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#but yeah genuinely no matter the au i think you could stick them in a room and i think they'd come out of it better and closer than before
skitskatdacat63 · 4 months
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How about 2 + 70 Vettonso?
Royal AU x Locked in a Room
Keke I'm assuming you're asking for boy king au? 🤭🤭 I feel like they often get locked in rooms together because everyone is so done with their bickering. Like oh noooo we lost the key, you guys are gonna have to wait in there. Together. Alone. Unfortunately the locksmith lives across Vienna. Btw he’s scared of horse carriages. Oh no.  Don’t worry, Mark makes sure to lock them in a room with a notable lack of sharp objects. I think when they’re away from everyone else, away from their situation, they feel a lot more comfortable with each other. They’re stuck in a room for the foreseeable future with no one else watching, what is the real point of putting up a front anymore in this situation; this is the man they’re going to be stuck with forever after all, just not in the confines of this specific room. They are both a very specific breed of ultra competitive and devoted, so even though they’re having a perfectly “normal” conversation about literature they enjoyed(Fernando: Machiavelli’s The Prince, he says it's a very good, relatable and interesting guide. Seb: Don Quixote, he told Fernando it reminds him of a certain someone), to everyone outside, it’s like “oh god what is that muffled yelling, are they scuffling???” When they’re not being scrutinized by the rest of the palace and court, I think they can have very calm constructive conversations about running the kingdom(no matter how seemingly competitive they sound.)  Also even if Seb cares less about image than Fernando, I think he still definitely puts up a front, it’s just a lot less negative than Fernando; so this situation gives them a situation where they can be their most free and open selves. Yeah yeah they spend time alone together often, like in their bedchamber, but that still has a notable time limit most of the time, and technically one of them could just dip at any moment. So everytime they get conveniently stuck in a room, they come out of it a lot closer and a lot more aligned, and a lot more fond of each other. I say “come out of the room” but more often than not, they’re found passed out, cuddled together on some surface, the furniture and their clothes in disaray. I’ll leave it up to your imagination how they ended up there, and what their state of undress is 🤭
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saetoru · 1 year
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imagine rich boy gojo finding out your name for him in his phone is just “satoru” or something 💀 and then from the side geto is like “mine’s got an emoji!”
✩ ‧₊˚ ✩。NO HEART — GOJO SATORU. (rich boy! au)
rich boy! gojo, college au, fluff, established relationships, dramatic gojo which is consistent in every version of him no matter the au
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studying with gojo satoru is the worst idea you could ever allow to happen—and yet, every time he asks, you let it happen.
“baby, aren’t you getting my texts?” gojo pouts. it earns him an unimpressed glare from you as you look up from your textbook, a glare that makes him wilt while geto snickers from the corner.
“satoru, if you don’t stop bothering me while we’re supposed to be studying, so help me—”
“but it’s funny, look,” he whines. and before you can stop him, he picks up the untouched phone beside you, tapping the screen to unlock it. except, he doesn’t make it that far.
suddenly the world stills. it stops spinning on its axis. and suddenly, gojo satoru’s face is the dictionary definition of devastation.
“satoru, what’s wrong,” you furrow your brows.
“satoru. satoru? satoru?” he repeats, each time in more disbelief than the last.
“that’s….your name, yes?” you raise a brow. and then realization strikes your features—or so he thinks. he’s soon to find out he’s mistaken. “oh, sorry,” you snort, “toru, is that better? toru, get to studying—”
“my name in your phone is just satoru?” he asks, cutting you off like you’ve genuinely wounded him—the betrayal on his face and the shock in his voice are all too real.
you blink for a moment before you realize the source of his tantrum seems to be the contact name you have for him in your phone. only gojo satoru would find a way to make a big deal out of his own name, you think.
“well, yeah,” you shrug, “it’s your name. plus i had it set when i first got your number from that project. i hated you back then.”
“you called me gojo back then,” he squints accusingly.
“yeah that’s because it was gojo satoru at first,” you nod. from the side, you hear geto snicker again about the full government name to himself—which earns him a pillow thrown at his direction by gojo. “i deleted the gojo part when we started dating,” you add.
“oh so you can delete my surname once we started dating but you couldn’t even add a heart?” he asks, jaw dropped and eyebrows furrowed in that dramatic way he does. it’s a bit cute, the way he’s worked up over something so small—but it’s also entirely theatric, making you roll your eyes.
“would a heart make you feel better, satoru?” you purse your lips.
“no! not if you don’t add it because you want to,” he huffs, “you might as well just say you don’t love me!”
“satoru,” you sigh in exasperation. maybe if you didn’t have physics 1302 problems to work through—a whole six of them due before midnight, in fact—you would humor him in his elaborately dramatized attempt at getting your attention. but you have classes to pass and gpa’s to maintain, so you purse your lips instead. “it’s just a contact name. what’s mine?”
“it’s baby <3. with a heart. see?” sure enough, when his phone is turned to face you, it’s baby <3. with a heart.
“i have an emoji in my contact,” geto adds from the side, ever the instigator, “maybe it’s because i’m cuter—”
“you gave suguru’s an emoji?” he asks in distress, staring at you like you’ve told him you’ve cheated. you think you might hurt his feelings less if you did, with the way his lips are curled in a genuine frown.
“suguru set his own contact,” you defend, shooting the nuisance in the corner a sharp glare. geto only offers you a sly wink in return. “i didn’t realize you cared that much about contact names,” you shrug, “i can change it—”
“no need,” gojo huffs, holding up a hand to silence you as he turns away and sticks his nose in the air in defiance. “i’ll just change yours to your full government name. see how you like it.”
“satoru—”
“and you’re not getting a heart either,” he glares, deleting the <3 slowly just for show, making eye contact with you so you know the severity of your actions.
you roll your eyes, snatching your phone back as you shake your head. “if i make your contact baby <3 with a heart because you’re my baby, will that cheer you up,” you sigh.
he ponders it for a moment, as if debating the offer. and then his arms cross in defiance once more. “no. make it baby boy 💋 with a kiss emoji.”
“gross,” geto twists his face in disgust.
gojo turns to him, face blank and serious as he shoots, “single people should not speak when it’s not their turn,” before turning back to you. “i’ll consider forgiving you if you make it baby boy 💋 with a kiss.”
“okay,” you sigh, “baby boy it is.”
“with a kiss!” he glares.
“with a kiss,” you assure, rolling your eyes.
“can i also get a kiss?” he asks hopefully, eyes wide and bright and earnest enough to warm your heart.
you smile, chuckling at the way he looks so cute, at the way he melts your heart and makes you forget you have physics homework for a moment—but only for a moment because then you mumble, “no. now do your homework.”
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PLS THIS PROMPT KILLED ME
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babydollmarauders · 10 months
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MINE (JACK’S VERSION) — JACK HUGHES
jack hughes x fem!reader
summary: in which careful y/n goes down memory lane with Jack, which leads to their first real fight
notes: i had to make this ‘Mine (Jack’s Version)’ because i already have a Trevor fic titled ‘Mine’ … oops
another note: this is short. like i think i’ve had au blurbs longer than this, but i genuinely ran into SO MANY problems while writing this one, including tumblr deleting it multiple times, that this was the best i could do.
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my legs rest upon my boyfriend’s, his hands laying gently on top of my calves, our bodies slumped on the couch.
“remember that broken dresser drawer that you cleared out for my stuff?” i reminisce through broken laughter, making Jack’s face go pink and his head falls back as he chuckles.
“i didn’t realize it was broken when i cleared it out!” he defends himself, his right hand squeezing my left leg lightly.
“sure, you didn’t!”
“i swear!”
“okay, i’ll believe you.” i coo, pinching his cheek. he swats my hand away, capturing it in his and pulling it to his lips, pressing a kiss to my knuckles.
“ooh, i’ve got one!” he exclaims. “remember the first time we sat by the water on the dock?”
“how could i forget? you put your arm around me and then we fell into the water because someone leaned too far forward.” Jack lets his mouth fall open in mock shock at my words.
“yeah, you!” he accuses and i shake my head rapidly through my giggles.
“nuh-uh! it was you!” i poke his chest.
“okay, it was me.” he pouts, his bottom lip sticking out, and i can’t resist sitting up and pulling his face to mine; crashing my lips onto his.
he pulls away first, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“you are the best thing that’s ever been mine.” it’s spoken in a whisper, like a well-kept secret between just us. but there’s no secrecy, we’re loud and proud with our love. so loud with it, that Trevor regularly calls us disgusting.
“yours since August 2nd, 2021.” i bite my lip, busying my hands by ruffling them through his freshly trimmed hair.
his brows thread together, his nose crinkling.
“what?” i question, my hands stalling at the nape of his neck.
“that’s not the day we got together.” he laughs as if i’ve told a joke, but his response only makes me lean away from him.
“yeah. it is.” i state matter-of-factly.
“no…” he drags out, his tone makes me feel like i’m dumb, but i know i’m not. “we got together June 24th.”
it’s now my turn to furrow my brows, in complete confusion.
“no, Jack.” i insist. “we started dating on August 2nd.”
“i can guarantee; we did not.” he huffs, and lightly pushes my legs off of his lap. my hands untangle from behind his neck and i scoot backwards to fully see him better.
a normal couple probably wouldn’t be having this argument. but we’re not necessarily a normal couple.
we never had that defining moment of ‘what are we?’. we flirted heavily, we went on a few dates, and then one day he called me his girlfriend and that was that.
we’ve never really celebrated our anniversary, both agreeing that we’d only start if we get married in the future. so, i guess in a way, this misunderstanding is on us. we never bothered to clarify the date we got together, because i guess we both assumed we had the correct dates.
now, i can’t say i know where he got June 24th from, but i know August 2nd is the day he called me his girlfriend for the first time.
“i don’t know where you got June 24th from-” i start, but he cuts me off instantly.
“i don’t know where you got August 2nd from.” he snaps defensively.
it’s my turn for my brows to furrow, my face twisting in a mixture of confusion and hurt.
i can’t believe him.
i rise from the couch, choosing to leave while my emotions are still semi-intact.
“where are you going?” he questions. “gonna go check your planner? see that i’m right?”
oh, that’s low.
i know his words aren’t intentionally harmful, but using my planners against me is a new low.
Jack knew from the moment we met, that i was a meticulous and careful person. growing up, my father was never a punctual man, careless with time and with life. as a result, i started keeping planners. i filled them with important dates and appointments, things to do and things i refused to let myself forget. i was a perfectionist with them.
i mellowed out a bit with them when i started dating Jack; not as detailed, not as on top of things. when he found i had calmed down with them, he called me his ‘little rebel’.
now he’s using them against me. thinking that i’ll just go check and see that he’s right and i’m wrong.
“don’t do that.” i mumble, turning back around to look at him. he’s stood off the couch now, arms crossed over his chest. “don’t use my planners against me.”
“okay, then go look at them! see that i’m right!” he argues loudly, a hand flying up to point towards our lake house bedroom.
“i don’t need to look at them! because i know i’m right!” i belt, tears roll down my cheeks now and i’ve lost any attempt to stay quiet due to the 2:30am timing.
how can he even think we got together so early? he never asked me.
“August 2nd, you called me your girlfriend for the first time!” my finger pokes towards his chest. “i know because i went home that night and immediately wrote it down.”
done with this argument, i leave him behind in the living room, opting to go for a walk. the front door slams shut behind me, and i let out a sob.
Jack and i have never actually fought. in our entire two years together, we’ve never had a yelling fight like that.
my legs carry me towards the street, and i hear the front door open and slam shut once more. Jack’s footsteps follow behind me, speeding up until i feel a hand wrap around my arm, pulling me back to him.
he spins me around, my chest now pressed against his. he looks down at me with soft eyes, a frown pasted on his lips.
i brace myself, waiting for him to call it quits, as i’m used to. first sign of a disagreement or fight, and guys have always left. called me difficult or said i was too much.
but his next words take me by surprise.
“that was the night i first called you my girlfriend?” he questions, shaking his head lightly, as if he’s surprised.
“i thought you were my girlfriend from the night we first…” he trails off and it takes me a moment to realize what he means.
June 24th. the night we first slept together. the night we confessed we liked each other.
“oh.” i breath out. “you never actually said anything about it or asked me. i always just thought that you called me your girlfriend on August 2nd and i didn’t oppose so that was that.”
i sniffle as he chuckles, his hands coming up to cup my face, his thumbs wiping away my tears.
“we probably should’ve figured this out a long time ago, eh?”
“yeah, i guess so.” i shrug.
“why were you crying, baby? it wasn’t that serious. just a little hiccup.” his blue eyes stare deep into mine, and i get shy under his gaze.
“i thought you were gonna break up with me.” i confess in a whisper. “it’s what i’m used to.”
he’s quiet for a moment, just staring at me in shock before he presses a kiss to my forehead, his lips mumbling against my skin.
“i’ll never leave you alone.”
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colorsunimaginable · 2 months
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the spare // chapter sixty-eight // death eater ! tom hiddleston oc x plus size ofc - voldemort wins au
story summary: 
While on a mission to avenge the death of her best friend, Ilvermorny graduate Melisa Alder finds herself in the middle of the fight to defeat Voldemort. Upon capture after the Dark Lord's triumph, she's being sold at an auction with other muggle borns and blood traitors. Her only hope is also her only bidder - the tall, dark, and handsome Thomus Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy's younger half-brother. Is he just another Death Eater or is he hiding more than just his face beneath the mask? Will she realize her true potential to be one of the resistance's greatest weapons?
*a Voldemort Wins AU with Tom Hiddleston cast as an OC x a plus size protagonist* *takes place in The Auction universe by Lovesbitca8*
words for this fic: 6.7k warnings for this chapter: p in v, fingering, dirty talk
a million boops to my beta reader banners by @cafekitsune
CHAPTER MASTERLIST
Chapter Sixty-Eight:
Cliveden’s gardens at night in the winter are beautiful. They’re vast and eerily empty, though that could just be the stillness of the night. Victorian lamp posts light the way and with the gently falling snow, kinda gives me Narnia vibes.
 I wander around, careful to stick to the crunchy gravel paths and keep the main house in sight. This isn’t the first time I’ve had such an opportunity for escape. Yeah, I could Apparate anywhere, but why? Now that a plan will be in place, what’s the point? It’s exactly what I wanted. 
Movement draws my eye and I catch Diana’s head above the shrubbery, heading in my direction. I’m not ready to go inside yet, so I sit on a nearby bench and wait for her to join me.
“Did they send you to make sure I was still here?” I ask, mostly teasing.
“Kyle did,” she admits as she sits next to me. She’s all bundled up in a stylish thick wool coat while I’m just fine in my Ilvermorny sweater and Thomus’ scarf. “But that’s alright, I’d much rather talk to you.”
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Instantly my guard's up. “About what?”
She hesitates for a moment, but I give her my best encouraging expression, despite my raging nerves. 
“Well, I wanted to ask how you feel about Thomus.”
I blink, my eyebrows shooting up. “Oh, um, well, I -”
“It’s just that Jake seems to think you genuinely care about him because of how adamant you are about his safety,” she says. “Now that I’ve met you and I’ve seen you two together, I think he’s right, but I wonder if it’s more than that.”
I think about my answer for a few moments, but respond with a question instead. “Is this because you two used to date?”
She immediately shakes her head and chuckles. “Definitely not. It didn’t last longer than a month or two and it was a long time ago.”
“Did-did he break up with you?” I ask with some hesitation.
“I dumped him actually,” she says. “He just… When we hung out or went on dates, his mind always seemed like it was elsewhere.  The only time he seemed fully present and invested was when we…” she trails off. 
“When what?” I prompt.
She gives me a sheepish expression. “Sorry, it might be a bit TMI.”
I shrug and shake my head. “Don’t worry. There’s no such thing as TMI for me. I need everything.” Even if that information guts me. I’d always rather know.
“When we were sleeping together,” she says all in one breath.
I don’t say anything, waiting to hear more. “Oh, is that it?”
Her eyebrows tilt up in sympathy. “I suppose if I were in your situation I wouldn’t want to hear about it.”
“Yeah,” I say, looking down. “I can see that. Do you know what he was so focused on?”
“Well, I know his mother had passed away a few months before and then there was… her .”
“Bellatrix,” I sigh knowingly.
“He visited her every couple weeks - no matter what. I didn’t even know he was still going after we started dating. When I confronted him, he insisted there was nothing physical going on between them, but I… had my doubts. He told me he stopped going after that, but I know he went back after it ended,” she explains. “Does he still see her often?”
“I… have no idea honestly.”
“Have you not asked?”
I shake my head. “Why would I?”
“Because you two are…” she sighs. “It’s complicated, I know.”
“There’s a massive power imbalance between us and I’m not going to let myself forget that, regardless of how I feel.”
“What about how he feels?” she asks gently.
“If anything he feels is real, then why am I still his prisoner?” I answer a little too quickly. “He doesn’t see me as his equal. I don’t want to belong to him like I’m some kind of possession. I want a partner willing to rely on me as I want to rely on them in return. How can anyone be devoted to an object?” I finish by inhaling sharply, having taken short breaths during my lament. 
Her lips press together as she regards me with a cautious look. “The world has really changed since Harry Potter died,” she says. “No one is doing well - especially muggleborns. No one has been able to fly under the radar since they started implementing some kind of forced registry.” She pauses and then chuckles. “And you would not be able to go unnoticed.”
I sigh. “It’s the hair isn’t it?”
“Actually, no,” she says. “You’d be surprised how popular some of these articles about you have been.”
Now this, I’m taken aback. "Articles? As in more than one?"
"I'm afraid so. The best one is from the New York Ghost , but Witch Weekly's was pretty nice. Does someone have it out for you at The Daily Prophet , by any chance?"
"Probably Rita Skeeter," I grumble. I want to know what they've been saying about me. "Though I'm surprised I was interesting enough for one article, let alone multiple."
"I disagree," she says. "I think what you're doing is very brave. You haven't given up despite all these odds stacked against you. Honestly, I was really excited to meet you when I heard you were coming."
I blush, laughing awkwardly. "I, um, I'm sorry, I definitely had no idea you existed until tonight. Thank you for inviting me to that thing on New Years Eve, even though I can't go. It reminded me of what being normal was like."
"No problem!" she smiles. "I would've been glad to have you. You’re super cool and totally normal.” She winks at me and quietly laughs to herself. “But seriously, you should consider thinking that he might just want to keep you safe, where he can protect you.”
“But I can protect myself ,” I gently protest. “It’s because I’ve been under his ‘care’ that I’ve been vulnerable! He has to realize that.”
Her eyes soften with sympathy. “I think he does, because there was one weekend Jake told me about. He’d just met you and Thomus in Edinburgh and you’d been… assaulted while they’d all just been standing there, unknowing. He said he’d never seen Thomus be that violent before - violent without using magic that is.”
I stare at her eye-wided, enthralled with this story. This change in perspective. 
“And then the next night, there’d been this party Thomus got drunk at and Jake said he could tell something was really bothering him. Apparently, he was really reluctant to talk about it, too.”
I scoff. “I hope he got over himself and opened up so you can share this information with me now.”
“Yeah, so he finally said he blamed himself for being an idiot and not paying better attention. Like, it really hit him that your safety was in his hands.”
I… don’t know what I’m allowed to feel. My heart wants to swoon and my mind wants to roll its eyes. Except, if he’s not as terrible as I thought, am I allowed to hope? 
“I think I remember when he came home,” I admit. “We continued drinking and he asked me how I felt - which was very new for us at the time.”
Diana smiles ruefully. “Does he get points for trying, at least?”
“We’ll see,” I say. “I’m definitely nervous that it could all just be a… fling to him.”
Diana startles me by releasing a loud cackle.
“A fling?!” she bellows, struggling to catch her breath. “Oh honey, you’re delusional.”
“What? No!” I protest. “I’m being realistic.”
“Oh Lady Morgana,” she says, wiping tears from her eyes and standing. “Come on, let’s go inside before my fingers fall off.”
~*~
By the early hours of the morning, I’m utterly exhausted. 
Kyle had changed his mind and decided to tell me his roughly outlined plan. It’s not terrible, but luckily the rough bits still have time to be hammered out. I should have plenty of notice before I have to leave, plenty of time for contingencies.
Thomus is out like a light, still snoring softly, when I return. I try to be as quiet as possible as I strip down to my undies and crawl into the massive four-poster bed with him. 
It must not be massive enough, though, because just me softly rolling into position beneath the covers is enough to rouse a few sleepy words from him.
“Darling?” he rasps and I feel his hands reach for me in the dark.
“Hi,” I whisper. “Sorry I woke you.”
He hums and pulls himself closer, resting his head on my chest. “How did we get back to the cottage?” he says sleepily, curling himself against me.
“We didn’t,” I say, running a hand through his hair and the other over his shoulders. “We’re still at Cliveden.”
“Hm, I don’t remember getting here.”
His tone isn’t setting off any alarm bells. It’s low and gravelly, like he’s not entirely awake yet.  He’s just mindlessly chatting and I just have to be casual.
“Well, you were very drunk,” I say. “You passed out playing Exploding Snap. Jake had to levitate you up here.”
His arm around my waist tightens, pulling me tighter against him. “You didn’t leave.”
I don’t say anything, panic instantly spiking my heart rate, and I hope he’s not awake enough to pay attention.
“You could have, but you didn’t,” he continues. “Not that I’d blame you if you did.”
I stay silent, trying to convince myself that his calm demeanor is because whatever he’s talking about, couldn’t be about the drama of the night. There's no way he was awake enough to hear what we said. 
“No,” I murmur. “I didn’t.”
“What room did he put us in?” he murmurs.
I let out a sudden strained laugh. “You’d never guess.”
~*~
On New Year’s Eve, Thomus leaves again. He says it’s to finish last minute tasks for the Gala and whatnot and I feel… depressed… again. I’m mostly uninterested in eating - I ate a bologna and cheese sandwich for dinner. I’m not in the mood to read, listen to music or watch any movies, but I’ve had The Nanny on all day - just to make the house less quiet.
So I just go to bed at the blessed hour of 8pm. 
I’ve barely been in bed for longer than fifteen minutes when the easily recognizable sound of the Floo roaring to life drifts up the stairs. I’ve sat up by the time Thomus finds me.
“In bed already?” he asks, surprised. “On New Year's Eve?”
I shrug, holding the blanket up to my naked chest. “It’s not the easiest holiday to spend by yourself.”
Thomus sits on the edge of the bed, swiftly leaning in to kiss my cheek. “And I don’t intend for you to, I agree completely.” He jumps up, taking long strides through the bathroom to my room, where I hear him opening the wardrobe. I sigh, scooting to the edge to throw my legs over it. It’s just my luck I was already in bed.
“A little warning might have been nice,” I say when he returns, arm cradling a black hoodie and black leggings. 
He takes one look at me and the next moment he’s tossing my clothes on the bed and crowding into my space. His large hands cradle my head as he braces me for his lips on mine. He leans in and I have to prop my arms behind me so we don’t fall backward. Of course this causes the blanket to fall and his hand swoops down to cup and grope my chest, the attention causing my nipples to harden. 
His kisses take my breath away and my thighs are quick to part for him. His hips slide right into the space provided, grinding his hard-on against me. My kisses slacken because all of my attention goes right to my throbbing clit and I desperately whimper.  
His hips rock against me one more time before he pulls away, both of us breathless. His eyes trail down my body as he speaks. “We don’t have much time,” he says. “I will have to savor you later.”
When he steps completely away from me, I’m left cold, so I quickly slide on the oversized hoodie as he adjusts himself in his pants.
“Savor me?” I ask when I stand, stepping into the pants one leg at a time.
He chuckles, watching me wiggle the waistband up over my hips and stomach. “I thought it was a bit more romantic than fuck.”
Ping . There goes the tiniest fracture in my heart for him. I scramble for something clever or funny to say. 
“I suppose it could’ve been worse,” I say, popping in a British accent for the last word. “You could’ve said shag .”
“Cute,” he smirks.
I follow him downstairs, sliding on my socks before I stop at the door for my sneakers and turn for the fireplace.
He clicks his tongue. “Not that way.”
I narrow my eyes and follow him out the door. He takes me to the spot beyond the fence and touches the tattoo before Apparating us to the Manor. The front gates are open and he swiftly takes hold of my tattoo again to get me over the barrier. 
We walk down the entrance path, under gilded arches and golden fairy lights crossing overhead from the tall hedges. Holding my hand, he pulls me around the building along the back toward a door being held open by an elf.
“Miss,” Remmy says to me in a disinterested greeting and drops his voice to a whisper. “Master Thomus, Mistress expects you in fifteen minutes. Master isn’t even dressed -”
“Don’t worry, Remmy, I will be there,” Thomus reassures them as we pass. “Mums the word about Miss Alder, remember?”
“Yes, yes, Remmy remembers,” the elf dismisses. 
Thomus leads me to his room, making sure to use hallways noticeably absent of chatty portraits. A familiar route because of the many times I'd avoided them myself. The moment we’re in his room, he heads for the bathroom, already stripping. There’s a black robed suit hanging from a hook on the door. 
“Please tell me you're not gonna surprise me with a ball gown, are you?” I ask, hopping up onto the bed and toeing my shoes off. 
“I value my neck, thanks,” he remarks, pulling on first his suit pants, then the black button up shirt. “Would you grab me a pair of cufflinks from the closet?”
“Does it matter which one?” I ask, knowing he's got a variety. 
“No.”
By the time I emerge from the closet, elegant silver M stamped cufflinks in hand, he’s already dressed. He smiles at me as I pass him the tiny pieces of metal. 
“All you have to do is wait for a few hours,” he says, his mood curiously… cheerful? “Go back to sleep if you'd like - just don't leave this room. Only Remmy knows you're here.” 
“Why all the fuss?” I ask, my eyes greedily taking his suited form in. I suppress the desire to pull him close by his silk tie for a kiss. He looks too suave and sophisticated and… way out of my league.
“For the simple reason that I don’t want certain guests to know you’re here,” he explains, stepping into the bathroom once again. I hear him spritz a bottle of something.
“And why is that again?” 
He glides out of the bathroom, passing me by with a quick peck to my cheek. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
I completely ignore the fact he didn’t answer my question, because I’m way too distracted by his suddenly fragrant cologne. I breathe in lung-fulls of cedar and pine, trying not to swoon in his wake as he pulls out his wand to light the fireplace. 
Then he’s gone, the door audibly locking behind him.
~*~
Well, I definitely try to sleep. Except I wasn’t even tired when I climbed into bed the first time.
First I change into a purple wispy nightgown with a deep vee in the neck that stops at my thighs. Then I change out of it when the frills around the short sleeves become too itchy under the covers, opting instead for a simpler one with long sleeves and a hem that falls around my ankles. 
All this, just to be uncomfortable in every position I try. Nevermind the fact my mind keeps doing laps of worrying, wondering who exactly Thomus doesn’t want to know I’m here. Rodolphus? Bellatrix? Is he dancing and flirting with her while her husband tracks me down this very moment? 
Finally I give up and decide to grab a handful of Thomus’ old Daily Prophets and settle on the cushioned bench in the alcove of one of his windows. I sit sideways on it, my back against the wall with the door in my line of sight. 
I’m about to cast a subtle illumination spell to help my poor eyesight in this dim lighting when movement out the window catches my eye. It’s the curtains billowing out of the open doors to the ball room - or the large drawing room as Narcissa calls it. Golden light spills from windows and the doorway  as the guests' shadows and silhouettes move within. Some are moving swiftly as if dancing while some are mingling. Before I can think better of it, I’m pushing open the French window closest to me.
I hear boisterous laughter and the low hum of chatter, and best of all, music drifts up to me like a leaf in the breeze. It’s the exact kind of music I’d imagine would play at a ball like this, and I can’t help but picture myself down there, in some pretty dress twirling around the room with Thomus.
I sit there, content to listen to the string quartet and people watch. Some come outside for the cool air, others to have a private word alone with each other. 
Hermione is relatively easy to spot. Her black gown is ridiculously puffy around the skirt, but synched skin-tight in the bodice, and even from here I can see the jewels glittering on her chest. I’m surprised to see Draco by her side, dressed head to toe in white. They linger by the door, always surrounded by ladies vying for his attention. I can’t help but notice how his hand slowly caresses her back, almost… lovingly from her waist up to her shoulders and nape when he thinks no one is watching.
Thankfully, I don’t see Bellatrix, but I also don’t see Thomus, either. An inconsequential fact I try not to linger on.
I don’t know how long I sit like that, but eventually Thomus returns, quietly stepping into the room with two empty champagne glasses and a bottle.
“I kinda feel like Cinderella wanting to go to the ball,” I say softly as he approaches. He looks politely puzzled and before he can ask, I explain, “It’s just a No-Maj fairytale.”
“Ah,” he hums. He takes hold of the forgotten newspapers on the other side of the bench and raises an eyebrow.
I feel a blush creep up my throat and try to keep my tone nonchalant. “I… maybe like to read your articles,” I say. “It’s crazy to think we both spent time at The Daily Prophet , but at different times so we never ran into each other.”
I feel like I’m rambling, but how could I not? He looks and smells far too dashing for me to think clearly. 
“It is a bit ironic,” he says, replacing his papers where I’d gotten them from before returning. He takes up the rest of the bench, his back to the window, and places the glasses and bottle on the floor next to him.
“Do you think things might’ve been different if we’d met there instead?” I ask hesitantly, knowing all too well his opinions on ‘what if’s. “Before?”
Thomus sighs heavily and the air puffs out his cheeks. He raises an eyebrow and gives me a sideways look. “Honestly?”
I nod. “Yeah, always.”
“Hm, I think…” his mouth downturns as he speaks, his voice betraying his amusement. “I’d find you the most annoying person on the planet.”
A disbelieving laugh bursts out. “What?!”
He nods, completely solemn. “Oh yeah, always asking questions, always bothering me.”
“Oh no, I’d have to talk to you about our job ,” I say with dramatic sarcasm, trying and failing to keep the smile off my face. “Oh no, what a nightmare.”
Thomus grabs my ankle, lifting my foot so he can shift closer, until my calf rests on his opposite thigh. That hand slides from my ankle all the way up my leg, and I’m disappointed it’s not under my nightgown. “It would have been an absolute nightmare to have you prance into my office every bloody day,” he continues as his fingers meet the crease at my hip and wedge themselves in. Then they keep traveling and grip all the plentiful flesh there. “I’d never be able to get any work done because I’d constantly be thinking about bending you over my desk.”
My eyes run laps over the sharp lines of his face, trying to determine if he’s serious. “Is that so?”
Thomus’ eyes drop to my mouth, his free hand brings his thumb to brush my lower lip. “These would be the worst. With every meddlesome question you ask, I’d only be able to think about how they’d taste.”
I’m holding my breath - my heart thudding, my ears burning. I’m suddenly very unnecessarily conscious of how far my glasses have slipped down my nose, the cool breeze from the window across my chest, and how heavy I’m breathing over his thumb. And for some reason his accent is doing funny things to my insides right now, of all times. 
His voice is low, husky, and oh, so hot. “I’d be thinking about how you’d sound when I touched you. And yes, I say when . I could only endure such torture for so long before I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you.”
I snort, a disbelieving smile breaking out under his thumb. “You make me sound like some kind of irresistible vixen.” A chuckle rumbles out of his chest, but I keep going. “Well, I have good news for you - I wouldn’t object to any of that.”
“Is that so?” His hand caresses from my jaw to my neck. 
I bite my lip to control my grin. “Well, yeah. Why do you think I’d be bothering you so much in the first place?”
Thomus lets out a breathy chuckle and sits back, his eyes crinkling in the corners. I can only stare, mesmerized by seeing genuine happiness on his face.
“So,” I say brightly. “Are you enjoying this party you put so much effort into preparing?”
His smile fades. “Not as much as I ought to, I suppose.”
“Oh, why not?” I ask, placing my hand over his one on my neck, feeling along the lines of his knuckles and fingers.
“The people down there…” he starts, eyes gazing out the window, “the only thing I’ve ever been to them is a source for gossip and scandal. And then the few who look past all that see the Malfoy name and nothing else.”
I let that process. “So what you’re saying is you’re a real catch?”
He bursts out laughing, the hand from my hip reaching up to scratch his chin. “Yeah, for those desperate to social climb.”
“So you’re a desperately eligible bachelor ?” I tease with a bit more drama to my tone. “How interesting. All the finest debutantes must be lining up down there, so what ever are you doing up here with me?”
“I’m a little old for debutantes.” He settles toward me into a more relaxing position, pulling his knee up and pressing his calf onto the bench under my thighs. With his face closer to mine now, his softly spoken words are loud and clear. “And besides, your company is vastly preferable over theirs.”
My face floods with heat and I crumble under his direct eye contact. My mouth suddenly feels as dry as the desert while I’m forced to figure out some kind of intelligent reply. “Quite shocking, really,” I say, my voice a whisper until I clear my throat, swallowing down some nerves. “Who wouldn’t want to hang out with the wizarding world’s most crankiest?”
He laughs again. “Are you talking about me or them?”
I’m about to answer, but a dull tapping sound coming from the party draws my attention. The guests are returning inside, tapping their wands against their champagne glasses. 
“Ten minutes to midnight,” Thomus explains. “Lucius and Narcissa are about to make their toast.”
I slip my other hand around the one he has at my neck, both of mine cradling it near my chest as I glance at the clock on his mantle. “I guess that means you have to go?”
“Probably,” he admits slowly. “But I’m here.”
“Hold on, speaking of being here, isn’t Draco supposed to be in Switzerland?” I jut in, my eyes easily finding him and Hermione on the edge of the crowd. 
“He is and Lucius is absolutely furious,” he sighs. “I can’t believe he’d be so foolish.”
“Well, it's obvious, right?” I ask, side-eying him, unsure if this is something I could even talk about. “He’s like, really into Hermione.”
A few moments tick by in silence as I stare at the crowd below. I glance at him to see his eyes had been on me the whole time, his expression pensive. When our eyes meet, he holds them for a moment before his gaze follows his hand as both of his gently hold mine instead. He pulls back my left sleeve, his fingers lightly tracing his name inked on my skin. Then he goes further, tracing the white puckered lines of the scar Bellatrix left me. 
“What’re you thinking about?” I whisper.
His lips curl ruefully. “I’m thinking about how much of a hypocrite I am. I’ve called him foolish when here I am,” he says. “Unable to stay away.”
“From what?” I breathe, feeling stupid the moment I finish. My heart is beating so hard I wonder if he can feel my pulse where he holds my arm.
Thomus’ eyes hold on my arm, avoidant of my own. His voice is soft like he's telling me a secret. “I snuck you in tonight because I couldn’t bear not spending it with you.”
My eyebrows come together and I feel my head shake. “It’s just another year.”
“No,” he says, his eyes flashing up to mine, adamant. “Moments like these are important, to spend with those who are important. That’s why they’re all gathered down there, isn’t it? To go into the New Year praising the Dark Lord’s reign, congratulating themselves for their accomplishments this year.” He looks back down at our hands, at his name. “I know I don’t have much to celebrate in that regard, but I do know that you’re important to me… and frankly I'm tired of pretending otherwise.”
I can only stare at him. Unable to think, unable to breathe . How could he say something like that? 
When I finally have to draw breath after what feels like an eternity, I only get to say his name. “Thomus -”
The loud popping of fireworks bursts from below, along with some cheer that has me turning my gaze away only briefly. I turn back and Thomus’ mouth descends on mine. 
The kiss is full and wonderful, but short. He pulls back inches away to search into my gaze, like he’s asking for permission, like he’s making sure what he just said was okay. 
It was more than okay. It’s exactly what my heart wants to hear, even though my own stubborn insecurities push doubt into my mind. 
I can’t say anything back. I can’t tell him how I feel.
But I can show him.
Our lips meet again in a rush. At least it feels like that to me, like we just can’t bare being apart anymore. I pour my heart and soul into this kiss. My hands find their way into his hair, his caress and grip every part of my body he can reach. 
Soon I’m pushing him back so I can climb onto his lap. He’s pulled up my nightgown and the cool air feels amazing on my bare legs. I’ve got one foot on the floor and the other is bent at the knee, helping control my balance while I’m grinding on him. 
He keeps pulling me to him, my weight rocking into him, and I brace a hand on the wall in the bay window as he falls further back, keeping me upright. His hands slip under my nightgown, roaming my thighs. I adjust my hips, feeling brave enough to put both hands on his chest to steady me. His suit pants can’t hide how hard he is. I try to use that as a reminder he’s genuinely into me. No matter how many times I’m in his lap, it’s still hard to believe he wants me here. 
“How long till you have to go back?” I ask with controlled breaths. 
He growls. “Just fuck me, baby.” His fingers painfully dig into my hips as he pulls me down, undulating his hips against me. “I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
There are things I want to blurt out, simple little words swelling in my chest that threaten to ruin everything. 
But if I confess how I feel, it wouldn’t change anything. I’ll still be his prisoner. His possession.
I don’t wanna be an object. I long to be more .
My hands slide up his chest to meet at his neckline, shoving my fingers into the knot on his tie. I don’t bother pulling it all the way off before I go at his buttons, not stopping until his muscled chest and abdomen are revealed. My hips rock, rubbing my pussy over his cock straining to be let free. 
Then I jump up, standing to shimmy my undies to the floor. Thomus sits up and shrugs off his suit jacket, pulling off his tie completely. I pause, waiting to return to my seat, but then he looks at me, his eyes raking me up and down. 
“I want that off,” he says, referring to the only article of clothing I have left. 
I struggle not to make a face, because I still have a hard time being completely naked in front of him. If we were in bed, that would be different. This just feels too exposed.
I grip the material around my hips and step toward him. “Take it off for me?” I ask.
Lust-filled eyes lock on mine and his hands go to my thighs, sliding them up my sides, taking the gown with them. I raise my arms to help him pull it off the rest of the way and a blast of cool air from the window makes goosebumps rise all over me. It sends a shiver through my body and my nipples harden.
When my arms are free, I step even closer and cup his face, pressing my lips to his. I kiss him softly, from one corner of his mouth to the other. While I distract his mouth with sweet kisses, one hand takes off my glasses and the other goes to his belt.
Of course, I can only use one brain cell at a time, so my mouth becomes distracted when I struggle with undoing his belt. I just pull my mouth away all together so I can get a visual on my hands. I glance up at Thomus’ face to find his heated gaze focused on mine. 
“Sorry,” I mutter, looking down at the matter at hand. “Not very sexy, I know.”
“Oh, on the contrary,” he says and inhales sharply when my hands finally wrap around his swollen cock. My palms glide up and down gently before giving it a firm squeeze. My thumb circles his head, spreading a bead of pre-cum, and he leans forward, lips and tongue tracing a path from my neck to my breasts. One of his big hands cups my breast and when he immediately bites down on my nipple, I gasp and whimper. His tongue soothes away the pain, swirling around the stiff peak. 
His other hand slides down my thigh, fingers feeling the dimples and divots until they hook behind my knee. My hands go to his shoulders for balance as he lifts my foot until it’s on the bench. His fingers quickly glide back up my thigh, this time underneath it to where it’s most sensitive and softest. 
Thomus’ lips release my nipple and he pulls back enough to see my face. “I think you’re very sexy,” he murmurs. “From this pretty little pussy of yours” - his fingers glide through my folds, teasingly spreading the slipperiness from the center to my clit - “to those lips I just can’t seem to get enough of.”
His thumb presses in on my clit and my train of thought struggles to stay on track. “You’re pretty hot too,” I say breathily. “You’ve got these shoulders and thighs and hands that just -” My words are cut off by a moan when he slips two fingers inside me.
“That just what?” he teases, unmistakably smug. 
It takes me a moment to answer because his thumb in combination with his fingers curling against my g-spot have my hips rocking and my brain turning to mush. My breaths come in short pants and my eyes are pinched closed, focused on riding the pleasurable waves his fingers are orchestrating. 
“Concentrate, darling,” he presses. “Answer me.”
“Hands,” I gasp, my fingers digging into his shoulders, “hands that do terrible… awful things to me.”
His fingers turn aggressive, pressing harder and rhythmic as he hums in approval. “That’s a good girl.”
His lips return to my nipple and that pushes me past the point of no return. A stream of curses and Thomus’ name tumble from my mouth. My toes curl and my body goes stiff as my orgasm washes over me. Thomus slows his long fingers, but still presses in hard on my g-spot as my pussy pulses around him.
When I can finally breathe again, I push at Thomus’ shoulders and he leans back, bringing his drenched digits up to his mouth. He groans at my taste and resituates himself on the bench, pushing his pants and briefs past his thighs. I’m still dazed from my orgasm when Thomus pulls me on top of him. He holds his cock at the base and guides me until he’s sliding home, deep inside my pussy. 
“Oh fuck,” I moan, my eyes closing. This position never fails to put him as deep inside as possible, and if I really sit on his lap, he’s hitting my cervix. But that would be painful, so instead I move my hips around slowly, figuring out what angle works best and won’t kill my thighs. One particular move makes him groan and my eyes flutter open to find his locked intently on me, watching my body move. I definitely found the right one.
I start to go a little faster, a little harder. I have a hand on a window pane and the other grasping his shoulder to stabilize me. My thighs are burning, but the pain isn’t enough to make me stop. He’s inside me, and I love being connected like this. What I feel for him never feels more real than it does in moments like this. When I can’t be in denial.
With the increasing intensity of my hips, little whimpers start to tumble from my mouth alongside my panting. My bottom lip is nailed between my teeth and as I can feel my orgasm hurtling towards me, fuck is the only word coming out of my mouth. 
Whenever he feels they could use more attention, his hands never fail to stray to my breasts. Supporting them as they bounce and sway, leaning forward to kiss and nibble at my nipples. 
“So fucking beautiful,” I hear him grind out above the steady and erotic sound of our bodies joining. 
My orgasm is close - so, so close. I’m starting to go crazed, desperate to cum again. Thomus is, too. I can hear it in his voice as he groans.
“Baby, I need you to cum on me.” His voice is strained like he’s in utter agony. 
I let out a frustrated whimper as I pause to grind on his lap, hoping for an angle that hits my clit. 
“I need - can you - ?” I gasp out. 
I don’t even have to finish my sentence before his fingers wiggle in under my belly. My pussy’s so slippery, the pads of his fingers find the hood of my clit and press in, rubbing it in circles. My hips jerk, bouncing up and down on his cock, continuing even as my orgasm finally crashes over my body. I throw my head back as my back arches. His body stiffens below me as he cums, groaning out his pleasure.
“Beautiful darling, well done,” he pants with praise after we both have a chance to breathe, his voice shaking. “I lov-”
Thomus is abruptly cut off by loud banging on his door.
We both jump like we’ve been hit. There’s a moment where our eyes meet and I see panic cross his face just as it does on mine. 
“Thomus!” a familiar man’s voice calls from beyond the door. 
Thomus blinks, his expression hardening. He brings a finger up to his lips, warning me to be quiet. “Closet,” he whispers. “Go. Now.”
Nodding, my legs are like jelly as I push myself off of him. He’s hastily throwing on his suit as I bend to scoop up my nightgown and undies. I dash for the closet. It’s dark enough I can just hide behind the open door. Instead of the nightgown though, I opt for my pants and hoodie. Plus a pair of Thomus’ socks while I’m at it because mine are lost in the sheets somewhere.
While I’m desperately dressing, the man at the door calls for Thomus again. “Where have you been, Thomus? I’ve been sent to fetch your ungrateful ass.”
I squeeze behind the closet door to peek through the crack between the hinges just as Thomus strides to the door. He’s fully dressed and smoothing back his hair with his fingers. He pauses to take a deep breath before opening the door. 
It’s Rodolphus. 
“What do you want,” Thomus demands, sounding amazingly composed.
Rodolphus leans a hand on the doorframe. “You missed your brother’s toast,” he says, a mocking lilt to his tone. His hair is disheveled, the tie to his tux hangs loose around his neck. “How could you have missed this moment to show support for the Dark Lord? Your family? ”
“I don’t answer to you,” Thomus says. He keeps his back straight and his chin up.
Rodolphus puts a finger to his chin, tapping it. “And then I remembered a few other times you’ve mysteriously disappeared from similar events,” Rodolphus continues before abruptly shoving past Thomus into the room. Thomus tries grabbing his coat tails, but he somehow avoids him.
Rodolphus stops in the middle of the room, eyeing it while slowly turning back to Thomus. He inhales heavily through his nose and steps back towards the window with the bench. “A moment ago, I was convinced you were up here fucking my wife,” he says casually. He reaches for something on it and my anxiety explodes in my chest the moment I see him pick up my glasses. “Of course, I was only half-right. This room reeks of sex, but my wife has never hid.”
Rodolphus drops my glasses and stomps on them with his shoe, crushing my lenses under his sole. The glass crunches as he turns, backing up towards the closet. Thomus watches him with furious eyes. His hands are empty, but I know in the blink of an eye he’d have his wand.
“I’m surprised you can still get it up for her since her… accident ,” Rodolphus taunts. “She’s utterly repulsing if you ask me.”
“I didn’t,” Thomus bites.
He’s so close to the closet. My fingers feel for anything on the shelf behind me and immediately feel the unmistakable smooth metal of Thomus’ shoehorn, the very one I tried to pummel him with. 
Maybe New Year’s Eve kisses are good luck.
I raise it over my head as he steps to the doorway.
“Your silence is very telling,” Rodolphus chuckles as he slowly steps into the closet. I hear his footsteps on the wood floor as he disappears on the other side of the door.
I’ve shoved my anxiety down enough so I don’t panic as he reappears, wand scanning the room.
Just as he turns to me, I transfigure the shoehorn into a dagger, and hold it up to his throat.
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aroseformyself · 1 year
Text
Rent.
Summary: getting thrown out of your apartment for late bills while in LA, possibly the best place people come to get laid, isn’t what you had in mind, but a freaky twist comes into play when your “friend” Jack Howl reveals that someone has been staring at you for weeks. (yandere)
⚠️warnings; my English is horrible so possible mix of tense, horror?, implied stalking, implied nsfw/noncon, no magic, modern au, my first time writing an actually decent fic¿
readers sex not specified.
“It’s closing time already?” you question yourself, grabbing a ticket and placing it into the hole-puncher and sticking it to the wall. It’s your only way to clock out. It’s a little old-fashioned but it works and that’s all that matters.
“Finally I can get out of this greasy disaster.” you state, flipping the sign around to read closed outside.
You walk to a rack near the kitchen, throwing your apron and cap off and hanging it with the other employees.
When you turn around you see your “friend”, or more like companion, Jack, a strong but sensitive guy who works in the wreck of a fast-food place as well to support his younger siblings and basically entire family, not that it does much.
“It’s closing time already?” he has a deep husky voice that booms every time he speaks, no wonder all the girls have a crush on him.
“Yeah, you can go ahead and leave, I’ll clean up.” you stated as he clocked out.
He looked at you for a second, pondering his words, “No, no, I would hate to leave you here alone, and I’m sure you’re the same way,”
I don’t like how you’re right, Jack.
“if we both clean together we’ll get it done twice as fast and neither of us will have to stay later than needed.”
You sigh at his helpfulness, “Y’know you really should start thinking of yourself, Jack, but thank you anyway.” you say, grabbing the broom Jack had been cleaning the floor with earlier.
You start to sweep the dirty and mud-colored floor as Jack wiped down the counter, covered in grease, what looks like blood but is actually ketchup, salt from fries, and Karen’s tears.
Everyone has gone home for holiday break, but you and Jack were some of the few that worked here and actually had to, you couldn’t get another job because of low money and no interest in going to going to college, so here you were, stuck working in a fast-food joint, and all this as a 19-year-old. A 19-year-old who should be going out on Friday nights with friends, like Jack, and having fun, not working over-time just to pay bills that barely get by. Come to think of it, you don’t have enough money for your bills yet and you haven’t payed the landlord last week, you just hope they don’t throw you out.
And Jack doesn’t have it any better… You thought, Jack Howl, a guy who masks his insecurities with a tough exterior, a facade of strength. All to hide a sensitive guy who needs love, and a break. With him constantly taking care of his siblings because of gambling-addicted parents, and having to leave them because he can’t afford a babysitter, sometimes he’d even ask you to go over and watch them for a buck. But you always agreed without the money. For so long he’d have to deal with his parents coming home black-out drunk or just falling right on the door step, from getting too boozed up, of their small house. He’d drag them inside and let them puke their guts out and lay them down to sleep just so the cycle could continue. You genuinely felt bad for him, poor guy started doing odd jobs when he was just 11. And he’s only 16 right now.
“Hey, Jack.” you say after contemplating on your words for a while.
“Yeah, Y/n?” he asked, turning his head in your direction to see you looking at the floor while grinning wide.
“If your parents ever stop being black out drunk for a second and win, will you invite me over?” you finish with a little laugh too show you were joking.
He looked at you for a second before laughing, “Sure, Y/n, if I ever get rich from my parents addiction, you’d be the first I’d call.”
You both end the night laughing your asses off while making jokes that to anyone looking in are actually just based off miserable experiences.
But who’s going to stop you.
“Uhh, hey let me walk you home.” Jack said, trailing behind you.
“No, it’s fine, really. I can take care of myself, besides it’s just a little rain and you need to get back to your siblings, I bet my savings they’re waiting for you.” you comment quietly, strutting down the street in the direction of your apartment.
Jack looked uncomfortable for a second when you turn to look at him, “What’s wrong?”
“Uhm.. Don’t freak out or they’ll know,” he pauses before looking in the direction of a cafe, a ring of a bell signified that someone was leaving the place, “someone’s been watching you for a while… And they just left the cafe…”
Your heartbeat was suddenly in your throat and you felt your stomach churn, resisting the burning urge to turn your head around to see who this person is, “W-what? What do they look like?”
Jacks face twisted into confusion, “What are you scared of I’m with you, I won’t let them hurt you, and what do you plan to do if I describe them, keep track of them?” his sweat-dropped as soon as he finished his sentence, “I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound r-rude or anything!” he frantically waved his hands to show he was genuinely concerned for your well-being.
After a second he calmed down, “L-look. I’m just saying maybe you shouldn’t stay at you place tonight. I’ve seen the same person watching you about a week ago as well. Only I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t completely sure he was looking at you and I thought it could’ve been a coincidence.”
After you didn’t answer Jack stepped away a little, and the rain poured down on you reminding you of how you don’t want to go back to your cracked roof that lets the rain in without your consent.
“Okay.” you say, barely a whisper but Jack heard it.
Passing through the streets people, of all kinds where entering, and leaving the casino you work next to, you almost got swept up into the crowd, but Jack grabbed your hand and led your through without a single struggle.
When you got to his doorstep he reached for his key, abruptly, you yelled out, “Wait! I need to feed my cat; Grim! Oh no, I can’t jus leave him alone!!!” you panicked, running down the three steps and trying your best to run to your apartment without slipping on the wet ground.
Jack looked startled by your yell and spun around, “Y/n!” he shouted after you.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back right after I get my cat!” you say, your cat, Grim, was a stray you picked up and got treated at the vet, ever since you two were inseparably except when you went to work.
The vets said that he had been abused judging by the fact that he was scared around everything and had little cuts on his legs. It was obvious that Grim had paranoia, he waited by the door everyday, waiting for you to get home.
You ran through the streets, shoving people out of the way, until you finally made it. A run-down building with lights from all around making it light up as if it were supposed to be angelic, but it wasn’t in the slightest.
You rush up the stairs and make it to your door, but freezes in the middle of the hallway when you hear a rough voice call out to you, “Y/n L/n.” you turn, painfully slow, and open your tightly closed eyes to see the landlord.
“Ah, Uh… Hey?” you say, sweat-dropping from your cheek, “Is there something I can do for you?” you say, smiling as best you can.
“Yes, Y/n. You can pay now.” your face dropped, the landlord noticed this and replied with, “Or you can leave and your place becomes someone else’s.”
“Sir… Can I have one more-” you try to start but the landlord can see where this is going and shuts you up quickly.
“Y/n, you are not allowed back here in a million years! Pack your bags and go far away!”
“But sir!”
“No! This is the third time you’ve been late and I can’t keep letting you go for not paying!” he yelled, making you flinch.
Your widened eyes revert back to their half closed glare, “Fine…” you cave, walking back to your door and opening it to see Grim laying down at you feet.
You step in once you are sure the landlords gone, herring his steps fade away. You slide down the now closed door, alerting Grim that your back with all the ruckus that went on outside, “Oh, Grim…” you sigh, petting his head as he purred against your thigh.
The next day you packed, not that you had much belongings to pack, “Let’s go Grim, we’re leaving.”
You see Grim tilt his head as if to ask ‘where are we going?’ even though he couldn’t speak.
“I don’t know where. We’ll figure it out, together.” you say, trying your best to grin at him, but even he can tell this is not good.
As you walk down the stairs you pass the landlord, and glare at him as he does the same to you.
“Goodebye, hellhole.” you whisper as you exit through the doors, so now you’re officially homeless and have a scrawny cat by your side.
Grim mewled against your thigh and started needing it for comfort as you sat down on a bench, scrolling through your phone contacts as your box felt heavy on you lap.
It was around midnight and you couldn’t bring yourself to go to Jack looking so foolish and in need of a new place to stay.
“Huh?” you question, missing the texts and calls from Jack as soon as you see a “new” contact name.
“Floyd Leech…?” your eyes widened, Floyd Leech, your ex-boyfriend, was still in your contacts, you remember the day you broke up with him vividly.
You were at his house and his parents were planning on moving to LA, but you weren’t really that invested nor did you want to try long-distance. You ended up breaking up with a heart-broken Floyd who let his anger out on a wall, and how did he do that? By punching holes in it of course.
He ended up running out and that was the last you ever saw of him.
You shook your head and went back to Jack, you realize it’s your best bet at living, messaging to him that you were fine, but you got kicked out and didn’t know what to do.
He replied back with saying he could let you stay at his place but just for a little. He couldn’t allow another person to stay at his place for so long because of his money struggle.
You agreed and told him you were at west park, he texted okay I’ll come get you. Now all you had to do is wait.
But it was hard to wait when someone was sitting right next to you obviously side-eyeing you, “god… Do you need somethin’?!” you yelled after so long of staying silent, but you couldn’t help it, it was just to uncomfortable.
The man looked started and visibly flinched when you yelled at him, his dirty blond hair falling in front of his face with blue eyes widening as he saw you glaring at him, “Please don’t hurt me! I was sent here by Leech!”
Leech… Oh fuck. You vaguely remember that Floyd and his twin brother, Jade, are the heirs to a mafia type-thing their parents run.
You feel the sky to start sprinkling down, “I-I’m really sorry about this!”
“Huh?-”
And with that everything turned black.
When you awoke you couldn’t tel what time it was where you were or what was going on but you feel something very soft and comfy all around you. A very cozy bed your were placed in.
You grab onto the pillow you sleeping on and bury your face in. Not bothering yourself with anything else at the moment.
Well that was until you heard a voice and your pillow vibrated, “Fufufu~ Awake, are we?” a very deep and raspy voice asked, a hand coming up to pet your head.
“Wha?-” you can barely make out the silhouette of your ex, while you look up. A stinging pain shoots through your head and you can feel your heartbeat.
You make a strangled groan and the hand pushes you back down, “Shhh. Rest now, the pain will be gone in the morning.” What? What pain? Why are you back? Where’s Grim? Why am I here? Floyd? Jack? Anyone? Is all you can think before sleep slowly takes you.
But you don’t miss the hand sliding down your body before you black out.
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star-going-supernova · 10 months
Text
Tumblr generated prompt number 5 was for a sequel to Plausible Deniability! Yep, I threw the sequel suggestions into the list for this round, and this wasn’t the only one that got chosen, hehe. There’s no real prompt for these, just me continuing a ficlet. Anyway, now y’all get to find out why I decided to make Gregory fifteen! 
This is a long one, at about 1,400 words. I’m not making it an ao3 one-shot, though. Also. I’m not going to lie. Jason Todd influenced how I wrote Gregory in this AU. Sooo… warnings for a teenager casually talking about murder and committing it (offscreen). 
(title’s a play on “Murder, She Wrote”)
Murder, He Chose
Look. There was no beating around the bush. Gregory had killed before. Like, actual real people. It was a conscious decision he made—twice, going on three times now. He’d only been fourteen the first time, when it was kill or be killed in that dead-end alleyway. Kill or be killed or let the lost little six-year-old be killed. Or worse.
It was kinda a no-brainer. 
Even before that, though, Gregory had developed a bit of a reputation. For violence, that is. He’d been on the streets since he was twelve, when he decided nothing could be worse than staying at home. In some ways, he’d been right. 
But the point was that Gregory had a territory, and he had his people, and even though he was a teenager, he protected both. And they trusted him to protect him. His chosen city blocks had the most young runaways and family units. They knew they’d be safe from the real monsters so long as him and his lead pipe were around.
Vanessa and her sneaky generosity were a huge help for the community, so to say he’d been pissed when he got word that two homeless kids had been killed one night? Understatement. And it happened the next two nights, even though his people got the message to stay away for the time being. 
He liked to consider Vanessa a friend, or at least an ally. Knowing she might have turned on them? It hurt. It wouldn’t stop him from stopping her, but he would’ve been sad about it. 
But it wasn’t her. The reports of a strong, energetic bunny-costumed murderer did not match up with the Vanessa he found in her bed, looking like death warmed over. 
Gregory went to the pizzaplex that next night with one goal: stop the killer. And yeah, considering he didn’t really trust the justice system, and especially not when the victims were a bunch of homeless people, that meant a permanent, “taking matters into his own hands” sort of stopping. 
• • •
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Gregory called, dragging his lead pipe along the tiles. “I thought you wanted to play!” 
A STAFF bot swerved toward him, and he gave it a gentle tap to its fragile neck. Okay, less gentle tap, more hitting a home run. 
The commotion drew the attention of the nearest animatronic, Roxy. She prowled into the large hall, expression vacant—the sort of thing you’d expect from a robot, if Gregory hadn’t known better. 
Roxy circled him at a distance. One of her arms had a pretty significant dent in it. Looked like old dogs could learn new tricks. All the bots had been learning things tonight. None of them attacked him mindlessly anymore, not now that they knew better. 
“Think if I hit you hard enough, whatever’s wrong in your head will get shaken loose?” he mused. 
Her head twitched, but she didn’t respond to the taunt. He felt a little bad about the damage he’d caused to the animatronics, since it seemed to him that they were just someone else’s cannon fodder. 
He genuinely hoped they were able to repair Moon. Gregory had been swinging for the heavy-duty ones, not thinking to account for how stick-thin the DAs were. The same hits that only slowed the band down had snapped something in Moon. Something that meant he hadn’t gotten back up.
“Do you and your friends a favor, Roxy,” Gregory said. He kept walking, inexorable in his quest to find the big bad bunny, but that didn’t mean he let the big bad wolf out of sight. He was confident, not stupid. “Tell me where the killer is, and you won’t all be laid up in maintenance for a month.” 
She twitched again, and the glow of her eyes flickered. Roxy stopped skulking around him. Her voice box glitched. 
He was watching an internal battle take place, he realized. She was fighting whatever was making them accomplices to the bunny’s bloody crusade. 
There wasn’t much he could do to help, but he figured a little encouragement never hurt anyone. “C’mon, Roxy, you can do it,” Gregory said. “I know you can win this.” 
Her tail perked up the slightest bit, and it seemed to be the push she needed. “Head on over to the stage, kiddo! The show’s going to start soon!” 
It was similar to Chica’s falsely peppy lines about his parents looking for him, but maybe that scripted stuff was all she was able to slip past her programming. “Message received,” he muttered to himself with a slow grin. He took off in the direction of the enormous atrium. 
Roxy didn’t chase him. 
• • • 
The bunny definitely hadn’t been prepared for one of their victims to fight back. They were on the uppermost mezzanine, fiddling with something in the control booth. They drew a knife as soon as they noticed him, but the costume did nothing to hide the way their hand trembled faintly. 
“We doing this the easy way or the hard way?” Gregory asked, settling into a solid grip on his pipe. 
A hysterical, glitchy giggle burst out of the bunny. “You’re a lively one, yes. You’ll surely feed my master well.” 
They lunged at him before he could even try to find a good response for that. Gregory jabbed forward, forcing them to maintain distance, and then he started swinging wildly, never fully pulling back to wind up. He’d found that this crazy, unpredictable waving of his pipe made for a difficult attack to block or evade. These types of hits didn’t pack a punch the way a good over-the-shoulder swing did, but that didn’t mean they didn’t hurt at all. 
The bunny grunted every time it smacked into them, all the while forcing them back. That knife was looking pretty useless. Gregory snickered to himself. 
Either their impatience or their anger got the better of them because they suddenly tried to shove past his defenses. To their credit, it worked. Less to their credit, they seemed to have forgotten that a pipe was not Gregory’s only defense. 
He skittered backwards at an angle, leaned his weight on his back foot, and sent the outer edge of his other boot straight out into their left kneecap. They stumbled with a shriek, allowing Gregory to readjust his balance and do it again, harder. A sickly snap-crack sent the bunny collapsing. 
And what’d’ya know? Slumping over like that put the bunny’s head right at optimal swinging height. 
• • • 
Officially, the morning crew found clear signs of a break-in and phoned the police, who then found clear signs that someone had been luring homeless folks into the basement to butcher them. They also found the culprit, with a viciously shattered kneecap, bruised ribs, and fractured skull. But it was blood-loss that did them in. Stabbed three times by their own knife; the killer didn’t stand a chance.
Officially, the killer’s last attempted victim, presumably another member of the homeless community, fought back and escaped. There wasn’t enough evidence to find the individual, not with the virus the killer introduced into the pizzaplex, messing with the cameras and animatronics. No one spoke up or came forward; none of the local hospitals or clinics received a patient that night with the speculated injuries of a murder attempt.
Officially, the night guard was quickly declared innocent on account of being off work with the flu. Her apartment building’s security cameras confirmed she hadn’t left on any of the three nights, or at all for that full week. She shrugged over why homeless people might have been in the pizzaplex to begin with, suggesting that they’d realized the night guard wasn’t there and had taken advantage. Good thing she was back on the job.
Unofficially, Gregory didn’t lose any sleep over his actions that night. Vanessa never mentioned his visit to her apartment, and he wasn’t sure if that was because she was holding on to her plausible deniability or because she genuinely didn’t remember it. 
Unofficially, the next time Gregory stopped by the pizzaplex, the animatronics all thanked him, either in words or with food or warm clothes. Even Moon, who hadn’t been damaged beyond repair, thank goodness, and who held no hard feelings. 
Unofficially, Gregory’s kill count was up to three. And he didn’t regret a single one. 
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twst-drabbles · 1 year
Note
Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉
This isn't a request but more on the caretaker psych.
Does the caretaker ever get whiplash when they look at their boys?
Like when they were first brought home and grown up.Also has the caretaker ever said they love them.
Thank you for the janitor.I had a very similar thought thank you for making it a reality
Hmmm let's see.
Contrary to how the Caretaker is like in the house pet au, in the sanctuary au, they're a little more respectful. Since the pets are fully intelligent and can articulate quite clearly, it's easier to treat them as fully capable of taking care of their own things. Basically, they're more roommate like than anything, but they are somewhat limited due to their tiny size, so the Caretaker does have to grab them like the little stinkers they are to get stuff done. That and they haven't fully awakened their magical abilities, so there's that.
I used to be able to grab you in my hands. Used to have to clean up your rooms when all you little rascals refused to get along. Tiny little things, only needing some help and being unashamed to demand it, only for me to say "take care of your shit," when all of you thought you were my boss. Often I was tense, anticipating a change, waiting for your forms to suddenly get big and then I'd have to look into my savings to see if I could expand my house. Never once did I think you'd leave. I knew you were going to stick with me, no matter how much you complained. All I had to do was reach out and you'd still be in my hands. But now, well, you don't want to. You can't. Otherwise, clinging to my hand would've killed me too, back in those horrible houses.
Stream of consciousness writings! So yeah, some whiplash, along with regret, frustration at the fact they had to grow rather than it being a natural process.
As for the love you, no I don't think so. It can felt through actions, certainly, but to physically say I love you is...hard. And certainly gotten even harder when the Caretaker's mental health took a bigger hit from when the pets were gone. The apathy they feel when they're deep in their depressive episodes kinda just messed them up a bit, making them feel rather out of touch with their emotions. They're just going with the flow, not quite there but still going, so saying "I love you," would feel, not genuine. At least to the Caretaker. To casually throw around the word when they don't properly feel the emotional weight of them would be insulting. So, they can't say it. Instead, they'll let the pets come to their own conclusions about it.
And you're welcome, the Janitor au is certainly fun.
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sleptwithinthesun · 1 year
Text
y'all're way too nice. i genuinely forced out the last fic i posted and might just end up rewriting it later, but i'm trying to write the au chronologically so there aren't continuity errors, and that one needed to be finished before i could work on the next few.
anyway.
here's ~1.2K detailing the first time s/teve and n/ancy try inducing j/onathan :) hope you like it because THIS is where the fun starts
"Is this okay?"
Jonathan shrugs, his knees tucked up to his chest and parted slightly for Steve and Nancy to access his face. His back is against the headboard of their bed, and he's twisting his fingers together nervously. "I think so," he says, managing to prevent his voice from curling upward at the end and turning into a question.
Nancy smiles at him, and Steve reassures, "Don't be nervous, Jon. Whatever happens is fine. Don't feel pressured because of us."
He nods, but the anxiety building in his chest is too much for him to speak around. It's taken a while for him to come around to the idea of letting them induce him, despite how willing he initially was to put it on the table, and now, he might be regretting it.
"Hey," Nancy says, putting a hand on his knee. "Be honest, Jonathan. Do you not want to do this?"
Jonathan swallows. His throat is too dry. "I want to," he says. "I do."
"Are you sure?"
He nods. "Yes." His voice comes out a little steadier that time, and Nancy and Steve relax a bit.
"Alright," Steve says, picking up one of the pillows and examining it for a long moment before plucking out a feather. "We're going to start small, okay? Tell us if you're uncomfortable at any time, and we'll stop as soon as you say so. We've both done this before, so if anything gets to be too much, we know how to dial it back. Okay?"
"Okay," Jonathan whispers.
It's... kind of awkward. Likely because Jonathan feels awkward sitting there and letting Nancy slide a feather into his nostrils, but also, just because the situation itself is fairly unorthodox. He's never been into anything specific, in regard to sex, and has no experience with this particular kink.
"Does it tickle?" Nancy asks quietly, using her fingertips to slowly twist the feather around. She's hitting all the soft walls of his nostril, getting the barbs to brush right up against the mucus membranes.
Jonathan hums in affirmation, then pulls away a second later to bring his shirt up over his face and sneeze quietly, suppressing it the way he always does. "Sorry," he says the second he pulls his shirt down, and Steve only smirks at him.
"Don't apologize. That's kind of the point, though, it would be nice if you lost the shirt so that you couldn't hide your face," he says, and Jonathan flushes. "Stick to your boundaries, though."
He takes the feather from Nancy, inserting it into the other nostril and wiggling it around. They have different methods, he realizes; while Nancy prefers to take it slow, teasing him, Steve goes quickly, almost rushing, and it's a matter of about thirty seconds before Jonathan pulls away to sneeze again. "Oh," he says, blinking.
"What's going on?" Steve asks.
Jonathan sniffles. "That one felt, like, uh... more than the first one. Does that make sense?"
Nancy nods. "Yeah. Harsher?"
"I... think so."
"It looked like it, too," she comments. "You backed up more urgently."
And that is definitely not a normal thing to notice.
Something must show on his expression, because Nancy's eyes suddenly go wide. "Oh, shit. Was that too weird?"
"It's weird, but good-weird," he says. "Because it's you-weird, and Steve-weird, and I love both of you."
"You're so fucking sappy," Steve says, and kisses him. "Are you ready for more?"
"Yeah," he says, actually feeling confident this time. "Keep going."
"If you say so," Nancy sing-songs, then slides the feather back in. "This time, try not to sneeze for as long as you can, okay?"
Jonathan nods, wincing when the position of the feather changes. Nancy's careful to adjust it, spinning it slowly as the itch and irritation builds up slowly. He scrunches up his nose a couple times in an attempt to alleviate the feeling, and Steve laughs a bit.
"You look like a little bunny rabbit when you do that," he teases, and Jonathan bites his lip to keep from either talking back to Steve or sneezing.
He scrunches his nose up again.
Nancy giggles. "You're right," she says to Steve. "He does look like a bunny rabbit. Very cute, Jonathan, thank you for that."
Jonathan laughs a bit, then does his best to clamp down on the rising urge to sneeze, the feeling blossoming quickly in the very back of his sinuses and buzzing in his face. His breath hitches once, twice, before he takes back control of it, forcing himself to breathe steadily.
"You getting close to needing to sneeze, Jon?" she asks, pushing the feather in just a tiny bit further and twisting it again.
"Y-yeah," he mumbles, sniffling again.
"Keep it back," she demands, a second before she lefts the feather brush against the very back of his nose, right where he assumes the olfactory nerves must be, and he gasps before throwing a hurried string of four into his elbow. He manages to stifle all but the last one, and it slips out in a tiny "hgk'sh!"
"Bless you," Steve murmurs, his eyes practically glinting with lust. "That was good, Jon."
He ducks his head. "I still have to sneeze," he confesses.
"You need help?" Nancy asks, offering up the feather. She waits for Jonathan to nod shyly before tracing around the edges of his nose in a figure eight pattern, and Jonathan shakes his head slightly at the sudden irritation.
Nancy's face breaks into a grin at that, and she beckons Steve over. "Do the thing," she says, still working at him, and Jonathan is given no time to even wonder what that means before Steve's finger is tracing lightly down the bridge of his nose.
"Nancy, that reahh! Really tickles," he murmurs.
"It's supposed to," she teases, and finally moves the feather back into his nostrils, attacking the areas just below Steve's finger. Jonathan's breath stutters, but he doesn't sneeze, not yet. Nancy's being careful not to let him, and he feels tears of irritation prick at his eyelashes. He's not even allergic to feathers, and yet.
"You almost there, Jon?" Steve asks, and he nods, closing his eyes. "Alright, we'll wrap it up."
The feather suddenly twists, changing direction, and brushes up against something that's really sensitive, because he's sneezing down into his lap with absolutely no warning and no ability to stifle them. "hk'sHhu!"
"Bless you."
"ESH'uh!"
"Bless you." From Nancy, that time.
"h'esHh'uh!"
"Bless you."
"Nance, he's gonna—"
"hk'shh!"
"Bless you," Nancy emphasizes, running a hand through his hair. "Shit, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he replies, blinking shyly up at her and Steve. "Was, um... was that okay?"
Steve grins. "That was perfect, Jon."
He smiles back at them, a bit sheepish. "You want to do any more of that tonight, or wait?"
"If you're up to it, then I'd definitely want to do more," Nancy says, and Steve nods in agreement. "Jonathan?"
"I'm good," he says. "That was... good, I guess."
Nancy snorts and Steve laughs a bit. "Baby's first time," he teases, and Nancy only laughs harder. "Alright, Jon, round two."
He nods, and it begins.
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mukamibabe · 2 years
Note
Hi Cindy!
How do you think teen S,M,T boys (maybe around 13 years old) will react to getting in trouble in school and the principal calls their step-mother (Karl's new wife in S and M boys case (they love her dearly) and T's aunt who is like a mother to them) to school,but when she arrives the principal starts flirting with her and threatens to kick the boys out of school and make sure they don't get admission anywhere else if she wouldn't submit to his wishes?
AND how will Karl react to such behaviour towards his beautiful wife?
oooh this was pretty creative, thanks for requesting! under the cut due to length, but that shouldn't surprise you at this point lol
also before i get into this, i know you said teen/preteen, but here's the tough thing,,, . dl timelines.. they're tricky Jdgfhgdg yes i know lore shouldn't matter in this case but,,,, sajfhsdf anyways think of the younger diaboy sprites just ..slightly older? i have no idea, basically im just envisioning them as their young sprites + with the early trauma. i guess? no idea, i know i'm overthinking it haha
also, i guess this is technically an au and i'm most likely bending things a bit but i'll leave it up to you whether or not the younger boys know of one another's existences. or at least, specifically the mukami's. idk??
oh and !! i ended up writing this where like.. it would be each boy separately, if that makes sense? instead of the principal like.. expelling all of them
sakamaki's
shu:
okay, so i'm picturing during this time, shu was still pretty naive, at least in comparison to his current self. 
though, it makes a lot of sense for him to get in trouble at school due to his lack of like.. wanting to do things. he’s still a kid, or at least he wants to be. and this is most likely before uhhh the whole.. polar bear thing so he doesn’t know the extremities of his father’s consequences,,,
anyway. he knows he’s going to be in trouble. he’ll just deal with it. but, once he sees his step-mother?? (who he genuinely sees as a mother as opposed to all of karl’s other wives,, bc she’s actually nice to them) 
shu isn’t sure whether or not he should be relieved because this means he’s not going to get reprimanded, as he definitely expected literally anyone but his stepmom,, there’s also a part of him that almost feels guilty? 
i mean, what can you expect? shu truly doesn’t want to disappoint his stepmother, who has basically (assumingly???) been the only one to actually praise him and even just show him affection. so yea, he feels kind of bad. he doesn’t want to let her down, specifically. 
the guilt only grows more once the principal starts getting a little bold, i guess you could say
at first, shu doesn’t really pick up on the flirting- he’s not an idiot, but his stepmother is quite charming, so it’s understandable? he guesses?? he isn’t slow to notice the sudden shift of mood from his stepmother, either. even if she hides it well, he’ll pick up on any sort of discomfort, and it concerns him.
shu eventually insists on sticking up for his stepmother, at least in the best way he can without causing a scene. as i said, shu isn’t stupid, he knows that the principal literally just threatened her, and he knows it was wrong
he jumps in right away, trying to reassure both his stepmom and the principal that it’s not going to happen again. he does want to threaten the principal in return, but he doesn’t want anything to escalate
now, in this situation, i’m guessing they end up leaving anyways, because like ?? what’s the principal gonna do?? hold everyone hostage??? 
so.. yeah. that happens. and after it happens, shu honestly feels horrible about it. he’s not worried about his own education or anything, he just feels bad that his stepmother had to go through this, specifically because of him. 
reiji:
so.. if such thing were to happen, reiji would straight up be distraught over it. not specifically the harassment of his stepmother (which is something he’s not happy about either but what comes first for reiji is those grades) 
the amount of self hatred he feels for this?? he has no idea how it even happened. he’s always done his best, and has never been in trouble before so that kind of is,, his main worry;;
if reiji did actually do something to get in trouble, i doubt it would be over grades. and if that were the case, i’m not sure he’d own up to it. or any of it at all, actually. he’s persistent that he’s done nothing wrong.
now, once the principal comes in with all of the threats and whatnot? reiji is livid. it’s amazing how angry he is, honestly.
like, such a young little thing to feel so much wrath? uhmm yikes. rip.
he looses his composure just a bit, you’ll notice that he’s really on edge because he knows the principal is full of it- 
there’s a part of reiji that literally wants to slit the principal’s throat, but.. he wont. he’s not going to make a mess, at least not in front of his mother.
in this period of time, i’m still assuming reiji decided to uhh set fire to edgar, so reiji wanting to,,,dispose of the principal? not super surprising
reiji tries to hide how upset he is, but his stepmother knows him well enough that he’s lowkey livid. he keeps it together for the most part, though
he doesn’t actually acknowledge the reason for her being there, but he does say that the principal doesn’t matter- the stepmother, in the long run, ultimately has more power. i mean, she’s married to his father. a king. there’s no way some school principal is going to be more powerful than that. 
lmao not really accurate but i definitely thought of My FAther will hEar aBOut tHis’ 
anyways. reiji is standing beside his stepmom like a little devil on her shoulder, basically reassuring her that the principal can’t even lay a hand on either of them, and their life means little. easily disposable. literal devil, lol
ayato:
so, it’s probably not the first time this has happened. ayato does try, sometimes. but he’s not some nerd. he can be the greatest even without learning all this school stuff, so whatever
..that doesn’t stop the school from punishing him lol
his stepmother should be used to it, at this point, so maybe the principal has had their eyes on her for a while? idk. either way, a majority of the time, ayato is oblivious to it all. after getting in trouble with things like this, ayato will be there physically, but he basically just ignores everything else going on around him. 
but, maybe out of boredom or something, ayato starts paying attention. and he’s not at all pleased to hear the principal threaten his stepmom. 
he feels the same way reiji does, honestly. except, rather than thinking like?? stfu principal, youre threating a king’s wife+son, ayato literally thinks: you’re messing with me, the great ayato sakamaki. 
lmao this mindset is most likely the reason for him being in trouble in the first place,,,
anyway, another thing that makes his reaction completely different from reiji’s is that: he’s literally the opposite. this poor kid is willing to create the biggest commotion, so long as it means his stepmother is safe and feels comfortable. 
i don’t want to say he’s entirely oblivious to her discomfort, but just the tension in the room doesn’t feel right to him, and he wants to get this over with, quickly.
i almost hate to say it lol but think of him like a rabid chihuahua or something. screaming little guy with pure fire JHDFSDF seriously though. that’s basically it
also unfortunately i imagine that the triplets don’t get to see the stepmom often, so long as cordelia is around. as soon as ‘that woman’, being the stepmother, is around, cordelia will be watching her sons like a hawk. because cordelia knows that the other woman will treat her sons differently. ..though, this isn’t the topic for now 
anyways that’s just another reason why ayato is so defensive about the situation. he does value his step mother because he does crave her praise and just.. the love that he’s not gotten to feel before. it’s natural that he’d want to be super protective over her.
kanato:
most likely got in trouble for throwing a tantrum or something,, and probably doesn’t really know why he’s being disciplined in the first place.
so when he hears the principal say he’s going to get kicked out of school?? along some other things, of which he didn’t bother to listen to, he kind of.. loses it. 
whether he goes batshit or starts sobbing, i’m not sure. that, or he’ll completely just.. go silent. head empty, sort of thing
kanato’s reaction, in comparison to the others so far, might be more dull and less,,, emotional? or because of his relationship with his stepmom, i guess?
i’ve always imagined scenario’s like this to be super conflicting for kanato because there’s a part of him that wants to stay loyal to his own blood mother, but all he wants is attention. and the way his stepmother feels? he feels so warm inside, and he loves it. he wishes he could feel that with cordelia, but.. .
yeah. so, it’s a tough one. kanato would definitely love his stepmother though, or at least the care he receives from her. 
to bring up some more trauma,,, i both feel as if kanato is completely unaware of the principal’s predatory actions, but also entirely aware of it. i’m not sure how to explain it, but something about it seems familiar to him, and there’s a part of him that’s just.. acknowledging it as a bad thing for his stepmom
because of that, kanato will do his best to ensure he and his stepmother get out of there as soon as possible. might literally tug her by the hand just.. out of the office lmao
laito:
hm.. this one is tricky because it kind of.. depends. but, i really can’t see laito getting in too much trouble other than grades itself, or like a lack of participation, which might go hand in hand,,?
anyways, his reaction to the principal threatening his stepmother is quite.. stale, i guess? 
i definitely think laito would recognize it for what it is, that being predatory and just disgusting behavior,, but how he would respond to it.. is a bit tricky
at this time, i’m picturing him to be still fairly innocent, though not entirely. anyway, laito knows. 
he knows the principal is awful for trying to threaten both laito and his stepmother. but.. what can he do?
he feels lost, really. there is a part of him that feels a tinge of regret- if he had done as he was supposed to, this entire mess wouldn’t be happening. though the regret isn’t exactly his biggest worry
he genuinely has no idea how to respond or what to do, so he just tries to reaffirm his stepmother that everything’s going to be fine- he can get into a new school, the principal’s words don’t matter, ect
subaru:
scholarly things just.. aren’t for subaru. so it doesn’t surprise me that he’d get in trouble over it
that being said, his principal treating his stepmother like that?? it fuels something in him that he had no idea existed
he’s pissed, and he really can’t put a finger on why he’s so upset over this. but, does he need a reason? 
subaru reacts instantly upon hearing the principal. like, instantly. he lashes out, quickly switching from his quiet manner into this.. explosion
he couldn’t help it. it just triggered something in him, honestly. and.. subaru really isn’t the best at handling his emotions, as we know. so yeah, it’s kind of a surprise, i guess
he could care less about the consequences, he just doesn’t want any more of his loved ones to get hurt. though, technically speaking,,, i dont think subaru knows what love is, nor does he know what it’s like to feel loved, but you get what im saying
i mean, if his stepmom is going to get themself in trouble somehow, subaru would rather not be the one responsible. yes, he knows, he’s not responsible for it (like some of the others, there’s a tad bit of guilt, but subaru doesn’t care that much) but listen. if he can stop the principal from harassing his stepmother, he will. even more so because his stepmother has been good to him
honestly, it’s a bit weird but subaru’s situation might be the messiest out of all of them. 
deep down, he knows his father could probably help the situation, but subaru would hate that. he has no idea why his stepmother is even with him, and if his father were to be a good husband for once, his wife wouldn’t have to put up with this. 
realistically,,,, maybe not,, but. .subaru has it out for karl. for a good reason,,,.
mukami’s
ruki: 
ooof ok this one is also tricky because he’s like reiji. at least, in regards to education. sort of. not really. but sort of.
basically, errors in school just aren’t really likely for ruki. he’s smart, he knows it, and rarely does he skip out on educational stuff kjsdghsdg
so im ? guessing . .maybe he was being a brat. i have no idea lmao 
all that is besides the point, though. and because this is after the mukami’’s have been turned, ruki is a little less of a brat. only a bit lol
either way, ruki has a similar response to reiji. the principal has literally no power in comparison to ruki, or at least, ruki’s savoir. that being: karl. karlheinz’ wife, who also happens to be his stepmother, and someone he does somewhat see as a maternal figure (though it’s super super complicated and wayyy too in depth for me to explain here-), he knows the principal literally has nothing in comparison to them.
...it would not be that big of a deal if they were to, say, go missing without a trace. seriously, who would care? also, they’d deserved it, right?
unlike reiji, though, ruki isn’t going to set the principal’s house on fire LMAO he just rats him out to karlheinz honestly
or he encourages his stepmom to do something about it. wink. DJFSJDF
kou:
why :( that’s honestly so mean LOL
kou’s a pretty good kid in school. struggles a bit, and is, by no means the perfect student, but he’s not the worst. but, rude!!
kou thinks so, anyways. though, i think out of all the diaboys in this situation, as horrible as it is, kou’s probably used to this? and/or has been through a similar situation at some point in his early life. 
he’s not sure how to respond to it, though. he just looks up at his stepmother expectantly, almost pleading for her to just put her foot down and leave
if the principal is willing to suspend him or ban him, whatever. kou doesn’t care, and he’d rather not be in a school with a corrupt principal like that. it scares him, honestly.
yeah, he’s just very adamant about leaving. kou will be very open about how he doesn’t mind getting kicked out of the school, he’ll take the repercussions, he just .. doesn’t want to be near that person
even if they weren’t harassing kou himself, who’s to say they wont?? if they have the nerve to threaten his stepmom, then.. yeah he’s kind of worried
yuma:
another oof lol i mean, yuma gets it. i can picture him struggling with school, some things more than others, but still,,,
even yuma recognizes that it’s a bit extreme. yeah, he knows that the principal doesn’t have it out for him but rather his stepmom. still, though. really??
yuma doesn’t have any problem arguing with the principal, though. he’ll do so without hesitation lol
like, seriously? you think that would work?? your school fuckin’ sucks anyway,
aand he continues to rat out the principal sjfhsfd
what, you’re so shitty that you have to bribe someone to be with you??? 
jsdfhd honestly there’s not much else to say other than yuma will tear this principal down and not care
he’s gotta protect his stepmom, ok?? he’d probably do it for anyone else, because yuma hates the abuse of power, but like.. still. really?? his stepmom??? is the principal that dumb?? do they not know who his stepmom is married to??
azusa:
like yuma, azusa isn’t the best with school. i imagine it’s a pretty big struggle for him, and i bet his stepmother knows that as well
no matter how much reassuring his stepmother does for him, he’ll feel so bad about it. he wont be sobbing or crying or anything, but just a sort of like.. numbness. he’d feel worthless. 
that feeling gets worse once the principal starts threatening him. and his mom. 
i doubt azusa trusted the principal in the first place, but either way, it still feels like a betrayal and lowkey it hurts him. a lot.
what hurts even more is that his stepmother is involved, and she doesn’t seem keen to be flirted with by the principal. he really can’t help but feel at fault.
honestly, in this case, i think the stepmother would probably carry along the situation because azusa will just stand there like :(
he’s too nervous to speak up and what not
tsukinami’s
carla:
the audacity,,,,
why? why would they even dare to do that?? it’s honestly funny to carla
also, both me and probably carla lmao have no idea why he’d get in trouble at school. he doesn’t believe the principal because like.. he doesn’t do anything wrong
honestly i don’t think there’s much to say about this one because carla knows he’s got more power over the principal. 
...and because of that, the principal is likely,,, not going to be there for any longer
seriously lol don’t worry auntie <3 he’s got you DJFHSJDF how? no idea. but this boy will dispose of him without any issues
shin:
no. 
no, no you don’t. his aunt is one of the few people shin appreciates in his life, and some loser of a principal isn’t going to get away with threatening her. or himself, for that matter. 
truthfully, he doesn’t care about getting kicked from school, and i wouldn’t be surprised that he’d gotten in trouble. shin isn’t the naughtiest kid, but he’s not the best, either. super mouthy lol
his mouth is probably the reason for his trouble, and it’ll continue to be the issue. like yuma, he’ll tell the principal off, and then, like his brother, will do whatever he can in order to make them disappear. because what difference would it make, really?
+ karlheinz:
yeahhh this principal.. probably wont live for much longer. or, he’ll live slightly longer but at the cost of being karlheinz’ new lab rat. 
the issue isn’t actually that big of a deal for karlheinz- his wife has been flirted with before, surely- karlheinz has good taste, afterall- so he’s not worried. she knows better to get with anyone else, anyways. 
it’s also.. quite annoying that the principal has the nerve to threaten his children. nevermind the tsukinami’s, he doesn’t really care because.. they’re not his to control, basically jsdfhsdf
that’s exactly why he’s not happy with the principal, though. just the audacity, really. to even think that they have the power to do so?? it’s almost funny to karl. 
but no. no one gets to threaten his children, or his wife, but him. KJfdsfs 
#trying a new.. format type of thing#i have no idea lol im just testing things out i guess#not even sure if it would be formatting but whatever#sorry this took me a minute#and if it's not the best? ?uhhh also sorry#definitely feel like it got shorter as it progressed but.. idk i just didn't know how to make it super repetitive#anyways ty <3#if anyone wants an update on my life: here i present you with. tag talking#im *still* into the ssum. teo and i are married now JHDFJDSFH im also *still* into a particular fox boy. or two 😳 JHHFDJHJDF#oh!!!!!!!! and im back into assassins creed. surprise but not really#have i ever talked about my love for that franchise on here before?? im not sure#i feel llike i definitely have at some point though.. i share everything in the tags lmao only the most useless info#anyways <3 lady eivor my beloved#im. ..love WOME N#WOMENN!!!!#speaking of; i played the sims again. i played with sim cordelia + threw her into a household with my ocs and omg#a hot MESS!! cordelia almost made my baby boy olivier get DIVORCED!!! she almost made his s/o break up their engagement lmao#and then! with her </3 gal pal maribel.. all they did was flirt and insult eachother lmao#i love the sims so much ok??? long story short: cordelia brings chaos wherever she goes#god does anyone even know about my ocs anymore LOL its been ages#also my sideblog ? dead. dead dead so uh yikes#pls.. dl ocs are so much fun#i say this everytime JHJDSHF#my favorite thing though?? male dl ocs#that's a story for another time though#tagtalk OVER!! BYe adios#fantasticchaosdaze#karlheinz sakamaki#ayato sakamaki#Shu Sakamaki
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trashbinbackyard · 8 months
Note
even numbers for lucien and hibiscus
dos rogues
What's something about your OC that people wouldn't expect just from looking at them?
Like he’s genuinely trying to be a good person. He puts on a facade because that’s what he’s used to, and how he got around in his previous life, and it still has its perks. He can’t trust everyone, and he reflects that energy with his own demeanor. Still, he’s doing a good thing, being Deanoh’s chosen, helping keeping forbidden magics under check, even if no one knows
How passionate they are. There is hurt that runs deep within, maybe being annoying is a shield, maybe to distract, sticking it to the family by being everything they weren’t raised to be. But under that layer there is a person who really cares for the people around them, be it a small sleepy mining village, a scared boy who grew up in a cellar, an honest farmer, a sorcerer who can’t really get a hold of their magic
When scared, does your OC fight, flee, freeze or fawn?
His reaction used to be a coinflip of fight or flee, before he was immortal he had to do the math 0.04 seconds and think if he can fight himself out of whatever situation, but fleeing is the smart option sometimes. Nowadays he doesn’t really get into situations he needs to flee from, it’s always he just doesn’t go there or he is there the fight
Fight first, think second, flee if necessary
How easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?
It used to be as easy as tossing a hefty amount of coin for him. But now he’s no longer bound by sheer greed, so his morality is much more stable. He also no longer takes orders from anyone but the big guy, so people pleasing is out the window too.
They’re willing to do the wrong thing for the right reason. Like if you can convince them doing something will actually be good, they could do it. 
Would your OC ostensibly be able to get away with murder?
Would be, has been
They could if they put in the effort, though most people they’ve killed… someone probably knows they were behind it
What's an AU that would be interesting to explore with your OC?
Is it an au if it’s the fifth world after four apocalypses… It’s like dishonored meets bloodborne and Lucien’s flesh is torn and filled with flames insead (the other immortals gets eldritch horror forms too)
I’m pretty set on having Hibiscus in the setting they’re already in
Is your OC self-destructive? In what ways?
Through decades of practice he’s gained an uncanny knack for self-preservation.  
Somewhat self-destructive. They’re always trying things hands on, making friends in low places, hanging out with the wrong crowds, pissing people off, just general act first think later behavior
How does your OC want to be seen by other characters?
He likes to keep his cards hidden, where his loyalties lie, what he is capable of. He puts on a charming persona to talk his way in and out of everything with a hint of being jovial. 
They want everyone to know as little as possible, they’re straight to the point, distract them with tall tales or by jumping straight into action. They also want to be the guy who shows up and people are like “wow they’re here, they’ll handle it!”. Reliable and capable
What is your OC's pain tolerance like?
It’s not like you get used to pain, but knowing you can’t die makes it slightly more bearable
Goes from “i can do this all day” to “aaauuuuu, hellwp :(“ in a matter of minutes. Generally good with handling pain but knows where their limit is
Is your OC more cold and detached or up close and personal?
He’s VERY detached, Deanoh for the longest time was his only constant, everything around him changed, people he had bonds with died, he had to travel all over the continent, couldn’t speak to anyone about his condition. 
Kinda both? Like when dealing with strangers they’re like “eh yeah whatever”, but with people they know.. If they're on their faces 24/7, won't leave them alone, you will have their company like it or not. 
Does your OC have a tendency to get jealous? If so, how does this manifest?
Not really, partly because he’s so detached from everyone, partly because he's confident and content with himself. Though if someone was to take Viessa for a twirl there would be a spark of jealousy not gonna lie, but it wouldn’t get out of hand, and he’d tease Viessa later about it.
There is a chance but I wouldn’t say tendency. They’d get a little possessive over Pestle, and also ask him with sad soppy puppy eyes if he loves them
What character alignment would you consider your OC to be?
Lucien used to be neutral evil, now he falls somewhere between chaotic neutral/chaotic good. Rules are for losers (except those that Deanoh puts on him) and generally his moral compass aligns with the greater good nowadays
They were neutral evil at first too bc i thought it was cool but now they’re chaotic neutral more like, they have their morals, but they’re bit of a mystery
What is an alternative life path your OC might have gone down? How different would their life be if they'd made those decisions?
He could’ve just died and stayed dead back in the revolutionary war. He would’ve died and been a footnote in the history books. 
They could’ve stayed with their family, be miserable but rich, studied with academic prowess and the talk of the high society. A Nightmare right.
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safetycar-restart · 2 years
Note
If you wanted to and had the time could you write something about cam boy au! With poly Charles/Lando. Their first scene on camera with you telling them what to do and stuff. Please and thank you but no pressure x
_🐢
YES OF COURSE I CAN!! I love the camboy!au so much we have to talk about it more.
So for Charles/lando in this AU, we genuinely stick to the idea that you and Charles were together long before lando and that you and Charles found lando when you were scrolling through other camboys together to see what they were doing to find inspiration for Charles.
So maybe, Charles and Lando have cammed together before, because they did the first time you and Charles met lando. You guys invited him over snd he cammed with Charles and then spent the night because he was so fucked out that you and Charles didn’t trust him to make it home.
But after that, lando starts coming over much more. And not only to cam with Charles. He comes over just for dinner or to hang out and spends the night cuddled between you and Charles.
And you and Charles have already confirmed to each other that you both want lando. Lando is just this smaller camboy and yeah it started out because Charles knew his viewers would love to see him and Lando together but now... now neither of you want lando to go.
Lando feels the same. And he has a full breakdown when you and Charles ask him to join your relationship because this whole time, he had been convinced that you and Charles were just using him to make more money camming but he kept coming back anyway because he loved it so much.
So yeah. Lando joins your relationship with Charles.
We’ve also said that sometimes, you’ll cam with Charles but remain unseen. You’ll read our requests from the chat and give Charles some other instructions as well. You basically Dom Charles, but only with instructions and he has to do everything himself.
It’s always a hit and Charles loves it so much because he doesn’t have to think, he can just trust you to help him.
So once lando joins your relationship, you and Charles ask if he wants to one of those cam sessions. And Lando agrees of course, because it sounds amazing (lando had highkey watched every single time you dommed Charles like that and always came so hard).
And the viewers, of course, love it.
You pay attention to what the viewers are requesting, saying some of the requests out loud for Charles and Lando. But you also give them your own instructions, telling them how to get each other off, what toys to use, how to do it, etc.
They both turn into horny messes so quickly. Especially lando, who doesn’t know how to deal with hearing your voice and feeling Charles’s hands at the same time.
And whenever a viewer tips them, you make them say thank you? No matter what they’re doing, they must say thank you.
Which means, even if lando is getting fucked hard by a giant dildo, he must say thank you before he’s allowed to cum b
And of course after the live ends, they basically jump you because it’s only fair that they return the favour.
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nsheetee · 3 years
Text
109 Steps To You
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this is a part of the “almost” collaboration hosted by @hyucksie​
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Pairing: Haechan x Reader Genre: romance, fluff, angst, mature content, soulmate!AU, college!AU Length: 19k Summary: Everyone is born with two marks on their body: one that is identical to your soulmate’s, and one that is identical to the person who will cause you immense pain. No one knows which mark means what until they live out their life and meet the people destined to bring them love and hurt. However, you were only born with one mark. Out of all the places you thought you would meet the person with the mark identical to yours, you never thought it would be on your first day of college. Warnings/Details: female reader, mentions of other nct members (and yuqi from g-idle), explicit sex (unprotected + the consequences that come with it), mentions of a dysfunctional family, swearing
— read epilogue here
a/n: if you’re a minor: beware! there is explicit and mature content in this fic.
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“I want to thank you guys, again, for helping me out today.” You shyly announce to the table, swirling your spoon through your froyo and glancing back and forth between the other people sitting before you.
“Oh, it’s no problem, we weren’t doing anything today anyway.” Xiaojun softly knocks his elbow into yours, sending a reassuring smile your way. If it wasn’t for Xiaojun, an old childhood friend, you weren’t sure how moving into your dorm room and getting settled into campus would’ve gone; you would probably still be a mess right now.
“He’s right. Plus, I really wanted to meet the girl Jun kept raving about, he wouldn’t stop talking about how much we would like you-” Mark’s comment is quickly cut off, a thud under the table and a pained look on Mark’s face giving away that Xiaojun just kicked him.
“I just hope I lived up to the hype.” You laugh at their antics.
“Oh, definitely,” Yuqi quickly buts in before Mark can retaliate back at Xiaojun, “And I live a few floors below you, so just let me know if you need anything at all.” She adds on, her warm deposition and all around friendliness from today making you let out a small sigh of relief, some stress falling off your shoulders when you realize just how many people around you are here to help you out.
“I appreciate it so much, really.” You lean away from Xiaojun and Mark, closer to Yuqi and Lucas who are sitting on the other side of the table, “By the way, I love your guys’ marks. They look so good on both of you.”
At your comment, Lucas puts down his phone and gently grabs Yuqi’s hand, their matching chamomile flower marks touching as their fingers intertwine. You almost didn’t notice their matching marks earlier today when they were helping you set up your dorm room, but when you did, you couldn’t help but stop what you were doing and stare at their hands. Such a simple mark has never looked so pretty to you, maybe it’s because Lucas and Yuqi made such a good pair that their fated marks looked so right for them.
“I still wish I got a cool dragon mark down my back, but I’ll let Jun be the one to deal with that in this life.” Lucas smirks at Xiaojun, who just rolls his eyes at Lucas’ fake jealousy. “Yours looks good, too.” He finishes and glances down at your left hand. There, a dragonfly mark stains your skin, the long tail trailing over your thumb and the wings spreading out over the back of your hand and your wrist.
“Thank you.” Your reply is genuine, however you can’t help but remember the solemn fact that surrounds your mark, your voice inadvertently dipping down as your eyes trace over the wings of your dragonfly.
“So, what kind of classes are you taking this semester?” Xiaojun changes the subject, no doubt hearing the lament in your voice.
“Oh, just some required classes. Nothing for my major, really, except Intro to Ethics for my humanities credit.” You reply as casually as you can to bring the mood at the table back up, but your comment makes Yuqi gasp and all four pairs of eyes at the table turn to you. You slouch in your seat at their sudden attention on you.
“Why would you do that to yourself?”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Do you know your advisor's email? Let’s send them a message right now to get you out-”
“Stop.” You shake your head, laughing a bit at the overreaction from your new friends, “What’s wrong with Ethics?”
“It’s in the Hauss building.” Xiaojun says as if you should already know what that means. You roll your lips in and shake your head; you do not know what that means at all.
“It’s the building all the way on top of the big hill on the west side of campus, by the auditorium.” Xiaojun explains more.
“They only teach three classes over there: Ethics and Music Theory 3 and 4.” Mark sets down his melted froyo, not realizing he has some sticking to his upper lip.
“I’m failing to see what’s so horrible about that?”
“When Xiaojun says it’s a big hill, he means it’s a really big hill-”
“Didn’t someone count the steps once and it came out to be, like, close to 100?” Lucas asks, one hand still tangled with Yuqi’s and the other now rapidly slurping his triple chocolate froyo.
“That was me, and it’s 109 steps.” Mark shutters, “I took Music Theory 3 last year and I ended up skipping half of the time because I couldn’t find the energy to climb up and down those steps three times a week.”
“Why 109? Aren’t groups of steps usually in even numbers? That’s not very architecturally smart.” Yuqi purses her lips and her eyebrows screw together.
“Screw architecture. Are you telling me I’ll have to climb up and down 109 stairs three times a week just to go to Ethics?” You can already feel a headache growing at the back of your head when you think about the complications of dealing with this big staircase. You needed that class for your major, and you thought it was going to be a class that you could pass with flying colors, but it seems like it might just be a nuisance to you more than an easy A.
“Talk to your advisor. Try to drop out and take a different class. Trust me, 109 steps don’t seem like much until you actually have to climb them.” Mark gives you his piece of advice, sticking his spoon filled with froyo into his mouth and then immediately scrunching his eyes and mumbling about brain freeze.
You’ll have to send an e-mail to your advisor real quick, but for your first day of classes tomorrow, you’ll just have to deal with those 109 steps.
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The walk to your ethics class the next morning is very calming, the university’s nice landscaping and the warm weather calming your nerves down for your first day of classes. When you round the corner of the stonewall you had been following, you’re met with the infamous set of steps.
You have to crane your neck to look up at the top of the staircase, your jaw slightly dropping at how steep of a hill the stairs were built on. There are other students around you walking up and down the staircase, their headphones shoved in their ears and their heads down as they make the climb to and from class.
The stonewall you had been following all the way here continues up the staircase on your right and on the left is a thick wall of trees, their branches hanging over the stairs and giving protection from the sunlight to the students below. You begin to count every step on your way up; four regular steps, the fifth one a bit longer than the rest, and then repeat. It’s not that you don’t trust Mark’s words when he said there’s 109 steps, you just want to count for yourself.
You hear some rowdy boys coming down the stairs, but the noise is not enough to pull your head up from the ground or to stop you from counting, until you’re forcefully pushed into the stone wall on your right. Breathing in through your teeth sharply, your left hand clutches your collarbones where the pain is the worst.
“Oh, my god. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to push you.” The guy laughs through his words, a high-pitched and almost squeaky laugh, making him sound not as sincere as he probably meant to be. When you turn to face him, the first thing you notice are his eyes. Chocolate colored and almond shaped, some laugh lines showing from the remnants of his shenanigans with his friends.
Looking back, you realize you fell in love with his eyes first. How they don’t hold back from showing any emotion, and the mischievousness they hold no matter what.
Even when his smile falls, his face looks pretty; long hair hanging down over his forehead and ears, and plump lips spreading into an ‘o’ shape as he looks at your dragonfly. Every line and detail is just the same as his own, as if fate spent a little more time with you two to make sure you know you’re each other’s soulmate the moment you meet.
“Your mark…” The man points at your hand, and that’s when you realize who you’ve just met. His brilliant eyes fill with excitement and he starts to breath harder, taking a step back from sheer surprise that you’re here. His soulmate. His one and only for the rest of this life.
However it all fades away the moment you drop your hand from your collarbones, stepping past him to continue up the staircase.
“Next time, watch where you’re going.” The first words you ever say to him are filled with so much indifference that Haechan can only follow your back with his eyes, his jaw slack and his hand still reaching out for you.
“Hey, wait-” Haechan is about to run after you, but he’s held back by Renjun, his best friend and the one who pushed Haechan into you in the first place.
“Was that-” Renjun begins, holding onto his friend’s elbow as he also watches you walk up the rest of the 109 steps.
“Yeah… Why did she ignore me like that? She saw that I have the same mark. We’re soulmates!” Haechan almost cries out in confusion, his heart and mind in a mess. Can you blame him? He’s been waiting to meet his soulmate since he knew what the dragonfly on his hand meant. Haechan has never been a patient person, and even waiting several years for you to come to him was testing him. Now that you’re here, he isn’t going to let you go easily.
As Haechan begins to walk back up the staircase to follow you, not caring about his Literature class in 15 minutes, Renjun’s grip on him tightens and pulls him back.
“You can’t just go harass her about this.”
“I’m not going to harass her. I just want to talk.” Haechan tries to pull out of Renjun’s grip again, but the little man has the sturdiness of a boulder and pulls his friend back.
“Maybe she doesn’t want a soulmate?” Renjun and Haechan stop their tug of war at Jaemin’s words. He had been leaning against the handrail by the trees the whole time while watching the scene unfold in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest and his baseball cap covering his eyes. “It’s not that uncommon these days.”
Haechan and Renjun let go of each other at their friend’s words. Jaemin sends them a bitter smile and all three of them recall the incident that happened last year when Jaemin met his own soulmate:
A rejection.
Jaemin took it hard; if it hadn’t been for his best friends, he doesn’t know where he would be in life right now. Jaemin can’t help but let the memories surface as he continues to walk down the stairs, slower than before, his head bowed and his hands shoved into his pant pockets. Renjun sends Haechan a look that tells him to not push the situation further, following Jaemin down the stairs.
Haechan sends your retreating figure one last look, watching you reach the top of the staircase and walk into the Hauss building. He retreats and follows his friends dejectedly, the promise of you showing up on this staircase at the same time on Wednesday being the only thing that lets his legs follow his friends down the stairs.
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“Hey, ___, come in.” Mark smiles brightly when he recognizes you at the door, stepping aside to let you into the dorm room. “Xiaojun is in the shower still… Will you be okay by yourself if I leave?” He looks unsure as you set your backpack down on Xiaojun’s desk chair.
“Oh, I’ll be fine. You do whatever you need to.” You state and then plop down onto your friend’s bed. You hear Mark laugh and say something about how all the first years look tired at the end of their first day and then leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. You lay sprawled out on the bed, the only sounds surrounding you is the water from the shower and the ticking of the analog clock on the wall.
Even though the whole ordeal happened several hours ago, you haven’t been able to get the moment you met your soulmate out of your mind. It was almost impossible for you to turn around and walk away. Even now, your feet still itch to go back to that staircase and find the sweet looking guy who you no doubt left confused.
However, you can’t do that— you won’t let yourself do that. And that’s partially why you’re in Xiaojun’s dorm room after your last class today: so that he can knock some sense into you.
The shower turns off and a few moments later, the bathroom door opens and Xiaojun steps out. He has a towel wrapped around his waist and a smaller one on his shoulders to catch the droplets from his hair; when he sees you laying on his bed, he jumps in fright.
“Good, God,” He sighs and clutches his bare chest with one hand, the other protectively going to the towel around his waist. “Can you say something the next time you come over? I almost had a heart attack because of you.” He walks over to his closet on the other side of the room, rummaging through some clothes as you sit up.
“Sorry, I thought you heard the door open…” You trail off, getting distracted by Xiaojun’s mark. The dragon on his back is huge, taking up most of the area and spreading to his shoulders and upper arms, too. However, that’s not the mark that caught your attention. Right on his ankle sits a three-leaf clover, so small and such a stark difference from the monster drawn on his back.
You’re pulled away from your thoughts when Xiaojun turns around and walks back into the bathroom, this time leaving the door open, “So, how was your first day?”
“Oh, well, it was okay…” You trail off, speaking a bit louder so that he could hear you from the other room. You stand up and start pacing in the space between Mark’s and Xiaojun’s beds, a nervous habit of yours.
“But? I know there’s a ‘but’ somewhere.” Xiaojun replies.
“Well, something happened…” You trail off, not sure how to make the words leave your mouth yet.
“What is it?” You swallow at the question, your throat dry and hands clammy. You must’ve been taking a long time to answer because Xiaojun walks out of the bathroom, now fully clothed, and stares at your pacing form. “What’s wrong, ___.”
“I met him.” You say simply, hoping Xiaojun gets what you mean, but he doesn’t. You sigh and sink down to the floor slowly, catching yourself on Xiaojun’s bed. The action makes his eyes widen in fear and he crosses the room in a few short strides, kneeling down next to you and searching your eyes for the answer.
“What? What is it?”
“The person with the same mark as me. I met him.”
“... Oh.”
Xiaojun slowly slides down onto his butt in front of you, folding his legs. He’s not sure what to say, or how to comfort you in anyway. He didn’t expect to be the only person around that you trust when something like this happens. He sees the lost look in your eyes and slides towards you to pull you into a hug.
Unlike Xiaojun, and most people in the world, you do not have two marks.
Xiaojun’s dragon and clover match with two different people in this world; one who will be his soulmate and the other who will bring him immense pain. Everyone has two marks— except you; it even states it on your birth certificate, your parents can testify that they’ve never seen a second mark on you, just the lonely dragonfly that spreads its wings over your left hand.
When you were younger, you were curious about what it meant to only have one mark. The people around you always had two marks, the people on the TV shows you liked to watch always had two marks, even anatomy books have depictions of humans with two marks. Why were you different? What did it mean?
After gathering up the guts to type the question into the Google search engine, you found your answers, and it changed your thoughts on your one and only mark forever. The people in the world who only had one mark testified to the same story online: the person who’s mark matched theirs were both their soulmate and the person who hurt them the most.
After learning about that, you promised yourself that if you ever met the person with the same mark as you, you would not meddle with them in any way if they were only destined to bring you pain in the end.
If you knew jumping off a bridge would definitely kill you, you wouldn’t jump, right?
Xiaojun is the only person, other than your parents, who knows about the situation. Which is why when he hugs you, you lean into him and accept his comfort.
“Tell me what you’re thinking about. You must have so many questions.” He mumbles into your hair.
“Not questions. I’m just curious about what I am to him.” You reply, whispering into Xiaojun’s shoulder.
“About what you are to him?”
“I know he’ll be the person I’m meant to love the most, and also the person who will hurt me the most. But am I the one that’s supposed to love him or the one that’s supposed to hurt him?”
“Lots of people say that they can feel it when they meet. Like Lucas, he said he instantly knew Yuqi was supposed to be his soulmate.” Xiaojun thinks back to all the people who have told him the exact same thing, even his parents.
“The guy… he kept calling me his soulmate. He sounded so sure about it, too.” You lean away from Xiaojun to look into his big and curious eyes.
“What about you? What did you feel?” He asks.
“It felt… like I left a part of myself with him.” Xiaojun’s eyes widened at that, “Is that crazy? I was only around him for a minute, maybe less, and I can’t stop thinking about how I never wanted to leave. It was so hard to walk away from him..” You trail off, feeling tears suddenly gather at the edges of your eyes.
“Xiaojun…” The edge in your voice makes him grab a hold on your hands, “I don’t want him to hurt me. I’m not ready for it.”
“Hey, hey…” Xiaojun squeezes your hands before gently guiding your face to his, meeting his eyes with your own, “He’ll hurt you eventually, yeah, but he’ll also be the person who is supposed to love you unconditionally. The person who is going to know you so well, better than yourself. Maybe you should see where he takes you in life? Destiny still wanted you to meet each other no matter what the end game is going to be… Are you really going to tell fate to fuck off?”
“Can’t I?” Your response makes Xiaojun laugh, which he apologises for laughing in a serious situation right after, but the mood is already broken and you laugh at yourself a bit as well.
“C’mon, let’s order something to eat and get your mind off of this, even if it’s just for a few hours.” Xiaojun pulls you off of the floor and reaches for his phone, trying to find the phone number to his favorite delivery place.
You sit on his bed once again, your hands limp in your lap and so much appreciation for Xiaojun in your chest. You probably would’ve gone insane if he wasn’t here for you. His suggestion on giving the guy you met today a chance plays like a record in your head, but the record scratches when you remember the promise you made to yourself a long time ago.
Don’t mess with him. He will only bring you pain in the end.
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On Wednesday, Haechan is the first one out of his seat in his Music Theory 3 class, not even waiting for the slow Renjun and even slower Jaemin before sprinting out of the classroom and outside, waiting at the top of the staircase for your figure to appear at the bottom.
Students float up and down the stairs, but he doesn’t see you anywhere amongst them. Eventually, Renjun and Jaemin catch up to him, standing behind him and also staring down the long staircase.
“C’mon, Haechan, we need to go to our next class.” Renjun is the first one to step down, followed by Jaemin. Haechan takes a good look at everyone’s faces on his way down, getting some weird looks sent his way for staring, but he doesn’t care.
“Haechan.” Jaemin suddenly calls out, making his friend turn suddenly to look at him. Jaemin only nods his head to the bottom of the stairs where you just turned the corner. Despite his hurry from before, Haechan stops at the sight of you. His usual confidence is lost when he sees you climb the stairs. Now, he’s not sure if he should approach you.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Renjun nudges Haechan, but the younger only turns around to look at his friend.
“I don’t know what to say to her. What do I say to make her see I’m her soulmate?” Haechan asks, helplessness seeping into his words.
Renjun rolls his eyes; whenever his best friend needs to be the usual confident man he is, that’s when the confidence is most likely to drain out of him. Renjun shakes Haechan’s shoulders with a tight grip on his jacket, making some more people send the two of them some weird looks.
“She’s your soulmate, right? Fate already gave you everything you need to know about how to talk to her.” Renjun then pushes his friend towards your direction, “But for the love of god, don’t harass her.” Renjun ends with a pointed look and continues walking with Jaemin down the stairs.
Haechan slowly makes his way to you, crossing over to the middle of the staircase and stopping you in your tracks. You look up to inspect who it is that just stopped in front of you, and your surprise fades when you realize it’s the same guy from Monday.
“Hi.” He says simply. You only nod your head, lips pursed, and then move around him to continue walking to class.
“Wait…” Haechan calls after you, but you don’t stop this time. So Haechan keeps walking after you, only one step behind, “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but you’re my soulmate. I’ve been waiting for you for so long—” You sharply turn to face him, making Haechan cut off and tilt his head up to look at you.
“How do you know I’m your soulmate? What if I’m not?” You ask. Haechan shakes his head softly at that, his golden hair moving over his sun-kissed skin as he does.
“That’s not possible.”
“How do you know?” You ask. Haechan loves how curiosity burns in your eyes. He takes longer than normal to speak only so that he can look over your features and memorize them to the best of his ability. Last night, he tried to recall your face but the image came out so blurry since he only saw you for a moment on Monday. He wants to clearly remember what you look like.
“How about I take you somewhere, and then I’ll tell you?” The proposition stuns you, and your burning curiosity makes you want to say yes. However, going anywhere with him would be breaking your promise to yourself, so you decide to forget it.
“Nevermind…” You mumble, turning around to walk up the stairs again.
“You seem like you really want to know how I’m sure we’re soulmates… Aren’t you curious?” Haechan asks, making you stop in your tracks again. This man has only known you for a day, only talked to you for a few moments, yet he already knows how to get you to do something. “I promise I won’t hurt you, and I’m not lying either.”
You take a moment to think about the proposition. You’re really curious about how he’s so sure that you’re soulmates. Sure, you know you’re soulmates, but why is he so sure you aren’t the person who’s supposed to hurt him? You consider taking up the offer, but can you stay strong to your own promise while being close to him?
Curiosity wins, and you turn back around to face him, nodding and making him smile widely. There’s that crinkle in his eyes again, that sparkle against the sun that makes saying yes to him so much more worth it.
“My friends call me Haechan, but you can call me Donghyuck. That’s my real name.” He sticks out his hand for you to shake. You once heard that physical touch brings soulmates together quicker; you’re not sure if that’s true, but you don’t want to test it.
“I’m ___.” You nod at him and grip onto your backpack straps instead of accepting his handshake.
“Haechan, hurry up or we’ll be late!” You both hear Renjun shout out from the bottom of the stairs, “And on our second day, too.” You hear him groan.
“Okay, ___, I’ll see you here at 7pm tomorrow night.” Haechan turns around to run back to his friends, sending you one last wave goodbye and almost tripping down the stairs as he does.
You take a deep breath and turn around to walk up the rest of the steps. You’re unsure if you did the right thing by agreeing to see him tomorrow night, but the deed is now done, and you can only wait for Donghyuck to quench your curiosity.
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As promised, you meet Donghyuck at 7 o’clock sharp the next day. He’s already waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs.
“So, where are you taking me?” You ask after saying your hello’s.
“It’s a surprise.” He smiles and nods his head to make you follow him. He leads you through parts of campus you haven’t seen yet, the buildings looking older and older the further down the path you walk. Soon, Donghyuck takes a sharp turn into what looks like the middle of the forest but is really just a small, hidden extension of the trail.
Under a canopy of tall trees that wave with the wind to you and Donghyuck, there is a skinny trail that leads to glimmering water. It draws you in, your curiosity struck and your feet now moving on their own accord. Bushes tickle your ankles and the smell of some sort of flower you cannot identify floods your senses, but you can only keep walking towards the sparkling water.
The scene in front of you takes your breath away, a crisp gasp that you have no control over leaves your lips. The pond before you is big, stretching further than what you can see. The water is blue and the setting sun’s light reflects off of it to create rippling sparkles. There are some lily pads floating around, their flowers gone due to the temperature dropping recently.
You didn’t even notice that you stopped walking, your eyes wide as you take in the scenery before you. You almost forget who you’re with and why you came, but Donghyuck doesn’t let that happen. You snap out of it when he continues to walk along the trail that leads around the pond. You walk alongside Donghyuck, a few feet away with your hands awkwardly tucked into your pockets.
“C’mon, let’s sit.” He motions to a weeping willow tree. It’s tall and the branches sway pleasantly in the wind, completely unaware and indifferent to the years of history in the area. Underneath the tree is a sturdy bench, you sit on the left side while Donghyuck sits on the right side. Then, you both take a few moments to stare at the mesmerizing water that led you all the way to this seemingly magical place.
“Why did you bring me here?” You ask after a bit.
“Do you not like it?” Donghyuck asks back.
“No.” You quickly reply, looking over his side profile before turning back to the water, “I’m just curious.”
“Something in me knew you would like this place, that’s all.” Donghyuck replies while trying to hide his proud smile, looking down at the grass. “You’re curious about a lot of things, huh?”
“Yeah, I can’t help it. There’s just so much I want to know.” It’s easy to talk to him, a bit too easy. You have to keep reminding yourself that you’re supposed to have your guard up in front of him, but it’s proving harder than you thought it would be.
“Like how I’m sure that you’re my soulmate and not the person who is supposed to hurt me?” Donghyuck leans his weight away from you, his eyebrow cocked in a question. You nod your head lightly, playing with your hands on your lap.
“It’s because I’ve already met the person who’s supposed to bring me pain. I’ve already been hurt.” At his words, surprise fills you up and you turn your head to look him straight in the eye.
For some reason, you always thought that when people meet the person who brings them the largest amount of pain to their life, they couldn’t be the same ever again. How does one get hurt so badly, and still live on?
There are so many ways to hurt someone. Some people become bankrupt, some people lose all of their belongings, some people are even physically hurt by the person who has the same mark as them. How does a person go through any of that and still be themselves afterwards? More importantly, how did Donghyuck go through immense pain and still be able to smile at you like he is right here, right now?
“Here.” He begins to explain, pushing his pants around until you can see his second mark through one of the holes in his jeans, a sunflower on his knee, “My dad had the same mark as me.”
“Your…. Dad?” You ask, still confused.
“Mhmm,” He nods, now tracing the petals of the sunflower mark absentmindedly, “My parents immediately knew something was wrong when I was born. Why would a son and dad have the same mark? When I was growing up, he worked a lot, so I spent lots of time with my mom and grew closer to her. I don’t remember much from that time, but I do remember we were happy. We didn’t have a lot, but we had each other; that kind of feeling.” He looks over at you to see if you’re keeping up with the story. To Donghyuck’s surprise, you already have tears lining your eyes.
“Then one day, Dad comes home and tells us he lost his job. I remember my parents fought a lot the few weeks after that happened, mostly about how to raise me if they had no income. Dad would go out and look for work, but always came back with no luck. So eventually, my mom started working. For a while, the reason we could keep living was because of her.” Donghyuck swallows and pauses for a moment before continuing.
“And then one night, dad came home and told us he gambled. Everything, he gambled everything away. Even the little that we had, it wasn’t ours anymore. That night, my dad told me I was a mistake. My parents never meant to have me, and he said…” Donghyuck purses his lips for a moment. It had been a while since he thought about this. The scar on his heart still hurts when he picks at it. “... He said that he wished I had never been born. Then, we wouldn’t have been in that mess.”
“How old were you?” You speak up after a moment.
“Seven? Or eight.” He nods and sniffs his nose, looking down at his knee. The whole day, Donghyuck was preparing himself to tell you this story. He felt that the only way to get close to you was to open up like this first, to show you that he isn’t someone scary or bad. To Donghyuck’s surprise, telling this story hurts less now than it did earlier in this life. Maybe that means time is working, and his heart is being mended bit by bit.
Donghyuck leans his elbows against his knees, looking at the water once again while waiting for you to say anything. Are you still curious? What do you think of him now?
He was in no way prepared to feel your arms wrap around his waist in a hug, your head resting against his shoulder and your chest pressed against his side. He freezes for a moment, and then melts into your embrace completely. He’s overcome with lovesick softness for you, lightly griping the part of your arm that’s across his chest as his head turns to the side to press a kiss to the top of your head. It’s so quick that you don’t even have time to move away or to react. You just let it happen, as it’s supposed to be.
“You said that something in you knew I would like this place,” You mumble against him. He hears your voice straining with emotion, “Well, something in me knows that you need this right now.”
You and Donghyuck sit there until the sparkling water is no longer fueled by the sun’s light, but by the moon’s. It seems as though now you’ve touched Donghyuck, you never wanted to stop. You’re almost one hundred percent sure that it’s because of the soulmate bond, and a part of you nags at yourself for already chipping away at the promise you made to yourself when you were younger.
However, younger you never knew what it would be like to have a person sit in front of you and share a part of his past with you in an act of confidence and security. Your younger self never knew what it would be like to feel the same pain as someone else, and the pull you felt to touch him after sensing that physical affection would help ease that pain away.
Your younger self had no idea it was this easy to fall into a person, especially when you know they’ll catch you.
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“God, I’m so sick and tired of Accounting. ___, I’m quitting school.” Xiaojun gravely tells you, his eyes not wavering from his computer screen.
“Shut up and do your homework, Jun.” You mumble, your eyes not leaving your own computer screen as you type up your Ethics essay. Three weeks into school and you’re already fully emerged in your classes. The newness of college has faded and now it’s time to start the next four years of studying endlessly for the future.
“Are you guys… okay? You haven’t moved over there in a few hours.” Mark asks from the other side of the room where he’s doing his own homework. He eyes you and your best friend from where you’re sitting on his bed, “Are you even comfortable?”
You and Xiaojun are sharing a blanket, he’s leaning against his headboard and you’re leaning against the wall. Your legs are thrown over his and several textbooks are scattered over the blanket. You’re not even sure which of these books are yours or his, or which papers laying in messy stacks belong to who.
“Yeah, I think we’re okay. We’ve been studying like this since high school.” Xiaojun answers, his fingers moving along his keyboard at the same time. You nod at Mark and he shakes his head, not understanding you two but accepting the answer.
You’re over at the guys’ dorm room enough that Mark is not surprised to see you here anymore, hanging out with Xiaojun or waiting for him to come back from class. It’s not that you don’t like your own dorm room, but it’s always so quiet in there since your roommate always studies at the library. You only hear her come into the room late at night when you’re on the verge of sleep, and when she leaves early in the morning before your alarm rings. Weekends are the same. You don’t really care, but you’ve started to hate the quiet, so you’re glad that Mark and Xiaojun don’t mind you chilling here.
“Argh,” Mark yawns and stretches after a few minutes, throwing his computer to the side and standing up, “I’m getting some snacks from the vending machine. You guys want anything?”
After you and Xiaojun answer with simultaneous shakes of your heads, which creeps Mark out, he leaves the room to get food. The room is silent for a few more moments until Xiaojun angles the lid of his laptop down to look at you.
“So… How’s the guy?”
“What guy?” You ask, still preoccupied with your essay.
“Your soulmate, ___, what other guy is there?” Xiaojun answers exasperatedly, “You never told me his name, so I don’t know what to call him. Actually, I haven’t heard you talk about him since the first day of classes. I was hoping you’d tell me what happened with him, but I guess I have to go digging up your dirt myself.” He rolls his eyes.
“His name is Haechan.” You answer, moving your computer to the side, “And I haven’t said anything to you about him because… I haven’t seen him in weeks.” You admit quietly.
“Huh? Didn’t you say you were meeting up so he could tell you why he’s sure you’re his soulmate?” You nod your head at the question, “So, what happened after that?”
“Well… I kinda, maybe, sort of…. have been avoiding him.” You answer quietly, stealing a glance at your best friend to see him staring at you blankly. When he sighs and reaches for his pillow, your eyes widen and you hold up your hands in front of you, spewing pleas and ‘wait’s. Xiaojun doesn’t care, though, flinging his pillow from behind him and into your face.
“Ow?” You whine after the pillow makes contact with your head and forces you to turn to face the other way, “Was that necessary?” You rub your nose, the part of your face that hurts worse from his attack. You’re used to Xiaojun doing this to you whenever you did something that both of you know you shouldn’t have so that you can “get some sense knocked into you, hopefully.”
“You’re so dumb. So, so dumb. Why would you avoid him.” It’s not a question, more of a confused statement to the general air. “You realize people would kill to meet their soulmate, right? People would do anything to be in your position, but you just hide away?”
“People would do anything to meet their soulmate, but people would also do anything to stay away from the person who shares their other mark.” You retaliate, “You don’t understand. To me, Haechan is both of those people.”
“There you go again, worrying about the future when you’re not even sure about what is going to happen. When will you stop worrying about something you can’t control and start thinking about today?” Xiaojun sounds so tired talking about this topic, a conversation you’ve had many times in your friendship. You wonder if he’s so tired of it, why he keeps bringing it up himself.
Before you can answer, the door to the room opens and Mark walks in, several snacks in his arms, “Hey, everyone, I hope it’s okay I brought a friend. He’s in the same major as me, just a year younger—”
“___?” Mark stops talking when his friend speaks, surprised that he already knows one of the people in the room. Your eyes widen, jaw slackening as you’re unable to even let out a peep from your mouth.
“You know each other?” Mark asks, looking between his two friends.
“Yeah, you could say I know my soulmate.” Donghyuck replies, making both Xiaojun and Mark’s eyes widen. You suddenly realize the situation you’re in: under a blanket with Xiaojun, your pajamas on, and your soulmate in front of you after you ghosted him for weeks. For the first time in a while, your eyes meet.
Donghyuck is mad. You can tell by how his fists are clenched and his jaw is tightened. Slowly getting out of the bed, you try to form some words, but Donghyuck snaps and walks over to you quickly. Grabbing your hand, he pulls you out of the room and down the hallway until you get to the lounge area. When you reach the empty room, that’s when you come to your senses.
“Donghyuck,” You pull your arm out of his, making him turn to face you, “I’m not even wearing shoes.” You hiss, pointing down to your feet as if to prove some point.
“What was all that?” He disregards your comment and hisses back at you, stepping closer so that you’re barely a few inches apart. “You were under a blanket. With some guy. Don’t you feel wrong doing that?” He asks, his hands now on his hips. You feel slightly like you’re being lectured to.
“That guy is my best friend.” You spit out.
“So, do you go around and do that to all of your guy friends?” Donghyuck chuckles vehemently, you can tell he’s angry and jealous, and that those emotions are clouding his brain at the moment. That doesn’t mean his words don’t hurt, though.
“Xiaojun and I have been best friends since we were in diapers. I’ve known you for three weeks, barely. I’m more comfortable around him than I am with you. You think just because I’m your soulmate, I’ll automatically trust you and we’ll all of a sudden be a happy couple? It doesn’t work like that, Donghyuck. I don’t even know you.” You can tell you hurt him by your last words because he turns silent, his shoulders slouching and his anger subsiding.
You can tell you hurt him, hard, because you feel the hurt, too.
It makes you realize how scary the bond between soulmates is. Even though you and Donghyuck haven’t spent that much time together to strengthen your bond, it’s still strong enough to allow you to feel his emotions. It makes you wonder if Donghyuck will be able to feel your pain in the future when he hurts you, like he’s destined to.
“Have you even tried to get to know me? You’ve been avoiding me ever since I took you to the pond.” At his comment, you fold your arms over your chest and look away, not ready to answer that question.
“I’m… just scared, is all.” You manage to reply. Although not the complete truth, it’s not a total lie. Donghyuck completely softens at your words, his close proximity to you feels less threatening and turns into something more gentle. His hand softly slips into yours, but this time with a lighter touch than before.
“You don’t have to be scared, not around me. I’m new to this too, so I don’t know how it all works yet, but this is something we can figure out together. That’s what we were fated to do.” Donghyuck can feel his words pulling you closer to him, he can feel you on the edge and he’s ready to catch you with his arms wide open.
But in the last second, you take a step back and slip your hand out of his, making his drop limply to his sides. You send him a look, something he can’t read, and then turn around and walk back to the dorm he pulled you out of.
He almost had you, almost.
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When midterms come around, you use your upcoming tests and projects as a way to dive deep into your work so that you don’t have to think about Donghyuck. It’s a good plan overall, however your friends quickly start worrying for you and your health. Staying up late several nights in a row and not even being able to remember when the last time you ate is where Xiaojun pulled the plug on your bad studying habits. He confiscated your backpack and dropped you off in front of your dorm building with the promise that you’ll have all of your things back tomorrow morning only if you rest for tonight.
On your way to the elevator, you run into Yuqi, both of your facial expressions brightening when you recognize each other.
“Oh, ___, Hi!” You stop in the middle of the hallway to greet her, a smile pulling at your lips due to her bright hello. “How are you?”
“Midterms are kicking my ass, but other than that I’m fine.” She laughs at your answer, throwing her head back and letting her new short hair ruffle her shoulders.
“I wish I could tell you it gets better, but that would be a lie.” You nod your head in solemn understanding, “Listen, I can’t talk for long since I have a night class, but promise to text me when things slow down, yeah?”
“Of course, I promise.” You nod, just the thought of spending some time with a good friend already pushes away your stress. You wave bye to Yuqi as she begins to turn around but after a loud “oh!” leaves her lips, she turns back to face you.
“Your roommate, her name is Mya, right?” At her random question, you tilt your head in confusion, “She has really long, black hair and big glasses, right? I think I saw her when I was helping you move in?”
“Yeah, that’s her.” You nod, “Why?”
“She found her soulmate today.” You would’ve been more interested in the news if you knew Mya beyond when she goes to class and when she gets back to the dorm, but you feign surprise and nod your head absentmindedly.
“Lucas managed to get a video. It was a whole performance in the quad today, you’d think someone was getting married. I’ll send it to you later.” And with that, she says her last goodbye and runs off. You slowly turn and continue walking in a slow pace up to your dorm room, taking the stairs just so you can have some time to think and be away from people you could potentially run into if you use the elevator.
You’re genuinely happy for Mya, even if you barely know a single thing about her. However, something about a person close to you finding their soulmate makes you sad, considering the situation with your own soulmate. You can’t help but feel a little jealous that there are people who can meet their soulmate and fall into each other’s lives easily.
In times like these, you crave for Donghyuck.
You crave his touch and his words, you crave that comfortable feeling of belonging somewhere you get when he’s around. It’s insane that you haven’t spent much time together, yet you can yearn for someone to the extent that it hurts. It’s been like this ever since Donghyuck pulled you out of Xiaojun’s dorm and you rejected him.
Turning away from him all those weeks ago still haunts you. When you’re struggling to fall asleep, your mind goes to that night. When you let your mind wander, it wanders to that night. You constantly think about stepping away from him, but you’re not sure if you keep remembering the moment out of guilt or shame. One of the questions you keep asking yourself is if you did the right thing. You still do not have an answer.
When you walk into your dorm room, you kick off your shoes and turn on your bedside lamp, falling onto your bed with a deep sigh. You close your eyes for a second, but the peace and quiet of your room is ruined when your phone dings with a notification.
Yuqi’s message pops up, and when you swipe your phone open you can see she sent a video. You click on it and turn the volume up. This was no doubt taken earlier today in the quad, the sun shining and lots of professors and students walking in the background. Under the huge clock tower stand two people, one of them holding a large bouquet of roses. When the clock strikes noon, the bells on top of the tower begin to ring a familiar melody that can be heard all over your big campus. You see the exchange of the bouquet and the two people hug, and then applause rises from the people walking by. You smile when you hear Lucas’ whooping and hollering from behind the phone.
You’ve heard about the tradition of soulmates meeting under the clock tower at your university. Yuqi told you about it when she was giving you a tour around campus at the beginning of the semester. You remember her telling you that it’s really romantic, probably due to the history of so many people getting together in the exact same spot.
Although the idea is rather plain, you do feel your heart strings tug at the beautiful display, glad you could see something like this through a video. Then, as the camera gets closer to the couple, your smile fades and you pause the video, zooming in to get a better view. Mya is no doubt the one who received the flowers, but you can’t help but furrow your eyebrows as you recognize her soulmate.
It’s one of Donghyuck’s friends.
Not the quiet one with black hair that hangs around on the outside of their group, but the shorter one who seemed to simultaneously love and hate Donghyuck, or at least that’s what you gathered from seeing him a few times.
After the realization, you drop your phone to the side and stare up at your ceiling in defeat. Is this fate? If you didn’t meet Donghyuck on those steps two months ago, would you eventually meet him through your roommate and her soulmate? Or is this all just one big coincidence?
In this world, coincidences are harder to find than the work of fate.
Your train of thought is quickly cut off by the opening on the door, you quickly sit up to watch a huge red bouquet of flowers enter the room, followed by your roommate. You’ve only seen her face a few times this semester, but never have her features looked so bright and happy. She also looks startled when she notices you’re in the room, but her happiness doesn’t fade.
“Oh? You’re here?” She asks.
“I could ask you the same thing.” You both chuckle awkwardly, “Congrats, by the way. For finding your soulmate.” You motion to the flowers in her hand.
“Thank you! To be honest, Renjun wasn’t at all what I expected in a soulmate, but I think I love him already.” The sweetness drips from her eyes and words, and you nod and smile, remembering that Donghyuck’s friend’s name is Renjun. Her phone begins to ring and she shuffles the flowers in her hand to look at the screen, “Oh, it’s him.”
She answers the call, speaking quietly as she walks over to her side of the room. You weigh out the options of sneaking out of your dorm and finding a place to chill until your roommate falls asleep. You're not sure if you can talk to her about soulmate stuff and keep up this happy look on your face.
However, all thoughts of those plans leave your mind when Mya turns to you and holds out the phone, “It’s for you?” She says it more like a question, but you’re sure you’re the one who’s more confused.
“Hello?” You ask into the phone, awkwardly looking around the room.
“___? Oh, thank god. It’s Renjun, Haechan’s friend. I need your help.” He talks quickly and shallowly, like he’s out of breath and currently moving somewhere.
“How did you know I’m Mya’s roommate?” You ask, disregarding his cry for help.
“It’s a long story, I promise I’ll explain later, but can you please come to the auditorium? The back entrance.” You hear more voices in the background of the call, but you can’t make out what they're saying. One of them is definitely Donghyuck.
“What’s going on?” At the sound of your soulmate’s unique tenor, you suddenly become more aware of what might be happening. Is Donghyuck safe? Did he get in trouble?
“Donghyuck drank too much and he won’t go home, he keeps asking for you.” At that, you hand the phone back to Mya, who takes it from you with an unsure look. By the time Mya says her worried goodbyes and hangs up, she turns back to an empty dorm room, your phone snatched from your bed and your scattered shoes gone.
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You must’ve made it to the auditorium in record time, not even the climb up the 109 steps could slow you down. When you reach the auditorium, you can hear Donghyuck and his friends conversing loudly and you follow their voices, which eventually leads you to the dingy backside of the auditorium. Donghyuck is sitting on the ground with the hood of his coat pulled up and covering his eye sight, arms crossed over his chest and his lips in a pout. His two friends, Renjun and the black-haired kid, stand above him. The quiet one is shivering in his spot while Renjun practically yells at Donghyuck on the ground, who doesn’t seem to be moving any time soon.
“Hi, ___.” The quiet one notices you first and then all three guys turn to look at you.
“___…” Donghyuck whines out your name and tries to stand up but Renjun gently pushes him back down.
“What happened?” You ask, sniffing your nose when the harsh, cold air nips at it.
“He said he wanted to unwind before his midterms tomorrow but then he went out and had some drinks, a few too many as you can see.” Renjun explains, “We followed him here, he said he won’t go anywhere unless it’s with you.”
“It’s strange. Haechan is a good drinker, I didn’t think he would get drunk so quickly… Oh, I’m Jaemin, by the way.” He introduces himself with a bright smile, as if you weren’t just discussing the drunken state of his friend.
“I’m Renjun, I called you earlier. I promise I have a good explanation for how I know you’re Mya’s roommate, I just don’t think right now is the best time to talk about it.” Renjun explains, his hands pointing towards Donghyuck.
“Right, about him… I think you guys should leave.” Both sober men widen their eyes, looking at each other and then back at you.
“Are you sure you want to handle this yourself? He looks small, but Haechan is kind of heavy.” Jaemin warns.
“Hey!” Donghyuck speaks up, but even his verbalization sounds slurred. When he points an accusing finger at Jaemin, he sways and misses Jaemin’s figure by a whole foot, “Don’t say that kind of stuff to my girlfriend.”
At his use of the word, Jaemin and Renjun stand straight with awkwardness and you sigh, white puffs of air leaving your mouth, “Yeah, you guys should go.”
Renjun and Jaemin give you an unsure look, but turn around and leave the area anyway. Renjun sends one last look over his shoulder with a wave of his hand. You look at Donghyuck after they turn the corner, kicking his shoe gently.
“Hey, get up. How much did you drink?” You’re not actually curious about how much alcohol he consumed, you just want to know if he can even respond to simple questions.
“Babe!” He exclaims when he looks up, “Oh, not much. I could go for another round right now, actually.” His words slur together and he sways in his sitting position against the brick wall of the auditorium.
“You’re not going for another round, you’re going home. C’mon.” You grab onto the sleeve of his puffer jacket, pulling him up so that he’s standing. He immediately falls onto you, his arms around your waist and his legs spread wide so that his head is hidden in your neck.
“Hyuck, you have to walk. Get up.” You pull him up once again, putting one of his arms around your shoulders and giving him more support around his waist. Slowly, you begin to walk away from the auditorium with Donghyuck’s drunk mumbling filling the cool air. His legs barely work underneath him, and he turns his head and leans into your ear every once in a while to sing some random lyric that pops into his mind at that second, like a small concert that he allows only you to hear.
Once you reach the top of the staircase, you stop and take a long look down to the bottom, “Why did you have to come all the way up here? How are we getting down the stairs?” If you start to climb down, Donghyuck could fall and hurt himself. You’re not that strong to begin with and your shoulders are already feeling sore from carrying most of Donghyuck’s weight.
“We can ride this.” He giggles and breaks away from you, one of his legs swinging over the handrail so that he’s straddling it.
“No, no, no.” You pull him off, but his shoe gets caught against the rail and he comes falling down onto you, both of you landing on the top step of the staircase. You wince in pain at how your back hits the concrete, but you don’t think about it much as you push Donghyuck off of you and into the space next to you on the top stair.
“Oh, no. Are we stuck up here?” He asks as you brush your hands together to get rid of the little pieces of concrete in your skin.
“Yes, and it’s all your fault. What are you gonna do about it?” You reply, so sarcastically that even Donghyuck’s drunk brain registers the joke. Your heart almost leaps out of your throat when he grabs your hands and pulls you closer to him, gently picking out each little ball of cement in your palms.
“I’m sorry I keep hurting you.” He apologizes. This close, you can smell the alcohol in his breath, mixed with his shampoo and cologne. He smells warm in this cold weather, and you feel like falling into him and drinking up his scent, not even minding the alcohol stench.
“Keep hurting me?” You ask.
“Yeah, that must be why you don’t want to be with me. I have to be doing something wrong for you to hate me.” He sighs, sniffling and enclosing your hands in his, his glassy eyes looking up at you and his long hair hangs down over his forehead and tickles his eyelashes. “I’m a bad soulmate.”
The way he says it makes your heart break. It makes you feel regret 1000 times worse than what you’ve been feeling these past few weeks; as if all of the worry and sadness hit you all at once, you feel like crying.
Isn’t he supposed to be the one who hurts you? Why does it feel like you’re the only one doing the hurting?
“You’re not a bad soulmate,” It’s not Donghyuck’s fault that he got stuck with you, or that things will turn out the way that they’re destined to, “And I don’t hate you.”
“You don’t?” He looks up into the night sky and sways a bit as he thinks, “Then why won’t you be with me? Hm?” He tilts his head, his lips pouting as he thinks. You desperately want to find an answer that’ll soothe him, but nothing you can come up with will give you that result, the truth included.
“It’s complicated…” You trail off, and your answer makes Donghyuck snort.
“How? I’m your soulmate, you’re mine. What else matters?” He laughs incredulously.
“What if you’re not just my soulmate?” You ask him, surprising yourself with how easily you can ask the question, probably because the influence of alcohol over him has you more at ease, “What if something happens in the future? I’m just… looking out for me, and for you.” You explain, trying to sound as vague as possible.
When you glance at Donghyuck, he looks dead serious. You think that maybe he has suddenly sobered up with how deep and calculating his eyes look. One of his hands tighten around yours while the other slowly raises to your hair, pacing himself along the way, and pausing before he touches you. When you don’t stop him, he gently caresses your hair and moves it away from your face, his nimble fingers sliding to your jaw. He moves your face so that your eyes meet his.
“I know I’m drunk, but I can make this promise again when I’m sober. I’ll make this promise every single day for the rest of my life, only if it means you can be there with me to fulfill it.” The severeness in his tone is like a wake up call about how serious this is for him.
“What promise?” You whisper back.
“It’s not just a ‘you’ or just a ‘me’ now. It’s an ‘us.’ And I will do everything I can to not hurt us.”
He says it with so much conviction that you somehow believe him. You finally fall into him and rest your tired head on his shoulder as he welcomes you into his warm arms. Maybe it’s foolish of you to think you two can go against fate’s words, but with him by your side, you feel like you can conquer the whole universe.
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“Stop smiling like that, you’re making it very obvious that you got laid for the first time.” Donghyuck peers over his laptop screen to Renjun, where he has had a permanent smile on his face ever since he, Donghyuck, and Jaemin met up today to study in the lounge center of their dorm building.
“You know, Haechan, I’m not even mad at that. It’s more than what I can say to you.” Renjun tries to hide his widening smile while looking down at his own laptop, but that paired with Jaemin’s quiet laughter leaves Donghyuck bitter. “Didn’t you and ___ make up?” Renjun asks.
“They were fighting? I thought they just weren’t talking to each other?” Jaemin asks.
“Isn’t that fighting?”
“Kids.” Haechan cuts them off, “Not that it’s any of your business, but we were not fighting and we did make up.”
“That makes no sense.” Jaemin mutters and squints his eyes at Donghyuck.
“I’m older than you.” Renjun retaliates, but Donghyuck pretends like he doesn’t hear.
“We’re just… taking it slow.” Donghyuck ends his explanation with a firm nod of his head, and Renjun shuts his laptop and turns to his friend.
“Can you take it slow during the Fair this weekend? I’m planning to go with Mya and accidentally bought two pairs of tickets. I’ll give you the other pair.” Renjun leans into his friend’s side and wiggles his eyebrows.
“At what cost?” Haechan leans in as well and raises an eyebrow.
“Help me with my English project.”
“No way,” Haechan leans back and focuses on his own laptop screen again, “I haven’t even started mine, I don’t have time to help you with yours.”
“Please,” Renjun draws out the word, grabbing Donghyuck’s sleeve and tugging at it so hard that he can’t properly type, “I suck at English, and unfortunately it’s the only thing that you’re better at than me.”
“The only thing?” Donghyuck glares at Renjun. “Now I’m definitely not helping you.” When Renjun whines at that Donghyuck gets a devilish idea, and it shows by the smirk on his face, “... Unless, you’d like to show us how you really need help.”
At Donghyuck’s proposition, he leans back in his chair with his arms folded across his  chest while Jaemin mirrors his actions, his own goofy smile on his face as he waits for Renjun to either accept or deny the proposition, but he hopes he’ll accept it.
Renjun looks between his two friends and sighs, dropping his head down as he mentally prepares himself. When he lifts his head, he looks at Donghyuck with his lips pursed, his pointer finger over them and makes a “kyu” sound that is way higher than his original speaking voice. Jaemin and Haechan immediately burst into as quiet of laughter as they can, Jaemin reaching over the table to poke Renjun’s cheek at his cuteness.
“I never said to act cute, I just wanted you to say please again.” Donghyuck jokes through his snickering, and Renjun immediately stands up from his chair to take a fistful of Haechan’s jacket and pull back his other fist, all cuteness gone from his facial features in a split second.
“Okay, okay, sorry, sorry.” Haechan tries to pull away, his voice rising as Renjun holds onto his jacket tighter and threateningly leans in.
“Hey, quiet down.” Someone whisper-shouts from a few tables away, and it makes Renjun let go of Donghyuck and slowly sit back down. “This isn’t even a library, why are they shushing me.” He grumbles.
“You guys have fun on your date,” Jaemin sighs as he begins to put away his things, satisfied with the study session and with his friends' mischief, “I would go too, but I don’t feel like being a fifth wheel.”
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Once your classes end on the day of the Fair, you and your roommate meet up with Donghyuck and Renjun outside of the Fair grounds. You and Donghyuck walk side by side, a bit behind the other couple as they lead the way, practically in their own little bubble. Your hands are shoved in your pockets to keep them from turning numb from the cold and you try to shove your head as far into your jacket as you can to keep your face and neck protected from the wind. Other than the chilly weather, it’s a perfect day for a Fair.
You don’t seem to notice Donghyuck’s predicament right beside you; he’s trying to find a way to hold your hand, but you don’t move them out of your pockets. Actually, Donghyuck is sure you’re doing this on purpose, since he has been trying to touch you the moment you met up with him tonight.
“So, what do you wanna ride first?” He asks you. After looking around the area, your eyes land on a tea cup ride, where the large cups move in circles and also spin in their spots.
“That.” You point to it. Before you can move, Donghyuck latches into your hand that was pointing into the air and pulls you to the ride, a smug smile on his face at how he succeeded in finally sharing some skin to skin contact.
The ride was, to say the least, nauseating. Not that it was disgusting, but Donghyuck wouldn’t stop spinning your individual cup around in fast circles, and you were so sure that you would fling off any second due to the strong velocity those tiny cups have when they go at full speed. However, walking off of the ride with wobbly legs and not being able to see straight was funnier than you thought it would be.
Donghyuck was actually still pretty dizzy when he tried to win a stuffed octopus for you with a dart game. However, he ended up losing $15 while trying to win the game, and you’re sure he would’ve spent more if you didn’t pull him away. After eating some good food and refilling your energy, the sun begins to set on the horizon in a colorful display of red, orange and pink, and people start to make their way to the ferris wheel.
“C’mon,” You hear Mya say from behind you, “We need to get in line first or else we’ll be waiting for half of the night.” She pulls Renjun by his sleeve and passes you and Donghyuck, practically running to the end of the growing line for the Ferris Wheel. When you see where she’s running to, you stop in your tracks which in turn makes Donghyuck stop. Your intertwined fingers pull you back to each other as he looks at you with a puzzled look.
“I’m… not good with heights.” You confess and look towards the top of the ferris wheel, shivering just at the thought of going that far up into the sky in a metal contraption, “Or small spaces…” You add on.
“That’s okay,” Donghyuck gently reassures, smiling lightly at your sudden timidness about your fears. Honestly, he’s just happy you now trust him a bit more to even tell him what you’re afraid of. “We don’t have to go. We can do something else.”
“Like what?” You ask. Donghyuck purses his lips and looks around, until a set of stairs on the edge of the fairgrounds catches his eye.
“I know a place where we can still get a good view of the sunset without going too far up.” He replies and tugs you along with him towards the set of stairs. They lead down to the park that’s nestled in the middle of your University, which eventually leads to a pedestrian bridge that crosses over a river that runs through your town.
The river isn’t that big, nor is the bridge, but it’s big enough to have your head tilting up in wonder as you gaze at the lights adorning the sides of it, lighting up not only the bridge itself by the sky as well. You’ve seen this bridge from your dorm room, but you’ve never once stood on it, and it looks remarkable from this close up.
Donghyuck continues to lead you over the pedestrian bridge onto the other side, where an outdoor museum that was constructed by art students a few years ago holds several different abstract paintings. His hand in yours, which has been it’s resting place all night, keeps yours warm. You try not to think about how your hands fit into each other like the gears of a hand-crafted watch. The lines on your palms connect with the lines on his; it’s painfully obvious he was made for you and you were made for him.
When you reach the end of the outdoor museum, you turn west and face the sunset just as it’s setting over the skyline. Even though some tall buildings obstruct the view, the colors of the sky stretch overhead and make both you and Donghyuck stand still and appreciate the artwork in the sky.
“You like these kinds of things, huh? Sunsets, and ponds, and that kind of stuff?” He suddenly asks, not talking his eyes off of the sky. You, however, turn to look at him. He has his eyes screwed as he tries to look at the sunset, obviously not liking the bright sunlight.
“You don’t?” You ask back.
“I think... there are more enjoyable things.” Donghyuck takes a while to make up his mind about what he wants, obviously trying not to make the things you enjoy sound bad to him.
“Then we should go.” You turn around, but he pulls you back to your original spot.
“We walked all this way, we’re watching this sunset even if my feet freeze to the ground.” He tightens his grip on your hand and speaks through his teeth, making you sputter out a laugh and hit his shoulder with your own lightly.
“Sometimes, I wonder why fate put us together.” You ask, watching as the sun moves bit by bit, leaving behind trails of light and the beginnings of stars and the vast universe on the other side of the sky. “We’re different. I don’t know about you, but you are not who I imagined my soulmate would be.” You speak truthfully.
Even though there are some strings attached to Donghyuck’s relationship with you, it didn’t stop you from thinking about what kind of person he’d be— what kind of person fate would pick to be your perfect fit. Maybe they would have some sort of major flaw, like an anger problem or a lack of common sense. Maybe they would be an alcoholic or someone who commits crimes.
When it came to your soulmate, you always thought of something bad considering that they were also going to hurt you in some way. You never thought that your soulmate would be someone as unique and fun as Donghyuck. Fate made it way too easy to be with him, and you’re not sure whether to feel bitter or thankful.
“Well,” He blows some air through his nose, “You’re exactly what I thought my soulmate would be like” Your heart jumps into your throat and beats irregularly when Donghyuck says that, struck with the feeling of surprise once again.
“Mark tells me you’re smart and get good grades, and I know it was you who ordered that soup for me the morning after you took me home when I got drunk. Not to mention, you went out when it was dark to take me home in the first place.” Donghyuck explains, his hand that’s still interlocked with yours waving around as he does so, “You’re willing to help others, you have a good head on your shoulders, and not to mention you guard your heart to the very end.”
“Guarding my heart… That’s an admirable quality? If I remember correctly, it caused you some pain in the past few months.” By now, the last rays of the sun are disappearing over the horizon and night begins to blanket the sky. You turn to your soulmate when he takes more than a moment to answer, watching the way his face reacts to the thoughts turning in his head.
“Yeah, it is a great quality. I think if you completely trusted me the moment you saw me on those stairs, we wouldn’t end up here now. You wouldn’t be the perfect fit for me if you loved me so easily.” He turns to you, a teasing smile playing on his lips. Your interlocked fingers are basically frozen together at this point and maybe your feet really have stuck to the ground, but his words warm you up from the inside out.
“I think I would’ve fallen in love with you even if we weren’t destined to be together.”
Somehow, he manages to remind you of one very important fact that you’ve set aside since the moment you met him. You’ve always put the fact that he’s supposed to hurt you first, and the fact that he’s your soulmate second. However, he is a human and so are you, and you’re both given the opportunity to love one another wholly and truly. People die to have this type of moment. People live their whole lives without experiencing this type of emotion.
It’s time to remember that Donghyuck is your soulmate, first and foremost. He is deserving of love, and you’re now willing to give it to him.
When you pull Donghyuck into you, he feels like it may be a hallucination. Surely your lips can’t be that close to his own. But when he smells the cinnamon on your lips from that churro you had and your fingers sliding up his arm to grip his jacket, he becomes scared that this might actually be a hallucination.
You slowly lean in, almost painfully slow, but Donghyuck doesn’t dare rush you. When your lips do meet, both of you feel complete. The feeling of finishing a lifetime’s worth of work with one gentle kiss is the most delicious feeling ever, different from anything that either of you have ever experienced.
It’s slow and careful, but passionate and full of true love. No matter what happens in the future, it will always be your memory to savor and remember for the rest of your lives.
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“___!” You hear Mark’s voice from your right, turning your head quickly to see him stick his hand up in the air and begin to make his way through the throngs of people between you two. You move towards him, attempting to meet in the middle, but somehow he ends up behind you, and you laugh as you attempt to meet again.
“Hey, Mark,” You look over him, noting how well he manages to pull off the choir robe that everyone else seems to look like a sack of potatoes in, “I didn’t know your concerts could get this packed. You guys could start your own group and make it big.” You look around while adjusting the flowers in your hand so they don’t get squished against your chest.
“Nah, it’s mostly just families that come to these concerts. Since there are a lot of vocal majors, there are a lot of families that show up.” He explains.
“So, what does that make me?” You joke, but Mark doesn’t seem to get it and tilts his head to the side.
“You’re Donghyuck’s girlfriend. That makes you family, right?” At the mention of your relationship, you glance down at the flowers in your hand, the flowers that are meant for the aforementioned boy. You nod, mumbling something like a ‘I guess’ before Mark looks down at his watch and sucks a breath through his teeth.
“Okay, I have to go warm up. Make sure you get a seat in the middle, that’s where it sounds best.” He gives you a quick wave as he walks away, and you manage to send one back. Before you know it, the doors to the auditorium open and people flood in to grab the best seat they can.
You barely manage to snag a seat in the middle, an older lady to your right and a grandpa to your left who seem to be unrelated and didn’t mind you sitting between them. You shrug off your coat as you look around, feeling anxiety build up in your chest. You know you don’t have anything to be anxious for, so you deduct that it’s probably Donghyuck.
He invited you to the concert today. For him, it’s part of his final grade for his vocal class and for you, it’s a chance to see him sing on stage. Strangely, he has talked about how much he loves to perform but never wants to sing in front of you. When he told you he auditioned for a solo in one of the songs, and ended up getting the part, you knew you absolutely had to come today.
Pulling out your phone, you send Donghyuck a text saying that you’re seated and that you wish him to break a leg. You see the read receipt pop up next to your text, and although he doesn’t text anything back, the anxious feeling in your chest subsides and you smile to yourself.
“Those are pretty flowers.” Turning your head to the lady on your right, you glance down at the bouquet of black-eyed susans on your lap.
“Oh, thank you.” You put your phone on silent and slip it into your pocket.
“They’re my mom’s favorite.” Your attention turns to a kid who sits on the other side of the woman. He can’t be any older than ten, and his feet don’t touch the ground as he swings them back and forth and looks up at his mother.
“Oh?” You ask, turning back to the older woman, “Would you like some?”
The woman seems to be stunned by your question, obviously not expecting you to hand over flowers at such a comment from her son. She looks almost flustered as she shakes her head at you.
“No, it’s okay. I bet those are for someone special?” She asks while nodding towards the stage.
“They’re for my… boyfriend.” You mumble, still not used to the words leaving your tongue, even though it has been more than a few weeks now.
“Then you should save them for him.” She nods and you smile back.
“But I want one.” The woman’s son pouts, and the mother nudges her foot against his leg. You laugh a bit, using your right hand to hold down the bouquet and your left to pull out a flower. Carefully, you hand it over to the little boy and he grasps it, his pout turning into a smile while he sings a ‘thank you’ and counts the petals on the flower.
The woman gives you a nod, and you all turn to face forward where the students are beginning to walk onto the stage.
The concert went well; you weren’t familiar with any of the pieces of music the choir performed, and many of them were in different languages, but you still enjoyed the performance by the many music students from your university. You managed to catch sight of Donghyuck fairly quickly, and Mark was just a few rows behind him.
Donghyuck’s solo fit his voice perfectly. Maybe you’re biased, but you think no one would be able to match his tone and technique to fit the song as perfectly as he did. Since it was the first time you heard him sing, you were a bit taken back by how amazing his voice sounds and how much control he has of it. It didn’t look like he struggled to hit the notes, and he looked like he was in his element on stage.
After the concert, you wait on the staircase outside of the auditorium building where you agreed to meet up with Donghyuck. You roll on your feet, jumping up and down slightly to keep warm. You clutch the flowers to you, scared that the cold weather might cause them to bend and begin to wilt quicker.
“Oh, it’s the flower lady!” You hear a familiar voice call out, and you turn your head to see the little boy and his mom from earlier… walking with Donghyuck? He has his choir robe hanging from one arm and his other hand intertwined with the little kid.
“Do you guys know each other?” Donghyuck asks, looking between the three of you with confusion.
“We happened to sit next to each other during the concert.” The woman explains, a grin growing on her face as she looks between you two. “This is your soulmate.” She doesn’t say it like a question, she says it plainly and nods her head in content.
“I’m sorry, did you already know who I was when we met?” You ask her.
“No, until I saw the mark on your left hand. I would recognize my own son’s mark anywhere.” Son? This is Donghyuck’s mother?! Your eyebrows must be up to your hairline and you think your mouth might be open, but you can only focus on remembering every little thing you said to her before the concert started to recall if you said anything dumb.
“Let me introduce you properly. This is ___, my soulmate and my girlfriend. ___, this is my mom, Sara, and my half-brother, Hyunjin.” Donghyuck gently takes your elbow and pulls you closer to him.
“It’s nice to meet you.” You politely greet them as if it’s the first time ever.
“Well, I like her. She gave me a flower.” Hyunjin exclaims.
“Back off, she’s mine.” Donghyuck jokes with the kid. “Thank you guys for coming today, by the way.” He continues, “I appreciate my favorite people being here for my first college performance.”
Donghyuck goes to hug his mom as she sets a kiss to his cheek that makes him cringe away slightly. However, you’re still struck to your spot from being included into Donghyuck’s group of favorite people. There’s a warm feeling in your chest at being included into something so special so early on in your relationship. There’s also some anxiety that comes with it, since promises that are made too early hurt the most, but you push the feeling away and soak in Donghyuck’s unconditional love.
After you all bid farewell to each other, and Sara and Hyunjin leave, you turn to Donghyuck with a deadpan expression, “You didn’t tell me I’d be meeting your family today.”
“Would you believe me when I say that I forgot they were coming?” He asks and you roll your eyes, not believing his words at all.
“These are for you.” You push the flowers into his chest and dig your hands into your pockets so that they can finally get warm, “Your solo was… interesting to listen to.” You say with annoyance dripping from every word.
“Thank you,” He replies cutely, not affected by your irritation. You roll your eyes again, but a smile tugs at your lips as well. “What kind of flowers are these? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them?” He asks while digging his nose into the bouquet.
“Black-eyed susans.” You reply, and Donghyuck gives you a weird look.
“That’s such a random flower.”
“They attract dragonflies.” You explain, nudging his side with your elbow. When you glance over to him, he has a smile playing on his lips.
“Should I be giving these to you, then?” He hands them over, but you push them back at him.
“No way. I’m already attracted to you.” You state, turning around to walk back down the staircase. When you don’t hear any footsteps following you, you turn around to find Donghyuck kneeling over with the flowers clutched close to him.
“Are you okay?” Alarm rises in your chest, especially when he shakes his head at your question.
“No, you just made my heart beat really fast and I’m afraid I’m gonna have a heart attack.” You would roll your eyes again, but you’re afraid they might roll out of your head at this point. You climb back up the stairs and yank on his sleeve jacket to make him walk alongside you.
“___, feel my heart. I swear it’s going to beat out of my chest.”
“Shut up, Donghyuck.”
“No, seriously, I think we should go to the hospital.”
“Shut up.”
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In the morning, Donghyuck loves to wake up next to you. He has always been a spread-out type of sleeper; arms to the side, legs open, laying diagonally across the bed. Once you two moved out of your dorms and moved into an apartment together during your second year of college, Donghyuck’s way of sleeping changed dramatically.
Now, he can’t help but snuggle in, wrap his arms around you, tangle his legs in with yours, and do everything he can to sleep as close as he can to you. Maybe that’s why he suddenly woke up. The absence of you next to him made him shuffle awake, missing the frame of your body next to his like how it usually fits.
He groggily opens his eyes and immediately shivers, catching the open windows in the bedroom letting in fresh, cool, morning air. Donghyuck shivers once again, blindly reaching for the blanket and wrapping it around his head and shoulders, then making his way out of the bedroom in search of you.
He checks the kitchen, but you’re not there. Then he goes to the living room, and he sees your figure outside on the balcony, the curtains that are supposed to be hanging up in your bedroom moving with the wind as they hang next to you. He tightens the blanket around him and opens the glass door. Even though you definitely heard him come outside, you don’t turn around. You have a cup of something warm next to you and you’re leaning against the balcony while staring out into the city skyline, watching the sun rise into the sky to welcome the new day.
“Good morning.” Donghyuck mumbles as softly as he can. When you mumble back a reply, he opens the front of the blanket so he can swallow you into his embrace. His chin rests on your shoulder and tries to guess exactly what you’re looking at, but when he lifts his head to look at your face, your eyes are closed.
“So, do you want to tell me why our curtains are out here and not on our windows like they should be?” He rests his head against yours, also closing his eyes.
“I woke up and suddenly felt the urge to clean them, I don’t know.” You laugh a bit, making both of you move with the movement of your chest. Donghyuck smiles at your reason; one of the things he learned about you when you moved in together is that your work ethic comes in random bursts of energy, rather than carefully planned out schedules to follow. You always have a small goal for every day, and sometimes you don’t even know what it is until it randomly pops into your head. Although he doesn’t really understand how you’re able to work like that, he loves this little quirk anyway.
“Did I wake you up?” You whisper and nudge your head into Donghyuck’s, nuzzling back into him when a particularly strong gust of wind blows over the balcony.
“Not technically, no. You not being next to me woke me up.” He replies.
“Well, I’m here now. How about we sleep some more?” You ask, leaning back against him and looking at his face.
“Best thing I’ve heard today.” He sighs. Without letting you out of his blanket trap, he walks you both back into the apartment and into your bedroom, both of you beginning to giggle at one point when you almost trip over the blanket and crash into the ground.
Thankfully, you both made it back safely to the bed, falling into the soft mattress. Immediately, Donghyuck gathers you in his arms and cuddles you to him, almost like he’s latching onto you. You wrap your arms around him slowly and lean into his shoulder, placing a kiss against his collarbone. You were going to stop there, but when he lets out a whimper at the small press of your lips to his skin, you continue moving up his neck.
When you reach the space underneath his ear, he twitches at how you suck on the sensitive skin, not expecting you to pay closer attention there. His hand slides over your back, between your shoulder blades, and back down, pressing you to him as he caresses you and silently hopes you don’t stop what you’ve started.
You don’t seem to have any intention to do that when you lean back, looking up at Donghyuck’s big, round eyes as they stare down hazily at you and quickly connecting your lips. He kisses back slowly, as if taking his sweet, sweet time in loving you.
“I thought we were supposed to sleep?” You ask between kisses.
“We can sleep later…” He trails off, grabbing your hand and pulling you on top of him so that you’re straddling his hips. “... If you’re really tired we don’t have to.” He suddenly pulls away, his hand comfortably resting over your waist.
“No way. It’s too late for that.” You answer, pulling your shirt over your head and tossing it to the other side of the bed. A chill runs through you at the cold temperature in the room, goosebumps forming over your arms and your nipples hardening. Donghyuck wraps his arms around your middle and presses a kiss in the valley of your chest, moving over until he reaches your left nipple and taking it into his mouth.
Biting your lip, your hands find his hair and tug on the long strands. Donghyuck’s hands squeeze your sides and his fingers draw random, little lines over your bare skin as he sucks and plays with your nipples, switching between each one.
“Hyuck…” You whine, giving a particularly sharp tug to his hair when he bites down onto your right nipple. “Please…” You trail off.
“Hmm? Please what? What do you want.” He leans back and looks up at you. You comb your fingers through his hair, pushing it back away from his face and behind his ears. His eyes are clouded and hooded over by the thoughts of you that are speeding through his mind.
“Please, make love to me.” You say it shyly, your eyes looking over his face but not meeting his own. He can’t help but smile at your timidness. You act like it’s the first time those words came out of your mouth. He can’t help but find it endearing how you ask him to make love to you every single time you find yourselves in this position.
“Of course, anything for you.” He connects your lips again, keeping the slow and steady pace from before. He shifts around as he moves his boxers away. Breaking the kiss, you move his hands away and pump his shaft, glancing up at him as he leans back with his weight on his hands and his head leaning back.
He lets out whines every time you twist your wrist, and you almost want to take a moment and stay this way, loving the sounds coming from Donghyuck’s mouth and how he looks as he pants beneath you. However, the tension growing between your legs makes you stop and sit up, pulling off your own pajama bottoms and underwear, throwing them somewhere along with your shirt.
Donghyuck grips your hips with one hand, the other pressing his middle finger to your slick folds, watching you squirm from above as he slides his finger through slowly.
“Just— Can you just do something already?” You almost whine out, grabbing onto his arm hard enough that you leave crescent moons in his skin.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure.” With your permission, Donghyuck positions himself at your entrance and slowly brings your hips down, watching your reaction throughout it all. The way your jaw slacks and drops open to the way you swallow when your hips meet with his, closing your eyes in pleasure at how he manages to fit inside you so perfectly. When everyone says your soulmate is made specifically for you, they really do mean in every way possible.
You sit like that for a moment, before opening your eyes and looking at your lover. He helps you move your hips up and back down, you let out a gsap at the sparks that fly up your spine. Your hips start to move in unison, yours grinding down and his moving up to meet yours in a steady rhythm, like a dance to music only you two can hear.
Your nails hurt when they move over his shoulders and chest, leaving temporary marks, but Donghyuck doesn’t mind. Actually, he loves it when you tug on his hair and scratch up his back, his whines turning into full out groans when you lean in and attach your lips to the side of his neck, pressing hot kisses down to his collarbone and biting down gently in the same place this whole situation started.
“H-Hyuck, I—” Before you know it, you’re so close to your orgasm, it’s basically right in front of you to reach out and accept.
“I know, baby, I know. You can come, I got you.” He answers back messily, using the last of his energy to keep your hips in place and drive himself into you. You let out a shriek at the sudden pleasure, only a few more deep thrusts into your hole and you’re falling over him as your orgasm spreads to every crevice of your body.
Donghyuck loves the way your muscles seize and flutter around him, making him pant and his thrusts become sloppy as he comes as well, his warm seed filling you up as he rides through his high. You both fall into the mattress below, you on top of Donghyuck, too tired to roll over and opting to just rest on his sweaty chest.
“I think that was way better than sleeping.” He says, his chest rumbling underneath you as he speaks.
“What a good way to tire ourselves out.” You yawn.
In the last few moments before your tired bodies fall asleep, you find Donghyuck’s hand and intertwine your fingers together, happily and contently falling asleep with the fresh air coming through the window and the sunlight now fully streaming into the room.
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In the late summer before your and Donghyuck’s last year of university, you attend a wedding. Not just any wedding: Yuqi and Lucas’ wedding.
Although the ceremony is held outside, there’s a nice breeze that keeps the guests from getting too hot and sweaty in the summer sun. The whole wedding is held in a botanical garden and the place is decorated in white and purple, lilacs and daisies filling vases everywhere you go and freshening the air with their scent.
You and Donghyuck walk into the room inside the administrative building that’s designated for the bride. Yuqi is there, her face shining brightly with happiness and a glow that can’t be stolen from her today.
When you walk in, you let out a sound of delight at how pretty your college friend looks in her wedding dress, taking note of the chamomile flowers that adorn her hairpiece.
“Ah, I can’t believe you’re here.” She all but shrieks, embracing you tightly with her small bouquet still in her hands. After she gives Donghyuck a small, welcoming hug, she backs away to look at both of you.
“You look amazing today, I can’t believe you’re actually getting married. Congratulations.” You say sincerely.
“I can’t believe it either, actually. I feel like we’ve been planning this for forever, and now the day is finally here.” She recalls, a blissful look in her eyes even though you’re aware of how much stress she has had during the past few months over this one day.
“Are you nervous?” Donghyuck asks and you nudge his side and send him a look for asking a question like that.
“No, I’m not,” Yuqi laughs, “I feel one hundred percent happy. Like I’m starting the next part of my life with the one I love.”
“I’m glad you can spend the rest of your life with your soulmate, you’re definitely luckier than most.” You muse, and she suddenly softens her expression and takes your hand in hers, gently holding onto you.
“I’m not marrying my soulmate. I’m marrying the one I love. It just happens to be the same person.”
After bidding your farewells and good lucks, you and Donghyuck walk out of the room and head to where the ceremony will be held. He pulls out of sunglasses, propping them on the edge of his nose, and then grabbing your hand and strolling through the exhibits on the way to the ceremony grounds.
Yuqi’s words ring in your head throughout the peaceful walk, specifically how happy she looked to be marrying the one she loves. Somehow, you never thought about separating soulmate from lover; those two people have always been one in your head. You always thought that there can’t be a soulmate without a lover, and there can’t be a lover without a soulmate.
But the moment with Yuqi reminded you of the first time Donghyuck properly confessed to you, the words you can still hear floating through your head whenever your mind wanders off and thinks about him.
“I think I would’ve fallen in love with you even if we weren’t destined to be together.”
Maybe Donghyuck has been wiser than you this whole time. Not that you’d ever admit that to his face, unless you’d like to hear about it at least three times a week for the rest of your life.
Every memory— every year that has passed by with Donghyuck has only grown the idea of soulmate and lover further apart in your mind, and it took the matrimony of your close friends to realize it. You don’t think it’s a bad thing; in fact, you’re lucky that you can call your lover and your soulmate the same person.
You feel something tugging at your hand, and when you look over at your lover, he looks at you expectedly.
“Huh?” You say, dumbfounded since you’ve been in your own little world for who knows how long. Donghyuck laughs, bending over a bit at the funny, bewildered look on your face before straightening up and looking over to you again.
“I said, what colors should we do for our wedding? I personally think I look good in red, but I’m sure we can figure out something less contrasting.” He explains nonchalantly, you realize he’s kicking a random pebble around as you walk. Looking around, confused out of your mind, you turn back to him.
“Are we getting married?”
“Well, yeah,” He does something between a laugh and a scoff before leaning next to you, a serious look that permeates through the shade of his sunglasses, “You do want to marry me, right?”
Your brain is in a complete fritz. If you had a whole day to think about this you could maybe make up a sentence that resembles a sophisticated answer, but you can only shrug.
“Uh, yeah, I guess.”
“You guess?” Donghyuck stops walking, “I just asked you if you want to get married, and you reply with ‘uh, yeah, I guess.’” He mocks your tone and it makes you roll your eyes at him.
“This is the first time we’ve ever talked about this and I got nervous.” You explain, making him relax and stand in front of you with his hands leisurely resting in his pockets. “Of course, someday I would like to marry you. I guess you’re… tolerable.” Donghyuck pushes you away from him and quickly walks down the path, twice as fast as he was walking before. You laugh and follow him, running slightly to catch up.
“Excuse me, Miss, would you like to leave a wish for the happy couple?” A sudden voice stops you, making you turn back around. A man stands with a camera, looking at you expectedly.
“Uh, how?” You look from the camera and back up to him.
“I’ll take your picture. You can write a wish on it and hang it up over there.” He points to the dozens of polaroids already hung up a few feet away, random people posing in the photographs with different color writing on every picture.
“Let’s do it.” Donghyuck comes up behind you, no doubt catching the last part of what the photographer said and pushing you lightly over to where there’s better lighting while taking off his sunglasses and tucking them into his shirt. The photographer asks you to pose, and you and Donghyuck smile for the camera, your eyes slightly shut due to the sun beating down on top of you.
“Great, how about one more for yourselves?” The photographer asks as he waits for the photograph to develop and you agree. This time, Donghyuck wraps an arm around you and pulls you closer so that your back is against his chest. You feel him rest his cheek on your head and drape his other arm around your front. You grab onto his forearm, not knowing what to do with your hands, and then suddenly the picture is taken and the photographer hands over both of the developed photos.
You take the second picture out of Donghyuck’s hands, not being able to look away. The sun seems to hit both of you just right, and the slight candidness of the photo adds another layer of reality to the picture. Donghyuck has a small smile while his cheek is slightly squished against your head, but he still looks as handsome as ever.
“What wish should we leave them?” He asks, picking up a golden sharpie from the table nearby, somehow already having his sunglasses back on.
“Maybe just… Congratulations on getting married?” You suggest.
“And a million other people will have the same thing. We need to be memorable.” He stresses and taps the end of the sharpie against his head. “What do you wish for Lucas and Yuqi?”
“I wish…” You think about it for a moment, “For them to have a lifetime of memories that they can share until the very end.” You nod.
“Oh?” Donghyuck looks at you, “When did you become a poet?” He asks as he writes that down at the bottom of the first picture.
“I’ve always been like this. I’m glad you just now figured it out.” You reply sarcastically, to which Donghyuck replies back with his own sarcastic laugh. He hangs up your picture close to where Mark and Xiaojun hung up their’s, and then turns back around.
“Alright, let’s get this show on the road.” He pushes up his sunglasses with his ring finger and thumb, walking with swagger towards the ceremony and grabbing your hand while he’s passing by.
“If you’re going to be like this at our wedding, maybe I’ll have to change my mind…”
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For one today being one of the most awaited days of your life, it started out pretty regularly.
You wake up from the ringing of your alarm, get ready, and go to your classes for the day. You had breakfast before you left, and lunch right before your last class of the day. Even work was boring as usual, but nothing beat going to the store afterwards.
When you got to the aisle filled with shoes, you were first puzzled by how many options there are. So many colors and styles, you didn’t expect to be so overwhelmed and accidentally spent almost an hour just looking at every individual pair. This had to be perfect. This was going to be a memory that you thought about for the rest of your life.
You call Donghyuck when you approach your front door, he answers almost immediately.
“Hey, love, what’s up?” He yawns through the words, and you can’t help but smile as you look down at the bag in your hands.
“Oh, I was just wondering when you’ll be home.” You open the front door and shut it behind you, taking off your shoes.
“I’m right outside of our building. Did you just get home?” He asks, no doubt hearing the front door from your side of the line.
“I’ll talk to you when you get up here then, see you.” You send a kiss through the phone and abruptly end the call. If Donghyuck is right outside of the building he’ll be up to your apartment in just a few minutes.
You drop the rest of your things down at the front door and hurry into the kitchen, setting down the small white bag with a lace bow on top in the middle of the kitchen table, clearing the table of anything else. You slide into a seat at the table, fixing your clothes nervously as you hear the front door open. Not even a few seconds later, Donghyuck walks into the kitchen, his eyes moving from you to the white bag and back to you.
“What’s wrong?” He asks, dead serious. Your nerves and anxiety, and maybe even some fear, must be strong enough for him to feel. You shake your head and pat the chair next to you. Donghyuck takes a seat, he came through the door so quickly that he didn’t even take his shoes or his jacket off yet.
“Open the bag.” You can’t help the excited smile and small clap of your hands as he reaches out and holds the bag. He gives you a quizzical look, but you only nod to encourage him.
Donghyuck unties the lace ribbon, looking down into the bag for a few moments. You can’t read his face and you can’t feel any emotions from him, and your anxiety grows tenfold. He reaches in and pulls out the little shoes, a light blue color with white stitching. They’re so small, they can sit in Donghuck’s hand perfectly.
“What are these?” He asks, still looking at the shoes in his hand.
“Well, they’re shoes… For babies. For our baby.”
At your reply, he does nothing. He doesn’t react at all, which only worsens your nerves and makes your leg twitch up and down as you wait for him to say something. He swallows and sets the shoes on the table, still looking at then with a blank expression.
“You’re pregnant?”
“Yeah…” You reply, reaching out to put a hand over Donghyuck’s, “Say something.”
“I’m not sure what to say, this is very… sudden.” He tilts his head. Your stomach drops at the lack of emotion in his voice. You aren’t sure what you were expecting, but it was not this stoic expression in his face. Whatever traces of a smile that you had on your lips vanishes and you grip his hand tighter.
“I know this is not what we had planned. I know this is kind of… not good timing, since we’re still in school and not married, yet. But this is what fate had planned for us, I guess?” You’re not sure if you’re trying to console him or convince him, but the icky feeling in your stomach tells you Donghyuck’s reaction to the situation is not good.
“Yeah, fate did us real good.” Donghyuck replies sarcastically and you drop your hands from his, resting them in your lap. You can see the tears forming in his eyes even when he tries to look away from you, and you can feel the fear that’s boiling and overflowing inside him.
“I know you’re scared, I’m scared too. But we can get through this to—” You’re suddenly cut off by Donghyuck standing up abruptly.
“I’m not scared. I’m worried.” He rubs his face with his hands. “I’m worried that I won’t be able to support this kid. I’m worried I won’t be able to be here for you through it all. I’m so worried I’m going to end up like my father that I feel like it’s going to eat me alive.” He runs his hands through his hair, pulling his head back as he looks at the ceiling and paces around the kitchen.
“I never knew your father, but from what you told me, you’re nothing like him.” You stand up too, your legs feeling like jello.
“No, you don’t understand. What if I say something wrong and ruin this kid’s life like my father did to me? What if I can’t find a job after we graduate? Are you going to support all three of us? I can’t let you live like my mom did, it was too hard to watch back then and it’ll be even harder to watch now.” He suddenly stops, not giving you a chance to speak as he looks from you, to the little shoes, and back to you. “I can’t.”
“You… can’t what?” There’s panic rising in your voice as he shakes his head and backs away.
“I can’t be here, not around you or this baby. I won’t be a good father.” He turns and walks out of the kitchen, leaving you standing dumbfounded with tears brimming in your eyes. You move to the front door, watching at Donghyuck’s shaking hands pick up his keys and wallet.
“Are you leaving me? Right now?” He doesn’t look at you and he doesn’t answer, opening the door, “Wait!” You cry out. He stops, his shoulders tense and his hand clenching the doorknob.
“What about that promise you made me? Huh? You said that it’s not just a ‘you’ or a ‘me’ now. It’s an ‘us.’ You said you’ll do everything you can to not hurt us.” You ask, recalling the promise Donghyuck made back when you two were young college students, and a promise he has repeated and vowed to you over and over again every time your relationship got into a rough patch.
“I think… that what I’m doing is what’s best for us. It’ll be better if I wasn’t here. ___...” He looks back at your teary eyed figure with one last look of regret, “I love you. I’m so sorry.” And with that, he closes the door, leaving you all alone in your cold and dark apartment.
You jumped off of the bridge. You jumped off a while ago, actually, but the fall took longer than you expected. You thought Donghyuck would be there to catch you at the bottom, but he’s nowhere to be seen now. The fall was peaceful and enjoyable, a soft limbo between making the hardest decision in your life and the ultimate consequence of that decision. The fall was long and made you feel faux comfort, so when you reached the very end, it ended up hurting a lot worse. You knew jumping off of a bridge would kill you, so why did you jump?
You’re not sure how long you stand by the front door, but it’s long enough that the sun sets outside and the room turns dark. You stare at the door, waiting for Donghyuck to come back. You wait for the door to open and for him to run through, hugging you and whispering that he’ll be here for you. You can only walk up to the door and slide down onto your knees, your forehead pressed against the cool wood as you wait.
Tears run down your cheeks silently, your eyes red and your head hurts. You keep your forehead pressed against the door for the whole night, waiting for him to come back. You wait, and wait, and wait. Donghyuck never comes back.
Your heart rips open from pain, it feels like it’s bleeding onto the floor in front of you. Your mind is numb from any other emotion, your body is cold from sitting on the floor, but you can’t get yourself to stand up. That’s when you realize, this is it. This is how Donghyuck hurts you.
What a sick and twisted way for fate to finally serve up her plan. You almost forgot who Donghyuck is supposed to be; the one who loves you, and the one who hurts you the most.
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— read epilogue here
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binniesthighs · 3 years
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cherry knot | reader x ryujin
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a/n: you may be thinking to yourself, ro! a gg fic?? how unlike you!! well, boy do i have news for you 😂 truthfully, i’ve always been toying with the idea of writing a lil somethin’ (esp for ryujin god i love her) so i thought why not! if this isn’t your cup of tea, that’s totally okay <3 those who do read, thank you so much for reading and i hope that ya like it hehe and let me know what you think of it! :D (thank you @dom--minnie​ for enabling me too ;) 
cherry knot | reader x ryujin 
🍒 Pairing: self insert, female reader x shin ryujin 
🍒 Genre: fluff n’ a lil bit suggestive 
🍒 Tags: friends to lovers, high school au (everyone depicted is 18+), all girls school au, high school crush!ryujin, shy!reader, confession of feelings, that good, good makin’ out, ryujin being flirty and smug as hell bc i love her, yeah this is just me gushing about shin ryujin, ro trying new things on the blog :) 
🍒 Word count: 2.9k 
🍒 CWs: mentions of food and eating reader included
The grass felt sticky and uncomfortable under your crossed legs, and when you swiped your hand against the skin, you could feel the indentation from the blades. Your knee-high socks felt itchy too; everything felt itchy. Even the cotton of your shirt felt like it was suffocating, and the bow tied around your neck which hung loosely should have hung even looser. 
To distract yourself, you plucked up the blades of green and tied them into knots absentmindedly. It was easier to pay attention to your idle hands compared to paying attention to her. 
Could she even tell that you were looking? Could she see out of the corner of her eye when she threw her cotton-candy pink hair behind her ear? Could she tell that you watched as she gulped down the lemonade and caught a glance at the peachy fuzz of her neck exposed by her collar? 
Stop looking. Stop looking. 
Your other friends tied up their hair in clips and with lazy hair ties to free their sweating necks from the sun. No matter the sweltering heat, it was always tradition for your picnic just before the summer vacation. One of them had brought a cake and each of the girls attacked it viciously with small forks and smeared bits of frosting on each other’s noses. 
“Come here!! You’re next!!” They beamed while launching themselves in your direction to dot your nose with the white cream. 
A flurry of high pitched giggles peeled out from each of you once another frosting victim had been dubbed. Your cheeks felt furiously hot knowing that she was looking; and that she was laughing along with the rest of them. 
“Awwww cute.” She adored with a smile that turned her dimples into whiskers on her cheeks. 
You quickly wiped it off with a handkerchief that settled into your damp hand.  
She’s looking, she’s looking…
The other girls pranced around the checkered picnic blanket in their white socks--undoubtedly painting them with green that their mothers would scold them for later. Their careless steps made a mess of the food wrappers and canvas backpacks that held down the corners of the thin fabric. The joyous cheers of the girls seemed to harmonize with the song of the cicadas in the trees; both sounds reminded you of the coming of the summer and the humid weather that makes the air dense. 
One of the girls brought out her phone and played loudly from it one of her favorite songs which she knew every word too, regardless of the fact that her tone was far from the singer’s. 
You and your friends never cared much for how others would view you. Even at school when you would march through the hallways arm-and-arm, others would stare at the way that none of you batted an eye at those who would glare. 
They were just jealous was all. 
“Be careful!!” You found yourself scolding, “What if you fall running around like that?” 
In response, your friends promptly stuck out their tongues in your general direction. 
“Don’t worry about it,” Ryujin coolly popped another cherry into her mouth from the bowl by her crossed legs. “If they fall, let them! It's funnier that way.” 
She threw a wink right at you, which you almost didn’t catch because you had quickly averted your eyes to become much more interested in the tiny tea-cakes. 
“You’re always worrying Y/n! Its summer!”
“I-I do not.” 
Ryujin chuckled in that way that always made you feel like your heart was just about ready to leap out of your chest. 
“Lighten up! Come on!” 
Before you could process it all, your friend patted down the wrinkles in her skirt and threw off her shoes. She rose, and neared your corner of the blanket with hands outstretched. 
“Stop worrying about things or if people are watching!” She scolded you with a cute and tiny pout, “Get up!” Ryujin wriggled her hands with emphasis to show you that you could take hold of them. 
“W-what…?” 
The other girls giggled on, hardly even noticing the two of you over their singing. 
You grabbed onto her hands, already loathing how damp your own felt against hers out of your own nervousness. She still held onto you tightly, saying nothing of them and helped you to your feet. Immediately she brightened once you played along and started to swing your arms in tune with the song. Your friend lip synced to the rap part and you felt just about ready to swoon from how cool she looked saying the words with ease. 
“Dance with me!! Don’t pay attention to people walking by or anything like that!” 
Ryunjin led you by the hand to the patch of grass with little white and pink flowers laced into it. You really did try to pay attention to dancing, but everything else seemed to be distracting even when you tried hard enough. She brought your hand up higher to spin her, and when she twisted, everything seemed to happen in slow motion: the billow of her plaid shirt, her rosy-pink hair which swiped just at her shoulders, even the way that the sunset melted behind her into swirls of sunburst yellow and vibrant orange. It was like she was all a part of it. 
“Your turn!” She said, twisting you too. 
You didn’t realize that you would have been as dizzied by it as you were, but when you lost your footing, she was just as quick to help you with her hands carefully grasped onto your shoulders. 
“You okay?” Ryujin asked, out of breath, but still genuine. 
“I’m fine!” 
Your knees wobbled with barely any strength to them, but you mustered every bit of confidence that you had to keep being this close to her. You surprised yourself when you reached back for her hands to continue swinging them between you. 
The other girls collapsed back onto the blanket in a pile of shallow exhales and airy laughs that they exchanged between them. 
“No more dancing, I-I can’t do any more…” One of them announced while leaning against the shoulder of another one of your friends. 
“I forgot! I brought this!!” One of your friends with pigtail braids dove deeply into her backpack and pulled out nearly all of the contents before finding the small cube-case which was decorated with an obscene amount of keychains. “My camera! We have to take some pictures so that we can remember this!” 
The other girls squealed in agreement and ganged up on her to fit into the frame of the white Polaroid camera that she had also splattered with stickers. 
“Here, I wanna show you something.” Ryujin drew your attention back to the blanket where she settled back down with her own bag draped over her legs. 
“What is it?” 
“Ryujinnie! I wanna take your picture too! Your pink hair is so pretty…” One of your friends cooed with a sad downturn to her lips, “I hope that you never change it.” 
“Hmm, I don’t know. We’ll see. My cousin has been saying that she wants to see what I would look like blonde these days.” 
The small talk didn’t concern you too much, you were more concerned with what it was that your friend had to show you. 
“I’m going on a trip with my cousins soon so we’ll see what happens.” 
Your friend sighed, and skipped over the mess of the blanket to pull Ryujin by the wrist to the walkway a little farther off. “You’d look so cute over here!” 
She pardoned her, and stumbled after the eager girl to let her take a Polaroid of her. Even from far away, you could still hear the two of them admire the picture with happy little expressions of “ah! I told you that it would look good!” 
The two girls returned, and you began to worry if your friend even remembered what she had said in the first place. 
What is it? What does she want to show me? 
“Shoot!!” Another one of your friends huffed out while looking at her phone, “I forgot that I have to tutor the middle schoolers today!! I’m late!!” 
The girls went to action in a mere matter of seconds sweeping up the picnic assortment and shoving the leftovers into their backpacks. 
You helped them and tried to look over to your other friend who didn’t return your glances. Perhaps she really had forgotten. 
You let your imagination run wild for just a few moments, although the more that you did, the more it all just seemed preposterous. Maybe it was a confession letter, maybe she had written for you one of those poems like she had liked to do, maybe she had rather wanted to talk to you about something...say something that you wanted to say back…
“I’m going to stick around.” Ryunjin said suddenly with her hands on her hips. “Y/n, you’re welcome to stay too if you want. We don’t exactly have to go home yet since the sun’s still up.” 
Your friends looked to you for your answer, to which you stammered out an, “O-okay…” The best that you could. 
“See you later!!” They called after with their shoes only half-slid onto their feet. 
You waved them off, but the farther that they walked away, the more the realization started to hit you that you were alone with her. The sound of your heartbeat echoed in your ears, and you calmed it trying to think about anything else but the fact that now her attention was truly undivided upon you. 
“You said that you wanted to show me something?” 
Your friend nodded, and patted the grass beside her for you to join her. She gathered up the small bundle of cherries left behind and positioned them into her lap. 
“I learned this trick a little bit ago and I wanted to show you!” 
“A trick?” 
She nodded, and plucked from one of the crimson berries a stem which she put directly into her mouth. 
“What are you doing?!” On the surface, it didn’t seem like the most sanitary thing to do. 
Ryunjin stifled a laugh and lightly hit you on the arm to chastise you. “Just wait a minute!” 
You watched in your confusion as her face contorted a little, and her eyebrows twisted like she was thinking. Her cheeks puffed a little too, and you could tell that she was doing something with it in her mouth--it was only then when you realized that you had been intensely observing her mouth. 
In your embarrassment you threw your eyes in the other direction, but it was no use one you heard her start to giggle at how flustered you had become. 
“It’s okay, you’re supposed to look.” She assured you. 
“What-what is it?” 
“Annnnd done!” Your friend proclaimed proudly and you struggled to meet her again without feeling like your whole face and the tips of your ears were burning up. 
Right on the pink of her tongue she had tied the stem into a tiny knot which she displayed proudly. 
“You...did that with your tongue?” 
“Mm-hm!” 
Your hands reduced back to their clammy state, and they found the grass between your own folded legs to find something to do. 
“That's...that’s pretty cool…” 
“I know right?!” 
Back came your friend's little dimples, and this time your chest started to feel like it was swelling with heat. 
Stop looking, stop looking…
“I can teach you how to do it some day if you’d like.” Ryujin’s tone dropped lower, and more serious in the way that some had thought to be intimidating. To you, there was nothing more that could make you feel the beat of your own heart more obviously. 
“Teach me? How??” 
The question felt like a butterfly in your lips, fluttering and ticklish, light and uncertain. You met her eyes the best you could; even though you knew that there was nothing about her that you didn’t already know, or that was threatening. 
Your friend tilted her head, inspecting you and the way that you could barely keep your glance away from her lips--stained just a little red from the cherries--then smiled. 
“W-what? What is it? Why are you smiling?” 
She sighed, and craned forward on one of her hands in the grass, bridging the distance between the two of you to caress down the side of your face, all the way to your jaw with the back of her fingers. 
“You’re just too cute.” 
“Hm?” Your chest threw itself up and down, and you could thinly feel the breath that tried to fill your lungs when she was this close. 
“I just can’t handle it any more.” 
“Me?” 
Ryunjin nodded, softening her eyes until they were nearly closed, and rid the two of you of all space, leaning over just so you could feel the weight of her chest nearly pressing into yours. At first, she placed the lightest of kisses into you, so light that it barely brushed against your lips, but merely imprinted upon them. She leaned back, leaving you with the ghost of a feeling of her upon you. It felt a bit unfair how fleeting it was, and how she looked at you like that: smug as ever, but as blissful as she always was. 
Your breaths tried to make sense of it all, if it had just happened, and what to think of it. As quick as it was, all you could want was to feel it again. 
“Ryu--” 
She cradled both sides of your face in hers, leaning in with more fervor and parting your lips with hers, leaving you to squeak from the sudden movement. You couldn’t figure out how to kiss back at first, or if you should hold her too. Your head felt like it was spinning in circles from your disbelief when you could taste the tiny tang of the sweet and sour cherries which lingered on her lips. She rubbed her thumbs into your cheeks, and angled you better to let her growing smile paint your own mouth from corner to corner. 
At last, you were able to find a rhythm which suited you, and you kissed her right back. She giggled at your stroke of confidence and the vibrations made your whole body tingle. Your feet had surely fallen asleep where you had folded them beside you, but the numb feeling of them dissolved once her hands fell to your shoulder where she held to you tightly. The pressure from the tips of her fingers made you shiver, and you too smoothed down the pink shine of her hair. 
The warm and ticklish feeling of her tongue grazed your lower lip where she changed her approach and deepened her kiss. The heat of tongues finally met in the middle testing and learning more of the other the closer that you became, and tiny airy gasps got stuck between both of your curiosity. In your lap, her hands found yours and they laced together and held tight; each digit wrapping the other and becoming one with the eagerness of her thumb rubbing little circles into the squishy parts of your hand. 
After the heat of your passion started to melt, you found yourself hiding your giddy laughter the best you could once she started to peck at your lips over and over until you felt like she had kissed you so close to the brim that you would overflow. 
“I said that you’re cute and I mean it!” She snuck the phrase in between a couple more kisses, eliciting you to fold up in your giddy embarrassment from the compliment. 
Ryunjin pulled away, and popped another cherry into her mouth from the bundle, then threw her arms around your shoulders. You simply let your hands rest in her lap covered by the plaid of her skirt; shaking from the release of the endorphins and the adrenaline. 
“Ryujin...I wanted to tell you that I’ve had a crush on you for a...really long time…” You shied, but she brought your chin back to look at her directly. 
“Good. Me too.” 
You couldn’t even process the combination of her words for them to make sense. White noise filled your ears, even though it should have been obvious from the way that she had kissed you like that. 
“Oh! Here. I wanted to give this to you too. Something to remember me by.” 
She reached for her bag, and pulled out a white-out pen from the front pocket. The Polaroid had faded into its full color, and she focused with her tongue peeking from her mouth as she wrote the message: 
see you soon <3 
- ryujinnie 
Over her head in the picture, she doodled a few hearts, then she blew on the ink to dry it. 
“For you!” 
You took the picture with your hands still thoroughly shaking, and all you could utter was a “thanks” while you took in your friend looking as gorgeous as she always was. You knew then that you would treasure the image forever, and the day which it was taken. 
“Who knows,” Ryujin started, and let her head fall to your shoulder where she nuzzled in, “This might be the last that you’ll see of my pink hair too.” 
You turned the picture over, already sensing how it made your heart feel like it was aching sticky and sweet, just like the cherries. 
~🌹~
Bunch of (Ro)ses! 
@minaamhh @dazzlehoseok @synnocence @jjewibeans @hyunsluvv @unexceptional-h @bobawithchaitea @lechanters @sailorhyunjinz @silencefavarchive @lunarskzzz  @yourdaddychan @bubblelixie @spnobsessedmemes @cherrychngkyn @iwanttobangchan @dom--minnie @waterthemoon @pastelracha @mistakensilence @hotgorloikawa @bowlofblueberries @lmhmins @eunaeiekim 
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Do you think that Gilbert wants kids? He raised Luddy well didn’t he? So do you think that he would be good with them? Personally, I think he would be
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Oh no, Anon; you've activated the Yearning.
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I don't think Gilbo has ever truly considered the possibility before.
Nations, being immortal, I feel in general don't really consider having a "normal family" a possibility, not really. Sure, they will yearn for a normal life- that one chat Germany and Veneziano had in Verona in the comics about... two years ago? comes to mind. And Himaruya has definitely scattered more hints throughout that the Nations sometimes wish they could have a mortal life, but as for having kids? I feel like that's more a passing thought, an only half-formed wish.
Gil, though, would be an interesting case study. Since his Nation status is kind of... wibbly-wobbly, there is a high chance that he's been somewhat wondering what he would do as a mortal, that he's already half-planning for the possibility.
There's no doubt in any of our minds that he would be a great dad. Fairy tales for Friedrich, puppies for Ludvig, sharing an active interest in their passions and striving to include them in things. I also have a feeling that when he was still "official," he had an incorrigible adorable habit of "being forced" to entertain the princes and princesses (and little kids of the villages he would sneak away to, but that's another headcanon for a much different time). 
I think of it as kind of like when I was working with the 5-7 years olds at my old daycare assistant job. We would take everyone outside, and somehow I was always dubbed the "zombie-monster-thing" and this flock of children would either a) chase me all around the playground or b) make me chase Them around trying to "eat" Them (essentially Tag, plus me lifting them into a hug and melodramatically going "Om-Nom-Nom."). It was usually about 35-to-1 odds, and it was a blast; the teachers all thanked me for keeping the kids occupied so they could all take a break. ^_^;
Not to project, but honestly those vibes? That is what I 100% feel Gil is like with kids.
So yeah, there may be a part of him wondering, yearning, and (speaking from experience) missing the kids he used to haul around on "epic adventures," the cuts and scrapes he'd help disinfect, the stories he would tell, the stories he would learn, the pride at watching them master stick-fencing or tree-climbing or wading barefoot through a creek to collect rocks and salamanders. Fun and silly, but also firm and serious when needed.
Yeah... Gil would be a great dad. ^_^;
But would he want to be a dad is the question. 
As a Nation? I feel he would be reluctant, would probably find some other way to fill that kind of longing, yearning sensation he gets in his chest sometimes. Maybe he volunteers for Big Brother Big Sister International, or did AU Pair. I can easily see him offering to babysit the neighbors' kids from time-to-time, or bonding with strangers and their munchkins at the park whenever he's walking Fritz.
As a mortal, I think he would absolutely be gung-ho about it. I think he'd be the kind of person who would gladly adopt and/or foster, but I feel like he'd be thrilled to be a biological dad, too. No matter what though, he'd adore all of his kids equally, regardless of how they entered his life.
If, however, his partner didn't want to be a parent themselves, I feel like, given enough time, he would be willing to accept their decision. He may still sometimes yearn, and there will be times he'll think how good a parent their partner would be, but he would never force someone to do something they genuinely don't want to do.
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This is all purely speculation, but now I'm sitting here yearning to abduct my nieces and nephews for the weekend to take them to a frog sanctuary or on a train ride or to explore abandoned mine tunnels. 👀
Thank you for the ask, Lovely! I hope this answered your questions? ^_^;
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taechaos · 3 years
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from Textbook Love drabbles
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pairing: bully!Jungkook x nerdy!fem!Reader
genre: drabble(?), smut, college au
synopsis: “She’s too sweet,” Taehyung begins, “too kind, too nice, everything you’re not. You wouldn’t be trying to keep me away from her if you didn’t know that. Are you afraid she’ll like me better?”
warnings: slight angst, arguing, dubcon, mild violence
word count: 4.7k
a/n: ima need yall to submit jk gifs cuz it is taking me TOO long to find a good one 👺 not proofread.
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The weekend is fun: students’ two days of temporary rest and catching up on their assignments. Jungkook doesn’t concern himself with the latter, but he does enjoy waking up later in the day and lying down on the grass with his arms crossed under his head, bathing in the sun without any worries. It’s peaceful, thinking thoughts of you with dimmed eyes while the breeze gently wafts past him.
But of course, Taehyung wouldn’t let him just enjoy his day without a hint of irritation. Good things never last anyway. He’s sitting in the middle of the field, a hot spot for relaxation, and feels the soil under his palms while observing his surroundings. Yoongi is with them, munching on a few snacks while scrolling through his phone as it quietly plays music.
“The girl at the party,” Taehyung begins before glancing at Jungkook through his sunglasses, “she was alone when I came back. You weren’t around either; did you cum too soon or something? I saw you two kiss.”
“I left,” Jungkook mumbles without opening his eyes.
“Why?”
“I was bored.”
“And where did you go?” he pries.
“None of your business.”
Taehyung scoffs at his dismissal before averting his gaze elsewhere. “I do have a guess.”
“Don’t start,” Yoongi warns him without looking up. The two best friends usually get into arguments in a matter of seconds daily, and Yoongi just wants to spend his day without having to break up a fight. Just this once, he hopes… but hope doesn’t save him.
“I’m just wondering if you actually went all the way back to campus to fuck another girl, who coincidentally also does your homework.” His tone is cool and collected, but it borders on mocking that usually goes unnoticed. He’s been around these two too long for them to miss, however. Yoongi sighs, dreading the response already.
Jungkook sits up on his elbows with a glare directed towards Taehyung. “How’s your ex holding up, Tae? You think she cheated on another guy yet?”
Neither of the two friends have a filter around them, no consideration for their words as they apathetically insult one another; but Jungkook can go too far, especially by bringing up old wounds. 
Taehyung was in a toxic relationship with his first girlfriend of two years, which took a huge toll on his mindset. Constant infidelity, endless forgiving, make up sex and catching her with another man after: a cycle that went on for over 24 months. The concept of love became tainted in his eyes, no longer interacting with the opposite gender if not to get laid, and Jungkook’s commensalistic - rather parasitic - relationship doesn’t disprove his hateful ideology. Love only consists of two people: a host who provides, and the parasite that selfishly takes it all. 
But he isn’t over the pain that lasted a year after the break up, which was shamelessly executed by the parasite: his former girlfriend. It took a lot of trust to open up about it to his friends, and it lifted a heavy weight off of his chest. Only this year did he stop thinking about her, until Jungkook asked about her so casually. It stings his heart only for a second, and he scoffs as Yoongi intervenes, “Both of you need to shut the fuck up.”
“If you guys want to talk about my relationships, then don’t get all whiny when I talk about yours.”
Taehyung swallows his pride and confidently answers, “I don’t know, Jungkook. I hear she’s doing well, but no information on her boyfriends. Your turn: what’s going on with that nerd?”
“Elaborate.”
“Are you two dating?” Yoongi asks exhaustedly. They just keep taking every opportunity to annoy each other, and it’s even overwhelming him at this point. 
Rolling his neck side to side in thought, Jungkook takes a moment to answer, “No.”
“Bullshit,” Taehyung spits. “You know what? Let’s just move on. I’m sure I could get proper answers from someone else.”
“If you have a death wish, that is,” he warns with a slight seethe before lying back down.
He doesn’t respond and hides a smirk, a couple having a romantic picnic ahead of him from a distance. He watches them for a few seconds before muttering to himself, “It’s not going to be my death.”
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Yoongi and Jungkook chill on their own after Taehyung leaves. He’s roaming the campus in hopes of finding that one girl who is always wearing some school skirt and working 24/7 to find out what is so special about her. Jungkook might think he doesn’t notice them interacting, but behind that airhead facade, he’s observant. It’s not that big of a fucking secret either, they’re not deliberately hiding their strangely beneficial friendship or whatever. You stick out like a sore thumb in the yard, though there’s not many people to tell you apart from anyway.
He approaches you rather slowly, inspecting your figure first before meeting you. Your posture is straight and composed, fingers quickly typing away on your keyboard without even looking at them. You look so serious to him, a contrast to the radiant butterflies flying past you in such a bright environment. He wonders if you ever procrastinate or take breaks, and most importantly, how someone that appears so smart has fallen into such an obvious trap set by his best friend of all people. 
His hands are in his pockets as he speaks his first words to you. “Hi, I’m Taehyung.”
Your reaction is instant: a quick look at him and you’re already frowning. “I’m Jungkook’s best friend,” he adds in case you’ve seen him around before. 
“I don’t know you.” And with that distant reply, you return to your essay. If meeting Jimin has taught you anything, it’s that you can’t trust anyone who claims to know your lover. They are just using it against you… 
“Well, shit,” he laughs, “I didn’t realize you were so cold.” Your eyes don’t waver from your screen, so he tries another approach: “Are you the girl Jungkook left the party a few days back for?”
Your ears perk up in his direction, but you don’t show it. But he notices the pause in your taps before you continue typing, and he holds that against you. He takes a seat across from you, and your laptop covers your face from him. “I just wanted to meet the person that’s got him whipped enough to get high and run off to them.” You bite down on a smile and prolong your silence. “I guess I’ll talk to you when you’re not busy.” 
He stands up just as you tell him, “Wait, no, I’m not busy.” You close your laptop mid-way before hesitating, but slam it shut nonetheless. “Sorry.”
“You’re good.” He sits back down and clasps his hands on the table. “So what’s going on between you and him? He refuses to tell me, as if you’re his little secret.”
You shyly look down at your flats and twiddle your fingers on your lap. “We’re together… but he is very mysterious.”
It’s a good thing you don’t glance at him to hide your blush, because he’s a little skeptical. He puckers his lips and furrows his brows but controls his expression when you look up. He mentally curses for taking longer than a few seconds to respond; it’s suspicious. “I know right? I don’t know why he’s so reluctant to talk about you. You’re a total sweetheart.”
Approval from Jungkook’s friend: check. Will he like you more if you get along with his friends? The thought excites you, because at least this is someone he likes, unlike Jimin. “Thank you,” you shy a smile. “Um…”
You’re awkward: not Jungkook’s type, Taehyung notes. You’re obviously the host... “So is this a fling, or are you two serious?”
“We’re serious!” you immediately answer. “I love him, and he recently told me he loves me too. He used to kiss me for doing his homework, but now he does it out of nowhere.”
Wow… romantic. He suppresses a chuckle because he doesn’t want to laugh in your face, not when you’re so cute when you talk about him. Your eyes light up with a gleam, a lovesick smile gracing your face and now desperate to befriend him. You look like him when he was supposedly in love. You’re serious about Jungkook, but for how long? Especially when the other side of the relationship is not so committed. It should be mutual: with two hosts.
“Yeah?” he acts interested and raises his sunglasses up to his hair. “How does he act around you?”
“Well,” you start gushing, “he is a little closed off with his emotions.” True. “He doesn’t like me talking to other guys.” Ooh, interesting. “He can’t stand being ignored,” you chuckle. Can he now? “And… he is so cute when he’s jealous. He has this glare whenever I don’t give him enough attention, but he would never admit it. He likes being intimate with me, likes it when I reassure him. He never says it out loud though, I can just tell by looking at him. I’ve never felt this way for anyone, never fell in love with someone until I met Jungkook. I just want to make him happy because he used to look so sad when I watched him from afar.” A hopeless romantic.
Maybe if you didn’t sound so genuine and innocent, he would’ve made fun of you. But he just feels pity for someone who is so giving to someone who gives back so little. You don’t deserve it; don’t deserve to stay up working on so many assignments; don’t deserve to not have any hobbies; don’t deserve to be so unloved. You are pathetic, but it doesn’t turn him off.
Taehyung is a host too.
He clears his throat at the unexpected stirring emotions in his heart, “What do you love about him? Do you like being treated like shit or something?”
“He doesn’t treat me badly! He is like a light switch, you know? He doesn’t know how to act, sometimes sweet and sometimes… a little mean. I love him for his pure heart, and I believe that we are similar in a lot of ways.”
Taehyung can’t contain his snort. Similar? You are opposites. You are similar to him, not Jungkook. He feels… jealous. The pairing is just so ridiculous and flawed, but you’re neither of the two; you are just good. Taehyung can be good too. “So, what’s your Instagram user?”
The lack of commentary and escalation of the topic catches you off guard. It’s a distraction. “I don’t have an account,” you reply in confusion.
“Wow, I’d expect you to cyberstalk Jungkook on there,” he jokes with a laugh.
“He has an Instagram?”
He purses his lips, his grin faltering as he nods. He takes out his phone from his pocket to show you the account, and holds it in your face. Your lips part as you gently take it from him, curiously inspecting the collage of images. 
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“He plays the guitar?” you ask in awe. You click on each picture to zoom in on them, and your heart jumps upon seeing his selfies while Taehyung hums. He is gorgeous in your eyes, and you want to keep up with his posts in hopes of seeing another selfie. These are hidden gems that Taehyung had the courtesy of providing to you.
“He’s learning,” Taehyung says, “you should sign up and post some pictures as well. You’re really cute.” His cheeky compliment makes you happy; he is basically giving you his blessing! 
“Thank you, and you’re right,” you chirp, “I will make an account after I finish this essay. Want to take a picture with me?”
It’s safe to assume that Jungkook wouldn’t mind you talking to his best friend, so why not expand your social circle? You’ll be more involved with his life this way. Taehyung stammers slightly before agreeing. He switches benches to sit next to you while you rummage through your backpack to find your phone. He finds it strangely endearing how you hold it, using your index finger to swipe between apps to find the camera. It almost stings his heart that you’re so old-schooled in a cute way. Once you angle it above you with your arm stretched out to your left, Taehyung appears to be behind you as he lowers his glasses. You smile brightly into the lens while he cutely puckers his lips. 
Click.
“Are you wearing perfume?” he asks before he can stop himself. Your scent tickles his nostrils sweetly, and he doesn’t know why he’s noticing so much about you or holding a conversation with a woman without being naked. It’s been a hot minute since Taehyung’s had such a platonic interaction, and it shouldn’t feel this nice. He shouldn’t want to continue it through social media either.
“Yes! Do you smell strawberries? I noticed Jungkook eating them before, so I use just about anything strawberry scented. Lotion, shampoo, shower gel…”
He tunes you out as you gush and focuses on the smooth movement of your lips. You’re too good, and Taehyung knows he isn’t the best person but at least he’s not as bad as Jungkook. I shouldn’t think like this… but am I wrong? He will break your heart. What if it’s the right time to intervene to save you from that misery, and be a friend to both of you? He doesn’t want you to fall apart and be completely crushed right in front of his eyes, not when he just witnessed how childishly happy and naive you are. It wouldn’t be fair to you, nor to the life lesson he was taught years ago.
And he then notices that you're wearing strawberry lip balm. 
“Jungkook kis-” -sed someone else before coming to you. You hum and tilt your head at his interruption, waiting for him to finish his sentence. “Jungkook… does love strawberries.”
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Though your work ethics are questionable for how exhausting they are, it gets the job done sooner. The moment you’re assigned a task, you do it, regardless of if it’s yours or Jungkook's. Saturday evening and Sunday are free for you, so you spend your time outside after leaving your backpack in your dorm. You think you look silly, taking pictures of anything you find interesting to post on Instagram. You made an account, but it appears like a bot with its empty feed. Jungkook enjoys doing this, so you want to try it as well. 
You don’t stray far from campus because you’d easily get lost, and your gallery looks boring to you. The only decent photo you have is with Taehyung, but you want to post a picture with Jungkook before anyone else. You grumble under your breath while walking back to the dormitory building. You look through Jungkook’s posts again as you do so with a smile. 
A heavy arm slings over your shoulder and hitches your breath just as the culprit says, “What’s the rush?” He doesn’t even look at you, and you wonder if he recognized you from your clothes after coming up from behind you. 
“Jungkookie!” you cheer excitedly. He glances at you and quirks a brow at the nickname. His eyes then trail to your lit up phone and snatches it from you, which you don’t fight against.
“You’re stalking me?” He scrolls through his profile from your phone and smirks before stating, “I didn’t know you had an Insta.” The both of you enter the building with his arm still wrapped around you, which flutters your heart.
“I made one today, since you use it.” He exits his profile to look at yours. You’re in the elevator as you inform, “Taehyung told me.”
A pause, then a click. Jungkook snapped a photo of you when you pressed the button of your floor. “Pretty,” he comments while looking at your candid shot. You’re flattered and also happy that he’s joining your trip to your dorm. He hasn’t said a word of protest and takes the lead in going to your room. “What else?”
“Hm?”
“What else did he tell you?”
You rack your brain to remember anything significant to tell him. It was a long conversation: getting to know each other and more about Jungkook. “He told me you have an Instagram, then asked for my perfume, and then we talked about your love for strawberries-”
“Your perfume? Why was Instagram even brought up?” he presses, stopping in front of your door. 
You take out your keycard and shrug while swiping, “He asked for mine.”
The dorm is empty when you enter and sit on the edge of your bed. It’s very hard to not grin when you’re around Jungkook, but he doesn’t seem to care as he looks through your gallery. “Can we take a picture together?” you peep hopefully. 
“Of course,” he murmurs absentmindedly, intently staring at your phone. “We’ll take many pictures,” he looks up at you before leveling with the camera, “pose.”
You aren’t very educated on the art of posing per se, so you imitate the peace sign you saw him do with a wide smile and a hand on the bed. He is neutral when he snaps a picture with a shutter. 
“I want you to be in it.”
He drags his eyes away from the screen and his blank expression intimidates you. “Whose idea was it for you to make an account?”
“Um… Taehyung, why?” You lay your hands on your lap at the growing tension.
Taehyung went to this extent to get a reaction out of him? Is it possible that he’s this obnoxious? Or perhaps another motive…?
“I-Is he not your friend?”
Jungkook breaks his silence of thoughts with a scoff, “Oh, only the best.” You sigh in relief, though he says it with menace. Taehyung was curious about his relationship, not about your social media. He forcefully pushes you down on the bed and you hold back a gasp as he wraps his finger around your neck in a light chokehold with a thumb on your nether lip. Click. He then lowers his hand to your thigh, hiding half of it under your skirt with a gentle grap. Click.
Your cheeks flush at the compromising photos he’s taking and you nervously ask, “A-Am I going to post these?”
“Shut up.”
You seal your lips shut and he flips you on your stomach, palming your covered ass with your side profile in the frame, and another shutter resounds in the room. “Sit up.” You follow his command and turn around to face him. He pushes your hair to your back and his mouth latches onto your neck. He’s biting you while sucking on your flesh, and you release a breathy moan at the feeling of his tongue swirling on the sensitive skin. It hurts, but you don’t complain and try to make sense of the growing arousal in your lower region. He only pulls away after half a minute and you’re confused by the satisfied smirk on his face while eyeing the result. He angles your jaw to expose your neck better and snaps another photo. “These are all going on your account.”
At your nod of submission, he starts unbuttoning your shirt. “You’re prettier with a mark. My mark.” Your body tingles at the compliment and you help him undress yourself by unbuttoning the ends. “Take off your skirt,” he demands as he slips off his shirt with ease. All of your clothes go off one by one as he does the same, and you don’t have the time to feel shy as his lips collide so roughly with yours that you’re pressed down against the mattress again. You still haven’t gotten the hang of making out, but it doesn’t matter with Jungkook because although it flows naturally, he also takes complete control over you. He’s not gentle, not with the way his teeth clash against yours and tongue leaving trails of saliva all over your mouth. Your toes curl with desire and anticipation, and you tug at his briefs that outline his erection. The feeling of his warm breath on you silences all your thoughts and you can only react on primal instincts. 
His crotch brushes against your bare folds, slick with your leaking wetness. Kissing him this passionately always leaves you feeling needy, and it embarrasses you that you get turned on so easily. But you don’t realize that is his intention as he glides his fingers all over your labia, making sure you’re ready to take all of him. 
Kissing you this passionately always leaves him feeling horny, and it’s apparent with his cock begging to be taken out of the restraints of his underwear. You don’t know how long you’ve been kissing, but your lips are numb when he pulls away to position himself in your entrance. He doesn’t prepare you, but he doesn’t rush himself either as he painfully slowly enters you. You hold your breath and gawn on your swollen lip, moans catching in your throat and leaving as high-pitched hums. He sighs at the feeling of your pulsating walls. “God… always so tight. Don’t you ever touch yourself?”
He bottoms out and you whimper shakily at how full you are. The fact that he fits you like a puzzle piece convinces you that he’s your forever, your meant to be. Even with your lack of experience with other men, you believe no one can make you feel this dreamy. And to think he’s all yours now… “I-I don’t. I only want to do it with you.”
The atmosphere is so fragile, so romantic. It’s not your delusion this time, because he feels it too and it makes his heartbeat sync with yours: unsteady and rapid. And in the heat of the moment, he reveals, “I think I’m in love with you.”
A whine leaves you, so loud that it can’t be achieved with touch but with his words. It’s the utmost pleasure, and when he realizes what he said, he sets a rushed pace to distract himself from the embarrassment of pouring his feelings. You don’t allow him to forget as you echo, “I’m in love with you too.”
“No, no,” he denies with a shake of his head and it emits more love confessions out of you in a chain of ‘I love you’s, and he grunts, “Stop. Shut up!” He pins your forearms on either side of your head in a bruisening grip and thrusts into you harder. You have no choice but to scream in pleasure, unable to form coherent words when he’s practically fucking your brains out. 
His feelings of humiliation translate to his actions: he pushes himself down to the hilt, throbbing with lust but doesn’t chase his high. He doesn’t want you to talk, not when he’s blushing for more than one reason, so he ignores the contraction of his muscles and just fucks you until he can’t anymore, hypnotized by the bounce of your tits.
Maybe it’s a good thing that he’s so desperate, hitting your most sensitive spot with every thrust and making your eyes screw back. Neither of you can think, so loud and reckless until you reach your climax. It’s core shaking, as you cry out his name and tremble with stimulation. He’s never seen this expression on your face, one so twisted in pleasure and looking so erotic. It comes as a surprise and in the form of a punch in the gut as he savours your appearance before cumming inside you with a groan. A slip-up, a mistake, but he doesn’t care as he paints your walls in white, his load filling you up.
And he can’t regret it when he pulls out, because the drizzle of his cum spilling out of your pussy easily becomes his favorite sight. “Shit,” he whispers as more and more drips while you twitch and spasm from your orgasm. You don’t even realize what he’s done, and that makes his chest swell with pride; the most level-headed woman he knows is leaking with his release and stupidly doesn’t spare it a thought. And with that hickey on your neck? “You look fucking gorgeous,” he exhales. A bashful smile stretches across your face with eyes still tightly shut, and you don’t notice him grab your phone on the other side of the bed to take a picture of your stained pussy. 
“This one is for me,” he mutters to himself. Click.
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After posting the softcore photos on your account and tagging himself in them, as well as a note of a pharmacy’s address across campus with a label written for you to get two separate contraceptives as an emergency and for your next creampie, he leaves your dorm. You fell asleep on him, and though he had wanted to join you, he decided to collect his scrambled thoughts and go to Taehyung’s dorm first. He isn’t livid, but he has a few questions to ask.
He’s playing cards with Yoongi, Taehyung’s roommate, as he patiently waits for his arrival. “What’s wrong about asking for her Instagram, though?” Yoongi asks before drawing out a card of ace. “Isn’t she our friend by association anyway?”
“It’s suspicious,” Jungkook murmurs while inspecting his deck. “Have you ever seen Taehyung with a girl before? As friends? He’s clearly trying to fuck her.”
Yoongi stifles a laugh, “That’s a reach. Besides, you two have shared a girl before. Are you actually dating her?”
Shuffling is heard behind the door until it swings open as Taehyung enters. “Kookie! What are you doing here?” He throws his keycard on his bed before hopping on Yoongi’s to watch their game.
It’s strained, Jungkook notices. His excitement is forced; why? “I came here for you,” he states bluntly. “A little birdie told me you’ve been talking to someone who belongs to me.”
“I didn’t realize she was your diary,” he tries to lighten the mood with a joke. “What’s the deal anyway? You said you weren’t dating her.”
Yoongi collects the deck of cards after Jungkook drops them, and shuffles them while eavesdropping. He’s sitting cross-legged across from Jungkook, and Taehyung is sitting on the edge of the bed next to him with his body turned sideways.
“I also said that unless you have a death wish, don’t talk to her,” he grits. “And asking for her social media? Are you into her now?”
Taehyung merely shrugs. “I thought she was pretty chill. I don’t know why you’re so mad.”
“She obviously means something to him, so I think you should just respect that, Taehyung,” Yoongi voices his thoughts while leafing the cards. Jungkook looks to the side and pokes the inner cheek of his mouth with his tongue but doesn’t argue.
“I think he’s just using her.” Jungkook’s reaction is instant as Taehyung’s nose instantly starts to bleed from the impact of his fist. Yoongi doesn’t look up. He holds a hand over his injury with a hiss and continues, “Really, Kook? A little too much, don’t you think?”
“Less than enough,” Jungkook fumes, “I like her, and she likes me. Just fucking leave it at that.”
“Couple of the year,” Taehyung chuckles mockingly, “I give it two days.” He stands up before Jungkook can hit him again. “Can’t wait to console her after your break-up, maybe she’ll fall in love with me next.”
Jungkook starts chasing him around the room as Taehyung runs without stopping his provocation. “Why so upset Jungkook? Do you see it happening too? I’m already imagining how tight-”
“You should leave, Jungkook.” Neither of them listen to Yoongi, so he yells, “Jungkook, leave!”
A moment of deafening silence passes as both of them pause to catch their breaths. “She’s too sweet,” Taehyung begins, “too kind, too nice, everything you’re not. You wouldn’t be trying to keep me away from her if you didn’t know that. Are you afraid she’ll like me better?”
“Go fuck yourself,” Jungkook spits with a heaving chest. “She’s loyal to me, but I’m sure you’re not familiar with that concept. No wonder your relationships only last one night.” With a final glare, he leaves as told to return to you. The only thing he needs right now is one more ‘I love you’ from you, as much as he hates it. Maybe he’s cruel, but he doesn’t know anyone who isn’t aside from you. 
Maybe Taehyung is just as cruel, fantasizing about all the ways he could be better for you before drifting off to sleep with a bandage over his wounded nose. He can just be a friend to both of you… he can be good too… 
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stuckybarton · 2 years
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Happy Family vi
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Summary: The plan had been simple for Steve and Bucky to finally start a family of their own; neither seemed to realize the implications that came with meeting a woman who made them question what they would have wanted from her at the start of their agreement. They desired a child, a bouncing baby with Steve's blonde hair and ocean blue eyes, or Bucky's brown hair and baby blues, but instead received Y/N Stark, a train wreck. Characters: AU! Established Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes;  Stark!Reader x Stucky Warnings: Profanities. Grammar Mistakes. English not being my first language. [Not Beta’d tho] Words: 2,043 A/N; Finally able to update this~ SERIES MASTERLIST  | MASTERLIST   | Join the Taglist
VII: Family Matters
Cancer. Stage Three.
Peggy Carter even in the last leg of her life was still the strongest woman you had ever had the privilege of knowing in your life and it saddens you to know such information.
“You okay, Boss?”
Turning your attention towards your team, a part of you wanted to seek comfort from them, but you knew that Peggy had told you something no one was to ever find out until she wishes for it to be known. It brought a far too dangerous weight on your shoulders and you were uncertain what to do with such information.
“Yeah, you know how Tony and his cohorts could be.” You spoke hoping no one could see past your lies.
“If you need anyone to talk to, we’re always here, Y/N.” Maria assured with a smile.
You could only smile in reassurance.
For the past five hours, everyone was busy with their plan, Tony’s intern, Peter Parker was actually of good use to you aside from the great coffee he was bringing, he had also genuinely helped with any files that you would be needed for your reports.
With how invested each and everyone of you were, it was Pietro’s stomach that brought you guys out of focus and all simultaneously turn towards the clock to see the time. Groaning at the sight that fell towards you all. It was nearing midnight and there was no way any of you could get dinner at this hour unless it was takeout.
“Maybe that intern is still here.” Sam smirked once again taking advantage of the kid.
“I made him head home hours ago, Sam.” You groaned slumping onto the coach besides Wanda that was half-awake at this point now. “Think we could head out or something?” You inquired accepting Wanda as she had now pulled you in as her little spoon.
“I think I can order something, how long do you think we still need for this?” Sam inquired.
“God knows how long while Rogers still has a stick up his ass.” You muttered, still unaware if he was still in the building.
After your walk with Peggy, you had to face the man and his never ending nitpicking at your work and you didn’t have the heart to actually do actually anything after what you found out. Was he aware of Peggy’s condition? If he was, why was he still here acting like nothing was the matter.
Then you come to realize maybe people have different ways of mourning, this was Rogers’ way—an asshole way, but still a way. It was the reason that as much as you wanted to say what was on your mind, you fell silent. All the retorts and comeback had you thinking of Peggy instead. There was still love for Steve that Peggy doesn’t show often but you see it, you see the same in Steve’s eyes. You used to see it in your parents’ own before your father decided cheating was the way to go.
“We can head home if you guys want. I’m gonna check to see if Count Cuntula is still in the office for the report.” You muttered gently slipping off from Wanda’s hold. Pietro was quick to replace you on the coach.
Stretching the kinks in your limbs, you straightened the blouse and skirt you had on before making your way out of your office and straight towards the elevator that would bring you right back up to your brother and his cohorts floor.
In the silence of the ride, you were once again brought back to your conversation with Peggy and the opportunity she was more than willing to give to you. Even as the idea slowly tried forming in your head, a part of you knew you couldn’t do it to your father. No matter what you say or what you do to Tony, at the end of the day, you couldn’t really leave even after what they said and done to you.
As soon as the door opened, darkness was the first thing to welcome you—the only form of light you could see was the single light above the reception table where Nat would often be in but was left unoccupied and the light of the door ajar to Steve’s office.
Walking closer to the door, you could hear two voice inside, with gentle movement, you opened the door at the last thing you would have ever thought you would see in your life.
Steve Rogers in a full make out session with Bucky Barnes.
“What the fuck are you doing in my father’s company?!” The filter on your brain halted before you realized you voice that out.
Pulling away, the disgust lingered in your body. You could care less if they were dating or whatever, but after everything you’ve dealt with Peggy and what you’ve found out, things were slowly coming together and anger for Peggy having to deal with all of this overcoming the last brain cell you had in your head.
“Now I know why you two were kicked out of SHIELDS.” You spat shaking at what you were seeing, the lack of guilt in either of their faces.
“Watch your fucking tone!” Steve’s voice boomed shaking you to your core.
“Or what? Who are you gonna tell me on? My brother?” You dared him. “You two are fucking sick! How could you do this to Peggy?!” You screamed shoving Bucky that was closer to you now.
You fought for the tears but after everything the tears had slowly fell before you know what little control you still had.
“Keep her name out of your fuckin mouth, you entitled bitch!” Steve hissed, held by Bucky as he plans on walking closer to you.
“You keep her name out of your fucking mouth you traitor. How could you do this to her?”
“You know nothing about us. So stop. Butting. In.”
“Steve. Please no more.” Bucky pleaded turning his attention back to you. “Y/N. Please, just—go.”
“If for a fucking second I would let you or Rogers destroy everything my father had worked his life for, you’re wrong. One way or another, I’m taking this company back, whether Tony likes it or not. If you thought I’d let you two fucker do what you did to SHIELD happen here, you’re fucking wrong.”
“What are you gonna do? You are just a temp, hired for a project and I’ll make damn sure Tony cuts you off after. Someone needs to kick you out of your pedestal and I’m gonna do it if Tony can’t.”
“Got to fucking hell, Rogers.”
“I’ll meet you right there, Stark.”
~
“I’m sorry but, Tony’s kept a tight seal on the shares.” Rhodey had sighed handing you the last contract you had with regards to your shares for the company.
30% of the shares were under your brother’s name. You only had 25% percent under you name that Tony had constantly dangled above you just to get the kick out of it. Rhodey or anyone else involved in the company had refused to tell you who were selling their shares and you perfectly know why at this point.
“Can I void my contract now?” You asked wincing as you realized the ink has barely even dried when you signed your days away.
“If you’re more than willing to pay the 10 million penalty, then be my guest, Y/N.” Rhodey sighed turning his gaze towards each and every single member of your team still busy for the upcoming meeting you had with Tony in a couple of hours, all hands were on deck and you were all ready for what was to come. “What’s this about, what wrong?”
“I don’t have confidence in Rogers and Barnes’ leadership—at all.” You admit. “It’s not just because my own father chose them over me, it’s more about their track record with SHIELD.”
“We all did. Even Tony has his doubts on the two, but the turn over with them since Howard died was rising. But now as exponential as we’re used to seeing when your Dad was still alive.”
“I don’t see the growth in the company and gaslighting me isn’t gonna change my mind.” You called him out of it. You know the data. It was always one step forward and two step back and it shows with how SHIELD and ARK was progressing. “I really want to stay here to save what my Dad worked so hard for, but I can’t when those two are here.”
“The only way you could kick them out is if you’re the majority share holder.”
“And I can’t be the majority share holder because my own brother has placed a persona non grata on my name.” You spat.
“I really can’t help you with this, Y/N. I’m sorry.”
You sighed, nodding.
“You still smoke?” Rhodey inquired and this peaked your attention. Back in the day, this was your secret code with Rhodey at any moment that neither of you wanted to deal with Tony’s shit or of anyone else in the company. It also meant that both of you wanted to be as far away from anyone’s hearing.
“Same place?” You inquired a smirk playing on your face.
“Tony made some changes to the rooftop with the railings but it’s quiet enough for us.”
You nodded letting him leave first before you turned your attention back towards you team that were all hard at work with the newest proposal you had come up with before the meeting.
“Any problem, Boss?” Sam was quick to inquire once Rhodey had left the office. Trust Sam to be the most cautious one in the team when you were lacking in that department.
“Family problems more like it.” You sighed slipping out your pack of cigarette and lighter from your desk drawer.
“Thought you stopped smoking?”
“Being in the same environment that caused my smoking habits does that to me.” You muttered. “I’ll be back in a few.”
“Holler if you need anything, Boss. Take it easy.” Knowing Sam for as long as you did, you know he wasn’t convinced by your lies at this point, but after everything, you could care less anymore what he worries about.
“Love you, Sam.” You called out before slipping out of the office and just for the hell of it, made your way to the fire exit to climb up to the rooftop and hopefully avoiding stumbling into anyone you were so keen in seeing any time soon.
The memories of your first time working in the company brought you back to the happier parts of your life. How things had been more simple, no complication and no setback if you make a mistake. But now, you know the mistake you could make would possibly dispel the failure of your father’s blood, sweat, and tears.
As the familiar ache on your legs continued to spread, you were reminded of every little thing that had made you believe you were a better fit that Tony had it not been for the fact that he carried the family name, the doubts that your father always had for Tony taking over the company—the trust he had that you would be the one to help him every step of the way. How neither of you would have ever thought you would do the complete opposite and walk away and have a hand in actually ruining the company because of your own spite.
Opening the door, the cold air of New York nearly fifty stores above ground was what welcomed you. The familiar cold that prickled your skin and quickly had you slip a cigarette between your lips even without realizing you weren’t realty intending on smoking it initially.
Rhodey was waiting with his back facing you. The smoke lingering meant he was also smoking already.
“So what’s the truth, Rhodes?” You teased finally coming to stand besides your friends, handing him the rest of your pack.
“We’re in a sinking ship, Y/N. And the Captain has more ego than braincell at this point.”
“Not if I can stop it, Rhodes.”
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