#mmm I’m unhappy with this

[save-the-villainous-cat]

“You don’t seem too nervous…” The villain circled them lazily, looking the hero up and down as they took their time to walk around them.

Tied to the chair and a little too drowsy from being drugged, they found it quite irritating to stare back at the villain. Besides, the lights were too bright and the room was a little too dirty.

“What are you gonna do? Torture me?” they asked, slurred even.

“Mmm…a little old-fashioned, no?” They came to a stop behind the hero, leaned down and grabbed their jaw, fingers digging into skin like claws. “You know I like it better when you stay pretty.”

The hero’s heart started to burn and they really couldn’t tell for how much longer they could take this. They had been flirting for months now and the hero was seriously falling for their enemy.

The touches, the words…sometimes the hero was quite sure they were going insane. And falling for one’s enemy was exactly that — insane. Not even would the hero suffer but the villain would too. No matter how many solutions the hero tried to come up with, it never was the future they craved.

Maybe it was the one they deserved. Being unhappy and burying their feelings…

“Hm…aren’t you a sweet thing?” The villain’s lips nearly touched the other’s neck lovingly. But it wasn’t enough for the hero. They wanted more.

“Aren’t you gonna ask me some important stuff? You’re fooling around.”

“Hm.” The hero felt the breath on their neck and for a second, they decided to close their eyes and actually enjoy the close proximity between them. “Fine. I need some information regarding…a few projects.”

“You know I’m doing shifts outside, right? You know I’m actually not chained to the desk all day, right? You know that I’m the last one to get information on those projects, right?” The hero turned their head until they could see their enemy.

“And yet you’re my favourite.”

“Touché,” the hero answered. They had to smile. The villain walked around them once again until they were — thank god — standing in front of the hero. They looked good. Way too good.

The determination on their face was easy to find attractive.

“I…I really like you,” the hero said. They had to smile like an idiot, they couldn’t help it. However, the villain’s face suddenly changed from playful to bitterly serious.

“Don’t say stuff like that,” they said.

“What?”

“Don’t say stuff like that,” they repeated. Their eyes were glued to the ground. “We’re work-buddies, nothing more.”

“Work-buddies?” The hero wasn’t sure if they should be offended or sad. And yet, they could see a blush on the villain’s cheeks.

“Or enemies, if you prefer that.”

“We almost made out a week ago,” the hero reminded them. “We’re not work-buddies. You flirt with me constantly.”

Was this all a game to the villain? Did they play with feelings that easily?

“Flirting and being in love isn’t the same thing,” the villain tried to argue but the hero was already shaking their head.

“I didn’t say I love you.”

“You wanted to say it, though” the villain said. “Because you do love me, don’t you?”

“I’m not allowed to date my colleagues. You know, since we’re work-buddies.”

In this moment, even the villain realised that they would not get any information out of the hero today, even if they tortured them till the end.

"Please Don't Say You Love Me" by Gabrielle Aplin, requested by @writing-on-the-wahl

And thank you to @thepenultimateword for this cool idea!

#writing snippet #heroxvillain prompt #heroxvillain snippet #heroes and villains #hero #villain #hero x villain #heroxvillain #an answer for an ask #request

[gimmehyuck]

try again | j.jh

summary. jaehyun remembers the night he met you, and even after that one night he often thought of you and wished things would have been different, but by a weird twist of fate he gets to see you again, except this time... you're not alone.

or alternatively:

jaehyun gets to try again, for real this time.

pairing. idol!jaehyun x teacher!yn

words. 19.8k-ish

genre. somewhat of a second chance romance? lots of cute things going on, and it wouldn't be a gimmehyuck fic if i didn't have something angsty

warnings. there's not much to warn about tbh? jaehyun not believing in love at first sight but then essentially does, there's a one night stand (nothing explicit), and also a child (gasp i know), alcohol is mentioned as well as pineapple on pizza, a wild blue haired haechan makes an appearance, johnmark being the best, jaehyun is generally unhappy with being an idol at this stage of his life, idk but y'all can thank my friend ruby for this getting finished, she was on my ass about it... happy late birthday jaehyun lmao

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this was completely and utterly unlike himself, jaehyun thought over and over as he laid in your bed listening to you breathe. he wasn’t a one-night stand kind of man, he was too busy to let himself fall into these kind of temptations. he was a man, he told himself, and yeah, he liked sex, but the middle of tour? he shook his head at himself as he stared at the ceiling.

his mouth spoke on his own when he saw you, your beauty catching him entirely off guard. dinner at 6 with johnny was only supposed to be a quick get-out-of-the-hotel-for-a-bit thing, forty-five minutes tops. but the second you walked up and asked if you could start them off with any waters, or if they preferred beer, he was enamored. forty-five minutes turned into double that and johnny could only smile at himself at the very obvious flirtatious exchanges and when you wrote your number on the receipt you had placed on the table with a scribbled note that said ‘i get off at 11, call me if you want :)’, johnny was more than supportive.

“man, just live a little.” johnny had told him in the taxi to the hotel, and jaehyun was still on the fence about it but when it was 10:53 and he still couldn’t get your smiling face out of his head, his fingers moved entirely on their own. you responded to him at 11 exactly, and even though he had just ate and wasn’t hungry, he agreed when you asked if he’d be up to get something to eat with you. twenty minutes later he found himself in your presence again, baseball hat tugged as far down as it would go and a mask tugged slightly down to rest on his chin and he couldn’t help but listen to things about yourself and he realized he wanted to know more and more with each laugh you let out.

he wasn’t a love at first sight kind of man, but he could understand that thought behind it because, damn, you were funny and kind and absolutely beautiful.

“sorry, i’ve been going on too much about myself, haven’t i?” you asked, face turning a little sheepish when you realized he hadn’t said much of a word the last fifteen minutes but you noticed his smile never fell from his face. he shook his head in answer and picked up a fry from the shared pile on the table, “no, i’m enjoying hearing all about you.”

“well, let’s change it up some, tell me about yourself. you from around here?” you asked, copying his movements and munching on a fry yourself.

“mmm,” he thought for a moment. he didn’t want to be secretive, but he wasn’t comfortable turning the conversation into a long winded one about his group and his fame and although he was thankful for all of that, he noticed it had slowly started to wear him down. no, he genuinely was enjoying just being himself with you, not having to be anyone else. “i’m from seoul, and i work… in entertainment.” he finally decided on.

not a lie, not exactly.

“oh, that sounds really exciting! do you get to meet a lot of famous people doing that?” you asked tilting your head slightly as you did so, genuine curiosity on your face.

his smile grew, oh if only you knew. “i have here and there, they’re just people even if they’re famous.”

you nodded in response to that and your lips twisted slightly in a frown, “i always feel a little bad for celebrities in that sense. i can’t imagine worrying about how my next sentence will be dissected and twisted into something else.”

the more you spoke, the more you surprised him. no one really thought about them in that way, usually jumping directly to the misconstruing of his words or actions as something else entirely.

“yeah, i imagine that’s pretty difficult.” he agreed with you knowingly, then asked, “so do you enjoy being a waitress?”

your smile faltered a little, and you sighed, “i mean, yeah. i like meeting new people but i’m only doing it for another semester and then i’ve got my degree. it took me longer than i’d like to admit, since i’m almost twenty-four now but i had to work enough to make the money to pay for my tuition and well, yeah. so i’ll have my bachelors in a few months’ time and then i’ll be done with the restaurant.”

“oh?” jaehyun asked, reaching again for more fries. “what are you getting your degree in?”

“teaching!” you said with a brilliant smile on your face. “i want to teach, but lately i’ve been leaning towards teaching english overseas and i think you were my sign to do just that. i’ve been debating between korea and japan.”

jaehyun laughed a little at that, “well not to be biased but i can vouch for korea. it’s a really beautiful place.”

and the conversation continued like that, asking questions back and forth. you answering him honestly and jaehyun answering you as honestly as he could without turning the conversation into the direction he didn’t want it to go. the food was gone and the conversation was still going but you had invited him to your place which wasn’t that far away and jaehyun thought he’d hesitate to say yes but his answer was so immediate it startled him a bit. the constant back and forth went on even still at your apartment and he felt like he had known you for a long time, much longer than just a few hours at least, he felt at ease and comfortable and it was a feeling he didn’t realize he was missing. when you suddenly kissed him midsentence he froze, his entire face blank as his brain processed what had just happened, unsure how to exactly to proceed next and you blushed brightly at him, your confidence unwavering.

“sorry,” you giggled a little nervously at the way his face was in shock, “i don’t have any expectations of tonight, but i wanted to kiss you at least once. you’re so cute, especially your dimples. i’m sorry if i made you uncomf – mmph!” his lips effectively silencing you in the same manner yours had him.

except he didn’t pull away, and you wrapped your arms around him and the night carried on, each kiss leading into a touch, and then a gasp. you led him into your room and kicked the door shut with your foot, hands frantically removing clothing in a trail to the bed. small giggles were shared between gasping breaths within the breaks of kissing and the gasps slowly transformed into sounds of pleasure and while you fell asleep against him after, jaehyun couldn’t turn his racing mind off.

he didn’t regret anything, he didn’t regret his actions. he didn’t regret you.

he regretted that he couldn’t stay.

and so when he knew you were fully asleep, when your breathing was the deepest, he got up from your bed and slowly replaced his clothes one by one, dragging out the moments he had in your presence. his hat was the last thing he found on the floor and he tugged it on, sighing softly to himself, pulling out his phone to read that it was 5:20 am, and with one last glance over his shoulder he left you there in the bed sound asleep. a deep guilt he couldn’t shake making a home for itself in his chest.

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                              aug 9

9:33 am you: hey! everything ok?

9:35 am you: wanna go get breakfast? :)

12:42 pm dimples: i’m sorry, i just saw this. i had work things to take care of. how did you sleep?

3:30 pm you: that’s ok! i slept alright :)

3:31 pm you: are you busy tonight? wanna get food?

4:45 pm dimples: if i get off in time, sure. i’ll let you know.

7:02 pm you: you alright?

7:28 pm dimples: i’m sorry, again. work is kicking my ass, how did your day go?

7:32 pm you: it was fine! started working on an essay i had due, you know. the fun stuff, how about you? busy?

7:45 pm dimples: you have no idea haha

7:49 pm you: you can tell me about it if you want? believe it or not, i’m a great listener

                                       read 10:45 pm

                           aug 13

2:43 pm you: sent attachment

2:43 pm you: saw this and remembered how you

2:43 pm you: sorry, thumb hit send lol. you mentioned you liked this band, and i thought of you

2:44 pm you: hope you’re ok

                           read 12:01 am

                           aug 19

11:01 pm you: y’know, i’m not mad at you or anything i did say i had no expectations lol. just kinda hoped this would have been different, you know? it kinda felt different to me…

11:02 pm you: but that’s alright lol i hope you’re ok

                                     delivered

                          aug 31

7:49 am you: jaehyun

7:50 am you: look, i need you to respond

7:50 am you: please

7:51 am you: i’m freaking out

7:51 am you: idk what to do, and i’m scared

                                                 not delivered

7:53 am you: what the fuck??

                                               not delivered

7:55 am you: fuck. you. jaehyun.

                                               not delivered

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five years later.

although the years had passed for jaehyun, it was all so quick that the night with you still felt fresh to him. he often thought of you and how you were, often thought of if you graduated and were teaching. if you got to do everything you had confessed to him that night in the extended lengths of the conversations had.

he often thought if you were here in korea with him like you had planned and he just had no clue.

if you were, you hated him, he was sure.

his manager had caught him checking his phone that night with an unsaved number on it, had sneakily read your messages over his shoulder and absolutely lost it on him. he went on and on about his idol image, his career, his future and repeated ‘what if this got out? what if dispatch found it?’ and jaehyun couldn’t say anything back but ‘okay’. the feeling he had when talking to you, the small feeling of being himself again, smothered in an instant.

when you had sent him a picture of a vinyl record of one of his favorite bands, he wanted so badly to respond to you. he had even typed out a response when he finally was able to read it, but he knew it wouldn’t help anything at all if he did. he really did think it was better to let it lie, and so he turned off his read receipts.

the last message he saw from you, made him gnaw on his bottom lip, and the next day he left the country going back to korea and his number was changed.

he wanted to be different for you, he had barely met you but he knew you, it wasn’t a coincidence to him. but what kind of life would a long-distance relationship be with someone who would be so busy some days or even weeks that he couldn’t respond? he knew you’d always be worried, or hurt when communication was so small. he thought of it a lot. and he was thinking of all those things, when he was sure, he had ultimately decided, that you probably didn’t actually want to be with him.

he would have just… liked it if you had.

maybe if he weren’t famous he would have dated you.

maybe it would have been like one of the cheesy romance movies taeyong liked to watch, maybe he even would have fallen in love.

and maybe… maybe he would have even married you if his daydream let him get that far, if his life would have followed the cliché movie plot, but that was all a what if to him now. something he liked to sit and think about if only just to make sure the guilt never left him.

“jaehyun?” his name being called pulled him out of his memories and his head jerked up to look at who had called him. his manager was staring at him with drawn eyebrows, and at jaehyun’s confused expression he breathed deeply out of his nose.

“what do you think?” this time it was the PR manager asking, the person who had asked him, johnny, and mark to come to the conference room to go over their schedules for the next couple of days.

“about what? sorry, i was…” jaehyun trailed off.

“he thinks it’s a great idea.” mark answered for him, giving jaehyun a concerned look. “he loves kids.”

“okay, then it’s set. the kids are unaware they’re meeting you all, and they probably won’t really realize you’re famous but it will be filmed for content with permission from the schools principal already. It’ll be good for the groups image, everyone loved the last time you guys sat with kids.” and with that the meeting was done, it wasn’t really to ask them if they wanted to participate but to tell them what they would be doing. jaehyun didn’t mind this that much because it was true. he did love kids.

once the managers had left the room, johnny turned in his chair to give jaehyun a scrupulous look.

“dude, why were you spacing out so bad?” mark asked, slouching in his chair as his chin saw in his palm and his elbow rested on the table. to this date, johnny was the only other person who knew about you and his night he had spent with you. johnny nodded at the quick eye contact, understanding immediately.

“dunno, i think i’m just tired. i didn’t sleep much last night.” jaehyun brushed off mark’s question with a shrug and mark sighed at that.

“well, you better get some rest tonight. those kids aren’t going to chill out just because you’re tired.” mark said as he stood, his hands shoved into the pockets of his sweats, shooting one last look at jaehyun before leaving the room.

“you know, it’s been a few years but maybe she’s thinking of you too. why not try reaching out?” johnny whispered to him, and jaehyun gave johnny a not-quite-there smile that was really just a grimace.

“nah, it’s fine. she’s probably changed her number since then, and besides, even if she didn’t she definitely hates me now. i know i would.” johnny frowned then as his friend got up and left the room, the big glass door swinging closed softly behind him.

something had changed in jaehyun that night when he came back, it wasn’t a huge, drastic change but johnny noticed it nonetheless. he wasn’t always distracted by his guilty thoughts of you, but on several occasions jaehyun had gotten drunk with him and started talking about you and everything about you that he knew.

by this point johnny felt he knew you just as well as jaehyun had.

and about sixty percent of those occasions, johnny had to console him and reassure him that you probably didn’t hate him but would probably just be upset at him, and that he was sure you’d forgive jaehyun if he explained the situation.

johnny was never confident in that though. five years is a long time to go on thinking about someone you spent one night with.

and, johnny often thought, five years was a long time to dwell on all the anger left from waking up alone from someone you spent one night with.

and although if it was only supposed to be just one night… even johnny knew it was more than that.

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mark was bouncing on the balls of his feet, his hands contained in his pockets but jaehyun couldn’t help the smile that grew at the younger mans energy. there was always something about children that brought out the kid side of the younger members and that was always contagious and within minutes, jaehyun was smiling just as brightly as mark had been.

they were told to wait until given the signal to come out, as all the kids were now sitting in different circles in the room. the four-year-old class wasn’t very large, and they had come to the SM building to take a tour.

in recent years SM had opened its doors to field trips for younger kids, usually it was elementary ages but after some strings were pulled, they allowed the class going in to kindergarten to be included if they would allow them to be part of the youtube series SM had going on of ‘idols with kids’.

this wasn’t the group’s first event with kids, the group was large at this time and they had rotated out and didn’t have to do it often, but it was their turn and it was a nice break, jaehyun thought.

certainly better than another photoshoot.

johnny tapped jaehyun on the shoulder, the signal had been given and the three men entered the room full of energetic children. there were only about twelve of them total, and jaehyun noticed the teachers stood off to the side, two women leaning against the wall with their masks up and covering their face.

jaehyun paid them very little attention as he went to his assigned table to sit down with the kids. he took his place at the circle table and folded his legs underneath him, sitting as the kids were.

the kids grew quiet at the presence of the adult man at their table, and he noticed his table had two girls and two boys. the little girl that sat closest to him had big bright eyes and her little hands brushed her bangs away from her eyes.

he noticed her little pigtails had little fuzzy clips in them that matched her dress and his heart melted at how adorable she was. she seemed to be the boldest of the group as she was the only one to look him in the eyes.

“hi everyone, my name is jaehyun.” he said kindly, trying to make the kids feel at ease.

“hello, mister.” the cute girl with pigtails said and when she spoke, small dimples formed at the corners of her mouth and he was intrigued at how much they looked like his.

“hello, miss.” jaehyun nodded and replied easily and the little girls smile grew as did her dimples. and then a thought visibly appeared across her face and she turned to her other friends at the table.

“it’s rude to not say hi,” her lips were in a pouty frown as she looked at them. she was a bossy little thing, he noticed but her friends immediately chimed in with quiet hello’s. that seemed to make her happy and she nodded dramatically. jaehyun knew the only thing they had to do while they were here was color with them, and talk to them for the camera’s sake, and so he did just that.

the little girl next to him asked him which page he wanted to color first, and he reached forward to slide a piece of paper with the outline of a bunny holding a carrot and then she asked her friends which ones they wanted. he noticed she chose last and his heart melted even more at how utterly sweet the little exchange was.

“what are your names?” he asked the table as a whole, putting on his gentlest smile, which wasn’t hard for him to find. the little boy to his left spoke up this time, starting to get comfortable with jaehyun’s presence.

“my name in jiwon, and he’s seojun… she’s heeyoung, and,” he said pointing out each person one by one dramatically as he finally landed on the little girl who sat beside him. “her name is yeoruem.”

“oh you all have pretty names,” jaehyun commented and the boys seemed to swell with a sense of pride by being told they had nice names from a stranger. he noticed the kids start talking a little bit, but they mostly focused on their coloring. yeoreum sat beside him, a crayon gripped tightly in her hand and her tongue stuck between her lips and she concentrated on her page, she had chosen a big teddy bear and she was coloring it purple.

she was getting a little frustrated he could tell with how she kept huffing and puffing and finally she put her crayon down and put her cheek in her tiny hand dramatically, and the cute pout made jaehyun chuckle softly.

“what’s the matter, yeoreum?” he cooed at her gently.

“i like to stay in the lines and i messed up.”

“well let’s see if we can fix it, hmm?” and he picked up her crayon and offered it to her. she took it in her hand again and he proceeded to point at a small spot, his arms wrapping around her and helping her hand move just right and she took his direction with a grin. when she finally got it she pushed his hand away.

“thank you mister jaehyun, i want to try and do it now myself.” and jaehyun held up his hands in surrender.

“you’re a very independent little girl, yeoreum.” jaehyun commented to her as he went back to coloring on his bunny, picking up an orange crayon to fill in the carrot.

“thank you!” she beamed, not taking her eyes off of her teddy bear. “my mommy says the same thing.”

“your mommy is a very smart lady,” jaehyun replied and she looked up then. her face twisting in an scowl that was too cute to be remotely threatening considering she was four.

“no,” she argued, greatly offended. “my mommy is the smartest lady. and she’s one of my teachers too, she’s right over there.”

and it was in that moment that several things happened simultaneously.

yeoreum pointed at the wall to one of the women jaehyun had barely taken notice of when he walked in. his eyes looked up in the direction that her tiny hand pointed in and as he looked up, the woman turned her face away from him to say something to the other teacher so he couldn’t see her face but at the same time one of the kids from johnny’s table screamed dramatically.

“miss y/n!” the little boy wailed, and jaehyun felt his heart leap to his throat, and his stomach plummeted as if he were on a rollercoaster while he watched as the same lady who had turned away rush forward to see what the little boy needed, but jaehyun couldn’t even focus on that. he felt his world around him slow to a grinding halt, his eyes solely focused on you. on the small parts of your face he could visibly see due to the mask you wore.

but he was unsure how he had missed you when he walked in. yours was the face that he dreamt of, and he was sure his jaw was dropped. his eyes drifted slightly from your face to johnny whose expression probably matched his own, his eyes flickering between you and jaehyun.

jaehyun felt his mouth go dry in the next second as another realization hit him. he whipped his head to look down at the little girl next to him and she was intently focused on where her mom stood at the other table. jaehyun tried three times to swallow before he was successful.

“yeoreum?” he asked, voice shaking slightly.

she tore her eyes from you and looked up to make eye contact with jaehyun. “yes, mister jaehyun?”

“miss y/n is your mother?” he asked, face searching this little girls who, the more he looked, the more he found himself staring back.

“no, she’s my mommy.” she answered smartly.

“ah, yes. she’s your mommy…” he trailed off, eyes flickering back up to see you standing back with the other woman and you were pointedly avoiding eye contact with him, instead staring at yeoreum who was still looking at him.

“and yeoreum, how – when is your birthday?”

“may first,” she chirped and he dragged his eyes away from you to look down at the little girl and his face drained of all color entirely.

“um… mister jaehyun? you look like you don’t feel so good.” she said worriedly, and he gulped again, trying to calm his nerves. his mental math couldn’t be that wrong, could it? there’s no way, was there? no, those dimples were undeniable evidence.

someone somewhere had pity on him, because right when he felt that he may pass out or throw up or do a combination of both, their manager came out and called the session with the idols to an end, the cameras folding up then and were put away and the other teacher called everyone to come stand with you and her.

yeoreum stood up and patted her dress, and she reached down and pulled on jaehyun’s hand to have him stand up with her.

“c’mon mister jaehyun, i want you to meet my mommy so you can see that she’s the smartest lady in the whole world,” and as jaehyun slowly stood to his feet, yeoreum waved her hand to have him bend down to her level so she could whisper conspiratorially in his ear. “but don’t tell miss jisoo, she may get upset.”

jaehyun could only nod as she pulled him over to the other kids and you, and he braced himself for disaster.

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you had fought tooth and nail with the principal of your center about going to SM. you knew the chances of jaehyun being one of the idols to work with would be slim but you didn’t want to take that chance. however when she had asked you the reason why you were so adamant against going to the entertainment company’s headquarters, you couldn’t very well give her the reason that your child’s clueless father works there. it would open up more questions and you had done well the past five years keeping it under wraps that no one knew who yeoreum’s father was, not even your mother.

you had realized after he had blocked your number of who he was when you did a google search of ‘jaehyun korea entertainment’ to see page after page of his face, and you realized he was a common name in korea. it made a little more sense then as to why he suddenly started ignoring you.

you thought he may have been different based on the hours of conversations you both shared, but since he was a celebrity, you assumed you were just another person on his list of hookups throughout his tour stops.

and so when you saw him walk in with two of his other members, you felt your heart jump. and then when you saw he sat at your daughter’s table your heart immediately sank and you felt your body get hot, the same feeling you felt when you found out you were pregnant.

you stood at the back with your co-teacher, hiding in plain sight. you were thankful that you had made it to the end, the interaction between them going well even if he didn’t know.

he seemed to almost have an instant attachment to her and you couldn’t help the way your heart swooped when he bent around her to help her with her coloring. it was a few moments after that that she noticed yeoreum point her tiny finger in your direction and you almost cursed aloud.

you quickly turned your head to look at jisoo, trying to find any random question to ask her to start a conversation to avoid his eye contact but when you heard one of your students, a little boy named yunho, screaming for you across the room you only allowed yourself three seconds to panic before you crossed the room to see what was the matter.

you briefly made eye contact with the man, you had learned his name was johnny after researching jaehyun’s group, and he looked like a deer caught in the headlights. you ignored him after that, understanding that he must have known about you and that somehow both angered and embarrassed you.

“what’s wrong, yunho?” you asked as you crouched next to the crying boy.

“min-minhee,” he hiccupped, big alligator tears falling down his face. “minhee took my crayon and i was still using it!” and you patted the young boy’s head affectionately.

“minhee…” you started, voice slightly scolding and the other boy mentioned was purposefully looking away from you. “is that true?”

minhee turned his head further away from you and you couldn’t help but laugh slightly, “minhee, you know that isn’t nice.” after a few seconds, and another glance up at johnny who was now looking at the table behind you, eyes wide.

minhee finally turned around and gave yunho back his crayon and apologized after you prompted him to do so. crisis averted, you took a deep breath and stood up, purposefully avoiding the table your daughter sat at but when you reached the wall, you felt his eyes on you but instead you noticed how your daughter stared up at him, eyes already full of adoration.

the cameras were put away and jisoo called everyone’s attention. you were focused on the other children gathering up, doing headcounts one by one until you heard a soft, “mommy?” from behind you.

“what is it, baby?” you asked turning around, expecting to see your daughter but instead came face to face with jaehyun who your daughter had in tow.

“this is mister jaehyun, and i wanted him to meet you so i could show him how sma – show him my teacher.” she fumbled over her sentence and you furrowed your brows at her choice of words.

“hello miss y/n,” jaehyun choked out, and you noticed his face was very pale. you wanted to laugh and tell him that it served him right, but you wanted to pretend that you didn’t know him, even though you clearly did.

“hello,” you greeted, overly formal as if to create distance between you two.

“yeoreum… yeoreum tells me her birthday is in may. is that true?” were the first words to tumble out of his mouth. you noticed jisoo had rounded up the kids and started to lead them out of the room.

“yeoreum, sweetheart, go stand with miss jisoo, okay? i’ll be right there.” you said as you looked down, cupping your little girls cheek sweetly and she smiled up at you.

“okay mommy!” she said, running off to walk with the class who was leaving the room.

you felt the presence of two more people walking up and you glanced to see johnny and another man, mark you thought his name was, walk up to stand awkwardly a few feet away. johnny definitely seemed to know, but mark looked clueless as to why they were there.

“is that true?” jaehyun pressed again, and you turned your full attention to him now, ignoring the other two men in your vicinity.

“yes, her birthday is may first.” you replied, voice a little sharp and you saw jaehyun visibly wince at the tone.

jaehyun didn’t even care that mark was here now, listening in. his mind was racing with so many questions and he just wanted to know the answers to them regardless of who was around.

“that’s nine months…” he trailed off then.

“yes, it is.” the same tone didn’t falter.

“i… i… is she mine?” he finally asked then, heart bracing for the answer but then you laughed and it was a cold laugh, much different from the happy ones he recalled in his dreams, and he recoiled slightly.

“you’re not on the birth certificate,” your lips were flat, turning pale from the pressure of keeping your anger at bay.

“that’s not – no, please, y/n. is she mine?” he pressed, his hands ready to beg you for an answer.

“is she your daughter? yes.” you answered him in an angry whisper. “but she’s not yours, she’s mine.” and jaehyun flinched again at how harsh your words were.

jaehyun was silent for a long moment and you scoffed, turning away from him then to go meet up with your class.

“have you told anyone?” he asked, and he wasn’t sure why he even asked that question because he knew if you had, it would have made headlines. you froze then, and he could have sworn you were visibly shaking. you turned and glared at him, such an angry look he didn’t know it was possible to feel so small from just a single expression.

“no, jaehyun, i haven’t.” you spat, your anger making your skin flush in how hard you tried to control your voice and your temper. “so don’t worry, you can go back to living your golden life without any responsibilities. i won’t be asking you for money, i won’t be coming back here, and i won’t be going to the press. but not for your sake, oh no, i couldn’t give a fuck. only for hers.” you turned and walked away, your hand stilling on the doorknob when you heard him call to you.

“no, wait! y/n that’s – that’s not what i meant, please. can – can i meet her? spend time with her?” you didn’t turn around, your hand on the knob tightening its grip for a moment, you lifted your head to stare at the ceiling and you sighed, the anger draining from you and just leaving you exhausted.

“you just did, and i think that was enough, don’t you? i don’t want you to decide the next morning that she’s not worth your time.”

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the door closed behind you as you left and all three men were stunned into silence at what had transpired. jaehyun had known you’d hate him if you saw him again, he knew that, he really did. he would have never pushed you to spend time with him after the way everything went down but now it was different.

he was a father now, or well, he had been a father the past four years and had no clue but now he was aware and he couldn’t just not try and be one. this had changed his world, how could he go about pretending that this hadn’t happened?

“dude… i am so confused right now. what the actual hell just happened?” mark finally spoke up, eyes darting between the two men standing with him. johnny didn’t look away from jaehyun to answer his question, nothing but extreme concern for his friend who looked like he had his whole world shaken up.

well, johnny thought almost comically, he did.

“i, um…” jaehyun started, eyes still not drifting away from the door you had just left from. “when we were on tours four years ago, um… johnny and i went to dinner, i don’t know if you remember? we had asked you if you wanted to go too, but you were already going with haechan and taeil.” jaehyun finally broke his trance he had on the door and turned to make eye contact with mark, who still sported the look of someone utterly bewildered. mark answered with a nod, not daring to open his mouth so he could listen to the rest of what jaehyun had to say.

“well, we went. just us two. and she was our waitress and she was, she is, so beautiful and she was flirting with me and so when she put her number on our receipt, johnny told me to go for it and… and i did. we talked for hours, and – and one thing led to another, and fuck.” jaehyun breathed out and then let out a humorless laugh at his word choice. he ran his hand through his hair roughly, the newly dyed blonde locks, tugging on them as he did so. “i left. i mean, i couldn’t have actually stayed with her, we had a show in another city and we had to leave and so i left. i tried to keep talking to her but… i stopped.”

mark blew out a hard breath at jaehyun’s explanation. “well, did you let her know? that you had to leave and that’s why?”

jaehyun shook his head, and johnny spoke up for him then. “our manager saw and lost it, he couldn’t reply to her because he was scared since it had been so long and then we left and our manager had his number changed when we got back.”

“did you still have her number though?” mark questioned, eyebrows coming together. jaehyun nodded hesitantly.

“dude, that’s so fucked. you should have explained to her then, she would have understood.” jaehyun hung his head, he was used to johnny consoling him in the assumption that he’d never have to see you again. he wasn’t used to his mistakes being so openly berated.

“poor y/n,” mark said then, turning to look at the door you had left out of. “having to raise a baby on her own like that, i don’t blame her for being as angry as she was. and then for you to ask –.”

“god, mark, yes. i know. i know i fucked up. but i have a kid… i have a daughter. i don’t want to be one of those dads, i don’t…” he trailed off, the way he felt sick dissipating, slowly being replaced with the dread of having his daughter grow up and have to tell people her dad was just absent when he knew about her now.

“then don’t.” johnny’s reply was simple. both jaehyun and mark turned to look at him. johnny shrugged as if it were easy.

“but she doesn’t –.” jaehyun went to say but johnny shook his head, the look he gave him shutting him up instantly.

“then don’t, jaehyun. you’re an adult. you made a mistake but it’s not eighteen years too late to try and fix it, just five. if chen can do this and end up just fine, you have just the same amount of chance that he does. you don’t wanna be a deadbeat dad? then don’t. easy as that. y/n isn’t going to like it at first but, she’ll come around if. you. make. an. effort.” mark was smiling at johnny’s answer, nodding along as he spoke and jaehyun stared open mouthed at him.

“you think it’ll work?”

“it doesn’t hurt to try,” mark chimed in. “plus, i saw the way she was watching you earlier, i kinda thought for a second she was going to be one of those weird stalkers but this makes so much more sense now.”

“how can i do this though? i don’t have her number or anything,” jaehyun asked, and he wanted so badly to get to know yeoreum, and to get to know you again. he wanted to see if things were that different, or if it was the years of anger building up. he couldn’t blame you at all for the things you said and for the way you reacted. he can imagine he’d do the same.

“am i gonna have to do everything myself?” johnny joked and jaehyun gave him a confused look.

“she works at the school that was just here. we have the principals contact information. therefore, we have her information. and if nothing else, we know where she works. you show up, you make a genuine effort, and you keep making an effort until she knows you’re serious. and you keep trying because that’s your daughter. you literally can’t deny her, she looks exactly like you.” jaehyun nodded, absorbing all the information that johnny had readily available in his brain. he hoped it was because he was an outsider looking in in this situation and not that jaehyun was just that dumb. maybe it was a bit of both.

“guys? come on, we have another schedule to meet in forty-five minutes,” their manager called, his head momentarily visible from the doorway. the three men made their way to exit, jaehyun’s mind reeling with what he was going to do and how he was going to do.

he had a daughter.

he was a father.

that thought alone was enough to make a grin slowly grow on his face.

“also,” mark spoke up suddenly, turning around to look at his friends. “do i need to have a talk with everyone about the importance of condoms?”

johnny snorted out a laugh, and jaehyun groaned loudly.

“yeah… i think i’m gonna at least text the dreamies. maybe ‘wrap it before you tap it’ or something like that. god, can you imagine jisung with a child?” mark’s face looked horrified, but his joke effectively broke the tense feeling jaehyun had held for the past twenty minutes and johnny laughed, clapping mark on the shoulder as he and jaehyun exited the door.

“jisung is an adult, mark. he’s a grown ass man. they don’t need ‘the talk’.”

“yes they do, they can be forty and they’re still going to be children to me!” mark yelled as he followed them out.

.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.

jaehyun couldn’t remember the last time he had butterflies this bad since maybe his debut. his heart hadn’t stopped racing since johnny handed him a slip of paper discreetly at practice later that night, and when jaehyun unfolded the paper he saw an address and a phone number scrawled in small letters.

“maybe go to her work, instead of calling first.” johnny had whispered to him rather conspicuously in the far corner of the room.

“wouldn’t it be better to give her a heads up though? i don’t want to ruin this before i even really get the chance to get to know yeoreum.” jaehyun said, the desperation for this to work out evident on his face. he wasn’t sure when he had ever wanted something so badly, but his thoughts had been consumed by this little girl that he had no idea existed until twelve hours ago.

“sure, it might seem a little creepy but this way she can physically see you’re serious and won’t block you immediately out of spite,” johnny shrugged at his friend. “i know i'd block you.”

jaehyun gave him a deadpan look, “that’s very comforting, thanks.”

a sudden pair of arms throwing themselves around jaehyun’s shoulders made his eyes grow wide but seeing johnny unconcerned made him relax a little.

“so who is blocking jaehyun hyung immediately?” haechan asked from over jaehyun’s shoulder.

jaehyun fished for a response, trying to think of an answer and johnny beat him to it with the most basic of answers.

“your mom.” johnny said, a wide grin growing on his face at the offended look on haechan’s face that jaehyun couldn’t see.

“you better not be texting my mom!” haechan argued, voice rising an octave directly in jaehyun’s ear making the man wince sharply. “she’s married and i don’t want a step-dad this late in my life.”

johnny pushed away from the wall and jaehyun was thankful for johnny’s distraction, because as he walked away haechan moved to follow him, arguing with the taller man even if it started out as a joke.

this gave jaehyun the time to stare down at the folded piece of paper that had been crumpled in his hand, he memorized the number on it like the paper would disintegrate if he didn’t and as he moved on to the address he attempted to formulate a plan.

the plan may have been half-assed in hindsight, jaehyun realized as he stood out in front of the pre-school you worked at, staying out of sight of any passerby who may recognize him. he was sure he wouldn’t be noticed that easily as his hood was up, mask secured over his nose but he was so nervous of someone saying something to ruin his one shot at getting you to listen to him.

he distracted himself with scrolling through his phone, flipping between different social medias while he waited, and his heart skipped a beat when he heard your voice calling a goodbye to your coworkers as you exited the building.

“mommy, can we go get some ice cream? i got a green smiley on my report today from miss jisoo, you know i was good today!” he heard yeoreum ask cutely, and you turned the corner to walk in his direction and he watched as you looked down at her. you held her hand and your smile was so gentle he couldn’t help but get lost in it for a moment.

you were going to respond but you noticed his presence at that moment, looking up and staring harshly at him, he could see you bristle. you didn’t immediately recognize him, jaehyun noticed with the way you tugged yeoreum to stand behind you and jaehyun raised his hands in surrender, tugging his mask down so you could see his face and you released a breath, relaxing instantly.

“mister jaehyun!” yeoreum cheered from behind you, bouncing forward with her hands holding on to the straps of her little yellow backpack. jaehyun crouched to be level with her, his elbows resting on his knees and his dimpled smile was an exact replica of hers.

“hi yeoreum, i heard you say you were good today in school. if your mommy is okay with it, do you think i get you that ice cream you wanted?” jaehyun asked the little girl, but his eyes were looking up at you and your mouth was pressed in a firm line. yeoreum whirled on the spot to look up at you.

“oh please, mommy? mister jaehyun will pay for it so it’s free!” yeoreum pleaded, adding information that wasn’t exactly given yet and jaehyun couldn’t help but laugh at that detail. you clearly debated on it for a moment, but the hopeful look on your daughters face was already giving you an answer.

“sure, sweetie.” you said softly, eyes cutting up to glance at jaehyun, trying to figure out what he was getting at. yeoreum pulled you by the hand, and then she boldly grabbed jaehyun’s hand as well, leading the way to the convenience store you often made stops to on the way home from school.

you didn’t say a word as you walked, jaehyun keeping a conversation going with yeoreum, asking her about the things in school she liked and it went on like that for a few minutes until you entered the store and you greeted the elderly woman who ran it politely. yeoreum darted to the ice cream section and you finally had a moment without her present.

“what are you trying to do here, jaehyun?” you asked coldly, and his smile never wavered, his mood too high to allow it to come down.

“i’m trying to get to know my daughter that i didn’t know existed until yesterday.” he answered you, his voice hushed as to keep the store owner from eavesdropping, but you didn’t detect any obvious lies in his statement.

“i told you –.” you started, and he cut you off.

“i know what you said, believe me. i heard you loud and clear, but please y/n,” and your eyes widened at the sincerity in his voice, he was seconds away from begging dramatically. “please just give me one chance. i want to be in her life, i want to be there for her.”

yeoreum skipped over, holding three ice cream bars in her arms.

“look mommy, i got your favorite. and mister jaehyun, i got you my favorite. you’ll like it because it’s the best!” she said with such confidence that jaehyun chuckled at her as she walked right up to the counter.

“well you’re in luck because that just so happens to be my favorite, too.” jaehyun offered and the girl beamed at him.

“mommy likes this flavor,” she pointed to the only one that was different as the elderly woman scanned the three items. she motioned for him to come to her level, and when he bent down she cupped her hands cutely to whisper in jaehyun’s ear. “and don’t tell her but it’s really yucky.”

the more time jaehyun spent around this little girl the more he felt himself getting wrapped around her finger. he brought a finger to his lips conspiratorially and he turned to make eye contact with you and your eyebrows raised.

“hey, what’s with the secrets?” you frowned in confusion, head tilting slightly and at the motion jaehyun felt his heart skip a beat. he recalled the same exact motion five years ago, and he had to swallow hard to pull himself out of the memory.

“oh, nothing. yeoreum just told me a funny joke.” he answered, giving yeoreum a wink and she giggled at the secret that they now had, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as she laughed.

“hmmm,” you responded, accepting the ice cream bars and thanking the woman as you exited. the park was only a short distance away and that’s where you headed, sitting down on a bench as you opened yeoreum’s ice cream and she dove in immediately.

you allowed them to talk easily, and you felt your resolve slowly chipping away with every smile they shared with each other. you recalled one of the many conversations you had had with friends, one most recently being your coworker and friend jisoo. she had suggested for the umpteenth time that you should reach out to the father and give him the option to be in yeoreum’s life.

“i don’t want him to get tired of her, it would be devastating for her, and me too.” you had argued then and jisoo’s look was unamused.

“you haven’t even given him the chance, you have no clue if he’d even do that. you can’t make that assumption, time changes people.”

you were realizing she was right as you watched her giggle over him dripping ice cream on his shoes, yeoreum commenting how it’s not that hard to not be messy and jaehyun laughed at her disappointed sigh.

you had made up your mind by then, the ice cream finished and you noticed the time was getting a little late, knowing you’d have to get her ready for bed.

“come on, ‘reum. we gotta get ready for bed soon.” you said softly, interrupting their conversation and yeoreum nodded, hopping off of the bench she sat on with jaehyun. she walked over to stand beside you but she turned to jaehyun.

“mister jaehyun, will i see you again?” she asked and her voice was so hopeful that jaehyun looked to you for an answer.

“one chance,” you mouthed to him seriously, holding up one finger to emphasize your point over yeoreum’s head and jaehyun’s eyes shone with relief as he made eye contact with yeoreum.

“i’d love to, i’ll come see you anytime.” jaehyun nodded and yeoreum clapped excitedly, turning to look at you as she did so and you couldn’t help the answering smile that crossed your face. you took her small hand in yours and you began to walk in the direction of your home and she paused, turning around and waving enthusiastically goodbye to jaehyun who was still seated on the wooden park bench.

“see you soon, mister jaehyun!” she called and then she was pulling you away; jaehyun watching you both leave and he felt at peace knowing this plan went so much better than he could have ever hoped it would.

.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.

you had just put yeoruem to sleep in her little princess bed, she had talked nonstop the entire way home, all through dinner, and then during her bath until you finally got her to sleep, about mister jaehyun.

the idea of her getting to know him brought on two strong emotions and they teetered back and forth in your mind, an eerily well-balanced scale.

on one hand, you were excited for her to get to know her father, she deserved to have both parents who loved her.

on the other hand, you were terrified of how this would play out fully. would he leave once people found out? would he pretend she didn’t exist?

your thoughts ran in circles over and over, and you didn’t get anywhere productive. the only thing you had settled on was that until you knew for sure where this would go, you would make sure jaehyun wouldn’t mention a word of being her dad.

you didn’t want to have to pick up the pieces of her small heart if he shattered it.

your phone dinged and it pulled you out of your thoughts, you paused the show you had barely been paying attention to so you could focus.

9:31 pm unknown: hello… do you have plans tomorrow?

9:32 pm you: depends on who’s asking...?

9:33 pm unknown: oh, yeah my bad. this is jaehyun, johnny got me your number from your boss

9:34 pm you: ok… that’s not weird at all… but no. no plans besides work and yeoruem. why?

9:35 pm he who must not be named 💀:  how do you feel about coming over? i can cook for you both, or maybe order pizza. whatever yeoreum wants to eat haha

9:37 pm you: she’s not picky, but i guess i won’t mind. will your members mind?

9:38 pm he who must not be named 💀: ah, right. well, see i’m telling them tomorrow so they won’t really have a choice.

9:40 pm you: … don’t make this weird for us, jaehyun.

9:42 pm he who must not be named 💀: i’m not! i won’t, i’ll send someone for you tomorrow at 6?

9:47 pm you: we can get there, just give me the address and i’ll see you then

9:48 pm he who must not be named 💀: [current location]

you audibly sighed, staring at the phone showing the address, you clicked it to see that he didn’t live too far from you and you just shook your head, you were going to leave it at that, but your thought from earlier hit you again and you typed a response.

9:55 pm you: i have a request for you

10:01 pm he who must not be named 💀: ask

10:02 pm you: i’m not going to keep you from getting to know her, because it makes her happy and she deserves that. but i don’t want you to mention anything to her about you being her dad

10:05 pm he who must not be named 💀: and that’s because…?

10:06 pm you: i just wanna be sure. i’d rather you be some cool man she spent time with if you decide differently

10:07 pm he who must not be named 💀: okay and when you see that i’m not gonna ghost my own daughter, is there a statute of limitations on this or what?

10:08 pm you: i’ll let you know

.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.

jaehyun paced back and forth in the living room, he hadn’t heard from you since you assured him you’d be coming by at 6 like agreed. he had went a little overboard on the pizza, considering there were now five different boxes on the counter and he may have went on a shopping spree at a small children’s toy store.

now all eight of his members sat in different spots in the too large living room as he walked back and forth, stopping to check on his phone and then once he saw there wasn’t a notification from you, he went back to his path he had made.

“you’re gonna wear a hole through the floor,” johnny deadpanned and jaehyun ignored him.

“hyung?” it was haechan this time trying to get jaehyun to stop moving and jaehyun did, looking up to see what the youngest wanted.

“this isn’t your first time meeting her, right?” haechan seemed genuinely confused.

“no, this is the second, technically third time now.” he answered, forgetting about his phone in his pocket for a moment.

“okay, then why are you freaking out?” haechan asked, resting his chin in his palm.

“well…” jaehyun was at a brief loss for words. “y/n is unsure about me being around her already, so i guess i’m worried she’s going to… stop.”

“stop what?” taeyong asked from the other side of the room and jaehyun turned on the spot to face him.

“stop letting me see her, stop responding to me, just, stop altogether.” jaehyun looked crestfallen as he waved his hands around but a snort from his left made him glare at yuta.

“what? like you did to her?” yuta smirked at the stressed man, and jaehyun threw his arms up, throwing his head back as he stared at the ceiling for a long moment.

he hadn’t expected this kind of reaction at all when he called a group meeting in the living room hours earlier; he had told mark and johnny he planned to tell everyone because he had wanted you and yeoreum to come to the house and they had only nodded and helped him gather everyone. mark and johnny purposely sat on the couch in the corner of the room so they could watch it all unfold.

jaehyun had started the whole thing by clearing his throat three times before he even opened his mouth.

“i-,” he began but yuta narrowed his eyes at him and twisted his lips for a second.

“you got some girl pregnant, didn’t you?” his question was so blunt it took everyone off guard, mark almost falling out of his seat on the couch entirely. haechan, who sat on the arm of yuta’s chair, shoved his shoulder roughly. jaehyun, however, was stunned into silence, mouth agape and yuta laughed at his reaction.

“jaehyun, he’s joking. now why did you call us all here?” taeyong said, shooting a stern look at yuta before turning his full attention to the man who stood in the center of the room. keeping the peace like he always did, but jaehyun was so much more nervous now after yuta’s comment, regardless of how correct it was.

“okay, so,” jaehyun began and went through the entire story again. something he had kept to himself all these years, and he was finally letting everyone in on his tiny, but impactful, moment of freedom he had with you.

“and so when we filmed our content for the youtube segment, the one with kids, you know?” and when everyone nodded, all but three mouths were hanging in stunned silence. “this little girl was at my table, and she was adorable and smart and highly independent but like, some kids are like that. until she pointed out her mother to me, and –.”

jungwoo gasped dramatically, leaning so far forward in his chair as he listened to jaehyun that he was practically on the floor. “no fucking way!”

“yes, way.” mark answered for him, and jaehyun continued.

“y/n, yeah. y/n was her mother, and yeoreum was born exactly nine months after, and yeah. i… i have a daughter that i had no clue existed but i want to be her dad, i haven’t wanted something this bad since we debuted, and… yeah.”

“okay… okay…” taeyong repeated, seemingly in shock as he processed everything that was just said.

“okay?” jaehyun asked, wanting someone to say something.

“okay.” taeyong replied, making eye contact with him. “well, we’re not going to let you be a shitty father.”

“anymore.” haechan said under his breath and yuta snickered with him.

“i had no clue!” jaehyun argued in defense of himself.

“how do you even know she’s actually yours?” taeil asked, his posture was relaxed in his chair, recovering from the shock of the news more quickly than the others had.

“she -.” he started but doyoung butted in then.

“how do you know she’s not using you as a way to get money? she could have slept with someone else.” doyoung seemed even less convinced than taeil was.

“oh no, wait til you see her,” mark said from his spot in the room. “he can’t deny her even if he tried.”

“what? i won’t believe it until i see the test results.” doyoung said, and taeil nodded.

“she hasn’t asked me for anything,” jaehyun argued, feeling a little defensive over you then.

“yet.” taeil murmured, and johnny chose then to speak up.

“you weren’t there in the room, neither of you. she didn’t want anything to do with jaehyun, and she very, very clearly stated that she didn’t even want him around her.”

“and she asked me to refrain from even mentioning that i was her dad.” jaehyun tacked on, and taeil didn’t seem convinced nor did doyoung. silence stretched on for a moment.

“so when do we get to meet yeoreum?” haechan asked then, and jaehyun checked his watch.

“in about three hours,” he replied and everyone jumped as if they had been startled.

“what?!” came at him from all directions of the room.

“nothing in here is childproof!” taeyong exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

“she’s five, not two, she’s not going to go stick her finger in light sockets,” mark chuckled and taeyong relaxed slightly.

“she’s four, but yeah, same thing applies,” johnny corrected him and then silence fell over the room again.

“i will say, i can’t blame y/n,” yuta spoke up then, his eyes trained on the floor for a long moment. “if i were her, i wouldn’t have even given you the option. she’s a lot more forgiving than i would be if you knocked me up, ghosted me and then suddenly by a coincidence showed up again.”

“well that’s because you’re a scorpio,” jungwoo said. “and it feels kinda like fate to me.”

“that’s exactly what i said!” mark laughed, pointing at jungwoo animatedly.

and the conversation carried on like that up until he started pacing, jaehyun had been grateful that they all, well almost all, took it in stride and were supportive. but the jabs from yuta were making him even more anxious, and no matter how many times taeyong glared at yuta and told him to shut up, he couldn’t relax.

and then his phone buzzed in his hand.

6:15 pm pizza hut: um, sorry we’re a bit late, the train was delayed but uh… security guy won’t let us in

“shit,” jaehyun whispered, and he was halfway towards the door when your next text came through.

6:16 pm pizza hut: and it’s raining, so we can go home it’s not a big deal

his panic he felt while pacing came back full force and taeyong called to him.

“what’s going on?”

“security guard won’t let her in,” jaehyun rambled quickly.

“that’s all?” he replied, and taeyong pulled out his phone, pressed a few buttons on the screen and had his phone to his ear in seconds.

“hi, mr. choi? yes, can you please escort our guests to the elevators. yes, we were expecting her. no, don’t leave them out in the rain any longer. yes… thank you. have a goodnight.”

taeyong hung up the phone, and gestured to the door, “she’s in the elevator on their way up.”

jaehyun exhaled deeply, for the first time since he woke up that morning. and while he could breathe easily, the entire room held their breath at the sound of a gentle knock against the door.

jaehyun all but lunged at the door and opened it wide. the other eight men in the living room didn’t move a muscle.

“mister jaehyun!” yeoreum squealed excitedly when she saw him filling the entrance and their smiles were exact replicas of each other and jaehyun gestured you both inside.

“yeoreum, shoes baby.” you said softly, and the members had yet to see any faces, but smiles broke out on their faces as they heard a quick, “right! sorry mommy!”

jaehyun led you both out of the foyer and into the living room and you froze when you saw eight men staring at you both when you entered the room. you had prepared for this, expecting it to be awkward but being this… intense wasn’t exactly how you pictured it.  

yeoreum stepped in between you and jaehyun and you looked down to see her bow to the room.

“hello, my name is yeoreum and i’m four years old.” and you peeked up to see the intense stares break out into wide grins.

yeoreum stood up straight and then tugged on your pants.

“mommy, you said it’s rude to not introduce yourself to people who you don’t know.” she said it so seriously, but you and several others in the room chuckled at her respect for manners. at least she paid attention to you when you spoke.

you didn’t bow as yeoreum had, simply dipping your head as you introduced yourself.

“happy?” you said to yeoreum, poking her in the nose and she giggled in response. you heard faint gasps from deeper in the room but you ignored it as your daughter stared into the room and the men must have realized that her comment applied to them as well.

the first one to cross the room was a face you faintly recognized. he knelt down to be on her level and his smile was gentle.

“hi yeoreum, i’m mister jaehyun’s friend. my name is taeil.” and yeoreum nodded, and she smiled at every one who introduced themselves to her and you. she recognized johnny and even gave mark a high five. the last one was haechan, and he was the most energetic of all to meet her.

“hi!” he chirped to her, and she parroted back to him the same exact way, and he continued, his voice filled with a joking kind of pride. “my name is haechan, and i’m the coolest one here.”

“is that why your hair is blue?” yeoreum asked, tilting her head to the side cutely.

“yep, only the coolest have blue hair.” he replied, shaking his head playfully and yeoreum’s laugh filled the room again.

“also, do you wanna see all the cool stuff mister jaehyun got you?” haechan asked, and finally gestured to the couch that held different plushies and toys that the older lady at the shop had suggested for kids her age. yeoreum stared at all the toys then turned around to stare up at jaehyun.

“all of that is mine?” and even you were in shock and the sheer amount of toys piled on the couch.

“yep, all yours.” jaehyun replied, crouching down to be on the same level as yeoreum and haechan.

“but that’s… so much.” she whispered loudly, peeking again at all the toys.

“if you don’t like them all that’s okay, i just wanted to get you something,” his smile was gentle and reassuring. she looked at you for permission and when you nodded at her, she went to the couch and looked at all the plushies. she looked at them, and then at everyone in the room, then back at the toys staring intently.

and one by one, she pulled a different stuffed animal from the pile and handed it to each man in the room. she started by giving haechan a blue teddy bear, and continued on until every grown man was holding a small soft plushie, and she beamed with happiness.

you knew they couldn’t say no and jaehyun could see their wariness melting with each toy she gave. and even though he knew he probably had no right to feel it, he felt a sense of pride in her generosity and he knew she could have only learned that from you. he was the last one to receive a toy and it was a fluffy orange cat.

“thank you, yeoreum. that’s very sweet of you.” he told her sincerely and she blinked at him as if it weren’t something out of the ordinary.

“there’s a lot to share,” she replied and then she remembered something and it lit up her entire face, her voice raising in her excitement. “mommy said you got pizza!”

“yep,” he answered her question that wasn’t a question. “i didn’t know which kind you liked so you have a lot of choices.”

yeoreum picked the same pizza to eat that jaehyun had, which didn’t go unnoticed by everyone in the room as he was the only one to actually like pineapple on pizza. she had made herself at home easily, not missing a beat to pull half of the men into the living room to play with her and the toys jaehyun had gotten for her.

you had been there for a total of thirty minutes before you had been made to feel somewhat welcome. you enjoyed watching the members spend time with yeoreum, as she didn’t have many men in her life to really associate with, and the boys in her class didn’t really count.

you had to bite back a smile at the conversation you had overhead moments before.

“yeoreum is a pretty name, it’s unique too.” mark said, sitting cross-legged where she had instructed him to sit.

“thank you, mommy said she did it so it would be easy because my english name is summer.” yeoreum replied somewhat distractedly in english, causing all eyes to blink slowly at the sudden change in language.

“but she was born in may?” jaehyun looked at you, and you shrugged.

“i was on drugs and in pain, i at least had the right idea.” which caused a few laughs to echo around the room.

after that, you seemed to be fairly content with just observing. you leaned against the kitchen counter, chewing slowly on a piece of pizza as you watched her try to win a tickle fight with mark and succeeding with the way his laughter didn’t come out as forced.

you didn’t speak much with the other members, mostly enjoying being a presence in the room, that is until you felt a body move close to your side and you turned to face the new person, remembering his name was doyoung. when he didn’t say anything to you, you turned away and went back to watching how the tickle fight was absolutely being lost by mark then.

“i have reservations about this,” doyoung said to you then, his voice hardly above a whisper.

you turned again to face him but he looked forward, eyes trained on the guys sitting around enjoying the little girls antics. realizing he wasn’t going to face you for this conversation you went back to your previous position, this time bringing the pizza to your mouth again.

“and?” you asked him, voice matching his tone and doyoung shifted forward to rest his forearms against the counter. he waited until your mouth was full of pizza before he spoke again.

“and jaehyun’s so excited about this, he went on and on about it and he doesn’t even know if she’s actually his.” doyoung’s blunt words made you defensive, even though you had expected something like this, it still made you react, but doyoung continued before you could swallow.

“i think he needs to get a dna test before he gets too attached.” doyoung said, finally turning to face you and you narrowed your eyes at him as he did so.

“what? you think i’m lying?” you said through gritted teeth, but doyoung’s stance didn’t change.

“i’m not going to judge you, i don’t know anything about you. i’m just trying to protect one of my best friends. especially if you decide to rip this whole ‘being a father’ thing out from under him.”

“exactly, you don’t know anything about me.” you said shortly, your temper’s fuse quickly reaching its end. you pushed yourself away from the counter then before you continued. “and there’s nothing to protect him from, i don’t want anything from him. he tracked me down after i told him to leave me alone. he asked to see her, not me. we will be just as we were before he made his grand appearance, should he decide the father life isn’t for him.”

doyoung searched your face while you spoke, but you abruptly changed the conversation when you asked him where the bathroom was. doyoung gestured down the hall and watched as you left, when the shadows in the hall swallowed you he turned his attention back to watch the scene unfold.

haechan and mark were getting to be children again as they played some sort of mock game of house with yeoreum, using the plushies she had gifted them.

jaehyun was sitting next to her, his back against the couch as she made him in charge of holding the rest of the plushies, doyoung heard her mention that he was the house and so he had to be really, really still.

“where’s your dad?” haechan asked, his voice exaggeratingly deep for his character his bear was playing.

“i don’t have one,” yeoreum said, and she moved her plushie away from haechan’s but every man in the room froze. doyoung’s eyes darted to jaehyun’s face to judge his face, but he couldn’t quite read it.

“wh-what do you mean, yeo?” mark asked using his little lion to carry on the game for her.

“mommy said daddy is a really busy man,” she said matter-of-factly, she didn’t notice how all the eyes in the room were trained on her, and how the air seemed to still in preparation for her answer. “she said he’s a busy business man who flies all over the world and she said that a lot of daddies and mommies do that and that it’s okay!”

she was still happy as she spoke, still involved in her game of house she had roped them into playing with her.

“it really is okay,” mark said softly, forgetting his role for a moment.

“yep! it’s super okay because my mommy is really strong and she got so strong so she could take care of me all by herself.” yeoreum’s tiny body puffed up in all the pride a four year old could muster.

“but don’t you miss your dad?” haechan’s bear asked yeoreum’s little white fluffy bear.

“well yeah, all the other kids dads come and pick them up from school but mommy says that just because my daddy has a lot of stuff he has to do first, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t love me.” and then, for the first time, yeoreum’s voice became a bit quieter. “i don’t know my daddy, but i hope mommy’s right.”  

doyoung’s eyes had danced back and forth between her and jaehyun, noticing the more she spoke, the more jaehyun’s face seemed to fall and it wasn’t long before doyoung though he saw the man tearing up.

“of course your mommy’s right, ‘reum,” jaehyun said softly behind her. she twisted around in her spot on the floor, looking up at him and she tilted her head at him when she saw his tears spill over, confused on why he was so sad. she shuffled forward to get closer to him and she frowned, bringing her arms to wrap around his neck tightly and jaehyun felt the tears hit him harder and he didn’t even care that everyone else in the room was witnessing this. his arms wrapped tightly around her little body, and he used his palm to try and wipe away some of the tears from his cheek.

“mommy said it’s okay to cry, and that hugs are a good bandaid,” yeoreum said, voice taking a knowing tone.

jaehyun nodded against her head, his eyes drifting to the hallway where he could see you standing there. your expression was unreadable to him, but your lips were pursed tightly.

 “your mommy is right,” he repeated again, pulling her small hands away from his face then. “about the hugs and that your daddy was really busy but he definitely loves you.”

“do you know him?” she asked, pulling away from his neck to look at him earnestly, and jaehyun’s eyes crinkled at the edges, pulling away from your form in the hallway to look at his daughter again.

“i do, yeah,” jaheyun answered, “and he missed you so much.”

“can you tell him i miss him too? can you tell him that he can come pick me up from school?” she said excitedly and you chose that moment to interrupt. you couldn’t be sure where the rest of the conversation was going, you didn’t know if jaehyun would keep his word about not saying he was her dad and you could see her getting her hopes up too high, and you knew you had to be the bad guy.

“yeoruem, baby. it’s time we go home now, we have school in the morning.” you called softly, walking over to your little girl and she pouted up at you, but she didn’t argue, she just slowly got to her feet, hugging her teddy bear tightly to her chest.

“say thank you, they were very nice to play with you,” you nudged her softly and she did as she was told, genuinely happy to have been able to play with her new friends. you both started walking to the door and she turned suddenly, running to hug jaehyun once more before she left.

you saw she had whispered something to him as she pulled away and you saw jaehyun break out into a smile again.

“i will,” he said to her and with a happy nod yeoreum was back with you again.

with yeoreum’s shoes finally on, you both exited the door and were halfway to the elevator when you heard a door close and footsteps thumping towards you. you were both surprised and… not at all surprised to see jaehyun behind you, a new gleam in his eye as he tugged on his hood and put a mask into place over his nose.

“i would feel more comfortable if i took you home since it’s late.” he said nonchalantly. “i can drive us, if you want.”

“i don’t have a car seat for yeoreum,” you replied and jaehyun shrugged easily. “walking you home it is then.”

you were going to protest but yeoreum had already put her stuffed animal in your hand before grabbing your other one and one of jaehyun’s, tugging you both towards the elevator.

she had started chatting away about something you couldn’t even pay attention to, too entirely focused on the way jaehyun’s hand enveloped hers, your eyes trailing from his hand to his face and you weren’t sure what it was about it. maybe it was all the moments pulled together, primarily the past hour alone, but you felt an unmistakable skip of your heartbeat at the way he smiled down at your excited little girl.

you were too busy gazing up at jaehyun to even noticed the eight heads poking out of the doorway almost comically as they watched you three enter the elevator, being led by a headstrong four year old.

“they make a cute little family,” jungwoo mentioned, only pulling his head inside once he heard the elevator doors close; the members immediately talking animatedly about the new niece they seemed to automatically claim as their own.

no one noticed doyoung walking to his room, the tiny cup that yeoreum had used in his hand.

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it took all of three minutes into the walk home for yeoreum to yawn loudly and rub her eyes sleepily.

“did you get tired from playing with everyone?” you asked her and she nodded, all the cheerful excitement ebbing away from her slowly. you went to pick her up to carry her the rest of the way but jaehyun stopped you, eyes asking permission before he made a move and after a brief hesitation, you nodded to him with a smile.

“i got you, ‘reum, come here,” he said soothingly, picking her up and holding her close. she instantly laid her head down on his shoulder and you snorted at how quickly she closed her eyes. you cooed at how sweet she was, and jaehyun visibly glowed at how she seemed to relax with him instantly.

“you know you don’t have to do all of this,” you said to him after a few moments of yeoreum’s slow breathing. and jaehyun sighed deeply.

“look i know you think i’m this really shitty person who just ditched you, and i know that that’s how you must have felt but it wasn’t my intention. my manager saw our messages, you know. and even though I was still an adult then, we didn’t have nearly as much freedom as we do now. he yelled at me for an hour about being reckless with my career and all that. even though it doesn’t change anything, i didn’t do any of it on purpose or maliciously. and i’m sorry you had to do this alone.” he said, looking down at you the entire time he had been talking, wanting to see your face through his shortened explanation.

“it was really hard, at first, and i’ve been angry for awhile.” you said, voice soft and vulnerable after you thought a moment before deciding to give him honesty. “i had no clue what to tell any of my friends, and when i googled you i almost threw up, but i think that was from the pregnancy and not the news of you being famous. it made sense then to me what all had happened, but i couldn’t tell my parents the truth and so i had to say i didn’t know who the dad was. mortifying, really. my parents still haven’t spoken to me since then. and i love yeoreum more than anything, but i really… i think i hated you this whole time.” you don’t make eye contact as you confess to him a snippet of what had happened, a glimpse into how you felt.

jaehyun was stunned at all he had learned about you, he knew you probably had hated him, and he was right on that. he was horrified to learn that you really, truly had been alone through all of this. he didn’t know why but he had assumed, since he had learned of this at least, you would have had your parents to help support you, and it made his stomach turn knowing it was the opposite.

“but i don’t hate you now,” you admitted softly, looking ahead at the crosswalk sign, waiting for it to give you the okay to cross.

“oh? one day was all it took?” jaehyun asked a bit hopefully with a playful smile, his heart leaping in his chest at the statement, and he couldn’t quite place his finger on why it made him so excited to hear those words. you didn’t respond right away only rolling your eyes, and pulling a set of keys from your pocket and jaehyun realized you must be close to your place.

“but don’t get too excited, the statute has only been bumped up, not removed entirely,” you teased, and you unlocked the door that sat in the wall surrounding your house, entering the front yard that came with your house. it was small, but jaehyun noticed it was just enough for the two of you to live in and it seemed cozy.

you closed the door behind you, it automatically locking and you led the way to the front door of the house, unlocking it and kicking off your shoes. jaehyun shuffled nervously a bit, not knowing what he needed to do but toed off his shoes anyway just to be courteous.

“would you like to tuck her in?” you asked him after switching on a light in the room, and jaehyun blinked as his eyes adjusted. “if you don’t want to, that’s okay, i can.” and you reached for yeoreum but jaehyun tightened his hold on the sleeping girl.

“i can do it,” he stressed and you grinned, holding up your hands in surrender.

“okay then, ‘mister jaehyun’,” you joked, motioning for him to follow you down the hall into the room he could only assume was yeoreum’s if the little moon nightlight glowing and the soft peach paint on the wall were anything to go by.

he noticed she didn’t have an overabundance of toys, maybe a handful of plushies on her bed but he realized it was because she had a little table in the corner stacked with coloring books, crayons and markers. he could see her wanting to be an artist when she grew up, she had told him that already. as he was taking in the room, you had already folded back her blankets and you were waiting for him expectantly.

he very gently tucked yeoreum in after taking off her shoes and gave her the plushie he had gifted her and she cuddled into it immediately. it caused his heart to ache looking at her, realizing he had missed so many things. jaehyun followed you out of her room and you closed her door until it was just a crack.

“um…” jaehyun went to ask, not knowing how to really phrase the question he wanted.

“are you thirsty?” you asked him instead as you headed into your kitchen and he hovered in the entrance.

“not really, thank you, but i was wondering, if you’d be okay with it…” he trailed off, and your eyes darted to see him looking somewhat nervous.

“with what?”

“do you… maybe have pictures you could show me? or videos? i just know i’ve missed a lot and if you were okay with it, i’d like to see the moments i wasn’t there for.” your heart softened, as did your smile.

“yeah, i think i can do that for you.”

so jaehyun stayed with you until late that night, sitting at the kitchen table as you showed him pictures and videos of yeoreum. moments like her first steps, and her first words, which you were pouting when you told him wasn’t “mama”, but instead was “no”. he got to experience your laughter as yeoreum had brought a frog inside the house, and her subsequent scream as it jumped out of her hand then chased her. he got to see pictures of her and he felt like he could have been there.

should have been there.

and as he flipped through picture after picture, he noticed that his heart picked up in speed each time he came across a picture of you in it. he watched as you spoke about each picture, the excitement in the nostalgia as you flipped through each one and you explained to him what was going on.

he felt like he was back in your apartment five years ago, he felt at peace with you here.

he missed all of this, and he was going to make sure he wouldn’t miss anything else.

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New Tweet notifications for NCT 127

NCT 127 @NCTsmtown_127 [idols with kids] episode 11 with JOHNNY, JAEHYUN, and MARK

🖍️😺🍑🦁🖍️

#NCT127 #NCT127_IDOLSWITHKIDS #IDOLSWITHKIDS

@lovej43 replied to NCTsmtown_127

i can’t with jaehyun smiling at that little girl like that :(

@127valentines replied to lovej43

right??? she looks a lot like him too, so cute

@markinmiami replied to NCTsmtown_127

mark accidentally breaking his crayon ㅠㅠ the kid gave him a mean look

@bananasoutforjohn replied to NCTsmtown_127

dude looked FLABBERGASTED when the kid started crying

@myloveforjae replied to @127valentines

no ur right tho, she resembles him a lot more than just the dimples 🤨

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you knew that sm would post the video to their youtube channel, but you didn’t realize how anxious reading the comments would make you.

you weren’t aware that the video had posted until jisoo showed you that yeoreum was trending on twitter because of her interactions with jaehyun, and then you went to youtube to read the comments there and every time you read one that mentioned their resemblance it made your stomach flip uncomfortably.

you had a little under a month to prepare for that moment and yet, it still surprised you. you were just pleased that the overall theme for reactions was how cute your daughter was and that made your heart rest just a bit easier.

while reading the comments on your phone, your eyes instantly darted to the text notification that popped up.

3:43 pm he who might be named 😶‍🌫️: did you see they posted the video? everyone is commenting about how cute ‘reum is

3:44 pm you: yeah, and they’re also saying how much you look alike…

3:46 pm he who might be named 😶‍🌫️: well, she’s my daughter so i’d hope so

3:47 pm you: i don’t think you get what i mean

3:48 pm he who might be named 😶‍🌫️: you mean that she also gets her looks from you? i agree

your eyebrows rose at that comment, he had been mildly flirtatious for the past week but now it was becoming blatantly obvious.

3:50 pm you: i mean yes, but that wasn’t what i meant

3:51 pm he who might be named 😶‍🌫️: if it’s not that, then enlighten me

3:52 pm you: aren’t you concerned people will figure it out?

3:54 pm he who might be named 😶‍🌫️: i don’t think they’ll be able to figure it out from just a twenty minute video on youtube

3:55 pm he who might be named 😶‍🌫️: besides, they’d probably doubt it considering how beautiful you are

you simultaneously blushed at his very obvious flirting and sighed at his nonchalance. you were growing accustomed to jaehyun’s presence in your life, and you were finding yourself looking forward to seeing him and spending time with him. it made you feel as if you three were a family but the overwhelming dark cloud of the public finding out loomed over you and shadowed the fluttery feeling you felt in your chest when you talked to him.

you didn’t want to let this get to you but it was turning into somewhat of a fear for you, and it wasn’t really that people would find out.

it was the aftermath; the most negative version being the source of your fear.

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jaehyun stared at his phone waiting for a response from you a bit longer than he should have, but when he felt a shadow hovering to his left he quickly locked his phone. his shoulders instantly relaxed when he saw it was doyoung, but the look on doyoung’s face made jaehyun instantly concerned.

doyoung refused eye contact with him, shifting uncomfortably as he leaned against the mirrored wall of the practice room. everyone else was sat in various spots on around the room and although jaehyun didn’t mind doyoung deciding to spend his break with him, his awkward behavior made jaehyun tense.

“i’ve been putting off talking to you for a week now.” doyoung said to the ground, his arms crossing over his chest.

“what about?”

“i…” doyoung started then stopped, he waited a few seconds then began again. “look, just remember i did it to protect you, you know, just in case.”

he was purposefully being vague and jaehyun pushed off the wall, turning his body to really face doyoung. “what did you do?”

“it’s – i – when y/n came over the first time, even though you were convinced, i wasn’t. so… i had a dna test done.” doyoung’s response made jaehyun’s skin grow hot, he wasn’t why sure anger was the first emotion that bubbled up first but it came on strong enough to surprise even him.

“why would you do that?” he said from between gritted teeth. the idea that yeoreum might not be his never crossed his mind, he had been so sure from the moment he saw you near her.

he just knew.

“you didn’t know, you were just going off of y/n’s word alone. i wanted to give you proof.”

“no, you wanted to rub it in my face that she had lied. you wanted to be right.” jaehyun couldn’t hear how his voice was raising, he could only hear the blood rushing in his ears.

“you would have went your whole life possibly raising someone else’s kid if i hadn’t had the test done!” doyoung was defensive now, and he couldn’t understand why jaehyun would have just blindly believed you like he did.

“i wouldn’t have cared either way!” jaehyun hadn’t realized he had gotten closer to doyoung until a hand came to push against his chest, pulling him back and away from him.

“keep it down unless you want the whole building to know your business,” johnny said lowly to jaehyun, eyes darting to the choreographer across the room, who seemed to be mostly unaware of the situation since he had headphones on.

“he went behind my back and had a dna test done, without asking me first!” jaehyun argued back, angry eyes not leaving the apologetic ones of doyoung.

“if it makes you feel better, she’s yours.” doyoung said, guilt apparent in his face even if he was trying to maintain his stance that he had done nothing wrong.

“i knew that already!” jaehyun actually yelled that time, and he went to take a step forward – to do what he wasn’t sure but johnny’s palm held him firmly in place.

his phone choosing that moment to vibrate, pulling him away from the moment; he had an incoming call from you. he took a moment to shoot doyoung a seething glare, then took a calming breath before turning away to answer.

“hi,” he breathed, his anger slowly dissipating.

“hello,” you replied, but your voice was a bit strained and he picked up on it right away.

“everything okay?” he questioned instantly.

“yeah,” you said and he heard you pull away to speak to someone else before coming back to the phone. “my friend and coworker, jisoo? she was there that day with me, she got injured at work and i’m the only one able to take her to the hospital. will you…” another quick word to someone else. “i need you to be there to pick up yeoreum from school, please.”

jaehyun’s mind was racing thinking of his schedule for the day, he had practice for another few hours, and he told you as such.

“i know you’re busy, but this is something that comes with being a parent. you make adjustments.” you said, and your voice was panicked as you heard someone call for you, and he heard you address the doctor.

“please jae, she has a key on her backpack. you get to pick her up from school and be her dad. this is what you asked for… and what she has always wanted.”

“i’ll be there.” he answered, his mind made up before you even had started to speak. “what time does she get out for school?”

“5, thank you so much, jae. i really appreciate it.” and when someone called your name again you sounded rushed once more. “coming! bye jae, i’ll see you later.”

you hung up the phone, and even though jaehyun was still feeling angry towards doyoung, he couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face at the opportunity you gave him.

.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.

jaehyun was thankful that the lady at the front counter seemed to be too old to stay in tune with media as she didn’t even bat an eyelash when he gave his name to her and told her that he was there to pick up yeoreum. he refrained from saying the term ‘my daughter’ aloud but your rules couldn’t stop him from thinking it.

when the lady called over the system to tell the teacher that it was time for yeoreum to go home, jaehyun leaned casually against the wall while he waited.

he wasn’t thinking about how he had lied to get out of the last few hours of practice. he wasn’t thinking about the argument yet to be resolved with doyoung.

he wasn’t thinking about the other parents coming in and seeing him, recognizing him.

all he could think about how long the minutes seemed too stretch on for yeoreum to be released from her class… and he wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t also thinking about you. specifically, the last time he saw you, which was three days before.

you had invited him over on sunday night, stating that yeoreum had asked about him and if she could one day make cookies for mister jaehyun. you had told him it was so out of the blue for her to ask that and when you had questioned her on it, her simple response was ‘if cookies makes santa come, maybe it will work for mister jaehyun too’.

you didn’t have the heart to tell her no, which led to the phone call. jaehyun was there in twenty minutes, knocking on the door to which you answered with flour splattered across your face, with a giggling four-year-old right behind you sporting flour in her hair. jaehyun’s grin was painful for his cheeks as he took in the scene, and he couldn’t help but laugh with you both before even saying hello.

“are you supposed to be wearing the ingredients?” jaehyun asked as he stepped inside your house, following you both as you made your way into the kitchen.

“mommy started it!” and you feigned a gasp, a floured hand on your chest.

“i did not!” and she giggled once more, waving her tiny hands for jaehyun to bend down so she could whisper in his ear. jaehyun’s dimples were deep as he listened to her and your thoughts straying to how handsome he was running through your mind before you even registered. jaehyun turned his head to nod excitedly with yeoreum and you narrowed your eyes at them both.

“you better have told him how you threw first,” you warned playfully.

“oh she did,” jaehyun agreed, moving slightly to the left and it didn’t click that he was suspiciously close to the bag of flour. “she also said we should be on a team.”

“wha – oh don’t you dare!” but it was too late, as jaehyun had already pinched some flour and flicked it at you, and as you stood there with a shocked look on your face and flour now decorating your hair, jaehyun and yeoreum shared a giggly high five. you crossed your arms childishly and stomped your foot, turning away from them both dramatically, taking a page directly out of your daughter’s book.

“oh no, ‘reum… we’ve made your mommy upset.” jaehyun theatrically whispered and you had to bite back a laugh.

“i know what will cheer her up!” yeoreum whispered back, and they were both suspiciously silent and then you heard feet shuffling behind you; yeoreum popping up in front of you suddenly, and then there were not one, but two sets of arms wrapping around you in a tight squeeze, yeoreum’s head resting on your stomach and you froze at the feeling of jaehyun’s cheek resting on top of your head.

you felt the heat rise up your neck and the butterflies were back; you couldn’t tell if this was part of the joke or if he meant the hug the way it felt to you but you quickly pushed that train of thought to the side, giving yourself two more seconds in the embrace of them both before you broke the moment by clearing your throat.

“so, did we still want to make mister jaehyun cookies?” yeoreum blinked up at you cutely and nodded her head, you ran your hand through her hair gently, still very aware of jaehyun at your back and you tried to ignore it but failed.

jaehyun noticed it took only five minutes of trying to cook for yeoreum to get bored and ask if she can go color instead, so it left only you and him in the kitchen, and the first few minutes were spent trying to fill the awkward silence with comments and small laughter.

you had just started to mix up the ingredients when you heard him move, his feet shuffling just a bit.

jaehyun leaned a little closer into your space, feeling his body heat on your back; his hand braced against the counter to the left of your hip and you weren’t sure if your heart raced or slowed, but all you knew was that you were hyper aware of his presence as you were minutes before when he had hugged you.

“do you need help with that?” he asked lowly, his voice near your ear and you could almost feel his breath on your cheek. you turned your head and he was as close to you as you had thought he was, and it made you take a slight step away. you knew he could see the rising blush on your cheeks and a smirk made its way to his lips.

“no, i got it,” you said, but then realized that his close proximity allowed you to get a little revenge. “i am capable, thank you very much.” it was your turn to flick flour at his face, and he only blinked at you in shock, his expression comical and you wished you could take a picture of it.

a small gasp at the entrance of the kitchen made you jump away from each other as if you had been caught doing something wrong, and you both had quickly fumbled with an excuse, neither of which had made any sense but you had seemingly gotten away with it.

the memory brought a smile to his face and that look was the first thing yeoreum saw as she walked through the door to see him waiting for her.

“mister jaehyun!” she exclaimed, running up to him and hugging him around his legs and god, he loved this little girl. when she let go, he bent down and went in for a proper hug, picking her up in the process and they left the building.

yeoreum spoke to him animatedly, telling him about her favorite part of her day and then she asked him about his favorite part, his answer being an immediate, “getting to see you, of course.” which only made her beam at him in a childlike sense of pride.

“what about mommy?” she asked innocently, and he blinked.

“well, of course you and her both are my favorite part.” yeoreum’s loud giggle made him smile but she shook her head.

“no, i mean where’s mommy?” and it dawned on him that he had told on himself to a very observant child.

“oh, she had to take her friend to the doctor. she isn’t your teacher, too?” jaehyun asked, playing it off in a way he thought was smooth enough. the question sparking another conversation about how she gets to change classrooms like she’s in real school but not a whole lot just sometimes and it’s definitely really fun, and jaehyun could only nod as she chattered away, finally arriving at the front gate to your home and yeoreum wiggled her way out of his arms so she could get her key.

“i wanna do it, mommy lets me!” and jaehyun nodded as he let her lead the way, really just letting himself enjoy being a parent solo, and after hours of dinner, bath, and then bed, he realized it was fairly exhausting and he told himself to remind you when you got home how impressive he thought you were.

jaehyun sat on the edge of her bed, she had requested him to tuck her in and he had but then she had started crying and he was on the verge of panicking.

“’reum, what’s the matter baby?” he said, taking a tip he got from you and running his hand through her hair to try and soothe her, she wasn’t hysterical but she clutched the plushie that he had gotten her tightly, big tears rolling down her cheeks as her bottom lip quivered.

“mommy always sings me a song and kisses me goodnight every night… when is she coming home?” she sniffed, and jaehyun’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. the last text update he had gotten was an hour ago when you had said that jisoo was going back for x-rays and that it shouldn’t be too much longer.

“she’ll be here soon but i can do that, too.” he offered her gently and her eyes looked a little less sad at his offer. “what song does she sing?”

“i don’t know the name,” her lip wobbled again and fresh tears sprung in her eyes.

“that’s okay,” he assured her soothingly, “can you hum it for me?”

yeoreum sniffed twice before humming the tune of a song jaehyun knew well, and it made a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth. as she hummed, he did the same right along with her until he started to sing softly to her, his hand continuing the motions from before, gently moving through her hair.

“so whenever you ask me again, how i feel… please remember…” and yeoreum wasn’t humming anymore, her small voice drifting away as she watched jaehyun, completely entranced by his voice, her young mind in awe at how he knew the song her mommy would sing to her.

“my answer if you,” jaehyun continued to sing, his finger tapping on her nose gently which finally earned him a small laugh. a sound he missed, and while he was glad to be present for even the times she was upset, he preferred her happy and smiling.

yeoreum didn’t say anything for a long second, and then in a small and unsure voice asked, “mister jaehyun?”

“yes, miss yeoreum?”

“if… if my daddy doesn’t ever come back from his business trips, if he’s still too busy for me…” jaehyun’s heart broke at the mention of that, his smile slowly disappearing from his face. “do you think you could be my daddy instead?”

“oh yeoreum…” he started and he saw a bit of panic welling up in her eyes, and she scrambled to sit up.

“i’m really good, i promise! mommy says so and santa does too, i get presents every year.” she pleaded, her eyebrows so furrowed they were nearly touching, and jaehyun’s eyes softened.

“yeoreum, sweetheart. i am y-.”

“”’reum, i’m home.” jaehyun nearly jumped at the sound of your voice, his head whipping around to find you staring at him in the doorway. he couldn’t quite place the emotion there; it wasn’t necessarily anger but you didn’t seem happy in the slightest.

“mommy!” yeoreum called, her tears forgotten at the sight of you in her room. you walked over to kneel at the edge of her bed, motioning for her to lay down again and pulling the blankets up to her chin.

“did you have fun with mister jaehyun?” you asked her, brushing her hair back away from her face. you heard everything said, and the feeling that you were letting her down sat heavy on your chest.

“i did, we had lots of fun,” she replied, finally letting out a long overdue yawn – the worry of you not being home the main thing that kept her awake.

“tell him goodnight, okay?”

“goodnight, mister jaehyun.” she murmured sleepily and you stood up then, motioning for jaehyun to follow you as you closed her door behind you. you moved away from the door, heading into the kitchen and jaehyun couldn’t help the feeling that he was in trouble somehow.

“i thought we had a deal,” you finally said, turning to face him as you leaned against the kitchen counter.

“what?” jaehyun was a little confused, he was trying to figure out where this conversation was going before it even started.

“the statute of limitations weren’t up yet, i still don’t want you to tell her you’re her father.” your voice was stiff, and you didn’t make eye contact with him as you spoke.

“i wasn’t going to…”

“i heard everything, jae. she already loves you so much, and if you decide to walk out it’s going to wreck her and i’ll be left to try and fix what you broke.”

jaehyun wasn’t sure why, but he felt the telltale sign of his anger rising. he felt it on the back of his neck, and the way his teeth ground together.

“i thought i made myself clear that i wasn’t going anywhere.” his voice wasn’t curt, but you still heard the tone.

“you did, but that’s when things are relatively easy. who’s to say-?” and he cut you off.

“say about what? what could anyone possibly say to make me leave?”

“me, when i say i think it’s best you kept your distance for a little while. you’ve made things complicated for me.” and to say jaehyun was shocked speechless would be an understatement.

“how?” was his only response, he was biting on the inside of his cheek to keep from getting really upset.

“we were fine,” you started, crossing your arms in front of your chest. “we were fine on our own, and then you waltzed in our lives and shook everything up and now i don’t know which way is up and which way is down. i think you’re confusing yeoreum… and me and… and i don’t know how to feel about any of this.”

“this was fate and you know it.” and your answering scoff only spurned him on. “i don’t believe in coincidences and neither did you last i checked. you moved here so she could learn about her heritage, and of the millions of people in korea you still manage to run into me, she still found me.”

“yes… well we had our life just fine on our own – just me and yeoreum. what right-.”

“i’m her father!” his voice raised just enough to make you finally look at him, to see the hurt in his eyes as he spoke. “that’s what right. you’ve given me this… this incredible gift, something i didn’t even know i needed until a month ago and i refuse to let you take it away from me. i thought you and i were getting closer, but if you want to continue to hate me that’s fine, but i want to be in my daughter’s life and you can’t keep me from doing that.”

his eyes were glassy, as if he was keeping himself from crying over the situation as a whole and his breathing was heavy. you broke the eye contact you held with him, instead focusing on the rise and fall of his chest.

his response was answer enough for you.

answer for this entire thing you had been fighting off for the past month while you got to know each other again, while you got to spend time together as a family. you saw yeoreum smiling and laughing, jaehyun usually the cause of it. their dimples coming out in the exact same manner, and it was like within the month you felt your heart warm up in a way it hadn’t in years at the idea of it, the idea of him.

you realized you were happier around him too, and although you really were trying to protect yeoreum, you realized in that moment that you were also trying to protect yourself.

and that wasn’t fair to yeoreum, jaehyun… or you.

“i don’t.” you said softly, finally giving him a response he found cryptic.

“what?”

“i don’t hate you.” you clarified for him and he inhaled deeply.

“then why are you acting as if i’m an asshole when i’ve done nothing but try and prove to you that i’m not… that i care about you both.” his hands were thrown out at his sides in exasperation, finally realizing that it wasn’t anger he was feeling but fear.

“because it won’t just be her heart you’ll break if you decide to leave.” you gnawed at your lip, unsure of how he was going to respond to this.

“what do you…” he asked and his voice was softer now, taking a small step towards you.

“you’ll be breaking mine, too.” you said, and you finally made eye contact with him again and he could see it there.

the fear.

of rejection, of being hurt, of being left alone after becoming so quickly used to having another person be there with you. he understood then.

he closed the gap in a few steps, and he stood in front of you, his hands hesitating before he allowed them to rest on your arms.

“i know… i know this hasn’t been easy for you. that you’ve had terrible things said to you because i wasn’t there, and i can’t guarantee that when people find out, more things won’t be said. but the difference is that i’m here now. i’m here and i’m not going anywhere, and…” he trailed off for a moment, eyes searching yours before he finally continued. “i know there were no expectations five years ago, but i have them now. i know you feel this too, i know you do. and if i have to convince you every day that i’m not going anywhere, then i will.”

you didn’t realize you had started to cry until your tears started to burn your eyes and you wiped them away with a watery laugh.

“oh come on, i can’t have both my girls crying in one night.” and jaehyun swore his heart stopped when you looked up at him like that.

“then don’t say sweet things to make me cry.” you said, tone a little pouty.

“well if that’s what it takes,” jaehyun shrugged easily.

“yeah but,” your sentence was then interrupted by jaehyun’s phone vibrating incessantly in his pocket. he dug it out, ready to ignore the phone call but the name that popped up made him hit accept instead. you didn’t hear any of the other side of the conversation, only jaehyun’s.

“oh, really?” followed by a, “yes, that’s true.” and then, “not to be disrespectful, but i don’t care.” his eyes then jumping back to yours when he said, “then we’ll figure it out, this is more important to me.” before saying, “okay, i’ll see you tomorrow.” and finally hung up.

“what was that about?” you asked tilting your head to the side, your curiosity getting the better of you.

“that… was everyone finding out.” he said easily and your eyebrows shot up over widened eyes, “and as you heard me say – i don’t care. we’ll figure it out one way or another, all i know is that you, yeoreum… this family is far more impor – mmph!” and you didn’t give him the chance to finish his sentence because you threw your arms around his neck and kissed him.

the action familiar to you, recalling the way jaehyun had done the same all those years ago. jaehyun wasn’t one to miss an opportunity and so he kissed you back, his arms wrapping around you tightly and pulling you closer to him. the moment was one he had been wanting for weeks now, ever since he sat with you at the table and you showed him all the pictures.

and he didn’t waste a second, kissing you until you were both breathless and you finally pulled away.

“i’m sorry, i just…” you trailed off, finally seeing that happiness in his eyes again.

“don’t be, because i’m about to do it again.” he said with a smirk before closing the distance once more, this kiss much sweeter than the first. his palm flat against the small of your back, his other hand resting on your hip and everything about that moment with him felt right.

his lips, his warmth, his smile that you felt against your lips that fully interrupted the kiss.

“what is it?” you huffed playfully, and his smile turned into a small laugh.

“i just remembered something.” he said, his dimples appearing then.

“and that is…?”

“try again, huh?” he joked before planting a quick kiss to your lips, muffling your groan.

“it was the only thing that would stop her from crying as a baby.” you defended weakly.

“that’s my girl.” he said, nothing but pride in his voice, and you smacked him gently on the chest.

“our girl.” you corrected him easily, and the smile that lit up his face was breathtaking.

“our girl.”

.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.°.

[b side: epilogue]

a year or so later…

a family outing is what jaehyun had called it when he woke up one morning asking if you wanted to go to the gardens that had a christmas lights display and you didn’t even get the chance to decide because yeoreum overheard as she stood at your doorway and was immediately excited.

“that settles that then,” you teased.

“as if you ever had a choice,” he said to you with a wink, calling a good morning to the sleepy girl who jumped into bed and cuddled with you both.

your little family had a lazy day in bed before you all finally rolled out of it to get ready for the lights, making sure that yeoreum – who was adamant that she didn’t need help picking out clothes anymore – bundled herself up in her puffy jacket, you pocketing her gloves that she had forgotten. jaehyun purposefully matched jackets with her, and you sighed knowing you had to do the same.

“we look like a little marshmallow family,” you commented as you walked through the gardens, the lights reflecting off of your face.

“yes but a cute one,” jaehyun retorted, teasing being his way of flirting and something you noticed never slacked off even after you had officially started dating him.

you hadn’t realized you had walked ahead of them and then you noticed neither of them were right behind you, you turned around to see jaehyun smiling brightly as he kneeled to whisper suspiciously to yeoreum, something that had been their thing ever since the beginning.

“really?!” yeoreum gasped aloud, eyes pleading with him to not be joking. you narrowed your eyes at them, desperately hoping jaehyun wasn’t telling her they would get the hamster she had been begging for. when jaehyun nodded in answer to her question, her entire body radiated with excitement and then his eyes pointedly looked from her to you a few times and yeoreum giggled.

she turned on her heel and skipped over to you, motioning for you to bend down so she could whisper in your ear – letting you in on the secret. as she whispered, your eyes widened slightly, and they softened as they easily found his.

you could feel yours slowly starting to tear up and you held them at bay for as long as you could. instead of saying anything aloud, you kept with the spirit of their game, their thing they shared, you whispered to yeoreum. you figured she’d skip back over to jaehyun to give him your response but instead she jumped up and down, turning to face jaehyun.

“she said yes!” she exclaimed loudly with her hands cupping around her mouth, squealing with enthusiasm. looking at jaehyun’s soft smile, eyes full of love for you and for the little girl you shared, the answer was obvious.

as if you could have possibly said no.

#gimmehyuck #masterlist #nct127 masterlist #nct 127 #nct 127 au #nct #nct 127 fic #jeong jaehyun #jaehyun au #jaehyun fic #jaehyun x yn #jaehyun x you #jaehyun fluff #jaehyun angst #i wrote out a bit of my daddy issues with this one lmao

[inmyminditsreal]

Drunk inlove

Fem!reader x spencer reid

Word count: 649

Summary: You get a call from a very drunk Spencer, who can't seem to shut up about you. And who needs to be rescued immediately.

You wake up to your phone blaring. With a loud groan, you turn over and grab your phone. It’s Spencer, calling you, at 3 in the morning. You answer, and are met with stifled giggles and Spencer shushing people around him. He’s claiming to be calling his ‘amazing girlfriend’ and that everyone must be quiet.

“Hey, Spence, are you okay?” you say, a little frightened as to his whereabouts.

“Mmm- I love your voice- t’is so pretty.” He mumbles.

He's drunk. He’s drunk, on the loose, and you don’t know where he is.

“Spence, where are you? I need to pick you up.” you speak into the phone.

“Oooooo you want mee- I’m so lucky- My girlfriend is so pretty. So so so pretty!” He giggles.

Suddenly you hear a different voice on the phone, It’s derek and he says,

“Hey, Spencer got wasted, he's losing his mind running around talking about you. He’s at the bar close to the BAU. Can you come pick him up?”

“Yeah, yeah of course. The bar we always go to?” You ask.

“Yea.”

You hangup, put on some slippers, grab your keys and walk out to the car. Driving down you start to smile, is he really talking about you? To a bunch of strangers in a bar? He’s adorable.

You get to the bar and park nearby. Walking into the bar you see Spencer immediately. It’s hard to miss him. There he is, chatting to everyone he sees, smiling like an idiot, and you assume talking about you. You walk up to him

“Hey spence, time to go home.” You say to his back.

He turns around, gives you the biggest, most goofy grin ever and wraps you in a bear hug.

“Babyy-” He coos into your neck.

“Shh, I know, let’s go home, okay?” You whisper into his ear.

“Mmhm.”

After dragging him into the car and almost knocking over everything within his range, you are finally driving back home.

“You’re so beautiful, I love loveee you sooo much-” He says, leaning back in his chair, staring at you. It’s hard to be mad at the adorable genius when he's showering you with love and affection.

You make it to the house, almost break a lamp or two, but you make it. You carefully help Spencer into his pjs, which he greatly appreciates. Finally, back in bed, he looks you in the eyes and mumbles, “I love you so much - so much.”

“I love you too sweetie.” You say back before planting kisses all over his face. He giggles and smiles. You kiss him one more time before getting up to grab water,

“No no no- come back!” He groans.

“I’m just getting some water, I’ll be back baby.” You reply.

You receive an unhappy grumble from him as he stuffs his head into the pillow. In the kitchen, you grab a glass, fill it with water and almost have a heart attack seeing Spencer standing there in the doorway.

“Oh my- you scared me, what are you doing up?” You ask.

“I missed you.” He admits before walking towards you, snuggling you into a hug.

He starts to sway and hum.

“Mmmm.” He hums

Such a beautiful time, his fingers interlocked with yours, swaying slowly. You have never seen this side of drunk spencer. You are not complaining, though. And as adorable as he is, and at this moment, you can’t help but think out loud,

“What am I going to do with you?”

“Love me love me loveee mee!” he responds in a muffled voice.

“I don’t think that's possible sweetheart.” you say

“Noooo why.” He pouts.

“Because I already do.” You say back while ruffling his hair.

“Mmm- m’love.” He mutters, smiling into the crook of your neck.

You drag him back to bed, and he falls seamlessly into sleep, nuzzling into your embrace.

#spencerreid #spencer reid drunk #criminal minds #fem!reader x spencer reid #fem!reader #spencer reid #sweet spencer reid #fluff #spencer reid fic #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid one shot

[l0serloki]

Early Mornings V2

(Jett, Fade, Skye, Sage)

How Valorant women are waking up in the morning..

part one + masterlist

Jett : 

She is either dead asleep or up before you at the crack of dawn. There is no inbetween.

If she’s up early it’s because she planned something during the day. That or she wasn’t up all night gaming with KJ.

If she’s up first she’s pretty loud as she moves around the bedroom. She does make up for it by covering you in kisses and tucking you back in.

“Sorry for waking you up. Go back to sleep.” 

You woke up to rustling coming from the other side of your bedroom. Your eyes adjusted quickly to the dim lights, seeing Jett jumping around. She swayed with the music in her airpods as she silently sang. You couldn’t even be mad at the annoyance when she looked so happy. Her eyes widened as she noticed you awake.

“Did I wake you up babe? I’m sorry..” She puts her phone down and walks over to the bed. Sitting beside you, she puts the blanket back up to your chin and leans down to give your forehead a quick kiss. 

“Go back to sleep. I’ll be more quiet.”

Fade : 

She hates going to sleep and hates waking up. Sleeping is just another reminder of the horrors she has to live with. 

But, sleeping with you does help her to relax a lot. 

She brews coffee immediately after waking up. Nothing else comes before her morning drink.

Once she's had her cup of coffee she will come to wake you up. Not before she watches you for a bit. It’s not in a creepy way, she just likes seeing how at ease you are.

Fade’s hand reached out to brush your hair, her eyes watching as your eyes scrunched up. You were so calm, so peaceful. She didn’t know how she ever got this lucky.

“You have to wake up.” She hummed out as you finally rolled over. You groaned as your eyes slowly opened. You were met with a rare soft smile from your girlfriend and a quick kiss to the nose.

“Good morning.” You whispered out and Fade only sighed. Her eyes watched yours as she rubbed your cheek.

“It’s hardly ever a good morning. But with you, it’s different.”

Skye :

She’s always up early for her morning runs. But she’s considerate and is always quiet. 

The only way she’ll wake you up is if you ask her to or if you promised to join in on her walks. 

Although if you wake up and she’s still in bed with you she will be very cuddly and surprisingly vocal. 

“You’re up early, little bird.” Skye smiles as she walks back into your shared bedroom. You only offer her a half smile as you stretch out in the sheets and open up your arms.

“Someone’s clingy this morning.” She teases as she leans down to give you a tight embrace, her body relaxing against yours. It was rare for you to wake up before she left for her runs and even small moments like these you cherished.

“I’m always clingy. You’re just always busy.” You retort and she only laughs.

“Fair enough.”

Sage :

She’s used to waking up early but that doesn't mean she likes it.

Definitely one to make tea in the morning. She’ll make you some too if you’d like! 

Once she has her tea and fixes her hair she’s not as unhappy. She’ll be more than eager to help you out and coddle you. She might even get back into bed for just a bit more alone time.

Sage groans as she tosses and turns in the bed. She knows she has to wake up but that seemed nearly impossible. The bed was so comfy and she was so warm.

“Darling, you okay?” You whisper out as her little tantrum wakes you up. Her eyes widen as she turns over and wraps her arm around your chest.

“I don’t want to get up. I have so much to do for Brimstone today but..” She sighs as her head drops against you. You can only smile at her pouting face as your hand rubs through her hair.

“You’ll be fine. How about we stay in bed for a little bit longer then get out together?” You muse and her eyes close automatically. 

“Mmm.. Yes.”

#valorant #valorant imagines #valorant x reader #valorant x you #valorant headcanons #valorant fanfiction #jett x you #jett valorant #valorant jett #jett x reader #fade imagines #fade valorant #valorant fade #fade x reader #fade #skye x you #skye x reader #skye valorant #valorant skye #sage valorant #sage x reader #sage #sage x you

[jungk0oksthighs]

Stay With Me | Nausea 

exhusband!jungkook, singledad!jungkook, E2L, angst, fluff, smut 

Word Count - 3k

You feel like shit, and Jungkook wants to move back in. Warnings: swearing, pregnancy related illnesses and symptoms, light arguing

SERIES COLLECTION

“I’m really sorry you had to hear that…” You mumble, climbing back into bed after another violent vomiting fit in the ensuite bathroom. Your head hurts, your breasts hurt, and you’re already over this pregnancy and you’re only six weeks pregnant.

Baby Jeon is the size of a lentil this week.

Jungkook props himself up on his elbows, empathy blanketing his sharp handsome features. His brunette hair is tousled and damp from the shower he took recently, he’s wearing a pair of black boxer shorts and a pained expression. Thick eyebrows pinched together, lips ajar before he speaks.

“It’s nothing I haven’t heard before… still feeling like shit?” His voice is honeyed but cautious. He pulls the white covers over your frame before sitting up in bed, slowly rubbing the spans of your back. Even the taste of toothpaste lingering on in your mouth makes you nauseous, you swallow, trying to will away the disgust.

“Mhm.” You hum, closing your eyes.

Seol is sleeping over at Jungkook’s parents this weekend, to say they’re over the moon about him spending more time there would be a huge understatement. It was Jungkook’s idea since you’re feeling so grim lately and could do with having some time away from parental responsibilities. Truthfully you’re not sure if he’s told his parents everything… As in: you’re back together and expecting baby number two. But they were thrilled to take Seol off your hands, apparently they’re taking him to Disneyland for two days. Honestly you’re a little jealous.

“I don’t remember you being this ill when we had Seol.” Kook’s voice comes out barely a whisper, still massaging your back through your shimmering lilac silk pyjamas. Your favourite pyjamas. The same pyjamas you won’t be able to fit into soon. You sigh.

You’re visibly uncomfortable when you shift on the bed, tugging on your exes heart strings. “Me neither. And I’ve got another thirty four weeks of this to go…” You groan, perhaps you’re being a little dramatic considering it’s nausea and a light migraine but you do feel atrocious. Frankly you’ve never felt this ill in your whole life.

“Mmm it’s okay, I’m here… How are you feeling now? About being pregnant?” Kook clears his throat, his thumbs now kneading your shoulders while you lie flat on your stomach. Something else you won’t be able to do soon. “…About us?”

“I mean… We’re not doing great with the whole ‘taking things slow’ situation, are we?” A wary yet slightly humorous chuckle escapes you.

Three months ago you and your ex-husband were separated, paths barely crossing each other’s save for the weekly switch over of parenthood. It was a bleak time in your life, you’ve missed Jungkook there’s no doubt about it but things were a hell of a lot simpler three months ago. Now here you are, six weeks pregnant with another Jeon baby. It’s not that you’re unhappy about being pregnant, you’re just… uncertain of what it means for your future, especially where your ex-husband is concerned.

Jungkook is nodding with the hint of a frown, fingers still working their magic on your tense muscles. “I know… But I was thinking once we tell Seol I can move back in so you’re not going through this alone.”

“Wait what?” Your eyes bulge from your skull, rolling over on the bed until you’re on your back and Jungkook’s doe-eyes are equally as wide with concern as they peer down at you. “We’ve only just got back together… I don’t want to rush any big decisions—”

“You mean big decisions like having another baby?” His brow quirks, the smile he wears fading into a thin line.

“Kook that’s not what I mean…”

“Then what do you mean by that? No,” He shakes his head, hands making their way down to your tummy, “I don’t want to miss any of this Y/N. I know it might seem a little fast but it’s not like we’ve never lived together before. Besides if you’re already this sick you could use the extra—”

“Stop. Just slow down a sec.” You place your palms atop of his inked fingers with another sigh. “You wouldn’t be considering moving back in if I wasn’t pregnant. So we shouldn’t rush into anything, we haven’t even told Seol yet.”

Jungkook looks visibly put off, his features glum and weary when he gently rubs your stomach. His hands are warm, a little calloused from lifting weights but you don’t push him away as his touch feels almost soothing in a way. All you want is for him to understand your point of view, it is too fast for him to be moving back in. Way too fast. Suddenly your whole life flashes before your eyes, brain replaying memories of the past on a loop. You can’t afford to get ahead of yourselves with this, not when there’s now two children’s feelings to consider.

“Are you saying you don’t want me to move back in?” His tone is laced with sadness that makes your chest hurt, be it intentional or not you’ll never know. But it’s enough to make you uncomfortable.

“I didn’t say that at all.” You exhale, semi-irritated. “I just think we need to hold off you moving back in for now. First of all we need to tell Seol, and god knows how he’s going to react. Especially when he finds out I’m pregnant.”

There’s a mutual discomfort between you at the mention of your son’s reaction. It’s no secret that he’s always longed for his parents to get back together, but now that it’s happening you can’t help but feel like he’s going to be displeased. Yet another change for him to accommodate. And a sibling on top of that? For a twelve year old he’s pretty responsible and understanding, but like everything else there’s a limit to how much he can handle.

Kook chews his lower lip, shifting on the bed until he’s laid next to you, keeping one hand on your belly where he traces small intricate patterns with his fingertips. “I’m sorry. Forget I mentioned it—”

“You don’t need to apologise.” You roll over to face him, guilt eroding your insides when you catch sight of his absent expression, “Let’s just take this one step at a time, yeah?”

An unamused puff of air rips from your exes nostrils, one that makes you want to roll your eyes but you refrain, “Except we’ve started from step one hundred and missed out the first ninety nine.”

You see his point of view, you do. But it’s clear as day he doesn’t see yours. A familiar occurrence, one you’ve had to deal with many times in the past. The thing about Jungkook is that he thinks with his heart, not his head. While sometimes it can be endearing and turn out for the best, you know that this situation should be dealt with rationally, not emotionally.

“Jungkook.” Your tone is stern, a warning that you don’t want to talk about this right now if he’s not willing to have a rational conversation with you.

He sighs, long eyelashes dusting his cheekbones when he closes his eyes, “You’re right. I’m sorry… I just-, I really don’t want to miss any of this. It’s probably going to be the last time it happens and I want to be here for all of it.”

“I know you do honey…” You hum, the familiar rush of sickness already crawling it’s way back up to your mouth. You swallow. “We’ll talk about it properly as a family, when Seol knows.”

At this he nods, opening his eyes to gaze at you fondly. “Okay.” He offers a small smile, and thankfully drops the subject giving you the space you need to rush to the bathroom and throw up. Again.

It’s the next morning when you wake on the black tiled bathroom floor, having passed out in here next to the toilet during one of your late night vomiting sessions. Jungkook lazily enters the room with fluffy hair and big, worried doe-eyes when he sinks to his knees. Rubbing your back.

“Y/N? How long have you been in here?” His voice is thick and groggy with sleep but you don’t miss the panic laced in his words. There are birds chirping outside, light pours in through the window and you figure you must’ve been in here for a good few hours at least. It’s a moment later when your ex scoops you up in his strong arms and carries you to the bedroom, carefully placing you on the warm bed that you welcome beneath your weight.

“We should call Dr Kim…” Jungkook reaches for his phone before you can argue with him, and truthfully you don’t have the energy to tell him to stop what he’s doing. “This isn’t right, you shouldn’t be this sick already.”

Your voice is croaky, throat sore, head pounding and stomach already threatening to empty itself again. “I’m okay…” Except you’re not. You feel disgusting.

“Hi Dr Kim? Sorry I know it’s early and a Saturday… It’s Jeon Jungkook.” His voice is calm but he’s pacing the room, nervously biting down on his free thumb with pinched brows. “Not really, Y/N’s sick. Like really sick. Yeah. I don’t know… Um okay, one sec-,” He looks over at your tired frame, visibly growing more and more concerned, “How many times have you been sick? In the last 24 hours?”

You can’t help but scoff at this. You have no idea, it’s all starting to blur into one. “A lot.”

“More than ten?” He swallows, edging his way over until he’s sat on the edge of the bed with a palm resting on your bent leg.

You nod. It’s definitely been more than ten.

“More than ten times,” He repeats, hanging onto every word the Dr says over the phone. “Yeah okay. No that’s no problem, thank you. We’ll see you soon. Thanks bye.”

Jungkook is quick to make his way over to your wardrobe, pulling out a pair of black sweatpants and a plain baggy t shirt of the same colour and places them on the bed. He gets you some clean underwear and a sports bra, presumably because you’ve been complaining about how much the underwire in your usual style of bra has been killing your sore breasts. He piles everything together and fishes through his weekend bag for his own clothes, glancing over at you with a tight frown.

“Are you going to be okay getting dressed? Dr Kim wants to see us as soon as possible.” His voice is quiet, oozing fear when he messily throws a navy blue supreme t shirt onto his frame.

“Mhm.” You groan, sitting up, head spinning.

Despite the fact you told him you’re capable of getting yourself dressed Kook helps you into your clothes with gentle hands. Soon he’s guiding you to his car before opening the passenger door for you. He even reaches over you to click in your seatbelt, all while watching you closely. And before long he’s speeding down the streets of your hometown to the doctor’s office.

When you arrive you bolt out of the car, the journey having set your sickness off even more. You barely make it to a nearby dustbin before you’re vomiting again. You’re so embarrassed, even more so when Jungkook literally sprints over to you to rub your back, car keys still in his hands. This isn’t right, you were never this bad with Seol. Is it your age? Are older women more prone to this kind of morning sickness? You’re coughing, spluttering and cursing under your breath with each massing moment.

“Hey it’s okay…” Jungkook coos, holding your hair back with one hand, patting your back with the other. “Dr Kim will know what to do. Can you walk okay?”

“I’m pregnant Jungkook, not incapable of walking.” You half-groan half-laugh, still head first over the dustbin, “My legs work fine.”

At this chuckles lowly, “I don’t mind carrying you.”

“I’m fine.” You reassure him, albeit not very convincingly.

When you finally make it inside Dr Kim’s office he takes your blood pressure and weighs you. To your surprise you’ve actually lost 8lbs in two weeks – though it shouldn’t be surprising really. Considering you can’t keep anything down. When Dr Kim advised you that you’ve lost weight Jungkook’s features washed pale and clammy, it’s clear as day how worried he is and you think back to your conversation last night. 

Maybe him moving back in would be the best option after all… If he hadn’t physically dragged you here you probably would’ve still been in bed right now, it’s obvious he has yours and the baby’s best interest at heart. But what about Seol? You don’t want to confuse or upset him. Are you even ready for Jungkook to move back in yet? You’ve gotten so used to your own space...

“What you’re experiencing is HG.” Dr Kim’s voice pulls you from your daydream, both you and Jungkook hanging onto every word he speaks. “Or Hyperemesis Gravidarum in medical terms, severe nausea and vomiting. It’s really important that you take care of yourself and drink plenty of fluids, women who experience HG are more at risk of being dehydrated.”

“But Y/N’s okay? The baby is okay?” Kook finds your hand resting on your lap and grips it, lacing his fingers with yours when he tucks his hair away from his eyes to get a better view of the doctor. “Is it normal to lose weight while pregnant?”

Dr Kim nods slowly, “Women with HG do lose weight in the first trimester, but with you having this I need to make you aware that you are now what we consider to be a high risk pregnancy.”

“High risk?” You choke, instinctively holding onto Jungkook a little tighter.

“HG has been proven to increase the risks of complications within pregnancy. Preeclampsia, preterm delivery, and in the most severe cases… Stillbirth. But don’t worry, we’re going to take good care of you and make sure none of that happens.”

“Well is there anything we can do to get rid of it?!” You’ve never seen the intense look blanketing Kook’s face before, it’s an expression you can only describe as pure terror. “Or ease it somehow so she’s not as sick?”

Dr Kim looks almost guilty, “Unfortunately not… I’m really sorry. You’ll be closely monitored from here Y/N. And the symptoms of HG to tend to die down after the first twenty weeks—”

“Twenty weeks?!” You gasp, eyes animatedly wide. There’s no way you can handle feeling like this for that long, and there’s no way Jungkook can watch you go through this for that long either.

“I know it’s unsettling and I can only imagine what you’re feeling right now, but my other patients who have had HG carried to full term, and delivered healthy happy babies.” Dr Kim’s smile is apologetic and reassuring all at once, softened by the dimples either side of his plump lips.

Jungkook’s rubbing his thumb to your skin when he speaks, but his eyes are fixed to the doctor opposite you behind his desk. “…Is the baby okay for definite?”

“I’m sure baby is fine Mr Jeon, but why don’t we take a look while you’re here?”

It’s been a long time since you were lying flat on your back in a doctor’s office with clear jelly spread on your abdomen. You flinch a little, forgetting how cold it is. Of course Jungkook is right by your side, squeezing your hand with both of his while eagerly watching the small ultrasound screen next to you.

“Ahhh… That makes sense.” Dr Kim smirks, and Jungkook snaps his eyes to him instantly.

“Is everything okay?” His voice is shaky and riddled with concern when the hold on your hand tightens.

The doctor nods, moving the device over your stomach before pointing to the screen. Winning you and your ex-husband to look at it closely. Your heart races inside your chest, breathing uneven when you register what you’re looking at. A little baby lentil, so tiny yet so beautiful even if the picture quality is grainy and hard to make out… And something else.

“Congratulations mom and dad. Looks like you’re having twins.”

X

#jungkook #jungkook ff #jungkook series #jungkook oneshot #jungkook as a dad #jungkook as a husband #jungkook fluff #jungkook angst #exhusband!jungkook #singledad!jungkook #jungkook x reader #jungkook x oc #jungkook imagine #boyfriend jungkook #jungkook hot #jungkook tattoos #jungkook bts #bts x reader #bts angst #bts fluff #jungkook smut #jungkook miniseries #jungkook drabble #jungkook fiction #jungkook writers #jungkook writing

[aloysiavirgata]

Have you ever written a historical AU? Would love to see what you would do with that!

“Le professeur n'est pas à la maison!” she calls to whomever is banging at the door.

“S’il te plait je suis perdu,” a man’s voice replies in an accent she can’t place. Not French, certainly.

Dana rises, annoyed, from a table stacked high with books. She’d been lost in Bayes’ recent essay on probability, which her father had bought her.

She makes her way to the door, assumes Marie-Amélie is behind the house with Victor’s hand up her dress again.

Through the window she sees the man claiming to be lost. He’s about her own age, tall, wearing a suit of clothes in the English style. His hair is dark brown, tied at the nape of his neck with a green ribbon.

He looks unhappy and his boots are quite muddy.

Dana grabs the fire poker she keeps next to the door for this purpose. She keeps it tucked in the folds of her dress.

“Good day,” she says in English.

The man startles. “You speak English?”

She grips the poker tighter. “Pray, how can I help you? The professor is not home right now.”

He frowns. “Professor? I’m sorry, I’m not here for any professor. It’s only that I came out to see the country and I’ve…well. I’ve lost my way.”

Dana decides that if she needs to run him through she’d rather it be on her home turf. His clothes, while plain by French standards, are of fine stuff and newly made. His boots are well soled, his breeches have silver buckles.

“Come in,” she says, and lets him pass her. She returns the poker to the wall, then closes the door.

“You’re not English,” he observes, peering around.

“God forbid,” she says, crossing her arms. “Irish.”

He grins at that. “Well, we’ve something in common then. I’m a Massachusetts man. Oh, forgive me. Name’s Fox Mulder.” He pulls a much-abused envelope from his pocket. “Letter of introduction, if you care to peruse.”

She takes the letter but doesn’t open it.

Victor emerges from the kitchen. He has the audacity to look scandalized that she is alone with a strange man even though there is hay dust on his breeches.

“Mademoiselle Dana!” he says.

She shoos Victor back to the kitchen for refreshments. “We’re very informal here, Monsieur Mulder.”

“Just Mulder,” he says.

“Mmm. Where did you say you were staying?”

“I didn’t, but in Florac.”

Dana frowns. “Monsieur, you traveled all the way from Massachusetts to stay in…Florac? And pray, sit.” She gestures at a sofa, sits in the chair opposite.

Mulder, looking grateful, complies.

Marie-Amélie arrives with a tray of cake and wine, curtsies, and scampers back to the kitchen.

Dana scowls after her.

“I’m in Florac only as a base of operations, you could say. I’m here to do some…investigating.” He sips his wine.

She is intrigued despite herself. Bayes can wait a bit longer. “Investigating?”

He tips his chin up a bit, as though preparing for a reaction from her. “The Beast of Gévaudan,” he says.

She stares, then lets out a bark of laughter. “La Bête?” she says. “It’s a wolf!”

“They say it has a breast as wide as a horse, a body as long as a leopard's, and fur that was red with a black stripe. What wolf is that, Mademoiselle?”

She rolls her eyes. “When I was a lass I thought the barn owls were the bean-sídhe keening.”

Mulder delicately pokes at a walnut on his slice of cake. “Wolf or no, people are dying.”

“Aye, now that’s a thing people are good at around here.” She sets her wineglass down. “When you’re finished I’ll have Philippe drive you back to the village.”

“That’s very kind,” he says. He sets his plate down. “I’m ready now.”

“I need to return to my studies,” she tells him, waving over the maid. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

Dana leaves her guest with Marie-Amélie. She hears the door open and close, and soon the strange man from Massachusetts is forgotten amid the doctrine of chance.

#xf fanfic #xfiles fanfic #my fic #prompt #historical au #beast of gevaudan

[hyenahunt]

Obbligato: The Devotion to Tatsumi Kazehaya - 13

Writer: Akira

Season: Spring, three years ago

Characters: Kaname, Tatsumi, Jun

Proofreading: Remi + 310mc (JP) & honeyspades (ENG)

Translation: Peace & hyenahunt

Tatsumi: The root of all misfortune lies in inequality and injustice. They are the root of all unhappiness. That is why they must be corrected.

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Kaname: ... I feel the same as Sazanami. If the fame and shine doesn't belong to my own name, then there's no point to it.

But... Still, it seems as if "Tatsumi Kazehaya" is doing well for itself.

Maybe I should learn from it. Throw away this pride of mine and ensure success through that.

All so I can become the sparkling idol I've always dreamed of being.

Tatsumi: Haha. If you so wish, then we are able to help you in a number of ways. We offer idol practices, studies, and can even help you find work — all free of charge.

In fact, I pay everyone who comes to one of my gatherings an equal part of my own wages.

Kaname: What do you mean...?

Tatsumi: You see, I have no interest in money. All of the money that "Tatsumi Kazehaya" accumulates is thus given out in equal shares to those gathered here.

No matter how much you've done, or what you've helped with, you're given the same amount of pay as the person next to you.

Hence, I've asked them to help me with the work I've received as much as possible.

Kaname: Are you for real? You're the one paying them?

It isn't the other way around? They're only managing to catch rays of the limelight because of you, aren't they? And yet... you're paying them?

Tatsumi: That's right. I likened it to a company, didn't I? Anyone who becomes a part of "Tatsumi Kazehaya" is offered the same regular pay as everyone else within it.

It's only natural to reward those who work a reasonable sum, isn't it? I would never ask someone to do my work for free.

Such a thing would be against our doctrine— nay, against human decency itself.

Jun: Ohhh, I get it now... I see just why these guys don't care for working on their own and are perfectly content just being "Tatsumi Kazehaya's assistants.”

They can just kick back and let their earnings pour in that way. Why wouldn't they? The cash they earn through this kinda fixed income is definitely gonna be way more than whatever an idol with no accomplishments could get through independent work.

And on top of that, Kazehaya-senpai's so brilliant at what he does that his work's a huge success every single time. Thanks to that, these guys get the chance to shine while avoiding any risk of failure or injury, or of being thought of as useless.

Sure is a dream job — one fit for morons.

Kaname: And on top of that, if I'm understanding correctly, you pay those a fair wage even if they haven't worked at all?

Tatsumi: I do. We don't discriminate here, you see. All are equal.

Jun: Mmm, well, I’m not that educated so I might be wrong, but this whole arrangement'spretty much that thing, isn't it? Starts with a c and ends with ism....

Our country's a capitalist nation, so y'know, the opposite of that —

Tatsumi: There's truly no need to go that far. I only wish to treat everyone as equally and fairly as possible.

Such a world would be ideal, wouldn't you agree? I want to make it a reality.

Tatsumi: Everyone is treated equally, given the same opportunities, and is paid fairly for their work. That way, everyone is able to live a happy, fulfilling life.

The root of all misfortune lies in inequality and injustice. They are the root of all unhappiness.

That is why they must be corrected.

There is a distinct disparity between the Special and Non-Special Students here at Reimei Academy. I'm doing what I can to close it.

It doesn't matter who you are, what you are, or even where you came from: you will be treated equally. Everyone will carry the same weight, walk the same amount of steps, and reach the same destination.

Everyone finishes at the same time. Everyone will be granted the same first place result, fairly and ideally.

And that is how we'll stop needless fighting over who's won and lost, we'll cease begrudging others for what they have, and we'll share the same happiness with one another.

That is the ideal world I dream of.

To bring it even slightly closer to reality, I'm doing what I can— though at the moment, this small sphere is all I'm able to influence in such a way.

Tatsumi: One day, I will take all those who inhabit Reimei Academy, the teachers and Special Students alike, as well as those in the idol industry, in this country, in this world...

And change their ways so we may live in such an Eden.

No, it's more than that. That is my mission in life as the Voice of God, as someone born within a family who teaches His words.

I truly believe that, and so I will live by that faith.

Tatsumi: May all of God's creations be blessed. Amen.

[ ☆ ]

✦✦✦✦✦

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#ensemble stars #enstars #enstars translation #hyenahunttl #tatsumi kazehaya #kaname tojo #jun sazanami #s: obbligato

[wardenparker]

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Dating Your Ex - ch 4

Marcus Pike x female reader Co-written with @absurdthirst

When Marcus unexpectedly runs into his ex-wife he is plunged into a world of complications where rekindled attraction and deep-seated insecurities reign. Unfortunately for him, it is also a world where his ex-wife is not the only ‘ex’ around, as a new case crosses his desk that will require all hands on deck. ✨💖Inspired by and based upon absurdthirst’s Tequila💖✨

Rating: T, I guess? But this blog is always 18+ Word Count: 6.9k Warnings: **Blanket warnings for this series include: divorce, break ups, collegiate Greek life, underage drinking, food/alcohol consumption.** Ex-significant other stress. Teresa and Jane come with their own warning.  Summary: There is no blissful morning after for these two - in fact, things are about to get a lot more complicated. Notes: Apologizing in advance to anyone who is actually an expert in antique photography, but I’m having fun researching this, so I’m just gonna keep going!

Ch 1 ~ Ch 2 ~ Ch 3

Marcus hates his ringtone. It’s loud and obtrusive, which is the entire point when he had it turned on, but he immediately frowns when it breaks through his sleep. “Wha—” he’s disoriented for a moment, cracking his eyes open and looking around for his phone since his nightstand isn’t in the right place. “Shit.”

“Mmm?” Without even cracking your eyes open, you snuggle more deeply into Marcus’s side and mumble something indistinct when he reaches over you to get his phone from where he left it on your nightstand last night.

“Pike!” As soon as the call connects, the voice on the other end chuckles heartily. “Sorry to interrupt your beauty rest, princess.” His supervisor’s voice is cheerful despite his usual seriousness. It must not be early anymore. “But we need you to come in. We’ve got agents from the field landing in a half hour, and they requested you specifically.”

Marcus groans as he sits up, hating the way his body immediately gets cooler away from your warmth. He swipes his hand down his face and pulls the phone away to check the time. “Yeah.” He rasps out. “Give me twenty minutes.” He tells the infuriatingly cheerful man.

“Good man.” The commendation comes through loud and clear, but he hangs up without further preamble.

“Something wrong?” You managed to peel your eyes open when Marcus sounded unhappy, and now he looks unhappy on top of it.

“I’ve got to go.” Marcus twists around and gives you an apologetic look. “They called me in, apparently there’s a new case.”

"Ah. Duty calls." You can't say you're thrilled about it by any means, but you do understand. He has an incredibly demanding job. Still, you can't help but pout. "Do you think you'll be able to leave the office for dinner tonight?"

“Yeah.” Marcus is still half asleep as he leans in to kiss you before climbing out of the bed so he can start pulling on his slightly rumpled clothes. “I shouldn’t be too long.” He shoves his legs into the suit pants and pulls them up.

"Do what you need to do. I'll probably take a shower after you leave and go to the Farmer's Market since I'm up." It's a damn shame he has to get dressed, but you're going to enjoy the view while he does. "You could just come back here after you're done?" You suggest, hopeful that he might want to spend the night together again.

“Shit.” Marcus pulls out his phone to order an Uber since he hadn’t driven over here. Luckily there is one around the corner. “Yeah, I’ll swing by my house and grab some clothes.”

"Okay. Go to work and be a superhero and I'll be waiting for you when you're done." He seems rattled and you don't want him to be stressed because of you while he's working, so you just smile and offer him one more kiss before he has to head out the door. It's unfortunate, but you won't let it ruin the day. You still got to wake up beside him and you'll see him tonight, and that is what matters.

******

Marcus hates wearing the same clothes again, but there is no helping it. He has a small toiletry bag in his desk for those late nights so he can at least brush his teeth. The Uber ride is quick, and he is at his desk and scrolling through his messages before he remembers he didn’t get your number. “Shit.”

"Uh oh." The cocky, amused voice from his open doorway drips with sarcasm. "Director Pike seems disturbed this morning. Perhaps we should go back to Austin and try again later?"

Fucking Patrick Jane. Marcus looks up from his phone to find the man who his ex-fiancée, if you could call her that, had thrown him over for a year ago. “Jane.” He murmurs evenly, not getting up from his seat. “They didn’t tell me it was you coming in.” He would have taken a hell of a lot longer if they had.

"We thought it would be a fun little surprise." Jane strolls inside with unearned confidence and his typical arrogance, followed barely a moment later by Teresa, who is wheeling an evidence suitcase at her side and sporting a small but very noticeable baby bump.

Marcus feels like if he hadn’t spent the night in your bed that the sight of Teresa’s baby belly would have been a fiercer blow. Instead it’s a dull pang that he hadn’t been deemed good enough, an old wound that just makes his brow arch. “Congratulations are in order it seems.” He says after a moment. “Hello, Teresa.”

"Marcus." She smiles but it's tight, and she positions the suitcase inside his office door before letting go of its handle. "Thank you. It's—we're excited," she admits, albeit a little sheepishly. She knows she should have ended things better between them, but that doesn't diminish the happiness she has now. Not to her. "You look good. Happy, I mean." Despite looking tired and like he's possibly wearing old clothes; Marcus Pike does have an undeniable warmth to him that she hadn't necessarily expected.

“Thanks.” Now Marcus stands, but it’s to take the evidence case from Teresa. He doesn’t mention that perhaps her husband should have been wheeling the heavy case instead of leaving it to her. Their dynamic wasn’t his issue any longer. “You have that pregnancy glow they talk about.”

“I’m halfway there,” she tells him, rubbing the underside of her belly with one hand as she sits down in one of the chairs across from Marcus’s desk. “So…we’re sorry to call you in like this, but we needed some help on a case and the guys in Austin Art Crimes are lost without you.”

His lips curl slightly and he nods. “Tell me what you’ve got, and I’ll see how I can help with the case.” He looks from Teresa to Jane, not missing the smug expression in the other man’s face. Like he was right about something, but that was usually his outlook.

“We’ve got three dead and a collection of old daguerreotypes that seem to be the primary cause of the arguing.” She tells him, glad to see Patrick start to unzip the suitcase for her. “We were hoping you could help us figure out what’s so damn special about these things.”

Marcus hums as Patrick hands him a file, flipping it open as he skims over the details of the case. Later on he will be studying the particulars. “Daguerreotypes?” He looks up at the two of them and mentally sighs, wondering how the hell this has come about so quickly. “I know someone who can examine them.” It’s the last thing that he wants, but this is for work.

“Excellent.” Jane leans on the corner of Marcus’s desk like a throne, surveying the office around him. “We knew you could help. Reliable Marcus, we said. Sitting up here in DC in your fancy director’s office.”

Marcus’s jaw tightens and he almost opens his mouth to say something. “That’s me. Director.” Which means he doesn’t have to help if he doesn’t want to.

“Is the person you know available on short notice?” Teresa asks, sensing the tension in the room like a house on fire.

“They should be.” He’s thinking about Silvia and wonders if you would be the one that wanted to work on this as her boss. “Let me make a call, since it is a Saturday.”

“Of course.” Jane shrugs carelessly, but goes to sit in the chair beside Teresa. “It’s your office.”

Marcus shoves down the annoyance that they aren’t going to leave and give him some privacy to make the call. He ignores them and picks up his phone so he can select Silvia’s number and hit talk.

“H-hello?” Silvia’s voice is uncertain on the other end, obviously confused to see Marcus’s name pop up on her caller ID a few days after breaking up with him.

“Ms. Harper.” He keeps his tone neutral, not wanting to make her think that he’s calling her for personal reasons. “This is Director Pike at the FBI, have I caught you at a bad time?”

“Not at all.” Her voice evens out when she hears his work voice and even though she’s still confused, she no longer is worried about something dramatic. “What can I do for you, Director?”

Marcus picks up a pen off his desk and clicks it as he thinks of how to phrase this. “I have some agents from our Austin field office who require an expert on Daguerreotypes. You were the first person that I thought of.”

“Oh.” Silvia cringes so hard it’s nearly audible. “Well, this is awkward. Actually…the person you really want is—is Dr. Pike. Daguerreotype conservation is her expertise…”

Shit. Marcus doesn’t react but his heart leaps before his stomach twists at the idea of his ex-wife meeting his ex-fiancée. “Okay, would you mind giving me her number?” He asks, reaching for a notepad. “Or would you rather call her and have her reach out to me?”

“I can call her, if you want.” Not knowing what sort of awkwardness might sit between them, Silvia swallows a sigh. “If she needs an assistant, she’ll be calling me anyway. So it might be both of us. When do you need the help?” Sorting through the idea in her head, Silvia is already up and moving around her apartment to put on something work appropriate to wear. Dr. Pike will definitely want an assistant.

“As soon as possible.” Marcus sighs slightly. “I appreciate it, and I’m sorry for interrupting your weekend.” He tells her seriously.

Teresa smiles when Marcus hangs up the phone. “You don’t seem very excited to see whoever that was,” she observes, trying to make light. “I hope they’ll be helpful. Thanks for making the call.”

“You’re welcome.” Marcus answers neutrally as he stands. “The conference room down the hall is available if you would like to set up there.” His office is not going to be the headquarters for this little reunion.

“Sure.” Teresa nods, lifting herself out of the chair and smiles awkwardly. “Thanks, Marcus. We really appreciate the help.”

“No problem.” His answer is just as awkward, and he looks over at Jane to see him smirking. “There is tea in our break room if you’re off caffeine.” He offers.

“I’ll let Teresa know.” Jane practically winks as he sashays out the door, leaving it wide open as he goes.

Marcus sighs and looks down at his phone, wanting to talk to you now more than ever. It’s going to be a long day. “Well shit.” He grunts, shaking his head at his shitty luck.

******

It’s about thirty minutes later that you’re meeting Silvia at the elevator in the Hoover FBI Building, dressed in nice clothes but something a little more fashionable than a suit, just because you’re heading to see Marcus again. No one can blame you for wanting to look nice today. “Let’s head up.” You tell your young team member, affixing the Guest badge to your Smithsonian employee lanyard that denotes you as a federal employee.

Marcus keeps extra dress shirts in his office, along with a casual outfit in case he needs to be in plain clothes. He decides to change into the latter, wondering if you will be disappointed that he’s in jeans and a t-shirt. It was that or his suit from yesterday and a new shirt. He walks into the conference room after changing and freshening up to start sorting through the evidence Teresa brought. “The experts should be here soon.” He tells Teresa and Patrick before he moves over to the coffee pot in the room to set it up for a fresh pot.

“Where are they from?” Jane is leaning back in a chair at one end of the conference table. “Private sector? University?”

“Smithsonian Institute.” From the doorway, You adjust your work bag on your shoulder and smooth a wrinkle in your shirtsleeve. Marcus is standing on the other side of the room making coffee and you have to bite back a smile. Even in a plain black t-shirt and jeans he’s a dream. “From the department of photographic conservation.”

Marcus wants to smile but he also doesn’t want to make things uncomfortable for Silvia. Instead he nods and motions for the two of you to come in. “Thank you for coming.” He offers. “I just put a fresh pot of coffee on and later on I’ll order some food as a small measure of thanks.”

“Thank you, Director Pike.” Keeping things professional is key, you know that, but in the moment you’re also surprised to realize that the title is actually kind of a turn on. You’ll have to remember to tell him that later. “Now. How can we help?”

Patrick Jane looks between the three of you and smirks knowingly, leaning back in his swiveling chair. “Before we begin work, I think we should be introduced? Right Marcus?”

“Dr. Pike,” you make no mistake about your title and glossing past your shared last name as though it doesn’t matter at all, because for the purposes of work it doesn’t. This man, however, you already don’t like. “I am Director of Photographic Conservation for the Smithsonian Institute. My colleague is Silvia Harper. Her expertise is development methods.” Looking between the two agents seated at the table, you remind yourselves that first impressions aren’t everything. Perhaps the blonde man is simply having an unusual day. “And you are from the Austin field office, I understand?”

“Doctor Pike?” Patrick’s eyes light up like a kid in a candy store and it’s all Marcus can do not to audibly groan. Those smug eyes shift to him with an amused glint in them. “When did you discover your ex-wife was in D.C., Marcus?” He asks with a smirk.

Marcus straightens slightly and clears his throat. He decides to ignore the question and introduce Teresa and Patrick. “Dr. Pike, Ms. Harper, this is Agent Teresa Lisbon – er, Jane now, I guess, and professional consultant Patrick Jane.” He says.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Agent Teresa Jane stands to shake your hand and you cannot possibly ignore the small baby bump she is sporting.

“You as well,” you tell her politely, though something is tickling at the back of your mind that tells you everything is going to go sideways very quickly.

Patrick’s eyes are flickering between you, Marcus, and Silvia and after a moment he chuckles. “You are in a hot seat, aren’t you Pike?” He muses cryptically. “Director Pike, I mean.” He clarifies, grinning at you.

“Perhaps we should focus on the case.” Trying to deflect the attention off of Marcus is the best you can do right now until you can get home alone to ask what the hell is going on, and you don’t like feeling like you’re on the defensive when meeting new people. Especially new people at work.

“Patrick.” Teresa turns and shoots her husband an annoyed look. “Stop.” Patrick sends her an innocent look and shrugs his shoulders like it’s not his fault.

“I just find it interesting that he’s slept with every woman in this room.” He answers as he stands up to move over to the coffee pot. “It’s fascinating to imagine what is going through his mind right now.”

“Alright, if you’re really not going to talk about anything else until we get this out of the way, then yes. Marcus and I divorced twelve years ago.” You practically sigh and barely keep from having to shake your head. “Would it be possible to focus on the case now?” It just completely breaks your heart for him, to see the embarrassment on Marcus’s face. Whoever this man is, you officially do not like Patrick Jane.

“I’m going to apologize for my husband.” The look Teresa Jane shoots her husband would kill a lesser man, and she shakes her head. “He likes to push, and doesn’t seem to realize when he’s crossing a line into ‘asshole’ territory.” She huffs before she looks at you with an apologetic smile. “Marcus said nothing but wonderful things about you.” She promises. “He and I were—”

“Teresa was my fiancée for all of two minutes.” Marcus interrupts, done with the dramatics. “And Silvia and I were dating before I found out that her boss was my ex-wife. Now can we please focus on the case?” His tone is short, clipped, and his jaw is clenched. Furious at the tension Jane has added to the room unnecessarily.

Oh. You find yourself standing silent for a long moment while you process the information that you were just offered. That this woman in front of you is the one who last broke Marcus's heart and she did it for this intensely disagreeable, self-absorbed man with this smug smirk and shitty attitude and now they're already married and expecting a baby? The worst part of that might be that you're actually jealous of Teresa Jane for the last part of that thought. Happily married and starting a family. You really need to talk to Marcus later.

"If you would please show us the daguerreotypes? And let us know what you're looking for?" At this point you're just eager to start working and do less of this awkward talking.

There is a moment of complete silence before Teresa starts talking. “Yes, right.” She clears her throat and pushes herself awkwardly out of her own chair and leans over the conference table to pick up an evidence bag. “These are the items that we are needing – I don’t really know – examined for importance? Why are these being killed over?”

"We can do a preliminary examination here, but if there is nothing obvious, we may need to do further analysis in our lab." Glad to not have any more bullshit spewed around the room, you nod and lean over the table beside your ex-husband's – current boyfriend's? – ex-fiancée. Fuck this is complicated.

“If need be, we can sign over custody of the evidence to you.” Marcus nods before he taps a file. “I am going to go order some food. Sandwiches okay with everyone?” He needs a moment, just a few minutes to compose himself.

"Thank you." You desperately wish you could follow him out into the hall, or even send him a text, but you can't leave Silvia to deal with these vultures from the Austin office just yet. Patrick Jane would eat her alive.

Marcus strides down the hall, closing the door to his office with a sigh. Of all the fucking agents to come to D.C., it had to be Teresa Jane and the walking windbag she married. He closes his eyes and gives a low chuckle. He doesn’t even want to know what you think of him right now.

It's only about five minutes later that a rhythmic knock sounds from the other side of Marcus's office door and you stick your head inside. "Hey..." The expression you offer him is pure sympathy. "One Jane had to take a phone call from Austin and the other one had to use the ladies' room. Can I come in or are you hiding from me, too?"

“Hey.” Marcus stands and wipes his hands on his jeans. “No – I’m not, it’s okay – you can come in.” He shuffles awkwardly and shakes his head. “This is not how I imagined my Saturday going.”

"Me either." Slipping inside, you shut the door carefully and take an awkward step toward his desk. If it were anyone but his ex-fiancée out there, you probably wouldn't have any problem going straight to his arms for a kiss, but it is. So things are awkward. "So...that's her, huh?"

Marcus blows out a raspberry and reaches up to rub the back of his neck in embarrassment. “That’s her.” He murmurs quietly. “Of all the rooms I never wanted to be in, that was in my top three.” He jokes weakly and flashes you a grin. “So now you know who left me and who she left me for.”

"He's awful." Screwing up your face into a fairly disgusted expression to hopefully make him laugh, you end up just shaking your head and stepping closer, making it easy for him to slip into your arms if he wants to be there. "I can't be mad that she left you, though. If she hadn't, that would be your baby she's carrying and not the narcissistic blonde's. And we wouldn't be...whatever we are now."

You have a very valid point. Marcus hums, leaning in and pressing his forehead against yours while he wraps his arms around you for a much-needed hug. “Can this be a bad dream and we are actually still wrapped up in your bed?” He pouts playfully. “Please?”

"I'll get their evidence analyzed and send them away again as soon as I can." Having him back in your arms again, even after only a few hours, makes you hum happily, and you give his waist a gentle squeeze. "Tonight we'll do whatever you want for dinner and then exhaust ourselves with more sex." You grin up at him. "Sound good?"

“Sounds perfect, but I have a feeling the Janes are here for more than a day.” Marcus huffs. “I’m sorry.” He leans in and kisses your lips. “He is…something. And I know he embarrassed you.”

"He's smug, but honestly I feel worse for Silvia than anyone else. She got wrapped up in all this by accident." A kiss from him, especially right now, makes you nearly melt into the floor. It's soothing and reassuring all at once. "You don't have to apologize, love. Just don't mind me if I'm a little extra lovey when we're not working? This is...it's so new. And it's more than a little awkward in that conference room."

“I don’t mind.” Marcus promises. “I think you need to buy Silvia’s drinks during brunch with my credit card.” He huffs. “As an apology from me.”

"That's extremely sweet of you, and I'm sure she knows you didn't pick all this." Placing a kiss on his cheek, you give him another squeeze and really do your best to keep smiling. "Have you ordered lunch yet or have you been stewing in here?"

“No, I ordered lunch.” Marcus promises. “I might kill Patrick Jane if I am around him too long on an empty stomach.”

"I'll throw a shovel in the back of the Mini Cooper and we'll drive the body up to New Jersey. Nobody thinks twice about finding a body in New Jersey." He manages to smile at the joke, and right now you can't ask for more than that from him. "I'm sorry today isn't the relaxing afternoon we had in mind, baby. But at least we're together, right?"

Marcus sighs, nodding at your logic and holds you close for another second before he reluctantly lets you go. “Did you find anything interesting about them?” He asks. “Anything that stands out right away?”

“Nothing jumped out at me.” You shake your head, feeling frustrated that the answer was not easy so you couldn’t just send them away again. “I’ll have to take a look at them at the lab.”

Marcus nods with a small sigh. Disappointed that he can’t send the Janes back to Texas quickly, but he’s not surprised. “Thank you for giving up your Saturday.” He can’t help but caress your back as you both turn towards the door.

“It’s okay.” Before you reach his door, you flash him a grin and shrug one shoulder. “This super hot FBI agent that I kinda have a thing for needed my help, so I’m glad to do it.” You tease, always working to put that smile back on his face. “I’d do anything for him.”

“Yeah?” His grin is slow to arrive, but it blossoms beautifully on his face and there is almost a shy quality to it. “That’s good to know.”

“Yeah.” The nod you give him has no hesitation. There is a lot to say, but it’s a good start for now.

“I need to go back in there.” He admits with a small groan. “I’m sure Patrick Jane would find it more amusing if I hid in my office the entire time.”

“We’ll go together.” It may not be office appropriate to stroll down the hall holding hands, but you’re not going to leave his side when he’s having a hard time. You’re stronger than the girl you used to be.

“He’s not going to bother me.” Marcus decides, opening the door for you to walk out first.

“Well, well.” The second you want back into the conference room, Patrick Jane is smirking again. “Ruffled feathers all smooth again, Doc?”

“Mr. Jane,” you shake your head and move back to the evidence on the table. “Not everything needs to be made into a circus act. Let’s just focus on the case, shall we?”

Patrick’s brow arches up and a slow transformation takes his smirk to a grin. “I like you.” He tells you before he looks at Marcus from where he is sitting with his feet up on the conference room table. “How did you let this one get away, Pike?”

“That isn’t relevant to the case, I’m afraid.” You’re not going to let this infuriating man get under Marcus’s skin. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to have you sign over custody of the evidence to the Smithsonian, Agent Jane.” Looking up at the other woman – the one who had turned Marcus over for a man made of arrogance and hair gel – you almost shrug. She clearly isn’t pleased with Patrick Jane’s behavior either. “If you would be good enough to leave me your card, I can contact you when I’ve found something.”

Teresa fishes into the pocket of her suit coat, pulling out a card holder with brand new cards inside. Proudly proclaiming her ‘Special Agent Teresa Jane’ on the stiff card stock along with her numbers and her email address. “Maybe—” She hands you the card and glances over to Marcus before meeting your gaze again. “Let Patrick pay for dinner for you and Marcus tonight. To apologize for his behavior and to thank you for your assistance.” Silvia is across the table from you, eyes studiously on the photos as if she could block out the scene around her.

“Sil?” There is clearly some conversation that needs to happen, and you hate that you couldn’t have had more than a few minutes with Marcus in his office. Your young colleague’s head pops up and you offer her a half-smile knowing she must be overwhelmed. “If you could go back to our office to open and prep the lab for when I bring the evidence back, I would appreciate it.”

“Yes ma’am.” The look of pure relief on her face is palpable. “I will do that right away.” She doesn’t hesitate to peel her gloves off and gather her things as if the hounds of hell were on her heels and nipping. “Nice to— uh, bye.” She manages before she dashes out the door.

It does the trick in a way you never expected, and you actually find yourself holding back a laugh at how fast Silvia just bolted from the room. “I don’t blame her,” you admit finally, shaking your head and producing one of your own business cards from your work bag to hand over to the agent from Texas. “And I appreciate the apology, Agent Jane, thank you. The situation seems to have taken us all by surprise.”

“My husband seems to think that his brilliance makes up for his appalling lack of manners.” She throws a glare over at Patrick who is completely unrepentant with a slight shrug as he slouches in his chair and plays with the pen that Marcus had brought in.

“More sandwiches for us.” He points out. “You said you were hungry.”

“Of course I’m hungry,” Teresa laughs unexpectedly. “I’m always hungry now.”

“And our reliable Marcus remembered your favorites and made sure to order it along with whatever was Silvia’s and the former Mrs. Pike’s.” Patrick hums. “He’s a Boy Scout like that.”

“It’s called having manners and a good memory.” If you don’t just straight-out smack Patrick Jane before the end of this case it will be a miracle. And maybe a shame.

“He’s just trying to get a rise out of you.” Marcus rolls his eyes and huffs. “Annoyance lets details slip and he’s dying to know the story. Beyond what I told Teresa.” He had no doubt that his former fiancée must have talked about their relationship with Jane. Even going so far as to impart seemingly obscure facts, but Jane had the memory of an elephant.

“We ran into each other again by accident a few days ago.” While you won’t go into detail about the past until you and Marcus have been able to check in with each other about it, the present is a fairly easy tale. “I’m sorry it’s not a more interesting story.”

“Patrick, stop.” Teresa’s tone turns stern. “Or you’ll sleep on the couch at the hotel.”

Marcus has to look down at the file in front of him so he doesn’t laugh, enjoying the way Jane suddenly looks a little more repentant than before.

Considering he miraculously had not opened his mouth this time, you have to assume that he was bothering his wife under the table and you barely bite back a smirk of your own. “So where did these come from?” You ask, motioning to the daguerreotype cases. “Or is that not information you can share?“

“It was found in the house of one Marquis De Sade - not the French nobleman, obviously.” Teresa smiles at the unique name that had made her scratch her head until she placed it. “De Sade was 87 when he passed, and the case involves his will. The people who are set to inherit his estate have been dying. And these daguerreotypes seem to be at the center of the conflict.”

“Interesting name.” You raise an eyebrow but studiously avoid looking at Marcus. That will only feed the flames of teasing. “So far the only unique thing about them is that many are of locations instead of people. The vast majority of daguerreotypes were portraits. Perhaps these locations mean something to the family?”

“It doesn’t seem like it from the case file.” Marcus tells you, looking over at Teresa. “Is there anything you can tell us?”

“There were some papers in the case containing the images that I can have scanned and sent over to us.” Teresa nods, remembering the stack of decaying pages that they had considered too fragile to transport. “I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Looked like poetry and journal-style writing. But maybe it might make sense to you in conjunction with the images?”

“We can try.” You nod your head and look back down at the plate in front of you. It shows a break in a river with a small grove of seedlings surrounding it and the sun low in the sky. It’s beautiful, but not typical for a daguerreotype image.

Marcus hums. “Are there coordinates on the plate or maybe a location written?” He asks, wondering if they can plot where the images are from to come up with a map.

Carefully flipping some of the wooden cases over in your gloved hands, you find to your dismay that not all are marked with information. Some bear names that you can only assume are the surnames of the subjects, others have initials, and some have nothing at all. But one box bears the inscription ’Johnson’s Ranch’ in scrawling, decaying pencil. “Johnson’s Ranch,” you read out loud, looking at the three others in the room with you. “Does that ring a bell to anyone?”

“There have been thousands of ranches over the years.” Teresa shrugs slightly. “If we had a region, maybe we could dig through property deeds.”

Begrudgingly you have to admit that that makes sense, but you appreciate the fact that three more heads bend over the small wooden boxes containing the antique forms of photography. “J.R.C.” You read the initials from another box out loud, and then from another: “Truck L.k. This one looks like letters have rubbed off over the last century and a half.”

Marcus writes it down on a notepad and nods. “Okay, that’s a start.” His phone buzzes and he looks down at it. “That’s the food.” His eyes slide to Patrick Jane. “Play nice.” He warns before he stands up to walk out of the conference room.

“J.R.C. May be Johnson’s Ranch and a state or city designation?” You look up from the boxes before pulling out your cell phone to collect images. “Is it alright to take pictures of the cases?“

“Whatever you need, just remember that this isn’t public.” Teresa cautions. Marcus might trust you because you are his ex-wife, but she hasn’t worked with you professionally.

“Of course.” You would never post any of this to social media, that would be ridiculous. But this way you can take snaps of the writing on the case to look over while the four of you eat. The daguerreotypes won’t be safe on the same table as food.

“All of this will need to go back to your lab.” Patrick muses. “Which must mean keeping in touch with the former flame.” He smirks slightly. “Interesting he was in yesterday’s clothes when we arrived and yet he does not have your number.”

“Is that interesting?” You arch one eyebrow at the insufferable blonde who clearly has no intention of behaving like Marcus requested. “You like to infer things. Don’t you, Mr. Jane? To see how much you can trick people into giving away.”

Patrick gives you a smile. “I see what he likes about you.” He muses, leaning forward and reaching for a notepad to write something down on.

And I see what he does not like about you, you think as loudly as you can without saying it. Instead, you reach into your work bag when you have discarded your gloves and extract one of your own business cards to give to Agent Jane. “Since it looks like you’ll be here for a few days, this is how you can reach me.”

“Thank you.” She huffs and rolls her eyes towards her husband. “He’s not as bad as he first seems when you get to know him.” She says quietly as she rubs her baby bump. “He’s a little insecure since it’s Marcus that we need help from.”

“I see.” It’s juvenile to say the least, but again, you can’t really be upset. Teresa Jane’s poor decision to marry Patrick meant that Marcus was single in D.C., and that had opened the door to the two of you ending up in bed together last night. “Well, I can’t say I understand the urge to be mean spirited, but seeing your spouse’s ex can be stressful.”

“I’m not trying to be mean.” Patrick almost pouts, frowning slightly. “I like Marcus Pike. I was jealous as hell of him while he was with Teresa.” He tells you. “It took getting on a plane to beg her to stay to get her to choose me.”

“I’m sure the pilot must have loved you for that.” Despite yourself, you shake your head to hide a cracked grin. It might be a romantic story to anyone who wasn’t currently in love with the guy who got dumped because of that stunt. “Marcus is a good man, and he will always do anything he can to help. It would be kind of you to be professional, that’s all.”

“Okay. I will stop making remarks.” Patrick sighs and it’s Teresa’s turn to grin evilly. “I know how you can make it up to them.” She teases, almost in a singsong voice.

“Really, Agent Jane, it’s fine.” You don’t know if you want this can of worms to be opened, and you especially don’t want to know why they just assume you and Marc are back together so easily. While true, it’s irritating on a base level that there are strangers in your business.

Teresa heard nothing but annoyance in your tone, so she decides to back off. “Alright.” She nods and holds up her hands.

“I—I apologize.” Realizing what you must have sounded like, you sit yourself down at the table and take a deep breath. “I’m afraid I might be a little…on edge.” It’s not your favorite thing to admit, but if anyone should be able to swallow their pride about Marcus, it’s you. “I find it unsettling to have my circumstances read as quickly and easily as you and your husband have apparently been able to do. I’m very sorry if I seem standoffish because of it. There is no reason we can’t be friendly.” If nothing else, it would probably help the case go more smoothly.

“No, we were in the wrong.” Teresa insists. “I know personally, I was just happy to see the spark back in his eyes. You can just tell, you know? When he’s in love?” She gives you a small smile. “He can’t hide it and he lit up for a second when you walked in.”

"He's never exactly been subtle." It makes you laugh a little, how true that is, and you end up nodding in acceptance. "I suppose you're right. That would be a dead giveaway."’

“At first I thought it might have been the other woman, but then – I just knew it was you. Especially since—” She gives a small shrug. “I won’t intrude on your personal life anymore, but I’m glad to know he’s happy.”

"That's all I want for him." You admit, hearing footsteps approach in the hallway. "Just to make him happy."

Marcus is happy to see that you haven’t started brawling with Patrick and he holds up the bags. “Food’s here!” He tries for a jovial tone, knowing a full stomach can go a long way to soothe tensions.

"Thank you." There's no hesitation or mannered politeness when you smile at him this time. The cat is out of the proverbial bag, so you can just let yourself be happy to see him.

He wonders what’s been said while he’s gone, but again, he’s just thankful he’s not having to pull you off Patrick. He sets the bags down. “Patrick, you got the pastrami on rye, extra mustard.” He says as he searches for the sandwich. “Teresa, the Turkey club with extra bacon and no tomato.” He grins and looks over at you before he pulls your sandwich out and hands it to you, “Did I get it right?”

Unwrapping your lunch from the waxy deli paper, you grin when the dietary staple of your college years - a chicken Caesar salad wrap - is unveiled before your eyes. "Extra parmesan and pepper?" You grin, unable to stop yourself even the tiniest bit. Not that you care anymore. It's been years now since you've had one of these and the nostalgia is so warming. "It's perfect, Marc. Thank you."

“Ma— oofffff—” Patrick flinches and grabs his side from where Teresa throws a judiciously placed elbow to stop him from commenting. “Owww.” He complains, but his wife just rolls her eyes and ignores his dramatics.

“If there’s salt and vinegar chips in that bag, I will name the baby after you.” She jokes, her grin making sure Marcus knows it’s supposed to be a lighthearted jest. The added fun is that it makes her husband immediately frown.

"I hope it's a boy, then." Amused at the dismay on Patrick Jane's face, you hand the bag of kettle cooked salt and vinegar chips over to Agent Jane before dumping the other bags out onto the conference table. One of those bags of Baked Lays is definitely for you and it only makes you smile harder.

“There’s also a tuna on wheat here with extra onions.” Marcus offers, knowing Silvia won’t be back.

“0h gimme.” Teresa makes a grabby motion as Patrick groans at the idea of onions. “What? I’m eating for two.” She huffs at her husband.

"I'll have to put some extra snacks in my office for the week, so there's something there if you need a snack while you're at the lab." Marcus's ex or otherwise, a pregnant lady needs access to snacks. That's just how things work.

“Oh, bless you.” Teresa nearly salivates at the idea. “You are really kind. I’m constantly hungry or tired.”

"I have a couch in my office, a mini-fridge, and a basket on my bookshelf filled with snacks. You're welcome to rest or grab something to eat anytime you need. Just let me know if you have any aversions, okay?" When Marcus looks at you like you've sprouted an extra head, you can really only shrug. "My sister had really bad food aversions when she was pregnant with my niece. I had to get creative with my cooking when she came to visit."

Teresa grins at you. “I like you.” She hums before she unwraps her sandwich and starts tearing into it like only a hungry pregnant woman can. Moaning at the first bite and immediately reaching for the chips to add more flavor.

------ Master Tags: @pixiedurango @chattychell @winter-fox-queen @lady-himbo @artsymaddie @princess76179 @paintballkid711 @missminkylove @pedrosbrat @ew-erin @sarahjkl82-blog @sharkbait77 @justanotherblonde23 @lv7867 @recklesswit @mylittlesenaar @f0rever15elf @gallowsjoker @steeevienicks @athalien @sherala007 @skvatnavle @thatpinkshirt @jaime1110 @girlimjusttryingtoreadfanfics @goodgriefitsawildworld @greeneyedblondie44 @katheriner1999 @littlemousedroid @harriedandharassed @churchill356 @ajathegreats-blog @hardc0rehaylz @beardsanddetectives @kirsteng42 @ladykatakuri @adancedivasmom @madiebear @tanzthompson @emilianamason @bigsdinger

tCIGtDYE: @missmarmaladeth  @afro-hispwriter  @rosmarinus @mythrielofsolitude @jxvipike @avaleineandafryingpan @hnt-escape @supernaturalgirl20 @scorpio-marionette @bobafvcker @midnightevermore @dinoflower   @pearl-aqua-tears @itsbaehyungbitch   @pepperminticedcoffee @anticipayosbot @girlofchaos @speedynana @loveslide @noisynaia @just-here-for-the-moment @goodgriefitsawildworld @curiouskeyboard @iarellanouus @mymistery09-blog @seasonschange-butpeopledont @thenightdreamsballad @pondsofravenclaw  @sherlock221b114679797 @pimmyxyone @theredwritingwitch @ghostinhours @timpletance @strawberryjamcheesecake @amb11 @a-little-shade-of-kiki @wildemaven @tuquoquebrute @supernaturalgirl @ellenmunn @iceclaw101 @toxicfrankenstein @catsandgeekyandnerd @missmarmaladeth   @theincredibleinkspitter @agiroflee98 @lyonessofnarnia @we-could-have-been @totostits @scorpio-marionette @kikis-writing-world @trappistmonksofthefuture @danichz  @88dragon06  @scorpionerd @myrealmofchaos @movievillainess721 @firekissed13 @qseomik @acollectionofcells1 @captain-of-my-game1992 @alician87 @lovesbiggerthanpride @justgonewild @hiyorinatsuki   @pinkrosethorne @apocalypticwafflekitten @groovycass @rebel-fanfare    @d0cthunder @gooddaykate @purplerain04 @astridflowers @frasmotic@dornish-queen

My Masterlist!  

#Pedro Pascal #Pedro Pascal character fanfiction #Pedro Pascal fanfic #Marcus Pike #Marcus Pike x reader #Marcus Pike x you #Marcus Pike x female reader #Agent Marcus Pike #ex wife reader #The Mentalist #Mentalist fanfic #Teresa Lisbon #Patrick Jane

[late-to-the-party-81]

The Strongest Shape

AN: Wow - I can’t believe it’s been 6 months since I wrote something for my OT3! But here we are, with an update as to how they are doing now they are officially a throuple. It's also the first instalment without smut!

Beta’d by @lfnr-blog-blog-blog

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Moodboard by me

Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Part Eight | Part Ten

Relationship: Artist!Steve Rogers x Reader (Cali) x Engineer!Bucky Barnes

WC: 2k

CW: Fluff, suggestive language, implied smut

The car lurched to the side and you threw out your arms to steady yourself, one against the passenger side door and the other against the warm, firm body next to you.

“Can’t keep your hands off me, can you darlin’?” Bucky’s teasing drawl sounded in your ear and he grabbed hold of you, pulling you as close to him as the seatbelts would allow. You giggled back.

“You wish, Barnes.” You snuggled in close, enjoying being cuddled up against him. “Steve, can you drive more carefully?”

“Sorry, Cali. Cabby pulled out without warning.”

You scrubbed at your face with your free hand, inching up under the piece of black cloth that had been tied over your eyes.

“And when can I take this blindfold off?”

“When we get to our destination. Ain’t that right, Buck?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Bucky nuzzled his nose into your neck. “Might never take it off, to be honest. The sensory deprivation could be… stimulating.”

You smacked your hand against him playfully.

“You’re incorrigible.” He nipped at your ear and you squeaked in surprise.

“You love it, and don’t pretend you don’t.”

Steve chuckled from the driver’s seat as he continued to drive you towards your mystery destination. You knew you were still in the city; Steve’s muttered cursing, the constant tapping of the brakes, and the fact you hadn’t seemed to have got 20 miles an hour gave it away.

It had been three months now since the three of you had changed the nature of your relationship, bringing Bucky into it as more than just Steve’s friend, and it wasn’t to say that you and Steve were unhappy before, far from it. But now? Now there was an extra dimension, someone else to share the load, more love to give and more love to receive. If one of you needed to be alone, you didn’t have to worry about the other. If one of you was feeling spicy, the chances of both the others not being in the mood was low. And well, if all three of you were in the mood…Steve and Bucky had ended up shelling out for a reinforced, California King for Steve’s apartment after his previous bed broke during one of your more ‘intense’ sessions. Luckily none of you had been hurt and the memories of that night had kept you all giggling for weeks after.

Before this, there was no way you could have ever considered not feeling jealousy seeing your partner being affectionate and intimate with someone else, but watching your boys together was something beautiful. Sometimes you weren’t sure which was better - watching or participating. You’d mentioned as much to the pair of them and they both said they felt the same way,

The only fly in the ointment was your living situation. Not only did you all have to get used to living with an extra person, even Steve’s apartment, which was the biggest, couldn’t sustain you all for more than a couple of days without you all tripping over each other and tensions getting frayed. But when either you or Bucky went back to your own apartment for space, it just felt wrong.

The car lurched to a halt and you were glad for Bucky’s arm around you, bracing you.

“Bucky, next time we go on a mystery drive, could you do us all a favour and you do the driving?”  The brunet chuckled as Steve gasped dramatically.

“You wound me, Cali. How could you be so cruel? I’m a very good driver.”

You heard Steve open his door, climb out and push it shut. Bucky’s hand slid down between you, releasing your seatbelt, and then your door was opened, Steve helping you to step out, as you were still blindfolded.

“I hope no-one sees us and thinks you are kidnapping me.” Your left hand was held in Steve’s large, warm grip, and Bucky was standing behind and slightly to the side of you, his hand resting between your shoulder blades. 

“Come on, darlin’. Let’s get on with the surprise. Careful now, there are some steps.”

Your boyfriends carefully guided you up, the steps wide and smooth. You were glad you had eschewed heels for this excursion; it made it a lot easier to negotiate your way into whichever building your boys were taking you into. 

Steve let go of you briefly to open the door; you heard the click of a lock and the creak of hinges and then Bucky ushered you forward. Your curiosity was piqued as you heard your three sets of footsteps echoing inside the space.

“Where the heck are we, guys?”  Neither of them answered, but Steve’s nimble fingers came up to the back of your head, loosening the knot on the silk scarf they’d used for your blindfold.

“You ready for the surprise, sweetheart?”

“Yes! Stop torturing me - It had better be worth it, Stevie.”

The fabric fell away and you blinked for a moment, adjusting to the bright light. Then you gasped. You were standing in the empty front room of a brownstone. Smooth wooden floors and decorative sconces grabbed your attention.

Steve’s arms enclosed you from behind, his beard tickling your ear.

“What do you think, Cali?”

“Is this what I think it is, Stevie?”

You felt him nod against the side of your head.

“Mmm-hmm. Buck and I have been scouring realtors, looking for just the right place. An enormous master bedroom, big enough for an Alaska king bed, another room with north facing windows, perfect as an art studio, and three others- so both you and Buck can have your own work spaces, plus a spare for guests, or if one of us is annoyed with the others.” He chuckled at the last bit and you playfully thumped him on the arm.

“Show me…”

Your boys lead you on a tour around the property they’d found, Steve hanging by your side, fingers entwined with yours while Bucky ran back and forth between you and the various features he wanted to point out. 

You tried to keep your mind on the house and what they were eagerly showing you, but you couldn’t help but marvel at the two men that you called yours, and how different they were. Despite being a Saturday, Steve was immaculately turned out, his dirty blonde hair slicked to the side, his beard neatly trimmed within an inch of its life. He wore black slacks, a maroon crew neck sweater and his long, black wool coat over the top; head to toe, the distinguished gentleman. Except when you got him home.

Bucky, on the other hand, was, well, Bucky. Jeans with rips across the knee, black boots on his feet, a black tee-shirt, which looked far too small, and his lemon leather jacket. His deliciously ‘too-long’ hair kept flopping over his brow, and the way he kept brushing it back just returned your attention to his clever fingers. Fingers that were now pulling you out of Steve’s arms so he could drag you up the stairs to your potential new bedroom.

The master suite took up the entirety of the top floor. There was a large walk-in closet too, that even had its own window, and you couldn’t help some of the thoughts that rushed through your head; alternative uses for the closet in the future. Also, Steve hadn’t been lying when he said there was space for an Alaskan king. Other thoughts filled your mind then, of all the things that could happen in such a bed. You couldn’t believe they’d managed to find a place like this.

Looking over the rest of the house, Bucky and you bickered good naturedly about which room you would each have for your own private space. The pair of you both had the same preference, but you knew that Bucky would inevitably concede, although probably not before you had to bribe him with a blowjob. 

You were also excited by the size of the kitchen, mainly because it had the space to fit in a massive refrigerator, big enough to house the mountains of food that your boyfriends went through.The whole house was currently empty of furniture, but you couldn’t help but envisage Steve’s couch here and Bucky’s bookcase there, interspersed with occasional tables from your own apartment. Then Steve’s art on the walls, turning the place from a house into a home. A home for the three of you.

“It’s perfect! But I don’t know if we can afford it?” It was Bucky’s turn to embrace you now.

“You think we’d show you this, if we weren’t certain of that? That would be cruel, darlin’. So don’t you worry, Steve and I can more than afford it on our own.”

“I’m paying my share, Barnes. I’m not being a kept woman.”

He nipped at your earlobe and a dart of heat went to your core, your brain no longer picturing furniture fitting into the space, but supplying you with images of all the places the boys could take you, and each other, apart in.

“Doll, you know you’re an equal partner in this. So the house would be equally in your name too. Remember, if it wasn’t for you I don’t think Stevie and I would have really admitted to each other how we felt. So now, not only do I have him, I also have you, and you have both of us. A triangle is one of the strongest shapes.”

Steve moved from where he was looking out of the window to where you and Bucky were standing, wrapping his arms around the pair of you, dropping a kiss on Bucky’s cheek and one on the top of your head.

“Are we really doing this, then?” Your voice was uncharacteristically quiet. This decision felt momentous. It was one thing to become a ‘throuple’, but this, pooling your resources, moving in with each other permanently felt like something else.

Scary, but also right.

“Only if you want to, sweetheart.” Steve spoke into your hair. “You’re the linchpin here, Cali. Everything is down to you.”

You rolled your eyes, glad he couldn’t see.

“Way to pile on the pressure, Steve.”

“Well, for the record, Buck and I are all in. We’d love nothing more than to be living all together, permanently. All cuddled up in bed every night…”

“Except when you’re away.”

“Yes, smartass, except when I’m away and you and Buck can starfish to your heart’s content. And I won’t be worrying about you, or Buck, cos you’ll have each other.”

“Yeah, and we can make ‘home movies’ to send to Stevie…” Bucky couldn’t help but lower the tone, making you smile. You turned to look at him, his misty blue eyes full of mischief.

“How soon after you saw this place did you start getting ideas?”

“Darlin’, as soon as I saw the floor plan on the website. My first visit I found the correct joist for the sex swing.” He winked dramatically and you couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Love you, Buck, even if you’re a big child.”

“Just addicted to making you smile, Cali. Now, whaddya say? We all gonna take the next step? Together?”

“Yeah, I think we are.”

Bucky let out a loud whoop. “Stevie - call the realtor, I’m taking our Cali back upstairs to show her which joist the swing is going on.” He looked at you slyly and licked his lips. “‘N maybe we start to find out how soundproof the floors and ceilings are…”

Steve rolled his eyes, but pulled out his phone as he watched Bucky chase you up the stairs.

“Don’t get too far without me!  Hello, yes, this is Steve Rogers. We’ll take it…”

Tag list: @christywantspizza @jobean12-blog @bucky-bucky-bucky-bucky @tuiccim @yarnforbrains @sidepartskinnyjeans @maladaptivexxdaydreaming @krissy25 @bodeckersdiamonddoll @goldylions @ohsymphony @luxeavenger @wheezy-stucky @doasyoudesireandlive @seitmai @marvelstarker-mha98 @talia-rumlow @pono-pura-vida @poppunksnowwhite

#steve rogers x reader x bucky barnes #artist!steve rogers #engineer!bucky barnes #an artist and an engineer #late writes #steve rogers x reader #bucky barnes x reader #stucky x reader

[nobodyfamousposts]

How would the doll's react to the whole Krang situation and would they feel their possession thing similar to akumatization and try to enter the prison dimension with the horse to wreck their already wrecked lives? Or would they comfort the turtles for all the trauma the Krang caused them?

Mmm...a bit of both. The Dolls want revenge, but they of course want their Ministers of War friends to be healing and comfortable.

...whether they want to or not.

(In the med bay, post movie events. The bros are still somewhat injured and in various states of bandages.)

Raph: (Sitting still)

Littlebug: (Pats a bandaid on the hole in his shell)

Raph: Thanks!

Littlebug: (Pats his shell)

Chaton: (Hugging Mikey)

Mikey: (Hugging back) Thanks lil guy! I feel better already!

Donnie: (Scanning Mikey and Chaton) I should hope. He’s absorbing the remaining mystic power from your body left by your attempt to open the portal.

Mikey: …so my fever is going down?

Donnie: Sigh. Yes.

Mikey: You’re my lil nurse buddy!

Chaton: (Purrs then hiccups)

Mikey: Wait. It doesn’t hurt him does it?

Chaton: (Becomes increasingly jittery)

Donnie: Like a sugar high apparently.

Chaton: (Ready to face smack some meanie-flies!)

Mikey: Wait—no.

Donnie: …maybe we should send him back to his mother and let her handle it?

Littlebug: (Also wants to face smack some meanies)

Raph: No. Your Mom would kill us if anything happened to you.

Littlebug: (Huffs because she wouldn’t be in any danger! She would just throw some things from far away!)

Raph: No.

Littlebug: (Just a few pebbles? Pleeeeeeease?)

Raph: And just how big are the pebbles?

Littlebug: (Side eyes a pile of fist-sized rocks before moving in front of them to hide them from view and making an inch gesture)

Raph: Yeah no. Let’s just leave the Krang where they are.

Littlebug: (Looking very unhappy)

Mikey: No really! You don’t have to do anything! The Krang are…err…

Leo: They’re in Time Out!

Littlebug: (Frowns but acknowledges that Time Out is a big punishment)

Leo: That’s right! So they’re all in time out so they can think about what they did. And they’ll be staying there until they’re sorry and ready to apologize.

Donnie: Which would likely be never. (Is hushed by Raph)

Leo: So let’s maybe give the Horse Miraculous back to Mama and not worry about making any more portals to prison dimensions?

Littlebug: (Nods in acceptance)

Mikey: That’s right! We should be more focused on Leo's injuries.

Leo: Wait what?

Mikey: The bad guy beat him up pretty bad.

Dolls: (Eyes widen and look at Leo in outrage)

Leo: Guys, I’m fine! Really!

Littlebug and Chaton: (Hug Leo)

Leo: Mikey, I just got them calmed down!

Mikey: Don’t worry! Leo was only trapped with a killer alien in an inescapable prison dimension for ten minutes!

Dolls: (Hug more fiercely)

Leo: But I’m fine now, really! Just some bruises and scrapes. Give me a week and I’ll be back on my feet!

Mikey: After sacrificing himself to save the world knowing he would be trapped forever with the killer alien with no escape!

Dolls: (Gasp)

Mikey: And letting the killer alien beat him up and slam him into concrete after having sent his beloved brothers away from the fight so they couldn’t help him!

Dolls: (Cling to Leo, teary-eyed) 

Leo: …you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?

Raph: Well, that's one way to keep them out of the Prison Dimension...and Leo in bed.

Leo: Like you can stop me!

Raph: Are you reeeeally gonna move and upset the Dolls that very clearly worry for your well being?

Leo: (Looks down, realizing he'd have to move the Dolls to get up)

Dolls: (Look up at him, puppy eyes)

Leo: (Gasps and looks at his bros) You planned this!

Mikey: (Winks)

Raph: You're a horrible patient, Leo. We'll take whatever advantage we can get.

Donnie: I agree with Raph. Mostly so I don't feel guilty.

Leo: Betrayal! Betrayal on all sides!

Raph: You can get over it after you REST, Leo!

Leo: (Huffs and leans back in bed, arms crossed) ...I’m gonna milk it for ALL the croissants now.

Donnie: You can try.

Leo: AND I'm having them bring Camembert!

Mikey: NO!

Raph: Leo!

Donnie: Don't you DARE!

#ml crossover #rottmnt crossover #dolls au #dolls au au #littlebug #chaton noir #rise raph #rise mikey #rise donnie #rise leo #rottmnt movie

[watchingspnagain]

Rewatching It’s a Terrible Life

Welcome to “Sam and Dean are Just Steps on the Bossman’s Ladder: A Supernatural Rewatch Blog” with Lor and Mace!

Up today, s4e17: It’s a Terrible Life

Dean Smith works a middle-management white-collar job at Sandover Bridge and Iron, and Sam Wesson is a grunt in the IT department there. Sam thinks something about this life is wrong, and when he runs into Dean he could swear they’ve met before. But Dean brushes him off until employees start dying real weird in the company. When Dean witnesses an IT tech stab himself in the throat during a panic attack over filling out a form incorrectly, he accepts that Sam might be on to something. The two work together to research the company and the deaths, eventually realizing the ghost of the company’s founder is compelling workers to kill themselves if they don’t give Sandover their all. Smith and Wesson dispatch the ghost (after finding some helpful tips online from the Ghostfacers), and eventually Dean’s boss reveals that he is actually Zachariah, an angel who arranged this little interlude for Dean to help him remember that he is and always will be a hunter at heart. Dean doesn’t take kindly to this interference from the angels and promises that one day he’ll stab Zachariah in his face.

Below is a log of our real-time reactions as we watched. Remember that there may be spoilers for any part of SPN’s 15-season run here. Note also that the nature of our conversation is adult and thus it may contain adult language and themes.

 [and we begin:]

Lor: bounces I love this one

Mace: 

it is a good one

he looks so ridiculous in that shirt and tie

Lor:

and I love that this show is like "ep 16: torture, hero almost killed by a demon who tortured him in hell for 30 years. ep 17: alternate universe shenanigans"

mmm. someone should maybe take him out of them

Mace: 

they like to mess with us

Lor:

yep

Mace: 

LOR.

Lor:

wot?

innocent

Mace: 

simmer down

Lor:

NEVER

Mace: 

omg this guy plays such a hilarious weirdo on Psych

Lor:

Zachariah?

Mace: 

yeah

Lor:

omg Dean Smith. you do not need to lose any weight. eat a cookie

kill a ghost

Mace: 

HA

Lor:

LOL Sam's face

Mace: 

SAM IN THAT POLO

Lor:

YES

even Dean Smith makes "no homo" jokes when no one else brought that up pets him go to therapy, baby

Mace: 

it’s crazy to me that Sam is uncomfortable in this fake life but Dean suspects nothing

YEP

Lor:

DID YOU TRY TURNING IT OFF AND THEN ON

yeah it is WEIRD

Mace: 

HAHAHA

Lor:

but it fits with his "I can fit in anywhere thing"

Mace: 

hm. I wonder if it’s more “I’m so unhappy in the life my daddy forced me into” thing

Lor:

oh definitely

Mace: 

my god he FITS in that shirt

Lor:

YAAAS

he should really stop being work buddies with this asshole

Mace: 

(omg I am seriously wearing almost EXACTLY that other dude’s outfit right now)

Lor:

HAAAAHAHAHAHA I LOVE IT

poor Sam doesn't fit in his cubicle

Mace: 

graphic t with ratty flannel over

Lor:

it is the BEST outfit

Mace: 

oh Sammy, sweets, I’ll nap with you

Lor:

MACE

simmer down

Mace: 

I love how he does NOT fit into that cubicle

Lor:

YES

Mace: 

Dean’s profile. just DAMN, son

Lor:

YAAAAAS

they made him extra pretty this ep and I love that they bothered

Mace: 

he cleans up super nice

Lor:

Dean, you know you have some vampire romance novels under your perfectly made bed

Mace: 

SNORK

“you overshare”

HAHAHA

Lor:

the tiny montages of the workplace mundanities

Mace: 

YEP

“I hope they spank me” this boy is naughty

Lor:

LOL

look, we've all been where he is. no evil ghost needed

Mace: 

HA

Lor:

EW

Mace: 

oh GROSS

SHOULDERS

Lor:

YAS

omg Dean's pretty pretty face. his LIPS

Mace: 

RIGHT?!

Lor:

omg Sam and Dean are both researching it and asking the same questions on their own. i love it

Mace: 

YES

“did you shave?!”

Lor:

lol

"the dash-Rs"

Mace: 

“hey, guy”

Lor:

omg his back in those suspenders

Mace: 

right?

omg EW

Lor:

RIGHT?

i always forget this one has some serious ew horror moments

poor Dean so shook

Mace: 

but not as shook as a normal person, which is kind of awesome

Lor:

the way his voice kinda fails on "neck"

YES

I love the way he just totally took charge with Ian (even though it didn't work)

Mace: 

why did he bring his bag?

yeah

Lor:

security laptop. it makes him feel safe

Mace: 

emotional support laptop

Lor:

YES

"NOT NATURAL"

Mace: 

HA

Lor:

"no that would be nuts" HAAAAAHHAHAHAHA poking fun at their own show history

Mace: 

SNORK

Lor:

"some skills I happen to have"

Mace: 

okay settle down, Taken

Lor:

I admire from afar

Mace: 

Dean’s arms in that shirt

Lor:

HEY. SETTLE DOWN

Mace: 

“right?!” BOYS

Lor:

"I am dying to check this out." "Right?" YES

Mace: 

SNORK! Look, I’m always like this. It’s weirder when you do it

Lor:

LOLOLOLOL

Fair enough

Mace: 

your desire to trot at any given moment is, like, lukewarm

Lor:

at best

Mace: 

which is, of course, completely cool - PUN INTENDED - I’m just saying that when you bump it up to hot-trotting, it’s just different

Lor:

LOLOLOL

I get it

Mace: 

whereas my trotting enthusiasm always runs at toasty, minimum

Lor:

except for the GIANT BOWL OF APPLES

eat a food, Dean, I beg you

Mace: 

HAHAHA

Lor:

LOL toasty trots

DON'T BE A SNOB DEAN SMITH

Mace: 

right?!

(also, their NAMES)

Lor:

your daddy raised you better'n that

Mace: 

did he, though?

I think you mean Bobby raised him better

Lor:

(YES I am kissing whoever decided to give them OTHER gun names platonically on the head)

Mace: 

(HA)

Lor:

Bobby is his dad in the universe, that's what I meant

Mace: 

omgomgomg

Lor:

HAAAAHAHAHAHA GHOSTFACERS

"instructional videos"

Mace: 

GHOSTFACERS

I forgot they were in here!

Lor:

THIS IS LIKE THE BEST JOKE that they learn how from them who they hate who learned it from them

I LOVE IT kicks feet in glee

Mace: 

YESYESYES

Lor:

nrrrrrf Dean's dumb buttondown tucked into his dumb dress slacks

Mace: 

YES

“yeah now sucks"

Lor:

his portfolio is in the sewer. poor rich baby

Mace: 

HA

Lor:

"useless douchebags the Winchesters"

"possibly all states"

Mace: 

HAHAHAHA

Lor:

and Dean's face at the idea of digging up bodies

Mace: 

YES

omg Dean hiding

Lor:

YES

oh man another super gross bit coming

Mace: 

UGH

“…what?” SAM

Lor:

YES

eeeeeeeeew

Mace: 

EWEWEWEW

poor Bean

Lor:

poor sammy

"take the stairs"

Mace: 

HAHAHA

Lor:

aw Dean's little swallow

Mace: 

YES

Lor:

"I have no idea"

Mace: 

oh boys

Lor:

hey! stop throwing my Dean around into things!

ooo the teamwork

Mace: 

YES

Lor:

I love that Sam immediately clocks that the way to help Dean is not to help him but to dispatch the ghost

Mace: 

YES

so smart

“that was amazing!”

Lor:

HE HAS A FIRST AID KIT IN HIS OFFICE

pets him

Mace: 

yeah

“how would we live?”

HEALTH INSURANCE

Lor:

"you don't wanna go fighting ghosts without any health insurance" I LOVE HIM

YES

Mace: 

I LOVE that Sam instinctively knows who he is

HE WENT TO STANFORD

Lor:

YES

RIGHT?!

And his family is Bobby, Ellen, and Jo

Mace: 

well, Bobby at least

“you don’t know me, pal” ooof

Lor:

"you should go" sigh

YAS SAM

Mace: 

YAS SAMMY DO IT

Lor:

GOD HIS ARMS

Mace: 

YES

he BENT the poker MY GOD

Lor:

YES

Dean, hold out for your own angel

Mace: 

HA

Lor:

gross

Mace: 

yeah

Lor:

THE WAY THE COLOR DROPS OUT

Mace: 

OMG YES

Lor:

"my GOD am I hungry"

Mace: 

HAHAHA YES

Lor:

trots in with a bag of cheeseburgers and fries and pie

Mace: 

HA

Lor:

"gross. no thank you"

Mace: 

“gross” HAHAHAHA

Lor:

lololol Dean

ass clowns in monkey suits

Mace: 

how did they not realize how he would respond to this?

Lor:

his idiolect! I cannot

RIGHT?

Cas coulda told them. No way they ran this by him

Mace: 

nope

daddy issues

he’s not wrong there

Lor:

"I will stab you in your face" AND HE DOES

Mace: 

HAHAHAHA

Lor:

his face journey after "fornicate with women" is something else

look, Dean, I'm here to tell you you can hunt and still have the lattes

Mace: 

HAHAHA YES

and fuck all of them for doing all this to Sammy too but not bothering to explain

Lor:

RIGHT?

Mace: 

and HE’S THE ONE WHO ACTUALLY PASSED THE STUPID TEST

Lor:

like Sam goes from "my brother is beat to hell in a hospital bed" to being mind fucked and then no one bothers to tell him what's up

RIGHT?

Mace: 

so mean. he needs comforting.

Lor:

I think we've talked before about how if they'd given Dean a life HE MIGHT ACTUALLY HAVE HAD, like running his own auto shop, restoring cars, with either Cassie or Cas, he would have STAYED THERE FOREVER

Mace: 

YEP

#watchingspnagain #watchingspnagain 4x17 #spn #supernatural #spn meta #spn spoilers #spn 4x17 #watchingspnagain angels #watchingspnagain dean's hedonism #watchingspnagain meta #watchingspnagain normalcy #watchingspnagain color palette

[gotham-ruaidh]

Little Bit Better Than I Used To Be

Catch up: Chapter 1 (Starry Eyes) || Chapter 2 (Save Our Souls) || Chapter 3 (Dancing On Glass)|| Chapter 4 (Merry-Go-Round)|| Backstage (1) || Backstage (2) || Chapter 5 (Danger)|| Backstage (3) || Chapter 6A (Love Walked In) || Chapter 6B (Without You) || Backstage (4) || Chapter 7 (Stick To Your Guns) || Chapter 8 (Time For Change) || Backstage (5) || Chapter 9 (Take Me To The Top) || Backstage (6) || Chapter 10 (Home Sweet Home) || Backstage (7) || Chapter 11a (Nightrain) || Chapter 11b (Nothing Else Matters) || Chapter 12a (Handle With Care) || Chapter 12b (I'm So Tired of Being Lonely) || Chapter 13a (Angel)  || Chapter 13b (She's My Addiction) ||| Also posted at AO3

Chapter 13C: Patience

Said "woman take it slow and things will be just fine" // You and I'll just use a little patience Said "sugar take the time 'cause the lights are shining bright" // You and I've got what it takes to make it We won't fake it, I'll never break it, ‘cause I can’t take it...

Soundtrack: “Patience,” Guns N’ Roses, 1988 [click here to listen]

“What did you say to Geordie, Claire? Before we went to my dressing room?”

They were back in their hotel room – Jamie’s shoulder-length hair still wet from his shower, Claire already in bed reading Billboard.

He sat on the bed next to her, wearing only his sleep pants. She looked up, smiling. Traced the words and flames and roses inked on his arms from wrist to shoulder, and then the Claire tattoo arcing over his heart.

“I said that he needs you more than you need him. And that he better not fuck it up.”

“Mmm.” He leaned in for a slow, deep kiss.

She pulled back slightly, forehead leaning against his. Breathing him in. “I asked Uncle Lamb to look into Geordie, after Colum told us about him yesterday. Turns out Geordie was fired from his last job at Variety when he wrote something about Madonna that her people didn’t like. He knows that all he needs to get back on the bandwagon is an exclusive with Jamie Fraser, fresh from rehab and ready to rock.”

He kissed her again. “You’re so badass.”

She smiled. “He seemed pretty thoughtful.”

Jamie nodded, lacing his fingers through hers. Every day now she wore his grandmother’s engagement ring on a long chain beneath her shirt, but here in the privacy of their hotel room it was on her ring finger. He’d given her the ring on the first night of the tour, tears streaming down his face, as he pledged to always put her first, and to be the best version of himself for her and the family that, God willing, they’d have one day.

“He’s the real deal. Knows his shit – especially hard rock. I don’t blame him for flaming out on the Madonna thing, I’m sure it was the last thing he wanted to do.”

She set down the magazine and he took her other hand. She was always fascinated by how his tattoos shifted and flexed as he moved the muscles in his arms, caressing her hands, tracing long, slow lines up to her elbows.

“Do you think you can trust him?”

Slowly he kissed her bare shoulder, where the neck of her sleep shirt had slipped. “He’ll stick to the three conditions, that’s for sure. Colum will see to that. And he’ll write honestly. Which is what I want. I want people to know what I’ve been through, and to see how I’m so much stronger now that I’m clean, and I’ve got you.”

“Even though you won’t be the rock god who gets all the girls?”

He snorted. “That guy was an unhappy and unhealthy alcoholic asshole and addict who was on the fast track to early death. This new guy – he’s a lot happier. He’s healthier, and he’s somehow convinced the best woman in the world to love him.”

She smiled. “God knows how.”

They kissed again, long and sweet.

“I could say the same about you, Jamie,” she teased. “God knows how this plain Jane, a divorced and disgraced doctor, ever convinced you to even look twice at her.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Give me the rest of our lives to convince you,” he breathed.

--

“Got it!”

Angus slapped a magazine onto Claire’s lap, hurrying after the groupie who had raced, giggling, down the aisle of the tour bus, his arm slung around the other groupie.

Claire turned to Jamie. “Do they – ”

“You don’t want to know, Claire,” he interrupted. “Ian and I got all the gory details yesterday. Trust me when I say, everything you’re thinking is true.”

She shook her head and looked down at the copy of Rolling Stone. There, in the bottom right corner:

“From One Addiction to Another: Print’s Jamie Fraser on Sobriety, Love, and His New Songs.”

Ian’s bass tech hustled down the aisle.

She traced the letters softly. “It’s real.”

“All right! Everyone back from the pit stop?” Colum stood on top of the front seat, counting heads.

A hush settled over the bus – punctuated only by high-pitched giggles emitting from behind the closed drapes of Angus’ bunk.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Three more hours until Pittsburgh, folks. See you on the other side.”

The bus pulled out of the parking lot and merged onto the highway.

“Do you want to read it in the bunk?” Jamie asked softly. “It’s more private.”

Claire shook her head. “It’s all out in the open anyway.”

She turned to page 32. A live shot of Print from the current tour graced half the page – Jamie in black head to toe, his acoustic guitar slung over a shoulder; Ian sitting on a stool with his acoustic bass guitar; and Angus squinting in the lights from behind his drum kit.

Jamie’s chin settled on Claire’s shoulder as they read.

It took a cancelled European tour, several months in rehab, and one very special woman for Jamie Fraser, Print’s guitarist and chief songwriter, to finally find his voice…

#outlander #outlander fanfic #little bit better than i used to be

[releasemefromthevoid]

MY ATLA LIVE ACTION S1E1 THOUGHTS

EP2

First things first, a review without spoilers:

I think it’s fine so far. There’s a few changes here and there that are ultimately just fine that don’t impact the story all that much, but there are also some changes that I’m a little worried about. 

The biggest thing I’m worried about, I think, is Aang’s character arc in season one. This live action series, without going too far into it, seems to be setting up something different from his character arc in book one for Aang in this first episode. I’m wary, but I’ll see it through and come back for more commentary and reviews starting from episode two this weekend probably.

Live reaction and thoughts under the cut for spoilers

oh shit they kept the fire nation leitmotif. as they should

music def feels the same

opening fight sequence: stellar

did i mention the fire nation leitmotif

it’s interesting they started with the concept of the air nomad genocide. i guess they haven’t told us about the actual genocide, so that can still be a Surprise to new viewers. i don’t hate it. kept the opening monologue, but it’s kyoshi according to the captions?? weird but okay

GOOD MUSIC

why’s he flying without his glider lol

these environments slap actually

ooh comet mention

i really like the line “her spirit echoes in one of us”. that goes hard actually

mmm not really liking that gyatso is the one telling him he has to leave,,  came back with “you are my friend” though, so i’ll forgive it

APPA

this kid is pretty good in the role of aang

BRO FIREBENDER FLIGHT. is this just bc of the comet or can they just Do That. i mean,, we don’t technically Know it’s bc of the comet yet

sound design is kinda peak

really REALLY interesting that they’re starting with the air nomad genocide. i know i said that already but we’re actually seeing it now. it’s setting a tone for this version of the show to be darker/less lighthearted, which idk how i feel about. not necessarily good or bad. this is only episode one so i’ll have to reserve judgment.

comet power confirmed okay

THE AVATAR STATE LOOKS SO GOOD

wolf cove??? was that always the name of the southern tribe where katara and sokka are from???? 

i think it would have been fun if zuko’s scar was a little Hand Shaped

probably could’ve done the freeing aang from the iceberg part a little better. how and why was he freed, if not katara getting angry at sokka??

speaking of, sans the early book 1 sexism, sokka is DEFINITELY sokka. a few more one liners and you’ll have me sold

mentioned zuko’s banishment early. hm

speaking of. not sure how i feel about zuko rn. why’s he talking about the throne like that?? he should be more focused on his perceived lack of honor i think

yeah,,, where IS appa. oh shit he already has the whistle??? more importantly Where is aang’s glider

SOKKA HIDING BEHIND KATARA IS EVERYTHING TO ME

HELLO??? katara’s monologue??? almost word for word??? from her gran gran??

this environment design though,, the building is made out of what is probably a whale rib cage as support for packed snow?? that’s so cool

no pilot episode miscommunication plot! not unhappy, i hate miscommunication plots

oh sokka,,, “lord of snow and ice”

zuko has not Once said the word honor

zuko’s breakdancing firebending moves God Bless

AANG’S GLIDER SPOTTED. but we haven’t seen it as a glider yet. is it just a Staff in this version???? 

i don’t think this is how airbending works

oh sokka i love you. he’s sold me on sokka i do believe

IT’S A GLIDER

i. don’t think katara should have been able to do that

this kid def can’t cry on command. he’s selling heartbreak, but there are No Tears

let aang be a bit more of a child please?? he’s a bit too serious right now, isn’t part of his character arc figuring out that he has to take things more seriously in order to stop the fire nation? i’m worried about what they’ll replace that with

THE OG CREDITS SONG

Liking: Sokka, environment design, most of the visuals actually, the MUSIC

Worried about: Aang's character, Iroh's character

Nothing I truly dislike yet

#atla #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender live action #atla live action #long post #i'll def keep watching #but i'll still keep my expectations managed

[anangelwhodidntfall]

I’ll Always Love You: Elvis Presley

Austin Butler Masterlist

word count: 913

 Request: OK, so, i want an austin!elvis x reader, basically the reader is a singer and i want this to begin to take place in the scene when elvis and Pricilla are at the plane, and after that i was thinking maybe of a time skip to the reader at a concert and her singing ‘I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston whilst having flashbacks?

If I should stay

I would only be in your way

So I'll go but I know

I'll think of you every step of the way

The tears slide down your face as you sat next to Elvis in the car, the two of you were once happy and in love but now it was like you two were strangers and you couldn't be mad at him for his career finally taking off the way he wanted it to, you took a deep breath before speaking.

"Elvis I think we should break up." You said making him turn and look at you like you were crazy.

"Break up? Baby, what are you talking about?" He said looking at you.

"E we haven't been happy in a long time, and I'm not mad at you or anything. But there's no use in staying in the relationship if we're unhappy." You said.

"Baby please don't do this. You are the only good thing I have in my life." He said pleading with you to change your mind.

"I'm sorry Elvis, but my mind is made up. I'll always love you, take care of yourself E." You said placing one last kiss on his cheek before leaving the car as the tears streamed down your face.

And I will always love you

I will always love you

You

My darling, you

Mmm-mm

It would be a few weeks before you would perform again, needing some time to process the breakup between you and Elvis, while you two hadn't been happy in some time, you still cared about him a lot, and leaving him was probably one of the hardest things you have ever done. In the time you had taken off, you had written a new song detailing your feelings and thoughts regarding the break-up between you and Elvis and were gonna perform it tonight.

"You ready sweetheart?" Your manager asked you as you finished doing your vocal warm-ups.

"As I'll ever be." You said walking out on the stage performing five songs before debuting this new song.

"Uh this is a new song I wrote a few weeks ago, it's written with someone special in mind and I hope you guys like it." You said to the crowd before diving into the song.

Bittersweet memories –

That is all I'm taking with me

So good-bye

Please don't cry:

We both know I'm not what you, you need

As you were singing you thought about Elvis and all the memories both good and bad, that were shared between you two and how your relationship went downhill and that's all you took, you didn't even keep anything that he gave you during your relationship. Elvis tried so hard to contact you to get you to change your mind and even went as far as bringing the stuff you had left at Graceland to your new place but you wouldn't see him which hurt him as he tried to figure out where your relationship. One night Elvis called you drunk and crying begging you to come home promising that he would change but you knew it was a lie because you were no longer the person Elvis needed, so after consoling him, you changed your number, so you both could move on.

"And I... will always love you." You sang while the tears streamed down your face.

"I... will always love you." You sang thinking of Elvis wishing that things had worked out between you two.

"You, ooh." You sang through clouded vision.

I hope life treats you kind

And I hope you have all you've dreamed of

And I'm wishing you joy and happiness

But above all this, I wish you love

You hoped that life would treat Elvis kind now that you were longer apart of his life, Elvis suffered enough already and didn't deserve to suffer anymore, he deserved to experience joy and happiness. You also hoped that he would get to travel internationally like he always dreamed of and actually make a movie he was proud of, you wanted all of his dreams to come true even if you two weren't together.  But above you all, you wished him, love, even if it wasn't with you, he deserved to be loved by someone who truly loved him.

."And I... will always love you." You sang gripping your mic stand almost struggling to keep singing as you thought about you and Elvis.

"I will always love you." You sang wiping some of your tears when your eyes landed on those famous blue ones nearly making you drop your mic.

"I will always love you." You sang looking at him forgetting about the crowd.

"I will always love you." You sang watching as tears slide down his cheeks.

"I, I will always love you." You sang stuttering a bit as your guitarist handed you a bottle of water to help you calm down a bit before you dive into the last verse.

"You Darling, I love you." You sang softly still looking at him with tears running down your cheeks.

"I'll always, I'll always love you." You said looking at him as you finished the song and thanked the crowd before disappearing backstage.

#elvis presley #austin elvis imagine #austin elvis x reader #elvis presley x reader #austin butler fanfiction #austin butler x you #austin butler x reader #austin butler x yn #elvis 2022

[kingofthe-egirls]

FOX TALES: POLYAMORY (SANJI x oc, LUFFY x oc)

fox tales

(cw: kiss, food, hunger, jealousy, polyamory. Tense but not an unhappy ending)

Lmk what you guys think 😳

SANJI x Kit, my kitsune portal-portal fruit oc

- kit loves food

- It was her main obstacle in her portal home, the biggest lesson she had to learn about becoming mortal

- So when she finds out sanji cooks for them, all the time, she’s smitten

- Luffy notices, and doesn’t know how to feel about it

“Sanji,” you croon, resting your chin in your hand as you lay across the counter from your chair. You swish your tails back and forth. “What’s for dinner?”

Sanji grins, and twirls around to hand you a plate of black and white cookies. You take a bite, and revel in the delicious crisp. “Mmm,” you sigh through your nose.

“After snacks,” Sanji says, turning back to stir rice on the stove, “We’re having fried rice.”

“Shrimp this time?” You ask, crunching on your third cookie.

“If you insist, mon cherie,” he croons back at you. He waltzes over to the freezer, and pulls out a packet of shrimp. Light blue and translucent, you lick your lips. You’d eat them raw, if you could.

Sanji must have seen your hunger-lust, and chuckled. “You can’t eat them raw, Kit. They’ll make you sick.”

“Hmph,” you slump back into your hand. You take a bite of your fourth cookie. “I’d eat raw stuff all the time, if you’d let me.”

“Wild beast,” he says fondly, and you nod.

“I used to eat mice sometimes, and fish. There was a koi pond, and the first time I got hungry I just. Ate one. The bones were sharp,” you wrinkle your nose at the memory. “It wasn’t until I figured out fire that I started grilling them. I was glad to have fish so close to me. Stealing eggs got tiring.”

Sanji goes quiet.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, turned back to the stove. “You must have been hungry.”

“Mm,” you agree, “I was.” You crunch on a sixth cookie. “But I’m not hungry anymore. I’m never hungry, with you.”

Sanji looks over his shoulder, an unreadable expression on his face. His suit is angular and fitted, the line of his shoulders broad and sure. You liked to see his strength. You’ve been in a couple fights now, and he always awed you with his style. Although, you must admit, the kicks did look kind of funny.

“What’s up?” You ask, a tad bit uncomfortable at your cook’s intense expression. His eyes were dark, blue as deep water, and his mouth was set in a hard line.

“With me,” he says, hands clenched into fists, “You’ll never go hungry again.”

You pause.

The crumbs of the sixth cookie litter the counter, and you wipe your chin. “I know,” you say, “Thank you.”

Your voice had gone quiet, mirroring his sudden mood change. He nods, jaw set, and strides around the counter until he’s next to you. He takes your face in both hands, and kisses the tip of your nose. You flush, immediately. “S-Sanji!” You stutter, embarrassed.

He flushes, too, and steps back a little. His fingertips leave your face, and you reach out to keep them there. “Don’t stop,” you say, pulling him closer. His arms wind around your waist, and he kisses your nose again.

“Here,” you say, tilting your chin up to face him. He’s so much taller than you. “Kiss me here,” you whisper, and softly let your lips brush his.

He moans, melting into your frame. He’s warm, and steady. You feel the muscles of his arms through his shirt.

“Mon cherie,” he whispers against your lips. You let your tongue slip past his soft, rose petal lips. He groans, again. You shift, pulling him tighter against you. You like kissing him.

“Kit?”

You still, turning to look at the door. Luffy had just spoken, standing in the kitchen entryway. He had an unreadable expression on his face.

“Captain!” Sanji splutters, straightening up. You whine at the loss of his touch. Luffy’s face is dark.

“I thought you were mine, Kit.” He clenches his hands into fists.

“I am,” you say, standing up. Your heart flutters in your chest. How would you get him to understand? This, this need inside of you. The pulsing of not one, but two. Men.

“But I’m his, too.” You stalk toward your boyfriend-captain, like you were hunting rabbits. He is on edge, and angry. You take his face in both hands, and kiss him too. How could you make him feel the truth?

“I love you,” you say, desperation in your eyes, “But I love him, too.”

***

You don’t think Luffy liked that. He liked being captain, he liked being king. He liked being above all others; he liked being free.

Well, you liked freedom, too.

“He feeds me,” you try to say, “Please understand me,” you whisper. Luffy isn’t looking at you. “I’m a spirit,” you say, “I’m a fuckup. I’m too much and too hyper and too feral for you. I know. I know,” you whisper, bitter. “But the love I have for you is not diminished by my love for him. Or for anyone. Foxes mate for life,” you remind him, “No one could replace you.”

Luffy seems to like that. He straightens, meets your gaze. His eyes are cloudy, tears pricking at the stormy grey. You brush his hair out of his face. “Promise?” He says, voice husky and thick. You nod.

“I promise. And you can kill me if I break it.”

He starts, taken aback. “I-I don’t wanna do that! Kit,” he grabs your hands, “I won’t ever do that.”

“Good,” you say, and inch back toward Sanji. “Do you believe me?”

He studies you, studies your frame. You’re standing, hunched forward a bit. He could see that you were scared. He’d seen you like that, before. When farmers took up pitchforks.

He didn’t like scaring you.

“I—,” he starts, taking a step toward you. “I believe you, Kit. But—,” he grimaces, clenching his hands. “But I don’t want you in his bed. Only mine. Understand?”

You nod, vigorously. “I can do that.”

Luffy relaxes, straightens up a bit. “Good. You can kiss, but no more than that. Not unless I say so,” he sears you with a grin. Wicked. You flick an ear in interest.

“Yes, sir,” you reply. Your voice came out breathier than you meant it to. You blush.

“Luffy,” Sanji says, the first word he’s spoken since his captain walked in. “I’m sorry.”

Luffy levels him with a haughty glare. “I forgive you,” he acknowledges the fault, and sidesteps it with grace. Sanji takes a steady breath.

“I won’t steal her from you,” he assures, stepping back to his stove. Luffy snorts.

“As if you ever could.”

***

#kit #kitsune #kitsune oc #one piece #one piece oc #sanji #sanji fanfic #fox tales #fox tails #dumpster dive #my writing #luffy fanfic #luffy simp #monkey d luffy #polyamory #from my own experience #plus some drama #let the butterflies cry #that was a korra fic that first introduced me to polyamory when i was 17 #it sparked something in me that i didn’t know i needed #maybe this will spark something for you #sanji x reader #sanji x oc #sanji x you #sanji x y/n #luffy x oc #luffy x you #luffy x reader #luffy x y/n

[peterparkers-bad-youtube-apology]

New Friends

Pairing: Mob!Tom x Reader

A/N: Quick little fic I whipped up, hope you enjoy, feedback is always appreciated

Summary: You're starting to get homesick and Tom will do anything to make you feel better

Masterlist

Join My Taglist

Tom frowned while he watched you push your food around your plate, “Are you alright darling?”

You nodded, “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” he pressed, “You’re not eating.”

“I just don’t have much of an appetite right now,” you pursed your lips, “I miss London.”

Tom frowned and scooted his chair up beside yours, “I do too, but it’s not so bad here. The house is nice, and we’ve always got each other.”

“I know,” you flushed, “The house is great Tom, and I love you so much, but it gets lonely when you’re working.”

“I’m sorry darling,” he kissed your shoulder with a frown, “I’ll get us out of here as fast as I can.”

“It’s okay Tom, I mean I understand why we have to be here, and I don’t mind it at all. I’ve just been getting a little lonely, I promise it’s not a big deal, I’ll get over it.”

“It is a big deal,” he took your hands in his, “I’ll figure something out alright? I can’t get out of work right now, but I’ll find some way to make things easier on you.”

“You don’t have to do that Tom, I’m happy,” you smiled and squeezed his hands, “I know it’s only temporary, things will be back to normal soon.”

He nodded and pressed his lips to yours, “I just hate to see you unhappy darling, it drives me absolutely mad.”

“It’s not all bad, I get to be here with you, and we’re both safe. That’s all I really care about.”

“I’m glad we’re both safe and we’re here together, but I don’t want you to be lonely. I know things are less than ideal right now, but I want to make this as easy on you as I can.”

“You are, I know you’re doing your best to get things back to normal,” you set your hand on his cheek, “I appreciate the concern Tom, but I promise I’ll be okay, I’m just a little homesick.”

“Okay…” he turned to kiss the palm of your hand, “I’ll take a day off soon and we can try to do something fun. Obviously we’d have to stay inside still, but I’ll figure something out.”

“Thank you Tommy,” you smiled at him, “I love you loads.”

“Mmm, I love you too,” he nuzzled his nose against your cheek.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　　 ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Over the following days Tom noticed your mood only seemed to get worse and worse. You were unusually quiet and nothing could hold your attention for more than a few minutes. You’d been at the cottage for a full month, secluded in the countryside over hours away from your friends and family. The whole situation was less than ideal, but necessary to keep you both safe. Things were getting heated back in London, and Tom knew you’d be the first person targeted by his rivals.

He knew isolation was the only way to keep you safe, and you’d been understanding, but he just couldn’t stand to see you unhappy. He had to work though, otherwise things would just get worse and you two would be stuck at the cottage for even longer. So he started researching, and with Harrison’s help, he found something he thought might help you feel a bit better. He had to slip away for a few hours to go pick it up, so he told you he was making a supply run and ducked out of the house.

It ended up taking him three hours to rub his errand, and he was a nervous wreck on the way home. He wasn’t sure how you’d feel about the surprise, and he didn’t like leaving you alone for that long. He was eager to get home and see you, and he went running for the door as soon as he parked the car. He peaked around inside to make sure you weren’t in the room before he stepped inside.

“Darling, where are you?” he called.

“Coming!” you called back.

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” he grinned as you stepped into the living room, “Take a seat and cover your eyes while I go get it.”

You frowned and sat down on the couch, “A surprise?”

He nodded, “Yes, now cover your eyes.”

You placed your hands over your eyes while Tom slipped outside. He bundled your surprise up in his arms and returned to the house, setting it on the ground in front of you. You could hear him rustling around but had no idea what he had for you.

“Alright,” he sighed, “Open your eyes darling.”

You dropped your hands and immediately your mouth fell open. Seated on the ground in front of Tom was a small grey puppy with a blue collar around its neck. Tom was holding it so it’d stay still, but the second he let go it ran for you. It slid across the hardwood floor and started sniffing your leg.

“A puppy?” you gaped.

Tom smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I thought it might help you feel less lonely while we’re here.”

“Tommy,” your bottom lip quivered and you crawled off the couch so the dog could climb into your lap, “It’s so cute.”

“Just like her mum,” he pecked your cheek, “She’s a staffordshire bull terrier, she’s 8 weeks old.”

“She’s so tiny,” you cooed as you scooped her up into your arms, “I can’t believe you did this Tom.”

“Yeah, I know I probably should have talked to you first, but you love dogs, and dogs can help a lot with loneliness and all that,” he scratched her head with a smile, “She doesn’t have a name yet if you have any ideas.”

“Aw, do you need a name baby?” you cooed at the puppy in your arms, “I don’t know Tommy, do you have any ideas?”

He hummed, “Well I did think of one in the car.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Tessa.”

“Tessa,” you repeated, a small smile coming to your lips, “I love it Tom, it’s perfect.”

“What do you think sweetheart?” he scratched the dog's head, “Is Tessa a good name?”

She yipped happily, making both of you laugh, “I think she likes it, and you.”

“Oh please, we both know she’ll like you best,” he pressed his lips to yours with a wide smile, “You really like it love?”

You nodded, “I love her Tom, she’s absolutely precious, and I’m sure she’ll be great company.”

“Good I’m glad,” he wrapped one arm around you and used the other to continue petting her, “I promise I’ll get us out of here as quickly as possible so we can take her back home.”

“Thank you,” your head fell on his shoulder, “When we get home I wanna dress her up and take her all over London.”

“Anything you want love,” he kissed your forehead, “I bet she’d look cute with some little bows or something.”

“Yes she would, do you wanna wear a bow Tessa?” you giggled as she leapt out of your arms, “Where are you going missy?”

Tom and you watched her pad across the floor, laughing while she again started skidding across the hardwood. Tom wrapped both of his arms around you, pressed a series of kisses to the side of your head while she slid around. That was when, much to your horror, Tessa squatted in the middle of the living room floor and began to piss.

“Tessa no!” Tom jumped to his feet and ran to pick her up.

She yelped as he lifted her up, interrupting her mid pee to run her outside. You burst into laughter as you watched them scramble out the door.

“Sorry love, I’ll clean that up,” Tom promised while Tessa finished peeing in the grass outside, “Naughty girl Tessa.”

She peaked over at you two while she peed.

“We’ll have to work on potty training,” you wrapped your arms around Tom with a smile, “But thank you, I feel better already.”

“Don’t mention it love, you know I’d do anything for you,” he nuzzled his nose against yours as the puppy padded back over to you and began sniffing your legs again, “Oh now you want back up brat?” he clicked his tongue as he lifted her up, “I think you owe us an apology young lady.”

She responded by licking his cheek.

“Ah, I think that was a perfect apology,” you grinned.

Tom nodded, “You’re forgiven this time, but a little kiss won’t cut it next time.”

“Don’t worry, he’s lying,” you scratched her behind the ear and kissed Tom’s cheek, “Kisses always work on him.”

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