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naughtyneganjdm · 3 years

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A Compromise - Chapter 10

Summary: After her night with Negan, Y/N finds herself falling fast for him which makes her question all the things she felt before.

Characters: Negan, the reader (OC)

Warnings: Swearing, smut, angst, parental abuse, etc.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27834154/chapters/84581761

Notes: Thanks to anyone who reads this for sticking around. I'm sorry real life has been so busy that this has taken me a while. I promise I will have the next chapter up soon!

There wasn’t a lot of things in life that surprised Y/N, but the way that she was feeling right now…that surprised her. After her night with Negan, that’s all she could think about. God, it was incredible. No one had ever gone so out of their way for her like Negan had. With Negan, she felt special. She felt on top of the world and nothing felt like it would bring her down. No one ever accomplished to make her feel that way.

While they were stopped at a red light, Negan’s right hand was settled on her knee and it made her smile. Stretching out her fingers, she curled them around Negan’s and squeezed them tightly within her grasp. Lifting her gaze to Negan, she could see that he was staring over at her. The way he looked at her warmed her heart. There was something in the way that Negan looked at her that made her feel like the only woman in the world. It was a feeling she never knew she craved. All she could keep thinking about was how unbelievable the last day had actually been for her.

It made her sad that they were almost home, but it also made her excited for their future adventures together. Never in her life did she ever think she would feel this way for someone. Being wrapped up so incredibly much by someone would have scared her in the past. Whenever she looked at Negan, her heart fluttered and everything in the world felt right.

There must have been something in the way she was staring at him that gave away she was deep in thought. It made a smirk press in over Negan’s lips and his eyebrows bounced. When he grinned at her, she felt her cheeks flush over and she turned her gaze away from him.

Without saying anything, Negan lifted her up hand up lazily to bring it to his mouth to deposit a faint kiss over the back of it. When her eyes connected with his again, he smiled one of those ridiculously charming smiles. One of those big toothy grins that brought attention to those already so gorgeous dimples. Nothing made her swoon more than those dimples she so often found herself staring at. It was strange how often Negan smiled, but damn it…she loved it. His smiles were contagious.

When Negan gave her a wink, it made her think about the person that she used to be. That part of her was still there and it wanted her to regret her decisions she made with him. It wanted her to think that the emotions and feeling she was having for Negan were wrong, but she didn’t. For so long she had this image of a stereotype of the kind of woman that she needed to be. Constantly in the past, her parents dug in this idea to her that with her career, she couldn’t have love. School and the career came first. It was a constant reminder that had be repeated to her time and time again. It just became a rule for her, but maybe Negan was right. The expectations her parents had for her were unrealistic. They thought that her having a relationship with someone would have her throwing her life away. But with Negan, she didn’t feel like that would ever happen. What was better than having everything she wanted while also having someone who cared for her like Negan did? Wasn’t the best of both worlds a good thing? Even at her best with school, she never felt this happy. With Negan’s support emotionally she felt like she could take on the world while still being happy about it. She genuinely felt that she could achieve greatness with Negan’s help. Now, she didn’t feel alone.

“What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours? You’re either really deep in thought or…?” Negan tried to read her and she realized that she must have been so lost within herself for him to notice. “You keep staring at me a certain way and it’s making me wonder if something is wrong or I have something in my teeth.”

“No, I just am trying to determine if you are something my conscience came up with in order to make me a happier person or if you’re actually real,” she answered almost in a teasing tone, but often she wondered if this was some kind of daydream she came up with. Negan was too good to be true.

Reaching for her hand, Negan placed it over the center of his chest to let her feel the steady heartbeat beneath her fingertips, “Does that feel real enough for you?”

“I look at you and you are the realest thing I’ve ever had in my whole life,” she explained and her answer made him chuckle. What she just said to Negan, that was something in the past she would have rolled her eyes at hearing. If someone would have said that she would have thought the person saying it was stupid. But being with Negan, she understood it now. How fast she was falling for Negan probably wasn’t good. It was just something she couldn’t help. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around why someone like you would want someone like me.”

“I just do. I think you’re perfect,” Negan insisted trying to keep his attention on the road when he thought of what to say to her. The light turned green and he quiet for a moment, trying to gather his own thoughts. “I’m the one with the baggage. I’m just lucky that you finally decided to give this whole dating thing a chance between the two of us.”

“It’s hard to tell you no. You were so damn persistent and I’m glad that I did do this,” she declared with a proud smile thinking about the night that they shared together. “You…you’re incredible.”

“Is that your way of saying you liked the sex?” Negan teased her with a wrinkle of his nose, giving her a quick glance with his mischievous hazel eyes. A small chuckle fell from her throat and he watched her cheeks flush over.

“Obviously,” she felt him pat her on the thigh before caressing over it. A shuddering breath fell from her throat with the closeness of him and she bit down on her bottom lip. It was insane how fast her body reacted to just a simple touch from Negan. “I guess I should be worried if the sex sucked for you since I’m the one that doesn’t have as much experience.”

“Last night wasn’t about the sex. It was about the two of us trusting each other. It was us connecting on a level that shows we’re open to something more. It was something a little bit more than just sex,” Negan stated with a long sigh and she squeezed tightly to his fingers loving to hear him say something like that. “Last night was beautiful.”

“Are you saying you made love to me Negan?” she inquired knowing that’s where is sounded like his comment was going. It almost looked like it embarrassed Negan when she asked him that and he sucked in a sharp breath.

“I guess that depends on if me saying that creeps you out or not. If you are open to the idea, yeah, we made love under the stars,” Negan suggested, his right eyebrow arching when he stole a quick glance at her. “If the idea of me making love to you creeps you out, then no…it was just something more than sex.”

“You’re adorable. You know that?” she was in awe of him being nervous while he talked about them making love. When all of this started with Negan, this wasn’t a version of him that she thought she would ever see. She didn’t know why, but their first few interactions made her think their encounters would be like some cheesy porno film. “First you come at me originally acting like this sexual deviant that is going to fuck my brains out and make me hate the day that I met you, but you’re really this gigantic teddy bear that just wants to be loved.”

“Can I at least be a gigantic sexy teddy bear that is really good at sex, but still wants to be loved?” Negan’s face twisted and it made her laugh upon hearing him ask of that. Negan had an image and she could tell that. Negan probably was often that sexually hungry person that she was talking about, but with her it seemed things were different.

“Yes, you can be my sexy teddy bear,” she agreed to it and Negan’s deep raspy laugh filled the car. “You’re also my extremely sexy sugar daddy.”

“In public I’ll be that, but between the two of us…I’m your teddy bear,” Negan winked as he pulled into the driveway to his home. When the car turned off, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure that her parents weren’t there to see them if she got out. Negan’s eyes were hooked on hers noticing the anxious expression over her face. “What happens the day that your parents find out that we’re dating? It’s going to happen eventually. I’m surprised they haven’t noticed you sneaking over here to be with me.”

“I’d rather not think about that right now,” she explained with a frown. “It has nothing to do with you, but everything to do with them. My dad will not handle it very well. Trust me.”

“I think your parents need to stop treating you like a teenager. You are in your final year of undergraduate school. You should be able to date who you want without your parents getting involved,” Negan pointed out and he could see the way she tilted her head to the side. It was obvious in the way she always got nervous at the idea of her parents seeing them together that her parents still scared her. They ran her life for so long that she was just nervous about how they would react to things. “I know your parents have controlled you most of your life, but you’re a big girl. Who you are dating is none of their business.”

“I know, but…” she went to respond and Negan reached out to stroke over the side of her face with his rough fingertips. Drawing her to him, Negan’s lips meshed in over hers and instead of worrying if her parents would see them she kissed Negan back. Parting her lips, she allowed his tongue to brush up against hers and whimpered when he did it.

“Life gets a lot better when you stop worrying about what everyone else will think of you,” Negan slurred against her lips when he pulled away enough to stare into her eyes. “You are your own woman. You’re perfect. You’re beautiful and you are a badass. Anything you put your mind to, I promise you can achieve. You don’t have to worry about them anymore.”

“God, where were you all my life?” she reached up to brush her fingers through Negan’s dark hair. If she had someone like him in her life before, she knew without a doubt that she would have had more confidence in herself. Her parents were always in the back of her mind, but if she would have met Negan sooner maybe a lot of the negative emotions she was going through right now would have never existed.

“Come on baby, I’m hungry,” Negan deposited a quick kiss over her lips before getting out of the car. Quickly, Negan moved around the car to help her out before leading her toward the house. When Negan got through the door, she pushed him into the house and then slammed him against the wall. A grunt fell from Negan’s throat when he felt her pulling at the belt in his pants. “What are you doing?”

“I still never got to give you that blowjob that you won in the game of laser tag,” she reminded him and an amused smirk pressed in over Negan’s features. With an arrogant bob of his head, Negan reached for her hands and he shook his head. A hushing sound fell from his lips when she gave him a frown. “What now?”

“I don’t want us to be one of those couples. I don’t want us to just have sex all the time,” Negan answered her with a loud sigh. “We’ll still have sex, but I want us to be more than this Y/N. Plus, I told you. I’m hungry.”

“You’re still holding that sex over me, huh?” she bawled up the material of Negan’s shirt at the center of his chest and let out a disappointed breath. Shaking his head, Negan kept his hazel eyes locked on hers and smiled. “Here I was thinking that was all over now that we were together.”

“I’m still going to pamper my beautiful girl,” Negan curled his finger in underneath her chin to lift her gaze to his. Tipping down, he teased his lips over hers and a wicked smile pressed over his handsome features. “I just want to make things special because you deserve nothing, but the best.”

“Which is you. You’re the best,” she tipped up on her toes to bring their lips together so they could kiss. Negan hummed in approval before brushing her hair back behind her ear. “But I guess I can honor your wishes and keep my hands to myself for now.”

“Good girl,” Negan snickered, reaching for her hand to lead her toward the kitchen. “I’m thinking I want waffles this morning. What do you think?”

“Sounds good,” she followed him into the kitchen while he made her sit down so he could pamper her and make her breakfast.

It was hard not to stare and admire him while he went out of his way for her. No one would ever go this above and beyond for her. So the fact that Negan did really surprised her. It was something that was easy to get used to, but it wasn’t something that she expected. After sleeping with Negan, she knew she was falling and potentially too fast.

After they slept together, she had automatically assumed that things would have been strange between them, but it really wasn’t. Negan was exactly the same and that was a good thing. He was very sweet, caring and like he was before. Instead of being distanced, which she pictured could have happened, he wasn’t. There was a fear that she would have felt uncomfortable about their relationship, but she didn’t. She just felt more in awe of him which surprised her all the more.

When she had lost her virginity before Negan, she was repulsed with herself for having sex and hated the person that she did it with. After sleeping with Negan, she felt closer to him and didn’t hate that it didn’t bother her. Things were moving fast between them, but it felt right.

They had their breakfast and afterwards shared a shower together, but Negan stood his ground when it came to the no sex. She was allowed to touch Negan, but it was hard not wanting to be with Negan. Being with him felt good. The attention he gave her and the passion they shared together felt better than anything she had ever experienced.

While she wanted to have sex again with Negan, she also enjoyed just getting to spend time with him. With most people she found herself bored being around them. Maybe that made her an asshole, but she didn’t care. A lot of people didn’t keep her interest. With him, it was easy to be able to enjoy being with him. Getting to learn more about his past and him in general appealed to her.

Their day just consisted of them doing random odds and ends together. They just relaxed. They watched television. They talked about their lives. Had dinner and at the end of the night they were headed to bed together. Before they could finish getting ready for bed though, Negan had gotten a call from Sam who wanted to talk to him before going to sleep.

Negan was sitting on the corner of the bed talking with Sam and Y/N sat watching the way Negan reacted to talking to his niece. She got a kick out of the fact that her boyfriend’s best friend was his twelve-year-old niece. Sam had called when they were getting ready for bed, so Negan didn’t get to change into pajamas, but Y/N had. This was something special about Negan. His niece meant everything to him and she loved that about him.

“I’m not lying to you,” Negan snickered, giving Y/N a glance over his shoulder and he made a dramatic expression. “She told me herself that she liked the whole thing. You weren’t wrong in suggesting taking her to the place. Why would I lie to you? We went on the air balloon after and then laid under the stars the rest of the night.”

When Negan laughed, Y/N was charmed with the whole interaction. The fact he would talk about her to his niece really touched her heart. Considering his niece was very special to him and she knew that his family knowing about her was a big deal.

“Yes dear,” Negan pulled the phone from his ear and held it out toward Y/N. Her eyes surveyed the phone wondering what Negan wanted. “She doesn’t believe me, so she wants to talk to you herself. I don’t get why she thinks I would lie about something like that, but…”

Once she grabbed the phone from Negan, he dramatically threw his hands up in the air with a shrug and headed for his dresser to pull out some pajama pants. When he headed toward the bathroom, her eyes followed his movements. Talking to Sam was a bit daunting, but she wasn’t about to say no considering who it was.

“Hello?” she found herself stretching out to watch Negan further while he pulled his shirt from his body and her throat went dry watching him.

“Holy shit, you really are there!” Sam’s amused voice filled the other side of the phone and it made Y/N laugh hearing it. “I don’t know why, I just kind of felt like he might have been lying to me so that way I didn’t feel bad for him.”

“Why would he do that?” she questioned, her nose wrinkling when she turned her attention away from the bathroom when she heard Sam say that.

“I worry him about him being alone and sometimes I just thought he was telling me things to make me not worry as much about him. Things weren’t exactly the best for him after Aunt Lucille died, so to hear that you two are having fun and super happy just…I don’t know, I guess it makes me happy,” Sam explained and it made a warmth flood Y/N’s chest when she thought about what Negan’s niece was saying. “It’s the first time I’ve heard him sound happy in a long time. So, thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me kiddo. I should be thanking you,” she proclaimed seeing that Negan moved to the door to watch her while he brushed his teeth. He was leaning against the door shirtless and in his pajama pants while she talked to Sam. “It was apparently your idea to go to that place we went first and that was the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

“Even after playing laser tag?” Sam teased making Y/N chuckle when she thought back to how seriously Negan took the game. “He gets kind of intense about that whole game. Try having him take you and your friends to play laser tag. At this point, I just always say it’s going to be me and him against everyone. Most of my friends will laugh because they think they are going to kill us. They don’t realize he's my secret weapon. After we absolutely crush them, they never want to play again with us.”

“Yeah, he is a bit of laser tag pro,” she admitted hearing Negan snort before heading back into the bathroom to continue to brush his teeth, “but I had a lot of fun with it. I can’t recall the last time that I had as much fun with anyone compared to the fun I’ve had with Negan.”

“That makes me happy to hear,” Sam admitted with a tired yawn and it made Y/N smirk. Taking a glance at the time, she knew it was late and wondered how late Sam’s mothers allowed her to be up. “I heard you weren’t a fan of the air balloon, but you liked the laying under the stars together?”

“The idea of falling out of the air balloon terrified me, yes,” Y/N recalled and it made Sam giggle on the other end. “I just kept picturing myself as a pancake and yeah, that was not my bravest moment. I tell you that. But the night under the stars was very romantic and I enjoyed it a lot.”

“It sounds romantic,” Sam confessed with another yawn and Y/N heard on the other end of the phone what she assumed to be one of Sam’s mothers urging her to go to sleep. Sam grumbled and obviously didn’t like being told what to do. “So when am I going to spend some time with the two of you again?”

“Well, I’m comfortable with you coming over any time you want. I think Negan and I will be spending more time together and I would have so much more fun going to the place we did with you I think,” she stated knowing that she had told Negan the same thing the day before, but it was true. “I think you would be able to probably help me when it came to the whole laser tag thing. Us girls against him.”

“Yeah, we’d like to think so, but he’d still kill us,” Sam giggled making Y/N laugh when Sam said it the way she did. Again one of Sam’s mothers was yelling at her to go to bed. Sam called out something and then came back to the phone. “But I would love to do that with the two of you! It was nice talking to you Y/N, but would you be okay with giving Negan the phone back? I have to say goodnight before I get grounded for being up too late on the phone. My mom is having a freak attack.”

“Sure thing kiddo. It was nice talking with you,” Y/N snapped her fingers to get Negan’s attention when he finished up brushing his teeth. “Sam wants to say goodnight. Her mom wants her off the phone or she’s going to get in trouble.”

“That would be Jane,” Negan informed her with a grunt and a roll of his eyes. When Negan said the name, she recalled all the information Sam fed her when she was here the first time. Elaina was Lucille’s sister and she was the calm on. Jane was the uptight mother that they spoke about. When Negan accepted the phone, she got comfortable in the bed and watched Negan pace. “Goodnight kiddo. I love you. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye honey.”

When he hung up, he turned to face Y/N and he could see the way that she was staring at him with a smirk, “What?”

“The two of you are just cute,” she insisted and cuddled her head in closer to the pillow. Negan turned the lights off and crawled in over her on the bed. Reaching for her wrists, Negan pinned them down beside her head while he hooked his fingers with hers. “I just think it’s charming you are like this tattooed, badass looking guy and your best friend is a twelve-year-old.”

“Well, that’s your first mistake. Sam is quite the badass herself. I wouldn’t fuck with that little girl,” Negan warned with a playfulness in his tone while he smiled down at her. Hovering his lips over hers, Negan teased her with the hints of a kiss, but didn’t allow her one. “I’m not embarrassed to have a twelve-year-old be my best friend.”

“You shouldn’t be, it’s adorable,” she lifted up to try and kiss Negan, but he pulled back enough to let out a snort when she whined. “The two of you together are something people wish they could have with their own kids.”

“Right,” Negan’s smile slowly faded and he swallowed down hard before biting into his bottom lip. “So you haven’t had any changes in your decisions with dating me? I was kind of waiting the first forty-eight hours to make sure you didn’t have a panic attack over this whole thing.”

“I should be having a panic attack, but nope,” she noticed that Negan allowed one of her hands to be released and she reached up to trace her fingers over the side of his masculine face. “I’m very much happy with the decision that I made.”

“Me too,” Negan slurred, finally lowering down to delicately trace his lips over hers. It caused her to shudder and over time the kiss got more passionate. Hooking her fingers into Negan’s hair, she felt him getting more comfortable over her and his tired eyes looked her over when they finally parted. “You’re beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she gave him a wink and it made him smirk. Peppering a few final kisses over her lips, Negan took his time to stare at her under him. There was something in the way he looked at her that gave her chills. Adjusting his weight, Negan dropped down beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist when she turned onto her side. Grunting, he realized he hadn’t turned off the light that was beside the bed. Lifting up, he outstretched his arm and tugged at the light to get it turned off.

Getting comfortable for bed was so much easier than it was before. Most nights, all it took for her to fall asleep was Negan wrapping her up in his arms and she was out like a light. Being with him she felt comfortable and safe. It felt amazing being wrapped up in his arms, but while she liked this…her mind was other places. Like where they were the night before. Biting into her bottom lip, she thought about what it felt like to have Negan inside of her and making love to her. It was a sensation that she craved again. It was drawing her to have goosebumps just at the thought of it. While she knew that Negan said he didn’t want to focus on sex, she couldn’t help yearning for just another time between them. Being this close to him had her body on fire.

Knowing that she promised to try to keep her hands to herself, she pulled her hips a bit forward. The warmth radiating from his body behind her was definitely having its effects on her. With Negan’s deep breaths filling the air, it was obvious that he had fallen asleep already. Which made her to cuss to herself because she wished he may have been having the same reaction to this that she was. Closing her eyes, she attempted to force herself to think about something different. She counted. Hell, that wasn’t working. Sucking at her bottom lip, she thought of trying to think of school things to help her, but that wasn’t helping either. Nothing was. This wasn’t exactly something she could control.

Oh hell. What was the worst that could happen? Negan could tell her no and then she would be forced to cool it?

Looking over her shoulder, she watched Negan sleeping, but her promiscuous side was getting the best of her. Sliding her hips back, she purposely brushed her bottom in over his groin and hummed to herself when she did it. Taking things slow at first, she took her time rocking her bottom over him. Watching his reactions over her shoulder while he slept was turning her on all the more. Originally, she wondered if Negan was even going to wake up. He wasn’t lying when he told her that he was tired. Yet, his body was reacting to her movements. The sound of his breathing hitched and she felt him tense up behind her when he finally woke up.

Instead of fighting with her, he stayed still and she wondered if he was attempting to pretend that he was still sleeping. Pushing harder back against him, she heard a growl escape his throat and his head lowered down to press a kiss against the side of her neck.

“You are relentless,” Negan slurred while she continued to rub herself up against him. The pressure she was using was much harder than that of what she started with. Sliding his palm in over the side of her hip drew him to moan when she ground back harder against him. “You were going to do this until you got what you wanted. Huh?”

“I’m good like that,” she turned her head so Negan’s lips could brush over hers. With his mouth eagerly covering hers, she knew that she could feel his cock hard against her ass while she took no time in continuing to draw herself back against him. Cooing into Negan’s mouth when his tongue brushed between her lips, she knew that this was probably a battle she was winning which excited her. Gasping, she felt Negan’s hands tugging roughly at the material of her pajama pants while still keeping her on her side in front of him. The material stuck a bit, but Negan was determined to get them low enough to where he wanted.

“I think you’re very fucking naughty if you ask me,” Negan rumbled, pulling his lips from hers while nipping seductively at her bottom lip. She let him move her where he wanted on the bed. They were both on their sides, facing away from each other, but she was eager to move in whatever way he wanted her. Roughly, he pulled her hips back as close to him as he could. His masculinity was obvious beneath the material of his pajamas as it pressed against her bottom, but that’s not what he was focusing on. His arm curled around her hips, urging one of her thighs up just enough so he could caress his rough fingertips over her clitoris. “I think you need to be punished. Here I am trying to sleep and get some rest. You just won’t allow that, will you?”

“Negan,” she whimpered out his name feeling his fingers tracing the length of her body before thrusting one of his long, slender digits firmly into her body. Her eyes slammed shut when Negan inserted a second. Over and over again he thrust them inside of her, curling his fingers just right to hit the perfect spot. The friction from his palm rubbing over her clitoris was causing her thighs to twitch. Crying out, Negan seemed to nip harder at her jawline and she clutched tightly to his pajama pants. “Negan!”

“Nope,” Negan pulled his fingers away from her body, his thick laughter teasing against the side of her neck when he denied her an orgasm. A whine escaped her throat and he let out a proud sound. “You won’t let me sleep. I won’t let you cum.”

“Please,” she panted, reaching for his hand to try to lead it back toward her core again. “I’m sorry.”

“You like daddy’s long fingers inside of you?” Negan questioned and she immediately nodded. The warmth of his breath against the back of her neck caused her to shudder. A chill ran down her spine and hearing him talk like that sent a flooding warmth to her core. “Say it.”

“I love daddy’s fingers inside of me,” she repeated what he wanted to hear and soon enough his fingers were back inside of her, pumping away. Shuddering when Negan’s warm breath pressed in over her ear, she kept her eyes closed and listened to his loud breathing. Occasionally he would nibble at her earlobe, her jawline, her neck…little places that would drive her absolutely wild while he pleasured her with his fingers.

“Do you like the way that feels baby? Do you like daddy pampering you?” Negan slurred against her earlobe before pressing a teasing kiss over her flesh. “Do you want to cum all over daddy’s fingers?”

“Yes!” she cried out, her head falling back and resting against his collarbone when a flood of warmth filled her body. Reaching down to grasp at Negan’s wrist, she knew that she was desperate. Tensing up, she wanted to chase after the orgasm that he was building up inside of her, but a loud whimper escaped her throat when he pulled his fingers from her again. Negan was working her right up to the point where she was about to cum only to stop. “What the hell Negan?”

“I told you that you were a bad girl that needed to be punished,” Negan reminded her, lifting his fingers up to his lips to look them over. A wicked smirk pressed in over his tired, handsome features before he took the tips of them between his lips. Sucking at them in a seductive manner made her moan just at the sight while she stared back at him over her shoulder. Reaching back, she tugged at his hair to get him closer to her so her mouth could meet his and he hummed against her lips. “Do you want to have that orgasm baby?”

“So bad,” she purred when his tongue swept at the inside of her bottom lip which drew her to shake against him.

“Then you have to work for it,” Negan bucked his hips forward against her bottom and she cried out knowing that her body was already shaking in his arms with him spooning her from behind. “You can do whatever you want, you just can’t leave the position you are in now.”

“I can do whatever I want? That means I can use you in whatever way I please?” she excitedly tried to gather the details. Her response made an amused smirk tug at his lips when she looked over her shoulder at him. Nodding once, she let out a shuddering breath trying to determine how she was going to get things the way she wanted. “I just have to stay on my side?”

“Yes baby girl,” Negan growled, nipping at her jawline when she reached back to grab at his pajama pants. Dipping her hand beneath the waistband, her palm wrapped around Negan’s solid cock and she unhurriedly traced her fingers over his length. When she reached the tip, she felt the precum collecting at the tip and it made her smile. “You like that?”

“You know I do,” she purred with the warmth of his breath at the side of her neck. Releasing his erection, she attempted to pull the material down his hips with her free hand. When she was having trouble, Negan lifted his hips to help her. Getting the material just down below his hips, she bit at her bottom lip while stealing a glance behind her. The length of his masculinity traced over her bottom and she eagerly reached back to grasp at his body again. His thick cock was completely solid. The veins were prominent and she was in awe of him. “You know, you clearly want this just as bad as I do?”

“Oh, he does for sure. Me, I was sleeping,” Negan snicked, nuzzling his nose against the back of her neck when she led the tip of his erection to tease it over her most intimate parts. It drew his eyes to close and he grunted. “Now that I’m awake, of course I want what he wants.”

“I thought so,” she was amused with his reaction, licking at her lips while she traced the head of his cock through her wet folds. “I hope you realize the control you gave me here. Full control of this big guy.”

“Condom first,” Negan pointed toward the nightstand after opening his eyes and she immediately shook her head. Snapping his fingers, he winced when she continued to tease him over the length of her body. “What do you mean no?”

“You just said I can do what I want with you, but I can’t leave the position I’m in. I want you inside of me like this,” she slurred and Negan’s eyes narrowed, his pupils dilating with desire. The way he was looking at her made chills run down her spine. “Are you going to go back on your own rules?”

“Touché,” Negan grumbled, his tongue clicking against the top of his mouth while keeping his stare locked on hers. “I guess I can’t go back on my word now, can I? What kind of man would that make me?”

Dragging her tongue over her bottom lip, she chuckled before lining up the root to his masculinity with her entrance. Negan’s Adam’s apple bounced in his throat when she pushed her hips back over him making him immediately moan upon her warmth surrounding him. A gasp fell from her throat when she pushed her hips further back over his hard cock taking maybe a little more of him than she was prepared for. She was wet enough, but that didn’t change the fact he was still big.

“Fuck me…” Negan groaned from behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see that he was glancing down between them to see his length sinking into her. His palm reached down to squeeze at her bottom and she took notice of the way he was breathing. A surprised sound fell from her throat when he swatted playfully at her bottom. “That’s essentially what you’re going to do, right? Fuck yourself with my cock?”

“Yes,” she didn’t have much of a smart remark when Negan’s hand snaked up and around her to caress up underneath her shirt to squeeze at her full breast. He gave her permission, so essentially, that’s exactly what she was going to do. Lifting enough, she helped Negan pull her shirt from her body and the cool air around them caused her to tremor.

It took a minute for her to get accustomed to him. While she wanted to tell herself she could jump right into this, this was still the second time she had slept with Negan and she had to ease herself into things. Get used to the fullness that she was feeling with him inside of her.

“Do you like the way that tight, wet pussy feels?” she used her dirty talk, making his eyes raise up to her and his lips were agape. The sound of his loud breathing filled the air around them. While the first time was more romantic and was them making love, this was very much a dirtier experience between them. “Much better than it did with that condom, right?”

“You are so fucking naughty,” Negan slurred with a wrinkle of his nose and he pressed his head in closer to her. Adjusting behind her, Negan pressed himself up against her back which led a significant amount of his cock to be buried deep inside of her. “Fuck.”

“Negan,” she reached for his thigh to dig her fingers into the warmth of his flesh. Crying out, she took in the sensation of him filling her and she never realized how much she would actually enjoy it. Negan bit at her jawline, his growl falling from his throat when her hand caressed down his thigh. There wasn’t much movement between them yet, but just having him inside of her felt amazing. “You feel so good.”

With an uneasiness, she rolled her hips back and took him further into her before pulling her hips forward. The sound that Negan make drew chills to fill her entire body and while she wasn’t exactly sure how to do this right in this positioning, she was finding the way that things felt good for her. Negan wasn’t lying when he told her that she had to work for it. He wasn’t moving other than keeping his hand settled in over her hip while kissing over her jawline.

“Fuck,” Negan grunted when she found a movement that seemed to work for the both of them. Clutching to Negan’s thigh and using her grasp at the side of the bed helped her rock herself over his cock. “Damn baby girl you really want that orgasm, don’t you?”

The smacking of their skin filled the air and Negan’s faint moans were in tune with her cries while she used his body in the best way she could in the position that they were in. Nuzzling his nose against the side of her neck, Negan grunted against her flesh and it made her tremble. She wished the rules weren’t that she had to stay in this position, but she was making the most use of it that she could.

“You really wanted that dick,” Negan chuckled feeling his body tensing up and he looked down to watch her body sink down over his length down to the base and then pull up repeatedly. It was surprising how well she took him with it just being her second time with him. “Fuck…fucking…”

A whine escaped her parted lips when Negan nipped at her sensitive flesh. The warmth from her movements started radiating into her belly and flooded its way out through the rest of her, “please Negan…”

“You’re almost there,” Negan encouraged her noticing that she was shaking while her fingertips dug into his flesh. Noticing that she was slowing down, Negan started bucking his hips forward to meet her thrusts back onto his erection. Each movement had her mewling out in delight until he felt her tight walls contracting around him. When she clearly reached her orgasm, she went to pull her hips away from him in a moment of pure ecstasy, but Negan kept her where she was so he could experience her orgasm around his cock. “There you go…good girl.”

After allowing her a moment to come down from the high of her orgasm, Negan kept her where she was while pampering her with kisses over her neck and over her jawline. A gasp fell from her throat when Negan pulled his body from hers and then pinned her underneath him. A thin layer of sweat covered Negan’s body and his arrogant smile expanded over his features. Negan’s wet hair was in his eyes and a whine fell from her throat when his flesh smacked up against hers. One fluid thrust and he was inside of her completely, filling her to the brim. “One time sleeping with me and you’re already addicted to my cock.”

A crack of a smile tugged at the corners of her lips as Negan reached for her legs to put them over his shoulders. With his rough palms settling in over her bottom, she whimpered when he started thrusting into her again and again. Tossing her head back, she knew that her body was already so sensitive that it wouldn’t take much for Negan to get her to another orgasm. With the friction of his groin smacking up against her clitoris and his thick body stretching her in ways she never felt before, it had her crying out in absolute bliss. Tossing her head back, she reached for Negan’s wrists and wrapped her fingers tightly around them.

“Negan,” she cried out his name, opening her eyes enough to see that Negan was smiling as her body started to shake when he got her to another orgasm in no time. That was the look of a proud man. He knew he caused it and fuck he was cocky, but she loved it. Her second orgasm was intensified and it left her breathless.

Lowering her legs, Negan pressed in over her and she desperately clung to his shoulders. Kissing at the side of his neck, she felt his powerful movements over her and she was surprised just how good this felt with him too. It was definitely something she would have to get used to, but her body liked it and it liked it a lot. Negan was big and she felt it. Especially today. Dragging her right hand up, she sank her fingers into Negan’s hair. The breaths escaping Negan’s throat became more desperate and soon they became pants.

“I’m almost there,” he alerted her, his nose nuzzling against the side of her neck. With his groans vibrating against the side of her neck, she dragged her nails down his back which drew him to wince. Cupping his bottom in her palm, she appreciated the flesh flexing and relaxing beneath her touch while he pounded up against her. “Shit.”

In a hurry, he pulled his hips back to leave her with an empty feeling. The warmth from his release covered her lower abdomen while she clung tightly to him, not ready to let him go. Negan buried his nose against the side of her neck, his loud breathing causing chills to fill her entire body. The room was spinning around her and she felt like she was in a state of euphoria. What Negan had brought her to was absolute bliss. Her heart was pounding away inside of her chest. Everything was tingling and she ached, but God it felt good.

Negan lowered in over her, cuddling his head against her shoulder while he caught his breath and she found herself stroking her fingers at the bottom of his neck teasing at the short curls of hair that were there, “Thank you.”

Pulling back just enough to look down at her, his nose wrinkled and he laughed, “Did you just thank me?”

“I sure as fuck did,” she confidently answered before tugging his mouth to hers while kissing him enthusiastically. Nibbling at his bottom lip, she took her time to enjoy the warmth of him over her and she shook her head. “I ache, but I feel so good.”

“You’re welcome?” Negan’s right eyebrow arched up and he snickered against her lips. Motioning her to wait, he got up from the bed and reached for the tissues that were on the dresser. When he returned, he sat on the edge of the bed. Taking a look at her abdomen lowering and rising made him smile. Reaching out, he traced his fingers over her ribs and it made her giggle when he did it. “You wiggle too much.”

“Sorry, I’m ticklish,” she apologized and it made Negan smirk. Taking his time, he took a few tissues and cleaned his release from her body. When he was tossing the tissues in the trash beside the bed, she reached out to squeeze her fingers around his thigh. “You didn’t have to pull out, you know.”

Telling him that made him smirk and his eyes looked her over while she was laid out in the center of his bed. Tracing his fingers from her inner hip, up toward her abdomen and between her breasts made a whimper escape her lips. Arching up toward him, she noticed him lowering down and he peppered kisses over her chest.

“I know,” Negan bit down on his bottom lip when he lifted his gaze to her. Getting up, he carefully lowered himself to lay over her in a way where his weight was balanced on his left arm so he wouldn’t hurt her. Resting his head against her shoulder, he couldn’t help but smile when she instinctively wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “It’s hard to read you.”

“What do you mean?” she stroked her fingers through his hair, nestling her head in next to his while he laid over her. With anyone else, she was certain that she would have felt claustrophobic, but with Negan she actually enjoyed this close contact with him.

“I mean, I want to be the man that wants to make love to you and be romantic with you,” Negan began with a long, dramatic sigh. Pausing to take a minute, he faintly kissed over her collarbone and traced his rough fingertips over her chest. “While I think you like that, I also think you would rather me be dirty with you.”

“I’m okay with a bit of both,” she blurt out with a snicker before leaning in to press a kiss over the top of his head. “Hey, you originally sold me on the whole dominant relationship with you here. You can’t blame me for being the slightest bit interested.”

“And what do you prefer?” Negan lifted his head, his right eyebrow raising to try and read her reaction to his question.

“It depends on the moment,” she palmed in over the side of his rough face, admiring him even more when he leaned into her touch. “I think both were great and depending on what’s going on, I’ll happily take either one.”

“So it’s all about reading a situation, huh?” Negan teased her with a smirk and lowered his head back down to cuddle it in over her. “I guess you’re always going to keep me on my toes then. Has this at all let you down in any way?”

“Sleeping with you?” she questioned and he nodded which made her laugh. “Negan, you have no idea how much I’ve liked it. The first time I slept with someone I didn’t understand why people liked it or wanted to do it. With you, I get it. Yeah, I ache, but it’s worth it. Plus…this…”

“What?” his voice vibrated against her skin while he kissed over her chest.

“Being in your arms. The way you look at me and touch me,” she brushed Negan’s hair back behind his ear. Her heart was still hammering inside of her chest. Nothing had ever enamored her like this had. She looked forward to every moment with Negan and she could never recall feeling that way about anything in her life. “It’s the most incredible, addictive feeling I’ve ever had in my life.”

Without a word, Negan lifted his head and stared out at her with surprise. The way his eyes narrowed made her nervous, but unhurriedly a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Stretching out, his lips met hers in a delicate caress and her comment seemed to make him happy to hear. Kissing him was remarkable and absolutely took her breath away.

“Well I’m glad you feel that way,” Negan hummed against her lips, nibbling gently at her bottom lip, “because I feel the same way about you and I’m eager to do whatever I can to keep you in my life.”

“As if you have to try,” she cupped his squared jaw in her palms and eyed him over. “You’re perfection. I’m lucky that you even looked twice at me Negan. Someone would be crazy to let you slip through their fingers. You’re everything someone could want and more.”

Negan cuddled his head in next to hers and she felt on top of the world being with him. Negan was gorgeous. He was good with kids. He was fun. He was romantic. There were so many layers to him and she was excited that he was allowing her to get to discover them. For the first time in her life, with Negan she felt at ease at nights. Her fears no longer ruled her thoughts. Often, she would worry about tomorrow and the future, but with Negan, all she cared about was what was happening in the moment.

It was incredible how fast time flew with Negan. In the past, days were boring and long. There was always a fear of her future but getting to spend her time with Negan was phenomenal. She looked forward to it. Being with Negan changed her in a lot of good ways. Instead of being worried and scared all the time she actually looked forward to her days. Yeah, the thought of that schoolboard meeting that was scheduled was always on her mind, but that wasn’t the only thing for her anymore.

Over the next couple of weeks, they spent every moment together when he wasn’t working. Even when he was working, she found herself lounging around his home working on things for herself. There was no need for her to really go home to her parents. Of course she would stop by here and there to let her parents know that she wasn’t dead, but she had everything she needed at Negan’s home.

Y/N and Negan really didn’t have a lot of sex because there was never enough time in the day to get it all in. Actually, a lot of their time was spent with Sam. Multiple times Sam came over to hang out with them and it was really nice getting to spend time with her when things weren’t so tense. Together, she had a lot of fun with Sam. Negan’s niece was a good kid and reminded Y/N a lot of herself when she was younger. She wished she would have had a family like Sam because then she may have had a bit of happiness in her life. Sam was very loved and Y/N was very appreciative that Sam was including her in this life.

On this specific day, Y/N woke up in Negan’s bed feeling joyful. The night before they had just curled up and watched movies together before falling asleep. It was the simple things in life that appealed to her, but these were moments that she would have never found herself doing before dating Negan. Dating life scared the hell out of her in the past, but with Negan she found herself getting very comfortable with it. Negan had to go to work today and she didn’t often get up when he did. Instead, she would sleep in and get a little bit more rest. It was her phone vibrating on the nightstand that had woken her. Reaching out, she grabbed a hold of it to see that Negan had texted her to let her know that he left his wallet on the counter in the kitchen. Tonight, he was supposed to go out with a friend from work which meant he was going to need it. So he asked her to bring it to him while he was working.

Getting up was hard, but at the same time, she was excited at the idea of getting to see Negan at work. When she got up, she took a quick shower and then went to grab his wallet. The movement was quick and she ended up dropping it on the floor to have it flip open on the floor. Kneeling down she reached for it to see the photo that it had opened to was Lucille and Negan together. Stroking her thumb over the picture, she felt her throat go dry knowing that Negan’s late wife wasn’t something she often thought about. Maybe it should have been though since she was still his first picture in his wallet and he still wore his wedding ring, even this far into their relationship. Flipping to the next set of pictures she could see that he had multiple photos of Sam in his wallet. There was also a few random photos, but when she fell upon a photo of Negan with a very obviously sick Lucille, she felt her heart ache.

At this point, she knew a lot about Negan’s relationship with Lucille and his past, but she still didn’t know when Lucille died. How long ago had it been? Negan was very open about things before Lucille got sick, but he wasn’t exceedingly open about after she was diagnosed. Looking at the last photo in his wallet, she noticed that it was a photo of her with Negan and it made her smirk. Clearly Negan had a photo from his phone printed out to put in there and it charmed her. They were not even a month into their dating and she was already in his wallet?

Taking notice that something was sticking out, she reached for it to see that it was the photo strip that they had done with Sam at the mall the other day. Sam was sitting between the two of them and she found herself enchanted that Negan had kept it in his wallet. It was a fun day that they shared and the silly expressions in the pictures they took made her smile. Instead of spying any further on his personal items, she closed his wallet back up and headed to his work. The one thing his wallet made her realize is that she had so many unanswered questions that were still there about Lucille. Ones that she knew she would have to approach with caution, but her curiosity was getting the best of her and she knew that.

When she got to Negan’s work, she parked in the lot that Negan directed her to do. He told her to walk around the school to come and give him his wallet on the baseball diamond that they had. Part of her was nervous about approaching him at the school. She remembered how strict her school was about people visiting and it made her worry if she was going to get tackled just for being here without announcing herself. It was hard not looking over her shoulder every second just to make sure the security at the school didn’t go crazy on her just for being on the premises.

As she started approaching the baseball diamond, she saw that Negan was out in the middle of it talking to a few of the students. The rest of them were spread out all around except for the few that were surrounding him. When a few of the students noticed her approaching first, Negan looked over his shoulder and smiled when he saw her stepping in beside the gate that was near the dugout. Swallowing down hard, she knew this was the first time she had ever seen him working. He was wearing a baseball cap, a white t-shirt and athletic pants that made her bite at her bottom lip. If Negan would have been her gym teacher when she was in high school, she was certain that she would have been in trouble because she would have wanted to be in his class twenty-four-seven.

After a second, Negan turned toward her and started running toward where she was standing. As he approached, he slowed down and his smile expanded over his handsome features. It was one that immediately drew her attention to his gorgeous dimples. That was always something that won her over with Negan. All he had to do was smile and she had butterflies in her stomach.

“Hello gorgeous,” Negan approached her, outstretching his hands to settle them in over her sides. Surprised with his forward movements, she was tense as he lowered down to her to brush his lips over hers. Worried that he would get in trouble for kissing her, she had trouble kissing him back. But he didn’t seem worried which soon relaxed her. Curling her fingers around the back of his neck, she kissed him back and heard Negan growl when he pulled away. One of the students whistled which made Negan throw his middle finger up when they did it. Immediately she felt a laugh fall from her throat and a few of his students laughed. “I’m sorry you had to come here and put up with these little shits.”

“I’m not, it was nice getting to see you in this get up. Why don’t you wear those pants more often?” she whispered quiet enough so the kids in his class couldn’t hear them. When she said that, Negan’s head lowered and a wicked grin spread out over his handsome features. “Those are…nice.”

“You like them?” Negan sucked at his bottom lip and arched his right eyebrow in curiosity. “I’ll have to wear them for you at home then.”

“Are you wearing anything underneath?” she stepped close enough to him making an amused sound fall from Negan’s throat. Negan’s head did a cocky bob and he looked back over his shoulder to make sure the students weren’t paying attention to them.

“You’re naughty, you know that?” Negan slurred when she reached for his wallet to pull it from her bag. She lifted it enough for Negan to grab it and slide it into his pocket. “So…what are you going to do tonight?”

“What? You need to know where I’m at all times?” she teased him, reaching up to circle her fingers in over the center of his chest and Negan’s hazel eyes narrowed at her when she said it. With a tilt of his head, he smirked.

“Trust me baby, I’d much rather be home with you,” Negan reached up to wrap his fingers around her wrist. Something changed in Negan’s face and he lowered his stare from her. What was that? It was like a switch and she didn’t know how to read that. “This is just something…something one of my friends here wanted to do. I kind of couldn’t get out of it.”

“I understand,” she watched him take off his baseball cap to brush his fingers through his hair to slick it back. Noticing that his attitude seemed to change a bit, she lifted her hand to swipe her thumb in over the curve of his chiseled jaw. “I figured since I’ve kind of ditched my parents completely since I started dating you, that I would have dinner with them tonight. I guess my mom is making my favorite.”

“Aw, they missed you,” Negan winked at her, reaching out to loosely wrap his arms around her waist again. When he leaned in to kiss her, she pulled away and let out a nervous sound. “What?”

“Your entire class is watching the two of us,” she alerted him, noticing over his shoulder that every single one of his students was staring at the two of them together. When Negan looked over his shoulder most of them immediately looked away.

“You nosey little shits,” Negan called out with a laugh and he threw his hand up in the air. “Run the bases while I’m busy. Do something!”

“You can talk to them like that?” she was amused to see the students do what Negan told them. When he turned back to her, his nose was wrinkled and he was laughing. “You would think you would get in trouble talking to them like that.”

“Ah, no. We are chill. They know I’m a sarcastic shit and they give it back for the most part,” Negan informed her with a shake of his head when he leaned back in to pepper kisses over her lips making her laugh when he pulled her playfully in closer to his chest. “I hope you enjoy your time tonight with your parents. Are you going to stay over there tonight or are you coming back to my place after dinner?”

“Are you kidding me? Sleep in my cold lonely bed or sleep with your arms around me?” she acted like it was a hard decision and Negan snorted when she was being dramatic.

“You’ve been with me every day since we started dating. I didn’t know if you would eventually want alone time. I don’t have a problem with you in bed with me tonight though,” Negan insisted with a loud sigh and he pressed a loving kiss over her cheek. “I’m glad it’s Friday so I can sleep in tomorrow. It will be nice to have a break.”

“Getting to sleep in with you in the mornings is one of my favorite things,” she alerted him with a hum and tipped up to kiss him again which led to a few of the students letting out teasing sounds. “You better get back to work.”

“I’ll see you tonight,” Negan rolled his eyes at his students’ reaction to them kissing and stepped back away from her. “Thank you for bringing this to me. I’d be lost without you.”

“You know it,” she winked and watched him run back to the students where one of them started hackling Negan about his girlfriend. It made her laugh, but she knew she needed to leave before someone picked up on her being there.

Stealing one final glance, she enjoyed the sights of him interacting with the students. Negan was good with kids. Even if he was being a smartass with them.

Heading back to her car, she decided to go home to Negan’s. For a while she stayed at Negan’s place, but knew when it started getting toward the time she was supposed to go back home with her parents that she should head over to help her mother make the dinner.

When she showed up, her mother welcomed her with a big hug and it was nice to see that she was missed at least. Y/N had always thought that she could just disappear and her parents would never give a shit at the end of the day. Her mother alerted her to the fact that her father was working on something, but would join them when dinner was ready.

Going straight to helping her mother with dinner, they were rather quiet. There wasn’t much to talk about that she could freely do since she was dating Negan. So if her mother wanted to talk, Y/N would let her, but she wasn’t going to freely open up about details going on in her personal life.

Dinner was surprisingly quiet because her father didn’t say much. They just talked about random odds and ends. When they finished with dinner, her father said he would do the dishes since they had cooked the dinner. As her father left the room, Y/N could see that her mother was staring out at her. It was what she would consider a judgmental stare and it made Y/N look down to make sure that she didn’t spill anything on her during the meal, “What is it?”

“So, who is the guy?” her mother finally questioned after leaving her hanging after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. Immediately, a warmth flushed into her cheeks and she looked away from her mother. “You were always here. Then you got this job and I can only assume you’ve met a boy. You actually look happy. It’s something I haven’t seen in a very long time. Usually you’re really tense. Today, I think I’ve seen you smile more than I’ve seen you smile before.”

“Wow,” she hesitantly laughed hating that her mother was so observant and sadly knew that there was a man in her life. Did she really give off that big of a vibe to other people? The old her would have been mad at the idea that she looked happier because of a man, but it was true. It was all due to Negan that she was like this and she knew it. “He’s a really good guy.”

“So it is a boyfriend?” her mother’s eyebrow arched and Y/N couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips and she nodded. She knew deep down that she had to keep things somewhat a secret now because of the fact that it was Negan that she was dating. “What’s he like?”

“I don’t know how to describe him,” she thought for a moment letting out a long sigh. “He’s the sweetest, most caring man I’ve ever met. He’s funny, charming, handsome…all of the best details you could put into a man. I’ve never…felt like this before and it’s because of him. I’ve never met someone who has encouraged me to be the best version of myself while also being happy. He’s perfect. Everything I could have dreamt of and more.”

“Wow, it sounds like you’re in love already,” her mother snickered, reaching out to place her hand over Y/N’s and it made Y/N’s heart flutter inside of her chest. Pulling her hand back, she didn’t know if it was too soon to be using a word like that. Love. That was a big word. “When will we get to meet him?”

“I don’t know mom. It’s kind of fast,” she reasoned with her mother and she swallowed down hard. “I’m still trying to determine if this a permanent thing. I mean, I consider him my boyfriend and I love every moment I’ve spent with him.”

“It sounds like a dream come true to me,” her mother pointed out and it made Y/N laugh before lowering her head. Negan was a dream come true. Fuck, being with him scared the shit out of her because she couldn’t believe the ways that Negan made her feel.

“He is pretty dreamy. I hate to admit it mom, but this man has proven to me that everything I thought about dating is bullshit. In the short time we’ve been together, I’m not sure anyone knows me better than he does. He wants to know who I am. He wants to help me become a better version of me. He pampers me, he takes cares of me, he is the sweetest man you would ever meet,” she continued to swoon about Negan knowing that even tonight she was disappointed that she wasn’t with him. “In his arms I feel safer than I have my entire life. I used to worry every day about my future. With him in my life, I’m not so much worried about it anymore. He gives me confidence that everything is going to be okay.”

“What does he look like?” her mother urged her further into details and it made Y/N uncomfortable, but she knew that she could be vague.

“I’m going to be honest with you mom, he’s older than me,” she admitted knowing that Negan was a bit older than her in general so she was sure that her mother would have been uncomfortable with that if she stressed the age difference. “He’s just…perfect. He’s tall, slender, hazel eyes, dark hair, gorgeous dimples…he has tattoos.”

“We might want to keep your dad from that information for a while,” her mother teased her with a smirk looking toward the area of the kitchen. It made Y/N more at ease to know that her mother wasn’t being so stressed about the idea of her having a boyfriend in her life. “I’m going to take it the two of you are having sex?”

“Mom!” she blurt out feeling an overwhelming sense of dread when her mother said that out loud. Lowering her head, she buried it in her palm and shook her head. “That is really not something I want to be talking about with you.”

“So that’s a yes,” her mother reasoned making Y/N groan out with displeasure. In her opinion, there was nothing worse than getting your parents involved in your sex life. That was the last person she wanted to talk about sex with Negan to. “All that I ask for you is to be careful. I want you to be happy, but I also want you to still have the future we always talked about. I don’t want you stuck in a situation where you are unhappy, pregnant and have no means to helping yourself.”

There was an uncomfortable silence that filled the air after she said that and Y/N wondered if that was how her mother felt being stuck with her father. There was that air of curiosity that got to her, but also the fear of hearing the answer to that. Because then there was the idea that her mother didn’t want to have her in the first place and getting pregnant with Y/N is what forced her mother to stay with her father. That was something she had never heard from her mother before, so it definitely shocked her.

“We’re careful,” she assured her mother and she shrugged her shoulders, letting out a long sigh. “If it puts your mind at ease, we haven’t slept together more than a couple of times since we’ve been together. I find that we spend more time hanging out together and enjoying each other’s time than we do being sexual.”

“Does that mean he’s not good?” her mother definitely went too far with her question and it made Y/N snort with disbelief. “I’m just saying, some men you love and you are willing to look over the fact that they aren’t very good in bed.”

“No, he’s perfect in the bedroom. He’s just romantic, very romantic. He wants to make me feel special and he wants our relationship to mean something,” she explained with a loud sigh knowing that she would have loved to have had more sex with Negan in the time they had been together, but Negan always wanted each moment to be good for her. “I know this is going to sound weird mom, but he really just wants to focus on what makes me happy. He wants me to feel pampered and like I’m the only woman in the world for him.”

“Then why the fuck are you so nervous about him?” her mother swatted the table after hearing that and it made her laugh. She had never realized that there was this side to her mother and she liked it. Why had she never seen it before? “I like hearing that you have a healthy relationship with someone. That’s all you ever really want for your child. For them to do better than you. Find someone that makes them happy and wants you to succeed in life.”

“I have confidence that he is just that,” she reached out to place her hand over her mother’s and she squeezed over it firmly. Thinking about Negan made her realize that obviously her mother had met him already and she was already swooning over Negan in the past. “Trust me, I guarantee you that you would really like him. I know he’s the kind of guy that would just warm your heart.”

“So that’s what you’ve been wasting your time doing?” the sound of her father’s voice pulled her attention from her mother and it made her jump. Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, Y/N lowered her gaze and her father scoffed. “Here I was thinking that you were actually taking things seriously after fucking yourself out of school.”

“I have my meeting with the schoolboard soon,” she informed her father with a shrug of her shoulders and she let out a shuddering breath. “I’m prepared for what is coming. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“I do actually. I thought I taught you better than this,” her father shamed her from where he was standing, his arms folded out in front of his chest and he looked absolutely disgusted with her. “We talked about the career. The career always came first because as soon as you focused on a relationship you were going to forget all about your future. People get blinded by fucking love and as soon as they are, they forget everything about their future and their potential. You already put yourself one step in the grave because of what you did with your professor and now you just laid yourself completely in after all of this.”

“I think you would be surprised,” she attempted to defend herself knowing that Negan had already helped her a lot as it was and he wasn’t the kind of person that wanted to hold her back from her dreams.

“What I’m surprised with is how disappointing you turned out to be,” her father snarled and she felt her heart sink when her father said that to her. For most of her life she had looked up to her father and he was the person that she had tried to get the acceptance from the longest. He was the one that urged her into doing law because she wanted to be like him when she was little. So to hear him say that broke her. “I thought I raised you right…”

“You did raise me right,” she stammered with a confused expression. “I’ve always done everything right. I worked harder than anyone. I graduated at the top of my class in high school. I worked my ass off on the first few years of college, but I stood up for myself with my professor. I did what I had to in order to protect myself dad. He tried to assault me. Would you have rather me just lay there and take what he did? I have put everything into all my classes. All my grades prove that. What he was doing to me was wrong. Altering my grades so that way he could blackmail me into having sex with him.”

“If I heard you correctly from in there, your boyfriend is apparently older than you?” her father repeated her words and it made her eyebrows furrow with fear as to where her father was going with this. “You have no problem dating an older man, but if an older man you’re not attracted to wants to have sex with you, it automatically becomes assault? If the person you are dating now was your professor, you would have fucked him, right?”

“That’s the nastiest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” she frowned not believing the things that came out of her father’s mouth about what happened with her and the professor. “It had nothing to do about attraction dad. It had everything to do with the fact that he was abusing his power over me to make me do what he wanted. Even if he was the most attractive man I have ever seen, I would have never allowed it. I would have still had the same reaction. It had nothing to do with attraction.”

“Right,” her father rolled his eyes and she could tell that he didn’t believe her which hurt her all the more.

“At this point I feel like you would have just rather me sleep with my professor instead of standing up for myself,” she pointed out and her father shrugged making her let out a disgusted breath.

“You’re going around being a slut anyways now,” her father stated with a dark expression, his eyes narrowing out at her. It made her stand up from the table, her heart was pounding inside of her chest and she felt like every part of her was on fire. “You could have at least been a slut and finished school instead of ruining your future and deciding to be a whore afterwards.”

“How am I a slut for dating someone?” she demanded an answer from her father, looking to her mother who was looking down and away. It was obvious that she was embarrassed by her father’s outburst, but her mother was saying nothing. That wasn’t rare. At this point her father could have said anything and her mother wouldn’t defend her even though her mother had seemed okay with everything before. “Wouldn’t I have to be sleeping around in general with everyone and anyone to be a slut?”

“Whatever makes you feel better honey,” her father moved around the table to sit on the corner of it, folding his arms out in front of his chest. “What you should have been doing is groveling. You should have been making up the work you knew that you were going to miss for the rest of this semester. Maybe you should have apologized to the professor. Begged him to forgive you. The schoolboard is not going to accept you back and you are so arrogant to think otherwise. You should have done everything in your power to get back into that school or find something else. Instead, you’re opening your legs to an older man. Sounds like you’ve taken this time to be exactly what I called you.”

“I should have known it would be a mistake coming here tonight,” she went to leave feeling her father grabbing a tight hold of her wrist as she went to leave. The yank he did jerked her back and his fingers had an exceedingly hard squeeze over it. “Let go. You’re hurting me.”

“You are an ungrateful little shit and I taught you better than this,” her father scowled, his eyes darkening while he looked her over. “After everything I have done for you over the years, this is the way you decide to pay me back, huh? All that money wasted.”

“I’m sorry I’m not your perfect image dad,” she snapped back, attempting to pull her wrist back, but he kept his firm grasp on it. “I guess I should have just let my professor rape me so you could be proud of your little girl and the woman she became.”

“You know, you have a really smart mouth and no man is going to be accepting of that little girl,” her father pulled her forward and she felt a nervous breath catch in her throat.

“Just because you’re an abusive shit that doesn’t like a strong woman doesn’t mean that the rest of the world is like you,” she scoffed watching her father’s eyes narrow and a moment later felt the firm smack of his hand across the side of her face. When he did it, her mother finally stood up from where she was seated and stepped forward. Reaching up with her free hand, Y/N felt her chest aching and she finally found the strength to pull her wrist from her father’s grasp. “Wow, not only am I not the person that you thought I was, but you certainly aren’t the man that I thought you were.”

“Y/N,” her mother tried to step forward and Y/N held her hand up to stop her mother from talking to her. “This just got elevated very quickly and I think if you sat down…”

“I’m not going to sit down here with him right now. I’m going out for a while and I’m going to let him cool down because I’m not going to sit here after he just hit me,” she insisted with a firm shake of her head, backstepping away from the table. “He’s not the man that I thought he was…”

“I’m not going to change my mind on how I feel you ungrateful little shit,” her father got up from the table and her mother stood before her father to press her hands into the center of his chest to stop him from moving forward toward Y/N.

“Then I guess I’ll be back later to get my things,” she swallowed down hard, hating to have to say that, but the things that her father said were just so unforgivable that she couldn’t stand to hear any more of it.

Instead of waiting for any other response from her father, she headed for the door and left. There was a sense of surprise that her mother didn’t come after her, but she didn’t know what she expected from her in the first place. While her mother had stepped up when she felt her father was getting too aggressive, she just let her father say those horrible things to Y/N. It was obvious that at this point in her life, her parents no longer accepted her or wanted to support her with her future, so Y/N was done with things. There was no point in trying with them anymore after her father’s outburst and she absolutely hated it.

Walking across the street to Negan’s home, she didn’t even care if they saw her heading that way. Their opinion of her was already skewed anyways so if they already thought she was a slut and a horrible person, who cared what they honestly thought about her being with Negan?

----

Tags: @slutlanna976 @nubbinrobin @oreostars @fuckthis-and-fuckthat @jennydehavilland @felicity291 @de-gabyconamor @ibelongtonegan @smallsadjellyfish @labyrinthofheartagrams @msjamesmarch @thebeautysurrounds @hotfornegan @redmercysugar @caprithebunny @iluvneganandjamie @ninamarietwd @tuttifuckinfruitty @emoryhemsworth @a-girl-interupted @akumune @stoneyggirl @xsarcasticwriterx @ritajammer21 @insertneganhere @haleygreen23

#Negan #negan x reader #negan fanfiction #Jeffrey Dean Morgan #The Walking Dead #twd fanfiction

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myimaginesandrp · 3 years

Text

Stuck with You (Ksj)

Summary: When the run-down elevator in your building breaks down, you find yourself trapped inside with your cute neighbor Seokjin.

Notes: 2k, One Shot, Neighbor!Ksj, N2L, Ksj x reader, fluff, mild angst

Warnings: Mild panic attack caused by claustrophobia [Any further warnings will be added upon request]

A/N: Please be nice this is the first time I write for BTS 🙈 {Also this was 0% Edited. oops}

Cold sweat makes its way down your back as the pads of your fingers nervously press down on the emergency button of the elevator for just about the fourth time in the last fifteen minutes. They’re starting to hurt. Maybe not as much as your feet in the stupid shoes you decided to wear today, but they were definitely not this red when you first entered the building. Nevermind that, it’s starting to get ridiculously hot and you’re not entirely sure if the sweat is really from how stuffy it's getting in here, or if your fried nerves are starting to get a hold of you.

You’d told the owner several times that the elevator needed to be fixed, and now your worst nightmare had come true before your very eyes. Not even two seconds in and the sound of screeching and whining metal rang in your ears before the elevator stopped completely, only to leave you in darkness and a pounding heart that was very close to giving out on you. You’d never admit that you were claustrophobic, but with each second that passed, the air entering your lungs seemed to have more and more difficulty finding its way out.

Had you been by yourself, you’d have completely lost it by now, but as luck would have it, the quiet - and much more controlled - breaths beside you told you that you very much weren’t. In your panic you’d nearly forgotten you weren’t alone in the metal death trap you found yourself in. Thinking back to it now, you’d managed to avoid everyone in the lobby until his hand broke through the gap of the elevator just as the doors were closing.

Seokjin, your neighbor who moved in next door almost a year ago, stood about a foot away from you, nowhere near as worried about your current predicament as he probably should've been. In fact if it weren’t for the thin sheen of sweat gracing his forehead, you’d think he was just as content here as if he were at home.

In the short amount of time you’d known him it was more than clear he was a sweet and kind person, not to mention his ridiculous sense of humor and his even more ridiculous good looks. It was unfair really, that someone who looked so perfect was just as beautiful on the inside. His presence now had kept you somewhat sane, for the most part. His kind smile now met your panicked eyes, offering you silent comfort in hopes that it would stop you from banging on the steel again. He approached you slowly, stepping over the grocery bags he’d been carrying when he ran inside. In your pacing back and forth you’re sure that you’d smushed an orange or two into the floor, but you could worry about that later.

His hand finds your shoulder and your breathing suddenly takes a turn for the worse. Not that you didn’t want his touch of course, you’d been crushing on him since the moment you met him walking up the steps of your apartment one cloudy afternoon. You’d craved to be this close to him for a while but given the current circumstances, this was far from any daydream you’d ever ran through your head before.

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat something?” He began, pulling your attention away from your thoughts. “I have those chocolate bars you like.” He nods towards his bags and you arch your brow at him in confusion. All the blood drains from his face at the confession and he tries his best to backtrack without much success. “I mean- I just. I’ve seen you always grab some at the vending machine near the laundry room. Not that I always watch you. No wait-” A twitch of your lips gets him even more worked up. You watch in awe as his ears turn bright red and his words come out of him louder and faster. If you weren't filled with utter terror at the moment, you'd find it the most adorable thing in the world to see him this flustered. “-I mean N-Not that I was staring! Why would I be staring at you! Sometimes I just happen to pass by when you’re there. Anyone could be there, it’s a public place you know? I just mean that- I…” You shake your head at him to stop his rambling.

“It’s fine Jin” you muster with as much calmness as you could. He was a good distraction, but you were still stuck in a metal cage, dangling who knows how far above the ground. You were definitely gonna start taking the stairs from now on, this was getting to be too much for you. “I just lost my appetite really… I’ll just order something. If we ever get out- ” your voice breaks and before he can stop himself, his arms envelop you in a soft embrace.

“Hey no don’t cry. It’s gonna be okay ______” he coos as you try and fail to control the stream of tears that leave you. You didn’t even know you were crying until he spoke, and now every time you tried to rein them in, more made their way out. “I’m here, you’re not alone.”

Jin wasn’t sure what came over him when he caught a glimpse of you entering the elevator, but he’d never been happier with his decision to run after you. Now as he felt you tremble in his arms, all he wanted was to make the fear go away. To make sure every tear was gone from your soft face and that nothing ever made you feel like this again.

He’s not really sure when he started to like you, but the moment he realized, it hit him like a truck. Maybe it was your kindness towards your elderly neighbor across the hall, or the way he could hear you belting out to your favorite music as you vacuumed your apartment. Or maybe it was because you were just so damn beautiful. With your sparkling eyes and the bright smile you gave him every time he was lucky enough to cross paths with you. He never stood a chance.

He really shouldn’t be feeling like this, like he wanted to keep holding you in his arms every day, to protect you. It made no sense after all, he was nothing but a stranger to you. But with every moment that passed, and every second that you didn’t push him away, something inside him fed hope that perhaps his feelings weren’t as one sided as he’d thought.

“Listen,” he began again hoping to at least distract you. “You heard the maintenance guy not too long ago. The fire department has been called, we’ll be out of here in no time ok?” His voice was calm and soothing, and if it weren't for the fact that his touch sent a fire through your body, you're sure it would've been a cool balm to your nerves. You wipe your face with your sleeves and look up at him.

“I know, I- I just can’t breathe, I hate these things and it’s been too long now… I just-” You cut yourself off at the last minute to stop yourself from breaking down in front of him again.

“I understand ______. It’s perfectly reasonable for you to feel like this okay?” You nod and he reaches a hand to your face to wipe the remnants of a tear from your cheek.

“You know -” he starts again, “ - one time I went fishing with a friend and our boat got stuck a few miles in. Man the fear I felt… I thought we’d be gone by then, but the human body is very resilient….” You listen as he rambles on about his friend and how he’s never taking him fishing again because not only were they stuck in the middle of the sea, but they didn’t manage to catch a single fish. “Could you imagine my handsome face sunburnt? A horrible tragedy if there's ever been one..”

You latch on to his very word for who knows how long, until he’s got you giggling and the fear inside you is all but forgotten. The minutes pass and you don’t even realize that you’re still holding on to him until he reluctantly pulls away to offer you water, not fully letting go of your hand in the process. You both make it to the floor eventually, sitting side by side. He shares stories of his friends and you listen intently, now and again contributing with a comment and he swears your voice is the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard.

It’s almost a whole hour after the elevator stopped that you hear banging from the other side of the doors. Tears spring in your eyes again as you realize your imprisonment is almost over. Jin clears his throat and with a heavy heart you release his hand, knowing your time together is almost at its end too. He gathers his things from the floor and you help him. You’re not sure why you suddenly get so bold, but you let your fingers linger on his a little longer than necessary when you hand him back one of the chocolate bars you liked.

“Here” he says, handing it back to you. “I think you need it a little more than me right now” You chuckle and graciously accept it.

“Thank you Jin. I’d have gone completely mad without your help” He offers you a sweet content smile and your heart leaps, knowing it’s for you.

“Any time_____. Though let’s hope they actually fix this damn thing for once.”

The sounds of the doors being pushed open grow louder and the relief you feel when you start hearing voices outside is indescribable. As soon as you are able to, you pull away from Jin and drag your way out into the bright sunlight you never thought you’d see again. The firefighters help Jin pull you up and out of the elevator, slowly pulling you to the side to tend to your hand.

There’s a small crowd standing by the lobby, watching and shaking their heads as they watch the firemen work. A few of them have less than kind looks for the owner as he stumbles his way in, with disheveled clothes and a distraught look in his eye. You’re offered an oxygen mask and you watch as a few moments later Seokjin is also pulled out to his freedom. He finds you almost immediately and moves his way over to you with nothing but relief in his eyes.

“You okay?” he says as he pulls an oxygen mask to his face.

“Yeah, much better now.”

“I’m glad. You were very brave, you know?” You scoff and he shakes his head. “Now don’t give me that, I'm serious ______. If we’d been stuck in a room full of insects you'd have had to give me cpr.”

“Well let's hope the owner never decides to start a butterfly sanctuary on the roof”

“I would literally move cities” He deadpans and you start to laugh again.

The rest of the afternoon passes by in a blur as the firemen ask you a bunch of health questions. The owner comes by to apologize to the both of you, begging you not to press any charges and only leaving you both alone once you both agreed to. Jin’s hand finds its way to yours again, and this time neither one of you breaks the contact.

After the sun has long left the sky, the lobby is mostly empty save for the maintenance folks who work on the elevator that you never want to spare another glance to. Jin makes to stand.

“Come on _____ let me walk you up to your apartment. With the way the elevator went, I’m not taking any chances with the stairs” You actually let yourself laugh at that and take his outstretched hand to pull yourself up. “Are you hungry?” As if on queue your stomach decides to growl loudly. You throw your hand over your stomach and his face breaks into a huge grin.

“I’m actually starving, now that you mention it'' you admit sheepishly.

“Well I got some dinner waiting to be reheated at home and I wouldn’t mind sharing. What do you say?” He gives you a smile so dazzling, you think you’d melt back into the ground if it weren’t for his steady arm holding on to you.

“I’d love that”

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! 💜 [If you liked this please help me out by leaving some feedback on my ask box. It’s always appreciated!]

#seokjin x reader #jin x reader #seokjin fluff #seokjin fluf #jin fluff #bts imagines #jin fics #bts fics #seokjin fics #seokjin x you

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theoreticslut · 3 years

Text

The Start of Something New // s.r.

spencer reid x reader

requested: nope! the first of seven (!!!) fics for my 2k writing challenge event!! I used the prompts “weddings” & “did you need something?”

summary: A wedding for a mutual friend might just be the start of something new for you.

word count: 2k

warnings: weddings, fluff

A/N: I LOVED writing this one so much! I’m kind of thinking about writing a second part to it, but i’m not sure yet. I’ve got a handful of other fics I’d rather get out beforehand. But if you want one, definitely let me know! I’d love to write more for spencer and I think it’d be really cute to show the progression of their relationship. Anyways, I hope you like this! & if you’d like to join the challenge, you can join up until this sunday!

“Oh wow, she looks gorgeous.” You whisper to Penelope, smiling when you catch sight of JJ’s smile.

She looks beyond happy to be marrying Will, and you couldn’t be happier for her. After what she’s been through, she deserves every moment of this.

“She does.” Penelope quietly coos, emotion overtaking her voice as she watches your guys’ friend.

“I can’t wait until your wedding day. I just know it’s going to be perfect.”

“My wedding day? Penelope, you’re dreaming.” You scoff, laughing at the idea. You couldn’t be any more single if you tried. Between this job and your deep-seated fear of abandonment, you have little ability to hold a relationship.

Sure, you’d love to have someone to come home to and to share yourself with, but the reality is that it’s not going to happen for a while. At least not until you do some serious work on yourself.

“I wouldn’t be so sure, muffin. I see the way you look at our young doctor.”

“Spencer?! No. You’re delusional now, Garcia.” You whisper-laugh, ignoring the light blush you can feel warming your cheeks.

“Am I though?” She retorts, giving you her knowing look before turning back to your friend as she makes her way down the aisle.

You shake your head, trying to ignore her as you turn your attention back to JJ, but you can’t help yourself from glancing towards Spencer.

You can’t deny that he’s cute in his own adorable way, but you wouldn’t say you're crushing on him or anything. He may fill your daydreams from time to time, but it doesn’t mean anything more than the fact that you spend a lot of time around him due to work and that you find him nice to look at.

Putting it out of your mind, you watch as JJ meets Will at the altar, both of them carrying bright smiles filled with love for the other. She really does deserve to be this happy.

It easily brings tears to your eyes as they say their vows, JJ herself getting watery eyes as Will slides the ring on her finger.

You can’t help but cheer as they’re finally allowed to kiss, both you and Penelope clinging to each other at the cuteness and overwhelming happiness of it all.

“Our girl is married, Penelope.” You sigh, pouting slightly although you couldn’t be happier.

“I know. It’s beautiful.”

“It really is. God, I’m so emotional right now.” You chuckle, carefully wiping at your watery eyes.

“How are you doing, momma?” Derek asks, his words directed at Penelope as he and Spencer join the two of you, his arm wrapping around her shoulders.

“We’re emotional.” She chuckles as she wipes at her eyes as well.

“We can see that.” Derek laughs, squeezing his arm around her, attempting to console her.

“Did you know, biologically the reason you are so emotional right now is due to your parasympathetic system?” Spencer starts, demonstrating his brilliance once again. You’re not complaining, though, as you actually enjoy hearing his random knowledge.

“Psychologically, however, your emotional state could be due to an unconscious perception of helplessness or it could be to show vulnerability, solicit sympathy, advertise trust, or the need for attachment.”

“Alright, mr. smarty-pants. Ladies in this state just want consolation, yeah?” Derek retorts, drawing a laugh from both you and Penelope.

“We’re fine. It’s just such a happy event.” You chuckle, wiping yet another stray tear from your eye.

“That it is, y/l/n. JJ deserves this.”

“She does. I’m actually going to go find her and congratulate her. If you’ll excuse me.” You smile, dipping out of the conversation.

~.~

You can’t help but smile as you look over the small crowd, all of them basking in the happiness of the night.

It’s been a couple hours now and you still can’t believe that one of your best friends is now married to the love of her life. She is definitely one of the lucky ones to have found such a love, and to have such a beautiful kid with him too. You can only hope that you’ll have this one day too.

Thinking about your own special day, you can’t help but recall your earlier conversation with Penelope. Are you really looking at Spencer that differently that others can notice?

Sure, Penelope seems to be more observant than others, but you must be looking at Spencer differently for her to even consider you liking him, right?

Let’s say that you did like him, it’s not like he feels the same back. You are just coworkers, teammates. Sure, you could be considered friends, but it’s not like you spend much time together outside of the office.

“Are you alright, y/n?” You hear Spencer ask, drawing you out of your thoughts.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Yeah.” You smile, nodding lightly as you take a sip of the champagne that Rossi brought out for the event. It’s honestly amazing how perfectly he put this together. You don’t think it could be better if anyone else did it.

“Are you sure? It’s just, you seem like you’re pretty distracted over here.”

“Yeah, I’m good. Just thinking about a few things. Nothing important, though.”

He nods lightly, clicking his tongue as he gently rocks back on his feet. You can’t help the little quirk of your lips, entranced by the fluffy-haired boy.

“I’m sorry, did you need something? Or were you just, uhm, checking on me?”

He laughs a bit, looking down at the ground as he attempts to hide a smile. Even now you can’t help but find him adorable. It’s just who he is.

“Sort of. I, uh, I was wondering if you’d like to dance? With me?” He questions, blushing lightly as he watches you for a reaction, finding himself relieved when a soft smile finds its place on your lips.

“I’d love to, Spence.”

At his smile, you feel your own lips quirking up more. You set your glass down, letting him lead you out to the makeshift dance floor, joining your teammates as they all dance with each other.

You see Penelope give you a smirk and you just roll your eyes, turning your attention to Spencer as he wraps his arm around you.

“You look really nice tonight, by the way.” He smiles as he spins you around to the music.

“Thank you! You look very nice yourself, Spence.”

At your compliment, you notice him flush, smiling giddily. He doesn’t say anything, however, and you take it as he’s just not sure what to say.

You dance to another song, smiling and laughing occasionally, before Rossi decides to cut in - which you happily let him do as he’s been a father figure for you since you joined the BAU.

“You know, you and Einstein look good together.” He starts, nodding towards Spencer who joined in a dance with Penelope.

“Do we?” You chuckle, smiling as he nods.

“The next wedding I put together better be yours, kid.��

You can’t help the small laugh that leaves your body as you shake your head.

“I’ll make sure to inform you whenever that may happen, Rossi. I think you’re good for another few years, though.”

“You better. Now let me show you how to dance, because watching you was an eyesore.” He jokes, earning a boisterous laugh from you as you slap his arm.

~.~

By the end of the night, you’ve spent far more time dancing than your feet would have liked, but you can’t complain. You managed to snag a dance with each of your teammates, including JJ, who couldn’t stop smiling.

You had indulged on Rossi’s phenomenal cooking, and you even happened to miraculously catch the bouquet - which had earned cheers and more teasing from the girls.

Now, at nearly 1 am, you were beyond ready to get home and go to bed. You had had a wonderful time, having a bunch of fun with everyone, but you were tired and there was no denying it.

“JJ!” You call, spotting her at the refreshments table grabbing a drink.

“Y/n! Hey, how are you?”

“Good. How are you, JJ? God, I can’t believe you’re married now. I’m so happy for you, though.” You smile, grabbing a small glass of water for yourself.

“Amazing. This has been so...perfect. I can’t believe Rossi did all of this for us.” She chuckles.

“I know, it’s been such a wonderful night. I think I’m going to head home though, okay? I’ve danced myself out.”

“Oh, absolutely! Get home and get some sleep. I am so glad you were able to spend the night with us and celebrate.”

“Of course, JJ! I wouldn’t have missed it. You have a good rest of the night, yeah? I’ll see you on Monday.” You beam, pulling her into a hug.

“See you on Monday. Good night, y/n.”

You hug her goodbye before making your way around to the rest of the team. You're wishing Penelope and Derek a good night when Spencer joins the three of you.

“Are you leaving?” He directs to you, noticing how you’re hugging Penelope.

“Yeah, I think so. I’m exhausted. I’ll see you on Monday, alright spence?”

“Wait, I-if you don’t mind, I think I’ll head out with you?” He suggests.

“Oh, sure. I’m just catching a cab, though.” You explain, wanting to make sure he wasn’t planning on just catching a ride with you.

“Perfect, I’ll join you.”

“O-okay . Well, I still need to find hotch and Rossi.”

“No problem. I’ll see you guys on Monday.” Spencer waves, wishing Derek and Penelope a goodnight.

“You too, pretty boy. Behave on the ride home, yeah?” Derek smirks, winking at the two of you.

You silently groan, rolling your eyes as Penelope smacks his arm but is laughing along with him.

Spencer nods awkwardly, looking more than confused, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he follows along behind you as you make your way through the small crowd to find hotch or Rossi.

“Spencer. Y/n. Are you heading out?” You hear hotch ask as you’re still trying to weave through the few guests still celebrating.

Pausing, you turn to find hotch and his guest - beth - smiling happily.

“Hotch. Yeah, We were actually trying to find you to say goodbye.” You smile, looking between him and Beth as she holds onto his arm gently.

“Ah, well I’ll see you both on Monday then. I’m glad you’ve stayed awhile.” He smiles, nodding politely at the both of you.

“Me too. It’s been wonderful, especially seeing JJ so happy. Rossi really did a wonderful job.”

“He certainly knows how to throw a celebration together. Have a good night, both of you.”

“You too, hotch. Beth, it’s been wonderful to meet you.” You smile, nodding politely as Spencer says his goodbyes.

You eventually find Rossi, wishing him a goodnight and talking for a few moments while Spencer finds Emily and JJ. Within a few minutes, though, you’re both making your way down Rossi’s driveway, laughing lightly as you stumble in your heels.

“Do you want to take those off?” Spencer questions, steadying you as you stumble a little more.

“When I get home. A cab should be here soon, Rossi called one for us.”

“Sounds good. Thank you for letting me catch a ride with you.”

“Anytime, Spence. Having you come with actually makes me feel safer taking a cab this late at night.”

“I’m glad?” He chuckles, not really sure what to say to that.

“You really do look nice tonight, y/n.” He compliments after a moment.

“Thank you. I don’t get to dress up often, but it’s kind of fun.”

“You’re good at it.” He mumbles, but you hear him, a shy smile finding its way onto your face.

All this time you thought that he couldn’t possibly like you as anything more than a friend, but here he is saying things like this. You can’t help but wonder if maybe he does like you.

As the cab pulls up, however, and he opens the door for you, helping you in before getting in himself, you don’t mind finding out if there is a possibility that you could be walking down the aisle soon enough. You especially don’t mind as he carefully interlinks your hands in the middle of the backseat, after motioning for you to rest your head on his shoulder upon seeing you yawn.

Maybe, just maybe, the rest of the team knows what they’re seeing between the two of you that you had failed to notice before now.

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General - @jillys-feral-fandoms @your-hispanichufflepuff @yikesyikesyikes95 @livvysnaps @i-love-scott-mccall

Spencer - @stoopidwithtwohoes @harrysboo28 @roonilwazlibswhore @justfangirlingoverhere

#theweasleyslut's 2k writing challenge #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfic #cm fanfic #criminal minds fluff #cm fluff #spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fluff

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singtotheskiies · 3 years

Text

to the rescue // teen! ben hargreeves x reader

summary: when it’s your turn to be parenting experiment of the week, ben decides to take matters into his own hands—or, rather, tentacles.

request (by a lovely lovely anon💕): Hi I adore your writing❤️. Can you do a Ben Hargreeves x reader where the reader is restrained in a cell by Reginald and Ben comes and saves the day. Thx

words: 1893

warnings: emotional manipulation (it’s prick of the year reginald hargreeves, what do we expect), imprisonment

a/n: i feel like this one is right shit bc i wasn’t in a really good groove while writing it but ANYWAY please enjoy our bb boy:))))) (also!! empath!reader)

✖️✖️✖️

Dad stands in your doorway, intimidating as always, light glinting off his ever-present monocle. “Number Eight,” he says—crisp, harsh, and clear. “Come with me. Today we have a different form of training for you.”

“Where are we going?” you ask him. He’s not leading you towards the usual training room, and you’re without a partner—something you’ve never trained without due to your empathic abilities.

“Never you mind,” he says bluntly. You sigh, looking down at your feet. Trying to get information out of Dad is unnecessarily difficult sometimes—and you can’t read him as easily as you can your siblings. He’s scarily good at hiding his emotions.

He leads you down a few corridors before pausing and taking a blindfold out of his coat pocket. “Turn around.”

“Why? Where are we going?” You’re a bit worried now. “Turn around, Number Eight,” he repeats, harsher this time. “I do not have time for your questions.” You’ve got no choice, so you do as he says. The blindfold is tight—a bit too much so, but you know it’s pointless to bring it up. The two of you walk in silence for several minutes—you don’t think you’ve left the house, but your steps haven’t followed a route you’re familiar with. The Academy is big, though—maybe you’ve misjudged and you’re really just being led in circles to confuse you. Dad’s voice cuts through your thoughts, telling you to watch your step. You carefully move into some sort of space, confused as to why you’ve stopped. His hands come up to the nape of your neck, untying the blindfold from around your eyes. The fabric drops away to reveal a dark, metallic room with no furnishings. You’ve never seen it before or heard Dad talk about it—it almost looks like some sort of prison, and anxiety begins to push up into your chest. “Uh, Dad? Where are we?” you ask, fear making its way into your voice. You silently curse yourself for it—Dad hates any display of weakness. He doesn’t answer, instead busying himself with a huge hydraulic lock on the outside of the door. This does nothing to help your growing panic. “Dad?” you ask a few more times, voice rising with each repetition. “Dad!” “You will stay here until I let you out.” He finally answers, still not looking at you. “Goodbye, Number Eight.” He steps out of the chamber, locks hissing as the door seals itself behind him. Your brain enters full-blown panic, and you bang on the door, screaming for him to come back. You no longer care about showing weakness—tears spill over your cheeks as Dad’s back fades away and your banging grows weaker and weaker. When your voice gets too hoarse to yell and you’re convinced no one can hear you, you sink to the ground in a miserable heap. After a few minutes of crying, you sit up weakly and attempt to clear your head. You’ve never seen this chamber or the hallway it’s situated in before, but it logically has to be within the Academy somewhere. Maybe it’s underground or in a wing you’ve never been allowed access to? You instinctively close your eyes, reaching out to see if you can pick up on anyone’s emotions. Usually, you can sense your siblings from across the house, but the impenetrable walls of your cell and your admittedly less-than-functional mental state don’t help your case. You give up after a few minutes of mental searching and rest your forehead against the cold metal of one of the walls. And, since you have literally nothing else to do, you think. Clearly, this is one of Dad’s experiments—probably not too far off from when he’d lock Klaus in the mausoleum or when he’d throw dangerous weapons at Diego to see if he could save himself. They historically haven’t gone so well, as both siblings have ended up scarred—Klaus emotionally and Diego physically. You’re a bit worried as to what he has in store for you, but you’re not about to let yourself get hurt if you can help it. It’s likely that Dad’s locked you up to see how your abilities react to not being around people and their constantly-changing emotions. Maybe he thinks you’ll wither away. Perhaps it’s the opposite, and he’s examining the possibility of you tapping into your own feelings. Whatever the case may be, you resolve to try and remain as positive as you can about the situation, so you push down your fear and focus on happier things. Inevitably, almost embarrassingly, your thoughts roam to Ben. He’s the quietest of your siblings, always nose-deep in a book or sitting in silent contemplation. Despite his antisocial nature, the two of you have formed a close bond over the years. You find the contrast of his visceral power with his shy nature interesting, and he’s been perfectly content to sit and listen to you babble away about everything and nothing.

There’s also the fact that the two of you usually get paired together for training, since you can’t read him as easily as you can your other siblings. Dad says it’s likely because of the alien presence underneath his skin—the tendrils block his human presence somehow. And so, to create the biggest challenge for you, Dad’s made you spend hours on end with Ben, studying what feelings you can discern in order to strengthen your abilities. While some would become frustrated by the lack of ease you’ve experienced, it only eggs you on. You find Ben absolutely fascinating—a feeling that’s deepened over the years until you’ve come to accept the fact that you’re crushing on him, hard. Despite wearing your heart on your sleeve at all times, you’ve desperately tried to keep your feelings hidden—you can’t have any way of knowing if he returns those feelings, and your embarrassment would be supreme if he found out and didn’t feel the same.

Your cheeks heat up as your mind drifts to his jet-black hair, fine features, and adorably shy nature. There’s nothing better to do, so you let your mind spin scenarios of the two of you together—holding hands, going on small dates, cuddling on the couch. The thoughts stir a fluttering warmth in your chest that makes your present circumstances slightly more bearable. You hardly notice your breaths evening out and your eyelids blinking slower and slower as you daydream away.

You start awake an indeterminate amount of time later. You can’t remember falling asleep, and you have absolutely no way of knowing how much time has passed since Dad locked you up. Your crooked perception of time pales, however, to your all-consuming thirst. There’s no compartments or nooks anywhere that could be hiding a water supply—just smooth metal walls. Sinking back against the door, you try your hardest not to think about the dryness in your throat crying out to be lessened.

You judge it to be a few hours later when you see movement out of the corner of your eye. Instantly, you sit up, hoping it’s Dad come to let you free—but what you see instead is a million times better.

Ben’s sprinting down the hallway leading to your cell, face overtaken with concern. When he gets close enough to see you, he visibly softens. He tries to say something, but the thick hydraulic door blurs his words together. You shrug, pointing to your ears and shaking your head. He tries again, pointing to you with questioning eyes. You okay?

You nod, secretly thinking yes, now that you’re here. His brows are still knit together with worry, so you smile to reassure him that you really are okay. His eyes roam over your face for a few moments before he blinks and takes a step back, motioning for you to do the same. You’re not sure what he’s going to do, but you trust him completely.

He doubles down on himself before flailing his limbs out and arching his back. His tentacles erupt out of his stomach, lashing out and latching onto the huge handle of your cell door. The metal and glass shriek at the new pressure before slowly but surely bending from the force of Ben’s attack. When they’re broken enough to satisfy him, his tentacles retract and he scrambles forward to open the door separating the two of you.

As soon as you can slip through the door, you rush into his arms, wrapping him in a fierce hug. He hesitates for the briefest moment before returning the embrace. After being by yourself for so long, his arms feel so good around you, and your heart leaps in your chest as you catch a whiff of his smell—comforting and exciting all at once. Even though you could stay right here in his arms forever, you pull away slightly after several moments.

“How’d you know I was here?” you ask, grinning at the look of relief on Ben’s face.

“I thought it was weird when Dad didn’t schedule me to train with you like we usually would. No one knew where you went, so after a few hours, I decided to try and find you. Earlier I saw Dad coming out of a doorway I’d never seen anyone use before, so I used that as my starting place and, well—he’s got a bunch of charts monitoring how you’re doing. I knew I was in the right place. I’m just glad you’re okay,” he says, voice getting quieter. “I was really worried.”

“We’ve been through worse,” you laugh, but his eyes don’t brighten at your joke.

“This is different, though,” he answers, voice rising again in anger. “He literally locked you up, I mean—that’s actually insane. No father should ever do that to their child.”

“I’m sure he means well,” you say weakly, but you both know it’s not true. Dad really only cares about himself. There’s a beat, then Ben speaks again.

“You sure you’re all right?” His eyes are sad and searching as they look into yours.

Summoning your courage, you say, “I am now that you’re here.” Ben’s eyes widen immediately, scanning your face almost hopefully. The corners of his mouth tilt up slowly, almost hesitantly—as if he’s afraid to let himself go completely.

“Good, ‘cause I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t,” he breathes, and you notice that the distance between the two of you is narrowing. Just a few more inches and your foreheads would be touching—and so you take it upon yourself to both reassure and thank Ben in one motion. You tilt your head forward and gently press your lips to his.

His breath hitches at the contact, body freezing for the briefest of moments before his hands come up to cup your jaw. You smile and whisper a thank you against his lips before drawing back a fraction. Ben’s eyes are slow to open, and his cheeks are flushed when they finally do, gazing at you with so much half-lidded admiration your heart swells. You press a soft kiss to his cheek, and you don’t need your powers to tell you that somehow, Ben is just as smitten with you as you are with him.

And when the two of you are given an inevitable harsh scolding in Dad’s office, you can’t bring yourself to care much—you’re too focused on how Ben’s fingers are laced gently around yours.

#ben hargreeves x reader #ben hargreeves imagine #ben hargreeves #tua #tua x reader #tua imagine #the umbrella academy #umbrella academy x reader #umbrella academy imagine #justin h min #justin h min x reader #justin h min imagine #fanfic #x reader #reader insert

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introvert--weeb · 3 years

Note

hi hi! congrats on the milestone! ❤️ i enjoy reading your works and i’m excited to read more from you! i hope it’s not too late to join the event 🥰

i’d like a match up, please!

i’m 22 years old, a libra! i’m around 5’3. i’m bisexual with no preferences! ^^

my mbti is intp. i’m quiet for the most part, only have a handful of close friends and i avoid the crowd as much as possible. i’m quite content with the lack of social presence, but if someone approaches me and tries to form a friendship or conversation of some sort, then i wouldn’t mind interacting for a bit! i feel like i’m loud and unfiltered around friends, but i’m definitely more in my zone if we are in a group chat ^^ i’m also mostly seen watching a random facts video because i find them interesting.

my hair is brown and up to my shoulders with some side bangs. you’ll most likely see me wear a random meme shirt tucked into a skirt or shorts while wearing a slightly oversized wind breaker. if the days are a bit colder, i’ll be wearing a cute sweater with some jeans ^^

i’m quite a collector, so if there’s a series that i like then i’ll be collecting anything that involves them. i also collect plushies and cards! 🥺 for the most part i just read manga or random, yet informative videos. i may not be the best at school, but i can tell you a fact or two that may or may not change your life 🏃‍♀️

i’d like to get matched with a tokyo revengers character please! thanks a bunch 🥺❤️ sorry if the formatting is bad, mobile problems 🏃‍♀️

You sound so cool!! 💕 And thank you so much! ❤️ Plus, it's read more due to the length 😅 I may have got carried away so I'm sorry 😂❤️

I am matching you off with...

Shinichiro Sano ❤️

You had stumbled across S.S MOTORS while looking for a mechanic. You didn't need one but your friend knew someone who needed their bike fixed and since they were busy, you had offered to search around Shibuya for them. Such a good friend.

As you entered the bike shop, you took notice to how many young boys were scattered around the premises. They all hadn't taken notice of you yet, something that had you relieved. Although, searching around the entire shop floor with a glance, you couldn't see the owner so maybe asking one of the boys would be your only option.

Shinichiro had left the shop for a few moments while he went to go and buy some refreshments for both himself and the boys. Of course this was mainly Coke. It was his favourite and he was the one who went out to get them. But when he walked back through the entrance, the black haired man couldn't help but stop. A lovely brunette in an oversized windbreaker was awkwardly standing in the shop.

As everyone knew, Shinichiro only had two weaknesses; fighting and women. So when his dark eyes landed on your gorgeous figure, he couldn't help but check you out before making his way towards his workbench. Setting the drinks down as casually as he could, Shinichiro turned around to address you.

Your attention snapped towards the man who entered and you hated to admit that you found him really attractive. But you could daydream about the man later, you were here on business. And so you told him about the situation.

The conversation may have started off about business but it wasn't long until Shin had managed to change the subject so he could learn more about you. After all, he had quickly developed a crush on you. By the time you needed to leave, the man had learnt a lot about you and also managed to get your number.

Ever since that day, you made a point of visiting S.S MOTORS whenever you had free time. There was something about Shinichiro and his shop that made you want to go back each time. Not that Shinichiro minded. However, you were starting to gain the attention from the boys that regularly visited as well.

It had taken a month before the male had asked you out on a date. He was preparing himself for rejection (he was used to it) but was happily surprised when you accepted almost immediately. The boys made sure to tell you all the reasons why you shouldn't have accepted and how they would be better for you. But you ignored them in the nicest way possible. After all, you were too old to be dating 12-13 year olds.

The date was simple. Shinichiro picked you up from your home, took you for a nice meal before ending the night with a bike ride around Shibuya and Shinjuku. You loved every moment. And the night ended with a kiss on the cheek for the Sano, so he would count it as a huge success.

It wasn't long until you were in a committed relationship with the Sano. He was a dork but you had developed strong feelings for him, so why shouldn't you follow them.

A relationship with Shinichiro Sano would definitely include spending a lot of your free time together in the bike shop. It's his favourite place to be and you enjoyed chatting away to him while he worked. He would love how you would tell him random facts you had heard in your latest fact video, not being able to hold the laughter in at some of them. You were just too cute in his eyes.

You would tell Shin about your collections of merch based on series you enjoyed. While he may not fully understand why you spent your money on things like that, he didn't have room to talk since his bike shop was basically a huge collection for him. Bikes interested him and so he collected models and parts. It was pretty much the same as your collecting tendancies. Although he doesn't understand it, he will buy you new pieces to add to the latest one. He just loved to see your eyes light up when he presents it to you.

You best believe you will be taken to the Sano home and dojo to meet his family. Shinichiro is very family-orientated and so held a lot of importance in introducing you. When you had gotten there, you recognised Mikey as the boy who had told you to not pursue Shin because 'he is really weak' and said you should date someone strong like him. At the memory, you couldn't stop the giggles that escaped past your lips only to be caught by your hand.

Emma would love you. She enjoys how there was finally a female she could talk to since she was stuck being surrounded by boys. You would love her just as much, telling her how cute she was while styling her beautiful blond locks.

Mikey would still try and convince you that Shinichiro was too weak for you and that finding someone strong would be for the best. You knew he didn't really mean it and so it was quite funny. In fact, Mikey liked having you around since you made his older brother happier and that's all the blond wanted for his siblings.

Grandpa Sano would accept you instantly. He would tell you how you were a positive influence on Shinichiro and that you should keep up the good work.

Dates with this man would be similar to your first date. However, Shinichiro would also take you to the arcade a lot where he would try and win you some plushies from the claw machines. It was super sweet but you would have to prevent him from spending all his money just to win one plushie. He gets super bummed if he can't win you one so please reassure him that it's fine.

Home dates are also a must. A movie, pizza, coke and cuddles. The perfect date for the Sano. You got to choose the movie since Shinichiro would always get distracted with how cute you were.

Being with Shinichiro was everything you would expect it to be. A lot of hang outs at the shop with the boys, meeting the other first gen Black Dragons, and sweet yet dorky moments. Affection is a must and so I would be prepared for lots of kisses and cuddles.

#tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers match up #match up requests #match up event #100 followers event #shinichiro sano #requested

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fallen-in-dreams · 3 years

Text

Moving On

Also on AO3. Pairing: Sasuke/Hinata. Summary: Everyone was lying to her. Killing her with kindness. Shielding her from the pain they all know is coming. But now it was time for some hard-hitting truths. And from the most unlikely source. SasuHina.Post-war. Prompt: Day 25: The Season of Grief. Rated: T. Words: 7,566. Status: Complete.

Author note: Angst and Hinata POV as she slowly comes to the realisation that she can’t have the life she’d been planning for. The Season of Grief = The Five Stages of Grief. The grief of losing the love she used to have.

Warnings/tags: One-sided SasuSaku. One-sided NaruHina. Naruto/OC. Angst with denial, pining, and romantic existential crisis. But with a happy ending.

Thank-you so much @sasuhinamonth for hosting this. I'm later than I’d planned, sorry. Hope that’s okay. :)

“There comes a time when you have to stop crossing oceans for people who wouldn't even jump puddles for you.” – Unknown

Denial.

Life was a series of choices.

For example, Hinata Hyuuga could choose to accept the arranged marriage her father had planned for her, or she could refuse to sign on the dotted line and hold out for love. She chose the latter. She was sure that fourth cousin her father had in mind for her was a nice man, but she wasn’t interested. And after surviving the war and learning to defend herself better emotionally, the last thing she wanted was to regress into the dutiful daughter who never complained. She was finally in control of her own life.

And she was still waiting on Naruto-kun.

Hinata was tired of the sad looks her clansmen would give her when she rebuffed their advances. Centuries of marrying their third or fourth cousins had instilled it too deeply in them that they couldn’t live any other way. Naruto had taught her she could do better, and she was determined to do so.

All of her choices to move forward were the reason Hanabi had been named Clan Heiress. She was already being prepped for it before the war, but their father’s insistence on an arranged marriage was the final straw. Hinata had been officially removed from the running. She would’ve been concerned about being branded with the Branch’s Curse Seal if Naruto hadn’t been so vocal in his disagreement about the practice. The Leaf hero’s words resonated with the village, and Lord Hokage started negotiations to prevent further sealings. Kakashi had also made motions to have those who currently bore the juinjutsu to be released from it. It would take a few more years to fully circumvent it, as the seal hadn’t been designed to be removed, but it was a step forward for the clan. A hope for a better future.

Everything Neji had wanted.

Hinata couldn’t be happier. She only wished to share in that future with Naruto. He was her hero. And the love of her life. She just needed to be more patient with him. But it was frustrating some days. She tried to talk to him and only succeeded when they were alone. Around friends and in crowds, he was so distracted by everyone. One-on-one he became fidgety, but she just chalked that up to him not being very good with girls. He’d stopped asking Sakura out, and the two were nothing more than friends, and he hadn’t asked anyone out. He was just shy.

Hinata already had a plan in place to ask him out herself. She just needed to work up for her own confidence to do so. Someone had to get this relationship going. In the meantime, she daydreamed about how it was going to go. But her days were lonely right now. Waiting. Patiently. And never quite making that important step forward. She had her family and friends and teammates but wanted more.

Her heart could only take so much.

“I just need to be brave.”

Hinata wasn’t brave, emotionally. In dire moments and with important things and people on the line, she knew how to be brave. Adrenaline and determination got her a long way. But in the aftermath, she found herself succumbing to the fear of rejection and crippling shyness.

“Yes, you do.”

She started, realising she’d said that out loud, in front of her sister. She’d been so lost in her thoughts and forgotten where she was for a moment. Hanabi was sitting across from her, the low serving table between them, ignoring the servants as they poured the tea for her before turning to her older sister. Hinata’s sister was clutching a half-finished kimono to her lap and lazily sewing at the hem of it. For such a skilled fighter, her movements were surprisingly delicate.

This was a weekly thing for them. Every Sunday at lunch, when their father was too busy with clan duties to interrupt or overhear them, they would talk to each other about anything or anyone, and when the Hyuuga servants left, even gossip sometimes. Hanabi had been carrying that kimono around all week, taking her time with building on it. Hinata knew her sister well enough to know it was a project with no defined outcome. She was just adding to it at her own leisure. Who knew what it would look like when she was finally done?

Hinata delicately sipped at her tea as Hanabi continued to ignore her own; her eyes narrowing as she focused intensely on the needle and thread. Her sister had developed a habit of people watching, since the war ended. And her insight was far sharper than anyone that Hinata knew. It made her feel insignificant.

“Spoken to Naruto lately?”

Hinata nodded. It was a silent lie. But she could’ve easily ran into him a few days ago if she wanted to so she didn’t see the point in saying otherwise. He was very busy with missions and handling Sasuke. The Uchiha’s release from jail had come as no surprise, given who was Hokage now. Kakashi had always had unwavering faith that he’d return. Just as Naruto did. Sakura… Hinata had seen her waver. But she was more confident now than ever about their team returning as family. Hinata only hoped that when she started dating Naruto herself, that it didn’t upset their dynamic.

“You’re grieving.”

Hinata raised an eyebrow at that. “What am I grieving?”

Her sister smiled. “Love.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Naruto-kun isn’t the smartest person,” Hanabi said. “And I think you know that.”

“He doesn’t have to be.”

Her sister smiled. Again. A knowing smile that Hinata didn’t appreciate. But she said nothing of it and returned to watching Hanabi’s expert hands as she weaved the thread in and out of the kimono. This was a hobby for the younger sister. They’d both learned how to sew traditional garments as well as fix them, when they were still barely able to fight. It was second nature to them both. But Hanabi found a kind of peace to the process that Hinata never could.

“Father wishes you to marry soon.”

“And you?”

Hanabi shook her head. “A few more years, perhaps. When I’m ready to begin training to take over the clan.”

She was still too young to learn everything. Given that Hiashi was nowhere near retiring, it didn’t serve any purpose to put her through those rigorous trials just yet. But Hinata was surprised their father wasn’t thinking about grandchildren yet. At least not from his heiress.

Hanabi put the kimono down and finally sipped at her tea. “How do you feel about Naruto-kun?”

“I love him?”

It was immediate and instinctive, but it sounded more like a question than a statement. Hanabi didn’t react to the questioning tone of her voice. She just gave her older sister a look that told her she was questioning her for more than just curiosity.

“Are you sure, Oneesan?”

She had convinced herself so thoroughly that it was going to happen. Hinata brushed at the hem of the sleeve of her Yukata. Was she? Did she?

Yes.

She still loved Naruto-kun. Of course, she did. She’d gone through too much to just suddenly stop caring about him. He was in her heart. Just like Neji still was.

Was.

“I asked him out.”

“What did he say?”

“He said ‘let’s go to Ichiraku’.” He also said, “that bum Sasuke can pay for mine this time,” but she didn’t see how that was relevant. It was a date. And only two people could go on a date at the same time.

Right?

“Will the rest of Team Kakashi be there?”

Hinata opened her mouth to answer then shut it, her eye twitching in annoyance. She calmed herself and shook her head. “Of course not.”

She didn’t like the way this conversation was going. Hinata glanced at the clock on the wall. They normally took tea, and then lunch, all awhile talking of friends and goals. It was funny to her that they’d never done this until recently. What exactly was the point before now?

Hanabi placed her tea down, almost finished. “We should have the food brought in, before it gets cold.”

Hinata nodded mechanically and waited for the servants to finish setting the table before disappearing. They could not be overheard in this room by anyone who wasn’t already in it. The jutsu that allowed this privacy had been in place since long before either of them were born.

Hanabi started talking about a jutsu that their father wanted to teach them and Hinata calmly dug into her Udon noodles. Silence eventually fell until they were both done. After the servants retrieved the plates, Hanabi went right back to pressing and hemming the edges of the kimono in her hand.

“Sasuke-kun walked by the compound again this morning.”

“Hm?” Hinata sat up straighter at that.

“He’s been doing that a lot lately,” Hanabi mused. “But not last week when you were staying over Sakura’s.”

For Ino’s surprise party sleepover. Which was Sakura’s idea.

Hinata hadn’t slept in her own bed for two nights. It was a first for her, for a long time.

“Sasuke-kun looks in here too. Like he’s searching for something. It’s a barely noticeable glance, but I’ve been staking out the gates.”

“Do you like him?” Hinata was surprised at her sister as well as the strange clenching of her gut.

Hanabi scoffed. “No. But ever since I first saw him watching you training with your team after he got out of prison, I’ve been noticing he does that with you a lot.”

Hinata scoffed. “Don’t be silly.”

“Yeah, you’re right. He’s probably just plotting to kill you.” Hanabi ignored her sister’s worried expression. “Or wondering why you always look so sad these days.”

“I’m not sad.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I’m not.”

Hanabi set the unfinished kimono down and stared her sister straight in the eyes. “Do you love him?”

“Who?” Hinata hated how her voice rose a few octaves.

“Naruto-kun.”

“Yes,” she said. “I love him.”

She would wait for Naruto. For him to come to terms with what had happened and realise they were meant to be together. Hinata would be the quiet voice he can’t block out because he loves her so much. No matter that he had already had numerous occasions to prove it to her. Even someone as clueless as him couldn’t not know how she felt. She just needed to give him a push in the right direction.

That’s what I have to do.

And she went right on back to pretending she didn’t see the pitying look on her sister’s face.

.:.

Anger.

The restaurant was noisy by the time Hinata arrived, dressed up and twisting her fingers nervously. She looked up into the colourful lights that decorated the restaurant of choice. Night-time made this place come alive in a way that surprised patrons that saw it for the first time. This was also one of the newer restaurants that opened after the war. So many things had changed, and so fast and it felt like Konoha was quickly becoming a very different village. Kakashi had authorised integral changes and Hinata could see the village one day becoming as large as a city. She was kind of nervous about that. Their population was steadily growing too, even only a year out.

She sighed and stepped forward in the waiting line. Naruto had said he’d come about seven and it was only a few minutes before. Hinata had spent the last hour already dressed for this date. Her stomach had twisted, making her throw up twice, before that. The line moved again, and she found herself at the head of it faster than her nerves could handle.

It’s finally happening.

“May I help you?”

Hinata cleared her throat. “Party for two. Under the name Hinata Hyuuga.”

The server looked through her list and her eyes widened in surprise. “I’m sorry, we were told that was a party of four.”

“A-are you sure?”

The woman turned the clipboard to show her. When Hinata had asked Naruto to make the arrangement, because she’d been called away by her father, she’d assumed he had made it just for the two of them. It was supposed to be a date… right? When the venue was changed from Ichiraku to The Sannin Sushi House she assumed this was finally going to be more intimate.

Hinata swallowed heavily. “I-I, uh. He must’ve made a mistake.”

The server nodded her head in understanding. “Yes, but unfortunately, we can’t change your table. There aren’t any spare ones tonight.”

The sound of the other patrons hit her then, reminding her of how loud and full the restaurant was. She just nodded and Hinata went along with it, hiding her disappointment. They would just have to do with a larger table between them. A voice in the back of her head scoffed at her.

Who else is coming tonight?

Maybe Naruto had misheard her? She didn’t understand how he could have but it had to have been a mistake. She shook her head, chastising herself for worrying over something so trivial. She was stronger than this.

“Thank-you,” she bowed to the server. “Where is the table?”

Hinata followed the woman and settled into the chair that gave her the best view of the restaurant entrance. She was already on edge, with the change in her plans, and worried that something else might sneak up behind her if she wasn’t careful. All the courage she’d learned from Naruto-kun had boiled off and she needed to get a hold of herself.

“Dining alone, again?”

Hinata gave a start at the familiar voice. “Sasuke-kun,” she said softly.

Why is he here?

Did this mean Naruto had invited him too? No, that didn’t make any sense.

The Uchiha slid into the chair across from her. This was one of the non-self-serve restaurants that had popped up in Konoha in the last twelve months and as a result the space between them, under the table, was minimal. His foot accidentally brushed against hers and she started again.

“A-are you here–”

“Hm. Naruto said he’d pay this time if I turned up early.”

They got dinner together a lot, then? Hinata struggled not to lose the soft smile she’d plastered to her face. It was only natural that Naruto would make time for his former teammate who was also his best friend. This didn’t mean he was avoiding her.

Of course not. Why would I even think such a thing?

“W-where is Sakura-san?”

Sasuke picked up the menu in front of him and lazily perused it, not answering her question. He didn’t look over at her when she repeated the question and began tapping the table with the menu absentmindedly. She wondered what was going through his head. After a few minutes, she’d had enough.

“Why are you here?”

Now, he looked up at her. “There are no more free tables.”

Is he making fun of me?

She assumed he was a joking. He had to be. This was supposed to be just her and Naruto. Sasuke was ruining everything. She didn’t want to burst that out at him, but it did really feel like he was getting in the way deliberately. Hanabi’s words to her the other day about Sasuke following her around popped into her head, but that was ridiculous. Everyone knew he was dating Sakura, just like Hinata hoped to begin dating Naruto. Why else would Sakura be so adamant something was going to happen between them?

“He’s just shy, Hinata,” the pinkette had told her yesterday. “And we’re going out tomorrow night anyway.”

Tomorrow night is tonight, she reminded herself. So where is Sakura?

A waitress sidled up to their table, giving Sasuke a once over with her eyes before asking them for their orders.

“Pork Katsu Curry,” Sasuke said. “With a side of Kani Salad and Green Tea.”

“Certainly, handsome.” The waitress turned to Hinata. “And you, sweetie?”

Hinata felt very uncomfortable under the stare they were both giving her. It felt like she was on a date with Sasuke, not Naruto. She didn’t know how to handle this. It felt like the world had just tipped on its axis. When she was this uncomfortable, Hinata usually just caved to whatever was expected of her. But she didn’t want to keep doing that with the important things in her life. However, this was too public and sensitive a venue for her to start putting her foot down without repercussions. Saying anything about her disappointment and desire to get rid of them both would only make her regret it later.

She blinked heavily. Uh, right. They were still looking at her expectantly. Though Sasuke’s eyes were occasionally drifting off to the side like he was embarrassed, but he still looked more bored than anything.

“Miso Soup,” she said finally, going with something she knew well. Hinata wasn’t hungry enough for a side, but she didn’t want them to think she was angry with them. “And M-Moyashi Salad on the side.” She cleared her throat. “And just some water, please.”

The waitress read their orders back to them then winked. “That’ll be ready in a jiffy. You two lovebirds let me know if you need anything else, okay?”

Hinata’s skin flushed crimson and she lowered her gaze to the table, not daring to see Sasuke’s reaction to that.

“How long until Naruto-kun arrives, do you think?”

Sasuke glanced over at her and shrugged, then leaned forward to rest his chin on his hands, now staring at her. It was making her uncomfortable, so she looked back down again. They remained that way, in silence, for a while. Hinata entertained herself by counting the tassels on the edge of the tablecloth. Over and over again.

“You…”

Hinata looked up quickly as Sasuke trailed off, the look on his face suddenly uncertain. Before she could ask him what he was going to say, the waitress returned with their orders. She felt herself turning beet red, realising they’d been sitting like this for at least ten minutes. The waitress was eyeing them curiously, like one would a couple of bugs under a microscope.

“Thank-you,” they both said at the same time.

Hinata sighed deeply as the waitress bowed to them. She was eerily silent this time and moved away quickly.

“I think we unnerve her,” she said softly.

Sasuke glanced at the woman’s retreating back before digging into his food. For him, it was digging in. Hinata had been in many group outings with Team Kakashi since the war ended and Sasuke was allowed free reign of the village. He ate like a nobleman; picky and proper. Not at all like Naruto.

She sighed again and picked up the bowl with her Miso Soup. If he wasn’t going to turn up, she might as well enjoy the night air and good food. They ate in silence and Hinata slowly settled her nerves, finding the quiet between them a comfortable surprise. The loud noises in the restaurant didn’t bother her anymore and she proceeded to escape into her own little world, just thinking about things.

Her father had been asking her about her future lately, instead of telling her what it would entail. She was finally having conversations with him in which taking part meant that she could approach the subject matter honestly. He’d even stopped asking her about her love life. (His attempt at a marriage of convenience notwithstanding.) Hinata put her bowl down and glanced over at Sasuke. It seemed nobody had a handle on their love life lately.

“Are you…” She hesitated when Sasuke put down his spoon and she suddenly had his full attention. “Um. I thought you were coming here with Sakura-san on a date.” He shook his head. “She, uh, said so yesterday.”

Was that a smirk? Whatever it was, it was gone a moment later.

“Sakura…” he cocked his head to the side. “She has different ideas on what an invitation out with friends means.”

Hinata understood what he meant but frowned softly. Everyone knew that Sakura was obsessed with Sasuke and saw any attention from him as evidence of their undying love. A simple invitation with Team Kakashi could set her off on a soliloquy about star-crossed love. But that didn’t explain why she wasn’t here. Her absence made even less sense than Naruto’s.

Sasuke sighed, obviously realising she wanted to know more. He sat back in his chair heavily.

“I… told her we were meeting at Ichiraku’s.”

“You…”

He told Sakura the wrong place on purpose. He had no intention of being honest with her. Was it a trick? Or just him being a douche? Hinata narrowed her eyes at Sasuke. A familiar feeling of annoyance rose up inside her and if she’d been paying attention to why this bothered her so much, she’d have realised Sasuke was giving Sakura the same kind of brush off that Naruto had done to Hinata.

But she couldn’t bring herself to yell at him either. She ground her teeth. “Take it from me, Sasuke-kun, you wouldn’t like someone you care about doing that to you.”

“Don’t call me Sasuke-kun.”

He hated honorifics.

“You have no idea.” He said it like he’d come to some kind of existential realisation.

“About what?”

“You’re quiet and shy and sweet to everyone. Always putting yourself down and picking up everyone else.”

She didn’t know what to say to that. Sasuke continued, now leaning forward and pointing at her like he was her sensei, and she was a naughty genin who refused to listen.

“Despite having such a powerful dojutsu, you don’t even see what’s happening right in front of you. Naruto has obviously left you in the dirt, but you keep holding out hope he’ll come around.” She fidgeted as he continued to reprimand her. “Face it: he lied to you.”

“He was just trying to spare my feelings.” Her voice sounded hollow, even to her.

Sasuke scoffed. “By dragging the decision out.”

“What are you doing to S-Sakura-san?”

“That’s different,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “I’ve told her I’m not interested but she won’t take the hint.”

“Naruto-kun’s–”

“He’s a dobe. And he isn’t going to date you, no matter what you think.”

“How can you call him your friend and speak of him like this? I thought you cared–”

“I never said I cared about him.”

“I suppose you expect me to believe that?”

“I’m not the only one running away from the truth.”

“No, you’re perfect,” she said, spitting out the last word.

He smiled at that. Genuinely. Her frustration seemed to amuse him.

“Why are you saying these things to me?” She asked, clenching her fists and glaring openly at him.

“Because no-one else will,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Least of all the one person who should.”

But why did he have to be so rude about it?

He levelled her with the most intense non-glare stare she’d ever seen from him. “Kindness doesn’t seem to work on you.”

Damn. She’d asked that question out loud. Hinata couldn’t get a handle on the emotions bubbling up inside her. It was too painful. She’s waited for years. Held herself up high and given every inch of herself. But Sasuke knew Naruto better than she did. He said the blond had no intention of doing anything with her. He said that he was just a dobe who wasn’t telling her what she needed to hear. She was so furious now that Hinata couldn’t hear anything other than her own blood rushing in her ears.

How dare he?

“You are a low life.” Hinata could hardly believe the words were out of her mouth as she stood up, her body shaking with anger. Sasuke just stared back at her, not surprised or offended one bit. “Sakura-san could do so much better than you.”

“Tell her that.”

She desperately wanted to throw her untouched water at him. But she reigned in that emotion, not wanting to cause a scene that could get back to her father. She’d already embarrassed herself enough. Instead, Hinata huffed, rifled in her purse and threw down just enough money to only pay for her own food. Naruto had apparently promised to pay for Sasuke, and he wasn’t here to do so. But that didn’t mean that she had to do it in his stead. Feeling quite unlike herself, she scowled at him before storming off.

Hinata didn’t see the genuine curiosity on his face at her actions. The small smile of interest she’d sparked. She could only see red. It would be hours before she could calm down enough to realise, he’d been right.

.:.

Bargaining.

If only she’d been stronger. And more forceful, like Sakura, then none of this would’ve happened. Her life had spiralled out of control. Before that dinner with Sasuke, Hinata could just go along and pretend that one day Naruto would ask her out for real, or at least take her asking seriously. He wasn’t in a relationship of his own, though – to her chagrin – his fangirls were still as stubborn as ever. And that lack of a relationship had given her hope.

Now she had all kinds of thoughts about what was really going on. And the truth was, that Sasuke was right. Naruto-kun wasn’t interested in her like that. It was still hard to grasp since she’d held onto it for so long and it didn’t feel real. They’d shared a moment during the war, holding hands and promising to be there for each other. She’d taken it as a declaration of love while he’d been talking about friendship. Granted, the kid of friendship you kill and die for, but friendship all the same.

I’m as bad as Sakura.

Or maybe only almost as bad as Sakura, since the pinkette was still talking Sasuke up to everyone. He’d made a scene the day after that dinner date (and she could admit that, although accidental, it had been a date), which should’ve put Sakura in her place. Hinata hadn’t seen either of them since then, so she didn’t know if it worked. But she had bigger fish to fry.

Hinata needed to regain control of this chaos she’d created. Maybe she was still in denial though, and it would explain why she’d deliberately made her way to Ichiraku’s, knowing he’d be there. He always was at lunchtime. Everyone knew that Naruto got up at nine o’clock, had breakfast (sometimes in his apartment and sometimes at Ichiraku’s), headed over to the training grounds where he’d work out (and sometimes spar, if any of his former teammates were available), then practically skip to Ichiraku’s for lunch. He’d spend anywhere from half an hour to an hour there, depending on how hungry he was and how many fangirls slowed him down. Then Naruto would promptly return to the training grounds for a few hours before tracking down his former teammates to see who wasn’t busy and then bug them until they either kicked him out or he got bored. If the sun hadn’t set yet he’d wander through the village, waving at people, being waved at, and stopping to talk to other Konoha Eleven members.

Sometimes he spent the late afternoon with Konohamaru and his friends. Then he’d go back to the training grounds and use the dark to hone his sensory skills. Naruto would go at it until he dropped, then drag his arse back home, eat, bathe, and finally sleep until morning.

His schedule was a little different sometimes, depending on his mood and available friends (Kakashi didn’t send him on many missions because he was too overpowered for most of them) but the lunchtime and when he started night-time training were like clockwork.

When he would find time to do the things he’d always gone on about, she didn’t know. But Hinata knew his current schedule because she was a stalker. It was obvious to her now. Nobody else followed him around like this. She wondered if he’d ever taken the time to notice. She needed to get a hold of this before she wasted her life away.

But Hinata couldn’t stop wondering what could’ve been if she’d approached Naruto right after the war instead of waiting for him to get into a routine of ignoring her. Maybe she’d have shown him just how right they were for each other. And he’d finally listen.

This was why she was walking toward the Ichiraku Ramen stand. It was why she stopped next to a stall of flowers and pretended to be interested in them as she watched the ramen stand in her peripherals. And why she didn’t move away the moment she realised he was on a date. Her stomach clenched, but it was a milder pain than she expected. Even so, it still threatened to bring a fresh bout of tears to her eyes to watch him with this girl.

Naruto was the only member of Team Kakashi at the stall. He stood outside, laughing and joking with someone that Hinata didn’t recognise. The girl was really pretty. With short auburn hair and a petite figure that her clothes highlighted, and her makeup complimented. What made Hinata realise it was a date was not only how the girl was dressed to the nines (Naruto, too, for him anyway), but also how he reciprocated when she ran her hand along his arm. He was blushing and trying to pull of the cool guy act. If this was just another fangirl, he wouldn’t put that much work into it, surely.

They talked and laughed a few minutes more before clasping hands and ducking under the flap to take their respective stools in Ichiraku.

Definitely a date.

Hinata let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and turned away from the flowers. The stall server was disappointed but quickly turned to another customer.

Story of my life.

A sudden flare of chakra had her spinning around and she found herself suddenly face to face with Sasuke Uchiha. Had he seen her stalking his friend? There was nothing but his usual aloof stare on his face as he silently appraised her. But she knew. He knew. And the shame of it made her body shake with both anger and humiliation. So, she did the only thing her body was willing to do in that moment.

Hinata ran away.

She took to the rooftops and pushed herself to her limit, trying to get away from Naruto. From Sasuke. Her tears dried on her face by the time she found herself at Team Eight’s old training ground. She wiped at them then found her favourite oak tree and sat down. Even under the shade, the sun was warm and comforting on her skin. She basked in it, closing her eyes.

This time, Hinata felt him arrive. But she didn’t feel childish enough to tell him to go away. She opened her bleary eyes and looked up at him, shielding her eyes from the sun. He looked radiant, with the curve of the blinding light almost silhouetting him. Sasuke moved forward to better block the rays and she lowered her arm.

“Why are you h-here?”

He moved out of the way of the sun and Hinata shaded her eyes quickly. Sasuke always did have a thing for being dramatic. She turned to look at him as he sat down on the grass next to her. He didn’t answer at first, staring up into the sun like it didn’t bother him at all. Nothing ever seemed to bother him. Finally, he sighed.

“I told you so.”

The floodgates opened. She broke down. Hinata couldn’t stop it. She pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged herself, her face in her knees as she cried. She wasn’t upset at him. Only herself. Hinata didn’t react when Sasuke shifted his bum to press his side against her and gave her a one-armed hug. Her head lolled to rest on his shoulder as he pulled her closer to himself, but she didn’t relent on the tears. His hand was large and warm against her, making Hinata cry even more.

Eventually, she stopped shaking and sniffled heavily.

She hated that he could get over their argument so easily and yet she was still plagued with doubts about how she’d acted. How rude he’d been. Hinata gave herself a few silent moments to compose herself before sliding out of his grip and wiping her face. Hinata rose shakily to her feet and gave him a slight bow.

“Thank-you Uchiha-san. I can see myself home now. Good day.”

He watched silently as she walked away solemnly.

.:.

Depression.

She avoided every member of Team Kakashi for weeks. Hinata couldn’t avoid Kakashi forever however, as the Hokage called her in for a pep talk – his version, rather, which was to ask her if she wanted a mission outside of Konoha. “To get away for a while. You could treat it like a vacation.”

Did everyone know about her problems? Kakashi probably just knew because of the other members of his former team, but it felt like a spotlight was suddenly shining on her and the whole world had gathered to watch her humiliation. She understood his concern. Hinata would think less of him if he hadn’t been. But she couldn’t deal with being this exposed right now.

“No thank-you, Hokage-sama,” she’d said, bowing lower than usual. “I am expected to join father in a mission soon and it would be disrespectful of me to leave Konoha right now.”

He just stared back at her for a moment but eventually nodded his head slowly.

Naruto’s voice interrupted them, suddenly bouncing off the walls as if he was standing right there and making Hinata jumped. But the loud blond was actually just booming down the hall outside.

“Hang on,” Kakashi said, then stood and disappeared out of the room.

Hinata could hear them talking, and Naruto’s whining voice and something about Ichiraku. Naruto yelled out, “woo-hoo!”.

Lord Hokage is trying to get rid of him for me.

But it sounded like he was too excited to get the hint.

Hinata couldn’t stand the pity. The deep, painful feeling that churned in her gut and worked its way up through her body like acid reflux. Hinata stumbled slightly from the physical shock of it. Kakashi meant well and she understood this, but it just made her feel so small.

She couldn’t let people cover for her anymore. Hinata realised that was what people had been doing. Trying to help her by keeping them apart. But all that had done was blind her to the truth. She loved her friends, but this was not the way to moving on. She had to be braver than this. Steeling herself, Hinata pushed her shoulders back and pushed the doors open, leaving the Hokage's office. Kakashi looked surprised to see her come out. His former student went silent upon seeing her, then started fidgeting.

“Hinata…” Naruto trailed off, rubbing the back of his head.

But Hinata ignored him, her chin high and face resolutely forward. She would not give herself the opening to fall back into the comfort of lies. She would not regress. She was stronger than this, damnit! Nobody said anything else as she left the Hokage Tower. When she was out of sight, Hinata finally breathed, shaking her arms to release the tension. Fighting the tears that threatened to spill over.

“I need to go home,” she said to herself, shivering. A storm was on its way, and she didn’t want to walk home soaking wet. She picked up the pace and quickly entered the front gates of the Hyuuga compound. The rain started pelting down the moment they closed behind her, and she sighed deeply. The guards nodded to her, and she smiled at them with all the warmth she could muster.

The grounds of the Hyuuga compound were beautiful no matter what time of year it was. Even in the moist air they came alive. Hinata walked through the covered walkways between the houses, mulling over what she’d just done.

I ignored Naruto-kun.

She’d never done that before. And she had no idea how to deal with it. A part of her wanted to break down again. The other was feeling light as air. Free. Hinata could feel the emotion building up inside her again so hurried into her room and slid the door closed, before anyone could see her. She carefully placed her sandals on the shoe rack and pulled a coat from her wardrobe. The temperature had plummeted, so she sent out her chakra to get the attention of a servant and had them bring her a hot chocolate. Once she found herself alone, she sat on the window seat of her study and stared out through the glass window at the rain below her, hugging the hot chocolate to herself as she took tentative sips.

She was just daydreaming about figures dancing in the rain when she spotted something.

A figure walking in the rain. It was definitely male, his hands in his pockets and exuding chakra from his body to keep the rain at bay. She could sense it faintly, even from this distance. It reminded her of that mission so long ago when she’d been encased in crystal and would’ve died if she hadn’t expelled chakra from her chakra points. It was an easy thing for a Hyuuga to do, but this person wasn’t a Hyuuga.

They paused and looked up toward her. She couldn’t see his face clearly because of how hard the rain was coming down but Hinata was sure now: it was Sasuke. Hanabi was right. She kept watching as he slowly turned away and continued walking. Had he seen her? Did she want him to? Did it even matter?

Yes. Yes. And emphatic yes.

She had no idea why, but yes. Hinata wanted him to care enough to take the long way home that took him past the Hyuuga gates. He was the only one telling her the things she needed to hear. Even Hanabi’s questions weren’t as blunt as they should be. Sasuke was the only one not pitying her. She found she hated pity. She appreciated him so much in that moment. More than she’d appreciated him before.

Hinata swallowed heavily, palming her hand against the glass windowpane as his figure disappeared into the haze of the heavy rain.

“Sasuke.”

.:.

Acceptance.

All she felt now was exhaustion. She had just run a marathon and dragged herself through most of it, but eventually the energy would return. Her body would recover, and her mind would follow suit. She hoped. She had put so much of her energy into the life she’d imagined with Naruto.

Hinata was surprised she hadn’t snapped much earlier. Looking back, it was obvious this wasn’t going to happen.

He hadn’t left her for someone else. Because they’d never been an item. Her heart still wrenched at the thought of what might’ve been, but she was finally taking those steps to let him go. She had no business shoving him into her heart anyway. Hanabi told her, “You’re finally accepting your grief” when she told her and gave her the warmest hug she’d ever received. It almost made her break down again.

Then Hanabi asked her about Sasuke.

“Sasuke-kun?”

He looked up as she approached, seemingly surprised that she’d sought him out this time. Normally it was him hounding her. No, that wasn’t the right word. He didn’t hound her. He wasn’t some obsessed fanboy. She smiled at that. No, Sasuke was a good friend. She swallowed heavily at the weird sensation that sentence had induce in her gut.

Friend.

The word didn’t sound right either.

So, she’d tracked him down, only to find him in the Uchiha compound graveyard. She almost turned around and left right then, to give him privacy, but figured if he could interrupt her when she was doing something important then she could do the same.

“Hinata?”

He didn’t complain as she knelt next to him and offered a prayer to the headstone he was sitting in front of. It had his parents name on it. She closed her eyes and silently wished them well in the afterlife, then opened her eyes and turned to look at him.

“I was looking for you.”

“Obviously. Why?”

She smiled. “Why not?”

He scoffed, but she didn’t lose her smile. He stared back at her before finally relenting and offering up his own light smile. They both turned back to the headstone and silence reigned for a while. It was comfortable and companionable.

“I’m leaving Konoha.”

She was surprised. “Where will you go?”

“I have a mission.”

Hinata frowned. “Lord Hokage is letting you on missions outside the village?”

He pulled a face and she almost giggled. “Kakashi has little choice.”

This told Hinata that the mission was international. She was suddenly burning with curiosity, but held back because, likely, it was top-secret. And she wasn’t in the know on top-secret missions. The inner circle of the Hokage was always a tight, handful of people and this Hokage was no different. She had no doubt that the rest of his former team knew what he was going to be doing.

“It’s just politics,” he offered, sitting back on his bum now and pulling mindlessly at the grass. “Nobody but I can do it, apparently.”

He didn’t look happy about it. Hinata was quite enjoying his openness right now.

“And it’s for an indefinite amount of time.”

She nodded but he wasn’t paying her any mind. It wasn’t personal so she didn’t take it to heart. She wondered how long he’d be gone. If Hinata was honest with herself, she was going to miss him. Before he got involved with her problems, she wouldn’t have really cared either way. But things were different now. Every day since that evening, she’d seen him in the rain, she’d sat at her window and watched him walk by. Every time he stopped and looked up at her, she swore she could feel his eyes on her. Like he knew she was watching him too.

“What’s the mission?”

Why did I just ask that?

She’d held back because it wasn’t her place. Was she really this desperate to know all about him?

Sasuke stood slowly and stared down at her. “Agree to come with me first.”

“What?” She scrambled to her feet.

“Agree to come with me and I’ll tell you all about it.”

He was serious. She frowned. “But Hokage-sama–”

“Kakashi already offered you an out. He won’t complain about you finally taking it.”

“I’m not approved for the mission.”

“You don’t have to be.” He stepped closer to her, and she felt rooted to the spot. His eyes were intense on hers and in the back of her mind she realised she was seeing a side to Sasuke that few ever did. It was intense. The way he looked at her would haunt her dreams if she said no.

She shivered. If I take too long to answer, will he beg?

His comment had a “they don’t have to know” vibe. Like they were runaways. Star-crossed lovers. She felt herself flush at the thought of that. The idea of going with him sounded exciting if not terrifying. But the idea of staying here, not knowing when she would see him again, was worse.

“You can return to Konoha anytime you want,” he added, stepping impossibly closer. “To whatever life you think you will have back here. Or you can come with me, do some good for the village without having to deal with all the shit you’ve been going through.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. His verbal acknowledgement of her problems seemed so out of character for him. But she was grateful and offered a small smile, which he quickly returned, also to her surprise.

Who is this man standing in front of me, asking me to basically run away with him?

It would be a huge undertaking and she had no idea what she was getting herself into. But suddenly, the rush of the unknown wasn’t so scary to her. It would be an adventure. One with purpose. And perhaps, she could find a little of herself out there. With him.

Hinata widened her smile and nodded. “Okay.”

He was full of surprises, because the next thing she knew, Sasuke’s hands were cupping her face. Her mouth opened slightly in shock, and he licked his lips before slowly moving in toward her. He was giving her time to pull away and change her mind. Hinata didn’t take it, closing her eyes as his mouth gently pressed against hers.

She should’ve seen this coming. This was why Sasuke had even bothered to give her the time of day. This was what all their little moments had been leading up to. This odd feeling of belonging was reciprocated.

I am so blind.

The taste of salt mixed in with the taste of him as she deepened the kiss. But for once, they were happy tears.

.:.

#SasuHina #sasuhinamonth2021 #day 25 #the season of grief #fanfiction #my fanfiction

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emilia3546 · 3 years

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Shadowsinger Part 18 - Gwynriel

ACOSF Spoilers! Do Not read this unless you have finished ACOSF and the Azriel bonus chapter*

Masterlist with all previous chapters

*****

Cassian was still giving Azriel weird looks when they finished training that evening, having missed the usual morning session, and Azriel finally rolled his eyes and glared at him,

"What? You've been weird all day."

"Did something happen?" Cassian narrowed his eyes, leveling a concerned gaze at him,

"No, I'm fine, what are you on about?"

"I know you're fine, you just seem a bit different today, did you sleep last night? I know you don't sleep much at the moment, but you just seem, I don't know, it just seems like something's changed."

"Yes, I slept last night, I've been sleeping properly for about a week now," Azriel muttered, something had changed, but it was nothing that Cassian and his big nose needed to know about just yet.

"And Gwyn was practically glowing when I saw her earlier, not like that," he rolled his eyes, "I'd know if that had happened, she seemed happier than usual, more at peace, the same way that you do."

"Really?" Gwyn seemed happier, because of him? Azriel couldn't help the grin that sprang to his face at the thought of her happy, especially if he had made her that way,

"I knew it. What the hell did I interrupt this morning?"

"Nothing, we were talking, taking a moment of calm before an idiot interrupted, and she decided that she was getting up after all." Cassian snorted, halfheartedly apologized, and seemed to let it go, but turned back to Azriel before he left,

"I'm glad you found her." Azriel almost blinked in surprise, he knew that Cassian would be happy, but it was still difficult to remember that people cared, that anyone would bother to be happy for him. "But," oh gods, there was always a 'but' wasn't there, "I will be returning the favor, 'chaperone', don't you worry." Azriel rolled his eyes, but a spark lit in his chest at Cassian's words, he wasn't just happy because Azriel was, he saw a future between him and Gwyn, he thought that this was a good decision. Something made him chuckle,

"I don't think that'll be an issue for a while, we're not you and Nesta, no matter how much I love her, we're not idiots."

"Oi, that's my mate you're talking about," Cassian joked, forcing a glare at Azriel, but broke down into a laugh moments later, and clapped him on the shoulder, "You are idiots, I'm guessing you told her last night, despite everyone, apparently everyone but her, knowing for ages now." Cassian grinned again when he walked off, leaving Azriel desperately trying to figure out how everyone else could have known for ages when he didn't know himself.

Without Cassian's endless chatter, it seemed that the whole house was sleeping, the hallways were all silent, and dark. Azriel paused as he passed his study, the unfinished plans screaming at him to work until they were ready, but he turned away. Gwyn had been right, he would work better in the morning, when he was rested, but the first step away was still difficult, still felt wrong. Besides, Gwyn would be waiting for him again, and she'd come and fetch him if he didn't show up soon. Azriel slowly shook his head as he walked, chuckling to himself at the thought of the fiery redhead literally dragging him away from his work so that he would sleep,

"What are you laughing about?" Gwyn's voice shook him out of his thoughts and he snapped his gaze up to where she was leaning against the doorframe, hair unbound, already in her nightgown, smiling softly to herself,

"The idea of you dragging me back here if I tried to do any more work."

"Damn right I would, you watch yourself shadowsinger, any funny business, and I'll tell the shadows not to let you out of this room." Azriel chuckled, knowing full well that if she did that, they would obey her, even if he outright ordered them to let him out.

"You're a devious little creature, you know that."

"You wouldn't have it any other way," she chuckled, and dodged him when he moved to kiss the top of her head, "Bath first," he tried again, and she yelped, darting to the side, "No, you get away from me until you've bathed, you smell."

"You wound me! I do not smell." He sniffed the air, "Maybe I do smell, but you still wound me." Gwyn snorted, and pointed to the bathroom,

"I already ran a bath, it should still be warm, I wasn't expecting you to have a gossip session with Cass. That is what you were doing?"

"He might've wanted to discuss a couple things." Azriel muttered, wondering how on earth he'd become this transparent, or maybe it was Gwyn, he'd never really been able to hide from her,

"About us? He gave me a funny look earlier,"

"Yes, he says everyone's known for ages, but I don't know how, I didn't."

"Maybe we didn't have to." Gwyn settled down on the bed, leaning against a pillow set up against the headboard, a book already in her hands as she glanced back at the bathroom, "Bath. Now." Azriel chuckled something about her becoming a tyrant, but obeyed nonetheless.

The water was still warm, and he closed his eyes for a few moments, the rustling of Gwyn turning the pages of her book almost sending him to sleep. This was what he wanted, the safety to relax for a moment, no worries about someone or something trying to kill him all the time, the female he loved safe and content. He'd hadn't noticed how long it had been, but he opened his eyes at the sound of footsteps,

"Are you drowning? Or sleeping?"

"Neither," he chuckled, "Daydreaming," Gwyn perched on the edge of the bath, next to his head, keeping herself turned towards his face, and poured a bucket of water over his head, giving him just enough warning to take a breath and squeeze his eyes shut before the water rushed over his face. Gwyn laughed, and moments later, soft fingers brushed the wet hair out of his face,

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing. And everything. What the world could be, if we can just get some peace."

"It'll be beautiful," she whispered, "I see the way you sometimes get, all of you, I can't wait to see the world that you will build,"

"The world that we will build, Gwyn. You will be there, every step of the way, right with me, with out family," she smiled,

"That world will be the home of the dreamers, the ones who left the world a better place than they found it." She brushed her fingers through his hair again, her gaze slowly switching from contemplative to playful, and she snatched the bottle of shampoo off the edge of the bath, "You use lavender shampoo?"

"It's my mother's favorite flower." She turned the bottle over in her hand, and flipped open the cap,

"Can I wash your hair? Maybe then it'll be less all over the place," she joked, but made to hand the bottle back to Azriel, perhaps worried that he didn't want her touching his hair,

"Yes, of course you can, but,"

"Hush," she muttered, and shifted to sit behind him, careful to step over his wings without touching them, and perched on the little footstool that he'd gotten for her, even if she didn't realize it was for her, he'd never needed one to reach the top shelves, but Gwyn certainly did. She tipped his head back, sliding her fingers into his hair, and Azriel let out a sigh, closing his eyes, his whole being narrowing down to her fingers in his hair, the way she was carefully holding his head just above the hard edge of the bathtub. His breaths slowed, and he could almost see Gwyn's smile, even with his eyes closed, that little knowing smile that she gave him each time she realized that he was calm, happy, mostly when she was around if he was being honest.

Softly, Gwyn started to hum, her fingers in Azriel's hair following the same rhythm, her humming slowly getting louder, until it changed from simple humming to song. He didn't recognize the words, but he would always know a song designed for calming, it had almost the same melody as his mother's lullaby, the notes practically floating around him, stilling his mind and his body as Gwyn rinsed his hair off,

"You sang me your lullaby, now I've sung you mine. This is the one that one of the other priestesses used to sing when I had nightmares. I don't know where it's from, but I still sometimes hum it to myself when I need to calm, or to ground myself when I'm nervous."

"It's beautiful." Azriel murmured, and opened his eyes to find Gwyn wreathed in shadow, to find them encircling her head. A crown, that's what it was, he sang to the shadows, but Gwyn, she was their Queen, and he was blessed to stand beside her. She raised an eyebrow at his contemplative look, but giggled when he reached up to cup the back of her neck, and pulled her down for a kiss, "You're so beautiful." He whispered, blinking in surprise when Gwyn flushed slightly, he hadn't meant to say it out loud, but she was, she was the most beautiful female he'd ever seen.

*****

Gwyn left Azriel alone to dry himself off and put on a pair of pants, but she immediately put her book aside when he emerged, his hair tidier than usual, as if he'd taken pains to make sure it was. The moment he sat down, she ran her hands through it again, and fluffed it up, chuckling at his exasperated sigh,

"I like it like that." She said as he flopped backwards onto the mattress, smirking at him as she swung a leg over his hips, her hands on his shoulders. She wasn't totally sure he was breathing until she leaned down to kiss him and a hand dove into her hair holding her against him. She leaned down and gripped his shoulders, rolling sideways, so that Azriel was leaning on his forearms above her. She took a deep breath, still holding on to him. Azriel, this was Azriel, she loved him, she trusted, she wanted him. He stilled, allowing her to decide what she wanted from him, and she closed her eyes, but opened them the moment a familiar song filled her ears, deep and rich, he clearly didn't know the words, but Azriel was humming her song, her calming song, and she smiled, and nodded, "I'm okay."

"Tell me what you want."

"Kiss me again." He did, slowly, sliding a hand across to the back of her head, grounding her against any remaining fears. It was his touch, his eyes, his voice, everything about him that shoved her fear aside, this was her choice, he was her choice. She had chosen him, and she was never letting go, not now, not ever. She blinked her eyes open when Azriel pulled back, brushing his thumb across her cheek, "I love you," she whispered, and wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaned back down, opening at the first brush of his tongue, savoring the feeling of his body pressed against hers, pushing her down into the mattress, a little of his weight on her, but far from scaring her, it ignited a fire within her. She nipped at his lip, and moaned into his mouth, letting her head fall back, baring her neck to him,

"Tell me to stop and I will. Always." No matter how much he wanted this, wanted her, Gwyn could see in his eyes, even if she hadn't already known that fact, no matter how far down this path they were, the moment she changed her mind, he would stop, and wait for what she wanted.

"Yes." She whispered, her eyes fluttering closed when he kissed along her jaw, working his way from one side to the other before pressing a gentle kiss to the side of her neck. Gwyn slipped a hand up to the back of his neck, not quite holding him still, but just letting him know that she wanted more, that she was okay. When his tongue flicked against her skin she thought that she was going to explode, somehow he had done this, had made her want more, more more. She let out some sort of sound, and tipped her head back further, demanding more, if he could make her feel this good from just kissing, she could hardly imagine what it'd be like when he got between her legs. She opened her eyes when Azriel's weight lifted off her, and found him staring down at her, his head wreathed in a crown of shadow, great dark wings lifted up behind him. He smiled, and brushed a hand through her hair, still splayed across her pillow from when she'd rolled over. He gently brushed a hand up her waist, only her nightgown between them. She wanted him to take it off, but she couldn't quite manage the words to ask him, not yet. Another night then, but she could still touch him, and let him touch her, even a little bit.

Azriel's own eyes flickered shut, and he moaned out her name when she lifted her head to kiss his jaw, gripping onto his shoulders tighter than before, then dropped back down, and ran her hands down his chest, and back up. She never quite worked up the courage to dip her touch below his navel, but that too could come another night. She grinned, and laughed when Azriel gathered her up into his arms, rolling sideways so that she was lying on his chest, his wings wrapped around her. She let her head rest on his chest, his heart thundering next to her ear. He brushed a lock of hair out of her face,

"Thank you for trusting me." Gwyn just snuggled into him, and mumbled that she trusted him with anything and everything he could possibly imagine. No other words were needed as they lay there in silence, Gwyn holding Azriel's shoulders with his arms wrapped tight around her waist, and his wings shielding her from the world, but leaving her room to wriggle. Even the shadows were settling close around them, calm and quiet, but not in the way. Gwyn sighed in contentment, this, this was what they were fighting for, this, and everyone else who had someone they loved, who they wanted to live for. Because she did want to live for him, really live, beyond the library, beyond even her training with the Valkyries, he made her want to see everything the world had to offer, to accept the life she had started to build, to live, not just survive, not any more. True, Nesta and Emerie had opened the door, but it was Azriel who stood on the other side, his hand held out to her, ready to help her find her place, if she only took his hand.

In that moment of quiet, of peace with just the two of them, Gwyn closed her eyes, and smiled, the thought of that door to the future popping up again, with Azriel waiting for her just beyond the open door. Everything she could possibly imagine lay beyond that door, a world where she could be what she wanted, a world where she didn't have to be afraid, a world where she was free to fall in love without thinking that she wasn't enough. She was enough, and she wanted that world, she wanted that world where she could marry the male she loved, where she could have the life that she had always dreamed of as a child. Azriel's chest rose and fell underneath her head, and he was still absentmindedly stroking her hair when she realized that was what she wanted. Forever, she had known that she wanted forever, that she was hopelessly in love with him, and had been for longer than she'd realized, but she'd never considered what that actually meant. She wanted that future, she wanted everything with him, she wanted it all. So she smiled again, and pulled up that image of the door, of Azriel waiting just beyond, but this time she took a step towards him, this time she didn't stop walking. This time she took his hand.

#fanfiction #fanfic #acotar #acosf #a court of thorns and roses #a court of silver flames #azriel x gwyn #Azwyn #Azriel #Gwyn #gwynriel #Gwyn acosf #gwyneth berdara

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alecmagnuslwb · 3 years

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Love Me Tinder - @doubleredweek Day 5

Read on AO3

Roy doesn’t know why, but he’s fairly certain that Jason Todd is trying to kill him. There’s no other explanation for the scene before him. Firefighters don’t actually do this; he should know he’s been one since he decided to drop the sidekick gig at eighteen and never once before has he seen a firefighter actually wear nothing but tight-fitting jeans and suspenders while washing one of the firetrucks.

It’s just not something they actually do except maybe for the annual charity calendar which it’s nowhere near being the time for that photoshoot and no one has a camera. Well no one except those two girls he saw across the street about twenty minutes ago that were definitely not being subtle as they took a few shots he’s sure will make their way onto Instagram and then from there turn up in some tabloid later.

He can see the headline now: Bruce Wayne’s sexy ward gets wet. It’s like a bad porn he kind of wishes he was starring in.

For a brief only slightly insane moment he contemplated chasing after the two women and asking them to forward him whatever videos and photos they took for his own personal use. Luckily his logical brain took over for his horny brain before he could do anything so absurd.

Roy lets out a literal groan when Jason pauses in his work and runs a soapy wet hand through his hair the little white streak near the front being pushed all the way back.

“Go to your bunk if your gonna start making noises like that,” Dick says as he leaps up beside him twisting himself into an impossible sitting position on the picnic table out in front of the station that Roy’s been happily planted at for forty-five minutes now pretending he’s reading the book in his hand.

Haley, their own personal little firehouse mascot comes trotting out. She pushes up with her three strong legs and settles on the bench beside him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Roy says indignantly looking down at his book that he realizes now is definitely upside down. Dick chuckles clearly seeing the realization cross his face. Roy hastily flips the book right side up ignoring his best friend.

“If you’re gonna ogle at least make your decoy convincing,” Dick says reaching down and picking up Haley cradling her in his arms like a baby.

“I am not ogling your brother,” Roy huffs casting his eyes down to his book. He starts reading and realizes he has no clue what’s going on, he’s pretty sure he just kept turning pages to seem like he was accomplishing anything but daydreaming about Jason’s six pack.

“You are totally ogling my brother,” Dick says as he starts literally rocking Haley to sleep. “You should just ask him out already, I’m like 99% certain he’d say yes.”

Roy gives up on his book tossing it off to the side. The thud of it against the table disturbs Haley from her drifting slumber the small grey pup giving him a warning look. He scratches behind her left ear the way she loves in apology before looking up at Dick.

“You want me to ask out your little brother?” he says in disbelief. He always assumed Dick would be very much against the concept of his best friend and his little brother.

Dick just shrugs. “Yeah, why not? Little Wing’s been a hell of lot better off since he finally quit the whole Outlaw gig and if it weren’t for him randomly running into you that never would have happened. Your good for him and considering how lovesick you look all the time when he’s around I’d say he could be pretty good for you too.”

Three years ago on a random chilly Gotham night Roy walked his way into a hostage situation by accident, the infamous Red Hood had broken it up, but not without a little help from the former Speedy.

Jason had been grateful for the help, but behind those eyes he could also see a hell of a lot else going on. He looked tired, worn down by life. Roy knew the look well; it had hit him before he could even legally rent a car. Mostly Jason looked like he could use a friend, so Roy decided then and there to be one.

Within the year Roy knew more about Jason’s life since being brought back from the dead than even his own brother and six months after that he’d convinced Jason he didn’t have to hit the streets anymore if he didn’t want to.

Getting him the training and into the vacancy in their firehouse had been easy with Dick vouching for him as well.

“Batman might beat me up though,” Roy says leaning back and finally letting his eyes stray back to Jason who it seems has sadly finished his job. A dry t-shirt now covering his Adonis like chest, suspenders hanging at his sides.

Dick whacks him on the shoulder with a huff. “Batman will not beat you up, I’ll beat up Batman if he even thinks about it.”

Roy chuckles at that his eyes still following Jason as he talks to a few of the other guys.

“Okay, since you’re willing to protect me from the big bad bat I’ll ask him to have dinner or something sometime,” Roy concedes looking at Dick with a ‘does that make you happy’ face.

“Fantastic,” he says with a big grin slapping Roy on the shoulder once before tumbling gracefully off the picnic table to stand in front Roy, Haley still perfectly held in his arms. “I got a shift with the other job,” he says with a wink lifting his shirt to reveal the Kevlar of his Nightwing costume. Roy gives him a playful salute that Dick returns as he wanders over past Jason.

“Hey Jay!” he shouts as he passes him by. “Roy wants to ask you something!” And then he’s off blowing Roy a condescending kiss before he disappears into the firehouse.

Jason turns his attention to Roy those perfectly white teeth showing as he makes his way over to the bench. He sits down straddling the same side of the table where Roy sits those tight pants stretching perfectly over Jason’s thick thighs that have been the star of some of Roy’s most pleasant dreams of late.

“What’s up?” he says ruffling out his rapidly drying hair. He’s so bright, so much happier than the fatigued anti-hero Roy met all that time ago.

He’s also annoyingly handsome with his hair sticking up in an array of directions from drying in the hot summer sun. Roy thought being best friends with an absolute smoke show for years was frustrating, this is so much worse. One day he wants to ask Bruce if there’s some sort of pre-requisite that Robin’s needed to look like they’d grow up insanely handsome to get the job.

For a moment Roy pauses and considers chickening out, Dick ran off so it’s not like he can force this to happen.

The thing is Roy really wants this to happen, plus Dick will continue to stick him in situations like this if he doesn’t just bite the bullet so he takes a deep breath and the biggest leap he’s taken since he was literally jumping across rooftops.

“You want to get dinner with me some time?” he asks holding his gaze with Jason those blue green eyes of his shimmering in the slowly waning evening sun.

Jason squints one eye at him the start of a smile on his lips. “Dinner as in a date or dinner as in two friendly firefighting friends?”

Roy smiles. “While I find your alliteration fun I was thinking of it more as a date.”

Jason’s half smile grows full and he swings one leg over the bench. “Sounds great, it’s about time you asked.”

He stands and starts walking backwards eyes still on Roy’s.

“Well you could have asked me,” Roy says holding his hands up in a why not gesture.

“Pfft,” Jason says still cautiously walking backwards. “I’m way too emotionally stunted for that and you know it.”

Roy huffs out a little laugh kind of in awe that Jason had ever considered asking him out first.

“You still off shift Friday?” he asks just as Jason has one leg in firehouse the other out.

“Yep.”

“Good, I’ll pick you at seven,” Roy says catching Jason’s bright smile and nod of agreement before he disappears inside the firehouse. Roy opens back up his book with a smile starting it from the beginning knowing good and well he won’t comprehend a single word of it once again. Just this time his distraction won’t be watching Jason, it’ll be thinking about Friday.

#my fic #jayroy #jayroyweek2021 #jason todd #roy harper #writersmonth2021

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utterlyhopeful-fics · 3 years

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Love on the Line - Part 6

A/N: It’s finally here!!!

MASTERLIST P1 P2 P3 P4 P5

Henry Cavill x Reader

If I keep tagging you and you’re not interested or want to be tagged; please let know!

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: heartache, language, angst, a pinch of lovey dovey fluff, cliffhanger

*****************************

“Ohhh myy god…it’s official. This is the best burger of my life, hands down.”

What could easily be perceived as orgasmic music delightfully made its way to his ears. Seb chuckled studying the beautiful girl across from him admiring her combination of burger grease, ketchup, and mustard staining her chin. Y/N was too lost in the delicious meal to notice Seb gleefully watching her. In an instant his hand wiped away the condiment catching Y/N by surprise. She smiled bashfully blushing.

“Told you I knew a place.”

She sighed genuinely happy in them moment; “I could die a happy girl tomorrow because of this sweet, juicy perfection of a burger. All thanks to you.”

“What can I say? I have good taste.”

“And how did you run across this wonderous joint? Kinda feels off the beaten path.”

“Well, when you fly as much as me you learn to ask around. I never trust the internet when it comes to what I put in my body. I like to know what and where the locals scavenge for a tasty meal.”

“You continue to surprise me …I admire your style, Seb. Original, classy, and you no doubt just about charm the pants off any person who walks your way.”

“Is it working now?” He flashed his most flirtatious smile devouring another sweet potato fry.

Quick on her feet, she shot back with wit and attitude; “Should it be?”

“I gotta say Y/N, I’ve never been happier to wake someone up on a plane until I met you.”

“Damn, you’re suave, Seb. Fucking suave.”

Her eyes bulged from their sockets at her crude choice of words; “Shit, I’m sorry. Ah, fuck.”

His laugh flew through the air like wind on a crisp fall evening; her cheeks flushed.

“I’m not usually such a sailor. Guess you bring out the best in me.”

“I don’t mind a bit. In fact, I kinda like that I fluster you if I’m being honest.”

“So smooth. Are you sure you’re not from LA? I get the sense that’s a requirement in these parts?”

He shook his head in stark disagreement; “Nope, sorry to disappoint you. Just a common foreigner.”

“And a handsome one at that.”

Shocked at her boldness, Y/N stared down at the remnants of food moving her fries as a distraction from his adorable gaze.

“I haven’t felt this at ease in …well I can’t remember. It’s nice.”

“Couldn’t agree more. I never actually asked what brings you here?”

Seb nervously scratched the back of his head; “Uh, work. Like I said, I travel pretty frequently. Hollywood is a hub of sorts for me. What brings you here?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll take the hint and pry later. Well, I’m a writer and some big exec wants to discuss the rights to my book series. So, yeah.”

“Y/N, that’s amazing! Are you secretly a super hero, part of the Avengers maybe?”

“Hahah, flattery will certainly get you far. No doubts there.”

“You’re too kind, Y/N. I’m definitely far from perfect.”

“Good. Perfection is overrated. Flaws are attractively imperfect. I mean at the end of the day we’re only human.”

“Consider me intrigued. I’ve gotta stop by a bookstore and check you out now!”

“Oh, hush! If you must know, I try to keep a low profile. So, uh, how long are you here for?”

“A couple days. I’ve got a bit of free time after my meeting tomorrow and thinking of hitting some trails while I’m here. Don’t get me wrong, LA is cool and all, but kinda suffocating. I try and maintain my distance if possible.”

“Oh, you’re preaching to the choir. The hustle and bustle of London is the literal definition of overwhelming. Countryside getaways were my one true savior. Sometimes London feels like an overpacked sardine can just waiting to explode.”

“So why did you stay?”

Y/N bit her lip trying to keep quiet. She hadn’t once though of Henry since meeting Seb. The lump in her throat appeared by just the mere mention of her subconscious. A part of her wasn’t ready to reveal the ache left beneath her exterior.

“Friends and family. What else ties a person to one place?”

“Love? A relationship?”

His coyness was flattering. She gave into his curiosity.

“Are you asking if I’m single?” Her feigned expression was enough to send him into a fit of harmonious laughter.

“Maybe, maybe not. Depends on your answer, I guess. Part of me believes you’re too good to be true which usually means taken.”

“HA, no. Relationships and I are not on speaking terms at the moment.”

“Ah, sounds like heartbreak hotel is just around the corner….”

“I recently got out of a long-term relationship. So, to answer your question; Yes, I’m single and so not ready to mingle.”

“Are you assuming I’m hitting on you?” His shocked appearance made her question their entire encounter and if she’d been reading the signs wrong all along.

“Well, good thing I’m only here for the coffee and platonic company, hm?”

Seb raised his mug in salute as her stress magically melted away; “Break-ups suck. But allow for a real opportunity to see who you really are. Pain can be a bitter reminder of sadness and strength.”

“Wow, philosophizing so soon into our newly found friendship? A man after my own heart!”

Y/N playfully placed her hand over her heart, smiling for particular reason.

“How about if you’re interested and only 100% positive you aren’t sick of my company; we do dinner or even drinks? Whichever the lady chooses.”

Seb motioned in jest. Y/N tried to remember the last time she’d felt so carefree unable to pin down an exact memory. For far to long Y/N trapped herself in a fog allowing Henry to rule over her even when he wasn’t physically there. It had to stop, she had to quit placing him on a pedestal if she had any luck of moving on from their failed love affair. One torturous long minute passed as Seb’s nerved ramped up.

“Shit, I’m that weird dude, now. Forget I asked and let’s chalk it up to an amazing afternoon as strangers who leave this diner and head back to our own separate lives without consequence?”

Again, Y/N was speechless contemplating what she truly wanted to do next.

“First things first, stop blubbering, you seriously are ungodly handsome. And on second note, our chance meeting was unexpected but kinda sorta awesome. I’d love to see you again. I can’t recall the last time I’ve felt so free…and don’t even get me started on the belly aches due to your comedic skills.”

“Damn, a woman that speaks her mind. Are you sure you’re not in politics?”

“Nope, never, no thank you. Sooo, it’s a date?”

Seb furrowed his eyebrow in pleasant surprise; “You said it, not me.”

Y/N rolled her eyes; “Yeah, yeah. What do the kids say nowadays…. YOLO?”

“Yes, and please never say that again.”

A napkin holder was placed strategically resting against the window sill. Seb signaled to their middle-aged waitress; “Pardon me, do you have a pen handy?”

“Course, darling. Anything for ya.” She winked dropping the pen on the edge of the checkered table leaving them to privacy. He scribbled his number on the grainy piece of paper and slid it her way.

“I’ll leave the ball in your court and pass the privilege of reaching out to confirm details.”

“Wow, and they say chivalry is dead? Obviously not in Romania.”

“What fine establishment do they have you shacking up in?”

“Chateau Marmont. Long story short, my publisher fully embraces and understands my introverted nature and love of historical hotels. Call me an oddball.”

“Oddball.”

They snickered like school children slowly understanding their time was coming to a close. A power, a force of sorts gravitated Y/N towards him. He felt the same way.

“I happen to think women who especially history buffs are so incredibly magnificent. I haven’t met many as beautiful as you.

Their flirtation skyrocketed like flicks of fire firing between them.

“Knowledge is like your super power…. also, intelligent women are a complete turn on.”

She swatted his arm smiling like a kid in a candy shop.

“Come on, let’s get outta here. I’ll drop you off.”

He offered his hand helping Y/N to her feet. She lingered a second too long. With Seb a couple steps behind her, she missed the clinch of his fists and Seb’s reddened cheeks.

---The Next Day---

No luxury was forgotten as Y/N observed her decadent hotel room, but no matter how comfortable the memory foam or high thread count sheets, Y/N tossed restlessly the whole night. Her anxieties attacking her mind at every possible angle. Worry engulfed her clutching on her own insecurities. Her fear?

That she’d walk into David Fincher’s office and leave very humiliated and very far from home. Henry’s ghost loitered just out of reach. A ghost can be many a thing; a memory, a daydream, a secret, but most times, a wish. Old or new. But that was the past, memories she must let go of.

Y/N stared at the ceiling wishing her bed to open up and swallow her whole finally dozing off to her temporary dreamland. But sunlight painted the walls like a colorful painting. She stretched and moaned at the sensations of her waking bones.

Making her way to the bathroom, Y/N’s phone chimed forcing her to circle back towards the obnoxious device.

Seb: Buna dimineata prietene! (Good Morning, friend)

Y/N: Romanian? So early in the morning. How dare you sir?

Blinking dots ran across the screen as Y/N waited impatiently for his witty response.

Seb: Never too early for greatness. As they say in the theater, break a leg! But not an actual leg because I might be looking forward to our date. Okay, good luck with the meeting!

Y/N: Thanks for the good juju. Same to you! Call you later.

She unconsciously rubbed at the tender swell in her chest, the fluttering in her belly kicking wildly. Butterflies. It’d been ages since she’d been this excited and it surprised Y/N. Maybe she was ready for something more…Y/N shook her head ridding herself of such silly thoughts. She knew better than to rush full steam ahead.

---Later that day---

The fourteenth floor was decorated to architectural perfection. Every space had its purpose and the décor elegantly stylish. There she stood in the presence of cinematic greatness! As Y/N was about to pinch herself, she heard an echo of a name. Looking up, she searched for the unknown voice before landing on an enthusiastic figure waving her direction.

“Y/N! So nice to finally see you in person. I’m Meg.”

“Meg, so glad to put a face to a name. Thank you for having me.”

Both women walked down a hallway lined of glass walls smiling at those who looked up.

“David has talked nonstop about your series. So much so that I ended up devouring your books in three days. You’re freaking brilliant!”

“You really think so? I worked my ass off to get it through any publishing house. I was on the verge of chucking my ideas in the trash and getting an actual job that paid real money if it wasn’t for a last-ditch effort.”

“I’ve blocked off a thirty-minute window before his next meeting begins. He’s booked back-to-back today but by no means feel rushed. He hates when I push him. Don’t tell him I said that.”

Her head bobbed nonchalantly taking notice of the stunning scenery from the 17th level.

“Alright, here goes nothing.”

“Best of luck, Y/N.”

Meg knocked; “Come in!”

“David, this is Y/N.”

“Thanks, Meg. Close the door behind ya, we’ve got loads to discuss.”

David extended his hand towards Y/N’s shaking firmly. Y/N reminded herself to breath and to quickly find her manners.

She stuttered trying to remember common speech causing David to laugh aloud.

“Ms. Y/N, you okay?”

“Yyess—just a tad shell shocked. I mean, I can’t believe I’m standing in a room with the David Fincher. Unbelievable, really. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me.”

“I should be the one thanking you. You wrote one hell of a series that I trust can be transferred stunningly over to the silver screen where it can be fully appreciated. I’ve never seen someone mold together so many genres with such ease yet adding a layer of complexity. You, young lady, kept me guessing every twist and turn. That doesn’t happen too often if you catch my drift.”

“I-I, it’s just nice all those late-night writing sessions and waiting tables paid off. I’ll have you know I was on the verge of giving it all up and going back to school.”

“So, let’s get down to details. My team and I have come up with an offer that is totally open for negotiations.”

David slid a piece of paper into view. Y/N stared at the parchment gob smacked. Her jaw fell open at the written proposal.

“Holy shit.” Her eyes snapped up at her vulgar language; “Shit! I don’t mean to be impolite.”

“Ha, it’s a bit flabbergasting upon first glance but I promise you I want to do everything in my power to make this work for both parties.”

“Am I…am I reading this correctly?”

“Indeed, $10 million for the first two films, advancing to an additional $13, $15, $17 million for the last three. Of course, aiding us in the writer’s room to make sure we bring your story to live through your eyes. This will undoubtfully increase book sales across the board, I’d say upwards of $60 million if all goes accordingly. Also, I didn’t forget about making you an executive producer.”

“You’re kidding me, riight? Am I dreaming?”

“You’re gonna be a big deal once the tabloids get their sticky fingers on this. I mean this is going to skyrocket you to the likes of Stephenie Meyer and Suzanne Collins status. I mean, I had to outbid Peter Jackson just for a chance at directing this masterpiece. Darling, you’re all Hollywood can talk about right now.”

“Wow, I’m, uh, seriously grateful. I guess I’ve been shacking up in London far too long. I don’t really read celeb gossip so needless to say I’ve been in my own bubble.”

“A huge thank you goes out to Henry Cavill for pitching the initial idea. He helped get the recognition you deserve. Nice fellow, that one.”

Momentary shock came over her face, mouth still agape; “He—Henry had a hand in this?”

“Most certainly. He was the one who brought it to my attention. Of course, he mentioned the desire to work with me was motivation enough, but genuinely, he seemed passionate about the project.”

“I-I had no idea.” Switching gears as fast as possible Y/N trotted forth; “So realistically, when can we get the ball rolling?”

“Once the proper documents are signed and stamped, we’re good to go. If negotiations aren’t necessary, I’d say within the next month or so we can start casting calls, booking air fare, figuring out destination shoots, getting a manuscript going. It comes together faster than people think. How about this; you mull it over, call whoever you need, and get back at me in the next couple of days. Sound good?”

“Sounds more than good! I think I’ll be forever be in your debt, Mr. Fincher.”

“Please, call me David. We have a long road ahead of us that has truly stoked a fire in me, all thanks to you.”

Her nerves triumphed pushing Henry to the back of her mind. Y/N had bigger fish to fry.

“May I be frank with you, David?”

“By all means.”

“As you probably know Henry’s my ex-fiancée. Is it true you’re possibly considering him for the lead role?”

David looked around quizzically composing himself.

“I figured we’d have to address the elephant in the office. Yes, I was aware and I didn’t consider him to be malicious. He’s a genius actor and I figured it was worth a chat. But if you’re worried about anything, just say the word.”

“No, no. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize his successes. I agree, he’s an untapped actor full of surprising talent. I’ll be okay.”

“You promise?”

“Yep.”

“Great! Rest assured he isn’t even in the country. Believe he’s still galivanting about London.”

Silently pleading to change the subject, Y/N snapped out of it as quickly as she flew in to.

“This is a dream come true. I’m really looking forward to working with you and bringing my story to life.”

The squeaky hinge of the door alerted her to Meg’s foreboding presence. Taking a cue, Y/N stood up shaking David’s hand beaming like a child on Christmas Eve.

“I’ll be in touch, Y/N. Until then, enjoy your stay. Venture out. You’ll find LA isn’t all plastic and bullshit.”

“Oh, thank god. For a second I was getting nervous.”

“Haha! Meg, next appointment here?”

“Yes, he’s right around the cor--.”

“Y/N?”

She searched for the familiar voice unable to pin it down.

“Seb!? Wha...what are you doing here? I thought you had that big meeting today?”

“Uh, I do. That’s why I’m here.”

Sebastian nervously scratched his neck. Bewildered and thoroughly confused Y/N pushed on; “Wait a minute…. Are you an ...?”

“Actor, yes.”

“Whoa, whoa whoa. Wait.”

“Holy shit. You’re Shirley Lovecraft. Catchy pseudo name. So, you’re the brains behind this witty madness. What an interesting turn of events if I do say so myself, a happy one.”

“Agreed. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. Kinda embarrassing.”

“Don’t. A perfect afternoon with someone who wasn’t using me for fame or money? Did I mention you look breathtaking today?”

Her cheeks fumed with heat stirring her butterflies back to life. Seb’s hand stilled on her waist unwilling to let go as they continued gazing at the other.

“Earth to Seb?

Seb broke eye contact first glancing over at David. Y/N was too busy memorizing the glimmer of his cobalt blue eyes.

“Yes, ah! So rude of me. Hello there, so great of you to squeeze me in. I appreciate it.”

He directed his attention towards Y/N once more leaning close to the shell of her ear; “Still on for drinks later?”

“Definitely.”

His wink sparked a jolt to her core leaving her weak in the knees. Somehow, some way, Y/N mustered enough confidence to walk without tripping. She glowed the whole walk to the elevator. Y/N pressed the button too lost in thought to hear the quiet ding of arrival strolling straight into a hard chest. Enormous hands grasped her shoulders; “Oh! Apologies Ms.”

“No, it’s my fault. I wasn’t paying atten—oh shit.”

Only one particularly charming British accent that could send a chill down her spine, one very distinguishable voice indeed.

“Y/N?”

Time froze icily still.

“What the fuck? Henry??”

~~~~~~~~~~

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