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#i feel like they’re gonna pull one of those kids animated movies move
simply-m-a-d · 3 years
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c!Quackity manipulating c!Charlie and all that but one of these days c!Charlie will pull out a friendship uno reverse card like that one post of “I made us friendship bracelets” and c!Quackity will fuckin break then and there
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shorkbrian · 4 years
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Can you write about step bro kirishima getting in the shower with you or something along those lines?
(This was supposed to be a Drabble but it’s like??? a one shot bt also a Drabble idek what's going on anymore)
okay a Thot™️ butokei okei oeki hear me out 
Friday night, you’re taking a shower and washing off all the grime from the day. The hot water is so relaxing and so you take a bit longer than you normally do, relishing in the heat loosening your tense muscles and flowing over you like a warm hug.
Step bro Kiri barges in, fresh from football practice that ran a little late - the school had been locked up so they couldn’t use the locker rooms. He’s sweaty and tired and he just wants to take a shower and pass out, hadn’t even realized you were in there.
Your hands fly to cover yourself, you yell at him to get out. He closes the bathroom door, but he’s on the wrong side, still inside the bathroom as he locks the door. Then he’s stripping out of his clothes, giving you that sweet, goofy grin.
“Aw, c’mon, can I just jump in with you? I’ll be real quick, promise.”
You shriek at him, still trying to cover yourself. “No! Leave, dude!”
But he just shakes his head, shucks off his jockstrap and you’re turning bright red, averting your eyes to the ceiling so you don’t have to see his dick (But holy cow, he’s huge)
And then he’s stepping in with you, putting his big hands on your shoulders to gently move you to the side so he can get under the spray of hot water. You splutter - what does he think he’s doing, you’re siblings!
You try to verbalize this, but Kirishima just shrugs. “I did it with my dad’s family.”
That elicits a frown. You were pretty sure he was an only child, and his dad had never talked about any other kids. But he wasn’t going to leave, and if it didn’t bother him, if it was normal and routine for him to shower and not be shy about his nakedness....
Still, you try your best to cover yourself as you reach for the conditioner. You’re a bit shy about your body, feel weak and chubby next to Kiri, who’s ripped as all fuck.
You’re battling with insecurity as you turn away from him, face the wall to start putting conditioner in your hair. Next thing you know, your stepbrother has his hands in your hair, scritching and scrubbing and helping you rub in the conditioner. 
Body tensing, you make to turn, bat his hands away but then you remember you’re naked, so you stay put. You huff at him as he refuses to let up, hands following you no matter how you move.
“Let me help, it’s the least I can do after intruding on your shower time.”
He washes your hair. Offers to help you scrub down too but you quickly decline. Then he’s handing you the shampoo and conditioner, asks if you wouldn’t mind getting his hair. It always such a pain to wash out all the gel.
His back is turned, you figure it’s not that big of a deal so you agree. 
You’re thorough and clinical, robotic as you scrub in the shampoo, wash it out. Squirt conditioner into your hands, massage that in. He’s sitting on the shower stool so you can reach, make it easier on your arms.
And then he moans.
You freeze up, but his hand catches yours before you can pull away from his head.
“Sorry, keep-keep going.”
You do, hesitantly. Your hand catches on a knot and you pull a little too hard, a few strands of hair come away and your stepbrother is moaning again, and you’re done - this is too weird, you’ll finish showering later.
Before you can turn, step out of the shower, Kirishima is facing you - eyes level with your chest.
“Kiri!” You yelp, covering your chest with your hands. His eyes flick downwards, in between your legs, and you quickly try to cover that part of your body too, but he catches your hand, standing up so he towers over you.
“Hey, hey... you’re beautiful, no need to hide. I don’t.” He winks at you as he grabs your other hand, pulling it away from your chest. You don’t have time to yell at him before he’s opening his mouth again.
“Wow, you’re really pretty, you know that? Prettiest girl I know.”
You’re blushing and trying to pull your hands back, but Kiri won’t let you, dark eyes flicking up to meet yours. He looks different like this - hair dark with water, hanging down in his face, eyes hooded and filled with an emotion you don’t dare try to decipher. You know you won’t like putting a name to that look.
“Look, you’re so pretty you made me all hard.”  He chuckles, chuckles.
Horrified, you can’t stop yourself from looking down, getting a full glance of the full dick between his legs, so big and heavy it’s barely pointed upwards. You blanch.
“Kiri let me go.”
“So soon? You haven’t rinsed out your hair yet.”
You’re pulling away from him harder now, but he’s so strong - you don’t even move. 
“It’s okay, I’ll do it later.”
“I wanna do somethin’ with you though, it’ll be fun.”
Your stomach twists and Kiri pulls you to his body with a quick jerk. You collide with his chest, feel his cock touching your stomach. His arms wrap around you, holding you in place. He starts to almost rock you, moving you back and forth with his body in a soothing manner.
“You know how in those cheesy movies the boy and the girl play pretend?”
Struggling is pointless, so you look up at him, confused.
“Y’know, like... pretend girlfriend? I wanna play pretend girlfriend with you.”
And then he’s reaching down with one hand, spreading your cunt, teasing a finger inside. You gasp, the intrusion surprising you, and then he’s pushing in another finger.
He fingers you open, rubbing at your walls, slowly adding more and more fingers and you don’t even know how many he has inside you, three? four? but it’s almost painful. Kirishima’s cooing in your ear the entire time.
“Mm, pretty girl, you’re doing so well.”
“Yeah, you’d be a good girlfriend, so submissive and sweet.”
“Look at you, sucking my fingers in like that. You like this? I do.”
His fingers come out with a squelch, and then he’s sitting down on the shower stool, pulling you into his lap. You don’t even know what to do, what to say. You’re cold and wet and isn’t this wrong? He’s your stepbrother.
His cock is thick, lengthy. It’s the biggest one you’ve ever taken, or even seen for that matter. But he’s relentless as he lowers you onto it, grunting with the effort of holding himself back from ramming into you, rutting like a wild animal.
Kirishima’s cock hits so deep, makes you gasp and pleasure zings up your spine, tummy twisting with how good it feels. When he bottoms out the both of you take big, gulping breaths, pausing. You pause to adjust to the size, Kiri pauses to stop himself from cumming too soon - he wants to enjoy this.
It takes a minute, but then he’s palming at your chest, looking up at your with those big dark eyes, flashing you a grin before sweetly kissing along your jaw, making you moan (moan? shouldn’t you be screaming?).
“Alright pretty baby, think you can help me out now? Feel so good, all wet and hot. You’re the best little girlfriend.”
You aren’t thinking as you get your feet under you, getting purchase on the wet tiles to slowly push yourself up, let his cock come out of you a few inches, before sinking back down. You’re listening to his voice, doing what he tells you to, shame coloring your cheeks.
It feels so good.
Thighs burning, you keep riding him, Kiri dipping down to suck at your tits, squeezing the mounds in his big hands. He’s such a large man, all muscles and hard lines, big enough that it takes him no effort to grab your hips, start moving you along his cock like a little fleshlight.
Immediately your hands fly to his hair, twisting in the wet strands, unintentionally tugging. 
Kiri moans.
His pace speeds up, you can hear the wet slap of your skin, he’s jostling you, treating you like a little rag doll as he spears you on his cock over and over. “Fuck, fuck, you’re-mmhh baby that’s good, do that again. Please do that again.”
You indulge him, grip his hair a little tighter and pull, and Kiri shouts, hips hammering against your ass. His cock is reaching so deep, hitting that special spot inside you without him even trying to. You’re writhing on his lap in pleasure, in disgust at yourself and at him, but you can’t go anywhere with his hands clamped tight around your waist.
“Kiri, Kiri! Gonna-gonna cum!” You warn him.
“Me too, fuck, just a little more baby.”
One of his giant hands slips down, fingers clumsily trying to find your clit. The second he does, you're already so sensitive and close that you cum, muscles clenching, eyes closing as you ride the delicious wave of your orgasm.
Kirishima follows soon after, his head thumping forward against the curve of your shoulder as he pants, wet warmth filling you up.
He helps clean you up after, fingers the cum out of you as he kisses you deep.
After that, Kiri wants to play pretend girlfriend with you every chance he can get, whenever your parents have a date night, late at night when he wakes up from a wet dream and you’re just a few doors away. He takes you out on pretend dates, “practice for when I get a real girlfriend!” he assures you. It doesn’t feel quite right, but he buys you ice cream if you let him feed it to you, and that's usually  the only weird thing that happens on these “pretend dates”. 
They're normal dates, normal when he takes you home and fucks you into the mattress after.
It’s easy to know when he’s in the mood, he says he wants to play your game, pretend girlfriend. He’s still the same old Kiri, the one that helps you with your homework, the one that likes playing Mario kart and loosing just so you’ll grin at him and toss the controller at him cause you know he let you win. 
Kirishima still bickers with you over who gets to sit where at dinner, still ruffles your hair whenever he passes you in the hall. Asks you to help him set up the karaoke machine so the two of you can sing horribly to stupid songs.
But now there’s the addition of him fucking you.
You aren’t sure this “pretend girlfriend” thing is really pretend.
Not like you can do anything about it
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watchmegetobsessed · 3 years
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Flatmates - Harry Styles
i listened to kiwi while writing it so i strongly advise to listen to is while reading as well. without any further ado, i present you this flatmate!harry fic with some steamy smut!
word count: ~9k
warning: smut
masterlist
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You were desperate to find a place to live, to say the least. You’ve always had trouble remembering deadlines and important dates, and thanks to this charming trait of yours, you successfully missed the deadline of the college dormitory applications. After a day of solid panic you started looking for cheap apartments, but living off campus seemed to be something only rich people could afford. Rents were ridiculously high and you were certain you couldn’t afford to spend thousands of dollars for a room smaller than your pantry back at home. You watched ad after ad, making calls all day for a week straight, but at the end, you always went to bed with the thought that you’ll have to live under a bridge through the first semester of your freshman year.
It was until a friend of yours, Rita, who was mature enough to apply to the dormitory in time called you with the best news you could receive.
“This friend of my future roomie is looking for a flat mate. You gave me his number, maybe you could give him a call and see if the room is still available. Just tell him Kimberly gave you his number, I’m sure he’ll offer you the room on a nicer price.”
“Oh my God, you just saved my life!” you gasped, almost feeling like crying. “I owe you big time, Rita!”
You called right away, not wanting to waste any time and maybe have the room already rented by then. A deep, male voice answered the call in a soothing British accent.
“Harry Styles,” he said in a calm tone.
“Hey! My name is Y/N and I got your number from Kimberly. I’m looking for a place to live from September and I was told you have a room to rent?”
Harry sounded a little hesitant at first, asked a few questions about you to have a better picture of you, but eventually offered the room. You quickly agreed that you’d be able to move in at the end of August. You were thankful you had one less worry about school finally.
August rolled around the corner faster than you expected and in no time, half your life was packed up into boxes and suitcases as you and your dad drove two hours on a Saturday to get you all settled in your new home. Up until this point, you hadn’t seen Harry just yet. Though you did search up his name, but he was the kind to never post about himself, but mostly about guitars, landscapes and animals. His Instagram was dry, no trait of what he looked like or even the slightest hint about himself. There was only one photo that featured the outline of a guy, which makes it clear that the person was fully naked, no trace of any clothes hanging on his body, but it was completely dark, so nothing could be really seen. However the tag on the figure made you think it wasn’t him, so it didn’t matter. His Facebook seemed even sadder, barely any posts, not even a decent profile picture. You were surprised to see there are people who don’t really use social media, but you didn’t take it as a bad sign. Harry must be a private person and you had nothing against that.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to move in with a guy you’ve never met before?” your dad asks as the two of you are unloading the car in front of the apartment complex. Glancing up you shrug your shoulders with a little excitement, knowing that you are only minutes away from finally seeing the person you are gonna spend your next months living with.
“He sounded like a decent person, and I really don’t have any other choice, dad. Or do you want me to sleep in a park or something?”
“God, no. You really should be more careful about those deadlines next time,” he sighs kissing the top of your head before shutting the back of the car once everything is set on the ground.
“Don’t worry, I already bought a calendar so I can keep better track of everything.”
When you first told your parents that you’d be living with Harry, they didn’t seem to be a fan of the idea, but they realized you weren’t really swimming in options at the moment so they eventually come to peace that their daughter is going to be living with a guy. They didn’t make a big deal out of it, knowing well you were an adult now practically who can make choices for herself.
The two of you manage to bring everything up to the third floor and you ring the doorbell since you don’t have your keys yet. You immediately recognize Harry’s British accent as he calls out a “coming!” from the other side of the door and a few seconds later it opens, revealing him.
Your first thought is that he is tall. Very tall and oh my! How handsome! His green eyes find your gaze and his dimples come out as he smiles at you happily. This man is surely a nice sight, you think to yourself, but you quickly bring yourself back to reality as he takes a look at all the stuff surrounding you.
“Y/N, why didn’t you call me that you were here? I could have helped you!” Taking a step outside he stretches his hand out for your dad. “Nice to meet ya, you must be Mr. Y/L/N. I’m Harry.”
“Nice to meet you,” your dad nods at him shaking his head before Harry grabs a box from the floor himself, holding the door open for you.
“Come on in!”
The three of you quickly bring everything inside from the hallway and you finally have a moment to look around. It’s not a big apartment, but seemingly perfect for two people. Walking in you have a small kitchen on the left and a little dining area on the right with a simple table and four chairs around it. Further inside is the living room, it’s nicely furnished very bright thanks to the large windows across the front door. On the left there’s a door that leads to the bathroom and on the right there’s a small hallway, two doors on each side. The two rooms are exactly the same size, so there was no need to have a discussion about who is getting which room. Not that you were gonna go against Harry when he literally saved your life with letting you stay with him.
The place seems tidy and neat, it’s clear that Harry takes good care of his home and that is for sure a relief.
Your room has a double bed, a desk with a chair, a dresser and a built in little closet. Everything is white or a light beige color, nothing extreme and you already have plans about how you want to decorate it to make it cozier.
“I left two shelves free for you out of the three. I have a few hair products, but I figured you’d need more space,” Harry tells you when you put a smaller box into the bathroom that has all your toiletries.
“Thank you, I appreciate it,” you smile at him.
Your dad sticks around a little longer helping you unpack some of the bigger boxes, then you walk him down to his car before he leaves.
“Please call your mother often. You know how much she worries about you,” he asks as he pulls you into a quick hug.
“Will do.”
“And call us anytime you need help. Two hours is not that far away, I can always come and get you.”
“I’ll be alright, dad, but thank you.”
You watch him climb into the car and he rolls down the windows waving in your way as he leaves from the parking lot. You stand there until he disappears on the corner and then go back up to your apartment.
Harry is sitting in the living room when you get back, some quiet music playing from the Bluetooth speaker as he reads a book. He glances up at you and you flash him a smile closing the door behind you.
“Your dad seemed quite okay with you living with a guy.”
“He had time to get used to it. They’re not that strict though.”
“That’s cool. I was thinking, maybe we could order some food when you’re done unpacking and just get to know each other a little more.”
“That sounds great!” you smile, but can’t ignore how fast your heart is beating in your chest. Harry surely has an effect on you that you’ll need to gain control over if you don’t want to make living together hard for yourself.
It takes quite some time to unpack everything and find the right place for your stuff, you don’t even finish by the time the food arrives so you decide to leave the rest for tomorrow.
The Chinese food is all set on the table when you walk out and Harry is getting two plates for the two of you.
“Settled in?” he asks as you take one of the chairs and he sits across you.
“Not fully, but I’m getting there,” you chuckle as he hands you your order. “Thank you.”
You talk over the food, just getting to know each other and you finally get a better picture of Harry. It’s his third year of college, he is studying music and pedagogy, intending to one day use music as a helping tool for kids who have learning difficulties. He is a big fan of collecting vinyls and quite passionate about trashy rom coms.
“Really?” you chuckle when he mentions how his Netflix queue is filled with romantic movies.
“Guilty pleasure,” he nods smirking.
You tell a little about yourself too and he seems genuinely interested, which feels nice. You would have hated if he found your interests boring and negligible, but that’s not the case.
“How come you couldn’t find a roommate for so long?” you ask the question that’s been in the back of your mind for quite a while now. Both of you are done eating and you’re cleaning up the table.
Nothing really stood out about Harry just yet, it’s quite a mystery for you why he couldn’t find someone to live with him.
“Well, you could say I’m a little picky in this field. Lived with my best mate first year, and though I absolutely love him, he was horrible to live with. Felt like his personal maid the whole time. When Niall moved in with his girlfriend and I had to move on my own I promised myself I would choose carefully. Lived with a PhD student last year, he was pretty great, but he moved out when he graduated, and I couldn’t really find someone I liked since then.”
“Glad I passed then,” you chuckle as you take the dishes and start washing them while Harry stands next to you, leaning against the edge of the counter.
“You seemed like a decent person to live with, I hope I won’t be wrong about that,” he chuckles, but you can tell he is still a little scared you might turn out to be a total asshole.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be too much trouble. I’m quiet like a mouse and clean up after myself.”
“That’s all that matters,” he smiles. “Alright, I have some things to finish, I’ll be in my room if you need help with anything.”
“Thank you, Harry.”
He waves in your way before disappearing in his bedroom.
You spend most of your Sunday unpacking what was left and running errands, buying groceries so you don’t have to go to the store every other day during the week. You occasionally meet Harry in the kitchen or the living room, but you both just do your own thing and it’s totally fine by you.
School starts quiet smoothly, Harry was kind enough to give you a rundown of where you’ll find your lecture halls so you don’t really get lost around campus, easily finding your way.
Friday afternoon you and Rita are sitting at a café near campus to discuss the first week of school. You don’t have any classes together, so only grabbed lunch two times all week, but didn’t have more than twenty minutes together before one of you had to run to a class. Now you are both comfortably sat in a booth with two cappuccinos and plenty of time to talk.
“So, how is living with Harry?” she curiously asks.
“He is great! Though we don’t meet that much. He has a band so he has practice three times a week, spends the rest of his time at home reading or watching TV.”
You ate dinner together twice this week, but you haven’t really had the courage to join him in the living room when he was watching TV. It sounds stupid but you figured maybe it would bother him if you were out there with him. And since he didn’t invite you either, you just stayed in your room mostly.
“Kimberly told me he is hot, is that true?” she asks with a smirk as she takes a sip from her hot drink. You immediately feel your cheeks heating up.
“Well, he surely is a good looking guy,” you breathe out.
“Lucky you! There’s not much of those in an all girls dorm,” she pouts and you chuckle. “So are you gonna make a move on him?”
“That’s not gonna happen,” you shake your head laughing.
“Why not?”
“Because we live together and if he rejects me that would be so awkward for the rest of our time living together.”
“But you can’t know for sure if he would reject,” she points out, but she can’t bring up one thing that would change your mind.
“It’s better not to take the odds. I don’t want to end up on the street.”
 As the days go by, things start to get busier in your everydays. Assignments and papers start to pile up so you have to start working on them if you don’t want to leave everything to the last moment. You become a regular in the library, the atmosphere is great for you to get into the flow and get a lot of work done.
It seems like Harry is in the same shoe, he is often in and out of the apartment, sometimes only spends home just a couple of minutes before he leaves again. However they slowly get accustomed to each other, learn the ways the other likes things and work up a schedule for things. Harry learns that Y/N likes to take a shower twice a day and washes her hair usually on Wednesdays and Sundays, so he doesn’t try to take too much time in the bathroom on those days. He also notices how she doesn’t have time to wash the dishes after herself on Thursdays when she just runs home to have a quick bite before she has to leave for another lecture, so they came to a silent agreement where Harry cleans up after her on Thursdays while she takes up on the dishes on Saturday when Harry leaves to band practice at eight.
They work well together and soon enough all of Harry’s doubts about Y/N fade into nothing and he realizes he has made the right choice with her.
Usually she stays at the library until seven on Mondays, but this week they are closing early because they are rearranging a whole department, so Y/N leaves a little after five. She pays a quick trip to the grocery store before she heads home. Opening up the door she immediately hears the music playing, one of Harry’s vinyls is twirling around in the record player and she hears the water running in the bathroom. Setting her bags on the counter she starts unpacking the groceries.
The music and the running water pushed the sound of her arriving down, Harry didn't realize that you were home early when he opens the bathroom door, singing to himself wearing absolutely nothing as he wants to go and grab a pair of clean underwear, but he is shocked to see you standing in the kitchen.
“Shit!” he snaps, hands immediately flying to cover himself as he sprints back to the bathroom quickly grabbing a towel to wrap around his waist.
Your cheeks are heating up immediately even though you didn’t see anything you weren’t supposed to, the counter top covered him just right above the critical line, but it’s the first time you’ve seen his upper body completely naked.
Even though it was just a spit second, the sight of his many tattoos and the defined V-line leading down to his crotch burned straight into your mind, leaving you flustered and shy all of a sudden.
“Sorry! I should have let you know I was coming home early!” you call out turning around, as if he was about to walk out naked again. Harry chuckles lightly as he returns, this time a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Don’t be silly, you don’t have to check in when you come home. It was my fault, I shouldn’t just walk around naked assuming you wouldn’t be home.”
You should, you think to yourself gulping as you turn around and dare to look at him again. You don’t see less than just a few seconds ago, his chest is glistening from the dampness, his curls are still wet and you are having a hard time not to stare at the tattoos on his lower stomach, so you busy yourself with the rest of your groceries as he walks into his room and returns in a pair of sweats and a white t-shirt.
“Any plans for the weekend?” he asks disappearing in the bathroom, but he leaves the door open and you hear him shuffle around, probably fixing up his hair. He uses some kind of mousse that keeps his curls perfectly and also happens to smell like mango and some kind of citrus.
“Um, not really.”
“We’re playing at this bar with the band, wanna come and watch us?” Walking out of the bathroom he switches the light off before walking to the couch and opening up his Netflix account on the TV. His invitation surprises you, but it also feels nice he wants you there.
“Oh, sounds fun! Can I bring someone?”
“Of course! I can have a table reserved for you, if you’d like,” he smiles at you before turning his attention to the screen.
“That would be great, thanks.”
You feel like after your little encounter it’s probably not the best day to join him at the TV, especially because you can’t stop yourself from blushing every time you look at him. The sight of his naked torso pops up in your mind every time and there’s no way you can just casually sit on the couch with him without your body lighting up on fire.
 Rita is excited when you tell her about the invitation, you don’t even have to convince her to go with you since she is dying to finally meet Harry. When he leaves in the early afternoon on Saturday he assures you that there’s gonna be a table reserved under your name, and off he goes to practice, leaving you alone for the rest of the day since he tells you he won’t be back before the concert tonight. Rita comes over around six and the two of you get ready together.
“You have to wear something spicy,” she wiggles her eyebrows at you while you sit at your desk applying mascara to your lashes.
“I don’t want to overdress, it’s just a bar.”
“Yeah, but Harry invited you. I bet he wants you to see him play.”
“Of course he wants, why else would he invite me?” you ask with furrowed eyebrows.
“You don’t get it,” she chuckles turning to you, hands on her hips. “He wants you to see him play because it feeds his ego. Maybe even turns him on.”
“Stop acting like there is anything between us. We are flatmates and that’s all.”
“I think he wants to be more, you’re just too pussy to make a move yourself,” she shrugs turning back to your closet.
“Stop calling me a pussy for not wanting to make it awkward for the two of us to live together. I’m pretty sure Harry doesn’t see me as anything more than just the person he lives with.”
“Then we have to change that. And I think this is the perfect dress for that.”
Rita pulls out a little black dress you bought about a year ago, but never really got around to wear it. It’s so tight, pushes your tits up way too much for your liking, you’re not even sure why you bought it in the first place.
“I’m not wearing that,” you shake your head.
“Are you afraid he might get a boner from you in it?”
“Rita!” you snap at her, but she just chuckles.
“Look, if you’re so sure he doesn’t want you like that, why does it matter what you wear?”
She has a point. It’s not like this dress will change anything and it would be nice to wear at least once in your life this stupid dress if you bought it.
Grabbing it from her hands you throw it to the bed and start undressing as she claps in victory.
You remembered right, the dress leaves close to nothing to the imagination when it comes to your figure. The fabric hugs your figure tightly, and you put on a lacy bralette that peeks out at the top of the dress, kind of covering some more from your skin, since the dress doesn’t do much in that field itself. Rita tries to convince you not to take a jacket, but you throw your denim jacket on, feeling the need to have something give you the slightest sense of being covered.
You arrive at the bar twenty minutes before the concert starts and it’s a good thing Harry reserved a table for you, because the place is packed. You’re not sure if it’s because of them or it’s just a regular Saturday evening.
The little stage is all set up, but you see no sign of Harry anywhere as the two of you settle at your table with a drink. Luckily, the bartender did not ask for an ID, he was too busy looking at your chest. At least there’s one good thing in this dress.
The drum set at the back has the name of the band on it and you smile reading it. The word ‘Stylish’ is printed on it with bold blue letters, referring to Harry’s last name, who is most likely the front man of the band.
The place is buzzing and the two of you enjoy being out at a bar concert. When the lights go down you finally spot him walking out of the back followed by a guy and two girls.
“Welcome, folks,” he greets the audience, his accent filling up the place over the chatters. A round of cheering answers him, making him smile. “Thank you for coming out tonight, we hope to entertain you in the next hour. Our name is Stylish and now let’s get down to business,” he smirks and just as he takes a step back from the mic, the band starts playing. Harry grabs a guitar himself before stepping back to the mic and then he starts singing.
They play a mixture of covers and original songs, the transition between them is so smooth you sometimes forget it’s a whole different song that’s playing. Harry is clearly enjoying the spotlight, his presence on the stage is so natural and capturing, you often catch yourself forgetting about the rest of the band.
One song follows the other and you don’t even realize how fast this hour passes by. Harry sometimes stops in-between songs, entertaining the audience with small jokes and just casually interacting with them.
“Our last song is up next, so let me take a moment to introduce the band,” Harry speaks into the mic while softly playing the guitar so it’s not completely quiet as he talks. “At the drums, the amazing and talented Sarah Jones!”
A round of applause fills the bar as Sara waves around smiling widely, before Harry moves on to the next member.
“Playing the piano, the wonderful Charlotte Clark!”
Charlotte plays a short melody on the keys matching up with what Harry has been playing, before she also waves at the audience.
“The guy who is a way better guitarist than me, Mitch Rowland.”
Harry’s comment makes the audience laugh and Mitch just nods shyly, a smile pulling on his lips under his mustache.
“And this handsome Brit who sometimes acts like a comedian,” Sarah starts leaning closer to her mic. “Harry Styles.”
It’s no surprise that Harry gets the biggest cheering and he smirks sweetly, his fingers still strumming on the guitar. The clapping and screaming slowly dies down and as Harry steps back to his mic they start the last song.
It’s quite an upbeat, funky song, you just can’t resist dancing around on your chair and seemingly Rita is enjoying herself as well, cheering with her beer in her hand. The song comes to an end and they all line up at the front of the stage bowing down together as the whole bar cheers on them as one person.
“Woah, this was… something else,” Rita breathes out once they disappear at the back and chatter fills up the place once again and the lights come back.
“They smashed it!” you nod in agreement. You figured they are good if they get asked to perform, but this was way beyond what you were expecting.
Looking around you are hoping to see Harry somewhere, but they must be celebrating somewhere at the back. Maybe he won’t even come out, you think to yourself as you finish up your beer.
“I’ll get us another round,” you tell Rita as you make your way to the bar.
There are quite a few people waiting to be served, so you squeeze yourself into the crowd and hope to get to the front soon.
“So how did you like it?”
You jump in surprise when you hear Harry’s voice coming from behind you, and turning around you see how close he is standing to you.
“Hi! I didn’t even see you sneak up on me,” you chuckle making him smile as he squeezes himself next to you. The two of you finally reach the front, but the bartender is serving someone a little on the left so you have to wait. “I loved it, you were like a proper rockstar up there!”
“Thanks,” he chuckles and his dimples show up on his cheeks. The bartender finally gets to you and Harry is quick to order for the both of you. “’S probably better if I place the order since you’re not twenty one just yet.”
“Didn’t have any problem ordering the first time,” you smirk smugly and Harry raises his eyebrows at you before his eyes wander down your body for a second.
“I bet you didn’t in this dress.”
Suddenly, you’re very aware of how daring your outfit looks, so out of reflex, you pull your jacket tighter on yourself, Harry’s smile quickly fades as he realizes that he made you uncomfortable with his comment.
“I meant that you look really pretty. Definitely makes you appear a little older though.”
“My friend wanted me to wear it, I would have been fine with something else,” you admit as the bartender places your order in front of you and Harry pays for the whole thing.
“Glad she convinced you,” he grins down at you and you can feel your cheeks heating up once again.
He helps you carry the drinks to the table and Rita quickly puts her phone away when she sees who you are returning with.
“Harry, this is my friend, Rita. Rita, this is Harry,” you introduce them and Harry shakes her head smiling.
“Nice to meet you,” he nods kindly.
“Oh, same goes for you,” Rita smirks and you roll your eyes at her.
“I’ll go get the rest of the band, do you mind if we join you guys here? There are no empty tables.”
“Sure,” you nod smiling before the crowd swallows Harry.
“For fuck’s sake, you have to make a move on him, Y/N!” Rita turns to you as soon as he is gone.
“Would you stop?” you chuckle.
“No! This dude is so hot I forget my name when I look at him! And you live with him! You can’t miss this chance, Y/N.”
“I’m not missing anything. We live together, it’s not worth it.”
“Not missing anything?” Rita looks at you as if you were mental. “You are literally missing everything!”
“I’m done with this conversation,” you tell him just when Harry appears again, this time with two of his bandmates, Sarah and Mitch are following him smiling, hand in hand.
“Charlotte had to leave early, but this is Sarah and Mitch,” Harry introduces them as they join the two of you at the table. “And this is my flatmate, Y/N and her friend Rita.”
You all shake hands as Harry sorts out the extra beers he has ordered so everyone has a drink on their hand.
It’s no surprise, but Sarah and Mitch prove themselves to be just as cool as they seemed up on the stage. And the best thing is that they don’t shy away from sharing funny stories that include Harry.
“So have you been looking for a new place to stay, Y/N?” Mitch jokes. “I’m sure you’ve had enough of Harry by now.”
“Very funny,” Harry laughs at his bandmate’s comment.
“To be honest it’s pretty fine so far. He is a pleasant person to share your home with,” you say with a soft chuckle.
“What’s one thing you hate about living with him?” Sarah asks and Harry pretends to be hurt over the question.
“Who said there’s anything she hates?”
“Shush, I was asking her!” she hushes at him making you laugh.
“I really can’t point out anything in particular. Maybe he has been very careful, luring me into believing that he is the perfect flatmate so I get stuck with him.”
You stay for a while, just chatting and having a good time until the bar starts to empty out and you decide it’s better if you head home as well.
“We have to take care of the equipment, are you leaving or do you want to wait for me?” Harry asks you.
“We’ll just call an Uber, don’t worry about it,” you smile at him.
“Alright, see you at home.”
You say goodbye to Sarah and Mitch and part your ways with them as you and Rite head outside.
“I hope you noticed how Harry was looking at you,” Rita smirks at you when the two of you are sitting at the back of the Uber.
“What are you talking about?” you sigh leaning your head against the seat.
“I caught him staring at you quite a few times.”
“He was just probably looking at me when I was talking. Don’t try to talk something into it that’s not true.”
“Alright, I’ll stop,” she replies holding up her hands. “But I still think you are missing out on some amazing dick.”
You awkwardly glance at the driver who is hearing everything you say, but Rita seemingly doesn’t mind that you’re not alone.
“You know what? We should give Tinder a try.”
“What? Why?”
“If you don’t want to make a move on your hot flatmate, we need to get some satisfaction from others.”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“Oh, you are not,” she chuckles. “But you will be when you match with the hottest guys on campus.”
You let Rita believe that she convinced you to sign up for Tinder, but you get out of the car with the intention of never downloading the app, like ever.
Walking into the apartment you grab a clean, oversized t-shirt and a pair of panties since your sleeping shorts are all dirty, but you were planning to do the laundry tomorrow. You decide it’s not a big deal and the shirt will probably cover enough of your body.
You take a quick shower to get off the thick smell of the bar that’s stuck on your skin, taking your time moisturizing yourself once you’re done. When you get dressed you see that the shirt does cover your bum, but if you lifted your arms up it surely shows a big portion of your ass, so you’ll have to be careful if Harry arrives.
You’re lounging on the couch watching a rerun of House M.D. and scrolling through your phone when Harry arrives.
“Hey there, rockstar!” you greet him teasingly and he just chuckles shyly.
“Is it gonna be my new nickname?”
“Well, you really were one tonight, so I think yes,” you nod making him laugh. Walking further inside his eyes stop on your bare legs and he is quick to notice that you’re not wearing any pants, like you usually do. You immediately tug on the end of the shirt to cover more of your skin, but it’s not really working.
“Ehm, I’ll go and take a quick shower,” he informs you before disappearing in his room first and then rushing into the bathroom.
Looking down at your attire you decide it’ll be better if you threw on some sweats. Harry clearly got a little uncomfortable seeing you so bare, so it’s better to cover up. You’ll just take them off when you go to bed.
Harry doesn’t take too long in there, and when he joins you on the couch you are pretty sure he took a cold shower since no steam followed him when he left the bathroom. His eyes flicker to your now covered legs, but he doesn’t say anything, just makes himself comfortable next to you.
“You like it?” he asks nodding at the TV.
“Yeah, he is such an asshole, but it’s funny,” you huff. “Hey, I took a few pictures tonight. Wanna see if you like any of them?”
“Sure,” he nods pushing himself up a little as you unlock your phone and show him the photos you took of him and the band while performing.
Some of them ended up really cool, you were able to catch the lights and their movements just the right way, especially one stands out where he was holding out a note, basically screaming into the mic, he really looks like a rockstar on that one.
“Can you send me this one?”
“Done,” you smile at him and glancing over you see that he opens the Instagram app on his phone. You watch him crop and adjust it a little bit, then tag his bandmates and finally, he posts it.
“Wow, this is the first picture on your page with you actually on it,” you tease him.
“So you’ve been stalking my profile?” he smirks at you.
“I wanted to check you out before I moved in, but your social media was no help in that.”
“Yeah, I’m not a fan of posting that much, but this was a cool picture.”
“It’s an honor to know that I took the first one featuring you.”
“Actually, this is the second one, but it is the first one where my face is visible,” Harry tells you before turning his attention back to the TV, but the gears start to turn wildly in your mind, trying to remember which picture could be the other one.
Later, when you’re lying in your bed with your door closed, you pull up his profile and stat scrolling down. Most of the pictures fall out, because they have absolutely no trace of any human being on them. But then you stop at the one that features a black silhouette of a man, the one you thought wasn’t him.
Opening up you tap on the tag and see that it leads to Mitch’s profile, but now that you’ve met him, you’re pretty sure it’s not him in the picture. So you take a closer look and as you go over the small details, like the line of his neck, how wide his shoulders are and the untamed curls, you soon realize that it is indeed Harry in the photo.
You push down a moan when realization sets in, because that means that you’re staring at the naked silhouette of Harry and it immediately starts a fire between your legs.
“Jesus,” you whisper as you let yourself stare at the photo a little longer. You weren’t expecting it, but it’s surely making you feel some kind of way.
Locking your phone you throw it to your nightstand before you bury your head into your pillow. You have to press your thighs together quite tightly to make the throbbing sensation stop so you can finally fall asleep. Well, it takes some time before that happens and it’s quite torturous.
  Unlike how you planned, Rita finally gets you to download Tinder and give it a try. She helps you set up your profile, and though at first it feels incredibly awkward, you slowly adjust to being out there on the virtual market.
You start swiping left and right whenever you are bored during classes or you’re having a break from studying. Your matches start to pile up and soon enough you start getting messages as well. You reply to the ones you like or find funny and creative, giving them a chance, but not many end up going too far. Somehow the conversations always die down and you lose interest in the person.
Only one guy gets as far as asking you out and getting a yes as an answer. Jordan is a physics major and seemed like a nice and funny guy through the messages, good-looking too, so you decided to give it a go.
So Friday evening you dolled yourself up, put on a nice blouse with your favorite skinny jeans and black heels, ready to head out to your first ever Tinder date.
As you walk out of your room you find Harry in the kitchen in his basketball shorts and a simple black t-shirt making himself a cup of tea. The shorts are hanging low on his waist and as he reaches up to get the hones from the cupboard you get a glimpse of the soft skin on his lower waist. You quickly look away before you could have any further thoughts about what else is under the waistband of his shorts.
“Oh, where are you heading all dressed up?” he asks, eyebrows raised.
“I actually have a date,” you admit nervously as you grab your keys and put it away in your purse.
“Lucky guy,” he smiles and you can feel your cheeks heating up again. There’s just something in the way he compliments you, it makes your knees go jelly.
“Thanks. I’ll see you later? I’m not sure when I’ll be back,” you tell him grabbing your jacket from the hanger next to the front door.
“Have fun,” he nods before you walk out.
 Jordan proves himself to be quite frankly the same guy you got to know through messages. He takes you to this Mexican themed bar and you are just chatting over some exciting looking cocktails, but you find yourself zoning out sometimes.
What is Harry doing right now? Is he staying at home? I should have asked if he had any plans. Maybe he is hooking up with someone right now.
You find yourself thinking about way more than you probably should and it’s making you lose your shit. So maybe this is why, or because Rita told you to just go with the flow, but when Jordan asks if you want to go up to his place you say yes.
It’s as awkward and bad as you were expecting, unfortunately. There’s a reason why you don’t hook up with every random guy you go out with once. You are totally on different pages, but when you are lying under him on his bed, you just know there’s no way out.
It’s not that he forces you, because you’re sure he would have stopped if you asked, but it would be so awkward to just walk out because you weren’t feeling the vibe. So at least one of you should enjoy it.
You should deserve an Oscar for that orgasm you fake, it’s so believable. Jordan doesn’t seem to notice that you felt absolutely nothing, just frustration and impatience, he tries to make you stay the night, but you save yourself with a lie that you have to wake up early in the morning so it’s best if you head home.
Your frustration just grows on your way home. You were really hoping to get laid tonight, so maybe that could stop you from fantasizing about Harry, because your thoughts have been wild since you found out that he is the one on that Instagram picture. It doesn’t help that he has been walking around shirtless quite a lot.
Shameful or not, you even touched yourself once thinking about him. You were home alone after a particularly boring day so you thought you’d just get yourself off. Before you could realize where your thoughts have wandered, you were moaning his name as you came hard. You couldn’t look into his eyes that day when he came home, he probably thought you were nuts, basically running away from him.
It’s almost midnight when you get back home, you were expecting Harry to be asleep by now since he has band practice in the morning, but you are surprised to see light coming from his room. As you close the front door, kicking your heels off he walks out, of course, without a shirt, his glorious body on full display.
“Hey, how was your date?” he asks as you step to the fridge to get yourself something to drink. You’ve been so damn thirsty since Jordan was… done with you, you could have asked for some water at least, but you just wanted to leave as fast as possible.
“Ugh, don’t even ask,” you whine, leaning against the counter.
“That bad?”
“Worse,” you roll your eyes and Harry chuckles softly.
“Come on, it couldn’t be that bad if you came home so late.”
“Well, it did start off nice, but I shouldn’t have said yes when he asked if I wanted to go to his place.”
“Oh.”
“Worst sex of my life, I wanted out the moment we arrived, to be honest,” you honestly say, feeling a little weird that you’re talking to Harry about it, but you just want to get it off your chest.
“Then why didn’t you just leave?”
“Dunno, I just… I was hoping for just a little satisfaction, but I guess I asked for too much,” you sigh finishing up your water and you walk past him with the intention to grab your pajamas and have a shower that would wash away the happenings of the night, but Harry’s voice stops you.
“Not everything is lost just yet.” Turning around you give him a puzzled look.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He bites into his bottom lip and lets his eyes travel down your body, his intent gaze sends a shiver down your spine. When his eyes return to your gaze your heart is wildly beating against your chest.
“I mean that… I can make you feel good, if you want.”
Your mouth hangs open and your eyebrows shoot up at the blunt offer he just made. At first you’re not even sure you heard him right, but as you replay his words you realize that you indeed heard him crystal clear.
“Are you messing with me right now?” you ask, feeling like it’s all just a joke. He did not just offer to satisfy you because you complained to him about how bad your date was.
Harry takes a few steps closer to you, a small smirk tugging on his lips.
“Not really. You want to get off and I would love to be the one to help you with it.”
“But… we live together,” you say and realize how stupid this just sounded, but you hope he gets what you were trying to say.
“So? Does that mean we can’t fuck?”
The way he said that makes your legs go weak for sure. You’ve been fantasizing about things similar to this, but those were nowhere near to actually hear him propose the idea of fucking.
“But… it’ll be weird, won’t it?”
“Only if we make it.”
He walks closer, closing the distance between the two of you and he cups your cheek in his hand as his eyes flicker down to your lips.
“Harry…” you breathe out, but you already know you gave in. There’s no way you can say him no, not after weeks of dreaming about the exact same thing.
“Just stop thinking,” he tells you before pressing his lips against yours.
He kisses you hard and you gladly let his tongue push into your mouth within a second, kissing him back with the same passion. You wrap your arms around his neck as his hands travel down on your sides until they reach your ass and they give it a bold squeeze, making you moan into his lips. You feel him grin as his hands move over to your thighs and he urges you to jump and so you do, wrapping your legs around his waist.
Though you keep your eyes closed, kissing him hard, you can tell he brings you to the couch, laying you down to your back, holding himself up above you. He starts kissing down your jawline and neck, sucking and biting on the sensitive skin. His hands grab the hem of your shirt and you lift yourself up a bit so he can pull it off, throwing it away to somewhere behind the couch. While his lips are sucking on your breasts wherever they are bulging out from the lacy bra, his hands work fast on your jeans, undoing the button and the zipper, tugging them down until you can just kick them right off.
“Matching set? You were really counting on having a good time tonight,” he mumbles against your tummy as he kisses his way down on your body.
His right hand reaches up and cups your breast before it slides under you and easily unclasps your bra. You quickly slide the straps off and throw it to the side, so now you are lying under him only in your panties, whimpering and panting at every kiss he leaves on your body.
“What do you want, Y/N?” he hums glancing up at you, sitting between your legs as he slides just one finger over your soaking wet panties, running it along your throbbing center.
“Fuck, I want you,” you breathe out.
“How exactly do you want me?”
“Jesus, just eat me out, Harry!” you shamelessly moan and he smugly smirks before he hooks his fingers into your panties and pulls them down, throwing it to the ground.
Now you’re lying completely naked in front of him, and he pushes your knees farther apart, looking down at you with lustful eyes.
“You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do this,” he growls as he gets closer and without a warning, he licks into you.
You moan in sensation as he starts sucking on your clit, his tongue working perfectly against your bud. Your hands find their way into his hair and you grab a handful of it in each. Oh, how many times you’ve thought about doing this!
“Harry!” you cry out when you feel him push a finger into you, slowly pumping it in and out a few times before he adds another to it. He quickly picks up his pace as he keeps sucking on your clit, getting you closer to your orgasm with every lick.
“Fuck, I’m so close!” you moan, your chest rising and falling rapidly as you struggle to even breathe.
“Cum for me, baby,” he mumbles against your wet clit and just a few more pumps later you came, screaming his name.
“Fucking hell, Harry!” you breathe out when he climbs up on you smirking.
“You think you can handle another one?” he asks, pecking your lips softly. Looking down you see how hard he is and even if you were on the verge of dying you would have said yes. There’s no way you let him get up from this couch unsatisfied after the orgasm he just gave you.
Instead of saying anything, you push on him until he is sitting on the couch and you have your knees on his sides.
“I think you are a little overdressed, aren’t you?” you ask teasingly as you bring a hand down to his erection, cupping it through his shorts and underwear.
Harry cranes his neck so his lips could meet yours again as he lifts his hips up, pushing his shorts down along with his boxers. You sit back down to his lap and his erection presses against your wet folds making you moan into his mouth.
“Do you want me to suck you off?” you ask breathlessly, but Harry shakes his head.
“I would last, I just want to fuck you,” he growls and you swear to God that was the hottest thing you’ve ever heard.
“Condom, we need a condom,” you tell him, still kissing his lips.
You get off him and he quickly runs into his room, shortly returning with a condom between his teeth. He rips the package on his way and falls back to the couch, rolling it on carefully. When he is done you swing your leg over him and get on top again, holding onto his broad shoulders. He grabs the base of his cock and lines himself up to your center and you give yourself a moment to admire his naked beauty right in front of you.
You look into his sparkling eyes and leaning down you kiss him hard as you slowly ease down to his length, his cock slowly filling you up fully.
“Oh fuck!” he moans at the feeling of you around him. His fingers dig deep into your waist as you stay still for a few moments, adjusting to his length. “You alright?” he asks breathlessly. Your eyes meet his and you nod a little before you start moving.
It takes a few moments to find the right pace and get yourself comfortable, but when you finally do, you just can’t stop. His hands are on your ass as he guides your hips a little and you feel the rings on his fingers against your heated skin. He buries his face into your neck nibbling and kissing on the soft skin wherever he reaches.
“Fuck, you look so fucking hot, Y/N,” he grunts when you let your head fall back, feeling your orgasm slowly building up again.
“Harry, I’m gonna cum again,” you pant, picking up a faster pace, desperate for release.
“Cum for me, baby. Let me make you feel good!” he moans wrapping his arms around you as he holds you still, stopping you from moving, but instead he starts thrusting into you, his cock buries so deep into your pussy, your eyes roll back into your head from the feeling.
“Yes! Don’t fucking stop!” you scream as he keeps fucking you hard.
It doesn’t take too long until you fall completely apart and cum again, your legs basically turning into jelly. Just a few thrusts later Harry cums as well, thrusting deep into you a few more times as he moans into your neck.
You lie completely numb on him, his fingers gently stroking your naked back as you try to come back to reality. When you lean back and your eyes meet again you are still speechless.
“I’ve literally wanted it since the day you walked into this place,” he admits with a soft chuckle.
“Really?” you giggle shyly.
“Oh, really. Seeing you around, sometimes without a bra under your shirt completely killed me most of the time.”
Your cheeks are heating up, you didn’t think he noticed when you weren’t wearing a bra.
“Don’t be so shy, you have amazing tits, you are not allowed to wear a bra anymore around here,” he teases you grinning as you laugh and leaning down you kiss him shortly.
“I had quite a few fantasies about you too,” you admit making him raise his eyebrows.
“Really?”
“Mhm, especially after you walked out of the bathroom naked, even though I didn’t even see your dick then.”
Harry chuckles lightly as he pushes his hair back from his forehead, resting his head against the back of the couch.
“So…” you shyly start, ”what now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that… we live together and we just fucked. What does this mean for the future?”
“Well, I thought that next time we could do it the right way. I could take you out on a proper date, and then fuck you on the kitchen counter.”
You laugh at how blunt he is, but you love the idea he just proposed.
“Okay. Sounds fine by me.”
2K notes · View notes
lovely-ateez · 3 years
Text
I’ll Be Home Soon~
ꕥPosted: 5/16/21
ꕥGenre: Fluff
ꕥPairing: Fem!Reader x Idol!Mingi
ꕥWord Count: 1.8k
ꕥWarnings: An overwhelming heaping of fluff
ꕥTag List: @nevieatiny @bobateastay
ꕥA/N: I know this is short but I wanted to write at least a little something for Mingi’s return. I’m just so proud of him and can’t wait to see him again ><
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I sat on the couch as stiff as a board. At any minute my boyfriend would return home after being away for months. We kept in contact while he was gone, of course, but it wasn’t the same as seeing each other in person. Even after all this time, I still wasn’t accustomed to the cold bed or the lack of sticky notes he would leave me throughout the day, all saying some variation of I love you or good morning or you look beautiful today. It was always something simple, but they became so meaningful to me. Waking up without his warm smile never got easier, and every moment he was gone I thought of him. Our house wasn’t a home with only me.
I heard the faint jingling of keys and I scrambled to the door, about falling over in the process. The door opened to reveal my tall, lanky boyfriend. He was dressed casually, wearing a large white sweatshirt over black baggy pants. His brown hair was down, slightly covering his eyes. He wasn’t dressed up or wearing anything special, but in that moment he looked more handsome to me than he ever had before. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds since I laid my eyes upon him and my heart was already beating as rapidly as the first time I met him.
He smiled at me and opened his arms wide to embrace me in a tight hug. I jumped in his arms without thinking and felt tears beginning to run down my face.
“I can’t believe you’re home. I missed you so much.” I nuzzled into his warm chest.
His voice was deep and warm, enveloping me ten times over. “I’m home, baby. I’m home.”
We held each other tight, basking in the feeling of the other after being separated. It felt new, in some ways, but completely and totally familiar at the same time.
“I’m sorry I was gone for so long.” His voice was soft, as if he thought I might blame him.
I pulled back from his embrace, making eye contact. “Song Mingi don’t you dare apologize! Health always comes first and I’m so proud of you for recognizing that you needed a break.”
He gave a shy smile that I happily returned. Noticing the luggage that he was carrying, I picked up a few bags and ushered him in, setting the bags down once we were inside. He looked around our living room, smiling at its setup. On the main table I had placed his favorite snacks, a few presents, and an overwhelming number of envelopes.
Mingi quirked a brow and chuckled, obviously thankful but a bit confused, “What are the envelopes for and why are there so many?” 
I looked to the ground,feeling shy. “Every week that you were gone I wrote you a letter. I know we facetimed and everything but I thought it might be more personal through a letter. I tried to send them to you but your manager told me to keep them instead-”
Mingi set his luggage on the floor and once more hugged me, this time lifting me in the air and placing kisses all over my face. “You didn’t have to do this, babe.”
“Oh I know, but I wanted to. It’s the least you deserve.”
His eyes watered at my words and I gently cupped his face. “You deserve the world, my love.”
He set me back down and gave me a playful shove, “Stop that I’m gonna cry.”
I pouted, “I’m sorry I don’t mean to make you cry. I just love you so much.”
“I love you too, baby.”
I stood on my toes to press a kiss to his lips, which he returned. I felt him smile against my lips and the gesture made butterflies stir within me.
"So what do you wanna do, babe? We can stay here and watch a movie and relax if you want or-”
He laughed, “Honestly? I kinda want to go to the zoo. I don’t really know why, but I haven’t been in awhile and it just sounds fun.”
“Right now?”
“Hell yeah.”
I smiled at his childlike answer, expecting nothing less from my puppy-like boyfriend, “Alright, let’s go then! Oh-”
I felt a ball of fluff run past my ankles and up to Mingi. Both of us looked down to see our cat, Mao. Mingi smiled and picked her up, pleased to find her purring while he pet her.
“I missed you, too. Silly cat.”
“She’s been sleeping on your side of the bed since you left, so you’re probably gonna have to kick her out tonight.”
His eyes widened, “You replaced me?”
“No! I could never! She just decided to keep me company.”
A tight smile formed on Mingi’s face, “Sure, sure.”
I scoffed, “Are we going to the zoo or not?”
“Of course!” He set Mao down before moving his luggage into our bedroom. I picked up my purse and car keys as I saw him return to the living room and gave him another smile. We quickly said our goodbyes to Mao and locked the door, excited to spend more time with each other.
-
“So what’s your favorite zoo animal, Mingi?” I asked as we walked through the zoo with our fingers intertwined.
His eyebrows furrowed in thought, “I kinda like sun bears. Have you seen the memes about those things? How they look-”
“Like a person in a bear costume?” I finished his sentence and he giggled, nodding at me.
“I think they have those here, actually. We might have to find a map but I’m sure they’re around here somewhere.”
After asking around and wandering for half an hour, we finally found the sun bear enclosure...only to be met with empty land.
“Damn, are they really not here?” Mingi asked, looking dejected, “I thought they’d have at least one.”
Before I could reply a little girl ran up to the exhibit in front of us, her brown pigtails swaying with her quick movements. She pressed her small fingers to the glass, squinting to see any signs of the sun bears. Her bottom lip stuck out when all she saw was an empty exhibit and my heart lurched for the poor girl. Mingi and I watched as an attractive couple ran from the same direction as the little girl, their movements frantic until they saw her tiny figure.
“Migyung you can’t just run off like that, sweetheart.” The mother lightly scolded, sounding more concerned than angry.
The little girl turned around at the sound of her mom’s voice and frowned. “I’m sorry, mama. I just wanted to see the funny bears!”
The father crouched down to reach her height, “I know, just tell us next time, okay?”
Migyung nodded at her father’s words.
“And would you look at that?” The man smiled and pointed behind her, “Look who’s coming over to see you.”
The girl turned around and spotted a sun bear walking towards her. She let out a gasp, once more pressing her fingers to the glass. Her eyes filled with stars as she looked at the bear.
She laughed with excitement and bounced on her toes, “Daddy, mommy, look at him! He’s so fat!”
“We see him, sweetheart.” The father replied with a smile, even though the girl couldn’t see it. He looked over to his wife and placed an arm around her, kissing her cheek as they looked at their daughter fondly.
Mingi squeezed my hand, his attention no longer on the sun bear. He turned to me with love-filled eyes and whispered, “That’s gonna be us one day, you know?”
I bit my lip and felt warmth spread through my body. We’d talked about our future before, how we wanted kids and planned on getting married, but watching the scene before us and seeing the sincerity in his eyes, it made my heart feel like exploding.
“I’d really like that.”
We stood there for a bit longer before leaving to look at the other animals. The red pandas, in particular, caught Mingi’s attention, and I found myself quite fond of the baby rhinos, but we both agreed that the sun bear was our favorite.
-
Neither of us were entirely sure how we both ended up covered in flour on the floor of our kitchen, only that once the sun had began to set we left the zoo and came home with empty stomachs, then deciding to make breakfast food for dinner. Now we were both in fits of giggles as we struggled to sit upright, Mao’s strange looks at us somehow making the event even funnier.
“Maybe this wasn’t the best idea,” I laughed.
“I think this was a great idea,” Mingi said with a smile before grabbing a handful of flour and throwing it at me.
“Hey! You’re gonna pay for that!”
He stood and grabbed the bag of flour, raising a brow in challenge, “Oh yeah? Come and get me, babe.”
Against my better judgement I stood and ran towards him, throwing my body onto his and tackling him to the floor. As our bodies collided, the bag of flour flew out of his hands and I crawled over to the bag only to feel Mingi’s arms wrap around my legs and drag me back towards him.
“Noo! I’m so close!” I giggled, the bag barely a foot away.
“Not anymore, you aren’t.” He pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me tight, preventing me from escape, “What are you gonna do now, huh?”
I tilted my head with a smile, “I’ll probably flirt with my captor until he falls for me and then I’ll run away with the flour.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
“Well, what if he’s already in love with you but won’t let you go?” Mingi shifted our bodies to where I was laying with my back on the floor, his own body hovering over mine but still very much keeping me in place, “What if he’s gonna keep you here with him? What do you think about that?”
My breath hitched as he looked down at me, his face slowly inching closer to mine. He had it too easy, really, with how quickly he could fluster me.
“I think you’re far too handsome for your own good.” I said barely louder than a whisper.
He let out a chuckle before kissing me, our lips moving in time with the other’s. My hands found his hair and I pulled him closer to me, my hunger long forgotten.
As I felt Mingi’s body against mine, I finally felt whole. It was hell, going without seeing him for so many months, but because of moments like these, I knew I’d gladly wait a hundred more if it meant I could just have one day with him.
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ratsoh-writes · 3 years
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Oh man I got another one- say everyone is monster hunting (like Bigfoot or mothman- whatever you like) who’s the one who hears a sound and just books it? Anyone have a fight reaction and start swinging? AKSKJFJAJDH WHOS THE ONE TO TRY TO RUN AFTER IT WITH THE CAMERA ALL UP IN ITS BUISNESS AKSKJDJSJS
I don’t know how you want to format this- so if you just want to put them under categories- superb; longer version? Dealer’s choice
Here’s how everyone reacts/roles during monster hunting:
Sans: in a monster hunt, he’s the guy who stays in the van to “keep watch” on all the electronics. Instead sans falls asleep of course and misses all the action. His team could straight up see a ghost and he won’t believe them lol
Papyrus: he’s more likely to go Bigfoot hunting then ghost hunting. And for some reason papyrus brought a metal detector like that’ll help? It doesn’t but he also found two dollars in lost coins so he counts it as a win.
Star: he uses superglue to line a butterfly net with salt to catch the demons in. It doubles as a blunt weapon if they fight back.
Honey: he’ll break off from the group and wind up getting lost in the woods. He’s the guy who actually meets moth man and gets directions back to the campsite from him. It’s not till days later that honey realizes that moth man wasn’t actually another monster from the underground
Red: he also stays in the van, except red is watching those radios like a hawk. He’ll be extremely disappointed and relieved if nothing happens.
Edge: he calls everyone else an idiot for going monster hunting, but winds up leading the group instead because no one else is qualified enough for it. Every sound edge hears is just a raccoon. There’s no other explanation and you can’t convince him otherwise.
Mal: he decided to wear all silver jewelry today just in case! No vampire is taking a chunk out of mal! Plus this is his sharp set of rings so it doubles as a shank.
Cash: he’s the one who breaks from the group and then terrorizes them with mysterious noises and throwing pinecones. Until something grabs cash’s shoulder, and when he turns, there’s no one there. Now he’s sprinting home.
Oak: out of everyone he’s the most likely to get possessed. Oak will freeze, loose the red eye-light, and utter some creepy-a*s prophecy before coming to. Then he just keeps walking. He didn’t even notice lol
Willow: he’s not taking this seriously and will be enjoying his nature walk until his brother gets possessed. Now willow is taking it very seriously. And they’re leaving Right. Now. Heaven help the ghost if they try that crap again. Willow will exorcise them.
Charm: he really really really hopes they find a vampire. A vampire hickey would be the ultimate trophy!! But if the vampire is a jerk, charm can always throw the garlic salt he bought at Walmart at them.
Sugar: he genuinely does not want to be here, but someone’s gotta keep charm alive. Besides, call him racist, but sugar isn’t comfortable with a vampire getting cosy with his brother. A werewolf is fine though.
Lord: he genuinely does not want to be here, but once again wine and mal have dragged lord into the strangest kind of trouble. Sneaking into a government building is more expected by him than monster hunting. Oh well, at least he knows wine is the monster guru. If they ever find one he’ll know what to do.
Mutt: he came into the forest with friends to find Bigfoot, but left with four baby raccoons. Mutt is praying to the stars that lord will let him keep them.
Wine: HE IS READY. Wine was made for this day!!! He already has survival kits, flashlights, a bible and silver cross, extra batteries in case the flashlights go out, and like 30 disposable cameras. If anyone is going to find a cryptid it’ll be him!
Coffee: he was the one to scare cash. Cash was bugging the old lady squad, and coffee didn’t want his brother to get mad at his friend. Plus it’s always fun to get one on the other prankster.
Pop: he takes to the trees. But unlike in movies, the tree branches move a lot each time pop jumps on one. With all the racket he’s making, no wonder he never gets to meet mothman.
Rhythm: it only takes one loud noise for rhythm to run all the way back home. He’s too easily spooked. You might want to pick someone else for this.
Pluto: he doesn’t believe in the supernatural at all, but pluto does believe in science! He brings a pocket guide on local rocks and plants and will turn the monster hunt into a lovely treasure hunt. He finds a pretty quarts right add to his collection
Jupiter: he’ll take to the sky as his buddies walk. If there’s anyone Jupiter is the most likely to go monster hunting with, it’s Star. Both of them have almost endless energy which can be a problem. They end up exploring too far and will be exhausted by the time they circle back.
Peaches: he’s very superstitious and definitely believes in ghosts and such. And ghosts terrify peaches. He’ll be hanging off of ranchers arm all evening. If anything pops out of the bushes, peaches will shout and start running.
Rancher: he’s ready. Rancher is equipped with a metal rod, his shotgun, his most aggressive pig, and some salt and garlic to make peaches feel better. Rancher is gonna find that thieving coyote if it’s the last thing he does.
G: he likes to tell people that he’s met ghosts during his late night drives. In reality, they were the drunk college kids who party in the woods, but ghosts make a cooler story. G is unphasable and will have a grand time telling scary stories during the hunt to rile up his teammates.
Green: he’ll absolutely refuse to go cryptid hinting in the woods. Not because of ghosts or Bigfoot. No, green isn’t scared of those at all. You see, it’s the spiders. If he walks into a spider web he’ll literally die. Green is a total arachnophobe
Snipe: occasionally Don will kick snipe out to go on a manhunt so he can get some fresh air. He usually takes butch with him on these because ace is a jerk who likes playing mind games. He’ll always convince snipe that there’s a ghost about. Anyways snipe doesn’t like ghosts
Bruiser: he’s super down to go cryptid hunting until he hears it’s in the forest. You see, bruise knows the city like the back of his hand, but the forest is uncharted territory. Bruiser will be super clumsy and steadily more and more frustrated as the night goes on. If he actually meets a cryptid, he’s real likely to fist fight it right now
Ace: he loves ghost stories and the supernatural. I’f ace was invited on a ghost hunt, he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from scaring everyone else with his creepy stories lol.
Slim: as the only papyrus who can shortcut, slim loves to use and abuse that privilege. And use it he does. The second he hears a suspicious noice, slim is grabbing his favorite group member and blipping away. This is a good way to tell if you’re the favorite friend. If it was between his brothers, he would save boss
Butch: he ain’t afraid of no ghost!! Ghosts are just floating souls right? Then all he has to do is grab them with blue magic and yeet them right back into the afterlife. Butch is disappointed in everyone who hasn’t thought of this yet.
Boss: oh hell naw. Boss absolutely is terrified cannot stand all this talk about things that don’t exist! He’ll be staying right here until you guys start to come crawling back.
.........
Maybe on second thought he better come with. You guys might get mugged or something. As a leader he has to protect his friends of course!
Rust: and chance some creepy pedo ghost trying to haunt his daycare. No thank you!
Noir: rust never pulls the big brother card, but if noir started messing with the supernatural, you bet he would. Besides noir is more then happy to play the “my legs hurt” card that get out of it. Monster hunting isn’t really his thing.
Lilac: he so very wants to keep up with Star and Jupiter, but there are some things lilac can’t do with his prosthetic leg. It would be too dangerous. Instead he mans the campsite, keeping watch for any suspicious activity and the cops.
Basil: the supernatural is one thing that basil has zero fear of or belief in. He’ll come, and just to be annoying he brings backups of everything. Flashlight keeps going out? He’s got two more and extra packs of batteries. Strange animal noises? Let’s see them make that after his dog whistle. Getting colder? Basil is ready for extra scarves for everyone
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aleksadnezz · 3 years
Text
Sweet Night 5
Jae x Reader
“I’m sorry.” I said while still damping the tissue on his wet hoodie.
“It’s okay. What were you saying again?” He took the tissue from me and he do it on his own.
“Oh I was just gonna ask if you are?” I raised my lanyard to show the keychain to him. His small eyes widen when he saw it.
“How did you now?” He asked. So it’s true??? OMG!!!! My lips formed a big smile. I can’t believe, I’m going to tell it to Ara she would be excited.
“I saw your stuff animals’ collection.” I said cheerfully and pointed his shelves.
He looked at It and returned his eyes on me. He still looked confused so I tried to explain what I mean.
“I actually have a friend, she gave me this and she told me it’s a merch from a kpop group, you have the same so I assumed that you are..” He looked at me waiting me to continue speaking. I can clearly see the nervousness from his eyes. He might think that I’ll tell to other people what I know.
“You are a fan too.”
“Please don’t tell it to other people-“
We spoke at the same time but I heard what he said. He softly laughed and scratched the back of his nape.
“Yeah.. that’s right.. I’m a fan too.” He shyly said.
“Don’t worry I won’t say it.” I said, now I’m hesitating if I’m gonna share this to Ara. I bet she would be happy if I told her that I have a fanboy friend. It’s still weird for me to have a neighbor that is my friend too because I’m not that friendly. What in a bigbang theory is this, except that we’re both introverts and he don’t have a Sheldon.
“Uh have you seen or heard anything about that group?” He suddenly asked. I shook my head.
“Nah. I only know that they’re one of the kpop groups.” I said. I heard him laughed so I looked at him. “Why?”did I said something wrong?
“Nothing. I think they’re more of a kband than a kpop but that’s okay.” He explained. I know nothing about any of that but I like bands for sure I would like them. I almost forgot about the group that Ara said to me earlier, I’ll try to listen to them maybe I would like them too, the thing is I forgot their group name, I’ll just ask Jae if he knows it.
“By the way you know a kpop group that has kids in their name?”
“Stray Kids?”
“Yeah! that’s right, Stray Kids.”
“You like them?”
“Not really I’ll just start listening to them actually.” He nodded. “My friend will bring me to their concert so..”
“Really? That’s awesome.”
“You can come too. I will tell to my friend.” I suggest. Since he’s a fan too might as well invite him to their concert. “Have you attended a concert before? Because I haven’t” I laughed.
“Yeah I’ve been into some concerts, I perform there.” He said the last words under his breath so I didn’t hear it clearly.
“Ha?” I asked but he only shook his head and smiled at me.
“I’ll try to join you with your friend in the concert.”
“Cool!! I’d let you know..” I said. I wonder if he has other socials, but I still don’t know how his name spelled so it’s hard to find him. “Anyway, I think my job here is done so I’m now gonna head out. I have to feed the cat.”
We walked over his opened door. Before I turn and bid him goodbye he spoke.
“How’s Minnie by the way. I haven’t seen her.” He said. Of course you haven’t, you didn’t leave your room for a week.
“She eats a lot and whines a lot. So if you heard her in the middle of the night please don’t knock on my door.” He let out a smiley laugh where I can see his pearly white teeth and the disappearance of his eyes.
“It’s a cute cat. I won’t get mad.” He assures.
“I’ll keep that in my mind.” I raised my finger and pointed my head. I glance at his stretched lips, and that smile. what? I didn’t say that.
Today is Friday and I got off from work extra early. When this happens usually Ara and I would go to mall to window shop or I just accompany her but today she told me that she has something to go to. Also, I didn’t tell Ara about Jae yet, maybe soon if he agrees to come with us to the concert.
I went straight home after my shift so I can go to market. Minnie is running out of cat food supply and I’m running out of food too. I also want to have a chill night where I’d lay on my bed while I watch sum movies. I quickly changed my polo into a shirt and sweats. I wore the glasses that I only wear when I use my computer or phone. I went in front of my mirror to check myself. I stared at my reflection for a long time trying to examine what seems weird. Was it my face? I don’t have dirt on my face and I don’t look tired either. It’s the clothes. I look like Jae. Sweats and glasses, I look comfy as heck.
I don’t want to spend time just to change so I’ll just ignore that I accidentally dressed up as my neighbor, as if that I would bump into him today, I barely see that guy. I carry my tote bag with my phone and wallet in it, and I wore my slides. I left my apartment and locked it.
“You’re going out too?”
I jolted when I heard a voice. Speaking of my neighbor, in fact I don’t even have to turn around just to know who it is. Still, I turned around to face him.
“Yeah, just grocery and you?” Thank g he’s wearing a black hoodie while mine’s gray.
“I need to pick up something.” He said while he’s locking his door.
“Where do you grocery shop?” He asked. I waited him so we can walk together.
“Emart.”
“My way is also there; do you want a ride? I already booked a grab.” He showed me his phone with the said grab. I mean free ride? Of course I do.
“Sure.” The lift opens so we enter. From 15 floor going to ground floor is a long ride so I made myself busy by observing every single thing that I see here inside the lift. When we entered there are already sum people inside, 2 guys and a couple who can’t keep their hands off each other. Not that I’m judging them, but from what I can see, what they’re doing considered PDA already. Hugging, laughing and teasing like there’s no tomorrow.
I don’t know if those guys are annoyed too and just trying to ignore them or maybe it’s just only me. I glanced to Jae to see what he’s doing, looks like he’s not bothered at all. His left hand slipped inside the pocket of his pants; other hand is on his phone.
Another person entered the lift. I moved backwards so she can have space. The couple moves backwards too so they’re now standing beside me, I can even feel her bag nudging my arm but I tried to ignore it. Within a hot minute her arm hit my side causing me to bumped Jae. I looked at the couple as calm as I can possibly can.
“I’m sorry miss.” “sorry miss.” They both said in union.
“It’s okay.” I said calmy and showed my nicest smile. I want my afternoon to be chill and stress free plus I may see them again I want to protect my pure reputation as a good neighbor. Suddenly I felt a hand on my elbow that slowly pulled me closer to him. I felt an electric shock that send shivers all over my body. I stood frozen next to him because of how close we are. I can even smell his perfume, it’s like a mixture of fresh fruity and baby powder. I wonder where he bought it.
He let go of my arm when we reached the ground floor. We walked towards the entrance of the building but I stayed walking behind him. He looked back at me and stopped walking so I can catch up with him. When we got out the building, we can see that there’s a car already waiting. Jae made me get on first and I thought that he would sit beside the driver but he sat next to me.
It’s rush hour already and we we’re caught by traffic. I stared outside the car window like I always do when I commute. There’s time where I’m channeling my main character vibes when I look outside the window. None of us is taking and the sound from the cardio radio playing sum R&B soul songs was the only noise. Jae was busy scrolling through his phone, though I don’t want to bother him but I feel like I should speak.
“So where are you heading to?” I blurted out. I tried not to look at him directly so I stared at the driver’s seat.
“Somewhere near the TBD Company”
“Isn’t that where most celebrity’s hangout or sumthin?” I’ve never been into that area and I know that, that place is one of the richest districts.
“Well not all because I go there all the time.” He said before he turned off his phone and looked at me.
“Have you ever bumped to a celebrity?” I asked. For sure he had at least once, especially when he said that he have been there a lot.
“Just some of them. I’ve always seen Mark Tuan in a coffee shop that I go to, you know him?” Is he kidding? I think he’s the only famous person that I could remember that Ara ever told me. She showed me a video clip of him dancing and I think I forgot to breathe for a sec, plus he got the cutest smile. I must admit that prolly have a thing for people’s smile.
“You mean the very good-looking guy?” I said in awe and he laughed at my reaction. Well, I only said what know is true.
“Yeah, that very good-looking guy.” He said casually as if that he knows him but he’s still laughing. Wait if he seen some celeb then he might have seen his Kpop Idols.
“How about your favorite Kband? Day6?” I’m honestly just guessing, but I believe most of the company’s are located there so assume that they work there. Instead of answering me he let out a fake cough.
I immediately understood what he’s trying to say so I leaned to him and whispered. “Okay I won’t mention in public that you’re a Kpop fan.”I assure him. I find it funny that he’s getting conscious and shy about other people knowing that he’s a fanboy.
“No actually.. yeah alright, I’ll just take that.” Yeah, whatever Jae. I looked outside and saw that we’re almost near the market, I turned to Jae and poked him.
“You can drop me off here.” He nodded.
“Mr. can you pull over to the next street.” Jae said.
“Thank you for the ride Jae.”
“No worries, what time you will be done?”
“I don’t know I may take a while.” I may take a while since I don’t have a grocery list so I’ll prolly have to go to every aisle to remember all the stuff that I needed, a life hack that I learned when I started living on my own.
The driver pulled the car off the road. I turned to Jae before I opened the door.
“Thank you again.” I said and he smiled. I opened the door and got off the car. I waited for them to leave before I enter the market.
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heyitsjay03 · 3 years
Text
Aeipathy: Chapter One
Disclaimer: i don’t (unfortunately) own Marvel or any of their characters, plot points, etc. so all right are to them and their our overlord Disney
AN: i had so much fun with this and i CANNOT wait for this next chapter hehehe
Bucky x Reader
Word Count: 6.7k
Location: Classified Year: 2012
   “Do you mind explaining why we’re here?”
   “I’ve got something for ya.”
   “...what is it?”
   “Oh relax, Cap, think of it as a… housewarming present… What? Was… was that too soon?”
  “I’m pretty sure fifteen minutes is too soon, Tony.”
   “There’s no need for hyperboles, Cap- you’ve been defrosted for a year now.”
   “Tony…”
   “Fine. My humblest apologies, Your Righteousness.”
   “...what even is it? And why are we in this basement?”
   “It’s not a baseme- did you even see the amount of security we had to go through to get here?”
   “Yeah- which is why I’m asking. Why are we in a basement after all the security we had to go through?”
   “I thought you might want to see…”
   “See what?”
   “...her.”
   “...__________?”
Location: Brooklyn, New York Year: 1943
   Those two yucks are gonna make me be late again. My eyes dart from the pan of cracking bacon to the busted-up clock on the stained wall. Seven minutes ‘till eight- and the clinic’s ten minutes away. Hopefully, if I can just slip in the back door, I’ll be okay… but even then, I’ll be risking it. No doubt that fathead Warren Lynne will chew me out but-
   “Mornin’, doll!” 
   Much too cheerful. Much too late. My head snaps to look over my shoulder, eyes narrowing as I watch Bucky and Steve stroll into my kitchen. 
   Bucky smiles and plops down into a chair with a piece of toast in his mouth. “You look stunning. As usual.”
   Steve shoves Bucky’s arm and sits down next to him. “Cut that out…” he mutters, fumbling with the black piece of fabric slung around his thin neck. Steve manages to tie his tie into a tangled knot. He huffs and undoes it- only to redo it in the same knot. 
   “You two are gonna make me late,” I mutter, taking the pan off the stove and scraping its contents onto their plates. “I can’t believe you- I’ve already gotten so many warnings, why- just why- can’t you two take care’a yourselves for a few goddamn-”
   “Language.”
   My eyes flick to Steve, shoulders and back taut as I stare daggers at him. He immediately pales and goes quiet, fiddling with his tie. Sighing, I toss the pan back onto the stove with a loud clang. The two boys jump in their seats as I run a hand through my hair. 
   “Just once, boys, please,” I mumble, tugging my hair up into a tight bun. “All I want is for you two to help out ‘round here. I don’t want to sacrifice my career, you know that-”
   Bucky, chewing a large bite of toast and eggs, waves his hand and shakes his head. His voice is slightly muffled by his food. “Doll, what in God’s name are ya talkin’ about?”
   I scoff. “Are you kidding? Ever since I moved here-”
   Bucky waves a bitten piece of toast at me, “Doll, I know. I’m just sayin’-”
   “No, Buck!” I snap, snatching my bag. “I’m tired of it! I keep draggin’ Steve out’a clinics tryin’ to enlist, I keep turnin’ your girlfriends out ‘nd away, I keep the house clean, I work at the clinic, I put myself through nursing school-”
   “__________,” Steve says softly, “I think what Buck’s tryna say is that it’s Saturday.”
   …
   “...is it?”
   Bucky nods- his eyes wide as he stares at me in fear. Slowly, he lifts his fork to his mouth and eats his eggs. His eyes never leave me, like he’s scared of me charging at him with a kitchen knife. 
   “You went to work yesterday,” Steve continues, “Don’t you remember?”
   ...I do. I had gone in early- before even the sun woke up. Doctor Nachtnebel was already there, working on something in his office. That serum for the military, I’m sure, with the way his folders were all stuffed full of papers of our handwriting.
   “...I’m sorry,” I mutter, throwing myself into the last chair at my small dining table. My head collapses into my palms as I stare down at the table. “I dunno what came over me...”
   “Hey,” Steve mumbles, poking my arm. 
   I move my head to look at the two of them. “If you wanted help, all ya had t’do was ask, Doll,” Bucky teases, a smile creeping onto his face. “You take a break. Stevie ‘nd I’ll clean up ‘nd make ya somethin’ for breakfast- how’s that sound, Doll?”
   I sigh, letting my eyes run over my two boys. Steve’s tie is tangled horribly- a mess of fabric under his scrawny neck. Bucky’s hair is a mess, all rubbed back and forth and tossed around on his head like an animal had lived in it. The two of them haven’t shaved and Bucky’s shirt is on backwards. 
   I don’t trust them with my breakfast at all.
   “Buck, she’s thinkin’ too hard,” Steve quips, “Get her back upstairs before she says no.”
   I groan, “Steve, c’mon, please- I’ll be fine, don’t-”
   “Sorry, Doll,” Bucky chirps, “Stevie’s right. We’ve got this handled- you go…” He trails off for a second before snapping his fingers. “Go get ready. I’m takin’ you two out. My treat.”
   “Buck, I don’t have anything to wear-”
   “Just go get ready, Doll,” Bucky hums, locking eyes with me as a smirk crosses his lips. “Trust me?”
   I roll my eyes, “...why should I?”
   “Because you owe me,” he teases as he gets up from his chair.
   “It’s been thirteen years- you’re still using that excuse?”
   “I’ll be usin’ it ‘till I die.”
   “That could be arranged,” I mutter quietly. Bucky shoots me a glance and rolls his eyes as he throws a towel over his shoulder. He sighs as he picks up the sponge sitting at the sink. Humming to himself, he scrubs the dishes- swaying from side to side in his spot. Steve finishes his food and puts his dish in the sink before pulling out ingredients from the fridge. 
   My eyes naturally trail back to Bucky. He’s whistling now- some tune off the radio. He’s fixed his shirt- now loosely tucked into his slacks with the top few buttons undone. His sleeves are rolled up past his elbows. Steve shoves him to wash off the various berries he picked out from my fridge. Bucky shoves him back and the two start bickering back and forth. They continue before Bucky sighs and ruffles Steve’s hair. “Do your thing, Stevie- I’ll finish when you’re done.”
   Steve touches his now-damp hair and glares at Bucky for a moment. Turning back to the dishes, I can hear him muttering promises to get him back. Bucky smirks at me as he tugs the towel off his shoulder and wipes his hands. “Ya like what ya see, Doll?” he teases, “Could be a permanent view if ya let me take ya on that date.”
   I scoff and get to my feet. “Fine, I’m going, Buck,” I mutter as I stalk towards my bedroom. “If ya wanted me gone, all ya had t’do was ask.”
   “Just the opposite, Doll!” He calls as I shut the door. I sigh and slump my head against the door. Bucky’s voice carries through my door. “I want ya around ‘till I’m cold in my grave!”
   “Will you quit it?” Steve laughs, shaking his head. “I’m standin’ right here.”
   “I’ll quit when I’m dead, Stevie!”
   What a moron.
   “Buck, please,” I mutter, tugging my shawl over my shoulders. “It’s freezing, where are we-”
   “Just a second, Doll,” Bucky says with a smile before waving a hand over his head. “I’m over here, Rosie!”
   He catches the attention of a blonde girl wearing a bright red dress. 
   Another girlfriend. Fantastic. 
   Steve’s eyes widen as he watches the girl get closer. As Bucky walks up to greet her, I start to inch backwards. They wrap their arms around each other while chattering excitedly. Another step back, a tug on the shawl over my shoulders. 
   Maybe I shouldn’t be here. The last one of Buck’s girls didn’t appreciate me being as close to him as I am. 
   Steve’s arm shoots out and grabs mine. “Stay,” he says quietly. “You can be my date.”
   His eyes glisten with sympathy as his chest puffs out. Holding out his elbow, he smiles. I return the smile warmly and nod to myself. I can have just as much fun with Steve as with Bucky. “Why, I’d be delighted, Stevie.”
  Bucky turns around with a bright smile. “Kids- I’d like ya t’meet Rosie. Stevie’s date for tonight.”
   Rosie smiles at me. “You must be __________!” She hums, taking my hand and giving it a quick shake. 
   ...Steve’s date? 
   I thought Bucky and her were...
   If they’re supposed to be together tonight, then-
  Steve nudges me as I stand with my mouth dangling open. A cough leaves my lips and I jump back into my skin. “It’s nice to meet you,” I say with a pleasant lilt to my voice. “This is Steve!” I add quickly, grabbing Steve and tugging him in front of me. “Real sweetheart, ya know? Hard t’find a guy as sweet as him.”
   Rosie’s smile falters for only a moment before it’s back to bright and brilliant. She happily greets Steve- who is equally as happy. Blush rises in his cheeks as he glances over Rosie’s shoulder at me. My eyes widen with my smile before his attention is taken back to Rosie. 
   “Well, looks like the kids are gettin’ along.” Bucky whispers in my ear. I can feel him standing behind me as I watch Steve stumble over his words and Rosie’s giggling. 
   “I’m glad,” I whisper back, “Stevie deserves someone special.”
   “So do you, Doll.”
   I scoff and roll my eyes. “And I suppose you’re gonna offer to be that someone?”
   “If you’d let me,” Bucky says, tilting his head back and rocking on his heels. He is… so unbelievably smackable it’s silly. That stupid smirk. Those dumb lips. That look in his eyes. “Just for tonight?” Bucky adds, offering his elbow.
   I look at it and then back up at him. What game is he playing?
   Is he even playing a game?
   Why would he play with me? To humiliate me? That’s not Buck. Not my- our- Bucky. 
   Slowly, I slip my hand into the crook of his elbow. “Just for tonight.”
   The movie had long since started but I’d lost the plot long ago. Steve and Rosie are in front of us- Bucky claiming he ‘wanted to make sure the kids didn’t do anything stupid’.  A bucket of popcorn is at our feet with the top of the container grazing the hem of my navy blue skirt. 
   None of that bothers me as much as Bucky though. He sits beside me with his arm draped across the back of my seat. He leans in every once in a while to ask if he could grab the popcorn container or offer his jacket- which hangs over my body. Every exchange is so… sensual. 
   The way his hand lightly slides against my leg as he grabs the container. 
   The way his lips graze my ear as he asks if I’m enjoying myself. 
   The way his touch lingered for a moment as he placed his jacket over my shoulders. 
   I’m reading too much into this. Always overthinking. 
   As I place a piece of popcorn on my tongue, I try to watch the movie. The black and white images flicker back and forth- some tale of lovers, I think. A trio of friends- ironic, I think to myself- with two of them falling so desperately in love with each other but refusing to say anything. 
   My gaze tugs to the side as I feel someone watching me. 
   Buck smiles, pink dusting his cheeks, as our eyes meet. I bite down into my popcorn and laugh quietly. “It’s… it’s really good,” I tell him for the thirty-third time tonight, gesturing to the popcorn.
   Bucky nods, “Only the best for you, Doll.”
   My eyes turn down to the container before flicking back up to him. I try to look back to the movie but my eyes stay fixated on Bucky- who keeps looking at me. Blush rushes into my cheeks as we just keep staring at each other. Swallowing, I keep my eyes from trailing down to his lips. 
   “Thank you.” he says quietly. 
   “For what Buck?” I giggle nervously, “You’re the one that-”
   “For giving me a chance.”
   My eyes dart back down to my skirt as another anxious laugh leaves my lips. “You’re… you’re bein’ silly, Buck.”
   “Sorry Doll,” he says gently, his fingers coming up under my chin and lifting until I’m looking back at him. “I’m just… crazy about you.”
   We start to lean in and I can feel his lips graze mine-
   “__________!” 
   There’s loud knocking at my door. 
   “__________, ya alright?” 
   It’s Steve. 
   “Y-yeah!” I call, throwing the blanket off of me and getting to my feet. When did I even fall asleep? I was just getting ready- wasn’t I? “Sorry! I… I must’a fallen asleep. What time is it?”
   “...you’ve got an hour ‘till we leave,” Steve answers, “Ya slept for a while. You okay?”
   Define ‘okay’.
   “I’m fine,” I mutter, running a hand down my face. “Just tired, that’s all.”
   “Well you’ve been working a lot recently,” Steve says from the other side of the door. “You must’a needed the sleep.”
   “...yeah.” 
   Didn’t need that dream, though. 
   “I’ll… I’ll be right out!” 
   I listen as Steve shuffles down the hall- only to yell at Bucky for something. Bucky defends himself but I don’t pay it any mind. A shirt thrown over the back of one of my couches, feet up on the table; it’s always something. Steve’s always on Bucky’s head about something when they’re staying with me. Something about ‘manners’ usually. 
   I laugh to myself as I watch myself combing my hair in the mirror. They’ve always been like that. From the first day I met the two punks in that damned alleywall. Always bickering between the two of them. Steve pulling Bucky away from flirting with the cute vendor at the Dodger game, Bucky dragging Steve away from gawking at the Great War exhibit. And then the two of them banding together to pull me away from… everything I manage to get myself into. 
   Sighing, I place my brush down at the base of my mirror. I look back up at my reflection and smile. I’m beautiful. Gorgeous, even. Cocky, too, but… It doesn’t matter how I style my hair or what clothes I wear. I am beautiful. An insecurity here and there, sure- but that doesn’t take away from my beauty. It makes me unique. Not a paper doll that’s so ‘cookie-cutter’. 
   “Doll!” Bucky calls from outside, “Telephone!”
   I take one last glance at my reflection. Yep. Still beautiful. Darting out the door, I take the phone and receiver from Bucky. “Hello?”
  “__________!” Lily yells from the other side of the phone, “I’ve been callin’ you, where’ve ya been?!” 
   Odessa Lily Mae Ababio and I had met when we both stumbled into a women’s rights meeting when we were teenagers. As time went on, less and less women started showing up but Lily and I- along with a few others- stayed and took charge. We became an unyielding force for women, a family. Lily and I have worked in tandem as leaders of the group for three years. We call nearly every night to discuss plans and changes and updates- but any call before eight is almost guaranteed to be an emergency.
   Sighing, I run a hand through my hair. “I’m… I’m sorry, Lils, it’s been a helluva day. What’s happening?”
   Lily sighs. “They kicked us out of the factory again- some rejected soldiers, it sounds like.”
   “You’re kidding,” I mutter, eyebrows furrowing as I sit back up in my seat. “They can’t do that, can they?”
   “...the factory’s siding with them,” Lily sighs again. It’s broken, more ragged. I can hear the tears clotting her throat. We had worked so hard to even get the girls into the factory- many of them trying to fend for themselves while their families were sent to the war and the remaining members depending on them. And now they’re just going to throw them back out?
   And for what?! There’s plenty of work to be done at the factory- why throw them out?
   “...is Mister Richardson there?” I ask, gripping the phone line. “Is he in his office?”
   “Hold on,” Lily mumbles. I can hear her press the phone against her chest and her yelling for someone to peek into his window. A few moments later, she comes back. “Yeah, he’s here.”
   “I’ll be right down. Make sure he doesn’t leave.”
   “Will do, __________.”
   Click. 
   I look up at the boys as I throw the phone back onto the receiver. “There’s some problems with the girls at the factory,” I mutter, snatching the nearest pair of shoes and tugging them on. “I have t’go.”
   “We’re comin’, too,” they say in unison. 
   “You don’t have to. I’ll be back in time for tonigh-”
  “That’s not why we’re comin’ with,” Steve chuckles, slipping into his shoes. 
   “We’re comin’ with because it’s the right thing t’do,” Bucky finishes, slinging his legs off the side of the chair. “Now, c’mon, Doll. I’m drivin’.”
    Inside, the whir of machinery clanks and buzzes throughout the street. Smoke billows out from the chimneys and mixes with the pure white clouds above. There’s a large crowd amassed in front of the factory. Split into two groups, a group stands at the entrance facing out and a group stands a bit away facing in. The men stand at the entrance of the factory, chests puffed out and arms crossed. A few wear expressions of indifference. Others wear a cruel smile. I can tell by the colorful, oil-stained bandanas around their heads that it’s mostly women in the crowd. 
   It’s all women in the crowd looking in. 
   As Bucky parks across the street, I jump out before he stops. Lily turns to face me and parts from the crowd. I reach out and grab her calloused, russet-colored hand as we meet. “How’s it goin’?” I ask quietly, scanning the faces of the men standing guard at the factory entrance. 
   Her eyes scan the crowd of women whispering amongst themselves. “It’s not bad,” she whispers. 
   As she says this, one of the men scoffs and spits just at the front row of women’s feet. “Go back to your kitchens, now- the men’re back.”
   “...but it’s getting worse.” Lily finishes. Her hand squeezes mine as we weave through the crowd to get to the barricade of men. “Just… be careful... Okay? These ones… they’ve got a bite to them.”
   “I’ll be fine,” I whisper back. “I’ll take care of this.”
   We push through to the clearing between the two groups. The men’s eyes collectively gather on the two of us. Their faces and eyes harden as a dismissive air fills the gap between us. I purse my lips and sigh, walking straight for the door. 
   An arm shoots out and grabs mine, pulling me back in front of the factory. “No can do, miss,” the man huffs, “You’re all dismissed. Jobs ‘ve been filled. Richardson’s orders.”
   “If Richardson has given those orders, I’d like to hear them for myself,” I say firmly, shrugging his hand off of me. “So, if you’ll excuse me, sir.”
   The hand shoots out and grabs my arm again. “What part of ‘you’re dismissed’ did you not understand?”
   I stare up at the man and study his features for a moment. Scar above his left eye- which are green- and black hair that grazes his ears. A cigarette dangles from his chapped lips and freckles dot his face. I smile and clear my throat. “I understood perfectly. I just chose not to acknowledge it so that I can go talk to Mister Richardson.”
   The man scoffs. “Ya get one job ‘nd think you can talk to a man like that- this is why you women should stay at home. Get a job ‘nd ya start gettin’ all uppity ‘nd smartmouthed ‘cause your head’s been filled with so many ideas.”
   “On the contrary, sir,” I hum with a sickly-sweet smile. “I’d say staying at home has made me much more smartmouthed. Gave me a lot of time to think... Working clears me up. Lets me focus on what’s important. Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I’m talking to Mister Richardson.”
   “Listen, lady,” the man says, taking a drag from his cigarette. “If you don’t get outta here with all your other broads, I’m gonna have t’use force.”
   My smile broadens. “Force?” I coo, “Oh dear. Well… force won’t be necessary.”
   He chuckles, “That’s what I thought-”
   As he reaches up to grab his cigarette, I snatch his wrist and twist his arm around his back. Planting my elbow into the center of his back, he’s brought to his knees without much ‘force’. 
   “Now, sir,” I huff, “I’m going to talk with Mister Richardson and I’m going t’hand you off to a dear friend of mine. ‘nd you’re gonna be polite, you got that?”
   “Let me-!”
   I cut off his struggling with another twist of his wrist. “C’mon, now. Don’t get so many ideas of escaping. It’s pretty hard to in this position.”
   Bucky and Steve join me in the clearing. Bucky slowly glares at each one of the men while Steve tries to look as intimidating as possible. I smile as they get closer. “Looks like ya didn’t need us much, did you?” Bucky comments, looking down at the man as he squirms in my hold. 
   “Can you hold him while Lily ‘nd I go in to talk to Richardson?”
   “Sure thing,” Bucky mumbles, grabbing the man just below my hand. “Call out if ya need us.”
   “Thank you,” I smile. Lily tugs my arm and the two of us pass between the other men. They avoid our gazes as we pass, backs taut and shoulders too tense. 
   Scared of a couple of women. A nurse and a factory worker. 
   As they should be.
   We round the corner and head up the stairs overlooking the machinery. The door to Richardson’s office is shut but the familiar clacking of his typewriter and the glow of a lamp streams out into the stairway. “Ya ready for this, Lils?” I ask. 
   “Let’s do this.”
   The two of us push the door open. Mister Richardson, a heavy-set man with eternally-pink cheeks, sits at his wood desk surrounded by files and papers and his typewriter. His light eyes slide over to us over his glasses before widening. 
  “Miss Bishop!” He chuckles nervously, pushing away from his desk. Sweat lines the collar and underarms of his expensive-looking suit. 
   He’s been expecting my arrival.
   “I didn’t realise you’d be here today- and with Miss Aye-bee-bee-yo!”
   “Ababio,” we correct at the same time. 
   “Oh- of course!” He says with a grand outstretching of his arms. “My mistake! Well… ladies… what can I do for you?”
   “I think you know exactly what you can do for us,” I hum sweetly.
   “Now, Miss Bishop, let’s not be rash-”
   “Rash?” I ask, placing a hand on my chest in feigned offense. “Now, that doesn’t sound like me, does it, Lily?”
   Lily shakes her head. “Not at all, __________.”
   “No, sir. We just came… to talk.” I coo, sitting down on his desk. Sighing, I look around the room and tap my nail against the wood of his desk. “It’s a beautiful office you have here, Mister Richardson.”
   “T- thank you, Miss… Miss Bishop.”
   “Unfortunately, there are others that don’t have the same luxuries,” I sigh again. “Those women out there included.”
   “It’s truly unfortunate-”
   “Yes, it is, isn’t it? ...however, Madame Fortune did smile on them when they were… so graciously given work at this factory. Families were fed, houses were kept, food was bought, children cared for… Isn’t that right, Lily?”
   “Twenty-five families. Forty kids.”
   I whistle, raising my eyebrows as I get to my feet. Slowly, I stalk the decorated walls of his office. My fingernail trails down various gaudy declarations of wealth and prestige. “That’s quite a few people,” I hum, “None of them are quite happy with this… change in employment, I’m sure.”
   “Miss Bishop-”
   “I could only imagine how many pissed-off family members are on their way right now- not to mention how many children are wondering just where their next meal is coming from.”
   “Miss Bishop, please-”
   “What is it, Mister Richardson?” I ask, peeking out of his window to look down at the crowd out front.
   “These soldiers-”
   “Rejected soldiers, yes. Go on.”
   “They’re… they demand their jobs back and-”
   “Mmhm,” I hum, “But if I remember correctly, you’re understaffed.”
   “Well, yes, but the men. They… they’d rather not… they’d rather not work with…”
   “With what, Mister Richardson? Spit it out.”
   “With… women.”
   My head falls back with laughter. As my laughter dies down, I wipe a tear off my face. “A- apologies,” I mumble, “I just… I… I think that’s absolutely hilarious. They come in here and demand- sorry... beg- for their jobs back and tell you they won’t work with women? Are you… not the boss, Mister Richardson?”
   “Well, no-”
   “So you call the shots, yes? And you set the conditions under which your employees work?”
   “Yes, but-”
   “So you’re understaffed with all those women working out there so why not... add the men back to their original positions? Lily can retrain the women working those positions since I understand that men can’t be nearly as… versatile as we can.”
   “Well, the men-”
   “Ah yes,” I mumble, tapping my finger on my chin. “I forgot. A bunch of rejected soldiers refuse to work amongst women. They must not need the work then. Mister Richardson, wasn’t it you who said… oh, what was it… Lily?”
   “‘A man starved cannot turn his nose up at bread’.”
   “Thank you, darling,” I smile, winking at her. Turning back to Richardson, my face turns to stone. “Was that not you?”
   “...it was.”
   “Are you not a man of your word? Oh dear…”
   Richardson goes quiet. 
   Lily opens her mouth to speak but I wave her off- watching as Richardson’s face twitches in thought. The handkerchief held tightly in his hand is damp and his knuckles white. Sweat drips down his face, even in the coolness of the day. 
   Scared of a nurse and a factory worker.
   As he should be.
   “...tell the girls their break is over,” Richardson says quietly. “And bring the men up here. I… I have some changes to our agreement I’d like to discuss.”
   Lamplight flickers overhead as our steps echo down the lonely street. Puddles have formed in scattered sections of the road and sidewalk. The smell of rain is ever-present. Steve is up in front of us, walking alongside the date Bucky had arranged for him. She’s sweet- a little ditzy and blunt but… she didn’t look at Steve any different than she did Bucky or I so…
   I just want him to be happy.
   “You’re thinkin’ too hard again,” Bucky mumbles, nudging me with his elbow as we walk down the street. “What’s plaguin’ ya this time?”
   “Nothin’, Buck,” I laugh, rolling my eyes. 
   “Ya might cut me with that lie, Doll,” he teases, “C’mon… you can tell me what’s on that pretty mind’a yours.”
   “...nothing, Buck.”
   “Is it the committee? The Women’s Committee?”
   “No.”
   “What about the girls at the factory?-”
   “They’ll be okay,” I say quietly, watching as Steve turns bright red after his date compliments his suit. “They can handle themselves pretty well- especially with Lily there.”
   “Okay, then,” Bucky mumbles, “What is it?”
   “Why do ya wanna know so bad?” I ask with a small laugh, eyes sliding over to him.
   Bucky smirks, laughs, and shakes his head. His eyes turn down to the sidewalk before another huffing laugh passes his lips. “‘Cause I worry ‘bout you, Doll.”
   “You always worry about me,” I tease, nudging him with my elbow. “Ever since you two found me in that alleyway… fending for my life against those assholes... always worryin’ about me.”
   “Can’t help it,” he says quietly, “I love you, Doll.”
   “I love you, too, Buck,” I whisper back. I can still feel his eyes on my back before I turn to face him. “But you can stop worrying… I’m twenty-five years old and you’ve been worryin’ since I was eight- you can take a break now.”
   Bucky stops. I stop and turn to face him again, eyebrows furrowing as I look at him. He’s just… staring. Unwavering. Just staring right through me. A small shiver runs down my spine- not fear, just… anxiety. Like the kind when someone’s going through your stuff and you don’t want them to find something. But… what do I not want him to find…?
   Finally, Bucky smiles crookedly- all cocky and broken at the same time- before clicking his heels together and shaking his head with laughter. “You’re so smart… why… why can’t you figure this out? It’s… all laid out for ya. Just… figure it out already...”
   “What’s that supposed t’mean?” I snap, eyebrow shooting into an arch. “I’ve figured it out already, Buck-”
   “That’s not what I mean,” he mumbles, stepping forward and pressing his lips to my forehead. Bucky lingers there for a moment- does he? I could be imagining things- before he pulls away with a sigh. “You don’t get what I mean.”
    ...what is he talking about?
   “Bucky!” I yell, running after him as he catches up with Steve. “Bucky, c’mon, tell me what you mean!”
    “There’s no fun in that!” He yells back, “You’ve gotta learn for yourself!”
   “Miss Bishop!” 
   My ears perk up and I dart around the corner of the nurses’ station to the Doctor’s office. Doctor Nachtnebel looks up at me over his glasses as I hurry in. “Yes, Doctor?” I hum, smoothing my hands down my skirt. 
   “Close the door,” he rasps with a slight German accent. “Drafty.”
   I do as he says as he gets up, adjusting his glasses as he looks down at the papers in his weathered hands. The folders have streaks of jet-black ink crossing out the more ‘delicate’ information restricted from the wandering eyes of nurses. But if you’re lucky, you can snatch a glance every now and then as the Doctor crosses the lines out. 
   “Miss Bishop,” the doctor says quietly, pacing slowly towards me. “...may I be frank?”
   “...of course, sir,” I mumble, eyebrows furrowing as he stops in front of me. His light eyes- one blue and one grey- scan my face as a hand comes to massage his drooping jaw. Slowly, he inhales raggedly. “...is… is something wrong, sir?” I ask as I take a step forward.
   “That remains… to be seen,” he mutters, turning away and placing his hand on his desk. “Miss Bishop, do you recall the project I asked your assistance on?”
   I do. He had called me into his office late one night, told me to shut the door and sat me down to discuss a project he had been recruited to assist in. Some serum- the details were few and hazy. The government wanted it created, produced, tested, and perfected. Human testing is scheduled to start next week, should the higher-ups approve the tests done on various animals. 
   I nod with a small smile. “Did they approve human testing?” 
   Doctor Nachtnebel scoffs and shakes his head. He rubs a hand down his face then back up and into his hair. “No… No, Miss Bishop, they did not.”
   My shoulders slump a bit. I was there for a solid part of the project. Not the testing, unfortunately, but the formula design and tweaking of chemicals and such- I was there. This had become something I grew proud of. “...oh,” I whisper, eyes settling on the floor. “I’m… I’m sorry, Doctor.”
   “...so am I,” he mumbles. “Miss Bishop, you… you gave me permission to be frank,” he says, turning back to face me. He looks down his glasses at me- eyes blinking slowly. “Do you still permit me?”
   I nod. 
   “Oh good,” Doctor Nachtnebel hums with a small smile. “Miss Bishop…” he sighs, shaking his head as he looks back down at his hands. My eyes follow his and land on a single syringe filled with a thick blue liquid. 
   “Miss Bishop,” he says again quietly, “I am sorry.”
   “Sorry for-”
   He cuts me off, lunging and grabbing me by the face. Wrapping his arm around my mouth, he tugs me to him. I scream- something muffled by the hand held tight against my face. Something pricks my neck as my eyes wildly flick towards the pain. The syringe slowly begins injecting liquid into me. Like blue fire, it singes under my skin and writhes through my veins. 
   I let out another scream as I thrash in his hold. He’s strong- much stronger than he looks. Fingers dig into my waist and back, holding me almost completely still as I try to get away. Pain slips into every inch of my body and lights every section on fire. 
   “I am sorry, Miss Bishop,” the doctor mutters through gritted teeth. “I did like you… I just… have other allegiances.” 
   The doctor leans into my ear as another scream tears out of my lungs. “...hail HYDRA, Miss Bishop.”
   Cold. 
   Cold and hot and empty and full.
   My eyes glide around the room. Empty. Left to die.
   Freezing. Shivering, biting cold. 
   I’m alone. The clinic closed until tomorrow. 
   Doctor. Doctor- that traitor. 
   My limbs are not my own. Weighed down with fatigue, I can barely move my neck. 
   Sweat beads down every inch of me and drips onto the tile floor. My clothes stick to my skin and my body burns with heat. I can see faint traces of it on the tile. 
   Help. I need help.
   My mouth is dry- too dry to even crack open. 
   Slowly, I push my hands under my chest. 
   Up. Get up. 
   Up.
   Get. Up. 
   I’m on my knees now. Sweat is slicking down my arms. 
   Pants leave my lips as I stare lazily at the doorknob. 
   Steve. Bucky. 
   My hand reaches out and slips off the knob. My body falls forward and I collide with the tile once again. 
   I’m going to die here.
   Something creaks outside. The doctor. He’s back. Here to check on the serum’s progress. 
   It’s still a test for him. 
   “Doll?” 
   Bucky. 
   Energy surges through me as I hear his steps hesitantly get closer. 
   “Doll, you here?”
   “B-” I stop, straining as I try to get to my knees again. “Bucky.” His name leaves my lips like a crackling groan. Barely noticeable. 
   “...Dollface, c’mon, this ain’t funny. Come home... It’s late.”
   “Buck,” I groan again, clutching my sides as they start to clench and pulse. “Bucky!” I yell, my voice snapping like wood in a fire. 
   His footsteps come running towards the door. As the door swings open, my body devours the cool air blown in. It sends chills down every inch of me but I know how bad my fever is. 
   “Clothes,” I whimper, fisting the drenched fabric in my hands. “Clothes.”
   “Doll, what… what happened?!” Bucky yells, dropping down to my side. His hand cups under my neck. “...you’re burnin’ up.”
   “Clothes,” I whisper, my hands now shaking. “Please.”
   Bucky scans my eyes and then nods frantically, gripping my shirt and tugging it over my head gently. My body seizes with tremors as the air hits me. Bucky immediately reaches back for the shirt- only for my hand to reach out and grab his wrist. “No.” I shake harshly, eyes rolling back into my head. “Hos... hospital.”
   “Okay… okay, yeah, Doll, I can do that. I can do that.” Bucky says quietly, nodding to himself. “Okay, yeah. Yeah, let’s go. C’mon, Doll. Let’s go.”
   “...don’t know…”
   “...nothing we can…”
   “...it won’t be long… gave her sedatives to help...”
   “Bullshit!” 
   “Sir-”
   “No! You go in there ‘nd you fix her!” 
   “Buck, calm-”
   “No, Steve! They’re… they’re frauds! ...fix her, dammit!”
   “Bucky,” I call softly, swallowing hard as my eyes swim around. Nothing’s in focus- all of it just colors and vague shapes. “Steve?”
   Two pairs of footsteps run towards me. Colored silhouettes drift over me and I feel someone cup my face, a thumb rubbing my cheek. My body melts into the touch as someone else grips my hand. “Boys,” I mumble with a lucid smile. “My boys…”
   “Heya Doll,” Bucky rasps, “...they’re… they’re gonna fix ya up all nice ‘nd good, alright? You’re… you’re gonna be just fine, Doll.”
   I laugh quietly, “...Stevie… what’d they actually say?” I watch as the darker silhouette on my right slightly looks toward the lighter silhouette. “...stop threatening… him, Buck. Let the… let the kid answer.”
   Steve grips my hand tighter. “...they, uh... they don’t… they don’t know how to stop the fever.”
   “...how much have they given me?” I ask, blinking slowly. My eyelids feel like weights. 
   “Enough for four people,” Steve answers. I can hear the shake in his voice. Feel the tears landing on my skin. 
   “But you’re gonna be fine, Doll,” Bucky says quietly. “You’re gonna be okay ‘nd you’re gonna let me take ya on that date.”
   “Okay, Buck,” I whisper, my eyelids falling shut. “We’ll… we can go on that date. I’ll… I’ll wear… that new red dress that… you like.”
   “Hey, you keep those eyes open, kid,” Bucky snaps, tapping my cheek with his hand. 
   My eyes slide open and I can feel my chapped lips tug up into a smile. “...I’m so tired, boys.”
   “I know but you gotta stay awake, alright?” Bucky whispers, his voice snapping and cracking. I can feel the tears landing on my face as his hand strokes my face and hair. 
   I know what this is. Endgame. The point of no return. They’ve pumped me so full of drugs they’ll just be killing me faster if they put any more in me. I can feel it, too. Something softly crawling up my legs and body under my skin- like a hum. A gentle relaxation unlike anything. The deepest sleep. 
   It’s over. 
   “Steve,” I mumble, “You take care’a him- keep those ditzy broads outta his hair... alright?” 
   “...okay… okay, __________,” he whispers, his grip growing tighter as I hear him stifle sobs. “I’ll do that.”
  “‘nd... Bucky-”
   “No,” he snaps, “No, no. No. You stop... talkin’ like that, kid. Stop it, Doll. You’re gonna be okay- you stop it.”
   “Bucky, please,” I whisper, feeling my eyes close again. “It’s… Just… take my hand. Please?”
   “No. No, I’m… I’m not gonna do that, Doll, you just stay awake. Stay awake!”
   “Bucky, please,” I whimper as my eyes slide open. I can’t see anything- just them and black. “I… I don’t wanna go alone. I… I need you two with me.”
   “__________, you shut your mouth right now. Stop it.”
   “Bucky, take her hand.”
   “Shut up, Steve,” Bucky snaps. “I’m… I’m gonna… I’m gonna get help. I’m getting you help, Doll. Okay? I’m gonna be back with help. You’re gonna be okay.”
  “Bucky,” I whisper, tears streaming down my face. 
   The hum has reached my chest as I watch the darker silhouette pull away. Steve turns, yelling for Bucky to get back here and pleading for him with broken sobs. 
   “Bucky,” I call, sobs wracking my body as only the light colors of Steve stay in vision. “Bucky, please…”
   A single tear passes my eyelid as my breath stills. 
   There’s only one thought on my mind as sound, light, color, and shape fade. 
   I love you, boys.
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s-creations · 3 years
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Oh, That Imagination
Kids will always have active imaginations. But how the adult handles it depends on what the child is afraid of.
Fandom: DuckTales 2017 / The Three Caballeros         Rating: General Audience         Relationships/Pairings:  José  Carioca/Donald Duck/Panchito Pistoles Additional Tags: Growing up, Uncles with their Nephews, Facing Fears, Worries, hunting a creature, Krampus (character), giving a speech, watching a scary movie, protecting the boys, the passing of time, names OCs.
Part of a Series Called: We’re the Three- Sorry, Six Caballeros!
Author Note: I finished Student Teaching and passed my Content Test, so I’m getting back into writing! I do have a new job lined up for the school year. We’ll see how consistent I stay with uploading. XD
“Unca Donald, Unca Donald, Unca Donald!”
 Even with the loud warning call, Donald still staggers when something blue collides against his leg. “Dishes! I’m doing dishes. Go and sit on the counter please.”
 6-year-old Dewey gave a quick nod before clamoring up. The older duck impressed by how quickly the duckling could climb. 
 “Now, what can I help you with?”
 “Benny said there’s a-a monster living in the sewage of Duckberg! I wanna go catch it!”
 Donald let out a low hum as he washed the soap from the glass. This was twice in two weeks that neighbor Benny had told some story about some ‘creature’ they had seen. Dewey, always on the lookout for new adventures, ate each story up with determination and gusto.
 “I see, very interesting. What does this monster look like?”
 “Like...Like an alligator. Only bigger!”
 “Ooooh, that sounds scary. And you’re going to catch them all by yourself?”
 “Yep!”
 “Well, aren’t you brave. Are you going to bring them back to be studied for science?”
 “I’m gonna do it to rub it in Huey’s face. Cuz he says the creature isn’t real. But I’m gonna prove him wrong!” 
 “It sounds like your afternoon is full.”
 “It sure is! Oh, wait, I wanted to ask you if we have a large net that I could use?”
 “I don’t think we have a ‘large’ net. You’ll have your bug catching net.”
 Dewey let out a contemplative hum. Hand resting on his cheek while his pointer finger tapped out some unknown tempo. A habit he picked up from José. “That’s not great. But I suppose it’ll have to do.”
 “Look at you compromising. What are you going to use as bait?”
 “Do we have any old lunch meat?”
 “No and you’re not using what we have in the fridge.”
 “You’re ruining the search Unca Donald! I need bait.”
 “How about you take Tio Panchito with you? He had to help his grandpa search for farm animals when they got out of their pens. Didn’t have to use bait to get those animals back.”
 “Tio worked on a farm?” Dewey’s eyes lit up hearing this new piece of information.
 “Spent a few childhood Summers there.”
 “What did he do?”
 “Why don’t you go and ask him? I’m sure he would be more than happy to share stories with you and your brothers.”
 “Okay, bye Unca Donald! I’m gonna learn about cows!”
 Donald silently laughed as Dewey raced out of the kitchen. Childhood stories continued during dinner and only ended when the triplets were put to bed. 
 “So...should I question why Dewey furiously ran at me this afternoon? All while screaming his demands for me to tell stories?” The rooster asked as Donald joined him and José on the living room couch. 
 “Apparently, Benny had seen some ‘creature’ in the sewer system. Dewey determined that he was going to hunt said being down. I told him you would help in the search because you’ve helped with finding lost farm animals. That caught his attention and now you know the outcome.” Donald sighed as he leaned against the other, relaxing. 
 “Do you think the thrill of the hunt will call out to Dewey tomorrow?”
 “We’ll see.” Donald replied back simply.
 The hunt did not call out the next day. Dewey focused on creating a backyard zoo, he didn’t have time to worry about some creature. A few days later, a pet iguana was rescued from the neighborhood sewers. It appears Benny had actually seen something. It just wasn’t the towering creature he’d claimed before.
 ________________
 The holidays were busy for all the adults in the household. Donald focused on getting the shopping done and holding down the fort while the ducklings raced around during their school break. Gleefully talking about Santa and what present they’re excited most about. José would be gone for weeks on end leading up to December 25, helping with numerous flights to make sure he had that day off. Starting from October through December, this time saw Panchito with booked weekends of different performances to help get other families into the festive feeling. 
 Even with having busy and exhausting schedules, they made sure to make time for the triplets. Baking, decorating the house, helping them pick out gifts for the other family members. Every year it was the goal to keep the ducklings as happy as possible.
 Which is why Panchito became worried when 7-year-old Louie started acting...strange. Almost what the rooster would call ‘stressed’.
 The duckling had started being overly helpful around the house. Doing more tasks than what would be required. Going out of his way to ask if he could help. And, most worriedly, he’d become quiet. Not in his normal way of just relaxing in front of the television. But almost fearful that he was being listened to by some unseen stranger. Eyes even darting around as he moved through the apartment. 
 Unfortunately, Panchito wasn’t able to approach this possible problem until a weekend late into the duckling’s break. 
 The rooster let out a sigh as he collapsed onto the couch. Thankful that he was done until the New Year’s celebrations he had the coming weekend. But he was able to relax for the rest of the week to celebrate Christmas. Cautious footsteps drawing closer caused Panchito to open his eyes. Finding Louis standing nervously in the middle of the room.
 “Hola Louie, what can I do for you?”
 “Um, do you need me to get you anything?”
 Panchito raised a brow. “No, I’m fine. Why don’t you join me until dinner’s ready?”
 “Oh, um, that’s okay. Maybe I should see if Uncle Donald needs any help.”
 “You’re on break. Why don’t you just sit for a while?” The duckling frowned, eyes darting around before settling onto the couch. Still tense. “So, how has school been? I haven’t heard you and your brothers talk about it for a while.” 
 “Uh...good.”
 “Just good? ...Try out any new schemes lately? I know Uncle Donald isn’t so thrilled when you do that. But you always have such clever ideas, makes me laugh.”
 “Nope, I’ve been good! No crazy plans from me!” 
 Panchito sat up a little more when Louie started shouting at the ceiling. “Okay Louie, what’s going on. Are you feeling okay? Did something happen at school?”
 The duckling dressed in green wrung his hands as he peered around. 
 “...Abby told me about the Krampus…” Louie eventually whispered.
 “The who?” 
 “The Krampus! He’s the opposite of Santa Claus! A big creature with long horns and wears a cloak! And he comes after bad boys and girls! He takes them away in his large, greasy bag and they’re never seen again and-” 
 “Okay, Louie, come here. You’re getting yourself worked up.” Panchito easily and quickly moved the duckling onto his lap. Wrapping arms around the smaller form to help keep Louie grounded. “Breath with me. We’re going to take a few deep breaths, okay?”
 Louie gave two quick nods. They remained this way for a few minutes, Panchito holding the duckling close and controlling his breathing for Louie to follow. The rooster only pulled away when Louie had calmed down enough to talk. “Okay, so, you were told a scary story. Why are you worried?”
 “Because he goes after bad kids and I know I’m...not good.”
 “Why would you say that? You’re a wonderful kid!”
 “But I get the most detentions and I’m lazy and I know I don’t do my homework when I need to and-”
 ‘Louie… Yes, we would like you to work a little harder than what you do now.  But you’re not bad. You...take risks. You have a point of view that I’ve never seen before. You’re a clever kid. And, well, between you and me.”
 Panchito leaned closer. Louie’s eyes widened with curiosity. “You fight the system and you don’t let them beat you down.” 
 “...Does that mean I don’t have to wash the dishes?”
 “Don’t push your luck. What I’m trying to say is that you’re not bad. You just think differently than others. Plus, if you’re this worried, this might be a sign you should help out more. But I doubt any Krampus will come after you.”
 “Really?”
 “Really… Also, you know your uncles and I would beat up any creature who dares try to hurt you.” 
 Louie laughed. Beaming and squirming as Panchito placed a kiss on his cheek. Christmas Day arrived with no mysterious creatures knocking in their front door. Louie was still safely tucked away in his bed. Joining his brothers with running out to the living room and unwrapping presents. Curling next to Panchito as all enjoyed the afternoon glow while watching a marathon of movies.
 ________________
 Huey took to the Junior Woodchucks like a duck to water.
 From day one it became a large part of his identity. He carried his handbook around with him everywhere. Writing his own notes and entries to add to the already thick volume. Gleefully patting his knees as he patiently waited for whatever uncle was going to take him to the weekly meetings. Even learning how to iron his uniform to keep it in tip top shape. 
 Dewey may complain that the eagerness was annoying. But nothing seemed to damper Huey’s spirit.
 Until Huey was tasked to write a speech. As he was top ranked among the troop, he was given the honor of addressing the new member that would be joining that year. A banquet being held with the duckling presenting a speech of his own at the beginning of the event. The duckling was absolutely thrilled at first. Telling everyone he could about the great honor bestowed onto him. 
 All in the family thought he would triumph over this just like many other things in his life. 
 José was humming softly one evening, making his way to the kitchen when he heard sniffing coming from the bathroom. The door opened a crack and, taking a risk, José peered in. He found 8-year-old Huey, curled up by the tub and far away from the door. A stack of paper was at the duckling’s feet. Red rimmed eyes glaring at said stack. 
 “Huey?”
 Said duckling’s head snapped up hearing José. Wiping his eyes frantically. “T-Tio José…”
 “Criança doce, what is wrong?” José  entered, leaving the door open in case Huey wanted out.
 The duckling sniffed weakly. “...I’m scared.”
 “Of what?”
 “My speech…”
 José frowned, knowing how excited Huey had been only a few days ago. “Can you tell me what you are scared about?”
 Huey let out another sniff. His hand starting to hit the side of the tub as time went on. Which José put a stop to by reaching out to take the duckling’s hand. “I’m scared...that people are going to laugh at me. I keep practicing my speech to make it perfect and I read a bunch of tips but… All I can think about is messing up and people mocking me. Then my scout leader will see me as a failure and strip me of my badges and-”
 The parrot pulled the duckling closer, humming a lullaby softly. Huey instantly clung to José, burying himself away in his guardian’s chest. It took a few minutes before the duckling finally relaxed, slumped against the older, hand still keeping a good grip on José's shirt. 
 “Huey, I would like for you to listen to me. Can you do that for me?” José received a nod, “I will help you with your speech. But you have nothing to worry about. Your scout leader seems to be nothing of the kind who would take away what you’ve achieved. And no one will laugh. We all know you will be doing your best.”
 “...But what if my best isn’t enough?”
 “It always will be Huey. Never doubt that.” José peered up hearing the floorboards creek. Finding Donald standing in the doorway wearing a look of worry. The parrot gave a quick shake of his head. A silent message that he had a handle on the situation. Donald gave a nod of his own before sneaking off. “Feeling better?”
 “...A little. I’m still scared.” 
 “That is fine. How about we make some cookies? I think I saw your Uncle Donald heading that way before. And while we are doing that, you can show me your speech.” 
 Huey sniffed weakly. Pulling back slightly to look up at José. “Chocolate chip?”
 “Of course.”
 The duckling smiled weakly and nodded. Donald greeted the two with wide arms and a smile when they walked in. Huey beamed as he was picked up and given a sturdy hug from his other uncle as José started the process. But uncles gave Huey their undivided attention when he gave his speech. The other members of the family joined them as the cookies started to bake. Dewey and Louie keeping their ‘helpful’ comments to themselves and clapping along when Huey finished. 
 At the night of the banquet, Huey beamed as he gave a flawless speech. His family cheered the loudest.
 ________________
 “This is such a bad idea.” 
 9-year-old Louie huffed, rolling his eyes as Huey bemoaned at his flawless plan. “If you’re going to be a stick in the mud, then don’t watch.”
 “But I want to see it.”
 “Then what’s the issue?”
 “The movie is PG-13! We need parental guidance to watch.”
 “You know they won’t let us watch.” Dewey added.
 “But-”
 “You get two options here Hubert,” Louie interrupted. One hand holding up a finger to keep Huey quiet. The other holding the latest zombie movie that had just recently been release to DVD, “You either watch with your mouth shut. Or you leave and keep your mouth shut in the bed while you listen to the amazingness that is this movie from the closed doors. What’s it going to be?”
 Huey frowned. But he ‘zipped’ his bill closed and crossed his arms. Which the green-hoodied triplet took as keeping his mouth shut. With a nod, Louie popped the movie in and sat next to his brothers. All three were huddled together in the closet. Eyes glued to the small t.v. screen that was crammed in with them as well. The movie menu soon appeared and Dewey pressed play.
  Donald let out a content sigh as he relaxed further between his partners. Panchito clinging to him as Donald’s head was tucked under the rooster’s chin. While José was curled up at Donald’s side, using the duck’s chest as a pillow. That night was quiet and calm. There was a weekend ahead of them that was just filled with nothing. A relaxing time with his partners and kids. It was going to be great…
 A chorus of screams sounded from the triplet’s room. All adults were up and racing out in only a few seconds. Even hard to wake José was on full alert. Donald reached the door first, flinging it open. Fully expecting to see an intruder standing in the middle of the bedroom. Only to find Huey and Louie, sobbing as they clung to each other on the younger triplet’s bed. Dewey was waving his plastic sword  at the open closet. His entire being was shaking as wide, fearful eyes were on the open space. 
 “What is going on here?” Donald called out over the noise. 
 “There’s a zombie in the closet!” Louis answered.
 “It touched me!” Huey added.
 “I’m fighting it off!” Dewey finished. 
 “What- okay- Dewey stop swinging that around!” Panchito walked over and pulled the sword from the duckling. Collecting the blue cladded triplet as he continued to shake.
 Donald gathers the other two. Both of them desperately slings to the protection that was their uncle. José took to the closet, making sure it was empty. The parrot raised a brow, finding the t.v. that was still on and playing a movie. 
 He reached in to eject the movie and brought it out for the other two to see. “Donald.”
 The duck looked it over. Frowning, seeing the topic, letting out a slow breath. It was clear the triplets were in no condition to have a stern talking to. Plus, he was honestly too tired to worry about it at the moment. “Okay...let’s go back to our room.”
 The other two adults nodded. José turned off the lights as he was the last to leave the boy’s room. Donald rested himself back into the middle of the bed, only with more bodies pressed around him. Panchito cleverly left the bedside light on before he laid down on the bed, Dewey resting on his chest. The triplets flinched when José walked in.
 “It is just me.” The parrot assured. 
 Donald let out a sigh as he gently preened the top of each head. “You’re safe here. Nothing’s going to get you.”
 The bed was pressed further down as José laid down. Huey clamoring over into the parrot’s hold. Donald was free to wrap both arms around Louie. Three voices began to hum a familiar lullaby in hope of calming the triplets further. Even with their comforting presence, it took awhile for the three to fall asleep. It was not the way Donald wanted to start his weekend. But he should have known nothing he plans ever goes his way. Even with this hiccup, he was happy to have his family close. Falling asleep with a smile on his face.
 Donald was able to take his pent up frustration on the idiot who had allowed children to rent a horror movie. Panchito coming as back up to make sure the duck didn’t kill anyone.  
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come on in, folks, i got some kind of goof ass Beetlejuice/Evil Dead crossover for you to enjoy.
He’s eighteen, and it’s Saturday, which means that he and Lydia are wandering around Manhattan, looking for trouble to get into. Lydia, eleven and ever his little shadow, is standing next to him, as they take a moment, on the busy New York street corner, to sip their boba and think about their next move. They were meant to be watching some horror movie that had looked alright from the previews, but ended up being so stupid, it wasn’t even fun, and the Deetz siblings had found themselves walking out, one hour poorer but a bucket of overly butter saturated movie popcorn richer. “I still can’t believe how bad that was,” Lydia says, again, huffing, because they’d actually paid money to see that stinker, instead of sneaking in, which is their usual habit. “Ya get one big name attached an’ everyone apparently stops givin’ a shit. Musta figured th’ droolin’ masses would eat it up,” he agrees, and he slurps up the last of his tapioca balls, and then proceeds to eat the plastic straw. “Is it too much to ask that characters actually be interesting, and, I don’t know, behave like normal human people?” Lyds bitches, as BJ takes a bite out of his cup, too. She glances up at him, dryly. “I mean, I guess maybe my standards for normality are low, but still.”
He grins at her. “Whatever could you possibly mean, sister dearest?” he puts on a posh, almost transatlantic accent, and she rolls her eyes, and sucks boba up in her straw, then shoots the pearls at him like a pea shooter. He snorts and laughs.
It’s a good day, despite the letdown at the movies. It’s nearly that time of year, just about the start of his seasonal depression, as the sun becomes shy and things go cold and gray. Still, there’s some time left with the sunshine, so he’s drinking it up, savoring it, and it feels good, to stand here with Lyds, and talk about nothing. “Alright, come on, let’s second act it,” he grins, and she perks up. “I think Wicked’s playing!” “Wicked’s always playin’.” “Well, I’m not sitting through Hamilton, it’s a Saturday. I’m not learning if I don’t have to.” “Totally fuckin’ fair. Music Man, maybe?” “Hugh Jackman’s weirdly brick shaped head freaks me out.” “There’s gotta be a show we can sneak into,” BJ frowns, scratching at the scruff of his chin, and then he catches a scent he’s never smelled before, as Lydia puzzles through their remaining options. It’s like death, sort of, but not. Like death warmed over, or death, refried. He takes his sister’s hand, and leads her away from the street corner, following the smell, nose in the air, pupils blown wide, and Lydia laughs. “Great, time to go poke a dead thing. That’s more fun than The Last Four Years, at least.” She’s seen him go like this before, and thinks she knows what to expect.
Neither of them know how to react when they follow the scent down an alleyway and see the violent fight happening in front of them.
Parked at the far end of the alleyway is a car, some 70’s make that he doesn’t know enough about such things to name, and between it, and the Deetz siblings, is an one handed man absolutely going feral on a group of three refried dead smelling zombie… things. “Deadly-vu,” he hears Lydia whisper, as they watch the man perform a scissor kick that sends a zombie head flying. It bounces like a basketball against the brick wall that makes the alleyway, rolls, and lands at the Deetz sibling’s feet. There’s a beat, as they stare at it, and it stares back, before the head on the ground opens its mouth and speaks. “DEMON!” it shrieks, and then it makes the life ending choice to roll at Lydia, teeth bared, and his boot is going through it, crushing through the skull like an overly juicy bug under his heel. He takes a second to wipe the gore from his sole onto the pavement. “Maybe Wicked could be good,” he turns and says to Lydia, who responds by ducking behind him, because the body the head formerly belonged to seems to be stumbling at them, clutching something in it’s boiled and infected and puss covered arms, and it thrusts the thing at BJ, before falling down and collapsing into dust. It’s a book. Some kind of creepy old demon book, from the look of it. He wrinkles his nose in vague disgust, and then takes a sniff. If the zombie things are refried death, this thing is a whole fucking Mexican food buffet of it, and it makes his head spin in a way he’s never felt before. He kind of likes it. He’s about to give the cursed reading material a tentative lick before a boom rings out from in front of them- the one handed man has pulled a sawed off shotgun off his back, and dispatched another corpse thing. There’s one left, and it’s circling the man, who by this point is so blood covered, he looks like he was tricked into being prom queen, or something.
“Is it just me, or do you freaks just keep gettin’ uglier?” the man quips, and the corpse lunges, a stumbling move which earns it the butt of the shotgun to the jaw, which goes flying. The zombie is shot through the gut, and drops, but is a twitching, squirming mess. BJ’s seen enough horror movies to know that thing is getting back up. The stranger has apparently, too. He takes a moment to reload the shotgun, then double taps, blowing clean through the thing’s skull. He blows at the slightly smoking barrels of his sawed off, twirls it, and holsters it, re-slipping it onto his back. It’s a pretty cool move, actually, and the siblings watch in rapt attention. It takes the three remaining people (well, two people, one demon,) in the alley a moment to actually focus on each other, and there’s silence, before the stranger speaks. “Uh,” says the man, covered in blood, and Lydia peaks out from behind BJ, and stares at him, with big eyes. “Kids,” he hears the man mutter. “Great, just what I need, a coupla kids, gettin’ in my way.. Hey, kiddies,” he says, louder, with a smile, which might be really charming when he’s not soaked in rot and blood, but the effect at the moment is not as sincere and friendly as he clearly thinks it is. “Looks like you two little heroes managed to wrangle my book away from those deadites. You wanna do your pal Ash a favor, and hand it over?” He makes a “come here” motion with his stump arm, and then seems to realize that’s not so appealing, because he tucks that appendage behind his back, worried, suddenly, about scaring them. As if a man with a missing hand is the weirdest thing they've seen in the last five minutes.
“What the fuck,” Lydia says, and BJ can’t help but agree with that sentiment. Also, he feels a vague sense of sudden responsibility for this weird old tome. It doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of thing a human should have. Maybe those zombies… deadites? Maybe they were trying to get back what was stolen from them. Though he’s not charitable enough to assume that they’re the good guys in this feud. The stranger, Ash, takes a careful step forward. “It’s alright,” he says, like he’s talking to a wild animal he’s trying to tame, and not a teen and preteen, respectively. “I’m not gonna hurtcha. Just need to get my book back.”
A sudden screeching wind roars down the alleyway, and both living humans react, ducking, as it bellows and swirls around them, kicking up dust and trash and chunks of leftover deadite. “Demon! Aid us!” BJ feels a presence in front of his face, something he can’t see, but a great, ancient something, reaching out to him, demanding, begging, pleading, for him to assist in whatever macabre goal it wants to meet. He responds by sticking his unglamoured tongue out at it. “Ewww, gross. No.”
The thing shrieks again, and makes a beeline for Lydia, which is just about the stupidest thing it could have done, because he drops his glamour fully and snarls, gives the ancient being a psychic push back, and he sends the thing that cannot be seen flying, out of the shady darkness of this alleyway, past what he assumes to be Ash’s car, and out onto the city street, into the sun. It shrieks and moans and curses him. He flips it off, as it dissipates. The vibe in the air, however, tells him it’s not “dead,” just gone.
Ash straightens up and looks at him. BJ’s already slipped his human disguise back on, so the effect is that Ash has just seen what seems to be a slightly too pale and definitely overweight human teen somehow push back an ancient evil, totally unaffected. Now it’s his turn to let out a confused, “What the fuck?”
“Come on, BJ!” Lydia grabs her big brother’s arm and pulls him away, running from the gore and the confused zombie slayer. “Wait, kids-!” Ash rounds the corner, after them, but the Deetz siblings are already gone, disappeared into thin air, flash stepping the span of blocks in the blink of an eye, and they don’t stop until Lydia, sick from the teleportation, gives his hand a squeeze. They appear on a rooftop, confusing and traumatizing some pigeons that had been roosting.
“Wait, why did we run?’ BJ asks, and Lydia looks at him like he’s a moron. “Because that guy was clearly a monster hunter! And kind of really good at it!” she says. He mulls that over, and smiles. “Worried for your big bro?” he bats his eyelashes at her, and she responds by slugging him in the gut, which he reacts the barest amount to. “Last thing I want is to explain to mom and dad how you ended up with a shotgun blast through your skull,” she says, and crosses her arms, before leaning forward, to study the book he’s still holding. “So. What is that?” He grins. “Wanna open it an’ find out?” Read the rest of the first chapter here!
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themadlostgirl · 3 years
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Tech Wizard
*School is kicking my ass but I finally caught a break! Gonna pump out as many requests as my dumb brain can muster while I can!*
Prompt: Modern reader with modern tech amazes our Lost Boy. Also some cute fluffy flustered reader cause I couldn’t help myself.
Requested by: anon
Warnings: none
~~~
Being of the modern era on an island with absolutely no modern technology--let me rephrase--being on an island with no technology outside of rope pulleys and ladders is horrifying. I am a girl that is used to having things such as wi-fi and smartphones and electricity and indoor plumbing! Now I am on an island that doesn’t so much as have an outhouse!
But I can manage. I am fine. Because despite this place having no technology like cellphone towers or outlets electronics still work. Because time doesn’t move or whatever my phone battery never dies and I have full bars and service everywhere I go. It’s actually amazing.
It was me flashing my tech that kept me from getting locked in a cage my first night on Neverland. The Lost Boys were amazed and Peter Pan especially was intrigued by my technology. The first night on the island was spent with me sitting down with him showing him everything my smartphone could do.
“And if you tap this icon it’ll open the camera.” I pressed the camera button. “See?”
“Fascinating. The last time I saw a camera it was this huge contraption with this bright burst of light and a bulb. Yet you can take pictures just with this hunk of glass and metal?”
“Cool right?” I showed him how to zoom in and out. “Oh and if you swipe the screen like this it’ll open the front facing camera. That way you can take selfies.”
“Selfies?” Peter asked, confused.
“Yeah, they’re picture you take of yourself. Here, let me show you. Scoot in closer so you can see both our faces in the screen.” I pressed my cheek against his to get out faces to fit. “Say cheese!”
I took the picture and pulled it up in the gallery. “See? And this is the gallery where you can look at all the other pictures you’ve taken.”
“The quality is amazing. Who are these other people in the your gallery?” He asked as he scrolled through the other images.
“Oh, those are just old friends I lost contact with after I moved.” It was sad seeing all their faces again.
“And this one?” he clicked on a picture of me kissing my ex’s cheek. “You seem rather close with this particular friend.”
“Ex-boyfriend. Things didn’t end well.” I took the phone back. “I know I should have deleted the photos by now but I just haven’t gotten around to it.”
As if sensing that the subject was making me uncomfortable he asked what other features my phone had. I was glad for the distraction and brought up my music app. “It’s basically like having a music box with hundreds of thousands of songs at your fingertips. Here’s a good one.”
I clicked on Man with the Hex. Maybe I should have started with something softer but honestly since stepping onto this island it was all I could think of. Well that and Somewhere In Neverland. I wonder how he would react if I told him about the songs and movies Peter had inadvertently inspired.
“What other music do you have?” Peter asked.
“Tons. I basically got a little bit of everything. There are some songs inspired by the fictional you that I told you about. Did you want to hear one?”
“Songs? What else has this fictional counterpart of mine inspired?”
“A stage play, tv shows, a couple of movies. The animated one is a classic and hilarious but the 2003 live action film is just so wholesome and innocent.”
“Did you refer to me as wholesome and innocent?”
“Well, your fictional counterpart is a kid not a teenager. I’d say he’s at max maybe twelve or thirteen years old when they show him in films.”
“I see...”
“If I can get my hands on a projector we could set up a movie night and I could show you guys one of the movies. I think everyone would get a kick out of it.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“I can’t wait.” Peter and I sat there all night as I played him different songs and we played app games. I started to fall asleep but he still wanted to play with my phone so I handed it over for him to use while I caught a couple hours of shut eye.
I woke up a couple hours later to soft music playing near my ear. The surface I was sleeping on was also a lot softer than I remember falling asleep on. I peeked my eyes open and noticed that at some point I had slumped over and fallen asleep on Peter’s lap.
“Hey, sorry for falling asleep on you.” I yawned. “Still having fun?”
“Yes. It is a fascinating piece of technology.”
“I know.” I realized what song he was playing and smiled. “I see you found my Disney playlist.”
“Disney?”
“Movie company. They’re the people that made that animated feature I told you about.” I sat up, “I don’t have any movies saved on my phone but I can pull it up on YouTube. Give me a second.” I took the phone back and looked up the song he had been listening to.
Cause of course it had to be Kiss the Girl. I wonder how Peter would react to seeing a movie that portrayed mermaids as nice instead of the vicious killers Neverland has.
I started the video and watched him as he watched the video. It was like watching a little kid. He was so impressed by things I thought were so commonplace. “And this was all hand drawn?”
“Yep. Cool, right?”
“Very.”
Our eyes met and my heart leapt into my throat. He was a lot closer than I thought. I could practically feel his breath on my face.
Yes, you want her Look at her, you know you do Possible she want you too, there is one way to ask her It don't take a word, not a single word Go on and kiss the girl
Why couldn’t I have played Poor Unfortunate Souls or Circle of Life? Why did I have to put on this song? It was giving me ideas I don’t think I should be having.
Look like the boy too shy He ain't gonna kiss the girl Sha-la-la-la-la-la, ain't that sad? Ain't it a shame? Too bad He gonna miss the girl
It was only made all the worse by the fact that he wouldn’t stop staring at me now.
Now's your moment Floating in a blue lagoon Boy, you better do it soon, no time will be better She don't say a word and she won't say a word Until you kiss the girl
He looked at me with a smirk. “Is it true?”
“Hm?” I didn’t trust myself to speak at that moment.
“Are you not gonna say a word until I kiss you?” His grin grew wider and my panic grew deeper.
“No. No, I can talk.” I stammered out. “I was just--you know what? I never showed you how to record videos on this. Check this out.” I quickly closed the app and opened the camera again. “See, we click this button and when he tap the center button now it’ll record.”
“It records anything?” He asked with that same mischievous smile of his.
“Yeah. Sure does.”
“That could come in very handy. Let me see.” He took the phone and aimed it at us to record. “There is something that I’d like to hold onto.”
“What’s that?”
“Your flustered face.” He pecked my cheek and my mouth dropped open.
“Peter!”
“And now I have that face forever!” he laughed as he played the video back. “You are going to have to bring more of this stuff over, my little technology wizard. I want to have much more fun with these devices.”
“Yeah. Sure.” I nodded furiously. “I’ll be sure to get right on that. There are tons of movies and video games I think you guys would really like. I could also bring over some flashlights. They’re like torches but they won’t set stuff on fire. Who knows, I might even bring over a karaoke machine. I think that would be really funny to witness.”
“Whatever you say.” Peter lounged back. “Now explain to me what a karaoke machine is.”
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bisexualdaemon · 4 years
Text
Cake
a/n: when tipsy meets twitter, all bets are off
hello! I woke up three days ago like I’d been reborn in my love for this kid, so I wrote this filth 😅 i’ve posted a few times recently about this video but if you haven’t seen it, scroll my blog or search cake lol trust me it’s worth your time. 
(masterlist is linked in my description)
warnings: 3.9k of absolute filth
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Movie night had ended hours ago, giving way to sleepy rideshares and drunken footsteps into the second bedroom. Brian was passed out and snoring in the giant armchair across from you. The Top Gun drinking game had gone wrong at around the eighth high five and completely derailed at the sixth “Iceman,” which became a salud of sorts in the room. Beer cans, mango White Claws, and the occasional tequila bottle littered the kitchen island.
“Psst, are you awake?” a toe poked your side from above. Shawn looked down at you with a cocked eyebrow from under his crooked elbow. You’d taken residence behind his legs, resting your head on his hip to watch the movie, bowing out of getting totally trashed. Your lips were still tingly enough to be dangerous.
“Yeah,” you croaked, clearing your throat and stretching, “I’m awake.”
“Are you suuure?” he slurred, tired and tipsy. The smirk was audible, “I thought I felt you drooling through my sweatpants.” His breath came out in a whoosh when you punched him in the abs with your outstretched arm.
“How’s that for awake, fucker?!” He chuckled and caught at your hand, unfisting your fingers and playing with them as he pulled out his phone. You let him. You even opened your hand fully so he could trace little patterns on your palm.
It had been like this for a few months, the flirting, the touching. A drunken night of 20-somethings playing spin the bottle had ended with multiple people clearing their throats with wide eyes as Shawn kissed you.
My God, he had kissed you. Fingers splayed against your neck, his lips gently interlocked with yours. It started out chaste, just two mouths touching, but as soon as he swiped his tongue across your bottom lip, it was game over. The people, the voices, your friends, all melted away and it was just the two of you. His top lip between yours. Gentle sucking pressure. His body heat radiating onto your skin. It was everything you never knew you wanted. Until Connor clapped Shawn on the shoulder and ripped him away, turning the two of you into human embarrassed laughing emojis.
Since then, it had been like this. His hand on your lower back at the coffee shop, lazy naps together after midday movies, play fighting and fake indignation after one too many shots at the bar. Your friends all shared sideways looks and snide smirks every time you hung out but you hadn’t crossed any lines again and you definitely hadn’t talked about it. Whatever it was didn’t need conversation. It was fun. It was nothing. He was busy. He was a globally-famous popstar. You were normal. The last thing you wanted was one of those embarrassing tabloid articles, “15 Things You Need to Know About Shawn Mendes’s New Fling.” So, in the quiet moments, you let him trace patterns on your palm and send shivers down to your toes.
“Hey, come up here, I’m scrolling Twitter,” he swept his fingers down to your wrist and gave it a tug, a little giddiness in his tone. He made space for you in front of him on the couch, giving you his bicep as a pillow. You settled back against his hard chest and let your legs weave into his. He’s so goddamn warm. It was a mistake wearing jean shorts to his condo. There was a part of you that wondered if he turned the A/C down on purpose but you didn’t want to think about why.
Scrolling Twitter, where Shawn saw the most fan activity, was one of your favorite pastimes. Seeing the reactions to this dude you knew in real life was occasionally shocking, sometimes horrifying, but always amusing. He held the phone out in front of you and thumbed through his feed.
Most of his mentions were about missing him. He’d been on a break since the end of his last tour, taking some time to himself without a schedule for every minute of every day. For a guy who had been taking photos with fans pretty much everyday for the last seven years, you understood why they might be freaking out. He’d broken the pattern. Thank God for that.
You tried to keep your eyes from crossing at the repeated “I miss Shawn @shawnmendes” tweets and the feeling of his alcohol-warmed fingers against your hip. I shouldn’t want this.
“Wait!” you snapped a finger at his phone, “what was that?”
“Oh, that?” he scrolled back, “it’s just an old video.” His voice broke a couple octaves on the last bit. The tweet was accompanied by the wide-eyed blushing emoji. Curious. You raised an eyebrow and watched. He was eating a guitar-shaped cake...with his hands. Mouth wide open, his face buried over and over in thick pieces of chocolate cake with some kind of blue frosting on it. It was fucking filthy. You rubbed your thighs together absent-mindedly.
“What do the comments say?” You poked at his phone before he could move it away.
“Oh, nothing really,” his voice was still high, which meant he knew what the comments likely said. You huffed and grabbed at the phone. “Shawn, you know I have Twitter, I’ll see it whether you like it or not!” You rammed your hips backward, pausing for a second when you felt something you weren’t expecting, but not for too long. He sucked in a breath, coughing, and dropped his phone—right into your waiting hands.
“Hahaha!” You jumped up and ran to the other side of the big white couch, kicking your legs in victory, “I win!” He tripped over his own oversized limbs before he got to you, falling to the floor within reach of your feet. He reached out and pulled your legs toward him, framing his face between your thighs. Your giggles stopped short and your face flamed.
“Can you assholes get a room?!” Brian was awake and fussing at the thin fleece blanket he’d scrounged off the back of the couch. He rolled over mumbling something that sounded like just fucking fuck already but you were too busy thinking about Shawn’s head still between your legs to be bothered by it.
Shawn slowly lifted his finger to his lips in the universal sign to be quiet and untangled himself to stand. He reached out a hand and you didn’t hesitate to grab it, leading you to his bedroom down the hall. You held his phone in a death grip, unwilling to let go in case he caught you off guard.
The room was dark, save for his phone, the rectangle reflecting a solid white off the wall of glass facing the city. The CN Tower lights flickered in the late night sky, seemingly suspended in midair. His unmade  bed was the biggest and brightest thing in the room. A white comforter hung half on the floor at an odd angle off the corner of the mattress, his white sheets completely exposed. The pillows were all scrunched up at the headboard, like he’d been kicking and pushing all night long. Like he hadn’t slept soundly in weeks.
“Okay, so what you’re about to read…” he shut the door behind him, scrubbing at the back of his neck, “it’s gonna be weird, but like it’s fine I’m used to it. They’re...a little invasive.” Weird? Invasive? Curiouser and curiouser…
You walked over to his bed, picking up the comforter and tossing it haphazardly back onto the bed, and sat on the edge staring at the video and letting it play a few more times. Then you swiped down.
@canadianmendussy: ALEXA PLAY BIRTHDAY CAKE BY RIHANNAAAAA
@perfectlyru1n: oh my goD does he really go down like thAT?!
“Oh...my God,” you covered your mouth to keep from laughing, “you’ve seen this before?”
He bounced on the mattress facedown, mumbling something into the sheets.
“What was that?” you asked, with Southern sweet tea levels of sugar. You ruffled his hair, brushing through his curls. He turned his head, his face flushed with more than just alcohol.
“I said yes, I’ve seen it before…” he opened one eye and looked up at you, “I usually just ignore them.”
There were over 400 replies on this tweet, some people chiding the horny stans for posting something Shawn can see, others just piling on.
@illuminateruin: is that cake gluten-free?
@kidinlover: @illuminateruin idk but I know pussy is
@particularbenito: CAN HE EAT PUSSY LIKE THAT?!?!?!
“Can he eat pussy like that...” you read out loud under your breath, your mind conjuring up that image of his face between your thighs. Shawn’s head shot up, eyes wide.
“What???” His face was practically magenta at this point, “is that a serious question??”
“What? Uhh, no. Not serious. A reply actually,” you rushed, giving him a sideways look. I mean...maybe it was a serious question? The curiosity was going to kill you. Oh, no. No, no, no. Your lips tingled.
“Well, I mean….can you?” You could hear the glint in your eye.
Fuck it all.
“Can I….w-what?” he stuttered, the air crackling between the two of you. He looked like a cornered animal, like the wrong move would get him killed.
“Can you,” you pushed a loose curl out of his face and nodded toward his phone, “eat pussy like that?”
Oh, God, did I just…?
“I’ve never gotten any complaints,” your head popped up at his self-satisfied tone. Gone was the red-faced shy boy talking about embarrassing fans. The Shawn in front of you was...confident. Hungry. His fingers grazed your ankles resting beside him. It didn’t escape your notice. You shivered.
It wasn’t cold.
“M-maybe they were just too afraid to tell a big, famous rockstar that he sucked,” you were the one stuttering now, face heating by the second.
“Oh, sucking was definitely part of it,” his fingers traced the indent in your calf. You refused to pull away even though you should, even though part of you—a small, shrinking part—knew that if this went where it was definitely going, things were going to change. You snuck a finger under his chin to pull his gaze to yours.
“Is that a promise?”
“I don’t know,” he flashed a toothy smile, gravity and sheer force of will pulling his body toward yours, “is that an invitation?”
I’m probably gonna regret this in the morning.
Your lips crashed into his, giving him your answer. His mouth was hot, his breathing heavy. Tongues and teeth and lips wrestled together, refusing to part while he made his way above you, crawling on hands and knees between your legs as you settled against the pillows. He licked up into your mouth just before nibbling on your bottom lip, forcing a moan from deep inside you. This was primal, the need you felt with him. Like once you came together, nothing could break you apart.
His hands moved up your body, scratching gently at your exposed legs and slipping beneath your hoodie. He broke away from your lips to shuck off your top and expose all your delicate skin. His fingers slipped beneath your lace bralette and he played with the tiny clasp between your breasts.
“Is this okay?” he asked, a little out of breath, his thin t-shirt pressing against your skin.
You nodded so quickly you thought your neck might snap. He popped the clasp and spread his calloused hands across your chest. The friction was glorious. Your body chased his fingers involuntarily, bowing up off the high thread count sheets.
“Be still, baby,” he whispered, dipping his head and placing an open mouthed kiss just above your belly button. Your eyes rolled back at the pet name, another moan escaping your lips. Warmth rushed between your legs.
“Shawn,” you gasped, trying to control your breathing so he didn’t know just how fucked you were, “when I gave you an invitation, I didn’t expect you to be late to the party.” You rocked your hips up into his chest pointedly.
“Well, I can't just jump to the entrée, can I?” He fiddled with the button on your denim shorts, loosening it with a little pop. Teasing, he licked at a freckle just above your hip before sucking at it with enough force to leave a mark.
“Fuck!” Your hands shot down to his mop of curls, fingers buried in the thick locks. He pulled and nibbled at that spot over and over, all while grazing his fingers just beneath the waistband of your simple cotton cheeky panties.
When he pulled away, an angry red violet half-moon colored the skin. He took one last lick, smiling at your gasp in response.
“I love that sound,” he sat back on his heels between your legs, looking down at your heaving chest.
“I’ll make it again if you take that shirt off,” you reached for him with grabby hands, trying to Harry Potter that shit. He laughed and did the boy thing, grabbing his shirt at the back of his neck before tugging it forward off his body.
The gasp came again. Not even on purpose or because you’s promised him, but because he was so stupid gorgeous in the low light of the city you couldn’t help yourself. You’d seen him in hot tubs and at sweaty summer parties and in those fucking Calvin Klein pictures, but none of that compared to having him shirtless between your thighs just a few inches from your outstretched fingers.
His chest was flushed, some combination of adrenaline and alcohol. Little freckles dotted his lightly tanned skin all the way up his torso to the dusting of chest hair that colored his chest. His perfect pink nipples were hard against the cool air of the room, begging for you to touch or kiss or bite. Or all of the above. You reached out to trace his appendix scar where it peaked out of his low-slung sweatpants. His body danced away from you as he caught at your hand.
“Don’t,” he growled, weaving his fingers between yours and pressing his lips onto the back of your palm like a fucking Victorian gentleman. Like he wasn’t staring down at your hardening nipples thinking about how good they would feel pinched warm between his fingers. He tipped forward, bracing himself against the mattress, his mouth just a few centimeters from your skin. Dragging flesh against flesh, he left kisses at random in the valley between your breasts. Moving farther and farther down your body, he paused, sitting up on his heels.
“Are you sure?” He was breathing heavy, looking straight through you, both hands hovering around the edges of your shorts. You were nodding before he even finished his question.
He curled his fingers around all the fabric in his way, denim and cotton both, and dragged the offending pieces of clothing down your legs, lifting them off and tossing them against the wall across the room. You breathed steady, looking at him looking at you. His mouth hung open in speechless wonder.
“You’re fucking beautiful,” he whispered, settling back between your thighs, a mirror of his earlier pose on the couch. Another wave of heat rushed straight to your clit, silently screaming for him.
“I know,” you brushed through his curls, giving him a suggestive grin when he looked up at you, “I taste good too.”
That was all the permission he needed. A second later, he buried his face between your legs, nudging your knees over his shoulders. His tongue swirled in circles around your clit finishing in random flicks. He moaned into you, his lips closing around your swollen folds with gently sucking pressure.
“Shit, Shawn!” you shouted, praying to the gods that everyone still in the condo was too drunk and passed out to hear you. The white sheets bunched in your fists, arms spread wide. Your thighs clamped down against his ears.
He continued his licks and flicks, snaking his hands up your legs and gently prying your legs apart. You clenched hard as he pinned your thighs to the mattress, holding you open with his forearms. Filthy sounds echoed off the walls, wet sucking, moaning from both of you. He dipped his chin and circled your entrance with his tongue, lapping at you.
“Christ!” your hands shot into his damp curls. He was working hard down there, flexing and moaning and fighting your spasms. You looked down and saw his hips impatiently rutting into the mattress. It only made you wetter, gushing onto his waiting tongue. He drank everything you gave him.
“He’s not here,” he said in a low and gravelly voice, a little breathless. He pulled back, the bottom half of his face shining in the dark. His fingers toyed with your sensitive, wet lips, watching as you twitched and trembled, so close to the edge. A firm circle around your clit had your back bowing, contorting backward off the bed. A single tear rolled down your temple.
“I’m so close,” you panted, trapping his outstretched hand against your skin.
“Shawn, I need you.”
“Need me?” His fingers paused, “need me where?”
“Oh, God, don’t stop,” you choked out, a sob threatening. Your back arched up off the sheets again to find friction. “I need...I need you inside me.”
At some point between your words and the needy moan that followed, he’d removed his sweatpants and a black pair of Calvins. You heard him rustling his hand inside the bedside table followed by the metallic sound of foil and the sharp scent of latex. Thank fuck he’s prepared.
When he dropped down onto his forearms, hovering an inch from where you needed him, you were dripping onto the sheets, grinding down into the mattress waiting desperately for him. He ran his nose over your collarbone, peppering kisses along your neck. It was slow and deliberate. A fucking tease.
“Shawn,” you pulled his face up to yours, all squished between your hands, “if you don’t fuck me right now, I swear I will…”
He pressed inside to the hilt in one swift motion, cutting off your threat.
“What are you swearing to do, princess?” he asked, a smirk and a fire in his eyes. The moan that escaped you in response was embarrassingly loud. He stilled and closed his eyes, allowing you to adjust. You took even breaths, relaxing into his hips, holding on to his shoulders for dear life. His cock was perfect. He was perfect.
I am so fucked.
He moved, slowly at first, stroking all the right places. When his hips separated from yours, pulling almost all the way out, he rutted back inside. It was deep, long thrusts touching some place inside you weren’t sure you knew was there. Your head thrashed against the pillows. Your grip on his shoulders turned sharp, clawing long red-raw marks into his pale skin.
“I’m not gonna last long,” he hissed into your ear, “fuck, you’re so tight.” His abs scraped against your body like a washboard, the tension clear in his muscles. He was wound up, ready to shatter. He crashed into you, repeatedly slapping skin against skin. His fingers found your clit, rubbing tight, slow circles in contrast with the punishing rhythm of his hips. He lifted one of your legs over his hip to change the angle, to make you even tighter around him. A bead of salty-sweet sweat dropped from his chest into your mouth.
“Right...there,” you groaned, your eyes rolling back, “I’m gonna come!”
“That’s right, honey,” he grunted, flattening his fingers across your clit with intense pressure, “come for me.”
The room went white. The sound of your hips colliding was replaced with a high-pitched ring. Your world seemed to implode, your muscles moving independently. He wrapped his arms around your middle and held you as he fucked you through the waves, his weight the only thing keeping you from being swept away in the current.
“Stay here with me,” he cooed, sweet but taut in his throat. Your heart slammed against your ribs in rhythm with his hips. He grunted once, twice, three times with his final thrusts and came undone, pumping into the condom. Biting down on your shoulder to stifle his sounds, he sucked hard enough to leave an angry mark. You contracted around him, both inside and out, curling around his thighs and back and neck, letting the full weight of his completely spent body bring you back to full consciousness.
“Hey,” you fingered his frizzed and fucked curls, “Shawn?”
“Hmm?” he nuzzled into your hands and squeezed you a little tighter.
“You’re crushing me,” you exhaled, strained.
“Oh, fuck! I’m sorry!”
He shifted to his side, accidentally pulling out too quickly, making both of you wince.
“Shit, shit, I’m so sorry,” he was so cute when he was scrambling. He got up and threw out the used condom, quickly returning from the adjoining bathroom with a damp cloth.
“Come here,” he held his arms out, making a perfect you-sized place in front of him. You slid into it easily and let him press the cloth between your legs, wincing again.
“Did I hurt you?” There was so much concern in his voice.
“No, no, I just…” you held onto his arm, glad to be facing away, “I haven’t been fucked like that in awhile.”
“Glad to be of service.” You didn’t have to be looking at him to see his smug smile. Reaching back, you slapped his thigh in retaliation. He caught your hand and kissed it like a Victorian gentleman again, like it made up for his cockiness. You tried to convince yourself that it didn’t, flushing even harder than your just-fucked body should have allowed. He wrapped his arm around your front and intertwined your legs, snuggling his face into the nape of your neck.
“So, uhhh, are we gonna do this again?” he asked, barely concealing the hope in his voice.
“Shhh,” you said, yawning for effect, “we’ll talk about it in the morning. Just sleep.”
He exhaled against your back, placing one last kiss on the mark you were sure he’d left in the midst of his orgasm. You stared out into the Toronto skyline as his breathing evened, his quiet snores barely audible against the screaming voices in your head. As the light crept into the room, as morning dawned on your sleepless night, you repeated his question over and over again.
Are we gonna do this again?
There was an easy answer: yes. Yes, yes, yes, my God, yes you were going to do this again. But there was another, harder question to answer beneath it. If we do this again, will we ever be able to stop?
***
taglist: @justanotherfangurl272  @siennarossi @trustfundshawn @alone-in-madness @harryandmolly @thatindiannerdygirl @fromthicctosticcc @softmendesss @sinplisticshawn @nedthegay @september-lace @itrocksmysocks @disaster-rose @mendesoft @luvluvxx @i-play-video-games @ihearthemcallingforyou @gentleshawn @kitykatnumber @enchantingbrowneyedgirl @ijustreallylikeshawnokay @shhhawnmendes @shawnsblue @imaginashawnns @mendesficsxbombay @shawn-youth @kerwritesthings @starlightsivann @lavenderhoneymndes @begginyouformendes @fallinallincurls @shawn-youth​ @linanilssonfurberg​ @lostinshawnsmemory​ @bucky-ish​
(as always let me know if you want on/off the tag list...I realize I don’t post regularly and like half of these people could be out of the fandom lol)
509 notes · View notes
angelanimedesaray · 3 years
Text
Through the Looking Glass Chapter 9:  April
AN:  I��m getting ahead of the question now and stating that in this world, AOT isn’t an anime (Poor souls). So no, the Reader isn’t going to become omnipotent to Levi’s life/world.
They did not binge this in one day.  The first round, for sure they did, but it was a little broken up in spurts.  For the sake of brevity, considering this was already going to be a long chapter, I cut out all the flickering back and forth and just focused on their Movie Nights and them watching the show.
It might feel a weird mix of rushed and long, because they’re watching the entirety of Your Lie In April, but I wasn’t going to transcribe the whole show, so there’s a lot of summarizing and cutting things out and highlighting certain pieces, but its still long because there’s a LOT to cover.
Also because of how emotional this chapter is actually going to be, I want to just remind...that Levi is like, mid teens, and hasn’t gone through much of the stuff that adult Levi has been through, so in my mind, that justifies a bit more of a REACTION for some of this stuff.  But he’s still Levi, and he’s still going to be reserved and such, just...not as controlled as Adult Levi.
This whole chapter is like one big lead up to the next chapter, funnily enough. XD
Also got to listen to “Constellation” by Far Out feat. Karra on repeat writing this.  It felt so fitting!
I’m putting quotes from Your Lie in April in italics with quotes and an indent like this, so its clear that they came from the show.  Levi’s thoughts/memories will just be in italics, no indention .
Characters:  Levi, Reader
Pairing:  (Eventual Levi x Reader)
Warnings:   SPOILERS FOR “YOUR LIE IN APRIL”, Angst, FEELINGS, Language
Word Count:  10994
<----Previous Chapter    Masterlist    Next Chapter---->
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*Levi’s POV*
At long last, Y/N was finally going to show him those movie, show things she kept talking about.  He knew plays and acting and putting on an act, but the concept of a show that was saved so you could watch it whenever you wanted without having to make people do it over and over was novel to him.
Boisterously proclaiming that it was going to be a “Movie Night” day, she’d grabbed his hand and dragged him after her like she’d used to do when they were young, despite his protests.  To be fair, he didn’t try too hard to wiggle away, either, letting her pull him along to the living room as she fussed and tried to decide what they were going to watch.
After all of her attempts to explain what a movie or TV show was, she decided that the best way to explain it to him was just to show him, though she still had to stop and explain the type of show they were watching.
“Okay, so what I’m showing you right now, is actually called an anime.  It’s a type of animation from a country called Japan, and it’s made from computers or hand drawn.  They draw the story, picture by picture, and put it together to make the characters and such move, with actors doing their voices and recording it in time with the pictures, sound effects like bells and wind also being saved, background music, so on and so forth,” she explained as she cut up pieces of paper and layered them on top of each other, pulling out a pencil and drawing a circle on each page, moving its position slightly each time.  “See, if you do it frame by frame, and then move it really fast, it's like the ball is bouncing--animation, and anime, works off the same concept, except they’re drawing everything,” she continued to explain, grabbing the bottom page and then letting the papers rapidly spring free, causing Levi to see the ball she drew appear to move along the page, even though he knew it was a bunch of individual drawings going by rapidly.
“They draw a solid background that doesn’t move, and then they add another layer on top that you can see through like glass, but they draw the moving parts on that layer, so it looks like they’re in the solid background and they’re walking and whatnot.  It’s really cool--makes me wish I could draw,” she continued, putting aside the papers she’d used for her demonstration and picking up the controller so she could get them started, gesturing for Levi to take a seat on the couch.  “I haven’t seen this one yet, but a friend recommended I watch it cause I love music, and I play the piano, and she said it was a really good coming of age story.  I’m a little wary cause she said she wanted my reaction to the end, but she usually suggests stuff I love, so I’m gonna trust it,” she continued to babble as the screen lit up with colors and pictures like a computer screen, most of it nonsensical to Levi as she shifted rapidly past most of it looking for the specific show.
She stopped on something extremely colorful, blues and yellows and pinks and reds in vibrant color with four drawn people lying in what looked like the sky, and she abruptly turned to face him.  “Are you okay with having to read what they say?  The original is in a different language, so it’ll have subtitles at the bottom translating what they say.  There are other versions where they redid the speaking parts in different languages, but I really like listening to the original--I feel like it really gets the emotions across because it's so well done.”
Levi hesitated for a moment, contemplating her offer of putting it in a language they understood or keeping the original and having to read what they were saying.  Eventually, he just shrugged.  “Whichever you want.”
“Subtitles it is,” she said, turning back to the TV and messing with a few things before she finally started the show, coming over to sit by him on the couch.  He was sitting normally, his ankle propped up on his leg with one arm resting against the back of the couch, the other lying casually in his lap.  Y/N, however, sat directly beside him, his arm behind her shoulders and her side pressed slightly against his, causing Levi to glance at her, mind flashing back to how she’d sat at the piano with him not too long ago.  She wasn’t even glancing at him, though, gradually relaxing next to him like a kitten curling up to get warm, her eyes fixed on the colorful display that was now on the TV.
Turning his attention back to the TV, Levi studied the images in front of him, a cheerful bit of piano music fluttering towards them as vibrant and colorful images of a girl chasing a black cat moved seamlessly across the screen, much smoother than the quickly drawn bouncing ball Y/N had put together to describe what they would be watching.
If she was trying to sneak a peak of his reaction, she would catch his eyes had widened at the vibrant colors and amazing detail, the realistic sounds that came through and made him want to check and see if the piano behind them was being played, or there were people hiding somewhere making the character’s voices and singing the song as the scene suddenly shifted to what Y/N described to him as an intro, a quick prologue of sorts that set the tone of the show.  Thankfully, however, she’d already explained to him that the sounds were done beforehand, recorded and somehow stored so it would be repeated to the images on the screen as they watched.
It was a little...outside his realm of understanding, how it all worked, and he had the sneaking suspicion he’d just have to accept that it just was and he needed to sit back and try to enjoy it.  That was how a show was supposed to work, right?  And that was exactly what Y/N seemed to be doing.
As she had warned him, the characters were speaking an entirely different language, so Levi couldn’t understand what was being said on its own.  Thankfully, there were the subtitles to translate, Levi’s gaze flickering between reading the small letters to looking at the colorful screen to see what was happening, trying not to get too caught up in the details he didn’t understand, like the games the kids were playing, and how different the environment was even to what he saw in Y/N’s world.
At least the basic stuff he could easily make sense of--the main character was obviously the quiet and reserved, black haired, blue eyed pianist Kousei, and the characters were around Levi and Y/N’s age.  The point of the story wasn’t clear yet, but she’d explained this was going to be episodic--it would be played like chapters in a novel, stopping at the end of a chapter before they would have to start the next one.  So it might be a while before he started catching that.  Right now, they were meeting characters, finding out their relationship to one another and getting hints at the history between them all.
Like the fact that Kousei lived alone because his father was absent, and his mother was deceased.  She’d succumbed to illness when he was still young.  That alone had the stirrings of empathy settling in Levi’s chest for the main character.  He couldn’t relate to the abuse, but the desire to make her better, that somehow he could do something to make her feel better did resonate.  It made him listen to their conversations a bit more, since he already had a foothold and something relatable.
Once he started drawing comparisons to the story unfolding in front of him, he couldn’t stop noticing them.
“The moment I met him, my life changed.  Everything I saw, heard, and felt.  All the scenery around me started to take on color.  The whole world began to sparkle.”
A world of monotone, devoid of color, until he meets a certain vibrant youth who brings a sudden rush of color and life into the world around her, dragging Kousei in by the hand--as if he could ever resist the force of nature she was.
Hm.  He wondered who that reminded him of.
He didn’t even notice when the “chapter” ended and the next started, his gaze flickering subtly towards Y/N on the couch beside him, appearing just as taken by the story as he already was.
However, this new chapter did bring about new questions, and was a bit closer to his grasp of understanding after watching Y/N play music for so long.
“Do you ever do competitions?” Levi asked as the characters walked around the competition and the history Kousei had at this specific building was teased, easily able to see that there was a piano on the stage despite it being a violin competition.  Surely if there were competitions for violins, there were for pianos?
She shook her head, chewing slightly on her lower lip as she answered him.  “No way--I play piano for myself and a few people.  I’m not looking to make a career of it or become famous for it.  Not to mention, I don’t think I’m cut out for competitions.  There’s a lot of pressure, and they’re really strict about playing the pieces exactly how they were originally written.  I want to play the piano how I feel, and that’s not always by paying attention to how it's written on the sheet.”
“And violins?  What are they like?” he asked.  He hadn’t seen or heard a violin yet, and was curious to hear what they would sound like.
“They’re a string instrument--portable, small.  Really beautiful, too--they’re my second favorite instrument.  They usually pair wonderfully with pianos--I’m pretty sure it’s common for a piano to accompany a violin in shows and competitions.”
Levi hushed with his questions again as the scenes playing out on the TV continued to unfold and the first violin performer took the stage, Levi hearing the light and lively music of the violin for the first time, the same song being performed over and over by the nondescript and nameless musicians on the stage in the show.
Beside him, Y/N was slowly tilting her head side to side as she listened to the music being played, eyes fixed on the screen.  She must have felt almost in her element watching this, while Levi felt a bit more like Tsubaki, not understanding a lot of the names and such that were being thrown around by the characters in discussion, but still there to enjoy it nonetheless.  When Kousei was tapping his fingers on the armchair to the piano music, Levi’s gaze flickered to Y/N to see if she was doing something similar, since she seemed focused on the music as well.  It wasn’t as precise as Kousei, maybe she wasn’t playing every note in her head, but her fingers were lightly tapping against her legs like she wanted to be playing the keys on the piano.
Then came Kaori’s first performance.
Watching, Levi felt a familiarity in the girl’s intensity, once again reminded of the girl sitting next to him, who seemed to throw herself into every aspect of life around her--at least compared to him.  There was a tension in the air, a feeling that this was going to be much different than the music they’d been hearing up until this point.  Even Y/N had stilled next to him, eyes riveted to the girl on the screen.
The first notes were shocking.  After listening to Y/N play the piano for so long, even his unprofessional, inexperienced ear could hear the shift in the sound, and how rich and deep it suddenly was.  Beside him, Y/N shifted into a more upright position, eyes suddenly lighting up and sparkling as she leaned forward, her breath catching.  The ripple through the audience wasn’t just in the show, but in reality, as the two of them on the couch suddenly focused entirely on Kaori’s performance.
The girl’s eyes flashed on screen, and the music suddenly leapt to life before them, making his own heart seem to pound a little faster, the sounds pleasant and uplifting to his ears, making him restless in a good way.  It sounded similar to when Y/N played the piano with him that one day, not necessarily in skill, but in the life and emotion that was in it.
Like Y/N, Kaori was pouring herself into her playing, she shone brightly through in the piece, made like it was pulling back a curtain to reveal a part of her soul.  Kousei even said as much, stating that Kaori was making the piece hers and hers alone.
The performance ended, and Y/N suddenly grabbed his arm with a squeal.  “That was awesome!  I’m going to have to find a recording of that!” she said breathlessly.  Her excitement was infectious, and almost prompted Levi towards a smile as they slowly settled back onto the couch, the story progressing in front of them.
She was such a stark contrast to the black haired youth in front of her, the whirlwind to his reserved personality, but even she would show flashes of vulnerability, for his eyes only, it seemed.  And he did what he could to hide what he could in order to protect her, without her ever knowing, probably.
Wait, was he still thinking about Kaori and Kousei?
Levi shook his head, focusing back on what was happening, reading Kousei’s contemplations about how he could still hear the refrain of the music Kaori played in the competition he witnessed, over and over.
Levi’s fingers tapped slightly against the back of the couch and in his lap, barely tapping out the melodies for the song they’d played on the piano the other day, music he heard even when he was alone with his thoughts in his own world, still able to feel her fingers aligned with his, guiding him through each key.  He’d find himself tapping them out in rare moments of idleness, like he was still clinging to the memory of the sound even if he didn’t have a piano in his world.
Y/N shifted entirely back to her relaxed position against Levi’s side, head brushing briefly against his shoulder and making his skin tingle where the brief contact had been, his stomach squirming.
Kaori dragged poor Kousei around everywhere, usually into situations far out of his comfort zone, and far more aggressively than a certain someone sitting beside him.  However, it seemed like more often then not, those situations were wonderful places that he wouldn’t have found or experienced on his own.
She brought color to his monochrome life.
Where he was hidden in shadows, she was cast in light, and she didn’t hesitate to pull him into the sun.
”I know you’re broken and beat up, but I want you.  I choose you.  I want you here.”
The beginning chapters seemed to fly by quickly, with Kaori pushing Kousei more and more, and beside Levi, Y/N seemed to be slowly wiggling closer to him.  Was it intentional?  Did she realize she was doing it?  He did--he seemed hypersensitive to every motion, yet he didn’t pull away, didn’t even twitch.  He stayed still, like sudden movement might frighten her away as easily as a stray cat.
As intriguing as the events on the screen were--and he was taking in the information, such as how Kousei used to have a black cat, how he couldn’t hear the sound of the piano after his mother died and quit piano directly afterwards, important stuff like that--Levi’s thoughts kept wandering as he watched.
He thought of how beautiful the trees with the pink petals were, how breathtaking every scene with them was, and how prominently they seemed to feature in every scene that had something meaningful going on.  Y/N called them cherry blossom trees.  He wanted to see one.  What would it look like?  What would the scene be if he stood under one with her?
Before he knew it, Kaori had cornered Kousei into accompanying her on the piano, and they were rushing towards another performance.  Anticipation stirred in the air between him and Y/N, both of them wondering how this piece would sound, considering Kousei had already been framed as a child prodigy on the piano, and they knew Kaori was breathtaking.  What would it sound like when they played together?  Levi worried about how it would turn out, how Kousei seemed to be unraveling in front of them just before they went up on stage.
Before Kaori gave him a literal smack to get him out of his own head.
As lighthearted and carefree as she seemed to be, every now and then, she would drop these little petals of wisdom.
Levi’s gaze flickered to Y/N again.
Her eyes would shift from a sparkle that almost seemed naive to a depth he hadn’t expected to see, and she’d say something that seemed beyond her years.
“Go on a journey.  A man away from home need feel no shame.”
“Natural.  Bizarre.  It’s like this girl herself is the journey with no clear destination.”
“You’re Freedom Itself.”
The couple took the stage.  The song started out slow, sensual, peaceful.  It reminded him slightly of the song Y/N taught him.
Before, predictably, Kaori brought her wild, fast paced playing back, bringing liveliness to the performance.  It started beautifully, but just as the music seemed to portray some kind of descent, Kousei lost sense of the notes, the sound distorted even for them, listening, as if they were Kousei, only able to faintly hear Kaori while the rest sounded muffled, strangled out by water.  When they were allowed to hear the sound again, it was off, it sounded harsh and jarring, out of sync.  Not at all pleasant.
Considering the earlier mentioned problems, he should have known this wasn’t going to be a perfect and completely enjoyable performance.  It was grating, and while he understood the emotional significance of seeing Kousei give up halfway through, his ears were a little grateful by that point.
The surprise was seeing Kaori stop as well.  He’d thought perhaps something would urge Kousei to start playing again, but he hadn’t expected Kaori to stop in the process.  Beside him, Y/N seemed to be biting on her thumbnail, her brows furrowed as she watched the screen in concern, a frown on her face, leg shifting restlessly around on the couch as she suddenly curled closer to Levi, directly against his side, oblivious to the surprised look he shot her because she was so focused with what was happening on the screen.
“Maybe there’s only a dark road up ahead.  But you still have to believe and keep going.  Believe that the stars will light your path, even a little bit.”
Kaori began to play again, the sound of just the violin playing on its own sounding lonely and out of place, especially when he knew there should be a piano playing with it.  All they needed was for Kousei to play again.  Would he?  No excuses, Kaori needed his support, and Levi found himself silently judging Kousei, mentally pushing him to help her, to play, because that was what she needed from him.
”So what was it that you saw in me?”
“But you have me!  Look up, and look at me.  Look at me.”
Kousei starting to play again was a relief, even if it wasn’t quite right at first.  After a bit of inner reflection, some time where they spent listening to the underwater sounds, it all faded away, and a soft scene of a mother and son filled the screen.  The mother’s softly sung lullaby was soothing, and as it shifted to a scene of the sky, Levi’s eyes widened at the brilliant beauty it was, the range of color, of blues and whites and even some purples and pinks.  How it sparkled and shimmered, stirring up emotions he didn’t know he’d buried somewhere inside him as he suddenly felt small again, curled up in a nest of soft warmth, staring out a small window up towards the sky high above him for the first time, gazing in wonder at the stars and moon that glittered high above him.
Words from one of the many times Y/N had played the piano for him drifted to his mind.  How she had perceived her music had struck some kind of chord with him, even if he wasn’t saying anything--even when he realized he had no words to describe what he was feeling listening to her play that single song.  He remembered how she’d told him that the point, what made music with her time, was how it could communicate what couldn’t be said with mere words.
The music shifted, and Kousei finally began to play, and the sound was enrapturing.  There were no words--it could only be felt, what was happening between the boy at the piano and the girl with the violin.
Could he find a violin in his world?  Could he learn to play it, so he could play with Y/N like Kousei played with Kaori?  Would they manage to produce something similar, something wonderful like that?  What would it feel like?  What would the sound between them be?  What would it say?
”I can hear your sound.”
So caught up in his thoughts, in the raw emotion and the music that had just enraptured them both, Levi was caught off guard when the mood took another shift.
He tensed, hand gripping the back of the couch a little harder as the sound faded away into an echo as Kaori suddenly collapsed.  The hairs on the back of his neck seemed to raise, warning him of something incoming, even though there was no physical threat.  He had a bad feeling, suddenly, seeing Kaori’s paler form in the hospital, seeing Kousei’s disbelieving look, the way all of her face wasn’t visible during certain key answers.  It put dread inside him over what was happening with her, where this would go.  A brief moment of happiness...but what did it mean in the long run?  What did it matter, if it was going to be ripped so harshly away, anyway?
“It was everything to you, and you’re trying to rip that away by force.  As if you were plucking off your limbs.  That’s why it hurts too much for you to bear.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to forget?  No, not a chance.  Because you and I are living for that moment.”
“I won’t forget.  I won’t forget, even if I die.”
“Thank you.”
The mood of the show mellowed drastically, far more serious notes seeping into the air around them as Kousei and those around him were faced with far more serious matters than who liked who, and music competitions.  The competitions seemed to be fading into the background, a mere backdrop to the true story.
Ah…
He might be seeing it now.
There was more to this tale than just playing in competitions.
And he had the feeling he was going to be facing some...difficult scenes.  Not the kind of gristly scenes of the everyday Underground.  The personal, emotional kind.  He was already getting flashes of past events, old emotions stirring this early on.  What would come next?  How deep was this show going to dig to bring out emotions or thoughts he didn’t even know he was keeping buried?
Y/N shifted again, now blatantly sidled up beside him, head leaning slightly to the side, coming to rest very lightly on his shoulder.  Levi stilled, pulled entirely from his thoughts, both of them seeming to hold the position to see what the other would do.
She didn’t pull away.
Neither did he.
Her head leaned a little more heavily against his shoulder, and she got more comfortable in her position next to him.  Levi relaxed, letting her do as she pleased, silently grateful for the companionable warmth her presence beside him seemed to be offering him, allowing the scarier thoughts to temporarily be soothed and chased away.  It helped that the story was shifting towards the more light-hearted as well, as Kaori and Kousei began to prepare for a piano competition.
“Before your fingers touch the keys, you must determine in your mind how you’re going to play it.  Why do you play the piano?  Is it for your sake?  For someone else’s sake?  How do you want to play this piece?”
Levi turned his head slightly to look at Y/N, curiosity stirred up in his mind as Kaori grilled Kousei for his mental imagery while he played.  “What about you?  What do you think of when you play the piano?” he asked her.
“Hm?” she asked, pulled for the first time out of the show as she turned slightly to meet his gaze, surprised by the inquiry.  “I...don’t know.  It depends on the moment.  Usually it’s memories, though.  Certain songs make me think of certain people, usually memories with that person.  Maybe something I want to do or say to them?  I haven’t thought of that much before...usually I just...do it.  And I tend to get lost in what I’m doing, too.  I guess that’s part of the reason why I haven’t thought of it much before.”
Levi continued to look at her even as she turned her attention back to the show, barely holding back a question that bubbled up inside him.
Have you ever thought of me?
She was teaching him to play the piano, right?  What would his mental imagery be when he played?
While Levi got his quick question in and mulled over his own thoughts once more, the mood shifted to something more serious in the show again.
Kaori was worried she was being too pushy, that Kousei might resent him for forcing him into the position he was in, now.  That she was being too hard on him.  And something that they said resonated with him, because of recent events.
“You’re suffering because of me.  I’m sorry.”
Levi saw Y/N in front of him in his mind’s eye.  Her eyes were downcast, lips pressed together, shoulders slightly hunched, and she was on the verge of tears after his barbed words expressing how shitty this situation was for him, how it teased him with what he could never have.  Did she blame herself, for him being pulled into her world, always around her for a brief while before he was kicked back?
But again, she’d been right.  Even if it was brief, that didn’t mean the time he spent here with her was worthless.  It still meant something to him, and it still brought him some comfort and, oddly enough, a sense of security.  From the very first time they’d met, she’d provided him with somewhere he could truly feel safe and cared for.
“It was you who swept away all the dust.  For sweeping away the dust that had collected on my body...thank you.  For encountering me.”
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The more hints the story dropped about Kaori’s health, the more worried Levi became about the turn this story might take.  He was bracing for impact, a small frown on his face as he saw the pile of medicine Kaori was carrying around with her at the competition.  Kousei’s musical rivals didn’t register so much with him in the previous two chapters, because he was still so focused on what was happening with Kousei and Kaori.
Y/N had gotten up at one point by now to get a drink, bringing back a water for him to sip on as they continued the story, time passing by without either of their knowledge of just how long they’d been sitting here.  Even Levi, usually so much more active, was content to sit here and watch, hardly noticing his inactivity as he drank up every scene, every word, some ringing out through his mind, others falling into place as narrative importance, worry and elation and nostalgia, as well as so much more, all stirred together inside him, Y/N curled up like a kitten at his side, his arm still leaning against the back of the couch, his hand resting softly on her shoulder.
However, while he and Y/N were falling into a position of ease, the story seemed to be starting to shift more to the relationship between Kousei and his mother, and what happened to her.  Kaori was getting worse, it seemed, and they were digging into a relationship that felt, in certain ways, similar to what Levi had gone through, and not too long ago, either, now that he was forced to look at it.  It made him...uncomfortable, to say the least, but he wasn’t saying anything--he needed to see where this story was headed, with how invested he was at this point.  And even if it got personal, he thought he might be able to sit and endure it all the same.
”My mom’s coming from the hospital to see me perform...so you see, in order to make Mom well again, in order to make her happy, I’m gonna play my very best as a gift!”
The first hit actually made him flinch.  It was slight, but it was there, and Y/N might have caught it--he wasn’t expecting it, not from the tone, or what had just been discussed, or the way the scene changed so rapidly from the cheers of the audience after little Kousei finished playing his best for his mother to the slap across his face from the ailing woman.  He suddenly felt tense, his hand still on Y/N’s shoulder and his expression suddenly unreadable as the hits kept coming, making something dark and angry well up inside him as Kousei was hit hard enough to draw blood against a backdrop of the abuse he’d been suffering the entire time.
Perhaps Y/N hadn’t caught it, because she was flinching as well, and her reaction was far more open on her face, eyes watering with near-tears, a slight shake in her body, and the occasional, shaking breath.
”All I wanted was for you to get better.  All I wanted was for you to be happy.  And yet...I wish you would just die.”
“That was the last time I said anything to my mom.”
Levi’s grip tightened on Y/N’s shoulder, but neither of them said a word, a grimness in the air as they continued to watch the story in front of them that had started so colorful but was taking a darker turn rather quickly.
Levi scowled slightly at the switch to such an upbeat little song at the sudden end of the chapter, which would be followed by another upbeat song at the beginning of the next.
“These ‘intros’ and ‘outros’ are deceptively cheerful,” Levi criticized.
“What’s a good story without some struggle?” Y/N replied, though she briefly untangled herself from her position at Levi’s side and wiggled off the couch.  “Though, I think I’m going to go grab some tissues.  I’m starting to think there’s going to be some really sad or heartfelt stuff coming up.  Tell me when it’s back on if I’m still missing!” she added before darting away, leaving Levi to sigh quietly to himself and look up at the ceiling, keeping track of the show in front of him as he waited for her to run off and come back with a colorful box, squirming back into place beside him and letting his hand return to her shoulder as she placed the box next to her on the couch, sighing contently.
“The show must go on!” she insisted, face devoid of the strong emotion they’d been sharing just a few moments ago.  She settled next to him with a soft sigh, the sight of Kousei struggling at the piano returning where the previous chapter left off.
They watched him struggle against the ghost of his mother, trying to force himself to play through it, to play even though he couldn’t hear, even as the sound grated on them.  Watched as he slowly gave up, until he stopped entirely before the song was even over, just like he had with Kaori.
Part of him had expected Kousei to have some kind of revelation just before he quit and push through, but he’d really stopped.  Now it just remained to be seen if he could start again.  Of course, after his performance with Kaori, they knew he was disqualified.  But would he find a reason to play anyway, like she had?
”Even the you that’s here inside me, won’t let me give up.  That day, I wonder.  What did you play for?”
Levi felt the ghost of her fingers on his again, unaware that he was tapping the keys against the skin of her shoulder at the memory.
Once more, the sound changed as Kousei found his reason to play.  The girl who’d changed his world from monotone to color, who dragged him into a whirlwind of life without giving him the chance to think twice about it.
“Just one person matters to me.  Only you matter.  Thank you...Will it reach her?  I hope it reaches her.”
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”Your hidden emotions.  The you that you’ve never known.  The piano drags out everything…”
Levi’s gaze once more was unfocused on the screen as he was swept away in a sea of his own thoughts, thinking back to the times he’d listened to Y/N play.  What had he been hearing those days?  What would he hear in her playing in the future?  If he put enough effort into learning to play as she tried to teach him...could it help him communicate some of the things he struggled to say?  It was at least worth giving it a shot.
And he would be sure to pay closer attention in the future to see what he could hear, what he may not be aware of.
The pacing lulled into something more relaxed once more, a brief reprieve after the emotions that were just thrown at them, allowing him and Y/N to talk a bit more, both of them keeping one eye on the subtitles even as they made little comments about what they’d heard so far.  The unspoken love triangle?  Maybe it was a triangle.  The romantic feelings were crisscrossed and all over the place between this group of friends.  They commented on their observations about Kousei and Kaori, what they thought was going to become of the two as they watched, whether Kaori or Tsubaki would end up the one with him in the future.
Music was another thing they talked about, obviously.  How they wanted to hear Kousei and Kaori play together again--and were excited they had the chance to with the upcoming concert.  Y/N also expressed how she loved Chopin pieces, and as a result was happy about how many Chopin pieces were in the show so far and was hoping to hear more.  She also mentioned that Love’s Sorrow, the song they were working on now for the concert, was a beautiful piece--mournful, obviously, but beautiful.  She even offered to help him learn it when he got more used to the piano if he wanted to.
Levi was a little distracted, though, by the further warning signs that something was going to happen to Kaori.  In the same stroke that he contemplated how she had a skill for seeing the beauty in the world, like Y/N tended to do for him, she said something ominous that further solidified a growing suspicion that Levi was keeping in mind.
“You know, I’m not always going to be around to help you.”
As worried about Kaori as that line made Levi for the context of the show, it also reminded him of his own situation with Y/N.  He helped when he could, but he was absent so often...and it worked both ways.  He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself when he was on his own, but Y/N he worried about.  What if something serious happened when he wasn’t around to help her?  Would she be all right?  Would she be able to take care of herself until he could be here to help her?
It was another line that resonated with him, another one that was going to burn in his mind and make him brood over their situation.  This show was rife with them, and it had his emotions all over the place, despite his outward calm posture.
He had no way of knowing just how strongly the next chapter was going to hit him.
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He was as riled up as Kousei after hearing that smart mouthed kid claim that the music Kaori made was just disastrous noise.  If he’d ever heard someone say that about the music Y/N played, he was liable to sock them in the mouth.  Honestly, after that comment, he’d thought that the focus was going to be on Kaori again, even with all the recent focus on Kousei’s mother.  That misconception was quickly fixed, though, when the chapter began with a flashback to Kousei’s mother and how he became a pianist, further reinforced when Kousei started to play and they were given the first glimpses into his thought process, and what his new mentor--his mother’s old friend--was thinking.
Kousei’s mother’s favorite song, Kousei’s lullaby.
”Would she have played it like this?”
Kousei was curled up against the wall in the darkness of a room with no one else, knees pulled up to his chest, head buried, trying to shut out the world, the woman who’d known and been close to Kousei’s mother finding him in the darkness as Kousei cried out for his mother, for someone to help him, save him.  Levi tensed, going completely still beside Y/N with his gaze riveted on the scene in front of him.
”That son of ours is about to bid you a last farewell.”
”Will it reach her?”
Levi’s jaw clenched, his teeth grinding together as he attempted to keep a lid on the emotions that were trying to rise inside him again.
“After I’m gone, what’s going to become of Kousei?  Will he be able to earn a living?”
There was a pressure on his chest making it impossible to breathe and a forceful pain in his throat that was pushing right at the back, like there was something stuck there that wanted to come out but couldn’t, because he wouldn’t let it no matter how much it pushed.
”What a terrible mother.  There’s nothing I can leave that boy...”
His breathing ground to a halt except for the barest, shaking whisper through his nose.
“I wish I could’ve stayed with him longer...Will my treasure ever find happiness?”
Eyes fixed on the screen, Levi suddenly felt the overwhelming need to bolt, could feel his fingers and legs twitch like he was about to without warning, but the music was reaching a crescendo, and he thought maybe, just maybe, he might be able to make it through this, even as the pain in his throat and the pressure on his chest seemed to grow more crushing, more painful, so much harder to contain.
”Do you think it reached my mom?  The way I played my very best?  Do you think it reached Mom?”
“You two are connected, aren’t you?  Of course it reached her.”
Kousei broke on screen, and Levi suddenly realized he wasn’t going to make it to the end of the episode.  He needed to bolt now or he might shatter.
Levi tapped Y/N on the shoulder to get her to move, not daring to look at her and possible see her a crying mess already at the emotional scene.  He gave a brief, “I need to take a shit,” that he managed to get out in a steady voice past the pain in his throat by some miracle, and then stood up, the brief statement her only warning to shift before his movement accidentally dumped her on the ground.  He didn’t run to the bathroom, that would be too much of a tell.  Instead, he got up calmly and made his way to the bathroom, not hurrying his step until he was out of sight and already halfway up the stairs.
By the time he reached the bathroom, he couldn’t hold it back any further, safely locked behind the bathroom door with the water in the sink running seconds before he finally choked on the feeling in his throat and chest.  A strangled sound left him, and he leaned over the sink, trying to catch his breath even as his body tried to make him sob.  His breaths hitched painfully, a slight shake in his hands before they clenched the edge of the sink, shoulders hunched and teeth grinding painfully as a soft whine escaped his rigid body.
Y/N was waiting for him.  He couldn’t stay up here forever, but he at least had to get ahold of himself before he headed back down there.  Out of stubborn determination, Levi tried to gulp in air and steady his breath and hands.  Once he had a strong enough hold of his breathing, he cupped his hands under the water and splashed some of it onto his face to help calm himself down.
Only when he felt his composure had returned, Levi dried off his face and hands, then carefully made his way back downstairs, well-aware that the chapter wasn’t even over, and there were still several chapters left--nine, according to Y/N.
A lot could happen in nine chapters.
Levi calmly returned to his seat on the couch, Y/N giving him a quizzical, examining look before she resumed the position they’d been in before resuming the show in the exact spot he’d left--thankfully, it was after Kousei’s breakdown, so he wouldn’t have to see any of that again.
That didn’t, however, mean that he was in the clear.  No, now that they had put a neat little bow on Kousei’s struggle with his mental image of his mother, they were moving on to the one who had been concerning Levi since one of the first few episodes.
”There’s an ever present sorrow hanging over Arima’s music...Then it’s a demon’s path he must walk.  His growth is spurred by sorrow.  If he walks that path, he might have to lose someone to move forward.”
Kaori was in the hospital again, and Levi felt the uneasiness and dread about the direction this show was taking grow substantially.  Especially as Kousei ran inside the room and saw Kaori in the exact position his mother had been in.  The way this show was starting to dig at some subconscious and deeply buried pains and fears of his that he would rather keep far from the front of his mind, but it kept plodding on, and he felt far too invested now to just leave it where it was.  The curiosity and need to know what happened next would eat away at him if he asked Y/N to stop it there--plus, asking that might tip her off that something about it was upsetting him, considering at this point he couldn’t claim he was bored with it.
”You’re gonna be fine, right?”
“I can see you again, right?”
“You won’t leave me like my mom did, right?”
At this point, the focus on Tsubaki and Kousei’s relationship was a much needed break from the reality and darker questions being asked with Kaori and Kousei right now, questions that he had asked himself from time to time regarding Y/N, questions and concerns he didn’t want to think about for his own sanity.  What was happening with Tsubaki was more lighthearted, less grim, even if it was confusing and brought up even more questions to ask himself.  After all, Tsubaki was being faced with the question of how she felt about Kousei--the boy who had been her friend since they were little, who she was falling in love with no matter how much she tried to deny it, who she had always been beside and wanted to be beside forever.
It made him wonder.  He and Y/N were friends--had been for years now.  She was there for him during his darkest moments, and he’d been there for some of her scariest moments.  Yes, they were friends, but...was it starting to go deeper than that?  Did he feel closer to her, somehow?
Her hands had felt warm against his when they played the piano together, pressed against one another with his arms around each other so they wouldn’t get in each other’s way.  His skin had tingled where she touched him when she’d taken care of and cleaned him up after that fight.  He felt comfortable sitting beside her now, with her leaning against him, her head on his shoulder, despite how borderline intimate it felt.
Had she felt something similar?  They hadn’t really looked at each other in these moments--they’d been avoiding looking at each other whenever something like that happened, so he had no idea.  Was she aware of just how comfortable he was around her?  How different that was for him?  Did she have any clue how important she was becoming to him, how big a part of his life she had gradually become despite the very real distance and difference between their two worlds.
This entire time he’d been drawing similarities between them and Kousei and Kaori, when perhaps the comparison should have been with Tsubaki and Kousei.
It sure as hell might make him feel better, considering he was rather sure she had a terminal illness.  After growing up in the Underground and with the experiences he had so far, fatal illnesses were something he could spot, especially when there were as many warning signs as there were for Kaori.  She only seemed to be getting worse--he was pretty sure she’d been told she was going to die, even though there was no audio for the moment to confirm it.  Since the first episode, Kaori had been centered on making an impression, about living on in the memories and hearts of others--she was clearly afraid of disappearing without a trace after she was gone.
Still, amid all the aching and pain, there was still flashes of hope as Kaori struggled against her illness, and more moments that made him think about the relationship between himself and the girl next to him--more damn connections between them and Kousei and Kaori, which did nothing to sooth his nerves and fears he didn’t even know he had.
“Why are the sounds you make so beautiful I think I’m going to cry?”
“That devotion you showed.  Her heart had turned grey, and you gave it color.”
Had he managed to give her what she gave him?  He felt like he didn’t have anything to give, coming from the dreadful world he did.  She was always the one bringing color into his life, had he ever brought color to hers?  Would he ever be able to?  His world, his life, was ugly and dark and probably tragic.  What could he offer her out of that?
”Did I reach him?”
“You don’t have the time to see me.”
“It’s not about time--I want to see you.”
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The chapter started so calmly--discussion about the next round of the competition, Kaori continuing her struggle to get better, Tsubaki finally admitting her feelings for Kousei in a way.  Levi even made a quip about how Watari and Kaori really needed to stop dragging him along as the awkward extra in their group, practically rubbing it in his face even if it was unintentional.  There was even another moment of resonance with something Tsubaki said to Kousei.
“So you won’t lose your way, so you won’t have regrets, I’ll stay by your side forever.”
Still, he should have seen it coming.  It shouldn’t have surprised him, considering he was well aware of the cruel shittiness of the world, even if Y/N wasn’t.  All this time he’d spent bracing himself with the hints of just how bad Kaori’s illness was, the ominous lines of hers.  All the lightheartedness and self-discovery of the past several episodes came crashing down with the emergency with Kaori as, from what Levi could see even though they clearly had far more advanced medicine that Levi knew nothing about, Kaori had some kind of close call, a brush with death, right in front of Kousei.  And then with the damn cat getting hit and dying literally moments later, Kousei having to wash the blood off of his hands and breaking down in the wake of everything that was happening.  He shouldn’t have been surprised, but it still ached to see it.
And there were two chapters left.  Realistically, he doubted that Kaori was going to recover in two chapters after all this time.  By now, he was certain that she was going to die by the end of the story.
She wasn’t even gone yet, and Kousei had already given up.  Levi had seen plenty of people reach that point.  No fight left, no will to move.  Kousei was right back in the position he’d been in at the start, the impending loss of Kaori the final nail in his coffin, his breaking point.
“Why does it have to end up this way?  I can’t...go on.  No more...I can’t try anymore.”
He hadn’t hit his breaking point--he hoped he never reached that point.  But he was sure even he had one, even if he wasn’t sure where his limit was.
Levi blinked at the white fluttering from the sky on screen. A novel sight he couldn’t ignore or just accept.  Snow, Kaori called it.
So that was what it looked like.  One of the many things he’d heard about but hadn’t seen…
“Have you seen snow before, Levi?  Since you live Underground,” Y/N suddenly asked from where she was curled up into his side, head turned to look at him curiously.  Levi shook his head no, and she hummed.  “You’ll have to show up some time in the winter so I can show you all kinds of awesome things you can do when it snows.  It’s cold, but it’s fun.  And everything looks so clean and pure...my favorite things are the trees encapsulated in ice,” she said with a wistful sigh, eventually quieting down as the scene on the screen continued to develop.
Maybe one day.  But he would have to come through not only when it was winter, but on a day that there was snow, and he had no control over when he blipped over into her world.
Blipped, blip...her word for when Levi flickered into and out of her world.  Clearly, it had caught on even in his mind.
“The people I care about keep leaving me...I’m going to be left all alone.”
Inwardly, Levi felt himself flinch, and that desire to bolt was trying to rear its head again, the desire for her to shut it off and spare him these comments that kept digging into the darker corners of himself, the weakness he kept hidden away for no one to see.
“But you have me.  But you have me.”
For the first time, Levi felt Y/N’s hand give his little squeeze on his knee as Kaori repeated her sentiment to Kousei.
Perhaps the feelings were mutual.  Maybe he wasn’t the only one drowning in emotions on the inside and drawing parallels while they watched this show, if she was giving him a little squeeze after those words.  After he registered that he had felt it, and he hadn’t imagined it, he gave her shoulder a small squeeze in return.
“I’m going to struggle as hard as I can.  Struggle, struggle, struggle, like there’s no tomorrow.”
“You gave me this desire to cling to the time that I spent with you.  Aren’t you going to struggle to?  We’re so good at struggling.”
Hell if that wasn’t the story of his life so far, right there.
Collectively, the two of them held their breath, watching as, after Kousei declared how useless it was for him to even try to play in the state he was in right now, Kaori got to her feet on her own, and the sound of the violin softly flickered towards them from the screen.  It was like the music was from a dream, her imaginary violin ethereal, Kaori lit up by a flurry of snow as she played to a crescendo and smiled at Kousei.
“See, miracles can happen just like that.”
Shaking, legs trembling, sweating, collapsed into Kousei’s arms with a breathless laugh, clinging to him like a source of comfort.  It wasn’t her reciting of the things she knew about Kousei, or what she wished she knew, that drew a response from him, but her heartfelt pleas with Kousei as he held her in her arms.
“I’m scared.  I’m scared!  Don’t leave me all alone!”
That was why it was familiar.  That was how Y/N had held him when…
And perhaps the reason he’d lashed out when he’d found out about how fleeting this world was for him had been because…
Levi shifted, and it was only when Y/N started to pull away did he realize he’d been shifting to get up and walk away, to bolt.  When she fixed him with that questioning look again, not-yet-spilled tears in her eyes from the emotion of the scene, her hand still fisted in his shirt, it brought him back to what was happening in the present, and he shook his head as if to dismiss the movement as he sat back down, relieved when the scene changed again.
Considering it was going to the competition and Kaori’s surgery at the same time, he doubted he was going to get much of a reprieve before the emotions hit again.  Kousei was still a mess, though it was a miracle he’d at least shown up to the competition, but even watching him was worrisome, wondering if he was going to break at the piano again after all this progress he’d made throughout the show, everyone watching in concern in the show and on the couch.
“I made you remember something you don’t want to remember…”
“I won’t forget, even if I die…”
“You can just forget about it all, like you’ve pressed the reset button…”
“I guess maybe we never should've met, huh?”
Levi had to close his eyes for a moment after that one, sucking in a sharp breath.  It was like it had come right out of his denial of their entire situation, how angry he’d been, the pain it had caused, how for a few moments, he’d felt like it would have been better if he could forget it all, if they had never met, because then he wouldn’t know about what he could never have.  His heart ached painfully, the words reverberating not in his mind, but in his bones as the pain in his throat already seemed to be returning.
He opened his eyes, and on screen, Kousei started to break down again, face in his hands, on the brink of tears seated at the piano, on stage in front of everyone once again.
Tsubaki sneezed, and after a few moments of reflecting, after realizing how many people he knew were there...Kousei finally began to play, the notes reverberating deep inside his chest in a full, resonating sound.  Something about it made him nostalgic, but also so...it was so…
“Bursting with such mournful color.”
The chapter suddenly came to an end mid performance, which startled Levi--especially when Y/N darted forward so suddenly to grab the remote and quickly jump to the next one, immediately snapping back into his side, clutching to his clothes like her life depended on it, curled into a ball as he realized for the first time that tissue box was suddenly right in front of her, easily accessible.
The last episode.
Considering the set-up, neither of them were going to get through this last part unscathed emotionally.
It started from the beginning of the piece this time, the commentary being made by the onlookers and Kousei different this time, centered entirely on Kousei after the very beginning.  Levi and Y/N were both enraptured by the performance though, holding to one another on the couch with gazes fixed forward, completely still, even their breathing slight as they paid full attention to every word, and let the music pull them in deeper into the emotional symphony Kousei was creating with just the piano.
“I’m so scared...Somebody…”
“But you have me.”
“I’m not alone.  From the moment that we meet someone else, none of us can ever be alone.  We’re all connected.”
Levi’s grip tightened slightly on Y/N’s shoulder again, and he felt her grip tighten in return.
“Don’t leave me all alone.”
“Dummy, you have me.”
“Inside me...you exist.”
Y/N nuzzled into his side like a cat, and he thought he felt his shirt starting to get damp.  He ignored it, keeping his grip on her firm and steady, staying still beneath her as he stared stalwartly at the screen, even as the emotions were starting to stir violently around inside him.
”No way am I going to leave you all alone.  Reach her.  Reach her.  Reach her.  Reach her.”
The scenery changed entirely, like Kousei was playing in the sky amid a shower of colors, floating around like leaves that autumn day when he and Y/N had jumped into the piles and sent them scattering into the air.  Kaori’s whispered ‘Thank you’ as Kousei carried her back down the stairs sent a shiver down his spine, especially when Kousei of the present reacted, and turned his head to see Kaori materializing beside him, violin in hand.
Beside him, there was suddenly a whine from Y/N, and a rather large sniffle, as well as that damp feeling on his clothes starting to spread.  She trembled slightly beneath his arm and hand, and he realized she was starting to cry rather heavily, her face partially buried in his side.
The music was jarring, disorienting, suddenly intense and tragic as Kousei closed his eyes, barely holding back tears.
Oh.
Oh, shit.
And there it was.
Kaori’s rich violin playing joined into Kousei’s suddenly mournful and tragic playing, and Levi realized that they were witnessing the last time the two would get to play together.  It couldn’t happen again in body, but at least in spirit.  Words weren’t needed for this moment.  Nothing was said between the characters on the screen, and not a word was spoken between Levi and Y/N.  She was continuing to cry into his side, with Levi starting to semi-awkwardly rub her shoulder to try and comfort her even as his own heart seemed to be pounding painfully at the sight in front of him, every note piercing him deeper than he thought possible with the raw emotion behind and pure weight of this single moment.  All there was at this moment in time, was him, Y/N, and the music being created on the stage in front of them between Kaori and Kousei, one last time.
A sob broke past Y/N’s control as the colorful day turned into a rich night, and Kaori stopped playing.  Levi held his breath, watching as transfixed on the scene as Kousei was transfixed on Kaori, the music softening for the briefest moment before it started to turn slow, mournful, and tragic again.
”Wait...please don’t go!”
As Kousei started to beg Kaori to do all of these things with him again, good and bad, Levi felt the pressure on his chest return, the burn in his eyes and the clench in his jaw, the pain in his throat.  Memories of his own were flickering before his eyes in place of what Kousei begged of Kaori.
A small hand offering a still-warm roll.  A splash of cool water to the face with shrieks and giggles filling the air.  The security of being able to lean comfortably against a warm back with the sun shining down from above, hands gripping his legs and his arms wrapped around the girl who carried him home on her back.  The cool taste of ice cream as they leaned against the brick store.  A gentle hand rubbing soft circles on his back as he slipped in and out of lucid thought in his feverish state.  The sound of hope amid darkness that they managed to create together despite his crude piano playing.  Her hand even now clenched tightly in his shirt seeking comfort, like when he’d led her home in the dark through the desert.
His hand was stretched out before him, pulled along by the girl that suddenly disappeared when he closed his eyes.  He tried to reach a little further, as if his fingertips could press past some veil between his world and hers, so he could reach her even for another moment.  The warmth and the softness of the comfort she wrapped him in evaporated into smoke between his fingers, disappearing in translucent curls, leaving him with nothing to hold, the weight of her presence suddenly disappearing.
What if one day he didn’t come back?
What if one day it all just...ended?  Without any warning?  The only sign that he would never return the passage of time and gradual loss of hope?
“Don’t go, don’t go, please don’t go, please don’t leave me behind!”
Y/N was sobbing openly into his side now, but she didn’t move to stop the show--she kept watching it.  Levi was unaware of the fact that his hand was shaking against her shoulder, all of his effort on keeping the emotions bottled inside him as he watched Kaori disappear before Kousei’s eyes in a flurry of petals, swept away by an indifferent wind.
The rest of the last chapter seemed to pass by in a blur, Levi spending most of that time trying to work his way down from the emotions that scene had stirred up in him, glancing over at Y/N to see a collection of tissues around her while her gaze remained fixed forward, still a blubbering mess over the events that were unfolding on screen.  Shards of Kaori’s letter made it through to Levi, certain fragments sticking with him in the moment, others slowly settling in likely to make an impact on him later.
“I want Kousei to play the piano for me!”
He understood that sentiment.  He loved listening to Y/N play for him, it was one of the many reasons why he brought it up so often.  Sure, it was nice she was trying to teach him to play, but the true moment of enjoyment for him was when she played for him.
“Isn’t it funny how the most unforgettable scenes can be so trivial?”
“None of it was trivial.”
No, none of it was.  From playing card games in her room to playing tag on the playground, or eating frozen treats on the steps while they played simple games with their hands.  Every little moment was one Levi kept stored away, a secret trove of memories just for him and her, something bright and...something that the Underground couldn’t corrupt, because it couldn’t reach or touch this world or the girl at his side.
“Was I able to live inside your heart?  Do you think you’ll remember me at least a little?  You better not hit reset.  Don’t forget me, okay?  That’s a promise, okay?  I’m glad it’s you, after all.”
Like Y/N said, just because the moments were fleeting, didn’t mean they didn’t matter.  Even if they stopped one day, for whatever reason...at least he would have everything that had come before, the memories, the moments that nothing could take away.  He didn’t think she would want him to try and forget, anyway.  And a part of him wouldn’t want her to forget him, either.  Unlike everything else in his life so far, he wanted this good thing to last, one way or another.
“Will I reach you?  I hope I can reach you.”
This time, when his mind procured the image of his hand outstretched in front of him, trying to catch the disappearing back of the girl in front of him, fingers finding nothing but air, he let his hand squeeze slightly against Y/N’s shoulder once more, reminding himself she was right here in his arms right now, and not to take that for granted.  Maybe sometimes she’d be out of reach, but right now, she was right here.  She wasn’t always out of reach.  He’d just have to make each moment he was here count for something.
Thankfully, she already seemed pretty good at making that happen, so he felt like he wouldn’t have to worry about it too much.  She was always taking him by the hand to have him run with her wherever she wanted to go and explore, and so far, she hadn’t made him regret following her on her little adventures.
She made his life colorful.
“Thank you for being my friend, Levi.”
“I’m the one who should be thanking you.”
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Next Chapter---->
Levi Tags:  @clary-quinn @humanitys-hottestsoldier @whalerus @sunny-flo @thirstyforsometea
Through The Looking Glass Tags:  @artist-bby @kaz2y5-pie​ @tartheyes​ @super-peace-fangirl​ @huntersbunker​ @nefelimalfoy​ @soft-levi-girl-blog​ @honeygivemeachainsaw @regalillegal​ @sugas-daddy7​ @cathyannecookie @chaoticshepardplaid @roayaloveslife​ @sanrioclit​
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Klaus x Powered Reader
Summary: Reader is part of the umbrella academy but came when they were 12 due to parents needing help for them, ya know controlling powers and whatnot. They can shapeshift into any animal and their senses are heightened n such.
Warnings: bloody, fighting bad guys, bit of Klaus fluff
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You know that moment in a movie where they freeze frame and then the character says something like “you’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.”
Yeah with Klaus you have those moments more times then you could count. In fact, if you had a dollar for every time Klaus has gotten you into a freeze frame moment. (And you’ve thought about this often.)
You could probably afford a real nice apartment with actual food in its fridge. Instead of living at the Academy with some apples and Klaus’ latest alcoholic beverage.
But alas, here you are in a back alley as Klaus’ bodyguard waiting for some Italian mafia members to come get their money that he owes them. Well that’s what you’re assuming but Klaus insists they’re just some moody tough guys. Okay sure.
You watch Klaus as he paces back and forth in front of you counting his cash for about the 50th time in the past 10 minutes.
Klaus stops abruptly and turns to you with a smile, “You know what I love about you, Y/N, every time I think things could get worse I look at your pretty face and I know you got me.”
Sighing in knowing annoyance you look up at him, “Are you short.”
Klaus snorts, “No actually I’m pretty long.” He says with wink.
You look up to the sky trying not to crack, you couldn’t give him the satisfaction even if it was funny, not the time or place. Especially considering his dumbass is short some cash he definitely owes very soon.
You look over to Klaus again and raise an eyebrow.
“Alright how much?”
He twiddles is fingers while avoiding your curious gaze. “Oh you know...a couple hundred or so.”
“So that’s why I’m here, emotional support my ass”, You say rolling your eyes a bit amused nonetheless.
Klaus may be an idiot but he’s funny and kind and you love him. Also you do enjoy beating up gangsters or whoever these thugs of the hour are.
Folding your arms while giving Klaus a smirk you tell him, “Well your friends better get their asses here cause when they do. I’m gonna knock their teeth in for making us wait in this shit ally. I’ve been suppressing the urge to vomit for 10 minutes.”
He nods in agreement, glad you’re not about to rip him a new one for his latest antics.
“Wait, does it really smell that bad, I mean the dumpster is at the other end of the ally.” He says in confusion.
You put your hands on your hips glancing at the dumpster and then focusing on Klaus.
“I’ve got the whole animal kingdom inside me Klaus, I know you can kinda smell that dumpster from here, but listen. For me it’s 1000x worse and let me tell you it doesn’t smell like a bath and body works around here.”
Klaus laughs scratching the back of his head, “Right, right, sorry.”
Suddenly a sketchy looking black car rolls into the ally, coming to a halt as three angry looking men walk out. Clearly hiding something within their coats, the “leader” it seems steps up and speaks.
“You betta have that 1,000 you owe us right fucking now you little theif, I don’t appreciate you takin’ my mother’s gold necklace, rest her soul.” He growls.
Klaus raises his hands up, “Listen buddy, you stole that from your own mother at her funeral...and let me tell you she’s not to happy about it.” He says looking to his left where you assume this guys dead mother is standing.
The bald guy behind him shakes his head and says, “So fuckin what? We needed that shit for other important purposes raccoon eyes.”
Klaus now lost as to where this situation is about to turn looks over at you clearly needing assistance. While mouthing “help me”.
Walking past him you hold your hands up showing you have nothing to hide, “Now that’s not very nice, a real shit personality, your mother would be very disappointed in how you’ve turned out. Cause let’s be honest it’s not like your looks are doing anything for you either.” You say snickering trying to see how they’ll react.
The first guy smirks reaching into his coat to pull out a nasty looking knife. “See this right here, I’m a good old fashioned man, I don’t believe in guns.”
You raise your eyebrows at him, “Oh well in that case we should all be quite relieved then.”
Looking behind him you notice as his two friends pull their own weapons out, which consists of a hammer and some type of meat hook.
“Klaus couldn’t have picked an easier bunch of idiots to fuck up then these psychos.” You thought.
The bald one begins to move brushing past the first guy looking like he’s seeing red.
“Jesus, man I didn’t mean to offend, I’m just making friendly conversation.” You muse.
Baldy begins to charge holding up his hammer ready to strike. “Come here you bitch, that’s my husband you’re talking to.”
He swings as you side step him, tripping him as he falls directly onto the concrete. Conveniently dropping the hammer in the process. Klaus being the ever troublesomely fantastic sidekick, picks up the hammer and throws it at you.
Gripping the hammer tightly, baldy rises from the ground faster then you’d expected mouth bloody and boiling with rage.
But in a hot second his bearded buddy in crime sprints towards you with his meat hook seemingly out of nowhere.
Klaus yells for you to watch out but you didn’t even need to look, this guys heart beat is louder then a firework and you’re faster then a viper, your senses on overload. As you turn around in record time to grab the guys right arm with the meat hook.
With your left hand tight around this guys beefy one you hold on and push his assault giving him more power. Effectively fulfilling your plan and leading the hook right into baldys chest. Who was fortunately running towards you.
A split second later with the hammer in your right hand you swing it forcefully into the guys shins. Hearing a sweet sickly crunch sound and the wild howls protruding from your assailants throat.
“Sorry I didn’t know you were married.”
“Fuck you!” He screams.
You look up hearing the sting of metal being swung in the wind, to see a knife heading straight for your throat.
With lighting reflexes you grab his wrist, the knife inches from your vulnerable skin.
Klaus gasps in the background terrified and relieved at not getting your throat slit.
You turn your fingernails to sharp cat-like claws that dig dangerously into his flesh, causing hot blood to drip out. The man drops the knife and grimaces in pain.
“I don’t know about you but I don’t think my boyfriend owes you three motherfuckers shit.” You growl, eyes beginning to glow an electric blue while the whites of your eyes shift to black, something that happens when you start to use your power.
“Fuck you, and fuck that thieving piece of junky shit crying in the corner.”
Your mood darkens, “Wrong answer.”
Letting go of his bloody wrist you grip his throat with your left hand lifting him off the ground. He begins to choke and struggles against your tight grasp.
“I know you’ve heard of me from other friends of yours, so listen very closely. If you touch Klaus again or anyone else around here who’s just trying to survive in this city. I won’t be so generous next time. Or maybe I should rip your fucking face off right now.” You squeeze tighter drawing blood.
“Y/N.”  Klaus says softly.
“Let’s go home.” He asks with pleading eyes and you snap back to reality smelling the iron scent of blood on your hands.
Sometimes you can get carried away feeling the rush of the hunt, a taxing side affect of your power, one you’ve always struggled to control.
Letting the man go he slumps to the ground coughing and sucking in straggled breaths.
“ Alright, me..me and the boys...won’t do nothing....you have my...my word....no bullshit nothing....I swear.”
“Good cause your friends are gonna need more then some stitches.”
You quickly leave the ally and start walking down the street towards the Academy.
Breathing heavily, you look up at Klaus who’s at your side as you start to feel a bit embarrassed that he saw you lose it a little.
He holds onto your arms stopping you, “Don’t worry, we’ll have a bath and watch some movies...hey you like that Museum one?”
“The Night at the Museum.” You say smiling still feeling off.
Klaus’ face lights up, “Yeah that one, with the big T-Rex skeleton and President Roosevelt on a horse.”
He links your arms together and you both begin walking again.
“Y/N, I’m not afraid of you, you know. I never have been, I actually find it pretty sexy of you to beat up bad guys for me and keep the neighborhood safe-er. Ben thinks so too, minus the sexy part of course. Only I get to enjoy that.”
You relax more into his side and once again start to feel a bit more at ease with yourself.
“Oh wait a second, here put these sunglasses on, your eyes are still playing mood rings with us. Don’t wanna freak out the civilians” He laughs.
“Thanks, I did wonder why that kid back there looked like he just saw a ghost.”
Klaus winks, “Maybe he did, cough cough..Ben...cough cough.”
“You’re an ass.” You say while rolling your eyes
“Yes indeed my love but remember I deal with the supernatural of all sorts, from ghosts to monsters, nothing phases me.” Klaus states proudly.
You laugh, “ Okay Van Helsing, this monster wants a bath with her hunter then.”
Klaus kisses your cheek, “That can be arranged my dear.”
Smiling up at him you hold him tighter and think to yourself how weird your life is, but you wouldn’t change it for anything.
- okay wow alright, first story ever I hope it’s good or at least some people like it. It was honestly fun to write ngl.
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artificialqueens · 3 years
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One for the Books (Rosnali) - Athena2
Summary: Denali works in the children's section of a library and falls instantly in love with Rosé after she comes in with her daughter.
A/N: This is just a fluffy little one-shot I finally finished and wanted to share. Thank you so much to Writ for beta-ing and encouraging me to post this! I hope you enjoy, and please leave feedback if you'd like!
It’s a rare day that Denali gets flustered at work. She works in the children’s section of a public library, where only one baby spitting up on the rug during story time is a good day. She’s handled crying kids and arts and crafts messes that look like horror movie sets and become more familiar with disinfecting wipes than she thought possible. Nothing really phases her.
Except the woman at the desk right now.
She has waves of red hair and the kind of smile you see on TV, one that softens her face and rounds her rosy cheeks. She has an adorable kid on her hip, and Denali can’t look from the gentle curves of the woman’s arms as she holds her.
“Um, how can I help you?” Denali manages.
“Hi, can I make a library card?”
“Sure!” Denali tugs on the drawer of cards and applications so hard it nearly flies out of the cabinet. She grabs a bright yellow card and watches the woman fill out the application in the elegant cursive Denali wanted to snap her pencils trying to learn in second grade.
Denali usually types the patron’s information in the system on autopilot, not even noticing their names. But she looks at the woman’s—Rosé, her name is Rosé—application like it’s a study sheet for a test, like the curves of the letters and her phone number will reveal her secrets.
No secrets are revealed, though, and Denali passes her the card.
“Thank you.” Rosé smiles.
“The tigers, Mommy!” A little voice says impatiently, and Rosé laughs.
“Right, right. Um, can you tell me where the books about tigers are? Luna loves them.”
Denali finally turns her gaze away from Rosé long enough to take in the little girl in her arms. She’s around three and a mini Rosé, with red hair in two fluffy pigtails and a toothy grin. There’s a stuffed tiger tucked securely under her arm, and Denali smiles.
“What’s your tiger’s name?” she asks.
“Hunter,” Luna says, moving the stuffed animal’s head so Denali can see.
“He looks great,” Denali says. “I can show you where the books are, if that’s okay.”
“Perfect,” Rosé says.
Perfect. It echoes in Denali’s head as she leads Rosé over to the books. Maybe it's a good sign. After all, Rosé could’ve insisted on getting the books herself, but she let Denali show her instead, and—
Yeah, Denali is already head over heels for this woman.
She’s had crushes before, but she usually doesn’t fall this hard or this fast. Especially not someone she’s known for all of a minute. But something about Rosé makes Denali feel like she’s known her all her life.
Denali clears her throat. “Here’s all the books about tigers. There are a bunch of other animal books too, if you want to check those out. I’m Denali, by the way. If you need anything else.”
“Thank you so much,” Rosé says, and Denali forces herself back to the desk because she can’t just stand there forever.
She watches Rosé kneel down on the floor with Luna, pulling out book after book and showing each one to her. There’s a softness in Rosé, in how patient she is, in how carefully she re-ties her daughter’s itty-bitty pink Converse. She’s beautiful as she is, but her genuine smile and kind eyes around her daughter make her even more beautiful, and Denali wants to take it every second. When Rosé takes the stack of books to the chair in the corner, pulls Luna into her lap, and starts reading to her, making funny faces and showing her all the pictures, Denali’s heart damn near explodes.
“Girl, get a grip.”
“Wh—huh?” Denali whirls around to see Symone watching with a smirk on her face.
“You’re basically drooling.”
“I am not!” Denali wipes her mouth self-consciously anyway. She spends the next half hour trying to busy herself in cleaning the desk, but she just shuffles the same five pens around and keeps watching Rosé be adorable with her daughter. When she comes up to the desk to check out her books, Denali leaps to the computer to do them for her. Rosé manages to hold the entire stack in one arm and her daughter in the other, and Denali wonders if Rosé’s arms could hold her. She can’t stop imagining herself nestled within them.
“Mommy, can we get ice cream?” Luna asks, smiling hopefully.
“Okay.”
Denali grins as Luna cheers.
Rosé rolls her eyes fondly. “She’d eat ice cream every day if I let her,” she says to Denali.
“I’d eat ice cream every day if I let me,” Denali says, and Rosé gives another infectious laugh.
“Thank you for your help. We should be back soon.”
“I’ll be here,” Denali says, nonchalant even though she knows she’ll be counting down the days.
—-
Rosé comes back the next Saturday, and the one after that. Denali used to loathe the Saturday shifts she got stuck with, the day filled with either absolute screaming chaos or absolute mind-numbing boredom with no in-between, but she quickly gets used to Rosé coming in and making small talk with her while she checks out her books. Before long, she’s actually looking forward to Saturdays, to the tiny window she gets to see Rosé, making silly faces for her daughter and laughing at all Denali’s jokes.
Denali’s heart leaps in her chest when she sees a glimpse of red hair come through the door, and she gives Rosé a little wave and doesn't care how dorky it is, how desperate she looks. Rosé smiles and waves back to Denali as best she can with arms full of toddler and books. She sets the stack on the desk with a sigh, shifting Luna to her other arm.
“Getting your workout in?” Denali teases.
Rosé snorts. “Definitely. The books are about as heavy as she is, I’ve been reading her three or four a night.”
“You can return these in the box outside, you know,” Denali says as she scans them in. “If you don’t want to carry them all the way in here.”
Rosé bites her lip. “But that’s one less time I’d get to talk to you.”
The book slips through Denali’s hands and hits the counter, her cheeks on fire. Her heart skips a beat, then resumes its rhythm with a deep pounding in her chest. Rosé likes talking to her. Rosé likes talking to her so much she lugs a pile of books in here just to do it, and it's a few seconds before Denali can speak again. “Are you--are you getting any other books today?” she stammers.
Rosé shakes her head. “Nah, I just wanted to stop in quick and drop these off. I’m taking Luna to the zoo today.”
“To see the tigers!” Luna adds happily.
Rosé smiles. “That’s right. We’re gonna see all the tigers.”
Denali smiles too, her heartbeat finally returning to normal. “I hope you have fun. Say hi to the tigers for me, okay?”
“We will. See you next week.”
“See you.”
Denali really, really wishes she was going to the zoo too.
---
Denali is still coasting on the high of Rosé’s latest visit a week later, even if neither of them has done anything to capitalize on her comment about enjoying her talks with Denali. But Denali knows the interest is there, knows the way Rosé’s eyes shine when she looks at her aren’t just her imagination. Denali will keep testing the waters, let herself be a little more flirty, and one of these weeks, she’ll fully make her move.
The thought keeps her going all day, through the disastrous clean-up after someone spills an entire box of crayons--the 96-pack, of course--and through the reorganization of the mess someone made of the fairy tale collection. She’s giving the furniture a once-over when she spots a familiar stuffed tiger on the chair, her mind filling with the image of Rosé reading to her daughter here this morning. Luna must have forgotten the tiger, and Rosé was so busy juggling all their books that she must not have noticed.
She could just hold the tiger until the next time Rosé comes in, which will hopefully be soon. But she thinks of how fiercely Luna clings to the tiger and Denali can’t make her go without it; Denali was a stuffed animal kid herself, each one with a name and backstory and assigned night for sleeping with her. Plus the library is closed on Sundays, so the earliest Rosé could get it would be Monday morning, and Denali winces thinking of how rough two nights without the tiger might be for Luna.
Or she can just call Rosé.
Every patron in the library system has a phone number and address in their profile, and though she can’t remember Rosé’s last name, she’s the only Rosé in the system. Finding her phone number won’t take more than five seconds. It feels personal, almost intimate, somehow, looking Rosé up like this, calling her because Denali recognized her daughter’s stuffed tiger. Really, though, it’s no different from looking up a patron’s number to tell them a book they ordered came in, and Denali does that all day--heck, she gets paid to do that all day. This shouldn't be any different. She dials the number before she can think about it too much, warning the butterflies in her stomach to settle down.
“Hello?”
“Um, Rosé?”
“Yes.”
“It’s Denali. You know, from the library. Anyway, I was cleaning up and I found a certain stuffed tiger hanging out on the chair, and I bet someone’s really missing him.”
“Oh, thank God.” Rosé sighs, and Denali can practically see her body slumping in relief. “We just noticed him missing an hour ago, I’ve been going everywhere we went today looking for it. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“I’ll be here,” Denali promises.
“Thank you, Denali. Really.”
Rosé is so sincere that Denali’s grateful they’re just talking on the phone and Rosé can’t see her blushing. The tiger keeps her company at the desk until Rosé rushes in, her cheeks flushed and hair messy. Luna looks equally stressed, and Denali can tell she’s been crying. She jumps up from the desk and hangs the tiger to Luna, who hugs it to her chest and sniffles.
“Thank you so much,” Rosé says. “Luna, can you say thank you to Miss Denali?”
“Thank you Miss Nali,” Luna says, and Denali’s heart just about melts.
“You’re welcome.”
Luna runs off to play with the blocks, and Rosé leans against the desk with Denali to watch her.
“I’m so sorry I had to bother you with this,” Rosé says, running a hand through her hair. “I should’ve noticed she didn’t have it, I just—“
Denali brushes her off. “Please. I had to kick a teenager off the computer for watching porn this morning. Holding onto a stuffed animal is one of the better things I’ve had to do today.”
Denali is wondering if that was too much information when Rosé bursts into laughter, so infectious that Denali laughs with her.
“Seriously?” Rosé asks.
“Pretty much a typical day in the library,” Denali says.
Rosé snorts and shakes her head. “Anyway, I mean, if there’s something I could do to thank you—“
“I like ice cream,” Denali blurts, cheeks instantly burning. “I mean, uh—“
“Are you suggesting an ice cream date?” Rosé asks, raising her eyebrow.
“I am,” Denali says confidently, because apparently today is the day she’s making her move.
Rosé breaks into a grin. “It’s a date.”
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