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starvity · 9 months

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— ☆ sides zb1 only show when they’re with you

gn!reader x zb1 (ot9)

genre: fluff, drabble // warnings: insecurities, jealousy, a bit angsty for gyuv and yujin

author’s note: this was such an interesting request and i had so much fun thinking about what to put for each member!! (★ω★)/ [requested♡]

ੈ✩‧₊˚ jiwoong - his funny side

okay i’m not saying jiwoong isn’t funny usually but he would be the FUNNIEST when he’s with you. he's most of the time someone kind of serious and reserved in public settings but then he would suddenly whisper a funny comment (that only you heard) and you would have to fight internally to not burst out laughing. some other time, you’re just getting ready to sleep, already cuddled up in the blanket while waiting for jiwoong, when his silly side would appear. like he would be brushing his teeth then he would start running around and doing some handstands on you idk???? he’s just a silly guy

ੈ✩‧₊˚ zhang hao - his protective side

hao loves himself a good princess treatment. he would always use his puppy eyes to get whatever he wants from you and you both know it, that you can never win. and that dynamic works for your relationship!! but then sometimes you appear in front of hao looking a bit more tired, stressed, or sick than usual and it’s like something switches in his brain. he will treat you like absolute royalty, that being by doing the chores, giving you a massage, cooking for you, cuddling with you? ANYTHING YOU WANT!!! that always happens when you’re away from him too, walking home or coming back late from a party. he will come pick you up whenever he can or at least ask you to facetime him.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ hanbin - his jealous side

i am certain that not a single person on this planet can dislike this man. he is loved by everyone and everyone knows him. when you two go out on a date he would usually be the one to meet like 5 of his friends on the way. but today it was your turn to randomly meet one of your old high school friends in a store. naturally, they come to hug you and keep an arm around your waist while you two catch up on each other’s life. suddenly, you feel hanbin’s arm slide around your shoulders as he pulls you closer. "i’m their boyfriend, by the way." he says, with a smirk on his face and his eyes turning dark.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ matthew - his insecure side

matthew is your biggest fan. he will always hype you up, telling you that you’re the most beautiful and amazing person he’s ever met. he will brag about you to his friends and talk about you to his family all the time. but when you do the same for him, he immediately gets shy, saying that it isn’t true and that you’re doing too much. you frown, repeating that he’s just perfect and he shakes his head again. you cup his jaw with your hands to make him look at you. "you.are.amazing.matt." you repeat, kissing his lips between every word. he lowers his gaze, a pinkish color settling on his cheeks "you really think so?"

ੈ✩‧₊˚ taerae - his calm side

dating taerae can be a bit exhausting sometimes (especially if you’re introverted) because this man YELLS. like it’s not even that he does it on purpose most of the time, he just has a really prominent voice. he would be playing video games online with his friends and he wouldn’t even hear how loud he is screaming because of his headphones. you throw a pillow at him, monitoring a "silence" motion with your index finger as you were trying to take a nap. after mouthing a sorry, taerae delicately turns off his computer, puts his headphones aside and takes his guitar before sitting next to you on the bed. he strokes your hair, apologising with now the calmest voice before he starts singing you to sleep with his sweet voice.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ ricky - his attentive side

you don't even try to figure out what's on ricky's mind sometimes. he would start talking about some random subject, then starts talking about another, then another... he himself would be distracted with his own words when he's talking to you that he would need to get quiet, blink a few times and let out a "what?" before laughing and trying to focus again. he can be easily distracted but he is also really observant, especially around you. one day he started talking about all the little habits you have that he finds endearing and you realised that you weren't even aware that you had half of these.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ gyuvin - his serious side

one thing about gyuvin is that he's always going to make fun of people. and you being his partner gets the WORST treatment. he was on his phone when he suddenly laughs, shoving it in your face. you were horrified when you saw the ugliest picture of you sleeping and started begging him to delete it. he continues laughing as you try to snatch the device out of his hands but, again, he was too tall. without even you knowing, tears roll down your cheeks and the expression on gyuvin's face completely changes. he takes you in his arms, stroking you back and apologising over and over again. later in the evening, you two had a deep conversation and he asks to set boundaries because he never wants to hurt you ever again. (he won't stop making fun of you though, as far as you allow him <3)

ੈ✩‧₊˚ gunwook - his cute side

mister giant baby thinks that his role is to protect you no matter what. he thinks he always need to be tough, and that you're probably just dating him to open jars and carry heavy stuff for you??? "can i be the big spoon today?" you ask, opening your arms for gunwook who had just showered after coming back from practice. he looks at you confused, at first disapproving because blah blah he's the big boy here before sighing and placing his head on your chest. you suddenly see his eyes soften at the sudden contact as you pull him closer. gunwook hums contently and closes his eyes. "not so bad , after all?" you chuckle while stroking his cheek with your thumb. "shut up~" he whines in a cute voice, hiding his face in your neck.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ yujin - his emotional side

you know that it is not easy to read yujin like an open book. and since he's also pretty new to the whole relationship thing, he finds it quite hard to express his emotions, especially around you. you were studying in yujin's room while he was practicing his vocals in the bathroom (the acoustic is good, apparently). and you were so focused on studying for your next test that you didn't hear nor see the door open a minute ago. "can i talk to you?" yujin's voice startles you from across the room and you gulp nervously, inviting him to sit next to you. he suddenly leans his head on your shoulder and your hand naturally comes up to pet his head. "i feel like i haven't been doing really good lately, with my vocals and dancing... and like i don't know if i'm even good enough..." you listen attentively to his worries and reassures him that he's doing great and that you're proud of him. (might have teared up a little).

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notmuchtofind · 7 months

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public eye | d.s

pt2 here x

word count: 1.6k

tw: mentions of infertility and low appetite

synopsis: the lead up to the breakup between you 2

it's everywhere.

'Drew Starkey And y/f/n y/l/n SPLIT' ,

'What Happened Between Drew Starkey And y/f/n y/l/n?',

'Drew and y/n Messy Breakup?!"

you can't escape what you're trying to forget...

You and Drew were together for 3 and a half years, you guys went public with your relationship pretty quickly, constantly making tiktoks and posting instagram stories of each other. It sent fans Wild! which caused you to gain a huge following on the internet, from fans of obx to just random people in general that simply enjoyed seeing your guys' relationship unfold.

you were the IT couple. Red carpets, premiers, award shows. you name it. you did It all with Drew.

your life changed drastically when you met drew. and because you were doing it together it was all okay. more than okay, it was bliss.

It's been 2 months since you guys broke up, and even though neither of you had addressed it online yet, people started to speculate, people started to talk and people came to an assumption (which was correct) that you and Drew were no longer together.

| a week before the break up |

*buzz* your phone vibrates...

its drew

Drew: Hey, plans have changed, I'm sorry I can't come see you tonight...reschedule?

you sigh...

this is the 3rd time in 2 weeks he's cancelled your plans for something that's "just come up". You've never been the type to not trust Drew, he's always been truthful and you guys have been so transparent with each other ever since you got together, but something just feels off this time. you know that you guys have been struggling for the past couple of months with distance and lifestyle changes and it worries you that it's all getting a little too much for you both

Was it the brief mention of you wanting to try for a baby in the next 1-2 years? Maybe it scares him? but you struggle with your fertility and starting to look into starting a family now would prepare you for the next couple of years...

Was it the long distance? He's busy shooting a new movie for Netflix which requires him to go back and forth between LA and Hawaii, its difficult because neither of you like LA enough to want to spend time here constantly, but you've compromised for drew, and with him not even being here half the time, it feels like a waste of time. and this text message just tops it off for you, you haven't seen him in a week, and your mainly here for him, it feels like a stab in the back.

you open your phone and tap on the message icon...

your thumbs hover over the keyboard for a while whilst you think of the right way to phrase how you feel

maybe it would be best to just have a talk in person? you wonder...

y/n: reschedule for when?

Sent!

a few minutes go bye, which feels like hours

*buzz*

Drew: I'll see you tomorrow afternoon after shooting? Brunch?Downtown LA?

you sigh, you just feel like Drews being stale...no pet names? no I miss you, I love you? you know its small but you can't help but overthink

but you're determined to not let your worry show through the message sent back

y/n: yeh, let me know what time, i'll see you tomorrow. night drew...I love you Read 22:34 pm

no reply

your alarm rings 9:30am

you groan and fumble to switch it off

picking up your phone you squint your eyes to read the message from Drew which was delivered at 7am, you guessed he had to get up early for filming.

drew: i'll be done around 1pm if you wanna meet me at the cafe?

y/n: yeh, see you there

you respond

'The cafe' , the cafe you and drew always visit when in LA for premiers and awards shows most of the years you've been together. you knew exactly where he was talking about.

12:30pm rolls around and you grab your car keys after slipping your shoes on, ready for your 'date?"( if you can call it that?) with drew. The nerves kick in as you have a sinking feeling that he's got something to say... you switch on your car and drive over to downtown LA.

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

You grab your bag from the passenger seat and step out of the car after parking it down a side road near the place you're meeting. As your walking towards the cafe you see drew stud outside the main entrance on the phone...he looks to be laughing

as soon as he clocks you walking towards him he stutters, his face slightly drops and fumbles to end the call "yeh yeh, okay speak soon" drew mumbles.

drew pulls you into a hug as you step closer, its a tight hug, he kisses you on the head before pushing you back slightly, his hands on your shoulders

"how've you been?'' Drew says. "umm, yeh not bad" you smile slightly, nodding as you lie through your teeth. you've been nothing but a mess for the past couple of weeks.

"who was you chatting too just there" you nod, looking down at the phone in his hand

"oh, urm just, my costar in this movie, the directors wanting to change a part of the script so we was just like...discussing that" he chuckles nervously

"oh I see" you shrug

taking a seat inside, you watch and Drew goes up to the counter, ordering you both a coffee, he offers to order you food but you refuse. your appetite has been non existent for the past weeks, food was the last thing on your mind.

Drew sits opposite you after placing the coffees on the table. you play with your hair whilst staring at Drews hands gripping his coffee tight...

"so y/n...listen, I'm sorry I couldn't come see you yesterday, I, I uhhh..." drew stutters "I went for a drink with a few of the people from the set and uh... and I was up early this morning, i'd have had to of travel 45 minutes in an uber to come see you last night yanno...like, shit I dont know... it wasn't practical' he squirms, fumbling over his thoughts

it may have been minor, but you feel your blood boiling, you don't feel any apologetic energy coming from drew, it feels more like guilt, not that he's let you down, more the guilt that he enjoyed himself more than he would've with you last night...you're fuming

'stay calm y/n' you think too yourself

"But you knew we made plans for the evening Drew? you couldn't not drink for one night just to make sure you could see me?"

he leans over the table slightly "look y/n/n im trying to create a bond with these people I-"

you cut him off.

"Seriously, what the fuck drew?!" you scoff "listen to yourself, it's been shit between us for months now and you think doing shit like this is going to fix anything?" you gesturing with your hands, trying to say slightly under your breath so the whole cafe cant tell your arguing

its silent for a moment whilst you both think of what to say next

"you know I'm struggling ?" you say through cracks in your voice, looking at drew, tearing up

you don't want him to see you cry, you hate crying in front of drew, never mind in public

he just looks at you, guilty and wide eyed, he tilts back on his chair and sighs whilst pinching the bridge of his nose.

"fuck y/n, I dont know" he looks away...

" I'm feeling a lot of pressure right now, I'm working and I'm away and the last thing I want right now is a child y/n! do you understand?"

you're taken back... you've spent the last 3 years moving away from your hometown, supporting Drew, making a life for yourself wherever he goes but he can never meet you in the middle?! he won't even consider thinking through the thought of one day starting a family with you? you're just asking for a discussion about what the future might hold but he gets defensive every time it's brought up...

"Is that it?" you ask " is that what's turned you so cold?"

he leans over trying to grab your hand "fuck...baby, no I-"

you flinch as you cut him off

"drew if it's not what you want and it's what I eventually want, are we even right for each other? what are we doing? you don't care for me like you usto, you're not the same, your a dick" you say trying not to shout

"I don't know what I want right now?" Drew states, not looking you in the eyes.

How's he being so calm? Why is he doing this? This is not like drew.

"fuck you" You stand up out of the chair and walk right out of the cafe doors, tears start streaming down your face and you try to hide you face with the palm of your hand...

*snap* followed by a flicker

*snap* *snap*

fuck.

you look around...

"is that paparazzi?" you mumble to yourself

you walk faster to your car quickly opening the door and throwing your bag on the backseat, you fumble to turn the engine on and see slight flickers through the rearview mirror...this is the last thing you need right now.

part 2!!!!!

#drew starkey #rafe cameron #rafe x reader #drew starkey x reader #obx x reader #rafe cameron fluff #rafe cameron x you #fanfic #y/n #the other zoey #fluff

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nekropsii · 2 months

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Do you have any thoughts on Equius

Equius is a fucked up kid who has done a lot wrong, but he is still a kid. He reads as a startlingly real portrayal of a pubescent autistic boy with an unhealthy and shaky grasp of his budding, overwhelming sexuality, with a concerning amount of influence from the internet. He is the result of adults failing him, and exposing him to hardcore fetish porn at an age too early. This is a real kind of guy that exists. A very common one, who I have met, like, at least 40 of.

Like Eridan, he feels like a kid stuck in a pipeline — except instead of the alt-right pipeline, it’s fetishism and hypersexuality. He feels like a pretty solid example of how getting involved in NSFW spaces online as a child can both deeply fuck up your sexuality and completely destroy your perception of what consent is, and what is and is not okay. He doesn’t have a grasp on boundaries whatsoever, and while this manifests in ways that are quite honestly horrifying and uncomfortable — like constantly projecting his Caste-Play BDSM fetishes onto nonconsenting, unsuspecting individuals, and… The things he did to Aradia — I cannot help but view him as an autistic boy having a rough time of puberty who got groomed through the internet over-exposing him to pornography at an early age. He’s deeply sympathetic to me from that angle. Again, I have met this kid. Homestuck is fantastic at presenting characters that are exact archetypes of real people you have known, be it personally or not. People you would have either been close friends with in middle school, or terrorized by in a random chat room on the internet. Maybe they were even you! There’s a complete nonzero chance someone is reading this who has played the role of Equius in their youth, who is totally fine and healthy now. And if that’s true, and this describes you… I’m proud of your growth!

Back to Analysis- His ardent Hemoloyalty is fascinating, also. I’ve written about this before, but there’s something compelling and very realistic about how his bigotry comes from a place of deep insecurity, rather than pride. I find bigotry coming from insecurity to be more common than it coming from overt pride. Many fictional bigots have such a genuine ego to them, a fine layer of paint labeled Badassery, when for the most part real life bigots are total losers with nothing better to do than worry about… Where someone was born, or how much melanin they have, or what’s in their pants, or whatever.

I get why people don’t tend to be fond of him, but the disquieting parts of his character are both very deliberate choices and also shockingly… Earnest, in a weird, Hussian fashion. I’ve never quite seen a character with his traits get portrayed before. He’s easy to work with, analytically speaking, you just have to be willing to stick your hands in the uncomfortable muck that is messy teenage sexuality. Many aren’t willing to, which is fair! But many also mislabel his uncomfortable traits as not intentionally uncomfortable, or simply a product of Hussie being weird and wrong and having bad opinions. This… Just blatantly isn’t the case. Sometimes fiction isn’t comfortable on purpose. Big whoop.

I think Equius could’ve been quite a fine person, had he been given the room to grow up. He’s like Jake to me in the sense that he’s one of the only characters I genuinely wouldn’t mind seeing expanded upon more, provided he be taken seriously, and not completely sanded down.

Alas.

#homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #equius zahhak #cw child harm #equius.pdf #nekro.sms

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animentality · 1 year

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my main problem with terfs outside of the obvious issue is that they stand for nothing.

they don't care about women's rights. they don't care about intersectionality. they don't care about racism or feminism.

they don't care about changing the world for the better, or making anyone happy, or saving people from the fucked up world we all live in.

they have no fucking platform. they aren't pro abortion, they aren't pro choice, they aren't pro women, they aren't pro men, they aren't pro children.

they don't care about anything at all, not even themselves.

because they are the stereotypical high school mean girls, who spend their time cyberbullying because they're too chicken shit to bully anyone in real life.

they enjoy being nasty because there's something broken up inside of them that they don't want to examine.

they have no real goal. all they want is to take out their aggressions on an easy target.

because think about it like this, right???

a normal, happy, well adjusted human being with a family and friends is NOT spending their time harassing random bloggers like me and sending death threats and sharing rancid racist memes and lurking on /pol or reddit or twitter, harassing trans people who exist.

someone who has friends and hobbies and a life, is not spending their time being as horrible as they can to as many people online as possible.

Terfs are NOT people who have met other people. Who have things they feel positively about.

If they were, they wouldn't make their entire personality about hatred.

If they were, they wouldn't be fucking all over Tumblr, stomping down on any pro trans post they see.

if you, a regular person, are online and you say hey trans people are just people who want to live as they want.

and then you get a deluge of hate.

just remember that terfs are absolute fucking freaks. they are not normal people.

they are not people with jobs and boyfriends and girlfriends and a community of supportive people, because if they were, they wouldn't be on fucking line all the time, wasting their time trying to get reactions out of people.

they are attacking you not because they're defending anything, but because they have to attack. because they WANT to attack.

because they like being mean, because it's all they have.

because they feel fucked up, and they don't know why, and there's a million things wrong with their lives, but they don't know how to fix them.

and it's sad.

feel bad for them, for a second, and then worry about trans people, who deserve it more.

terfs are not worth your time.

what matters now is defending trans people, more than attacking terfs.

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777gojosgf · 6 months

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GOT LOVE-STRUCK WENT STRAIGHT TO MY HEAD…

777GOJOSGF IS TYPING…

777gojosgf: reader x satoru gojo modern!au

IN WHERE ::

reader and satoru do the kiss trend that’s been going around on tiktok.

a/note: the kiss trend is where it starts off with y/n applying lipstick but it smudged, satoru wipes it away but when the camera is moving to him it shows that his face is planted with kisses. not proofread and it’s quite short, sorry!

also, slut! by taylor swift (tv) coded

HE WAS THE ONE who persuaded you to follow the trend alongside him. satoru disagreed with your hardly noticeable interest in social media and openly flaunting your relationship to random online users. he says he loves taking pictures and videos so he can always look back on them later and that he wants to show you off to the world.

and besides, he knows you can’t say no his annoying smile.

“are you sure you want to do this? lipstick will be all over your face.” searching through your makeup bags for a red lipstick, you asked from the bathroom. satoru approached and pressed himself up against the door frame. his dishevelled white hair had come down so nicely on his head, and he had a dorky smile on his face. "if i ever say no to you kissing me, sweetheart. kill me, please.”

you laughed at that and walked over, planting a kiss on his cheek. “you always know the right answer.” before moving back to find the lipstick you just couldn’t seem to find. you heard his footsteps behind you, and before you had realized it, he had thrown you over his shoulder. holding you in a tight hold you giggled but still protested, “put me down ‘toru.”

“sorry, you were taking way too long. and the lipstick— was right here.” he answered, pointing at the cursed lipstick being next to the sink. you groaned in defeat and reached with giddy hands for the lipstick. he had to bite back a laugh and handed you the lipstick before moving you guys to the bedroom.

he’d laid down beside you after carefully placing you on the bed. he was able to rest his head on your lap and observe you applying the red lipstick while using your other hand to hold a tiny mirror. this brought back memories of all the other occasions he had delighted in observing you apply makeup. he thought you were gorgeous with or without, of course, but it was kind of adorable to see how much you enjoyed getting ready. there was a lot going on, and it was fascinating that you knew how to use every product. he had previously offered to assist you, claiming to be an expert at applying mascara.

well, spoiler alert. he wasn’t.

but it was of course the thought that counts.

despite everyone else’s claims, you knew one thing for sure.

in a world of boys, he’s a gentleman.

indeed, satoru made his typical boyish gestures. he wouldn’t be satoru if he hadn’t, but even so, he’s the warmest person you’ve ever met. he always knew how to take care of you; he would lift you when you were too exhausted to walk, offer you his shoes when your heels started to hurt, and remove your makeup when you got home from a difficult day at work.

you smirked, looking down at him with pursed lips. "now what should i do?" he pointed to his face and closed his eyes, flashing a grin. “now, you kiss me”

“alright,” you mumbled before planting a kiss on his forehead, slowly making your way down his face. though you purposely avoided his lips. he pouted at that and looked at you with those irresistible eyes of his. “patience is bliss, satoru.”

“yeah whatever,” he grumbled before lifting himself up and positioning himself with his back against the bed frame. he reached for your wrists and gently pulled you towards him, moving you onto his lap. your giggles filled the room and echoed down the hallway and satoru wouldn’t want it any other way. ever since you had entered his life, he had found a new light. someone to get up for everyday, to try and become the best version of himself because you deserved to be so loved.

though your personalities had somewhat been the opposite of each other, there was no denying that you guys were destined for each other. having grown up together, standing besides him all the time in high school, him being the one next to your seat in every class. where you went, he followed.

when you called, he would always be there.

something about the way that his entire face was filled with the print of your lips made you feel confident, he had seem even more handsome than usual. your confidence was shown when you teasingly made your way to his neck, earning a soft groan from him. “don’t be a tease, y/n.” his voice low, and the grin on your face widened. “it was your idea, was it not?” you commented innocently, but there was nothing innocent about the act.

he rolled his eyes dramatically at your smart remark.

once you finished kissing his face, he reached for his phone and opened up the app. your eyes widened at the 99+ notifications he had and you had come to the realization that your boyfriend was way more well known than you thought he was. something about that made you feel a bit jealous, as you were aware that 90% of his followers found him incredibly attractive. and there was no denying so. besides, it was out of his or your control so you tried not to make a big deal out of it.

but you were glad that it was satoru who came up with the idea to do the trend. it meant that he wanted to show you off and make it clear that he was taken.

or in his words, “locked 4 life.”

he started off the recording with you applying your lipstick, it being purposely smudged on one side. his thumb reached out to wipe away the lipstick, and as he did so, you turned the camera so that it would face him. his handsome face being filled with kisses, you smirked at that and leaned in to kiss him on the lips. a kiss he’s been waiting for the whole time getting ready.

after watching it a couple times— him commenting on how pretty you were— you were the one who clicked post and he turned off his phone.

“now,” he started, a mischievous grin on his face and you knew that it would be his time to get payback for you teasing him. effortlessly, he flipped you so that your back was against the soft mattress and he towered over you. your doe eyes followed his every move and your lips were parted slightly, he loved when you looked at him like that.

“the whole world knows that you’re mine. i guess i better prove it to you now too, princess.”

and so, your giggles reverberated throughout the space and corridor. you had filled his apartment —which once was empty and lifeless— with love and laughter. there were hints of you everywhere, memories haunting in every corner of every room.

he knew that the day you would become his wife, he would’ve made it in life.

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visionofvoid · 1 year

Text

Homewrecker - MV1

Summary: “and if i don’t hate you?”

Warnings: angst, implied emotional cheating

Pairings: max verstappen x oc

Word Count: 1280

PART TWO PART THREE

Kelly Piquet was constantly surrounded by very important people.

For starters she is a mother and prides herself with spoiling her daughter as much as she could. Secondly, she is the daughter of three-time Formula One World Champion, Nelson Piquet and is in a loving relationship with current World Champion, Max Verstappen. Finally, she is an influencer and blogger who has many responsibilities online, so, it was only right that one of the other important people in her life was her personal assistant, Blake.

Kelly has had many other assistants in the past, however, Blake seemed to be the only one that understood the fast paced life she immersed herself in. Blake always went above and beyond to ensure Kelly's schedule was up to date and in turn was compensated handsomely. Blake had become a key figure in both Kelly and her daughter's life, but also in Max’s much to his dismay.

Kelly nor Blake ever understood why Max never got along with the latter. Blake always had Kelly at the airport to pick up Max on a week off, always made sure she got into the pit without a hassle and she was always eager and willing to look after Penelope whenever Kelly and Max wanted some time alone.

Blake sighed as she walked down the hall to let Max into the building. She knew she was the last person that Max would want to see, especially after traveling for a few hours, hours worth of PR and now having to deal with security refusing to let him in without a sufficient pass. Max wished to surprise Kelly on a shoot with a magazine and hated that he had to message Blake to come and get him. It hurt his ego almost, having to message the girl he despised more than anything.

When Kelly first hired Blake, Max didn’t know why but he just felt uneasy around the woman. He found that she became too comfortable with the luxurious and fast paced life a little too quickly. She easily immersed herself into both of their busy lifestyles; she became fast friends with other model colleagues of Kelly’s, associates at magazine firms, even going so far to befriend some of the behind the scenes staff of Red Bull racing. She seemed to make everyone laugh, remembered everyone’s names and small details about someone. Max instead thought she was trying too hard to fit in.

“He’s good. He’s with me, André.” Blake smiled gently at the security guard who nodded in response, pressing a button to allow Max to round the corner through the security doors. He held a bouquet of sunflowers and roses. “Have a good day, André.” There she was again, Max thought to himself, trying too hard.

Blake stifled a smirk knowing that these were Kelly’s favorite flowers at all. You’d think that after dating for so long he wouldn’t mess something up as small as your girlfriend’s favorite flowers. She kept her thoughts to herself.

“Good afternoon, Max.” Blake was always amicable with Max, out of respect for her job, Kelly and Penelope. He just grunted in response and followed Blake down the hall, around a corner and to the elevators.

Max rushed to press the button first, squeezing in between Blake and the sides of the elevator when the doors finally opened. Blake simply rolled her eyes and pressed the button to the floor that Kelly’s shoot was on. The pair rarely ever had any alone time and Blake was rather uncomfortable with the silence.

Max could smell Carolina Herrera’s ‘Very Good Girl’ slightly on Blake when she reached over to press the button to close the elevator doors. He only knew what the scent was because he had searched high and low to figure out what it was so he could give it to Kelly for a random ‘thinking of you’ gift that was posted to hundreds of thousands of her followers. He fell in love with the scent the moment he first met Blake. It was so entrancing, and it suited her effortless and chic style.

His eyes traveled up her multi-coloured warm-toned scarf that sat snug around her neck. It was cold this time around, but it suited her nonetheless. He hated that he spent so much time analyzing her looks, the way she interacted with other people regardless of their social status, the way she seemed so happy to be doing life.

“I don’t know what I did to make you hate me.” Blake finally mumbled, just loud enough that she knew Max heard her. His stoic face that remained looking ahead of him shifted slightly with a clench of his jaw, his cheekbones hardening. The bouquet in his hands trembled slightly, though Blake made no move to call him out on it. “I work my ass off, you never see that. I have tons of sleepless nights, coffee-fuelled mornings, canceled dates to make sure she has a perfectly balanced life between being a mother, influencer, model and girlfriend.” Max’s eyes faltered, landing on the top of the bouquet and settling on the round, brown middle of a perfectly bloomed sunflower.

“And I would do it again and again, even if it meant you hate me. So do it, hate me if it makes you feel better.” Max turned to her this time, giving her his full attention. She seemed taken back for a moment before straightening up, looking him dead in the eyes. He admired her confidence.

“And if I don’t hate you?” Max finally spoke, the tension thick in the air as the elevator finally stopped, a bell ringing and then the doors finally opening. Kelly seemed to be on a break, a large smile on her face when she spotted Max. He seemed to stop himself from running in, giving her the flowers and spending time with her before she had to back to her shoot but instead paused, waiting for an answer from Blake.

“Then you need to start, at least for Kelly.” Blake pushed past Max, putting on a bright smile and sending Kelly a wink before walking over to where some of the photographers sat with coffees, scrolling through some of the pictures already. Max’s eyes trailed her for a few moments before he plastered on a bright smile, marching towards Kelly.

Her eyes brightened as he handed her the flowers. He knew internally that she preferred other flowers but he found the pairing of sunflowers and roses just that little bit more beautiful. He knew he should have just gotten her something she would actually like. He had no excuse as to why he was acting this way. He was so entranced with Kelly, loved Penelope as if she was his own and he loved Kelly with all of his being, right?

Kelly could sense the internal battle Max was having with himself, so she placed her flowers down on a side table near her chair and other belongings and moved her hand to touch his cheek forcing him to look into her eyes.

“Is everything okay?” Kelly questioned, noticing the rather distant look in his eyes and how he looked beyond her being that stood right in front of him. She already started to put together all the pieces in her head, she knew he was staring at Blake. She couldn’t understand why he wouldn't let his dislike for her go, just for Kelly’s sake. Blake was good at her job, no, great even and she rarely dealt with Max personally so Kelly just didn’t understand it. Kelly couldn’t understand how anyone could hate Blake.

Unless of course it wasn’t hate, but something else.

#formula one smut #formula 1 fanfic #formula one facfic #formula one #formula 1 #f1 x reader #f1 smut #f1 #fanfic #fanfiction #fanfics #max verstappen #max verstappen x you #max verstappen x reader #smut

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angel-of-the-moons · 8 months

Text

A Rose Under the Moon

Moon Knight System (Marc/Steven/Jake) x Fem!Reader

CW/TW: None (sorta?), Mentions of phantom pains, loneliness

A/N: This is gonna be multi-fic. I'll probably be irregular with uploads, but I will try to update this when I can!

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Chapter 1:

The Scholar

Fate was a funny thing. Sometimes it could give you exactly what you wanted, other times… the exact opposite.

The same was true for soulmates. Everybody had a different way of being marked. Some, from birth, others later. You’ve had yours since the moment you came out of your mother’s womb.

Right there, on the inside of your left wrist.

Three crescent moons, the slope of each resting on the others. Sometimes, one of the moons was full. It rotated almost like a clock. Sometimes one would stay full for days, other times merely one day or just a few hours. You weren’t sure why. You were positive it had something to do with your soulmate.

Especially the random phantom pains and bruises on different spots of your body. You used to get them as a child, one minute you’d be playing on the playground and then it would feel like you’d been whipped with a belt, or hit with a stick. At first children services had been called because of your phantom bruising; until they observed one such situation where you were coloring a picture and a red mark suddenly made itself visible, along with the pain associated with it. That was when the doctor suggested those pains were indeed connected to whatever was happening to your soulmate.

What kind of torture were they going through? The thought constantly ate at you as you grew up.

The worst ones were when you were at the stove cooking one day and all of a sudden–wham!--you were doubled over in your kitchen, clutching your body as you felt like you were being impaled by an ice pick in different parts of your chest and midsection.

But every time you got those pains, there was a pulse from your marking. And then… nothing. You heard that some people got phantom pains from their soulmates, some could share a telepathic link… others could simply sense when they were in proximity. The connections all varied from mate to mate; as did the appearance of each mark.

Yours, was the crescent moons. Some had animal shapes, others had stars, sometimes even just initials of their destined partner’s names, or a type of compass pointing in their general direction. Others, you came to envy, had a timer. Like a digital stopwatch that would count down until the day they met. You really wish you had one of those. At least then you’d know...

Some lucky people found their soulmates fresh into adulthood, right out of high school. The even luckier ones happened upon theirs during childhood and stayed close.

Here you were, sitting at nearly 25, and hadn’t even felt a tickle that possibly told you your soulmate was nearby. Even when you hopped countries! You really envied your classmates who got married shortly after high school or fresh into college, right about now…

You hoped and prayed to whoever would listen–anybody–that you would find them soon; not when you were old and gray and couldn’t run on the beach, climb a tree, or go do… something with such little precious time left over. You waited every day, on bated breath for when your soulmate would swoop in and save you from your boring, monotonous life.

Unless you were rejected. You’d never personally met anybody who had been rejected, but you have read in online forums from people who *have* been rejected, or personally knew someone who had been. Their existences sounded horrible. Gray, bleak… they weren’t truly living, just… existing. Like a robot running on default mode.

Some found love outside their soulmate bonds, and married and lived happily enough. Those were the ones who didn’t actively look for their soulmates, couldn’t find their soulmates… or their soulmates died before they met.

The pain felt from a sudden snap of your bond was supposed to be the most debilitating pain in your life, your soul feeling like half of it was shredded, stomped on, and then set on fire before being snuffed out entirely. It was supposedly easier to bear if you and your soulmate have never met.

Which is why, after you recovered that day in your kitchen, you frantically checked your mark to see if it was still there. Thankfully, it was. But you cursed your soulmate–whoever she, he, or they were–for doing whatever crazy shenanigans it was that they were doing to get hurt in such a way.

But despite that… despite the waiting and the longing and the phantom pains; the aching feeling in your chest, you stopped checking your mark as religiously as you used to. Sometimes, you covered it entirely, a depressing melancholy feeling taking root in your stomach and growing until its branches reached your heart whenever you looked at it. It wasn’t entirely uncommon, the feelings you were harboring. The desperation for your other half, the need to feel completed–to feel whole–was felt by millions worldwide… maybe even farther than that.

Some suggested therapy. It was a common enough occurrence that there was a specialization in the psychiatric field for soulmates who felt the depression and loneliness of not having their soul’s other half with them.

Malattia dell'anima, the doctor-y name for it was. Soul Sickness; literally.

But you didn’t want to be doped up on medication that made you so numb to your feelings that you might not–on the small chance you would–be able to feel when you eventually met your soulmate.

If you ever did.

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You sighed as you leaned on the counter, scrolling through forums, social media posts, and memes on your phone. Your mark was covered with a braided bracelet you made on a whim four months ago. Sometimes… not looking at it made it easier to bear.

You were knocked out of your melancholic stupor when the bell to your little book shop dinged.

You straightened your posture and gave the most polite smile you could.

“Hi!” You said. “Welcome to Here Today Books!”

The man who entered, gave you a charming–but slightly sheepish–smile, his amber eyes lighting up from behind his dark-rimmed glasses. “Oh! Hello.” He replied, his accent that you’ve grown accustomed to since moving to London, and gave a small wave of his hand. He was dressed in a button up shirt with some kind of gray overcoat worn over it, and some faded jeans. His posture was slightly nervous, you felt. He must be an introvert.

“You looking for anything in particular?” You chirp, leaning on the checkout counter with your elbows. “We got history, mathematics, sci-fi… romance?”

The last part was accentuated by a hearty chuckle on your part with some accompanied eyebrow-waggling, earning what you could swear was a blush on the man’s cheeks. “Oh–uhm…” He said. “N-no romance, I’m ‘fraid. Uh…”

You tilt your head at him. “Oh! Well, whatever you’re looking for I’m sure I have *something* on the subject.” You click your tongue as you look at the different shelves stacked high to the ceiling, a rolling ladder tucked in the far corner. “My shop has a “try before you buy” kinda policy. You can pick up a book and read it in one of the nooks near the front windows. I also have a complimentary tea, and coffee menu. The snacks are priced however, because I make ‘em fresh to order in the upstairs kitchen.”

He seemed impressed that such a tiny shop had such a wide variety of options available in the cramped space. “You cook upstairs?” He asked curiously, tilting his head so one of his raven curls bounces over his forehead.

“Yes, I, uhm… kind of live in the flat upstairs. Easier than renting separately, y’know?” You chuckle awkwardly. “I figured offering snacks and drinks would help entice people in. If not to buy a book, but at least a muffin or crepe.”

“So you also use your flat as a business space?”

“In a sense, I suppose I do.” You chuckled again, this time with a bit more confidence.

“Um… Forgive me if this is rude, but umm…” He shuffled on his feet, awkwardly looking to the side. “Are you American? It’s just that, with your accent and everything…”

You giggle softly. “It’s alright. I don’t mind. Yes, I’m from America.”

“Oh! That’s interesting. How does someone from America come to own a little book shop in London of all places? Er, if you’re comfortable with answering that question, too, I mean, uh…”

You smile at him, flashing your teeth a bit. “Nah, it’s a valid question. I inherited this shop from… get this… my great aunt. Real storybook, right? Totally pun-derful. An absolute tale.”

He shakes his head, laughing a little. “That certainly does seem like the opening plotline to a story, doesn’t it? Flying across the pond to inherit a property from an estranged relative you hardly knew…”

“...trying to keep the business thriving in a rapidly obsolete medium, the protagonist is crafty, plucky, but optimistic as they try to stay afloat by themselves, to keep their relative’s memory alive?” You finish for him, your smirk turning into a full-blown grin.

His laugh is a little bit louder now. “Exactly! You could write a novel!”

“Oh, but it would be so boring!” You sigh, dramatically laying over the counter space, arms hanging over the edge. “Just sitting here, day in, day out as I sell children’s books, crappy western romances, cheap “gourmet” coffee, and some slightly burned muffins? Just looking at cat pictures on the internet as the ceiling fan squeaks in ambience?”

“Oh, well, uh, when you put it that way…”

You giggle again. “I get some pretty decent business. I get the students from uni, some bookworms who refuse to retire the medium of actual books made of actual paper…”

“Oh, I know! I don’t get how people can read on their phones! The blue light is atrocious to stare at for too long! I love the feel of paper underneath my fingertips, the smell of the ink…” He sighs almost wistfully.

“Precisely!” You say animatedly, snapping your fingers. “Phones, laptops, and tablets just aren't the same, y’know? There will always be book enthusiasts. A book doesn’t run on batteries, a book won’t shatter if you drop it, or grip too hard… All you need is a good set of eyes or readers, some good light… and you’re set.”

“Oh, exactly! That’s exactly what I tell Marc when he lectures me about owning too many books! My collection “is a hazard” he tells me. Just because I have a few stacks lying ‘round doesn’t mean they’re gonna collapse on you and kill you!” He sighs, throwing his hands up exasperatedly. He clears his throat, and says awkwardly. “Marc is, uh… He’s my… brother. We… live together?”

“Well, tell your brother that he is a heathen. That books are an absolute treasure! You don’t have to pay some dumb subscription to access all the knowledge in that one book, just pick it up and flip a page!” You scoff, waving a hand. “Books–while yes, they can take up some space–are wonderful. And you can never own too many!”

The man laughs, nodding. “Precisely. Marc just likes to complain because he’s always bumbling into them! He’s more of a TV kinda bloke, you know?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve met my fair share of those kinds of people.” You giggle.

“Oh, uhm.” He fumbles with his satchel bag and holds out his hand. “My name’s Steven. Steven… Steven Grant. It’s nice to meet you, Miss..?”

You chuckle and tell him your name.

“It’s nice to meet you Steven, Steven, Steven Grant!” You joke, earning another laugh as you shake his hand.

“Now,” You started. “What are you looking for today?”

“Oh! Do you have any books on, uhm. Egypt? Ancient Egypt? Archaeology, mythology, things of that like…”

“Actually, I think we do. I keep those kinds of subjects close to the History section.” You step down from your stool, waving a hand for him to follow you as you lead him through the small labyrinth of bookshelves (some almost barely too small for more than one person).

You reach the shelves that contain the books and volumes on said subject. Some even leatherbound. You really should check inventory more often… You had more books on the subject than you thought. But then again, they may have also been left over from your great aunt’s stock. She loved reading on this sort of stuff. You remembered the few times she would read to you fables from some of these books. Strange, you could just barely recall one, now, actually… You shrug the twinge of childhood nostalgia off.

“Looks like I have more than I…” Your voice falls silent when you turn around and see Steven’s eyes already scanning each shelf–all the way to the ceiling–looking almost like a kid in a candy shop. You chuckle and it snaps him out of his trance.

“Uhm, oh. Yes! This is… er. Good! Great! I mean…” He rubbed the back of his neck slightly. “What I mean to say is that you have a very interesting selection of books!”

“Ha… Go ham on ‘em. Just don’t mind the dust… These books don’t get looked at too often. Rolling ladder is available for the higher shelves you can’t reach. Reading nooks are up front, and just let me know if you want any refreshments or snacks, or if you want to buy anything. I’ll either be up front, upstairs, or in back… Just press the buzzer on the counter if I’m not at the register.” You say, jabbing your thumb in the vague direction you came from. “And if you get lost in my little maze here…”

You click your tongue. “I should start offering some twine, huh?”

“Because I’m Theseus on his way out of the Minotaur’s Labyrinth?” Steven grinned at you, his eyes twinkling.

“More like I don’t wanna find your mummified remains tucked in between one of these shelves, eh?” You say, grinning at your pun.

Steven shook his head, his curls bouncing as he does so. “Oh, I doubt Marc or Jake would let me stay here that long.”

You pat his shoulder and squeak by him, leaving him alone to peruse your selection.

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Steven stayed in the back for nearly an hour. And when he came back he sat down right at the front nook, ordering a blueberry-cinnamon muffin with some Earl Grey tea sweetened with honey, no sugar. You mad a joke about having some Egyptian licorice tea somewhere, to which he started on a little infomercial type rant about how the Pharaohs used to drink it all the time back during the ancient days…

After about four hours (and three more muffins) he stepped up to your counter with all of his books in hand, a happy grin on his face. For sure, you thought, if this man had a tail, it’d be wagging like mad!

“I would ask if you found everything okay, but…” You eyed the stack of books. “...It looks like you kinda did!”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, ah… I got a little absorbed so I decided to take ‘em all…”

“Well, there is no return policy, but there is a trade-in policy. You can either get store credit or physical notes. Have to keep in business somehow right?” You shrug awkwardly.

“Ha ha… Yes, I understand. How much for all of them?” Steven beams, his attention was grabbed though, a moment later to the tiny pencil cup labeled "bookmarks". He plucked one out, and it was a pressed rose; the edges of the petals painted gold and vacuum-sealed with a colorful piece of paper within.

“Like those, huh?” You smile.

“O-oh yes… very much. It’s beautiful.” He said softly.

“Each mark is fifty-pence.” You say politely.

Steven smiled and placed the bookmark on the top of his book stack.

You ring up the books, and he happily pays for them with a wad of notes (also covering the muffins he scarfed down).

“I have a bag you can take, if you like. Canvas. I wouldn’t feel right if you had to lug all of those home!” You chuckle.

“Oh, it’s alright!” Steven grins, hoisting the books into his arms like they’re nothing after tucking his new bookmark within the safety of one of the heavier books.

He either works out a lot, or the man has simply done this so many times with so many different books he no longer feels the weight of them.

“I live close by, my flat is just down the block.”

“Oh! So I guess I can expect to hear from you more, huh?” You smile, holding the door open for him as he awkwardly waddles out of your shop.

“I certainly hope so!” He grins at you, giving you a curt nod as he walks down the misty London sidewalk.

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Later that night, after you had closed up shop, counted your earnings and stored them in the safe; you went upstairs to unwind for the day. You make a quick dinner, eat, and then shower.

While showering, you notice a different moon on your mark is full. This morning it was the bottom right one. Now, it’s the top one. It wasn’t uncommon for your mark to go outside its usual clockwise rotation, so you shrugged it off, grabbing a towel as you step out of the stall.

Once you laid in bed, putting on something from one of your streaming services (like, come on, who even uses cable anymore, right?), you propped your cheek in your hand; your elbow supporting you as you stared almost blankly at the screen.

You didn’t think much of anything that night. Even the socially awkward bookworm who had walked into your store today looking into the selection of books you had that rarely anyone ever touched.

Or at least you didn’t think much of anything. Until you felt like you were being run through with a red-hot poker straight into your abdomen. These weren’t menstrual or ovulatory cramps, those were in a different spot. These pains were around your stomach, just under the last few bones of your ribcage.

This was pain caused by your mark.

Your soulmate was hurt again.

You curled on your side, gasping for air while you waited for the phantom sensation to pass. Once it did, you spread out on your blankets, wiping the sweat from your brow.

“What the hell did you get yourself into now, you reckless dummy?” You ask the dead air of your bedroom.

Chapter 2: Link

#moon knight #marc spector x reader #jake lockley x reader #steven grant x reader #steven grant #marc spector #jake lockley #moon knight mcu #moon knight x reader #soulmate au #my writing

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local-ground-apple · 1 year

Note

Could I request headcanons of Leona, Vil and Jamil with a reader who loves bragging about them?

Hiiii and sure thing!🙂 Thank you for your request! Have a lovely day/evening/night~🍏🍎

🦁 Leona absolutely won't show it or admit it, but he secretly enjoys it. Please, never stop bragging about him. he kind of needs to hear your kind words (even though, sometimes he is annoyed by them),

🦁 He doesn't like to show that he cares and he will brush you off in public, pretending not to care whether you brag about him or not. But rest assured, Leona is all ears, when you begin complementing and praising him in front of the others,

🦁 Since Leona never truly felt appreciated by the others, he loves to be praised (especially by you). Naturally, he enjoys being recognised by others. Even if he tells you to stop bragging about him, he doesn't really mean it

🦁 Besides, it's not like he could stop you,

🦁 Although, his reaction to listening to you brag about him is usually something like "Yeah, I know that already", or if you guys are in public and you are ranting to someone how amazing he is, Leona will just roll his eyes, grab you by your arm and drag you away, saying something like: "You can stop it already, Herbivore"

🦁 Spoiler alert: you don't stop,

💜 Vil is used to being praised and he hears/reads a lot of compliments from his fans. Someone bragging about him isn't anything new to him. He isn't surprised nor frustrated when you join in,

💜 Vil doesn't mind your praises. Quite the opposite, he adores when you pay him compliments and brag about his qualities. He values your praises more than whatever his fans could write online,

💜 You absolutely adore to brag about Vil one of the most diligent and hard-working people you have ever met. Most of the time, you are complimenting his personality traits rather than his looks.

💜 Vil absolutely loves it,

💜 He finds it quite amusing when you are bragging about him in public. Vil thinks it's adorable and he doesn;t mind it at all,

💜 Sometimes Rook joins you. Especially if someone disagrees with you and says that Vil is nothing special at all.

💜 You and Rook are the unstoppable beauty team that absolutely destroyed that person with words and evidence. After that stunt, no one really bothers to disagree with your claims about Vil,

💜Vil wouldn't be surprised if you had created a powerpoint with all the things you could brag about him,

🐍 Please, for the love of God never stop bragging or complimenting him,

🐍 Jamil find it really embarrassing and he often looks as if he's about to murder you and then himself. When you praise him to some random people he had never seen in his whole life, or worse, to Scarabia members, he feels so ashamed that he wants to run away,

🐍 Needless to say, Kalim joined you in praising and now Jamil is so done with you both. He often complains how you two always manage to make him feel embarrassed,

🐍 Jamil's never-ending complaints weren't sufficient to deter you and Kalim. You both continue to brag about him despite his violent protests,

🐍 Eventually Jamil gives up and comes to terms with the situation. This won't stop him from rolling his eyes and sighing heavily whenever you start complimenting him,

🐍 If you start bragging about him in the public, Jamil can and will drag you out of there,

🐍 Jamil won't admit it, but he secretly enjoys listening to you bragging and complimenting him (even though your praises make him so embarrassed in public). He tried to convince you to do it when no one is around, yet he failled miserably,

🐍 Jamil may be still struggling with self-esteem, however your kind and proud words do help him,

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mshroom1e · 1 year

Note

Hi! Could i request Ortho finding out that Idia's online friend and eventually crush is the reader? And eventually he tries to matchmake them?

Hello!! Sorry for disappearing for a whole 2 weeks 💀 I've been busy with life and I ended up writing this fic way longer than I ppanned to. I hope you don't mind! Also, I got really stuck on some parts and wasn't sure which direction to go with the story. Apologies if it feels a little rushed.

Pr0ject Cupid | Idia x GN! Reader

type: fanfic

Summary: A pair of painfilly awkward people get set up by a member of the said pair's little brother.

5.8k words

tags: silly fluff, mutual crushing

Warning(s): very mild swearing

no way u acc saw me

bruh i couldve seen you with my eyes closed

you dumbass u just contradicted yourself

no shit

im gonna shave your eyebrows

...

Idia stifled a laugh and couldn't hide the cheesy grin that grew on his face as his eyes read over the pixelated letters on his monitor. About 3 weeks ago, he met you on a random server, and you instantly clicked. He wasn't one to form bonds with people so quickly, whether it was online or in person, but with you, how could he resist?

You got along like Q and W on a keyboard, plus you always reciprocated his nerdy comments and never got the wrong idea about any of his intentions. The only problem was, however, that you had no idea who each other were irl.

So, one day, Idia got curious about who you really were. He ended up searching for you on Magicam using the username he knew you by. There wasn't really much he was expecting as people usually used different names for their social media compared to the more nerdy online stuff.

Idia nearly fell out of his chair when a search result popped up, and a profile with quite a few posts showed up. It was you. There was no way it wasn't you.

His heart began beating faster than usual just at reading your captions, posts of your random thoughts, and the pictures you posted. You were definitely cute, maybe the prettiest person Idia had ever seen. Even though your facial features were pixelated, you somehow managed to make them look soft and warm, like an angelic version of yourself. There were also many pictures of foods you made in the Ramshackle Dorm, selfies with your friends, and a few pictures with Grim.

Okay, now Idia was panicking. He'd never felt the way he felt right now, but from the way his heart was running a marathon and he could feel warmth slowly creeping up his face, there was only one explanation. The description matched how the characters in dating sims would feel, and this was bad. He couldn't have a cru- no no no, a c-word. No way! He didn't even want to think of the word because it would only solidify his predicament in his head.

From his panic, his finger slipped and accidentally liked one of your posts. Idia's eyes widened as he saw the damage he'd already done as his brain went into full panick mode. There was no way to undo it, even if he un-liked the post. The notification must've already gotten to your phone and you would've noticed most likely and you'd block him, think he was a stalker and never speak to him again then he'd be become even more emo and-

He changed from his usual question mark posture in his chair to sitting in a fetal position in the corner of his room, hoping for the atoms in his body to slowly merge into the wall.

His phone in his pocket vibrated, and when Idia pulled out the device to see what the notification was, his heart nearly collapsed on itself. A flinch of his arm caused his phone to be launched across his room, and for some reason, he jumped to catch it, landing on a large, disorganised pile of manga with a loud crash. He hastily unlocked his phone to see what the alert was.

'Your EP has been restored!'

Damn.

There was a smooth sliding of the door to Idia's dorm room. Ortho stood? floated? levitated? at the entrance with a confused, yet worried expression in the visible part of his face.

"Idia? I heard a loud crash, and I was worried you got injured," Ortho floated closer to his brother.

"I'm f-fine!" Idia yelped.

'Hair tinted pink, increasing heart rate, flushed cheeks,'

Ortho's eyes drifted over to Idia's several monitors until he focused on a certain one.

"Yuu's Magicam profile?"

The little robot pieced two and two together before he said, "Oh, you like [Name], don't you?"

This was a really, really, really bad idea...

Idia's internal panick only escalated as he was dragged walking through campus with Ortho. Leaving his dorm room usually resulted in a one-sided fight for his life as every dialogue scene he had with another person besides his brother was set to hard mode by default.

Speaking with you in person was the best way to get to know each other better, Ortho would say. The problem was, Idia knew that you didn't know who he was, so it would probably be strange to suddenly have him speaking to you.

He was lost in his panicky thoughts when he felt someone bump into him, and he felt his body tipping back. (So unique and never seen before, I know.)

A hand quickly grabbed his wrist, hoisting him back upright. Ortho sent you a beaming smile with his eyes before quickly disappearing and leaving you alone with his brother, leaving the beanstalk to fend for himself.

Idia's heart nearly flipped in his stomach as he met your eyes. You let go of his wrist when he regained his balance, he almost fell over again.

"Careful," you smiled.

In his eyes, you looked like a panel from a manhwa where the love interest was introduced with flowers, sparkles, and glitter radiating around them.

"S-sorry," He managed to spit out, somehow sounding cohesive.

"It's okay, I just hope you didn't get hurt, I tend to grab onto stuff a little too tightly," you said with a sheepish chuckle.

Your laugh. Idia's ears felt blessed with such a delicate angelic sound. Like bells chiming in his ears, more harmonic than the songs from his favourite idol group's no.1 album. His heart was sent into overdrive, and he couldn't take it anymore and decided on the most rational option in his currently mushy brain.

To run.

So he ran.

You watched his retreating form with a fond look before you turned to face Ortho, who hid in a nearby bush and sent him a thumbs up.

This was progress, at least.

- A few days ago -

You had a crush on Idia. A huge one at that. There was no debate. You didn't even bother denying it.

You knew he rarely left his dorm room, so you barely saw him during the day. Seeing a flash of flamey blue hair dart around a corner just before you could fully get a look at the twitter logo-coloured candle always managed to make your heart squeeze and an undefeatable grin etch itself on your face.

Of course, a few days into talking to your new online friend, you already knew of his true identity but chose not to inform him of the fact. From what you'd seen on campus, he was the type of person to prefer engaging with others through the comfort of a screen rather than conversing face to face. And honestly, you couldn't blame him at all. It must've felt so stifling to always be conscious of the way you carried yourself, while choosing words carefully to not offend the person in front of you or make them think badly of you while simultaneously looking like a sane, functioning person.

So, you talked to him like an online friend would. After a few days of getting to know each other through public servers and direct messaging, you soon shared your interests and found common ground in a few of them. For example, you both were addicted to gacha games with diabolocal pity systems. He also started to open up to you, though you thought it was a little fast, but people tend to share a lot when speaking to someone through pixels on a screen as they felt more at home. He talked about his struggles when interacting with people and his constant anxiety about how people perceived him.

Being someone of minimal social intelligence, the most you could do was offer some general words of comfort about how everyone was different in their own way and some people are just more advantaged in certain aspects of life, social interaction being one of them.

As your feelings grew, you couldn't help but feel like your relationship was a little one-sided. You knew who exactly you were talking to, but as far as Idia knew, he was talking to and building a relationship with a person who could've been miles and miles away and he also barely knew who [Name] was.

Man, this really sucked.

- Yesterday -

Ortho was smart. It was only obvious since his mechanical brain had the efficency of a computer with infinite RAM. He knew his brother had met a new friend online, which explained his less gloomy aura and his anxious glances at his phone whenever they were in his room together.

It didn't take long for Ortho to learn that the person Idia was talking to also attended the same school. In his mind, he viewed finding out things about you as a way to further protect his older brother from harm.

Fast forward to later that day, Ortho cornered found you in the courtyard after you'd lost a bet with Grim and had to buy him a drink from a nearby vending machine.

He called out to you enthusiastically as he practically teleported to you, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Long story short, Ortho figured out how you felt about Idia, and he was over the moon. His brother finally had someone who he could happily spend time with, and he couldn't be happier for him. He knew Idia better than anyone, and it was certain that getting close to Idia in face-to-face terms would take a lot for him to get used to and he decided it would be best to slowly ease your way into making conversations with him without being forceful or overwhelming him.

Thus began your joint conspiracy to rizz up get to know Idia better.

- Present -

It took about a day for you to come to the conclusion that you'd most likely never see Idia during school hours whether he was on campus or not. Your schedules were so unmatched that it was ridiculous. When you had a lesson in the alchemy labs, he'd be in a P.E lesson and when you were in the history of magic, he'd be in some classroom that might as well be at the other side of Sage's Island.

Luckily for you, Ortho informed you about Idia's current whereabouts. He was in the Board Game Club's classroom, probably playing- you guessed it- board games. It felt like some sort of secret stealth mission, plotting where to catch Idia with Ortho so sneakily. You just hoped that this silly plot would work.

Now that you were in front of the clubroom's door, you had no idea what to do. Your brain already left your body shortly after your heart that was beating a mile a minute and had long since jumped out of your chest to who knows where. You'd worked so hard to get to this point (not really) and now that you were here, what were you going to do?

Showing up at his clubroom unannounced totally sounded like stalker behaviour from some poorly written fanfic, and you definitely were not about that life. What if you just entered casually? Did you have a friend in the board game club? Probably not since you didn't even know the names of the people in your homeroom class, save for Adeuce and Grim.

Deciding to swallow your nerves and whatever other anxiety that was clogging your airways, you calmly slid open the door. Surprisingly, the club had quite a few members present, but it wasn't too densely populated. Your eyes immediately lit up when familiar floaty blue flames caught your attention. He was alone on a table next to one of the room's walls. His usual board gaming partner, Azul, was nowhere to be seen. It was safe to assume he was somewhere exploiting some poor unfortunate soul of all their mortal possessions with his buy-one-get-one-free pair of henchmen.

You approached Idia, more nervous than a turkey the day before Thanksgiving. He noticed you and almost jumped out of his own skin.

Was he dreaming? If not, why else would you show up at the board game club? Before he knew it, he started to sweat. Every step you took closer to him made his poor heart run laps. The confident (Idia's POV. This does not accurately reflect current events.) stride in your step, and the smile you gave him as you approached made his face heat up, and the tips of his hair grow warmer. His flight- please there is absolutely no fight- instinct almost took over as he considered running out of the room at full speed.

There was no Ortho to help him communicate if he ended up having to talk to you. He was all alone for this pop-up Pokemon battle.

A random board game caught your eye, and you picked it up, deciding to use it as a shield to not let your conversation get stabbed in the chest by the painful spear called awkwardness.

"Hi, Idia." You said casually with your usual grin. 'Great start'

You failed to catch Idia's mortified expression as it disappeared as suddenly as it arrived. He opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn't get any words out. To his surprise, you didn't seem to mind his silence and just sat down in the chair across from his.

"Sorry to bother you," you continued, "If you want me gone, just say the word." The second part was intended to be lighthearted as you let out a low chuckle after you were done talking.

He quickly scrambled into his bag and pulled out a slim, grey tablet, and began to type.

"I don't mind you being here at all, [Name]." A voice from the device's speakers that sounded too much like Idia's said. You weren't all too shocked since you'd seen him use it around school a few times and had even seen the thing floating around campus by itself. You'd just never have a conversation with "it".

"Woah, is that a voice program?Did you make it yourself? I've only seen it being used for vocaloids, and even those mess up a few times. Did you use a sample of your voice? Is everything prerecorded? If you-" You blurted out, quickly smacking a hand over your mouth to shut yourself up before you could ramble any further.

Great job, [Name].

Idia's eyes lit up with surprise at your words as he quickly started typing something on his screen. His features moulded into a proud smirk, "Yeah, it's made with a sample of my voice. I made it using a vocaloid as a reference."

"Really?!" You almost jumped out of your seat, eyes practically shining with stars. Gosh, he really was so cool.

He nodded frantically as the tips of his firey hair faded into a warmer hue. Students in his dorm had the same base interests as he did. However, he was almost always too nervous to initiate a conversation with any of them. But with you, the nervousness he felt didn't try to suffocate him for once and instead felt like a sweet, comfy flutter in his chest.

"I found this when I walked into the room, and it looked fun. Wanna play?" Your short exchange feuled you with a little more confidence as you built the courage to ask him to play a board game with you.

You hadn't even looked at the game's cover before picking it up. Imagine your surprise at finding out you'd picked up "Monopoly Bass Fishing Edition".

Great job.

Now, Idia probably saw you as some weird fish-obsessed kid (no offence to Octavinelle) who probably looked up how to make bass fishing bait in their spare time. The cover was hideous. A massive bass fish was in the middle, surrounded by loops of smaller bass fish all saying things in speech bubbles where the letters were modelled to look like bass fish. To top it all off, there was a massive glittery title in the colour of neon orange that said, "Monopoly: Bass Fishing Edition." Underneath in equally as eye tormenting sentence bordered off by a wiggly pink line that read "Get ready to be schooled!" Get it? Coz groups of fishes are called schools-

This was going to be painful.

You liked to think you knew all the rules of Monopoly by heart. Especially after seeing relationships crumble over the neverending board game.

Idia didn't seem phased, so you assumed he already knew the rules of the game, too.

You played for a bit, taking turns to roll a double to see who could start first. The first to roll a double was eventually Idia, so he took the first turn.

You knew Idia was competitive from the way he would obliterate the opposition during your online meet-ups in matches. What you didn't expect was to end up going bankrupt after only a few loops around the board. It took a while for you to accept defeat, but after seeing the small, triumphant smile that gently made its way onto Idia's face, any loss was worth it.

Now that you looked around the room, most of the board game club members had long since departed, and it was only you and your blue-haired friend left in the room. A blanket of quiet and slight awkwardness fell over the two of you as you both looked at anything but each other.

"We should uh, but the pieces away," you suggested.

He looked at you, a little surprised at your sudden breach of silence, before he quickly nodded. "R-Right."

After stiffly putting the pieces away, occasionally flinching when the tips of your fingers made contact as you passed some game pieces between yourselves, there wasn't much else for you to do despite twiddling your thumbs. From an outsider's point of view, the aftermath was painfully awkward as neither of you had anything to say. Sitting in silence wasn't always a bad thing, but come on.

Your brain frizzled as you tried to think of something, anything to say to start a conversation.

"Nice weather we're having today." So creative.

As if the universe was saying a big "f*ck you", there was a loud rumble of thunder outside the window before massive raindrops began to smack on to the grass and pavement outside, each with a louder 'plap!' than the previous one each time.

Idia giggled before trying to hold back a laugh, which eventually turned into even more giggles. You stared at him for a few seconds, stunned. You hadn't actually heard him laugh before as he always looked so terrified around you. Sure, he was laughing at your stupidity, but this was a start, right?

It didn't take long for you to join in, laughing at yourself too.

Maybe coming to his clubroom on impulse wasn't so bad after all.

"Sam's store is releasing this SSR-tier set of trading cards today, and I have to go get it," Idia muttered to himself as he scurried down a hallway of the Ignihyde dorm. "No one's gonna that early, especially since it's not gonna attract any normies-"

"But what if there's a whole mob of NPCs there? Worst case scenario is a few of them showing up to do some early morning shopping, so grabbing what I need and skidadling outta there is gonna be ez."

Ortho was most likely in his room resting at this hour, so Idia decided not to bother him. Besides, it was only a trip to the school store. He should be fine, right?

Wrong.

It was not ez peasy.

It just happened to be that the same day Idia's treasured ultra rare cards were released on the same day as Sam's new mystery drink that the whole school went crazy for. By the time Idia was about to leave the store after paying for what he came for, the whole area was packed, and it was almost impossible to move. Waves of students rushing to the till after grabbing a bottle of the new beverage washed over the store grounds.

People, people, people, and more people. Sweaty teenagers seemed to fight tooth and nail just to get their hands on a bottle. It was like the kids from the UK when Prime was launched. (iykyk) Everywhere he turned, he seemed to bump into another 3 people and get elbowed by another five. The sheer power of the crowd almost swept him off his feet, and he felt himself being dragged to the opposite direction from where he was headed. He reached his hand out to grab at something, while the other held his cards close to his chest, but there was nothing to hold onto for support. The only option was to become one with the crowd.

As he was about to give up and accept his fate, his outstretched hand was tugged on by a familiar, gentle yet firm grip, which felt like he was being pulled ashore after drifting off into the ocean. Idia's body was pulled upright and into a much less crowded space. A pleasant warmth spread across his chest as he saw the face of his saviour.

A part of him felt mortified while the other felt relieved. He was glad to have been pulled out of the sea of people, but he felt a little lame to have to have been saved by someone else, as if he couldn't handle himself. Another reason, the more obvious one, was because it was you. In his point of view, you always showed up at random times and ended up helping him without realising how much of an impact your actions held.

"I'm getting this feeling of deja vu," you smiled, leading Idia to a bench opposite the store.

"You helped me again-" Idia muttered, his eyes downcast.

You tilted your head, a little confused, "Hm?"

"N-No, it's not that I have a proble-" He cut himself off, "I, um-"

How did he manage to talk himself into a corner like this? Trying to talk to you felt like a puzzle with the myriad of emotions all rushing through his head at once, and he was bound to mess up somewhere.

"Don't sweat it," you responded. Your smile unwavering.

For whatever reason, Idia's anxious jumble of words never phased you. Your willingness to let him take his time when talking to you gave him a sort of confidence, and he could hope to speak with confidence that he didn't even know he was capable of.

A ray of reflected early morning sunlight that bounced off the shiny packaging of what Idia held securely in his hands and it caught your eye.

"Is that (insert game reference here)?!" Your voice cracked as you said the name of the franchise.

The mood was instantly lightened at your change in focus, and Idia felt himself get giddy. He was so happy to share a conversation with someone who wasn't a so-called "normie."

His excitement faded though, a bit, when he looked up to find that you looked slightly disappointed. You looked at Idia in confusion, but shrugged.

You sighed, looking away.

Why were you disappointed? Was it something he did? Oh no, what if you thought he was lame for getting trapped in a crowd like that, and you actually thought he was such a bother the whole time-

"I still haven't managed to get my hands in a copy," you frowned.

"Oh," He sounded stunned, which confused you. "Um, I-" He swallowed, fighting the urge to pull his hood over his head and hide.

"I mean-" Idia's eyes seemed to glance at everything and everywhere other than at you.

His breath caught in his throat, and the feeling multiplied by a gazillion when he saw Ortho watching him from behind a tree. He almost choked on whatever air he'd just managed to inhale into his trachea.

To make matters worse, Ortho held a cute but terrible made neon blue glittery banner that said, "Talk to them, Idia!!!"

Wasn't he resting?

The poor nerd (affectionate) wanted to evaporate on the spot.

"What were you about to say?" You asked, not seeing the silliness behind you.

Idia glanced back and forth between you and Ortho, wishing with every single bone in his body that the 50/50 gacha in front of him right now would go his way and you wouldn't turn around at all.

Imagine his horror when you followed his worryingly mortified gaze, and he saw our eyes widen a fraction, and you slapped a hand over your mouth.

"Ortho?"

He panicked for a good few seconds before he did what he did best and bolted away from you with a stubborn blush creeping up his neck.

"Huh?Wait up!" You called after him, but it was futile.

Ortho soon waved happily at you as he followed Idia back to what you assumed was the Ignihyde dorm.

"Where did you-" Idia began, speedwalking to the Hall of Mirrors with more agility than he knew his G-fuel filled body could possess.

"I did some research, and it showed that people your age have a 60% more chance at talking to someone they like when they're encouraged by someone else!" Ortho chirped with the certainty of the sun rising in the east.

"I'm not- It's not-" Idia couldn't find the words to use to retort at his younger brother. The way his sunny amber eyes shimmered with glee was enough to punch the words of protest that Idia could ever muster right down the drain. "J-Just tone it own a notch next time..." He finished with a small frown.

"Okay!" Ortho sang, floating into Ignihyde's mirror after the older Shroud.

Idia signed and pulled the strings of his hoodie tighter to conceal his face more. Now that you were somewhat aware of how he felt about you, he had no idea how to face you the next day.

It had been over a week, and you'd gotten no contact from Idia or Ortho. It was safe to assume that Idia probably didn't leave his room a single time in that time frame. A metaphorical banner was built between you as he had practically gone AWOL on everything you could use to contact him. So, you couldn't even talk to him with your online persona and try to understand how he felt by hoping he'd confide in his online bestie even a little. Not that you wanted to intrude on his privacy, but the fact that things seemed to be falling apart between you two before you properly even got to know each other hurt a lot more than th fact that you convinced yourself of- the fact that it looked like he didn't want to see you again. You sighed, closing your computer.

This was pointless. No doubt, he doesn't feel the same way towards you, and you really should start accepting it. Maybe he thought you were strange? Or it was creepy that you always seemed to be around when he was in trouble? Maybe he thought you were a stalker? He'd probably figured out your online identity and blocked you, hence the lack of activity on any of his accounts over the last week and a bit.

But you couldn't accept it. Not until you know more, and you don't think it'll help if you keep prying at the subject, especially since it won't do any good in the end. It was useless to keep trying. You grabbed your phone and checked the screen for any messages, but there were none. You put it back on the nightstand and turned on your side, burying your face in your pillow.

You lay there for what felt like forever and eventually fell asleep.

Morning soon arrived, and you woke up to a series of knocks at the main door of Ramshackle Dorm. The quick thuds of knuckles striking wood resounded throughout the whole bottom floor of the building, probably enough to alert your cat roommate out of his venture into Dream Land.

The perpetrator was definitely unexpected. It was a fine weekend, and you hadn't been expecting a visit from anyone at all, especially not the younger Shroud brother.

Rubbing your eyes and letting out a yawn as you opened the door, you had to squint to see something else other than a mop of flickering blue and a white block.

"Ortho?" You blinked. Your statement sounded more like a question to yourself than to the other party.

"Good morning!" Ortho said cheerfully, waving with one arm while balancing an assortment of books and various games under the other. He was carrying four plastic bags full of stuff, including a large bowl with some cereal, milk, eggs, toast, fruit, and orange juice inside it.

"Err..." you replied.

"We came to hang out!" Ortho cheered, which confused you even more.

"What? And who's 'we'??" You questioned all at once, not even knowing where to begin.

"Idia wants to apologise for running away from you for the past week. He said he's really sorry and did it because he was scared," he rambled on with his usual cheery tone and pointed to a nearby tree, "And we brought food!"

Behind said tree stood said Idia, holding onto the tree's bark with a grip for dear life while only the top half of his face peeked out.

What.

- Flashback to earlier -

"Now, what do I do? This is demon mode difficult- I'd rather fight Absolute Virtue from the original release of FF11 all over again for 16 hours straight than face them again... Can I get an F in the chat for this one..." Idia mumbled to himself in a string of incomprehensible gibberish as he sat in a fetal position at the corner of his room while his hood covered his entire head, and he rocked back and forth.

"This is the worst-"

"Cheer up, Idia!" Ortho handed him a charger, "You can always talk to them online if it helps!"

"At this point, they've probably forgotten about me. People's online friends get Men in Black'ed from their brains all the time. I'll just look like some weird guy that goes,'Hey kids!wanna to get free RAM for your computer?' or something-" his rampant thoughts only dug him further into his self-made pit of despair.

"Hmm," Ortho pondered, "Let's go see them!"

"Are you kidding?! No way!" He shook his head rapidly and started rocking himself even faster, "If they don't see me, maybe they'll even forget I exist and I can become one with the void..."

"Don't be ridiculous, Idia. We can go see them right now!" Ortho hovered around, gathering a bunch of gaming equipment and books, "Hanging out like friends will get rid of any tension in the air!"

"No!" Idia protested, but it was too late.

He'd already been picked up by a robotic arm, and off they went.

"That's pretty much what happened," Ortho recalled as you lead the pair the lounge.

"Right... But I still don't get how that means he's sorry..." You muttered.

"Why don't you tell them, Idia?" Ortho looked at his brother, "I'll leave you two to talk here while I make some snacks!"

The older Shroud twiddle his fingers and stared at the floor, his hood still covering his head.

It took a few seconds of silence before Idia began talking.

"Uh," he spoke quietly and cleared his throat twice before proceeding, "I was so stupid."

"Huh?" You said, gaping at Idia.

"I know I've done stupid things, but this was beyond stupid. Like, way too stupid! Noob at Subway Surfers level of stupid!" He babbled on, his voice cracking with uncharacteristic emotion.

He took a deep, shaky breath and closed his eyes, attempting to compose himself. His hair turning pink. "I kept telling myself it was okay for us to keep being friends online even though I found your Magicam page and accidentally liked one of your posts and knew who you were but you didn't know who I was and I felt guilty and then you suddenly showed up then I realised I l-l-like you and then that thing at the shop happened and you probably thought it was so cringe-"

Then it clicked. So he thought you thought he was weird? He didn't hate you.

It felt like a huge weight was lifted off your chest.

Then, you chuckled, snickered, giggled, then let out waves of laughter. Idia stared at you, dumbfounded.

"This whole time, haha, I thought I was the one who did something wrong."

"No! You didn't," He quickly jumped in.

"Wait, you just said that you like me...?" You pointed to yourself, and you felt your face grow warm.

Silence landed like a wall of pure steel between the two of you.

He gaped at you with wide eyes. Dang it! He seriously didn't mean to blurt that part out loud. Curse him and his tendency to blab everything he thought aloud as soon as he started talking!

Idia covered his reddened face with his hands.

"What a coincidence," you smiled, "Since I like you too."

You gently pulled his hands away from his face and gave him your brightest grin. He froze as soon as your skin made contact, and his breathing quickened, his hair turned a full, passionate pink.

"Ahahahaha...!" He stammered.

A sudden noise filled both the room, followed by a long silence, causing the both of you to turn towards the source. Your heads turned in sync to see Ortho standing at the door with a camera after it let out a painfully loud 'click!'

He gave the pair of you a huge smile with his eyes.

"For memories' sake!" He cheered.

Bonus

After you'd made breakfast together with the ingredients that the brothers brought, you, Idia and Ortho, sat in a triangle on the floor, while Grim watched lazily from the sofa. It was more of a joint interrogation performed against the little robot with Grim serving as an audience.

"So, Ortho, you knew Idia already knew who I was?" You raised an eyebrow, "And you knew about how he felt??"

"And you already knew that they liked me? And you knew they knew who I was and didn't tell me??" Idia squeaked, "And you told them to come to the store that day?!"

Ortho picked up a controller and was suddenly immersed in gameplay.

"Haha..." He sweatdropped.

413 notes · View notes

jaestrz · 1 year

Text

Temptation - seungcheol

idol!au - seungcheol x reader - fluff - angst??? - protective cheol

“of course it matters to me. You’re a part of the team and you’re under my responsibility. I won’t be able to forgive myself for failing to take care of my members and my only love.” -s.

🍂🍂🍂

Things like this never really bothered you for a long time. It was something you’ve learnt during your fresh debut years and Seungcheol’s familiar advice. don’t let a random stranger online who didn’t see your struggles, ruined the best of you. Although you couldn’t never understand why people were cruel enough to do that, you worked hard to be in the place you were now and pushed random strangers opinion. Whether it’s a random rumor other people made online to throw shades, you never really took it seriously unless it was a correct information.

Indeed people do change throughout the years. Some humans can really be fragile with their emotions once they grew older.

This started when the other day you accompanied him to his photoshoots. Cheol was trying to process and accepting your weird behavior. That day was also the day an article online was released about your interaction with Taeyong during an award show a few days ago. But the headline was starting to bother you. Cheol doesn’t know it yet. He hasn’t been on his phone due to his busy schedule.

The sound of the camera shutter stopped, signaling he was on a break. He walked towards you and you quickly shutting off your phone, giving him a smile as he comes closer to kiss your forehead. You didn’t know what you were feeling at the moment. A sense of guilt build inside you like piles of deck stacked up together. You shouldn’t feel this scared. Everything on the article wasn’t true at all.

You tried to distract your own mind by fixing his hair and have a talk with the staffs. To be honest with yourself, it wasn’t working.

“love, you okay? You’re so pale, what’s wrong? Sick?” There was a mixture of concerned and worried in his question. You just sat straight and nodded, telling him you were absolutely fine. Liar.

Cheol is the most hardworking person you’ve ever met in your whole life. He took care of you and 13 other people for almost his whole life, putting on more pressure didn’t seem like a good idea. He attend meetings even when he didn’t have anything to say just to give out all the informations to members. Cheol put you and his members before himself. He’s really a great leader with responsibility.

Maybe you just wished you could’ve been a better girlfriend and team member.

Cheol wasn’t that easy to fool by your lies either. If he sees something off, he knows there’s something wrong. Maybe he can’t ask you right now but he’ll ask you as soon as you both get home. But your sudden change of behavior has gotten on his nerves. Cheol noticed you had been going through your phone a lot, sighing at something that he doesn’t know.

Even when you both got home, you denied the thousand questions he had asked you. “Is there anything you want to show me baby? You’re quiet for the last few days as well. Was there something that I don’t know?”

“Was there something you’ve wanted? I can buy it for you.”

“Do you need a few more days of break? I could discuss with the staffs if you need me to.”

Yet you couldn’t answer him and just ignored. There was a disappointed look on his face when he saw you walk away from him. Cheol thought about dropping the subject once he saw the way you’ve gotten uncomfortable and he didn’t want to accidentally cause an argument. So he stopped talking about it, hoping whatever kind of problems in your mind that has been bothering you would soon be gone by the next few days or faster. But to him, it was getting worse in his point of view.

He indeed has seen a rumor scandal between you and a NCT member on social media but that never came up to Cheol’s mind if that was the cause of your weird change of behavior. All he could think of was 3 days ago when you said you’ve been in a lot of pain mentally and physically from overworked. So Cheol cleared your schedule with the help of staffs.

That. You wondered if you ever deserved a person like him. Were you enough? Because you didn’t feel like you should earn love from him. You don’t deserve him. That’s what you thought.

Yet he took care of you as if you are worth more than what you think.

‘ svt member y/n caught having an affair interaction with nct Taeyong while she’s in a relationship with svt’s leader Scoups.’

userxxxxxx: I wonder what they were talking about

randxmxser: she’s doing things without thinking her limits. Poor scoups.

kxwxii: she’s probably cheating on Scoups. Is one man not enough for her?

qwlsky: she’s pretty and all but damn. Scoups deserves someone better.

and society’s opinions could really make people feel bad.

You don’t even know how long you could bottle your feelings because you ended up failing to keep it a secret from him when you went to his arms, barely getting yourself together. Both of you were coming back from a long meeting for future going seventeen schedules ahead. It seemed a little bit weird for a request to him but you asked him to pull over at the side of the road. He did generally asked you why but he slowly parked and you got out of the car, leaving him confuse.

“Y/n?” Cheol called you, until he saw you lean against his car and a tear escaped your eyes.

When he saw your struggles, he soon got out as well and walked to you, seeing you break down like a crack lined glass just shattered in front of his eyes. He felt like as something had tug his heartstrings. There was something that has been bothering you so much.

You felt his arms, slowly pulling you close to his chest as you breathe in his scent of cologne. Hot tears streamed down your face, feeling him hug you tighter with his chin rested on the top of your head. If it weren’t because of something else, there’s only left one thing on his mind. God, he wished he could’ve think faster. His nightmare came true before he could take action. He rubbed your back, trying to calm you down. “Are you mad at me Cheol? I swear I wasn’t-”

He hushed you. “hey, we went over this before right? I trust with every decision and action you do. We promised not to trust everything we see in the internet baby.” He told you. You didn’t know why were you scared either.

“I know you would never do anything like that. We made an agreement we can talk freely with our friends right? I don’t see a problem with you having an interaction with others.” He was soft. Even with the cold breeze outside, his presence sent warmth to you. Cheol could feel how scared you were. He never knew how much this could affect you.

“does it matter to you?”

“of course it matters to me. You’re a part of the team and you’re under my responsibility. I won’t be able to forgive myself for failing to take care of my members and my only love.” There was a smile on his face as he wiped the tears of your face. His laugh. It’s like a instant cure medicine for your heart.

Maybe you could think that you don’t deserve humans like him but he could guarantee he couldn’t live without you by his side.

“I love you, please remember that. I would never get angry over something that isn’t true. I’m proud you’re brave enough to speak it up to me.”

“y/n! Are you okay? I heard about the scandal rumor thing yesterday. Please don’t even bother, they’re just seeking for attention.” You see one of the staffs you’re close with approached by while you and Seungcheol. You smiled. “Yeah. I’m fine, thanks for the asking.”

In the meeting, you didn’t really spoke a full sentence to anyone. You just listened to everything. Seungcheol did most of the talking but you couldn’t really catch up with the conversation. You didn’t even realized how much time had passed by due to you getting lost in your own thoughts. His cold hand touches yours snapped you back to reality.

“you okay?”

you hummed in response before feeling his lips touches your forehead. “The team settled everything. We can go now.”

Soon a few moments later, a notification popped up in both’s phones.

‘artist guidelines.’

#seventeen #ao3 #love #fanfic #imagines #svt fluff #svt #svt x reader #seungcheol fluff #seungcheol au #seventeen seungcheol #choi seungcheol #seungcheol scenarios #seungcheol angst #idol au #idol!reader #lovers #seungcheol x y/n #svt imagines

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pimosworld · 5 months

Text

The ties that bind

Pairing-Dave York x f!reader x Frankie Morales

Series Summary-Dave is a private investigator who tracks down soulmates. He’s tasked to find Frankie’s, but what happens when he finds you and wants you all to himself?

CW-18+,MDNI,NSFW, Angst,Fluff,Hurt,Comfort, Eventual smut,MMF dynamics, a lot of music references, best friends loving each other. Individual warnings will be added to chapters with sensitive topics.

WC-5K

A/N- Dave is basically a stalker but it’s hot. Alicia is the best friend everyone wants and poor Frankie is gonna go through it for a bit I’m sorry.

[Series Masterlist][Main Masterlist]

Not beta read

Chapter II

Three days

That’s all it takes for Dave to find you. Even the most conscientious person does not realize their social media footprint. Tattoo artists have taken to posting their portfolios online to help show off their work and maybe connect a few soulmates.

Image searches and his confidential connections are what helps him be so successful. It’s not often he has to give a refund for any reason other than the person he found has no interest in meeting their soulmate.

It’s a feeling he can’t describe when he sees your photo. You have a face like someone he’s known his whole life, yet he’s never met you. Your smile lights up his screen as you stand next to an albeit conventionally attractive woman but just not his type. He knows nothing about you, even with a file on his desk with all the details he could gather about your life.

Francisco is a very lucky man

With his flight booked and a hotel for a week, this should be a fairly quick trip. Once he confirms that it is in fact Frankie’s soulmate, he’ll approach you with the details and hopefully or regretfully connect you with Frankie.

****

Dave doesn’t get nervous. He’s usually all business, not caring much how the person is going to react, he just wants to get it over with so he can be on his way. He spent a little extra time this morning in his hotel, checking over his appearance. A little over dressed for a first meeting, not a single hair out of place.

The record store you work at is not very far from his hotel but he decides to drive anyway. Sweating through his dress shirt isn’t really a good look for a glorified stalker. Yes of course he was a private investigator but people didn’t always kindly take to being told he was hired to find them…as romantic as it may seem to some.

He parks his rental across the street from the record store but he can’t see much with the windows decorated with drawings and a floor to ceiling plant wall. He takes one last look at himself in the rear view mirror, trying too hard not to focus on the lines he’s never noticed before etched across his forehead.

Dave walks the short distance across the street and stops to admire the small easel outside. Buy one get one half off records with today's date written in cute bubble letters. He imagines you spent some time on it but obviously he can’t be certain it was you.

He enters and a bell chimes above his head as you look over busy with another customer.

“Welcome to spins, I’ll be with you in a moment.” You give a half wave and a smile in his direction and he forgets how to be a human for a second. He stands stupidly in the doorway watching you as you animatedly describe something about a hidden poster in the vinyl jacket to the older woman you're helping.

He finally wills his feet to move and picks a random aisle to peruse while he waits for you. He had something prepared to say to you but now he can’t remember for the life of him how to do his job. He looks around admiring the colorful orange and yellow walls. The natural light brightening the small store that you seem to be running on your own. There’s a small nook in the back with an old zenith and two leather chairs on either side. This place feels cozy like a home he’d blend right into. Very unlike his gray drab living room back home.

He stares down at the random assortment of vinyls in front of him and picks one up so he doesn’t look suspicious. Frankly he has no idea what he’s looking at while he racks his brain for an appropriate introduction.

“You don’t strike me as a Grateful Dead fan.” He turns to see you standing there, with that same bright smile on your face when you waved at him. He’s not sure if you said something as you wait patiently for a response, nervously biting your bottom lip between your teeth and he wants to pull it down with his thumb. He’s completely lost it at the sight of you in some worn overalls and orange top matching the decor of the room.

“I’m sorry did you say something?” You duck your head and laugh a little and he can’t help but laugh with you. He hasn’t been this nervous to talk to a woman in a very long time.

You gesture to the record in his hand. “Are you a fan?”

“Oh, ugh honestly? I just picked up the first thing I saw.” He sets it back in its place, careful not to mess up the order now that you were watching. “What do I strike you as?”

You smirk and study him up and down, you start circling him like you’re stalking your prey. He follows you with his eyes until he’s forced to turn his head, to which you protest with a stern look. Maybe it’s the way you don’t seem to be intimidated by him or the way you’re so blatantly checking him out that has him so intrigued.

“You look like a Journey fan to me.”

“Well it seems your inspection is correct because I love Journey.” Your squeal of excitement takes him by surprise as you jump up and down.

“I was totally joking…I’ve literally never done that before.” You don’t really know what’s gotten into you but this is quite possibly the most handsome man that’s ever walked into the store and Alicia would kill you if you didn’t at least have a little fun with him.

“I’m glad I could help you find a hidden talent…” He leans in to see your name tag and you can smell the woody scent of his cologne and fresh laundry. You don’t miss the way he licks his lips after he speaks and you would be a complete idiot to not notice he’s flirting with you.

“You look a little overdressed?”

“Dave.” He holds out his hand for you and it nearly dwarfs your own when you shake it. He holds it for a moment longer as he stares down at your wrist. Men always had a weird reaction to seeing your tattoos.

“Well Dave, you’re very dressed up to look at records in the middle of the day.”

This is the part where he says he’s a private investigator.

“I’m an insurance agent.” You raise your eyebrows at that.

This is the part where he says your soulmate hired him to find you.

“I’m here for work for a little while. The store caught my eye.” Chances this man walked into the store on a whim are pretty slim but you don’t really care at the moment.

“Well Dave the insurance agent…sounds fake if you ask me.” You turn to walk away but don’t feel him following you. “The section you want is over here.”

Dave has been having a moral dilemma ever since he saw your photo. It’s being made all that more difficult at the confirmation of your hummingbird tattoo on the inside of your wrist. The same one that he noticed on Frankie when he rolled up his sleeves at the coffee shop.

He follows you to the end of the aisle trying not to look at your ass in those overalls that seem to fit you perfectly. You have a bounce in your step and he can’t for the life of him remember the last time he saw someone so adorably happy.

“It’s hard to pick just one. Departure is a great album but Frontiers has some of their best hits.” You chew on your lip again as you flip through the stack. “But Escape has some amazing songs.”

He can’t help the smile on his face as he listens to your detailed synopsis, it’s something he could listen to everyday. He’s lucky he’s the only customer in here at the moment. He’d kill someone if they dared interrupt his private hand picked selection from you.

“Honestly I would just go with their greatest hits. It has most of the songs you’ll want, maybe missing a few in my opinion.” You say the last part like it’s a special secret that only he and you share. “Don’t mind my rambling…my mom always said I didn’t know what to stop.” Hence the tattoo

You’re holding it out for him like a silver platter, practically beaming and that little part of his brain ticks away again. This is someone’s soulmate. He takes it from you gently and tucks it under his arm.

“We have a player back here if you want to check for any scratches. Everything here is pretty much donated or thrifted by yours truly.” You do a little curtsy and suddenly look nervous for the first time in the conversation.

“I actually have to get going but I really appreciate the hand selection.” He doesn’t miss the way your face drops a little and he so badly wants to stay but if he doesn’t leave now, he never will.

“I’ll get you rung up so you can get out of here. I’m sure you have very important ‘insurance’ matters to attend to.” He lets out a hearty laugh, one he didn’t know he was still capable of.

You enter the total into the old school cash register, everything about this place makes him feel like he’s in the twilight zone. You place it in a paper bag along with a cleaning rag and some random coupons.

“Here you go Dave…bring it back if you’re not satisfied.” He’s trying to be completely normal about you… but the way you emphasize satisfied has him thinking inappropriate thoughts.

“Thanks hummingbird, I’ll be back soon.” He winks as he exits, the bell chiming above his head.

There’s no way he can know your nickname, it’s just a coincidence since he saw your tattoo. Except no one’s called you that in years.

****

“Tell me more.” Alicia hasn’t stopped pacing since you got home from work and told her about Dave.

“I don’t know what else to say.” You sigh as you stare up at the ceiling from the couch. “He was just easy to talk to.” And extremely attractive, charming, well dressed…

She leans over the couch as she cradles your head “Oh babe, you’ve got it bad.”

“Stop, we talked for like five minutes.” Your best friend knows you better than you know yourself. Something about Dave just felt like more than a chance encounter with a stranger. He cared what you had to say, respected your opinion…

“I’ve lost you again.” She’s sitting beside you playing with your comfort blanket, giving you that look.

“Sorry…I’m just overthinking this. I don’t even know anything about him.” You furrow your brow and she leans over to smooth it out.

“Stop that, you’ll get wrinkles.” She’s like a fussy mother sometimes but you love her. “Listen, I'm gonna give you my honest opinion.”

“I’d be disappointed with anything less.”

She grabs your hands and holds them in hers. “I know you just met him, but he sounds nice. So why don’t you just have some fun with it.”

Easier said than done.

“Fine, but I won’t be surprised if I never see him again.” You don’t want to get your hopes up anymore than you already have.

“Oh ya I’m sure he won't be able to pull himself away from his ‘insurance job’ to pay you another visit.” She puts the latter in quotations and you both laugh.

“So you do agree with me! His job sounds so fake.” You shove her lightly as she leans against the headrest.

“I can't judge, I don’t even have a job.”

“So what do you do all day?”

She taps lightly on her chin, fake pondering. “I mostly sit by the window and sigh until you’re off work.”

“Well you should come hang out with me when you’re bored. Who knows you might find yourself a Dave.” You wink at her as you stand from the couch and head over to your record player.

“I might take you up on that. If not just to watch you nerd out over music all day.”

You playfully flip her off as you flip through your personal stack of vinyls. Some from your dad and some you’ve accumulated over the years. Others more recently from the store when a special one catches your eye.

“First of all, you love my taste in music.” You hold up the Prince record and she enthusiastically nods her head. “Second of all, you get to pretend to know all about music on your dates because of muah.”

“Touché. Now put that shit on so we can have a dance party.”

You cue up the music as she dramatically flings off the blanket. You don’t even have to turn around to know she’s standing behind you with her invisible mic in hand.

Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today to get through this thing called life. Electric world life, it means forever and that’s a mighty long time.

“Must you do this every time?”

She grabs you by the collar of your sleep shirt, pulling you face to face with her as you try not to burst out into laughter.

But I’m here to tell you there’s something else. The afterworld, a world of never ending happiness. You can always see the sun, day or night.

You sigh in her face and bring your invisible mic up.

So when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills, you know the one. Dr. Everything’ll be alright.

You both take a step back and point to each other as the music picks up. These are the moments you live for with your best friend. Soulmate or not.

And if the elevator tries to bring you down. Go crazy.

****

Frankie slides into the booth with a pitcher of beer and three glasses.

“You find your soulmate yet Fish?” Ben pours a glass missing the way Santi rolls his eyes.

“Let the man get settled in.” Santi leans over grabbing the freshly poured beer from Ben and hands it to Frankie.

Ben sends Frankie an apologetic smile but he waves him off.

“It’s only been a few days Ben, but I’m feeling optimistic.”

That surprises Santi a little but he would never tell Frankie that he was skeptical of his friend being receptive to this whole ordeal.

It wasn’t a lie, Frankie was feeling very optimistic these days. He spent hours reading through the testimonials of people who had success with Dave’s services. After their awkward meeting at the coffee shop Frankie needed to put his mind at ease. Majority of the connections had been made in no less than three to five days. This was the end of day three. If his reputation was as good as people said then he should be expecting a call pretty soon.

“How’s Will?” Santi asks, trying to change the subject.

“Hopefully on a beach enjoying some overpriced cocktail with his Wife.” Ben tilts his glass toward the other men as they silently cheers.

His attempt at changing the subject only made Frankie’s mind wander. Thinking of how much fun he had on his honeymoon. How could someone say they were there for better or worse and then decide one day they had enough? He didn’t want to feel like a placeholder in someone’s life.

A light buzzing in Frankie’s pocket brings his attention back to the present. Dave’s name illuminates on the screen of his phone.

“Sorry, I should take this.” Frankie excuses himself from the table and steps outside the bar.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Francisco, it’s Dave York. Do you have a minute to talk?” His tone comes off a little apprehensive but he doesn’t want to assume.

“Ya I have a minute, what’s up?”

“I’ve got a lead I want to follow up on tomorrow.I just wanted to give you an update on how things are going.”

“That’s…amazing. Is there any more you can tell me?” He hears Dave sigh on the other end. “I understand if you can’t, obviously you’re the expert, this is all very new to me.”

“I don’t like to give too much information, just in case it’s a dead end. I will say this person is only a few hours from you.”

Frankie understands what a tough position Dave is in. If this person isn’t his soulmate or for some horrible reason it just doesn’t work out, he’s got his hopes up for no reason.

It stings a little knowing that his soulmate isn’t halfway across the world. They’re potentially in his backyard and quite possibly have been for some time. He doesn’t want to get ahead of himself so he tucks that thought away.

“Thanks for the update Dave, hope to hear from you soon.”

“Hopefully I’ll have some good news for you in the next few days.”

Frankie ends the call and enters the bar to rejoin the guys and give them the good news.

****

Dave sits at the hotel lounge, the ice in his drink melted long ago making his whiskey nearly tasteless.

He’s lied to clients before, but never for his own benefit. He’s spent most of the day deciding what to do about you. His mind is going in all directions of how he should handle this situation. From the outside the answer is obvious. This was literally what he was hired to do. He’s connected so many people he’s lost count.

This isn’t the first time he’s found someone’s soulmate attractive…attraction was only one piece of the puzzle. He’s never felt this level of excitement and anticipation of possibly seeing you again. You didn’t belong to him by nature and yet he felt like you were meant for him to find you.

He had to give himself a push in one direction either way, so he decided to call Frankie and tell him he might have found you. There was no going back now, he was going to tell you tomorrow who Frankie is and watch his heartbreak in real time when he sees that look on your face.

You belong to someone else

****

Dave hovers for a moment outside the store. For some reason he feels more uncomfortable in plain clothes than he does in his suit and tie. His reflection in the window of the store feels foreign as he takes in his t-shirt and jeans appearance.

He’s not even sure you’re working today and he’s been trying to catch a glimpse of you in the window but to no avail. Pretty soon he’s going to have to call it a day and head back to the hotel, he thinks he’s getting weird looks from people or perhaps he’s just being paranoid.

He sees some movement finally as you make your way down on the isles. You look flustered when he waves at you and he notices a less than happy gentleman hot on your heels as you head to the register.

When he enters the store and the bell chimes, the man pays him no mind as he continues to raise his voice about a record being scratched.

Dave’s eye twitches a little at the tone he’s taking with you, he clenches his fists at his side as he pretends to look at something in a nearby aisle.

You flinch a little as he points his finger in your face.“So there’s nothing you can do for me? That seems a little ridiculous.”He slaps his hands on the counter and Dave inches a little closer.

“Sir, we listened to the entire album and it didn’t scratch once. I can offer you a copy if I find one or you can pick out something else.” Your eyes are a little glossy and your voice is quivering. There’s a slow rage building in Dave at the moment that he hasn’t felt since he quit his previous job. “Unfortunately, I can’t offer you a refund, it’s store…”

The short disgruntled man cuts you off before you can finish and Dave’s had just about enough.

“I’m sure you can refund me -.”

“I’m sorry did you not hear what she said!?” Dave steps behind the man and he turns to protest but swallows his words before he can speak. His nostrils are flared as he stares the man down. “You can take this one.”

Dave holds his hand out and you look down realizing you’ve been clutching the vinyl close to your chest. You slowly hand it to him as he asks if ‘you’re okay’. The way his hands brushes yours as he winks at you is enough to make you forget that it’s not just the two of you standing there. He’s completely bewitched you and he’s barely said a thing.

The menacing look he gives the man as he hands him the vinyl is quite the inverse to the look he just gave you. The switch was so sudden it made your head spin.The man sends you an apologetic smile and scurries out the front door leaving you with Dave and this unresolved sexual tension building between you.

“Are you here by yourself?” He asks as he glances around the store.

“Well you’re here at the moment…so no.” He smirks at your obvious flirting.“Thank you by the way…you didn’t have to do that.”

“He’s lucky that’s all I did.” Something flashes in his eyes when he says that…

“You’re pretty intimidating.”

He steps closer to you but you don’t move. “You don’t seem intimidated.”

“That’s because I’m not.” You watch his Adam's apple as he swallows your words, stepping impossibly closer.

He’s so close you can smell the mint of his gum mixed with the intoxicating scent of his cologne. His eyes flit to your lips so briefly you might have missed it.

The door chimes and you both break apart.

“Oh shit!” Alicia stands at the door and smiles at Dave.

You try to look anywhere but at her face as he awkwardly clears his throat.

“I’ll just…” She points to the back of the store and walks behind Dave down the aisle. She runs her fingers through her hair mouthing ‘oh my god’ as you try to suppress your chuckle.

He shakes his head not bothering to turn around and ruin your moment with your friend, he’s certain he recognized her from one of your photos.

You practically begged Alicia to visit you at work and of course she picks this exact moment to take you up on your offer.

“So what brings you back to the store? Hopefully you don’t want a refund.” His genuine laugh at your joke is drowned out by the sound of music playing.

I just died in your arms tonight

It must have been something you said

“Oh my god I’m going to kill her.” You hide your face in your hands, unable to hide your embarrassment.

I keep looking for something I can’t get

Broken hearts lie all around me

“Cutting crew…she doesn’t have bad taste.” The look on your face lets him know you’re impressed.

Perhaps bad timing but definitely not bad taste.

“I ugh…there was something I forgot to give you last time.” Frankie’s information

You humm awaiting his response as he nervously tucks his hands into his Jean pockets. “I wanted to give you my number…if you’re alright with that.”

Your mouth hangs open in shock. This gorgeous man, who has consumed your thoughts for the last several days, came back just to give you his number.

You both react to a squeal from the back as you take note of the music that’s now stopped. His cheeks hurt from smiling so much, it seems he’s not used to using those muscles in his face.

You pull your phone out of your back pocket and open your contacts. He should feel bad when you hand it to him, but all he feels is excitement as he enters his contact in your phone and hands it back to you.

“Bye hummingbird.”

You laugh as you glance down at the contact in your phone. Dave-insurance guy

The door barely closes before Alicia is bolting to the front counter. “I’m sorry I interrupted your moment but holy shit.” She wraps her arms around you as you both jump up and down.

“Holy shit is right.” You exhale as she holds you close after your impromptu dance moment. “Thank you.”

She lets you go, giving you an inquisitive look. “For?”

“For always being here.”

She scoffs mockingly offended by your words. “I will always be here for you.” She kisses you on your forehead. “Hummingbird is new?”

“Shut up.”

****

Dave’s finger hovers over the contact in his phone as he sits outside the record store.

Make the call Dave

“Morales.” His cheery tone is not matched by Dave on the other end.

“Francisco, it's Dave. Are you free to meet tomorrow? I'm a little over an hour from you.”

Oh no, Frankie can hear the seriousness in his voice even through the phone. He knew he shouldn’t have got his hopes up. He should’ve just told Santiago to leave it alone.

“Ya, we can meet at the coffee shop from before.” Frankie hangs up the phone after Dave agrees on a time to meet.

Dave smiles down at the phone as the call ends when he sees a text from you.

Here’s my number I hope you like texting 🥰

Works for me hummingbird

****

Santi reaches for the remote to turn down the tv. “That didn’t sound like good news.”

Frankie exhales as he looks up at Santiago. “He wants to meet in person.” It’s safe to assume he doesn’t want to break any bad news to him over the phone.

“You want me to come with you?”

“No hermano, I should handle this myself.” Frankie sits on the couch next to him and pats him on the shoulder. “I don’t blame you if this doesn’t work out. Maybe it’s just not meant to be, you know.”

“Ya…maybe.”

Santi can never quite explain what goes through his head when he gets these grand ideas, for whatever reason he’s going to leave Frankie out of this one and handle it himself. He knows next to nothing about Dave, but something in his gut is telling him things aren’t quite right.

****

If there was a Guinness book of world records for being late to a job you live down the street from, you’d have the award.

The bathroom is still slightly steamy from your shower and you can hardly see yourself in the mirror. You didn’t usually spend so much time on your hair and makeup but if Dave was going to stop by again you wanted to look nice.

Your phone pings as you finish the wing on your liner.

Dave: Are you free for lunch today?

Yes I’m free at 1 if that works for you

Dave: See you at 1 hummingbird

You stare at the text with a giddy expression on your face. Your phone is flying out of your hand before you can stop it as you collide with Alicia as you exit the bathroom.

“Shit I’m sorry.”

She picks up the phone before you, holding it just out of reach. “If I read this…will it be naughty?” You note the playfulness in her tone.

“No.” Although the thoughts you’ve been having about him late at night definitely are.

She pouts and hands it back to you. “You almost sound disappointed.”

You didn’t really mean it to come off that way, but you can’t help but think how long it’s been since you’ve been with anyone.

“He asked me out to lunch.”

The look on her face is borderline psychotic as she grabs your shoulders. “Please tell me you said yes. I can figure out how to sell records if you need me to cover you, it can’t be that hard. No offense babe.”

You giggle at her excited rambles. “Thanks but I usually just close during lunch anyway.” You pry her hands from your shoulders and walk towards her room with her hot on your heels.

“Where are you going?”

“To your closet to borrow that blue blouse that makes your tits look great.”

She moves you aside aggressively shuffling through the hangers. “I meant where are you going to have lunch?” She rips the blouse down and tosses it to you.

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.” You glance at the clock as you finish getting dressed. “Shit, I have to go babe. Love you.”

You yelp as she slaps your ass when you walk away,she calls out to you just as you're closing the front door.

“Don’t do anything I would do.”

****

Dave scrubs his hand across the mirror in the hotel bathroom. Even with the blur he can see the extra lines in his face, his tired eyes illuminating under the bright fluorescent lights.

Sleep hadn’t come easy if at all the night before. He was flying so high when he left the store after he gave you his number.

He couldn’t get the image out of his mind of you so obviously turned on at his show of protectiveness. Your pupils were blown wide as you inched closer to him. He could practically reach out and touch you. He wanted to kiss your perfect lips and have you pressed into his body.

He pictured your hands in place of his as he stroked himself in the shower, your soft voice in his ear and your pliant body beneath him as he came painting the walls of the shower. His mind cleared as the water ran cold. How was he going to explain who he was? His job was a lie, besides for his name, everything he told you was a lie.

There was no rational thought when it came to you. A night of no sleep didn't make the situation any better. He’s asking you to lunch before his brain can catch up with the action. You’re saying yes before he can stop the train that’s in motion.

He keeps telling himself he’ll figure the rest out later…but later was coming up on him fast and he needed to come up with a solution.

Thankfully Frankie wanted to meet early. That would give him plenty of time to get there and back and pick up lunch for the both of you. Maybe in the meantime he’ll come up with a plan…or he’ll continue on as he is completely fragmented from reality.

****

He was determined to get here before Dave

Frankie’s starting to hate this coffee shop. It tastes a little more bitter than the last time. The lights are just a little too bright for his liking. The noise is just a little too much. Everything seems turned up too high and he wants to crawl out of his skin.

He talked about this with his therapist. When he starts to feel like this he should take a few deep breaths and try to ground himself. With every deep breath he tries to take, it’s like his lungs won’t fill up enough.

Maybe he should’ve let Santiago come with him

“Hey Francisco.”

Frankie nearly jumps out of his skin when Dave greets him at the table. His whole demeanor is much lighter than the first time they met here.

Dave takes in his frazzled appearance…he’s like a caged animal ready to strike. Dave’s seen this look before, in others but mostly himself.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Frankie waves him off. “It’s fine…just had too much coffee.” His smile doesn’t quite meet his eyes. “You can call me Frankie by the way.” Formalities out the window when you’ve hired someone to find the love of your life.

Dave swallows thick at the way Frankie disarms a little. The last thing he needs is to start liking the guy who’s girl he’s stealing. Even admitting it to himself feels like an incredible violation.

“Listen Francis…Frankie-.”

“Before you start.”

They chuckle after speaking simultaneously and Frankie clears his throat. “Look…it didn’t sound on the phone like you had good news. So please just give it to me straight.”

Dave looks away from his eyes, focusing on his large hands virtually dwarfing the small coffee cup. Focus

“I found a lead, but it turned out to be a dead end. Trust me these things take time and I’m working as hard as I can.” Lies

Frankie briefly removed his hat to run his fingers through his hair. “Thank you, I really appreciate it. I know we got off on the wrong foot but it means a lot that you’re trying.” Being paid to at least

Albeit a flimsy bridge, they manage to bridge some gap that had formed when they first met. Dave almost forgets he needs to make his way back in time to meet you for lunch.

They say their goodbyes and part ways.

Santiago watches Dave exit the cafe from across the street as he starts up the car.

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