her mother could make it down to Miami. Rhodey couldn’t bring himself to see her as he blamed himself for her father’s absence he said he wouldn’t return until he brought her father home.

“Awww” (y/n) mother, Lillith said as she entered her daughter’s room. Her daughter’s bedroom walls were decorated with blown-up pictures of her with friends and family throughout her life it was so adorable. Although she did scoff at a few of the pictures with Tony that showed he was obviously drunk or on drugs.

Lillith did everything in her power to hide her child from Tony but when medical problems came during her pregnancy she needed all the help she could get so she called him up. At first, he didn't believe her but then he did then she gave birth and he asked for a DNA test. Then he offered to pay child support but didn’t want to be there. Then he took her to court because he couldn't grow to legs to come to see his daughter and blamed it on her.

He and his money, of course, won the court case they had shared custody...at first. Lillith had a misstep and lost her job Tony took her back to court and got full custody of (y/n) while she only got visitation every other weekend. He was a fucking bastard that didn't even raise (y/n) Pepper and Happy did while he ran around drinking, partying, and laying with more women. And a judge thought he was the fit parent.

Despite how much she loathed him she couldn’t lie Tony did have a few good moments with their daughter, even if they were few and far between, and the pictures on her wall were proof of it.

“When daddy gets back we’re going on a dinner date. I’m going to wear this” (Y/n) said as she pulled out a red ball gown from her closet showing it off to her.

(Y/n) was fully aware of what happened to her father Tony had gone off to some foreign country to show off his weapons and the car he was in was ambushed and he was taken away. No one knew where he was, if he was alive, or if he would be returning but (Y/n) was a hundred percent sure she was still having her dinner date with her father even if it isn't on the actual day they planned.

“Where do you think he’s going to take me, Mommy?” Lillith didn’t have the heart to break her daughter's own.

“Where ever you want” she smiled kneeling before her daughter she looked at the dress in her hands “Somewhere fancy honey, Hopefully”.

Everyone could believe Tony was a jerk and didn’t win any awards on parenting but they never agreed on the reasons why. Whereas with Obadiah Stane they could all agree that he was a greedy and sick man and they didn’t want him anywhere near (y/n). After Tony went missing Stane true closers were seen. Running around trying to have talks with (y/n) and tell her about the company. It was very easy to see why he was doing it turns out Tony put a contract together saying if something were to happen to him the company would go to (y/n) when she turned 18 and until then call company matters were to go through Pepper and her mother first.

Now no one but Stane and the lawyer knew that last bit and they did not share it. So instead of Pepper and Lillith stepping up for (y/n), Obadiah was calling all the shots much like he had done and had been doing with Tony. But unlike Tony (y/n) wasn’t so gullible and could see right through him. And one day she popped the fuck off on him.

He was trying to tell her about the company and weapons and money, he tried to get her to sign over part of the company to him at some point and she just couldn’t take it anymore and pop off on him.

“GO AWAY. I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THIS STUFF-NO I DON’T WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU STOP TRYING TO PUT STUFF IN MY HEAD. YOU ARE NOT MY GUARDIAN YOU AREN’T HELPING ME YOU’RE JUST MAKING IT ALL WORSE. This isn't your company it belongs to the Starks. When my father returns, and he will, he’ll take his company back and kick you to the curve where you belong. You’ve gotten way too comfortable it’s time you leave.”

After that big meltdown (y/n) began to study the company pulling document after document. At this point it was like she knew more about the company it’s processing and it’s history than the old farts that ran it. Although she did have to fight for some documents as Stane himself tried to keep them from them she also noticed that a few were altered.

At a very young age (y/n) knew how to run the company better than Tony ever did.

It was a day (y/n) was neck-deep of the companies files when she got the news that her father was found.

(y/n) watched as her father limps out of the plane Rhodey by his side. Standing by the car was Happy, Pepper, (y/n) and her mother all of them with tears in their eyes although Happy hid his tears with a pair of thick sunglasses.

“Did you miss me?” he said as he looked at his daughter

“You missed our date” (Y/n) said pouting as tears started to fall down her face letting go of her mother she rushed and gave Tony a hug. “ I knew it, I knew it you were still alive. Everyone kept saying no but I knew it.” she squeezed him tight he whined but didn’t say anything

“sweetheart?”

“Please don’t leave me again”

“I won’t. I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere.” With his one free arm, he wiped her tears away and kissed her forehead. “Hey,” Tony said as he looked to Lillith who was wiping her tears from her eyes “I’m going to step up my game. I’m going to do better. I’d appreciate it if you stuck around and helped.”

“I guess someone has to cook. Lord knows Pepper is tired of feeding you. I’m surprised she hasn’t poisoned you yet.” She turned her back and got in the car. Tony laughed a bit as he hugged Pepper and Happy too. They were happy to have him back but a bit upset they wouldn’t be working for (y/n) anymore apparently she was the better boss.

Once the reunion was done and Tony was filled in on what happened while he was gone everyone piled into the car and Tony began firing off orders. He wanted a Press conference and a cheese Burger immediately just about everyone scolded him for not going to a hospital first but he would not budge. A Burger and Press conference nothing else. Maybe a Happy meal and ice cream for (y/n) but nothing else.

And that’s how (Y/n) found herself sitting next to her father as she happily ate fries only half paying attention. She only really started paying attention as she heard the end of her father’s speech when he announced that Stark Industries would no longer be selling weapons everyone was in an uproar (Y/n) jumped up excitedly.

“REALLY, REALLY, REALLY”

“yes, really,” Tony said addressing his daughter and ignoring the press but they were listening in to the father-daughter conversation.

“No more hurting people?”

“no more hurting people. Now we’re going to help people.” Obadiah Stane tried to step in and talk some sense into Tony but he gave him a nasty glare and held up a finger to tell him to stop. But apparently, that wasn’t warning enough because the man kept talking so he just straight up said “Shut the fuck”

The room fell silent.

“I am talking to my daughter who I haven’t seen in months. Do not interrupt me. I am My daughter’s for the next few days.” With that, he scooped (y/n) up in his arms and walked out Happy, Pepper, and Lillith following as his entourage. And while he told (y/n) this awesome story about how he made an iron Suit in the desert. By the end of their date, she has convinced him make her one too.

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#tony stark #tony stark daughter #fanfication #tony stark x daughter!reader #tony stark x daughter #tony stark x child reader #child #Tony Stark fanfiction #tony stark x reader daughter #tony stark x reader

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keelywolfe · 4 years

Text

Untitled Chicken Drabble

I’m off my game, still recovering from being sick, bah!

That said, @kamari3 , you seemed to need a chicken fix this morning.

So y’all can have some fluffy spicyhoney + chickens to start, or end, your Friday right!

Edit: Now with the read me cut it was supposed to have to begin with. :P

Also on AO3

~~*~~

It was right around too damn early when Stretch wandered downstairs, still yawning and his bathrobe flapping open as he scratching his pelvis. But the brewing coffee was using its wiles and Stretch followed it into the kitchen where Edge was standing at the stove.

Edge didn’t even look up, only picked up the coffee carafe and poured a cup, nudging it in Stretch’s direction. See, this was one of the reasons Stretch loved him so much. Coffee was the extra partner in their relationship and both of them had the sense to not be jealous of its seductive ways.

A heavy dollop of french vanilla creamer later and Stretch was inhaling that perfume, guzzling the creamy perfection. He gave the caffeine a minute to juice him up before he tried to actually look at what Edge was making for breakfast.

Well. That was different.

The griddle was a familiar sight, Edge often made pancakes on the weekends. It was the dimensions of ‘em that took Stretch aback, barely the size of a quarter, a dozen or so spread across the glossy cast iron. A platter next to the stove already held a couple batches, perfectly brown and tiny.

“are we having hobbiton over for breakfast?” Stretch asked doubtfully.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Hobbits would want pancakes twice the size as normal,” Edge said crisply. He carefully flipped each one with the tiniest spatula Stretch had ever seen.

“can’t argue that.” Stretch reached out to filch one of the minis, only to hastily yank his hand back when the spatula threatened. “what? it’s not like it’ll ruin my appetite.”

“Actually, it might. I’m making these for the chickens and unless you’d like to crunch on a little extra grain, you might not care for them.”

Okay, yeah, now that he looked closer, he could see the dark specks of seeds dotted across them. Damn, what a way to ruin a perfect mini mouthful.

Wait.

“you’re making pancakes for our chickens?” Stretch asked gleefully. “seriously?”

A faint hint of crimson touched Edge’s cheekbones. “And if I am? Don’t they deserve special weekend treats?”

Stretch slouched against the counter, sipping his coffee as he peered into the batter bowl. Yep, plenty of grain and oats in there. “babe, they act like your scrap bucket is manna from heaven, those little brats would steal a finger bone if they weren’t firmly attached.”

“They deserve treats,” Edge said stubbornly. He carefully spooned out more batter onto the griddle.

“like they aren’t already in love with you? don’t know if you can get them to adore you more.”

Stretch set aside his coffee cup and pulled out his phone, ignoring Edge’s exasperated sighs as he snapped a couple of good pictures of the various states of pancakes. His hasty tweet already had a dozen likes before he tossed his phone on the counter, sidling up behind Edge and sliding his arms around him. Indignant huffs aside, Edge leaned back into his arms, easily flipping those tiny cakes despite Stretch’s attempt at a decent grope. “then again, i’m always finding new ways to fall in love with you. better give the chickies the benefit of the doubt.”

“I’m not trying to seduce them,” Edge said dryly. “They are beneficial members of our family unit and deserve treats. After all, without their eggs, I wouldn’t even be able to make pancakes.”

Yeah, that was true--“wait. you used their eggs to make pancakes you’re feeding them?” Stretch asked. He slowly drew back, staring at Edge in horror. ”okay, no, that is so wrong.”

“Of course I did. They’re eggs. What difference does it make where it came from, an egg is an egg.”

“it...it just does!” Stretch moaned. ”you can’t feed them their own eggs!”

“You’re being silly,” Edge scoffed. He added the last batch of pancakes to the tray, garnishing it with a few cut strawberries because angel forbid they stiff the chickens on presentation. “I’ve been feeding them eggshells for the past year.”

“you what??”

Crawling heebie jeebies aside, Stretch grudgingly admitted that the ladies loved their treat. They were already crowded by the coop door when Edge carried the tray out and when he set it down, they fell upon it like the greedy little dinosaurs they were, gobbling them down.

“See?” Edge said smugly. “They like them.”

“uh huh,” Stretch only shook his head, ugh, it was still wrong. “yeah, well, i’m not sure i trust their opinions on issues of morality.” That aside, he still gave Edge a few minutes to bask in his success before slinging both arms around his shoulders and sagging, letting Edge take his weight as he wheedled, “don’t i get a treat?”

“I’m not sure,” Edge said thoughtfully. “After all, you’d be eating the eggs of chickens you know. I’d hate for you to be uncomfortable, perhaps anonymous eggs would be better--”

“stop.”

“Or would a signed permission slip from our chickens do? I can have a contract drawn up if you like, I’m a certified notary. I could probably outline one right now. ‘Henceforth all eggs acquired from internal sources shall only be used for--’”

He broke off as Stretch gave his pelvis a sharp pinch. “you aren’t funny.”

“Not in the slightest,” Edge said solemnly. “Just as I’ve always said.” He tipped his head back, straining to nuzzle a kiss against Stretch’s cheek bone. “But I can be a little humerus. Come on, I’ll make breakfast.”

“always when i don’t have my phone,” Stretch grumbled. But he followed Edge in, leaving the chickens to finish demolishing their treat. “hey, babe, i am hungry but i gotta say, pancakes don’t stack up to you. Not to be syrupy, but I flippin’ love you, you’re waffle-y cute, and--”

A quick kiss cut him off, but he could feel Edge’s smile. It was gone by the time Edge drew back, saying sternly, “Enough.”

“you got it.”

With the promise of food at risk, Stretch decided it might be better to save up the puns until after breakfast. After all, Edge’s pancakes were always an egg-cellent start to the day.

-finis-

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #by any other name

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twenty-nothing · 4 years

Text

OneHundredFiftyFive

Breakfast!

1.) Have you ever eaten a “balanced breakfast” like they show in cereal commercials (I.E., bowl of cereal, fruit, glass of orange juice)? Yes, but not often

2.) When’s the last time you made someone breakfast? Can’t remember, it’s been a long time

3.) What’s your favorite cereal?

Frosted Flakes

4.) What’s the highest calorie, most terrible for you breakfast you’ve ever had? Eggs Benedict with extra hollandaise with side of biscuits and gravy!

5.) Would you rather get breakfast from McDonald’s or Burger King? McDonalds

6.) Waffles or pancakes? Ugh, I love both of them but I’m more into waffles right now

7.) Eggs or cereal? Eggs

8.) Milk or orange juice? Milk

9.) PopTart or Toaster Strudel? Toaster Strudel

10.) Do you even eat breakfast? Not very often, more likely on the weekend than during the week

11.) Do you take vitamins with your breakfast? No

Lunch!

1.) When do you usually eat lunch? One

2.) Did you get notes from your parents in your lunch when you were little? Yes

3.) If you had one, what did your lunch box look like? I started buying my lunch around middle school so I don’t remember any I had in elementary school

4.) What’d you have for lunch today? Chipotle

5.) Do you like to go out for lunch? Where? I love going out. Wherever is good with me, I’m not picky

6.) Do you have/want any cute sandwich cutters? (They decrust your sandwich into a shape) Yes, I have one that makes them into uncrustables

7.) Do you sit with/meet with anyone for lunch often? No

8.) Have you ever had a peanut butter and butter sandwich, or does it sound appealing at all? No, and eh not really

9.) Is your lunch usually a hot food or a cold food? Truly a mix of both

10.) Has the word “lunch” been repeated so many times it’s a meaningless word by now? No?

Dinner!

1.) Do you follow the health rule of having a small dinner and big breakfast? No, I do the opposite

2.) Do you ever say a prayer before eating dinner? No

3.) What’s your favorite take out dinner, if you have one? Pizza

4.) Have you ever been taken out to a nice restaurant for a dinner date? Yes

5.) Did you grow up eating dinner with your family? How do you think that affected you? Yes, every night. It was nice, always up to date with what was going on with everyone

6.) Do you have “nice” dinner plates for special occasions? No

7.) Do you ever eat frozen dinners? Yes

8.) What dinner foods can you cook? A handful of good pasta dishes, fajitas, breakfast for dinner lol

9.) White or red meat (or their vegetarian substitute counterparts)? I like both

10.) Soup or salad? Salad

Dessert!

1.) Do you ever get dessert at a restaurant when they ask? Almost never, I’m always too full to make it to dessert

2.) Is there a dessert food most people like that you hate? Hmm not really

3.) Cupcakes or real cake? Cupcakes

4.) Ice cream or pie? Pie

5.) What kind of birthday cake (or other sweet birthday type thing) do you usually get?

Double Chocolate

6.) What was your favorite childhood birthday cake? Ice cream cake

7.) Do you have a favorite foreign (to a Westerner, anyway :P) desserts? (Baklava, biscotti, churros…) Yes, churros, baklava and cannolis I love!

8.) Do you bake sweets? Which are you best at? Not really often

9.) Have you ever had a good “diet” dessert, like something endorsed by Weight Watchers? What was it? I’m actually on WW now. I love chocolate graham crackers with frozen cool whip in the middle, a play on the ice cream sandwich. 3 point dessert!

10.) What’s your dream dessert? Crepe with strawberries and melted chocolate chips

11.) Do you watch shows like Cake Boss or Cupcake Wars? No

Snacks!

1.) What’s the best candy in the world? Frozen Snickers Almond

2.) Do you eat more snacks or full meals? Meals

3.) Is there anything you find yourself eating when you’re bored? Chips

4.) Do drinks with calories count as a snack? I guess, I don’t drink anything that’s not water very often

5.) What’s your favorite food that’s usually served at parties? Buffalo dip or rye boat dip

6.) Do you eat in class? If so, what is it, usually? I’m not in school

7.) Honestly, are your snacks healthy or bad for you? All depends what it is

8.) Potato chips or trail mix? Potato chips

9.) What do you usually get at the movie theater? Nothing, place is overpriced af

10.) Did you get fruit snacks with your favorite character on them when you were little? Yes and gushers lol

11.) Do you remember any sayings from conversation hearts? Which is your favorite? No lol

Food in general!

1.) Do you buy generic brand food? Yeah, about half the time

2.) Is there a common food you find repulsive? Beans

3.) What’s your favorite “ethnic” cuisine? Indian

4.) If you were stranded in a zombie apocalypse with only a full, run-of-the-mill and full-of-junk vending machine for food, which items would you eat first? Candy bars

5.) Are you a candy fanatic? I can be

6.) Do you like any weird food combinations? Mac and cheese with applesauce to dip

7.) Are there any foods you shouldn’t eat because of your religion? No

8.) Would you eat a bug if it was covered in your favorite food? Only for money lol

9.) Do you think being a vegan would be/is really hard? I think so

10.) Do you eat in the car? Not often

11.) Do you pay attention to serving sizes?

I have lately

12.) Fruit or vegetables? Veggies

13.) Mustard or ketchup? Ketchup

14.) Does mayonnaise disgust you? No

15.) What’s your favorite holiday, in terms of the food you get to eat during it? Thanksgiving

16.) Are you hungry? (: What do you plan on eating next? Nope its 6, already ate at 4. Probably just a snack before bed. Chocolate graham crackers

#random #long #survey #courtneyhelene

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ice-cream-nekogirl · 5 years

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Midoriya, Bakugou and Todoroki with an S/O who has Trypophobia

Lol I’m gonna be honest with ya’ll but this was based of my own trypophobia… it’s a real thing... things with a bunch of little circles and holes disgust and freak the HELL out of me... soo I thought it’d be cool to introduce this! And American Horror Story inspired me too since it’s so far the first show I’ve seen to actually mention and address trypophobia! I wouldn’t look at any images with trypohobia though... those things are... disgusting...

But hey enjoy! And I’m so sorry for any OOC-ness!!

Izuku Midoriya:

You and Midoriya have been friends since kindergarten, so that means the two of you naturally protected each other from bullies, or Bakugou to be more precise.

Of course, you had a little less fear than Midoriya, so you were the one who always stood up to Bakugou and protected Midoriya constantly. Midoriya’s always been amazed by you and believed you had absolutely no fear given how constantly you stood up to Kacchan.

“(Y-Y/N)-chan!” Midoriya had cried out your name as you whacked Bakugou in the back of the head with a tennis racket with a mighty shout. “WHY YOU FUCKING BITCH!” Bakugou nearly blasted you as he set off his quirk in a fit of anger after you dared to hit him, but your teleportation quirk allowed you to get away just in time every time.

“I’ll kill you! Do you hear me?!” He would always threaten you, but you would just laugh if off and grab Midoriya by the hand to teleport him and yourself away from a very angry Bakugou. Every. Single. Time.

Those were the times that convinced Midoriya that you were fearless, even though the truth was, you had a couple of fears that normally didn’t bother you, although you did have one fear that embarrassed you the most: Your trypophobia.

Ergo, the fear of holes or clusters of holes. You had no idea why or how you developed this fear, but it was stuck with you and now you were doomed to cringe and feel nauseous every time you saw a cluster of holes or anything that looked like little holes.

Midoriya had better things to fear though, and better things to deal with though so you never told him about this dumb little fact because you were worried that this would shatter his image of his ‘fearless best friend’.

You should have known better though than to try and hide something from your dear Izuku, boy was always observant and always paid attention to his loved ones. Especially when it was you.

He had noticed your aversion to the little things such as when you cringed upon seeing a beehive, pictures of octopuses and a little piece of coral that he had showed you once on the beach.

And then there was the way you couldn’t stand seeing all of Mineta’s sticky balls whenever he threw too much of them. Well, that was a little harder to tell since Mineta disgusted you constantly but seeing all those balls in a cluster together actually triggered your trypophobia whenever you paid too much attention to them.

Midoriya of course, did his research and picked up pretty quick on this aversion, and although he was nervous he did eventually ask you. “(Y/N)-chan… are you… disgusted by clustered patterns?”

You flinched, getting extremely nervous once he asked you such a dreaded question, but you sighed because you knew that there was no hiding from Izuku. “Yes…”

Eventually, you explained why holes and clustered patterns freaked the hell out of you, and then you showed him some pictures on the internet that made him cringe at first and he had to look away a few times since they were… gross.

But after seeing one too many disturbing images including a rather vile picture of little holes on a person’s hand he was starting to freak out just a little bit, “A-Ahhh…! I-I… c-completely understand it now! P-Please close those images!!” Izuku didn’t regret asking you about your phobia, but seeing all those disgusting pictures of trypophobia triggers was starting to make him wonder if he was trypophobic too…

“I didn’t mean to hide this from you but… it’s kinda pathetic how I can whack dumb Bakugou over the head and yet a bunch of little circles are what scare me…” You shyly admitted, looking quite embarrassed and a little ashamed and yet you just saw Izuku shaking his head and smiling.

“You are NOT pathetic at all (Y/N)-chan. This is just a phobia you can’t help… honestly I don’t blame you…” He said sincerely, yet nervously. Kacchan was scary, but those holes were… disgusting…

“Nothing could make me find you pathetic at all. Especially not an understandable phobia.” His smile grew as he warmly blushed. And you blushed quite madly yourself, but from absolute joy.

“I know they’re just pictures but... I’ll make you feel better if you see anything else that just... scares you... like you always did for me.” He then added, wanting nothing other than to protect you from anything even if it was from ordinary things that happened to have disgusting patterns on them.

Somehow, you managed to blush even darker. You knew Izuku was always a sweetheart, but this... this really did it for you so much that you nearly teared up.

Overjoyed you suddenly ran into his arms to wrap him in a tight hug, which made him blush bright red as he stiffened and trembled at the closeness. “Thank you Izuku~.” Although he was still blushing, Izuku gently hugged you back.

“Of course (Y/N)-chan...but if it ever gets really bad or freaks you out, don’t hesitate to call me okay?”

Deku truly was the most understanding boyfriend ever, a true hero to you.

Bakugou Katsuki:

You weren’t fearless, but you weren’t a coward either. Yet somehow, your boyfriend managed to make you feel like you were since you expressed fear more than he did.

It’s not that Bakugou liked to taunt you or belittle you whenever you got scared or expressed your fear of certain things, but he just got frustrated with how you let certain things terrify you so much. He was always like this with you since childhood though, so you weren’t completely un-used to it.

If anything, Bakugou just gave you his aggressive form of tough love so that way you would hopefully get over your fears, but the truth was, it wasn’t easy for you to simply get over phobias.

And yet, he knew this which is why he always helped you in his own gruff and tough way to get rid of whatever it was that was freaking you out even if he always looked pissy about it and never let his friends know just how much he cared about you.

But you had enough phobias as it is and you didn’t want to hear what he would have to say about one of your worst phobias, which was your trypophobia, a fear of holes. Something you never mentioned to him at all, even though the two of you grew up together, you never let him know about it.

You always imagined Bakugou giving you such an incredulous, sneering glare if he found out, and him asking, “What the fuck? You’re afraid of holes? How much more pathetic can you get (Y/N)?” And then you imagined yourself just closing your eyes and walking away so you wouldn’t have to hear anymore from him.

It wasn’t happening, you were so not telling him that mere little holes terrified and disgusted you so much. Thousands of little, gaping, disgusting holes that just stared at you every time you saw them.

However, Bakugou was far from stupid and blind, he knew that you acted weird whenever you saw things with weird patterns like a waffle of all things, and then he saw you cringing over a freaking strawberry at breakfast once.

It wasn’t the first time he noticed this too, he’s also seen you get antsy whenever you saw things like bubbles or a bunch of little circles and the way you constantly recoiled from them.

Though when he saw you giving that nervous look again and practically scratching yourself after seeing a honeycomb, that’s when he knew it was beyond just normal disgust. He was so confronting you about this.

As soon as you went back inside, he wasn’t too gentle when he grabbed your shoulder and brought you close to him.

“Hey Shitty Girl, what the hell’s been up with you and all these things like strawberries and honeycombs?” That was blunt as always, but you were even more scared now than you were of those disgusting holes he was clearly talking about.

“It’s nothing Katsuki. Nothing’s up at all... strawberries? Hee-hee... who said anything about strawberries...?” You tried to be casual and shrug that off, but that just made your boyfriend madder. Though you didn’t know that it actually kind of hurt that you weren’t being honest with him.

“Bullshit, you always act weird whenever you see things with little holes like strawberries or anything else that has a bunch of stupid little circles.” He stated the thing he knew you couldn’t hide from, and the shocked look on your face meant that he was right. You clearly had a problem with those things.

“Whaaat…? Awww, c’mon Katsu… I DON’T act weird when I see stuff like that, I don’t know what you’re talking about...” Despite that, you just scoffed and crossed your arms but looked down, which was just more proof that you were lying and it was pissing him off.

“Stop lying! Are you afraid of those little shitty holes or something? How stupid do you think I am?! You’re always looking away when you see things with a bunch of little circles.” He finally shouted, or at least shouted louder since being quiet was never his strong point. Bakugou wasn’t trying to be mean, or at least he was trying to not be as mean as possible, he was just concerned and wanted you to just tell him if you had a problem or something and maybe he could try and help somehow.

His tone made you cringe as you closed your eyes at how strong his volume was, you still weren’t looking at him, so he forced you to look at him as he grabbed your face with his hands so you were looking him right in his eyes. He looked angry, as always, and yet hurt and concerned too… which mildly shocked you since your boyfriend wasn’t known for his compassion at all.

Grunting slightly, you started to blush in embarrassment as you mustered up all the courage to just own up to it.

“I was hoping you would be at least stupid enough to not notice…” Sighing, you closed your eyes. “It’s called trypophobia…” You finally said it. “Yes. It’s the fear of holes and clusters and anything with weird patterns with a bunch of ‘shitty little holes’…” As you further explained it to him, you were surprised that Bakugou wasn’t laughing or giving you any looks. Other than his typical scowl, except this one looked somehow angrier than normal.

“And why the hell didn’t you mention this to me a long time ago?” For once he sounded calm, but that actually made him scarier and you could feel your heart starting to race, feeling almost a little guilty for neglecting to tell him that since you and him told each other almost everything.

“I thought you’d make fun of me. You already get on me about my fear of gross little insects like spiders and roaches, and the dark, and clowns… I didn’t want you to remark on how I can’t even handle a bunch of little holes…a bunch of disgusting, little holes that just stare at me…” You reluctantly and guiltily admitted, unable to see the expression on his face.

“You probably think I’m an idiot.” You chuckled wryly, but you were shocked when he took your face in his hands again, pressing your forehead against his.

“You ARE an idiot.” Bakugou, for once didn’t say that to be an asshole, if anything, it was affectionate as he pulled away with a light pink tinge on his cheeks.

“Tch. I don’t get these weird fears of yours, but you should let me know about them… just so I can get rid of those dumb things for you so they don’t have to freak you out...” He grumbled as his blush worsened, which made you widen your eyes and blush heavily.

”Nothing’s gonna scare my girl and get away with it. I’ll kill every last one of those fuckers who puts up any shitty trypo-whatever pictures to scare you if I have to!” He somewhat loudly said, naturally implying murder to anything that dared to scare you.

Although, you couldn’t quite stop yourself from grinning widely because that was just Lord Explosion Murder’s way of saying that he’ll protect you from anything. Yet, despite the mention of murder you pulled him in a tight hug and squealed happily.

“Katsuki, you’re the best! Thank you! Thank you so much I love you, you are the best!” You suddenly exclaimed, overwhelmed with joy and relief that at least he wasn’t making fun of you despite how silly your phobia must have been to him. You giggled when you saw Bakugou blush even harder as he growled lightly.

“Damn right I am…” He muttered and looked away, putting his arm around you in a somewhat protective way. No stupid clusters of fucking little holes were going to scare you under his watch.

Clearly you had underestimated how much he cared about you and loved you. But he just reminded you why you loved him so much, he would always protect you, whether it’s from spiders, clowns or holes. Even if it meant literally killing either of those things, he would do it just to protect you.

Nothing scares his girl.

Todoroki Shouto:

You had many fears despite the fact that many assumed you were fearless. And one of your many fears was rejection, which is why you were hella shocked but extremely happy when Todoroki Shouto, the boy you crushed on at first sight had actually accepted your first date proposals.

Of course, you had no idea that the more you and Todoroki became friendly with each other, the more his own feelings for you grew as you steadily helped defrost his cold demeanor.

He didn’t quite understand them at first, but overtime he found himself gradually wanting to protect you. Especially when you began to open up about some of the things that scared you, such as disgusting insects like spiders or centipedes, or clowns like the ones in those horror movies that even he had to admit kind of unnerved him. To this day he doesn’t enjoy watching ‘It’.

But you didn’t quite tell him about your trypophobia yet, that still kind of embarrassed you since you were sure that Todoroki wouldn’t get why clusters of weird patterns and holes would be scary and disgusting.

Not only that, but very little fazed Todoroki, there’s no way he would understand that phobia, so it was just better to keep that one to yourself as much as you could.

Todoroki was still working on observing his closest friends, but once he started officially dating you he began to observe you because even the littlest quirks and flaws fascinated him and made him like you even more.

Although he was still oblivious to some things, he wasn’t whenever you got really excited or really scared, but especially when you got scared or showed even the slightest bit of disgust or apprehension.

He knew fear when he saw it, because after all he lived in fear for the first half of his life so he could understand when people were scared.

And he saw some fear every time you saw odd things like when you washed some dishes one night and stared at the little bubbles with a somewhat agitated look.

Then there was the time he took you out for breakfast and you had ordered a crumpet and once you got it, he saw the way you appeared just so uneasy staring at the seemingly harmless pastry.

At first he didn’t think much of it, but he couldn’t quite get the way you looked at those things out of his head. It was something he thought was worth asking you about, just so he could try and help you avoid looking so troubled.

But before he would decide to ask you, he went to Midoriya and Iida for their input. After telling them about the things that seemingly unnerved you, Midoriya came to the conclusion that it was the patterns that freaked you out, with Iida stating the term ‘trypophobia’ and defining it for Todoroki.

Now it all made sense to him once he let it sink in. He couldn’t just accuse you of it though, he wanted to ask you first.

So he chose to ask you right after you were finished sparring against Bakugou of all people, someone you were surprisingly not afraid of despite his crazy strength.

“(Y/N). Are you trypophobic?” His question was so point-blank that it caught you off-guard and you nearly jumped where you had sat down next to him. You practically trembled just hearing him say the word ‘trypophobic’. How did he know what that was?!

The way he stared at you wasn’t helping at all, but you knew that despite the fact that Todoroki could be socially oblivious at times that you wouldn’t be able to lie to him about this, especially if he knew what it was apparently.

“Yes…” It took you about a whole minute just to say it, but you did. You were met with silence, save for the hum of acknowledgement from Todoroki.

“You only mentioned your fear of insects and clowns.” He stated, and you sighed heavily and shook your head. “Yeah… cuz those are normal fears. I was embarrassed… I mean… holes? Really…?” You faked a smile, obviously kind of ashamed of it. “I don’t know why… I hate that I’m afraid of them but… God…” Then you shook your head when you thought too much on the holes.

“Iida says that trypophobia stems from disgust. It’s almost instinctual for people.” Todoroki sounded strangely understanding, and gentle as he had been with you.

Which surprised you as you looked at him, an involuntary flush dusting your cheeks as you slowly nodded, “H-He’s not wrong… they’re repulsive…” You shuddered a bit, reluctantly getting out your phone and typing the dreaded word in, closing your eyes as you pressed ‘images’ and showed them to your boyfriend.

Todoroki didn’t flinch, but he did pay attention to those… admittedly nauseating images as you scrolled down to show him some even more disturbing images. Such as a hand with thousands of little holes in them. He stopped you at the fourth image, deciding that those were enough.

You looked to see his expression, his stoic expression having turned into one of mild shock, he was quiet for a starting 2 minutes before he finally said something. “That’s gross.”

His sudden response made you snicker as you nodded, “Yeah… tell me about it… whoever made those should be imprisoned for life…”

“It’s in my head now.” Todoroki sighed heavily, now he couldn’t not see those disgusting pictures, but he now understood why you had such a fear.

“Hee-hee… I’m sorry Shouto…” You apologized sheepishly, but Todoroki shook his head, “You shouldn’t apologize for being afraid of something that is truly revolting.” He was very understanding, and it just made you blush even more. And God you felt so relieved now.

“But I’ll protect you from anything that frightens you (Y/N). Even if it includes things like crumpets or vile pictures of holes on the internet.” Todoroki declared to you, and you couldn’t help but giggle and pull him into a gentle hug.

“Thank you Shouto~. My knight in shining armor~.” You said playfully but sweetly as Todoroki blushed but he did gently hug you back.

Yeah, you had nothing to fear with a surprisingly great boyfriend like Shouto.

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arcanesupern0va · 5 years

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Rick In The Water; Ch2: Snap Out Of It

A/N: I'm still working on trying to find the right voice for Rick, so if you had any advice or feedback, I would appreciate it so so so much. Anyway, thanks for reading. 💜 CW: Still references to abuse, that’s just like an ongoing theme tbh, let me know if I need to tag it better, please Pairing: Rick Sanchez/Reader Words: 5768

My ao3

Masterlist

|Ch1: Second Chance|

I had only been asleep for an hour or two when my alarm went off. I climbed back out of bed, dressing quickly and touching my makeup up before heading downstairs to start breakfast. The little bit of sleep I had managed seemed to take the edge off of the pain in my arm but I popped a couple of ibuprofen for good measure. After every fight, I’d grown accustomed to serving up chocolate chip waffles and eggs, Ryan’s favorite meal, trying to win his favor back. I started my usual routine, mixing the batter and cracking the eggs but this time felt different. I wasn’t making him breakfast because I wanted to stop the fight and “make it up” to him, he had expected it. Like it was a reward for beating the tar out of me. Right as I was plating his waffles, he nuzzled in behind me, murmuring good morning in my ear before eyeing the plate in my hand hungrily.

“Smells great babe,” he said with a self-satisfied smile, heading to the front door to grab the newspaper to read over with his breakfast. By the time he returned to the dining room, his spot at the table was filled with his plate of food, a glass of no pulp orange juice and a piping hot cup of coffee and he smiled at me, causing my skin to crawl. I quickly excused myself back into the kitchen to grab my breakfast, a small bowl of yogurt adorned with berries and a cup of coffee. I dawdled a moment, trying to avoid having to be in the same room with him for as long as possible before he called for me. “Hey, are you going to be joining me?” he asked sweetly, though I could hear the undercurrent of annoyance in his tone. I scurried back in with my bowl, apologizing and we sat down to a silent breakfast. My phone’s ringtone for Madison broke the silence, earning me an irritated glare as I quickly extracted the device from my pocket to read the message.

“Madison was just letting me know she made it to school okay,” I told him, returning my phone to my pocket.

“Tell her to come straight home after school today,” he ordered. I obliged, quickly typing out his demands. I nodded as the message sent and he returned to his breakfast. The silence returned until his alarm on his phone started to blare, telling him it was time to leave for work. He stood up quickly, briefly kissing my cheek before heading to the front door and disappearing on the other side of it. Once the door shut behind him, I finally was able to breathe a sigh of relief, tears streaming down my cheeks once my composure had been dropped. I gathered the dishes, listening intently for his car to start and speed down the road, signaling that he was well and truly gone for the day. I had buried my face in my hands, trying to stifle my sobs when I heard a sound that I could only describe as utterly sci-fi. I looked up to see a tall, slender, blue-haired man standing in my kitchen wearing a look of concern on his face with his back to a green swirl that seemed to appear and then disappear out of nowhere.

“Rick?”

“H-hey Nova. I was waiting for Dipshit to leave so I could come over here and check on you- m-make sure you were o-okay. A-are you okay?” he asked, disguising his concern as disinterest. Once the surprise of suddenly seeing him wore off, I quickly reverted to my anger from last night and greeted him with a look of disdain.

“I’m fine Rick, you can leave,” I told him coldly, turning to continue cleaning the dishes from breakfast.

“Y-yeah, the cry-crying I walked in on is what every housewife does. It’s to*uuuuuurp*tally normal,” he said, rolling his eyes at me. He stowed a white device back in his jacket before approaching me, grabbing my chin to force me to look up at him. My heart raced for a moment, going back to those vulgar thoughts from the night before coming to my senses. It was like Ryan said, he didn’t want me and I had to be kidding myself to think he would.

“W-what are you doing?” I blushed, trying to pull away before he saw through my concealer.

“J-Jesus Christ Nova, what did he do to you?” he demanded. I moved away from him quickly, trying to catch my breath again and fight back the tears burning my eyes.

“Nothing, I told you I’m fine. I want you to leave Rick,” I told him coldly, turning my back on him completely.

“M-Morty told me he overheard that piece of shit telling you you weren’t allowed around the house anymore. D-don't tell me you’re going to let that dipshit control you like that,” he demanded.

“It’s not controlling. He just wants the best from me. I disrespected him last night,” I explained.

“Dis-Disrespected him how?” he scoffed. “You were the p-perfect li-little housewife last night.”

“He said I was paying too much attention to… you,” I admitted sheepishly. I watched his face move from confusion to realization and settle on smug pride.

“Oh, s-so he’s threatened by me?” he marveled darkly. “That’s just, that’s just excellent.”

“You would say that,” I said rolling my eyes and grabbing a towel to dry my hands. “I don’t understand why. You’re my best friend’s dad.” He raised an eyebrow but remained silent. A sly smirk tickled his cheeks as he all but stared at me as though the answer to that question was obvious. “What Rick?” I demanded, growing frustrated with him.

“He’s c-clearly threatened by my animal mag*uuuurp*netism,” he gloated, wiggling his eyebrow at me. Despite myself, a watery chuckle slips out and his look of pride is replaced by relief. “N-Nova you need to leave, like get the fuck out of here now,” he urged, dropping all humorous pretense and looking me over seriously. I realized I had been unconsciously holding my wrist delicately and my attempts to play it off were too late to stop the realization dawning on his face.

“It’s nothing Rick; I’m fine.” I tried to assure him, tucking my hand behind my back causing me to wince.

“I’m gonna kill him,” he murmured darkly, his eyes going wide as they darted around maniacally, avoiding my gaze.

“N-no, Rick, please,” I plead weakly moving closer to him. “It would kill Maddy.”

“Well that i-it going to kill you!” he exclaimed, moving closer to inspect my wrist. I winced at his touch, the area still incredibly tender. Embarrassment flushed in my cheeks, trying to figure out the quickest way out of this conversation.

“O-oh so you’re back for less than a month and suddenly you’re so concerned with my wellbeing?” Venom laced in my tone, as I tried my hardest to resist tears. “You don’t get to leave and come back fifteen years later and suddenly decide how much of a shitshow my life is. New flash fuckwad, it’s kind of your fault I’m in such a fucked situation.” I knew I was lashing out, that I was just trying to hurt him but I couldn’t stop myself. The anger I’d been sitting on for all these years started pouring out.

“M-my fault?” he hissed. “How the fuck did you get there Nova?”

“You fucking left! You knew everything I’d been through with my fucking parents and you still fucking left!” I had to admit, it felt pretty good to finally confront him for what he’d put me through but I still couldn’t stop the wave of guilt I felt building, waiting for the perfect moment to drown me. “Your family accepted me and cared for me and I was dumb enough to think that when I was under your roof, I was finally loved. Silly fucking me.”

“Nova, you have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about,” he growled.

“Oh what Rick? You just leave the ones you love all the time? That’s how you get your kicks? Maybe next time, before you come barging into my home telling me how much my life fucking sucks, maybe, just maybe, you think about your own part in making that happen,” I told him coldly. A tense silence filled the room as I watched him process my words, seemingly refusing to yell back, to even say anything. “Rick, get the fuck out of my house.”

“N-Nova, wait-“ He dismissed my demands, and I could feel the heat of my rage flush against my cheeks.

“Get. Out.”

*+*

After Rick finally left, I grabbed a bottle of wine from the refrigerator, sunk against the countertop and sobbed. I lost track of time, and before I knew it, the wine was gone and I could hear Summer and Madison climbing out of Jerry’s car, saying their goodbyes before the front door swung open.

“Mom? I’m home,” she called out. I quickly picked myself up off the floor, tossing the bottle in the trash and stumbling over to the refrigerator to look for something to make for a snack.

“Hey honey, I’m in here,” I responded. “Are you hungry?” I could feel myself swaying where I stood, opting to just grab the plastic container of strawberries from the crisper and start slicing them. Madison plopped herself down at the kitchen table, pulling out her agenda to start on her homework.

“Oh my god, yes Mom I am starving,” she said gratefully. I slapped a smile on my face as I walked over to the table to deliver her bowl of strawberries looking over her shoulder to look at the homework she’d been assigned. It honestly looked like gibberish to me, but she seemed to be breezing through it quite easily. That was her father in her. Even though he was a complete monster, he wasn’t a dipshit as Rick called him. He could pick things up incredibly quickly and had the decency to pass that trait onto his daughter.

“So what is this? Math?” I asked hesitantly as she dug into her strawberries.

“It’s a scientific equation,” she explained at length the point of the equation which just left me to sit there and nod in response. Not only did it look like gibberish, but it also sounded like it too. I was watching her work for a while in silence when swearing erupted from next door. We exchanged glances briefly, her giggling in response. “Morty’s grandpa is funny,” she snickered.

“Oh really?” I raised an eyebrow in response.

“He asks a lot of questions about you and Dad though. I don’t think he likes Dad.” Her face flushed with embarrassment as she quickly looked to the door, relieved that he wasn’t about to jump from the other side.

“What’s not to like?” I remarked absently, standing up to peer out of the window to investigate the source of the swearing. Rick was berating Morty for messing something up, and rage swelled in my gut. Before I even realized what I was doing, I was flinging the front door open to go confront the crotchety old man abusing my godson.

“The fuck- the hell do you think you’re doing Mor*uuuurp*ty? Can’t you do one fucking- anything right?” Rick was shouting as I approached the garage. Pausing to take the scene in fully before bursting in, I sussed out that Rick was working on some new invention and Morty was supposed to be holding something steady while he worked. A childlike fascination overtook me and I resigned to pressing myself against the outer wall of the garage, opting to listen in closely. “Look M-Morty, I just want to make sure your Aunt Nova is safe- is okay, just keep the damn thing still. Do it- do it for her.” He sounded frustrated, but also a little desperate.

“Aw jeez, Rick, Aunt Nova- Aunt Nova’s strong. She’s been with Mr. Dawes for a long time now, I think she’s used to it.” I heard the sound of metal on metal as Rick slammed whatever took he was holding in his hand down onto the metal work table.

“And w-what? That makes it okay- that makes it acceptable?” Rick seethed with anger. “I-I don’t understand why I-I’m not allowed to just kill him, but your mom said that’s strictly off the table so the next best thing is this m-mental dampener. But look, Morty, it’ll nest itself in his brain, Morty a-and it’ll neutralize his angry thoughts towards Nova, Morty. I-I-It won’t work forever but maybe we can talk some sense into her, g-get her away from him-“

“You know Rick, I don’t understand why you suddenly care so much,” Morty said angrily. “F-f-first you were avoiding her and now all of a sudden you-you're concerned for her safety?”

“Yeah, well, I care Morty. I’m not going to try to explain it to you b-because I just do,” Rick blew him off and the sounds of welding started up again, seemingly without Morty’s assistance.

“And wh-what’s in this for you?” Morty asked scathingly, and I was surprised to hear such anger coming from the timid boy. “A-a-are you trying to sleep with Aunt Nova? That’s sick, Rick. That’s fucked up, even for you.” Morty accused his grandfather.

“W-what? No! Even if she were interested in that, that would be n-none of your business, Mor-uuuurrrp-ty.” I was frozen in shock against the side of the garage, trying to ignore the part of me that was hoping Morty would press his grandfather for more.

“Oh gross, you’re into Aunt Nova? Wasn’t she like, a second daughter to you?” Morty sounded horrified and I could feel my cheeks burn.

“She was Beth’s friend in high school. T-that’s all she was- is to me,” Rick tried rationalizing to his grandson. “She’s a b-beautiful girl, but that’s not why I’m trying to help her. Is it so hard to believe- so hard to comprehend that I’m not the biggest fan of domestic abuse?” It was Rick’s turn to equip a scathing tone, albeit it sounded a lot angrier and more vicious than his grandson’s.

“I just know you don’t do stuff without there being a benefit for you.” Morty’s voice was growing closer and I knew if I stayed here, I would be found out. My only option was to head toward the back of my house where their voices were too faint for me to hear. I quietly opened the gate to the back yard, slipping around it and closing it as silently as I could behind me.

“What’s going on out there?” Madison asked when I finally made it back in the kitchen.

“I think Rick and Morty were arguing over something,” I dismissed, omitting the topic of their argument because I truly didn’t know how I felt about it, and I certainly didn’t know how to explain it to her.

“Did you talk to them when you went outside?” She asked, closing her textbook and storing it back in her backpack.

“I didn’t want to get in the middle of it,” I told her, lost in my head trying to process everything that had happened today. “I’m gonna start dinner soon. What are you in the mood for?”

“Ooh, can we have spaghetti and meatballs? With garlic bread?” She asked eagerly. I looked over to the clock, knowing I’d have to make a quick trip to the store but since Ryan wouldn’t be home for another hour and a half, I nodded quickly.

“You wanna go to the grocery store? If you can be quick you can bring Summer too,” I offered. She practically squealed with joy at the suggestion, finishing cleaning up her homework before running over to Smith’s house to fetch her best friend. I followed her out the front door, locking it behind me as I made my way out to the car. I was only in the car for a moment before the girls had re-emerged, followed by Rick who stood in the doorway watching us regretfully as I backed out of the driveway, turning up the radio to drown out the sounds of endless teenage girl chatter and hopefully my own thoughts.

*+*

When we returned home with grocery bags in tow, Madison and Summer disappeared up to Madison’s room, leaving me alone in the kitchen to start dinner. I put on my favorite playlist and filled a pot with water and started the meatballs. I fell into an easy routine, breaking noodles into the pot when it came to a boil. It was barely enough of a distraction to keep my mind off of Rick though and in idle moments, I found myself zoned out and staring at the wall trying to even begin to process it. I was concluding that I wouldn't be able to, not without a high price therapist.

I was moving everything out to the dining room when I heard Ryan pull up, quietly proud of my timing. I called upstairs for the girls, asking if Summer would be staying for dinner and receiving an “Uh, duh!” in response. My body tensed at the sound of the front door opening and closing, my husband groaning as he took off his suit jacket and stored his briefcase in the closet. For a moment, I couldn’t believe this was my life, it all felt… wrong. Nonetheless, I moved to greet Ryan with the usual peck on the cheek and smile and called the girls down for dinner, earning a distrustful eye as Madison and Summer galloped down the stairs to take their place at the table. We discussed our days, leaving me to lie about mine as I couldn’t tell my husband I had spent the morning and afternoon drunk on kitchen wine in the kitchen after I’d gotten into a heated argument with my best friends dad about the years of psychological damage he’d inflicted. I allowed myself to slip into a quiet contemplation about the conversation I’d overheard in the Smith‘s garage, taking a knock at trying to figure out how I actually felt about it, as Madison and Summer told Ryan about their days. A sudden knock on the door broke me from my reverie and Madison excused herself to answer it.

“Summer!” she called from the hallway. “Your Grandpa is here.” She reappeared in the doorway with a surprisingly calm and collected Rick in tow, although that didn’t save me from the distrustful look Ryan was watching me with from across the table.

“Ah, Rick,” I greeted him casually, using a napkin to clear my face. “Were you here to collect Summer?” I asked politely, standing to greet him properly. Ryan’s eyes bored into the side of my head, but I knew as long as non-family members were present, I was safe from his ire. When he shook his head quickly, I raised an eyebrow, acting confused but he tore his gaze off of me to look over at Ryan.

“Hey, Ryan. I just wanted to come over to apologize for last night if I did anything to upset you. Beth was upset that Nova wouldn’t be coming around anymore and she demanded I come over and apologize.” Rick’s tone appeared to be perfectly apologetic, but I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. I knew why he was here and I was stunned at how long it took me to come to the realization. The dampener.

“I - well - how’d you know that?” Ryan stumbled and I silently motioned at the girls to return to Madison’s room. Rick smiled widely, a hint of a manic hysteria lurking in his smile. He rested his hand on Ryan’s back holding out his hand to make peace although not answering his question.

“I just wanted to make sure that any disagreements or perceived disrespect between the two of us wouldn’t stand in the way of my daughter’s happiness,” he said coolly, disregarding Ryan’s question, opting instead to check out the spread for dinner. To my quiet surprise, Ryan didn’t respond and when I looked over at him, he smiled serenely at me.

“Of course not Rick, I think I overreacted,” he admitted genuinely, much to my surprise. “I misinterpreted the situation.”

“That’s great Ryan, I’m glad we got to have this talk and clear the air,” Rick smiled at Ryan, lacking the genuine nature Ryan had.

“Would you like to stay for dinner, Rick? (Y/N) made spaghetti,” he offered, standing up and shaking Rick’s hand as if they’d been friends for years.

“You know, I’d love to,” Rick said, moving around the table to take up the seat right next to me. Realizing I was still standing, I sat back down, my eyes flicking between the two men sharing the table with me. Still stunned at my newly docile husband, I couldn’t bring myself to react or even look at Rick as he moved his chair closer to me under the guise of going for some noodles.

“(Y/N), you should serve our guest,” Ryan reprimanded me but his usual disdain was absent from his voice, replaced instead by a gentle urging. I quickly shook my head to come back to reality as I quickly stood up to start ladling food onto Rick’s plate. I stole a glance up at Rick, who gave me a small eye roll before returning to watch Ryan intently. I slid the Parmesan cheese over next to him, returning to my seat and quiet disbelief.

Rick and Ryan chatted amicably over dinner, allowing me to disappear into my head while the two talked about Ryan’s job, or more accurately, while Ryan talked about his job and Rick put on a very convincing listening face. When dinner finally wrapped up, Ryan adjourned to his office, surprisingly leaving me with Rick as I cleaned up the dishes. Once Ryan was occupied in the other room, Rick’s casual demeanor was dropped and he quickly grabbed the dishes out of my hand, opting to carry them into the kitchen himself, mumbling something about making my sprained wrist worse.

“What did you do to Ryan?” I asked cautiously as I followed him into my kitchen, keeping my voice as low as possible. I watched him load the dishwasher, trying to ignore how bizarre just… everything was becoming.

“Hmm?” Rick asked, peeking around the corner, keeping an eye out for Ryan himself.

“You did something to Ryan,” I told him flatly. “He’s being docile. He left me alone with you.”

“I-I’m not going to do anything to you,” he said, his eyes narrowed up at me before opening the cabinet next to the sink, looking for dishwasher soap. “And now, neither will he,” he added darkly.

“You didn’t answer my question, Rick.” My patience was wearing thin but he continued to ignore me as he busied himself with gathering more dishes from the dining room. Running my hand through my hair, I could feel panic starting to set in. Sure, I knew what he’d done on a surface level, but I also knew that this would be way too easy of a fix.

“Tell me what you did, Rick,” I demanded again, my tone threatening the established volume limit of our conversation.

“I just made him… nicer,” he said, frustrated as he shut the dishwasher and finally looked at me. “You and Beth seem to think that he should be allowed to keep living and while I fervently disagree, I had to go with the next best option.” I had no idea how to respond and I could feel him searching my face for any kind of reaction before continuing. “Y-you don't mind if he's dim, right? I-I'm not quite sure how much this is actually going to affect him. It’s only been used on sentient slugs. Th-this is more of an inaugural test on humans.”

“So what happens now?” I asked him, my voice trembling as I rubbed my face in my hands.

“W-well, I guess I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t - that Beth wouldn’t lose her best friend,” he scratched the back of his neck with a shrug before turning away. “She seemed pretty pissed about it, so I figured I should fix it for her.”

“Hmm, is that so?” I asked, still suspicious of his motives.

“Well, I mean yeah. I’m living under her roof. Pissing her off- making her mad doesn’t exactly work out well for me.”

“I just know you don’t do stuff without there being a benefit for you.” Morty’s accusation echoed in my mind, but it was pushed away when Rick’s face lit up with an idea.

“You wanna go for a ride? I told you I’d take you out on my ship,” he asked eagerly.

“Oh yeah, Ryan would love that,” I replied, my eyes narrowed at him. He brushed me off with a wave of his hand and left the kitchen. I followed him to Ryan’s office, where he held a finger up, signaling me to wait here.

“Hey, do you mind if I steal Nova- (Y/N) for a little bit?” It was weird to hear my real name coming from Rick and to think back, I don’t think he’d ever called me by it.

“Sure,” my husband said in a pleasant tone that I had been pretty sure he was completely incapable of. “Where are you guys going?”

“I, uh, I was just gonna take her over to see Beth. Shouldn’t be too long, I won’t have her out too late,” he lied smoothly, and I swore I could hear him winking.

“Oh, okay, cool,” Ryan replied genially. “I’ll see you around, Rick.” Rick returned, pulling me gently by my arm, heading directly to his ship.

*+*

As we climbed in the ship, Morty appeared at the doorway to the garage. He eyed Rick suspiciously as he approached the driver's side door.

“Where, uh, where are you taking Aunt Nova, Rick?” he asked angrily and I could feel myself blush at the memory of their earlier conversation. He looked at me remorsefully, and I had to quickly avert my gaze, biting my lip to resist the urge to giggle anxiously as the young kid watched me nervously. "A-Aunt Nova? Are you okay?"

"I'm great, Morty," I assured him, although the words came out strangled. My nerves were in overdrive, partially at the thought of going up even twenty feet in this enormous potential death trap and partially at the realization that I was going to be alone with Rick.

"See-see Morty, she's fine. I-I-I'm not going to do any-anything to her,” he spat at his grandson, offended.

"Rick, don't be mean to Morty, he's a good kid," I reprimanded him, earning myself a raised eyebrow but no retaliation, something I didn't even realize I was expecting until the opportunity passed and I relaxed slightly.

"We'll be back soon Morty. She just wanted to see the ship," Rick told Morty plainly, turning the engine over. Morty's suspicion seemed to not be subsiding but he said nothing as the ship began levitating and Rick smoothly backed it out of the garage and up toward the sky.

Before I knew it, I found myself glued to the window, taking in the beautiful sights of the city below, only blobs of light to me now. I watched as the lights slowly faded and became a wooded landscape. Rick lowered the ship slightly so I could get a better view.

"Wow," I murmured, mesmerized by sights I never thought I would be able to see outside of pictures. "It's so beautiful out here."

"It's alright," Rick smirked. "Y-y-you wanna see something truly incredible, let me take you out into space sometime." My eyes widened at the thought, tearing my eyes away from the window to look at him.

"This thing can go into space?" I asked, awestruck.

"Can it go- of course, it can go into space! What good is a SPACEship if it doesn't go into SPACE." He shook his head in amusement as my cheeks flushed pink.

"Rick, the headlights are flashlights. Excuse me for not expecting a lot from it." I told him flatly, trying to stop the smirk that was playing at my cheek.

"You keep making fun of my headlights…" he grumbled, "Y-y-you want me to show you or not?" he asked grumpily.

"Yes," I replied breathlessly. He pressed a couple of buttons on the dash before shifting and grinning wildly at me.

"Yooou're gonna want to put your seatbelt on,” he told me. I quickly belted myself in as the ship began building up speed as it headed for the sky. As we approached the atmosphere, he pressed another couple buttons and he pressed the gas even harder, pushing me back into my seat as we finally broke through. He started slowing the ship down, turning to me to watch my reaction as I took in the inky dark that now surrounded us. He wasn't kidding, it was beautiful out here and I didn't have the words to even react to the astounding view. "L-like I said, incredible huh?" he smirked at me, and I looked over at him, mouth hanging agape.

"No wonder you never came back," I murmured. When he sighed next to me, pressing a button to stabilize the ship and hover, I immediately regretted it.

"That's not- it wasn't like that,” he told me, exasperated. "I mean, i-i-it was kind of like that, but it wasn't because I didn't like- didn't want to be around you. You were an incredible kid and I wanted like hell to stay, but I just… couldn't."

"I really don't want to talk about this right now Rick," I told him, exhausted at the thought. "I just lost my space virginity, and I kind of want to have this memory be a pleasant one." He opened his mouth to speak, but seemed to think better of it, he closed it again and we fell into a comfortable silence. We existed in that silence for a while, before an alert in his pocket went off. He pulled out a high tech looking device and sighed as he read the message on it.

"We should be getting back,” he informed me regretfully, pushing a button on the dash to take us out of the hover mode keeping us in stationary.

"R-Rick, if Ryan is going to be acting docile, do you think we could come out here again?" I asked nervously, averting my eyes to take in the last bit of the view as we broke through the atmosphere yet again. Rick was quiet for a moment, considering my question.

"Maybe we could take you with us now and then," Rick answered finally.

"We?"

"M-Morty and I go out on adventures from time to time, you could come with us on the less dangerous ones,” he explained.

"The less dangerous ones?" I asked incredulously. "What are you doing to my godson?"

"N-nothing bad!" he contested. "Sometimes, shit just goes wrong."

I sat in silence for a moment, really thinking everything over before responding, "I want to go on adventures, but I want to also go on the ones that are considered dangerous." I declared finally.

"I'm not going to take you somewhere you might die," he told me, rolling his eyes. "I didn't neutralize your husband so he wouldn't kill you so I could take out and get you killed myself." Going out into space had pushed Ryan so far out of my mind, even briefly and anxiety washed over me again at the thought of going back to my house. Before I could voice my fears, my house was coming back into view and I pulled my phone from my pocket to check the time. 2:30 am. I was so dead.

"You won't have to worry about it because it's way too late and he's going to kill me for being out this late," I panicked. My breathing quickened and suddenly it felt as though I needed to get out of this ship as soon as possible. Rick looked over at me as he landed the ship to find me hyperventilating.

"H-h-hey, Nova, hey- c-calm down, i-it's gonna be okay," he tried to soothe me. As soon as the ship touched down, I wrenched the door open, pouring out on the floor as my legs had become no better than noodles. Rick hurried around the ship with a groan, picking me up off the ground and resting me in his workshop chair. "N-Nova, it's okay. He's not going to hurt you." He dug through his labcoat before extending his flask to me. I took a grateful swig, grimacing at the harsh liquid within.

"You don't know that. You said yourself that you've never tested that dampener on a human. You don't know what he's like, Rick," I croaked. He groaned angrily, digging through some of the boxes that now filled the garage before producing a small disc-shaped device. He pressed it against the back of my hand and after a light pinch, he removed it and tossed it away.

"If anything happens, if he starts getting angry, tonight or any other time, press into that spot and I'll be there immediately," he explained. "Be warned, if you push that, he's probably going to die, just, uh, full disclosure."

"Why are you doing all this Rick?" I asked tearfully. He turned his back to me with a shrug.

"I just want you to be safe," he murmured. We sat in silence again, passing his flask back and forth as my breathing slowly returned to normal. I finally resolved to face my husband when my head was finally feeling nice and foggy and he waved goodbye from his bench, leaving me to walk back to my house alone.

As the front door shut behind me, I expected a light to flick on and my husband to greet me in a drunken stupor, but he wasn't there. As I crept through the quiet house, I waited for him to pop out at any moment but it wasn't until I entered our bedroom that I found him sleeping peacefully. I quickly showered and carefully climbed into bed to avoid waking him. As I closed my eyes, I was treated to a recap of everything I'd seen today, and my dreams were filled with ideas of adventures at Rick's side.

+Ch3: Neon Moon+

#rick and morty #rick and morty fanfiction #rick sanchez x reader #rick sanchez/reader

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