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sc0tters · 8 months

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Decisions, Decisions | Sidney Crosby

summary: you begin to prepare for the birth of your baby and the chaos that ensues when Sidney learns about his child.

request: yes/no

warnings: swearing, legal age gap (reader is 23!)

word count: 3.32k

authors note: Luna told me to carry this story on so I did. I decided to make it into a three part series as I don’t know how to end this off (so let me know what you want to see) but I didn’t want this part to get too long. Regular italics are flashbacks and these bold indented lines are how many weeks pregnant the reader is.

previous part | final part

It had been three weeks since you learnt you were pregnant.

10 weeks

You felt sick most mornings but he never noticed.

Sidney played oblivious to the fact that he had slept with you acting like that night had never happened.

Your belly has started to grow but it still wasn’t noticeable “you know peanut the size of a prune?” Connor laughed as he had been reading up about his future niece or nephew “I’d like peanut to let me keep my breakfast down.” You pointed out looking at your brother on the FaceTime call.

Connor had to admit that his heart broke for you going through his alone “he should know.” The hockey player pointed out hinting to the father of your baby.

It made you roll your eyes “until he talks to me I’m not telling him anything.” You mumbled fiddling with the end of your shirt.

The minute you learnt about the pregnancy you called Connor “hey I can’t really-“ he cut himself off the second he heard the sound of you crying “you okay?” Connor asked quickly growing alarmed.

You could barely breathe “I’m pregnant Con,” you announced feeling yourself growing sick at the realisation of what was happening.

Thankfully your brother was there to calm you down “he doesn’t know,” you added hyperventilating as your eyes went wide “who are you talking about?” Connor sat on his bed as he didn’t think you were with anyone at that moment.

“Sidney fucking Crosby.”

20 weeks

You were able to keep Sidney unaware of your baby as you had opted for wearing large sweaters which nobody cared about as it was December.

Sidney had stopped arguing with you as much as he picked up that something was off when you lost the energy to fight him “do you want to know the gender?” Your OB asked as she was staring at the ultrasound screen.

The older woman had a soft spot for you after you let it slip that the baby daddy didn’t know about his child “yes-no-maybe?” You shrugged watching the screen as you didn’t know what you wanted “yes, yes I do.” You finally settling on an answer.

She laughed taking the pictures for you “you are the proud mother to a baby girl,” she announced as you thought you’d be happy to hear that, you dreamed of having a daughter since you were young.

But now that it was a reality you couldn’t help but grow nervous thinking about her not knowing her father.

Surely this was going to be the push that you needed to tell Sidney the truth.

25 weeks

The day had finally arrived, not for you to give birth, but for the rematch against the Blackhawks. This time in Chicago.

You begged Connor to keep his mouth shut but as you watched him cross check Sidney, you knew your request had fallen on deaf ears.

Connor practically had smoke coming out of his ears he was so angry “should have kept your dick in your fucking pants.” He spat as he shoved his finger into the older man’s chest.

Sidney wanted to laugh as the rookie took him on “your sister tell you about everyone she sleeps with?” Sure Sidney knew that you were close to your brother but surely this crossed a line.

The Blackhawks player sucked at his teeth “she tells me about the ones who don’t step up.” Connor pointed out as he hit the older players shoulder before he skated off “what the hell is he talking about?” Sidney muttered to himself as he locked eyes with you on the bench.

He was definitely going to talk to you about it now.

From the moment the game ended you were trying to avoid Sidney, that worked until you got back to the hotel “y/n wait!” The Canadian called out as he saw you walking to your room.

Your legs tried to move faster as you tried to hold onto your notebooks that were in your hand “hey!” Sidney grumbled as he grabbed your hand spinning you around in the process.

The books slipped from your hand landing on the ground with your favourite ultrasound picture sliding right in front of Sidney’s feet.

You felt your heart drop as the boy leaned down to pick it up “is it mine?” His voice was soft as he looked up to see that the colour had drained from your face.

Sidney would have been panicking but this was like the final piece of the puzzle of the words that Connor had put into his head “Sid-” you sighed looking down at the ground “is this child fucking mine y/n!” The hockey player raised his voice causing you to step back with tears welling in your eyes.

Part of you felt like you needed to sit down “if you’re asking if it’s from that night then yes.” You mumbled as you nodded letting your hand slip under your sweater as you felt a kick.

Peanut had been enjoying her active moments during her fathers hockey games “and you didn’t think it was important to tell me?” Sidney let out a dry laugh as he ran his fingers down his jaw.

It was surprising that nobody was seen in the hall as you two had this conversation “you didn’t exactly make it sound like wanted to know about it.” You pointed out as you tucked your hair behind your ears.

The morning after you woke up to an empty bed, actually an empty apartment.

Sidney had slipped out whilst you were fast asleep “sorry y/n,” he mumbled pressing a kiss to your forehead.

There were no two ways about it, Sidney felt disgusting thinking about what he had done. You were this young beautiful girl who had her whole life ahead of her but here he was trying to screw it up. He thought you were beautiful, the kind of girl his parents would want him to bring home. Most of all he loved how you spoke to him, no girl that he’d ever met had that sent him back the shit that he gave you.

Four months ago when his mom came to town and finally got the chance to meet you it took her four minutes to realise that her son was in love with you.

And that was the reason he left. Sidney told himself he that he was doing the best thing for you, because deep down inside if he continued to tell himself that the life of a bachelor was for him then maybe he’d forget about you.

But that wasn’t what went through your mind as you were left hurt with no sign of life from the older boy.

Your pride got in the way and stopped you from ever asking him why he left you that night.

Sidney’s eyes pierced your soul as he contemplated telling you why he left “I had a right to know about this child,” he pointed out crossing his arms.

You scoffed as you rolled your eyes “just like I had a right to know where you were in the morning?” Your words hit him like a slap in his face.

When he remained silent you nodded pushing past him “look I don’t expect you to understand this or be on board.” You announced trying to be mature about the fact that you were growing his child in your belly “but I’ve survived this far and your daughter doesn’t need you if you’re going to not really give a shit about you.” You added tapping his shoulder as you watched him stare at the ultrasound picture in his hand.

With that you decided to leave him as you walked to away “daughter?” Sidney furrowed his eyebrows letting his thumb rub over the image of the baby “you’re gonna be a girl dad.” You nodded leaving him alone in the hall.

Tears formed in his eyes as he realised what his actions had meant for him.

Sidney was going to have to change things quickly.

26 weeks

Sidney sat in the cafe as he patiently waited for you to arrive “hey y/n,” he was clearly nervous as he saw you walk in.

You were wearing your new favourite sweater that had PITTSBURGH printed out in big bold yellow letters on the grey material “hi,” you mumbled awkwardly standing there as he clearly going for a hug “what did you want to talk about?” You asked sitting down in your seat.

He took in how gorgeous you looked even with no makeup on and your day five hair in a messy bun “look I want to be apart of our child’s life.” Sidney confessed softly not wanting possible fans from around him to hear what he had to say.

Your eyes went down to the menu “c’mon y/n I deserve a chance.” The hockey player reached out to place his hand on yours “how do I know you’re not going to leave one day when shit gets too hard?” You placed your hands on your lap still clearly hurt about what he had done all those months ago.

It had made you feel stupid offering your body up to someone in the way you had done for him only to then watch him leave before the sun came up “all I’m asking for is a second chance.” Sidney pleaded as he let his hands wrap around his coffee cup.

Connor’s voice was in your head reminding you of the fact that you were scared to do this alone “one chance, you fuck it up and you’re out Crosby.” Your warning reminded him that you were mad at him and that despite there being a child inside of you it wasn’t going to make everything okay.

“I won’t let you down Bedard.”

“I’m not the one you should be promising that to.”

28 weeks

Now almost everyone knew about your baby after one of the rookies saw you in nothing more than a vest and leggings when he walked into your office unannounced and let it slip to the rest of the team. The comments and questions were quickly shut down when Sidney threatened them all with extra laps, which of course you greatly appreciated.

But that didn’t matter as you were sat in the doctors office alone staring at the forms that you had to fill in “sorry I’m late,” Sidney’s loud entrance caused all of the expecting fathers in the waiting room jaws to drop.

He sat in the seat next to you as he placed his hand on your knee “I started thinking that you weren’t going to come.” You confessed drawing a smile from his lips “you lack faith in me y/n,” you wanted to hit him but you couldn’t when your doctor stuck her head out of her office “nice to see that the dad is joining us.” She sent you a wink as you walked into her office.

Sidney felt like a nervous wreck as he watched you pull your sweater over your belly “you’ve seen a whole lot more of me before Sid.” You pointed out sending him a smile which quickly left your face as the cold gel hit your stomach “felt that before y/n,” Sidney matched your teasing tone as you stuck your tongue out at him.

Your OB laughed as she watched the interaction between you two “want to see how peanut is doing?” She asked pulling your attention away from the boy in front of you.

The hockey player raised his eyebrows “peanut?” He cocked his head “hey you weren’t ever when I voted-” you were cut off when your baby popped up onto the screen.

“Peanut is perfect.”

30 weeks

Sidney had spent the last two weeks learning all about your child as he watched you begin nesting “should we get both?” Sidney asked holding up two different car seats.

A laugh left your lips as you shook your head “she does not need two car seats or two strollers.” You crossed your arms feeling like his wealth was truly showing.

The boy placed the box back on the stand “peanut deserves whatever she wants,” he pointed out as he made you laugh again “our daughter is gonna wrap you around her finger so tight it’s gonna hurt.” You smiled as you placed your hand on his shoulder looking at the one stroller you preferred more “peanut should get this one.” You added pointing at it.

He nodded picking the box up as he followed you to the next section “her and her mom already do,” Sidney mumbled to himself as he referred to your earlier comment.

You spun around furrowing your eyebrows “you say something?” You asked causing his eyes to go wide “nope.” Sidney was quick to shake his head desperately hoping that you didn’t hear what he said.

31 weeks

The last six weeks were spent for Sidney trying to win you back “I’m just asking for one meal!” Sidney complained as he had been trying to persuade you to go to dinner with him for the last fifteen minutes “look Sid the last thing I want is to wear some uncomfortable shoes and try to fit into a dress that would have fit me pre peanut.” You pointed out as you knew what the hockey player would plan.

It made the boy frown “what do you want to do then?” He asked wondering if that was how low you thought of him.

You pursed your lips together as you thought about it “pizza and a movie.” You also wanted a bubble bath but that didn’t feel like something that you should mention to Sidney especially after the last time he saw you naked you ended up with a baby in your belly.

It didn’t even take him a minute before he nodded “you got yourself a deal Bedard,” Sidney had to admit that it sounded peaceful having a movie night with you before little peanut was born.

31 weeks

Sidney walked into your apartment with a smile as he held the three boxes of pizza “didn’t know which one you wanted so I went with your favourites.” He explained as he placed the white boxes on the table “you don’t know my favourite pizza Crosby,” you pointed out knowing that it was not going to be something he’d just pick up on.

Instead the boy smirked “got Hawaiian because you’ve been craving pineapple, margarita because of your cheese craving, and pepperoni because who doesn’t like pepperoni?” Sidney looked proud of himself as he turned around to see that you were staring at him in awe “what?” He furrowed his eyebrows when you kept silent.

Surely it had to be the pregnancy hormones that made you think he was kissable in that moment “nothing,” you shook your head deciding to go for a piece of pizza instead as you hoped it would make your brain forget about the boy who stood next to you.

32 weeks

The moment Sidney’s parents learnt that they were going to be grandparents they were on the next flight into Pittsburgh “your mom already loves me Sid,” you reminded him as you watched the Canadian wipe his palms on his pants “I’m worried about what she’s gonna do to me.” Sidney mumbled feeling like he was going to throw up.

You sighed turning to let your whole body face him “look we have survived this long acting like we have it together so let’s just continue doing that?” You proposed as you wrapped your hands around his hoping that it would calm his nerves.

Sidney blinked his eyes as he thought about kissing you “right that was probably stupid of me to even suggest that.” You mumbled quickly retracting your hands as your eyes went wide.

He was quick to act as he hooked his fingers under your jaw bringing his lips to your own. At first you were shocked that he kissed you but then instead you just melted into the kiss groaning as his tongue slid across your lower lip “we’re here!” Sidney’s mother called out causing the two of you to jump away from each other.

Well that was a conversation for another day.

33 weeks

To say you were irritated was putting it lightly.

Alex had called you at almost midnight saying that Sidney was drunk at some bar flirting with a girl. The blonde had picked up on the car rides you were taking with Sidney as he took you to your doctor appointments, he knew Sidney was the father of your baby and he didn’t even have to ask “he’s back there.” The reason why he had called you was because Alex didn’t want Sidney screwing up the relationship that he had with you “Sidney!” You grumbled ready to hit him.

Your were in your leggings and some old training camp shirt that Sidney had given you “hey baby,” the boy smiled as he held his arms out so that he could hug you.

What he didn’t expect was that you’d reach out to slap him instead “I’ll let you deal with him,” the girl mumbled shaking her head as she left figuring that there were easier battles to fight than one that involved the pregnant woman.

The boy poured his lips as he cupped his cheek where you had hit him “what was that for?” He asked letting out a gasp as you pulled him through the crowd of people to the door “can you please grow up Sidney?” You begged wanting to have this conversation with a sober Sidney.

That seemed to do the trick as he nodded finally realising how sore his cheek was “you’ve got a hit on you Bedard,” he complained feeling his jaw throb.

You crossed your arms “what the hell was that Sid?” You asked as tears formed in your eyes.

Tonight you should’ve been watching reruns of the bachelor, not trying to deal with your drunken baby daddy “just wanted to have a fun night before the baby came,” Sidney confessed not seeing how stupid he sounded.

It took everything in you not to hit him for a second time that night “you don’t get to do things like that anymore,” you shook your head feeling like the biggest idiot in the world “to think that I thought you’d actually want me too.” You let out a laugh as tears formed in your eyes.

Sidney’s expressions softened “y/n,” he reached out to grab your hand but you were quick to pull away.

All of those memories preparing for peanuts arrival, the moments shopping, trying to build her crib together, seeing her little body grow in each scan, the way you’d grab Sidney’s hand and place it in your belly the second she kicked, all felt like they were getting thrown down the drain in that very moment.

So with all of the respect that you had left for yourself you tucked your hair behind your ears “I’m going to go and stay with my parents for a bit,” you had mentioned before that you wanted to go up to your families lake house before Peanut was born so that you could get some time in the sun beforehand.

Sidney nodded “thought you wanted me to come with you.” You had offered to bring him along as everyone was desperate to meet the man who your child was going to call her father.

You sniffled as you shook your head feeling a tear roll down your cheek “figure your shit out and when you do you know where to find me.” Your words weren’t nearly as harsh as they could have been when you placed a kiss on his cheek before you walked off leaving Sidney all alone on the street.

For some reason this really felt like he had fucked up this time.

#crosby x bedard sister!#Sidney Crosby imagines #Sidney Crosby x reader #sidney crosby #Sidney Crosby x!dad #hockey imagine #hockey imagines #oneshots #imagines #nhl imagine #nhl oneshot #amber writes fics

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helloalycia · 1 month

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𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃 [𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑] — 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐎𝐑

one / two / three / masterlist / wattpad

summary: when Jackie gets into a fight with Eve, she stops talking to you before finally revealing a bombshell that changes your relationship forever.

warning/s: mentions of underage drinking and of cheating.

author's note: here is the long awaited part 4! glad to see this one got a bit more interest, it was a fun one to write. this particular part is longer than the others, but i couldn’t split it so yeah, enjoy :)

After that random encounter with Eve at the arcade, I never really expected her presence to affect Jackie and I again. Oh, how wrong I was.

Jeff and I were at school to watch another Yellowjackets game, coincidentally against Eve's team, the Lions. Of course, I didn't think much of it as I was only here to support the team and Jackie. Jeff was waiting in the bleachers for me whilst I went to grab something I'd forgotten from my locker since I was already at school. It was on the way out and back to the bleachers when Eve found me, giving me a playful smirk.

"Well, if it isn't Y/N Sadecki," she said, eyeing me.

"Eve," I acknowledged with a nod.

"You here to support your little girlfriend?"

Knowing she was talking about Jackie, I felt my cheeks grow warm and tried to remain indifferent. "Jackie's just a friend."

"You should tell her that," Eve suggested with a knowing look.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, knowing she was trying to wind me up for whatever reason.

"It's unfortunate you have to watch me beat her," she said with a satisfied smile.

"You can try," I retorted, defending the Yellowjackets.

All Eve did was smirk before walking away to rejoin her team on the pitch. As I watched her go, I noticed Jackie in the distance, watching the two of us and glaring at Eve. The game was about to start so she couldn't do much, but I hoped she knew there was nothing happening between us. The last thing I wanted was for Jackie to think I liked her arch nemesis, especially after we almost kissed a year ago.

The referee blew his whistle, signalling for the players to get in position, so I returned to my seat beside Jeff as Jackie was forced to let it go for now.

"Popcorn?" Jeff asked when I took a seat.

I accepted it wordlessly, stuffing my face as I watched the game with anticipation.

The game started out pretty tense, with both sides getting close to scoring but eventually getting beat by each other's defenders. It was almost half time and everybody could sense a tension between Jackie and Eve, with the latter blocking every attempt Jackie made to score. She was following the blonde like a shadow, never giving her chance to breathe, and though that was expected, it was a little more extra than usual. Even from where I was sat, I could see Jackie getting frustrated by her presence.

Just before half time, Shauna was racing towards the goal, kicking the ball to Jackie. Everybody was on their feet as they watched her approach, ready to score, but out of nowhere, Eve performed a sliding tackle. Jackie hit the grass instantly, making everyone wince at how hard she landed on her knees.

The referee blew the whistle – possibly a yellow card? – and Jackie was sitting upright and fixing Eve with a glare. Then Eve must have said something to piss her off because before anyone could react, Jackie got up and shoved Eve backwards on the grass. She looked like she was about to go at her again, but Shauna intervened and held Jackie back as she yelled something at Eve. The referee was frantically blowing his whistle as a few more players broke up their almost-fight, and the crowd stared with surprise, wondering what was happening.

As Jackie was escorted off pitch by the referee, I could see Coach Scott scolding her, but she didn't seem to care. Very unlike her, she rolled her eyes and walked off.

"The hell was that?" Jeff muttered with confusion.

I shook my head. "I don't know... but I should see if she's okay."

He nodded as I got up to leave, hoping Jackie was alright. Not only did that sliding tackle look painful, but clearly Eve had set her off, and Jackie wasn't easy to piss off.

I followed after her as she stormed inside the school, but she didn't get far when I called after her in the empty hallway.

"Jackie, are you okay? What was that?"

She didn't stop marching forward as she answered, "Leave me alone."

I furrowed my brows. "What? Jackie, I just–"

Suddenly, she stopped and turned around to glare at me. "I didn't ask for your help, now go."

Taken aback, I swallowed awkwardly. "I didn't–"

"Why the hell were you talking to her?" she interrupted, hazel eyes staring into my soul.

Feeling lost, I said, "What?"

She mimicked me, "What?" before scoffing angrily. "Don't play dumb, Y/N. Eve. Why were you talking to her?"

Unsure what this had to do with anything presently, I decided not to let her accusatory tone get to me. "She talked to me."

Jackie rolled her eyes. "How convenient."

Definitely lost, I asked, "You're mad at me? For that?" When she didn't answer, her jaw clenching, I said, "What did she say to you out there? Why are you upset?"

She shook her head, suppressing a frown. "Just leave me alone."

And with that, she stormed off towards the locker room, leaving me super confused and also super curious as to what Eve could have said to rile her up.

I hoped she'd calm down within a day or so and finally talk to me, but all weekend after the game, she'd been avoiding my calls. And if her mum picked up, she'd lie terribly saying Jackie wasn't there. I didn't understand why she was so pissed at me when Eve was the one who'd annoyed her. Could she really be angry at me for one conversation?

The only reason I finally got through to Jackie on the Sunday afternoon was because she picked up without meaning to.

"Jackie, wait, please!" I exclaimed, not wanting to lose her. "I don't want to fight. I just want to fix this."

To my surprise, she stayed on. "What?"

I swallowed hard. "You've been ignoring me. I... I know you're upset, but I just want to fix this."

I heard her sigh on the other side, but she said nothing.

"What did I do?" I asked in a pleading voice. "Tell me and I'll make it right." She fell silent and I sighed tiredly. "Okay, well, can you tell me what Eve said to upset you? You've never acted like that in a game before. You're supposed to be the team captain."

Just when I was convinced I was talking to myself, she finally spoke quietly. "She was saying how she was going to win the game." She paused, then reluctantly continued, "And you. Talking about how irresistible the Sadeckis were and how you were next on her list. That it was a shame she couldn't get to Jeff first."

My eyes widened slightly, not expecting that.

Sighing, Jackie admitted, "It sounds stupid now I'm saying it aloud. I never cared what she thought, she's just some girl. But I... I saw her talking to you and I just– I thought–"

She didn't finish, and I tried not to hold my breath, not wanting to read into it.

"Jackie, that's nonsense," I assured her kindly. "She was just smack talking you to get to you and she succeeded in that. I wish you hadn't let her."

"I know," she agreed. A pause, and then: "I'm sorry for getting upset and yelling at you. I was just pissed."

"It's okay," I said, giving in. "Just..."

"No," she suddenly said, a little more confidently. "I wasn't pissed. I was jealous."

Eyebrows furrowing, I said, "What?"

Upset, she continued, "She doesn't get to do that! Everything I've ever wanted, Eve tries to take. Jeff. Winning states."

I wasn't sure what to say, sensing her frustration through the phone.

"You," she finished, making me second guess if I'd heard correctly. Judging by my silence, she added, "Yes, I want you."

Jaw dropping a little, I said, "What?"

"I don't want to do this over the phone," she said, exhaling deeply.

"Jackie–"

"I've gotta go," she said, and hung up before I could say anything else.

I couldn't move for a moment, reeling at what she'd just said. Did she just admit she liked me?

—

Jackie's words were on my mind for the rest of the weekend and well into Monday. I tried ringing her again, but there was no response so my only hope was to see her in school and talk it out there.

But at school, I didn't see her around like usual. At lunch time, I found Shauna eating, who redirected me to the library, and that was where I ended up finding her. She was tucked between some shelves, looking for a book, and I told myself it was now or never before approaching her.

"I've been looking for you everywhere," I said quietly, aware we were still in the library and also not wanting to startle her. Still, she jumped a little.

Recovering from her surprise, she remained focused on the bookshelf. "I was studying."

"You avoided my calls," I reminded her. "Dropped a bombshell then hung up."

She swallowed visibly, before glancing at me. "Sorry."

Her eyes didn't linger for long, and she was back to looking at the books.

"i just want an explanation, Jackie," I told her.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "There's not much to say."

Her feigned innocence was admittedly starting to frustrate me, and I frowned as she continued to avoid my gaze.

"What did you mean when you said you wanted me?" I asked outright, tired of beating around the bush.

She mumbled, "Nothing."

"Jackie," I pressed, impatiently.

"Really, nothing," she assured me with a quick glance.

"It wasn't nothing. Not to you. Or you wouldn't have hung up. Wouldn't have gotten so upset."

She pressed her lips together, sighing deeply, and I gave her the benefit of the doubt when I watched as she seemed to struggle with an internal conflict.

"Jackie–"

"Fine," she said suddenly, a hint of nervousness in her voice. "It was something."

I waited, heart sinking to my stomach the longer she took to speak.

"I want you," she finally admitted, turning to face me with a worried expression. "Because I fucking like you. And you make me happy. And I hate that I didn't see it sooner. But there it is."

It was as if someone was squeezing my insides, everything shrinking into nothingness as she said the impossible.

"But... but why is that a bad thing?" I asked softly.

She exhaled, shaking her head and looking away. "It's not. It's just... complicated."

I tried to meet her eyes. "Why? Because of Jeff?"

Saddened eyes finally met mine, accompanying a guilty nod. And it spurred me on for some reason, because the girl I liked actually liked me back, and how the hell was that possible?

"I don't really give a shit about what he would think," I said truthfully, surprising her. "What anyone would think."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

It was hard not to laugh as the realisation of my situation dawned on me. "I liked you way before he did, Jackie. I've had a crush on you for years. Why the hell would I let him get in the way of that now that I have a chance?"

The fact that she seemed genuinely taken aback by my admission made me wonder if I'd hid my crush well enough all these years, or if she was just terribly unobservant. Either way, she didn't know what to say as she tried to study my expression.

"I do have a chance now, right?" I asked with a shocking amount of confidence than I thought I was capable of.

As if the roles were reversed, she struggled for words. "I– yes, but–"

That was all the confirmation I needed when I stepped forward and kissed her, hoping to put her mind at ease. She relaxed against me, kissing me back slowly and carefully and in a way that made me forget anything other than her.

After a moment, I pulled away to speak, but she grabbed me by the shirt, tugging me back to her lips, and I didn't argue it. My arms wrapped around her waist, her back gently hitting the bookshelf behind her, and she didn't let go of my shirt as she held me in place, lips devouring mine.

My mind was spinning and my insides were humming with desire once we pulled apart for air, and I could still barely believe I'd just made out with Jackie Taylor.

"Now what?" I breathed out, eyes flickering between hers.

She caught her breath. "Well, I like you and you like me."

"Yeah..."

A ghost of a smile was on her lips as she let her head fall to my shoulder with feigned frustration. "Jeff is gonna be pissed."

I snorted with amusement, shaking my head. "He doesn't have to know. Not for now, at least."

She hummed in agreement, pulling her head back to look at me again, though this time truly looking at me. I grew nervous under her gaze, any confidence I had disappearing.

"Sorry, you were studying," I said lamely, though in my defence, I didn't expect to interrupt her by making out with her between the shelves.

She shrugged like it was a mere inconvenience before tugging me back to her lips, and of course, I couldn't resist Jackie Taylor's charm.

—

Sometimes I couldn't quite believe I was in a relationship with Jackie, albeit a secret one. But then she'd look at me in a way that only I knew meant more and I thanked my lucky stars she liked me back.

When we were in the presence of others, we'd act like we always did, though Jackie would sometimes leave lingering touches or stare at me for a little too long, and I always warned her not to make it so obvious but she seemed to take that as a challenge.

Not even Y/BF/N knew, and one time at school, she grew suspicious. Again, all Jackie's fault, but I'd like to think I denied it pretty well. I was at my locker talking to Y/BF/N about our Music class assignment when Jackie approached us with her usual smile.

"Hey," she said to us both.

"'Sup, Jackie," Y/BF/N greeted, returning her smile.

"Not much, just wanted to ask Y/N if she was still on for studying later," she said, glancing at me. Funnily enough, that wasn't code for anything – she was actually gonna help me study. But the way her hand rested on my forearm as she awaited an answer definitely earned a second glance from Y/BF/N.

I nodded, remembering I had her notes in my locker and grabbing them. "Yeah, that's fine. Can you take these? I'm just gonna forget otherwise."

She accepted the notes, finally letting go of my arm, stuffing them between her books in her hand. "Awesome. I'll catch you later then."

"See you later, Jackie," I replied, and her gaze definitely lingered a second longer than it should've, making my cheeks grow warm at the attention. I broke our stare and she chuckled before walking away, probably not even realising she'd done anything out of the ordinary.

I cleared my throat, about to resume my conversation with Y/BF/N, but she was glancing back at Jackie before quirking a brow at me.

"What?" I asked, closing my locker.

"The hell was that?"

I played dumb. "I don't know what you mean."

She looked at me with disbelief before tracing her hand up my arm exaggeratedly. With a high pitched voice, she mimicked Jackie, "Oh, Y/N, I do hope we're still on for studying later!"

I slapped her hand away, avoiding her eyes. "Oh, be quiet, that's not what happened."

She followed me as I attempted to walk away. "Isn't it? Girl, that was weird, even for Jackie." When I didn't reply, she asked, "Are you two together?"

I scoffed a little too quickly, glancing at her sideways. "You're kidding, right? She's Jackie Taylor."

Y/BF/N narrowed her eyes at me with suspicion. "You didn't say no."

I rolled my eyes lightheartedly. "Okay then, no, we're not. You done now?"

Thankfully she dropped the subject, but I was still a little nervous at being found out. It wasn't that I didn't trust her, but telling her just meant it was one step closer to getting to Jeff. And Jackie and I were still new – there was less pressure this way.

—

"Lottie Matthews is loaded," Tommy said what everyone was thinking.

The band and I were stood outside Lottie's house, a party which she had invited us to and was paying us to perform at this evening, thanks to Jackie's recommendation.

"C'mon, they'll be waiting," Y/BF/N encouraged us all, snapping us out of our daze of admiration, before leading the way.

We brought our equipment inside, past the few guests that had arrived a little earlier than they were supposed to, and Lottie and Jackie were there to greet us.

"You all look great!" Jackie exclaimed with a smile once she spotted us, before her eyes landed on me and her smile softened into one that was only reserved for me. "Love the coordination."

I rolled my eyes playfully, though felt my cheeks flushing at the attention.

"Thanks again for having us, Lottie," Aaron thanked her for all of us. "Where d'you want us setting up?"

Lottie began to lead the way to the gigantic living room, the others dragging their equipment with them, and I was about to join them when I felt Jackie tugging me back.

"Hello to you too," I said with a stifled chuckle as she pulled me into her, almost knocking heads.

"You look really good," she said quietly, eyes looking me up and down.

"So do you," I returned, squeezing her hand in mine before glancing around then sneaking a quick kiss. "I should go help the band. But I'll see you around, Jackie."

She sighed childishly but nodded, letting me go, and I tried not to laugh as I followed after the others. I'd like to say that she was good at keeping us a secret for the rest of the party, but every encounter we had went pretty much like that.

As more people showed up, the party was in full swing within half an hour, and what a party it was. Lottie's house was practically a mansion, with a games room, cinema room, a huge pool in the garden and more than enough rooms for people to sneak into. Between sets, the band and I promised we'd stay sober, only here for the music (and Jackie), but that didn't mean we couldn't witness some hilarious stunts pulled by other kids stupid enough to drink their body weight in alcohol.

It was quite the affair, and it was made even better when I remembered how much Lottie was paying us to perform. Her parents were filthy rich, so what was probably pocket money to her was going straight into my savings for college.

After yet another exhilarating performance, I was waved over to Jackie who immediately grabbed my hand and pulled me to the empty spot by the dining table to talk. We perched ourselves on the edge of the table, hands a mere few inches away from one another, and it took every ounce of willpower for me to not touch her. I couldn't help it, she just looked so beautiful.

"You guys are playing so well tonight," she complimented sweetly, before tilting her head to look at me with a cheeky glint in her eyes. "You finally gonna tell me who that last song was about?"

I rolled my eyes playfully, remembering the last time she'd asked me that at the fair. Except this time, she was definitely playing dumb to embarrass me. "Something tells me you know, Jackie."

"Yeah, but I have to hear you say it," she continued to tease, finally resting her hand on top of mine.

I gave her a knowing look, smile creeping on my lips. "You know it's about you."

She feigned surprised, hand to her chest. "Really? I never would have guessed! Gosh, Y/N, I'm so touched!"

I shook my head with dismay as she laughed at her own joke. We stayed there for a little longer, her catching me up with some dumb stuff she'd witnessed tonight and also pestering me about a date she wanted me to take her on, and I loved every second of it. Because everybody was stuck in their own world, the closeness between Jackie and I wasn't even suspicious.

Unfortunately, that got interrupted when some guy approached us, drink in hand and definitely a little tipsy as he struggled to stand upright.

"Hey, ladies," he bellowed over the radio playing through the speakers.

Neither Jackie or I said anything as we waited for him to either speak or leave.

"You're the girl who plays the guitar, right?" he slurred his words a little, meeting my eyes. "I never thought I'd like a lady musician, but there's something about the way you–"

"I'm not interested," I told him firmly.

He blinked, not expecting that, before looking to Jackie and trying his luck once more. "How about you? You're a–"

"Don't even think about it," she told him with a judgemental stare.

He rolled his eyes at the rejection before downing the cup in his hand and walking away.

"Y'know, I love that people are finally seeing how hot you are an' all, but I also hate it," Jackie admitted with a half smile, glancing at me.

I breathed out, chuckling at her honesty. "It's a good thing I've got eyes for someone else, isn't it?"

She pressed her lips together, bright eyes flickering between mine distractedly, and then her expression softened. "I really wanna kiss you right now."

I nudged my shoulder with hers gently. "Later. I promise."

She pouted adorably, only making me want to kiss her, but I managed to hold back. And this didn't seem to sit right with her as she jumped off the edge of the table and spun around to face me, holding out her hand.

"What?" I asked, resting my hand in hers.

Once she closed her grasp on it, she dragged me through the bodies of guests before pulling me into a room that I'd never been in before. It looked like some sort of pantry in the kitchen, well-stocked, I couldn't lie. But I barely got chance to ask her what she was doing before she pressed her lips to mine, kissing me hard.

All night I'd wanted to kiss her. but clearly she'd wanted it just as much as she pulled me close, barely letting me breathe as we made out between the dried pasta and sweetcorn cans. The party was merely a distant memory as I tuned out the chatter of the guests and the beat of the speakers, instead succumbing to the taste of Jackie's lips and the scent of her perfume.

We were breathless when we finally pulled apart, her hands encasing my face between them, my breath tickling her lips.

"You really couldn't wait, could you?" I spoke, a hint of amusement in my voice.

She scoffed lightheartedly, shoving me back. "Shut up."

I laughed quietly. "Bit desperate, isn't it? For Jackie Taylor?"

She quirked a brow, finger fixing her smudged lip gloss. "Really? Says the one who wrote a million songs about me?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Touché."

She smirked, before fixing her hair too. "I'm gonna go. You should too if you wanna make your next set."

"Yeah, yeah..."

She winked before leaving me alone in the pantry, and I made sure my own lipstick was fixed before heading out.

The party went on until pretty late into the night, and it was after midnight when Lottie and Jackie began kicking stragglers out. The band called it a night, but I felt bad leaving Lottie and her friends to clean up alone, so I stayed back to help out. By the time we were done, I offered to give Jackie a ride home, mostly because I just wanted to make sure she got back safely.

"Your mum knows you're with me, right?" she asked from the passenger's seat as I was driving.

"Yep," I said between a yawn. "You think she would've trusted me out this late alone?"

Jackie let out a tired chuckle, leaning against the door. "Yeah, she loves me."

I rolled my eyes lightheartedly. "Whatever."

"Sleepover at mine," she insisted. "It's already late. I don't want you driving back alone. You might as well."

I glanced at her. "You're sure?"

She nodded. "You're overdue cuddles anyway. It's only fair."

This brought a smile to my face. "It's only fair. Uh-huh."

Even tired, she was adorable, and I couldn't say no. Plus, I was exhausted and it was the weekend, so what was the harm?

Once I arrived at Jackie's, we headed straight to her room and collapsed in her bed together, tired but content as we wrapped ourselves up in one another. The perfect end to a perfect night.

—

I changed the notes on my music sheet, giving my composition another go on the piano. It sounded a lot better now, but I still wasn't happy with it. I was working on my assignment for Music class, having booked out the classroom and piano for today's lunch to hopefully get some inspiration away from my bedroom. It was working, kind of.

As I chewed my lip, tapping the same key over and over thoughtfully, I heard footsteps behind me and glanced over my shoulder.

"Jackie," I said, surprised but smiling at her presence.

"So this is why you ditched me," she said jokingly, before standing by my side and resting a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm working on my assignment," I reminded her with a knowing look.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled, a ghost of a smile on her lips before she nudged me over and took a seat on the piano bench beside me.

She began to press some random keys with her finger, making me stifle a laugh.

"Like Beethoven himself," I teased, and she shoved me in the shoulder without looking up.

"You're shit at soccer, so zip it," she reminded me, making me groan.

"You're never letting me live that down, are you?"

Finally, she glanced at me with a quirked brow and an amused glint in her eyes. "What part? The bloody nose? The missing the goal a billion times? Or the breathlessness after running only one lap around the field?"

I pressed my lips together, narrowing my eyes her way. "I hate you."

She laughed, leaning forward to press a kiss to my cheek before returning her attention to the piano. "Yeah, no you don't. Now, teach me how to play something."

I sighed, knowing she wouldn't leave me be if I didn't, so I taught her a few chords, enough to satisfy her urge to be skilled in something she really wasn't. Okay, a little mean, she actually wasn't terrible. But she was impatient and very easily distracted, and I was running short on time.

"Okay, Jackie, I actually need to do my work now," I said apologetically.

She sighed dramatically, giving me a doe-eyed look. "Fiiiiine, if you must."

"If you really wanna learn, I can teach you properly another time," I promised her, tilting my head towards her, mimicking her expression.

"Nah, I just wanted to spend some time with you, but I can see I'm not wanted nor loved," she said, keeping up with her dramatics as she stood up.

"Jackie." I laughed as she lingered, slowly approaching the door.

"Until next time, I suppose," she continued, and I rolled my eyes at her theatrics as she left the classroom.

God, she could be annoying sometimes.

—

It had been a few months since Jackie and I had started dating and I guess I was so enthralled with her that I never really considered how everybody else perceived us, particularly my brother.

I was certain we'd done a good job at keeping us a secret, but then Jeff was becoming suspicious, and I knew we couldn't keep it hidden for much longer.

Using our usual cover story of 'studying', Jackie was over at mine to hang out, though this time staying for dinner at my mum's insistence. Shauna was also over, since she was Jeff's girlfriend an' all, and it didn't make much of a difference since we were all friends, but then dinner actually happened and I felt stupid for thinking it would go smoothly.

"Y'know, I love how close of friends you and Y/N have become," my mum was saying to Jackie as she passed her the garlic bread. "Always inviting her over to yours."

"Just tutoring her for French class," Jackie answered smoothly. "Happy to do it."

"You're terrible at French," Shauna commented with furrowed brows, and Jackie almost faltered as she thought of a response.

"But better than I am," I filled in with an awkward laugh.

Jeff quirked a brow. "And your grade is improving with all this tutoring?"

I met his gaze, sensing his suspicion. "B average."

He hummed, glancing between Jackie and I curiously.

"You should invite Jackie here more," my mum said to me, thankfully interrupting whatever Jeff thought he was piecing together. "I don't want her family thinking we're not a good host."

"Oh, they would never think that," Jackie replied with a laugh. "They love you."

My mum flashed her a grateful smile, eating out of the palm of her hand. I believed we'd gotten away with it, plus I now had more reason to invite her over. But when I looked back opposite me, I saw Jeff and Shauna studying the two of us curiously and I was never good under pressure. I focused on my dinner as my mum rambled on about something or the other, but the couple before me were watching me the whole evening.

Once the meal was over, Jeff went to drop Shauna home as I did the same with Jackie, though I was a little more distracted than she was.

"I love your mum, she's so cute," she was saying as I drove. "And you heard her, right? Gotta stop by more. Her words."

"Yeah, I think you're actually gonna have to start tutoring me French now," I realised.

She pulled a face. "What? Why? I suck at French."

I gave her a sideways glance. "Did you really not see Jeff and Shauna? They don't think we're studying, Jackie."

As if remembering, Jackie snorted. "Yeah, but who cares what they think? There's no proof otherwise."

I sighed. "I know, but I also know my brother. He's gonna be all over us. So, you're gonna have to start tutoring me French when you come over."

She chuckled quietly at this, unbothered. "Oui oui, Monsieur Y/N."

I tried not to laugh. "It's Madame. Monsieur is for guys."

Pursing her lips, she glanced at me. "Fuck."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "God, you're lucky I'm good at French."

—

Asking Jackie to actually tutor me for French class was easier said than done. Turned out she really did suck at French. I ended up teaching her more than she could teach me a lot of the times, and then there was the issue of how she kept getting distracted by random things because the last thing she wanted to do was homework.

The few times that Jeff 'accidentally' walked in my room, we were actually studying, which only reaffirmed my suspicion that he suspected something more between Jackie and I. After the first few weeks, he stopped checking on us, so I assumed he stopped caring. And I may or may not have let my guard down just a little...

"Okay, I just need to recite this to you," I told Jackie, sat cross legged on my bed, opposite her. "Follow along on the paper and tell me if I miss something."

She hummed, glancing at the paper before looking back to me. I could see she wasn't focused and gave her a knowing look.

"Please, Jackie, my test is next week."

She laughed. "Y/N, you know this paper front to back."

I didn't let up. "Jackie."

She sighed dramatically before straightening up and looking at the paper. "Okay. Go."

I nodded and cleared my throat, before reciting the paper in French. It was a speaking exam, and though I wasn't too worried, it didn't hurt to practice. Of course, as I was speaking, I realised Jackie was only looking at me, eyes on mine, and definitely not the paper in her hand.

"...Jackie!" I scolded her, making her blink. "How do you know I'm saying it right, huh? You're not even reading it!"

She bit her lip, trying not to laugh again, then tilted her head towards me. "I'm sorry. I can't help getting distracted. You're so hot when you're focused."

I sighed, though my cheeks were growing warm. "Jackie. Not the time."

"Well, if now's not the time...," she started teasingly, leaning forward on her hands so she was directly in front of my face. Her eyes flickered between mine flirtatiously as she continued, "Then when is?"

I tried to hold my ground, refusing to let her win just because she was stupidly cute and stupidly kissable right now.

"Y'know what I just realised?" she asked rhetorically, hazel eyes glinting with mischief. "Teasing you is pointless. One kiss and you're mine."

"Jackie–"

She silenced me by doing just that, pressing her strawberry-flavoured lips to mine, courtesy of her favourite lipgloss. Unfortunately she was right, and as soon as she kissed me, I melted under her touch, eyes fluttering close. Her hand rested on my neck as she tilted my head up, having the perfect gap to push her tongue into my mouth.

As we made out, studying long forgotten, my senses were overtaken by all things Jackie, so much that I didn't hear anybody come in my bedroom until said person cursed out loud.

Immediately pulling apart from Jackie, I looked to the door to see Jeff standing there with a shocked expression.

"I knew you weren't studying!" he exclaimed, pointing a finger at us. Then it seemed to dawn on him what we were doing instead, and he glared at Jackie. "Seriously?!" With a lower voice, he whisper-shouted, "You're sucking face with my sister?!"

Embarassed, I scolded him. "Jeff!"

"In case you forgot, you cheated on me with my best friend," Jackie retorted, standing up to face him.

"So you make out with my sister?!" he repeated, hysterical.

Jackie scoffed. "You don't get to be mad right now! You literally–"

"That doesn't give you the right to–"

"–and you cheated on me for fucking months–"

"–my little sister isn't your–"

I sat there awkwardly as they bickered over the stupidest things, still flushed with embarrassment.

The sound of my mum calling all of our names, followed by the promise of lunch, silenced Jackie and Jeff long enough for me to stand up off the bed, subtly wiping Jackie's lipgloss from my mouth.

"This... this isn't over," Jeff said, looking between us, before storming out of my room and downstairs.

Jackie clenched her jaw before glancing at me, expression softening. "You okay?"

"Yeah... I think. You?"

She nodded. "Let's go eat."

The two of us trailed in after Jeff, taking a seat beside each other at the dining table where my parents were waiting already. Thankfully, Jackie was still her easygoing, talkative self and made conversation with my parents as we ate. Jeff and I were quiet, occasionally glancing at one another before looking the other way if we accidentally caught each other's gaze. I still couldn't believe he'd caught me making out with Jackie. This wasn't how I wanted to tell him about us.

"...Y/N, Jeff, you two are oddly quiet today," my dad noticed, making everyone look to us.

When Jeff didn't speak, I answered, "I'm just a little tired. Lots of studying."

Jeff choked on his water and I instantly regretted my choice of words. Jackie looked between us before changing the subject with my parents, saving the moment. Thankfully, they didn't try to talk to me again, and Jeff still didn't have much to say.

After a horribly awkward lunch, I left to drop Jackie off home, glad when we were finally away from Jeff's judgy eyes.

"So... you think he'll get over it?" Jackie asked me in the car.

"Probably," I answered. "Eventually."

She nodded slowly, glancing at my house as we drove away, before saying, "Sorry if it's awkward between you both now. It wasn't my intention."

I sighed, a small smile on my face when I glanced at her. "It's okay, Jackie, it's not your fault. Besides. You're kind of worth it, so."

"Oh, really?" she asked, quirking a brow playfully.

"Just a little," I played along, and she laughed.

"That's good to know, yeah," she said, before squeezing my knee gently.

—

I wanted to talk things through with Jeff as soon as possible, but when I returned home after dropping Jackie off, he was in his room and I figured it was best to give him some space. The next morning, he was already out the house when I went downstairs for breakfast, so my only hope was to find him at school.

I wasn't sure if he was actually annoyed at me or not, since he hadn't spoken to me since yesterday and I didn't really see him around much. I put it down to needing some space again, giving him the benefit of the doubt considering he saw his little sister and ex-girlfriend making out.

After school however, I was surprised to find him waiting for me by my car in the lot. He didn't look annoyed or upset, which was a good sign, but I was also planning to wait for Jackie just now, so I hoped this wouldn't go down badly.

"Hey, Jeff," I greeted as I approached him, a little confused.

"So, I've thought about it," he said instantly, hand clutching the strap of his backpack as he paced a little.

"Uh-huh..."

"I just needed to process it all," he continued, stopping his pacing but struggling to stand still.

"Right," I acknowledged, patiently waiting for him to finish.

"You don't need my permission, obviously," he disclaimed quickly, before saying, "but I'm okay with it. You and– you and Jackie."

I raised my eyebrows, surprised at his reaction, or at least witnessing it so soon.

"It was just strange," he admitted, finally relaxing once he'd gotten his words out. "My ex moving on with my sister."

I couldn't resist reminding him, "You literally moved on with her best friend."

He winced slightly, but nodded. "Right."

I chewed the inside of my cheek as we stood there, neither of us saying anything.

"Okay then...," I started, once I realised he was done. "So, we're cool?"

"We're cool," he agreed, before reluctantly asking, "Out of curiosity though... how long? Y'know, you and Jackie?"

"A month? Maybe a little longer?" I answered truthfully.

He nodded, letting that digest, then said, "You seem to get along well. I'm happy for you, Y/N."

I began to smile, despite his awkwardness. "We do."

He smiled too, albeit a little uncomfortably, and mine soon turned into one of amusement.

"Hey," Jackie finally arrived, looking between Jeff and I, though unsure how to react as she was as surprised as I was upon seeing him.

"He's okay with it," I told her, making her eyes widen slightly, taken aback.

"Oh."

"I'm happy for you both," Jeff added, nodding at Jackie.

She recovered from her temporary stupor quite quickly and began to flash Jeff a mildly condescending smile. "Well, that's very mature of you, Jeff. Thanks."

He seemed a little embarrassed, but nodded before glancing at me. "Catch you later, Y/N."

"See you later," I confirmed, watching as he left us to it.

Only when he was out of hearing distance did I look back to Jackie, who was stifling her urge to laugh.

"I guess that's that then," she said what we were both thinking.

"It is," I confirmed with a hidden smile.

Her green-golden eyes met mine with a hint of mischief. "That means there's no need to hide this anymore, right?"

Realising she was right, I nodded. "Guess not."

A grin appeared on her lips, but before I could question it, she yanked me forward by my jacket, pressing her lips to mine in a brief yet passionate kiss that had me floating and forgetting what my name was.

She flashed me another smile before getting into the car, and I was left speechless, before a grin appeared on my own lips. No more hiding anymore.

#jackie taylor x you #jackie taylor imagine #jackie taylor x reader #jackie taylor #yellowjackets imagine #yellowjackets #ella purnell

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too-deviant · 2 months

Note

idk if you’d be comfortable writing this but I was wondering if you could whip up an Aphrodite!reader who’s fed up with her beauty. She stops attending school and stays the full term at camp which makes Luke confused. So she tells him about how random dudes would hit on her and be creepy at her school or something. She’d prolly join him with Kronos bc she wants to feel respected for once. Would be such an angsty but filled with femme rage although totally cool if you choose not to write this~ Just wanted to share it with someone 💛

Pairing: Luke Castellan x Aphrodite!Reader

Summary: Maybe you didn't want to be beautiful anymore.

Content: pretty angsty, brief mentions of male harassment but nothing explicit or triggering, again sorry for the wait i had w block pls forgive me. also not proofread sorry yall its been a rough week.

You were only faintly aware of the noise around you.

The chatter of the city was a mere buzz in the back of your head as you marched down the street. It amazed you, really, just how unbelievably dickish mortal boys could be. This one in particular; Mike Schwartz, a five foot something jock who sat on the bench at every game. He’d been a bother in your life since you started high school. Back then, you took the endless prospects as a compliment – you truly were your mother’s daughter. It was a boost to your weak teenage confidence.

But as the years went by, the constant asking for your hand became an irritant. Especially when they couldn’t get the hint – at fourteen, turning down guys felt amazing, but when those same guys kept coming back for more, it made your eye twitch. Couldn’t they take the first no, tuck their tail between their legs and fuck off?

Apparently not.

After four years of putting up with it, you were done. Storming out of the cafeteria, grabbing all your things, hailing a cab and getting the hell outta dodge. Maybe you should’ve stopped to think — called your dad, taken a few deep breaths. But the harder you thought about it, after trying not to for so many years, you came to the conclusion that you would’ve ended up here anyway.

Here being the peak of HalfBlood Hill in the middle of September. It was only slightly unusual, because when you usually arrive at the start of summer you get to watch the crowds of arrivals setting up shop at camp. Now, however, it was fairly desolate. Less people, you knew.

It was also a split second shock when you stepped across the border and felt the drastic change in weather. From the cool breeze of the autumn air to the warm summery spring that camp was in year-round. A shift that made you pause, but you kept on down the hill anyway.

Chiron was waiting for you on the porch of the Big House, and without so much as a word, gestured for you to follow him inside. He was fairly understanding of your situation, but made you Iris Message your dad and tell him of your decision. He, too, was more glad you were safe than angry you ran off.

“We can talk about this when you feel like talking.” He’d said.

So you’d done it. Finally, you’d gotten yourself away from the hey hot stuffs and the you seeing anyone baby?s. You were back at camp, you were where you were most happy.

But you weren’t happy.

Being a year-rounder, you’d discovered, was a lot less busy than being a summer camper. You got more days off, longer breaks between activities. You found yourself spending more time in your own company; something you never really got to do before. Most of the time you were with your siblings, or your mortal friends, or you were being hounded by some frat boy and their friends.

It took a minute to get used to the loneliness, but you did. You explored camp, found places you hadn’t seen before. A cute clearing near a stream on the east side of the forest, or a Satyr sanctuary on the far end of the beach. You read more books, you trained a little harder, you perfected six new hairstyles on your little sister Elena and Annabeth from the Athena Cabin.

And yet, you were still pissed off.

“Why?”

Luke Castellan was a name everyone knew in this little corner of Long Island. One of the oldest campers, head counsellor of the rowdiest cabin, token tour guide for the new kids. Oh, and the best swordsman camp had seen in, like, three centuries. He was cute, that much you’d heard all around your cabin. But you’d never really held a solid conversation with him until you became a year-rounder. The fewer people around, the more you run into him.

You’d been practising a few neat tricks with a dagger when he spotted you. Said he was there to train himself for once and that you wouldn’t even notice he was there. You did, though. Especially when he took his shirt off twenty minutes in.

You shared a water break, he asked you why you’d transferred to being a year rounder, and you indulge him in the story. He was super nice about it too, which made you angry. Was Luke the only nice guy on the planet?

“But at least you’re happier now, right?” He’d said. You weren’t, you told him that much. He gave you this knowing look you’d never seen on him before, and asked Why?

You shrugged, “I don’t know. I love it here, I do. But I shouldn’t have to uproot my entire life and bring it here just to get some semblance of peace. I shouldn’t have to give up my education, my friends, my dad, just so I don’t have to get harassed every day. It’s not even like my mom gave me anything to help combat it, either. She just made me beautiful and told me to deal with the consequences! I mean,” You let out a weak chuckle, holding up the dagger you’d been toying with, “This was a birthday present from a friend in Cabin Six. Not even my mother, who is a warrior herself, could bother sending me a weapon. They really don’t give two shits about us, do they?”

He’d parted his lips, eyes shining with something, and looked at you through his bottom lashes, “No. They don’t.”

You and Luke grew closer after that. A lot closer. By the time summer rolled around and the rest of the campers returned, you were inseparable. Many rumours spread but you two ignored them in favour of sneaking into that clearing you’d found and talking in whispers about your hatred for the gods. Who cared if they could hear you? Let them.

It was Luke who had come up with the idea to steal the bolt. A quick job, in and out, and maybe then they’d listen to what you’d have to say. But they didn’t — they did exactly what they always did and risked the lives of two young demigods and a satyr just because they couldn’t be bothered doing it themselves. Selfish — that’s what they were. They didn’t care about anyone —

“ — but themselves!” You glared at Thalia, who stood before you atop Mount Tamalpais with her spear in your direction. “I mean, look at your dad. He didn’t care enough to stop the monsters from killing you, oh, but it’s okay because he turned you into a damn tree!”

“This isn’t the way!” Annabeth yelled from afar. Her hair was twisted in a style you’d taught her how to do that first year as a year-rounder. It broke your heart that she couldn’t see how right you and Luke were.

“Curse them, Thalia.” You said plainly, holding up your dagger. Half mortal metal, half celestial bronze. A gift from Luke. “Curse your father and his children. His brothers. Curse them all like they deserve to be cursed! They deserve to be toppled.”

You tilted your head, looking at them all. Luke and your army were heading steadily up the mountain. If you could convince them now, there wouldn’t need to be a battle.

“Where are they now, huh?” You raised both your arms, “You’re fighting for your life against a titan on a mountain and the only god who came to help out was Artemis? And that’s just because she was here already.” You scoffed out a laugh, “You should thank us, really, for taking her. Had we not, you’d be dead already.”

Annabeth watched. You were unrecognisable in that moment — your face streaked with dirt and blood, curled into a dark sneer that any of your siblings would berate you for because of the wrinkles you’d get. You didn’t seem to care all that much, though. Not when Thalia was lunging for you and attempting to pull you out of the rage you were in. Not when her spear and shield were no match for your measly dagger and you went toppling down the mountain.

The next time any of them saw you was in Manhattan — after believing you to be dead for a year and a half, it came as a shock when you emerged from the crowd of monsters. Your hair was hacked short, and one of your legs had been replaced with a bronze prosthetic. You fought with a ruthlessness none of them had seen in you before, whether it be because you were on the losing side or because Luke had given his body to the Lord of Time before you had the chance to tell him you loved him. You were still angry, and even if you hated Kronos, you didn’t hate him nearly as much as you hated the gods.

When Luke died, you were kneeled beside him. Your face was dirty, your hair was knotty, and there was a dent in your bronze leg. He lifted a hand to your face, “I’m sorry to have to say this, but…you’re sorta beautiful.”

“Sorta?”

He grinned, and then he died, and you were filled with such unbridled rage that you pushed yourself down to the ground of Manhattan and tore through Kronos’ army with fire in your eyes, not stopping until Apollo got rid of your sight and forced you to calm down. You didn’t know if you’d ever be calm, since the only person who ever understood you just died in your arms, but you dropped your dagger and stomped your way back up to Olympus like a bratty child anyway.

Zeus didn’t punish you for what you did, but he did say he’d be keeping a firm eye on you. You joined the hunters, much to your mothers disdain, and didn’t ever allow yourself to look back.

#@lia’s works #luke castellan #luke castellan x reader #percy jackson #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians

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harleehazbinfics · 2 months

Text

Home is where my heart is.

Chapter 5: Happy Hotel Table of Contents | Profile

Word Count: 2032

“—so ladies and gentlemen, I’m opening the first of his kind! A hotel that rehabilitates sinners!”

I give an amused hum looking at the TV then commenting, “Well, isn’t that something, hun?”

“Indeed so. How about we introduce ourselves later, sweetheart?” he mentions somewhat mysteriously holding the small of my back.

“Wow, look at you, perking up all of a sudden,” I said looking at him surprised, but he just raises an eyebrow at me, I shrugged and continued, “Well, you know. You just seem so disinterested in these matters concerning others, especially angels before.”

He laughs and replies, “Well, over the years of toppling overlords, angels seem to be the most troublesome bunch for now. Not to say I’d lose to those pesky flies from heaven.”

I nodded my head finding reason in his explanation. “That’s fair enough. Though, things have changed since you’ve been gone, Al. Even I’m attending those annoying meetings for you,” I complained.

“I apologize, my dear,” he coddled, “I know how fussy you get when you go for long without me.”

I gasped dramatically hand over my chest, “Me? Fussy? Should I mention that you would literally drag down a person that was just talking to me?”

“Oh, please. He was very clearly trying to hit on you, and you’re too nice to even turn them down, sweetheart,” he rebuts rolling his eyes.

“I could’ve handled it myself,” I harrumphed cheekily turning my cheek at him.

“Of course you would have, my darling,” he dismisses me playfully.

I scrunched my face at him which he only responded with a pinch on my nose playfully with a genuine smile on his face. I turn to face some demons who were charging at us, no doubt some of Mammon’s goons who accepted the job for some drugs, I sighed and waved my hand over their figures and watched as water appears and jets them off to the side. Tightening my hands into a fist encasing them in water to drown in, leaving them there.

“See. Very powerful,” I told my husband gesturing at the drowning fools that stopped releasing water bubbles from their mouth.

“Seems like you’ve also been busy for these 7 years apart,” he mentions.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” I glared off the side annoyed.

We appeared on the hill where this hotel that the princess of hell advertised earlier. My heart clenched when I hear her trying to call her mom wondering if Abby did as much when I disappeared so suddenly. She goes inside without noticing us.

Al, being the gentleman he was, knocked on the door first.

“Hel—” slam “—oh” slam

“Pff, you scared the poor thing,” I laughed at him crossing my arms. He pinches my cheek then turns back to the door.

“May I speak now?”

“You may,” she elongates crossing her arms trying to be authoritative making me chuckle at how cute she was.

“Alastor! Pleasure to be meeting you, sweetheart! Quite the pleasure. This is my wife, Miledy,” he introduced the both of us while he walks right in through the door, and continues rapidly, “Excuse our sudden visit but we saw your fiasco at the picture show, and I just couldn’t resist! What a performance! My I haven’t been that entertained since the stock market crash of 1929! Hahaha! So many orphans...”

I raise my eyebrow at him, then realizing he really doesn’t care much for other people’s well-beings if it was our family. I’m pretty sure he misses Abigail to this day.

“Hi, I’m Miledy. Aren’t you the cutest?” I cooed pinching her cheek dotingly. She awkwardly laughs at my actions and waits for me to pull away from which I did, seeing how polite the daughter of hell is. “Sorry about him.”

“Stop. Right. There!” a spear pointed at Alastor making both Charlie and I’s eyes widen at the aggression. “I know your game. I’m not gonna let you hurt anyone here! You pompous, cheesy, talk show shit-lord!”

He laughs drily and moves the spear away, “Dear, I wanted to hurt anyone here... I would have done so already.”

They back away frightened at Alastor’s intimidation the room changing, symbols and shadows flickering in the room while his eyes turned into their infamous stare.

“No! I’m here because I wanted to help!” he exclaimed.

“Say what now?” “Huh?”

“Help!”

I let him do his theatrics while I moved around looking at pictures framed on the wall finding many paintings of the Morningstar family, some probably with their close friends, and many posters of Lilith’s shows.

“So, who’s fish breath over here?”

“I beg your pardon?” I turned to the voice and met eyes with a pink spider sinner adapting a very... voluminous form.

“What’s the deal between you and smiles over there?” he asked jabbing his thumb at Al’s direction.

I just smiled at him and said nothing while the little lady asks, “Wait, you’ve never heard of them before? You’ve been here longer than me.” He shrugs making her continue, “The Radio Demon, The Siren? Two of the most powerful being’s hell has ever seen?”

“Eh, not big on politics,” he gives up slumping back on the couch where I sat next to him, much to his comfort.

“Hmm, I’d like to know how the masses see us,” I mused placing my chin on my hand curiously.

She bites back a groan and explains, “Decades ago, Alastor manifested in Hell, seemingly overnight. He began to topple Overlords who have been dominant for centuries. He and the Siren always worked together, always one without the other. She had the voice that only second to Lilith herself. That kind of raw power had never been harnessed by a mortal soul before. Then, he broadcast their carnage all throughout Hell just so everyone could witness their ability. Sinners started calling him "The Radio Demon" (as lazy as that is). Many have speculated what unimaginable force enabled him to rival our world's most ancient and destructive evils. But one thing's for sure: They’re an unpredictable source of danger, a wicked spirit of mystery, and a violent monster of chaos, the likes of which we can't risk getting involved with unless we want to end up erased!”

“Interesting,” I commented with a grin grazing my eyes over at Alastor.

“You done? He looks like a strawberry pimp,” he laughs looking back the pair.

She huffs then crosses her arms and answers, “Well, I don’t trust him!”

“To be fair, do you trust any man? Any men? Men?” he chides then laughing making the woman glare at her while I just stared at the both of them, my head resting on both my hands now finding their exchange fun.

I appeared beside Al as he waited for Charlie to decide, “Why are you suddenly invested in the princess?”

He shrugs and gives me a lazy grin and answers, “Well, it seems like fun.”

“Rightt,” I drawled out not asking him further, he may be like this in public, but I know he doesn’t do anything unless it favors him.

“Okay, so, Al. You're sketchy as fuck and you clearly see what I'm trying to do here as a joke.” She pauses, “But, I don't. I think everyone deserves a chance to prove they can be better. So, I'm taking your offer to help. On the condition that there be no... tricks or voodoo strings attached.”

“So, it's a deal, then?” he offers holding out his hand to take as the room glowed green and wind blowing past us.

“Nope! No shaking! No deals! I... hmm... As princess of Hell and heir to the throne, I, uh, hereby order that you help with this hotel. For as long as you desire,” she orders politely as Alastor fixes up his hair, “Sound fair?”

“Hmm... Fair enough!” He hums as he inspects the room.

“Smile, my dear! You know you're never fully dressed without one!” he teases Vaggie wiggling his finger under her chin to annoy her. “So where is your hotel staff?”

“Uh, well-.”

“Ohohoho, you're going to need more than that,” he remarks walking towards the pink spider, “And what can you do, my effeminate fellow?”

“I can suck your dick!” he offers enthusiastically.

“HAH! No,” Al denies immediately while I gave the spider a harsh glare, a few of my water demons popping out of the ground menacingly making him whimper.

“You know what? I changed my mind!” he states awkwardly trying to save his skin.

“Well, this just won't do!” Al yells summoning his staff, “I suppose I can cash in a few favors to liven things up.”

He conjures up a nice fireplace and lifts up a black blob with a big eye, dropping it to the ground.

“Hi, I'm Niffty! It's nice to meet you! It's been a while since I've made new friends!” he introduces, “Why're you all women? Are there any men here?! I'm sorry, that's rude. Oooh, man! This place is filthy! It really needs a lady's touch! Which is weird because you're all ladies, no offense. Oh, my gosh! This is awful! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!”

When Nifty walks past me I give her a pet on the head with a smile which she enjoyed, as Husker arrives along with a casino table.

“Ah, Husker, my good friend! Glad you could make it!”

“Don't you "Husker" me, you son of a bitch! I was about to win the whole damn pot!” he yells and facepalms when the money disappears.

“Good to see you too!” he replies clearly enjoying annoying Husk.

“What the hell do you want with me this time...?” he sighs defeated.

“My friend, I am doing some charity work, so I took it upon myself to volunteer your services! I hope that's okay!”

“Are you shittin' me?!”

“Hmm... No, I don't think so!”

“You thought it'd be some kind of big fucking riot just to pull me out of nowhere?! You think I'm some kind of fucking clown?!”

“Maybe!”

“I ain't doing no fucking charity job.”

“Well, I figured you would be the perfect face to man the front desk of this fine establishment!” he says summoning a bar, “With your charming smile and welcoming energy, this job was made for you! Don't worry my friend. I can make this more welcoming! ...If you wish.”

Husk stares at the bottle of cheap booze that Al summoned for him and exclaims, “What? You think you can buy me with a wink and some cheap booze?! ...Well, you can!”

Vaggie starts yelling while gesturing at the bar, “Hey, hey! Hey, hey, hey! No! No bar, no alcohol! This is supposed to be a place that discourages sin! Not some kind of mouth…brothel…man cave!”

Angel lunges at her effectively cutting her of and yells “SHUT UP! SHUT! UP! We are keeping this!”

“So, whaddaya think?” Al asks Charlie.

“This is amazing!” she answers happily rubbing her cheeks.

“It's... okay,” vaggie answers less enthusiastically while her arms crossed.

“Hahaha! This is going to be very entertaining!” Al pulls the three of us in and starts his little parody of the song Charlie sang that we listened to earlier.

“Hah! Well, well, well. Look who it is harboring the striped freak! We meet yet again, Alastor!” Sir Pentious greets valiantly making me smile.

Alastor only responds with, “Do I know you?”

He visibly deflates like a balloon and retaliates, “Oh, yes you do! And this time, I have the element of- SURPRISE! Ahaha! I'm so evil!”

With the power in Alastor’s hand he immediately shuts down Sir Pentious’ little parade. Summoning a portal of his black tendrils and smashing the blimp into bits. We watched as it was broken apart and him being thrashed around, making me feel bad for the poor guy.

“...Well, I'm starved! Who wants some Jambalaya? My mother once showed me a wonderful recipe for Jambalaya. In fact, it nearly killed her! Hahaha! You could say the kick was right out of Hell! Ohoho, I'm on a roll! Yes, sir! This is the start of some real changes down here! The game is set! Now... Stay tuned…”

#hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #hazbin angel dust #hazbin charlie #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin husk #hazbin lucifer #alastor x reader #hazbin vaggie #alastor x oc #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor

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coolaboutlucy · 4 months

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Jealous and possessive abby - not in a toxic or abusive way but maybe you guys went to a party and your ex or some random decided to act up and be crazy and start hitting on you when everyone knows you're hers so she starts getting protective and marking her territory - she never blames you for it but she just wants to remind you who you belong to so she feels better with your consent if course and you find it hot asf

𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣 | 𝙖. 𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣

pairing: abby anderson x afab!reader

tags: alcohol consumption, mild language, theres a gross man, abby is possessive (per the request), i think that should be everything???, i still stuck at tagging

a/n: was lowkey stuck on this prompt bc i don’t remember the last time i did smth like this but also, i procrastinated like, a lot. tbh i don’t rlly ever proofread anything i write i just post it with a hope and a prayer but wtv! i hope yall enjoy this. 🤍😙😙

bodies filled the house you and abby were currently in. the air smelled like alcohol, sweat, and a mixture of cologne and cheap perfume. this wasn’t particularly your scene, but abby wanted to go since one of her friends were hosting the party. you sorta stood on the wall, nursing a cup of.. something abby mixed for you. she wanted to prepare your drink herself. yknow, cause people are weird and like dropping shit in your drink without your knowledge. the screen of your phone illuminates your features softly under the red and purple LED lights. nobody dared to bother you much because everyone knew you were abbys girl. god, she never shuts up about you! but it’s only because she loves you so much. she also did it because she wanted to make your relationship known, and she’d gladly knock the lights out of anyone who dared to approach you cause she didn’t play that game.

the necklace around your neck had her initial on it. she’d gifted it to you during valentines day last year. it glints a little from the light coming from the screen of your phone. you’d been mid sip when some piss drunk man came stumbling over to you. and suddenly your settings app looked interesting as hell! he stops infront of you with a woozy smile and a flushed face from drinking. lowkey, he was like, really ugly. he’s the kind of guy a girl would only fuck in the dark. “what’s a pretty girl like you doing all alone?” he asked as he looked you up and down with obviously lustful eyes. “ah, im.. actually not alone. im here with someone.” you say as you give him an awkward smile and a chuckle. “i don’t see ‘em. why dontcha come with me? we could go back ‘t my place.. maybe order somethin’ to eat.” you politely decline and give him another awkward smile. while trying to ward this man off, you text abby.

“theres some guy over here flirting w/ me, help!!” you text her while trying as much as possible to ignore the man. he was relentless! he just wouldn’t stop talking and making gross comments. you look up from your phone to find your girlfriend pushing her way to you, through the couples grinding against eachother and making out. she smiles as she approaches you, then wrapping her arm around your shoulders. you lean against her. “so, who’re you?” she asks as she looks at the man, then tossing him an icy glare. “who am i? why should i answer you?” the man had a raised eyebrow and he’d been holding a now empty cup. “well, cause you’re hitting on my girl. so you should probably tell me why you’re doing all this.” her voice was low, raspy and a bit threatening. her possessiveness was dumb attractive, and you surely felt a little hot!!! “hah, this is your girl? she’s outta your league, bro. just give ‘er up. ill treat ‘er soo much better.” the man had become bold. abby didn’t like that. “mm.. nah. she’s fine with me. aren’t you, baby?” she asks as she looks at you. you nod with a small, stupid smile on your face. she presses a kiss on your forehead before she looks back at the man.

her touch had lingered on your skin even when you knew she wasn’t touching you. she sits on one of the chairs with a sigh and you sit next to her. “god, people are so disgusting!” abby said as she lets out an exasperated sigh. she hated when people treated you that way. but you just couldn’t seem to forget that voice she spoke in. the raspiness made this sorta electricity shoot through your veins. she was rambling about something, but you’d began listening when she’d been nearly finished speaking “—that shit wasn’t okay, and nobody should be treating my girl like that. i mean, gosh, some people just really can’t take a hint can they? i was so close to punching him just like id done that other guy but i controlled myself. and, ill just say, it isn’t your fault. i just really don’t like that. you don’t deserve that. not at all.” her voice softens towards the end of her sentence as she places her hand on your thigh gently.

your hand finds itself over hers and you smile at her. “sometimes you gotta punch people for ‘em to understand, yknow?” abby says as she looked at you with the same softened gaze. “abby, no, i will absolutely not be punching anyone… that’s what i have you for. and you hit like, waaaaay harder.” you chuckled. “well, maybe i should show you how to hit real hard.” you shrug, and she smiles at you, giving your thigh a gentle squeeze. “how bout we get outta this shithole?” she suggested with a smile. “oh, yeah. let’s go. im literally starving!” the both of you nod as you begin walking off the porch. as you walk to the sidewalk, the guy from earlier comes running and stumbling out of the house. he was after abby. you noticed and alerted her. “oh shit, we’d better run!” she grabs your hand and the both of you run to her car, giggling and looking back at the man (whos running slow as a snail) and forward at her car.

#wlfabby #adria answers anons #tlou #the last of us #the last of us 2 #tlou2 #the last of us part two #abby anderson #abby anderson x reader #abby anderson x fem!reader #abby x reader #abby anderson x you #reader insert #tlou x reader #abby tlou #abby anderson tlou2 #abby the last of us #abby x you #abby anderson x female reader

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asterias-record-shop · 11 months

Note

‘BINGO: hi so can u do a ‘YANDERE’ with Finnick Odair and prompt #2? can you make it a mutual yandere so that they are basically obsessed with each other. they are in an established relationship which just makes it even more intense ig? and could u at some point maybe give ppl reactions to them from their perspective? like how they are basically obsessed with eachtoehr and stuff if that makes sense

—𓆩[on show]𓆪—

𓆩[main masterlist]𓆪 𓆩[request/ask me something!]𓆪 𓆩[updated bingo card!]𓆪 𓆩[bingo masterlist]𓆪 𓆩[join the bingo taglist!]𓆪

𓆩♡𓆪 CHARACTER - Finnick Odair x Victor! Younger! Fem! Reader

𓆩♡𓆪 TYPE - kinda fluff (for you), smut (lots and lots of smut), slight gore

𓆩♡𓆪 WORD COUNT - 2.6K

𓆩♡𓆪 SUMMARY - Finnick has always taken care of you, and he had shown that by murdering everyone that ever touched you and winning you over just as easily as you did him. The Quarter Quell has come, and he will never let anyone lay a hand on you again, and neither will you.

𓆩♡𓆪 STORY WARNINGS - age gap (4 years) || relationship has always been legal || mentions of forced prostitution || later, Finnick kills everyone who ever touched you and you want to do the same for him || Finnick is literally insanely in love with you and you are for him || mentions of killing || harsh language || Finnick covered in blood is a huge turn on || this is very unethical health wise, don’t do this (words of a med student) || smut warnings are public sex, multiple rounds, blood kink, pain kink, marking kink, you carve your name into Finnick’s collarbone it’s the yandere block man I gotta go with it, blood eating? (You like lick blood off Finnick), Finnick carves his name into your thigh, degradation, uses of names (slut, whore, cumdump, etc.), slight choking kink, riding, no full penetrative sex

Finnick. Finnick.

Who else was as gifted as you to have Finnick fucking Odair by their side every day? No one else, and you made sure of that.

But Finnick? Finnick spending every got damn day of his life with you? He wouldn’t rather be with anyone else.

And by hell's name did he make sure you knew that, especially before the parade.

“Oh come on darling, you’re doing so good for me. You like the thought of going out on that parade all filled of my cum? Hm?” He basically growls into your ear, his hips thrusting against your ass, cock continuing to hit all those slots inside of you that made you claw against the wall.

“Yes, yes I do! I do, I do,” you babbled without end, mind blurry and hazy as his hands squeeze at your sides, eyes rolling back as his hand slowly slips into the front of your dress, rubbing at your clit. “Fuck, fuck Finnick!”

He laughs, fingers rubbing firm circles before he hears footsteps, quickly looking to the side to see one of the tributes just standing there. Finnick’s other hand goes around your neck, putting soft pressure as he kisses against your neck as he maintains eye contact with the tribute.

Your moans grow louder, realizing it was pointless to hold back when Finnick was fucking you like you would never see each other again. To be quite honest, you couldn’t wait for when you both were put into the games and you could fuck in the arena. You both knew y’all were getting out of the arena alive and together, so there of course was a victory in fucking on live TV.

The pressure on your throat made your mind hazy, whines leaving your lips as Finnick hushed you softly, the other tribute finally having enough sense to leave. “Try to stay quiet, alright darling? We’re in public, you can’t act up like you do in bed.”

You nodded, quickly covering your mouth. “I’m so-sorry, I’m so sorry Fin.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be sorry, darling, you’re doing so good, so fucking good. Love it when you’re my own personal cumdump, desperate and milking my cock for everything I have.”

You whine, nodding along with him. “Yes! Yes, I’m your cumdump, Fin, I want everything. Please please please!”

He grunts loudly as the fanfare starts to play, desperately trying to hit that blissful edge as he thrusts faster, the sound of wet squelching filling the entire corridor. Your moans added to the sound, Finnick’s deep thrusts and loud moans making whines add to the symphony of sex.

“Tell me how bad you want it, you little slut, come on, tell me how much you want my cum.”

You babbled on endlessly just like he wanted, praising every inch of his cock and saying cock drunk things. “I want your cum, Fin, I want it! Please, please I want to be filled up again and again, don’t stop, don’t stop!”

He grunts loudly as he slammed himself into you, eyes rolling back as his cum spurts inside of you, a loud whine leaving your lips as he pants heavily behind you. His hand moves from your throat, your clenching pussy almost burning from overstimulation and the fact you had cum right when he did made your stomach churn.

“You alright, darling?”

Immediately, you nod, head lulling slightly. “More than alright, Fin.”

He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to your temple as he slowly pulled out, fixing his outfit after pushing the cum dripping out of your pussy straight back in. The feeling makes you shiver before he pulls them out, licking his digits clean as you slowly turn around to pull him down for a firm kiss. He hums loudly, pulling you closer.

Oh he really wanted to fuck you again now.

“What the hell are we waiting for?” Katniss asks Haymitch and Peeta, Haymitch laughing.

“You didn’t hear them?”

Peeta basically gags. “How could I not? I swear, all of Panem probably heard them!”

“Heard what, what's going on?” Katniss asks, Haymitch humming as you and Finnick slowly walk out.

“Finnick and Y/N Odair. Freshly married, been together since birth, absolutely infatuated with each other. Finnick has blood on his hands from people who looked at her wrong, and Y/N has the same. Oh shit, here they come,” Haymitch fixes himself as quickly as he could as you walk tall and without a single falter, shocking the three of them after how loud Finnick’s thrusts were.

“Katniss Everdeen, as I live and breathe,” you say, giggling slightly as Finnick pressed a soft kiss to your head and smiled at Haymitch. “My name is Y/N, this is my husband, Finnick.”

Katniss nods slightly, how could she not know who you were when you both were fucking like rabbits in the corridor? “It’s nice to meet you,” she lies. “We heard the symphony of your arrival earlier.”

Finnick clicks his tongue. “Told you people could hear the cum dripping out of your cunt,” he whispers, making Katniss’ face flush as he laughs. “I’m joking. Kind of. We’ll see you both later. Haymitch.”

Finnick nods at their mentor before guiding you away, your fingers intertwined with his as he helps you onto the carriage before quickly following.

“They’re crazy, I love it,” Haymitch says as Katniss gapes at him.

“You don’t think that’s fucking weird? At all?”

Haymitch shrugs. “It’s not my place to think it’s weird. They’re in love, no matter how psychotic that love is, but it works. Besides, they’re the most dangerous people in that arena. If they lose each other, the other will go fucking haywire.”

During training, Finnick only left you for one thing — to spar with the mother fucker who didn’t know how to keep his eyes to himself.

You stayed at the rope tying station, practicing your knots before you saw Katniss and Peeta walk in. “Katniss, Peeta!”

Your yell makes Finnick look away just for a minute, sending a grin to the pair before getting back into his fighting stance. It had taken a minute for the other tribute to agree to spar with Finnick, but after quick persuasion, he was finally able to actually get it done.

The first hit to the face was a surprise for Finnick, especially because he didn’t think the other man would play dirty with weighted beads in his hand. It makes Finnick pause, a slight scoff falling from his lips as he wipes the blood from over his lip that was coming from his nose while staring straight at the tribute.

Really? He knew he couldn’t win that much that he needed to use fucking weighted beads?

Finnick laughs as he wipes his blood onto the uniform, licking his lips and getting just a bit of that coppery tang on the tip of his tongue.

When you went silent, it actually scared Katniss and Peeta. If looks could kill, the entire room would be dead from the way you were staring at the man who hit Finnick.

“Excuse me,” you say, your bubbly mood gone as you walk toward the rope tying station.

Peeta nods slightly, his eyes following you to see how the hell you and Finnick were seen as the most dangerous in this competition. It made sense, yes, but he wanted to see why.

“Oh my god,” Katniss whispers, Peeta finally looking at Finnick who was truly showing how dangerous he was. It was obvious that he was skilled in water combat, but the way he fought even out of the water made Peeta want to sob.

Finnick easily caught the man’s wrist, knocking the beads out of his grip before quickly maneuvering to the ground to knock him off of his feet. He quickly straddles his abdomen, his fist slamming down over and over into his face.

“Get off!” A voice yelled, but as soon as Finnick did - his face splattered with blood - the man was pulled into the air by a rope, the man dangling upside down.

You jump down from the rafters, quickly making your way to Finnick who wrapped his arm around you. You giggled as he leaned down, pressing a kiss to your temple as you smiled up at him. “You need to wait until the games, Fin.”

He rolls his eyes. “He can’t keep his eyes off of you.”

You shrugged. “That doesn’t matter, it’s not like he’ll be able to touch me, right?”

He grinned down at you as you wiped the blood from his nose, humming as you licked it off your finger. “Never, honey.”

You giggled as he pulled you toward the exit, looking back just enough to wave at Peeta and Katniss, their eyes wide.

“Did she just-?”

“Yeah, she did.”

“Am I the only one who thought that was kind of hot?”

“I don’t know what I thought of that.”

Finnick led you back up to the apartment, and as soon as the door closed, your hands were pulling off his clothes as he pushed you up the stairs, easily pulling off your suit. You could taste the coppery-metallic taste of blood on your tongue, his bruised knuckles easily opening the door to your shared room before throwing you onto the bed.

You giggled as you bounced on the mattress, watching as Finnick slipped off his suit and wiped off the blood of the other tribute. It makes your pussy clench, just the sight of him covered in blood, a whine leaving your lips as he wiped it off. Your fingers easily slip inside of your cunt, the feeling making your eyes roll into the back of your head as he slowly crawled on top of you, his nails dragging along your thighs. You whined loudly as he slowly reached into the nightstand, gasping as he slowly pulled out a small needle.

“You trust me baby?”

You nodded immediately. “Yes, yes I do.”

He smiled, kissing against your thigh before slowly standing. “You keep stretching yourself out darling, I’ll come back and treat you real nice.”

You nod, following his orders as he goes into the bathroom to pull out the first aid kit, grabbing the gauze and tape. He takes some, with the addition of some ointment because of course he’d take care of you no matter what, first and foremost at any point in time.

He slowly walked back out, smiling at the sight of your hips rutting up into your fingers, loud whines coming from your mouth. “Can’t get it, baby?”

You shake your head. “N-No, I can’t, can’t, not without you!”

He smiled, quickly pushing himself between your thighs as he kissed along your thigh. He takes the needle, slowly dragging it against the skin, just not enough to draw blood just yet. You groaned loudly, your fingers pushing into your mouth to lick off all of your lewd juices making his eyes roll back.

But no, no he had to focus, he had to make his name look all pretty on your skin. Your hips buck as he puts more pressure, finally drawing blood as you cover your mouth instead. “F-Finnick? Finnick, it hurts.”

“I know baby, just give me a minute, alright? It won’t hurt for long.” He can see your pussy drop even more with arousal, a smile on his face. “It hurts but makes you feel good at the same time baby?”

You nod. “Mhm! Yes, yes it does!”

He smiled at the crimson blood dripping down your thigh, the ‘FIN’ of his name already done. “Almost there baby, almost there.”

Your skin burned, it truly did, but your body was so hot. You whine as his hand holds your quivering thigh, kissing along your skin. “Oh honey, calm down. It feels good, right? Just focus on me.”

You nodded, staring down as he stared at what he was doing with such focus that he almost forgot he had to stop at the K. He stares at the dribbles of blood running down your thigh, looking up at you. “Can I, darling?”

You nodded immediately, leaning forward to press his lips to your skin. Your eyes rolled back as he licked along the letters, sucking to get that addictive metallic taste into his mouth. You moaned loudly as your hands tug on his hair, whining loudly as his tongue trails over your skin before he pulls back. His teeth trail over the laceration he made, the marks that he made on you to claim you.

Your stomach tightens, hips bucking as your mind goes blurry, your orgasm hitting hard as a broken moan leaves your mouth.

Finnick inhaled as he watched your cum dribble down your pussy, his blood covered mouth immediately pushing between your legs. You squeal, hands tugging on his head. “Wait, Fin! I want you, I want to d-do it too.”

He looks up at you, grinning. “Let me clean you up, then you can.”

You nodded repeatedly as he rubs ointment on your thigh, covering it with the gauze and taping it down before putting the needle between his teeth and grins as he offers it to you. “Your turn darling.”

With that, he laid back and watched as you shakily straddle him, hovering over his waist as you hold his cock and slowly sink down onto him. You whine loudly as you take the needle and slowly drag it over his skin, not yet drawing blood.

“C-Can I do it here?” You whisper, settling on his collarbone as he nods.

“You can do it anywhere you want, darling.”

Slowly, you push the needle into his skin to draw blood, gasping as he lets out a loud groan and tilts his head back. He could’ve came then and there, hips bucking making you whine.

“D-Don’t do that,” you squirm, inhaling deeply. “I’m just… I need to focus.”

He smiled, nodding. “Alright darling, you make it pretty for me.”

You continue, the slight pricks of pain and the addition of your hot cunt wrapped around him almost made him cum then and there. He was so so close, but when you finished and set the needle to the side before leaning down and dragging your tongue over the mark.

He lets out a loud groan, holding your hips as you suck softly, thrusting up into you before you pull away with a whine. “You don’t want me to cover it up?”

He laughs. “No darling, of course not. Want this all on show.”

omg, I love fulfilling requests ♡ keep them coming for Bingo!!

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strangersteddierthings · 1 year

Text

Writing prompt from this list, requested by @luciana-rowan. #60. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to seduce me." with Steve seducing Eddie with dnd.

This was supposed to be like 1.2k tops however you activated my secret trap card, which is DnD.

“Okay, that’s gotta be all there is, right?” Robin asks as she flips through the book again, pausing to flip back and forth between two pages, eyes narrowed like these pages have offended her personally. She’s leaning against the customer side of the counter at Family Video, and Steve is on the other so they can be facing each other.

Steve is double checking all the notes they’ve written out on notebook paper, Robin’s neat print mixed with Steve’s quick scratchy penmanship. They’ve finally condensed the contents (pages and pages of contents) into easier to look through notes and once they close Family Video, Nancy and Jonathan are going to join them at Steve’s and help him and Robin organize the notes in a way that will flow and be easier to follow.

Nancy because she’s good at the organization part, and Jonathan because he’s the only one of them that’s ever even played Dungeons and Dragons, even if it was only twice (he’s a good older brother, after all).

“Jesus Christ, I hope that’s all,” Steve slides the notebook across the counter and offers up a hand for the Dungeons and Dragons book. They swap, to double check that neither has overlooked anything.

“You know,” Robin says, “this is a lot of effort for one game. Do those kids really have all this memorized?”

“Seems like it,” Steve groans, running a hand through his hair. “That’s why I need the cheat sheet. I can’t be holding up their game for twenty minutes just to look up if something is allowed or not.”

Robin looks across the counter and grins at him. “I think it’s so sweet that you’re finally gonna agree to play. Going to this much effort for it, though... You might make Dustin cry.”

“Well, that’s the goal now,” Steve laughs. “Dustin cries or I’m flipping the table.”

“Well, now I want to be there. Either would be great to witness!”

“It’s not too late to make you a character,” Steve says, aiming for nonchalance and knowing that he might have hit the mark for anyone else, but this is Robin, and she’s always seen right through him. She was the one he ranted to this last time Dustin had asked (read: begged) Steve to join a game, the time that worked because Steve could no longer think of reasons to say no. He had said no, though, to Dustin’s face, but once he got home, he scooped up Eddie’s damn Dungeons and Dragons player handbook. Then called and recruited Robin to help.

Robin’s smile softens into something less teasing. “I can join, if it’ll make this less awkward for you.”

Steve’s surprised by her answer. “Oh. You’d- really?”

Robin shrugs. “Yeah, dingus. You might have had a long-standing weird vendetta about being asked to play but. Well, no one’s ever asked me before, so I guess I never had to think about if I would or not. It’s like you said on the phone ‘it might be nice to just to fight imaginary monsters for once’.”

“Our characters could be twins.”

Robin grins but before she can respond the ding of the door chimes. Steve swipes his hands across the counter, causing the book, notebook, and pencils to clatter behind the counter out of view. Back to work.

It all started when Dustin asked him to stay for a game months ago. It was the third Dungeons and Dragons game he’d dropped him off at after they’d survived Hell for the fourth (hopefully final) time.

“We play the game, but it’s also a time to like, catch up and chat,” Dustin said, all but pouting at Steve.

Steve had put his car in park and shut off the engine. “If Wheeler’s basement still smells, I’m leaving.”

“Yes!” Dustin cheered.

So, Steve followed Dustin into the Wheelers’ house, called a hello to Karen Wheeler, and made his way to the basement. There had been several startled looks in Steve’s direction, but he’d just walked past the table and plopped onto the end couch beside El, like it was something he did every day. Eddie, Will, Lucas, Erica, and Mike were already sitting at the table, using whatever they could find as chairs. Dustin and he were the last ones to arrive it seems.

El smiled up at him. “Hi Steve. It is nice to have company. I have been watching by myself, since Max can’t get down the stairs yet.”

Well, fuck. Now he’s got to walk Dustin in every time in case El’s in the basement, all lonely on the couch, watching her boyfriend play make believe. “Happy to keep you company, El. You have any idea what’s happening here?”

“I have an understanding of the story, yes,” El nodded and slid across the couch to be close enough to whisper to Steve. She filled him in on what she knew, which is not much because it was a new campaign, but she had sat with Mike and Will when they made their new characters and had been to the two previous games.

When the game got going, Steve watched as El leaned forward on the couch, elbows on her knees and chin in her hands. She had seemed raptured with the story, so Steve started to listen in, too. Dustin must have done a shit job at explaining how this game was played these last years, because as he had watched it progress it seemed more enjoyable than it had sounded when described.

More than that, Steve watched as the stress of real life melted away from the kids and Eddie. They were no longer a group of outcasts who had gone through Hell and barely survived. They were a group of friends having fun in a way Steve couldn’t remember experiencing since he had been in elementary school.

It was two more games and one pool party at his own house later before Steve got the idea to offer his dining room up for the game. Specifically, because at the pool party he saw Max sitting in his living room and did a double take at her, the pieces slotting together in his mind. Max couldn’t manage the steep stairs at the Wheelers house, but everything she needed to get to at Steve’s house was ground level – kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining table.

Next session before everyone scattered to the wind, Steve had said, “Hey, what do you say about moving this game to my house?”

Everyone sitting at the table whipped around to stare at him, mouths open and everything.

“What? My house doesn’t smell like armpit and, uhh, Max could come hang out again,” Steve shrugged and was almost mowed over by how quickly El threw herself on him, wrapping his waist in a hug.

“Yes! Yes!” She answered for everyone.

The next game was moved to Steve’s house. He’d rotated the couch so it would face the dining room table so Max, El, and he could sit comfortably and had even bought a bunch of snacks and soda.

Eddie had been the first person to show up. It had taken him four trips back and forth from his van to the dining room to unload everything he’d brought.

Steve eyes it all critically. “I haven’t seen you use half this shit when you play at Wheelers, yet to lug it back and forth. Do you really need it?”

Eddie shrugged, “Who knows? Better to have it and not need it or whatever.”

“You load and unload all this shit every game?”

“Yeah. Wheeler helps usually but he isn’t here so….”

“If you had asked, I’d of helped,” Steve said. “I didn’t know you would need it, or if you’d want it.”

“Oh.”

Steve’s not sure what to think of Eddie sometimes. They’re friends now, or at least friend-adjacent. Well, it didn’t used to feel like ‘friend-adjacent’ until Steve started to sit in on the Dungeons and Dragons games. He got to see a freer side of Eddie, then. One that smiled and laughed a bit more than Steve ever saw. It’s fine. Steve’s fine. He’s not- he is not hurt that Eddie hides this part of himself from Steve.

Besides, Steve knows he’s the problem. Because Eddie doesn’t have this problem with Robin, or Nancy, or Jonathan. He’s seen Eddie relaxed and chill when they hang out, so long as Steve keeps his distance. And even if he hadn’t been sure that he was the issue before, he was after the first time they made eye contact during a game (accidentally) and he watched Eddie reigning himself in. Made himself smaller right before his eyes. Steve doesn’t understand why but he does his best to give Eddie space.

He thinks, maybe, that he makes Eddie uncomfortable on some level. He doesn’t know how, or why, or if he can change it.

Anyway, the next few games after that Steve helped Eddie unload and reload his van until he finally offered for Eddie to just keep the things he didn’t need at his house.

“If you don’t, y’know, use all of this to actually plan each session, you can just keep it here,” Steve said as they cleaned up, Max, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin helping, since Eddie had offered to pick them up and drop them off this time.

Eddie paused in his gathering of papers to study Steve before saying, “You sure?”

“Yeah. It’s not like I use the dining table unless you guys are here. So, just take what you use and leave the rest.”

Eddie took the Dungeon Master book but left his copy of the players handbook.

And those series of events have led to this Thursday night, with Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, and himself sitting at his dining room table, making a character sheet for Robin, and polishing up the one Steve had already made, because Steve isn’t embarrassed about asking for help these days. Jonathan even brought him the set of dice Will had given him when he’d played.

Robin’s not going to join until the next game, but she is going to come watch. Jonathan had explained that adding one extra character would be easy to accommodate but adding two was harder.

“So, if you like the game and want to continue, talk to Eddie about finding a good way for Robin to join,” Jonathan says, pushing the finalized ‘cheat’ sheet and character back to Steve. “If you don’t like playing, she can just replace you next game.”

“Dustin’s going to lose his mind tomorrow,” Steve laughs, having found that the papers look good, and he should be ready to go.

“I think we’re all sticking around to see it,” Nancy says. She’s volunteered to bring Mike, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin tomorrow night, and Jonathan is bringing Max and Robin when he brings El and Will.

“Hey guys, thanks for this,” Steve says when they clean up and everyone gathers to head out.

“Anytime, man,” Jonathan nods to him as Nancy gives him a quick side hug. Robin gives him a hug that lasts far longer before following them out the door. Steve had asked if she wanted to stay over but her parents are expecting her home tonight.

Once Steve is alone, he heads to the phone and dials Eddie’s number.

Three rings and, “Wayne speaking.”

“Hi Wayne, it’s Steve. Uh, Steve Harrington,” Steve says.

Wayne doesn’t chuckle into the phone, because Steve’s not certain he can chuckle, but he’s definitely amused when he says, “well, Steve Harrington, Eddie’s not home. I can leave a note for him to call you back. I don’t know when he’ll be here.”

“Oh, a note’s fine. I’m usually up late anyway.”

It’s a little past eleven when his phone rings. Steve is half asleep on the couch, but the ringing wakes him right up. And if he trips over his own feet on the way to the phone, there’s no witnesses so it didn’t really happen, did it? “Eddie?”

A soft laugh on the other end of the line, “it’s like you were expecting me, Harrington.”

“I was. Or, uh, I was hoping you’d call any way, not expecting because that feels like… loaded somehow.”

Silence, then, “so what can I do for you?”

“Could you, um, come over early tomorrow? Like thirty minutes sooner could work. An hour would be better, though,” Steve looks down and realizes he’s twirly the phone cord around his finger. He stills his hand and yanks it away from the cord, tucking his fist to his chest to keep it in check.

“Oh, I know what you want,” Eddie’s voice says, suggestive in a way Steve can’t decipher, “Yeah, I can come over an hour sooner.”

He’s been caught before he can even surprise anyone, he realizes. That’s the suggestive tone. Eddie knows. And if Eddie knows what he wants, there’s no way Dustin doesn’t already suspect. Ah well. Surprise ruined but it’ll still be fun for the kids. He hopes. Steve puts a smile on his face so he won’t sound upset with himself when he says, “thanks man. I appreciate it. See ya tomorrow.”

Eddie arrives a little more than an hour early but Steve’s not going to complain. He’d been pacing in the kitchen near the front window, so he watched as Eddie pulled up. He has the front door open before Eddie is halfway to the door.

“Someone’s excited,” Eddie wiggles his eyebrows at him as he passes, moving to the dining room to deposit his armful of stuff on the table.

“Nervous, actually,” Steve says, shutting the door and turning to follow. He almost runs into Eddie when he gets to the turn that leads into the kitchen, and dining room beyond it. “Oh, hi. Thought you were at the table.”

Eddie looks confused. “I gotta go grab the lunchbox. Wait- did you say nervous?”

“What do you need your lunchbox for?”

They stand in the kitchen entrance, just kinda blinking at each other for a moment before Eddie says, in a very confused, slow voice, “maaaaybe I don’t know why I’m here early. What did you want?”

Steve heads to the dining room, motioning for Eddie to follow. He pulls out two chairs next to each other, sliding into one and waiting for Eddie to sit in his. Steve reached across the table, to the player’s handbook and the notebook under it, dragging them closer. He turns to be facing Eddie, sitting sideways in his chair now. “I wanted to see if it was okay for another person to join the game. Today.”

Eddie’s eyebrows get lost behind his bangs with how high he raises them. “What? Who do you know that wants to play?”

“Uh, me,” Steve says, pulling the notebook out from under the handbook, taking out his character sheet and flipping the notebook open to the end of his notes, where he’d taken the time to write out some bullet points with ideas for his character backstory. Then he fishes out the dice from his pocket and deposits them on the table.

Eddie is deathly still and absolutely silent. The only movement is his eyes, which flick between the dice, the pages, and Steve’s face. He’s quiet so long that Steve is worried he made a mistake.

“Or, uh, if you’d rather I not- sorry, I just- Dustin tries to invite me all the time so I thought it would be okay,” Steve says, moving to close the notebook. That’s when Eddie comes back to life, his hand flying out to catch Steve’s, halting his hand.

“No! No, of course it’s fine. I’m just- surprised,” Eddie says, slowly, “you’ve been so against it, very vocally, so I’m just surprised.”

“Yeah. I was kind of an asshole about it all, wasn’t I? But when I think about it, like really think about it, I don’t know why I was against even trying it, y’know? Leftover shit from high school, I think. But I’m not that person anymore, so…” Steve shrugs with one shoulder, not sure why he’s telling Eddie these things. They don’t talk like this, usually. Steve finds he wants to, though. “Plus, watching the games, it looks like you guys have fun. Like, real, forget about your day kinda fun. Besides, Erica enjoys it, and she’s the coolest out of all of us. If Erica likes it, it can’t be just a nerd game.”

Eddie laughs and Steve gets to see that carefree smile Eddie seems to reserve for the kids. “Can’t argue with that. Erica is the coolest of this lot.”

“So, here’s what I was thinking,” Steve says, pulling the notebook between them to discuss the ideas Robin and he had come up with. He was going to play a fighter, so he didn’t have to worry about memorizing spells. If Eddie’ll let Robin join, he’d like for them to be twins, or siblings of some sort at least. Eddie nods, jumps on that instantly. Offers for them to have been separated on accident, so they could work on adding Robin more naturally later, with their two characters having been looking for each other this whole time.

Before Steve even realizes it, he’s been word vomiting for far too long about his character’s backstory and why he’d want to join the Party and Eddie has been silent the entire time, just listening to him, a soft smile on his face. “So, that’s what I got for now.”

Eddie let’s out a whistle and says, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me.”

Steve’s brain skips, or freezes, or something, because it just replays that whistle and those words for a few second in his mind before it helpfully supplies the thoughts ‘yes’ and ‘I didn’t know I could seduce you’. He’s just had an epiphany. Unfortunately, his mouth is still working while his brain does this, so it says, “are you feeling seduced, Eds?”

“AHAHA!” Eddie lets out a laugh that is more a bark before he stands up quickly, the chair falling backwards because he hadn’t bothered to scoot the chair back to give him room to stand. “Funny. Dustin’s right, you’re hilarious. I need a cigarette,” and then he all but runs out the front door.

Steve just watches him go before picking up the fallen chair. He can’t wait for Robin to get here. He needs to talk to her.

When Eddie comes back in, it’s with Robin, Jonathan, Max, El, and Will. Steve slaps his notebook shut quickly and hopes that Will didn’t notice it. Eddie is talking animatedly with Will upon entry, though, so he seems safe. Robin fast walks to the table and scoops Steve’s dice and shoves them in her pocket, because Will will recognize them if they stay out.

Steve stands, notebook in hand, and grabs Robin’s wrist with his free hand and drags her out back. He makes sure the slide-glass door is closed firmly and leads her around to the other side of the pool. He doesn’t want any eavesdroppers.

“Robin. Ok, so you remember by sexuality crisis last year?”

“Of course, Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf got you hot under the collar,” Robin says, “how could I forget? You cried about it.”

“You cried about yours, too! I just wasn’t there for it.”

“Not mocking!” Robin holds up her hands in defense, “just saying.”

“Robin. I think I like Eddie.”

“Oh!” her eyes go wide, and her mouth stays in a little ‘o’ shape for a moment. Steve stands there, letting her process. “Oh. Ooohhhhhh. That- that makes sense in my mind in a way I cannot put into words. Of course, it’d be Eddie Munson -the exact opposite of Michael J Fox, by the way- to also get you bothered. Why didn’t I pick up on that? How did I not notice this?”

“Because, despite our best efforts, we have yet to successfully combine,” Steve says, linking his fingers the way Robin had that day in Family Video before unlinking them to flip a hand back and forth between them. “We do not have time for you to have a crisis about it because I am having a crisis about it, and one of us needs to be level-headed.”

“Right,” she sobers instantly. “Right. We cannot spiral together. You first, I’ll wait my turn. So, you like Eddie. Enough to…. Want to do something about it?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, that was a quick answer. You… you really like him. Give me the details. What am I working with here.”

Steve thinks about it. “When he held a broken bottle to my neck, I was terrified. And a little aroused.” Robin says ew. “I’ve thought he was hot since then. But… when he came to at the hospital, all high on the medicine. He’d smiled softly at me and the first thing he said to me was glad you’re here, big boy. I think the actual crush started then.”

“Make sense, tracks, what with your hero complex and praise kink,” Robin nods and paces before turning back to him. “And the realization?”

He can’t argue the hero complex and praise kink thing, because they both know that would be a lie, so he answers, “When I was done rambling about my character idea, he whistled and said If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me and my first thought was yes.”

Robin’s eyes light up before she starts marching in a small circle around him as she thinks out loud. “Fuck, Steve, you really don’t do anything halfway. Alright. So, you want to do something about this, but you have to decide what you want to do. Because you are my soulmate and I want you happy, but like Eddie is also my friend and if you are experimenting… Just. You have to be sure.”

“I’m sure.”

She stops her circling to squint at him and read his mind, he supposes, because her face lights up in delight. “Oh shit! It’s not sexy thoughts! You want to like, hold his hand and cuddle on the couch, and like, cook dinner together and serve him breakfast in bed and bicker about whose turn it is to pick up Dustin from school!”

“Jesus Robin, can you not shout that! We are out here, so they,” he flings his hand in the direction of the house, “don’t hear. But, yeah. I… I like him. A lot.”

“I can see that. Like, really see that. You like him so much that just his company would be enough. Disgusting. Let me think,” she waves him off, like he has been dismissed but instead she’s the one walking away, walking figure eights around area in front of him for a couple minutes before whirling around to say, “You have to make your character a flirt. An outright slut, even. For information gathering purposes of course.”

“What?”

“He plays all the other characters, Stephan,” she says, dragging out his name to make it sound like ‘Steff-fawn’, “and you know he’s good at this… being in character thing! So, like, if you can trip him up by being all flirty, then that’s like, got to be a sign that he likes you, too, right? If he doesn’t like you, he can take it in stride. But! If he’s crushing on you, too, this will be like, too good to be true to him, yeah? That’ll fluster anyone, especially if he plays on our team and probably hasn’t had many guys openly hitting on him. Plus, you can always tell when someone likes you. You haven’t been checking for signs that Eddie might like you because you weren’t even aware it might be possible. And I’m not going to get your hopes up, Eddie could be, like, a totally straight dude, but when will it ever be safer to test this?”

Steve nods. “Yeah… yeah. Eddie is good at this character thing. And I do know when people are interested. And this is safe. If I flirt and he doesn’t react, or if he recoils in disgust, I can write what I’ve done off as it’s the game and I’m just trying to be a good player. Oh God, Robin, what if he’s like not okay with gay people.”

“Then we bodily throw Eddie out your front door, never speak to him again, and tell Will he’s the new Dungeon Master.”

“That seems extreme.”

“It’d be fitting. Eddie didn’t bat an eyelash when I came out to everyone after my date with Vicki. He actually congratulated me. So, if he only hates gay men then he’d be a disgusting lesbian fetishist and he’ll have to go ASAP. I doubt that’s the case, though.”

Steve barks a laugh and jerks his head towards the house, an offer to return inside. They turn towards the house and are greeted by everyone lined up along the glass door and windows that lead to the pool. A few of them (Nancy, Max, Will) have the decency to try and pretend they weren’t watching by turning away quickly but otherwise everyone just stares at each other until Dustin hauls open the glass door and shouts, “Are you two fighting?”

“No, we aren’t fighting,” Steve says as he shoves his way past Dustin and back into the house. “Let me grab the snacks and the game can begin.”

Steve moves to the kitchen, with Robin and Eddie following behind to help gather all chips, dips, candy, and soda and deposit them on any nearby surface in the dining room. Steve then slides into the chair to Eddie’s left, where Dustin usually sits before anyone else can take that seat.

Dustin slides into the chair next to him instead of arguing about it, saying, “Captivated, aren’t you? Guess I’ll let you have my spot so you can pay attention better. Told you this game was great.”

“I’ll be paying plenty of attention, don’t you worry,” Steve says to Dustin before turning to Eddie, who has taken his place at the head of the table, and winking at him, “right, Eds?”

Eddie stops moving for barely any time at all, and honestly, if the whole point of where he sat wasn’t to be close enough to catch and catalogue all of Eddie’s reactions, he would have missed the freeze. “Oh yeah. Steve’s been following the story closely.”

Steve looks around the table and watches the kids exchange glances and shrugs before Eddie begins to recall what happened last game and where the Party is headed now. Steve waits for his cue. Eddie’s got several ways to introduce Steve’s character, just in case the kids don’t grasp onto the plot hooks. But they’re good players, who know when an adventure hook is being dangled in their face. When their characters read the notice board, looking for quests, and come across the one of a man looking to hire help in searching for his lost sister, they buy into it quickly.

“You find yourselves at the tavern where the help wanted poster said to meet. There are three other people inside this early in the day, not including the barkeep.”

“Can I go and ask the barkeep if he knows who put the poster up?” Will asks. Will speaks in the first person who it comes to his character far more often than anyone else, Steve’s noticed.

“Of course. The barkeep is a surly looking dwarf who keeps rearranging the glasses behind the counter. He sees you approaching and listens to your question before saying,” Eddie says in his normal tone, before dropping into a deeper, Scottish accent. “Aye. You passed him on the way in. He’s sitting there, close to the door.”

“Do we approach as a group?” Lucas asks, and after a quick discussion and confirmation that the table their quest giver is sat as has enough seating for them all, they agree to approach together.

Eddie nods and says, “You all approach the table and the figure sitting there looks up as you do. Steve, please describe what they see as they approach you.”

Steve opens his mouth to answer but the table explodes. Dustin shrieks and throws out his hands to grip Steve’s arm and just shake him. “Oh my God. Oh my God. OH MY GOD. STEVE!” Dustin is yelling basically in his ear. Everyone is exclaiming something in excitement, and it gets loud, fast. With no end to the onslaught of screaming in sight, Steve resigns himself to this fate.

It takes far longer than it should for everyone to quiet down, and Steve’s a little red after all of it. Because he hadn’t expected this reaction. He thought Dustin might be a little hyped, sure, but this level of love he feels from all these kids, and for them, and how doing something so small, like joining their game, brings them this much joy… He regrets not joining sooner, honestly.

Finally, they quiet and Steve gets to describe his character, Sir Gregor of House Buckington (Robin’s idea of a last name, he’s not afraid to throw her under the bus for that) and the game progresses. When Steve’s asked to make his first roll of the night, everyone jumps to offer their dice, but he just calls out to Robin. She still has his in her pocket. He shoots a look at Will, who he can see recognizes the dice, and smiles at him as he rolls his first D20.

It's almost two hours into the session before Steve sees his chance to flirt. The Party is trying to negotiate a discount for some healing potions, and they’ve failed their check. They can’t afford the potions and Erica, playing the rogue, offers to try and steal them.

“Can I give Erica advantage by distracting the shop keep?” Steve asks.

Eddie looks intrigued by these. “… Maybe. How would you distract him?”

“Sir Gregor will lean against the counter and say ‘Sorry about my companion’s awkward attempts to swindle you of your goods for a fair price. I should have stepped in sooner, but I was a bit… captivated watching you shut them down’ and try and fluster this guy by flirting with him.”

It’s a mixed bag of reactions from the kids that Steve barely hears because he’s focused on Eddie. Eddie, whose face looks a bit redder than it usually does.

“You wanna… flirt with the shop keep?” Eddie’s voice is a bit higher than normal too. Interesting.

“If that’s allowed.”

“Umm, uh, y-yeah,” Eddie stumbled over his words and Steve can feel himself grinning like the cat that got the cream. Eddie is flustered. Steve has flustered him. Oh. This is going to be a good game. “Roll a persuasion check.” Steve gets a 17. “Lady Applejack, if you would, roll sleight of hand with advantage as Sir Gregor seems to have successfully taken the attention of the shopkeep.”

“I am going to enjoy having Steve play,” Erica says as she picks up her dice. “No one else helps me steal things.”

They play for almost four hours, an hour longer than normal, but Steve is surprised by how quickly it slips by and finds that he’s a little disappointed that it has to end, especially since they’ve stopped one round into combat. It’s a terrible place to stop, but if the kids are any later getting home there might be a reckoning done by some parents. The only reason there isn’t one now is because Nancy, ever practical about things, called all the parents about an hour and a half ago to let them know the kids might be an hour or two late getting home.

“We’ll pick up next week,” Eddie says, standing to get a good look at the battle map to copy it into his notebook.

“You can just leave it out so you don’t have to recreate it,” Steve says, like he does every week. “I won’t mess with it.”

And like every week before, Eddie just pulls out his graph paper and starts to track how many squares apart everyone is as the kids pack up their own things and head out. Steve walks them all to the door and Robin hangs back to talk, waiting on the front step. Steve walks out and shuts the door behind him.

“He’s absolutely into you,” Robin whispers. “Do you know that this means? We can go on double dates! I’ll be Eddie’s fake date, because I’m not sure Vicki and Eddie should be left alone to conspire against us but-“

“I think it’s a bit too soon to be planning double dates, Buckley,” Steve cuts her off. “Yeah, Eddie’s into me. But like… into me? Does he even know he’s into me?”

“Right. Could also be in the denial phase, still,” she says, then deepens her voice in a poor imitation of Eddie’s and adds, “I think Steve is hot but in a purely platonic friend-like fashion.”

He laughs, shoving Robin towards Jonathan’s car, where everyone else is loaded and waiting, “go home.”

She leaves laughing and Steve waves them off before going back inside. He finds Eddie at the table, placing the minis carefully back into the tacklebox he keeps them in.

“Seriously, you don’t have to put everything away,” Steve says and Eddie jumps.

“Jesus! Don’t sneak up on me,” Eddie clutches at his heart dramatically.

“I didn’t sneak! You’re lost in your own head if you didn’t hear the door slam or my footsteps,” Steve leans back against the wall, watching Eddie. The other man nods to himself, hands still fiddling with a mini in his hand. The one he’d used for Steve’s character. Steve watches and wishes he could read Eddie’s mind as easily as Robin reads his.

“Thank for playing tonight,” Eddie finally says, placing the mini back onto the table instead of in the tacklebox before turning to Steve. “You did real good.”

Steve gives him a smile he hopes Eddie can see if soft and fond, “yeah? I put a lot of effort into this. Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan helped me.”

“You recruited all three?”

“Yeah. I wanted to put in the effort. I’ve watched several games now; I see how much time you all put into this. It’d be an asshole move to agree to join and not, like, at least read the rules.”

Eddie hums an agreement, “would be kinda asshole-ish, but you’re certainly not an asshole anymore.”

Steve fakes wounded, “you thought I was an asshole?”

“Well, it would be a pretty dick move on my part to think you’re an asshole after everything,” Eddie takes a step towards Steve, then seems startled at himself, like he can’t believe he moved. “Anyway, you willing to play again next week?”

“Yeah, man. Looking forward to it.”

“Cool. Cool,” Eddie nods before turning to gather up the stuff he brought with him. “I’ll see you next week, then.”

“Totally.”

Steve watches Eddie head towards the door and feels something like regret in his stomach. Logically he knows he doesn’t have to rush this. Doesn’t have to fling himself at Eddie immediately now that he knows he wants to, knows that Eddie is at least enough into him to get flustered with his ‘fake’ flirting.

But.

But Steve has lived through four apocalypses and Eddie almost didn’t survive one and life is worth taking a chance on doing things he never thought he’d do (like playing and enjoying a game of Dungeons and Dragons), so- He picks up his D20 from the table and gives it a roll, leaves it up to chance if he should do this now or wait.

It rolls around the table, bounces off the books still left on the table before rolling to a stop.

Eh, 8 is good enough.

“Eddie, wait!” Steve flings open his front door and shouts. Eddie, in the process of backing out of the driveway, brakes. Steve runs across his yard and Eddie, window already cracked, rolls it the rest of the way down.

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go on a date with me,” Steve says, then winces. He used to be better at this. “Please. I mean, go on a date with me. Oh, that sounds worse, like I’m expecting you to. Which I’m not-I don’t expect you to like me just because I like you. Fuck, I’m ruining this. Would you like to go on a date with me, please?”

Eddie just lets him shove his foot in his mouth, but he looks fond more than annoyed. Still, he says, “I, uhh, didn’t know you were… into guys.”

“Guys in general, sure. You, specifically? Ridiculously into you.”

That brings a smile to Eddie’s face. “Yeah?”

“So, uh date tomorrow? After I get off work?”

“Tomorrow,” Eddie agrees easily.

Steve watches Eddie drive away and suddenly he can’t wait for work tomorrow. Robin’s going to implode when he tells her.

Eddie, after getting off the phone with Steve the night before the game: Oh, he wants to do drugs before having to suffer through watching us play dnd again. Better bring my druglunchbox

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #platonic stobin #they're slowly combining they just dont know that yet #my fic

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tatsumessy · 11 months

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Where are you? - {Nagi Seishiro}

You miss your boyfriend. From him being busy all day with practice/games and then coming home to either play games for the rest of the night or he’d want lazy sex from you even if you weren’t 100% willing to do it. But that didn’t mean you hated him, he just changed suddenly and you don’t know why. You haven’t had a single full conversation with Nagi in over six months and it hurts, it really hurts. It’s like you’ve lost your person.

“Ngh-Nagi…that hurts-s-stop!” You moaned out scratching your nails against his back, he continued to thrust aggressively into your cunt and at this point you probably started bruising. Glancing down between the two of you watching as his cock pulled out of you then back into you, each time he pulled out you noticing some blood coating the base of his cock. “N-Nagi stop, I’m bleeding. Stop.” You said more aggressively using your hands to push him away, he still wouldn’t stop. “I-Ice.” He halted his movements and pushed himself up to look down at you.

“Get off of me.” You harshly said pushing him off and throwing your legs off the side of the bed, standing up you tried to take a step forward but ended up falling onto your ass. You heard him moving in the bed, “don’t fucking touch me.” You said standing up and walking out the room and into the guest bathroom that was downstairs, starting the bath water you sat on the edge of the tub rubbing your aching and bruising thighs. What the hell had gotten into him, he didn’t even give you a warning he just came home and pulled you into the bedroom. No prep, foreplay…nothing.

Your head started pounding and tears were forming in your eyes and the more you kept replaying the last few hours in your head the more tears that fell. You were so distracted that you failed to notice how high the water was getting but you stopped it in time. Dipping into the water you laid there trying to process your next moves and thoughts on what you wanted to do. You definitely didn’t want to see Nagi for a few days atleast, you needed time.

Pulling you from your thoughts a couple of firm knocks sounded on the door, you hesitated for a moment not wanting to respond. “Y/n…I’m sorry. C-Can we talk please.” He spoke softly not wanting to speak to harshly or loudly so that he wouldn’t scare you. Staring down at the water your hands fidgeted with each other before responding, “Nagi, I need space. I’m going to stay with my parents until further notice.” The door knob started turning and a repeated sets of knocks kept hitting against the door, “wait y/n let’s talk about this please.” “Nagi I don’t want to talk. Leave me alone.” The noise stopped and the sounds of his receding footsteps set a bit of ease in your soul.

Once done with your bath you got dressed and started packing your bag to leave. Nagi sat on the edge of the bed watching you move back and forth from the closet to the dresser to the duffle bag. “We can’t talk about this?” He spoke trying to reach out to touch you but you flinched and he took that as a tale tale sign to stop. You chose not to say anything and just left your apartment, Nagi didn’t try to follow your or anything. He just watched from the window as you got in your car and drove off to your parents house.

It’s been two weeks, two weeks since you’ve spoken to Nagi or even seen him. You’ve refused to talk to anyone really, and you haven’t gone to his games that you’ve never missed. Ever. Out of the five years you’d been dating it’s like the sweet lax boyfriend that you know and love had died down. “Y/n honey.” You sat up rubbing the sleep from your eyes, your mother walked into the room with a tray filled with lunch foods and set it down right in front of you. “I’ve never been served lunch in bed.” You joked quickly pinning up your hair into a claw clip then grabbing the fork your mom handed you.

“Did you and Seishiro fight?” She asked moving a piece of hair out of your face, “something like that.” You responded sticking a piece of baked chicken in your mouth and salivating at the taste, “baby, if it’s something small then it could be fixed.” Her hand moved from your head down to your back and slowly rubbed up and down before leaving the room. Your phone started buzzing repeatedly and you were dead set on ignoring it but it wouldn’t stop buzzing no matter how many times you pressed decline it just kept ringing.

Grabbing the phone you saw the caller ID, it was switching between Isagi and Reo. Answering the next call that came through you put the phone up to your ear clearing your throat to prepare for this conversation. “Hello?” “Y/n, you have to get to the hospital. Nagi got in an accident.” Jumping up from the bed you accidentally knocked the tray onto the ground while falling on top of it. “I-Is he okay?” “He was out for a couple of days, but he just woke up and he was asking for you.” You quickly responded that you’d be there in a few minutes then hung up the phone.

Your parents came running into the room, “sweetie are you okay?” Your mother asked leaning down to help you up, “sei got into an accident.” You could barely talk let alone see as you sat on the bed trying to wipe away the constant stream of tears. “Here, get dressed. I’ll drive you, you can’t drive in this state.” Your father spoke walking out the room with your mother right behind her, you put on the sweatshirt and joggers which both happened to be Nagi’s clothes.

Running into the room you caught everyone’s attention, ignoring the stares you ran over to a sleeping white haired boy. He was bandaged up and he looked honestly like shit, bags under his eyes, hair messy, but that could be from a lot of things. “Is he sleeping?” You asked feeling your mom walk up behind you and holding your so that you knew she was there. “Yes, he just fell asleep.” Isagi said awkwardly rubbing his hands together, it grew silent in the room for a while until the sudden speed up of the heart monitor got everyone’s attention.

“What’s going on?” You asked walking closer staring dead at the monitor and not at the pair of grey eyes burning holes into the side of your face. “Y/n.” Your blood ran cold at the croaky voice calling out for you, looking down at him he tried to lift his hand to hold onto yours but you pulled back. “We’ll give you some privacy honey.” Your mother said gesturing for everyone to leave the room, it was quiet between the two of you. You especially didn’t want to speak up, now that you saw with your eyes that he was okay you didn’t want to be there. The room was suffocating.

“You’re still mad at me…” he spoke with a more relaxed and smoother voice, clearing your throat you sat down at the edge of the bed leaning against the footboard. “How did you get in an accident?” He sighed and used whatever strength he had to push himself up so that he was leaning against the back of the bed. “I couldn’t focus at practice so I took Reo’s keys so that I could come see you.” He looked up at you expecting you to look at him with a sympathetic look, “I said I needed space. You know you don’t drive so why would you ignore my request and put yourself in danger?” “Because I needed to see you. To talk.” Rolling your eyes you crossed one leg over the other and held your hands onto your lap.

“You couldn’t handle two weeks without talking to me?” You asked glancing in his direction, “no I couldn’t.” “You ignored me and used me as a housemaid sex doll Nagi. How do you think I felt for six months? And you never came to me to tell me what was wrong.” His gaze never left yours as the tears started to form, “what did I do that made you so pissed at me? Nagi you hurt me, badly at that. Do you get that?” You said turning your attention back towards the door that at any given moment you were ready to walk out of.

“I got an offer in the states.” Frozen for a moment you blinked a couple of times before looking over at him, “okay and what does that have to do with me?” He sighed and started rubbing his eye that was most likely aching. “I knew you weren’t going to want to move to the states with me and I know how much you hate long distance. I got upset because I felt like you were kind of holding me back.” Scoffing you stood up walking towards the door ready to open it but he yelled telling you to stop. “Are you seriously blaming you for not taking the offer? How could you know what I was going to say Nagi?” “I know how you are!” He responded trying not to yell.

“Obviously you don’t. I would’ve told you to take the offer and if you needed me to go with you then I would have why? Because I’m fluent in three different fucking languages and I’d never want to inhibit you from getting better. Nagi I’m one of your biggest supporters but you’ve failed to notice that and as a result you treated me like shit for six months. I can’t believe you…I don’t even know if I want to be with you anymore.” Plopping back down on the bed a tear slid down your cheek and you wiped it away letting out an exhausted sigh and looking at something in the corner of the room.

“I don’t want to break up. I should’ve talked to you about it, I’m sorry Y/n.” He leaned forward gently grabbing at the hem of the jacket you were wearing, “if you really knew me you knew I would never doing anything to hold you back. I’ve supported you in every decision you’ve ever made-” you were interrupted by your own choked sobs. “Y/n I’m sorry. I was so mad at myself that I blamed you. And actually took it out on you. No amount of words can express how sorry I am.” He spoke leaning forward to wrap his bandaged arms around your waist, he pulled you closer scooting you towards him. He pulled you onto his lap and held you so that you were laying your head on his shoulder.

“Nagi, I think we should take a break.” You said feeling your own heart break at your words, you didn’t want too. You wanted to to stay together and work this out but it looks like he needed time and space from you. “I don’t want to take a break. I did some hard thinking while you were gone and I can’t possibly imagine my lonely and soon to be miserable life without you. I fucked up. Badly and I’m sorry again.” Repositioning yourself you laid your back against his chest trying not to press to much of your body weight on him. He kept his arms wrapped around your waist while you sat there fiddling with your fingers, “when we get you home and in bed. We need to have a long conversation about us. I just can’t forgive you that easily Nagi.” “Stop calling me that.” He said leaning his chin on your shoulder and pressing his cheek against yours.

“I’m Sei to you. I’m sorry for everything I did. I love you angel.” You both let out a sigh sitting in silence for a few minutes, “can I kiss you?” He asked in a whisper noticing how you were slowly falling sleep, “mhm.” You responded positioning yourself to where he had full access to your face, he leaned in placing a quick peck on your lips then pulling away. “What the hell was that?” You asked opening your eyes to stare at him, his still expression never changed as you grabbed his face forcing him to actually kiss you. The only thing that forced you two to pull away from each other was his accelerated heart rate monitor going off right next to the two of you. “Sorry it’s been two weeks since I’ve seen you, and I can’t lie I’m nervous as fuck.” You laughed rubbing the top of his head in admiration and comfort.

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saythenametotheworld · 20 days

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Message in a Bottle [2]

Genre: strangers to lovers; fluff; slow burn Pairing: Choi Seungcheol x Reader Warnings: mature themes, suggestive Notes: 14k words, song prompt was Message in a Bottle by Taylor Swift. The love this received was overwhelming. thanks sm. Synopsis: What's next for you and Seungcheol? You have no idea yet, but boy you're so eager to find out. Taglist: @brownsugarbaybee, @shuamorollss, @kpopficenjoyer

[Part 1]

Dinner was just okay. For you, at least. Everyone else seems to be having a good time. You’re not trying to be a spoilsport, but you can’t help but space out whenever you remember the encounter with Seungcheol earlier that night. It excites and enrages you at the same time. Part of you wanted to drag Seungcheol out so you could talk properly. Another part wants him to disappear and never show himself again.

“He’s in the market. A little older, but he’s a great man. You can try shooting your shot,” the professor joked after one student asked if Seungcheol was married.

“Tell us, Seungcheol-nim; are you seeing anyone right now?” Sua chimed.

Seungcheol chuckled nervously, rubbing his hands over his thighs. “No, I’m not.”

His response was met with squeals from all the girls except you. When your gazes met, you raised an eyebrow at him as if to ask him what he was looking at you for.

“But I already have someone I like,” he added, not tearing his eyes away from you.

The girls squealed again, giddy and taken by the conversation. You, on the other hand, were looking away, trying to calm your heart. Seungcheol saw you get flustered but you rolled your eyes at him and started drinking with the others.

It was about 9pm when everyone decided it was time to go. The professor had to leave early, so Seungcheol—despite not wanting to do it, had to drive his uncle to his house. He couldn’t even say goodbye to you because he didn’t want to raise suspicions.

When your classmates suggested that you go for drinks in a nearby pub, you joined them intending to loosen up. But then your male classmates began hitting on you which was annoying, especially since one of them can't seem to take 'no' for an answer.

“I said,” you barked at the guy who kept badgering you with annoying questions, “LEAVE. ME. ALONE.”

You turned to finish your conversation with Haeyoon but your jerk of a classmate jeered. “Why are you being such a snob? Do you think you’re so pretty because I’m flirting with you? Bitch, you’re just another girl in a pool or hundreds. I can find others way prettier than you’ll ever dream to be.”

“I can find others bleh bleh bleh,” you mocked, rolling your eyes. "Then go find them and leave me alone."

"Crude ass bitch."

"Why this little—" You stood up from your seat and looked around in search of any security personnel. When you spotted one, you pointed at him and shouted, “Excuse me! This guy is harassing us!”

“What? Me?”

The security quickly came over holding a baton and being followed by service staff. Your classmate was escorted out and while you felt proud of yourself, your other classmates seemed unimpressed.

“Damn it, y/n. You’re such a bore.”

“He was just joking around. No need to be so sensitive.”

These people are so wrong to contest with you when your liquid courage is in effect. “If you can’t stand it, then leave,” you countered, smirking.

“Yeah! Get your enabler asses out of here,” some of your female friends jeered.

“Go to a club or something!” Dahee, another close friend of yours, hollered.

Several of them started leaving but most of the girls stayed behind, drinking the night away and looking to get wasted. Your table was rowdy with laughter, giggles, games, and occasional gossip. By midnight, you were starting to feel numb so you stayed seated, barely participating in the games anymore.

“Y/n?” You looked up when you heard someone call your name. Squinting a little, you tried to recognize the man before you. “You’re pretty drunk. Do you need me to take you home?”

“What the hell? I thought you were him,” you pouted, rolling your eyes at Jinwoo. He just laughed.

“Who do you mean?” he questioned, holding your hand. “Come on now before you get completely wasted.”

“Jinwoo,” one of your friends called. “What are you doing here?”

Jinwoo scratched his nape. “Someone told me you guys were here so I came over.”

Haeyoon tilted her head. “Really? Come join us, then. It looks like y/n isn’t ready to leave yet.”

You grinned and raised your hand. “Absolutely not, love,” you chimed, taking the glass she was handing to you.

Jinwoo gave up trying to convince you and stayed to join you instead. At first, he was fun to have around. He was funny and joined in on the games. But a few drinks later, you noticed he was getting handsy so you tried to move away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked after you scooted away from him for the third time.

“Go away, Jinwoo,” you told him before standing up. You steadied your pace, keeping your eyes locked on the bathroom sign across the room. Just as you were about to reach it, Jinwoo caught up to you and helped you stand steadily.

“Let me help you,” he offered, placing his hand on your waist and the other on your shoulder. The contact made you shudder so you pushed him back.

“I’m fine, Jinwoo.”

He chuckled. “No, you’re not. Come on, just let me help.”

This time, he grabbed your waist with both hands. You squirmed, trying to get away but you couldn’t because the alcohol had weakened your limbs.

“Get off me, you–” You punched his face but it was too weak to do anything. He trapped your hands in his and pulled you in a tight hug.

“It’s okay, y/n. I got you,” he whispered in your ear, giving you goosebumps all over. He then grabbed a handful of your ass and you were so horrified that you gathered every energy in your body to push him away.

“Go away you asshole!” you hollered, nearly sobbing.

“Hey!” said Seungcheol, landing a heavy punch on Jinwoo’s face that sent him staggering backward. You fell on the floor, knees weakened as you watched Seungcheol being restrained and other people helping Jinwoo up. Your friends heard the commotion and they rushed over to help you up.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Jinwoo fumed, the corner of his mouth bleeding where Seungcheol punched him.

“You stay away from her!” Seungcheol hollered back, trying to attack but he was being restrained. “How dare you touch her, you fucking prick!”

“Fuck you!”

Seungcheol hissed. “No, fuck you!”

Everything else happened abruptly. Police were called and they were both taken to the station for questioning. As you sat with your friends in the waiting area, you listened to Jinwoo's rant about how Seungcheol attacked him and how he was the victim and Seungcheol should be locked up.

“Sir, no one here is getting locked up except you,” the police officer deadpanned. “This isn’t about physical assault. It’s a sexual harassment complaint.”

“Sexual harassment?” he repeated mockingly. “Who? Her?” he pointed at you. “I never harassed her. She was drunk and she was being clingy to me.”

“That’s not what the witnesses said.”

“Well, they’re all lying.”

The police officer rolled his eyes as if he was getting bored. “Are you sure you want to do this? My colleagues are obtaining CCTV footage from the establishment as we speak. I wonder what that video will tell us.”

Jinwoo closed his mouth and glared at you. You glared back, disgusted. He then looked at Seungcheol and then faced the officer. “What about me? I was assaulted. He attacked me.”

The officer shook his head as he toggled to his computer. “If you want, you can file a complaint against him. But if I were you, I wouldn’t dream of it. He was in the wrong but he acted out of protection for Miss y/n here. Plus he’s a lawyer. Don’t push your luck.”

Jinwoo swallowed upon hearing that Seungcheol was a lawyer. Seungcheol, on the other hand, looked at him with an arrogant expression, enjoying the sight of Jinwoo crumbling beside him.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Seungcheol asked for the nth time tonight. You pulled his coat tighter around your body and nodded. “That asshole.”

“Thanks for coming, Cheol,” you told him, smiling sheepishly.

“Yeah, thanks for coming Seungcheol-nim,” Haeyoon added. “How did you know where we were though?”

Seungcheol smiled. “I heard from someone.”

“Gosh, I still can’t believe Jinwoo did that,” Dahee mused. “I know he had a huge crush on you but I didn’t think he’d harass you like that.”

“Right? He didn’t look like someone who would do that. Was he just pretending to be a nice guy all this time?” Haeyoon sighed.

Dahee gasped in horror. “Guys, I think he did well hiding his true self.”

While your friends shuddered at Jinwoo pretending to be a good guy, Seungcheol tugged your elbow. “Should I drive you back to your apartment? Yoori and Seolhee must be worried.”

“Yeah, they’d probably freak out if they found out,” you chuckled, sighing. “Should I just keep it a secret?”

“You can, but for now, you should get some rest,” he suggested and you nodded in approval.

Your friend heard your conversation and interjected. “I’m sorry, Seungcheol-nim but we can’t let you take her home.”

“No, we can’t. No offense but we won’t feel at ease if we leave her with you. Especially after tonight.”

You chuckled. “Girls, I’m fine. I know him personally.”

“Are you sure? You personally knew Jinwoo too.”

Seungcheol cut in. “How about I drive everyone home?”

And he did. He drove you and your friends to your homes, all while keeping up with your friends’ questions. He told them you were a close friend of his when they asked how you knew each other. At some point, you tried to mediate and get them to stop being inquisitive but they kept going. You were able to relax only after Seungcheol had dropped everyone else and it was only just the two of you in the car.

You leaned your head on the backrest of your seat, closing your eyes to help alleviate your ringing headache. Seeing your tired expression, Seungcheol reached to touch your shoulder.

"Are you alright? Don't worry, we're almost at your apartment."

You hummed. "Thanks for coming, Cheol. But how did you know we were there?"

Seungcheol chuckled shyly. "I, uh... I went back to the restaurant and asked around until someone told me they heard you were going to that pub."

"You asked around? I thought you were a lawyer, not a detective?" you quipped and he laughed.

“You did well protecting yourself back there,” he told you, smiling as he squeezed your shoulder before letting go. “I’ll make sure to put that guy on the record.”

You scoffed, thinking that was too much of a punishment considering nothing major happened. But you didn’t try to change his mind because you too, want to make sure Jinwoo regrets his actions.

“I always believed I was a good judge of character,” you chuckled, shaking your head. “Damn him.”

Seungcheol just scoffed as he pulled over by the sidewalk in front of your apartment. “Can we talk tomorrow?”

You opened your eyes, peeked outside the window, and then looked at Seungcheol with a smile. Nodding your head, you said, “Okay. Let’s do that.”

Seungcheol smiled back, reaching for your hand and squeezing it gently. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”

You were half-asleep as you entered the apartment complex. For a while, the house was filled with questions and worried expressions from Seolhee and Yoori. You’re not sure what Seungcheol told them but they eventually stopped nagging and brought you in to get some rest.

When you woke up the next morning, your head was so painful that you feared it would break. As you tried to rise out of bed, you found yourself sniffing and realized you had caught a cold.

“Argh,” you groaned, falling back into bed when you couldn’t find the strength to get up.

Luckily, it was the weekend and you had no classes so you stayed in bed all day, watching a romance flick and eating your sickness away. Seolhee took good care of you, although she never stopped nagging and scolding you. You took it all in stride, happy to receive her help without asking for it. You have yet to tell them about the incident with Jinwoo and while you have no intention to keep it a secret, you decided to put it off for later. As impulsive as they are, you feared Seungcheol would end up lawyering them both out of jail for physical assault.

It was almost dinnertime when Yoori arrived with some news. "You have a guest," she announced as soon as she walked into the apartment. You craned your neck to look in the foyer and found Seungcheol towing behind Yoori. Then you remembered that you made plans with him last night.

“Cheol?” you called out, surprised. He smiled sheepishly, showing a small wave. You then noticed the paper bag in his hand as you strode over to greet him. “What are you doing here?”

“Me?” He pointed to himself. “Oh, I heard you were sick so I thought I’d drop by. Here.”

“How did you know?” you asked as you took the paper bag of food and another bag from a drugstore from his hands.

“Yoori told me. I asked her because I was worried after you wouldn’t respond to my texts so… yeah,” he explained, flattening his lips into a shy smile.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” Yoori called out. “Come in and join us for dinner.”

“No, I’m fine. I have dinner plans with my parents.”

“Are you sure? You should just eat since you’re already here.”

Seungcheol beamed. “I’d love to, Yoori, but I have to go.”

Yoori shrugged. “Alright, then. Maybe next time,” she said before heading to the kitchen.

You walked Seungcheol out of the door and bade him goodbye. “You didn’t have to come, you know.”

“I know,” he chimed, his face stricken with worry. “I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

You looked down at your feet, attempting to hide your flaring cheeks. “Well, you’ve seen me. I’m fine. It’s just a cold.”

“Get some rest, okay? Let’s talk soon.”

You nodded, only glancing at him ever so briefly. “I’ll text you back.”

“Alright, y/n.”

“Alright, Cheol.”

“Alright…”

When you went back inside, you pouted at Yoori and said, “Don’t you care about my heart at all?”

“Why do you think I told him you were sick?”

“Why?”

Yoori snickered. “To see how he would react about it, why else?”

You rolled your eyes at her before sitting on your place at the table. Then you caught Seolhee's gaze and realized she'd been staring at you. "What?"

Seolhee tutted and shook her head in disappointment. "You forgave him too quickly."

"So what if she did? They both like each other."

"He made her ugly cry," Seolhee reminded. "You don't easily forgive someone who makes you ugly cry."

Yoori was shaking her head as she placed a plate on the table. "As long as he's willing to make up for it, he's fine."

"Wasn't it you who said you'll kill him?"

"Guys," you interjected. Your roommates fell quiet and you were able to eat in peace.

A whole month. That was how much time you had to get over Seungcheol. Although you didn’t completely erase your feelings for him, you were doing a good job getting over him. Just as you were about to move on, he had to come back and do this. He had to show up and ask you to try again. How many times has it been? Each time you find a reason to stop, he always comes strutting back in like he rightfully belonged in your life. You thought this time would be the last, but then he does it again.

“I guess the universe wants to see us together,” you mumbled while you sat on your bed, scrolling through your phone gallery and looking at the pictures you took with Seungcheol. “Did it have to be this complicated, though?”

You tapped on his face on the screen, aggressively thumbing his head so the photo zoomed in and out several times. You were doing that when your phone rang and you accidentally tapped the End button to Seungcheol’s call. You gasped, shrieked, and dropped your phone in panic.

Steps thundered on the floor from outside before Yoori’s head peeked through your door. “What happened?”

You pouted at your friend. “Cheol called and I declined by accident.”

Worry left Yoori’s face almost immediately, replaced with that of deadpanned annoyance. “This bitch.”

Yoori left your room just as your phone started ringing again. You picked it up quickly and checked to see if it was Seungcheol. When you confirmed it, you cleared your throat and waited a few seconds before answering.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” he greeted back, his voice reverberating beautifully in your ears. You had no idea you missed it until you heard it again.

“Hi, Cheol. What’s up?” you replied, hoping nonchalance would hide your excitement. “Sorry I hung up on your first call. I tapped the wrong button,” you told him, hoping he wouldn’t ask why. You’re not about to tell him you pressed the wrong button because you were giddily tapping on his picture!

“It’s alright. I figured that much,” he chimed. There’s a lilt in his voice, making you assume he was in good spirits at the moment. “What are you doing?”

“Me? I just finished getting ready for bed.” You tucked yourself under your blanket, basking in the warmth.

Seungcheol hummed. “Your meds?”

“Done.”

“With lots of water?”

You rolled your eyes, but you were smiling from ear to ear. “Yes, Doctor Cheol.”

He chuckled from the other line. “Alright. Good girl.”

Your heart leaped. “What am I, a child?” He just laughed. You could hear faint music from his line. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing much. I’m at home on my laptop,” he replied and then chuckled. "Million Dollar Smile, huh? Who came up with that?" he added.

Your brows creased, confused. "A million what?"

"A Million Dollar Smile."

"I don't get it."

"That's your title. Apparently, your peers call you the Beauty with a Million-Dollar Smile."

"Me? They call me that?"

"Oh, you didn't know?"

You shuddered, the hairs on your arms raising. "That's so creepy."

Seungcheol's laughter filled your ears. "I think they meant it as a compliment."

You shook your shoulders and head to get rid of the cringe feeling. "Well, they're creepy."

"You seriously didn't know? There are plenty of articles about you in the university forum. Most of them mentioned your title."

You laughed incredulously. "I don't hop on the forum and look up articles about me. That sounds so narcissis— wait are you reading about me? Right now?"

"I am," he replied nonchalantly. "They write about you a lot, you know. All good things. I didn't know you were an athlete. Tennis?"

"I'm not," you chuckled, rolling on the other side of your bed. "I only played for the sports meet because no one in my department wanted to."

“We should play sometimes.”

You rolled your eyes, albeit he couldn’t see it. “Do you even know how many plans you’ve made with me already?”

He chuckled. “Have they all piled up? We should probably do something about it soon.”

“There. Another plan.”

Seungcheol laughed from the other line and you couldn’t help smiling at the image of him in your head, laughing wholeheartedly. “Get well soon, y/n. Let’s catch up on everything we missed.”

“Alright.”

“I missed you.”

You froze, dumbfounded by his unexpected confession. For a minute, there was nothing but silence between the two of you, as you were carefully considering the correct approach to his statement.

“I’m sorry, y/n. I was…” he paused, sighing. “I was wrong. So wrong. I was clueless. I had no idea what I wanted. I ended up pushing you away. For that, I’m very sorry.”

“It’s okay, Cheol,” you told him softly. It’s not, obviously. But you didn’t want to dwell on it anymore. You only want to focus on the now and see where it takes you. Finally, Seungcheol was clear with his intentions. What else should stop you from doing the same?

There’s no reason to decline his affection, especially when you know you want it too. You wished for this day to come, you craved it, prayed for it, and hoped it would happen despite the impossibility of it. Now that it’s here, on a silver platter, willingly being served to you, why should you decline it? Your heart is fragile, it breaks so easily but it heals as quickly. The best thing about this heartbreak is that it was Seungcheol himself who was trying to mend the broken pieces back together.

You welcomed Monday with a bad headache. No, you're not sick anymore but rumors are going around about you and that was what’s making your head throb terribly. People at school had been talking about you dating an older guy, and allegedly breaking off his previous relationship. It was posted by The Gossiper, a notorious gossip monger in your university who operates on anonymity. You have no idea where or who tipped them but the boys at school who used to try every means to sweep you off your feet are now calling you a hoe in the online university forum, while some girls are now considering you an enemy for not being a "girl's girl". Of course, rumors are only rumors, and you don't give a damn about the people talking crap behind your back, but it was still a terrible situation to deal with on the first day of the week.

"By older guy, are they referring to Seungcheol-nim?" Haeyoon asked during lunch. You placed your chopsticks back on your tray and started massaging your temples.

"Really, Haeyoon? Right in front of my special jajjangmyeon?" you groaned, pretending to be offended. "You couldn't wait till we get a taste before spoiling everything?"

Haeyoon pressed her hands together and bowed. "I'm so sorry, special jajjangmyeon."

You and your friends laughed as you started eating. Sua, however, wants to know more about the rumors.

"Seungcheol-nim? Is he the older guy from the Gossiper's post?" asked Sua, looking curious.

Dahee sniggered. "If y/n is seeing anyone, we'd be the first to know. Right, y/n?"

At that moment, Yoori appeared next to Dahee, placing her tray on the table as she shook her head. "Wrong. We'll find out first because we're flatmates."

"Ugh, what a show-off," Dahee sneered, nudging Yoori's arm as the latter sat next to her.

Sua tapped on the table to get your attention. "The anonymous post said they saw you with the older guy though. They also said they knew him and he broke up with his girlfriend because of you."

"Don't believe everything you see online, Sua," Dahee chided gently, giving Sua a stern gaze.

"So it's not true, then? The rumor?" Sua questioned so you shook your head in response.

"No," you replied curtly. If people you barely know are curious about the truthfulness of the rumors, of course, your friends would be too. Still, you don't see the need to explain to anyone why and how the gossip in the hallways is false. Saying it isn't true should be enough. Sure you can divulge details if you want to, but you won't because you are entitled to your privacy and so is Seungcheol. You don't want everything that went down between the two of you to become a topic for other people's mouths to feast on.

"Then what’s going on between you and Seungcheol-nim?" Sua pressed on, earning her a few annoyed looks from your other friends.

"None of your business, girl," said Yoori, placing a piece of sliced orange on Sua's tray. "Stop asking and just eat."

There are reasons why Sua seemed like she was being alienated from your friend group. First, you weren't friends with her in the first place. She just started following Dahee around and casually joined your circle. Second, you have a feeling Sua is spilling private details about you and your friends to other people. No one was able to prove it yet, but ever since she joined your circle, you've been hearing other people talk about things that only you and your friends were supposed to know. It might all be just an assumption and you could be wrong about her, but she's a writer for the school paper which also handles the gossip account in the university's online forum.

“Hey.” Yoori nudged you. “We’re going to a concert tonight, me and Seolhee. Would you like to come?”

You shook your head. “I am…” you trailed off, hesitating. “...going out tonight. I made plans. Have fun though.”

Yoori flashed a menacing smile, making you laugh and say, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

She shrugged, still sporting the smile. “When was the last time you made plans with a guy?”

“How do you even know it’s a guy?”

“Roommates for three years, friends for five. I know you inside and out, y/n,” she teased and it made you giggle, shyly looking away and touching your blushing cheeks. Yoori cooed at you, “Don’t you think you forgave him too quickly?”

“Did I?” you asked, pondering on the question. Indeed, it was such a quick forgiveness. He didn’t even need to put in too much effort to win you back. But then again, you know what you want: him. Why would you prolong the process when you can just open your arms and welcome him wholeheartedly? It may be foolish, and there’s a chance that you may be making wrong decisions. But weirdly enough, you were willing to take the gamble and bet your whole heart on it.

Seungcheol’s smile was ear-to-ear when he saw you outside the CoffeeHouse. You couldn’t hide your delight either, waving at him as you walked to where he was waiting for you.

“How were your classes?” was the first thing he asked you and it made you roll your eyes and groan.

“Ugh, really? That’s what you want to talk about? I should have gone to the concert,” you retorted, chucking your phone into your bag.

“What concert?” he asked as he opened the car door for you. You got into the car and waited until he was in the driver’s seat before answering.

“It’s by a band we like. Seolhee and Yoori are going.” You pulled the seatbelt over your body and tried to lock it but your backpack on your lap is making it hard for you to reach the lock.

Seungcheol leaned over, surprising you with his sudden movement and how close he had gotten to you in a split second. He locked the seatbelt with ease, withdrawing to sit properly like he didn’t just give you a minor heart attack.

“Did you want to go? You should’ve told me. We could’ve just rescheduled,” he stated, eyes focused on the road the moment he turned his engine on.

You cleared your throat. “It would be fun, but I didn’t feel like it. Besides, we had plans.”

“Right,” he replied, gleaming. “So, what’s the plan?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s on your mind? What should we do tonight?”

You scoffed, eyeing him with furrowed brows. “Are you telling me you don’t have a real plan?”

Seungcheol chuckled nervously.

“Why did you ask me out if you didn’t know what we should do?”

“To be honest, I didn’t think you’d accept the invitation. So, right now, I’m just improvising.”

“Improvising?” you repeated, chuckling. “Doesn’t seem like you at all.”

“I know,” he gave up. “You’ll have to forgive me, this is kind of a new territory because I’ve only known spontaneity when I met you.”

Your jaw dropped but you closed it again before he could catch you. Then you glanced outside the car, your hands over your mouth out of sheer shock. You don’t know why he said it like it was an embarrassing thing to say because the effect on you was entirely different. You’re realizing right then that Choi Seungcheol can sweep you off your feet so easily without even trying too hard.

You exhaled and snickered at him. “Your rizz is quite something, Choi Seungcheol.”

“Rizz?” he questioned, briefly glancing at you.

You gawked at him and then remembered that he’s the technologically challenged lawyer who’s almost thirty. “It’s nothing. You won’t get it.”

Seungcheol shrugged. “I’m pretty smart if you explain it properly.”

“It’s slang,” you began but then hesitated. “You know what, don’t worry about it. I meant it as a compliment.”

He chuckled. “Well, thank you very much. Your rizz is quite something too.”

His reply made you laugh and from then on, you two have never stopped laughing in the car on your way to nowhere.

Your first date with Seungcheol went like that, driving around the city and eating takeout in the car. As the night grew later and the streets stretched longer, you noticed that you’d reached the outskirts of the city, so you rolled the window down, pushing your hand out to feel the cool air. Seungcheol noticed this and smiled.

“What time is your bedtime today?” he asked so you glanced at the time on the dashboard. 11:45 pm.

“It’s a little early, but we should probably head back,” you told him. You didn’t want to go home just yet, but you have class tomorrow and you were certain Seungcheol has to go to work early too.

“Alright,” he replied, slowing down as he prepared to turn back.

You spotted a cafe up ahead so you tapped on his arm. “Later, after we go to that cafe.”

And you did. You went inside the cafe, admired the warm ambiance, and took a few pictures to commemorate it. Seungcheol was reluctant, but you managed to convince him to pose for one picture only.

“Old people are spoilsports,” you complained jokingly, feigning disappointment as you checked how the photo came out. While you were looking down at your phone, you felt an arm around your shoulder, making you glance at it only to find Seungcheol raising his phone camera as he pulled you closer to him.

“Smile, y/n,” he lilted. You panicked at the proximity, but you managed to squeeze out a big grin for the photo. As quickly as it took to capture the photo, Seungcheol parted from you, smiling as he stared at his phone screen for a minute.

You turned away, touching your warm cheeks and hoping you were not blushing too much. Then you cleared your throat and side-eyed him. “I thought you didn’t know how to use a phone?” you quipped, hoping humor would hide your glee.

“I never said that,” he insisted. “And, hey, come on. It’s a selfie. Even babies know how to take one.”

You snickered, pleased to have riled him up even jokingly. He approached the counter with you behind him. After telling the barista his order, he turned to you to ask, “Spanish latte with oat milk?”

“Yeah,” you replied, nodding with a smile. He gave the barista your order too and since there were only a handful of customers, Seungcheol was told he could just wait by the counter for your orders.

Seungcheol was all smiles when he approached your table with a tray. As he pushed your coffee towards you on the table, you eyed his iced coffee that was so dark you could barely see the ice in it.

“Aren’t you cold?” you asked.

Seungcheol understood what you meant by the question. “I am but I like cold coffee.”

“I can see that,” you chuckled, blowing the steam from your hot mug. “But why?”

“I haven’t told you yet?” he wondered and you shrugged in response. “Hmmh, I thought I told you everything.”

“Not nearly,” you jeered. “You rarely shared anything about yourself.”

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I told you things I haven’t told other people.”

You nodded. “Yeah, but you haven’t told me the most basic things about you. You know, things people usually talk about when getting to know someone. Your favorite color or food. Your family, your workplace, and things like that. You never even told me you had a pet. And,” you paused, pointed at his coffee, and added, “why you like your coffee like that.”

He looked at his coffee and then back to you. “I didn’t realize that.”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to tell me anything. I was just under the impression that whenever you’re with me, you tend to detach yourself from your life outside our friendship. Like you’re just Cheol, not the Lawyer Choi Seungcheol from a very wealthy family and works in a very big law firm and has a pet he calls Kkuma.”

“I do, don’t I?” he gleamed, like he was only now realizing that fact. “I think you’re right.”

“About everything?”

“Yeah, about everything.”

You chuckled, passing it all off as a joke. But Seungcheol was serious, and so for the entire time that you sat in that cafe, he talked about himself and everything you needed to know about him.

Friday.

“Can’t we sue them for defamation? Maybe cyber-bullying or something like that?”

You walked in on Yoori and Seolhee scrolling through a laptop in the living room. As you watched their concerned expressions, you went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. Seolhee spotted you then.

“There you are!” she sighed, looking like she just had the most stressful day of her life so far. “The Gossiper is at it again.”

“What is it this time?” you deadpanned. For the entire week, every single day, The Gossiper always had ‘something new’ to write about you. First, it was about your rumored beau. Second, your past relationships were brought up. And then they started doubting your good grades and good relationship with your professors, calling it unusual and suspicious after revealing that your parents were legacies—as if a good half of the student body aren’t legacies themselves. Just yesterday, they claimed that your mother’s cram school isn’t inclusive and accepts only the rich kids. At this point, nothing they write can surprise you anymore with its incredulousness.

“I can’t even bring myself to read it again,” Seolhee replied, pushing the laptop towards you when you sat with them.

What’s the truth about Miss Million-Dollar-Smile’s tutoring jobs?

According to the article, a close confidant of yours told them that your part-time tutoring gigs during your sophomore year were actually escort jobs, adding that your clients aren’t middle schoolers but their rich fathers. You were so appalled that your jaw hung open the entire time you were reading the article. Yoori had to prompt you because you were staring at the screen with such an expression.

“Crazy, isn’t it?” Seolhee commented.

“Crazy? It’s not just crazy,” Yoori scoffed, exasperated. “They’ve gone too far! This Gossiper, whoever this is, they need jail time.”

People are now calling you two-faced, claiming you had been pretending to be a decent girl all this time. Some were saying you were hiding behind a righteous, goody-two-shoes persona. Not to mention the amount of people calling your slurs like a hoe, a social climber, homewrecker, the list just goes on.

“Why are they so obsessed with you all of a sudden? Honestly, where is this aggression coming from?” Yoori added. Truth be told, you don't care. You're about to graduate anyway. As long as they don’t do any real damage to you, you don’t care what they say.

“Let them be,” you told your friends, smiling meekly. “Who knows, maybe if we ignore them, they’ll leave me alone.”

“What about all these people commenting about you and calling you names?”

You shrugged. “Let them talk. I’ll see it as a form of charity. Their lives are boring and so unhappy that they’d rather talk shit about someone they barely know. At least I get to help make their days interesting.”

“You’re nuts,” Yoori exhaled. “Seriously, you’re so unbelievably optimistic. That’s not normal.”

You grinned at her. “You know what they say, there’s a silver lining in every difficult situation. You just need to find it.”

“And who said that exactly?” Seolhee asked so you turned to her and shrugged.

“Me.” You snickered. “I made it up based on a very common thought that’s been cited hundreds or thousands of times already by probably millions of people. My mind is so impressive.”

Your friends laughed and seeing their smiling faces eased your heart. To be completely honest, the backlash you were getting scared you. You tried your best to not care but little by little, it has started to get to you. Before walking down the halls, you first need to take a minute to think, calm your nerves, and condition your mind to ignore the murmurs and the looks you keep getting from people you barely even know. As much as you look forward to another day, a small part of you is afraid that there might be new gossip about you being discussed online. Even outside the campus, sometimes you are overcome by an eerie feeling that people are staring at you judgmentally. Of course, you are more confident than scared, but the little girl inside you who’s cowering in fear of the people talking about you is slowly growing to take up a larger space.

“Hi!” Seungcheol greeted into your ear, making you jolt in your seat at the cafe. Your reaction made him chuckle. But when he saw that you weren’t laughing, he cleared his throat and said, “Am I late?”

“No, I’m just early,” you replied, sighing quietly.

“I see. I came here as quickly as I could,” he told you as he took off his coat and placed it on the backrest of his chair.

You hummed. “Have you ordered?”

“I have, yes,” he beamed and you tried your best to smile back but couldn’t. It really couldn’t be helped that you were feeling down today.

Mingyu came at that moment, the tray in his hand told you he was carrying Seungcheol’s order with him. He smiled at each of you and greeted you with a jovial, “Good evening!”

“Evening, Gyu,” you replied, flattening your lips together in a smile that didn’t reach your eyes.

“Oh, wow, the vibe is so weird here,” he noted, shifting eyes from you to Seungcheol. “Did you guys fight?”

“Did you make my order right?” Seungcheol retorted but Mingyu ignored him as he placed the coffee and pastry on the table.

“What did the Landlord do?” he asked you. On a normal day, you would have had a witty response to that, and then you would bicker with Mingyu for a bit. But today as much as you would enjoy a regular battle of wits with this giant himbo, your energy to socialize is at an all-time low.

“I didn’t do anything,” Seungcheol insisted, but then he did a double take to look at you. “Or… did I?”

Mingyu chortled. “Crush him up, y/n. He might be bigger than you are, but you can pulverize him just fine with that snarky—”

“Just go away, man,” Seungcheol scolded, playfully hitting Mingyu’s abdomen with the back of his hand. “Go entertain your fans or something.”

“Aha!” Mingyu exclaimed, pointing a finger at Seungcheol. “You’re picking up a thing or two from y/n!”

You smirked and then rolled your eyes. “Yeah, go away, Gyu. Your fanmeet is starting.”

Mingyu was pouting when he left your table and Seungcheol snickered at him as he did. He always found it entertaining to watch you bicker, even calling it a real-time UFC without the physical fighting. You stared at Seungcheol, examining his features as if you hadn’t already memorized them by heart. Still, you always find something new to admire about him. Today, it was his hair which has grown a little longer than when you first met him. Your hand on the table twitched, overcome by an urge to reach forward and run your fingers through his head of soft-looking brown hair.

“What are you reading?” he questioned, motioning at the Kindle tablet in your hand.

“Nothing that would be interesting to you,” you said sheepishly, putting the device face-down on the table. You hadn’t meant for your response to be off-putting, but it came out that way and you kinda regretted it.

“How do you know that?” he asked so you shrugged unsurely. Then he added, “Anything you do is interesting to me, y/n,”

A smile crept up on your lips before you could even think of hiding it, and Seungcheol’s face lit up when he saw it. His smile gradually became bigger and there was even a faint tint of blushing on his cheek.

“God,” he muttered, looking down and covering his face with his hands. You scowled, wondering what was wrong with him. He was mumbling incoherently and you tried to listen but you didn’t catch a single word.

“What’s that?” you questioned, so he looked up at you looking utterly defeated.

“Nothing. You’re cute, that’s all.”

You scoffed loudly, so much so that you choked a little. You had to clear your throat but you declined when Seungcheol offered you water. “I’m fine. Stop flirting with me, Cheol.”

He just shrugged. “I beg your pardon. But what else should I be doing if not to flirt with you?”

“I don’t know. Just be normal. You know? Like you used to be?”

He still had a clueless look on his face. “I can’t.”

“Of course, you can.”

“I know, but I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? That’s dumb.”

“I wasn’t in love with you then. Now that I am, I can’t.”

“Why you—” You stopped, looked away, and laughed derisively. When you looked back at him, he had a proud look on his face. “Since when were you so smooth?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grinned, sipping from his straw as he looked away from you.

You just chuckled, shaking your head as you took your fork and started eating your cake. “This is so good.”

“Is it? Can I have a bite?”

You hummed as you nodded, and then pushed the plate towards him. He grabbed his fork and took a slice. And so you sat there, eating pastry, drinking coffee, and just letting the time pass by without caring about it.

On the weekend he took you to play tennis in a posh neighborhood, where you met some of his friends. He had brought it up the last time you hung out and asked if you would like to join them.

“You might find them a little boring, but they’re nice people,” he had told you at the time.

Since you had no plans and you were also curious about his friends, you agreed. You realized as soon as you were introduced that Seungcheol hung out with people who were just like him. Not only did they seem more mature than you were, but they were also evidently wealthy. Nevertheless, they were nice to you and acknowledged you with respect. And contrary to what Seungcheol said, they were fun to hang out with and you were convinced Seungcheol was the Designated Serious Friend™ in their trio dynamic.

Through a round of Flip-a-Coin, you got paired up with Seungcheol’s friend for the game who made you promise not to show them any mercy. In the end, you massacred your opponents and won free coffee and food at the clubhouse restaurant.

“I’m guessing you’re over that other girl?” your game partner asked Seungcheol over coffee after the game.

The other one protested. “Hey, Hyunwoo! Why would you ruin the mood like that?”

“It’s an important conversation to have!” Hyunwoo contested. “He was so smitten by her that he blamed himself for the breakup. In his eyes, that girl can do no wrong.”

“Wait, you’re right. He downright worshipped her. He even said he would wait until she’s ready to come back to him,” Suhwan added, shaking his head. “Man, those were troubled times.”

“Yeah, troubled times,” Hyunwoo affirmed.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you guys,” Seungcheol told his friends. To you, he said, “Ignore them.”

You nodded with a smile, taking a sip of your juice to look away. Honestly, you were curious about Seungcheol and Mina—about how it ended, and the reason why. But you were too shy to ask and while you were hoping his friends would let it slip, they only made comments here and there and never said anything explanatory. All that you got was that the breakup was bad, and they disliked her from then on.

Hyunwoo nudged your shoulder, and seeing your proximity made Seungcheol tut at him. Hyunwoo just laughed at him before asking you, “Has he told you about Mina yet?”

You shrugged. “Only that he was trying to get back with her.”

The chorus of a baffled “What?!” from Hyunwoo and Suhwan was loud and comical.

“You’re still trying to get back with her?” Suhwan asked Seungcheol who looked perplexed.

“I’m not!” Seungcheol insisted, giving you a bewildered glance as his friends bombarded him with questions. You snickered quietly, watching him defend himself from your seat. When their overlapping questions became too rowdy, Seungcheol stood up in an attempt to silence them.

“I like y/n so much!” he shouted, silencing his friends and grabbing the attention of everyone else in the restaurant. He gawked at your dumbstruck expression, and then looked around at the people in the hall. Embarrassed, he sat back on his chair, playfully hitting his two friends before sinking low in his seat.

“What was that?” Hyunwoo teased.

Seungcheol mumbled in his seat, looking away to avoid your gaze and everyone else’s. He quietly sipped on his coffee while the guys continued talking to you. You were shocked at Seungcheol’s admission, but you had no time to process it because his friends are full of energy and are very talkative. So the only thing you can do was watch Seungcheol wallow in embarrassment, stealing glances at you and looking away each time you caught his eyes.

After coffee, you trekked back to the court to collect your belongings and head home. On your way there, both Suhwan and Hyunwoo were on either side of you, while Seungcheol was towing behind like a loner.

“So what I’m saying is, whatever happened between them is not our dirty laundry to air out,” Hyunwoo stated. “But, if it’s true what Seungcheol said that he’s serious about you, you can trust him.”

“Yeah, you can,” Suhwan affirmed. “He has changed a lot these days, you know. He’s less sullen and more talkative than before. He also smiles a whole lot more. I’m sure you have something to do with that.

“He’s funny now too,” Hyunwoo sniggered. “That man can’t crack a joke. But now, he has become the wittiest out of the three of us.”

“I am flattered,” you replied shyly. “But I take no credit. He’s funny in his own little way.”

Suhwan laughed a little too loudly as if he heard the most ridiculous thing ever. Meanwhile, Hyunwoo was shaking his head in disappointment.

“Damn, you must really like him,” Hyunwoo sighed. “The only way you’d willingly say something like that is if you like him.”

“I’d say, she’s head over heels in love with him.”

Hyunwoo nodded. “Yeah, that’s the perfect definition.”

You chuckled, your cheeks hot and red. “I’m serious. I mean, obviously, his humor is not his defining trait, but he’s not that bad.”

“Ah,” Suhwan deadpanned, then looked at Hyunwoo. “Head-over-heels.”

“Head-over-heels,” Hyunwoo affirmed and it made you holler with laughter.

“Hey, what are you guys telling her this time?” Seungcheol called from behind you, catching up to shove Suhwan and take his place next to you.

Seungcheol glared at his friends who were grinning as they enjoyed getting a rise out of him. While Hyunwoo and Suhwan lagged behind to give you privacy, you nudged Seungcheol’s arm, making him look at you.

“Ignore them,” he told you.

You just smiled as you linked his arm with yours. Seungcheol saw that and it made him smile. And so you walked holding his arm, while he held your hand in place with his big palm. For the rest of the day, the massive grin on Seungcheol’s lips never left his face.

On Monday afternoon, you sat in a burger joint with your friends for lunch, talking about the upcoming school event and the things that would take place on that day. It was quiet and peaceful until Yoori suddenly stood up and slammed her hands on the table, startling all of you.

"That backstabbing tramp!" she fumed.

You blinked a few times, wondering what was up. Your friends must be wondering the same thing too but you all remained quiet, waiting for her to explain what's going on. She glanced at you and then pushed her laptop towards you. Without asking, you and your friends squeezed together to look at whatever Yoori was trying to show you on the laptop. The first thing you saw was the image of you stepping into a car that you recognized right away. It was the day you went to the bridge with Seungcheol. Shocked to find out you were photographed, you held the edges of the laptop to read the gossip.

Dahee started reading it aloud. "CAUGHT IN THE ACT! The university's sweetheart on a rendezvous! Looks like y/n's older man is not only older but also loaded. Thanks to an anonymous tipper, we managed to take the mask off of this mysterious older man. Turns out he's an alumnus who graduated from Law School at our university: Choi Seungcheol."

"It's Sua," Yoori declared, pointing at the laptop while gritting her teeth. "I swear to god that girl— gosh, I'm so annoyed right now."

"We don't know for sure if it was her," you sighed. Of course, you're thinking it was Sua. As far as you know, no one else in your friend group would blab about Seungcheol. But now that you're staring at Seungcheol's face in the article, you realize you've been out and about with him these past few months. Anyone could have seen you. Heck, that day when you got into his car, someone from school must have seen you too. You can't single out Sua anymore.

"It was her! I just know!" Yoori insisted. "The picture doesn't even show Seungcheo-nim at all so I'm sure whoever took this picture didn’t know him. Unless one of you went telling other people about Seungcheol-nim, the anonymous tipper is Sua! She told the Gossiper about him!"

You heaved a sigh and stood up, grabbing your belongings and then stuffing them in your bag. "Let's just leave it. There's no point in fighting any of that. The Gossiper can say anything about me to the world for all I care."

"But y/n. She's gone too far. Last time it was about your family. Just the other day there was one about your tutoring job! Now this?" Haeyoon ranted.

You gave them a reassuring smile. "It's fine, girls. We know none of it was true. As long as you believe my words over theirs, I'll be fine."

"I hate you," Yoori sneered. "You're too kind." No, you’re not, but you just had to be for the sake of your peace.

You tried your best to ignore the articles online as you were busy preparing for the school event. As a senior, you were tasked with an important role in your department’s fundraising booth. Food is where there is money, so you decided to set up a pastry booth. All planning and facilitating were done by you and a group of students from your department while the rest were responsible for the food production. Aside from that, you had to play for your department in the games as well. This time, it wasn’t tennis, but a game of scavenger hunt against other departments.

You got busy for the next few days, so much so that you kept declining Seungcheol’s invitation to go out. He was understanding and kept cheering you on the whole time. He made sure you were getting some rest, eating well, and taking care of your health despite being busy. He did so by texting you reminders and sending food to you from time to time. It was endearing and it surely helped make days bearable for you.

“Are you ready?” your department head asked you and your teammate for the scavenger hunt.

“Yes, sir!” you replied in unison, both excited and nervous about the games.

The game began after a quick briefing on the rules and mechanics. The game was easy, you just needed to follow the map and search the designated area for treasure chests. The first group to collect a certain amount of treasure within the given time limit wins the hunt. Half an hour in and your teammate already found one for your team. You were feeling fired up.

“I’m confused about this part of the map,” you told your teammate halfway through the four-hour hunt. “There are two pathways here but the map only showed one.”

“You’re right. I was just about to tell you about that too.”

You were in the Culinary building, as it was the venue of the hunt. At this point, you only need two more treasures to win the game but you’re on a roadblock because of the map.

“Should we split up?” you suggested.

“Can we do that?”

You shrugged. “There wasn’t anything in the rules against splitting up.”

“I know, but what if something happens to either of us?” she asked, looking sheepish.

“Like anything would happen to us in the school,” you chuckled at her, but you knew she had a point. “How about this, we split up for a bit, figure out the map issue, and convene as soon as we can. I’ll call you after twenty minutes for updates.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

You high-fived before you each picked a path to follow. You found yourself walking to the deserted kitchen, which you assumed was the place where Culinary students hold practicals or something like that. Since there was no hint that the area was part of the hunt, you continued walking. As you did, you heard a loud thud coming from the pantry. That caught your attention but you chose to ignore it and continued following your map. But then someone called your name from the pantry, making you glance back in curiosity.

“Who’s there?” you called out, slowly making your way to the area. You reached the pantry room and looked around for any signs of a person but there was no one there. So you walked further into the room, and as you did, the air grew colder and colder until you found that the door to the cold storage was left open. Exhaling sharply in your attempt to quell the cold, you concluded that someone had left it open by accident.

“I know you’re here,” you called out, looking around as you reached for the cold storage door. “Come out or I’ll leave.”

There was no response from anywhere, so you just sighed and shook your head in disappointment. This is no time to be scared of ghosts or whatever. It’s broad daylight and whoever called you there is a living person. What for? Probably to pull a prank or something. Ridiculous.

That was your line of thought before a sudden sharp spike of pain on the back of your head silenced your brain. It slowly faded into a ringing ache as you fell on the cold floor with a thud, your eyesight blurring into nothingness before you completely blacked out.

Next thing you know, you were on a stretcher, being hauled into an ambulance. You’re lightheaded and weak, and you can barely make out the figures of people around the stretcher, calling your name in fading voices. Your entire body is numb, so much so that you feel like your limbs are gone. Terrified, you let out a slow exhale before falling back into a stupor.

When you woke up, you were greeted by Seungcheol’s worry-stricken face, talking to someone from across the room. He was holding your hand, and only when you moved it did he notice that you’d woken up. He leaped from his seat, staring at you with widened eyes.

“Are you alright?” he asked repeatedly, and you could only respond with a weak smile. Your other friends surrounded you, the doctor was called, and your parents arrived in the room looking extremely worried.

By the time everyone calmed down, you were sitting on the bed, feeling warm and cozy in your clothes. Your mother was peeling an orange for you while continuously nagging. Yoori and Seolhee are across the room on a couch, quietly chatting with Seungcheol. You watched as your father told him something that made him stand up and follow him to the door.

“Where are they going?” you asked Yoori and Seolhee.

Seolhee glanced at you. “Oh, they’re heading out to get your medical certificate.”

“What for?” you asked.

“Your father is adamant that someone must be held accountable for what happened to you,” your mother stated, exhaling sharply. “Especially since it’s an assault.”

And then you remembered. Someone had hit your head that day. Someone deliberately locked you in there and left you to die. This wasn’t an accident. Someone out there has it out on you and was prepared to commit a crime just to hurt you.

“What have they got so far?” you asked and your mother tutted sternly.

“Don’t worry yourself about it, dear,” she chided softly, tucking away stray strands of hair on your face. “For now, you should focus on getting well.”

You saw your friends nodding in agreement. Yoori said, “I’m sure they will figure it out. Your well-being is more important.”

“And that man,” your mom trailed off, placing the orange in your hand before giving you a teasing smile. “Seungcheol, was it? Is he your boyfriend?”

“Mom! No!” you hollered, hotness building up on your face. “He’s not.”

“Why not?” she exclaimed, flabbergasted. “He’s a good guy!”

“That’s what you said about Yeol too.”

She shook her head. “No, I was wrong about Yeol. This time, I’m sure of it. He cares for you.”

You looked down, feeling shy to admit something. “I know he does.”

“You know? Good. So, why aren’t you dating him?”

Yoori cut in at that moment. “Wait, hold up. You guys aren’t dating yet?”

You shook your head at her. “You know we’re not, Yoori.”

“That’s what I thought too but he didn’t act like it.”

You wanted to ask what she meant, giddy to hear anything about Seungcheol that you had missed in the last two days that you were passed out in bed. But before you could ask, your father came back with Seungcheol.

“We’re going up to the station,” your father told you as he approached you to give you a kiss on your forehead. “We’ll talk to the police and sort things out. They might drop by later to talk to you. You don’t have to worry about anything, alright? Just tell them what you remember.”

“Okay, Dad,” you beamed, nodding. You turned to Seungcheol who approached your bed as soon as your mom and dad gave him the space. “Thanks, Cheol. For being here and for helping my dad.”

He smiled sweetly, reaching for your hand and squeezing it affectionately. “Anything for you, y/n.” He placed a hand on your head, patting your hair down gently. “Get some rest. I’ll see you later, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Alright, good girl,” he chimed.

He then left with your father, and your mother went to send them out. Yoori and Seolhee were quick to come near you and squealed as quietly as they could.

“What was that? Did he just call you a good girl?”

Yoori teased. “My god, y/n. I didn’t know you had that kind of kink.”

“What the hell are you even talking about?” you scolded, scandalized, but then you covered your face, too shy to admit that you did like it when he said what he said.

Both your father and Seungcheol refused to tell you anything new about the case, but they assured you that they’re taking immediate action about it. You went back to school after a week, despite your mother’s disagreement. You’re alright now and you didn’t want to waste time at home when you should be catching up on your lessons.

People congratulated you for getting out of the hospital, while others expressed their sorrow about the accident. You were the subject of their pity for a whole day, but they eventually went back to talking about your romantic exploits the very next day, especially after The Gossiper posted another ‘exclusive’ about you. At this point, you truly, genuinely don’t care anymore. You’ve gone through a near-death experience, nothing the Gossiper can say will scare you anymore.

“Miss y/n?” the professor called as soon as he entered the classroom. You raised your hand in response. “You’re being called up at the dean’s office.”

The office was five floors up and the walk there took about five minutes, and your heart hasn’t stopped beating wildly ever since you left your classroom. When you pushed the door open, you found your friends there–Yoori, Dahee, and Haeyoon. All three of them were present in the scavenger hunt during the incident; Yoori as a facilitator, Dahee and Haeyoon as fellow participants. Yoori tapped the space next to her, inviting you to sit there.

“What’s going on? Is this about the incident?”

Yoori shrugged. “That’s what we thought too. Seungcheol-nim is inside with the dean.”

“Seungcheol is?” you repeated, glancing at the inner office. As you did, its door opened and the dean came out with Seungcheol towing behind her.

He spotted you and flashed a small smile. He looked rather professional today, in a complete set of suits with a briefcase and an envelope in his hand that the dean just handed back to him.

“All four of you are here. We just need to wait for Miss Min Sua.”

Alas, you knew this would happen. The school has to do something about the incident, and this must be the day it all unfolds. Although you were impatiently waiting for this, you were clueless as to how things would pan out.

The office door opened, revealing Sua. Her face contorted to annoyance when she saw who else was inside. It seemed like she was thinking about turning back but the dean told her to come in and sit down.

“This here is Lawyer Choi Seungcheol. He’s here as Miss y/n’s legal counsel,” the dean introduced and you all made a slight bow as a greeting. “It has come to my attention that the recent incident in the Culinary building wasn’t an accident but a premeditated attack on y/n by Min Sua.”

“I beg your pardon?” Sua interjected.

“And it is not a baseless accusation as Lawyer Choi here has provided ample evidence to prove the matter,” the dean continued, placing a stack of photographs on the table. Your friends picked them up to check and you saw that those were screenshots of CCTV footage showing how Sua deliberately locked you in the cold storage.

“That’s bullshit!” Sua bellowed.

Calmly, the dean said, “Correction, that is evidence and you will do well to remember that profanity is not to be spoken in my office, Miss Min Sua.”

Sua sat back, annoyed. She caught your gaze and glared at you.

“Given the gravity of the situation, they have decided to push through with the investigation and you will be taken in for questioning,” the Dean continued and Sua looked horrified. “We would like to avoid a scene, so some school staff with escort you to the gate where the police will be waiting for you. You will go away quietly, without causing a ruckus.”

You clenched your fists, steadying your breathing as you listened some more.

“And I, as the dean, demand that you apologize to Miss Y/n before you leave.”

Sua scoffed arrogantly. “Y/N can go kill herself and drop dead.”

“Min Sua!” Yoori scolded but the dean showed her palm to tell everyone to be quiet.

“Miss Min, this is a serious offense,” the dean said sternly. “Your actions were rash and dangerous. You assaulted a student and left her to die. It’s attempted murder. Whatever was y/n’s fault, if she had one, that is not enough justification to attempt murder.”

“I wasn’t gonna murder her,” she clapped back. “It was just to teach her a lesson. You see, she’s fine and healthy. And she’s very alive… unfortunately.”

“Min Sua, you sick bitch!” Haeyoon blurted, standing up to attack Sua but you and Yoori held her back. “You sociopathic bitch! How dare you?!”

“Everybody calm down! Let’s all calm down for a second,” the dean declared, knocking on the wooden table with her knuckles.

“Miss Min, I’m afraid we’ll have to sort this out in a criminal court. We tried to be civil and give you a chance to apologize with sincerity. Since you’ve shown no remorse for your actions, the police will be here in a minute.”

“I don’t think that necessary,” you told Seungcheol but your voice was drowned by Sua maniacal laughter.

“You can’t send me to jail. Who do you think you are? He can’t do that. Right, Dahee? Haeyoon?” Dahee just looked away while Haeyoon glared at Sua. “Fucking traitors.”

“What was that?” Haeyoon exclaimed, walking up to Sua but Dahee was quick to stop her. “What did you just call us?”

“Traitors!” Sua screamed at the top of her lungs, veins almost popping from her forehead and neck. “You call yourselves my friends but you’re siding with her? You’re both traitors! You all are!”

“You’re the traitor, Sua!” Haeyoon hollered back, struggling to get out of Dahee’s grasp as she tried to approach Sua. “You’re the snake! You kept hanging out with us, you ate at our table, and we treated you like a friend but you kept backstabbing us! And you know what? We all thought that was the worst you could do, but no. You tried to murder someone! You’re a sick sociopath with zero remorse and accountability!”

Sua shrieked. “You never made me feel welcome! You didn’t care about me and only focused on yourselves! Is that how you treat a friend?”

“That’s not a good reason to take someone’s life, Sua! What you did was sick. And if you don’t realize that you’re in the wrong, then you seriously need help,” Yoori argued.

“Guys, that’s enough,” you tried to mediate, hoping to end the argument and continue talking in a civil manner. “We didn’t come here to fight.”

“Oh please, y/n,” Sua spat, giving you a disgusted look. “Always the rational one. Always the smartest. Always the bigger person in the room. Don’t you get tired of keeping that facade?”

“I don’t want to argue with you, Sua.”

“Fine, Miss Beautiful and Kind. You shouldn’t bother yourself with someone like me, pathetic, pitiful, a sick criminal,” she scorned, laughing derisively. It was also at that moment that three police officers entered the room. Sua scoffed at them. “You want to send me to jail? That’s fine. I’ll beat it out of there and come back to kill every single one of you. When that happens, I’ll make sure to do it right!”

She tried to push the officers away but she was restrained with ease and put in handcuffs. She kept cursing everyone—you, the dean, your friends, Seungcheol, and even the police. Slurs were spoken and her manic laughter filled the room.

“Min Sua,” you called sternly, making Sua stop squirming.

She had a smug smile on her face. “Are you happy now? Everyone hates me. My friends have turned their backs on me. I’m ruined and I’m going to jail. Everyone’s on your side. Are you satisfied?”

“The only one who finds happiness in other people’s misery is you, Min Sua.”

“You’re right. I’d love to see you miserable. But why won’t you fucking weep? You won’t even fucking die!” The frigid, cold-blooded smile Sua flashed sent chills down your spine.

For a second, your heart faltered with fear but it was soon replaced with pity. Pity for Sua and the life she was willing to throw away just because she was overcome by envy and spite. She needed help and you hoped you could give it to her, but all you can afford is to hope she finds that help somewhere. You don’t want anything to do with her anymore. You want to completely cut ties with her and forget this ugly phase in your life. You want it over and you want it to be over now.

“From the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the best, Min Sua,” you told her. She just scoffed as she was being taken away by the police, her laughter echoing down the halls.

You watched her leave with her shoulder rocking as she laughed. Her manic laughter will surely haunt you for the next few days. You will surely be wary of everyone around you, suspicious that someone might harm you or that one of them is Sua getting ready to attack you. Try as you might to appear calm and collected, not too deep inside, you are scared–terrified to the bone. You are shaken and nervous. Will this event let you sleep? You’re not so sure. It has given you a few sleepless nights already. It might get worse now that you’ve found out that the person responsible for your near-death is not even slightly remorseful.

The deep, but soothing voice of Choi Seungcheol as he called your name pulled you out of your musings, quieting your brain and calming your heart. He placed a hand on your shoulder, squeezing it gently as if to comfort you. “Are you okay?”

“No,” you confessed, but you gave him a smile. “But I’ll be fine.”

He held your hand, massaged it in his hand, and gave you a comforting smile. “I got you.”

“Thank you,” you beamed. Behind him, the office door opened and your friends came out. You took your hand from Seungcheol’s hold and approached your friends with an embrace. For a while, you stayed in their arms, finding solace in their warmth. “Thanks, guys.”

“Everything’s gonna be fine, love,” Yoori assured you.

“I know. Thank you.”

The last few days were crazy. While the school and Seungcheol tried their best not to cause a stir, Sua was the one who made a spectacle of herself; shouting down the halls as she was being taken away and laughing like she was unhinged. For days, it was the talk of the school, with most of them saying she was a psychopath and would probably be sent to an asylum instead of jail.

Two days later, you were called to court for her arraignment, which didn’t even take long because Sua pleaded guilty–despite the discouragement of her lawyer. She also admitted to spreading rumors and gossip about you and confessed that she’s running the gossip blog in the school portal. Everything she said, you already knew, but it still shocked you to hear it directly from her.

Seungcheol told you there would be no need for you to attend any trial because the judge accepted her plea and offered her a deal. You were both saddened and relieved by that news. Saddened because Sua was still a part of your life, and at one point you were genuinely friends with her. Relieved because you never had to deal with it again, or see her in person anymore.

After that, the next several days were an ecstatic blur. Your grades were good. Your friends are great, And your relationship with Seungcheol is progressing steadily. You went out on dates, tried new and old things together, and got to know each other very well. He introduced you to his parents too, this time, as someone he was trying to date. It was also worth noting that he had been spending time with your father. Whatever it is that they bond about, you honestly have no idea but you’re happy that they get along.

You could swear you’re already dating, but no words have been spoken yet to confirm this. And during the routine dinner date that you do once a week, you were so in awe of his entire being that you suddenly thought to ask him the question.

“When will you ask me to be your girlfriend?” you asked and it made him choke on his food. You watch him cough for a while, rubbing his chest as soon as he can breathe properly. With a smile, you pushed the glass of water towards him so he could drink.

“Thanks,” he mumbled before taking a long sip.

“So?” you inquired after he had put the glass back down. “Whennnn?”

“This is not the place or situation that I envisioned in my head whenever I think about asking you to be my girlfriend,” he confessed, clearing his throat out of shyness. “Can I ask you today, though?” he asked with uncertainty in his tone but you still nodded enthusiastically. Seungcheol chuckled fondly, reaching for your face to squeeze your cheek. “You’re so adorable.”

“I knooow! Ask me now!”

Seungcheol scrunched his nose. “I don’t think I should. It’s not that I don’t want to, but it wouldn’t be special if I didn’t do it properly. You know, with proper preparation, a proper setup, and whatnot.”

“Does it matter? We like each other, don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do.”

“And we’re pretty much dating already. Just ask me so we could make it official,” you suggested and again, Seungcheol laughed at your cute eagerness. “If you don’t ask me, I’ll ask you.”

“Okay, alright. I’ll ask you,” he blurted, giving up. You smiled widely, giving him your hands when he reached for them on the table. You straightened up in your seat, waiting for him to say the words. With a smile, Seungcheol said, “Let’s date officially, y/n.”

You scowled. “Are you serious? That sounds so unromantic.”

He laughed heartily. “What do you mean? How?”

“Will you be my girlfriend, y/n? Just like that,” you coached, Seungcheol shook his head. “Ah, come on! Just do it!”

“Okay. Y/n, will you be my girlfriend?”

You smiled, contented. Seungcheol smiled back and for a while, you stayed smiling at each other, the happiness and love in your eyes were so evident. One would look at you and envy how much you adored each other.

“I’ll think about it,” you said briskly, retracting your hand swiftly and taking a swig of your beer.

Seungcheol just exhaled and shook his head, a fond smile still on his lips. You then held his hand just as he was about to pick up his glass.

He gawked at you and you told him, “Okay. I will be your girlfriend.”

He couldn’t help laughing, eyes gleaming as he grinned. He squeezed your hand and kissed the back of it. “Y/n, you have no idea how much I adore you.”

After dinner, you went down the beach and sat next to him on the sand, leaning your body on his chest while his arm was over your shoulder. His thumb is rubbing your shoulder, occasionally squeezing it as he talks.

“You know, I have thought of at least a dozen scenarios in my head about the day we’d finally start dating,” he continued. “This was not how I imagined it would play out.”

You giggled, nuzzling closer to him. His body is warm, combatting the cool wind that’s blowing against your skin. “Please don’t be cheesy and say you think about me all the time.”

“As a matter of fact, I do think about you all the time,” he confessed, making you laugh heartily.

“No, you don’t,” you insisted and Seungcheol laughed, making his body vibrate against your ear.

“You’re right, I don’t. But I do think about you 80 percent of the time.”

You hummed, contented. The sound of the sea harmonized with the sound of his beating heart. It feels like you could just stay here forever and that would be enough for you. The road to this wasn’t a smooth one, but when you finally arrived, it was most fulfilling and beautiful. Your heart is at ease; happy, content, and over the moon.

“So,” he prompted after a few minutes of silence. “Do you wanna go back to the car and kiss?”

You pulled away from him, throwing your head back as you laughed. Seungcheol watched you with fondness in his eyes, enamored and totally taken by you.

“You can’t be naughty on your first day of being in a relationship.”

Seungcheol shrugged. “It’s just a kiss.”

You scoffed and mocked him. “Just a kiss.”

“I swear,” he insisted. “But we can make out too. You decide.”

You playfully hit his chest. Then you scoot closer to him and leaned forward to press a soft kiss on his cheek. And then on his forehead, his nose, the corner of his lips, and then the other corner. You showered his face with chaste little kisses, and he seemed to enjoy it until he realized you were purposely avoiding his lips despite him offering it each time. He eventually dodged your kisses and tutted, and you sniggered at his annoyed expression. He cupped your cheeks, pulling you so he could kiss your lips, ever so gently, like the gentleman that he is.

When he pulled away, he stared at you and exhaled contently. “You’re everything I want, y/n. Everything, and more.”

You smiled back, loving how his eyes were gleaming and beautiful. “Took you long enough to realize that.”

Seungcheol laughed, forever amused by your wit and adorable tendency to ruin a heartfelt moment with banter. Maybe, that’s what made him fall for you in the first place.

“My god, I could kiss you forever,” he blurted.

“Well. don’t be shy now,” you quipped so he kissed you again.

Dating Seungcheol turned out to be more adorable than surreal. He was adorable, often stumbling on his words and feeling shy around you. It was ridiculous, considering he never acted this way before, and also endearing since you knew he liked you so much that he kept making a fool of himself. An adorable fool, if you do say so yourself.

“Are you sure you want to come over?” he would ask whenever you made plans to sleep together in his flat. “You don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable.”

“Cheol, I was there last night,” you would remind him.

“I know, but still? What if you change your mind?”

And you would assure him. “Then you’ll send me home if I did. Although, I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

He often acted all flustered and shy, but when you’re alone with him, he gets so comfortable that he forgets personal space. He would be all over you, wrapping his arms around you while you make food in the kitchen or something. When you’re watching TV, he’d have you lay on his lap, playing with your hair throughout the movie. Even when he’s working on his laptop and you’re on your phone, he’d be beside you, your shoulders pressed together or your back leaning on his chest while he locks you in one arm. And your favorite thing to do with him was to read. He had a huge window balcony in his apartment and when you started dating, you turned it into a reading nook. There, you would read for hours, quietly basking in the sun while Seungcheol sat with his back on the wall and you’re prostrated on the balcony floor with your Kindle.

You can’t even begin to talk about the intimacy that you share under the sheets. Long story short, he was intense—the good kind of intense, but still intense. Yoori must be right after all.

“That reminds me,” Seungcheol said over dinner with your friends where the case with Sua was discussed. A few months have passed since then and today, you were told that she had been convicted. “I looked up The Gossiper.”

You looked up at him, curious. “You did?”

“Yes and it’s an awful page,” he replied, shaking his head. “The school must not care about ethical journalism.”

You chuckled. “It’s not a big deal anymore. They’ve stopped posting since Sua left.”

“The articles stopped, but people still talk about you, you know,” Seolhee sneered.

“I know,” you snorted. “They’ll get tired of it.”

Yoori turned to Seungcheol. “They keep saying she’s got a sugar daddy.”

“Funny thing is,” Haeyoon chuckled. “The sugar daddy is you, Seungcheol-nim.”

The table laughed at that and so the night went on with more laughter, good food, and good conversations.

You and Seungcheol stumbled into his apartment, both drunk and giggling when he bumped his forehead against yours as he tried to kiss you. He groaned for a minute, rubbing his forehead and yours before swooping in for another kiss. You inhaled his scent, along with the fiery hotness engulfing your whole being. His arms were strong and muscular around your body, and his lips were urgent against yours; sucking, nipping, smooching.

“Let’s take this inside, shall we?” he asked, although you knew it was a statement and not a question.

With a swift movement, Seungcheol lifted you off your feet, his lips finding the supple skin of your neck. The moan you let out was ecstatic and he kept going until he had brought you across the room, then placed you on the long couch.

“I thought you wanted the bed?” you asked, grinning as you helped him strip off his coat.

“I don’t think I can wait,” he breathed before leaning to ravage your neck once again. Your head automatically tilted back, your lips parting, as you closed your eyes in ecstasy.

“Cheol,” you whispered.

Seungcheol stopped to take off his shirt and then yours when you lifted your hands up. He marveled at your beauty, taking in your shape, your curves, your skin, your moles, everything. “God, you’re beautiful.”

“Take me, Cheol,” you begged.

You didn’t need to tell him twice because that’s exactly what he planned on doing.

“It’s her.”

“Who?”

“Her. Over there. Y/n from Arts and Sciences.”

“Oh! The one with the sugar daddy?”

“Shh, she’s passing this way.”

Haeyoon glared at the gossiping girls as you passed them, while you continued walking without paying them any attention.

“These people think you’re deaf,” Haeyoon spat, annoyed.

“I thought we agreed to leave them alone?” Dahee reminded and Haeyoon groaned.

“I can’t stand them.”

You beamed at your friend as you snaked your hands around her arms and leaned on her shoulder while you walked. “Your aggression towards my haters is making me feel loved and special.”

Haeyoon rolled her eyes. “What do I do to convert your optimism into passive-aggressive rage towards those gossiping skanks?”

You ignored her questions, giving her your sweetest smile instead. Haeyoon was laughing on your other side.

“Seriously, if I was in your situation, I would be in jail by now,” Haeyoon added.

You released her from your embrace and shrugged. “You can consider yourself lucky. Jail doesn’t look good you, love.”

“Speaking of love,” Dahee interjected as you neared the steps of the main university building. “Mr. Lover Boy decided to show up today.”

You followed the direction of her gaze and your mouth hung open at the sight before you. Waiting below the steps was Seungcheol, looking handsome and chic as he leaned against his equally chic car. He’s looking down at his phone, typing away while several students take notice of his stylish appearance. There are murmurs around, all of them sounding impressed and curious.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket so you fished it out to see Seungcheol’s name on your screen, calling. Instead of answering, you locked your screen and walked up to him. The sounds of amazement from onlookers as they watched you approach your boyfriend gave you pride.

“Isn’t that y/n?”

“It is. OMG, the rumors must be true that his boyfriend is loaded.”

“Doesn’t he look too young to be a sugar daddy though?”

“Sugar daddy or not, that guy is hot!”

Seungcheol’s face lit up as soon as he saw you. “Hi, baby,” he greeted. “I was just calling you.”

“I know,” you beamed. Seungcheol tucked his phone away before leaning to kiss your cheek. His arms around your waist were for everybody to see.

“Shall we?” he asked, opening the car door for you.

“Thanks.”

As if to further stoke the fire, Seungcheol didn’t drive away as soon as he got into the car. Instead, he gently pulled you by the nape and gave you a sweet kiss on the lips. In the corner of your eye, you can see people swooning outside. You smiled into the kiss.

“I must say, your showmanship is top-tier,” you commented and it made him chuckle.

“I did good, didn’t I?”

“You did amazing, babe,” you replied, caressing his cheek and then giving him a quick kiss.

“Let’s go. The wakepark will close soon!”

You rolled your eyes. “Relax. It’s 10 am.”

Seungcheol shook his head, his face bright with excitement. “The earlier we get there, the more time we’ll have to enjoy it.”

You laughed heartily, adoring your giddy boyfriend even more than you already do.

[fin]

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