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herrmannhalsteadproduction · 1 year

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Wingman? Wingwoman? Wingperson. (Chapter Three)

Summary: This is Part Seventeen of my series A Herrmann/Halstead Production. It is an AU where Christopher Herrmann's mom had an affair with Pat Halstead resulting in a baby. The series follows this OC character (Rebecca "Bex" Herrmann) as she grows up and gets to know her brothers and the various Chicago teams. It is very much an AU, just to underscore that. It doesn't follow the same timeline and characters will follow different paths.

Click here for the Series Rundown where you can find the links to read all of the previous installments (which I highly recommend you do so that this one makes sense.)

Rating: Teen and Up

Relationships: Christopher Herrmann & Original Female Character, Jay Halstead & Original Female Character, Will Halstead & Original Female Character, Jay Halstead & Will Halstead, pre-Greg 'Mouse' Gerwitz/Original Female Character, Will Halstead/Connor Rhodes, Assorted OC Couples

Warnings: Referenced Domestic Violence and Threatening Behaviour (these are warning tags for a brief scenes with Ty), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Rejection, Self-Sabotage, Swearing, but also on the flip side - Connor and Will being too freaking cute to handle.

A/N: To underscore my previous note, this is an alternate universe so things have unfolded differently. This will not follow the canon arc exactly by any means. But I hope you'll still enjoy it!

Chapter One Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Will

Bex and Emery had pushed him out the door that morning with a travel mug of coffee and an earful of encouragement.

That had bolstered him right up until he was about to step foot inside of Med and now, here he was. Frozen in place.

He could do this.

He was thirty-one years old for chrissake. He could ask someone out on a date.

He could look that someone in his handsome friggin’ face and say—

“Will!”

“No, I’m Will,” he blurted out to an amused looking Connor who had popped up out of nowhere.

Great start. Absolutely fantastic.

“Yes, you are,” Connor said sounding, oh god, stupidly fond. Will tried to fight the blush working its way up his cheeks, but it was a useless battle.

“You coming in?” Connor asked, nodding at the front door. “Or hanging out here for the day?”

“No, yeah, I’m uh, I’m coming in,” Will said, floundering for his words. Any string of comprehensible words. “I just need to call Bex first? About this thing that I forgot—we forgot about it, the two of us, and I need to tell her—but I’ll be right there. You go ahead.”

“Okay,” Connor said slowly, like he was trying to decide how concerned to be. “Say hi to Bex. I’ll see you in there.”

“Mm-hm, yup, bye,” Will said, waving him off. As soon as Connor was out of sight, he clenched his fists and banged them against his forehead. “Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

Deep breath.

One more.

Okay.

Will dug out his phone and called Bex, willing her to pick up which she did instantly.

“Hey! That was fast! How did—”

“I already messed it up!” Will exclaimed, cutting her off and quickly relaying the last few minutes to her blow-by-blow.

“You didn’t mess it up,” Bex said immediately.

“No, it sounds like it was cute,” Emery added in, her voice slightly tinny. Bex must have him on speaker phone. Good. This could be a group effort.

“I’m freaking out a little bit here,” he confessed. “I was all confident and then I saw him and got weird and I think I need another pep talk. Or a plan of attack. I need to figure out how to pick my moment.”

“Try and get him alone,” Bex said. “I think you’ll be less nervous if it’s just the two of you.”

“Hasn’t worked out so far,” Will muttered.

“You need a confidence boost again,” Emery said, voice louder like she was leaning in. “You need a green light to give your green light.”

“I don’t—”

“Do something hot,” Emery continued like that explained things. “And then when you see that he’s into it…you pounce. Ask him out.”

Will was silent for a full five seconds while he absorbed that advice. And another five when he realized he was considering it. “What hot thing could I possibly do while I’m at work?” he asked in a strangled voice.

“I’m gonna let Emery take the lead here because this is way too awkward a conversation to have with my brother,” Bex said.

A shuffling noise while he guessed Emery was taking possession of the phone.

“This is going to be easy, Will,” she assured him. “Do any of the following…push up your sleeves to show off your forearms—”

“My fore—”

“Don’t interrupt,” she said. “This is science, Will. Sleeves. Forearms. Trust me. Also, run a hand through your hair and let it go a bit messy. You’ve got great hair. It’s like your own personal wingman.”

Why did he feel like he was supposed to be writing this down?

“Lips,” Emery declared. “Bite or lick your bottom lip. Keep it brief. Extended is creepy.”

“Okay, no. Thank you for the help, but I think I’ll just figure this out as I go,” Will said and there was another shuffle before Bex came back on the phone.

“Just breathe, Will. Do what feels right in the moment,” she said. “You and Connor already have something great. This is just you taking a step to make it even better.”

He took a deep breath and let her words sink in.

Okay.

He could do this.

“Thanks, Bex,” he said softly.

“Go team,” she sing-songed back.

“Go forearms!” Emery yelled in the background.

“I’m going now,” he laughed. “Good-bye. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Bex said before disconnecting the call.

“Go, team,” he whispered himself before squaring his shoulders and heading into the hospital.

***

Bex

“I’m so nervous for him,” Bex groaned to Emery as she set her phone back down on the kitchen table. “I just want to go there and give him a hug.”

“No,” Emery said, pointing a finger at her from her perch on the counter. “That is a delay tactic to avoid going to see Mouse. I see you, missy.”

Bex rolled her eyes and picked up her phone again. “I’ll send him a few more messages,” she said. “Boost that confidence a little more.”

“Good idea.” Emery picked up her own phone. “Arm flex emoji. Lips emoji. Eggplant. Eggplant. Eggplant—”

“Emery! Stop!” Bex laughed. “You’ll freak him out.”

“Nah,” she said, finishing off the rest of what was probably a ridiculous string of symbols. “It’ll make him laugh just like you and then you’ll both be a bit more relaxed.”

Bex hoped so, for Will’s sake. And that he read his messages where no one else could see…

“Now,” Emery hopped off the counter and plopped into the chair on the other side of the table. “What’s your plan?”

“I haven’t been able to nail him down for a get together lately,” Bex said, propping her elbow on the table and resting her chin in her hand. “So, I thought I’d try and catch him outside the station? There’s a little garden park a couple of blocks over that we could walk to.”

“I like that,” Emery agreed. “Good thinking. And then, all you have to do is bite your lip—”

“Stop,” Bex cackled, throwing a grape from her plate at her. Emery caught it and popped it in her mouth with a grin. “What are your plans for the day?”

She was well aware that Emery hadn’t left the apartment since she got there except for when they went to retrieve her stuff. Bex was letting her set the pace, not wanting to push her, but she didn’t want her feeling trapped either.

“I hadn’t really thought about it yet…” Emery trailed off.

“My afternoon is free,” Bex said. She could push the work she was planning to do on her graphic novel to tomorrow. “Do you need anything? We could go run errands together. Maybe grab lunch?”

Emery hesitated for a moment before nodding with a small smile. “That would be really nice. It’s been—I haven’t really wanted to go anywhere by myself yet.”

“And you don’t have to yet if you don’t feel ready.” Bex reached across the table to squeeze her hand. “Whatever you feel most comfortable with is what we’ll do.”

“I don’t want to feel like I’m hiding here,” Emery said with a quiet sigh. “The whole point of—of getting out of there was to be free of him so I don’t want the worry that he’s out there to keep me from doing anything.” She squeezed Bex’s hand back. “But I think starting small is a good idea? I like the idea of going out for errands. Especially with a buddy.”

“I can bring you back here before I go to the station,” Bex offered. “Or maybe drop you off at Kira and Malia’s if they’ll be home? If you’d like to see them?”

“Yeah. That sounds great,” Emery grabbed her phone, getting into the plan. “I’ll check.”

“I’ll get changed.” Bex left her to it and headed to her room to get changed out of her pajamas. She wanted something cute, but not too cute? She didn’t want to start out declaring her intentions with her outfit. Did that even make sense? “Normal,” she muttered to herself. “Just aim for normal.”

Jean shorts, red boho top, and slip on yellow Converse.

There. Just a normal outfit to wear when going to pour one’s heart out and pray for reciprocation.

Perfect.

She put her hair up, added a bit of make-up, and left before she could overthink it.

Emery was sitting on the couch texting, having been dressed and ready since before Will left. “Isaac says they’re all available tonight and want to have a get together at Kira and Malia’s,” she said as soon as Bex entered the room. “As long as you’re not too busy…” Emery looked up from her phone and waggled her eyebrows.

“Let’s not jinx anything,” Bex warned her. “And that sounds awesome. I’d love to see everyone.”

“Great, I’ll let him know.” Emery dashed off another text before grabbing her bag and rising from the couch. She gave Bex a slow onceover once she was in front of her and held out a thumb’s up. “You look great. Casual, but still hot.”

“Step one of the plan.” Bex grinned at her. “Come on, let’s go.” She twirled her keys on her finger as they headed down to the parking lot. There was something about today. Something crackling in the energy.

She was going to take it as a good sign.

***

He watched Bex pull out of the parking lot in her piece of shit car with Emery sitting in the passenger seat.

He could admit that he’d lost his mind a bit when Emery left. All he’d been able to think about was tracking her down and bringing her back home.

But he went in too hot and that stupid bitch and her fucking cop brother slapped him with a restraining order.

And that was fine.

Looking down at his phone, Ty watched the little dot moving along the map as the tracker he’d stuck under the bumper of her car did its job. It was amazing what you could buy on the internet these days.

Now that the shock had worn off, he could be calm.

He could be patient.

He could plan.

Because he knew where Emery belonged.

And soon enough she would too.

***

Shay

“Oh, my god,” Shay jumped in her seat as she looked down at her phone. “Oh, my god.”

“What?” Brett looked over at her in concern. “Is everything okay?”

“Where’s Herrmann?” She looked around the break room, not spotting him anywhere.

“He’s out at the Squad table talking to Severide and Casey about something,” Otis said around a mouthful of apple. “What’s up?”

She waved her phone at him. “It’s happening. It’s happening!!!”

“What’s happening?” Dawson plopped down beside her.

“Bouse.” Shay let the enormity of that hang in the air.

“Ugh,” Dawson groaned. “I still think we can come up with a better nickna—wait.” She sat up ramrod straight. “What you mean it’s happening?”

“Bex’s friend Emery told Isaac who just texted me that Bex plans to talk to Mouse today and ask him out. On a date.” “Oh, my god,” Dawson whispered.

Otis immediately crammed himself into their little huddle and Mouch ambled over from the couch. “Who had today?” Otis asked. “What are the circumstances? She’s definitely asking him? I put money on that.”

“She and Will made a pact?” Shay said, scrolling through her messages. “I guess he’s going to ask out Connor today too?”

“Um?” Brett raised a hand in question. “I thought Will and Connor were already dating?”

“Yeah, there’s a whole thing there,” Dawson said, shaking her head. “So, we didn’t include them in the bet. This is strictly a Bex and Mouse show.”

“And now it’s happening. Finally. I’ve never been so invested in a heterosexual relationship before,” Shay said, staring off into the distance. “I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“Text Trudy,” Dawnson urged her, “We need to know where the pot stands and compare notes with Isaac and Devon.”

“On it.” She started typing rapidly, shooting off a message to the group chat while she was at it, warning everyone to keep this close to the vest. The last thing they needed was someone spilling the beans before Bex had a chance to make her move.

Man. They were going to have to have another party to celebrate those two finally sorting themselves out.

***

Will

He’d gone most of the day without finding the opportunity to talk to Connor. It was like the ED was conspiring to keep the both as busy as possible.

Finally, mid-afternoon, he managed to sneak away when he saw Connor headed into the break room. He slipped inside and helped himself to a bottle of water while Connor stood at the counter, fixing a cup of coffee.

“Hey,” Connor smiled at him. “Crazy day, eh?”

“Always is,” Will sighed, aiming for a casual stretch as he carefully side-eyed him.

Okay, do it.

Do it now.

Would you like to go out on a date with me? That’s all he had to say.

Connor glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow and Will found himself reaching for his wrist to push up a sleeve that didn’t exist because it was summer, Emery.

“You okay?” Connor asked.

“Yeah.” Will rubbed at his arm and headed over to his cubby because fuck it. Apparently, he was going all in and doing this. “Air conditioning’s getting to me a bit.”

He pulled out his white lab coat and put it on.

“Won’t you get overheated in that?” Connor gave him a look when he came to lean against the counter beside him.

Will shrugged. “I can always do this,” he said, grabbing one sleeve and folding it back a couple of times before slowly—because if he was doing this ridiculousness, he was doing it—pushing it up over his elbow.

Connor took a sip of his coffee and tracked the movement with his eyes.

Hunh.

So far, so good.

Will shot him a grin and went to do the other arm and—

Ow. Okay, Sleeve up over the elbow was a bad idea. Too tight. Now it was bunchy and cutting off circulation. “Hang on,” he grumbled, trying to get the right angle to pull the damn thing down, but it was stuck and christ, this was a disaster—

"Jesus."

“Hang on, let me help,” Connor said, chuckling softly as he set his coffee down. He stepped into Will’s space and gently tugged the bunched up fabric over his elbow and down his arm.

Connor kept his touch light, looking up when he was done. “All fixed.”

...he hadn’t let go of Will’s arm yet.

Will bit his lip lightly.

For science.

Connor’s eyes darted down, watching, darkening slightly and—

Oh.

“Go out with me,” Will said, words rushing out in one go.

“What?” Connor blinked in surprise, taking a small step back.

“Would you, Connor,” Will said slowly, savouring the words this time. “Like to go out on a date with me?”

“I would love that.” A wide grin spread across Connor’s face. “How about tonight?”

Holy shit. “Tonight sounds perfect.”

Connor moved closer. “I could pick you up in my fancy car.”

“Ah, no,” Will laughed, poking at him. “The asker gets to do the picking up.”

Connor shrugged, unfazed. “Fine by me,” he said. “I’ll pick you up for our second date.”

Will’s eyebrows flew up. “Second date? Feeling pretty confident there, are we?”

“Let’s just say,” Connor leaned in close. “I’ve thought a lot about getting you in my car.”

A whole series of not safe for work images flashed through Will’s mind. He could see exactly how it would play out and it was fast. Too fast. Flame out too soon fast. “Oh, ah, haha…”

“Too much?” Connor took a careful step back, picking up on the change in the room.

“No?” Will said, voice pitched about an octave higher than normal. “Maybe?”

Emery’s voice piped up in his brain. Honesty. Horrible, horrible honesty.

He straightened up and reached out to stop Connor from retreating completely. “It sounded a little too good,” he confessed, taking a deep breath. “I had my fill of fast and fun in New York. I never really had anything that lasted and you know all about the reasons behind that.”

Connor nodded, leaning against the counter as he listened.

“I want to take things slow here with you,” he said. “Because this is important to me. You’re important to me. I want…whatever it is we’re starting to last.”

“Me too,” Connor said, reaching out to give his hand a squeeze.

“Good,” Will said before shaking his head. “Still going to be thinking about you and that damn car for the rest of the day though so thanks for that.”

Connor instantly relaxed the rest of the way, releasing Will’s hand and shooting him shit-eating grin. “Good.” He headed for the door, calling over his shoulder. “Pick me up at seven.”

“I’ll be there,” Will called after him.

He took a quick look around and made sure no one was looking his way before doing a quick little fist pump dance. “Yes, yes, yes!” He shucked his coat and scrambled for his phone.

He had to call Bex.

Click here to read Chapter Four.

Click here to read Wingman? Wingwoman? Wingperson. on ao3:

And here is the tag list (let me know if you wish to be added or removed):

@sorry-i-spaced, @iunnowatuwant, @thegirlwhowishedeveryonelived, @ivyalmighty, @thewannabewriter, @lexhalstead3, @multifandomgrl08, @foxes-and-cats, @sensitivemallysix, @thebewingedjewelcat

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decarabiandivorce · 2 months

Note

Consider-

decarabian proposes to amos but it causes citywide controversy because the ring had massive gemstones and would cost the equivalent of a mansion in today’s society+ their marriage being expensive enough to set the entire city into poverty temporarily

Bonus points if they only invited the upper class/aristocrats/people close to them to the wedding, but many average/lower class citizens (especially nb) snuck in because there was more food in that event than the average person had seen in their entire life (additional bonus points if nb only recognizes amos years later because he saw her at her wedding)

GOD. okay so the idea of a ring that would cost a mansion made me take psychic damage. Then i actually looked up some rings and did you know the paris hilton ring is like 2 million? What the fuck. Why are rings so expensive. (my only prev experiance looking at rings is looking at simple ace and aro rings)

The real world Princess Diana wedding was millions of dollars and this fact is making me scream. The hell???? Her ring was 60 grand???? Why are rich people like this??? In modern money it would be 400 grand????

Amos thinks its a joke at first and closes the box. She's like "My beloved. No." She's sweating badly cause what the hell? Where did he even get something like this?

Okay now im thinking if they ever talked about proposals cause that's something you need to bring up to your partner. A lot of people don't want public proposals and while I do think that Decarabian would love parading around his partner- I think Amos is a much most secluded person.

"Want to get married?" She asks as they cuddle under a blanket, her heart beating loud enough for the both of them.

"Sure," he muttered back. That was something humans like to do, right? The only gods he knew of that were wed were the ocean ones near Liyue. Other beings embraced courtly love- based on flirting and dancing around the issue. "That requires a ring? Or two?"

"Three if I may put one on your finger," Amos whispers back. "Oh there are so many gems to think of. Cor Lap-"

"Ugh no not that one. Rex would never let me hear the end of it if either of us wore that one."

~~~

Realistically I think they would agree on something like this. Its still stupidly expensive but the design fits that of old Mondstadt.

As for their actual wedding, yeah it would be an Event. Amos is really nervous because she didn't tell any of her friends the guy she was seeing was DECARABIAN. They would have LOVED a heads-up. And the nobles knew that their god was walking among them but even they didn't realize the fair lady who reads in the library was COURTING HIM.

My own hc for the timeline is that being married made them both 'equals in power' and thus she got a longer live span than an average human. This, while it was great for Decarabian, wasn't so great for Amos when she had to outlive her friends. Thus NB and all her future rebels wouldn't be alive for a century or two.

#steel text #amos #decarabian #decmos #genshin #genshin impact

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residentroguescientist · 2 years

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A Day at the Zoo (Titan Army)

In which the main 5 Titan Army demigods (Luke, Ethan, Alabaster, Silena, and Chris, take a trip to the zoo. Set in a universe that's kinda canon but also kinda not.

The structure of the zoo is based off of my local zoo because that's what I know. Also, for context I hc Luke to have a fear of snakes. And this wasn't really supposed to be any particular person's POV the whole way through but it kind of ended up being mostly Ethan's, so.

"I don't know why we thought this would be a fun trip," Ethan grumbled as they walked through the front gates of the zoo. "Every time we go anywhere, I always get stuck having to rein in Al and Chris's stupidity."

"Oh, calm down," Silena said. "I'm sure they can behave themselves for one day. Right boys?" She flashed the two trouble makers in question a brilliant pearly white smile. Silena was undeniably the most excited about the zoo trip. She currently wore a sparkly cat ear headband and had her phone out, ready for her usual aesthetic photos and selfies.

Ethan wouldn't pretend he didn't enjoy the zoo under normal circumstances. He liked animals, and he liked reading the facts on the signs about them. However, being here with Alabaster Torrington and Chris Rodriguez was a different matter entirely. It had been decided that Ethan was indisputably the one on the team with the most braincells, or at least the one who most consistently used them. As such, whenever Alabaster and Chris started being their usual idiotic selves, it was Ethan's job to make sure they didn't hurt themselves or anyone else.

"No promises," Chris said, then immediately he and Alabaster ran over to the mountain goat exhibit, bumping each other playfully like they were going to knock the other into the enclosure. Ethan gave a primal sigh.

"I better go make sure they don't fall in," he said. "You and Luke got the ticket process."

"Yeah, sure," Luke said, glancing at the mountain goats. "Thalia always admired mountain goats for being able to live up so high." Ethan sighed and ran off after Alabaster and Chris. A bump from Chris almost actually sent Alabaster over the edge. The two laughed stupidly.

"I seriously need to invest in a couple of those child leashes for you two," he sighed. "At least Luke and Silena never do stuff like this."

"That's because Silena's a girl, and Luke doesn't know how to have fun," Chris said.

"No, it's because they aren't idiots like you two," Ethan said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And what does Silena being a girl have to do with anything?"

"Girls usually aren't as reckless as guys," Alabaster said.

"Yeah, well I'm a guy, and I'm not reckless."

"You sure about that?" Alabaster said, pointing to Ethan's eyepatch.

"Okay, you are on thin ice," Ethan said. "I told Silena I didn't want to come if it meant I have to babysit you the whole time. So I'm about five seconds from leaving."

"No ditching!" Silena said. She'd come back with the tickets and had her phone held up, snapping a quick picture of the three. "Say zoo!"

"Silena, we're not five years old," Ethan muttered.

"I am mentally," Chris volunteered. "And are you sure about that?" He held a hand above Ethan's head to demonstrate Ethan's short height. Ethan shot a nervous look to Silena. Help me, his face pleaded.

"All right," Silena said. "Come on, let's go." Alabaster bumped Chris again and then followed Silena through the official entrance.

"Ethan, look." Alabaster pointed to a sleeping black bear as they crossed the bridge over the bear enclosure. "It's you."

"How so?" Ethan was used to Alabaster's shenanigans by now.

"You know. It's a black bear, and you wear a lot of black and have black hair."

"That's probably your dumbest reason yet," Ethan said. At least when Alabaster and Chris pointed to some kind of garbage can or bag and told the other "hey look, it's you," that was kind of funny. This was just dumb.

"Hey, look," Ethan said, feeling utterly done.

"What?" Alabaster asked. Ethan pointed to the rock the bear was sleeping on.

"It's you." It was intended to be a joke on Alabaster's name, which he shared with a type of rock, but the son of Hecate just smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Does that mean you want to nap on top of me?" Ethan's face burned.

"No, it's- just forget I said anything." Alabaster grinned and ran ahead after Chris. Ethan sighed heavily and walked after them.

"Silena," he grabbed her arm as he passed. "Please, save me. I don't want to babysit Al and Chris this whole time, can you possibly get them for just a little bit?"

"I suppose," Silena said. "After all, this trip is supposed to be enjoyable for everyone, and it's not going to be for you if you're wrangling those two all day."

"Thank you," he breathed. "You're my hero, seriously."

"Yeah, sure," she laughed. Clutching her phone in her hand and started walking ahead to catch up to Al and Chris.

***

With Silena wrangling the idiots for a while, Ethan had more time to take each exhibit in and actually read the information on the signs. Unlike Silena, he wasn't much for cute selfies and aesthetic photography, but he did occasionally take out his phone to snap a quick photo of particular things on the signs he found interesting.

"All right," Silena muttered, fixing her cat ears, which had somehow become tangled in her usually perfect hair. She pointed to Alabaster and Chris, who currently stood in the giant fake eagle's nest, trying to flap and caw louder than the other to assert dominance. "Luke, it's your turn to babysit those two."

"Why me?" Luke protested.

"Because you're the oldest, and Ethan and I have both done it already."

"Fine," Luke said. "You two, get out of there right now! That's for kids. You guys are sixteen and eighteen."

"You say that like it's going to make a difference to them," Ethan muttered. He reached into his backpack and pulled out an energy drink. "This is going to be a long day."

"You got that right," Silena said, slipping her hairbrush out of her own backpack. Silena never went anywhere without a hairbrush, which was something Ethan really didn't understand. Personally, he couldn't care less about his appearance. She brushed her hair back down and repositioned her headband. "There we go."

Chris and Alabaster had reluctantly agreed to get out of the eagle's nest. They kept walking until they got to the river otters.

"Oh... my... gods!" Silena squealed, bouncing up and down on her heels. The otters were tumbling through the water, playing. "They're so cute!" Ethan put a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay, but could you maybe squeal a little quieter?"

"Sorry," she said. After watching the otters play for a while, they walked to the next hallway. Small terrariums with lizards and snakes in them lined the wall. They all noticed it- Luke trying to act like he didn't hesitate and take a step back when he saw the reptiles.

"Don't be a sissy," Alabaster told him. "They're just small snakes."

"I'm not," Luke said. "I'm fine."

"Yeah," Chris said, bumping his half-brother. "Right." Luke rolled his eyes as they walked through the exhibit. Silena grinned and snapped a picture of the two.

"Cute sibling moment!"

"Yeah," Ethan chuckled with a sly grin. "Adorable."

"Shut up, Ethan Luke said.

"Shut up, Ethan!" Chris mocked in a whiny tone, pouting his lip. Luke whacked him on the back of the head. "I do not sound like that! Let's move on."

"DUCKS!" Chris yelled as they walked out of the snake hallway to find a little fenced-off lake teeming with all kinds of waterfowl.

"Chris, we just saw ducks," Luke said. "They were back with the beavers. It's not that exciting."

"I should have brought bread!" Chris said.

"No, you shouldn't have," Silena said. "Bread isn't good for ducks."

"I still like ducks," Chris said, standing right next to the wooden rail. Alabaster came running at him, bodyslamming him in the side.

"Gotcha!" Chris caught himself on the railing. Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh my gods, you two. You'd better stop that or you're going to get us all kicked out, like you do literally every place we go."

"He's got a point," Luke said. "You got us kicked out of the beach, Chris. That doesn't happen."

"So what I'm hearing is that we're trailblazers," Chris said.

"Well then, you need to get your ears checked," Ethan said. "Please, guys. Luke, Silena and I would like to actually enjoy the zoo, so if you two could just reign in your crap for a few hours-"

"No promises," Chris said with a lopsided grin. "Hey, water break?"

"If you mean drinking break, then yes."

"What else would I mean?" Chris said. "Actually... don't finish that thought." Ethan rolled his eye.

"Let's just keep going before the two of you wear my patience any thinner. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry, it's a good thing I can't be bothered most of the time."

"I don't like you now," Alabaster interjected.

"Liar," Silena said with a grin, holding up her phone to snap a picture of Alabaster's indignant expression.

"I am not!" he protested.

"Sure," Chris said. "If you don't like him, then why do you have three pictures of him in your room?"

"One of which," Luke interjected, "is labeled best boy ever in black sharpie?"

"Shut up!" Alabaster said, whacking Luke in the arm with his plastic water bottle.

"Fine, be that way, don't admit it," Silena said. "Let's keep going." She pulled out her own water bottle. She had mixed in a pink lemonade-flavored electrolyte packet. They kept walking to the cougars. The two large cats were curled up next to each other asleep. Silena bounced up and down on her heels. "They're so cute! They're just like big cats!" The corner of Ethan's mouth twitched up in a half smile.

"Yeah." Most people wouldn't have assumed it from looking at him, but Ethan liked animals a lot. Most of the time he got along with them easier than people. But he especially liked cats, the domestic ones and the wild ones. Silena snapped a picture.

"I'm posting this," she grinned. "How's cat nap for a caption?"

"Too punny for me, but go for it," Ethan said.

"Wow, Ethan," Chris said. "A lovely, sunny day, and you still have absolutely no sense of humor."

"I have a sense of humor," Ethan said flatly. "I just don't think puns are funny."

"Well, I'm posting it anyway," Silena said, straightening her headband, then looking at the map in her hand. "What's next?"

"California condors," Ethan read.

"Condors?" Chris asked. "What are those?"

"They're a type of vulture," Ethan said. Silena's face turned pale.

"Vultures? Maybe I'll stay back from this one. I get squeamish around dead things."

"Silena, you're a demigod," Luke said. "I think you can handle a few animal carcasses." Ethan glared daggers at the older guy.

"Not helping. Besides, I think they put signs out that say if there's a carcass in there, and I don't see one."

"Okay..." Silena said, though she still seemed a little uncertain, picking at her phone case. They all walked up the ramp to the viewing window for the condors.

"Oh my gods, that's a huge bird!" Chris said. "That's so awesome!"

"It's like a turkey vulture but bigger," Alabaster commented, brushing off his collar before shoving Chris again, which prompted another primal sigh from Ethan.

"It's pretty cool," Silena said. Now that she could see for sure that there were no carcasses in the enclosure, her face had gone back to its normal color and she was smiling brightly again. "They're so majestic. And look at that wingspan!"

"And look at how tall they are," Alabaster said with a cruel grin. "That's gotta be more than half your height, Ethan." Ethan rolled his eye.

"Ha, ha, very funny. I'm tired of those jokes, you know."

"Yeah, but what fun would they be to make if you didn't get annoyed?" Luke asked with a grin. Ethan inhaled deeply and pushed his own hair back, looking at Luke.

"Et tu, Brute?"

"My name's Luke," Luke said, with a look of mock confusion on his face. Ethan scoffed.

"It's a- gods, don't you people read?" Luke chuckled.

"Just messing with you, I get the reference."

"My point still stands," Ethan said, crossing his arms as they kept walking.

"Family farm," Silena read. "Ooh, is that like a petting zoo?"

"We'll see," Alabaster said, walking backwards into the building.

"Why are you-" Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why are you walking backwards?"

"Because I like to be dramatic," Alabaster replied.

"Of course you do," Ethan sighed. "Honestly, I don't know why I even question you anymore." He turned to Luke and Chris. "Also, what was that you guys said earlier about him having three pictures of me in his room."

"Umm... nothing," Chris said, running after Alabaster. Ethan was about to chase after him when Silena squealed up ahead.

"Guys, come see the bunnies!" Ethan smiled slightly and walked over.

"Cute," he said, bending down to look through the gate at the sleepy rabbits.

"There's also a tortoise over here," Luke said, gesturing to the stall nearest the door. Alabaster's eyes gleamed.

"A tortoise. Good to know. So it's just snakes you're scared of? I thought for a second it might be all reptiles." Luke huffed.

"I am not scared of snakes. Just because I don't particularly like them doesn't mean I'm scared of them."

"Yeah, just you keep telling yourself that," Alabaster said.

"There are also goats over there," Ethan supplied, pointing to the other end of the barn.

"Nice!" Chris said as he and Alabaster ran over. Ethan sighed.

"I better go make sure they don't give each other concussions headbutting like goats or gods know what else they decide to do next. I swear, once we get back, I'm locking myself in my room with a book and a hot drink, where I am not to be disturbed." He turned and followed Chris and Alabaster.

Despite the massive expanse of their outdoor habitat, only one of the two polar bears the signs listed could be found, diving for toys in a pool, while the other must have been inside.

"So cool," Silena muttered, putting a hand to the glass, right before the polar bear smooshed her own nose to the glass in the same place, causing Silena's smile to grow and the others to laugh good-naturedly.

"Silena, the animal whisperer," Alabaster said.

"Not exactly," Silena chuckled.

"Primates or elephants next?" Chris asked after they finished up at the polar bears. "They're both right there."

"Primates are closer," Silena said. "Besides, I heard there's a baby orangutan."

"Aww," Ethan said.

"Well, let's go," Luke said.

"Well, would you look at that?" Alabaster said, checking his wristwatch as he looked at Ethan. "We've been here for over an hour and we haven't gotten kicked out yet."

"Yeah, my fingers are still crossed," Ethan said with a shake of his head as they entered the tunnel down to the primate exhibits, which was made to look like a giant, hollowed-out log. Chris's stomach growled audibly.

"Speaking of the time," he said, "we should probably eat soon."

"Yeah," Silena said. "But I heard about a great lunch spot, and it's coming up soon."

They walked down to the orangutan's exhibit. One of them was lying on her back on the floor, holding a ball of reddish fur that must have been the nursing baby.

"Aww, so cute!" Silena said. Everyone smiled.

*** After passing the rest of the primates and the elephants, they reached Silena's lunch spot. It was inside the Predators of the Serengeti building, looking out on the lion exhibit. It was sort of a theater spot, with steps and two benches at the top, facing a fenced-off stage that was supposedly for animal shows. Ethan sat down on the bench and slipped off his backpack. He was the one who'd carried everyone's lunches, so he unzipped his backpack and slipped them out, handing them out to the right people.

Ethan had a tuna sandwich, Luke and Chris had PB&J's, Alabaster had cold leftover pizza, and Silena had a salad, one of those "Greek" ones with chicken, feta, and olives. As they ate, they watched the lions pace around their exhibit, even coming close to the glass every now and then.

"I think they smell your nasty sandwich," Alabaster said to Ethan as he took another bite. "It carries."

"It's not nasty," Ethan said, rolling his guy. "Also, says the guy eating pineapple pizza. You're one to talk." Ethan didn't actually have anything against pineapple on pizza, he also liked it, but Alabaster had been antagonizing him all day and he felt like making a remark back. Alabaster chuckled.

After they all finished their lunch and kept walking. A big sign boasted that there was a carcass feeding in progress at the wild dogs, so they decided not to stop at that exhibit for Silena's sake. Next, however, was the cheetah exhibit. The cheetahs were sleeping in their little alcove, but the other window to the exhibit had an old safari jeep set into the glass, so the hood of the jeep was outside in the enclosure, but the rest of it was inside for children to play in and pretend to drive.

"Oh no," Ethan said, looking at Chris and Alabaster.

"I call driver!" Chris sprinted to the driver's side of the jeep and hopped up.

"Dang it." Alabaster climbed into the passenger's seat. Chris glanced into the rearview mirror.

"Luke, Ethan, Silena, get in the back!" Ethan sighed and climbed up, followed by Luke.

"Silena, come on," Luke said. She had put her backpack down on the crate that really little kids used as a stepping stool to get up into the back of the truck and was rifling through it.

"Just a sec," she said. "I need to find my selfie stick so I can take a picture of us."

"I really don't get the obsession with selfies," Ethan sighed, leaning back. Chris was just spinning the steering wheel with a crazed grin on his face. "Hurry up, because I swear Chris is one beat away from saying 'nyoom!' or something stupid like that."

"Hey!" Chris looked hurt.

"Found it!" Silena tossed her bag into the truck bed, then climbed up herself, attaching her phone to the selfie stick and then elongating it. "Everyone say safari!" No one except Chri said safari, but the photo still turned out excellent. Any photo Silena took always did. She always said she didn't know what career she should pursue in the future, but Ethan seriously thought she should be a professional photographer. The rest of them weren't as photogenic as the daughter of Aphrodite, but they always looked amazing in any photo she took.

"Nice photo." Ethan hopped down and walked to the next doors. The next room was several degrees hotter than any of the other buildings, and Ethan found himself pulling his jacket off and shoving it into his bag. An armadillo shuffled across the dirt floor of the enclosure on the wall, and a sloth hung from the ceiling. Silena grinned and snapped a photo.

The next enclosure was for dwarf mongoose. It was bigger, with a tunnel through it that led into a glass dome in the middle where kids could pop up and look at the exhibit from the inside. Ethan got on his knees and looked into the tunnel, estimating he could probably fit. He crawled through on his hands and knees, straightening up on his knees a little to see the mongoose scampering around from the inside. When he crawled out on the other side, he saw the expressions on Chris, Luke, and Alabaster's faces.

"Don't. You. Dare," he warned, walking around to grab his bag again.

"You can fit in the mongoose bubble," Alabaster snickered.

"Shut up," Ethan kicked him. "I'm not that short."

"Honestly, I'm impressed," Chris said. "And kind of jealous. I like messing around in the little kid things, but this is the only one I'm too tall for, but you fit perfectly!"

"Ugh." He marched straight for the doors. Next, they walked into the aviary. Just like the room they'd previously been in, it was warmer on the inside, with the added bonus of being loud, with a lot of squawky birds. They were pretty though. Ethan had to stifle a laugh when one of them left a splatter of white bird poo on Chris's shirt, which, unfortunately, happened to be black.

"Yikes," Silena winced when she saw the splatter on Chris's shoulder.

"It's fine," he said. "I can bear a bird poop stain for a few hours."

*** After passing the rhinos and the giraffes, neither of whom were doing much, they passed through the rainforest swamp room, which was also warm, and the most exciting attraction of which was a very lazy crocodile. Eventually, they arrived at the bats.

"Aww, are they fruit bats?" Silena asked. "Fruit bats are so fluffy and cute."

"I think so," Ethan said. They all walked in.

"Hey, look," Chris said, flipping open the info pad for the bats. "It's my family!"

"What?" Luke asked, looking over at him.

"It says they're called Rodriguez bats," he said.

"Okay, that's your worst joke yet," Ethan said, rolling his eyes. Of course, the joke was grounded. Chris's last name was Rodriguez. He was just glad there were no animals at the zoo that had the name Nakamura, he didn't want to get roped into another of Chris's stupid jokes.

After the bats, he got dragged onto a carousel. He didn't sit on any of the animals, he just stood in the aisle, though of course there was lots of teasing from Chris about the height limit to ride, which Ethan had elected to do his best to ignore. Even as a kid, Ethan hadn't liked carousels or merry-go-rounds. They always gave him vertigo. But everyone else seemed to be having a great time, so he decided to shut up.

***

After they had seen everything, they walked out past the front gate towards the zoo store. Thanks to Alabaster and Chris acting like idiots, they'd somehow managed to kill practically the whole day at the zoo. It was twilight now.

"Well, do we want to see if there's anything at the zoo store we want to buy?" Silena asked.

"As long as there's no like, matching t-shirts or anything, sure," Ethan said. Everyone else nodded.

"Okay," Silena said. "Oh, and Luke and Chris, you have to pay for whatever you get."

"Wow," Chris said. "Way to ruin the fun."

"Won't be very fun if you get busted for shoplifting, will it?" Ethan asked with his arms crossed.

As they were leaving to get back on the train, Alabaster walked over to Ethan, his bag from the zoo store in hand.

"Um, hey," he said.

"What do you want?" Ethan asked. It was cooling down, so he'd put his jacket back on and pulled the hood up.

"It's just... I kind of feel bad for teasing you today, so I got you something to maybe make up for it?" He reached into his bag and pulled out a small stuffed animal- an African wild dog.

"Um... thanks?" Ethan took it. He wasn't really a stuffed animal person, but for some reason the gesture made him feel warm inside. He wasn't sure how to react."

"You're welcome," Alabaster said, then stepped onto the train car.

A/N: Yes, the eagle nest thing was a self-callout. I'm 17 and I still climb in it every time. Also, the pictures of Ethan thing is based off a fanart someone sent in the Titan Army Discord server I'm in. Regarding Silena having a phone, I feel like the TA demigods could cause they're on the same side as the monsters so they aren't gonna attack them.

#pjo #fic #titan army #ethan nakamura #luke castellan #silena beauregard #alabaster c torrington #chris rodriguez

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dracothedeatheatingcupcake-ao3 · 2 years

Text

Chapter 2 The Ultimate (Fake) Boyfriend.

Hey all! I finally had a minute to sit down and post this! So, this is the second chapter to my fic in WIP hell, The Ultimate (Fake) Boyfriend. It's a fake dating AU where Mondo goes to Taka's family reunion, pretending to be his boyfriend to get his great aunt off his back.

You can read the first chapter here.

I think I had things I wanted to say about this chapter, but I don't have THAT much time, unfortunately. Let me know what you think!

Mondo sits on a bench in the middle of a busy train station— his hair pulled back in a half ponytail and not up in his usual pompadour, clothed in a cheap baby blue polo shirt and black slacks, his customary jacket nowhere to be seen— doing his best to look nonchalant despite the anxiety and unease roiling through his body. His eyes are latched firmly on his best friend (/boyfriend/, he thinks almost hysterically, even though they’re fucking /not/, it’s just a fucking ruse, shit), watching as the ridiculously high strung teen paces back and forth relentlessly.

“Would ya sit the fuck down, man? Yer pacin’s makin’ me fuckin’ dizzy, shit,” Mondo grumbles, rolling his eyes when Taka turns to glare at him. After a moment of charged glaring, Mondo giving as good as he gets, Taka sighs and nods wearily, taking a heavy seat on the bench next to him.

“I… sorry, kyoudai. I’m just… nervous! I know that we agreed to do this and that it’s the best way to get my family off my back, so to speak, but… well. I still feel bad about lying to everyone. Especially my parents…”

Mondo winces at the softly spoken words, his cheeks heating up despite himself at the reminder of the con they’ve created for themselves.

It’s been a week since he came up with this stupid fucking idea, and things had started out fine. Right? In fact, the morning after he came up with the plan, he’d even felt kinda good about it all, smirking at the thought of conning Taka’s entire fucking family. It was a way for them to be closer, he’d thought, looking fondly at the frantic hall monitor, who predictably had woken them both up stupidly early and wouldn’t listen to Mondo’s pitiful pleas for ‘just five more minutes, kyoudai.’ Stubborn fucking bastard, he thinks affectionately.

But then… then, the week progressed. And Taka— in true Taka fashion— took it upon himself to meticulously plan out every single detail, and then proceeded to panic about every possible thing that could possibly go wrong, at any possible point of time during the week, over and over and over again. It’s actually gotten to the point where Mondo himself is half worried that he will be found out immediately, be kicked out onto the street and told to never come back, and then never become Prime Minister, all because he dared to lie about having a boyfriend one fucking time. And he doesn’t even /care/ about literally any of that shit, half of it not even applying to him. /That’s/ how powerful Taka’s paranoia has become.

The amount of times Mondo has had to physically restrain Taka, holding him close and murmuring encouraging words into his ear, saying that none of that shit will happen, that Mondo’s the best fucking liar, that as long as Taka follows his lead no one will ever be the fucking wiser… shit. He can’t even count that shit, it happened so fucking often. At least five to ten times /a day/. Don’t get him wrong, Mondo adores Taka. He absolutely does. But good /god/ can the dude be melodramatic and the biggest fucking pessimist…

Taka has managed to bring up some good points about the potential for disaster in this plan of theirs, though. One such being the fact that if they want this ruse of theirs to work, if they don’t want to be found out immediately and kicked out of the family forever (not like Mondo cares about that for himself, but he knows Taka cares a lot, which makes Mondo care), then they’d have to be able to convince everyone in Taka’s family that they’re dating, happy, and most importantly /in love/. And when he says everyone… he means fucking /everyone/. Which includes, most regrettably… Taka’s parents.

Now /that/ shit had honestly freaked Mondo the fuck out the first time Taka had brought it up. Don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t /hate/ Taka’s parents, right? In fact, he thinks he may be a little bit in love with his ma, as kind and caring as the lady is. She always smiles so brightly at him, thinking him so much better than he is. And she gives the absolute /best/ hugs. He’s only met the lady at most five times, but every time she gives him prolly the warmest, most caring hug he’s ever received from a lady, ever. Needless to say, his own ma was… kinda the worst, heh… in some ways, that makes it all worse, really. Knowing he’ll be lying to her. Deceiving her. It… s-shit. It gets to him sometimes.

Taka’s da, on the other hand… fuck him, honestly. Always judging him, calling him a ‘no good delinquent who will just bring Taka down…’ shit. Ain’t like he’s wrong, but it still fucking sucks ass. Even knowing that the man genuinely loves his son and would do literally anything for him— even if he’s often so fucking clueless on how to show it— doesn’t help much. It does a little, since Mondo knows intimately how shitty da’s can be, but… shit. He just doesn’t /like/ the dude, okay? At all.

But the dude is a fucking /cop/. Who already hates him and thinks he’s going to corrupt Taka, even before thinking he’s dating his son. If there is going to be one person who throws the biggest fucking wrench in their plans…

But at least that one they could tackle somewhat in advance. After all, it ain’t like they could just show up together at the train station, holding hands and claiming to be boyfriends with no fucking warning. That would be a recipe for fucking disaster.

Listening to Taka tell them over the phone on Tuesday afternoon that the two of them are dating and have been for many months, though… now /that/ had been true agony. His ma had apparently been over the moon, saying that she ‘knew it,’ and that she was ‘so very, very happy’ for them. She’d even insisted on having Taka pass the phone over to him, her voice high and happy as she congratulated the two of them on their relationship, saying that she knows he will treat ‘her little boy’ well. It had honestly brought a tear to his eye and for the first time, he understood why Taka hates lying so much. It had been true agony to hear that and know it wasn’t real.

The less said about Taka’s da’s reaction, the better, honestly.

All in all, however, the call had gone well. His ma was supportive, his da hadn’t immediately driven out to kill Mondo and bury the body somewhere no one would ever find it… it was just great! And while he does mean that sarcastically, he will be honest and say that it had actually gone much better than he’d feared and gave him a small trickle of hope that they might pull this shit show off.

He knows his kyoudai hates it, though. The lying. The charade. They’ve spent this entire week going over every detail of their con (and again, when he says every detail, he fucking means /every single fucking detail/. He adores Taka, he truly does, but dear fucking god is the dude anal) and at no point has Taka gotten even slightly better about it. But they can’t turn back now. They’ve already set the snowball in motion. Now all they can do is try and control the damage and hope it all turns out in their favor…

But… shit. All of that bullshit isn’t important now. Not when his kyoudai is so obviously distressed, getting worse by the fucking second.

Shaking himself back into the present, Mondo reaches out and grabs Taka’s hand, twining their fingers carefully. Usually he wouldn’t do shit like this, especially not in public, but considering that they’re gonna hafta get used to doing shit like this for the benefit of Taka’s family, he might as well, right? ‘Sides. It’s honestly hella comforting to him, too…

“Yeah. Yeah, I know, man. But we’ve gone over this. So many fuckin’ times. It’s just fer this week. Once it’s over, I’ll head off ta be with my gang an’ ya’ll head back with yer parents. A few weeks later, ya’ll come ta spend time with me an’ Dai, an’ we’ll stage a break up, claimin’ that our differences were just too much fer us ta handle as a couple, but that we wanna stay friends. Then, we just… ferget this shit ever happened an’ continue on bein’ the best fuckin’ friends, alright? Ya getta have a family reunion without yer family harassin’ ya ‘bout gettin’ a boyfriend, an’ I get free food an’ housin’. Win-win, kyoudai. Uh… shit. Kareshi.”

Mondo suppresses the instinctual wince at the new title they’ve agreed to call one another this week, since calling each other /brother/ doesn’t exactly make sense if they’re dating. Calling each other /boyfriend/, though… so blatantly and openly… well. Shit’s fucking weird, honestly. Judging by Taka’s not at all concealed wince, the teen feels the same.

“Y-yes, I… I know that, ky- ah. K-/kareshi/… I just… hm. Y-you know what I’m like. And this is… is definitely not the sort of thing I traditionally condone! So… hm. I don’t know. I just wish that I’d never said that cursed lie and that we didn’t have to go through with this. Life would be so much simpler then!”

Mondo smiles softly at Taka’s dramatic cry, his hand squeezing the other’s gently. Fuck, he’s so cute…

“Yeah, but ya did, man. An’ ya can’t take that shit back, so we might as well get used ta this shit,” Mondo points out bluntly, feeling a bit bad when he sees Taka’s face fall a little. Hating seeing his friend look so crestfallen, Mondo quickly moves on, hoping to remove that heartbreaking look. “But, shit. It ain’t that bad, man. An’ look at it this way. Least we get ta spend more time together, yeah? An’ hey, maybe it won’t be so bad. Ya never fuckin’ know!”

The smile Taka gets on his lips is pitifully small and weak, but at least it’s something, so Mondo takes it. He squeezes the hall monitor’s hand again, feeling heartened when Taka squeezes back tightly this time.

“Yes… perhaps you’re right, ky- /kareshi/. I cannot say I truly regret anything that allows us to spend more time together. Still… I wish it was under better circumstances. That we could go as we are, not as a lie. I… I hate lying…”

Goddamnit… heart clenched painfully at Taka’s pitiful tone, he can’t help how he disentangles his hand from Taka’s, immediately wrapping his arm around the teen and pulling him close into a side hug. Honestly, that’s prolly the one good thing about this shit show, he thinks humorlessly as Taka melts against his side. At least he can touch Taka more freely this week without worrying about his ‘manliness’ taking a hit. Small fucking miracles…

“I know, man. I… I know. Shit, why don’t we get yer mind off this shit, yeah? Yer parents ain’t gonna be here fer another fifteen at least, thanks ta the fuckin’ traffic, so… why don’t we do somethin’ ta take our minds off this shit, huh?” Mondo asks, looking at his friend with concern. He watches Taka bite his lip, before the teen nods slowly.

“I… suppose, k-kareshi. But… hm. I- I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind going over my family tree just one last time? I- I know we went over this on the train and I know that you are getting annoyed with my incessant worrying, but I… I just want to make sure that you have it down and that nothing goes wrong and that-“

“Taka. Shut the fuck up a second, alright?” Mondo interrupts, rolling his eyes and sighing heavily with exasperation. Because… shit, they literally spent the /entire goddamn train ride/ going over this shit, Taka lecturing him all about his family, sparing nothing; their likes, their dislikes, their fucking /shoe size/. At this point, Mondo thinks he knows Taka’s family better than he knows his own gang, god fucking dammit. He truly doesn’t want to go over this yet again.

But… ugh. He knows his kyoudai well. And as such, he knows how fucking neurotic he gets about shit like this… and if it’ll help calm him the fuck down…

“Look. This ain’t what I meant when I said takin’ yer mind off this shit. But… goddamnit. If it makes ya feel better, then /fine/. I’ll fuckin’ go over yer ‘family tree’ one last time… I ain’t sayin’ their shoe size, likes, or dislikes, though! That shit don’t fuckin’ matter!”

With a glare at Taka, which the teen unfairly returns with a wide eyed, pitiful fucking look, Mondo sighs again. And begins going over the family members who will be at this goddamn reunion. /Again/.

“Alright. So, startin’ at the top, ya got yer Granny Kichi, a stubborn lady who hates disorder an’ likes shit goin’ her fuckin’ way no matter what. Yer grandpa died a few years ago, so I’m not allowed ta mention him no matter what, as it’s still painful ta her. Next ya got yer great aunt Hana, who is just as stubborn an’ twice as ‘opinionated,’ or whatever. She’s married ta yer great uncle Akiro, a quiet sorta man who must be blessed with the patience ofa monk ta be able ta put up with yer aunt. Yer ma is super fuckin’ close with yer aunt, though, since they all lived together on the farm when she was a little girl. The lady’s practic’ly yer granny or somethin’ like that.

“Yer great aunt an’ uncle have two kids, Kumi an’ Akihiko, who ya call aunt an’ uncle even though they’re technically cousins. Akihiko never married but Kumi did, ta yer uncle Daichi, who’s a stuck up businessman. They got three kids; Eiko, Eichi, an’ Haruki. First two are twins ‘bout yer age an’ are the spawn a’ satan. Haruki is ‘bout thirteen an’ only slightly better. That whole part a’ the family is fuckin’ rotten ta the core an’ are a blight on society.”

“Hey! I didn’t say that!” Taka interrupts, pouting at Mondo petulantly. Mondo smirks, flicking the teen’s forehead in a way he knows always aggravates the shit outta his kyoudai. In makes his heart flip to see Taka’s indignant pout. He ignores it and moves on.

“Yeah, but I read ‘tween the lines. Now, don’t fuckin’ interrupt. Shit’s rude,” Mondo teases, smirking at Taka’s deepening pout. Heh. “Now, where the fuck was I… oh, right. Ya had another great uncle who died last year, illness, but he had a kid, Jin. She married yer uncle Taishiro, but they ain’t comin’ since yer uncle’s sick. They got two kids, Yoshi an’ Miki, who’re twenty-five an’ twenty respectively, an’ they supposedly are comin’. Yoshi married an American dude named Alex, an’ they got two little kids, Samantha an’ Benjamin. Sam’s three, Benny’s five months. Ya’ve never met him, but ya’ve seen pictures an’ ya assure me he’s super fuckin’ cute. Miki’s single an’ apparently really fuckin’ bitter ‘bout it. She’s also kinda a bitch, but the two a’ you get ‘long reasonably well.

“Finally, ya got yer actual aunt an’ uncle, yer ma’s older sis an’ younger bro. Yer uncle Naoko ain’t comin’ since he’s got a work thing, but he’s divorced an’ got two kids, Nikko an’ Rei, who’re eight an’ four. Yer aunt Ryoko is comin’ with her husband Yuudai and her three kids, Ronin, Raidon, an’ Rini, ages fourteen, ten, an’ six. The kids an’ husband are fine, but yer aunt’s a fuckin’ homophobic piece a’ shit that the world would be better off without.”

“Mondo…” Taka warns, eyes glaring. Mondo just rolls his eyes, glaring right back.

“Hey, just callin’ it how I see it, shit. An’ I know, I /know/, I gotta fuckin’ behave myself ‘round yer family. Been practicin’ my ‘respectable’ voice an’ everythin’, shit. An’… /and/, while I can’t say I enjoy it, I… ugh. I do know how to talk properly. Just hate doin’ it if I ain’t gotta. But fer you, Taka… I’ll fuckin’ do it. An’ stop cursin’. Though ya fuckin’ /owe me/ fer that shit, fuckin’ hate censorin’ myself. But whatever, that shit don’t matter. Anyway, I think that’s it. So, how the fuck did I do, huh? Got all yer countless fuckin’ family members right?”

Taka blinks at him rapidly, before looking away, his cheeks bright pink and lips pulled down into an unhappy grimace. Ah, shit… that ain’t what he wanted…

“I… you did perfectly, ky- kareshi. Like I knew you would. And I… I know I owe you very much for all of this. You are doing so much for me this week and I fear that I will never be able to repay you for your kindness. I will always be in your debt, my friend, and I don’t know how I can ever make this up to you, I-“

“Hey, fuck right off with that bullshit,” Mondo growls lightly, cutting off the self-deprecating bullshit immediately. When Taka looks up at him with wide, watery eyes, Mondo forcibly relaxes himself, giving the teen a small, shaky smile and a tight squeeze around the shoulders. “That ain’t true, ya hear me? Y’ain’t ever gonna be in my debt, not fuckin’ ever. After all the fuckin’ tutorin’ an’ vouchin’ fer me ya’ve done this past year, ain’t no way ya’d ever owe me shit. ‘Sides, that ain’t how friendship works, man. Ain’t no debt ta a friend. I help you, you help me. S’how it fuckin’ works. I was just kiddin’ ‘bout ya owin’ me shit. Though… now that ya mention it, if ya wanted ta give me the answers ta that summer work, I wouldn’t fuckin’ say no…”

It lifts Mondo’s heart to hear Taka let out a soft, watery laugh, Mondo grinning widely at the half hearted glare the teen gives. His grin goes sideways a second later when Taka shifts on the bench and— apropos of nothing— flings his arms around Mondo’s neck, turning their side hug into a full hug. Mondo’s face flushes immediately, his stomach doing a funny jig, but he doesn’t comment on it. He just wraps his arms around Taka’s waist in return, relishing in the steady warmth.

“You are amazing, my dearest kyoudai. I value you more than words can ever say,” he hears Taka murmur into his ear, causing goosebumps to erupt all over his skin. It’s not at all cold out, but he blames the cold for it anyway.

“Yer the fuckin’ amazin’ one, Kiyo. Gonna do some truly incredible shit one day. Can’t say how glad I am ta know ya, man, let alone be yer friend,” Mondo mumbles back, burying his face in Taka’s hair to hide his mortification at the sappy words. For the first time, he’s glad his hair isn’t up in his usual pomp. He couldn’t do this shit if it were.

Taka doesn’t reply back to his comment; instead he just hums happily and buries his own face in Mondo’s neck, body relaxing in Mondo’s arms. S-shit… anyone can fucking see them right now, the station is super fucking busy, but for some reason… for some reason, he can’t find it in him to mind…

That quickly changes when he hears a voice call out to them a couple of minutes later. A voice he is dismayed to realize he kind of recognizes. Unfortunately.

“Ah. Kiyotaka, Mondo-san. I… see that this is where the two of you are hiding,” a clipped, highly uncomfortable voice calls, exasperation clear in the tone. Mondo goes stiff immediately, as does the teen he’s holding, the pair splitting apart with furiously red cheeks. Oh, fucking hell…

“Takaaki!” Mondo hears another somewhat familiar voice call, this one higher pitched. He then hears the familiar sound of flesh getting hit lightly, and a soft grunt. “I told you to not bother them! Hmph. Well, hello there boys, it’s nice to see the two of you again. I was going to allow you both to part naturally, but clearly my husband has no sense of romance anymore.”

Mondo hesitantly turns his eyes in the direction of the two voices, feeling mortified to see the only slightly familiar sight of Taka’s parents standing before them. His da has a look on his face like he was just force fed a lemon, while his ma is beaming brightly at them, literal stars in her ruby red eyes. It makes Mondo gulp uncomfortably, his eyes automatically falling back to the ground.

“Oh, uh… h-hello, sir. Ma’am. Uh… sh- I mean… uh…” Mondo stammers awkwardly, trying his hardest to not fidget. He knows that Taka gets his distaste for fidgeting from his da, and if he wants to make a good impression… well. It’s not like it matters, they’ve met before and the dude hates his guts besides, but still. He should at least fucking try…

“Mother! Father! It is so good to see you both!”

Mondo gets distracted from his staring contest with the floor when he hears Taka exclaim his greeting from beside him, turning in time to see the hall monitor launch himself off the bench and over to his parents, hugging them both tightly. They both immediately hug him back, the pinched look on his da’s face immediately gone as he hugs his son for the first time in months.

It makes Mondo’s chest ache horribly to see the loving scene, and he hastily averts his eyes again, his cheeks burning for a different reason. He can feel the same burning envy he’s always felt when seeing a loving family bubble up inside him, though he desperately tries his hardest to squash it down. Shit ain’t gonna help him here. ‘Sides. He’s so fucking glad his kyoudai has a good family who loves him more than anything. He deserves it so fucking much it ain’t funny. He really does.

“Oh, come here, Mondo-san! You are part of this family now too, you know,” Mondo hears Taka’s ma say warmly several seconds later, startling him greatly. He looks over at the lady with wide ass eyes and sees her looking down at him with a blinding smile, her arms open in invitation. Mondo darts a glance over at Taka— who is now standing beside his stiff father— and only moves when he sees the teen give him a bright smile and an encouraging nod of the head.

So fucking awkwardly, Mondo stands and lumbers over to the lady, who immediately rises onto her tip toes to wrap her arms around his neck. Even still, Mondo has to hunch awkwardly to accommodate for her short height, his body on fire with his mortification. While this is not at all the first time she’s hugged him (she’s a hugger, Taka had happily informed him after he’d first met the teen’s parents during summer break their first year, his eyes wide and panicked when the lady had hugged him without any preamble whatsoever), it’s still so fucking awkward to him, even if he privately adores it. His own ma never hugged him growing up, even if he had tried numerous times before giving up, so being hugged by a lady is both nice and kinda fucking awkward.

As he stiffly hugs the slight lady, equal parts pleased and embarrassed, he feels her shift to press her lips to his ear, her voice quiet as she whispers something to him. It makes him shudder, his mortification rising exponentially.

“Before we get going to the car, I wanted to thank you, Mondo-san, for agreeing to come with my little Taka to our gathering. I know Auntie Hana can be very pushy and opinionated, and I know that the rest of my family is much the same. It is no small thing agreeing to come along. Words cannot express how grateful I am that Taka has someone like you to look after and care for him. You treat him so well,” she whispers to him, squeezing him tightly.

The words cause an uncomfortable lump to form in Mondo’s throat, his eyes beginning to water, much to his mortification. He forces the embarrassing rush of emotions down and shrugs as carefully as he can, not wanting to hurt Taka’s ma at all.

“It, uh… it’s nothing, ma’am. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for yer- uh. Your son. He… he means the world to me,” Mondo mumbles, flushing at the words. He doesn’t even have to feel bad about lying, since what he said is the god’s honest truth. He adores Taka and would do literally anything for him. No lie at all whatsoever.

The lady hums happily, nodding against his shoulder. She then leans back and smiles at him brightly, her eyes so much like Taka’s it’s fucking surreal.

“Yes, I know that Mondo-san. And I’ve told you before that you can call me Kiyoshi, you know. No need for formalities with family,” Taka’s ma— shit, no, /Kiyoshi/— says with a smile. Mondo flushes brightly at the look, but he luckily doesn’t have to figure out what to say next as Kiyoshi pulls away from the hug entirely then, looking pointedly at her husband.

Mondo also looks at the man and has to suppress the urge to gulp at the dark look he finds there. Don’t get him wrong, Mondo knows that he’s a tough ass dude who has never been afraid of anyone in his life, definitely not a fucking /cop/, but… shit. There’s something about meeting up with your best friend’s parents, while pretending to be said best friend’s /boyfriend/, and coming face to face with his clearly unhappy old man. Who you know already hates your fucking guts.

However, to Mondo’s intense surprise, after a moment the dark look fades off the man’s face, leaving behind a look that is very clearly uncomfortable, but at least isn’t hostile. Mondo figures it has to do with the staring contest the dude’s been having with his wife, but honestly, Mondo doesn’t care for the whys of the matter. It will definitely make shit easier if he doesn’t have to deal with Taka’s da stirring shit up between them…

“Ah. Yes, hello… Mondo-san. It’s… good to see you again,” the dude says stiffly, looking like he’s being forced at knife point to say the words. It honestly makes Mondo wanna laugh a little, but he’s not that stupid, so he reins it in. Barely. “I am glad you decided to join us this week. Please, call me- call me /Takaaki/.”

With that, Taka’s da— or Takaaki, Mondo guesses, though he’s honestly not much happier to call him that than Takaaki was to offer it— turns on his heel and begins walking away, taking Taka’s luggage with him, apparently done with this conversation. Kiyoshi sighs softly, giving him and Taka a look that says ‘what can you do?’

“I suppose that’s the best we’re going to get out of him at the moment. I will give you two a little time alone to talk. Come and join us in the parking lot when you’re ready. We managed to find a spot right out front,” Kiyoshi says kindly. She gives Taka one last kiss on the cheek and Mondo a pat on the hand, before turning to follow her husband through the crowded station.

As soon as she’s out of sight, an awkward silence descends around Taka and Mondo, Mondo having no clue how to break it. Shit, but if this ain’t the most awkward situation he’s ever fucking been in… and trust him, he’s been in a fucking /ton/ of awkward ass situations in his life, god fucking damn…

“Well…” Taka starts hesitantly almost half a minute later, eyes wide on Mondo when he turns to face the hall monitor, “that… could have gone worse. R… right? It- it could have gone worse?”

Something about the desperate, almost frantic words breaks something inside of Mondo, and before he knows it, he’s laughing loudly, tears rising in his eyes. If anyone asks, he’ll say they’re tears of laughter, /not/ of fucking relief, fuck you. He can see people giving him nasty looks from the corner of his eye, but he honestly doesn’t give a single fuck. Not when he sees the tension Taka has been carrying on his shoulders for this entire goddamn week loosen a little, the smallest (and yet most /beautiful/) smile rising on his pale lips. It makes Mondo’s stomach lurch to see, so he hastily looks away, still snickering softly.

“Ya know what? Yeah, man. Yeah, it could a’ gone worse. Now… ya doin’ good, Taka? Need anythin’ ‘fore we go?”

Mondo watches as Taka deliberates that, but after a second the teen shakes his head, the small smile still on his lips.

“Ah, no, I… I think I’m good, ky- /kareshi/. Are- are /you/ doing alright? I saw how my father was looking at you… a-and I know how uncomfortable you can get with my mother’s affection… do you need anything before we go?”

Mondo smiles softly at Taka’s concern, heart aching mildly to hear it. To dispel some of the emotion, Mondo reaches forward and ruffles Taka’s hair, snickering at the teen’s indignant squawking about how he’s ruining his look. He can see the fondness in Taka’s eyes though, so he ain’t too worried about it.

“Naw, don’t worry ‘bout me, man. Can handle a little shit like that. An’ ya fuckin’ know I adore yer ma. Swear if she ever leaves yer da, I’m gonna marry that lady, goddamn.”

Mondo laughs uproariously at the disgusted and horrified look on Taka’s face, grinning brightly in response to Taka’s disturbed grimace.

“Please… never say that ever again. I think I will need your so called ‘brain bleach’ to forget that particular disturbing thought! Now… if you’re sure you’re good, then we should probably get going! It wouldn’t do to make my parents wait needlessly! Do you remember our plan?”

Mondo groans at the worried words, giving Taka a Look at the stupid as shit question. Because… of fucking /course/ he remembers their goddamn plan! They’ve only gone over it a million goddamn times this past week! How stupid does Taka think he is…?!

“Taka. I know I’m a goddamn dumbass, but I ain’t that big of a dumbass. We’ve gone over the goddamn plan so many times I’m pretty sure it’s engrained in my fuckin’ DNA at this point. An’ I know, I /know/ yer just nervous, but y’ain’t gotta worry ‘bout that shit. I know the plan. Trust me on that, okay? An’ don’t you fuckin’ dare apologize, it’s /fine/,” Mondo stresses when he sees Taka open his mouth with furrowed brows and another unhappy grimace. “Just… don’t worry, man. It’s gonna be fine. Just loosen up an’ shit will work out perfectly. Okay?”

Mondo keeps a pointed gaze on Taka to make sure he realizes that Mondo /means it/, and after a moment, Taka looks away, nodding his head sheepishly.

“I… yes. You’re right, k-kareshi. I just… ah. Y-you know…” Taka trails off awkwardly, Mondo smirking at the knowledge that the teen was about to apologize before stopping himself. The smirk gets wiped off his face when Taka turns back to face him, eyes blazing and face set. Oh, shit… “But! As I keep saying, you decidedly are not a- a /dumb butt/, so please refrain from calling yourself that! I think you are a very smart and intelligent young man! You do very well on homework and exams when you push yourself, after all! Especially now that you have reading glasses to help with your vision problems! And you know quite a lot about interpersonal matters, far more than I do! So… please stop insulting yourself, my friend. I… I hate it when you do that…”

Mondo swallows thickly, the compliments not exactly unexpected, but still overwhelming despite it. He knows that Taka hates it when he puts himself down, knows that he shouldn’t do that shit since it honestly always makes him feel like shit when he does it, but… he doesn’t know. It’s familiar and almost comforting, in a way. He’s been calling himself names for as long as he can remember. Ever since his da started calling him that shit before he even knew how to talk, he’s thought very negatively of himself. And he knows he shouldn’t, knows it ‘significantly lowers his self-esteem’ and ‘damages his feelings of self-worth’ (thanks ever so, Taka), but he just… just… shit. Whatever. Whatever. It don’t fucking matter.

Doing his best to push down the emotion, Mondo looks away from Taka and shrugs tightly, grabbing his duffel bag and hoisting it onto his shoulder. He then jerks his head towards the direction Taka’s parents went and begins moving over there, Taka following without question.

“Uh… s-shit, yeah, whatever. Should prolly get goin’ though, so c’mon,” Mondo mumbles as they begin moving through the crowd, chest aching stupidly. Taka nods in agreement and doesn’t say anything more as they try to navigate the stupidly busy station.

It’s as they finally reach the exit, Mondo’s heart pounding with anxiety, that he finally builds up the courage to reach his hand out and grab Taka’s. His face is bright red and he feels vaguely nauseous, but he knows that if they want their charade to work, they should prolly do little shit like this. He can see Taka startle out of the corner of his eye, but the teen doesn’t pull back and instead quickly settles. Mondo’s heart just about pounds out of his chest when he feels Taka shift his hand and carefully entangle their fingers, but he doesn’t comment on it. Shit, whatever, don’t matter. Just two bros platonically holding hands while trying to fool people into thinking it’s romantic. No biggie.

Once they get outside the station it doesn’t take as long as Mondo would have thought to find Taka’s parents, since they actually did manage to find a parking spot almost directly in front of the station. Mondo feels a little awkward as they get closer and he can make out the sound of a whispered argument between Taka’s parents, though he can’t make out any words. They quickly stop as soon as he and Taka walk up, Taka looking between them worriedly, but Mondo can still see the tension in both of their eyes even as they try to hide it. Kiyoshi smiles brightly as she heads over towards them, but she can’t fully hide the tension in her eyes. Mondo has to admit that he doesn’t like it, but it ain’t like he can exactly do shit to help. He barely knows the lady, after all.

For a lack of anything else to do, he just smiles tightly back at her, hoping that he’s not causing any damage between the two… yeah, he was joking about them splitting up to Taka, but he doesn’t actually /want/ that… it would hurt Taka greatly and he’d never want that shit.

“Ah, Taka, Mondo-san! You boys were quicker than I thought. Here, Mondo-san, give me your bag and I’ll put it in the back,” Kiyoshi claims, holding her hand out to grab his duffel. Mondo tightens his grip on the bag, shaking his head slightly with an awkward smile.

“Oh, uh… n-no, I got it, it ain’t- I mean it’s not a problem,” he claims, not sure if he’s being rude or not. Judging by the small frown Kiyoshi gets on her face he thinks perhaps he is, but… shit, he can handle his own goddamn bag… plus, he hates it when people touch his shit… luckily, before he can worry too much, she smiles quickly after, nodding her head.

“Oh, of course Mondo-san! Follow me then. Taka, please go help your father program his GPS, he’s having some problems with it.”

Mondo moves to follow the lady as she heads to the back of the car, his hand disentangling from Taka’s with just a hint of reluctance. When he shoots a glance at Taka, he sees the hall monitor giving him an encouraging smile, which helps more than he’ll ever feel comfortable saying. He hopes Taka can tell that he appreciates it based on his returning grateful smile.

As Kiyoshi opens the trunk of the car for Mondo to put his bag into, he can’t help but comment on the argument he and Taka walked in on, though he knows he prolly shouldn’t. He just… shit. Feels bad, he guesses…

“S-so, uh… I, uh, hope I’m not causing any problems between you and, uh… T-Takaaki,” Mondo mumbles awkwardly, his face on fire again as he shuffles in place. He sees Kiyoshi give him a startled look, obviously not expecting him to say that, which makes his nerves sky rocket. Luckily, she quickly recovers, laughing a high, bell like laugh, her eyes crinkling in the corners like Taka’s do when he laughs.

“Ah, no, no, do not worry about that, Mondo-san! It was not because of you. My husband is just… particularly hard headed about certain topics and it can get frustrating to deal with at times. He has a good heart, though, and he usually finds his way after a bit of guidance. He and my Taka are so similar, you know. Takaaki, though… well, you must understand that he didn’t come from the most loving family and it’s sometimes hard for him to look passed his ‘logic’ and connect with his emotional side. He’ll come around, though. He always does,” Kiyoshi assures kindly, her smile small but bright on her face. It looks so much like Taka’s that Mondo immediately relaxes, smiling softly back. While she and Taka don’t look alike much on the surface— their eyes and hair color the only obvious similarities between the two— when he looks closer Mondo can see the resemblance clearly. Especially when they smile. They have the same smile. It’s… oddly comforting.

“Oh, uh… good. ‘M glad. Know that… um. That he’s not my biggest fan, but… uh… I really care about Taka, s-so I hope things work out,” Mondo mumbles, his face heating more. Shit, he… he hadn’t really meant to say that. It’s way too sappy for his liking. And he honestly really doesn’t like the overly saccharine look Kiyoshi gets on her face. Neither is he quite comfortable with the quick hug she gives him, his mortification somehow growing even further. And while she quickly pulls back, the bright and fond smile she then gives him is almost /worse/ than everything else. Jesus fucking Christ…

“Oh, my dear boy. That is not something you will ever have to worry about. If there is one thing that Takaaki and I have always agreed on, it’s that we want our son to be happy. And anyone with eyes can see how happy you make him. I knew that from the first time he mentioned you in our weekly phone calls, his voice so much lighter and freer than I’d ever heard it before. And I knew how much he loved you from the minute I saw the two of you together. I always wondered if the two of you would ever get together, and words cannot express how elated I am that you finally have. You are a good person, Mondo Owada, and I am so very happy that my son has you. So very, very happy.”

As he stares at Kiyoshi, eyes wider than they’ve ever been before, Mondo feels like he was dumped into a lake of ice water, his body numb and tingling so fucking unpleasantly. He feels like he can’t breathe, like something heavy is pressing down on his chest, and to his intense shame, he can feel tears rise to his eyes. He does his best to fight against them, but it’s so much harder than usual. Because… b-because… h-holy /shit/.

She’s wrong. She’s fucking /wrong/, s-she has to be, she… T-Taka doesn’t fucking /love him/, not like that, not… they are /kyoudai/, friends, this whole thing is a fucking charade, a ruse, something meant to get Taka’s family off his back and absolutely /nothing more/. There is nothing more going on between them and he knows this. He /knows this/.

He…

He knows this.

“I-“ Mondo starts to say, only for his throat to close up, no more sound escaping. Part of him wants to force through it, to tell the lady how wrong she is, charade be damned. He wants to set her to rights, make the record clear and ensure that she never fucking misunderstands the relationship he and Taka share, because this isn’t real, it’s fake, there’s absolutely nothing /real/ about this whole situation, it’s… shit. He wants to say it, to make sure that she doesn’t ever mistake them again, that she sees how /wrong/ she is. He just… he wants…

But he knows he fucking can’t. It would hurt Taka horribly, for one, and he can’t ever do something like that. And it would make everything so fucking complicated for another. They decided to go through with this shit, and he can’t fucking back out before it even begins just because he didn’t realize quite what it meant to pretend to be Taka’s boyfriend. When a real man makes a decision, he has to fucking /commit/ to it. Dai tells him that shit all the time, so he can’t fucking back out.

But he… he hates the thought that Taka’s fucking /mother/ somehow thinks that he is someone who actually /deserves/ her son when nothing could be less true. He… he’d never deserve Taka. He doesn’t even deserve his friendship, so it’s laughable to think that he’d ever deserve anything more. Taka only clings to him so tightly because he was the dude’s first friend and he’s such an amazing person he decided to stick with Mondo even despite his numerous faults and failings. That’s not love. That… it’s not… it… he… h-he…

Mondo is spared from having to try and say anything when he hears a call from the front of the car, before seeing Taka bound over to them, smile bright. He doesn’t seem to notice Mondo’s distress since he’s looking at his ma, thank /fuck/.

“Ah, mother, Mondo! Good news! Despite neither of us really understanding what we were doing, father and I somehow managed to figure out how to program Grandmother Kichi and Great Aunt Hana’s home address into that infernal device! We can get going as soon as you both are ready!”

Mondo hurriedly looks down at the ground when he sees Taka look over at him, smile too blinding for Mondo to handle. S… shit. Shit, shit, /shit/, he… he’s gotta get a handle on his fucking emotions and /fast/. If he’s already so messed up after one fucking comment, he’ll never last the week. And like /fuck/ is he going to fail at this. He refuses to let Taka down. He refuses.

He knows that Taka notices that something is wrong, he can hear the hall monitor let out a soft sound of distress, but he doesn’t get a chance to ask what the matter is before Kiyoshi is talking, her voice as bright and cheerful as it usually is. Despite himself, Mondo looks up at her, regretting this immediately when he sees her kind smile. Oh… god…

“Oh, that’s wonderful my love! I’ll head into the car so we can get going as soon as you two are ready. There’s no real rush though, so take your time,” she smiles, kindness overwhelming. Her voice then gets softer, her eyes staring into Mondo’s, like she wants her words to be for him alone. And Mondo just… “Before I go, Mondo-san, I wanted to make sure you knew that I meant what I said entirely. And I truly am glad you decided to join us this week. From the bottom of my heart… /thank you/.”

Okay, just drive the knife even deeper, why don’t you?! The tears rise to Mondo’s eyes again and he doesn’t think he’s ever felt so ashamed before, his eyes falling to the ground immediately. He doesn’t even know what exactly he feels ashamed of, to be honest. His past. His unworthiness. The fact that this whole thing is a /goddamn lie/, and how he knows that it’s gonna hurt the lady when he and Taka ‘break up’… fucking all of the above. Shit… but this is honestly somehow worse than he’d imagined. He’d expected people to be resistant to the ‘relationship’. He’d expected outright hatred. He’d even expected indifference. But this…? He’d never expected this. He’d never expected for his and Taka’s ‘relationship’ to be so fully accepted. For someone to be so seemingly /happy/ for them. And he just… he has no idea what to do, what to say, he just… he doesn’t…

Mondo feels himself startle horribly when he feels a soft hand touch his shoulder, his eyes wide and breathing heavy as he looks up. He settles only slightly when he sees the bright, familiar red eyes that he has grown to __love__ appreciate, but his chest still hurts so goddamn badly. Oh, fuck, does he hate this...

“Mondo… I… are you alright…? You look… distressed… m-my mother didn’t say anything harsh to you, did she? I- I was under the impression that she liked you, and she’s usually so kind to everyone… b-but if she said anything hurtful, even accidentally, please let me know and I will speak with her immediately! You don’t deserve to face any vitriol, especially not from my mother, and I don’t want-“

“/No/,” Mondo manages to force out after a moment of dazed silence, cutting Taka off before he says any more bullshit. Because dear god is his problem not that she said something cruel… not at all… “I… shit. It’s nothing, Taka. She didn’t say anythin’ ta me. Bad, at least. She… yer ma’s a really nice fuckin’ lady. I… y-you’re so fuckin’ lucky ya have her, man, I… I- I… s-shit…”

Mondo hurriedly scrubs at his eyes to prevent the stupid ass tears from falling, hating himself more than he’s ever hated himself before. While he’s slowly been learning from Taka that it’s okay for dudes to cry, he… he still hates doing that shit. In public especially. Maybe crying doesn’t necessarily make him weak, like his da always screamed at him when he’d cry even a little as a child, but it sure as shit makes him feel shitty…

The tears rise back up when he hears Taka let out a soft noise of sympathy, before another pair of arms are wrapped around his neck, his breath escaping him brokenly when he feels Taka gently rest his head upon his chest. Oh… why the fuck does this shit keep happening to him… g-god fucking dammit…

“Oh… w-well I’m glad you think that, kyoudai,” Taka mumbles quietly against his chest, holding him tighter. “I’ve often thought myself incredibly fortunate to have a mother quite like her. I… I know that your own mother was… not the greatest. So, please know that my mother, she… she does care for you, kyoudai. I… a-ah. I perhaps talk about you a lot during our calls, and she has gotten to know you quite well through that. And she likes you quite a lot, my friend. As do I…”

Mondo’s breath hitches at the softly spoken words, and he has to harshly bite his lip to force the tears back even a little. Knowing he can’t respond to that shit, not if he doesn’t wanna lose his hold on his composure entirely, Mondo does the only thing he can think of and buries his face in his kyoudai’s neck, hiding from the world like he often would as a child, back when Daiya would hold him after another goddamn beating from his old man. It makes him feel so weak and pathetic to do it here, but he can’t deny that it’s so fucking comforting, too. Taka… Taka is so fucking comforting…

The pair stay like that for an unknown amount of time, Mondo doing all he can to regain his composure. He feels so goddamn weak doing this shit, in public no less, but he… he just needs a little time. Just a little. Then he’ll be able to push this shit back down into the tiny box he always shoves his emotions in, and never have to deal with it ever, /ever/ again. Like he does with most of his problems that he can’t solve with his fists.

Eventually, Mondo feels okay enough to pull back, sniffing subtly to try and stuff the emotions the rest of the way down. He scrubs his eyes quickly again and carefully doesn’t look at Taka, shrugging his shoulders as he begins to speak with a carefully nonchalant tone.

“Uh, s-shit, man. Whatever. We should prolly get goin’, though. Y-ya mentioned it’s gonna be a fairly long drive, so we shouldn’t keep yer parents waitin’ any longer. C’mon, Kiyo. Let’s go.”

Mondo doesn’t wait to hear Taka’s response and just walks to the right side of the car, since he knows Taka has always sat on the left behind his da. He can feel Taka’s eyes following him as he goes, but he does his best to ignore it and enters the car as casually as he can. More awkwardness fills him when he’s momentarily left alone with Taka’s parents, but it only lasts a handful of seconds before Taka enters the car too, shooting him a few concerned looks. Takaaki raises his eyebrow at them, but he doesn’t comment on it, thank fuck.

“Put on your seatbelts, boys. The car ride will take roughly an hour. Inform me if either of you need to stop for any reason,” Takaaki states stiffly. At Mondo and Taka’s mute head nods, both buckling up (Mondo feeling weird being in a fucking car for once, though he sure as shit doesn’t say that), Takaaki pulls out of the lot and onto the road. The silence in the car is stifling, so Mondo is honestly relieved when Kiyoshi puts on the radio, even if it is on a dumb pop station. Anything is better than the fucking uncomfortable silence… and besides. He knows his kyoudai actually likes dumb pop music, though the dude would never fucking admit that for fear of being judged. And anything his kyoudai likes, especially the things he feels ashamed of, he forces himself to like too.

It’s after they’ve been driving for what Mondo figures must be ten minutes that he feels a cautious hand bump up against his, which he’d been absently resting on the crappy middle seat of the ridiculously old and run down car they’re in. Mondo turns his head to the side, a little surprised, and feels his heart clench when he’s met with the sight of a clearly concerned Taka, whose eyes are so loud with their concern he can practically hear them.

Something about the look makes Mondo’s shoulders relax for the first time since he entered the car, and while it’s a bit on the weak side, Mondo gives Taka a genuine smile in return. They can’t talk without fear of being overheard, but he and Taka have never really needed words to communicate. He can tell Taka understands that he’s grateful because the teen’s face relaxes, the smile he gives blinding in its intensity. Then again… all of Taka’s smiles are blinding. Every goddamn one.

His heart gives a pathetic little flutter in his chest when he feels Taka carefully entwine their fingers like they’d done earlier, but he pushes that the fuck down and just squeezes the hand in his tightly. Eventually Taka looks away from him and out the window again, his face relaxed and smile small but happy, but he doesn’t take his hand away. He leaves it, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on the back of Mondo’s hand, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Like it’s something he’s done every goddamn day of his life.

Mondo feels just enough like shit that he doesn’t immediately force himself to think that this entire thing is a goddamn lie that he could never, in a million years, deserve for real.

This is gonna be a long ass fucking week, ain’t it…?

#The Ultimate (Fake) Boyfriend #Danganronpa #Danganronpa fanfiction #Mondo's POV #Kiyotaka Ishimaru #Mondo Owada #My fanfic #OCs

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amoosarte · 2 months

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WHEN YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW 𝜗𝜚 𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐎

━━━ in which he knows he’s fallen for her but chooses to ignore it but she doesn’t, causing both of them heartbreak…

Jess wouldn’t know what love feels like, simply because he doesn’t know how it feels like. Coming from a mother who was too busy getting boyfriends than to be paying attention to her son, he didn’t know.

He was a troubled teenager, he knew but he didn’t care, but living in such a small town, it made him go insane. Then again it gave him the chance to experience love.

Her name was Maggie short for Margaret, she was a sweet experience for Jess, but he wouldn't say that out loud. She was a girl with a sweet attitude if approach with one, though Jess didn't really introduce himself like that.

He laid eyes on her the moment he entered his uncles diner, she was helping a customer and bussing tables. "Mags, come over here for a sec." Luke gestured the girl over, making her slowly but surely examine the boy.

"This is my nephew, Jess." Luke introduced him, in which he had a bratty face, looking the girl up and down with judgement. "Jess, this is one of my employes named Margaret." Luke signaled to the girl.

"Pleased to meet you." She wiped her hand with her waist apron, wanting to shake the boys hand. "Right.." Jess pushed around her, making her just stand there. Luke sighed and walked over to Jess taking him upstairs.

Margaret looked at the boy with a glare and got back to work.

The second time Jess had an encounter with Margaret was when he was escaping dinner at the Gilmore household. He was sneaking out from the back and making his way on the main road, there he heard a light voice reading.

It was a story he's heard about it but never read it, but it made him surprise who was reading it. There she was, sitting in by her window, was Margaret, quietly but somehow clear in her words when reading. "Taming of the Shrew?" Jess smirked looking up.

It made the girl jump in her skin, quickly shutting her book, looking down to see the boy smiling. She looked at the boy confused, she was out of her work attire and she hadn't seen the boy since that day.

"Jess, was it?" Margaret asked, looking at the boy, in which he nodded. "why are you here, at night, all alone?" She asked, looking around the street. "Escaped dinner." He muttered. His eyes shifted towards her, he examined her.

Her hair was loose (she was a brunette, he noticed) and a semi large 'The Smiths' shirt covered her upper half. He smiled stupidly, looking up at her again. "the smiths?" He said it like it was a joke. She focused her attention to him again. "yes? they're my favorite band." She says.

"Interesting choice.." Jess said making it a bit insulting. "At least it's not ABBA.." She muttered making him whip his head back at her. "No way you think of that." He wanted to laugh. "Go home Jess!" Margaret said before shutting her window's close.

Jess had this asshole smile, as he walked away, he knew something of her little by little.

Jess didn't really like Star Hallow, but this was interesting. "Whatcha doing?" He leaned on the diner counted looking at the girl below, in which she was organizing the inside of her basket. "Getting ready for the Annual Basket auction." She replies.

"Got good stuff in there?" Jess tried to peek in it before she closed it, looking up at his as if he was stupid. "You have to bid on it if you want to know whats in there." Margaret huffs up as she walks into the back to get her coat.

"So what if I bid on it?" Jess asked, this got her attention. "Now why would you do that?" She asked making him wonder about it before replying. "To see what's in the basket..?" He teased, making her groan and roll her eyes.

When it came to her basket, she was surprised on how many boys bid on it, making her nervous. "20, do we have a 25?" Taylor asked making the crowd shift, making the girl eye the last boy that bid 20, until someone actually bid 25 dollars.

"Twenty-five, here." Jess rose his hand, making the crowd look at him, and so did Margaret. "No more bidders?" Taylor asked the others, watching as the boy groan and lose the basket and the girl he wanted to go out with.

"It goes to the fellow in the yellow jacket." He hammers the table lightly before moving on. "You actually bidded on my basket?" Margaret looked at him confused. Making the boy keep walking with the basket in hand.

"Yes I did, let's move on." They walked away from the plaza, Jess was taking her away from the crowd. He actually brought her to the lake luke had pushed him into some days ago. "My goodness, did you bring me to the place Luke pushed you in?" She snickered, in which made him look at her.

She giggled and sat down near the edge, making him follow along. "You're actually in luck, I put some good stuff in this basket." Margaret smiled and opened the lid, revealing the goodies inside. "This seems like diabetical murder scene." Jess said in a monotone voice.

"Hush, there some healthy options here." Margaret pulled some sandwiches out, handing one out towards him, the scene was a comfortable silence.

Jess looked around before swallowing his bite. "The boy bidded on your basket because he wanted to make a pass on you.."Jess said making the girl look at him. "oh, um well thanks for doing that.." She smiled at him.

The silenced became a bit unsettling, the boy looked away from her, noticing how he made the situation a tad bit more still? "Sorry the guy was being an ass, so I did the more responsible choice.." He said, taking a chip from the basket.

Margaret looked at him, nodding in understandment. "Thank you for being responsible." She smiled slightly, then the silence turned a bit more comfortable.

"Maggie."

Margaret didn't know the Bracebridge Dinner would be such a problem, it was never one, not until this year. She was so fussed up with what to bring, what clothes to arrive in, what to look like, why was this so hard?

Maybe it was because he was here this year. She didn't really understand, they haven't properly interacted since Annual Basket Auction, but there was always signs..

When he would peep around just to glance at her, little actions such as him giving her a peeled orange, her cup of coffee at the diner, doing her chores little by little. It made her develop something she didn't want.

She had developed love towards the boy, and she wanted to throw up. She didn't mean it in a disgusting way but deep down she knew it was a one sided love.

Margaret could only look at herself in the mirror and just let her imagination go wild. What if Jess developed the same feeling as she did?

Would they become more? It made her heartbreak because it wouldn't work.

She ended up going to the dinner with a white knitted sweater and a black skirt, the black tights weren't really helping tring to block the cold winter air.

The first thing she saw was Jess talking to Rory, both noticing her when she walked in with her older brother and his wife. Maggie hated fidgeting with rings, and made her anxious.

Jess was about to tease her until she had walked passed them, making both of the teens look at her. She was talking to Lorelai, who was directing her to their room.

Jess could only look at her and just stare, what was going on with her? Was there something bothering her, or was he bothering her.

The dinner was intense, Margaret could feel his eyes burn holes into her. She could only just sit and eat, ignoring his presence because it made her think of things she didn't want to imagine.

She was half of the people that had left for a sleigh ride, some left before dinner and the other half did it again after. Maggie had a nice warm mug of hot chocolate sitting on her lap, along with a blanket to cover her exposed legs.

She huffed as she could see her hot breath seep out. She was alone once again, her brother and his wife having their own moment. The driver was about to move until there was a shift in the carriage.

"You didn't have the patience to wait for me?" It was Jess. Then instantly her palms became clammy and the warmth that was just in her legs suddenly rose up to the rest of her body. "You're ignoring me or something?" He kept pestering.

"No, just didn't feel like talking today." Maggie just knew that sounded lame once it came out of her lips. Jess kept looking at her and he saw her eyes go somewhere else. He stood still for a moment before sitting straight in his seat.

They had been sitting there almost half of the sleigh ride, and the air was thick. Until a head was placed in her shoulder, Maggie looked over just to be greeted with black hair in her way.

Jess had began to lean into her body more, making her lean away. "What are you doing?" Margaret could feel her face heat up, and he could feel it. "You're hogging the blanket, jeez don't you know how to share?" Jess said before it returned back to the quietness.

Then he could feel the blanket go around him, but he could feel the body next to him more clearer now. The rough thick khaki jacket he had on was a big contrast to her black leather jacket.

He could see her rosy cheek, her puffed out pink lips and her messy brown hair that was under the white beanie under her head.

When you know, you know.

Jess huffed and Maggie could feel him relax under the blanket, but he still had his face shoved into her neck. "I got you a present." Jess had whispered, making her the only one able to hear it. Maggie could only chuckle, the vibration making its way towards him.

"Me too."

Everything had changed after that, Jess seemed to be around more frequent, he seemed to care more. He had became a little bit more open with her, more genuine with her.

Then it had all changed a month before graduation, when he found out he wasn't eligible to graduate.

Now Maggie stood in front of him, near the bus station going to hartford. He had things packed and he hadn't said anything about leaving, not even her.

She just by chance was passing through there, she had came back from visiting harvard. Coming home to tell him the news, that she had been accepted.

Instead of seeing him near the diner, he was getting ready to leave her. It was eating him alive when he saw her get off the bus and head towards him. "Where are you going?"

"None of your business." His voice was blunt, making her flinch just a bit. "Excuse me?" She was confused, why was he sour?

"You're excused." He huffed out. "What's up your ass today?" Maggie was speechless. Jess on the other had sighed, visible annoyed. Maggie huffed, sitting down right next to him.

"Where are you going." She asked again, after some time of silence. Jess was still ignoring her, making her knee shove itself towards him. "I'm leaving.” His answer didn’t affect her, she knew it was going to happen either way.

Maggie looked at him, making him stiff as a board. “Okay.” She had finally peeled her eyes away from him. Jess was starting to bite his nails, he felt uneasy about this drastic change he was about to commit.

Both of them saw a bus going towards Star hallow coming their way. Maggie was going to tell him, before she would never see him again.

She knew she couldn’t make him stay, so she would unravel it all today, before he left. “Here.” She handed him a fresh book that was wrapped. Jess could see her hands shake, he could hear her voice shake, and he was the cause of it.

Jess looked at her, her face was somewhat in denial but it was putting up front he knew too well. He took it out of her hands. “this is your early birthday present.”

Before he could respond, she stood up grabbing her bag and making her way towards the bus. She stopped and grabbed something out of her bag.

“Here, this is my new address starting in March, feel free to write me or to drop by.” Maggie smiled at him, making him take the letter, it was a street near Harvard. His eyes were wide, this was big news, for her, for them.

He had encourage her to at-least apply and she agreed now she had been accepted. “Just because you’re leaving doesn’t mean we’re no longer friends, we’re friends.” She said.

“Friends can lean on each other, you can lean on me if you want to Jess, but that is a step you need to take, okay?” Jess was still, a million thoughts running through his head, He was barely able to hear her say.

“I love you, Jess.” It was like the world was becoming still, and the last horn to Star hallow blew and she walked away. Forever leaving him until he decided to reach out and lean on her.

Jess saw nothing but truthfulness on her face, and his heart palpitated. Jess was in love with her, he wanted nothing but to kiss her, hold her just for a minute but his time was up and she had been nothing but patient.

Jess however had turned hesitant, she was headed toward her dreams and he was still lost. So he let her leave, leaving her with hope that he will choose her... he never did.

He would say that was his biggest regret.

She waited, waited for two year that eventually turned into four, and ended at five. She was now twenty two, and has only a dash of hope, but it flew away when she met him.

A boy who was like her, waiting for someone. Somehow they met as an accident that turned into a friendship that healed them, and turned into love.

His name was Theodore, and he had healed her waiting heart that was stuck in denial and hope. Two years had flown by and she had moved on, now planning her wedding.

She had returned to Star Hollow to hand out wedding invitations to closer relatives and friends. Maggie had contacted her brother to meet up at Luke's diner. "My, look how you've grown up!" Eliza her brothers wife had said. "Hey Maggie, how's Theo?" Tyler, her brother asked, making her roll her eyes. "You haven't seen me in a long time and you ask for theo?" She said, making the man surrender jokingly. "How've you been?" Tyler said slinging his arm around, making her laugh. "Happy."

Luke was surprised when he saw her enter the diner, he was happy but he had gotten a tinge of sadness in his old heart. The last time he had seen her wasn't that long ago but to him, she was still seventeen.

"Hey Mags." Luke side hugged her, making her smile. "Hey, how've you been?" Her smile had turned large, she wouldn't lie, she had missed him. "Busy and tired running this place." He exaggerated, massaging his shoulders jokingly. Maggie laughed, making him smile a bit. "This place needs you back, miss my handy employee."

She had laughed harder this time and continued to talk to him before eventually going to sit with the people she was originally going to talk too. "Here it is!" Maggie pulled something out of her bag, in which was the wedding invitation. "God, you're growing up." Tyler took the card, almost tearing up watching his baby sister grow into a wonderful lady.

"I want Eliza to be my maid of Honor." Maggie asked shyly making the other woman jump in excitement, then sitting back down. "I'd love too!" She smiled.

Eventually they had invited her to their house, her little nephew had missed her dearly.

Margaret smiled big, she loved this part Connecticut, her little town. She watched the kids she once knew pass her by telling her hello, and other things. She had entered Luke's diner with no thought in her mind, looking up to find Luke.

Then again, she turned into a fool everytime he looked at her. "Jess." Maggie felt her heart drop as his name became a foreign language.

Jess was surprised to see her, then his mind went blank.

The two adults had stood there still, what was wrong with her? She had waited for this moment, because she was over him. "Hi, um how've you been?" She said taking a step near the counter. Jess was still looking at her, taking her features in.

"I've been good, you?" Jess finally mustered something out, making the girl look around before responding. "I'm fine, do you know where you uncle is?" She asked looking around again, the diner was empty, it was just them. Jess's eyebrows frowned "Upstairs.."

"Alright, it was nice seeing you." She smiled at him before walking away. Jess could only think about was why was she so calm, acting like she didn't care.

"Luke you in there?" Maggie knocked before the door swung open. It was Lorelai, and Luke, they seemed flustered. "Woah is this a bad time?" She said, before the two yelled a 'no'. "Well this is actually a good time for me, Lorelai come here." She said, walking to were luke was.

The other two looked at eachother, as the younger one pulled something out. Lorelai was the first one to see it, making her scream. "You're engaged!?" She yelled, leaving no time for the girl to respond before pulling her into a bone crushing hug.

Luke was shocked but congratulated her, but when he was done she laughed. "Gosh, you guys, wait!" She said before pulling out wedding invitations, making the other woman scream more. "You're getting married!?" She yet again pulled her into a hug.

"I want both of my parent figures there..you guys mean so much to me." Maggie gave them a sad smile that was quickly wiped off. Luke had laughed a bit, while Lorelai cried happy tears just a bit.

After some time Lorelai had left to tell Rory the news, after her Luke walked her down. That was when Luke remembers what happened between her and his nephew, quickly looking at her. "It's fine, I'm over it." She smiled.

Jess had noticed her and Luke walk past him, before leaving the diner to talk outside. "Luke, I wanted ask you for a favor." Maggie said, catching the attention of the older man. "I want you to walk me down the aisle, but it's totally up to you!" Maggie continued to talk until Luke hugged her. "I'd love too."

With that Maggie smiled and hugged him back, after sometime they parted. Maggie could see on luke's face that he was thinking about something, and she knew what. "He can come too, I don't mind."

Luke looked at her with worry, only for her to shrugged it off. "I'm over it Luke, I've met the love of my life, and I'm happy.." She stated while Luke nodded, then she left.

Luke smiled a bit before going back upstairs only to find Jess staring at the invitation back upstairs. "Are you going to go?" He asked a bit dull. "I am." Luke snatched it out. “Ironic.”

"She was nice enough to invite you too, knowing you broke her heart." Luke had a harsh habit of reminding him, making him wince. “You need to get over it.” He continued, making the boys anger grow once again.

“She’s finally moved on and able to find happiness, you should follow in her steps.” Luke said. “Please why are you so angry about this? It was just a stupid crush she had.” Jess anger began to bubble.

“It wasn’t a stupid crush, she was waiting for you for five years!” Luke declared. Jess anger disappeared, now he was looking at his uncle with a confused look. “What do you mean five years?”

“Five years my ass! When I finally had the courage to go see her, she was already with him! She broke that promise.” Jess yelled, making Luke frown.

“She met Theodore when they were both healing! He was nothing but a friend to her, a year later they began dating, she moved on! Now she’s over you and now getting married.” Luke screamed back, making Jess quiet again.

“You didn’t have enough courage, but she did. She was able to look at you and forgive you, takes a really nice person to do that.” Luke finally said. “I’ll be going to that wedding, and I’ll be walking her down that aisle.” He said slapping a rag down the counter.

Jess looked at his uncle who stormed upstairs, now wanting to scream at himself for being an idiot. Jess ran outside and looked for her around the plaza, he saw no one.

She looked eternal, that's how Jess would describe her. She was like a model you would see in a bridal magazine, the ones that found the perfect dress.

Jess was nothing but awestruck, watching her walk down the aisle with his uncle's had guiding her down, handing her to her future husband. Jess saw it in his smile, he looked in love with her, it made him think. Would that have been him, if he chose her?

The whole ceremony was beautiful, Jess eyes were just on her. Capturing every time she smiled, when her eyes twinkled towards her lover. When she cried reading her vows, and looked at him while he read his.

When she kissed him as everyone erupted cheered for the happy couple, making him stand up as well. Finally watching her walk down the aisle but now with someone that would cherries her like he should've done.

As the party, Jess wanted to run away from the crowd. So he did, sneaking around before he made his way to his car, until he heard a voice he knew so well. "What are you reading these days?"

Jess looked behind to find her with a kind smile, her after party dress that made her move freely now. Jess could only think of their first encounter years ago. "Mostly taming of the shrew and others.."

"Jess, was it?" Margaret smiled, looking at the boy, in which he nodded. "why are you here, at night, all alone?" She asked, looking at the sweet boy with a knowing look he knew too well. "Escaped dinner." He muttered, his eyes shifted towards her, as he examined her.

Her brunette hair was loose, while it was halfway tied up, and her body contained a loose white sundress, god was he a fool. He smiled stupidly, looking up at her again. "The smiths?" He said as the background noise was her favorite Smiths song, the singing along of her guest said so too.

She focused her attention to him again. "yes? they're my favorite band." She says. "Interesting choice.." Jess said making it a bit insulting. Margaret looked sadly at him, the air became a bit awkward. “Just because we had a rough time with our relationship doesn’t mean we’re no longer friends, we’re friends.” She said.

Jess eyes widen, how could she? How could she still say he's a friend after everything he's done. "Jess, you have to put in mind we both experience the same hurt, in the end we didn't end up together." She said, making him look at her nervously. "As your friend, I would want you to move on.. as the girl you broke her heart, I would want you love someone better."

“Friends can lean on each other, you can lean on someone special if you want to Jess, but that is a step you need to take, okay?” Margaret said, giving him a sad smile, before turning away. "Bye, Jess, Love you." She said, before walking away.

Jess stood there, as the tears finally bursted out. Maggie short for Margaret, she was a sweet experience for Jess. She was an experience he wished he could relive and do the right thing, because he had finally lost the girl he loved, the girl who genuinely was ready to be by his side, but she needed him to take that step.

A step he regretted not doing everyday after he wedding.

𐙚 @landitolover, @moneygramhaas, @d6za1, @ch3rryknots

𝓂𝒶𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉, ⟢ more!

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nothingtoseehere1-2-3 · 3 months

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the rhythm of the human heart

A/N: Hello! It's me again, I hope you are doing good. This is a JJK (Jujutsu Kaisen) fic, a Gojo x F!Y/N pairing. If you guys want, I can make one for the guys too, or a non-binary one. Also I apologize for any inaccuracy. Enjoy!

warnings: Profanity (maybe) and I dunno what else

"Well, well, well, Y/N...this is the fourth time in two weeks I've had to save you."

You look up at Gojo's smug expression as you stand up quickly, from the place where you had fallen. You study the still body of the special-grade curse Gojo had protected you from, inspecting how easily Gojo had dispatched it.

"Sorry Gojo, and thank you again."

Gojo nods, still smirking stupidly, as you both go back into Tokyo Jujutsu High.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BEEP

You groan and groggily open your eyes, blindly reaching for your phone to silence your alarm. With a quick glance at the screen, the time reads 5:20AM. You sit up and yawn, brushing your H/C hair out of your eyes. You get dressed in your uniform, brush your hair, and then head downstairs for your mission.

You were going on a joint mission with Nobara (A/N: You will be taking the place of Yuji in this mission, who was originally going with Nobara) to take on and hopefully defeat the special grade curse Hanami. You were a little nervous, which was unfit for a jujutsu sorcerer, but this was a special grade and you didn't feel prepared. Nevertheless, you and Nobara left the training area to go to the designated location.

"Y/N! Is that Hanami over there??"

You snap out of your thoughts (you had been spacing out during the journey there) and whip around to see the curse, in all its ugly glory. You pull out your machete and assess the situation, trying to find an opening. Nobara goes around to the back of it, trying to make a wide slash down its back. You run underneath it and slice up a broad area, from the right armpit to the left side of its waist. Good progress so far. Although, you and Nobara both had trouble inflicting simple gashes, as Hanami was equipped with a hard shell over its body, making it harder to injure it.

You and Nobara sensed Hanami was dragging out this game of cat and mouse, you needed to end it quick. You both figured it'd be no problem, that this curse hadn't given you much trouble...

A strong vine, encrusted with some kind of flaky grey coating, tugged at your arms and legs, suspending you like a hapless marionette. Nobara noticed this and tried cutting the vines that bind you, only for her knife blade to snap in half.

"Shit! Nobara, you need to get one of the more skilled sorcerers, like Gojo or something!"

She was stubborn, which pissed you off slightly. She used the stump left on her knife blade to messily saw at the vines, flakes of the grey coating fluttering to the ground. Hanami was about to kill you both, with Nobara distracted and you pretty much immobile. You closed your eyes, bracing for the end...

You felt the restraints on your arms fall away, and someone holding you. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Hanami's body crumble. You opened one eye cautiously to see Gojo again, having dispatched the curse and saved you and Nobara. Yuji had come back from his training and left with Nobara already, rendering you both safe.

"Y/N! Five times! I think you've set a record!"

You roll your eyes, even though you were quite grateful.

"Gojo! You forget I'm not as skilled as you. But thank you for saving me...again..."

Both of you made your way back to TJH (Tokyo Jujutsu High) and when you were going to part ways to go to your respective dorms, Gojo leaned over and kissed your cheek before leaving.

You blinked once, twice, taken aback. Gawking in the direction of where Gojo had left, you sloppily push open the door to your dorm and go inside, changing into your sleepwear and laying down on your bed, thinking about Gojo's kiss and how you seemed to...enjoy it?

That's....

Weird.

Huh.

Do you have a crush on Gojo Satoru?

Yes.

Maybe.

Wait....

"I HAVE A CRUSH ON GOJO SATORU????' You screamed internally, in disbelief.

That can't be true! Gojo was a smug idiot who was always protecting you, and saving you, and had such a cute smirk....and pretty ice blue eyes....

Oh.

Yeah.

"I've got it bad..." You whisper to yourself.

You close your eyes and try to sleep, the past events and realizations bleeding into your dreams of the following night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You slept through the alarm set for 5AM that morning.

And the one for 5:15.

5:20.

5:25.

5:30.

You jolted awake at the incessant beeping of the sixth or seventh alarm. You look at your phone. Shit, you think to yourself. It's almost six, you're late for training.

Groggily, you rise from the warm, familiar comfort of your bed and get dressed. You head down to the training room, still looking like a bit of a mess. Training flew by surprisingly quickly, and since you had no missions as of right now, you decide to sneak up to Gojo's dorm and speak to him about last night.

Your knuckles rap softly against his door, and his usual smug, unserious "Enter!" sounded from behind it. You open the door cautiously, peeking in to see his smirk widening at the sight of you.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Y/N L/N themselves. Do you need my saving once again? That would make it six times."

You let out a singular snort of what might be a cross between indignant-ness and response to his humor.

"No, Gojo, I came to tell you something!"

"Which is...?"

You cough lightly, feeling the blush flowing across your naturally pale cheeks.

"I like you, Gojo."

He doesn't look surprised, which pissed you off in the slightest. This seemed expected to him, which was wild. How could he guess???

"Well, Y/N, I like you too."

Before you were able to respond, Gojo, being the obnoxiously forward person he is, pulled you forward into a tight embrace.

You blush even more than you were already (if possible) and hug back, feeling him plant a kiss on your forehead. This was...surprisingly nice.

"So, now that we're on the same page..."

You look up, awaiting what else he was going to say.

"How about we just stay like this?"

You nod.

"Of course, Gojo! This is perfect."

And so you both stayed content in the arms of the other, until the sunset took over the wide lands of Tokyo, and the day came to an end.

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A/N: Welp! That's the end of that fic. if you made it this far, thanks so much! I hope you enjoyed this and weren't disappointed. I'm open to any requests and feedback is much appreciated. Have an amazing day/night/afternoon!

#jjk gojo #gojo satoru #gojo x reader #jujutsu gojo #jujutsu kaisen #satoru gojo #x y/n #x reader

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dontyougetit-iloveyou · 3 years

Link

How To Be Your Friend - chapter 1

A university au where Catra and Adora - instead of talking about their feelings - just decide to be friends with benefits after almost hooking up at a party. With as much miscommunication and angst as my heart desires :)

My first catradora fic!!! Please let me know what you guys think !!!

#catradora #shera #spop #fanfic #my writing #stupidly nervous for the five of you who will read it

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harveywritings92 · 3 years

Text

BNHA Scenario: You fall asleep in their room.

Hawks: You've known Keigo since he first started out as a hero and were living with after a villain attack left your apartment destroyed, which both awesome and devastating to you, awesome you get to see your best friend and crush on his off time! but devastating because he doesn't know you like him... and it hurts knowing that while you're here on the penthouse balcony eating take-out drinking canned wine, looking down at the streets below... Hawks is out on some fancy date with some fangirl, who he's never gonna call again!

A sigh left your mouth as you pulled away from the railing nearly stumbling backwards a bit! luckily the feather Hawks left in the penthouse (or as Kei lovingly called it the nest.) caught you and gently pushed you back on your feet and just kind of hovered close in case you fell over,

(Meanwhile... Keigo flinched feeling his feather impact with something, worried he to excuse himself from his date and call you! and got nervous when you didn't answer.)

Deciding to call it a night you tossed your can in the recycling bin and went to bathroom, not seeing your phone light up when Hawks called... afterwards you managed to stumble into your room and pass out on your "bed" not noticing the fact that that your full size mattress was suddenly a king size and your blankets and sheets weren't the normal purple flannel ones you usually snuggled into.

Keigo got home 15 minutes later...

"Y/n?...I'm back!" He called out looking around the living room trying to see if you were awake, no answers he locked the door and put his keys on the counter when he noticed, the empty cans on it he check the labels and realized they were wine and hard water... he let out a small whistle reading the labels some of these were hard core 17% alcohol!... *She didn't drink these by herself did she?* he went over toward the guest room but saw the door close and assumed you were sleeping...

Keigo then went to his room and got ready for bed, and froze when he sensed he wasn't alone, he looked over at his bed as saw a person laying there, the blond tensed up and kept his feathers train on them as he approached he lifted the blanket and... Keigo's feathers dropped when he saw you laying fast asleep in his bed... His mind kind of stalled to a screeching halt as he stared at you there curled up and vulnerable...

He should've woken you up... should've told you to go back to your room, but instead the avian man just finished getting ready for bed and settled down next you taking your serene features and playing with your [hl/hc] hair as one of his wings covered you protectively before drifting off to sleep.

The it was the crack of dawn you woke up with a bad hangover and confused your bed felt and smelled different... almost like, a large red wing lazily jutted over your body and rested next to your head, Your eyes widened hangover momentarily forgotten as you got a good look around and realized you weren't in your room! you felt an arm thrown over you waist turned to see Keigo sleeping, you swallowed and tried to slip away, while trying to think how your going apologize for this! only for the blond to hold on tighter and pulled you back towards him, you looked back and saw his gold eyes glaring at her half lidded with a clear message. "Go back to sleep." you blinked before laying back down and relaxed in Keigo's arms going back to sleep.

===============================

Dabi: You stupidly trusted Toga who was fooling around with her quirk and was disguised as a dude said she'd take you back to your room after you over did it at the bar, you were pretty plastered Kurogiri cut you off and told you to go to bed! Toga offered to help you out, cos Dabi your supposed partner was too busy flirting with some random chick; who had wandered in with her entourage, not uncommon as the league needed the money so occasionally, they'll open the bar to civilians though most of them were drugged by the end of the night and dropped at random spots so that can't tell people where they were. (but anywho)

Toga had said she'd take you back to your room and in your drunken haze, you foolishly trusted her as she led you way from the bar. and far away from a certain cremator, who didn't take your absence lightly... Toga's quirk had worn off by the time she dropped you off in Dabi's room and happily went back to her room, curious about how this was gonna play out tomorrow! Dabi was pissed when he approached your room he went to knock on your door, but paused. You weren't his girl... he can't tell you what to do nor who to screw! So then why hell did it feel like he was being cheated on? He growled and went to his room, where he was in for a shock when he found you passed in his bed!...

Dabi was so confused if you were here? then who th-..." Toga..." he hissed tired and annoyed the raven haired man walked over to his bed and glared down at you with mild interest, "I don't know what the hell you're doing to me N/n..." he huffed thinking back to the bar the rage he felt seeing what he thought was some fugly guy was dragging you off to bed with him. "I turned down... A blonde, bisexual, bridesmaid for you, that's like the unicorn of bar girls!" he mused playing with your bangs as he laid down next to you. "I've been doing that a lot lately..." he hummed voice getting huskier as sleep over took him...while holding onto you.

================================

Shigaraki: You been awake for three days straight, doing random missions for the league and were very disoriented you hadn't even realized you wandered into Shigaraki's room and settled down next to the gaming dust master, luckily your quirk cancels his out, So you weren’t a dust pile when he rolled over in his sleep and instinctively wrapped his arms around whatever was making him feel warm.

Two hours later

The last thing Tomura was expected when he woke up from his nap was him spooning a girl! He jolt out of bed shocked and looked around confused, what the hell were you doing in his room? why did you... his eyes widened when he realized it you weren't dead…how come you weren't a pile of dust?! he looked at his hand then back at you and brought a shaky hand to you cheek gently put all five fingers to you warm flesh.. nothing happened! He can touch you...

Shigaraki let a choked gasp as he laid back down next you to taking in your features, he's noticed you lot as you're always kind of pretty for an NPC and you liked videogames too! but other then that he was too shy to try and interact with you... other telling you where to go and what to do, least now he had reason to start talking to you more.

He then noticed the bags under your eyes and how sickly you looked... Shigaraki's eyes narrowed as he wondered why that was? he got his answer when he heard two male voices talking down the hall. "Dammit Kurogiri put me on night patrol again!" one huffed as the other male snorted. "So what? just get Y/n to do it.. she's easy to screw over, just tell her you were given her job by mistake." the first asked is that worked, the second one confirmed it.

Tomura was getting angrier as they continued making fun of you! he got up careful not to wake you and opened the door and closed it, "Oh, hey boss!...what are you Ack!!!" there was struggle for a few seconds then Tomura's muffled talking and muffled. "Yes sir, I'm sorry sir!", then Shigaraki walked back in his room, leaving Guy 1 staring at the pile dust that used to be Guy 2. Shigaraki laid back down next you holding you hand.

================================

Bakugou: You went to bathroom and accidently wandered into his dorm and he hadn't even noticed you slip into bed next to him, until he woke up at around 3 am and felt arms around his waist, Katsuki was ready to blow a gasket. "WHO TH-" he choked up and blushed when he saw it was you...his crush, how the... what the hell are you doing in his bed?! how did you even get into his room?! His red eyes fixated on his door and saw it wasn't locked.

He must've forgot to lock it after he told Shitty-hair and Dunce-face to get lost! Well, it was too late now. you were here, and he wasn't gonna let you get in trouble over a mistake! and besides he kind of enjoying feeling you holding onto him like this... it was warm and kind of felt nice Katsuki felt himself relax and drifted of back to sleep.

Needless to say Aizawa was not a happy teacher when he found you sleeping in Bakugou's bed both teens didn't know what was coming as Aizawa slowly raised the bucket full of ice water over his head and... Outside birds flew away the sound of screaming and the deafening explosion that followed.

#bnha fanfiction #boku no hero academia #bnha scenarios #bnha imagines #hawks x reader #keigo takami #dabi x reader #touya todoroki #shigaraki x reader #shigaraki tomura #bakugou x reader #bakugou katsuki #Female reader

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awake-my-oceans · 3 years

Note

Kaito as the detective and shin as the Kid (shrinking optional)

(Send me an AU and I’ll tell you five headcanons about it)

Robin, you‘ve talked about how the Phandom makes you write like you‘re possessed, and I‘m starting to get what you mean. Literally nothing in DCMK comes to me without it turning into A Monster. Anyways, roleswap Kaito and Shinichi!

Ok so the thing is this could actually work with canon backstories. Kaito’s whole thing is about honoring his dad and catching the guys who killed him, which translates fairly easily into detective work—particularly if he doesn’t know about the Kaitou Kid bit right away. Shinichi is……a bit harder, but he canonically rolls with the weirdest stuff. If you get the right setup, him being Kaitou KID isn’t that much of a stretch.

I know it’s headcanon time but shhhh this is an interesting premise and I have to figure out how we got here.

Ok, so Kaito doesn’t always pick up nuanced crime scene clues, but he reads people really really well. So when he accidentally runs into Jii, and the mention of his father comes up, Jii winces, pained, and Kaito goes “what do you know you absolutely know something and I won’t drop this” and doesn’t let Jii rest until Jii admits that Kuroba Toichi was murdered. Boom, off we go. Nakamori Ginzo half-raised him ever since Toichi died, so it’s a reasonable jump to go straight into detective work. Kaito can’t always read a crime scene, and frankly, the bodies are unsettling to the point of nausea, but he sure can read everyone’s reactions to the body, and, well, some people are only pretending to grieve. What does this madlad do? Does he teach himself to carefully examine all evidence for clues? Well, yes, but that comes later. Right now, he jumps straight into impersonating the deceased’s voice and mannerisms and accusing everyone and, well, people do tend to have nervous breakdowns and confessions when suddenly confronted with their victim’s ghost. Good, Kaito thinks, remembering how much he’s mourned his father. They deserve it.

Off he goes. He’ll get more and more relevant information over time, but that’s about as slow-burn as canon. Meanwhile, he’s making a name for himself as a medium for the dead.

Meanwhile Shinichi’s come across the reports of Kuroba Toichi’s death, and, well, this is definitely a cover up. A few too-close runs later, he realizes it was a cover up from inside the legal system, and that those people are still very much in power. He has a crisis for all of like two days before realizing that Sherlock Holmes took a legally “flexible” approach to confronting in-house corruption, and, well, if Sherlock Holmes can do it then he can too. Sufficient off-the-record digging, plus talking with his dad (who is also, ah, legally flexible), brings up the whole Kaitou Kid thing and look, playing Kaitou Kid was supposed to be a one-time thing to bait people out of the woodwork, but one thing led to another, and here Shinichi is, moonlighting as a dead thief.

Shinichi isn’t more than competent at magic tricks, but he has a few things in his favor here. 1) both Agasa and Jii are helping him, and their team up is a force to behold. Jii keeps the ideas practical, and Agasa makes the ideas work. 2) Shinichi’s dad absolutely knew the last Kaitou Kid inside out, and he’s giving Shinichi helpful pointers. 3) Shinichi may not be good at doing magic, but he’s absolutely incredible at reading and anticipating the police, having a flawless alibi, and leaving no evidence on-scene. Plus, he’s still working his “day job” as a detective, so he also gets stupidly easy access to department gossip, security layouts, and other classified information.

Headcanon time!

Kaito has his beginning of canon meltdown of “EXCUSE ME, this thief is claiming to be the best magician around and he’s WRONG because my DAD was the best.” This is even more vehement because his dad is a more painful topic overall, given that he was murdered. That said, he’s not going to give this thief the time of day because he’s got more important things to do, like catch the murderers. However, Shinichi-in-disguise is casing a building when someone gets murdered there, and Kaito’s like “what is up with this guy.” Shinichi does pause and lend a hand when Kaito gets stuck, because murder is murder no matter what face he’s wearing. After the case is solved, Kaito’s trying to figure out who on earth this is when he realizes it’s Kaitou Kid. But the guy did just help solve a murder. And when he snarls that his father was the better magician, Kaitou Kid just bows his head and agrees. So Kaito has no idea what to make of this dude. Meanwhile Shinichi’s inner dialogue is just “it’s Toichi’s kid, does he know—NOPE HE SURE DOESN’T, UH, WHAT DO I DO??!”

Kaitou Kid respecting Toichi and admiring Kaito’s magic is a recurring thing, much to Kaito’s bemusement. Like. He can tell that it’s genuine, not a way to throw him off guard, although it’s sure doing that, too. One time Kaitou Kid pauses a heist to help with a case, which leads to Kid almost getting caught. Kaito’s still got a lot of complicated feelings around Kid, but it’s not fair that Kid’s getting arrested just because he had the decency to help stop a murderer. So Kaito covers for Kid with a rather good magic trick that “Kid” performs. Kid escapes, but not before giving Kaito the strangest layered look Kaito’s ever seen. He doesn’t even know what was in all those layers, just that there was a lot of grief and that there were upwards of ten layers in there.

Kaito and Shinichi catch onto each other faster than in canon. This is mainly because their weak spots are more obvious to an expert—Kaito’s definitely not talking to ghosts to solve cases, thinks Shinichi the Savior of the Police Force, and Kid’s definitely got a hidden agenda that’s only almost perfectly covered up, thinks Kaito the Undisputed Expert of Poker Face. Kaito has a very rough go of things when he finds out in rapid succession that 1) Kid’s trying to hunt down murderers via a system that might actually be stranger than talking to “ghosts,” 2) Kid’s looking for who killed Kuroba Toichi specifically, and 3) Kuroba Toichi was actually the original Kid. After that, Kid being a teenage detective is just—whatever. Sure. Why not.

There’s a huge police betting pool on what will happen when Kudou “everything has a rational explanation” Shinichi, and Kuroba “I literally talk to ghosts” Kaito meet. Everyone’s sure there will be conflict—people are just trying to work out how it will go down. Turns out that they get on like a house on fire, but to everyone’s great surprise, the houses they set on fire are all criminals, and they don’t try to set each other’s houses on fire at all. Except for Megure. Megure makes bank.

Turns out that when you have two detectives and two phantom thieves on hand, things get done with furious efficiency. Kaito and Shinichi take turns being Kaitou Kid, depending on whose skill set is most useful. Kaito’s better at dodging bullets and at doing insane magic. Shinichi’s better at forcing the snipers to reveal themselves and at getting the police to notice exactly the right things about the snipers. On a detective front, half the Organization’s convinced that 1) their dead victims are actively sabotaging them and 2) if their victims don’t get them, Kudou Shinichi certainly will.

Honestly, from an outside POV, the back third of this series would just be “there are GHOSTS and we are going to DIE and also reality is bending anytime Kaitou Kid shows up—“

RIP to all the undercover agents in the Organization. They’re about to have a Ride.

#I wrote this in like 45 minutes #wow #Kaito convincing everyone that ghosts were real just sort of Happened #but it worked so WELL #is this 5 headcanon or is this five bulletpoints to the main plot beats?#don’t answer that #dcmk #not bnha #two detectives two Kids

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hihello-pinky · 2 years

Text

Honestly

After dating for six years, Miya Atsumu is beginning to have reservations about his relationship with Sakusa Kiyoomi.

Atsumu x Sakusa, post timeskip Warnings: one mention of sex, nothing else

Listen to Honestly by Monsta X (Narr. by Sistar's Dasom) while reading. Maybe look up the lyrics after.

Originally posted on AO3. Read below if you don’t want to redirect there haha.

The day Atsumu Miya asked Kiyoomi Sakusa out, he was nervous to the point that he almost puked. He never felt that nervous before; never before a volleyball match, never whenever their parents scolded him and Osamu for staying out late. So, when the curly-haired man agreed to go on a date with him, the relief that washed over Atsumu was as big as an ocean. One date prompted another one and another and another… until one night, after watching a movie about best friends loving each other but never finding the right chance through the years, Sakusa asked Atsumu if he would like to come inside his apartment. Atsumu was elated. Who was he to decline? Thus, the dates escalated to sleepovers and sooner than later, the two made their relationship official. The sound of his phone chiming catches Atsumu’s attention, breaking him out of his trip down memory lane. [ keiji said yes! ] It’s from his brother Osamu. Tonight’s the night he planned to propose to his boyfriend, Akaashi Keiji. Atsumu remembers how his twin had been nervous, afraid that his boyfriend will say no. It’s his brother’s proposal that made him think back on his own relationship in the first place. He quickly typed a response. [ congrats, bro – from the best man (in all aspects) ] Osamu and Akaashi, after meeting shortly after they graduated from college, began dating when they were twenty-five, three years after Atsumu and Kiyoomi became a couple. When his brother had brought the proposal up, Atsumu inwardly sighed. He already knew that their family and friends will start asking him questions. You’re the older twin, aren’t you supposed to get engaged first? You and Kiyoomi are dating longer, are you really not ready to tie the knot yet? Atsumu groans at the thought. He reminds himself that his problem is not about Osamu. It’s Kiyoomi. For, despite dating for the last six years, he can’t see a future with Kiyoomi. He looks at his laptop screen, brightness turned into the lowest setting, afraid that someone might see what he’s Googling: How to break up with your boyfriend of six years? Atsumu cannot remember when he had stopped feeling a rush of emotions whenever Kiyoomi looked at him. He cannot remember the last time he truly felt happy spending time with the man. Hell, even when it came to fucking, his orgasms take too long to come. So here he is, in the living room of the apartment he rented with Kiyoomi, in the middle of the night, searching for ways on how to break up with the man sleeping peacefully in their shared bedroom. He had told Hinata about it but the younger man only shrieked in alarm, saying it’s a mistake, that maybe it’s just a rough patch; he shouldn’t make rash decisions. But rough patches are supposed to be two-sided. Atsumu can tell that Kiyoomi is still stupidly in love with him. But he, he wants to leave. After all, what’s the purpose of staying in a relationship when you’re no longer happy?

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The next morning, the smell of freshly baked toast wakes Atsumu up. He almost sighs; of course, Kiyoomi just had to recreate the first breakfast they had when they moved in together. He takes his sweet time stretching before going to their bathroom and as he sees every day since living with Kiyoomi, his face wash and toothbrush are already waiting to be used. Atsumu smiles at the gesture, trying to search within him the familiar wave of happiness that kept visiting him for months after they began cohabiting. Empty. He can’t feel anything at his boyfriend’s action. He quickly finishes up in the bathroom before going out to meet his boyfriend. “Good morning, sweets,” Kiyoomi greets, bringing a glass of freshly made orange juice to the square table. Atsumu looks at his boyfriend whose arms are open for a hug. When he first met the man, he never thought he’d see this side of him. Kiyoomi Sakusa had been a stoic man and while most days he remains his unbothered self in front of others, Atsumu had crawled his way inside the man’s heart and soul. Kiyoomi Sakusa was a tough shell to crack but Atsumu managed to do it. Maybe now that he’s unraveled everything inside the man who had captured his attention that first time he attended Nationals in his high school year, Atsumu is lost. Still, he moves closer to the man and hugs him back, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. “Morning, sweets.” They take their places at the dining table and begin to eat. Kiyoomi rants about a distant relative’s eighteenth birthday that Komori is forcing him to attend. In the past, whenever Kiyoomi tells stories or just rants like how he’s doing right now, Atsumu listens with delight. But now he’s just nodding along. I feel nothing. I feel nothing. I feel nothing when I see you. He doesn’t let the thoughts escape his mouth. Instead, he says, “Osamu finally proposed to Akaashi.” Kiyoomi’s brow perks up in interest. “Bokuto is probably going to throw a fit at practice. Something about how his best friend is all grown up now. Remind me to steer clear from him.” Atsumu almost smiles. He takes a long time to drink from his glass, wondering what his boyfriend must be thinking. Though Kiyoomi has never made anything remotely suggestive about marriage, he knew it must have crossed the curly-haired man’s mind at least once. After all, the man mentioned to him that he dates not for fun. Sakusa Kiyoomi is a man who dates to marry. And what about Atsumu? Sure, he can picture himself as a husband in the future, taking care of kids, just doing whatever the hell husbands and dads like to do. But the thing is, he just can’t find it in his heart to care about it at the moment. There are just too many things to focus on, surely, love can wait, right? “So, when’s the party?” Kiyoomi’s question brings Atsumu back to their table. “What makes you think there’s a party?” The only response of his lover is a “duh” stare and this time, Atsumu actually laughs. “I don’t know yet… maybe next weekend.” “Okay,” Kiyoomi says, “I’ll save the date.” Atsumu doesn’t reply and they finish their breakfast in silence.

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Atsumu is a loud person himself so being teammates with Bokuto is like having a taste of his own medicine on a daily basis. As soon as he entered the gym, the older man goes towards him, his arms wide open. “’Tsumu! Akaashi is getting married!” “I know very well, Bokuto-san,” he replies. “As far as I remember, it’s my brother who asked to marry him.” Bokuto laughs. “I can’t believe it! What gifts should I get them?” Atsumu raises an eyebrow. “There’s no wedding yet, why are you fretting about a gift?” “Well, there is going to be an engagement party, right? I should impress the couple so I’ll be the best man.” “Sorry to break it to you, Bokuto-san, but I think Atsumu is going to be the best man,” Kiyoomi interjects as he passes by the two of them. “Sakusa!” Bokuto whines as he begins walking towards the center of the gym. “There can be two best men!” “Eh?” Hinata joins them. “Then you’re going to be ‘better’ men, not best. Isn’t best a superlative word?” Bokuto makes a face at the bright-haired man. “So now you know your English, Shoyou?” The remark makes them laugh. Atsumu meets Kiyoomi’s eyes. During other times, he would wink at his lover but the moment their eyes meet, Atsumu’s laughter dies down and he awkwardly looks away, missing the confusion on Kiyoomi’s face. Practice was uneventful. Atsumu’s serves are as good as they can be. Sakusa played as great as ever. Ever since they began dating, the two have established that they would act professionally around each other during practices and games. No PDA, no special treatments. So far, the two have succeeded in making their relationship separate from work. Which is why Atsumu is surprised when Meian asks him to stay behind after practice. “What it is, captain?” The older man is sweating and Atsumu feels a little bitter about how he still managed to look good, the beads of sweat only making him manlier. “Are you and Sakusa having problems?” “Huh?” “I don’t know,” Meian says. “I noticed you barely set for him; I can even go as far to say that you’re avoiding him.” Atsumu lets out a shaky laugh. “I don’t know what you want me to say.” “You’re two of the best players of this team,” Meian says matter-of-factly. “I just don’t want your personal relations to get in the way. Whatever issues you’re having, I hope you can work it out.” Maybe it’s the tiredness, maybe it’s the way Meian spoke so kindly, that Atsumu broke. “I’m having thoughts of breaking up with him.” The moment the words leave his mouth, Atsumu wants to take them back. It’s as if saying the words make them real. His captain masks his reaction under a neutral expression. “And why do you want to break up?” Atsumu shrugs. “I just don’t feel anything when I’m with him anymore. No more excitement, no more thrill. I’m starting to get bored.” At that, Meian laughs. “So, because you’re over the honeymoon phase, you want to end things? A relationship is not always rainbows and fun, Atsumu. There will be dull and still days. Have you brought this up to Sakusa?” His only answer is a guilty look, making his captain sigh. “Look, don’t make rash decisions based on your emotions, or lack of it. Think back to what Sakusa and your relationship mean to you.” Atsumu thanks Meian before joining the rest of the team in the lockers. He changes into his spare clothes while Sakusa waited for him, already packed up. Living close to the gym, the two has made it a habit to take showers at home. On the ride home, Atsumu steals glances at his boyfriend and he gets called out for it. “Please focus on the road while driving,” Kiyoomi says while his eyes are focused on his phone. Atsumu clears his throat. “Are you not going to ask me?” “What?” “Why captain asked me to stay behind after today’s practice.” “Is it any of my business?” It’s an innocent question and Atsumu feels guilty because Kiyoomi is right. Whatever problem Atsumu is having, he brought it upon himself. Kiyoomi is only a victim of his indecisiveness. “No,” he replies. Kiyoomi surprises him with a gentle touch on his arm. Atsumu shoots him a look and the man smiles at him. “If you need to talk about anything, you know I’m here, right?” Atsumu nods without saying anything, letting the guilt envelope his heart.

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

Osamu looks so happy. As he watches his brother bring up a linked hand with Akaashi in front of the party, Atsumu wonders if that’s how he looks like to other people when he’s happy. It’s been a week since the engagement and as much as he wanted to skip the celebration, he couldn’t come up with an excuse not to attend. So here he was, forcing a smile whenever someone jokingly brings up how he’s next in line to get engaged. As the engaged couple gets whisked around the room by friends and relatives, Atsumu clears his throat, ready to tell Kiyoomi that they should be heading home soon. But before he can say anything, his paternal grandparents take the vacant seats at their table. Atsumu inwardly groans, he’s been avoiding them in particular throughout the evening. “Well, it’s my first grandson and his boyfriend,” his grandfather says with a hint of resentment in his voice. When Atsumu came out to the family, the old man had been angry, saying something about how he’s the first grandson and how he should continue the family lineage. He found it unfair, because the old man had been accepting of Osamu when he came out a year before. Damn expectations about first grandsons. If only Osamu was born seven minutes earlier… Atsumu forces a smile. “Hi, Gramps and Grams. Long time, no see.” “You’re not visiting us anymore, Atsumu,” his grandmother says softly. “I miss you two.” Where his grandfather is resentful, his grandmother is accepting. After all, he has known that his grandfather’s favorite is Osamu while his grandmother favors him a little bit more. He watches as Kiyoomi leans across the table to kiss his grandmother’s cheek. “We’ve been busy these past few months but we’ll make sure to visit once we’re off-season.” A smile at him. “Right, sweets?” “Yes,” he agrees, but he cannot help but hear his Gramps mutter something under his breath. As it turns out, all three of them did not miss it, for his Grams glares at her husband. “Will you stop? You’re being unfair to Atsumu. You’re all supportive towards his brother but you’re acting like this towards him and his boyfriend. Can’t you see how much our grandson is madly in love with Kiyoomi? Should I be honest? Atsumu thinks as he hears the last sentence. Grams, honestly… I’m not sure if I’m still in love with Kiyoomi. He decides to keep his mouth shut as he listens to his Gramps repeat his speech about being the first grandson in the family. Below the table, Atsumu feels Kiyoomi’s hand searching for his. He contemplates distancing his but he remembers Meian’s words from last week. He meets Kiyoomi’s hand and intertwines their fingers together. He feels a squeeze, and he’s surprised how the gesture still manages to calm him, even a little bit. His grandfather’s reply surprises him. “Of course, I can see!” The man lowers voice as he looks straight at Atsumu. “He loves him so much and it’s a slap to my face that my first grandson won’t bring me children that are my blood. Of course, I will soon come to terms that he’s in love with a fellow man. But as long as they’re not married yet, I will keep acting disgruntled.” The old man’s wife giggles and even Kiyoomi tries to stifle a laugh. Atsumu looks around the table. Are his grandfather’s cheeks actually reddening up? In embarrassment? The three then turn their eyes on him. He shrugs. “What can I do? I got Gramps’ hardheadedness so who am I to complain?” That evening, on the drive home, Atsumu gets surprised when Kiyoomi raises a question. “So, your Gramps says he’ll only approve us once we get married.” Atsumu gulps. Should I be honest? “Kiyoomi, honestly–” “’Tsumu,” his lover interrupts him. “I noticed it tonight. You’re uncomfortable whenever someone brings up marriage to you.” He cannot fathom from the voice and tone what the other man is feeling. “And what do you feel about me being uncomfortable?” The question hangs in the air and Atsumu almost gets distracted from driving. He’s about to follow up on it when Kiyoomi finally answers. “Honestly? I’m just trying to convince myself that your discomfort roots from the idea of marriage itself, not the idea of marrying me. You never really told me how you feel about marriage but I know I told you, at the beginning of our relationship, that I only date to marry. “You continued to pursue me, and we’re on our sixth year, going on seven, so it’s either you changed your idea about marriage or you changed your heart about me.” When he doesn’t respond, Kiyoomi laughs – Atsumu’s favorite sound – and says, “Foolish of me to think of that, right? Why am I even doubting your love for me?” Luckily enough, they already arrived at their parking. Atsumu turns the engine off and faces his boyfriend. “Kiyoomi, honestly…” he trails off as he looks at the man and a rush of emotions comes to him. It’s as if he hasn’t really looked at him for a long time now. It’s as if it’s the first time he’s seeing him. Wrapped around Kiyoomi’s right wrist is the beaded bracelet that he had gifted him for their first anniversary. He senses the faint smell of his favorite perfume on the man, and as he looks at the phone that the man is holding, Atsumu’s heart almost jumps. It’s a clear case, with a polaroid of them at the back. Realization dawns upon Atsumu: He cannot bear to lose Sakusa Kiyoomi in his life. The thought alone scares him. Why did he even think of separating with him? He clears his throat as he feels the heat building up behind his eyes. “Honestly, Kiyoomi, I’m the foolish one.” A fool for having thoughts of breaking up with you. A fool for taking you for granted during the past few weeks. A fool… “Atsumu?” His name being called by Kiyoomi’s gentle voice breaks Atsumu out of his thoughts. “Yes?” He receives a confused look. “You were saying you’re the foolish one and then you spaced out.” “Sorry. It’s just… never mind…” Kiyoomi inches closer to him and before the man can stretch his arm, Atsumu reaches for his hand. He clasps their fingers together; his thumb immediately begins to rub circles on the back of his lover’s hand. They’re quiet for a while, just sitting together in the car, enveloped by silence. “What are you thinking?” Kiyoomi finally asks. That it’s not yet the end, Atsumu thinks as he looks down at their intertwined hands under the dim lights. I’m sorry for entertaining the thoughts of leaving you. I hope I remember how it is to be in love with you. Atsumu leans across the small space between them and plants a soft kiss on Kiyoomi’s temple. “I’m thinking we should watch one of our go-to good movies.” Kiyoomi hums. “The Proposal or Notting Hill?” A kiss on his other temple. “The Proposal.” “Okay. ‘Tsumu?” “Yeah?” “I love you.”

Atsumu smiles at Kiyoomi before planting a kiss on his forehead. His pulls his lips a few millimeters away before whispering something to Kiyoomi, causing his lover’s arms to wrap around him.

-END-

I just got inspired by Monsta X's song, Honestly, and went ahead and wrote something about it.

If you're too lazy to look up the lyrics: it's basically about a man's thoughts of how he doesn't love his partner anymore, and the partner remaining oblivious at the time. It becomes hopeful towards the end as the man realizes it's foolish of him to think of those thoughts, so he goes on feeling guilty. At the end, when his partner asks him about what's on his mind, he says he's thinking of nothing and proceeds to ask them out to a movie.

I hope you still liked it!

#sakuatsu #sakusa kiyoomi #kiyoomi sakusa #miya atsumu #atsumu miya #sakuatsu timeskip #sakuatsu msby #msby sakuatsu #sakuatsu angst #sakuatsu fluff #sakusa x atsumu #haikyuu fic #haikyuu #haikyuu angsr #haikyuu fluff #hq fic #hq angst #atsumu angst #sakusa angst

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alolowrites · 2 years

Text

Smack That

Summary: Bakugou has a lot of discipline, but he’s still a man who loves your ass.

Author’s Note: Heyyyyyy *nervous chuckle* how’s it going? I really wanted to get one more story out before 2021 ended and OF COURSE it was Bakugou lmao. I got inspired by a tik tok vid with a gym couple but added my little ~spicy~ twist at the end hahaha. Nothing too crazy (aka no smut, im sorry :/) Also everyone is aged-up!

Story is kinda a sequel to Gymtleman if y’all wanna read it.

Enjoy :D

Word Count: 584

Growing an ass was a process that didn’t happen overnight. You must put in the work, put in the hours, and most importantly, put out a whole lot of tears at the gym. Luckily for you, those tears passed off as gritty sweat that just so happened to fall out of your eyes.

You plopped on the bench, chugging down the water like a lost traveler who hadn't drunk anything for days. Instant relief washed over you, but the battle was far from over. You took a few moments to rest your aching muscles before trekking toward the dumbbells. The next set wouldn’t be any easier than the last one—Bakugou ensured this.

After months admiring him from afar at the gym–plus an additional five months of dating–you’ve come to realize that Bakugou doesn’t half-ass anything, especially if it was your ass. He was tougher than a drill sergeant, pushing you to go above and beyond because he knew you had the potential. It was a complete mystery how you managed to survive this long at the gym with him.

You stared at the dumbbells, your chest heaving a bit. The fifty-pound weights were the correct choice, but the twenty-pound pair looked tempting. You glanced over your shoulders and saw Bakugou was busy on the bench press across the room. There was no way he would notice the tiny switch for your next set. You snatched the lighter pair—what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

But more importantly, it won’t hurt you or your dying legs.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” you muttered, taking in a deep breath to push through the last set of the day. Except you barely had a chance to start after someone yanked the dumbbell out of your grasp. You shot up, annoyed. “Hey, what gives–oh.”

Bakugou gave you a firm look.

“Sup, babe!” You stupidly hid the other dumbbell with a nervous chuckle. “Done with chests so soon?”

“Give it.”

“Ugh, fine.”

You passed the dumbbell to him. Bakugou put them away and carried over the correct pair without breaking a sweat. You almost fell forward after holding the fifty-pound dumbbells that weighed like an anchor for a navy ship.

“Really, babe?! It’s heavy!”

“That’s the point,” Bakugou snorted, crossing his arms. “How else is that ass gonna grow?”

“Yeah, yeah,” you grunted and gripped the dumbbells tight. Feeling cheeky, you wiggled your butt at him. “No pain, no gain, huh?”

“That’s right.”

You gasped at the hard sting on your cheeks from Bakugou’s greedy slap heard around the world, or at least the gym. You searched over your shoulders; so far, no one was looking your way. For once, the ego lifters’ loud, obnoxious grunts were a gift sent from above instead of the usual headache.

“Katsuki! What the hell?!” You whacked Bakugou’s chest and hissed, “We’re in public!”

“Tch, so? I’m just feeling your progress,” Bakugou laughed, his eyes checking you out. He didn’t try to keep his hands off you again, squeezing your body as though you were his personal toy. He growled into your ear, “Gonna have to do a thorough check when we get home.”

Bakugou smacked your ass once again, and you rolled your eyes, fighting back a stupid grin. Sure he might be more disciplined than a drill sergeant, but Bakugou was still a man who had a weakness for your glorious ass. And he’ll make sure to appreciate it with a hearty smack that will leave you sore for days.

Don’t come at me if there’s a Bakugou handprint on your cheeks the next day aksjdhsakjdjh.

Thank you for reading! And have a fantastic new year :D I will manifest good vibes for y’all for 2022.

#bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou x reader #katsuki bakugou x reader #bnha x reader #bakugou katsuki

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rockingrobin69 · 3 years

Text

Learning Curve

Four out of five dentists would recommend against reading this piece (1.7k). Think of your teeth!

“Uncle Harry, did you know Uncle Draco is a weredragon?”

“A what now?” he frowned, tucking the duvet under Teddy’s chin.

“A weredragon. Like how dad was a werewolf, but with a dragon.”

Harry huffed a small chuckle. “I’m pretty sure he isn’t, Ted.” To be fair, considering all the things he’d learned about him since Malfoy adopted Teddy, Harry wouldn’t be too surprised if he actually turned out to be a weredragon. It won’t even be the most shocking discovery.

“No, he is. All the best people are were-something, he said. So he’s a weredragon.”

Harry resisted the temptation to ask if he was a were-something, too. “All right then, menace, go to sleep. You can tell me on Sunday if you’d seen him turn.” He shook his head through all the begging, bargaining and trickery, until Teddy finally relented and closed his eyes. Harry chewed on his grin, pressed a kiss to Teddy’s forehead, murmured in his ear and left, silently closing the door behind him.

And then heading out with his usual gracefulness – accidentally knocking into the dresser with a big yelp, stepping over every creaking floorboard, smacking against the door because he wasn’t really looking ahead, he was looking for – ah. Malfoy heard him, it would seem. Standing at the kitchen doorway, leaning against it like some sort of model in a Muggle magazine, rolling his eyes. Harry noticed he was holding his breath.

“Care to join me for a drink, Potter?”

He didn’t know why he was nervous. This happened every night.

The thing is, Harry loved Teddy so much. So, so much, he even considered adopting him himself after Andromeda and all. But Harry’s stupid job was too stupid to allow it, and Malfoy was technically ‘family’. And so Harry came by every day – well, night, stupid job and all – to see how Teddy was doing. And then, every night, he’d run into Malfoy, who had no choice but to invite him for a drink. It would be wine, sometimes, or flavored butterbeer, or – and only once – straight up Ogden’s whisky. But mostly it’d be hot chocolate, which apparently was something Malfoy enjoyed, and something Harry seemed to find quite irresistible.

Of all the new things he’d learned about Malfoy, this was perhaps one of the most surprising. He made the best hot chocolate. It was the perfect temperature, the perfect sweetness, the perfect texture. Perfection in a cup. Harry followed him into the kitchen, sat in his favorite chair (somewhat dangerously with the way Malfoy’s books were stacked so high behind his back), and turned his gaze to the fridge. Teddy’s newest masterpiece was magicked to the door, and even squinting Harry couldn’t tell what it was meant to be.

“A wolf,” Malfoy muttered as he laid a cup of hot cocoa before Harry. “Your godson is very talented, you know.”

Harry hummed into his cup, probably smearing his nose full of whipped cream. “Bet you I could draw a better one.”

He waited. Some nights Malfoy wasn’t in the mood. He’d be tired, or closed off, and they’d just sit there in silence and stare. Some nights he was restless, far too giddy to stay still, and they’d go for a walk in the forest. But tonight –

Tonight Malfoy was game. He scoffed and summoned two quills and some parchment. “Let’s see – five minutes, best drawing wins?”

Harry grinned privately to himself. There must have been something in that hot chocolate, because he couldn’t stop thinking about how he just loved spending nights at Wiltshire.

“Uncle Harry,” Teddy asked one Sunday, sliding into his wellies. “Did you know that Uncle Draco had a pet a stag?”

“What?” Harry was busy arranging a beanie on his orange hair with his tongue between his teeth. “A pet stag?”

“Yeah, when he was a kid. I asked him why he likes them so much, and he told me. His name was Arold and he was very stupid, Uncle Draco said.”

“Arold?” Harry laughed, tilting his head. “Ted, you know Uncle Draco is messing with you, yeah? He never had a pet stag. You can’t have stags as pets.” Malfoy had peacocks, which he hated, and the eagle owl, which he loved, and that was that. No stags. Harry knew that. He picked up every single piece of information about Malfoy slowly, carefully, and catalogued it all in his head. Malfoy was afraid of hippogriffs (still) and very enthusiastic about nifflers. He wanted a kneazle really badly as a kid, but his mother was allergic to the fur. Harry knew these things, now. He even had this insane idea to get a kneazle for him and Teddy, a fantasy he liked to entertain from time to time. Teddy’s words brought him back to reality with his cheeks oddly flushed and his ears ringing.

“That’s what he said.”

Harry wondered why Teddy thought Malfoy liked stags to begin with, but he’d already ran outside and jumped into the nearest puddle, so the question had to wait.

Malfoy was in the kitchen when they returned, and Harry plopped down next to a steaming mug of hot cocoa. The clutter all around practically screamed we actually live here, and Harry felt the warmth of it in his bones. His eyes kept zooming from Malfoy, to Teddy, happily blabbering about the squirrel they’d seen on their walk, and something in him thrummed. We actually live here. The flavor of want was sweet and sadly familiar.

“Uncle Harry,” Teddy asked one night in November, a tired little bundle of curiosity that ached in Harry’s chest with affection, “What’s emveeos?”

“Huh?” Harry stopped at the doorway, eyebrows drawn.

“Emveeos. Like if I was emveeos of someone.” Teddy gave him an exasperated little look, a come on you should know this one when Harry simply shook his head. “Uncle Draco said he’s emveeos of me.”

“What? When?” Harry’s heart did a funny little leap. He still didn’t really understand the question, but apparently the mere mention of ‘Uncle Draco’ was enough to ignite this heat inside him.

“Because you always kiss me good night.”

Harry could only shrug, but the heat intensified into something near intolerable. “I dunno, Ted. Best to ask him tomorrow, yeah? You know Uncle Draco is better at these things.” Better at most things, really. Cooking, drawing, writing, teaching. He was just good at everything. Even dancing – Harry had seen photographs of a very sulky boy beautifully performing the tango, no joke. And he could make the best hot chocolate. And –

“Okay. Good night, Uncle Harry.”

“Good night, Menace. I love you.” Harry made sure to tell him that every night, even if Teddy was already asleep. It was good for him too, he thought, to get the practice.

That night there were mini marshmallows in the mug. Harry couldn’t help it anymore; he was so enamored with the – drink – it felt a little like an explosive device in his chest. He found a way to distract Malfoy for a couple of seconds while he covertly drew a vial of the cocoa, stashing it in his pocket. There had to be something wrong with it, a potion or something. There had to, or Harry was losing his mind. He’d lost enough things for a lifetime, he thought.

“No, Uncle Harry! Cookies first.”

It was the week before Christmas, and Malfoy was out on a last minute gift shopping trip. Harry and Teddy were in the kitchen together, in charge of lunch, though Teddy was more interested in sampling the Christmas cookies Malfoy had made. To distract him Harry suggested they try to prepare Malfoy’s cocoa – well, also so he’d have something hot to drink when he comes back, because Malfoy always suffered from the cold.

“Oh, Uncle Draco doesn’t like hot chocolate,” Teddy shook his head.

“But,” Harry didn’t know what to do with this information, which stood in stark contrast with everything he knew in this life. “He drinks it all the time with me.”

“No, no, he says it’s too sweet. He never drinks it.”

Harry felt utterly lost. The knowledge he’d collected of Malfoy was the foundation with which he was trying to build this – it was what he stupidly thought he could use to make a home. Hell, he’s been practicing – getting ready for – and all this time, Malfoy was lying?

When Malfoy returned Harry pretty much threw himself at him, boxing Malfoy at the door with all his shopping bags.

“You don’t like hot chocolate,” he said accusingly, and Malfoy’s eyes went big.

“What?”

“You don’t. And you told Ted you had a pet stag and that you’ve embossed him or something like that. But you don’t like hot chocolate.”

“I – “ Harry’s never seen Malfoy so flushed in his life, and was furious with how adorable that was. “All right. I don’t.”

“But you make it almost every night,” Harry contested. He felt a little woozy.

“Yes.” When Harry gave an odd grunt, he closed his eyes. “You like it.”

“So?”

“So…” Malfoy’s shrug was so painfully sad. “I thought you’d… come here if you…”

Harry didn’t wait for the sentence to finally come to a stop, it was taking forever. “So you just lied?”

“No!” two grey eyes opened, sort of panicked. “I just – I’ve been trying, all right? all this time, to learn to… to get to know you. All these things about you, and then I saw how much you liked it when I made hot cocoa for Teddy and – I just. Want you to. Have. Things that you like.”

Harry couldn’t feel his tongue. His head was spinning. He didn’t know what to do about this, didn’t know what to think, didn’t know – he just didn’t know. Sadness was familiar, and losing, and being lied to, but – but this –

“Kiss him, Uncle Harry!” a little voice carried from behind him, and startled he caught a glimpse of blue hair. Hell. A quarter of his age, and Teddy was at least twice as clever. Harry leaned forward and did the only thing that made sense, and the kiss was solid enough to build on. Malfoy’s lips were the sweetest thing he’s ever tasted. Hot chocolate, no matter how good, could never compare.

Wow, I really ran away with this one... Today was day 6 of my Seven Sins of Drarry one-shot collection, and was all about - Teddy almost had it: envy! Hope you’re ready to be good, because there’s only one sin left!

#drarry #fic #Seven Sins of Drarry #day 6: envy #fluff #so much fluff #parent draco #parent harry #teddy makes an appearance #weredragons #kinda feels like excerpts from a 20k piece actually #RockingRobin69

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