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sungbeam · 3 months

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nonidol!jeong yunho x f!reader

yunho might have been the superstar out of the two of you, but you have always been the center of his universe. (you — it's always been you.)

▷ genre, warnings. bffs2l, childhood friends 2 lovers, pining, popstar/singer au, swearing, fluff, humor, angst, hurt/comfort, kissing, mentions of alcohol, mentions of anxiety/nervousness, they physically cannot be apart for too long sorry they've got Attachment Issues low-key..., one kiss (is all it takes—)

▷ word count. 16.3k (guys,, this was supposed to be only like 6-8k i swear 😭)

▷ associated tunes. keep smiling (demxntia), gone too long (lullaboy), tear in my heart (twenty-one pilots)

a/n: hope u guys like this :'))) i had one of the scenes from here stuck in my brain for awhile and so i had to build the rest of the fic around it, and it turned into this monster, so uhm yes... also much love to @jaehunnyy tysm for reading thru it for me 💖

THE DAY YUNHO'S ALBUM hit the Billboard Hot 100, you knew that you were going to need a lot more hands on deck than just you, your roommate, and Jeong Yunho himself.

“There's not enough albums, not enough time in the day, not enough of you!” You exclaimed with your fingers shoved into your hair as you took in the landscape of chaos before you on your living room floor. “Yunho, why couldn't you be ambidextrous?”

His eyes widened, body frozen where he was shoving a slice of beef jerky into his mouth. “Mwe? Pwhy are pyu yellinh ap mwe por?”

“I'm not yelling at you; I'm just wondering why you weren't born with eight arms instead of just two.” There were simply too many albums for him to sign before his agent came to pick them up in two hours, and there were also too few albums for the amount of demand. You always knew your best friend would make it big one day, but you also thought he would have had a whole team by that time.

Technically, you were his team—you, your roommate Trinity, and Mingi who was at his grandmother's for the long weekend. Mingi was five texts away from driving back down to help you guys four hours ago though. But his family needed him right now, and Yunho was firm in ensuring Mingi didn't have to come down and help. We got this, he'd said. It'll be easy, he also said.

Sure. Easy.

“We can't just forge his signature?” Trinity joked in a sleep-deprived daze as she leaned back against the couch cushions. Her mouth opened wide in a yawn. “I'm kidding. Let's not ruin his career.”

Yunho swallowed his bite. “That would be nice.” He cleaned his fingers on the Wet Wipe he had handy by his thigh, then picked up his black Sharpie, spinning the writing utensil between his fingers. “Now where were we? Album number fifty-six—?”

This had taken place just four months after Yunho released his second album, Aurora. It had been nearly a year and a half since Yunho debuted himself onto the music scene, and it was about time people finally began to recognize your best friend for all that he was—multi-talented, charismatic, handsome (on some occasions; you wouldn’t let him catch you slipping up there, though).

Within the next year and a half, Yunho skyrocketed into further altitudes of fame.

There were plenty of changes that occurred, many evolutions to Yunho's team and additions to his discography, but you were always a part of it. Even with your own career dealings, you would drop anything to be there for him, and him for you. Between the morning show interviews and late night recording sessions, there were also the research presentations and study session pick-me-ups.

“Are you sure you don't wanna come with?” You asked from where you were stationed in front of the bathroom mirror, putting on the final touches for your look this evening.

You could hear Trinity's fingers clacking away at her keyboard at the speed of light through her open bedroom door. “I'd love to, but I unfortunately did screw myself over by procrastinating on this paper. Have fun though, and tell Yunho congrats for me.”

Tonight was the album release party for Yunho's third full studio album entitled Youth. It was something he had been working on for years now, only recently having become satisfied with the tracks he chose and produced for it. Due to his sudden rise in fame, the release party was said to be hosting a myriad of big name celebrities and figures in the music industry. And of course, you. You were no one special, in hindsight, but Yunho couldn't begin to imagine celebrating a milestone without you by his side.

By eight o'clock, you were ready to head out.

You bid Trinity goodbye as you hustled out the front door of your apartment and down to the street below. Yunho and Mingi and everyone else would already be at the party; you would arrive on your own via Uber. You wished you could've been with him to get ready like all the other times, but your schedule had been unfortunate as of late. You were lucky enough to have gotten off of work this early.

As you sat in the backseat of your ride, you anxiously fidgeted with your phone in your lap.

(You were, without a doubt, excited to arrive at the party. Due to yours and Yunho's ever-busy and ever-conflicting schedules nowadays—yours because of work and PhD candidacy stuff, Yunho's because of rehearsals for his upcoming world tour—it had been awhile since you were able to hang out in person. You missed your gentle giant of a best friend.)

A loud vibration from it made your heart leap into your throat, and your face lit up in the dark with the incoming notification.

rockstar 🤟: pls tell me you've left the house

You snorted and typed out a swift reply. If I told you I was still in my pajamas…

rockstar 🤟: then i would call u a liar cuz u don't go to work in pjs, weirdo rockstar 🤟: just getting antsy tbh rockstar 🤟: need my star here w me :’)))

You couldn't help the touched pout that came to your face. I'm almost there, don't worry. And who are you calling a star when that's you? He always got a little sappy when he was nervous.

rockstar 🤟: im literally not having fun here without u hurry up :// your phone: isn't this UR album release party 😭 yun, why aren't u having fun? rockstar 🤟: just hurry up your phone: aish okok 🤧 eta 8min mr. impatient

You knew it was the jitters making him say things like that. Once you got there, you hoped you could help reassure him that he could stop worrying for just a second to enjoy himself. Even if Yunho worried about the album and what people thought, you were just as nervous. You hadn't even heard the entire thing—he’d been cheeky and didn't tell you he added a song to it last minute, but you'd listened to everything else.

You just hoped that people would continue to celebrate him and give him the love he deserved.

When your Uber driver pulled into the drop off loop at the front of the venue, you thanked him on your way out and threw the strap of your small purse over your shoulder. Already, however, as you were met with the residuals of flashing camera lenses and frantic paparazzi calls just a little ways down the driveway, the anxiety slowly began to settle in the pit of your stomach.

You could see the celebrities going up the entrance with people asking them to pose for their cameras, to say a word into their recorders.

Immediately, you turned on your heel and began slipping your way to a side entrance. The last thing you wanted was for dozens upon dozens of people to be staring at you, wondering who you were and why you were important. There were definitely people who knew you—you were plastered all over Yunho's social media because that was just what best friends did. But compared to everyone else walking up that driveway? Not a chance. You were nobody, and that was ay-okay to you.

Just as you thanked one of the employees coming out the side door for letting you in, you felt your phone buzz in your hand again, this time with an incoming call.

You picked it up and squeezed it between your ear and shoulder. “You're gonna need to speak up—the kitchen is super loud.”

“You're here finally!” Yunho said to you through the phone. “I was starting to get worried.”

You chuckled as you ducked out of the kitchen and into the main lobby to get to the elevators. The party was taking place somewhere on the seventh floor… if you could get there without getting lost. “Hey Yun, do me a favor?”

“Sure.”

“Calm down, man.”

The elevator sang its arrival and you stepped inside to the sound of Yunho sucking in a deep breath, then exhaling slowly. “I am calm… wait, are you in the lobby? Let me come down and get y—”

“I just got in the elevator, so don't worry—and I really don't think you should be leaving your own party, rockstar,” you teased. “Man, Mingi and Hwa really pulled out all the stops for this place,” you marveled quietly as you gave the elevator carriage a thorough look. It was made of marble and mirrors, every surface polished and crisp, like that of a tailored suit if tailored suits were made of crystals.

“Yeah, it's really great,” he agreed. “Remember the release party we threw for Crescent?”

A fond laugh tumbled out of your lips as you stepped out of the elevator and onto the seventh floor. Your mind filled with memories of his debut album's release party hosted in yours and Trinity's living room with three extra large Domino's pizzas, root beer floats, and a cheap disco ball. It had been a party for four that night—you, Yunho, Mingi, and Trinity—but your friends didn't need the fancy shit to have fun. “Definitely leagues away from this.”

There was a bouncer at the far end of the hallway, and you were certain now that you were in the right place.

“I kind of miss it,” Yunho murmured. You heard the sound on his end shift, simultaneous to watching the doors in front of you crack open and see Yunho's head pop out into the empty hallway.

“I kind of miss it, too,” you said into the phone, your eyes locked on his and a smile blooming over your features at the sight of your best friend, in the flesh.

There was a tender gleam in his eyes as he took you in and said something in a low tone to the bouncer. He stepped out into the hallway, letting the doors behind him shut fully.

“Slowpoke,” was his greeting to you as he scooped you into his embrace. The smell of his cologne was something familiar and delicious, and permeated your senses.

“Worrywart,” you quipped back, wrapping your arms around him to reciprocate.

When you both pulled back, he kept you at arm's length so he could take a better look at you. “I can't believe you're calling me the worrywart! I do recall that one night when Aurora hit the Top 100—”

You silenced him with a look and a playful punch to his shoulder. You pressed your lips together to suppress a smile as he tilted his head back in a jovial laugh. “Quiet, you. For once, I can't believe you're more nervous than I am.”

He gave a sheepish grin, fussing with the unbuttoned collar of his dress shirt, adjusting the chain he wore on his collarbones so the clasp sat right at the hollow of his throat.

You softened. Oh, he was really nervous.

“This album's just big for me; you know that,” he said, almost like he was trying to brush it off.

“I do.” The two of you began slowly making your way back towards the party doors. “Though, I'm excited to hear this mystery song that you snuck on there. I'm sure everyone will fall in love with the album, just like I did.”

He peered over at you then, and you couldn't understand why you were unable to read his expression then. It was… different. “Really?”

You blinked. “Of course,” you replied automatically. “I mean,” you added, “it's you, Yun. What's not to love?”

Yunho seemed speechless for a second, but moments later, he was breaking into a soft-cornered smile. “You always know what to say, Yn. Come on, there are some people who are dying to meet you.”

“Dying to meet me?” You laughed as the bouncer let the two of you into the party.

The party room was a rented out lounge space with wraparound windows that looked out at the skyline in the valley below. The main lights were kept low and warm, illuminating strategic places throughout the space to highlight the prohibition-like interior design. It was something out of a 1920s speakeasy with its velvet couches and dark mahogany wood finishes.

Yunho took you over toward the side of the room to get food first. There was a variety of snacks and small bites on the buffet table, and there was a bar counter shoved into the far corner where a bartender served drinks.

“I've pretty much socialized with everyone in this room already,” Yunho murmured to you as he shoved his hands into his pockets and grinned. “Meaning I can bug you for the rest of the night.”

Your eyebrows shot up. “There has to be, like, fifty people here. We still have the whole party left.”

“Yeah, but I have more fun with you anyway,” he said with a shrug. He reached for one of the little serving cups that held a little roll of rice armed with a slice of wagyu beef on top, all wrapped together with a strip of nori. “Now these—these are fucking amazing, dude. You have to try one.”

You snorted, but grabbed one of the little cups. “How many of these have you eaten already, Yun?”

He tapped his cup against yours like he was clinking glasses together. He chuckled, averting his gaze. “We don't have to talk about that…” His eyes caught onto someone nearby, and he perked up, shoving the entire bite into his mouth so he had a free hand to flag down whoever it was. “Mmh!”

You nearly choked on your own bite as you watched your best friend, who's cheeks were stuffed like a chipmunk's, flap his arm around in the air to get this person's attention because his mouth was currently occupied.

You turned your head to see who he was waving over, and nearly choked again, having to cup your hand over your mouth to prevent rice from falling out. Your eyes widened an alarming amount. “Mmno—!” You mumbled through your bite.

“What? I can't hear you,” he snickered. “Hongjoong hyung! There's someone I want you to meet.”

You made a crazed gesture—no, no, I'm not ready! How dare you ambush me with social interac—you swallowed the food in your mouth as Hongjoong made his way over. You had never met the famed Kim Hongjoong—legendary producer, prodigy musician, favorite model to ever strut down the Paris Fashion Week Runway. He dropped off the grid for a brief three-month hiatus until he suddenly reappeared, but in your best friend's Instagram story. At some point, Yunho had met Hongjoong and won his favor. Then again, it was easy for Yunho to win over anyone's favor.

No one really knew why Hongjoong disappeared like he had, but some speculate it had something to do with his new relationship status: single.

You were always starstruck seeing Hongjoong on Yunho and Mingi's social media, as well as Hongjoong's own platforms. Tonight was no exception.

Hongjoong's hair of the season was a simple light brown that complimented his skin tone and the warmth in his smile. You were used to seeing him in more extravagant garb, but tonight, he chose something very simple, but chic like Yunho.

Yunho and Hongjoong clasped hands in greeting. “What's up, man?” The latter chirped, eyes flickering over to you as you attempted to behave normally.

Yunho gestured toward you, his eyes twinkling as he swept his arm around your shoulders to bring you forward. “This is Yn. Yn, this is Hongjoong. He's the one who produced the album—”

“Now, don't downplay your own efforts, Yunho,” Hongjoong cut in with a knowing look. “You produced so much of it on your own; I fine-tuned and made a couple tracks, but the rest was all you, man.”

“I always tell him he's far too humble,” you agreed.

Hongjoong sent you a smile, extending his hand out. “Great minds think alike, Yn. It's very nice to meet the person this guy doesn't ever stop talking about.”

You laughed good-naturedly and saw Yunho's flushed sheepishness out of the corner of your eye. You shook Hongjoong's hand with a firm, confident grip. “Nice to meet you, too. You're—you’re incredible, by the way. I remember when Yunho posted a photo with you, and I literally screamed his ear off over the phone.”

Yunho winced and held a hand up to his ear, as if remembering the physical sensation of that phone call. “Yup, definitely damaged my eardrum that day.”

“Well, thank you; I'm flattered,” Hongjoong replied pleasantly. “So I'm assuming you've probably heard as much of the album as I have then?”

“I'm sure you've heard the whole thing,” you said. “Yunho has withheld one of the tracks from me, but I've listened to all the rest.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Oh? Which track did—oh.” As he and Yunho made eye contact, you watched as a silent understanding passed between them, and Hongjoong's mouth tugged upward in a teasing smile. “That song.”

You blinked. “What does that mean?”

Hongjoong flourished his hand as if to wave away the thought. “He just wanted it to be perfect, so we were working on it up to the last second. Nothing terribly concerning.”

Ah. You relaxed, but the curiosity still lingered in your mind's eye. “I'm sure it's great, nonetheless.”

“Oh yeah, you're gonna love—”

“Oh-kay! That's enough about the song,” Yunho chuckled nervously as he grabbed your shoulders and began steering you away from a clearly amused Hongjoong. “Let's go say hi to Mingi, hm?”

You threw him a look from over your shoulder, but went along with him toward wherever he'd seen Mingi wandering around. “What has gotten into you tonight?” You teased, though, you also hoped to know why he was so jittery. He wasn't even this nervous about dropping his debut album.

Yunho showed you a bright smile, the same kind of golden-retriever expression that the media knew him well for. It would have been enough if you didn't know him. “Again, it's an important album to me. And the song I added last minute is on the deluxe version, so I wasn't really confident in putting it on the original release.”

“Ah,” you murmured. You reached up to pat the hand that rested on your left shoulder reassuringly. “I'm sure it really is a great song, Yun, and I'm not just saying that. You can make an awful omelet, but you can't make an awful song.”

Your best friend bursted into laughter at the latter comment, and your heart soared to see the genuine smile on his face now. That was your Yunho shining through. “You're right—if I can't scramble eggs, at least I can write a song.”

Over the next hour and a half, Yunho took you on a tour around the room, jumping from friend to friend to introduce you to more of his world. For the most part, however, it felt like an excuse for you to bond with all his friends in teasing him about something or other. But he seemed content enough to see you getting along well with the other people close to him.

He had met plenty of your friends at your work, so it was only fair that you got the same opportunity.

At some point while you were with Wooyoung and San discussing all of the rehearsals for Yunho's upcoming world tour, Hongjoong summoned everyone's attention to announce that it was time to listen to the album. It would be a rather casual affair with the Youth album playing in the background of the party, but you were certain people would minimize their conversations to listen in.

You craned your neck to peer around the crowd to see where Yunho had gone off to. “Wait, guys, did you see where Yunho went?”

Wooyoung and San joined your search, but quickly hustled you into a nearby booth to sit and enjoy the album with your drinks. “He'll find us,” Wooyoung assured you as the three of you slipped into the leather seats. “He wouldn't miss this.”

“He'll at least be here by the last song,” San said offhandedly, his eyebrows wagging up and down.

Your lips parted, your face morphing into feigned offense. “Wait. Did he let you guys listen to the deluxe edition song, too?”

“Maybe,” Wooyoung giggled.

San cooed at your pout. “Awwh, don't take it to heart, Yn-ie. It was supposed to be a surprise for you.”

You raised your drink to your lips, sighing before taking a sip. “Everybody talks about this damn song as if he wrote it for me.”

Unbeknownst to you, the two others at the table exchanged pointed looks between one another when you were looking away. It was a wonder how Yunho was able to keep this all a secret from you. Though, even San and Wooyoung knew how busy you could get nowadays, so perhaps it really was just that easy. Plus, they had all at one point or another been privy to Yunho’s feelings—

“Speak of the Devil,” you perked up at the sight of your best friend emerging from the crowd with the others—Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Mingi, Jongho (vocal coach and album feature), and Yeosang (PR management)—in tow behind him. “We were wondering where you had gone off to.”

Yunho grinned as the lot of them squished into the circular seating arrangement with you, San, and Wooyoung. “Sorry, had to go round everyone up. The album should be queued up and ready to go.” He chose to sit on the end of the booth to your right while everyone else filled it up from the other side.

You offered him a sip of your drink, and he gladly took the glass from you. “So San and Woo were just telling me about how their tour prep is coming. You guys are leaving—what was it—two weeks from now?”

He hummed, smacking his lips as he set the glass back down on the table. “Yeah, it should be just about two weeks,” he said. His arm came up to rest against the back of the booth seat behind you. “You know, you can still come to the first stop with us…” This was said with a very pointed look at you from Yunho, followed by similar expressions from everyone else around the table.

“And you know that day’s when my supervisor holds quarterly meetings that are mandatory,” you shot back. As much as you hated the timing, the day that Yunho and the team planned to fly to their first stop on his world tour, you were required to be present for a very important meeting at work.

The Youth World Tour was something Yunho had been looking forward to and preparing for a long time. Besides working on the Youth album itself, his working hours extended over the past year or so to get ready for this major milestone. You would definitely be able to meet up with them at one of the tour stops, you just weren’t sure which one yet.

Things at your workplace were a little rocky as of late due to shifting management, but you would play it by ear. For your best friend, of course you would make it work somehow.

Your ears pricked up at the sound of strings strumming overhead and your heart leapt out of your ribcage for a moment. “Oh my god, I love this song.”

“You and me both, Yn,” Hongjoong chuckled across the table from you, reaching over so you could bump fists with him, “you’ve got good taste.”

“You’re only saying that because you wrote this one specifically,” Yunho sputtered out a laugh while rolling his eyes.

“It’s a good message,” you said, picking up your drink to take a generous gulp of it. There was a little left at the bottom of the martini glass and you swirled the liquid around before handing it over to Yunho to finish. “I think this one will definitely make it onto my work playlist.”

Yunho draped the back of his hand over his forehead, setting the now empty glass on the table. “Wow, relegated to the work playlist. Is that all I am to you?”

“You are a mood maker,” you pointed out with a teasing smile.

“Bro, you're complaining as if Yn doesn't put her work playlist on for everything she does.” Mingi arched his brows over the rims of his sunglasses. (Why was he wearing sunglasses indoors and at night? You didn't know; he said something about looking cool.)

Wooyoung chuckled. “What? So let's say you're trying to sleep—”

“Yah, I have a different playlist for that! I'm not completely unreasonable.”

“Completely,” Yunho and Mingi said at the same time, then looked at each other with wide, excited eyes. They bursted out laughing at once, too, leaving you to deadpan at the two clowns to your eleven o'clock and three o'clock.

You sighed. “I hate you guys.”

That only made them laugh louder, spurring on the others to crack smiles and for you to do the same.

Yunho calmed slightly, his cheeks hurting from smiling. “Aw, you walked right into that one, Yn.”

“So you're saying you are, in some capacity, unreasonable—oh my god, don't hurt me!” Mingi shrieked as he shoved Yeosang's body in front of him like a human shield as you lurched forward and threatened to grab him.

Yeosang sent Mingi a dirty look as he wrestled out of his neighbor's hold. “Dude.”

“Jongho, protect me.”

The vocal coach popped the olive from his martini into his mouth. “If you can't handle the heat, hyung, stay out of the kitchen.”

You nodded, raising your pointer finger up. “Exactly.”

For the next hour, you and your friends shared good company and conversation, while also commenting on, praising, and enjoying the tunes from Yunho's Youth album. There were a good thirteen songs featured on the album, and while most of them were inspired by real life, you remembered the days and nights when Yunho would break out the white board under his bed to draw out a concept map of the storyline he'd created in his head for some songs. It was like a miniature Easter egg hunt for fans to piece together from album to album.

When the clock hit nearly midnight, you recognized the song that marked the end of the conventional album—track number thirteen, 22. It was a song that reflected and lamented on his early stages of adulthood, all the goods and bads, all the hopes and dreams he had left. It was something that tied the regular album with a satisfying bow, but you were also giddy to hear the secret fourteenth deluxe track.

But as his ethereal voice from 22 faded out, the same guitar chords from the first song of the album began to play.

Everyone at the table paused in confusion.

“Uhh, I thought you were revealing the hidden track tonight, Yunho?” Seonghwa asked from across the table.

Yunho tilted his body out of the booth to peer into the sound booth at the very back of the lounge, a furrow in his brow. “I thought I was, too,” he said as he stood up. “I’ll be back in a sec.”

Before anyone else could say anything, Yunho disappeared past the door to the sound booth. You frowned as Hongjoong excused himself to catch up with him, mumbling something about helping with any technical difficulties.

In retrospect, it wouldn't be the biggest deal if you didn't get to hear the song tonight. You would simply listen to it when the deluxe album dropped in about a week, but you wouldn't deny that you were a little disappointed. Everyone else at this table had already listened to it—why had Yunho not shared it with you yet? Did he think you would judge him or not like it? You didn't think you were ever so harsh a critic, but that would explain why he was so nervous all night.

Regardless, you remained positive.

When Yunho and Hongjoong returned to the table, the rest of you all looked on to them expectantly.

“Something wacky is going on with the system right now and won't play the file for the hidden track,” Hongjoong huffed. He passed Yunho a sidelong glance, and you saw how Yunho avoided his friend's eyes like the plague. “Sorry to disappoint, Yn.”

Everyone's attention whipped toward you, and you straightened like a deer caught in headlights. “Oh, uhm, it's no biggie,” you said. You glanced over at Yunho who, if anything, seemed guilty. Or maybe it was just something apologetic. “Really—I can wait for it to drop officially.”

You didn't like how the air seemed to shift during this exchange, as if all the other boys were sitting on the edges of their seats, faces morphed into mixed ranges of confusion and disbelief.

You cleared your throat. “Anyone want more drinks?”

As the night waned and the party came to a close, you found yourself being helped into another Uber car to head home. After the supposed tech glitch, the remainder of the party passed by without a hitch. At the very end, Yunho popped open a theatrical bottle of champagne for all his guests to close out the celebration.

The backseat door closed just as Yunho ducked in with you, his hand waving out the window to San, Wooyoung, and Jongho passing by along the curb.

The alcohol had gradually made its way to your brain, and there was a light buzzing at the base of your skull that made you feel all warm and fuzzy. You yawned, leaning your head against Yunho's shoulder.

He chuckled, one of his hands coming up to gently pat your head. “Tired?”

“Mhm,” you hummed as your eyelids fluttered closed. “You didn't have to lie, y'know.”

You felt his shoulder tense under your cheek. If only you could feel the rapid beating in his chest, then he'd be as good as done.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” he replied innocently, nimble fingers running over the chain links of his wristwatch.

Your eyes cracked open slowly. “Yunho.”

A beat passed, then he sighed. “Are you mad?” He asked quietly and his hand nearest to you found yours as he began to mindlessly inspect the chipped nail polish on your fingertips.

“No, silly. Why would I be mad?” When he didn't respond right away, you let out an exhale of your own. “I mean, I could tell you were nervous about me listening to the song all night. And if you weren't ready for me to listen to it yet, then I totally get that, and I'm okay with waiting. I just would rather you tell me that instead of make Hongjoong lie for you.”

He stopped playing with your fingers. “I'm sorry, for the record. Thank you for understanding.”

You hummed in reply.

The drive continued on with the accompaniment of a random radio station playing on low volume. You weren't going to fall asleep just yet with the alcohol still working its way through your system, but you kept your eyes closed nonetheless.

“I missed you, you know?” Were his first words to break the next silence.

A small smile wormed its way onto your face. “I missed you, too. I feel like we haven't seen each other in forever.”

He chuckled, the low sound rumbling through his chest and into your ear. “Texting can only take us so far. Isn't that crazy? We can't even survive a week without hanging out, but we're… we're about to be separated for so much longer timewise and distance-wise.”

You grumbled. “Don't remind me—wait. Has it really only been a week?” You peeked one eye open, a frown coming to your lips. “No way.”

Yunho smiled, shaking his head. “Believe it or not, stargirl. It's been only a week.”

“In-fucking-sane.”

“You're telling me.”

“How are we going to survive?” You pondered aloud, genuinely. If you couldn't fly out to see him within the first handful of tour stops, you and Yunho at the soonest wouldn't be able to see each other for three weeks. And if you couldn't escape your work duties and your PhD responsibilities, then it would be longer than that. “You're gonna have a closer relationship with your Valorant account than me.”

Yunho snorted. “I already have a closer relationship with my Valorant account than you.”

“Shucks.” You breathed out. “Guess I'll just text Hongjoong then. You know what he told me tonight when we were exchanging numbers? All eight of you nerds have a group chat and he gets ignored like a mom in a family chatroom.”

Your comment made a laugh tumble out of Yunho's mouth. “Did he make that analogy?”

“No, Seonghwa did when he overheard.”

A wheeze. “That tracks.” Yunho licked his lips as he turned his head slightly to glance down at you leaning on his shoulder. With his free hand, he warmed his palm over your head like he could keep you here forever. “So what's this about texting Joong?”

You shifted your position to get more comfortable and clung to his arm to press yourself closer. There was still a little ways to go before you reached your apartment. “I told him offhandedly that I wanna pick up a new hobby… something about crocheting or something, and apparently that guy is like… amazing at everything, so he's gonna help me out.”

“Ah.” The sound was quiet. “I'm glad you guys got along.”

You smiled to yourself. “Me too. He's really cool.”

“Not cooler than me though, right?”

You blindly reached over to pat his chest in warm reassurance. “Don't worry, big guy. I guess you're still the coolest guy I know.”

He clicked his tongue at you with a weak chiding, “Yah. You only guess? Don't tell Mingi that.”

“Oh, I wouldn't dream of it.”

The Uber eventually pulled up along the curb outside your apartment complex. You lifted your head up from Yunho's shoulder and woke yourself up with a good stretch of your limbs.

He helped you out of the car, handing you your purse when you finally got your bearings. “Are you sure I can't walk you up? You look like your knees are about to buckle,” he chuckled.

You shook your head. The cool evening air was helping your brain to sober up. “No, no. Don't worry about it—I’m not as drunk as that one year.”

“Dear heart, how could I forget,” he teased. “Mingi still has the recording of when you begged to be bridal carried.”

Your face warmed at his mention of that memory and you wrinkled your nose at him. “I was gonna say ‘I love you’ along with goodnight, but I suppose not.”

Yunho froze. “What?”

Maybe you really weren't sobering up, because you didn't catch his strange reaction. “Nevermind,” you said flippantly. “Love you, Yun. Good night. Get home safe!”

He seemed to unfreeze, his lungs filling with breath again. A soft smile melted onto his pretty lips as he looked on toward you with a warm fondness. “Love you, too. Good night, Yn.”

He remained where he was outside the car door as he watched you dig your keys out from your purse and open the complex door. When you had one foot inside, you stopped, and turned back to him with a big grin on your face. “Hey!”

“Hey?” He laughed.

“I'm proud of you.”

For the thousandth time tonight, you made him lose his breath, his hold on reality. He swallowed—he wanted to kiss you. “I love you. Get some rest, stargirl.”

You waved to him in reply and he waved back. Then you disappeared through the door and left him there, his heart full and beating fast, the longing in his chest weighing heavier than before.

When you and Yunho were thirteen, you spent the longest period of time away from each other for the rest of your lives. It measured to about one summer break long when Yunho flew to South Korea to spend the entire vacation there and you could do nothing but chat with him via good, old fashioned e-mail.

Now that the two of you were older, even a couple days dragged on like an eternity. And because of your clashing and stacked schedules, a couple days almost always bled into a week.

A week since the release of Youth marked the inevitable release of its deluxe edition and the ever mysterious fourteenth track.

“Yn, wait, can you just help me finish this set of primers?”

You were this close to escaping the lab before one of your colleagues caught you. Taking a deep breath, you resolved to turn back and help them out. One less thing to worry about later, right? You could still listen to the track once you got home.

Except you couldn't, at least not right away. You saw the email on the bus ride home:

Hello TAs! One of your peers has unfortunately been involved in a motorbike accident early this evening. We have been informed that they will recover to full health, but because they are hospitalized, we will need to redistribute responsibilities regarding grades and as to who will cover their TA sections…

You skimmed down the email's contents, knowing you wouldn't be the one filling in as an actual TA. Because you were a first year graduate student in your first quarter, you opted to start off with grading work for now. But even if you didn't have to deal with a whole section of undergraduates, you could feel the blood drain from your face.

“You've gotta be shitting me,” you said, then slapped your hand over your mouth once you realized you'd said that aloud. You mouthed a sheepish “sorry” to a parent and her child nearby, then ducked your head to look at the contents once more.

There was no way they wanted—no, needed—all of those graded by tonight.

This was cruel and unusual punishment, but you knew you were going to do it anyway.

By the time you finished grading, shoveled dinner into your mouth, and took a therapeutically scalding hot shower, it was sometime past two in the morning. Thank fuck it was Saturday.

It was less than twelve hours later that you settled into the passenger seat of Yunho's Lexus sedan with a pair of shades covering your dehydrated, puffy eyes from the world and whatever paparazzi was stalking his car. Yunho glanced over at you with barely concealed amusement. “Well, good morning, princess.”

“You can't see it but I'm glaring at you,” you grunted as you strapped yourself in with the seatbelt. “I can't believe you wake up before noon now.”

“Unfortunately,” he chuckled, peeling his car away from the curb. After an unsatisfactory six hours of sleep, Yunho had woken you up with the obnoxiously loud sound of your phone ringing. You managed to negotiate for him to pick you up in two hours rather than half an hour—and now here you were. You never truly considered yourself a breakfast person and you would have happily slept all the way to lunch, but even through the exhaustion, you wanted to see him as much as he wanted to see you.

He would be gone by the end of the week, after all.

You leaned your head back against the headrest. “I used to have to lure you out of bed with the smell of bacon. Remember when you ate that entire plate of raw-ass bacon and pancake batter that Mingi made?”

Yunho let out a loud laugh that made you smile. He glanced over at you. “Bro,” he sighed, shaking his head, “you know I'll eat anything. Oh my gosh, I will never forget the horrified look on your face when you came out of the bathroom and found out what happened.”

“You looked like a kicked puppy when I told you that you shouldn't have eaten raw bacon,” you snorted. You'd felt so awful that Yunho was such a good eater who didn't complain; he didn't have any negative side effects afterward, thankfully, but you swore to never let Mingi in the kitchen or to let Mingi feed Yunho ever again, so long as you lived.

There was a café a few minutes drive from your apartment complex that the two of you liked to go to. It was a little hole in the wall, located on the second floor above a pet shelter, and the entrance could only be accessed through the stairs in the next-door alleyway.

Yunho adjusted the beanie over his bangs and you shifted your sunglasses up to the top of your head as you entered the establishment. There were a few people seated in the area to the right, but something you liked about this place was its hidden gem quality. (And the drinks and food they served, of course.)

“Hi, welcome in!” The barista behind the counter called before ducking behind the espresso machine. “Give me two seconds, and I'll be right with you.”

“No worries, take your time,” Yunho chirped back as he scoured the menu, eyes squinting and tongue darting out to wet his lips.

You had a general idea of what you wanted already, and you let Yunho know what it was before slipping off into the restroom.

By the time you emerged from the back hallway where the washrooms were, Yunho had finished ordering and was standing by one of the open two-seater tables by the far window with the soft autumn sunlight painting over his features. For a second, you stood at the opening of the hallway, just admiring him. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep making you envision the sunlight dancing around him as he sat down in one of the seats.

Heat rushed up your neck as your eyes met across the café. Gazes locked, you stood frozen, but a smile bloomed on your best friend's face like the coming of spring. It was the most beautiful thing you'd ever seen.

And then he made a face, cocking his head to the side like a puppy with a question. 'Why are you just standing there?’ He seemed to ask.

You shook yourself out of whatever strange daze you'd slipped into, then walked over to join him.

“You okay?” He asked as you took the seat across from him, a teasing lilt to his voice, yet there was still concern in the curve of his mouth.

You waved said concern away. “Yeah. I think I'm still waking up or something.”

“Ah,” he nodded in understanding. He frowned. “What time did you go to sleep last night?”

“Like… some time past two.” On cue, you let out a large yawn, lifting your sleeve up to cover your mouth. “It's okay. I'll just sleep early tonight or something. One of the other TAs got into an accident, so we just had to do some make-up work and I just happened to get home late as it was.”

You could already see the guilt manifest on his face for waking you up, and you were swift to add, “I'll be fine with food and coffee, so 's alright. What about you? How'd you sleep last night?”

“I slept decently,” he replied, leaning forward to rest his cheek against his fist. “I didn't end up dropping the deluxe album, so it was a little more restful than—”

Your brain took a second to catch up. The… the deluxe album… oh. Your eyes went from half-mast to wide open. “You—you didn't release the deluxe? Sorry, I was so busy yesterday that I didn't check my socials.”

“Don't worry about it,” he said with a sheepish smile. “But yeah, I told my manager that I still wasn't ready to release it to the public just yet. I don't know when I'll postpone it to, but it probably won't come out until while I'm on tour.”

Ah. There was that disappointment settling in the pit of your stomach again. This wasn't about you, but why did it seem like he was avoiding your eventual listening to this song? He was almost always sending you audio files without prompting, so what made this one different?

Nonetheless, it wasn't your song. You would respect Yunho's privacy if he wanted to keep this one to himself and his friends.

You unconsciously rubbed your arm. “Oh okay. Yeah, I mean—take your time, Yun. I'm glad you don't feel pressured to release it when you aren't ready.”

His expression softened to something tender that made your chest feel fuzzy. “You'll listen to it soon, I promise.”

The barista called out Yunho's order number, and your friend stood up to go retrieve it. You sighed as you fiddled with the sleeve of your shirt and peered over your shoulder as a pair of newcomers asked him for his autograph and a picture. You watched the pleasant smile spread on Yunho's face as he conversed with them as easy as breathing air, alongside the faint blush over his cheekbones.

No, you didn't know what had gotten into you this morning.

“No, no. You have to loop it through this piece here—yeah, there you go.”

You were so concentrated on following Hongjoong's directions that you didn't even register the sound of Yunho's front door opening and closing. Hongjoong clicked his tongue and scooted closer so he could direct your hands and the crochet hook himself.

“Uhm… hey?”

Both yours and Hongjoong's heads whipped up at the sound of Yunho's confusion. He stood at the entrance to the living room area where, scattered all around you and Hongjoong, were clothes, toiletries, and other essentials laid out for Yunho to throw into his bags.

Tonight marked the evening before Yunho and the team were to set off on the Youth World Tour. Tomorrow, they would fly out sometime in the afternoon, which meant that you would have time to send them off before heading to work and class. However, because you hadn't seen Yunho since this past Saturday when he dragged your ass out of bed for breakfast, you invited yourself over to his apartment to oversee his packing. Hongjoong just so happened to be swinging by Yunho's apartment and you asked if he was up for an impromptu crocheting lesson.

Hongjoong arrived some time while Yunho ran out to the Chinese place down the block to grab dinner, and the two of you had been hunched over the ball of yarn and hook ever since.

“Oh, you're back!” You exclaimed. In your distracted state, Hongjoong took the opportunity to take the crochet piece from you and subtly fix the mistakes you made.

Yunho's brows creased, eyes darting from you to Hongjoong as he slowly placed the takeout bags on the semi-cleared coffee table. “Yeah… Joong, when did you get here?”

You leaned forward to help clear off the rest of the coffee table and to also assist in unpacking all of the takeout containers. Yunho shucked the baseball cap he was wearing off to the side, carding a hand through his dark locks.

“Like… seven minutes ago,” he replied cheekily. His mouth curled into something mischievous as he locked eyes with Yunho. “I can leave, though, if you wanted to be alone—”

“Hyung—”

“I'm messing with you,” he snickered as he handed you the yarn and hook. “I only came by to drop off the emergency backup files hard drive and to give Yn-ie a sneak peek of her crocheting lessons to come.”

(Yunho's eyes narrowed a millimeter. Yn-ie?)

You set the unfinished crochet square down on the couch to walk Hongjoong to the door. “Are we still on for tomorrow, by the way?”

“What's tomorrow?” Yunho twisted around where he was seated on the floor to watch you and Hongjoong make your way to the front door.

“You,” said Hongjoong with raised eyebrows at your best friend, “are going on a plane with everyone else. Because I'm not leaving until the day after tomorrow, Yn and I are bonding over lunch after we see you all off.”

You and Hongjoong finished up finalizing plans in the doorway, followed by amiable farewells. Yunho called out a “good night” to his friend as Hongjoong slipped out the door, and left you and him to the apartment by yourselves.

You claimed the spot on the floor next to him and accepted the pair of wooden chopsticks he extended to you. “I'm sorry if I wasn't supposed to invite him in. I probably should've asked,” you said sheepishly as you snapped the chopsticks apart.

“Oh, no, he's been over quite a few times, so it's all good,” he replied swiftly. “I just didn't expect you two to be so close.” He added a laugh at the end that sounded more nervous to him than it was supposed to.

“We've been texting back and forth, but I guess so. Nothing like the two of you,” you jested, lifting your eyebrows up and bumping your elbow against his.

Yunho grinned. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“You guys spend all that time together in the studio—WHA—NO! Keep those hands to yourself!” You shrieked, rolling out of the way to dodge his hands that threatened to tickle you into submission. Yunho had thrown his head back in a carefree laugh, a beautiful expression in itself, that had you reciprocating.

When you were sure he wasn't going to attack you (affectionately), you scooted back over to your original spot next to him. He smiled to himself at the sidelong glance you casted him, and he went and grabbed one carton of rice for himself and the other for you.

“Thank you for dinner, by the way,” you told him as you opened up your carton, his somehow already opened and spilling over with food.

You once again caught him with his mouth full, and Yunho swallowed the bite of food he had before replying. “Yeah, man. Of course.”

“I swear that I will definitely get the next meal we have—”

“Yn.” He touched the back of his hand against your arm to draw your attention to him. “You literally were the one to make sure I made it out of college alive, like, I can never thank you enough for how much you did for me then and continue to do for me now.”

You swallowed, suddenly blown back by the way he looked at you right now. “I did it because I care about you, Yun. It's not something I expect to be repaid for.”

“I know,” he said with a nod, lips pulled into a tender smile that made your stomach do flips. This was the look no one else got to see from him. Sure, he could fill stadiums of people who would see his big, bright grin that shone brighter than the sun, but… but this one, this smile, was yours. “That goes the same toward this meal, okay?”

Yunho notched his finger under your chin and tilted your head up slightly to meet his eyes. “Don't worry about it.”

You set your carton of rice and chopsticks on the table, he copied your movements, and you wrapped each other in your mutual embraces. The startling realization that you wouldn't see him for longer than a week from tomorrow onward rushed toward you like the coming of a tide to shore. Before you knew it, the water was up to your knees, and you—what were you going to do without him here?

“I miss you already,” you whispered.

You felt him squeeze you tighter, nose pressed against the side of your neck. “I won't be gone too long.” A promise.

“Thank god Seonghwa and Wooyoung can cook.” At the sound of his snort from above your head, you squawked out in your defense, “Who else is gonna make you bacon and pancakes in the morning when you’re dead tired?”

“Hey! I can fry bacon, I’ll have you know!”

You pulled away from him so he could see the look of pure disbelief on your face. “Okay, rockstar. I believe you.”

He scrunched his nose up at you. “That’s not very convincing.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

Yunho scoffed, reaching over to flick your nose. You let out a sound of indignation and rubbed your nose, a scowl on your face at Yunho’s very pleased expression. And even if you were currently conspiring on how to get back at him, you couldn’t help but resolve something right that second—you would do everything in your power to see his show in two weeks’ time—to see Yunho in two weeks’ time.

The thing about cheap plane tickets was that the cheaper you bought them, the less “amenities” that it came with. The one you’d purchased specifically for two weeks in the future did not allow you a refund. This meant that if something were to arise, you would be a good several hundred dollars poorer, and your plans to surprise Yunho at his show would fall completely through the floor.

Good thing you weren’t about to let that happen, right? …Right?

“You’re sick.” Those were your roommate Trinity’s first words to you as you stumbled out of your bedroom and found her perched on one of the stools at the kitchen counter. She fixed you with an unimpressed look as she stirred around her morning coffee.

“I’m not—” Your own response was cut off by one very untimely cough into your elbow. You wrinkled your nose at the metallic taste at the back of your throat. Great. “—sick.”

“And I’m Oprah,” she deadpanned.

“You could be.” Did you really sound as much like a dying walrus as you thought you did? Holy shit.

She stood up from her stool, setting her coffee cup on the counter, then walked over to you to direct you back into your room. “I’m not permitting you exit from this apartment until you're better. Back to bed with you.”

“But—”

“No buts! If you wanna still be able to fly by the end of this week, then you have to get better, Yn.”

You really, unfortunately, could not argue with that. Nearly a week and a half had passed since Yunho started touring. Opening night had been a massive success, as you’d seen the broadcast and read the reviews on social media. In the concert photos and videos slowly being released online, there was no doubt in your mind that Yunho belonged onstage. He was radiant as a diamond in each depiction of him, and he sounded better and better each night.

Suffice to say, you were beyond proud and happy for him.

In order to make your surprise successful, you informed Yunho’s team of your plans so they could help you get into the concert once you arrived. Your part consisted mainly of finishing all of your work ahead of schedule so you weren’t swamped when you got back. It was nearing the end of the term, meaning there was lots to grade and study, but when you had a goal, you were determined.

The only downside was that, between the long days and nights of work, your body couldn’t fight against the swift rush of early winter air that swept through the city in the past week. Your working hours stretched out longer and longer until your body just… gave up. Or at least, it was giving up.

After calling in sick to your workplace, you crashed back into bed for what you hoped to be a restful nap. Maybe when you woke up, this would all just turn out to be a 24-hour fever.

(It was not a 24-hour fever.)

You didn't even know what time it was when you woke up groggy and your head pounding like there was an active construction site taking place in your skull. Your bedroom was dark, and the world outside your window was also dark. The sound of your phone ringing drilled into your cranium, and you groaned as you felt around your mess of blankets and sheets for wherever that damned thing was—

“Hello?” You croaked into the receiver when you finally grabbed ahold of your phone.

There was a pause on the other end, and you were about to ask who it was when they responded. “Oh my god. You're sick.”

Your heart leapt into your throat at the sound of your best friend's voice and you shoved your face into the pillow. “I'm not sick.”

“Yn, sweetheart, you literally have the sexy sick voice.”

“You think I'm sexy?” You asked in a drowsy, unwell daze. “But anyways, I'm not—” You lifted your face into your elbow in time to practically hack out your lungs. You groaned. “Okay, maybe I am sick.”

Could things get any worse?

You could hear the frown in his voice. “You sound like my worst nightmare.”

“Am I sexy or your worst nightmare? You need to pick an adjective.” You whimpered as you struggled to pull yourself up into a sitting position.

“At least I know it did nothing to that attitude of yours,” he laughed. He sobered for a moment when he heard you groan as the blood rushed to your head. “Hey, do you have meds with you? I can order some and have them there in half an hour.”

You waved him off, even though he wouldn't be able to see. “No, it's okay. I should have taken an ibuprofen before I crashed. I'm sure we've got extra Nyquil around here somewhere…”

You attempted to stand up, a swear falling from your mouth as the vertigo hit you and sent you tumbling back down onto the edge of the bed.

“Yn, I'm sending you medicine—and dinner. That one bistro near your apartment is still open, right? I'll let Trinity know that deliveries are on the—Yn?”

You lifted your head and broke out of your return to unconsciousness. “Hm? Sorry… I did not hear anything you just said.” You rubbed your hand down your face and scooped your phone up to make your way out of your room. You somehow made it to the door, and you leaned against the doorjamb as you pushed out into the dark hallway. “You don't have to send anything, Yun. Trinity's studying for her law school finals, so I don't wanna bother her. Plus…”

You opened up the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and bit back a sigh of disappointment. No cold medicine. There was pain medication, at least, so that should hopefully help you fall asleep again.

At your lack of words, Yunho asked, “No medicine?”

“No, I have some medicine,” you countered. “Just—not the right ones.” Before you could swallow any pills, you hacked out another lung into your elbow; you swore your coughs were sounding worse and worse.

“You know what? I'm flying home—”

You slammed the pill bottle on the bathroom counter. “Don't—what? Yunho, do not fly home. It's literally just a little—” You coughed, “—cold. You have another show in two days. If you show up on my doorstep, I'm not opening the door.”

From the silence on his end, you knew he wasn't in total agreement with you. Maybe the bottle slamming was a little much, but his statement had surprised you. It didn't make sense for him to drop everything for you when you were experiencing something so trivial as a cold.

Not unkindly, you said to him, “I appreciate the concern, but you have bigger things to worry about and care about.”

“You will always be the most important thing I care about.”

His admission was so sincere that your heart gave a violent palpitation in your chest. You struggled to swallow, and it wasn't just because your throat was sore. “And I feel the same way about you,” you murmured, “but I can take care of myself, okay? I'll be back to normal in no time.”

You heard a sigh from his end. “I know; you're right. I just… wish I was there with you right now.”

You could understand that—it was how you felt. But some things couldn't be helped, and Yunho needed to be where he was and you needed to be where you were. You could hold down the fort while he was gone taking over the world by storm.

You closed the bathroom door to give an extra barrier between your voice and where Trinity was studying in her room. After knocking back a couple painkillers, you seated yourself on the floor with your back against the bathtub and your knees pulled up to your chest. “You know what's kind of ironic?” You coughed into your elbow and wrestled down another one bubbling up in your throat. You shouldn't have been speaking so much, but you could deal with the repercussions later. “I think I freaked out when you said you were going to fly home, not just because that's insane, but also because I was going to surprise you by flying out to your show in a couple days.”

He sucked in a breath. “You were gonna come surprise me?”

“Yeah,” you muttered, swiping at your nose and tucking your chin to your knees. Then you had to go and screw it all up, and you couldn't even get your money back. You pretty much accepted that you weren't going to be better by the time the day rolled around, especially not for travel. “I'm sorry I couldn't come see you.”

“No, don't be sorry!” He cooed. “I'm—I’m really sorry you're sick and I'm sad you couldn't make it, but… but think of it this way, hm? As soon as you get better, I'll fly you out to whatever city I'm in and we can hang out and you can come to the concert. All you have to do is get better for me.”

You didn't know if your schedule would allow after this setback, but you were going to remain optimistic. With a small glimmer of hope peering through your chest, you replied, “Okay.”

“Okay,” he said, and you could hear the fond smile in his voice.

“By the way,” you began, and had to clear your throat from how congested it was getting. Maybe some hot tea would do you good. You clambered to your feet to get out of this bathroom and do just that. “Was there a reason you called originally or was it just to say hi?”

A beat of hesitation passed between your question and his answer. “Ah…” There was a wince in his voice, “I, uhm, called because I wanted to know if you'd seen something online, but obviously you haven't 'cause you were asleep, but…”

Seen something online? Your movements with your electric kettle paused. Had someone posted something about Yunho? “What is it, Yun?” Who's ass did you need to beat?

“Seonghwa hyung found out that someone leaked the hidden track online a few hours ago.”

You leaned your cheek against your palm, eyebrows knitting together. “Shit, dude. I'm so sorry,” you said with a frown. That meant some rando on the internet had hacked into someone's files and leaked the song.

A sharp exhale from Yunho's end. “Yeah, I dunno. We're working on getting it taken down right now, but in the event it can't be done soon enough, I think I'm just gonna release the deluxe version in a couple hours.”

It seemed by his response that it wasn't the hacking that was his primary concern. Leaked, unreleased songs happened to every major artist in the industry, and it had most definitely happened to Yunho before this. But this time… this time felt different. You knew how hesitant he was to release this, and having the track get released to the public on terms that weren't his? Well, that just wasn't fair.

“You don't,” you said softly, reaching for a mug in the top cabinet to plop your tea bag into, “have to release it officially right now. You can still wait until you're comfortable.”

You heard sounds of shuffling on his end, followed by the sound of a door opening. You thought you heard Yeosang's voice as he murmured something to Yunho. The exchange was swift, but it reminded you that your time with your best friend here was limited.

“Do you need to go?” You asked, trying to cover up your hope that he didn't have to with nonchalance.

He hummed. “It's okay, I have a few minutes left. They want me to 'okay’ a couple things out on set, but that can wait. Uhm… as for what you said about releasing it—I,” he sighed, “I think this was the push I needed to finally drop it, y'know? I think either way I was going to be scared for—for people to hear it—for you to hear it. But uhm… yeah. That's all I wanted to say. I think it'll probably be released whenever you wake up.”

You poured the hot water of your tea bag, setting the kettle down gently. Letting the steam rise up to help clear your congestion, you could finally think a little clearer now. “I'm sorry this didn't happen on your terms.”

“I appreciate that. I hope you like the song—I… I really hope you like the song.”

A smile tugged at the corners of your lips. “I'm going to like the song, rockstar. You have nothing to worry about, I promise.”

He let out a small laugh and the sound of his happiness, however big or small, made your chest feel heavy. “I’ve missed you so much,” he rasped out. “So much.”

You pressed your forehead to your fist, willing the prickling feeling of tears at bay. “I wish I was there—I’ve wished I was there with you the moment you left. But I'm so, so proud of you. I know I've said this before, but you belong on that stage, Yunho. I'll be there… I'm always there in spirit.”

“You can't say that and expect me not to fly my ass home right now.”

You sputtered out a laugh, which was probably a bad idea, because it led to an utter disaster of a coughing fit. When you finally managed to get a reign on things, you picked up your mug of tea and took a couple ginger sips. It was still piping hot, but whatever scalding temperature it was at somehow soothed your throat and your head.

You set the cup down. “Again, I'll be there in no time, I promise.”

“You swear on your life?”

You sighed, but you pressed your lips into a smile. “I swear on my life.”

Yunho's departure from this call was imminent, and so you made further promises to get plenty of rest and to take care of yourself. You only did so when he promised to do the same for himself. Just after you both hung up, you received a text message from him: Stay up for five more minutes!! The delivery's almost there.

You huffed out a rough-sounding laugh, and bit your tongue around a smile. Of course he had still ordered you stuff. You shook your head to settle on one of the kitchen stools to nurse your tea and wait for the delivery to get here.

When the driver was safely out of bounds of your door, you poked your head out into the hallway to grab the paper bags seated on your doorstep. You had only expected medicine and maybe dinner, but not only were there cold medicines, orange juice, and hot soup from the bistro down the street, but there was a bouquet of flowers there, too.

Butterflies fluttered in your stomach as you pulled everything into the safety of your apartment. Damn Jeong Yunho and his gestures. It didn't mean anything—they were just Get Well Soon flowers, but why did you kind of wish they were more than that?

The Youth album's fourteenth track entitled your space hit the charts at number two. By the time you woke up, still sick as hell, the track had been officially released for about eight hours. You rolled over in bed to guzzle down half a bottle of water and cold medicine, then grabbed your phone.

It seemed that social media blew up while you were asleep. The deluxe drop was trending under a couple different tags, and based on initial skims, you were happy to report that most had everything good to say about it.

Though, some of the commentary made you pause. He has to be seeing someone, said one user. Look at these lyrics. These could only be produced by a man in love.

You had to swipe out of the app at that point. Instead, you went over to yours, Yunho's, and Mingi's group chat together where Mingi and Yunho had waged a meme war while you were asleep after Mingi wished you a “Get Better Soon” message. You sent back your own meme in response and opened your music streaming app to find track fourteen.

The boys would probably all be asleep by now, so they wouldn't respond any time soon.

You found your space exactly where you thought it would be, at the very bottom of the deluxe album. You sat yourself up against your headboard, plugged your earbuds in, then hit play.

If only you knew how much it would rock your world.

Hongjoong was never wrong about his hunches. It had been about a week and a half since you came down with an awful cold and couldn't make it to your intended surprise show, and slightly less than that since the deluxe album dropped. Even before the tour started, life was a whirlwind, but now that the tour was only ramping up further from this point, it had been nothing short of a total rush.

Different cities every week, at least two nights a city—all of it took a toll on both the staff and artist involved. Hongjoong's hunch, however, regarded the artist in particular as he watched said artist keep his smile up to say goodnight to the remainder of the stadium workers who lingered for cleanup. Yesterday was their last show date in this city, and today, Yunho and his team had come by to help load everything up for transport to their next destination. Tomorrow, they would fly out and be in the next city to begin preparing for the next round.

But as Yunho began making his way toward the exit where Hongjoong was waiting for him, it was impossible to miss the immediate exhaustion that flooded his features. He carded a hand through his hair as he checked his phone, then pocketed it in the back pocket of his pants.

“Hey,” Yunho nodded to Hongjoong as he met him at the exit and they both walked out into the chilly evening together. There was already a car waiting at the curb to take them back to their hotel—there was still so much that needed to be done before they left for the airport tomorrow.

“Hey,” he said back. “Everything okay?”

Yunho glanced over at him. “Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine; just tired. I think it's a good thing I started packing before we came here earlier,” he mused. For him to pack early? A miracle.

Hongjoong bobbed his head in understanding. “Yeah, I get that, but that's not really—you know you can be honest with me, right? I know this has all been… a lot.” And Hongjoong would understand; he had been in the public eye for so long now, and all of that could be so incredibly draining. From catering to fans and journalists and sponsors, it could be difficult finding himself amongst all that mess.

Plus, Yunho had the added bit of being away from home for a very long time. From what Hongjoong understood, Yunho only used to tour relatively close to home, and when it was farther, it was during his school breaks. He also knew that you were an integral part of Yunho's sanity, and that even before he reached this level of fame, you were his rock, his anchor, his ground control.

Being away from you for so long was beginning to show. When Hongjoong brought it up offhandedly to Mingi, Mingi was swift to agree.

“I—” Yunho began as he slipped into the passenger seat and Hongjoong into the back of the car. He murmured a soft greeting to the driver before strapping himself in with a seatbelt. “—it definitely has been hard,” he admitted with a sigh. “I don't know, Joong. You know that rush you get while onstage, but it just comes crashing down a couple hours later? Like the adrenaline leaves you all at once and all you crave for is home?”

Hongjoong pursed his lips, watching Yunho lean the side of his head against the window as he watched the world pass by. “Yeah, I do,” he said quietly. “The moments between all the rush and excitement, you're no longer distracted from how much it all is.”

A nod. “Yeah.”

“You miss her?” It was less of a question and more so a statement. Hongjoong's hunches were never incorrect. It was both a blessing and a curse.

Yunho's quiet was answer enough.

Hongjoong played around with the back of his phone case. He knew you had listened to the song—he’d asked Yunho and you'd texted Hongjoong, too. Yunho reported that you gushed about the song and affirmed him in all his choices and lyricism as always, but he was certain that you didn't get it. But when you had run to Hongjoong questioning your own feelings and if Yunho had been scared to tell you if he was in love with someone, Hongjoong could confidently say that you did get it, just not one hundred percent.

There was still miscommunication in the message, but he knew that was only something that the two of you could sort out.

“Have you guys talked since last week?”

“Yeah, we have. She's been…” He pushed a breath out of his mouth, “... She's been working her ass off trying to make up for the amount of time she was sick. I don't even know how she isn't getting sick again. I mean—all the shit she has to weather through—I wish I could help.”

And he couldn't, not like how he wanted to, not from so far away. Maybe that was what was eating him up inside the most, besides the fact he believed his feelings to be unrequited.

The car pulled up to the back entrance of the hotel Yunho and his team were staying at for the time being. The two of them thanked the driver on their way out, and they were swiftly greeted by employees coming out of the back for their breaks.

When they reached the warmth of their hotel floor's hallway, Yunho said to Hongjoong, “I miss her so much.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his Youth World Tour hoodie, eyes lined in silver. “I worry about her so much, too. I'm sure she worries just as much about me and I know that she's more than capable about taking care of herself—’cause god, she was the one who kept me afloat all these years, and I—”

I love her.

He slapped his key card against the reader and shoved into his hotel room with Hongjoong trailing after with a sympathetic frown on his face.

“It just feels wrong sometimes when I can't be with her. Is that crazy?”

Hongjoong settled a warm hand on Yunho's shoulder as the latter sat down on the edge of his bed. “It's not crazy,” he said. He'd felt like that about a person, once upon a time. After everything Hongjoong had gone through with his last relationship, one might think he didn't believe in love, but he was still clawing for it. He wanted something that he could see manifesting between you and Yunho. He wanted to help you reach that.

He sighed and sat down next to him. “It's completely valid to feel this way, y'know? She's been a huge part of your life and your passions, and for you to see all this without her seems incomplete.”

Yunho nodded. “Yeah.”

“You can go home whenever you want, you realize that?” Hongjoong asked. “We have time built into each week to give you rest days, man. We can make that work.” It might be a little tiring for so much travel, but one trip back wouldn't hurt, especially when it could help his mental state more than simply powering through.

“I know,” he replied. “I don't… I just feel like I want her to see that I can do this, that she didn't put her trust and energy into someone who would fall so fast—”

“Do you seriously believe she would think about you that way?”

Yunho's expression shuddered, and he let out a shaky breath as he shook his head.

Hongjoong arched his brow. “Exactly. She would never fault you for needing a break. Being human is not a sign of weakness, Yunho. She's your best friend—I think she has more forgiveness and compassion for you than that.”

Yunho swallowed. Of course what Hongjoong said was right. You wouldn't look at him any different if he needed a break; it was just a thing about being kinder to himself. But sometimes it was hard to put that into perspective, and perhaps he just needed someone to do that for him.

With no good choice made without a decent night of sleep, Hongjoong bid Yunho goodnight.

As soon as Hongjoong slipped out of his friend's room, he sighed and mentally calculated what time it would be where you were. You should have been awake.

And awake, you definitely were.

You would be lying if you said you hadn't been listening to the song your space on repeat for the past week and a half. Even as you sat in one of the campus dining halls doing work and eating your crappy sandwich for lunch, your headphones were spilling with your best friend's gorgeous croons.

You questioned everything at the same time. You'd figured out two days after you first heard it that you were in love with your best friend.

The lyrics had resonated with you, and you had come to the startling conclusion that you felt the song's meaning toward Yunho.

All you could do since was freak the fuck out and tell Yunho that the song was incredible. You didn't know who the song was for or about, but you knew it was important to him because of how scared he was to release it. Had he been scared to tell you he was in love with someone? Why?

Sometimes you found yourself tearing apart the lyrics like a rabid trash panda.

I couldn't ever leave you behind They couldn't ever take me away Baby, if I could pick a heaven on Earth It would be anywhere in your space.

You broke away from your work and sandwich to the sound of a text notification. Suddenly remembering how loud your vibration ringer was, you silenced it, then opened up Hongjoong's message: I know you're probably moping and eating a shitty sandwich—what. You glanced down at said shitty sandwich that sat in its equally sad plastic container. How did he know…? —and he's not doing well either. He's miserable, dude.

Everything slowed for you, and it was no longer about your so-called epiphany. You felt your entire body and mood drop at the news. You'd seen social media posts commenting on Yunho's stage presence and brightness never fading, but there were always the one or two who noted something along the lines of him seeming too tired or that perhaps he didn't have enough stamina for this.

The latter comments made your blood pressure spike, but there was, unfortunately, some truth to it. You just didn't think it was this bad.

You pressed the backs of your knuckles against your eyes. You hadn't been doing the best, clearly, and you knew that it was largely because you missed him. Being away from someone you considered home for so long meant that you were bound to get homesick.

You didn't know what to do. There was so much work to be done, and you had just caught up. On top of that, you were short a few hundred dollars from the last time you tried to fly out.

Another message buzzed in from Hongjoong: I think you guys really need to talk.

The organ in your chest rattled around in its cage; it longed to be with its partner. You were starting to understand that now.

The song playing in your ear was slowly petering out, and all you could hear was his voice.

And I've kinda been wanting to ask if we can Skip the 'why’ and get to the 'our’ Because baby, I love your space But I love ours more.

Yunho had not flown home that week. Some emergencies had sprung up as soon as they landed in their new city, and all bets were off to be able to go home. All that he could do was buckle down and get comfortable. Even so, he knew how to make the best out of a situation.

As he stood at the very center of the main stage, he held a hand up to shield his eyes from the bright spotlights shining down on him now.

“Is that better?” Hongjoong's voice echoed throughout the near-empty stadium.

From one of the balconies, Jongho cupped his hands up around his mouth to scream at the top of his lungs, “LOOKS GOOD, HYUNG!”

“Jongho,” Yunho chuckled into his microphone, “did someone not get you a headset, bro?”

A beat passed, and then, “NO.”

Mildly amused laughter cropped up around the stadium in reaction to the youngest's troubles. It was little moments like these where Yunho could forget for one second just how tiring all of this amounted to become. His smile was genuine, and his tongue darted out to trace his teeth—

“Jeong Yunho, put your damn tongue away.”

Yunho's eyes went as wide as saucers, his expression morphing into something like childlike surprise as he immediately retracted his tongue into his mouth. But in the split second it took his brain to process the words that had been said, he also recognized the voice who'd said them. From the big screen, any one of the staff members or you could see the way his face stretched into the widest grin possible, his eyes lighting up like spotlights.

He lifted the mic in his hand up to his lips as he tilted his eyes up to the sound and lighting box far up in the stands. From where he was onstage, he could just make out the shape of you in the box next to Hongjoong—the sneaky bastard. “Ln Yn, get your ass down here right now,” he said, hardly able to contain the excitement in his voice.

You didn't need to be told twice.

You raced down the stadium steps from the box, your legs carrying you as fast as humanly possible without falling. Yunho leapt off the stage and left his microphone behind to meet you in the middle.

Somewhere between the pit and mezzanine, you flew into his arms and he caught you, spinning you around. The glee on both of your faces was enough to make everyone stop and appreciate the tangible love before them. Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes and you pursed your lips to subdue them. You squeezed him as tight as you possibly could; his arms held you firmly around your waist, head tucked into the joint between your neck and shoulder.

“You're here,” he croaked with tears in his voice now. You heard him sniffle, and only held him tighter. He felt the added strength and let out a sob. “I missed you so much.”

Oh, for fuck's sake—you started bawling like a baby. “I—” you sucked in a breath, “—I heard—so I booked a flight—”

This only caused his body to tremble harder. “Oh god… Yn… I…”

You sniffled and brushed your hand over the back of his head in an attempt to get both of you to calm down. “Hey, don't worry about it, okay? It doesn't matter; you know I'd drop everything for you.” When his only response was to press his wet eyes against the heat of your neck, you blinked away your tears. “Plus, I missed you, too, rockstar.”

Yunho let out a watery laugh, gently setting you down onto solid ground. You both looked like a hot mess and a half: snot dripping out of your noses, eyes red and drowned in salty tears. The adrenaline rush from the surprise had trickled out of your system, but your heartbeat continued to rattle around in your chest with reckless abandon. His messy, damp hair; the wobbly shine in his dark brown irises; the way he smiled at you with that something on his face… he was everything to you.

“Glad to know the feeling's mutual,” he said, nudging you with his elbow, then pawing at his eyes to wipe the tears away.

“Good to see you, Yn!” San piped up from the stage with his microphone. He had picked up Yunho's microphone from where he'd abandoned it to come meet you.

You laughed, lifting a hand up in a wave. “Hey, San! Hi everyone!”

Chimes of greetings from all the other boys and staff members cropped up from all around the arena.

Yunho brushed a hand through his hair and wrapped an arm around your shoulders. “Did all you fuckers know about this?”

Mingi was perched on the ledge of the stage. His grin seemed to be the widest after watching your reunion. He tugged the microphone attached to his earpiece closer to his mouth. “Don't tell us you're not grateful now.”

“Nah, I'm just surprised Wooyoung was able to keep his mouth shut.”

Wooyoung didn't need a microphone to let you all know of his offense. You could hear his squawk of disapproval all the way from where you stood—crazy how acoustics worked.

Yunho heard your laugh from beside him, and he glanced over at you to catch the fond look on your face. He hadn't stopped smiling for the past five minutes, and it didn't matter how much his cheeks hurt. You were here; that was all that mattered.

“This place is—” you marveled as the two of you began walking down the stairs together toward the stage. The backs of your hands brushed against one another, breaths away from touching, from lacing, from being together. “—huge. It's so much more—” You felt your lip wobble again, “I don't even know why I'm getting emotional. It's all you dreamed of as a kid, wasn't it?”

The tears pricked at the edges of his eyes again, and the two of you looked back at each other with equally wet eyes and bright smiles. “Yeah,” he nodded, swiping at his eyes.

“You deserve it.”

“All thanks to you,” he said with a sniffle, hugging you to him again. You were solid and real beneath his fingertips—he was so happy you were here. This was where you belonged; none of this felt right without you.

When you finally reached the bottom of the pit, Yunho had to run back up to the stage, and you went through the aisles until you found your perfect seat. It wasn't long before Mingi bounded up the steps to come join you. He brought you in for a long awaited hug of his own.

“What's good, Yn?” He asked with a soft chuckle as he pulled away and settled in the seat to your left.

Just ahead, Yunho appeared onstage with his microphone in hand, and the two of you lifted your hands in sync to wave to your best friend.

You adjusted your bag in your lap, and clasped a hand on Mingi's shoulder. “This is surreal. Does it feel surreal?”

Mingi's lips pulled into a smile as nostalgia made his vision cloudy. “It does, every single time. I'm glad you're finally here—we’re all very happy that you're here now.”

You bumped your head against his shoulder and let it rest there for a moment, and his hand came up to gently pat your head to tell you he understood. You didn't need to say anything.

For the next hour and a half, you and Mingi got to watch Yunho and everyone else run through the last of the day's lighting checks. Periodically, someone else from Yunho's personal team would come and sit with the two of you, then leave quickly when they had something else on their to-do list.

At last, when the session wrapped up and everyone was sent to go home for an early night, you rushed down to meet with Yunho again.

He waited for you to be at his side before leading you down toward backstage. “There's a couple things I need to grab in my dressing room before we can head back to the hotel.” A thought suddenly interrupted his thoughts and his eyes widened. “Do you have accommodations? Please tell me you do.”

“Don't worry—I promise I'm not sleeping on the streets,” you teased. You'd figured all of that out pretty last minute with Hongjoong and Mingi's help.

Yunho nodded, a smile coming to his face. “Okay, good. I was gonna offer my room and I could sleep on the pullout couch.”

The thought of sleeping in the same room as him made your skin warm, and if you hadn't realized your feelings for him before, you would be confused as to why you were so flustered at the thought now. It wouldn't be the first time you had a sleepover. But this would be… different. Oh lord.

The backstage hallways were scarce and dimly lit in order to save energy, but it was enough to guide you and Yunho's way to the star dressing room. You swallowed as you reached the door—the facade plastered with a pretty, gold star with his name on it—and followed him inside.

“Hey, Yun?” You asked him as you lingered by the door and he rushed around to grab his things. The room was decently spacious, and definitely larger than all the other ones from his past tours.

“Mhm?”

“Could we… talk about something?”

He glanced back over his shoulder as he threw things into his bag. “Yeah, ‘course.”

You toed at the polished ground, fingers twisting and wringing in front of you. “It’s about the song. The, uhm, the your space one.”

His movements paused. He looked up and connected gazes with you through the vanity mirror in front of him. Yunho cleared his throat and ducked his head to zip up his bag. “What—what about it?” He asked, shouldering his bag and meeting you back at the door.

He seemed unable to look you in the eyes directly now as he closed the door behind the both of you as you stepped out into the empty hallway.

“I just,” you stammered. Blood rushed up to your face and you could hear your heartbeat thundering in your ears. “I needed to know—I didn’t need to know—it’s your life and your song, and you have every right to have feelings for someone without me knowing. And I think I’m asking this for selfish reasons, but… are you seeing someone?”

The question caught him off guard, his eyes blowing wide open. “Wh—no. No, I am not seeing anyone. Why do you ask?”

“The song—I know I shouldn’t be indulging in what people on the internet say, much less in the opinions of those who don’t even know you, but I couldn’t help but agree with them when they say the lyrics, the—the feeling of the song—you’re in love, and I—” Your breath caught in your throat as you choked on the words lodged there: And I am in love with you.

Yunho pushed an exhale out of his mouth and stepped toward you. So much shone in his eyes right then, and it didn’t matter how much light there was in this damn hallway, his eyes would always glitter like twin diamonds. “I am in love with someone. Yn, I’m in love with you,” he said. “I thought that the song would make it obvious, which is why I was so scared for you to hear it, but I realize now that this was just something I should have said outright.”

Your heart fluttered in your chest and it wasn’t from the nerves anymore. God, your knees felt like buckling from the force of the tenderness in his eyes alone. “You’re—you’re in love with me?”

“I am,” he nodded. He slowly reached for your hands and clasped them within his own. “I’ve been in love with you since that day you ran out of Science Olympiad practice to come to my audition; I’ve been in love with you from the moment you yelled at me for not being ambidextrous and I had beef jerky in my mouth—”

“I did not yell at you!”

He broke out into a cheeky, yet fond grin, his hand coming up to cup the side of your face with his hand. “I’ve been in love with you for so long that I can’t imagine what life was like before I was in love with you—and yes, you did yell, but you can yell at me as much as you like, and I would still be head-over-heels for you.”

Your lip curled in on itself at all of his words, at everything he was revealing to you now. You wished you had known—oh, god, you wish you had known. You didn’t know if things would have been different, but for some reason, you had a feeling that all paths might have led here nonetheless.

You squeezed his hand between your own now. “You’re everything to me, Jeong Yunho,” you rasped out, unable to put strength behind your voice for fear of all of the emotion about to spill out. “And I’m so stupid for taking so long to figure it all out, but I’m in love with you, too, and I��d be damned if I let another day pass without you knowing that.”

Something washed over him in that moment, and he laughed, leaning over to cup the back of your neck and rest his forehead against your own. It was ridiculous, the fact that both of you were giggling and smiling at such a precipice of emotion, but it felt right.

You could feel the warmth of his breath against your lips as he murmured, “Fuck, I wanna kiss you so bad.”

“Then come kiss me, rockstar,” you said, looping your arms around his neck. You drew him down to your mouth and felt his body mold against your own. Every crevice and curve slotted so perfectly with one another, and the heavy longing in your chest slowly eased.

“You guys have been incredible for me tonight—” Yunho beamed as he walked toward the front, center stage and looped the electric guitar strap over his head to the sound of the roaring crowd, “—so I've got a little surprise for you.”

One of the staff members had set out a mic stand and bottle water for him, and he approached both items to fit the microphone into place. Tonight was the Friday night concert being held in this city, and the energy was dialed to one thousand in all the best ways.

He held onto the microphone with one hand. “This song is dedicated to—written for—my best friend in the world, the love of my life, my stargirl. I'm sure you know it—you crazies debuted it at number two on the charts—this is your space.”

His smile tugged up wider at the reaction he received. If anyone in the crowd didn't know the song, they were about to fall in love.

Yunho laughed, shaking his head, as he began checking to make sure his guitar was tuned with practiced, nimble fingers. “Oh, by the way—” he pointed up at the accessory he wore, the crocheted headband holding his hair up and out of his face, with a row of stars across its band, “—she made this for me. Isn't it cute?”

The stadium echoed in choruses of “aw” and cheers.

He could only duck his head with a smile, eyes twinkling with fondness and tenderness at the thought of you. You were in the crowd, but you could be up here with him in spirit. “Yeah, that was me, too.”

After you and Yunho left the stadium yesterday, hands intertwined and a new page in your relationship turned, you’d gone back to his hotel to share a restful evening in one another’s presences. You revealed later that night that you spent the four or five days you were bedridden practicing your crocheting skills until you were able to make him a headband. A row of three stars studded the length of it—stars for your rockstar.

Yunho struck his fingers down the strings of his guitar with a gentle rocking motion from his opposite hand to let the sound reverberate around the stadium. The crowd cried in love as his soulful, beautiful voice filled their ears with love of his own. And as his fans filed out of the stadium for the night and headed home, Yunho could finally return to his home. Because you were here now… no matter how far, no matter the distance, the two of you would always find a way to be in the other's space.

a/n: pls remember to reblog, comment, and send asks if you enjoyed!

atz m.list

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jakesduskwood · 8 days

Text

even statues crumble if they're made to wait

Pairing: Jake x Fem!MC

Genre: Post-Episode 10 Duskwood, Post-Episode 1 Moonvale

Words: 8,916

Summary: It's been three months since the explosion in the mine. Three months since Hannah was found. And MC's accepted that Jake is never coming back. When she gets roped into another missing person's case, it makes for the perfect distraction. Jake is dead. It's fine. That is, until she finds herself on the phone with Alan Bloomgate who says he has something to show her. But it's fine. Jake is dead.

Until he's not.

EPISODE-1 MOONVALE SPOILERS AHEAD (MAYBE)!

[ A/N: Hello! :)

I know it's been a while since I've done this, but I finished Moonvale Episode 1 and if you've seen the ending (and used its Duskwood code), you know what happened and how excited I was to receive that bit of Duskwood. So, I took it and ran with it, and out came this extremely long fic. I did not proofread this as it took me literally almost 12 hours to write so it is completely and 100% me and my love for Jake and I hope you love it.

Side note: I suck with anything related to timelines, so I made one up on my own. I know Episode 1 of Moonvale takes place over the course of a day or two, but for the purpose of this fic, it made sense to make it longer, so it's not a typo, or me losing my mind, it's just the way my brain processed this.

Enjoy! :) ]

It’s been three months since the explosion in the mine.

Three months since Richy had been killed. Three months since Hannah was rescued. Three months since I had last spoken to Thomas or Cleo or Lilly or…or Jessy. I didn’t blame her then and I don’t blame her now. Any of them, really. I didn’t share the bond they had with each other. I wasn’t from Duskwood. It didn’t matter that we’d experienced a tragedy together—and yes, perhaps them more than me, but I loved Richy too. I had lost Richy too. And Jake—

But mostly, I think they just wanted to forget. To move on. They didn’t want to remember that their friend had been capable of…of that. And I was a constant reminder of that to them. So I understood why we didn’t necessarily talk anymore.

The one person I did keep in contact with from Duskwood, oddly enough, other than the occasional update from Alan Bloomgate, was Dan. We weren’t best friends or anything, but he allowed me to check in on our friends in a way that I didn’t know how to do with anyone else. Maybe because I thought he was the least affected among them. I knew he cared about Hannah, but he wasn’t to her what Thomas or Cleo or Lilly were. And he wasn’t to Richy what Jessy had been.

I’d learned from him that Thomas and Hannah had broken up. There was no bad blood, but Thomas hadn’t quite figured out how to accept the things he’d learned about his girlfriend when she’d been gone, and Hannah hadn’t quite figured out how to re-trust someone after Richy. Even if that person was Thomas. But I’d hoped they would find their way back to each other in the end.

I thought about reaching out to Jessy every once in a while—even just as an apology for everything that had happened. I’m sorry that Hannah was found at the expense of Richy. I’m sorry that he did this to you. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it sooner. We should have. We should have. We should have. I miss you. But I never send it. I’m not all that sure she’d respond anyway.

Cleo and I were never all that close. She has her best friend back, so I think she’s probably as okay as she can be. Helping Hannah find a new kind of normal in a time where her childhood friend had kidnapped her in order to prove a point. I don’t know how you come back from that—I don’t know how you come back from knowing that you killed somebody at all.

I hadn’t found the courage to ask if somebody had told Hannah about Jake.

Not that I think it would matter anyway. I hadn’t heard from him since before the explosion in the mine, which was, like I said—three months ago. I waited the appropriate amount of time—twenty-five days—before I broke down and concluded that maybe he hadn’t survived. Which just piled a shit-ton of guilt onto my shoulders because it was supposed to be me in that mine. He had gone in place of me and now he was dead.

It was the only explanation that made sense. I was used to Jake disappearing for days at a time, but never as long as he had been now. And he didn’t seem like the type to tell me he loved me and then leave without a single explanation. Not unless he had to. But it had been three months and as much as I missed him, as much as my chest ached with the thought that we would never eat Chinese food out of shitty motels and have that on-the-run ending we talked about, I had accepted that he wasn’t coming back.

I wonder if he had known about Richy or if he had died still thinking Michael Hanson was the one who had kidnapped Hannah. I wonder if his last thoughts were of me. Maybe it’s selfish, but I kind of hope they were, because I’m pretty sure I’ll think about him for the rest of my life.

I wonder what it would have felt like to run my hands through his hair. To kiss him. To spend every waking moment with him and know it was because I loved him. Because I would have. Talking to Jake became about more than just finding Hannah. It became a part of my day I looked forward to more than anything else. He confided in me in a way that told me he never had with anyone, maybe not even Hannah, and I needed that from somebody. I needed somebody to trust in me the way that Jake did. I needed somebody to love me the way that Jake did.

It was strange—and maybe a little ironic—the thought that something so beautiful could come out of something so tragic.

Anyway, my point is: it’s been a long couple of months. Of thinking about my friends. Of thinking about Jake. Of wondering if I should have done things differently. I should have gone to Duskwood to help. Not even with the mine, but sooner. I could have. I could’ve gone when Jessy was attacked on the way home. I could’ve gone when the group made plans to cut out of town and hide away in the house Richy had found. Selfishly, I should have. In that moment, when they were settled around the fire and Lilly called me, I had never remembered wanting anything more. I should have grabbed Jake—metaphorically, maybe even literally—and rode it out with them to the end.

I don’t stop missing them after three months. Of wishing things could have been different. Wishing I could have done more. But exactly ninety-five days after the explosion in the mine, seventy days since I had accepted that Jake was never coming back, twenty-two days since I had last heard from anybody from Duskwood (Dan included), my phone dings with a new message.

And the cycle starts all over again.

It’s somebody named Eric, who claims he needs my help to find his friend Adam, who disappeared while he was waiting for a ride in someplace called Redlog Pines. And much like with Duskwood, I have never heard of Redlog, and the case reminds me way too much of Thomas’ first message to me, so much that it makes my chest ache, but I can’t say no because there’s somebody missing, and if I’d say no the first time, God knows where Hannah would be.

So, I say yes, and I help out where I can, and Eric decides he needs to bring about four more friends in on his little plan and I try my best to stay emotionally unattached because I remember everything that happened the last time and I can’t go through that again. I offer up information when I can and keep my words short and careful because I’m not ready to get attached to somebody else I know I might never meet.

I know how this ends.

Two days in, Ash, one of Eric’s friends, brings up my Duskwood past and the unhealed wound I’ve been trying to mend breaks open again. She asks about Richy, and about the mine, and then because I’m me and I can’t help myself, I tell her about Jake. She tells me the news never mentioned another body and I shove that thought to the back of my head because hoping for something that will never come true will kill me.

Four days into Adam’s disappearance, and the police not giving a shit—as Charlie, somebody who reminds me far too much of Richy for comfort, points out—my phone beeps with an incoming call from somebody I haven’t spoken to in a while.

“Go for [MC].” I answer my phone.

Ever since Hannah had been found in the mine and Jake had…you know, my phone had been more silent than I’d gotten used to. Until this new case. But even that—it was only a few days old and I didn’t want to go down the same path with them that I did with my friends in Duskwood. We didn’t really know each other that long, sure—even though sometimes it’d felt like it—but it felt like I’d finally been a part of something. Like, I had found these people who had chosen me for me.

And originally, maybe they had. Maybe they’d had every intention of keeping me around, but then Richy was the Man Without A Face and Alan Bloomgate had rescued Hannah and nothing was the same as it had been when we’d met each other. We knew too many secrets about each other by the time the town settled. Secrets we would have to take to the grave.

Or maybe I’m losing my mind a bit and I had really only been a means to an end.

Either way.

“Alan?” I raise my voice when there’s nothing but breathing on the other end of the line. “Did you mean to call me?”

His tone is clipped. “I found something.”

“You found something.” I repeat.

My heart clenches. For all I know, it might fall into my stomach. As far I know, from watching the news, from what Ash told me, Jake’s body was never found. Richy’s was. Or what was left of him to find, anyway. I had assumed that there just hadn’t been enough of Jake left. The thought left me nauseous, but it was better than hoping for something I knew I could never have.

“I’m sending it to your phone now.” He responds. “Let me know what you think of this.”

And then he hangs up.

That was a riveting conversation, I think as my phone dings with a message. I do my best to ignore my other messages—contacts from Duskwood I’m still not ready to acknowledge—and click Alan Bloomgate. He sent me a video that looks like—oh God.

Immediately, I’m overcome with emotion as an all-too-familiar forest pops up on my phone. It’s a video of Alan’s bodycam footage. He’s searching the Duskwood forest. A forest I’ve seen too many times in the background of other video calls.

I watch as he stumbles upon an object that’s too dark to make out at first. When he gets closer, it’s clear that it’s a backpack. It’s simple. Black. Nothing about it that screams this is mine and I left it here about anybody in particular. You stupid, stupid idiot, I tell my heart when it rattles against my chest in hope. He’s dead.

Alan stands and treks away from the backpack—I want to scream at him to go back, to open it and look through it and tell me if it’s what my heart aches to believe, but I can’t, because this is a video and I’m simply watching with wide eyes, waiting for…for something. But then. But then, he moves further into the forest and I watch as he stumbles upon an object that makes my knees tremble and tears rush to my eyes and my hands shake. A black hoodie. It looks like it’s been through hell, with holes scattered up the sleeves and dirt cakes into the hood, but it’s unmistakably his.

And then—Alan lifts the hood and picks up something that makes me sink to my knees with a sob that wracks my entire frame. Because I’m staring at Jake’s mask. The mask he doesn’t go anywhere without. The mask that protects him. And so my relief is short-lived, because I realize that even if he’s alive—which seems like a very big possibility at this point—he’s alive without the things that he needs to survive.

And then the anger kicks in. Because if he’s been alive, on his own, for three months—why has he not contacted me? Unless he survived the mine but he didn’t survive the after. But that didn’t make any sense. So, okay, he wasn’t dead. But that didn’t make any sense either. He told me he wouldn’t let them catch him. Because catching that meant he would be apart from me. Did something happen that prevented him from being able to reach out and tell me he was at least okay? A quick text that said didn’t die in the explosion in the mine, you don’t need to mourn me, by the way, going off radar for another year. Did he think I would have given up on him?

I wipe my eyes and shoot a message to Alan.

ME: Recently?? Did nobody search the forests before?

ALAN: Searched the forests for what, [MC]? The logical assumption seemed to be that if anybody was inside the mine when Richy set the fire, they would have perished alongside him. Officers were stationed outside every known entrance and exit. Besides, after the story you and your friends spun around this town, do you think anybody would have gone back into its forests?

ME: But it’s possible?

ALAN: I would say these items had been there for some time. But I would say it is likely he ditched them when he fled the mine, yes.

Another sob tears through my throat. Jake is alive. I don’t know quite what that means for us as of now, but I know it’s the best news I’ve heard since Hannah was found. Jake is alive. He’s out there somewhere. And even if it’s been three months, and even if I’m a little bit mad at him right now, I know that if he was here, I would throw my arms around his neck and hold on to him until someone dragged me off, and even then—I would fight kicking and screaming.

I close out of my messages with Alan and pull up a conversation I haven’t had the heart to look at in quite some time.

ME: Jake’s alive.

LILLY: …

LILLY: Have you spoken to him?

ME: Alan called. He found some of Jake’s things in Duskwood. I don’t know a lot of details. But I know he made it out of the mine.

Lilly types for a long while, but she doesn’t respond. I don’t take it personally. I think it’s probably hard for her to be happy that her brother’s okay while also trying to accept that her sister may never be okay again. Her sister, who had once-upon-a-time been kind-of-sort-of in love with their brother she didn’t know she had. I think that would probably mess with any family’s heads. And on top of all that, you throw in manslaughter and a kidnapping. I wouldn’t wish anybody, not even my worst enemy, to have had to go through what the Donforts had.

When it becomes adamant that Lilly isn’t going to respond, I start scrolling through messages with the rest of the group in Duskwood. I click on Jessy. I’m here if you need me. That had been the last thing I sent to her, a couple of days after Richy’s death. She hadn’t responded. I click out of Jessy’s contact and click on Thomas’ instead. Thank you for everything. That had been his last message to me after we found Hannah. I’d liked it. I hadn’t expected at the time it would be the last thing we’d ever say to each other. I click out of Thomas’ and click on Richy. So, you want to turn yourself in? I’d asked. That was before he called me. Before he lit a match and burned himself and the mine to the ground. Some people would call that heroic. I mostly call him a coward.

I click on Jake’s name. It’s been a while since I read messages between the two of us. Maybe before I had accepted—thought—he was dead. In that twenty-five-day period when I’d hoped with all I’d had that he would come back. I love you. That was the last message he sent me. I’d responded with I love you too, Jake. Then, four days later: Are you okay? A week later: Jake, please, you’re starting to scare me. I know you said you would contact when you could, but it’s been a week. After twenty-five days, when I had finally accepted our fate, I’d sent one final message: I hope you know that I love you, and I will always care about you, but I think it’s time for me to move on. I’m so sorry that I sent you into the mine. It should have been me. And I will probably feel the guilt from that for the rest of my life. Thank you for everything. Take care of yourself, wherever you are.

After that, I had closed out of our messages and hadn’t looked back. Partly because I couldn’t bear the pain of it. It felt like I had given up on him. I hadn’t—if I had thought for a second that he was alive, if I knew then what I know now, I would have never sent that message. But holding out hope for somebody who I thought was a ghost at the time? That was slowly killing me.

It’s only then that I notice the screen flickering. Much like the way it used to whenever Jake would hack into my phone. I don’t think he’s much in the mood to be hacking right now, but somehow, I know it’s him. When had he done this? Recently? If I had opened our messages, would I have seen this ten—twenty—even fifty days ago? It hadn’t looked like this the last time I texted him. Did he see my last message about needing to move on? Was that why he hadn’t reached out to tell me that he was okay? Because he thought I was moving on happily without him?

No, my brain supplies. He wouldn’t. He would reach out anyway, because he knows how much the thought of him not being okay would have destroyed you.

The screen flickers once more and then a message pops up, bright and blue-tinted and clear as day on my phone.

[MC]

I WILL FIND YOU

And the world around me shifts.

--------------------------------------------------

Maybe it sounds crazy, considering I’ve never seen his face before, but I always thought that if I’d ran into Jake one day, maybe on the street or at one of those motels he stayed at or maybe even in Duskwood, surrounded by all our friends, I would know it was him. I would, because it’s him, and it’s me, and we’re the only two people who understand each other quite the way we do.

I still believe that.

I believe it when I book my flight to Duskwood (or rather, twenty miles outside of town, which is the closest airport). I believe it when I board the airplane and find a seat next to a mother with her screaming child and when I shoot off a quick text to Eric to let him know I’ll be MIA for the next few hours, but to message me if he needs anything—and I think about how much easier this case would probably be to solve if we had Jake.

Maybe it would have been harder to find Hannah without me, but I know damn well they would’ve never found her without Jake.

Dan picks me up from the airport. I haven’t told the others yet. Something about it felt off—like I shouldn’t message them and say hey, I know we haven’t spoken in a while, but I’m booking a flight to look into why my maybe-slash-not-really boyfriend left his belongings in a forest we really wish we could forget about, and by the way, can I crash at your place?

It’s quiet on the car ride back into town. I’m looking through my messages from Eric and the group from Redlog Pines and thinking about how I’m Duskwood with this group and I want so badly to laugh because it’s ironic, but Dan wouldn’t understand. He might just call me crazy. Better yet, he would ask how I manage to get myself into these situations, and really, I don’t have an answer for him.

“How have you been?” I ask, just to break the tension, as Charlie, in my messages, tries to persuade his friends to head back into that creepy cave in the middle of the forest. He’s going to get someone killed, I think.

Dan looks over at me. “Are you still with Hackerman?”

My chest squeezes. “His name is Jake, Dan. And we were never really together.”

“Hm.” He nods like he doesn’t quite believe me. “You already know mostly everything that’s been happening here. Thomas and Hannah called it quits. They say it was some mutual decision, but it’s hard to find them in the same room together. Jessy hasn’t been out with us since. I think we remind her too much of Richy. The group’s all changed.”

“And you?” I ask.

He gives me a cheshire-like grin that doesn’t quite meet his eyes. “I’m always the same.”

We make it to Duskwood just as the sun’s going down. Much too late for me to try and trek through the forest and retrace the steps Jake might have taken that night. Not that I think it would help give me any clues as to where he might have gone, but mostly because I wonder if it will make me feel closer to him. We’ve never been in the same place before, and even if he’s not there now—he once was.

“Can you drop me at the police station?”

Dan blinks. “The police station.”

I nod. “Yeah.”

“We answered their questions for weeks, [MC]. I don’t think anything you have to tell them at this point is going to help. The investigation’s closed. Everybody knows Richy did it. He died with the fire in the mine. Everybody’s trying to move on from that.” He works his jaw. “Did you come here to open old wounds after all this time?”

I try not to show the hurt look on my face. “This isn’t about Richy. Look, Alan called me. He asked if I could look at some things. I figured it was better for me to do it in person. That’s it. Nothing to do with Richy. Nothing to do with Jessy. Nothing to do with you.”

He sighs, and I’m not entirely sure he’s going to abide by my wishes until we pull in front of a tiny building—tinier than most—that says Duskwood Police on the sign. Duskwood must not have that much crime. Well, not until this, I suppose.

“Thank you.” I tell him as I reach over to undo my seatbelt and climb out of the car. “This is a nice ride, by the way.”

He raises a hand in some mock-salute. “Need me to pick you up?”

“Nah.” I shake my head. “Think I’ll explore the town for a little bit.”

“Suit yourself.” He shrugs and then he’s off.

I square my shoulders and take a deep breath before opening the door to the police station. It wasn’t like Alan asked me to come down here. He hadn’t. Even during the investigation into Richy’s death and Hannah’s kidnapping, when he questioned us, he never asked me to come to Duskwood. We’d done way too many video calls and phone calls and at one point, I had asked if he thought it would be easier for me to come to Duskwood, to which he responded back, are you ready for that?

No, I hadn’t been. I’m not even so sure I was now. But knowing that Jake was alive, that here was the last place was, I had to try.

“Can I help you?” The woman at the front desk asks.

I clear my throat. “I was wondering if I could speak to Alan Bloomgate. I’m one of—I was involved in the Hannah Donfort case. My name is [MC].”

Her eyes widen. “Give me a moment.” She stands and heads to some back office—which looks to me more like a closet—and then returns with a clipped smile. “He’ll be right out.”

Apparently, she isn’t lying, because not two minutes later, Alan is stepping out from the same door and staring me down. I hold his gaze and hope it says that I’m not here to argue. I will tell him my truth, but only my truth, not Hannah’s, not Jake’s, not anybody else’s.

“I was wondering when I would see you.” He says.

I shrug one shoulder. “Isn’t a few months later better than never?”

“Let’s go into my office.” He says, and leads me around the desk and back into the closet space he had come out of. He sits behind the desk and motions for me to take a seat opposite him. “I’m just going to guess you’re not here to talk about Miss Donfort.”

“I want to see them.” I tell him. “His things. I want to see them for myself. And whatever you want from me in return, I’ll give to you.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game here, [MC].”

“He isn’t a game to me.” I snap back and then sit back and try to relax. “I appreciate that you called me. It’s—I helped you find Hannah. I would do it again. Even with knowing the things that we do now, I would do it all again. That’s how much that group means to me. That’s how much he means to me. I’m not asking you to break any rules or to lie for him or to—to let him hide in your basement for the next five years. I’m just asking you to show me what you found.”

He stares me down for a moment. Then, he sighs, says “wait here for a minute” and disappears to another room. When he comes back, it’s with an evidence bag in his hand filled with the objects I saw on his bodycam footage. My breath hitches in my throat.

“I can’t let you touch them.” He says as he lays them in front of me.

I stare into the eyes of the mask. “Did you tell anybody that he’s alive?”

“I don’t know that he’s alive,” is all the answer he gives, which is an answer to my question. I slide my gaze down to the black hoodie, to the dirtied sleeves and muddy hood, and think about the fact that Jake wore this. I’m so close to him.

And yet I’ve never been further away from him.

“Thank you.” I tell him. “For—for this. And for listening to me about Hannah. If you hadn’t, I—I don’t know what would have happened. How much longer he would have gone on for. If he would have ever stopped.”

Alan’s silent for a minute. Then, he clears his throat. “You know, it was strange to me. Both Hannah and yourself swore to me that neither of you knew the other.”

“I don’t.” I swear.

It was one of the (albeit many) things that didn’t make sense to me. How Hannah got a hold of my number. How she sent it to Thomas. She’d told Alan she hadn’t really remembered texting him my number at all.

“I believe you.” He reassures. “I just think it’s strange. One mistake, if you can call it that, and you throw yourself into a missing persons case to help a stranger.”

“They’re not strangers.” Even though Hannah is kind of still a stranger.

“But they were.” Alan reasons. “You had no reason to say yes to helping Thomas. I doubt anybody would have held it against you if you turned the other way. But you decided to follow this until the end. To make sure they found Hannah. And you care about them. Maybe that’s why I find that I’m more lenient with you than maybe I should be. Why you’re sitting across from me right now calling the shots. Why I’m not asking you about the hacker.”

“I wouldn’t tell you if you did.” I look him in the eye so he knows I’m telling the truth.

He returns my gaze. “Maybe that’s the other reason.”

“Hm.” I acknowledge before I turn my gaze away—from him, from the objects that I know belong to Jake and it takes everything in me not to snatch them up and run. “Well. Thank you for allowing me to steal some of your time. For letting me—” I cut myself off before I say something that makes me break down in a fit of tears in front of him. “—just thank you.”

Leaving the station is easier than coming in. I’m still not any closer to knowing where Jake is than I was when I arrived here, but there’s a comfort in knowing he walked these streets. I wonder what he would think if he knew I was here. He hadn’t wanted me to come to Duskwood when everything was happening…but now that it was over, would he be happy that I was here? That I had come to Duskwood to piece together where he might have gone? Would he track my location and come to find me and…or was I grasping at straws?

It felt like I had just gotten him back. Not really, not entirely…but knowing that he was alive, that he was out there somewhere, maybe thinking of me and looking for ways to come back, to live the life we talked about when he asked me if I was sure…that was worth it. The thought that we could maybe someday have that—even if it was a twenty percent chance.

I check my phone again to see a new message from Ash. She’s asking me if I’ve heard from Charlie in the last few hours. Apparently, he’s AWOL, and I want to help, really, but…it doesn’t really feel like that’s where I am at the moment. Not just physically—obviously—but mentally. We got lucky with Hannah. And that was really only because we had Jake. Adam didn’t have a Jake. Or…maybe he did and I just hadn’t met him yet. But I already had a Jake and I didn’t want another one.

Maybe—if I found him, I could convince him to help. That was a big maybe. Not because I thought Jake would say no. He would say yes to anything I asked of him. The maybe was whether or not I could find him. More likely, the maybe was whether or not he would find me.

Three months ago, I would have been able to come to Duskwood and have no shortage of things I wanted to do and people I wanted to see. Now, as I stand outside Duskwood’s police station, I feel nothing but loneliness. Nobody knows I’m here. I could pass Thomas on the street and he wouldn’t even know it. I could run into Jessy at the library and she would walk by me without even a second thought. Why would they? I hadn’t told them I was here.

So, with nothing left to do, I walked. Toward the town center. Toward the library that Jessy showed me on our walk through Duskwood. Toward the Rainbow Café where I knew that Cleo and Hannah had spent a lot of their time. Toward the Black Swan. Toward—

Ah, what the hell.

I had nothing better to do and The Aurora seemed like a great place to drown my sorrows. To think about my next steps. To figure out—now that I was in Duskwood—what I planned to do. The thing about Jake being so secretive (and on the run) was that I couldn’t retrace his steps. I wasn’t able to ask if anyone had seen him. One, because he would make sure nobody had. And two, because three months was a long time to forget somebody’s face if you didn’t know who you were looking for.

I pull open the door to the bar and step inside. Immediately, I’m hit with the stench of whiskey and a handful of chatter. Duskwood’s a small town. And The Aurora definitely proves it. The bartenders move melodically around each other, serving patrons on the other side of the bar. If you walk down further, there’s a handful of tables.

And dead in the center is a table with my friends. Or, some of them. Dan and Cleo and Lilly. Could I still call them my friends? Ex-friends, maybe? Acquaintances? I didn’t know what they were. Or how to address them. It wasn’t like we had gotten into a fight. We didn’t stop talking for any reason other than that we did. We stopped talking.

I make a beeline for the bar to avoid a confrontation and plant myself on one of the stools. One of the bartenders—a girl cute with bleach blonde hair and brown Bambi eyes—asks what I want and I channel my inner Dan to order a whiskey—neat.

Looking over my shoulder, I focus on the table of them. On Lilly, who’s smiling at something Cleo said. On Dan, who’s the only one of them who actually knows I’m here. But even he’s focused on the conversation they’re having. It’s strange—to see Dan a part of something I’m not sure he would have been before. It’s nice.

“[MC]?”

I turn my head away from the table of my friends and focus my attention across the bar on someone I should’ve expected to see. “Phil.”

“I thought I recognized your voice from when we talked.” He smiles. “I wasn’t sure, but I saw you staring longingly at them—” He nods towards Dan and Cleo and Lilly. “—and I knew. What brings you around here? I expected you to show up maybe a few months ago, but by now, I thought you’d moved on without us.”

I was tired of the words move on. Like I’d had a choice. Like the people from this town might open their arms and welcome me back into their lives. So I’d been part of the group who’d saved Hannah Donfort. So had a lot of people. It didn’t make me special and everyone here knew it.

I offer him a smile in return. “I’m looking for somebody.”

“Anybody I know?” He asks.

I shake my head. “Nah. At least nobody you would recognize.” I pause. “How’s Jessy?”

“She’s—Jessy.” He answers, like that is an answer. “I don’t know if she’ll ever really be okay with the way things happened with Richy. I wouldn’t expect her to. Obviously. But I don’t know. I think I just thought she would have gone back to her normal life by now. And then I remember that most of her life revolved around him. He was her best friend. She worked for him. And I’m trying to be patient about that. But—” He shakes his head. “Maybe you should talk to her.”

“She doesn’t know I’m in town.”

“Okay.” He hums. “So, you’re not in town for my sister. And you’re not in town for your group of friends because they’re over there and you look like you’d rather be anywhere else. There’s always Hannah, but I don’t think you knew her that well. Or at all. Would I be right to assume this is about a certain hacker who helped to find Hannah?”

“He didn’t help find Hannah.” I defend. “He was the entire reason we found Hannah. I would have never been able to do it on my own. Even with the others’ help. He’s the only reason we found out about—” I pause before I say something I maybe shouldn’t. “It doesn’t matter. He’s the only reason we found her. Everything I did was just dumb luck.”

“That wasn’t what the news said.” A voice cuts in and I turn my attention from Phil to focus on the stranger that slides into the seat beside me. Not too close—a couple inches away. I don’t recognize him. I don’t know him. But I don’t know every person in Duskwood. Maybe a total of like nine or ten. “I’m sorry to interrupt. But I heard you had a lot to do with finding Hannah Donfort. The news said you were some kind of hero.”

I offer him a tight smile. “That’s nice of them. But…if they knew my—friend—knew what he did to find her, I don’t think I would be as much of a hero as everybody says.”

“That’s noble.” He says, eyes meeting mine, and it strikes me at once how handsome he is. He has dark hair. Bright green eyes. Focus, [MC]. I scold. You have a…a someone.

My phone buzzes.

ERIC SENT A PHOTO.

ERIC: What do you make of this?

I sigh and click on the photo. It’s of—some object. Much like the one that was addressed to me on the envelope in Adam’s glove compartment. The image is a bit different—but I don’t know enough about what it means to have an answer as to why.

ME: Was this one addressed to me?

ERIC: Nope. Ash.

“Are you okay?” Phil asks.

I clear my throat. “I’m a popular person—apparently.” A thought strikes. “Have you ever heard of a place called Redlog Pines?”

Phil frowns. “No.”

I turn to look at the stranger. “You?”

“Redlog Pines is a small town about two hundred miles north of Duskwood.” He answers. “Known for their wooded forests, much like Duskwood.”

“Why are you looking into a place with forests as creepy as ours?” Phil asks, incredulously. “Didn’t you get enough of that with Hannah’s case?”

“Yeah.” I sigh. “You would think.”

“Hey, [MC]!”

I wince at the sound of Dan’s voice. Shooting Phil a look that screams please help me to which he shakes his head amusedly, I turn and plaster on a fake smile as I take in the shocked looks on Cleo and Lilly’s faces. I should have known better than to come to The Aurora and talk to Phil when the three of them were having a conversation across the room. I should have known they would sooner or later see me. I just hoped it was later.

“Hey.” I hop off my stool and make my way across the bar to them. “It’s, uh, fancy seeing the three of you here.”

“What are you doing here?” Cleo asks.

“I haven’t really figured that out.” My eyes meet Lilly’s. “It sounds crazy to say it out loud. But I was hoping that—I’m not sure if Lilly told you—”

“That Jake’s alive.” Cleo nods. “None of us ever really thought he wasn’t.”

I don’t think she means it as a dig—but it still feels like one. Like she’s saying you gave up on him you gave up on him you gave up on him even though she’s not and she didn’t really know him and the only person I can talk to at this table who even might understand is Lilly and even—Jake didn’t confide in her the way he did me.

“Right.” I acknowledge. “So I thought that maybe if I came here, I could trace his steps from when he was here and—I haven’t really thought that far ahead. It’s not like I thought he left me any clues in the forest or anything like that. I don’t think he expected me to be here. He hadn’t wanted me to be the last time we talked. But that was before everything happened.”

Lilly’s eyes track behind me. “Does Jake still have Nymos on your phone?”

“Uh.” I furrow my brows. “I think so. I hadn’t heard from him in a while, but I went back and read through our messages after I talked to Alan and…my phone glitched, like it used to when Jake had hacked it. And then this message appeared on my screen.”

“And by chance, can Nymos track your location?”

“What—” I shake my head. “Maybe. I don’t think I ever really asked him. It didn’t seem necessary at the time.”

“Uh huh.” She focuses on me once more. “Let’s say, for one minute, that Jake has access to Nymos who has access to your location.”

Cleo must catch onto something I’m not sure of. “Jake didn’t want you here.”

“Uh, thank you?”

“You know that’s not what I mean.” She waves me off. “He didn’t want you in Duskwood. He had been adamant about that when we were talking about the mine. That’s why he went. If you showed up in Duskwood—”

“Nymos would have alerted him.” Dan finishes.

“Okay…” I’m not entirely sure I’m on the same page as them. “So—you think that Jake found out when I came to Duskwood.”

“Correct.” Lilly beams like she just solved life’s greatest mystery.

“And you think he would—come find me?”

She smiles sympathetically at me—like I’m the world’s biggest idiot for not realizing what she has been trying to say sooner. “I think he already has.”

“You think Jake’s in Duskwood.” I deadpan.

“[MC].” Cleo grabs my shoulders and turns me around. “We think he’s in this bar.”

Stranger, as I had nicknamed him—AKA the guy sitting beside me at the bar, with Phil and Redlog Pines (which he probably only knew about because of me) and the whole Hannah being kidnapped and not taking any of the credit thing—was looking back at me. So was Phil. Like they thought I was the crazy one. Like it would’ve been so hard for him to look and me and say it’s me or anything that might have clued me into the fact that—

“Jake?” I whisper, because I’ve lost quite a bit of sleep over the past couple of months and I’m not one hundred percent sure what—or who—I’m seeing is real. “Are you here?”

He tilts his head and smiles at me. Actually smiles. A bit shyly, like it’s something he’s not used to doing, but maybe like it’s something he could get used to. And I think about how terrible I probably look right now because I’m not wearing makeup and my hair is tousled from constantly pulling at it and my clothes are wrinkled from the plane and the police station and I look like a mess. But our relationship has never been about looks. Clearly. I didn’t even know the person I’d been talking to until Lilly and Cleo and even Dan pointed out the obvious.

“If I—” I close my eyes and open them again. Nope. Still there. “I need you to still be there by the time I reach you because it’s been a—” I sniffle. “—it’s been a rough few months and I don’t think I could handle you disappearing again.”

He stands from the stool he was sitting on and shuffles his feet. Like he’s not quite sure where he’s supposed to stand. If he thinks about moving, I’ll tackle him onto the floor of The Aurora and then apologize to Phil later. It feels like everything I wanted is right here in front of me. And I’m scared to death that it’s not real.

“What’s one thing you would take with you if you were stranded on an island?”

His smile stretches. “My computer.”

And that—that’s what breaks me. I think I might start blubbering like an idiot but I don’t remember the time it takes for me to cross the measly twenty feet between us. All I remember is grabbing his black hoodie—because of course—and dragging him to me. I don’t kiss him, despite how much I want to, because I don’t want our first kiss to be tainted with my snot and tears. Instead, I bury my face in his collarbone and wrap my arms around his neck and hold on for dear life.

Because I can. Because he isn’t dead.

“Y—You’re here.” I pull back and cup his face with my hands. “How are you here?”

“You came to Duskwood.” He responds, and then—hesitantly—he presses his lips to my forehead in a kiss. “Alan called you.”

“He found your things in the forest.” I whisper back. “He said they’d been there a while. The police hadn’t searched the forest because they assume you died in the mine.”

“They aren’t looking for me here.” He confirms. “I didn’t expect it to take so long for them to find my belongings, but I anticipated that you would find out. At the time, it wasn’t safe for me to reach out and contact you. They kept on my trail for a while before they assumed I died in the mine with Richy.”

“Why didn’t you contact me then?” I ask. “Is it because of what I last messaged you? I didn’t mean it—I swear, I thought you were dead. If I had known you were alive, I would have waited, however long it took. I wasn’t trying to give up on you.”

“Hey.” He places both hands on either side of my face. “I know. I know that, [MC]. That was never why I didn’t reach out to you. I know you said you wanted this life with me. But I didn’t want that for you. But I was selfish. I couldn’t let you go. So I was trying to find a way to make both of those things true. But I was always coming back to you.”

“And did you?”

“Come back to you?” He asks.

I sniffle. “Find a way to make both of those things true.”

“Not entirely.” He admits. “Nymos alerted me you had boarded a plane headed in the direction of Duskwood and I—” He shook his head. “I knew I would find you here.”

“You could have found me sooner.”

He lets go of my face and he feels like he takes my skin with him. “It wasn’t that easy.”

“It could have been.” I demand.

I’m angry again. Now that I know he’s alive and okay and that he could have found me, I’m angry that he didn’t. I told him I would choose that life with him. Over and over and over. He didn’t need to make the decision for me. He didn’t need to try and protect me. And yes, maybe the fact that he did makes my heart flutter a tiny little bit, but that’s besides the point.

“I told you before you left me.” I tell him and I’m aware it sounds like we’ve been in a relationship for five years and I’m aware that everybody in here is watching and listening in on our conversation and they probably all know we’re who we are, two people involved in helping to find the kidnapped Hannah Donfort, and maybe that’s all we’ll ever be in this town. But I would rather be the girl who found Hannah Donfort in Duskwood with him than be me anywhere else. “You told me you would let me go with you.”

“That was before I told you I loved you.”

My heart skips a beat. It screams I love you I love you I love you back, but I say— “What does that have to do with anything?”

He looks somewhat amused. Like he knows I would never hold it against him. It’s clear to both of us that I wouldn’t because even though I’m glaring up at him with my furrowed eyebrows and my lips pouted, I’m still pressed tightly against him. His hands—even though they’ve moved from my face—are now resting on my hips. Pulling my tighter to him. There’s no space in between us. If it was up to me, I’m pretty sure there never would be again.

“[MC].” He says, and oh god I wish he would say my name every day for the rest of his life. “Have I—in the short time we have known each other—ever struck you as the type of person who says I love you? But with you…” His words are a whisper against my lips. “It’s easy to fall back into old emotions with you.”

“I want to be angry with you.” I tell him.

He shakes his head. “No, you don’t.”

“No, I don’t.” I agree. “But I might be if you don’t kiss me.”

He brought one finger underneath my chin and tilted it up until our lips were separated by a fraction of an inch. My eyelids fluttered. I didn’t care that everyone in here was about to see just how much Jake meant to be. I didn’t care because I had waited too long for this. And then—just as I’m leaning toward him to press our lips together, he whispers— “[MC]?”

“Hm.” I acknowledge.

“Who’s Eric?”

My eyelids crack open and I shove at his chest. “That’s what you’re worried about right now? Here I am, in front of you, covered in snot and tears and who-knows-what-else because you’re here right now, and you’re worried about some guy I don’t even know?”

“Who’s Eric?” He repeats.

“Ugh.” I run my hands through my hair and take a step back. “I don’t know. He’s the other side of Thomas or whatever you want to call him. If we lived in a different town.” I glare back at him and try not to admit that I think his jealous side is a little cute. “He messaged me. Thought I picked up his friend from some parking lot and I didn’t, but his friend sent him my number, and it was Hannah all over again. I’m trying to help them.”

“This Adam has been sending you a lot of videos.”

“You know I hate when you hack my phone.” I complain, even though I really don’t. Even though I had prayed for him to help me with this case. “I really don’t know Adam. Like—even less than I know Eric.

“But you know Eric.”

“For like a week.” I reassure. “He added me to this group chat with him and like three other friends of his. They’re desperate to find Adam who has apparently dropped off the face of the earth and I don’t know what to do. I had you with Hannah’s case. And you knew her. And they—” I look over my shoulder at Cleo and Dan and Lilly, who are pretending like they’re not listening in even though I know and Jake knows they are. “—they knew her. And obviously Adam’s friends must know him but I don’t and you don’t and there is no Jake in Redlog Pines.”

“I don’t trust him.” He shakes his head. “Any of them.”

I laugh. “Jake, you didn’t trust half the people in this bar when we first started talking.” I look over at Phil and then Dan. “It doesn’t mean they committed a crime. If I had backed off when you asked me to help you find Hannah, we may never have.”

“I thought that was all thanks to me.” He sounds smug, like that little smiley face he loved to annoy me with (AKA make me fall in love with him). “Did he flirt with you?”

“No.” I deadpan. “I think he was focused on his missing friend.”

“I was focused on my missing sister.” He shoots back.

I close my mouth. Alright. He has a point. But I wasn’t flirting with Eric. He was focused on finding Adam and I was focused on mourning—and then finding—Jake. Maybe it felt like Eric and I were two sides of the same coin. Maybe that’s why I agreed to help him. Because I didn’t want to happen to him what I thought had happened to Jake—to me.

“You’re being ridiculous.” I say instead. “How do you think I could ever entertain the idea of being with somebody else when for the past three months—more than that if you count the time we have actually had together—I’ve been focused on you? On discussing Hannah with you and then talking to you about anything and everything and then worrying about you and then hating you a little for convincing me you should me the one to go into the mine and then mourning you when it was hard to even think about you and then finding you?”

His eyes are wide. I think I’ve rendered him speechless. Which—serves him right. I know he’s not somebody who serves their feelings up on a silver platter. I know that. Obviously, I knew that from the first time I spoke to him. Back when he was nothing more than ??? and I was almost convinced that Dan was right and he was the Man Without A Face—a thought that I now hate with everything in me. But I need him to trust me. Jealousy streak and FBI and the missing persons cases aside, he needs to trust me.

“Trust me.” I cup the sides of his face again. “He’s nothing like you.”

He swallows. “Some people might consider that to be a perk.”

“I don’t.” I say.

And then I’m kissing him and it feels like coming home.

#duskwood #duskwood everbyte #duskwood game #duskwood jake #duskwood jake x mc #moonvale everbyte #moonvale #duskwood fanfic #duskwood mc #everbyte game #everbyte studios

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obessedwithfictionalmen · 3 months

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Hi! First of all, love your work so much! Can you write something with actress reader and Cal, and the cast doing like a panel, and the reader being really anxious and starting to have a panic attack during it, and Cal helping her through the whole thing? Thank you so much!

Co-Stars pt.11

Callum Turner X Actress! Reader

Summary: Y/n has a panic attack, Callum, the good boyfriend that he is, helps her.

Warning: Anxiety/ panic attack/ crying/ mention of concentration camp/

Word count: 600 words

That day, she woke up anxious, she didn’t know what caused it, but when Y/n woke up that morning 100% sure she would have a panic attack that day. She’d been overthinking all day and even now. She was on stage with her co-stars, they were discussing an upcoming scene which was going to be hard on her. Her and Nate Mann had to walk in a concentration camp and see the horrors that happened there.

‘’While Rosie is just walking around, Rose is going to follow him, but she’s going to have a huge emotional reaction, I’m talking screaming and crying and maybe throwing up, depends on what you’re comfortable, we’re going to talk about it after the five-minute break’’ Tom Hanks says, looking at the two actors. Everyone got up and left the room for the break. Y/n didn’t feel good, her anxiety was through the roof. Callum walked up to her with two cups of tea in his hands.

‘’Here’s my favorite person, I brought you tea, I’m excited for your scene, are you?’’ he smiled as he handed one of the cups to her. That was enough to trigger the panic attack she repressed all day. The words were stuck in her throat, her breathing quickened, and tears started to fall down her eyes. Callum put the cups down and immediately hugged her. ‘’Hey, shush… It’s okay’’ he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head. She tried to talk, but it was impossible, and it made her panic even more. Sound came out of her mouth, to Callum, it was a cry for help. He felt so useless, so he kept hugging her and tried to reassure her the best he could. She started to feel dizzy, the lack of oxygen made the room spin. Y/n tried to calm her breathing, but she just felt buried with anxiety, and she felt like she was going to drown. He kept caressing her hair and doing everything he could do to try and calm her down. ‘’You’re okay, Y/n, name me five things you can see’’ he said.

She looked around the room, her hands were shaking, but she took deep breaths and tried to speak again. ‘’You, uh, the walls’’ she began. Callum encouraged her and she kept looking around. ‘’The cups of tea, Austin and the posters’’ she finished. ‘’Four things you can touch’’ he continued. ‘’Your hands, my cloths, the wall and your cloths’’ she breathed out. ‘’3 things you can hear’’ My heartbeat, your voice and mine’’ She smiled. ‘’2 things you can smell’’ he smiled back. ‘’Your cologne and the humidity in the hallway’’ she sniffed. ‘’One thing you can taste’’ he leaned in to kiss her. When they stopped, she smiled. ‘’The tea you just drank’’ she laughed softly. ‘’You feel better?’’ he asked. She nodded.

‘’Thank you for helping me’’ she smiled. ‘’It’s my duty as your boyfriend’’ he hugged her. ‘’Still, thank you Callum’’ she looked in his eyes. They quickly kissed as Tom Hanks announced that the break is over. She walks back into the room, and this time, she’s calmer, thanks to her boyfriend.

#callum turner #callum turner x reader #callum turner imagine #master of the air #actress!reader

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my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction · 17 days

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I saw your hc post with Nathan with a feminine s/o and the part where he liked listening to her talk and that got me thinking about this. He would love it if his s/o played piano. Like, he puts a piano in places like the living room and his office just so when he's there he can listen to them play. Sh maybe you could make a small hc post based on that idea

Ahh, I love this! Sorry it took me so long to post!

Nathan Bateman GN!Reader • Rating: T•Masterlist• ao3• want to be tagged? | requestinfo• ko-fi •

Warnings: Soft!Nathan , swearing, over use of italics, typos, not beta read, railroad sentences, please let me know if I've missed a warning!

Word Count: 455

Oh my gosh, literally pianos everywhere. You have to tell him to calm the fuck down.

“Do you want a new piano?” “No, you bought me five already.” “Do you need one in a different colour?” “No.” “What about another grand piano for the-” “Nathan.”

Doesn’t pester you to play for him, but is very happy whenever you play. Even if you’re trying out a new piece and feel like you're constantly messing up, he’s just 100% heart eyes at all times.

Will, however, act like he isn’t if you call him on it.

If you’re playing and it isn’t within his earshot you’re gonna get a series of, ‘why aren’t you playing near me so I can listen?’ type messages.

You end up just practising near him so he doesn’t complain.

You call him a baby (affectionate) about it.

He says he isn’t and sulks for 3 hours.

When you find him you show him a little song you’ve written for him.

He gets a little over emotional that you made something for him. And tries to hide it. (He does a bad job.)

Asks you to teach him how to play.

He understands the theory really well, but gets annoyed when he can’t play perfectly after 30 seconds.

“You’re really good Nathan!”

“I’m shit.”

“You can’t expect to play it perfectly the first time.”

“Why?”

You roll your eyes. “Because you have to learn the muscle memory, you couldn’t box amazingly the first time you tried could you?”

“I could.”

“Fuck off.”

You give him little lessons every day, which he adores. He progresses well, he’s obviously trying really hard, but after a couple of weeks, you realise he’s doing it more to spend time with you and to share in something you enjoy than to become a master at it. (Which surprises you.)

He likes calling you ‘bossy’ when you tell him to practise or play something. This morphs a little and sticks into a nickname, ‘boss’.

Whenever he’s on a conference call and someone asks him to do something he doesn’t want to, instead of saying a flat ‘no.’ he just starts shrugging and saying ‘you better ask the boss.’

He does not explain this to anyone, causing a lot of confusion (which he loves).

No one has any idea that you’re ‘the boss’ until a rare in-person event when Nathan isn’t being his hermit self and he refers to you by the nickname in front of a couple of staff.

What you expect to be the end of the joke turns into people asking and emailing you for permission and sign offs. (And to get Nathan to do things.)

Nathan finds this all hilarious and will not correct the situation.

Thank you for reading!

@pleasurebuttonwrites @raven-rk @campingwiththecharmings @alexxavicry @whatthefishh

@romanarose @strangerhands @saturn-rings-writes @lonelyisamyw-0love @queerponcho

@steven-grants-world @eyelessfaces @angel-of-the-moons @minigirl87 @lunar-ghoulie

@silvernight-m @autismsupermusicalassassin @apesarecuul @reallyrallyauthor @basicalyrandom

@alwaysmicado @mangoslushcrush @marc-spectorr @soft-girl-musings @spxctorsslxt

@novarosewood

If you'd like to be taken off the tag list please let me know here

#nathan bateman #ex machina #nathan bateman x reader #x reader #nathan bateman x you #x you #nathan bateman x gender neutral reader #x gender neutral reader #nathan bateman x gn!reader #x gn!reader #my writing #fanfic #oscar isaac #oscar isaac characters

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quintinh43 · 1 month

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I love your writing so much oh my god. I fully believe that the time around the campfire was not the only time Quinn accidentally, actually started to propose. It would be anything, how pretty you look sitting at the table in the morning, you helping with dishes. Jack would have an airhorn in his Amazon cart so that he can just use it instead of having to think up better distractions.

Thank you so much 🥹🫶🏼

Y'all telling me that you actually like my writing means more than I can put into words.

But yeah, you are 100% right. After he picked up the ring, it was complete chaos. At least once a day, Quinn would be like "fuck it i love her so much, I can't wait." And he'd be down on one knee, and Jack and luke would look absolutely horrified and immediately spring into action.

Tackling him to the floor, throwing a glass of water in his face, yanking his leg out from under him, jabbing him with their cue stick, literally anything they could think of. Because Quinn was a perfectionist and a romantic. He would've never forgiven himself if he proposed while the atmosphere wasn't perfect, and both Jack and Luke knew that.

One time, Jack and Luke weren't home, and you and Quinn were chilling on the beach, having a little picnic. You swiped ice cream off of Quinns lip and licked it off your thumb without a thought, and then Quinn was kneeling, and by the grace of whatever higher power there was, Ellen happened to be walking by. The situation was unfolding in slow motion, and Ellen was panicking a little. She did the only thing she could think of, and pushed Quinn into the water.

You had laughed your ass off because one minute you and Quinn were chilling and eating ice cream, and the next Ellen was sprinting in the sand and pushing Quinn into the lake. As you were laughing, she took her opportunity to push you in the lake as well, much to your surprise. She then ran away, cackling, while you and Quinn sat in the shallow water ice cream-less.

After the boat incident, Jack made the executive decision that he would be keeping the ring until the date Quinn actually planned to propose rolled around. Unfortunately, that didn't stop Quinn from kneeling and starting to ask the question.

Jack bought an Airhorn. Actually, he bought five or six. He kept one for himself, gave one to Luke, and left a few around the lakehouse. One om the boat, one in the pool room etc. That way, even if the two of them weren't around, someone could intervene if need be.

At first you questioned what the fuck was going on, and why someone was always blaring an airhorn at Quinn. Eventually, you brushed it off as little siblings being little siblings.

That time around the campfire, somehow both Luke and Jack had forgotten their trusty airhorns, and suddenly Luke was tackling Quinn the the ground, and Jack was screaming about a bee. To this day, everyone who was around the campfire still tries to gaslight you about the bee.

Until Jack revealed the whole story in his best man speech. You laughed your ass off while Quinn's cheeks grew flushed, and he smiled sheepishly.

#quinn hughes #qh43 #hughes brothers #quinn hughes blurb #loving you is as easy as abc 123 #sophs anons

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justtwotired · 11 days

Text

Whispers of the night Lloyd Garmadon x F!reader

(Credits to artist are in the picture)

Lloyd is getting to the 100 in this one🤭^

(Reader too but let’s not mention that)

Tag list: @cipheress-to-k-pop @whore-of-many-hot-men @bodieohbo @anyth1ngfor0urmoony @luvlloyd @viannasthings

GUYS. Guys… please forgive me I am so so sorry for not posing, I just lost motivation and don’t feel like writing anymore so I stopped, and everytime I started I lost motivation at the first word so I didn’t write on… so now, I finished this one, and the next is coming tomorrow, inalready have that completely written and controlled for errors, so I hope that makes up for my absence, I’ll try to post another one next week<3

Part 1 - previous - next

Your pov:

The next time I saw Lloyd was New Year’s Eve, we didn’t have time between Christmas and today because he had been on a mission with the others.

I had asked my parents if I could celebrate with him and his family and they were all for it, excited even. Ace wasn’t that excited, but he allowed it anyway. (I probably wouldn’t have gone if he hadn’t agreed).

So, late in the afternoon, Lloyd picked me up with his elemental dragon. He landed on our property at the front of the house and waved at me with a grin, making me wave back.

“You’ve got everything right?” My mom asked me and I nodded with an excited smile. We stood at the front door, I had a bag with me, containing clothes and a few other necessities, she had already triple checked it.

“Yes, I got everything, I don’t need that much, mom,” I assured and she pulled me into a hug, holding me tight.

“Promise you’ll call after twelve?” She put me at arms length and a laugh escaped my lips.

“Mom, I promise, don’t worry, it’s not like I have never spent new years away from you guys,” I said and she sighed sadly.

“Oh I know, but this is the first time you celebrate it with a boyfriend- let me worry about you!” She fussed and my father chuckled and rested a hand on her shoulder.

“Y/n will be fine, honey,” he reassured and than looked at me. “Take care of yourself and call us if things don’t feel right,” he said, turning serious for a moment before smiling again, “now go to your boyfriend, he’s waiting,” he winked and I stood on my toes to kiss his cheek, before running off towards Lloyd.

I crashed into his open arms, hugging him close to me. Five days apart where five days to long and I had missed everything about him. From his goofy smile to his flirty comments.

He chuckled when he caught me and pressed a soft kiss into my hair. “Missed me?” He asked teasingly and I took a step back.

“I haven’t seen you for multiple days, of course I fucking missed you!” I pointed a finger at him and he smiled before dipping down and catching me in a sweet kiss.

I closed my eyes and rested one of my hands on his cheek. “Ready to go?” He asked after pulling away and I smiled, a bit red in the face.

“Ready to go,” I repeated and he climbed back onto the dragon after taking my bag and he then reached a hand out to me. I took it and he pulled me up to sit behind him. My arms curled around his waist and I pressed my face into his shoulder.

He took off and in less than ten minutes we arrived at the Monastery. The moment we landed, the door flew open and Nya came running out. I jumped off of Lloyds dragon and seconds later was crushed into a hug.

“Hello to you too?” I laughed confused and she quickly put me at arms length, giving me a wide eyed look.

“Do you know how hard it is to live with these idiots without you around?” She questioned, sounding absolutely exhausted, “of course you don’t, because you couldn’t come on our mission!” Nya yelled and Lloyd covered his ears.

“Do you mind?” He asked, a tat irritated, but she ignored him and let go of my shoulders to take my arm and drag me inside. Lloyd scoffed and quickly followed after us. “Hey- she can walk on her own Nya!” He called but she ignored him making me chuckle.

“It’s fine Lloyd, we’ll get some girl talk in, besides, we need to get ready,” I chuckled at his baffled stare. “I’ll see you later, promise!” I waved at him and he huffed but let us be anyway.

Nya took me to her room. I’d seen it once before when Kai was giving me a house-tour, but I’d never really stepped foot in it. It gave me the time to look around a bit. I smiled at the pictures in her room and my eyes glittered when I saw the swords displayed in her wall.

I snapped out of it when she closed the door behind her and I remembered why I was here.

“You got everything? I brought some of my own stuff,” I gestured to the duffle bag hanging around my shoulder and she glanced at it before smiling.

“Oh no, I’m all set, but do show me what you’ve got,” she said excitedly. “We’re going to look so fabulous,” she grinned and I saluted her.

I opened my bag and took a small separate bag from it, handing it to Nya who inspected the make-up haul. I had also thrown in some hair decorations and skin care products.

“You know, sometimes I forget you’re rich, and then there’s moments like this and I remember,” she said in amazement and looked up at me. “This shit is awesome, sit down, I’m doing your hair,” she gestured to her chair and I raised an eyebrow.

“You promised I could start on you first,” I pouted and she paused for a second and sighed in defeat.

“I curse my past self for agreeing to that,” she mumbled before taking a seat in the chair herself, making me grin wickedly.

“Are you two done yet?” There was a knock on the door as Lloyd’s voice sounded on the other side and Nya groaned.

“No!” She yelled back, “be patient, we need our time to get ready, I’m almost done with N/n, you can have her to yourself after, loverboy!” She assured and we heard Lloyd huff on the other side off the door.

I snorted at the nickname she had given him and was scolded by her for moving, so I quickly sat up again. Maybe I should start calling him loverboy, I’m sure he’d love that.

Even though we were teasing him, I couldn’t deny that I did kind of want to leave this chair to go and spend time with him, but I had to have one patience.

“Give me some time, Greenie, I’ll be out in a minute,” I chuckled, trying to sit as still as possible while Nya gently held my chin, applying my mascara. I’d already done her hair and makeup, and she was just finishing mine.

“All done,” she took a step back. “You look beautiful, now, we just need a picture and then Lloyd can have you all to himself,” she announced. I knew she was extending her time with me to annoy Lloyd but I didn’t remark on it and posed as she took out her phone to make a selfie of the two of us.

“You ready now?” Lloyd asked from the other side did the door and I unlocked and opened it.

“Yeah, yeah, we’re done,” I teased, poking a finger into his stomach, but he didn’t react and just blinked at me for a second, mouth slightly agape as his eyes roamed my face, making me look at Nya with a questioning look. “Is he alright?” I whispered and she chuckled into her hand.

“He’s flustered beyond words because of you’re beauty,” she elbowed me slightly and I looked back at Lloyd who snapped out of it and smiled, a bit flushed.

“You look gorgeous, love,” he said and kissed my forehead, making my heartbeat speed up and I saw his grin grow at that, making me narrow my eyes playfully.

“Alright, get your lovey-dovey shit out of here,” Nya shooed us away and Lloyd shot her a quick glare before leading me to his room.

“We have dinner in an hour and than it’s just a night full of games, jokes and laughing,” he promised and I beamed at him.

“Can’t wait,” I said softly and followed him into his room. “How was your mission,” I asked and he meekly shrugged, making me lightly frown, “was it bad?”

“No, not really” he mumbled, looking at the ground, “you just weren’t there,” he admitted with red cheeks and I let out a small, breathy laugh.

“You cheeseball,” I poked his shoulder and he looked down at me with a grin, before dipping down to catch me into a kiss, but my hand shot up to cover his mouth. “Lloyd, you’ll ruin my lipstick,” I warned and he let out a sad noise, making me shake my head.

Suddenly his tongue licked my hand making me jerk it back with a yelp. He laughed and I scrunched my nose, wiping the saliva of on his hoodie, making him roll his eyes.

“Is my tongue that dirty to you?” He asked and I grimaced, glaring up at him. “Doll, my tongue has been on many more places than your hand, but only now you find it disgusting?” He raised a brow and my face flushed.

Without my permission, my mind flew back to James teasing me on Christmas Eve, making me slightly scold myself as my brain shamelessly drifted off to a lot of other things.

Lloyd looked amused as he watched my flushed face and could definitely hear my racing heart. He rested his hand on the back of my neck, gently pulling me forward as he leaned towards me, his lips gracing the shell of my ear.

“What are you thinking about, doll?” He whispered and my blush spread even further, he pulled back to look into my widened eyes and he chuckled, the bastard.

“Nothing,” I quickly answered, my voice high pitched, making him raise his eyebrows and smirk.

“If you say so,” he said with a smug grin before planting a whisper of a kiss to my neck and going to leave the room. “I’ll go see if mom and Zane need any help in the kitchen,” he casually strolled off while I stood baffled in his room for a few more moments.

We never really talked about topics like this, and technically we didn’t really talk about it, but we both knew very well where my thoughts had led me too and he had not hesitated to act upon it.

I swallowed thickly before composing myself and heading to the kitchen aswel, where Koko embraced me into a tight hug.

“Y/n! I am so happy you could make it,” she beamed at me and I smiled.

“Thank you for inviting me, I love being here,” I said and her smile grew, it surprised me that it was even possible. “Can I help you with anything?” I offered and she nodded.

“Lloyd is setting the table, do you mind helping him?” She asked, gesturing to Lloyd who just entered the kitchen from the dining room, I quickly averted my gaze, “we are with quite a bunch of people and with this much food, setting the table takes a while,” she chuckled and I nodded.

“Yeah, of course,” I said and quickly went off to grab some of the bowls of food Zane had finished and were ready to be moved. He smiled at me in greeting before returning to cooking.

I followed Lloyd out to the dining room and put the food down on the table. I looked up at him to see him already looking at me, he winked when I caught his eyes, making me quickly divert my gaze again.

I heard him chuckle, making me shoot him a glare while he gave me an amused look back. I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh to before playfully rolling my eyes and returning to the kitchen.

Ten minutes later all the others had joined and Zane had finally finished the food. The moment he sat down, the others immediately started digging in, causing Koko to scold them about their manners, yet they all just laughed it off.

“Here,” I looked at my plate where Lloyd just placed a few pieces of chicken. “You already love chicken, now let me tell you, this’ll be the best you’ll ever have,” he promised and I chuckled at him, shooting him a sceptic look.

I put a piece of chicken in my mouth and my eyes closed in delight. It was indeed the best I had ever had, if only I could eat here everyday.

The meal went on and eventually Jay picked up a conversation with me and I happily listened to him babble in about their mission. Koko and Wu had left for the kitchen with the promise of dessert, there had not been disclosed what it was exactly.

Unexpectedly, I felt a hand rest on my thigh and I had to clench my teeth while my breath hitched. I felt my face grow warmer and tried to make out Jay’s words but they were all a blur at this point.

I shot a look at Lloyd who gave me as mischief one back before winking. I quickly looked back at Jay who didn’t notice anything, Nya besides him, however, wiggled her eyebrows at me, making me bite my lip in embarrassment.

She laughed, throwing her head back while I gave her a scolding frown.

“Hey? What’s so funny?” Jay asked his girlfriend confused while she tried to breath trough her chuckles.

“Yeah, sis,” Kai began, “do you have something to share with the class?” He asked, a raised eyebrow and she quickly waved them off.

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing, I promise,” she giggled and shot me a look while I just kept staring at my plate. Next to me Lloyd snickered, making me elbow him in the side.

“What ya doing with that hand there, Lloyd?” I felt Lloyd’s hand stiffen in its place on my thigh as his head shot to Cole.

“Im not doing anything!” He insisted quickly, yet his hand remained where it was. Cole, Nya and Kai laughed while Jay scoffed at them.

“Guys! Not at the dinner table!” He scolded. At this, Lloyd did pull his hand away in horror while I choked on my food.

“Jay!” Lloyd called out in shock while the others -except a rather confused Zane- where all dying of laughter.

“What is so funny here?” Wu entered the kitchen followed by Koko who carried a beautiful cake.

“Nothing,” multiple voices immediately answered as everyone stopped laughing and looked at their plates.

It was Cole breaking the silence, being a bit to excited to have a taste of that cake.

———

After dinner, the adults promised they’d clear the table, so me and the others headed outside, climbing onto the monastery roof to watch the fireworks in the distance.

I sat next to Lloyd and our hands were locked together, while I talked to Nya sitting on my left, I was telling her all the juicy gossip she was missing now that she had left school.

“Who’s up for a game of truth or dare?” Kai spoke up, making me and Nya frown and exchange looks.

“What kind of seventh grade sleepover is this?” Nya snorted making her brother let out an offended noise. “You know what’s fun? Truth or drink!” She said and Cole immediately protested

“Absolutely not, the evening just started, besides, Y/n is seventeen, she’s not allowed to drink,” he stated with his arms crossed and I huffed.

“Please, you think I never drank before?” I asked with a raised brow and he shook his head.

“Not happening, we are playing regular truth or dare,” he stated and Nya rolled her eyes while Jay cheered.

We played a few rounds, mostly truth was chosen, but when Kai chose dare, Nya dared him to jump into the pond, he refused so she pushed him off the roof.

Aren’t siblings just lovely?

“N/n, truth or dare?” Kai pointed at me as I sleepily rested my head on Lloyd shoulder, who was tracing figures on my hands.

“Truth, I guess,” I answered, “I am to tired to jump into the pond or whatever,” I smiled and he gave me a look before he seemed to think for a moment.

“Did you ever date someone before Lloyd?” He asked and Lloyd froze for a moment before hesitantly continuing.

“You want the whole list?” I joked, causing Nya to poke me in the side and I giggled, “just kidding,” I swatted her hand away before continuing. “When I was six, me and James had a relationship and it lasted a whole month,” I put up a finger in a matter of factly way.

“It’s the moment you think you like him but you’ve actually just found your best friend,” Cole clarified with a small smile, “I’m guessing,” he added and j nodded with a chuckle.

“Indeed,” I said before continuing, “and when I was fifteen, I had a boyfriend, but we broke up shortly after my sixteenth birthday because he had to move cities, we both didn’t want to do long distance because we where still young,” I explained, “Damon, that’s his name,” I added.

Lloyd was quiet and I wondered if he didn’t like me talking about my ex boyfriend, I would understand that of course.

“So, you two didn’t zekerste in bad terms?” Zane asked and I shook my head.

“No, not at all! We held contact for a while, but I haven’t spoken to him in months,” I revealed, “it didn’t take long for me to get over him, I don’t even think I ever really loved him, not now I know how that actually feels like,” I smiled up at Lloyd who gave me an excited smile back.

“You two cheesy little fuckers,” Kai whined, cause ing both Cole and Nya to calm him out on his behaviour around Skylor, making the others laugh at him.

Yeah, I liked celebrating here.

———

It was almost three when we sat alone in the garden. The others where playing video games on the X-box while Koko and Wu had already gone to bed.

Lloyd had asked if I wanted to go outside with him and I had agreed. There where sounds of fireworks in the distance, I could barely hear them, yet I bet Lloyd heard them perfectly well.

I felt my eyelids slowly grow heavier while my head rested on Lloyd’s shoulder and he was softly stroking my back.

“I think it’s time to go to bed, love,” he whispered and I groaned. I was incredibly comfortable here, curled up besides my boyfriend in a wonderful garden with faint firework sounds in the distance? Yes please.

“No,” I grumbled, “hmm, am comfortable,” I was almost worried he wouldn’t hear until I remembered my boyfriend is basically a Demi-god and could, in fact, hear me.

“It’s getting cold,” he whispered back, “and you’re almost falling asleep here, you still need to get ready for bed,” he said softly, lips close to my ear and he planted a kiss right above it.

I was silent for a moment before groaning. “Fine,” I tried getting up and stumbled a bit, causing him to chuckle and swoop me off my legs.

“My lady,” he said with a charming smile as he started to walk towards the door. I let out a tired chuckle and tried holding open my eyes to admire him but they fell close every so often, making me force them open again.

He stood still outside the living room door and quickly popped his head in. “We’re going to sleep,” he announced making a chorus of goodnight come from the room.

In his bedroom he gave me one of his shirts, making me squeal softly in excitement, he gave me an adoring smile before turning back to his closet to grab his own sleeping attire.

I pulled the shirt over my head and grabbed my sleeping shorts out of my bag. I felt like immediately getting into bed but he took my hand before I could.

I looked at him and really did my best not to stare as he was only wearing a pair of sweatpants. I blinked and my eyes traced the scars across his chest and maybe his abs too, making me turn pink.

“My eyes are up here, sweetheart,” he teased making me quickly look away while he lead me to the bathroom.

He dug up a spare toothbrush from the cabinet, put some toothpaste on it and handed it to me with a goofy smile. I tiredly took it, muttering a soft ‘thanks’ and started brushing my teeth.

I wobbled a bit on my feet, almost falling asleep right then and there and he wrapped his arm around my waist, keeping me on my feet while he brushed his teeth aswel. I heard him chuckle but didn’t comment on it.

After brushing our teeth, we headed back to his bedroom and I could finally get comfortable under the covers.

He pulled me into him, making us spoon and he hid his his face in my hair, making me hum in content.

“Love you, goodnight,” I whispered, or at least, I hope I said that, I’m not sure if it was coherent as I fell asleep seconds after hearing his ‘i love you’ he said back.

Lloyd POV:

I was almost asleep when I phone buzzed and illuminated the room when a message came in. I sighed and turned it around, deciding to ignore it, but with the second and third message I got curious.

I frowned when I saw it was an unknown number, though the questions flying around in my head where quickly answered.

Unknown

What is up Lloyd it’s the James

Send 03.08

I wondered why he would text me at such a time and why he would text me to begin with, but he was Y/n’s best friend so I didn’t mind.

Unknown

Yeah so as N/n best friend and best wignman I do have to live up to my name

Send 03.09

I wondered if he was drunk… because it wouldn’t surprise me.

Unknown

I was actually supposed to send this earlier so maybe the bitch is asleep but if she ain’t, Im very hapy to tell you that she is waiting to get laid

By you of course

Send 03.10

I paused my reading and looked down at the girl peacefully sleeping in my arms with probably the reddest face ever. I swallowed thickly, my heart hammering in my chest.

I looked back at the screen when I heard a new message come in.

Unknown

Yeah she will kill me if she finds out about this but we speaked about this christmas eev and yeah so I now evrything

I got your number frim hr phone btw, she dienst know so sshhhh

Send 03.12

I hesitated, what did I answer to this? Did I ignore it? It felt weird to ignore it, but I really did not know what to answer. Sure, I thought about it before but we had never even talked about it. I swallowed again and decided to just answer.

She’s asleep

Thanks for the information?

03.14

Unknown

Damn to bad dude, but np np

03.14

I turned the sound of my phone off and put it away, resting my hand back on Y/n’s waist. My face still felt incredibly hot.

How could I sleep after this?

Your POV:

I groggily opened my eyes, being woken by the sun shining trough the cracks of the curtain. My head laid on Lloyd’s chest and my legs were tangled with his.

I moved my hands up to wipe the sleep from my eyes and I used my tongue to wet my dry lips. I lazily looked up at Lloyd who was staring up at the ceiling, having not noticed me waking up. His arm was wrapped around my waist, his thumb rubbed small circles in my side.

His shoulders leaned against the headboard of the bed as he sat up only half. It didn’t really look comfortable but whatever suited him I guess.

Tough it surprised me he didn’t notice me waking up, knowing him he’d definitely notice, seeing my heartbeat would change, plus he’d notice the movement.

“Morning, love,” I greeted and that was what grabbed his attention. He blinked for a moment and looked at me, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Goodmorning, beautiful,” his smile turned into a teasing grin as he assessed me and I narrowed my eyes.

“Are you poking fun at my morning hair?” I asked, raising my eyebrows and his just wiggled his and kissed my cheek. He then went to kiss my lips but I stopped him with my hand, making his lips hit my palm. “Stop, I have morning breath,” I said with a scrunched up nose and he rolled his eyes.

He reached up a hand and pulled away mine by the wrist. “I don’t care, give me a kiss,” he leaned down and I rolled my eyes but kissed him anyway. When we pulled away he scrunched his nose. “Ugh, morning breath,” he said and I looked at him in offence.

“Yeah, that was the end of your morning cuddles, bye, I’m going to get some breakfast,” I started getting up and he whined, grabbing my hand but shook it off.

“No, stay,” he pouted but I narrowed my eyes. “Please,” he begged and I rolled my eyes.

“Get up, loverboy, it’s time for breakfast,” I stated and he sighed but followed me out of the room anyway, quickly catching up to hold my hand, making me smile in content.

Little did I know about the scenarios plaguing him in his head.

#lloyd garmadon x reader #ninjago x reader #ninjago lloyd #lloyd garmadon #ninjago lloyd x reader #lego ninjago #ninjago

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nathaslosthershit · 11 months

Text

Death Glares and Loving Stares||Jamie Drysdale x Reader

Pairing: Jamie Drysdale x Reader

Warnings: Jealous Jamie

Summary: Two childhood friends, both too scared to admit their feelings.

Request(s):

“hi love could you write something for Jamie soon? idc I’m not picky :)”

“Could you write for Jamie using this prompt?

“Since when did you start liking me?”

“Remember we were four and you face planted outside your house while running to get the mail? Two people fell that day, literally and figuratively.”

Thanks!”

A/n: I really don’t love this fic so I apologize. I will definitely write something for Jamie again because I feel bad for releasing this.

Word Count: 1k

Being best friends with Jamie since before you both had even really developed a consciousness was a dream. You had never known a single day without the brunette by your side, even when one of you was sick, even when you two were fighting, even when his career took him far away from home, you were there.

Having 24/7 access to Jamie had led the two of you to knowing each other more than you knew yourselves, and with that came the realization that you have never known a more perfect man for you, and you doubted you ever will. But, as is the case with many best friends in love, the fear of losing him outweighed the need for him to know your feelings.

It didn’t feel good to watch as Jamie talked to, had feelings for, and dated other girls. Sure you had dated as well, you weren’t going to let your dating life cease to exist because of buried down feelings, but they never worked out because you couldn’t ever give 100% of yourself to them, not when Jamie already had so much of you.

That being said, the guy at the bar was cute. Boyfriend material? Definitely not. But he would be great to get your mind off of Jamie in the corner with another girl.

Or maybe not.

Maybe it was that you weren’t interesting enough for him because soon after your conversation started, he started getting seemingly distracted and eventually made up a lame excuse to leave you and start talking to a new girl. Even though you couldn’t have cared less about the guy, it still hurt a lot for him to walk off.

Little did you know, it was the brunette shooting him daggers from the corner that scared him off.

The girl in front of him was cute, don't get him wrong, but after five minutes, and an invitation to “get out of here and have some fun”, Jamie had lost interest and the girl had huffed off in annoyance.

Now alone, Jamie scanned the room for you. Earlier, he was hoping to just spend the night by your side but soon chickened out when he saw you scanning the room for any potential people to talk to.

Which was fine.

He could find someone to talk to.

In fact, it would probably be better if he found someone first so that you didn’t feel pressured to stay by his side, no matter how much he wanted you to.

You weren’t his, he had no claim to you, so he had absolutely no right to be upset when you found someone.

At least that's what he told himself while he shot daggers at the man you were talking to. It wasn’t his intended purpose to scare him off but he wasn’t necessarily upset about it. Until he saw you sitting at the bar, disappointed that you had been left alone once more.

“You think it's time to go?” Jamie asks from behind, surprising you.

“Yeah, it was stupid to come here.” You pout, making him feel worse.

As you head outside, you explain what went down, unaware of Jamie’s part in the whole mess. It wasn’t that you had really liked the guy. Most nights, you wouldn’t have spent as much time thinking about him, but with his sudden departure and already having felt rejection from Jamie as he talked to the girl, you felt so insecure.

Seeing how upset you were killed Jamie.

“I’m sorry” He exclaims, the guilt eating him alive.

“It's not your fault, the guy was an ass I guess, or maybe I'm just not that interesting.”

“No.. no please never think that. I- seeing you talking to him just made me mad, to the point where I may or may not have glared at him till he left you.”

Shock caused you to stop where you were. Jamie had scared him off?

“But why would you- weren’t you talking to that girl?”

“Oh please. I had been wanting to talk to you all night. When I offered to take you to the bar it wasn’t to go hunting for some one-night stand. I just thought that we could have had a nice night together. But this ended up being a shit show for the both of us. I couldn’t handle seeing you with him, even though you aren’t mine. Even though I have been too much of a wimp to tell you how I have felt about you for years. And I'm sorry for that.”

How are you supposed to even respond to that? You supposed there was nothing to even say, so you kissed him. And after a few seconds, he kissed you back.

In the middle of the sidewalk, in the dark, you finally kissed your best friend of many, many years. His hands circled your waist while yours went to his hair.

You both pulled away to take a breather.

“Since when did you start liking me?”

“Remember we were four and you face planted outside your house while running to get the mail? Two people fell that day, literally and figuratively.”

“You’re an idiot, Jamie. We could have solved many issues had you said something earlier.”

“I don’t know why all this blame is getting put on me. You easily could have said something as well, love.” Touché. You kiss him again.

#nhl imagine #jamie drysdale x reader #jamie drysdale

156 notes · View notes

internet-ink · 1 year

Note

Oooo!! Could you write something where reader catches a bad cold and Leah goes into doctor mode and takes care of reader?

Sick day

Hello anon!

Thank you for the request! I hope you enjoy 😉

A warning that this does include the odd swear word.

As soon as I woke up this morning I could tell that something wasn’t right. My nose was stuffier than normal, my throat hurt a little, and I could feel a slight headache forming behind my eyes.

I was sick.

A loud sigh escaped my mouth as the realisation that I had caught the usual winter sickness dawned on me. I felt the arms wrapped around my waist tighten as I attempted to move.

In my tired state I had forgotten that Leah was staying over at my flat for the next couple of days. We had decided to spend the odd night together before we completely committed to moving in with each other. This was purely my idea, Leah had suggested to just say fuck it and move in right away, but my own worries of it being too soon meant that I suggested to have a few trial runs before it really happened.

“Y/N/N? You good?” Leah mumbled in her sleepy voice. Clearly my moving around had caused her to wake. I turned so that I could see the time on my small clock on my bedside table.

9:34am

Not too early. “Yeah, you go back to sleep Le. I’m just going to hop in the shower.” I croaked out. Shit my throat was worse than I thought. I was really hoping that the shower was going to make me feel better, I wanted to spend the next few days doing things with Leah and if I was sick I knew that she wouldn’t let me do anything.

She removed her arms from my waist, allowing me to get up, before she shuffled up the bed to get a better look at me. “You don’t sound good, are you feeling alright?” She asked, her voice now sounding more awake and definitely healthier than my own.

“Thanks.” I scoffed. “But no, I’m fine.” I continued. She really couldn’t know I was sick, it would completely ruin our plans.

“I’m not convinced. Let me check your temperature.”

I internally groaned as she hopped out of bed and walked through to my bathroom. “Leah don’t, I’m fi-” A cough interrupted my shout, making my throat feel worse than it did originally.

Well if she didn’t think I was sick before she definitely did now.

I followed her to the bathroom and chuckled lightly at the sight of her digging through all of my drawers.

“Where’s your thermometer thing?” She asked. She sounded a lot more serious than she did earlier, meaning that I wouldn’t get peace until she was 100% sure that I was okay.

“I don’t own one.” I shrugged.

Leah slowly stood up and turned so that she was staring at me, and she didn’t look impressed. It kind of freaked me out a bit, she looked like one of those killers from the horror movies. “Y/N you’re an adult and you don’t own a thermometer.” She commented, sounding weirdly calm. This just added to the whole serial killer vibe I was getting.

“Sorry?” I replied with my voice going up in pitch. Just as she was about to continue a sneeze interrupted her.

“Bless you.”

And another.

“Jesus Y/N.”

And another.

“Right I don’t need a thermometer to tell whether your sick or not. Off to bed you go.” She said with a firm voice. She put her arm on my lower back and guided me back to my bed. If I had more energy I would’ve argued back, but as much as I hated to admit it I knew she was right.

Leah pulled back the covers and I fell into the comfort of my bed. She tucked me in lightly before giving me a kiss on the head and turning to leave the room. I reached out and grabbed her hand to stop her from walking off.

“Where you going?” I asked in a small voice, my brave facade now vanishing as the pounding in my head began to worsen. Leah turned around with a sympathetic smile on her face and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

“Just going to call my mum. I’ll be right back, I promise.” She said before walking out.

Five minutes later a smile took over my face as Leah walked back into the room. She walked over to the bed and slid into her side, immediately wrapping me up in her arms as I rested my head on her chest, the sound of her heartbeat calming me.

“Mum said to keep you hydrated and give you paracetamol, do you have any?” She whispered into my hair.

I thought for a moment before replying. “No I used the last of it the other week.” I sighed. Great.

“That’s okay Y/N/N, I can go out and get some.” She said as she began to move.

“No! Please stay.” I mumbled. Leah was all I needed right now.

She moved back to her previous position and pressed a kiss to the top my hair. “Okay.” She whispered.

———

As I awoke I began to move my arms around to find Leah. My heart sunk as all I felt was empty air.

She was gone.

I felt tears prick my eyes at the thought of being alone right now. After sitting with my thoughts for a bit I reached to my bedside table and grabbed my phone, wincing at the brightness of the screen. I turned the brightness down before clicking Leah’s contact.

“You okay Y/N/N? What’s wrong?” Leah hurriedly asked as soon as she picked up.

“Where are you?” I asked. The room felt empty without her here. I was definitely ready for her to move in permanently, maybe getting sick was the push I needed.

She let out a sigh. “You scared me, I thought something was wrong. I’ve nipped out to Tesco. I’m getting you paracetamol and…well you’ll find out when I get back.” She replied.

“Okay just hurry up, I miss you.”

“I’m sorry Y/N/N, I thought you’d still be asleep for when I got back.” She said. “I’m next to be served so I’ve got to go. I love you.”

My heart warmed at the ‘I love you’. Even though we had been saying it to each other for awhile now, it still always had the same affect on me. “Okay. I love you too.” I replied before hanging up.

While I waited on my girlfriend returning I got Netflix up on the TV and switched on a random movie. It only really served as background noise as I kept drifting in and out of sleep, but it done the trick.

Around fifteen minutes later the sound of the front door closing disturbed my sleep. Leah was back and I couldn’t be happier about it. I could hear her moving about in the kitchen, presumably putting everything away. I decided I couldn’t wait any longer so I carefully got out of my bed, struggling a little due to dizziness, and walked to the kitchen.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked with an eyebrow raised. I had walked in to see numerous vegetables and pots laying around the kitchen and a very stressed looking Leah examining her phone. My voice made her jump.

“I could ask you the same thing. You’re meant to be resting, get back to bed.” She replied, her voice sounding as firm as it did before.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

She put the knife she was using to cut up a carrot down and crossed her arms across her chest. “If I answer will you go back to bed?”

“Possibly…” I dragged out.

She rolled her eyes and looked around the kitchen with her arms raised. “My mum sent me this recipe for some soup I should make you.” She said, sounding very stressed.

“Right…okay. I’ll go back now.” She smiled at my answer and I turned to make the walk back to my room. I laid back in my bed and actually payed attention to the movie playing, hoping that it would make the time pass quicker.

———

“Baby wake up.”

I opened my eyes and saw Leah leaning over me with a bowl of soup sat on the bed. I groaned and sniffled as I moved up the bed to allow myself to eat better. She handed me the soup before leaving for a second and coming back with a glass of water and two paracetamol.

“Eat, drink, and take these.” She instructed. She laid everything out next to me before climbing in the bed.

“Yes Dr Williamson.” I teased, earning me a gentle shove. I took a sip of the soup and was pleasantly surprised at the taste. I half expected it to make me even more sick by how it looked when I saw it earlier.

“Well done. Tastes good.” I smiled.

We sat together while I finished off everything, and after Leah had taken everything away to tidy up, she came back to bed and pulled me back into her arms.

“Thank you for today Le.” I whispered as my eyes were half closed. This cold had really taken it out of me.

Leah gave me a squeeze and kissed me on the cheek before smiling. “No need to thank me, I was just doing my job as a good girlfriend. Plus…I like taking care of you.”

I looked up and made eye contact with her. “Why don’t we do this permanently?” I asked while getting lost in her beautiful blue eyes.

She scrunched her nose up in confusion making me giggle. “What you getting sick?”

“No silly, you staying here.”

Leah’s face dropped for a second, scaring the shit out of me, before a grin took over. “You want me to move in.”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“I would love to.”

#leah williamson x reader #leah williamson #lgbtqia #wlw post #fanfic #womens football #woso fanfics #woso one shot #woso #wsl #oneshot #imagine #x reader #request #sickfic #fluff #arsenal #arsenal x reader #england

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melodygatesauthor · 1 year

Note

Jake Lockley w/ this prompt: “What would make you the happiest right now?”. The story could be about him hanging out with his best friend after a few around of wine, he likes y/n. It can be platonic or not. You decide since it’s your birthday Queen.

Bad with Feelings

Jake Lockley X gn!Reader

Nonnie YES. This was fun to write. I'm not 100% sure if what I wrote was quite what you're looking for but I loved it haha. We all need a little soft Jake in our lives. - changed the prompt a little to “what can I do to make you happy right now?”

Tags/Warnings: SFW, alcohol consumption, drunk/drinking, friends to lovers, probably one of the CORNIEST things I've written but I love it so deal with it haha.

Word Count: 918

Jake tipped his head back letting the burning liquid course down his throat. You’d lost count of how many shots in he was, but you’d stopped being able to keep up a while ago. You chuckled when he wiped his mouth in his gloved hand and looked at you with a deep lidded gaze.

“One more.” He slurred.

“Nope, come on drunkie, I’ll bring you home.” You took his arm over your shoulder and led him to the black Lincoln parked outside.

“I’m not letting you drive my car amigo.”

“Jake, you don’t have a choice, get in the car.” You opened the passenger’s side door.

“Nope, call a cab.”

On a normal day, Jake was fast, and much stronger than you, but not in the state he was in at that moment. You snagged his keys out of his pocket faster than he could block your arm before you shoved him into the seat and slammed the door. The grown man crossed his arms and scowled out the window while you walked to the other side and got in the driver’s seat.

“Are you…are you pouting?” You looked at him with a raised brow.

His face was downturned and he kept his eyes out the window.

“Just bring me home.”

You couldn’t help the smile that crept across your face. Jake looked like a child, arms crossed and lips downturned while you started driving toward his house. Fortunately he didn’t live far, so the silent ride was only awkward for a few minutes. You’d known Jake for quite some time, and you knew he was only afraid of a few things, and someone else driving his car was one of them.

“Are you going to be able to walk yourself inside or do I need to carry you?” You looked over at him.

He started going off in Spanish about how fine he was and how much he didn’t need you to take care of him. You rolled your eyes, got out of the car and walked over to his side. You opened the door and the grumpy drunk stayed in his seat, not seeming very willing to let you help him out to the car.

“Jake, come on.”

“No.”

“If you come willingly, I’ll make you your favorite.” You said in a sing-songy tone.”

You leaned over and started trying to undo his seatbelt. He was in the way, making it difficult.

“I don’t want food.” He grumbled.

“Are you going to move over so I can unbuckle you? I mean honestly Jake, what did you expect me to do? It’s just a fucking car, you’re acting foolish.” You scolded.

He started going off on you in Spanish once again. You stood back.

“Fine, you know what? Sit there then. I’m going inside.” You walked toward the house. “I’m gonna stop going out to the bar with you like this if you’re going to do this to me every time!” You shouted as you ripped the door open.

You were hungry, despite him saying he didn’t want food, so you started cooking. Not five minutes later he was stumbling into the house and tripping his way to the living room. You grabbed a glass of water and brought it to him.

“Gracias.” He muttered, taking big gulps of his cup.

“De nada.” You replied, crossing your arms over your chest. “Why do you get like this? We always have a good time going out and then it always ends with you grumpy and dismissive.”

He handed you the glass and brought his glistening brown eyes up to meet yours. You took the cup and kept your gaze on him, waiting for his answer. He pulled off his hat, letting his curls drop into his face before putting it on the table and combing the stray hairs back.

“Because, when I drink it’s the only time I…feel.”

Your shoulders slumped down and your expression softened.

“What do you mean?” You walked over and sat next to him.

“I’ve done some terrible things, things you can’t begin to understand.” His lips pulled together in a thin line and he looked down at his hands. “And even though I know you’d be better off without me, when I drink, I get this feeling like…”

He trailed off and looked over at you. You didn’t expect anything other than friendship from Jake, and that was all he expected of you, but it was clear something else had developed. You weren’t sure you were ready for what he said next.

“I have these feelings for you that I am afraid to express because I don’t deserve even your friendship, never mind anything more.”

You smirked. They said the truth comes out when you’re drunk, and Jake was full on spilling his guts.

“Jake.” You put the cup on the coffee table and then rested your hand on his arm. “I’m content being friends, but I’m also more than happy to see what comes next. There’s no pressure.” You pushed a stray curl from his face. “What would make you happiest right now?”

He leaned in, the smell of alcohol and tobacco permeated your nostrils. He breathed heavy, bringing a gloved hand up to cup your cheek. You leaned in too, letting the moment happen. His lips were soft, gentle and full of passion.

He pulled back, sporting a rare smile across his beautiful face. You couldn’t stop the smirk from taking over yours too.

“You make me happiest, always.” He said.

Celebration Masterlist

#jake lockley #moon knight #jake lockley x reader #moon knight x reader #moon knight smut #steven grant #jake lockley x you #jake lockley fiction #jake lockley headcanon #moon knight drabble #moon knight fanfiction #moon knight fic #melodysbirthdaycelebration #melodysbirthday

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strawberri-uyu · 10 months

Text

seventeen x gn!reader as spanish music i adore maknae line ver!

genre: fluff, angst, idol!svt x reader, actor!yn, college!au, daycare worker dokyeom! and yn!

warnings: suggestive! (esp in mingyu's and chan's no smut!) miscommunication, situationships, breakups and implied relationships. jealous mingyu /hj

w/c: 3.7k (I AM SO SORRY HYUNG LINE IM NOT AN ANTI I PROMISE YALL.. i just got really excited writing part two for you all :') .. forgiveness please)

a/n: HELLO?!?!? over 100 notes on part one! i appreciate you all so much for all the love and support thus far! this is my apology to junhui and jihoon stans.. but i fear dino stans will hate me.. ANYWAYS please enjoy !! thank you to @fairybinie, @shuatic and @etherealyoungk for helping me as always <3

hyung line | maknae line

dokyeom: cariño by the marias ♪ ༘ -> “cariño, eres un amor. cariño, pintas en color” -> dear, you are lovely. dear, you paint in color"

you and dokyeom, being child development majors, wanted experience working with children, which is how you found each other side by side in a daycare. you actually didn't have to do much searching as dokyeom was the one who introduced you to the job saying that another one of his friend’s applied a while back. at first, you found yourself having a hard time getting along with the younger crowd, but the kids attached themselves to dokyeom instantly. you were the stricter one of the two while seok was a bit nicer letting the kids do whatever they please. as the time went past you didn't exactly know how you and seok became so close with each other. he was just another guy on campus. you thought to yourself “when was it?” “when is our timeline?” wait our timeline… nevermind.. but maybe it was that time when he left a handprint on the back of your pants. or the time he took you out for dinner after a bad experience with one of the parents. it was moments like those that made you care for him. it got so bad that even your students caught on to your feelings and asked if the two of you were married when you showed up with flowers from him. it was like time moved slower in the daycare and it was just you and him. you promised yourself you wouldn’t fall in love with your coworker but you couldn't help yourself from falling for his charms. and now here you are as the day comes to a close at the daycare center you wait at the pick up at the front gate accompanied by the kids in your class.

“hahaha! teacher yn is it true you think mr.lee is cute?!” one child is heard screaming around.

“i heard that from the other teacher mr.boo, that he saw the two of them kissing!!” another squealing child at the others.

"wait- what are you kids even talking about? those are JUST rumors. mr.lee doesn't like me!" you tried to calm the panic in your voice from the five-year-olds convicting you of being involved with their precious mr.lee.

you continue to defend yourself against five year olds and as you frantically try to wave your hands in denial a voice from behind you causes the attention to shift.

“hey, i’m not a big fan of rumors, kids. his voice said “butttt i wouldn’t mind if they were true” seokmin chuckled as he stood right behind you. his group of kids followed from behind. after hearing his response the kids couldn't help themselves with laughter and whispers, carefully watching you two as if they were watching a rom-com.

“S-SEOK- I MEAN MR. LEE!!!” you started stumbling on your words. “since, when did you-” you turned to face him, eyes wide-opened. You wouldn’t call yourself clumsy with your words, but with your feet that was a different story.

you didn’t know how but you now had two left feet, tripping over yourself and lost your balance. to your luck there was a nice pair of strong arms to catch you. (a/n: okay me when)

“yn, you okay there? it looks like you’re a bit nervous, aren’t you?” he smiles while trying to keep hold of you.

“ahaha .. thanks for catching me mr.lee” you skittishly answered.

“you’re very welcome and .. i wasn’t lying when i said i wouldn’t mind rumors being true.”

“i don’t really.. mind either.” you didn’t know where the confidence came to say that but hey you’re glad it did.

“great i’ll pick you up at eight then!” he spoke out as an onslaught of cheers erupted from the children.

mingyu: ⋆🎧✮ yo no soy celoso by bad bunny “yo no yo no soy celoso, ¿pero quién e' ese cabrón? dime quién e' ese cabrón. tranquila, no soy psycho. no vo’a hacer un papelón, pero auch, mi corazón” -> "i'm not jealous, but who ‘s that bastard? tell me who 's that bastard? easy, i’m not a psycho. i ain't gonna make a fool out of myself, but ouch, my heart”

when you and mingyu started dating you would compare him to a puppy. he was energetic, excited, and playful with you. and he always wanted to be by your side all the time. this was hard though as mingyu was a well established idol. and when you two finally got together, mingyu was needy… and i mean NEEDY. he always wants you to pamper him with love and attention but you thought it was time he put in the work as well. so you hatched a plan with some of the guys and on the days just like this one. you managed to sneak off to the group practice and bring them food. upon greeting everyone, handing out food and avoiding mingyu’s several attempts of flirting with you. with a quick motion you signaled to the boys to start the mission. unaware and infatuated with you as usual. mingyu didn’t really notice anything odd, it was like any other day you visited. yeah you were close to the others but it wasn’t anything to get upset about at least that's what he thought. until.. strike one was when you asked for an intimate lesson with junhui offering him to teach you one of their dances. mingyu just brushed it aside thinking to himself, “hey i’m a dancer too, yn we could always have a session together?” strike two was when you innocently went over to jihoon and got a bit too touchy with his hyung’s arms. mingyu became pouty as he leaned against the wall of the practice room. “does yn not like my arms anymore?!” and finally strike three was with the head rub from wonwoo. it wasn’t that special or anything but that was his job not wonwoo’s. something sparked in mingyu’s head as he grabbed your arm and ran outside of the practice room with you.

“yah yn what the hell was that?!” mingyu demands to try and understand. as he drags you out of the room releasing his grip when the two of you are alone. the idol has always been a bit loud but hearing his voice like that wasn’t the response you had wished for, he was a bit hurt now.

“m-mingyu it was just a little teasing, nothing else!” trying to defend yourself on thin ice was harder than you thought it’d be

“really yn, i'm not blind i can see you in there practically throwing yourself on the others like that!??”

“mingyu listen to me, it was only to get you jealo-” as the sound of mingyu’s hand slamming on the wall a few inches away from your face. as you feel weak in the knees shrinking down as he isolates the both of you against the cold wall outside of the practice room.

and through the corner of your eyes, you could see some pairs of eyes peeking through the door. as you tried to hold your composure to smile, this was all just a little joke.

“no you listen here yn..” mingyu deepened his tone while he moved in, enclosing the space between you two.

“i- im listening..” you mustered out unaware of how you were going to get yourself out of this predicament.

“yn, you drive me crazy and i can’t control myself.. i just want you to pay attention to me and only me. don’t go talking to the guys too much” you finally give in to mingyu’s little antic and lean into his chest looking up at him. “hmm.. im hearing you out mingyu promise but where’s my attenti-” you started to complain as he cuts you off pressing his lips onto yours.

as he breaks from the kiss he looks down at you and smirks “there you go yn satisfied?”

minghao: ♪ ༘⋆ te extraño by xtreme “mira cómo estoy sufriendo. me quemo por dentro por sentir tu amor” -> “look how i’m suffering, i am burning inside for your love”

as a new couple there's always so many ups and downs. so many people telling you and minghao what you guys shouldn’t and should be doing. and that because of the differences between the two of you and him. that it wouldn’t work out in the end but against the odds you two opposites still managed to find some common ground. how you two lovebirds managed to cross paths was through bumping into him at a museum. and as the story goes “apparently” you had stepped on his very expensive shoes and he had some nice comments to say about your outfit. that’s not how you remember it happening but that’s for another day. a few months into the dating period the band’s tour season had started soon, and while you managed to keep yourself together through delusions and winning a fancall with minghao. (more like begging seungcheol to rig the odds) minghao was not faring as well, the timing just never lined up with his free days and you had your own business going on. minghao was a bit fed up at this point, missing you to an extreme that he had never experienced before. as cheesy as this sounds, you were such an important part of his life now. and all your teasing him over the phone wasn’t making this any easier on him. so he took it upon himself to catch you off game, and surprise you at your job with a bouquet of flowers and some gifts. opening up the cafe doors to greet customers but instead greeted with the sight of your boyfriend. and as much as you put on the facade that you were fine, telling your coworkers that you were the stronger one in the relationship seeing him physically was a whole different story. at the ring of the bell the two of you greeted each other with a kiss.

“myungho .. i’m sorry i can’t keep this up, it’s been so hard.” hiccup you managed to choke out as you couldn’t help the tears falling down your cheeks.

“yn you, don’t know how difficult it’s been without you,” minghao responded, cusping your face.

“myungho” hiccup “i missed you so much, please don’t leave me anymore” you pleaded crying into his hands.

“yn what am i going to do with you.” minghao sighed as he held back his own tears. wiping your cheek with his hands.

all the tears you tried to suppress inside, kept pouring down your face. it had been too much for the both of it was like the world wanted the two of you together.

you couldn’t form a response besides nodding in agreement and sobbing out i love you, i miss you and the ongoing repeat of his name.

“y’know, i just look for your face in every pretty thing i see. in the flowers i brought, the porcelain tea cups. i guess it’s just me seeking some semblance of you to comfort me.” he couldn’t help smiling even when the tears fell.

it felt like the two of you were the only people in the world. but you weren't (a/n: get back to work yn) as a voice snapped you both into reality. “erm sorry to bother but i was wondering if i could get my coffee like right now?!”

seungkwan: sabor a mi by luis miguel ⋆🎧✮ “si negaras mi presencia en tu vivir. bastaría con abrazarte y conversar. tanta vida yo te di, que por fuerza tienes ya, sabor a mí” -> “if you were to deny my presence in your life. a hug and a conversation would be enough. i gave you so much life, that by force you now have, the taste of me”

as a rookie idol group you prepared yourself for almost anything. it was for your group in the long run. whether it’s an embarrassing moment on stage, your members embarrassing you on camera, or dropping the camera on a live show. you needed to have the mental fortitude to keep up your mean and silent image the company pushed on you. even throughout many different activities such as variety programs, advertisements and award shows, the persona is active while the real you is pushed to the side. something did change when you met seungkwan though. it was only a few months after your first comeback that you and kwannie met on a variety show. your manager said it was “something about putting rookies and their senior idols together” and while you were hesitant at first your group members begged you to join the program. you really needed the exposure for your upcoming comeback and your team was hoping for their first win soon especially after the way the debut went. fast forward to the start of filming and you are accompanied by many new and household names in the industry. to your surprise you were partnered up with seungkwan of seventeen. while you tried to keep up the facade, the natural charisma and humor of the veteran idol had you breaking character more than you would like to admit. and seungkwan understood the life of a rookie idol and wanted to provide you some screen time with your real personality being showcased. his quick comebacks and sassy personality paired with you firing back on an equal level had the other idols immersed and the directors very pleased. you would say filming with seungkwan was just a good opportunity and that was all but you couldn’t help yourself to feel your heart jump a bit. the comments that mentioned the chemistry between you and seungkwan throughout filming. the way his eyes followed you throughout the show, the energy and supportive spirit throughout the challenges you two participated in. you couldn’t stop the butterflies in your stomach, and a few days after filming was done, you received a notification that somebody had “accidentally” liked a photo of you on his instagram and a direct message from none other than the man himself.

coming home from a long day of practice you laid in your dorm scrolling through your social media as you were greeted to the noise of your ringtone.

ring ring ring

you stared at the caller id unsure if this was a prank or not, before you finally answered. “hello? seungkwan? what’s up?” you question genuinely confused due to how late he decided to call you.

“yn, hi! it’s boo seungkwan erm.. i’m sorry that I'm calling this late but i was wondering if you wanted to hangout sometime?” you could overhear some voices in the background and the sounds of seungkwan moving around.

“err- do we need to reshoot some scenes or did you need me for something?”

“no!! y-you did great during the show but i uh..” seungkwan tried clearing his throat, to ease his nerves. “this is just me asking…that i’d like to get to know you more off camera.”

“i also…missed your beautiful face” he adds with a blush on his face.

you couldn’t help the smile escaping your lips as you responded “of course seungkwan, i would love that….and i missed yours too”

vernon: ⊹♡🎶 corazon sin cara by prince royce “y el corazón no tiene cara, y te prometo que lo nuestro, nunca va a terminar” -> “and the heart has no face, and i promise that our thing is never going to end”

you had finally made your first big break! as an actor in the industry for a few months now things weren’t looking the best for you. only minor roles for one episode or scene or just filming as a background extra with no lines. your manager surprised you with good news! you were to be casted in a romance drama as the main lead. you were confident enough that you would finish this project with no issues. but the only problem was when you found out that you were working with an idol did shake you off your game a bit, just enough to make you sweat. during the first round of filming you weren’t too aware of the idol you were going to film with just their role. you two were filming as a pair of high school students who are in a weird romantic situation, your manager told you it was something similar to the k-drama twenty-first century girl. vernon was a simple yet emotional guy underneath that intimidating exterior was a genuine person who cared for the success of the drama and the hardworking people making it happen. while you both shared the same thoughts of wanting the success of the drama, filming wasn’t the best. you two weren’t the most.. natural there was this awkwardness in the air and the on camera chemistry was nowhere to be found. the casting director and the staff really fought for the both of you to keep your roles. so what better way to develop some chemistry than to go on fake dates… and in the end it worked out for the best. you two managed to find your balance in and off camera together.

cameras rolling

as the rainfall embraces you and vernon for the climax of the drama. the two of you are standing in the middle of the campus’s baseball field as you proceed to read your character’s line. “.. so it wasn’t just a dare.. did you actually end up falling for me that night..”

“tell me i’m not just another one of those stupid.. lovestruck people.. p-please” you managed to spit out as your kept getting your real emotions caught with your character’s.

he cupped your face and let out a big sigh.. “and if i said i fell for you that night.. would you let me hold you for the night?” at this point you couldn’t distinguish acting for reality. your emotions were at their peak and you just went with your gut. afterwards you pushed yourself into his arms and you could feel his warmth as he held you in his.

“and cut!” the director shouted out “that was an unscripted moment but hey we could work with it” as the cameras stopped rolling and the two of you stood still you felt a pull at your arm and heard a whisper in your ear.

“you know.. i wouldn’t mind taking you on a real date after this yn.”

“oh and by the way.. your lips tasted sweet” (a/n: me when.. when will i get told this .. i use the fenty lip oil for a reason..)

chan: ⤹˚˖♬୭ quién lo diría by nicole zignago & lagos “que yo hace poco no sabía si olvidarte. por otra parte, yo sé que todavía. tengo pegada esta manía de pensarte” -> “recently i didn't know whether to forget you, on the other hand, i know that still. i have this habit of thinking about you”

college student lee chan.. just need to be honest with you. it's simple that he wanted to be more than whatever you two had going on. he had his share of flings and situationships before and just like the others he promised you. that it will be nothing more than friends with benefits. and when you were done that was it, and he agreed for the most part to this arrangement. telling himself he could be mature about this one, to not catch feelings. but some small part of himself was sure that you felt the same way. at least that’s what he assumed. it was because of the way you brightened up his life, the influence on chan made something in him change. he caught feelings. so his friends kept egging him on to confess to you under the cherry blossom tree. chan practiced in his dorm mirror for about twenty times he needed to get this confession done right. perfect almost.. but everything was far from perfect. the gloom took over the sky, the trees lacking their pink hues, and you.. holding the hand over another. you looked radiant even in this melancholy you caught his attention. even in a crowded arena you always could.. chan fell … his head was spinning, he wanted to run to you, it was supposed to be his hand that should have been enveloped with yours.. and as much as it hurt he knew. he couldn’t do anything, it wasn't your fault he knew you would eventually fall for somebody else. a playwright would call him the other woman. if he would have just expressed his feelings sooner he wouldn't have ended up being the second lead in this drama. he cried that night, lee chan had always been the heartbreaker but never the heartbroken until now… he needed to do something and fast.

you had gotten off a call with your current partner, walking through the halls of the university as you felt a light pull at your wrist turning around to the source. “c-channie you scared me!?”

“why didn’t you just tap me on the shoulder or tell me it was you?” you shared your general surprise at the male student standing in front of you.

he sighed before opening his mouth “what do you not want me around any more?” out of all the things you thought he would say that wasn’t on your bucket list.

“chan.. that’s not what’s happening here we had an agreement.. you know better than anyone in this type of relationship a friends with benefits” you sounded off, this is not the person chan fell in love with. he was under the impression you’d be understanding of his feelings or at least what he was implying.

“that one of us would end up alone in the end… it’s a special bond, something intimate, but it’s also fragile as hell.” you pull your wrist away from his grip taking a few steps away from him.

“yn .. i can’t do this anymore, i didn't know i could never value intimacy, our time together.. until i saw you with someone other than me…. “ the desperation in his voice matched the neediness of his stare. the stare that would haunt you till the end of time.

“chan..” you cupped his face “i’m sorry but i moved on.. and it’s time you should do the same.”

“n-no i-” and then came his tears .. and then came the rain..

“maybe in another time we were destined to be together channie… but this time i wasn’t the one...” you gently wrapped your arms around his torso for the last time. and disappeared as fast as the downpour came.

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arcaneauthor · 1 year

Note

I love your writing so much, if it wouldn't be too much trouble could do you something where Ghost and the reader get tattoos together

(kinda like the story where the 2 got tattoos for each other without the other knowing but this time they decide to get one together?)

If not thats 100% okay and I hope you have an Amazing day!

Warnings: None? Needles I guess? But it’s not described. Fluffffff

A/n: Sorry this took so long, my motivation has been 📉 lately. But thank you so much for the kind words and amazing request❤️ Hope you like it! Also this is technically a part 3 to my other story but can be read as a standalone.

-$-

“Would you get another one?” He asks suddenly one day as their sitting at the table, a deck of cards in hand.

Yes you know having poker be your date night activity is strange, but your relationship wasn’t exactly anyones definition of “normal” to begin with. But it was your normal. So, yes, sitting at the table on a Friday night with a group of playing cards in one hand and a take out taco in the other was your definition of a good time, sue you.

You look up from your deck at his question, he still hadn’t looked up from his, “What?”

“A tattoo. Would you ever get another one?” He questions, leaning back in his seat, eyes finally connecting to yours.

“I-I mean I’m not- opposed to the idea, if I found the right one.” You’re still not sure of the meaning of this. The question was so sudden

He hums, nodding his head. Eyes gazing back down at his cards, as if they held all the answers.

You raise an eyebrow, “why?” You drawl out.

He shrugs,“Curious.” Is all you get as response before he stands up, throwing his deck down on the table, “I win.” He proclaims in in a baritone voice, then promptly turns to step out of the room. Your eyes following him in total confusion.

They then flick down to his discarded hand.

A royal flush.

That bastard.

Shaking your head slightly, you can’t help but let a fond smirk overtake your face as your ears catch onto the sound of water pittering against the shower floor.

Your boyfriend, the man of many words.

-$-

About a week later.

“Are we there yet?”

Simon sighs in annoyance, the hand not on the steering wheel rubbing his temple, “You’re not bloody five years old, stop asking me that.”

You give him a pouty lip just for show,”But we’ve been driving forever.”

“Twenty minutes. We’ve drove for twenty minutes.”

That short?… really?

“Well how the heck am I supposed to know that, I can’t d*mn well watch the clock now can I?” You question rhetorically as you lightly tug on the blindfold secured around your eyes for emphasis.

He lightly swats your hand away,”Don’t touch it.”

You huff indignantly, but do lower your hand,”Can you at least tell me where we’re going?”

“No.”

“Oh come on.”

Simon huffs, that seems to be a reoccurring thing for him the last twenty minutes, “Impatient little thing.”

You could’ve swore you heard some fondness in that sentence.

-$-

Around, what you assume to be, ten minutes later, you feel Ghost’s truck gently pull to a stop. Slightly jostling the both of you as you hear the gear shift click into park.

You sit up in your seat,”Are we there?”

“Yes.”

“Oh thank gosh. Can I please take this off now?” You point towards the blind fold,”I don’t know how you wear that mask 24/7, this thing is killer.”

“It’s not that bad.” You can hear his seatbelt click and the sound of his old Ford door creaking open.

“Wait! Can I take this thing off or not?”

“Almost.” The truck shifts as he steps out. Giving a slight rock at the absence of Simon’s massive body weight.

The door shutting cuts off any response you had. For a short split second you think he’s left you, until he opens your door. Ever the gentleman.

You unbuckle and twist around, legs hanging out the door. Now how are you going to do this blind? You try wiggling your foot around, but can’t feel anything but air.

“Uh- could you like guide me to-“

You cut yourself off with a squeal as, without a word, you’re swept out of your seat. Simon picking you up in a bridal carry, one hand under your thighs, the other around your back, as you rap your hands around his neck in a panic.

“Simon-!”

“Every girl wants to be treated like a princess at least once, don’t they?” You can physically hear his smirk.

It’s embarrassing how much that made your heart flutter.

“You could at least warn me first!”

“Then I wouldn’t get to hear that cute little squeak.” He gives a deep chuckle

You’d never admit to the extent of redness that your cheeks turned to.

You’d also never admit how much you like the feeling of his large hands gripping tightly to the bare skin of your thighs. The gentle scrape of his calisced fingers being almost therapeutic. For such a large man, his hold is surprisingly gentle, always is when he’s touching you. Never wanting to bring you any semblance of pain.

Even after all this time, his touch never fails to raise your skin into goosebumps.

“Alright,” his words bring you back from your touch induced daze,”We’re here.” He sets you back onto your feet, your hands lingering around his neck a little longer than necessary.

“Allow me.” You feel his hands reach around the back of your head, fiddling with the knot.

The blindfold slips loose easily underneath his skilled fingers.

Your eyelashes flutter open now that the obscurity is out of the way. Though you’re forced to immediately scrunch them back closed as the light floods your corneas, leaving colorful spots dancing across the back of your eyelids. It’s only after a few tries that you can actually see anything then just a bright white. Vision finally clearing, you take in your surroundings, particularly the building with a big neon sign atop it.

It’s-

The tattoo parlor?

You flick your curious eyes from the sign to Ghost. His face, the upper half that’s not obscured by the black surgical mask, almost looks, dare you say, nervous. Well, maybe not fully nervous, but, slightly unsure of himself?

“Wha-what are we doing here exactly?”

“Well-uh- I thought that, maybe we could get tattoos?”

“But-we already have tattoos?” He made the big deal of blindfolding you, and hauling your a** out of the car to,,get more tattoos. You’d accompanied him to this place multiple times, what’s different now?

“I meant like, together?”

It takes your brain an embarrassingly long time to catch on, your period of silence making Simon’s hesitation only grow.

“Ohhhhh, you mean like-like a couples tattoo.” You feel your smile start to grow as you grab his arm, pulling on it in excitement like a kid in a candy store.

Ghost’s hesitation seems to all but disappear in the face of your happiness, his eyes softening as he observed your childish antics.

“Yeah.” He finally responds breathily, before he remembers something,”I’ve gotta’ picture of the stencils if you wanna-“ He reaches towards his back pocket, though your hand over his stops him. He look up into your eyes, which are shining with love and joy.

“I’m sure whatever you have in mind is perfect.” You lean up on your tiptoes to give him a sweet peck on the cheek,”Thank you.”

You could’ve swore you saw his cheeks turn a little pink, though he doesn’t let you observe him for long before he’s clearing his throat, turning his face away.

He offers his hand to you in invitation,”Ready?”

You smile, placing your hand in his,”Yep!”

-$-

You both take turns since Ghost refuses to use any of the other artists besides Jackson. And refuses to let you use anyone else. Says he trusts him the most, with his whole identity thing and to not hurt you.

Simon won’t even let you in the room during his session, saying that he wants to reveal it after they’re both finished. He sits by your side during your tattooing, holding your hand and making sure you don’t look before it’s finished. Even rubs his hand over your arm when you wince, whispering a little “You got this princess” in your ear.

Jackson wipes the remaining ink residue from your lower arm,”Alright, looks like we’re finished!” He begins cleaning up his tools.

You and Simon turn to look at one another.

“You wanna see em’?” He asks.

You give him a deadpan expression,”No, I wanna wait another hour. Of course I wanna see!” You excitedly sit up on the bench

He fondly shakes his head, and when he speaks, you can hear the smile, “Alright, close your’ eyes for a moment.” An order you immediately comply with.

You hear rustling and then a slight ripping sound, which you assume is him tearing the bandage from his own tattoo if Jackson’s chastisements are anything to go by. Chastisements that Simon, of course, answers with a quick “Stop your bloody worrying, it’ll be fine”

You feel him grab your arm, careful around the tender area, and pull it up in front of you, placing it beside of his.

“You can look.”

You eyes flutter open, even though in the dim parlor lights you’re not nearly as blinded as when you removed the blindfold earlier, it still takes a second for shapes to register. When they do, your gaze immediately latches on to the two arms displayed in front of you. Your breath hitches.

“You like em’?” And there’s that unsureness again. Rearing it’s head in the face of your prolonged silence.

You look at him, eyes hesitant to leave Jackson’s masterpieces, “Like them? I love them!”

You basically tackle him in a hug, again, being careful with your arm, and almost fall off the bench from the momentum. Ghost lets out a little huff of amusement as he catch’s your weight with his other arm, “They’re perfect. Thank you.” You lean back enough to look at him.

He bumps his forehead lightly against yours,”Anything for you, sweetheart.”

The endearment makes you heart jump, a soft smile lighting your face. Every single thing this man does, makes you fall farther and farther in the depths of love.

“Can we please cover them now?” Jackson exclaims from the other side of the room, holding up a roll bandages.

You both burst out in giggles.

#simon ghost riley x you #simon riley #simon ghost riley #simon ghost riley x reader #reader insert #imagines #ghost fluff #ghost fanfiction #call of duty #fanfic #ghost call of duty #ghost cod #ghost cod mw2 #ghost simon riley #request #tattoos

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faithintheunknownsblog · 1 year

Note

Could you please write a sfw alphabet with Alucard? The nsfw one was great!

I’m sorry this took so long! But it’s finally done- also it’s a lot

Also there’s a lil nsfw references here and there- I’m a degenerate leave me alone

Alucard’s SFW Alphabet

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Alucard is very affectionate once he’s in love and shows it in all five ways; gifts, acts, time, touch, and words

If Alucard sees the smallest thing that reminds him of you he’s getting it and giving it to you shortly after unless it’s part of a bigger gift.

He’ll just do small things to help out and try to make your life easier, especially when you're stressed from whatever it is.

Alucard will spend as much time with you as he can, but like everyone you two do need your personal space and he 100% respects that, and you respect his personal space as well.

When he feels like saying “I love you” isn’t enough or during the times when it’s hard for him just to voice all his feelings he’ll leave you love letters. The letters will be especially long on special occasions.

You’re constantly going to be hugged, kissed, cuddled, back rubs and massages (if you’re alright with it of course)

Alucard constantly voices how much he loves you when he’s able to express himself, but it’s not always just saying “I love you” to you in order to show affection. He’ll make you laugh and tease you, try to cheer you up when you’re down, listen to the things that you have interest in and try to engage in the conversation even if he doesn’t hold the same interest.

He just tries to show you how much he loves you in any and every way possible.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Y’all be thick as thieves once you’re friends and it’ll be impossible to separate you two. Alucard is very protective of the people he cares about so if someone so much as looks at you the wrong way this man wants to resort to violence, without a doubt you had to talk him out of fights (murders) on multiple occasions.

How you two meet is through Integra but how the friendship starts is probably when he sees that you’re a “good” person, or as least as good as you can get in the situation you’ve been put in. Also it’s a give in that you’ll have to treat Integra with respect before he’ll ever be able to consider you as something other than a dog.

After that it’ll depend on how often you’re around and how well you work will affect how much thought Alucard will put into your existence. He becomes more curious about you as time goes on and one day just decides to talk to you. Of course he’ll do it at the worst times possible because he approaches you right as you’re in the middle of doing something around the mansion. Alucard will say something about what you’re doing and when you explain it to him he’ll unintentionally insult you by calling you “peculiar” or criticize how you’re doing it because that’s not how he usually sees the task being accomplished.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

This man was MADE for cuddling! Especially when you’re a human and it’s in the summertime because the heat makes everything so hot and sticky. His cold body against yours is the perfect way to cool off for you and the best way for him to warm up.

Also with those long arms and legs and his lanky ass body he can- and will- wrap you up in them and hold you tight when cuddling.

Plus the man is touch deprived- I mean he was locked in a basement for years and hasn’t felt a loving touch in Lord knows how long so he hangs all over you when the time for it is appropriate.

He’s just been through so much and he might not act like it but he wants to be held close, forget big spoon and little spoon. Alucard wants you to hold onto him and never let go.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Alucard’s dream is to own a home to grow old in with his beloved s/o and wants to raise beautiful children with them. He dreams that when he isn’t working he will try to cook if he isn’t too exhausted, and he wants to surprise the family with a big breakfast on the weekends.

It saddens Alucard that he can’t have kids and can’t grow old, but that doesn’t stop him from settling down with you in the home you two picked out together.

There was discussion of adopting children but with the “our appearance never changes and we’ll have to keep us being a vampire secret from our child, and if they don’t want to become a vampire when they grow up then we’ll watch them grow old and die” wasn’t something you two wanted to happen. The next idea was becoming foster parents and you two tried it but within a week Alucard wanted to adopt every child that entered your home, so you two gave up on being foster parents either.

Can you blame the man though? He has so much love to give and that’s why you have to tell him no everytime you walk past a pet store or an animal rescue. You two already have had over hundreds of pets over all the years and currently have a “dog” (he’s without a doubt a wolf but you two still call him a puppy even though it’s fully grown) that Alucard brought home without telling you. But he knew it wouldn’t have mattered to you anyway because there were currently no pets in the house.

When it comes to chores, Alucard isn’t terrible at cleaning but he’s better at some more than others.

Such as laundry, he’s good at doing laundry when it’s time to put it away. He makes sure everything is ironed and folded or hung up so there are no wrinkles but as said in another post the only clothes he leaves alone are your socks that you love to mix-match.

But Alucard sucks at actually doing everything else before that, most of the time he forgets to actually put the laundry in the basket, and doesn’t remember that he has to wash the blood out of his white shirts. You also have to sew up the tears in his clothes which was also said in another post

There aren’t many dishes to do because you both drink blood but when you two use cups either one of you will clean them after.

You both take good care of the dog but he is more Alucard’s responsibility than yours because he’s the one who brought it home without telling you. Alucard does accept most of the responsibility; cleaning up after the dog, brushing his hair, giving him baths, clipping his nails, brushing his teeth. Alucard did the puppy training and is in charge of the vet visits.

But when it comes to the feeding, watering, putting the dog out, taking him on walks, and playing with the dog, it’s 50/50.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

I’m sorry- what?

You think this man would leave you after he’s fallen in love with you? After how long it took him to accept you into his heart, you think he’s going to let you go? You’re out of your damn mind if you believe that he would.

But if I had to pick a way Alucard would do it I can only see him doing it by not saying anything, he just grabs all his stuff and leaves, the only trace of him is a letter saying why it’s over. He does this because he knows he’ll get annoyed by your reaction, whether it’s crying, getting angry, or just saying nothing at all.

Ngl he’ll probably threaten to kill you if you come anywhere near him or try to talk to him through someone else because once it’s over he wants absolutely nothing to do with you. So threatening you is the only way to make sure you leave him alone.

As said this will most likely never happen because once this man is in love? He’s. In. Love.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Only reason why Alucard gets nervous about commitment is because he’s worried something bad will happen to you. But once he realizes that you’ll be safe it’s all or nothing with Alucard because commitment is everything to him. If you ever have any doubts about the relationship he doesn’t want to ever be in it and he will never give the idea of a relationship with you any thought again. Nor will he give you a chance again.

For getting into a relationship though, it all depends, you could be friends for a couple of months or more than a year before Alucard will attempt a romance relationship. This is because he needs to see how you’ll deal with different things in life, such as; him going on missions, how you treat people, how you let people treat you, and- most importantly- how you react to him being a vampire.

After you two get into a relationship It’ll probably take a year or so because Alucard needs to see how you start acting as a partner when it comes to dealing with all the things that he had to consider before pursuing the romantic relationship. If you can still handle those things in what he thinks is an appropriate manner then he’ll be willing to marry you.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

When training (whether you’re a vampire or human) Alucard pushes you to your limits so you’ll always improve for next time and can be the best you can possibly be. But this is only if you want to train of course and if not he will never pressure you to.

If you do decide you want him to train you, expect to be left sore, with bruises, and scratches. The training will be even worse if you’re a vampire because your power is nearly limitless when you reach for your full potential.

But once the training is over Alucard will definitely make sure to make it up to you, treating you as if you’re made of glass. He will apologize for hurting you so bad and treat whatever wounds he has left you with. He will grab you anything you need if you’re too weak to and do everything he possibly can in order to make you feel better.

When it comes to emotional support, Alucard does the best he can but he doesn’t always get it right. It also doesn’t help that Alucard has his own emotions that you’re helping him work on, though he still has trouble addressing them. Though he has learned how to somewhat mirror (I’m not sure if that’s the right word but currently I can't think of a way to describe it) how you help him with his emotions for him to help you.

Also Alucard learned early on that sometimes you just start talking about something that makes you angry and when he gives input you get mad at him.

One day when you got angry at him for trying to help he asked you something like ‘what do you want me to do?’ and you told him to ‘just listen to me.’

So now every time you start a rant he asks you if you want ‘solutions or support’ and it’s kept you two out of so many arguments.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

As we keep establishing, Alucard is touch deprived so he absolutely loves hugs, if you two are alone there is rarely a time that he doesn’t try to stop you so he can have you in his strong embrace.

If you’re standing in place he’ll hug you from behind and start to sway your body with his for a little bit until he’s ready to let go, or when you swat him away so you can finish whatever you were doing.

If you two are on the couch in your room then he’ll be hugging you from the side and you’ll have your head on his chest. When you’re in Alucard’s lap he’ll have both arms around your waist and his head will be resting on your shoulder.

If you two are in public, walking down a busy street or sitting down next to each other when people are around Alucard will have one arm around your waist.

But when it comes to being in the mansion, outside of your room, you and Alucard both tend to stay professional since you two are basically at work. Plus the people who see you two hugging are people who both of you see constantly. There is just a difference between strangers you two will never see again and people who are always around. It’s not that you two are hiding your relationship- because everyone knows you’re a couple- it’s more of just keeping certain things more private.

There are the exceptions such as when he comes back from long missions and those times that Alucard is stressed out enough to just not care. When that happens he’ll walk up behind you while you’re talking to someone and casually wrap his arms around your waist. He’ll rest his chin on the top of your head, not swaying or anything, he just stands there, holding onto you and listening to the conversation.

It doesn’t happen often but it’s happened enough times that you and everyone else knows just to continue the conversation as if Alucard isn’t even there. Then once you’re done, you’ll let whoever you were talking to walk away before you and Alucard will disappear to a more private place so you can give him all the attention that he so desperately wants from you.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

Takes years of friendship, then a year or so of being in a relationship before Alucard says it because he has a fear that as soon as he says “I love you” something bad is going to happen to you.

After Alucard first says “I love you” and nothing bad happens he’s still very cautious about saying it again for a while. But when you’re still safe whenever he said it he now constantly tells you that he loves you.

If Alucard is with you when you wake up he’s telling you that he loves you. If he’s with you when you go to sleep he’s telling you he loves you. When he wakes up from a nightmare he’ll tell you he loves you. If you’re cuddling he tells you he loves you.

If you do some small task that you think nothing of, Alucard is telling you he loves you for the help. Every time he leaves he tells you he loves you. Every time he comes back he tells you he loves you. The end of every phone call he’s telling you he loves you and if it’s a phone call during a mission that he’s been away for a while he’s telling you all throughout the call that he loves you.

Whenever you two hug or kiss he’s telling you he loves you. Alucard will get lost in his thoughts and zone out, then when you help him come back to, he will tell you that he loves you.

And every single time he says “I love you” he 100% means it, he will never throw around those three words carelessly.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Okay I know I said before that Alucard would kill anyone who so much as breathes in your direction but that’s before you two are together. But he isn’t jealous after you two get into a relationship because after you two are together he doesn’t have any competition. HOWEVER he is protective when it comes to the relationship.

Which are two totally different things.

Jealousy means that Alucard would get intimidated by someone else talking to you and thinks that someone could possibly take you from him. But he has enough trust in you and in the relationship to know there is no need to get jealous over someone talking to you. There is no need for him to worry about you being unfaithful when you go out or what you wear when you leave to hangout with your friends. Only thing he worries about is something bad possibly happening to you but you never go out alone because you and Seras are best friends, which is what puts Alucard’s mind at ease. It’s always you and Seras plus a few other friends go out, and sometimes a few of those friends are male friends, whom Alucard also doesn’t worry about. You’re free do do what you want, with who you want, where you want while wearing whatever you want.

So Alucard isn’t jealous but he’s very protective, meaning that if he is nearby and notices that someone could possibly be making advances he’ll subtly show that you’re taken. Depending on how that person react to him just proves what their intentions were; if they immediately leave you alone, you and Alucard just go on about your merry way. If they try to keep your attention on them after you introduce Alucard, you cut it off because you won’t let someone try to take your attention away from Alucard when you were out with him. If you introduce Alucard and they include him in the conversation, there is possibly a new friend. You two have actually made a few friends that way.

(though Alucard can tell when you’re trying to ‘make him jealous’ as foreplay and he will go along with it, when it’s like that he’ll act absolutely feral)

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Heh- I’ll exclude some places

Once again you both will be professional around the mansion when outside of your room, only giving each other a quick peck on the lips then going back to whatever it is that you two need to be doing. That also comes back with the exceptions of him going on his long missions. But even when it comes to kissing around other people- strangers or not- it doesn’t get too intimate.

But in private? This man is the very definition of passion. Alucard may not be able to put all his feelings into words, but his kisses tell you everything he can’t.

He does have his times where he likes to get playful though, giving you a kiss but pulls away before he lures you too far in, just so he can leave you longing for more. Sometimes he’ll run his fangs against your lower lip just to make you jump in surprise, then chuckles against your lips while you pretend to be annoyed by his teasing. Alucard loves you but he has to pick on you, y’know?

Alucard likes being kissed on his neck the most (yes I’m doing this out of pure irony, leave me alone)

Where Alucard likes kissing your hands- the NSFW Alphabet explains why- and he other favorite place to kiss you is right below the belly button. He likes kissing you there specifically because he likes the idea of you carrying his child.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Alucard would be an amazing father, though sometimes he’d spoil them more than he should. But he will still make the kids know what it means to put in hard work.

He also wouldn’t necessarily toss you to the side once you give birth to his children but you’ll definitely get put second more often than not. And if it ever came to saving you or the kids, sorry but you’re on your own love.

Alucard’s patience would never run thin when it comes to his children, and he would always try to be the first to come to their aid. Hell if you had his kids he might as well take maternity leave after the baby is born because he’d be up before you when the baby cries at night.

It’d be nice at first when you’re still recovering, Alucard would help with the feeding, bathing, changing, putting the baby to sleep, and anything he possibly can. But it would eventually get annoying when you have to tell him to give you your child back.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Since mornings are a vampire’s night, you and Alucard will eat and spend a bit of time together before you both pass out from exhaustion from all the work you had to do over night. But there is always a weekly early morning date. This can also apply to when you’re a human because you have to work overnight and are exhausted by daybreak.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

It tends to be too busy to spend time together since night is the time for the both of you to bust your ass to get work done. Though sometimes you two do take off and go out to a fancy restaurant, or a club since they’re most popular at night.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

Everything depends on whether Integra will let him talk and act somewhat freely because can’t say anything without her permission and that’s what affects the friendship.

But if Alucard has permission then you’ll know he’s a vampire as soon as you two meet because he doesn’t care if you know or not.

If you start asking questions when it comes to his life, Alucard will only tell you what happened after Integra woke up. But if you start asking too many questions he’ll just tell you that it’s none of your business.

Now after you two get into a relationship it’s still only from when he was awoken, and you don’t push because it isn’t your place. The reason why he doesn’t share his life before Integra is because it’ll mean he has to deal with trauma.

Alucard might as well have bought a shovel to dig a hole in the backyard in order to bury his trauma, and he wasn’t going to let any of that shit resurface… Well, that was the plan at least.

Alucard didn’t want to ever tell you anything, Hell he didn’t even want to fall in love with you. But he couldn’t stop it from happening, just like he couldn’t stop from having one of his horrendous nightmares when you two were in bed together. You were more terrified than he was because of it, but you kept your cool and helped him through it. After that everything is slowly- but surely- being shared with you.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Alucard was easily angered by you at first because he didn’t give a damn about you or your feelings. But now you are what he cares about the most and that shadows his anger more often than not. He tries his best to keep his lashing out to an absolute minimum.

Which makes him accidentally take it out on you.

Alucard only does it by screaming and maybe breaking something but he never gets physical when he’s angry with you. It’s very rare that he snaps because he tends to defuse the situation or take a walk in order to calm down before he gets to the point of becoming aggressive.

But like- everyone- Alucard keeps stuff to himself and it builds up, so when an argument breaks out between you (which happens occasionally but not too often) he loses it before he even has a chance to realize it. If you shut up after he screams at you he’ll walk away and come back when he’s ready. If you don’t shut up that’s when a screaming match ensues and he breaks something, then he walks out.

He always comes back though, it might take an hour or maybe he’s gone for the rest of the night. But Alucard will always be back before day break because he can’t sleep without you and that thought is what calms him down.

The first time you two had a big fight and Alucard walked out he planned on not talking to you until the next night. He even went to another hidden cellar in the mansion that you didn’t know about because he didn’t want you around him. But when he tried to sleep it took him hours and when he finally did fall asleep he had a gruesome nightmare, it was that something terrible happened to you while he wasn’t with you.

Alucard woke up in a cold sweat then- without a moment to spare- he dashed out of his room and ran at full speed straight into your’s. He didn’t even bother knocking, he just went straight through the door. Tears were running down his face as he pulled you out of the bed and into his arms, covering your face with kisses while he told you how sorry he is. You helped him through his crying and got his mind at ease, making sure he knew that everything was going to be okay.

You two agreed to talk out the issue that caused the fight the next night and that’s exactly what you did, clearing up everything. After that you both promised never to go to bed angry at each other and that whenever you two are angry at each other you wait until you both calm down to settle the problem.

This is what keeps you both sane, well, as sane as you two can get and makes sure that the issues that cause the fights get fixed. It also keeps Alucard from having those nightmares that always makes everything a million times worse for his mental health, thus affecting the relationship as well.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Alucard has a whole library in his head of all the important things when it comes to you. But just in case he ever forgets, he writes things down in a journal he solely dedicated to information about you and the relationship.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

When you didn’t leave him after he told you he was Dracula. He expected you to leave him after only telling you a few things he’s done but you didn’t. Instead you told him that he doesn’t have to tell you all the bad things he’s done- and the war crimes he’s committed- because you love him for the person he is now.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Besides being protective of the relationship, Alucard would carry you in his pocket if he could just so he’d always be able to keep you safe. He gets nervous when he sees someone eyeing you up because he automatically assumes they have the worst of intentions.

If someone ever raises their hand to you they’re lucky if you kick their ass before Alucard gets to them, because if he does that person is getting sent out in an ambulance. And that’s only because that’s the worst that you’ll allow Alucard to do to them. If you let Alucard do what he wants to do, that person would be dead on the spot.

There isn’t really a need for you to protect him, matter of fact he doesn’t want you to attempt to protect him because he doesn’t want you to ever be in harm's way.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Your weekly dates are just small things, such as going on walks in the park, watching movies, window shopping, or eating at a diner or fast food place. It’s just easy and nearby and inexpensive. Sometimes they get a bit more fun, like going to a bar, a club, or a concert- you’ve talked him into going to a few raves and mosh pits.

But for anniversaries, a Valentine’s Day, or your birthday, calling those dates ‘extraordinary’ is an understatement. Going to the world’s most expensive restaurants, jewelry, makeup, clothes, shoes, you’ll even have a private jet flying you two wherever you want to go for a weekend trip.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Alucard’s temper and bottles up his feeling(yeah, big surprise but at least he’s trying to work on it)

He can be hot and cold (once again, not surprising)

Can be VERY nosy at times

Remember how we talked about dishes? Specifically the cups? Well, Alucard hoards cups in his office.

You always respect his office and don’t touch anything in it because that’s his own space, just like he respects your office because that’s your own space. So the ONLY time you complain is when it comes to the cups but you still don’t touch them, you just have to wait until he takes them out.

Speaking of waiting, you also have to ask him to take the trash out of his office because neither of you want bugs and/or rodents.

Which he does after the trash can is overflowing and there are almost no cups in the cabinets, which can take either a week or month to happenT_T

Also his hair is ALL OVER the bathroom. The floor, the sink, the shower, EVERYWHERE. Alucard sheds more hair than you and the dog combined and you’re surprised that he isn’t bald by now.

And this last one I will shout from the rooftops: HE! IS! A! HYPOCRITE!!!

But he’s trying to fix it.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Alucard only cared about making himself look presentable, as long as he was clean and well dressed he was fine with how he looked to everyone else.

But Alucard loathes his scars that he can’t get rid of with his entire being. He always has- even before he met you- but nobody would ever see them so he wasn’t insecure about them.

Or so Alucard thought, then you walked into his life. You’re the only one who has seen all of him and has felt most of him, now he gets so self conscious over the scars. They prove to you that at one point he was weak and couldn’t protect himself.

Alucard also hates how his hands are so rough and callous. You’re the only one who Alucard touches in an intimate manner, and he takes his gloves off in order to do so. Making him not only hate how he can’t feel your body in the same way could if his hands were normal. He also hates it because he knows that his touch is a bit harsh on your bare skin.

Alucard knows damn well that you couldn’t care less about how his hands feel and that you will never think less of him because of his scars but he still tries to “make up for it” in other ways.

Like having his hair smooth as silk, which is why his hair care products clutter the bathroom sink. Alucard tries to keep his lips from getting chapped so his kisses can be gentle and it makes up for the ruggedness of his hands. Alucard makes sure that the skin that isn’t scared is soft to the touch, to the point that it feels like velvet against your fingertips.

You’re the only person Alucard does this for but he won’t let you know that, he keeps these insecurities to himself because you promised to love him no matter what.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Yes. You walked into his life and now there is no leaving. You are his everything. You are that last piece of the puzzle and he will never be able to live without you. He makes sure to let you know that with every chance he gets.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Alucard keeps a picture of you tucked in his hat, that’s why he makes sure it gets taken off and goes somewhere out of harm's way before every fight. If there is a surprise attack the first thing he does is grab a gun with one hand and throw his hat to safety with the other.

Also I picture human Alucard having tattoos- not sure what kind yet but he has them.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Someone who’s love he has to fight for, because he won’t.

Someone who’s controlling- he already has to deal with Integra bossing him around, he won’t have a partner do it.

Do. Not. Touch. His. Desk. Don’t clean it off. Don’t rearrange anything. Don’t do ANYTHING to it. Just leave his desk alone and there won’t be an issue.

Jealousy (though he will play along if you’re faking it for foreplay)

Someone who doesn’t follow through with their word

He gets annoyed with people who never stand up for themselves and always need/want someone to do it for them.

If something bad happens and you don’t tell him, he doesn’t give a damn if you’ve already dealt with it on your own

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

Alucard has nightmares and needs you to sleep, that’s a given. But he also has to be touching you in one way or another, even if it’s just his fingertips grazing your arm. He just needs to feel that you’re there in bed with him and if you get up he automatically knows.

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