#she just manages to ruin Every day i swear to god

[rkivepetals]

window panels ;1

If there’s one thing Jungkook knows about his new neighbour, is that she’s a bitch.

Pairing; guitarist!Jungkook x lawyer!femreader

Neighbour au, enemies to lovers, fake girlfriend, idiots in love.

Pure pure romance and fluff. And obviously, comical.

You hated him, hated him the second he came your way while you were running to court, and you hated him even more when he played his Goodman guitar in the middle of the night, and you hated him 10x when he ruined your weekend, or when he begged to you to act like his girlfriend for his grandma. You thought it started with drawing middle fingers for each other on your windows, but you’re not sure if it’ll end that way.

Word count of part one: 8k

She’s finally out of dungeon polished and shiny 😘

Main master list

It started slow, peaceful, full of compassion. Your sleep was full of contentment. It was barely ten in the morning, your drool hanging and almost dripping down at your notepad in your lap. Eyes close, one leg over the sofa handles, one sprawled out, pens falling, about five books laid open. You slept as if you hadn't your whole life.

You knew your back would pain like gods-forsaken hell in the morning, and you knew you had to be awake the whole night to complete your work, but you also knew you were writing down scribbles instead of words, and you had to take a nap. It's been three days, you needed sleep. The concealer is doing a terrible job at hiding those dark circles and you almost every time fall asleep in court.

So when I say it was content—your sleep, even in the position of a dead frog, you found comfort, as long as you were breathing with eyes closed you were fine. But of course, much-awaited worse things waited for you with your heavy cell phone and the constant vibrations of your alarm and then it blew up, with a loud ring that pierced the back of your mind. Your eyes shot open as if a supernatural creature.

You quickly flap your hands and find it, your phone. Quickly picking up, your boss screams at you. "Y/n!" You tightly shut your eyes, "y-yes?" Suppressing a yawn she yelled, "Where are you?! We have a hearing in fifteen minutes! Where are the papers!?" Your eyes widened, checking the ticking clock over your head.

You slept through your work time. "I'm—I'm coming! I'm just there!" You ran to your bathroom, thankfully you at least have one good habit of picking out your outfit for the next day, splashing water on your face as you breathed heavily and changed like a maniac, your back was digging holes in your skull, and you took your bag, shoved the file in it and ran out. A man was standing there, proceeding to smile but you shoved him away and ran down, loud trucks growling. "Move!"

Heels clicking loudly against the footpath as you sit in a taxi, "the court." The driver looks at you, Baffled. "But I don't—" "Hurry up!" You say and shove a mint pill in your mouth, all while patting the foundation on your cheeks. You grunt when the mascara gets on your cheek, wiping it furiously as you rub the lipstick on your dry lips and spot a water bottle against the seat. "That's—uh.."

The driver watched you gulp it down in one go and removed the smudged lipstick. "Yes, right there." You say and shove the cash down his shoulder and walk out, opening the hairpin and clipping it against the bag straps, you walk towards your boss and greet, "Morning!" You say and take out the file, she sighed.

"Is there a day where you don't fuck up your time management, y/n?" You smile awkwardly, "I slept a little too much." She shook her head as you followed her inside the court.

Jung Kook was sure of one thing, his new neighbour is a bitch. He stood there, shoved right to the side as he watched you run like a hawk through the streets. He slightly glares, all he wanted was to say hi. He swears, he tried to smile at you but you didn't even listen to him. "Hah. I give this one, she might be late to work."

He says, a deep wound on his male ego. He clicked his tongue and exhaled, "Maybe she didn't know someone was moving in." He tries to justify, walking towards his house. It wasn't far, just two steps. You and Jungkook even share a window to your bedrooms, he looks over at his furniture. "Hey, man! We need you here!"

You sighed, head paining, spine throbbing, you uncomfortably moved as you gulped down the office breakfast. "So you were late again?" You hummed, brows furrowed, enjoying your first meal of the day at two in the afternoon. "Did it go well?" You hum again, not bothering to reply to your friend. She sighs, "Y/n you know if you keep doing this you're not near a promotion any time soon?"

You swat your hand annoyingly, "Yeah! I know! Stop shoving it in my face! You have no idea what it takes to be an assistant under her!" She shushed you, "Be careful. The director strolls around here in the afternoon." You rolled your eyes and shoved the pipe in the hole of your drink, sipping it as you pressed your back against the chair, hoping it'd soothe the pain a little.

"But honestly, you've worked pretty hard, you deserve the promotion." Your friend, jiyoon pout in pity at you. "I know, maybe she has a bit of an ego problem." Jiyoon sneered, "Maybe she thinks you'd be better than her?" You shrugged, "who knows." You sigh at the ticking clock, "Four more hours until I go home."

You yawned, walking down the familiar streets as you rubbed your arms. "I need new work clothes." You murmured, pouting. Noticing the lights on in the house beside you, "Someone moved in?" You say and hurried your steps, heels clicking as you bend over and look over at the outside. "Seems like a guy."

You scrunched your nose in disappointment, "hey." You gasp and move back in surprise, a good-looking, tall, man smiles at you. You flutter your lashes, "I'm Jung Kook, I moved in." You looked over at the house and then at him, nodding your head. "Nice." You say, moving to the side and walking toward your door, Jungkook loudly clears his throat. Turned his head and looked over at you, who jiggled the keys to open the door.

He followed you, you squint your eyes, "what?" He bites his lip in anticipation, "I heard you're a lawyer." You sighed and turned to him, "Yes, and? Do you have a case to file?" He shook his head, "No no, I was just wondering if I could borrow some sugar. I recently moved in, I need it in my coffee." You hummed and entered, "wait here."

He abruptly took his steps back from your entrance as he waited for you to come and lend him sugar. He noticed the dirty living room full of books and spilt coffee, the couch covered in different clothes of you, and shoes sprawled out. Maybe that's why you didn't invite him over, "here." You give him the small container of sugar as he looks down then at your face.

He held it, and suddenly the next thing you knew was sugar all over your entrance. You gasped as Jungkook stood stunned. His hold slipped on the plastic container, "well..." he chuckled nervously, and you clenched your fist and grit your teeth in anger. "I think we're done. You shall leave now." You say and close the door on his face.

The air through the shut cut through his throat when I tell you. He sighed, shoes covered in sugar as he cursed under his breath, both himself and you as he walked back. "Why I'd have to go to her out of all?!"

You plop on your bed, scowling at the ceilings. Yawning and eyes closing, throwing your hairpin somewhere as you closed your eyes, tired to the very edge. But god good, someone has to play an electric guitar. Your eyes wide open, "was it in my head?" You'd murmured before you shifted your body and clutched your pillow.

The involuntary high guitar notes echoed again, almost like comical music. You got up this time, looking around your empty, messy bedroom. You sighed, laying back down, it played again, and this time it continued. You screamed in frustration. "Who is this?!— ah." You chuckled, "fuck."

You scoot closer to your window, peeking from it. Your neighbour stood shirtless, eating a "pumpkin pie in summer?!" You frowned, a big black guitar in his hands. His fingers worked on it, you hurriedly check your phone. It was almost three a.m., and you clenched the sheets, burying your head in the pillow as you screamed in frustration. It got worse, he eventually started playing louder.

"Fuck fuck fuck him!" You coiled, trying your hardest to at least take a nap. It never happened, but one good thing about an all-nighter is that you can at least go to work early. You yawned, stumbling on thin air due to your body not taking a rest the whole night. "This is worse than babysitting a child."

You murmured, taking out your peach heels and wearing them, pushing past the front door and locking it. You were immediately showered with water on your face. You moved back, hysterical. Breathing heavily as you looked down at your peachy orangish suit all wet You had pressed the last night.

You gasp, "Mom, see I'm watering my front yard." You grit your teeth, "Let me guess, it's him." You murmured and looked up. Your neighbour smiling sweetly at his mom through FaceTime, and you grunt and stomp your feet. "Oh? Jungkook who is behind you?" He glanced behind him but turned his back again, "Ah, my neighbour. I've to hang up now. Bye!"

You flipped back your hair, walking cockily to him. "Mama's sweet boy, I see!" You said, sarcasm clearly as he looked up and down at you. "Good morning I guess." You fumed, "There is no good morning!" You screamed as he dropped his water spray and looked at you, "Stop screaming on my property!" "Your property?!"

You jumped in the wet sand, "fuck your property! Do you even know how much this suit costs me?!" "I said stop yelling!" "But you are also yelling at a woman!" You both glared at each other, and your neighbour from the other side came over, Mrs. Kim is what you call her. "Oh! Y/n and jungkook? Why are you both fighting?!"

She rushed, "he sprayed water on my Armani suit!" He gasped, "I didn't do that on purpose! It's not my fault that she's standing in the way of me and my plants, Mrs. Kim!" He yelled as you breathed heavily, throwing your bag and clutching his collar, "I was not standing in your way!" She gasped and got rid of you as Jung Kook dramatically checked himself.

"I am going to file a case against you! You-you!" He heftily cried, "I will get you arrested for assaulting a man in wide daylight." "Whatever! I am not scared of you and your lame tactics! Like a little man! I will see you in court!" You point your finger as you pick your bag from the ground and stomp out your way to work. "What is wrong with her?"

He tried to calm himself down, "She's a little stressed—" "She tried to kill me!"

On the same night, jungkook exits his small shower room. Drying his wet hair he sips his coffee on the side. Clearing his throat as he picked up his guitar, looking up and then squinting his eyes. A big wide poster was on your bedroom window. 'DO NOT PLAY THE GUITAR AT NIGHT OR I WILL THROW RAW EGGS AT YOU AND YOUR STUPID HOUSE. SINCERELY, Y/N.' He scoffed, pushing his guitar aside as he hurried a white paper and marker.

"I don't care!" He said and wrote it in the big wide font and stuck it to his window. Proceeding to play the guitar nonetheless.

The next morning, when jungkook woke up at about two p.m. in the peak afternoon, he stretched his, naked, sweaty, body. Groaning as he ruffled his hair then suddenly smelled something bad. He sniffed around like a pup, then opened his window and noticed the raw eggs at his once shiny window glass. He gasped and looked toward your window, a wobbly middle finger drawn.

He clenched his fist, "oh, you called for it." That afternoon, he didn't go out to find possible jobs that could earn him bucks to buy food and eat it. He took his time sketching a clean, almost realistic middle finger and sticking it to his window before he napped for two hours straight.

When you came, like a ghost, reeling through streets and immediately dropping your bag in the entryway and plopping on your one-sitter couch. Breaking in cries afterwards, "I can't find peace at work, not at home, not even the fucking bathroom!" You whined, throwing your legs as you watched the ceiling, the loud noise of utensils clashing coming from your left house. "What sin did I commit to have him as my neighbour!? God!"

You snuff and get up, stumbling on the stairs and crawling back up. A slicked, sketched, three-dimensional middle finger greeting you on your neighbour's window. You fumed and took pen and paper, aggressively doodling down another one and sticking up your window. Hopefully, he gets a bit of an idea of how much pain in the ass he is.

You drop on your bed, still in your Armani suit. The scenes from today's repeating in your mind. The fight with your neighbour, then getting yelled at by your boss, then dealing with a friend who's going through a breakup, then working overtime, then coming home to a middle finger shoved to your face. What a sacred godforsaken life.

It came, again, the loud echoes of his electric guitar. "I hope his guitar breaks!" You yelled, and he listened. So he went even more aggressively. You screamed in the air, like some possessed thing.

The cycle continued the whole week, not sleeping at night and taking naps on buses, huge dark circles, and droopy eyes all the time. A shit ton of caffeine running through the veins, it was hectic. But you were looking forward to the weekend. If he's a guitarist, he must be having shows at that time, and you can finally sleep the whole day and night, and you swear. I repeat you swear on your mom and dad that you will snap his neck in two if he fucks up your peaceful weekend.

It came, the weekend came. TGIF. you happily hopped on your way home, showing a middle finger to your neighbour who was vacuuming as he shoved one back at you. Not giving him a mind, you happily changed your black suit in your Hello Kitty pyjamas. Opening the big bowl of fried chicken you bought on your way home, you sit on the floor, with a comedy show playing on your laptop as you peacefully eat your chicken.

Exhaling and plopping on your bed, you watch your dirty ceilings. Jungkook has been quiet, thank god he is. You wonder how. Whatever at the end of the day, you closed your eyes and let sleep take over you.

What felt like the middle of the night, you coughed. Smelling something bad, as if gas leaking in your cylinder. You coughed loudly, trying to get up and run out, to check what was wrong. You swat your hand across and walk down the stairs, stumbling inside the kitchen as you hurriedly turn off the gas and run out of your house. Immediately falling off on what seemed like a grandma.

You breathe heavily, gulping and taking her up because she fell on the ground. "Are you okay?" You asked her as she nodded, groaning in pain. "Why are you here so late at night?!" You ask her, "I..." She coughed as you patted her back. "My gas was leaking, that's why I'm out here. You shouldn't be, it's not safe around." You say as she keeps coughing.

"Grandma!" Surprisingly, your neighbour ran toward her as she smiled at him. "So she is your girlfriend?" You couldn't hear them, you were stressed, peeking inside your house as Jungkook looked at you. Then back at his grandma, a horrendous idea clicking his cells. He smiles, "Yes." She smiled at her grandson. "She is pretty."

You peeked, "Ah!" Wiggling your body and grunting. Jungkook bites his lower lip, "what happened?" He asked, you glanced back at him and his grandma. "Why do you care?" You say and clear your throat, stepping inside your own house and locking the door. You quickly opened all the Windows and walked up to your bedroom, taking your phone and turning on the lights. Calling the fire department.

Jungkook's grandma raised her eyebrows at him, the crickets echoing in the back. he chuckled awkwardly. "We...we fought." She looked at him, judged. "What?" He asked, taking her back to his own house on rent. "Are you sure she is your girlfriend? Or are you lying to me?" He shook his head, "No! I told you, we fought! I'll—I'll make up to her. Let me put you to sleep first. And that is my house, not this one." He lied, as she sighed and shook her head.

"Check correctly! I didn't even turn on the gas last night. This shouldn't be happening!" You say as the firefighters look closely in your small kitchen, you sigh and look to the front, a frown of stress moulting into confusion. "Him? What if he did them so he could take revenge on me?" You murmured and walked toward your front door.

"What are you doing here?" Jungkook nervously scratched his neck. It was four a.m., and you were both hungry and sleep-deprived, "what?!" You yelled as he cleared his throat and tried smiling at you. "Uh...what happened?" You sigh, "My gas leaked. Something is wrong probably. But what was your grandma doing here?!" You squint and fold your hands, walking closer.

He sighed, "I just realised we never had a formal conversation about each other." You looked at his face, trying to rationalise what does he want. "So?" He chuckled, "Funny....uh..." You were getting pissed, "What do you want?!" He exhales, "I want you to pretend as If you're my girlfriend! Please!" He begged on his knees as you hysterically moved back and fell on your hips.

Screeching in pain Jungkook crawled toward you, "Are you okay!?" You held his shoulders and got up with his support. "Ah! My hip bones are crushed because of you! You are so... ugh! Bad luck!" You scream in frustration. Breathing heavily, at four in the morning, staring at his stupid fucking face. "You said what?"

He nervously chuckled, "That can you pretend to be my....partner." You blinked, "for what?" He exhaled, "My grandma owns real estate in London, and she has seven grandsons. She wants to give her property only to me but..." you frowned, folding your hands and walking toward him, "but you need to have a partner?" He smiles and nods, "Exactly!"

You scoffed, "I think you forgot that I'm a lawyer. You can't fool me. And I'm not pretending to be your partner." You said and turned your back towards him, walking inside. "But it's the truth! Why would I want to be with you? It's not nonsense!" You rolled your eyes, about to close your door. "I can pay you a hundred dollars every day!"

You stop. Hands-on the knob, mouth slightly open. "Hundred dollars....?" You whispered and peeked at his panicked state of form. "What did you say?" "Hundred dollars for a day." You raised your brows, "huh?!" "Ugh! Okay, fine two hundred!" You smirk. "I didn't hear you!"

You lie as he sighs, walking and opening the door wide. "Three hundred and fifty dollars every day. Not one cent more." You smiled, thinking about it. "Hold on!" He frowned as you happily hop inside, eyeing the firefighters do something in your kitchen as he waits. You come back, hopping like a bunny with a wide smile.

"Four hundred and fifty dollars every day, and you will take the responsibility for my food, well-being and bills." He scoffs, "No thanks. I'll find somebody else." He says and takes his cue, you frown. Running after him, "Wait wait!" You held his bicep and came in front of his body, "Okay, three fifty, no bills. Just food." He didn't ease up as you sighed, "I am a lawyer, I'll be risking millions for this."

He still didn't ease up, "come on! Do you even know the price out there?!" He frowned, "what'd you mean I know the price!?" You slightly Cough, "I mean, no one would do it for you. You should be grateful that I'm even hearing you out." Jungkook sighed, looking at your cunning face, frowning in disbelief that he was even doing something like this. He thought for a moment, was it really going to be worth it? But he for sure knows his grandma would love you, especially when you're a lawyer. "Fine!"

You smiled, "nice! Now, I'm going to sleep. I'll...see you tomorrow." You say and leap inside, "What's your full name?" He asked as you peeked from your door, "Kim y/n!" You winked as Jungkook cringed before he jogged to his own little damn house.

When Jungkook yawned and opened his eyes, he immediately smelled delicious Korean food. "Ah, y/n must be a good cook." He stretched his body and hurriedly walked down, a dreamy smile on his lips as he inhaled the delicious smell, "your girlfriend even come here or not? Look at this dirty sink, do you even know the word 'clean' Jungkook?" His grandma scolds, and he grimaces and blinks rapidly.

"What time is it?"

"Two p.m!"

"Ah!"

"Also." She came forward with her spatula, "What is that on your and her windows?!"

His eyes enlarged, "what?!"

"I need you to explain that! How the hell do you both function watching middle fingers on your windows!?" She shouted

Jungkook nervously chuckled, "Uh..that's..that's a Gen Z thing, grandma. Everyone in relationships does that."

"Draw middle fingers?!"

Jungkook nervously choked out a giggle, "Y-yeah. Sort of."

She sighed and shook her head, "Call y/n over, it's Sunday. I wanna know if she is even good enough for you."

Jungkook scratched his head, already knowing the answer as he wore his in-house slippers and walked to your side of the street.

He yawns, constantly ringing the bell. The harsh sun piercing his eyes, you finally opened, with a wide yawn as he scowled down at you and your jello kitty night suit. "What?!" You yelled, "Come over! And remove those posters from the windows! And brush your teeth!" He said, walking away. "You brush your teeth! Ugly!"

You move back your hair, ringing his bell. This is the first time you're going to see his house from the inside. Hoping to not get dengue or something. His grandma opened instead as you immediately smiled at her, "Good morning, grandma." She sighs and lets you in, "come. Jungkook is having brunch." You lick your lips and clear your throat.

"Oh! Baby!" He lurched onto you, you nudged him aside. "Stay away!" You scowled. His Grandma looked between you both as you nervously chuckled, "Oh I mean, yeah! Good morning!" You still push him out of your way and sit on the small dining table but he side. "That's her way of showing love."

Jungkook tries to conceal as the grandma frowns suspiciously at you both. Sighing afterwards, "Anyway, y/n. Do you come here often?" "No." "Yes." You looked at Jungkook, this close to taking his stupid head and banging it against the table but you smiled. "Sometimes."

She hums, "Jungkook told me he moved here after you. Why don't you both live together then?" You cleared your throat, "I don't get the time for this. I mean, I am an assistant lawyer. My whole house is just law books and garbage. there's no point of living together." She chuckled and served you some soup.

"That's right. Where do you work?" You dip your spoon in the soup, "peach law firm." She sighed as she watched you eat. "Oh. Nice. Do they pay you well?" You hummed, "they do." She glanced at you both, suspicious even. Sighing, she said. "I'll be taking a bath, you must come here often so I don't need to tell you anything." Jungkook nods his head, "she does!"

You smiled at her until she was out of your sight then glared at Jungkook. "What?" He asked, mouth full. You cleared your throat, "what do you do? Besides annoyingly playing the guitar at four a.m.?" He hums, "That's what I do. I play the guitar." You frowned, "like? That's your job?" He nods, not looking at you, focused on his plate. You sneer, "Is that even a job?"

He frowned, "you think you're superior just because you did law?

"Yes." You continue to slurp, "Ah!" Exhaling afterwards.

He sighs, "I won't give you money for the days you will be working, you barely would do anything and snatch three fifty just like that..."

You shrug, "Fine, don't. I'll tell her the truth that you pay me."

He sneered, "What makes you think you'd be the only saint if you revealed it to my grandma? She'd get just as angry at you for taking money from me."

You hum, "I know." You looked at him, "But I am not her grandson, you are."

He sighs, putting his chopsticks down. "Are you threatening me?"

"Take it as whatever you want. Brrrr..." You leaned back on your seat. "Do you have something cold?"

You yawned, walking toward your home. You're tired after hearing his grandma blabber 24/7. "Why are you coming with me?" You asked, stumbling a little in heels. "Because I want her to think we are genuine." You laughed out loud, echoes from the sky coming back to you. "So how long is she staying with you?" You asked, breaking your knuckles. "I dunno, a week I guess.."

"Three hundred fifty dollars by seven is..." you frowned, trying to calculate.

"Two thousand four hundred fifty dollars," Jungkook said as you shrugged, giving up on the calculation. He sighs, "That's how much I'm going to pay you?"

You hum and nod, "Yes. And I will buy a car with that money."

He chuckled, a little endearing. Born on a silver spoon, Jungkook never had to worry about small things, it gave him the freedom to become a guitarist. His father gave him all the luxuries, from high-end clothes to sports cars. Hearing someone wanting to buy a car got him. "Since how long have you wished to buy one?" He asked.

"Hmm...since college. But my fees were so high, that I barely survived in that haunted building. Thankfully I got a job in the firm. and my parents got into an accident..." You fell silent for a moment, "they didn't survive. I didn't have enough money at the time so I had to sell off my dad's vintage car. Ever since then, it's been struggle after struggle...wait." You looked at his glossy eyes, "why am I telling you this?"

You scoffed as he slightly smiled, clearing his throat afterwards. You sighed and walked into your small entrance. "Bye." He said, you looked at him for a moment but didn't say anything. Locking your door instead.

On the other day, you didn't even see him and his grandma, you had major cases to take care of and arrange papers for, and you left earlier than usual after a while. Coming home at almost eleven in the night, you threw your stupid bag somewhere and plopped down on the couch. Spine in a coiling pain as you closed your eyes, you didn't even have the energy to get up and drink water, nor to have a meal.

Surprisingly, Jungkook knocked on your door. You didn't open, you didn't wish to, you were too tired to deal with him. He sighs, turning the knob and stepping in. As usual, a mess forsaken and you slept on your red couch. He looked down at the sandwiches, it felt very inappropriate to just walk into your house but if he came back home with his lunchbox filled, his grandma would take over. And he doesn't want that.

Clearing his throat, in case you wake up. You didn't, he rolled his eyes and sighed, placing the lunchbox on the kitchen counter, picking up your bag and placing it on the table. He stares at you, deep asleep, then at your bookshelf and the whole living room. Hands twitching to wake you up, he shook his head and rather ran away.

You'd uncomfortably stretch your torso, midst asleep as you'd notice the lights on. Still, In your work attire, you'd get up instead and sigh, trying to walk toward the switchboard, stomach grumbling in hunger and then you'd notice a magical lunchbox on your kitchen counter. Blinking again and again to check if you're dreaming or not.

A lunchbox stood there, you hurriedly open it, seeing cold sandwiches. You scoff, "There's no way..." You rub your eyes, sigh and take the triangular shape of bread filled with lettuce and cutlet and eat it, nodding your head in satisfaction.

Days passed quickly, and you barely saw them——both him and his grandma around. Days were getting busier too, you were sleepless, once again, and you were crushing your bone and muscle to get a promotion in the firm. Jungkook stopped playing guitar at night and he didn't shove a middle finger down at you whenever he saw you without his grandma. You wouldn't smile at him, nor would he.

It has been two weeks, two a.m in the night, you were counting on your budget for the month, with negative five dollars in your bank account. Groaning at the severely less amount of cash you had in your wallet. Payday was very far, you're running out of daily essentials like toothpaste, rice, and oil. Someone rang on your door, and you knew who it was going to be.

Putting the cash back in your wallet and slightly bending the screen of your laptop, you walked and opened the door to the all too familiar Jungkook. You waited for him to speak, "So...won't you let me in?" You glanced behind and cleared your throat, "it's very messy," he nodded, "I know." You sigh in embarrassment, letting him in your house in the middle of the night.

He cleared his throat, not knowing where to sit as you walked past him sitting on the floor against your square dining set tea table. He sat ahead of you, noticing laptops, notepads, and bills. "Why did you come this late at night?" You asked, "I know you are busy all day so I thought this was the right Moment." You nod, "Is your grandma still here?"

He shook his head, "No. She went away like, two three days ago." You sighed, "Did you find another girlfriend?" He chuckled, "No. She saw you working day and night and was very proud. There was no need to have another one." You blink, cheeks burning as you clear your throat. "So?"

He takes out the cheque. "Your payment which I promised." You blinked, looking at the amount written, 400$ with his sign on the end. You looked up at his face, "are you really..." you tried to find the right words. "I didn't do much though, you don't have to pay if you don't wish to." It took all your mighty morals to say because you knew you had holes in your pockets.

And he blinked, was it too much? He asked himself, fingers still on the cheque as you continuously chant in your head for a positive answer. He slipped the cheque his way, just a little as you glared at the 400 dollar sign, "Since you're being considerate, I'll take it." You pressed your fingers on it, taking it your way as he rapidly blinked.

You smiled at him, "thanks." He lowly chuckles, as if ironically. "It's—it's okay." He cleared his throat as you pressed down a relieved smile and placed the cheque in your wallet. He awkwardly looks at you, "Do you I mean, are you going to have a promotion soon?" You frowned, "I don't know. I hope I do."

He hums, "Did your grandma believe this? Are you going to have property directly?" He chuckled, "I'm not sure. Maybe, maybe not. who knows." You hummed, and right at that moment. With that godforsaken hum, a shiver ran up Jungkook's spine. He looks at you, slowly turning your gaze his way. He confusingly—slightly tilts his head.

A little part of his heartbeat echoed in his mind. And it came, right onto your faces, like some volatile garbage can breaking in half, from his mouth. "Do you have a boyfriend?" His fingers curled when he realised what he had just asked, 'EW EW EW' he yelled at himself in his mind. You slightly frowned, "No wait! Like—you know what I'll just—good night!"

He hysterically gets up from the floor, running away from you as you follow him, "where are you going?!" "Home!" He slipped in his slippers as you slightly trip onto your charger, in that moment he opened the door to exit. "Don't you wanna know the answer?!" He stops two steps away from your main door.

Blinking rapidly as his insides inverted. He curled his fingers, gulping as you walk toward him. Hand on the doorknob, you slightly lean, a teasing smile—almost like a smirk as he already made a pout to kiss. "No, I don't." You say and shut the door on his pouty face. You giggled evilly, enjoying the way he went bonkers.

Jungkook stood like that, stunned, frozen, like a statue, for five seconds straight. With that stupid fucking pout on his lips. Then he erupted like a volcano, not just only him—his embarrassment erupted in five different methods, vocally abusive, bonkers in the mind, crying, shocked, cringed. He swears, this was by far the most embarrassing moment of his life, out of all the time he's been rejected from music labels, this was quite an achievement.

And when he plops down on his bed, thinking in. "Why did I stop playing my guitar at four a.m. suddenly?!" 'Because you didn't want to disturb her.' His angel over the head replied, "But why would I not want to disturb her?! I hate her! Ew!" The angel smiles, 'because you care for her.'

His fingers coiled in cringe, stuffing his head in the pillow, "Why am I doing this?! Agh!" And what felt like two more hours of screaming, kicking legs, losing his entire state of mind and America. He finally gets in the position to sleep—physically. He breathes heavily, frowning, looking at his boring ceilings, as if deciding on which next island he's going to buy. "Maybe it was out of sympathy."

He frowned even further, soured. "BUT WHY WOULD I WANT TO KISS FOR SYMPATHY MY GOD." He yelled loudly as if trying to tell them demons as if convincing himself that he was not attracted to you. But it came right on the face every time he tried. It's like it was obvious all along—but he hates you.

Jung Kook sat ahead of his phone. Wondering if he should do it or not—maybe he should not. But that's the only person who could give him answers. He groaned, "How can a girl fuck up my mind so well?" He cried and regained his posture, clearing his throat as he pressed the call button. It rang, but no one picked up.

He sighs, plopping his head down on the same bed he's rotting on thinking about you nonstop. It rang after a few minutes as he picked up, a little drowsy, "Hello?" He says, "Yes? How are you jungkook?" His grandma asks sweetly as he exhales, "I'm fine now, are you taking your pills on time?" She hums, "I am. How is y/n?"

He squints, clenching the sheets as he clears his throat. "She's fine." She hums. "Grandma, I have this friend. Who is like fucking crazy? He...kinda likes his neighbour. But he can't figure out why, because he hates her." She giggled, "How can he hate and like her at the same time?" He sighs, "I...don't know. Maybe she's a little too pretty? Maybe? I dunno, I swear. And...yeah."

Grandma giggled again, "Why are you asking me this, Jung Kook?" He exhaled once more, laying on his back. "Because when he saw her last night, he asked her if she has a boyfriend, like really abruptly. He didn't even know what he was blabbering. And she said she doesn't. What should he do now?" Grandma hums, "It's you and y/n isn't it?"

Jungkook's world collapses yet again. He wished he hadn't called her at all. "No! Me and her are in a relationship! We're going on a date...yeah." She giggles softly, "Kook, I knew you and y/n weren't together the moment I saw you both together." Jungkook clenched his hair and buried his head in the mattress, hoping it would swallow him whole.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" He murmured, "Because it was fun. Seeing you try so hard to be with a girl." "Grandma!" She giggled, "Even though I knew you both weren't yet together, I didn't see it too far. That's why I played along." Jungkook sighs, watching his ceilings yet again. "What do I do now?"

She chuckled, "ask her out!"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"What if she rejects me?"

"She won't. If she wanted to, she would've thrown you out last night. Did she?"

He clicked his tongue, "she didn't."

A small smile grew on his lips, remembering your face when you said you didn't have a boyfriend. "Then she won't reject. And if she does, court her." "Pffft.." he exhales, "but I hate her." His grandma laughed at him. "Then stop hating her? If you hated her you wouldn't have been in this situation now." He sighs, "Once you stop hating her, you'll automatically love her."

He kinda blushed not gonna lie. Cleared his throat, "I'll see." She hums, greeting him bye and ending the call. He laid down face again, "how to even ask her out? What does she even like? Does she even like me? Agh!"

You smiled at your colleague, walking out of the law firm and taking the bus. You sit by the window, clutching your bag in your hands as you think about last night. Chuckling to yourself at how easily he gave up, "Stupid." You murmured, tugging a strand of hair behind your ear. Finding him adorable of how easily he fucks up.

You got up, pressed the red button, exited the bus and walked towards your society. You halt for a second, feeling a presence behind you. Cleared your throat and continued to walk again. Shivers ran down your body as you spot jungkook outside his entryway. He stood straight, suppressing a yawn as he looked at you.

You glanced behind one more time, feeling a bit scared but gulped anyway seeing jungkook ahead. "Hey.." you looked at him, "Hi." He cleared his throat, "Grrr...uh...so..." you waited for him, "do you wanna watch something together? Like totally not forcing you but like y'know? Cool stuff. Maybe a Netflix show?" You softly sneer, "Why?"

Now that's when. "Because...because grandma told me that, once you stop hating someone You start loving them." You chuckled, and his heart reached a new high. What the fuck was happening, all this in just one single day was mad crazy for him. "Fine. I'll think about it." You say and continue to walk your way. 

He gasped, coming frontier. "I'm asking you out so nicely and you're saying you'll think about it?!" His small eyes enlarged at your face. "A girl needs some time, jeon." He sighs, and you walk closer to your own house. "Well if you're truly going to reject me then say it to my face I—" he stood stunned, stunned when you tiptoed, held his jaw and softly touched your lips on his cheek.

A little numb in the brain as he stood frozen, you giggled and walked your way, opening the door and watching him stumble against your postbox and hit his head on the brick wall. "Shit, fuck!" He screams, cheeks burning, and you giggle. "Not today! I've so much work! Tomorrow maybe!" You yell as he looks at you, a little teary with pain as he nods his head, "Okay?" You ask, "Okay!"

You lightly push back your hair, a little nervous. Fidgeting your fingers as you wait for your boss' client to exit so you can enter inside. A woman in her mid-40s with a dark red dress exits as you finally get up, clearing your throat. Hoping you're not getting fired as you Knocked twice and entered. Your boss signed something and you almost ran back.

Nonetheless, she told you to sit. "How are you?" She asks, you slightly smile. "Good, I guess." She nonchalantly chuckles, pushing an envelope your way. "You're promoted to our Lead attorney. No more running errands for lawyers." Your eyes winded, you looked at the envelope and opened it, your promotion paper signed by her and the board of directors. "Really?!"

Your eyes almost teared, "Yes, more bonus days, more money and a personal office." You pressed your lips together, finally seeing your years of hard work paying off. You got up, bowing several times, "Thank you so much for this! I'll try my best every time I step in court in the name of our law firm! You won't be disappointed!" She chuckled, "I know! That's why I choose you! Now go and enjoy! You also get a leave for today! Have fun!"

You nod your head, "I will! Thanks so much, again!" Your fingers clutch the paper envelope as you exit, jumping in excitement, "Oh my god!"  You first sat down in the hallways and rubbed your palms, trying to calm down. "I need to tell it to somebody!" You immediately scroll through your contacts, Jungkook at the very end. Right above your dad and mom.

You breathed heavily, thumb over your dad's number, tears filling your eyes. You sigh, calling Jungkook instead. Picking your bag up you started to walk down the empty hallways, heels echoing, phone over your ear as it rang a few times. He picks up nonetheless, "Hey..." he groggily let out, and you chuckled. "Still sleeping?"

He hums, your belly twists as you clear your throat. "What is it? Do you need more money?" You rolled your eyes, "I got promoted. Thought if you'd like to have a dinner treat tonight." He goes silent for a moment, shuddering noises. "You got what?!" His voice is a bit more clear now, "Promoted! I will fight cases in court now!" "Woah!"

You smile, "really?!" You nod, as if he could see you. "Yes." "I deserve a treat!" You softly laugh, "Okay. Yesterday I had work. Tonight?" He hums, "Okay." He cleared his throat, as if a bit awkward. "At my place?" You both say, standing silent for a second, "No, mine. Since it's my treat." You offered as he sighed, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am. Obviously." He cleared his throat, "Oh. Okay. I'll come, you better have some great feasts." You chuckled, "I will. I guarantee."

You kindly push back your hair in a bun and place a claw clip over it. Take a few strands out to frame your face. Patting a bit of power on your oily forehead and nose, applying a thin layer of lip gloss and spraying mist. You clear your throat and check if you look casual and put together, "should I just..." You open your wardrobe and check a shirt over your comfy pyjamas.

"No no..." you dig through, "the striped one!" You say and check it one more time and then it hits you in the head like some asteroid from space. "Why am I suddenly caring about how am I perceived by him?" You say to yourself in the mirror, still holding the shirt. "No wait, genuinely. How the hell did we end up like this? Like I fucking kissed him last night?! Ew!"

You talk in the mirror, "Maybe because he looked cute...? No but he looks cute all the time—" you stop. Pressing your lips against each other. "So." You cleared your throat. Peeking from the curtains to look at his closed windows, "he stopped playing guitar, he asked me out on a date, he made me work as his girlfriend in front of his grandma, and gave me money." You sighed, "Is he in love with me?"

Jungkook bites his lower lip, stomach stirring once again as he gently presses the bell over your door. It was so filled with hesitation that the bell didn't even ring. He sighed, pressing harshly as it dinged. Then again, and again. Nobody opened it, he felt like an idiot. Pressing your doorbell again and again only for you to not open the door.

He scoffed, heart shattering. "She played this game to embarrass me?" He clenched his fists, trying to not blow it up on your door. It's been thirty minutes since he's knocking, he sighed. Inhaling and turning his feet back, gulping the anger in. Harshly opening his door and throwing his jacket away, sprinting in anger toward his bedroom to sleep. As soon as he dropped his body on the mattress, he clenched his jaw.

"How dare she?" He gulped, pressing his eyelids shut. Tears formed, he hasn't expected you to be this bitchy, he fumed. Trying to clear his mind off of you. A faint noise of something hitting the glass window echoes in the back of his mind, he ignores it. Turning his body away from his stupid fucking window.

Then it shattered, the window shattered. He slightly frowned, getting up from his bed and opening the curtains. Your window was shattered as he frowned, lips slowly parting. He opens his windows, and your yelps echo. His heart dropped in his stomach as he ran downstairs to your door. Banging it this time, "Y/n open the door!"

He yells to no avail, finally using his strength to push through the wooden door. He grunts, and the door still stands intact. He bangs it again and again, the skin of his palm scratched against the sharp part of your doorframe, bleeding instantly. "Y/n!" He yelled, pushing his shoulder one more time as it jiggled and he harshly pulled away The door. Sprinting towards your bedroom he pushed the door once again to see the terrorising sight of you tied up in the corner of your room.

A man in black clothes jumped out your windows as Jungkook hurried to catch him, though he ran away, thankfully jungkook still clicked the pictures of his covered face. He quickly came to you, tears streaming down with hands and legs tied, mouth sealed with tape as he shuddered. Taking off the tape and opening your body, you sobbed.

"Are you okay?" He asks, looking at your sobbing face as you hiccup and burst into tears. He quietly gasps, trying to calm you down. Wiping your tears as you clutched his clothes. He pulls you in his chest instead, "It's okay, I'm here now." He whispers though he might not be okay either.

You bury your head in his chest, "he-he..." he gently pats your head, "he tried to kill me!" You sob as he gulped, "I'll get him. You're safe now." He whispers, kissing your head, your claw clip broken on your floor, a plant broken of what shattered your window. You sniff as he wipes your tears, "You want to stay at my place, tonight?"

You try to think straight for a moment, "I'm so scared of him." You muttered mindlessly, "It's not safe in here, come with me?" You inhale some air and slowly nod your head, "I-i...I don't wanna stay here." You hug him again, breaking down in tears furthermore.

To be continued….

Taglist: @luv—youu @oopscoop @kooreo @libra04 @skzthinker @ggukieasy @httpjeonlicious @jkmaeden @lovingkoalaface @namjoonsbuspass @roseeily @2hightocare @crabby-libra @minyoongi7016 @subgoogie @rutukn @7exs @craftymoonchaos @looneybleus @shrek-the-destroyer @kp0pficdump @somehowukook @nerdycheol

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[kitthepurplepotato]

Chapter 6 - Crimson Riot?!

Summary: Eijirou is too busy fawning over Crimson Riot.

Warnings: Swear words, Eijirou makes one kinky comment

First Chapter Ko-Fi Master List

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

She’s so close. Oh my god. She’s so pretty. Those plump lips, the slight blush on her cheeks… how is he supposed to resist?

He knows Y/N said this was a date but he’s still sure she’d meant that as a joke. It was just teasing. She still called Kirishima her homoerotic buddy by the end of the day, so clearly, he’s still in the hubby zone.

He should be happy for getting a kiss on his cheeks. He should be thankful…

Okay, Y/N is clearly aiming for his lips but maybe, that’s just his wishful thinking.

He’ll just… wait it out, he guesses. He slowly closes his eyes, letting faith choose the path for him and certainly, it does; Y/N’s door opens up from the inside. Kirishima respectfully almost shits his pants.

“Did you forget how to open your own door, you silly sausage?” A cheery old man with Crimson hair crackles teasingly. “… oh. Oh!”

Well, that’s what Kirishima’s also thinking. Oh. This relic is a bit too big to fit into a box; Kirishima thinks as he looks at the man in front of him who looks 100% like Crimson Riot.

Kirishima’s also sure it’s illegal to keep people in boxes. Except if they want to be kept in a box. But why would they live in a box willingly?

“What the fuck are you doing here, Uncle?!”

Oh, it’s just her uncle. The loaded one who owns the flat. It makes sense. Crimson Riot was one of the best heroes of his era so he certainly managed to get his hands on enough money to keep him and his family well fed for as long as he lives and probably even after. Makes sense indeed.

Makes… sense.

Okay, wait. So this man, possibly Crimson Riot himself, just opened Y/N’s door and she called him her uncle. That means…

“Crimson Riot is… your uncle?!” Eijirou yells and there is a palm on his mouth the second after.

“Don’t fucking yell, you himbo!” Y/N sighs, clearly aggravated by Kirishima’s stupidity and to be honest, Kirishima is quite used to get this look every day so he doesn’t even flinch. He’s a bit dumb. He knows it. He’s okay with it. “Why the fuck are you here, uncle?! You just ruined my plans!”

“Ahh, honey, I’m sorry to say this but I’m quite sure the mood is ruined anyway so we might as well have a little chat. I’m quite sure Red Riot-kun is more than happy to tell me what does he want from my one and only niece I’m willing to kill for if I need to.”

Kirishima’s blood freezes in his veins. This is too much to take in for his little bird brain. Okay, let’s focus. One thing at a time. One thing… at a time.

“Are you really…” He lowers his voice into a whisper. “Crimson Riot?”

Y/N facepalms herself. He has no idea what he had done wrong this time. Like, bro… can you really blame him for that question? He was already all over the place thanks to the fact that he was on a not-a-date with his new favorite person and now that favorite person turns out to be Crimson Riot’s niece? Eijirou is having an out of body experience. He swears he can see his soul leaving his body as he stares at the old man he’s been worshipping for decades now.

“Yes… I was Crimson Riot when I was a hero. Now, I’m just uncle Riot. Okay, son?”

Kirishima cries manly tears. This is the best day of his life.

~•🪨•~

“So now that we are settled, can you please tell me what are your plans with my little girl?”

Uncle Riot asks. Well, that’s easy.

“I…” Nevermind. It’s not.

What are Kirishima’s plans with her? Honestly, not much. He knows he’ll never have the balls to confess to her. He knows he’s not enough for such a perfect woman anyway, so… “I like spending time with her. She’s the manliest woman I’ve ever met.”

Uncle Riot rolls his eyes and looks at Y/N questionably. She sighs.

“We were on a date and if it’s not for you he would be my boyfriend by now, so fucking thank you for the cockblock.”

Okay, what the fuck. Kirishima has no idea what’s going on and why is Y/N lying about their relationship but if that’s what she wants, he will just roll with it. He doesn’t even need to lie to be able to do that.

“To be fair, I was about to kiss her goodbye in the doorway, then you opened the door and… well… not like I mind, sir! I’m actually so thrilled to meet you, can I ask a few questions?” Kirishima rambles, embarrassment already forgotten.

“I thought you want to have some alone time?” Crimson Riot smirks knowingly but Kirishima is too excited to even think about cheeky things.

“That can wait!” He spurts out and he can’t even finish the sentence before he gets a fist in the stomach.

“Oi!” Y/N yells, clearly offended. Kirishima gives her his best apologetic face, puppy eyes and all, and Y/N only sighs at that. “Only if you stay for the night.” Y/N whispers into her ears, and oh boy, his whole face must be as red as his hair. Stay… for the night?! Like a sleepover? With the prettiest angel in the whole universe?! Kirishima is so fucked.

“Uhm… okay?”

“Good boy.” Y/N kisses his temple with a smirk and Kirishima descends to another planet. He really liked being called a good boy. Is that weird? Kinky? His little fella between his legs says it’s the latter. Oh no.

~•🪨•~

You are so done with this bozo. Yes, you said you are okay with Kirishima staying over to talk to your uncle for a while but it has been hours, you need to go to bed in a few minutes and the red headed idiot - the younger one - can’t fucking shut up. Even your uncle looks uncomfortable at this point, probably having PTSD from all the times he’s been interrogated before. Yet here is the himbo, his non-existent tail wiggling from excitement as he asks questions after questions like it’s his fucking job.

By the look of it, you’ll go to bed alone. You are actually about to cry from how disappointed you are.

“I’m going to bed. I have an early shift tomorrow.”

Your voice is so lovelorn it’s actually ridiculous.

It’s just… you had this all planned out. You wanted to kiss him in the hallway then ask him to come in, cuddle on the sofa then maybe… share the bed after. You can’t believe it’s almost midnight and none of your attempts to kiss him worked. Is he even interested in you? You really thought it’s obvious that this was a date. He gave you a ring and promised he’ll be yours, yet here is, fangirling over “fucking old man Crimson Riot” instead of being with you. It just… hurts.

“What’s wrong, Angel?” Red asks and your stupid heart almost leaps out of your chest from the pet name. Your uncle takes one good look at you and slowly makes his way to the door with an apologetic smile on his face.

“I… just remembered something. I need to go. Sorry, son! I’ll see you soon, I’m sure of it.” That stupid old man winks at you as he sneaks out of the door. There was no fucking need for that. No fucking need.

“There is spare bedding in the chest of drawers next to the sofa.” You mutter and make your way towards your bedroom and for your surprise, Eijirou doesn’t even bother to come after you.

You take a deep breath and grab your pajamas from the bed then make your way to the bathroom to shower and brush your teeth. When you are done you take a peek to the sofa; Eijirou looks so fucking sad you start to feel terrible for being an absolute bitch to him just because he didn’t give you all his attention for once.

“Hey, himbo.” You half-whisper into the silence and Eijirou looks up right away.

“I don’t know what I did wrong, but I’m sorry.”

Oh my fucking god, how can he be so cute?!

You move closer the sofa and crouch down in front of him. You are done with this game. Just… done.

“You’ve done nothing wrong. I just love to be in the center of attention.” You admit sheepishly, your hand caressing his cheek, because you can’t behave yourself. Eijirou melts into the touch and pushes his cheek into your palm then turns so he can leave a kiss on your fingers, slow and so-so loving it almost makes you cry.

“Crimson Riot is the only person who can steal my attention from you.” He admits, and you can’t help but giggle at that.

“That was a really backhanded compliment, Ei.” You smile as your thumb caresses the skin under his eyes. There’s a lot of tension in the air but not the unpleasant kind; it’s like you are both waiting for something, but none of you know how to actually make the first step. “So what do I need to do to gain your attention, Red?”

“Don’t tease me…” he looks down into his lap with tears in his eyes. It breaks your heart.

“Ei… I’m not teasing you.” You stroke his cheek again. You can’t help but take a peek at his pretty lips, slowly closing the remaining distance as you speak. “I want to know. I don’t want you to take your eyes off me. I’m being selfish.”

“You can have all my attention. All of it.” Eijirou whispers, so close to your mouth it lips actually tingle from his breath. Fuck it. Just fuck it.

“No, it’s not enough.” You finally close the remaining distance and kiss him right on the mouth. You stay there for a few seconds, savoring the taste, the texture, the softness, then move away with your heart in your throat. You did it. Oh my god, you kissed him. And it was amazing. Oh god, you are so in love with this himbo. “Good night, hubby. See you in the morning.” You smile at his dumbstruck face. Red Riot.exe has stopped working, clearly. “I put a new toothbrush out for you. The red one is yours.” You can’t help but barge back for another little peck before you run into your room with a massive blush on your face.

It’s done. It’s official. You made your intentions clear as a day and he didn’t say no. You make a new note in your calendar for today called “anniversary” then you yell into your pillow, like a proper adult.

~•🪨•~

“So she tried to kiss you several times during your DATE.” Katsuki mutters.

“That’s not what I said!” He retorts right away but his best friend does not listen.

“Then you proposed with a ring from the vending machine and she said yes.”

“I didn’t propose!”

“Oh sorry, you told her you’ll marry her.” Katsuki looks at Kirishima with pure incredulity. “Then she invited you to her flat and told her uncle you two are a thing.”

“You are not listening, Katsuki!” Kirishima yells with a red face. “Why are we not talking about Crimson Riot?! He’s the uncle! Crimson Riot! Katsuki! Focus!”

“You focus! She fucking kissed you on the mouth TWICE, Shitty hair, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?!” Katsuki is absolutely out his mind by now, he’s yelling like a maniac, his eyes dark and menacing, and you swear there are fresh claw marks on his desk where his hands are right now.

“She’s not my girlfriend! I swear!” He’s about to cry. What does he not understand?! Yeah, she kissed him. On the mouth. But maybe Y/N is just really affectionate with his homosexual buddies (hubbies). There are some countries where people kiss on the mouth. Or at least he thinks.

“No, she’s fucking not, because she’s your fiancé, you absolute idiot!”

“Eijirou, I love you to death but you are an absolute himbo… a himbo with a fiancé.” Katsuki’s girlfriend looks up from her paperwork. He can’t believe these two.

“She’s blood related to Crimson Riot! That’s just… inappropriate! No! I’m done with this conversation!”

“She made you a home-made fucking bento at 5 fucking AM in the morning! The carrots are fucking heart shaped!” Katsuki continues to yell, but Kirishima is done with this conversation. “HEART SHAPED, KIRISHIMA!”

No one understands him. No one.

~•🪨•~

It has been a week since you and Eijirou became a couple. You wear the ring every day, showing it off proudly, especially, when customers try to chat you up. You love how their face pale when you tell them that you are actually engaged.

He comes to see you every single morning, buys his usual coffee and gets a little kiss on his mouth as a bonus. Eijirou barely kisses back but he’s a shy boy, so that’s fine; he’ll eventually get used to it - You’ll make sure to kiss him loads on your date, and maybe by the end of the night he’ll actually kiss you back… and maybe, he’ll stay the night and kiss you even more. Ahh, a girl can dream. Eijirou has no idea how absolutely gorgeous he is but that’s why you like him so much; he makes you feel like a teenager again, naive and lovesick and well… he also makes you feel really hot in inappropriate places.

No one can blame you, though. Red Riot has the body of a god and he’s sweet and so innocent you just want to ruin him until the monster in him comes to the surface and devours you in whole, but it’s too much too soon so you try your best to behave yourself and keep the kisses chaste because there is no fucking way you will be able to stop once that kiss deepens.

It’s quite silly how stressed you are about being proper when it comes to this thing even though you are literally engaged to the guy.

Having sex after the first date? Hell no.

Getting engaged on it? Hell yes.

If this keeps going this way you’ll end up having your first night after the wedding.

Hell, maybe you’ll get eloped in a random chapel on your second date.

The weirdest thing is, that you wouldn’t even mind doing that.

You feel really silly to call something so fresh “love” but you are old enough to know the difference between a crush and pure, wholehearted affection. Eijirou is everything you’ve always wanted in life; he’s kind and genuine, a person who’s not ashamed of having emotions, who’s not ashamed to cry, to be angry, to be unapologetically himself, even if people laugh at him for being like that. He’s kind to a fault but that’s even more reason for you to stay by his side; you’ll make sure that no one can break his fragile heart, you’ll make sure he’s the happiest himbo in the whole wide world.

“I can hear the wedding bells!” Your boss teases with a smile, but you can’t even get mad at her.

“Me too, boss, me too.”

The silence speaks volumes.

… Next Chapter!

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TL: @porusuniverse @sixxze @unofficialmuilover @cheesenmax @readingfan @sammmm29 @pwinglez1 @happydragonfrog @magicalhandsherringclam @lovingnightharmony @theequeenofcurses @kirishima-eijirock @nerinefy @selfindulgenthoe @fierysplash213 @woofwoofwolf @touyasprettydoll @confused-smol-fan @themultifandomgirl @dark-witch-bitch @lotusstarr

#bnha x reader #mha x reader #kirishima eijirou x y/n #ejirou x reader #kirishima x reader #kirishima x you #red riot x you #red riot x reader #kirishima eijirou x reader

[a-casual-kpopfan]

Reminisce and Regrets

A/N: “Italic” dialogue indicates it being spoken in English. “Normal” dialogue indicates it being spoken in Korean.

Shoutout to @nojisunnomercy for the commission piece, really make me and Ghost to write and go through to make a sequel to Consquences and Regrets.

~~~~~

I made you my everything. Put my life in your hands and you held the strings.

She really was your everything. Don't know who I am anymore.

Let me down every time and I hit the floor.

Even with what she did, you still forgave her back then, entrusting her not to hurt you again.

And you gave me nothing at all. Only empty excuses to try and break the fall.

Despite your forgiveness, she ended up betraying you again. So, I did what I never could to do.

And I cut myself loose from you.

If she didn’t do it… Would you still be with her?

.

.

.

“Hey!”

.

.

.

“Oi, you bastard!”

With a yell, you snap back to reality, the image of her gone from your mind, replaced by your grumpy friend, frowning at you. “The food is going to be cold if you keep staring into nothing like that.”

At that time, you put your earbuds down, and noises start to flood back into your ears. The clinking of utensils hitting each other’s and the plate. Chattering from nearby tables. Sounds of people walking and cars driving on the road.

No longer are you drowned in your own thoughts. You’re back to reality: a small café near your workplace, where you and your friend decide to have lunch.

“You can just start first you know.” You shrug. “Didn’t have to wait for me.”

“Bro, I already finished half of mine, and you haven’t even touched yours.”

“Oh.” Looking down onto the table, you barely touch your food while your friend is almost done with his.

“You know, it’s not like we are strangers or anything.” Your friend lets out a sigh. “I’m worried about you dude. You haven’t been like this since the first week that you arrived here, and that was years ago!”

“Yeah, well, you know I got cheated on by my ex, what else do you need to know?” You chuckle lightly, starting to dig into your already cold meal.

“The details! The beauty is in the details, my guy.” Your friend responds with a chuckle, which morphs into a worried smile “Don’t you think let it out is better than keeping it all in?”

“Well... I’ll think about the offer, but thanks anyways.” You smile at your friend. A bit mischievous, but a good person at heart. You know he only has your best intention in his mind, and you are grateful for it. But you are not about to ruin her image, it’s the least you can do for her, even if she betrayed you twice.

“Anyways, I got us tickets!” Your friend decides to change the subject, tapping something on his phone before showing you the image of 2 tickets on his hand. “For what, exactly?” You think you know what those tickets are for, but you pray to God that you are wrong, just this one time.

“For the Loona concert!”

Fuck.

You swear in your head. It’s bad enough that the news of their tour, and images of them circulating in twitter inadvertently got you thinking about her again, after all those years. Now attending a concert and seeing them live?

God knows what could happen.

“How did you even get your hands on this?” You ask purely out of curiosity as to how your friend managed to acquire the tickets. You know how fast these tickets sell out. “Heh, what can I say? Lady luck was on my side that day~” Your friend looks incredibly proud of himself.

“So… Who are you going with?” You ask, a futile attempt in hopes that you might not have to go. “You, of course.” You groan at his answer.

“Come on, I know you want to attend it. You’re Korean, for god’s sake!” Your friend beams at you. “Most people don’t even recognize me as a Korean.” You counter. “That’s because you grow your fucking hair and beard out. They look good on you by the way, paired with those glasses-” He does the typical chef’s kiss motion “but just saying.” Your friend nearly explodes, but in a playful way, as he points out your distinct changes.

“I get your point, and?”

“And it might be a nice chance to use your mother tongue again. You’ve been using English ever since you got here, and God bless you for being fluent in English because none of us know a lick of Korean, I just feel like it’s unfair for you.”

“You really don’t have to do that.” You smile lightly. Amongst the various coworkers you worked with when you first arrived, only this guy stuck with you through thick and thin, inadvertently ending up as your best friend… Still, he can’t replace her, but he is good to you, and you gratefully accept that. What you don’t want to accept is the tickets.

“But-”

“Nah ah, no buts! I already paid for the damn tickets; I can use it however I want. And I want you to go with me on that day, and that is final!” Your friend stares at you with his fake aggressiveness that you are oh so familiar already. And you know that he won’t budge at this point, no matter how much you say to him.

“Alright, you win. I’ll go with you.” You let out a light chuckle, to which your friend also smiles at you. “There we go, couldn’t you be like this earlier?”

“Shut up.” Both of you laugh at the banter while enjoying the rest of the lunch. You can’t help but feel dreaded at the notion of seeing her, or the girls again, but they might not recognize you with how much you’ve changed. Ignoring the dull pain in your heart at the thought of them not recognizing you, you still think that it would be for the best. You are not the same as you were back then.

Not anymore.

-----

“Yah! Yeojin! Sit back down, why are you jumping around??”

“I’m so hungry… Do we have anything to eat? Hey, are you listening to me?”

To say that the bus is chaotic would be an understatement.

In typical Loona fashion, the girls are completely turning the bus upside down with their shenanigans, like they have an endless reserve of energy. Well, most of them, anyways.

Sitting at the far back of the bus, Hyeju watches them silently. Per usual, Hyeju isn’t one to participate in the chaos as much as the others, but there’s another reason for this.

See, after the incident with you, it took Hyeju a long time to earn back the trust of the girls again, some longer than others. Thankfully the members gave Hyeju another chance, but things were never quite the same.

Like how cracks can still be seen on a fixed object.

Her mistake has left scars. Some deeper than others.

She then takes a glance at Heejin who is also not partaking in the chaos, but just looking outside the window with a blank stare. Heejin never really did forgive Hyeju. She only held in the anger inside of her for the sake of the others, but with observant eyes, it wasn’t hard to recognize Heejin was avoiding Hyeju.

And honestly, despite how hurtful it is, Hyeju can’t bring herself to be angry at Heejin for that.

You and Heejin were basically glued together.

She introduced you to the girls.

She was the one that was with you through thick and thin.

But in the end, she had to give up on him for Hyeju’s sake.

What did Hyeju do?

She betrayed you.

The reason why you decided to move abroad while cutting off any form of contact.

It’s been 3 years since then.

Hyeju sighs to herself, looking outside to the moving scenery. Three grueling years without you by her side, they say that you never know what you truly had until you lost it, Hyeju understands it fully, now that she lost you.

She never quite realized just how involved you were in her life, until you left. The apartment was never quite the same without you, without your warm touch, it lost its homely atmosphere, now it’s just a cold, empty room. Meals weren’t the same without your soft voice, humming and listening to each of her daily rants, the bed felt cold without your hug, pulling her in and reassuring her that you were always with her.

Why did she do it? Why did she betray you? Even after 3 years, that question still lingers in her mind, as a reminder of her own mistake. She simply took you for granted. After the first time, you were gracious enough to give her your full trust again. And she… She thought that she could get away with it as well. How could some instant gratification be compared with stability?

She was wrong, so, so wrong. She was wrong to even entertain that thought, to even meet up with that man, to be seduced by his mere words.

And that made her lose the dearest thing that she had.

You.

-----

Well, here you are.

Standing in front of the venue, instead of all the excitement that you should be feeling, all you can feel is impending doom or anxiety in short. You start to question yourself repeatedly, “is this a mistake? Should you turn back? Why are you even here-”

“Dude! Less thinking and more walking!” You feel a hand striking your back, nearly making you stumble onto the ground. You glare to the side at your friend, who is smirking at you.

“You’ll thank me for this one day, now let’s get going.” He pulls you to stand straight again, before pushing you into the venue.

“Here goes nothing, I guess.” You mumble, mostly to yourself to brace for what is to come. “See? You’re already speaking in Korean! I know you’re excited, you don’t have to hide it from me~”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” You let out a sigh, starting to walk into the venue on your own without your friend pushing you. “Let’s head in, or else we might be stuck outside for a while.”

“I heard you, let’s go!” Your friend’s energy seems to remind you of a certain bunny, causing you to chuckle slightly.

The walk inside the venue is generally uneventful, if you ignore all the crazed fans with the merch gossiping among each other. As you do your best to ignore them, because everywhere you look, you see their damn faces.

On the shirts, printed on handheld fans, posters.

God, what in the actual fuck.

You thought you could handle this, seeing them again, but just the sight of them, of her, on the poster, already makes you feel sick to your stomach. Three years, three long years, and you are still haunted by the memories of that day. Three years without seeing them, three years of you, changing yourself in order to not be weak anymore. Yet just a picture of them, and the wall you’ve built so meticulously has already started to crumble slightly.

“Dude, you alright?” Your friend doesn’t miss the faint pained expression on your face.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m ok, my stomach is just a bit hurt, that’s all.” You harden your resolve once again before reassuring your friend with a slight smile. Your friend says nothing of the matter, but you feel his gaze on you as you both move to your seats on the inside of the stadium.

In an attempt to distract yourself from the fans and pictures, your eyes dart around other places, trying to find a safe haven where you don’t have to look at all the fans and pictures of the girls. You eventually find it, but you don’t know if it’s really a ‘safe haven’.

You spot a figure looking like a man, his black hoodies and jeans a stark contrast from the crowd. Given that you are also dark colored clothes, you can’t say anything about the man. But there’s just something about him, something that you can’t put your hands on, for some reason, he feels familiar.

“Dude, why are you staring at a stranger?” Your friend elbows you in the chest.

“… Nothing.” You disregard your uneasiness to get back to the matter on hand. “I just accidentally look at that direction.” Trying to play it off and walk off with your friend to find your place to watch.

“Pfft, yeah right.” Without looking, you can feel his eyes roll at you. “Let’s head inside before someone call the police on you for being a creep.” Silently, you take one last glance at the man in hoodie, before joining your friend at the seating area of the venue.

“This… Feels weird.” Mumbling to yourself, you look around the place. Now that you think about it, you rarely ever watch their performances from the audience’s point of view. Being a close friend to a certain bunny, and later, boyfriend of a certain wolf, you spend most of the time backstage with them, watching them either on the TV in the waiting room, or directly behind the backstage.

You never had the chance to watch from the audience due to your relationship with the girls, you were important to the members. A big brother, a drinking buddy, a listener, a friend, best friend even, and then boyfriend to her. They couldn’t let you stay in the audience during their performances.

Somewhere deep inside of you, you missed those days, days you spent with the girls, taking care of them and having fun with them, to be with the one you love, no, loved.

You find it hard for yourself to forgive her, you already did that once, after all. All the love and energy spent on her, to be reciprocated with betrayal. Not only once but twice. Who does that kind of thing? Who betrayed the trust of someone who loved them very dearly that easily?

The more these thoughts resurface, the more your heart ached. Not for her, but for the relationship that you lost because of her. How could you stay with the girls, now that your relationship with one of them is strained? They know her longer than they know you, so whose side are they going to take?

While you fall back into your deepest thoughts, you fail to recognize the venue’s light dimming, as screams begin to echo out from the fans. Only when you hear their voices do you awaken from your thoughts, to be greeted by the girls standing on stage, already performing the first song with the fans chanting along with the music.

You turn to the side, to also see your friend excitedly chanting along with his broken Korean, much to your amusement.

As for you, you were never one to like the crowd, so you just stayed seated, watching the performance with mixed feelings in your heart.

Your eyes soon glued onto her.

Your ex, the one you loved so much, but also the one who broke your heart into pieces. She seems to be doing ok, you thought. Her stage presence is much better than before, and so is her confidence. Despite projecting a cold image, she has always been somewhat timid behind the curtains. It took you many hours of encouragement and pep talks to give her the confidence boost she needed, and to see her like this… You can’t help but be proud, just a little bit.

Before your mind can start treading into forbidden memories, you turn to another person.

Your “Bunny”.

Well, you don’t think you have any right to call her that anymore, after all, it was you who cut her off when you moved overseas. Admittedly, it wasn’t right for you to just cut her off like that, when you and she have shared so many things together, the both of you going way, way back. But in your emotional state, you couldn’t bear to see or hear anything that would be remotely related to your ex. And so, in a fit of rage and depression, you changed your number, cutting off every relationship that you had in Korea, except for your family.

As the concert goes on, you barely pay any attention to the performance itself, too busy drowning yourself in your thoughts as you drift back and forth, in and out of your head, between happiness from seeing the girls again, to sadness that you’re seeing your ex again, to depression and guilt of you cutting them off from your life.

Before you even know it, the concert is nearing its end, with the girls doing the encore song while having fun on stage.

I don't need nobody to move my body

All me with no strings attached

I don't wanna be somebody who

Lets somebody hold me if they hold me back

I just wanna dance, dance

Dance on my own (dance on my own)

You can’t tell if there is a hidden message to this song or something, but you feel like this song just hit a little bit too close to home. Maybe that’s why you’ve been looping it a lot these days. And it’s hitting you hard right now, seeing that your ex is one of the people singing it on stage as well.

How ironic is that?

When she was the one that betrayed you and now singing that she can be by herself? You tighten your fists as tears start to gather in your eyes as rage and sadness begin to cloud your mind. How can she sing that so-

No.

Before you can go any further, you mentally restrain yourself. As expected, you’re losing control over your emotions because you can see the worried look on your friend’s face as he glances over to check up on you.

“Bathroom.” You manage to utter one word before standing up and leaving your seat, and your friend behind.

“Fuck.” You swear to yourself once you enter the bathroom. Making your way to the sink, you splash your face with water in some false hope of cooling down your mind. “Get it together.” You look at your drenched face in the mirror.

 “It’s almost done, just a little bit more.” You talk to yourself in the mirror, like some madman who’s off his meds. Luckily, no one is here to judge your weird behaviour.

After a few more minutes of talking to yourself, you gather enough courage to return to your seat. But right as you leave the bathroom, you see the man in black hoodie from earlier walking by.

Now, as any normal person would do, you are going to return to the seating area to calm down an undoubtedly very worried friend. But once again, your gut feeling is telling you that this guy is bad news. And your gut feelings are usually never wrong. After all, it was your gut feeling that made you suspicious of cheating in the first place.

So, you decide to trail behind the guy, lighten your steps in order not to make any sounds. The man just keeps walking forward, his steps heavy and hurried. He’s walking with a purpose, there was a destination in mind, and you can’t help but keep following him, all the way to the backstage area.

Seeing how the guy knows how to avoid security, your suspicions are confirmed by now, but for safe measure, you kept your distance from him.

Then you heard noises, more specifically, chatter and laughter. You can recognize their voices everywhere, even if you aren’t up to date with them anymore.

Oh no.

The man starts to pick up the pace after he hears the voice heading towards a fork in the hallway, prompting you to do the same. You see him pull something out from his hoodie’s pocket. You can’t see what it is, but it’s shiny, you start sprinting after the man now.

You’re catching up to him. But he’s also getting very close to the girls, their laughter can be heard closer and closer.

Faster.

Now’s the time that you put all the efforts you made in the gym to good use. With a short burst, you catch up to the guy, and promptly crash your shoulder into him, pushing him into the wall in front of the girls just as they arrive, earning screams and yells from them. But you can’t hear them.

With the collision, the both of you fall onto the ground, the object the man was carrying seconds before fall off his hand, landing on the ground. A pocketknife.

The man glares back at you, his hood already fallen, yelling “You motherfucker!” in fluent Korean, stunning you for a brief second.

Because, you know this man.

He was the one that Hyeju cheated on with.

That brief stun period is enough for him to land a kick in your face, before scrambling for the knife. Thankfully, the pain is enough to wake your senses up, leading you to get on your knees and lunge for the man, using your entire body weight to land onto him, before your arms quickly find their way around his neck, tightening the chokehold you have on him while he struggles to break free by bashing his elbows against your ribs.

You grind your teeth and tighten the hold even further, ensuring the man has no way to escape, before you feel him going limp on your arms, and you being pulled out someone, presumably the security.

Looking at the unconscious guy, you smile faintly to yourself, maybe those Jiujitsu classes weren’t that useless after all.

Everything immediately afterwards is somewhat of a blur to you, not to mention the adrenaline subsiding and the pain kicking in. The fact that you encounter not one, but the two people responsible for betraying your trust back then and in such a situation as well.

From what you can deduce, Hyeju probably cut contact with him out of guilt, and him being constantly denied contact probably drove him crazy. Looking at the unconscious guy again, you can’t help but let out a sigh. What can you say?

Karma’s a bitch.

Although you feel a tinge of relief learning that small piece of knowledge, you still don’t particularly feel like you are in the mood to answer some questions from the security.

But you are cautious enough not to stand near the girls though, in case they recognize you because they sure did recognize the other man, as evident by Hyeju’s trembling. As happy as you are to see the girls up close again, you don’t think your heart can take any more than this, so, you take what you can get.

After a brief question, you start to head back to the seating area, your head thinking of what excuse to use for your worried friend. Before you leave though, you hear the voice of the girls calling for you, and as much as you want to just ignore them, that would be too rude of you.

“Thank you so much for helping us, mister.” Haseul speaks up for the girls.

“It’s nothing, I just did what anyone else would do.” You smile lightly.

“But your glasses were broken because of it, was it not?” Indeed, your glasses were broken, but you don’t really need glasses to function day to day and you just want to get out of here as fast as possible.

“I can still see fine, so don’t worry Miss. Instead, I think you should focus on comforting your friend over there, she seems quite shaken, no?” Your attempt to divert the conversation is a success as all the girls turn to the shaken Hyeju, talking amongst themselves before heading back, not forgetting to give you a small bow when they leave.

Except for one person though.

“Oppa.”

Shit, of course it’s Heejin. That girl has always been observant when it comes to you. But that isn’t enough for you to give up.

Keeping up with the façade of not knowing Korean, you pretend to not hear it and just keep walking. You can hear her calling you “oppa” repeatedly again. But you aren’t going to stop. The moment you cut her off, you stop being best friends. Not anymore.

“Pooh, is that you?”

Pooh.

Such a stupid name.

Yet, you stop dead in your track at the mention of that name, no one has ever called you by that in years. It was from way back in their childhood. Something your parents lovingly call you due to your chubby figure back then. Something that Heejin also called you, joyful of having another ‘victim’ being called by a nickname, after gaining the ‘Bunny’ nickname from her parents. At least, all the way up to when you started dating Hyeju, at least.

That name should have stayed buried in the past. Why did she- No, the question here should be, how did she figure you out?

“You look surprised.” Standing frozen in the spot, you can see Heejin walks into your view from behind, smiling lightly. “Did you really think that, by growing out your hair and beard, and bulking up, that I would not recognize you?”

Her eyes look up to yours, and you can see the anger, the disappointment in her eyes, but also relief and genuine joy upon seeing her best friend again. “Was our friendship really that shallow to you, Pooh?”

Guiltily, you can’t bring yourself to face her directly, your eyes diverting from her face. You’d rather look at anything else than to see her right now, if not you feel like the wall that you’ve spent years building might not collapse on the spot.

“You don’t have to say anything.” She whispers. You can see streams of tears rolling down her cheek. Your heart hurt more at the notion of Heejin crying, especially because of you. “I’m glad that I got to see you again, even if it was for a moment.” You feel her hand resting on your cheek, gently caressing it with her thumb going along the grooves of your beard.

“My goodness, you’ve really changed, haven’t you.” A small chuckle. “Goodbye, Pooh.” As you feel your palm leaving your face, you can hear the crumbling of the walls surrounding your heart. Years of steeling yourself, but all it took was just a moment with Heejin to bring it down.

“Wait.” You utter, your hand grasping onto hers to prevent her from leaving. Before she can react, you pull her into a tight hug, whispering to her. “I’m sorry, Bunny. I’m sorry.”

Taken back by your action, Heejin seems to be silent.

One second passed by.

Two seconds.

And then you can feel her body trembling as her arms try their best to hug around your huge frame, her face buried into your shoulder as she lets out choked sobs.

“How could you leave us like that? Leave me like that?” She cries into your shoulder. “Was our time together not even worth it for you?” Her grip on you turns tighter. “How could you…”

Her words are like a knife piercing your heart, you know you’ve done something wrong to her and the others. So, all you can do is try to compensate for it. There’s no turning back now, Heejin would not let you leave if you don’t leave her your phone number, and the girls are going to know about this sooner or later.

The girls… Are you ready to face Hyeju again? After all this time?

You forcefully stop yourself from thinking further. That can be dealt with later. You have a crying bunny to appease.

-----

As expected, after a good 10 minutes of crying, Heejin gave you 2 options: either give her your number, or you follow her back to her hotel. Without any real options, you reluctantly give her your number, only then was she satisfied enough to let you leave.

After that, you had to deal with the situation that was your worried friend. Thankfully, he bought your excuse of being stuck in toilet due to constipation and the both of you part way after chatting for a bit.

Which brings you to right now: lying flat on your couch, physically and emotionally exhausted from the chaotic evening. You just want to take a long, long sleep now.

Before you can even drift off to sleep, your phone begins to ring nonstop. Looks like the night isn’t over yet.

“Hello?” You pick up the phone.

“You still awake?” You can hear Heejin’s voice from the other side.

“Yeah, thanks to a certain someone calling me.”

“Hehe~ Anyways, I’m only in the city for tomorrow before heading to our next destination, can we meet?” Despite performing for around 4 hours straight, you can still feel the energy in her voice. Unconsciously, you start to smile as well, infectious of her energy. Just like old times.

“Lucky for you, I have tomorrow off, so let me sleep for now and maybe I’ll see you tomorrow.” Despite losing contact for so long, the two of you still converse like nothing ever happened. Like you were never apart. Joking and teasing like the old times.

“You better show up, you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Go get some sleep Bunny, it’s been a long evening.”

“Mhmm, see you tomorrow, Pooh.” Again, with the nickname. You feel like you’ve already outgrown it. Even your parents don’t call you that name anymore, but Heejin keeps on using it, and you don’t know why.

“Goodnight.” Deciding that it’s been long enough, you hang up first, and without even moving to the bedroom, just lay on the couch until sleep takes you.

-----

“Ah, wait!” Heejin pouts, looking at her phone. “This guy, still hanging up like that, maybe he didn’t grow that much after all.” Even while complaining, Heejin still has a smile plastered on her face.

When you left them 3 years ago, cutting off all contact, she was devastated. In one night, she lost her best friend of 20+ years, and her crush. It was with the joint effort from the rest of Loona that she is still willing to co-exist with Hyeju.

Even as groupmates, she can never forgive Hyeju for what she has done to you. Who would she side with: a groupmate of a few years, or a best friend of 20+ years? Being an idol might be her dream work, but she would never abandon you.

Ever.

And now, after years of sulking and wallowing in depression, she’s met you again with a stroke of luck. Though she can tell that you have changed a lot throughout the years, something just can’t be changed. Like how you were willing to hurt yourself to save others. Heck, you just saved the girls this evening after all.

It’s regretful that she can’t stay here for long, but now having a way to contact with you again, she will make sure to make full use of it-

“Unnie?” She turns to the open door, being caught off guard while thinking to herself. She sees Hyeju standing just outside the door. “What do you need?” Despite her best effort, Heejin’s voice still comes off as quite cold, which is understandable.

“Just now, you were talking with oppa, weren’t you?” she asks with a bit of trembling in her voice. “And it was him who saved us this evening?”

Heejin scoffs, not wanting to let Hyeju figure anything out. “Just a friend, not him.”

“But you only called one person ‘Pooh’.

Heejin’s eyes widened at that. “How much did you listen?” Hyeju turns timid at her glare. “The- the whole thing…”

Heejin faces palms herself. “And what do you want?” She isn’t trying to hide the venom in her voice anymore. “You betrayed him, twice at that. What more do you possibly want to do to him?”

Gathering her courage, Hyeju looks back at Heejin defiantly. “I want to…”

A/N 2: teehee, here’s your 5k words xD

#loona #artms #comission #male reader #son hyeju #olivia hye #jeon heejin #heejin #kpop fanfic

[bloodwrittenballad]

Rotten Work | Izzy Hands x Reader

Summary: You never break a promise

Warnings: Swearing, angst, hurt/comfort, mentions of blood and injuries, established relationship, reader is gender neutral, not proofread!! first time writing for the ol’ wet rat man, i love him

Izzy didn’t want to be seen.

Scratch that, he just didn’t want to be seen by you.

After the “incident” with Blackbeard and losing his toe, there was a shift. A major one. You could see it, the pain on his face and in his soul. Though he hid his emotions well, you could still read him like the back of your hand. You two were married, after all.

That wasn’t all though, course it wasn’t. Even after all these years spent together, going to literal hell and back you still managed to pull through every time. This time, however, it felt like Izzy was giving up. Not just on you and your relationship, but himself, as well.

It pained you greatly, knowing that the man you loved more than life itself was going through the unimaginable and you couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Because Blackbeard wouldn’t allow it.

Because Izzy wouldn’t accept it.

Time after time you tried to get him to let you in, to let you help him, countless nights spent outside his door - the cabin you once shared, before Blackbeard decided to ruin that. He forbid you from even being near Izzy. The closest you could get to him now was to sleep in the hallway, and having to put up with hearing as his soft snores turned into hushed cries when he woke up from yet another nightmare.

You couldn’t do this any longer. He, couldn’t do this any longer. Your time with Izzy had already been cut short due to being forced away from one another, and now you were worried it was going to happen permanently.

Izzy was strong, you knew that, course you did. But what would be the straw that broke the camels back? One person can only endure so much before it all becomes too much, so what would that be?

And when?

After another near sleepless night, you had to fight tooth and nail to make sure you were on deck before Blackbeard decided to make himself present for the day. And god, when he did, well… you just wished he hadn’t. Apparently the last few days you and the crew spent raiding and slaughtering any ship you could find wasn’t enough, because Blackbeard wanted more.

Hasn’t he taken enough?

To mark the matters of the day worse, the ship you raided just so happened to be a wedding. The already impossibly tight knots in your stomach worsened, as you were forced to play a pawn in his little game and tear apart what should’ve been a special day for the newlyweds. Soon, white became splattered with red as you cruelly and savagely sliced apart the bride.

And even when it was all over, you could still hear her soul shattering screams as she cried out for her lover.

You felt sick, not being able to stomach the thought of eating right now. Blackbeard decided to take the cake, now seemingly kind enough to divvy out some for the crew. No one ate any, all too tired and burnt out from the countless other slaughters from the day before. This just seemed like over kill. Heh. Literally.

The others tried making idle conversation, wanting to lighten up the atmosphere, but what could be said right now? It was all so, so… poisonous. At least, that’s how Jim put it. Yeah, was a good word for it. Man, if only you knew how badly those words would bite you in the ass later on.

Word got back to Blackbeard, as it always did.

He wasn’t too happy in what was said. Now, as you all stood before him on the deck, desperately trying not to break when he waved his gun around at the crew when he made them all go around and state that the atmosphere wasn’t poison, it was your turn.

“And you, dear little y/n Handsssss,” he dragged on your last name teasingly. So much malice, so much madness in his eyes. “Do you think the atmosphere on this ship is poison?” Gun pointed at your head, a man you once trusted behind it, the man you loved standing behind him. Izzy. Your eyes, tearful and pained, found his pleading ones. “No,” you let out a gasp, closing your eyes and letting a stray tear fall.

It felt like ages before Blackbeard got through the whole crew, but he wasn’t done yet. When you opened your eyes again, you were met with the sight of him now holding the gun up to his own chin. You looked at Izzy, who refused to look back at you.

Until he did, a fire inside of them that you hadn’t seen in a while. “Fucking end!” he yelled, and that’s when all hell broke loose. The gun went off, so loud and so deafening. Damning. Haunting. Red, a color you began to hate so deeply, starting to stain the wooden floor beneath you. And Izzy… oh, Izzy.

Oh god, you couldn’t breathe. Izzy, now laying on the deck, screaming in pain and bleeding, so close and yet so far from you. The next few moments of your life went by in a blur, and yet you felt like you were moving in slow motion.

You’re not sure who helped you down below deck, you just remembered someone gently scooping you up into their arms as they followed where Izzy was taken to.

And that’s where you where now, where you have been for what felt like days now. His hand was tightly clutched in yours, the grip you had never wavering, even when Izzy was in and out of consciousness, muttering widely and thrashing about.

Your presence and loyalty never wavered, either. Not even when he finally came to, for real, and wouldn’t look you in the eye. Too afraid to find judgement or resentment in your eyes, but those are feelings you would never know how to feel towards him, anyways.

“Iz, please,” you tried to plea. Over and over. You needed him to talk to you, needed to hear his voice. But he just… wouldn’t. He couldn’t. It was bad enough that you had to see him like this, so how the hell was he supposed to keep himself composed and not break into pieces if he trusted himself to talk?

“Izzy, please, just… talk to me.” your voice was so quiet, so gentle, but the pain was there. He couldn’t just hear it, he could feel it too. Your pain was his pain, and his pain yours. The both of you were hurting, for reasons both the same and not.

Hell, Izzy realizes. He’s putting you through hell.

“My love, please. Please,” you cried. The grip you had was beginning to falter, showing him just how tired you really were. He kept his eyes down, off and away from you. His chest rose up and down, tense with the words he wanted to say but didn’t know how. Maybe you’ll get so fed and and just leave him there to rot, as he deserved. He put you all through this mess, you didn’t need to be the one cleaning it up…

But you, being you, stubborn and hardheaded as always, weren’t going to give up so easily. He thought maybe you were, when you released your hand from his, standing up in the meantime. He closed his eyes, thinking this is it. You were going to walk out that door, where you’d never enter from again, leaving him alone to hide in the guilt and shame he felt.

Instead, gentle but firm hands cupped his cheeks, the warmth of them making Izzy open his eyes and meet yours. Finally. You looked down at your, with love and worry and… fire. “Now, you listen here, Izzy Hands. I know, okay, I know it hurts. But it’s me, you can trust me. You have to trust me, Iz. I’m here, I’m here and I love you and I’m not going to leave, even if you want me to. I am here, and so are you… and god damn it, it’s been forever since it’s been just the two of us. We’re safe, we’re okay. You’re okay. You’re safe, I promise. I’ll take care of you, I just… I need you to let me. Let me take care of you, please.”

Izzy lets out a shuddering breath, his eyes never once leaving yours as he replays the words, “you’re safe,” and “i’ll take care of you.” that was supposed to be his job, he was supposed to say that to you. Yes, you were married and yes it was a promise you both made, but he was Izzy fucking Hands, he was supposed to be the protector.

“Izzy,” you stated again, your voice still gentle but firm. Izzy’s tired, teary eyes met yours. He looked so fragile, even more so as you placed your hand on his. “I’ll take care of you,” you promised. Izzy whimpered, “you shouldn’t have to, its rotten work.” he all but whimpered, his face heavy and scrunched in pain. A part of your heart cracked upon hearing the words, because he sounded so defeated.

You shook your head, stroking his hand with your thumb. “Not to me,” you said with finality in your voice. “not if it’s you…”

Izzy’s eyes found yours once more, hating the way your voice cracked when you said that. The walls Izzy began to build up high were slowly but surely coming down, his reluctancy to let you aid him diminishing by the second. “okay,” he said softly, a ghost of a smile on his lips. A smile meet yours as well, “okay.” you nod, hand still in his as you raise it to your lips in a gentle kiss.

“We will get through this, Izzy. I promise. I meant it when I said in sickness and health.”

“I know.” Izzy replied, “and you never break a promise.”

#izzy hands #izzy hands x reader #izzy hands fic #omfd fic #omfd x reader #our flag means death x reader

[wheresmymilliondollarman]

aaron warner x ferrars! reader pt. 4

(continuation from part three)

who knew running a new country was so hard? spoiler alert: apparently everyone but you and your sister. your asylum days never looked so simple.

a/n: hi… i’m back 🔥🔥 i’d like to start by apologizing for the stupid long wait. it was unfair to my readers and i swear i had no intention to leave people waiting. i genuinely forget sometimes people really like my writing </3 and i truly am grateful to the people who read. let’s jus say i have been busy and yet so unmotivated for the littlest things. i won’t bore w the details i’m sure y’all are jus happy i finally posted part 4. again REALLY sorry for the wait and pls enjoy. also now adding borders to my fics (ill edit the old ones too)

word count: 9k

warnings: few plot changes, fights and feuds, violence and blood mention, castle slander, angst, buzzcut aaron 😣😣😣

things were finally looking up for the rebellion. you'd manage to overthrow the supreme commander and his army, the reestablishment no longer ruled over your part of the land - making it open to new possibilities of government.

you never wished you paid attention in your social studies classes until now.

there were so many regulations you had to learn, matters you had to discuss, and, of course, the never-ending paperwork. your least favorite part. it didn't help you were behind on learning the fancy terminology for topics. 'can't people ever just say what they mean?'

juliette's optimism for being a leader was diminishing every time she had to meet with castle on strategy. he poorly disguised his disapproval of leadership upon every encounter.

but you learned to ignore it along the way. it wasn't as if he was ever the perfect leader either, plus you'd get the gist of the whole leadership thing soon. you silently prayed.

in the midst of all the responsibilities, you had to keep aaron from killing kenji most of the time. they were originally getting on somewhat friendly enough terms, but that was before the incident occurred.

that day, kenji barged in with urgency into your room as you were looking over papers. he went on to say there was a 'serious' problem, and you worriedly assumed it had to do with the reestablishment. but it instead involved your boyfriend.

"seriously kenji? i thought we were under attack or someone died!"

"someone will die if you don't handle your boyfriend right now. hopefully better than you've been handling being supreme comm-" kenji was cut off by the click of a gun.

"i dare you to finish your sentence."

with the barrel to his head, kenji quickly defended his words with the barrel to his head. aaron and him bickered back and forth. kenji turned to you for help, but all you did was shrug and mouth 'karma.' then he hit kenji's head with said gun.

"okay, that's enough, can someone explain to me what the issue is here?"

"this is the issue." aaron then turned to reveal chunks of different sizes along the back of his head. you gasp at his ruined hair.

"oh my god, kenji what the hell did you do?"

"i gave him a trim just like he asked!"

this made another argument burst out between the two. kenji denying his mistake and aaron picking the gun back up and threatening to kill him.

"aaron put the gun down."

aaron reluctantly does so, but his glare at kenji doesn't drop.

"phew, thanks, princess."

"kenjii since you "trimmed" warner's hair, i think it's only fair that he does the same to yours." you proclaim.

kenji looks toward you in horror, "no way!"

aaron wastes no time in going to the bathroom and returning with a razor. he gives him a terrifying smile, "i'm only going to trim the edges."

kenji bolted out of the room a second later, complaining about favoritism on the way out.

aaron ended up having no choice but to shave the rest of his hair, leaving him with a military-style buzz cut. you would mourn the longer hair, but truthfully, it did nothing to tarnish his looks.

sector 45, after sending several invitations, finally received a rvsp for an international leadership conference held at your sector. from oceania, is what delalieu told you and juliette.

you started to come to the realization about the lack of history you knew about warner. sure, you knew him deeply now, but you knew so little about his past. castle made it evident when he mentioned to you and juliette his possible connection to oceania's leaders. castle, annoyingly, did not disclose anymore and insisted aaron needed to be the one to tell. yet, he judged how little you both knew about oceania.

warner being immersed into his work left little time for that. while aaron had been helpful in your learning some etiquettes, he'd been closing off his emotions since he father's death. even after many attempts of trying to get him to open up, he vowed he was okay. you had a slim to none chance of prying information about oceania from him.

you felt lost and angry. for being supreme commanders, you and juliette seemed to be almost always out of the loop. castle regarded you as experiments, seeing how two naive teenage girls could survive being leaders. the rest of the world wasn't any different.

you offered the idea of just reading castle's mind, but juliette thought it could lead to mistrust toward you. she believed you both needed to remain calm for the moment, which is what you have done so far. but you were getting a bit bitter playing nice for so long.

at times you felt juliette left you of the leadership issues. she insisted to be the one to tackle meetings and discussion with castle, she sometimes gave answers before even discussing it with you, and even delalieu seemed to report everything to her first before it got to you. you would never bring it up, and just wrote it off as her still getting the hang of everything. but in the back of your mind you worried it was only a foreshadow.

on the way to see the new headquarters, castle rushed to you. he begged you and juliette to reconsider taking warner with you to greet the guest downstairs. you had no clue what he was on about, but played along and told him warner wasn't needed. you quickly caught on to the situation.

you rushed back to your room, put on what you deemed appropriate clothing and freshened up your hair and face. you were still putting on your shoes when you left.

on the way, you thought about how odd it was juliette didn't even bother to inform you. even if you were busy, you both had pagers to contact one another for important events such as this one.

you hear sounds of greetings as you approach the reception. you luckily hadn't missed out on much.

you see kenji along side juliette and feel a pang of betrayal. juliette was subtly shocked and kenji was confused to see you. but you cover it up with a smile as you turn to see the guest.

"apologies for my delay, i was held up with some prior matters." you hold a hand out, "it's a pleasure to meet you, i'm y/n."

the guest introduces himself as haider, and you can't help but notice a glint of recognition as he looks you over.

but that was forgotten as you came to find out haider wasn't aware of the fact sector 45 had another supreme commander as it wasn't mentioned on the invitation. you told him it must've been a mistake, but you threw a questioning glance to juliette.

you felt yourself get lost as the meeting when on. haider didn’t make it discreet he knew warner very well. he made a brief comment on his relationship with the other supreme commander children.

“i’ve got to say, when i first heard about warner being involved with a girl — i had strong doubts. he has never been the relationship type. unless you count lena. oh, but i’m sure you know all about her by now. they were together for almost two-years after all.”

you had no idea who lena was, but you had a strong sense you wouldn’t like the answer. haider had obviously knew this, and faked ignorance with his comment.

“oh. he hasn’t mentioned his ex-girl friend?”

your heart dropped. you glanced at kenji and juliette from the side of your eyed and they held the same face of surprise. you did your best to remain unphased with a polite smile.

“must’ve just not been important enough to discuss. like right now. i’d prefer if we got back on track of the topic instead of digging into my personal relations.”

if haider was impressed or offended he didn’t show and shifted subjects. you tried your best to listen in as juliette spoke with him about dinner, but the thought of warner having an ex-girlfriend floated around in your mind for the rest of the meeting.

the second haider left the room, and you all burst into a discussion for the next step. dinner would be in less than an hour, and you were still filled in with little to no information about haider and his intentions. you knew the next step would be for you to talk to aaron about it, but you weren’t sure you could be alone with him with this newfound information about his past. you got juliette and kenji to come along with you to question him under the excuse that it would be easier than relaying whatever he told you.

before you three could do that, you didn’t forget their actions before this meeting. you knew it would be the worst time to discuss especially with how limited time was, but you spoke without thinking when you saw juliette heading towards the door.

“why didn’t you tell me about this meeting?”

she sighs and brushes you off saying it wasn’t the most important subject right now. but you already begin, so you thought you might as well get some answers, and pushed her for an explanation.

“we’re suppose to be in this together, how could you leave me in the dark—”

“because i didn’t think you could handle it, and quite frankly, castle agreed with me.”

“what?” you were dumfounded by her response.

“you’ve been so unruly lately, and i get it doing this whole supreme commander thing has been challenging — but i couldn’t afford anything with this meeting.”

“unruly? just because i don’t want to listen to every little thing castle says. news flash, he’s made it quite clear he doesn’t support us leading sector 45.”

“he knows far more than us, we should take what he says wisely.”

“j has a point y/n, castle has a lot of experience—” kenji intercepts.

“shut up! you’re just as guilty as juliette. i thought we were friends and then you help juliette hide this meeting from me!” you spit at kenji.

he stays silent, for once. but it says more than enough for you. you turn your bitterness back to your sister.

“was it his idea to only put down you as the supreme commander on the invitations, too?”

“yes.” she reluctantly admits. “castle wasn’t sure if the idea of two supreme commanders would go well over with orher sectors. i swear, y/n, i only found out once they were already sent.”

you didn’t care for reasoning. you were angry at it all. “i agreed to do this for you! it was you wanted us to do this together! ”

“and maybe i’m starting to regret that.”

your face dropped. juliette’s eyes widened as she realized the weight of her words. but it was too late to apologize.

you scoff, “alright. fine. go ahead and do it yourself. go and question warner about haider yourself and talk to castle and beg for his help for dinner. because i’m done being supreme commander. but it’s not like i ever was, right?”

you can’t help but leave a final comment before you stalk out the door, “you know what’s funny? i found out about the meeting because castle wanted me to tell you to not do it on your own, to bring warner, he said. guess you’re unruly to him too.”

with limited options of locations juliette, kenji, or warner wouldn’t be able to find you, you had to resort to being hiding in your old room you were once held captive in.

now less clouded by anger, you facepalmed yourself. perhaps just quitting being supreme commander had been a rash decision. you weren’t even quite sure if you could just quit like that. but you would rather be jobless than take back your words to juliette.

maybe she was right, you are quite unruly. but you had no plans to admit it to her.

you thought back to aaron. you wanted his comfort, but you still were upset about the ex-girlfriend situation. even if you said it was important, you had somewhat of a right to know when your boyfriend was in a past relationship.

you hated how castle was right about how much you lack knowledge about aaron’s history. and you know you should probably be there with kenji and juliette talking to aaron, but you were too prideful, and a little embarrassed to do so.

so you collected yourself as made your way back to your room (taking twists and turns to avoid anyone you didn’t want to see) to prepare yourself mentally and physically for the dinner to come.

unfortunately for you, aaron was sitting on your bed waiting for your return when you stepped into the room. you we’re unsure on how to greet him since he likely was informed about earlier events through juliette and kenji.

“oh my god, you scared me.”

“my apologies, amor. but i had to see you after you you didn’t arrive with kenji and juliette when they went to ask me about haider.”

you went into your closet as he spoke from your bed, picking out a nice dress for dinner. “got into a fight with them and it didn’t end well. then i dramatically quit being supreme commander.” you explained nonchantly.

he was taken aback, “you quit? just like that?”

“yeah.” you confirm walking out the closet with a lilac dress on arm, “you think this’ll be good enough, or it it too much?”

“you’ll look astonishing as always. but don’t change the topic, what happened to that headstrong nature of yours i admire? you can’t just give up after a silly fight.”

you groan, and toss the dress on tour bef next to him, “i really don’t want to talk about it right now. can’t you just tell me what shoes go with this dress?”

“amor.” aaron stands up and interwines his hands in yours, “please don’t shut me out.”

you bitterness rose back up at his words and you drop aaron’s hands. “that’s ironic coming from you.”

“amor, please don’t pick a fight with me.”

“castle once told me i didn’t know you as well as i thought. and he’s right, aaron. any mention of your past and you close right up.”

aaron sighs, “i’m not an open person, you know this. it’s harder for me to talk about my personal life than it is for you. but i mean it when i say i am trying for you.”

“really? then why didn’t you even bother to mention you knew haider. or how about the fact you have an ex-girlfriend! you know how embarrassing it was for someone from a different continent to tell you more than you knew about your boyfriend?”

“lena?” he asks furrowing his brows. “she was barely a girlfriend. haider likely only mentioned her to rile you up and it’s working, so please calm down.”

“oh my god. there you go again! you want to just sweep it under the rug, and i’m tired of it. all i want is a little more openness from you.”

“i have been open, there’s no one closer to my heart than you. please understand that just certain subject are—“

“hard to talk about, yeah i’ve got that.” you exasperated. “i just think it’s important to mention a two-year relationship.”

“it was purely physical.”

your heart stings. “so, physical relationships just mean nothing to you? everything physical we’ve shared hasn’t meant anything to you?”

“that’s not what i meant. i was different back then!”

you turn around, “just go warner. i’d like to be alone right now before dinner.”

aaron didn’t anything else, he knew your word was final. not because of his sense of your emotions, but by the fact you used his last name.

in less than an hour you managed to fight with every person close to you. and you had to see said people at dinner in less than ten minutes. somehow, you blamed castle for your luck.

delalieu knocked on your door to escort you to dinner. you weren’t sure of aaron had told him to or perhaps he had pity that you would be entering alone. either way you were happy to walk with someone you weren’t upset with.

luckily, you had arrived before the guests did. but unluckily, kenji, juliette, and aaron were already there. your usual spot was next to aaron and infront of juliette, kenji sometimes next to you or her. but juliette sat at the head of the table now, kenji to her right and aaron to her left. you had no choice but to awkwardly sit next to warner due to the limited seating. plus you’d rather not show haider theres issues amongst you four.

kenji and juliete silently conversed, your sister ignored you fully while kenji glimpsed at you with a small frown. you could feel aaron turn in your direction, but your gaze focused on the empty seat next to you.

haider arrived shortly, greeted aaron first with a hug, one aaron was visibly discomforted by. then discreetly spoke, both using arabic tongues. which none of you knew he had. ypu almost choke on nothing as he casually reveals aaron know seven languages. the rest of you greeted him curtly, and he took a seat in front of you.

haider wasn’t the only guest at the dinner, his sister nazeera showing up was a bit of a surprise to the rest of you.

nazeera is gorgeous, with her smooth carmel complexion, dark eyes and strong features. her face held diamonds percing; two on her eyebrow and one below her lip. she wore a wrap that covered her whole hair, and it did nothing to lessen her beauty — it enhanced it.

she stared at juliette before she turned to you. you were unsure of the expression she held, and part of you wanted to just find out yourself, but you knew better.

both you and juliette stood up to greet her, and she accepted politely. she gave aaron a mere nod then proceeded to sit down next to you, instead of her brother. but if anything it gave you more of a reason to not talk to the people beside you.

aaron started the conversation about her scraf, but kenji was the one who made an offhanded comment regarding her head scarf, which you learned was called a hijab, claiming it was banned to wear them since it was stabled with religion. nazeera didn’t shy away from answering, she stood her stance and didn’t care for reestablishment rules despite being a supreme commander’s daughter.

nazeera has a sharp tongue and kenji was not prepared for it. you tried to hide you smile as kenji got more flustered with his words. she was highly more likable than her brother.

“are all the other supreme commander kids like this?” you ask her.

“only the ones who aren’t insufferable.” she stands up from her seat, “so, no,” she tells you with a wink. nazeera then announces her departures and leaves the dining table.

you had a good feeling about her. and even though you and juliette were at odds, you knew she also admired nazeera already.

aaron and kenji bickered a bit before haider bid his goodbyes. aaron took the liberty of escorting him to his quarters. a job that likely should’ve been done by you or juliette, but frankly, you didn’t like the guy much to care.

now juliette, kenji, and you sat in an awkward silence. part of you wanted to mend things with your sister, but majority of you felt she should take the first step. kenji looked ready to say something, but held his tongue.

you figured it was the most you’ll get, so you mumbled a goodbye and headed off to your room.

half way there, you stopped. even if you felt you were the one in the right, you were ready to make the first move if it meant rehashing things with your sister and best friend. you rerouted back to the dining room.

before you could enter, you heard talking. you peeked through the slit of the open door and saw nazeera, juliette, and kenji talking.

suddenly, and ugly feeling boiled in your stomach. seeing them all conversing (mainly juliette and nazeera because kenji was mixing his words) made you realize how perfect the three looked together. almost natural. it made you think of how easy it would be to replace you. nazeera would be the one teasing and messing with kenji. nazeera would be the sister you imagined juliette wished she had instead — one who was confident, witted, and courageous. everything you lacked these days.

maybe they just didn’t need you nearly as much as you needed them.

you couldn’t even place your vexation on nazeera. you just met her today, and she was already someone you knew was amazing as she presented herself.

you never entered the dining room. you left before anyone could notice you dejectedly walking away.

the following morning wasn’t better. delalieu knocked on your just as the sun was starting to rise, your restless sleep did nothing to help wake you up. he informed you you’d been invited to accompany haider, and nazeera would likely be joininng. you nodded, thanked him, and sent him on his way.

as soon as the door closed, you grabbed the nearest pillow and screamed into it. haider was already being a pain, and it was his second day.

worst part was, delalieu failed to mention haider had also invited others.

you were unpleasantly surprised to see all three of the people you quarreled with arriving after you.

you weren’t sure who to walk aside. but on instinct you stood next to aaron before you could remember your vendetta. juliette was on one side of haider and you were on the other. nazeera and kenji followed closely behind.

it was unbearably silent the first few steps, there wasn’t a word uttered. the tension would’ve needed a axe to cut.

you couldn’t help but peek at aaron from the side of your eye. you quickly looked forward when you accidentally made eye contact. he sighed quietly after. you hated how badly you had to clench your fist to prevent yourself from latching it onto his.

haider broke the silence. he asked warner if he would be attending the continental symposium. you and juliette only knew briefly about it. no one ever mentioned the nature of the event to either of you.

but when juliette inferred haider about it, you both realized how big the event was.

“i wasn’t sure whether you’d both attend since the late supreme commander anderson has never attended public gathering.”

“we’ll both very much be there.” you add in quickly.

“of course, we aren’t hiding from the world,” juliette adds in, “when will it be?”

haider’s eye slightly widened as if she asked an incredulous question. but it made sense after he revealed it would be in two days. he innocently answered, but you knew he was satisfied having caught juliette off guard.

“it’s really my fault for that. juliette’s been so diligent with managing all other issues i thought it would be better if i took it off her shoulder’s and handled it. but silly me, i’d forgotten to keep her posted on the date.”

you jumped in with an excuse to defend your sister because even if you two weren’t on good terms, you wouldn’t let someone try to toy with her.

juliette looks to you grateful for the help, and you give her a small smile in return.

aaron added in, “she’s right, we’re finalizing the program with delalieu today, who is hard at work planning the details.”

you give his hand a tight squeeze as a ‘thank you’. but as you try to let go, aaron’s hand engulfs your tightly to stop you. you try to wiggle your hand a little, but eventually it it be.

you bite the inside of your cheek to keep you from smiling.

aaron asks haider for his plans during the remainder of his stay. he mentions catching up with old friends then goes on to say juliette and you must’ve received numerous invitations from the other kids of supreme commanders.

“we haven’t gotten the whole group together in far too long,” haider says.

you raise a brow, “whole group? just how many of you are there?”

suddenly everyone stops as haider’s demeanor goes from unauthentic sincerity to ice cold. it almost scares you.

he harshly grabs aaron’s arm,wretching your hands apart, and pulls him forward. haider asks angrily if he’s shared little to nothing about ‘them’ with you.

“you turn your back on us for this — this child? how stupid could you be? you have to know it won’t end well, i promise you that.”

“hey! let go.” you protest.

haider scoffs and ignores you. “i thought it couldn’t be true you’d fallen for a psychotic girl’s insignificant freak sister. i defended you, just to find out it all true. what the hell happened to you?”

you’d had enough shoved him away with your gift, hard enough to cause him to stumble back a little.

haider was stunned by the sudden force then notices the red aura from your hand.

“what did you just do?”

you shrug, “how could a child like me do something? but if you touch him like that again you’ll end up just like the last supreme commander. i promise you that.”

“is that a threat?”

“why don’t you find out?”

haider laughs, almost delighted by the fact you threatened to basically kill him. everyone else unintentionally lets out a breathe they didn’t know they were holding, especially juliette who had been ready to intervene.

haider requested to speak with aaron alone, promising to keep his hands to himself. you and aaron shared a look, and you knew he’d be alright. he gives you a smile that was made for you, and you return it.

the fight from the say before was long forgotten. you knew no matter how many fights you’d have, you’d do almost anything for him.

part of you still hoped for a grand apology, but this would be more than enough. now, you hoped to eventually make amends with the other two.

you walked off, not quite sure the destination. you figured you might as well go on a walk yourself since the planned one got disrupted. but a hand grabbed your arm to stop you.

“hey, uhm,” it’s juliette’s voice, “do you think we could talk? i mean..later because we’re all so busy and obviously you have stuff to do-“

“yeah.” you smile, “i’d like that.”

you both share heartfelt grins. you wave at kenji and nazeera from your spot and walk back toward the base. this time, with a happier kick in your step.

a good few steps in — you felt it, an abrupt change in the environment. it was almost too eerie, and you realized there was no one in sight, not even the guards who are meant to follow you from a generous distance.

you came to the conclusion it was no accident when the first shot punctured your shoulder. the second through your side.

you scream in agony to as you attempt to flee from the open, but more bullets ensue. you manage to block a few with your energy, but the pain was painful enough to leave some to hit your busy, such as your thigh. but the one that made you topple over was a bullet near the chest, in almost the same spot anderson once shot you.

you managed to block it before it was a fatal hit, but it hit you enough to be painful and draw blood.

you were half conscious, the world foggy and blurry in your eyes. you felt someone approach you and kneel down to tower over your defenseless body. a sudden pressure on your neck woke you up enough to understand this person was choking you to kill you.

you used whatever energy you had left to try and push the person off of you. the lack of oxygen and the increase of black spots made it hard for you to focus on pushing the person off.

your adrenaline kicked in to created enough power to get the man off of you. as soon as he groan in pain, you started to feebly crawl away from the perpetuator. your blood likely dragging on the concrete now. but they composed fast, and grabbed onto your ankle. you fid what you could and grabbed the nearest rock and hit them on the head with it. but ir wasn’t enough to stop them from grabbing you again.

at that point you were worn out, too tired to even move a muscle. the loss of blood was starting to make you woozy, and the bullets seemed far more painful than you remembered. you couldn’t register you were on the verge of death.

but the pressure on your neck never returned. instead came the noises of violent punches and broken bones. a new person crouched beside you, you knew they meant you no harm as they assessed your wounds and chanted assuring words.

in your deliriousness, you babbled on about how they looked like your friend kenji, one whom you fought with and missed so much.

“i’m sure your friend misses you too.” kenji responds, doing his best to keep you awake.

you blacked when another person, stronger than the first, carefully carried you and rushed toward the base.

in the medical bay, you were in and out of consciousness. you remember sara and sonya hurriedly tending you, kenji freaking out in the back, and aaron worriedly beside you. your first thought was, ‘where’s juliette?’

unbeknownst to you at the time, juliette was getting her wounds treated as well. she had been shot too, but not nearly as fatal as you. she was caught off guard alone as well, but her attacker only aimed to disable her. nazeera had been near by when she heard the commotion and saved her.

juliette was shot moments before you, and aaron believed it was worked as a distraction so your assailant could successfully kill you.

kenji was the one to find you. after juliette had been injured, he went to find you and arrived in the nick of time.

it took almost two days before you could wake up fully without passing out every minute. the first face you saw was aaron — who was already at your beside, holding your hand tightly — almost like he was praying.

when he noticed you’d woken up, his face became relaxed. he pecked you on the lips before badgering you with questions about your state. you assured him you were alright, and had to repeat it over and over.

your body still ached greatly due to the poison laced in the bullets sara and sonya explained to you. your wounds were healed, but there were still possibility of hallucinations from the poison.

after asking for your sister, sara had informed you of her situation, but quickly told you she was alright after seeing your worried eyes.

the culprits had been caught and sent to the holding cells, but they had refused to cooperate. meaning there was zero information on who was behind both your attacks.

aaron was monitoring you intently, when you sat up he rushed to help. he hadn’t stopped holding onto you since you woke up, as if you’d disappear if he let go. his eyes were red-rimmed, but you didn’t comment on it.

you felt bad for giving him a near-death scare again, and berated yourself for leaving yourself vulnerable. even worse, since your sister had also been hurt. aaron put the blame on himself for leaving you unattended.

no matter what you said, warner seemed distraught. his eyes told you there was more to the issue, he was holding back. as he remembered what the issue was, he grew distant. his grip on your hand loosened.

“is everything okay?”

“as long as you’re okay, amor.” he smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “i have to speak with you about something.”

“about what?”

“not here. let’s get you out of here and cleaned up before we talk.”

you nod. you were more than ready to get out the the med bay. your thoughts went to the coming symposium, with you and juliette being temporarily mia, there was likely a plethora of things still needed to get done.

you were happy to finally get a chance to shower. the grime and blood were now down the drain. once done, you changed and went back into your room where aaron was waiting.

before he could get a word in, you embraced him tightly, and he didn’t hesitate to hold you. after almost dying, you just wanted the comfort of aaron. kenji would call you crazy for putting ‘comfort’ and ‘aaron’ in the same sentence.

you kiss him, after what’s felt like forever. it’s not fiery or rushed, but deliberate and emotional. everything was gone from your surrounding for a moment, it was just the two of you. you felt safe. but then aaron pulled away from you, and held onto your hands.

“amor, i need to tell you something. it’s important.” his eyes are looking at everywhere but you.

“you can tell me anything.” you reassure.

he takes a deep breath, running a hand through his blonde hair. your nerves begin to spike, you’ve never seen aaron so hesitant to speak, he’s almost scared.

“i’ll start from the beginning.”

and he did. he told you the start of the reestablishment, their campaigns, ideals, and plans to take over. then, he shifts to the ‘unnatural’s’ and how after they were discovered, they were exploited by the reestablishment.

aaron tells you about two girls who were willingly given over to the reestablishment to be experimented and tested on. you were getting confused on where the conversation was going.

“aaron, why are you explaining all this?”

“because one of those girls is juliette.”

you didn’t know what to say, you were thrown into a loop you still weren’t fully comprehending.

“i don’t understand..”

“the parents you lived with weren’t your biological ones. y/n, you’re both adopted.”

your reality was warped in a matter of seconds. you never felt connected to your ‘parents’, but finding out you came from a different family?

“w-wait… so the people juliette and i lived with for almost our entire lives aren’t our parents?” aaron nods.

“so where are our biological parents? are they alive? wait… who’s the other girl you mentioned before?”

your head was jumbled up, you were trying to get so many answering at once while still trying to process.

aaron closes his eyes for a second before the green is visible again. “that other girl is juliette’s sister. but it’s not you, amor. you and juliette are not biologically related.”

you were frozen, as if time itself had stopped. you free from aaron’s hands and distance yourself. everything had change.

aaron keeps speaking, saying he only knew of juliette’s real sister and parents and sister until recently. castle was the one who told him the information to put the pieces together. castle was the one who urged him to tell you because the reestablishment was was coming, very soon.

“there was no record of you before you were adopted, i had always assumed it was only juliette adopted. it was only after you came here and i ran your dna, along with juliette’s, did i find yours different from your parents.”

juliette wasn’t actually your sister. the parents and girl you grew up with aren’t related to you at all. everytime you talked to aaron about were grateful for juliette as a sister, he knew the truth the whole time.

it took you five minute of speak again. you didn’t care for the rest at the moment, you still had to have another question of yours answered.

“if juliette’s biological parents work for the reestablishment, where are mine?”

“i swear, i had no idea-“

“please. just tell me.”

the more you heart, the more your heart shatters. to stay and watch over sector 45 while his father left to the capital, anderson had him prove himself. it started with emmaline, juliette’s real sister. he was in charge of her imprisonment and torture. but then his father sent him one more task before he was supreme commander.

anderson transported a man and woman to sector 45, aaron was commanded to get information, by any means, out of them. it went on for a year, until anderson saw no value in keeping them anymore.

his father ordered a public execution, and aaron did as he was told. only when finding a journal of his father just hours before you woke up did he get the identity of those people. your parents.

it was the final straw to send you spiraling. you don’t know if you got on the floor or started yelling first. aaron knelt down next to you, trying to soothe you, but it was only making it worse.

you don’t even feel the tears are running down your face. aaron apologizes over and over saying, no matter how many times you told him to stop. you could only keep saying ‘why?’ over and over.

‘why did you keep this from me?’

‘why didn’t you tell me sooner?’

when aaron tried holding you, you roughly shoved him away. his touch no longer felt loving. instead, it became poisonous.

“don’t touch me.”

“amor, please. i love you, so much.”

“you don’t know how to love anyone. you’re a fucking coward.”

the room was suffocating you. you felt trapped and had to get out of there. you got up and booked it out the door, not stopping when aaron called out your name.

you keeping running and let your legs guide you to your destination. the moment you spotted the white door, you came to a halt.

you barge in with no warning, startling the two people in the room. you take big step toward your target and, without hesitation, you slap castle.

“oh my god— what the hell, y/n!”

kenji’s presence does nothing to stop you, “did you have your kicks keeping secrets from us this entire time?”

castle sighs, now unphased by your violence, “i assume warner told you.”

“we trusted you! and all you did was keep us in the dark about our own fucking life!”

“what the hell is going on?”

“does juliette know?”

“i talked to her not long before warner went to you.”

‘oh god,’ you thought. you worried that was the reason juliette has lacked to see you since you’ve woken up.

“miss ferrars, it was not my intention to cause pain to your or your sis— juliette.”

his error struck a nerve, “no, but it was your intention to be a liar and snake, screw you.”

you stormed out in a rage, not before doing a 180 on castle’s desk. you hoped he’d have the worst time cleaning up.

you ran. out of his office and out of the compound. away from it all. you finally stopped after being knee-deep into a forest.

not caring for your surroundings, you sat down on the nearest large rock. it was then you realized how much energy you exhausted. you took in deep breaths to regain your breathing stability. the oxygen filled your lung helped to calm you down for the first time in the past hour.

with no one around, you finally had the time to think straight without anger and despair clouding your judgement. you weren’t even sure if you could exhaust anymore tears.

but it turned out you did. going through the events of the past hour, didn’t help with processing as you thought it would. it only made you relive the heart-ache.

took half an hour to calm down your sobbing. but it was oddly comforting doing it in a place no one would hear you.

you decided didn’t wanna focus on everything you learned. not on aaron. not on being adopted. not on juliette not being your sister. not on your parents being dead before you got the chance to meet them.

you focused on what you could control — the coming continental symposium. it would be in less than a day. you had nothing prepared, not even attire; much less a speech.

you had no idea how you could show up and presume your personality from before. how could you face the supreme commander kids in a state like this? your thoughts wondered to juliette on what her plan would be. but then it hit you; how was juliette handling it?

when you thought about it, you hadn’t seen her all day. she didn’t see you when you woke up, nor before you and aaron talked. she likely didn’t take this news lightly, especially regarding her sister.

thinking about juliette having a sister, that wasn’t you, was painful. your bond wouldn’t be the same. you weren’t blood, juliette no longer had a reason to stand by your side.

despite telling yourself not to, you thought back to warner. his betrayal hurt deeper than castle’s. how could you trust him again? you couldn’t. it was over.

time passed like nothing being amongst nature. the once light blue sky, turned orange with pink hues, signaling the end of the day. you knew you couldn’t hide forever. you had to find juliette.

if your theory was right then juliette was not in her room. you brainstormed possible locations when you bumped into kenji.

“y/n? thank god, everyone’s been worried about where you went, and juliette—“

“where juliette? i need to see her now.”

“y/n… warner told me everything. i know it must be hard for you both, but i think typu both need some spac—“

you snap, “just tell me where she is kenji!”

“she’s not in the best state.”

“take me to her. now.”

kenji reluctantly leads you to the door of anderson’s office. when you saw it was locked, you pounded on the wood relentlessly.

“c’mon, let’s just go.” kenji persists.

“juliette! open the door!”

“go away.”

“juliette, please let me in. i wanna talk.”

“i don’t wanna speak to you.”

“well, i do.”

“you’re not my real sister, so leave me alone!”

“fine,” you scoff, “hopefully you treat your new sister a lot better than your treating me right now.”

“fuck you.”

“fuck you too!” you throw back.

“…bad time to say i told you so?”

you rolled your eyes at kenji’s remark and walk away. your anger resurged, and you needed somewhere to blow off steam. training room had been unfortunate to be your victim.

when you saw no one in sight, you took it as a sign to proceed. in a matter of seconds, objects where tossed across the room through your levitation. weights were scattered, some broken, benches were bent out of shape, even a few treadmills weren’t so kindly spared. you’d feel bad about the damage later, but it felt so good in that moment to get angry.

it was dark outside when your adrenaline was closing to nothing. your only had energy to sit on a mat laid across the floor. you figured you’d take a quick power nap before going back to your room to sleep.

as soon as you closed you eyes, you were passed out. you’d hadn’t realized just how much of your energy you exerted.

aaron warner was getting back from his debriefing with delalieu, when the open door of the training room caught his eyes.

he was more than dismayed to see the damage done to what once was the training center. he was irritated that he’d have to replace basically all equipment. aaron assumed there was violent fight that happened, but then his eyes fell upon your form sleeping soundly on the floor.

now, he was more impressed than annoyed at the damage done. he would’ve been slightly proud of he wasn’t the reason for you to lash out so brutally.

aaron picked up your limp body in his arms, and carried you off to bed; taking advantage of holding you again. because he wasn’t sure the next time he’d be able to.

you were disoriented after waking up in your room, wondering how you ended up in your room when you’d fell asleep in the training room. you threw the possibly of sleeping walking to bed in, but then decides you didn’t care much for finding out.

it had been much later than you anticipated, and you were surprised no one woke you up. you dressed swiftly and headed out the door, despite a dreading feeling brewing in your gut.

first stop was to find delalieu, who actually found you first. he informed you the arrival of the newest guests and listened as he listed name. you stopped when he uttered the word ‘lena.’

“lena? as in warner’s ex-girlfriend?”

delalieu says nothing, but his eyes are looking at the ground. ‘so that’s a yes.’

great, you thought. you broke up less than twenty four hours ago and his ex already shows up.

then delalieu tells you juliette is already greeting guests, so your presence is not mandatory. he likely knows all of yesterday’s events, including your fight with her, so he’s likely trying to prevent conflict before the symposium.

a stronger person would’ve bitten the bullet and showed up anyway. but you weren’t that stronger person today. you would take to chance to avoid people you didn’t wanna see at any point.

perhaps it was a coward’s way, but you believed after everything, you were entitled to have at least one day.

you busied yourself in the office of your room; approving symposium plan and decor, looking through letters, and going through anderson’s old files — provided by delalieu.

kenji came to see you three hours before the symposium. you pretended to not here it the first couple times he knocked, but he was annoyingly persistent.

you weren’t mad at kenji, he didn’t know anything before you. but didn’t mean seeing him was easy, his presence always reminded you of juliette. you three had always hung out. now he was stuck in the middle.

kenji told you nazeera wanted to speak with you, so you granted her permission to enter. nazeera was quick to her point and told you the reestablishment’s plan; destroying sector 45. she advised you and juliette presented yourself strong at the event, to show everyone you’re a formidable enemy. plus, there was the possibility of sudden danger because of the plans the reestablishment had for juliette and you.

you found sudden danger was just always a given in your life.

you weren’t sure how you and juliette could show up united, you both were at odds and still processing everything you’ve been told. it would be nearly impossible to act as if nothing has changed.

were you even still supreme commander? you weren’t sure you ever ‘unquit’.

but, differences would have to be put aside. because everyone will be watching for your next move. and it may or may not lead to the demise of sector 45.

you missed just shooting and punching enemies.

kenji stuck around after nazeera left. you both discussed the danger to come. then, he filled you in on anything you missed, juliette’s buzzcut, warner sulking, the new guests, and, your favorite, lena being humbled by juliette.

apparently, she’d been ‘eager’ to meet you and asked juliette about your whereabouts. she referred to you as an ‘ex-girlfriend’ is what kenji told you. how she knew about the break up, you had no idea.

juliette looked her up and down before telling her you don’t waste your time with other insignificant to you.

you couldn’t help but laugh, maybe you were judging lena before knowing her, but based on that interaction; it told you enough.

once kenji left to get ready, you decided you’d do the same.

your nerves spiked the closer it got time for the big event. you spent a good hour deciding what would be best to wear. you hadn’t realized you relied on warner for fashion help until that moment.

you settled on a floor-length gown with beautiful embroidered and beaded details. you tried to avoid putting any accessories gifted to you by warner, but it was nearly impossible.

you attempted a makeup look, and you thought you did a pretty good job. and if not, kenji never frayed from being brutally honest to your face.

a guard knocked at your door to alert you that it was time. you cross your finger before exiting the room. time to face everyone you’d been avoiding.

everyone who was to go to the symposium was gathered outside the base, awaiting the vehicle to take them to the meeting location. as expected, everyone was dressed formally.

warner was quick to spot you and hurriedly walked to you. you power walked to get away from him, and hopefully find someone you liked at the moment. but, nonetheless, he caught up to you.

“i don’t wanna talk to you.”

“please, amor. hear me out.”

warner pulls you close to him, holding your hands hostage at his chest. you look into his eyes, and you can see how tired he looks. he’s hadn’t slept well, and it was obvious.

“what could you possibly have to say to me?”

“what could i possibly not have to say to you?”

“i’m sure you rather entertain you’re ex-girlfriend over day, glaring daggers to us.”

“you know that’s not true.”

“do i? i don’t know anything that’s true lately.”

“i love you. my hearts burns for you greatly, and a moment without you is one i can’t bare.”

“i don’t want to hear—“

“my heart has always been yours. i’ll never be able to take back everything i’ve done, but i refuse to lose you because of it.”

“aaron.”

“you can scream or yell at me all you want, if it means you’ll stay by my side.”

his forehead presses against yours. his eyes are focused on every feature of your face that hes already committed to memory.

“say you forgive me, amor.” he whispers so vulnerably.

you want to kiss him. you want everything to be magically better after. you want to believe this is another challenge you both can overcome.

but you can’t. at least no so soon.

you’re holding back tears, but aaron already has one going down his face.

“i can’t.” you distance yourself from warner. “every time i see you, i’m reminded of your betrayal. reminded how much heart-ache you’ve caused me. it can’t be so easily forgotten, aaron. not when i still love you so much.”

you were thankful to be distracted when the guards informed you the rides were here. but your thoughts switched as you noticed you’d have to be enclosed with aaron, juliette, and kenji for fifteen minutes, especially when you had to sit next to warner because juliette was just as mad at him as well.

you the were first out given the chance. you were overwhelmed by the amount of people who showed. thinking about juliette and you having to speak in-front of them all was intimidating. and likely all of them hoped for your demise. fun.

now, juliette took the podium, and you were next to her. you two have yet to discuss anything, so you’ll have to wing your speech to match the tone of hers.

but before she could start, the chaos begins. numerous people being protesting and berating both you & juliette and sector 45.

it was all getting jumbled, but there were various ‘traitors’, ‘you’re just children!’, and ‘freaks.’

to defend juliette, you move to the microphone and angrily demand everyone to quiet down, you do your best to yell over the voices rioting.

out of nowhere, the stage you’re standing on explodes. you’re both launched ten or more feet back. then chaos ensues.

theres a ringing in your ear, making it hard to hear anything; only you witness it all from the ground. people running left and right, the stage was now on fire, and men in uniform started invading the premises.

you see juliette lying on the ground not too far from you. you croak her name, then aaron’s and kenji’s, but you’re not sure if you’re even using your vocals.

you feel yourself being dragged away, you’re unmoving. you feel numb, not able to identify which parts of you are injured.

it’s all happening on slow motion in your vision.

you can see the same happening to juliette. with your head above the ground you see a new perspective. you finally see your friends, some are lying motionless, others are running.

you find kenji helping others escape and aaron with him taking down as many guards. then aaron spots you being dragged away, and his eyes widen. he’s on the move to reach for you, but his distraction leaves an opening for a soldier to take him down from behind.

it takes five soldiers to hold him down, he’s yelling your name, and you don’t react. they finally hand cuff him, not wasting a moment to inject him with something strong enough to incapacitate him.

kenji follow the same fate, not being able to get away invisible before nazeera knocks him out.

a man stands in front of you, blocking you from seeing the scene. you recognize the black expensive boots immediately.

“seems we both have a habit of not staying dead.”

anderson lunges the barrel of the pistol against your head — then it all went black.

you were so sick of seventeen.

taglist — @ravisinghs-wife @tom-pls-fuck-me @valeridarkness @fallonaurr @whatsupb18 @letspretendimnottrash @heart-an0n @mrsspector-grant @kikilarast10 @nina357 @lupinswolfsbanes (some aren’t tagging D: ) tysm for the support <3

#aaron warner x reader #aaron warner #aaron warner anderson #aaron warner imagine #aaron warner fanfic #aaron warner x female reader #x reader #reader insert #reader imagine #shatter me #x female reader #juliette ferrars #kenji kishimoto #shatter me fanfic

[venusstorm]

Drive-ins & Earthquakes

Bucky Barnes x Reader + a very clueless Steve

Bucky has the biggest crush on you but he’s scared a humiliating conversation will ruin his chances

Warnings: Fluff, vague mentions of sex

Masterlist

୨⠀♡⠀୧

"A player? Huh now?" You smirked.

"Oh please tell me more Rogers."

Steve blissfully continued, unaware of Bucky's strained neck and vigorous hand movements telling him to cut it out.

His eyes brightened with excitement, happy to continue the tales of his best friends' antics.  

"Used to have girls on each arm wherever he went. They just flocked to him like birds to a tree. Oh, and remember that old car you had, Buck?"

"No I do not," Bucky gritted. "How about we change the–"

"What was it? A Cadillac? Buick? All I know is Buck had a new girl ridin’ in that front seat every weekend. Probably taking them to that lookout point and—"

"Steve!" Bucky was visibly upset, his voice raising into a shout.

"What, Buck? C’mon you gotta admit you were a bit wild back then, especially at those drive-in theaters. Not sure how you always managed to get a girl naked in a pack full of cars."

He was fighting the urge to race over to Steve and slap his hand over his mouth, muffling any words that tried to escape. But then his adoration for you would’ve been too obvious.

I mean it’s not like his crush on you was exactly discrete. Everyone always caught him gawking at you during meetings or following you around in a poor attempt to spark a conversation. It was as if everyone knew but you— and he certainly didn’t want you finding out because his best friend is taking a painful trip down memory lane.

Unfortunately, Steve ignores his pleas and jumps into another story.

“Let me tell you, I used to park next to him at those theaters and I swear it looked like an earthquake hit his car. Thought the wheels would pop off with how much it was shaking!”

"God dammit Steve will you just shut up!"

There’s a long pause of silence until you burst into laughter. Steve looks between the two of you, a dawn of realization hitting him over the head as he watches Bucky look away in disappointment. His eyes grow wide with regret while Bucky's filled with embarrassment.

You’re clenching your stomach, tears sprouting from your eyes all while Bucky watches in defeat. He’d been trying to ask you out for so long, and after today? He isn’t too sure he ever will.

"I swear he's making it worse than it seems..." Bucky trails off.

"Yea— yea. I definitely was stretching the truth. The car was actually pretty stable.”

You burst into another fit of giggles, hardly able to stand up straight.

“Sorry Buck, maybe I should just...yea." And with that, Steve turns around quickly, exiting the room before he can say anything else to ruin his friends chances.

Bucky’s arms were folded, his mind questioning whether or not he should just leave entirely.

Noticing his silence, you place your hand over your mouth to withhold your uncontainable laughter. You bite your lip, “I’m sorry.”

He turns to you, face beet red as he tries to defend himself. “It was like one time…or two,” he murmurs.

Finally you get yourself under control, but a wide grin is still plastered on your face. “You don’t have to be embarrassed, Buck. You were just having fun.”

He releases a heavy sigh, “Yea. I guess so.”

You take a step closer, a mischievous look on your face as your eyes connected with his. He tried to avoid your gaze but you weren’t having it, taking your hand in his until he’s forced to give you the time of day.

“I know a good drive-in a few minutes away. Maybe you could take me sometime?”

His lips part with shock. “I— uh— yea sure. I’d love to take you.” She asked me. She asked me! What’re the fucking odds of that!

“Great. Oh and Buck?”

His voice is high with excitement. “Yea?”

“I wouldn’t mind a few of those earthquakes.”

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fics #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x fluff #bucky barnes x y/n #Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes fluff #soft!bucky #bucky x you

[outerspacebisexual]

I'll Give In To You - Steve Harrington

Summary: You and Steve have been best friends for six years. It takes one drunken night to reveal your feelings and ruin everything. Or does it?

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader

Word count: 5.5k

Warnings: swearing, angst, fluff, drinking, mentions of vomit, friends to lovers (yes!yes!yes!)

a/n: if you see a mistake in this, no you didn't. friends to lovers my beloved

also, with the new tumblr guidelines, please please please interact with fics. it's harder than ever to get our works out to people, and we appreciate it so much <3

Masterlist

As two of Hawkins High’s most avid partygoers, you and Steve were expected at every party that was thrown. And cheer captain Rachel Bilson’s party was no different.

“Did you see this?” you asked Steve as you took your seat next to him at lunch.

He took the flyer from your hands, eyes trailing over the date and time for the ‘April Fools’ party. “I heard about it from Carol,” he replied, scrunching it up before you could take it back from him. “People will use anything for an excuse to throw a party.”

You scoffed. “As if you care, Mister Keg King.”

He shot you a sly grin, paired with a wink. You rolled your eyes, even as the heat pooled in your stomach. “Anyway,” he said, “we need to be thinking about my party. It’s less than a month away and we haven’t organised anything.”

You raised a brow. “Why am I suddenly helping you plan your own party?”

“Because you’re my best friend and you know I can’t plan to save my life.” His puppy dog eyes were big and bright, and you fought against the smile already forming.

“What will you give me in return?”

He tapped his fingers on the table, as if deep in thought. “How about a ride to school every day this month?”

“You already pick me up most mornings.”

“Sure, but how about every day?”

You shot him a look, but agreed. In truth, he didn’t have to give you anything, which he knew. You would do anything for him, including plan his birthday party, for free. It was one of the downsides to being in love with your best friend.

You and Steve had been friends for six years, best friends for five of them. And just like every cliché, you had fallen in love with him. And God, it was the worst thing you had ever done. Because it meant that you were subjected to watching him go out with other people while you watched on from the sidelines like a loser.

It was pathetic, really, but you had managed to hide your feelings from him for years successfully. Senior year would be no different.

“Do you have basketball practice this afternoon?” you asked him around a mouthful of food.

“Yeah, last period. I can still drive you home.”

You nodded in thanks. “What’s happening about—” You cut yourself off when you noticed that Steve’s eyes were on the doors of the cafeteria. On Nancy Wheeler. The heat in your stomach turned to ice. “Steve,” you said, bringing his attention back to you. “What’s up with you and Nancy?”

His eyes shot back to you. “What?”

You gestured with your head to the girl. “What’s up with you and her?”

Steve and Nancy had been spending more time together recently, which was no secret to you and the rest of Hawkins High. It was a weird pairing if you were honest, not that you would ever tell Steve that.

“Nothing,” he rushed. “We’re just lab partners. She’s having a hard time with her parents or something lately.”

The way he scrambled for an excuse wasn’t all that convincing, but you let it go. “Right.” Your appetite was suddenly gone, and you pushed your tray away.

Steve noticed, but didn’t say anything, pushing it back towards you without a word. “Now, about my party.”

You rolled your eyes again. If there was one thing Steve was good at, it was changing the subject.

+

Like Steve said, the sound of sweaty teenage boys running around was loud enough that you could hear it from outside the gymnasium.

You slung your backpack over your shoulder as you made your way towards it. You had elected to skip out on last period. Mrs. Click wouldn’t even notice. Plus, reading in the bleachers was always preferable to learning history for an exam that wouldn’t mean anything after graduation.

Opening the doors to the gym, you found the team in the middle of a practice game.

You waved at the coach, who at this point, was used to you sitting in on his lessons. He was fine with it, so long as you didn’t say anything or disturb his class. He was on some power trip about ensuring that the team made the finals this year. Something that Steve was sure wasn’t going to happen.

Steve caught sight of you as you made yourself comfortable towards the back of the bleachers, already pulling out a book from your backpack. He gave a nod in greeting, and you smiled back at him.

He was sweaty beyond belief, the spring air already humid enough to cause a breakout of sweat if you even thought about doing anything strenuous.

You sat in silence for the majority of the lesson, only looking up when you heard the doors open again. When you did, you thought you must have been hallucinating, because Nancy Wheeler was standing at the entrance.

You watched as Steve excused himself from practice to go over to her. Their words were hushed, not audible over the team’s shouting, no matter how hard you tried to listen.

She looked upset, that much you could tell, and Steve comforted her as she sniffled.

The bell rang out through the gym, and you shoved your book into your bag, taking the steps two at a time. You were nothing if not nosy, so you were disappointed when you got to Steve right as Nancy exited the doors and headed out into the parking lot.

You clapped your hand on Steve’s shoulder, before immediately pulling it back when it came away sweaty. You made a face and wiped it on your pants. “Gross. What was that about?”

He chuckled as he watched you. “Nothing. She’s just having a hard time with her parents and her brother.”

“So you said,” you replied dryly.

“I’m actually going to drive her home today,” he admitted. “She’ll be out by the car if you wanted to wait for me out there.”

Your stomach soured instantly. “It’s all good. I’m catching a lift with Riley,” you lied. Steve’s eyes shot from you to Riley, who was making his way to the locker room with the other guys. You prayed that Riley would give you a lift home. You two were friends enough that it shouldn’t be a problem, but on the off chance he couldn’t—home was a long way to walk.

Still, it was better than riding with Steve and Nancy.

“Oh, OK,” was all Steve said, his eyes returning to you.

You sent him a smile that he returned, even if his was a little strained. You chalked that up to Nancy waiting for him.

You started to walk away when he called to you. “Hey, I have something for you,” he said, gesturing for you to hold out your hand. You shot him a confused look, but held it out anyway.

He grabbed your wrist faster than you could move and ran your hand over his sweaty hair.

You ripped it out of his grasp and shoved him. “Yuck, Steve. What the fuck?”

He only laughed as he jogged to the locker rooms, leaving you standing there shouting after him.

+

It turned out that Rachel’s ‘April Fools’ party was just a normal party that happened to be the weekend after April Fools. You hadn’t expected anything more than that.

As always, Steve was the Keg King, and you could only watch on as the others held him upside down.

You had spent the majority of the night by his side like normal, downing your fair share of alcohol until the room started spinning and your feet no longer felt like they were your own.

You laughed at something Steve said as the two of you stood in the kitchen, surrounded by a few members of the basketball team. If you were honest, you weren’t even sure what was funny.

“Hey guys, I’ll be back,” Steve said suddenly, and he was disappearing through the crowd of people towards the front door.

You peered over the heads of the people in the living room to see Nancy Wheeler and Barbara Holland entering the house. You raised a brow as you watched Steve give them each a side hug. To say you were surprised to see them at a party was an understatement.

Barbara was nice, and you shared a class with her last year, but a party was not her scene. You imagined that Nancy was the same.

“What’s up with you?” Riley asked from beside you.

You turned your attention to him, his face blurring and swirling the more you tried to focus on it. “Nothing,” you mumbled. “I’m just surprised to see Nancy here.”

“See Nancy here, or see Nancy with Steve?”

You shot him a look that probably seemed a lot more intimidating in your head. “Hey, I don’t need you interfering in my life,” you slurred, stumbling over the word ‘interfering’.

“Right,” he drawled, his teasing smile making you want to be anywhere but beside him.

He hadn’t left you alone about it since you cornered him that afternoon a week ago and begged him for a ride home. He had agreed on the condition that you tell him why you needed one when Steve had only left five minutes before.

You lied for the most part, but he saw straight through it.

“I’m getting another drink,” you muttered, and he only nodded and turned back to the conversation.

You pushed through the crowd, saying hello to a few people as you tried to find Steve’s cooler with your drinks.

After five minutes of looking, you gave up, choosing instead to grab a beer from a random cooler.

You popped the cap, but as soon as the smell hit your nostrils, bile was rising in your throat. You stood completely still, hoping that the nausea would pass, but it only grew until you were shoving past people in search of the bathroom.

Luckily, the door was ajar, and you slammed it shut and collapsed in front of the toilet just in time.

Once you were sure that you’d gotten everything out of your system, you stood, washing your mouth out and staring at yourself in the mirror.

You still looked fine, aside from the spaced-out drunk look in your eyes.

Picking up the beer you’d left on the counter, you swigged it, the burn from the alcohol cancelling out the burn from the vomit.

There was a knock on the door, and you shouted ‘come in’ before you even thought about the fact that you were in a random bathroom and it wasn’t usually a shared space.

Fortunately for you, it was Steve. “Hey, Riley said he saw you rushing in here.”

You stumbled as you leaned against the counter. “I just felt a little sick,” you explained, gesturing to the toilet.

“Ah. You feeling better?”

You giggled. At what you didn’t know. Maybe at the way he looked so pretty tonight. Then you remembered where he had been. You took another swig from your beer. “Why aren’t you with Nancy?”

Steve glanced between you and the beer in your hand. “Where’d you get that? That’s not ours.”

He tried to take it from you, but you pulled out of his reach. “Where’s Nancy?”

“I don’t know. With Barb outside probably,” he said, finally succeeding in wrangling the bottle from you. He sniffed it. “Did someone give this to you? And why are you so caught up with Nancy?”

You scoffed, ignoring the first question. “Because you’re always with Nancy now,” you slurred. “It’s Nancy this and Nancy that. So, why aren’t you with her now?”

Steve righted you when you leaned a little too far back. “Because I’d rather be with you.”

“You don’t mean that.”

His brows furrowed. “What?”

You rolled your eyes and huffed in an exaggerated manor, all drunken foolishness. “You don’t mean that, Stevie. You would choose Nancy over me, and that’s OK!” You patted his chest. “It’s OK that you choose her. She’s nice.”

If Steve was confused before, he was completely and utterly lost now. “What are you talking about? You’re my best friend.”

You let out a broken sound, something between a laugh and a scoff. “I know. That’s the worst part. Because you don’t even realise just how much it hurts to be around you when I love you.”

Steve went rigid beneath you, his chest halting as he held his breath.

The two of you stood there, suspended in time.

“What?” he asked after a moment.

As he said it, the music died out and you stood up straight, the drunken cloud of fog floating away quicker than ever before.

You had not just said that out loud. But from the crinkle between Steve’s brows and the confused look on his face, you most definitely had.

You pulled away from him, brushing past him before he could stop you. He still tried, but you were faster, slipping out of his reach and racing through the crowd of people.

You couldn’t hear Steve behind you, but it was hard to hear anything over the music blaring and your blood thrumming in your ears.

Riley was where you’d left him, and for the second time in a week, you were begging him for a ride home. He looked concerned at first, but agreed when you threatened to take his keys and drive home yourself.

You didn’t see Steve before you left.

You didn’t even try and find him.

You didn’t want to do anything except get home and cry.

Which was exactly what you did.

+

You drove to school on Monday morning, despite the fact that Steve had promised to drive you every day this month.

After spending most of Saturday night and all of Sunday moping around and crying at your utter stupidity, you had to face school.

You were sitting in your first period English, the seat next to you that Steve normally sat in empty. At first, you were hopeful that maybe he’d skipped first period, which was the only class that you shared with him on Monday.

Your hopes were crushed, however, when Steve came bumbling into the room five minutes late.

He dropped into the seat beside you, and you could feel the heat behind your cheeks as you kept your eyes averted.

“You drove to school,” he said after a few minutes.

“Yeah,” you replied, still not looking at him.

He was silent again. “I waited for you.”

The guilt stabbed your heart until it was nothing more than a deformed pin cushion. “Sorry,” you said, and you really meant it. “I should have told you I was driving this week.”

“This week?” He was surprised, and he said it a lot louder than he meant to because the teacher was quick to shush him. He continued, quieter, “You’re driving this whole week?”

You nodded and dared a glance at him. “Yeah. My dad said I need to drive my car more or he’ll sell it.” It wasn’t a complete lie, but it was far from the truth. The truth that you couldn’t face the consequences to your dumb actions.

“Right,” he replied, and he slumped back in his seat, fumbling with his pen.

+

The next few weeks went by in an awkward dance of you and Steve trying to act normal and failing spectacularly.

You managed to avoid him for the most part, which was more painful than you thought it would be. You hadn’t spent a day without him on purpose for years. And now you were doing it most days.

Maybe what hurt the most was that Steve wasn’t acting like nothing happened. It was worse. He was acting like you were some ticking timebomb that would fall apart if he looked at you for a second too long.

Which just made everything ten times harder to pretend like nothing happened.

You spent lunch in the library half the time, where you by chance ran into Barbara Holland.

She sat opposite you at the table you’d found in the back of the room. “Hi,” she greeted.

“Barb.” You blinked. You hadn’t seen her since catching sight of her at the party two weeks ago. It had been probably six months since you’d spoken to her. “Hey.”

She pulled some books and pens from her backpack, setting up for studying what looked like science. “This science project is killing me,” she said. “How are you getting through it?”

“Uh, I’m just doing some extra reading on the topic. I’m not in Mr. Hilton’s class, so I’m not partnered with anyone.”

Barb nodded. “Yeah, I’m not either. I think he’s only partnering people because it’s a senior-slash-junior class.”

“Yeah, probably.” You weren’t quite sure what to say after that. It was weird enough that Barb was sitting in front of you in the first place, let alone that you were making small talk about a science project.

“Nancy and Steve are partnered together,” Barb said, breaking the silence.

You looked back at her, brows raised. “I know.” Your answer was snappier than you meant it to be.

Barb studied you for a long moment. “He’s being a really good friend to her. Her dad has been giving her a hard time recently, and Steve knows all about that, so he’s been helping her out.”

“Cool,” you replied.

Barb went quiet again, and you turned back to your work.

“Steve’s birthday is next week,” she said.

You sighed. “I know when my best friend’s birthday is, Barb.”

If she clocked how grating she was being, she didn’t care. “He’s still having the party that you guys planned.”

You narrowed your eyes. You knew exactly where she was going with this little spiel.

She was trying to gauge if you were going to Steve’s party. It was no secret that you had pulled away from the senior festivities in the past few weeks. You hadn’t attended many parties or skipped classes for fun like you used to. The idea of getting drunk and admitting something even more mortifying while under the influence was terrifying.

You weren’t sure if Barb had come of her own accord, or if Steve had put her up to it. Or worse yet, if Nancy had done it.

You suddenly had no desire to talk to Barb, and you packed your notebook and textbook into your bag. “Thanks, Barb,” was all you said as you left the library.

+

Steve’s leg bounced up and down as he sat on his couch, surveying the surrounding partygoers. It was his usual crowd—the entire senior class of Hawkins High, along with a few sophomores and juniors that somehow snagged an invite.

His eyes drifted over the people he’d known his entire life, all standing in his house. He should be grateful that this many people knew him and wanted to come to his party. Instead, he was clinging to his couch and searching the faceless throng of people for the one person he really wanted to see.

The one person that his life had unknowingly revolved around until three weeks ago.

He gripped his beer bottle tighter.

Someone clapped him on the shoulder, and for a split second, it was you. It was your hand on his shoulder, a sly comment falling from your mouth before he even turned to look at you.

It was you. Until it wasn’t, and the hope in his chest dwindled as the image of you was replaced with a guy from his science class, wishing him a happy birthday and congratulating him on the great party.

He thanked him lamely, the bottle in his hands suddenly the most interesting thing in the room.

You didn’t come to parties anymore.

He took a can from someone as they passed him, shouting ‘happy birthday’ over the pounding music.

It was his party after all. It was his birthday. He should be enjoying himself. He should have finished the lukewarm beer in his hands twenty minutes ago. He should be shot gunning the can in his hands with the rest of the basketball team by the pool.

His heart started to race.

He should be doing any number of things with any number of people.

But the only place he wanted to be was with you.

He was standing before he could stop himself.

The guy from earlier was by the door when he grabbed his keys. “Hey, where are you going, man?”

“Out,” was all Steve replied, only vaguely aware of the guy shouting that he couldn’t leave his own party.

He didn’t care about leaving his house in the hands of a bunch of high schoolers.

He only cared about getting to you.

+

You stared blankly at the perfectly wrapped gift box sitting on your dresser.

It was teasing you.

You didn’t know how, but it was.

Maybe with the promise of everything being all right if you just got the guts to go give it to Steve. It didn’t matter that he was having a party. You were still his best friend, you still had more right than anyone else to be at his place.

Plus, you had helped organise the party to begin with. If anything, you should be pride of place next to Steve.

But you weren’t.

The prospect of talking to Steve after your mortifying ordeal was almost too much to bear. You had managed to keep your stupid feelings to yourself for years and suddenly a few too many drinks and a random bathroom was what sent you over the edge.

It was humiliating.

You groaned and collapsed onto your back on your bed, covering your eyes with your arm.

Even without looking at it, the present was burned into the back of your eyelids. The worst part was, you knew that he would love it.

He’d get that goofy look on his face as he pulled the lid off, and he wouldn’t even bother to suppress the laughter that would burst from him. He would throw his arms around you without a second thought, and you would burn from head to toe at his touch while you pretended to be nonchalant about the gift, lying through your teeth about how you’d forgotten his birthday. You’d lie, despite the fact that it had taken almost six months and plenty of tears to make.

You’d pretend, just like you always did.

Normally, you and Steve would be so drunk by now that you’d collapse into his bed and he’d fall to the floor in a heap, yanking his pillow from beneath your head, ignoring your objections.

But now, you were holed up in your room ignoring that you wanted to be with him.

Each minute that ticked by was spend volleying between two thoughts: ‘I should go and see him’ and ‘I need the ground to open up and swallow me whole’.

After ten agonising minutes of going back and forth, you stood.

Steve was still your best friend. And he would never not see you on your birthday.

Your eyes found the gift again. It sat completely still, completely unmoving. You stared at it. It stared back.

“Fuck it,” you mumbled, and you were getting dressed before you could convince yourself this was a terrible idea.

+

The route to your house was second nature to Steve by this point.

Six years of biking, and then driving, between your place and his had the turns seared into his brain. He could get there blindfolded.

He hadn’t even bothered to turn on the radio. The silence was somehow comforting. It was neutral. It didn’t tell him that this was either the stupidest thing he’d ever done or that it was the best thing he would ever do.

Only his mind told him that. Each thought took up equal space as he drove, swinging up and down and around and around like unbalanced scales.

Your driveway came into view. The only car parked out front was your own, no sign of your parents’ cars. He didn’t know if that was a blessing or a curse.

He pulled in behind your car and cut the engine.

Through your window, he could see your bedroom light was on, the light curling from beneath the curtains. You were probably in there right now, curled up in bed reading one of your countless novels that he could never keep up with. You were always one to forgo sleep for the next chapter.

He chewed on his bottom lip as he sat there in the darkness, just watching. He heaved in a breath and screwed his eyes shut.

It was his birthday, and even though he didn’t have a cake or candles, he still had a wish.

A wish that he cashed in as he sat in his car in your driveway.

+

In your haste to get semi-presentable for a party, you couldn’t hear anything over your laboured breathing.

You threw on a jacket, and after scanning your appearance in the mirror, you gave up on trying to be anything other than the weird mess that you had become. It didn’t matter anyway. You were just going to see Steve and give him his gift, and then you were coming back home.

The gift was just where you’d left it, just as intense in its silent stare. It was a box, you thought darkly, how could it even have a stare?

Before taking it from your dresser, you opened the lid, peeking inside just to make sure it was still in there.

It was.

The jacket you’d made and sewed yourself staring back at you. From the way you’d folded it, the embroidery on the left-hand side was visible. Harrington’s Baby-Sitting Service in lettering so small you could barely make it out. The lettering colour was the same as the jacket material, so no one would notice it unless it was pointed out.

What wasn’t visible from the way it was sitting, was the other embroidery on the inside of the right cuff: your name.

In even smaller lettering, it wasn’t visible at all unless you ran your fingers over it and felt that it was there.

You slammed the lid back down and took it under your arm.

It was too late to back out now.

Descending the stairs, you were surprised to find your keys exactly where they should be. It was like your earlier self had been preparing for this moment.

Gripping your keys in one hand and clutching the present tighter beneath your arm, you yanked your front door open.

+

The gravel crunched under foot as Steve made his way to your front door.

Once he was in front of it, he hesitated.

What if you didn’t want to see him? What if he knocked and you didn’t answer? What if he knocked and you did answer?

What was he even going to say?

He hadn’t organised a speech on the drive over. He had a full fifteen minutes, and he wasted them on his own pitiful thoughts instead of preparing a speech.

Maybe he could go back to his car and work on one, and then come back and try it again.

But before he got the chance, the outside light flicked on, and he was left standing—completely frozen—inches from the door as it was reefed open from the inside.

+

You faltered, eyes widening as you registered that Steve was standing on the threshold of your house.

“Steve,” you breathed.

He looked just as shocked to see you standing there. “Y/N,” he replied, voice shaky.

You blinked at him, a million thoughts racing through your head. The first being: ‘Why aren’t you at your party?’ And the second: “What are you doing here?”

He opened and closed his mouth a few times. “I—uh—I came to see you.”

“Oh,” was all you managed.

His eyes went from your face to your outfit to the gift under your arm. “Were you…were you coming to see me?”

You would have to be blind to miss the hopefulness behind his words and in his eyes. You shuffled and pulled the box from under your arm. Holding it in front of him now, it felt stupid. “Yeah,” you said finally. “I was going to give it to you at your party.”

“You’re going to the party?” he asked, a glimmer of surprise flicking across his face. “I didn’t think you wanted to come.”

“I don’t,” you mumbled, and you caught the way his shoulders deflated. “But I wanted to see you. It’s still your birthday, Steve.”

He nodded, swallowing harshly as an awkward silence descended over the two of you. He didn’t move to come in, even when you invited him in.

He shifted his weight from foot to foot as his eyes darted around wildly. “I’m sorry,” he said suddenly, and you paused from where you were dropping your keys into the bowl by the door. You placed the gift on the table and turned to look at him as he continued, “I’m sorry for not talking to you. I just thought…I thought that you wanted space. From everything. From me.”

You didn’t tell him that that was exactly the opposite of what you wanted.

“I wanted so badly to talk to you about it, but Nancy said that you probably didn’t want that. She said that you would see me when you were ready.”

You fought the urge to roll your eyes at the mention of Nancy. Of course he would go to Nancy Wheeler for help with his problems. It also didn’t help that she was right, sort of. “Steve, it’s all right, really. I was—”

“No,” he cut you off. “It’s not all right. I—I shouldn’t have let you walk out of that bathroom. I should have chased you down.”

“Steve—”

He held up a hand. “Just…Just let me finish, please.”

You opened your mouth, but closed it after a moment, nodding for him to keep going.

He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a shaky breath. “When you said what you said in that bathroom, I was surprised. Not about what you said, but about how blind I’d been. Because you…I’ve been in love with you since freshman year.”

You froze, your heart thumping hard against your ribcage.

His eyes were trained on the floor, the words tumbling from his mouth. “And I told myself for years that it didn’t matter because I didn’t want to ruin anything. Because I was happy if I just got to be your friend. And then that night, I was worried that you didn’t mean it.” His voice broke, and it took everything in you to not reach out and hug him. “I thought that maybe you were just drunk and saying things you didn’t mean. And if that was true, if you really didn’t mean it, then I couldn’t risk saying it to you and having things become weird between us.”

When he finally looked at you, his eyes were lined with tears. Your own suddenly burned.

“But then things got weird anyway. And it felt like my fault. Because I couldn’t look at you without hearing what you said.”

“Steve,” you began, but you couldn’t work out where to start. “What about Nancy?”

He blinked. Then blinked again. “What about Nancy?”

You floundered. “Aren’t the two of you…?”

“Nancy?” he barked. “No. Nancy is a friend. She’s nice and all, but…”

“But what?”

His eyes found yours again. “But she’s not you.”

You stared at him. There was a tender vulnerability in his eyes, one that you had rarely seen from him. You had no doubt that yours reflected your own. A tear slipped from your eye, and Steve was stepping towards you before you could wipe it away.

He took your face in his hands, so gently that his fingers felt like little more than a whisper across your skin. He swiped the tear from your cheek. He was so close. “Steve,” you breathed.

“Y/N,” he murmured back, just as quiet.

Your eyes flickered between his, and when his own dipped to your lips, your breath hitched.

The space between you was infinitely large, but Steve made the leap anyway.

And as his lips pressed to yours, the world fell away into nothing but the two of you in this moment that had been building for six years.

#steve harrington x reader #stranger things x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #stranger things x you #steve harrington fanfiction #stranger things fanfiction #steve harrington angst #steve harrington fluff #stranger things one shot #steve harrington one shot #stranger things angst #stranger things fluff

[lionlena]

I'll protect you... (bc you're mine) JavierPeñaxchubby!f!reader

OMG. I can't believe I managed to write this. It's almost past midnight (in my country) but I had to finish this. Inspired by a wonderful oneshot DESERVE IT  by @creedslove​ I wrote something similar.

It wasn't supposed to be smute but I blame it on you @creedslove​ (You are wonderful and thank you for helping and listening to me)

So chubby!reader accidentally had a date with Escobar's man. While talking to her boss and agents, one of the CIA agents insults her. Javier comes to her defense. She thinks Javi is only doing it out of pity, but... Hmmm... Read this ;)

Warnings: +18, NSFW, angst, fluff, some swearing, derogatory comments about a woman's appearance, mild anxiety, oral sex, dirty smut, possesive dark!Javier (but just a little bit) implied unprotected p in v

*

When you entered the embassy in the morning, you were in an excellent mood. You had a great date the day before. At the bar you met a nice Colombian who bought you a drink. You danced with him a few times and he promised you that you would see each other again soon. However, your good mood was quickly ruined when your boss summoned you to a meeting in his office.

You didn't know what you did wrong. You were an ordinary administrative worker and you did your job very conscientiously. Your mouth went dry as you walked into your boss's office. There were two CIA agents there, but there was also Javier Peña. He was leaning against the desk in his skinny jeans and navy blue shirt. Oh god, that man was so hot. You'd be lying if you said you didn't have a crush on him. The truth was, you were crazy about him. Every time you brought him some papers to sign, you got butterflies in your stomach. At the same time, you felt that you had no chance with him. You knew his reputation. Besides, you didn't think Javier was attracted to women of your type.

Sure, you were beautiful. But you knew you had more pounds than other women. You weren't tall or thin.

"Y/N we need to talk."

Your boss's stern voice snapped you back to reality. What have you done wrong? You mixed up the documents? Maybe you gave something that belonged to the DEA to the CIA. Or vice versa.

"What happened?" you asked with a slightly trembling voice.

CIA agent Josh showed you a photo of you and Leonardo outside the bar.

"So what, are you dating Escobar's sicario?!"

"What?!"

You felt weak and your heart was beating like crazy.

"This man works for Pablo Escobar."

You heard Javier's voice. Unlike Josh, he spoke calmly to you. And you were really grateful to him for that.

"I... I really didn't know." You looked at your boss. "I swear... I met him a few days ago at the store... He was kind and helped me get something from the top shelf" You heard Josh snort and felt even worse. "Yesterday... He recognized me, he bought me a drink... That's it..."

"Did you tell him you work at the embassy?" asked Adam, the other CIA agent.

You shook your head in "no".

Josh slammed his hand on the desk and you jumped. You didn't even notice that Javier was standing right next to you.

"Then he must have known that. Otherwise why would he be hitting on you. Look at you?! What other reason would he have?"

Tears stung your eyes and you couldn't say anything. Fortunately, you didn't have to.

"Hey! Aren't you exaggerating?"

You heard Javier and looked at him surprised. He looked really pissed off.

"Is it so strange that he approached a pretty woman? I don't blame him."

"You go for everything, Peña." Josh barked back.

"And you, you're blind and stupid! And you're waving your little dick..."

"Gentlemen! Enough!" Your boss's scream interrupted the argument. "You're acting like children." His gaze fell on you. "Y/N you can go for now. If there's any doubt I'll call you back."

 You almost ran out of the office. You had to hide. You weren't able to sit down at your desk and work normally after all that. Of course, you chose the women's restroom as your hiding place. You locked yourself in the cabin and let the tears run down your cheeks.

You knew what your body looked like and for years you learned to accept it. You were on the right track, but... One asshole ruined everything. You heard a knock and screamed

"Occupied."

"Everything's all right?"

You couldn't believe whose voice you were hearing. You quickly wiped the tears from your cheeks even though Javier couldn't see you anyway.

"This is the women's restroom, agent Peña"

You heard a soft sigh on the other side, and though you couldn't see him, you had the impression that he leaned against the door.

"Josh is an asshole, but he's right about one thing... That sicario might know you work here. You need to be careful Y/N. Don't go to that bar again."

"Ok." you whined. "Can you leave me now?"

"Yeah, but... You just know where to find me. And... There's no point in crying over a dick like Josh."

You didn't answer, and Javier stood outside the door for a few more minutes. You finally heard him leave and breathed a sigh of relief. You didn't want his sympathy, but also... He seemed so nice and sincere that you felt a little better.

*

You couldn't concentrate for the rest of the day. Josh's words came back to you like a nightmare. You couldn't even eat anything. Because of all this, you didn't make it with the documents and stayed overtime.

When you left the embassy in the evening you saw Javier leaning against the car. He looked like he was waiting for someone. As soon as he saw you, he threw out his cigarette and quickly made his way towards you.

"I'll give you a lift." - he said.

You were really surprised by his behavior.

"I'll be fine." You replied a bit coldly.

"Y/N, this really isn't a good idea. Personally, I wanted you to get protection."

You snorted and said:

"From whom? Leonardo? Josh? Or you?"

You didn't want to be mean to him. But you were tired and sure that Javier just felt sorry for you.

"Hey, I really just want to help you."

"But I don't need it. I don't need your sympathy!" You groaned and just walked past him.

 But you soon regretted it. The streets seemed strangely quiet and somehow darker. You felt a shiver run down your spine as you passed the alcoves. Colombia was a dangerous country. People were kidnapped straight from the streets... Sometimes even during the day. You saw a group of young men in the distance and you thought Leonardo was among them. You stood still and started shaking.

What if everyone was right? He knew you worked at the embassy and wanted to get information out of you? Paranoid thoughts ran like crazy through your head. You decided to run towards the embassy. But when you turned sharply, you hit in a solid body. You screamed as you felt a grip on your shoulder.

"Y/N, relax, it's me, Javi!"

You opened your eyes and instinctively grabbed his leather jacket.

"What is wrong?" he asked, his hand going immediately to the gun.

You glanced behind you at the group of young men and realized that most of them were kids. "I thought I saw Leonardo." you whispered.

Javier sighed and pulled you closer. He put his arm around you protectively.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry. But will you at least let me protect you now?"

You nodded your head and snuggled closer to him. You were really scared, and his body felt like a safe place. He slowly started to lead you towards where he left his car.

 "Did you follow me?" you asked after a moment.

"Well... I was more like protecting you. I wanted to make sure you got home safely. And to tell you that I didn't stand up for you because I felt sorry for you. I did it because I thought you were an attractive, hot woman."

 You were in shock. You felt your cheeks burn. As if that wasn't enough, Javier's hand gripped your hip tighter.

 "And I would do anything to prove it to you."

"Everything?" it slipped from your mouth.

Javi stopped, looked down at you and licked his lips.

"Everything, mi dulce"

He cupped your chin with his hand and then bent down and kissed you deeply. For only a split second, you thought you should push him away. But he was so sweet. When he pulled away from you, he shoved his knee between your legs, and you looked around nervously. You were still on the street. It was empty, but you were still worried.

"I want you to ride me." he whispered close to your ear. "I want to eat you, bite you and lick you. I want your whole body."

"Javi" you groaned.

His words and the pressure of his leg made you wet. You clung to him like he was the only thing keeping you from drowning.

"Come on, baby. Say you want it too. I'll obey your every command."

"I want...I want you to take me to your place."

You didn't need to say any more. He hugged you again and began to lead you quickly to the car. Like a real gentleman he opened the door for you and waited for you to sit down. Who would have expected that from Javier? As he took the driver's seat, you could see he was already half hard. You also couldn't wait. As if that wasn't enough, he grabbed your thigh with his free hand and began to travel up your leg.

You felt a little anxious. Now that you're in his car... with hot Agent Peña. You started thinking too much. He's had so many women before you. What if you fail him? You didn't even realize you were so nervous until he spoke up.

"If you've changed your mind, no problem. I'll drive you home." His voice was so gentle it was hard to believe.

"I... It's nothing."

 You looked down at his hand. Your skirt was pulled up and exposed your plump thigh. As if reading your mind, Javier began to gently stroke your leg and said:

"There's no reason why you should have a complex"

Then he took your hand and placed it on his bulging crotch.

"If you don't believe me, at least believe my dick. He doesn't lie."

 You couldn't help but chuckle slightly. Javiert smiled smugly when he saw that he had made you feel better.

"As soon as you're in my bed, I'll make all those bad thoughts disappear from your mind, hermosa."

 At his words, you felt yourself warming up again. When you finally arrived, Javi clung to your back. He hurriedly opened the door and began to undress. He threw aside his jacket and shirt. He took off his shoes then sat on the couch and pulled you onto his lap. He started to run his hands under your shirt. He squeezed your breasts and covered your neck with kisses. He grabbed your shirt and looked at you with his brown eyes.

"Can we get rid of this?" he asked gently.

You nodded and he took off your bra as well. You saw how his eyes sparkled with delight when he saw your naked breasts.

"You're so delicious, baby. I don't know where to begin."

He started licking and kissing your breasts as you writhed on his lap. He teased your nipples, pinched them and bit them gently with his teeth. You grabbed his hair and started moaning. He pulled away from you and hooked his thumbs up the waistband of your skirt.

"Can we move on?"

"Yes!"

He laughed at your reaction.

"So impatient. Relax, I'll give you everything."

 You got up from his lap and he helped you get rid of the rest of your clothes. You felt so exposed for a moment, but the way he was looking at you... Oh god. He looked like a hungry animal. He ran his hands over your body in awe. He grabbed your hips and pulled you to him. He kissed you deeply and then switched places with you. You sat down on the couch and he knelt in front of you. He placed his hands on your knees and spread your legs apart.

"So pretty." he said to himself and started kissing your thighs.

 After a while you felt his warm breath on your pussy. You threw your head back as his tongue began to curl around your clit. You grabbed Javier's head. You didn't know if you wanted to push him away or hold him. You've never felt like this before. His mustache tickled your sensitive labia, stimulating you even more. You started to squirm, but his strong hands gripped your thighs. His fingers dug into your skin. You knew he'd leave bruises all over you, and you had no problem with that. You felt yourself leaking as his tongue began to dig inside of you.

"Javi... I..."

"Yes, cum for me. Feed me."

You groaned deeply as the shock ran through you. Your legs were shaking and Javi continued to lick you as you slowly came out of your orgasm. As you tried to catch your breath, he rested his head on your thigh and looked at you like a puppy. Your juices were running down his chin and he looked so pleased you almost forgot he was still wearing his pants.

"Javier?"

"Hmm, cariño?"

"You said I'd get anything I want."

He smiled and nodded.

"What do you want, princesa?"

"I wanna ride you."

His eyes turned almost black with desire. He immediately got up and extended his hand to you. Seeing the question in your eyes, he said:

"I don't think you want to do it here. The bed will be more comfortable."

You nodded your head and grabbed his hand. As he led you to the bedroom, he immediately took off his pants and his penis popped out and stood proudly. Droplets of pre-cum glistened at the tip. He was wonderful and you were not surprised that women were so eager to return to his bed.

"Do you like what you see?"

You nodded and he walked over to you and gripped your hips tightly.

"And you know what I like? Your body marked with my marks so every fucking sicario knows you're mine."

You shivered hearing his possessive voice. You screamed as Javier bit your arm.

"If any more of Escobar's men come near you, they'll find his body dumped in a ditch with a bullet in his head. From now on, I'll protect you because you're mine."

His words made your pussy clench around the emptiness.

"Javi please..."

"Say it!"

"I'm yours."

"Yes, you are mine. And I am yours. And now you will get what you want."

He pulled you onto the bed. He lay down on his back. You sat on top of him and he placed his hands on your lap. He bit his bottom lip and kept his eyes on you. You slid your fingers into your pussy, collecting the moisture and then smearing it on his cock. He gasped and moved his hips. You felt you had complete power over him, but you didn't want to tease him. You were so on fire that you needed him inside you. You got up and grabbed his cock in your hand. You were slowly going down. You moaned as it filled you up. You placed your hands on his chest to gain some leverage and started riding him. His moans mingled with yours. Javier's hands were squeezing your breasts and you felt yourself getting closer to your second orgasm of the evening.

"I'm close..." you groaned.

"Yes, yes honey... I'll be right behind you."

You threw your head back as the electricity from your pussy shot through your entire body. Javier got up and wrapped his arms around your body digging into your pussy. You clenched around his cock and he let out a growl and felt his cum fill you. You fell on the bed together.

After a few minutes, Javier sat down and reached for a cigarette. As he smoked, you rested your head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. His hand was stroking your hair and he was right about the bad thoughts. He threw them all away. You forgot Leonardo, Josh... Everything. Javier was the only thing on your mind. You felt sleepy. Javier covered you with a blanket and whispered:

"Sleep, mi amor. Tomorrow I'll drive you to work and make sure no one hurts you."

"Thank you Javi." you whispered.

The last thing you felt before falling asleep was a gentle kiss on your head.

*

A few days later, you heard an amazing rumor. You immediately ran to Javier. He was just making coffee. When he saw you, he smiled widely.

"Princessa"

"Javi, do you know what happened?" Without waiting for his response, you added "Apparently someone called Josh's wife and told her about his hooker trips. Do you know anything about that?"

"I?" Javi looked awfully proud of himself. "Who could have done this? Some really bad man."

He walked over to you and grabbed your ass with one hand, squeezing tightly. You jumped slightly.

"Javi" you hissed. "Not here"

Not caring about your words at all, he whispered directly into your ear:

"Mine."

*

Next part: Part 2  (but be warned, Javier will turn into a toxic asshole who will control the reader)

#javier pena x reader #javier pena #narcos #javier pena fanfiction #pedro pascal fanfiction #chubby!reader #hurt/comfort #javier is so sweet #pedro pascal characters

[loveinhawkins]

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 ao3

Eddie stirs to someplace just outside of sleep at the sound of voices. They’re not loud enough to wake him up all the way; even the occasional bout of laughter sounds like it’s stifled, like they’re trying to keep quiet.

He gets one eye open, sees a blur of Robin’s beige jeans and suspenders. There’s a quick flash of grey in the corner, one of Steve’s crutches, and he realises that Steve must be just out of view, trying to trip her up.

More giggles.

“You’re such an asshole!”

“Shh!”

“You shush, you just tried to injure me.”

“I barely touched you.”

Eddie hears a little creak nearby, blearily glances somewhere above to find Steve leaning on the arm of the couch, looking down at him with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry,” Steve says, hushed. “It’s still early, you can go back to sleep if you want. Robin just can’t tell the time.” And he ducks suddenly, as if avoiding a blow. He glances over his shoulder, sticks out his tongue and says, “And she’s violent.”

Eddie blinks slowly at Steve. Feels himself smile. “…’Kay,” he manages, tired but amused.

He just catches something that sounds a bit like, “Oh, Steve, he’s so sweet,” and, “You wake him up again, you’re getting a crutch to the head, I swear to God,” but he fades back into sleep before he can really process it.

When he wakes up again, it’s to the smell of toast just on the cusp of burning, the T.V on. His head rests by Steve’s thigh; when he glances over, he sees that Steve is sitting on the couch, facing the T.V head on, his leg propped up by a stool again. There’s a plate of toast in his lap.

Eddie rubs his eyes, raises his head a little—spots the moment when Steve notices that he’s awake, the lovely way his eyes light up.

“Hi,” Steve says.

Eddie yawns out a, “G’mornin’.”

Steve nods down at the toast. “Want some?”

Before Eddie can reply, Steve is already halving the slice, passing one to him. He wakes up further after that, lifting his head up a little more to peer at the T.V—makes out a quaint cabin before Steve’s speaking again, voice lowered thoughtfully.

“You look better.”

And from Steve’s slight gesture, tapping at his own cheek, Eddie gets the meaning: that he must look less pale.

Eddie finishes his slice of toast, sits up on his elbow. Robin’s sat on the floor, back to him, seemingly captivated by the movie.

“I feel better,” he says, matching Steve’s quiet volume, adds a teasing, “Was I lookin’ real rough?”

“Hideous,” Steve says without missing a beat.

Eddie prods him in the side. Then he’s finally awake enough to appreciate what they’re watching: Doris Day singing about ‘A Woman’s Touch’ in a way that he suspects is not all that heterosexual.

Steve half-succeeds in hiding a yawn behind his cup of coffee.

Robin suddenly turns around accusingly. “Uh, Steve Harrington, the least you could do is pay attention to this when you’re the one who started the whole—”

“Rob, I’ve never seen the movie before! I just call you Calamity Jane ‘cause you knock shit over, all the time.” He makes a little series of explosion noises in demonstration that are so damn stupid, that Eddie can’t even reign in his grin. “You know, like, bam, bam, the tapes are everywhere! A calamity.”

“Oh my god, you knock over the cardboard cutouts every shift! Name one time that I—”

“Uh, hello? Last December? You ruined my whole Christmas display!” 

“Oh well, that’s different. That was on purpose.”

Steve gives a mock offended gasp, nudges Eddie as if to say, Can you believe this shit?

“Keith’s the biggest Grinch ever, dude, I was providing ambience.” He stresses the word like he’s making a point, as if him and Robin are trying to one up each other on vocabulary or something.

“Yeah, you provided so much ambience when you shushed that dude ‘cause you wanted to keep watching Miracle on 34th Street.”

When Eddie snorts, Robin shuffles over to the couch, tilts her head back to grin at him upside down.

“This guy stood at the counter for days, Eddie. He said ‘ahem.’ Like, he didn’t cough, he literally said the word. And Steve just…” She folds her arms, heaves a sigh and mimes checking her nails.

Eddie starts to laugh.

“He deserved it. And he was interrupting the court case, Robin. Fred Gailey’s big moment!”

“Are you a Christmas movie nerd, Harrington?” Eddie asks, “‘cause I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”

“No-one has any sense of culture here.”

Robin makes a huff of protest, waving her arms pointedly at the T.V. “Um, hello? You’ve got art right in front of you, dingus. Ooh, and speaking of Christmas, uh, sorta. I have presents.”

She reaches for a backpack leaning against a pile of videos, then brings out two clearly ‘homemade’ mugs, the handles comically thick.

“Since when do you do pottery, Buckley?” Eddie asks.

“Since town hall decided that putting on a load of arts and crafts would help us forget everything. Like, did you all just get nearly destroyed? Bummer. Can we interest you in some clay?”

As she speaks, she nudges the mugs over to the side of the coffee table, where Eddie’s left the gift bag she already gave to him.

Eddie smiles. “You don’t need to keep giving—”

“Nope, it’s too late,” Robin says, somehow grinning and looking deadly serious at the same time. “This is your life now, Eddie—every birthday and Christmas, you better be ready.”

It’s a joke—Eddie knows it’s a joke, but he also knows that she means it, and that’s…

It’s the implied permanence that hits him, really: the thought that their friendship isn’t just one created through fear and survival instincts, through necessity. That it’s here to stay.

He clears his throat before he can do something stupid like actually get all choked up about it. Again.

Thankfully Robin provides the perfect distraction, reaching into the bag once more and saying, “So Steve, you were gonna get a mug, too, but I kinda messed it up…”

She brings out a lump of clay that perhaps in a very generous past life was once almost a mug. It wouldn’t have looked too out of place as an amorphous blob of Something crawling out of The Upside Down.

“Robin,” Steve says flatly. “What.”

“Ta-da! It’s a…”

“Thanks for giving me the weapon I’ll use to murder you.”

“…paperweight!”

“Oh, in your world, maybe.”

Steve plays up the offended look so well, all slack-jawed disbelief, that Eddie wonders if it’s possible to crack a rib from trying not to laugh.

“No, no, it’s got an old school charm,” Eddie says—immediately has to speak through a giggle when Robin points to him triumphantly, as if that had been her goal all along. “Like, murder mystery prop. It was Harrington in the living room with the paperweight.”

Steve rolls his eyes, knocks their shoulders together. “Don’t encourage her, man.”

But then Steve catches Robin’s eye, and it’s a fleeting moment, but Eddie watches as Steve’s eyebrow rises almost imperceptibly, as if asking for permission without words. And Robin’s expression softens in a way that Eddie doesn’t quite understand. She nods ever so slightly. Something passes between them.

Then the moment’s gone as quickly as it came.

“Hey, Robin,” Steve says, grinning like butter wouldn’t melt, “who were you doing pottery with?”

“Who says I was with anyone?”

“Oh, me. I say.”

“Well, she had to show me how to—”

“Ah-ah-ah! So, she had to—”

“Ugh, fine! Yes, it was Vickie.”

It’s Steve’s turn to look triumphant. Eddie looks on as he beams, wide enough to show that one of his incisors is a little crooked, and it’s so goddamn endearing all of a sudden.

“And? You were yourself, huh?” Steve asks Robin, sounding smug, like he’s saying I told you so. “You had to be—only you could make,” he waves a hand at the ‘mug’, “that.”

Robin scoffs, but Eddie can tell that she’s fighting a smile. “You’re so full of it.” “C’mon, gimme some material to work with, Rob! You met on a… something-something day.” Steve clicks his fingers at Eddie. “Adjective?”

Eddie glances between them both, their joy infectious. After a sufficiently dramatic pause, he says, “Serendipitous.”

“Seren—” Steve does a double take, gives Eddie a look like he’s just sunk a winning shot from wherever-the-fuck on the basketball court. “Yeah, what he said.”

“Okay, cool your jets—”

And oh, Eddie smiles to himself; that’s definitely a Steve-ism that Robin’s picked up.

“—it’s not like we—like, yeah, she told me she broke up with her boyfriend, but we didn’t really confirm anything, or—”

“Oh my god,” Steve groans, “I’m gonna suffer through this for years. You’ll just keep making mugs for each other, over and over without actually talking—”

“Don’t be silly,” Robin says, “I’m giving all the mugs to Eddie, catch up.”

Eddie reaches down, messes up her hair until she lunges for his in revenge.

“I s’pose there are worse things,” he says, laughing when she thumps him with a cushion.

He thinks of “I’m glad we’re weird.” How before, it was Casablanca references and shared secretive smiles, and now it’s something louder, jubilant.

And Steve knows.

-

He slips upstairs to use the phone in Steve’s bedroom, brings the piece of paper where he’d written down the number from Hopper.

“Ring if there’s any trouble,” Hopper had instructed—and Eddie knows that probably meant if he was in trouble, but…

He doesn’t have to wait long before his call is answered—and to be honest, when Hopper said a private number, Eddie had kind of assumed that it was a private number for the man himself.

So hearing the nasally, bordering on chipper voice of a stranger throws him a bit.

“Hello? …Hellooo? Listen, I’ve been assured that this line cannot be tapped, so you better not be the Feds. I mean, thank you kindly for the courtesy call if you are, nice to have some warning for once.”

“Um.” Bewildered, Eddie temporarily covers the receiver. Double-checks the number. No, he’d definitely dialled right… “Sorry, uh, I—who am I speaking to?”

“My goodness, a voice! Hallelujah! Oh, you’re the kid, aren’t ya?”

“What?”

“You know, one minute you’re just a kooky high school outsider, you play a board game or whatever that gets everyone a little spooked, yadda yadda yadda, now you’ve up and started a satanic cult?”

Eddie feels a flicker of anger through his trepidation. “I didn’t start a—”

“Phew, relax,” the increasingly annoying stranger says. “I’m just messing with you.”

Maybe the fucker can somehow sense the way Eddie is gripping the phone tightly, or maybe the silence just speaks volumes, because when he starts talking again, he actually sounds a little apologetic.

“So. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot here. Sorry. It’s been a wild few years, kid, my sense of humour’s shot. Name’s Murray. I’m a friend of Jim’s? Jim Hopper?”

And at that, Eddie feels some of his anger start to cool. He trusts Hopper, trusts the way him and Joyce looked out for Steve; knows that Hopper wouldn’t have given him this number lightly.

So maybe he can trust this Murray, too. Even if the guy’s pissing him off.

“It’s Eddie, right?” Murray prompts. “You called for a reason, huh?”

Ring if there’s any trouble.

Eddie pushes the lingering irritation aside and takes a deep breath—tells him about Nancy, about Jason holding her at gunpoint.

“Ah,” Murray says, and there’s more of an edge to his voice now, like he actually cares, and Eddie thinks good. “She, ah, neglected to mention that. Okay.”

The rapid scratching of a ballpoint pen against paper. “I’ll speed up some things. Sounds like his parents have got a troubled young man on their hands—they’ll wanna uproot sooner rather than later. For his own good.”

Eddie can’t help it; he shakes his head in disbelief. “What, just like that?”

“Look, I don’t have a magic wand, but… you’d be surprised at how easily certain folks take… uh, well, bribes would sound unseemly to them. Let’s say they’ll come to an agreement.”

“…Okay,” Eddie says, hesitant.

Murray hums in response; Eddie can hear the creak of a swivel chair, like he’s leaning back against it.

“There’s eyes on him, got it? Trust me when I say there’s lotsa people that just want all of this to go away, nice and quietly. And uh, I’ve been round the block a few times. Got enough leverage to take a story, water it down until it’s just ripples in the pond, softly softly, yeah? No big, crazy headlines this time. Target’s off your back.”

Eddie pauses. Presses the phone against his forehead. I understood, like, fucking none of that.

“And… Hopper trusts you with—everything?”

Murray laughs. “I know, it’s a miracle. I jest, I jest. Yeah, he does. Look, from what I’ve heard, you kids have been through the ringer. Let us handle some of it.”

Eddie breathes out. Jumps when he hears a knock at the door, relaxes at the sound of Dustin’s persistently upbeat shave and a haircut rhythm.

“Okay,” Eddie repeats, sounding a little more certain. “Uh. Thanks. Thank you. For… yeah. There’s—I’d better—”

Murray laughs again. “Oh, that’s right, you’re with Steve.” His voice goes singsong and reedy when he says Steve’s name.

Eddie frowns. “Yeah, what’s that supposed to—”

“Nothing, nothing. Well, Mr Not A Cult Leader, I won’t keep ya. Anything crops up, just call and I’ll be… well, I’ve got karate on Fridays, 1 to 3. That one’s non-negotiable, I’m afraid.”

Eddie huffs out a bemused laugh. “I mean, no offence or anything, but I hope I don’t have to call you.” He fiddles with the phone cord, mutters, “Just kinda want a quiet life, y’know?”

Murray chuckles. “Yeah, kid. I can respect that.”

-

When he reaches the top of the stairs, the front door’s already wide open, Dustin leading from the front as the whole troop of kids surge through the hallway. They’re chatting all over the top of each other, chaotic and joyful, and as they reach the kitchen, he hears Robin call out a gleeful, “Hey, it’s the von Trapps!”

And Eddie can’t help thinking that maybe all of this feels a bit like a Christmas movie, actually.

He shuts the front door, gets a glimpse of what looks like a pizza van driving away.

When he turns around, Max is standing there alone. She’s looking down at the floor, fidgeting with one of her hoodie sleeves.

“Is Steve charging you rent yet?” she asks.

Eddie smiles. “Don’t tell him, think he forgot to. I kinda like freeloading.”

There’s a pause, and then she darts forward. It’s quick, barely lasts a couple of seconds before she disappears off to the living room—but Eddie has just enough time to squeeze her shoulders and murmur, “You’re good, Red.” -

El has the casting vote in them deciding to watch Mary Poppins—“You only chose that cause she can move stuff like you,” Will teases, to which Mike laughs, no longer as quiet as before.

Eddie catches his eye through the rowdiness and Mike nods with a little smile.

“See him?” Robin says, nudging Dustin when a little dog in a checked jacket appears on screen. “That’s you.”

Lucas starts giggling, and that soon makes Max break, too—a little reserved, but it’s still a welcome, bright sound.

Eddie’s fetching the ice-cream Erica had brought, when he hears Steve come up behind him.

“Harrington, go away.”

“Wow, what a charmer.”

“I mean it! Go sit down.” Eddie indicates the tubs of ice-cream, says, “Think I can handle this.”

“Oh, yeah?” Steve raises an eyebrow, smiling. “Where are the spoons then?”

Eddie very confidently throws open a drawer at random.

Steve’s smile broadens. “Cool, I’ve always wanted to eat ice-cream with a can opener.”

“You can go off some people, y’know.” Eddie heaves a defeated sigh. “Fine, show me where the spoons reside in your maze of a kitchen.”

It’s when he’s turning for the correct drawer that Steve indicated—“On your left… your other left, dude,”—that Eddie hears it.

Gentle humming.

It stops and starts, skips past a few notes. Repeats the chorus just because, at a relaxed pace, like someone taking a stroll through the song. But Eddie recognises it. Would know it anywhere.

“Steve,” he says, almost a whisper—and when he turns back round, he sees Steve’s eyes widen a little in surprise, and the humming stops.

Oh, you didn’t even know you were doing it.

“Yeah, funny story,” Steve says lightly. He reaches past Eddie, opening the cutlery drawer, rummaging for spoons. Humming again.

God, you make it sound so… happy, Eddie thinks.

“There was this guy,” Steve says, all nonchalant, but his lips are twitching. “I don’t know, man, he just kept singing. Couldn’t get it out of my head.”

Eddie manages to smile. He pretends that one of the ice-cream lids is stuck, buys himself enough time so his voice is steady when he speaks.

“That sounds really annoying.”

Steve laughs. “No, I don’t think so. It… He was the best.”

-

By the time everyone else leaves, one side of Steve’s cast is covered in signatures and doodles; there’s even a game of tic-tac-toe with ‘FUCK’ underneath in capital letters, presumably in response to whoever won.

Eddie’s secret favourite comes in the form of two little stick figures holding popcorn: Max and Lucas arranging to go to the movies.

“There’s space,” Steve says, gesturing to the markers Will left behind, “if you wanna…”

And Eddie knows an invitation when he hears one.

He gets the idea as he’s reaching for a pen, briefly closes his eyes to recall the class of ‘85.

Steve catches on after the second signature, laughs. “Woah, are those—? How do you even remember…?” He points. “You even got how she dotted her ‘i’s with a heart.”

Eddie shrugs at the praise, pauses in thought before adding another scribble. It’s shaping up okay, this imagined replica of Steve’s yearbook.

“I’ve gotten good at forging notes. Another little money earner.”

Steve raises an eyebrow in interest. “Notes?”

“You know, like, hall passes, doctor’s notes… Unlike certain weirdos in this room, some people wanted to get out of gym.”

“Ha ha. Okay, but this is more than doctor’s notes, Eddie.”

“Uh, yeah, I can—memorise handwriting, I guess?”

“More than guess, dude. Shit, you could steal someone’s credit card with this.”

Eddie smirks. “I pinky swear that I’ve only used my skills to facilitate truancy.” He doodles a few stars, adds more thoughtfully, “I’ve signed many a yearbook in my time.”

“You didn’t sign mine.”

Eddie looks up, grinning. “Oh? Do I detect a note of offence, there, Harrington? You never asked me to.”

He imagines for a moment, with faint amusement, what that would’ve been like—the looks they would’ve gotten if Steve handed his yearbook over to him. Then he wonders if that would’ve even mattered.

“Oh, hold on,” Eddie says, “gotta make it realistic.”

He leans forward and adds a bunch of hearts to a few of the girls’ signatures, cackles when he rounds everything off with some ‘xoxo’s.

When he looks over, Steve’s face is going red. “Oh my god, literally none of them did that.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

“High school crushes don’t even mean anything, dude.”

Eddie snorts. He’s overheard enough cafeteria gossip to presume otherwise. “Interesting premise. Continue.”

Steve stutters. “I mean it! I guarantee half the time, more than, they—the whole thing happened just ‘cause I was there, I could’ve been anyone. You dick, stop laughing!” “Jesus Christ, Steve.” Eddie’s stomach hurts; he can’t stop giggling. “I guarantee you that no-one was crushing on King Steve just ‘cause of, like, general proximity.”

General proximity, Steve mouths mockingly, but there’s still a pink tint to his cheeks. “Uh, thanks. I’ll take your word for it.”

Eddie’s giggles finally start to abate. He puts a cap on the marker he’s holding, tosses it aside. “You know,” he starts, trails off with another little laugh, “I used to think you were playing the long game with that nickname. Like, you started it as an elaborate ploy to get Prom King.”

Steve chuckles. “Oh, jeez. I didn’t even want Prom King, man, not really.”

“Yeah, don’t blame you. Christ, that shit was boring. Almost considered pulling a Carrie, just to make it more lively. ‘Cept chocolate pudding or something instead of pig’s blood.”

Steve gives a joking nod of approval. “God, that movie. Y’know we put it on at work, and Robin said the worst bit is the waiting, like for the bucket to fall? The suspense?”

“Yeah.” Eddie tilts his head, considers Steve. “You don’t think so?”

Steve shrugs. His smile turns bittersweet. “Guess I’m used to waiting for things to, um… happen.”

Unbidden, Eddie thinks of Steve sitting cross-legged in his bedroom, managing to smile, to laugh right before—

“Robin hated the whole scene, the build-up, everything. Kept complaining ‘bout the bottom dropping out of her stomach.”

“Yeah,” Eddie says quietly. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”

“See, I told her she was wrong though! ‘Cause in that whole movie, the blood, the powers, whatever—”

“The deaths?” Eddie says wryly.

Steve waves a hand. “Yeah, yeah. Still, outta all of that, the scariest thing is the mom, right? You know.” His voice lowers in a hushed imitation: “They’re all gonna laugh at you. God, I ignored, like, three customers in a row while that scene played.”

Eddie tries not to stare. He picks at a thread on the couch, considers the thought that horror isn’t just blood and screams. That it can be quiet, too.

Steve gives a long sigh. Whispers, as if to himself, “Lighten up.” Then he says, louder, “What were we talking about, before?”

Eddie thinks. Makes a face. “Crushes.”

Steve laughs like he’d genuinely forgotten. “Oh yeah, that’s right. Okay, back to crushes, then.”

“Ugh. Must we?”

“I kinda thought I had a crush on Robin.”

“Oh.” Eddie blinks a few times in quick succession. “Shit, man, I’m sorry.”

But Steve scoffs with a smile. “Would you listen?” he says, and it sounds a bit like when their damn French teacher would stress, “Écouter et répéter!” He throws a stray pen at Eddie. “I said I thought I had a crush on Robin. Thought.”

Eddie catches the pen. Throws it back. “Okay, okay. Listening. Uh. Why…?”

Steve huffs in contemplation. “Well, I kinda thought that’s what people do, right? Y’know, summer vacation, nothing else to do but, like, go to the mall. Catch a movie. Look at someone and think oh yeah, it’s you. You know what I mean?”

“I don’t know,” Eddie says, and he intends for it to sound flippant, but he doesn’t think he achieves that at all. If anything, he sounds quietly amused—fond even. Can’t help but be a little charmed by the thought of Steve viewing summer like that, all rose-tinted and hopeful.

And you say I’m the romantic.

“You were the one living the ‘All-American boy’ life, Steve. You tell me.”

Steve laughs, wrinkles his nose. “Pretty sure I wasn’t, man. So then, I spilled to her. And, uh, obviously like, you know, it wasn’t gonna happen. But then I…” He laughs again, tender. “I felt relieved.”

“Relieved?”

“Yeah. ‘Cause… I don’t know, I’m shit at explaining this kinda stuff. The whole summer, I thought well, I’m a guy, she’s a girl, she makes me laugh, guess that’s just how it goes. And then when… I realised oh, I can just. We can still, like, hang out? She can still make me laugh, and I—I don’t have to… we can just be friends. And I—I liked that we could just… be like that. Loved it. Still do. Is… is that weird?”

“Nah.” In all honesty, Eddie thinks that’s one of the sweetest things he’s ever heard. “No weirder than me, anyway.”

He takes a deep breath, then realises for once that this isn’t scary. With Steve, it isn’t scary.

“I guess I’ve always sorta… known who I liked.” He smiles, adds tongue in cheek, “I know you think high school crushes don’t mean anything, but—”

“Ignore me, man,” Steve says quickly. “I didn’t mean—I was just talking about, like, the stupid shit.”

“Relax, I’m just teasing you. Well, my first… it was earlier, actually, in middle school. This boy… he moved outta state that Christmas, but… Damn, it’s silly. He lent me a pencil. Said I could keep it. And then I—” Eddie exhales, laughs. “Couldn’t stop thinking about his eyes. And then… that’s how I knew.”

“Oh,” Steve says softly. And that’s all he says, his lips parted like Eddie has told him something precious.

Eddie smiles, happiness and sadness battling it out. “Then, uh… well, I caught on pretty quick. Worked out that I couldn’t exactly… I wasn’t ever gonna be dancing with who I wanted to at prom, y’know?”

Steve lets out a forceful sigh. “The fact that—” And then it’s like the words choke him for a moment, because he has to start again. “The fact that some people can’t—can’t—” He swallows, adds a disjointed, “That they can’t—just because other people are awful makes me—” Another sigh, a little shakier than the first. “Makes me really fucking angry, sometimes.”

“Well shit, Steve,” Eddie says faintly, because it looks like Steve might actually cry over him, which… he doesn’t know what to do with that. “Don’t get cut up about it. I’m fine.”

“I know you’re…” Steve tips his head against one of the cushions, like he’s trying to hide his face. “Just… just let me be sad about it, Eddie. And it’s not—” He frowns, clearly mulling something over, so Eddie doesn’t interrupt. “I don’t mean it like a poor you, if only you weren’t… kinda thing, okay? The world sucks. Not you.”

“Got it,” Eddie murmurs.

He slowly travels up the couch, until him and Steve are side by side. Steve turns his face away, but the hidden tears on his lower lash line are revealed in the light.

“Hey,” Eddie says gently. He reaches out and catches the tears with his thumb. “It’s not worth that, sweetheart.”

Steve closes his eyes. Opens them. “Yeah, it is,” he says. It sounds like Yeah, you are.

Eddie smiles. He brushes away any tears that have clung on, just a couple trickling down Steve’s face. “Sweet of you to say so.” You’re sweet.

Steve smiles. Winces a little. “Not really. Check my yearbook, man. I was a real asshole.”

“Now why would I do that,” Eddie says, “when I could just look right at you?”

And he can tell that Steve’s taken the wrong thing from that entirely—spots the way he looks down.

So, fuck it. Eddie says the next thought out loud, as clearly as he can. Keeps his hand cupping Steve’s cheek for a second longer, even though the tears are gone.

“You wanna know what I think? Too bad, I’m telling you anyway. I think… that you’re a kind soul, Steve Harrington.”

Steve blinks. His mouth opens, but nothing comes out. The silence says it all. You’d be one of the first to say so.

“And you know me,” Eddie says, knocks their foreheads together until he feels Steve let out a quiet laugh. “My word is God, so. You better believe it.”

#the self sacrificial steve agenda #steddie fic #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #steve x eddie #robin buckley #steve and robin #eddie and robin #murray bauman #eddie and murray #eddie and max

[jobean12-blog]

Always a Hero

Pairing: Eddie Munson x reader

Word Count: 1,921

Summary: You have a shit day at work but Eddie is your boyfriend...and he’s the best boyfriend ever! 

Author’s Note: Just needed some soft Eddie! I hope the phone call conversations make enough sense to follow lol- had a bit of fun with that part! 😆Thank you all so much for reading! Much love always! ❤️❤️❤️Divider by the sweet @wannabehamlet thank you lovely🥰

Warnings: fun and sweet fluff, small angst about a bad day at work, sweet friends, Eddie being amazing. 

Gif NOT MINE: Credit goes to @pedropcl thank you sweets🥰

Eddie Munson Masterlist

You try to hold in your sniffles as the phone rings, your fingers twirling anxiously around the cord as you wait.

“What’s up? Munson residence,” Eddie answers.

You sniffle before you start talking.

“Baby?” Eddie asks and you can hear the frown in his voice.

“Hi Eddie,” you hiccup, trying your hardest to control your emotions.

“Hey baby,” he says softly. “Are you ok?”

More sniffles.

“Yea. I’m ok. It’s just…I’m having a really bad day. This customer was a total asshole and he was so mean and I tried my best but he was just so shitty and now I feel like a total butthead for crying and I think I messed everything up and…”

“Woah, woah, slow down sweetheart,” he starts. “Some guy was mean to you?”

His worried tone quickly shifts to anger and you pause.

“Well…he kinda was yea, but…”

“I’m gonna kick his fucking ass!” Eddie shouts. “Is he still there? Who was it? Gimme his name!”

“Eddie…”

“I swear, I’m gonna let him…”

“Eddie…” you say again.

He stops with a loud exhale.

“Yea angel?”

He starts muttering again, a string of curses and choice ways of handling the guy buzzing through the phone.

“Eddie!” you chide, sighing when he stops rambling with a huff.

“I’m sorry sweetheart,” he whispers and you can just imagine how big and sweet his eyes must look. “But no one makes my girl cry!”

“It’s ok. I would let you kick his ass if it wouldn’t get me fired and you in big trouble,” you admit. “But I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Aw angel, want me to come pick you up? Steve won’t care.”

“I still have two hours left on my shift and I wanna try and stick it out. I can’t let every asshole completely ruin my day.”

“That’s my girl!” he cheers. “Call me if you need me again or if you want a ride, ok?”

“I will Eddie, thank you.”

“Love you angel.”

“Love you.”

“God that guy was such a dick!” Robin scoffs when you walk out of the back room. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yea, I’ll live,” you say with a shrug. “I feel better after talking to Eddie.”

Robin smiles.

“He threatened to kick the guys ass,” you giggle.

“If he doesn’t I will!” Robin adds.

Steve saunters over.

“Who’s kicking whose ass?” he asks.

“Eddie wants to beat up that asshole that came in here,” Robin explains.

“Tell him to get in line,” Steve says, crossing his arms over his chest and puffing it out.

You look at your friends and smile.

“You guys are the best,” you tell them before walking off to restock the candy display.

About five minutes later the phone rings. Steve answers.

“Family Video, this is Steve speaking, how can I help you?”

Pause.

“Hey Munson.”

Pause.

“Uh huh. I know…she’s ok now.”

Pause.

“No, I’m not telling you his name!”

Pause.

“No information!”

Pause.

“Don’t you dare come down here Munson!”

Pause.

“I get it but if the district manager decides to stop by and you’re in here kicking ass, we’ll all be out of a job!”

Pause with a sigh.

“Don’t worry…I know. I will.”

Pause.

“Ok, I will. Bye.”

A group of teenagers come in to look for movies to rent for the weekend. You offer your assistance and quickly get caught up in helping them find every horror movie every made.

Ten minutes pass. The phone rings again. Robin answers.

“Thank you for calling Family Video, this is Robin speaking, how can I help you?”

Pause.

“Hey Eddie…yup.”

Pause.

“She’s busy helping some helpless teenagers.”

Pause.

“Don’t worry. We will.”

Pause.

“I know…ok bye Eddie.”

“Was that Munson again,” Steve asks as he slides up to the counter when Robin hangs up.

She nods with a soft smile on her face.

“He was checking on her,” Robin says.

“He just did that like ten minutes ago,” Steve counters, his mouth hanging open mockingly.

“Shut up you dingus,” Robin says.

Twenty minutes go by. The teenagers have left and now you’re restacking VHS tapes in the back.

The phone rings.

“Family Video, this is Steve speaking, how can I help you?”

Pause.

“Eddie, she’s fine.”

Pause while Steve’s pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Yes, I promise.”

Pause.

“No, I wouldn’t lie to you Munson.”

Pause.

“She’s off at four.”

Pause.

“I will. Yes. I know. Ok. I will! Bye.”

Steve shakes his head and mumbles something inaudible under his breath before he slams the phone down and turns around.

Robin is standing directly behind him, barely an inch of space between them.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” Steve yells, stumbling back and knocking over the candy stand on the counter.

“It was Eddie again, wasn’t it?” Robin muses with conviction.

Steve lips curl up and his eyebrows draw in.

“He just keeps calling to check on her,” Steve says as if exhausted.

“He’s in love,” Robin whispers wistfully.

Steve rolls his eyes and blows a raspberry so hard it lifts the front of his hair.

“I bet he calls again in another half hour,” Robin says excitedly. “And don’t be jealous Harrington!”

Steve lets out a breath and rubs his temples.

Thirty minutes later the phone rings again.

“I’ll get it,” you shout to Robin and Steve who are at the front setting up the display.

“NO!” they both shout at once and you stop dead in your tracks.

“Okaaayyyyy,” you say with wide eyes. “What the hell guys?”

Steve rushes for the phone with a smile.

“I got it. Don’t worry,” he assures you.

Robin gives you a weak smile and quickly goes back to working the display.

You eye them both suspiciously before you shrug and get back to restocking tapes.

“Family Video, this is Steve speaki…”

Pause.

“Still restocking Munson.”

Pause.

“She’s still ok.”

Pause.

“That’s very sweet. I’m sure that will make her very happy.”

Pause.

“I won’t say a word.”

Pause.

“It’s not a problem. I’ll get her there by 4:30pm.”

Pause.

“Ok, got it…and don’t call again!”

Pause.

“Yea… I know. Bye.”

“I knew it!” Robin whisper shouts when Steve returns to the display. “What did he say? You look suspect.”

“What?” Steve scoffs, quickly lowering his voice. “What does that mean?”

He throws his hands up and waits.

“You know a secret, don’t you?” Robin prods.

“Maybe. And it’s gonna stay that way!” Steve answers.

“Tell me you dingus,” Robin says.

“No way,” Steve counters.

“Harrington. Tell me now.”

“Nope.”

“I will wear you down and you know it,” Robin warns.

When you’re done with organizing the comedy section you notice Robin and Steve whisper fighting by the front window.

“What’s going on you two?”

Steve and Robin whip their heads around and look at you wide eyed.

“Nothing,” Robin quickly answers. “Why do you ask? Nothing at all?”

You raise a questioning brow and pin them with a look.

Steve waves it all away with his hand, standing and throwing his arm over your shoulders.

“She’s just still having trouble figuring out how to win over Vickie!” Steve explains, ushering you toward the back as he shoots Robin a warning glare.

“Oh, well I can help!” you say, starting to circle back to Robin.

“No. You can’t” Steve answers, steering you away. “Your shift is over and I’m going to take you home. It’s been a shit day.”

You deflate with his words and give him a defeated nod.

“Can you take me to Eddie’s?” you ask with small pout.

“Yea of course,” Steve says. “I figured that’s where you wanted to go anyway.”

When Steve pulls up at Eddie’s trailer you grab your bag and give him a quick hug.

“Thanks again Steve!”

You shut the car door and rush up the steps to Eddie’s door, nearly falling inside when he opens it as you go to knock.

“Hey sweetheart,” he says, immediately wrapping you up in his arms.

You sag against his chest and drop your bag to the floor unceremoniously. He keeps a tight hold of you until you gently lift your face to look into his eyes.

“Hi,” you whisper.

He smiles softly and kisses you.

You slide your arms up his chest and around his neck, only pulling away to take a breath and rest your head along his shoulder.

“Eddie…” you start, as you look around and take in the messier than usual appearance of the living space.

Draws are hanging open; various items are strewn about; chairs are missing from the small table in the kitchen and all the pillows and blankets are missing from the couch.

“What happened in here?” you ask with a confused look.

“Ummmm, wellllll,” he sings. “Why don’t ya come see!”

He grabs your hand and tugs you toward his room.

There’s a faint glow coming from under his door and soft music is playing.

“What’s going o…?”

The rest of the words die on your parted lips when he opens the door and you let out a gasp.

His bed is covered with every pillow in the house and several blankets and the red sheet that usually covers his window is strung up in the center from the ceiling and propped up by chairs on either side, creating a canopy of sorts. Just over the bed are a string of white Christmas lights that bathe the whole room in soft glow. His acoustic guitar is resting up against the bed and his bat stuffed animal is sitting front and center in the makeshift fort.

“I also made some soup…if you’re hungry,” he says quietly. “And I got the whole Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit in there in case you want me to read. I went out and got Doritos and Famous Amos cookies too.”

You drop your head into your hands and cry.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Eddie mutters, taking you in his arms again. “Angel face. I’m sorry I didn’t mean…”

“Eddie it’s perfect,” you sniffle. “You’re perfect. I can’t believe you did all this. These are happy tears I promise.”

He cradles your face between his hands and swipes his thumb across your cheek, his rings pressing into your skin as his eyes wander over your features.

“Are you sure?” he asks, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

“I’m so sure. This is THE BEST!”

You sniffle and bury your face in his chest, squeezing him before you let go and crawl into the fort. You grab his bat and curl up on the pillows.

“Are you coming?” you ask with a smile.

He holds up one long finger and rushes back to the kitchen. When he walks back into the room his hands are full as he precariously balances two Yoo Hoos, a box of Honey Comb cereal and a pot of hot soup, the spoon spinning around the rim.

“Ready!” he says happily.

Once you’re both settled inside and he’s fed you some soup he suggests some reading. You lay with your head on his chest and his free arm wrapped securely around you. The steady beat of his heart fills your ears as you listen to him read.

You mindlessly twirl a finger around one of his curls, shifting so you can look up at him.

“I love you Eddie Munson,” you whisper.

He places the book down and takes your hand in his, brushes his lips across your knuckles before he kisses your palm and says, “I love you more angel.”

@buckysdollforlife @blackwidownat2814 @goldylions @hiddles-rose @ysmmsy​ @dreamlessinparis​ @nerdypinupcrystal​

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson fanfiction #joseph quinn #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson stranger things #eddie munson fic

[medusapelagia]

26 AU-gust: Lighthouse - Part 1

Part 1 - Part 2 - [Part 3?]

Rating: Mature Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson WT: Monsters WC: 3159

Steve always knew that he was going to end up like this. Alone in the middle of nowhere.

That was not exactly what he was envisioning when his father convinced him to join the navy, still, after a few weeks at the Naval Academy he quickly found out that it wasn’t exactly how his father told him. Or at least, it wasn’t for him.

He didn’t like the cruel pranks that the older boys did to the others, and even if his friends from high school, Billy and Tommy, managed to find their spot in this new environment, Steve struggled.

Not at school, he was the best of his course, but he never fit in. 

He was the teacher’s pet and the son of Fleet Admiral Richard Harrington. Everyone thought that he had a bright future in front of him.

The only one who wasn’t so sure about that was Captain Hopper.

Every day he tried to make Steve snap, and when he finally did he found himself boarded on a ship that was going to carry him toward an abandoned lighthouse in the middle of nowhere.

“Staying in the quiet will help your temperament.” His father has told him the only time he tried to complain about it.

He didn’t know exactly what was going on between his father and Hopper but he was quite sure that he was a victim of crossfire.

He sighs. 

He has already taken a plane and a ship, and he is going to take a little boat to finally get to the remote island where he is supposed to stay for the next six months.

When he finally gets there he sees that the lighthouse is almost in ruins but luckily there are a lot of tools inside a tool shed. He looks around, taking notes about the renovation that he should be doing.

Thank god it’s June, so he can sleep inside the lighthouse the first night without worrying too much about the broken windows.

In the next few days, he starts to fix everything while making sure that the light is always on.

At night, when he sits beside the lighthouse, looking at the waves. He has the feeling that someone is staring at him, but he knows that it’s just his imagination.

Being alone on a fucking island in the middle of nowhere does things to your mind.

He doesn’t think he is crazy, at least not like the previous lighthouse keeper who apparently killed himself just a few days before Steve was sent there.

At least that’s what Robin said when she came the first time. He is becoming friends with the strange girl who, every few days, brings him groceries and keeps an eye on him.

She has a very strange kind of humorism but he gets her and she does the same. Every time, before leaving and going back to the bigger island a few miles away, she always says “If your sense of humor is still intact you are fine.”

And he is fine. 

Only… he really has the feeling that someone is watching him.

Strange, right?

***

After a couple of weeks that he is staying at the lighthouse he finally finds out who was watching him all this time: a black and white cat with yellow eyes that jumps on his chest one night while he is sleeping.

Obviously, he wakes up with a startle and the cat falls from the bed, hissing in an offended voice.

He, Steve has found out quickly enough that it’s a male, and is very good at hunting mice and hiding, but now that the season is getting colder the cat seems to have some problems finding food so he usually steals some of Steve’s provisions even if Steve always leaves some fresh fish and water for him.

“I swear to god, Steve, that cat is getting fatter and fatter! You shouldn’t give him all your food.” Robin scolds him while he is taking the groceries.

Steve smiles at the girl, who is petting the cat. He knows perfectly well that the cat steals some food, it’s like a game to him and he doesn’t mind. 

He is his companion after all.

Days become weeks and then months and that cat becomes more and more tamed, always following Steve around while he keeps fixing anything he can.

The months have gone by quickly and he is getting so used to being alone with the cat that is almost ready to ask his father to let him stay at the lighthouse a little longer when he sees a boat in trouble. The wind is strong, the waves rough and the dark is not helping.

He had never seen a boat in all the months that he stayed there, maybe they came with a bigger ship and got lost. It doesn’t matter what happened, he has to help them.

Steve looks around. He knows that he is not supposed to leave the lighthouse, if something should happen to him no one will be there to keep the lighthouse functioning, but the boat seems so close!

He looks at the cat “Wait for me.” he says, and then he grabs his yellow raincoat and starts to run toward his little boat. 

The waves get bigger and bigger, but he keeps going, the boat seems close, so close.

“Hey! Here! To the lighthouse!” he screams in the dark, moving the light he has in one hand to attract the attention of the other boat.

Only… it almost seems that no one is on that boat. 

Which is not possible, right? A little boat like that couldn’t have reached the lighthouse alone! Not with weather like that.

He sees something moving in the water when his light beam hits the black sea, something with a long tail. A dolphin? Or a shark?

But he has no time to think about that.

Another wave makes his boat crash against the rocks and he falls, swallowed by the icy cold and dark water.

Steve still has his light in his hand and for a moment he sees a black-haired boy in front of him.

But something is wrong: his eyes are too far on the side of his face and he is tilting his head looking at him with curiosity.

Steve is enraptured by those strange eyes that are looking at him, eyes that have no lids, like the fish.

He closes his eyes for a moment and when he reopens them the boy it’s even closer to him.

Only.

It’s not a boy.

He has a fucking tail.

Steve would like to scream, but an arm is dragging him down, toward the ocean’s floor.

The surface gets farther by the moment.

He is going to die in this cold water and no one will ever find his body.

Steve's last thought is for the lighthouse, and when he opens his mouth to breathe he drinks salt water instead of oxygen.

***

Someone is pushing on his chest, hard, and when he opens his eyes he sees the blond hair of Robin’s head.

He turns to his side, spitting salt water.

His chest burns so much that he thinks that he is going to die.

He keeps spitting for what feels like hours, while Robin keeps moving his hands in a circular motion against his back.

Then he let himself fall to the ground.

“What the fuck were you doing? Do you want to kill yourself?” the girl scolds him, punching him on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. There was a boat last night.” he tries to explain, but his chest burns so much that it's not easy to explain what happened the night before.

“No boat could have reached the lighthouse last night. The winds were too strong!” she rebukes him, but helps him get on his feet.

“You are lucky your stupid cat came to find me. Or you’ll be fucking death.

He thought he was going to die.

He remembers that.

But it doesn’t remember anything more.

Maybe he hit his head harder than he thought.

On the shore, there are pieces of his boat. 

“I need a new boat.” he simply states.

“Yeah, no shit.” Robin replies, getting closer to him.

She helps him back to the lighthouse and then makes some tea for him.

“You shouldn’t have left the lighthouse. In case of an emergency, you call help from the stupid radio that you have, ok?”

He nods, sipping his tea.

The water is calm and blue, nothing to do with last night.

He has the terrible sensation that he forgot something important but he has no idea what it might be.

The cat sniffs him and then goes away irritated.

“What have you done to the cat?”

Nothing that he knows. So he shrugs and keeps drinking the tea.

***

Three more days that the cat is ignoring him. Three more days that the cat is not even inside the lighthouse. Three more days of food that keep disappearing.

Worried that mice might be getting into the pantry, he tries to keep awake while staring at the pantry but finally gets asleep.

When he opens his eyes the door is ajar, but that’s not what woke him.

There is a sound in the air. A voice? A song? He doesn’t know. But it’s calling for him.

When he gets closer to the beach he sees a beautiful woman singing. She has curly hair, just like Nancy, and the same grin she had.

“Nancy?” he calls, and the woman nods.

Somehow it seems absolutely normal to him that his ex-girlfriend could be playing in the water of a remote island in the middle of the night.

He sets foot in the water.

It’s freezing cold.

“Come here, Nancy. It’s too cold to take a swim.” he calls her, but the woman keeps smiling beckoning him.

The level of the water is at his ankle.

He keeps going.

The level of the water is at his knees.

The smile on the woman’s face seems more mischievous.

Something is wrong.

Something it’s deeply wrong.

He has to help Nancy get out of the water and then…

He feels something touch his ankle.

He looks down only for a moment.

It’s a tail.

A huge red tail.

He hears a shriek and the beautiful woman is now a monster who is stretching her nailed arms toward him.

He can’t move. Or scream. He just keeps staring at the monster knowing that she will be the last thing that he sees, when something drags him underwater for a moment and quickly swims away, keeping him in a tight grip.

The red-tailed monster is following them, even if the other creature had the advantage of surprise effect, the red one is quicker.

Big breath.

Steve obeys and takes a big breath, and in a moment they are under the surface.

His ears scream for the pressure, but the creature is holding him tight and dragging him down and down and down.

The red monster it’s so close. She manages to scratch Steve’s leg and he loses one of his shoes, but before she can attack him again they hide behind some rocks and the red creature is too big to follow them.

Great. He will not be eaten by a monster, but he still needs some oxygen.

He starts to squirm to free himself from the tight grip. He needs to get to the surface. Now.

The creature doesn’t release him but starts to swim toward the surface, or at least Steve hopes it is.

Everything is black.

He doesn’t know where is up or down.

Air.

He needs air.

I know.

He doesn’t have time to analyze the fact that he is hearing voices in his mind because he finally breaks the surface and takes the biggest breath he has ever taken.

The air smells bad. It’s humid and smells of rotten fish, but the air never felt so sweet to him.

The creature doesn’t free him, it keeps swimming toward some cliffs, helping him out of the water.

Stay.

And Steve stays because there is no other place he can go.

He is scared out of his mind.

A monster tried to kill him, another brought him to his den and will probably try to kill him later and he has no fucking idea of where the hell he is.

He tries to calm down, taking some deep breaths, and when his mind is a little bit more lucid he remembers that the clock that his father gave him for graduation has a little torch.

He lights it up and looks around him. He is in a cave, a sea cave, and from the look of it, it seems that part of the cave has collapsed so that the only entrance is from the water.

The water looks quite deep and there are a few fish that are swimming toward his light. 

And under the fish, he sees a white humanoid figure.

Suddenly he remembers the night of the storm.

The boat.

The creature that dragged him down.

The boy that wasn’t a boy.

The very same boy is looking at him from behind the surface. 

It seems like he is giving him time to get used to him.

His face looks even stranger, seen from above, under the rippling water.

The creature gets closer to the surface, slowly, maybe trying not to startle Steve, and then he emerges only with the crow of his head and his eyes.

His strange eyes with no lids.

I can change it if you prefer.

Steve looks at him astonished.

“Are you talking to me in my mind?”

He tilts his head.

“I… I hear your voice in my mind.”

He shakes his head, then lifts a webbed hand against his chest and makes a sound. It seems like a song. Something old that he knew but forgot. It’s the song his grandma used to sing to him when he was a child, far too young to remember it.

These are vibrations. 

“How do you know that song?”

I know no song. I feel vibrations and I repeat them.

Steve is so confused that the less strange thing at the moment is that an unknown marine creature knows the song his grandma used to sing to him.

“Where am I?”

Safe.

“What was that? The red creature.”

Siren. 

He looks at the creature, he has a tail as well but it’s different. Is dark and looks more like an eel than a fish.

“And you are not?”

Different.

Different. Yeah. He noticed when he didn’t try to eat him. Or maybe he would try later.

No eat. You got food.

And then it clicks.

It wasn’t the cat that was robbing the food. It was this creature.

“How do you… I mean… You have a tail and the lighthouse is not so close to the water…”

Change?

“Change? What does it mean?”

The creature gets closer, holding on to some rocks, and then he closes his eyes while Steve sees the tail divided into two and then become a pair of legs, the eyes move from the side to the center of the face, and the gills on his neck close.

In front of him, right now, there is a naked and wet dark-haired boy.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

He has so many questions right now but he is speechless.

“In this form. No vibration. Talk.”

“Oh… You can’t read my mind if you are human? Because you are human now, right?”

“Not human. Always me. Just. Changed.”

Steve nods.

“And the other siren can she change as well? She can come to my house and…”

The boy shakes his head “Different. Bigger. Longer tale. No change. But knows songs.”

“Which songs?”

“Soul’s songs.”

And yeah… the song she was singing felt deeply personal. And she changed more and more into Nancy the closer he got.

“Me no song. Me vibration.”

Steve is going to ask the most stupid question in the world but… “Did you try to drown me? During the storm.”

The creature shakes his head “Bad. Storm too strong. Steve don’t go.”

Steve? How the hell does he know his name?

But if he has always stayed around he must have heard Robin call him.

“What are you?”

“Mermaid.”

Oh. That explains it all.

“What…”

“Sirens evil. They play with people and then eat them. Like cat.”

“While mermaids.”

“Don’t.”

Perfect. So maybe he is not going to become mermaid food. Not tonight at least.

“Why were you in the water the night of the storm?”

He giggles. Honest to god the mermaid giggles.

“I live in water, silly!”

“Yeah, I mean… There was a boat! I saw a boat and…”

He shakes his head “No boat. Sirens.”

Holy shit. 

“And you dragged me away from the sirens.”

He nods.

“Change back?”

Now that Steve is looking at him, he sees that he has goosebumps, the water must be freezing for his human form.

“Yeah go on.” he is fucking freezing as well but there is nothing he can do.

“Look, it’s too cold for me here, and I don’t know how long the battery of my torch will work. I need to go back to the lighthouse.

The mermaid nods.

Later. Sirens.

Yeah.

He is not really looking to repeat the experience, so he thinks that a little cold could be worth it.

“Will you tell me when it’s safe?”

The mermaid nods and disappears under the surface.

Steve turns off his light and resigns himself to wait.

***

Something is touching his leg, but he is so tired. 

“Five more minutes, mum…” he protests, but when he tries to turn he falls into the cold water and he is immediately very awake.

The mermaid is at his side, holding his head out of the water.

You hot.

Steve doesn’t know what it means, he feels so fucking cold!

Big Breath.

He takes a big breath and lets the creature drag him under the surface.

It must be a day because he can finally see the rocks while they swim to the surface. When he is finally back with his head out of the surface he tries to swim toward the lighthouse, but the mermaid holds him tight and drags him with him toward some rocks.

He leaves him close enough to the shore but not so close that anyone could see him.

“Thank you.”

Safe. The creature repeats, before disappearing.

When he gets back to the house the cat is avoiding him even more, and then he understands it. The cat can smell the mermaid’s scent on him.

That’s why he started living outside.

He feels unwell. Too hot and too cold at the same time.

He manages somehow to shower, just to wash away the seawater, and then collapses on the bed.

[to be continued...?]

#tumblr fic #myfanfic #steddie #au gust 2023 #stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things fanfic #writing challenge #lighthouse #mermaid Eddie Munson #monsters #mermaid au #mermaid Eddie #medusapelagia fanfic #medusapelagia #my fanfic

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

Actually...

I take it back. The absolute worst thing that's come out of this is the anon message I know I didn't just fucking get. Someone tell me I'm fucking hallucinating.

I'm gonna put this under a cut because if you woke up in a good mood this morning, or are not feeling this type of negativity then I respect that and I applaud you for protecting your peace.

But I need to vent.

Imma put a few fun little panda GIFs here and wait for you to truly decide if you don't want to use that back-button right about now.

"Fuck this blonde bitch I hope she lose that bastard and dies in the process".

That's the message I got. I didn't want to answer it directly because I really want to give people the opportunity to avoid the whole discourse if they want to, and answering directly would have a) thrown it in everyone's face, and b) probably would have just invited anon to come at me again, and honey, I ain't got the time.

Anon is blocked, of course, and I thought that would be enough but every time I think about this — and I can't stop thinking about it — I get more and more excruciatingly fucking ANGRY to the point where it physically hurts me, so I need to get this off my chest.

It takes a special kind of human garbage to type shit like that. And I swear to god that if I had any kind of money, I would invite you and your sorry ass to come off anon and I would immediately offer to pay for the therapy that you clearly desperately need.

What in the ever loving fucking fuck could ever prompt a person to wish death on not just a woman they've never even fucking met — regardless of whether you 'like' her or not, just take two seconds to breathe in, hold, and out again, bend your knees, get all the way down to the fucking floor and pick up what I'm about to put down: YOU DON'T KNOW HER. Alright. Got that? Good. — so not just a woman you've never met, but her and her unborn baby?

(Also... "bastard"? Really? Like... Meaning "child born to unwed parents"? Because a) so what? Children are born 'out of wedlock' every single day and it's literally not a problem, so there's that. And also b) they may actually be married and just haven't told anyone. And I can tell you it's because of people who would have responded exactly the way you just fucking did. So...)

Like, if you care so deeply about this entire situation that you feel the inexplicable and uncontrollable need to harass people on anon about it, I'm gonna suppose you consider yourself a fan of Henry, right?

I say 'consider yourself' instead of 'are' because I'm of an entirely different opinion. Because how, if you're a fan of anyone, could you possibly wish death (or any other kind of harm) on the two people that man loves most in the world. Because that's what that is. That's what you're doing.

I know people who have lost a spouse. I know people who have lost a baby. And although I'm not going to stand (sit) here and pretend to know what that feels like, I'm pretty confident saying this:

That is irreparable damage.

Damage you will learn to live with. Pain that you will carry with you for the rest of your life.

That's what you're wishing on a man you supposedly care about. Someone you care so much about, in fact, that you took time out of your no doubt not all too busy schedule to harrass other people saying this completely despicable shit, ruining days (congratulations, you managed that, at least. It's an accomplishment, I guess).

I'm fucking depressed right now. Not because of this, and not because of you, don't worry. This was a preexisting condition. All I wanna say is that, in addition to sorting out all of those feelings I'm having by myself, about myself, and about my own life, I really don't need to deal with the pile of human garbage that is your fucking psycho ass, anon.

Get help.

Or at the very least fucking 'suffer' in silence.

#raccoon rambles #raccoon rants

[ferniliciousness]

I don't know why, but the idea of just Garrus' crew of mercenaries sitting around and gossiping brings me so much joy. Especially the married ones, you can't tell me the wives didn't want at least some tea, you can only talk about so much when you're a part of a top secret vigilante group lmao.

N7month day 11 prompt: Crew

Gold paint drips onto a work table, falling from an outstretched brush which hovers over a piece of armor. A soft hum of music plays from Gaia's headphones as she puts on the finishing touches of paint. Archangel's symbol, now perfectly placed on Erash's rerebrace, shimmers in the light as she holds up her handiwork.

"Gaia? What are you still doing here? I thought you would have left by now." Garrus' familiar voice rumbles next to her, as the turian leans over the table to look at her work. "You don't have to stay here all day you know? I'm sure you have plenty of work to do at your shop and you've already finished the work we had for you."

"Please Garrus, I'm so bored at the shop. Lunette and Kellic have literally left me with nothing to do there. I swear they run that place better without me; I mean, I'm not complaining, but some days I do wish they would leave me something to do."

"Now, hold still." With fresh paint on her brush, Gaia quickly grabs a hold of Garrus' arm, he wasn't getting away from her this time.

"Gaia really?" The surprise quickly fades from his face as he sees what she's doing.

"Oh be quiet. It's your own fault. You're never out of this armor long enough for me to paint it, and you're the only one I have left now that I'm done with Erash's. Dont worry I'll be quick, only, if you can manage to hold still for a minute."

Garrus mumbles something under his breath, but he concedes to her wishes, holding his arm still while she paints. "Isn't there an easier way of doing this? That doesn't involve paint."

"Youre looking at it." Gaia meticulously places every brush stroke, making sure that it looks perfect. "This is basically like a metal stain. It will flake off in a day or two and leave the design behind, then nothing will be able to take it off. I mean unless you just gouge it out, but if you're getting damaged enough for that to happen I think you have other worries besides ruining the symbol."

"Say, Sidonis? Is it, you know, common, for Turians and humans to get together? Like have you seen it happen before?"

"Well that's a random question." Sidonis places a card down onto the table, where he and Butler were playing a quick card game. "I've never seen it happen, but I've looked at enough Fornax covers to know it does. Why? I thought you were happily married?"

"Oh god no, not me you idiot. Look." Butler quickly gestures over to the table where Gaia is still painting on Garrus' arm. "Look at those two over there. You can't tell me they wouldn't make a good match. Heaven knows the two could use some uh, company."

Sidonis can't help but look at his friend in utter disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me." A loud sigh escapes him. "I think you have picked the most unlikely pair of them all. Those two never stop working long enough to even relax, let alone think about romance.... IF there is any romance between them at all. Which I seriously doubt. Maybe try your luck with someone else.... "

"Who are you talking about? Garrus and Gaia?" The Salarian member Melanis spoke up from behind his workbench. "Hmm, Gaia never struck me as the romance type. Always treats that topic more like a Salarian than a human. I agree with Sidonis on this one. Maybe you should leave the match making to someone else Butler. I would think you would know better by now."

"That Gaia has broken more hearts on Omega than I can count." Vortash can't stay out of the conversation, even as the batarian works away on his terminal.

"Really! Gaia?! I can't see her being a heartbreaker?" Butler sounds surprised as he and Sidonis look up from their game.

"Please. Gaia had nearly every young Merc on the station pining for her when she was making runs, hell I heard even her own crew wanted a piece of her. She never paid them any attention though. I wouldn't be surprised if Melanis was right, she might just not be the type for.... All that."

"How did Gaia ever get that many mercs going for her? I can hardly see her being their type. She's just so.... Not a psychopathic killer." Melanis leaving his work, walks over to continue talking with the group.

"You should have seen her when she was in her smuggler days. I know half those stories about her probably aren't true, but even so, I know no one dared mess with her. Plus her family name definitely helps hype up the image."

"Now, now Vortash. Are you sure we're talking about the same Gaia? The one currently painting fancy designs on our armor, the girl who owns a small shop down in the market... that Gaia.... Is the same Gaia?"

"Oh, you didn't see her when we took down that Blood Pack weapons cache. That girl definitely knows her way around a rifle." Sidonis speaks up, remembering when Gaia had helped him and Garrus find and infiltrate the gang camp. "Let's just say I'm glad she's on our side. She might not look like it but that girl packs a punch."

"I swear I think all of you are just crazy." Butler can only shake his head and return to his cards, while the rest of the group laughs at his disbelief. "I still think they would make a good couple, mark my words."

"Yeah, yeah, if you say so. Just don't be surprised if your wrong... Again. Leave them be Butler, those two have enough on their plates as it is without you playing matchmaker." Sidonis joins him again, and the hideout returns to the quiet.

#n7month #mass effect #i completely guessed on who has what name #so forgive if it seems off #i did my best #most of his crew is human so i tried to give some variety #plus #having a Batarian gossiping with a turian a Salarian and a human #was too good to not do #i just know they all got bored and made up tea #what else can you do #besides beating up bad guys lol #garrus #gaia #fanfic

[lizisshortforlizard]

Living Dangerously - Chapter 30

Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?

A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.

But would they die for it?

Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)

Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc

Warnings: some swears, harassment and misogyny in the workplace

Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 @kmc1989 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)

Read on Ao3

Chapter 29 | Chapter 31

I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts

It turned out be a different sort of sleepless night to what Lizzy had been hoping for.

The wrong kind. 

She had lain awake for what few hours remained until morning, tossing, turning, occasionally weeping. Any sleep she managed to grasp was fitful, feeling like it only lasted a few seconds at a time.

She kept replaying what had happened in the clearing, each time a little more painful. Wondering how she could have behaved differently. How it could have turned out better than this unbearable limbo in which she didn't know where she stood anymore. Whether she'd just forever destroyed one of the best professional relationships she'd ever had. 

It was all her fault, of course it was.

Why did she keep doing this? It felt eerily similar to the last time she’d engaged without thinking of the consequences. It had nearly ruined someone else’s life back then, as well as her own. History was repeating itself, and she only had herself to blame. 

And now, once again, she had to live with the uncomfortable reality. She’d argue that it clearly wasn’t taking advantage from either side, in fact Lizzy would be bold enough to say they were both very much in agreement. But InGen’s legal department probably wouldn’t see it the same way. 

Admit it, girl. You fucked up. 

Dawn came, and she finally forced herself to get out of bed and pretend to be human. She should be looking forward to going out into the park again and seeing her animals, now that she wasn’t alone and it was relatively safe to do so, but she was dreading it. Unsure what she’d do when she inevitably bumped into Muldoon again.

Pretend it never happened or meet him head on? 

I don’t think I have it in me this time. 

She was in the canteen, laying low, listlessly poking at her scrambled eggs with a fork. Lizzy had cooked them herself, but they were far from her usual standard and didn't taste of anything other than disappointment. 

She heard the familiar Jeep engine outside, and the shower of gravel as it ground to a halt. Lizzy shrunk down in her chair, staring at her plate in dread. 

I’m better at breakfast.

Be the one to wake me up in the morning.

God, why did I do it?

At least the coffee was worth leaving her room for. 

It was the first thing Muldoon noticed as soon as he walked in. She hadn’t brought one over for him, like she usually did. Message received, loud and clear.

The one small act she did for him almost every day, and he hadn’t even appreciated it properly until it had stopped. That was enough to get him to talk first. Armstrong did something when she made coffee. Invoked a higher power. Witchcraft. Somehow she always got it exactly right.

This wouldn’t do at all.

“Good morning.”

“It is?” She replied dully, glancing up with red-rimmed eyes. “Doesn’t feel like it.”

“You’re late for work.” He pointed out. “How are you doing?”

“Well, that’s a kick in the teeth.” She muttered. “But, if you’re genuinely asking? Annoyed. No, that’s not right. Vexed? Hm. Frustrated. Mostly at myself.” 

“Armstrong-“ Muldoon awkwardly stood in front of her. “I probably owe you an explanation.”

“No need. I thought you made it pretty clear, actually.” She felt the sting of rejection anew. It was more painful than she’d reckoned to talk about it. “You don’t owe me squat.”

“I could have handled things better.” He pulled out a chair to sit opposite her. “It all happened rather quickly.” 

“You were handling things just fine.” Lizzy gave up on her eggs, pushing her plate away before sitting back and folding her arms. “What changed?”  What exactly had changed? It was hard to explain, but what it came down to was-

“Too fast." 

She blinked, confused. ”Say again?”

Muldoon wished more than anything that Baker was around to keep him on the right track, guide him with what to say. 

”…moving too fast.”

”Well, thanks for the clarification.” Lizzy replied dryly. “And that’s…bad?”

It was, it didn’t feel right, to be suddenly rushing matters in the dark. Outside…fair enough, but in the back of a bloody Jeep?! 

Or maybe on the bonnet of his Jeep-

No, stop that. 

He wasn’t sure quite what had happened, but he’d forgotten his responsibilities. Keep her safe. And risking her career for the sake of one night together did not fall into that bracket. No matter how strongly he felt.  How he felt didn’t matter. Hadn’t mattered for a long time. 

“Don’t want one and done.” He tried to explain, despite the relentless stare from the other side of the table. “Can’t do it.”

Not with her. Everything or nothing at all. Anything else would never be enough. He was trying to voice that sentiment out loud, but he didn’t have the words. He barely had the syllables.

“It’s not right, either. We already knew that.“ Muldoon gave up. She’d have to trust him, he was doing his best. If she could still trust him. ”Does that help, at all?”

“Yes…” Then her face crumpled.

He looked at her closely. ”Are you lying to me?”

”Yes!” It all came pouring out in a high-pitched hurry. “You’ve been mad at me before and I’ve understood why. But, after, and when we were driving back-…I couldn’t read you, at all!”

Lizzy put her head in her hands and mumbled something beyond his range of hearing.

She thought he was angry with her? That’s what she was most upset about?

Muldoon reached out and gently but firmly pulled her hand away from her mouth.

”Again, please.” 

”…really thought I’d lost you.” She whispered. 

“Well, you certainly have a flair for the dramatic, Lizzy.” He kept hold of her hand, she let him.

”Are you implying I’m overreacting?” She choked out. “Because women love that.”

”To be clear, I’m not mad at you. I’ve never once been mad at you.”

”Are you sure?”

“Positive. Annoyed, maybe. Vexed? Once or twice.” Lizzy groaned when she realised what he was doing. “Frustrated…you get the idea.”

”Oh, that’s not fair.” She muttered. 

“But I’d find it very hard to live with, if you were dismissed because of something I did. Or might possibly do, if we were to, er-…” He looked uncomfortable. “-you know.”

"Suppose that’s a good point. Damn you for being so rational. I love my job.” She glanced up. “The people, eh...."

"Indeed, people are awful. Most people, at any rate." He quietly agreed. "This island would be bloody idyllic if we weren't going to be overrun by guests in a few short months.”

“So, where do we go from here?” Lizzy was already dreading the answer.

“I don’t think…we are going anywhere. You and I-" Muldoon looked resigned. "-have to carry on as before.”

“Like nothing ever happened?”

”I’m afraid so. Strictly professional.”

“But that’s not what I want.” May as well say it. 

“Nor me.” Lizzy wondered if him tracing circles on the back of her hand was conscious or otherwise. “But it’s what we have to do.”

Sobriety would be a distant memory if he was responsible for ruining her career.

“Still the funniest story I’ve ever heard.” She muttered after a few moments, breaking the tension.

“Good.” Her laugh. That ridiculous laugh that he couldn’t stop thinking about. “That’ll keep me going for a while.”

Lizzy nodded and managed a wonky smile. She felt like crying again, it seemed horribly like saying a goodbye. "We'll be okay, right?"

"I don't even want to imagine the alternative."

This is the right choice. This is the right choice. This is the right choice.

Doesn't feel right. Feels bloody awful. 

Lizzy tilted her head, pushing her body towards him, her candour returning. “Did you like it, though?” 

”Excuse me?” He had to have misheard, but the mischief in her expression was telling him otherwise.

”You heard. Did you-“

A noise from the doorway startled them both. Muldoon dropped her hand quick as a flash, Lizzy tried not to let her face fall in dismay. 

Kathy Baker was clattering into the canteen, struggling yet again with her bag, which looked even heavier than when she’d left before Christmas. 

“Found you, finally!” Kathy called and waved. "Oh, hey, you came back early! What gives?"

“Nothing.” In a role reversal, Muldoon quickly answered for them both, while Lizzy was the one who baulked.

“O-kay…jeez, answer faster.” Kathy gave up on her bag and abandoned it at the door, clumping over to their table, still in her winter boots. “Girl, before you ask, yes, I got the goods. Here, you’re welcome.”

She passed Lizzy a box of liquorice which was met with a pleased but slightly frantic ‘ooh!’. 

“Have you been crying?” Kathy asked her matter-of-factly. 

“Just allergies.” Lizzy sniffed and wiped her eyes, looking at the floor. 

“Uh-huh...” Kathy darted a quick glance at Muldoon, before drumming her recently manicured nails on the back of a chair, building up. "This is kinda perfect actually. I wanted to tell you two first out of everyone, obviously, but not over the phone. I, uh...I have some news."

The way she was avoiding eye contact with both of them, Lizzy could guess what it was. She quickly forced a smile. "You got the job?"

"Yeah, I got the job..." Kathy tried her best to look dismayed, before the grin burst through and she bounced on her tiptoes. "Guys, I got the job!"

Lizzy scrambled up to congratulate, quelling the geyser of rage, dread and panic that was bubbling up inside, feigning happiness for her friend. “What’d I tell you? You’re incredible!”

”I know, I’m kind of a big deal!” Kathy giggled, squeezing her tight. “First woman to ever hold the post in the history of the Smithsonian! I’m gonna have an office! I don’t have to work weekends anymore! I’m gonna have a life!”

“Alright for some.” Muldoon wasn’t so enthused. 

Kathy broke away from Lizzy, hands on her hips. “Go on then, let me have it.” 

"Well done. Knew you’d get it."

Lizzy shook her head. Damn man was proud as Hell, just doing his stubborn best not to show it. 

“It’s not the end of the world, I’ll be here for a while, until you can find my replacement.” Kathy pointed down at the top of Lizzy’s head and stage whispered pick her. 

“How long have I got?”

”Until August. “I can hang in there until August, right? What could go wrong before then?” Kathy laughed nervously then abruptly stopped at the alarmed look they both gave her. 

“Plenty.” Muldoon huffed.

Lizzy agreed with him. ”Best not to answer that.”

***

Kathy wasn’t the only one who brought Lizzy dessert as a souvenir on their return. 

Rico, the youngest but not least talented member the Carnivore Team was making his way towards her brandishing a Paupério tin that was far too dented and discoloured to be new. This looked promising unless, God forbid, it turned out to contain a sewing kit. Lizzy had been burned before. 

“For you!” He was calling to her as he jogged along.

Her face lit up at the sight. “That looks homemade, boy. Tell me it’s homemade.”

Rico caught up, handing her the tin. “From my mama, for you.”

“You really didn’t have to…” Lizzy tried to remain polite though she was dying to rip the lid off and tuck in. Dinner time was still achingly far away.

“Yes I did. She made me swear I wouldn’t touch any.” 

Have you been making friends, niño?

I have, at least one.

The strange Scottish lady was always nice to him, even if she was scarily forthright at times, and it had taken Rico a couple of weeks to figure out that she used certain rude words not as insults, but as terms of endearment.

“I’ve got good cigarros too if you want one, but don’t tell mama about those.” He tapped the side of his nose.

“Have you done something bad?” Lizzy asked warily. “I’m not being funny, but this is too much-“

“It’s just a thank you. You look out for me.” Rico said simply. “It was rough, at the start, but you wouldn’t let me stay in my room alone. I hated it at first, when you dragged me out all the time, but I know why you did it.”

His shoulders drooped. “When I can’t remember the word for something, you don’t make fun of me. The other guys still do, sometimes.”

Lizzy hadn’t really thought about it before. But he was around the same age as her brothers. And it was true, his English hadn’t been the best at the beginning. She knew all to well what it was like to be the outsider, not being confident to chip in when everyone else spoke a different language to you. She hadn’t wanted the youngest member of the team to feel left out or worthless.  The boy was good. Not long left school and already working for InGen? He was going places.

Rico was somewhat of a phenomenon. He was quiet and thoughtful, introverted, but he had a way with the dinosaurs that Lizzy was envious of. Even the most timid of creatures could be coaxed forward by Rico. He was just good at it. Something about how he spoke to them, how he moved, he had a calming influence. 

People had their favourite animals, and the reverse was equally true. The dinosaurs just liked him, most were comfortable being around him.

It had made other people jealous, some who weren’t as happy to just shut up and deal with it as Lizzy was. She had even considered asking Muldoon if Rico could become a handler for the infant raptor. He would be good for her, she was certain.

“It’s just banter.” She reassured. That was true enough, but one or two of the guys had a bad habit of pushing it into cruel territory. Words needed to be had. “Although Tom really is an arse. Don’t ever listen to him.”

She resisted the urge to ruffle Rico’s hair, like an unbearable aunt. He’s a grown man. He’s taller than you.

But he had such a baby face she couldn’t help but want to look after him. Maybe it was guilt. She missed her brothers by far the most out of all her siblings. It had been so long since she’d seen them.

“What would I do without you, kid?” She glanced down at the tin gratefully. “And your mother’s baking. Seriously, she could sell these.”

“You won’t ever find out.” He sidled closer, looking like he was getting ready to tell her a secret. “Listen, I want to see Africa. The Africa you and the boss talk about. See a wild elephant.”

“All these dinosaurs right here and you want to see an elephant?” She couldn’t help but smile. 

He laughed. “A wild elephant. Just promise you’ll take me along, next time you go, yes?”

”Sure. I might know somebody who could give you the tour.” Unable to resist any longer, Lizzy started breaking open the tin and she nearly teared up at how delicious the contents smelled. “Oh my God. Can you bring your mum too?”

He seemed to seriously consider it before nodding. “I’ll ask her?”

***

“Hey!" Later that day Kathy sneaked up behind her and tapped Lizzy on the shoulder. “Got a bone to pick with you.”

The old reliable Baker intuition was yelling loudly in her head, yet again. Niggling in her thoughts for several days. She couldn’t ignore it any longer. Kathy pointed a finger in accusation at her friend and cried triumphantly:

”You got laid!”

“What?!” Lizzy's eyes darted back and forth. "Shhhh!"

"You did!" Kathy gasped. "Oh my God, you did!"

”I did not!” Lizzy made a grab for her friend, trying to clamp a hand over her mouth, something, anything to stop her. “What the Hell, Kathy?”

“You’re, I dunno-“ The Team Leader wriggled free and shrugged, unconvinced. “-different?”

“Yeah, well. You’re wrong. Nothing happened at New Year.” Lizzy insisted. “Ro-uh…Muldoon and I went out for a drive, that was all.”

The at least partly true white lie that both of them had discussed and agreed on together.

“Who said anything about New Year?” Kathy raised an eyebrow.  “You…did?” Lizzy stalled helplessly. 

“I didn’t mention Muldoon, either. That’s where your mind went though, huh?”

”Er-“ Lizzy started to panic. 

”He came back early, to check you were okay, you were all alone here for a whole night and- oh, don’t give me that look! And ‘nothing happened’?” Kathy was still sceptical. “Yeah, right!”

She recalled the moment she had first suspected things may have changed between them. She peeked through the window just before she’d entered the canteen, nearly screamed in exhilaration and then saw how quickly Muldoon dropped Lizzy’s hand when he heard the door opening. Like a hot potato. Her heart had dropped just as quickly, and she caught the noise ready to burst forth from her throat in the nick of time.

Whatever had been going on, she clearly wasn’t meant to see. “Cross my heart.”

”Really? Nothing?” Kathy was still crestfallen. “You finally had the island to yourselves, and nothing at all?”

Lizzy considered how he had made her laugh harder than she had laughed in a long time, maybe even in her whole life. A moment that regardless of whatever happened between them now, she’d likely remember until the end of her days. 

Kathy was looking at her expectantly, while Lizzy’s memory was a mile or so away, in her favourite place in the park, with the stars above and the Rex rumbling away like a purring cat as the fire crackled.

”Well, not exactly nothing at all.” Lizzy’s mouth finally curved into a smile. “But if I told you, you’d probably never believe me.”

***

”Regis, why is my Jeep boxed in?”

”Uh…sorry Muldoon, I’m losing you-crrrhhhsshshhh.” The group of animal handlers all saw Ed discretely switch his radio off with a loud click. 

A couple of weeks into January, New Year a distant memory, but Lizzy’s stomach still flipped whenever she heard the park warden’s voice. Carrying on as normal was working, for the most part. But she couldn’t simply forget and move on. Feelings don’t just go away, you only adapt to get better at dealing with them over time. If you’re lucky.

Fortunately, a welcome distraction was in progress. Preparations were underway for an official event on the island. The front of the visitor centre was positively bustling. 

"Thought they weren't opening the park until the autumn?" Lizzy critically eyed the deliveries that were turning up left, right and centre. The  supply boat that morning had been sitting much lower in the water than usual.

"These are investors, idiot. They aren't guests. They need to see we’ve made good use of their money, so that they give us more!" Tom flicked her ear for emphasis, causing Lizzy to take a swipe at him, which he dodged easily. "Or we’re screwed. So Eddie’s gotta get his nose right in there."

"I don’t think they’ve ordered enough stuff.” When she turned back to look again, Lizzy could have sworn the number of boxes had somehow tripled.

”You’re doing a great job, buddy. Keep it up!” Tom yelled over to Regis, whose neck quickly turned red under his freckles.  “Don’t call me buddy!”

“Would you stop?” Lizzy elbowed him. “One of these days, he will throw something at you.”

”Hope it’s not gonna be valuable, cos it won’t have my good self to cushion the blow. He’ll miss.” His self-assurance was still grating.

”Wanna bet?” Lizzy remembered Trenton Thunder. “Baseball nut over there.”

”So Daddy played catch with him, big whoop.” Tom replied, grinding out his cigarette with his boot heel. 

“Can you guys make yourselves useful and keep an eye out for the ice sculpture arriving?” Regis trotted over to them. “I gotta go do a thing…”

”Yeah, sure. We basically get paid to stand around, anyway.” Kathy replied cheerfully.

“This event-“ Lizzy queried. “-are we invited?"

”Absolutely not.” Regis denied. “In fact, you in particular are barred, Armstrong, for obvious reasons.”

”Aw, Ed!” She feigned upset. “You know that just makes me want to go even more!”

“Ain’t gonna happen, Liz.” Regis carefully pulled a transparent plastic garment bag out of a box full of packing peanuts. It contained a very short, very red cocktail dress. “So quit asking.”

“That’s gonna clash with your hair.” Tom pointed out.

”It’s for María!” Regis snarled back at him.

“That’s not fair! Why does she get to go? You have catering staff flying over.” Lizzy was still on his case. 

Ed gave her a lopsided grin. ”Eye candy.”

”Huh?” Lizzy and Kathy said in unison, shooting each other confused glances.

“Okay, I see what happens.” Tom stepped forward. “Let me paint a picture for you, girls. You’ve got a lot of rich, lonely, powerful men in a room together, far away from their wives and mistresses, trying to prove who’s got the biggest dick. You need a little entertainment. Something pretty to look at. Grease the wheels.”

Regis clicked his fingers. “Bingo.”

“Oh, that’s disgusting. That’s disgusting.” Kathy was horrified. 

“Nobody touch anything.” Off Ed Regis went, garment bag slung over his shoulder. Presumably to find the unwilling future occupant of the dress. 

"Team Meeting, now.” Lizzy announced. 

The eight animal handlers huddled.

”I move that we do something. I want to find out where all their money's going. Because it sure as Hell isn't on the animals. Or us. Y’know, the people who actually do the work.” Lizzy's expression became stormy. "They're going to take advantage of her. And Ed's going to sit back, drink his lite beer, and watch it happen."

"In another win for human evolution, public relations manager achieves upright stance sans spinal column." Kathy muttered dryly.  “That’s cold, Kit.” Tom sounded impressed. “Attagirl, you’ll be as cynical as Liz and I by the time you leave this place.”

“Well, she has a point!” The Team Leader gestured. “We can’t leave María there alone. They’ll eat her alive.”

"So you agree?" Lizzy jumped on her chance. “I’m commandeering the situation?”

"Girl..." Kathy shook her head. "Girl, he's gonna kill you...getting involved…”

"I can handle Ed." Lizzy said confidently. 

"Ed's not the one I was talking about, sweetie.”

“We’re gonna see Liz in a dress? Looking like an actual woman?” Tom smirked at her expression full of disgust. "Hey, you gotta. It’s a formal. You’ll need something that doesn't scream 'I shovel crap for a living'." 

”Oh sure, let me just go pick one of my many ballgowns out of the wardrobe.” Lizzy gestured from her flyaway head to her mud-caked boots. "Are you blind?"

”You and María are about the same height. You wouldn’t look terrible in red, if it’s low lighting-“

”Jeez, Tom! Stop encouraging her!” Kathy moaned. “This is a terrible idea.” “As much as I hate to admit she’s right, better Liz than María.” The Texan stuck to his guns. “And you know it, Kit.” 

“That’s settled then. All in favour?” Lizzy called the vote. 

Six ayes were heard from the men before they looked to the Carnivore Leader for her choice. But she still hesitated. 

Come on, girl.

The seconds ticked by. Tom smirked confidentially at Lizzy before asking loudly:  “Kit, you wanna go grab Ed that cappuccino, or what?”

“Oh, I’m so gonna regret this.” Kathy wearily nodded. “You win.”

***

God, I'm starving. 

Lizzy had poured herself into the tiny cocktail dress meant for Maria, far more petite and less muscular than she was. The Haitian was more than happy to be relieved of her duties for the evening, kissing Lizzy on both cheeks before practically flinging the dress in the ethologist’s direction and gliding away down the corridor to do God-knew-what. Watering the plastic plants, probably.

The cheap fabric was working particularly hard underneath her arms and around the tops of her thighs. As well as doing hair and make-up, Kathy had reluctantly helped pile her into the nightmare dress and zip her up. She felt like an overstuffed sausage, and already had blisters forming from the high heels, rubbing her feet raw as she shuffled around with tiny steps.

But the place Lizzy felt most under-dressed was on her left hand.

She wished she’d had the foresight to put her engagement ring back on, which she still hadn’t found the willpower to shove in an envelope and send back to Simon. At least it would offer some protection for a few hours. Lizzy looked around the room. String quartet, ice sculpture, flowers everywhere…the opulence of it made her feel uneasy. 

She had a flashback to her apartment in the States, something Simon had divulged while complaining about a flamboyantly rich but cantankerous client as they were unpacking groceries together.  Very rich people didn’t show off how much money they had. They didn’t have to. They tended to be quietly generous and classy about it. People who acted like they were still trying to prove something, they might be well-off, but they weren’t rich rich. 

Lizzy herself had fallen for it in the beginning, but as time went on, increasingly often she began to suspect that Hammond was the latter. Everything for show. Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

She caught sight of the man himself in the corner of her eye, amber-topped cane in hand, and remembered the reason she was enduring such torture in the first place. To secure better care, more money specifically for the dinosaurs. Lizzy tottered over, tugging the hem of her dress down as she approached. 

“John?”

He turned and looked at her blankly. She knew what he was thinking. You weren’t on the guest list. 

”It’s me, Lizzy.” She could forgive him a few moments hesitation, she’d probably never worn this much make-up in her life.

“Lizzy?” 

She began to get annoyed. What happened to ‘my dear old granny was a Lizzy’? Anyway, she’d always considered herself fairly memorable.

This was not a good start. 

“Doctor Armstrong? From Namibia?” She gestured helplessly, at a loss for what else she could say to jog his memory. “The ethologist.”

“It’s Mr Hammond, tonight, dear. If you don’t mind.” 

“Alright-“

“I’m fairly busy, I’m afraid. Why don’t you go and mingle? We’ll catch up later.”

“Wait, no-“ Lizzy knew well enough that there most likely wouldn’t be a later.

“Please, Miss Armstrong. Another time.” And he gently took her arm and guided her away, leaving her all alone, facing the wall as he resumed his conversation. 

Not quite sure how she had lost her hold on the situation, Lizzy vowed to try a different tactic. As she was busy scanning the rest of the venue for anyone who might be worth talking to, she didn’t notice one of the businessmen swanning over to her, until it was too late to get away. 

“Where’s Hammond been hiding this one, then?” American. Mid-West. Sweating profusely. “Forget the ice sculpture, why didn’t they just put you up on the table?”

Lizzy recoiled. “I’m a scientist.”

“Ah, she’s funny too. Not dressed like that, you aren’t.”

Lizzy really wasn’t a fan of being referred to in the third person.

”Really, she’s a PhD.” She flushed in anger. “She studies animal behaviour.”

And you’re behaving like an animal.

”Wait-“ He pointed at her face, closely scrutinising. “-I know you from somewhere-“

Not again.

In yet another event from her past that occasionally came back to haunt her, Lizzy had undertaken a couple of modelling jobs as a first-year student at NYU.

Nothing big. One or two jobs for the campus magazine, then it had kind of snowballed. She didn’t even know what some of the photographs were ultimately used for. But her face, and the rest of her, was definitely in print for something other than behavioural research. It offered a few extra dollars here and there, until Simon had asked her to stop, telling her she didn't have to worry about money now she was with him. She'd obliged, but it had been kind of fun, at the time.

It happened more than once in New York, sometimes a stranger, usually an older man, most likely on the subway would give her a funny look. She’d know exactly why, and she’d huddle closer to Simon and try not to make eye contact before they reached their stop.

New York and a tiny Costa Rican island, it seemed. Just her luck.

”No, you don’t!” She insisted and turned to leave, but he grabbed her wrist and she had no choice but to turn to face him to keep herself from toppling over in her high heels. 

”How much-“

His grip hurt. Lizzy looked around in panic, searching for Ed Regis in the crowd. She didn’t want to make a scene, but if there was no other choice…Ed would help her, right?

Right?!

“Hey, back off, pal. The only one who gets to talk down to her is me.”

From somewhere close behind her came the low Southern drawl she both looked forward to and dreaded equally. The voice she hated being on the wrong side of, the one that meant trouble, had antagonised her time and time again. And she’d never been so glad to hear it defending her. 

Tom’s hulking frame cast a long shadow over both Lizzy and the strange man who was intent on getting to know her better.

“Look, here-“ The investor was bristling at the intrusion.

”Move along, now, buddy.” Tom gave him a firm pat on the shoulder, a little bit harder than was polite or necessary, but not enough to get him into trouble. “Trust me, you don’t wanna find out the price for this one. It’s measured in rounds, and I don’t mean at the bar.”

The stranger grunted unhappily and finally beat it, avoiding looking Lizzy in the eye. 

She relaxed slightly, her hands trembling. The smell of old cigarette smoke and cheap aftershave had never been so reassuring. 

“About damn time.” She tried to act breezy, but the words sounded forced. Lizzy was more shaken than she'd care to admit. She glanced down at her wrist, red finger marks already burned harshly into her skin. Shit.

”Ma’am.” Tom tipped the brim of his stetson towards her without the slightest trace of irony. He had gone all out for the occasion, wearing a bolo tie, white shirt, dress jeans with a big belt buckle and leather boots. A real-life cowboy.

Lizzy cleared her throat, trying to restore her bravado. “Didn’t know there was a fancy dress shop on the island. Where’s your tinfoil sheriff’s badge?”

“You get straight to Hell. This is my good stetson. I’ve not worn this baby since prom night.” He flicked the rim. “You realise how privileged you are, getting to see me in my good stetson, right?”

”You have more than one?” She stifled a giggle. “Didn’t know you moonlighted as a Village Person.” “You like a man in a hat.” He winked at her disarmingly, and her steel nerve buckled. 

”Piss off.” She muttered weakly. 

"There it is." Tom grinned in satisfaction. “On that note, what has your man got to say about you hitting the town, all dressed up?”

“Not my man, what are you on about…”

“Ah, I see. He still doesn’t know, huh?” He shook his head, tutting. “You are in so much shit.”

“I do what I like.” Lizzy scowled. “Although I don’t like this. Quite literally taking one for the team.”

“You scrub up pretty nice.” He gave her a sly look. “Trim your moustache, did ya?” “Ha!”

At the other end of the room, Lizzy spied Regis’ ginger head, still wearing his ever-present baseball cap (seriously, at a black tie?), jerk upright at the noise she’d just made. Lizzy quickly turned it into a cough.

“Insults aside, glad you’re here.” She meant it. "Dickhead.”

She meant that too. 

”Save it.” Tom grumbled. “I just didn’t wanna miss the look on Ed’s face when he sees you of all people gatecrashed his fancy event.”

“Keep telling yourself that, mate.” She didn't mind anymore whether he hated her or cared for her. It was a blurry line at the best of times. But she mattered to him, in some way, that much she knew and was grateful for. If he hadn’t intervened when he did…

One way or another, it would have gotten messy.

“How’s An Audience With Hammond going?” He interrupted her thoughts.

”It’s not.” She told him about how she had failed miserably at her mission. “I am very low priority on his list of people to schmooze tonight.”

Tom was eyeing up a tray of glasses making it’s way past them. “In that case, when in Rome-“

She scoffed. “Beginning to see the real reason you’re here…”

“They don’t got bourbon?” Tom grumbled at the sparse choice of red or white. “I hate wine.”

“The single malt is for much, much later this evening-“ The waiter somehow managed to look down his nose at the taller man. “-sir.”

”You’ll get what you’re given.” Lizzy took a glass of each colour and handed him the white. “It’s free.”

”How about a toast?” Tom sardonically eyed the blue InGen banner hung over the door, company slogan in italics beneath the ever-present logo. “To…Making Our Future.”

”Spare no expense!”

They clinked their glasses. 

“Hell with it. Let’s pound as much of this food as we can before they throw us out.”

”That-“ Lizzy waved over a tray of canapes. “-is the best idea you’ve had in weeks.”

***

“He was talking so fast, I couldn’t keep up, and he said Hammond personally asked him to make it happen!” Rico was hurriedly trying to explain as he stumbled into the control room after the park warden. “To show the investors.”

”That may be true.” Muldoon was barely keeping his anger in check. “But there’s a very good reason we stay away from that animal.”

”Not all of us.” Arnold added loudly as he blew smoke upwards, causing Muldoon to shoot him a venomous look. 

“I sincerely apologise, boss.” Rico continued, visibly trembling in fear. “H-how can I make this right?”

”Just stay out of the bloody way. Something like that, you really should have checked.” He dismissed him with a wave of his hand before shouting “Where’s Baker?!”

“Here, I’m here!” Kathy popped up from behind a console. “Ray called me, we’re watching her now. They weren’t kidding, she’s fast.”

Rico went mute, eyes downcast, he took the opportunity to slip out of the control room like a shadow while everyone else was bustling around. Nobody noticed. 

Muldoon moved around to look at the screen beside his colleagues. “Arnold, can you send out an alarm?”

”Manually.”

”That doesn't sound very efficient?"

“It ain't. As in, I’m going to have to go check the manual.” Arnold looked at him pointedly, cigarette dangling. “Or you can just grab a radio and alarm everyone all by yourself.”

”You’ve got to be joking.” Muldoon ground out. “There’s no system in place?”

“Looks that way.”

Meanwhile, Kathy was wringing her hands. All the procedures she’d gone over in her head. All her studying of emergency exits, muster points and evacuation routes. All her carefully constructed contingency plans and she still wasn’t ready for this.

“What are you going to do?” She hesitantly asked.

“What’s required.” Muldoon was looking for the key to the locker in his office. “Don’t interfere.”

Kathy solemnly nodded. “In that case, what do you need?”

“I need my best shot, for backup.” He grabbed his radio. ”Kennedy, come in.”

No response. 

”If anyone can see Kennedy, pass him a radio, now.”

No answer.

What a mess.  Muldoon conducted a quick head count. Only six animal handlers present. Baker-Esteves-Harris-O’Reilly-Palmer-Yamada-

Another was unaccounted for.  “Baker, where’s Armstrong?”

”Er…”

Oh, balls.

Muldoon impatiently took her by the shoulders. “Is she indoors, yes or no?”

”Yes, definitely.” No way would Lizzy be seen in that dress anywhere outside the function room. “Unless-“

His eyes narrowed. “Baker, it’s important for your lifespan that you tell me exactly where she is.”

Arnold had momentarily stopped typing, holding his breath. 

“She’s with Tom. If he smokes, she usually goes too.” Kathy confessed nervously. “I mean, they could be outside?”

***

”Nah, you’re doing it wrong. No chewing, you’ll be there forever. Down in one, like this-“ Tom was trying to show her how to handle an oyster.

Lizzy stared at the cold shell in her palm, the corners of her mouth downturned. ”Tom, it’s looking at me.”  

She’d eaten far more questionable things in her lifetime. But this was turning out to be her Everest. 

”Ah, forget it. These ones are just okay, need some tabasco.” He took the offending mollusc from her and swiftly dealt with it. “Better barbecued fresh, out on the water.”

“If you say so.” Lizzy wasn’t convinced. Sub-par oysters, she’d rather not take the chance. Yet more cracks were appearing in the InGen foundations. 

A very familiar silhouette caught her eye, making his way through the crowd to their secret corner of the room with purpose. He’d clearly spotted Tom’s stetson from the doorway. 

“Uh-oh, busted.” Lizzy whispered as Muldoon drew level with them both.

“Kennedy. With me, now.”

Lizzy tutted. He was clearly dismissing her as ‘just some girl’ Regis had flown in for the night that Tom had decided to try his luck with. It must have been the heels giving her an extra couple of inches that was throwing him off.

“Tom, I think you’ve pulled.” Lizzy nudged his arm. Muldoon did a double take at the familiar voice, only recognising who she was the second time around.

“Oh Christ, it’s you.” He frowned. “What’s happened to your face?”

“Rude.”

“Don’t like it.” He was looking her up and down in disbelief. ”And I can bloody well see what you had for dinner-“

“Stop staring at me.” Lizzy hissed through gritted teeth. “Surprise, I do in fact have a waist under the tattie cloths they pass off as uniforms.”

“Of course. Your waist is what’s drawing the eye.”

He wasn’t at all a fan of the look, but he still couldn’t drag his gaze away from her with everything…pushed up like that.

”Aw, Jesus.” Tom seemed genuinely upset. “Not cool, boss.”

”Why are you two in here, anyway, without your radios on?” Muldoon recalled the memo Regis had flashed around about keeping a certain animal handler away from the event at all costs. “No, never mind. I don’t actually care.” 

“I would love to know-“ Lizzy remarked sweetly. “-where exactly I would be keeping a radio on my person, in this thing.”

”Talking out your ass, no doubt-” Tom muttered. 

Another of the investors had broken off from the herd and started to sway his way over, bleary eyes fixated on Lizzy, and the parts of her body the dress wasn’t quite managing to cover. She could already see the words say, you look familiar forming in his head as she began to back away in fear. 

But she wasn’t alone this time. Both Kennedy and Muldoon abruptly stopped what they were doing and gave the interloper a hard stare so intimidating that he about-turned and wobbled straight back the way he’d came without uttering a single word to anyone.

Muldoon shook his head, looking like his motor was rapidly winding down. “Christ alive, I need to get out of here. I hate this sort of thing.”

Lizzy cocked her head. He doesn’t do crowds.

“So if you’re both done wasting time-“ He continued.

She quickly sobered, not averse to making a quick getaway herself. “What’s wrong?”

There was a faint rumble of thunder from outside and the overhead lights dipped and came back on with a flicker. The drone of conversation around them lulled, then resumed.

The next thing the park warden said made Lizzy’s ears ring and edges of her vision darken as the adrenaline kicked in. 

“Don’t react, either of you-“ Muldoon dropped his voice low enough that she had to crane her neck to hear him. “-but there’s an animal loose in the park.”

Son of a- Tom was already pushing past Lizzy, making his way to the exit doors, the sea of businessmen parting before him as he cleared a path.  

“Don’t react. I said don’t react.” Muldoon quickly turned to follow him. 

“Hang on-“ Lizzy caught up before he moved out of reach. “Which animal?”

Muldoon gave her a certain look while saying nothing, which told her everything.

Lizzy knew exactly which animal had broken out. 

“Oh-“ She reached for the wall to steady herself as the lights flickered off again and thunder boomed over the island. “Oh, no.”

***

Thanks for reading!

If you worked out what this chapter is leading up to I will personally send you a gift basket or something.

#jurassic park oc #living dangerously #welcome to jurassic park #oc: dr lizzy armstrong #jurassic park female oc #jurassic park #jurassic park fanfiction #my writing #jurassic park 1993 #jurassic park fanfic #jurassic park novel #robert muldoon #ray arnold #john hammond #ed regis

[bteezxyewriter12]

Love Motel/ Epilogue

Pairing- Changkyun x Named Reader

Word count- 1k

Includes- fluff

Tag List- @90s-belladonna @mingtina

@direitobulando @honey-zip @chansbabydoll

@anthropologymajorkpopmultistan @jaxxmine @yeosayang

@delightfulmoonbanana @itsshaydeekaydee @seokwoosmole

@rpkth @tannie13 @wisejudgedragonhairdo @y00nzin0 @marsstarxhwa

Series Masterlist

3 years later

Changkyun POV

A huge smile bursts on my face as I see her at the end of the aisle

I excitedly wait at the altar for her, Jooheon by my side as my best man

This is the way I'm supposed to feel at my wedding

Happy, excited, giddy, nervous but in a good way

She looks completely stunning in her dress, like an angel

The dress is exactly her style, showing just enough and covering just enough

My princess

Her eyes are on me, a huge smile on her face

"Happy this time?", Jooheon whispers

"Absolutely"

Jooheon managed to come here just for the wedding

I don't know how he got here, but he swore that he wasn't followed and he took the proper precautions so no one finds us

I trust him

He's been my friend since we were kids

I didn't want to lose his friendship and we kept in touch through burner cells

Every time we spoke it's been like we're two normal guys

We don't talk about the jokop

I'm not there, I gave it up and I don't want to know anything

The only thing he said was that I should not come back to Seoul

I expected that and it was enough warning for me

The wedding is very small, just me, her, Jooheon, her parents, Milena and Tae

We wanted just immediate family and friends at the ceremony

Everyone I know is back in Korea and part of the mob so that was a hard no

We just moved again, to Colorado where she got a job as a paleontologist in a museum

She did end up going to Mongolia for a dig and I went with her

I went to the dig site a few times but it was way too hot for me

I stayed in the apartment most of the time, cooking for her

I did end up finding something I really love to do

She was right

When she was teaching me to cook, I found that I really liked it and I was good at it

I asked her if she thought I should go to school for that and she immediately said yes

While she did her master's, I went to culinary school

We both graduated at the same time, then moved to Colorado a few months ago, buying our first house

I found a job as a chef at a five star restaurant, making really good money

I enjoy it so much so it's really not like a job for me

We knew we were moving when I proposed and decided to have the wedding in Colorado, by our new house

She gets to me and I take her hand, holding on tightly

"Hi jagi", I smile

"Hi baby"

My god she's beautiful

Everything, her hair, makeup, dress is perfect

She's perfect

We turn to the officiate who begins the ceremony

I keep my eyes on her, not being able to tear my gaze from her

I knew from the second I stepped on that plane that I was going to marry her one day

I knew that I wanted her for the rest of my life, that I was going to love her forever

I found the perfect ring, bought it and proposed to her at the dig site in Mongolia, next to the dinosaur she was digging up

She screamed so loudly, saying yes then burst into tears in happiness when I put the ring on her

This time around, I was involved in all the planning

Picking the restaurant for the reception, the food, the cake, the honeymoon destination, everything

Surprisingly it was a lot of fun and everything turned out great so far

I doubt anything will go wrong

I'm marrying the girl I love, nothing can ruin this day

"Please face each other for the vows"

We face each other, clasping our hands

I'm so ready for this

"Do you Changkyun, take Joanne, to be your lawful wedded wife? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as you both shall live?"

"I do", I answer immediately, smiling so widely

I swear I haven't smile so much as I have today

The officiate looks at her

"Do you Joanne, take Changkyun, to be your lawful wedded husband? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as you both shall live?"

"I do", she nods, looking at me so lovingly, tears in her eyes

The officiate hands me the ring and asks me to repeat after him

“I give you this ring as a sign of my love. With all that I have, I am honored to call you my wife from this moment until forever.”

I put the ring on her finger, a few tears of my own welling in my eyes

It's just hitting me that this is really happening

I'm marrying the love of my life and I've never been more happy than in this moment

She takes my ring from the officiate, looking in my eyes

“I give you this ring as a sign of my love. With all that I have, I am honored to call you my husband from this moment until forever.”

I feel the cool metal of the ring slide on my finger as she puts the ring on me

The ring I'm never taking off

The officiate continues the ceremony but all I do is look at her

Moving my hand, I wipe her tears away

"I now pronounce you husband and wife", the officiate says, making an enormous smile bursting on my face, "You may kiss the bride"

Our arms move around each other, our lips meeting in a kiss full of love

I hear clapping but all I can do is keep kissing my wife

Fuck, she's my wife

I love the sound of that

When the kiss ends, we lean our foreheads against each other's

"We did it jagi", I whisper

She nods, smiling, "We did it. Me and you"

"Me and you jagi. Forever"

"Forever", she repeats

Pressing my lips to hers again, I kiss her, so excited for our future

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