#iou stray kids

[sluttywonwoo]

instead of you [part twenty-six] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, angst, smut (mdni)

word count: 5.1k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

series masterlist | early access to the next chapter on ko-fi

additional smut warnings: oral (f receiving), protected sex, multiple orgasms

The silence that followed your admission was excruciating. You wished you knew what Minho was thinking. He was impossible to read, aside from the evident anger written all over his face. His body language didn’t give much away either. He was closed off, arms folded across his chest, chin raised just slightly. 

“So who are you then?” he demanded, tone even despite being the exact opposite mere moments ago. 

“What?”

“Who are you? Are you just some girl that Jisung is using?”

“What the fuck, no!”

“Why are you acting like that’s some outrageous possibility? I just found out you’ve been lying to everyone all summer!”

“I’ve been Jisung’s best friend for like four years now, I’m all over his Instagram! Felix came to visit us and we all hung out, there are pictures of that too. I can’t believe you’d think I’m some random person!”

“You’ll have to forgive me for not thinking completely rationally right now!” he spat. “Why the hell would Jisung lie about- why would he say he had a girlfriend if he didn’t?”

“It’s a long story,” you mumbled with a sigh. “But we really don’t have time to get into that right now. I came up here because I was supposed to bring you back to the room.”

Minho made a face. “What, why?”

“Your cousins called.”

The shift in his demeanor was immediate. He visibly perked up, but only briefly, before seeming to remember the conversation he was having. “Jeongin and Yoon?”

“Yeah. Everyone else is on FaceTime with them right now. I told everyone I’d come to get you so that none of them would have to miss out on talking to him,” you explained. “So we should probably get going because I don’t know how long he has to chat.”

“Fine,” Minho surrendered easily, “but we’re not done talking about this.”

“Yeah, yeah I know,” you sighed again, still feeling nauseous. With everything that had already happened, you knew there was no way that this could end well. But now, now that one person knew it was all a lie, you were fucked. “Just… don’t tell anyone, please?”

He pursed his lips but nodded. “You sure have a lot of secrets to keep track of, don’t you?”

It was meant to sting, and it did, but you didn’t let him see the crack in the glass. 

“I could say the same for you.”

-

You slipped into your room as soon as you got back to the penthouse, not wanting to face any of the other Hans, especially not your best friend. You collapsed onto the bed with a muffled scream into your pillow. 

You expected yourself to start crying, but the tears didn’t come. They wouldn’t come. The initial panic had been replaced with numbness. Apathy personified, you could feel it spreading from your heart out through your veins, creating a tingling sensation that reached the very tips of your fingers. 

You had to tell Jisung, right? He’d understand… probably. You hadn’t told Minho. He figured it out on his own. Yeah, you should tell Jisung and then you could also come clean about… everything else. Maybe. But maybe you could also take it to your grave since it seemed like any possibility of you and Minho becoming an item, whatever that implied, was out of the question now. You knew he didn’t want anything to do with you anymore. Not after tonight. You couldn’t erase his look of betrayal from your mind no matter how hard you tried. 

Just how many people were you hurting by merely being on this trip? There was no way to know for sure, not that knowing would make you feel any less guilty. 

Maybe it was better not to tell Jisung. Maybe you could pretend like everything was fine, and then it would be. But that was what had gotten you in trouble in the first place. 

You hadn’t realized you had fallen asleep until you woke up with a jolt some hours later. The room was dark. The lamp had been switched off and the blinds were shut. Jisung was snoring softly beside you. He was tucked under the covers while you were still laying on top of them. 

You rolled over and felt for your phone, finding it underneath your pillow. You were surprised to see that you had missed a text from Minho. It was from an hour and a half ago and just said can you meet me in room 422? 

You weren’t sure if he would still be waiting there since it had been so long since he sent the message, but you responded with a tentative sure and quietly snuck out of your bedroom. You hoped Jisung wouldn’t wake up before you returned. Having to explain where you were or why you were there would only complicate things. You still hadn’t decided whether or not to tell him… anything. You needed more time to think things through. At least, that’s the excuse you told yourself. 

The fourth floor was eerily quiet, reminding you of how late it was. Stepping off the elevator into the hallway felt like a mistake, like you were trespassing on private property. Minho hadn’t replied to your text so you didn’t know if he was still awake, but you knocked at the door anyway. He answered after the second knock. 

“There you are,” he said and stepped aside to let you in. He seemed to have cooled down, which was a good sign, but there was still tension lingering between you. 

You slid by him, stopping in the entryway just past the door. The room he had summoned you to was just a plain hotel room. There was a queen-size bed in the middle of the room and a desk in the corner, but not much else. 

“You can sit wherever.”

You nodded in acknowledgment and perched yourself on the edge of the bed. Minho followed you but refrained from sitting, choosing to lean back against the dresser so that he could face you. 

“Why’d you want to meet me here?” you asked.

“I, uh, thought that talking in my room back at the apartment would look kind of weird if anyone saw us,” he explained awkwardly, “and the walls are thin too.”

“Alright, you have a point,” you admitted with a shaky exhale. “Whose room is this?”

“It’s mine. I went down to the lobby and booked it for the night.”

Oh to have a K-pop-sized disposable income.

“Oh, right. Should have thought of that.” You swallowed thickly, trying still to appear calm, cool, and collected. “Well, what did you want to talk about?”

You realized that Minho hadn’t mentioned wanting to talk in his text. You were just assuming. But given the events of the night, you felt that it was a pretty safe assumption to make. 

“I wanted to know why you and Jisung lied to everyone,” he took a brief pause before continuing, “and why I now have to lie to everyone too.”

You bit your tongue, stopping yourself before you could point out that he was already lying to everyone, and just nodded. 

“So the thing is, when he told your parents he had a girlfriend, he did have a girlfriend. They broke up, like, less than a week after he told them that and I guess he was too embarrassed to break the news because they were so excited for him and had already invited her on the trip. Jisung figured that maybe he’d have another girlfriend by the time he actually had to go on the trip, but when the end of the semester rolled around and he didn’t, I kind of filled the vacancy because he asked me to.”

“But why?” Minho pressed. “Why was it so important for him to be dating someone?”

“I don’t know, actually. He told me that it was to make your parents happy because they were always bugging him about his dating life, but I thought there might have been another reason that he just wasn’t telling me.”

Minho hummed thoughtfully. “Mom and dad are pretty nosy about our lives, but I don’t know why he would feel pressured to be in a relationship.”

“I think he felt like he had something to prove,” you said, choosing your words carefully. You knew how rocky Jisung’s relationship with his older brother was, at least from what he told you. You didn’t want to give Minho anything he could hold against him. “You’re not going to say anything to your parents or Felix, are you?”

“No,” he answered immediately and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “That’s his prerogative, I suppose. I don’t want to start anything between us- it’s not my place to say anything, really.”

“Thank you.”

He let his arms drop to his sides but didn’t move from where he was standing. “So, there’s really nothing going on between you and Jisung?”

“No, I swear.”

“Even after spending all this time together on the trip?”

“Nope, we spend all of our time together anyway.”

“So are you… friends with benefits?” he asked. 

“No. We’ve made out a few times, but it really just happens when we’re drunk. We never slept together.”

“But what about…” he trailed off, but you understood what he was talking about instantly.

“Oh, no! That was all fake. We just did that to sell it more, and sometimes to mess with you guys.”

“I knew there was no way he could be that good,” Minho whispered.  

You chuckled but came to your friend’s defense. “He seems to do pretty well for himself. Girls usually call him back after staying over so he must be doing something right.”

“I can’t believe it was fake,” Minho mumbled, mostly to himself. “Sorry, I’m still processing this.”

“Take your time.”

You leaned back on the palms of your hands, feeling a little more relaxed now that you knew he didn’t hate you. 

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” he asked finally, letting the mask fall the tiniest bit. “After I kissed you the first time? Or when you kissed me back? This whole time I’ve felt like such an asshole for- for everything that happened.”

“I thought about it,” you admitted, “but Jisung and I agreed that it would stay between us. I’m sorry.”

“I get why you didn’t. I just wish it could have been different.” 

“Me too,” you agreed.

Minho crossed over to the bed and sat down next to you. 

“I’m sorry I went through your stuff.”

You threw your head back laughing. You hadn’t expected him to say that. “It’s fine. Honestly, it’s a relief not to have to keep up the act around you anymore.”

“Oh yeah? And why’s that?” Minho raised an eyebrow and grinned, making you shy away from his gaze. 

You looked down at your lap. 

“Because it was exhausting! I don’t know how to act.” It was a half-truth, and you suspected that he knew it. 

“You had me fooled.”

You managed to look back up at him only to find him staring at your lips. This was not how you imagined this conversation going at all. 

“Maybe I should change career paths then,” you choked out. 

“Yeah, maybe.”

A few more beats of silence lapsed between you before Minho spoke again. 

“All of this time we could have been doing this,” he murmured gently. 

You scrunched your face up in confusion. “What’s ‘doing this’?”

 He leaned forward and bridged the gap between you by pressing his lips to yours to answer your question. His hand came up to your hair instinctively, muscle memory, and brushed it out of your face before cupping your jaw. You melted into him like you had done too many times before, letting him trace the curves of your face with his thumb like he was trying to memorize it. 

His palm was warm and you could feel the calluses on his hand against your cheek. You were the first to moan, any embarrassment long forgotten as you climbed onto his lap. 

Minho accommodated your weight easily, hands immediately coming down to grab your ass. He allowed you to push him down so that he was lying flat on the bed with you straddling his waist. 

Minho slipped his tongue into your mouth as the kiss intensified, teasing you with it. You whimpered when he pulled away, bottom lip jutting out into a pout. Minho just smirked and used the opportunity to flip you over so that he was on top. 

Then his lips were back on you, brushing against your jaw, your neck, your collarbone. As soon as you felt his teeth graze your skin you pushed his head back and gave him a look. It was his turn to pout. 

“You can’t leave marks, idiot.”

“Oh yeah, sorry,” he said apologetically, though the shit-eating grin on his face let you know that he didn’t mean it whatsoever. “Well, you can mark me up as much as you want.”

You rolled your eyes. “Lucky me.”

Minho ignored your comment and raised himself onto his hands, still hovering over you. He looked pretty, even in the dim, yellowy hotel room light. His lips were already a bit puffy, but he hadn’t even been kissing you for that long. You briefly wondered how they’d look after making out with your cunt, all swollen and glossy. You tried to squeeze your thighs together at the thought, legs closing around Minho’s hips instead. He seemed pleased at your eagerness and rewarded you with another kiss. 

“Can I take your shirt off?” he asked when he came up for air. You nodded. “Here, lift up a little.”

You did as he asked so that he could work the t-shirt over your head, laughing when he tossed it on the floor. 

“You weren’t wearing a bra?”

“I was about to go to sleep!”

He narrowed his eyes at you. “Likely story.”

“No, you’re right. I came here in my pajamas fully intending to seduce you.”

“Well, it worked.”

“Of course it did. Men are so easy.”

He shook his head, tongue poking his cheek. “You’re going to regret saying that.”

You cocked your head to the side, fully aware that Minho had the physical upper hand. “We’ll see.”

As soon as the words left your mouth Minho’s hands were on your boobs, effectively shutting you up. He circled a thumb around each of your nipples, smirking when you gasped and arched your back. 

“Barely even touching you and look how eager you are for me,” he mused. 

“T-take your shirt off too.” It was meant to be a command, but it sounded more like a plea. 

“What’s the magic word?”

“Fuck you.”

“Fine, since you asked so nicely.”

Minho reached behind his neck and yanked his t-shirt off, throwing it in the same general direction as he had thrown yours. You had seen Minho shirtless plenty of times before and you still couldn’t help but stare. His body looked like one of those statues you had seen in the Louvre, carved out of marble by one of the artists they named the Ninja Turtles after. 

You reached out to touch his chest, running your fingertips along his pale skin. 

“Can I take these off too?” Minho asked, playing with the hem of your sweats. He snapped the elastic band against your hip, making you flinch. 

“Yes, please get them off of me, it’s hot,” you whined.

You were left in just your underwear beneath him. You were usually pretty confident with sexual partners, but with Minho you felt exposed, vulnerable. You felt the urge to cover yourself, even though he was looking at you like you were a star amongst the cosmos. 

He repositioned himself lower in between your legs and before you could ask what he was doing, he pressed his tongue against your clothed cunt, licking a fat stripe between your folds.

You cried out in surprise, hips bucking into his face as a string of curses left your mouth. 

Minho raised his head, smiling sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been imagining what you taste like for weeks. I just had to know.”

“It felt good,” you assured him, silently begging him to continue. “Was it what you hoped it would be?”

“Better. Can I please keep going?”

“God, yes.”

He placed a hand on either one of your thighs to hold you down as he buried his head in between your legs again. He teased you with his tongue over your panties, finding your clit in an impressively short amount of time. You tangled your fingers in his hair, pushing his head against you. He groaned, his grip on your thighs tightening as you pulled his hair.

“Please, need more,” you whined. 

And Minho was all too willing to give you exactly that. Instead of taking the time to take your panties off, he just pulled them to the side so that he could have complete access to your pussy. He went back to work and you both moaned. His tongue was wet and warm and felt perfect on your clit. You frowned when he started moving lower, confused as to what he was doing until you felt his tongue working you open. No one had ever tongue-fucked you before and you thought you might cum from that alone. 

Minho paused again to catch his breath. “Fuck, I knew you were wet, but I didn’t expect you to be this wet,” he rasped out. 

“Sorry,” you hissed, cheeks warm with embarrassment.

“Who the fuck ever told you to apologize for being turned on?”

“N-no one.”

“Good, because it’s hot.”

You scoffed. 

“Lay back down,” Minho said, nodding at you to punctuate his point. 

You rolled your eyes at him but did as he said anyway. “You’re so bossy.”

“Do you want me to keep going or not?”

“Fine, fine. Sorry.”

“I fucking knew you were a brat,” he sneered. 

“What gave it away?” you asked sweetly. 

“Take a wild guess.”

You propped yourself up on your elbows again despite just being told to lie down. “And what are you going to do about it?”

Instead of answering, Minho hooked his arms under your thighs and pulled you to the edge of the bed, making you lose your balance and yelp in surprise. You watched his shoulder muscles flex as he used his strength to push your hips down, preventing you from squirming. The sight was enough to make you want to squeeze your thighs together, but of course, Minho was stopping you from doing just that. 

He pulled your panties off completely this time, apparently frustrated with the obstacle in his way. They joined the heap of clothes on the ground. You didn’t even need to look at them to know that they were ruined. 

His mouth was back on you before you could get another word in, causing any snarky remark you’d been about to make dissolve into a moan. It was a little sloppy at first. He had yet to fully regain his bearings, but dove in headfirst anyway. Kisses against the crux of your thigh, nips at your hip bones. Teasing and experimental. 

His touch didn’t have the practiced familiarity of a lover. Each movement was eager, exploratory. He was learning your body like he had all the time in the world, but you were growing impatient. 

Your hands flew to his hair again as he finally laved his tongue over your clit. You suppressed your moans this time, remembering what he had said about the neighbors. 

“Fuck, keep going,” you hissed, encouraging him to continue. “Please keep going.”

You could feel Minho smirking against your pussy, but you didn’t care. He could be as cocky as he wanted if he was going to make you feel this good. 

It didn’t take much to get you to the edge. It had been a while since you’d gotten laid, and you had been wanting Minho for God knows how long… you would usually be embarrassed, not want to give a man a bigger ego than he already had, but you had a feeling Minho was trying to get you to cum before fucking you and you wanted him inside of you as quickly as possible. If anything, you were doing him a favor. 

“C-close, Min. ‘M really close!”

You could barely make out the muffled “already?” that came from him between your legs, but you still rolled your eyes anyway, half-tempted to push his head away. 

He guided two of his fingers inside of you, giving you something to clench around as you came. The intention behind the action is what did it. He clearly cared about your pleasure which was rare to find in a partner, especially when said partner was a man. 

You came almost instantly, catching Minho off-guard as if “I’m close” hadn’t been warning enough. He must have taken it as an advanced notice rather than an immediate head’s up. He grunted in surprise as you bucked your hips up into his face, but recovered quickly, helping you ride out the orgasm until you relaxed back on the bed. 

He lifted his head finally, grinning like he’d just won the lottery, and sucked your arousal off of his fingers, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand shortly afterward.

“Good?” he asked. 

“Really good,” you managed to choke out. 

“You okay?”

“Yeah, take your pants off.”

Minho chuckled. “Should’ve known you’d only want me for my body.”

You pursed your lips but didn’t bother responding. You both knew that wasn’t true. Otherwise, why would you be risking everything just to fuck him? 

Minho pushed himself off of the bed and shimmied out of his pants. As good as he looked in the gray sweats, you knew he would look even better with them off. And you were right. Even though he was still wearing his briefs, you could see the outline of his dick much more prominently. It made your mouth water and you sat up and shifted onto your knees to return the favor he had just given you. 

Minho saw you reaching out for him but shook his head. 

“I need to feel you,” he said, voice strained. “If that’s okay. I already almost came in my pants just from eating you out, I won’t last.”

You raised your eyebrows. “Not many men would admit to that.”

“Not many men would admit to getting off on making their partner feel good? You’re right.” 

You watched as he picked his pants up off the floor and pulled a condom out of one of the pockets. 

“Oh now you have a condom?” you teased.

“Look, I usually have them on me, I just didn’t that night,” he exclaimed in defense, the thin foil packet between his teeth. He ripped it open and pulled the rubber out, only pausing when you spoke again. 

“You don’t keep them in your wallet, do you?”

“I do, but I change them out pretty often. Is that okay?” 

“That’s fine.”

With that settled, he slipped out of his underwear and rolled the condom on with ease. He joined you on the bed a moment later. You laid back and waited for Minho to position himself. 

“Wait-” you whispered suddenly, having been so in the moment that you had almost forgotten. “Are you clean?”

Minho let out a sigh of relief, probably having thought something was wrong. “Yeah, I got tested like two months ago.” 

“But the other night with that girl-”

“I didn’t sleep with her.”

“Oh. Why?”

“I mean, I fully intended to, if I’m being honest. But I just… couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t get it up?” 

“Something like that,” he sighed. “I probably should’ve asked this before going down on you, but you’re clean too, right?”

You nodded. “I get tested all the time and I haven’t had sex in a while.”

“That makes two of us.” 

You looked at him expectantly. “You may… continue.”

“I’m surprised that didn’t immediately make my dick soft.”

“Oh, give me a break. My brain is still fuzzy from cumming.”

He snorted. “You’re welcome.”

“I can’t believe that didn’t immediately make me dry up.”

“I’m allowed to be cocky!” he protested. “I made you cum in, what, a minute flat?”

“It took longer than a minute!”

“I don’t know about that. I think we should check the replay.”

“You’re such a dork.”

Minho rolled his eyes. “And that must really turn you on. ‘Cause last time I checked you were dripping onto the sheets.”

“I-” you had nothing. You squeezed your thighs around Minho’s waist, trying to coax him inside of you. “Just stick it in already!”

“Since you asked so nicely,” he repeated.

You held onto his arms as he pushed himself in, sighing in relief at the fullness. He wasn’t the biggest you’d ever had, but he was still sizable. You had to take a second to adjust to the stretch before he could start to move. He fit perfectly, at least that’s what it felt like. You were positive he could tell how much you liked his cock from the way you unconsciously clenched around him, but you couldn’t even bring yourself to care. If his ego inflated to the size of the moon after this, fuck it.

“Fuck, st-stop doing that,” Minho stuttered, pressing one of his hands against your hip to try and keep you still. 

“I’m not doing anything!”

“You’re, God, you’re squeezing me so tight,” he hissed. “If you keep clenching like that I’m gonna cum.”

“Oh sorry, I didn’t even realize.”

You took a deep breath and willed your body to relax. It had been so long since you’d been properly fucked and you didn’t want it to be over before it even started. 

“Are you good to keep going?” Minho asked once he’d regained some semblance of composure. 

“Yeah,” you breathed out. “Yeah, fuck please move.”

He leaned down to kiss you as he began to rock his hips into yours and you met him halfway. You could still taste yourself on his tongue, on his lips. He groaned into your mouth and nipped at your bottom lip when you pulled away. 

“You feel so fucking good, baby,” he confessed, voice raspy. 

Baby was new. And it made you whimper in response. 

“So goddamn tight. It’s like your pussy was made for me.”

Did he say this to every girl he fucked? Because it sounded like a line, but it was working like a charm on you. 

As if he realized he was rambling, he busied his mouth in other ways. He kissed your neck, careful not to leave marks, before moving down to the valley of your breasts where he continued his work. The way he lowered himself onto you pushed his cock in even deeper, something you didn’t think was possible. 

His lips were warm. They were so warm. Each kiss felt like you were touching the sun. You could feel the heat against your skin even as he moved away, pressing kisses elsewhere. 

“What’s got you smiling like that?” Minho asked. 

You hadn’t even realized that you had been smiling, or that he had stopped kissing you. He was going faster now too. You hadn’t noticed that either. You were far too gone, clearly.

“Feels good,” was as much as you could manage, but that seemed to satisfy Minho. 

“Yeah? Have I fucked you dumb already?” he cooed condescendingly. 

You nodded. “Feels sooo good. Feel so full.”

You’d be embarrassed by your barely-comprehensible sentences, but you didn’t have the capacity to feel anything other than pleasure in that moment. You doubted you’d even remember what you said in the morning. 

“You close again, baby?”

“Uh huh.”

“Fuck, me too. I’ll get you there, though. I’ll make you feel even better.”

He brought one of his hands down to your clit and used his thumb to rub somewhat uncoordinated circles on it. He was gentler than he had been before, like he knew you were still sensitive from cumming the first time. The added stimulation brought you back to the edge in record time and all you could do to alert Minho of what was happening was frantically grab his bicep and squeeze it repeatedly.

“Gonna cum? Go ahead, baby.”

Your entire body tensed as your second orgasm of the night washed over you. Minho fucked you through it again, announcing that he was cumming right as you started to come down. Watching his face scrunch up in pleasure as he came was almost enough to send you into a third orgasm. His eyes shut and his mouth fell open into an O shape as his hips faltered. He didn’t stop thrusting until he was certain he’d given you every last drop of his cum, choking out a string of curses followed by your name through gritted teeth. 

He collapsed on top of you seconds later, completely spent and still inside of you. 

“Fuck, that was good,” he panted. You nodded in agreement, wincing when you felt him pull out. “You okay?”

“Yeah, but I don’t think I can walk. My legs feel like jelly.”

“Would another orgasm help?”

“No,” you groaned. “I can’t take another one.”

“I was kidding. C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up and back to your room.”

“Nooo, I’m tired,” you whined. 

“I know, I know,” he said softly, “but you can’t sleep here. Unless you want Jisung to find out?”

“Fine,” you mumbled. Your eyes were closed, but you could hear him moving around the hotel room. “Just give me like five minutes to nap.”

“You know I can’t do that.” When you opened your eyes he was wearing pants again and standing beside the bed waiting for you. “You need to shower. And pee. A UTI in the middle of vacation would really suck.”

“I’ve had worse.”

“You’re impossible.”

“You knew that before sleeping with me.”

“Yeah, and I still did it anyway. Now, get up.”

“You’re so bossy,” you muttered under your breath, repeating the sentiment you had already voiced. Minho just chuckled and helped you to your feet.

“You seemed to like that earlier.”

“Yeah, when you were making me cum.”

“Well, I won’t be able to make you cum anymore if you contract an infection. So I have to be bossy or else you won’t listen.” 

“Or else you won’t listen,” you mocked. 

Minho grinned despite himself and shook his head at you. “We should’ve started doing this way sooner.”

hope y'all liked this one :) lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!!

iou tags: @gimmeurtmi @phobia0325 @fwess @hipsdofangirl @galaxleeknow @urmomma0324 @bangmechanpls @102598s @farfromsugafanfic @ritzy-roo @dimpledsatan @bvselines @wonderfulshinee @imwithurmother @smollquokka @rosexjimin @skizzel @endzii23 @lady-lena @kwanisms @ch4nniebang @lilramennoodle @babyphotos0325 @dearalice @sojohns @mistlitmoonlight @yoontaethings @babebatter @mal-lunar-28 @shy-kisu @zerefdragn33l @downbadreading @sana-within-you @saquso @bunnispaces @reianagarcia @hyunehans @imtooyoungforthisshit @i8rsie @honeslykindahorny @214racha @hgema @chillllllli @vixensss @smhlino @feiyaa @borahae-reads @bigbearenergy @hoodiesandicedcoffee @darkacademic2512 @y00nzin0 @i8yul @shinypieceofgarbage @woozarts @just-a-little-delulu @djeniryuu @hbzzzbork000 @mimzibee @sofiaslayed @kangyounghyunhands @lexxxxs-things @baejinswrld @gaysontheprince @emogril @ngengngeng

add yourself to my taglist here!

#instead of you stray kids #instead of you skz #iou stray kids #iou skz #stray kids smut #stray kids x reader #skz x reader #lee know smut #lee know x reader #lee know x female reader #lee know x bi reader #stray kids series #lee know series #lee minho x reader #lee know x bi!reader #lino x reader

[theunhingedwriter]

Stylist.

Pairing: seungmin x afab reader

Rating: M/18 +

Genre: smut, slight bit of angst it’s sprinkled through out the story.

Warnings: work room harassment, smut, 18+, MINORS DNI, bullying, dick sucking, being called toy, tiny bit of over stim, hair pulling, degrading, praise,

” I don’t take to kindly to you avoiding me.” He mumbled into your ear as he stalked towards you,

” I’ve been busy with the comeback, hyunjin solo, Felix’s trip, you’ve literally had to do everything, be everywhere all at oneself. You’ve had so much to do and you’re so stressed. All you wanted was a break but you knew better than to complain to seungmin,

” I’m sorry…w-what can I do to make you forgive me?” You asked softly as he gives you a smug grin, he leans his elbows against the wall behind you both as he traps you between his body and arms,” you already know what to do.” He says before moving away from you as he struts out the room, your wobbly knees finally give out on you and make you hit the ground,

”why…why me?” You mumbled

While your head dropped onto your knees.

***

Later that day seungmin called you into his hotel room, hyunjin was out having dinner with his sponsors and wouldn’t be back for a few hours into the early morning you knew that any way because you had to dress him but seungmin still recited it to you.

“ come.” He tells you while staring you down.

His eyes haven’t left yours since the moment you stepped foot into the room. Locking the door behind yourself. He started to grow impatient from your sluggish walking,

“ I don’t have time for you to be taking things slow.” He said through his teeth, you picked up the pace and immediately sat down at his feet, while staring at his feet,

” look at me.“ he growled.

He sat back, undoing his pants and freeing his erection. He was huge, and extremely girthy. He forced you up by your hair and put you in front of it.

“If you keep acting dumb with me I won’t hesitate to treat you like such, do you understand?” He said through his teeth.

putting your hands between your thighs to keep from pushing him away, it would make him mad and you wanted this over as fats as possible. A small whimpered started to form in your throat but you kept it at bay.

As you stare into his eyes tears started to form in your own, you hated this the most out of anything he makes you do, the burn in your throat and the way the head of his cock pokes and rubs against your throat hurt so bad, but…as much as you hated to admit it… you’ve grown to like it.

 “If you want to get anything you better start acting like a good fuckthing.” He growled pushing your face into his cock.

Shakily opening your mouth, he pushed himself into your mouth as his head slammed into the back of your throat. Immediately you jumped back pulling your head away, gaging a bit from the sudden intrusion. Seungmin rolled his eyes glared back at you and yanked you up, pushing you roughly against the bed, holding you in place.  

“ Are you trying to testing my patience on purpose.” He says, looking down at you. You body started to shake a bit as you feel the flushed

“If you’re gonna act like a bitch, I don’t mind treating you like one.” He says through his teeth.

“good toy” seungmin murmurs

“ that’s it…” his gaze falling to his monitor as he hits record making sure to slide closer to the desk so no one could see your head.

“HIIII EVERYONE !!” He said in that cheery tone that made you feel sick to your stomach.

Sigh.

***

After an hour his gaze started to flip between the recording video on his phone and your pretty face, prettier than 1080p could ever preserve. your hand spelt stroking what your mouth can’t take, blush colored lips weapped around his thick cock like you’re a perfect fit, pretty thing you were… you always looks best on your knees. Seeing you trying so genuinely to make him feel good, it’s cute. god, is he big, warm wet saliva left as your head bobs on his length, trying to take him as deep as you can, touching the back of your throat. You had spit and cum falling down your throat and his thighs, you were so surprised he hadn’t made a noise yet. He lets out a tiny moan and made it transition smoothly into sigh.

” well—…goodnight everyone!! I love you stays so much!” He purred as he ends the live. He immediately yanks your head back and pushes his chair back.

“Up.” Was all he said tilting his head towards the bed.

Fucking finally…

.

.

.

.

.

Thank you so much for reading I appreciate it so so much!! What ever you pick leave a comment so we can chat a bit especially if you need a hug!!

#stray kids #seungmin #seungmin fanfic #smut #straykids x reader #straykids smut #fanfic #degrading k1nk #praise k!nk #iou skz #instead of you skz #skz #skz x reader #skz scenarios #skz smut #skz stay #stay skz #straykids #afab reader #afab fanfic #kim seungmin #skz fanfic #i’m so sorry #kpop #skz kpop #k pop smut

[blmpff]

My Top 9 Albums of 2023

Tagged by @troubled-mind you know what's up 😎🤘

Tbh I listen to playlists more often than albums (I put all the songs by a certain artist I like all in one playlist and listen to those most of the time) (I have two kinds of playlists: 1. artists 2. genre), but these are the ones I do listen to on their own (the slower songs got bye byed).

I'll be as kind you and put their names below in case anyone is interested, and even add my favorite songs, muah

Nothing More - Spirits (also eg: Turn It Up Like, Don't Look Back, Face It, Spirits)

2. Architects - the classic symptoms of a broken spirit (also eg: deep fake, tear gas, living is killing us)

3. Stray Kids - 5 star (also: Hall of Fame, S-Class, Item, Super Bowl, Get Lit)

4. Smash Into Pieces - Disconnect (also eg: Reckoning, Vanguard, Heathens, Deadman)

5. From Ashes To New - Blackout (also eg: Heartache, Nightmare, Broken By Design)

6. Skindred - Smile (also eg: Our Religion, Gimme That Boom, Black Stars)

7. Five Finger Death Punch - Afterlife (also eg: Afterlife, IOU)

8. Xikers - House of Tricky (also eg: Tricky House)

9. John Wick 4 ost (also eg: Blood Code, though I honestly love all of them)

No pressure tagging: @solaarflaree @scarefox @neuroticbookworm @lurkingshan @sparklyeyedhimbo @lukaherehelp @pharawee @firstkanaphans @guzhu-furen @colourme-feral @tenprem @mysterygrl20 @stormyoceans @yourstormthlaylirahh @poetry-protest-pornography @cangse-sanren @italianpersonwithashippersheart @maxescheibechlinichacheli and everyone who'd like to, only if you feel like it of course, and if you've done it already could you please @ me in your list hehe 🙏

#music my beloved #thank you for tagging me <3 #tagged post #blmpff rumbles #Spotify

[hwxnghyynjin]

Tagged by @abiaswreck

Tag game: spell your url using songs

Highway to Hell- AC/DC

Waiting for Us- stray kids

Xanny- Billie Eilish

Nothing Else Matters- metallica

God's Menu- stray kids

Hellevator- stray kids

Youngblood- 5 seconds of summer

You Should See Me In A Crown- Billie Eilish

Neon Blade- Moon Deity

Jekyll and Hyde- Five Finger Death Punch

IOU- Five Finger Death Punch

Nihil- Ghostemane

Tagging: anyone can do this

[votederpycausemufins]

I’ve been writing and i finally realized it’s long enough i should divide it up into two parts probably. so here’s a fic of Grian and Mumbo giving Grumbot and Jrumbot proper bodies. it’s got fluff and angst!

“You did what?!” Grian shouted, making Scar take a step back.

“Please, I assure you it was an accident.” He held his hands up defensively. “I didn’t think it would get all the way over there.”

“Of all the people to do it, it had to be you!” Grian grumbled as he pulled out his comm. “While I would like to talk about this more, it will have to wait until after Mumbo and I have dealt with this mess.”

“Do you want any help?”

Grian paused. At first he didn’t want to. Scar was the one that let a stray wither projectile or two hit the virtual reality box. But then again, it could help guilt Scar more into an IOU. “We’ll see. Better for you to come along just in case as backup.”

Grian looked back down at his comm to see Mumbo had responded. He shot back another message before flying over to the shopping district with Scar. When they approached the damaged building, Grian’s eyes widened. “Scar! You made it sound like it was just one wither attack!”

“Well, you see I tried fixing it, but it was getting dark, and the torches were put out and mobs started spawning and-”

Grian just groaned and landed on the roof, taking a peek inside. It didn’t seem like Grumbot was active, so maybe they had gotten lucky and he was in sleep mode the whole time. Once Mumbo arrived the three of them would fix the box and he wouldn’t even notice. “Okay Scar, how many blocks were you able to recover?” The mayor handed everything he saved to Grian. “Alright, obviously we lost some of it. Once Mumbo’s here, I’ll fly back to my mansion and grab more.”

“Wouldn’t the barge be closer?” Mumbo spoke as he landed nearby. “And you weren’t kidding when you said there was a problem here.”

“Yeah, but it looks like Grum’s in sleep mode. I’m sure if he was awake for any of it, he’d still be up in a panic.” Grian quickly explained before flying to his barge.

“Wait, Grian, you still have all the… blocks.” Scar tried to stop Grian before he was too far away, but had no luck. “Now I’m glad you mentioned the barge. He hopefully won’t be gone too long.”

Mumbo nodded, looking around and then spotting some blocks resting on the ground inside the box. “Well, there seems to be something left down there, so we can potentially use that.”

Scar looked over the edge and then shook his head. “I already broke the place with explosions. For all we know me going down there will make it worse.”

“Well if we don’t grab those now, it’ll take longer to just be sitting here waiting for Grian to come back. And waiting longer is going to make it worse, not you going down there.”

It took a bit more convincing, but Scar did eventually glide down with Mumbo. The two of them started gathering the materials all strewn about, starting to repair the box. Scar was the first to fill up his inventory, already having a large amount of items filling it. He pulled out some fireworks to fly back up and start repairs, but just as he started to rocket up, everything suddenly got brighter. Scar turned his head to see the screen of Grumbot’s face turning on, and since he was distracted by that, he flew right into the ceiling, crashing back down to the ground.

“Ohhh man, that’s not good.” Scar continued to look up at the robot, ignoring the fact that he was sitting at two hearts.

Grumbot looked down at Mumbo at Scar, seeming to still be waking up a bit as he looked a little unfocused. “What is- Oh hello.” Grumbot looked between Mumbo and Scar, now confused. “Why are you wearing a mayoral outfit and not Mumbo?” The two stood frozen, not sure what to say. “The only reason for that would be-” The robot cut himself off as the background of his screen became a red color. Mumbo barely had the chance to move as he dove at Scar, pushing the two of them out of the way from the large robotic fist that nearly crushed the mayor.

“Grumbot! What are you doing?!” Mumbo shouted up, but the robot didn’t answer, instead trying to grab Scar. As his hand moved, there was the sound of a firework and Grian dove in, landing on the arm and pushing it off balance.

“What did you two do while I was gone?” Grian asked before flying to dodge and then deflect another grab from Grumbot.

“We were just grabbing some stray supplies from down here when he woke up. He noticed my suit and just started attacking!” Scar managed to dodge being squished by a fist but wasn’t able to dodge the other hand that slapped him into a wall of the building, hard enough to kill him.

“Scar!” Grian yelled before turning his anger on Grumbot, who seemed to do the same, now beginning to attack the avian. Grian was able to dodge easily due to his flying skills and the fact that he no longer was trying to keep himself and Scar alive at the same time. “Mumbo! Do something! He’s not attacking you!”

On the ground, Grian’s words helped get Mumbo moving again after freezing from Scar’s death. He ran towards Grumbot, pick in hand to break through the monitor casing and get into the redstone circuitry. He broke in and pulled himself into the redstone, looking around for the safest way to cut power. At the same time he was trying to be careful to not break anything important. But it looked like he didn’t need to do that because it had already been done. Part of Grumbot’s casing was broken elsewhere and the redstone nearby was damaged. Getting closer, Mumbo could smell used gunpowder.

Finally Mumbo grabbed the redstone battery and carefully disconnected it. He could hear the mechanics that let Grumbot move power down and stop moving which let him sigh in relief. The redstoner climbed out the nearby creeper hole and dusted himself off, instead just spreading the red dust all over his suit.

Grian landed, panting a bit and letting his wings drag on the ground. “That was close. Good timing Mumbo.”

Mumbo nodded before going over to Grian. “How hurt are you? I’ve got extra carrots if you need them.”

“No, just probably strained myself keeping myself alive. I’ll probably need to use an elytra for the next day or so.”

“Oh, how horrible for you.” Mumbo replied sarcastically. “How will you even manage like the rest of us.”

Grian shoved Mumbo slightly before looking up at Grumbot. “Him attacking Scar I can understand, but why me?”

“When I was back there, it looked like the box wasn’t the only thing that got griefed by mobs.” Mumbo explained. “It’s nothing too horrible. Just a few wires that need replacing, clean up the mechanics. But nothing important was damaged.” Mumbo looked at Grian who was still staring up at Grumbot with a worried look on his face. “Grian, he’s fine.”

But the avian shook his head. “He’s not fine. He’s still stuck here. I don’t want it to be another closet.”

Mumbo put a hand on Grian’s shoulder, making him jump slightly. “Do you want to try talking to X again? Now that we’ve started going to those championship things, he might be more open to us worldhopping.”

“Yeah, that might work. But what if he says no? What if I just messed up again and- Ow!” Grian whipped his head around to look at Mumbo who was now holding a red feather in his hand. “What was that for?!”

“You were starting to spiral. Look, Xisuma’s protective of us, but think of it like this, shouldn’t he be protective of Grumbot too? He’ll have to let you go if you bring that up.”

Grian smiled a little. “I guess you’re right. Where’d that extra braincell come from?”

Mumbo scoffed. “I’ll have you know that since Grumbot is a redstone machine my two braincells are enough for this.”

Grian poked his head from around the door frame to look at Xisuma. “Hey X, are you free right now?”

The admin turned around from what he was doing to look at Grian. “What’s wrong Grian, you look nervous about something.”

“Yeah, um. Remember how back when the elections wrapped up and I wanted to go off world for a little bit?”

“Are you asking that again? Grian, I know I’m sure it will be fine but-”

Grian cut Xisuma off. “No, X I know you get worried about us, but you let us go to MCC when it rolls around and the others have gone around here and there.”

“I know Grian, but those are still controlled situations that go to safe environments. What you’re requesting would take you to who knows where.” Xisuma pulled a chair over and sat down. “My priority is keeping all of you safe, so I can’t let you leave.”

Grian ruffled his feathers. “You know I could just go without your permission.”

Xisuma nodded. “But you won’t.”

“I will this time.” Grian replied, making Xisuma pause from how serious the avian sounded. “I’ll take Mumbo with me too and we won’t come back.”

“Grian, the whole reason you joined us is because you wanted a safe place to live. Hermitcraft is one of the safest places out there if not the safest. Why would you just want to leave now?”

Grian crossed his arms. “Well, we want to come back, but we need something that we can’t get here. It’s important.”

“You said in the past that you needed microblocks and non-euclidian portals. You never would tell me why.” Xisuma leaned forward, hoping he could finally get an answer from the builder.

“Remember Grumbot? I know you interviewed him when the elections were happening.”

The admin nodded. “And he had a breakdown after Mumbo lost so you put him in a box.” X paused as the gears in his brain turned. “You came to me between his breakdown and building the box.”

“Yeah.” Grian nodded, looking off to the side a little. “Mumbo’s amazing with redstone and I’m great at building, but there are still problems with getting Grumbot working and actually be able to build him safely. Mumbo said that if we could add more circuits or something it would have helped Grum, but we didn’t have room and you said no.”

Xisuma sighed. “Grian, why didn’t you tell me that in the first place? You just going off all willy nilly is one thing, but for something like this… Of course you can go. I mean, I’ll want constant contact from you three.”

“Three?”

Xisuma pulled up admin panels from thin air. Grian watched, having a little trouble reading the backwards text, but his eyes widened as he realized what exactly the admin was doing just before a communicator materialized in X’s lap. “I’m sure this can be connected to Grumbot directly.”

Grian nodded and took the communicator, starting to smile. “Thank’s X.” He started to walk off, but then paused to turn around with his smile turning to a smirk. “I can’t wait to tell Grumbot all about his grandpa X.”

Before Xisuma could say anything, Grian was running off. The admin slumped in his seat and sighed. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?”

Grian stood on the roof of the box, looking down at Grumbot’s former body. Mumbo had said everything had been packed up and carefully placed in a shulker box, but the builder still worried, especially since Mumbo was late. If everything was already packed up, why wasn’t he here?

Grian’s feathers ruffled again, he had lost count how many times he had worked himself up over the past hour. Obviously it was too many because that time it felt painful. The avian ended up sitting down and starting to preen his wings, the ruffled feathers being all over the place. While fixing the feathers, he was half aware of their colors shifting as he looked into the world they would be going to. It seemed empty, so they wouldn’t have any trouble. And even if they did, they likely wouldn’t be bad enough to deal with a Watcher.

Grian was pulled out of his thoughts by a shout. He looked and saw Mumbo gliding towards him before landing on the roof. “What took you so long?”

“Had something else I needed to pick up. It was supposed to be simple, but then I started thinking about what we’ll be doing and, well next thing I know I’m late.”

“I’ll ignore that just this once.” Grian joked as he stood up. “We’ll be getting there at night time at this point, so we’ll have to deal with mobs.”

“Oh joy.” Mumbo sighed, putting his armor on and making sure his shulker box… boxes? Were secure.

“The second box what caused you to be late?” Grian asked, getting a nod from Mumbo. “Okay then, well let’s not take any longer.” The two watched as a portal of bedrock and obsidian formed in front of them. It appeared block by block and then finally lit itself at which point Grian held his hand. “Oof, haven’t done that in a while.”

“Well I’m going to be doing most of the work, so don’t you worry.” Mumbo patted Grian’s back before the two of them walked through.

It took a while, but Grian set up a house for him and Mumbo to stay in during the nights. After that they needed to do a bit of resource gathering. Grian expected they would need at least some new tools for the things unique to this world, but they also needed more redstone and building supplies after Mumbo showed Grian what had delayed him.

“I didn’t think we even gave him any circuits. I mean he didn’t even have a proper redstone door if I recall correctly.”

“Well, I may have added a little bit here and there. It didn’t feel right to keep him as just a shop, but he wasn’t as sentient as Grumbot.” Mumbo explained, finally putting down the shulker box labeled with Jrumbot’s name.

Grian sighed, but he saw Mumbo’s logic. “Well, I guess he was meant to be Grumbot’s little brother. But we’re going to build him second.”

“Well, we do have more prepared for Grum than Jrum.” Mumbo conceded. “Now, what all are we after?”

“We can get the tools for building everything easily enough, but the main problem is actually putting it all together on a small scale. We’re going to need lots of obsidian of both types and dyes.”

Mumbo paused. “Really? Dyes?”

Grian shrugged. “Yeah. There’s also a new type of ore which gives us a kind of crystal and that’ll bring everything together.”

“Right, well I guess we should start gathering supplies.” Mumbo pulled out his pickaxe and then looked around. “Let’s see if we can’t find a cave nearby.”

Grian pulled out a diamond and did some crafting to make a chisel. “While you do that, I’ll work on putting together bodies. I may have done it before, but it’s still not exactly the easiest thing to do, especially since I need to actually get things the right size.”

Mumbo nodded and wished Grian luck before running off to find a cave. Slowly he filled his inventory up with obsidian and crystals and even more redstone. By the time he returned back to the base to make a nether portal closer to home, Grian had piles of tiny blocks all around him. “You’ve been busy.”

The builder paused his work to look over at Mumbo. “Looks like you have been too. How much do you have?”

Mumbo showed off what he gathered before making a portal. “It took forever to mine the obsidian up, but everything else was simple, now I just need to trade for crying obsidian and collect more quartz.”

Grian paused, looking back and forth between Mumbo and what he had gathered. “Quick question. What gold will you be trading with?”

The redstoner almost spoke before he realized what Grian had. “Oh I’m such a spoon. I guess that means more mining for me.”

Mumbo grumbled somewhat as he walked back off to his mining area, leaving Grian alone with his tiny blocks. The builder sighed and shook his cramping hands out and set his tools down. His next more was to grab some wool and craft up a bag which was quickly filled up with a variety of bit blocks. It took some fiddling, but eventually Grian was happy with the bag and started to slowly create Grumbot’s body. 

Even with the scale much smaller, Grian still found himself having trouble. He wasn’t sure how big or how small to make everything. Sure the redstone could get even smaller than this with those special portals that Mumbo was working on, but he was aware that getting too small could be risky. Grian ended up just staring at a half finished head before he realized what exactly he could do. With the original model, they only really had the head to work with, but now they could also fit redstone circuits in the rest of the body. Sure some of that would be taken up by whatever they would use to help Grumbot move around, but Grian has seen Mumbo’s work and knew there was no way that would take up all the extra space they had.

By the time Mumbo returned again, Grian had fully planned out Grumbot’s body and was now building it up. He took a break to let the redstoner give his critiques before he went off to the nether. Grian made a few tweaks to the design based on the comments he was given, but it was still going well.

The avian was glad he took a break at just the time he did as in the nether, Mumbo had gotten into quite the pickle and ended up dying, leaving him surprised when he spawned back at the house with all his gear. Even though he was upset, Grian couldn’t help but be doubled over with laughter.

“Grian! This isn’t funny!”

“Oh it’s definitely funny. You should have seen the look on your face!”

“I thought I lost the shulker boxes!”

“I forced you to put them down before you even went mining you spoon. I expected you to fall in lava down there.”

“I’m glad you’re so trusting of my skills.” Mumbo rolled his eyes.

“Hey, not my fault the world doesn’t trust you either.” Grian said before devolving into pure laughter again. Mumbo huffed, but even he could see what was so funny about the situation and ended up smiling along. From there, the two of them both took a break to talk things out and see how far along they were. They also used that time to give Xisuma some updates, which based on the messages they got back, was greatly appreciated.

Mumbo sighed as he did his best to keep his balance while Grian stared at him. “Grian can you please just take me over to Grumbot?”

“But you’re just so small!” Grian cooed, patting Mumbo’s head with a finger. The movement left the redstoner trying to stay standing in Grian’s palm.

“Yes, and I would like to stop being small as soon as possible, but I need to put Grumbot circuits together first.”

Grian pouted, but then carried Mumbo over to the robot body and placed him on top. “Once you’re inside, it’ll seem just like you’re normal sized in something that’s really big, like your base. You don’t need to light things up since mobs won’t spawn, but you may still want to use your torches to see where you’re going. If you need more building blocks, just shoot me a message.”

Mumbo nodded then pulled out the chisel he had been given. It was a little odd to hold as it hadn’t quite gone through the same shrinking process he did, but it worked well enough. And while it was on the bigger side, his redstone was all on the smaller side. It ended up making the redstone work take longer than usual as he had trouble seeing everything he was doing and getting into certain nooks and crannies was a chore. The easiest part had been getting all the machinery for the movement working because once you built a moving village in a standard world, making joints was simple with extra tools.

He wasn’t entirely sure how long he had been at it when the shulker box was finally empty, but Mumbo knew for certain he felt exhausted. He had checked over all the redstone so many times he had lost count. Sure, he and Grian could simply turn Grumbot on and see if it worked or not, but they wouldn’t be able to see what was broken unless Mumbo was in the circuits and there were enough moving parts there could be the chance of being crushed. At the same time, he also didn’t want Grumbot to wake back up and freak out from any redstone problems.

The redstoner wanted to keep going, but there was a loud thudding noise which made his head ring a little. “Mumbo, how’s it going? It’s been way too long and I doubt you’ve slept.”

Recovering from the loud noise that was presumably Grian knocking on the metal to get his attention, Mumbo yelled back. “It seems it’s all good to go, but I’m a bit nervous to actually turn it all on!” And then he found his way out a small hatch near where the neck and body connected. “I’ll sit here while you turn things on! Hopefully if there is a problem I can see it from here!”

Mumbo watched as Grian turned Grumbot on and then the two of them waited on bated breath, but as the seconds dragged on, nothing happened. “I guess that didn’t go as hoped.” Grian looked down at Mumbo who was currently peering down into all the redstone.

“This doesn’t make sense. Something not working correctly would be expected, but nothing working at all? I should at least be seeing some light from the redstone working but there’s not- GRIAN!” Mumbo nearly fell over. In trying to figure out what to do he had started mumbling to himself. Being so small it was hard to hear so Grian leaned in closer to hear better. When Mumbo finally looked towards Grian, he didn’t expect him to be standing so close, amplified by the current size discrepancy.

“Do you think I could have a look?” Grian asked in a hushed tone, trying not to scare Mumbo any more. “I know I’m pants with redstone, but I’ve had experience building robots. Sure they don’t come out right all the time, but at least they turn on.”

Mumbo glared at Grian for the slight jab at him before sighing. “Alright, let’s get me back to normal and then get you in there.”

The two of them eventually figured out the problem. The size of all the redstone caused some issues. Nothing that made them have to start building from the ground up thankfully, but some changes needed to be made. A battery made out of redstone blocks, quartz, a few diamonds, and a whole lot of hope was placed in Grumbot. They had made a few versions and tested them and found that while it seemed to work, it would need to be charged after a bit. Fortunately it seemed to last days on it’s own with one charge and while it lasted shorter while actually being used for something, it still worked well.

“But maybe we could make it last longer?” Mumbo said as he started working on a new design as Grian was flopped on his shoulder.

“Mumbooooo! We should have gone to bed hours ago. We’ll just make it worse if we work when we’re tired. Besides, it’ll work perfectly for him just charging at bedtime.”

“But it could wear out over time if it gets over charged.” Mumbo started to complain, but he was silenced by Grian starting to drag him away.

“No, we are sleeping and that is it! We don’t need any more batteries.”

“Wait Grian!��� The redstone pulled away. “Let’s do one last thing before going to bed.” He tried to ignore the deadly glare from the sleep deprived builder. “Let’s turn him on.”

Immediately Grian looked much more awake. “Wait are you serious?!”

“We’ve looked over all the redstone a million times and tested the battery to its limits and even have a charger prepared. If it doesn’t work, we go to sleep and can fix it when we’re well rested. And if it does, then he’ll spend the night with us.”

Grian looked a little unsure, but ultimately agreed. He was given the honors and hit the power button, stepping back to Mumbo’s side as the two of them watched hopefully as the monitor of Grumbot’s face lit up. Their breaths were held as a loading bar appeared on the screen, slowly creeping across until it finally disappeared, and the familiar face replaced it.

“Grumbot?” Mumbo spoke up hesitantly, watching as the robot turned to look back at him. For a while there was no answer, making Grian start to fidget nervously. But finally Grumbot looked away from Mumbo and looked down at himself and then around at the place they were in. Mumbo almost spoke again, but then Grumbot beat him to it.

“Is this real? Have I gained an ability to dream? Or have I been dismantled and somehow reached an afterlife?”

Immediately Grian was at Grumbot’s side. “No no no no no! None of that! I mean yes it’s real. You’re not dreaming and you are completely one hundred percent not dead.”

Grumbot looked down again, moving his hands. “I see. Why did you rebuild me? Is there another election coming up?”

“No. No elections. Uh.” Mumbo rubbed the back of his head, trying to find some way to explain what was going on. “Well, you see…”

“Mumbo, can we talk about this in the morning?” Grian spoke up before he could say anything the two of them might regret. “He’s working and it is extremely late. I want to sleep and I want to do it now!”

“I am okay with that.” Grumbot spoke up. “While I am confused and would like to know what is going on, you two do look tired.”

“See, he agrees!” Grian smiled. “Now let’s craft another bed so we definitely have enough room and go to sleep.” And before Mumbo could say anything more, Grian was dragging him and Grumbot to the house.

It was slightly concerning when Grian broke the door to the closet when grabbing his pajamas to change into, but Mumbo figured that could also wait until morning. Especially after he saw Grian pull Grumbot into bed to cuddle with and almost immediately fall asleep. The redstoner soon joined the two of them but didn’t feel quite as tired. “If you want, you can ask a few small questions before bed.”

Grumbot looked up at Mumbo before looking at the bedsheets. “Am I even able to sleep?”

“Well, you should have something of a sleep mode. I’m not sure how well it will function, but you should be able to activate it.”

There was quiet before Grum nodded. “I think I can figure that out. Legs on the other hand…”

“I guess those are pretty new to you. We can help you tomorrow and carry you if need be.”

“Why now?”

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t really been visiting all that often. It makes sense since there’s no election or anything, but if there’s still none then why-”

Mumbo gestured for Grumbot to pause. “It seems you don’t really remember it, but you got damaged. Grian and I actually wanted to do this months ago, but we didn’t have the chance until now.”

He could see as Grumbot seemed to look around, putting some pieces together. “I… I almost killed Dad. I started attacking him out of nowhere. I could have-”

“But you didn’t Grum, and I’m sure Grian doesn’t blame you. If he did, he wouldn’t have built you your current body.”

Grumbot seemed to accept that, staying quiet until he pulled himself under the covers more, lying down. “Goodnight Dad.”

“Goodnight Grum.”

#hermitcraft #grian #mumbo jumbo #watcher!grian #avian!Grian #grumbot #jrumbot #xisuma #goodtimeswithscar

[angelthebedsheet]

Ok but like imagine a 6’8 black girl walking into karasuno gym while the in practice.

a/n: oooh alr this gonna be a headcannon

lets get it!

okay so ms girl you have some backstory.... some LORE

you used to be apart of the third year gang before you had to transfer schools

the boys + kiyoko really missed you yk?

so today you finally came back to karasuno

esp asahi bc you were his home girl

you already knew your way around and saw some of your old classmates from year one

now baby you are a tall girl

like taller than asahi girl

ya legs were lookin real beautiful

now you were on your way to suprise your babies

you knocked on that gym door and suga peeks his head out like

“hello? who is i— MY BABYLOVE!”

this nigga screamed that shit so loud the third years were ALERTED

there’s only one babylove and thats YOU honey

suga damn near jumps you

like he hasnt seen you in so LONG

“i missed you suga! im back for good now!”

“missed you too!! thats amazing!! also. WHY DIDNT YO ASS VISIT ME EARLIER? I HAVENT SEEN YOU SINCE SUMMER LAST FUCKIN YEAR.”

sugamama’s out and he got your ear.

now kiyoko heard ya voice and that girl was zooming

suga and kiyoko pull you into the gym

second years and first years went

DAMNNNNNNN

asahi ran over there and tackled you in a big ass hug

now there’s a doggy pile of third years

and the rest have never been so confused

they havent even gotten a good look at you bc you got JUMPED by the third years

they deadass dropped their shit to get to you

“babylove its been so long!!” - kiyoko

this alr made nishi and tanaka go like 🤨🕶🤏🏽

like “whom?”

how you managed to avoid them is beyond me but girl you got your ways even tho yous a big bitch

kageyama deadass dont really care that much bc volleyball why tf this rando just bust up in here and take the third years....

n e ways

eventually they pull you up

they’re like DAMNNNNN again

bc GIRL YOU TALL TALL

like you can actually give asahi a forehead kiss

(which you have bc aint no damn way if i was in the third year gang i wouldnt give them affection poor baby prolly touch starved)

nishinoya and tanaka’s simp reflexes have kicked in they are def about to say some lightskin ass shit

daichi’s alr on defense

“ahnt ahnt let me introduce her. COACH UKAI can we take a min to introduce her?”

“...fine whatever just dont take too long”

“alr bet”

(i hc daichi, tanaka, and asahi got that negro in em so if you dont like that then suck my dick and you may think bc i am a woman i dont have one but i have a pink di—)

they introduce you

“this is l/n y/n. she was a first year manager with kiyoko until she had to transfer but now she’s back!” goodlooks suga

“any questions?”

“how are you so tall?” hinata

“ask another dumb question like that and i swear to GOD hinata.” sugamama

“can you play volleyball?” kageyama

“yeah i can. i play with ushijima”

I BEG YOUR DAMN PARDON?

USHIJIMA WAKATOSHI??? THE MAN WITH THE POWERFUL SERVE???

“what 😀” asahi

“can SHE PLAY WITH US????” - hinata

tsukishima cant even talk shit bc you really could rock his ass

he gotta look up at you he dont want no smoke lmaoaoao

they were just hounding you with questions now and suga a lil peeved bc damn yall cant pay attention in class and ask all these questions but as soon as our babylove comes in yall suddenly got shit to say? 🚶🏽‍♂️

“she’s hot, tall and plays volleyball? i mean shit l/n senpai...” - nishinoya’s thirsty ass

“ahnt I THINK THE FUCK NOT?” - daichi

oop

during this kiyoko just pulls you to the bench so you can just chat with da girlz

aka her and yachi

yachi fumbling and stumbling

like mamas you lookin real scrum-dilly-ious

“i-im yachi hitoka! nice to meet you senpai”

you’ve already adopted her

“i love you now. kiyoko can i take her in”

“she isnt a stray animal babylove.”

yachi’s a lil like???? yall got a poly thang happenin? is this whats going on?

you saw the confusion in her eyes

“they call me babylove since i used to act like like a lovin mother to em and i had a baby face”

(i suffer from baby face syndrome and istg if someone says i look like a lil kid one more time i’m gonna pop off like the fourth of july fym i look like a lil kid bitCH GET OUTTA MY FA— lemme stop being so aggressive in these)

“ooooh”

now we all know nishinoya is DOWN with the melanin.... and you sittin with the gorls lookin all... tasteful and melaninated.

is melaninated a word? i dont know but i will continue to use it even if it isnt

now he suddenly sitting beside you

“hey mamas”

excuse me? i beg your pardon?

“uh hello?”

stage 1 complete he’s now your simp lmao

“you’re beautiful”

“nishinoya if you dont get yo clown ass the FUCK up over here” daichi’s black ass and sugamama

“dAMN I CANT DO SHIT IN THIS FAMILY”

yeah they missed you and you def played volleyball

they made the mistake of letting you play on the team with daichi, suga, and asahi

you bodied they asses

even coach ukai had to hold in that snicker

you damn near beheaded hinata with that spike

that boy hit a note so high ms. ariana grande was given a run for her money

“YESSIRRRRRR” - you

the slangs are out and kageyama has never been so confused

static? bum ass bitch? tf that shit mean

(ny slang be confusing me too homie its alright)

yall right after they lost

but yeah eventually the first years warmed up to you

as soon as you affectionately patted kageyama’s head he was done for

that boy is ✨t o u c h s t a r v e d ✨

you fussed over yama and tsukki and they were sold

yama bc you were really sweet

tsuki? same reason but he aint telling you he said “im taking that shit to the fucking GRAVE”

das all bc baby im blanking out and i’m doing stupid like kaminari after he short circuits

#x black reader #haikyuu headcannons #haikyuu x black reader #haikyuu x reader #x female reader #haikyuu #karasuno x reader #karasuno #unrelated but coach ukai is so mf fine??? hello sir i may be asthmatic but i can risk it for you king #lemme not get him a case LMAOAOAOAOAA

[mandadoration]

settle the debt

summary: You’re the mechanic of several crime syndicates, gangs, and faithful citizens alike, running a tight ship (pun intended) out of your humble little shop, accepting payments under the table and making a name for yourself all over the galaxy. Although, your skills and patience are put to the test when the Mandalorian comes to you with his wreck of a ship. But you’ve dealt with people like him before. The child is an unexpected thing, though. 

word count: 3, 966

pairing: mandalorian x reader

warnings: canon-divergence, swearing, canon-typical violence

a/n: In terms of timeline, this is after Ch. 3 and before Ch. 4. This was going to be a series, but I decided against it because as I was working it, I really didn’t like how it was going. 

Read this on AO3

You considered yourself a good mechanic. The best in the parsec, if you felt particularly confident that day. You could fix up any ship, speeder, cruiser, fighter-- you name it, you can fix it. People from all over the system came to you to upgrade their vehicles, and you weren’t going to say no to a few credits slipped under the table for the good stuff. You’re pretty sure you could pull favors from the biggest crime syndicates if you really wanted, you supposed, with how many dangerous and definitely illegal methods you’ve used with little complaint. You don’t know how much the word of some of the most wanted criminals would hold up, but you like to think they’d be indebted to someone like you and magic you could pull off. 

But the ship you were looking at now? Pre-Imperial and made with such a variety of materials that you’re not even sure it’s the same ship anymore? 

You were starting to doubt your skills. 

“What did you say the time constraints were?” you asked the Mandalorian faintly. You wonder if you’ve done something to anger whatever higher power was out there to give you this. Maybe they were telling you to give up now while you still had the chance, sell your things, and hide out comfortably for the rest of your life in some moisture farm or something.

“The sooner the better,” he answers firmly. You let out a deep sigh and run a hand over your face, surely smearing grease all over it, but the pressing issue was the ship. “I will pay you, you have my word,” he reassures, as if that was the biggest issue here, but you’re too busy going through an inventory list in your head to see if you even had the parts to cover the basics. “And no droids,” he tacks on, and you give him a sideways glance. 

“Do you see any droids?” you ask him dryly, motioning around your shop. Sure enough, even as he peers though the organized chaos and scattered parts, there are no droids in sight. You didn’t trust them. They did what they were programmed to, calculations and the like, but you trusted yourself far more than you could trust another droid to do it. There was a certain intuition that droids could never replicate. Besides, more lucrative, underground customers were willing to go to you because of the secrecy you maintained. Having droids meant evidence. 

The console connected to the ship beeps, and you go over to it to see exactly what the damage is. As you skim over it, you wince. “Do you have an estimate?” he asks you, standing next to you and reading the report. 

“The cost or the time?”

“Both.” 

For the second time that day, you rub a hand over your face and sigh. “Frankly? A lot. Your ship is old and so severely damaged that I’ll need to go out and buy or scavenge parts. As for the time…” You gnaw your bottom lip as you consider. Realistically, it would take you days to make sure the ship was in full working order, and that’s with you rushing it. But you aren’t one to lie to your clients, so you huff as you face him with a set face. “Five days,” you admit, and he makes a noise of displeasure. “You have so many internal problems that I need to work from the inside out, and accounting for the time I need to find the needed parts, it’s gonna take a while.” 

“Is there any way you can speed it up?” he asks. You shake your head despite the small pang of fear that goes through you. Maker, the Mandalorian intimidated you in a way your previous clients never could. You keep up your facade of professionalism. 

“I don’t have droids, and even if I did, you wouldn’t let me use them,” you say. “I’ll need at least half up front.” Mando stiffens. 

“I don’t have the money now,” he confesses, and you bristle. “But,” he says, before you can say anything, “I promise you, I will pay you.” You furrow your brows. 

“I don’t take IOUs, Mandalorian,” you say, crossing your arms. He sighs. 

“I know,” he says with frustration, and you can tell he’s at the end of his rope, “but it’s just that--” A cooing interrupts him as you feel something tugging at the leg of your jumpsuit. You jump, and look down to see a small green alien thing, with big ears and eyes that take up nearly half of its face. It must be a child, from how it raises its arms and gurgles at you. 

“What in the world?” you mutter, and bend down to pick it up, ignoring how the Mandalorian tenses and watches you with a closed eye. “Where’d you come from little guy?” you ask in a soft voice, bouncing the child on your hip. “Is he, um, if it even is a he… Is he yours?” you ask, nodding at the Mandalorian. 

“Yes?” he answers, but he sounds equally confused and you shield it away from him. He didn’t sound so sure. 

“You’re not a slaver or an exotic pets dealer, are you?” you ask suspiciously. Sure, you had dealt with all sorts of unsavory people, but you had always refused to serve those kinds of folks. They rubbed off you the wrong way, especially the ones that eyed you up like you could join their collection at any time. Mando looks offended as he could be behind a helmet. 

“What? No, he’s--” A sigh. “He was a bounty. I… rescued him,” he explains, and you relax, but keep your hold on him. You don’t mind how the child is pulling at the tendrils of hair that had escaped your bun. 

“And I guess that’s why you’re so eager to get your ship back in working order,” you guess. He nods. As you stare in the impossibly big eyes of the child you were holding so tenderly, a smile spreads across your face. “You are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” you say gently. It coos in response and blinks up at you. 

“There are a lot of people looking for him,” Mando says. He holds out a finger for the kid to take, and it grasps it eagerly. “Dangerous people. I need to get as far away from here as I can.” The child eventually leans and reaches for Mando, who takes him from your arms and holds him protectively. “That’s why I need the ship to be fixed as fast as possible.” You rub your temples, and steel your shoulders as you stare at the baby in his arms. It babbles at you happily.

“Two days, Mando,” you sigh. “That’s the fastest I can fix your ship by.” Mando nods. 

“You have my thanks,” he says, but you turn away and start jotting down notes in your data pad before he can truly express his undying gratitude.

“Don’t thank me yet,” you grumble.

--

In a few hours, you’ve fixed what you could, pulling parts from the dustiest corners of your shop and pulling a few things you didn’t even know you had. You had fixed a stray leak or two for his fuel line, nearly burning your hand off in the process, and recalibrated his hyperdrive calculator. His navigation was pretty much fried, so you would have to get orders in for that, and when you were faced with a banged up calcinator in the left turbine, you had kicked it as hard as you could with your boot, and it had actually fixed it. The same couldn’t be said for the deflector shield generators. For that, you had to practically stick the entire upper half of your body to reach the innermost parts to rewire everything and fix the insulation. You’re not sure if you even want to look at the ion flux stabilizers, judging on how the cooling system was nearly scalds you every time you test it out. But eventually you tug on the thickest gloves you have and put on your goggles and patch it up. 

You had made a quick trip on your dingy little speederbike to the market, not bothering to haggle the price as you dart from stall to stall and junkyard to junkyard looking for the parts you needed. At least you’ve been here long enough so that the locals didn’t ask questions as to why you were so frantic. Still, you were efficient, and as soon as you had off-loaded all the parts, you had plopped yourself down on a chair and started express ordering the parts you couldn’t get before. 

As you’re sipping a cup of caf and planning what problems you could address before the off-world parts would come, Mando takes a seat in front of you. 

“I need you to do something for me,” he says without preface. You arch an eyebrow. 

“Really? Something else besides fixing that dumpster fire of a ship in less than three days?” you ask him wryly, but you set down your data pad and cross your arms, setting your face in a neutral expression. He was still your customer, and Maker knows what he could do to you. “What is it?”

“I need you to watch the kid,” he says. You really want to slam your head on the table. Maybe you could knock yourself out and that’ll be the rest you can get before you really had to start the hard work. Better yet, you would sustain such a bad head injury you would die. “I’ll compensate you for it.” Yeah, like that makes it any better. 

He must see the look you have on your face because he quickly follows it up. “I found a job, but I’ll need to be gone for that, and I can’t risk taking the kid with me,” he explains. As much as you want to say to him that he needs to find another babysitter out there for the adorable little gremlin, Mando is going to get your next paycheck, so you sigh in resignation. Besides, you can hear how much the Mandalorian didn’t want to leave it alone. 

“You owe me,” you say teasingly, and wag a finger in his face. “Your debt is increasing with every word you speak. I might have to add interest at this point.” He huffs out a laugh, warm and rich, and pushes your hand down and away from his face. 

“Yeah? Give me the full list of grievances and charges when I get back,” he says. “Thank you.” He gets up and goes back to the ship while you scavenge your shop for something that can hold the child while you work. 

By the time he comes back with his equipment and the kid is in his arms, you’ve found an old cart that you no longer used, and you had stuffed rags in there until it was padded enough and put a folded sheet on top. It’s… ugly. Mando must think so too because he stares at it for a little bit before looking at you. “I’m a mechanic, not a nanny droid,” you grumble, and take the child from his arms.

“I didn’t say anything,” Mando says. He easily gives up the child. 

“You didn’t have to,” you retort as you try and soothe it. It’s fussing, and you think it knows Mando is leaving. You fix a hard stare at the chrome helmet. “If you’re not back by the time I fix your damn ship, I’m going to fucking lose it,” you threaten. 

“I’ll be back,” he reassures. You’re not sure if he’s talking to you or the kid. “You have my word.” You snort. 

“I don’t need your word when you have a debt to pay,” you say, but quirk a smile and turn away. “Now, shoo. I have work to do.” 

--

After Mando had gone, you had dived right back in to fix the remaining wiring, peeking out every now and then to check on the kid. It was entertaining himself with the junk around your shop, giggling as it threw things around, you only had to stop it from sticking things in its mouth twice. So far, so good. Maybe you could get into the nanny business. 

A sudden rumble in your stomach interrupts your thoughts. Ah, that’s right, the only sustenance you’ve had all day was several cups of caf. You wipe your hands on the rag you tucked into your belt as you think about what you had in your conservator when you stop. 

Shit, what did the kid eat?

You scoop him up as you head to your meager kitchen, opening the conservator as you him. “You eat meat?” you ask him, and it stares up at you. Did it know Basic? You awkwardly hold him out to the shelves. “Um, choose whatever you like,” you ask it, and after what you think is careful consideration, it reaches for a packet of dried burrafish. You bring him back to you, propping him up against your hip, and you reach for the packet, grabbing some soypro for your own meal, and shut the door. “I’ll reheat this for you, okay? Stay here.” You put him back in the makeshift pram you leave it in the little sitting area. You can still see him from here, and you tear open the package as you heat up the stove. 

He sits patiently, watching you as you move around the kitchen, pulling out two bowls as you open the nanowave and toss in the fish and a small rehydration packet at the same time. A few minutes should do. Reaching under a cabinet, you pull out a pan, humming a nonsensical tune to yourself. You wash your hands real quick and start heating the pan before turning to the container of soypro to open it. It’s been a while since you’ve prepared this brand, so you carefully read the label so that you don’t accidentally explode the kitchen. Your ears perk up as you hear a blaster cocking. 

“Where is it?” a low, raspy voice rumbles. You freeze. 

“Where’s what?” you ask him. Your eyes dart around for anything you can use, but your blaster is on your work table several feet away from you, and your only knife is in the sink from your breakfast. You slowly turn around, hands up. You can’t tell who or what it is since they’re masked and have goggles on, but Basic must not be what their vocal cords are made for because it sounds like they’re trying to gulp water in at the same time. 

“Don’t be stupid,” he says. He holds up a tracking fob, and you aren’t that idiotic that you can’t recognize what it is. It’s beeping steadily as the red light blinks rapidly. “The asset. You have him; where is it?” You sigh dramatically. 

“Sir,” you say, “I deal with a lot of criminals. Daily, in fact, in case you didn’t know. You need to be more specific.” The bounty hunter tilts his head.

“The asset,” he repeats. “I’ll give you another warning- don’t play dumb. I saw the Mandalorian’s ship out there,” he says, nodding his head in the direction of the Razor Crest. “And I know he’s not here. Tell me where it is, and I’ll consider letting you live.” You furrow your brows, but eventually point at the pram where it hovers in the sitting area. 

“You saw the ship but you couldn’t see the kid that’s right in front of you?” you ask dryly. The hunter turns around to look, and you use this time to slap the blaster out of his hand, turning around to grab the now-hot pan and wacking it across his face, shattering his goggles at the same time. He howls as the heat makes his mask smoulder and whatever shards that didn’t fly out get in his eye. Before you can fully comprehend that holy shit this is out of whatever pay grade that Mando was going to give you, the hunter whirls around his fist catches you on your brow bone, splitting the skin as you get knocked down. You kick his knee in from where you are, and it bends backwards from the force with a sickening crunch, and he goes toppling down, too. You scramble up as fast as you can, hitting him in the face with your pan again, and snatch the knife from your sink before stabbing him in the chest. The hunter screams, turning into a high-pitched shriek as you use the pan to hammer the handle of the blade, nailing it deeper into his chest. His screaming turns into gurgles, and you step over him to pick up the blaster and shoot him in the head to silence him. You’re huffing as you watch his purple blood leak all over your kitchen floor. Your pan is ruined. 

The nanowave dings as your fish finishes heating up. 

You wipe away the blood that was trickling into your eye and put the blaster on the counter. The child is just watching you with those big eyes, cooing in amusement. “You had fun?” you ask him. “Thanks for the warning, kid.” 

It takes a good thirty minutes for you to haul the limp body of the bounty hunter of your kitchen and into the garage, where you prop it up against the wall. You didn’t have time to properly deal with him. You pat the body down, pulling out the stray credit here and there, and check for any trackers or comms. You crush the tracking fob under your boot and smash the commlink onto the floor. After that, you go around all the doors and windows, making sure they were locked and secure. Now that was dealt with, you start unzipping your blood-stained jumpsuit and head into the refresher. You frown at your reflection. The cut above your brow is still bleeding, and your cheek bone was starting to bruise. “Your dad better be loaded when he comes back!” you call out to the child. You strip and throw the jumpsuit into your basket. Hopefully the blood will come out after a couple washes. 

You take out a medkit and pull out a bacta wipe, wiping the blood off of your face and over your cut, sweeping over your cheek bone to help with the bruising. The cut starts to slowly knit itself back together, but seeing as your bruise was underneath the skin, the wipe couldn’t do much. When you put the bacta pack back into the medkit, you spy two little syringes of blue liquid next to the gauze. A stim shot, and after the day you’ve already had, you’re gonna need it. 

You had to work through the night if you had any chance of finishing the ship in time.

--

You’re crashing from the second stim by the time Mando comes back. 

“It’s done,” you say, and your words are slurred. You have been non-stop working for two days, and the sun is starting to rise for the third. You have to squint to focus your sight on him unless you wanted to see double. You motion to the console that shows that the ship is in as good of a condition as it could be, and your hands are shaking something awful. You drop it by your side and rub your eyes. “And the kid is sleeping,” you add on before he can ask. “He was fed two hours ago, and sleeping for at least one. Parts were, uh, some amount of credits, I’m sure,” you think, and wave your hand. “Service is, uh, shit, where’s my data pad?” you mumble and whirl around to try and find it, but you have to steady yourself on the console. Kriff, you had forgotten how bad it felt to come down.  “You know what? I’ll just send the details to you,” you say. You slide down and take a seat in the dirt. “I think I’m gonna take a nap.” Mando tosses a bag of credits to you, and you feel yourself perk up a little when the bag is heavy. 

“Is this enough?” he asks. You rifle through it, making quick calculations in your head, basing it on estimates, really, but you frown. “Is it… is it not? Do I owe you more?” Mando asks, and he sounds a little nervous. Unsure. You shake your head and take out a few credits. 

“Too much,” you say, and hold the rest up for him to take. “This is too much.” Mando scoffs, but it’s in good humor. 

“You fixed a ship that would take normally five days in two,” he starts, “bought or scavenged parts that are surely no longer manufactured, and took care of the kid on top of that.” He presses the credits back to you. “I’m indebted to you. Please, accept it.” You sigh, and pull yourself up, and you’re proud to say you only slip a little bit. 

“Mandalorian, you have a kid,” you say tiredly. “A kid that is wanted by many dangerous people. I had to learn that the hard way,” you continue. Oops. You didn’t mean to say that, but you just accept it and motion to the body that you had stuffed into the corner and haphazardly covered with a tarp. Mando’s head snaps to it taking in the purple blood smears you had failed to properly scrub out, and you take this moment to push the remaining credits into his hand. “You don’t owe me anything else. Just take it and leave.” You turn to leave, intent on flopping onto your bed and sleeping for a millennia and a half, but he grabs your wrist before you can, the heat of his skin burning through his gloves. Maker, he’s warm. “I hope you’re not asking another thing of me--”

“Come with me,” he says. You slowly blink at him. Perhaps you heard him wrong. 

“What?”

“Come with me,” he repeats, and puts the credits into your hand, and honestly at this point you’re too tired to fight back. “I could use someone of your skill. You would be paid handsomely.” He motions to the bag in your hands. “That’s just from one job,” he says, “and you would get a cut from every one after that if you work for me. Fixing my ship, checkups, the like.” You stare at him with empty eyes as you process the words, and eventually Mando gets uncomfortable from your staring, and shifts where he stands.

You’ve been working in your shop for years, meticulously building up your reputation and making a name for yourself all over the galaxy. Hell, you’re sure you’ve even served some distant cousin of Jabba the Hutt at some point. Going with Mando would make you associates. Your name would be attached to the kid as well. Leaving a reliable source of income to travel with some ex-bounty hunter who’s taking care of a kid, on top of that, mind you, and trying to outrun other hunters? They could’ve been past customers as well. That would be an awkward conversation. But that would also mean you get to travel. You never got to do that. The most off-world interactions you get are shipments that are handled by droids. While you loved your shop, it was also keeping you grounded here. Mando did make good money…

You look at Mando where you assume his eyes are and pinch the bridge of your nose and let out the deepest sigh you have in the past year. 

“Do I have to take care of the kid, too?”

--

a/n: Yes, Reader fed baby yoda and had her own meal. Yeah so this was the series I was working on, but I just... really hated it? So I scrapped it, but the first chapter is salvageable. 

---

Forever Tag: @mabelleen​ @mando-vibes​

#mandalorian reader #mandalorian x reader #mandalorian x you #din djarin reader #din djarin x reader #my writing #din djarin #the mandalorian #mandalorian #mandalorian imagine #settle the debt

[cbspams]

Playlist 🎶

Love Talk by WayV

Insomnia by SKZ

Long Flight by Taeyong

Yestoday by NCT U

Deja Vu by NCT Dream

Sit Down! By NCT 127

119 by NCT Dream

Criminal by Taemin

Obsession by EXO

Tiger Inside by SuperM

Mad Dog by NCT 127

Candy by Baekhyun

Jopping by SuperM

Bass Go Boom by Lucas

Replay by Shinee

Wish You Were Here by SuperM

Blue Hour by TXT

Don’t Call Me by Shinee

Cherry Bomb by NCT 127

Drip Drop by Taemin

Idea by Taemin

GO by NCT Dream

Groove by EXO

Drama by TXT

Kick Back by WayV

Try Again by d.ear and Jaehyun

Amusement Park by Baekhyun

No Longer by NCT 127

Quiet down by NCT Dream

Stronger by NCT Dream

Action Figure by WayV

Reveal by The Boyz

Face to Face by WayV

IOU by NCT U

Checkmate by The Boyz

Crush by Tessa Violet

Basquiat by Pentagon

Come Back Home by ONEUS

Shine by Pentagon

Wannabe by Golden Child

Salty by The Boyz

Rhythm TA (Kingdom ver.) by iKon

Good Guy by SF9

GOGOBEBE (cover) by Verivery

Prom Queen by Mxmtoon

Hello Stranger by Stray Kids

We Do by SuperM

O Sole Mio by SF9

Photo by Verivery

Summer Breeze by SF9

ON (cover) by Verivery/TOO

The Stealer by The Boyz

Get Away by Verivery

RPM by SF9

Berry by Sunwoo (TBZ)

Bloom bloom by The Boyz

Rainbow by NCT Dream

Hot Sauce by NCT Dream

Full DaSH by It’s One (Sunwoo TBZ, Bobby iKON, Hwiyoung SF9)

Love poem by Mayfly (Eunkwang BTOB, Seungmin SKZ, Jongho ATEEZ)

Spark by It’s One (Sangyeon, New TBZ; Jay, Ju-ne iKON; Jaeyoon, Inseong SF9)

Kingdom come by The Boyz

New DDU-DU-DDU-DU by Stray Kids

Classy Savage by iKON

At Ease by iKON

Runaway by Pentagon

这的烟火 (Back to you) by Kun and Xiaojun (NCT)

애 by Stray Kids

Believer by SF9

Monster (Stormborn) by The Boyz

Curtain Call by Verivery

Why why why by iKON

Fanfare by SF9

Somewhere by Eric (TBZ)

Face it by Verivery

Beginning by Golden Child

Roar by SF9

Burn it by Golden Child

One (Lucid dream) by Golden Child

Midnight road by SF9

Dive by iKON

Lady by Golden Child

Damdadi by Golden Child

Spring again by Golden Child

Destiny by Oh My Girl

Tear drop by SF9

Breathe by Golden Child

Giddy Up by The Boyz

Ra Pam Pam by Golden Child

Poppin by Y and Jangjun (Golden Child)

Game by TAG and Jibeom (Golden Child)

Out the window by Daeyeol (Golden Child)

Last updated: 08.02.2021

#playlist

[alkhale]

Locked Here for Forever (1/6) Dark!Sabo/Oc/Dark!Ace

(quick note before y’all come at me with torches)

This was a side project I’ve been playing around with while working on updates (THE UPDATES ARE COMING I SWEAR, I SWEAR) I was kinda... possessed? to write this and when it kept coming back to me, I realized I needed to get it out of my system. Doing that made me realize how big it was going to end up being so it’s divided up into parts. 

I’ve been wanting to explore a different variety of things. We can say “darker” themes, but I really just wanted to try my hand at playing with characters with honestly manipulative and sociopathic behavior. I’m not going on a limb to say yandere because that term is loose and often made to be thought of with stabby-stabby, stalky-stalky--but I think it can encompass a lot more? Possessive behavior, controlling, but I wanted to really go into manipulative behavior. Sociopathic because it’s not psychotic, it’s functioning and cold and hmm.

(Btw, to each their own, fantasies, kinks, we don’t shame here. But if anyone is ever putting you through what Hoku is going to be put through here and manipulating you into basically mind controlling you and this and that, it is not a healthy relationship and they are scum and you deserve better, drop their ass like a hot fucking potato.)

I decided to use Hoku because this idea originally came from another AU for Memos. (I’m sorry Hoku) Loosely based on the premise from the BL comic, “Points of Three”

It’s here on AO3, if you just want to read there too.

Rating: NSFW

Pairing: Sabo/Oc/Ace (Past! Kid/Oc), Dark!Ace/Oc/Dark!Sabo

Warnings: Explicit Sexual Content, Manipulation (Psychological and Emotional), Past Assault, Past Trauma, Possessive Behavior, Unhealthy Relationships, Use of Aphrodisiacs, BDSM, Dubious Consent, Controlling Behavior, Stalking

Chapter One: Points of Three

“From three points, it can’t ever end. They’ll always pull at one. One is always pulled between them. One point is always trapped between the other two.”   

Hoku shoved a pancake into her mouth.

“That’s the idea at least.”

The twenty-four hour breakfast diner was only half busy. A dingy place with wallpaper peeling in places but always clean and friendly. Cozy. The booths had tears at the seams, patched together by other patches. Establishments like this weren’t too popular all throughout their town, but the diner’s all-you-can-eat pancake and breakfast option did the job for their group’s ridiculous appetites.

Crumpled papers were splayed out on their table. Luffy had spilled a bit of syrup onto one of his math packets and it was in the middle of being patted down with water and dried to be somewhat presentable.

Her best friend’s face was currently in the middle of short-circuiting. His attention was waning thin. Luffy’s lips pursed, eyebrows furrowed as he hunched over the papers in front of him, one fork in his hand with syrup dripping from a soggy slice of pancake.

Hoku continued to chew, sick of these studies herself.

“So the answer,” Luffy said slowly. He rubbed the scar beneath his eye. A dumb thing he’d gotten trying to impress a man beyond both their leagues. “Is nothing.”

Hoku snorted. “It’s infinity, dumbass. It never ends.”

“Are you sure?” Luffy said, squinting. “You’re pretty dumb too. I think there’s just no answer. Hey, hey, let’s just leave it blank and then—”

“If you don’t do your half of the group project, Nami’s gonna kick your ass and then she’s going to come after mine,” Hoku said, looking a bit pale at the idea as she slumped forward onto the messy table as well, using her mouth to grab the edge of a pancake off her plate and slowly chew through it. “Dun cwah meh duhm, duhmash.”

“Shishishi, but you are!” Luffy snickered, kicking his feet out and mimicking her position. “We’ll just pay Nami money not to kick our ass and we win!”

Hoku groaned around a pancake at the dangerous word. She made sure strands of her white hair weren’t getting caught in stray puddles of syrup, lazily tugging it back up into a bun. “We’re broke, dumbass. She might be willing to take an IOU, but she’ll collect someday and…”

Hoku whimpered, wishing she could shove her face into the stack of pancakes beside her. “I need a jooooooooob.”

Luffy chewed in front of her, shoveling more pancakes into his mouth. Unbothered. He usually got off on the occasional odd job and Luffy always just had this… way of making things work out when they shouldn’t.

The diner was cheap. So it’d been her source of nutrition the past couple of weeks—aside from Sanji’s loving meal preps and Nami’s fruits constantly being brought back to her dingy apartment. The horrible, cold truth was that her funds were low. Financial aid covered for her classes and materials fine, but existing outside of school came off her savings and odd jobs or freelance work she picked up here and there.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have taken two years off,” Hoku said, squinting at her stack of pancakes as Luffy reached over and started eating them. “Might’ve landed me a better job…”

“Nah, you needed it,” Luffy said simply. “‘Sides, you had tons of fun. You don’t regret it at all.”

Hoku whimpered once more. “Ugh, you’re right.”

Hoku only stood at twenty-one, two years older than Luffy—but after her third year of high school, she’d chosen to leave Japan after her graduation ceremony and head back to her hometown, a small place in Hawaii. She’d decided on a two-year gap, getting in touch with old family friends of her late parents who were essentially relatives and just taking some time to herself after everything and doing a little self-searching but…

Hoku had come back and managed to enter back into college without much of a hitch. She and Luffy were now on the same pace to graduating with Nami and Usopp—if he or she didn’t fail in the meantime—Zoro was going to school part-time for police academy training, Sanji doing the same for his culinary school and full-time position at his father’s restaurant and at least all her buddies were still in school aside from Robin and Franky and Brook.

To be honest, her life was going pretty well so far, aside from finances. It’d been almost a year now since her break-up and the two of them were still on amicable terms and checked in with each other regularly, her friends were healthy and in her life, Shanks and his team were out exploring some new island and there’d be an interview on it soon they could tune into…

Hoku was happy.

But school aside—she was still unemployed and poor. No new jobs had been coming her way as of late and even Law helping her land that job with designing that new program promotion his residency had needed was gone to her rent in a blink.

“Why don’t you ask Torao to help you get a job at his hospital?” Luffy said loudly. “You can be a nurse or something.”

“I’m too dumb to save people’s lives,” Hoku said flatly. “And I’m an art major. That’s like… Telling a cat to go fly.”

Luffy opened his mouth.

“Never mind, stop there,” Hoku shoved her face into the sleek table, smelling the old wood. “You also need credentials to work in a hospital, Lu. Should I find a campus job? There’s gotta be an opening somewhere… Maybe I can see if the amusement park needs caricature artists or something--”

“But you hate that kinda stuff,” Luffy complained. “It’s boring. You’re never supposed to do the boring stuff ya hate.”

“But I’m broke,” Hoku said pitifully. “Maybe my pride can suck up being poor…”

Hoku turned so her chin was flat against the table, looking thoughtful. “Maybe I can gamble my way to being rich…”

Luffy chewed with a little more thought, making a constipated expression—he was really thinking about something.

Her phone vibrated with a little jingle on the other side of the booth. Hoku turned it over, making a little happy noise. They could worry about money later. She hated thinking about this kind of stuff. “Zoro’s out of class. Let’s meet up with him and Usopp for that movie.”

“I feel like I’m forgetting somethin’,” Luffy said, making a face. “Oh, man… what was it…”

“Answer your damn homework and let’s go,” Hoku said, stuffing her leftover pancakes into her mouth and waving her hand to the owner for a check. “Cuh mown.”

“Nothing, right?” Luffy said, about to press his pen in.

“Infinity,” Hoku said flatly, grabbing his pen and scribbling the horizontal 8 in for him. “Never ends. That point is always stuck. Kinda like insanity.”

“Like how you’re crazy.”

“You’re crazy, crazy, now c’mon. Let’s beat Usopp and make him pay for snacks.”

Luffy stuffed all the pancakes into his mouth, rushing out the door with his cheeks full. Hoku slapped their money onto the table and ran out after him, shoving extra napkins into her backpack.

. 

.

.

Hoku stared at the last page of her canvas sketchbook with a reluctant frown, a small sigh slipping past her lips.

She’d tried to be as conservative as possible with all the negative space—but this was it. She went through sketchbooks faster than her small funds could afford, but she couldn’t help but always put aside a bit for her work—it’s what you love.

The rest of her art classmates were packing up their things for the day. Stools squeaked across the smooth floors. Easels or clipboards sliding back into place. The model at the center stood up, stretching her arms over her head as their professor instructed them on what to work on this weekend and to finish last assignments up. They’d just finished another open studio and there’d be a big project coming up soon enough… She was going to need to buy the new canvases and oil paints for that… Shit.

Her fingers twitched. Hoku couldn’t help but smile.

She loved what she did.

Even if you’re bad for my wallet.

“Looks like you finally need a new book,” Hoku’s smile dropped, fingers stopping at the edge of her book. The girl beside her leaned over, smiling, “You’ve been needing a new one, haven’t you?”

I don’t even remember your name. Hoku hadn’t bothered. She made a fair enough effort with remembering the names of her classmates, but this one in particular had made it clear where she stood. Wanted to be some high end artist—was on her way, probably, since she’d been showcased in several galas but—

The hidden hint behind her words was clear every time she spoke to Hoku. Blatant. A teasing curl of her lips.

“Don’t you think that’s sad?”

“You’re always using the front and back of each page,” she laughed. “I mean, the drawings are great, but you can afford a new one or two, right? I’ll donate one if you’re that prudent.”

A few eyes glanced over at the easy confrontation. Hoku kept her face even. After this semester, you won’t even matter.

“You can afford the tattoos right,” she continued with a light laugh, tapping the corner of her left eye where Hoku’s heart shaped tattoo was inked in around her eye, smeared at the end. “Just save a bit for a new sketchbook and some supplies while you’re at it. Got to keep up with your studies, you know?”

“I’m sorry,” Hoku said, it was actually starting to bother her now. “What’s your name again?”

Someone’s pencil dropped behind them. He stooped down to pick it up, hiding his face.

Her classmate’s face flushed red. Her eyes flickered, back and forth, assessing the reaction of the people around them. Barely anyone was watching—who cared? They were all here to learn and to hone their skills. No one needed more drama.

Hoku’s lips pulled into a polite smile, revealing baby canines.

“Come on,” she said, laughing with a titter, “It’s been half a semester. It’s—”

“HOOOOOKKKKUUUUUU—” Thin but muscular arms wrapped tight around her shoulders. Hoku floundered for a second, almost tumbling back over her chair at the added weight. The smell of the sun washed around her and Luffy’s hair tickled her cheek, pressing in close as he jumped around, almost ripping her from her seat.

Warmth pressed into her back. Hoku’s shoulders relaxed, everything cleared. Her lips turned upwards into a wide grin.

Luffy was a destructive, bumbling dumbass most of the time—but he could always turn a mood into a better one.

Shanks rubs off on you too much. She thought fondly, a bit of stupid smile curling over her lips. Maybe that’s a good thing.

“Hoku! Hoku! You won’t believe this—come on! Let’s get lunch, I’m hungry. I’ve got awesome news! It’s gonna blow your mind and—”

“Calm down, dumbass!” Hoku snapped. A few of her classmates looked on in amusement. The girl from earlier had already retreated, saving face. Wiser ones started to move their things out of the way. “You’re going to break something again!”

Her professor didn’t mind friends coming in and visiting or sitting in on lectures. But Luffy’s regular presence barreling through the art department was considered a public menace and had to be dealt with accordingly. “I’ve never seen anyone launch themselves off the second floor and bounce around the way he does, so for the love of god please keep him away from the ceramics class—”

“Did you just finish class?” Hoku said, adjusting herself to account for Luffy’s added weight. She walked with a backwards slump, leaning as Luffy dragged along the floor hanging off her while she gathered her supplies.

“Yup! Nami went to go get a table!” Luffy said happily. “Come on, come on, let’s go eat! I’m starving!”

Her stomach rumbled in agreement. Hoku pressed a warning hand to her stomach, using the other to shove her backpack over her shoulder and purposefully shove into Luffy’s cheek. “I’m hurrying, but what were you saying earlier?”

She shoved her stuff into her bag as quickly as she could, flipping her sketchbook closed and turning toward the door. Luffy was starting to clamber up her back and she wasn’t sure she could support him if he decided to test if she could give him a piggyback ride.

“Oh, yeah!” Luffy said, cheek squished against her knuckles. “I think I found a job for ya! And it pays!”

“You found me a job—”

Hoku’s foot tripped over the other, sending them both toppling to the floor in a massive heap of one screech and Luffy’s monkey-like laughter. A student quickly grabbed his easel, jerking it out of the way as they smashed into the ground.

“Shishishi, you’re such a klutz.”

.

.

.

“If it’s Luffy, it’s probably some weird job throwing yourself off a cliff for fun,” Nami said warningly, neatly filed nails digging into the tangerine in her palm as she peeled it. “You guys are always talking about that explorer—what if it’s doing something illegal or—”

“Throwing yourself off a cliff and getting paid is fine,” Zoro said. He ran a hand through his spearmint colored hair, light catching off his golden earrings. “Just make sure you’re not secretly being employed for some kind of drug smuggling. You’re both idiots, so it’d happen.”

Luffy didn’t even look the slightest bit bothered, simply grinning stupidly to himself as he shoveled food into his mouth. Hoku—a little calmer and more sensible after stuffing her face with the cafeteria’s economically wonderful meal sets—gaped at the two of them in disbelief, blatantly offended.

The four of them were gathered in one of Grand College’s many cafeterias. Usopp was cramming last minute for another exam and should be running over any second. Hoku crossed her arms over her chest, shoving another forkful of pasta into her mouth. Nami leaned forward, setting a peeled tangerine down and smacking Luffy’s grabbing hands away as she set to work on another.

“I would not get involved in something like that without knowing,” Hoku grunted. Turning to Luffy she added, “If it’s drugs, I need to know how much it’s going to pay first.”

Zoro put her in a headlock, pointedly shoving her face into his chest where his nametag from his police training could smash into her cheek. Hoku’s arms flailed around, smacking into his cheek.

“Nah, it’s way better than any of that!” Luffy said, throwing his arms out in excitement. He stopped for a second. “Hey, wait, that sounds kinda fun—”

“Get on with it,” Nami and Zoro chorused.

Luffy grinned, turning to Hoku—who popped her head out over the top of Zoro’s tightened arm—with shining eyes. “Ace and Sabo are looking for someone to help them with this project!”

“Ace and Sabo?” Hoku’s eyes went round. A little box of memories peeled itself open, idle moments, pleasant laughter, warm memories wrapped around little flashes of awkward teenage encounters.

Hoku had known Luffy since she was a kid when his grandfather, a marine, had been stationed over in Hawaii at the time. Hoku’s parents had passed away a few years before that and after moving around, she’d spent some time with Mihawk until Garp swindled her into being looked after with Luffy…

She’d met Ace and Sabo young. When she was nine and they were ten--she remembered fighting all the time with Ace and Sabo being the genial, grinning mediator and those summers and years had been a great time and then she’d left to go live with Mihawk and eventually set up her own place. Their meetings were scattered in between coming to Luffy’s house with the three of them there after school—she and Luffy had gone to the same school for as long as she could remember—it’d gone on until high school, where meetings between them happened on occasion and then Hoku had left.

The two older brothers were great people—amazing even. Funny, easy to be around, always looking after Luffy first and foremost. She and Ace still butted heads and he could flip from a dotting older brother to an absolute menace but it’d been almost three years now since she’d last seen them.

Bright, golden blonde hair. Soot black waves. Hoku huffed over Zoro’s arm, resting her chin comfortably in the crook of his elbow. I wonder if they look any different… I think Luffy posted a picture not too long ago and they seemed well… She’d just never ended up getting in touch with them with everything she’d had going on.

It might be nice to see them again.

“I haven’t seen them in ages,” Hoku said thoughtfully. Luffy nodded his head so hard it almost snapped off. “How’re they doing?”

“They’re great!” Luffy said excitedly. “Never been better, and when they heard you came back into town forever ago, they’ve been saying they wanted to get in touch or somethin’ but they’ve been busy!”

“Your brothers?” Nami said, looking curious. “Isn’t Sabo working for that big designing company right now? The one that works with revolutionary protests through some of their lines?”

“Something like that,” Luffy said. “I never remember the name.”

“You never remember anything,” Zoro corrected. “I thought Ace was working part time as a firefighter. What kind of project would those two need help with? A fire proof line of clothes?”

Hoku looked interested. “That sounds kinda cool.”

Luffy nodded. Nami smacked the back of his head, urging him to continue. “Well, Ace does all kinds of stuff, but he models for Sabo’s work sometimes too. They’ve been doing a specific kinda work for some people.”

Luffy tipped his head to the side. His brows furrowed, crossing his arms over his chest in thought, “I think Sabo said something about… se… celery taste from one of their clients!”

“Selective,” Nami provided.

“Yeah, that! Anyway, one of ‘em wants something special done and Sabo remembered how good Hoku is with drawing and art and stuff!” Luffy said brightly. “I said you’re poor and you need a job—”

“Why’d you gotta say it like that, Lu?”

“And they were super excited and hoping you could help them out!” Luffy said. “See? It’s easy!”

“I’m not going to make your brothers pay me for something like that,” Hoku said, shaking her head in between Zoro’s arm. “They’ve done a lot for me before—they treated me like family when I was always bumming around at your place… I’ll just do it for free, what do they need? An ad? A—”

“Nono, dummy, they said they wanna pay ya because it’s a big job!” Luffy said. “It’ll take a lot of work or something and—ah! I almost forgot!”

Luffy grinned, shuffling around his pants’ pocket before he pulled out a crumpled, balled up paper. He handed it to Hoku, who reached around Zoro’s still loose and comfortable grip to fold it. “Sabo and Ace gave me this last week! It’s their numbers. Said to give them a call or text them if you were down to do it!”

“A week ago,” Zoro snorted. “Nice.”

“But I said we should all get together cause it’s been so long!” Luffy said cheerfully. He grinned, swinging his legs back and forth over the bench. “We can throw a party! Oh, man, we can make it huge and—”

“No parties until after midterms,” Nami said dangerously. “And whatever you decide, don’t forget we’ve got a girls day with Robin next week, Hoku!”

“Right, right,” Hoku said absently, staring at the two differently scrawled numbers—one in neat, even print and a more slurred, harder to read script. Ace and Sabo. “Well, I’ll text them and let them know I don’t mind helping out however. It’s the least I can do since it’s been so long.”

Hoku slumped, throwing herself half over Zoro’s lap. He shot her an unimpressed look and Hoku mimicked a limp fish.

“Maybe I’ll just work in the cafeteria,” Hoku said thoughtfully. “I can sneak meals and they’ll probably feed me too.”

“Sure,” Zoro said. “Like they’d let a klutz like you become a lunch lady. It’s bad enough that eyebrow freak cooks for anyone.”

Hoku made strangling motions at his neck. Zoro just shoved her face back into his lap, folding his arms on top of her head and yawning as she let out muffled screeches.

Luffy snickered. Nami finally relented and offered him a peeled tangerine. He popped it into his mouth and grinned, teeth shining and excitement bleeding into all of them.

“Oh, man, it’s been so long—this is gonna be great!”

.

.

.

“Contributing to society yet, you unemployed bum?”

Hoku’s face shot up from the second helping of curry she’d been about to shove into her mouth without further consideration. Her face twisted, grumpy and angry—but only in the kind of way that came off as entirely defensive because the words thrown at her were blatantly true and painful, damn it.

“Hey, you jerk,” Hoku snapped, waving her spoon at the asshole in front of her. “When I start making it big, you’re going to eat those words.”

The currently sitting definition of tall, dark, and handsome. Changed out of his hospital gear and classical surgeon attire—because being a heart surgeon with an emphasis in being able to do surgery on just about anything else because he was a genius called for a lot of hours—and dressed in easy jeans and a black turtleneck. The fluorescent lighting of the homey curry restaurant caught off his slender piercing. His dark tattoos peeked out from the rolled up sleeves of his cuffs, the neatly printed letters staring back at Hoku as he held his too large cup of coffee—black as sin because he still had a shift tonight.

Hoku always had to wonder what his patients thought every time they saw DEATH staring back at them on the hands of their doctor before going under on the table. She got away with the snow white hair and tattoos because she was an “artist” so no one bothered her much.

Probably shit their pants. Or just cry.

Doctor Trafalgar D. Water Law did not look impressed.

“Maybe,” he said dryly, “if you don’t eat everything else first.”

Hoku flinched back as though she’d been struck. She shoveled more curry into her mouth, glaring hard at him from across the table.

“I keep asking myself why I hang out with you,” Hoku said. “You’re always taking your time and then when I think we’re going to have a nice time, you find some way to cut me open again.”

Law took a sip of his coffee, “You do it to yourself. And I hang out with you. Not the other way around.”

“That’s bullshit,” Hoku said around her spoon. “And ya know it, Torao.”

The two were about as far from each other on the spectrum as possible when it came to a small world. As a doctor and about three years older than herself—there could’ve never been an excuse for their paths to cross. It just happened one day that her art club had been assigned to help remodel and work with the children of their local hospital and overseeing the entire thing had been Hoku the klutz from her art club and Doctor Law, resident bachelor heart surgeon.

“You can’t paint monsters in the child ward, it’ll literally scare them to death.”

“Are you even listening to the kids? They want a wall of creepy and fun stuff so they can tell stories to each other.”

“You’ll give them all nightmares and it will reflect poorly on their health.”

“I’ll give them all a reason to run and they’re going to be dancing out of this hospital from how fit they are.”

And then there’d been a celebration party for finishing the joint project and Hoku drank a little too much—or maybe she’d just eaten something bad—and then she was throwing up on Law’s shoes.

Hoku had also been the reason why one of his buddies, Penguin, had managed to graduate in their shared anatomy class. Law was also fairly good friends with Kid—fairly because they always talked shit about each other but still hung out—and there’d never been a reason not to know each other anymore.

Besides, even if she told Law he was a bastard and this and that, she genuinely enjoyed his company. He was looking out for her here and there in his twisted, clinical, at times cold-hearted way.

“But no,” Hoku admitted bitterly, slumping back into her chair. Law leaned back in his own, satisfied as he threw one arm behind the chair next to him and watched her in silence. “It’s been months now and I’m just barely getting by on any project I can… Did you know I was thinking about working at the amusement park? Or the pier? I hate water. Why would I even want to spend more time there—”

“You’re afraid of water, you don’t hate it,” Law corrected. “It’s called aquaphobia.”

Hoku mimicked him.

Law kicked her knee under the table. She jerked it back in, nearly jostling their small little booth. Hoku and Law both grabbed their drinks to steady them.

“I mean, I’m not that bad,” Hoku rubbed her chin, shaking her head. “I think I’m one hell of an artist actually… I can go back into mechanics and pick up a job engineering for a while but…”

Hoku let out a small sigh. “No, that won’t work. It’s gotta be drawing after all.”

“Eustass-ya is coming back into town,” Law said, knowing what—who—mechanics made them think of.

Hoku looked up. Her face was neutral, amiable. “Oh, yeah?”

“Mentioned it,” he said. “Don’t know when.”

Hoku hummed. She played with a carrot on her plate and shoved it to the side. Law scowled. She grudgingly scooped it back up. “I’ll give him a call when he arrives. Maybe we can grab lunch or something.”

Law watched her over the rim of his cup. Hoku waved a hand at him. “We still check up here and there. I mean, when it’s not angry texting—but that’s all in good fun.”

Law’s brows creased in a suit-yourself sort of way.

“You can shift gears a bit,” Law said. “Get a teaching degree and why don’t you apply as an art teacher? You’d still get to do what you loved while working on individual projects. Quit when you’re ready.”

Hoku lowered her arms onto the table, her face a little more sober. “That’s… That’s probably the best idea, isn’t it? But I dunno… me? Teaching?”

Hoku laughed. She rubbed the back of her neck, dragging her fingers down the side and staring hard at her warped reflection on the metal table.

“I don’t think…” she said and stopped. Hoku shook her head, “I don’t think any parent would want someone like me teaching their kids.”

Law’s eyes flickered. His expression loosened, brows a little less furrowed, face a little easier to approach.

“Hoku-ya—”

“But you know what,” Hoku started up again brightly, eyes flashing in determination as she grinned, “there was this girl in my class today—making digs about this and that and just wait. I’m going to pick up an awesome job and come in with my regular gear because I’m not an idiot who blows her cash on fancy materials!”

Hoku’s chest puffed out in pride. She grinned, proud as a peacock and tipped her chin high in the air. “Long live homemade art materials!”

“You’re the only one who can get away with that,” Law said. “Barely.”

“I’m so confident I’m going to get a job,” Hoku said. “That I’m paying for dinner tonight.”

Law looked vaguely amused. He let his chin rest on his palm, watching her.

“So if I went ahead and ordered the deluxe beef curry set—”

“I,” Hoku said, using her best bluffing face, “wouldn’t even blink.”

.

.

.

Law ended up ordering the set to-go. And paying for the meal—he simply stepped over Hoku’s embarrassingly fallen form when she tripped on her way to the cashier—and handed the food to her after dropping her off in front of her apartment before he took off for his night shift.

“Eat,” Law had threatened, rolling up his window and ignoring her cursing and ranting like she were no more than a fly at his car. “Skip meals and I’ll check you into the hospital myself.”

Hoku threw up both her middle fingers, stomping all the way to her apartment door for emphasis. Law’s sleek car waited in the parking lot until her door opened pointedly wide and closed before pulling off.

“I never skip meals,” Hoku muttered, shrugging her shoes off and hobbling into the living room after setting the food down on the counter. “I love eating.”

Her apartment wasn’t a grand thing, but it was a little more spacious for the great price she was paying. Banged up. Creaky pipes and floorboards—but it held, sturdy and true.

The two bedroom apartment had been shifted so one was her actual bedroom while the other was her studio and guest room—she usually ended up sleeping there when she was working late into the night anyway. Photos were thrown up left and right. Stacks of papers and sketchbooks were scattered all over the apartment. A massive poster hung over her bed of a certain red-haired explorer’s greatest and her favorite excursion.

A small television set and coffee table. A sectioned off kitchen with an island countertop. Her sleek, comfy leather black couch which was a gift from Mihawk—

Hoku flopped down onto the couch, sinking deep into the cushions. She let out one long, low groan.

I’m such a loser. Hoku pressed herself as deep into the couch as she could, willing it to swallow her whole and never let her see the light of day again. You were supposed to come back from those two years and be different. You haven’t done anything.

Her phone vibrated against her ass and Hoku lazily tugged it out of her pocket, half-throwing it toward her face.

“LETS TRY THIS PLACE IT LOOKS GOOD!!!!!” Hoku snorted at Luffy’s text, a smiling touching her lips and scrolling down. Usopp sent a photo of Zoro asleep on their couch. Training must be rough. Nami texted her a reminder to make a reminder in her phone for her date with Robin and the three of them. A notice from her professor about the material list for class next week.

“Heard things are turning up for you. Keep me posted.” Robin.

Hoku’s hand shuffled through her jacket pocket. Her fingers closed around the crumpled piece of paper and she carefully smoothed it back out, staring at the two numbers.

Honestly… she only really had good memories of Sabo and Ace. Well, when she and Ace weren’t butting heads or strangling each other about something. Luffy loved them as much as he could love anyone, so they’d always been important people to her too.

Grade school, middle school, high school… Hoku rifled through the mess of memories. Coming over to their house. Running from their grandfather. Crowding by a television. After school runs to the best food stalls… all just classic, simple memories.

Hoku pulled up an empty message, typing in both numbers into a new group chat. Her fingers hovered over the letters, contemplating the kind of greeting that should’ve fit a gap this long… They couldn’t have changed too much, right?

Hoku typed, deleted, re-typed for several minutes before finally hitting send and dropping her phone onto the rug, rolling over and burying her face between the couch cushions. A minute, two, her shoulders went slack and she finally fell asleep.

.

.

.

Another minute. A beat.

Her screen flickered to life with a response. A calm ten minutes later.

.

.

.

Hey, Ace, Sabo!

It’s Hoku—haha, it’s been awhile, huh? Sorry for being so shitty at staying in touch. Hope you guys are doing well! Are you still holding the three of you guys together? Ace haven’t lost his head yet dropping dead somewhere? Lu says you guys have been busy.

He finally gave me your numbers and mentioned you had a project you needed help with. Don’t worry about paying or anything, I’d be happy to help out! You guys are like family, y’know? I don’t know how much I can do, but let me know. Let’s catch up. :)

Changed at all?

.

.

.

Hoku,

It’s so nice to say your name again after so long! Took Luffy long enough. It’s been ages, hasn’t it? Ace and I are better than ever, well, trying at least. I’m so glad to finally speak with you again after all this time. I hope your trip was everything you needed and now you can enjoy a long stay back home. I could go on forever, but let’s save the rest for in person, shall we?

Yes! I’m not sure how much Luffy told you about it, but we’d love to discuss with you further. Face to face. When is the soonest you can meet? Ace is asleep right now, but I’ll let him know as soon as he wakes up. The lug.

Hope to be in contact with you soon,

Sabo.

.

.

.

Two minutes passed and a second message was sent, accompanied by a warm, smiling face.

.

.

.

Haven’t changed a bit. Missed you, Hoku.

.

.

.

Shit. Hoku exhaled, adjusting her tote bag over her shoulder—Luffy had bought it for her on a random splurge, dotted with stars. Her head tipped to the side, as though looking at the beautiful building would change what she was seeing.

A few people walked past her, offering strange looks.

The dessert restaurant was famous. Newly opened, lovely. Two floors with nothing but booths overlooking the city and cozy cafes where people could gather to enjoy all kinds of sweets—for those not as inclined to sugar, they had an array of sandwiches and anything to all varying tastes.

Hoku had been eyeing this place for months now, enviously searching through images online or drooling into her pillow as she scrolled through food bloggers. She and Nami and Robin were supposed to finally try it next weekend when Robin came back from her latest trip…

Lucky me. Hoku whistled, shaking her head as she stepped up to the patisserie and opened the door with a gentle jingle of the golden bell on top. Now I get to go twice.

She’d woken up, creases in her face from where she’d shoved herself between the couch cushions, to several new messages. The only one that’d stood out, neatly typed in a way most people would never text like a letter, and addressed with his name since she didn’t have his number already saved—

Sabo.

Hoku had stared at the message with wide eyes, not quite believing what she was seeing, drool dried to her chin. Hoku’s eyes had brightened and she’d quickly responded, getting even a little excited because—it was Ace and Sabo—they were good friends. I missed them.

It was supposed to be nice--reconnecting with people you hadn’t seen for a long time.

Hoku’s eyes searched the crowds of people gathered together, focusing on the host stand. A host stand for a bakery, damn. Hoku seemed to be on the lesser scale of dress—high waisted shorts with her halter top tucked in—but I’ll be alright. The entire first floor could be seen from the second story where people could make reservations for secluded booths to enjoy their sweets and tea. We should be on the first floor...

Hoku stopped short. She stood there in the middle of the bakery, face calm.

I mean they… Hoku’s eyes slowly scanned over the crowd one more time, doing a thorough comb over. They can’t be… that different right? Am I crazy?

She stopped at every blonde and black haired male, craning her head, shuffling around the bakery and trying to peek around to get a look at different faces. Trying and failing to be as discreet as possible. No freckles. No scar on the left side of his face. Nothing.

Hoku shuffled through her bag, fishing out her phone.

Right time. Hoku checked the message thoroughly. Right place. Meet here… there aren’t any other instructions. Am I just first?

If she remembered right, Sabo was always so punctual… Hoku made a face, turning around on her heel. Should I just go get a table? I’ll just go get a table—

“Excuse me miss, are you looking for your party?”

Hoku’s phone slipped like butter through her fingers. Her foot shot out, trying to catch it and she almost toppled over completely, grabbing the nearest chair and steadying herself.

The host who’d approached her looked horrified, as though he’d almost witness an apocalypse occur right before his eyes.

“Hi,” Hoku said. A few people were looking. She bent down to grab her phone, shoving it into her bag. “I—what?”

“Your party,” the host repeated kindly. “With a Mr. Sabo, correct?”

Hoku stared at the host with round eyes.

He smiled, “He told us to look out for you. He’s already waiting at the table if you’d like to follow me, miss.”

“Oh,” Hoku said dumbly. She straightened out, staring at the host like an idiot. “I… I didn’t see him. Where is he?”

“This way, miss,” the host gathered up a menu and began his ascent toward the steps.

Hoku stared at the stairs. Stairs led to a second floor. The second floor was a fancy floor.

Hoku pressed her hand into her mouth, staring.

Maybe it’s the wrong Sabo?

“Would you prefer the elevator, miss?” the host said, looking worried. “Forgive me—”

“No, no, no, stairs are fine!” Hoku quickly scampered after him. The host smiled, leading the way up the winding staircase the short distance to the second floor. “I just—I thought he was on the first floor. Sorry. Thank you for your time.” Stop talking, you dumbass.

The host continued to smile, leading them past a narrow walkway of several private rooms and booths. You can see everything from here. Hoku eyed the bottom floor, wondering if anyone had watched her flailing around like a mouse. Or a fish. Or just an idiot in general.

They walked a short distance, coming close to where part of the second floor was sectioned off against the railing of the top floor. The other half of the floor opened up with wide glass windows, showing the entire city and the bay across the distance.

This is so nice. Hoku glanced around in disbelief. I can’t imagine the price tags up here, gotta tell Nami and Robin.

A single booth sat at the end of the walkway, pushed to the back. A perfect vantage point of the entire first floor and the breathtaking view on the side—

Golden blonde hair fell a little longer now. It still had its wavy sort of curve, kissing the sculpted, angular line of his jaw. His eyes still had that soft little light to them, curious as he surveyed the menu in front of him. His skin was fair, a burn scar over the left side of his face, around his eye. There was a larger one hidden beneath the neat, cream dress shirt he wore inside a dark, navy blue sweater.

He looked older—more mature, a redefined version of himself, as though someone had simply adjusted the resolution of a good photo, complimenting what already was. Dapper and gentle and charming all at once—

But still, maybe, the same after all.

“Sabo!” Hoku’s eyes went wide, an easy grin touched her lips and she strode forward. Hesitancy lined the back of her steps, careful. Even if we got along fine and were pretty close, it’s still been awhile and—how do you do stuff like this again?

His eyes flickered upwards immediately, finding her with perfect ease. They went a little round, brightening in an instant. His lips turned upwards into one bright, warm smile.

Some small part of Hoku quieted. His eyes were warm, almost hot. He was looking at her like finally, finally, something had fallen into place and it was all right—

Hoku balked for a second, uncertain. Her heart warmed at the sight, a flood of pleasant memories and—

And what?

“Hoku!” that’s really his voice. It’s been so long. Sabo stood from his seat, stepping around the table into the walkway. The host behind them set the menu down, backing off so they could be alone. Hoku almost reached out to grab his arm and ask him to stay, just to have another person here because—why would you do something like that, you’re so weird, it’s just a reunion with someone you haven’t seen in awhile—

Sabo’s shiny loafers stopped a few feet from her. His arms had been raised for a second, but his face quickly shifted with obvious hesitation, waiting uncertainty. His lips pursed, waiting in that dorky expression of his. Brows a little furrowed. Hoku stood there like an idiot, telling her mind to shut up and—

Hoku let all other thoughts melt away. It was Sabo. She knew Sabo. She knew him when he was missing a tooth. This is Luffy’s brother. He’s practically family. She gathered her footing beneath her, steadying.

Hoku stepped into his embrace, meeting him the rest of the way. Sabo’s entire face lit up, eyes warming.

It was a ridiculously...nice feeling, to be looked at like that.

Her arms came around his middle and Sabo’s arms instantly wrapped tight around her in a bear hug, wrapping around her shoulders and holding her snug. He almost lifted her off her feet. Hoku laughed, patting his back as Sabo held her tight for a moment, the smell of his cologne washing over her, smelling like something expensive and roguish. He laughed back into the crown of her hair, air ghosting past her ears as he moved his head to the side then, right by her ear.

“Hoku!” Sabo said. “It’s been so long! It’s so good to finally see you-—look at you! You got taller!”

“Says you,” Hoku snorted, pulling back a bit so she could crane her head up to his face. Her ear twitched. Sabo laughed, loosening his grip around her so she could shift more comfortably in his arms. “Look at ya—who said you could grow this tall, you jerk?”

“You look absolutely wonderful,” Sabo said graciously. Hoku stiffened in surprise. She shuffled a bit backwards and Sabo quickly released his hold on her, letting her back out of the hug. “You do! You let your hair grow out—it looks beautiful.”

“No, I just,” Hoku stopped, pressing a hand to her mouth in surprise. “I forgot how you were. You’re always saying stuff like that—caught me off guard, ya bastard.”

“With a compliment?” Sabo laughed, a warm, breezy kind of sound. Hoku’s lips pulled up at the corners. “You deserve dozens more with how long it’s been.”

“You look great!” Hoku punched his chest lightly with a fist. Sabo grinned boyishly, beaming down at her. “All dressed up too—couldn’t beat that royal look out of you, could you?”

“Decided to embrace a different kind of style,” Sabo chuckled. “I’m not missing any teeth this time, right?”

The image of a beaming, grinning blonde boy with scuffed up shorts, a creased hat and a gap where his tooth was missing—Hoku’s smile widened. Yeah, that’s right. This is Sabo.

Sabo took a moment to look at her, as though he were seeing her again for the very first time. Hoku’s nerves rattled for a second, a chill racing down her spine. You’re just nervous. Calm down, you dumbass. His face visibly softened. The chill disappeared. Eyes warm, he clasped his hands together in front of him.  

“I’m glad you’ve been well,” Sabo said softly, smiling. “It really is nice to see you again, Hoku.”

“I’m sorry I was so bad at staying in touch,” Hoku said, brows furrowing. “I should’ve called once or twice to check up on you guys… Luffy told stories every now and then and I guess that always seemed enough.”

“No, we should’ve made more of an effort on our part,” Sabo said. He guided her to the table and Hoku slipped into the seat in front of him. His fingers gently glided over her arm, over her skin, smoothly taking her bag and hooking it over the back of the chair. Hoku blinked, realizing she hadn’t even known that he’d been getting her bag—

For a brief moment, Hoku stilled. A force of habit. It only lasted a second, anyway.

Sabo’s frame towered over her. One hand resting on the edge of the chair where he was releasing the bag, the other steadying himself on the table but—

You’re boxed in.

And then Sabo was gone and she was free and Hoku relaxed even though she never should’ve been tense in the first place.

“I’m sorry Ace couldn’t come, he wanted to see you too,” Sabo said, pulling away with a frown. “He had an important shift today so he couldn’t get off.”

“We can definitely meet up again,” Hoku said surely. “With Lu next time too, catch up like old times. I want to see more of you guys for sure.”

Sabo smiled at her—it almost made her feel as though she were being praised for something. She’d said the right answer.

“Things just got so busy with work and you were in your third year,” Sabo said. He took a seat beside her, brows creased apologetically. “You were seeing someone at that time too, weren’t you? Relationships, school, it all gets so hectic.”

“That’s… yeah, that’s right,” Hoku blinked in realization. Sabo folded his hands together on top of the table, expression soft. Understanding. Kid and I were together and I was focused on spending time with everyone before I left and then….

Had she just forgotten about Ace and Sabo? Enough to not even give her best friend’s brothers a proper goodbye—

“That’s no excuse though,” Hoku said, brows furrowing. Had that really been what happened? Holy shit, Hoku. They’re like family—how could you do something like that? Kid had taken up a lot of her time sure, but she’d wanted to spend that time with everyone because she was going to be gone for so long. “Shit, I’m sorry Sabo—”

“Don’t even think about apologizing,” Sabo said, shaking his head sternly. Hoku’s lips pursed. “We could’ve called you just as easily as you could’ve called us. It’s a two way street. No one needs to apologize here.”

Even if you say that, I’m still going to make it up to you guys. Hoku huffed, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest in thought. “Doesn’t mean it didn’t suck.”

“Maybe,” Sabo said, a light chuckle. He looked so happy. It was hard not to keep staring at him, to feel happy herself. Infectious. A waiter came and swiftly left behind two steaming mugs and Hoku looked up in surprise. “Sorry! I took a guess at the menu—I’ve never been here before and I got what they recommended and looked the best…”

“No—you’re fine!” Hoku pulled the mug closer to her, eyes growing wide. She instantly grabbed for some sugar cubes and Sabo looked amused. “This is their apple tea, right? Ah, I’ve been wanting to try this, nice call.”

“Thank goodness,” Sabo seemed to deflate in absolute relief, melting down into his seat. Hoku snorted, staring at him in disbelief. “Sorry, I got worried for a second I ordered something awful--still like apples, huh?”

“Enough,” Hoku said. “My favorite is still—”

“Longan,” Sabo said.

Hoku blinked in surprise, looking up from the steaming cup in her hands.

Sabo smiled. He pulled his cup—coffee or an espresso by the smell of it—closer toward him. Sabo reached for the sugar jar. “I always think about you when I see them in stores—it’s such a weird fruit to choose to eat on your own, so I remember the time you had us all try it and—”

“Lu choked on the seeds,” Hoku’s lips curved fast into a grin, “I know what you mean. I always remember random things because of people too. You start to link people up with the stuff and places in your life.”

“Exactly,” Sabo said with a warm smile. He dropped a cube in, picking up the small spoon and starting to stir, slow and easy. “Come on, tell me all about it—how was everything? Luffy said it was something like a… soul searching experience?”

“Sort of,” Hoku laughed, pushing her hair back over her head and holding it there for a second. The apple tea smelled amazing. “I wanted to get in touch with some old family friends, help fix up the town I was born in… just spend some time there. It’s home, you know?”

Sabo looked openly curious, taking a sip of his coffee. “Are you thinking of settling there?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Hoku shook her head, rubbing the back of her neck. “Settling is a tentative word anyway. I love it here to much and all my friends are here, you know? I like my apartment and what I’ve got going fine.” Just minus a steady income.

“That’s true,” Sabo said, looking thoughtful. “There’s just so much here… It’d make more sense.”

“Mhm,” Hoku said. “But it was nice. I needed it. It helped me with a lot of sorting out and growing, I think.”

“The growing I can agree on,” Sabo said warmly. Hoku made a face. “You’re lovely, Hoku. You’ve always been.”

“Stop,” Hoku laughed, wrapping her hands around the cup. It warmed her palms. “I mean, I can talk about my trip and stuff, but what’s been going—”

“Wait,” Sabo said, looking surprised. “You said apartment—are you living off campus?”

“Yeah, like Lu,” Hoku said. “They’re apartment was too crowded, even though they offered a room, so I found my own place.”

“Ah,” Sabo said. He dropped another sugar cube into his coffee. “With your boyfriend?”

Hoku smiled softly. Her eyes dropped down to her tea, staring at the murky red color. Nowhere near the bright, flaming red— “Your hair’s like hot cheetos.” “Keep talking and I’m going to shove you out of my car.”—“Ah, no, nothing like that. Just me. We actually broke up about… a year ago now?”

Sabo’s face shifted instantly. His brows creased, spoon pausing in the air. Apologies flooded his eyes, mouth opening in quick understanding that he’d just asked something like that—but Hoku waved him off, shaking her head and hand in turn. “No, no, don’t even start. We parted on good terms. I was supposed to only be gone a year, but I decided to stay longer and we had a bit of a falling out and yada yada.”

Hoku smiled, earnest, “But we’re still good friends. No drama or anything.”

“Still,” Sabo said, brows creased, looking ashamed. “I’m sorry for asking so insensitively like that. You don’t just go barreling through past relationships—sorry, Hoku. I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories—”

“There aren’t any,” Hoku said.

Sabo dropped his spoon into his coffee, starting to stir again, slow, “That’s good. It seems like you both handled it well, then.”

There really weren’t. Even with all their fighting and butting heads, they always sobered up and acted out of each other’s best interests when it came down to it. He’d wanted her to come back—come with him—and she hadn’t known what she was looking for—

Don’t think about that now. Hoku shook her head. This is a different occasion.

Hoku’s mouth opened, eager to shift gears—

“Why’d you decide to stay the extra year?” Sabo questioned, stirring absently. Hoku looked up. Her tea was starting to cool enough now so that it wouldn’t burn her tongue.

“I just realized a year wasn’t enough to find what I was looking for,” Hoku said. “It got hard, making the decision cause I missed everyone so much, but it was a good one. I think it helped.”

Her gut twisted. Had it? She might’ve had a great time—gotten to see Shanks with his surprise stay, Mihawk came and they explored the island her mother had loved, her friends visited—but had it? Here she was now, still moving through life, still going about things but had it—

Changed anything?

Hoku thought about the lack of jobs. Thought about Law’s suggestion to switch gears. Am I even doing things right? Kid slipped into the back of her mind. Yeah, they hadn’t ended on bad terms, but had her decision even been a right one? Had there ever been a reason for them to—

Quiet black gloves, a soft underside of leather, touched her hand. Hoku jumped, eyes dropping down and realizing she hadn’t even noticed Sabo’d been wearing gloves. That’s new. Her eyes flickered back up and she realized his face was creased in worry, eyes watching her openly. “Hoku?”

Shit. “I’m sorry,” Hoku said, pulling her hands back. Sabo’s hand dropped onto the table and he glanced to it for a moment before looking back to her. Hoku used one hand to grab her cup, the other pushing her hair back out of her face from habit. “Got lost in thought—what’d you say?”

“I’m just glad you’re back,” Sabo said. He pulled his hand back, letting it rest in his lap as he brought his cup back to his lips. “Hopefully to stay. Have you had a chance to do everything you’ve missed since coming home?”

“Oh, plenty,” Hoku said, slumping in relief at the change in topic. Think happy. Think Sabo. Don’t worry about the other stuff. He doesn’t need that. Or deserve it. “The lot of losers has been making sure I do.”

“I can imagine with them,” Sabo said, looking amused. He let his cheek rest onto one hand, using the other to twirl his cup. “Luffy always talks about you guys when we meet up. Took him long enough to finally get us in touch again.”

“That’s right!” Hoku clapped her hands together. Sabo blinked. Smiling like a lost puppy. “The whole reason for this—Lu said you guys needed help with a project right? What is it? I don’t know how much I can do but I’ll try my best—”

“So you only came today because of that?” Sabo mused, tipping his head to the side, resting on his hand. Strands of wavy blonde fell a bit onto the side of his face. “I thought we were catching up.”

Hoku paled, her jaw went slack. “No—oh my god—no. You guys don’t have to pay me—I won’t let you pay me. I just wanted to help—”

Sabo’s laugh broke through. Breezy, curling past her ears. Hoku stumbled over her words, stopping as his gloved fingers hid only parts of his bright smile. “I’m sorry, I’m just teasing. You’re still so easy to tease.”

Hoku’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. She settled back into her seat, rubbing the top of her head. “Ah, jeez. You’re awful, Sabs.”

Sabo’s smile widened behind his fingers. His eyes were impossibly warm and Hoku stopped, staring. “What? You keep looking at me with that dumb smile—”

“I was wondering if you’d call me that again,” Sabo admitted, eyes softer now, still so, so warm.

Hoku blinked. She laughed, “You could’ve just asked. I’m sure other people call you that too. You’re so weird.”

“Maybe,” Sabo agreed, looking amused by her choice of words. “Hoku, what have you been up to aside from—”

“No, wait,” Hoku waved her hands, halting him.

Her eyes were on the table. Sabo’s eyes flickered briefly. He pulled his hand away from his mouth, adjusting his comfortable position to sit back in his seat. Hoku glanced back up to him to see a patient smile. It’d felt like the poor guy had to direct this entire conversation, Hoku didn’t even realize how much he was guiding it.

“The project,” Hoku said. “That first. I keep getting all twisted up with you. There’s too much to talk about. Let’s do that first.”

“Alright then,” Sabo said, a little laugh to his words. “It’s… Well, it’s less of a project and more of a personal request from a client of ours for a… specific piece of artwork.”

“That seems simple enough,” Hoku said, her hands curling around her tea to finally take a sip. “But last I heard, you and Ace are doing different kinds of work—is there a reason why they went to you?”

“There is,” Sabo said with a nod. He reached a gloved hand out across the table. Hoku blinked, curious, but Sabo waited patiently.

Hoku pulled her hands away from her tea. She limply poked Sabo’s gloved hand. The blonde laughed, shoulders shaking with the motion. “No, see, I’m not sure if you’re familiar or if Luffy told you, but I’ve been working with a designer company for a long time now. A close coworker and friend of mine designed these.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Hoku said, feeling a little stupid. The brand was labeled neatly, tucked away to not be too flashy on the inner seam of the glove. “Liberator, right? So the client met you two from this?”

“Catching on quick,” Sabo praised. Hoku’s cheeks flushed a bit and she rubbed the back of her neck. Sabo smiled warmly, “Sure enough, both of us are nowhere near a more… artistic sense of experience. I’ve been working and Ace models from time to time, but our client approached us from that line of work. We’ve been helping them out with their requests and they had a more specific one this time. They wanted a portrait. Or a series of them, to keep.”

Sabo sighed, leaning back in his seat. He laced his fingers together over the table. “It had us both stumped for awhile, to be honest. It seemed doable, but we didn’t know who to go to for something of this nature—but then we remembered Luffy mentioning you were back and town and he said you’ve been running into awful luck with work—”

Hoku sank lower in her seat, “How much did he say about that?”

Sabo’s face didn’t hold a hint of judgement. There was a fond sort of pity and understanding, he winced on her behalf, “You seem to be struggling quite a bit financially is what we got from it.”

Hoku grumbled to herself. Damn it, Luffy and your dumbass, big mouth. “Listen, it really isn’t that bad—”

“Don’t worry,” Sabo said, “I won’t pry. I want to. But I won’t. It’s not fair to come barging into your life after all this time and tell you whatnot just because.”

“I know you guys wouldn’t mean it like that,” Hoku said, feeling horribly touched at his words. And… relieved. He’d said exactly what she’d been hoping to hear. “You just care. You guys have always been sweet on those you care about.”

Sabo rubbed the back of his neck this time, looking sheepish. “It’s nothing like that—”

“No, no, it is,” Hoku said. “But anyway, forget about money. Keep goin’.”

“Well, it still has to do with money, actually,” Sabo said. “We both wanted you instantly because we love the way you draw—you’ve always been amazing at it, no matter what it was.”

Hoku’s chest flooded with unrestrained pride. She sank lower into her seat, covering her forehead with one hand and biting her lower lip. “I—I still have a lot to work on—”

“Hoku, look at me.”

Hoku followed the instruction, startled.

Sabo’s face was stern. His eyes held her in place, brows creased in that little way to show how earnestly he meant what he was about to say. “Hoku, you’re an amazing artist.”

Hoku grabbed her tea cup. Sabo opened his mouth, eyes flickering quickly with something—but she already brought it roughly to her lips, a bit sloshing over as she took a long, hard sip—it was delicious—and swallowed.

A bit dripped down her chin. Hoku laughed, a little too loud, flustered and embarrassed and yeah, it’s nice to hear all that but it doesn’t make it any less—I dunno. She was always shit at stuff like this. “Okay, I get it, you like the drawings—what’s the job—”

Sabo’s expression looked lost for a moment. Hoku blinked, realizing he seemed entirely zoned out. His eyes were following something on the corner of her chin and Hoku stopped, quickly rubbing at the tea that’d spilled down her chin—

“I’m sorry,” Sabo said, blinking back into focus. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face for a moment and then smiling at her. “I didn’t catch that. I lost my train of thought this time.”

“No, you’re fine,” Hoku said. “We’re even now.”

Sabo stared at her for a second before he said, a bit soft, “You’re awful at listening to directions, aren’t you?”

“A bit,” Hoku said. Sabo’s fingers curled around his cup.  “Keep going about that client. Needed an artist. What’s next?”

“Ah, yes,” Sabo folded his hands back together onto the table. “Well, we figured we were killing two birds with one stone by asking you. Help you out with your situation, and secure the piece we needed for this request. We’ll need you twice a week for an entire month, starting as soon as you can. It’ll only be in the evening, and we can work around your school schedule, but when you come in, how long it runs for may vary each time. We can supply any materials you’ll need, canvases and all, and all you’ll have to do is just draw.”

“That sounds…” Hoku said, “Really well-thought out.”

Sabo smiled, “We tried to be thorough with our planning to make sure everything went smoothly.”

“I… I don’t see any reason why not,” Hoku said, blinking. “You just need me to draw specific pieces—what is your client looking for? It sounds like there’ll be a model or a specific scene in mind. And honestly, Sabs, don’t even worry about the payment—I’d just like to help you guys out.”

“I have to insist you take the pay,” Sabo said, shaking his head. “It isn’t coming from Ace or I, honest. It’s directly paid from the client. And I have to say, they do pay rather handsomely.”

“Then you guys should keep the money,” Hoku protested. “I really can’t—”

“You’re the one doing the work,” Sabo said. “I have to insist.”

“But if they’re a friend of yours, I don’t want to make them pay,” Hoku said. “It won’t be too much trouble. I might not even be up to their standards—”

“Our business is strictly professional,” Sabo reassured. Fingers folded neatly together, sitting on top of the table. “You can take the pay, it really isn’t—”

“I’m not going to do the job if you guys are gonna pay me.”

Sabo stopped. Hoku’s face was set, stern. Sabo stared at her for a long, long minute, hands still folded so neatly in front of him and eyes quiet—

Sabo smiled, his face was playful, “Still as stubborn as ever.”

“Enough about money,” Hoku said. I’m sick of thinking about it, honestly. “What are they looking to have drawn? It doesn’t sound like it’s something off the top of my head. What’d they have in mind?”

“Ah, well,” Sabo looked a little thoughtful this time, contemplative. He seemed to be working through his words before he faced her evenly, an air of professionalism coating his friendly demeanor. “I don’t doubt your skills in the slightest, Hoku. I remember you’ve always been fond of drawing people too…”

Hoku waited, holding her cup in her hands. I’ve been taking forever to drink this thing. I keep getting distracted.

“I have to ask though,” Sabo said, “are you well acquainted with drawing anatomy?”

“Sure,” Hoku said, the cup at her lips. She’d assistant taught an anatomy drawing class. “All ranges. You’re right, people are usually my go-to for focus.”

Sabo leaned forward onto his elbows. His hands were interwoven together, placed over the lower half of his face. His expression was neutral.

“Nude models as well?”

Hoku nodded, not missing a beat. She’d dealt with the initial embarrassment of drawing nude models years ago from earlier classes. At the end of the day, it bled into a kind of intrigue to figure out how well you could draw people, at their rawest, at their most bare—it was intimate, and you wanted to make it beautiful. They all had the same body parts at the heart of it—when it came to her pencil and paper, there was nothing else to think about except the drawing. No strings attached.

I mean, Hoku felt an inch of heat creep up the back of her neck. It colored the top of her ears. It’s not like I’ve never been naked with anyone before… either…

Sabo watched her over the top of his fingers.

“I won’t scream or run out of the room if I see boobs or someone’s junk,” Hoku said flatly. Sabo’s lips turned up at the corners, holding back a laugh. “I’ve done nude shoots plenty of times, so don’t worry about that.”

“That’s good,” Sabo said, “See, our client is looking for something of a more… intimate nature.”

When you’re undressed like that in front of anyone, it’s already something intimate. Hoku nodded, following along.

“It’ll be an entirely private affair,” Sabo said evenly.  “Closed quarters. Our clients are trusted people. Strictly business. You won’t have to worry about having your name attached to anything either, unless you’re particularly proud of a piece and want to use it for anything.”

His reflection in the dark cup of coffee couldn’t be seen, less than half full. Hoku’s reflection warbled back against her tea.

“You’ll only have to draw,” he said. “The time frames will range though, forgive me on that.”

Hoku shook her head, “You really have nothing to apologize for, honestly.”

Sabo smiled over the top of his hands. “There won’t be any given cues. They’re looking for something… natural. Whatever catches your eye in the moment it all happens, you choose what you’d like to draw. Whatever stands out to the artist should be worth something, after all.”

Free reign. Hoku nodded thoughtfully. She’d done some works like this before—almost like hiring a photographer, but looking for someone to draw it instead.

Sabo let out a loud sigh. Hoku looked up, curious. His shoulders had slumped, face visibly relaxed as he offered her a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry. Working this out with you has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. You have no idea how much you’re helping us out with this. We… we really needed the help.”

I’ll do my best. These guys have always been nothing but kind to me. Hoku straightened.

“When do you think is the soonest you can start?” Sabo questioned.

“Whenever!” Hoku said eagerly. “I’m in school Monday through Thursday, but classes end way before the evening. I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”

“Today’s Wednesday,” Sabo pulled out his phone, opening up his calendar. “Will Friday be too soon? The timing is perfect since it’s the first of the month…”

“No, that’s totally fine,” Hoku said, nodding. “I can do Friday.”

“I’ll text you the time and address then and further information,” Sabo said cheerfully. He turned his phone over face down onto the table, focusing back on her. “You can send me a list of anything you might need and we’ll have it ready.”

“I have a lot of my own supplies,” Hoku said. “Maybe just let me know if there’s specific size or style your client is looking for. Charcoal, ink, graphite—”

“Classic pencil should do,” Sabo said easily. “They’re not too picky.”

“Will the client be the model?” Hoku said.

“Ace, the client, and myself,” Sabo answered cleanly. “Poses will range. The entire thing will be a bit like… a simulation, if you will. If there was a moment where something stood out and you couldn’t capture it, we have cameras recording in the room on all sides, so just let us know after it’s done and we can send you the tapes.”

Ace and Sabo… Hoku’s brows furrowed. Her gut shifted a little. That… That might get a little weird, won’t it? Drawing them naked is kind of weird.

“We really needed the help.”

“Will any of that be a problem?” Sabo asked gently, brows furrowed in worry.

Hoku’s stomach twisted a bit more.

You’ve drawn your friends in all kinds of ways before. Hoku reminded herself. You helped your classmates with their own projects—you’ve drawn people you know really well nude and different and all kinds of different things—it’s just that. No strings attached. It’s not really intimate at all.

“None at all,” Hoku said.

It was just another job. Pencil and paper. Nothing more.

“And Hoku?”

She looked up. Sabo’s face was earnest.

“If there’s ever a moment where it’s too much, you want to quit, or you just don’t feel comfortable,” Sabo said gently. “You can leave whenever you want. We understand. If you can’t handle it, don’t worry. It’s completely up to you.”

“Can’t handle it?”

“I’m sure I can handle it,” Hoku said, ignoring the old, bitter memory. The tightness around her throat. The sound of water rushing all around her. “Don’t worry.”

Sabo smiled.

.

.

.

Hoku flopped down onto the train seat, knocking her head back on the reinforced glass. The business man beside her didn’t even look up, eyes falling heavy with sleep. Same, man, same.

She shouldn’t be tired. The rest of the meet-up went… amazingly. They stopped talking business and just caught up like old friends. Hoku laughed a lot, ate a lot, constantly being fed this and that as Sabo ordered with reckless abandon—“But it all looks so good!” and when she’d tried to run to the cashier to pay because that’d been her plan all along—she was left staring at the smiling host from earlier as he held up Sabo’s sleek black credit card.

To be honest, she’d felt completely and utterly spoiled. A feeling that always had her on edge and made her feel funny because—I don’t deserve shit like this. Sabo had kindly offered to drive her home, but she had to put her foot down there—and even then that’d been a fight until Hoku had just booked it to the station, waving over her shoulder at a laughing Sabo left behind.

“We’ll meet up before the session starts on Friday with Ace to finalize some things.” Hoku lazily tugged out her phone, scrolling through the new messages. “Give you guys plenty of time to catch up and then get right to work.”

One month. Hoku pulled up her calendar. Aside from school and the impulsive or random hang outs with everyone—ah, gotta drop off food for Law—she had nothing planned. Because you’re an unemployed loser.

She could do this. It seemed easy enough. The only thing that didn’t sit right with her was the nature of how Ace and Sabo would be, but it was possibly they wouldn’t even be nude. Maybe someone wanted a beautiful drawing with two handsome men—yeah, I can do something like that.

It gave her something to do. Keep herself busy. Even if she didn’t take the pay, at least she’d be working.

A notification popped up and Hoku paused for a second before sliding it open. The photo opened up from the art platform she used to post new works and keep herself posted with—

This month’s. Working on the next.

His work was edgy. As always. The sleek slabs of metal had been made to look a chrome silver—they caught off the light, reflecting back the opening jaws of a monster made of his own creation but—

It was awesome.

Hoku stared at the new project. The train rumbled beneath her feet, shifting occasionally.

“Stick to your cars.” Hoku typed out finally, posting the comment with a face. She looked forward, the train fairly busy with other people all heading home from long days and late shifts.

She needed to get moving too.

Her phone lit up in her hands. Hoku smiled, pulling up the message. Luffy’s eager voice through the texts bled through instantly.

“HOW DID IT GOOOOOOO????”

“GREAT.” Hoku typed back. “GONNA HELP THEM ON FRIIIIIIDAAAAAAAY.”

Incoherent, misspelled words came back. Hoku stared, waiting for something to understand until a video was sent. She glanced around, lowering her volume in case and opening up the video.

The camera was violently shaky. Luffy was obviously running—his feet the only thing in view. The phone lifted up to where Zoro and Usopp were lounging on the couch and it looked like Sanji was in the kitchen—

“GUYS!!!!” Luffy’s voice shouted. The man beside her jumped. Hoku winced. “HOKU’S GETTING A JOB! SHE’S NOT A LOSER ANYMORE!”

Hoku slapped a hand over her mouth to stop her laughter. Usopp fell off the couch, startled from his doze. Zoro tipped his head back. “Bust out the booze.”

Sanji popped out from the kitchen, looking hurt. “Hoku honey, I said you could work at our restaurant—”

The video cut out with Luffy shoving a thumb up into the camera.

Hoku smiled, staring at her screen for a long time, holding it in front of her.

She could do this.

She had to.

.

.

.

“We’ll meet an hour before the session starts.”

Hoku stepped into the sleek, polished elevator. The apartment complex was unnervingly nice. She remembered muddy hills. Dangerous forests. Creaky houses and three loud boys. This—one of the clearly nicer apartment buildings in their city—wasn’t what she was used to seeing. Ace and Sabo were clearly doing really well.

“We’ll be doing this at our apartment. This is the address and the code. We have a… studio of sorts for this type of work. Everything will be prepared beforehand so don’t worry about having to arrange anything.”

Hoku adjusted the collar of her blank white t-shirt, tucked into the waistband of her light washed jeans. She pulled her bomber jacket tighter over herself. Her bigger canvas bag was slung over her shoulder, all her supplies shoved in.

“Is there a certain way I should dress?”

“Perhaps nothing too… flashy? Just make sure you’re comfortable. No real dress code. You’ll be working for what might be several hours.”

Hoku’s fingers reached out, pausing at the button. Ninth floor.

Nine wasn’t a really lucky number by her books.

“Our client has already been informed, so don’t worry about anything. You’ll need to stay on the quieter side though, if that’s alright. Your station is positioned nicely in the room so you can move and get whatever angles you need.”

Hoku hit the button. The floor numbers lit up as the elevator lifted her to the apartment.

“We’ll start officially at nine.”

The wall gave way to glass. Hoku glanced to the city lights, flickering and shifting across the streets.

“You can have a moment to do anything you need before we begin. We won’t be able to stop once we start.”

The doors to the elevator slid open. Hoku stepped out, realizing with wide eyes that the entire floor was reserved for a single apartment. How big is this place?

Double doors waited at the end of the hallway.

Hoku shifted her bag and walked toward it, humming a bit to herself. Wonder if Ace is still annoying.

“We’ll walk you through anything else before we start. Answer any questions.”

Hoku stopped in front of the pearly white doors. She stared at it for a second, the tune dying on her lips. Something churned in her gut. A funny feeling.

It’s just another drawing session.

“Thank you again, Hoku. You don’t know what this means to us.”

Hoku knocked firmly against the door. She waited, shoving her hands into her pockets. This’ll be good for you. You need this change of pace. And besides, you get to do it with two good friends—

“You’ll be helping us, a lot.”

Hoku heard muffled footsteps on the other side of the door. A lock, two, slid out of place. The door opened inwards and Hoku looked up.

Eyes like charcoal. A little gray—almost silver in linings. A constellation of light freckles dusted over his cheeks. Sun-kissed skin. Soot black hair that framed the sharp line of his jaw and the familiar smell of something smoldering—like burning pine or with a little more bite to it—

Still a little roguish looking, wild. Still had that grumpy crease to his brows—

Portgas D. Ace.

Ace stared at her for a second and then promptly shut the door in her face.

Still a little piece of shit—

“What’s the password?” Ace said, muffled behind the door.

Hoku snorted. She kept her hands in her pockets.

“I guess I’m not wanted for the job,” Hoku answered. “Thanks for the interview anyway—”

The door swung open. Ace’s hand shot out, grabbing the back of her jacket just as she was turning. Hoku choked, arms flailing as she was roughly tugged back into the entrance of the apartment.

Ace’s bare foot shot out around her, kicking the door closed and twisting one of the locks between his toes—what the fuck you actual monkey—and then he was turning her around to face him.

Hoku spat her hair out of her mouth. Staring.

He had a shirt on for once. Tucked into a pair of black jeans.

That stupid, boyish grin split across his face, showing his always oddly sharp canines and making crinkles show up around his eyes. That dumb, happy, dorky grin—

Hoku’s heart did a funny thing, the kind of thing that reminded you just how much you missed someone and hurt you for not making an effort to see them sooner because—

“Hey, shooting star,” Ace said, voice deep and light all at once, clearly filled with mirth, “How’ve you been?”

“Hey, dumbass,” Hoku said, unable to stop the wide smile on her lips and not even trying to. “Been awhile, huh?”

Ace’s face soured at the name. He grabbed the back of her head, shoving it straight into his chest. Hoku let out a muffled squawk. Her hands shot out, smacking at his arms, but Ace promptly clamped them down firmly in a bear hug around her and lifted her off her feet. “I think you forgot who you’re talking too. Who said you could get that cheeky, huh?”

Hoku let out muffled curses against his shirt, getting a mouthful of cologne and cotton. Ace turned around, about to haul her out of the entryway until Sabo’s head peeked around the corner.

“At least let her take her shoes off,” Sabo said. Ace looked down to where Hoku was already struggling to shove her sneakers off with the other foot despite her constrained form. “You know how she is about that.”

“I have to make up for two years worth of contact,”Ace said simply, without any regret. “It starts now.”

“Make sure you let her breathe first,” Sabo said, amused. “Or you’ll lose her before that.”

Ace relinquished his hold. Hoku almost fell back, tripping over her shoes still half on her feet. Ace grinned, a deft finger sliding through one of her empty belt loops and stopping her from falling onto her ass. He tugged her back onto her feet and Hoku shot both hands out, steadying herself. Her eyes darted around, frazzled and flustered for a second before her face shifted into a deep scowl.

“I don’t miss any of that,” Hoku said darkly. “No wonder I never reached out to you.”

“No, you’re just awful,” Ace said. “Look at you. You look like you’re about to cry. Should’ve called if you were going to miss us that much, shooting star.”

“I look like this because I almost died from cotton suffocation,” Hoku snapped. Ace used one finger to dig something out of his ear, turning away from her. Nope. Didn’t miss him at all. Not one bit.

Hoku thought about tumbling down hills and climbing up trees and their stupid faces popping into classrooms and--

She sniffled. Nope. Not one bit.

“You’re still as grumpy as ever,” Ace said. He yawned, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Sabo said you got nicer, guess he was wrong.”

Hoku tossed her shoe at the back of his head. Ace yelped, turning around with wide eyes and grabbing the back of his head in pain. “You hit me!”

“I’m about to kick your ass too,” Hoku said, waving her other shoe.

Ace’s lips split into a wild grin. He turned, raising his hands to tackle her. Hoku readied her shoe, taking in the healthy, lively look in his eyes and the bright teeth and—

Her shoulders couldn’t help but slump a bit. Her brows softened. “You look good.” I’m glad.

She and Ace had always butted heads the most. Fought the most. Tousled with each other the most—but Ace had also been the one she couldn’t help worrying about from time to time because he’d been such an angry brat as a kid and—

Ace looked as though she’d slapped him silly. He stared at her, jaw stupidly slack and then his cheeks flushed a dark red. He slapped a hand over his mouth, stumbling back one step and fumbling for his words as he rubbed the back of his neck furiously.

“You can’t just say stuff like that,” Ace said hotly, “Aw, jeez—you’re cheating—”

“You’re such an idiot,” Hoku laughed, dropping her shoe and stepping into their apartment.

See? Hoku let any lingering, stray doubts fade away. Easy and comfortable. You’re going to be fine.

Immediately the space opened up to a massive living room. A shining coffee table in the center, sleek and new. Windows opened up to a massive view, curtains currently pulled open to showcase the entire city. A long, comfortable looking couch and a separate recliner. A book shelf, neat and organized. Sabo. A shiny new television screen and set and the space opened up to a massive island that shifted toward a giant kitchen—

“How much are you guys making?” Hoku squawked. Sabo chuckled and Ace grinned, crossing his arms over his chest with a puff of pride. “What the hell happened to leaking ceilings and broken drywall—did you rob a bank while I was gone?”

“Being awesome pays,” Ace said with a cocky grin.

“Our work leaves us comfortable,” Sabo said. He appeared at her side, clad in a navy blue turtleneck and black pants. He set down a pair of house slippers for her and smiled up at her. “Seems like you two are already catching up like you’d never left, and I hate to interrupt…”

“Ah, shit, it’s already almost time,” Ace glanced to his watch and back to the door. “Good thing we got everything set already.”

Sabo nodded. Hoku stepped into the slippers. Nice fit. The blonde offered to take her bag, but she waved him off. He curled his fingers back to his chest, looking amused.

“Do you want anything to drink?” Sabo offered kindly. “Take a seat on the couch, we can go over last minute details before we start.”

“No, I’m fine,” Hoku said, swatting Ace’s hands away when he playfully tried to herd her toward the living room. Sabo’s eyes flickered above her head toward Ace and Hoku made her way gingerly toward their living room. “Thank you though.”

“Take your jacket off if you’d like,” Sabo said. “The room might get a bit warm.”

Her jacket was making her a bit more comfortable, if she had to be honest. Purposefully not doing it seemed a bit rude to a second kind request from Sabo though. Hoku dutifully started shrugging it off and she almost jumped when two hands came on either side of her arms, pulling her jacket away from her with a gust of warm skin and heat.

“Still as jumpy as ever,” Ace said above her, teasing.

“Think I can’t take off my own jacket?” Hoku said, pointedly shoving her arms the rest of the way past his fingers.

Ace snorted. “You trip over air.”

Hoku scowled, turning away as her fingers slipped from her jacket sleeves. Ace pulled it away, watching her back.

He handed it to Sabo, who took it with nimble fingers, folding it once and laying it over the back of one of the dining chairs.

The long, leather couch was tempting, but Hoku wisely opted for the love seat placed in front of the coffee table beside the gas powered fireplace. Ace took a seat on the couch, throwing one arm casually behind it and getting comfortable while Sabo walked over to the two of them, taking a seat beside his brother as he set two water bottles down.

“I brought my bigger sketchbook,” Hoku said. “Just in case. But Sabs said you guys had the drawing table set up so I’ll work directly onto the paper and just let me know if your client wants it finalized on a better sheet.”

Ace took one of the bottles, unscrewing the cap. His eyes turned sideways to Sabo, “You two already went over everything, right?”

Sabo nodded, crossing one leg over the other and folding his hands together on top of his knee. “For the most part. You remember everything I told you, right Hoku?”

“Read it over a couple times just in case,” Hoku said. She ticked off her fingers. “Quiet as a mouse. I’m no more than just an observer after all, right? Pick a shot that stands out the most to me and draw that. There won’t be any guidance. Keep it all confidential for the client’s and your guys’ sake. Comfy clothes…”

She’d already silenced her phone. Pulled her hair back into a ponytail to maintain an air of professionalism for their client…

Sabo smiled, lids a little low, pleased. “Good job, Hoku.”

Hoku smiled idly at the praise. “Nothing to give me credit for—it’s a job. It’s the least I should do.”

Yeah. Hoku thought resolutely. You can do this. You’re helping a couple friends out.

Ace watched her over the top of his water bottle. His eyes traveled down the half-heart tattoo over her eyes, dipping to where her t-shirt showed a bit of her collarbone where a smattering of petals were tattooed over her shoulder.

“Any new tattoos?” Ace questioned curiously. Sabo glanced to him, pausing mid-way to grab his bottle.

Hoku didn’t look up from checking her materials in her bag, “Maybe one or two. You still got that gang of yours on your back—”

“Our client should be here in a few minutes,” Sabo turned to Ace. His brother’s expression shifted briefly before settling, head dipping a bit in a nod. “I know you’re a bit behind on catching up, but that is your fault for forgetting to call off.”

“It was last minute!” Ace complained.

Sabo glanced to the expensive looking watch on his wrist. He slipped a thin, flat looking box out of his pocket and casually pressed a button, watching it for a moment before he put it back into his pocket. Ace’s eyes flashed back to him briefly, but his attention swung back to Hoku, whose face had turned a bit constipated as she held up her phone.

“Sorry,” Hoku said, a bit sheepish. “Uh, blame Luffy?”

Ace grumbled without real menace, folding his arms across his chest. Sabo smiled well-naturedly, turning his focus back to Hoku.

“As I said, we already briefed our client on everything,” Sabo said. “So don’t worry. She won’t be surprised. You’ll be in your space and we’ll be in ours and you just have to do what you need to do. Don’t worry about anything that happens either—t’s all been discussed. Just focus on what you’re doing.”

Hoku felt the curiosity from earlier stir. She set her bag down on top of her lap. Ace tipped the bottle back, taking a long swig as his adam’s apple bobbed with a swallow. A bit of water dripped down his chin, past his throat.

“You said it was like a simulation,” Hoku said. Sabo waited, listening, “Is it… Is it going to be like acting something out? Like a play or a scene she’s looking for?”

“You want to see for yourself?” Ace questioned absently. Dark eyes watched her over the top of his bottle, clashing with his light voice—

Sabo shot Ace a chiding look, lined with a bit of bemusement. Ace shrugged.

Hoku’s eyes were on her memo book, scribbling a note to herself in. Look for a good moment. “Hired an artist, not a model.”

“Mmm,” Sabo rubbed his chin, curling his fingers beneath it as his eyes flickered in thought. “Acting something out… You could say it’s something like that. As I said before, it’ll be on a more intimate affair, so I hope you won’t be startled—”

“I won’t,” Hoku promised. She’d already braced herself by going over old sketches of different poses and angles in her nude studies and drawing sessions—she was expecting some of the ‘worst’ in a sense, and reminded herself that it was just—

Another drawing.

Even if you know these guys like brothers, she thought a little limply. Just wash it out of your brain later.

“Perfect,” Ace said simply. “Then there shouldn’t be anymore problems, right? Let’s get started.”

Sabo shot him an amused look. Ace clapped his hands together, locking them behind his head in an easy posture. Hoku nodded, gathering up her bag. “Lead the way—”

“Hoku?”

Hoku stopped. She looked back up at Sabo. “Yeah, Sabs?”

Sabo’s lip twitched. Something flickered through his eyes, concealed beneath gentle amusement and a hint of fondness. He leaned forward, making sure their gazes met.

“I just wanted to remind you again,” Sabo said, warmly, he seemed to wait a bit. Hoku turned fully to face him. He continued, “If any of this seems too much for you or gets too uncomfortable—we can stop. We don’t want to ruin anything or make things weird if this makes you uneasy—”

“I’ll be fine,” Hoku said, smiling brightly. “Don’t worry.”

“If it does get too much though,” Ace added. “Maybe hold off on saying anything till after. I dunno if Sabo told you yet, but it’s hard to stop once we get started—”

“Don’t worry,” Hoku repeated, shaking her head. “It won’t.”

“Then,” Sabo said smoothly. He stood up to his full height and Hoku adjusted her bag. Her eyes dropped to his hands, realizing he was wearing gloves indoors—for the drawing session? “Any other questions before we start?”

Hoku ran over all the instructions twice. This whole thing seemed a little more edgier than she was used to, intimately professional. But it was just another drawing session at the end of the day, right?

Sabo walked around the coffee table, even steps stopping beside her. He lowered a hand to her back, guiding her toward the hallway politely. Ace remained on the couch, watching them with half-lidded eyes as they turned toward the specific hallway—

Hoku snapped her fingers, looking up at Sabo. The brothers turned to her curiously.

“I know you said I had free reign,” Hoku said, eyes wide with realization. “But is there a specific… I dunno, look she might be going for? A moment in this whole thing I should pay attention too or keep an eye out for…”

Sabo tipped his head to the side, considering his answer. Ace tipped his head onto the back of the couch, fingers laced behind his head.

A slow, lazy smile curved over his lips. His canines peeked through. Ace’s expression was satisfied and amused all at once—as though he’d just told the greatest joke in the entire world.

“Probably,” Ace said, “the climax.”

.

.

.

The room—the studio—was massive.

The entire room fitted like a master bedroom. It seemed the entire apartment had several different rooms, using up the large amount of space granted by being the only room on the entire floor of the complex high rise.

Fitted with only two doors—the one they’d entered through and another door on the right that seemed to lead into a bathroom. The room itself was wide.The walls were wood and dark in color. Low, warm colored lights were fixed into the ceiling.  Sleek wooden floors fitted with a nice looking rug right in front of the main attraction.

A single bed.

A big bed. King sized. Plush, neatly folded duvets and silk sheets. It was a dark red in color, not too bold or flashy, prominent. It didn’t stand on a classic bed-frame, instead, raised up from the ground with a wooden step that went around it, making the bed seemed fixed into the floor. A dark, leather cushioned headboard sat behind it, tucked beneath heavy pillows.

There was a lounge chair in the opposite corner, a fancy looking recliner. Night stands were nestled on either side of the bed. One more beside the chair.

Paneled sliding doors to the left promised a closet. Hoku was still taking in the entire show of the room because—it was kind of daunting, really. She tried picking out with a more eager eye good angles, the colors contrasted darkly and richly, so she’d have fun with shading and contrasts but—

Intimate. Hoku thought about Sabo’s description. Definitely seems to be the right word.

She couldn’t help but wonder if this was the classic go-to for all their shoots. She kept calling it a room in her head because it’s what it looked like—but Sabo had said it was studio. It was possible they moved it around and changed it to whatever they needed to fit their client’s demands.

Her work station was nestled in the corner of the room. Almost it’s own little world. It was quite a good distance from the door. Sleek desks arranged for maximum workspace, though humbly recluse from everything else in the room. There were folded up light fixtures and equipment Hoku recognized for photoshoots propped up in case she wanted to change anything. Her work space was a very, very nice looking drawing table, fitted with a light and grooves for her materials, a slot for the paper and—

Hoku stood behind the desk, setting her things down. She played with the back of the chair—it was a roomy thing, arm rests. Wheels on the bottom so she could spin and move it around—

“Perfect view,” Hoku realized, staring at the bed from where she’d be sitting. Of everything.

She glanced up to the ceiling, noticing what looked like paneled boards. Light fixtures behind them? Hoku turned her head, noticing the reinforced hook fixed into the center of the bed’s ceiling. They must move things around after all for different shoots—

“Are you all set up?”

Hoku jumped, nearly knocking into the desk and falling over it. Her head snapped over her shoulder and Sabo blinked in surprise right behind her, pressing a few gloved fingers to his lips. “Oops, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, you just—” Hoku shook her head, laughing a bit as she tugged a quick hand through her hair. Sabo’s eyes followed the action briefly. “You’re like a ghost. I didn’t even hear you.”

“Ah,” Sabo’s lips turned upwards in amusement, lowering his hand beneath his chin. “I know what you mean. Ace and Luffy are always so loud, it makes you seem quieter than you are.”

“You look comfy,” Hoku said, eyeing the dark navy robe Sabo had changed into. Kept the gloves on though.

“I’m used to this,” Sabo said with an easy smile.

“Seems like it,” Hoku agreed, taking a seat in the chair. She adjusted it briefly, spinning it around once. Sabo’s brows quirked, looking as though he were trying to hold back a laugh. “Neat studio you guys have set up here. You’ve got a whole thing going, huh?”

Sabo hummed, playing with the back of her chair. “When it became apparent we’d be doing this fairly often, we figured it was wise to make the investment.”

“Private modeling sessions,” Hoku mused, leaning back in the chair. Sabo crossed his arms over the back of the rest, leaning his head onto them as he watched the top of her head. “You know, considering how good looking you guys are, I bet companies would be paying big bucks to have a couple sessions.”

“How much would you pay?” Sabo questioned behind her.

Hoku pursed her lips, pretending to think deeply on the subject. “I doubt I could even afford an hour.”

Hoku laughed, smoothing out her paper and leaning forward toward the desk. She tugged out her pencil case, flipping it open. “My art teacher would kill to have you sit in for a class—”

Her chair shifted. Sabo had pushed it forward a bit. The desk came close to her, not touching, but keeping her nestled tightly between the wood and the chair behind her. Hoku’s hands instantly shot for the edge of the desk, catching herself briefly—

“For however long you’d like, whatever you’d like, a session for you,” Sabo said, his voice was light, breezy. Easy. Not a hint of anything else. There would be no reason for there to be anything else.

“Would be free.”

Sabo’s shadow was light against her desk. Hoku stared at it for a moment, feeling strangely, quietly—was that feeling even really there? Did she really feel that for a second? No, no you didn’t. Why would you feel like that when—

It’s just them.

“So then,” Hoku said, turning her head over her shoulder with a grin. “I could have you two dressed up however and in whatever ridiculous pose I wanted—”

“I do look better in colors that compliment my hair,” Sabo said cheerfully. “And I like—”

“Navy blue,” Hoku jutted a pencil at his robe.

Sabo’s smile was so bright it almost hurt to look at. Something funny twisted in her gut. “Ace will be coming in with our guest in a second, remember everything I told you?”

“Mhm,” Hoku nodded. “You won’t hear a peep out of me. Won’t even be here.”

Sabo fondly ruffled the top of her head, “Good girl.”

Hoku scowled, swatting at his hand. Sabo chuckled, pulling away from her chair while giving it a bit of a spin as he walked from her station toward the bed. Hoku couldn’t help but hope he at least had something on under that robe because—

Luffy, this might be one of the weirdest things I’ve ever done but I swear to god I’m washing it out of my brain when this is all over. Hoku turned her eyes to the paper, already starting to sketch out the design of the room since she’d be aiming for something to take place on the bed. I’m going to do everything in my power not to have to draw your brothers’ dic—

No, don’t even worry about it. Hoku shook her head. No other thoughts. They’re just bodies. You just draw. There’s nothing else involved in it.

Easy.

The door clicked open.

Sabo turned slowly, standing directly before the bed.

Hoku looked up.

She was lovely.

Long, dark hair curled into waves against her back. Her nails were neatly done, manicured and colored like wine to match the tight, form fitting cocktail dress that showed off all her curves in all the right places. Her skin was a light, healthy tan. Her body was nice. Hoku could see what angles she should draw from immediately from how well her legs moved, long and lovely beneath her dress that barely hit her mid-thigh—

Her lashes were long and curled. Her lipstick matched the color of her dress. She looked older—probably somewhere around Law’s age. Ah, but his type is far away from women like this—

She stepped further into the room. Hoku realized she was still wearing her shoes—black heels, strapped up to her ankles. Her head held high. She walked with purpose. Hoku instantly felt a clear wall erected between them—Hoku was Hoku—this lady, this woman, was exactly what girls aspired to be. Beautiful, mature, seductive.

Sabo offered her a warm, polite smile. The woman’s eyes lowered, half-lidded and dark. Hoku watched her throat quiver with a swallow. Her pretty nails tugged at the hem of her dress briefly. Sabo hadn’t even moved.

The air in the studio shifted. It felt heavy.

Hoku held her pencil loose in her grip, uncertain for a moment, waiting.

“You’re late,” Sabo said, politely, “Hotaru-san.”

Hoku only froze for a brief second. That weird flinch you did sometimes when you thought someone was about to say your own name.

Hotaru’s lips pursed. Full. She bit her lower lip, eyelids fluttering and then her gaze turned quickly to Hoku.

Hoku flinched, gripping her pencil. Should she introduce herself? Thank her? Greet her? Her eyes darted to Sabo in a moment of panic, but he hadn’t taken his eyes off Hotaru.

“You don’t have to speak to her. Or interact with the client. Just do what you need to do.”

Hotaru’s face shifted. Clearly unhappy. A pout followed on her lips and Sabo looked amused as she strode further into the room. Heels clicking against the wood. Hoku waited with her pencil ready, a little nervous until she spotted Ace stepping into the room right after her, still in his clothes from earlier.

The door closed behind him with an audible click. His fingers smoothly twisted a lock into place.

Hotaru shuddered at the sound, breathing a little heavier.

Hoku swallowed. She hovered over her paper. Ace’s dark eyes caught hers from her station and he offered her a small smile, throwing her a wink.

Her shoulders slumped in relief. Hoku forced herself to relax. That’s right. They said it was like acting—they’re just models. You’re just drawing. Don’t worry about anything else. It’s just a job.

What are you getting so nervous for?

“You didn’t say she was going to be a girl,” Hotaru said finally. Her voice was high, her lips pursed in annoyance. Hoku’s eyes went round in worry. Sabo tipped his head to the side and she strode forward toward him, hands on her hips. “I told you how I—”

“You didn’t even take your shoes off,” Sabo said. Hotaru stopped completely in her tracks. His voice was even. Calm.

It could be heard.

“She was that eager,” Ace said behind them, walking forward with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Hotaru’s face flushed dark in embarrassment, mouth opening and closing. “Came rushing right into the apartment.”

Ace stopped right behind her. He kept his hands to himself. “Why don’t you tell Sabo what you asked me to do when you came in, hmm? How I took off your jacket. Where you wanted to do it because you couldn’t wait.”

Sabo took a seat onto the edge of the bed. It’s risen level still left him lowered, but it didn’t feel that way at all—

A throne.

Hoku’s fingers twitched. This is a good shot—should I draw this? Her eyes flickered to her paper, ignoring the sweat that had gathered at the back of her neck. The nervousness that tugged at her fingers despite how steady she held her pencil.

It’s like acting. It’s a roleplay. They just need to get in character. The client must want something like this—

Hoku swallowed.

How… How far is this going to—

Sabo set his gloved hands on either side of him, leaning back onto his hands as he watched Hotaru in silence.

Hotaru bit her lower lip. Her cheeks were flushed a dark, cherry red. She turned her head to Ace and then to Sabo and she quickly spat out, “Fine—Fine, I don’t care. I just—Sabo, please—”

“Take your shoes off.”

Hotaru flinched, looking desperate. Ace didn’t move an inch, face set into an easy, uninterested look. Sabo didn’t seem interested in repeating himself a second time. Hotaru floundered for words.

Sabo smoothly slid out a thin, rectangular shaped box from the pocket of his robe. Hotaru shuddered, eyes growing round and fixed entirely on that little box.

Sabo set it calmly at his side, moving his hand from it.

Hotaru bent down. Her fingers quickly worked at her heels, tugging desperately at the straps and chucking her heels into another direction of the room. Ace looked amused behind her and Hoku’s eyes followed the heels, sketching them into the corner of the image. Giving herself something to do.

“You just have to watch.” She paused at the memory of Sabo’s words. “Closely. Pick which scene you think will be the best.”

Hoku’s brows furrowed and she hesitantly looked back up.

“There,” Hotaru said. She took a few steps and then she hit the floor on her hands and knees. Hoku stared with wide eyes. The woman crawled forward, her tight dress hiking up higher on her thighs with each movement. “I did what you asked, Sabo.”

Sabo remained silent, perched on the bed in front of her. Hotaru crawled up onto her knees in front of him and Hoku darted back to the paper. This isn’t a bad shot. Shows power and an attempt to overthrow. But Ace isn’t doing much in it—

“Look at you,” Hoku looked up at Sabo’s clear, resounding voice. It was directive. Her eyes dropped to Hotaru who bit her lower lip, eyes needy as she gazed at Sabo.

He kept his hands at his sides. Those blonde locks fell a bit into his eyes, framing that sculpted angle of his jaw.

He looked completely and utterly—

In control.

Hoku held her pencil tight, chanting a mantra in her head.

No one is even naked yet. She reminded herself. You’ve drawn worse before. This is some… powerplay or something. It’s an act. Calm down. Why are you—

“All worked up?” Sabo questioned lowly.

Hoku flinched for a second before she relaxed. He’s not talking to me. I don’t exist right now.

He raised a hand. Hotaru’s eyes followed every movement eagerly. Gloved fingers curved beneath her chin, raising her head up to look at him. “You normally put up such a fight. I could touch you and you’ll just roll over, won’t you?”

Hotaru’s eyes flashed. Her cheeks flushed but her hands rushed forward and Sabo’s eyes darkened. She fumbled for the bind holding Sabo’s robe together, pushing forward on her knees toward him. Her breasts pushed up against his legs.

Sabo simply watched in silence, as though he were watching a child try something in vain. A hint of amusement in his gaze. It was—

Condescending.

“Aren’t you the same though?” Hotaru said hurriedly. She tugged Sabo’s rope free and she pushed aside the folds of his robe. “You’re acting all calm and collected—but, but you want it too, don’t you? Look at you!”

Sabo’s chest opened up. Taut muscles. A defined ridge. Hoku’s eyes couldn’t help but move to the inch of his side that was exposed. His scar peeked through. Her heart clenched for a second at the memory of how he got the horrible burn—

His muscled abdomen dipped. Hotaru was almost panting at this point, eyes desperate as she fumbled around, licking her lips and the folds of his robe moved apart and—

Hoku’s eyes dropped down and she balked.

She’d drawn people nude dozens of times now. She knew what belonged where. She wasn’t—she wasn’t a virgin. She wasn’t bumbling and stuttering and a blushing idiot when she saw these things—usually when the pencil was in her hand and the paper beneath her—her mind even became almost clinical. It was another limb. Another part to draw—

Memories rushed forward. Her throat went dry. Hoku’s cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and her eyes instantly trained themselves hard on her paper, refusing to budge.

But this was—but he was—that—

Her gut twisted sharply, unsettled. Hoku’s throat went dry. She kept her eyes on the paper, on the paper—

“You won’t get freaked out or anything right?” Hoku flinched. But this is different. This feels—

Wrong. Weird. Private. Intimate. Imposing. Intruding.

She… She knew Ace and Sabo. She’d played with them as kids. Had funny, weird, awkward moments when they were teenagers—seen them with missing teeth and dumb grins—

But this is different.

“See?” Ace’s smooth voice, teasing, flooded the room. “She can’t even handle it.”

Hoku’s head snapped up instantly. Her cheeks hot but—No, no, that’s not it. I’m sorry, I’m not freaking out—

Hoku froze. Ace’s eyes were on Hotaru, a smirk on his lips. Sabo looked vaguely amused, leaning back on his hands as Hotaru panted on her knees in front of him, hands on his thighs and—

It’s just a drawing. Hoku said. She shut her mind down. Shut everything else out. You took this job. It’s not weird. It’s human. It’s intimate. It’s a scene. It’s like a play. Just draw the scene. Just draw. She gathered her footing back beneath her.

Hoku turned her eyes fully onto the scene unfolding in front of her.

Sabo’s length stood out from the folds of his robe. Hard. Erect. Revealing the muscled, toned top of his thighs. Hoku refused to study it in any more detail, keeping her eyes trained on Hotaru’s face. Hotaru shuffled forward, pressing herself flush between his legs. Sabo’s expression didn’t even flinch or shift. Neutral.

Professional.

There. It’s just another… Hoku’s neck felt hot. She felt a little queasy. Don’t think about whose that is. It’s just another body part.

“See?” Hotaru said breathily, lashes fluttering. “Look at you, baby. Look at how hard you are for me. This did something for you too, didn’t it? You liked this.”

Sabo watched her. Expression void. His eyes were dark and Hotaru pressed a kiss to his thigh. “Normally I have to work so… so hard to get you like this for me… I knew I did something for you. Aren’t I a good girl?”

Hoku’s gut twisted.

Sabo’s erection was hard. Swollen at the tip. Ramrod straight. Hotaru pressed another kiss to his inner thigh, as though seeking permission. Sabo didn’t even flinch despite the physical reaction, expression calm and collected. His lids were lowered, eyes dark and unreadable from where she was.

“You’re so big,” Hotaru said. Hoku’s ears went hot. Please stop. Oh my god. “So thick. You’re perfect, Sabo. I want it so bad. Please, let me make you feel good—”

Her hands inched up his thighs. Sabo watched in almost cold silence.

“What did it?” Hotaru panted. “The dress, baby? The shoes? The hair? I tried to do everything you told me to—was I too bad? What’s getting you off this time? What’s turning you on that I didn’t do before—”

Ace’s hand shot out like a snake. He fisted a handful of those thick, curly locks, tugging back sharply.

Hotaru yelped. Hoku jumped, almost hitting her knees into her desk. Her heart raced in her chest.

“Look at you,” Ace chuckled, dark, throaty. Hotaru moaned, hands flying up to where Ace held her by her hair. “Who said you could run that filthy mouth of yours? You’re so desperate, aren’t you? Crawling all over him like that—you’re dying for it.”

“Please!” Hotaru pleaded. Her cheeks were hot. She tried to turn around to Ace, hands flying to the button on his jeans. “Please! Touch me—anything—please! I’ll be good. I’ll do whatever you want—”

Ace let her get far enough to unbutton them. She unzipped his pants, trying to pull him free from his confines.

Her work stationed seemed miles away and still not far enough. The room was hot—the air was heavy.

Should I be doing this?

Her eyes dropped to her paper.

“We really needed the help for this job.”

Job. It’s just a job. It’s an act. Job. Job. Job—

“Look at me.” Hoku’s pencil almost slipped against the papers. Sabo’s voice left no room for disagreement and she glanced up.

He’d thankfully readjusted the folds of his robe. Leaning forward with one elbow on his knee. His gloved hand covered the lower half of his mouth, holding it there as he watched Hotaru in heavy, shuddering silence.

Hotaru watched him, chest rising and falling with each breath.

“Are you in any place,” Sabo said softly. “To be making demands?”

Hotaru shuddered.

“We’re all here to do this for you,” Sabo said. “And you go and run your mouth like that… is that anyway to repay us?”

Hotaru shook her head desperately, eyes wet. Her cheeks were such a dark red, panting heavily.

Sabo had complete hold over her.

Absolute control.

Sabo reached over for the little box. His thumb hit a button softly.

The reaction was instant.

Hotaru tossed her head back, writhing with her hair still in Ace’s loose grip. Her legs shuddered, jerking this way and that. Hotaru moaned, back arching. She bucked into the air once, twice. Ace and Sabo watched in silence as the low hum filled the room.

Hoku pressed a hand to her mouth. Her eyes were wide at her paper. Her face flushed red in embarrassment and she folded in on herself. That’s—That wa—Earlier—

Suck it up, you wimp. It’s just a—

Sabo hit a second button.

“Oh, god!” Hotaru cried. She panted, chest rising and falling and her entire body twisted about, lashing this way and that as she tried to find some kind of purchase, any kind of relief for the pleasure coursing through her body from the little device. “Please—oh, please! Let me come, Sabo. Please, please—”

Hoku filled her head with any other thought. It’s just—this is just porn! This is literally just porn—Usopp! Usopp and—that time you walked on Usopp in the shower—

“You think she deserves it?” Sabo questioned curiously. Looking at Ace over the top of his fingers.

Hotaru’s pitiful moans filled the entire room. Ace gave her head a little pat, watching her squirm. “Why not?”

“Please!” Hotaru gasped, back arching sharply. Hoku flinched. “Sabo! Ace! Please! I’m so close—”

Sabo hit the controller. Hotaru moaned. Her feet skidded across the floor, the humming cutting out completely. She whimpered, hips bucking upwards uselessly as the convulsions ceased and Sabo leaned back onto his hands.

“Take it out.”

Hotaru’s eyes snapped open wide. Hoku choked. Isn’t that a bit harsh—

“Some people are into that.”

Hotaru’s lips trembled. She looked up at Ace pleadingly, but he merely carded his fingers through her hair, offering her a low smile. His canines peeked through. Hotaru whimpered, spreading her legs open as she lowered her hand down to her tight dress. Sabo watched her, hand resting over the lower half of his face, eyes shaded darkly.

Hotaru’s fingers disappeared beneath her dress. She tossed her head back onto Ace’s thigh with a moan, spreading her legs apart. Her eyes kept themselves on Sabo, seeming to hope it’d get him moving.

Sabo remained motionless.

Hotaru let out a little whine. Her fingers tugged and then a ribbon and a thin cord came out, followed by the egg shaped vibrator—

Hoku focused on her paper. She had the entire room sketched out in vivid detail. Shaded in and everything. She had enveloped forms but no real figures. No pose—

“Good girl,” Sabo praised. Hotaru shuddered, watching him hopefully. “Now on your feet.”

Hotaru’s lips parted in desperate protest. Sabo’s face was cold. Unrelenting. Her mouth fluttered shut and she whimpered, slowly gathering herself on wobbly knees and walking toward him like a newborn fawn.

Ace followed behind her, stopping at her back. His fingers dipped into his back pocket, pulling out a foil package. He handed it to Hotaru over her shoulder, slipping it into her hand.

The proud, confident woman that had walked into the room just moments ago was nothing like what she had been. Her knees quivered. Her hair was disheveled. Her lips wet and red from all her biting and Hoku could see the slick shine to the inside of her thighs where her dress had hiked up almost completely and revealed she wasn’t even wearing anything beneath.

She was at their mercy.

Hoku’s eyes flickered to the door and back to her drawing. The events transpiring were leading to one finale. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be seeing this—

“It’s just a simulation of sorts.”

Too raw. Too vivid—

“Sabo—”

“Alright,” Sabo said. Hotaru’s eyes brightened, a kind of desperate Hoku had never seen on anyone before. Not in a situation like this. So… pitiful? “If you want it, then you do the work.”

Hotaru’s lips quivered. She looked about to protest for a moment and Ace stepped closer, hands coming around her sides and dipping low where Hoku couldn’t see.

Hotaru jerked. She moaned, nodding her head rapidly. She struggled with the condom for a second, ripping it open and then she quickly stepped between Sabo’s legs. He shifted further onto the bed, the first move he’d made in what felt like ages. Hotaru followed after, unrolling the condom. She placed it between her lips and her head ducked down.

Hoku turned back to the paper, starting to sketch out the forms onto the bed. There. That’s it. You don’t have to watch the specifics—get the feeling of it.

Hotaru’s lips fell over Sabo’s heavy tip. She licked a long stripe up the side of his length, following a heavy vein and finally moving the condom back between her lips. She took his head into her mouth, moaning just at the fact that she was finally, finally getting closer to what she wanted. Sabo looked almost amused above her, robe pooling down around his elbows as he leaned back and let her work, not moving a finger.

Hoku’s eyes landed on the vivid scar against his left side. The way it carved up his ribcage to his shoulder. She drew that part carefully, softly, on the form that was starting to give more shape to Sabo. She thought about the scar. Focused on that.

Hotaru moaned around him. Wriggling her hips impatiently. Ace knelt on the edge of the bed. He swiftly pulled his shirt off. Muscles rippled across broad shoulders, traveling down to almost slender hips.

His hand reached down, tugging his pants down lower on his hips. He pulled his cock free from its confines, hard. Precum gathered at his tip. Heavy, hot in his hands. His finger dragged across the slit, moving around the heavy head. His slickened hand dropped down, starting from the base and slowly working his way up.

Ace’s head tipped back, barely breaking a sweat. His eyes seemed focused on something else, working almost lazily at his own. Sabo watched Hotaru continue for a second longer, the condom fully sheathed over his length as she pressed kisses to the tip and bent lower—

“That’s enough,” Sabo said. “Go on.”

Hotaru eagerly clambered forward. She panted, reaching up and struggling to unzip the top of her dress. Ace seemed to take pity on her for a second, tugging it down swiftly and she tugged it low, letting her heavy breasts free as she groped desperately at herself. Hotaru twisted one of her nipples, rolling her breast and gazing heatedly at Sabo.

“Am I doing it right?” Hotaru begged. “You like this, right, Sabo? Tell me, please.”

Sabo leaned back on his elbows, calm and collected.

Hotaru groaned in desperation. She readied herself, lining up with his tip and she shot him another heated look, lips quivering, waiting.

Sabo simply blinked, watching in silence.

Hotaru turned, cheeks flushed. Hair clung to her cheeks, to her lips as she let her back face Sabo and she faced Ace. His hooded eyes watched her, inclining his head as he worked at his cock and Hotaru whimpered.

Hoku didn’t watch. Couldn’t watch. Her ears burned.

Hotaru’s blissful, desperate moan flooded the entire room like a siren as she sank low onto Sabo’s length. She took him in entirely, taking him all the way to the hilt as she slotted her hips over his and braced herself on his thighs.

“Oh, oh, oh,” Hotaru repeated. She lifted herself up and slid back with a lewd slick. Hoku winced. “Yes. Yes. Finally—Sabo! Sabo, you feel so good. Baby, you’re so big—so big, so hard, so good. Come on, help me—ah. Sabo, help me—”

Hoku realized just how much a prude she must be after all. Even—even during sex, she’d never been able to utter anything like that-—

Sabo shut his eyes for a second. He tipped his head back, golden strands shifting around his chin. The most of a reaction Hoku had seen so far. She focused on that, ignoring what was transpiring in front of her and how—

Intimate this is—

She remembered every sensual thing she’d ever drawn. She’d drawn sex before—intimate depictions of models—it’s just that. It’s just people.

But no matter how hard she tried—isn’t this too much? She’d never done anything like this before. Panic seized her. She’d never witness something so personal like this where it was happening before her and making her feel so, so—

Uncomfortable.

Hoku froze.

“If you ever feel uncomfortable—”

“If it’s ever too much—”

“Can’t handle it?”

She swallowed. Her throat went dry. Hoku’s eyes hardened and she shoved her pencil to the paper. No. No it’s not. It’s not too much. I’m not uncomfortable. You can do this, Hoku. You have to. So what if it’s new—it’s just different. You wanted to change and try new things—

“Why don’t you put that mouth to use?” Ace said huskily.

Hotaru’s eyes fluttered open and she crawled forward eagerly. Ace was on his knees, hand slipping from his cock and sliding back behind Hotaru’s head. She lifted her hips desperately, bringing them back down onto Sabo’s over and over again, chasing the feeling each time.

The sound of skin on skin. The air heavy.

Hotaru opened her mouth obediently. Ace’s grip tightened on the back of her head and he pushed forward past her lips. His head tipped back, eyes shutting at the feeling before he rolled his hips back and thrusted forward, fucking himself with her mouth.

Hoku couldn’t help the wince. I don’t think I could ever—

Hotaru moaned. Pleasure lined every crease of her face. She worked desperately with her mouth, letting Ace fuck himself as he liked while she moved, Sabo not lifting a finger as she rode herself on him as fast as she could. It was rough, it was desperate and almost pitiful and yet she looked so pleasured—

Hoku’s fingers twitched. I could draw that. Ace was in the picture now. It was obvious the client wanted something like this depicted—it’s just like people who write harlequin novels or direct porn. Just draw it.

You’re not involved.

The single sentence seemed to free Hoku from every other thought. That’s right, you’re not involved. She wasn’t part of the picture. She was safe here behind her station. Look at it from perspective. She had no reason to feel anything else but—

Professional.

Hoku pressed her pencil to her paper, ready, at ease. The faces started to blur and sharpen. She saw bodies. Movement. A scene unfolding.

That’s all it was.

Hoku’s pencil started to move rapidly. She watched the scene less and less, glancing up and down back to it. She had her mold now. She didn’t need to think about anything else. Her mind focused on the drawing and nothing else. The sounds fell deaf around her ears, the actions—

Hoku drew.

Dark eyes watched her from beneath blonde waves. His gaze was heavy, dark. Sabo’s lips twitched and he let out a small sigh through his nose, leaning back onto his elbows as he watched Hotaru get off, riding him with reckless abandon while she took Ace in all the way to the back of her throat, moaning each time.

The perfect picture of nothing but carnal desire. Lewd. Filthy. Raw. The vivid fantasy of any man’s dreams.

Sabo’s eyes narrowed. His lids lowered. Not even watching the moving body riding him like her life depended on it. His gaze remained trained on the only figure out of his reach.

For now.

Ace’s eyes flickered up at the soft sound. His fingers were threaded through Hotaru’s hair, meeting his brother’s gaze over the top of her head.

Ace glanced to the side, watching the way Hoku worked, glancing to them with unfocused eyes and back to her work from beneath his hair. She was seeing them but not seeing them. Watching but not watching. Zoned out as she drew.

Disconnected.

His brows creased slightly. Ace’s grip on the back of Hotaru’s head tightened. He thrust forward with a little more force and she moaned. Loud. Shameless. She worked herself desperately, chasing her high as she came down over and over again on Sabo’s length, grinding her hips, twisting this way and that.

Hoku felt the drawing start to come together. She worked on the details around Hotaru’s face, shading in softer areas, trying to capture the look. Her body curved, meeting both Ace and Sabo so she didn’t worry about anything else. Hotaru was the most exposed.

Ace watched Hoku. His fingers threaded harder. Hotaru moaned desperately around him. His lids lowered. He watched her eyes flicker to and fro, watched her mouth move soundlessly, followed her lips, the way her tongue peeked out as she worked harder at something on the paper—

Ace shut his eyes. He grit his teeth. Heat pooled, fast and molten in his stomach. Hotaru worked faster, bobbing her head up and down while she sloppily lifted her hips to come crashing back down.

Hotaru popped off suddenly, lips bruised and swollen. She panted out desperately with a keen, “Come for me, Ace—”

Sabo pulled her down hard onto his length, driving himself deep into her. Hotaru’s voice cut off with a high, stuttering moan. Her eyes went wide, face flushing with pleasure and Ace grabbed the back of her head, muffling her moans as he thrusted back into her mouth.

Ace’s breathing quickened. His eyes darted back to the desk. More labored. Sabo’s eyes flickered to him. Ace bowed his head, thrusting faster and harder into Hotaru’s mouth without mercy. Tears peeked out from the corners of her eyes, moans punched out with every shift of his hips.

Hoku adjusted his expression based on the sound. Already far, far away from what was unfolding in front of her. Focused on the drawing. The room slipped back into a studio. The bed another prop. The people forms to draw.

Sabo sat up. Hotaru moaned around Ace’s cock at the shift, moving her hips erratically to chase the deeper feeling he’d done just seconds ago, trying desperately to imitate the pleasure he could give her—find it for herself—

Useless.

Sabo’s gloved fingers slid around her waist. His fingers found the swollen nub, working it fast and quickly between his fingers. Hotaru’s eyes went wide and she keened, swallowing around Ace’s thick cock as he fucked her mouth and tears and drool dripped down her chin—

Hoku barely blinked, figuring everything was starting to come down. The room would slip from its high. Her hand worked faster at the drawing. Almost there. Finish up.

You can do this.

Hotaru’s entire body shuddered. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Sabo’s textured fingers rolled a few more times expertly over her clit, stroking it as her hips jerked. She clenched hard around him, trying to tug him over the edge with her. Not knowing how far back at the starting line he still was.

Sabo’s eyes were hooded. He let her ride it out with another sloppy jerk of her hips and then gently, sweetly, patiently guided her twitching hips forward and off. His cock slipped out, still fully erect. It pulsed, heavy and hard. He felt each hot throb beneath the slickened condom and he sat up further as Hotaru fell forward toward Ace.

Hotaru choked. The muted sound muffled as Ace grabbed the back of her head and held her there. He let out a low, ragged breath, barely a groan. He shut his eyes tight, bowing his head low as he came.

Hot spurts filled her mouth and Hotaru’s throat bobbed rapidly, working to swallow it all as she shut her eyes tight. Her hips twitched. On her hands and knees as the bitter taste flooded her mouth.

Hoku erased a part of Sabo’s expression. It didn’t quite fit. She reworked at his eyes, focusing on finishing.

Ace’s fingers unthreaded her hair. He sat back on his heels with a breathy exhale.

Hotaru’s lips slid off him with a wet pop. She breathed, ragged. Her face was flushed a dark red with pleasure. Sweat rolled down her neck, past the swell of her breasts. Her hair disheveled, clinging this way and that. Dress creased. Her entire body shook with effort. A bit of thick white trailed down the corner of her mouth.

Hotaru weakly looked up, eyes wet and hazy. She started to turn over her shoulder. “Sa… Sabo… let me… help you—”

Ace’s large hand slid over her eyes. Hotaru shuddered, letting herself be pulled back into his lap and flush against him. Ace’s free hand snaked around her hip, slowly running a teasing trail right back down to her throbbing, wet heat.

Hotaru sucked in a sharp breath. She moaned loudly, tossing her head back. Eyes covered by Ace’s hand. “Ah, baby—again?”

Sabo leaned back against the cushioned headboard. His fingers nimbly tugged off the slickened condom, tossing it to the side of the bed. He pulled his glove off with his teeth. His hand tugged a small bottle off the nightstand with familiar ease, popping the cap and lathering up his fingers.

The blonde exhaled a long, heavy sound. Sabo relaxed back, slowly wrapping his fingers around the base of his cock. It pulsed beneath his slick fingers, throbbing.

Hoku glanced to his expression for a second and burrowed down into the desk, not even watching any further. It sounded about done—I’m almost done here too.

You can do this.

Ace slid two fingers with ease into Hotaru. She moaned, writhing in his lap, legs opening shamelessly despite the stimulation. Ace kept his hand over her eyes, nudging her legs open a little further as Sabo slowly started to stroke himself, watching.

“Want to help him get off?” Ace whispered by her ear. He nipped at her neck and Hotaru nodded desperately as he continued to pump his fingers in and out of her, working her to a second high. “Repeat what I tell you to say like a good girl.”

Sabo’s fingers slid from the base to the head, shifting. He ran a thumb over his slit, eyes following the soft top of white hair flickering in and out of his view. Pinning her in place.

“Sabo,” Hotaru said, listening to Ace’s heatedly whispered words. She gasped, breathy. “Sabo, I missed you so much.”

Sabo let out a heavier exhale. His teeth worked at his bottom lip. His hand tightened around his cock.

“I’m sorry I was gone for so—ah—so long,” Hotaru panted. “I’m sorry—” Ace shoved his fingers harder into her, hitting home. “I’m sorry! I won’t—Ace! I won’t… I won’t leave again!”

Sabo groaned. Hoku worked faster. His most… The most reaction from him this entire time.

She blocked everything out. No other sound slipped past. Completely in her own world.

Deaf.

His cock throbbed harder. Sabo shut his eyes, letting his head roll back as he worked faster, harder, pumping himself over and over again. His lips moved. His teeth ground together.

Ace whispered into her ear, thrusting his fingers up.

“Ah! A-Ah… Please,” Hotaru repeated. “Please… I wan… I wanna feel you. Missed you. I-ah-I’ll be good… so… so… teach me!”

Sabo’s breath quickened. His hand worked faster and faster. He screwed his eyes shut tight, muscles growing taut. Sweat rolled down the side of his chin, past his neck.

“I’ll do whatever you say,” Hotaru babbled. “I won’t ever leave again—oh, god, please—”

Ace shoved his fingers, hitting Hotaru’s spot repeatedly and she cried out the heated words whispered into her ear—

“I’m yours, Sabs!”

Sabo stiffened. His back arched. He tossed his head back against the headboard and shuddered, a low, sweet groan escaping his lips.

Hot spurts of come splattered onto Hotaru’s thighs. Painting them white. She panted, chest rising and falling rapidly as she sank back into Ace’s grip. Ace casually slipped his fingers out of her, wiping them off on the bed sheets as he pulled his hand off her eyes.

Sabo struggled to catch his breath for a second. He reached up with his other hand, pushing his hair back from his face. It slicked over the top of his head, remaining there. He inhaled and exhaled slowly before his eyes fluttered open, glancing to Ace as he watched his brother set Hotaru down on her side, a panting, blissed out mess.

Their gazes met. Ace and Sabo watched each other for a moment before their gazes swung to the side of the room.

Hoku stopped. She stared at the drawing that had finally come to life in front of her. Her eyes went round in disbelief, almost in awe.

For a moment—everything else fell away.

The studio, the people—she’d done it. You did it! Hoku, you did it! You finally made something new—

You handled it.

Pride flooded her chest, desperate and unbidden. The small achievement. This strange, harrowing finish line in the midst of something she didn’t realize she’d started—but you did it. See? You just needed to tune everything else out—

You’re moving.

Ace brought one leg up, resting an arm on his knee. Sabo tipped his head to the side, his hand covering the lower half of his face, hiding his mouth and the way his lips were turning—

Hoku touched the drawing. You did your job. You did it. You’re moving again.

The circumstances wild, crazed. She couldn’t think about anything else except that it finally felt like she was moving again and out of this rut.

Two pairs of eyes, hooded and smoldering stared back at her from the drawing, mimicking the pair watching her just over the top of her desk. Across the room.

The path beneath her feet started to shift. Hoku happily ran forward, eager to be moving.

She didn’t notice the fences sliding up on either side of her.

Didn’t notice the signs pointing where to go.

Didn’t know where she was going. Just happy to be going. Happy to have a destination again and not knowing—

There was no escape.

#Memos #Hoku #Memos AU #Portgas D. Ace x oc #ace/oc #Sabo #Portgas D. Ace #Sabo/Oc #Dark!Ace #Dark!Sabo #Ace/Oc/Sabo #trafalgar law #eustass captain kid #monkey d. luffy #tumblr messed with my italics srry

[imaginethemultiversedoms]

Tangled Webs (Part 2)

Fandom: The Flash

Rating: G

Summary: When Ralph confronts the youngest Team Flash member about the powers she’s been hiding, Parker has to confess she’s been moonlighting despite the ever-present danger of DeVoe. (Ralph’s POV)

A/N: Here’s part 2 of Tangled Webs. A lot of parts, especially towards the end, are the same, but it’s the same discussion, just from Ralph’s POV. I do have other ideas for this, including a training scene. Because it’s going to be hard to train an energetic spider-kid in the basement of Star Labs.

              “-still have a couple of hours of clean up to do and you have that history test tomorrow.” Ralph looked up as he and Cisco walked into the Cortex from training. Parker was shoving her homework in her backpack as Barry offered to run her home. Her eyes shifted to the clock on the screen briefly then shook her head.

           “Nah, I’ve got band practice. Jo said they would meet me at Jitters. Thanks anyway.” The team seemed to agree with the statement, but Ralph looked at her with suspicion. Parker told him she’d quit the band because the pressure to keep up her grades was too much. He only remembered because he offered to help her with her history. She’d taken him up on it and came to him whenever she needed it.

           Why was she lying about a school activity she’d dropped?

           “At least let me run you there,” Barry insisted, pulling Ralph from his thoughts. Parker agreed on that and waved as she left on Barry’s footsteps.

           Leaning against the wall, he let the others provide a backdrop as they bounced around ideas to stop DeVoe as he thought over Parker. Ever since he’d gotten to know the kid, he’d known she was a good kid. Good student, funny sense of humor, compassionate, and still somehow managed to have an innocence with how dark the world could be.

          But the past couple of months, Parker had become…shifty. At first, he figured it was because she was a teenager. Teenagers were shifty and did stupid shit. Several of his P.I. cases had been going after missing teens, only to find them two counties over, getting in over their head. Skipping school, drinking, and keeping secrets was what a lot of teenagers did. He was willing to let Parker be a little shifty and let Joe know if he thought she was getting in over her head.

          When Parker’s shiftiness took on a pattern, he took notice.

           First, it was remembering Black Bison when he’d been hypnotized. He’d also remembered a teenage girl failing to sneak on board the bus. At the time, she seemed frantic enough that he took pity and came up with a bullshit story of her being his niece and taking her to school. He added her fee to his IOU and made her take the seat next to the window.

           Then Parker started leaving the Cortex at four-thirty nearly every afternoon. She cited band practice, study group, library trip, other “good kid” excuses that everyone – including him - fell for. It didn’t take long for her to start looking exhausted and overwhelmed. She struggled with her grades. He once spotted a bruise covering an eighth of her back and ribs, but she waved it off as running into the door. One morning she came in, rolling her shoulders as though she was sore from running track.

           She wasn’t in track.

           “She quit the band,” he mumbled around his thumbnail, not realizing he was thinking out loud.

           “What was that, Ralph?” Ralph’s head snapped up so fast, he felt his neck stretch oddly. Grimacing, he set his neck back to a normal position and found the team staring at him expectantly.

           “What was what?” he asked.

           “What did you say?” Barry repeated, having run back from dropping off Parker a while ago. Ralph glanced at the clock on the screen: 3:30 pm. Parker had been gone for thirty minutes.

           “Sorry, zoned out thinking about a case,” he said truthfully.

           Just then, an alarm sounded in the Cortex. “Robbery in progress at 31st and Collins,” Iris reported. Before even Barry could do anything, the alarms stopped and Iris was staring at the screen, confused.

           “What is it?” Barry asked, leaning over her shoulder. Ralph moved to look over Cisco’s as he pulled up the camera in front of a pawn shop. Everyone watched as a black and white hooded figure swung into the scene and webbed the two would-be robbers. The meta was small and agile, easily lifting the robbers and carrying them off the CCPD.

           “Local spider-meta got there first,” Cisco said, impressed.

           “Still can’t get a beat on them?” Barry asked. Cisco shook his head.

           “Nothing. I scoured the records of all the metas that popped up on my alerts since the accelerator explosion. None of them have Spider-Man capabilities.”

           “Maybe they came in from a different city?” Caitlin asked, but Cisco was already shaking his head again.

           “Nope. I extended my search to meta DNA as far as New York and Arizona. Nothing.” He gestured to the screen. “This kid just came out of nowhere and started doing small-time hero stuff.”

           Ralph blinked and straightened. “You mean this meta hasn’t been around before?” he asked. The others turned toward him, looking mildly shocked that he asked.

           “No,” Caitlin said softly. “They only showed up a month or so after the bus accident.” She looked at Cisco. “Maybe another bus meta?” Cisco shook his head.

           “Only nine people were on that bus. Unless…”

           “Unless there was a tenth person we missed on that bus,” Harry finished. “We need to go over the bus footage and records again.”

           Ralph stared at the blurry screenshot of a familiar white and black suit, accent with a gray hooded jacket. His mind whirled as he arranged and pieced together his thoughts. The teenager on that bus…Parker being shifty…leaving the Cortex at a certain time…the spider-meta showing up in cameras thirty minutes later…Parker coming in with bruises and exhausted the next day…Parker lying about band practice…

           As everything clicked into place, ice-cold panic flooded Ralph’s veins. Straightening up too quickly, he tripped over his feet and stretched to catch himself on the floor. Cisco reached to help him, but he brushed it off and stretched his arm to grab his jacket.

           “Ralph, what’s wrong? You okay?” Barry asked.

           “Yeah, yeah,” Ralph waved off as he backed towards the door. “Just might’ve figured out something with my case and I need to hit up a couple of contacts. I’ll check in later. Bye!”  

           Forgoing the elevator, he found the stairs and stretched himself up to the level needed for the parking lot. Once he made it to his car, he pulled out his phone to check the time. It was 3:40 pm. He needed to track down Parker, but first, he needed to make sure he was right.

           Or in this case, hope he was wrong.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~

           Ralph stared up in awe at the partially constructed skyscraper. Pulling off his mask and shielding his eyes from the setting sun, he could see what looked like a hammock of some sort constructed between two steel support beams, swinging gently in the breeze.

           It turned out he was right after all. While it took him an hour to track down some shady contacts who came across the spider-meta, it took a far shorter time to figure out where Parker had gone. All he had to do after was follow the trail of webbing she made. Okay, so it wasn’t that easy, he amended to himself as he began to stretch himself onto the skyscraper. He did run into a lot of old webbing in alleyways and over buildings. It was still terrifying how easily he could track her down.

           It would take DeVoe only minutes.

           Shaking that thought from his head, he instead focused on the teenager he was confronting. Barry would go for a lecture, Harry would start yelling, and Joe would be disappointed. Parker would shut down at every single turn and continue moonlighting. He would have to handle this his way.

           At least she had good taste in scenic landscapes for heart-to-hearts.

           “Gotta say, you found yourself a pretty great view, kiddo.” Parker’s shadow moved as she tried to find the source of his voice. Both knew it was him; he was the only person Parker allowed to call her “kiddo”. Forcing himself to not look down, he stretched himself up onto the support platform next to her hammock. “Take it you’re not afraid of heights?”

           “Never,” Parker admitted softly. “How much trouble am I in?”

           "Depends." He gestured towards the web hammock and she nodded. He stretched himself slowly onto the hammock, making sure it would hold both their weights. Parker didn’t seem worried, but he’d flipped too many hammocks to be cautious. "Does the team know you were on that bus?" he asked, settling himself on the other side. She picked at a stray thread on her jacket.

          "No," she whispered. Ralph watched as guilt and shame filled her. He didn’t have to be a psychic to know she knew with DeVoe looking for the bus metas, she should’ve told the team. She risked a glance at him, then looked away, unable to keep eye contact for long.

         "What were you doing on that bus that morning?" he asked gently.

          "That was the morning everyone was trying to get Barry out of the Speedforce." She glanced at Ralph again, who nodded for her to continue. "I wanted to be there, but Joe made me go to school, nonetheless. Said it was better if I just went to keep my mind off what was going on. But I couldn't stop thinking of being able to see Barry again, so after homeroom, I kinda..."

          "Ditched?" Ralph supplied. Parker nodded. "And hoofed it to the nearest bus stop and tried to sneak on?"

          "I forgot my money pouch at home." She caught his eye for a moment and smiled crookedly. Ralph smirked as she recalled the memory.  "I still owe you three dollars, huh?"

         "Buy me a coffee and we're even," he joked. "And the powers?"

         "There was a spider crawling on your bag when you were dozing. I meant to get it off, but the bus jerked and the spider bit me just as dark matter flooded in."

          "Whaaaat?" Ralph gasped. "You mean you actually got bit by a radioactive spider?" Parker giggled and nodded. "Oooh, I'm so jealous! Wait, what happened to the spider?" Parker cringed.

          "Accidentally squished it." Ralph's lips curled up, disgusted for a moment. "How did you find me?"

           "When Barry and Iris had me hypnotized, I remembered you a little more clearly," he explained. "At first, I thought you were being a teenager about school and quitting the band, but your routine became a little too predictable" he pulled out his phone and pulled up a YouTube clip of the mystery spider meta swinging past and waving. Parker noted it was taken a couple of months ago, shortly after her powers manifested. "Coupled with the routine of that mysterious spider meta swinging around, it didn’t take long to put it together." Parker handed him back his phone.

          "That doesn't explain how you found me." Ralph gestured at the webbing to the building.

         "You leave a trail, kiddo." She blushed and picked at her backpack again. He nudged her to get her to look up. His expression was worried, bordering on panic. "An extremely easy one too. If I could follow you halfway across Central City, what makes you think Devoe couldn't either? The man had a flying chair and is now taking over metas. It would be terrifyingly easy for him and we wouldn't know until it was too late."

           Parker fell silent, tears threatening to fall as she sat up to look at the bay. Ralph gave her some space to think and get her words together. When she wiped her nose on her sleeve, he sat up and waited for her to talk.

           "I'm sorry," she whispered. “Even though I knew lying about being on the bus would have disappointed everyone, I thought that if I could prove how good of a superhero I am, they wouldn't yell at me." She scrubbed at the tears that kept falling. "By the time we knew Devoe's intentions, I was in too deep. I just wanted to ignore the danger and keep doing what I was doing."

         With a heavy sigh, Ralph reached up and wrapped an arm around the teen's shoulders in a hug. "I get it. I know what it's like to feel you live in someone’s shadow and want to prove yourself." He rested his chin on top of her head and sighed. "And the thing is, you have. I've seen the footage. You help people and relate to them. They love you, way more than Elongated Man." Parker looked up, surprised to hear the bitterness in his voice.

        "People think you're cool too, Ralph," she insisted. "I think it's cool how you can stretch and stuff." Ralph grinned, looking both surprised and pleased at the compliment. She sighed, staring at the sunset. "They’re going to be pretty pissed, huh?"

        "Oh, no doubt.” At the dejected slump of her shoulders, he hugged her again. "But I withheld crucial bus meta information too. I'll take on some of that anger for you." She looked up, surprised.

         "Really?"

         "Really. I can take it. Besides, we're a team now, right? I'll stand beside you." Parker grinned and hugged Ralph tightly around the middle. He laughed softly. Noting the sun was pretty much set, he pulled back. "Come on, break down this webbing and we'll pick up some Big Belly Burger to sweeten their tempers."

        "Are we going to drive there?" she asked, packing up her stuff. Ralph scoffed and put his mask back on.

        "When we have a faster mode of travel? There's a Big Belly on the corner of 31st and Park. Race ya there?"

         She grinned wider and pulled her mask down and hood up. "Best swinger pays for dinner?" she asked, spider-crawling up the metal framework. Ralph grimaced, pulling his own mask back over his eyes. Parker didn’t quite understand the double innuendo as she found the right jump-off point. Once tempers cooled, he and Cisco would have to work on some more appropriate Web-Slinger terminology.

           "Yeah, I could go with that. Ready...set..."

           "Ralph?"

            "Yeah?"

             "You're not just my teammate. You're my big brother too."

           Ralph blinked, feeling like the air had been punched from his chest. His lungs felt like they were squeezed as a long-forgotten emotion bubbled up inside him. It had been a long time since he felt like he belonged somewhere. Clearing his throat, he nodded, not trusting his voice for a moment. “You might soon regret giving me that title, kiddo,” he finally said.

           He chuckled when she lifted her mask enough to stick her tongue out at him. “You gotta catch me first. Ready…set…GO!”

#the flash imagines #ralph dibny imagine #oc character #kid!fic #tangled webs #ralph dibny

[sluttywonwoo]

instead of you [part forty] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, alcohol, mentions of sex (18+ ; mdni)

word count: 3.4k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

That night, you turned Jisung’s words over in your mind over and over again. He was wrong, you were convinced. You would love him the same no matter what. No matter if he asked you to end things with Minho or not. You told him as much but he didn’t seem to believe you.

You went back to your room shortly after your talk. You had walked a little more, stopped for dessert at a little shaved ice stand on the beach, and then turned back. Jisung showered first, then you, but only after going over your agreement again. What you did with Minho was your business, but it had to be kept a secret. You were still Jisung’s girlfriend for the duration of the trip. It was mainly about his parents anyway. Jisung hadn’t explicitly told you why having a girlfriend was so important to him but after spending so much time with his family you could guess why. 

The next day, everyone piled into the cars and took the forty-minute drive back to Honolulu where you’d landed. Traffic was awful. You knew it took everything in Minho not to honk at the cars in front of him. You could see his knuckles turning white around the steering wheel from the back seat. 

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” he cursed as another F-150 cut him off. 

You and Jisung traded looks but neither of you dared to say anything out loud. Even Felix’s grip on the armrest tightened when Minho swerved into the next lane to speed past the truck. 

“We’re not in a rush,” you reminded him. You wanted to touch his arm, reassure him somehow, but you couldn’t. 

“Yeah, Mom and Dad are way behind us now.”

“It’s not about speed,” he muttered. You weren’t really convinced about the speed thing. “It’s about the principle. These assholes shouldn’t be able to get away with driving like maniacs.”

“And what are you doing right now?” Jisung asked carefully. 

His twin brother turned around in his seat to give him a warning look but to everyone’s surprise, Minho took a deep breath and actually stepped on the brakes. He only slowed down a little bit, less than five mph, but it was better than nothing. 

“Sorry, I’m just so used to being late all the time.”

“We know,” Felix joked. 

“You should see my girlfriend drive,” your best friend joked. 

“Please, I passed my driver’s test on the first try,” you scoffed, making eye contact with Minho in the rearview mirror. 

He shook his head at you and mouthed low blow. Next to you, Jisung was also shaking his head. 

“Yeah, and I want to talk to whoever passed you because there’s no way they weren’t under the influence of something.”

“You’re in the fast lane to never getting a ride from me again,” you muttered. 

Jisung raised his hands in surrender. 

“Apologize,” Felix demanded, cutting in on your behalf.

“Yeah, apologize to me,” you agreed.

Jisung sighed and turned his full body toward you, taking both of your hands in his. “I’m sorry, my love. Please forgive me.”

You rolled your eyes. “Whatever.”

Jisung turned back toward his brothers. “I think I’m in the clear, guys.”

You smacked the back of his head. 

-

The first stop in Waikiki was the ABC store. There was one on almost every block so you stopped at the first one you saw to buy snacks and drinks for the beach. 

“How many musubis do you want?” you asked Minho, who was in charge of alcohol. 

“How many are you getting?” he asked back with a grin. 

He looked ridiculous with his arms full of beer, smirking at you like that. 

“Two,” you said flatly. 

“I’ll get two as well.”

You asked the others how many they wanted and raided the mini warmer for them before dumping them at the checkout counter with the rest of what the boys picked out. Dom paid and had the four of you take the bags back to the cars. 

The next step was to find parking somewhere on the streets that were within walking distance to the beach. You had to split up from Jisung’s parents to do so because there was no way you were going to be able to find two open parking spots on the same road. 

Once Minho parked, put money in the meter, and double-checked that the car was locked, the four of you slowly but surely made your way down to the shore where you met up with Nikki and Dom who had already picked out a spot in the sand. 

You had never seen a beach so crowded before. There were people everywhere. And all of the available space was being taken up by beach chairs and umbrellas that you had to rent from one of the several stands stationed behind them. Some of the different colored umbrellas even overlapped with each other in an apparent turf war. You could only imagine what conversations between the rival attendants must be like.

The beach was still beautiful, of course. You were in Hawai’i. Any beach here was going to be breathtaking. Waikiki Beach attracted so many tourists because of its beauty. 

“We rented four chairs,” Dom explained. “We figured not all of us would be sitting over here at once so we wouldn’t need six.”

Jisung nodded in understanding. 

“Are you going to surf?” you asked. 

“Probably,” he answered, looking over to his brothers. “I assume you won’t be?”

“I think I’ll sit this one out.” 

You turned your foot over to look at your toe. Even though all of the sea urchin spines had dissolved, the marks from the injury were still fading. You couldn’t see yourself back on a board any time soon. 

You were content to lay out in the sun with your book until Jisung wanted to wade in the water. 

The boys left to rent surfboards and their parents headed in the opposite direction for a walk along the beach, leaving you alone with all of the stuff. You joked to Nikki and Dom that you would protect it with your life but in reality, you would hand it over if someone so much as looked at you threateningly. 

You went to dig your book out from Jisung’s backpack but accidentally grabbed his instead. It was the one you had already read and annotated for him. Out of curiosity, you opened to where he left off to see what part he was at and were surprised to see his handwriting scrawled in the margins of the most recent page. 

He hadn’t stopped annotating it. Even after everything, even when he was simmering with anger, he was still writing you little notes and responding to the ones you had left. You weren’t supposed to read them before he was done so you quickly closed it back and shoved it into the bag again before retrieving the book that was actually yours. 

You took a brief look back up at the water to see how the boys were doing but there were so many surfers that it was hard to pick them out. 

“Which one’s yours?” 

The voice beside you startled you, making you jump a little before you realized someone had taken the seat next to you. 

You weren’t sure where she had come from but a girl who looked to be about your age was perched on one of the chairs the Hans had reserved. She was pretty, really pretty. Head full of curls and freckles dusted across her cheeks. The tangerine-colored bikini she was wearing looked amazing against her skin and you weren’t sure whether you were more jealous of her or attracted to her. 

“Huh?” you asked.

“Which one’s yours?” she repeated. 

“Oh.” You squinted at the waves, trying to zero in on Jisung. “Uh, blue wetsuit in the group of three off to the side.”

The girl followed your gaze and nodded when she found him. “They just got out there, right?”

“Yeah, we only got here a few minutes ago.” You noticed the camera dangling around and realized she must be out there for someone too. “Um, which one is yours?”

“Long hair, kind of far out. He’s in the big cluster of surfers in the swell.”

Her boyfriend was easy to spot. He was paddling in the direction of an upcoming wave.

“Do you guys come out here often?” you asked. 

She nodded, curls bouncing. “David’s lived in Kaneohe like all his life, which is like fifteen minutes from here so it’s super convenient. The North Shore isn’t as crowded but the waves are practically nonexistent in the summer,” she explained. “What about you guys?”

“We’re on vacation.” You were embarrassed to admit that but it wasn’t like you could lie. You didn’t know the island at all. You also didn’t want to risk mentioning that it hadn’t been your choice to come here and offend her if she thought you were implying that her home state was the worst or something. 

“Oh, how fun!” she exclaimed. Ok, well that was a positive reaction at least. 

“My boyfriend’s family was nice enough to invite me along,” you added, wanting at the very least to establish that it hadn’t been your idea. 

“Holy shit, that is nice of them.”

“I know,” you agreed. 

“Well, while you’re here you should definitely check out the Pillbox hike. It’s a little brutal if you aren’t used to hiking uphill but the views are totally worth it.”

“I’ll be sure to mention it to him! We have a free day tomorrow so maybe we’ll do that, thank you.”

You would not be going on the hike. You hated hiking and heights but you would still mention it to Jisung in case the boys wanted to go. 

She smiled but then something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she was standing up to leave. 

“Sorry, I promised my boyfriend that I would get some shots of him today and he’ll be pissed if I miss these waves.”

She threw you a wave over her shoulder as she jogged off. You waved back, calling out that it was nice to meet her. You never got her name. 

You only managed to get through a couple of pages of your book before another person approached your chairs. This time, it was Jisung. He had come up to check on you. 

“Make a new friend?” he asked as he shook water out of his hair like a dog. 

“Oh yeah, did you see that girl talking to me?”

“Thought she might be trying to put the moves on you.”

“Oh my god, how many times do I have to tell you I’m not Bella Swan? Not everyone who talks to me is into me.”

“She was your type, though.”

“You say that about all girls.”

“Because that’s your type.”

You rolled your eyes at your best friend. “Either way, she wasn’t interested. She has a boyfriend. She was just asking me if I had a partner out there too.” 

“That doesn’t mean she didn’t think you were cute,” he pointed out.

“You’re so annoying,” you groaned. “I don’t need a wingman anymore.”

He made a face. “That’s right, you’re fucking my brother,” he said, sounding disgusted. You couldn’t blame him. 

“Do you have to announce that to the entire beach? I’m supposed to be your girlfriend, remember?”

Jisung shrugged and plopped himself down on the chair next to yours. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to get it out of his eyes. Because it was wet, it had taken on a mind of its own. You had witnessed Jisung try to tame his hair after a shower on several occasions. It usually ended with him just waiting for it to dry so that he could style it and then making you late to wherever you were supposed to be going. 

“Are you going to go back out there?” you asked. 

“Probably. Wanna join?”

“Very funny.”

“I was being serious.”

“Oh. Well, no thanks.”

“I figured but I just wanted to make sure.”

“You’re sweet.”

-

The boys surfed for a couple of hours before coming in to eat the musubis and snacks you bought earlier. Their parents returned around the same time and you all ate together. 

Afterward, Jisung offered to wade around in the shallow water at the edge of the beach with you.

“You have to get in,” he insisted. “It’ll cool you down.”

“Okay,” you agreed.

You didn’t need any more convincing. You had wanted to get in anyway.    

“Lix, Minho, do you want to come with us?” Jisung asked. 

They looked at each other and shrugged. “Sure.”

The four of you wove through the sea of beach chairs down to the shore where the remnants of bigger waves lapped at the sand. The water was crystal clear, apart from the frothy white foam atop the waves. It fizzled against the hot sand when the waves crashed against the beach, lingering still even when the water subsided. 

There were several groups of people in the ocean as well but it was less crowded than the beach. Families with small children were gathered right by the shore, the parents mingling with each other as the kids played with wet sand and beach toys. You wished you could remember what it was like to be that young. To meet a stranger and be best friends in the blink of an eye. 

There were less and less people the further out from the shore you got. Fathers teaching older kids how to boogie board, teenagers jumping in the waves as they gossiped with each other. 

You weren’t sure how long you spent in the water but before long, Nikki and Dom were waving from the beach to get your attention. 

“They’re either saying it’s time to go, or they’re ditching us,” Jisung said, squinting and making a ‘what?’ gesture with his shoulders. 

“It’s really a fifty-fifty shot,” Felix added. 

“I think they want us to come in,” Minho guessed.

Minho was proven right mere seconds later when Dom beckoned you to join them. 

-

The latter half of the day was spent walking around the city. Being the center of tourism on the island meant Waikiki had a lot of shopping. You had never seen so many high-end stores in one place before. You did some window shopping while the Hans did some shopping shopping. Practically everything in every single shop was out of your price range. You weren’t expecting otherwise but seeing the numbers on the backs of the price tags still hurt your heart. 

You could tell a few of the sales associates recognized Minho from the way their eyes would get big when they saw him. They’d lean over and whisper to each other behind his back. Even though he couldn’t hear them you knew he knew it was happening. It made you feel kind of bad for him. Kind of. 

You ate dinner at some restaurant attached to the lobby of a hotel. It was on the water, which was nice, but it was just as crowded as the beach had been. The poor servers were so swamped that it took over an hour to get your food. No one minded, of course, but by the time Minho laid his credit card on top of the bill it was dark outside. 

“Do you remember where we parked?” Minho asked you as you 

“Yeah, but I don’t know how to get there from where we are right now.”

“So you don’t remember where we parked.”

“No, I remember where we parked. But we’ve walked around so much that I don’t know how to get there.”

Minho shook his head at you. “You should always pay attention to where you’re going. It can be dangerous if you don’t know where you are.”

“Why should I? That’s what I have you guys for.”

“What if we weren’t here?”

“There’s a parked car option on my GPS.”

“What if your phone was dead?”

“What is wrong with you?”

“I just want you to be safe!”

You didn’t want to hear any more. “Jisung, your brother is being an asshole!”

Your best friend, who had been walking alongside Felix, jogged up to meet you when you called for him. 

“What’d he do?” 

“I was just trying to-”

“I didn’t ask you,” Jisung cut in, glaring at Minho. 

“He’s giving me a hard time because I don’t know how to get back to the car from here,” you explained. 

“We can just use the GPS app,” Jisung said. 

You turned to Minho with a smug grin. “See?”

“I can’t believe you told on me,” he muttered under his breath. 

“Get used to it,” you hummed. 

-

The last day on Oahu was a free day. You told Jisung about the pillbox hike that the girl from the beach had suggested and he woke up early to do it with Felix and Minho. He came back raving about it and showed you a bunch of pictures that made you feel a little sick to your stomach because of how high it looked. 

“Thank god I didn’t go with you guys,” you sighed. “I’d be freaking out even if I stayed at the bottom, just thinking about you up there. There aren’t any handrails or guards to keep you from falling-”

“We were fine,” he assured you. “I didn’t even show you the pictures of us on top of the box.”

“You climbed it?”

“I mean, we’d already climbed the mountain. What’s a little concrete box? Everyone else was doing it.”

You held a hand to your heart like a scandalized middle-aged woman. “I don’t think I want to know anything else.”

Jisung took one look at you and laughed. “That’s probably for the best.”

You did some pre-packing at the hotel before joining his brothers to do some exploring. Like Jisung, they had showered after their hiking expedition. All three of them were sporting still-wet hair that was dripping onto their shirts like kids sitting in church service after their baptism. 

You walked around the resort first, checking out all of the pools and hot tubs for later that night. Jisung told his parents that he’d cook for the family and he’d dragged Felix and Minho with him to get groceries earlier. Apparently, Minho said he would help grill while Jisung made some of the side dishes upstairs. You were interested to see how that would turn out. You didn’t have to wait long to find out. 

You walked by the lagoons next, slipping into the resorts along the shore to scope them out. You were surprised to see that some of them were nicer than the one you were staying at. You assumed the Hans had chosen whatever the best money could buy was but maybe they were a more financially conscious family than you’d thought. 

“This is the Disney hotel,” Minho whispered in your ear as you passed one of the pools. “It’s crazy expensive to stay here for just a night. Like a standard room is over six hundred dollars.”

“Are you serious?”

“Unfortunately. I mean, we probably could have gotten a discount but someone would have to pull a lot of strings and then a handful of people would know exactly where I’m going to be and when and we would have had to hire security... it was just easier to book somewhere else.”

“Isn’t it kind of dangerous to be walking around here in the open then?”

Minho shrugged. “I like to live life on the edge.”

You snorted. “Clearly.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ji showed me the pictures from your hike earlier.”

His eyes widened. “He did?”

“Uh huh.”

“Shit.”

“You know, I could point out how hypocritical it is to lecture me about safety one day and then do shit like that the next, but I won’t.” 

“You’re the one that told us about the hike!”

You ignored him. “Does your agent know you were climbing mountains this morning?”

He narrowed his eyes at you and leaned closer to your face. “No, and she never will.”

“You seem pretty sure of that...”

“You don’t have her number,” Minho said like he was trying to reassure himself rather than call your bluff. 

“Not yet, I don’t.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It’s a promise.”

He gulped. “Why do I get the feeling that we’re not talking about my agent anymore?”

lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!!

#instead of you stray kids #instead of you skz #iou stray kids #iou skz #stray kids x reader #stray kids x female reader #skz x reader #lee know x reader #lee know x female reader #lee know x bi!reader #lee know series #stray kids series #skz series

[abutterflyscribbles]

Tiny People in Jars AU: Part 10

shoutout to @dainesanddaffodils @deluxetrashqueen @lunalocura for proofing this chapter!

(if you read, if you enjoy, plz reblog and comment!)

Part One/Two/Three/Four/Five/Six/Seven/Eight/Nine/Ao3

“I feel like something Brian Froud would draw.”

Marianne strained her neck, trying to watch Dawn fasten the back of a shirt around the base of the limp purple wings that had so recently taken up residence on Marianne's shoulder blades.

As promised, Griselda and Dawn had gotten some clothing together for Marianne. It was a relief to exchange her ragged jeans and compromised shirt for something clean and whole. Even if the new garments appeared to be made out of leaves.

There must have been some sort of magic involved that kept the leaves fresh and allowed them to be stitched and tailored like cloth. Marianne put on a pair of dark purple leggings that stretched just like knit fabric even though they gave off the faint perfume of flowers. The green tunic sort of thing was something like a belted leaf poncho that hung down to her knees and had some tricky fastenings in the back to allow for wings.

Dawn was doing up the fastenings and was not talking. Very loudly not talking. Which would have been easy enough to ignore if Dawn's silence radiated any amount of anger. But, no, it was a sad silence. The careful silence of someone afraid of offending with a badly placed word. Someone trying very hard to be tactful.

It made Marianne feel guilty and that in turn made her angry. As far as bad days went Marianne's surpassed anyone else's by far. She shouldn't be expected to have the emotional energy to deal with anyone else's woes. Unpleasant truths were clawing at the comfortable veil that had been drawn over her life, ripping apart everything Marianne had thought were rock solid. This left her with no time or inclination to humor the wistful hopes of a teenager.

Then again, a king dealing with a kingdom in chaos wouldn't have been expected to spare the time to offer comfort to a supposed fairy changeling that had stuffed him into a jar earlier on in the day. Bog really was just too awkwardly sweet for his own good. Marianne felt obliged to pass on a little of the niceness she had received and restore cosmic balance.

Mood somewhat lifted by a change of clothing, even if her wings were still trying to drag down her shoulders and her mood, Marianne made an attempt to cheer the princess up.

“Look, kid,” Marianne said, feeling new muscles pulling in her back when she strained to look over her shoulder at Dawn, “I'm not . . . I'm not mad at you or anything, okay?”

“Okay,” Dawn said flatly, finishing with the fastenings and stepping away.

Marianne fumbled for something kind to say that wouldn't bring up the lost princess business. She was sure if she had to hear one more word about that she'd scream. Dawn would look up at her with those big blue eyes full of hope and Marianne would feel like a monster for crushing that hope. Even so, the expectations prickled her temper and she would end up being horrible to the kid again.

“I'm . . . I'm sure Sunny is going to be fine,” Marianne offered, “I mean, he'll get the potion and it will all be . . . fine.”

“Sure,” Dawn agreed, still lacking her characteristic sparkle.

“And—and your dad will be impressed by how you've been handling this whole thing. I mean, getting the goblins to cooperate with you, that's a pretty big deal, right?”

“Yeah. Impressed. Sure.”

“Uh,” Marianne said, trying to provoke the conversation into continuing so that the strains of lovesick singing would remained masked, “Um.

Marianne pulled at the edge of the leaf tunic. It acted almost exactly like fabric. When she pinched it there was no bruising or stickiness of a crushed leaf, just the faint smell, like trees warming under the summer sun. Built-in perfume. Nice.

“I'm sorry if I was kind of abrupt,” Marianne tried again, “It's been a very long, very weird day and I'm six different kinds of scrambled.”

“It's fine.”

The stonewalling tactic had been used on Marianne before and she had an array of methods to deal with it, but most of them involved tackling the taciturn individual and either tickling them or putting them in a headlock until they begged for release and agreed to talk.

These methods had not been devised with a wilting fairy princess in mind.

“Uh, Bog invited me to stay here.”

“Oh?” a spark of life returned to Dawn's face, a gleam of interest in her eyes.

“Yeah, to learn glamour after this love potion is cleaned up. I mean, I would kind of have to stay anyway, really, to learn how to get right-sized again, but it's nice to have a clear invite. Maybe this heap isn't a four star hotel, but maybe it looks better when the sun is up.”

“You're going to stay?”

“Yeah, maybe. Yes. I'll be around for at least a few--”

Dawn sent Marianne staggering with a hug. They both would have tipped over except Dawn spread her wings and hovered with her feet kicked up off the floor.

“--days,” Marianne finished, trying to speak around the shoulder that was crammed into her throat.

“I can show you the fields!” Dawn shoved Marianne to arm's length, “and Sunny's village! You could come to the festival! It was supposed to be tonight, but I bet it was canceled because of everything and--”

“Dawn, I'm going to be staying here. In the forest. If I stay at all.”

“Oh, I know, but you can still socialize! You'll be Boggy's guest, not his prisoner. He likes you.”

“He doesn't like anyone,” Marianne rolled her eyes. Her face felt warm and she really wasn't sure why. It was probably the smirk on Dawn's face, “Especially not people who stick him in badly washed mayo jars.”

“Oh,” Marianne,” Dawn fluttered to the side as she flicked her hands to dismiss the idea, “You do that to everyone. It's just your way, we understand.”

Marianne sputtered out a laugh. “I went my whole life without collecting tiny people in jars, and then in one day I get three. Beginner's luck.”

“Think of how good you'd be if you practiced.”

“I'm trying not to make a habit out of it. With the exception of Roland. I'd like to get him in a pickled onion jar and lob it into a landfill.”

“I only understand half of what you're saying,” Dawn remarked, giggling as she floated around, fussing with Marianne's tangled hair, “but it sounds funny.”

“I'm a riot.”

“Now, don't you look just lovely?” Griselda pattered back into the room, a length of something bundled in her arms, “You could still use a comb, though, mushroom.”

“I've sort of given up on that,” Marianne blew a stray lock of hair out of her eyes after she shooed Dawn's hands away, “It doesn't seem to be worth the effort.”

“Your message to your dad was sent off, dear,” Griselda told Dawn, “And it looks like all the love-dusted folks have been gathered up. Patrols are still out but they haven't reported any new cases of love-sickness in awhile.”

“That probably means somebody got the potion away from the imp,” Dawn tapped her fingers together, “the question is: who?”

“And how's the antidote coming along?” Marianne added.

“Plum does things in her own time,” Griselda's wide face dipped into a frown, “Ridiculous little airheaded twinkling maniac and her useless potions. Oh, of course it works now when it'll cause a mess, but . . . hm. Never mind. She's working on it. There was a little bit of a delay because my boy had her make this.”

Griselda shook out the bundle she had been carrying. It was some sort of blanket or cloak made up of layers of flower petals. Dark purple petals overlapping like scales, rimmed with a slightly darker shade of purple.

“Hellebore petals,” Griselda said, “Had some stowed away. Anyway, my boy had Plum make a wrinkle for you. I had to haggle with her for an age. I said you'd give an IOU for it, sunshine, seeing as it's fairy business in its way. Couldn't get her to name a price that we here could pay.”

Griselda address the last note to Dawn who nodded, “That's fine. She probably wants to make sure she has a protector and patron once she's free. Dad will be happy to oblige. Boggy is so thoughtful!”

“A wrinkle?” Marianne asked, feeling uneasy that a favor done for her was going to be paid for by the fairy king. It felt like Griselda and Dawn were working on the assumption that Marianne really was the lost princess and they were humoring her declarations to the contrary. She would rather have been in debt to Bog and Griselda, if she couldn't be responsible for it herself.

Marianne looked at the offered assemblage of petals that was offered to her, reluctant to accept it, “What is it?”

“A wrinkle, dear. A wrinkle? You know, a wrinkle in the veil? Oh, just try it on, sweetheart.”

The “wrinkle” was like a sort of sleeveless shift that was open down the front. It was waistless and fell straight down to Marianne's knees, no openings in the back for the wings, so it just laid over them. It was nice enough, she supposed, but she couldn't figure out why it was apparently so special. Which was a relief, since that meant she could decline the gift and the debt to the fairy king.

“What's it supposed to do?” She turned in place to see the movement of the garment, “prevent wrinkled clothing or cause it?”

Marianne stopped in the middle of her second rotation, the hem of the wrinkle flapping around her legs. Something had changed, something . . . She spun around, trying to see her own back. She reached behind herself and felt shoulder blades, ordinary shoulder blades and nothing else, poking through the back of the wrinkle.

“Oh, that doesn't look right,” Dawn shuddered, her face tinged with green.

“They're gone!” Marianne spun around again, enjoying her reclaimed balance, “The wings are gone! I can move again!”

“You look all wrong.”

“Are you kidding?” Marianne bounced up and down on her heels, “I could do cartwheels. Move over, I'm going to do cartwheels.”

“Don't you dare!” Dawn grabbed her shoulders, “The room is too small!”

“Handstands, then. Something!” Marianne rolled her shoulders, “How don't I have wings?”

“Take off the wrinkle, dear,” Griselda said, flapping her hands to hurry Marianne up.

Marianne did, and the weight settled back on her shoulders, the wings returned.

“Wrinkles are tricky things, changing just a little part of you to be what it isn't in a world where it is. Probably no one could do one except Plum, My boy thought this might help since you were having so much trouble getting around.”

“I'll thank him when I see him,” Marianne put the wrinkle back on and did another twirl, “I will show my gratitude by respecting his personal space and not hugging him.”

Griselda snorted on her way out of the room, “My boy doesn't know what's good for him.”

“Boggy is so sweet,” Dawn said with some of her usual sparkle, though she was still trying not to look at Marianne's wingless back, “I don't understand why we've been so scared of starting up talks with him. Marianne, stand still!”

“I'm going to do cartwheels!”

“You cannot do cartwheels!”

“You sound just like my brothers. 'Marianne, you can't do cartwheels'. 'Marianne, you'll break something'. 'Marianne, this is the third time you've broken that arm'.”

“Third?” Dawn asked, eyes wide, “How many times . . .?”

“My family invested in rubber stamps so they wouldn't have to sign their names by hand every time I was in a cast. In my defense, it didn't look that far from the roof to the ground.”

Marianne ceased her spinning and dropped herself into a chair. She could sit in a chair again, just like a real person who hadn't been dealing with an otherworldly incursion in their kitchen. She was just Marianne  Gallagher who had more stitches than sweethearts to her name.

Except she wasn't.

“I was trying to fly,” Marianne said, remembering how she teetered on the edge of the porch roof, looking down at the smooth carpet of lawn. There had been an expectation in her tiny, baby brain that she would fly. Or that someone would catch her.

Someone with blue eyes.

Blue eyes always made her sad, a little wistful. Bog's eyes reminded her of that, but they were different from the memory that slipped out of her hands. It was like chasing a gauzy scarf in the wind. It shimmered in the air, rippling out of reach. Dawn's eyes . . . they were almost familiar.

“Dawn . . .” Marianne slouched down in the chair until she was almost sliding off of it.

“Sit up straight,” Dawn tapped Marianne's knees as she walked by.

“What, you afraid I'll wrinkle my wrinkle?”

Dawn giggled, swatting Marianne's knees as punishment for the joke, “Does everyone talk like you? Where you've been—where you come from?”

“There's a whole range,” Marianne gestured in an arc, “I fall on the mouthy end of things. My brothers, less so. It's my coping mechanism in times of extreme upheaval and weirdness.”

“It sounds like . . . like you have a lot of fun with your family.”

“Yeah. We did. Do.”

Teetering on the edge of the roof, teetering between two realities, watching a scarf dance in the wind. How long could she teeter before she fell one way or the other?

Marianne pushed herself up in her chair, her new outfit rumpled around her and the wrinkle wrinkled up beneath her. Distracting herself with the details of getting comfortable, letting the fresh smell of the leaf tunic and flower petal cloak surround her in a comfortable, outdoorsy perfume, Marianne asked the question like she would have dropped a pebble into a dark hole to judge by its rattling descent how deep the darkness went.

“What happened to your sister?”

Dawn looked sad over Marianne's phrasing of the question, and still somewhat queasy over Marianne's missing wings. She sat down, her wings falling effortlessly into place as she did.

“We were kidnapped,” Dawn said, starting the story off with a bang, “some of dad's political rivals took us to use as leverage. Well, actually, it was a cousin, a third or fourth cousin a few times removed. He wanted to be king and he was going to use me and you—me and my sister to make dad step down.”

“Intense,” Marianne remarked.

“I guess,” Dawn shrugged a shoulder, “I can't remember, I wasn't even a year old. Mar—my sister was just five. He had us taken and hidden, but his plan fell apart pretty quickly. All the people he was counting on as allies didn't really want to help him be king. He thought they would all rally around him.”

“Failed a perception check.”

“What?”

“Nothing. So, dear old cousin Back-stabber--”

“Luke, actually.”

“--decided that he wanted more than the simple life of moisture farming on Tatooine and decided to try his hand running the empire. Sorry, never mind, ignore me, keep talking.”

Marianne knew she was being unnecessarily snarky and wished she would stop. It was her way of controlling the situation, as was her habit. Sarcasm and quick jibes kept everyone else on their toes and too busy to press on with an attack against her. It was a tactic she had had much success with, most of the time. It was less effective when no one got your pop culture references.

“Then he tried bargaining to get off without being charged. Mom and dad wouldn't negotiate and sent everybody out to look for us.”

“They obviously got you back. What happened to your sister?”

“It was all kind of confused. We'd been kept at two different places and the people guarding us were under orders to do whatever they had to to keep use from being found. I was being kept near one of the elf villages, actually. The elves found the hiding place and sneaked me out. When the soldiers caught up they found me safe and sound, playing with Sunny.”

“Aw, you were baby best friends.”

“I cried when the soldiers tried to take me away. Mom had to come get me herself.”

“Awww.”

“That's part of why dad has always put up with me going down to the village. Not that he's ever going to let me again, not even with ten times the usual number of guards.”

“Wow him with your super diplomat princess skills. If you make a triumphant return, leading the goblin king by the hand, your dad might reconsider some views.”

“Not likely. He's going to chain me to a chair and chain the chair to the floor so that I can't scoot anywhere. And he'll never let me see Sunny again, not ever. Not that I want to ever see Sunny again.”

“Of course not.”

“But dad doesn't get to make that choice for me.”

“Absolutely not. So . . . while you were happily burbling over a borrowed rattle, what happened to your sister?”

It wasn't clear to Marianne what she was hoping to learn from this story. Maybe some detail she could point at and say, “aha! That proves it! It couldn't have possibly been me!”. Maybe find out that the princess had a distinctive birthmark that Marianne didn't. That was the usual method in these sort of melodramas. And Marianne could quite safely claim she had no birthmarks, distinguishing or otherwise. A sizable collection of scars, but none whose origins had not been documented.

Purple wings were all that Dawn had to go on, and Marianne refused to be convinced on such flimsy evidence. There had to be something that would explain everything. Something in the story that would prove . . . well, she was starting to feel a little beyond believing that she could prove she was purely human. But maybe there was something that would just . . . let her be her. That if she was a changeling, she was an anonymous orphan without family or ties that would pull her away from the world she wanted to belong to.

“They found where she was being kept, too,” Dawn continued, “Or they were pretty sure. They surrounded the hiding place—it was on the edge of the Dark Forest in the hollow at the base of a tree—and moved in to take Luke's accomplice by surprise.”

“How do you know all this? Seems like your dad wouldn't want your gentle ears dirtied with such sordid details.”

“Sunny's mom told me when I was older. Nobody at court would dare breathe a word about it around me. Lottie thought I should know and when I asked about it she told me everything.”

“Sunny's mom?” Marianne laughed at a sudden thought, “She's going to kill him for all this, isn't she? If she's anything like my mom, she will.”

“Oh, goodness, she will! I kind of hope I'm there . . .”

“Share the front row seats with me. I'll bring popcorn.”

“Why popcorn?”

“Wait, you know what popcorn is?”

“Why wouldn't I know what popcorn is?”

Marianne imagined a fairy eating an individual kernel of popcorn and wondered how they popped corn without getting concussed.

“Anyway, Sunny's mom told you everything?”

“The important things. She didn't give me many details, except that mom tripped over a guard in the dark when they were creeping up the tree. She smashed him behind the ear,” Dawn made a punching motion, “dented his helmet.”

“You're making that up.”

“Busted up her hand, but luckily she was ambidextrous.”

“I'm not left-handed,” Marianne muttered.

“So she could still hold a sword and lead the charge against Luke's men.”

“You are making this up.”

“Mom won, of course. There weren't enough guards to do more than slow her men down  for a few minutes . . . but it was long enough. One of Luke's people ran away and it was dark, but they thought he might have been carrying my sister, but . . .”

“He got away?”

Dawn wrapped her arms around herself and looked down at her knees. She spoke in a lower voice, hushed and serious, “He got snatched by an owl.”

“Oh. Oh.”

Marianne's earlier concerns about owls and other flying creatures of the night were justified and the confirmation sent a shiver down her spine. The shiver even felt like it traveled into the wings, outlining them for a passing moment. A fairy caught in the talons of an owl . . . wings tangled, maybe ripped, a baby in their arms . . .

“Yeah,” Dawn nodded, “Everyone kind of got scattered and they couldn't find the owl's nest afterwards.”

“But . . . why did you guys think she could be alive? Even if she wasn't eaten by the owl she could have fallen and been snatched up by something else.”

“Nobody knew for sure!” Dawn said hotly, “Nobody had actually seen Marianne! They found four more hiding places afterwards and decoy guards all over the place!”

“Okay, okay!” Marianne said, feeling bad that she had upset Dawn again, “So there's a chance she made it. Where did she end up, then?”

Dawn gave Marianne a flat stare.

“Oh. Duh. Right. Changeling.”

“Uh huh.”

“Give me a break, it's been--”

“A long day.”

“Shut up. It's true no matter how many times I say it. Why would they stash your sister with humans? And if her, why not you too?”

“I hadn't thought of that . . .” Dawn drooped a little, “That does stick out.”

A touch of excitement made Marianne's heart skip a beat. The scarf was in the wind, her fingers nearly on it, she was on the verge of finding out something that would put the world back to rights. The changeling princess theory was about to fall apart.

“But then why do you look so much like mom?” Dawn stood up and threw her hands out in a plea for answers, “Your wings? Your—your attitude? Everything I remember, everything people tell me, mom was strong, she was funny, and she was really kind! You're all those things too! You're a changeling! Nothing else makes sense!”

“None of this makes sense!” Marianne shot back, standing up too.

“It does so! It's got to! You've got to come back! You've got to come back and it'll all be okay! We'll have you back! The kingdom will be so happy, dad will be . . .” Dawn choked a little, “dad will be happy.”

He's not my father.

Marianne couldn't say the words out loud. Again she was caught between her need to scream her hopes until they became true and her unwillingness to crush this fragile little girl. Dawn had taken too many hits already that day.

“Kid . . .” Marianne sighed, putting her hands on Dawn's shaking shoulders, “We'll . . . we'll look into all this. Look for some answers. Two kingdoms are involved, I guess I'm not going to be able to just skip town. But, kid, please don't hang all your hopes on me. Please.”

Dawn hung her head.

“Look me in the eye, kiddo.”

Dawn lifted her head and looked into Marianne's eyes. “Okay. That's fair. But if you are my--”

“I'm your friend. I'll be hanging around awhile. That is all I can promise. Okay?”

“Okay.” Dawn offered a bright smile, still looking into Marianne's eyes, her usual brightness quickly eating away the sadness.

The wind changed. The fluttering scarf blew into Marianne's hand. She remembered edging along the gutter on the roof, looking down, looking for something. For someone. A familiar face that glowed with warmth, sparkled with happiness. Someone with eyes that were . . .

Marianne tore her gaze away from Dawn's face. She covered her face with her hands and refused to look at Dawn. She tried to throw the fluttering memory away. She didn't want it. She wanted it to dissolve again, this time forever. But the scarf had turned solid in her hands, wrapped itself in knots around her fingers, and she could not tear it off.

“Marianne? Marianne are you alright?”

The room was too small. There wasn't enough space in it with the memory filling the room from corner to corner.

“Dawn,” the memory squeezed Marianne's chest until the whisper came out, the question was asked, “What color were your mother's eyes?”

“Blue,” Dawn replied, “Dad says I have her eyes.”

The scarf was somehow attached to a heavy weight and Marianne tumbled off the roof, falling and knowing there would be no one there to catch her.

“You've got to stop doing this, tough girl.”

Bog was suddenly there, keeping her from tipping over.

“Doing what?” Marianne asked, blinking away the blur in front of her eyes.

“Not fainting.”

“I was not not fainting. I tripped.”

“While standing still?”

“I'm talented that way. When did you materialize out of the ether?”

“Just now. Just in time. Are you alright?”

“Fine. It's just been a--”

“Long day?”

“Shut up.”

Marianne took a deep breath and looked up to see if the room was stable. It was. It was also notably empty of any sparkling fairy princesses.

“Where did Dawn go?”

“There was some news and I sent her to talk to the messenger. I thought you would . . . you were looking a little . . . I thought you would rather not have her speculating any further about your identity for the time being.”

“Thanks. This identity crisis is knocking me off balance.”

“I noticed.”

“Shut up. You're horrible. You're the worse.”

“I hope you don't think that is a revelation for me.”

“I said shut up. You shut up, everybody shut up. I shut up. Bog . . . Bog is there any possible way I can get out of here? Right now? This minute? Have the tipsy glitter fairy slap some charm on me to get big again and just let me go home?”

“Not that I'm aware,” Bog replied, bewildered at Marianne's babbling and frantic pacing up and down the room. She couldn't stand still. She had to run. She had to run now.

Marianne kicked over a chair.

The chair knocked a piece off the wall. Dust sprinkled down from the ceiling.

Bog stood there, twiddling his fingers uncertainly.

Marianne thought over the benefits of kicking more furniture.

“I hate this place,” She said, teeth clenched.

“Oh?” Bog said, obviously stung by the statement.”

“Not your stupid Dark Forest. I'm sure it's absolutely lovely underneath the cobwebs and rot. This stupid, absurd situation.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing! Nothing.” Marianne scrabbled around for a change of subject. Anything to avoid talking, remembering. She settled on asking about the progress of diplomatic proceedings between fairies and goblins. The sooner that was settled the sooner Marianne could get everyone's full attention on solving the problem on making her big again.

“What was the news for Dawn? Her dad write back already?”

“Not as such.” Bog let out a tired sigh and massaged the back of his neck. His default scowl returned, dark as ever. Marianne was sort of glad that the shadows cast by his eyebrows hid how blue his eyes were. She was also sort of disappointed. Bog kind of had lovely eyes . . .

“An armed force of fairies and elves has crossed the border into the forest.”

“Oh. That stinks. What, they trying to rescue the captive princess? Didn't they get Dawn's note about how she has totally not been kidnapped?”

“Hard to say. The messenger hasn't returned.”

“Well . . . this isn't looking exactly terrific.”

“And the love potion is still unaccounted for. My scouts have lost track of the elf entirely. He's quite slippery, it seems. Plum needs to have that antidote at the ready before the elf or the preening fairy get here.”

Every new bit of news had Marianne's heart sinking lower. At this point it was somewhere in the pit of her stomach but she was sure it would get all the way down to her feet sooner or later.

“I guess I hope Sunny has the potion. The guy has learned his lesson.” Marianne said. But she imagined the pink bottle in Roland's hands and felt her heart slip down to her knees.

Bog just snorted.

“What's happening now, then? To war?”

“Not so long as I have their princess.” Bog's face pulled into a pleased smirk. It was ridiculously adorable how smug he got when he had the upper hand. It was like he was relishing a hard-earned triumph.

“Except you don't really,” Marianne pointed out.

“Technically, I do.”

“I thought the hostage thing was a joke.”

“She's not a hostage. Technically.”

“Don't get yourself twisted up in technicalities there, crunchy.”

“Don't call me--”

“Prickly?”

Bog's face twisted up in an even darker scowl. He even bared his teeth like he was working up a snarl.

It was also completely adorable how easy it was to ruffle Bog. He wasn't used to having people talk back. Except, Marianne supposed, by his mother.

“Look, if I have to I'll hold the princess here and only turn her over on the condition that the love potion is returned and they cease to trample all over my forest.”

“If that doesn't pan out?”

“I thrash the stuffing out of their tin armor and send them scurrying back home.”

“Straightforward. I like it.”

“Why does your approval fill me with unease?”

Marianne laughed. She hadn't expected to laugh so soon. For a towering pillar of spikes and prickles Bog was somehow reassuring to be around.

“You'll have to get Dawn to agree. If she doesn't then we're busting out of this joint.”

“Huh! You and what army?”

“I'm a one-woman army.”

“. . . true.”

“And I'm not handicapped anymore.” Marianne bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, feigning a few boxing-style punches at Bog. “You're hoisted by your own petard, giving me the coat of wrinkles.”

“I do appear to have made an error in judgment.” Bog chuckled, grabbing her fist when it swung by his nose. He held onto her hand and looked down into her eyes, probably disconcerted by the manic sparkle that must have been glittering in them. She felt out of control, running, running, running. She couldn't stop. Couldn't give herself time to think.

“What’s wrong--?” Bog began.

“I haven't thank you for the wrinkle,” Marianne pulled her hand free and spun away, the wrinkle flaring out. She almost stumbled, but managed to turn it into a lurching sidestep, “Sharp outfit, no wings, I feel human again. Kinda.”

Bog made a motion to grab her shoulder. He stopped himself and rubbed his hands together instead. “What happened?”

His voice was soft and kind. His eyes were visible again, a breathtaking shade of blue, lighter than the ones that haunted her, but similar enough to make her physically recoil.

Bog took a sharp step back, hands held up as if he were demonstrating that they were empty and his claws were out of play. It took Marianne a moment to realize he thought he had frightened her.

“No, no!” Marianne hurried to say, “You're fine! You're good. You're great. You're fantastic. It's not you. It's me. I'm a mess. I'm in worse shape than your castle.”

“Pardon?”

“It can't have escaped your notice that it's falling apart.”

Bog's gray teeth bared again as they scraped back and forth.

“Okay, wow, I am on a roll with the offending. Sorry. Please refer to previous statement of me going a disaster and disregard my opinion accordingly. I swear, I am too sober for this. But this castle is falling apart and so am I.”

“If it's falling apart it's because you've been throwing furniture into the walls!”

“Hey, it was only one furniture.”

“May I inquire as to why you are throwing things—singular or plural—and why your falling apart seems to have . . . accelerated?”

“Nothing. No reason. I'm fine.”

“I thought you just said you were falling apart.”

“Did not.”

Bog growled.

“Oh, go tangle yourself in a fly trap.”

“I can't tell if you're upset or just mad.”

“Mad like angry? Or mad like crazy?”

“Either.”

“Shut up. Maybe I am mad! Mad as in angry! My wedding fell apart because my boyfriend is a cheating, opportunistic pixie, I got shrunk when I wanted to be drunk, a fairy princess insists I'm her long-lost sister and she might be--”

Marianne hiccuped. Her throat had seized tight and the volume of her voice dropped dramatically. Tears rushed up into her eyes and started to spill over when she finished her sentence.

“--she might be right.”

There was an awkward pause that Marianne filled with angry sniffles. Bog shuffled and fidgeted. She couldn't blame him. He'd had to deal with her erratic emotions quite enough already tonight.

“Do you . . . do you want to hit something?” Bog asked.

“What?”

“I find it helps.”

Marianne looked over at the overturned chair. She nodded.

Bog opened the door and motioned for her to pass through it with a bow and wave of his hand.

“Dork.” Marianne sniffed.

For the first time in days Marianne felt sure of her footing.

The weight of the wooden practice sword in her hand was perfectly balanced. Her feet slotted easily into to pattern her muscles had followed so many times before. Gracefulness of movement was not something Marianne counted among her virtues, but she knew she moved well with a sword in her hand. And it felt good.

The throne room was nearly empty save Bog, Marianne, and a couple of squat goblins sitting on the steps in front of the throne. Marianne was fairly sure that one of them, for whatever reason, was licking pebbles. The two goblins were the only audience to witness a fairy changeling and a goblin king square up to fight.

Marianne put herself through a few stances to get the feel of the floor through her new boots and how the wooden sword rested in her hand. It felt ten times better than a baseball bat.

“You look happy. And a wee bit bloodthirsty.” Bog remarked. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, shifting his hands into black on the wooden staff he had taken up instead of his scepter.

“I am going to destroy you, Bog King,” Marianne pointed her sword at him, “and take your gothpunk throne for myself.”

“Oh,” Bog casually spun his staff in the fingers of one hand. Marianne hated that he made it look so easy. “So that was your plan all along. Charm the king and depose him when his back was turned.”

“I've been found out. I totally want to take over a kingdom with no indoor plumbing or twinkies. Now that that's out in the open--” She took up a stance with the sword above her head, parallel with the floor, and her other hand out for balance, “--bring it.”

“I was anticipating something more along the lines of going through a few basic moves.”

“Okay, or that. If you want to be all reasonable and sane.”

“One of us has to be.”

“Says who?”

They went through the slow movements of a mock battle. Marianne had started off wanting to pummel something into a pulp, but the structured exercise leveled out her mood as she because too focused to let her thoughts stray to unwanted memories.

Like of crying. Of being a tiny child in her mother's arms but crying her lungs out. The arms that held her were strange. The wrong arms.

The blow Marianne struck was forceful enough to jolt her all the way up to her shoulders. Even her banished wings asserted their existence enough to give a ghostly flutter. Bog was taken aback, weapon still held up defensively.

Marianne lowered her sword. “Sorry.”

Bog tapped her exposed stomach with the end of his staff. “I suppose the intent of this exercise was to give you an opportunity hit things.”

Marianne knocked the staff aside. “Yeah, but not with, like, killing intent. Unless Roland was around.”

A few more blows were exchanged. Bog's wings flicked up and down with his movements and Marianne could tell he was trying his best not to lift himself off the floor. It made her wonder about the dynamics of a fight between two winged people. It would be a whole new ballgame.

“I went and rattled Plum's cage,” Bog said, parrying her swings with one hand behind his back, “She started to babble about riddles, but only until the princess looked as if she was going to cry. The antidote should be ready soon.”

“Great. You have my permission to dose me with it if any of that potion starts getting thrown around. Please?”

“Of course.”

Marianne held up a hand to signal a time out. The news unwound one of the tight muscles in her back and the release made her sag. She was going to be safe. No matter what, Roland couldn't charm her again. If he got so far as to force the love potion on her, she could count on Bog to administer the antidote.

The muscle in her back snapped tight again. Count on Bog to help her. Save her. How had she ended up in a situation where she needed other people to bail her out? Running away from everything had been an attempt to assert control over her crumbling life. She had lined everyone up in a neat row of jars and presided over them, their fates in her hands.

But, really, she had not been in control of anything since the day she met Roland and he had charmed his way past her defenses and wrapped a chain around her heart, trapping her. She was still trapped. Cut off from the people she had thought were her family. Shoved into a miniature world, shoved into a life that was supposed to be hers. And she hadn't been able to do anything to stop it.

Standing on the edge of the field, crying because she couldn't find the way back home. Wedged into a world where she didn't belong. Ripped out of it and forced into a space that no longer fit.

Marianne struck a series of blows so sudden and forceful that Bog could only say, “Whoa!” while he hurried to block and dodge. She charged. He defended. She blocked. He dodged. The foundation of his fighting style appeared to be strictly defensive. Marianne redoubled her attack, trying to make him fight back. Take her seriously. She was a threat. She was dangerous.

She backed him up the steps to the throne. Bog's wings were rattling, a dry noise. The wrinkle brushed around her legs with the whisper of fresh flower petals. She wished it was the crackle of splintering wood. Shattering glass. Of wood crumpling metal armor. She was not soft. She was not a buttercup or any other flower. She was--

“Tough girl,” Bog leaned back so far to avoid her slashing sword that he could have won a limbo contest. It beat Marianne how someone who wore armor 24/7 could be that flexible. “I thought this was just practice!”

“What? The mighty Bog King afraid of a challenge?”

“Hardly. I just wonder if you can keep up!”

Marianne's reply was a sharp shout. She brought her sword down hard enough that had they been using real weapons sparks would have flown. She was wildly mixing one-handed fencing techniques with two-handed sword moves. And she was making it work. No rules. No points. No holding back. Everything that had been simmering inside her bubbled up and boiled over until her arms screamed and her throat was raw.

No matter how many blows struck true nothing could get rid of those blue eyes of a woman that was buried at the very foundation of Marianne's memories. Blue eyes that were so loving that Marianne hurt. She didn't want the shreds of memory. They were edged with broken teeth and they tore her skin when she fought them.

Bog fought back.

Really, actually fought back.

Marianne was grateful for that. It put a smile on her face, the fact that someone was taking her seriously. Acknowledging that she was not only capable, but dangerous. His lopsided smile showed her that he was enjoying this fight.

Somewhere in the exchange of blows Marianne's anger began to flow out of her, caught in the current of competition. She started to show off. She jumped over the staff that tried to sweep her feet out from under her. She added flourishes, she spun. Bog imitated her footwork and stance and she laughed at it.

It might have taken a complete collapse of her lungs to stop Marianne if the wooden sword had not struck the side of the throne instead of Bog, wrenching the wooden blade out of its hilt. Bog pressed forward to take advantage of the opening. Marianne took a leap back, her wings fizzing with the need to lift her in the air. The staff splintered when it hit the patch of floor Marianne had just vacated.

Gasping for breath, the two of them stared at each other.

“Tie?”

“Tie.”

Bog dropped onto his throne, flicking his wings out of the way. Marianne sat on the arm. The sword's hilt was still in her hand.

“Feel better?” Bog asked, giving his broken staff an absent examination.

“Emotionally? Kind of. Physically? I feel like I have made something not unlike a mistake.”

Bog grumbled something unintelligible that might have meant something like, “Same.”

They wheezed for awhile.

“I remembered something.”

“Hm?”

Marianne fought to make her dry throat swallow so she could go on. “I remembered something about here. I think. I think it was my--” Her throat closed up. She couldn't say it. She couldn't say 'mother'.

There was a soft rasp. Bog had placed his hand on the arm of the throne, next to where her own hand was resting. The sight of those long black claws was comforting. It was hard not to put her hand on top of his.

“Dawn's right.” The words sent a wave of nausea up her throat and she had to swallow hard to push it back but still let the words out. “I think I'm the princess.”

The scarf of memory was wrapped around her throat, tight enough to choke her.

“I'm sorry.” Bog said, in that gentle way of his that he was so reluctant to show. “I know it isn't what you wanted.”

He put her hand on hers after a few false starts, expecting her to draw back.

She moved her hand so she could grab his fingers and squeeze them hard. She kept squeezing as she slid off the arm of the throne and turned to face him, enjoying the novelty of looking down into his eyes. She smoothed her hand over the armor on the back of his hand, following the pattern with her thumb.

Bog looked terrified.

“You've been great,” She told him, bending over his hand. There was some new feeling that warmed her chest and she clung to it, ignoring the mass of other emotions seething inside her. While everything else that day had been weighing her down, this feeling buoyed her up. Made her feel light. It was a nice feeling.

Also terrifying.

She wasn't sure what it was. It was like jumping without knowing how far it was to the ground. It was thrilling and frightening, leaving her in a moment of weightlessness, neither falling nor flying. The ground would rise up sooner later to slam into her unprepared feet, but right now . . . the feeling filled her up, leaving almost no room for breath. It spilled out of her, she couldn't stop it. She didn't really try. She just looked into blue eyes that were still new to her and unfairly gorgeous.

Even as she did it Marianne knew it was something not unlike a mistake. That did absolutely nothing to stop her from bending over and placing a kiss on the back of Bog's shaking hand.

#strange magic #spread the lofe #butterfly bog #potionless #tiny people in jars au #strange magic tiny people in jars au #sparkle princess #fiery warrior princess #the bog king #chapter #my fanfic #fanfic

[sluttywonwoo]

instead of you [part thirty-nine] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, angst

word count: 3.1k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

“How much longer until we reach it?”

“You’ve asked that six times in the past ten minutes!”

“That’s because no one’s given me an answer!”

“Because no one knows, Felix! None of us have hiked this path before.”

Felix grumbled something behind his brother’s back but he must not have heard because he didn’t argue further.

The majority of the hike thus far had been uphill, something that the park rangers had neglected to mention when they sent you off into the forest. Thankfully, the mountains and canopy of trees provided some kind of shade but it was still scorching hot. And humid. And you were sweating like crazy. 

Everyone was. Minho had already taken his shirt off and Felix had completely sweat through his. That was probably why he was complaining so much. He refused to take it off, though. Something about not wanting to get sunburned again. 

“You doing okay?” Jisung asked, looking over at you. 

The two of you had found yourselves in the middle of the pack for once, walking behind his parents and in front of his brothers. 

“Yeah, fine,” you answered, trying not to sound as out of breath as you felt. 

“Did you bring your inhaler?”

“Um...”

“Why do I even ask?”

-

After fifteen more minutes of walking and a bathroom break, you finally reached the waterfall. 

Felix sighed. “That’s it? We walked all this way for this?” 

“Shut up, Felix,” Jisung snapped. “It just looks small from the bridge, it’s not actually that small.”

“I’d say it’s a pretty average size,” you added, “maybe even kind of big.”

Minho laughed behind you. Thankfully, his parents didn’t seem to hear your comment. To be fair to Felix, it wasn’t a huge waterfall. It certainly wasn’t the biggest waterfall in Hawai’i, but it was one of the few that visitors could swim under. That’s what made it so popular. 

And the bridge had made it look smaller than it really was. 

There was an area to rinse off before and after getting in the water so you all took turns under the showerhead. 

Nikki was the only one who didn’t want to swim, which meant that she was stuck with all of the bags. You felt sort of bad when Jisung handed over the backpack you were sharing but Nikki assured you that it was fine, that she would rather hold them for you than have you rent one of the rusty lockers to store it in. 

Waimea Falls required everyone to wear a life jacket, regardless of swimming ability. You knew it was a liability thing but you still couldn’t help but shiver when you slung on the cold, wet vest and buckled it around your chest. Who knew how many people had worn it before you today.

Shoes were optional so you left your sandals in the gravel by the bleachers and tiptoed your way back over to the edge of the water. The boys did the same. 

The five of you stood there, staring at the rocks leading down into the lagoon, trying to figure out how to proceed without falling. It was hard to determine the best way in as all of the rocks that were big enough to step on were either jagged and/or slippery.

“Ladies first,” Felix said unceremoniously.

You glared at him but decided to take a step down anyway. Someone had to go first and since everyone else was being a pussy it might as well be you. You moved at a snail’s pace, trying your best to move in a way that wouldn’t send you tumbling down the incline if you misstepped. 

The rocks seemed stable enough to hold your weight without sliding around in the mud but one of them wobbled under you upon stepping on it, making you nearly lose your balance. 

“Careful!” Jisung and Minho shouted at the same time, causing you to turn around and make a face at them both. 

They traded weird looks with each other before turning their attention back to you, who had made significant progress toward the water. By the time you finally reached the edge, the boys had started trekking down behind you, much more haphazardly than you had. 

You extended your leg out in front of you to feel it out, trying not to scream when your toes grazed the water. It was freezing, way colder than you expected, but you knew it would feel incredible once you were fully submerged. It was one of if not the hottest days of the trip and you had sweat through everything. Even the life vest they’d saddled you with was beginning to feel sticky. 

“How is it?” Jisung called from behind you. 

“Feels good!” you lied, not trusting yourself to turn around and show him your face. He’d know you were bluffing instantly. 

Since you didn’t want to hold up the line, you took a deep breath and pushed yourself off of the ledge, finding your footing with both feet in the water. The bed of the lagoon was also covered with rocks. They were more slippery than the ones on the path seeing as they were wet and covered with algae so you had to be extra careful. 

You moved away from the shore so that the boys could get in after you. 

“Oh, Jesus fucking Christ!” was Jisung’s shout from behind you.

You turned back to see him submerged up to his waist. He apologized to the people around him for cursing before glaring at you. 

“You little brat!” he muttered, lunging at you.

You let out a yelp as the weight of your best friend dragged you under. You both emerged with dripping hair, laughing and sputtering. 

“You said it felt good!”

“It does! It’s refreshing!”

“It’s cold as fuck,” he muttered, “and you knew that.”

“What, can’t take a little chill?” you taunted.

He splashed you. 

“Are we going to swim over to the waterfall or what?” Minho’s voice echoed from behind you both, sounding annoyed. 

Jisung smirked before turning around to face his older brother. 

“We don’t all have to go together. You could have gone on without us.”

Felix was the last to get in, gingerly stepping on the algae-covered rocks to make his way over to the three of you. Dom stayed by the edge, content to keep Nikki company from the water. He claimed to be too old to swim against the current just to get thousands of gallons of water dunked on him. 

“Let’s go, babe,” Jisung said, jerking his head over his shoulder in the direction of the waterfall.

Swimming to the base of the waterfall proved to be a lot more difficult than it looked. The current was strong and moving against it required a lot of effort. People who weren’t strong swimmers had no chance of making it all the way under. 

It was doable for you, but not without struggle. The boys seemed to be in the same boat, save for Minho, who was the fittest out of all of you. He was already several strokes ahead of the rest of you when Jisung called out for him to wait up. He paused and tread water while he waited for you and the twins to catch up. 

“I thought we were going together,” Felix panted bitterly. 

“Not my fault you guys are slow,” he rebutted. 

“Maybe we should hold hands,” Jisung suggested and pointed to another family who was making significantly more progress. “They’re doing it.”

“You think that’s going to work?” you asked. 

“Yeah, how do we know you guys aren’t just going to hold me back?”

Felix clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Minho-”

“You could stand to pull some more weight, K-pop boy,” Jisung pointed out.

“Tsk, fine. How should we do this?”

Minho obviously helmed the line. You were stuck between him and Jisung, with Felix bringing up the rear. You didn’t argue about your place in the order but it did feel strange to be holding both Minho and Jisung’s hands at the same time. You couldn’t tell whether they felt similarly but you had to assume they did. 

Minho tugged you along and you pulled Jisung in turn. They held on to you tightly so as not to lose you in the tide. You tried to focus on keeping your head above the surface instead of the feeling of both of their hands in yours. 

Jisung’s hand-holding strategy actually worked and you made it to the waterfall twice as fast as you would have on your own. 

Trying to get under the waterfall was another ordeal. The water pressure was so aggressive that you had to fight against the water in order to get up on the rocks right beneath the stream. 

“This kind of hurts!” Jisung shouted over the roaring of the water. 

“Yeah, I think I’m getting bruises!” Minho agreed. 

“You guys are pussies!” you yelled, even though it did hurt and you wouldn’t be surprised if was bruising you. 

“I think Mom is trying to take a picture!” Felix screamed.

Automatically, all four of you posed even though you couldn’t see where Nikki was and you could barely open your eyes under the stream. You grabbed for Jisung but got Minho instead, accidentally squeezing his ass in an effort to hold his hand. How you mixed up the person standing beside you and mis-approximated where their wrist was, you didn’t know, but you immediately let go once you realized your mistake and fumbled for the right person’s hand instead. 

If Jisung noticed what happened, he didn’t say anything about it. Minho definitely did notice and you could see him trying not to laugh out of the corner of your eye. 

“Should we swim back now?” one of the boys, you weren’t sure which, asked after you had stood there for what felt long enough for their mother to have snapped a couple of photos. 

“You guys can, I think y/n and I are going to swim around by ourselves for a bit longer.”

That was news to you but you weren’t necessarily upset about it. You hadn’t been in the water for long anyway and you wanted to make the most of it. And if Jisung wanted to be alone with you, you weren’t going to say no. 

Your number one priority was winning him back, making it up to him, as much as you could. 

You followed Jisung to a secluded part of the pool, letting him tug you along as you floated on your back. Minho and Felix either got out or fucked off to another part of the lagoon. You weren’t paying attention when you split up and you weren’t about to look for them. 

“Did you want to talk about something?” you asked your best friend. 

“No, just wanted some space from my brothers.”

“Oh, ok.”

“Did you want to talk about something?” he parroted. 

You made a face. “No, unless you’ve changed your mind.”

You could tell he knew what you referring to immediately from the way his expression shifted. 

“Not here, yeah?”

You nodded in agreement. He was right, you should have that conversation somewhere private. Still, you took his answer as a good sign. ‘Not here’ implied that there was somewhere that you would have that conversation, which meant that he was willing to have it. You counted that as a win. A very small win, but a win nonetheless. 

“What?” Jisung asked, squinting at you through the sunlight. 

“Huh?”

“What’s got you smiling like that? What’s on your mind?”

You hadn’t realized you were smiling until he pointed it out. 

“Just happy to be here with you.”

-

You had dinner at some famous burger place that night. You were too tired to pay much attention to what you were eating or what everyone was talking about but you’re pretty sure the food tasted good. 

The restaurant was in the middle of their dinner rush when your party arrived so you had to wait for a table. There was a small surf shop attached to the same building so you went with the boys to check it out while Nikki and Dom scoped out somewhere to sit. Everything was expensive so no one bought anything but window shopping kept you occupied for the time being. 

After dinner, you rode with Jisung’s parents back to the resort. He seemed indifferent to your presence this time, which you took as another win. He held your hand in the back seat and you rested your head on his shoulder. Neither of you fell asleep but you kept your eyes closed, enjoying the silence.

“We’re here, kids,” Nikki said softly once Dom had parked in the lot.

Jisung stretched, forcing you to sit up too. You thanked them for the ride, and for dinner since they paid, before Jisung asked if you wanted to take a walk on the beach. 

“Sure, let’s go.”

He led you by the hand through the maze of buildings to the hotel’s beach entrance. You passed other couples as you strolled past the pool and the firepits and it made your heart sink a little. You were jealous of them. Jealous that they could enjoy each other’s company out in the open like that. Jealous that they looked so happy. Jealous that they weren’t sacrificing one relationship for another. 

You were definitely projecting, they absolutely could have been in the same situation as you and you would never know but you refused to acknowledge that possibility because you were resolute on feeling bitter. 

The sun hadn’t fully set yet despite the late hour. Being that it was still the middle of summer, it wouldn’t get dark until much later than usual. You were also convinced that daylight lingered longer in Hawai’i than it did in other places but you had no evidence to back that up. 

“Here, I’ll carry your shoes for you,” Jisung offered, holding out his free hand for them. 

You paused. “Oh, are you sure?”

“Yeah, I know you don’t like the feeling of sand in your shoes.”

“Thank you.”

You bent down to undo your sandals and handed them to Jisung. He looped the straps around two of his fingers and resumed holding your hand. 

The sand was still warm, holding on to the heat of the day. 

“Are we going all the way down to the water?” you asked. 

“If you want to,” Jisung answered. 

“I don’t really feel like getting wet again.”

“That’s fine with me.”

You settled for walking along the outline of the tide where the sand was still dry. You followed the curves of the waves from hours past, tracing the remnants of high tide with your arms out like you were walking on a tightrope. Jisung trailed behind you for a few moments before catching up with you again. 

You had pulled your hand out of his grasp moments earlier to run ahead, distracted by the seafoam in the distance. You waited for him and put your arms back by your sides. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to ditch you,” you sighed when he reappeared at your side. 

“I know,” he replied. 

Instead of offering you his hand this time, he gave you his elbow. You took it gently, resting your hand on his bicep. 

He was uncharacteristically quiet. You wondered what was on his mind. When he invited you down here, you thought it would be to talk, to finally have that conversation. Maybe it had been and he changed his mind. Or maybe it had never been his intention in the first place. 

You were starting to think you’d never get an answer when he finally spoke. 

“I’m sorry for what I said.”

You tensed but kept walking, not wanting to confront whatever expression might be on Jisung’s face. If you stopped, you would have to look at him or stare at the ground. If you continued walking, you could just look straight. 

“I... didn’t mean that shit... about wishing I never met you. Or any of it really. I wanted to mean it. But I couldn’t, because none of it’s true. I was just really hurt. I still am, to be honest.”

“I understand,” you responded. 

“I want us to move past this,” he continued, “but it still feels really fresh. I mean, I only found out about you and Min a few days ago.”

You nodded as you listened. He was right. It had only been a handful of days even though it felt like an eternity. Being at odds with Jisung was hell. He was your best friend, after all. You had lived life with him by your side for the past four years. You didn’t want to imagine what that would look like without him. 

“Right.”

He cocked his head to the side, lost in thought. 

“I’m sorry too,” you added, wanting to reiterate just how shitty you felt about the whole thing. 

“I know,” he said softly. “I know you are. I knew you were then too. I’m sorry for invalidating your apology-”

“Don’t be!” you interrupted. “My actions and my words... they don’t add up. I would’ve thought I was bullshitting too.”  

Jisung scratched the back of his neck and forced a laugh. “Yeah, it wasn’t easy to wrap my head around. But I get it, I think. There’s just something about Minho, isn’t there?” 

You snuck a glance at him but didn’t say anything. You had a feeling it was a rhetorical question. 

“You must have been miserable this whole time. Trying to push down your feelings for him and then finally acting on them but being consumed by guilt when you finally do.”

“It hasn’t been the best,” you admitted, “but it’s my own fault.”

“Not entirely,” Jisung reasoned. 

You were surprised he was coming to your defense but you figured he’d go up to bat for anyone if it was against Minho. 

“Enough of it is.”

Your best friend shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like you’re known for your decision-making skills.”

You scoffed and nudged him with your shoulder. He laughed a real laugh for the first time in days. You had missed hearing it. It made you smile too. You rested your head on his shoulder and for once it felt natural. 

“I really am sorry, Ji,” you sighed, your voice wavering. 

“I know. I can’t pretend that I’m over it... but I will be. I also know that I can’t ask you to end things with him...”

“You can-”

“No,” he murmured. “I can’t. You would resent me for it.” You opened your mouth to protest but Jisung shook his head and you closed it again. “You would. Maybe unconsciously, but you would. Things wouldn’t be the same.”

“Things won’t be the same if I don’t end things with him,” you pointed out.

“I know,” he agreed solemnly. Then he sighed as if it was something he had already come to terms with. “But you’ll still love me the same. And that’s enough.”

lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!!

#instead of you stray kids #instead of you skz #iou stray kids #iou skz #stray kids x reader #lee know x reader #lee know x female reader #stray kids x female reader #lee know x bi!reader #lee know series #lee minho x reader #minho x reader #stray kids series

[sluttywonwoo]

instead of you [part thirty-eight] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, mentions of sex (18+ ; mdni)

word count: 2.8k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

“You put sunscreen on, right?” 

“Yes, dad.”

Jisung rolled his eyes. “I’m just trying to make sure you don’t burn.”

“Worry about yourself, lobster.”

“You need to come up with a new sunburn joke. That one is getting old.”

“I’ll go back to the drawing board, spitball a little bit,” you muttered. 

Your best friend laughed. “Let me know when you land on something.”

“Aye, aye, captain.”

“Can you get my back, though?” Jisung asked. 

“Sure, babe.”

You took the tube of sunblock from his hands and squeezed some into your palm. He yanked off his shirt and shoved it in his bag, turning away from you so that you could apply the sunscreen. He bent his knees a little to make it easier for you, even though he wasn’t that much taller than you. 

You rubbed it in dutifully, making sure that it was all absorbed so that it wouldn’t stain his clothes when or if he put his shirt back on. When you were done, you handed the tube back to him.

“Will you do me?”

“Any day of the week,” Jisung replied, winking. “You know you don’t even have to ask, babe.”

“You two are disgusting.” You didn’t have to turn around to know who was complaining. 

“We’re actually having a private conversation, Felix.”

“Well, you’re having it in the middle of a public area.” 

Jisung rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything else, thankfully. It was too early in the morning to deal with their bickering. 

You had woken up at dawn to make the drive over to Turtle Beach. According to the internet, the best time of day to see the sea turtles was in the morning, so that’s when you were going. No one was in a particularly good mood in the car on the way to the North Shore. It was silent. Dom tried turning the radio on at one point but Nikki immediately turned it off. 

“We’ll be getting coffee after this,” Dom assured everyone, which seemed to lift the spirits at least a little bit. 

It was already crowded when Dom found a parking spot on the side of the road. He was able to snag it as another car was pulling out. 

People were clustered in groups around the rocks that lined the shore, holding their phones out to take pictures of what you assumed to be the turtles. 

Minho had found a parking spot a little further away so he and Felix joined the rest of you a few minutes later. 

That’s when the sunscreen was applied and promises of caffeine were made. You waited for your sunscreen to dry before putting your coverup back on and walking down to the beach with the Hans. You weren’t swimming at this beach, not many people did because they didn’t want to disrupt the turtles, but Nikki had made everyone put on sunblock anyway because you’d still be standing in direct sunlight. 

The dropoff from the road to the sand was a bit steep and you stumbled trying to step down from the asphalt and tie the back of your coverup at the same time. 

“Baby, let me,” Jisung said, pushing past his brothers to get to you. He chuckled. “That could’ve been bad. You should have just asked me to help you, or waited until we got down there.”

“I would’ve been fine,” you said, brushing it off. “Probably.”

“Knowing you, you probably would’ve hit your head on a rock or something.”

You ignored that comment because he was right and you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. 

The beach was kind of short even at low tide. Some mangrove trees offered a little bit of shade but that was already being monopolized by other tourists. 

“I guess everyone read the same article we read,” Felix muttered. 

“Seems like it,” Dom agreed. 

“Should we go over there?” Minho asked, pointing to a moderately small crowd at the edge of the bay. 

“I don’t see why not,” his dad said. “We can also split up if we want to. We don’t have to stay together.”

You looked at Jisung who just shrugged. “We can do whatever you want.”

“I don’t care,” you argued. “They’re your family.”

“Good point. Let’s go the other direction.”

You rolled your eyes and followed Jisung left while the other four went right. He wove in between the crowds, looking for turtles that the masses might not have spotted yet. You did the same, even though you were doubtful the two of you would find anything that the other tourists hadn’t. 

You were shocked at how clear the water was. After the other beaches you’d already seen on this trip, you didn’t think it was possible for clearer water to exist. The visibility was insane. You could see every tiny detail, every bump and groove of the rocks, every grain of sand. The only thing diluting the view of everything was the white foam that washed ashore with the waves when they broke. 

You took your phone out of your back pocket to snap a few pictures of the water and Jisung gave you a funny look. 

“There aren’t any turtles here,” he said. 

“I want a picture of the view,” you explained. 

“Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, it’s beautiful.”

He watched you snap a few pictures and then offered to take some of you but you declined out of embarrassment. 

“A bunch of people are doing it! Why would you be embarrassed?”

“I’m not good at posing for pictures! I always feel so awkward, especially when it’s just me.”

“Do you want us to take a picture together, then?”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” 

Jisung pulled his own phone from his pocket and ushered you over to his side. You get close to him and rest your head on his shoulder, smiling softly. He waits for a good wave to appear in the background and then takes a couple selfies.

He taps on the gallery icon in the bottom left corner of the screen to check the pictures and shows you. 

“Oh, these are cute. Can you airdrop them to me later?”

“‘Course.”

Then, Jisung squinted a little harder at his screen, zooming in on something.

“What is that?” he asked you, shoving the phone into your face. 

“I don’t know, it’s so pixely- and your hands are shaking.”

Jisung took the phone back. “Is that...”

He didn’t even finish the question before he was whipping around and marching toward the water without explaining, leaving you to stay standing where you were like an idiot or follow him aimlessly. You chose the latter. 

“We found one!” he exclaims when you catch up with him, pointing at a dark mass in the water that had also been in the back of your pictures. You replicated his position to be able to see whatever it was more clearly and gasped when you realized it was a sea turtle. 

It was a little further out than the ones that everyone was already ogling over which was probably why no one else had spotted it yet. Their dark shells also tended to blend in with the rocks, adding another layer of difficulty to the search. 

“Should we call your family over?” you asked.

“Only if you’re cool with a bunch of other people swarming us.”

“You’re right, that might not be great. Especially if people start recognizing Minho.”

Jizung nodded. “Then we’d never get out of here. I’ll go run and get them. You stay here with the turtle.”

He didn’t give you a chance to respond before he was off. Seemed to be a pattern today. 

“She still here?” Jisung asked when he came back, the rest of his family members in tow.

You were confused before you understood that he was referring to the turtle. Apparently, he had decided its pronouns in the time he was gone. 

“Yeah, she’s a little closer too,” you answered. 

You pointed at the shadow in the water and all of the Hans craned their necks to see it. 

“Holy shit, it's huge,” Felix commented. 

“It must be really old,” Jisung added. “That’s a thing, right? The bigger a sea turtle is, the older it is?”

His brothers shrugged. “No idea.”

“Crush from Finding Nemo was like one hundred and five and he wasn’t that big,” Minho pointed out. 

“You’re going off of Finding Nemo for your marine biology information?” Jisung deadpanned.

“You’re just making stuff up off the top of your head!”

“No, I heard it somewhere!”

“Does anyone have service? We could Google it,” Felix suggested. 

“No, there’s none over here,” you muttered. 

“Look, here she comes!” Nikki exclaimed. 

You weren’t sure whether the turtle was actually coming closer or if she just wanted her sons to stop bickering, but they did and turned their attention toward the ocean. 

Eventually, the sea turtle did come a little closer, close enough to be able to take pictures where people would be able to tell what they were looking at. 

The six of you all standing at the edge of the water looking at the same thing was bound to draw attention eventually so you took pictures and videos until you were satisfied and then headed back to the cars. 

“Minho, follow the directions I sent you to Waimea Falls,” Dom instructed. “We’re going to stop for coffee on the way over there so you should tail me but you should also have the address in case you lose us.”

Minho nodded. “Same cars?”

“We can switch it up, if you want. I’m sure Felix would love to be alone with his folks for forty-five minutes straight.”

“Wait, you said the drive was only twenty minutes,” Felix piped up. 

“It is, but your mother and I could make it forty-five just for you.”

“We can all fit in my car,” Minho added, ignoring his dad. 

“Wow, so I’m not good enough for you?” Felix scoffed. 

“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant by that.”

“I’m good to ride with mum and dad but y/n, you should go with Felix and Minho to save them from each other.”

“You don’t want to come?” you asked, already knowing the answer. 

“Nah. I mean, Minho’s right, we would all fit but it wouldn’t be that comfortable, especially for a long ride. Besides, it would be rude to leave Mom and Dad by themselves.”

“What are you talking about?” Felix muttered. “They love to be by themselves. Why do you think they keep ditching us at every possible opportunity?”

“It’ll be nice to have some time with Jisung,” Nikki counters, taking Jisung by his shoulders. “He’s been gone at uni for so long, we haven’t gotten to see him since Christmas.”

“You’ve been seeing me for over a month straight,” Jisung mumbled, sounding a lot like Felix just had. 

“You know what I mean,” his mom said, exasperated. 

You hadn’t really thought of that. You had been so focused on being the loving, devoted girlfriend that you always made sure to be around so that everyone could bear witness to your relationship. You hadn’t considered the fact that Jisung’s parents might have wanted to spend time with their son one-on-one, or two-on-one. You had unintentionally been hogging their son this whole time. 

“Oh, that’s a great idea,” you agreed, just to let them know that you weren’t upset. “I’m sorry, I’ve been keeping him all to myself.”

“Nonsense, love,” Nikki assured you, “I didn’t mean it like that at all.”

“I know, I know, I just still feel bad.”

“Don’t feel bad. You’re his partner, you’re part of this family now too.”

You smiled appreciatively but couldn’t bring yourself to respond. Would you still be considered part of the family if you suddenly became Minho’s girlfriend? Broke one son’s heart and moved on to the next- it wouldn’t be a good look, that’s for sure. 

“It’s settled then,” Jisung said, clapping his hands together in finality. “We’ll see you guys there.”

Minho’s rental car was still parked on the side of the road, but it was down the hill a bit. It was pretty steep, and the pavement was uneven. You could feel two pairs of eyes watching you as you made your way along the path. You wanted to tell Minho and Felix that they didn’t have to be so vigilant, that you weren’t that clumsy. But to be fair, you had almost just ate shit like twenty minutes ago walking in the sand. Okay, maybe they were right for that. 

You made it to the car without incident and climbed into the back seat. Minho plugged the address into his phone’s GPS, which synced to the car’s ApplePlay, and reversed out of the spot. He drove up a ways and then stopped behind Dom’s car so that he could reverse without dealing with the traffic. It was a smart move on Minho’s part. He was ensuring he wouldn’t get cut off by someone else, that way he could follow his dad without having to guess which lane he was in or which car he was in front of, etc. 

As the passenger, Felix was in charge of the music (as long as Minho approved of it, since the driver did have veto power). He turned it to a local island reggae station and all three of you seemed to enjoy that. 

While Minho drove, Felix showed you pictures he’d taken on his camera at Turtle Beach. 

“I’ve been taking them the whole trip, but I only have so much storage on an SD card, you know? I’ve uploaded the rest to my computer. We can look at them later, if you want.”

“I’d love to! Have you looked at them yet?”

“I’ve just skimmed them,” he answered. “But if they turn out anything like these I think I’ll have a pretty solid portfolio after this trip.”

“Yeah, these are incredible! You’ll have to show Minho when we stop.” Felix made a noncommittal noise. “What? They’re great!”

“I’m glad you think so. Unfortunately, when it comes to my photography and videography, the wow factor has mostly worn off for my brothers. Even Minho, who’s supposed to be an performer, can’t pretend to be impressed anymore.”

“Harsh.”

“You’re telling me.”

“I guess they picked Dunkin,” Minho said, entirely ignoring the conversation you and Felix were having about him as he turned into the shopping center’s parking lot. 

“Fine with me,” you said. 

“It was probably the quickest choice,” Felix mused. “I would like to try some local coffee shops, though. Hawai’i is known for their coffee.”

“Maybe tomorrow we can look for one,” you offered. 

He grinned. “I’m down.”

-

The drive-thru line wasn’t that long, thankfully. Minho ordered for the three of you all on the same ticket to speed things along too. He pretended not to hear you when you offered to pay for yourself. 

Dom waited for your car in a parking spot by the exit to the main road. Minho did what he’d done before and waited for his dad to pull out before following him.

“Make sure to drink all of that before we get to the park,” Minho said as he passed out the cups. “I don’t think we’re allowed to bring outside food or drink inside. Yo, I didn’t mean you had to chug it right now,” he clarified.

You pulled your iced coffee away from your lips guiltily. “Sorry.”

“The drive is like twenty minutes, remember? You have time to finish it.”

“I remember.”

“So then why-”

“I don’t know, it felt like the right thing to do.”

“You’ve been in uni for too long,” he decided, shaking his head. 

“Maybe she just needs the caffeine to hit faster,” Felix suggested defensively. 

“Exactly, thank you, Lix.”

He gave you a smile of acknowledgment in the rearview mirror and a thumbs up. You sipped your coffee slowly as Minho drove through the winding mountains of Oahu, resting your forehead against the window. You knew there’d be sunscreen residue to clean off of it later but the cool glass felt nice against your skin. 

You tuned Minho and Felix out until you heard your name. That’s when you sat up again and rejoined the conversation. 

“Hm?”

“Min just asked what I think Jisung is talking about with our parents right now and I said they’re probably giving him a lecture about not losing you,” Felix explained. 

You made a face. “What?”

“You know, like telling him he better treat you well or whatever parents say to their kids when they want a son or daughter-in-law.”

Your eyes shifted to Minho before you could stop them. His grip on the steering wheel tightened just enough to make his knuckles turn white but he kept his expression calm. 

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” you mumbled.

“I bet they’ll at least bring it up,” Felix countered. “They love you!”

You forced a smile and sunk down in your seat.  Not for long.

lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!!

#instead of you stray kids #instead of you skz #iou stray kids #iou skz #stray kids x reader #skz x reader #stray kids series #lee know x reader #lee know x female reader #lee know x bi!reader #lee know series #lee minho x reader #minho x reader

[sluttywonwoo]

instead of you [part thirty-six] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, alcohol

word count: 3k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

“Nice hat.”

You gave Minho a sideways look. “Really?”

“Yeah, it’s cute.”

You tipped the brim at him, grinning. “Thank you. Jisung picked it out.”

“He has good taste.”

You weren’t sure how to respond to the double entendre so you didn’t, choosing instead to direct your attention forward, where your fake boyfriend was teeing up. 

Back at school, Jisung had gone off to play golf with a few of your mutual friends once or twice, but it was an expensive hobby, and as broke college students, they couldn’t exactly make a habit out of it. For a little while, Jisung worked as an assistant chef at a nearby country club for a couple of months which allowed him free access to their course in his off time, but juggling the job and his studies quickly became too much to handle and he couldn’t even keep up with his responsibilities, let alone have any free time to take advantage of the course. 

Considering how long it had been since he last played, you weren’t expecting much from Jisung’s first swing, but when he stuck the golf ball with his club, it actually went relatively far. Of course, you didn’t have much knowledge of the sport to go off of when it came to gauging how well he was actually doing, but from the looks on his brothers’ faces, you assumed he’d done pretty well. 

“Good job!” you cheered, running up to your best friend and kissing him on the cheek. “That was good right?”

He caught you with an arm around your waist and pulled you close. “Thanks, baby. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been better.”

“Whatever, you’re just being humble.”

“He’s not,” Felix piped up from behind the two of you. “Let me show you how a real golfer plays.”

You rolled your eyes in unison with Jisung but stepped back to let Felix tee up anyway, both watching as he took a couple of practice swings. 

“How much do you want to bet he comes in last?” Jisung muttered in your ear. 

“I’m not willing to go bankrupt over this, sorry.”

Jisung snorted and tried to muffle his laugh in your shoulder but it was still loud enough for his twin to hear. 

“Oi! I don’t want to hear it when you’re up thirty points over me.”

“Yeah, we’ll see, Lix,” Jisung scoffed. “Just swing already! We don’t have all day, mate.”

Felix shot his brother a look but did as he was told. He rolled his shoulders and focused in on the ball, huffing out a breath and drawing the club back over his shoulder. He put more power into his swing than Jisung had but hit the ball with the edge of the clubhead instead of the center which sent it flying a little off to the left. From what you could see, the ball still landed on the pitch. It hadn’t gone into the trees or the lake, it was just in a trickier spot to clear. 

“What was that you were saying about points?” Jisung asked smugly.

Felix groaned and turned back around to argue with him as Minho came up and took his place at the starting point. 

“It’s going to be a long day, isn’t it?” you muttered to Minho. 

He gave you a tight half-smile and shrugged. “You have no idea.”

-

It had only been an hour since the boys started and you didn’t think you’d ever heard so many insults and curse words thrown around in such a short amount of time, which was saying something. 

Jisung, Felix, and Minho were all neck and neck with each other, with Dom far ahead of all three of them. 

The course itself was beautiful. It was just across the street from the resort you were staying at, right on the edge of the water. You were able to see the ocean from the tops of the faux hills on the green, sparkling with the reflection of the sun. The waves were dotted with little boats and surfers all enjoying the good weather and making the most out of the afternoon.

You would have been content to spend all day there if it wasn’t so hot and you weren’t forced to stand around listening to your best friend argue with his brothers.

“How many more holes are there?” you asked Nikki, leaning over and whispering quietly so that the others wouldn’t hear you. 

“Too many.”

“Kill me now.” 

“Why don’t we get ourselves a drink when the cart girl comes around? It’ll make the time go faster.”

You grinned. “I like the way you think.”

-

You weren’t a stranger to day drinking, not by a long shot, but you didn’t want to get too sloppy while the sun was still up. You had long since given up on the little pact you’d made with yourself not to drink for the remainder of the trip— not that you’d ever really followed it in the first place. Nikki got herself a High Noon when the aforementioned cart girl came by, so you did the same, insisting on covering the tab for both of you.

“Please?” you practically begged. “It’s literally the least I can do after everything you’ve done for me.”

She seemed to think about it for a minute. “Fine. I’ll let you do it this one time. But don’t get used to it.”

You did a little dance in celebration and handed over some cash to the cart girl after she popped the tabs on both of your cans. 

“Want anything?” you called to the boys. “It’s on me!”

Felix was the only one to take you up on the offer, both Minho and Jisung making a fuss about not spending your money on them. Where was this attitude back at school? you asked yourself, scoffing at Jisung’s refusal. 

“I’m in the lead, I can’t afford to lower my inhibitions now!” Dom said. “But when I win, I’ll treat you to a pint, even though you’re canoodling with one of my opponents.” 

“I’m starting to think you guys have something against me,” you accused the two non-participants as you handed Felix his beer. “What, do you think I’m broke?”

“We’re just gentlemen,” Minho said pointedly, shooting Felix a look.

“You are broke,” Jisung muttered.

“Watch it,” you shot, waving your drink at him. “You’re not getting a sip now.”

“Babe, I didn’t want a sip to begin with.”

“Okay, well even if you change your mind you can’t have one.” 

He laughed and shook his head at the ground, walking back over to the teeing-off point with his hands on his hips.

Nikki was right, the afternoon did indeed pass a lot quicker with drinks in your hands. They kept you cool in the heat of the sun and the alcohol made the hours blend into each other.

In the latter half of the game, you started to pay more attention. You had finally begun to pick up what was good and what was bad from everyone else’s reactions to the shots and could actually tell for yourself. 

“Baby, can you switch this out for the driver?” Jisung asked, holding his current club out to you.

“Which one is that?” 

“The big one.” 

You selected the club he described and passed it to him, taking the one he’d just used to put back in the golf bag. He kissed you when you met him in the middle to swap the two, smiling against you when he noticed Minho looking on. 

“Sorry, couldn’t help it,” he whispered in your ear. “It’s too fun to fuck with him.”

Confused, you turned around to see what he was talking about only to see Minho standing a few feet away with his tongue in his cheek. 

“Thanks, baby,” Jisung said, putting his hand on the small of your back to remind you of what you were doing. “You make a cute caddy.”

Minho mumbled something under his breath that you didn’t catch but you figured that was probably for the best.

-

After golf, you hung out with Jisung’s family at the pool for a few hours before heading back up to the rooms to get ready for dinner. 

“Do we need to dress nice?” you asked.

Jisung peeked out from the bathroom to answer you, shaking his wet hair dry with a towel. 

“Uh, not like nice, nice but nicer than just jeans.”

“Okay, I can do that.”

You turned back to your open suitcase and rifled through it in search of something that fit the dress code.

“By the way, where did you go last night?” 

“With Minho?”

“Yeah, you were gone for like hours. I fell asleep and then woke up randomly and you still weren’t back.”

“Minho took me to some beach.”

“Did you have sex with him?”

You looked up. “Yeah. Why?”

Jisung shrugged. “Just wondering.”

You could tell he wanted to say more but you didn’t push. If you did, you’d only be hurting your own feelings. He had told you that himself. Jisung had been very clear that he wasn’t ready to talk about the Minho thing with you so all you could do was be honest and answer the questions that he asked, even if it was awkward and uncomfortable. 

You were so used to guilt by now that you almost didn’t notice the fresh wave that washed over you. You knew it was wrong to still sleep with Minho after everything— hell, you knew it was wrong before everything, but neither of those facts stopped you from doing it. 

You realized Jisung was still looking at you so you shook it off and picked up a random sundress from your luggage. 

“How’s this for tonight?”

“Looks good to me.”

An hour later, you and the rest of the Hans were seated around a table in a dimly lit restaurant. The sundress had been the right choice. The place was right on the water and open to the outdoor air so all of the other patrons were dressed pretty similarly. 

Jisung ordered for you after you looked over the menu together like always. Your hands rested on the table, fingers entwined for his family to see. You had been doing this for so long now that it was almost second nature to you. You had fallen into the routine a long time ago but you didn’t even have to think about it anymore. You probably wouldn’t even be giving the action a second thought had it not been for Minho staring at your hands from across the table. 

It looked like he was zoning out, like he wasn’t actually glaring at you holding hands with his brother but you couldn’t be sure. You kicked him gently in the shin to get his attention. He jolted and locked eyes with you immediately, erasing any trace of subtly.

“You okay there, son?” Dom asked, patting Minho on the back. 

“Yeah, yeah, ‘m fine. Just got a chill.”

Thankfully, everyone seemed to move past it and the conversation resumed. Dinner was otherwise uneventful. The boys recounted the golf game and Dom’s landslide win, while you just listened and nodded along when it felt right. It was a relief not to have to add anything to the discussion. You didn’t have the energy to. 

Dom stayed true to his word from earlier and bought everyone a round from the bar at the restaurant. You weren’t a big beer drinker but you didn’t want to be rude so you suffered through the whole pint, ignoring Jisung’s worried glances from the side. 

“You know I could have finished that for you,” he muttered. 

“I don’t want to look like a pussy in front of your dad,” you hissed back. “He bought it for us. And I didn’t want to be left out.”

Your best friend scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’ll do anything to prove a point, won’t you?”

“You know me.”

-

Minho pulled you aside after dinner, once you were back at the resort. 

“Think you can ditch your ‘boyfriend’?” he whispered as you both fell back a couple of steps.

You stopped. “What, why?”

“I just want a moment alone with you.”

“A moment or several moments?” you challenged. 

He smirked. “I’ll take whatever I can get.”

“I can’t keep blowing Jisung off,” you sighed, “and neither can you.’

“You know he doesn’t want anything to do with me right now.”

“That doesn’t mean you should stop trying!”

“Look, can we not do this right now? When they’re literally right there?”

“You’re the one who pulled me aside right in front of them.”

You watched his jaw clench in frustration but he didn’t say anything else because he knew you were right. 

“Can you ditch him or not?”

You sighed again and looked back to Jisung. He was in what looked to be a heated debate with Felix. You didn’t need to hear it to know it was over something stupid.  

“I’ll see what I can do.”

-

Jisung barely bat an eye when you told him where you were going. 

“Okay, be safe,” he said as he kicked off his shoes. 

That’s it? That’s all he had to say to you? You wanted to ask him just that, but you were afraid of creating another rift between the two of you. Jisung had said he wasn’t ready to talk about it so you shouldn’t push, right? But was it wrong to keep leaving like this?

Going back and forth with yourself was only wasting time and Minho was still waiting for you downstairs. Fuck it. 

You grabbed a spare room key from the dresser, shoved it in the pocket of your dress, and left without another word before you could change your mind. 

Minho was right where you left him, leaning against the wall by the elevator hub. He grinned when he saw you. 

“Thought you’d never escape.”

You rolled your eyes at him as you let him lead you through the lobby by the hand. You were still wary of people seeing you together but the lobby was seemingly empty. 

“Jisung didn’t care. It was me who took forever.”

Minho paused, letting go of your hand as he gave you a concerned once over. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

You nodded. “Yeah, I don’t really want to talk about it. So, where are we going?”

He frowned, but only momentarily, quickly covering it up with a smile. “I- okay, um... remember how you said we don’t do ‘couple stuff’?”

“Yeah?”

“I thought maybe I could take you somewhere where we can do that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m taking you on a date, silly.”

“Really? Where?” When he didn’t answer, you groaned. “You and your stupid surprises.”

“It’s more fun this way and you know it,” he insisted, tugging you along by the hand.

“I like being prepared,” you argued. 

He grinned. “So be prepared for a good time.”

The drive wasn’t far at all this time but you were confused when he pulled into a crowded lot. You were even more confused when he didn’t turn off the car or more to get out of it. 

You turned to him in confusion. “Minho?”

“Y/n?” he parroted. 

“Where are we?”

“We’re on our date.”

“Yes, but where?”

“Did you not see the sign when we turned in?” You shook your head. He grinned. “It’s a drive-in.”

“Really?”

“Why do you think no one’s getting out of their car?” 

“I didn’t really notice, to be honest.”

“Too distracted by your hot date?” 

You didn’t spare him a reaction. “How’d you find this place?” 

“I did some research the other night,” he explained, “when you, you know, we talked about it. I figured this is about as close as we could get to a real date. At least right now.”

“That’s… really thoughtful.”

He shrugged. “Nah, it’s nothing, really.” 

“Well I was going to kiss you, but if it’s nothing—”

“No, no. I want the kiss. Give me my kiss.”

You chuckled, relenting as you leaned in. He met you halfway over the center console and kissed you sweetly. It was short but eager, just enough to leave you wanting more. 

You had to remind yourself not to get your hopes up. Sure, Minho was showing interest in you now, but what about when this was all over? Would he want to do long-distance? Did he want to date you at all? You had been telling yourself that it was just sex all this time but now you were on a date... but what did it mean? You could just ask but you were scared to ruin the moment, ruin whatever it was that was actually going on. 

You’d been asking yourself the same questions for weeks now and the scary thing was, it seemed like Minho was serious about you. He had all but said it outright to you. And here he was taking you on a fucking date. It was you who kept pushing back. You told yourself it was because of Jisung, but if you were being honest with yourself that was only half of it. You were afraid of getting hurt. You had never been in a real relationship before for that very reason. Well, that and you liked being single. It seemed favorable considering the dating pool of your university. 

“I want another one,” Minho murmured, leaning in again. 

“Nope, that’s all you get for now,” you teased, even though you did very much want to kiss him again. 

His lips parted in surprise. “Wha- why?”

“Because I only promised you one! I can’t just go giving my kisses away, can I?”

“Sure you can,” he argued. 

“That would lessen their value. I can’t wager them to get what I want if they’re not worth anything.”

“Your kisses are very valuable to me,” Minho insisted. 

“Because I’m sparing with them.”

Minho inched even closer to your face, eyes trained on your mouth. “So I can earn them,” you started to nod, “if I’m a good boy?” 

You almost choked on nothing, swallowing a moan. Minho watched your reaction with a self-satisfied smile and then settled back in his seat, turning his attention to the giant projector screen at the front of the parking lot. 

“We’ll see,” you muttered hoarsely.

He hummed, still looking forward. “I’ll be good then.”

lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!!

#instead of you stray kids #instead of you skz #iou stray kids #iou skz #stray kids x reader #skz x reader #lee know x reader #lino x reader #lee know smut #stray kids smut #skz smut #lee minho smut #lee minho x reader #lee know series #stray kids series

[sluttywonwoo]

instead of you [part thirty-seven] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, alcohol, smut (18+ ; mdni)

word count: 3.1k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

additional smut warnings: public-ish sex, fingering, oral (f receiving), switch!minho

“So, what movie are we seeing?” you asked, exhaling deeply to try and physically release the stress you’d been holding. 

Minho pursed his lips, making you narrow your eyes in suspicion. “So the thing is, it’s not really a movie, movie.”

“Minho, what are we watching?”

He mumbled it. “A BTS concert from 2019.”

“You took me to see your own movie?”

“It’s what they were showing! I had nothing to do with it, like they’re in the middle of a marathon. Last week they showed one from 2018.”

“Seems awfully convenient,” you mused. 

“Trust me, I know. I thought I was losing my mind when I looked at their website earlier.  But I promise I had nothing to do with it. Apparently, they have a really big fanbase in Hawai’i. You really think I’m so tacky I’d take a date to my own gig?”

“No comment.”

“Listen, I wouldn’t have taken you to a K-pop thing if there was something else playing, but there’s only the one lot. The music is good, trust me.”

“If you say so.”

Minhno smirked. “I do say so. I think you’ll like it, actually.”

“Oh, you do?”

“Yeah, I hear there’s someone very good-looking performing.”

You hummed thoughtfully. “Oh yeah, they’re supposed to be really handsome, right?”

“Fuck you.”

“I’d rather fuck you,” you quipped. He raised an eyebrow suggestively, making you laugh.

“What are we doing here, then?”

“We’re on our date!”

“But we could leave.”

“I can’t believe you’re trying to get into my pants on the first date,” you scoffed. 

“I don’t have to try,” Minho pointed out. “I was already successful before our date. Many times, actually.”

“I was there, you don’t have to remind me.”

“Are you sure?”

You rolled your eyes through a grin. “Positive.”

“Alright, well let me know if you change your mind.”

“You’ll be the first to know,” you assured him, leaning over the center console to nudge his shoulder. 

You stayed there, shoulders resting against each other. He looked over and smiled at you before reaching for your hand and taking it in his. He lifted his other hand to check his watch. 

“The movie starts in about ten. I know they have a concession stand but if you want snacks you’ll probably have to be the one to get them. I can give you the money, obviously, I just can’t…”

“Leave the car,” you finished for him.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“I’ll go see what they have,” you decided. Minho handed you his wallet but you didn’t take it. “It’s on me. You bought the movie tickets.”

“You know I’m in this movie, right? You don’t have to worry about splitting the cost of everything.”

“I know, just, let me do this.”

Minho held his hands up in surrender and pocketed his wallet. “Fine, fine. Can you get me a beer?”

“Sure. Any kind in particular?”

“Whatever they have is fine. I’m not picky.”

You nodded and stepped out of the car, smoothing your dress out in case it had ridden up. You stood on your tip toes and craned your neck to try and find the concession stand above all of the cars. 

Luckily, there was a big neon sign that read CONCESSIONS with an arrow pointing to a kiosk that was presumably sitting underneath it. 

You wove inefficiently through the parking lot over to the sign, sighing when you spotted the long line. It was moving pretty fast so you didn’t have to wait very long and by the time you made it to the front, you still hadn’t decided what to get. 

The woman behind the counter looked bored and impatient so naturally, you panicked. 

“Hi, um can I please get a medium popcorn and two Nerds Ropes?”

“Anything to drink?”

Your eyes flicked to the menu overhead but all of the options seemed to blend together in an unintelligible jumble. “Uh, a water bottle and a peach High Noon, please. And what kind of beer do you guys have?”

She listed off a handful. You chose the first one you recognized and hoped it was one Minho wouldn’t mind too much. You waited as she ID’ed you and rang you up, dropping a couple of bills in the tip jar when she handed you your change. 

You had stupidly declined a tray so you had to very precariously carry everything back to the car in your arms. It was one of those establishments that took the caps off of bottled drinks and opened cans before you were allowed to leave the counter which meant you had to be extra careful with how you balanced things so that nothing would spill. 

“You good?” Minho asked, watching you struggle with everything. “I’d help, but that would kind of defeat the purpose of not going to get the stuff in the first place.”

“I’m fine,” you insisted. 

He didn’t look convinced but it wasn’t like he could do anything but watch so he didn’t comment further until you were seated again. 

“What’d you end up getting?”

“Well, popcorn.”

“It’s not a movie without it.”

“Exactly,” you agreed and handed him the bucket. “And I got us a water to share and some Nerds Ropes, I hope you like those.”

“Love em.”

“And then I got myself a High Noon and I got you a Heineken. I’m sorry, I blanked when she told me all of the types of beer they served and chose the first one I knew.”

“It’s okay! I told you I’m not picky. Heinekens are fine, babe, thank you.”

“Are you sure?”

Minho chuckled and took a sip from the bottle as if to prove to you that he liked them. “Yeah! Why wouldn’t they be? Do you have something against Heinekins?”

You made a face. “Bad memories.”

“Mm, I see. In that case, I won’t offer you any.”

“Thank you. Did you want to try some of my drink?”

“Sure, what’d you say it was?”

You passed it to him. “A High Noon. Have you never had one?”

“No, I don’t usually go for seltzers.” You watched him take a sip, laughing when he made a similar face to the one you had made just a few moments prior. “Oh god, the bubbles hurt.”

“How big of a sip did you take?!”

“A regular-sized sip! The carbonation is just a lot!”

“You’re so dramatic. Beer is also carbonated!”

“Not that carbonated!”

You rolled your eyes. “You just enjoy your drink and I’ll enjoy mine.”

“Gladly.”

Just then, the parking lot’s overhead lights dimmed. The projector flickered to life, casting the station to which to tune your car’s radio. Minho fidgeted with the dial until it was tuned to the right frequency. 

“Welcome to Aloha Drive-In’s adult-only feature film of the night! We have late-night showings for ages eighteen and up every weekday.”

“What makes it adults-only?” you asked aloud. “Is it actually a strip show or something?”

“They serve alcohol,” Minho explained. “Something with the licensing prevents them from offering it during regular showings.”

“Oh.”

“I can give one when we get back later, though.”

“Only if you sing the whole time.”

He grinned. “Name the song, I’ll do it.”

“Please stay in your car for the duration of the film unless you need the restroom or concessions. In case of emergency...”

You listened to the rest of the spiel in silence, snacking lightly on what you’d bought until the BigHit logo appeared on the screen. 

You had to admit that it was a pretty good concert, even though you didn’t have a lot of context as to what was going on. It seemed like there were a lot of inside jokes between the artists and the fans that you were missing because you weren’t a fan. 

Minho pointed himself out during each song, sometimes giving extra context to the performances, like how long rehearsals were for them or how they had to change the choreography because someone named J-hope didn’t like the way the formations looked. 

You realized this was the first time you were seeing Minho dance. And he was good. You knew he wasn’t the focal point of the concert but you couldn’t take your eyes off him. He made all of the movements look so easy, so natural. 

Out of the corner of your eye, you could see him watching you, gauging your reactions. You could tell he was pleased by how entranced you were and even though you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of ogling over him, it was impossible not to. 

You were surprised by how many of the songs were... sexy. The subtitles didn’t translate the lyrics, only the dialogue, but from the dance moves, you got the feeling that they weren’t all PG. 

“I thought you said this wasn’t a striptease,” you muttered, watching the dancers’ hips roll in time with the music.

Minho laughed. “We’re not stripping,” he insisted.

“You might as well be.”

“Just keep watching.”

You did, keeping your attention on on-screen Minho. The camera cut to him for a brief second as he had a moment with one of the members and you almost gasped out loud as he wrapped a hand around the older man’s neck. You shifted in your seat, squeezing your thighs together as the Minho on the screen squeezed Namjoon’s (?) throat. Minho’s gaze fell to your lap when he caught the movement of your legs. 

“Are you cold?”

“Um, a little,” you lied. 

You were in fact, not cold at all. You were actually feeling a little warm. 

“Here,” Minho said, reaching behind him to grab something. It was a blanket, and he draped it over your legs. “Don’t worry, it’s not the same one from the beach.”

You nodded in appreciation, grateful that he had clarified that it was a clean blanket and not the one that had been laid down in the sand and had sex on top of from the night before. 

Minho kept a hand on your thigh even after he’d situated the blanket on your lap. 

“Warming you up,” he explained before you could ask.

You were a little suspicious of his true intentions but he wasn’t moving his hand and he had gone back to watching the movie so you let it go. 

The snacks you bought lasted you throughout the majority of the film. Once you’d finished them, you put the candy wrappers in the empty popcorn bowl and placed it on the floor of the car so that you could lean across the center console and rest your head on Minho’s shoulder. He met you halfway to make it less uncomfortable for you. It was a little awkward, trying to position yourselves in a way that felt natural.

Your suspicions about Minho’s hand were of course proved correct when you felt it begin to inch upward. Your thighs parted automatically for him before you could process what was happening. It was pathetic how responsive your body was to him. 

“I’ve been trying so hard not to stare at you all night,” he confessed. “Look so fucking pretty in this dress.”

“You should try harder,” you teased, reminding him of when you had to kick him under the table at dinner with his family.

“You’d be doing the same thing if you were in my shoes,” he insisted.

“No, because I have self-control.”

“Oh, really?” he asked, fingers ghosting over your panties.

You sucked in a breath, physically holding yourself back from arching into his touch. 

“This isn’t affecting you at all?”

You shook your head. “Nope.”

“What about this?”

You knew he could feel how wet you were getting. It was pointless to lie. But even as he pulled your underwear to the side and teased you by putting the tip of his middle finger inside of you, you wouldn’t admit it. 

“This is doing nothing for you?” Minho prodded, curling his finger in a little deeper. 

You gasped and gripped the car door handle, nervously checking your surroundings to ensure you weren’t being watched. Minho had parked in the back of the lot so there was no one behind you. Everyone else seemed zoned in on the concert playing like they were supposed to be.  

“I asked you a question,” he reminded you. 

“Feeling nothing,” you lied. 

Minho tongued his cheek in annoyance even though it was clear you were just fucking with him. 

“You’re such a brat.”

“You already knew that.”

He sighed. “That’s true.”

You were both quiet for a couple of beats, letting the screams of the crowd fill the silence. Minho’s finger was still halfway inside of you under the blanket and your dress and you had to try very hard not to think about it. 

Then, beside you, Minho laughed. 

“What?” you mumbled absentmindedly, forcing yourself to keep staring at the screen. 

“Watching me dance is making you clench around my finger.”

Your cheeks burned with embarrassment and you sunk down in your seat, which coincidentally pushed Minho’s finger deeper inside of you, making you whimper. 

“It’s not my fault!” you cried before he could say anything. “Obviously I’m going to be turned on by seeing you move like that!”

“You don’t need to explain yourself,” he assured you, voice full of amusement. “I’m glad I can make you feel that way. Quite flattered, actually.”

“You’re such a dick.” 

He leaned over to whisper in your ear even though you were sitting right next to each other and no one else could hear your conversation. “And I’ve heard I’ve got a pretty nice one too. What do you say we get out of here?”

-

You made it through most of the concert, you figured that might as well count as a whole date, right? It was the thought that counted. But you couldn’t find it in yourself to care either way as Minho’s tongue traced the outline of your cunt. 

He was on his knees for you, holding you against the wall of his hotel room with your leg over his shoulder. You moaned softly and pulled at his hair, making him grunt into you. 

He paused for a second. You assumed it was to catch his breath but then he started talking. 

“I’m sorry we didn’t finish our date,” he murmured against your thigh, kissing it as further apology.

“No you’re not,” you laughed breathily. You knew there was nothing else he would rather be doing right now.

“I am,” he insisted, “I said I wanted to take you out on a real date, not just have sex, and I couldn’t even control myself for a few hours.”

“To be fair, we spent all day together,” you pointed out. 

“You know what I meant,” he sighed. 

“I know, and I believe you,” you said, ignoring Jisung’s words in the back of your mind. “It’s not like I didn’t want to do this too.” Minho pushed out his bottom lip, half pouting. “Do you want to stop?” you asked. 

“No, of course not,” he answered immediately. 

“Are you sure? We don’t have to keep going.”

Minho stood up and took your hand, pressing it against the bulge over his pants. “I don’t want to stop.”

You gulped. “Okay.”

He sank down to his knees again and lifted the skirt of your dress, motioning for you to hook your leg over his shoulder like you had earlier. You did, with a little noise of effort. You didn’t have the strength to stand on one foot for very long so you hoped Minho wouldn’t make you stay like that forever. 

“Good girl,” he praised, making your knees even weaker than they already were. “Fuck, you’re dripping. I’m sorry, baby.”

You didn’t realize he meant literally until you felt his tongue on the inside of your thigh. You shivered as he traveled higher and higher, collecting your arousal on his taste buds. He reached the apex of your thigh and moaned, sucking hard at the place just below your hip to punctuate the feat. 

“There we go. Wouldn’t want to make a mess on the hotel’s nice carpet, would we?” he asked breathlessly. 

You wanted to roll your eyes at his excuse. “You can just say you’re addicted to my pussy, it’s okay.”

“Fine. I’m addicted to your pussy.”

His head disappeared beneath your dress for the third time, and he was back at it like he had to prove what he’d admitted to, something you both already knew to be true. You trembled, hands flying to the back of his head to push him further into you, and he mumbled something that sounded encouraging but was unintelligible. 

You yelped as he pushed his tongue inside you, legs shaking. He lifted one of his hands and waved it in front of you, offering it for you to hold so that you could stabilize yourself... somewhat. 

You took it and squeezed hard, earning another eager sound from Minho. Having his hand helped a little, but not enough to get you to relax enough to where you felt like you could cum without falling over and breaking something. 

“I think-” you started, voice shaking, “I think I’m going to fall if you keep going.”

He resurfaced, looking a mix of disheveled and feral. 

“Wanna sit on my face?”

“I’d rather sit on something else,” you quipped, yanking him up by the collar of his shirt. 

He moved easily, despite him being much stronger than you. He simply wasn’t resisting. You pushed him onto the bed with one hand and climbed on top of him with a smirk. You hadn’t forgotten that he said he would be a good boy for you when you were at the movies earlier and you wondered just how far he was willing to actually take that. 

You had dommed plenty of lovers in the past but you hadn’t tested those waters with Minho yet, although it seemed that he was more than willing to adapt to this change of pace. He was already gazing at you longingly with those big brown eyes of his, allowing you to pin him to the bed. 

Your theory was all the more confirmed when he started talking. 

“I didn’t make you cum yet, though,” Minho whined, suppressing a moan as you grinded against him. 

“You’ll make me cum with your dick,” you assured him. 

“I wanted to with my mouth!”

“You always want to with your mouth.”

“Yeah, because you taste so good when you cum,” he panted. 

“If you want it that bad, you can eat me out after you fuck me.”

“But-”

“What happened to being a good boy?”

He went quiet at that and you were afraid you had misread the situation entirely until he let out a quiet, “sorry.”

“What was that?” you asked. 

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, a little louder this time. “I’ll be good for you.”

You smiled and began to unbutton his shirt.  “That’s what I like to hear.”

lmk what you think i always appreciate feedback!

#instead of you stray kids #instead of you skz #iou stray kids #iou skz #stray kids smut #stray kids x reader #skz smut #skz x reader #lee know smut #lee know x reader #lee know x female reader #lee know x bi!reader #lee know series #stray kids series