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#I caught a cold unfortunately right after I finished my exams
osamusriceballs · 2 months
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The Accident - Part XVIII
Atsumu x fem reader
Warnings: NSFW!!
Words: ~ 4,9 k
About: Finally! Pure smut, barely plot. Can be skipped if you're uncomfortable with that. The longest part so far xD
Part I II -> Final Part
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Your relationship with Atsumu has been thriving.
You came to appreciate that he is actually a very reliable and vivid texter and how you both regularly went on dates- something that he insisted on, and you definitely couldn't complain about that. You know that he has a tight schedule, but that apparently doesn't stop him from inviting you over every single weekend, without exceptions, always making sure that Saturday night belongs to the two of you. Often, you would go to Onigiri Miya's to eat, much to Osamu's delight. He always insists that you don't have to pay, yet you still often place a crumpled 10 bucks note in the tip jar to keep the guilt at bay.
You both have developed a routine of eating out together and then watching a movie at Atsumu's place. He's told you a lot about his work, sometimes complaining about other players, but he seems really confident in his skills, with the start of the Olympics getting closer and closer every single day, which he is anticipating quite a lot.
You'd tell him about your work too, tell him about the things that you like, that you enjoy to read, confessing with reddened cheeks that you sometimes read rather unconventional stories, to which his smug grin had intensified, and he seemed very interested in getting details of that, which you denied at first, but then promised him to send him recommendations. You had also told him how Yachi and you met and how you got to know Hinata and Kageyama. You came to enjoy this caring side of Atsumu, and it feels rather domestic to spend time with him like this, just the two of you talking and having fun.
And more often you'd find yourself in Atsumu's lap after talking for hours, heavily making out with him until you both gasp for air- just like today.
You barely pay any attention to the movie, the sounds only faintly in the background, some action movie that Atsumu found with a good rating and insisted you both watch—and instead, it didn't even take him ten minutes to scoot a bit closer and to gently turn your face towards him to kiss you, deepening the kiss quickly and then pressing your back against the couch. He's now hovering over you, your legs wrapped around his middle and your hands deeply entangled in his hair. You came to notice that he loves when you play with his hair, sometimes even resting his head in your lap just to have you give him a head massage, so you don't hesitate to feel the soft strands in your fingers and scratch his scalp softly.
He groans against your lips when you slightly pull on the strands, and a breathy moan escapes your lips when he grinds his hips against yours. He's hard already. Very much so. You feel his cock pressing against you, just the fabric of his sweats and your panties separating your bodies from each other. Your skirt rode up when Atsumu had forced your legs open to settle in between them, but you don't mind laying under him like this. The tension between you is thick, and you're glad that you're wearing a nice matching set of underwear tonight, even though you're convinced that he couldn't care less about your choice of clothes.
"Gosh, yer driving me crazy." He pulls back just enough to look into your eyes, and you swear you could combust at the sight of pure unrestricted lust in his eyes. This is usually what you'd do: make out until you both couldn't take anymore and then fall asleep together while cuddling, without going further. He made it pretty clear that he wants to take this slow and earn your forgiveness for the situation, and while you appreciate his efforts, you'd also appreciate him doing just a bit more with you. "Tsumu—can we... you know... go a bit further?" You ask with bright cheeks, hoping that he's also willing to take that step with you, and he raises a brow in a teasing way, and you almost push him back when you see his sexy smug grin. "Oh? Wifey wants more, huh?" He dips his head, and his lips find your neck, kissing down to your pulse, causing you to release a soft breath while you arch against him, his cock now hardly pressing between your legs. "I would be a bad husband if I deny your wishes."
His kisses get just a bit rougher, his teeth grazing against your skin, and you arch into him when he bites down slightly. "Atsumu—" you try to even out your breath, but you can't seem to calm down when he nibbles on your skin, the feeling almost painfully intimate when he cages you underneath him like this. "We can go a bit further, if ya want to. I could go right here." He shifts his weight and angles his face a bit deeper to press a kiss against your collarbones, leaving a tingling sensation on your skin when he pulls back. "Or right here." His fingers pull down the side of your shirt until you expose even more cleavage to press a sensual kiss at the swell of your breasts. You feel heat rushing through your body, and you softly moan at the action- he's driving you insane.
"How far do you want me to go?" He looks up at you, his eyebrow raised in a silent question while he looks at you. His face is close, so close, you can see his flushed cheeks and widened pupils, and you're certain that you could explode any second when he looks at you like this. "All the way. If you're okay with that?"
You barely manage to finish the sentence before he already starts moving to press your back harder into the couch until you lay flat. A soft gasp leaves your lips, and your eyes widen when he thrusts his hips against yours in the process, the friction so good and welcoming against your sensitive spots. His fingers find the hem of your shirt, and he gently pulls it up until your bra is exposed to his eyes. An almost dangerous glint is in his eyes when his thumbs hook in the cups of your bra and simply pull them down until they rest under your tits and force them to stand up. Your chest heaves heavily, your nipples perky, not only because of the chilly air but definitely because of his undivided attention.
He suddenly brings his thumbs to his lips, one after the other, quickly licking the digits, before his hands cup your tits, his wet thumbs rubbing over your perked nipples, a sensation that has you release a small whimper. His hands start to softly massage your breasts, and you thank all deities for his setter hands, so big and warm and skilled, feeling so good against your bare skin. Your own fingers grab into the cushion below you while you try not to squirm too much—not that you could escape from him now when he's basically straddling you and keeps on playing with your tits.
It feels good—really good, the tingling sensation between your legs growing stronger with each passing second, and you start to wiggle underneath him, your body aching for more of his touch. Atsumu notices the shift in your demeanor and softly pinches your nipples one last time before he moves a bit down, his hands caressing your bare sides while he does so. The way he's treating you makes you almost whine out loud, so soft and tenderly, it's making your head spin. "I love how your skin feels. So soft and warm." He mumbles, his eyes scanning your whole body before he suddenly gets up, just enough to not sit on you anymore. Instead, he kneels between your legs, grabbing your thighs and pushing them apart a bit further to have a good look at your panties. "A matching set?" he asks when his eyes wander back to the bra that still pushes your tits up. "Yes," you nod a bit breathless and flustered, and the way he's taking things so slow makes you feel even more needy for him, while he seems so calm and cool. Probably his year-long experience of keeping his cool every single day when he's playing.
"I like it. But I think these need to go." He nods towards your panties, the sheer material not hiding much actually, but the clear wet stain on them makes the situation even more scandalous. You nod with reddened cheeks, and he places two fingers against the wet stain, caressing and softly rubbing against the spot, while keeping his eyes on your face. "Though, I'm really glad to see that yer enjoyin' this as much as I do." His finger softly presses inside of you, just a little bit with your panties still between you, a shock of electricity rushing though your body when the fabric stretches against your clit, and his finger enters just the tiniest bit inside of you. He stills for a second, watching your reaction for a second, before he brings his other hand to the fabric, hesitating, before he clears his throat before he meets your gaze. "Can I rip 'em?"
You stare at him with wide eyes, unable to form words, understanding that this is something that he wants to do even though he seems slightly embarrassed by it. You're so turned on by the question though that you simply nod, and he brings both of his hands to the fabric and pulls. It takes him two more attempts before the fabric softly rips, his attempt to be gentle and careful to you very clear, and the simple display of his suppressed strength has your pussy clenching around nothing. He scoots slightly back, his eyes focused on your cunt, drinking in the sight of you, while you tremble in anticipation. This is even better than all the fantasies you've had about him so far, all the dirty thoughts about his arms and thighs that made you stick your hands into your panties when you're in need of release. All of that can't compare to what you're feeling right now.
"I'll eat ya out first 'kay? Get ya nice and ready for me." You open your mouth, ready to protest that you're already wet for him and you don't need further prep, and that you just want him to fuck you, but your protest gets stuck in your throat when he settles on his stomach, his arms grabbing your legs and hoisting the above his shoulders. He is on eye-level with your pussy and you suddenly feel so exposed, yet still so safe with him.
"So pretty," he mumbles, and you're not sure if that was even meant for you to hear, and you let out a gasp and a soft choke of his name when he softly licks against your folds. Softly, just testing the waters- and judging by your reaction, his is convinced that he can do more to you. His tongue licks against your folds again, harder this time, putting more pressure on you and you mewl contently. "Just like that, pretty girl. Let me do my thing and enjoy yourself. Part of my husband duties, to keep my wife satisfied."
He kisses against your entrance, resting his lips on yours and letting his tongue peak out just the tiniest to get you a feeling of it, and you clench involuntarily at the feeling of his warm tongue. He licks against your folds again, this time pausing when he reaches your clit, softly closing his lips around it and sucking. "Atsumu-" you gasp with wide eyes, your legs almost caging his head when he sucks a bit rougher. "Shhhhhsh," he hushes you and sucks just a tad bit softer, one of his hands letting go of your leg and moving between your legs too. Your breathing pattern is irregular and you moan when you feel a wave of need rush through your body.
One of his fingers prods against your entrance while he keeps his lips enclosed on your clit and you feel like you're going to explode. It's hot- so, so hot when he softly pushes a digit inside you, his tongue messily licking your clit until your eyes roll back and your back arches off the bed- you can imagine how lewd you look right now. Flushed cheeks, crossed eyes, your tits exposed while you arch your back like you're in heat with Atsumu's head between your legs, licking your cunt while he fingers you open.
It's hot, oh, so hot. The way he's pumping his finger inside of you, slowly adding another one when he feels you easing up for him. The way he's licking up all of your arousal, groaning against you and humping the bed for a bit of friction for himself while he gives you pleasure. The way he's watching you heavy lidded, probably unable to see much of your face, but the occasional glances of your expression are enough for him. He's addicted to your taste, addicted to the way you moan his name, softly at the beginning, but now with more urgency and need, getting louder for him when he increases the pace of his fingers. You didn't know what to do with your hands at first, but now you're gripping his hair and pushing him ever so softly against your pussy, unable to resist the need to get more friction, and he so willingly gives you more. The wet sounds of his fingers pushing into you and the way he's messily eating you out makes you feel like you're in heaven. He could do this for hours, worship your taste and listen to your sweet sounds, but he can feel you clenching repeatedly around his fingers, indicating just how close you are.
"Tsumu- I can't- gonna-" you barely manage to form words, moans and deep breaths hindering you from saying what you want to say, but he simply keeps going at the same pace and you suddenly feel your high overwhelming you.
It's too much. The heat, his face between your legs, the way he's fingering you, the way his tongue is teasing your clit and giving you just the right amount of attention- it takes you like a wave and you feel your muscles tensing and arching against his face while you come. Your mouth is wide open a lewd sounds leave your lips while you feel the delicious sensation rushing through your body. Atsumu doesn't change his position, nor his pace, he simple keeps his ministrations up and licks up your juices until you only whimper softly and your hand falls weakly onto the couch. He kisses your cunt, gentle and caring while he pulls his fingers out, his lips ever so soft while he whispers a praise against your folds, and you feel how you blush at the sudden unexpected sweetness.
Your body finally relaxes and you fall back into the cushions. He slows down his ministrations and looks at his hand with a grin, your slick on them evident. You focus your eyes on him and follow all of his movements when he shortly licks his fingers with a groan before he grabs his shirt, his fingers leaving a mess on the dark fabric before he pulls it over his head and throws it away. You silently ogle him, taking in the sight of him, broad chest heaving heavily, strongly defined shoulders and arms, and the slightest bit of dark hair trailing down to the band of sweatpants. "Ya alright? Wanna go further?" His voice is a bit raspy and his cheeks slightly reddened and it makes your heart beat faster. His hands find your sides and softly caress the skin while he waits for your answer. He's still hard, you can see it through the fabric of his pants, but you're convinced that he would not push you to go further, no matter how painful it is for him. You look at him softly and nod, a small smile on your face when you reach out to him. "Kiss me, please?"
He nods with an approving hum and leans down to kiss you, his weight now settling on your body in a comforting way. Your hands reach for his hair when he kisses you, your body arching up against his when his lips meet yours in a gentle but firm kiss. You allow your hands to wander and to explore his naked body while you return the kiss, your tongue moving against his while you rake your nails softly against his bare back. You can feel a shudder running down his spine and you repeat the motion, only to be rewarded with a little groan against your lips. You let one of your hands roam to his stomach, feeling the muscles clench under your fingers, and hesitantly move further down to the trail of soft hair, waiting for him to either stop you or to encourage you.
Atsumu is quick to raise his hips to allow you to have your way, his hips raising just enough to allow your to move your hand between your bodies. The soft hair on his abdomen tickles the palm of your hand and you let your fingers roam to the hem of his pants, until you feel the bulge. He inhales sharply when you palm him through his pants, his muscles clenching hardly when he finally gets some friction. You softly move your hand, feeling his length, the hardness of him, his balls, heavy and full. He takes a shaky breath, his eyes closing for a second, before he opens them abruptly and leans down to kiss you. His lips are glued to yours, deepening the kiss while he angles his face to push his tongue just a bit rougher against yours. You finally move your hand inside his pants, fingers hesitating for a second at the hem, but then you slide them under the fabric and reach for his cock.
He is big. Big and warm, wet with precum already, and you trace the shape with one of your fingers while your other hand holds his shoulders for support.
You explore his cock, getting a feel of him, how long he is, how he feels against your skin- and you love every single second of it. You softly close your hand around his shaft and start stroking, being rewarded with an airy gasp against your lips. You start jerking him of, moving your hand in a steady rhythm, while making sure that you don't push him too far. "So good," he rasps against your lips and you moan in response, feeling a wave of adrenaline rushing through your body. Your free hand moves to his ass, boldly pulling the fabric down, and clumsily you release his cock after you managed to pull his pants down just enough to have his cock spring free and to poke between your legs.
You only now realize that he is indeed bigger than you thought- just having him pressing himself against your body makes your eyes open widely. He looks at you through half-lidded eyes, observing al of your reactions while he waits for you to make a move, effectively showing you that you're in charge. He just hovers above you and looks at you expectantly.
As if you could stop now. Your body is screaming for him, aching for him and you simply spread your legs further and gently grab his cock, lining him up at your entrance without any more words.
His eyes widen, clearly surprised by you taking the initiative this fast, but he nods and seems to brace himself for what you're about to do. You collect some of your slick with the mushroom head of his cock, making sure he is well-lubricated before you line him up once again. Atsumu suddenly takes in a sharp breath and pushes his hips back, just out of reach for you now- much to your confusion. Did you read the signs wrong? What if he doesn't want to-
"Do ya want me to use a condom? I don't mind, ya just hafta tell me and-" he starts and vaguely gestures towards the bedroom, and you look at him wide eyed.
"Tsumu-" you whisper, your heart swelling with affection, tears almost dwelling in your eyes at his honest expression. "I uhm... I'm assuming that you're clean? i don't mind if you... if you don't use a condom. I use contraceptives." You know that your cheeks are bright red while you keep talking, but the moment just feels so painfully intimate, when you're basically asking him to fuck you raw- it almost feels like love. It makes you vulnerable and you have a hard time looking into his eyes, but he is quick to turn your face towards him, his hand gently cupping your chin, while more of his weight suddenly lasts on you.
He looks at you for a moment, not saying anything, simply studying your face before he presses his lips against yours in a longing and gentle kiss. You return the kiss your hands quickly wrapping around his broad shoulders while you move your lips against his. He pulls back, his eyes so soft while he watches you. "Your trust means a lot to me. I'll make sure to keep it forever."
You're too flustered to say anything, your heart heavily pounding in your chest, so you take that as a cue and line his cock up at your entrance, this time angling your hips a bit, until the head of his cock disappears between your folds and stretches you out. "Please-" you gasp for air when you feel him pushing inside. You see how his gaze turns hazy, your own eyes also unable to focus on the sight of him while he pushes deeper and deeper inside of you, until he's finally bottoming out. His breath is shaky, his facial expression looks like a mixture of shock and pure bliss. "Yer- squeezin' me- so good, fuck," his eyes roll back, his muscles clenching hard while he tries to keep his weight as steady as he can.
You're not any better under him. His cock feels so big inside of you, a stretch that you haven't felt for so long, feeling better like anything you've ever had before. You feel tears dwelling in your eyes- from pleasure and from feeling so close to him, so connected like you're meant to be with each other, and he is quick to notice the change in your expression. "What's wrong?" He seems more focused when he leans down to press kisses to your cheeks, your nose, your lips, gentle while he holds you. "N-nothing. It's just- I'm feeling a lot of things right now- please, Tsumu, I- I just like you so much-" your voice is low and soft, and he lifts his face to look at you, his expression so gentle and kind, you're sure that you'll never forget this moment. "I like ya too. Don't wanna live without ya, y/n. Yer precious to me- in a way I don't think anyone has been precious to me." His confesses, and you feel like your heart is skipping a beat.
He's not confessing his love to you- you've only known each other for a few months, with a rather long pause during the incident, it's too early to talk about love. Yet, you're convinced that he feels the same. That you're both made for each other and will love each other. Unconditionally.
You both don't need more words, and he presses his forehead against yours and looks deeply into your eyes while he starts to move his hips. Your jaw drops and your lips part slightly when he pulls away, his cock almost leaving you completely before he thrusts back in, slowly and controlled, so much that it drives you crazy. You can't even talk and beg him to do it again, yet he still understands what you need, and repeats the motion, thrusting into you nice and slow just how he is convinced that you like it. You moan softly, your breath meeting his lips while he starts setting a pace, sensual and slow, angling his hips slightly different until your hands grab into his shoulders just a bit harder when he hits the spot that makes you see stars. He curses when you clench around him, but he doesn't stop but keeps thrusting just a bit harder.
You don't know how long he keeps on fucking you like this, the pace nice and slow, just like lovers would, both of you enjoying the pleasure of being so, so close to each other, until you can't help but to feel your high approaching. Your legs wrap tighter around his waist, your heels digging into his back while you clench around him, knowing that you're almost there. His facial expression shifts at that sensation and his eyes shoot wide open.
"Fuck- y/n-" he groans and suddenly grabs your hips tighter when he pulls out- completely this time. Your jaw drops at the loss of friction, your hips trying to fight against his grip to bring him to push back into you- fruitlessly.
"Why are you-" you whine, feeling robbed and empty, your body needing him to be closer, needing him to give you something. "Shhh, I got ya." He moves your hips and you understand what he's trying to do, helping him to move your body until you're kneeling in front of him. The new position makes you tremble uncontrollably, and you know that his gaze is focused on your pussy while you nervously shift in his grip. "So, so pretty," he groans and leans down to press a kiss against your ass cheek, and you whimper at the praise.
"My pretty princess, I'll make ya feel so good, 'kay? Just a bit more, can ya wait for me, huh? I'll fill ya up nice and good if ya do." You could come from his dirty talk and his voice alone, your pussy helplessly clenching at the thought of what there is to come, and you loudly moan when he finally pushes inside, the angle so much deeper than before, it makes you see starts and until you tighten around him like a vice. He curses, his hands gripping your ass cheeks hard and spreading them to watch his cock disappear into your wet folds. You meet his thrust, desperate for more friction, and he slams back into you harder, making you slowly lose your mind. Your arms give up and your face lands on the pillow, but you barely notice that, all of your nerves only consisting of the pleasure that Atsumu is giving you.
"Fuck, y/n- can ya cum for me? Can ya do that, pretty princess?" He groans, one of his hands releasing your ass to rub circles on your clit- a little sloppy and uncoordinated at first, but when he finally hits the spot you drool on the bed sheets. "Tsumu- gonna cum- gonna cum for you-" you whine out loudly, and it only spurs him on to move faster until you cry out his name, only able to form this one word while you clench around him and reach your high. You realize that he's cumming to, but he doesn't slow down, his groans turning into an overstimulated whimper while he keeps on fucking you while cumming. He's coming so much inside of you, it's already dripping down your leg before he's even finished, but you enjoy the feeling of the hot sticky liquid on your skin.
You don't know how much time has passed until you finally calm down and simply lose all tension. He softly pulls out and places your hips on the couch before he collapses and flatly lays down on his back next to you. His arms reach out for you, and you allow him to pull you against his sweaty chest. You're sweaty too- something that you only notice now, but he doesn't seem to mind. He's probably used to sweat anyway. His hand starts caressing your hair, and your fingers roam along his chest, feeling the soft flushed skin under your fingers.
"How was it?" His hand still caresses your hair while you lay on his chest, listening contently to the sound of his heartbeat with a smile forming on your lips. "That was... really good," you airily laugh and cuddle closer against his chest, and he wraps his free arm tightly around you, instantly making you feel warmer when your barely clad chest presses against his naked one.
"Just really good? I'll need to work on my stamina, can't have ya sayin' really good only. Wasn't that mind blowing or something like that? Felt mind-blowing to me at least."
You softly snort at his words and look up to him, only to find him looking at you fondly. "Wanna stay over? I'll order some take out and we can finish that movie?" His eyes flicker to the screen, only to see that the movie is basically over. "Or we can start another movie. I think there is a sequel to that."
"Shouldn't we finish the first one before we start the sequel?" You look at him with raised brows, and he laughs softly at your reaction. "You're perfect. Just stay right here." His arm wraps around you, and you feel warmth in your heart,
while you lie in the arms of your husband.
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suna-reversed · 3 years
Text
the sweetest thing
MAFIA AU! USHIJIMA X FEM READER !!nsfw!!
warnings/tags- slight voyeurism, fingering, smut turned fluff
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The mixed scent of alcohol and that one expensive cologne he always wore hit you like a ton of bricks. That’s all you forced yourself to focus on, but you found it quite a tough task as the strong lingering trail of your juices filled the air, two of his long digits pushing past your slick walls. Choking back on a moan, you gripped his wrist tightly, confused as to whether you wanted to pull his hand off of you or beg him to rub it against you harder. He stopped his ministrations as you did so, not because he got the hint, but just so he could make you look up into his stern eyes that conveyed exactly how much worse tonight would be for you if you didn’t let him continue. 
You don’t exactly know how you ended up here. In the backseat of a posh car owned by the most dangerous man amongst Japan’s underground mafia. Just a whisper of his name had even the most powerful of gang leaders shaking with fear. You were still conflicted about the fear, but he sure did have your legs shaking more and more with each thrust of his fingers. You had buried your face in his shoulder, hoping that the red-haired driver would simply believe that your closeness to the man he answered to was simply a gesture of affection and not a desperate attempt at muffling your moans. You seemed to fail at that task as the fingers inside you were pulled out, only to be placed at your sensitive nub instead, rubbing circles so hard and fast that you couldn’t contain the sudden moan that left your mouth. You came undone, hips bucking against the rings on his fingers as your mind drowned in both pleasure and shame.
You could barely breathe as you felt the car come to a stop in front of your college campus. Ushijima simply put your pushed aside panties back in place, bringing up his fingers to his mouth to suck off your juices, his intense gaze locked onto yours. You didn’t think your face could get any more flustered. 
“Let me walk you back to your dorm.” Not a question. 
A shiver went down your core for what you were in for. Your mind flashing back to the memory from barely less than an hour ago when Ushijima had you pressed up against a wall outside the venue of the banquet, his lips attached to yours, the taste of champagne and cigars still heavy on his tongue as it explored yours with a passion as deep as the mariana trench. 
Your train of thought was interrupted as you noticed he had already gotten out, waiting for you with an outstretched hand. Despite having just felt him so deep inside you, the gesture somehow managed to give you more butterflies. It felt different. somehow more intimate. His calloused fingers slowly wrapped around yours, his large hand encasing almost all of yours. It made you feel warm. protected. safe. The crimson blush that grew on your nose didn’t go unnoticed by him, and maybe that’s why he didn’t leave your hand even as you started walking. Looking back, you wondered how differently things would’ve turned out if you hadn’t tripped over that one particular chair leg that unfortunate day. 
-------------------
“I would rather eat glass than live this day all over again” you thought to yourself while recapping the events of the last 18 hours.
Your roommate had shown up drunk late at night, bruised up and beaten from a bar fight, barely giving you any time to sleep as you tended to them. Because of that, not only were you sleep deprived, but also super late to your morning classes. Plus, you were pretty sure you had managed to royally fuck up the exam you had in the afternoon. 
Wanting to unwind from the trainwreck of a day, you had stopped by your favourite cafe to grab a coffee. A headache seemed to be crawling up your head as you stood in line waiting for your order. You were so tired, you barely paid attention to your steps as you grabbed your order and went to leave. Instead, you felt time slow down as your foot got caught on the edge of a left out chair, your drink going flying onto the chest of the person who had been sitting on the opposite side. It took you a second to scramble up your feet, ready to apologise to whoever you had just sprayed with a high dose of caffeine. But as you looked up, you found yourself a little breathless staring into the olive brown orbs of a greek god of a man. A greek god whose face was raging with passive anger. The look immediately sent you into a ramble of apologies, your words of “I’m so sorry” and “I’ll pay for the ruined shirt” getting all jumbled over each other as you poorly tried to explain your own clumsiness. 
‘It’s alright. You don’t have to pay for anything.’ The deep rumble of his voice made your insides shiver. 
“Are you sure? I can get you a tissue-”
“It’s fine, I was leaving anyway.” 
A curt nod was all you received before the man turned his broad back to you, striding out with confidently. You found it weird that not even a single person turned their head to look at the man in a white shirt with a large brown stain stretched across it. You pushed that thought out to the side as a wave of tiredness hit you again. Relieved that the situation didn’t get messy, you walked back to your dorm for a much needed nap.
On the other hand, people who had known the identity of the menacing man gawked at you, wondering how you had walked just out the place without a bullet in you. 
----------------------
“Achoo!” 
You wrapped your arms around yourself, visibly shivering as the cold air hit you. You almost whined at the warmth of Ushijima’s hand being pulled out of yours. But then a much larger and warmer fabric was thrown over your shoulders, you could've melted right there at its softness. Gazing up at him from under your lashes, you muttered out a small thanks as you nuzzled further into the collar of his cozy coat. You could've sworn you heard him sucking in his breath. His hand slipped into yours again, tugging you closer. You walked in silence, your mind still clouded by all that had happened in the span of half a night. 
“Well, that’s my building.” you said. Looking over at Ushijima’s face, you found it glowing under the illumination of the lights coming from past the entry gates.
“ Thank you for accompanying me tonight y/n.”
“ Oh, it was no big deal really. Plus, I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you for inviting me.” 
He gave you a small smile as his hand left yours and he turned around, ready to leave,
“Wait! Aren’t you going to…” You trailed off as he turned back, raising an eyebrow at your puzzled face. 
Your face contorted in confusion, was he not going to join you in your dorm? Especially after the bulge you’re sure you felt while you had been grabbing onto his thighs for support in the car earlier. 
 “...come inside?” You finished, your voice small and hesitant. 
His lips twitched upwards almost playfully, 
“Was the perverse exposition in the car not enough for you?”
“No!- I mean yes, it was.” You found your voice getting smaller and smaller. “But um- don’t you...need anything?” 
Your breath hitched in your throat as he took two long strides towards you, your face now an inch away from his chest. You felt a finger lift your chin as he brought his head close to your ear to whisper,
“Not now- I want to take my time with you” His teeth grazed down as he mumbled onto the skin of your neck, “- to learn every inch of you.” 
A small moan escaped past your throat. Pulling away, his intense burning gaze faded as a smirk formed on his lips, 
“Besides, we wouldn’t want you to wake the whole building up with your screams now would we?” 
Your eyes widened at that, causing a small laugh out of him. That only resulted in you getting more flustered.
“Ok then, I guess I’ll see you soon Ushijima-san.” 
“Wakatoshi” 
“Huh?” 
“It’s Wakatoshi for you.” He said, adjusting the collar of his coat on you and then leaning forward to press a gentle kiss against your brow. 
You tried to ignore the deafening drumming of your heartbeat in your ears as you muttered out a “Goodnight Wakatoshi”, earning a pleased look from the man himself. 
“Goodnight y/n.” 
 Was he really as vicious and bloodthirsty as he was known to be? But then who was the man who had just now made you drown in an ocean of pleasure and then tender affection? Walking away, you could only wonder of all that you were yet to receive from the dual faced man.
------------
N E ways, hardcore dom-sub rough sex in part two? ☉_☉
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httpsaiki · 3 years
Note
Saiki with an s/o who just cups his cheeks and tells him they live him for the first time ever.
Hi! This is adorable, thank you so much for this request!! I did a story, not headcanons and it kind of got off track, but I hope you like it!
I went into way too much detail about cupcakes in this, I got carried away, oops. I'm back, though! After months I finally refound my love for this show and along with it my inspiration for writing! I hope this isn't too bad, I wrote it all in one go. I have been writing a personal project, but I doubt I've improved that much in the last couple months. Thank you if you read this! I hope to have more to post soon!
Reader is gender neutral!
WC: 1533
Italics represents Saiki speaking telepatically!
Saiki with a S/O who cups his cheeks and tells him they love him for the first time.
—————————————————–
Your week had been anything but easy. Balancing a school and social life wasn’t supposed to be easy, sure, but this was getting ridiculous. It seemed every assignment was due at some point this past week and every class had some sort of test or exam. On top of everything, your friend group decided it was the perfect time to meet up to study nearly every single day. It was completely and entirely exhausting. You hardly got a free moment to yourself.
To make matters worse, you hadn’t seen Kusuo the entire time. He was part of your friend group, yeah, but by some miracle, he managed to dodge every study session. It was almost like he had superpowers. On most weeks like this, Kusuo was the only thing that could get you through it, being around him was oddly healing - even if he’s a jerk about it sometimes, you miss him dearly. He had some sort of ability to keep you calm and content, just being around him was enough to relieve some of the day's stress. Kusuo was there for you no matter what, whether he was willing to admit that or not. You knew it to be true and he knows you know. That’s enough.
You could feel him rolling his eyes if you were to tell him anything you just thought, that is. That never stopped you, though, you needed to make sure he knows you care for him. No, care is not a strong enough word. You’re sure you love him, there’s no doubt in your mind. How can you go about telling him? He of all people definitely deserves to know he’s loved.
Plotting how you’d tell Kusuo that you love him turned out to be a fantastic stress reliever. Laughing all you want about the cheesy, made-up scenarios you come up with did wonders to calm you down. Anything from a mock proposal on the beach, to screaming it off a cliff. Most of them weren’t realistic, nor to either of your tastes. But they were fun, and that’s all that mattered. You finally decided on telling him the one way you knew he’d like best. Sweets. Content with your idea, you prepared for bed. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.
You woke bright and early. So early, in fact, that the sun had hardly even began to rise. There was work to be done. Quietly, you made your way down to the kitchen, careful enough not to wake anyone up. You decided on a quick and easy breakfast, you could never go wrong with toast. While the bread was toasting, you got out cupcake trays and your cake recipe, reading it over and gathering any ingredients you need. You left any ingredients that needed to be refrigerated in the fridge but prepared measuring cups and bowls for them. Anything that didn’t need to be kept cold was put into the appropriate bowl - wet or dry. As you were measuring out the last of your dry ingredients, you heard a faint pop from the toaster and decided it was time to take a break and eat. Your toast was surprisingly good, probably because you felt you worked for it.
Now was for the easier parts, combining the rest of your recipe and then pouring it into the cupcake trays. You went about your day, waiting for them to finish baking and then cool down. Once they were cool, it was around lunchtime. The perfect time to finish them up with icing. Carefully, you took your time to write out “I love u Kusuo!” Putting each character on its own cupcake - unfortunately having to shorten the “you” so that it would fit on the 12 of them. To add a final touch, you added a couple small heart candies onto some of them. They looked great and you were proud of your work.
As soon as the cupcakes were packaged up and ready to go, you headed immediately out the door. Kusuo didn’t usually like when you showed up suddenly or unannounced, but you carried treats and an important message this time. You were sure he wouldn’t mind too much.
The walk to his house was uneventful as always. You were lucky enough not to run into anyone you knew on the way there. You didn’t want to have to explain yourself and a small part of you expected that running into somebody would only strike disaster - similar to the past week. There was a small skip in your step on the way there, happy to finally see Kusuo after that long, painful week. You didn’t let any of your nerves get to you. Kusuo would take your message well. He had to.
Or, that’s what you were telling yourself as you nervously stood at his doorway. Ringing his doorbell had never been so frightening. You braved it, though, and your finger found its way up to his doorbell. The muffled ring could be heard even from the outside and approaching footsteps that sounded awfully familiar came shortly after.
When the door opened you were greeted with the face you craved to see all week. He looked as unbothered as ever, but the second he stepped aside and his arm gestured to let you in you knew he was happy to see you. With a smile on your face, you went to step inside and-
Apparently, your awful week had yet to cease. Right as you walked in the door, towards Kusuo, your foot caught the bottom of the doorframe. You tripped on it, the box of cupcakes falling along with you. "Oh!” It came out choked and as if you hadn’t meant to say it at all, “No!”
You quickly peeked inside of the box. The icing writing you had worked so hard on was smudged, no longer legible. They were still edible, but the message had been erased. Kusuo was staring down at the cupcakes, an almost puzzled expression on his face. He kept the same expression as his eyes met yours.
“Sorry,” you apologized quickly, “they were for you, I didn’t mean to- to make a mess of them.”
Kusuo only nodded, but it was enough to tell you there was no problem and you hadn’t even needed to apologize. He wasn’t mad.
“Listen, Kusuo I,” you cut yourself off, now that the cupcakes weren’t an option how did you want to tell him?
“Screw it.” You muttered under your breath as you stood up from the ground, dusting yourself off. Now back on your feet, you quickly reached up, placing both your hands on Kusuo’s cheeks. Your thumbs found their way right on his cheekbones, running softly along them. The rest of your fingers could reach to his hair and you had to resist completely tangling them in it. His expression was entirely neutral once more, at the very least he wasn’t offended by your actions.
“I really love you, Kusuo.”
He smiled. He actually smiled. It was genuine, it was beautiful, everything you could’ve asked for and more. His hands were in your cheeks too at this point and he had an uncharacteristically intense look in his eyes.
“I really love you, too.”
Such a simple statement and yet you could feel your cheeks burning up from it. Even worse, his hands were on his face so he could feel it too. He was so close, still smiling at you. You’d never imagined his face was capable of making such a dopey, lovesick smile and yet here he is. And then he hugged you. Tight. He’d never held you like that before, it was so loving and warm. It hardly lasted a couple seconds, so short that you were almost sure you imagined it. As soon as you registered it, it was over, and Kusuo’s normal, unbothered expression remained on his face.
“We shouldn’t let your hard work go to waste, should we? Want to come enjoy these with me?” Kusuo moved down to pick up the box, staring down at them in admiration even if they were a mess by now. You didn’t bother to reply to him, still slightly in shock. You chose to simply follow after him into the other room as he placed the box on a table. Kusuo wasted no time in grabbing one of the cupcakes, his signature sweets-eating-face taking over as soon as he took a bite. It was endearing, to say the least. As if he sensed your hesitation, he nudged the box towards you, encouraging you to take one as well. Despite their state, they still tasted amazing, all your hard work really paid off.
The rest of the day was spent comfortably. You refused to leave Kusuo’s side after everything that happened. You took to ranting about your week and how much you missed him while sat comfortably next to him, right where you wanted to be. Maybe the past week was worth it. You finally got to tell Kusuo you love him and got plenty of time together to make up for it. It had been bad, but like all the times before, Kusuo had a way of making you feel better.
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detectivereyes · 3 years
Text
I Want to Hold You Like You’re Mine
Summary: TK gets lonely in the ER.
Notes: idk if anyone is going to really read this because everyone is kinda distracted with the new episode and the promo for next week but yeah. this idea wouldn’t leave my head so now you get to read it too.
title from “agnes” by glass animals 
beta’d by @marjansmarwani
read on ao3
Watching the bustling waiting room, TK nervously twiddles his thumbs. He’s spent far too much time getting to know the emergency room at St. David’s that when he closes his eyes, he can picture the entire layout.
And yet, he somehow found himself back here again.
It wasn’t exactly his fault though. Granted, he could have been a little more careful going up the ladder on the truck. But the situation was getting urgent and he was so focused on getting to the top of the ladder that he didn’t even notice when his right foot got caught on one of the rungs and twisted his ankle in the wrong direction.
Which is how he ended up sitting in the waiting room yet again, his right ankle elevated on the chair across from him and the now melted ice pack resting on the swollen joint. He knows that he could just ask someone for a new one, but he’s been here long enough that they should be calling his name any moment now.
However as the minutes tick on, he gets more and more restless, and he wishes that there was someone here to talk to and take his mind off the persistent ache in his ankle. There had been some discussion about someone from his team staying with him but he had insisted that there was no real reason for the team to be two members down for something as minor as what’s probably only a sprained ankle. And of course, the 126 was called to another scene before it could be discussed further.
After Tommy dropped him off at the ER entrance, he thought he would be okay. However, on this abnormally busy day at the hospital, he only gets lonelier as he waits for his name to be called.
His loneliness getting the best of him, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and shoots a quick text to Carlos.
TK: are you busy?
He doesn’t even have shut the messages app before he sees the typing dots appear on his text thread.
Carlos: I’m on a call right now, but I can call you in a few minutes?
Of course. TK knew Carlos was working today, he should have known better than to bother him.
TK: nevermind, forgot you were on shift. it’s okay. 
He shuts off the device, only for it to light up again with Carlos’ name in the call ID. TK frowns, hitting the red decline button. His boyfriend should be focusing on his job, not needing to worry about how accident prone TK is.
His phone lights up again, and he declines it again.
By the third time it lights up, TK sighs in resignation and presses the green accept button.
“Hey Carlos,” TK greets with his best cheery voice and fake smile.
“TK, you denied my call twice. You do not get to ‘hey Carlos’ me. What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing, I forgot you were working today,” TK answers quickly. “I can talk to you later”
“It’s clearly something. Just tell me TK,” Carlos says, pausing while he waits for TK to answer. 
TK wonders if it’s worth it to explain the situation to his boyfriend. He knows that as soon as he tells him, that the other man will drop everything to come be by his side. And while the companionship would be welcome, he would feel guilty pulling Carlos away from his job.
Unfortunately, he waits too long to answer and Carlos speaks up again. “Wait, aren’t you on shift today too?”
“Well, yeah..”
“TK, where are you?” he firmly asks.
TK can tell he’s beginning to put the pieces together. The ambient noises of the waiting room are no doubt filtering through his phones speaker, not to mention the red flags it raises that TK is calling him while on shift to begin with.
“That’s not really relevant,” he says, trying to shift away from the topic.
“You’re at the hospital, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit, TK. Okay,” Carlos says, and TK can hear him mumble something in the background before coming back to the phone. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“That’s not really necessary,” TK tries to wave him off before Carlos cuts him off.
“Is anyone with you?”
“No,” he trails off.
“Then I’m coming.”
TK smiles to himself. He knows at this point there’s no talking Carlos out of it, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t looking forward to seeing the other man. “Okay, I’m still in the waiting room.”
“See you soon.”
The call disconnects, and TK cycles through the apps on his phone while he waits for Carlos to arrive, periodically looking up at the sliding glass doors of the emergency room entrance.
Eventually, Carlos does make his appearance in the waiting room, still in uniform and face flushed as he scans the area before meeting TK’s eye.
TK gives him a little wave and small smile, greeting his boyfriend with a kiss when Carlos takes a seat next to him.
“Hey, what happened?” Carlos asks, trying to mask the concern in his voice but TK still picks up on it.
TK explains the situation, watching as Carlos’ eyebrows furrow in worry as he processes the story. When TK finishes, Carlos smirks a little before speaking up. “I thought you making the transition to being a paramedic was supposed to be less dangerous.”
“It’s not my fault they needed a medic up there, and I have more experience on the ladder than Tommy or Nancy.”
“Clearly,” Carlos stifles a laugh, gesturing to TK’s ankle while the other man gently swats him. Leaning down, Carlos removes the ice pack to further inspect the swollen joint. “TK, this ice pack isn’t very cold.”
“Yeah, I’ve been here a while,” he shrugs.
Carlos presses his lips together, before getting up, ice pack in hand, and making his way over to the reception desk. TK watches as the other man exchanges a few words with the nurse sitting at the desk. After their brief exchange, Carlos returns with a fresh ice pack which he places gently on TK’s ankle.
“The nurse says they should be calling you back next,” he says with a smile.
“Thank you,” TK says softly, returning the smile.
True to his word, just a few minutes later his name is called and Carlos is helping him transition into a wheelchair to be wheeled back to an exam room. 
After being poked and prodded, and an x-ray just to confirm it’s nothing more major, the doctor verifies Tommy’s initial diagnosis that it’s just a bad sprain. He’s given a sturdy black brace, a pair of silver crutches, and strict instructions to take the next few weeks off work.
That last note causes a pout to settle on TK’s face as the doctor exits the exam room. 
“Hey,” Carlos catches his attention, rest his hand on top of TK’s own. “It’ll be fine. Tommy will understand.”
“I’ve barely been on the job for a week, and I already have to call out. Not a great reflection.”
“Well she’s been working out your house for a few months, so I think she knows to expect that her newest paramedic is also a danger magnet,” Carlos chuckles.
“Yeah, I guess,” TK sighs.
Carlos gently runs his hand through TK’s hair, knowing that it calms the other man down. “You ready to get out of here?”
TK nods. “Can you just drop me off back at the station?”
“I thought I would just take you home. You should probably rest and ice your ankle a little more.”
“There’s ice at the station,” TK says with a mischievous grin, only to be met with Carlos’ unwavering expression. “I just would rather be around the team that sitting at home alone while you finish your shift.”
“TK, my shift ended 30 minutes ago.”
“Shit, Carlos,” he looks up meeting the other man's eye. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to get pulled away for this long. I hope you don’t get into trouble.” “It’s fine, I told my captain what was going on after you called and she let me go. I wasn’t planning on going back anyway.”
TK smiles, wondering how he got so lucky to have a boyfriend this caring that he really would drop everything to spend a few long hours in the emergency room with him. 
“Now, why don’t we get out of here, yeah?”
He nods eagerly, letting Carlos help him off the bed and graciously accepting the crutches the other man hands to him. “Thank you,” he whispers to Carlos with a smile, before making their way out of the hospital.
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malfoymxnor · 3 years
Text
𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭
➤ pairing: draco malfoy x reader
➤ requested: yes | no
➤ words: 1.5k
➤ warnings: smut!
➤ summary: professor umbridge has passed decree number 23, saying boys and girls must be 6 inches apart at all times. draco malfoy doesn’t feel like following the rules.
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MASTERLIST
“Did you see that she’s passing the fourth rule today?”
You heard the whispers from your fellow Hogwarts students as you walked at a fast sprint towards the main corridor that stood right outside The Great Hall. It seemed as if every day for the past school year, all of Hogwarts would gather by the large doors at least twice a day. All to watch Caretaker Finch nail endless amounts of decrees on the wall.
A constant reminder that Hogwarts was slowly being taken over by the Ministry, in your opinion. But you didn’t let anyone else know that.
Students whispered to each other as they began to gather, watching the elder caretaker climb up the ladder to nail the decree right above the door. You went on your tiptoes until you could see a head of soft, platinum blond hair poke out. Smiling quite widely, you squeezed past the other students until you stood next to Draco Malfoy.
“Hi, love.” You whispered softly, feeling strange to speak so loudly when everyone was so quiet. “How are you-”
Draco interrupted you by pointing where Finch had now nailed the decree and climbed back down. Looking closer, it appeared to say: “Boys and girls are not permitted to be within 6 inches of each other.”
You held in an eye roll by the new rule and looked at your boyfriend. You expected a smile or some sort of sign of approval. After all, most of Draco and his friends seemed to like Umbridge’s new decrees thus far. They’ve even gone so far to join her little Inquisitorial Squad to enforce the rules further. Instead, a look of fury was apparent on his face.
“This is ridiculous.” He managed to say, taking in a deep breath.
“Draco, what do you mean? I thought you liked Umbridge?”
“I did, until now.” His lips were thinned out into a scowl, his nostrils flared with rage. “What’s the point of this, (Y/N)? How dare she try to tell me if I can touch my girlfriend or not?”
With that, you take his hand, quite honestly a bit afraid by his posture. You knew he would instantly relax by your touch, for a moment forgetting about the new rule. You dragged him into the Hall. Hopefully, a bit of dinner would calm your boyfriend down.
Hours had now passed since the time the new rule had been decreed. It had only been a short amount of time, but already you and Draco had been given warnings about staying 6 inches apart.
Now, you had been sitting in the common room area while everyone was asleep in their dorm rooms. This was often your favorite part of the day, besides moments spent alone with Draco. You sat preparing for your OWL exams in front of the roaring fireplace, when you felt a tap on your shoulder.
“Come on, love.” You look over and see Draco offering his hand. Without any questions, you place your hand into his, letting him drag you this time out of the common room and to one of the many corridors.
“Draco, wait a minute.” You stop him in his tracks. You weren’t one for following rules anyway, but getting yelled at by Umbridge gave you a fright. “You know we’re not supposed to-”
The blond man let out a soft sigh, gently pressing you into the stone wall behind you, a common favorite way of his to tell you to shut up. It was far too easy for him to do anyway. His taller, more muscular figure easily overpowered yours.
“Do you think I really care about the rules so much now that Umbridge has passed that ridiculous rule?” He sneered slightly, feeling anger rise out of his chest at the mention of the new rule.
You smirked to yourself slightly. “Let me guess, your father will be hearing about this.” Oh, how you loved to tease Draco.
He let out a small laugh, placing one of his hands on your waist as he managed to lift you up slightly, allowing you to wrap your two legs around his hips. “Now you’re getting it.”
His soft lips met with yours as you managed to hide a soft laugh at his remark. The kiss started out gentle like most, but he quickly turned up the pace. With his hand on your waist pulling you closer, he uses his other to cup your cheek and heats the kiss more. Your soft moan was masked by his lips as you felt his hand explore your upper body.
“So eager.” He chuckles as he pulls away slightly for a moment. Your chest felt heavy as you felt yourself getting wetter by the second. Any fear you had of being heard went away just as fast.
“Let me see just how eager exactly.” Draco whispered into your ear, leaning his head down further to leave kisses down your neck. One of his hands went under your Hogwarts uniform skirt, gripping onto your thigh before his fingers went up even more. He made no delay in pulling your underwear to the side, feeling the wetness in between your legs.
“Draco.” You let out a soft gasp as he felt your folds, arching your back as you were desperate to get as close as possible.
“Quiet, love.” He got down on his knees, bringing one of your legs to wrap around his shoulders, giving you a seductive smirk. “Don’t want to get caught, do you?”
What followed was easily the hardest time you had in staying quiet your entire life thus far. Pulling you as close as he could, Draco slipped his tongue inside of your wetness. His tongue was quick to action as he licked in soft circles around your clitorius. You couldn’t hold back the moans leaving your body, despite the fact it was the middle of the night and you definitely were not 6 inches apart.
Before you could even register how good it felt to be teased in such a way, you felt two of Draco’s fingers slide inside your folds and begin to pump themselves in and out. “Darling, I-” You tried to speak in a moment of passion, but in response he only curled his fingers, so much so that the tips of his fingers pressed delicately against your inner g-spot
“If you want to cum, (Y/N), keep your pretty mouth shut. Or else you’ll be going back to your room forced to finish the job yourself. Got it?”
You could only nod and close your mouth around your own mouth. As much as you loved to moan as loud as humanly possible, you knew Draco was serious about sending you to your room without a single thrust or lick more.
You opened your eyes to look down at the handsome Slytherin below you, your breath deepening as you fell more into a lustful trance, possibly the most blissful trance you could be in. You could no longer focus on anything around you besides what you felt in between your thighs. You no longer had any sense of time, you were unaware you were in the middle of the corridor where a professor could easily interrupt the two of you. You even had no other thoughts besides how incredible Draco Malfoy’s fingers and tongue felt.
He pushed his fingers as deep as they could, eagerly pumping them directly onto your g-spot. He smirked to himself as he felt your legs shake, aware of what was coming.
“Such a good girl.” He commented before he trapped began to use his tongue on your clitorius, you could feel his tongue lick up, down, under, and around the sensitive bud. “You’re taking my fingers so well.”
Your fingers trapped themselves into his blond hair as you felt the first wave of cum overwhelm your body. You let out several gasps, closing your eyes for a few seconds as Draco continued to thrust his fingers. You finally calmed down enough to open them, seeing Draco’s smiling face as he licked his fingers clean of your cum.
Before either of you could say a word, you both heard footsteps coming your way. Unfortunately for the both of you, those footsteps were right in front of you before you could manage to even move a limb.
“Ah.” You heard Professor Umbridge’s annoyingly chimp voice speak, your eyes couldn’t even meet hers in shame.
You wondered what this must have looked like. There you were, leaning against the ice cold, stone wall with your legs wrapped around Draco Malfoy’s shoulders. He had himself in between your legs, cum staining your underwear and around your inner thighs.
“This clearly is not 6 inches apart, is it? (Y/N), I’m not too surprised by this behavior. But Draco? Now that is a surprise.”
Your boyfriend must have been a bit brave, perhaps it was the adrenaline that must have been flowing throughout his veins. “Professor, with respect, you must admit you can’t deny your lady if she is in need.”
This earned him a soft slap on the back of the head from Umbridge, before she practically yelled for you both to meet her in her office in the morning before class. You pulled up your underwear and hoped off of Draco’s shoulder, laughing as you both ran towards the common room.
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honey-dewey · 3 years
Text
Gold in the Summertime
Pairing:  Frankie ‘Catfish’ Morales/Reader
Word Count: 2,545
Warnings: Panic attacks, mentions of injury, stitches, and needles, but it’s mostly just that sweet sweet hurt/comfort
Permanent Taglist: @phoenixhalliwell @star-wars-hell
Very few good things ever happen at three AM in the Urgent Care. Let’s make a short list of things that will definitely not fall under the category of ‘good.’ 1) Having a patient who has apparently injured himself but refuses to tell you how. 2) Said patient hyperventilating and panicking until he actually breaks something because you tried to give him a tetanus shot. 3) The same patient’s three best friends yelling at you. 4) Singing to still the same patient to calm him down so you can stick him with a tiny needle so he won’t possibly die of tetanus.
A/N: The song that inspired this fic is actually a favorite of mine called ‘Gold in the Summertime’ by Matt Nathanson. Not required to read the fic, but it’s a cute song. 
“Hey.” 
“Oh hell no,” you said, turning to see your fellow night shift nurse, Tori, standing in the door of the break room. “No, I am not dealing with whatever drunken fool walked into that waiting room. It is three in the morning and I do not feel like screwing around right now.” 
Tori raised an eyebrow. “Done?” 
“Done,” you said, standing and preparing for the inevitable. “Who’s the patient?” 
Tori handed you a file. You opened it, quickly scanning the information. F. Morales, forty two years old, in decent health, up to date with all his immunizations, served in the military, and was currently in the Urgent Care for a laceration on his left shoulder. 
“How bad is it?” You asked, closing the file and following Tori to the waiting room. 
“Eh,” she said with a shrug. “He isn’t gushing blood, so it’s not ER worthy. Probably just needs some stitches and a tetanus shot, depending on what got him.” 
You blinked. “He didn’t say?” 
Tori grinned. “Nope. Have fun.” 
Groaning to yourself, you opened the waiting room door. “Morales?” 
A man stood up, clearly the injured one in his group of friends due to the wad of cloth he was pressing to his left shoulder. “Yes?” 
“Follow me,” you said, tucking the file beneath your arm. “So, what happened?” 
The man grimaced. “Uh, I busted my shoulder.” 
“How?” 
The man was silent as you pushed open an exam room door and gestured him inside. “Well?” 
“Well what?” 
You sighed. “How’d you cut yourself?” You asked again, watching the man hop up on the exam table. You walked around to his back and slowly cut away the patch of his shirt that covered his shoulder. “And while you’re at it, you got a first name I could use, Mr. Morales?” 
“Please just call me Frankie, most people do.” 
“Most people?” 
Frankie shifted as you examined the harsh tear in the skin. “My friends, those assholes outside, call me Catfish.” 
You chuckled. “Military nickname?” 
“Yeah.” Frankie winced as you pressed a finger against the wound. 
A beat of silence, and then you had another question. “Is Frankie your legal name?” 
“No, why?” 
You smiled. “We need a legal name for the records.” 
Frankie shrugged his uninjured right shoulder as you continued to evaluate the messy scrape on his left. “It’s Francisco. And that shit hurts.” 
“Sorry,” you said, stepping back. “It needs a few stitches,” you decided. “But it isn’t horribly urgent so I’m gonna go grill your buddies outside to see if they’ll give me more answers about what happened.” 
Frankie nodded, watching you leave. 
“Would the party that escorted one Francisco Morales please follow me?” You asked, pushing open the waiting room door. 
Three men stood up, and you led them down the hall a ways, so your conversation would be private. “Alright. Spill. He won’t tell me what happened.” 
The man on the left snorted. “Unsurprising,” he said. “Fish is like a damn lockbox.”
“Benny,” the man in the middle hissed, nudging the man on the left. “Santi, you wanna take this? You saw it best.” 
“Excuse you!” Benny objected. “I was there too!” 
“You’re drunk.” 
The man on the right, Santi, sighed. “Frankie got into a fight outside the bar we were at tonight. Some guy made a horrible comment about how women belong in the kitchen, I dunno, I didn’t hear that bit too well. But Frankie managed to win the fight with minimal injuries, right up until the guy’s equally shitty friend clipped his shoulder with a ripped in half beer can.” 
You nodded, jotting notes down on Frankie’s file. “So what I’m hearing is that he was cut with a piece of likely filthy metal?” 
“Yep.” 
“Perfect,” You grumbled sarcastically. “You boys can head back to the waiting room. I’ll send him out when I’m done.” 
The boys left, and you swung by the supply closet to grab a suture kit before heading back into Frankie’s exam room. “Still bleeding?” 
Frankie looked up. “Yeah.” He had taken his hat off, fidgeting with the worn out brim. “Hurts.” 
“I’ll bet,” you said, coming up behind him and gently taking his hand off the wound. “Gonna pop some stitches in, disinfect the hell out of this, then get your height, weight, the like, and send you off with a tetanus shot just for good measure. That old beer can probably doesn’t have any kind of illness, but we have to be sure.” 
Frankie was silent, which wasn’t a good thing. You disinfected the wound, which sent him into a tailspin of hissed curses in your general direction, and before he realized what was happening, you were halfway done with the stitches. 
“And that’s the last one,” you said, tying off the last stitch. “The stitches dissolve after a while, so you shouldn’t have to worry about coming back to get them removed. But do take care to change the bandages twice a day, and do not use this arm. I don’t care what you have to do, please do not rip these stitches.” 
Frankie chuckled. “Yes doctor.” 
Finishing up the bandage, you grinned at Frankie’s current shirt situation. “Do you want me to grab you a new shirt? I kinda ruined yours.” 
“You did your job,” Frankie pointed out. “But yes, that would be nice.” 
You ducked out of the room and grabbed a spare shirt from the nurse’s lost and found. “No one’s claimed this thing for almost eight months. I think the guy who owned it quit,” you said, handing Frankie the old Jack Daniels whiskey shirt. You watched him struggle to put it on, helping him a bit as the shirt got caught on his shoulder. 
“Okay, follow me,” you said once Frankie was wearing a shirt again. He followed, just as asked, and you took his height and weight, texting both figures to Tori so she could prep a tetanus shot for you. In the meantime, you kept Frankie occupied, asking him questions about military things in the exam room. 
“What’d you do in the military?” 
“I was a pilot.” 
“Planes?” 
“Helos.” 
“Fun. I’ve never been in a helicopter before. Those friends outside, are they?” 
“Military friends? Yeah, mostly. I knew Santiago before all that though.” 
A knock at the door interrupted your bonding session. Tori opened the door, holding a tray with the tetanus shot and a band-aid. “Sorry. Those shitty kids band-aids were all I could find.” 
You shrugged. “Nah, it’s fine. I’m sure Mr. Morales won’t object to a Paw Patrol band-aid.” 
However, as you turned back to Frankie, you realized he’d gone white as a sheet. “Frankie?” 
Frankie shied away from you, despite you not moving. “Don’t,” he said, voice choked. “Please.” 
Your heart squeezed at the desperation in his voice. He was very plainly terrified. “Frankie,” you repeated calmly, holding both hands up so he knew you were unarmed. “Hey, deep breaths.” 
Frankie took a stuttering breath, and you sent a silent prayer out that he wouldn’t have a panic attack here. You sat next to him, keeping a few feet of space between you and him. “Do you want me to go get the boys?” 
Frankie shook his head, eyes wide. You tried to think. Distracting him would do no good. You’d tried that before with other people, and with patients who were this panicky, a distraction made it worse. Trying to sneak up on him was somehow an even worse idea. With his background, he was likely to know when someone was trying to surprise him, and he could definitely defend himself. The only thing you could think of was calming him down and then sticking him as fast as you could. 
It took a few minutes, but Frankie’s breathing returned to normal, and his muscles relaxed somewhat. You didn’t move, simply sitting there beside him and establishing yourself as a calm figure despite your reeling mind. “Frankie?” 
He looked up at you, not saying a word. 
“Are you ready to try?” You asked. “I have to give you the shot. I don’t want you to get sick, okay? Tetanus is a killer, and I don’t wanna see you dying in a hospital bed until you’re at least eighty, okay?” 
A slow nod. You stood, making your movements obvious as you put on new gloves and opened an alcohol wipe. 
“C’mere,” you said, gesturing Frankie closer. He scooted towards you, and you met him halfway. “This is cold, just a warning.” 
You rolled up Frankie’s shirt sleeve, exposing his left shoulder. He shivered as you ran the alcohol wipe across his skin, and kept his eyes anywhere but on you as you uncapped the tiny syringe. “Frankie?” 
Frankie whined, his breathing picking up again as his body barreled towards full panic mode. 
“Frankie!” You recapped the syringe and set it aside, turning your full attention to Frankie. He jumped away from you, eyes wide once more. You stood back as he curled in on himself, breathing quickening too fast. He was hyperventilating. “Frankie! Listen to me! You’re not-“ 
You cut yourself off as the loud, ragged breaths began to turn into animalistic screams, Frankie losing his balance and falling off the exam table and crashing into the sink before hitting the floor. The thud his body made scared you, but not as much as his current panicked state. 
“Tori!” You yelled, opening the door and yelling for your coworker. “Tori!” 
Unfortunately, it was not Tori who came to your rescue. It was Frankie’s three friends, all of whom looked incredibly concerned. Tori was behind them, shouting that they couldn’t be back here. Santiago simply pushed past you and immediately rushed to Frankie’s side, the other two joining him as he attempted to console Frankie. 
You, knowing your help wouldn’t be needed, tried to step away, but Santiago turned to call you back. “Come here!” 
Sighing, you hesitantly entered the exam room. “What do you need from me?” 
“What did you do to him?” Benny asked, clearly the most worried. “He hasn’t had an attack this bad in years!” 
“I just tried to give him a tetanus shot!” You defended. 
Santiago and the other man had gotten Frankie situated back on the exam table, sitting on his sides and keeping him upright as Benny rushed in and took his hands. “Fish? You with us buddy?” 
Frankie, who had thankfully stopped screaming, whined. Benny smiled, squeezing his hands. “There’s our Fish. Hey, hey, no, look at me,” he directed as Frankie’s eyes drifted to you in the corner and his breath hitched. 
Frankie’s head slumped against Santiago’s shoulder. He hummed uncomfortably, face scrunching as he shifted, trying to get comfortable. 
“His shoulder,” you guessed softly. “Someone’s touching it.” 
The man on Frankie’s right looked at his back. “Shit. Sorry Fish.” 
Frankie sighed in relief and turned into pudding against Santiago’s shoulder. Benny still held his hands, humming softly. The other man, whose name you still didn’t know, stood and pulled you aside. “Hey. Did he tell you?” 
“That he was trypanophobic?” You said, sliding your hands in your pockets. “No. But I figured it out pretty quickly when he went white as hell as soon as he saw the syringe. No one has a reaction this severe unless they have a phobia.” 
The man nodded. “Yeah. Benny was right. Fish is kinda stubborn about these things. He hasn’t had an anxiety attack in years though. Sorry Benny gave you shit about triggering one. I know it wasn’t really your fault.” 
“It was,” you mumbled, eyeing Frankie over the man’s shoulder. “It just wasn’t my intention.” 
“Yeah.” The man looked back at Frankie. “Is the tetanus shot necessary?” 
You nodded. “Unfortunately, yes.”
Santiago looked at you. “How good are you at singing?” 
“I’m sorry?” 
“It keeps him calm,” Santiago explained. “He used to sing to the helos whenever there was bad turbulence. Kept him level. We’d do it while you give him the shot, but none of us can sing.” 
Frankie made a small, strangled noise, and you almost freaked out until Benny smiled and you realized Frankie was trying to laugh. 
Smiling, you grabbed the syringe, a new alcohol wipe, and the band-aid. Santiago moved so he was sitting mostly behind Frankie, still supporting him. The other man, who you faintly heard Benny call Will, sat back on Frankie’s right. Benny took Frankie’s hands and stood to the side a bit so you would have room to work. 
“Oh, let’s keep this going, I wanna go all in,” you sang softly, repeating some cute and catchy song Tori insisted on playing whenever she could. “We’ll never be lonely in the dark.” As you sang, you opened the alcohol wipe and cleaned a patch of Frankie’s shoulder. 
“Rooftop in soho, Prince on the radio,” you kept going, uncapping the syringe and taking Frankie’s arm. “The city streets glow, gold in the summertime.” You quickly, between words, stuck Frankie and pressed down on the plunger. He whined, shying from the pain, but you just pressed the band-aid over the tiny puncture mark and kept singing. “Summertime, summertime, summertime, I gotta get that feeling.” 
Gently taking Benny’s place, you stripped your gloves off and put your hands overtop Frankie’s. “You did good, Frankie,” you said. “C’mon, let’s get you out of here so the boys can take you home.” 
Frankie wobbled to his feet, still nonverbal and a bit unsteady. You ended up needing a break in the waiting room, which was still empty. Giving Santiago a bottle of water for Frankie, you sat next to Frankie while the boys started the car. 
You absently hummed the song from earlier, mostly to fill the stifling silence. As you reached the part you’d sung for Frankie, you noticed, with a small jolt, that he was humming along with you. 
“You like the song?” You guessed, and Frankie nodded. 
“Here.” You pulled a pen from your coat pocket and took his hand. “Give the whole thing a listen,” you said, scrawling down the name and artist of the song on Frankie’s hand. “And then call me,” you finished, adding your phone number below the writing. 
Frankie smiled. “Meet cute,” he rasped, voice practically destroyed. 
You laughed. “This is more of a meet ugly, but sure.” 
Santiago came back, helping Frankie to his feet. 
“See you again?” Frankie asked, voice still pretty shot.
“Hopefully not,” you said, holding the door open for Santiago. “At least, not here.” 
Just like that, Frankie was gone. 
That sunrise, as you settled into bed, you got a text from an unknown number. 
Unknown Number: Song was super cute. Definitely adding it to my exercise playlist
You: Is this Mr. Morales?
Unknown Number: Just Frankie
Unknown Number was saved as Just Frankie
You: Okay Just Frankie. How’s your shoulder
Just Frankie: Hurts like a bitch, but I’ve had worse. 
You: I’ll bet. 
Just Frankie: Hey, wanted to ask you something 
You: shoot
Just Frankie: do you always work nights?
You: not always, but mostly. 
Just Frankie: cool. You free tomorrow at noon? I found this cool lunch place that has the best burgers ever
You: ever? I’ll have to see about that
Just Frankie: it’s a date then 
You: It’s a date
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Text
𝐼 𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒴𝑜𝓊
Pairing: ATEEZ Park Seong-Hwa & Reader
Warnings: It Is Very Long, I Curse At The End, And It’s Suggestive So . > . 
Inspiration: This Was Actually Requested! (But I Added Some Of My Braincells So Some Of Them Were Sacrificed)
Requested By: @bonbonhwa​ -- Thank You So Much!~
Basic Idea: Anniversary!~~ Established Couple, First Time Having It. 
Type: Fluff & Suggestive (First Time Doing A Combo!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
“Hmm? Hyung, what are you doing?” Yun-Ho asked as he peaked and saw Seong-Hwa entering a few websites. He didn’t see them clearly but his eyes were able to catch the silhouettes of notes, hearts, chocolates, hotel bedrooms, and flowers.
Seong-Hwa flinched and turned off his phone, placing it in his pocket while clearing his throat. His cheeks softly flushed with a shade of pink as Yun-Ho chuckled. “I see~ Is something special going on?” he asks as the elder nods.
“(Y/N) and I are going to celebrate our anniversary next week..” he responded while smiling softly, remembering the first time you both met. It was sort of anti climatic but it is definitely a good time to remember.
To summarize it, you guys get back in 2019. You were a foreign University Student studying in Japan and Seong-Hwa was there because of KCON. You both met accidentally when you bumped into him in a hotel -- he was staying there while you were there for a conference.
You guys were then friends for a very long time -- maybe three to four years. It proceeded until the day that he couldn’t take it anymore and kissed you. 
Unfortunately, you were still unprepared as you believed that he already had some crush on another girl who was an idol. Plus, you were finishing your Bachelor’s Degree.
You did like him. A lot. He also did, which is why he was a bit discouraged by your reaction after the kiss -- shy and worried. You then expressed your worries and ended it with a joke; “Ask me to be your girlfriend on Christmas Day”. And he did so, taking your joke seriously. But that is how you both started dating.
“Interesting~~” Woo-Young hummed as the eldest sighed out, knowing that the youngers were going to tease him. “Does Manager already know about this?” Yun-Ho asked as Seong-Hwa nodded, “He does, I’m a bit sad that I won’t be able to celebrate Christmas with you guys and ATINY though..” he trailed off as Hong-Joong entered the room and patted his back.
“It’s ok, we all understand why Christmas is such an important date for you,” he comforted as the older smiled…
At Incheon Airport, Seong-Hwa was waiting for you. He was a bit impatient, looking around sporadically to see if he could spot you before you spot him. He looked down at the watch that you gave him the first time you celebrated his birthday.
He then looked up and saw you walking out, looking at the opposite side, seemingly looking for him too. He quickly walked over to you, and tapped your shoulder. You turned around, beamed and hugged him tightly as he chuckled at your reaction.
“Hwa!” you squeal as he hugs you back. Your head was leaning on his chest, making you hear his heart softly thump. He then petted your hair softly, wanting to kiss you but being unable to because of the mask that you both were wearing. “I missed you,” you coo as you look up to him, he then gives you a sweet eye smile -- the same eye smile that made you fall in love with him. “I missed you too, babygirl,” he whispers, making you feel butterflies in your stomach.
You guys then reached an amusement park, Seong-Hwa’s Manager leaving your suitcases at the hotel. “C’mon,” Seong-Hwa called as he held your hand tightly, “I know you wanted to reminisce about your childhood and to have fun after your stressful exams,” he smiles as you fake cry. Your cry sounded real, making Seong-Hwa get worried, turning around to see you.
“Hwa!~~” you cried out, hugging him, making him notice how you were acting. He sighed in relief, flicking the top of your head softly, “Don’t scare me,” he chuckled as you laughed. “Thank you, Seong-Hwa,. I didn’t know what to get you..” you looked down as he looked at you with soft eyes.
“Baby.. Look at me,” he said while lifting your face up by your chin, “You being my side is already a gift,” finished, making you wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him down to kiss him. He softly gasped, as you caught him off guard. However, he quickly kissed you back, and later you pulled away -- holding his hand again. “Let’s go!~” you said excitedly as it had been a long time since you’ve had fun.
You guys went on a carousel, ate cotton candy, took a quick break while visiting an aquarium and even drank some hot chocolate in the cafe that was in it. As sunset came by, Seong-Hwa basically became a cuddle bear. He walked behind you while wrapping his long coat around you. Supposedly it was “too cold” for you, and even though you were fine with the cold, you didn’t say anything as you missed his hugs.
The last ride that you guys took was the Ferris Wheel. You knew about Seong-Hwa’s fear of heights, which is why you asked him if he really wanted to. “I want to, because I want you to be happy.” he said firmly, which made your heart skip a beat. You smiled at him as he rubbed your head softly.
In the Ferris Wheel, you sat beside Seong-Hwa, holding his hand all the time. As the capsule that you guys were in reached the very top, the sun shone right into you guys. You then took this chance to calm him down by kissing him sweetly.
He immediately responded, kissing you back with the same softness and passion, holding your hand ever so slightly tighter. You then used one hand to cup his cheek, the warmth of your hand making his heart burst in joy. You both then leaned on each other’s forehead, breathing out softly as the capsule slowly descended.
At the hotel room, you walked out of the bathroom, seeing Seong-Hwa in the bathrobe, drying his hair with a towel while the bed was covered with the petals of your favorite flower. “Hwa?” you asked as he smiled at you, “Do you like it?” he asked while patting the spot beside him.
You nodded, sitting behind him. “Let me dry your hair,” you said as he hummed. You then grabbed onto the towel, softly rubbing the water droplets off his hair. It was a silent and sweet moment, which was cut off shortly when Seong-Hwa turned around.
“.. You know I love you a lot.. Right?” he whispered as you nodded, slowly, fear creeping and engulfing your body. He then kissed your forehead, his left hand cupping your left cheek while his right hand guided your left hand to his heart. You felt it beating, quickly and strongly. You felt his aura go confident yet soft and fiery. You were confused.
He then smiled, “Is it ok.. If I make you mine.. Tonight?” he asked as it caught you off guard, making your cheeks feel heated. “H-Huh?” you questioned as he smiled, “Like this,” he whispered -- his lips connecting to yours like magnets. Fireworks went off in your hearts, the heat slowly rising as your lips danced like a waltz, in sync and gracefully.
He slowly pushed you back to the bed, pinning both of your hands with one of his. Kissing your neck and nibbling on it softly, making you gasp at the new feeling. He kept on kissing, trying to find your sweet spot. After a small second, he found it, making you moan out, feeling more fireworks burst in your heart.
He smiled against your neck, sucking on the spot to create a mark on you. “Seong-Hwa!~” you moaned out as he then pulled away, looking down at the bright red mark. “Are you okay?” he asked as you nodded. He then freed your hands from his grasp, ready to sit back up, feeling that you were unprepared.
However, you caught him before he left, wrapping your arms around his neck. You then looked away, a bit scared yet prepared. “Seong-Hwa.. Please?..” you whispered out, catching his attention. “Yes?” he teased as your cheeks felt heated. You closed your eyes, being unable to answer him. “So, I have your permission?” he whispered in your ear as you shivered from his breath.
“Yes..” you answered as he smiled. “Thank you for trusting me, babygirl,” he said, kissing your forehead softly while he untied your bathrobe’s ribbon. You squeaked, covering yourself before he parted the bathrobe. He chuckled at your reaction, “Don’t worry.. I won’t bite.. Do you want a safety word?” he asked as you gulped. “I.. I think I will be fine..” you whispered out as you slowly moved your hands away.
Seong-Hwa then cupped your left cheek, caressing your cheek and proceeding to kiss you again. His other hand massaged your tummy, making you feel the tingles. He then pulled away, his black marbles showcasing multiple emotions -- love, happiness, lust, and passion.
He untied his bathrobe, as you sat up, slipping out of yours. “I.. Want you,” you said confidently as he smiled.
“Babygirl, there aren’t enough words for me to express how much I love you.. This is only our second anniversary -- our second year of being a couple but I am sure that in the future, I want to be the man that puts that ring on your finger and call you my wife.. Are you ready, my love?..” ..
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hello~~ I am finally back momentarily lol.
I had a rough two weeks because of Quarter Exams and I had multiple mental and emotional breakdowns but I was able to push myself back up so it’s all good.
For the person that requested it, I hope you enjoyed it! It was a bit hard to combine both the Fluff and Suggestive -- I tried my best! 
(Please also bear in mind that school has fucked me up so I ain’t doing too well but I’ll slowly recuperate and bring back more stuff for you guys!)
HOWEVER -- I was also able to get better because ATEEZ CAMEBACK
Like holy shit. 
They chose violence. 
All in all they all fucken crushed it. It was amazing to see ‘em perform and it was great to hear Min-Gi in it. I hope that he is still resting and getting better! I’m sure he’ll be back with the boys soon. 
San brought back his demon, so did Seong-Hwa (these two fellas killed me with their facial expressions and vocals). Yun-Ho in all black was a blessing. Center and Black Hair Yeo-Sang was supreme. Hong-Joong’s new hairstyle in the MV was cool. Jong-Ho’s vocals!~ Woo-Young and his sexiness. Like. Violence. They chose Violence. 
Overall, I loved everything about this comeback. Take Me Home is beautiful as fuck and I love this entire album. 
Hopefully y’all have been taking care of yourselves, take breaks when you need them, drink water and I hope y’all have a good day, afternoon, or evening!~
Use your imagination!~~
Thank you for the support, leave requests, and have a great day!
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knuffled · 3 years
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Just Practice - Chapter 15
this is the most important chapter in the story so far since chapter seven, so i hope you enjoy this! if you could drop a comment and/or reblog to support all the hard work, it would mean a lot to me! 
here’s the ao3 link
The first thing that greeted Annabeth when she stepped out of her car was the sound of crashing waves and the smell of sea salt carried on a gentle breeze. She leaned against the side of her car and drank in the view of the ocean, relishing in the way the wind tousled her hair. The beach was packed with families and college students on spring break, and for good reason. It was late March, and the weather was absolutely perfect outside. The sand was pleasantly warm between her toes, and seagulls cawed overhead in a clear blue sky.
Coming to the beach for spring break had been Rachel’s idea. Her father owned a villa not far from the shore, and she had offered to let them all stay there overnight. It was exactly what Annabeth needed after the past month and a half. After Percy’s victory at state, Annabeth had been absolutely swamped with school work. Nearly every week there was some new project deadline, essay to turn in, or exam to study for, and by the time finals rolled around, Annabeth found herself running on fumes. She hadn’t realized how bad it was until she came home after her final exam and promptly passed the fuck out in her room only to wake up the following afternoon, seventeen hours later.
Annabeth gave herself some time to just stand barefoot in the sand until Piper texted her, informing her that she and Jason were setting up camp further down the beach where it was more secluded. Taking that as her cue to move, Annabeth leisurely made her way down the beach and found Piper and Jason a few minutes later, trying to set up a beach umbrella. The umbrella was an ancient red and white striped monstrosity that looked like it had seen better days. Annabeth watched her friends struggle for a while, amused by how frustrated they were getting when the base of the umbrella slipped in the sand, until Piper noticed her and scowled.
“Are you just gonna stand there and watch or do you plan on helping out?” Piper huffed.
“But you were doing oh so well without me,” Annabeth said innocently. “I wouldn’t want to get in the way or anything.”
Jason put a hand on Piper’s shoulder before she could snap and offered Annabeth a tired smile. “We could really use your help, Annabeth.”
“Well, since you asked so nicely.”
Piper muttered something foul under her breath, but Annabeth couldn’t help grinning anyways before she went to help Jason. It took longer than she would have liked, but eventually the three of them managed to get the umbrella to stay in place, just as Hazel, Frank, and Leo arrived.
Leo pointed at the umbrella and said, “That thing looks like it came straight out of the fifties.”
“Shut it, Valdez,” Piper snapped. “We just spent nearly twenty minutes trying to get that fucker to stay still.”
Leo held his palms up in surrender. “Ok, apologies. Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I get it. It’s cool.”
“That wasn’t an invitation to keep talking,” Piper warned.
Leo pantomimed zipping his lips, making Annabeth grin. Rolling her eyes, Hazel unzipped her backpack and handed each of them a bottle of homemade lemonade.
“Hopefully, it’s still cold and all the ice didn’t melt,” Hazel said.
Piper took a sip and moaned, “Hazel, you’re a goddamn lifesaver.”
“Don’t make noises like that in public,” Annabeth quipped.
Although she wanted to glare at Annabeth, Piper spotted Rachel and Percy further down the beach and called out to them instead. Annabeth’s heart suddenly began pounding harder in her chest, and she found herself involuntarily searching for him over her shoulder. They had barely talked or even seen each other since State, so she had expected to be more excited to see him, but she found herself strangely nervous instead. The nervousness only grew worse for some reason when Percy noticed her and sent her a warm smile.
“Sorry we’re late,” Percy said. “Rache forgot something so we had to drive back to her place.”
“Let’s not sweat the details,” Rachel said, waving her hand dismissively. “Now, I don’t know about you all, but I am dying to get into the water. Anyone know where the changing rooms are?”
“I saw some on the way here,” Hazel said. “Annabeth, did you want to join us?”
Annabeth cleared her throat and shook her head. “Uh, no, I’m wearing my swimsuit under my clothes already.”
With that, Hazel nodded and left with Rachel for the changing rooms. The boys went down to the water, but Percy stayed behind since he had brought some beach towels with him. He spread them beneath the umbrella so they wouldn’t have to sit on the sand. Piper left a short while later once she was done applying some sunscreen, leaving Annabeth and Percy alone. Annabeth borrowed Piper’s sunscreen as an excuse to leave after Percy did, but he plopped down beside her with a sigh instead.
Annabeth couldn’t help sneaking a quick sidelong glance at him. He looked good, really good. His unzipped black sweatshirt billowed in the breeze and stood in sharp contrast to the white shirt he wore underneath. There was a relaxed, easy smile on his face, and his sun-kissed skin made him look positively radiant.
“Hey, stranger,” Percy said, derailing her thoughts. “Haven’t seen you in a hot minute.”
Annabeth tucked her hair behind her reddening ears and said, “Y-Yeah, not since State, I think.”
“Glad to see you’re still in one piece,” Percy said.
Annabeth breathed a laugh. “Not entirely sure about that.”
Percy cocked his head to the side and studied her. “You do look a little worse for the wear.”
“Rude.”
“And who’s fault is that?” Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. “I distinctly remember warning you not to take three AP courses your senior year, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”
Annabeth scowled and said, “You don’t have to sound so smug about it.”
Percy laughed and leaned back on his elbows. “And what would be the fun in that? It’s not every day that you get to tell Annabeth Chase that you told her so.”
“Someone sure sounds awfully pleased with himself.”
“Oh, believe me, I am,” Percy said, grinning. “But I do suppose I can cut you some slack. You know, considering how we’re at the beach and all.”
“How magnanimous of you,” Annabeth deadpanned.
Percy made a show of clapping mildly. “Oh, well done. That sounded like an SAT word.”
Annabeth barked a laugh despite herself and shoved him, but that only made his grin widen. She was relieved to feel the awkwardness dissipating between them, but her respite was short lived because Percy suddenly removed his shirt and tossed it on the towel beside her.
“W-What are you doing? Why are you taking off your clothes?” Annabeth stammered, unable to hide the panic in her voice.
Percy looked at her like she had sprouted a second head. “It’s kind of hard to go swimming when you still have your clothes on.”
Annabeth looked away to hide the fact that her face was turning pink. “I know that! But can’t you go change in the changing rooms?”
Percy blinked in surprise and said, “Oh, sorry. You’ve seen me do this like a hundred times, so I didn’t think that you’d mind.”
He was right. She had seen him shirtless more times than she could count, so why was she suddenly being so weird about it? She needed to get a fucking grip. And yet, it was everything she could do not to stare shamelessly at him. Christ, at this proximity, the scent of his cologne was inescapable, and it only served to make her feel even more flustered.
“Annabeth, are you okay? You’ve been acting really strange,” Percy said.
“I-I’m fine,” Annabeth squeaked. “Just tired.”
“Alright, try not to push yourself,” Percy said, standing up. “I’m gonna head down to the water now. Let me know if you need anything.”
Annabeth nodded, still refusing to look at him. It was only after he was gone that she stopped holding her breath. She screwed her eyes shut and buried her face in her hands. What the fuck was she doing? Why was she acting so weird? All her feelings seemed to contradict one another. She felt a bizarre mix of exhilaration and anxiety, like thousands of butterflies fluttering about in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes were drawn to Percy even though she couldn’t bear to look at him. There was definitely something wrong with her.
Annabeth took a deep breath and forced herself to stand up and head down to the water. For now, she resolved herself to just make the most of her time at the beach instead of wallowing in her own awkwardness. Nevertheless, she did make a point of avoiding where Percy was to give herself a breather. However, in her momentary lapse of concentration, Piper snuck up on her and tackled her into the sea, sending salt water rushing up her nose.
She surfaced sputtering and discombobulated only to find Piper laughing uproariously behind her. Annabeth chased after her in a murderous rage, but Piper quickly retreated to the sea and put some distance between them. Piper had always been the better swimmer, so it took a few minutes before Annabeth finally caught her, but once she did, Annabeth dunked her underwater for a full minute as payback.
Eventually, Rachel and Hazel returned from the changing rooms and joined them in the water as well. They all splashed around together for a few hours under the midday sun, and Annabeth forgot all about how awkward she felt around Percy.
They broke for lunch after that and settled on a shack that sold burgers further up the beach. Unfortunately, the only vegetarian option on the menu was fries, so Piper had to drive herself to a nearby Taco Bell. Annabeth couldn’t help feeling sorry for her when Piper returned twenty minutes later, absolutely livid, because the rest of them had already finished eating.
“I can’t fucking believe there are still restaurants in this day and age that don’t have vegetarian options,” Piper fumed.
“Remind me to buy some stuff for dinner tonight so you don’t have to do this again,” Rachel said, yawning.
“How far away is your villa again?” Frank asked.
“Just a fifteen minute drive or so,” Rachel said, finishing her salad. “We’ve got a firepit out back, so we can have a bonfire tonight! We can make smores and everything.”
“Dibs on lighting the bonfire,” Leo said quickly.
“Abso-fucking-lutely not,” Piper said vehemently.
“C’mon, I promise I’ll keep it under control this time, Pipes,” Leo pleaded.
“The last time you were in charge of the bonfire, you nearly burned my fucking house down,” Piper snapped.
“That was like three years ago!”
“It was at my birthday last June.”
“I’ll handle the fire, Leo,” Jason interrupted. “You can help me out if you’d like.”
Leo sank in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “You guys are no fun.”
“A bonfire sounds nice,” Frank said, ignoring him.
“Yeah, it’ll be chill,” Rachel said, nodding. “We’ll have a section of the beach all to ourselves. I think my dad probably has some alcohol stashed away somewhere in the house.”
“Percy, watch over us and make sure we don’t do anything stupid,” Piper said, throwing an arm around his shoulder.
Percy gave her a wary look. “I don’t recall volunteering to be a babysitter.”
“But you’re the only one here that doesn’t drink,” Piper protested. “Pretty please?”
Percy raised an eyebrow. “Buttering me up isn’t going to work, you know.”
“Annabeth, help me convince your boyfriend,” Piper whined.
Annabeth paused mid-drink and looked between them. “Don’t look at me. I’m not the one that’ll get black-out drunk and try to like hunt for mermaids or something.”
That got a laugh out of everyone, much to Piper’s chagrin.
After they finished eating, they returned to their spot under the umbrella. Hazel and Frank went back to laze around in the water while Rachel and Leo decided to go build sandcastles on the beach. The rest of them sat under the umbrella and talked amongst themselves for a while, but eventually Jason left for the bathroom. Percy joined him because he said he had spotted a shop selling snow cones on the way here, leaving Annabeth alone with Piper.
Once they were out of earshot, Piper turned to Annabeth with a wolfish grin. “Lovin’ the swimsuit, babe.”
“This is hardly anything special,” Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. She was just wearing a plain black two piece she’d found at Target the summer before.
Piper raised an eyebrow and said, “Percy certainly seemed to think it was. Boy couldn’t take his eyes off you.”
Annabeth blinked in surprise. Piper had to be trolling her. Sure, she had felt his eyes on her a few times, but that didn’t mean anything.
“You’re obviously fucking with me.”
“I’m being serious,” Piper laughed. “You look hot, Annababe.”
Annabeth looked down at her swimsuit and felt her face heat up. She didn’t really think she was much to look at honestly. It wasn’t like she had low self-esteem or anything, but her body had always been more of an instrument to her than a source of beauty. If you asked her, the only things she really had going for her were her height and the slender, toned physique that she had built over years of running long distance. Beyond that, Annabeth thought she was rather plain.
“Thanks,” Annabeth mumbled.
“You’re welcome,” Piper said, stifling a yawn. “I wonder what’s taking him so long.”
Annabeth shielded her eyes from the sun and scanned the beach for Percy, but she didn’t see him anywhere. Instead of sitting around and getting stuck in her thoughts, Annabeth decided to take her mind off things and search for him instead.
She stood up and brushed the sand off her thighs and said, “I’m gonna go look for him.”
“Ok, stay safe,” Piper said. “I think I’m going to take a nap.”
Annabeth nodded and made her way back in the direction of the parking lot. Percy had said that the snow cone shop was on the other end, but he still should have gotten back by now. Maybe he was having trouble carrying all those snow cones by himself or perhaps the line was really long. She made it all the way to the shop without running into Percy, and she couldn’t see him standing in line either.
She scanned the surrounding area for him without much luck and almost gave up on her search when she spotted the familiar outline of his back. He was cradling a carton of snow cones in his arms and talking to two college aged girls. Annabeth took a step forward, trepidation filling her chest. She couldn’t make out the look on his face because his back was turned towards her, but she thought she caught a glimpse of a polite, confused smile on his face, like he wasn’t entirely sure why the girls were talking to him.
Annabeth balled her hands in fists at her sides and clenched her jaw. It was obvious by the way the girls laughed sycophantically and twirled their hair, practically thrusting their tits in his face, that they were hitting on him. What did the idiot think would happen if he was gonna waltz around the beach shirtless like that?
She had half a mind to go over and interrupt them, but for some reason she found herself rooted in place. Annabeth wasn’t sure why she disliked them so much, but the more she thought about it, the less reason she realized she had to interfere. Percy wasn’t actually her boyfriend after all. Besides, he was free to leave at any time, but he hadn’t which probably meant he wanted to be there. In any case, it was none of her business to step in.
And yet, she couldn’t force herself to simply turn on her heels and leave either.
But then one of the girls, a haughty looking redhead, started tugging on his forearm insistently. Percy made a small show of resistance, enough to show he wasn’t interested, but apparently they didn’t seem to pick up on that because the other girl decided to help her friend by tugging Percy’s other arm.
Annabeth moved without realizing what she was doing and pulled Percy against her chest. A possessive thrill rushed through her when the look of discomfort on his face gave way to relief once he saw her.
She positioned herself in front of Percy and glared at the girls. “What’s going on here?”
The redhead’s eyes flashed with irritation, but she forced herself to muster a saccharine smile. “Oh, we were just inviting him to come have some drinks with us.”
“Can’t you see he’s clearly uncomfortable?” Annabeth asked. “I’m guessing he even told you he doesn’t drink too.”
The girls exchanged looks with each other. “I mean, he was obviously joking about that.”
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “Or maybe you just don’t know how to take no for an answer.”
The girls recoiled like they had been slapped across the face. Annabeth took the opportunity to whisper to Percy that they were leaving and led him away by the hand before the girls could react. The girls protested behind them, but the only thing Annabeth could focus on was the feeling of Percy’s hand in hers. Blood pounded in Annabeth’s ears, and something simmered in her veins like magma. It took her a while to realize that Percy was calling out for her to stop.
“Annabeth, slow down,” Percy said. “You’re hurting me.”
Annabeth dropped his wrist like she’d been burned and looked away. “Sorry.”
Percy set the snow cones down and rubbed his wrist. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sur-”
“I said I’m fine,” Annabeth snapped.
Her tone was harsh enough to prove she was lying, but she couldn’t help it. Something dark smoldered in the pit of her stomach, making her restless. She didn’t know what it was, but the sensation was intolerable and she wanted it to stop.
Percy put a hand on her shoulder and forced her to face him. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Annabeth balled her hands into fists and stared at her feet. “I-I don’t know. I’m just- I don’t know, I feel really weird.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just hated it, seeing the way they were clinging on to you,” Annabeth said tightly. “Why didn’t you just leave? It was like you wanted them to fawn all over you.”
“I tried but they wouldn’t let me leave.”
Annabeth met his eyes for the first time. “If you really wanted to leave, they wouldn’t have been able to stop you.”
Percy blinked in surprise and furrowed his brow. “Are you- are you jealous?”
Annabeth crossed her arms over her chest, and her face began to prickle. “I-I don’t know. I just didn’t like it.”
Percy’s lips tugged upwards involuntarily in a smile, making Annabeth even angrier. “What’s so funny?”
Percy hid his smile behind his hand. “Oh, um, nothing. Sorry. I just wanted to say that you didn’t have anything to worry about. They were making me super uncomfortable.”
Annabeth pursed her lips and said, “I find that kind of hard to believe.”
“Annabeth, come on, you could tell that they were creeping the fuck out of me from a mile away,” Percy said exasperatedly.
That was enough to coax a smile out of her. “You mean you didn’t like getting eye fucked by total strangers?”
Percy gave her an incredulous look and said, “You know, having tried it, I can’t really say it’s for me.”
“Yeah?” Annabeth asked, grinning.
“Yes,” Percy said flatly. “Besides, I already have a lovely fake-girlfriend willing to save me when I’m a damsel in distress.”
Annabeth’s heart skipped a beat. “Sounds like a real catch.”
“Oh, she most definitely is.”
Annabeth knew that Percy had meant it as a joke, but it made her heart squeeze a little in her chest all the same. She turned away before her face turned red and fought the ridiculous urge to smile. Christ, she needed to get ahold of herself.
“You good?” Percy asked carefully.
Annabeth nodded. “Yeah.”
“We should get going then,” Percy said. “The snow cones are starting to melt.”
“And who’s fault is that?” Annabeth said, raising an eyebrow.
“Don’t be rude to the guy that bought you a strawberry-rhubarb snow cone.”
“A thousand apologies, your majesty.”
Percy hummed happily to himself. “That’s more like it.”
:::
After sunset, they finally left the beach and made for Rachel’s villa. The villa was massive, easily twice the size of Annabeth’s house, and designed in a Spanish style. Annabeth took a moment to admire the terracotta tiled roof, and the large windows that allowed for a generous view of the Pacific. The villa had six separate bedrooms, which she personally found a bit excessive, but it proved to be for the best since there were eight of them. After Rachel took a room for herself, the rest of them drew straws to determine who would have a room to themselves, and Annabeth somehow managed to win.
Annabeth’s first course of action after dropping off her luggage was to shower. She didn’t like having to shower after spending so much time in the ocean since it made her skin all dry and wrinkly, but it was still a relief to finally wash off all the sand that had stuck to her all day. Unfortunately, Annabeth had been forced to pack in a hurry, so she could only change into what she worn earlier that morning. She had only brought a single change of clothes with her and that was for tomorrow.
She took some time to admire her room while she towel-dried her hair. It wasn’t particularly large, but it was tastefully decorated. A large queen bed sat in the center of the room, flanked by a small cherry wood drawer. Sheer linen curtains framed a tall window that looked out over the ocean. Annabeth leaned against the open window sill and drank in the view of the Pacific. The full moon hung directly overhead and cast its pale, diffused reflection onto the dark water below.
Just as she finished drying her hair, there was a knock at her door. Percy peered into her room, fiddling with the zipper on his sweatshirt.
“Hey, ready to go? I think Jason and Leo are getting the fire started.”
Annabeth set her towel aside and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”
The bonfire was nearly fully lit by the time they arrived. Jason sat atop one of the four logs circling the pit and kept a watchful eye on the flames. Off to the side, Frank was helping Leo dump some charcoal into the mouth of an expensive looking barbeque grill. Rachel and Hazel chatted to themselves and cut meat and vegetables at the outdoor kitchen countertop. Piper was the only one that appeared to be missing.
Percy noticed that Frank and Leo were having trouble and went over to help them with the grill, leaving Annabeth alone. She didn’t want to be the only one twiddling her thumbs so she figured she would go and help Rachel and Hazel.
“Need any help?” Annabeth asked them.
Hazel shook her head. “No thanks. We are pretty much done here, but we appreciate the offer.”
“Besides, not sure how much I trust you in the kitchen with a knife,” Rachel teased.
“I’m not completely hopeless. I made Percy chicken soup when he got sick, and he said it was pretty good,” Annabeth protested.
Rachel laughed and said, “You could literally make Percy drink poison, and he’d tell you it was delicious if you were the one that made it.”
Blood rushed to Annabeth’s face, making Rachel laugh even harder. She patted Annabeth’s shoulder benevolently and said, “Trust me. It’s for your own good, Chase.”
Annabeth shrugged her off and sat on one of the logs with a scowl. “Where’s Piper?”
“Rachel forgot to get her ingredients, so she had to go buy herself dinner again, the poor girl,” Hazel said.
Rachel looked repentant enough for Annabeth to feel sorry for her, so Annabeth tried to comfort her by saying, “She’s probably more than happy to have Taco Bell twice in one day.”
Annabeth started when someone swatted the back of her head. She turned and looked up with a frown to see Piper standing behind her, holding a burrito.
“Heard that, asshole.”
“You’re literally eating a burrito right now,” Annabeth muttered.
Piper’s face turned pink. “It’s from Chipotle! You can tell by the size!”
“Wow, someone’s getting adventurous,” Annabeth deadpanned.
Piper sat down at the log across from her, beside Jason, and narrowed her eyes. “Bite me.”
Annabeth was interrupted by Leo before she could respond. He skipped over to them with a manic grin and said, “We finally got the grill working!”
“You’re not gonna accidentally blow us up or anything right?” Piper asked dubiously.
“Pipes, charcoal can’t explode,” Leo said flatly. “I know you’re a vegetarian and all, but that’s literally second grade science class.”
“You can never be too sure when it comes to you,” Piper sniffed.
Leo rolled his eyes and waltzed over to Hazel and Rachel. “Looks like you’re almost done! I’ll start taking things over to the grill to get started.”
“Frank, make sure you keep an eye on him!” Hazel shouted when Leo took a plateful of meat and vegetables with him.
Rachel declared to the group that she would go find where her father had stashed his alcohol and returned a short while later with an assortment of liquor and a tray full of glasses. They all poured themselves drinks, apart from Percy, and sat around the fire.
Annabeth had helped herself to some fancy looking bourbon, mainly because she had never tried it before. Her first sip made her throat burn and forced her to cough. Percy gave her a worried look, but she ignored him and took another sip. Once she got over how strong it was, she had to admit that the bourbon was really good. It didn’t take long for that familiar warmth to spread through her body and soften the harsh edges of the world around her.
It took some time for the food to arrive, but it was well worth the wait. Frank had found an array of spices in the kitchen pantry to season the meat with, so even the smell was incredible. After an exhausting day at the beach, they all practically inhaled their food. Piper finished her food first since she had a head start and set up a smores station for dessert. It wasn’t long before they were fighting for spots to roast their marshmallows on the fire.
Later, Rachel disappeared inside the villa and returned with an acoustic guitar. She strummed a few chords and started singing softly, the sound of waves and the crackling fire providing an ambient backdrop. At first, she sang on her own and they were content to listen, but as they got more drunk and uninhibited, they would join in whenever she played a tune they recognized. Barring Frank and Piper, the rest of them were practically tone-deaf, so it sounded so bad that it would send them all into fits of laughter.
It was at times like this that Annabeth was struck by just how lucky she was to have such good friends. She didn’t have many good things in her life, but this was one of them and it wouldn’t last forever. There was no telling where they would all be in a years time or if they would ever be this close again, but that didn’t make her feel sad. Instead, an overwhelming sense of love and gratitude surged through her veins, compelling her to drink in every moment and seat it into her memory so that she would never forget.
But through it all, Annabeth found her eyes drawn to the boy sitting beside her the most. She unconsciously pulled herself closer to Percy over the course of the night and luxuriated in the way their elbows knocked together, a reminder that he was there. Annabeth would catch herself staring at him and the way the flames lit up his laughing face, making him all look every bit as invincible as she felt. At some point, she caught his hand and tangled his fingers between her own, and when he squeezed her hand, she smiled so hard it hurt.
As the night wore on, more of them left, unable to stay awake any longer, until eventually Percy and Annabeth were the only one remaining. The quietness was welcome change after all the noise they had been making, but it was hard not to fall asleep the sound of the rolling waves. Annabeth struggled to keep her drooping eyes open, but Percy looked perfectly fine, probably because he was the only one who hadn’t drank.
“You should go get some sleep,” Percy murmured. “Look like you’re gonna pass out.”
Annabeth hummed and rested her head on his shoulder. “Don’t want to.”
“If you’re expecting me to carry you, you’re going to be sorely mistaken,” Percy said, raising an eyebrow. “You’re too heavy.”
If she had the energy, Annabeth would have scowled. “Rude.”
Percy grinned and looked out over the ocean with a pensive, almost melancholy look. Annabeth poked his cheek with her finger to get him to look at her.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Percy said. “About everything, I guess.”
“Hmm, deep.”
Percy laughed and said, “Alright, smarty pants, I was thinking about the future and my friends and you.”
“Then why do you look so sad?” Annabeth asked, sitting up straighter.
Percy blinked in surprise and said, “I look sad?”
Annabeth nodded and pressed a finger to his brow. “You’re giving yourself wrinkles, like you always do when you’re upset.”
There was a pause before Percy said, “Remember earlier when you saved me from those college girls?”
“What about it?”
Percy stared up at the sky and smiled bitterly. “I never imagined you would ever get jealous over me.”
Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but Annabeth found herself saying, “Neither did I.”
Percy turned to her with wide eyes, making her frown. “What?”
“I, uh, wasn’t expecting you to answer seriously.”
Annabeth rolled her eyes and nudged him affectionately. “I’m taking this seriously because you are.”
Percy smiled softly and said, “Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome, you dork,” Annabeth said fondly. “Honestly, since when did you become the serious, responsible out of the two of us. What ever happened to the kid that caught frogs during recess and put worms in Nancy Bobofit’s locker?”
Percy laughed and said, “Well, one of us had to grow up, so I figured it might as well be me.”
Annabeth half-heartedly jabbed him with her elbow. “Jerk.”
“You’ve grown up a lot too,” Percy said. “You just don’t realize it.”
“Yeah, how so?” Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You’ve learned to temper yourself. When you were younger, it was like fire ran through your veins. You acted like the world and everything were promised to you, not out of some sense of arrogance, but like it was your birthright. I remember how you used to argue with the teachers and stuff in front of the whole class because it never occurred to you that there were people you shouldn’t pick fights with. I was always kind of in of awe of how stupidly brave you were. I still am,” Percy said, softly.
A lump formed in Annabeth’s throat. Percy was right, about everything, but that wasn’t what was getting to her. It was the fact that his words were a testament to the fact that he had been there with her since the beginning. He had seen her as a bossy, bratty little seven year old and had stuck by her side all the way till now.
“We have been through a lot together, haven’t we?” Annabeth asked thickly.
The tender look in Percy’s eyes made her heart squeeze a little in her chest. “Yeah, we have.”
Annabeth screwed her eyes shut, unable to look at him. She didn’t want this to end, but the moment was beginning to get too much for her, so she stood up suddenly.
“Alright, enough with all the sappiness,” Annabeth said. “Race you to the beach?”
Without waiting for him to respond, Annabeth took off for the water’s edge, running as hard as she could. Percy started a moment later, humoring her like always, and quickly made up the distance. If it wasn’t for the sand and the fact that she was super drunk, Annabeth would have won, but it wasn’t long before Percy caught up to her and slung her over his shoulder. Annabeth shrieked and pounded on his back.
“You better not dump me in the water, you asshole!” Annabeth yelled.
Percy ignored her and sped towards the water, making her fear for the worst. She braced herself for impact, but it never came. Instead, he set her down onto dry sand and grinned down at her. Annabeth scowled and stood up, dusting the sand off her shorts, watching as he rolled up his shorts and waded further into the water. The encroaching tide was cold enough to make her jump when it tickled her toes, but Percy seemed perfectly fine going knee deep into it.
The moonlight streamed down on him, illuminating half his face with its pale glow. Wind rustled his hair and billowed through his clothes as he stared out at the horizon. Under the moonlight, he seemed to age backwards and actually look his eighteen years - the hard lines of worry on his brow smoothened, and the tightness and frustration in his jaws released. There was something about his pale figure standing in the inky sea that made him look so beautiful and true that it made it hard for her to breathe. It reminded her of how Piper had said she had fallen for Jason, how he had seemed to glow, and she couldn’t help feeling like she understood exactly what Piper had meant.
Percy noticed her looking and raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Annabeth balled her hands into fists at her side. She wasn’t ready to say it. Not yet. “N-Nothing.”
Percy didn’t look convinced, but he shrugged all the same. Annabeth stared down at her feet so that she wouldn’t be forced to look at him, but her heart pounded in her chest urgently. She started when Percy draped his sweatshirt over her shoulders and stepped past her. It was warm, and it smelled like him.
“I’m gonna head inside,” Percy said softly. “Don’t stay out for too long, okay?”
Annabeth nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Percy lingered there for a moment longer before leaving. Annabeth waited till she heard him enter the villa before she collapsed down on the sand and hugged her knees to her chest. An explanation for her actions and feelings today were finally starting to dawn on her, which sent equal parts terror and exhilaration coursing through her as she stared up at the moon. Her inability to look at him conflicting with her desire never to leave him, the nervousness and exhilaration, the jealousy - all of it pointed to one thing. She was just having a hard time accepting it.
Whenever Annabeth had imagined falling in love, she had expected it to strike her like a bolt of lightning, illuminating her with a sudden, arresting, all-consuming knowledge.
She hadn’t ever imagined that it would be like this: soft and gentle, like an unfolding discovery, the way the petals unfurled when a flower bloomed. And yet, just as sure, just as certain.
Annabeth buried her face in her hands. Try as she might, she couldn’t deny it any longer.
Fuck.
She was in love with him, wasn’t she? She was in love with Percy Jackson.
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ashxketchum · 3 years
Text
Writer’s Month - 2
Wow, not me writing something for two days in a row? This one is a stand-alone oneshot for now, but I think there is a lot of potential for a sequel, I even have some part of it clearly planned out so if time allows me to sit down with my laptop sooner than later, I’ll work on that! 
Fandom/Pairing: Digimon/Mimato (friendship, yes I am capable of writing something other than romance between these two hahahaaa) 
Prompt: Coffee shop setting, cold (Yamato is very cold here, it’s actually kinda angsty) 
Setting: Post Tri but pre Kizuna. Yamato is in his first year of college and Mimi is in her last year of high school. The basis for this fic is solely the dialogue in To Sora, I wanted to explore the idea of Mimi and Yamato growing closer and having important conversations with each other, but it had to have a rocky start and this is that rocky start! 
~
“I’ll have a venti matcha berry frappe, nonfat, refrigerated chilled milk, absolutely no ice, extra whipped cream, which, make sure, is layered perfectly, with three pumps of caramel syrup and two of vanilla.”
He could feel his manager’s eyes boring into his back, so Yamato did what any other good employee in his place would, he kept a straight face and diligently noted down the customer’s request before moving on to ringing it up without once bothering to look at the girl standing behind the counter or ask for her name. He wondered if his manager would find it strange, that he hadn’t taken the customer’s name, but seeing as Yamato was already putting all his effort into concentrating well on his job and not explode on the brunette who seemed to take some pleasure out of his misery, he decided that he was allowed this one slip and he’d deal with his manager later, since the bigger problem was in front of him, eyeing him with a teasing glint in her caramel eyes as he picked up the paper cup and moved over to the work station to begin working on her order. He did however, kept a track of what his manager was doing from the corner of his eye, and the minute the older man was out of sight, Yamato breathed a sigh of relief and spun on his feet.
“Please Mimi, by all means, go ahead and make my job more difficult.” Yamato seethed, managing to keep his voice low so as to not attract any attention to them.
“Well, if you’re going to ask that nicely.” Mimi smirked, as always she had the upper hand in the conversation due to the safety guaranteed by being a customer at the shop.
“Just take the drink and go, let me work in peace.” Yamato attempted to maintain a superior tone as he begged her to leave, turning again to add the finishing touches to her order as quickly as he could, before his superior caught whiff of his not so welcoming attitude towards their customers.
“Now where’s the fun in that?” Mimi beamed at him, as she accepted the finished product from his hand, her fingers brushed against his for a brief moment, suddenly making Yamato hyper aware of the spot at the back of his hand.
“Don’t you have anything better to do? Entrance exams to worry about?” He asked exasperatedly, she seemed too carefree for someone who was in the last year of their high school, remembering his own experience of it from the previous year.
Mimi scoffed in reply, waving a hand in the air to brush aside his concern for her education, instead of turning to make her way out of the store now that she had received her order, she settled on the empty bar stool on the other side of the pick-up counter, resting one elbow on the counter top as she took careful sips of her drink from the other hand. He watched her like a hawk, Yamato wouldn’t put it past the brunette to make fake claims about the taste of the drink just to get him into trouble. 
This had been going on for a few months now, every time he had a shift during her after school hours, Mimi would make it her life’s purpose to show up and annoy him to no extent. He’d attempted to explain to her, that he really needed to keep this job to maintain his life expenses, but apparently the pleasure she took from watching him stumble around while making coffee seemed to take precedent over his livelihood.
Of course, Mimi wasn’t the only one to blame here, if only his roommate at the college dorm wasn’t a bigger pain in the ass, Yamato would never had have to take up this part-time job in the first place. When he had complained to his father about not being able to get along well with his roomie, instead of agreeing to raise his monthly allowance so that Yamato could move out and rent a place of his own, his father had promptly told him that as an adult, he should learn to solve his own problems from now on. Yamato had half a mind to remind his father that him and his friends had not only solved the Digital World’s problems on multiple occasions, but also saved their own world by doing so, but he had stayed quiet and accepted his fate. On Takeru’s recommendation he had taken up a part-time job at this popular coffee joint, the pay was decent and the hours weren’t too bad and well Yamato always had had a knack for being good in the kitchen, so it had been suiting his purposes of saving up to move out of the college dorm as soon as possible just well.
Until Mimi happened to walk in one day and decided to take matters into her own hands.
She had been surprised to see him behind the counter, and at first she had just been curious, about what he was doing here or what he had been up to since the graduation ceremony. Yamato had to admit, that ever since he had graduated high school, he’d finally understood what Jou had been struggling with for the longest time, it wasn’t easy to maintain friendships when one was thrust with the responsibility of taking care of every single aspect of their lives and somehow pursue studies on which one’s future life depended at the same time. He considered himself lucky, if he was able to have a phone conversation with Takeru that lasted more than 5 minutes in a day. So he hadn’t been wary of Mimi popping up every now and them, updating him about her and Koushiro’s school life, and sometimes Jou’s and Sora’s too. It gave him a way to stay connected with everyone without having to make time for them, and while he did feel guilty about this on multiple occasions, he was grateful for it too.
That was before Mimi got bored with just talking about their lives, and decided to spice up their encounters by getting him to light trouble with his manager. It was usually just silly little things like claiming he got her order wrong or giving extremely complicated and hard to follow requests, and she had never pulled something huge that would seriously get Yamato in trouble, but it was still frustrating and it ruined his mojo for the rest of his shift.
There was also the question of why Mimi had suddenly taken such a liking to spending time with him, of all people, since they had never been close enough for a relationship like this. They’d spent time together before sure, and they’d had their fair share of agreements and disagreements when it came to matters related to the Digital World, but apart from that Yamato could barely remember any interactions with her that didn’t circle back to the Digital World or their Digimon Partners. So the thought always nagged at him, at the back of his head, when she would appear with a skip in her step and fix him with one of the brightest smiles he knew.
But then she would go on to do something diabolical, and he’d be reminded of how similar she was to his little brother, which led to him missing Takeru and left him irritated and wishing for her to leave.
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Yamato turned his attention towards the brunette sitting in front of him, she had set down the drink on the counter top and was currently surveying the store with her bright eyes, the mischievous glint in them indicating that she was just looking for something that could serve as prop of the day in interfering with his work. Relieved that he had caught her while she was still in her planning phase, Yamato decided to take control of the situation before his manager returned and reprimanded him for being rude to their customers.
“You really don’t have anything better to do?” Yamato began icily, making Mimi turn her gaze towards him, the challenging look on her face seemed to put the last nail to his patience’s coffin as he snapped at her, “Don’t you have any friends?”
He regretted it the minute those words left his mouth, biting his tongue in an attempt to stop himself from groaning outwardly.
The effect on Mimi was immediate, all colour drained from her face and her eyes shone with a blanket of tears just waiting to fall, but with a single blink she managed to keep them at bay and faced him with a hardened look as she replied quietly, “I thought that’s what we were.”
And before Yamato could make any attempts to take back his statements or even begin to apologize for his behaviour, Mimi was out of the door, leaving behind her drink on the counter and without sparing a single glance in his direction.
Yamato allowed himself to groan out loud when he picked up her cup to clear the counter and found that it was still heavy, she had barely begun to drink it. He couldn’t help but chide himself internally, for missing on something that was so obvious, for even deliberating on an answer that was right in front of his eyes this entire time.
Yamato couldn’t believe that he, of all people, had missed out on the signs of their budding friendship, had pushed it aside as nothing but an occasional nuisance within his routine. 
His optimistic side hoped that he would just explain himself to her when she’d show up tomorrow, even offer her her favourite drink for free as a token of his apology, but a tiny voice at the back of his head reminded him, that there was no way Mimi would come back to spend time with him after this.
Unfortunately, it was the tiny voice that prevailed in its prediction, as Mimi didn’t show the next day or the one after that, or after that.
At first Yamato consoled himself by devoting himself to the tasks at hand, happy to finally be able concentrate on his work, he managed to win praises from his manager on multiple occasions which pushed Mimi’s absence from his surroundings out of his head, and for a while it worked.
But then there were slow days, when he didn’t have much to do but stand behind the counter and look at all the people sitting around in groups of twos and threes, laughing and chatting loudly as they sipped their coffees and munched on their food. The sight would tug on an invisible string in his heart, make him long for Mimi’s teasing smile as she rattled off with an order comprising of the most incompatible ingredients, laughing loudly at the look of horror that would take over his face as he wrote down her instructions. There were days when the shop would be eerily silent, and he’d hear her voice in his head, telling him about something that had happened at school. There were days when someone would walk by with a pet, cuddling it and showering it with affection, making him miss Gabumon’s soft fur and he’d instinctively turn towards the pick-up counter, hoping to tell Mimi about it but was met with emptiness instead.
He hadn’t realised, just how much he had managed to share with her during their encounters, and how he had begun to depend on her company to get him through his mundane work life. And in true Yamato fashion, he had gone ahead and messed it all up by thinking about things from only his perspective.
His father’s words echoed in his mind once again, he had to learn to solve his own problems, and what better time to start than now?
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dumblydork · 3 years
Text
Summer
Hello! I am SO sorry for having gone MIA all of a sudden on Tumblr and Ao3, but life caught up once exams ended and I was in a deep, dark place for sometime. But not to worry, because I'm definitely better now, and finally got over my writer's block/unmotivation (if that's a word) and what better way to start off writing again if not with a Hinny fic?
As usual, I hope you enjoy this sort of non-magic alternate universe, maybe a modern meet-cute of sorts? From the one and only Ginny Weasley's perspective, of course.
Again, you can find my Ao3 right here where I post quite fluffy Wolfstar one shots!
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The summer was harsh in Cornwall, which was where Ginny's family home was situated. She went up to university in London, just having recently finished her second year in Drama. Last summer, she was on a long trip with her best friend Luna, and hadn't been able to make it down to be with her family. But this year, she fully intended to spend as much time as possible with them, even if her older twin brothers were being annoying arses.
"Fred, George, just wipe the bloody tables already!" She screamed, exasperated, even though the twins were not even 20 feet away. The only unique cafe-by-day/restaurant-by-night was owned by Ginny's family. It was a quaint place, serving the best coffee to tourists and locals alike, along with not such a sharply contrasted cosy restaurant theme the place adopted when the sun went down.
And currently, the cafe was a few hours away from opening as a restaurant, and was left in the care of Ginny and her older twin brothers. She had another older brother after the twins, but he was off with his university friends (being an year older) and had even MORE older brothers ranked above the twins. Her oldest brother Bill, worked as a vet in New York, also where the second brother Charlie worked as an art curator. The third brother Percy was currently obtaining his PhD in some sort of Math which Ginny was too 'humanities' to understand (in Percy's own words, that subject bigot). The brothers after Percy, twins Fred and George were as stated, being annoying prats but worked in some sort of prank shop, much to their mother and Percy's chagrin (Between us and her, Ginny never understood why Percy felt a need to voice this opinion, because if Ginny also opened her mouth to provide an opinion on every single thing under the sun, working in a prank shop was perfectly acceptable).
Finally the last brother Ron went to university in Devon, having recently finished his degree in Astronomy combined with Philosophy, and that was it. Growing up with 6 older brothers, Ginny was significantly hot tempered, a trait often made fun of because of her (and her whole family's) flaming red hair.
"Oh for God's sake the two of you, just shut up if you don't want to do any work!" She finally snapped, causing two identical pairs of brownish eyes to look at her.
"Okay!" They smirked, before actually rushing away to the back of the cafe. Ginny sighed, wondering for the tenth time that afternoon why she bothered to come down here in summer. The twins, despite being her favourite, were useless gits-
"Ginny! Where are Fred and George?" Her mother's voice flew out from the front of the store, removing Ginny from her trail of thoughts, where Molly stood with hands laden with grocery bags. Her father, Arthur, she saw outside from the huge floor to ceiling windows, was unloading the boot of their car of more paper bags.
"They ran away after being absolutely useless gits." She muttered angrily, almost aggressively wiping a glass and placing it on the shelves behind her.
Her mother let out a long suffering sigh, but nevertheless joined Ginny in tidying up the cafe. "They're quite irresponsible." Molly sighed, wiping down tables at a superhuman speed.
"Mum if it's okay, can I join Ron and his friends at the party happening down at the beach?" Ginny asked apprehensively. The question had been burning at the back of her mind since the morning when Ron actually invited her to the beach party being thrown by one of the local boys. He had brought his uni friends and girlfriend down from Devon, and Ginny had already met Hermione, Ron's soulmate, if their behaviour was anything to go by.
Being in an all girls school, Ginny practically grew up with her girlfriends gushing about boys and celebrities, often almost swooning like some Victorian women when boys from the neighbouring school passed by their grounds.
However, Ginny was smart- if having six brothers had taught her anything, it was that boys were annoying, and only a few handful of them were actually decent. But now, looking at how close Ron and Hermione were, Ginny was starting to long for her own sort of romance. It had been over a year since she broke up with her first and only boyfriend Dean. She was convinced the breakup had solidified her stance on relationships, which was that relationships were okay but there was no need to actively look for one. Ron and Hermione's lovey dovey-ness was revolting, but uncharacteristically had Ginny pining away for her love story as well. Not that she'd ever admit it, of course.
"Well there's nothing really to do, and if it's busy there's a lot of pairs of hands to help. So sure, go on." Molly finally said and Ginny could almost fist pump, if it wasn't for the wet rag she was holding.
The evening rolled around quicker than Ginny anticipated, and before she knew it, her and Hermione stood in Ginny's small attic bedroom, getting ready for the party. "So, tell me, how was Dean?" Hermione asked, looking behind at Ginny through the mirror, where the younger girl stood blinking away extra mascara.
"Oh well, he was alright. Nothing like fireworks or sparkle." Ginny flushed slightly as she processed her own words. Oh, how she sounded like a lovestruck 12 year old.
However, Hermione didn't seem to mind. She simply grinned. "I'm sure with the right person it's more than just sparkles and fireworks." Hermione winked, and Ginny wondered if there was more to the statement than she understood. However, Hermione was already done with the topic, now going on about her course and what plans Ginny had for after university.
They walked downstairs, finding Ron standing at the door, his eyes glued to Hermione as she walked down the stairs. To be fair, Hermione definitely looked stunning- even if it was for a casual beach party. Ginny noted slightly bitterly to herself how the simplest pair of jeans and top could make one gorgeous to the right eyes. She breathed deeply as Ron wrapped an arm around his girlfriend, the girlfriend in question smirking back at Ginny as she followed them. Okay, very confusing.
The walk to the beach from the cafe was short, and there was already a bonfire going in the distance, with some upbeat song playing from someone's phone. "So, where is Harry and everyone else?" Hermione asked, looking around. Ron still had a hand in Hermione's as the two of them looked around for who had to be Ron's friends. "Neville!" Ron suddenly yelled good naturedly, as a tall guy walked towards the three of them with a big grin on his face.
"Ron! Hermione!" Neville hugged each of them in turn, smiling broadly at Ginny.
"Neville, this is my younger sister Ginny. Ginny, that's one of our friends from uni, Neville." Ron introduced. Ginny waved, which was returned by Neville.
"Is your girlfriend here as well?" Hermione asked, to which Ron added, "Oh, do we finally get to meet the elusive To-Be-Mrs. Longbottom?"
Perhaps having noticed Ginny's confusion, Neville clarified. "These two here haven't had the chance to meet my girlfriend- well, fiance as of a week, yet. In answer to your question Ron, no, she unfortunately couldn't make it. But she's been inviting the two of you over for dinner since ages." He turned to Ron.
"Actually yeah, we should definitely go. Anybody seen Harry?" Ron asked, looking around the small crowd of people. Ginny moved away from the couple to sit next to the fire, and grab a cold beer in the process.
She had just made herself comfortable slightly away from the warm fire when a figure sat down next to her, causing shivers to go up her left side. "Hi, you must be Ginny." The figure spoke and Ginny looked to the source of the voice, to be met by the unruliest mop of black hair she had ever seen on a human, and twinkling green eyes. In the soft light from the fire, they glowed slightly amber.
"I am. But I don't think I've met you?"
Ginny didn't get an answer because Ron's voice interrupted them. "Harry, you came!" He shouted, the figure (Harry) getting up to tackle Ron in a hug.
"Of course I did, getting sloshed at your best mate's beach party is always infinitely better than home." Harry grinned, and Ginny started to feel her heart race.
"I see you've met Ginny." Ron said, sitting down in between her and Harry.
"I just did, yeah." Harry smiled mischievously. They had moved closer to the fire, and in the brighter light, Harry's face was more distinct. And boy was he fit. The hair, even though messy, was not unattractive (quite the opposite), and his face was slightly round, made rounder by the permanent grin which seemed to reside there. And his eyes were covered by round glasses, reflecting off the orange from the fire.
"Well anyway, Gin, this is Harry, my best mate from university. He just made it down here to Cornwall." Ron said, and suddenly got up to fetch more drinks, but Ginny didn't miss the glares Hermione was shooting Ron from across the fire.
"Do you reckon we go a bit further away?" Ginny, being so busy interpreting the look Hermione was giving Ron, hadn't noticed the boy had shifted closer to her.
"Uh, sure." She found herself slightly tongue tied, staring into green amber.
"Brilliant, Let's go?" Harry got up, and lent Ginny a hand. She took it, and a slight warmth, probably not from the fire, ran down her spine when their hands remained connected.
They walked away from the party, not too far that a search team would be required, but just far enough to hold a conversation in peace. The music slightly played in the background, a slower guitar theme, and Ginny turned around to see Ron and Hermione swaying around the fire, the brightest smile settled on both their faces. Ginny simply let out a happy sigh, attention darting down to entwined hands.
"So, Ron tells me you're in drama?" He asked, as they sat down near the water with their legs bent, just that the waves touched their toes and washed back.
"Yes, I am, final year now. Although I haven't heard a lot about you?" Ginny teased. Harry simply chuckled, a sound she realised she found much more attractive than she should have.
"Well it's a shame since I am his best mate but, Harry Potter, third year medic, at your service." He lightly bowed his head, eliciting a giggle out of the girl.
"Medicine huh, that definitely sounds hectic." She commented, as her fingers drew an absent minded pattern in the sand separating their sitting figures.
"I also captain the football team." He replied, eyes shining with humor. Ginny looked up, wondering if it was a coincidence that the man she found extremely fit also checked off all her criterion of 'boyfriend'.
"Oh- well I don't know how you found the time to be here, what with studying and football." Ginny smiled. Harry looked back at her, eyes boring into her brown ones. "Only because I was told someone stunning was going to be here." He said in a lower voice. Ginny flushed under the stare.
"I'm sure having those feelings for your best mate's girlfriend is not a good idea." She teased, feeling some confidence seeping into her. Harry scooted closer, placing a hand on Ginny's.
"And what if I said they weren't for the girlfriend, but for the sister?" His eyes darted down to her lips, her own pulse quickening. Then continuing with her sudden confidence, she unconsciously leaned in, her lips just millimeters away from Harry's. "The sister would definitely like that because she thinks you're extremely fit too." Ginny whispered, her lips just brushing against Harry's before he closed the distance completely.
The two of them sat there, away from the party, lips moving in slow sync as if they were doing the communicating. Getting to know each other in silent movements, a dance of attraction and dominance. Thee music faded in the background, as behind her closed eyes Ginny saw stars, and faintly made out the sound of fireworks exploding behind them. Not that she'd admit it to anyone, of course.
But in that moment, it was just her, Harry and the cool water playing with their feet. And when they finally pulled apart, Ginny secretly swore that she saw her reflection in green pools glow and sparkle.
Not that she'd ever admit it, obviously.
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TAGLIST: @amy-herondale-chase // @purplepygmypuffskein // @ginnypxtter // @alwaysmagica1 // @norakelly // @her-blazing-look //
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Okay, I hope you guys enjoyed that! I wrote that when I was half asleep, so I'm not even sure if most of it makes sense haha.
As usual, if you want to join the taglist and be notified whenever I write a new Hinny story (which will be much more frequently now), please interact with the pinned TAGLIST post on my account!
Thank you for reading, and please interact with the post! Reblogs are always appreciated but likes and comments are just as amazing! Loads of virtual hugs xxx
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poptod · 3 years
Text
Subterfuge (Baxter x Reader)
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Description: You’re the new medical examiner. Like most medical examiners, you’re a little... different.
Notes: aghhhh im caught in so many lies with my family and friends that im gonna fucking break down but if i tell anyone the truth im gonna get my ass beat on several different levels WC: 1.7k
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The latex gloves on your hands did little to stay the cold blood, staining up the skintight material that clung to your sweat. This wasn't the first time you had your hands wrist-deep in organs, but it was the first corpse who had a bullet in his eye, and the first time you were completely alone.
Your years as an assistant were finished, and now you were a full-on doctor––a medical examiner, to be specific. A coroner. The one who deals with the dead. Not a particularly charming profession, but far more interesting, and far more safe than most others.
There was one problem, though––the policemen. You were never a timid person, but some of them just got to you, itched beneath your skin and sped your heart. Why that was hadn't yet been identified, so instead you focused on something you understood; the human body. The stiffness of refrigerated muscle, the stench of uncleaned organs, a mask chafing against your cheeks. The heat of a bright light on your neck.
The man below you was a particularly unfortunate man. Died young, was never quite fully healthy, and had few friends and family. His method of death was what caught the eye of one of the detectives, though it seemed cut-and-dry to you. There were no struggle marks, puncture wounds, bruises, or even scars on his body. Only the bullet hole. He had to have done it himself. Still, it wasn't your job to question the detectives––only to bring them the information you gather.
"How's he lookin'?" Asked a man from behind you, the quiet hinges of the door swinging shut as he entered. You shot up, eyes instantly meeting his.
"Haven't gotten far. About through the small intestine," you said, gesturing to the different jars and plastic boxes categorized with the man's organs. The nearest to you was the lungs. You noted the scrunch in the man's nose with mild amusement.
"Gotten the bullet out yet?"
"Oh, yeah. Already sent it up for ballistics," you said with a curt, polite smile.
He remained silent after that, watching you work from the safe, mostly smell-free area of your desk. With his back leant on the table, he crossed his arms with intent eyes.
"You're the new medical examiner, aren't you?" He asked after a particularly wet squelching sound came from your working fingers.
"Yes sir," you said, nodding. "Started yesterday."
"Oh, this must be new for you then."
"I've done autopsies before, but this is the first time on my own, yes," you admitted with a tinge of embarrassment. It was the truth, that this was new, but he didn't have to mention it.
"Well then, welcome to the team," he chuckled. "My name's Baxter."
"(L/N). Pleasure to meet you."
"You as well. I'd shake your hand, but," he trailed off as the both of you turned to your bloodied gloves.
"Don't worry," you said, a grin spreading across your face. "I'll give you a raincheck on that."
He hummed, uncrossing his arms and legs as he began to saunter over to you. For the most part, you could easily ignore his eye, stuck between your concentrated expression and steady hands. Having teams of professors and doctors looking over your shoulder for exams had prepared you well.
"Find anything curious?" He finally asked.
"Not really," you mumbled, gently cutting open the flesh of the stomach. "Not yet. There aren't any cuts or contusions of any notable kind. Only wound I could find was the bullet hole and an infected bruise on his toe. I'll be sending blood, stomach, and stool samples up to Peters soon, I'm sure you'll know more then."
As you took the samples out of the victim's stomach, Baxter circled the brightly lit table, stopping when he reached the feet. There he knelt, scanning the pale blue skin.
"How do you suppose he got this?"
"Haven't gotten there yet, but I'd assume he bashed it against some furniture," you said. He eyed you curiously but remained quiet for a moment.
"Looks like a puncture wound," he said slowly, contemplating his words carefully before he spoke.
"Give me a moment, sir," you said with a huff, sealing up the stomach tubes and setting them on the tray beside you.
Since you were the only doctor present, you had to hold the stomach walls open yourself, which kept you busy for a good two minutes before you could look at Baxter's little pointer. To your immense relief he waited patiently for you to finish sewing and setting away your tools, before shuffling to the side to make room for you at the end of the table.
As he noticed, there was a small, dark spot beneath his big toe's nail. Digging into your white coat pocket, you pulled out your magnifier glass and set it up close to the cold skin.
"Could be right," you said softly, focused more on your sight than your tongue. You raised a gloved hand, pulling at the wound, pushing on the bruise till the hole widened.
"Needle mark?"
"That's what I was thinking," you said, shoving your magnifier glass back in your pocket. "Good eye, Baxter. I'll tell Peters to check his blood for any trace drugs."
You circled back around to your spot on the table, sorting through the six tube samples before lifting the case into your arms. Noticing your small stumble over your feet, he rushed over to join you, taking the case from you.
"I can take this up for you," he offered, his wide, grey eyes set strictly upon you. The sudden closeness had your words stammering and stuttering.
"Um – y- yeah, thank you," you said with a smile, your chest tight as he left. Only when the door shut behind him did you breathe again, turning back to the patient beneath you.
Hopefully, when you got the chance to meet the rest of the officers, you wouldn't slip up like that––messing up in front of one person was enough, and Baxter already felt like a very strange person, so probably would mind your oddness the least. The others would be less forgiving, or at least that's what you assumed. Most of the police you'd met in your life had been incredibly straight-cut, diamonds-up-the-ass kind of people.
"What a strange lad," you commented to your patient. "I should bake him some cookies."
The rest of the autopsy took three hours, full of rotting stenches and labelled gizzards. Your thirty-minute break was reduced to ten as the victims of a bar shootout came in, the three bodies riddled with bullet holes, leaving the cause of death obvious to anyone who stopped by. You didn't see Baxter again that day––not until it was done, and you were wrapped back in your personal coat, heading towards the elevator.
He caught the door before it could close in front of you, and as you rushed in with full hands you hurriedly thanked him. A bell dinged and the door shut, leaving the two of you alone in the enclosed space, the buzzing florescent light buffering between you.
"Did you hear about the shootout?" You asked when it became clear to you that this was a slow elevator.
"Yeah," he nodded, "I got a call and stopped by, but... they were already gone, and the, um.. the others were dead."
"Well, if they weren't then, they are now," you said, once again ignoring his questioning eye. "I had to put their brains in some jars."
To your surprise, he chuckled, brushing the hair off his face and readjusting his perfect posture.
"You know, usually it takes some time before new people start making jokes about the dead," he said, grinning as he looked at you out of the side of his eye.
"I'm a fast learner and a natural comedian. Mother always was disappointed in my career choice... wanted me to be a court jester," you teased with your own giggle, heart beating rapidly at the prospect of someone pretty enjoying your company.
"You do well in both careers. Do – do you need some help with that?" He asked, noticing your struggle with the varied bags in your arms.
"I think I can do it," you said, huffing as you tried to hoist the plastic back onto you. Before you could help it two of them slipped, nearly falling but halted when Baxter caught them mid-air.
"What do you have in here?" He asked, his brow furrowed as he tried to glance inside.
"Clothes," you said after a mumble of a 'thank you'. "One of the women here had a lot of clothes to get rid of and, well, I need some. And I'm sure one of my roommates could use them, too."
"Oh. Do you have a car?"
"You could call it that."
"I'll help you carry these there, then," he said, taking another bag off your shoulder. The loss of stress on your muscles left you relieved, and you sighed happily.
"Thank you, sir."
You tried to contain your smile as you led him through the parking lot, slipping between the empty spaces to get to your tiny vehicle. Legally it wasn't even a car––actually, you'd built it from the basis of a golf cart, slowly adding and changing features until it drove and looked essentially like a car. Hard work, but you'd been doing it since you stole it in the 7th grade.
Rarely did you ever get along with people, and so Baxter's politeness had sparked a delight in you that brought a ceaseless smile. When you took the bags from him, you thanked him again, attempting to hold a conversation while shoving the bags into the back of your car. He chuckled at your strained words, but eventually helped you when he got over his amusement.
"It was nice to meet you today, and thank you, again," you said once the backdoor was slammed shut beneath yours and Baxter's combined strength.
"Pleasure to meet you, as well. Drive safe now," he said, shaking your hand with a grin.
"Oh I will," you assured him, laughing. You clambered into the driver's seat, shutting the door but leaning out the open window. "If I don't I'll have you on my ass."
"You know it!" He said as he walked away, his bright laugh echoing in the mostly-empty parking lot.
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thebirdandhersong · 3 years
Note
Hey, so I've basically never watched any k-dramas, but I've read a lot of manga and manhwa and the automatic next step does feel like moving into k-dramas. You seem to have watched a number, so I was wondering if you could make a recommended list? Only if you felt like it of course, but it would be helpful! (Preferably of at least some which are on netflix uk, I looked up 18 again but it's unfortunately not on here in Britain :(. But if you have favourites I'd just like to know them so I can look out for them anywhere)
Also yay! Your term's ended!
(yanks open the door) did someone say RECOMMENDATIONS?? I DO have many!!! Boy do I have them!!!!
(YAY!! One last exam and I'm done for the summer!)
I love Eastern entertainment (manga, k-dramas, c-dramas, and movies from Korea and Taiwan) because of several reasons: the scripts are phenomenal nine times out of ten; Asian culture puts a strong emphasis on the importance of family, personal responsibility, learning from one's mistakes, expressing affection through gestures and acts of service, and friendship and I really love seeing that in a story; and they make good use of silence and stillness in shows and movies, which is pretty rare in Hollywood. The quiet moments between characters are more often than not some of the most important in the story and I Love That!!
The dramas I'm (briefly) listing are in bold if they're available on Netflix UK, and in bold and italicised if they're available on Rakuten Viki (which is a mostly-free drama streaming service, though unfortunately they're rather heavy on the ads). The Absolute Favourites are marked with stars (***). Though I can't actually see the whole list of dramas available in the UK, so some of these may be wrong, and it may be worth checking twice!
If you're in the mood for something fast-paced:
Descendants of the Sun (Viki); considered a Classic
- romantic comedy, medical drama, a bit of action
- The confident and charming leader of a Special Forces unit meets a reserved surgeon and they hit it off, after some... interesting misunderstandings. But after dating briefly and breaking up, they find themselves reunited on a peacekeeping mission in a war-torn country. Insert a lot of Suspense and Excitement but also a lot of Comedy and Sincere Declarations of Love.
- if you enjoy Song Joongki's performance, I'd also recommend his movie A Werewolf Boy. If you enjoy Song Hye-kyo's performance, I'd recommend her drama Encounter.
***Come and Hug Me (Viki, but I don't know if it costs money?)
- thriller/suspense, romance, this one genuinely stressed me out but the moments of peace and reconciliation (and the ENDING) were well worth it
- Their first loves during their youth ends in her mother's death and their separation. Years later, the lively daughter of the murdered woman is now an actress, and the introverted son of the serial killer has become a police officer. They meet each other again (Of Course) and have to tackle all sorts of Nonsense (including the serial killer's return, his murderous brother's return from prison, the Media, the ghosts of their past, etc. etc.) together. HUGE focus on forgiveness, hope, healing, unconditional and self-sacrificial love. Also one of the best redemption arcs (I did in fact bawl my eyes out)
- my friend just started crying when we first watched this drama together because the male lead is just so gentle and tenderhearted and steadfast :')
If you're in the mood for something a bit slower
***Goblin/Guardian (Viki); International Acclaim
- fantasy, drama, one of the funniest dramas I've ever watched, but also tears (I cried at a rate of around once every two episodes. This show talks a lot about life and meaning and the effect your actions and words have on the people around you.)
- Kim Shin, a general from the Goryeo Dynasty, is cursed to live as an immortal Goblin (a Korean mythical/fairy tale figure) until his destined Bride pulls the sword from his chest, thus breaking the 'spell' and ending his life. He really did not expect his bride to be the vivacious and irrepressible Eun-tak, though, and What's More!! He did not expect that he would start wanting to live again :))) Includes a surprising amount of comedy, a surprising amount of tears, and EXCELLENT screenwriting. (Descendants and Goblin share the same brilliant writer.)
- fun fact: parts of it were shot in Quebec!! One of the characters refers to Canada as "the maple nation" early on in the story and my friend and I just burst into laughter.
***Encounter (Viki, but I'm not sure if it costs money?)
- melodrama, romantic comedy, FAIRY TALE
- a cold and withdrawn woman, recently divorced because of her husband's infidelity, and a warm-hearted and optimistic young man meet on the streets of Cuba by accident, and upon separating without means of contact, find themselves back in Korea as boss and newly hired employee. This sounds like a recipe for disaster: stuffed to the gills with unnecessary workplace drama and gossip, etc. but the story focuses instead on family, vulnerability, transformation, sacrifice, about art, compassion, mending relationships, opening up to people, and about the beauty in bringing and receiving comfort and love.
- also. ALSO. Fairy tale!!! with illustrated opening and ending cards and everything!!! (they literally refer to her as the Ice Princess. And her Prince is the human equivalent of sunshine. I Love him)
- if you like Park Bo-gum's performance, I'd recommend Reply 1988, too!
***One Spring Night
- melodrama; quiet and understated but very beautiful
- A bright, clever, and sharp-tongued librarian meets a quiet, steady, and gentle pharmacist one day. It turns out that he's a single father, and she's trapped in a relationship that really isn't working out. Friendship! Family! Sisters standing up for each other and saying No I Won't Let You Treat My Sister Like This, You Jerk! Figuring things out! Learning how to love! I really don't know what else to say, except for the fact that I loved it very much!!
- if you enjoy Jung Hae-in's performance, I'd also recommend Something in the Rain (which should also be on Netflix!) for his acting alone. I just think he's neat.
Reply 1988
- slice-of-life, comedy
- In the late 1980s, five friends (four boys, one girl) who have grown up with each other since childhood are Going Through It in high school. This drama is all about the little things that happen in life, and about learning to understand your family and your friends. Deok-sun is just trying to survive all of This as the middle child, and as a young girl who is trying to figure this Romance thing out. In the present, adult Deok-sun is just as lively, and is now happily married..... but to whom? :))) A Lot of '80s Asian culture, daily antics, and good old friendship.
- if you like Park Bo-gum's performance, I'd recommend Encounter too :)
18 Again (Viki)
- romantic comedy, fantasy/time travel (sort of)
- Nearly twenty years of marriage, and things have been going Wrong all over the place. His wife wants a divorce, he's no longer close to his teenaged kids, and he's just lost the job he's been faithfully working at for years. Daeyoung wishes that he could go back somehow, and finds himself 18 once again.... except he's still in the present. Interesting things ensue. He enrolls in school (it turns out to be the same one his kids attend), and decides to pursue the dreams he had to give up when he was a teenager. Antics ensue! But also Healing: he gets to know his kids all over again, and is able to view his relationships with Dajung (whom he still loves. Of course) and his estranged father in a new light.
- I have not finished this drama yet but judging from the first third of it, it is both well-written and well-acted. There are a few things that I am not a fan of, but on the whole Lee Dohyun's performance is wonderful and I have already cried buckets.
Other honourable mentions:
100 Days My Prince: historical drama. Prince caught in an assassination plot, loses his memory, wakes up in a village right when the king issues a marriage law that results in his marrying the spirited 'spinster'.
Still 17/Thirty But Seventeen: 17 year old violin prodigy in a coma after an accident, wakes up when she's 30; the boy who inadvertently caused the accident runs into her again after she wakes up and helps her adjust to her new life. Lots of wacky humour, very sweet!!
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fleshbarbie · 4 years
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Same, but different. (Part 3).
Summary: Billy and reader don’t particularly like each other, Billy thinks you’re a snob, you think Billy is an asshole with anger issues. That’s until the party starts to hang out more at your house, meaning Billy is there more often than not (because of Max) and that’s when you both find out you’re more alike than you think.
- not the biggest fan of where this ends, but this has taken way too long to write i really just wanted to get it posted! again, thanks for all the lovely comments so far i really appreciate it!! i think there’s gonna be two-three more parts of this but i’m not completely sure yet <33
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A content sigh left your lips as your eyes wandered around the newly cleaned kitchen, it had only been an hour since you and Alice had finished eating the dinner you prepared and now she was upstairs getting herself ready for bed. That meant you had the next few hours to yourself until you decided you needed to get some sleep too. Throwing the towel down onto the counter, you left the room and began making your way to your bedroom where your study materials awaited your arrival. There were a thousand things you’d much rather do than force yourself to learn all the bullshit information you needed for the upcoming exams, but unfortunately you had too much to get through and not a lot of time.
You sat at your desk, and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen from your messy bun behind your ear before you grasped at the pen that had been laid on your textbook whilst you were downstairs. It had only been a few minutes when you decided you were already fed up with the words sprawled out on the sheet in front of you, none of it made sense and all it did was stress you out. You were definitely failing.
A loud knock echoed throughout the almost empty house which made you jump in your spot, but once you had recovered from the initial shock you were almost pleased to have a distraction from the seemingly endless amount of work you had to finish. You wasted no time jumping out of your chair and rushing down the stairs that creaked under your weight, however any relief that flew through your body left the second you saw who was stood at your front door. The cold air from outside invaded your house the second the door opened, and almost like deja vu there again stood Billy Hargrove.
This time though, his demeanor was different to the last time, or any other time you had seen the boy throughout your day-to-day life. He was usually stood tall and confident, a cocky look always displayed on his handsome features and a pep in his step. This time, he was hunched over almost, avoiding eye contact with you as if he didn’t want to be seen. It was weird.
“I told you to call me if Max showed up here, (Y/N). Is that too confusing for you?”
He was in a bad mood, clearly. His voice was rough as if he had been shouting prior to showing up here, and you wondered what had led to that.
“She’s not here. Nobody’s been here, Alice didn’t feel like being around people tonight.” You shrugged.
He finally looked at you after that, his brows furrowed in both confusion and frustration. That’s when your vision caught sight of something that made your stomach churn. There was a purple bruise that spread from his upper cheek to above his right eyebrow, along with a small gash that was under his right eye. It looked fresh, blood still leaked from the wound and the bruise clearly hadn’t finished forming.
“Billy, oh my god. Are you okay? What happened?” You approached him slowly, afraid that any sudden movements would send him running.
When you were close enough, you reached your hand up to grip his jaw gently, moving his head to get better lighting on the marks. He remained silent as you did, watching your eyes swarm with concern - something he wasn’t used to. Not just from you, but from anybody. Because at the end of the day.. did anybody really care about him? Max didn’t, Susan didn’t, his Dad definitely didn’t. He had nobody.
“It’s nothing. Just got into a fight with this asshole awhile ago, nothing special.” He broke from his daydream and took a step back, allowing your hand to fall from its place.
You nodded, though you knew he was just giving you any old excuse to shut you up. His knuckles were clean, no signs of any altercation and when did Billy ever have a fight and not get any hits in? But you didn’t say anything. Only glanced back into your house for a second, before returning your gaze to him.
“You wanna come in? I’m not a trained nurse or anything but, I know the basics.” You offered him a smile, “Gotta make sure that doesn’t get infected.”
He pondered your offer for a few seconds, his gaze lingering on you as he did. You felt nervous all of a sudden, his eyes burning into your figure had you twiddling your fingers and you wanted to hit yourself for acting like a lovestruck teen. But you couldn’t help it, it felt like he was looking into your soul.
“I can’t.” He finally spoke, and your shoulders fell in disappointment. “I have to find Max, get her home before my Dad.. starts worrying.”
You nodded in understanding, “That’s fair. Try Mike’s, if she’s not here she’s usually there.”
His lips curved into a grateful smile, “Thanks. See you around I guess?”
“Yeah. See you around.”
His eyes maintained contact with yours for a second longer, before he turned his back to you and stalked back to his car. He drove off and you watched him as he did, with an unusual feeling in your stomach.
It was almost two o’clock in the morning and you were just getting into bed, having completed your work. It took a lot of effort but you were glad it was finally over and done with. You had slipped on an old shirt and some fluffy shorts before diving into bed excited to sleep until the alarm you had set was sure to wake up up at 7am tomorrow.
You had literally only just gotten comfortable, the duvet thrown over your figure and your pillow perfectly positioned when a tapping sound came from your window. You sat up, confused and annoyed. All you wanted to do was sleep, not deal with whatever was behind the curtain. The sound happened again, making you groan when you realised whoever it was wasn’t going to go away until you dealt with them. If you weren’t so annoyed by the disturbance, you’d probably be running to Alice’s room by now begging her to let you sleep in there for the night.
You took the end of the curtain in your hand and pulled it across your window, opening it with force.
“Billy?” You questioned, brows furrowed at the sight of him crouched outside your bedroom window.
He looked the same as he did when you last saw him outside your house a few hours ago, the only difference being that now he looked tired which wasn’t surprising given the current time. You slid your window open, allowing the blonde to climb into your room with ease. You shut it once again when his feet hit the floor, not wanting the cold air to flood your bedroom.
“You know, you could’ve just used the front door.” You commented, watching him as he observed your room.
“Well obviously.” He spoke, finally turning to face you. “But I didn’t wanna wake anyone else up, thought your window would be my safest bet.”
You nodded before gesturing for him to take a seat on the edge of your bed, “Sit. Let me get some stuff to clean your face.”
You didn’t bother waiting for him to listen to your demands, instead you walked straight to your bathroom and grabbed the bits and pieces that you used whenever Alice ended up hurting herself. She was an adventurous child who loved the outdoors, she was always coming home with scraped knees and scratches on her arms so you kept a small box in the cupboard under the sink that contained the essentials.
You found it underneath a towel, and quickly returned to your room where Billy was sat on your bed, fiddling with the thin blanket that had been pushed to the end of the mattress when you got up almost five minutes ago now. You sat beside him, thighs touching which made your insides go fuzzy for a second, this was the closest you’d ever been to the boy since you’d met.
He stopped messing with the blanket and looked over to you.
Being this close meant you could see all the stuff you hadn’t been able to see before. The way his eyes were a few shades lighter than you had originally thought, the freckles that were scattered in a few different places, the slit in his brow that made him look that little bit more attractive. Maybe the two of you never got along that well, but even if you weren’t fond of him you’d be stupid to deny how breathtaking he looked even on his bad days.
You shook your head to rid you of the thoughts currently devouring your mind, and instead you showed him the things you had in your hand. “You ready?”
He didn’t even look at what you had, his eyes remained on you whilst he nodded slowly. Just like you, being this close meant he was able to notice all the things about you that he hadn’t noticed before and it was making him feel a way he hadn’t felt with anyone else. It scared him, he didn’t want to feel this way it was bound to end badly for him. But he couldn’t help it.
You grabbed an antiseptic wipe, using your spare hand to angle his face properly so you could lightly dab the wipe on the wound that was now surrounded by dried blood. He winced at the contact at first, but soon relaxed the more it went on. It only took one wipe to get rid of any blood, and so you moved on to cover the injury with a plain white bandaid.
“I don’t need a bandaid.” He grumbled, reaching up to get rid of it but you quickly grabbed his hand to stop him.
“Just for tonight, you don’t have to leave it on for school.” You informed him and so with a reluctant sigh, he dropped his arm.
You then let your eyes wander the bruise that had swollen more over the hours, and you stood from your spot.
“I’m gonna get you some ice, or else that’s gonna be twice the size when you wake up.”
“Okay.”
With that, you left your room and carefully made your way downstairs in hopes that you didn’t wake Alice. She’d want to know what you were up to, not being able to go back to sleep until she was told and if she found out Billy Hargrove was in your bedroom waiting for some ice she’d probably interrogate you until the sun made an appearance.
A door slammed shut just as you made it into the kitchen, and you whipped your head around, your heart freezing at the sight of your Mother stumbling through the front door. She was definitely drunk, probably high too. She could barely walk two steps without tripping, you couldn’t help but sigh at the state she was in. Approaching the woman you were supposed to look up to, she noticed you walking towards her and a goofy smile covered her face.
“Hey baby! What’re you doing up? Don’t you have school in the morning?” Her words were slurred, her arms clung onto you as her failed attempt to give you a hug.
“I’m just getting a drink, woke up thirsty.” You lied, leading her over to the couch. She probably wouldn’t have even cared if you told her the real reason why you were out of bed.
“Oh. Okay.” She hiccuped, happily spreading her limbs out as she got comfortable.
You quickly grabbed a blanket, draping it over her body before taking off her heels and placing them at the end of the couch. Taking a step back you realised your Mom was already half asleep, her eyes closed and her mouth hung open. A sight you had grown familiar with over the years.
Content with how you’d left her, you went back to the kitchen and grabbed the ice you had originally came for before making your way to the stairs as quietly as you could but then she spoke, which made you come to a halt.
“You’re a good kid, you know that? I love you and I love A-Alice too. I’m gonna change baby, I promise. Mommy’s gonna change.”
You rolled your eyes at the empty promise you had received for the past two years. She said it everyday almost but never had she made the effort to keep the promise, by now you were well aware it was never gonna happen. You didn’t bother to say anything back, only continued your journey to your room where Billy was still waiting for your return.
You quickly slipped into the dimly lit room and laid back against the door the second it was shut. You let out a breath you hadn’t realised you had been holding and looked over to the boy still sat on your bed, who was staring right back at you.
“Was that your Mom?” He asked, scooting over so you could sit next to him once again.
You nodded, getting comfortable in the space he had made for you. “Yeah. She worked late, only just made it home.”
He probably would’ve believed you, not giving any second thought to what you had said if it wasn’t for the fact that Max had already revealed everything he needed to know.
“Here.” You held out the ice pack for him to grab, which he gladly took from you without a second thought.
“Thanks.” He muttered, hissing quietly once the ice pressed to his bruised face.
“So..” You trailed off, feeling a little awkward due to the sudden silence. “Do you plan on sleeping here? Because I mean it is almost three in the morning and we do have school. No offence, but I’d much rather be sleeping right now than speaking to you.”
He shot you a look, nudging you gently with his elbow. “Shut up, any girl would kill to be in your position right now. Billy Hargrove, in their bedroom, vulnerable.”
You rolled your eyes at the comment, “Yeah well, unfortunately for you I don’t have a weird obsession with you. So if you’re looking to fool around, I suggest you find someone else to do it with.”
“No, no I’m not.” He shook his head, the ice pack still pressed to his face. “But I do need somewhere to stay for tonight. I’ll owe you one.”
You stared at him for a few seconds, weighing the pros and cons of letting the boy stay in your bed for the night. Eventually you shrugged, standing from your spot.
“Fine. But no funny business Hargrove or else you can sleep outside.”
He laughed at that which made you smile, before you gestured to the bed. “Left side’s mine, don’t get drool on my pillow.”
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Tag List.
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bitoffairydust · 3 years
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Yesterday we came home from the hospital as a family of three.
Things haven’t been super smooth sailing, nor did I expect them to be, but our little one is doing well and I’m healing fine so that’s really all we could ask for.
Wednesday was a bit of a whirlwind. I was scheduled to go into the hospital for my induction at 5, so we spent the morning doing a bit of last minute clean up around the place. Then around 12, someone from L&D called and said if we were available to come in earlier, we could just show up whenever. We still had a few things to finish up so we had lunch, I took a shower while my wife did the dishes, then she took a shower and got the cats set up for a few days home alone before we called an Uber to head to the hospital.
We got there around 3:30-4 so not super early but they got us into the delivery rooms right away and someone came over to go over a few questions (medical stuff and what I was hoping for with the birth). I got hooked up to the contraction and fetal heartbeat monitors, they got my IV line in, and then we went over the induction options for me. Based on my last check up, I was about 1.5 cm dilated, so before anything else they had to get me to about 3 cm, which they offered to do with either the foley balloon or misoprostol. Then the plan was to start me on oxytocin to get contractions going. I requested the miso, cause I figured there would be enough things going in and out of my vagina for the evening without an additional thing thrown in there 😅
It actually took a little while for the induction to start because as it turns out, three people (myself included) showed up for their induction within 5 minutes of each other and I was the last so it was closer to 7 before the resident came to examine me. In doing so they found I had actually progressed to 3 cm on my own since my last appointment so they were able to just get me started up on oxytocin.
Contractions started up pretty much instantly but they were very manageable. I’d say just from the oxy progression, the worst contraction I got was maybe a 5 on the scale from 1 to 10. Then they ran through the dosage and did another exam to see where I was at. They didn’t give an exact number then but I think it was somewhere between 4 and 5 cm. Before starting me up on another dosage of oxytocin, they went ahead and tried to break my water as it hadn’t yet. They didn’t actually manage to fully get it, and honestly, at that point, them trying to get it to break was actually more painful than the contractions I’d experienced that far.
That changed pretty fast once they established they’d gotten enough of the membranes for the time being. I’m fuzzy on the timeline but I think it must have been close to 10 at that point, and the pain level climbed very quickly along with contraction intensity and frequency. I tried to bounce on a ball for a bit and the nurse showed my wife some pressure points to try and help with the pain but it did nothing. Around 10:30 I requested the epidural, which was unfortunate timing on my part as the anesthesiologist had just gone in to assist with a c-section. By the time she was out and got to my room it was about 11:30 and pain was an easy 10 on the scale with contractions maybe a minute and a half apart.
The epidural itself went in pretty smoothly but at first there wasn’t much to be said for relief. Since they mentioned it could take 15 minutes to really be felt I didn’t think much of it, and I did feel like things were getting a bit better as minutes passed. The last contraction I was asked about felt more back down to a 5 on the pain scale so the anesthesiologist left. Unfortunately, that 5 turned out to be a fluke because pain shot back up pretty quickly and I was soon at a 10 again, no matter the dosage boosts.
That part was quite honestly the worst of it all, having expected some sort of relief and finding it to be just as worse as before. To make it worse, baby was not handling those contractions well. His heart beat would drop with the start of each contraction, though it picked up before the end of them so though they wanted to keep an eye on it it wasn’t cause for intervention yet. The nurse monitored his heart rate with me laying flat on my back, on my right side, on my left side and then sitting straight up. The latter was the slightly better option for him, but definitely did nothing to help my pain management. She did get me back on my back to try and relieve me a bit since the difference to the effect on baby wasn’t huge but at that point contractions were relentless. I was dealing with back labor contractions, which were maybe a minute apart, and because they suspected the placenta had detached a bit when they tried to break my water, when a contraction would subside, the pain in my abdomen would become more prominent and almost to the same level. It made it feel like I was contracting non stop with no break for catching my breath or trying to recuperate.
Around 2 in the morning there were a few people in the room examining me and trying to figure out the best course of action. A C-section being needed started being mentioned if things didn’t improve, but I was at a little more than 9 cm by then. The OB and the anesthesiologist had a talk outside the room and decided to re-do my epidural as it had clearly failed (they did an ice test and it was clear I wasn’t frozen anywhere at all), and if I were to end up needing a c-section, I’d have to have it redone anyway.
She took two tries to get everything situated in my back. That second try did the trick. I don’t think I can even describe the amount of relief when my foot started feeling warm and then going numb, and within maybe 5 minutes it was amazingly painless. They did another ice test and this time I felt no cold at all anywhere, and when the nurse pointed out I’d just had a contraction it cemented it because I’d not felt it at all. The only thing I could feel at that point was a bit of abdominal pressure every now and then. And I will say, I did have a great team with me. Everyone was very empathetic and trying their best to get me to feel some form of relief before the second epidural. And they seemed almost as relieved as me when that last one finally worked - especially because after that baby’s heart stabilized.
By the time the epidural was done, even though they figured I had likely progressed to 10 cm, they elected to let me rest for a bit, and give baby a chance to keep making his way down, so I got to catch a breather until about 4 am. Then they told me it was time to try and start pushing, with the nurse guiding me since I still couldn’t feel any sort of contraction. I pushed through maybe four or five contractions without huge progress, and the OB came in to assess and established baby needed a bit of help coming out. They set up the forceps and had me push through another couple of contractions, but they were pretty week and hard to catch even for the nurse by then, and baby’s heart rate was starting to struggle again. So they got on the phone to get a room prepped for c-section, and the doctor told me I would get to push through one last contraction, but if nothing happened we’d have to go into surgery.
The nurse tried to wait for a good one (she had already reupped the oxytocin drip at that point) and by some miracle, the next push for his head half out and with the second one it was completely out. The rest of his body followed quickly and before I had even caught up with it all, I had his tiny little body on me.
Even though they’d brought someone in from the NICU just to be safe, he ended up being perfectly okay. I needed a bit more attention because I had more bleeding than normal, and I had to have 4 stitches and another IV line put in to help with the blood loss. Then we stayed in the delivery room until about 6 at which point we were brought over to our postpartum room.
Since then nursing has undoubtedly been the biggest challenge. He did have a tongue tie, but he struggled from the get go. He would latch well but lose it and then get frustrated and cry. He also is a very lazy eater - I’d spend easily 30-45 minutes per side trying to get him to stay aware long enough to take in maybe 15 minutes of proper feeding, but he’d start smacking his lips practically the moment he was done, and he’d wake up hungry again within the hour.
Unfortunately there was no lactation consultant on staff as she was on vacation this week. People commented time and time again about how I had no supply issue, and his latch (when he was latched) was good, but it didn’t seem to help. I also felt I kept getting conflicting information as one moment he’d have crystals in his urine to indicate potential dehydration, and the next they’d be telling me he had barely loss any of his birth weight and was perfectly on target for that.
We did decide to get his tongue tie cut as it seemed to really be frustrating him at feeds and make it harder for my breast to properly fit into his mouth. The feed that followed the cut was easily the best we’ve had to date, but unfortunately it went downhill from there. After we got home and I tried to feed him last night, he did fine on the right side but then only lasted 10 minutes on the left and then lost it, started to scream and wouldn’t latch again. I haven’t been able to make him latch on the left side since, and I only managed to get him latched to the right a couple more times before we ran in the same problem, so we had to go ahead and start giving him bottles. I’ll be trying to work through it with a lactation consultant as soon as possible, and I’ve now started pumping, but in the meantime, him being properly fed was the biggest thing.
He does also have a small fracture on his right clavicle, likely from the forceps, but the pediatrician said that will resolve on its own within the week. In the meantime we just have to be very cautious how we move his right arm, and she prescribed him Tylenol if need be.
In the meantime we’re just trying to settle down to our new sleep deprived routine. But then looking into all the sweet, funny faces he makes both when asleep and awake makes it feel pretty worth it.
- Marie
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moral-turpitudes · 4 years
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Hi Katelyn! How are you doing? :) can I ask you for angsty oneshot with Michael Gray and prompts 2. "if you touch her again it will be the end of you" and 3. "I could take a thousands bullets and none of them would hurt as much as seeing you like this. Its killing me.". Can I ask for something really angsty and emotional? Just struggling with pms and having drama queen mode:ON . Loads of love! :)
Hi love! I’m doing alright, thanks for asking! :) 
Here is some angsty shit to help you feel better as I too am a drama queen.
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Revenge:
Trigger Warnings: ANGST, Dash of fluff, Mentions or slight descriptions of abusive/violent behavior, Trauma, Fighting, Blood, Slight Gore? Just your standard Peaky shit tbh. 
Word Count: 2,002 
Characters: Michael Gray x Reader
Summary: A shortcut gone wrong leaves Y/n in the hands of a rival gang member. After escaping, she warns the blinders of what happened causing Michael to exact his revenge.
Requested by: anon
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Your breath hitched in your throat as you ran through the dimly lit streets of Small Heath, away from the alley you had just escaped from. Your feet numbing as they grew cold from the damp ground. With weak legs and trembling arms, you flung open the doors to the shop not caring who was there and went straight to the washroom. There you found yourself wincing as you inspected the bruises forming on your skin where the mans hand had closed around your arm too tightly, and the cut that stood out along your cheek where his blade had been. 
You shook as sobs came over you as you thought back to what happened. All you were trying to do was take a short cut to work as Tommy had called you in due to some drama with a gang in town, but it ended up taking you longer due to the man you crossed paths with. He blocked you from the main street, following your movements when you tried to walk to the side of him. When he got closer, you managed to hit him, grabbing the gun in your purse shakily as you made out his tall silhouette in the dark alley. You aimed it at him as he lunged forward grabbing your wrist and releasing the gun from your hand with a loud thud. His hand gripping yours so tight that you thought he’d break it. Before you could kick him or try to hurt him anymore, he pushed you towards the wall, making you face towards him as he pulled out a blade, waving it as you screamed. Unfortunately, it was a busy night as they were muffled by the cars and people milling about. 
“I”ll cut you if you scream again. Don’t make me hurt that pretty face of yours y/n.” He said, you could see his face as the moon illuminated his skin, a tattoo of a cross on his neck. You remembered in the meeting with your husband Michael, that he was one of the men Tommy was looking for in relation to the gang that was after Tommy’s guns and god knows what. 
“How do you know my name?” You asked faintly.
“Any friend of Tommy is an enemy of mine...and I know all my enemies names. Tell Tommy this is a surprise for him. Tell him I know where he is and that he’ll have to try harder to take us down next time.” He said before slicing your cheek, the cut deep enough that you were sure it would leave a scar. As he let you go, he laughed as you cried and held your cheek, blood running down and into your hand at a fast pace. You stood partly in shock as you saw him run north, towards the old factory where previous deals had been made by Tommy. 
And so here you were, nursing the gash in your face as your skin paled in complexion. 
“Y/n! Sweetheart are you okay?” Michael asked, knocking on the door. The taste of blood and the salt of your tears mixing in your mouth as you spoke. 
“N-no. No I’m not please help!” You yelled through the thick wooden door.
Not a second later he came in, seeing blood all along the sink, your dress, your face, and your hands.
He immediately crouched down next to you on the floor as you pulled him to you crying until you felt you couldn’t anymore. After you composed yourself, you pushed him back as you winced at your cut. He quickly got up and went to Tommy’s office to grab a bottle of whiskey, everyone eyeing him as he strode in with your blood on him.
He was fixated on you so much so that he didn’t hear Tommy’s questions about what happened or Polly’s responses, he just closed the door behind him and tended to you. “My god Y/n what happened aye? Did you get into it with someone?” He said dabbing the whiskey soaked cloth on your face gently. You just sat there in a stupor almost as the alcohol burned your cut, still processing everything, still remembering his face and his tattoo. 
“Please honey. I need to know what happened.” He said before taking your wrist in his, making you wince as he accidentally grabbed the area that was bruised. He immediately let go as he saw it and you could see his eyes turn dark with anger. 
“God damn it Y/n! Who the fuck hurt you?! Just talk to me!” He said yelling and throwing the towel down in defeat. He sat there holding you on the ground, waiting for you to speak.
“Y/n...listen to me, I could take a thousand bullets and none of them would hurt as much as seeing you like this. It’s killing me...please tell me what happened...” He said bringing your hand up to his lips and kissing it, your wedding ring sparkling as he examined your hand mindlessly. 
You sighed and wiped the tears from your eyes and looked up at him and spoke, your voice raspy from screaming.
“I took the alleyway to get here quicker since Tommy called...and before I could get out of there...a man with a cross tattooed on his neck stopped me. Michael... he grabbed my wrist so hard I dropped my gun and he pushed me to the wall and cut me. He-he said this was a surprise for Tommy, that he knows where he is and that if he wants to take him down then he’s going to have to try harder.” You said, pausing a bit while you regained your composure.
“Michael...I’m thinking he cut me...to send a message. I know from these meetings he’s dangerous and - Michael!” You started to say, before he got up and quickly stormed off towards Tommy’s office. You slowly got up to look at your face, the cut looking better now that the excess blood was washed away, but you were sure you needed stitches. 
You walked with the bloodied cloth in your hand and sat next to Polly. She looked at you concerned as she examined your cheek.
“We’re going to get that bastard. Michael told me to get you to the hospital. You’ll need stitches.” She said grabbing her bag.
“Before we go I need to tell them where the man went, I was in shock and fortunately stood there long enough to see where he ran off to I think...” You said. Polly nodded and waited for you to finish up in Tommy’s office.
You walked straight in, not knocking as time was of the essence. Michael was yelling at Tommy as he stood there nodding along, the gears turning in his head at what move to make next as he kept a stone-faced expression as always.
“Michael...” You said, your voice still hoarse. The guys turned around and Michael stopped yelling once you said his name, looking at you with concern.
“I-I saw where he went Tommy. He took off down the street towards that old factory where you all did business last time. I swear he may be there.” You said looking into his ocean eyes.
“Alright. Thank you for the tip. Boys c’mon we have business to take care of.” He said before putting his cigarette out. He walked past you, leaving just you and Michael in the room. 
“Please, for the love of god be careful.” You said hugging him.
“I will love, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I can okay?” He said.
“Okay.” You said pecking him on the lips before he took off out the door with the rest of them. You sighed and walked to Polly who was putting her coat on. Your stomach tied in knots as you made your way to her car. Not knowing if you’d see Michael coming in as a visitor or a patient. 
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At the factory, the smell of smoke filled the air as a group of men sat around a burning pile of scrap metal. They each had cross tattoo’s on their necks and laughed as they talked about plans and various deals. Tommy was the first to show up, with Arthur and John flanking him, guns in hand as they walked over to the nearest people and shot them point blank. Tommy looked at the rounds in his gun and called out into the night. “You wanted to surprise me aye? You chose the wrong fucking way. Come out before I take out more of your men!”
A man quickly ran out from a nearby room of the old factory and stormed right towards Michael as two others shot at Tommy and the others. They ducked down and avoided getting hit and were soon wrestling with the men, trying to disarm them in the process. Michael recognized the man who went for him due to Tommy’s briefing at the meeting earlier and saw he had some fresh blood on his shirt, knowing that was the man who attacked his wife.
The man got to Michael and swung at him, hitting his face a couple of times, leaving a soon-to-be black eye in its wake, along with a couple of gashes from the rings on the mans finger. Luckily, before the guy could cause too much damage, he caught the mans arm and bent it harshly causing it to crack. The man quickly crumpled to the floor in pain and Michael got on top of him and punched him in the face before pulling his cap off. He slashed the guys face deeply, ruining his eye and cutting half a smile on one side enough to tear through his cheek.
The man screamed as Michael did so, as Tommy, Arthur, and John gradually gained control of the other men and shot them.
With an angry look in his eye, Michael threw his cap on the ground and grabbed the mans throat, squeezing until the mans good eye was bloodshot.
“If you touch her again, that will be the end of you.” He said as the man nodded desperately, gasping for air before Michael’s grip tightened, causing him to go unconscious. 
After the fight, Tommy let Michael go to the hospital where you were sitting in an exam room just having finished getting stitches on your face. Michael walked in carefully, his eye swollen and face bloodied with scratches as he came over to you. He still had an angry look on his face but it faded once he held you in his arms. 
“How are you doing?” He asked, kissing you lightly.
“I’m okay. Doctor said I’ll heal fine apart from a small scar.” You said sadly, hoping he wouldn’t see you as less than because of a small scar. 
“Don’t mind that. You look beautiful and I’d rather you have a little scar than be off dead somewhere love.” He said pulling you close to his chest.
You laughed a bit as you wrapped your arms around him, finally relaxing for once that night.
“Did you kill him?” You asked.
“No, I don’t think so. But Tommy and the boys killed the rest of his men. He’ll be sleeping with one eye open from now on, and maybe waking with one too.” He smirking down at you. 
“You cut him in the eye?” You asked picturing what happened and shivering at the thought.
“Yeah, and half a bloody smile. He won’t prowl anymore streets unless he wants to terrify all of Small Heath.” He said. 
As you both conversed further, the doctor came in to let you know you could go home, eyeing Michael suspiciously as he still looked pretty beat up. He disregarded her concern and smugly smiled at her, nodding as he helped you out, and into the car. You both went straight home per Polly’s orders where you relaxed the night away, remaining thankful for him and his crazy blinder cousins.
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theroomofreq · 3 years
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“Are we on a date right now?” Chapter 3
First off I want to say thank you to the anon who sent me this prompt. It was the first prompt I had ever received, and I can’t believe it morphed into this. Wherever you are anon, I love you very much. Also thank you to all the lovely people who have read, commented, and shared this story -- I love you all so much! 
Read on AO3
Harry walked through the next few weeks in a fog, his head was swimming from emotional turmoil. There was the constant pressure from Dumbledore to retrieve Slughorn’s memory, the confusing obsession with Draco’s disappearances, and Ginny. 
Today, it was Ginny that was most difficult for him, she had returned to her laughing goofy self the moment she stepped out the dungeon classroom. Any emotion from their previously charged meeting seemed to have been forgotten. They returned to exchanging jokes in the corridors, swapping quidditch strategies, and playing exploding snap in the common room. 
Unfortunately the rest of the school hadn’t forgotten like she had. Harry still had younger class men coming up to him and asking him about Ginny, there were still people who winked at him when they walked together, and the pathetic look Hermione gave him was too much. There was a stab of grief every time it happened, and he hated himself for it. Not being with her when everyone thought she might be was maddening. 
Harry had immediately found Hermione and Ron after Ginny left him in the deserted classroom. He hadn’t told them everything that Ginny said to him or his stupid idea, but somehow they picked up on his misery. Hermione hugged him while Ron patted his shoulder and muttered apologies. 
So, he learned to ignore the questions, and the looks, and the whispers. Instead he spent his time worrying about prophecies, quidditch, and Slytherins. 
As he made his way through the common room one morning, on his usual brooding tirade, Ron stopped him in his tracks with a few words. 
“Brill!” He announced, “A Hogsmeade trip on my birthday.” 
The wheels in Harry’s head spun into overdrive. He whipped his head around the common room looking for a bright spot of flowing red hair. Ron was muttering something else to the side of him, but Harry missed the dialogue as he searched for the Marauders’ Map in his bag. 
He pulled it out and turned to Ron, “I’ll be right back” before tearing out of the portrait hole. 
If he wasn’t being so careless he might’ve tried to murmur the charm for the map, but instead he said it loudly as he walked down the corridor. His eyes searched the parchment hungrily until he found her name, the library. 
His pace increased into little less than a full out run toward her, as his mind went south. What if she already had plans? Or someone had asked her already? Or maybe she did really want to be just friends? 
As he entered the library he quickly saw her, surrounded by fellow fifth years, books, quills, and ink. At the moment she was twirling her quill in her fingers, which didn’t seem like a crucial revision. Although even if she had been in the middle of her O.W.L.S very little would’ve stopped him. 
“Ginny” his breathy but loud greeting was met with a harsh shush from Madam Pince. 
She looked up with a bright smile, “Harry, ever heard of a whisper before? It’s the norm here.” 
“Right yes, Can we talk for a moment?” He did absolutely nothing to change the tone of his voice. This was evidenced by Pince’s quick steps toward him, Ginny was faster however, as she took him by the arm. 
“We better get you out of here” she muttered as she pulled him away from the tight lipped librarian. 
Once safely in the hall Ginny turned to him with a smirk, before she could open her mouth Harry blurted it all out, “There’s another Hogsmeade trip next weekend. Just saw it on the board actually, and I know you said you wanted to be just friends. But, I don’t think I can do that any better than I could fake date you, which was a right terrible idea. Sorry for that by the way.. And I…” 
He was pulled out of his rambling by the tight squeeze Ginny gave him on his arm, her hand hadn’t released him after pulling him out of the library. “I shouldn’t have left you like that.” Her smile was small but genuine as she continued, “Just because we agreed to tell the whole school we are just friends, doesn’t exactly mean that’s how I want us to be.” She said the last few words slowly and deliberately. 
“Just friends idea was really as bad as the fake dating idea if you think about it” Harry said as he took a half step toward her. 
“I think that could be put up for debate Potter.” She said as her brow quirked at his sass. 
Ginny ran her hand down his arm stopping just in time for Harry to lace their fingers together, “Don’t you have something to ask me?” Ginny asked as she smiled up at him. 
“Yeah, Go out with me? For real this time?” Harry could feel his grin crossing his entire face, “The upcoming Hogsmeade trip in March?” 
“I’d love to” her smile reached up to her freckled cheeks, squishing them against her brown eyes. 
Ginny gave his hand a squeeze before releasing him and taking a few steps backward, “I need to get back, transfiguration exams are coming up and all.” 
“See you Gin” 
She sent a small wave his way before turning and walking back into the library. Harry waited for her to glance over her shoulder at him before waving back which Ginny returned with a wink. 
March 1st was going to be the greatest day of his life, he was sure of it. 
---
It turned out March 1st wasn’t exactly as he expected it. After shoving a bezoar down his best mates throat, Harry Potter now paced in front of the hospital wing. He turned so quickly on his heel he nearly ran into Ginny. It must’ve been his quidditch reflexes that stopped him from barging over her, his hands gripped her upper arm as he stopped dead in his tracks. 
The look in her eyes was piercing, why was it always him that had to put this family in danger? It took little more than her hands coming up to his wrists for him to explain everything that happened. They stayed locked together as he told her every detail, her eyes intense and searching on his face. After he finished she took a step back and gestured to the floor, “As you were” 
As if on impulse he began to pace again, around the fifth time he passed her, she spoke again, “Go on then, let’s hear it” 
“Well it wasn’t Slughorn so who was it?” Harry shook his head trying to make sense of the whole issue. “He meant to give the wine away, but can’t remember how he got it.” 
“No mark on the bottle, no way of tracing it?” Her words kept his mind moving fast, struggling to find the answers. 
“No, nothing, I just can’t stand being helpless like this. There’s nothing I can do.” He groaned as he spun again on his heel. 
“Right, save Ron? Check! What else is there to do now?” 
“Gin” He stopped again facing her from the other side of the door, “You know what I mean. I can’t help but think there is something bigger at play here.” 
“You don’t think it’s Tom do you?” Her eyes went cloudy when she asked the bitter question. 
“If he went after Ron?” The thought stopped him dead in his tracks. “I don’t know what I would do. I couldn’t handle it.” He felt glued to his spot, as she walked closer to him. 
“Something on the inside then?” 
“I always think it’s the same two people behind everything. This time I really can’t shake the feeling that Draco has something to do with it?” Harry pushed a hand into his hair, messing his hair around as if it would help him think clearly. 
“Maybe,” she was right in front of him now, “But we really don’t know enough about Slughorn. He has so many visitors and he is frequently at Hogsmeade, anyone could’ve given it to him.” 
Hogsmeade. The mention of the village brought him back to all the hope that he had for the day. How he wanted to spend his time with Ginny, being caught up in her laugh, and getting a real chance to make something happen. 
“This isn’t how I wanted today to go, Gin.” Harry collapsed against the hospital wing door and slid down to a sitting position. 
She followed him sitting close enough that their legs touched, “And here I was thinking it was romantic.”
“It’s the atmosphere isn’t it? The sterile smells and bright lights?” He laughed, half at her joke and half at how quick she was to make him smile. 
“I bet you take all the girls here, don’t you?” She gave a wistful sigh that he didn’t believe for a second. 
“Only the ones I’m really trying to show a good time.” Her laughter swelled in his ears and made him feel a bit dizzy. He thought about asking her to just spend the day with him tomorrow when a frenzy of steps broke his train of thought, as Hermione raced down the hall with her wand out. 
Hermione’s hair was billowing wildly around her, “Why aren’t you in there with him?” 
The look in her eyes was cold and fierce, Harry didn’t dare tell her, Ginny didn’t seem to be too worried though, “Pomfrey won’t let us in.” She explained. 
Hermione’s eyes went positively feral, Ginny and Harry dove out of the way just before Hermione tried to reducto her way into the Hospital wing. 
---
As he walked down to the quidditch pitch the next evening Harry’s mind raced with thoughts of Ron’s poisoning, Slughorn's memory, Draco’s frequent disappearances, the upcoming quidditch match which was sure to be… 
“McLaggen, really?” Ginny said as she caught up with him, her training robes fitted nicely around her frame. 
“Don’t remind me. ” Harry frowned, “He practically ambushed me on my way back from the Hospital wing yesterday.” 
“It’s going to be a real disaster isn’t it?” She asked, a smirk casting over her features. 
“Without a doubt” he tried to form a scowl thinking about McLaggen, but it was challenging to do so when Ginny was smirking at him like that. 
She laughed at him with a full smile on her face, and suddenly Harry couldn’t help but think back to his plans from yesterday. 
“Ginny, listen, could we...” He held back, unsure how to ask her for another date, another shot at being with her. 
“Maybe we aren’t cut out for this? The planning and setting up dates?” She bit her lip as she looked over at him, her shoulders slumped forward a bit. 
“I’ve always been rotten at planning.” He admitted slowly. 
“We could just let things work out? Be spontaneous and see?” She asked, still rolling her lip between her teeth. “I mean, we’ve got quidditch to worry about right now.” 
Her eyes motioned up ahead, and Harry noticed with disappointment that they had made it to the pitch. He nodded, “Yeah, okay”
“Great because I think today is the day that I’m going to outsprint you.” She lightly elbowed his ribs before taking off in a dead sprint toward the broom shed. 
Harry was only distracted by her swishing ponytail for a moment before he took off after her. He ran after her as quickly as he could but she did in fact beat him, and the celebration dance she did after she had was very worth the loss. 
Ginny laughed wildly as she danced around singing about beating him, he laughed as she spun around, which resulted in Harry becoming distracted enough that practice started later than usual. 
Harry’s lack of focus did not stop there, it continued throughout all of practice. He was impressed as Ginny excelled at the new play he had come up with and in every drill he had the team complete, his eyes followed her during the entire training session. She frequently made a point to fly near him when making her snarky comments, winked his way whenever she made a particularly good goal, and rolled her eyes excessively whenever McLaggen talked. 
As badly as Harry wanted to set up a good game plan for the upcoming match more than that he wanted to plan a spontaneous way to get Ginny alone and snog the daylights out of her. 
---
Harry rustled through the bed covers, sore as he’d ever been in his life. His head ached, but not in a Voldemort way. It was as if a bloody buggering fool hit him across the brain, and suddenly his memory came flooding back along with a great deal of rage. Luna’s commentary, McLaggen’s absolutely idiocy during the match, and a searing pain across his head. 
“Well look who’s finally up” It was Ginny’s voice that rang out. Harry scrambled to find his glasses and knocked over a glass of water in his haste. 
With his glasses righted on his face he turned to see Ginny perched on Ron’s bed, the girl smiling brightly while his friend had a deep smirk on his face. She lowered herself to the ground and hopped up on the foot of his bed without any hesitation. 
“Ginny was giving me a play by play of the match, you seemed to have a great run.” Ron said, Harry was tempted to walk over and wipe the smirk off of his face. 
“I’m going to kill McLaggen. The absolute nerve of him” Harry muttered scornfully under his breath. 
“Wait until you hear about the final score.” Ginny said with a twinkle in her eye. 
Harry turned his head toward Ron’s bed, “320 to 60, Sorry mate.” Ron said with a grimace.
Harry buried his face in his hands as he grumbled about giving McLaggen a skiving snackbox courtesy of the Weasley twins. A small snigger from the end of his bed pulled Harry out of his misery, he glanced up to see Ginny covering her mouth. 
“What are you laughing about? It’s your quidditch team too.” He said with a glare. 
“Come on Harry, Luna’s comments? And the ridiculous way that McLaggen goes on playing? All we can do about it now is laugh.” She rolled her eyes affectionately at him. 
“You could at least feel a bit more sorry.” He murmured. 
“What did you expect? Waking up to find me crying over your banged up head?” Ginny’s eyebrow was cocked up again. 
Harry felt his flush run across his face while Ron cackled. “Wouldn’t mind that actually” Harry admitted, he also wished the crying would be accompanied by a confession of undying love, but he decided to leave that part out. 
Ginny let another laugh fall out before speaking up, “Oh come off it, you know if anyone was going to be crying over you it’d be Ron.” 
While Ron threw a fist in the air and yelled, “Damn right!” Ginny reached forward and grabbed Harry’s hand, “And obviously I was worried about you. I’m just glad you’re okay.” 
Harry felt warm at her contact but tugged her arm for more, gratefully she got the message and moved up the bed closer to him. She sat opposite him with her legs folded underneath her and pressing against his own, their hands coming to rest on her knee. Ginny glanced down at their hands before returning his bright smile, her eyes seemed to dip down to his lips for just a moment before landing on his face. Harry felt himself lean forward just as a loud retching sound broke the moment. 
Ron was making a disgruntled face as he scolded, “Well shit, don’t make me watch this go down.” 
No sooner had he uttered the words Ginny pointed her wand at her brother, whipping the curtains closed and casting a silencing spell on him. At the same time Harry had found his own wand, closing the curtains on his own bed and casting a silent muffliato spell. 
The two locked eyes and burst into laughter, Harry couldn’t help but think how easily they paired with each other. Within seconds they had accomplished the same purpose and almost equally as fast. 
“Thought I might make it a bit more intimate.” Harry said through his laughter. 
“You’ve really outdone yourself, just when I thought this place couldn’t get any more romantic.” Ginny managed to say through her own giggles. 
Harry wouldn’t exactly be able to pin down exactly why he did it. Maybe it was the intoxicating feeling of having Ginny alone and right next to him. It could have been the way her body shook with laughter and her grin lit up her eyes. Perhaps it was just the simple fact that he’d wanted to do it for so long. Whatever it was, it sent him surging forward to capture her lips under his. 
He swallowed her laughter as they collided and despite the way their lips moved together he could still feel her signature smile. His free hand came up to her face as she deepened the kiss, and Harry felt fully absorbed in Ginny. When her hand found its way to his hair his grin was too large for any further kissing to be done. 
The two pulled back, hearts racing, foreheads touching, and hands still interlocked. Harry looked into her eyes and saw a mischievous gleam along her flushed face. 
“Are we on a date right now?” Ginny asked.
He didn’t think it was possible, but his smile got even wider. “I’d say there’s been enough snogging to classify this as a date.” He answered before pulling her back in to cover her laugh with his lips.
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