#on the bright side! it's actually made me more comfortable correcting people

[8ball-wizard]

posting this here too bc i'm right

#on the bright side! it's actually made me more comfortable correcting people #so that's nice

[velvetstreets]

SAD GIRLZ LUV MONEY: PT 4 - Fool For You

A/N: ITS BEEN A YEAR SINCE I POSTED PART 3 💀 I’m sorry y’all 😭🫶, made this EXTRA long to make up for my hiatus. These mfs finally start cooking with some gas in this chapter! Enjoy 💗

None of the people in my writings portray the actual people I write about! It’s all a work of fiction, I have no idea how they are/act irl.

Warnings: smut, penetrative sex (f!receiving), swearing, oral sex (m!receiving and f!receiving), two kids in love, tooth rotting fluff.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

——————

“Hi.” You mewled out from the comfort of your own bed, in an oversized Egyptian blue hoodie. It had years-old worth of stained flecks of white paint from when you helped paint your bestie’s apartment; the collar of the sleeves were beginning to fray, and as well as had an eyeliner stain in the inner left sleeve after getting ready for a girls night, but you loved it - imperfections and all.

“Hey.” He grinned from the bright phone screen.

“God you look so freakin’ cute, how the hell you do that?” Jack said, wasting no time to shower you in compliments.

You rolled you eyes playfully and rolled onto your side.

“Shut up, I look fuckin crazy right now.” You laughed. You worked a long shift last night, a Saturday, raking in bags of cash which you were happy about, but you were exhausted when you finally came home. Jack had waited for you in the parking lot as he often did, always with food as he knew you’d be starving. Last night you asked him to get you Popeyes Chicken, and boy did he deliver. He tried to pretend that he was offended you didn’t want his staple meal from KFC, but he couldn’t care. He’d get you anything you asked for, from food to diamond jewelry to a house even; he’d spend it all on you if you asked. You squealed in excitement when you met him in the parking lot, you were starving and his act of service meant a lot to you, even tho it was just chicken.

You had noticed that Jack did that a lot. Helped out in any way he could in order to lessen the load you had on your plate, which you deeply appreciated. Nobody had ever gotten your love language correct, always assuming physical touch was all you liked because of your job. It scared you a lot to know that Jack knew you well enough to pick up your patterns and ways of thinking and how you were feeling. Yet at the same time, it was such a relief - emotionally, to have someone notice you in the way you had dreamt about being noticed.

“-Yeah, fuckin crazy gorgeous,” Jack cheesed, not letting up.

You exhaled a tuft of air in response with a small smile, accepting defeat and hoping to move on.

“What’s up, Harlow?” You asked as you got out of bed to go to your kitchen to look for something to drink.

“You have a break from school coming up soon right?” He hummed.

“Mmhmm. Spring break, a whole week.” You confirmed, rummaging for a cold water bottle.

“Good. I wanna take you somewhere. The whole week.” Jack said.

“Oh? Where are you taking me?” You whipped your head back to the screen, amused with his plans.

“You’ll find out when we’re there. Just pack for warm weather… maybe a beach or two.” Jack slyly grinned, not wanting to give away too much.

“Jack… you’d tell me if you were gonna murder me, right?” You hummed questioningly, sticking your head in the fridge.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Out of the two of us, you’re more likely to murder me.”

“You sure you wanna take that stance as a white man?” You joked.

“Yes, especially after I almost got myself tased when you asked me to get your lipgloss out of your purse two weeks ago.”

“Oh yeah,” you laughed. “Close call.”

Jack shook his head in disbelief and chuckled.

“A whole week? You’re gonna get sick of me.” You continued.

“Never.”

“Well then I’m gonna get sick of you!” You laughed.

“You won’t! Just trust me.” Jack grinned warmly at you.

You stared at him for a moment, heart beating rapidly against your chest before answering.

“Okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” You exhaled, unable to hide the creeping smile on your face.

Jack rolled onto his back in his bed, phone still at his side while whispering a little ‘yes!’ to himself before bringing the phone back to his face.

“Okay. I’ll come pick you up Friday at 5.”

“This better be good, I need to come back relaxed before finals.”

“You’re gonna have the time of your life, I promise.” He said, reaching out his pinky finger to the screen.

“Okay.” You smiled, putting your own pinky to the screen, the both of you tapping the screen as if you were curling your fingers around eachother to solidify his promise.

——

Jack fussed with his hair before ringing your doorbell, heart almost beating out of his chest, he was excited, but slightly nervous at the thought that you might’ve bailed on him. It wasn’t a huge doubt of his, but he was always a little worried that he would scare you off too quickly.

He looked around the hallway of your apartment building. Every door looked the same, but he couldn’t help but imagine what your place looked like. He had seen bits and pieces of it through FaceTimes, but never seen it all in person. What color was your couch? Do you like your apartment at a cooler temperature? Did you have empty water bottle crowding your nightstand like he did? Did you have pictures of your friends, your family? He was eager to break through your walls (metaphorically) and learn more about you.

He was brought out of his thoughts as the door opened and you appeared. There you were, standing in a matching forest green lounge set, with matching green Fenty Puma slides and barefaced. It felt like all the air was punched out of Jack, you were so adorable, he wanted to litter your face in kisses and smush your cheeks together, but he kept those feelings at bay, settling for a warm hug and a kiss to your hairline.

“You look beautiful, as always.” He hummed into your hair. He felt you smile against his chest, before murmuring a ‘thank you’.

You let him into your apartment and Jack took his time inspecting his surroundings.

“I just need to get a few more things, and then we can go.” You told him, and he nodded.

Jack walked around your living room, looking at your abstract bookshelf, his fingers swiping along the spines of the books, trying to remember as many titles so he could order them later and read them himself. You had a few plants, one on said bookshelf, one on the giant window by the couch (which he now saw was green), and one that sat on top of your fridge. He moved toward the fridge, inspecting your magnets and the few photo booth pictures of you and a few friends, from ‘Summer’s 27th Bash!’ and ‘Jordan and Celeste’s Wedding’, amongst a few other pictures. One of them being a bit older and faded, a woman who looked like you; holding a little girl, the two of them sticking their tongues out for the photo. He couldn’t help but smile at that one.

“Ready?” You asked, bringing Jack out of his thoughts. He turned around and nodded, heading for the door. Jack took your bags and the two of you got into the elevator and went down to the car Jack had waiting. He handed your bags to the driver before opening the door and pressing a warm hand to the small of your back, helping you get in, before he scooted in next to you.

“So you’re still not gonna let me in on where we’re going?” You asked as you rested your head on his shoulder, yawning softly.

“Just wait and see, I promise it’s worth the wait.” Jack murmured as he kissed your hairline again, his hand reaching for yours and intertwining them.

“Hmpf. Fine, be that way.” You childishly pouted. Jack couldn’t help but laugh at your stubbornness as he rested his head atop of yours.

“I thought you said you trusted me?” He humorously quipped.

“I do. I’m just nosy.” You said, eyes now shut as you adjusted and got comfy in Jack’s arms.

Jack chuckled, shaking his head as he rubbed his thumb against the back of your hand.

——

After a three hour flight on the jet Jack had rented, you were finally at your destination.

“Turks and Caicos?? You brought me to Turks and Caicos??” You squealed as you looked out at the ocean from the luxurious villa Jack had rented out for the week.

“I thought you deserved a real vacation, one where you’re pampered and truly relaxed, not just at home before your schedule starts up again.” He explained, his eyes gleaming with adoration for you as you fawned over your new surroundings.

You turned around, finally looking at him. You were starting to tear up, your lips in a pouty frown that fought to keep the overwhelming emotions down.

“Thank you for this, Jack. Seriously.” You hugged him tightly, your arms wrapping around his waist as he wrapped his around your shoulders, pulling you into his chest.

“No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.” You quietly said, a few tears escaping your eyes.

“Well I’m glad to be the first, and only.” Jack said. ‘And hopefully the last’ he thought, pulling away slightly only to encompass your face in his hands, thumbing away the stray tears, placing a soft kiss to your lips.

“You more than deserve it.” He said as he pecked your lips a couple more times.

“Cmon, let’s go get settled and then order room service. Sound good?”

“Mmhm.” You hummed contently, a small grin peeking out.

——

You let out a deep sigh as you let the hot water soak your hair and run down your body. You were gonna sleep next to him tonight. For the first time. You felt ready, less anxious then when you first started contemplating it, but still nervous nonetheless. It had been a while since you were vulnerable with a man like this; certain experiences having made you avoidant and guarded when it came to the men you slept with.

But you felt a sense of comfort when it came to Jack, unlike anything you’d felt before. It was new. Different. It scared you but it also excited you. So for once, you were willing to give into it, at your own pace of course.

After exfoliating your body and taking care of your hair, you got out of the shower, feeling revitalized from your flight.

You wrapped a giant fluffy white towel around you and applied your lotion and finished with your skin routine.

You stepped out of the luxurious bathroom, letting steam air out as you stepped back into the master bedroom.

“Hey.” Jack grinned at your presence.

“Hey.” You smiled back at him.

“Good shower?”

“The best.” You sighed happily.

“Here-“ Jack got up from the couch in the room, disappearing into the closet for a moment before walking back out with a fluffy robe.

“- figured you’d enjoy this.” He held out the robe for you to put your arms.

“Oh my godddd, it’s so warm!” You whispered delightfully, tying the knot before turning around in Jack’s arms so your face was buried in his chest.

“Yeah, they have a lil towel warmer, stuck it in there while you showered.” He chuckled, his hands rubbing up and down your robed back.

“Mmmmm. So niceee.” You hummed.

“Good, I’m glad. Now get in bed and choose something to watch while I go shower. I ordered us cheeseburgers with a few sides, s’that okay? Otherwise I can fix you something else.” Jack suggested.

“No, that’s perfect, thanks.” You said, the small grin you were sporting, never leaving your face.

“Okay. Be back in a few.” He smiled, kissing your hair before heading to the bathroom.

You got situated in bed, the tray of food on the side table, and the remotes laid out for you.

Who the hell was this man? You’d never felt so pampered before, men were usually selfish and greedy, but Jack was the opposite with you. All he wanted was to give, financially, sexually, emotionally. It seemed fake, but he never changed within the months you’d been hooking up.

Jack really just wanted to support you in any and every way, but was understanding and wanted you to set the pace, for you to decide how fast or slow you went. He knew you were sus of him and men in general, what their motives were, and he couldn’t blame you for that. He knew how men could be; disgusting, manipulative, selfish. But ultimately, he just wants to take care of you. Be a man you could be proud of, feel safe with, feel loved by. He didn’t care how long it took, he’d stick around for as long as you wanted him to.

You giggled childishly as you hugged the warm robe around you. You put on That’s So Raven, feeling nostalgic of simpler times.

Jack emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his hips, his curls a dark brown now as they’d been soaked from the water, beads of water slowly trailing down his chest, with his happy trail peeking out.

“Ooooh, That’s So Raven- good choice.” He complimented, eyes on the screen. You couldn’t say the same about your own, glued to his long torso, his abs flexing with every breath.

“Yeah, reminds me of good times.” You remarked.

“I’m sure it does.” Jack said with a playful tone, catching you staring at him.

Your cheeks heated up a bit from being caught, as Jack made his way to the closet.

“No peeking!” He playfully exclaimed, dramatic as ever, eyeing you before going into the closet, making you laugh.

Jack couldn’t help but smile to himself while he got into his robe, he loved hearing your laugh. He loved it even more when he was the one making you laugh.

He opened the door and ran to the bed, jumping into it like a child which made the the both of you giggle.

The two of you ate and watched shows for the rest of the night, switching on and off between eachother about who got to choose what to watch. Eventually you both changed into your pajamas, a big t shirt and panties for you; and some basketball shorts and classic white tank for Jack.

Jack noticed you start to get sleepy after a while. You had cuddled into eachother, his arm over your shoulders, leaning you into his chest. He felt your breathing start to slow and get deeper, and your eyes fluttered open and closed. When you finally gave up on trying to keep them open, he pressed a kiss to your forehead before sliding out the bed. He grabbed a few pillows and an extra blanket that was lying around before he grabbed the tv remote.

Just as he was about to turn the tv off, he was startled by your voice.

“Where are you going?” You quietly murmured, eyes squinting from your tiredness and the tv.

Jack muted the tv before turning his attention to you.

“Was gonna go sleep on the couch.”

“Why?” You questioned.

God you were adorable when you were sleepy. Jack wanted nothing but to kiss you silly.

“ I didn’t think you’d want to sleep next to me? Or- I mean, I just figured you’d want your space.” He tried to explain. He didn’t want you to feel obligated to sleep next to him just because he brought you out here; he figured your usual routine was in place still.

“ I-I did, but not anymore.”

“No?” Jack couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“No.” You meweled. “Will you please come back to bed? Please.” You whispered, anxiously tugging at a string from the hem of your shirt.

Jack practically skidded across the room in a cartoonish fashion, like the Roadrunner; to get into the other side of the bed, making you giggle.

“Too eager?” He joked.

You shook your head with a smirk creeping at your lips.

“Oh, not enough??” Jack questioned before you got a chance to answer, and he got up and ran back to where he stood originally before running and jumping onto the bed like a spider monkey.

A loud laugh bubbled from your chest, making you throw yourself back into the fluffy pillows, causing Jack to smile.

“Perfect amount.” You smiled back at him, curling your body into his chest, letting out a soft sigh.

Jack pressed a kiss to your forehead, picked up the remote and turned the tv off, letting the room fill with comfortable silence. The distant sounds of the waves washing providing a soothing white noise for the two of you to drift off to sleep.

——

You woke up earlier than expected, 5:27 to be exact. The sun slightly filtering through the curtains, the waves still present in the background, with a few birds chirping every so often.

Jacks grip was the first thing you noticed. Tight and solid around your waist as he held you against his chest. You looked up at him, admiring his soft face. Long eyelashes fluttered as he dreamt, freckles adorning his cheeks and his mouth in a slight open pout, his breathing deep. His curls slightly tousled from sleep, but their form framed his face beautifully. You couldn’t help but lovingly smile as you brushed a curl from his forehead, placing a small kiss.

Jack let out a small grunt, and you looked at him, hoping you didn’t disturb his sleep. That was until you realized you felt his hard cock pressing against your thigh, giving you an idea.

Jack eased his grip on you as you shuffled around, fully resting his back against the sheets, before you straddled his hips. You dipped your head down, pressing wet kisses under his ear and along his jaw.

He started to stir as you left hickeys along his neck and chest; red marks that would soon enough turn purple across his pale skin.

“Good morning, handsome.” You hummed.

“Mmmm, ‘mornin angel.” Jack grunted in his raspy morning voice. It was something you’d get to hear once in a while, usually when Jack was in another city working; he liked to call you early before starting his day. But now you got to hear it personally, in the flesh, centimeters away from you, and my god did it get you wet.

You continued to kiss down his torso, gliding your nails across the skin, making him shiver in delight.

You cupped his clothed cock, making his breath hitch.

“Can I-“

“Please, yes.” He breathed out.

You grinned as you pulled down his shorts, Jack kicking them off completely with his foot.

Your mouth watered at the sight of his perfect cock. The tip a gorgeous shade of pink, close to matching his lips, precum already leaking from the slit as his cock twitched in anticipation.

“Fuck, so pretty Jack, so so pretty…” you whined before taking him in your mouth.

“God, I’ve missed this. Missed your hot little mouth sweetheart. It’s only been a few days but it’s been too long without you,” Jack babbled, focusing on not thrusting his entire dick down your throat, keeping the respectfulness at bay.

You groaned as you continued to bob your head up and down, your core clenching as he continued to praise you. Jack shivered at this, hands reaching into your hair.

“Your little throat takes me so well, doesn’t she pretty girl? Takes Daddy so well,” His voice now more gruff as he chased his orgasm, hips lifting off the bed a little.

You coughed as his tip hit the back of your throat, making you eyes water, taking your mouth off of him.

“Fuck, m’sorry-“ Jack quickly apologized.

“No, no, I liked it.” You grinned at him as he swiped a fallen tear with his thumb. You kissed his thumb before going back to his wet cock, kissing up and down his length before you took him in your mouth again. You twirled your tongue around him and suckled at his tip, saliva and precum drooling from your lips down his cock and into his trimmed pelvis, matting the hair together.

Jacks grip tightend in your hair as his moans got louder.

“Jesus fucking Christ, you’re so good to me. So good to me with that precious filthy mouth, angel.”

You relaxed your throat, nuzzling forward into his pelvic bone, tapping his hip to signal he could have his way with you before playing with his balls.

“Fuck yes, just like that, breathe through your nose baby, breathe with me, yeah- just like that- fuck.” Jack grunted as he fucked your throat.

The obscenely wet sounds that echoed the room as his tip continued to hit the back of your throat, combined with the precious whimpers that fell from you was enough for Jack to burst.

He came an ungodly amount down your throat, so much that you tried to swallow it all, but it just kept coming. You took your mouth off of him, spurts of cum still leaking from him, splattering across your chest and your chin before he finally finished.

Jack shuddered from the intense euphoria and the lack of covers, dick still twitching. You climbed back up and laid on him, hands clutching at his shoulders from underneath, your warmth helping him calm his breathing before he wrapped his arms around you.

“Jesus fucking Christ,“ Jack breathed out heavily, eyes still shut and his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to calm his breathing.

You giggled as you pressed a gentle kiss to his jaw before laying your head back on his chest.

“Think you sucked part of my soul out.” He laughed and you grinned into his skin.

You started to get off him but before you could shuffle back to your side, Jack flipped the two of you over.

“Jack, you don’t have to-“

“I don’t have to do anything, I want to though.” He hummed as he started trailing kisses along your jaw and down your clothed torso.

“Lemme take care of you, remember?” And you nodded and let out a soft sigh as you felt your shirt being pushed up your thighs ever so lightly.

He settled between your legs, lifting your calves over his shoulders as he got a better view of your pussy. You felt Jack’s breathing against your lower tummy, right on the cusp of your mound, making your shiver.

He chuckled before pressing a soft kiss to your panty-clad pussy.

“Missed you.” He whispered as he traced the skin with his nose, taking in the scent that was you.

“Missed your smell,” he continued, his teeth biting the fabric of your baby pink thong, slowly dragging it down and off your legs.

Jack saw how incredibly wet you were, and it drove him mad. He spread your lips, your arousal glistening in the light, clit begging to be touched. He let out a soft tuft of air in awe of the beauty before him. Every soft curve, scar, freckle, dimple splayed across your skin were the most beautiful brush strokes of the painting that was you. Every whine, moan, giggle that fell from your mouth were perfect melodies to him.

You whined at his breath on your clit, silently begging him to make a move.

“P-Please baby, do something.” You pleaded.

“I got you mama, I got you,” Jack promised before leaning into you and licking a fat strip along your entrance.

“Oh fuck-“ you cried out, your hands burying themselves into his hair.

Jack had eaten you out before, but there was something different about this time. He had a type of insatiable hunger, you could feel it in his aura; and in the way he devoured your pussy.

Your hips jerked forward as Jack pressed his nose against your clit, a delicious sound to your ears as he continued to lap at you. You were paralyzed, in the best way- unable to do anything but let out cries and moans of euphoria.

“J-Jack,” you cried.

“You taste so fuckin good, you know that? Fuckin’ delectable,” Jack rambled. His pupils were blown out, his gaze never leaving yours as his thumb rubbed circles into your clit.”

“Jack, I-I can’t, I need to cum, please let me cum,” you begged.

“You wanna cum, hm? Wanna cum for Daddy?” Jack smirked as he kept his rhythm, filling you with two of his fingers.

You let out a gasp, teetering on the edge of bliss; and Jack was fully in control. Your orgasm was legitimately in his hands, and you loved it.

The pads of his fingers reached to tap that perfect spot in you, and all it took was for Jack to mouth and nip at your nipple, and you finally succumbed to him.

You bit into his shoulder as you cried out his name, tears slipping from the corner of your eyes as you raked your nails down his back.

“Good girl, my girl is such a good girl huh? So pretty when you cum for me.” Jack cooed in your ear, fingers still pressed up against your walls, his thumb continued to relentlessly rub your clit.

You let out a deep sob at the overstimulation, finally clawing at his shoulder to end his delicious torture.

Jack pulled his fingers out from you and sucked your release off of them, humming in delight. He then turned back to you and laid his full weight on you, kissing your cheeks repeatedly and whispering endless praise.

“You did so well baby. My sweet girl,” he babbled as he held you close to his chest.

Your mind was on fire, unable to string together a single sentence. You weren’t super responsive except for a few sighs and groans; but Jack understood. He laid there with you, pressing gentle kisses to your forehead and cheek, petting your hair as he hummed a soft tune; waiting for you to come back to him.

You let out a giggle when he kissed the crook of your neck, making Jack pull his face out from you, his soft eyes searching for your warm ones.

“Hi.”

“Hey. You okay?” A small smile on his face as he rubbed his thumb along your collarbone.

“Yeah. I’m good. Really good.” You smiled back at him.

“Good.” He kissed your swollen pouty lips.

“Breakfast?” Jack questioned as he got out of bed, finding his shorts and pulling them back up.

“Didn’t you just eat?” You quipped, eyebrows raised teasingly.

“I’m still starving, but I figured I’d let my favorite meal cool off a bit.” He bantered with a smile.

“Breakfast sounds great.” You answered, still cozily wrapped up in the white sheets.

Jack took out his phone and snapped a pic of you in the bed.

“Hey!” You exclaimed.

“Hey!” Jack said, copying you.

You laid there with a pout before he leaned over and kissed you.

“Y’look too cute, I had too.” He said grinning as he leaned back up.

“Breakfast in 10, out on the veranda?” He asked walking towards the door of the bedroom.

“Veranda? I didn’t think you knew that word.” You joked.

“Hey, I read!” Jack huffed as he went to pull at your ankles, dragging you closer to the bed as you let out a squeal.

“You don’t know what my vocabulary looks like,”

“Don’t act like I didn’t see The BFG on your nightstand at your place last week.” You smiled.

“Don’t trash The BFG! It’s one of our greatest pieces of literature.”

“Can’t argue with that.” You hummed, your loving gaze matching his.

Jack smiled before pressing a kiss to your cheek and getting up to go order food.

——

Your feet padded against the cold tiles, walking up to the veranda where Jack was sat; food and colorful juices spread out across the table.

Jack grinned at you as you approached the table, still wrapped up in your bed sheets, looking like a baby deer who just woke up.

The two of you ate and talked about nothing and everything. Jack pulled you into his lap after a while, the two of you picking at fruit and watching the waves slowly sway in and the sun rising, warming the two of you.

That’s how the rest of the week went. Nothing but stolen kisses, soft moments of intimacy shared through cuddles, giggles and quality time (and a lot of fucking). You and Jack had made a pact to go skinny dipping every night, and every night one of you started to back out, only for the other to grab ahold and drag the two of you into the water. Jack would always try and tickle you while you swam, which you hated (loved), causing you to wraps your arms around his broad shoulders to stay afloat. He’d circle his arms around your waist, digging his face into the crook of your neck, taking in the intimacy of the moment every night, loving the connection that grew stronger between you two. During the day you’d build sandcastles together, sit in the sun (much to Jack’s dismay as he would get burnt if he sat outside too long; but he stuck it out so he could shamelessly ogle your glistening body in the tiny bikini you wore), nap together, play stupid drinking games among other things. Jack often snuck pictures of you; some of your reading, sleeping, random candids of you that he loved. One of his favorites was of you laying on your tummy at the beach, your skeleton spinal tattoo on display as you tanned your back, Jack’s hat partly covering your face as you napped. Of course he had others that were more… ‘cum splattered’ that he loved, but he loved this one particularly because of how relaxed you were. You trusted him, and he saw that.

You told him more about how school was going, and how you were soon ready to leave the nightlife and fully focus on your pediatric residency. Jack couldn’t help the warm smile from spreading on his face as he listened to you talk about working with kids. The unwavering light in your eyes as you told him about how the kids you encountered were silly and bright and curious, and how you loved to see them laugh as you used tactics to help get them through their checkups. He was in love with you, deeply so. He just didn’t know how to tell you yet; or if he should tell you. He needed a sign to show him you weren’t going to run from him. Little did he know, your feelings were more similar to his than he thought.

You couldn’t help but feel a childish joy with him, it was freeing. He made you feel free. So you made a decision, and you were gonna tell him about it tonight, the last night of your stay.

——

Jack told you he had made reservations at a restaurant in the area, and to be ready at 7. Though you slept in the same room and shared the villa, he wanted it to feel like a real date; one where he would pick you up at the front door with flowers, anticipation having been built leading up the date. So he got ready in a different room, and slipped out an hour before, leaving the place to you.

You dressed in a black silk knee length dress that perfectly accentuated your figure, the diamond tennis bracelet Jack had gifted you a while ago, and some black leather strappy heels. Your skin glowed against the materials, smooth and inviting. You took one final look before you heard knocking from the front door. You went to open it, and there stood Jack looking as handsome as ever. He wore a white button down, paired with a black blazer and his watch, along with the subtle diamond KY chain. His beard had been lined up, nails trimmed and glossed, and he smelled fucking amazing.

“Hi, beautiful.” His deep voice enveloping you in a euphoric hug, you swore you could feel your heartbeat in your clit.

Jack felt the same, unbeknownst to you. His eyes devoured you from head to toe, he almost didn’t want to blink, afraid he’d miss a single angle of you. He willed his dick to not get hard as his eyes roamed the plushness of your skin, the way your chest heaved as your own eyes studied him.

“These are for you.” He stretched his hand out as you accepted the bouquet of white lilies. You grinned and thanked him, and before you could even ask where to put them, you noticed there was a vase full with water on the table by the door. You grinned, biting your lip before letting a laugh out, as Jack had already anticipated your move.

He laughed along with you as you put them in the vase.

“Ready?” He grinned, offering his arm for you to take.

“As ever.” You beamed up at him, gently pulling a curl and watching it bounce back.

You arrived at the restaurant, and were in complete awe of the view. It overlooked the beach at a distance, the colorful flora and fauna leading from the mainland and slowly dispersed as it neared the water.

“Jack, this is so beautiful.”

“I know.” You turned to look at him, but he was already looking at you; a soft look on his face as he admired you.

He guided you to your table, pulling out your chair for you and kissing your cheek before he sat down in his own chair. You ordered drinks, and as the waiter left to fetch them and give you time to look over the menu, Jack intertwined your hands and rubbed his thumb over the back of your hand.

He hummed as he flipped through the menu. The both of you sneaking glances at eachother, giggling like teenagers. You got your drinks and ordered food, sipping at your chilled wine as you embraced the last bit of warmth as the sun began to set. You ate your meals, continuing to share laughs and stories, it was like you’d known eachother for years. The waiter cleared your plates and you ordered a slice of chocolate cake to share.

“I kinda wanted to talk to you about something,” Jack started off. “Hold on,” he stood up and draped his blazer over you, having noticed you started to shiver as the wind took up slightly.

“Me too actually,” you told him as he returned to his seat.

“Oh?” He inquired, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, but you go first.” You told him.

“Oh- um, yeah okay,” he fidgeted with his PG ring, nerves taking over.

You took his hands in yours, giving them a small squeeze as you gave him a gentle encouraging smile.

That made his nerves disappear. Just a look at your face, the sound of your voice, the smell of your hair, the gentle touch of your palm, it made him calm. You made him calm. Fearless. Like he could do any and everything as long as you were next to him.

“This week has been one of the best weeks of my life. These past few months have been the best months of my life,” he started. Your heart began to swell as you anticipated what he was going to say.

“And I don’t wanna ruin it by saying something too… big, but I know it’ll eat me alive if I don’t tell you how I feel, Cin.” He exhaled, clutching your hands a little tighter.

“Wait-“ you interrupted him.

Jack’s heart stopped. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. He knew he shouldn’t have even tried to bring it up, he should’ve swallowed feelings.

“Y/N.” You told him.

“What?” Jack questioned, confused by what you meant.

“Y/N. That’s my name- my real name. Y/N.” You peered up at him from your lap.

His heart started beating again, rapidly so, but in an anxious way, no - this time he felt ecstatic. He felt the electricity run through his veins, he felt fucking giddy. He felt like he was floating, he could’ve sworn you could see the warm ball of light radiating from his chest.

“Y/N,” he smiled, feeling the way your name felt in his mouth. He loved it. “Y/N.” He repeated, as you smiled back at him. He had asked for a sign, and fuck if it wasn’t the most perfect one.

“I want something with you, Y/N. Whatever you want, whatever you’re willing to give me, you can decide- but I know that I want this, I want you. I- I love you.” He exhaled.

“A-And don’t feel pressured to say it, I just wanted you to know-“ Jack babbled before you cut him off.

“I love you too, Jack. I love you.” You told him, eyes welling up with tears that threatened to fall.

“Yeah? For real?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, forreal forreal,” you chuckled, trying to keep the tears at bay.

“Think I’ve known for a while now. I was scared of how I felt, all the feelings were so… big.” You continued. “But I know that I love you. You make me feel light, and safe, and free. And I haven’t felt that in a really long time.” You laughed, a tear finally falling.

Jack smiled and stood up, walking up next to you and leaned down, bringing you into a loving kiss, wiping the stray tear away.

“So you’re mine?”

“I’m yours.” You replied.

“Fuck yes.” He whispered, pulling you up and bringing you into another passionate kiss. He twirled you around, making you giggle before he brought you into a hug.

“I love you, so so much Y/N.” He took your face in his hands.

“I love you too Jack. So much.” You voice hitched as he kissed you again.

-

Jack had never hated keys as much as he had in this very moment.

He was struggling to get it into the lock, as he was heavily distracted by you tugging at his earlobe with your teeth, your legs tightening around his waist as your hips rutted against him.

He was painfully hard, his cock begging to be released from the constraints of his dress pants. He almost wanted to throw all caution to the wind and fuck you in the doorway, he was so desperate to be close to you in this moment, but you deserved a proper bed and the right setting for your declaration of love.

He finally got the door open, dramatically huffing and you giggled in his ear, your hand finding solace in his hair, raking your nails against his scalp which made Jack moan into your mouth.

He kicked the door closed behind him, stumbling into your shared room, gently laying you down onto the bed. He stood back up, the two of you panting hard, eyes never leaving eachother. The tension, although thick, dissipated from pure raw lust, to a comforting, softer, loving need.

It was silent, but both of your smiles made the room loud. The wine you had warmed your cheeks up, and you couldn’t contain your childish giggles, which made Jack chuckle himself. He thought you looked so unbelievably adorable, his blazer too many sizes too big and swallowing you up. But you looked at him with what he could only imagine his own face looked like; in love.

Jack crawled on top of you, holding his weight off by balancing on his forearms as he hovered over you.

“My pretty girl.” He hummed as his thumb caressed your face.

He brought his forehead to yours, noses just barely brushing against eachother.

“I love you.”

“I love you.” You whispered back.

Jack smiled before standing back up as he began to unbutton his shirt, discarding it on the floor.

You shucked his jacket off, and reached to fiddle with the zip on your back before Jack’s voice stopped you.

“Can I-“ he uttered. You looked up at him, eyes urging him to continue.

“I wanna do it. Let me do it, please?”

You nodded, laying back as he got undressed down to his briefs, took his and your shoes off, and then came back to hover over you.

He kissed you tenderly, savoring every second, and kissed down your neck. He licked and sucked on that sweet spot on your neck, a moan falling from your lips as you arched into Jack.

“So beautiful…” Jack mumbled against your neck, his arms reaching around your back to unzip your dress. He pulled the straps down your arms, shimmying the dress down your legs.

His eyes practically rolled out of his head when he saw you were only wearing a red thong.

“No bra?” He managed to ask, his hands wandering on their own, brushing up against the underside of your breasts.

“The dress looked better without it.” You shrugged.

“I’m gonna burn all the bras you own, no need for ‘em.” Jack mumbled as his thumbs rubbed into your nipples. “Gotta have easy access, right?” He coaxed, his mouth latching on to your soft breast.

“Oh fuck-“ you gasped. His mouth was glorious, sucking and mouthing at your tits, switching on and off from one to the other, one nipple always being pulled on or pinched between his index finger and thumb. Jack swirled his tongue over your nipple, his teeth lightly grazing it before he went to create more hickeys along your chest.

Jack kissed down your torso, biting and nipping at your skin here and there, before his fingers tugged at the waistband of your thong.

“Please.” You nodded at him, giving him the all clear to which he leaned down and plucked the fabric with his teeth, pulling them off your body.

Jack lifted your leg, resting your ankle on his shoulder as he kissed up your calf, licking up your inner thigh before he was met with your glistening pussy.

“Mine.” He growled.

“Yours.” You confirmed with a breathy whine.

Jack nudged his nose against your puffy clit, inhaling the sweet scent that was you.

“Fuck.” He breathed out, a puff of air landing hot on your lips, making you clench your core.

His tongue delved into your wet hole, the feeling of his wet muscle against your pussy making you cry out in pleasure. You bucked your hips into his face, making Jack chuckle, the vibration making you gasp. His muscled arms wrapped around your thighs, holding your hips down as he continued his pleasurable assault on your aching pussy.

“Fuck Jack, yes! Oh my god-“ your eyes rolled to the back of your head, mouth agape and unable to close. Your toes curled and you dragged them up his back as you writhed into the sheets.

Jack replaced his tongue with his fingers, wanting to reach that perfect spot in you. “You taste so fucking good, peach.” He gnawed at your hip bone before pressing a kiss and returning to your clit.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck- I’m gonna cum,” you moaned, eyes furrowed shut, awaiting the crash of your orgasm. But it never came.

Your eyes shot open and you lifted yourself up on your forearms.

“Jack? What the hell.” You pouted. “I was about to cum.” You narrowed your eyes.

“I know baby, but I wanna feel you cum on my cock.” He hummed, the raspiness in his voice more prominent. He climbed back up to you, face covered in your slick. You moaned as you kissed him, tasting yourself on him, with him, you tugged at his hair, pulling him impossibly closer.

“Wanna see you lose yourself on my cock for the first time, as my girlfriend.” He groaned as he rolled his hips into yours, your slick creating a damp patched against his clothed hard-on.

“Off, take them off already Jack.” Your foot attempted to push his briefs down.

“Okay baby, I got you.” He kissed you a few times before bending down to slide his briefs off. Jack settled between your legs, sliding his cock up and down, between your folds, his creamy tip bumping against your clit each time.

Jack felt your nails dig into his back and he hadn’t even slid into you yet, but he couldn’t blame you, he was aching to be inside you.

He tapped his cock against your clit a few more times, making you mewl and curl further into him. He finally pressed his thick head at your entrance, slowly thrusting into you, inch by inch. He felt you exhale and relax into his arms as he bottomed out, a dazed look on your face as he kissed your cheek. He laid there, balls pressed against your ass, still, enjoying the intimacy. Quiet except for eachother’s breathing, he felt your energies intertwining, like you became one.

“I love you.” You whispered, pressing a kiss beneath his ear.

He smiled into your neck.

“I love you.” He said whispered back, before beginning to move, slowly thrusting in and out, working you open.

“Fuck you feel so good,” He grunted, your walls tightly sucking in his cock. You clenched, tightening your hold on him, and he moaned, biting your shoulder.

He felt your essence leak down your ass, the shlick! sound created by the two of you amplified, and Jack picked up his speed a bit.

“Jack! Oh my fucking god,” you cried out, his thrusts harder and more intentional now, his yummy damp matted coarse curls rubbing against your clit had you raking your acrylics into his back; any concerns about bleeding or scarring left for tomorrow’s worries.

“You take me so well baby, doing so good,” he praised as he pressed your knees to your chest, your calves on his shoulders, thus allowing his tip to kiss your cervix, which made you drool.

“Does that feel good, princess? Yeah?” Jack talked you through it. His pace never faltered, keeping steady, his thumb inching back to its home on your clit as the sound of skin slapping and moans filled the hot room. You cried out his name in response, your mind a hazy fog, you were enveloped in him. His smell, his feel, his voice, you were intoxicated and never wanted to get sober.

“Ja-Jack..” your voice hitched, letting out a pleasure filled sob.

“What do you want? Tell me, use your words baby,” Jack encouraged, his mouth back on your neck, slowing and grinding his pelvis into your clit.

“W- want,” you shuddered in euphoria.

“Hm? C’mon you can do better than that, come on,” he urged you, mouthing at your tits, spreading his saliva across your pebbled nipples, nipping at them slightly with his teeth.

“Want you to cum in me,” you groaned, rutting your hips against his.

“Are you sure?” Jack asked, his thrusts slowing to a stop.

“Yes, I’m sure. I want it so bad, Jack.” You pouted, writhing against him, bringing him back for a sloppy needy kiss.

“Please give it all to me, wanna be filled to the brim with you.” You whined, and Jack nodded, fucking into you at a determined speed.

“I fucking love you, Y/N.” Jack growled as he reached the edge of his orgasm.

That broke the dam that held your orgasm. The grip your legs had around Jack tightened as you brought him deeper into you, and Jack pinched and pulled at your nipples, biting your neck as he grinded against your clit, maximizing your pleasure.

“I love you, I fucking love you Jack, I love you,” you babbled, tears falling from the corners of your eyes as you pressed him closer against your chest. The connection you felt was overwhelming, but so warm.

Your walls twitched, suffocating Jack’s cock in the most delicious way, making his hips stutter into yours as he came.

“Fuckfuckfuck, oh god-“ he moaned as ropes and ropes of cum filled you excessively, leaking from your tiny hole. Jack relaxed into you, resting his full weight against you, pulling your legs down to the side so he could lay on you. You laid there breathing in eachother, silent again, no words necessary as everything that wanted to be said, was felt by the both of you. You nuzzled into his neck, your hands returning to their righteous home, Jacks curls. He groaned as your nails raked at his scalp again, making him twitch in overstimulation in your hold; the last drop of cum spurting into you as he pressed his pelvis against yours one last time.

You stayed like that for a while, neither of you wanting to move just yet. This time it was you humming a soft tune as Jack had done for you a few times before, helping you ground yourself back to him.

After a few minutes you felt him turn his head to lay on your chest, his hands clutching at your sides, having wrapped his arms around you to keep you close to him.

“Hi, pretty.” You said, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

“Hi, baby.” He responded contently, exhaling a deep sigh.

“You good?”

“Never felt better in my life.” He let out a chuckle.

“You?”

“Same.” You smiled.

“Wish we could stay like this forever, feels so right being with you like this. In you, like this.” He spoke. “But, I gotta pull out now, okay?” You nodded, pressing a soft peck to him before he got up. Jack slid out, and his cum leaked out onto your ass, all over your inner thighs, and down to the sheets.

Jack couldn’t help himself but to smear some of the cum against your sensitive clit.

“Jack..” you whined, your legs folding in on eachother.

“Couldn’t resist, sorry baby.” He kissed your tummy before getting up to get a warm cloth to clean you up. He came back and wiped you up, before holding his hands out for you to take ahold of.

“Legs don’t work.” You told him, refusing to even attempt to get up.

“Okay, Angel. No problem.” He laughed as he took you into his arms, carrying your to the bathroom. He let you pee in private as he called room service for fresh sheets. The quickly arrived and Jack took the fresh ones as they took the soiled ones in a laundry bag. He came back to you and carried you back to the bed, fresh sheets now on.

“I feel so bad for the people who have to clean our sheets.” You groaned in embarrassment while Jack laughed.

“They’ll be fine, I’m sure they’ve dealt with this plenty times before.” He assured you, pulling you to lay on his chest, kissing your hair and tracing aimless patterns on your back.

You hiked your leg up and around Jack’s waist, nuzzling into his chest before letting out a deep satisfied sigh.

“Sleep, baby.” Jack hummed, and you nodded.

“Hey, Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“Love you.” You mumbled.

He smiled. He couldn’t believe he was here with the girl he dreamed of, with her telling him she loves him. That electric giddy feeling flooded his veins again.

“Love you too Y/N.” He told her. He felt her smile into his skin, before her breathing evened out, falling asleep, with Jack not far behind her.

To be continued…

———————————

Tag list: @hoodharlow @moody4world @watercolorskyy @lcandothisallday @harlowthot @triplexdoublex @thinkingaboutjharlow @bbyharlow @primadxna-girl @curlyhairclub @inluvwithladybug @babyharleezy @harlowcomehome @rebelxsun @jackharloww @harlowsbby

#jack harlow #jack harlow concepts #jack harlow imagine #jack harlow blurb #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow fic #jack harlow smut #jack harlow fluff

[trashboatprince]

Hey, remember a while back when I was making art and stuff of Ten in a skirt because fashion has no gender and the Doctor would look cute in one? And I wrote a whole one-shot about Ten buying one with Donna being there as support? This one?

I decided to do a part-two with Fourteen and Rose Noble.

As always for me, I write Fourteen as enby going by they/them, but doesn't care what pronouns people use for them. However, Rose is not aware of this at first, so she uses he/him before she learns.

On with the fic!

--

"Do you ever sit still?" Rose snickered, watching as the Doctor shifted in his seat on the bus, looking at whatever was going on through the windows on either side of the vehicle.

"Impossible for me, clearly." The Doctor said. "Your mum and grandmother won't stop complaining about me fidgeting at the table. Just yesterday, Sylvia told me not to sit cross-legged at the table! Much more comfortable, if you ask me."

"Yeah, and when you put your feet on the floor, she told you to stop tapping your feet on it." Rose grinned and the Doctor grinned back.

The Doctor had been living with the Noble-Temple family in their temporary home provided by UNIT for two weeks now, and Rose was getting used to the alien being around. He was actually really cool, once you got past his odd quirks. But she had developed some of his quirks from previous incarnations throughout her life, so she couldn't say anything.

Today was Saturday, and Rose was looking forward to a shopping trip in town. She had gotten paid well from a few sales and wanted to celebrate with getting some supplies. And a few new items of clothing, her closet could do with it. The Doctor had tagged along because he wanted out of the house, and Mum had the key to the TARDIS so he couldn't go in there to do whatever it was he did in there.

Also, hence why they were on the bus.

But it wasn't like the Doctor couldn't just get into the TARDIS without the key. He had the sonic, and he said she'd open for him easily, but Mum was strict about the retirement thing. No running off for adventures or whatnot!

Still, the Doctor happily had agreed to come along with Rose into town, saying it wouldn't hurt to do a bit of shopping for himself. Yeah, he said he had a lot of clothing in the TARDIS, but Mum and Gran were getting on him about dressing like a human, not as... well... Mum said he looked like someone who 'worked in men's wear'. And this made the Doctor bristle, saying something about how she's never gonna let that one go.

Whatever that meant.

"Ooh, this is our stop." The Doctor said as the bus came to a slow stop and the two of them got off when the doors opened.

He was grinning, bouncing on his feet as he glanced about. "Ah! I know where we are!"

"You do?" Rose asked as she adjusted her backpack purse.

"Yeah! I came here years ago with Donna! This is where I bought-" He stopped and looked a bit flushed.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Uhh... I know, I know, dumb to get embarrassed about, considering I was a Time Lady before this face, and you're under a similar flag..."

She blinked and gasped. "Oh! Did you get some feminine clothing from a shop here?"

"Yep." He said, popping the P. "Bought my first skirt here, was nervous as hell about it, didn't know what your mum would say about it. But she encouraged it, said that it was my choice to dress how I wanted and all that. Especially cause I basically came out as, well, genderfluid? Non-binary? One of those to her."

"Oh shi- wait, you're non-binary? Crap, have I been getting your pronouns wrong?"

"What do you use?"

"He/him."

The Doctor shrugged. "I can understand why. I've never corrected any of you guys on it, everyone uses those for me, considering the face and all. Look rather boyish, honestly, even at my old age." There was a bright grin at this.

"Ah, but I personally don't actually see my gender as really a big deal nowadays. I honestly just use they/them when I think about myself now, but I'm not offended or opposed to the use of male or even female pronouns. Though being called 'miss' again with this face would be fun."

Rose nodded, listening. "So... you're fine with me using whatever? Do you have a preference? I remember you telling the Meep you used the definite article."

"That I do! I mean, the Doctor, that's as good of a gender as any! But you can use whatever, I don't care." The Doctor said, shoving hi- their hands into their pockets. Might be better to go with the ones they used for themself.

"Right, got it." She nodded and started to walk with them to the thrift shop down the street. "What are you looking to buy anyway?"

"I dunno, I'll see whatever catches my fancy. Might get some new shoes, I love these ones, but my future self ran off with the ones I got when I regenerated and these ones," The Doctor gestured to the very worn and slightly burnt converses they wore, "were damaged when I went from this face to Chinny. At least he was nice enough to bring them back to the TARDIS."

She laughed a bit at their grumbling as the two entered into the shop. "Thinkin' about maybe getting another skirt or two from here? Since this is where you found your first one, as you said?"

The Doctor paused and looked back at her. "Should I? Think I can still pull it off?"

"Oh yeah! I think you can! If you want, I can help you pick out things."

The Doctor smiled at her, in that soft way she sees them do when they're relaxing, loosening up and not having their hackles up. She grinned. "Come on, let's doll you up!"

--

They were in there for over an hour, and so far Rose had found more clothing for herself than the Doctor. It wasn't their fault that a lot of things in thrift stores weren't always to their tastes. And this one seemed a bit picky.

Pinstripes weren't for them this time around, they rather liked tartan better, but it wasn't easy to find anything that fit them right. Sizes were also a problem. They were a skinny thing, as Donna put it, so things often were a bit big, and the Doctor liked tighter clothing, there was a sensory comfort there.

But, they had found some silly shirts with ridiculous sayings on them, including one that had Rose and them laughing. It said 'I'm no rocket surgeon', and it went right into their little cart.

They had even found a new pair of converse to wear, not white this time, but they were a really nice dark blue. They even found a pair in hot pink, which reminded them of the two Rose's in their life. Ah, but those ones were too small, oh well.

A few comfy looking sweaters and some buttons up went into the cart as the Doctor browsed, and as they examined a really fuzzy ones in pink and green stripes, they heard Rose call out to them, waving her hand.

"Find something good?" They smiled as she came over and they stared at the item in her hands.

It was a surprise to find a skirt that match their old pinstripe suit perfectly all those years ago, but to find a second perfect skirt, in their tartan? Well... that was...

Probably best not to question the universe, honestly. Not when it came to being around the Nobles.

"It's perfect! It might even be your size!" Rose said, holding it out to them.

The Doctor took it, looking it over. "You think so?"

"Oh yeah, and I think I found a few more in other styles and colors you might like that could work with some of those tops you've picked out. But that one? That's perfect for you!"

They looked at the skirt, checked the size, and put it into the cart. "Thank you." They said, and she looked delighted. "Now, show me these other ones you found!"

--

"-gonna keep sticking the googly eyes to yourself, I'm removing you from eye duty."

"You sound like your mother."

"Okay, just for that, give me the jar of eyes."

"Nope!"

Donna paused in removing her shoes at the door, hearing her daughter and her adopted alien sibling from the living room. There was some noises followed by laughter and a comment of 'oh dang, we made a mess'.

She sighed and set her jacket on the hook, along with her purse. She walked into the living room a moment later, finding Rose with some of her sewing material on the coffee table and on the floor, where she sat with a half-made plush toy in her lap. The Doctor was seated next to her, trying to scoop up a mess of googly eyes that had fallen out of their designated jar.

Donna noticed that the Doctor did in fact have some googly eyes glued to their arms, clearly meant to mess with Rose or to be part of a telling of a fantastical story of some alien or whatnot. But she also noticed what their were wearing.

"You're in a skirt again." Donna said instead of a greeting.

The Doctor looked up at her, blinking behind their glasses. "Oh! Yes, I am! Rose and I went shopping today for craft stuff and clothing. She found it in a shop, it's that little shop you and I visited. Remember that? Where I got my first skirt?"

"I remember it, you had been so nervous, and once you tried it on, you didn't want to take it off. You even considered finding those ugly galaxy-printed leggings to go with it. Glad to see you didn't give into that desire again." She replied as she sat down on the couch.

The Doctor laughed. "I did get those eventually, remember? Ooh, I think Bill stole 'em from me though, sneaky granddaughter. Anyway," They stood up, knocking some eyes to the floor that had been in their lap, "whatcha think?"

They did a little spin, and Rose laughed at this as more eyes fell to the floor. Donna sniffed. "It's cute, very fitting of you. However, are you ever, EVER going to wear socks that actually match the pattern of your clothes!? Or even just match in general?"

The Doctor looked at their feet, as if for the first time noticing that they were wearing one blue, white and pink sock that was stripped and a red and green sock that was decorated it what looked like hot sauce bottles and chili peppers.

"Nah." The Doctor shrugged and sat back down, knowing that Donna would never win that battle. Still, at least the Doctor could coordinate the other parts of their clothes at least. And besides, the skirt was what mattered, Donna thought as she watched two of the most important people in their life try to pick up their little mess.

Two people sitting happily and comfortably in clothing that made them feel good about themselves.

She could forgive the horrendous sock combo for that.

--

I love the idea of Rose and Fourteen picking out outfits for each other after this trip.

#doctor who #fourteenth doctor #rose noble #donna noble #john's drabbles

[spider-man-199999]

Hopefully I’m correct that you’re accepting requests since I just read your latest fic and was absolutely OBSESSED with it. Your writing style is absolutely beautiful hence I was hoping to request a fic. Basically something that takes place during NWH where the reader comes through during Strange’s spell because her best friend in her universe was a version of Peter. Except her Peter died during a tragic accident so she hasn’t seen him in a year or so. And while she’s there she ends up accidentally falling in love with the MCU version of Peter. So then they have to figure out how to keep her there instead of sending her home.

Hopefully that makes sense and wasn’t too long! Thank you<3

I’m actually fangirling so hard right now… bestie, you’re one of my favourite Peter Parker writers on here and I’m so overwhelmed by the idea that you like my writing 😭 I’m shaking ass, crying, throwing up, kicking my feet in the air.

pairing: MCU!Peter Parker x Fem!Reader;

word count: 5k

warnings: mentions of sex

A/n: I made the reader “glitch” because she’s in the wrong universe but the glitching isn’t a physical thing that happens to her, I wanted to explore it as a more of a mental issue. She’s experiencing severe memory loss and deja-vu’s simultaneously, which is the primary reason for them to try and fix things. Also in this universe Peter is a single Pringle to make it easier on me plot wise.

505 by Arctic Monkeys was blasting through your headphones while your feet rested on your desk. You were bobbing your head to the beat, playing your imaginary guitar.

"In my imagination, you're waitin' lyin' on your side. With your hands between your thighs" you sang softly to the song, eyes closed. 

You didn't notice the soft sparkles forming next to you as the song continued.

"But I crumble completely when you cry. It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye" you sang at the top of your lungs, when wind blew next to you, bright light finally capturing your attention. 

You turned your head towards the light. There he was, Peter Parker, looking at you from the other side of what looked like a portal. Peter Parker? Your best friend, who died almost a year ago, was looking at you in confusion, in what seemed like a lab, along with some other people around him. The shock was so big that it made you fall backwards with your entire chair flipping. You were too captivated by the sight to even think straight. You thought you had lost him forever, you grieved him. You saw his body in the coffin, you cried your eyes out for months. And now he was standing in front of you. You got up, staring back at him with the same amount of confusion that was written all over his face. The headphones were off of your head now, but the music was still softly playing. You couldn't help it, the second you were convinced this wasn't a dream by pinching yourself, you practically jumped on top of him, hugging him as tightly as you could.  

The portal behind you closed as you sobbed into his chest. Peter held you in his arms, looking at the other Peters for help. 

"What do I do?" he mouthed while he desperately looked at them for help.

"Comfort her, you idiot!" Peter 2 mouthed back. 

Peter 3 was recreating a hug and a pat on the head on an imaginary person, showing him what to do.

"I thought you were dead!" you cried. "No, you were dead! I saw you dead!"

Peter hugged you tighter, his hand patting your head. They all waited for you to calm down. You did, eventually, and finally let go of him. So many questions were running through your head, you didn't even know where to start. How was he alive? Where the hell had he been all this time? Who were these people? You were about to start asking but he beat you to it. 

"I don't want you to freak out." he started, looking at the other Peters for support. They both nodded, like you were about to go apeshit on them any second now. "But I'm not your Peter."

You looked at him confused, then looked over at the other two. All three of them were actually in spidersuits. Now that he mentioned it, he really did not look exactly like the Peter you knew. For the most part, he did, but this version of him in front of you was slightly taller, no more than an inch, his hair was curlier and lighter in color. You looked at the two others next, taking a deep breath. You had been through enough Spider-man shit to know something extremely weird and beyond your comprehension was happening right now. So, you closed your eyes for a moment to take in this new information, exhaling afterwards.

"Okay. Please explain what's going on then." you said as calmly as possible, noticing as the tension from the bodies of all three of them literally evaporated. 

And they went on, explaining the multiverse, the spell, their mission to cure the villains and change their faith. You nodded as you listened, trying to understand as much as you could. The Spider-man world has always been crazy and being his best friend was never easy, things like this used to happen all of the time. It wasn't long before you had your A game on to help all of them with their mission.

----

The more time you spent with Peter 1, the more obvious it was becoming that he wasn't your Peter. Sure, they looked almost identical, which you found a bit weird now that you had seen the other Peters and how they looked nothing like each other. 

Turned out you didn't really exist in the universe you were in now, nothing close to you was present in Peter's life. Your name was unfamiliar, your parents didn't exist either. After a few long conversations, all of you came to the conclusion that you were something like what MJ was to him here.

Back to Peter, he was nothing like the best friend you had before. Most of the time it felt like you were standing in front of a stranger that you knew perfectly. You could finish all of his sentences, you could list all his favourite foods, the Star Wars movies he liked from most to least. You could vividly remember the sound of his heartbeat, you could remember his scent. You knew everything about how his Spider suit worked, you even used to modify the code for your Peter back in the day. You could even guess all of his passwords, which made all of the Peters terrified of you, since somehow you guessed all of them. Four universes apart and the guy somehow still wasn't creative enough to think of something different from "Stromtrooper99".  All of this was overwhelming, to say the least. It made you miss your Peter more than you thought you could. Especially Peter 1. He was making it exceptionally hard for you, conflicting even. You could see your Peter in him, but something more as well. You could never in a million years see your Peter in a light different from being your best friend. But the case wasn't the same with Peter 1. The way he spoke, the way he carried himself, the way he smiled at you and treated you. It made your heart skip a beat. And he knew that. He knew it so well. His spider powers were way more enhanced than what you knew they were, he could physically hear your heartbeat skip when he was near. He could hear how fast it would start beating when he would place a hand on your shoulder, or when he got too close to you. It amused him, this effect he had on you. He knew this whole spell situation was a mess and it was no time to be a hormonal teenager and have crushes left and right but he couldn't help it, neither could you. 

----

The realization of your crush on him hit you one night when you were working with the other Peters on a cure for the Green Goblin. Since your Peter tragically lost his life in a fight with the Green Goblin, it was important to you to prevent that for any other Spider-man you could. Peter 2 was working on something in the lab and Peter 3 was concentrated on something of his own when you walked in. Peter 1 sitting down and playing on his phone. 

"Are the big boys not letting you play with them?" you asked in a baby voice as you placed your jacket down on a chair next to Peter 1. He smiled at you, pausing the Packman game on his phone.

"They said they got it covered." he replied, standing up. 

You looked over at Peter 2, scanned the chemicals around him and looked around the room suspiciously. It felt oddly familiar, like you had already lived through his exact same moment before. Your Peter was dedicated to the mission of the cure as well, he had all of the same ingredients that were laying around here, but his experiment failed badly. Driven by something that you couldn't even explain, you grabbed all of the safety glasses you could get your hands to and started placing them on everyone in the room. There were only the four of you so it wasn't hard. The last one was Peter 2, who was just finishing up his "cure". You put the glasses on his eyes and took a step back before the mixture in his tube exploded all over him, spraying everyone in the room. After the explosion, which everyone took very lightly, all heads turned to you. 

"How did you know?" all three of them asked in sync, putting you under the spotlight. 

"I really don't know-" you said, just as confused as they were. Their spider-sense should have tingled, but it didn't. And somehow you knew when exactly this was going to happen. 

"I think my Peter tried that before, I think it ended like this. I don't remember clearly."

"Did he succeed?" Peter 2 asked 

"He did." 

"Do you think you can remember this formula?"

You nodded. Wiping off the purplish goo that was on your glasses from the mild explosion earlier and stood in front of the table. You placed your hands on it, looking at the chemicals that were in front of you. Peter was the genius one out of the two of you. He was both the brain and the muscle, you were the support system. But when it came to this formula, he just didn't let you not participate for some reason. And he was apparently rightfully doing so, because people needed you now. This situation really brought back painful memories for you, the smell of chemicals, the sounds of sizzling, the colors. This was the last thing you ever did together with your best friend. The last conversation you ever had with him. The last time you saw him smile as he finally succeeded. A ball was forming in your throat as you stirred the mixture, waiting for it to get thick enough. You noticed the tears rolling down your cheeks as the liquidy white mixture in the tube got thicker with every stir. Peter would have been so proud of you if he could see you now, he would have said something stupid like "Okay, show-off, remember I taught you how to do that." with his arms crossed in front of his chest, but in reality he would have been proud of you. It was hard for you to do this without him, you never imagined you'd ever have to. Your hands were shaking lightly when you added the last ingredient, stirring it up until it turned a dark purple color. You placed the tube down, looking up at the worried expressions in front of you. 

"I'm done."

"Okay, show-off." Peter 1 said and smiled at you. 

That was the moment that made you realize that you actually felt something different for him. Most of the time you were really trying to gain your best friend back, you were clinging onto him because he reminded you of your Peter. But he was so much... more. He was the same and yet so different. He was nicer, more considerate, more caring. Your Peter wanted to save the Green Goblin because the person behind the mask was his friend, he wanted his friend back. This Peter wanted to save the Goblin because he believed people could change for good. He believed in the light and goodness of people, in second chances, in selflessly helping others. He believed he could alter the fate of the damned and give them a better future. Your Peter wasn't like that, he could never be like that. 

You brushed the tears from your eyes as he walked over to hug you. The four of you fist-bumped each other and shared a small celebration before you continued to work on other things. 

-----

A gentle kiss on the forehead. That was all it took for you to melt like butter in his arms. He held you tightly, both of you standing alone on a rooftop in the middle of New York. 

"You did so well today." he whispered to you as he held you. "It must have been so hard for you." 

All you could do was nod to his words, hiding your face in his neck while you held back the tears. He knew the story, you had to tell him all about how your best friend died in front of your eyes, killed by the Green Goblin who had lost his mind. How he surrendered just so he could inject the cure in the Green Goblin as he tackled him with his final blow. How it wasn't supposed to end like this, and how it did. Your memories were flashing back in front of your eyes like a horror movie screening, and you just weren't allowed to leave the cinema. Thankfully Peter was there to bail you out the second you were done with recreating the cure. And now he was calmly holding you while you were trying your hardest not to fall apart. 

"Thank you." you mumbled to him, looking up at him.

He smiled encouragingly at you, his hand petting your hair. 

"No, thank you. All of us would have ended up blind if you didn't finish the cure." 

"No, your superhuman healing would have prevented that."

''It doesn't mean it hurts any less.''

"I actually thought it did, I wouldn't survive a building falling on top of me, but you would. Theoretically, if we experience the same amount of pain, how can you push through it and not die? Doesn't make much sense."

"You're totally ruining the script in my head right now..."

"Oh, you had a script? And for what?" you laughed

"Well, you were supposed to ask me "Does it hurt now?" and I was going to say "The only thing that hurts right now is my lips because they're not kissing yours" and then we were going to kiss and fall in love and-"

"Does it hurt right now?" you interrupted him, your heart beating so loud in your chest that you weren't sure you heard his script to begin with.

"What?"

"Does it hurt... now?" you asked, even more anxious this time, almost convinced you actually got it wrong. He made an oh sound, nodding his head.

"The only thing that hurts right now is my lips because they're not kissing yours" he replied, leaning in closer to you and placing his lips gently on yours.

You stopped breathing for a second before kissing him back. It felt wonderful, magical even, the gentle movement of his soft lips on yours, his hot breath on your skin. His hands were on your arms, stroking them for comfort while your hands were on his back, holding him. You never thought you could enjoy a kiss as much as you did this one. It was almost painful when it ended. He smiled at you, pulling you in the tightest hug he had ever given you afterwards.

-------

Peter just had to brag about this to the others. He told everyone how in love he was with you. He felt so unbelievably proud not only for pulling a girl way out of his league, but having what he calls "ïnterdimentional rizz". You stopped counting the eyerolls after they got to 30. Of course you found it cute how he was so happy and excited about the two of you kissing, but this was raising so many questions. You felt like you wanted to enjoy it but you really couldn't, your mind was constantly jumping to different thoughts about you eventually going back to your own dimension. You kept having deja-vus all of the time, and some things seemed like they were slipping your mind . 

You tried ignoring it the best you could, but it got to a point where it couldn't really be ignored anymore. 

All of you were finishing up on the action plan on how to cure everyone. The whole group was in the lab, discussing it. You were sitting on the table, Peter standing between your legs, his back pressed to your chest. You had rested your head on his shoulder while all of them talked.

"Don't the two of you think it's kind of weird to be having this conversation in this position?" Peter 3 asked, looking at the two of you. 

"It's not like I haven't been between her legs before" Peter joked, making you look at him confused.

"No, you haven't."

He looked back at you, just as confused.

"Well I did fuck you hard enough to make forget your own name last night but forgetting the whole thing? That’s some next level fucking" he continued joking. 

You didn't really get the joke but still laughed. 

"Pete, what are you talking about? I wasn't with you last night, I was helping Ned here to modify your Spidersuit ai" you shook your head with a smile.

"Y/N, that was 3 days ago." Ned said.

"Wait so you actually don't remember us doing it?" Peter moved from his position, turning around to face you. He looked devastated and upset, slightly worried too. 

"I- " you managed to say but stopped, looking down at your feet. You didn't know what to say to make things better, he was probably feeling terrible about this already, you felt like you were the villain for not remembering the last 3 days of your life.

You didn't remember your first time with Peter. How much worse could it get?

"She's glitching." Dr. Strange said, looking at you from the back of the room. "You can tell the future too, can't you?"

You nodded, looking over at him. This meeting was the first time you have ever met the wizard and he scared you. He was very cranky and looked annoyed all of the time. He rarely spoke, unless he wanted to argue with someone. Strange walked over to Peter, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

"We need to wrap this thing up and get everyone back to their home." He told him. 

"What? No, no, we can't just send her back!"

"We have to, she's already glitching, the longer she stays here, the worse it will get." 

You looked over at Peter, tears welling up in his eyes. He looked at you too, helpless and desperate. He immediately hugged you, kissing your forehead. 

"I'm going to figure this out, I promise." he whispered in your ear.

You hugged him tightly, kissing his shoulder. 

"I want you to not die tonight, promise me that, we'll figure out the rest."

"I'm not going anywhere."

----

The fight was finally over. Everyone was beat up and hurt, but it was over. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Thankfully no one died. Biggest mistake being the portal that Ned opened up not closing. You knew it was going to happen because of your glitching and tried to handle the situation as best as possible. Fighting a giant lizard with bare hands wasn’t the best idea, but there wasn’t much you could really do anyway. Peter came to the rescue, thankfully. After everything died down and all of you were left in the ruins of battle, you felt like you could finally breathe again. Peter hugged you, his blood getting all over your clothes. You cried into his chest. He kept his promise, he didn’t die in the fight. His lips kissed your forehead, brushing your tears from your eyes. 

“Are you hurt?” he asked, letting go of you. His hands were holding your shoulders as he lowered himself to be on your eye level.

He looked you up and down, making sure you really weren’t hurt. You were shaking your head “no” while he did that. 

Strange was finishing up the spell, which meant you were about to go home soon. 

“Pete..” you started, looking around as the portals started opening up around you. 

“No, don’t say it.” he interrupted you, tears welling up in his eyes.

Your heart was breaking from seeing him so torn up. You put your hands on his cheeks, cupping his face, placing a soft peck on his lips. 

“We’ll find a way.” you mumbled, your foreheads pressed against one another. He nodded, hugging you tightly again. 

“We have to, you don’t remember us having sex! We have to do it again!”

The two of you laughed, sharing a sweet kiss after that. A portal leading to your bedroom opened up close to the both of you. You saw your desk, the chair that had fallen over all this time ago. The two of you looked at it. 

“I’ll see you on the other side, Spider-man.” you told him with a smile, letting go of the hug so you could step into your room again. You held onto his hand for as long as you could, looking back at him.

He looked so broken and scared, the tears were rolling down his cheek, his hair was a mess, his costume was ruined and covered in blood and dirt. You fought back the tears yourself, smiling the whole time. A smile that was meant to comfort him and encourage him, to tell him that everything is going to be okay. You stepped into the portal, finally letting go of his hand as the portal was no longer big enough for your hands to be through it. And he was gone. With the snap of a finger, he was gone. You dropped on your knees, finally allowing yourself to cry as the realization hit you, you had lost Peter Parker not once, but twice in the span of a year. 

---

You took off the glasses as you finally finished the spider-shaped gadget you were assembling. It was a new type of spider suit that you were developing in your free time. 

After you had to go back to your own reality, you decided to pay Peter’s grave a visit. You sat there for hours, telling him everything about your multiverse adventure with the other Peters. You were sure he was turning in his grave because of how cool this story was and how he didn’t get to be a part of it. Weeks passed by and it was time to move on with your normal life, but you just couldn’t. So, you decided to major in quantum physics and spent every waking hour on studying and theorizing about the multiverse. If magic could make interdimensional travel real, then sciency could too. And since your reality had a living Tony Stark, you actually caught his attention with some science work of yours that got published. You were so dedicated to your studies that in the few months you spent on your research, you managed to have a breakthrough big enough to change the course of the science field altogether. Your secret was that you actually did already travel into another dimension, you just had to figure out the math. 

Tony was so impressed by your work and your genius that he actually offered you a job. You accepted, he had enough resources to fund your projects and actually help you with opening up a portal. And now you were stuck in the Avengers compound, developing a new spider suit. You took one of the old unfinished suits your Peter had, doing the final work on it. The suit used inflatable technology and you had to put the metal spider in the center of your chest and press it, after that the suit would just wrap around your body perfectly. It was mostly made of fabric, but it had a bulletproof shield that would activate if the built-in ai detected any kind of danger. It was lightweight so that it wouldn’t stop Spider-man from his acrobatic moves or slow him down in any way. Once you were done with the suit, it was game on. Why were you developing a spider suit? To send to Peter. With all of the Stark money, you were actually able to build a device that theoretically could open portals to other dimensions. After a few calculations were made, you thought you found the exact coordinates to the dimension you wanted to see. Since experimenting with animals and humans was cruel in your mind, you were just going to open a portal, throw the spider suit in and pray that you got the right Peter. 

The device you developed looked like a bracelet. It was chunkier than you wanted it to but the parts were too big to make it look elegant. In reality it probably looked more like a smartwatch than a bracelet. You typed in the coordinates on the touchscreen and prayed that it would work. The device buzzed softly on your wrist, lasers coming out from the side and drew a circle next to you, opening a portal. You took a deep breath as you stared at the room that was in front of you. It was small, untidy, and looked nothing like Peter’s old room. Was that his dorm? Or his new apartment? Did you mix the coordinates up? There was no one there, just an empty room staring back at you. You looked around it, analyzing the scene in front. A pile of dirty clothes in the corner, flannels and sweaters. Looked like Peter’s style. A picture of May was on the desk, next to some bottles of web fluid. Bingo. It really looked like it was the place he was currently at. You took the metal spider that was sitting on the table and a sticky note. 

“I’ll make it back to you. Have fun with this gift, can’t wait to hear back from you :) - Y\N”

You stuck the note to the metal spider and tossed it on the desk next to his web fluids without touching the portal. The suit seemed to have made it through with no problems. Good. Amazing even. One step closer to seeing him.

----

Peter tossed his backpack on the bed as he walked into his room. He took the flannel off too, throwing himself face first and hiding his face in the pillow. He was tired, so tired, and alone. Deciding to go to uni didn’t seem like the brightest idea now that he was alone and broke. Working, studying and being Spider-man on top of that, was draining all of his energy. He turned his head to the side, looking at the mess on the desk as something shiny caught his eye. He lifted his upper body up, looking closer at the thing. It had a note stuck to it. Did someone break in? He walked over to the desk, reading the note.

“I’ll make it back to you. Have fun with this gift, can’t wait to hear back from you :) -Y\N”

Underneath the note was the Spider-man logo made out of metal. He looked closer at it, turning it around, feeling the weight of it in his hands. What was that? He was confused, so confused. How did you even manage to send this thing to him? He put it on his chest, looking at himself in the mirror. The thing stuck to his chest and started glowing on the sides. He looked at it, pressing it gently with his finger. The spider suit that you made wrapped perfectly around him in the matter of seconds. 

“Wooow.” he said as he looked at himself in the mirror. 

The ai immediately turned on. 

“Initiating “Welcome” protocol.” It spoke in his ear, playing a video on his built-in vr glasses. 

It was a video of you that played.  

“Hi Pete.” you said with a smile. 

“Omg, Hi! Hey, how? ”

“Before you start trying to have a conversation with me, this is a prerecorded video. I can’t hear you.”

“Right.”

“So, if you’re seeing this, that means that this thing worked!” you showed your wrist to the camera, letting him see the device on it. “This is an interdimensional portal opener. I’m still working on the name. It’s in early testing, I’m not sure it’s safe to go through the portals it creates yet, that’s why I sent this suit as a test. It has a turn-on system that is supposed to alert me when the suit is working. If I get the signal, I’ll try to open up a new portal so we can try to talk. I’ll see you soon.”

The video ended, leaving Peter speechless. He was so amazed that you managed to do all of this, to create this suit and send it through the multiverse to him. You weren’t joking when you said you would find a way. He had never felt more in love with you than he did at this moment.

“Okay, let’s check this baby out while we wait then.”

“Initiating “test” protocol.”

---

The device on your wrist started buzzing, making you look at it. The image of the spider-man logo appeared on the screen, which meant that the suit was turned on. When the screen finally loaded, you could see Peter’s stats on the screen. You could monitor his heartbeat, his blood oxygen, his blood pressure. Everything seemed normal. You hooked the device to your laptop, getting a better view of the statistics you were getting. You could even log into the camera and see what he was seeing in real time. So it worked. You could see him swinging around the city. 

“Oh Pete.” your vision getting blurry from the tears. You made it. Somehow you really managed to make it. 

You picked your phone up, dialing Tony. 

“It worked.” you sobbed as soon as you heard his voice on the other side. 

“I’ll be right there.” 

10 minutes later Tony walked in the lab, rushing to you. He looked at the screen, seeing that Peter was now sat on the edge of a tower, swinging his legs in the air. The two of you hugged in celebration. 

“Did you try contacting him?” 

“No, not yet, I think I’ll wait for him to get home.”

“Okay, but no sex on the first date!”

“I’m not going through the portal yet, I’m not sure it’s safe.”

“Good, have fun just talking.”

Not long after Tony left, Peter was back at his small messy apartment. You put in the coordinates again, waiting for him to turn the suit off before you opened the portal. 

You finally saw him, standing in the middle of his room with the metal spider in his hand. He looked a bit startled when the portal opened up, smiling as he saw you standing on the other side. He walked up closer. All he wanted was to hug you. 

“No, no, no, no, stop!” you said. He froze on the spot. “You can’t go through yet, I’m not sure it’s safe.”

“But… the suit?”

“The suit isn’t a living organism.”

“I’m willing to risk it.”

“I’m not. I’ll close the portal before you even try!”

“Okay then what is the point of opening it then?”

“I’m still running stability tests, here.” You tossed a second device for him. He caught it, looking at it before he put it on his wrist. “I’ll send the coordinates to my dimension in a few days to see if you can open a portal too.”

“Why not just test that now?”

“I said I’m still running tests Pete! Wait just a little longer!”

----

A few weeks later you were finally ready to actually go through the portal. You didn’t know if you should alert him first or just go for it and surprise him. The surprise sounded way better. You opened up a portal to his room. It was 2 pm, he wasn’t home yet. You went through the portal and closed it behind you, looking around his room. It was so odd to be there again, yet it made you so happy. You were smiling the whole time while you looked around. It felt a bit invasive, plus you hadn’t spoken to him the last few days, but you didn’t really have a plan here. You just wanted to be with him as soon as possible. You sat on the bed, checking the watch to see if he was using the suit. He wasn’t, which meant you had no way of tracking where he was or what he was doing. You didn’t really have to wait long, the door unlocked around 30 minutes later, a very tired Peter walking in the room. You smiled so wide it was actually hurting you. He tossed his backpack towards the bed, practically throwing it at you and knocking you back. Now it really did hurt, not only from the smiling. 

“Ouch.” you said. 

Peter finally looked at you, making  two big steps towards you and taking the backpack off.

“I’m so sorry.” 

You were laying on your back, looking at him. 

“Surprise?” you said, getting up on your elbows. 

He wasn’t really sure how to react to this, he wanted to hug you but laying on top of you was potentially going to crush you, so it wasn’t an option. He grabbed your hand and pulled you up on your feet, hugging you. It seemed like you weighed nothing to him, he did it so effortlessly. You hugged him back, trying to remember as much as you could from this moment. 

“I can’t believe you’re finally here.”

“Me neither, all it took of me was to become one of the most respected physicists in the world and joining the Avengers.” 

“I’m glad you did, I really am.”

You looked up at him, holding his face. 

“Did you grow? You seem taller.”

“I don’t think I did.”

“Doesn’t matter.” 

You got on your tiptoes and pulled him in, crashing your lips on his. He held your waist, pulling you closer. You opened your mouth, letting him slide his tongue in. You were running your hands all over his body, his chest, his arms, his back. He moved the two of you towards the bed, sitting down and pulling you on top of him. His hands moved to your but, squeezing it slightly.

“Maybe you should remind me about the first time this happened.” you mumbled against his lips.

He smiled, pressing a kiss on your forehead. 

“Oh, I’ll make sure you remember this one!”

#fanfiction #peter parker x reader #marvel imagine #peter parker #peter parker fanfiction #peter perker imagine #marvel fanfiction #peter parker x y/n #peter parker x you #spiderman #spiderman fanfiction #spiderman imagine #mcu spiderman x reader #spiderman x y/n #spiderman x you #mcu peter parker #mcu imagine #mcu spiderman #mcu peter parker x reader #mcu x you #tasm!peter x reader #tasm spiderman #tasm!peter one shot #the amazing spider man #peter 3 #tasm peter parker #spiderman requests #open requests

[rayofmisfortune]

They're being mean to the boi again :(

now he's sad and I desire to smack moon

THEY ARE So so mean to them >:c

By all means, go and smack Moon, I'll be right behind you with a mollecular vaporizer. /hj

It actually- It makes me SO MAD at how many time Ruin gets interrupted when they speak?? Not just in this episode, they get interrupted so often and just... just take it and never say shat they meant to say. Leaving it all in the air. I think in their mind it's something like "if they don't care, there's no need for me to try again" MY BABY I

The rose tinted glasses are STILL ON so- Imma take this ask as an ppportunity to ramble abt the episode cuz I NEED TO GET THIS OUT

I'm very naive and like to look on the bright side of things. I know these things CAN be viewed as red flags in favor of Ruin still being evil, but I offer a different. More hopeful take (in most cases)

SO FOR ONE! They said "Our head" which they immediately corrected themselves. I've had this hc for a long time, and that hc is: Ruin is more comfortable with using plural pronouns when refering to themselves, but choose to use singulars to not creep other people out.

THEY WERE STILL HOPING LAYING ALL THEIR MEMORIES IN FRONT OF MOON WOULD FINALLY PROVE THEY CAN BE TRUSTED. How- how LONELY and DESPERATE do they have to be for social interaction, to be included to go through all this yet gain nothing from it AGAIN.

M: if you don't want me to interact with you I can have Solar take a look at everything

R: there's no reason I wouldn't wish you talk with you moon...

Oh my precious bean- there are reasons. There are. But- Ruin still wans to be included! They didn't want to be alone.

R: I'll just sit for a bit

That's what they said when they left p&s... which inicially during the scene with Moon and Solar made me think. Huh.. they're really not doing well, are they? Sitting in one place, not moving for hours... not entirely out of left field yk? I thought they really were not doing well after the ordeal..

Even when Solar went to check on them. It WAS weird that we didn't get a pov from Ruin, yes, but I for some reason thought it was because they didn't want to play them if they would not be seen by the intruding person? WELL AS I SAID I'M NAIVE AND STUFF SO THAT REALLY WAS WHAT I BELIEVED

Until a friend pointed out the sound effect at the end and the EMPTY repair room. I completely overlooked that at trying to figure out why THAT sound effect had been chosen... well safe to say I overlook things very easily

#answered asks #cheetochild989 #ray's ramblings #sun and moon show #tsams #sams

[skyofnostars]

For Once A Normal Night

Genre: Modern AU

Characters: Crosshair, Tech, Hunter, Omega, Echo, Wrecker

Warnings: N/A

Notes: A modern AU with TBB chilling and watching a movie! Requests are open, so if you want me to write you a story, feel free to drop by my inbox!

Six people settled in around the bright screen of a TV, perched prcairuosly on its rickety pine stand. Night had fallen, but no one had bothered to turn on a lamp. The room was left cast in shadow. 

Each member of crew was adorned in far from their usual outfits, instead opting for much more comfortable PJ’s. 

The figures on the couch were attempting to share a small blanket between the three of them. 

Hunter, who wore a baggy blue T-shirt with some silly slogan scrawled across the front, was the keeper of the remote at the time. Chatter of the other batchers echoed throughout the room. 

Tech and Wrecker lounged on the floor, both wrapped in colorful blankets and printed pyjamas, shared a bowl of buttery popcorn while the former typed on his datapad with lightning speed. Omega, who’s blue, flower-speckled attire was at last two sizes too big, would reach from her spot beside Hunter to snag a piece every few minutes. Her fingers were covered in butter, and multiple times Echo, who was on the girl’s over side, would instruct her to go wash her hands before she stained the couch. The cyborg only seemed to be halfway paying attention to the movie playing, picking at his prosthetic arm with his other real hand. A pair of fluffy pink bunny slippers adorned his feet, which Wrecker had made sure to joke about three different times that evening. Echo had just sat back, drinking his coffee,  watching Tech’s progress on the datapad and looking unimpressed at his loudest brother. Crosshair hadn't even spared them a glance. He’d been gazing at the screen in silence, perched in an armchair, the only one still in full armor. His helmet rested on the floor by his feet, recently cleaned until then paint shined in the dull light.

“In reality” Tech spoke up. “Those two fighters are far from the equal match that the movie stated”.

Crosshair rolled his eyes, but didn't interrupt. 

“The man in the blue is far more physically capable, noting his muscle tone, the lightness of his steps, the-”

“Tech, please no fact rants today”. Wrecker groaned. “I just wanna watch them throw things at each other!”

This got a small chuckle from Echo and an amused smile from Omega. She clutched her stuffed tooka to her chest as she leaned into Hunter’s shoulder. 

“This is a nice break,” The tattooed clone announced. “I think everyone needed to rest and watch whatever the hell this is”.

“Yeah,” Wrecker muttered as the fight scene ended, now sounding grumpy. “This is a horrible movie!”

“You’re just saying that ‘cause the fighting stopped” Echo remarked. “I actually am enjoying this, even thought it's admittedly unrealistic”.

“See? I was correct. Echo agrees”. Tech butted in. 

Echo didn't offer a reply to the genius clone, only going back to his coffee to watch the scene on-screen. 

“What about you, Crosshair?” Wrecker asked. “You like the movie?”

Crosshair turned towards him, slightly surprised he had been addressed. 

“It's okay” he announced, his face expressionless. 

“Way to be a killjoy, Crosshair” Hunter told him. 

And the room briefly fell into silence again as the movie kept playing, and it didn't take long for Hunter to notice the lack of commentary from the small girl leaning against him. 

Her eyes were closed as she hugged her toy, the blanket covering half her small form. 

“Omega’s sleeping” he said in a hushed voice as to not wake her. “No yelling, Wrecker”.

“She needs some rest” Tech agreed. “It's been a lot for a young girl to process”.

“I could go for a good nap, too” Wrecker agreed. “But I don't wanna miss another fight scene”. 

So the movie played on as the clock ticked away the time, Echo remaking his coffee every time he ran out. 

No one noticed Hunter had fallen asleep too, holding Omega gently as if he really was her father, until the end credits began to roll. No one noticed the peacefulness that hung in the air, such a big change from the usual caution and energy. 

The clones didn't even bother to climb into their inn beds, one by one dozing off into dreamland as the moon cast a pale glow through the window pane. 

In the darkness, the crew’s mechanic and cyborg exchanged a silent smile, as even Crosshair had conked out in his chair. 

The two night owls of the crew shared the remains of the popcorn and the stats Tech had calculated during the film. For once, it was a normal night. 

Well, far from normal for the Bad Batch, but at least they 

#writing #Tbb #tbb crosshair #spilled ink #words words words #tbb wrecker #tbb hunter #tbb omega #bad batch #requests open #Short story #Modern AU #tbb echo #star wars #tbb tech #ech #Wrecker #Hunter #Omega #Echo #Crosshair #The bad batch #the bad batch crosshair #the bad batch wrecker #The bad batch tech #The bad batch echo #the bad batch hunter #The bad batch omega #Bad batch tech #Bad batch hunter

[teamdilf]

hurt/comfort prompts: 9 and/or 10 for whoever you feel like? >:3c

Have some Avitus/Macen!

Macen is home - or as close to home as they can get for now, which is a two room apartment on the Nexus. He’s in a wheelchair (Avitus makes a note to tear someone a new asshole for not bothering to make these spaces friendly for those with mobility challenges), and isn’t feeling up for doing much more than eating or sleeping.

Marius is more relaxed than they’ve been in a long while; content to recharge on their dock inside of the mobile charger next to the bed.

Why isn’t he fucking happy? Why does it feel like something is sitting on his chest all the damn time? Macen is getting better!

He’s fine. This is stupid, so he makes dinner - a pasta dish Macen likes, which is good because pasta seems like the only fuckin’ thing they have in abundance right now. That’s another fight he’d like to pick: who planned the diet for the obligate carnivores and decided pasta was a great idea?

Dumbasses.

A thousand times he’s made this stupid dish, but today he forgot to buy the herbs he needs and burns the meat before he can add the sauce to it.

“Fuck!” he cries, punching the kitchen counter, which refuses to crack under his fist, leaving him with the ache without the satisfaction of property damage. “So fucking stupid!”

“Avi, you can’t keep it bottled up forever,” Macen says, his tone gentle, but not the infuriatingly gentle tone of a therapy-voiced fuck. Just the tone of someone who knows his lover is hurting and wants to fix things.

He’s spent decades keeping shit bottled up; stuffing it away in the empty bottles of liquor he’s drunk. Therapy has shown him that he’s got a problem with alcohol; the sort of problem that can only be solved by abstinence.

So, he burns pasta now. Fuck.

Slowly, Macen stands up off the bed and he rushes over to help him, holding him up while they walk to the couch.

“The burner is still on and dinner’s already fucked,” he says.

“Why don’t you tell me what has you so upset that you’re taking it out on the noodles?”

“On the meat and sauce, actually,” and Macen gives him a look indicating he doesn’t feel like dealing with pedantry as an avoidance technique.

It’s not about the pasta. It was never about the pasta and Macen knows it because he can tell what he’s thinking with little more than a glance.

“It’s OK to cry,” Macen says, prodding at his invisible wounds as if looking for the infection so he can lance it.

He’s already cried more than he has this last year than in all the years combined since losing his parents.

“I don’t want to fucking cry!” he snaps; immediately regretting it like he always does when Macen is the target of his temper. He takes a breath and forces himself to speak more calmly. “You don’t need to be dealing with my pathetic weeping. This shitty apartment isn’t made for someone using a wheelchair; I need to carry you into the fucking shower…”

“Correction: I get to be carried by my handsome bondmate, who then puts his hands all over me while he helps me shower.”

Always looking on the bright side of life. Only Macen could nearly die and look at the fact that he needs so much help as an excuse to enjoy a grope.

“I can’t fix you. You’ve lost your career and your asshole bondmate is doing the job that was meant to be yours and you should be mad, biscuit. You should be so fucking mad but you aren’t so I need to be mad for you,” he says, with a sob that he cannot suppress, but not for lack of trying.

“I am mad, but not at you. Never at you,” Macen says, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close. “I just show it differently, and when I feel mad, I remind myself that I’m lucky to be alive and that by taking this job I was able to save the two people most important to me. That helps.”

Smoke fills the apartment and he curses, rushing to turn off the burner and take the now-ruined pasta sauce off the element. That’s one way to avoid eating pasta, Avitus supposes. Food is expensive as shit, though, and now they need to figure something else out.

“Why don’t we have a cry together and be mad together, and then order delivery? I got a flyer for a pizza place that caters to dextros as well as levos,” Macen says.

He hates crying. He hates crying in front of others even more, but the temptation of Macen’s arms is too great, so he curls up into a ball, rests his head on Macen’s chest and sobs out the anger and the rage he’s been holding inside since waking up in the jungle. Macen cries too; his own sobs more subvocal than anything. Even at his worst, Macen manages to be dignified.

He wishes he could be so dignified in his sorrow.

“You need a home you can be comfortable in,” he says into Macen’s chest. It’s a small point of pain in a wide ocean of agony, but it’s the problem he feels most able to solve right now, and he needs to do something for Macen.

“Be nice to the person who assigns living quarters, Avi. That’s all I ask, because it’s not their fault these spaces weren’t built to accommodate wheelchair users.”

“I’m always nice,” he lies, because he’s about as pleasant as a knife to the dick.

“Why don’t you send an email now? I can proofread it, and then we’ll handle dinner together,” Macen says.

Drafting the email clears his head and when he hits “send”, he feels the weight lifting. He did something to make things easier for Macen. He cried. He’s going to order them dinner so they don’t have to eat fucking pasta.

He’s made things better and it’s only late in the night that he realizes Macen figured out how to best fix one of the thousand tiny cuts littering his body and gave him a way to feel useful.

Instead of being irritated, he leans over and nuzzles Macen, who lets out a soft grumble in his sleep, but leans into the touch.

“Thanks biscuit,” he whispers, and smiles when all he receives in response is a snore.

#mass effect fanfiction #avitus rix #avitus x macen #Barrix #J’s fics #cw: language #CW: ableist home design #CW: alcoholism #writing prompt #Thank you!

[angelic-ish-phantom]

Dannymay3

College years

“So…” Vlad started.

Maddie glanced up from her book with a hum. She was sitting in a beanbag (that was much to large for her) and Vlad was cross-legged on the floor, back against his bed as he fidgeted. The two of them were on the floor of his and Jack’s dorm room.

He could do this; he just needed to be casual. “You know, it’s actually, Valentine’s Day?” He continued.

Unexpectedly, Maddie groaned, throwing her head back in annoyance. “Valentines day.” She spat with none to little contempt.

“Do… you… not like Valentine’s Day?”

“Don’t get me started. It’s a commercial scam of a holiday that makes people feel bad for being single! It’s so inane, Right Vlad?”

Oh. Vlad clutched the placket in him pocket. “Mhm, Yep. Soooo dumb.” He laughed, hearing exactly how unconvincing he sounded.

Maddie raised an eyebrow skeptically. “You don’t have to agre-“

“Speaking of dumb, where is-“ Vlad interrupted, only to get cut off himself as Jack burst into the dorm.

“Vladdie, Maddie! Happy Valentines!” Said man, boomed brightly, a shopping bag in hand.

Vlad took some comfort in the fact Jack had made the same mistake. Not that he wasn’t immediately going to through his friend under the bus, of course.

“Jack, Madeline and I were actually just talking about- OOF!” A bouquet was thrusted into him, and cursed under his breath in Russian, fumbling to hold it.

Jack beamed, shoving one at Maddie too, who caught hers with far more grace, “I got flowers! For the most important people in my life!”

“Aw Jack, these are beautiful.” She said with a find indulgence, only to start a moment later as she looked at the flowers proper. “And they’re hibiscus! You shouldn’t have!”

Vlad noted distantly, that those where her favorite flower. He’d tucked away the information very deliberately, and was surprised Jack had remembered.

“I made you cards too!” The other man cheered, much more sedately, almost nervous. Vlad cringed slightly at the glittery, bright pink, heart covered craft.

“Oh you made them! I wish you wouldn’t support this holiday by buying the flowers, but thanks!” Maddie said, exasperated although she clearly appreciated the gift.

Vlad placed his card and flowers to the side, inadvertently encouraged by Jack’s display. “I- urm- got u something to?” He tried, pulling out the packet of luxury chocolate fudge he’d made and been keeping in his pocket all afternoon.

Maddie looked surprised he had gotten something, but her reaction was dwarfed by Jack’s bright, ever-dense voice.

“You got us gifts? Vladdie, you shouldn’t have!” He gasped.

What. “I meant-“

“Are the chocolates?” He asked loudly, staring at the ornate packaging with the attention that a child might have gazed into fish tank.

“Chocolate fudge.” He corrected automatically, “but-“

“FUUUUDGEE!!!!” Jack cried with an energy he usually only reserved for supernatural studies. He snatched the bag from Vlad’s hands before he could get another word out, shoving a small handful into his mouth, “Vlads, you are my absolute best, best friend in the whole world, I love u!!!” He declared through chews.

“Then what am I!” Maddie cried in mock offense, reaching to take one of the sweets and popping it into her mouth. “Wow! These are actually really good.” She praised and Vlad could stop his face from flushing. Then she sighed, “Well now I sort of feel bad for not getting you guys anything…”

Jack clapped her on the back, and she winced. Vlad couldn’t help but mimic the action in sympathy, “Well you shouldn’t! C’mon Mads, this is just like that thing you were talking about the other day. That grou- peel pressure stuff? You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” He paused, then added, “And you explained what it was extremely well. Didn’t she, Vladdie?”

Vlad’s frustration at Jack was a shallow thing, and he especially couldn’t stay mad in the face of that earnest enthusiasm. “It’s peer pressure.” He corrected with a sigh, “And yes, most of it was lost on Jack, but I found it quite comprehensive, Madeline.” He confirmed, feeling something in him light up at the confidence in the flattered smile she flashed.

“I understood it plenty,” Jack insisted, “I’m just not built for social studies.”

“Behavioral sciences, Jack…” he corrected warmly.

“See,” Jack said as though Vlad had just proven his point, “This is why we three make such a good team! Maddie knows stuff, Vladdie, you know other stuff, and I know stuff about ghosts!!!” He said brightly.

Maddie snorted (adorably) and Vlad rolled his eyes, “You big, oaf.” He scoffed affectionately.

As the two ate, attacked in Jack’s case, the candy, Vlad glanced down at where he’d dropped Jack’s gifts.

He ran a hand over a petal of his bouquet, eyes widening a little, “Marigolds…” he murmured.

Jack had gotten his favorite flowers, too.

And Vlad couldn’t quite bring himself to fight the fond smile that formed at that.

#I saw college years and immediately started brainrotting on soft shit scenarios for these three #Queerplatonic College buddies #that’s all I want! is that so much to ask for!!! #danny phantom #dp #Vlad Masters #maddie fenton #jack fenton #fanfiction #phicc #fanfic #phanphic #dannymay 2022 #dannymay day 3 #day 3 #college years #Dannymay college years #I enjoyed this one #just a good time #I keep forgetting to do the readmore thing first time…

[in--other--words]

Langblr Reactivation Challenge - Reflections

Week 3, day 7 of prepolyglot's langblr reactivation challenge

How do you feel at the end of this challenge? Did you meet any goals while doing this? Do you feel more confident in your language abilities? Where do you think you’ll go from here? Answer these questions either in your native language or your target language.

Wow, made it to the end of the challenge! Goals I wrote at the beginning, alongside my reflections, below...

Deutsch

Medium term: find 2-3 interesting Youtube channels that I can watch relatively comfortably (with captions) so that I have a way to learn that feels less effortful - I did this. Found a few but my favourites at the moment are Dein Sprachcoach and Lingster Acamedy :-)

Short term: become more confident writing simple sentences involving the dative case - Although I feel a bit more confident using the dative case for verbs with indirect objects (like giving something to someone), I still need to work on which prepositions require the dative case.

Plan to achieve this: make a post on Journaly or HiNative once or twice a week with a list of sentences. Start actually watching some of my German to watch list on Youtube............. Find a video/blog post of recommendations for German channels and give some of them a try. - Like I said the Youtube stuff I did, but I made a Journaly post like this once since writing down this goal :') and it focussed on sentences where someone gave something to someone else. So no surprise that that's what I feel slightly more confident with now! I still need more practice with this. I think every time I study a unit on Busuu I should create a sentence that's relevant to my life using the relevant vocab/grammar and get it corrected. Feels like it would be a lot of effort but it's so necessary to build spoken fluency as well as just comprehension.

Interesting that I completed my medium term but not short term goal with German... I think I didn't expect my comprehension to be as good as it was. Plus I was able to find some very easy Youtube channels. And output is always more of a struggle for me!

Español

Medium term: speak more confidently, with less self-consciousness about my pronunciation and grammar - I think I'm getting there by speaking a lot more, but again I need to focus more on pronunciation by doing more shadowing and recording myself speaking on a (close to) daily basis. On the bright side, I do feel I have more awareness of my weak points.

Short term: experiment with studying twice a week - class on Thursdays and review on weekends. Focus in particular on reviewing mistakes that get corrected during class. Try out a review system that's less time-intensive than anki - This was a bit mixed because it's a group class so I don't always get personalised corrections. However, I have been studying twice a week and I have been trying out a new review system for my online language exchanges, where I make sure I write down corrections and actively review them before the next session. It's early days but I feel like it's been working well so far.

Plan to achieve this: going to class is automatic since I've already paid for it!! But I need to put time in my calendar every weekend. Speak to my partner about it so it doesn't come as a surprise to him and so I have some accountability. - Although I did do this, it wasn't always on weekends, so the whole calendar time thing didn't end up being that important!

Next Steps

My next steps depend a bit on what happens with my Spanish class. I have three lessons left, and I don't know if the classes will continue after this because it depends how many people sign up for the next course. If the classes go ahead, I think I will continue trying to split my focus between Spanish and German, even though that has been challenging! But if not, I think I will dial back my Spanish with the goal of just maintaining it, and throw more time into my German, since we are thinking of moving to Germany next year. To be honest I would feel kind of relieved in this case.

Either way I plan to continue maintaining my French and Italian by getting in at least and hour of listening and a one hour conversation exchange per week. Recently I've been trying to make these conversation exchanges more productive by preparing a topic to present and reviewing my corrections more like I mentioned above. This has been helping so I really want to try and keep it up.

#langblr #langblr reactivation challenge #goals #deutsch #español

[evereinefaust]

*.·:·.✧ 𝐀𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐬 ✧.·:·.*

"[Y/n], it's almost time for your scheduled interview," a staff knocked on the open door of the lounge, his monotone voice earning the attention of the people resting inside.

A certain [h/c]-tressed female bolted up from her laying position on the couch, almost bumping her head into Johan's chin. The male instinctively moved away to dodge her, his dark orbs wide from almost having an injury. Once the girl removed herself from him, the blonde sighed in relief and fixed his crooked glasses.

"Sorry~" she grinned apologetically, hurriedly fixing her outfit and putting away her phone. She shuffled over the door, waving goodbye to everyone else. "I'll see ya later once I'm done!"

"Just enjoy the interview, [N/n]," Zelda mentioned, waving back before returning to her phone.

"There'll be food by the time you come back," Astrid grinned, pulling out her signature move — winking and pulling a handgun. "So go and slay queen~"

Johan smiled gently. "See you later, [Y/n]."

Mikhail nodded in her direction, doing a little hand wave.

After receiving everyone's farewell, the young [h/c]ette made her way towards the interview booth, following the staff that called for her earlier. Her bright [e/c]-colored hues glanced around the cream-colored hallway, humming happily to herself as she was mentally prepared for the later interview.

A few of her friends had already conducted an interview to be released in-game. Though, the actual answers weren't released right away. She remembered that in the game announcement, she read something about the heroes answering questions, but she knew that it was different from the ones they were conducting.

Amidst her musing, the two of them soon arrive at the room.

"Sir, I've brought Miss [Y/n] here," the male said, knocking twice before opening the door. He stood to the side of the opened door, gesturing for the young woman to enter which she did.

There were two middle-aged men in the room. One was the cameraman standing in the middle, fixing the device before the shoot. While the other one was sitting on one side of the table, preparing the documents. Upon seeing her, they smiled.

The seated man gestured for her to take a seat, and [Y/n] complied wordlessly. Once she was comfortable, she faced the man, eager to listen to his instructions.

"Miss [Y/n], this is your first interview for the game, correct?"

She nodded. "Yes sir."

"Great. The questions aren't that difficult and personal. We've screened through many submissions and only chose the ones that are relevant to the game and are frequently asked," he stated, flipping through several papers before facing her once more. "There's no need to be nervous, we're not posting this live so it's fine if you make mistakes."

"Understood, sir."

The man simpered. "Alright, shall we start?"

At that, he gestured for the cameraman to roll the camera. He stood behind his device and looked through the lens, doing a final adjustment before raising his hand up to signal the countdown.

"Three! Two! One!"

"Hello, everyone! I'm [Y/n], the priestess of Avillon and also the monarch's younger sister. Thanks for having me today!" the girl waved, the corner of her lips arched upwards and her eyes crinkled happily. "Today, I'm gonna answer some of the questions you've got for me. Ufufu~ I'm so excited!"

#1 — What do you think of your character in the game?

"My character, huh?" she mused at the question, puckering her lips as she thought. Soon, she graced a smile, looking straight at the camera. "Princess [Y/n] is an interesting character. She is the monarch's younger sister and also the country's priestess. Just like Rouin, she helps her sibling to perform duties regarding the country. And like Johan, she is someone who is dependable and has great insight when it comes to subjects regarding people. Furthermore, she is one of the most sought-out heroes in the game. In short; I love her."

#2 — Have you got your character in your roster?

Her face beamed, smiling widely. "Yup! I got her from the moment she was made available for purchase in-game."

#3 — What element is your most anticipated release?

"Hm... I think it's got to be dark. Since she is originally a light element, I want to see what her dark version looks like. And considering what the devs have in mind when creating other dark element heroes such as Charlotte, Lumie, and Johan, I'm quite curious as to what my character would be like," she said, her [e/c] eyes glittering with excitement at the idea. "And you don't have to ask if I'll get her because I assure you that I will have her by the time she releases."

#4 — What are your thoughts about your character's involvement in the story?

[Y/n] shrugged. "It's fine. The princess is mostly a side character and doesn't have much of an impact on the story. But I love her relationship with others and how she becomes the monarch's emotional pillar that supports them during the entire journey. And although she doesn't have the same emotional angst treatment as Johan, I still love it. But of course, my top favorite scene would be something else. I wouldn't spoil it for you guys, though~"

#5 — Who is your favorite hero in the game?

"Gosh... This is hard..." she chuckled, glancing down at the table and thinking about her answer. "Honestly, I love everyone in the game. I'm interested in each hero's backstories, personality, and appearance more than their abilities. But anyway, I'll give an answer for each category. For ability, I guess [element] [fav/hero]. For appearance, I chose [element] [fav/hero]. For backstory, it's gotta be [element] [fav/hero]'s! And for personality, I liked [element] [fav/hero] the most."

#6 — What abilities in the game do you wish to have in real life?

The young woman perked up at the question, amusement dancing in her orbs. "Since there are a lot of abilities in-game, I just can't choose one. Of course, my top answer would be [fav/ability]! Then, the second one would be [2nd fav/ability]. And lastly, maybe [3rd/fav ability]."

#7 — Do you micro-transaction in the game? If so, what do you buy often?

"Hehe~ Of course, I do," she cheekily smiled, a slight blush adorning her cheeks as she briefly averted her gaze from the camera. "Oh boy... I feel like I'm exposing all my sins right now."

The three men who were in the room chuckled at her comment, nevertheless, they continued hearing her response.

"I mostly spend money to buy every purchasable hero in the game, despite my older siblings' warning. Then, I buy a lot of renown, temporal thread, and linkstones," she counted, sweat-dropping. "And because of that, my allowance was gone in an instant. So my older siblings have to limit my spending in the game."

#8 — What other features do you wish Lord of Heroes has?

"The one that I desperately wanted is an addition to Archives. I love that the story can be reread through that without playing the entire level; it saves me time and I can read it anytime I want. But, what I'm most interested in is each hero's backstory," there was a slight pout on the girl's lips. Her head was tilted away from the camera, but she angled her face so that when she looked at the camera, she'll look upset. "The one feature that I wanted to have is a personal story for each hero. Although the game provides a brief introduction for every character, it doesn't go in-depth about what they were like. For example, I wanted to know more about how the monarch and Johan met and their relationship from there onward. For me, it gives us players a deeper connection with each hero and further understands them."

#9 — What is your hope for the game's future?

A solemn smile emerged on her face, her lids dropped halfway and she looked so serene in the camera. "Well, first and foremost, I hope the game will still move forward in the future. I hope that many people will play and engage themselves in the world of Lord of Heroes and have fun playing it. And who knows? Maybe fans can request a series or a spin-off?"

#10 — What do you want to say to your fans?

"Firstly, thank you, everyone, for the love and support you have for us and the game! I can't believe that a lot of people enjoy playing this game as much as I do. Furthermore, I really appreciate that the community is so engaging with us — taking pictures in the plaza and sharing it with others, participating in-game events, and also drawing a lot of cute and awesome fan art of us! Thank you all so much for continuously loving this game. I hope that you all stay with us until the very end. That's all from your resident princess~ Love you guys as always!" [Y/n] gave a wide, closed-eye smile, raising both hands to form a finger heart.

"And, cut!" the cameraman signaled.

The [h/c]ette heaved a sigh once the recording was over. Although she was just answering questions, it was still tiring for her. The man in front of her smiled proudly, finishing the last of his documentation and arranging the papers. Even the cameraman gave her a thumbs-up and the staff from earlier nodded approvingly in her direction.

This was her first interview. She was overwhelmed at first, but it was still rewarding when she was done. And besides, everyone was so accommodating and helpful to her, saying that it was okay to make a mistake. Though, of course, she didn't stumble a word so they don't need to edit anything out.

"That was great," said the man. "Thank you for your time, Miss [Y/n]. You may return now."

"Thank you too, sir," she stood up and bowed. Facing the other two, she bowed to them as well. "Thank you for your hard work as well."

"It's no problem."

"It's a pleasure."

"I'm back!"

"Welcome back, princess!" a certain magenta-haired maverick greeted back, ushering the girl to hurry inside. "How's the interview?"

"It's fine. I had fun answering the questions," she chirped, her strides quick as she went straight to Astrid.

As she promised, there was food laid neatly on the table when she returned. [Y/n] also noticed that the number of people inside increased. Raligon and Brandon were chatting in one corner. The Valkarios cousins were playing on their phones — the girl doesn't know what, but just guessing from the sound, it must be Valorant or something similar. Nine was playing board games with Mikhail and Johan. Her older brother was also present, calmly drinking his milk tea while he listens to his twin.

A small smile emerged on the young girl's lips, and her eyes softened as she observed her colleagues and friends having fun. And when she was seated next to the magenta-haired female, she was immediately bombarded with the tale of what happened during her absence. [Y/n] listened to Astrid's words while she stuffed her face with some snacks available on the table. Soon enough, she engaged with the others as well — enjoying the free time that they were given for the day.

#fanfic #fanfiction #alternate universe #oneshot #one shot #reader insert #x reader #fluff #drabble #lord of heroes #moments in archive

[bandagedknight]

self para | forever a fist

marc learns that his suspicions have been correct all along, khonshu has not released him. but with the impending multiversal collapse, he might have bigger issues.

trigger warnings: violence, slight gore mention

Marc found himself blinking away bright, hot sunlight sunlight, a stark contrast to the comfort of his dark apartment that he now shared with Layla in Brooklyn. 

Panic rose in his chest as he realized that he didn’t know where he was. 

He was standing in an alleyway, and the there was water in the distance, and a lighthouse. Arabic was sketched into the wall in front of him. Alexandria. Marc was in Egypt again. 

Feeling hot all of a sudden, the mercenary reached up to wipe some sweat off of his forehead, pulling his hand back down to see crimson. Marc’s stomach dropped, feeling like he was gonna be sick right then and there. Seconds later he noticed a bloodied man on the ground in front of him, his face no longer recognizable. He was clearly far gone. Marc could point out a bullet hole, and he stumbled back and closed his eyes tightly as all of the pieces started to fit back in place. But he wasn’t sure he even wanted to know what the final picture was. 

“Hello, Marc Spector.” 

The bitter laugh that escaped Marc surprised even him as he whipped around to shoot a glare in between the empty, sunken skull of the God. “What the hell is this?” He barked, furious as he clenched his fists at his sides. “We had a deal. I... I did what you asked of me, Steven and I are done.”

Marc knew by the stupid bird’s tone that Khonshu would have looked amused had his face not just been a hollow skull. “You didn’t actually believe that I would be so kind as to release you? You are indebted to me for as long as you walk this Earth. Although you seem to forget that you are only walking around and not still lifelessly floating in a shallow pool no thanks to me.” 

Marc’s shoulders just tensed, his jaw square as he tried to keep his rage in check. Khonshu was right. He was stupid to think that this would be over that easily. That he would ever be able to stop hurting and killing any more people than he already had. 

That maybe, just maybe he could just settle down with Layla. 

Khonshu owned him. 

“I was sticking to my word. You and Steven Grant no longer carried out justice on my behalf. You just didn’t know how fractured your mind truly is when you made that demand.” 

Marc had been ignoring the obvious for so long, and now that Khonshu was shoving it in his face he couldn’t ignore it anymore. He and Steven weren’t alone. There was someone else, who was clearly more willing to do what Khonshu asked of them. Probably the same someone else who got him discharged from the Marine Corps. Marc knew he was sick. He had known for quite some time now. But watching as the God just taunted him, continued to manipulate him with it… The fire in his chest raged on as his face just reddened. 

“My new arrangement was working out nicely for awhile. But I’m afraid there are extenuating circumstances that require me to put you to work again. Reality as we know it is collapsing. And working with part of you won’t be enough to combat it. I need all of you. The worm, too.”

Marc's mouth was already opening to object, but as per usual, Khonshu interrupted him. 

“I’m sure I don’t need to remind you again that you are my Moon Knight. And I can reverse your resurrection and find a more suitable avatar if you refuse to comply,”

“And Marc? Clean this mess up.” Khonshu referred to the bloodied body on the ground of the alleyway in front of them, turning his beak up at the scene. 

That had done it. Before Marc’s brain even caught up to what he was doing, his fist was flying directly for Khonshu’s ugly beak. The Egyptian God faded away instantly though, so Marc just ended up swinging at the air and nearly making himself fall over from the force, which only pissed him off more. 

“Khonshu!” Marc shouted, his voice hoarse as he scanned around the alley and tried to calm his breathing. His eyes were wet with hot tears, but he bitterly wiped at them with his bare arm before they had a chance to make their way down his cheek. 

His phone buzzed and he pulled it out to be met with a text from Layla, one of about twenty of his wife asking where the hell he was. The date on his phone read June 19th. Two weeks since he’d last seen her. 

As much as he wanted to rent out a hotel room and just deal with all of this again on his own, Marc fought the urge and instead clicked on Layla’s contact and called her. 

#self para #this is mostly self indulgent #but also for some plot reasons

[dsmutp]

Learning Curve (C!Charlie Slimecicle x Reader)

Teaching Charlie was a delight.

When Quackity had put you up to the job, you hadn’t been too sure about it. Teaching someone how to be human (whatever that entailed) seemed like more than you had signed up for when you had become a resident of Las Nevadas - just imagining long hours of helping someone learn the intricacies of human life made your head ache. But Quackity had insisted, and you really had nothing better to do.

Three months into the job though, and you were quite attached to Charlie.

He was a wonderful student - eager to learn and bright enough that it never took him too long to grasp new concepts (though, as with any student, some things came more naturally than others) - and an even more wonderful friend. It was amazing how a sentient piece of goo (though it was really hard for you to think of him like that anymore) could be more kind and caring than half of the actual people you knew. 

You were pleased to say that Charlie had become quite fond of you as well. Though you were only supposed to spend six hours a day with him, oftentimes you wound up just spending your days together, wandering around the unfinished Las Nevadas after you had completed his schooling for the day, talking about whatever crossed your minds. Charlie was always eager to hear stories from your day to day life, and the amount of history he had seen just from being around for that many years never failed to make you gaze at him with wonder. 

It wouldn’t have been a stretch to say that he had become your best friend.

You certainly liked him enough - that goofy smile never failed to brighten your mood, even on the worst days, and though the slight fluidity of his skin had been off putting at first, through the amount of daps you shared, you had gotten used to it - come to enjoy it even, something that was uniquely Charlie.

For all his wonderful attributes though, there were still some times that you got a little exasperated with him. 

“Nope.” You sighed, watching as his arm bent the wrong way again. “You can’t just bend the joint that way, Charlie, that’s not how bones work.”

“But you said to hit the lever behind me..?” Charlie asked, righting his arm again. 

“Right, but with humans, remember, the joints don’t bend all the way around because of the bones.” You reminded him. “Just because your body can bend that way, doesn’t mean mine can.”

Charlie nodded slowly, but the confused look was still hovering in his eyes. 

“Do you want to go over joints and movement again?” You asked. 

Charlie smiled sheepishly. “Yes please.”

You stepped forward, extending your arms. You had done this exercise a few times before, just to help Charlie learn which body parts worked together and which joints moved in which directions. It was easy for him to forget though - his body didn’t really have limits to movement, being slime - and he had a bad habit of just throwing human joint movements away in exchange for what was the most easy at the time. 

Charlie placed his hands on your elbows, and you bent your arms, letting him feel how the joints moved and worked. “See? One way.”

“Right.” Charlie said, nodding now. His hands moved to your shoulders. “But these ones go all the way around?”

You rolled your shoulders, moving the ball joint in a circle. “Correct.”

His hands wandered down to your wrists. “Same as these?”

You rolled your wrists, nodding. 

From there, Charlie’s hands found your hips. “But these ones only go forward and backward.”

“For walking.” You said, nodding. “They can go out, a little - nothing too far though.” 

Charlie nodded, his eyes wandering over your body innocently. The first few times you had done this with him, you had been a little uncomfortable - it was strange, to be treated like a scientific model, slightly slimy hands running up and down your skin, asking what each of your joints and muscles did. But over time, you had gotten used to it - Charlie was only curious to learn, after all, and you were more than willing to help.

A hand over your crotch startled you, and you broke out of your train of thought, raising an eyebrow at Charlie. He only blinked at you though, saying, “You never said what this part’s for.”

You closed your eyes, steeling yourself. You had known this day would come, eventually - sex was a large part of human life, after all. You didn’t really want to be having ‘the talk’ with a sentient piece of goo that you had come to know and love, but you supposed it had had to come at some point. 

“It’s for sex, Charlie.”

Charlie’s eyebrows shot up. “You have a stripper pole on you?”

The comment was so out of place that you couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “What?”

“A stripper pole.” Charlie repeated. “Like the one in the casino? Quackity said it was for sex-”

“No, no.” You said, cutting him off, still laughing. “Sex organs Charles, for the actual act. They’re part of basic human anatomy - everyone’s got some.”

Charlie’s eyes narrowed as he nodded, and movement under his pants caught your eye - the fabric shifted and pulled until it filled out a little more - like his very skin was reshaping itself to include what you had just told him. 

It was then that you realized that Charlie might be the answer to every sexual fantasy you had ever had. 

---

It didn’t take much convincing to get Charlie into bed with you.

You had always known that he had had something of a puppy dog crush on you - just from the way that he hung on your every word, even when you weren’t teaching, and followed you around like a little duckling. You had stopped yourself from doing anything about it though, telling yourself that it would be wrong, that he was your student - but those sentiments had faded the more time you had spent together outside of the teaching. 

They were completely gone now, as you tossed Charlie’s pants over the side of the bed. Though you were both naked as the day you were born, he was perfectly comfortable, sprawled out on the pillows like he owned the place. 

“So, again,” He started. “You want me to put my dick inside you? But not detach it? And thats sex?”

“The basics of it.” You said. “Simple stuff, really. You tell me if you don’t like it though - I don’t know exactly how it’ll feel for you.”

Charlie nodded, arranging his arms underneath his head with a smile. “I am ready to sex.”

You laughed as you straddled his hips, gently wrapping a hand around his cock and aligning it with your hole, just pressing his tip against your entrance. “Promise you’ll tell me to stop if it feels bad, okay? Just because I wanted to try this doesn’t mean you have to suck it up for me.”

“Promise.” Charlie assured you. “I won’t pretend to like it just because you do- hhh.”

You sank down on his cock, reveling at the feeling - there was almost no stretch as he entered you, the slime of his body simply moving like a liquid, filling out your insides completely without having the painful stretch around your entrance. Every nerve ending in you lit up at the contact - the slime filled every space without pushing too far - Charlie’s cock had molded to you completely, hitting all your spots without even trying.

“Wow.” You breathed, placing the palms of your hands on Charlie’s chest. “This is- wow. How’re you feeling Charlie?”

Underneath you, Charlie was in a daze, eyes glazed over as he stared at some point past your shoulder. His mouth moved, but only a long string of syllables came out - more like a moan than any real words.

“Descriptors, love.” You prompted, shifting to place your hands on either side of his face. 

Charlie let out a breathy whimper, his hands finding purchase on your hips, squeezing the skin there. “Good.” He said. “Very very good, uh, sort of tingly? And warm? I-I don’t really know words for it…”

You smiled, caressing his hair. “Good.” You said. It was good to know that it felt pleasurable for him - you weren’t quite sure how slime anatomy worked, and if human sex was something that he would enjoy, but now that you knew it felt as good for him as it did for you, you had no intention of holding back.

You began to rock, slowly, rolling your hips over Charlie’s and letting his cock begin to rub against your walls. Charlie’s fingers dug into your hips more as his breathing canted upwards, instinct taking over as he bucked up into you a few times. You welcomed the movement, using the momentum to fuck yourself down on him harder, savoring the feeling of him running over your nerves, lighting you up from the inside. 

Charlie let out another whimper, and you leaned down to press a kiss to his lips, still keeping your hands framed gently around his face. Charlie kissed back eagerly, releasing his little whimpers and moans into your mouth now, the hands at your hips moving up to your lower back, holding on for dear life.

“You’re doing so well.” You cooed, feeling that familiar coil begin to tighten in your gut. “You’re a natural, Charlie.”

“Really?” Charlie said, a grin overtaking his features. His slimy complexion really didn’t allow for a blush, but you could see the flushed pride just in his expression.

“Really.” You gasped out as a particularly good thrust made your head spin. Your hands fell from Charlie’s face as you instead buried your face into the crook of his neck with a groan, rolling your hips down with more intensity now, chasing your orgasm. Without the painful stretch in the beginning, you were reaching it so much more quickly now - though it probably also helped that Charlie’s cock had become a perfect fill for your insides too - leaving no nerve ending spared.

“Mmmm.” Charlie tipped his head back as he moaned, lips pressing together into a thin line. “It feels different now.” He said, voice shaky. “Bigger, I think?” He tried. 

“That’s supposed to happen.” You said, speeding up your thrusts, for both your sake and Charlie’s. You were getting to the brink of orgasm now, the pleasure making it’s way all the way down your legs and to your toes. It was only a moment more before you were shaking with it, the rolling of your hips slowing as you rode out your high. 

Charlie groaned underneath you, tipping his head back into the pillows as the slime inside you rippled, the sensation making you moan at the strangeness of it. You hadn’t really known what his orgasm was going to look (or feel) like, but you hadn’t been expecting that. 

For a moment, you just laid there, head still tucked under Charlie’s jaw as you both caught your breath, just feeling him breathe.

“That was pretty fun.” Charlie said. “It felt weird, but good weird.”

You sat up, rolling off him to sprawl out on the rest of the bed, his cock sliding out as easily as it had gone in. “Glad you liked it.” You said, letting yourself stretch out into a boneless heap. “For your first time ever, you were really good, Charlie.”

Charlie beamed at the praise, and you pressed a kiss to his cheek. You were definitely going to be doing that again.

#charlie slimecicle smut #mcyt smut #mcyt x reader #dream smp smut #dream smp x reader #charlie slimecicle x reader #slimecicle x reader #slimecicle smut #dsmp smut

[sunmoonandeddie]

and he kissed me right here

pairing: modern!bucky barnes x reader

word count: 6,100

summary: I've always been sure that all I ever wanted was a glamorous life.

warnings: Cuss words, mentions of the Afghanistan war (Bucky is a veteran), angst, happy ending, cheesy romantic confessions, age gap

a/n:  This is based on the song 'Stars and the Moon' from Songs for a New World! It's the first one shot in my musical series! This is written in first perspective, but there is no physical description or use of a name in this!

Twenty-Two

I sighed as I tossed a few more dirty plates into the dish window, wiping my brow. After a shitty dinner rush and an even shittier rush around two in the morning consisting only of drunk ass college kids looking for some sort of carb to suck up all the alcohol in their systems, I was ready to go the fuck home.

“Sweetheart, you head on home now,” the head chef insisted as he watched my head nod slightly as I tried my best to fight off sleep. “Ain’t nobody comin’ in before Melissa gets here. No point in you staying on your feet any longer.”

Louis was a godsend. At sixty-seven years old, you’d think he would rather be anywhere but a diner at almost four in the morning.

“Nah,” he had said when I’d asked him a few months after I’d first started. “My Ginny died a few years back, and since she’s been gone, I don’t really have the stomach to sit around that house all alone.” He had laughed, but there’d been a deep sorrow that had come over his deep brown eyes. “Kids are worried, but… Sleeping the day away is better than laying up at night staring at her side of the bed…”

“You sure, Lou?” I asked even as I headed for the back room where all the employees clocked in and kept their possessions in their own little cubbies. I did my checkout in view of the security camera, just like always. I didn’t want anyone to be able to say I stole anything.

Everyone who knew me knew that I wouldn’t, but I’d worked at two many places where the girls tried backstabbing each other and sabotaging everyone else to get them fired.

Though people were a lot nicer in Louisiana than any of the other places I’d lived.

Louis chuckled as he set a to-go box in the window, nodding towards it. “Mmhm. Long as Buck is getting you home safe.”

I gave him a joking eye roll as I took the to-go box gratefully, grinning at my name written in all caps with green Sharpie on top. “You know you don’t have to make me dinner every night.”

“Yes, I do,” he said, shooting me a look. “How else do I know you’re getting enough food in you, huh?” He pointed his rag at me. “Now you go ask him to get you home. Tell him I said he can clock out, and that he’s supposed to text me when he sees you safe inside. You better not say you’re gonna ask him again just to walk yourself home.” The old man shook his head as I headed for the back door, muttering to himself, “Damn girl thinks I’m gonna believe she’s feeding herself good enough when she’s risking her damn ass walking home alone.”

Despite the fact that I’d put off asking for Bucky Barnes’s service, I really did appreciate how fiercely Louis cared about me.

It had been a real long time since anyone had cared so much.

I hesitated at the back door of the diner, my hand resting against the cool metal.

What if he said no?

Granted, he most likely wouldn’t. But what if he said yes, and he secretly thought me some dumb little girl that couldn’t take care of herself?

What did I care if he thought that?

“I don’t care what he thinks of me,” I huffed as I straightened my shoulders, holding my chin a little higher.

“Stop talking to yourself and get going!”

I jumped in surprise, before shooting a glare in the direction of the kitchen. “Stop listening in on my private conversations!” I demanded before storming outside with new found vigor.

Only to freeze when Bucky looked up from where he was sitting on the curb, smoking a cigarette.

God, he was handsome.

“You okay, doll face?” He asked, his New York accent a sharp contrast to the southern drawls you were used to.

“Um… Y-Yeah,” I said faintly, glancing back at the door that I’d come in from. “Um… L-Louis wants me to ask you… Can you walk me home? Or give me a ride? I don’t… I don’t know if you drive…”

“I do drive.”

“O-Oh. Okay. Great.”

“But I don’t have my car on me.”

I peered at him curiously. “Oh. Um… I can just walk by myself. I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna be a nuisance…”

He stood up, tossing his cigarette to the ground and stomping it out. “Don’t be ridiculous, darlin.’ Come on. I’ll walk you.” He shoved his hands in his pockets as he began to head for the street. “Besides… It’s a real nice night.”

“Oh…,” I said in surprise at how ready he was to be of service. “Okay. But only if you’re sure.”

A faint smile graced his lips as he glanced at the ground, letting out a faint chuckle that rumbled deep in his chest. “I’m sure, darlin.’ But you gotta lead the way.”

I was surprised by the rapid pitter patter of my heart beat as we walked side by side down the street, the chorus of ‘Yellow Brick Road’ getting stuck in my head on a loop.

Bucky was an enigma that I found myself wondering about more often than not, but I always ended up talking myself out of going there. After all, he was an older man. A much older man. At least fifteen years older than my own twenty-two years, or something along those lines, not that he looked it. The man looked like some kind of rugged Greek god. Like Hades if Hades was born in the eighties. His dog tags clinked together under his shirt as we walked, his metal prosthetic glinting in the moon.

“So how did you end up in NOLA?”

It took me a moment to even realize that he was talking to me, my heart skipping a beat and my face going hot in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I asked.

His bright blue eyes flickered over to look me over. “How’d you end up in New Orleans?”

“I actually don’t know,” I snorted, avoiding his eyes as I kicked at a few broken up pieces of asphalt. “I just… Picked a bus ticket and ended up in one of the Carolinas. Then I picked another bus ticket and ended up in Minnesota. And then I picked another, and another, and another, and then I actually just… ended up here.” The months I’d spent alone on those Greyhounds felt both so long ago and also like it was just yesterday. “The diner was the first place someone recommended for food that’s good but cheap, and as I was eating my mountain of cheese fries, I saw the flyer that said they were hiring. So here I am now…”

“Huh,” he said, his brows furrowed. “I didn’t take you for the type of person to run off on your own… riding buses all over the country…”

Head tilting to the side, I gave him a long look. “You didn’t? What kind of type did you peg me for?”

Bucky gave me a long look, a single brow raised as though silently telling me that I jumped to conclusions. “Just that jumping from place to place can take a lot outta someone,” he said slowly, his voice low and soothing. “Hell, if you were my girl—” He broke off as his cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink, his long hair falling in his face.

I swore my heart had stopped inside of my chest, and I swallowed thickly around the lump in my throat. “Oh?”

He rushed to try to correct his wording. “I-I just mean, a lady should be comfortable. And if I had a g-girl like you, well… You’d never want for anything,” he stammered, stumbling over his words like a flustered school boy. “Hell, I… I’d give you the stars and the moon…”

I was shocked into silence, staring up at him like he was the sun itself. “Bucky…”

“No, no, don’t say anything. I… I know that was a lot,” he insisted quietly, unable to meet your eyes as he stared up at the shitty apartment building you called home. “Hell, you probably don’t want a gross old man hitting on you.” His metal hand, glinting in the low light of the street lamp, reached up to brush against my cheek for just a moment before it quickly dropped. “Just let me walk you home each night so I can make sure you’re safe, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I breathed out, unable to take my eyes off of him as he took a few steps back.

There’s a somewhat playful smirk on his lips as he watched me stumble up the steps, continuously glancing back at him. “Goodnight, baby doll.”

“Goodnight,” I said, barely audible before I finally headed inside.

Bucky kept his word. He walked me home every night, and honestly, there wasn’t a moment that I wasn’t thinking about what he had said, about if I was his girl.

What if I was his girl?

But… with that meant I’d have to give up the life I’d dreamed for myself. I wanted luxury, to never worry about bills or where I was gonna get my next meal or if I could afford to buy the nice work shoes or if I could only get the cheap ones that would fall apart in three months and then I’d just be right back where I started.

I wanted the life that celebrities lived. Hell, I wanted to go to parties on the same yachts the Kardashian-Jenners did, even if I couldn’t fucking stand them.

And with Bucky… I wouldn’t have that.

“So why’d you go on the run anyway?” Bucky asked one night as we sat on the curb, eating ice cream in the Louisiana heat. “I know you told me how you got here, but you’ve never told me why.”

“You’ve never told me how you ended up here or why either,” I shot back, nudging his shoulder with my own.

Somehow the age difference seemed non-existent as we sat there. Honestly, I felt like we were just a bunch of dumb teenagers, shooting the shit and enjoying each other’s company.

Bucky took in a deep breath, his shoulders sinking in a way that made it look like he had all the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I was over in Afghanistan for a long time,” he admitted quietly. “When the war first started, I was 19. I had no idea where my life was going and I had no options except my dad’s mechanic shop. So I enlisted with my best friend, Steve. The one I told you about.”

It’s completely silent except for the sound of an occasional car horn off in the distance.

“Neither one of us knew what we were doing. We realized very quickly that we had no reason being over there, but… but there was nothing else,” he said, swallowing around the lump in his throat. The ice cream he was holding was melting in his trembling hands. “I didn’t know how to do anything else, so I stayed. Steve moved up in the ranks, but I stayed pretty low… I didn’t mind. Kinda liked being the older guy all those young kids could talk to, could rely on… Because they were just like me, getting into a fight that wasn’t theirs because they had nothing else.”

My heart was shattering inside my chest as I scooted a little closer, my knee knocking against his as I tried to give him some sort of silent comfort. He’d been through Hell and made it through.

Bucky let his head rest against mine, his eyes closing as he breathed in the scent of my perfume. “They eventually moved me to some kind of specialized team… Called us the Howling Commandos. I found out that Steve was heading it and he picked me to be part of it. That’s how I met Sam, because he was on some sort of similar team with the Air Force, except it was just him and his friend, Riley,” he continued, taking a bite of his chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. “I am proud to say that I didn’t kill a single person while I was over there. I just couldn’t. Hell, they’re people just like me, terrified and unsure of what’s going to happen.” His lips pressed against my forehead, letting it linger. “But then about five years ago, I was on a mission with the Commandos, Sam, and Riley, and… this bomb went off while we were playing a game of soccer. I wasn’t even in a fight. That thing took my arm and it took Riley.”

Tentatively, I let my fingers find his, holding his hand and squeezing reassuringly.

“Sam decided to come home with me.” There was a forlorn look in his eyes, as though he was right back at that game of pick-up soccer. “After losing Riley… he couldn’t find a reason to be over there. And then Steve decided to stay, and hell, he’s still over there, leading that fucking team…” Glassy baby blue eyes finally found mine, the both of us doing our best to not cry. “I couldn’t face my family for a long time, so Sam asked me to come stay in Louisiana with him and his family, and I haven’t left since.”

“Have you gone to see your family?” I asked slowly, almost like I was scared I’d frighten him if I spoke too loudly, like a wild animal. “Let them know where you are? That you’re safe?”

He turned to look at me, his baby blues shining. “You worried about me, baby doll?”

“I can’t help it,” I said honestly, unable to tear my eyes away. I hadn’t opened up to someone like that in so damn long. “I can’t help but worry about you.”

The way that I felt about Bucky absolutely terrified me, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. It snuck up on me, like a train coming around a bend.

I hated it.

“What do you want out of this life?” Bucky asked on one walk home, his arm linked in mine. He’d become so much more… tactile. If anyone took a moment to look at us, they’d think we were a couple on a romantic stroll.

Perhaps we were.

But I couldn’t help but grin as I looked up at the sky, taking in the warm air. “I wanna live like how the movie stars do… I want a big house on the beach and twenty cars and a yacht and… and…”

He looked at me long and hard. “And you never wanna have to worry about where your next meal is coming from, if you’re gonna have a place to sleep at night…”

For some reason, I’d felt a bolt of panic over whether or not he’d understand. Whether or not he’d think differently of me, but I should’ve known that he wouldn’t. Hell, he knew me better than anyone else.

“You understand,” I said quietly, my hand squeezing his bicep gratefully. “I want to live how the other half lives for once. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

A small smile graced his features as we shuffled along. “There isn’t. But… What about love?” He asked.

“Love?”

“Love.”

Love.

Could I even have love? Did I want it?

“I don’t know if there’s a lot of room for love in my plans,” I admitted after a long moment. “In my experience, love has always just been a lie. A word used to manipulate and eventually abuse.”

Letting out a snort, he let his fingers tickle down my tricep until his fingers intertwined with mine. “I’d show you it’s not… I’d show you what real love is,” he said. “I’d give you every part of me, give you all my strength to help you grow into who you wanna be, even if I don’t particularly care about being famous or rich…” He brought my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles. “I’ll give you a love story, a life, that’s a million times better than any recycled Hollywood plot… I’ll give you the stars and the moon, if you would just let me.”

I hated the way that he made my heart beat faster, the way my breath hitched. “Jamie,” I breathed out quietly, the two of us having stopped in our tracks to just… take each other in. Live in each other’s presence for a moment. “I…”

“You want a big life… one a lot bigger than little old me,” he said simply, shrugging. His blue eyes were so honest, so loving. So warm. A warmth I hadn’t ever experienced before. “I know. But that doesn’t change that I’m in love with you. And if you ever change your mind…” Bucky reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card, pressing it into my free hand. “This is where you can find me. I figure it’s time for me to go home.”

We’d come to a stop in front of my building, and I was shocked at how tight my chest felt. My eyes watered as I stared at him long and hard. “Jamie, please… I⏤”

“Don’t say it. It’s okay,” he insisted as he cupped my cheek, letting his thumb run over my skin as though he was memorizing it. “I just want you to be happy, darling. You got that?” His lips pressed to my forehead, letting it linger. “Go get that life you’ve been dreaming of.”

Twenty-Three

I left New Orleans the next day, grabbing a bus ticket after throwing all of my belongings into my old duffel bag. It was time to move on.

But God, did it hurt.

I didn’t stop crying for weeks, fighting the urge to go right back to Louisiana and tell Bucky to take it back, to get him to beg me to stay with him.

But what kind of life would that leave me with? Working in the diner day after day? Never getting anywhere?

But you’d have James, a voice inside my head reminded me snarkily.

Then again, he most likely wasn’t even in New Orleans anymore, if what he said was true when he gave me the business card of his father’s mechanic shop. Was he really planning on going home to New York City?

A few months later, and I’d worked my way all through the southwest to Santa Fe, where I met Pietro.

My heart was pounding as I pressed in the familiar numbers, having memorized them from the business card now soft and faded from how often I held it in my hands like a lifeline. “Come on… Pick up… Pick up…”

“Barnes Tires and Motors, this is George,” a man said in a gruff voice when he finally picked up. “How can I help you?”

“H-Hi, is James there? James Barnes? Bucky?” I stammered out, hands trembling so bad that the old payphone was almost rattling.

There was a pause, and then muffled talking away from the phone.

And then I heard it being picked up. “This is Bucky,” he said.

It felt like the wind had been knocked right out of my lungs. How had I gone so long without hearing his voice?

Breathing in sharply, I tried to figure out the words to say. But my throat was dry and it was like I’d suddenly forgotten the entire English language.

That was all that it took for Bucky to realize it was me. “Baby doll? Baby doll, is that you?” He asked quietly. “I…” He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. “You don’t gotta say a thing, sweetheart… But just know that if you’re in trouble or you need help or… or anything at all, you better call me…” His voice wavered, as though he was fighting tears just like I was. “God, I miss you so much, baby doll. I love you.”

I love you, too.

I hung up before I could actually say the words. “God, I’m so fucking stupid,” I whispered as I leaned back against the wall of the gas station I’d found myself at, rubbing the heels of my hands into my eyes.

My dumb ass had decided to wander from the bus station, and I’d walked over a mile away. Unless I was staying in Santa Fe for a bit, I’d need to start making my way back.

“You okay?”

In my distress, I hadn’t even heard the rumbling of the motorcycle or noticed the handsome man making his way to me. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” I said even as I wiped my nose with a pathetic sniffle.

He eyed me for a long moment, his eyes roaming over my figure. “You hungry? I know a great little place nearby. My treat.”

And well, I was never one to turn down free food.

Even if that ‘little place’ ended up being a food truck.

“You know, when you said it was a little place, I didn’t picture it having wheels,” I said teasingly, licking salsa off of my lower lip. “Though, it is the best food I’ve ever gotten from a food truck before.”

“Oh, come on. This is the best food of all time!” He laughed, shaking his head.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” I snorted, finishing off my flautas.

Pietro looked at me long and hard. “So, are you gonna tell me what the hell was going on to have a pretty girl like you all teary eyed?” He asked, his head tilting to the side.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Was this your plan all along?” I asked. Wiping my hands off on a napkin, I did everything I could to avoid his eyes. “Get me all fed and then question me?” But at the same time, the thought of being able to finally talk to someone about it was so appealing… After a long moment of hesitation, I finally gave in. “I fell in love with a man, and he let me go because he knew that I want a life he can’t give me,” I said. “And I was a bitch who didn’t even tell him I love him back when he said it to me.”

Pietro took in a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “Damn. You really are a stone cold bitch, aren’t you?”

“Hey!” I indignantly threw a chunk of tomato at him, glaring. “I just opened up my heart, you dickwad.”

“Dickwad?!” He said, blinking at me in shock. “No one’s ever called me a dickwad before.”

I raised a single eyebrow at him. “Maybe not to your face, but they definitely have.” He gave off the vibe of a fuckboy, of a really, really bad fuckboy.

“Well, since you’re running away from your feelings, how about you spend a week or two with me on the road?” He asked with a grin.

I couldn’t help but blink at him in shock. “What?” I let out a laugh, pulling one of my legs up to my chest. “Do you throw that line out to every girl you meet? Or am I just special?”

Pietro threw a chip at me, and I barely managed to dodge it. “No, I don’t. But… You remind me of me. Needing adventure. A life bigger than four walls and a fence.”

Instinctively, I wanted to snap back that sometimes, four walls and a fence could be an adventure, could be the biggest life there was, as Bucky’s face flashed across my mind.

But I couldn’t do that. Not when I wasn’t ready to face the truth myself.

“Come on, sweet cheeks,” he teased as his foot hooked around mine. “Just think of it. The open highway, a rhythm beneath your feet… Nights full of passion and days of adventure…” Pietro’s voice was deep and husky, as though he was trying to lure me in. “No strings… just warm summer rain soaking us to the bone before we find some cheap motel to huddle down in…”

Plastering on a smile, I stood up and brushed myself on. “Thanks, but… I’d rather be drinking champagne, and the quicker I get to LA, the sooner I will be.”

He let me go with a kiss on the cheek and his cell number pressed into my hand, with a promise to come and pick me up the second I rang.

And despite how sweet he was, how wild and funny and charismatic, there was only one man I wanted to call.

Twenty-Four

I sipped at my martini as I sat at the rooftop bar, absentmindedly watching the television that was mounted on the wall as people droned around me. I’d been in Los Angeles for a year, and I’d spent my time finding the best places to find a husband who could give me the life I dreamed of.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, it took connections to build a career, and the best way to get a foot in the door when nepotism was so rampant was by marrying someone in the industry.

My silk dress was the most expensive thing I owned, something I’d saved up for months for, had skipped meals for. And fuck, was it worth it. I could feel the stares, the lingering gazes on the little bit of thigh that was exposed by the slit in the dress.

I’d already turned away several men, able to tell just from their expensive watches and cheap suits and shoes.

It was amazing how all the up and coming finance bros thought they fit in with the truly big dogs.

“Well, hello, gorgeous.”

I turned to see who was speaking, my heart skipping a beat when I realized who I was speaking to.

The world famous (or infamous) director, Tony Stark.

“Hello, handsome,” I said smoothly, my lashes fluttering innocently as I took a sip of my horrible drink.

I fucking hated martinis. Always had.

But ordering a martini was more sophisticated than ordering a frozen strawberry margarita.

“Is this seat taken?” He asked as he motioned to the empty bar stool right next to me, even as he was already sitting down. “Let me buy your next round.”

“I can’t think of anything better,” I said, feeling as though my dream life was already in reach.

Twenty-Eight

“Tony, where are you taking me?” I laughed as I let my boyfriend lead me to the private dock at our Malibu mansion.

Well, his mansion. I just happened to also live there.

It had been a whirlwind of a year since I had met Tony, and he’d bought me that second round. He’d taken me all over the globe, anywhere my heart desired.

But I made sure to avoid New York City, though he never understood why. I would never tell him.

Not when I was so close to my dream. I could practically taste it.

“Come on, come on. I have a surprise for you,” he said, keeping his hands over my eyes. He was sure to keep me from tripping and busting my ass, thank god.

The ocean waves were so comforting as they hit the shore, a sound I’d gotten used to over the past year.

He finally brought me to a stop, quietly telling me to keep my eyes closed. “Okay,” he said finally. “Open them.”

My eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the bright light of the California sun. But I was more shocked by the sight of Tony on one knee in front of me, holding out a box with a sparkling diamond ring in it. “Tony?”

The ring was the size of a fucking meteor. It was easily the biggest ring I’d ever seen.

“You know, I never thought I’d meet someone like you,” he said quietly, his dark eyes shining. But his voice was steady. “Someone who understands me, who doesn’t expect me to change into someone I’m not. You accept me as I am, and that’s why I want to give you the world.” He couldn’t help but grin as he nodded to the right. “Starting with that yacht you’ve always dreamed of.”

I hadn’t even noticed that there were two yachts at his private docks instead of just the one. The new one had SS Princess emblazoned on the side, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh… Tony…”

“So, what do you say?” He asked, bringing my attention back to him. “Will you be my wife?”

“Yes.”

Thirty-Two

Swallowing nervously, I looked down at the business card in my hand for the millionth time, the stock paper soft from how often I’d looked at it in the past ten years.

Hell, just how often I’d looked at it in the past six should’ve made it fall apart by now. Not that I didn’t have it memorized.

I’d finally ended my marriage after being miserable for so long. I’d gotten my yacht, my fancy houses, my career, all the jewelry that I could dream of, and none of it made me happy. Tony and I… never grew. And I never dreamed. Every day was the same, and every day was torture as I realized that I didn’t have the one thing that actually mattered.

The garage in front of me was busy, music blasting and the sound of men shouting to each other as they worked.

Suddenly I felt absolutely ridiculous wearing a Chanel dress and Gucci heels, an Hermés bag on my arm.

BARNES TIRES AND MOTORS was lit up along the top of the shop in bright red letters, though the lights in the ‘r’ of ‘motors’ were out.

I felt like a fool. I had wanted the life I had so desperately that I gave up everything for it. I got the movie star life, my name on billboards and my face on magazines.

But it wasn’t ever enough.

My heels clicked against the blacktop as I slowly made my way towards the front area of the shop, bells clinging above my head to let them know someone was there.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” A man asked as he came around the corner.

He looked so much like Bucky, it punched the air straight from my lungs.

“H-Hi. I’m looking for James Barnes. Is he here?” I asked after a long moment of hesitation. There was no way that the man was Bucky, but I didn’t doubt he was related.

The man raised his brows, wiping his hands on a rag. “My son’s in the shop. I’ll take you to him.” His full head of hair was white, his thick facial hair matching. Even with all the wrinkles on his face, he was a handsome man. Holding open the door for me, he led me into the loud shop, some eighties rock song blasting over the speakers.

I couldn’t help but smile as ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’ by Scorpions came on. It was one of Bucky’s favorites back when we worked in the diner together.

“BUCK! YOU GOT A VISITOR!” The man shouted, causing several people to look our way.

My cheeks felt hot as I avoided their gaze, hoping they wouldn’t recognize me. I didn’t want to be a famous movie star anymore, a celebrity that had to beg for scraps of privacy.

My mind went numb, my heart stopping inside my chest as he stepped around a gray Ford Escape another man was working on.

He was even more handsome than he was the last time I saw him.

“Can I help y—” He broke off, his blue eyes going wide when he realized that it was me. “Hi.”

All of a sudden, everything I’d planned to say flew out of my head. All of the eloquent words I’d strung together were gone. And I just proceeded to word vomit.

“Did you know that, uh, when you marry someone you’re not in love with, you won’t… you won’t grow into it?” I asked, my voice shaking. “Um… I married a man who could give me a life I thought I always wanted, and he just… sucked.” Eyes stinging, I fought back against tears. “And I thought that all I ever wanted was the life I have now, was the life movie stars and the Kardashians lived. But… But I hate it. I hated every second I was away from you.” I let out a weak laugh, unable to stop the tears. “I wanted to turn around the second I got on the bus in New Orleans, but my stupid stubborn ass didn’t. I should have. I should’ve gotten off and just run right back to you because I… I love you, James. I always have.”

The garage had gone almost deadly quiet, and my heart sank when I realized Bucky looked almost frozen in shock.

“I know that I shouldn’t have showed up like this,” I scrambled to say. “But I… I’ve been trying to get my divorce finalized for two years and I finally did, and I kept telling myself that once it was done, I’d never hold myself back from what I really want ever again. From who I want. If… If you want me.” My face felt like it was on fire, my hands shaking. I shook my head as I took a step backwards. “What am I thinking? There’s no way you’re not married. I… I’m so so—”

Before I could finish the word ‘sorry,’ Bucky had closed the distance between us, his hands cradling my face so gently. He held me like I was made of fine crystal as he kissed me. He kissed me like his life depended on it, like I was the one source of oxygen.

And I kissed him back just as fiercely. “I love you. I love you so much,” I breathed out in between kisses, unwilling to let him go as my Hermés bag fell into the dust and oil on the concrete below.

Bucky smiled into the kiss, his arm wrapping around my waist to keep me pressed to his chest. “I love you so much, darlin.’ God, I’ve missed you…” His nose nudged against mine as we finally broke for air, both of us breathing heavily.

My knees felt like Jell-O as I held onto him. His grip was the only reason I hadn’t fallen to the ground already.

“I’m sorry I was a dumb twenty-two year old,” I said, snorting as he stole another kiss.

“No… Don’t be sorry,” he insisted, his fingers massaging my scalp as our foreheads pressed together. It was like he was scared to stop touching me, like I would disappear at any second. “You were young… You had to go out and make your own mistakes… I’ve just been waiting for the day you were ready.”

All the years apart melted away and all that remained was the two of us, two souls so intertwined that there was no way to truly separate us.

Our lips were half molded together as I said, “I’m never leaving you again. I promise I swear on everything…”

My heart almost stopped inside my chest as I heard someone clearing their throat, looking to see Bucky’s father staring at us with his arms crossed over his chest. “M-Mr. Barnes, sir…”

He gave a crooked smile that was so reminiscent of Bucky that I couldn’t help but grin back. “The Mrs. will wanna know if you’re staying for dinner.”

“Yeah,” I said as I looked up at Bucky, toying with a strand of his hair. “That sounds perfect.”

Later that night, Bucky and I laid in his bed, a mess of bare limbs as his fingers ran up and down my back soothingly. “What do you want from this life, baby girl?” He asked absentmindedly.

Humming, I traced shapes on his bare chest, sometimes pressing a kiss to where his prosthetic met his shoulder, on the tender scar tissue. “You.”

A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth, despite the already mischievous look on his face. “Really? Not even the stars and the moon?” He asked teasingly.

I knew he’d give it to me anyway, give me all that he could. But I was sure now that the only thing I wanted from this life was his love. “Not even the stars and the moon.”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes reader insert

[imagining-in-the-margins]

The Prodigy Path (S.R.)

Summary: At a parent teacher conference, Spencer and Reader explain their seemingly unorthodox parenting style. Request: Spencer and reader are parents and they realize their young child is a genius like Reid and Reid refuses to put them on the same genius path he was put on as a kid because he doesn't want them to deal with what he had to deal with as a child prodigy Couple: Spencer Reid/Fem!Reader Category: Domestic Comfort/Fluff Content Warning: SpEd, education, teachers, arguing, crying Word Count: 4k

MASTERLIST

My husband has many tells. His emotions are clearly displayed in every inch of his existence if you care enough to look, even for someone average like me. Which is why I knew before we even made it into the classroom that he was nervous. With bouncing legs and fingers cracking as he pushed curled fists against his jaw to try and hide the way his lip quivered with unspoken thoughts.

There was nothing I could say to make an elementary school a more comfortable place for him. They were nothing but a constant reminder of a childhood filled with teachers, therapists, lawyers, and doctors. A collection of professionals with one shared goal of using a little boy to achieve whatever they needed to. All justified with the belief that later, he would understand. He would be grateful.

But that wasn’t how it happened. If any of them had checked in on the boy genius after he stopped being ‘useful’, maybe they would have figured it out.

“Are you alright, Spencer?”

I already knew the answer. I also knew he would lie. Just a harmless little nod of his head to maintain whatever calming effects he could from the blatant attempts at self-soothing. He was already used to having to stock up on good feelings as much as he could, acutely aware of how important it was to rid himself of any sign of discomfort or anything even slightly resembling the word ‘no’ before the teacher came.

Which is exactly what happened. When our names were called, his back straightened and his hands, still balled in fists, fell like heavy rocks to his side. Everything about him when we finally made our way to the two small chairs in the teacher’s office felt cold and clinical. Nothing like the lively, bubbly man I knew.

I understood why, but it didn’t make it any easier to watch. The poor woman on the other side of the desk wouldn’t get it, though. All she saw was an arrogant man who thought himself too good for a place like this.

If only people could see what I did. I think they would be kinder when they looked at him.

“Well, Dr. and Mrs. Reid, it should come as no surprise to you that your daughter performed exceptionally on the competency tests that we gave her as part of her IEP. She’s very bright,” she started.

A bad start.  

“She’s good at tests,” Spencer corrected with finality.

The teacher wasn’t going to argue, although I got the feeling she missed the importance of the distinction. That competency, ‘brightness,’ and performance were all very different things.

“Very much so,” she laughed. The kind of laugh that hides a deep discomfort. It wasn’t entirely her fault; talking to Spencer when he was like this was very much like arguing with a brick wall that somehow still outsmarted you.

“Her… ability to perform well is actually why I wanted to talk to you about the possibility of switching her to a more advanced classro—”

Spencer cut in swiftly, once again with a steel jaw and biting sound, “We’d have to ask her.”

“Of course, her opinion is very important but—”

“It is the only thing that matters to me.”

From the unintentional sidelines, I watched the exchange like one might watch a collision from the passenger seat. Perhaps it might be possible to grab the steering wheel, to try and prevent what I thought was coming. But that came with different risks; of overcorrecting him past the point of self-preservation. We would still crash, and he would also know that I didn’t trust him to fix the problem himself.

“I find that a lot of kids don’t really understand the long term consequences of a decision like this,” the teacher explained, folding her fingers together tightly. As her knuckles blanched, I felt the tension that I knew would form in Spencer’s gut at the implication that he hadn’t thought of any of her concerns first. As if he hadn’t thought of them 30 years ago. As if he hadn’t lived through the decision being made for him.

“Well, I do,” he said, trying and failing to control the tilt in his voice from turning to outright hostility, “I know what the consequences are, and I also know my daughter, and I know that she’s smart enough to figure it out for herself.”

Then it happened. The thing I was waiting for.

The woman turned to me, the other one in the room like her. Not a genius, Agent, or doctor. Just a plain, average Jane.

“What do you think, Mrs. Reid?”

But I couldn’t tell her what she wanted to hear. She didn’t know him like I did.

“I think my husband knows these things better than me,” I laughed, nervous and cautious before I added, “And I trust my daughter.”

Her face fell when she reached the conclusion she ought to have expected. I would be no more help to her than the useless sheet of statistics in front of her, urging her to convince us to acknowledge that our daughter could accomplish more if only we would let her.

I felt her compassion, but all that Spencer would hear was the condescension that certainly did exist underneath it all.

“She’s only seven.”

“Ted Kaczynski was eleven when his family allowed him to skip a grade, which he later described as one of the pivotal moments in his life that led to him becoming a domestic terrorist.”

The tension in the room was so thick that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. And if the increasing force behind every breath in Spencer’s chest was any indication, he was suffocating all the same.

“I’m sure that you wouldn’t allow that to happen to your child. You skipped several grades to my knowledge, and you turned out to be very accomplished,” she offered with a hand outstretched and shaking under the weight of the vitriol Spencer was spewing into the room.

It wasn’t her fault, but we couldn’t explain it to her. Not when Spencer was too scared to even raise a hand while he spoke. Too paralyzed in perfect, acceptable posture and hidden twitches of his fingers.

“Accomplished isn’t an objective test determined by IQ points or degrees. The only kind of accomplishment I want for my daughter is the ability to make decisions for herself,” he said, his voice growing louder and cracking between strained cords, “To choose her own path and future, and to never let anyone tell her what she has to be just because it would benefit them.”

Once again, the room fell silent. I watched as the teacher slowly removed the shocked, disturbed expression from her face and replace it with the more appropriate sympathy. Unfortunately, my husband also has a tendency to cling to whatever he perceives as the more genuine truth.

Worded slightly differently: my husband holds onto grudges for dear life.

“Dr. Reid, I don’t mean to offend you. I just want you to understand she is capable of more than this—”

It was the end of the line. I’d chosen not to grab the steering wheel, and I could see now that it had been a mistake. I’d missed the way he was struggling to maintain control on his own and now it was too late. By the time he stood up from his chair, he was too far away for me to grab hold of his hand and rub soothing circles to bring him back. He was already on his way out, readjusting his suit jacket that must have felt similar to restraints from his past.

“Then I’m sure that she is better equipped to make the decision for herself than you are.”

The door shut, not slammed, but just enough to make his absence known. Two shaky breaths were released at once, and the two of us left behind in the wake of his anxiety exchanged a knowing set of silent glances.

“My daughter is very bright,” I finally said, hoping to explain my husband’s good heart in only a few words. Unfortunately, there was no way to do that. So, instead, I drummed up all the courage I could and added, “But so is my husband.”

“I never implied anything different.”

She hadn’t, but she had. In her own way, she’d questioned the only one of us who truly understood what it was like to be so stunningly different. Odd enough that it sometimes felt like they were the only two people on Earth like them. And while our daughter had her father, Spencer wasn’t so lucky.

He had been alone for as long as he could remember, which was a terribly long time.

“The things we experience in elementary school stay with us. Being a kid means that you have no power. Everything is decided for you,” I tried. The words didn’t sound right. But I kept going, wishing more than anything to have the same proficiency at language in this moment, even though I knew she still wouldn’t have understood me then.

“My daughter may get to pick skirts or slacks, but no matter what she chooses, they still have to be khaki or navy.”

“I don’t think this is about uniforms, Mrs. Reid.”

“Because it’s not,” I agreed. And unlike Spencer, my hands were free to move and collapse tired over my heart. Hopefully, it served as a visual representation of how intensely I felt and believed the words that followed.

“I’m not as smart as my husband or my daughter. I won’t ever be able to understand what it’s like to be both the youngest and smartest person in the room, but I can’t imagine it’s easy.”

Again, I felt the empathy she tried to project. I understood it because her and I spoke the same language. She could look at me and know that I only wanted what was best for my family without requiring the extra steps that were required to understand my husband.

“The children here are very used to prodigies,” she posited sincerely, trying to rebuild a bridge that had already started to burn, “It’s not like public school. It wouldn’t be like it was with him.”

But that was precisely the problem. This was just another unknown, one which we’ve only seen result in negative outcomes. If it had been mine or Spencer’s life on the line, we might have taken the chance. But it wasn’t about us.

“I don’t care if the chance is minuscule that she’ll be hurt by this decision, because there is still a risk there. And if I put her in that position even though she didn’t want to, I would hate myself for it.”

I could sense the judgment before she spoke. That didn’t stop her from saying it, though.

“You can’t shelter her from the world.”

As my blood began to boil, I looked at the space that stretched between us. I stared at the bridge embroiled in flames and realized that Spencer was right to light the fire. Because the truth was that she wasn’t giving us any new information. She had simply chosen to prioritize the potential of a child over the life that already existed in front of her.

And no matter how hard anyone tried, we just weren’t willing to do that to our daughter.

“You’re right,” I laughed, because I really found it funny how easy the answer seemed, “But I can let her choose for herself and support her choices even when they hurt me. Being smart shouldn’t be a death sentence for a normal childhood.”

“She won’t ever have a normal childhood.”

But what was normal, anyway? Was it something I even wanted my daughter to have? If it meant blindly following the path laid out for her by test results and authority figures, I wasn’t so sure. Above all, I just wanted her to be happy. The way that Spencer was never allowed to be. So I also stood from my chair with feet desperate to find him, and a relieved smile that accompanied the light feeling in my heart. I took a deep breath as I looked at the telltale symbols of childhood that didn’t fill me with fear or anxiety.

“Well, I’m willing to let her try,” I said quietly but confidently, “I think she can figure it out.”

The trip to the car felt so far knowing that Spencer was there alone. I tried to step faster, eventually just breaking out into a strange half-jog regardless of the odd stares. It didn’t matter to me what anyone else thought about our strange, imperfect family. Because I knew that as soon as we had our hands together, everything would be okay.

But things weren’t okay when I found him. He was slumped over the dash of the passenger seat, his suit jacket scrunched over his shoulders because he was too tired to even bother taking it off despite the discomfort. I heard the rage behind the nearly silent sniffles, and as soon as he heard the door shut for the last time, he didn’t hold back the words any longer.

“They really expected us to make that decision without even asking her?” he spat, clenching his teeth any time he was given the chance.

“I know,” I whispered back with a hand on his shoulder. I felt the tension start to fade away the longer the warmth sunk through the fabric. But then it was too much, and he shot up from his spot with arms that had come back to life after being held down for too long.  

“It’s her life! She’s not just... just a tool for their rankings or a trophy for their wall!”

Tears stung at my eyes just from seeing the red lining his, and I wondered how much he’d feared this day. How long he had seen it coming and held back concerns because he wasn’t entirely sure what it would mean for all of us. But he’d miscalculated. He’d underestimated just how much it would hurt to see the same thing he’d experienced happening to someone he loved. That fury, that despair and desperation, exploded from him like gas thrown on a fire. “She’s a person! She’s my little girl!”

It was no surprise to me when the tears started to flow again. Spencer didn’t even try to hide behind his hands. They were too busy finding me and holding on with hands gripped tight with the soft fabric of my skirt. The one place that he knew he would be safe and understood no matter the barriers that might exist.

“I know that you just want the best for her,” I reassured him. My hands ran through his unruly hair that reminded me of our daughter’s to an uncanny degree. And it accomplished the same thing, too. Within a few minutes or necessary catharsis, Spencer was able to steady his breathing well enough to shift into a more comfortable position with his head against my shoulder.

“They don’t know what it’s like. To be just one thing. Every failure, every mistake… They seem like the end of the world when the stakes are so high,” he mumbled, “They become the only thing that matters. All that you are.”  

“It’s okay. You don’t have to explain it to me,” I laughed. Cupping his face in my hands, I forced him to look at me to see how much I meant it when I replied, “I already know that you are a wonderful father.”

Then, in a weak attempt to prevent the tears that were already forming in his eyes, I pressed a hard kiss against his forehead.

“Let’s go see her. I’m sure she’ll have something to say about it.”

And Spencer laughed, too. A relieved, joyous sound that signaled an end to the spiral. When he sat back up, I took the time to help him remove his jacket unbutton the top few in the hope that it would help him understand that he was returning to the one place he would never have to be anything other than himself.

I think it worked, too, because by the time we made it home, the only evidence of the meltdown was irritated, tired eyes. Thankfully, our daughter was too happy to see us back to make any mention of them.

“Dad!” she shrieked, standing in her seat on the sofa and nearly toppling over the furniture to get to him faster.

“Hey!”

“You’ll never guess what I made while you were gone!”

“What is it?” he shouted back before scooping her up into his arms and hugging her just discretely enough that she wouldn’t notice how badly he needed it.

“A computer!” she continued, now waving an excited hand for me to approach, too. But Spencer stole her attention away again, with shocked gasps and an equally squeaky voice, “You made a computer?”

“It just counts numbers and does some very rudimentary formulas... for now,” she muttered with a mischievous sound that we would both ignore (for now), “But it’s really cool! Come look!”

So there we sat, as a full family tracking piles of redstone dust and switches flow across blocks on the screen. But every time our eyes got tired of the blue light, we would look just a few feet to the right to watch her bounce in excitement with a controller in her hand.

Eventually, watching wasn’t enough, and Spencer crawled onto the floor so he could pull her into his lap. She melted into his embrace like she always did, haphazardly and with a familiarity that almost made me jealous of their relationship. But then I would realize just how lucky I was to have them both in my life.

After she had settled back into the game, Spencer started to speak, slowly and with an astounding amount of vulnerability.

“Hey, how do you feel about the idea of you skipping forward a couple grades?”

“You mean… Like leaving my friends?” she asked without ever taking her eyes off the screen.

“Yeah, you’d be with older kids.”

She paused, taking a few seconds to consider the idea. Although I couldn’t see her face, I knew exactly the expression she made as she squeaked, “Eh.”

“What’s ‘eh’ mean?” Spencer returned with an amused chuckle.

“Wouldn’t I be just as bored in fifth grade as I am in third?”

“Yeah, probably after a few weeks.”

Her little feet kicked the air as her whole body squirmed, obviously bothered by the topic but also knowing she would have to answer. With a very familiar sounding sigh, she continued, “And what about in a couple years? Will you let me date older people? They’ll be my peers.”

“A couple years?” her father responded with an ever-rising pitch, “Can’t you put that off until a little bit later?”

She did not relent.

“The heart wants what the heart wants, Dad.”

Spencer blew air from shaky lips that showed an enormous amount of restraint. “Within reason,” he warned.

That tone was always enough to make her laugh, which she did. But once that sound faded, she set the controller down on the floor and turned her full attention back to him before muttering, “I don’t know… It sounds like a lot. Older kids kind of scare me.”

“It’s not that bad. You get used to it. I’m sure you’d find friends. You’re very likable.”

“You’re my dad. You have to say that.”

“I don’t have to,” he corrected with a gentle poke of her nose, “I just want to because it’s true.”

But there was still so much on such small shoulders. It was as obvious as the way her legs started bouncing just like his did when he was nervous. Even as Spencer tried to play with her hair or do anything that he could think to distract her from the nerves, her voice was shaking as she worked up the courage to finally answer, “No offense dad, I know you did the whole skipping grades thing but… It kind of sounds awful.”

I watched from my seat on the couch as Spencer’s smile stretched steadily over his cheeks. “I’m not offended at all,” he whispered, and I wondered if she could hear just how true it was. I wondered if she could feel the relief that washed over him with an answer as simple as ‘No thank you.’ But then she spoke again, reminding us just how much she valued our opinion.

���I think I’d rather stay with kids my own age. At least for now.” Turning to look at me before scared eyes glanced up at her dad, she bit her cheeks one more time before muttering, “Is that okay?”

“Of course it is,” Spencer whispered back.

“Thanks. I was scared when my teacher brought it up.”

“It’s your life,” he insisted with both hands holding her cheeks the same way we always did, “You get to decide what you want to do with it.”

And while it would take a while longer to decide what the real answer to that question would be, the immediate answer was obvious. She threw her arms around him just he had done to me, affirming my theory that as long as we had each other, everything else would be okay.

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you, too,” he mumbled back into tiny brown curls before he let her go once more. But she stayed, burrowed in his lap while she resumed her game like the whole thing hadn’t happened. I think Spencer preferred it that way.

It didn’t take long for us to all get tired from the exhausting emotions, and within an hour we had all settled into bed. I’d almost forgotten about the conversation entirely before I noticed the way Spencer still flipped anxiously back and forth in our bed. I waited a little bit longer to turn off the light, opting to just wait for him to turn to me and explain what had him so worried.

The next time his eyes met mine, he let out a dramatic whine with the words, “A couple of years? She’s seven!”

I snorted at how he had latched onto the most trivial aspect of the night, making the executive decision to torment him just a little bit longer. “I’m pretty sure she already has her eye on a few candidates, you know.”

“I didn’t even notice romantic attraction until I was like… thirteen!” he blurted out. It was too funny not to keep laughing, repeating the eloquent way our daughter had asserted herself before.

“The heart wants what the heart wants, Spencer.”

“Well my heart wants to go to sleep, along with the rest of me,” he scoffed, flipping away from me for a minute out of his own stubbornness. Trying to avoid the inevitable. But when I flipped the light off, I heard him whisper again, “Couple of years… that child will be the death of me.”

(Tell me what you thought of this fic here!)

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[thefanficmonster]

Power Couple

Corpse Husband x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing 

Genre: Fluff, Humor

Summary: Sean, Felix, Dave, and Joel welcome Corpse’s girlfriend to a game of Party Animals. It’s her first time playing and she has to deal with a lot more than just the controls and objectives - her boyfriend being a cute, cuddly sweetheart with ulterior motives to his clinginess.

Requested by @susceptible-but-siriusexual. Thank you so much for your request! Hope I captured what you wanted and how you wanted. Feel free to send any other requests you may have XOXO

It’s been one hell of a day. Had to correct twice as many documents as I was originally supposed to at work; found my car with a flat tire in the parking lot as I was about to go home; argued with my boss over the phone while stuck in a traffic jam. It’s been a rough twelve hours, but it has led me here and that’s what I’d rather think about.

By ‘here’ I mean I’m sitting on the couch in Corpse’s recording room, my computer in my lap, my screen displaying the screen to the game Party Animals. The suggestion was Corpse’s. He immediately picked up on my below par mood and wasted no time finding a solution to bright up the remainder of the day, shadowing the shitty portion of it. I am not what you would call a gamer. Sure I’ve played Among Us with Corpse and his friends a few times. Even that I struggle to do because I’m internally fangirling over all the people in the lobby. Yeah, dating a youtuber doesn’t mean you automatically stop gushing over the many content creators on the platform you’ve been watching for quite some time now. Corpse knows how nervous I get so he’s always near me when we play with Sean, Felix and the other. All he has to do is give me that encouraging smile and wink of his and I’m good to go. Side note: massive props to him for going easy on me in Among Us, getting teasingly called ‘simp’ by his friends in the process.

“You’ll love it.“ He promised me over and over again as the game was downloading on my computer.

“I don’t doubt that, Corpse. But I am going in completely blind and I seriously don’t wanna embarrass myself.“ I mumble a quick ‘nor you‘ under my breath, hoping he doesn’t catch it because I’m in for a pep talk if he does. 

To my dismay, he does, “Listen here, you couldn’t embarrass me even if you actively tried to do something outrageous. Most likely scenario, I’d join you in the act.” He ducks in front of the couch so we’re at eye level, his hand coming up to cup my cheek in the sweetest, most comforting gesture ever. “We’ll show em who’s the boss at stealing candy.”

I can’t help but laugh, feeling unable to express just how much this man means to me. Words can’t do the feeling justice.

“Y/N!“

“Y/N!!“

“Corpse Wife has arrived!“

Hearing all the greetings lights a flame in my chest, the warmth spreading all the way to my neck and cheeks. “Hi guys! Missed playing with you!”

“We missed you too!“ Dave, the only one of the gaming gang I’ve actually met in person, replies to me, his words along with all the others’ wrapping around me like a comfort blanket. Despite them knowing I’m a fan of theirs, they’ve always made me feel welcomed, comfortable, nothing less than them.

“You know anything about this game?“ Felix asks me.

I shake my head, almost forgetting he can’t see me, “Corpse told me it’s funny and cute. It sounds like the perfect game for me.” 

“Oh no, this is a game of survival. Survival of the fittest!“ Sean shouts excitedly, a bang following his shout I can only assume was him hitting his desk.

“I’d like to think I’m pretty fit.“ I shrug my shoulders, laughing along with the guys.

“This is the only way to find out if you actually are.“ Joel’s voice comes through my headphones in the form of a tease.

Sean mumbles quietly to himself as he’s deciding how to separate us in two teams. “Guys, a little help here. We all suck at this game, it doesn’t really matter who’s in which team.”

“Actually...“ Felix trails off, “Corpse and Y/N are the ultimate power couple in Among Us. Chances are they will be in this as well. So, the only logical move would be to...“

“I’m taking Y/N, you take Corpse.“ Sean declares. “Joel, Dave, who do you guys wanna be with?“

And the game starts. Sean, Joel and I are the Meowfia while Corpse, Felix and Dave are yet to choose a team name. We throw around snarky, cocky comments at each other, taunting the opposite team as we struggle to take the candy to our respective sides of the map.

“Don’t you dare pull that lever, Dave!“ I launch at Dave, knocking his cute avatar away from the lever, buying Joel and Sean some time to steal back the gummy bear Corpse and Felix took from us.

“Y/N! Joel is out! Help me!“ Sean is freaking out now. I ditch Dave’s unconscious body and run to Sean’s aid. 

As I’m helping him push it towards out area a member from the opposite team latches onto my avatar, weighing me down and hindering me from doing anything.

“Hug!“ Corpse laughs as he has literally turned into a koala, holding onto my avatar.

“Corpse, you know you are actually supposed to hinder Y/N, not hug her. It’s cute though, don’t get me wrong.“ Felix laughs as him and Sean continue to struggle over the gummy bear.

“Nah, his tactic’s great. I can’t do shit.“ I desperately try and shake him off, “Babe, this is unfair. I can’t even be mad at you!“ I whine, staring to panic now that Dave is back to life and Joel is nowhere to be seen.

The round is won by Felix, Dave and Corpse who, if I might add, didn’t let go of me for the rest of the game.

We switch maps, now every man for himself. We’re on the submarine, recreating the Hunger Games with cute fuzzy animals. The thought passes through my mind, causing me to giggle.

“Y/N, you sound exactly like I’d imagine your avatar to sound. You’re so cute.“ Sean’s avatar circles mine a few times as he laughs.

He’s not wrong, my pale blue puppy is indeed cute. Apparently immortal as well.

“How is Y/N still alive?! Holy shit, her and Corpse really are a power couple.“ Dave shrieks when he sees me pick up the freeze gun. “NOOO!“ He shouts, devastated by the fact I shot him, sending him straight to his death.

“Chill, Dave. It’s all cool. Nothing personal.“ I struggle to hide my laughter, “No hard feelings, right?“

“Of course not, love.“ I can tell he grits the sentence through clenched teeth.

“Aw Dave, you are such an ice guy.“ I giggle, now shooting Joel with the gun.

“Someone take that gun from her!“ Sean cries as him and Felix race up the submarine.

Suddenly, the avatar of my boyfriend again wraps itself around mine. I hadn’t seen him in a while, considering Sean knocked him into the ocean earlier in the round. 

“How are you still alive?!“ I try to spin my puppy to get him to let go but he holds on tightly. “Babe, I swear, you are cute and I love you, but this is ridiculous. How and why are you alive?”

“That’s his superpower! He never fucking dies.“ Felix laughs, letting out a yelp when he briefly slips while climbing.

“Immortals!!! Immortals!!!“ Sean breaks out into a song, a song I really like, breaking the restraints I had on my laughter.

“Drop the gun or we’re dying together.“ He says almost seriously. Even though I can only see the back of his head I know he’s grinning.

“A Titanic/Romeo and Juliet mashup? Why not? I can live with dying a double historical death.“ Even though I appear accepting of his offer, I’m still trying to set myself free.

In the end, Sean claims his first win of the game and the rest of us are dead at the bottom of the ocean. Corpse and I did indeed die a Romeo and Juliet/Titanic death, getting everyone in their feels. We make a deal to get together and play again as soon as possible and we all go our separate ways, exiting the Discord call.

*Later that night* 

After a dinner consisting of takeout and two thirds of a shitty romantic comedies, Corpse shifts from next to me, starting to get up from the couch. I am surprised to feel jolted out of a half sleep as the room is now completely silent, the TV being turned off.

“Hey where’re you going?“ I ask groggily, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

“I have some editing to do. Don’t worry, I won’t stay up too late.“ He kisses my forehead before grabbing his phone from the coffee table.

Just as he’s about to walk away, I wrap my arms around his legs. He laughs, catching onto what I’m insinuating. His chuckle brings a smile to my face and butterflies in my belly. No matter how long we date for or how much time we spend together, some things never change. 

“Payback, huh?“ He asks, the smile audible in the question. I keep my eyes shut but nod, my arms still around his legs. “Alright, you koala. You’re coming with me.”

In his recording room, he settles in his chair placing me in his lap in a way that my legs dangling off to the side, my side leaning against his chest, my face hidden in the crook of his neck. We’re both comfortable, content and relaxed.

I don’t know when exactly it happens, but all my mind has registered is a quiet ‘I love you’ and the soft touch of Corpse’s lips on my temple. I manage to reply with an ‘I love you too’ before my sleepiness consumes me, my body completely relaxing against his, the warmth of his body, his scent, the sound of his breathing making me feel safe and loved: the two feelings I want him to feel with the same intensity when I’m in his arms.

Something tells me he does.

@simonsbluee  @save-the-sky  @hacker-ghost  @itsminniekat  @bi-andready-tocry  @imtiredaffff  @jazzkaurtheglorious  @hereforbeebo  @fandomgirl17 @chrysanthykios  @annshit @i-cant-choose-a-username-help

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[sukirichi]

pink hearts

You only ever wanted a job as a babysitter to make ends meet – falling in love was out of the equation – but with the magic presented right in front of you, you weren’t going to push it away.

PAIRINGS. itadori jin x reader

WC. 10.7k+

NOTES. this fic is purely self indulgent, not requested, i wrote this for me so reader is mostly...well, me. okay listen I KNOW toji is the choice dilf but PLEASE daddy jin has my heart and i’m so soft for him like you guys don’t understand. this is my comfort fic now and jin’s made his way on my comfort character list, give this amazing man a chance, he’s amazing and so kind eeeee my heart is going to burst i love him so much lol + oh this is unedited as usual

masterlist !

The pink-haired man sat across from you, setting down the tray of two coffee mugs on the coffee table before you. He was of regular build, mostly on the lanky side, and his kind eyes peered behind glasses as he smiled at you. “So you’re the babysitter Mr. Gojo recommended?”

You stared at him. Shamelessly. 

Suddenly, your initial plan of impressing your employer by wearing a tight pencil skirt and an old white blouse after the assumption that they would be prissy and had way too much money on their hands felt useless. 

This guy wore a cream sweatshirt and black slacks, clearly happy and comfortable in his own home.

Upon being the subject of your stare, he only smiled awkwardly, clasping his hands in front of himself as he cleared his throat to let you speak.

“Oh!” you suddenly sat up straight, “Yes, yes I am. I’m sorry for staring. I just think you’d be this...young.” And modest.

“I understand. You’re in university, correct?” you nodded, leaning back in his seat, hand scratching the back of his head. His cheeks tinged a slight pink. “And you’re a close friend of Satoru’s, well...It’s not that I don’t trust his judgment or anything, but it’s my first time being a parent – and I’m a single dad, at that – so I hope you don’t mind that I’d like to see how you get along with my son first before I hire you.”

“Oh yeah, no, that’s perfectly fine!”

Satisfied with your answer, Mr. Itadori stood up with a bow, silently gesturing you to follow him down his hall. “Is there anything you’re uncomfortable with, or anything you don’t know much about? Changing diapers, giving the teething products, anything?”

“I’m the eldest in the family, four more hellish sun drops following afterwards. I think I’m good.”

He nodded at your answer, a small smile on his face. “That’s good to know. My last babysitter was the same age as you, but he didn’t know much about handling babies. I mean, neither do I, but a man’s got to learn, you know?” he laughed at himself, unaware that with each passing second, pink heart eyes gazed up at him admirably.

When you both reached a door that was left slighty open, Mr. Itadori lit up, bending down in front of a crib where his baby laid, small hands clutching at his feet. “Yuuji, baby, Daddy’s here. Are you ready to meet your babysitter?”

Your jaw dropped when he finally picked his baby up, the little boy clad in a tiger onesie and sucking on a toy. “Oh my gosh, you’re so adorable, come here!” you were more than glad when his dad laughed and gently passed the baby to you, who only gurgled in laughter when you cooed at him. “Oh, I want to spoil you and give you kisses, how are you this cute?” Well, it made sense he was cute, since his dad was as well. Yuuji made grabby hands at you, to which you happily obliged, leaning down so his tiny fingers could pinck your cheeks.

Unable to help it, you rubbed your cheeks on his touch, making the little boy clap his feet together, eyes bright with all the happiness and innocence in this world. You honestly wanted to cry right then and there.

“Your hands are soooo tiny, my goodness, I love you already! It’s so nice to meet you, Yuuji, you’re such an angel!”

“You like kids, huh?”

“Well, not so much with kids because toddlers have too much energy, but babies,” you gasped once you heard Mr. Itadori’s muffled laughter, greeted by the sight of him hiding his mouth behind his palm. Instantly, you smiled at him nervously, clutching the baby closer to yourself because he was so darn cute.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry if I’m being weird right now, I can’t help it! Your son is so precious!”

“Thank you. He’s the greatest blessing of my life too,” he beamed, turning to his baby with that soft look in his eyes that parents wore so well. “Well, it seems Yuuji really likes you. He’s friendly to everyone but...I’m surprised he’s warmed up to you this fast,” Mr. Itadori bent over to poke his cheek, the baby’s tiny hand wrapping around his dad’s finger. “Yuuji~ don’t forget I’m still your dad, okay? She’s the babysitter – she’s not your mom so don’t be too clingy, alright?”

You stiffened at his words, your eyes flickering back and forth between the baby and him. They had the same eye and hair colour, along with that aura of kindness surrounding them...it was hard to imagine what the mother would be like. Was she as bright and adorable too?

If yes, then this was an entire family of pink hearted strawberries!

“If...if it’s not too much to ask, may I ask where his mom is?”

Much to your surprise, his eyes grew forlorn, though the smile remained on his face. “His mom...is in a much happier place now,” was all he said – and it was enough – that you couldn’t dare ask more.

Mr. Itadori walked out of Yuuji’s room and into the kitchen afterwards, eyes squinting over the neat handwriting on a sticky note on his refrigerator. “Okay, so, I don’t know if Satoru’s told you, but I’m an engineer. I usually just work from home, especially now that I’ve got a baby, but there are still days where I have to go the office for presentations and meetings. I can’t guarantee that the babysitting schedule will be permanent – is it alright if I call you whenever?”

“Yeah, yeah, I mean, other than university, I don’t really have anywhere else to go.”

“That’s good to hear! But wouldn’t this job get in the way of your studies?”

You shook your head, subconsciously pressing closer to the baby instead because he was just so warm and wouldn’t stop tugging at your collar. A part of you was also eager to get this job not only for the baby, but Mr. Itadori intrigued you as well. You knew it was wrong but you had to be honest with yourself, hiding this truth for him instead through a shaky smile.

“No, definitely not! I can just take my studies here – if you won’t mind, of course – and I promise I won’t litter or make a mess or anything. During babysitting hours, Yuuji will be more of a priority than my homework, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Mr. Itadori hummed to himself, rubbing at his chin. “If that’s the case, then I suppose you’re free to use the study at the end of the hall. There’s a baby camera there that lets you see Yuuji in every room, but if he’s asleep, feel free to use it.”

“Oh wow,” you blinked back in surprise, gently rocking a gurgling Yuuji back and forth. “You didn’t have to do that so uhm, thank you, really, I promise I’ll take care of your son very well!”

“I can see why Satoru recommended you now,” he shook his head with a smile, moving over to the litter of dinosaur stickers onto another list. “Here is a list of the things Yuuji likes and doesn’t like. He’s mostly active in the afternoons when I’ll most likely get called for work, and he’s a mess by then. He really likes playing and cuddles, and he’ll also demand to be carried most of the time otherwise he’ll cry,” he paused as his eyes slid over to you, lips pursed in thought. “I know you’ll do great but...don’t spoil my son too much, okay? I just don’t want him to uh...think that you’re his parent or something. Yuuji gets easily attached like that. If he calls you ‘mama’...please tell me about it, okay?”

“Yes, of course. I know my place, don’t worry.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” he raised in hands in surrender as he saw your eyes widen with fear. “Being a single parent is just hard, you know? I can’t help but always feel that maybe I won’t be enough for him, and as much as I can, I’d like to let my son he can rely on me at all times.”

“I think you’re a very great father,” you admitted rather shyly, “Your son is really lucky to have you as his parent. I can tell he’s going to be such a sweetheart.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me,” he placed a hand over his heart, then pulled out a business card from the back of his pocket. “Now, here’s my number and my work schedules. You don’t have to drop by during weekends since I’m always here, but I might need you every Wednesdays to Fridays. Can I have your class schedule as well? That way I know when’s the right time to text you if I need something,” Reaching into your bag that had a copy of your schedule, you handed it to him, the strawberry-haired man’s lips growing into a smile as he read over the content. “Well, what do you know? You study engineering too? Computer engineering?”

You winced, memories you’d rather not think of again resurfacing. “Please don’t call me a nerd. I’ve heard that enough already.”

“What’s wrong about being a nerd? I’ve always been a nerd too and I think I’m fine,” you swapped numbers after that, not even giving you enough time to recover from his comment. Not that being a nerd was a huge deal, but people always said it weirdly that you dreaded hat word. Hearing it from him though...it felt like a compliment. “Guess that settles it then. I’ll see you soon?”

Heart elated and spirits soaring into the sky that you actually got the job and the employer was a kind man, you nodded with a bright smile on your face. “Yeah, I’ll come by next week! Thank you so much for trusting me!”

“No, thank you for your service,” he responded back shyly, waving to you as you walked out the door. Not a few moments later, Mr. Itadori ran after you, his cheeks flushed pink from the shrot run. “Wait! Can I have my son back?”

Looking down at the baby in your arms who was too busy sucking on his thumb, your cheeks heated, extending your arms as gentle as you could while Mr. Itadori got his son back. He only laughed at your state, waving it off with a shake of his head. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! It just feels so natural to hold him!”

“You’ll be a good mother someday,” he commented almost absentmindedly. Meanwhile, you couldn’t stop bowing and apologizing with each step backwards, too distracted to notice that your heels dug into a small crack. You yelped as you felt the floor slip beneath you, Mr. Itadori’s instincts kicking in when he easily grabbed your wrist to pull you towards him, your foreheads almost knocking one another’s. “Whoa – watch your step. You could’ve fallen seriously there.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Itadori! I’ll try to be more graceful next time,” you bowed repeatedly, still so ashamed as you tugged your skirt down. “Why the hell did I wear heels anyway? It’s not like this is a law firm.”

“Please,” he smiled at you – and you swore in that moment that things were just going to be different – eyes closed and his whole face lit with light heartedness. “Call me Jin,” taking his son’s hands up, he waved the little arm as you walked out the door, still in a light trance of disbelief. “Say bye-bye, Yuuji!”

Even as you made it back to your bus stop, you still couldn’t get your mind off of the strawberry-haired father and son duo. Their home was just so...bright, you immediately felt safe and comfortable.

As your heart fluttered at the memory of Jin smiling at you, you placed a palm over your heart, willing it to calm down. That couldn’t be good, right?

“Earth to Y/N!”

You snapped back to life when your friend slapped you on the arm, smiling at her when she only huffed at your dazed out self again. It wasn’t irregular for you to space out like this, and you were more than thankful she was always there to bring you back to reality before you accidentally crossed a street when the lights were green or something.

“Sorry, what?”

“Do you know how many times we had to drag you away because you keep running into poles?” she rolled her eyes, “Sheesh, how would you survive without us? What are you spacing out for anyway?”

“Nothing, nothing. Just thinking about work and all.”

“Speaking of that, how’d the interview go? Was your employer as strict and condescending as the Zenins? The hell happened to those bastards anyway?” “I bet their child is going to grow up sexist or something.”

At the mention of Jin and his baby, your whole self lit up. “My employer is better this time around. He’s only a few years older than us; like five or seven, I think? He’s really nice too and dude, his baby is so. Freaking. Adorable,” you gushed, mimicking the gesture of rocking a baby around with your arms, eyes filled with heart-shaped characters. “Like a freaking strawberry in my arms! He’s so sweet too!”

“You and your attachment to babies,” she scrunched her nose in disgust – always having had an aversion to anyone younger than her. “I’ll never get it.”

“Babies are the best!”

“Yeah, until they drool and throw up on you,” as if the image procured in her mind, your friend shuddered, rubbing her hands up and down her arm to relieve her goosebumps. “I never want to be a mom.”

“You’ll change your mind once you fall in love with someone who’s amazing enough to make you want to have a family on your own.”

“You talk about that as if you’ve met that someone already!”

“Maybe I have,” you giggled stupidly to yourself. Of course you weren’t thinking about Jin – you just knew deep in your heart you always wanted your own family. Growing up from a large family and getting separated from them, it was uncomfortable to not be surrounded by crying and squealing, which was always accompanied with laughter and kisses at the end of the day. Now who wouldn’t want that? You waved your hand to your friend, trying to hide the apparent gushing behind your voice. “I’m just kidding. I just really love babies.”

“Whatever,” she closed the topic, and you didn’t protest, knowing full well your friend cringed at the mention of babies or children. “So are you coming to our study group tonight?”

“Can’t. Got work,” you shrugged, a light skip in your steps as you both walked to the campus. Thankfully, she mistook your enthusiasm with the excitement of getting to hang out with babies again, which was true, but something about meeting Jin again and possibly getting to know more about the sweet father was a huge cherry on top – one your friend didn’t have to know about.

“Shame. I heard that hot guy from Biology was coming too.”

“Fushiguro Toji? Wasn’t he scouted for the military?”

“Honestly, I’m more surprised he’s not a gangster,” she snorted, “But whatever. Text me when you get home safely, okay? If you don’t text within—”

“Yeah, I know, I know. Text you when I get on the bus stop, text you when I arrive at work, when I leave and when I’ve gotten home otherwise you’re calling the cops to report me missing or abused,” you stood up straight for a mock salute, brows furrowed in faux seriousness. “I know, ma’am. That’s drilled in my head already.”

“I’m serious. The world is a dangerous place!”

“Yes, I’ll text you!”

Wednesdays couldn’t come sooner. But when it did, you were far too excited. You’d never tell anyone you took the extra time to fix your hair and spritz on just a tinge of perfume, not wanting to overwhelm the baby.

You shot up from your seat right after class ended, hair flying in the wind as you bolted to the bus stop. Wiping away the sweat on your forehead and fixing your clothes with a pat of your hand, you took a deep breath, chanting inner mantras that today would be a good at work. You’d be contributing to society by caring for a child that would soon be the light of the future, and you were more than honoured. Clearing your throat, you pressed on the bell, humming to yourself as you heard the light patters of footsteps inside.

“Hey, you’re here!” Jin smiled at you, one you reciprocated wholeheartedly, and he opened the door wider while you took off your shoes.

He was still dressed in his sweatpants and a white shirt, looking utterly domestic and different from your previous employers that would glare at you if you touched their kid without sanitizing your hand twice first. Jin was like a breath of fresh air to you – one you breathed in with glee while you followed him inside.

His house was kept neat and clean, surprising you even more at just how immaculate to detail he could be despite his busy schedule. Was it because he was an adult or a parent now that people his age were just more organized and put together?

Whatever it was, you trailed around Jin like a puppy, eager to learn from his ways.

“I told myself I’d only ask you to come around if I’m away for work but I’m working on a huge project and my client is very demanding. He’s asking me to pass it this week already and he just sent me his plans last night.”

“It’s okay...Jin,” you stuttered over calling him by his first name like that, “You can focus on your work. I’ll take care of everything else.”

“Thank you! Yuuji’s in his room, by the way. He’s just had dinner so he’s still energetic – you can pull up the cartoons and lounge in the living room. He’ll be fine,” he opened his mouth to say something else when his gaze darted to your book bag, eyes widening. “Oh wait, you brought your schoolwork—”

“I’m good! I’ve already finished them during my spare time! I promise you really don’t have anything to worry about!”

“Oh, that’s cool, I guess,” he calmed down at your words, scratching the back of his ear before gesturing to his door. “Well, I’ll be in my room if you need me. I get really occupied and focused though, so just open the door if I don’t open it right away.”

“Noted,” You wasted no time in picking up Yuuji from his crib afterwards. It seemed the little man didn’t quite like being imprisoned like that because he was babbling nonsensically, fists banging on the edges.

Upon seeing you enter his room, Yuuji’s babbles got louder, small chubby arms reaching out to your extended ones. His pacifier fell inside his crib as he pouted at you, and how could you resist? Soon, you were happily nestled onto the couch on the living room, his favourite cartoons playing on the background.

His head swayed side to side as the songs came along, while you watched him with tiny giggles. You wondered if maybe your first day at work would be eventless like this.

You really thought you’d run back and forth doing errands and changing diapers, but that was your old babysitting experience – things were obviously different with Jin and his son.

Yuuji was quiet, but Jin was right, he was clingy. Not an hour later into the show, he crawled to your sides and settled into your lap, tiny hands grabbing at your shirt. He sighed as his cheeks rested on your chest, though his eyes still glossed over the cartoon. You felt like your heart would burst at his affection, and you patted his back gently to lull him to sleep.

Eventually, Yuuji fell asleep. You hadn’t even noticed it was dark out already, the cartoons only playing through loop.

You scooped up Yuuji closer to your arms before shutting the TV off, making sure to be as quiet as you could be while you placed him back on his crib. Smiling at the angel, you patted his hair before leaving the room, knocking on Jin’s door at the end of the hallway instead.

When he didn’t respond after four knocks, you thought he’d fallen asleep until you remembered his note.

Shakily, you twisted the knob open, a small smile on your face when you saw him furiously sketching something on his paper. An empty cup of coffee laid beside his table, eraser shavings everywhere. His room smelled like soft laundry detergent with the faint aroma of white caramel coffee – smooth and sweet like him – and it felt almost wrong to be in such a space that was clearly so intimate of him.

Not wanting to disturb too much, you cleared you peered from behind the door sheepishly. “...Jin? Oh. Hello.”

“Hey,” he blinked at you then rubbed his eyes, staring at you for a solid minute before his mouth formed into an ‘o’ shape. “Is everything okay? Yuuji didn’t destroy something, did he?”

“No, he’s fast asleep. I just came here to say I’ll be going home now. It’s past midnight already.”

“It’s that late?” Jin glanced at his wristwatch and adjusted his glasses, fingers swiping up to retrieve his keys as he wore his coat. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you stay this late, and you have school tomorrow too,” he groaned tiredly, though the apologetic smile on his face easily concealed his exhaustion. “I’m really sorry I lost track of time. Come, I’ll drive you home, it’s not safe this dark out.”

“But Jin,” you froze in his hallway, “What about Yuuji?”

“Do you live far from here?”

“No, the dorms are like five minutes away,” Jin pondered about this information, possibly hesitating that maybe it wasn’t his best to leave his son alone. You appreciated the thought, you really did, but you were worried for Yuuji too so you smiled at him, nodding to assure that he didn’t have to. “Jin, it’s okay, I can just take the bus. I’ve been doing that for a long time now and I’m really okay.”

Jin clutched at his keys, the frown on his face evident. “At least let me walk you to the bus stop? So I know you’re safe?”

“Yeah, that’s fine, I guess.”

“Let me just get extra covers for Yuuji. It might be cold tonight,” You waited until he came out with Yuuji warmly bundled up in his arms. The two of you walked side by side, baby Yuuji fast asleep in his arms with his head covered in a small cap. You blushed at the thought that maybe people would think you looked like a family, but before these foolish imaginations could consume you, Jin beat you to it. “I haven’t thanked you properly for today, by the way. Let me make it up to you sometime – you look really tired.”

You flushed deep at his words, shaking your hands in front of you. “Oh no, it’s fine, really! I’m just doing my job.”

“Yes, but caring for someone else’s child – whether you’re paid or not – is still a very selfless act and I can’t thank you enough for it.”

You looked away from how warm his smile was despite the biting chill of the night, turning away to bury your chin in your neck instead. “You really don’t have to do anything. I’m just happy to help.”

“If you insist then,” Jin waved at you as much as he could without waking his son up as you hopped onto the bus, with you watching from the inside. “Get home safely! Text me when you’re home!”

“I will,” you mouthed through the window.

Jin and Yuuji disappeared from your sight after that. All the way back home, the warmth and butterflies swarming your stomach wouldn’t disappear. Even as you flopped on your bed, you still kept tossing and turning, the bright light of your screen glaring at you to just send the darned text already.

Hey...or maybe hello? He’s older though... How do older people even text each other? He wasn’t that much older, but still...it kind of felt inappropriate to address him too casually.

Deciding to just screw it, you pressed backspace and settled for the most boring text, hitting send and flattening on the bed with a groan. Who knew texting someone could be that mind-boggling? Sweat beaded at your forehead as you stared at the plain I’m home, sleep about to take over when your phone buzzed afterwards.

I’m glad to know you’re safe. Sleep well, Y/N.

Looking over at your slumbering roommate, you grabbed a pillow to bite it and muffle your screams, legs flailing beneath you as you read his text over and over again. It wasn’t even that special, but Jin had wished you well – the hardworking and sweet Jin – sending your heart into overdrive.

Your roommate didn’t stir one bit even as you giggled to yourself, punching the bed while you replayed the image of his smile, the feeling of how warm he was walking close to you like that and the sound of his soothing voice that just messed with you on the insides.

God, you had it bad – and yet, why did it feel so good?

Babysitting had never been more fun. Even though the task was no longer new for you, you looked forward to working every single day. Your friends noticed your change in moods, but just downed it to the fact you were generally a cheerful person anyway and didn’t bother asking why, which you were thankful for because it wasn’t easy to admit it out loud you liked Itadori Jin, of all people.

Now that you looked back onto it, he wasn’t that special.

He was definitely the type of guy you easily overlooked in a train, but he would also be the type of guy who wouldn’t hesitate to give up his seat for someone else. It wasn’t like he was utterly interesting too since like you, his life was a bland routine of taking care of babies, working, holing up in his room to create something, drinking coffee as sweet and light as possible, then calling it a day and sleeping with a huge smile on their face, just thankful for another day.

Yes, he was simple. Yes, he might even be boring, but gosh, you had never liked someone so much.

You summed it down to him being kind and loving. Yes, that was all it was. While your friends flocked over to mysterious, dark guys like Fushiguro Toji and his friends, gossiping non-stop on how he supposedly had a hotter younger relative but were a lot shittier than he was, you were different. You were simple.

You liked soft, quiet guys who enjoyed the soft pit-patters of rain, the types of people who spent too much time in the library travelling across galaxies in their seat, and overall, you liked peaceful souls.

Jin was everything you ever admired – stable, simple, kind, affectionate. It was clear from how he was never shy to shower his baby with kisses and feed him with airplane spoons, using a small voice to baby talk his son. Every time you came around, you immediately felt welcomed into their happy home despite the lack of a maternal figure, and you found yourself wanting to be there a lot more often than you should.

It seemed that the heaven heard your prayers when your phone rang. Instinct kicked in, and you grabbed at your blaring phone, eyes wide when you read the contact name.

“Hello? Jin, what’s wrong?” Yuuji was crying in the background, accompanied with his father’s constant shushing and worried cooing.

“H-hi, I’m really sorry to bother you, I know it’s late, it’s just Yuuji won’t stop crying and my neighbours are mad at me because I can’t get him to calm down,” as if on cue, Yuuji only wailed louder. You could hear Jin’s desperate pleas for him to quiet down a little, with you dashing out of your bed and slinging your arms inside your coat. “Could you please come over? I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m on my way,” was all you said before hanging up. Minutes later, you’d entered their apartment thanks to the spare key Jin gave you, heart breaking as Yuuji’s wailings only got louder.

Jin’s shoulders visibly relaxed when you scooped his son into your arms, rocking back and forth as you pressed a palm flat on his forehead. He didn’t seem to be feverish or even warmer than usual, but he was definitely irritated, pushing away at your hands that laid on him.

“Yuuji, baby! What’s wrong, sweetheart? Something hurt anywhere?” you turned to Jin, “Is his diaper full?”

“I just checked, he didn’t poop,” Jin nibbled at his thumbnails, a quirk you didn’t expect he’d have with his seemingly put-together composed self. His son’s crying must’ve really bothered him because Jin wouldn’t stop pacing back and forth, Yuuji’s newly cleaned pacifier clenched between his fingers. “I gave him the teething rings too but he just dumped them to the side.”

Nodding, you tried poking at Yuuji’s stomach. The baby belly that should’ve been squishy was firm against your finger, the imaginary light bulb in your head going off.

“His stomach is a little tight. I think he’s got gas,” you informed Jin with a relieved smile, glad that it wasn’t as serious as you thought it would be. “We need to make him burp,” Patting at Yuuji’s back while Jin gently massaged Yuuji’s belly, prompting the boy to wail louder with his tiny arms banging both your chest, a big burp was finally released.

“Oh my gosh, he’s still crying.”

“It’s okay, Jin, he’ll be fine,” you reassured, smiling wide at baby Yuuji even though he couldn’t focus on you. “That’s right, sweetheart, you’re doing great. Just burp a little more and it won’t hurt so bad. It’s just gas, sweetie, you’re alright. I’ve got you.”

“B-but the neighbours...”

“Don’t mind them,” You didn’t mean for your words to come out harsh, but who could blame you? Yuuji was clearly in distress; the last thing you cared about was pleasing others. “They can plug in earbuds for all I care. Yuuji needs help,” at your words, Jin swallowed, resuming his ministrations of encouraging his son to burp.

Yuuji stilled for a moment before he resumed his crying. This time around, Jin was a lot calmer and focused as his hands rubbed at his son’s stomach. The burps came constant afterwards until Yuuji had enough, turning away from his father and burying his head on your chest. Small hiccups followed, but he’d calmed down, eyes shut tight from the previous discomfort.

“Are you feeling better now, baby? Tummy ache is gone?”

“He’s...not crying anymore...” Jin murmured in disbelief, his hands hovering above Yuuji’s belly.

“He’s still really red, though,” you frowned, hands brushing his bangs away from his forehead. It didn’t take long before Yuuji settled in, thumbs sucked into his mouth. Little whimpers could still be heard from the little guy, though nothing serious happened. You and Jin both sighed in relief. “I think he’s tired from crying. I’m going to go rock him for a bit,” Eyes flitting over to Jin’s face rigged with dark circles, you mustered a chuckle. “How about you, are you okay? You look half-dead,” you joked.

“He was in the crib next to me when he just started wailing out of nowhere,” Jin plopped down onto the sofa, his sweatshirt crinkled and sweatpants loose and comfortable as ever. “I was so scared that maybe something else was wrong.”

“Parenting is both a blessing and a hardship, huh?” you chided in, “Don’t worry. I still think you’re doing an amazing job at being a dad.”

“You’re quite amazing too. You’re a natural at this.”

You shrugged, unable to look Jin in the eye as you continued gently swaying side to side while Yuuji slept in your arms. “My parents were rarely around. They were too busy working to provide for all of us so I acted as the parental figure instead.”

“Your parents are really lucky to have you as a child – reliable and strong.”

“All I ever wanted was to make them proud,” you told him, looking far from the distance as you reminisced your old memories with your family. It felt so far away already – they felt far away – though you knew the love you had for one another still remained. “And I live a good life knowing they passed with no worries. My siblings are doing great, too, though we’ve all parted ways now. Some of them got adopted by our relatives and I’m...I’m here I guess.”

“I’m extremely sorry for your loss,” Jin’s voice was quiet, and when you looked back at him, you saw him smiling into his hands before turning to you, wearing that damned smile that always had your heart doing backflips. “You’re a really strong person, you know?”

Your cheeks flushed at his words. “Thank you. I think it’s all thanks to my parents,” you murmured; that slight pang of pain remained even after their death, though it wasn’t as awful as it used to be. The sting felt a lot calmer now, almost as if time slowly healed your heart back together. “After they passed from the car crash, I just knew I had to be strong for all of us. The pain and the hardship were worth the effort, though. All of us are happy and settled now.”

“That’s the one thing I’m most afraid of,” he confessed, frowning at the peaceful baby in your arms. “That I’ll have to leave my child before he’s ready to face the world by himself. I’m not...I could never be prepared for that.”

“As long as he knows you love him and you always will, I think Yuuji will always find his way in life,” Jin’s eyes widened, something unreadable glimmering behind those pretty eyes that had you feeling too many things all at once. Embarrassment and sudden shyness creeped all the way up to your spine along with exhaustion, and you gestured for him to move aside, heaving as you sat down next to him. “I’m really sleepy.”

“Please, let me hold – oh. He likes you more, I guess.”

You chuckled at his dejected face, the childish pout the exact replication of Yuuji’s. Yuuji refused to be held by his dad, burrowing himself into your warmth instead. “I’ve got a charm when it comes to children.”

“That you do,” he agreed absentmindedly.

Before any of you could realize what was going on, you’d fallen asleep on the couch. Yuuji was still safely nestled between your arms, while Jin’s head was tucked in your shoulder, soft breaths leaving those equally soft lips.

Oddly enough, when you woke up and noticed your current position, none of you found it weird. Jin only laughed at the way drool dried up at the end of your lips, to which you silently scolded him for as to not rouse Yuuji from his sleep. He didn’t move away from his position, eyes flicking over from yours to his son bundled up warmly, a smile tugging up at the ends of his lips.

“Uh... that was a long night.”

“Long night, indeed,” Jin nodded before standing up to stretch, exposing a sliver of smooth skin that made heat rush up to your face. You immediately looked away, heart pounding in your chest as Jin began to rummage through his kitchen. “It’s a Saturday so if you’re free...do you want to stay over for breakfast?”

Something about that night kicked off the start of your...budding friendship with Jin. Yes, that’s exactly what it was, just friendship.

You knew there was no way he could ever see you the way you looked at him; not that you minded. Being in their presence and having Yuuji around was already a blessing itself, the days progressively getting better the more you worked for him.

It had become a routine that Jin would come home, exhaustion lining his eyes before he caught sight of you standing in the living room, reading books out loud while you carried a babbling Yuuji. You would laugh because it felt like Yuuji was trying to have conversation with you, to which you responded with reading terms even you had difficulty pronouncing. He’d only nod and keep saying nonsense, grubby hands reaching for the book you held.

He was so precious that you leaned down to kiss the top of his head every now and then, giggles pouring out from the tiny baby strawberry.

Jin took off his shoes, the happiness bursting through his chest unexplainable upon seeing that his son was happy and safe. Loosening the tie with one hand, he extended his arms wide open, running into your direction. “I’m home!”

“Yuuji, Daddy’s here!”

“How’s my sweet little boy doing?” The smile on Jin’s face was phenomenal and even dramatic as his son finally reached out to him, the babbles only getting louder as his dad peppered his cheeks with kisses. Yuuji still wanted to stay in your arms though, and Jin sighed when his son’s hands went back to grabbing at your book, though the chuckles he let out told you he wasn’t really dismayed about it. “Thank you for looking out for him again. Isn’t your arm tired from carrying him and studying like that?”

“No, I’m good. I’ve got really strong muscles,” you flexed your bicep, “Plus, it’s so comforting to carry an angel like Yuuji around. I feel like I’m going to pass my exams with ease!”

Not a moment later, you dropped your arm and turned away to hide your frown, brows pinched together. Jin, being the ever observant person he was, placed a comforting hand on your shoulder, his voice gentle and warm as he asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Well,” you began, “I couldn’t understand something and I’ve been going at it for days. Nothing makes sense to me,” with the effort of only one free hand, you flipped to the middle of the book. A headache began to form the moment you read the chapter title, making you cringe while Jin leaned closer for a better look at its contents. “Look at this chapter here. It’s so confusing!”

“Oh, I know this!” he pushed his glasses back up to his nose, grinning as he pulled out a chair before gesturing you to do so. “Okay, so this means...” 

Not even in your craziest dreams had you imagined you’d be sitting at Jin’s table like this, your legs touching from the lack of space as he rambled on excitedly about the lesson.

He would have animated gestures to explain the dynamics of this and that, both you and Yuuji staring at him in awe as he broke the chapter down into easier parts. It was still difficult to understand since your attention was mostly on the way his eyes brightened the more he talked about his passion for the subject, not to mention that Yuuji was also grabbing at both your faces.

It made you both laugh, the two of you simultaneously bending down to kiss either sides of his cheeks until Yuuji was squished between the both of you.

You laughed with Jin the moment you made awkward eye contact through the kiss, chests bursting with laughter before he proceeded back to the lesson. With each passing second, you were beginning to fall for him a lot more and on a deeper level – so much so that you told yourself you should be scared. Instead, your heart felt at home, calm and peaceful, almost as if it knew you were safe and welcomed.

This sudden revelation had you looking at him in an entirely different light. Jin looked...the same, but somehow warmer? Like he was bathed in a soft glow, the edges pink like his hair, and your hair melted at each and every word that poured from his lips.

When you excused yourself to go to the restroom, you were greeted by the sight of a nearly passed out Jin on the couch, baby Yuuji asleep on his arms.

Jin must be really tired from work. He hadn’t even changed out of clothes. It was getting late too – you needed to come back home soon.

“Jin. Jin, wake up.”

“Huh?” his eyes snapped open, arms instinctively tightening around Yuuji’s before he relaxed, smiling stupidly as he leaned back on his seat. “Oh, it’s you. Hi.”

“Hi,” you echoed, nails digging into your palm to resist the urge to wrap him in a hug; he looked like he needed it. Hands held out in front of you, you took Yuuji from him, slightly nudging his knee with yours. “I’ll take Yuuji to bed. You should go freshen up,” Jin groaned in agreement as he ran his hands through his hair, muttering something about being a parent meant not getting to sleep well. You chuckled at his statement, already moving to get the cups out from the pantry. “Do you want me to make you a cup of tea?”

“Yeah, that’ll be great, thank you.”

Jin disappeared into his room while you tucked Yuuji into bed, the both of you meeting later in the kitchen. He still looked terribly tired, though his smile was lively as ever when he joined you at the table. “Long day again?”

“It’s always a long day,” he confessed through a sip, “But all my worries wash away when I get to see how happy and healthy my son is. I’d work day and night just to provide a good life for him.”

“Don’t forget to spend time with him too, okay? Using the present to ensure your son’s future in exchange of not watching them grow up isn’t worth it,” you reminded him, slightly referring to how much you regretted not getting to be with your parents much until you completely lost the opportunity to do so again. Jin easily read your eyes, fingers grazing the edges of his cup as you continued, “He’s growing day by day. Promise me you’ll always be there for him, okay?”

“I promise,” though whispered, you heard it loud and clear, and you knew without a doubt he’d keep to his words.

After Jin washed his cup, you gathered your things and allowed him to walk you all the way to his apartment’s entrance, waving softly at you. “Get home safely, Y/N. Text me when you’re home.”

It was the perfect routine: go to school, go to work, fall in love with Jin and his son a lot more than you should be, and go home with his kind smile as the last thing you saw.

Each night before sleep completely overtook you, your phone would vibrate, the name of the man who had completely smitten your heart appearing and washing away all the previous tiredness you both accumulated through the day.

Good night, Jin. Rest well.

You too.

It was a routine you’d never get tired of.

“Jin? Yuuji?” you gasped as Yuuji greeted you with bubbling laughter, his small arms slapping your cheeks while his dad giggled behind him. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Happy Birthday!” Jin greeted and finally showed his face after hiding from Yuuji’s buttocks. Your heart absolutely soared at the sight of the father and son duo wearing matching pink clothes, both of their bright smiles only adding to the warmth of the special day. No, actually, it became special because of them – the two people you adored most in this world. “Satoru texted me it was your birthday and it’s my day off too so I thought I’d drop by!”

Before you could respond, Jin huddled Yuuji closer to him, blinking at the audience you both managed to gather.  “I forgot you lived at a dorm, though...is it normal that people are looking us?”

“No, it’s not. They probably think I’m a young mom or something,” you flushed beet red at his words, silently glaring at the nosy onlookers whispering behind their backs. It wasn’t that you were ashamed people could assume that about you, it was just ironic since you actually wanted that to be real but it was embarrassing because you knew Jin wouldn’t see you that way. “Can you give me a few minutes to get ready? We should go somewhere else.”

“Okay, we’ll wait for you downstairs.”

You’ve never moved so fast in your life. Brushing your teeth, showering, and getting dressed in your best clothing were all achieved in the span of ten minutes. You felt proud of yourself as you hopped the stairs two steps down at a time, hair flying from behind you. It was clear you were too excited, but could anyone blame you? You never cared about your birthday, but Jin and Yuuji were here! Of course this was going to be a special day.

You froze at the end of the stairs, the drumming of your heart too wild to tame. Jin was blowing kisses into Yuuji’s belly, the baby’s gleeful laughter painting the walls.

He must’ve felt your stare burning holes at the back of his head because Jin turned your way, Yuuji pressed into his chest as he walked towards you. You were once again blown away by his sweet scent, a mix of gentle laundry detergent and something was just so Jin.

“Hey there,” he smiled, knocking the wind out of your lungs with just two words. “I didn’t have anything cool planned for today since I wasn’t prepared but I know this nice restaurant you might really like. It’s going to be my treat!”

“Oh thanks, but my friends already fed me enough with pizza and cake. Is it okay if we just take a walk around somewhere?”

“Yeah, of course!” Grabbing his arm to pull him away from prying eyes, you walked out of the campus, extending your arms to celebrate your freedom once the warm sunshine kissed at your skin, the cool wind soothing you afterwards. Jin laughed at your carefree expression, watching as you twirled and danced a little at the peace provided to you by the park. “Happy Birthday again! So how’s it feel like being a year older?”

“I feel like nothing’s changed, but at the same time nothing is the same too,” you told him through a laugh, “Does that make sense?”

“Totally. When I first got Yuuji, I didn’t think anything changed too, but now I can’t imagine a life without this little guy.”

Your adrenaline rush had worn down.

Walking side by side with Jin, arms brushing from the lack of proximity even though the area was practically empty, it dawned on you that Jin had lived an entire life before you, and you couldn’t stop yourself from asking: “Do you...do you still think about her sometimes? His mom?”

Jin was silent for a moment. The sudden stretch of nothingness had anxiety crawling at you hard enough you were about to apologize for asking such a sensitive question, but Jin only smiled at you, although his smile was...sad, regretful, even.

“His mom and I didn’t work out,” he began. “I always knew she had some family issues when we began dating in college, but I didn’t think too much of it. Back then, all I knew was that I loved her and wanted to spend my life with her, so we eloped. Her parents didn’t like it, of course, and they demanded we brought her back,”

“She was pregnant at that time so I refused to let her see her family again knowing how toxic they were to her. But they insisted, and...and she wasn’t the same after that. She just started looking at me differently and hating the growing child inside of her,” Jin kissed the top of Yuuji’s head as he spoke, almost as if silently reminding his son he was loved no matter what.

“When Yuuji was born, she couldn’t even look at him; said she refused to be a mother and to cut ties with me. So we divorced and...well, I don’t know, to be honest. Last time I heard, she’d already remarried in such a short time – to a man her family approved of this time around.”

“Do you still love her?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted with a chuckle, eyebrows furrowed while Yuuji clutched at the collar of his turtleneck sweater, his doe eyes staring right up at you. “Do we ever really stop loving someone?”

Your heart fell at his words. So maybe he still did love her. You always knew you might never get a chance – but surely wishing for it wasn’t such a crime. “Does that mean you won’t fall in love with anyone else anymore?”

“Who would like a nerdy single dad like me?” Jin threw his head back in laughter, the disbelief apparent in his voice. It shocked you that he thought of himself this way, because in your eyes, he was perfect. “Plus, I’m too busy to date. Other than you, I don’t really hang out with women all that much, and you’ve seen in my worst state – like that one time I nearly went to work wearing the wrong tie or with my glasses skewed. I don’t think I’m the type people would want to date.”

“Well, who knows?”

“Yeah, who knows?” he mimicked your shrug, still painfully oblivious that you wore your heart on your sleeve.

Once the sun had completely shied away from the clouds and the heat grew too much for Yuuji, you both resorted to going back to his apartment. Yuuji was happily playing on the ground as he smashed his toys together, while you and Jin wore matching aprons (you didn’t ask why he had two) as you mixed the batter and he preheated the oven.

“I’m still sorry I couldn’t get to buy you a cake, by the way. But we have all the ingredients here and a homemade cake is always amazing!” Instead of smiling at his words, Jin was met with your glossy eyes, lips trembling. You’d completely stopped mixing the batter, no longer in control of yourself as you watched him happily skip back and forth to the ingredients.

Jin rushed to your side in a flash, hands hovering before you. He couldn’t really touch you since he had flour all over his skin, a smidge of it right under his worried gaze. “What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing. It’s just...I’ve never really experienced this before. Having someone invite me to their home and bake me a cake for my birthday,” you looked down on the ground, feeling the emotional dam inside you starting to crack. “When I was young, I never even cared about my birthday because I was too busy tending after my siblings. After that, I forgot all about it and I was only surprised when my friends brought me gifts today,” You knew you were rambling, and you waved your hands in front of yourself, forcing yourself to smile. “I’m sorry – I’m being dramatic, aren’t I?”

“Hey, no, you’re not,” Suddenly, Jin pulled you into a hug, your body fitting perfectly in his arms. “I want you to know you’re family to us now. You’re always welcome here with me and Yuuji. We’ll take care of each other like family. We’ll bake you all the cakes you want from now on.”

The rest of his words were drowned out by the thumping of your chest.

You couldn’t hear him, couldn’t even properly see him – in that moment, all you could do was feel. You felt his warm breath ghosting over the column of your neck, his calloused hands patting gently at your back, the heat of his body seeping into yours that pulling away seemed to be such a daunting task. He felt like home, smelled like all the sweetness you lacked in your life, and you just knew you had to tell him.

“Jin. There’s something I have to tell you.”

“Yes?”

“I,” your breath shuddered, hands coming up to clutch at the material of his shirt. “I’m in love with you.”

Just like that, the string broke.

Jin pulled away from you faster than you could comprehend. When you opened your eyes, he was already at an arm’s length away from you, nothing but the sounds of your heart shattering into pieces muddling with his words.

His back dipped into a low bow. “I am extremely sorry; I cannot accept your feelings. It’s not that you’re not loveable; it’s just...you’re my son’s babysitter and I believe this is really inappropriate. Yuuji is vulnerable still and the last thing I want to do is date when I should be focusing on his life instead. I’m really sorry, Y/N. I don’t see nor do I feel that way for you.”

Hurt. Broken. Humiliated. Ashamed. Torn.

A plethora of feelings crashed over you all at once until breathing became such a hard thing to do, his words replaying like a broken record in your head.

He didn’t love you.

He didn’t feel the same way.

And it made sense – because why would he? “Yeah, oh my gosh!” you exclaimed while waving your hands frantically in front of your face, your unexpected enthusiasm causing Jin to peer up at you curiously under his lashes. “I mean, of course, I knew that already, duh. I’m not stupid, but like, yeah I’m really sorry, I’m probably making you so uncomfortable right now. I’m really, really sorry.”

“You’re not, I assure you,” he smiled gently again, but this time around, you weren’t soothed. It felt totally humiliating. Your toes curled inside your socks as your forced smile froze on your face in hopes of not making this any weirder than it already was, and you only chuckled as Jin cleared his throat. “I hope we can still be friends after this and that we can keep our professional relationship,” you nodded eagerly, a little too eagerly, and Jin awkwardly gestured to the pans. “So...a cake is waiting to be baked.”

“Yeah, let’s get to baking!”

If Jin noticed that you were a lot more enthusiastic than you were this morning, he didn’t comment about it. He hummed under his breath in agreement, the both of you working synchronously.

You’ve been in his house long enough that you knew where all the pans and ingredients were, silently handing things over one another through a forced polite conversation of how the other’s day went. A pat on your back was well deserved from how you managed to keep up with his questions, your broken heart perfectly concealed under forced smiles and dry chuckles.

In reality, you couldn’t focus.

On the inside, you were shattered. Why did you have to fall for him out of all people? There could’ve been so many others – like Fushiguro Toji from Biology, Gojo Satoru the playboy, Suguru Geto the heir of his large corporation – but it had to be Itadori Jin.

He was so close and yet out of reach, seemingly so unattainable that your lips had dried from how often you licked at them in an attempt to keep the tears in.

You knew you ruined everything. Soon, you’d have to say goodbye to baby Yuuji, no longer able to kiss him on top of his head and see him smile the moment you walked through the door, his dad equally alight upon seeing you got Yuuji a stuffed toy as a gift.

You were stupid for thinking you could even be part of this family. They were happy and fine enough – what role did you have here?

Compared to an actual working adult who’d already experienced many things in life like Jin, you were just a flimsy, lovesick little girl who was only learning how to love. And with loving, came the guaranteed promise of heartbreak.

You just never expected it would be this way.

As Jin turned his back to you to place the batter inside the oven, your hands shook, desperately wiping the sweat of your palms on your jeans. “Excuse me for a minute,” you dashed to the bathroom, locking yourself and finally allowing the broken gasps to leave your lips.

Your back was laid flat on the wall, your shirt tucked in your mouth as you slapped your thigh, the tears streaming endlessly down your cheeks.

You didn’t want to leave him. You wanted to stay longer, wanted to be able to see his face every waking morning and to make him tea while he made breakfast. You wanted to watch Yuuji grow up and hold hands with Jin, to tell him you would love him if he allowed you. But he didn’t – and it hurt so much that your eyes grew red from the incessant crying.

It was better to just leave than to be kicked out. You couldn’t stay here any longer.

So you wiped your tears away, dunking water to your face before you rushed out the room, bag slung across your shoulder. Yuuji stopped playing as he watched you wear your shoes in frantic movements, your heart bursting through with pain.

You didn’t dare look Jin in the eye.

“Hey, Jin, I’m so sorry – my friends called. They’re inviting me out for drinks tonight and I can’t say no.”

“But...the cake.”

“Yeah, you can eat it yourself, I’m really sorry to bother but uhm, anyways, BYE!” Left confused, Jin stared at the door slammed shut hard enough that Yuuji fell to the floor in surprise, small whines leaving his lips.

Jin couldn’t tell whether his son cried because you’d left them, or he was simply afraid of the sound. Whatever it was, the sinking feeling in his stomach was much too clear.

The next few days were hell. Your friends noticed the sudden drop in your mood, the loss of appetite, and the fact that you were clearly sleep-deprived.

How could you get sleep when your phone wallpaper was Yuuji kissing your cheeks, his dad laughing in the background? How could you sleep when your textbook still lay on your desk, a painful reminder of that time Jin had tutored you? How could you sleep when Wednesdays and Fridays had returned to its normal mundane self with nothing left to look forward to?

You couldn’t tell your friends about it either. All they knew was that you hadn’t been going to work because you came up with a flu, when in reality you’d been buried under your sheets, desperately ignoring the loud silence of your phone.

No texts. No calls. No how are you’s or how are you doing?

Not that you expected him to care since you did step out of line; you’d been completely unprofessional and Jin might not recommend you to future works anymore, though that was the least of your worries.

You just wanted to forget everything. His smile, his laughter, his kindness, the sound of his voice and how he always smelled like sweet vanilla.

Crying yourself to sleep and wishing each day would come to an end faster was absolutely exhausting. The lack of sunlight caused you to be groggy and gray – if you kept up at this state, you’d completely wither like a dried sunflower. You didn’t want to go out but your mini fridge was empty, stomach loudly grumbling for food.

You sighed as you closed the door, unkempt hair up in a bun and body adorned with an oversized shirt and the sweatpants you’ve refused to wash for two days now.

You were a mess – both on the inside and the outside – and your eyes lacked their usual warmth. Your movements mimicked that of a robot as you straggled to the nearest convenience store, about to enter when you heard someone cry out.

“Mama!”

Hands frozen on the door, your eyes widened before your head craned to the sound of rushed footsteps. In front of you was a panting Jin, a wailing baby Yuuji in his arms who only cried louder once he set his eyes on you. Jin gasped for air, and you both moved in sync, with you reaching out for baby Yuuji and him handing his child over to you.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry! Yuuji’s first word was Mama and I didn’t know what he meant but then he started crying and clutching the strawberry toy you got him and I’m so sorry, he just won’t stop crying. He kept looking for you.”

“No, I’m the one who should apologize!” you replied back, adding a bounce to your step to cradle Yuuji who’d buried his damp face onto your neck, crying mama over and over again.

Memories of meeting Jin for the first time and his reminder that he didn’t want Yuuji calling you that nearly made you kneel down in apology, but you opted for a slight bow, your hot tears trailing down your face because you missed him, but it was all messed up and seeing him once more only dug a deeper crater in your heart.

Before you completely left each other’s lives, you at least wanted to apologize.

“I realized my mistake and made it so weird for the both of us. Plus, Yuuji didn’t say Dada and I think that’s my fault. I swear I wasn’t trying to replace his mom or anything, I just—”

“I love you too,” he cut you off, and your eyes snapped from the ground back to his flustered face.

“What?”

“I’m sorry for lying that I don’t feel the same way,” he confessed, scratching the back of his neck while his ears flushed a deep red. “The truth is, my father always told me that Yuuji’s mom wasn’t a good person and I should stay away from her, but I never listened. A-and I always talked to him about Yuuji’s new babysitter and how kind you were and how I think I’m falling for you. He said I should man up and tell you but I was just afraid to love again since I’ve fallen before and I don’t want to be hurt again,” Jin bowed to you in a perfect angle, his son now at peace in your arms. “I’m sorry.”

“Jin,” you breathed out, the tears prickling at the back of your eyes. You couldn’t believe this was happening – you wanted to embrace him, to kiss him, hold him, but you’d been so engrossed in your own heartbreak you never even thought about Jin’s fears. “I’d never hurt you or Yuuji.”

“I know, and I’m sorry for hurting you like that,” he straightened up, feeling you stiffen under him when his arms wrapped around you. He felt so warm, and you felt so at place that your tears damped his sweatshirt, Jin’s hands gently caressing your waist. “Is it okay if we come back home?”

You cried louder than you ever did your whole life, though this time it was mixed with laughter. Jin laughed with you as you encircled your free arm around his neck to pull him closer, your lips eager as you littered kisses over his neck.

“Yes, of course,” you giggled, “You don’t even have to ask.”

You only ever wanted a job as a babysitter to make ends meet – falling in love was out of the equation – but with the magic presented right in front of you, you weren’t going to push it away, and neither did Jin. This time, you embraced each other wholeheartedly, pink hearts floating in the air while the strawberry-haired baby giggled in your presence, delighted that now his family was whole.

#itadori jin x reader #itadori jin #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #itadori yuuji x reader #itadori yuuji #jujutsu kaisen fluff #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen romance #jjk #jjk itadori jin #jjk imagines #jjk fluff #jjk romance #uh idk how else to tag this but anyways have some jin content #JIN SIMPS UNITE #HE'S THE BEST DAD FUFU