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#oh and there's fun themes with them too but i already wrote another fic about that ages ago
cuubism · 5 months
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writing a silly little fic that's just
hob: death is fucking STUPID! we should all just live forever, i hate death! unrelatedly, it was fun hooking up, random woman i met in a bar
death: :)
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imaginethathaikyuu · 9 months
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literally anything with atsumu i love him and ur writing is always up to par so. i will be happy with anything. but a cute birthday themed piece could be fun perhaps
thank u so much i wrote this specifically for u and i managed to write a weirdly formatted atsumu centered fic that barely went over 1k words. we are so back
contains: fluff, mild childhood angst, a black eye, birthday cake word count: 1163 gender neutral reader x miya atsumu :p
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October 5th, 1995 
Atsumu Miya is born. He’s gifted a bright flash of light, the sound of his own cries, and - seven minutes later - a brother. 
October 5th, 2003
There was a HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner taped to the cabinets in the kitchen. The R was ripped nearly in half, and the colors were dull. 
It was the same one as last year, and the year before that. 
Atsumu walked through the threshold with his brother right next to him. Osamu knew how to say thank you in the right way to get the best hug from their mom. 
They were presented with one singular cupcake. 
“Why can’t we ever get our own?” 
The two boys sat too close at the kitchen table, the strawberry cake sat right in front of them. 
“You have to learn how to share, Atsumu.” 
He knew how to share. There was nothing left to learn.
One candle was mashed in the frosting. Mom lit the flame and Atsumu watched wax dripping onto his half as she sang their happy birthday song, and told them to make a wish. 
Atsumu and Osamu looked at each other, then blew at the candle at the exact same time. 
The cupcake was cut in half, and Atsumu’s stomach hurt before he could finish his. Osamu took it without being asked. 
But if they had each gotten their own, Atsumu would've had more to share with his brother. 
October 5th, 2010
Atsumu was fifteen and he knew everything. He was always right - never, ever wrong, and if anyone disagreed, they’d have to take it up directly with him. 
He knew how to run his mouth. Maybe it was what he was best at. He’d never lost an argument - until his fifteenth birthday. 
He’d gotten good at taking his aggression out in healthy ways - mostly in sports. But, sometimes, the words he spit couldn’t be left on the court. 
He would say what he wanted, and he didn’t care who heard or hurt. 
He didn’t know what he had coming to him. 
The entire team had already abandoned the gym, all but Atsumu and the shitty middle blocker who played like he didn’t know his position. 
Atsumu was outside stretching when his words hit his ears. “You’re a piece of shit, Miya.” 
“Oh my god - get in line, dude, you’re about the fifth person today to let me know.” 
“That many people wanna rip your head off? I wish one of them would teach you how to shut the fuck up.” 
“And I wish someone would teach you how to block the fuckin’ ball.” 
The guy didn’t reply. He took one step in Atsumu’s direction - he remembered hearing the crunch of gravel under the guy's foot. His shoulder moved with the step, and with it, the first real punch Atsumu had ever been thrown. 
And it hit. Hard. Ten times harder than any hits from Osamu. 
The guy’s fist collided with Atsumu’s cheek and then he walked away. Atsumu didn’t even have a chance to hit back - he was frozen in place, anyway. There was no fight in him. He was too surprised. 
A black eye wasn’t on his wishlist for his birthday, but it’s what he got. A lesson learned? Not so much. 
October 5th, 2019
He was another year older - so what. 
The only part of Atsumu’s birthday that he liked was giving his brother a stupidly expensive gift, because it gave him an excuse to gloat. 
Other than that? It was a day like any other. 
Birthdays were nowhere near special to him - especially his own. But it just so happened that on that specific birthday, he had his first date with you. 
And it didn’t even come up in conversation. Neither did his twin brother, or any of his volleyball stories he’d usually tell to impress a date. 
Atsumu found out that he didn’t need to impress you, and he hardly needed to talk about himself. 
He left that date feeling like he was friends with you, and maybe that wasn’t how he should feel after a date, but he was beaming. The hours with you at that hole in the wall bar didn’t feel like enough. 
He took that feeling and ran with it, and he hoped - he prayed - you’d follow him. 
October 5th, 2022
It’d been late nights for as long as Atsumu could remember. He’d come home and you’d already be in bed - if he was lucky, you’d wake up just long enough to tell him you love him. 
That night was different from the rest. 
That night, he would be coming home to - literally - an empty home. 
Finally, you and Atsumu had moved into the house of your dreams that was yours. But, for the time being, you were living out of boxes and waiting for furniture deliveries. 
He opened the door to a dark living room and an even darker hallway, and he didn’t bother turning any on lights to get to the kitchen. 
There was a shred of light there, coming from an old bulb above the stove. He looked around the empty room and what he found was out of place. 
There you were, sat on the floor. A chair was next to you, funnily enough, but it was taken by a round white cake. A handful of candles were stuck into the top. 
“What are you doing?” he asked, the same time you spoke. 
“There’s my birthday boy,” and your voice was all sleepy smiles. “Happy birthday. Happy anniversary.” 
He sat in front of you, right on the floor, not caring when his knees popped on the way down. 
“Did you stay up just to tell me that?” 
“What’s wrong with that?” 
You picked up the cake and presented it to him like you were proud of it, and the size of his grin matched yours. 
“How mad would you be if I just tipped this up,” and he tapped the bottom of the plate, “right into your face?” 
“Atsumu.” Every time you said his name like that, he laughed. “I would kill you.”
“On my birthday?” 
He watched you pout as you sat the cake down again. “Aren’t you going to say thank you?” 
“Thank you,” he said, like he was insisting. He wrapped his hands around your legs and scooted you closer to him. “Thank you, baby, this is so nice.” 
You hummed. “You’re welcome.” And you dipped your finger in the frosting on the cake, and Atsumu immediately caught your wrist when you moved it toward his face. 
“Don’t you dare.” 
You kept pushing, and he didn’t push back fast enough - your finger and the glob of frosting smushed right into his cheek. 
And you laughed loud enough to fill the empty rooms of your house, and Atsumu didn’t know how to tell you how in love he was. 
He had birthday cake for dinner that night, and it settled into a sugary stomach ache. It was the best October 5th he'd lived through so far.
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got a request for a drabble? send it in, i might write it :)  
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ghouligancentral · 2 years
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Blue Light
Part 2 to "Come into the Water"
Aether x Reader X Rain
Summary- The reader has some fun with Aether and Rain in the shower
AFAB reader- no pronouns
Read pt. 1 here
Hello Ghouligans-
You all asked for it so here it is! Part 2 to "Come into the Water". This is pure 100% smut, no plot. I kept up with the theme of using song titles from Mitski's Be the Cowboy album and I think I'm going to make it a small collection of works. I've got another idea bouncing around in the back of my brain for a Mountain fic so let me know if you'd be interested. Also likes, reblogs and comments are always appreciated. TBH the only reason I wrote a part two was because a couple people commented they wanted one. As always feel free to give me any Fic ideas. Pleases Enjoy
Warnings: 100% pure smut, shower sex, oral sex (m and f)
“Come on,” Aether growls as he and Rain basically drag you behind them. He throws the door to the ghoul dens open and pulls you through the main room. A shiver runs down your spine and you are not sure if it is the chilly air of the dens or arousal to blame for this. 
“Hi guys,” Cumulus chirps out to you as you pass through. 
“Oh hi Cumul—“ 
“Can’t talk right now. Busy,” Aether huffs as he continues moving. What has gotten into this ghoul? 
Aether shoves both you and Rain through the door to the showers before locking it behind him. Rain pads on over to the shower faucets and turns them on. You had never been in the ghoul showers before now, you had never really had a reason to be there. You look around the slate covered room to find two shower heads on the back wall. The room is large enough to fit at least 4 grown adults comfortably. Fluffy grey towels lay folded on a tile bench which sits under a small window over to the left of the room. A pane of ocean blue stained glass sits perched in the window, the sunlight shining through casts an indigo hue into the space. It is  much too high for anyone to see into shower. 
Aether’s growl from behind you captures your attention. You quickly turn to see that the noise is not directed at you but at Rain. Rain returns the growl with one of his own. You shuffle over to the side as you watch the two ghouls move towards each other, meeting in the middle of the room. 
There is fire behind their eyes as they stare each other down, you hardly dare to let out a breath for fear of setting one of them off. The rumbling growls continue as Rain curls his lip up so that his fangs can be seen. Aether does the same, adding a little snarl at the end. After what feels like hours, but is only a minute. Rain lowers his eyes and backs down. 
“What was that?” You question as you watch the two ghouls return to normal. Both ghouls turn to look at you before Aether offers an explanation. 
“Oh sorry about that love. It’s just something us ghouls do. It’s a dominance thing,” Aether explains as Rain moves closer to you, circling around you like a predictor circles its prey. 
“Yeah, Aether’s in charge,” Rain announces as he stops circling you.  
“I only let him win because he got to you first. Just wait until I get you alone,” Rain whispers in your ear as he presses himself up against your back. You don’t know if it is his words or the feeling of his clothed bulge rubbing against your thigh that causes arousal to form in the pit of your stomach. Rain’s hands wander over your body before tugging at the hem of your shirt, signalling that he wants you to take it off. 
He lets go of you so that you can strip the fabric off of yourself. While you do this Rain takes the initiative to remove his boxers. But before Rain can pull you back next to him Aether speaks. You both look over to see Aether has already stripped down to nothing. 
“Rain, like you said, I’m in charge. Now get over here and rinse yourself off. You smell like pond water,” Aether grunts. Rain lets out a disappointed huff in response. 
“Well so do you,” Rain mumbles under his breath as he walks around you to position himself under the shower head. 
“Now where were we?” Aether muses, beckoning you to move closer to him. You shuffle over to him feeling slightly embarrassed due to your half naked state. 
“Don’t be shy, love,” Aether purrs as he latches two fingers onto the sides of your shorts and underwear before pulling them down. Aether helps you step out of the fabric before he tosses them to the side. He pulls you over to the second shower head. You close your eyes and let out a soft moan as your muscles relax at the feeling of the warm water flowing over your skin. Aether positions you so that you are facing Rain before he lathers up some soap in his hands and begins to work it into your hair. His touch causes your eyes to close as you sink deeper into the feeling. 
Rain groans as the sight of your bare body in front of him. All he wants to do is reach out and touch you, you’re so close, only a foot or two away. By this time he has already begun to rub his cock as he watches Aether move his hands from your hair down to your back. Aether massages the bubbles all over your back before reaching around you to do the same to your chest. 
You gasp as the ghoul’s thumb swipes over your erect nipple. Aether lets out a pleased purr as he continues to knead your breasts. Your head leans back to rest on his chest. 
“You like watching this Rain?,” Aether questions with a smirk, watching the other ghoul thrust into his own hand. Rain just lets out a pitiful whine in response. You open your eyes to look at Rain after hearing Aether’s question. You had almost forgotten the water ghoul was in the room. 
You feel yourself grow even wetter at the sight of Rain fisting his cock in front of you. His head is thrown back in pleasure and his eyes are squeezed shut, blocking the water from rolling into them. You allow yourself to get a better look at ghoul. His body is leaner than Aether’s, but no less beautiful. While Aether has a fair amount of soft hair peppering his chest, Rain’s is almost bare. However there is a trail of light hair on his stomach leading down to his… oh. You feel your eyes go wide as you see what the water ghoul is packing. Rain is thinner than Aether but he is longer. Are all the ghouls this well endowed? But you will have to think about that some other time because Aether pulls you back to reality when you rub his erection against your thigh. 
“You also like this I see,” Aether chuckles as he watches you blush at being caught staring. You feel one of his hands snake down your body before settling itself on your ass. A trail of bubbles follows as he moves it in between your cheeks. 
“Anyone ever touched you here,” Aether asks as one of his fingers brush up against your rear hole. You shudder at the feeling before answering him. 
“No,” you whimper as you feel his other hand move around to your front. 
“Well,” he smiles,” we might just have to do something about that then. But first, let’s give Rainy some attention.”
At the sound of his name, Rain opens his eyes and stares eagerly at the two of you. He stops thrusting into his fist in the hope that he will get something much better.  You felt your confidence return at the sight of his eagerness. 
“Why don’t you go show Rain some love while I get cleaned up?” Aether suggests before placing a gentle kiss on your neck. You nod as you make your way to Rain. 
“Hello,” Rain blushes as he gives you a little smile before bringing one of his hands up to cup your cheek. 
“Hi,” you whisper back as you reach up to place your hand over his. You have always liked being around Rain. Sure he was often quiet but that never really bothered you. You found yourself seeking him out when you wanted company but didn’t feel like having a full conversation. 
“What do you want me to do to you Rain?” You question as you slowly run your hand over his side, causing Rain to shudder and his breath to quicken in anticipation. 
“Will you.. Will you… uhm”
“Tell me what you want Rain,” you encourage as you give his neck a little bite. Rain groans as he feels your teeth sink into his skin. In all his years on Earth, Rain had never had a human bite him. Sure the other ghouls did it often, a little too often if you ask him. But this was different,  your teeth are less sharp.  The dullness of them actually causes a greater sensation but with less harm. 
“Will you suck my cock? Please?” 
You hear Aether groan behind you at the request. 
“Of course I will, baby,” you coo as you place a gentle kiss on his cheek, causing the water ghoul to blush even harder. The grout from in between the stones bites into your skin when you lower your knees onto it  but at this moment you couldn’t care less, all you wanted to do was make the ghoul in front of you moan your name. Rain positions his cock at your lips as you go to open your mouth. Running your tongue up the side of him, causes the water ghoul to let out a breathy moan. You feel encouraged by the sound and decide to go back in, giving his slit a tiny lick. Rain groans when you seal your lips around the head and has to close his eyes when he feels you swirl your tongue around him. Rain tangles one of his hands into hair as you begin to bob your head up and down on his dick. It is a struggle for him to keep from fucking your face, but he remains stoic until he opens his eyes to look down at you. After this, all his control is lost. He feels the first signs of his orgasm and, out of eagerness, shoves his cock deeper into your mouth, hitting the back of your throat. You choke and pull off of him quickly, coughing and sputtering. 
“Satanas Rain! Take it easy,” Aether berates as he moves to check on you. 
“Sorry, Sorry,” Rain apologises as he watches Aether kneel down next to you. 
“Are you okay?” Aether asks, wrapping one arm around your shoulders. You let out one last cough before answering him. 
“Yes I’m fine. It’s just… Rain was just a little too excited. I’m ready to try again,” you laugh a little. A smile forms on Aether’s face as he stands up. 
“I’m sorry” Rain sputters again, looking rather sheepish. 
“You don’t have to keep apologizing Rain,” you smile up at him. 
“Okay Sorry,” Rain mumbles again. 
“Stop saying sorry Rain,” Aether says as he leans over and turns both showers off. 
“Alright. Let’s get a bit more comfortable for this,” Aether says before Rain offers you a hand to help you stand. Rain leans in to place a gentle kiss on your lips.The two ghouls lead you over to the bench. Rain reaches the bench first and places a towel down on the ground. 
“Here. This will help your knees,” Rain explains when you reach him.
“Thanks,” you chirp as you lower yourself to the ground. 
“Hold on there, love,” Aether stops you mid-kneel and motions for you to stand back up, “ Rain, instead of saying you’re sorry why don’t you show how sorry you really are.”
A wicked grin spreads over Rain’s face as he realises what Aether is suggesting. 
“With pleasure,” Rain purrs.  As he goes to lay down on the towel, Rain grabs a second one from the bench and places it under his head. He lays there on his back looking up at the two of you. 
“I’m ready,” Rain chirps happily as folds his hands over his stomach. 
“Alright, you heard the man,” Aether comments as he picks you up. You give a little squeak of surprise as you feel yourself being lifted into the air. You knew Aether was strong but still you didn’t expect him to be able to throw you around like a rag doll. Out of instinct, your legs wrap around Aether’s waist. Aether moves his hands down so that he is supporting you by holding your ass before leaning in to mash his lips against yours as he walks over to where he wants you. You feel his fangs prick your lips slightly as he pulls away. You give a little whine of protest, not wanting the kiss to be over. 
“Don’t worry, love. I’ve got you,” Aether says with a toothy grin,” you’re going to sit on Rain’s face so that he can show you how sorry he really is.”
You feel yourself clench around nothing at the thought of Rain’s tongue inside you. 
“But what about you?” you ask Aether, looking up at him with those doe eyes he loves so much. 
“You’re going to suck me off while he takes care of you,” Aether smirks as he sets you back down on the ground so that you are straddling Rain’s face. You feel one of Rain’s hands run up and down your calf as you stand there and you look down at him. Rain has the perfect view of your core and feels his cock give a little twitch in anticipation. 
“You ready?” you question. 
“I was ready about 20 minutes ago. Now get down here,” Rain exclaims, he is obviously more than eager to get a taste of you. Slowly, you lower down so that your cunt is  just barely hovering over his face. 
“Sit down,” Rain growls as he reaches up, wrapping his arms around your thighs before pulling you down so that you are fully sitting on him. You gasp when you feel his tongue run up your slit as he begins to move his tongue in and out of you. Aether steps up so that his erection is directly in front of you. Yep still huge, you think to yourself before leaning forward to lick the thick vein running up the side of his cock. Aether lets out a moan of your name at the feeling of your tongue on his skin. His hands snake onto your head, but instead of gripping your skull, Aether just grabs onto your hair. 
You lean back and take a couple of deep breaths before you attempt to fit him in your mouth. Rain’s tongue makes its way to your clit in the meantime. 
“Oh fuck,” you whimper as you feel him gently suck on the sensitive bud. Keep this up and you’ll cum soon, but for now you just want to focus on Aether. 
“Don’t hurt yourself,” Aether mumbles as he holds his hard cock up to your mouth. You are only able to get about 3/4th of it in your mouth and decide to just use your hand on what's left. You hear Aether let out a low groan as you begin to bob your head. You take the hand that is not gripping Rain’s hair and bring it up so that you can fondle his balls a little. 
“Shit,” Aether whispers when he feels himself getting closer to an orgasm. You moan around Aether as Rain laps at your slit. Aether twitches a little in your mouth and you double down on your efforts. 
“Where?” Aether pants as he pulls you off of his cock. He watches as a string of spit falls from your mouth.
“In my mouth. I want to taste you,” you grin while licking your lips. Aether groans and places you back on him. In a matter of seconds, you feel his warm cum hit your tongue. A series of ‘fucks’ escape his lips as he gently rocks his hips into you. Once he is done, he pulls you off of him once more. 
“You’re something else,” Aether pants before leaning over to get a towel to wipe the drool off your chin. 
“I hope that’s a compliment,” you tease as you give him a wink. 
“Oh it is”
Aether kneels down in front of you and dabs your face with the towel. At that moment, Rain gives you one particularly good lick causing you to cry out. Aether steadys you before he moves a hand down to your clit to gently rub circles on it. 
“Cum for us,” Aether purrs, kissing your jaw. The combined feeling of Rain’s tongue and Aether’s fingers send you over the edge and they have you cumming in no time. Your legs shake around Rain’s head as he eagerly continues lapping at your core. The hand on his head tugs at his hair causing him to groan into you. The pleasure starts to become painful with oversensitivity creeping in and you hiss a little in response. Aether must see you wince because he then tells the water ghoul. 
“Easy there Rain,” Aether utters as he cups your face in his hands before giving you another kiss. Rain gets the message, however what he does next is unexpected. You jolt in surprise when you feel Rain’s tongue on your other hole. Aether knows Rain well enough to know what he must be doing to you. 
“That okay?” Aether asks as he lets go of your face. You give him a tiny nod before you speak. 
“Yeah. It feels good, just a little different,” you explain as you watch Aether stand up and move behind you. Rain pokes his tongue inside of your hole and begins to fuck you with it like he had done early with your cunt. However a concern pops into your brain as you realise just how long you have been sitting on Rain’s face.
“Doesn’t Rain need to breath?” You question Aether. Aether just chuckles a little at the question.  
“He’s a water ghoul. Like he told you earlier, he can hold his breath for up to 30 minutes,” Aether explains with a grin. Rain just gives you a thumbs up as he continues rimming you.
“Oh,” you sigh before you really start to enjoy the feeling. 
You allow your hips to roll a little as you feel the pleasure start to build once more. All of a sudden Rain gasps and loses the rhythm he had set. You look over your shoulder to see why. Aether is slowly pumping Rain’s neglected cock with his fist. Rain just moans into you as he starts working you open with his tongue. Aether continues to jack Rain off for a couple more moments before you decide you want in on it too. Rain makes a confused noise as you get up off of his face. 
You just turn around and sit back down before leaning down beside Aether. You give Rain’s cock a lick as Aether continues his hand motion. Rain cries out before he resumes licking you. Once you start sucking the tip of his cock, Rain knows he won’t last much longer. Rain makes his best effort to continue tasting you as he feels your mouth on him. Rain lets out a little whimper as a warning that he is about to cum. You take your mouth off of him and watch as Aether swipes his thumb over the slit. Rain cums with a groan. Thick ropes of white splash onto his stomach with some of it hitting your neck and chest. 
You roll off of Rain to allow him to catch his breath. While Rain just lays there, you look back to Aether, who is now fully hard once more. They just don’t stop. 
“You up for more?” Aether asks with a grin. The ghouls will be the death of you but how could you say no to that sweet face. 
“Yep. How do you want to do this?” 
Aether looks around for a moment while deciding on the best position. Aether’s eyes settle on the bench and he goes to sit down. He leans his back against the wall before calling you over. 
“Will this work for you, love?” Aether asks, motioning to his lap. The arousal in your core is building back up at the thought of having the large quintessence ghoul inside you once more. You step over Rain, who is still sprawled out on the floor, and sit down in Aether’s lap. His hands help steady you as you get comfortable. 
“How are you doing down there Rain?” 
Rain only replies with a pleased hum and a thumbs up as he remains on the floor. 
“Ready?” Aether asks as he positions himself at your entrance. 
“As I’ll ever be,” you smile back, bracing yourself for the stretch. Even after taking him no less than three hours ago, there is still a little pain as he enters you. You scrunch your eyes closed and bite your lip in an attempt to hide a whimper. 
“I can stop,” Aether offers when he sees your discomfort. 
“No! No, I just need a minute,” You pant as you reposition yourself so that your knees are placed to either side of his legs. Now that you are in a better position, you can control the pace. You begin to sink down on his length once more. Aether groans as he buries his face in the crook of your neck. Once he bottoms out, the two of you take a moment to gather yourselves. Aether wraps one arm behind your back and places his other hand on your waist. You wrap both of your arms behind his head as you begin to bounce up and down in his lap. The sounds coming from you are obscene. The gasps and groans mingle with the sound of his thighs hitting yours. 
Rain, who doesn’t have the energy to lift his head up yet, feels his cock beginning to re-harden at the sounds. Aether grabs onto your waist with both hands and he helps you ride him. The feeling is unbelievable. You can feel pleasure radiating throughout your entire body with each upward thrust. He matches your pace by thrusting up into you. Aether can feel your slick leaking out onto his lap and thighs. Oh what he would give to be able to see it. Aether might not be able to see it, but Rain does. The sight has him fully hard and ready to go. 
You can feel the heat building once again in your core. Aether snakes a hand down and begins to rub your clit as he feels his own orgasm approaching. 
“Cum with me,” the ghoul growls in your ear as his pace becomes more erratic. He gives your neck a small bite as you cry out from the feeling of your orgasm. The feeling washes over you in wave after wave of pure ecstasy. By this point your legs have given out from exhaustion. Aether has you clutched tightly against his chest while he pounds up into your tight heat in search of his own release. Even with your head cloudy from your orgasm, you still manage to clench a little around Aether to help him reach his own peak. 
Aether cums with a roar and you feel ropes of thick cum spill inside you. It takes a couple of moments before you both are able to regain your bearings. You turn your head to see a rather hungry looking water ghoul staring at you. 
“My turn,” Rain growls as he pulls you from Aether. It seems like Rain is just as strong as the quintessence ghoul. Rain pulls just your lower half towards him so that your upper body remains in Aether’s lap. The slate flooring is cold against your knees as brace yourself by gripping onto each of Aether’s thighs. Rain slams into you and starts at a punishing pace. Between the slick of your cum and Aether’s, Rain meets no resistance sliding in. You mewl out at the feeling of him reaching so deep inside you. 
Aether supports your upper half and praises you as the water ghoul frantically searches for release inside you. You know you are drooling on Aether’s thigh but at this moment you don’t have the energy to care or do anything about it. 
Rain grunts behind you as he continues to rail into your body. 
“Shit you still so fucking tight. Even after Aether has fucked you twice,” Rain hisses as his thrusts become more erratic. He is already so worked up he knows he won’t end up lasting long. 
Before you realise what you are doing, you sink your teeth into the meat of Aether’s thigh. A growl leaves the ghoul above you. Now you’ve done it. This is a ghoul not a person. What are you thinking! You cautiously look up at Aether only to find him staring down at you. 
“Do it again”
Did he just say what you think he said? You make sure before proceeding. 
“Huh?” 
“Do it again,” Aether repeats, “ bite me.” 
You complete the action once more before your hear Aether let out a pleased grumble. 
“Oh fuck, fuck fuck!” 
You hear the water ghoul behind you pant out. Rain pulls out and you feel hot cum land on your lower back and ass. Rain continues with groans and grunts until his orgasm is over. 
“Wow!” Rain pants as he lays back down on the stone floor of the shower. 
“Yeah wow,” you echo as you slowly sink to the floor with Aether’s help. You lean back against the bench as you finally feel your heart rate beginning to return to normal once more. 
“You want me to make you cum again?” Rain asks as he raises his head off the floor to look at you. 
“Thanks for the offer but I think I’d have a heart attack if you tried,” you chuckle as you smile at the water ghoul as Aether begins idley playing with your hair. 
“You didn’t strike me as someone who likes to be bitten,” you comment as you close your eyes,enjoying the feeling of Aether’s hand in your hair. 
“That’s because he usually doesn’t normally,” Rain pipes up and you give him a questioning glance in response. Rain gives a soft chuckle before continuing. 
“You know that nick in Dew’s ear?” Rain asks and you nod in response. You had once asked him how he got it and he told you that he’d gotten it from fighting with hell hounds. At the time you believed him. 
“Well he once tried to take a chunk out of Aether’s arm and Aether gave him that as a reminder to not try that again,” Rain smiles as he says it. You glance up to find a rather sheepish looking Aether. 
“I’m not proud of that,” Aether admits as he rubs the back of his neck. 
“So why did you like it when I bit you?” You question. 
“Oh that’s an easy one. I liked it because your teeth don’t cause that much damage. It’s like all the sensation without the stitches,” Aether smiles as you rest your head against his leg. You give him a smile back before looking down at yourself. You're covered in sweat, cum and spit. 
“I guess we will have to take another shower,” You chirp as the three of you take a look at each other. 
“ I guess we will,” Rain responds with a smile. 
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Something I'm curious about today: what were the proportions like in answers to the "do you relate to Theon" question? This doesn't have to be a long articulate answer with comparisons if you don't want to, I would love even to just know how many people answered yes or no, I'm very interested in how that plays out with liking and relating being basically thought of as sinonims in fandom these days
Ah! Just checked because in all honesty, I don't think I paid a lot of attention to the fractions on that question.
Problem here is that since this wasn't a question with options, but instead one where everyone wrote what they felt, some of the answers were less clear. Ex. some people said that they don't relate to Theon specifically, but to some of the themes/situations he goes through.
The rough statistic:
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There wasn't much to be remarked upon, not many surprising things; out of the third culture kids everyone related to him (and so did the other types of immigrants who answered the survey), the fraction between most-liked hips and feelings of kinship were proportionate and didn't show any preferences, and out of those who would be content with endgames that allow him to stay in the North many of the votes came from those who didn't relate to him.
Still! I found it interesting how there was a small fraction of voters (from both sides) that admitted they not only related to him, but also self-inserted (is that the correct tense???) to whoever they shipped him with. This happened nine times (that I could count, but perhaps I slipped or misunderstood something); four theonsas, three Greysnows, one throbb, and another special case in which the person chose throbb as their preferred ship but explained in length how they also ship theonsa and self insert on Sansa.
I like Theon and Robb best overall, but Sansa is my fave both for self insert reasons and general thematic interest, so I love theonbaby girl. sa too (in a doomed fairytale way). In Throbb I like darker fics, hurt comfort, betrayal etc, usually interspersed with flashbacks to when they were happy and in love. Plausible deniability level Canon compliance is important to me. I like fics where Robb is already dead. If they're happy, I want it to be pre-ACOK, I'm not too into fix it first for them. I'm happy for them to be each other's first and only, or in a secretive open relationship, or just mutual pining, I can run the gamut. Theon and Sansa for me is much more about AUs, Canon divergence, and fix it fics. I'd rather they be happy. Sansa is never also a victim of Ramsay for me, no show compliance ever, she has her own shit with Joffrey and Littlefinger and Co. I like expanding on the idea that Theon had thought Ned might marry him to Sansa one day. I like badboy, player, misogynist theon because I see myself in Sansa and I like to play with modern AUs where she thinks that's the kind of man she likes, and they both become better people organically before really getting together. I also like AUs where theon is still a bad boy player but he was never that bad/has a heart of gold or whatever, because that's just fun/fluffy. OH I also like fics where theon is bi for Robb and Sansa! Robb can die and then theon can fall for Sansa.
Weirdly enough this only applied to ships.
Also on a more personal note, not gonna lie, the four/five theonsas who identify with/self-insert/kin Sansa were really fascinating to me because of
the hateful argument used against Sansan, Sanrion, Sansa/[insert older man] shippers regarding them not really loving Sansa and just self-inserting on her.
the memories of how the "You are just self-inserting" argument was also sometimes used against theyne shippers but out of the theynes who responded here no one seemed to identify with Jeyne. Anyway, mildly curious things to think about.
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Fic Highlight: Second Person POV
I’m trying to be more proud of my own writing and to compliment it more, so I figured I’d maybe do a series of “fic highlights” where I share some of my fics and give my thoughts on it and say what I like about it! (And maybe sometimes what I would change if I did it again, but still in a positive way)
For our first installment, that will be second person! While most of my fics are in third person, second person is also a big love of mine. It feels incredibly natural to write in it for me, maybe even more so than third person. So here we go, in chronological order of when I wrote it!
E is for Edith
Written for SSOtober 2022 (day 9: wanderer), this is my first 2th person fic I’ve ever posted! I still love this one although I understand why it’s never been the most popular of mine. Edith Octavia Hartwood is a niche character we do not know much about. I had fun inventing part of her at least!
I like my use of words here. It is mainly prose, but it has a hint of purple prose there without being too overwhelming. And I do not say that as a negative; I love purple prose when used in moderation! I think I really created an atmosphere and emotion moreso than I created a character, and I’m super happy with how it eventually turned out!
Carve thy name on a moss covered stone
Ah. The most popular of the sso fics that I’ve written in 2th person, and I can understand why.
It’s short, which is why it might be a surprise to some that this one actually took quite a while to write. I wanted to balance the words just right, and in some ways I succeeded, though it’s not perfect - but well it never turns out exactly like it is in your head does it? And that’s ok, I’m still happy with what it became.
I like the structure I used here, with the seasons. I also like my theming and symbolism with the roses here, though rereading it it was maybe less subtle than I thought. Oh well!
The eternal dark without a dawn
Oh boy here we go. That’s quite a jump, huh? While perhaps similar in subject to Carve thy name, I used the 2th person differently here.
The way I used it here was more experimental, as a way to show some shared experiences and actions to then verge off into a few different perspectives in the same moment.
I think that, as soon as I realized what I wanted to do for this, there was no other option than to write it this way. Sure, I considered writing from one of them - but no. No. It always had to be all four. I’m very happy with how taking this risk turned out.
Through the looking glass
I don’t think I have much more to say on this than I’ve already said about it.
This is another one that might look deceptively short and quick to write; but the careful balance needed for mystery - not too much information but enough to at least know what’s going on - was something I had to really experiment with while writing. This was 2th person, after all - if it was 3th person, I could give more information without the character knowing, but here I couldn’t. I think I managed to find that balance though, and I’m really happy with it!
And that marks the end of my first fic highlights! :D
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thetragicallynerdy · 2 years
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emoji ask! always excited to get to know some stuff!
(I saw ye already got the sparkle emoji, but I'm kinda tempted to use it again because yer writing is just so fucking great!)
Here are my emojis/questions:
💞 Who's your comfort character? (the comfort character I got from yer fics is Mr. Sharpe btw)
🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them. (Clayton Sharpe)
💖 What made you start writing?
Thank ye for yer time! Have a nice evening (it's 10pm where I live, so mibbe have a nice day, lol)
Heck yeah!!! I love rambling about myself so I'm always happy for more asks XD (Also you are too kind, thank you!!)
(emoji fanfic writer asks are here for anyone curious!)
💞 (revolving hearts emoji) Who's your comfort character? (the comfort character I got from yer fics is Mr. Sharpe btw)
Okay we definitely share a comfort character!! For Undeadwood, Clayton is my comfort character for sure. I adore him with my whole heart, and he's the first character I've loved enough to go "okay, I have to write fanfiction about you"!! (Also right time right place, etc etc) He's just so good, and such an interesting character.
Some other comfort characters include - Jim from OFMD (they've kind of stolen my brain for the last few months, I've definitely latched onto them just as hard as I latched onto Clayton lol), and Arthur from Inception, who I love with my whole heart. Also Gideon from Gideon The Ninth, but I never really got into Locked Tomb fanfic. (Realizing that I have a type with favourite characters jsksks)
🧠 (brain emoji) Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them. (Clayton Sharpe)
Ooooh yes yes yes. I have SO many headcanons for our boy hahaha!!
Okay, so, my big one for Clayton is that his father was a preacher, and that his father was abusive. Something about the way he responds to religion really resonates with me as someone who lost their religion, and I just love the layers and complications of losing religion as someone who grew up so inundated with it. (My dad's a pastor [but a really good dad, worth saying], and I'm ex-religious, so it was fun themes to explore for many reasons.) And Clayton with some trauma just Fits Well, imo. I've got Lots Of Ideas about his backstory, some of which change story to story, but that his dad is an asshole and a preacher tends to be one that sticks throughout most of them!
My other headcanon, or rather the one that I latched onto, is that Clayton is trans. He's not trans in every fic I write - but I really love trans Clayton for many reasons. And trans Clayton prompted some gender exploration for me! So that's fun!!
💖 (sparkle heart emoji) What made you start writing?
Oh boy this answer got long haha. A few things! One, I fell so deeply in love with UnDeadwood right away, and really wanted a way to engage with the fandom - historically, I have been a huge fandom lurker (reading, watching, but not really engaging) - that sort of changed with CR, I started drawing some fanart etc, and then with UnDeadwood I fell deeply into a rabbit hole in a way that I haven't with another fandom in a long time.
The other part was that it's such a small fandom, and I really wanted more of a very specific type of content. I read all the fanfic, and just - wanted more. And I wanted more Clayton-focused whump, and decided to just go for it and try and write the thing myself. And it turned out alright! (I definitely notice a lot of improvements in my writing from my first fic - In Which Mister Sharpe - but I am also so immensely proud of it because the first fic I wrote ended up being an 80K fic that i still really adore.)
And then I kept writing because I joined the UnDeadwood discord server, and met a ton of people who were happy to give me prompts and run with ideas and just totally fed into the writing habit I fell into!! (Also, for the record, if you're on discord and are interested in joining the UDW server let me know!! It's pretty quiet these days but it's a lovely little discord)
The third piece was that I was still relatively early on in recovering from a brain injury at that point, and really, desperately needed a hobby that I could do from my couch XD Something about writing was much easier on my brain than reading, so it became a really big part of how I spent/spend my time!!
(Also not what you asked, but I legitimately credit starting writing fanfiction as a big part of why I can use a computer so much with a brain injury - it became a big part of my rehab, so to speak, and helped hugely with language and words and screen use and all that jazz. I used to write on my phone because my laptop screen was too much for my eyes but now I can use a laptop so much and it's great!!)
This got long and rambly, but thank you so much for the asks!!! And I hope you have a lovely remainder of your evening too <3 (It's just hitting dinnertime where I am, so I've got the whole evening ahead of me!)
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flowers-of-io · 2 years
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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗
Tagged by the lovely @eri-223​. I decided to only include finished fics here because while I *am* screaming incoherently about Book in every waking hour, it’s hard to compare things that are their own complete entities to stories yet unfinished.
nothing’s fair in love and war - Oryx & Savathûn. One of my most recent children, born from that one Wellspring quote and figured out over the sandwich table. It has all the good stuff--Books of Sorrow, sibling swordfight, the inevitability of fate, and even a theme song that I’m still unwell about the lyrics of! It was such a pained delight to write, because prior to WQ we hadn’t really hadmuch insight on Savathun’s relationship with her brother, then we suddenly got the statue, the Temple, and of course the quote I could not shake for days upon hearing. By far my favourite thing in this fic is the affectionate holding your sibling at knifepoint and laughing, that viscerality of steel on skin, that plainless of love at the edge of a blade.
Visions of Confluence - first VoG fireteam. This was a very fun exercise written for last summer’s Project Exodus challenge. I liked playing with the repetitions and switching details, going for that eerie feel of ‘it’s almost the same but slightly off kilter, there’s another set of footsteps next to mine but I remember only coming here alone’, glass refracting time like beams of light. Plus, Alemyr!
Blood - Asher & Eris. A Destcember prompt I really went to town with. It’s soft, it’s bittersweet, it’s fragments strewn across time with a quote from Landscape slapped onto the label, it’s found family in the literal sense.
Cats and Dogs - Drifter & Eris. Oh, this was my folly born from the idea of “could there technically be Hive who escaped the fate of having a worm put inside them?” and instead of writing some serious speculative fiction I wrote... this. Again, all the good stuff--humour! bickering coworkers! cute small creatures! yellow Hive goo! This is one of my very few bright & happy fics, and even here I managed to slip a bit of Eris’ PTSD.
Blooming gardens - Another Destcember prompt that’s so niche and weird probably like five people have ever read it, and it holds a special place in my heart because here I went so off the hook with my Afterlife In Destiny, Actually theory (plus: first recorded mention of the Song of Life in my fic!). I’m thinking about revamping it, maybe changing the pov to 2nd person, now that I’ve been playing around with more Traveler/Gardener stuff. Though it was really hard to pick a favourite out of that year’s prompt set (Heresy and Roses & Thorns are so very dear to me too), this one is definitely the most special.
Tagging @xazz, @shadowtriad, @euxiom, @wonderwafles, @a-driftamongopenstars and @allteacher! If you’ve already done it and I’m double-tagging you I’m sorry lol.
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Post-canon F/P for the playlist ask please (possibly around Philippa and Joleta’s girls night out?)
So! I already did a mini-playlist for the girls' night out fic(s) (link1, link2), and didn't want to let an F/P playlist get taken over by the kind of stuff Joleta might sing karaoke to (which is actually very valid and good music, just not very F/P! If anyone wants that playlist too, just drop me an ask...)
And then, that decided, the first draft of the playlist trashed, I just spent an age trying to work out what actual romantic music there was from the '80s/early '90s. Of course, one track remained through all my editing, and that was a Kate Bush one. Finally, I am pleased with what has come together though.
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tant que je vive
a band AU playlist for Francis and Philippa facing the open sea 💙🌊
1) Bert Jansch - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 2) R.E.M. - Strange Currencies 3) Cyndi Lauper - I Drove All Night 4) Cock Robin - The Promise You Made 5) Richard Thompson - King of Bohemia 6) 10,000 Maniacs - Trouble Me 7) R.E.M. - Perfect Circle 8) Kate Bush - The Sensual World 9) Anne Briggs - Willie O'Winsbury 10) Peter et Sloane - C'est la vie d'château avec toi 11) Maurice Jarre - Lara's Theme 12) Björk - Venus As A Boy 13) Nick Drake - Northern Sky 14) Nic Jones - Master Kilby 15) The Cure - Close To Me 16) Black - Wonderful Life 17) ABBA - Waterloo
As before, fcs are Johnny Flynn and Lucy Farrell. Discussion under the cut.
*Deep breath* No pressure, says Dorothy. It's just that Francis and Philippa are SO IN LOVE, so PERFECT for one another, so ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH that how could anyone else possibly understand (Jo this isn't about your Jerott issues shut up). She'd die for him. He'd die without her. They're going to be *SO HAPPY* when they're together but they did their best to make it deeply angsty beforehand. So what the hell do you put on their playist?! I had a few modern songs for them, but I'm enjoying keeping these a bit more period appropriate, so had to have a go. Some tracks are here for the lyrics, some are here for the vibes. I think it's mostly a fun playlist and not too angsty, but. I'm not sure what you need to ask for to unlock the Cheesiest Timeline of this AU yet, so just keep sending requests until we get there, I guess?
1) because the modern Offa Rex version is one of my ultimate Songs For Them. I couldn't find a period version with lyrics that I liked as much, but Bert Jansch is a Scottish folk guitar legend and this is a lovely instrumental version. 2) AU Francis/Philippa vibes are a bit...what if Michael Stipe's stage persona and Natalie Merchant were stayed together and wrote beautiful, impenetrable, complicated pop/rock/folk/grunge hits together? 3) I don't think I need to explain this one. It's a great big romantic I'd-do-anything song. 4) *smugly places a song about promises on an F/P fic*  oh no wait now pain. Because you lot get to suffer too, here are ALL the lyrics to a song Spotify randomly recommended for this playlist that is more F/P than anything I could have come up with myself: If I laid down my love To come to your defense Would you worry for me With a pain in your chest? Could I rely on your faith to be strong To pick me back up and to push me along? Tell me
You'll be there in my hour of need You won't turn me away Help me out of the life I lead Remember the promise you made Remember the promise you made If I gave you my soul For a piece of your mind Would you carry me with you To the far edge of time? Could you understand if you found me untrue Would we become one, or divided in two Please tell me
You'll be there in my hour of need You won't turn me away Help me out of the life I lead Remember the promise you made Remember the promise you made
Could I rely on your faith to be strong To pick me back up and to push me along? Please tell me
You'll be there in my hour of need You won't turn me away Help me out of the life I lead Remember the promise you made Remember the promise you made Remember the promise you made Remember the promise you made 5) This has also been a longstanding F/P song of mine, and I figured 1994 was just about early enough for it to be period-appropriate in a post-canon playlist. 6) Again with the Natalie Merchant. She may be more of a Kate fc, but this song is pure F/P: Have a look inside these eyes while I'm learning Please don't hide them just because of tears Let me Send you off to sleep with a "There, there, now stop your turning and tossing" Let me Know where the hurt is and how to heal Spare me? Don't spare me anything troubling 7) This one is for the Vibes. I just think it's *beautiful*. 8) This is the Kate Bush song that stayed on every version of this playlist. Based on the final chapter of Ulysses - literary and sexy, just like Francis and Philippa. 9) Again, broadly vibes rather than lyrics - the mysterious blond can be Francis, sure, but the main thing is it's a fairly consensual and lovely folk song, and I love this version by Anne Briggs so much. 10) Because I put their biggest hit on the angsty Francis pining playlist, I thought they'd like one where they just get to enjoy it. 11) The balalaika on Willie O'Winsbury reminded me of this, and again, it's a big iconic love song. 12) A bit on the literary and sexy side again. 13) I only encountered The Most Cheerful Nick Drake SongTM through a cover by my faves, Maximo Park, but I think Francis and Philippa deserve it in any iteration. 14) Another Romantic Folk Song for the vibes! Nic Jones was one of the most astonishingly brilliant folk guitarists. 15) Vibes. Robert Smith said it's meant to be unsettling, but I actually think it's just gorgeous? Also Francis 'I've waited hours for this / I've made myself so sick' Crawford finally realising Philippa wants him back. 16) Just vibes again. Even though the lyrics have him on his own, he still longs for another. Plus sea, plus blue eyes, etc. Too beautiful to leave off. Sun in your eyes The heat is in your hair They seem to hate you Because you're there And I need a friend Oh, I need a friend To make me happy Not stand here on my own Look at me standing Here on my own again Up straight in the sunshine
No need to run and hide It's a wonderful, wonderful life No need to laugh and cry It's a wonderful, wonderful life 17) Yes I meant to put this version on.
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myulalie · 2 years
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😅 and 🎢
Hey anon! Thanks for playing along fanfic-writer-emoji-ask!
😅 What’s a story or scene you’ve created that you’re a smidge embarrassed exists?
Oh boy. I have a couple of Shadowhunters fics with cracky premises that you kind of need to be "in the know" of to really get it I guess? The sperm reading fic is more in the second hand embarrassment category though and the kill with his dick fic got a lot more serious than I meant it to be :')
but I'm not embarassed because it was so much fun writing them. There is this scene though... in a very serious fic... it looked better in my mind xD
Alec smiled and reached for the warlock’s belt, deliberately taking his time. Magnus shuddered against him as his effort to control his magic ended up with the hiss of a snake and what had been his belt slipped through the demon’s fingers. Alec held Magnus’ gaze, stroking the snake’s head and slowly letting it slither off the bed. Then, he undid the button of the warlock’s pants with a manic smile, arching his back to place open mouthed kisses on Magnus’ neck and slipping his hand inside his pants. (Angels don't fall)
🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?
Define "wild"? xD I'm laughing it off but it's actually from a really dark time earlier this year. I don't usually talk about my personal life, especially not when it's important, life-shattering stuff, but I find that it helps, in some weird cathartic way, for this particular experience. My relatives simply don't get it the way fandom friends and strangers do.
I signed up for the Sterek Big Bang (biggest thanks to Audrey for her understanding, btw, and go check out all the cool works in the collection!) but my cat was diagnosed with an incurable disease during the challenge and I had a lot of vet appointments to first to get the diagnosis then to check up and adjust her medication so that she wasn't in too much pain. It was just a matter of waiting until she got too weak to live a good life and the kindest thing I could do for her was let her go.
The thing is, I had adopted Déméter barely six months earlier, on my birthday as luck would have had it, and obviously we're never ready to let our beloved pet go, but this particular timing hit be hard, and kicked me while I was down.
So I was dealing with that as best as I could, and I got an extension on the SBB deadline, so on the last weekend I was cramming up the rest of The Cure. It's already a dark fic for the themes it tackles, and it got darker with the mindset I was in. I remember writing about a gruesome crime scene while a coworker chatted my ear off about some really offensive topic.
I barely made it, with an hour to spare, but the fic was complete, and Déméter was curled up next to the keyboard like she often was when I wrote. I knew she wasn't doing well that weekend, but she hadn't been for a while. She didn't seem in pain though, and she made it through another day after I completed the fic. In the evening though... it became obvious that she was halfway there, and I couldn't go to sleep knowing that she might not be there in the morning.
She passed away, and I was left with a completed fic and the last memory of my cat napping as I wrote the last word down. Needless to say I will forever associate The Cure (awful title, considering) with this weird twist of fate, Déméter staying with me right till the end, somehow.
It wasn't an easy fic to write, much less with all the vet appointments and constant worry about her health, organizing for someone to watch her to give her whatever medication she was on every time I had to travel for work. What a wild ride indeed, I'm glad she was here till the end though, and I'll forever cherish the time spent with her, when she was still strong enough to type up her own fic.
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Part One. George: the definition of “hello, have you met my friend?”
warnings: none word count: 1568 (not including pictures) *** Bugsy is Y/n’s username! I got too attached to change it to y/u/n so change it in your mind if you’d like :) 
behind the screen (irl dream x reader) series masterlist
ultimate masterlist
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Y/n sighed lightly as she set her phone on the desk in front of her. Her eyes traveled back to her monitor, where George was sharing his screen on Discord as he practiced speedruns. Y/n and Sapnap were on call with him to keep him company.
The cold air around her nipped at her skin, sending chills and bringing goosebumps. She pulled her hoodie closer to her body, tucking her feet on her chair to curl herself in a ball.
"This run sucks," George mumbled. "I thought it was going to be good."
"It would have if the village actually had anything useful," Sapnap commented. "There was a lava pool at spawn and everything."
"What do you think, Bugsy? Should I start over?"
She hummed, squinting at the screen. "Yeah, you should."
He left and started a new run.
"Karl's replies on Twitter are always so funny," Sapnap giggled after a few moments of silence. "He's so formal."
"I love that kid. That's my best friend right there, no cap," Y/n said with a smile. She and Karl had been friends for a few years now. They met through their parents being friends and shortly found out the other streamed and quickly bonded over that as their fanbases grew.
"Did you see Wilbur's response to your tweet?" Sapnap asked. "Man wrote you a letter."
"What did the tweets say?" George asked, half-listening as he focused on his run.
Sapnap read them and George laughed through his nose. "How could you ask for a Minecraft boyfriend while you're literally on a call with us while I'm playing Minecraft?"
"Just keeping my options open," Y/n laughed. "Don't worry, I'm wearing a GeorgeNotFound hoodie as we speak."
"I'd be worried, George. There are quite a few proposals in the responses."
"Shut up," Y/n muttered, a smile on her face that she was glad neither of them could see. "George, you remember my roommate is in love with you, right? Don't upset her by being jealous of boys coming after me."
"You're an idiot," George breathed out in a laugh. "No, she's not."
"She is. Very much."
"No, no, she isn't."
"George," Sapnap sighed dramatically. "Just accept that you can be loved."
"You're both idiots, okay?" George laughed awkwardly. "This seed is terrible," he groaned.
"Wait!" Sapnap yelled. "Village on the left!"
George quickly turned and ran towards the village to loot it. Y/n watched with Sapnap as George found iron and a few other valuable things.
"Oh! This might be okay."
"Bugsy?" Sapnap asked slowly, sounding confused.
"Sapnap?" she replied in the same tone.
"Have you not met Quackity?"
"No. What made you ask?"
"I just saw his response to your tweet."
"Why are you two on your phones? I'm speedrunning!"
"Because you still haven't made it to the nether on any of them," Sapnap bit. "How are you best friends with Karl and you haven't you met Quackity?"
"I dunno. I just haven't. There's a lot of people I have only spoken to through Twitter replies."
"Like who?" George asked.
"Why are we only talking about me?" Y/n asked in slight frustration. She wasn't fond of talking about herself because she wasn't used to it. "This is George's stream."
"Well, now I'm really curious so I wanna talk about this," George laughed. "Who haven't you met?"
"I dunno!" she said, flustered. "Quackity, Wilbur, Dream, Tubbo, Tomm-- wait, no I met Tommy. He yelled at me."
"Wait, wait, what?" Sapnap interrupted.
Y/n paused but neither of them said anything. "What?"
"You haven't met Dream?" George asked, sounding equally as confused.
No one said anything. "No? Why is that surprising. I mean, we've joked through tweets and stuff but I've never played with him or actually spoken to him."
"What about DMs and stuff?" George asked.
"Nope. Dream is just thirsty in my replies like Wilbur," she joked, feeling the anxiety of the awkward pauses seep through her skin and touch her bones. Why were they being so weird about it? "Why is that so shocking that a man with, like, 15 million subscribers has never spoken to me?"
Sapnap laughed. "I'm just genuinely surprised that he hasn't reached out to you before."
"Yeah, me too," George agreed. "He talks about you in a way I thought you guys were good friends. And you're friends with us so I just assumed you were friends with him too."
Y/n laughed, nervous at the mention of being talked about. "Well, he must be a pussy or something because I have yet to receive any acknowledgement from Dream Was Taken besides him occasionally replying to my tweets and Instagram pictures."
George laughed suddenly, making Y/n look at the monitor with George's screen quickly, which wasn't moving. "What happened? Did you find something?"
"No," George's screen began moving again and he started building a portal. "Dream just texted me because he's watching the stream."
"What did he say?" Sapnap asked.
"He said, 'can I join the call? I don't want Bugsy to think I'm a pussy'," George answered, lowering his voice to a mumble before adding, "And something else he'd probably kill me if I said out loud."
Sapnap and George laughed at Y/n's silence. She was only joking, not intending to challenge him to talk to her. Honestly, she was relieved he had never spoken to her because he intimidated her. Meeting people made her nervous and Dream was no different. If anything, he was worse because he was a big deal and he kinda flirted with her sometimes, which gave her butterflies in a way she didn't like.
"I'm adding him to call," George announced.
"Wait, you're not going to check if I'm okay with meeting him live in front of 80,000 people?" Y/n asked with a small, nervous laugh.
"No, because it's my stream. I can do what I want. I can't live another second knowing you two have never talked."
"I think Bugsy's scared!" Sapnap coeed.
"I think so too!"
"You wish," Y/n muttered.
A small sound emitted from Discord, notifying everyone that someone joined the voice chat.
"Hello Dreeaamm..." George dragged out as he navigated the nether. "I made it to the nether, Sapnap. Will you get off your phone now?"
"Yeah, I guess. Hi Dream!"
"Hello," Dream said casually. "Hello, Bugsy."
Y/n lowered in her chair more, pulling her hood up and closing it tight over her eyes. No one could see her but his voice made her feel seen.
Sapnap giggled and George laughed. Dream breathed out a laugh. Y/n responded with a small, "Hi."
"Bugsy, you're such a liar!" Sapnap called out. "You are so scared."
"Shut up, Sapnap!" she chuckled.
"Scared of what?" Dream asked innocently.
"Meeting you," George answered. Traitor.
"Forgive me," Y/n started, sitting up in her seat and pulling open her hood to watch George play, "for being nervous to meet Mr. Speedrun in front of a huge live audience." She decided to joke around to hopefully ease the nervousness under her skin. "I'm just worried he's going to flirt with me again and I'll have to embarrass him in front of everyone by rejecting him again."
They all laughed.
"I mean, you already said Karl was in the lead for being your Minecraft boyfriend, so I really have no shot," Dream said.
"As if I'm letting some girl named Bugsy steal my fiance!" Sapnap yelled.
"Ah!" The attention was ripped away from Y/n as George screamed. Y/n looked at the screen, watching as her friend was getting attacked by a hoard of zombie pigmen.
"Why did you hit one, George?" she teased.
"I didn't mean to! AHH!!" he screeched, making everyone laugh. "STOP ATTACKING ME!"
"George!" Dream laughed. "Just run, you won't be able to kill them all!"
"I'm trying!" George fell in lava and screamed again. His death appeared on the screen and Y/n could hear him slam his desk. "That run was so good until the zombie pig came out of nowhere."
He started a new run and it was quiet for a moment before Dream's soft voice spoke again. "Well, Bugsy. I hope you forgive me for taking so long to speak to you."
"I-I was just kidding about you being a pussy," she mumbled, making him laugh.
"No, it's true. I was."
"Come on, Dream, sliding in my DMs is easy," she joked. "You could have if you wanted to."
"Trust us," George laughed, "he wanted to."
"What?" Dream asked George loudly, making Sapnap laugh.
"Dream, you talk about her all the time. George and I were both led to believe you were already friends based on how you talk about her."
"How I talk about her? What does that mean?" Dream sounded defensive and it made Y/n smile.
"You're always like, 'Bugsy did this' and 'Bugsy tweeted that', and 'I have to do a face reveal before Bugsy does because she'll outshine me'," Sapnap teased.
"Okay, the last one? I never said that. You're lying about that."
"But the rest of it is true?" Y/n teased.
"Look, you play good and your tweets are funny! I didn't come on here to get bullied, oh my gosh."
**********
A/N: this is my first time attempting a social media fic so the theme of this series is gonna be ignore the number of likes/retweets and stuff just know that y/n is a much smaller streamer she only gets a lot of likes and stuff when it involves other mcyt ya know okay fun times 
Please give feedback!! I hope you enjoy it!!! I don’t have a schedule right now but I might in the future if this series gets a lot of attention :) as of right now i’ll try to update at least once a week! 
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outofsstyles · 3 years
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a/n: This is by far THE MOST requested fic I’ve ever had and (a year later) it’s finally here!! First of all, sorry that it took me so long but when I first wrote Wildest Dreams I never intended on it having a follow up, but the amount of love I got from it was so overwhelming that I decided to put this together for you all :) I’m not gonna lie, I’m a bit nervous about it, considering the amount of requests I’ve had the past year, I know there’s gonna be a lot of expectations and I wanted to do something a bit different so it’s not too predictable lol. So yeah, as always, feedback is very much welcomed!! If you enjoy please reblog it to support my writing, it would mean the world to me <3
word count: 13.7k
warnings: none!
concept: It’s Evan’s birthday and he decides to do something a bit different.
Wildest Dreams: read part 1 here :)
                                               ~*~ ~*~  ~*~
In the last two steps, you have to use your leg to support the box as it starts to slowly slip down your fingers. This serves as a reminder to start exercising again now that the midterm is over — meaning that you should finally give in to Nia’s pleas to join her in the free week of Pilates classes she got when signing in at the gym, “Exercising is one of the best ways to relieve stress!” She would argue, to which you’d simply reply with something along the lines of: “So does binging another trashy reality tv show!”
Thankfully, no one seems to notice your struggle, sparing you the embarrassment of listening to their teases due to your difficulty in carrying one of the smallest boxes of the bunch. Nate barely glances at you once you finally reach the car to hand him the box, only shooting the longest smile you’ve ever seen coming from him—which somehow still manages to be probably the quickest when compared to any other regular person. His girlfriend, who stands with hands on her hips, entirely held his attention. Nia’s purple strands of hair poke out of her half-bun in every direction and her bottom lip has found its permanent spot between her teeth as her eyes fixate on the vehicle in front of her, barely blinking.
“Everything alright, Ni?” You prompt, trying to even your breathing. “Forgot something? There’s still time to check.”
“It’s not that.” She mumbles, shaking her head to break out of her thoughts. “My keyboard doesn’t fit.” Nia nods at the instrument lying on top of the car’s ceiling.
“Oh,” You say, frowning your lips as you take in her stressed figure. Clearing your throat, you attempt to blurt out a joke, “Maybe it’s a sign you shouldn’t move it and stay right here in our little flat with creaky doors.”
She breathes out a sharp laugh, finally looking at you as she drops her arms. “Don’t start.” She warns, “You promised; no crying today.”
“Don’t worry, I’m good at holding back the tears.” You give her a soft smile, pulling her smaller frame into a hug. The sudden reality of your best friend and roommate leaving you hitting you at once. “Gonna miss you, Ni.”
You feel her sigh into your shoulder, arms circling around your middle. “I’ll be ten minutes away.”
“Not the same.”
“I know.”
The two of you sway in silence for a moment, and you watch from over her shoulder as Nate attempts to awkwardly pick up the keyboard, almost dropping it on the sidewalk in the process. He grunts, the instrument tilting in his arms, and you giggle as you hear Nia sigh once more. Tightening your arms around her, you release each other as she turns to check on her boyfriend who holds the instrument as you would a newborn — except this one is half his size and hard as a wood plank.
He glances between the both of you, helpless. “Uh, where does this go?”
“You can put it with the other big boxes upstairs, babe. We’ll take them Sunday.” Nia says, moving to close the trunk. She looks back at him, calling back in a sing-like voice before he disappears inside, “Thank you!”
You lean back against the car, a playful pout plumping your bottom lip. “Am I only seeing you again on Sunday, then?”
“Nope, I’ll pick you up for Evan’s birthday — did you forget about it already?”
You have. “Of course not. It’s on — tomorrow.”
“Is it tomorrow?” Nia gasps, eyes widening. “Holy shit, tomorrow’s Friday.”
You nod slowly, just as shocked as she is about how quickly the past couple of weeks have flown by. Between piles of book reports and stress-tear-stained essays during midterms week, you also had to find some time to help Nia with packing boxes while searching for a new roommate for yourself. If you managed a five-hour sleep on these past days, that would have been a well-rested night. So you can’t really blame yourself for forgetting about Evan’s birthday when Nia herself had it slipping through her mind.
“This is an emergency,” Nia says, eyes focusing on a point beyond you and, you feel like, if you listen close enough, you can hear the engines inside her head working. “I’ll have come here earlier so you can help me with my outfit.”
You chuckle. “What even is the theme this year?”
“He didn’t tell me,” Nia says in a huff. “But, on the bright side, I don’t think this year he’ll do anything too crazy — he was too busy these last couple months with that short film I told you about, remember?”
“Evan doing something low key? That’s a first.” You raise your eyebrows, skeptical.
“I mean, I don’t know. I’m just guessing.” Nia shrugs, picking at her nails. “I’m only saying because he mentioned once he was only inviting, like, twenty people.”
Now, this is a surprise. “I’m glad I made the cut, then.”
It’s not a secret to anyone who’s ever had any kind of interaction with Evan that he’s fond of the dramatics of life — his bright-colored outfits with mismatching patterns being the first example that comes to mind — and that reflects as well in his events. Especially when it comes to his birthday.
To be fair, you’ve only actually been to two birthday parties of his so far — considering the invitation usually finds you because he’s close to Nia and sees you as some sort of extension of her. Nevertheless, they were both impactful enough that left a clear impression of how much he enjoys celebrating himself. Last year in particular you remember quite well. It was what he called “Evaney” themed; being a mix of himself and his favorite artist: Britney Spears. And, while you and Nia showed up as one of at least fifteen different variations of the Baby One More Time schoolgirl outfit, Evan pulled a perfect match of the Oops! I Did It Again red bodysuit that he got one of his fashion student friends to tailor for him, as well as freshly dyed beach blonde hair to suit it. He even went as far as photoshopping pictures of himself on Britney’s body and had them printed on posters hung on every single room of the house. There were even custom-made cups and napkins with them — two of them that Nia stole at the end of the party still sit somewhere in your kitchen to this day.
Another particular thing you remember quite clearly was that there were enough people crowded in his living room to fill up your entire apartment, as you recall. And that’s about how a typical event at his home is like — even on his friendsmas dinner there were much more than just twenty people eating turkey out of disposable hot pink plates. So, Nia’s information leaves you wondering what he could have in mind for tomorrow with such a limited list of people.
Before you can voice your wonders to her, though, Nate pushes through the entrance door again. You can tell he, much like you minutes ago, is trying to cover his heavy breathing. “I left it on top of those big boxes with a bunch of books in ‘em.”
“Brilliant! Thank you, baby.” Nia grins, wrapping an arm around his middle. “By the way, we just remembered Evan’s birthday’s tomorrow.”
“Is it tomorrow already?” Nate asks, and you hold back a giggle at the way his face scrunches in discontent. He hates going to Evan’s to a point that’s nearly comical. “Fuck’s sake.”
“And I think I’ll come here early so we can get ready together.” Nia nods towards you.
Nate grunts. “Do I have to go this time?” 
“Of course, darling.” She rises to her tiptoes to pinch his cheek, to which he brushes it off.
Nate looks at you, and you only send him a tight smile in solidarity. The two of you share similar experiences with Evan, considering the only reason either of you even gets invited is that because you’re close to Nia, and she’s close to Evan. Although you like Evan, even if you’re not that close with him, you can still put on your social mask for a couple of hours and have fun at his parties. Nate, on the other hand, is likely the least sociable person you’ve ever met, and it’s obvious how uncomfortable he gets every time. 
Nia seems to sense how tense he gets as well, because she steps in front of her boyfriend, finding his eyes with her doe-like ones. “I mean, if you don’t want to, then you don’t have to.”
He sighs, “Of course I’ll go with you.” He looks up at you. “Maybe this time we can actually count how many faces of his we can see from the couch.”
This time you don’t hold back a giggle. “I have a feeling we’ll have an easier time this year.”
“Hope so.” Nate taps on Nia’s back. "Let's go, then? Is everything you need in the trunk?”
“Yup.” She answers, circling the car and opening the door to the passenger’s side. Before entering, she gives you one last look. “Do you want me to bring anything for you tomorrow?”
“I’m good.”
“‘kay!” She enters, closing the door behind her in a click and leaning over Nate to wave at you from his window. “See you tomorrow! Don’t cry too hard tonight!”
“I won’t!” You wave back.
Watching as the car pulls back, before driving away and disappearing around the corner, there’s a light breeze that raises goosebumps on the exposed skin of your arms. You cross them under your chest, leaning back into the wall of your building, not quite ready to go back to your empty home yet. The seconds blend into minutes and you stand there The promise you made to Nia not even a minute ago already pooling in your eye, knowing you wouldn’t be able to keep it anyway, you let it tickle its way down your cheek.
A rougher gust of wind hits you and, this time, you turn to go inside.
                                              ~*~ ~*~  ~*~
The days are still not long enough so that the sun can shine proudly at seven in the afternoon, but as spring just about rounds the corner there’s still a golden glow as the rays provide one last warmth before disappearing on the horizon. And that’s how the sky greets you once you step out of your building to make your way towards Evan’s house for his birthday.
As planned, Nia arrived at yours with plenty of time so the two of you could help each other get ready, a bag filled with clothes she’s just taken to Nate’s yesterday under her arm for you to help her choose. “I’m thinking something monochromatic tonight.” She said as she walked in, making you jump in your spot on the couch as you didn’t hear her using the spare key. “I’m just not sure what color.” 
She ended up choosing red. There was an old box of red hair dye you found lost inside the bathroom cabinet after Nia left — along with two different brands of shaving cream, although those belonging to Nate — and, after presenting it to her, she decided to go all for it, taking it as a sign. Nate showed up just about an hour after his girlfriend, still in his work attire and barely batting an eye at Nia’s new hair color as she blew dried it. The only comment leaving his mouth being, “You look like a tomato,” before kissing her forehead and excusing himself for a nap while the two of you finished getting ready.
What neither of you realized was that Nia’s last-minute decision took more time than you predicted, giving you barely enough time to get dressed. To her, that wasn’t exactly an inconvenience considering she had an outfit ready to match any color she wanted — in this case, was a red-dyed denim two-piece. and a matching jacket that ended up discarded after she noticed it covered her newest shoulder tattoo (though you tried to argue she could just have Nate carry it so she could wear it considering she eventually would get cold at some point). To you, however, was more of a stressful task, seeing you hadn’t taken in mind to think of an outfit beforehand. So you ended up just going with the safest option that didn’t give you a lot of room to overthink, choosing to finish your makeup on the way so Evan wouldn’t have any of your heads on a plate for being late.
You’ve found that applying mascara on a moving vehicle is not the easiest task, as Nia holds your elbow to help you keep steady while talking nonstop with the driver about a topic you stopped paying any mind to about ten minutes ago.
“I’m loving our black and red moment, by the way.” She turns to you, loosening her hold as you finish the last coat. “You look like one of those hot businesswomen with your teenage daughter who likes to dress like an animated character.”
You laugh at her comparison, only now noticing the discrepancy between both your outfits. Without even realizing it, you also ended up going for the monochromatic look. Except unlike Nia’s, yours completely lacks any color. “That’s actually the best comparison you could make.”
“I know — You can take a left right here — Here, I have lip gloss.” Nia fetches a small tube from her jacket (that she ended up taking, after all), presenting it to you.
“Do you not have lipstick?”
“Are you not planning on smudging it later?” Nia wiggles her eyebrows, teasing. The hint behind her words makes you roll your eyes, snatching the lip gloss from her hand without bothering to give her an answer. There was about a month or so, just before winter rolled around, that Nia felt as if she had a mission to get you with someone. You suspect, knowing too well how her mind works, that she must’ve felt some sort of guilt for what happened during her film project last year. It was clear that her attempts came from a place of good heart, but this doesn’t mean that it made them any less annoying. However, after her plans to move in with Nate became more concrete, her cupid persona seemed to have disappeared, or so you’d thought. But now that there’s nothing else filling her mind anymore, it looks like she’s back at it, and you can’t help but snort. “What? I’m just saying-”
“You say a lot of things, most of them are incorrect.” You say, “I’m not smudging anything tonight. Not on a party with twenty people, for fuck’s sake.”
“Don’t say that before — right there! The big house on the corner!” Nia leans over the console, signaling to the driver where to park. It’s so sudden that you notice how he jumps just slightly from his seat, chuckling to yourself at how Nate snaps his eyes at her. 
The front of Evan’s Victorian home is unusually quiet once you step out onto the sidewalk. So much so that, if it weren’t for the lined cars parked along the street and filling his driveway, you would’ve thought you’d typed in the wrong address. 
The discrepancy is clear to you when compared to other gatherings Evan hosts in his house, but especially for his birthday. Last year, you could hear Toxic blasting from his place from the moment you turned on his street, and a small crowd gathered on his front yard — most of which you recall being comprised of people plastered out of their minds, particularly one semi-naked man who was using one lamppost as a strip pole while swinging a stuffed snake
That’s more or less the standard one could expect when invited to a party at Evan’s. So, to find the street as silent as any regular day is, to an understanding, odd. 
“Are you sure it’s the right date?” You ask as the metal creak of the front gate mends with gushes of wind whistling through the air.
“Yup,” Nia says simply, walking in front of you. “You can hear the music inside, shush.”
You come quiet, listening in, and, surely, you can hear the faint keys of a piano coming from the other side of the stone walls, but it only brings up more questions to your head than answers. Evan seems like the last person on Earth who would listen to classical music. Deciding not to voice your question this time, you follow short behind Nia, kicking some loose stones on the gravel path leading to the front door.
There’s no need for more than a single knock for it to open almost immediately, revealing a lace-clad Evan downing the last bits of his wine. Without the barrier you can hear the music more clearly, the keys of the piano meshing in a peculiar way, not like anything you’ve ever heard in a classical song— at least not ten years ago when you tried to learn piano for a year before giving up.
“Look at my favorite people!” Evan says with his purple-stained lips, pulling Nia for a hug with the arm that’s not holding the door open while pointing at a spot behind her. “Did you greet Jonathan when you passed him? It’s his birthday as well.”
He points to a spot where a gnome statue sits in the dry grass, face painted in clown makeup. Nate’s voice comes from behind you, “Christ.” 
“Nate!” Evan chirps, going straight for the man standing with a sharp smile and throwing his arms around him. “You know you’re my favorite grumpy, right?”
Nate only taps on the shorter man’s back, quickly moving to Nia’s side as soon as he’s free from the embrace. With that, Evan turns to you, hands finding your elbows as he takes you in, “And what have you been up to, bug? It's been ages.”
“You know… Books and… Stuff.” You chuckle, brushing it off. “Happy birthday, E.”
“Thank you!” He claps his hands together. “Now, c’mon, let’s get all of you started.”
Following him inside, you’re met with a glittery box standing right next to the entrance; rolls of tape seal it shut, and a hand-sized hole has been cut on top of the lid. You try to peek at what could be inside, but strings of colorful crepe paper are stuck to the hole, making it harder to know its contents.
Evan picks up the box, holding it to his side. “So, I need each of you to grab a piece of paper inside the box. There will be a number in it but for now just hold on, drink, and chat while waiting for further instructions.” His voice lowers at the end to give his words more of a mystery behind them.
Nate tenses in front of you and you have to keep yourself from chuckling at his desperate gaze moving from the box to his girlfriend as he moves uncomfortably on his feet. Nia, however, only gives him a pat on his back, barely looking at her boyfriend as she does a little dance in excitement. “Oh, this feels fun.” She says, quickly reaching her hand inside the box and retrieving a piece of paper. “Mysterious, but fun. What do you have in mind, sir?”
“Nothing too crazy this year, darling, you can relax — We’re all too tired.” He moves the box towards Nate, who reluctantly reaches inside. “Just something to mesh people together that won’t give me too much of a headache to clean tomorrow.”
“Smart.” You say, peeking at the box as it’s presented to you before reaching for a paper inside, quickly reading the number eight written on it before folding the piece between your fingers.
“Nice! As always, drinks in the kitchen. We’re starting in ten minutes!” Evan claps, hushing the three of you further inside.
Surprisingly, this time around there are no posters of his face in sight as you follow Nia and Nate to the kitchen. There’s a mild mash of voices coming from the living room — where the sound of the piano is the loudest, and you wonder if he got an actual piano or if it’s just a Bluetooth speaker —, but it’s not nearly as loud as you’re used to from past times. The lighting has been lowered to a buttery yellow; you realize once you enter the kitchen that feels too bright to your eyes in contrast to the hallway.
“Is there any alcohol?” You wonder out loud, and Nia glances at you with her eyebrows shot towards her hairline. “What? I’m just asking ‘cause everyone is unusually quiet.”
“There’s wine and — what are these guys right here?” She picks up one out of four plastic jars sitting on the kitchen island, reading the label stuck to it out loud, “Strawberry Mary — ooh, this looks fun.”
You reach for the other three to check their contents, but all have names similar to the one Nia now fills her cup with — fruity, yet mysterious: Lana Banana, Jenny Berry Mix, and Pineapple Suzan. “Did he come up with these?” You chuckle, reaching for the berry mix.
“It was probably Adam,” Nia says, and you frown. “That bartender guy? The one with the pet snakes.”
“Oh, yeah. I know him.”
The room comes quiet as you serve yourself, and only after you glance up you realize a tension lingering in the air. Nate stands awkwardly in a corner, eyes fixed on Nia as he moves his head around subtly. Glancing between the two of them, you notice how their expressions change as they keep their eyes locked, not a single word being uttered out loud. To you, it almost feels as if they are reading each other’s minds, and the heat of their silent argument becoming clear once Nate huffs, shaking his head. 
Nia clears her throat, seemingly uncomfortable, shooting you a knowing look. It’s only when she gives you a toothless smile that you realize the silent question behind it. “Uhm, I’m going to check if there are any sweets outside.”
Beelining towards the doorway, you quickly make your way out of the room. The hallway is empty and, from where you stand awkwardly in the middle of it, you can tell Evan’s left his spot by the front door, meaning he’s likely gone to the living room where the rest of the guests are. You can hear them chatting, although like you previously pointed, the voices are much more controlled than what you’re used to, and that makes you oddly flustered by the thought of walking in alone. 
Considering the limited amount of invitations this year, the chances of you knowing anyone are slim and, to add to your sudden nervousness, most of the people from Evan’s closest circle of friends are — like himself — inexplicably intimidating. This is mostly because it feels like this unspoken competition that everyone has settled with each other, to subtly brag about your success whilst simultaneously pretending to be impressed about the other’s accomplishments. And for you specifically, considering you’re not part of this artist clique that they lock themselves into, it feels particularly tiresome to be part of those interactions. 
So, you opt to wait for Nia, pretending to admire one peculiar painting hanging on a wall opposite to where the doorway leading to the living room stands. Every so often, you catch yourself glancing over your shoulder one way or the other, either towards the kitchen to check if your friends are joining you, or to the doorway where the rest of the guests are in. At one point, the voices get louder, joining in a laugh before tangling together in a mess of noise you can’t make sense of. It’s after a minute that you hear footsteps coming from the living room, making you freeze on your spot, carefully turning your back to whoever’s about to catch you avoiding the party, and focusing on the piece you’ve been staring at for the past five minutes.
The painting you first thought was just random strokes of earth tones abstractly put together you now realize it’s a man and it doesn’t take you more than a second or two to recognize Evan’s side profile in a peach shade. Your hand claps on top of your mouth as you fight the urge to laugh. The sound comes out muffled, but it stops as you hear the footsteps falter as they turn into the hallway. Keeping you back to them, you listen as the wooden floor creaks as whoever was approaching makes their way back. You peek to catch sight of who it might be, but all you make out is the shadow of mustard corduroys turning the corner.
As if on cue, Nia and Nate finally appear from the kitchen, thankfully neither appearing to be sour after the talk in the kitchen. 
“Finally.” You say, still feeling giggly from your finding. “Nate, you have to check this-”
“Okay! Let’s start, then. Do we have everyone in the living room?” Evan’s voice interrupts you as he calls out. Nia guides you along with her to the living room. And, as soon as the three of you enter, Evan nods at you, before continuing, “Now that all the bunnies are trapped, we shall begin!” He laughs, clapping his hands together before motioning vaguely to everyone. “Before I explain what I have planned, I want to pair you all. So, I’ll call out the numbers that each of you picked when you arrived, so everyone can find their pair.”
You frown, confuse yet curious about what Evan’s up to as he calls out the numbers. Now that you stop to glance around the room, you note how there are more people than you’d expected. It’s still not nearly as many as previous parties of his, but it still feels like the room is nicely filled, maybe just a dozen people above twenty. And amongst them, there’s quite a few you recognize as they pair up together — like Georgia, the first one to be called, whom you spent a good half of the New Year’s party with, or Taylor, who gets paired with Nia (you remember him particularly from a film festival that Nia had been part of — he produced and directed a short film comparing the second wave of feminism to the wildlife in the Amazon Rainforest, and Nia couldn’t stop complaining about how bad it was for the entire week after). 
It’s when Evan jokes with someone on the other side of the room, however, that you see him.
He’s tucked in a corner, right next to the bookshelves, arms crossed under his chest in a way that makes his tattoos pop out of his biceps, something you notice even standing on the opposite end of the room. His smile is subtle as he watches the scene in front of him, but it’s still enough for a dimple to poke at one side of his face -- it’s barely there, but you’ve seen it up close enough times that you notice those details. His hand holds a drink, but you pay no mind to it because what calls your attention is the mustard corduroy hugging his hips, the same one you watched run from you not only five minutes ago.
He laughs, and you avert your eyes, mouth still hung open. You wonder if anyone will notice if you leave.
But, as though he could read your mind, Evan calls the number written on that sits crumbled inside the pocket of your jacket. “Where are my number eights?”
You step forward and, like a magnet, your eyes glue on Harry as he raises his hand. 
Shaking your head in disbelief, you have to fight against an urge to shut your eyes tightly as the regret of having left your room at all tonight becomes almost overwhelming. All you expected for the night was to forget about book reports and endless essays piled up on your computer, to relax, maybe drink a bit more than you should while watching Evan’s friends dancing with a taxidermy beaver or something of sorts (that was on his friendsmas party two years ago). Instead, here you are on what feels like the first day of class dynamic your teacher has imposed to make everyone interact with each other. And, suddenly, the long pages of (insert boring book) don’t seem that bad right now.
And to make matters worse (because the universe just likes to add a little more spice to your tragedies) of all people standing in this living room you just had to be paired with the one with whom you had a fling-like relationship six months ago.
It’s awkward before he even approaches you, the tension making you fidget in your spot anxiously, barely being able to shoot a tight smile his way. 
The last time you saw Harry was through the rearview mirror of a car, standing on the sidewalk like an abandoned puppy with his tail between his legs. Though you admit you let your dramatics take away when you turned away from him to leave, the feeling behind it was genuine. You were upset. He had led you on, after all, made you think he wanted to have something more just to ignore you for months and, later, appear with a redhead under his arms and call her his girlfriend. So, yes, it wasn’t the best note to leave on.
But despite how you left the last encounter, the spark of nervousness that shoots through your stomachs right now doesn’t come exactly because of his presence, but more so for the awkward nature of this encounter. At the time it happened, you avoided any activity that had the slight possibility of seeing him again like the plague. You were hurt, and you were mad — though the second part was more directed at yourself than at him. But that was six months ago. After all, as much as you felt enchanted by him and as much as those two weeks you spent together were nice, that’s all that it was: two weeks. Yes, you were sad and, yes, maybe you shed a tear or two while watching Love, Rosie with Nia afterward, but that passed as quickly as it came.
That is, until now.
“Your hair is shorter” This Is all you blurt out when he stands in front of you again.
“It is, yeah.” Harry runs his hand through his hair. The strands that last time you saw him, curled around his jawline, now peek just under his earlobe. “Did it myself, actually.”
“Really?” You take a big gulp from your drink, gaze going anywhere but meeting his own. “Found yourself another talent.”
“Another?” You can hear the smirk in his voice.
“I mean, besides acting.” You grin, holding the cup to your lips and sparing him a glance. “Suppose after your debut you’ve gotten yourself busy with casting calls”
“Of course” Harry laughs. Now that you’re closer you have a better look at his dimples as they pop out, as well as the constellation of freckles hugging his nose, and the mole right under his lips. You avert your eyes again. “I’m set to be the next Bond, in fact”
“Oh, wow.” You raise your brows, grinning at the brim of your cup. “I can see it.”
He turns to you, “Can you?” You peek at him. "Why is that?”
This is exactly what you were afraid of all those months ago after last seeing him. The entire reason you ran from any possibility of seeing him again afterward. You can still remember clearly how much of a flirt he is, even when he doesn’t mean to be. It’s not a secret that Harry’s a charming man. His words are like honey, and when he uses them just right, you know is enough to have you melting. And it doesn’t help how well you seem to click together. Even now, you still feel it by your impulse to flirt back, to look him in the eye, and get just close enough to feel the scent of his cologne. Do all that just to turn away in the last second. Tease him the same way he did you. But you don’t do any of that, of course, because you’re as petty as you are bitter. So, instead, you click your tongue. “Don’t get too comfortable, Harry, bet your girlfriend wouldn’t be happy about that.”
He chuckles. “What girlfriend?”
This time you turn fully at him, brows shooting up not in defiance, but surprise. “Yikes.” You say before you’re able to hold back.
“Yikes.” Harry still holds a smile when he repeats it, head falling as he lets out a — nervous? — laugh.
A question pops into your head. One that lingered in your mind for a good while now, but comes back a bit louder now that you have the information that his relationship was short-lasted after all. It’s a short one, but one that requires a long answer, you suppose. What happened? You think. But you don’t dare to voice it, you don’t want to have this conversation with him. Whatever the explanation is, it’s not going to change anything. So you just avert your gaze back to Evan, who now calls for everyone’s attention again.
“I know you’re all dying to know what this is all about. So, I’m going to explain it all.” And with that introduction, Evan dives into a monologue you only pay half mind to. It’s hard for you to focus on the words rapidly leaving his mouth as you can feel Harry glancing at you every so often from the corner of your eye. You listen in to Evan describing himself as a feisty kid and mention his love for drama, and then you feel the ghost of Harry’s arm bumping against yours as he sways on his feet. You try to pay attention to the story being told of the events leading up to this birthday party, and then you have to hold yourself back from meeting Harry’s eyes once you feel them at the side of your face once again. He makes a comment under his breath that you don’t quite catch, and you’re about to question him before Evan’s voice comes in an even higher pitch. “I wanted tonight to be exactly that: chaotic. I didn’t want anything to quite make sense, and I didn’t want to think much, if I’m honest, last year of film school is taking a big chunk of my functioning neurons and m’dad’s whiskey collection is taking the rest of them.”
There’s a collective laugh that takes place and, once again, Harry’s eyes peeking at you. “Everyone can relax, it’s not one of those murder mystery parties, as I’ve heard some people guess — for fuck’s sake as if I have the time and patience to plan something like that.” He says with a sip directly from a wine bottle you just now realize he’s been holding. “It’s a scavenger hunt, you have a partner and an envelope with clues. Each pair will find something related to moi and after it’s all done, we’ll eat burgers and talk about me for the rest of the night.” 
“Sounds easy enough.” Harry mumbles.
Evan claps his free hand on his wrist, hushing everyone. “So off you go, c’mon! I’ll be hungry in an hour.”
“This is gonna be…” You start. “Interesting.”
“Interesting is a great word to describe it.”
“Well, let’s try to do this as quickly as possible, then.” 
 The side of his lips quirks up. “On a rush?”
“This is not exactly a comfortable position to be. I think you get it.” You say, fidgeting on your feet. You wait for a second for him to say something so you can start the activity, but he doesn’t and you realize there’s a piece missing. “Do you have an envelope?”
Harry nods, reaching for his pocket where the envelope sits folded in half. He swiftly opens it, taking out a card.
 “Well?” You prompt, “Read us the first clue, Bond.”
There’s a smile that Harry fights against at the nickname and you’re not sure due to the dim light, but you think there’s a hint of a rosy tone on the apple of his cheeks. “An activity that grows lives and ruins manicures.” He reads out loud, pausing for a moment before laughing to himself. “I know this one.”
“Grows lives?” You frown. “As in, a pregnancy?”
Harry shakes his head, leading the way towards the corridor. “As in, gardening.”
“That’s a very weird way to put it.” You say, following him. “Does he garden?”
He walks into the kitchen, greeting two people you don’t recognize who are searching for something — their clue, you assume — inside the cabinets. “No, but his sister does. There’s a greenhouse in the back.”
You simply hum in response, muttering a quick thank you as he opens the door for you that leads to the back garden. The greenhouse is not unfamiliar to you from the outside, there have been a good amount of summer gatherings in his back garden for you to know of its existence. But you’ve thought nothing more about it. If you’re honest, you never really paid much attention to it. If anything, you assumed he used it as storage at most, never taking Evan as someone who enjoyed gardening. Though now you know you were right, you've also learned that his sister lives with him and you wonder why he’s never mentioned it before.
The curiosity inside of you wants to question Harry about it, to ask him what else he knows you don’t. When you think about it, there’s a lot you want to ask him about. Not just regarding Evan, but also regarding him. You wonder what he’s been up in the past six months if he ended up adopting the kitten he’d told you about back when you were still filming or if he read any of the book recommendations you wrote on his notes app one particular night the two of you chatted for longer than the moon could hold itself up in the sky. The part of you that begs for you to say something on the short walk is so strong you have to physically bite your tongue to be able to hold back.
You don’t have to hold for long, however, as Harry takes it upon himself to say, “So,” He starts, clearing his throat, “How- uh- how are you doing?”
Somehow, his words click something inside of your mind. They remind you of why you shouldn’t let that curious part of you win. The sole purpose of it not falling for his charm. You shake your head, “We’re not doing this.”
“Doing what?” He frowns, his steps faltering for a second.
“Small talk.” You answer, focused on your goal. “We’ll just solve this thing as quickly as possible so I can go back home and finish my Euphoria marathon.”
“Right.” Harry nods once, and you can’t help but notice the way his lips quirk down, the frown not leaving his face. You can’t lie and say it doesn’t make your stomach drop the slightest bit to see you’ve upset him, but you have to remind yourself how much he’s upset you, too. 
It’s protecting yourself, you think. After tonight, you don’t have to see him ever again.
Inside the greenhouse, you’re greeted with a mix of scents you’re not prepared for before stepping in. The space is compact, with a single corridor narrowed with garden beds on each side. Dozens of branches and leaves tickle you as you walk in, most of them belonging to different flowers that, despite the chilly weather that still lingers outside, are already blooming. It’s a blend of colors, bright reds, and ocean blues, soft purple petals kissing pink and yellow ones. 
“We should look for gloves.” Harry’s voice startles you, chuckling as you jump a bit.
“Huh?” 
“Gloves.” He says. “I think whatever we’re looking for has to do with the gloves, ‘cause he mentioned manicure.”
“That makes sense.” You look around. Many gardening tools are piling under the tables that hold the garden beds; watering cans and empty pots. You look between bags of fertilizer and drawers filled with shovels. There’s so much stuff to look through that, at one point, you sit back on your calves, glancing around, lost.
You hear Harry leafing through as you’re doing, feeling his legs brushing against your back as he passes by and you stop, watching him from your spot on the floor. He’s got a concentrated look on his face, bottom lip worried between his teeth as he scans through the walls before he opens another drawer. That’s when his gaze falls, catching yours. You quickly turn away, pretending to go through another pile of empty pots and blocking the sound of a chuckle coming from his spot.
For a moment, the only sound in the room is the clicking of ceramics and the opening and closing of wooden drawers. That is until you hear from Harry, “A-ha!”
You look up again, seeing him move to the back where few pairs of gloves hang on the wall — so obvious yet still hidden between raincoats and summer hats. “Right under our noses.” You say, getting up.
Harry searches inside the gloves, tongue trapped between his teeth. “Bingo!” He says, pulling out two tiny bottles from inside one pair.
“What is it?”
“Liquor.” He grins, peeking at you from under his lashes before ripping a piece of paper attached to it. “It says ‘one for each, now get to clue number two.’” He holds up one bottle, offering it to you, to which you take it. “It’s chocolate flavored.”
“Of course it would be a drinking game.” You open it, feeling the artificial chocolate scent braid with the alcohol. “Christ.”
“Don’t smell it, or it’ll be worse,” Harry says, downing his with one quick tilt of his head. “‘S not that bad, actually.”
You mimic his action, letting the drink swiftly burn its way down your throat. Unlike Harry, you can’t help but scrunch your nose at the taste. “You’re a fucking liar.”
Harry only giggles in response, taking the empty bottle from you and placing it back inside the gloves, along with his own. 
And then again, silence. You turn to the flowers to find some comfort.
A family of tulips glances back at you, their petals in a full red, it’s the kind of beauty you’re scared to ruin if you touch, so you just rest your hand on the wood. “They’re beautiful.” You only notice you say it out loud when Harry hums back in agreement.
“They are.” He says quietly but somehow feels loud by how close he is. “Tulips are my favorites.”
You stop, brows raising incredulously at him. “No, they’re not.”
“What?”
Cursing the universe for playing with you like this, you can’t help but laugh at the situation. “It’s just- they’re my favorites, too.” You look at him. “My nan used to plant them when I was little.”
“That’s sweet.” He says, smiling and you nod. “The red ones represent true love.” He points. “And the purple ones represent royalty.”
You blink at him. “Do you just look up tulip facts in your free time?”
Harry laughs. “Yeah, basically.” He looks down at you, and you can’t help but notice how the greenery around brings out the shade of his eyes. “I worked at a flower shop for a tick.”
“Really?”
He nods. “For eight months. My favorite part was writing on the store board every morning.” His face lights up as he recalls his experience. “I used to write silly stuff like, ‘one day I’d like to meet tulips.’ The old ladies loved it.”
You shake your head, breathing out a laugh. “You’re dangerous.”
“Dangerous? Why’s that?”
Because you’re sweet, you want to answer, because when I think I won’t get charmed by you again, you hit me with tulip puns. Your lip finds its spot between your teeth, you’d be damned to give him the satisfaction of hearing you tell him that, so, instead, you shrug. “Because.” You can tell he wants to dig more by the way his lip twitch up, teasing a smile, but you just nod towards the door before turning away from him and heading out. 
There’s a distinct change of temperature when you step outside, and it’s only when you do that you notice the greenhouse was heated. Thankfully, the night is not too windy as it would get a week or two ago when winter was still insisting on making itself present, but it’s still chilly so that it makes you hug your jacket closer to your body. Harry also notices the difference, as you hear him wince as he steps out from behind you — unlike you, he’s not wearing anything to protect his arms from the cold, which only makes it harder for you to not ogle the tattoos hugging his skin.
“So, what’s next?” You prompt.
Harry reaches for the card again, taking it from its spot on his pocket before reading the second clue. “‘Not feeling too creative to write this one, it’s on the third tree on oak.’”
“I mean, at least we don’t have to think too much on this one.” You say, “Oak Street is the one to the left, right?”
“Yeah.” Harry sighs. “Can’t believe he’s making us go out on the streets.”
You start to make your way back towards the house. “Too tired for a stroll?”
“‘S cold,” Harry says, scrunching his nose. “Here, there’s a side gate.”
He guides you through a gravel path to where the black gate stands, hidden between bushes and branches. Strings of fern hug the bricked fence and the surrounding grass is high enough that it tickles your calves through your tights, making you believe this path has probably been left unused for at least a couple of months now. This information brings out an extra worry for you, as you take a better look at it, noticing how the gate is closed shut to the fence.“Is it open?” You wonder out loud.
“Shit, I don’t think it is.” Harry huffs under his breath. “But, I mean, we could easily jump it.”
You stop, turning to glance at him as the suggestion leaves his lips. He stands there, hands on his hips, examining the gate, tongue poking out as he frowns. After a second, he meets your eyes. “What? It’s not that tall.”
“I suppose.” You say, looking back at the fence that ends just below your shoulder length. It would be easy enough for you to climb it with a boost, however, “I’m wearing a dress.”
“Oh,” Harry scratches the back of his neck. “Let’s just go inside-” He turns back.
“Wait,” You stop him, not sure if it’s the slight amount of alcohol in your system already making you more adventurous, you train your gaze at the gate, analyzing it again, before looking back at him. Squinting your eyes, “You have to close your eyes.”
He laughs, “Are you sure?”
“It’s not that high.” You shrug. “But I need your help.”
“Of course.” He moves next to the brick wall, kneeling before it and nodding towards you. “C’mon, step up.”
Hesitantly, you glance at his thigh stretching his trousers, a sudden wave of insecurity hitting you. “Are you sure you can lift me?”
Harry simply puts his hand out in a silent request for you to hold. “Of course.”
“No peeking.”
He shuts his eyes tightly, chin meeting his chest as he looks down. And then you take his hand, feeling his fingers lock in a firm hold as he helps you use him for support. You hesitate again before using his thigh as a step, “Wait, I’m gonna ruin your trousers.” You worry, but Harry only shakes his head, still keeping it facing the ground, the strands of his hair falling above his eyes in a makeshift blindfold. When he doesn't feel you stepping in still, he encourages you with a squeeze in your hand. 
You attempt to do as quickly as possible with your dress clinging to your legs, tightening your hold to Harry’s hand to step on his thigh. Once you let it go, you can still feel it lingering behind your back as you use your arms to boost yourself up the wall, sitting on it for a moment before jumping to the other side with a huff.
“Can I open them?” You hear Harry’s voice calls from the other side, and you smile, nodding even though he can’t see it.
“Yes!”
And then his face appears as he stands up in a jump, grinning at you. “See? Easy Peasy.”
“I feel like a teen sneaking out.” You say, and you instantly give another meaning to your words as Harry boosts himself up. This time, you certainly don’t hold yourself back from staring at the way his muscles flex at the movement, the tattoos on his arms stretching, and his shirt rolling up. He makes it look so easy, so effortless, barely taking five seconds until he’s jumping in front of you.
“That was fun.” He puffs, patting his trousers lightly.
“So, how are we finding the tree?” You ask, taking a quick glance to where his hands brush on the fabric of his trousers. “Should we read the clue again?”
“I know which one he’s talking about,” Harry says, nodding to the left before beginning his stride in that direction. You follow him, trusting his words as the two of you turn the corner where Evan’s house is located. 
The street in question is much calmer than the one you were just in, with no cars coming or going from the residences — that stand much closer to one another, you notice, giving the whole street more of a narrow feeling to it --, which is not exactly odd, but certainly is a contrast with the main street that Evan’s home faces, that one being more lively with people either coming home or leaving it to enjoy their Friday night. The sudden lack of background noise makes the walk to your destination a tad awkward, as none of you make an effort to strike a conversation. Instead, you resort to silently observing the surrounding area as you walk alongside Harry, noticing how the trees here bend over the sidewalk, their naked branches slowly but surely growing back the leaves they lost months ago — it makes you wonder how beautiful this must look during the peak of springtime, their full branches blending together, making a ceiling of flowers.
“Here.” Harry stops abruptly, making you almost bump into his shoulder, as you were too busy with the scenery you’ve made in your own head. “‘S this one.”
“I thought it said the third one.” You frown, looking back and noticing the way you’ve passed way more than just three.
“This one is the third.” He says, motioning to a small birdhouse stuck to its trunk with a number ‘3’ painted to the front in blue. “It’s a bit of an inside joke,” Harry chuckles to himself. “Now I get why the bastard wanted me to have this card.”
You look closer at the tree, trying to see if there’s something attached to it besides the birdhouse, but there’s nothing. Before you can question it, Harry opens the front of the tiny house, retrieving two tiny bottles from inside of it, similar to the ones you found in the greenhouse.  “Oh, no.” You say, laughing. “Did he just put liquor inside a stranger’s birdhouse?”
Harry shakes his head, “This is not a stranger’s birdhouse.”
“Huh?” You frown, glancing back to the house where you stand in front of, its front completely dark, showing that no one must be at home. You point to it over your shoulder. “Do you know who lives here?”
“Yeah,” He starts, offering you one bottle. “I do.”
Your brows shoot up in surprise, glancing back and forth from the house to the man standing in front of you, an amusing grin growing on his face. “You live here?” You ask, “This is your birdhouse?”
“It is, yeah. In fact, I was the one who built it.” He gives the birdhouse a small pat.
You can’t help but let your mouth hang open for a second. “That’s-” You pause, not sure which word to use. Impressive? Amazing? Hot? “That’s nice.”
Harry smiles, and the two of you stand there for a moment, admiring his work in silence. You suck your bottom lip in, keeping yourself from inquiring further. 
Being presented with how little you know about Harry only peaks at your curiosity at what had happened last year in your brief experience with him. When you were with him it felt as if you’d known him for months rather than weeks, but looking back at it now, you wonder if your infatuation fooled you into thinking the two of you were close. Maybe that’s why you were so upset at the premiere after all because all that did was prove to you how much you didn’t know him at all. No matter how many sleepless nights you spent together sharing bits of your lives, it wasn’t enough for you to get to know him.
It’s only when a car turns into the street that you break away from your thoughts, looking up at him and clearing your throat. “We should take this back to Evan’s.” You say. “I’m not sure how it would look from an outsider’s point of view to see us downing these tiny bottles in the middle of the street.”
“You’re right,” Harry says. “Should we read the last clue while we’re at it?”
“Sure, yeah.”
He reaches for the card inside his pocket, presenting it to you. “You do the honors this time.”
You take the card, brushing your thumb over the words before stopping for a second to read them out loud, “You’ll find your prize behind the words of buried legends.” You snort. “That’s so corny.”
“Words of buried legends,” Harry repeats, letting out a hum. “Bet he was feeling quite poetic when he wrote this one.”
“Maybe because it has to do with poems.” You peek at him, a slight raise to your eyebrow. “‘Words of buried legends’? like dead poets and stuff?” Upon reading it again to make sure, you mumble, “He really made this card especially for you, huh?”
“Makes sense.” Harry agrees before nudging you playfully with his arm. “Look at you with your literary mind!”
“Could’ve used some better wording but I’ll let it pass.” You giggle, shrugging as you hand him back the card. As you do so, you notice there’s something written on the other side. “What’s in the back?”
Harry’s brows meet. “Huh?”
“In the back of the card, something’s written on it.” You nod towards his hand as he’s about to pocket the card again. 
Harry turns it around, reading it with a chuckle. “Ice breakers.”
“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Your mouth drops open in amusement. “Well? Go on, then. Break the ice.”
Harry makes a show of clearing his throat before reading the question as an announcement, “What celebrity do you think you could pull on your best day?”
“Is this the actual question?” You squint your eyes at him and he turns the card to allow you to read it as well. Surely, the same question reads right on top of it and, as you take a glance at the ones below it, they’re not that much better. You shake your head, “God, I have no idea.”
“I know mine.”
“You didn’t give a single thought on that one.” You say. “This should be good.”
“Jennifer Aniston.”
“Jennifer Aniston?” You stop on your tracks, raising your brows at him. “You know she was married to Brad Pitt, right?”
“Ouch.” Harry makes the theatrics of putting a hand on his heart, head falling dramatically to the side. “Right where it hurts.”
“I’m not saying you’re bad-looking, but he’s Brad Pitt.” You emphasize with a laugh, pushing him playfully as you keep walking. “Like he is the male beauty standard. Personified.”
The front of Evan’s feels more vivid than it was when you first walked in hours ago, the lights inside seeming lighter and the curtains having been pulled back, showing people wandering around on the inside. You walk past another pair crouched in front of the bushes that line next to the front gate that creaks as you open it.
Harry rolls his eyes. “Sure, let’s hear yours, then, sweetheart.”
“Ew, don’t ever call me that again.” Your nose scrunches and your face grows hot, but you attempt to shake it off, stopping to think of the question. “Huh, on my best day? I think… I don’t know, maybe Drake?”
“Oh, no!” Harry’s hands cover his face as he shakes his head into them. “I feel like that’s the most basic answer anyone could ever give to this question.”
You gasp. “Did you just call me basic?”
Harry holds the front door open for you and, before he’s able to give you an answer, you bump right into Nia. She instantly blurts out your name, as if she’s been expecting you to appear. “I’ve been looking for you!” She says, sparing Harry a glance over your shoulder before pulling you slightly to the side. “Do you think we could talk for a second?”
“Sure.” You hold out the word, looking at Harry before focusing on your friend again. “Did something happen?”
“No, no, nothing happened. Just—” Nia starts, locking your arms as she guides you back outside, pulling you to a corner a few steps away from the front door. “How are you? How's it going?”
“I’m fine. Why?” Your brows knit together at her interference and you wonder if it has anything to do with her conversation with Nate.
“I’m talking about-” She looks over her shoulder, clearly checking if anyone is listening in. Even after making sure that there’s no one there, she still lowers her voice. “When I saw he was your pair, I wanted to rescue you right away, but fucking Taylor pulled me with him and I didn’t get the chance.”
Oh. “Oh.”
“Is it too awkward?” She keeps her inquiry, holding your hand close to her chest. “We could ask them to switch so we can do the rest together, I’m sure Evan’s too plastered to notice.”
“Nia, I-” You smile as you come to realize that she pulled you aside just to check if you’re uncomfortable, having witnessed first-hand your whines and cries over Harry last year. “It’s okay, really. It’s not that bad, surprisingly.”
“Really?” Nia blinks, taken aback. “I- What happened?”
“Nothing.” You reassure her with a squeeze on her hand. “We’re just chatting, it’s not that awkward.”
“Okay.” She nods and nods, before falling serious again. “But if anything happens you just have to scream for me and I’ll be right there, okay?”
“Okay.” You say, pulling her for a brief hug. “Thanks, Ni.”
The two of you return inside just as Taylor brings up his brother’s hair sculpture collection that’s being exhibited at a local gallery — a subject you already have been the victim of hearing for about an hour during New Year’s and, by Harry’s face, he seems as helpless as you did back then. Nia doesn’t waste a second before pulling her pair away, “Let’s go, pal, those clues won’t solve themselves,” she shoots you a look over her shoulder, pushing Taylor towards the living room and you chuckle.
“He really is one of a kind, that man,” Harry says with a sigh before meeting your gaze. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, just lady talk.” You brush aside. “Let’s find those poets, shall we?”
“We shall.” Harry smiles, looking around for a second before guiding you down the hallway, turning just before entering the kitchen where a staircase. This is a way that — like the greenhouse — you’ve never been to. Still, Harry navigates so casually as if it were his own home and, to some degree, you suppose it is. You follow him up the first flight of steps, stopping just before turning into the next one where a door you never really noticed before stands. Harry rests his hand on the handle, turning to you before saying, “There’s an office hidden right here.”
You watch as he opens it, motioning for you to walk in first. And, indeed, the inside of it is an office, just a bit smaller than the living room on the opposite side of the house. Two bookcases that go from the floor to the ceiling mostly covered the wall, only leaving a single space in the middle for a dark wooden cabinet. In front of it, an L-shaped desk takes up the middle of the room, most of it is filled with files and paper stacks, as well as two computers lying asleep. For a moment, you just stand by the doorway, admiring this room you’ve never known of its existence, your eyes quickly sweeping through the bookshelves completely packed with dark cover books of all sorts. “Do you think this is where it could be?”
“Probably, yeah.” Harry nods, turning on the lights. “I don’t know where else he could have any poetry hidden.”
You move towards one bookshelf, the one closest to the door, reaching to brush your finger through the spines perfectly lined. “But look at the size of these, we’ll take forever to find anything in here.”
“Those big ones are mostly law books, I think,” Harry says, opening cabinets at the other side of the room, right next to where a white couch stands. He turns to look at you, “His sister’s a lawyer, this is her office.” Harry says, “But Evan’s got a corner right here where he keeps some of his stuff— like books of sorts. It’s the only place I could think of.”
You hum, not knowing exactly what to respond to this information.
“You can go through the ones on that side, it could be there as well.” Harry nods towards a cabinet right next to the door where you came from, and you nod.
The first two cabinets are of no luck, both being mostly filled with boxes full of children’s books and old toys — some of them mixed with more stacks of paper, but those, instead of having long texts, have drawings of all kinds from what you could gather in a glance, from child-like scribbles to actual sketches. You can hear Harry going through drawers on the other side of the room and, upon closing another empty cabinet, you peek at him, watching his broad back flexing under his shirt as he moves around. Averting your eyes as swiftly as you looked, it’s still enough to bring warmth to your cheeks.
Finally, you open the cabinet at the very bottom of the shelf. On the top, there are piles of DVDs, most being different variations of Barbie movies, but, right at the bottom, you find books. You don’t stop to check their genre at first, simply moving them away until you stumble upon a small box, the top of it marked with the word ‘prize’. “Found it!” You call back, taking the box away from the pile before setting the books back in place again. “Under Rupi Kaur? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure she’s very alive.”
“Don’t tell Evan that,” Harry says as he crouches next to you, taking the box from your hands. Inside, there are, as expected, two tiny bottles like the ones you found before but, what calls both your attention, is a small bag of sweets lying in the middle. Harry takes it, “Oh, those are nice.”
He hands it to you and you open it, quickly shoving a jelly candy into your mouth before nodding. “Yeah.”
“So…” Harry starts, peeking over his shoulder, “Do you want to go back there?”
You glance at him, his eyes hovering above yours, lips twitching up just barely. “Uh… Maybe not right now.” You answer, “Unless you feel like sharing our Jellies with other people.”
Harry only laughs, shaking his head as he sits back and you do so too, right next to him. He reaches for his pocket, presenting another tiny bottle, the one you found inside his birdhouse, “We still got these.” 
“Right!” You fetch your own out of the pocket of your jacket.
Harry opens his, holding it up towards you. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” You say, mimicking him.
Both of you down your drinks, the liquid tasting bitter, like medicine on your tongue, the only reminder of alcohol being the burn as it slides down your throat. You rest your head back on the cabinet behind you as the two of you fall into silence once more. A part of your mind is already beginning to swim around the space inside your head, and you decide to not take the last drink just yet, laying it next to your leg. Though you’ve only had the equivalent of two shots, you realize the long break you’ve had from drinking for the past couple of months -- which wasn’t exactly an intentional choice, but more like the result of your lack of free time -- is showing itself to have been enough to make you more of a lightweight. 
And even though the night so far has been strikingly surprising in terms of how comfortable you felt being around Harry again, it doesn’t mean the questions you’ve been carrying since last year have gotten any quieter. They’ve only gotten louder. More persistent, even. The curiosity you feel to know what happened is almost suffocating now. And you’d be damned if you let a drunken mind stop you from having this conversation.
You glance at him from the corner of your eyes, only watching the back of his head bobbing along with the music -- still the piano -- that comes faintly from behind the closed door. Your lips part, feeling the question form right at the tip of your tongue, but not knowing how to voice the words. Will it be awkward? You think so, but what if it ruins the night? Tonight, that’s been so oddly refreshing. A night that only served to remind you how you became so infatuated with him in the first place.
But you know you won’t be able to let go of this ich inside your head unless you bring it up. And you want to, you do, but as you take too long to think of the right way to do so, Harry decides to break the silence, murmuring next to you, “That’s a good one.”
Your brows knit together, trying to make out any trace of familiarity within the song that’s playing, but you don't find any, which only leaves you even more confused.  “Do you like classical?”
“Love,” Harry says simply, his eyes closed as he moves his head with the piano keys. “Especially this one. One of the greatest works from one of the greatest contemporary composers: Billie Eilish.”
Your lips fall open, “Shut up. Is she playing this?”
Harry laughs, a full one, that brings a grin to poke at your lips. “I mean, as far as I’m aware, no. It’s a version of her song — listen in.” He points to his ear, nodding with the melody as he sings along, “So you’re a tough guy, like it really rough guy.”
You shake your head incredulously, “Of course he’s playing classical versions of pop songs!” 
“Did you really think Evan had a taste for Chopin or Debussy?” Harry asks both dimples poking on his cheeks.
“I think at this point I’d believe anything you tell me about him.”
Both of you laugh, the air surrounding you light and warm, before falling quiet again. This time, however, you simply stare at each other for a beat. You watch his eyes, with their almost hypnotizing jade shade, glancing between your own. He rolls his lip between his teeth, nibbling at it. This is the closest you’ve been to him all night, and the details on his face only feel like a reminder of your doubts. Like the nostalgia you feel with a bittersweet memory.
“Should we-“ You stop, the words falling from your lips before you can think about them. “Should we talk about the elephant in the room?”
You half expect Harry to frown, to play dumb, and question you the meaning behind your words. For a second, you even expect him to shake his head, to get up and leave the room. And, for some reason, you kinda want him to do so. To finally break the mask of the nice, sweet guy he’s been putting on all night and allow himself to play the role of cold prick you put him on for the past months. 
But he doesn’t do it. He only gives you a short smile. “I was thinking about how to bring it up.” Harry’s gaze falls to his lap for a beat as he scratches his nose. “We should, yeah.”
You nod, more to yourself than to him. This is it. The moment to ask what you’ve been waiting for for six months now. You decide not to think much anymore, allowing the question to roll freely, “I don’t really know how to word this better but- pardon my French- what the fuck happened?”
Harry chuckles, but not an amused one. It’s more of a dry, nervous laugh. “How cliche is it if I tell you I was really fucking stupid?”
“Pretty cliche.” You say, “But also pretty true, I suppose.”
“I’m sorry for that.” He looks up, eyes meeting yours again, his own softening upon seeing you. “I really am.”
“Thank you for apologizing.” You smile a little, “But I think I deserve an explanation.”
“You do.” He speaks quietly before clearing his throat. For a second, he doesn’t say anything else, just takes a sharp breath, focusing on his fingers that play with the hem of his trousers. “I- Uhm- I know this might come as a surprise, but I’m not very good at letting people down.”
“A bit, I guess.” You try to humor, but your tone doesn’t show it. You sound quiet, hurt.
He peeks up at you, and continues, “Jess- the girl you met at the premiere- she’s lovely and all, but- how do I say this- we were never really supposed to be together.” Harry sighs, “I didn’t like her like that.”
You frown, “Then, why did you?”
“A couple of months before we met- before Evan even mentioned the film project to me, one of my mates kept insisting that I should meet his sister.” He pauses, “That was Jess.”
“I figured.”
Harry nods, “As I said, she’s a lovely girl, really nice, but we just- didn’t click like that, you know?” You hum in agreement, ignoring a small twist in your stomach when he repeats the endearment term. “But I guess she really wanted to try it, and, for months, I just kept pushing and pushing, cause I thought maybe with time I could bring myself to feel the same way.” And then again, another humorless laugh, “But- spoiler alert- I couldn’t and I should’ve just told her that.”
Your mouth hangs open for a beat before you decide against saying anything. It’s clear as you watch him explain that the entire situation for him felt more complicated than you’d ever considered. Not once did you think about the possibility of him being caught in a twist of his own decisions, and not once did you regard his feelings with the whole situation. In your bubble of gloominess, all you could think of was how he played you and used you for a bit before moving on to the next girl that fell for his sweet talk. 
Looking at him now, however, his head low and brows set on a permanent crease, lips frowning down, you can feel the internal conflict pooling out of his pores. You’re not sure if it’s exactly a look of remorse that he gives you, but it sure seems close to it.
Harry huffs in what feels like frustration as he keeps recalling the events, “But all my mates kept taking the piss, pushing me to ask her out and then, in the middle of it, I met you.” He finally smiles a bit, and you have to look down to hide the warmth that spreads on your cheeks, “And we-uh-” He shrugs, “I mean, we clicked, didn’t we?”
“I think so.” You say, just above a whisper.
“I think so, too,” Harry says, holding your gaze with his own. “And when I was with you I let myself forget about that, forget about the pressure to be with someone else, I guess.” His lips fall again, eyes meeting his lap, “But when we came back, there wasn’t much running away from it anymore. The night we got back I met that friend of mine and, I’m not sure if he said anything to Jess, but she asked me out.”
“And you said yes.”
“I said yes.” He repeats, shaking his head, “I shouldn’t have, but I said yes.”
“So you just dated her? Even if you didn’t like her like that?” You say, trying to understand his thought process. Even if his words tug at your heartstrings -- which you try to not think about right now -- you still can’t help but feel a bit for the other girl.
“I thought I could- I don’t know, I thought with time maybe I could-” He stumbles around with his speech, before finally letting out a sigh, “I don’t know what was going through my head, to be honest. I was a prick.”
“At least you can admit to it.”
“I was a prick to both of you.” 
You fall quiet, hoping he takes your silence as an agreement. When he doesn’t offer anything else, you speak up again, “Did it work, though?” He frowns, and you clarify, “Letting time force feelings into you?”
“I found very quickly how hard it is to develop feelings for someone when there’s someone else on your mind.” He says, and you bite back a smile that wants to spread on your lips.
“It’s very easy to say that now.”
“I know.” He agrees, “And I wish I could’ve realized that earlier, before even bringing you into this mess.” Harry reaches for your wrist, which lies on top of your lap, giving it a gentle squeeze. “For that I really am sorry.”
“I know you are.” You reassure, turning your hand to find his, squeezing it back. “And what happened to Jess?”
“She was rightfully upset when I told her.” His thumb brushes against your knuckles, moving the rings on your fingers around just slightly, and it’s almost enough to distract you from his voice. “We broke up a day after the premiere.”
“Ouch.”
“But it’s fine now, she’s got a boyfriend now who actually cares for her the way she deserves,” Harry says.
“That’s nice to hear, at least.”
“It is, yeah.”
You look down at your hands locked in your lap, squeezing his one more time before letting it go with a sigh.  “You really made a big mess, huh?”
He chuckles, a guilty smile poking on his face, “I did.”
You nod, finally reaching for the tiny bottle left forgotten next to you, opening it. This time you only take a sip, but it’s still enough to end half of the liquid inside. You click your tongue, “I’m glad we talked, though.” You look up at Harry again, who’s already watching you, giving a small tap on his thigh. “It’s nice to have closure, you know? To give it a conclusion and wrap with a nice little bow.”
Harry rolls his lip inside his mouth, “Is this a conclusion, then?”
You raise your brows, “Is it not?”
“I guess it could be.” He shrugs one shoulder, leaning closer to you just barely, eyes trained in yours. “But I’m hoping that, after today, maybe we could start over?”
You laugh, scrunching your nose at him as you shake your head. “Not a start over, no.” You poke his side, “You’re not getting away that easy.”
“You’re right.” He says, still not budging as he frowns his lips. “But I wish it didn’t have to be an ending as well.”
“Is that so?”
Harry nods, you can tell his eyes hold a shyness that wasn’t here a minute ago, but at the same time -- as paradoxically as it seems -- there’s a boldness as well, one you’re more familiar with. “Maybe we could chat again. This time with fewer ice breaker cards and more bags of sweets.”
You smile, rubbing your chin as you pretend to ponder about his suggestion. “That does sound very promising.”
“I really do think we clicked.” He drops his playful tone as if wanting to make sure you feel the sincerity behind his words. “Wasn’t just saying it.”
“I know.” You say, “And I think so, too.”
His smirk grows, and he doesn’t offer anything else to say, but you can tell he’s holding something back. With the silence, you suddenly become too aware of the way your arms brush together, and how his knee bumps against yours. You notice how his eyes fall a bit from yours, so quickly you could’ve imagined it, but you choose to not think so. If you lean forward, you know he will too, but you don’t want to give him the satisfaction. You’re not letting yourself make the first move.
Surely, you’re aware these thoughts are a direct result of the alcohol sweeping through your mind, testing how much of your pride you’re willing to ignore. There’s no questioning of the wall that you built all those months ago after walking out of this very house with this very man on your tail blurring out apologies. It still stands, tall and strong, and you're not letting sweet words mixed with a drink or two pull it down. Not that easily. But at this moment, looking at his stupidly beautiful face with his stupidly beautiful eyes so close to you, you feel like maybe you could peek through a window, or open up a door — just a creek, just to have a sample of what it would feel like if you were to pull it down.
“Do you want to go back?” Harry asks again, this time more quietly, this time his question has a different implication than it did before.
You're quick to shake your head, voice quiet, “Not yet.”
The corner of his lips quirk up and you raise your brows, silently daring him to ask what he’s been holding. You see his hand moving from the corner of your eyes, but you don’t break your gaze from his, not even when you feel his fingertips moving so gently against your cheekbone, brushing your hair away from your face. Harry leans closer, again just barely, and again, you stay still, only smiling softly in encouragement. Now, you’re stuck in your own silent conversation; both seeking the same thing but not making the move to achieve it -- either for pride or apprehension. 
“I’d really like to kiss you right now,” Harry whispers finally, eyes moving down again, this time slowly, making sure that his intentions are clear.
“Do it, then.” You tease.
Harry breathes out a laugh, his hand caressing its way down to your jaw. He rubs his thumb against your cheek, a feathery touch, taking another second to look at you before pulling you in. Your eyes fall closed, as you focus on your senses, and allow yourself to peek from that window, or creek that door open just a bit, to have just this moment to remember when you first got lost in his touch. 
First, it’s the warmth of his breath tickling your cupid bow, making your hold your own breath in anticipation. Then, the tip of his nose, gentle against your own, and you can’t help but lean in a bit more when you feel the ghost of his lips on yours. But he pulls back, just so slightly, hoping to have you reach for him again. Except you don’t, knowing what he’s trying to do.
“Uh-uh,” you shake your head, pulling back just a bit to look him in the eye. “You don’t get to tease me.”
Harry huffs out a laugh, “That’s fair.”
This time, there’s no teasing. Still, he goes in just as slowly as he did the first time around, curving his lips around your bottom one so softly it almost makes you lean in again. His kiss is cloud-like in a way that makes you a bit dizzy and when he presses his lips harder, you have to refrain from letting out a dreamy sigh -- still too stubborn to give him the satisfaction. It’s when you feel the tip of his tongue poking out to lick at your bottom lip in a silent request, that you pull away completely.
It’s your turn to smirk now, licking your lips before announcing, “I think we should go back now.”
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hitoshisbabygirl · 3 years
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Author's Notes ♡: hello hello! Welcome to another BNHAREM collab! This theme of office/work au just gave me so many ideas for some other characters I’m excited! Anywhooo I enjoyed writing this fic out a lot and surprised at how long it is actually! I tried to do a bit of progress between the reader and Shinsou but it might seem a bit jumpy, it’s over the course of a few months jump betweeneach scene!I hope you guys enjoy and check out the others fics too!! ~ bunny ❥
Warnings : NSFW! Tying up (only a little?) , pet names! (Kitten slut and princess!) oral (f! receiving) and I think that’s all!
Word count : 5.5k (another big boy!)
Paring(s) : Shinsou Hitoshi x F!reader
Summary : Falling for your boss was a feat in itself, but what happens when he wants you for himself the same way you do?
Enjoy ♡
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Working as a pro heros assistant has its perks and stressors, especially when the one you work for is the spitting image and personality of the one Mr. Shouta Aizawa ; aka Eraserhead. Quiet, tired, sarcastic but a joy to be around when the two of you could be alone , his sarcastic jokes and overall tiredness with whoever bothered him who wasn't his assistant was a fun thing to hear, especially knowing how he is. Becoming his assistant came as an odd thing too, from him saying he sees how much she worked and seeing the work she was capable of was the catalyst for him asking for her name and for her to be moved to be his assistant. And that's how [ ] found herself speed walking her way to her bosses office, tea , a bottle of water and some type of sweet muffin in her one handed tray and his files in another. Trying not to drop anything as she got closer to his door she pushed the door as hard as she could with a healed foot, sighing in relief as she was able to put everything down without incident. Hearing the door creak after she entered [ ] turned around to face her violet haired boss, a lopsided smile on his face as she straightened up “ H-hello Mr.Shinsou I have everything out for your meeting ; There's the food you requested and all of your files and documents about the the next briefing mission!” Smiling at the taller male his own smirk widened as he shut his door and strolled passed her, the smell of cologne and body wash waving over her senses.
“Thank you [ ]. You always take good care of me, '' Hitoshi said as he sat at his desk and started to open up the files, sipping the tea she brought him. Trying not to let that phrase make her skin tingle with pride [ ] started to leave, letting him be him with his work [ ] headed to the door before Hitoshi looked up and saw her leaving “Oh [ ]” he called out as she turned around , crossing her hands over her skirt that rose on her legs ``Y-yes sir?” “You look pretty today, as usual.” and there it was, the usual complimenting that [ ] wasn't used to. The compliments picked up within a few months of [ ] working with Hitoshi, the two starting already with a good work relationship from the beginning to a more comfortable friendship at work balance. For some reason [ ] couldn't help but notice she was the only female around him that he acted like this with, not comments towards her other female employees, he barely spared them a look as he saw them in the halls or gave them a small answer back to their cheery comments. But when he came over to see [ ] it was a different energy, he was more friendly, he talked a bit more about things he enjoyed and even laughed some! [ ] never even noticed the difference until some of the other workers said they were happy she had joined them because she made their boss more relaxed and calm as opposed to tired and snappy. Shaking her thoughts away she noticed Hitoshi was still looking at her, head resting on his hands as he looked her over before looking at the mess of papers under him “You ordered them for me huh? What did i do to deserve such a wonderful assistant.” He said as [ ] felt the praise make her chest swell. “I try sir” , giving her another smile as he sat back in his chair. “I have another meeting this week I'd like you to sit in on. You're smart and can help me with notes on the lesson if you wouldn't mind?” opening a shut eye Hitoshi saw the confusion then joy that ran through [ ]’s eyes “I'd love to Sir! It'd be an honor to sit in and help you!” She said as he gave him a smile he was selfishly enjoying only for him “ Great. And you can call my Hitoshi [ ], no need for honorifics when we’re pretty good friends now hm?” giggling [ ] shook her head “Sure thing Hitoshi '' Ah there it was for him, the sweet sound of his name on her lips. Watching as she bowed and left he couldn't help the raging thoughts running through his head as his meetings for the day proceeded as planned.
The next few days were odd to say the least. After his meetings Hitoshi was more quiet, slipping in and out of his office without interaction or barely a glance at even his closest friends. He didn't tell [ ] what he needed, more of a list he left the night before and gave her small but barely there smiles when she brought them to him or even brought snacks as his days drained on. This was the boss shinsou she heard of , not the hitoshi she was accustomed to. One day as [ ] sat in her room across the way from her said boss she heard a call for her, someone saying that Mr.Shinsou was needing her. Nervous about what he could need from her when he's already in a bad mood she headed up to his office before knocking softly, hearing a grunt ‘Come in’ from the other side. His office was relatively dark, just the natural light coming from the gian window from behind his grand desk. And sitting at his desk was a sight to behold. There he was, long curly purple hair tousled around as his rolled up sleeves of his normal office clothes laid tightly against his forearm, the few top buttons of the dress shirt opened to reveal the hard muscles built up as a pro hero should have. A face of tiredness, irritability and overall done was evident on his features, but as soon as his eyes met [ ]’s they seemed to have life comeback to them “Ah, you got my message” He said, his voice was laced with sleep, if the darker than normal bags under them wasn't even enough. Even with his sounding half asleep [ ] couldn't help the fluttering she felt from hearing him sound more...rough around the edges than usual “Y-yes i did , seem like you're tired sir can i help with anything?” Now having the man turn fully to face her she saw the look in his eyes , an almost mischievous glint in them as he rolled his shoulders ``This might be an odd request but..mind helping me stretch? I've been keeping up with field work and in the office too but with it all I seem to be overworking my body, I'm sore all over and not getting sleep is well….doing its damage” he huffed out a laugh as [ ] tried to hide the shock and excitement of his questioning. Being that close to her boss, a man she's come to not only admire but has caught a bit of a crush on asking her for help? But she thought it over ‘ I'm his assistant , its what im paid for’
Strolling over to him she gently put her hands on his shoulders and pushed, hearing the male under her groan as he laid back into her gestures “Fuck...I knew youd be an amazing masseuse..” he grumbled under his breath as he laid father back, sliding his shoulders deepeer into her hands as [ ] tried not to let herself to be affected with her bosses words “Dont be shy [
], you can push harder on me , I won't break y'know..” Hitoshi joked as she laughed, pressing her nails into his shoulders as a sinful moan was ripped from his throat. Feeling her face heat up [ ] just rubbed the knots from his shoulders, suppressing a squeal as the sound the violet haired man made increased. Rubbing over the back of his neck and shoulders all of the main knots she felt seemed to have worked out. Softly she stepped away from him and called out “I-Im all done sir, unless you need more?” hearing him groan as he stood she was faced with dark eyes looking her over “Those little hands of yours did wonders for me sweetheart, i should have you be my physical therapist too” laughing [ ] pushed his chest and crossed over the side of his desk to the chair that was across from his “Oh please it was nothing but me trying to loosen up your muscles!” crossing his desk as well Hitoshi came behind his assistant, placing his much larger hands on her shoulders ``Well why don't I return the favor, you've been helping me with all this paperwork and now being a masseuse for me...it's the least I can do'' he whispered in her ear as she let out an involuntary whine , feeling his hands tighten with his warm breath hitting her ear. Taking his thumbs Hitoshi did the same, rolling her muscles out of being tight and wound up, but making sure to do more teasing than [ ] expected. Every so often he whispered “Is that okay?” or some type of small praise, making sure to acknowledge . He was drawing it out on purpose, making sure to move closer to her with every push, or have her whimper with a hard roll or pinch of his larger fingers. Just as she had done he pulled away , but not before rubbing up her arms and giving that same lazy smile “Well I hope i was able to compete with your expert massage” Still overwhelmed she just shook her head and agreed , letting their eyes mingle longer before the phone ringing broke the silence. Sighing Hitoshi went back to his seat, picking the line up before answering “Hello this is Mind Jack” rolling his eyes the man answered, pushing his rolling chair side to side as he was listening to whoever called. [ ] could see how tense he was starting to get, those same shoulders sinking back to their tense state as he continued to drain on with whoever was on the other side “Yeah...the back was the way they seemed to bring in other collateral. Taking a pen from his desk and scrap paper [ ] wrote ‘I can leave and get you some tea if you want it’ and slid it to the violet haired male, his eyes glancing to the paper and back to hers. Snorting he took the pen and replied ‘You're too cute. I'm fine.’ frowning she wrote back ‘But you look stressed again :(‘.
Before she could slide it to him the sound of him yelling shocked her “Well of course there's a problem , no ones keeping a proper tab on him!” Jumping slightly at his hand hitting the wooden desk [ ] covered her squeal, looking up to see the furious eyes of the intimidating man soften before he pointed to her, curling his finger for her to come closer. Hesitantly she did, getting very close before he patted a thigh, shocking the girl. Before she could question him he slid the paper back to her “im sorry :(, mind sitting down with me? Could use a different set of ears for whatever this shit he's telling me...Unless you're uncomfortable, consent is key here and i'm not an opportunist :)’ Smiling at the small note she crossed over his leg to sit in his lap, hesitantly placing her weight down before hearing the older sounding man say something “One second Shin, gotta go get some files and the line was silent. Pushing the speaker and setting the handle down on the holding phone, Hitoshi rubbed at his forehead “This is a pain….I guess the lead we hand on a drug distributor is true but no ones properly following him..I might need to leave the office to follow from higher ground” He spoke up after sensing [ ]’s eyes on his closed ones ``But you should be resting ‘toshi not overworking” [ ] said as she felt his hand wrapping around her waist “God you're too good for me woman, sometimes I wonder how I can keep my composer around such a good girl'' Straightening her back [ ] felt her face heat up , a tingle running though her spine as he continued, getting closer to her ear “Yknow, you're always on edge with me, why is that pretty girl?” Whimpering she felt his hand stroke the mesh of her stockings “Always wearing such cute little outfits...you're like a doll” holding in her breath she gasped when she felt his fingers pinch her thigh “You still didn't answer me [ ]...” Clearing her throat she spoke up “You're just a bit intimidating is all sir..hitoshi” shr admitted as he chuckled , tightening his grasp on her waist “So I intimidate you huh sweetheart?” moving his hand away he just laid back, giving [ ] rome to breathe “You can relax,, I'm used to others ebing a bit scared of me so it's not that big of a surprise.” chuckling, he continued “ You don't have to stay on me , I was just being selfish with you”
Feeling a bit sad at his wording, [ ] turned herself around to look at him, and immediately regretted it. He looked perfect, body sprawled and relaxed on the leather office chair, a similar button up, this time black , was still left open , leaving his neck opened to see. The lazy tired look he always radiates was there, being a sense of calm from him. Since he was in the office he now wore more jewelry , a set of plain titanium bands fit over his fingers. That casually was scrolling his phone. Feeling herself staring too much [ ] cleared her throat and whispered “Well I like you...so I like it up here” And that phrase snapped Hitoshi from his scrolling “What did you just say?” realizing her open thought to herself actually was heard by him she froze, starting to rise from his lap “Ah nothing just-” “[ ], what did you just say to me..” grabbing her arm before she could get far enough she was jerked back to his face. Questioning eyes stared back at the nervous and faltering ones that stared back. “I said I didn't mind being on your lap..” She said as he smirked “But why?” Looking away from his piercing stare she let out a small snort “Well because its kinda comfy” The smirk on his face turned into a grin “That's not what I heard kitten try again” Feeling the heat spread to her face she tried to pull here arm from him only for him to hold it tighter “I..didn't say anything else” clicking his tongue he got closer, putting his nose close others “You said you liked me, or maybe my own thoughts are starting to take over” “What do you mean Hitoshi..?” Flicking his eyes to hear he realized what could happen so taking in a breath he continued “If you don't say it then I will...I like you [ ], the months you've been working for me has been the best time for me...I'M selfish with you..and i want you all to myself..I'm the boss here afterwards, so no ones really gonna question if I decide to make you mines”
Gasping at his confession [ ] tried to hide her face until a hand grabbed her chin “But if I was wrong hearing what you said then..I won't push it” Letting her face and arm go he leaned back in that chair, looking at her. Sucking in her own breath [ ] looked at him and spoke “Yes, I said I liked you, and I do, I've had one since the third week here and now its been months, I enjoy being your assistant, I like being able to make you happy and I...really enjoy being around you..” Meeting his eyes again she saw his smile before he put his phone down “Well with that squared away.. Why don't you come here kitten” By dropping his voice and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt [ ] felt like she'd just opened one of the best and scariest doors she could imagine. That was, until the phone rerung. Side eyeing it Shinsou still held a hand out for her, pulling her swiftly to his lap before answering “Yes Sir?” he started again but this time his hand traveled south, rubbing up and down the back of [ ] as he listened to the man on the other side of the phone. Something he said made the boy grab her waist hard, causing her to let out a sound of discomfort. Hearing that the violet haired male looked at her before whispering a soft “Sorry” and pulling her closer. [ ] saw what he meant ; the senior officer was all over the place, no one knew where anything from the heroes’ agencies were, all the papers, notes and documents on the case seemed misplaced or missing pieces and parts.
Focused on listening to the man on the phone as well, she felt herself start to lay on his shoulder to better hear him, slightly curling up on her boss's lap. Gently a ring clad finger slid under [ ]’s shirt, the cool metal cooling off her burning skin. Still buzzing off his confession she decided to be a bit bold, jutting her hip out so he’d have a hand full of her thigh if he wanted to. Still talking to the man on the line, Shinsou threw her a look, raising a brow before taking the invitation to the now more exposed flesh. “Now Hitoshi-kun I think we could work on a few different ways to trap him, I can send some undercover men to join you in his apprehension, this is our fault for losing him and if we come up with a good enough plan we can begin to execute it!” Humming in agreement Shisou felt himself becoming distracted by his assistant who was whimpering at his ministrations, fingers tightening on his shoulder as she let him rub over her hip, down to her ass and squeezing , before with every touch going lower. “Sure sensei lets..work on some places that we could..potentially set up” feeling the ghosting lips of [ ] on his neck Shinsou slid his hand lower to cup over her cheek , a warning that he'd go lower. Pecking a spot on his neck was the push, the same ring clad fingers going between her skirt and pulling the mesh from her core, causing her to gasp out. Smirking as she got back was a kiss to her temple before he rubbed just his knuckle against her core that was starting to weep. Signing out in content she couldn't help herself, knowing that he still was on the phone with the man fumbling to write up things to fax over she grabbed the sides of his shirt to smash their lips together, a grunt falling from the violet as he groaned, dipping in to kiss her deeper until he heard his name “Hitoshi-kun?” Breathlessly he pulled away from the kiss, seeing [ ] pout as he grinned, stuffing a finger inside of the hole he made and pulled her soiled panties from her lower lips ``Ahem , yeah i'm here sir, sorry just had my assistant bring me some papers and I got distracted” Licking at his lips he continued to talk to the chief while rubbing her little bud casually talking to him as he faxed over details.
An agonizing half an hour later they were done and so was his teasing. As soon as the chief said he'd call later and they hung up [ ] was on him, trying to kiss him as he slipped his fingers out and away from the mess dripping between her legs ``Well well well, the kitten can be bold when it comes to being teased'' Letting out a high pitched whine she when to kiss him again but he moved, going for her neck. “Patience sweetheart, I'm not even gonna do anything.” Pulling her up higher on his lap and cradling her waist his lust filled eyes looked over her heaving chest and wide eyes looking at his “You okay? I didn't mean to scare you with how fast we were moving” Shinsou rasped out at her. Feeling heat creep up her neck she shook her head ``'m fine, great actually. Just very um..needy” Laughing at her words he leaned up to kiss her cheek “Well I hope you know i'm not done with you...I’ll let you finish those papers that were sent over...maybe if you be a good girl I'll give you more hm?” Teasing her Shinsou ran his lips over [ ]’s , the gap keeping them apart almost nonexistent as he licked at her lips , starting another deep kiss. Letting his fingers run over her hips he pulled her tucked shirt out more, unbuttoning the ones closest to him as [ ] did the same, not stripping themselves bare but just enough skin for the two to feel each other.
Letting one hand pull up her skirt and one wrapped around her throat Shinsou could feel the heat radiating from her clothed lower half that was runting over his straining hardon. Slowly he grabbed her hip to stop her rocking. Before pulling away from the kiss, both breathing hard against the other “H-hitoshi...you're a tease” clicking his tongue the male gave her a look “If anything you're the tease kitten, rutting against me like that..and then kissing my neck? Naughty girl you wanted my attention and now that you're getting it you wanna whine about it and beg about it not being enough. I promise i'll give you more kitten, I promise you I will...I really wanted to give you a proper date and be able to show you I don't want you as something quick and damn sure not easy.. but at this rate...I'll end up pounding you on this desk like the little brat you are until you learn how to listen [ ], who knew you'd get bratty if you're not being stuffed and begging for more” Kissing her cheek Shinsou let her sigh and start to semi get dressed to get the papers ``You still could take em on a date though…” She said softly as his eyes watched her smooth and fixed her skirt “That I will do” Laughing [ ] awkwardly tried to pull the stockings she had underneath the tiger to fix the hole he made. Watching her struggle was now Shinsous task as his assistant pulled and tugged, soon hearing another rip as she struggled “Take them off” Blinking, [ ] faced him “H-Huh?” “I said take them off, they'll be off soon anyways” Pointing to the clock he was right ; they only had a bit more left in the office before they'd be going home for the day. “O-Oh yeah..But what about-” “If you're nervous I'll walk you to your car, you don't have to worry about feeling exposed” As i f he was reading her thoughts Shinsou spoke, making [ ] feel her heart rise in her throat “Okay...well uhm thank you sir” feeling even more heat in her chest she left out and did as such, feeling the cool air of the building raised goosebumps on her skin. Sighing, she grabbed the stack of papers on the printer, starting to work on them for her teasing boss.
Sticking to his word Shinsou did walk her to her car, a pleasant conversation falling between the two “Well,” her boss started “It looks like we’ll be up to more faxing tomorrow, I’ll see what we’ll need tonight. Thanks for listening in too, oh and for my massage” Giving [ ] a smile he opened her car door for her and turned to leave before feeling a hand grab his wrist “Wait!” Looking back at her he saw how beautiful she looked ; hair a bit disheveled, shirt and skirt not as neat as it was before their little...break. “Yes [ ]?” she didn't understand it, it was like nothing happened . He was the calm and level headed boss instead of the teasing and fierce lover she had hours ago “Well...nothing, it's nothing” Knowing what she was going to ask he stepped closer, pushing her back against her car. Taking his hands and gently placing them on her hips he pushed himself impossibly closer, just until their lips were over each other “Oh don't worry that wasn't a fluke. I told you kitten, I'm not an opportunist , I wanted you to be comfortable before I even attempted to admit my feelings for you, especially in that way” Giving her a soft peck he pulled away “Goodnight [ ] i'll see you tomorrow yeah?” and with that he started to head for his own car.
The following day [ ] made it a point to dress a bit more risky. Wearing a deep v cut and slit up the thigh black dress that was still acceptable for work with a long sweater she came in early to work on all the filing that would need to be done. Hearing a rep on her door she looked up to see one of the other girls come in “Ouuu look at you, whos the lucky person?” Laughing [ ] continued to order “Ah whatever do you mean?” The girl, Mina, came closer. “All of your outfits are cute or a bit womandly but this, this is a minx in disguise , like you're gonna go on a fancy date but really worried about the desert afterwards if you catch my drift.” Laughing with her best friend [ ] shook her head “I wanted to switch it up, honest!” Giving her a questioning look Mina laughed at herself “We’ll see, I bet Mr.Shinsou will enjoy what you're wearing” Eying her pink haired friend and about to ask why she said that they heard someone else open the office floor door.
“Ah hello sir! Welcome in!” “Good Morning Mina” Oh, OH it was the man of the hour, Shinsou entering the place. As he walked by he too, was out of his usual attire; still ring cladded fingers but a more civilian look going on. Skinny black jeans and a t-shirt help reveal the mass that a pro hero could be. Sure he wasn't a super hulk but he was very well built , long hair pulled into a messy bun. Looking up she saw Mina mouthing the words “He's a hunk” and fanning her face. Waving at her and giggling she heard his office door reopen “Ah Mina, would you mind helping the lower floors until the rest of the team gets in, they seem to have messed up your guys parts. You too [ ]” The both of them looked at the papers that were supposed to come in to them and sure enough ; they had “Yeah i'll go! I know [ ] has more important papers to fill out!” Cheerfully she headed out , leaving the floor empty to her and Shinsou “[ ]” “S-sir?” Glancing up from the papers she saw him leaning over the door frame, eyes studying what he could see of her outfit through her sweater “C’mere..” was all he said as he slinked back into his office. Nervously she left the papers at her desk and headed into his, hearing the soothing jazz in the background “Shut the door too” Pushing the heavy wood until it shut she laid against it, looking at her boss who sat at his desk. “So..how's all the paperwork going?” Nodding her head she let out a soft “Good” before letting the quiet jazz fill the room. Leaning forward and taking a sip from an iced coffee he pointed to the door “You can lock it too” Sucking in a breath [ ] twisted the lock, hearing it click as the room now seemed a bit suffocating. “Whats up sir?” Sighing, Shinsou stood, stretching before he strolled over to her “ Now Kitten..didn't I say we didn't have to do honorifics..” feeling like a deer in headlights she started to move backwards until she hit her back on the door. Smirking he pushed his hand against the frame, trapping her between his arms “R-right...sorry ‘toshi” The smell of the same body wash and cologne took up her air and made her knees feel weak “That's a good girl, now come, sit and i'll show you what we’re gonna be working on” Following shakely behind her boss she saw he was messing with his capture gear behind his desk “Ah the reason i'm dressed so down today is for that very reason; we were gonna go initiate a look around for our guy..trying to see if anyone who works with or knows him is around then i'll take them in for questioning” Nodding her head [ ] fiddled with the weapon , rubbing the fabric “it's so interesting how soft it is” Flicking his wrist the fabric moved to wrap around her wrists and tightened, causing her to gasp “sorry , I couldn't help it” Stepping behind her Shinsou pushed his hips into hers and pulled her up to his chest “toshi...whatre-” “Shhhh, quiet princess..it's time to show you how I can handle you” wrapping his fist around the two straps he used the leverage to keep her tied up before he placed her on his desk. Starting a searing kiss the two of them made out on it, hips pushing into each other as shinsou drew out her sounds. Pulling away heaving the two of them smiled at the other “Fuck..can I?” Rubbing at her colthed slit and starting to bite at her neck, not knowing where to start with her he asked for permission “Y-yes please , please touch me” Smirking against her neck he sucked a few marks before moving lower to her heaving chest to leave more marks. As he got to her thighs he made a show going between them “Shit love...you just had to dress like
a little slut huh..you knew I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off of you..” biting at the thickest part of her inner thigh, before sucking another mark there.
Pushing her dress higher he sucked in a breath at the sight. She was wearing full laced panties, the pair thin enough to see everything she had to offer. Letting out a low whistle Shinsou kissed against the heat of her pussy, bathing in the moan of his assistant. Pulling off her panties and looking up to the heavy breathing [ ] he winked at her before sucking at her clit. A loud moan ripped from her chest as she tried to widen her legs to give him more room. Enjoying himself by making her cry , Shinsou moaned over her lower lips before sucking harshly at her sensitive bud. As pleasured whining fell and tumbled from [ ]’s lips he pulled away, stuffing a thick finger in her sopping walls. “C’mon love, let loose for me” “T-toshi! Please..” Feeling her mind get hazy with a push of a button in her walls. The coil in her stomach felt tight and rapidly getting tighter before she came, runting her hips against his fingers that continued to pump in her “Good girl..thats my sweet kitten” Overwhelmed by all the simulation [ ] looked up the the dark look of her boss who untied the ends of his capture gear. Pulling at the fabric he laid her over the desk and started to rock his tip against her sopping core. Wrapping a hand around her throat he leaned down to push their faces closer as he started to enter into her slowly. Trying to help ease the stretch Shinsou kissed her hard, shushing her loud sounds as he started to bottom out. Once he did get to bottom out the two of them sighed in content , eyes looking at each other “[ ].....I promise i'll be gentle I can't hold back anymore..you're mine you understand?” He growled out.
Clenching over him [ ] agreed, arching her back into him “Im yours Hitoshi...mark me” And with that he started a brutal pace, holding her hands with one of his own while the other held her thigh open. As the two groaned and moaned against each others lips [ ] felt herself clench hardr as another wave of an oragsm filled her mind. Seeing her tired and fucked out face filling her senses, Shinsou grinds, rubbing a pair of fingers over her clit “I'm such a close kitten.. ‘M gonna fill you up, can I?” Panting out to her he tightened his gear over her wrists as her pleasure teary eyes found his “please..inside Im on the pill its okay!” Feeling a shiver go down his spine he sped his hips up, going to fill her up as he started pumping his cum in her fluttering walls , a weak spasm was her wall's response to his fill. Letting her eyes fall shut [ ] felt shinsou breathing against her neck as her still tied hands reached to rub his back. Feeling him start to kiss her neck [ ] let out a content sigh “Hey..[ ]” he called out as she hummed “Once You recuperate we’ll go for round two...Im nowhere near done with you”
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streetlight11 · 3 years
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Birthday Gift
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Summary: If you told your younger self 4 years ago that you would be in a happy, long distance relationship with someone who lives miles away from you up till today, your younger self would have laughed at you. But here you are, 4 years later, happy and totally in love with the boy you met online after he randomly followed you on social media. But you've never once met him in person. On your 24th birthday, you were getting a birthday gift that you never thought you would receive so soon.
Theme: long distance relationship au, strangers to lovers
Genre: super fluffy
WC: 2k
Pairing: Bae Jacob x Fem!Reader
a/n: Hello! This has been in my drafts for quite a bit so here it is. This fic is too too fluffy, even for me who wrote this. Cobie is such a sweetheart, I can't-... Anyways, I hope you like this as much as I enjoy writing it! :)
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Being in a long distance relationship is difficult as it needs to have a huge amount of trust, understanding, discipline and a lot of reassurance. However, despite all the fights you may have due to miscommunications and most of the time just lack of physical affection, you still cherish and love your boyfriend very much. You met your boyfriend online as he added you on social media a few years back. You clicked on his profile only to see that he lived in South Korea.
He looks to be a professional dancer and also a full time student in one of the colleges there. Not to mention, super good looking too. However, you weren’t really expecting anything at that point of time only because you don’t really believe in long distance relationships. You’ve always thought it might be hard and that it will never last.
So you just accepted his request and followed him back. The next day, you were in class when you got a DM from someone. And since you rarely got a DM from any guys, you were surprised to see his username pop up.
You clicked the message after about 10 minutes or so to see what he texted you, thinking he was just another weirdo who wants to scam you.
His message said;
“Hello! I saw your account and I really love your content. I’m sorry if this is too weird. I understand if you don’t wish to reply.”
With that, you couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as you didn’t know why but you began to type your reply, “Haha thank you! That’s so nice of you to say that.” You hit the send button and a few minutes later, he replied. That’s when you began to chat with him for quite a while before he asked.
“I’m so sorry, where have my manners gone? I’m Bae Joon Young but you can just call me Jacob. And you are?”
You replied to him with a smile as your fingers tapped against your smartphone, “I’m Y/F/N but you can call me Y/N.”
Ever since then, you have been chatting with him over DMs for quite a while, just to see if you can sort of trust and be comfortable with him or not. It took you almost 5 months to finally add him in your kakao talk.
Both of you have already done both voice and video call which means you already knew how each other looked and you seemed to have grown your trust in him. Jacob seemed like a genuine guy as you found out that he was your age internationally. Months became years and both of you have already introduced your partners to your parents.
However, at first, your parents weren’t too sure about this whole long distance relationship thing. But they didn’t want to disappoint you so instead of asking you to break up and find a local guy, they let you carry on with this relationship if you believe that it would work. Surprisingly, it took your parents less than a month to get warm with Jacob as they finally got comfortable every time he video calls you.
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It has been 4 years since you two agreed to pursue this long distance relationship as it marks your 4th anniversary today. You were just lounging in your room when Jacob decided to skype call you through his desktop.
You accepted the call as he smiled adorably into the camera and waved to you, making you giggle as you waved back. “Happy anniversary baby.” Jacob said.
“Happy anniversary my love. Where are you?” You asked.
“I’m in my dorm. Younghoon’s out with our friends.”
“Why aren’t you with them?” You pout.
“I wanted to celebrate our anniversary.”
“Baby, you didn’t have to, you could have called me after.”
“Don’t you want to see me?” He asked sadly.
“Of course I do. It’s just… I feel like I might be the reason why you may not hang out with your friends as often as you do.”
“Baby, listen to me. I’m so lucky to have you as my girlfriend, dang am I lucky to have you reply to my message 4 years ago. I never thought that we could actually last this long but hey, look at us now.” You smiled as you looked down at your hands, only to look back up and see him pout.
“I love you so much, you know that right? And I can never ask for someone to replace you.” He said, making you sigh.
“What did I ever do to deserve you?” You asked softly, making him chuckle.
“How I wish I could enter my computer screen and just hug you and kiss you.” He whispered, making you smile sadly, knowing that could never happen, or at least it wouldn’t happen any time soon. You continue talking to him until you fall asleep, making him chuckle softly at your figure. Looking at you through his monitor screen endearingly.
“Goodnight my sweetheart.” He said those last words softly before he ended the call.
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Days slowly became weeks and it was the same routine again and again but neither of you were getting bored or tired from it. He would always reassure you that he still loves you and that he would never hurt your feelings in any possible way. It was your birthday that day and your parents had booked a restaurant for you to celebrate and have your birthday dinner with your family, like how it has always been for the past few years.
It would be you, both your parents, your elder sister and her husband along with your 5 years old niece.
You chose to wear a white floral blouse with a pair of denim jeans as you paired it with your heeled sandals. You were in the car with your parents, on your way to the restaurant when Jacob voice called you.
“Hello?” He said.
“Hi Love.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m heading to a restaurant with my family for my birthday dinner. What about you?”
“Oh wow. Where to, this time? I’m just out with the boys.”
“I honestly don’t know. They didn’t tell me.” You laughed as your mother then smiled and spoke up from the front passenger seat.
“Hello dear. How are you sweetie?”
With that, you scooted to the centre of the back seat and put your call on speaker mode. Just then, you heard Jacob respond. “Hello Ma’am, I’m doing well. I wish I could be there to celebrate with all of you.” Jacob said, making you smile sadly as your parents let out a soft chuckle.
“It’s okay son, one of these days, you’ll get to meet our daughter and us.” Your dad said as you could already hear a smile etching on Jacob’s lips.
“Yes sir. I hope so.” Your boyfriend said before you giggled as you turned the speaker mode back off before bringing your phone to your ears. “Hmm, babe I think we’re here. I’ll call you again after dinner okay?” You said into the line.
“It’s okay baby. Don’t worry. Have fun tonight. I love you.”
“I love you too…” You paused for a moment as he waited for you to continue.
“I miss you Jacob.” You couldn’t help but whisper as a tear rolled down your cheek, making him frown.
“Baby please don’t cry. Promise me you won’t cry.” He said, making you nod as you sniffled your cries.
“I’ll try.” You said as you then bid him goodbye before ending the call.
Your sister had already arrived as you and your parents went to the front entrance where a waiter was waiting. Your dad told him that they’ve already made a reservation under your dad’s name as the waiter checked his list and soon smiled at the three of you. “Right this way.” The waiter said as he soon guided you towards the back of the restaurant where there were private rooms with opaque curtains to block the view of those sitting inside.
You were walking last as you texted your boyfriend in the process.
Once you were at the booth, your dad asked you to enter first, in which you got confused but nonetheless did as you were told. However, the minute you pushed the curtains open, your eyes immediately landed on the one person sitting at the very end of the table nearest to the entrance.
You felt your whole body freeze as you couldn’t find the right words. He was there, right in front of you, in one piece. It was him. It was your boyfriend. He was really there physically. You couldn’t believe this.
“Wha- I- When… Omg… Omg…” You whispered as everyone laughed, only for Jacob to chuckle as he got up, making you feel so flustered.
“Happy Birthday my love.” He said, as he walked up to you but you were still frozen in shock.
“Surprise!” Your family said in unison happily.
You locked eyes with Jacob as he engulfed you in a hug. That’s when you began to bawl your eyes out against his shoulder as you could finally feel his arms around your body, holding you tight as though he was afraid of losing you. Jacob laughed softly as he let you cry into his shoulder, while he gently rubs soothing circles in your back to calm you down.
You had your arms wrapped around his waist securely, afraid that if you let go, he would disappear. “Shh, don’t cry baby. Don’t cry.” He whispered in your ear, only for you to cry harder. He laughed even more as your mother and sister were already tearing up at the side.
You pull away from him as he gently wipes your tears with his thumbs. “You’re here… You’re actually here…” You whispered, your breath shaky as he nodded, cupping your face softly in his hands. “Yes love. I’m here. I’m really here.” Jacob said, making you pout. Still unable to believe this was real.
Jacob smiled widely as he pulled you into a hug again, only for you to bury your face in his chest, feeling him draw lazy patterns into your waist. After nearly 30 minutes of you holding onto him and being in your own little bubble, the 7 of you finally settled down to celebrate your birthday dinner. After dinner was over, your parents offered Jacob to stay over at your family home for the next two weeks that he is staying here in your country before he flies back to Korea.
Jacob thanked your parents for letting him stay over as you couldn’t stop holding his hand. The way his hands fit in yours so perfectly as he showered you with so much love and warmth, just like how he did through all the video calls and texts.
That night when everyone had gone home, your parents knew that you probably wanted to spend time with him so they let him sleep in your room.
After both of you had already changed and were getting ready for bed, he pulled you onto his side as you rested your head on his chest. Jacob hugs you close as you tighten your grasp on his shirt. “What’s wrong?” He asked as he glanced down a little.
“I’m just so happy you’re here. I still need time to process this information.” You confessed.
Jacob chuckled softly as he whispered, “I’m really happy to be able to finally see you in person. This means so much to me.”
“Me too.”
Just then, the room fell quiet as you just looked into each other’s eyes, seeing the sparkles coating both your pupils as he gently caressed your cheek. Right at that moment, Jacob seemed to read your mind as he gently pulled you up a little. Without much words, Jacob decides to ask the one question that both of you had in mind.
“Can I kiss you?”
With that, you smiled shyly as you nodded. Jacob smiles in victory as he leans down softly to finally feel your soft lips on his and it has never felt so magical. Both of you took in this new feeling as he kissed you sweetly.
You spent the next two weeks with him, just making the most of your time. A month after he went back to Korea, it was your turn to give him a surprise visit as you managed to book a flight to Korea, asking for Jacob’s help to fetch you at the airport and bring you over to his apartment.
You stayed with Jacob for two days before surprising Jacob for his birthday party. Jacob did such a good job at taking care of you and making sure that you weren’t lost in Korea.
Despite the long distance, it definitely made you two grow stronger and gain even more trust in one another. It was a blessing in disguise that you accepted his request 4 years ago.
And you regretted none of it.
~~~
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larrydoinglaundry · 2 years
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Annual Writing Self-Evaluation
Thank you @larrysballetslippers  for tagging me.
1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 4
2. Word count posted for the year: 136552
3. Fandoms I wrote for: One Direction
4. Pairings: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
5. Story with the most:
Kudos: This Chemistry Like Candy to Me
Bookmarks: This Chemistry Like Candy to Me
Comments: This Chemistry Like Candy to Me
More under the cut.
6. Work I’m most proud of (and why):
You were a beam of light, lit up my broken sky, let's call it You were a beam of light now lmao. It was my first long fic for this fandom and I was, and still am, proud of how I wrote kink exploration and Louis' progress as a dom. I think they have a really healthy relationship.
7. Work I’m least proud of (and why):  Noooo don't want to do this. I'm proud of each work for different reasons and I'm very attached to them all.
8. Share or describe a favorite review you received:
I need to share two! These ones, as well as all my favorite reviews, is for You were a beam of light. People seem to love the way h&l communicate and support each other and that's all I wanted - to show a healthy relationship where you can be exactly who you are.
Oh my, i love it so much. As in. You dont know how much this affected me haha. I dont even know how to explain myself without sounding like an idiot hahahaha but damn it this fic is definitely going to my top fave fics. Its so well written and well done. Fluff? Chefs kiss, The communication? Chefs kiss, smut? CHEFS FCKING KISS!!!! You just raise the fcking bar for any fic that has bdsm for me hahahaha also i know I already commented it but you made me realized what kind of kinks i might have hahaha ya wann know the top of my kink? COMMUNICATION!!! So many problems/arguments solved by talking and listening. AHHHHHKKKKK thank you for this, hope you are having a fcking good day!!!!
Another one here, not the entire comment because it was long.
 I LOVED the scene where Louis went to go visit Harry at work (*blushes* and also the wedding escapade + Harry being Louis good girl). I really appreciated that you chose to make Harry non-binary and it was lovely to see the conversation between him and Louis. It was very sweet to see Louis support Harry in that moment and in the story overall. On that topic, I loved seeing how you made Harry and Louis a supportive unit for each other. Like they were so good at communicating with each other throughout and even when they sometimes weren’t (like with the caning) they were able to get to that point where they could talk things out. I can tell you put a lot of effort on developing the characters (Harry and Louis ex, their friends, etc
9. A time when writing was really, really hard:
A really devastating period not too long ago when I was writing a fic I haven't yet published while trying to also make progress with my thesis. I think I mentioned before that writing just got to a point where it wasn't fun. I forced myself to write instead of giving up but I definitely did it while sobbing uncontrollably in frustration over my own "poorly told story", grammar and boring plots lol.
I got over it, lmao. I love my current work more than I've ever loved any of my works. Thank you Cait for being the best person ever and being so patient. Your very necessary yet gentle criticism has been vital.
10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Figging scene in You were a beam of light🙈 It wasn't part of the original plan haha.
11. A favorite excerpt of your writing:
Hmm! There are so many in my not yet published work.
But if I'm thinking about published works,,, my most recent Christmas fic had some themes that have touched me more or less personally, so I'll choose this;
“These past few weeks that you’ve lived here, every time I get home from an early shift, you’re outside playing with Alex. Paying attention and being present, unlike lots of other people," Louis explains, stroking Harry's leg with his thumb, "You involve him when you bake, you purr when you breastfeed him. I can see how much you love being a mother and you being tired, feeling excited about getting to spend some time away from him or you not being able to buy a kitchen set for him does not make you a bad mother.”
12. How did you grow as a writer this year:
Oh, wow. Uh. Writing wise,,, Grammar. It has gotten so much better. Maybe narratating, too? I don't know, my works feel richer in many ways. I'm still very critical of my works but I think certain emotions come across better. The smut is fire, in my opinion at least lmao.
13. How do you hope to grow next year:
To further broaden my vocabulary, my narratating skills and my story planning skills. I want to be able to further enrich my dialogues.
14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):
My beta for long fics aka Cait @stylesthebrave ❤️ I also absolutely love how much excitement Mia @brightgolden has shown for my upcoming work haha.
15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year?
Yes but I don't want to elaborate 🙃 Keep on guessing!
16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:
I don't think I'm the right person to share any wisdom😭 But I mean,,,
Take a breath. Relax. It's okay.
Writing can be frustrating for many reasons. Maybe your writing doesn't meet your own expectations. Maybe you don't get the amount of kudos you wish, or as many reviews as you think you'd deserve. Don't base your writing joy on something that comes from the outside. Base it on what comes from the inside. Write because you want to, not because you feel like you have to. Inner motivation is much more powerful than outer.
17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: 
My Silver Fox aka Actor Louis fic !! It's so close to being finished. Gas me up guys, gals and non-binary pals so I get the mighty force and motivation to finish it😭
Also excited for writing Girl direction for the first time! Love me some tender girl on girl love. With a twist though - it's ABO. So excited to see what I can do with that verse with F/F.
18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read.
Who has done this already? I don't know💀
@stylesthebrave @brightgolden @jacaranda-bloom @hershelsue @neondiamond @larry-hiatus @absoloutenonsense
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cloud9in · 3 years
Text
The Half of It
A Mc x Poppy fic inspired by the film 
Summary: Bea, the town’s outcast is recruited by the school jock to win Poppy’s heart. But what happens when she starts falling for her as well?
Author’s Note: So this will be a multiple part series that includes scenes heavily inspired from the movie “The Half of It”. I certainly recommend watching it. My version will have different twists and a different ending, and definitely more angst. It will include mature themes as the story progresses.
Warnings for this chapter: Swearing. This is a good thing for now.
Chapter 1- 
“Love is simply the name for desire and pursuit of the whole.”
                                                   - Plato, The Symposium
It is said that when one half finds its other, there’s an unspoken understanding. A unity. And each would know no greater joy....than this. 
 ...Except this is highschool. And in my opinion, there is no other half. Maybe the other half is a paper on Greek God philosophy due at midnight. But make that four papers, including mine. 
 My name is Bea Hughes and let’s just say...this is not a very happy story. Well maybe some parts are, but you’ll have to read to find out. I come from a small town called Farmsville, and when I mean small, I mean really small. Except the highschool seems fucking huge, with never ending hallways and when you do somehow find the end, there’s usually two inbreds eating each others mouths off. Lucky for me I am the epitome of antisocial, reserved, an introvert, or whatever the inferior beings, aka every other senior, calls me when they think I can’t hear. But I hear everything, including that one time Bradley Denbrough, upcoming hotshot actor, or so he claims, found out about a crush a poor unsuspecting freshman had on him. Everybody knew what Bradley and his goons did to that boy, even the adults, but no charges were pressed. This town is as conservative as it gets, but no one knows of my secret. I carry this school on my back when it comes to having everyone graduate, but that’s all I am to them, a pawn. And that’s all I wanted to be, nothing more and nothing less. I preferred to be in the shadows. 
 ***
 ...Except the mandatory Senior Talent Show forced Bea out of her hibernation hole. The thought haunted her as she sat in the dance studio, the last fucking place she wanted to be. Dance was so not a Bea kinda thing, but the blonde knew exactly why she granted herself the misery of picking the class. Poppy Min Sinclair, the golden girl of Farmsville High, the preacher’s daughter on a more serious note. She is...the most fascinating girl Bea ever laid her eyes on even if her boyfriend was a complete asshole who sermonized his duties as her future husband. Like seriously? Poppy has got to have some screws loose to date such a fake loser who plagiarizes all of his speeches at sunday church, and once literally begged Bea to write an apology letter to his father for him after completely upending their summer cabin. Except the blonde wrote the opposite of an apology, it went something like this…
 Dear beloved donkey, I mean dad,
 I am terribly sorry for inviting 20 hookers to the summer cabin. I have these strange impulses and you should at least be grateful I didn’t invite the big boss as well. His wife came though, in many, many ways. You should get the carpet changed. 
 Sincerely, your STD free son
 It was safe to say that Mr. Denbrough had a near heart attack after reading it, and Bea did kinda feel bad, kinda. He never mentioned the letter to Bradley though, instead silently calling up the owner of Teopoli Catholic Summer Camp and essentially deporting the boy to Canada for the summer. No son of his would end up in hell was what the old man preached everyday from then on. It was the quietest summer Bea had ever experienced. 
 Being the towns outcast, Bea could have her fun when she so chooses to, but that didn’t pay the bills. In fact, the multiple essays that people paid her to write was her way of surviving and taking care of her mother. They weren’t very rich but Bea worked with what she had, helping her mother manage the farm, which included getting on her knees and wrestling the pigs. And that’s how she was gifted the name “pig girl”, stupid Bradley and his fake friends just had to wander too far and catch Bea in the act. She swore a remixed video of her hog calling surfaced the web at one point and that gave the blonde her five minutes of fame. Boy was it an awful time in her life. 
 Bea worked her mother’s previous job as station master or signalman for the trains that passed through, even if it barely paid her shit. The secluded feeling of sitting in that booth and having a moment with her thoughts was enough to give her purpose. Bea was fond of poetry and it usually helped her come up with song lyrics.
 Song lyrics…
 That she would have to sing at the talent show. A huge sigh escaped her lips as she slumped further into the ground, maybe hoping she could bury herself six feet under. It wasn’t that Bea hated singing, no she absolutely loved it. Playing her guitar at night and belting out lyrics that only resulted in her mother banging on the ceiling below in efforts to shut the blonde up. But the mere fact that she’d have to sing in front of the ruthless seniors rubbed her the wrong way. Something would go wrong, it always did. Bea was shaken out of her thoughts when Poppy crossed the center of the room, moving her hips slowly to the sound of Rihanna’s voice. The class chose a slow r&b song to choreograph today and of course all eyes were on Poppy.
 If i’m your girl say my name boy
let me know i'm in control
 Her silky blonde locks swayed as she danced to the beat, hands thrusting sensually along her sides. Bea stared in awe, almost like Poppy was the only one in the room and a spotlight illuminated every movement, every curve. Except she definitely wasn’t the only one picturing Poppy in that way. Carter, the school quarterback leaned against the railing, arms crossed and eyes trailing the rise and fall of her chest. 
 Got me wondering, I’m wondering if i'm on your mind
 Bea sat up straighter but nearly lost her bodily functions when Poppy locked eyes with her before spinning away. It was simple eye contact Bea, don’t let it get to your head. You already have multiple lyrics inspired by Poppy offering the bare minimum in human interaction. She doesn’t actually like you. Poppy is popular and has the perfect life...and boyfriend, even if Bea heavily disagrees. Poppy was a bitch of course, but not a bitch bitch. Unlike the other wannabe mean girls, the blonde didn’t give Bea hell, well that was because the girl paid her zero attention. She seemed distant, off in her own world, or well in her parents world learning the strategies of business. Poppy was expected to follow in her parents footsteps and keep up with her reputation of being the richest in town, and of course a faithful future wife. So fun. But the blonde had other prosperous dreams of travelling and following her passion of music and dance. Highschool was her only outlet and she took advantage of it any chance she’d get. Bea knew this because she would ride her bike every friday night to the school and watch Poppy dance from outside the glass window. Maybe Bea realized it was kinda creepy, but she’s dumb enough to not realize her obvious growing attraction. I mean who pedals miles just to watch someone trip on their feet? 
 ***
 The sound of the bell caught everyone's attention and the teacher slowly lowered the music. Bea watched as Bradley approached Poppy and smothered her with kisses and praises. She rolled her eyes painfully, this kind of PDA definitely wasn’t it, she could have gone her whole life without seeing that. She walked silently through the crowd of kids in the hall, everyone was laughing and talking to their friends. All Bea could allow her mind to focus on was the very intimidating billboard of names a few feet across from her. 
 Winter Talent Show Sign-Ups (Mandatory For Seniors)
 Bea glared at it quietly before signing her name on the sheet, sealing her inevitable fate. Through the hustle of students, Carter watched the blonde with a yearning look from afar. This should be great…
 The next few classes were a blur and Bea eventually found herself getting up to hand Ms. Kingsley her paper. The older woman looked at her with a knowing glance as she took a generous sip of her coffee, which was 75% tequila.
 “6 different interpretations on Plato? Colour me impressed Miss Hughes.” 
 Bea shrugs nonchalant, “yeah well would you rather read their actual essays?”
 “Oh hell no.” Kingsley feigns shock as she looks at the stack of papers with a comical expression. She takes another sip, watching her younger, prodigy of a student carefully. “You know there are places outside of this godforsaken town where you can put your talents to use... Real use. I teach at Belvoire University occasionally.” Ina winks and slides Bea an application, studying her initial reaction. “It’s...in New York.”
“Damn right! The Big Apple.”
 “Kingsley you know I have to stay here. It’ll be easier for me to manage the farm and be close to home”, Bea says confidently even though her body language displays otherwise. She predicted the big sigh filling her ears before it actually happened and it still managed to faze her. “Who ever said you had to do anything? What about what you want to do?” Bea doesn’t make eye contact with Ina, that woman could convince you to do just about anything with a certain look. “No we are not doing this. You can take your reverse psychology and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. I’m outta here.” The blonde stomps out of the classroom, the sound of Ina’s chuckles still ringing in her ears.
 “Hey! Everyone in this town fears God, but you know what God fears? My ability to hide a bottle of Don Julio in my left boot.” Ina pulls out the newly bought bottle and cradles it. “Come to mama.”
 ***
 Bea rode her bike alongside the dirt road, Kingsley’s words on replay the entire ride. Maybe she did deserve to experience something more than what this town had to offer. But would her mother manage without her? Sacrifices, sacrifices. Bea was used to making those for her mother after her father’s death. What would her dad think of all of this?
 “Hey!”
 He’d surely smack Bea upside the head for the little antics she pulled occasionally. And then he’d buy her vanilla coconut ice cream and ask for every single detail of what happened as they sat and laughed together. That’s the kind of relationship Bea would have had with her father, she liked to assume so. She also liked to assume that she’d get home safely everyday without a scratch, but then there’s Carter.
 “Hey wait up!” 
 The jock seemed to be running ridiculously fast and crashed right into the rear end of Bea’s bicycle, sending her face first into a mount of dirt. The initial impact was enough to boost the blonde straight back up like nothing happened and into a fighting stance, fists out and eyes wild. Very scary Bea. When she realized it was him...well it only pissed her off even more. “What the fuck Carter! You asshole!”
 “I’m sorry Bea! Here let me help-”
 “No! Move away! You- my bike- I…” Bea groans frustratingly, stepping away from the wreck as she tries to catch her breath. Carter watches her sheepishly, rubbing an envelope between his fingers awkwardly. After a few minutes of painfully uneasy silence he speaks up, “Okay...I didn’t want to ask you this way but I was wonder-”
“Oh, so you practically break my ass and now you want me to do you a favour? Real nice way of communication you have there Mr. Quarterback. What is with you and those freakishly large muscles anyways? Maybe it’s my fault I didn’t hear your avalanche built ass coming from behind.”
 “Hey! They are not freakishly large!”
 “I hate to break it to you Jackson but mine are significantly more appealing to look at.” Bea smirks widely, flexing her arm as best as she could. It’s a work in progress… just bare with her.
 It didn’t take much effort for Carter to break out into a smile and look at her fondly. Maybe there was more to this girl than just being a human dictionary. Well that’s what people called her, and he maybe believed it at first.
 Bea noticed the lack of response and shifted awkwardly, clearing her throat. “Listen, its $10 for three pages, $20 for three to ten, I'm not in the over-ten-page biz.”
 “No..no I’m not here to cheat!” Carter blurts out. “But I’ll let you know if I do plan on- anyways. I uh..” He hesitates before handing her the envelope. “What’s this?
 “Well you see it’s a letter..”
 “Yeah but who writes letters these days?”
 “I thought it seemed romantic..”
 “And I thought women writing Jeffrey Dahmer letters in jail seemed romantic”, Bea says sarcastically, her smile dropping instantly after catching a glimpse of Poppy’s name at the top of the paper. It was like the blood stopped flowing through her body for a few seconds as her mouth went dry. This had to be the work of the so-called God everyone praised in this town, or it was one cruel coincidence. Bea wasn’t sure why seeing her name made her heart beat ten times harder, but it also wasn’t a necessarily uncomfortable feeling…
 “I- I can’t help you.”
 “But if you just add a few more words-”
 “I’m not writing a letter to Poppy Min Sincla- to..to some girl for you. Letters are supposed to be authentic, from the heart, your own words, your...feelings.” Bea hurriedly turns to grab her bike, suddenly losing all interest in being social. 
 Carter was afraid this would happen. But he was stubborn. “But I can pay more for authentic!” 
 Too bad Bea was stubborn as well. “Just get a thesaurus...Good luck, Romeo.”
***
 Bea sat in her room, strumming away softly at the strings of her guitar. Some of the keys were off but the old thing still worked, and that was good enough for her. She could hear the tv blasting downstairs, her mother most likely watching the news. There’s something about old people and news, were they secretly ogling the news anchors? Just like Bea ogled Poppy any chance she could. The blonde frowned to herself, her eyebrows crunching together in question. What so hard about writing a letter to Poppy? It’s not like it's coming from her. Well it technically is, but Carter is taking the credit and Bea never had a problem with people taking credit for her words. So why did this very thought prove to be such an inconvenience? Lucky for Bea, her mind drifted elsewhere when she heard a painful snap. Even if it wasn’t physically connected to her body, she felt a horrible ache. Slowly peering down at the guitar in her hand, Bea found that the neck of the guitar had miraculously split almost clean off, a splinter of wood just holding it intact. She wanted to scream but nothing really came out, except air of course. Much to her disapproval, this was definitely a result of her strength. Stupid muscles couldn’t contain themselves at the thought of Carter being with Poppy. Now how could that be? 
 But now she had no guitar. And no guitar means no strings to strum, and no lyrics to sing, and no talent to show at the talent show. Now she was in trouble. Probably because she knew that the only way to get the money to replace the guitar would be through sealing the deal with Carter. Oh fuck it!
 ***
 “One letter. And enough money to buy a new guitar.”
 “Deal!”
 Bea turns away with a sigh, completely ignoring Carter’s high five. Now all she had to do was write this letter, and pray that Poppy wouldn’t completely consume every fiber of her being in the process.
                                 -------------------------------------------
End note: So how we feelin’? Carter and Bea Brotp??
Tags: @samanthadalton @somewillwin @clowneryme @baexpoppy @zigxryanz @uselesslesbianfr @aleiramacaii @thedaft1 @alexlabhont @iamsimpforpoppy
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ineffable-snowman · 3 years
Text
(apologies in advance to the people who followed me for Good Omens. I’m diving headfirst into a new fandom, so I’m afraid there’s going to be a lot of Sambucky in the next three weeks at least...)
I wrote a fic inspired by episode 3 of FATWS. Read it here or on AO3.
Trouble Man
“It is a masterpiece, James. Complete, comprehensive. It captures the African-American experience.”
What kind of passive-aggressive bullshit was that? It was annoying enough that Zemo insisted on calling him ‘James’ in that patronising way of his but now he tried to lecture him or rather tried to make him look stupid, uncultured and ignorant. Bucky wanted to laugh at Zemo’s comment that sounded more like he was quoting a Wikipedia article to appear sophisticated, but then Sam spoke up.
“He is out of line – but he is right.”
Fuck Zemo. Seriously, Bucky had enough reason to hate Zemo but this was on another level. This was personal. He made Bucky look stupid, uncultured and ignorant in front of Sam. And the thing was, he was mostly ignorant about Marvin Gaye. He had listened to some of the tracks from Trouble Man just because they were on Steve’s list, and had quickly decided that it was not his kind of music. Now he wished he had at least listened to the whole album so he could contribute more than a weak “I like Marvin Gaye”, which fooled absolutely no one. He had no idea how a simple conversation about music had escalated like this. It had seemed like perfectly normal banter, Sam making fun of him for being old-fashioned, and then Zemo had interfered with that comment and it was downhill from there.
For some reason Sam was very passionate about Marvin Gaye and Bucky was intent on finding out why. Also, he needed to find out how music could be “complete, comprehensive” and “capture the African-American experience.” In his experience, music was used for dancing and for fun and that’s all there was to it. He stared at the notebook. There was some really good advice in it, like Thai food or Star Wars. So far, Bucky had not seen the appeal of Marvin Gaye. But apparently Steve had. If Steve had adored the music so much, why had he just simply crossed it out in a neat line and not, for example, put an exclamation mark behind it? Bucky added two exclamation marks.
Right, how to do this? Not for the first time he regretted just getting a simple flip phone instead of one of those fancy smartphones. When the shop assistant had told him that he needed a phone for taking photos and listening to music, Bucky had almost laughed at him. Talking about stupid… He could really use Youtube or Google now.
“Do you have a computer with internet?” he asked Sharon.
She looked at him like he was stupid (it was becoming a theme) but showed him to a computer and even gave him earphones. Then he started to listen to Trouble Man and this time did not skip any tracks but listened to the whole songs. He also googled the lyrics but that did not leave him any the wiser. Doctor Raynor would probably tell him to use his goddamn mouth and just ask someone, for heaven’s sake. He would rather get frozen again than ask Zemo. But it also felt extremely wrong that Zemo, who was supposed to be one of the bad guys, seemed to know and understand Sam better than Bucky, who was supposed to be Sam’s…whatever. Were they friends? Bucky certainly considered Sam a friend (although he never would say it out oud), probably the only friend he had left. Someone who texted you and asked you how you were and invited you to lunch was a friend, right? Someone who even saved your ass and (repeatedly) broke the law for you was a very good friend. But did Sam consider someone his friend who did not text back, who repeatedly got him into trouble, kept things from him and had even tried to kill him? Bucky stared at the screen. It was a miracle Sam had not tried to kill him yet. It was even more of a miracle that he was still being nice (sometimes). He googled “Trouble Man” and “African-American experience”. To his disappointment, it was not a quote from a Wikipedia article. So Zemo knew what was going on and Bucky did not. He turned up the volume and tried to make sense of the lyrics (“Got me singin' – yeah, yeah – Hoo“).
“Finally doing some catching up on the good stuff?”
Bucky turned around so quickly that the earphones were ripped out of his ears. Sam had put up his hands in defence and was babbling something about attacking or not attacking or whatever.
“Jesus.” Bucky consciously unclenched his left fist. “Couldn’t you just knock?”
“I did. You didn’t answer.” Sam pointed at the screen where the Youtube video of Trouble Man was still running. “I knew it,” he said gleefully. “You have no idea who Marvin Gaye is.”
“I do!” Bucky protested but then trailed off because he may have heard some of Gaye’s songs but he still did not know who Marvin Gaye was.
“So.” Sam crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you think? Honestly.”
Bucky looked from Sam to the screen to the dangling earphones. I like it was not an appropriate answer. Not an honest one. “I don’t get it,” he finally said.
“No appreciation for good music.” Sam sighed dramatically. “Hopeless. Stuck in the 40s forever.”
Bucky could have left it at that. They were on common ground again, bickering but not hurting each other, it felt familiar, safe. “No,” he said nevertheless. “I – how? How is this music – how does it…capture the African-American experience? Most of the songs don’t even have lyrics.”
“You don’t need lyrics for music to be meaningful.”
“How? Is it because people listen to it in certain situations or…?”
“Alright. Ready for a lesson on 20th century music? You better take notes.”
Bucky opened the notebook and took a pen. Then he noticed Sam’s grin. Right, he hadn’t meant it literally. But now Bucky had already opened the notebook and he was determined to go through with it. So he wrote down all the names Sam dropped, the musical genres and important songs. It was a lot and, as a lot of things, it confused Bucky but he just rolled with it. So some bands destroyed instruments on stage and certain music apparently had a soul? Great. Speaking of souls, this was probably the right time for some soul-gazing to show Sam that he was actively listening. (Doctor Raynor would be so proud of him.) Sam kept bringing up the soul thing several more times until finally Bucky could not keep quiet any longer.
“What’s with this soul music? Is it, like…music for funerals?”
Sam stared at him. Bucky stared back.
“Okay, scoot over.” Sam squeezed on the chair next to Bucky so Bucky almost fell over on the other side. Then he reached over Bucky to grab the mouse, opened another tab and chose a Youtube video for Bucky to listen to. “This is soul music.”
It was highly uncomfortable because the chair was not made for two people and they both weren’t exactly small but Bucky was resolved to stay on the chair, at least with one thigh. Sam chose video after video, pointed out characteristic musical features, quoted parts of the lyrics and talked about the history or the significance the songs. It was still a lot and Bucky still did not get everything but he dutifully took notes to look up some things in detail later. When he had filled the sixth page in his notebook, Sam stopped the music lesson.
“So, 40s music. Any recommendations?”
Bucky turned to face him. They were awfully close. Sam’s eyes were somehow very soft, there was the hint of a smile on his lips and he looked very huggable in that thin turtleneck – and he looked genuinely interested in Bucky’s answer. Bucky felt hot shame flooding him. Sam could be aggravating and an outright asshole but he was too kind for this world. Too kind to Bucky.
“Nah,” he mumbled. “Music in the 40s was just for dancing, for fun. Not…not important like your music.”
“Oh, you can dance just fine to my music,” Sam said in mock outrage. “Come on.” He elbowed Bucky out of the chair and chose another Youtube video, then stood up, too.
“Soul music?” Bucky guessed when the first chords of an electric guitar could be heard.
“Funk. Close enough.”
Sam started to move to the music. It should be ridiculous, the weird moves he was doing, because that certainly wasn’t proper dancing, not the dancing Bucky knew anyway – no rehearsed dancing steps, more like a spontaneous swaying to the music and some of the moves were definitely ridiculous but Sam made them look, well, smooth.
“See, that’s dance music, too,” Sam said and came to stand in front of Bucky.
Bucky had no idea why it was even called dancing but he wasn’t going to say that because he did not want to offend Sam again.
But of course Sam had to nag him. “Spit it out.”
“What?”
“I can see the cyborg gears turning. What’s wrong with dancing?”
“Nothing. Just not what I’m used to.”
“You can choose the next song. For now – get those hips moving.” He nudged Bucky, and how could Bucky say no? After Sam had spent all that time educating him and only mildly making fun of him for his ignorance, he owed it to him.
“This is ridiculous, I feel ridiculous,” Bucky complained when he tried to copy some of Sam’s moves.
“You’re doing great,” Sam said but he was grinning, clearly enjoying how Bucky was making a fool of himself. “Maybe tone down the staring a bit.”
Well, if it made Sam happy… Bucky decided to give it his all and moved wildly to the rhythm, not caring if it could be called “dancing” or not. Nonetheless, he was a little relieved when the song was over.
“Your turn.” Sam indicated the computer.
Bucky had no idea which song to pick. He tentatively typed “Billie Holiday” into the search bar.
“Seriously?” Sam came up behind him. “You know Billie Holiday and say you don’t understand how music can capture the African-American experience?”
It was like a punch in the face. A well-deserved punch probably. “I mostly saw her as the singer of love songs, for slow dancing,” he admitted. “Never really…thought much about it.”
“So what, you’re going to slow dance with me, Barnes?” It wasn’t the usual good-natured banter but sounded more like an accusation.
“Look, Sam, I…” Bucky rubbed his temples. “Let’s head downstairs to that party to…” hopefully not dance. Whatever. Get out of this situation where, he feared, he was breaking rule #2 again.
“No, let’s do this.” Sam clicked on the first link and a swing tune started to play, Me, Myself and I. “Let’s slow dance if that’s what you do.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely.”
It was certainly the most aggressive ask for a dance he had ever received. And he had never been this stiff during a dance before. He used to be a good dancer back in the days but now he felt clumsy when he placed his hand on Sam’s back while trying to keep as much distance between them as possible.
They had not even made eight uncoordinated steps when Sam started to speak. “Would it hurt you to use that brain of yours once in a while? It’s supposed to be working properly again, isn’t it? That’s what I heard at least.”
Doctor Raynor’s words came back to him, that he was free. To do what? Certainly to do better than hurt the man who had always had his back without Bucky ever having done anything to deserve that kind of loyalty.
“I’m sorry,” he said, unconsciously tightening his grip on Sam’s back.
“What for?”
Everything. “For being…kind of… thoughtless, I guess.”
Being so close, he could actually feel Sam exhale. “That’s the understatement of the century.”
“For being a huge dick,” Bucky offered.
“Better,” Sam grumbled. “Now, was that so hard?”
Bucky took a step back to gauge Sam’s reaction. He was relieved to find no traces of hurt or betrayal in Sam’s eyes, just the usual exasperation he put on when looking at Bucky. “Yes. Physically painful,” he tentatively tested the water. It was like a dance, back and forth, seeing how far you could get.
Sam rolled his eyes. “I hate you. And please stop staring.”
Bucky shrugged and pulled Sam close again, in fact, so close that he did not have to look into Sam’s eyes anymore but was now staring at his left shoulder. Sam was visibly relaxing in Bucky’s arms and wasn’t that a miracle, that he was still in Bucky’s arms, still allowed Bucky to hold him?
“Thank you,” Bucky mumbled into Sam’s shoulder.
“What for?”
Everything. Bucky tightened his hold on Sam (and silently thanked the autoplay function that started the next song because he was in no way ready to let go of Sam yet). “I’m a mess and you don’t deserve all that shit I throw at you.”
“Mm. You’re welcome.” Sam squeezed his shoulder, like a reassurance that he would continue to put up with all of Bucky’s bullshit. Too damn kind for this world. Good thing he had Bucky on his side who was going to beat up everyone who so much as tried to exploit Sam’s kindness. (Yes, he knew he was being hypocritical and should technically start with beating up himself.)
“Sharon was wrong,” Bucky said. “I’m not obsessed with the whole stars and stripes stuff. I didn’t follow Steve because he had that shield. And I’m – well, you might’ve noticed I’m here and not following that – that asshole. Sam, I think you should take the shield but, with or without the shield, I’ll follow you. Just so you know.”
Sam was silent for quite some time, they were just swaying gently to the music, until Bucky heard close to his ear, “That a threat, Buck?” He could almost sense the smile against his cheek.
“Just a fact. And I hate you too, by the way.”
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