#hence why shes still so quiet nowadays

[shuamorollss]

Wishing we were more than friends — sim jaeyun x fem!reader

Going home with friends you easily get along with are fun, what isn't fun is to linger feelings for one of them. Already in a course to move on from your silly feelings... you would never expect that very friend you're trying to move on from, starts to develop feelings for you back.

romance, angst, friends2lovers, Italicized parts means flashbacks warnings— Jake kinda gives reader mixed signals, tension but idk if this should still be a warning lol, pls tell me if i should add more! 6.9k wc + reblogs are greatly appreciated!

author's notes— Thank you to my lovelies @haerinz and @luvistqrzzz for proofreading I love u both sm!! I wouldn't hv made this fic better without y'all's help <3 this is kinda inspired by some events that happened to me irl! it was cute to reminisce these memories so I wrote them down here HAHAHAHAHA

perm tags— @jangwonie @jungwonize @luhvlyuna @w3bqrl @ineedaherosavemeenow @leaderwon

After school rolled by fast. The next thing you knew, you were walking home with Seeun, Tsuki, Sunghoon, and Jake.

You all lived in the same neighborhood, hence why you all have stuck together in order to get home safely, due to your hometown being a bit too far away to where you all go to school.

Adding to that, all of you are different people. Different tastes, different years, different cliques in school, yet all of you get along so well when united. Honestly, you absolutely cherish this bond and you never want this friendship with them to fade.

You have a good relationship with all of them, although you have one of a rocky road with Jake.

He was quiet, he never talks as much, and when he does, he only talks to Sunghoon.

You've had a conversation with him from time to time, it was rare due to the fact you had lingering feelings for the man, and that feeling caused you to be vulnerable whenever he's near, which affected your demeanor around him.

Only Seeun knew your admiration for Jake, and she never told a soul, thankfully.

This feeling of yours lasted for a while, until you promised to yourself (and to Seeun) that by the end of that very year, you'll be moving on from your romantic feelings for him.

And that's what exactly happened.

New years rolled around, and so was back to school sessions. Nowadays, you are able to talk to Jake normally unlike before. You were extremely proud of this development, considering you were head over heels for him nonstop for the past 4 months… You saw sides of Jake you wished you saw sooner. He was a funny guy, typically quiet at best, though when he speaks, he'll tell the craziest stories that'll get you hooked.

Even with the improvements on your friendship with Jake and the feeling of butterflies never seems to be present anymore.

Jake eventually found out about your past feelings for him though.

During a silly game of truth or dare.

"Alright! Who's next!" Sunghoon sneered, holding the bottle on the ground as he spun the bottle.

Everyone decided to come by to your house to cook and watch movies, though after the watch, they all decided to stay and have more fun. Thus, right at this moment, you all were playing the very harmless truth or dare game.

Everyone formed a circle, some of them hastily drumming on their thighs as they intensely waited for the bottle to land on someone.

As the bottle slows down, they all teased Sunghoon, who was beside you, and had the bottle almost landing on him. The intensity of the bottle moving at a snail's pace infuriates Sunghoon, cussing their teases off. Until he lets out a triumphant yell as the Bottle stops to you.

"Please thank you! Thank you bottle." Sunghoon teared up, as if he just won an academy award.

"So Y/N," Seeun started, and your heartbeat quickened, already expecting the question that would be asked.

It's Seeun, she knows your darkest secrets, you were so sure she'll step on the opportunity to ask about… Jake.

Seeun paused, her eyes widened to your direction.

"Just to make sure, is it okay if I get personal?" Seeun asked calmly, and you knew that she was definitely, totally, going to ask about what you expect her to ask about.

"Of course, I'll answer anything honestly, I swear." You retorted, giving Seeun a warm smile as everyone in the circle started breathing out deep 'ooh's as if you had just said something vile.

"Did you like anyone in our circle, and if you did, Who was it?" Seeun cheekily smiled

Truthfully, you were indeed confident in answering any questions even if it's personal. Maybe this might also be the time to finally confess your faded feelings to Jake, since you seemed to notice now that you were way too obvious back then, therefore Jake's reaction might not be so surprised by the time you mention his name in your answer, moreso, it would be a neutral reaction as if he expected it in the first place.

You ponder for a moment, looking at your friends in the circle intently, though your eyes stay at Jake for a few seconds, then back to Seeun.

"Yeah, I did like someone," The tone of your voice was assured, which made some of them let out another segment of 'ooh's and 'oh's, and some of them just widening their eyes, including Jake.

You sigh idly, "It was Jake…"

That name alone caused everyone to freak out, all the eyes and attention transferring to the man across you.

You didn't want them to take the wrong Idea, especially Jake, so you stood up in order to plead your case.

"To be clear, I USED to like you okay! I don't like you anymore." You reconfirm, Jake only nodded with a wide smile, and that was enough for you to calm yourself down as everyone else were still freaking out.

Jake shared his thoughts and reaction to your confession, and rest assured to you that he didn't feel the same for you ever, and that was enough for you to hear since this had encouraged your romantic feelings for him to dissolve completely, seeing him more in a platonic light.

After that silly confession of truth you had answered, said again, your friendship with Jake grew. Finally teasing and joking with him without having your heart flipping out by the mere sight of him, and of course, telling him stories.

You were content with that type of bond, and you were glad you were as equally close to all of them now, especially Jake.

That is…

until you two weren't.

Again.

5 months have passed since that truth or dare game, the normal still continued. You all usually go home together after school and when hungry the five of you always go to the mall and eat there instead.

Though during those days, you began developing a crush on a new guy, just a cute barista you knew at a local café. Joking about having slight interest in him to your friends was funny and tolerable, until it became a normal delusion for you to see him in that kind of light.

Those were also the days Jake started being distant to you, as if the old days relieved itself once again.

You had no idea why, but since you were too preoccupied with your new crush, you didn't think much of it.

A month later has passed, you completely had gotten over that barista crush you had, and now you were already studying for your final exams, though your mind was clouded with Jake.

You curse at your conscience. Scolding yourself saying that you're already over him way too long ago, and that you were so sure that his feelings never involved ever liking you back ever, even once.

So why…

Why did that night happen?

"Wow, Y/N," Jake speaks out softly, his eyes sparkling at the sight of your prom attire.

"Is it bad? I didn't have time to do my hair so I just went with this really lazy Elsa hairdo—"

"You're beautiful." He grins from ear to ear, in which you subconsciously mirror his expression. The silence was too loud for the air between the both of you. You were unable to move, as well as your eyes that didn't seem to look elsewhere other than his eyes.

He looked dashing with his tux, and you couldn't get yourself to tell it to him.

You didn't need to, Jake already knew just by the looks of you staring at him, there was no need for him to even ask.

He took a step forward and reluctantly, yet gently offered you his hand.

"May I have this dance… With you?"

You took a few seconds to answer, darting your gazes to his visage and down to his idly shaking hand in front of you.

You took a deep breath, placing your hand on his, and that was enough for Jake to know that you wanted it. You wanted to dance with him.

You walk with him to the dance floor, your eyes never leaving his figure, even when you two have already started to dance.

The way his hands were placed on your waist left you with a burning mark on your cheeks, most likely your whole body. Everything in your body felt like numbing out just by the bare of his hands. Your hands nervously snakes up to the back of his neck, and the stars in your eyes only showed up when the man was in view.

There was only silence between you, and it's not the silence you fear anymore. It was more of a silence you two were fond of. The sole fact that you two have never been this close before, and this dance being the very first time you get to feel Jake up close as this, made you feel warm and comfortable. The same thing goes for Jake.

He couldn't take his eyes off of you, he never wanted to anyway. All he could see is you and only you, and that's what made the atmosphere in your little couple bubble perfectly complacent.

"So…" Jake whispered, breaking the silence between you and him. Feet continues to dance through the rhythm

"So…?" You repeated, raising a brow confusingly.

"About the barista… Are you perhaps… over him?"

You chuckled, at the man's words. It was out of nowhere for him to ask about your past crush. You never considered this question and it didn't seem like he's curious about your feelings either… it's that this was the first ever conversation you're having with him after a few weeks of not talking.

You two still proceed to hangout due to being in the same friend group. Although, conversations were never present between you and Jake.

So him having these as his first words to you left you stunned, however you are not about to show him that. Given that you already stated that you have moved on from him… right?

"I'm very much over him. Why do you ask?" You tilt your head slightly due to curiosity.

"Good." He flashed a grin, staying silent after, realizing that he completely ignored your question.

You didn't want to keep asking and get him mildly annoyed, so you only stayed quiet.

Just how Jake wanted it.

The two of you continued to dance, it has been a few minutes and your feet still followed the rhythm of the song. You didn't seem to want to let go of him just yet, and so did he.

Jake was intoxicated by the smell of your perfume, inhaling then following that sweet aroma coming from your neck, as if he was attracted to it, leading him to lean his head on your shoulder.

Jake's eyes were closed, feeling the moment, as he squeezed your waist tighter, causing your body to feel against his.

You seem to lose control over your body. You felt like plopping down like a blob any minute. Despite that feeling, all it could do was just follow the steps to the rhythm of Jake's feet. Your eyes only stayed widened the whole time, feeling the warmth of his skin touching your bare shoulder was something you couldn't bear. You wanted to break down right at the moment, your heart was palpitating for the reason of your position right now.

"I'm glad." Were the very words Jake had said before his lip placed a peck at the side of your neck, letting out a faint gasp as that contact alone completely freezes your entire body. Jake stands back after, his eyes centered to his hand that was tenderly sliding down your arm and onto your hand.

"Let's go?"

You look at him and nod slowly as he holds your hand. following Jake out of the dance floor, guiding you back to your table and leaving you once he had finally taken you to your seat.

Then he never came back for you for the rest of the event.

You felt breathless, you were in a complete daze while reminiscing that thought. Leaving you frustrated for the reason of losing focus of your current studies.

"How else can I focus if all I could think about is Jake, Jake, and Jake?! " You groaned. Ranting endlessly to yourself, slumping your body on the soft mattress of your bed, completely surrendering your studies and promising yourself to continue tomorrow instead, by the time you get home.

You were babbling to the air for a good minute until your phone started to ring. Immediately picking it up to see Seeun's name calling.

"Hey? What's up?" You started.

"Sorry to keep this phone call short Y/N, but I'll text you more of the deets after. I'm not gonna go to school tomorrow because of an emergency and I was wondering if I could give you all my homework requirements tomorrow before you go to school? Just give it to Sheon please… Sorry for the bother I really am." Seeun stated, sounding petrified.

You quickly obliged to her simple favor thinking her situation must be grave since Seeun wasn't the one to skip classes whenever she pleases, so after the phone call, Seeun texted you once more of the details of her situation and why she couldn't come to school the next day.

School period ended early due to the heavy pour of the weather. Although even with the beneficial period cutoff, you didn't bring an umbrella. Only hoping that one of your friends has a spare, or could share with you.

You waited under a tree beside the gate of your school. now you're only waiting for the rest of the gang to come by… Though only one came.

"Let's go." Jake opened the umbrella, tilting his head in a direction where you all normally headed.

"Huh? Aren't we gonna wait for the rest?" You asked confusingly, looking back to the school in case you'd spot either Tsuki or Hoon.

"Sunghoon went home early due to an emergency, Tsuki just didn't go to school, and Seeun texted me saying to pass her excuse letter to her adviser… They didn't tell you?" Jake's perplexed expression intimidated you, you only knew Seeun's case although not the rest, so you only shrugged as a response and not by words.

So you'll be walking home with Jake… only. Just the two of you, in one umbrella.

Jake notices you being empty umbrella-handed, and so he walks closer to have you jumping in it with him.

"Come on, let's just share." He offered, in which you immediately accepted. You know he was Jake, though you were desperate to at least be kilometers far from school

A few walks far away from school, the two of you haven't said a word to each other. The awkward air you felt suffocated the most is present, and your muddled thoughts and memories, especially the time with him at the prom, didn't help you regain the confidence to break such an air… Though you had the gut feeling you had to at least talk to him, now that you're this close once again, reminding you of the distance you two had during the prom.

You winced at that memory, causing the other to look at you discerned.

"Is everything okay?" He asked timidly, stopping his tracks as his eyes focused on your disgusted expression.

"I-I'm fine, I just… remembered something super embarrassing." You reasoned, not wanting to tell him what really overcame in your head.

Jake slid it off and continued walking, it was another long series of silence between you and Jake once again.

You swore 2 months ago you were just nudging his arms because of his jokes… Why would you both feel this awkward and have your friendship with him regress after it was doing so well.

The next thing you knew, you two were already in your neighborhood, a few more walks until Jake reached his home, and then yours.

You thought to yourself that Jake would go home then pass you the umbrella instead, however to your surprise, Jake walked past the gate of his home which left you with questions.

"Are you walking me home?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought you were gonna stop by your house and give me your umbrella instead, since my home is still a few more walks from yours."

"It's raining hard, you shouldn't be out here on your own—"

As he was about to end his sentence, a loud thunder struck and white lightning flashed the sky, causing you to shriek, holding the umbrella to cover you well from the pouring rain.

"Oh my god.." You muttered, Tightening the grip of the umbrella handle that Jake was also holding.

"Oh god— I'm sorry, let's get home fast please." You yell out in fear, your heart rapidly beating as if another flash of lightning and shriek of thunder was about to come by in a few seconds. Your fearful grip on the umbrella still stayed, as you started walking at a fast pace that Jake immediately catched up on, which goes on until you both have reached your home.

You both stood at the front of your porch for a short minute, you had no idea why Jake stopped his tracks, you only stopped for the reason that he stopped first.

and so without having much patience, you recklessly hopped on to the porch, partially getting yourself wet, even if your hand was still at the contact of Jake's umbrella handle. Before you moved completely to avoid getting more drenched from the rain, you felt another hand gently placed on top of yours.

Yet again— another series of silence as you two stare at each other's eyes. Jake slowly makes his steps onto your porch. The contact on the umbrella didn't seem to break, as the two of you transferred your gazes to where your hands were placed. You didn't want to let go, yet deep down, you were scared, your head was spinning to nowhere as his hand never let go of yours.

You began to conflict with yourself, your eyes slowly transitioning to a horrified state. A feeling you don't understand— a feeling so puzzling you don't even dare to question, having this whole ordeal with Jake is as just as confusing as your current, incoming, outburst.

"What… is wrong with you?" You let out, eyes welled up, and Jake only stared at your rapid change in demeanor. Your hand intensely retracts the hold on the umbrella as Jake's fingers automatically close the umbrella.

"Y-You're completely all over the place?" Your breath hitched, then facing behind from his view, your hands shrieked due to the heat building up your anger, than more so being it from the cold temperature of the rainy weather.

"I don't know… back then you were so fun to be with but now you have become so distant. I have no idea on how— or what happened that made you like that. I don't know if I did anything wrong or that made you feel uncomfortable in a way because If I did something— anything… I'm so sorry." You ranted, catching your breath as your eyes blazed onto the other, who remained quiet, drooping his eyes down to the wooden floor, unable to respond back.

"But… That one night, that one prom night…" You paused. Jake's head rises as he hears those very words from your tongue.

"You know damn well what I was talking about, do you?"

Jake's unresponsiveness didn't help calming down your systems. Instead, it made you more infuriated.

After a few seconds of silence, waiting for something, at least anything from the man, there was none.

You inhale the cold breeze from the continuous pouring rain just in front of you, as your hands subconsciously brush your hair messily in an infuriating manner. "I don't know what your intentions were that night. The way you asked me about that barista, Yeonjun? If I got over him… and that kiss— the way you kissed my neck? How?!— do you normally just do that to other girls…? 'Cause Jake I've been hanging out with you for the entirety of this school year and I've never seen you do anything like that,"

"Or maybe that truth or dare game? A lot changed after that game, after I confessed my old feelings for you. What did I do?— What happened to you? I assured you they were old feelings but a few months after that you started giving me signals, probably old me would've fan out to be honest... Were you just trying to relive my old feelings for you? Is it because you wanted my feelings to just stay attracted to you? Is that it? Because you are absolutely sick for that Sim Jaeyun… You don't know how vulnerable and conflicted I became when you started to change. I can't even grasp the situation or If I'm saying anything right because— I… don't understand you. One day you'll be quiet and wouldn't even say a single word to me, and then go I'm glad you moved on from mister barista and then leave me by the side and never come back? What was that? " Your voice echoed through the open porch. your words could easily be overlayed by the hard rain in the background yet they were loud enough for the man to comprehend. Every emphasis of the words and events you mention brings Jake back to his mind and recalls those memories that ever happened.

"I'm sorry." Finally a word from him, yet not something you had ever hoped for him to say.

Your comprehension of his response was him apologizing for doing any of the things you have just said. Cracking a part of your heart at the indirect confirmation of the man's intentions.

"I'm sorry..? You're sorry? Sorry?! "

"You're so fucking… fuck— selfish for that! You're nothing but a selfish freak who doesn't— who never thinks about others feelings. Only doing it for their own satisfaction and—"

"You don't know how vulnerable I am at the mere sight of you, Y/N."

You stopped mid sentence, stunned as your eyes darted to his standing figure. You take a few steps towards him, as if you wanted to hear his statement more clearly by the loud thundering climate.

It was at this moment that you realized that the following small thunders and big flashes of lightning didn't seem to startle you. All your focus only went to exposing your wholehearted antipathy to the other.

Jake's breath hitched the same as yours earlier on, it's like it was his turn to let out his jumbled feelings to you.

"There were no spare days where you didn't flood my thoughts. Day and night, Y/N, you were always present and I had no plan on stopping that infestation."

His dark eyes pierced through you, feeling the rush of the heavy wind kiss through your figure.

Despite his confession, you did not give the same treatment to how he was when you were on your outburst.

"Then why? Why would you do all that?"

"Because you told me, well— told us before that you stopped liking me by the time new years rolled around."

"You remembered the new years part?"

"Very much, yes,"

"Look, I didn't know my feelings would come to this. You were a fun friend, you were a great company, although I couldn't bear myself to be so near you after a few months."

"Why?" You whispered, eye furrowed at the confessions of the other.

"I always think that I might do something I'll regret." He takes a few steps backwards, the air between the both of you feeling as soothing as it was just suffocating and intense before.

"Like what?" You take a few steps forward, the same amount of steps Jake took.

"Y/N… stop" He took a few more steps backwards, rebuffing your ways on pushing him to answer your question.

You stepped closer and closer, and now too close to Jake, repeating the same question in an attempt to pressure him into bursting out his answer due to the stress and the annoyances of your nagging.

It was only a matter of time before Jake gave in, biting his lips in frustration as he felt his head heat up so close to combustion.

"goddammit Y/N." He aggressively grabs the collar of your blouse and proceeds to pull you 3 inches close to his face.

You swore you felt your heartbeat stop for a brief moment at the sudden contact of his nose onto yours. The way you felt his breath fanning over your lips, sensing the tense air he had been inhaling since he had stepped a foot on your porch.

It was only a matter of movement to have your lips connect yet Jake resisted the urge, releasing his grip from your blouse, causing you to limp backwards.

Your gaze at Jake with a baffled look, processing the thing that just happened.

It was hard to convince yourself that whatever that was, actually happened.

It was real, you felt it, everything.

There was silence. It felt like a wall being compressed and will mush the both of you into some sort of unrelenting concoction. Jake was too stunned about his own actions, turning around to storm off at the scene and probably forget that this ever happened.

As he took a few steps off the porch, you realized that you had enough with the distance, you felt so far away with Jake always running away all the time. Your mind was everywhere, especially the feeling of his face as similar as that again. You were desperate to know how he really felt for you, and you couldn't just let him walk away and watch again as his figure dissipated into the heavy pouring rain.

"Jake." You utter as you grip on his arm, spinning him around to face you as your hands snake up onto the back of his neck, tip toeing to reach the height of his lips, yet it was no reach. Even with what you had just done, you weren't about to kiss him anyway, you wanted to see how he'd react with your sudden motion.

It was only a matter of seconds until Jake attacked his lips on yours. It was an aggressive contact at first, sensing the desperation of his lips yet contrasting from his hands that carefully held your face as if it was glass.

You'd be lying if you said weren't desperate for it either, you had craved this type of contact ever since prom, it was only regretful to ever admit it personally. But now that you're fulfilling your most secret desire, most likely that this would be the time to embrace it.

God, you want him so bad.

Too bad.

The both of you lost the sense of surroundings, as you carelessly pushed him to the ramp of your porch as your lips were still intact. Leaving a quick gasp from Jake's end due to the startling feeling from the cold contact of his body.

The sudden hum coming from Jake's voice seized you to let go yet Jake didn't want your lips to part from his. Even with the force of his hands holding your face to him for much longer, he eventually gave in. Hands loosen the hold on your cheeks. You tensely took a few steps backwards as you started panting, your chest pumping in and out with Jake in unison, catching both of your remaining breaths and remaining comprehension from that predicament.

Your eyes pierced through Jake's gaze, your breathing is shaky, same goes for your hands… your body's frozen in place, all of these yet the reason does not ivolve the the cold temperature of the weather.

None of you exchanged any words. Instead, it was quiet, yet again, the area only filled with the small and loud droplets of the rain… It's merely raining anymore, as you only focus on him, hear him, and feel him.

Nothing makes sense at this moment. Honestly, you wanted to reach your senses to sense yet things just felt too out of the ordinary.

"Y/N, I'm sorry." Jake came through. Rushing for your comfort. Although you ran back with the presence of terror, opening your front door and slamming the door in front of him at the nick of time. You were speechless per say, you couldn't describe words, you couldn't speak out your thoughts. The sudden walk out suddenly sent Jake into a shock of panic.

"Y/N, I'm so sorry, please— I didn't mean to—"

He proceeds to passively knock on your door repeatedly. He whispered a curse to himself as to resent the contact you two had shared. Biting his lips in pure regret at the mere memory a few minutes ago.

"Y/N please." The knocks still kept coming through.

You only stood against the door, paralleled from the man on the other side. You had no idea what course of action you were going to take. You were furious about the distance he kept himself from earlier, and then suddenly it was all gone because of a kiss. Yet here you are, setting up walls to him.

You didn't want any more walls or distance to grow, you wanted him to be forward to you and he'll do so.

Now, it's your turn to talk, before regret suffices.

"Shit. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… I really am—"

"Jake," Your voice muffled against the door, which Jake had heard, immediately backing away at the click of the doorknob.

You twist the knob and pull it to see a distressed Jake in front of you. His doleful eyes locked onto your figure, waiting for you to tell him something, anything.

"I'm not… mad at you." you muttered.

Jake stood quiet as his look at you stayed bewildered.

"I was just startled… I didn't know what to do— or what to say." You plead, your eyes are red as it remains glistened.

No words came out from Jake, possibly dumbfounded by your response.

"When did you realize you liked me, by the way?" You asked out of nowhere, attempting to tone down the tension in your system from earlier.

"When you started talking about that barista more… and it's 'like'… without the D." He admitted it extremely easily, causing you to subconsciously let out a short chuckle unexpectedly at his last words.

"What?" Jake's brows furrowed at your uncalled reaction, his smile perking up at the sight of you smiling at him.

"You just said that so straightforwardly, it… it kinda caught me off guard."

"There's no point in getting nervous around you again, kissing you was my last straw."

"Oh, so you finally loosened your walls? "

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

The both of you shared the same laughter. Eyes showing genuine feelings of forgiveness. There was no need of words to let the both of you be reminded of anything, yet it still felt guilting.

"What if you become distant to me again?" you voiced your concern, the faint smile you had dropping almost at an instant at the thought of that question.

"I won't," The man only took deep breaths as he slowly took a few steps forward, stepping foot in your home. The tense air that compressed between yours and Jake made you shiver, it felt ticklish, although you concealed the feeling as you didn't want this distance to part with you.

"I like you, and even more than that,"

From his aggressive grip behind your head earlier to a much more gentle approach as he slowly wraps you in for a hug, chin laying softly on top of your head, and his hand transferring to the back of your hair, patting gently purely because he wanted you against him, he wanted to be the one to calm you down from his mistakes. His eyes in pure concern as if he had done so much unspeakable pain.

You, on the other hand, were extremely glad at his sudden action, feeling too content within his embrace. It was at this moment that you knew that you indeed love him too dearly, and you only hope for him to reciprocate these feelings similar to yours.

"And I'm grateful for myself to even say this so boldly to you, even if it meant breaking your heart."

It only startled you once more when the man had continued his words after a minute of pausing. The words coming out from lips breezed against your ear, making you hear the mumbled words almost clearly.

You sneered at his response, causing the man to change his expressions to mild uncertainty.

"Silly, you didn't break my heart… Well, kinda."

"I'll make up for it?" He offered, the warmth of his breath getting through to your scalp caused your body to briefly shiver at the feeling.

"How so?" You asked cheekily, transferring your gaze up to the toned down storm.

"Tomorrow, I'll pick you up?"

You stayed silent at his invitation, the other not having a quick peek of your reaction which led him to assume the worst due to your unresponsiveness.

"Or not… I'm sorry. Am I going too fast?"

With this realization, he parts his hand from your hair as he pushes himself from you unhurriedly.

Alternatively you quickly pull both of his arms back to your clingy embrace.

"No you're not. I just like being in this position with you right now," You muffled against his jacket, now having your warm breath fanning over the fabric of his cloth sent heat up to his cheeks, bringing his hand back to where it was before.

"Let's talk about dates another time… Let's focus about what everything is right now."

the clasp between one another was definitely at its high. It's something you don't seem to want to let go of, as if you're addicted. Now that you felt him like this more closer than before, you wanted this to go on eternally. Now that he's with you probably having the same exact feelings, you're not scared anymore. Not the distance, not the words, not his presence.

All of those became a comfort, and honestly, this was too good to be true.

As you drown yourself in your own dreamy thoughts, Jake's head transfers to the side of your head, tracing you out of a segment of your endless realizations, shivering you in the process due to the ticklish interval.

"How about you Y/N? Do you like me?" He questions.

You remembered daydreaming this moment every night during so many months back, that era of you hoping that someday it'll happen.

and every night you always reply and say the same words in the same scenario.

"I do, and more than just… like. I am insanely in love with you."

With just that, it had sent a critical hit on Jake's beating heart. He couldn't believe that you were still up to loving him again after all that he made her feel. Yet here you are, giving him a chance.

It still left a pinch of guilt within Jake for the reason of what he did to you that initiated your outburst of emotions from earlier. He was stunned to see that side of you and he wanted to never witness that side of you, ever.

It was at this moment that Jake would promise himself that he'd take care of you for the rest of his life, and that he wouldn't spare a single mistake of his to have you return to the feeling of heavy sorrow because of him again.

EXTRA:

"Where's Jake and Y/N?" Seeun asked worriedly. Standing beside the gate alongside Tsuki and Sunghoon as they watch crowds of students walk past the gate. Only waiting for their remaining friends to have their respective classes to be dismissed, yet it has been almost 30 minutes since they've been waiting and anxiety crawls up on their systems.

"I don't know? What if they didn't go to school today?" Tsuki responds, darting her eyes left to right inspecting as if both of you might be a part in the sea of students.

"If they didn't go to school, they would have told us." Seeun grumbled, tip-toeing as if she could spot you or the man anytime soon.

"Oh— Oh! Hey!—" Sunghoon halted one of the students who they knew to be your classmate. "Uhm, question, did Y/N go to school today?" Sunghoon asked, the student paused for a moment since the sudden question had startled him. "Y-Yeah, but she went out really early… Something about waiting for her boyfriend or something. Only from what I assume though."

"Boyfriend? " All said in unison as the two girls' darted their focus to your classmate. All three gave a concerned look as their brows remained furrowed at the abrupt revelation.

Sunghoon uttered a thanks as the student continued his path, still leaving all three of them in a state of shock.

"Y/N? and… boyfriend? " Tsuki recalled, still too stunned about what your classmate had said.

"What about Jake?— Oh hey! " Seeun's demeanor switches in an instant by the sight of Jake's classmate who he always walks out the school with before meeting up with them.

Seeun asked the same thing as Sunghoon, although now related to Jake.

"Oh, he's with that Y/N girl I'm sure, since I remember seeing the same girl who's waiting there to the one who hangs a lot with you guys here."

"Well… what are they doing in— Where?! " Seeun was at the brink of freaking out yet remained her decorum.

"She was waiting outside our classroom, probs waiting for Jake… That's all I know."

Seeun now uttered a thanks to him as Jake's classmate walked away.

There was a confusing silence between the air of the three friends for a few minutes. All dumbfounded by the fact about... anything, related to you and Jake.

The stray thinking lasted until Seeun spotted you and Jake talking and laughing at each other at a distance.

All of them locking their gazes to both of you with a menacing look. Which the you and Jake had caught on immediately, only locking their gazes back until the both of you stopped in front of them.

"Let me guess…" Sunghoon started, placing his fingers on his chin as if he was speculating (the obvious).

"Girlfriend, boyfriend. Boyfriend, girlfriend." He stated as he pointed to one of you respectively.

Your eyes grew wide, startled by their assumption. "Oh What?— No no no no! We're not..." You look at the man with red tinted cheeks beside you, signalling him to not feel hurt in your next words.

However, before you could continue, Jake's hand instantly pulled your shoulder closer beside him, letting out an nervous smile from you while Jake's smile stood calm and collected.

"We're not a thing!"

"Yes we are."

"Jake!"

"We'll end up being a thing anyway so might as well think in advance."

Tsuki, Seeun, and Sunghoon all widened their eyes as they held in their screams of surprise.

"Y/N!" Seeun welled up as she shakes your arm aggressively, creating fake crying noises.

"We were just gone yesterday and suddenly you two are in a relationship the next day?!" Tsuki exclaimed.

You and Jake only let out shy giggles at their reactions. It was funny to see them at this state yet you had to tell them what really happened sooner or later.

All of you proceeded to walk out of school as the three bickered about your relationship with each other. Seeun mostly, seeing the side of you which was so down for the so-called 'boyfriend'. All of their voices mixed badly inside your little friend group bubble as they all ask the same thing yet ask them so messily.

As this was happening, Jake's hand softly landed on yours as a secret invitation to hold his, which you immediately complied. Squeezing his hand in an attempt to tease him, letting out a small "ow." from the other.

"You better tell us everything, okay?" Seeun rambled. everyone simultaneously agreeing to Seeun's words and nagging you to tell them the whole story.

Well, they'll be in for a longggg walk.

© seungiepup. please do not modify, edit, copy or reproduce any of the works published.

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[404writes]

Drunken - (Carl Grimes)

Masterlist !! Get added to the taglist !!

Summary: Attending a welcome party for some new-comers in Alexandria, you find yourself a bit more intoxicated than you expected to be. Spencer attempts to make a move on drunken you, but a certain sheriff's son isn't having any of that.

Word Count: 2.3k

Pairing: Carl Grimes / Female!Reader

Warnings: Attempted non-con. Potential second hand embarrassment (or whatever you class drunken confessions as), protective Carl. just a bit of crushing tbh.

~

Deanna loved to throw parties. Every time the community was due celebration, no matter how small the occasion was, she would host everyone at her place the same night.

Generally, these gatherings served as a break, a time which no one had to worry about surviving. You'd all dress up in your best clothes, do your hair all pretty, and maybe even put on a bit of make-up.

There were always drinks, but you only sometimes drank. After a certain incident a few years back at the CDC, you loosely vowed to never drink again, you wanted to avoid the embarrassment of another hangover for the rest of your life.

You had drunk since, but never overdone it.

~

Deanna was hosting another gathering tonight, and it was going to be a big one.

Recently Alexandria had gained a handful of new faces, none of which you had come to know personally. The most you knew about these arrivals was that they'd lost one of their group recently, days before Rick had brought them in.

There hadn't been new people in the community for a long time, hence why tonight would be a special celebration. There would be extra cake, wine, and music. In itself that was more than enough reason to attend.

~

You always found it a bit awkward to attend these parties. You were only eighteen, and the age gap between you and your friends in a setting like that was more than noticeable. Although you fit in fine normally, you didn't exactly fit in with them at parties, and nowadays there weren't many kids your age to hang around with either.

You had Carl, but he wasn't one for parties and rarely attended. However, you wish he did, these gatherings would be a lot more enjoyable with someone like him involved.

You hadn't been the closest lately, but you'd take what you could get.

Tonight you wanted to have fun, and as long as you weren't timidly stood in the corner of Deanna's living room the whole night you could probably be successful in that goal.

~

You never really "dressed up" for anything. You had no aversion to it, but dressing up did feel a bit weird, and you have always been a bit more of a tomboy. Tonight however, you had found a dress you were actually looking forward to wearing.

The piece of fabric was wine red, with a low v-shaped neckline. It had slim straps and barely covered half-way to your knees. Wearing it you still felt odd. Your shoulder-length hair left your upper half feeling quite bare, to which you added the necklace you always wore; a simple black chain, bearing two gold rings attached, their origins significant to you.

For shoes you had borrowed a pair of basic black heels from Michonne, something simple was all you needed.

You gave yourself a one-over in the mirror, brushing a piece of hair behind your ears, and spraying yourself with a vanilla-scented perfume just one more time.

~

It was quiet to begin, the further down the sun set, the more people poured into the house. You found yourself engaging in small talk with some of your friends, asking Glenn how Maggie was doing at Hilltop with Hershel, catching up with Rosita and Eugene, overall having a good time.

Drinks were being passed around, and before you knew it Glenn had passed one into your hand. It would have been rude to decline, so you drank.

In truth you'd never been that opposed to it, you just knew you weren't the best drunk. Besides, even if you drank tonight, another opportunity wouldn't arise for months, it couldn't become a problem.

Your attention was fairly spread out until one family made their appearance. Him. Carl walked in sporting a brown suit, black tie with a white shirt, and converse. He looked handsome at his worst.

You were still sober enough in thought that when you caught yourself looking him up and down, you were able to stop immediately and scold yourself for it.

~

You and Carl were complicated. The two of you could be described as best friends, but that only being because there was no one else to befriend apart from each other.

Don't get it wrong, both of you had a lot of love for one another, and could rely on the counterpart in a life or death situation, and you were willingly friends despite the conditions.

However things sometimes seemed odd in a different sense.

You hadn't ignored the recent distance he'd taken from you, or the protectiveness he'd display toward you still. A few times you thought you'd seen him gazing at you from the corner of your eye, but he was probably just looking out for you.

The thought had crossed your mind on a few occasions, that maybe he acted this way because he felt something more for you. You put it down to you being stupid, wanting him to feel that way.

But you never really did, at least not as far as you would admit.

~

You concluded that Carl seemed happy enough to stick with his family for now, so you decided not to bother him. Maybe it was best if you too, gave him some distance, even if it were just for tonight.

You stuck with the group you had previously been with for another hour or so, continuing to drink and engage in light conversation.

Around this point, the day was fully sunken into a pitch-black night. It was at this time when the gathering turned into a party. Eugene had set up an iPod to play music through speakers, and the drunken adults would all let loose and begin having fun.

As the couples danced and everyone grew more than just slightly drunk, you decided it wasn't your scene.

You yourself had well surpassed tipsiness, and were finding the noise level to be overstimulating.

~

You began to make your way outside, slithering past all the people you had previously been mingling with.

You felt a cold breeze on your face and body as you stepped out the front door, instantly sending a shiver down your spine. Every minute that went by you felt yourself falling deeper into your drunken state.

For now you could still conduct yourself in such a manner that was almost acceptable, but it was a complete act. Realistically, inside your head you couldn't process the simplest of thoughts.

"Ah, Miss Y/L/N, you're looking fine tonight." You looked up from the ground almost stupidly to see the one and only Spencer Monroe.

He was a complete dick, but admittedly he was quite attractive.

"Spencer, the flattery's nice, but I'm not into you," you replied, knowing exactly what he was after tonight.

"Well I don't think it would hurt to pretend just for one night, don't you? You know how hard it is to pull the ladies around here." He certainly had a charm, but it was easy to see through, even in the state you were in.

You looked him up and down, noticing the black shirt he wore, which only half the buttons were done up on. His appearance was definitely alluring, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to give in.

Throughout the exchange he had grown closer to you, and you could now even smell the cologne he had on, it smelt quite appealing.

"Well, I guess-" Your sentence was stopped short, by an abrupt voice.

"Come on Y/N, let's go home." You looked up to see the sheriff's son, whom you thought didn't want to be associated with you anymore, gesturing his hand out to you, words brief but not strict.

"She's staying here, she wants to come home with me," Spencer grew annoyed at the cockblock Carl was playing as.

After that you lost track of the words spewing out of both of their mouths. You knew they were arguing, and that it was loud, although not louder than the noise inside.

~

Next thing you knew, Carl had your hand and you were both walking in a direction away from Spencer. You glanced up from the ground to see the irritation on Carl's face, annoyance suited him.

A pang of guilt washed over you, as you realised you were the reason he'd gotten so worked up.

"You know I wasn't actually going to do anything, with him," you were self-aware enough to feel your words slurring.

"Even if you weren't. Do you even know what he would've done to you?" Carl's voice was shallow, filled with concern.

"It's just Spencer, we all know he's a dick." Your response barely related to the previous statement. By now you'd become a drunken mess.

~

As you continued walking, you suddenly became conscious of the fact that you were wearing heels, which caused you to trip over almost immediately.

At this point Carl still had a firm enough grip on your hand to catch you mid-fall.

You were only stuck in an awkward position for a second, before you were both stood back up, catching your breath.

You stared at the boy, he really cared for you, which in this exact moment you found bewildering and attractive.

"What?" He'd noticed your gaze planted upon him.

"You're just really attractive." The words slipped out easier than you'd like to admit.

Carl gave you a slightly disappointed smile before replying, "Tell me that again when you're sober."

Before you could reply, he spoke again. "Oh shit you must be freezing," you hadn't even noticed the shivering which was progressively getting worse, coursing through your body.

However a short second later, you found it hard to distinguish those shivers from the newly arrived butterflies running down your shoulders, on the spots he touched whilst sliding his brown suit jacket over you.

~

You were both quiet for the rest of the walk to Carl's house, your fingers didn't even briefly brisk across each other again, as if they forgot how tight they had been held as one before.

Carl wasn't silent out of anger or embarrassment, but confusion. You had unknowingly spoken a truth that you couldn't even admit to yourself in the most sober of moments.

He was terrified to open his mouth once more in case he said something that made you realise what you had said, or even worse that you didn't mean it.

But of course, you couldn't sense the change in mood.

~

Once Carl had successfully gotten you into the Grimes' house, safe from your own embarrassment and stupidity, he took you up to his room so you could sleep it all off.

You were already trying to climb into his bed once he realised that you were still in that stupid dress, the one which stopped him from talking to you all night, because he was scared of becoming flustered by how beautiful he thought you looked.

"How about you change into something else before going to sleep?" He thought it'd be for your best, even if you were too drunk to notice the uncomfortable fabric on your skin anyways.

Carl turned around to grab you some clothes of his to sleep in, just a pair of shorts and a singlet. After handing them to you, you immediately began to undress.

He was a bit too late to turn back around. He hadn't seen much, but it was enough to fluster him just like he'd been scared about. Luckily for him there was no way you would notice.

"Carl you know you don't have to be like that, I don't have cooties or anything." The chuckle you gave after that made the boy sigh.

"Just, get into bed, you need sleep." He also just needed time to think, but he wouldn't tell you that.

"Alright alright," you got into bed, laying down and making yourself comfortable.

Had of given it another 30 seconds, and you would have been asleep, but you weren't done accidentally causing havoc.

"Carl, I think that we would make a great couple. Like have you ever thought about it? Apart from the fact that you're Rick Grimes' son, every chick here wants to be with you. And then there's me, need I say anymore?"

Carl couldn't muster up any kind of response, he could deal with it at some other time

"We can talk about it in the morning, I think it's a good idea, plus I really like you." If not stopped, you probably would have kept going anyways.

"Goodnight Y/N." Carl walked out of the room, letting out another sigh, bigger than last time.

~

Of course, you woke up with zero recollection of the night before, and after waiting over a week for you to "talk about it in the morning," Carl had to convince himself what happened was real.

But you, you were just confused why he was looking at you funny.

~

A/N: Ahhhhh, hihihi again, I really hope the ending was okay, looking back at it, it seemed like a bit of a cop out, but we roll. Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed it, I really enjoyed writing this idea out. If you did enjoy it, I hope you consider checking out my masterlist and leaving me a like! tysm for reading my fic!

-S404

#twd #the walking dead #the walking dead fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #twd fanfic #one-shot #carl grimes #carl twd #carl grimes one-shot #imagines #twd one-shot #carl grimes imagines #carl grimes headcanons #daryl dixon #rick grimes #maggie rhee #glenn rhee #michonne grimes #rosita espinosa #writers of tumblr #ao3 #wattpad #writing #writer #fan fiction writer #writers on tumblr #s404 writes #s404

[lchufflepuffcorn]

Meeting you pt.4

Wanting so much, yet having nothing.

(Not my gif, credits go to its owner/creator)

Author's note:

Words: 3487

Warning: Description of a catatonic state, description of past trauma, exposition to the story, past motherhood, past death.

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Part one Part two, Part three, Part four, Part five.

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Not human at all - Maddy Jane

↺͏͏     ◁◁͏͏      ll      ▷▷      ⋮≡

1932

(Y/N) was sitting outside of the tiny house Esther and Thade had in Yukon. It looked like a bit of a vacation house made out of fancy rocks and entire tree trunks. Thade liked to remind her that he had made the house himself with what he had under his hand. But (Y/N) pointed out that there were nearly any trees in Yukon. So where had he found it, ‘by all that was above?’

Nevertheless, the house was situated deep in a valley, not too far from Dawson City and Elsa, but still reasonably far to not be disturbed. That way, their unique lifestyle wouldn't trouble the humans, nor would it distract them. They knew all too well the consequences familiarity with humans could lead to if they were not careful. 

Like her, Esther and Thade were feeding mostly on animals, which thus why they tried to live as far away from the cities. They’d approached that style of life at the same time (Y/N) did when their family was forcefully disbanded for the good of survival. Like (Y/N), they still maintained good contact with the humans. After all, good lawyers made good friends in times of need, and Thade was a renowned rock researcher in the area, or whatever his profession was called nowadays. He had his name on some book covers on the bookshelf covering part of the living room wall.

Since the grasp of Azaria had released the three of them, Esther and Thade seemed to be well off in their life. They were living like good citizens and thriving on love and fresh animal blood. It warmed (Y/N)'s chest with pride to know that at least two of her hold nests were happy.

Thade had invited the woman and Alice to come to live with them a year ago when he graduated from university. When he'd written it to her, (Y/N) had been ecstatic.

It wasn't the first time, of course, but she was always happy that he could further educate himself. (Y/N) couldn't do it. Going to university was still foreign for women most of the time. She was not married and had no family to back her up in case of trouble (like there would be any), so (Y/N) had let her dream of education fall behind her, like a childish dream never to come true. Instead, every time Thade would terminate a notion. She'd avidly borrow his books to learn, too. 

Esther was a stay-at-home wife -for obvious reasons. While it was a little less hard for people of colour to live those years around- as slavery was now officially abolished, it wasn't exactly perfect either. At least now, they'd earn something when they worked. Hence why Thade made friends with successful lawyers in every town they decided to live in for the next decade. 

Alice was gone hunting for that afternoon, and while (Y/N) loved her friends, she was glad to have a quiet moment for herself. It had been years since she'd done nothing at all. There were books scattered all around her, but she paid them no mind at that instance. She was too engrossed by the thoughts that ran through her head. The rarity of her thought being louder than the emotions surrounding her was what made her so unaware of the thing happening around her. She didn’t mind the books opening and closing with the rhythm of the breeze. Or the small bushes followed the wind in their movements. The moss was cold and somewhat humid, hence why the woman was sitting on a blanket. She was wearing a long grey dress, and while she couldn't feel the cold, a shawl still cloaked her shoulders. The heaviness of it was always calming, and God knew she needed it right now.

The first of September was always a sad day for (Y/N).

A small melody hovered near (Y/N) as she mindlessly picked on the blanket draped over the moss-covered ground under her—flying with the wind toward the sky as she hummed under her breath. It was an old song she'd remember singing to George when the time would demand it. She couldn’t begin to place words in the air anymore, it had been too long, but she remembered it talked about wishes and horses and beggars*. Her fingers were mindlessly caressing the heavy pin holding the shawl around her shoulders. 

(Y/N) was never empty. Part of her was to feel and alter the emotions that people felt. And she preferred that than to be left alone with her feelings. Like everyone, the woman felt like she could have done more with her life. She could have provided better for those who once were around her. She could have saved the triplets Azaria had changed, raised them as her own, (Y/N) could have changed her son, and she could have done many more things. Yet, she didn't. And so, to forget how it felt, she started to work with those who needed it the most.

The sick, the hurt, the young, and the dying. (Y/N) felt like she could do something to help them. It did help her feel better about herself, but never for long. The feeling she had stuck in the back of her throat always came back in the dead of night, lurking until it made her crack.

Alice was adamant about finding Jasper and finding (Y/N)'s mate, yet that wasn't clear if those were two separate souls or just one. It seemed to be for (Y/N), then again, Alice would change her mind every other day with her visions going back and forth. (Y/N) didn't mind not having anyone. It hurt less than knowing they could leave or die. The truth was that she was lonely, of course. Even more so now that she was constantly reminded how beautiful love was with Esther and Thade, yet, she didn't feel the need to search for or meet her destiny. She didn't want other could but wouldn't moments.

"(Y/N)?" Esther's voice took (Y/N) from her daydreaming, and the woman turned promptly in her friend's direction.

Esther was a beautiful woman; her features were still at sixteen by Azaria's fault. She would never see her body become as mature as (Y/N)'s. Yet, there was a spark of intelligence that danced behind her eyes, the kind of intelligence only a very old lady could acquire. The older vampire smiled at her friend and took a seat next to her. (Y/N)'s hair was loose, and the wind was making some strands of it float around her head. Esther showed a ribbon she was holding to the deadly pale woman.

"I found this some time ago. I wanted to give it back to you." Said the eldest. "Do you mind if I braid your hair?" (Y/N) let her take the hair without saying a word.

The ribbon she was holding had once belonged to (Y/N). It was a remnant of clothes someone in the house she’d occupied for years once owned. It was dirty and old and had taken a horrendous yellowish colour, but she still cherished it for so long. (Y/N) had thought it was lost many years ago when she left Germany in a rush during the 14-18 war. It had golden-cream colouring, and just like (Y/N) remembered it, familiar symbols were still embroidered on it with a dark thread.

Esther was feeling serein. For the most part, the empath could feel the warm emotion flow in her otherwise cold body. But there was also a hint of regret that made the feeling as a whole a bit sour. (Y/N) wasn't sure why her friend felt conflicted about braiding her hair, but she didn't ask. Instead, she took a breath slowly. The younger vampire felt the emotions fade from her, and she could sense Esther's hands grow less tense in her hair too.

The two girls met a little less than two months after (Y/N)'s first outing in the world, a good ten years after the woman turned into the thing she was now. Azaria had made (Y/N) move with her to her castle in France as her niece from England. Out in public, Esther was only their beloved maid. The truth was that she was Azaria's second change. Thade, at the time, was passing for (Y/N)'s cousin, as one of their creator's sons, the other being Elliott. 

There were also Gabriel and Gregory who lived with them. For a long time, (Y/N) had felt the closest to Gabriel, as he was changed only a couple of years before her. They'd been courting for a time until Azaria sent him away to Greece with Roman, another of Azaria's vampires. Ever since Gabriel and (Y/N) only saw each other once more at Azaria's trial. That had not rekindled their relationship in the sightless. There was something in the death of their creator that broke their connection. (Y/N) preferred not to think about it too much.

Thade and Esther had a lovelier love story, in the younger vampire's idea of a romantic tale. She was not the best to tell the tale of their love, but it made (Y/N) think of it as an epic poem from antic Greece. Her relationship with Gabriel, if you wanted to know about the most extended romance she'd ever remember, resumed with some stolen kisses before a departure. The other two had found themselves in a war, and Thade, utterly infatuated with Esther, had asked Azaria to change her as the first was dying from her wounds. Since that time, they nearly never separated.

"What was that song you used to sing?" Asked Esther, breaking the comfortable silence they sat in, yet again pulling (Y/N) from her thoughts. "The one about the beggars and the wishes?" And so, (Y/N) started to sing the few words she could still remember of the song, her head resting on Esther’s shoulder. 

"If turnips were bayonets, I'd wear one by my side."

⁂

Alice liked the perspective of having a family-like Esther and Thade had. Even (Y/N) thought it was a nice thing to have. The three of them fit right in with each other. But Alice still couldn't help noticing the faraway look on (Y/N)'s face when the other two shared a moment. The pixie-like girl couldn't help either with the spike of jealousy that the three vampires made her sometimes feel when they talked to each other about things they lived through. Precisely like a family would. Alice didn't have that.

She didn't remember that.

(Y/N) was always quick to bring Alice back into the conversations, filling her in on the story being told or telling her who they were. The more petite woman was always thankful for that. (Y/N) acted like an older sister to her. When that happened, it was the other two vampires that shared looks Alice couldn't decipher. She guessed it had something to do with (Y/N)'s past. But as (Y/N) didn't really talk about it and Alice never asked either, she didn't know for sure.

What the youngest of the four knew for sure, however, was that the man (Y/N) and she were searching for wouldn't belong to appear, maybe some years still, but nothing too dramatic. And she also knew for a fact that it would bring (Y/N) peace. Alice didn't mind being alone; she knew that there would be someone for her too. And she guessed that she could do something for her friend also, as -as far she knew- both souls were lonely. It was her destiny to match the two lonely souls together, she was sure of it.

They were the first vision she ever saw, after all.

"Alice?" questioned (Y/N).

The youngest of the lot shot her weird reddish-yellow eyes up toward the three others. From the worried look her friend gave her, she realized that (Y/N) must have called her many times before.

"Sorry, what is it?" She asked. Thade spoke before (Y/N) could open her mouth again.

"How was it today?" He was talking about the change of diet. Alice knew that.

Out of the four, she was the one who had the most difficulties sticking to an animal's blood. Not that she wasn't trying her best, it was the smell of human blood while she was hunting that usually messed her up the most. Since they came here to take a little break from humanity -Esther had invited the two about two years earlier- Three humans were dead at her hands.

"Nobody died." A small, embarrassed smile crept on the girl's face.

Thade's face was solemn as he nodded, earning himself a slap behind the head, graciously given by his wife. He then started to laugh, incapable of controlling himself any longer. The other two women straightened up, exchanging glances.

"Be sensible, Thade." Chastised Esther, her teeth clenched.

(Y/N) rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She turned again to look at Alice with a kind smile on her lips. "That's good then."

Her right hand was on Alice's arm in a maternal-like move of pride. Alice lowered her gaze to the older woman's hands, where she still aborded a wedding ring. It was a giant sapphire surrounded by tiny diamonds, like a shiny flower. Alice always thought about just how wealthy (Y/N) was before turning out if her husband could afford a gigantic ring of the sort. She met the empath's eyes once more.

Alice wasn't to say that she'd overheard (Y/N) singing to Esther earlier in the afternoon as the smaller girl came back from her hunt. The girl didn't like to feel like she'd intruded on something (Y/N) wasn't ready to share with her.

There were things she wasn't ready to share with (Y/N) too.

⁂

"You know between you, who feels emotions and take 'em away, and her, who sees things, I don' know who frithen' me most." Said Thade one day as he and (Y/N) were taking a walk around the propriety. Thade had aborded the 'Alice subject' with the woman more than once in the last month, always saying that exact sentence. (Y/N) didn't know what more she could add at every moment she heard the words. 

Everything (Y/N) thought had already been said before.

They'd walked in the valley where he and Esther lived, (Y/N)'s arm wrapped around his. If they had lived in a town, the two of them would have raised questions. Thade wore an old suit of his last used whilst king Charles II was still on the throne in England, and (Y/N) was wearing an old Edwardian dress. They looked like mismatched reenactors. For the two of them, it was just comfortable clothing they'd been used to all of their life before. That and everything else had been used and waited to dry in the sun.

"I still think you should be afraid of Jane more than us." Answered (Y/N) flatly, the conversation would not go much farther than that today. Thade knew it, so he didn't push more on the 'Alice subject.'

"You talk as if I didn't know she's dangerous." Posted Thade, stopping his walk and releasing his hold on the woman's arm to face her.

"I say so because you seem to have forgotten what she's done."

Thade rolled his eyes but retook hold of (Y/N)'s arm. "It was a farce. I apologize if you didn't find it to your taste. You’re rather difficult when it comes to laughing." His amused annoyance didn't escape (Y/N) as her chest felt heavier, and the butterflies in her stomach suddenly retook flight.

"Alice is a nice girl; she wouldn't do anything to make you feel uncomfortable. She doesn't control her vision." started (Y/N) in an ushered tone. "She already feels ostracised when it happens. Try not to make puns about it, would you?"

Thade laughed, but (Y/N) knew he understood. That was how Thade was. Laughing the situation away was his way of making people comfortable. It was also his way of making himself escape uncomfortable moments such as this one.

When the man's laugh finally calmed and silence came back between them, Thade retook (Y/N) arm's with his, walking for a while without saying words. The woman could feel the sturdy grip his loneliness had over his throat, and the dryness of his palate did not make it easier for them to start the conversation (Y/N) knew was the reason for their walk.

"Are you leaving already?" Asked the man, finally.

Thade was old. Older than most monuments. Thade had only been ten years younger than Azaria, after all, and Azaria was already old when she'd turned (Y/N). But even if the man was older than everything the young empath knew, he still looked like a boy. Barely out of his teenage years when the boy turned, his face still reflected the child Thade was. Much like Esther, he looked too young for the curse he had lived with since his rebirth. But as the words left his lips, he appeared to (Y/N) like a lost child, in need of guidance. He seemed to do the age his face was giving and not the thousand-something years he'd roam the earth.

"I am." She said softly, cradling the boy's face gently. Even if he was older than her, it didn't change the fact that she'd been a mother. And his eyes, like his emotions, were screaming to be held. (Y/N) refused to give in to the cold feeling he was radiating; like a gray and gloomy, rainy day personified. 

"I don't want you to leave." He whined softly.

"I know."

"Esther is pleased to have you with us again..."

"I know, Thade. But I can't stay." (Y/N)'s tone was final, but her face was still holding a patient smile. It was exactly like dealing with a child. "This is your life, not mine."

Her thumb ran on the boy's face gently. They would probably pass for the untrained eyes of brother and sister. (Y/N) had always been like a second mother to Thade, even when they were with Azaria. That monster never was motherly anyway. Sure, she was generous and manipulative, but nothing more.

"At least, then, think about what I told you. I worry for your safety, Alice’s too. Maybe a man in your rank could help you find better lodgings…" Tried Thade, letting go of her arm and gesticulation wildly. 

"I'm perfectly fine on my own!" Cringed the smaller woman, shaking her head. "I don't need you to find me a good suitor."

"I’m most pleased to hear you find yourself comfortable as you are. But I worry still." Argued Thade, a smile etched in his voice even then. (Y/N) couldn't tolerate looking at him. If she'd been alive, her cheeks would have burned a flaming red. "But please, think of it for me. Pete and his girl are good gals. And their friend sounds to be like you a whole lot. Meeting them wouldn’t hurt, and who knows…" Continued her old friend.

The empath shook her head again but stayed silent. Thade sighed, but kept silent, preferring to walk a little more in the dry ground that formed his propriety before turning tails and reaching his house. The subject was changed and not talked about again. 

A week later, (Y/N) and Alice were leaving Carroll's house. Alice was fuming and arguing with (Y/N) all the way until they reached near McDame Creek. Then she went silent because of a vision.

''He decided not to go.'' Her tone was calm, but (Y/N) could still feel the fury burning in her lungs. ''Why didn’t you want to meet him?''

''We don’t need anybody to survive.'' Responded (Y/N). 

She didn’t want to need anybody to survive. (Y/N) had managed just right on her own before, why couldn’t she anymore? It wasn’t as his times were regressing anyways. Plus, what if she’d agreed to stay, and he’d decided not to go either way? Or what if he truly wasn’t her mate? 

(Y/N) knew what: the hopes she’d argued to not be raised would still have deflated. And she preferred to ruin her own chances than let people deceive her into more hurting. 

And so the girls continued their way from McDame to Sandpoint, where they decided to live for a small amount of time.

* If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride. Was a song from England, first published between 1605 and 1628, by an unknown songwriter. It’s considered both a nursery rhyme and a proverb, first collected in a Scottish Proverb collection.  It suggests that if wishing could make things happen, then even the most destitute people would have everything they wanted.

#Twilight x reader #jasper hale x reader #Jasper Hale Imagine #Jasper Cullen x Reader #Jasper Cullen Imagine #x reader imagine #Twilight romance #Jasper Hale Romance #Jasper Hale slow burn #Twilight Slow Burn #Romance #Slow burn #Serie Meeting you serie #Meeting you #Jasper Hale Serie

[dizzyaddy]

drowning - naruto x oc pt. 1

(i do not own any naruto characters, only the original character)

life was a blur before i met him.

the rising sun adorning the pastel sky greeted me with a new day. i exhaled a shaky breath as i treaded down the dirt path, the morning dew still evident on the nearby patches of grass. i had been up all night training and it was only now taking a toll on me. my eyelids felt heavy as did my feet below me, which were slowly but surely starting to drag behind me.

as much as i loved konohagakure, sometimes it simply feels suffocating. the infamous nine tails attack had devastated the village, leaving many people with little to no family. thanks to my older sister, we both somehow managed to survive. that being said, the rest of our clan along with our parents had perished along with half of the village.

i was simply too young to remember such an event, though to this day it still took a toll on my elder sister. she was once a proud shinobi, willing to put her life on the line for anybody and everybody. sometimes she will tell me old stories of her battles and how strong she used to be. nowadays, she can’t do much physically but still tries her best to keep the lighthearted spirit hanging in the air.

it makes me feel guilty, really, for being so able bodied and still feeling so useless. even in her state, she managed to raise me and continuously care and watch over me. her strength truly is something i admire most about her, her unwillingness to give up in defeat. now every time i feel like throwing in the towel, i’m reminded of all that she was and all that she continues to be.

hence, why i’m walking through the village at dawn to locate her pain medicine. my muscles trembled and ached, the exhaustion finally weaving its way through my body as i continued to push myself through the square. i had been back from my B ranked mission for a few days, and i was instructed to take this time to recuperate and replenish myself. as much as i would like to listen, my stubbornness deemed it impossible as i found any opportunity to make myself stronger.

coming up on the shop, i exhaled a breath of relief as i saw they had just opened. my rhythmic steps had picked up their pace as i was overcome with joy that i would be able to do something for my sister. my hand was about to touch the door handle before-

“hey!” a perky voice greeted me, taking my attention away from the door to this mysterious person. my eyes locked with his sky blue eyes as i felt myself stop breathing. i had lived in kohonagakure all my life, but never have i ever seen eyes that bright. eyes that held so much emotion, so much passion, so much optimism.

“sorry, can i help you?” i asked, trying to find the courage in my words. it wasn’t often that i spoke to people other than my sister. even if i did, it was always me doing someone a favor or-

“yeah about that, i noticed you were about to walk in here. you see, i just got back from training with my sensei for an overly long amount of time and i was instructed to pick up some medicine for him. you see, i kinda really hurt him awhile back and now he-“ he rambled as he sheepishly pushed through the words, his arm retracted behind his head as he rubbed it awkwardly.

“you need to go in front of me? i won’t mind,” i cut him off, his ramblings instantly quieting as he nodded eagerly. my, how can someone have this much energy in the morning?

“yes actually that would help out a lot, im sorry i know we both have places to be but-“ he started again before i politely held my hand in front of me and shook my head, signaling that it truly was okay.

“no no, it’s okay. i hope you find what you’re looking for,” i meekly said, my hand finally wrapping around the handle and opening it for him to walk through. he continued to stand there, dumbfounded at my actions while he stared at me with curiosity. i could feel my knees buckle with anxiety, hoping he would walk through quickly so i can get home.

“geez, you’re really nice you know that?” he said with a smile before walking through the open door. i felt a small smile creep up on my face before i followed him into the shop. he waltzed toward the counter as i kept my distance behind him, not wanting to impose on his privacy. the man working the counter quickly took his order before returning to the back to rummage for whatever it is he needed.

“so what’re you doing here this early?” he asked, catching me off guard. my eyes left my feet and collided with his, which were once again already looking at me. and i going to feel this winded every time?

“i just got finished training, i have to pick up some medicine for my sister,” i sheepishly said, my fingers intertwining with another as i stood there under his gaze. he was tall and built, his shaggy blonde hair firmly sweeping over his headband in all the right ways. his bright blue eyes still holding as much warmth as they did before as i noticed he had cat like whiskers on both sides of his cheeks. before he could add on to my statement, i asked,” what about you? as you said, it is quite early.”

he looked at me for another moment before a grin swept across his features, momentarily entrancing me.

“i just got back from training with my sensei, i’ve been gone for three whole years and now i’m finally back home!” he brought his fist up and pumped it in the air as he spoke. his enthusiasm brought a smile to my face as i stood there listening to his every word.

“i’m sorry, i forgot you already said that,” i spoke with a slight chuckle. “three years of training? geez, i’m sincerely happy you’re back home. i hope you can make the most of it,” i said with a smile, his confidence keenly rubbing off on me.

“order up!” the man behind the counter announced as he set the bag of medicine on the counter. the boy in front of me quickly turned around and exchanged some coins for the bag before he picked it up and turned around to face me.

“gee, thanks! i’ve really gotta get going or else i’m gonna be in trouble, but thanks for talking to me!” he waved a grandiose goodbye before rushing out of the store, quickly leaving me behind. moments after her left, my heart was still racing as i was left there staring after him. i probably would have stood there longer if it weren’t for the polite man behind the counter looking at me expectantly.

“the usual?” he asked before i nodded, not wanting to keep my sister waiting any longer. he nodded in acknowledgment before he swiftly reached down and pulled out the bag of medicine i’ve become too keen on seeing.

“you know, you’ve been coming in here more often lately. i could always up the dosage so she doesn’t go through so much,” he offered. i dug out the coins in my pouch before softly putting them in his rough hand.

“thank you for the offer, i would have to talk to her first but i will definitely keep that in mind. thank you, again, i hope you have a great day!” i said before making my way toward the exit. he looked at me with pity before putting on a smile and waving me off.

my smile immediately dropped when i exited the shop. i knew what he was saying was true, but it doesn’t mean i have to heed it in this moment. the birds vibrant songs had become more prominent than when i had entered the store. the sky’s candy colors faded into a mesmerizing blue as i stared up at it for a few moments before counting my journey home.

#naruto #naruto x reader #naruto x you #naruto au #shinobi #leaf village #naruto shippuden #slow burn #romance #angst with a happy ending #alternative #nature #teenagers #teen romance #love story #indie #narutolovestory

[sammydem0n64]

I need to keep myself from going insane so uhhh miscellaneous gijinka oc headcanon post! Yass!!!

-Sukir might honestly be drink/color mixed, or at least one of his parents had color gijinka blood in them. I mostly say this bc I’ve given him attributes that fit my color gijinkas (aka a colored tongue and how he primarily dresses in shades of the same color) before I even had Over Rainne Bay. Idk him being mixed in some way just makes sense ig

-Percy hates Mother’s and Father’s Day, but not because of his parents deaths. It mostly because anyone who knows his past gives him sympathetic looks and even verbal condolences on these days, something he despises. He’s moved on from the events, and he doesn’t need to be constantly reminded of his parents’ passings, and yet he can never escape it.

-Ok I wanna talk abt the whole deal with Seale + Schwep’s dad and his wives.

—His first wife (who he didn’t have kids with) tried to kill him for the inheritance but failed.

—His second wife (Seale’s mother) was pretty average but the relationship still fell apart, it was just on friendly terms but for whatever reason, Seale’s dad had full custody of her. I want to believe her parents fell out due to several differences, so perhaps her mother had a packed work schedule, contrasted with her dad’s retired life, meaning he could actually raise a kid.

—His third and final wife (Schwep’s mother) is a simple woman deeply infatuated with him, and he returns the favor, but this resulted in them neglecting Schwep since they’re only concerned with their own love life. Hence why Schwep went to live with Seale when she moved out, and why he latches onto Chazn as a mother figure.

-The true amount of kids Derrick has is unknown, but I’m keeping it at the current amount solely because I hate having to update the family tree. We can take this as he only has six kids canonically or that we have only seen his six kids, regardless I am preserving my own sanity

-Swirlnie is often forgotten by his peers and even teachers in school due to how quiet he is

-Peache is genuinely incapable of feeling fear. The most you get out of her is concern for her loved ones but that isn’t even fear, it’s just being realistic given how one of her besties might be dying from illness and knowing her own daughter lives in an area with an active serial killer

-Grapine and Banip are both 5’5.

-Firo was actually the shortest member of the Old Oreo Gang. Everyone (Sugao, Marion, Marshe, Ivan) were taller than him. Even Bonnie, Chuck and Hershey are taller than him.

-Going to be honest Baron and Bruce could have more hidden kids that were the result of hookups, especially Baron since he targets such young woman (more fertile). This fact about Bruce terrifies Peax.

-Bern looks a lot like his mother, this often makes Jonas feel a melancholic nostalgia

-I think Ket would be very talented at playing the violin. Like if Marshe didn’t die and they had the money to afford it, he’d be a violinist as a hobby in his youth. Of course nowadays he doesn’t have the chance to even consider playing the violin

-Minle’s dating life is a mess because Minzi has basically hated all of his previous girlfriends, she just didn’t reach the point of killing them

-Beau was actually the result of a hookup gone wrong, and his parent who gave birth to him abanonded him with Rosemary basically right after he was born. She raised him ever since and would’ve beat the shit out of her sibling if they crossed paths-

-Prim is honestly has a rather large build? He’s not a muscle machine but he’s still rather toned and has the strength to show for it, this surprises everyone whose only heard of him in passing-

#demon’s ocs #I drafted this last night but I’m also losing my mind now. so.

[rosykims]

good morning. at this point i literally know so much useless bullshit lore abt gracie lol like ive completely run out of meaningful/substantial content for her nd now im just like uhhhhh *spins roulette wheel* shellfish allergy. childhood speech delay. outie belly button ❤

#oc: gracie #i may be cringe but i am free xx #they are all very important and lore rich TO ME !!! pepe silvia jpeg !!!!! #anyway the shellfish allergy is funny bc her grandmother on hopes side always 'forgets' and nick jokes that shes trying to kill her fr ❤ #the speech delay just makes sense #she didnt speak until she was 3 – baby gracie could communicate just fine telepathically & it was easier than using pesky Words lol #hence why shes still so quiet nowadays #and the outie....well. ive got nothing for this one but it feels right :3

[slashingdisneypasta]

Jack Bass x Younger!Reader || Oneshot

Title: Bass's.

Notes:

I have no idea when this is supposed to be set. Just go with it.

I have two things to say about Jack in this gif, though. 1. Does he not know how to carry a tray. And 2. I love this statement, here. Its like 'Bart's Dead, Chuck. I can barely contain my joy, Chuck. Its taking all my willpower, Chuck, to keep a monotonous expression. Also Chuck I am carrying a tray, do you see this?'

Plot: Bart Bass decides to be his creepy fucking self (Not that Jack is exponentially better in any way but whatever) towards you, Chuck's best friend- but thankfully, Jack accidentally walks in on the scene and gives you a get out of jail free card.

Good old 'lesser of two evils' shit. I love stuff like that.

Warnings: BART BASS being predatory, and a bit of age difference (You and Jack. I'm going by actors ages though so there's only a, like, 11 year age gap between him and Chuck which is not that bad if you ask me). Sexual references.

~~~

Chuck looks from his phone, that's flashing Blairs name, to you and your big, wide eyes and lips mouthing 'Don't you dare', then to his father quietly tapping away on his phone on the couch a few feet away... then back at his phone.

"Charles- " You hiss, prepared to threaten his very existence but he cuts you off first- slipping off the bar stool beside you and heading for the hallway.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom."

Why am I friends with him again!? You think, but stay quiet and hope that Bart doesn't realise that you're back there despite having said hello to you earlier when he came in. You think, if you stay quiet like a mouse, he will forget your existence and keep texting until Chuck gets back- although, who knows how long he and Blair can go on for.

Depends what its about, honestly. If its about revenge or espionage... well, the conversation could last quite some time.

Should I just leave?

The impulse to run away is a strong one, as you sit there with your cheeks heating up and you start to feel nauseated. You never liked Bart Bass, from the moment you met him. Before that, actually. You had heard Chuck talking about him to Nate before you even became friends with them, and none of what you heard was good. And then you did meet him, one day when Chuck invited you over to do a school project. Or 'school project' as he so obnoxiously put it. You really did end up just doing a school project, though. Hence your friendship nowadays. Bart was creepy towards you even then, at 16 with terribly died hair and the wrong eyeshadow.

You've been very careful since then to never be alone with him like this. You would talk to him at parties if you were forced to, say hello to him when Chuck had you at his place and the man walked by, but that is the extent of your communication with the creep. Always, always, someone would be around. Chuck, mostly. But also staff, or Nate, or random fundraiser ladies, or Jack who Chuck the bastard never left alone with all willy-nilly like this, unfortunately, or Lily, or literally anyone else possible on the earth.

You've even hidden away in the men's bathroom, which is disgusting no matter how expensive the restaurant, with Nate before to get away from this man when Chuck once ditched you both at a dinner with him. And that's the story of how you got your first kiss, too, and it was from Nate Archibald. Hell yes.

That's how much this man makes you want to grab your bag and flee.

But you don't. You stay glued to your seat, super still, listening only to the tap-tap-tapping noises that Bart makes and the bump-bump-bump noises your heart is making right into your throbbing ears.

Until it stops.

Not the bump-bump-bumping, oh no. The tapping. And, nightmarishly, it's replaced by a groan and footsteps coming towards your turned back.

"Y/N," As soon as he says your name, his hands fall on your your shoulders and you literally jump under his touch. Shit- Shit- Fuck- what's happening- "I've been meaning to speak with you recently but Chuck- ah. Well you know him. He refused to share with me your telephone number. But I knew you'd turn up here at some point, so not to worry."

"Uh... right." You cant even force yourself to be your normal, cheery, polite self in this position. You just want him to get. off. of. you.

"Did you want a drink?" He asks, in that possibly cheery (But only because its slightly louder then his usual husk level) but mostly still scary voice he uses to convey emotion, letting go of you thankfully and rounding to the other side of the bar. You shake your head, though. He raises his brows, picking out a scotch for himself. "You don't drink? Shocking, seeing as you're friends with my son."

Oh I drink. You think, giving him a shrug. Just not in situations like this one. Also, what must he think of Chuck? Jesus Christ. For sure, your boy likes debauchery but what's wrong with that?

"Well, I like that." Bart pauses before pouring his drink, to appreciate you. "Mature."

Damn it. It makes your skin absolutely crawl.

"So... " You take a deep breath, tucking your hair back behind your ears rather then ruffling it back like you usually would to get it out of your face- lest that be recognised as some kind of extremely subtle form of flirting. God, fear makes you think weird things. "What did you want to discuss?"

"Oh- Just, your future. Where are you going to school? Will you be sticking close to us?"

Us? US? No, I'll be far far away, from you.

You don't really want to tell Bart where you're going to be going to school, because in your fear addled brain you know that that will just lead to 'Which campus?', or 'Where will you be staying?' and you really don't want it to go there.

You're just taking another, shakier deep breath, when the front door of the apartment opens and shuts loudly and set of feet trample down the hallway towards you. Immediately total relief plashes over you and you wipe your face. Oh, thank god.

Jack Bass appears in the doorway to the living room, looking as put-together yet somehow simultaneously still totally relaxed, as always, and forces aa polite smile onto his handsome face. "Brother. Y/N? Its good to see you."

You have no idea. "Good to see you too Jack. Uh- Chuck's in the bathroom."

"Thanks. For that... enlightening, information, Y/N. I needed that." You cheeks flare up in embarrassment, but ultimately you just roll your eyes as Jack flashes you a subtle wink, and turns promptly to his - much, - older brother. "Bart."

The older brother in question looks less then pleased at his baby brothers appearance in his home. Right now. And he possibly isn't thrilled about that little wink, either. Like you two are in on some kind of joke together. "Jack... What are you doing here?"

"Simmer down, bro. Just visiting." Even you know that that excuse is weak, but anything that comes out Jack's own monotonous voice right now is blessed where you're concerned so you certainly don't say anything. Or make any faces, which would be more appropriate. "Y/N, I don't think Bart-man here's too happy about my presence." Hm, no. You'd have to agree with that observation- not that you've looked up at Bart since Jack came in. You wont risk it. Jack glides through the room with the practised grace of a man who's lived 3 quarters of his life in suits and the other, happier quarter in board shorts, and ends up right next to your chair, an arm resting on the bench in front of you.

If you weren't already so nervous about Bart, you would blush about Jack.

"At least tell me you're glad to see me."

You grin, which is less forced then you thought it would be prior to trying it. Damn, he's good. You think, realising he just swepped in here and made you comfortable in less then 50 words. "Always, 'Uncle Jack'."

"Oh," He groans, like it physically pained him to hear you tease him like that. A tiny smirk even slips through his usually emotionless - well, not emotionless. He has one standing colour, that being sly, - stone statue of a face. "'Uncle Jack'- Please, stop. I'm barely a decade older then you."

That's enough to make anything else possible, inappropriate. Unfortunately. "Hey, I said I'm glad to see you." You wink, a bit sly yourself. "Count your blessings."

His grin widens a bit, like the dangerously charming Cheshire cat-type that he is. Genes that Chuck inherited, clearly, if his track record with girls say anything at all, but that Bart obviously missed out on. "You've got a point."

"She's a remarkable young woman." Bart pipes up, making your stomach tie itself up in knots again, and you immediately revert your gaze to your lap. Remarkable young woman... you want to barf. "Who, I was actually having a conversation with before you burst in here, unannounced." He takes a slow sip of his drink, then mutters. "And uninvited."

"Well that's great." Jack straightens up, clapping his hands together and finally showing his teeth in a smile. They're really freaken white, compared to his skin, deeply tanned by the hot Australian sun. "A visit would be kinda uncomfortable without a conversation; I'll join. I can converse with the best of 'em, Bart. I assure you."

"It was private." The old man sneers, thinking that he's got the upper hand on Jack, and all you can do is hope to god that he's wrong.

Jack turns his head back to look at you, and you meet his gaze tentatively. Your eyes scream, 'Please don't leave me alone with that guy'. He promptly looks back to Bart. "Well Bart why don't we ask the lady in the room what she wants? We are gentlemen here aren't we?" Then Jack makes a face, all crumpled up and unsure, for a moment. "Err. Well actually... 'gentleman' might be a bold faced lie. We'll ask anyway. Y/N! Do you mind if I weigh in here?"

"Not at all." You say quickly, flashing a tiny, thankful smile. He gives you another wink- this time actually subtle. So Bart didn't see it. Your smile gets a little bit bigger, relaxing. He's got you.

"Great." You watch him pull out the stool beside you, that Chuck - who has still not returned from his phone call with Blair. You assume some, likely cruel vengeance must be involved. Possibly involving that Humphrey guy, - had vacated and settles down in it. He then sets his arms firmly on the bench and looks up attentively at Bart, not breaking eye contact with him. Boy these Bass's like their stare downs. "So?" He prompts, expectantly. And a little arrogantly- a Bass speciality that you truly don't mind at all. "What's on the agenda, today?"

Bart glares heatedly, back.

~

Throughout the awkward discussion between the three of you, which your good friend Chuck has yet to return to discover - at this point you're resigned to him having climbed out the window and scaled the building probably, - , Jack constantly, skilfully changes the subject for you whenever Bart rears to close to somewhere uncomfortable. He makes jokes that make you laugh, he nudges you with his elbow at times - but never touches you any more then that, although you honestly wouldn't mind it if he did, - and takes the attention off you a lot. At times you truly thought you saw steam come out of Bart's ears.

When finally Bart gives up and excuses himself, saying he as an early dinner with Lily, you feel exhausted and relieved. After the door swings shut behind him, you cover your face with your hands and deeply sigh.

"So, what was that about? You looked like a trapped mouse. I recognise that look, I invented that look." You pull back slightly from your hands and glance over at him, to see him thoughtful for a moment. "Well, not by making it. By... causing... it... Either way, it was not good." He shakes his head, taking a sip of his own drink - scotch, - that he made Bart pour for him; Raising his eyebrows at you for an explanation over the rim of the glass.

Jack's always been great, like this. Even when he was horrible, he was the lesser of two evils between him and Bart. Good for a laugh and quality eye candy in a pinch- and that counts for a hell of a lot when it comes to surviving Bart Bass and the Upper East Side. And he had the power and pull of an adult, but knew what the hell was going on like one of you.

So he always made you feel at ease.

You ruffle your hair back, and sigh, straightening your back finally from their hunched over position they live in when you're uncomfortable and pushing back your shoulders. "He was just, saying some weird stuff... and Chuck disappeared to talk to Blair." At that, Jack nods in total understanding. Like ah, yeah. Got ya. Finally, you shrug. "He just makes me really uncomfortable. No offence, but I hate your brother."

As you watch Jack's eyes don't even flicker; He's totally on board with what you've said. Then he finishes the rest of his scotch in one gulp. "Ahh- I hate him too."

"As do we all." Chuck's voice suddenly pops up, as he appears in the doorway like Jack had earlier. You have to practice some serious self control so as to not laugh, at Chuck so coincidentally turning up again at the perfect moment to proclaim his hatred for his father. Jack grins back at Chuck coldly, nodding. Yeah. "Anyway, Y/N, I apologise but I'll be having to abandon you. Blair's waiting for me at her, empty, apartment." He pauses for a moment for dramatic effect, in perfect Chuck Bass fashion, and you roll your eyes, grinning. Jack smirks. "But you're welcome to stick around a while and help yourself to the amenities All on my tab, of course. Good to see you again, Jack." Then he pockets his phone and heads toward the door. The second Bass of the day leaves the building.

"Bye, nephew!" Jack waives as the elevator doors close behind Chuck then swiftly turns around back to you, to which you raise your eyebrows. "So, what do we do now?"

"I dunno." Shrugging you grin and turn your stool to angle your legs towards Jack. "When Chuck says those magical words 'All on my tab'," Those words, oh; You speak them with just as much raw, breathy sexual arousal as the man himself would. As the words demand. 'All on my tab'. Good lord, sex if they were words. "I tend to take advantage."

"An easy girl to please; That's what I like to see." Your cheeks flame up at those words out of Jack's mouth as he turns to look down at the room service menu. Yes, Jack Bass has toed the line, between platonic and flirtatious since the very moment you met the man... but that seemed a little bit more then toeing the line.

And you get a far different reaction to him doing it then you do the other Bass brother.

You don't even really mind the implications of his words.

"You're staying back with me?" You ask, feeling hopeful at the idea.

"Yeah well, I cant in, uh, good conscience," He makes a bit of a show to you, of pressing his hand to his chest totally earnestly as those words 'good conscience' come out of his mouth. "leave you here unguarded in case Bart comes back, can I? Besides, the way you said 'All on my tab'- man, you could sell moonshine at an AA meeting with that voice."

"Ha," You laugh, rolling your eyes and shaking your head. "Well, thanks."

"Oh. Don't thank me. You're just using what uh, your mama gave you. I actually encourage you totally, to do that more often- "

"No!" You exclaim, sighing in exasperation; But there is still a smile on your face you cant seem to shake. "For not leaving, today. When you walked in. It would've sucked if you had, not that I would've blamed you at all."

"Hey, just call me your knight in shining armour." He doesn't look up from the menu, flicking through it. Then turns to you with one of those beach boy/politician, toothless grins of his. "Besides you were automatically, my favourite person in the apartment. I mean, anyone with... uhhh- different, appendages to what I have, instantly gets a one-way ticket access to my rare bouts of chivalry. Now come over here, pick out what you want off here."

You just gape at him and that comment, making him stifle a laugh and return to the menu himself.

Bass's.

#Jack Bass #Jack Bass x Reader #Gossip Girl Jack Bass x Reader #Jack bass x Reader Oneshot #Bart Bass #Chuck Bass #Oneshot #Gossip Girl #Gossip Girl x Reader

[fatefulfaerie]

Of Horizons Not Written

A happy January birthday to @dekutreethoughts​! I hope you like it!

I’m not much of a writer but Link suggested I start a journal to organize my thoughts so…here I go I guess.

It’s been a week since the whole ordeal with the ghost ship and I still feel myself kinda shaken, hence the need to organize my thoughts. Wow I’m already being repetitive.

I think what’s been bothering me most is that I’ve never felt so cautious on the sea before. Sailing the ocean was always a safe place, that horizon a comfort, that freedom like the breaths that renew my lungs. Nowadays the ship has been docked at various islands more than we’ve been out at sea. The crew doesn’t mind. They actually like goofing off at bars and such, but Link has noticed that something has been off with me. For the first time in my life, I’m scared of the sea, and that’s a problem for someone who is called by most, “captain”.

Currently our end goal is as it has been, finding a new land as per the late King of Hyrule’s instruction. That was over a year ago, and so far all we have found are small islands that have already been settled on, like Windfall (which is oceans away by now). We’ve been exploring the sea looking for a more permanent home and until we ran into the ghost ship I was frankly more excited by the conquest of exploring new horizons than actually finding that new home. My home was here on the ship. Now that’s shifted and frankly, I don’t know why.

Link’s injury has begun to heal. The bleeding gash across his chest that I once thought would be his demise is now a simple scar healing by the mercy of time and rest. The scar will likely last a bit, but I told him I’d rather he have the scar than have died from Bellum's attack. Surprisingly, he seems to be in no discernable pain anymore, and thankfully the wound isn’t infected. When we first got back to the ship a couple weeks back and I inspected it, I noticed that his face was flushed. I worried that he had a fever and thus that the wound may be infected, but he insisted it was just the heat of the day. When we found a proper doctor, she said the same thing.

When I looked at it today, it looked to be healing great. Link asked me how I’ve been feeling which was ridiculous because was I the one recovering from a life-threatening injury? No. Why did he always have to be so damn selfless? Anyway, I told him nothing had changed. I was scared of the open sea and I didn’t know why. He hummed and nodded. Sometimes he's quiet and understanding like that.

Not much else has really happened in the past week since I wrote in this journal. We’ve been docked at Parra Island while I figure things out but the crew has heard a rumor about some sea beast north of here and even Link wants to check it out. I can’t blame them for their adventurous spirit. I just wish I knew how to get mine back.

Something really weird happened today. I didn’t think my life was eventful enough that I’d have something to write about two days in a row but here we are.

We were readying the ship to go north, loading supplies and all that, moving crates and whatnot, squabbling about the rumors about this creature. It was a colder day. The seasons are changing and the autumn breezes have been bringing chills even to us thick-skinned seafarers. I went to grab a canvas bag of apples at the same time as Link and our hands clasped around each other. “Sorry,”  he voiced, ripping his hand away. Mine was actually on the bag, and thus I had won whatever honor it was to carry the apple bag. I looked up to say it was fine, that it was just a bag of apples, but when I looked up I couldn’t find my words. His face was flushed again, but the sun wasn’t out nor was it particularly cold. I asked him if he was okay and he acted all nonchalant, but falsely. He said he was fine. He was lying. He was always a terrible liar.

I swung the bag over my shoulder and racked my brain as I walked onto the ship as to why he would lie about being sick when it hit me. He wasn’t sick. He was blushing. It was then that my face flushed, or at least I felt heat rise to it as if it did. I turned around, awestruck and in shock, staring at him deducing what all this could mean. He was talking to one of the fishermen who sold us a recent heap of a catch. He was out of earshot but I simply just watched.

It wasn’t until today that I noticed but Link has grown at least a foot since I first met him. In fact, the little boy I once thought of as this immature kid foolishly jumping off cliffs to save his sister was growing into quite the young man. He is only a year younger than me, after all. I shook my head at the moment but now that I write this I can’t help but really wonder, does Link have a crush on me?

Yes. That’s the answer, past Tetra writing that last entry. Yes, he does have a crush on you.

I’m sure of it now, the stolen glances, the stammering, the blushing, the subtle flirting, and hell I’ve begun to participate in it myself! I’d wager that I have a crush on him too. No, I’d more than wager. I’d bet the boat on it! It makes so much damn sense that I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. His heart of gold, his eyes of onyx, his pearly skin freckled by the topaz sun, his hair that glows amber in the sunset. I find myself staring at him so much it’s almost embarassing. My mother used to say that sometimes you solve one problem by finding another. Now I get what she meant.

I wasn’t scared of the open ocean. I was scared of losing Link to the dangers of the open ocean. But, you see, that’s silly. I would never tell him this, but he’s a better fighter than I am. He could handle himself fine. But I suppose you don’t think straight when you’re in love. Gosh, my heart fluttered just writing that out! I really hope Link doesn’t read this.

Oh, how am I to tell him!

We found land today! About time, too. We were running out of supplies. Turns out that beast was nothing more than a myth. I gave the order to head West to look for a place to restock and what luck to have found Gar Island because we were just about out of fresh water. Mother used to say that drinking salt water was one step away from delirium.

I’m about to step on this island and find out what the boys are up to. Even Link left me on the ship! This must be some amazing island!

I’m not sure how to put what I just witnessed into words.

I saw Link as I rounded a corner, but just as I inhaled to greet him, I saw he was talking to a girl about my age. I hid behind the nearest building quickly, thankful I didn’t make a peep. My chest already burning with envy and confusion, I peeked around the corner.

She had brown hair, and chestnut eyes that glimmered in the sunlight. She laughed at something Link said and I felt my heart sink. I couldn’t tell if he was smiling or not from my angle, but he seemed to be into the conversation, gesturing with his arms and even scratching the back of his head. Damn it! That’s what he does when he is nervous. I left when he chuckled. I didn’t need to see anymore of him finding the girl of his dreams.

Perhaps I was wrong about his feelings for me. The worst part about it is that I am all too right about my feelings for him. I’m heart broken.

Really? The fool is knocking on my door. Come to tell me of your dalliance? How will I handle that? Come on Tetra, maybe he’s happy with this girl. Be supportive.

Oh goddesses, what if he wants to leave the ship for her?

I couldn’t be more embarrassed. I suppose to make sense of what just happened, I’ll write it out.

I tossed my journal  to my desk and opened the door, catching him scratching the back of his head.

He stammered, and for the first time in a while, I thought maybe he wasn’t stammering because he was nervous around me, but about something else. He asked to come in and talk about something serious and I let him.

Before he could even start, I told him I understood. He was surprised, and looked almost sad that I wasn’t more happy about it. How could I be? I thought in the moment. I placed my hand on his and told him I would be sad to see him go and he looked like he was about to cry.

He shook his head. “I don’t want to go,” he said. “There has to be some way we can work this out…th-that I can stay on the ship.”

I asked if he wanted her to come with us. It made sense until he responded with a confused expression.

“Who?” He asked.

“The girl, the…” I clarified, as it was obvious. “The girl you were talking to. You were going to ask me if she could come with us, weren’t you?”

Link shook his head slowly, his forehead creased.

“No,” he said, confused. “Why would I?”

I took a deep breath.

“Because you’re in love with her.”

Link blinked, and blinked again. He inhaled, but said nothing as he studied me.

“In love with…” He began. I had already rescinded my hand, but he took it. “Tetra, I’m in love with you. Isn’t that what we were talking about?”

I could barely begin to describe the avalanche of emotions that overcame me when he said that. I just sat there stunned.

He then went on to explain that he had asked that girl for advice on how to tell me about his feelings and that she said to be direct about it. What a fool I was.

He continued to explain that he came in here to do just that but then he panicked when I started talking about him leaving, as if the thought of his feelings sickened me. Quite the contrary indeed.

I confessed my love then. The kiss that followed was sweeter than the soft smell of flowers in a summer breeze.

From this day forward, I’ll never jump to conclusions again.

Three. Years. I haven’t written here for three years. It’s not entirely my fault though. The ship got rocked bad in an attack waged by nasty pirates. Their cannons were vicious, tearing through the hull. There was even a hole in my cabin! I thought my journal was lost to the sea, but we found it was under my bed the whole time!

Last time I wrote in this journal I was nearing fifteen, and now I’m seventeen! Oh, how time flies. Link is still a baby at sixteen though. I love reminding him that no matter what, I will always be older than him!

So much has happened in the last three years since we were attacked, so I suppose I should start there.

Shortly after that last journal entry, we set out with a ship full of supplies without thinking about the target it painted across our backs. Pirates, real pirates far removed from our own farce upon the Great Sea, attacked our ship with cannons not filled with bombs but solid iron spheres that I’d never before seen. When the ship was one hole away from sinking, we surrendered. I thought we were done for, stranded with not a rupee to our name nor a ship to call our own when the pirates made one mistake.

They thought Gonzo was the captain. Misogynistic fools.

They thought I was harmless, just a doll to put in a dress and in a chair. Boy did they regret it when I sent them off on their way tied to their own mast. Repairs to our own ship took a while, but we limped to a tiny unsettled island and stripped the wood from palm trees to mend the holes. We camped there for a while, but we couldn’t wait to get back on the open seas.

Link and I have actually gotten so accustomed to the seafarers life that we’ve put the whole finding permanent land thing on cooled coals. I had almost forgotten about it completely until I reread the journal entries of my fourteen year-old self (how cute I was!). Link even laughed at how all I talked about back then was my crush on him. When the subject came up about finding land, Link said that he too had forgotten about the promises made to the late King of Hyrule.

Perhaps we will eventually, but for now we’re happy just exploring. Link and the crew are my home and family. At the moment, I see no reason to settle for anything less. Perhaps later, when we’ve properly squandered our days of youth.

We had a visitor today, or more accurately, an old friend has come to stay.

Link was elated to see his sister Aryll. She is the age Link was when we first met, and her two short pigtails have grown into a stylish braid that reaches to her mid-back, though wisps of blond hair escaped from it trying to join the wind.

She wore the pirate flag Nudge once fashioned into a small dress for her as a shirt, tucked into brown sailor’s pants that tucked further into leather boots. Aryll is the most stylish twelve year old I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen myself in the mirror at that age.

I’m getting off topic. Link was elated to see Aryll. I remember when they parted he expected to never see her again. She herself mentioned today that she has been looking for him for over a year, and even then counted herself more than lucky to have come across him. They both shared joy and excitement until Link asked how their grandmother was faring.

“Well, I assume,” he had said. “I see she doesn’t even need you to care for her.”

Link said it with pride in his eyes and hands on his hips. He was sure it was true, but in the back of his mind I think he already knew the real truth, knew why Aryll was looking for him, knew that it wasn’t just because she missed her older brother.

Link sits in silence on our bed as I write this. He knew his grandmother wasn’t immortal, but I think he regrets not being there in her final moments. Aryll had insisted that she understood, but the amount she did for them and the amount he did for her would always and forever be out of balance, at least to him.

Aryll asked to stay in our hold, but I refused to let her sleep in the belly of the beast with those men. They are perfectly decent and kind to Aryll, but let’s face it, they can still be disgusting with how they pick their noses and constantly smell of a donkey’s ass. Thus, she is to sleep in my cabin for as long as she stays. I gave Link a stern yet mournful look when I insisted upon this because it meant that for the foreseeable future, we would no longer be sleeping in the same bed. The cots will do us fine and I know Link will sleep easier knowing Aryll is safe and comfortable. Once I wrap up things in here, Link and I will be heading down to the hanging cots.

My back is furious with me.

I wouldn’t dare complain about it out loud. My whole life my mom and I wouldn’t have my crew complaining about their sleeping situation. I would tell them to shut their traps even when I was just seven years old.

Now I understand their pain, but I can only admit it here, where they will never know…

Today we stopped at an island called Sunfish Isle, a charming place with kind villagers and an idyllic sense of community. Today was the first time where the idea of settling down appealed to me. I liked the idea of building a community like this, in fact, I was excited about it.

Link was still a bit down about his grandmother, so I couldn’t gauge his feelings about the matter, nor did I feel it was the right time to ask. The loss is still raw in his heart, but it was nice to see his eyes brightened by the warm sun and the kind people.

There was a couple there in particular that got me really thinking about our future. They had two children, a little girl barely walking and a tiny baby boy in a white bundle. Despite all my adventuring and my great romance with chasing a horizon, a new one was in my sights. I feel it in my heart that I want to settle down on an island with Link, raise children away from the ship.

But in order to have kids we’d have to…

Gosh what a scandalous thought! Although I must admit sometimes it’s hard not to think about when you’re dating someone as handsome as Link. But by the goddesses if my mother taught me one thing, it was that it just wasn’t proper to do such things until you were bound by marriage. She was quite the opposite when she had me so she would always tell me “he’s gotta commit first, otherwise he’s a pig”. Actually, I wonder what mother would think of Link if she were alive today. I suppose I’ll never know.

If I’m being honest, I have always seen Link as “the one”. Recently, it’s just been a question of when.

Crap, sometimes I’ll let him read my journal entries for kicks. I’m going to have to not let him read this!

Or will that be too suspicious?

I’ve done it. It’s crude, but it’s a ring. Took me a couple weeks to fashion it with the help of my crew, but I’ve melted and reformed iron into a ring shape. All that is left is for me to propose. I plan to do so tomorrow.

In other news, I think Link is feeling much better about the death of his grandmother. He has perked up and is back to his normal self. Once I caught him in the crow’s nest talking to the stars. He was ashamed. He thought I would think he was crazy. I told him that I talk to my mother the same way, even though she doesn’t respond.

We fell asleep in each other’s arms that night, looking at the stars.

I’m engaged. Engaged to be married. I can’t believe it and I can’t stop writing it. I’m engaged and I’m going to be marrying Link.

It was silly the way it happened. We were staring at the sunset and I was psyching myself out as I fiddled with the small wooden box that held the iron ring. It was several minutes before I realized that, he too, was fiddling with a small wooden box. The following conversation went something like this:

“Wait, what’s in the box?”

“What’s in your box?”

“Nothing.”

“There’s nothing in mine either.”

“Okay.”

I was impatient, to say the least.

“Drop it in the ocean, then.”

“The box?”

“Yes, drop it in the ocean.”

Link hesitated.

“You said there was nothing in it,” I reasoned.

Flirting, unabashed flirting. I tipped my head.

“Drop yours first,” he said.

“No.”

Another pall of silence.

“You were going to propose weren’t you!”

“So were you!”

We were arguing but we weren’t. We were smiling and we were giddy. Soon, we both adorned rings made from solid iron.

Tomorrow, we’ll tell Aryll and the crew.

This is probably my last entry in this journal. I want to tell all about Aryll and the crew’s reaction to our engagement, but I’m down to my last page. We’ve spotted land on the horizon and who knows? Perhaps I’ll find a new journal there and write about the next phase of my our lives.

#zelink #telink #the wind waker #phantom hourglass

[silhouetteofacedar]

Fox Mulder, Closet Romantic Ch. 20: Nattduksbord

Previous Chapter - AO3 - MSR, rated E

This means something; Mulder can feel it.

This signifies a shift in their relationship; a step forward, from platonic partners to a romantic couple. It’s a shared experience that has the potential to change their dynamic forever. Years of trust, fighting together against a common enemy, seeking the truth… it could all come crashing down today, in a shopping mall in Woodbridge, Virginia.

They’re going to IKEA.

Summer is on the rise, and the humidity is close to stifling as they buckle into his car. Scully’s wearing a little striped t-shirt, capri pants, and sandals, revealing sky blue painted toes. For a disorienting moment Mulder wonders if he’s going to develop a foot fetish. Probably not, but Dana Scully could make even the most vanilla of men want to do crazy things.

“Do you have your shopping list?” Scully asks as he starts the car.

He pulls the folded scrap of paper out of the chest pocket of his white t-shirt. “Right here,” he replies, eyes darting over to her for one more look as he holds out the list.

She takes it, catching his eyes momentarily. “Why do you keep looking at me like that?” she asks.

I want to suck your toes. “You look nice today, that’s all.”

“Oh. Well, thank you.”

Scully can probably tell he’s desperate for her; she can read him like a dog-eared, yellowed paperback. He’s simultaneously grateful for her sharp instincts and embarrassed by his carnal desires. He hasn’t gotten laid in four years, and he fears he’ll be too eager when the time comes. As it is, he can barely believe she’s let him have even the smallest glimpses of her as a sexual being. She’s intoxicating, and he’s dizzy with the knowledge that this beautiful, brilliant, downright edible woman actually wants him. Him, a mortal man of aliens and bad ties and a porn collection that’s gradually becoming least seventy-five percent redheads. A man without a bed.

Hence their Saturday morning pilgrimage to the shrine where all new couples journey to find furnishings, low prices, and themselves.

“So, we’re looking for one tall bookshelf, a locking filing cabinet, a bed, and two night tables,” Scully reads. She refolds the paper and reaches across him to tuck it back into his shirt pocket. “That’s clearly not all going to fit in this car,” she notes.

“I’ll get the bigger stuff delivered,” he says.

It’s only a twenty minute drive from Mulder’s place, and they have the air-conditioning on. Mulder is starting to relax; it’s been a long time since he’s had a partner, in the domestic sense, and he’d forgotten that it makes the mundane more bearable.

Scully clears her throat almost imperceptibly. “I’m proud of you, by the way.”

“Really? Why?” Mulder asks.

“You managed to get rid of a lot of stuff,” she says, turning up the dial on the car’s air conditioner. “And organization is very clearly not your strong suit, so progress should be acknowledged and celebrated.”

“Yippee,” Mulder deadpans.

“You know, it’s odd; we’ve known each other for all these years and I never asked… why don’t you have a bed, Mulder?”

There it is, the question he knew would come up at some point. He clears his throat, grips the steering wheel a little tighter. “I, uh… I lived with someone, around ‘91. Another agent, actually. We were together for a while, and then one day she took some assignment in Europe and that was that. I got rid of everything that was hers, and that, uh, included the bed.” Technically our bed, he thinks. He winces. He’s never talked to Scully about Diana before, and he wonders if she’ll be upset that he was withholding such a large piece of personal information.

Scully is quiet. “I’m sorry,” she says softly. “That’s… I didn’t know.”

“I’m sorry I never mentioned it,” Mulder says. “It’s not like it’s some big painful secret. I just… don’t really think about her anymore.”

“It’s alright,” Scully says. “I think it’s best for these kinds of things to come up naturally. And… I was dating someone when we met,” Scully confesses. “We broke up as soon as I got back from Bellefleur.”

Mulder looks at her quickly. “Really? Why?”

She furrows her brow. “Multiple reasons, but primarily I realized that this job, my assignment, was bigger than I’d anticipated. And the things you and I went through together, the things I’d seen… when I was honest with myself, I didn’t want to be tied down to him. To have to go home and have this man ask me how my day was, as though he could ever understand even half of what we do.”

“So you chose the job over him,” Mulder muses.

“In essence… I chose you,” Scully points out. “Whether I knew it then or not. I’d never be able to turn my back on you.”

Mulder exhales slowly. He’s strangely moved.

“Take a left at the next light,” Scully prompts softly. “And yes, I do realize the irony in breaking things off with a man because of his normalcy, only to continue trying to date so-called ‘normal’ men.”

Mulder shrugs. “No, it makes sense. Maybe he just wasn’t right for you, but the next normal guy could be, right?”

“Right,” Scully sighs. “Einstein’s definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results.”

“I’ve been led to believe that being with me is another type of insanity,” Mulder points out. “And objectively, I can’t disagree.”

“You do make me crazy,” Scully agrees, voice low. “But that’s not always a bad thing.” He feels her small hand squeeze his thigh. “And I fully intend to return the favor.”

Mulder lets out a quiet groan, hands sweaty on the steering wheel. “You planning on giving me some roadside assistance, Agent Scully? Because I’m gonna need it if you keep doing that.”

She removes her hand, tucks her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t do anything,” she says innocently.

“Uh huh.” He pulls into the IKEA parking lot. “Well, we’re here. You ready?”

“As ready as a person can be for a labyrinthian furniture store on a muggy Saturday,” she replies.

-

“This is fucking ridiculous,” Mulder says from his spot on the bedroom floor, surrounded by scattered pieces of a ‘HOLLEBY’ bedside table. “These instructions are useless and-” he flips through the booklet, “-thirty-two pages long, Jesus.”

Scully doesn’t respond; her eyes are glued to her own manual as she assembles a drawer from the second of the two nightstands. “Shh,” she hushes him softly. “I’m concentrating.”

“How have you managed to put any of these pieces together?” he asks, scooting across the floor to her. “There aren’t even words, just vague illustrations.”

She has a screw between her lips as she lines up two of the wood pieces. “I took wood shop in high school,” she says around the metal pin. She removes it and inserts it into a pre-drilled hole. “I guess that was some kind of preparation for assembling flatpack furniture?”

“That’s adorable,” Mulder says, rising to open a window. The room is stuffy with the day’s heat, and his t-shirt is glued to his back. “Do you still have any of the things you made in class?”

“The step stool in my kitchen,” she replies. “And my mom might have some things I’ve forgotten about.”

He casually strips off his sweaty t-shirt and tosses it in the laundry basket. “Remind me to look at that stool the next time we’re at your place,” he says. “Also I’m gonna order a pizza, you interested?”

Scully looks up at him then and is seemingly surprised by the absence of his shirt. “It’s hot in here,” Mulder explains, almost defensive.

“Oh, I’m not complaining,” Scully says, eyes shamelessly traveling his torso. “And I’m always interested.”

“Are we still talking about pizza here, or…”

“Make my half one with everything, please,” she says, attention returning to her project.

“Wait a minute,” he says, dropping to his knees next to her on the carpet. “I’m not done here.” He leans in and presses his mouth to the juncture of her neck and shoulder, tasting the salt on her skin. How she can still smell so good on a sticky June day, he doesn’t know; but he wants to lick her entire body.

“Mulder,” she sighs, putting down her screwdriver, “You’re distracting me.”

“That’s the idea,” he says, lips wandering up her neck and behind her ear. He flicks his tongue against her earlobe. “Forget the furniture, honey,” he says, all hot breath and lust. “We don’t need it for what I have in mind.”

Suddenly she’s facing him, looping her arms around his neck. “I’m doing this for you,” she purrs. “Do you think I like putting together IKEA furniture? No one likes it, Mulder. It’s like a multidimensional jigsaw puzzle.”

He pulls her onto his lap. “Oh, but I think you do,” he says, nibbling her ear. “You like being capable Doctor Scully, in charge of things… showing me what those hands can do.”

She leans in, licking his full lower lip. “Not everything is about you, Mulder,” she says, pressing a scorching kiss to his mouth. “I’m just doing my coworker a favor.”

“Is that what they call this nowadays?” he asks, hands clasping her hips as she grinds down on his lap.

She shuts him up with a kiss, the furniture and pizza forgotten.

#god this took me FOREVER #lol I’m busy freaking out over my second covid shot okay don’t @ me #my fic #fmcr #xfiles #txf fic #fox mulder closet romantic #msr #they go to ikea

[dennou-translations]

Violet Evergarden Booklet 1

Please feel free to message me about possible corrections. If you can, consider supporting the creators by purchasing the official releases. In case anyone is feeling generous: Ko-fi | PayPal. ( ╹◡╹)っ’･*

Index || Next →

That day was a special one for me, but to the rest of the world, this was not the case.

   Ann Magnolia and Her Nineteenth Birthday

   There was a number of things I had to do on the special day called today.

I would wake up in the morning and check the weather. As if a tale were beginning, I would turn the curtains over and look outside the window.

The radiant daylight shone on my eyes. Today was sunny. Knowing that made me happy. That I had woken up enveloped in sunshine. That I didn’t have to worry about my letter getting drenched in rain. It was almost as if the truth of these facts was blessing the day.

——I’m happy.

Very happy.

I didn’t usually say this, but I felt like saying it today, so I whispered as I laid back down, “Good morning.”

Husky with wake, my voice echoed through the quiet bedroom. I wandered around in search for someone to have a conversation with from the words “good morning”. However, I couldn’t find anyone to hear them, so they pointlessly vanished somewhere.

If you were just by yourself, words would die as soon as they were born. I knew that as the truth of this world. Like flowers that withered without changing colors, like small birds that couldn’t endure the coldness of midwinter, my words would promptly die. After all, words were tools for people to communicate their intentions. So if there was no other party, they would all but die. That was evident.

There was no one who would reply to me with a “good morning”. There was no one in this house that would do a morning greeting, so if anyone were to say that this much was obvious, it sure was. But in my memories, someone whose voice I had already forgotten would return my words. In a warm and soft voice that was probably how my mother sounded, they would be returned to me.

“Good morning, Ann.”

——Good morning.

“Today is a special day, huh.”

——I know; I’d been counting them with my fingers.

“Your long-awaited birthday.”

With a nod, I stood up.

Today, I was turning nineteen. Twelve years had passed since I had been left all by myself when I was seven years old. I reflected thoroughly upon that reality alone and proudly.

I left my bedroom still wearing a negligee, heading to the spiral staircase. There were portraits hanging in rows from the staircase’s wall.

“My, you’re going outside dressed like this just because you’re at home?”

Decorated with pictures of family members, the wall used to be terrifying for me when I was a child, but it became less so after my mother was added to them. I would go up and down those stairs countless times every day, but the only spot that I would end up directing my gaze to for a few seconds was the portrait of my mother and my childhood self.

If, by any chance, there was strength to the thing called “love”, I thought, if there was a force residing within love, wouldn’t this image start moving one day, since it was the only one I looked at as if I were yearning for something?

I would end up embracing such fantasies.

“I won’t change, no matter how much you stare at me. By the way, doesn’t my complexion look a little bad in this portrait? I should have had more paint put over it.”

Of course, it was just a fabrication.

Having come down the stairs, I went to the front entrance, its door a little worn-out. I should call a repairer. The house was a living being just like me, and since it was already quite old, it was always broken somewhere.

“I also want you to tend to the garden. When was the last time you held a broom?”

As I came outside, I could see this place’s whole scenery. There was nothing but lush grassland and tree-lined roads. The idyllic sight was awfully boring, but above that, it was beautiful, so if you made a frame with your fingers, you would immediately have a scenic picture. In this entire area, there were no other houses in sight. Of course. This territory was under the control of the Magnolias, hence this view belonged to me, the family head.

As long as I didn’t sell or give it away, this landscape would never change. And, same as the previous family heads, I didn’t wish for it to change. Neither did I wish to leave this place. Even if I was all by myself.

“Ann, let’s take a look inside the mailbox.”

I took a look inside the mailbox. Perhaps because it was still early in the morning, there was nothing in it yet.

“It’ll surely be coming soon.”

Today was the day when I, Ann Magnolia, was born. Every year on my birthday, I would get letters from my late mother. Letters from my mother, who by now had become a portrait, would be delivered to me.

“There is no such thing as a letter that needn’t be delivered, Milady.”

To be precise, letters with my mother’s feelings blown into them and ghostwritten by an Auto-Memories Doll would be delivered to me. It was a strange story, but a true one.

“Auto-Memories Doll”. Long had passed ever since this name caused a stir.

The creator was an authority in the field of mechanical dolls, Professor Orlando. His wife, Molly, was a novelist, and all had begun with the posterior loss of her eyesight. He then invented a machine to perform ghostwriting for his beloved wife and named it Auto-Memories Doll. Nowadays, people who worked as ghostwriters were also called Auto-Memories Dolls.

When I was seven, my mother, who was plagued with a serious illness, summoned a beautiful blue-eyed Auto-Memories Doll to our manor. She made her write several letters and hired a postal company to deliver them to me even after her death. She had been secretly planning out a few decades worth of birthday messages for her beloved daughter.

The person who had made this request was an oddball, but the ones who had accepted the job were quite odd themselves. Had they not imagined that someone would abandon it at some point? Had they sealed the contract for such a heavy, troublesome work without any refusal because they were horribly bad at their business, or was it because they were too nice? Having grown into a creditable lady and come to understand the world to a certain extent, I would ponder about such things. Surely, it was because they were nice. Thanks to them, even though I didn’t have a single relative now, at least on my birthday I could recall what being loved by someone felt like.

Just like that, I stood fidgety in front of the mailbox. Closing my eyes, I cleared off the dust on the box of my memories.

——I remember. That she had come around. That she would be over there, quietly writing letters. I remember the figure of that person and of my smiling mother. Surely, until I died...

That few-days’ time had been seared into my mind. Back then, my... Back then, Ann Magnolia’s frizzy hair was still short, and she was selfish and pretended to be taller. She was a helpless child. A very young one. How old she was? Seven years old. An age where one would still long for their mother. Her mother was the center of the world. If her mother died, she wouldn’t even be able to breathe. She was that kind of child. She was aware that her emotions were unstable and that she tended to act a little rashly.

Most people would treat someone like me nicely, and that was it. People who had their eyes on my fortune attempted to get close to me, but once they noticed that I had no intention to let them do so, they never showed their faces to me again.

That person—that person... Violet Evergarden. That Auto-Memories Doll was a bit different from other people, I thought...

Whenever I wondered what was so different about her, I would find myself thinking.

Back then, Ann Magnolia had fallen in love with a mysterious girl who had come around all of a sudden. It was a little girl’s romantic love out of adoration. She both hated and liked the Auto-Memories Doll who had come around out of the blue and stolen her time with her mother.

——What was it that I liked about her?

She was a taciturn and unsociable. A silent porcelain doll. She seemed extremely adult-like. But looking back, she often reacted like a child who knew nothing. Even when I gave her dolls, she didn’t know how to play. Neither did she have any knowledge of how to solve riddles. Even when I made her touch bugs, she never ran away like my mother or our maid. Whenever I invited her to join hands and spin around, we would do it to no end.

“Fufu...”

She was a weird person. Yes, a weird one.

Children would look at adults and measure them by whether they were scary or foolish, would be their allies or enemies, would give them candy or not, and other such things. They would stare very, very fixatedly and judge the grown-ups.

She... that beautiful Auto-Memories Doll... Violet Evergarden was not an adult.

——Yes, she was... how should I put it? She was Violet Evergarden.

Which was why I had snuggled up to her, the same type of person as myself, just like two cats nestling close to each other, I thought.

She was a beautiful child. A beautiful beast. I found her eccentric self to be cool, so I liked her.

Where was she now and what was she doing, I wondered.

I was turning nineteen, but back in the day, she must have been younger than I am now. For her to have prosthetic arms, it wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened to her at the time, when the war had just ended. But surely, there was no doubt that her life had been full of many more ups and downs than the story I had in mind.

Did she not express her emotions enough because she was carrying some sort of wound in her heart? She was such a beautiful person, so she must have won over the heart of some wonderful person by now...

I shook my head left and right. I mustn’t have unjust suspicions of her. I shouldn’t prod into how I was back then – into the Ann Magnolia of back then – and taint it. Even if it was just me with myself, I mustn’t do that. Because all of the joys and sorrows from that time belonged to the old me, who had endured those days. Having become an adult, I shouldn’t have any say over the mental landscape of my old self, as a third party.

Having grown up, I observed my own land, which spread out endlessly. The scent of gently swaying grass and flowers, the chattering of birds, the clouds that moved slowly in the blue sky. It felt like they would be here just like that for a hundred more years.

“It’s not coming, huh. Let’s go eat breakfast.”

Since the postman wasn’t showing up, I had no choice but go back into the manor.

I had been working at home lately. I used to go outside and enjoy the world when I was a student, but I realized that, in the end, I liked being in my house. Maybe this was a Magnolia bloodline thing.

As for my from-home job, I worked with legal counseling. When I was little, I had experienced disputes amongst my own relatives over me and my assets. That was the reason why, if I had to give any.

My mother had left me with a talented legal advisor. A person of outstanding character, who still concerned himself with me even now. As a young child, I excelled at catching insects that I had never seen before, but I didn’t have the means to oppose to the people who wanted to steal this land from me one way or another.

I had started off working at the city’s legal information center, introduced to me by the legal advisor, who had taken me in, and only recently had I become independent. Living in the city had made me realize many things. That there were many people in this world who weren’t protected like me. And that this wasn’t something those people themselves wanted, but things had turned out in such a way due to the environment they were in.

The ascension of the ghostwriting business had a similar background. Children would be made to work like adults, unable to go to school, so when they grew up and had to sign any documents, they couldn’t even write their own names.

People like that, who had been raised in environments where no one helped them, weren’t a rarity. I had heard that the literacy rate was currently rising, but it would still take a long time for this to become something unusual.

Just like with ghostwriting, one could become somebody’s ally through the law. It was especially necessary for children who had been thrown out like me and younglings who were about to enter the world of adults, I believed. Because they could earn completely different futures as a result if they acquired knowledge.

“The law is a weapon,” my legal advisor would say. I agreed with that. My property had been protected by this weapon many times. Some people would say that education was the weapon, but the situations for putting it to use were too limited. Weapons exerted their true value exactly when you had to protect yourself from falling victim to unjust acts or insults.

If possible, I wanted to be someone who could protect others. I wanted to tell people who didn’t know what to do and had become incapable of even walking on their own, “It’s all right; I’ll be your ally”. Because I wanted someone to do that for me back when I was alone.

My reason for choosing law was rooted in this kind of self-righteous way of thinking.

Since I worked from home, I didn’t earn much. To be honest, people would think that being a professional was a pastime for a landowning wealthy lady. I was fine with that.

The people who came to visit me in this remote place were generally in critical situations and had nothing. Those who had something would go to the city. They would go to the city, bow their heads to some famous person, be served a fine brand of tea... and have a graceful conversation while drinking it.

If I could, I wanted to get close to people, just like her. Just like the Auto-Memories Doll who had told me on that day that it was okay to cry. Even if for self-satisfaction.

Speaking of which, I thought as I checked the calendar. Today was my birthday, so I intended to wait for the postman the whole day and hadn’t scheduled any appointments, but a client was coming tomorrow. I should clean up the reception room at least a little.

“Hey, Ann. It is your birthday, so how about going outside with your friends and having a meal with them?”

I had to sweep the floor, take the garbage off the carpet and dust the dirt on the furniture.

“Even just eating something tasty is enough, Ann.”

Right, I should bake some sweets to serve to the costumer tomorrow. It could also be used as celebration for my birthday.

“Ann, aren’t you lonely all by yourself?”

If I was certain, that person had eaten the sweets I baked when we first met with relish. He had a sweet tooth.

As I recalled the figure of that young entrepreneur eating, looking embarrassed and delighted, a smile surfaced naturally. Out of the people that I was currently engaging with, he might be the one whose visit I looked forward to the most. I did think that men were frowny and sullen creatures, but he was adorable.

I rolled up my sleeves with an “all right” and headed to the kitchen.

   “Delivery.”

As the front door’s bell rang and the voice of a visitor ensued, I frantically flung away my bowl and whisk and ran. This is what happens when you distractedly make sweets for about an hour. I was covered in flour and looking unbecoming, but there was no helping it.

“Yes, I’m coming.”

I opened the door in high spirits, and standing there was a postman wearing the uniform of the city’s post office, which I was familiar with. I was disappointed enough that even I myself would think it was a bit childish of me. The other didn’t see my facial expression as he requested my signature for the express delivery without looking at me, but I wound up having an impolite attitude.

——It wasn’t the CH Postal Company.

My mother’s birthday messages were being kept by the CH Postal Company, a mail company that had its main office located in Leiden – the capital of Leidenschaftlich, a southernmost military nation. Therefore, if a different company had come, then the mail wasn’t from my mother.

“Thank you very much.”

I had received three packages. One was a table clock from my legal advisor. The others were accessories and a shawl that were trending in the city from my friends.

There were people getting married and having children upon turning nineteen. All of my closest friends had been quick to marry. Both my opinion that secluding themselves in their homes was a waste in this era of professional women and my envy at the fact that they had found themselves a partner in an early stage of their lives coexisted in the depths of my mind.

“You don’t have to hurry; if you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to.”

Having lost my mother, with this vast land and this manor of excessively elegant exterior in my possession... I couldn’t think that having a family wouldn’t be a good thing.

——Family... family... family, huh?

Did I want a family? Did I really? Those genuine questions surfaced in my mind first-thing.

Welcoming a family would mean welcoming that person’s life. It was an extremely heavy choice. “In health and sickness,” people would lightheartedly say. I believed there were actually few people who properly understood it.

My friends who had married. The people who walked around the city. Lovers and family members from all over the world – everyone. Did they all truly understand? They only looked on the happy side, so could they endure it when a sad scenario arrived upon them? Wouldn’t they end up thinking that not loving the other person would have been better?

“Human beings are creatures that love others in pursuit of happiness, Ann.”

In my experience, since I had seen off the person who was most important to me, the truth was that I didn’t want to go through it ever again. Being told to do it one more time was too hard. Even twenty years later, painful things would be painful.

I brought my consciousness back to reality.

Colorful ribbons, extravagant wrappings and wonderful gifts. As my social disposition was coming to a slight halt, those people were irreplaceable to me. I had to write thank-you notes right away. For these kinds of things, the faster, the better. Because it conveyed sincerity.

I should go back to my bedroom and look for the stationery and envelopes. They were surely somewhere there.

“Ann.”

——Aah, but was it a pretty stationery?

Maybe I should choose a different one, fitting of these wonderful presents.

“Ann, listen.”

They were surely items that took a while to be picked, so I should respond to the other party’s feelings the same way. There were many things to be watchful of here. I had to do it quick. I had to do it soon.

“Please listen.”

Nobody else was going to do it; I was the one who had to. No matter what, I had to do it. I had to taste joy and sadness all by myself and end it fast. Because I was alone. Hurry. I had to hurry and do it.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t move.

“Ann.”

I was in the middle of making sweets, and writing thank-you notes required some preparation. Above all, I couldn’t calm down until my mother’s letter arrived.

Giving several reasons, I made up several excuses not to move.

“Ann... it’s okay.”

I suddenly felt exhausted. Everything became a bother. Even though hands were covered in flour and I was still wearing an apron, I lay on the couch, rolled into fetal position and scrunched down.

Although I had received such marvelous gifts, the feeling of happiness didn’t last. Even though it was something to be grateful for to the point I could be in a good mood the whole day, the feeling of happiness didn’t last. It didn’t last.

“Ann, it’s okay.”

Today was that kind of day.

“Ann, don’t force yourself; I’m sorry.”

——I’m sorry.

“Sorry...”

——I’m sorry.

“Ann, I’m sorry...”

To me, my birthday was...

“...for leaving you behind when you were so small.”

...not my day. It was my mother’s.

——Mom. Why? Just why? Why, Mom? Why did you die sooner than the mothers of the other kids? What is it that went wrong? Did the fact that I was born itself become a burden to you? If so, then I shouldn’t have been born.

I loved you, Mom. Did you know that? I liked you a whole, whole lot. Tired of hearing this? But you didn’t know it, right? Even if you knew, you probably didn’t understand how much I liked you. I’m sure you had no idea how much.

When I realized it, I had more time seeing you in a grave than otherwise. But you’re everywhere in our house. On the sofa that you often sat on. In the music that you enjoyed. On the bed that still smells like you. In myself, who resembles you more and more with each day.

Mom, Mom, Mom – you keep reminding me of how much I loved you. When I was little, you were the world itself.

Mom. You loved me. I know that. But I loved you too. I was the one who... I was... I was... I was the one who...

Aah, Mom. Mom, there are so many things I want to tell you. But if I can say it, there’s just one thing.

Mom, you died without knowing how much I loved you, right?

I loved you much more than you could’ve imagined. I really, really suffered when you died. Enough that I couldn’t breathe.

People often say that time heals all wounds. But I really hate that saying. Rather than things being solved, we forget about them, don’t we? People’s voices, facial expressions, gestures – we forget these kinds of things. Yet I remember them in unexpected times. Like, “Oh, yeah, Mom used to like this”. “Oh, yeah, Mom used to hate that”. And then I blame myself vehemently for forgetting them. Like, “How could you have forgotten? She was your whole world”. Like, “How could you have forgotten? She was your only family”. The loop of agony has no end.

I adored you, Mom. I loved you. I loved you, so for just as much love as I had for you, it feels like my heart will break. It feels like my heart will break every time my birthday comes around. Feels like it will break. It’s painful and there’s no helping it.

Tears slip down my cheeks as I laid on my side. I was looking forward to today so much that I didn’t know what to do with myself, and yet I wound up crying again this year. I would’ve been great if I could welcome it with a smile.

A birthday was a special day.

It was nothing to the rest of the world, just an ordinary day, but it was a special one for me. Because... Because it was a day when I could feel Mom coming back to me. I looked forward to it so much that I couldn’t help myself, but at the same time, I was also helplessly sad. Because I felt my mother’s absence more than anything. Because the truth that she wasn’t here was thrust onto me.

Destiny spoke to me. Either that or God did. “Hey, your mother’s already dead. How long you gonna be crying? Stand up. If you’re alive, stand up.”

Since the world was so merciless, all I could do was nod at those words and say, “Yes, yes, true.”

By entrusting my body to hecticness, I was able to remain as someone who could stand on her own feet, just like Destiny and God wanted. I normally didn’t feel loneliness. I didn’t cry. After all, twelve years had already passed. It was weird to cry like this on and on forever. It was weird, right? I wasn’t a kid anymore. I shouldn’t cry too much. That would make me a bad girl. A girl wasn’t suitable to be the family head of the Magnolia household. I had to become a person who my mother could be proud of from within that portrait.

Wasn’t that right? I couldn’t prove the worth of my existence by doing anything else.

But on this day when I was aware that my mother loved me, I was no good. No good. I’d turn into a mess. The seven-year-old Ann Magnolia would come back to me. She’d say it all. She’d end up saying it. Always, always, always. She’d say what I was holding back from saying.

“I’m lonely”, that is.

I had as many ways of spending my birthday as I had birthdays. Surely, there were millions of people in the world whose birthday was today. How were all of them spending it? Were they spending it in a fulfilling way? There definitely were also people who lived their lives either not knowing when their birthday was or forgetting about it.

So I wasn’t miserable. Nor was I comparing myself with them. That wasn’t it. Because there were certainly people somewhere around the world who were feeling as lonely as me.

There was another thing that I had learned during the time I worked in the city. That loneliness wasn’t something only I had. Many people would come to the law firm and ask for advice regarding their troubles. Everyone was burdened with problems of their own. And everyone was a bit lonely in some aspect. It wasn’t just me, so I didn’t feel lonely.

That person too, and that one, and that other one. Everybody was sad in one way or another.

“I have to get up.”

I had stopped doing what I would do by accident – stopped throwing myself into a sea of sadness. The sea of sadness in my head was a real nuisance, yet it was also comfortable as it enveloped my body in gentle waves of self-pity. But I shouldn’t go too far. Or else I wouldn’t be able to stand up again. It wasn’t like food and sweets would materialize from my sadness.

I counted the things I had to do. Bake sweets. Clean up. I had a number of torn aprons, which I would remake into rags. And then... And then...

“Madam Magnolia, are you home?”

A real-life happening immediately pulled me out of my reverie. I ran toward the front door, from where the voice had come. As I opened the door with much vigor while making extremely improper heavy-feet noises, I found two visitors.

“Hum?”

One of them was... Aah, I was waiting for you. It was a postman wearing the CH Postal Company uniform. He was holding under his arm a letter and a package with what was most likely the gift that my mother had arranged for today.

“Aah, excuse me. Please go first.”

The other was the customer who had made an appointment reservation for tomorrow. A stray young entrepreneur. His finely tailored clothes were easy to recognize as something not order-made and that he didn’t like but was wearing regardless.

Had he mistaken the appointment day?

“Erm, then...”

The two had bumped onto each other at the front gate and both had some business with me, so they were probably conceding the turn to one another. Having been granted it, the CH Postal Company’s postman stood before me, politely giving me the letter and present with a slightly tensed-up countenance.

“This is the CH Postal Company. I have come to bring your delivery... You might be already tired of hearing this vocal message so many times, but happy birthday this year too, Madam Magnolia.”

That was a postman I had never seen before. It was a different person from last year.

“T-Tired, you say... There’s no way I would ever be.”

Still, the fact he was saying these lines meant that the demands commissioned by my mother were being properly kept and protected by that company. That was it.

“Thank you very much. For every year, truly... truly. Please tell this to your chairman too.”

“Y-Yes! Our president is the kind of person that gets very happy at inputs from the clients, so I’ll make sure to tell him!”

I had never met the president of the CH Postal Company, but for someone so young to be talking about him in such a familiar-sounding way, he had to be a wonderful person.

“I’m taking it.”

I signed the acceptance document. The postman laughed as if relieved. Also relieved, I finally looked seriously at him. He was a very young postman. Perhaps from about the same generation as me. The freckled boy looked even younger when laughing.

“I became in charge of it this year. It’s a big area, so I ended up getting a bit lost... I made you wait a lot, didn’t I?”

“Eh, no, no.”

“But you came running as if you were eagerly waiting for it.”

“Yes.”

Recalling the surprised faces of the two young men the moment I had opened the door, I trembled with shame. I was supposed to behave elegant and beautifully as the head of the Magnolia family. Yet I was covered in flour, my hair was disheveled because I had been lying down and I had showed up with footsteps that sounded like the ones of a large man.

Touching my cheeks, which were most likely growing red, I said, “I apologize for showing you an embarrassing sight... No matter what, I always wind up restless on this day.”

“Absolutely not. I’m the one who is sorry for coming late. I have already perfectly memorized the way, so please treat me well next year too.” The postman bowed with a “well, then” and ran toward a parked motorcycle.

After seeing him off, I directed my gaze at the other visitor that had been waiting for me. He, too, slowly looked my way.

“Hello.”

The morning sunshine had disappeared, a dazzling midday light filling up for it. It seemed that quite some time had passed while I was sulking on the couch. With a season of fresh green colors as the background, he was supposed to be a foreign body for me... and for this world of mine, yet he blended appallingly well into it.

“Hello.” My voice sounded a little shrill. “Isn’t there any flour on my face?” As I said this while rubbing my cheeks with the sleeve of my dress, he took a handkerchief from his jacket and handed it to me.

Not minding me as I stiffened up in shock, he said with an earnest attitude, “There is, right here.”

“Ah, all right.”

“And here too.”

“I’m sorry. I was making sweets...”

Wiping myself with the neatly folded handkerchief, it almost seemed like I had gone back to being a child. It was the second time today that my cheeks were dyed red.

“Well, what is your matter...?”

“Aah, that’s right. I was nearby and... hum, I heard from Mr. Robert, the one who introduced you to me, that it was your birthday today, so... though it’s presumptuous of me, I was thinking about celebrating it...”

Robert was the law advisor who had been protecting me since my childhood. Now that he had mentioned it, I remembered that he was introduced to me by Robert. The budget wasn’t compatible with the case, so it had been passed over to me.

——“Nearby”?

Finding a strange point in a part of his story, I said timidly, “This whole area... is my land... You had business near here?”

Silence.

“You’re also seeing Mr. Robert even though you’re working with me...?”

He raised a hand my way as if to ask me to wait and averted his face, looking embarrassed. Had I said anything bad?

“I take it back.”

“All right.”

“I lied... I wanted, hum, to spend time with you somehow...”

“Haah...”

Perhaps having become unable to look at me in the eyes, he kept his face turned away and continued speaking to the direction of the day after tomorrow, “Mr. Robert is a teatime friend from a café that I already frequented... He introduced you to me as a favor... And I heard from him the other day that today was your birthday. Also, I did not just happen to come nearby. It’s impossible to come here without a car or carriage. I do not have much money, so I ended up walking the way here. But it was no coincidence; I came here because I had an objective.”

As I asked, “What’s the objective”, he turned over the palm that had been telling me to wait and showed it to me. That “it’s you”.

I was perplexed. This kind of thing hadn’t happened in my life very often. When it did, it was usually people aiming for my fortune, so I vaguely wondered if he was the same as them.

“Want to come in? If it’s just drinking tea together, then...”

In any case, as the head of the Magnolia family, I had to entertain the guest. After this thought worked its way to me, an alarm sounded in my head that he might deem this as an invitation. That wasn’t my intention, so what should I do if he believed it was?

——What’s up with me? I don’t know if I’m happy or scared.

Aah, my heartbeats were so loud. My cheeks were so hot it felt like they were burning.

——Anyway, I have to say something.

“Hum.”

As I hesitated to speak, he shook his head. “Ah, no. I will have to come again tomorrow, so I’m going home. I have already accomplished my objective.”

“Is that so?” I was a tad out of tune. A little – very relieved.

I observed him while he didn’t try to look at me even a bit. His hands were trembling. Even though he gave off an easygoing impression, he was the type of person who couldn’t hide what was inside.

“I really just came here because I wanted to wish you happy birthday. Just before coming, I hesitated a lot on whether to go today or not... I also don’t have... any presents worthy of a lady like you, so I wanted to at least say these words.”

That sentence surprised my already stunned self even more. “At least these words”, he said. Were there any words that could make his goodwill more obvious?

“I’m sorry. I should have at least arranged something for you, right? Really, a broke man like me showing up out of nowhere... I’m sorry...”

“No, I don’t want material things that much... I prefer this feeling of... wanting to celebrate because it’s my birthday... much more...”

The words cut off midway. What happened to me? Right now, pain and joy were squeezing my chest tightly. It was suffocating.

The easily perceivable love of this person in front of me, as well as his kindness, his sincerity and all these other soft and warm things were appearing in the lonely parts of me and causing me to feel dizzy.

“Ann, can you hear me?”

I had to regain my sanity; I would surely be sober again tomorrow. I shouldn’t open my heart so easily now.

“Ann, please, listen.”

Because the world was cruel. Even if I fell in love with him, sad things were bound to happen.

“Okay? If you’re listening...”

It might be a calculated love; he could just be pretending and was actually a horrible person.

No, I had to wonder about that. It was indeed true that he came the way here on foot. After all, his shoes were dirty with mud. There was grass sticking to it as if he gone through an animal trail.

“If you’re listening, grab onto it.”

Aah, Mom. From now on, I would surely keep questioning you over and over during times like these. Asking you questions in my mind. “Mom, is this correct? Is this the right path,” I would ask. Because you were the only one who had given me love without second intentions. So please, give me an answer.

“Believe in yourself, Ann. Don’t be afraid of love.”

I was sure that the vision of my mother had whispered this to me.

I reached out with my hand. I reached out and grabbed the hem of his jacket.

“I’m going to bake sweets now. Today is my birthday, but I don’t have any plans, so if you’d like, why don’t we eat the baked sweets together outside? I don’t need anything. If you’re going to give me something, then I want just a bit of time for us to celebrate my birthday together,” I told him.

“Thanks.” He was not unkind to my wheat flour-covered hand, grasping it while his face went bright red. “That’d be great,” he said three or so times. The phrase “I like sweet foods” was probably said five times.

I... I found it so funny that I laughed.

That day was a special one for me, but to the rest of the world, this was not the case. But I put in a little effort. I tried making it special on my own. From this point onward, I would definitely keep doing that. I would. I was all alone in this manor. But I was the most special girl in the world to a certain person. It was okay to indulge myself at least on my birthday. I thought this once again reading my mother’s letter later.

Ann, congratulations on your nineteenth birthday. I can’t imagine how you’re doing at nineteen years of age. I really wonder how you’re doing. Are you well? Aren’t you going hungry? I wonder if you became a wonderful lady. Aah, I want to see it. I truly wanted to see it. You have no idea how much I love you, do you? You see, Mom loves the nineteen-year-old you. I’ll love you even as you turn a hundred years old. I can’t tell you face-to-face, so I’m properly writing it here. I love you. No matter what anyone says, I love you. You have the right to be loved. My Ann, be free. My Ann, laugh with joy. My Ann, be happy. My Ann. Don’t be afraid of love.

—From Mom

   “There’s no such thing as a letter that needn’t be delivered, Milady.”

#violet evergarden #veedit #fyeahvioletevergarden #kyoani #kyoto animation #ann magnolia #clara magnolia #akatsuki kana #takase akiko #novel #my translation #violet evergarden booklet

[unholyplumpprincess]

Winner Winner Porkchop Dinner

Cryptage commission for @trashyoctopus !

Summary: Crypto and Mirage are set up on a blind date, with neither knowing that it was each other. Rivalry COULD have gotten in the way, if Elliott wasn’t too fucking pretty for his own good.

(Older content)

Reblogs > Likes. It costs zero dollars to reblog the fics you like :D Minors and ageless blogs DNI or you will be blocked!

Relationship: Crypto/Mirage

Fandom: Apex legends

Warnings: R18+/NSFT, both Crypto and Mirage are cis, anal sex/fingering, Crypto being a bottom baby, tears, overstimulation, fucking on the floor

Words: 3.2K

_______________

Dating for legends was rather difficult. In a world that saw you as stars, people could become rather obsessive. Crypto was no stranger to the ‘starstruck’ vision upon seeing a legend. He had been one of the people who had set up the drones to broadcast them all fighting, after all. It was no different to him to pick and choose favorites.

Except now he WAS a legend. Walked among them the same way they walked with him. Partners or rivals, it didn’t matter.

Dating, again, for legends was rather difficult- and yet, Elliott Witt, better known as ‘Mirage’, famous trickster of the arena. Well, he got along just fine.

Or so he had made it seem.

~Rest under the cut~

Elliott talked a big game. Had a big mouth, for that matter. Talked about both men and women he could charm, even those who fit neither category. Last, of which, he boasted whilst making finger gun motions at Bloodhound who had waved him off with a ‘shoo’ motion as if he was a horny dog.

Something Crypto thought to be rather amusing when the flirty legend had pouted in response.

Being among them all, he’s learned they’re all much like a family. Romance could blossom between specific people within their circle, he’d seen it himself with Wraith eyeing Anita from across a room. Only to look away the second the woman’s eyes looked back at him and he’d pretended he’d never seen her looking.

Because loving while being part of this bloodied sport wasn’t an option. To stay available and don’t let feelings get in the way of how brutally they could kill each other. Only to wake up again like it never happened, except now you hold a grudge in your heart for the pain one caused you.

All for sport- entertainment.

Yet, the sponsors seemed to go crazy if they could see one of the legends being soft. The media loved it too. When someone like Wraith had seen her teammate, Bangalore, get knocked- normally she wouldn’t have thought twice about gunning down those around her and going back for the beacon. However, you could see her hesitate, flick her head back and run for her downed squad mate with an open portal to safety.

This is when Crypto truly began to get interested. Media where he was from- if someone was that popular, they would have been KILLED for daring to date someone. It wouldn’t have made them ‘available’ for minds all around. But, it seemed media across all planets alike delighted in the idea of love blossoming in war.

He’d watched it himself online. Different articles popping online. How Wraith would huff and throw a magazine across the legends’ lounge room or toss it at Elliott who’d playfully tease her about it.

It affected legends as well.

And when he’d picked up the magazine and looked at the headline, with a still of Wraith and Anita making eye contact whilst picking one another up, with the words ‘LOVE IN KINGS CANYON?’?

Well. Maybe he wouldn’t mind it if something like this affected him either.

It’s why he agrees to this stupid blind date thing. A mutual of his, someone he didn’t quite trust but she was at least a nice enough person, had a brilliant idea of a blind date. Said she knew someone who was JUST his type. There was no need for awkward ‘do you like girls or boys?’ conversations to happen, thankfully he knew it was at least a man he was meeting.

Crypto could only feel anxiety when he woke up that morning. Twisting in his stomach about who they could be. What did they look like? Would they mind if he was a quiet person? Would they worry and fret too much over him not talking the whole time? Would they be funny? Would they have curly hair- long hair- were they kind?

So many questions.  

The unknown made him paranoid.

The woman leads him to a nice café. Crypto, for the date, adorned an oversized black hoodie that’s left unzipped, a lower black face mask with a filter on it, a low cut white shirt and ripped black skinny jeans. He felt more punk than anything, but it was casual for a setting like this. Except, perhaps, all of the jewelry he wore around his neck.

She guides him to the back to sit down, a nice little area while she excitedly chirps that she’ll be right back with his date.

Crypto’s on edge the entire three minutes and twenty two seconds she is gone. Fussing with a little fidget toy in his pocket to keep a hand busy and keeping his other resting on the table in case he needed to jab at someone.

Prepared, not paranoid.

The chatter of the café is quiet. The music is soft, and yet his shoulders are taut.

But then he sees her walking back over, someone behind her, taller, curly hair-

“Oh! Hey, buddy!” Comes from the man as he comes padding over excitedly like a dog, sitting in front of Crypto with a big, dimpled smile on his face.

Elliott Witt.

No fucking way.

Crypto’s eyes widen, and he looks up at their mutual friend who passes him a wink and a, “Have fun, boys!” Before she’s off.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Elliott continues with a bit of a laugh exhaling from him. Fiddling with his hands uncharacteristically in his lap. Nervous, it appeared, as Crypto’s eyes smooth over his frame. “S-so ya’ like coffee? No- no it was tea, right? I can order for us! Er, Wraith was saying sometimes you come out at night and make tea?” Definitely nervous.

He cleaned up well enough without wearing his sponsors or his gear for that matter. A v neckline on a black t-shirt that was form hugging, a yellow and black printed flannel with the sleeves rolled up just above his elbows to show strong, hairy forearms. Form fitting black jeans hugged him just as well and his hair was styled to the side. Curls looking washed and fresh with their fluffy texture.

He cleaned up extremely well.

Elliott is fussing again, nervously displaying his hands out on the table as he fusses with his hands. Crypto can’t help but think it’s kind of...endearing.

They’d been rivals on the battlefield ever since their first match together. Mark on the scoreboard, he supposed that may have been his fault for counting and rubbing it in Elliott’s face. But...

“Tea would be nice.” He finally speaks up, cutting Elliott off as he pulls his mask down to rest around his neck so he could prepare.

He watches Elliott’s eyes light up like an excited dog’s, nodding his head quickly as his curls move with the motions. “Yeah! Y-yeah, yeah of course, gimme a sec. Preference?”

And that’s how they spent that afternoon. Not as legends, or as rivals. But as two people set up on a blind date and enjoying one another’s company. Even laughed when Elliott had sputtered and quietly shout-whispered the question of ‘YOU HAVE A TONGUE PIERCING?!’ when Crypto had stuck his tongue out.

Crypto hated to admit it. But he had a great time.

And then an even better time the time after that, and then the next. Aaaand another.

Until the new headlines were now saying ‘LOVE BLOSSOMING IN NEW “MELTDOWN” ARENA?’ with their faces on it.

--

Their relationship was under wraps. No one knew, no one was allowed to know in full, but the media could speculate. That much Elliott allowed. Little teases to the public whilst Crypto preferred not to do interviews.

Their relationship blossoms from there. They become close- turns out they both had missing family members. Crypto opens up about his sister, Mila. While Elliott opens up about his brothers. He speculates they may have passed in war, but that he holds out hope. While Crypto opens up that he worries that she was killed, and that if she wasn’t, that she was not in agony.

There, they build their foundation on. Trust and love. Opening up to each other slowly. Elliott is much easier to open up about himself and his interests, Crypto is harder. He doesn’t talk anymore on his past from his sister or his mother, only bits and pieces. He allows Elliott into his life slowly, more and more until one another cannot stand to sleep alone.

Wraith teases Elliott nowadays on who is making goo-goo eyes now. Crypto over hears it through the walls and tries not to smile at their antics.

It’s in the ring they have to be more mindful. After the first guess of their relationship, Crypto had to explain to Elliott that though his partner may have loved the cameras, Crypto did not. The attention became too much, and Elliott immediately made that all die down. With his charming smile and a joke about how if he had chosen someone to settle down with, don’t you think he’d be all over them?

Oh, he was all over them. Crypto couldn’t go a day without hands jerking him close. Even if at first he had rolled his eyes and huffed at it, Elliott quickly found out that this tough cookie was just giving him a rough time. Especially when Crypto would give up the ruse and lean back into him.

No, it’s in the ring they have to be careful. Otherwise, anywhere else? Free game. Other legends could shut their lips.

Hence why this match was going rather roughly.

Mirage, Crypto, and Lifeline all on the same squad. Ajay makes a joke about ‘old times’ and how they should keep score again. Playfully bumping Crypto’s hip with her own and earning her a bit of a smirk before it’s turned to Elliott with a cocky look and a soft hum of, “I am sure that the old man has learned his lesson.”

Which earns him wide eyes, a gaped mouth, and, “Hey! Not that again!” Before Ajay is shoving them both off the dropship for round two.

The teasing in the ring could be seen as rivalry. They do count the kills, oh they do. Crypto keeps the lead by one point as Ajay keeps score. They bicker and huff the entire time, especially when Ajay takes down a newbie that was hanging in the back and trying to get a drop on them.

At some point they are under squad fire, a grenade heading their way and rolling on the ground. Ajay calls it out from afar, Crypto is the one who spots it.

His fingers twist in Elliott’s coat, yanking him close to his body and throwing their bodies to the side so it only can get a fraction of their shields.

The tension in the corner of the room with Crypto on top of him, both panting and looking into each other’s eyes. So close and so good-

Is their ultimate down fall when they’re shot in the back.

Ajay at least laughs about it in the med bay, saying that, “Ya looked like a proper married couple. Keep ya heads down, ya hear me?” With a tease.

And then a call back, “Oh! Crypto? Two points in the lead.”

--

There’s a gasp as Crypto’s back hits the door of Elliott’s dorm. Inside his room as Elliott fits a leg between his thighs, grabbing his chin and tilting it down ever so slighty so he could devour his mouth. They were about equal heights, with Crypto maybe being an inch taller. Something he took a bit of amusement in.  

But right now, that’s not on his mind. What is, is the pressure on his cock through his pants. How Elliott’s tongue licks into his mouth. Feeling over the piercing on Crypto’s tongue and groaning in reply when Crypto’s hands fists into his jacket and yank him closer.

Their mouths move in sync. Having kissed each other a hundred times over, they know their pace. Crypto presses, sinking his teeth into Elliott’s full lower lip just to hear him let out a shaky breath through his nose in response. His hands come up, fisting Elliott’s curls and tugging him closer with a growl.

The knee between Crypto’s thighs presses up, grinding until he’s pulling back with a whine, head thunking back against the door. This leaves him open for Elliott’s mouth to kiss at his exposed neck, mindful of where the cybernetics were most exposed and aiming for the sensitive wiring. His teeth lightly bite into the flesh feeling silicone, feeling Crypto yelp in reply with pleasure as his leg hitches around Elliott’s waist.

He’s biting his lip, keeping quiet and stubbornly trying to yank on Elliott’s hair. That won’t do.

“Think you can embarrass me like that in the ring, baby?” Elliott’s voice is steady in situations like this. His stutter maintained if he tried not to think about it too hard. His breath hot on the shell of Crypto’s ear as his tongue follows, just to feel him shudder against him.

He’s melting. He couldn’t stand being a brat for too long.

“T-think you just- ah- can't keep up.” Is Crypto’s haughty reply, followed by a huff when Elliott’s hand moves from caressing his cheek to his hair. Yanking on it to pull his head to the side to expose the other said of Crypto’s neck for another onslaught of kisses and hot bites. Pushing at his jacket with his other hand until it falls to the floor and Elliott can bite at the crook of his shoulder instead. Sucking a dark bruise there.

“Really?” Elliott breathily laughs. Tripping up Crypto behind his knee before pulling him by his hair to the floor. Watching him hit his knees almost too easy and looking up at Elliott with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Because from what I saw, you just about bent over for me in front of a camera.”

A sniper position, one so open that Crypto wouldn’t normally take. Lying prone to get a good shot- that's what he’d told Ajay. But he knew exactly what he was doing when he shifted his hips eeever so slightly for the trickster behind him.

He huffs through his nose, embarrassed at being caught, looking to the side. But, Elliott coos under his breath, catching his chin and dragging his gaze back up. “No, no, none of that. C’mon, kitten, you can make it up to me, can’t you?”

The nickname has Crypto’s cheeks flushing red to his ears. Surely spreading down over his chest as Elliott works on his own pants. Pulling out his cock, the head shiny with pre-cum when he smooths his hand over it a few times. Pumping to show how hard he was, pulling back foreskin and making Crypto’s mouth water.

He huffs again through his nose, followed by a whine. He about chokes when Elliott smirks, “Theeere’s my good boy. See? Can’t be mad at me for long.”

No, no, he couldn’t. Especially with his mouth stuffed full of cock and his fingers desperately pawing at Elliott’s hips not a few minutes later. Cryptos own clothing removed and his own cock aching as Elliott cradles his jaw, fingertips pressing lightly to feel the bulge in it every time he slides into his throat. Another appreciation for his piercing met every time he swipes it over the swollen head.

Crypto’s sure he’s drooling. Even by the time Elliott pulls out and is calling him a good boy. Even with the bed in the next room, Elliott can’t seem to wait. Lying Crypto down on the living room floor on his belly as he finds lube left behind on the coffee table from their LAST root around. Squirting a generous amount onto his fingers and working one into Crypto. Caressing his hip with his other hand and petting, telling him he’s a good boy, good baby.

Crypto hums in reply, cheek resting on his crossed arms under his head like a pillow. Cock jumping under his body, trapped and caged. By the time two fingers are in him, he’s sure he’s going to leave a stain on Elliott’s rug. Rocking his hips both into the rug for friction and back onto his fingers.

“Yeah, just like that. Keep it up, sweetheart.” Elliott is full of praise when he slips in a third finger. Making Crypto bite into his arm and shudder with each twist of fingers, scissoring them outwards and crooking them upwards.

A spurt of pre-cum leaves his cock and he can’t help the sob as his hips jump a bit as if stomping his foot. “Fuck me! Just- just fuck me, Elliott, I can’t take this!” Crypto hisses out, earning him a laugh from his boyfriend and an ‘alright, alright’.

He’s rolled onto his back. From there it’s a blur. The slow enter of Elliott leads to his legs around the trickster’s hips, arms around his neck and burying his face into his shoulder. No clothing between them, naked chest to naked chest, heartbeat to heartbeat.

Crypto’s cock is jostled with each thrust. Grinding up against Elliott’s slightly fuzzy abdomen and providing enough friction to keep him very much interested. Even if Elliott is hitting just right to where pleasure bubbles in his abdomen like butterflies.  

His teeth sink into Elliott’s shoulder just as Elliott begins fucking him harder. Whining into Crypto’s ear in response when the other tightens his hold around his waist. Biting at the shell of his ear, nuzzling at his hair, murmuring praise just below his ear where his lips brush and his stubble scratches pleasantly.

Crypto cums suddenly and without the warning of budding heat. It happens with a shock and his nails rake down Elliott’s back with a cry. “I love you- I love you I love you--” Escapes his lips in soft sobs as his hips buck upwards into Elliott’s abdomen. Smearing the cum there, which will make for a mess to clean up later.

Instead, Elliott only groans at the sudden tightness and whines back, “Fuck, I love you-” As his hips piston into his boyfriend beneath him.

It’s all too much. Crypto’s eyes are welling with tears from overstimulation. His legs tighten even further, giving Elliott not a lot of room to work with except grind. And even then it’s all too much.

He sobs as a dry orgasm wracks his frame, just in time to hear Elliott deliciously moan in his ear like a whore as he cums. Pressing a hard kiss to Crypto’s temple as they hold each other through it all on the floor.

With a satisfied sigh and tension leaving both their frames, Elliott carefully peels back to assess the damage. Looking down at Crypto splayed out, legs still locked around his hips but looser, his hands resting by his head and his head turned to the side. Face flushed, eyes teary, lips wet and swollen.

He looked beautiful.

Elliott says so too, with a soft sigh of, “Absolutely gorgeous.” As he cups Crypto’s chest with one hand. Running his thumb over a nipple just to watch him jerk and moan softly, smacking at his hand with a grumble.

He may have lost in the ring, but in the bedroom, Elliott ‘Mirage’ Witt always won.

Always.

#Cryptage #Crypto #Mirage #Apex legends #apex lemons #nsft #lemon #commissions #princess writing

[bigwhispersbluebird]

Kiss me behind closed doors

How long can you keep a relationship hidden? What happens when the truth comes out and burns everything in its wake? Even the love that once felt enough. 

Relationship: Namjoon!idol x Reader!idol

Canon compliant, angst, hints of smut

Author’s note: Another two-shot. Angst cause I am a bitter soul nowadays

The moonlight peeked through the curtains of the window, striking his naked back directly as he slept soundly on the side of my bed he had claimed as his own. I watched the white light illuminate the dips and curves of his back as if kissing him just like I had when he had showed up at my backdoor like it was routine. 

And perhaps it was. Sneaking to each other’s places in the quiet of the night, stolen glances in a room full of people and text messages sent and deleted over and over again. 

As I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at his sleeping form, I tried to memorize his face. The dragon eyes that seemed so innocent like this, the high rising cheekbones melting into deep dimples on the corner of his lips which highlighted the sharp jawline that arched into a prominent Adam’s apple. I curled into myself, wrapping my arms around my knees that were pushed into my body and inhaled his musky and woodsy scent that I was covered in, my eyes still not leaving him. 

When I first met Kim Namjoon, we both were stripped bare of the fame, money and eyes of people that urged us to be perfect. We were both on separate vacations and happened to run into each other at a club. Recognizing him, I had bowed to him slightly from afar and that was it. But the next day when I walked into a small local bookstore located at the edge of an alleyway, familiar eyes, now hidden behind thick black rimmed glasses, were staring at mine. Small conversation about books and we thought that it would be the last time these chance meetings would occur. But it was like the universe had conspired against us, throwing us together in the same places at the same time and it was a test of restraint and patience; what we both lacked as the pull between us got stronger everyday as we learned more and more about each other. 

The day before I had to return back home, a knock on my door had startled me because I knew who it was before I had even looked through the peephole. I often go back to that day. What would have happened if I had not opened the door? What if I had not let him utter all the things I had ached to hear? What if I had not let him pull me to him and close the door behind us? What if I had not let him stay the night? Or on all the nights that followed?

Maybe then I would not be sitting here on my own bed, afraid to fall asleep because that would mean losing time that was already running out. 

In Seoul, Kim Namjoon was RM, the leader of BTS, and I had no right to have him as a lover in my bed every night knowing well that the moment everyone found out that he was dating a controversial solo artist, everything would crash, burn and crumble into ashes at our feet. 

“We should stop”, I would say between fervent kisses getting deeper every time and he would kiss me more deeply, digging his long fingers in my hips agreeing, “We should”, but neither of us would stop, we could not. 

I don’t know how long I just sat in the same position on the bed but when a notification on his phone illuminated the screen and showed the time, I was brought out of my thoughts. The sun would be out soon and it was wise for him to leave before that. That was the norm after all. 

But as I inched closer to him, his hand reaching out in his sleep for mine, the bitter and sad part in me ached to stop being wise and smart. I wanted to let him sleep through the night and the morning. I wanted to wake him up with a good breakfast made out of the tons of groceries that I would shop for every month, only to toss them out the next. I wanted him to sit with me as we did everything and nothing at all. 

But I could not be selfish with him. 

And so, I softly tried to shake him up awake, “Joon, it is almost morning”.

Groggily, he replied, “What is the time?”.

“It is almost 5″.

At that, he immediately opened his eyes and jolted himself awake- getting up and searching for his clothes. Like routine, I got up from my place and helped him, handing him his shirt as he slipped on his pants. I watched him get ready, mask in place and a dark baseball cap lowered on his head, covering most of his face. Through the entire commotion, he had not spared me a single glance. If he had, he would know that with each article of clothing that he draped on himself, I felt like he was ripping it off me till I was completely unsheltered and cold.

When he was finally dressed, he slipped on his coat and made his way to the backdoor and I tiptoed behind him, opening the door before he could to check if anyone was outside. The area of my house was secluded and not many celebrities lived there either hence, we both barely went to Namjoon’s place. Like always, no one was around and I nodded at Namjoon. 

That is when he finally noticed, me and all the giveaways of a disturbed night in my eyes. He knew what was the cause of this and I saw him try to form words that would offer me some comfort. The great Namjoon, who would write meaningful lyrics on a spur and give speeches on massive platforms seemed so vulnerable, standing at my backdoor trying to wonder if words could be of any help and a part of me ached for him. 

I reached forwards, clinging to his massive body, my neck wounding around his neck, inhaling him. “I know”, I whispered in his ear and felt his arms tighten around me. The embrace did not last long and he kissed me one last time before he ran towards the street where he knew his driver would be waiting for him. 

Once he disappeared from my sight, I closed the door and slipped to the floor. The house suddenly felt vacant, even I felt vacant without his arms to touch me and his fingers to graze mine. 

I knew he was going through the same turmoil. When we both had gotten together, we knew it was not going to be easy but we both were prepared to adapt to however the circumstances would be. But after five years of hiding and sneaking, horrible rumors and no sight of any change in our situation in the near future had made us question how long could we keep this up for. I was exhausted and so was he. We would have pulled back a long time ago had not we been crippled by our feelings for each other. 

While the distance would torture us, it was during our breaks and vacations where everything would fall back into place and we would be reminded why we chose this. But I wonder now if those days of peace are worth breaking a piece of me every time he leaves.

*****

“Namjoon, is everything okay?”

Yoongi and Jin had watched for quite some time that Namjoon was disturbed. As the leader, he would barely show any signs of pain or weakness but it was quite evident that he was not in the right state of mind. Not to mention, his songs were now melancholic and painful, as if saying what he could not utter himself. 

“Of course”, Namjoon said a little too quickly and Jin quickly interrupted, “Don’t even try. We won’t believe you. So why don’t you just tell us”.

Namjoon lowered his head, finally letting the weight on his shoulders crush him and his hands  came to cover his face. 

“Is it Y/N?”, Jin asked hesitantly and Namjoon could not help but let out a sarcastic laugh. “I wish it was. I really wish it was her who was screaming and fighting with me about our situation. I wish she would stop opening whenever I knock on that damn door. Instead she lets me watch as she gets hurt everyday”, he was now screaming but he did not care. “You know how many times I met her in the last six months?”, not awaiting an answer, he continued, “Not once unless it was to stand at her backdoor at midnight so I could kiss her and sleep with her because I am scared that without these asshole-ish reminders of us, she will up and leave.” 

The room stayed silent when he stopped speaking, the only sounds audible were of his heavy breathing as he tried to compose himself. 

“She deserves better than a late night rendezvous. This is the woman I have loved for years for fuck’s sake!”.

“Namjoon, you people are not in an easy situation”, Jin tried speaking, “these few hours are all you both can afford and we know that it is difficult but this woman is enduring all this for you, for this relationship that you both have. How about this? As soon as we are done with the promotional activities, take her somewhere”. 

“And after that, hyung? Back to this?”, the question rendered Jin speechless. 

The room was quiet again. 

“Announce it”.

Yoongi was the one to break the silence. 

“What?”, Namjoon asked, genuinely confused. 

Yoongi sat straighter, leaning a bit more towards the younger one who sat across him. 

“Announce your relationship with Y/N. Whatever happens, we will handle it. I know that the general public does not like her a lot but most of our fans will be fine with it. About the rest, we will manage it. How long will the anger stay?”, Yoongi was talking as if it was the easiest thing in the world and the person in question stared at him like had lost his mind. 

“It is not that easy...”, Namjoon spoke up but was interrupted by the oldest. “Yoongi is right. Five years and on your way to the sixth. You people have endured enough and I know that you both deserve a fair chance at happiness. You know that so many people have dumped us because of the life we live but she has stood by you through it. It is high time that we all do this for her. And for you.”

“But...”

“No buts. I know that you cannot imagine losing her so it is not like we are making a casual relationship public. Just trust us. We will handle everything.”

Namjoon knew in his head that all this was easier said than done but as his older members kept talking, he could not help but accept that this was the right thing to do. You deserved more than just being fucked by your boyfriend in the late hours of the night and then left all alone. You did not deserve to have BTS pass you by in public because you were controversial when behind closed doors, you would share homemade meals and inside jokes. 

It was not going to be easy, but he would do it. For you. For him. But little did he know, that his well kept secret would soon be revealed to the world, but not in the way he could have ever anticipated. Not in a way that would forever end what you both had. 

#namjoon #bts #angst #hidden #canon #bangtan #rm #kim namjoon #Reader x Canon #namjoon x reader #relationship #controversy #feelings

[sandwichrin]

A Little Into You (Junkyu x Reader Fic) (Ch. 3)

Word Count: 3.6k words

Pairing: Kim Junkyu x Fem. Reader (Treasure members are all included as well)

Genre: PG-13, Comedy, Romance

A/N: Hi! Here’s the third chapter of the Junkyu x reader fic I’ve been working on! Tbh I really like this chapter because it has more of the other members in it :3 Hope you guys like it! Feel free to read the other chapters from my blog’s Masterlist! <3

Chapter 3 - The Girl?

It had been 3 days since the incident happened. Which one? Yeah, the one where Hyunsuk saved you from showing up to work all cat-urine-tainted by lending his shirt to you. It had also been three days of you bringing along his clean shirt that you’ve washed to work since you hadn’t bumped into him at all after the incident.

Did he forget about the shirt? You wondered if he even remembered the encounter you both had. What’s worst, you started to believe that he doesn’t even remember who you were.

What were you thinking? You both have only met briefly over a silly matter. You shouldn’t have expected that it could be anything more. Not that you were interested in him in any ways, you just thought that you could’ve at least made a new friend. The only friends you had were those whom you met in high school couple of years ago, but then you’ve lost touch with most of them ever since you moved out of your hometown after accepting the job your high school teacher offered you right after graduating.

It was a Friday, and you were looking forward to go to work because you usually only had to stay at work for only half a day on Fridays. You were even allowed to wear casual outfits on Fridays- since the company you work for encourages their employees to “have fun” at least once a week. (Weird, but sure dressing up casually to work isn’t something to complain about, right?)

“So, what are your plans today y/n?”, your colleague, Soomin asked. She was the one who sat not far opposite from your desk, and also the one who’s always making conversations in the office with you.

Not like you were unfriendly or anything, you just didn’t want to be too casual with your colleagues especially since you were the youngest there. The people in your office were mostly 6-10 years older than you, hence why you didn’t think you would fit much in their group. There’s also the fact where you’re an introvert at heart, which makes you prefer staying at home instead of joining any company dinners—but your colleagues never minded it, they knew you were the less social type.

“Oh nothing. I was thinking of heading straight back home after work. Maybe do some cleaning up at home later.”

“I see,” Soomin nodded. “Well if you feel like doing something fun, the rest of the department is going for a buffet lunch after work. You can join us if you want to.”

You smiled at her. “Thanks, I’ll let you know if I plan on joining.”

                                                              *

 It was lunchtime at the YG Building for the boys, and the whole Treasure group was at the company’s cafeteria, all cramped up with two to three tables joint together to cater all 12 of them.

Jaehyuk was sitting at the end of one side of the tables, playing with his food on his plate with the fork in his hand.

“…isn’t that right, Jaehyuk?”, Jihoon asked his dongsaeng who was sitting two seats away from him.

Jaehyuk snapped out of his trance, not realising his hyung had been talking to him.

“What?” he said, clearly unsure of what was going on.

“I said, the part where Junkyu jumped on Hyunsuk in the choreography should be changed. You said that you were thinking of changing Junkyu’s part with yours, am I right?”

“Oh yeah. That’s right. I feel like the choreography would look more balanced like that,” Jaehyuk replied, looking at Hyunsuk who was paying attention to him and Jihoon.

Hyunsuk nods in approval of the idea. “I think we can try that this evening. We’ll need to do it part by part though, to see if the flow works that way.”

“Yeah sure, we’ll do that.” Jaehyuk answered him.

Hyunsuk continued eating his food, and once in a while he would laugh at the jokes Yoshi kept spewing at Asahi who was sitting beside him. Jihoon on the other hand, noticed Jaehyuk barely touching his food. He also noticed that Jaehyuk was staring back into space.

“Hey Jaehyuk…”

Again, Jaehyuk was back in focus and he spooned some rice into his mouth. While chewing, he turned his attention to Jihoon, “Yeah hyung?”

“Are you okay? You’ve been quiet today…and you’re barely touching your food,” Jihoon asked, worried if anything was bothering Jaehyuk’s mind.

Everyone else at the table stopped talking and focused on both Jihoon and Jaehyuk.

“It’s nothing, I just don’t feel too well.” He looked down at his food again.

The rest of the boys exchanged glances with each other.

“Are you coming down with a fever hyung?”, Junghwan asked.

“It’s not like that…I just..don’t feel well.”

“Could it be…,” Jihoon said, making everyone focused on him.

“OH! I think so too, hyung!” Jeongwoo exclaimed loudly. He stood up and pointed at Jaehyuk. “Could it be-“

“OUR JAEHYUKKIE DIDN’T GET HIS DAILY DOSE OF BANANA UYU?” Both Jeongwoo and Jihoon said at the same time. The both of them cheered loudly and high fived since the both of them guessed the same thing at the same time.

“Really? You feel down for not getting banana milk?” Junkyu asked, confusion written on his face.

“Heyyyy it wasn’t just today okay! It’s been this way since yesterday!” Jaehyuk whined frustratedly. He picked on his food with his fork again.

“Aish hyung! You should’ve said so, we could’ve gone and look for it for you,” Jeongwoo said as he approached his hyung to give him a back hug.

“There weren’t any at the convenience store. I wanted it so badly.” Jaehyuk was already pouting on his own as the rest of the group continued watching him.

“Wait, which store did you go to? The one in front of the building or the one inside the building?” Yedam asked.

“Man, I’ve checked the store in this building. They don’t sell the banana uyu that Jaehyuk likes. They have banana milk, but it’s the different kind.” Jihoon said, as he took a sip off his drink.

Jaehyuk was still quiet, lost in his thoughts. He felt a gentle pat on his back. He raised his head to see Jeongwoo standing by his side. “It’s okay hyung, we’ll get you one.”

Jaehyuk squints at his friend. “What are you saying, Jeongwoo?”

“Yedam and I were planning to go to the convenience store outside.”

“For the banana milk??” Hyunsuk asked.

“No, god no. We wanted to get that limited-edition ramen cup they’re promoting on TV.”

“What? They have limited-edition ramen nowadays??” Doyoung said in disbelief.

“Yeah, they’re just making it limited edition because you’ll get the chance to win that PS5 game- I’m not sure what game but Jeongwoo wants it badly.” Yedam explained as he noticed everyone was staring at him weirdly.

“Hey. If we’re commited, we might win okay?” Jeongwoo exclaimed proudly.

“And how many of those have you bought, huh?” Jihoon asked.

Jeongwoo rubbed the back of his neck. “Well…I’ve bought 8 already…”

“WHAT?”

“Aigoo Jeongwoo! What are you going to do with the ramen then? You can’t eat too much of those you know that,” Hyunsuk was already nagging at him.

Jeongwoo covered his ears in response to Hyunsuk’s nagging. The rest of the boys laughed seeing him react that way. Even Hyunsuk laughed along.

“Anyways, hyung, Yedam and I can go check it out for you.” He said softly to his hyung. “Yedam-hyung. Let’s go.”

“Now? You want to go now?”

“Yeah, if we go any later, students coming back from prep school might buy ‘em all.”

“Alright.” Yedam got up from his seat and followed Jeongwoo who was already heading out of the cafeteria. Man, that kid is fast.

“Hey don’t forget to put on your masks too!” Hyunsuk called out to them.

“Aight!” Both Yedam and Jeongwoo said in unison.

                                                                *

 You just got out of your office, a little delayed than usual though since you had to apologize to each and every colleague you passed by for not joining them on their staff buffet lunch.

But the good thing about today was that, not only did you get to get off work in the afternoon, your casual attire made it easier for you to walk and move around. On the other days you would’ve worn your high heels to work but today you wore your white sneakers along with a matching white graphic tee under your cream-coloured cardigan.

You walked past the block of your office and once again, you were heading towards the YG building. This time, you weren’t distracted by it though. You were more focused on heading towards the convenience store opposite it.

Since it’s a Friday, you’ve made it a personal rule to eat ramen on Fridays as a celebration that you finished work early. You personally restricted yourself from eating any ramen on any other days simply because you wanted to make it seemingly special and worth looking-forward to eat them on Fridays.

You entered the convenience store and was greeted by a friendly welcome by the cashier. You smiled at him. You were sure he was already familiar with you since you made it a point to visit this shop every week to get what you needed.

You glanced around the shop to see if there was anything new being promoted. Your eyes landed to a customized aisle which showed a competition notice. You walked towards it to see what it’s all about.

Oh. A chance to win a PS5 game of your choice? The more ramen you buy, the higher chance of winning? You chuckled. It seemed that if one buys the ramen and gets a special code written under their ramen lid, they’d be one of the lucky winners. You tilt your head slightly and took one of the ramen cups off the shelf.

“Oh? Oh wait this isn’t the flavour I want,” you mumbled to yourself. You put the ramen cup back and scanned the rest of the shelf to see if the spicy stew flavour you liked was there. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there. Maybe it got sold out.

Sighing, you moved away from the shelf. You went to another aisle and grabbed yourself a bowl of instant cheese ramen. You walked up towards the cashier and placed the bowl onto the counter.

“This isn’t your usual pick, miss.” The cashier said, as he saw your slightly disappointed face.

“Yeah, the spicy stew one that I liked was out of stock I guess.” You smiled timidly at him.

“Oh right, that one. Yeah, it’s one of our bestsellers. But we have other spicy stew ramen too, if you’d like them instead.”

“Oh no, it’s alright. I’ll just have this one.”

“Okay,sure.”

He took the ramen bowl in his hand and was about to scan it when you stopped him. “Oh wait!”

The cashier seemed surprised by you.

“Sorry, I forgot to take a drink. I’m so sorry.”

The cashier grinned. “It’s fine, I’ll just scan this later.”

“Thanks.” You smiled. You left the counter and hurriedly walk up towards the refrigerator in the store.

As you were thinking of which drink to pick, two guys entered the store and you heard the cashier welcoming them from the payment counter.

“Hyungggg! They didn’t have the flavour I want!” You heard one of the guys said this.

“Come on Jeongwoo, you could just buy the game yourself you know. You already wasted plenty of ramen all for the sake of getting that winning code.”

“Hyung, you have to understand. If I win this, it shows how luck is indefinitely on my side! I worked hard for this.”

“For ramen?”

“Hyunggggg nooooo, listen, listen to me-“

Your focus was no longer on the boys once you heard one of them starting to give his hyung a pep talk about hard work and luck.

You picked up a carton of strawberry milk from the refrigerator since it’s what you always get from the store to pair up with your ramen. Your eyes landed on the small yellow bottle that was beside the strawberry milk you picked up.

Isn’t that the banana milk on TV? The one where most celebrities drink? You wondered, since you usually see artists drinking them in shows. You stretch out your hand to take it. It was the last bottle in the refrigerator.

You shrugged to yourself. Maybe you could try it and maybe you’ll know why everyone likes it so much. You closed the refrigerator door and carried both your drinks to the counter to pay.

You were about to take your money out of your purse to pay the cashier when you heard one of the loud boys earlier groaned in frustration. Your head turned to see what was going on.

“No way! It’s sold out again! What kind of spell did they use on that milk anyway?! It’s always sold out!”

Your turned back to the cashier and handed the money to him. After paying, you proceeded to put your stuff onto the table beside the payment counter. That spot was your usual seat whenever you were on your Ramen Friday days. (Yes, you actually named the occasion as Ramen Friday-- lol you and your dorkiness)

You heard one of the boys- the less loud one asking the cashier, “Do you have any backup stocks of the banana milk?”

“Sorry, we haven’t received the stock yet. It usually arrives around 3 in the evening.”

“God, how does it sell that fast!” The louder boy said, sounding very upset.

You glanced at the strawberry and banana milk in your hands. Should I give it to them? They seemed like they really need it, no?

“It’s okay Jeongwoo, we can come back later. I’m sure Jaehyuk doesn’t mind.”

“No. We have to go find one for him. Don’t you see how down he looked?” Jeongwoo whipped out his phone from his pocket. “There’s another convenience store two blocks away from here-“

“Jeongwoo-“ Yedam interrupted him. He was about to continue but you had already approached them by then.

“Excuse me,” you interrupted the both of them.

“Y-yeah?” Jeongwoo asked.

“I couldn’t help overhearing that…you guys were looking for this?” You showed them the banana milk in your hand.

“Yeah, we were. But it’s okay, that’s yours-“

“I actually bought it out of curiosity. I didn’t really need it. You can have it.” You held out the banana milk for them to take it from you.

Jeongwoo, who had been loud the whole time he was in the store, was the quiet one now. He looked at Yedam, relying on his hyung to deal with you.

“Really, just take it,” you smiled.

“I…thanks…I-I can pay for it,” Yedam reached for his wallet in his pocket.

“No, no! It’s fine, really. Just take it.” You pushed the milk into their hands. “It’s not gonna stay cold, so you should drink it fast.”

“Thank you, it’s for our friend actually.”

“Oh. Right. Then you better hurry up and give it to him or her then,” you grinned.

“Thank you so much.” Yedam thanked you again.

You smiled at them and made your way back to your seat.

Yedam and Jeongwoo was about to walk away when Yedam turned back around to approach you.

“I’m Yedam by the way. Thank you again.”

Jeongwoo’s eyes widened, seeing that his hyung exposed himself to a random girl. Jeongwoo tugged at Yedam’s arm, trying to tell him to stop.

You nodded at Yedam’s random introduction. “You’re welcome…Yedam.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to just take this and go without thanking you properly.”

“Come on hyung, we should go,” Jeongwoo whispered at Yedam.

You nodded again and smiled at them.

Jeongwoo was already pulling Yedam away from you when suddenly it hit you- Wait. Did he just say his name is Yedam? Your eyes shifted to them, the two boys wearing masks. You were sure that the other guy’s name was Jeongwoo when you heard them bickering near the ramen shelf. Jeongwoo….Yedam….? Could it be?

“Wait!” You called out to them.

The both of them stopped and turned around.

Oh no. Here it goes. She knows who we are- Jeongwoo panicked inside.

“Yes?” Yedam asked you.

“A-are you…Yedam from Treasure?”

“Yes.” Jeongwoo was surprised to see his hyung so confident in admitting who he was. He, on the other hand, was nervous since he had rarely interacted with fans without the supervision of their manager.

“Oh my god. That’s great-“you said but then you got cut off by Jeongwoo.

“Sorry, we can’t take any pictures with you without the consent of our manager.”

“What? Oh no-“You said, trying to stop them from misunderstanding.

“Jeongwoo! What are you doing?” Yedam whispered to his friend.

“Stopping us from getting into trouble!” he whispered back.

You shook your head, finding it funny that these boys were whispering in front of you but you could still hear them.

“No, I won’t take pictures or spread it to anyone that I bump into you both here- if that’s what you’re worried about,”

Jeongwoo’s eyes still showed that he didn’t trust you enough in your opinion so you went to your bag and took out a small paper bag out of it. You walked up to them and passed it to them, to which they took it with a confused look.

“I was hoping to give that to Hyunsuk-ssi, the leader of your group, but I haven’t seen him around so…if it’s possible, could you guys take it to him?’

Yedam and Jeongwoo exchanged glances with each other. Who is this girl? And why does she have a gift for their Hyunsuk hyung?? Does Hyunsuk hyung have a secret girlfriend they don’t know of??

“I…I’m sorry,” Yedam spoke, “I’m not sure if we can pass gifts to our members…I mean, we’re not sure if our manager allows it, since it’s not a fan event…” Yedam continued, sounding unsure of what he said either.

You chuckled. “I can assure you that’s not a gift. It’s his stuff. But if it might get you both into trouble, I can give it to him myself, no worries,”

Yedam nodded at your explanation. He was about to give the paper bag back to you when Jeongwoo’s phone rang.

“Hello? Ah, hyung! What? No, no, sorry! We’ll be right back! Yup, see you!”

“Who was it?” Yedam asked him.

“It’s Jihoon hyung,” Jeongwoo stuffed his phone into his pocket. “He was worried what took us so long here.”

“Oh right! We better go then!” Yedam turned to you and bowed slightly, “Thank you again for the milk. Our friend would appreciate it.”

“Yes, thank you again.” Jeongwoo said as well.

“Let’s go!” Yedam said to Jeongwoo as the both of them hurried out of the store.

You stood there, lost for words. Didn’t…Yedam said that they could get into trouble for passing stuff to their members from outsiders? But…why was your paper bag still with them when they left?? You started to worry if anything were to happen to them.

                                                                *

 Jihoon stood up from his seat, both hands on his hips. “What took you both so long? Did you both get lost or something?”

“Pfft. Both Jeongwoo and Yedam getting lost in a convenience store right outside our building! That’s so funny!” Junkyu bursted out laughing.

Unfortunately for Junkyu, he was the only one laughing at what Jihoon said, as everyone was more focused on Jeongwoo and Yedam who looked like they had sprinted back to the cafeteria.

Jeongwoo was huffing when he approached Jaehyuk, “Here, hyung. Look what we got you! It’s the only one left too,” He handed the banana uyu to his hyung.

Taking the banana milk from Jeongwoo’s hand, Jaehyuk felt touched by his friend’s effort of cheering him up. “Jeongwoo…”

Jaehyuk got up from his seat and pulled Jeongwoo into a hug. “Thank you so much, both of you,” he looked at Yedam as well.

Yedam nodded and smiled at his hyung.

Jihoon was sitting back in his seat when he saw the paper bag in Yedam’s hands. “Hey, Yedam. What’s that in your hands?”

Yedam didn’t realise he was still holding your ‘gift’, in which he gasped out loud when Jihoon pointed it out that the bag was still with him.

Jeongwoo too, was surprised. “Hyung, I thought you gave it back to her?”

“I…I didn’t realise—” this time, Yedam was the one with the panicked look on his face instead of Jeongwoo.

“Wait, what’s in the bag? And who’s her?” Hyunsuk voiced out.

Yedam and Jeongwoo looked at each other. Jeongwoo gestured Yedam to explain to their hyung what happened.

“Well,” Yedam started to speak. He looked at Jeongwoo again. Jeongwoo nodded at him, telling him to go on. “Well hyung, you see…the girl asked me to pass this bag to you. I mean, I told her that I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to pass gifts to any of the members but…well, I think I might have accidentally taken it from her instead.”

Hyunsuk’s eyebrows furrowed. “A gift? For me?”

“No, no hyung. She said it was Hyunsuk-hyung’s stuff, didn’t she?” Jeongwoo confirmed with Yedam.

“Oh yeah, she said it wasn’t a gift. It was your stuff she wanted to pass I think?”

“Huh. I guess I might as well take it then.” Hyunsuk stretched out his hand, expecting Yedam to hand in the paper bag to him.

But then, just as the paper bag almost reached his hands, Jihoon snatched it away from him.

“Jihoon! Come on, that’s mine!” Hyunsuk whined at his friend who was giggling at his reaction.

“Oh come on Hyunsuk, you’re no fun! What are you hiding from us anyways? Who’s this girl you’re seeing behind our backs, huh?” Jihoon smirked.

“What? What are you talking about Jihoon?” Hyunsuk asked in confusion.

To be continued...

#treasure #ygtreasure #treasuremembers #kimjunkyu #kim junkyu #junkyu treasure #junkyu x reader #junkyu fanfic #treasurefic #comedy #romance

[he-flies-me-to-the-moon-and-back]

There’s Cas

“There’s nothin’ wrong goin’ on between us, babe. I was at home with Cas all the time. Ain’t cheatin’ on ya, if that’s what ya think,” Dean explains.

“Then? Why can’t you spend time with me in my apartment if you got nothing better to do?” asks Leona.

Nothin’ better to do? Dean asks himself the same question. It’s not like I’m wastin’ my time with Cas. We had fun. That’s definitely somethin’ better to do.

He Flies Me to the Moon and Back - Chapter 3

The last argument Dean and Castiel had over the idea of Castiel leaving him for LA once he’s hitched got Dean all wary and cautious around Castiel. It has been two weeks since that argument happened, and Dean is no longer away from their apartment for more than a day. Dean would always come back home before the day ends, even if he was spending his time with his girlfriend. He tries to keep Castiel company and entertained despite his busy schedule.

Dean doesn’t want Castiel to leave Long Beach. Not to his expense. He is afraid Castiel is going to reconsider his idea back whenever he feels like this place is no longer worthy to be staying. Dean is terrified of that outcome.

Hence, after he is done with his work shift at the florist (Dean thinks it’s a good front to covering up his true identity), Dean hurriedly grabs his bag from the back room of the store where staffs keep their belongings, and he goes back to the front store towards the flower bouquet displays. He looks around and expertly snatches a bouquet of calla lilies off the rack before he makes his way to the exit.

“Tell Brian I’ve paid for these,” says Dean as he opens the store entrance with his large body after he twirled around by the door, showing a big grin on his face to Maria, his co-worker who is now standing by the counter. “I’m out!” Maria chuckles and cries, “Okay!” before the door closes behind Dean.

With a bouquet of flowers in his hand, Dean walks on the pavement with light steps on his feet. He hums under his breath a merry tune. His lips are smiling from ear to ear. His face glows with happiness.

He can’t wait to be home.

He checks his wrist watch on his left hand and notices the time. He’s not home yet, he reminds himself. He takes out his phone from his jeans’ pocket and instantly pushes the call button on “Cass”. The phone rings a few times before there’s a click sound at the end of the line.

“Hello, Dean. What can I do for you?”

“Hey. Where ya at, Cas?”

“I’m at the park. Why?”

“Ya workin’?” Dean skillfully avoids himself from bumping into another man on the sidewalk before he decides to stand still against the glass window of a shop. He can’t be talking and walking on this crowded street at the same time.

“Yeah. I’m walking Sebastian’s dog. Why?”

“When are ya gonna be home?”

“Maybe in an hour or so? I’m gonna grab a few buns at the bakery. You want anything, Dean?”

“Nah. Don’t think I want buns today. What’s for dinner anyway?”

Dean can hear Castiel’s humming at the end of his line as he is thinking about a good answer to Dean’s question. “We ate burgers last night. Pizza two nights ago. So… spaghetti?”

“Sounds awesome. I’ll see ya at home.” Dean is about to hang up before he remembers something. “And DON’T LET THAT DOG STEER YA AWAY FROM YA PATH! We both know how that ended the other day.”

It is quiet at Castiel’s end. Dean knows that Castiel is trying his best not to sigh if not rolling his eyes at Dean’s sharp comment. “Alright, Dean.”

Dean smiles victoriously after hearing Castiel’s defeating answer. He can’t help but chuckles a little as he continues walking back home to their apartment.

________

Dean is humming to the song Eye of The Tiger while he gets off the elevator once he reached his floor. He keeps on humming and air-strumming the guitar with his eyes closed as he approaches the apartment when suddenly he hears a familiar voice.

“Dean …”

He immediately opens his eyes just to see Leona standing at the door to his apartment. Her arms are folded across her chest. Not a good sign in Dean’s opinion.

“Leona! What brings ya here?” he asks with genuine surprise in his tone.

“You?” Leona answers sassily - she is clearly dissatisfied about something that Dean has done.

Dean frowns. “Me?” He unlocks the door and lets Leona enter first before him. He closes the door behind them and follows Leona to the living room where she has seated herself on the leather couch, staring at Dean in an unamused manner. “What about me?” he continues to ask as he sits down next to her.

Leona glares softly at him before she begins to speak. “What happened, Dean? Why suddenly you’ve changed?”

“Changed? Me? Whadd’ya mean?” His eyebrows are now knitted closely to display his confusion.

Leona sighs deeply in order to calm herself down. She doesn’t want to accuse Dean of anything before she learns about everything she needs to know in regard of the issue between her and Dean. “We were good a month ago. You spent a lot of time with me back in my apartment. But then, suddenly… you just changed.”

Dean listens attentively to his girl’s words.

“You no longer sleeping in my apartment. You always wanna go back to this apartment urgently, as if there’s some emergency back in here – EVERY – SINGLE - DAY.” Leona takes a deep breath and lets out another big sigh. “I’m just saying that we ain’t spending time together much nowadays. Should I know something, Dean?” she asks earnestly while staring at Dean.

Dean becomes speechless as he’s being questioned by Leona. He doesn’t know what to say to her that wouldn’t come off like he’s clinging onto Castiel from leaving him alone. His brain tries to come up with a reasonable answer that can bury Leona’s suspicion while at the same time protecting his image.

He sighs lightly. “There’s nothin’ wrong goin’ on between us, babe. I was at home with Cas all the time. Ain’t cheatin’ on ya, if that’s what ya think.”

“Then? Why can’t you spend time with me in my apartment if you got nothing better to do?”

Nothin’ better to do? Dean asks himself the same question. It’s not like I’m wastin’ my time with Cas. We had fun. That’s definitely somethin’ better to do.

Luckily he doesn’t say that out loud. He glances at Leona and takes her hands into his, holding them firmly to convey his reassurance thru touch. “I’m just tryin’ to keep Cas happy, that’s all. He’s alone here, ya know. And he only have ME here in this big city. I can’t just leave him alone in this apartment.”

“Then what about making ME happy, Dean? Is my happiness doesn’t count to you?” Leona pleads with her eyes. Dean feels trapped.

“Leona …” he sighs. “I will try to spend time with ya more, alright? I’m sorry.” He leans over towards Leona and pecks her lips softly, trying to reassure her yet again. Leona is on the fence with Dean’s words - she’s not sure if she can rely on his promise in this case. But she eventually cracks a smile on her face and nods understandingly.

“Okay. I’ll be expecting YOU at my house tomorrow, mister.” She gives Dean a light kiss on his lips before she gets up off the couch, making her way to the door. “I’ll be going now. See ya later, babe,” she says as she opens the door. Then, her eyes catch the sight of the calla lilies bouquet. “Nice flowers,” she beams brightly before closing the door behind her.

Dean flashes a big, warm smile back at her as the door shuts. Instantly a deep sigh escapes his lips, feeling drained by the conversation he just had with his woman. “Damn,” he says, “I’m so damn exhausted right now.”

Suddenly, the door lock makes a clicking sound. Apparently someone is trying to unlock the door from the other side.

“IT AIN’T LOCKED, CAS,” Dean says loudly from where he’s seating.

Castiel emerges from behind the door. His face is frowning, as per usual. “Why didn’t you lock the door?”

Dean shoots Cas a dirty look. “I just got home, Cas. I forgot to lock the door.”

Cas glances at the door and Dean alternately before he locks the door properly and joins Dean in the living room. “Well… You shouldn’t be forgetful. We might get robbed next time.” Castiel nods his head passionately. Dean rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Alright. I’ll do that next time.” Then, he leans forward to reach for the flower bouquet.

“Here’s flowers for ya,” Dean says casually as he hands over the bouquet to Castiel, who naturally receives it into his hands. He steals a glance at Castiel to see the angel’s reaction. Since he sees nothing more he wanted to see from the smiling angel, he nonchalantly lies to cover his ass, “I got 'em for free. They almost gone bad.”

“Wow… Thanks, Dean. I love calla lilies,” Castiel responds gratefully while taking a whiff of the beautiful flowers. “Oh! I got you apple pies from the bakery.”

Dean smiles widely at that statement. “Awesome!”

#destiel fic #spn fic #supernatural fanfic #destiel fanfic #domestic!AU #spn fanfiction #domestic!destiel #supernatural fic #dean winchester #castiel #domestic bliss #he flies me to the moon and back #fly me to the moon #there's cas #fanfiction.net #ao3

[broadwayandnetflix]

It’s Always Been You - Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Language

Theme: Fluff, Pining, Semi-Angst

Summary: Being the youngest princess in a wealthy kingdom definitely has its ups and downs, especially when your father is trying to court you away to some wealthy prince. 

Word Count: 2.2k

A/N: This was made for @bucky-smiles​ Secret Santa Writing Challenge, and I wrote this for the lovely @delicatelyherdreams​. I really do hope that you enjoy this, even with its late arrival. I feel as though this story went in a million different ways, but I tried to do you justice. I also hope you enjoy my very creative way of coming up with kingdoms. (no sarcasm here)

You sat upright on your mattress, eyes closed, and knees tucked underneath you, a faint smile gracing your lips. The air of your bedroom peaceful, quiet minus the soft sound of your record player playing in the background, calm and serene.

Rarely if ever, you had moments like these to yourself. Periods where you can just relax and not have to help your family tend the Kingdom.

Where you could simply pop open a book, wear more comfortable clothes, do nothing, go out, and not have Barnes check up on your every move. Well, you could let that last one slide.

For the last 19 years, your existence has been claimed by your family’s royal history. From the first day of your life, you were titled as one thing and one thing only.

Y/N Y/L/N, Princess of Starkonia.

You were to be polite, flexible, and accepting of those around you, you had to be presentable and prepared at your father’s beck and call. You needed to be present during ceremonies, and get prepared for what seemed to be your most significant task, marriage.

Even the mention of the word tasted bitter on your tongue, the prospect of being wedded to a man you barely knew was revolting. Yet, just like your sisters did before you, you too would have to get married at some point.

Savannah was first, marrying some big wig from a neighboring country. Juliet was next, getting married at only nineteen to one of the richest princes from Rogeria. Shortly after followed Hannah, who conveniently married Juliet’s husband’s brother.

Growing up, marriage was all your sisters could talk about. Often dreaming of what they would wear on their wedding day, or how they would soon one day become queen, conjuring up the royal subjects that they would lead and inspire over.

You would listen, of course, with an eager grin, but whenever they would ask for your input, you’d often draw a blank. Even during your early teenage years, you couldn’t really imagine your future starting off with marriage. Which, of course, was unusual regarding your sister’s childhood, so you often became alienated from discussions.

So you found refuge in the likes of one of your father’s young knights, James Buchanan Barnes. Or Bucky to you and you only. Despite his dedication and serious attitude to his job, you’d often find time to sweep him away.

The two of you frequently met in secret within the palace’s gigantic library, reading side by side, eating stolen pastries from the boisterous and clattering kitchen.

Underneath the full bookshelves of the library was where the two of you let your guard’s down. Both of you share secrets that you’d tell no one else, read books from the tallest shelves, and chatter on about the latest palace gossip.

The library was where you learned that Bucky was an aspiring writer, but became a knight to make a living and impress his father. He was thoughtful, quiet, but also quite humorous, always seeming to tickle you with his quips and comments.

In response, you shared your distaste of marriage and how you desired a more straightforward career that didn’t require so much attention. Instead of being judgmental and critical of your complaints, Bucky, to your delight, welcomed them with considerate eyes, and a listening ear.

Bucky made your days meaningful, always giving you something to look forward to, an escape if you will. So when your father, unbeknownst to your growing duo, made Bucky be your personal guard, the two of you were ecstatic.

Of course, you knew the reasoning behind this, your father valued your safety, being the youngest of your family meant that you were the last to be scooped up. Given your family’s rich lineage, courting, you would be a satisfying compromise for growing countries and their princes.

Bucky would often find himself falling subject to your long, and constant complaints about your potential suitors.

Nobody ever seemed to meet your fancy. Thor of Asgard was too self-absorbed, Bruce of Bannaria was too quirky, or worst of all, Samuel of Willaria was way to forthcoming.

Oh, how they all gave you quite a headache!

You could tell that your father was becoming quite frustrated with your lack of progress. Day by day would pass with to no avail, you’d always find some way to shoot each of them down.

Dinner’s would be filled with short tempers and argumentative quips that’d send you to sleep angry and exhausted. Unless you found a suitor that satisfied your father over yourself, then you could make him proud.

Yet through thick and thin, Bucky remained a constant in your life, even if he technically had to be. The two of you would often explore the little village outside of the palace. Complete with bustling vendors within the local farmer’s market that sold ripened fruit, pastries, linens, and fresh honey from the town’s apiaries.

You always found joy in seeing the many vendors that always greet you with a smile. Or seeing the kids that would run around trying not to trip over themselves to see the royal horses. Days like these were your escape as they were Bucky’s who could always be found in the town’s small bookstore.

Days where you don't have to prove yourself to anyone or focus on whomever you were going to marry. These days were your favorite, like this one, in particular, your mother and father out for a gathering with a neighboring kingdom.

Despite the flurry of servants and staff that resided in the palace, you were technically by yourself for the day. That was until you hear a knock on your door, open your eyes, and swing your legs forward to stand up from your bed.

“Come in!” you called out before rushing over to lower the sound on your record player.

The door opened with a swing and in stormed Bucky with a sour disposition, a scowl planted firmly on his lips. You gaped wide-eyed at the sight in front of you, never had you seen Bucky so angry.

“What’s wrong?” you asked quickly, watching as he simply paced your room, ignoring you.

That is until he stopped abruptly before focusing his gaze onto you, his shoulders sagging almost immediately. He stood in his uniform minus the exception of his gloves, his metal fingers reflecting in the light that streamed through your window.

“My father,” he huffed, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes tightly, “My father found my novel and went fucking ballistic.” he seethed.

Concern flooding your senses, you move forward to comfort him but ultimately decided against it, taking a step back to give him some space. Bucky’s father had always been tough on him, especially after the loss of Bucky’s mother.

Bucky, more often than not, had to take control of the house to protect himself and his little sisters while his father went out and got drunk at the local taverns. Hence why he had this job in the first place, ultimately crushing any dreams that Bucky had for writing.

“How could I be so stupid? I shouldn’t have left it in plain sight! Or, more specifically, a place where I should’ve known that Rebecca would’ve found it!” he exclaimed, cursing himself quietly, eyes widened like saucers.

“Bucky, you aren’t stupid, and there was no way you could’ve known that she would’ve found it,” you replied quietly, catching his gaze just for a second before he focused it elsewhere.

He exhaled heavily clamping his eyes shut, despite the way he held himself up, you could still see the slight tremble between his legs.

“I’m sorry that your father reacted the way he did. Buck, you don’t deserve that kind of treatment from your father.” you continued on before sitting down on the bed, his eyes opening warily at the sound of you falling against the cushions.

He watched you sit momentarily before joining you without a second thought, his much taller figure slumping onto the bed, before resting his head against yours.

You grew rigid at his touch, trying to fight the pounding in your heart that seemed to echo painstakingly loud in your chest. His arms snaking their way around to your side before he let out a shaking sigh, his metal armor cool to the touch on your skin.

Why do you feel so sweaty all of a sudden? You two had never been this close before, so why does this feel oddly comfortable? Is that cologne? Bucky smells..nice.

“Thank you.” he murmured ever so quietly so only you could hear.

“Anytime Buck, anytime.” you exhale promising yourself that you’d hold him as long as he deemed necessary.

-

One Week Later

“Come on, sister! Is there really nobody that you fancy nowadays?” Savannah, your oldest sister, exclaimed one evening as the two of you caught up as of your monthly tradition. Her eyes all giddy, hands on her hips in a way too over dramatic manner.

You frowned at the comment presented in front of you, of course, you did not ‘fancy’ any of the young princes offered to you. Yet, there did appear to be someone who did cross your mind more than often nowadays.

Bucky.

No, that didn’t mean you fancied him. Of course not, Bucky was … well, Bucky. He was your best friend, best friends don’t date. Princesses most certainly don’t marry knights either that was just fairy tale nonsense. Father would never approve either.

“Well?” Savannah quipped, her body tilting as she shifted all of her weight onto one foot.

You swallowed sheepishly, glancing down at your feet, flinching at the excited squeal that your sister let out as the realization sunk in.

“Oh my gosh! Y/N! Tell me everything? Who is he? Is he cute? Oh, tell me he’s cute!?” Savannah cried out, nearly tripping over her dress to pull you into a bone-crushing hug.

“Savannah!” you gasped, squirming your way out of her hold, looking at her all bewildered.

“Sorry, It’s just, my baby sister finally found someone,” she replied before taking a seat on your bed, looking at you expectantly.

“Okay, well, for starters, I don’t even know if I like him. I’m friends with him, but he’s just been very touchy lately,” you admit before plopping down beside her lying down on your bed.

“Define touchy,” she questioned while following your actions, her hair now brushing up against yours.

You glanced at her perplexed, the two-year history between you and Bucky swirling around in your mind. Why now? Why were you questioning it now?

“I don’t know, he’s just been a lot closer than he used to be.” you murmur as you rub your face in frustration.

“Don’t tell me this is that young knight that always follows you around like a lovesick puppy?” Savannah exclaimed as she sat upright, looking at you wide-eyed.

“He does not!” you retort back.

“Oh, it so is! You have to tell him!” her voice reaching a pitch that you didn’t think was possible.

“I don’t think I could even stomach that, what if he rejects me?” you sigh, sitting upright only to notice your bedroom cracked open slightly ajar.

“I’m sorry, is this a wrong time?” a voice calls out as the door pushes forward to reveal Bucky.

You have the hold back the gasp that threatened to escape your lips. Bucky catches your gaze, noting the tension in the air between you three before adjusting it onto your sister, who was just as surprised as you.

“I’m guessing this is the wrong time,” Bucky stammers awkwardly before turning around to go.

“Wait!” you cry out, causing him to turn back around, eyeing you curiously.

“I, I need to talk to you about something,” you stammer anxiety pricking at your skin. You felt hot and heavy, the bed dipping as Savannah slipped out the door.

Bucky letting the door close behind him, before walking over to sit beside you on the bed, just as you did for him not so very long ago. He looked at you with an expression that you couldn’t quite decipher, his eyes searching yours for what you were saying.

“You know I don’t know why it hasn’t hit me sooner,” you start trying to hide the shakiness of your words.

“No one ever seemed right, or just worth my time, not even if my parent’s approval was on the line.” he nods to himself slightly at that, chuckling softly.

“I’d be so disappointed with myself, and then I would turn around, and you would be there. Bucky, you have always been there for me,” you admit swallowing before mustering up the courage to meet his eyes.

“It’s been you, Buck, it’s always been you. You are the one I want, I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner.” the words fall from your lips, and just like that, it’s as if time stops for just a second.

The room that felt heavy and thick with hesitation or the anxiety that clung to your skin evaporated. All you could see was Bucky and the soft smile that complimented his features. The way his hand slipped into yours, the way he didn’t look away from you as he inched closer.

The way his hand caressed your check sending shivers down your spine, or the way he kissed you with a longing that had never felt so good. Who knew someone could taste so good, or smell so good.

It was perfect, it was long overdue, and it was brand new all at once. And you couldn’t wait to see where it takes you next.

#cmmsecretsanta #@broadwayandnetflix #2019 #bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #marvel #bucky barnes x reader #fluff #pining #fanfiction #@delicatelyherdreams #marvel x reader #royal au

[usurpyr-a]

Eren has always been a quick eater - doesn’t really take the time to actually taste his food. There’s always something else on his mind, something he needs to do or wants to get started on as quickly as possible. Eating has always just been another chore on the list of things he needs to accomplish for the day - routine, and little else, outside from a few special occasions where he gets to sit down with friends and have a quiet moment to relax.

( He still forgets to eat sometimes, more often than could be explained away as an unhealthy habit. Mikasa will take any and every opportunity to chastise him about this - but he’ll return the favor with twice as much obnoxiousness. He’s not oblivious, he’s just … busy. Time gets away from him, is all. )

Despite this, he’s not a picky eater by any means. After Wall Maria fell, he was forced to survive on the meager rations afforded to all of the refugees … which usually only ever consisted of bread and other bland excess - designed to be filling, not to be enjoyed. This was only exacerbated by his time as a trainee / in the military. Even when the Walls started recovering after Shiganshina was reclaimed - and when they started importing cuisine from other nations across the sea - he was prudent with his food. He’ll try anything once, but he prefers to stick to the basics whenever possible.

Even so, he vastly prefers savory over sweet … He doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth at all, actually. Obnoxiously over-sweetened foodstuffs tend to upset his stomach, but there are a few notable exceptions - like chocolate. He’s a big fan of chocolate, despite its rarity. The darker and more bitter the better.

( Falco was the one to introduce him to chocolate - it doesn’t exist in the Walls. It’d been a surprise … Falco had wanted to thank Mr. Kruger for being so understanding, and Eren had been too stunned to refuse - so. They’d shared it together one morning, at the hospital, in their usual seats. Eren had felt bad about Falco spending any amount of money on him, but he’d been reluctantly convinced to accept the kind gesture for what it was. That was the moment Eren realized that he genuinely considered Falco to be a friend of his, and it broke his heart. The chocolate had been the best thing he’d ever tasted. )

Eren has a high tolerance for spices. His mother always liked to cook with flavor and flair - sometimes Mikasa will take the opportunity to make him some soup the way she knows will be immediately familiar to him. She’s the only one who can get it right - who knows the exact ratios to remind him of home. It’s his one comfort food, though he doesn’t like to admit how much he actually really likes it.

He … doesn’t really get what the big deal is about meat. He’s had it before, yeah, and he recognizes that in the Walls it’s a delicacy, but … it’s just ‘meh’ in his opinion. Much to Sasha’s great dismay ( and abject horror ). You just haven’t had it cooked the proper way yet, you big dumb idiot-

( Meat makes him queasy. It’s stupid, but ever since he unlocked the memory of eating his father, of his father slaughtering the Reiss kids ... )

Same goes for alcohol. He doesn’t get buzzed as quickly as most people … something to do with his regenerative ability, he hypothesizes. The taste is awful and it doesn’t go down easy - makes his throat feel sticky. Why Jean insists whiskey is basically God’s nectar he’ll never understand … but if there’s a bottle being passed around, why not ? It’s not like he’s going to be the one to refuse everyone a good time, even if he thinks it’s all a bit overrated.

Eren used to get extremely exhausted after using his Titan powers. It takes a lot of energy to be able to shift - hence why he used to pass out almost immediately after overdoing it. When he woke up he was always starving - it led him to eating so fast at times that he often made himself sick. They learned quickly to keep snacks on hand; this task was usually entrusted to either Armin or Mikasa, anyone who was going to be around Eren when he was shifting. It got much better with time and practice, though he still gets more hungry than tired nowadays. If he doesn’t eat something after being in Titan form - even if it’s a half-shift and especially if he shifts multiple times in a row - he’ll get cranky and irritable and complain of headaches.

( Though he wasn’t afforded much opportunity to practice with the Warhammer Titan’s abilities, he’d quickly learn that using them would lead to him inexplicably craving something salty or dry, like jerky. )

Eren is a decent cook - that is, he can be trusted not to burn anything, but his faults lie in his impatience, which leads to things being undercooked. His fellow cadets could always tell when he’d been the one on kitchen duty. Still, he knows how to measure ingredients, knows how to dice evenly … he’d much rather be a helper than the head chef in charge. He’s not motivated to just cook things on a whim, and he’s not really a good baker. Anything more complicated than potatoes and soup and he might flounder a bit.

He’s also not a big fan of tea - or at least, not the way Levi orders it to be prepared. But it’s a taste he’s forcefully acquired ( mostly out of respect, and fear, of the Captain’s wrath, should he mess it up ). Levi, ironically enough, doesn’t realize this - and considers Eren to be one of the few people he can share tea with, as is his only pastime. At this point, Eren lacks the courage to bring up the fact that he doesn’t like it that much … Levi has lost all of his usual tea-time companions, after all. It’s part guilt and part hero-worship; to be able to spend any amount of time with the guy he’s admired since childhood … well. Even to this day it still manages to make him feel a little awestruck.

With his high ranking in the military, he was gradually given a greater allowance throughout the years - since he doesn’t like spending money on himself, he’ll buy things for his friends, if he passes a stall and is reminded of one of them. Every time he sees apples, for example, he’ll think of Historia and buy a few fresh ones to pass around at the orphanage. If he finds trail mix, he’ll buy some for Connie. Fresh herbs for Mikasa, dumplings for Armin, bacon for Sasha … And, just to be an ass, carrots for Jean.

He went days without eating in preparation to leave for Marley and adopt the persona of a wounded soldier. He might not have been able to explain his lack of scars, but anyone would look at his gaunt cheeks and hollowed eyes and not question his belonging amongst a crowd of similar shell-shocked faces. He still didn’t eat when he got to the hospital. Not for another week.

#eat a snickers eren you're not you when you're hungry