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yungbludy · 4 years

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the hills have eyes

plot ↬ being attracted to one overwhelming person known as yungblud is alresdy too much for you. adding mgk in the mix is even worse.

warnings ↬ there’s tension here yes yes, smut!! threesome!! fingering & handjobs, writing colson is so fun i didn’t realize how hot he was lol 😳, hint at something going on between colson & dom, dom & reader like each other, maybe a pt 2?

a/n ↬ i know y’all have been wanting this for the LONGEST, and it’s easily my most requested fic. enjoy it!

When you left college with a degree in music production, you never would’ve expected to land in the studio of Yungblud, a young but upcoming artist with his own charm to set him apart from the rest. He was easily the most hyperactive artist you’ve worked with, someone with a truly pure heart that cared deeply for his music and his fans. It was a breath of fresh air, because out of all the artists you’ve worked with—big and small, you don’t think you’ve ever come across someone so genuine.

It was almost fate how you went from being in the studio with him every other week to nearly every day. He loved your presence; you made him see things differently, made him hear things he had never heard before. You made him feel smarter, more experienced.

A friendship blossomed. It was nice, because you didn’t have that many friends when you left college. Dominic introduced you to other people too, such as his band mate Adam, and they adored you. You were the calm before the storm of Dominic in their eyes. You balanced each other out, like some rock n’ roll version of a Yin and Yang.

Before you would hang out in groups. You, Dominic, and maybe a few other friends attending concerts or going to a restaurant together. You liked it—these people knew you and liked you, and you felt like you had a place.

You didn’t know when the... shift started. When it started becoming just you, and Dominic. When he texted you if you wanted to hang out at his place, (not a date or anything, just hanging out lol 🖤). When you still saw your friends, but you were seeing Dominic’s face more and more.

But you knew as soon as that started happening, that the feelings you had for Dominic—as a friend and as a partner, started becoming way too deep way too fast.

And honestly? It scared you. Your last relationship was in college and that didn’t go so well because you both had different outlooks on how you wanted to continue your life. You weren’t ever a relationship type of person and barely found yourself developing fucking crushes on people.

But you were crushing on Dominic. Hard.

As cliche as it sounds, being around him gave you literal butterflies. Seeing texts from him made you smile, and when his arms wrapped around you and he looked at you with all his teeth out, his eyes clenched shut—God. You were falling, and you were falling hard.

That was, until, Colson came into the mix.

You liked some of his music. You weren’t a big fan of “MGK”, and only really knew about him because of the whole beef he had with Eminem. You remembered that one song—fucking Wild Boy, being played in a few clubs and parties during college, but you didn’t have any liking towards him.

But... wow. He and Dominic together were a force to be reckoned with.

Colson was a good person. A loving father and a talented individual—not to mention he was also fucking hilarious too. Having him around in the studio guaranteed no bad days, because he could also make you feel better with a corny joke or a funny assortment of curse words.

You liked him, over time. Not to mention he was drop dead gorgeous, tall and tatted and pierced and just... fuck. It would be a lie if you said you weren’t intimidated by his presence.

But in reality, he was a sweetheart. A gentleman.

So why did you start feeling butterflies for him too?

Having a crush on two people just seemed so out of this world to you that you didn’t even understand it. It made no sense. You and Dominic had known each other longer, and you weren’t dumb—you knew he liked you back. But with Colson.. you didn’t know if those butterflies were in your stomach, or if they were somewhere were they definitely, definitely shouldn’t fucking be.

You were good at controlling yourself when it came to these two. It had been a few weeks since you’ve met Colson and two months since you met Dominic. They were working on music together—a song, that they didn’t know what to title yet, and you were right there, helping them with everything.

This also meant that they were together. All. Of. The. Time.

Having two extremely attractive men, men that you were also extremely attracted too together all the time was going to be very bad for your health. But all three of you had a main goal at the end of the day, and that was to make a song together. They wanted to make a song that pertained to them, that took both of their struggles and related them to each other. Being Dominic’s right-hand-man at this point, you were more than happy to oblige in helping.

But you just didn’t know what you were getting yourself into.

“Maybe some shit that’s like, kinda emo, kinda not?”

“Kells, man... you need to /make/ that make sense.”

You can’t help the laugh that leaves you, smiling when both of their heads turn towards you.

“Y’all are just cute when you bicker.”

“Y/NNNNN,” Colson whines a little, his arms stretching to drape over your body. God, he has so many tattoos that you couldn’t possibly count them on your two hands and feet. “Help us. I’ve never been this stuck on a song.”

“Well, a mix of punk and rap, right?” You asked, humming as you scoot up to your monitor, going through a list of sample beats you always stored when songs were being made.

“That sounds ‘bout right,” Dominic spoke, both of his elbows being placed on his knees as he looked up at you. “Think that’s a perfect mix of us two, yeah?”

You picked out some beats—layering some, taking some away. While this process could be therapeutic to you, it could be also quite annoying, and it would’ve been if it wasn’t for the two grown men looming over your shoulder.

“What about this one,” you almost jumped as you heard Colson right near your ear, his voice powered into a whisper. He reached over you, his skin brushing against yours and you had to force yourself to look at the screen. Jesus Christ, you really needed to get laid. “How’s that?”

“‘ts good. I like it fo’ now!” Dominic joked, and a laugh rumbled in you stomach. “If we don’t like it, we could always change it tomoro or somethin’.”

“Okay, well, beats settled... now we need some lyrics.” you spoke, backing up a little—you would’ve backed up farther if Colson’s arm wasn’t on the back of your chair. “Got any?”

Silence. You rolled your eyes—you had told them days prior to come with lyrics. Nothing had to rhyme, but something to make an idea off of.

“Too busy clubbing to write lyrics-great.” you huffed, shaking your head as you stood to leave, but two hands reached out to stop you.

“Sorryyy, that’s our fault, really.” Colson spoke, locking eyes with you when you turned to look at the both of them. “Let’s make some together, yeah? All three of us motherfuckers. You know we couldn’t make up good lyrics without you anyway.”

You caved. Goddammit, he was so good at charming you and so good at fucking /flirting/. You found yourself sitting back down with a notebook out in just a few minutes of playful begging from the two of them.

“Since I watched The Hills Have Eyes for the first time yesterday with you two wankstains, I think that should be incorporated into here~” Dominic giggled, scribbling down the title of the infamous horror movie on a piece of notebook paper. “Where did all that shit happen, by the way? New York, Cali, Las Ve-“

“No, dipshit, Nevada. Did you watch the movie at all?” Colson huffed, reaching over to flick Dominic in the center of his forehead, in which the British male playfully bit down on Colson’s finger. The blonde grinned, and your eyebrows furrowed. What the hell?

“Nevada’s by Cali so we’re using California.” Dominic shrugged, scribbling more words down. “How’s... I wunna hide in the hills of California—but these hills have eyes, and I have paranoia?”

It took you a minute but you eventually nodded at it. “If we revise it a little bit then—yeah, that could work!”

“Awesome! Maybe you should get on your shit, Kells.” Dominic teased him, pink tongue pointing out at Colson, and your lips twitched.

“Fuck off.” Colson continued that grin—that little smirk, like they both knew something you didn’t. The day dragged on—more lyrics, more laughing, more inside jokes. By the time the session ended you were exhausted, your head kinda hurt, and you wanted nothing more than to head home and sleep, but Dominic stopped you before you left completely.

“Are you alright?” he asked, your hand in his as he looked at you with slight worry. His hair was pushed back, so he looked just too adorable with his forehead out and crinkled. He was worried. Worried about you, and that made your heart flutter.

“I think I’m good, just a little tired,” you offered a reassuring smile, lifting your bag up to your shoulder. “Why?”

“You seemed a little out of it,” he remarked, keeping your hand in his as he started to walk next to you. This was normal—Dominic walking you out to your car, then watching you drive to your apartment after he gave you a kiss goodbye, of course; some of them were on your forehead, some cheeks, and most recently, he’s teasingly brushed his lips against yours, only to see you blush and frantically push him away. “Just making sure you’re alright.”

“I’ll be okay, Dom,” you snicker, but you just love the fact that he can see through you. See when you’re uncomfortable or feel weird. “Thanks, though.”

“Of course darlin’,” his voice has dropped in volume and when you look at him, his eyes are boring into yours. You blink. “Drive home safe, yeah?!”

Both of his hands grab your face, squishing your cheeks—and you sputter a laugh as he kisses all over your face. Covering your forehead, your nose, your cheeks—and finally resting at your lips.

It’s like time has stopped. You smile, feeling warm—his hands haven’t left your face and you can feel his warm breath against your mouth. He leans in closer, and you feel that familiar thrum in your chest, his lips brushing against yours one, two, three times, before he only pecks you and pulls away.

You don’t even remember closing your eyes, but when they open, he’s walking back into the building, leaving you feeling lost.

To make it up for you for yesterday, the dynamic duo wanted to spend the entire day getting a good portion of the song done. This meant you had to wake up at nine am to be at the studio, something you were definitely not looking forward to, but you couldn’t complain about it. You three had a pretty good work ethnic, so you knew once you would get there, time would probably fly by.

You came to the studio in some fuzzy Hello Kitty pajama pants and a long sleeved shirt, not bothering to dress up too much since you would possibly be here all day. You didn’t look your best, but by the way Dominic’s eyes scanned you when you walked into the studio, you doubted he really cared.

“Well hello kitty-kat,” you heard Colson’s amused tone from the small couch by the door behind you, his body approaching yours to walk past you. His hand slipped over your waist, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. “Doesn’t Y/N just look the absolute cutest.”

“Shut up, asshole.” You grumbled, your cheeks hot as you ditched your slippers and made your way to your seat. You stretched, hearing some bones crack in your back, a tired yawn leaving your lips before returning to your sitting position and opening up your notebook. “So. Where are we starting today?”

When you looked up, both of them looked a little dazed—but the expressions disappeared in just a few seconds. That was weird.

“Welllll, I think I’ve got a title,” Dominic grinned cheekily, standing up with his hands clasped. “I liked what ya said yesterday... I think I’m good. That sounds pretty—American, doesn’t it?”

“Eh...” you started, but quickly took it back when Dominic’s face fell almost comically. “No! It’s not bad, but, I don’t know... how about another word, other than good?”

“Fine?” Dominic asked, looking at you with a smirk. Confusion racked through you.

“Okay,” Colson spoke up, reading over the page of lyrics with narrowed, concentrated eyes. “I think I’m okay.”

You contemplated it. It reminded you of My Chemical Romance, but there wasn’t anything wrong with that... their fans would probably like that, too.”

“I think I’m okay. Yeah, I like that.” you smiled, moving to your monitor to title the beats you already had. I Think I’m Okay.

“Perfect.” you beamed. “Now let’s get to work.”

The day went by pretty smoothly. Dominic and Colson worked better than you thought, and in your opinion, you were the icing to their cake. Being a producer meant you were there to perfect things—add something to make them sound just a tad bit better, to make the song flow just a little smoother. Perfecting the beats was something you absolutely adored to do, especially when you felt them both staring at the side of your face as you did it.

They admired you. And that sent shivers down your spine.

“Jesus fuck, ‘m hungry.” you grumbled. The clock above your head read two pm, meaning you had been here for six hours total. It wouldn’t have seemed like that if your stomach wasn’t grumbling like crazy.

“We can tell.” Colson joked, his fingers poking at your tummy. “Kitty’s talking to us.”

You knew it didn’t mean to be an innuendo, but you took it that way, and you’re sure Dominic probably did too with the expression that crossed his face.

“I’ll order some pizza.” Dominic sung out, British accent flowing through the air as he stood to grab his phone and leave. You had been alone with Colson once before, but that was before you recognized your attraction towards the male. Now, you were very, very aware of the fact.

“Cmon kitty, you’ve been sitting in that chair for hours and I know that ass hurts,” Colson smirked knowingly, grabbing your hands to lift you out of your seat. “Lemme help you stretch~”

“I don’t need help, you damn skyscraper.” You said stubbornly, but Colson paid no mind to you, grabbing both of your arms and lifting them above your head. It did make you feel much better, and you would’ve stayed in the position if his long fingers didn’t suddenly dig in your sides and under your armpit.

“I-get off of me!” you laughed loudly, squirming in his tight hold as he squeezed you even closer to his body. You could feel his chest press against your back, but you weren’t focused on it, just how much you were laughing from his antics.

“Hell nah! I’ve barely seen you laugh today, kitty~” he purred into your ear, and your thighs clenched. “Keep on fighting, nothing will happen babe.”

“Fuck you!” you shouted, successfully finding your way out of his grasp, but that didn’t stop him at all. He grabbed you again and while he did so, you were moving backwards—eventually landing you both on the small couch in the room. You wiggled your arms through his grip, letting your fingers dig into his sides in a similar manner—and your smile hurt with how loud he started laughing afterwards. You were sure after the short five minutes the tickle attack took that you were all over the place, and so was he—panting on top of you with both arms over your body.

“You’re an asshole.” you murmured against his shoulder, since his body was draped over yours. You wished it would’ve stayed that way, because he lifted himself, and you turned into jelly with how he looked at you—and that stupid fucking grin that spread across his face.

“Got you to laugh, didn’t I?” he asked, rolling off of you. The warmth that left your body—from your stomach, ribs, and a few inches below your bra, told you that the tickle fight was much, much more than that.

A month had passed since that day. It was more then enough time for more tension filled encounters—more of Colson’s hands on you, more of Dominic’s teasing kisses. It had gotten so bad that you needed to excuse yourself in the middle of a session to calm yourself down in the bathroom, because holy hell. Those boys were a lot—and the fact you had the audacity to think about taking both of them at once. You literally could never.

The song wasn’t that hard to make. With a few more helping hands, plus your expertise and their work as well, it was nearly done. Final vocals just needed to be recorded and some cleans up—and then, I Think I’m Okay would be released to the world.

This Friday would be a night that all three of you would go out clubbing, but you decided to visit the studio to listen to the rough draft the two had recorded previously. You were in matching all black outfits which definitely wasn’t planned. The dress you were wearing was a bit out of your comfort zone, but you decided—why not? You wouldn’t be the only girl there and you knew you looked decent, at least.

“Wow,” you murmur, a little speechless as the rough vocals of I Think I’m Okay fill the studio at full volume. The lights are off because it’s dark, so the only source of light in the room is your monitor. “Wow. We fucked this up.”

“What?!” Dominic shouted, eyes wide. You laughed.

“Not in that way! I mean, we fucked this, in a really good way.” you said, excited, bouncing a little in your seat. “Fuuuck, can’t wait to release this shit.”

Colson’s hand is hot and heavy when you feel it against your thigh, playing with the hem of your dress. “Couldn’t do it without you, kitty.”

You swallow. No, not tonight. You were going to have fun tonight. Not be in a state of sexual frustration because of these two.

“Right,” Dominic hummed, and you freeze when his arm wraps around your waist, his chin on your shoulder. “Y/N, I never really thank ya properly for all you do for me, do I?”

“Huh? Of course you do.” you tell him, but you’re a bit distracted by Colson’s wandering hand. It shifts, moving to the inside of your thigh, rubbing softly at your skin. His thumb is close, too close to your pussy, but you don’t push his hand away, because you don’t want to.

You like it. You want his hand to come closer, just a little closer—

“I don’t,” Dominic whispers, those thick lips brushing against your ear, and you almost jump out of your skin. “I should.”

“Dom...” you whisper nervously, eyes widening when his hand slides to the middle of your back and up your spine, fingers locking at the zipper. The slide of your dress being unzipped goes along perfectly o the tempo of the song, and so does Colson’s molding of your thigh, his hand eventually finding way because your closed legs, pressing right up against your underwear.

“Think the kitty wants me,” Colson sighs huskily, and your jaw drops. Holy fuck. “Am I wrong?”

“Is he?” Dominic presses when you don’t answer, his hand somehow making its way inside your dress, finding its way to your sleeves and yanking them down. Oh, fuck. “Ya want us both, don’t ya darlin’?”

“Oh my god.” is all you can whisper, earning chuckles from both of the men who play so deviously with your body. Colson finds your clit with no help at all, pressing against the little bud, right as Dominic takes both of your breasts out of your bra and palms them hungrily. Two sets of hands touching you makes your head roll back, and you can only comply as one of Colson’s hands presses against your left thigh, spreading your legs open.

“Put your legs on the desk for me, pretty,” he whispers and you do so, heels still on your feet. “Mm, yeah, that’s good—damn, look at you. So fucking hot.”

To your surprise, it seems like Colson is doing most of the talking, since Dominic’s mouth finds itself on one your perked nipples. He sucks it into his mouth, making it all pert and wet and your toes curl against the velvet surface of your shoe.

“When I had you on that couch, I wanted to ram the shit out of you, even if you were wearing those stupid ass pants,” Colson tells you, slipping your panties to the side and dragging his fingers up your slit. You’re almost embarrassed from how wet you sound. “Had to remember the British cunt has a little crush on you, though. Didn’t wanna break his heart.”

“Fuck off, ya asshole.” Dominic’s mouth leaves your breast, cheeks red at the fact that he was just exposed like that. “I was gonna tell her that my fookin self!”

“You’re telling me she didn’t know?” Colson chuckled, one of his hands grabbing your chin to roll your head towards him. “Did you?”

“Mmf—I-I knew,” you murmured helplessly, your back aching as two long, thin fingers push inside of you, spreading themselves. “Always knew.”

“But I like you too, kitty, maybe like you even more than him,” Colson smirks, his mouth pressing against yours, and you bite down on his lip when Dominic bites down against your nipple. “Now we’re both gonna make our girl cum.”

Our girl.

You could cum from those words alone.

Colson’s fingers work magic inside of you, pressing further until you feel lightheaded, then easing themselves out and repeating the process. Dominic’s fingers find your clit, rubbing it quicker then the pink vibrator you used before even getting dressed. Your hands are against both of their thighs as your body grinds down against them, both of their mouths meeting yours at different times, kissing you or letting you moan out against their mouths. I Think I’m Okay plays over and over again with no one to stop it, hiding your loud sounds.

You’re close. So, so close, but you don’t want to cum without giving them some type of pleasure—so, to the best of your ability, you start to unzip their pants, bulges very angry underneath the fabric.

“Ooh, fook yeah,” Dominic whispers, taking his jeans off quickly and wrapping your hand around his cock, going cross eyed at the feeling. “Yeah, jerk my fuckin cock.”

Colson isn’t too far behind in revealing himself. You try to stroke them both, but you’re so overwhelmed that sometimes your pace quickens on one and slows on the other. Their bodies are pressed as tightly as they can be against yours, and sometimes wet fingers find their way against your neck, or grabbing at your chests—with wide open mouths against your face.

“I-I think I’m gonna cum,” your pant out, your hips rolling in circles and your grip on their cocks growing even tighter, causing them to make their own sounds of delight. “So close-“

“Cum, kitty kitty,” Colson tells you, his lips wrapping around your earlobe. “Soak this fucking chair, pretty.”

And that’s exactly what you do.

Dominic busts right after you, feeling your clit spasm against his fingers was enough to send him over the edge. Colson isn’t too far behind, getting extra leverage because of both of your cum covered hands jerking him off until he shoots his seed out as far as it can go. It’s a heavenly sight, and for the first time you hear him whimper—a sound that’ll be engraved in your mind for days.

You three sit there, panting, covered in sweat and cum. You lick your lips, your hearing picking up the two shifting to clean you up and dress you, much to your confusion.

“What? You think you were gonna cum once tonight and that would be it?” Colson chuckled, already helping you out of your chair.

“Just wait till we get to this club,” Dominic continues, his hand tightly groping your ass. “You’re gonna have the night of your fucking life.”

And you’re certain that you will.

#dominic harrison #yungblud #yungblud fanfiction #dominic harrison fanfiction #yungblud imagine #colson baker #mgk #mgk smut #colson baker smut #mgk fanfiction #mgk imagine #mgk x reader #yungblud x reader

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harrysgloves · 3 years

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Three’s Company

Harry Styles x Reader x Florence Pugh

Story Summary: The relationship of Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, and Y/N are kept under wraps... until it all falls apart.

Word Count: 3.4k

Warnings: Language // Angst

Authors Note: Please ignore the fact I’ve had writters block for over a month... Hope this is at least (semi) close to what you wanted anon! I kind of been carried away in daydreams of a poly relationship with Harry and Florence lately... xx

>>>Kind of a continuation of this fic<<< (Not necessary to read first)

PART TWO

>>><<<

"Come on." Harry breathed out the words onto your skin. His lips pressed against the smooth sensitive velvet of your inner legs. "Jus' wanna make yeh feel good, baby."

"I gotta go." You whined, your head pressed down into your pillow on his bed as you pouted up at the ceiling. It was 11:32 and you had exactly 28 minutes until you needed to be across town for this dumb lunch you promised your friends you'd show up to.

"Only need five minutes." He smirked into your skin. Playful green eyes shot up from between your legs when you out a huff.

"Shut up." You mumbled, your legs snapped closed as you tried to roll out of his oversized bed. His long, lanky, arms around your waist trying their best to stop you from leaving.

"Wait!" He pouted, his head rested on your shoulder.

"Harry." You groaned, your head leaned back as your feet dangled off the bed, inches away from the floor, and towards the plans, you were starting to regret making for the day.

"Sweetheart, 've missed yeh." His calloused hands wandered down your waist, under the shirt you'd stolen from his closet for your impromptu nights stay.

You were starting to wonder why you even bothered having an apartment of your own when those fucking hands started soothing motions on your breast. Rough fingers swirling your nipples into a hard peak.

Your soft sigh floated through the air as his lips curled against your neck. You could tell he thought he won this time, his gloating smirk, a self-satisfied hum drifting from that damn mouth that you simultaneously wanted to smack and grind against. He always knew how to do this, he managed to find all your weak spots in less than a month.

The bastard.

"You two always start without me." The voice of your girlfriend broke through that foggy haze of lust in your mind. You jumped away from Harry. Your bare feet hit the floor with a loud slap.

"Ugh." Harry groaned as he slammed back into the soft mattress, his eyes glared at Florence. "Now she's gonna leave."

"What? No…." She drew out in a whine. Perfectly pink lips pouted at you from the corner of Harry's bed.

"I promised them I'd go this time." You mumbled as you tossed articles of clothing that didn't belong to you across the room.

You three needed a cleaning system.

"But…" Florence sighed as she took down her hair from the towel on top of her head. "Today's our day off."

"You guys can still do stuff." You said as you wiggled quickly into your jeans, not at all paying attention to the worried look on both of their faces.

It had been a little less than a month of dating and the two of them hadn't gone anywhere without you. Sure, you'd done things separately with the both of them. Separate dates, divided time between both their apartments, and long nights with either one of them in a bed.

You'd done just as much together as you had apart but neither one of them wanted to push the bounds of the slightly new relationship. That left you with one boyfriend and one girlfriend, who really didn't seem to be dating each other, only you.

"We've talked about this." You groaned as you slid your bra around your bare stomach. Harry's shirt bunched around your neck as you threaded each arm through a strap. "Go out on a date, fuck each other."

"We do!" Florence protested, her arms crossed against her bare chest, the towel in her hair fell slightly as she pouted to you.

You couldn't have rolled your eyes harder if you tried.

"Without me." You said as you tucked Harry's shirt into the top of your jeans. His head popped up from the bed, a dimpled smile across his face when he saw you wearing his clothes for the day.

"We wanna give yeh time to get used to it." He said as he rested on his elbow. His soft curly hair hung in his eyes.

"I know," you sighed as you sat down on the edge of the bed to put on your socks. " I appreciate it but really, you two are dating too."

"Won't change your mind?" Florence asked after a second too long of you three being in silence.

"Flor," you cooed in a soft voice when your eyes lifted to see her looking so vulnerable. "I'm not going anywhere. I want this."

Your hand cupped around her face, thumb stroking her cheek. Her head nodded in agreement before you leaned in to capture her lips with your own.

This would be good for all of you, you thought. A chance for the three of you to become a solid unit, not separate moving parts. You smiled softly at her as you leaned back from her. Her eyes still held a look of disbelief hidden deep in them.

"Promise I'm not going anywhere."

>>>

"You're late!" Your best friend yelled way too loudly at you as soon as you rounded the corner of the sidewalk. Your cheeks flamed as you glared at him, thankful your sunglasses hid you at least a little bit from the seemingly millions of people, now staring at you.

"Get famous friends and now you think you can be late."

Your elbow dug into his side as you passed him. The doors to the sports bar, you used to be a regular at, opened with a ring as he mumbled under his breath, dutifully following behind you as he rubbed the sore spot on his side.

The long table that was once filled with your handful of single friends was now filled to the brim with the original three and their partners. You were the only singleton, the lone warrior, or at least that's what they all thought.

The decision to not go public was made almost immediately by the three of you. No media coverage seemed like the smart move for everyone involved.

The only exception you made to the keep-it-under-wraps rule was your immediate family and your one best friend, Sam, who promptly told his own girlfriend.

"You should go out with our travel agent, Y/N, he's really sweet. Not much of a looker though." Lisa, a girl you didn't even like, piped up halfway through your pasta dish. Your teeth ground together as you smiled up to her over your fork.

"Might as well, Y/N." Sam's girlfriend, Casey, snickered from the other side of you. Her laughter was cut short by your foot kicking her leg under the table, hard.

"I'm good." You huffed, you didn't know how much longer you could take sitting here with all of them trying to set you up with friends of friends, or worse their sad sympathetic smiles everytime one of the couples at the table did something cute.

"You could tell them." Sam whispered to you when he saw your mounting frustration with the situation. Most of your friends had married assholes who had no problem voicing their opinions about your love life.

By the third beer and your slice of cheesecake, you had relaxed a bit. The conversation had finally gone from your lack of love life towards everyone's children or careers. The end of the long lunch was finally on the horizon and you could successfully ditch having to hang out with all of them again for at least another 6 months when your phone started buzzing out of control from your purse behind you.

All 6 people who sat around the table with you seemed to be more invasive than you originally thought. All set of eyes stared you down as you unlocked your phone to silence it, when the notifications caught your attention.

So many fucking notifications.

Every account you had, countless tags and mentions, tweets from every person in America, it felt like.

Thank fuck, @Y/N_Y/L/N can FINALLY leave @Harry_Styles alone!

Ding, Dong, the third wheel is DEAD @Y/N_Y/L/N

Hope @Y/N_Y/L/N is recovering well from @Harry_Styles choosing the better girl @Florence_Pugh

#Florencerry #Farry #Florry CONFIRMED. #ByebyebyeY/N

That familiar feeling of dread flooded your stomach, your tongue grew thick with anxiety as your eyes scanned so many messages. Your silence covered the entire table, or maybe it was the ringing in your ears that made it feel that way.

You said you wanted them to go on a date, not this.

No, this, this was awful. A picture of your two partners with their tongue shoved down each other's throats. They were in a corner, away from everybody, trying to be as private as possible. Harry's hand wrapped in her hair, her own hands grasped the back of his shirt.

Why wouldn't they be more careful? Where did this leave you three?

Where did it leave you?

"Everything okay?" Sam's voice sliced through your anxious thoughts.

"Just my brother." You lied as smoothly as you could. Your phone quickly locked and placed back into your purse, a wad of money thrown on the table for your meal. "He's at my apartment, got to go let him in."

"Okay?" Sam's voice trailed behind you as you rushed through the doors to the restaurant and back to the safety of your own apartment.

>>>

"What the fuck?" Florence groaned, her pillow thrown off the bed, towards Harry's phone that wouldn't stop ringing.

"'M up." He mumbled, his blurry eyes barely opening. They definitely shouldn't have had all those drinks with lunch.

"Wot?" He grumbled, half-asleep into his phone, not even paying attention to the name that flashed across the screen.

"Why didn't you tell me you're going out with Florence? This is great for the movie!" Jeff cheered, loudly, way too loudly. Harry's eyebrows pulled together as he pulled the phone back from his face.

Florence gasped, shooting up from her place, phone in hand as she panicked. Her eyes widened larger and larger, the longer she looked at her phone.

"Oh no." She whispered, her phone pushed in Harry's face that fell into a frown the second his eyes focused on the bright screen.

"Well, 'm not-" he cleared his throat that suddenly seemed like the desert. "'M dating her and Y/N."

"At the same time?" Jeff said after a very long and uncomfortable pause. Harry's hand ran through his hair as Florence signaled for him to put Jeff on speaker.

"Yeh, we're all datin'." Harry's lips pursed as he hit the speakerphone button. He wasn't exactly sure what Jeff would say. Sure, he was supportive in the past but this was new territory, at least for Harry.

"Harry…" Jeff sighed through the phone. His voice seemed to make the room go completely still. Everything paused in time. "You can't- listen, it's not a good idea to go public with that."

"Not really y'choice."

"Give it till the movie's over. You and Florence date publicly and promote the movie, once it's done go public then if you still want to."

"We'll talk 'bout it." Harry muttered, the phone call ended as quickly as it started. His phone thrown haphazardly back onto the nightstand beside the bed as he let out a long groan, his hands ran down his face.

"God, Y/N had to see that already. She's probably freaking out." Florence said as she got out of bed, determined to go check on her girlfriend no matter how late it was.

"Jeff was right." Harry said softly, his eyes fixed on the wall opposite of him. The small amount of light that filled the room was barely enough to see the shocked look across Florence's face, but Harry didn't have to see it to know it was there.

Even he was surprised at his own words.

Was he really prepared to give you both up to save his career? Or could he take all the stigma from dating two girls at once? He didn't know and he didn't have time to process.

"You did not just say that."

"What would people think, Flor? 'M a guy, dating two women! I'd be a womanizer and yeh two the bimbos who put up with me datin' each other."

"Wow, Harry." Florence's voice boomed around the room as she threw on her clothes. Angrily stomping around until she was clothed.

"Yeh knew what I meant." He sighed, his head rested in his hands.

"I don't want to hide who I'm with. I'm happy with you two and I can't believe you want to hide that!" She shrieked, her foot stomped on the floor as she glared at him.

Logically, she could understand his reasoning. Emotionally, she was pissed. How could he be thinking of hiding away what you three had? You were the perfect girlfriend and the three of you worked so well together.

"I wanna give it time!" He snapped back, his voice sharp with an anger she hadn't heard before.

"Why?" She asked in a huff, her hands crossed over her chest as she glared at him.

"People are gonna eat her alive. She'll always be the third wheel. If we wait til after the movie maybe it won't be so bad" Harry's words sucked the life right out of Florence. Her chest seemed to deflate as she stared at Harry. Stress, anxiety, and about a million other feelings ran through her all at once.

"Oh." She sighed, the edge of the bed dipped in as she sat down. Both of them silently staring at random objects in the room that suddenly become the most interesting thing.

Both of them wondering where this left the three of you.

>>>

It had been three months, three long and hard months of feeling like the outsider in your relationship. Maybe not in private but in public, you were always the odd man out.

Don't stand too close to Harry.

Don't be too friendly with Florence.

Don't laugh too hard.

Don't smile too much, and for the love of God, do not let anyone catch you hugging each other for too long.

It was hard but as the holidays grew closer and the final scenes of the movie were filmed, you knew the end was just on the horizon. You'd finally be able to hold hands with them in public again. You'd be able to fix Florence's hair or adjust Harry's shirt without being murdered online.

The trivial things that you used to not pay any mind to doing every day were hard to stop doing in public at first. It was a hard road, with too much speculation from fans and a lot of rude tweets about you, but it was worth it. You'd spend your nights wrapped up with the both of them, a smile on your face as you drifted to sleep.

It was hard but worth it. You'd repeat to yourself almost daily.

They cared about you.

They wanted to be with you.

You loved them both.

"Hello?" Your voice cracked as your one hand rubbed the sleep out of your eyes, the other barely opening the front door of Harry's house.

You didn't think he was expecting anyone.

"Is, uh, is my brother here?" Gemma asked from the other side.

"Oh, he and Florence are at an interview for the movie." You said as you opened the door fully for her. Your bare legs that weren't covered by Harry's t-shirt raised at the cool air that ran in. "You can wait for him if you want."

"Yeah, okay." She mumbled as she walked passed you, her eyes barely made contact with your own as she made a fast-paced walk to the living room.

"I'm sorry, if I'd known you were coming I would have picked up or you know, made tea or something." You said awkwardly from the entryway. Your arms crossed over your chest as you walked further into the room.

"No offense or anything," she started as she looked over the semi-messy room and back over to you, "why are you here?"

"What?" You asked with an uncomfortable chuckle, the smile that was there fell from your face.

"This is Harry's house and he's not here. Plus, he's dating Florence." Her pointed words stung deep as her eyes sliced into you.

"He's, he didn't- wait," you stuttered out as you circled to where she was standing, your eyebrows pulled tightly together as you looked into her stern face. "Did he not tell you?"

"Tell me what? That you're Florence's friend?"

The lung was sucked out of your lungs so quickly it felt like you were a fish out of water. Your tongue wetting your lips was the only signal to your brain that you were still alive and moving around, breathing but barely.

"Florence friend, right." You said softly, your eyes stung as you scoffed. You shook your head as you stared at the floor.

It took a millisecond for you to get a hold of yourself. You gave her a sad smile as you walked past her towards the bedroom. His shirt left on the bed and all of your belongings that were in sight packed into your oversized purse.

You were done.

You were so done being the third wheel. You could handle it for a little bit, maybe even forever if it was just with the public, but this was his sister. His family, his inner circle, and he hadn't told her.

"Y/N?" You heard her panicked call of your name from the other room. Your heart sank into the pit of your stomach. Your head thrown back as the tears started to flow down your cheeks.

You couldn't be with one and not the other.

"Where are you going?" Her voice broke as she saw you standing there, your bags packed, his shirt on the bed.

"Y/N?" His voice stung, the betrayal burned in your throat.

"I'm leaving." You said from the middle of the bedroom, your back still faced them as they stood in the doorway.

"You'll be back tomorrow, right?"

"No, Flor, I'm not coming back." You whispered, tears flooded your eyes as you heard her suck in a deep breath.

"Y/N, 'S almost over, one more interview and I prom-"

"Fuck your promises." You yelled as you turned furiously in your spot, your vision blurred as you glared at him.

"Wha-"

"Ask your sister." You scoffed as you stormed past them, your shoulder knocked his as you pushed through the doorway.

"What does that mean?" Florence yelled as she trailed after you. Harry's shocked face and slumped shoulder not deterring her at all from chasing you down.

"It means I'm done." You sniffed, the sleeve of your sweater used as a tissue. "I'm your girlfriend not some slut you welcome in your bed from time to time."

"We don't think that at all!" Florence cried harder, her hands cupped your face as she closed in on you. Your shoulders shrugged, your own hands pushed hers away as you sucked in a deep breath.

"I can't Flor. I just can't."

"Baby, please, lemme explain…" Harry pleaded as he walked up behind Florence, his hands rested on her shoulders, his own green eyes watering. "I didn't it to get out before we were ready. Jus' a little longer and then it goes back to normal."

"This is normal. This will always be our normal." You sobbed, your hands covered your eyes as you turned from the both of them. Your arms hugged around yourself for comfort. "I'm always going to be the one who's in the middle of your relationship."

"You're not!" Florence choked as she held onto Harry's hand.

"I'll fix all of this, please, jus' stay." Harry's hand reached for your own but you jerked your body away.

You couldn't say anything, nothing more would come out. No words made sense to you right now. Your heart was broken and so were you. You turned to leave, walking tight past the shocked Gemma and towards the door.

"I love you." Her words made you pause but only for a second, the doorknob turned in your hand before you could give it a second thought.

Leaving was harder than you ever imagined but you couldn't stay where you felt unwanted. Your sniffling nose and shallow breathing was your only company as you walked the long street back to your car then back to your lonely apartment that shined with object after object that reminded you of them.

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calm-and-wine · 3 years

Text

(I’d be) everything you need

hello beautiful people - here is a little fun story written for the @1dffchallenges quarantine challenge.

huge thank you to @booksncoffee for another stunning banner and to @yourpolaroid07 (i have no idea why i can’t tag you) for being the greatest gem and reading over it for me and correcting all my stupid mistakes.

so, here it is, hope it will make you smile because i sure did have a lot of fun writing this. if you like it, please come talk to me

(I’d be) everything you need

(Niall’s texts are in bold, Katie’s are in italics)

“Mum, I swear I’ll be fine. I’ll place an order and just get some takeaway tonight.” Katie assured, having had this discussion pretty much every time they spoke over the last few days.

“Bug, you have no idea how long an order is processed right now. It can take up to a week, if not longer. You can’t order all your meals,” her mum reasoned.

“Well, what do you want me to do?” she huffed irritated. Sure, she knew her mum had the best intentions and was probably worried, but she had just gotten off the flight. It was an especially cold and windy night in England and all she wanted was to get into her bed. Even the perspective of having to spend the next two weeks locked up in her flat, didn’t make her crave home any less.

“Just call Niall. I’m sure he’d be happy to help.”

Katie rolled her eyes, glad her mother couldn’t see her. She mentioned asking Niall for help before Katie even left the country. But she did not want to contact Niall. Her and Niall weren’t exactly friends. Sure, they’ve known each other for years, but Niall Horan was Josh’s friend, not hers. Did she have a crush on her older brother’s best friend? Well, that was a whole other story and not the point at all.

She hadn’t even seen Niall in forever. The last time they were both back home was over a year ago. And now she was just supposed to call him up and ask for help? Katie did not like asking for help, having to rely on others, owe any favours. Especially from people who weren’t her family. Or family-like.

“Okay, mum, I’m getting into the cab. Have a good night, yeah?” she said, partly because she did indeed hail a taxi, but mostly because she didn’t want to go in circles in this conversation, they’ve been over it already. Sure, Katie didn’t really have anyone close enough to rely on at times like these, she had a few colleagues, but those were mates to go to a pub with once a month or have a small chat in the break room, not burden them with groceries, because of the mandatory quarantine upon her return.

Her mum sighed, knowing she couldn’t make her daughter do anything. “You too, sweetie. Keep in touch, please. Let me know if anything is wrong,” she said, the worry evident in her voice.

“Of course, love you,” Katie replied, her irritation dissolving slightly. There wasn’t a doubt in her head that her mum’s heart was in the right place, but she hated when people worried about her like that, some part of her always felt guilty for making them feel that way.

1st day of quarantine

“Hello?” Katie answered her ringing phone, curious about who it might be. It was usual for her to get unknown calls on her work phone, but not her private one.

“Kitty Kat!” She didn’t even have to ask to know who was on the other side of the line, not only the booming happy voice was familiar, but there was only one person who called her that. And even though she spent years telling him that the nickname was awful, after not hearing it for so long, it made her smile.

“Hello Niall,” she said, setting her laptop down on the coffee table and focusing on the call.

“Heard you need some help. I did hesitate to accept though, because I was quite hurt it was Josh calling me and not you.” He sounded exactly how she remembered, his voice laced with a joking undertone, his usual easygoing attitude seeping through.

“I… I’m fine, really.” Katie was gonna kill her brother. Maybe he wanted to help, but he made her look incompetent to take care of herself, which she did not appreciate.

“Oh, so you’re not stuck at home for the next two weeks with an empty fridge?” She didn’t even have to see Niall to know he just raised a brow in mock surprise. She could just tell from his tone. But she did wonder what he looked like now. Whether his hair was still natural brown instead of the blonde he used to dye it. Whether his shoulders were even wider than the last time she had seen him. Whether he still had a very small belly from all the beer he had been drinking or maybe he had abs now.

“Umm.. No, I have some leftover takeaway from last night,” she assured, just slightly embarrassed.

He sighed. “Look, it’s no problem, I promise. Just text me the list, I have a few hours before work anyway.”

Katie hesitated for a moment, but no matter how much she hated admitting it, she really did need help. “Okay, thank you.”

“Oh and text me your address, too. How does your brother not know where you live?” He sounded surprised, which she understood, considering she had a pretty good relationship with Josh.

She chuckled. “Because he’s a little prick who hasn’t visited me yet. And surprisingly enough, he never orders me any gifts.”

Niall snickered. “He’s twice your height, I think that’s barely ‘little’. And he’s older.”

“Heeeey, he’s not that much taller than me!” She whined offended, even though he was.

He let out a laugh, a true belly laugh, one she hadn’t heard in years actually. But she’d know that laugh anytime anywhere, he just had one of those special ones. “Sure, sure. And he’s not even that tall either, you’re just tiny.”

“No, I’m not!” She disagreed, although she definitely didn’t count to the tall part of the population. But she was not that short.

“That’s okay, you’re cute.” His words made Katie blush. She was sure he thought nothing of them, the words slipping easily off his tongue, like he didn’t even have to think about them. “Oh and don’t do that thing when you’ll try and buy everything for the next two weeks, I really don’t mind doing a few more grocery runs for you. Wouldn’t want you to get sick from unfresh foods.”

She licked her lips to keep from smiling, because of how thoughtful he was. “Thank you.”

“Okay, I’m hanging up then, it’s good to talk to you again, Kitty Kat.” The whole conversation made her heart beat a teeny tiny bit faster, the warmth of hearing a familiar voice and Niall being so nice, flowing through her entire body.

“You too, Niall. And thank you, I’ll send the list in a minute.”

So she did, trying to keep it as basic as possible, only the actual necessary products. Her intercom rang a mere hour later. She buzzed Niall in and waited behind closed doors, having to restrain herself from observing him through the peephole. He knocked on her door softly to let her know he was leaving the bags. She waited a few seconds, giving him time to leave safely, after all the whole point of this was avoiding interactions with other people. She brought the bags inside and pretty much sprinted to the window, hoping he hadn’t left yet. She was lucky enough to have a window going out onto the entrance of the building.

It was a few seconds before Niall appeared outside. Katie didn’t have a clear view of him, especially not his face, but she noticed his hair was darker, long gone was the blonde he used to dye it into. He seemed taller, though that was pretty unlikely. More muscular. He looked grown up. Seeing him like this, after quite some time, she felt a slight flutter in her stomach. It made her excited. And Katie wondered whether he thought about her like that, imagining what she looked like now, whether she changed, what hairstyle was she wearing, whether she gained weight or slimmed down, what kind of makeup did she like now. Was he excited to find out?

She didn’t like admitting it, but truth be told, she always had a little crush on Niall Horan. And Katie hated it, because it was such a cliche, liking your older brother’s best friend. But she did. Niall was funny and kind. He loved bickering with her, but it wasn’t like her brother’s teasing, it made her feel special. He had a nickname just for her. Kitty Kat came to be because Josh liked calling her Kate, knowing she hated it, it not being her actual name. But Niall’s nickname didn’t make her irritated, no matter how much she pretended it did. It made her warm inside, like she was important enough to be referred to in an individual way.

But she had to stop thinking those thoughts Niall was helping her because he had a good heart. And because he was a family friend. That was it. He did not have a special place in his heart for her, no matter how much she imagined he maybe did in the past.

She moved from the window a few minutes after he disappeared and went to unpack the groceries. She was irritated there was no receipt, Niall was supposed to let her know how much she owed him, having refused when she offered to transfer some money beforehand. But there was another piece of paper. A post-it note stuck to the carton of eggs.

please let me know as soon as you need anything else. i’ll be doing some shopping for myself later in the week, so it’s no problem. happy to help, N xx

She refused to dwell on the xs. But the note as a whole was very sweet. In fact, Katie may or may not have put it on her fridge.

5th day of quarantine

Katie was trying to work through the splitting headache, but it was not going well. The last three days, she felt like the headache and burning eyes were her only constant companions. Other than that, she was feeling okay. No cough, no temperature, nothing. It was just because she was staring at the screen all day (and some nights), working and working, crunching numbers, filling and checking spreadsheets. Her eye actually started twitching yesterday, which wasn’t a good sign. Unfortunately, she ran out of ibuprofen. And magnesium. She was quite desperate, the pain making it near impossible to focus on anything.

So eventually, she gave in, sending a text to Niall.

very sorry to be a bother, but could you maybe possibly go to the pharmacy for me?

She did not expect her phone to start ringing just a second after. Since that first day, Niall hadn’t called her. He checked in on her a few times (almost every day, sometimes just sending her memes or funny things that happened to him, instead of starting the conversation with “are you alright?”), but it was always through texts. But now he was calling her and she was so shocked, it must have been at least a fourth ring when she answered.

“Hiya, sorry, it’s okay if -” she started.

He didn’t let her finish though, rushing out his questions, sounding a little bit worried. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, just ran out of ibuprofen,” she explained.

“Do you have any symptoms?” he asked, not entirely convinced.

“No, no, it’s not that,” she assured. “Just a splitting headache from too much work and computer time. And also a magnesium deficiency, probably.”

“Are you sure?” he asked again, but this time his voice was much calmer, almost back to normal.

“Yes, I’ve been drinking a shit ton of coffee everyday to even attempt to keep up with my work and I’m just a bit wiped out.”

“Okay, I can’t really go out right now, I’m at work, but -”

This time Katie was the one who cut him off. “Oh, it’s fine, really.”

“BUT,” he continued despite the interruption, his voice a bit more stern, “I just texted my roommate, so it shouldn’t take too long.”

If only he could see her now, he would notice a look of horror that crossed her face. “No, Niall, I don’t want to bother anyone.”

“Oh stop, he’s a nice guy and he can leave his work for half an hour. He owed me a favour anyway.” Niall made it seem like the most trivial thing and she really did need the medicine, so she gave up fighting.

“Well, be sure to thank him for me,” she said instead. “Buy him a nice beer.”

He chuckled. “Okay, I will. But you’re really okay? You’d tell me if you were getting sick, right?”

“Well, it’s not like you could come take care of me anyway.” She meant it as a joke, expecting Niall to let out another of his signature chuckles, but he did quite the opposite, sounding a bit exasperated.

“Why not?”

“I can’t exactly see people at the moment, remember?” She said gently, not really sure about his mood.

Niall huffed. “Do you really think I’d care about that? Just let you be alone if you were sick?”

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. All she wanted to ask was ‘why wouldn’t you’, but she bit her lip, too afraid, not wanting to make things weird just because she probably thought a bit too much about his words.

Katie took a breath before speaking, trying to sound lighthearted. “Well, it’s good I’m not sick, so you don’t have to risk your own health.”

“You’d let me know though, right?” He persisted.

“Yeah, I would.” She wanted to add another joke saying she’d need someone to get her medicine, but the mood was not light and funny, the atmosphere suddenly very thick.

“Alright, good.” It seemed like he finally exhaled after getting his answer. “Well, I have to go back to work, I’ll text you when Pete brings the meds.”

“Okay. Thank you,” was all Katie could muster out through her fighting thoughts.

how’s the headache?

completely gone, thanks to your brilliant roommate

heeeey i’m the one who sent him on that quest!

hahahaha

i know

thank you, again

damn, i never thought i’d be saying so many thank yous to niall horan

can’t say i’m complaining

but on a more serious note, do you like pop quizzes?

hmmm yeah? i think i only did pub quiz like once or twice, but it was fun

why?

me and a few mates are doing one tomorrow, you should join

how bad is your memory? i can’t go to the pub

who’s talking about a pub?

we’re doing it on zoom

it’s still staring at the screen, but it’s not work and it seems like you need some fun

yeah, i guess i kinda do. thank you, but i don’t want to impose

you won’t, i just invited you

still…

it’s just a few mates, i promise it’s all good. i actually already told them you’re joining

and they hate being blown off

oh yeah, no pressure

haha no but seriously, if you don’t want to that’s fine, but i think you’ll enjoy it

okay. thank you. you’ll send me the details?

of course

should i prepare anything?

nope, just yourself. and your brilliant mind

we’re switching, someone else preparing questions everytime, so you have to wait your turn

The mention of her becoming a part of their regular quiz made her stomach flutter slightly. She dared having this little hope of actually becoming friends with Niall, or rather maintaining some form of contact, but this was still unexpected. But also very nice to know he kind of wanted that too.

6th day of quarantine

When Katie’s phone started ringing and she noticed her brother’s face lighting up the screen, she smiled. The last time they had spoken was when she called to give him a piece of mind for calling Niall for her, but she actually loved and appreciated her brother very much. Maybe they weren’t the absolute closest, but they had a good relationship. There was this knowledge deep down that they’d jump through fire for the other, if need be.

“Hiya,” she answered, wrapping up the email she was writing (she might or might not be getting some work done on a Saturday).

“Why is Niall calling me asking about your favourite alcohol?” Josh asked right away, no hello needed. He sounded very curious, loving to pry into her life a bit.

Katie laughed, having received a text from Niall informing her of a package waiting outside her door, which turned out to be three bottles of wine and a note saying quizzes are no fun without booze.

“What can I say, he takes good care of my needs,” she replied, half-jokingly.

“I told him it’s whiskey,” her brother informed, very much knowing she did not like whiskey. The only drink she was able to swallow was whiskey sour, but it was definitely not her favourite.

“Wow, thanks for that, Jojo,” she said, her words dripping with sarcasm.

He whined at the nickname he hated, but had to endure since they were kids.

“He did call bullshit though and asked about wine. So I told him red, naturally.” Just by his tone, she could say he had a shit-eating grin on his face, very proud of himself.

Katie furrowed her brows. All three bottles that were sitting in her fridge currently were white. Either Niall knew her brother well enough to catch the lies, which he probably did after years of friendship, or he somehow knew her.

“You’re a dick,” she laughed.

“That’s what older brothers are for, Kate. But in a serious matter, I hope you’re not getting too buddy-buddy, I couldn’t stand you two ganging up on me.”

She bit her lip, deciding it was probably best to not mention her plans for tonight. It wasn’t a big deal anyway, Niall was just a nice guy, who was probably feeling sorry for her, because she had no friends here and was sitting alone for days, spending most of her time working.

“Oh we’re gonna be best friends in no time, you should be very scared.”

Katie was nervous. In fact, she was nervous about a number of things. First of all, the quiz with Niall’s friends. She didn’t know any of those people and she was scared of making a fool of herself. Secondly, she was about to skype with Niall. He offered to have a little chat before the quiz, so he could introduce the group a little, explain who’s who and all that. But it was going to be the first time she’d truly see him and he, her. Well, through the screen of course, but still.

And now she was worrying she might have gone a little overboard with her look. It was nice to have a reason to dress up in something fancier than leggings and an oversized sweater, to even put some makeup on. But, because it was the first time Niall will see her in quite a bit (especially up close), she made an actual effort. (But she didn’t care about that, she was not wondering whether he’ll even pay attention to her looks, not at all).

When the music she was playing suddenly cut off, replaced with the ringtone of an incoming skype call, her throat instantly dried up. She took a sip of her wine before answering, her laptop screen taken over by Niall’s smiling face, literally brightening it up.

He was wearing a button down, it wasn’t necessarily an elegant one, but still a nice one, his hair looked styled, like he actually took the time to tame it. It seemed like he made sure to look good, like he cared. And it excited her because maybe, just maybe, he wanted to look good for her too. Or maybe he liked someone from his friend group and was dressing up for them.

“I see you’re putting the wine to good use. Did I pick a good one?” he asked, taking a sip of his beer, a proud grin on his face.

Katie smiled, her nerves slightly easing. No matter how much he might have changed and grown, he was still familiar.

“Yes, thank you. Although I am a bit worried what kind of idea you have of me based on the amount of bottles you got me,” she joked, taking another sip.

He let out a booming laugh, one that made something in her flutter. “Nah, there’s just never enough wine,” he shrugged. “Although personally I'm more of a beer guy. But you have over a week more of quarantine, you may need it.”

“I heard you sought some guidance from my brother,” she inquired with a raised brow, sly grin taking over her features.

Niall grunted, covering his face in embarrassment. To her, it was incredibly cute that he went to so much trouble just to get her something she liked. “Did he really sell me out? What an asshole.”

“Yup,” she replied, actually proud of her brother for telling her. “But, surprisingly enough, you didn’t buy red wine. Nor whiskey, thankfully.”

“Yeah, I figured he was lying, I remember how much you both loved teasing each other,” he chuckled just at the memory of many fights and banters. “Apparently, still can’t let the opportunity pass.”

“Oh, never,” she laughed along with him. “Okay, talk to me about your friends. What should I expect?”

“Wait, before we get to that, why do you actually need to quarantine? Were you on some crazy vacations?” he asked the question that’s been on his mind ever since his roommate asked him about it.

“Oh. Well, not really, I was visiting Frankie, that’s my best friend from uni. She lives in Brussels now. I was thinking of cancelling, but we spent most of the time just staying in or being really careful, you know, not taking any unnecessary risks, so I guess the worst part was the flight.” She shrugged, constantly wishing her two best friends weren’t scattered around the world.

“I see,” he nodded in understanding. “Had a good time, then?”

“Oh yeah, very! Haven’t seen her in forever. Really needed that as well. I, um…,” she tucked her hair behind her ear timidly, looking down for a second. “I don’t have many friends here, really. As you might have noticed,” she chuckled nervously.

“Finding it hard to meet people?” he asked with furrowed brows, but didn’t even wait for a response, another question coming to his mind. “Actually, how long have you lived here? I think the last I’d heard, you were in Chicago?”

“Seattle,” she corrected. “Yeah, I left like 7 months ago. I got offered a transfer here and a little promotion, I guess, a chance to prove myself, which was an amazing opportunity. I had to go to San Francisco for 4 weeks of training, before coming here though.” She explained, hoping he wouldn’t dig deeper on the subject, because it was not a conversation she wanted to have with him right now.

“That sounds amazing, congrats,” he said simply and she exhaled in relief.

“Thanks,” she chuckled. “But yeah, so I’ve been here a while, but haven’t really made friends yet.”

“I guess working from home is not really helpful, huh?” he observed.

“No, it definitely isn’t.”

“Well, I’m always around if you want to hang out. Or go out once this whole pandemic calms down,” he proposed and she smiled appreciatively. “Okay, let’s give you some dirt on my mates, then.”

The quiz was actually very fun. Katie hadn’t laughed that much in a bit, it would be a very long time if she hadn’t counted her time in Belgium. She met six of Niall’s friends, two of them were friends from work, plus a girlfriend of one of them, one was a friend from his little soccer team and the last two were friends from uni, who were also a couple. Everyone was incredibly nice, making sure she felt welcomed and included, going as far as explaining most of their inside jokes.

They had this tradition of one question dedicated to each person taking part, so they gave Katie a minute to come up with her own question about herself, since they didn’t know her well enough. She panicked a bit, her mind going blank, so she went with what came to her mind first, which was who she went to prom with, the answers being her ex that she broke up with a week before, her best friend or alone. Surprisingly, no one got it right, not even Niall.

“Did you really go to prom with your ex?” he asked, when they talked right after the quiz. It just so happened that they ended up being the only two left on the call, everyone else disconnecting as soon as they were finished.

“Yup,” she laughed, filling up her wine glass. They were both pretty tipsy already, on their path to drunk. “But we were friendly! You know, we were just going to different unis and stuff, it just wasn’t that serious. And everyone else was already taken!”

“Well, you could have always asked me,” he said, shrugging nonchalantly.

“Are you kidding? You used to tease me about it whenever I saw you my senior year!”

He did, whenever he came home from uni (which was a lot during his first year) and saw her, always asking whether she had a hot date yet.

“Yeah, ‘cause I wanted to take you!” Niall exclaimed.

“What? Now that’s just lies,” she chuckled incredulously.

“Absolutely not, I had a little crush on you.” Niall’s eyes were focused on his fingers picking at the beer bottle label.

“No, you didn’t,” she shook her head, although her mind went straight back to the question about him in the quiz - who was his first crush. The answer choices were his teacher, his friend’s mum or his friend’s sister. As soon as it was asked, he whined, a blush flushing his cheeks. But when it was announced that the correct answer was his friend’s sister, she was pretty sure his eyes were trained on her, like he wanted to see her reaction. As much as a rational part of her brain didn’t want to misinterpret the whole situation and get false hope, she did wonder if there was a possibility that it might have been her.

“Excuse me, I think I know my feelings better, thank you very much,” he said, pretending to be offended. “I just hid it well. Maybe too well.” Niall added the last part as an afterthought, quietly, but not enough for her to miss it.

Maybe it was the wine, or maybe just Niall’s (virtual) presence that had her feeling brave, like he made her giddily nervous, but also brought a sense of safety and calm. Whatever it was, she was feeling brave enough to say, “funny, I had a crush on you, too. What a cliche, huh?”

He scrunched his brows in confusion. “How so?”

She shrugged, little half-smile on her face. “Liking your brother’s best friend.”

“More cliche than liking your best friend’s little sister?” He inquired, before taking a gulp of beer.

She laughed, her mind a bit too fuzzy to comprehend that they just admitted to liking each other. Once upon a time, at least. “I guess we’re just a pair of walking cliches.” Katie quirked as she hid her timid smile behind her wine glass.

10th day of quarantine

Katie was fucked, there was no other way to put it. She was usually so good with planning and thinking ahead, always trying to be prepared, but at the most unfortunate time, it slipped her mind. She forgot her period was coming, or rather she forgot she was running out of tampons. And now she was stuck in her apartment, pondering if the possible fee for violating the quarantine is worth saving her from the massive embarrassment. Even though she was actually too responsible to go out now.

If Niall was a good friend, she wouldn’t have that much of a problem asking him for it. She would have no problem asking him if he was a woman. And she would definitely have less of a problem, if she didn’t like him.

But, no matter what, she had a problem and he was pretty much the only person she could count on to help her right now. So she swallowed her pride, pulled all of her courage and rang Niall, because she felt like, no matter how embarrassing, the situation required a proper call, not a text.

He answered on the second ring. “Hey, everything good? You’re not dying, are ya?” His words were joking, but his voice had a serious undertone, he even sounded a little worried.

“A bit,” she chuckled nervously, “but not because of the obvious. You’re not going to the shop today by any chance?”

“What do you need?” he asked, instead of answering her question.

“Well, this will be awkward, but…” Katie started, but hesitated for a second, biting her lip.

“Hit me,” he encouraged.

“I got my period and I forgot I have like one tampon left.” Even though she obviously couldn’t see him, she closed her eyes, like her shame burned them, spitting out the words as fast as possible.

“Oh,” he let out a little sound of surprise, clearing his throat right after to mask it. “Alright, just send me which ones you want and I’ll get them.”

“I hate being a burden.”

“Stop it, you’re not a burden,” he reassured right away. “I was actually going to the shop anyway, need a few things. Just text me, so I don’t forget and add whatever else you want, yeah?”

Niall’s words made her smile, she wasn’t sure if he really was going shopping, or just said it to make her feel better, but she just appreciated his reaction, not making a big deal out of it, just accepting her ask and thinking nothing more of it. She knew a lot of guys who would be so lost hearing that kind of request, but Niall was nothing if not alright. And that was just another great quality of his that she needed to add to the list in her mind that was growing scarily quick.

“Okay, thank you. You’re saving my life, kinda.”

“Mmm, I’m sure we’ll figure out a way for you to pay me back, no worries,” he laughed, before ending the call.

An hour later, Katie got the text to pick up the bag from her door. There was no sign of Niall, as usual, but there was a bag with not only the tampons she asked for, but also with two different types of pads, a bag of chips, frozen pizza, some fresh fruits, four different chocolate bars and cookies n cream ice cream. There was also another note inside.

thought some of those might help make you feel better, N xx

And there he was with the xs again. It was probably just the way he signed everything. Either way, the care package was incredibly thoughtful, so Katie picked up her phone to text him.

was not expecting a package like that. that’s a lot of stuff. but thank you, that’s very sweet

just wasn’t sure what you like. El always ate pretty much sweets only, while Lil loved stuffing herself with salty snacks and fast foods

Elaine and Liliana were his older sisters, Lil was married and with a child on the way, five years older than Niall, while Elaine was just two years older than him. Maybe that was the reason why he had no problem helping her today, having grown up with sisters always made guys act a bit different, or at least that’s what her mum always said.

wasn’t sure about the ice cream flavour though, so played it a bit safe

cookies and creams is a good one

what’s your favourite?

pistachio

okay, noted

Katie couldn’t explain why, but even little comments like that made her heart beat just a tiny bit faster. It wasn’t just because he was attentive to details, but it was like he wanted to know more about her, to soak every piece of information in. And then there were comments like that, the kind that made her think about the future, not just the immediate one right after her quarantine, but the actual future. Will they just stay friendly? Become best friends? Or will one of them be brave enough to make the first step into more? Katie didn’t know if there was more in the cards. When it came to her, it wasn’t just that stupid crush from her youth that came back. The feelings grew and were constantly growing, as she got to know more and more of Niall. But she didn’t know how he was feeling. Maybe there were signs, but she was never that great at reading them. Time will tell if one of them will pluck the courage to take that leap of faith, or if she just misread the situations. A part of her was very anxious about it, but another part was excited. And all of her was hopeful.

12th day of quarantine

“Catch me up on your life. I feel like the last time I really knew what was happening with you was high school,” Niall inquired, folding his hands to rest his chin on top. He looked adorable like this.

It was a Friday night and they were skyping. Just the two of them, having drinks over video call. As it turns out, they do their pop quiz every other week and so he asked her if she wanted to hang out with him to survive her last days of solitude.

“Oh, you think you knew what was going on in my life back then?” Katie chuckled, a sly grin on her face.

“Well, I was in your house like every other day,” he reasoned.

“Please, even I didn’t know what was happening in my life at that time.” She joked, because, if she was being honest, high school was a mess.

He laughed. “Yeah, okay, point taken. But still, how was uni for you? How did you end up at the company you’re working for now?”

“Uni was fun. Stressful, most of the time, but I have some good memories. And the company was just a fluke,” she shrugged, taking a sip of her wine, the last bottle of the three Niall bought her last week.

“Was it hard leaving Seattle behind?” he asked.

“Um..” she got embarrassed, nibbling on her bottom lip, clearly thinking over her answer. “Yes and no, I guess. I mean… I had a boyfriend,” she admitted, going into the story she didn’t like retelling, but actually didn’t mind that much right now. Not only because she trusted Niall, but because she was over that whole situation, even if it still brought up some unpleasant memories. “We had been together for about two years. And he didn’t want to move here with me. Like, didn’t even consider it. Just outright told me to reject the offer, basically. And most of our friends took his side. I guess they were mostly his friends to begin with, but it still stung. So yeah, it was hard, but there also really wasn’t much left for me there.” When she finished, she shrugged again, hoping to look quite unbothered, as it really was just a thing of the past. Katie took another sip of wine, while Niall looked at her with a look that she couldn’t decipher. But thankfully, it wasn’t pitiful.

“Okay, first, I’m sorry,” he said after a second. “But second, that was such a dick move. I mean, it was a huge opportunity for you and he expected you to just give it up? Like an ultimatum? Not even ‘we can work it out’ or something?” He sounded genuinely surprised, even a little disgusted, which made Katie smile slightly, his reaction making her feel better.

“It was more like ‘if you’re even considering taking it, then fuck you’, so yeah, pretty much,” she said, her words feeling much lighter than before.

“Wow,” Niall chuckled humorlessly. “He really did not know how lucky he was to have you.”

“Stoooop,” she said, her face growing hot.

“No, I’m serious. I’d say good riddance to him.”

“I kinda see it now too, to be honest,” she admitted, a faint smile on her lips. “It did make me realise how he didn’t really love me. Noticed a bunch of not great behaviours, actually. So hey, it’s all for the better.”

“Oh for sure.”

“What about you? Any tragic love story?” Katie asked, reaching for her glass.

“Umm…” he took a big gulp of his beer, while she raised her brow, indicating it was her time to grill him. “Kinda the opposite of your story, actually,” Niall admitted.

“You’re joking,” she gasped, her eyes growing wider.

“Nope,” he shook his head, a half-smile on his lips. “I followed my girlfriend here. She got a great job, so I came with. It wasn’t far anyway, but yeah, she was the reason. I did say no to a proper job opportunity myself for that, actually. And then she dumped me four months later. Taking most of our mutual friends with her as well.”

Katie was pretty much speechless. She did hear he had a girlfriend, they moved in together here, but she hadn’t heard when it ended and definitely not how. “Wow,” a shaky laugh escaped her lips. “Bad breakup?” she asked after a second.

Niall licked his lips. “Not the worst, I mean, there wasn’t any cheating or anything, although she did get another boyfriend like two weeks later. But it did suck. We got a flat together and everything. I get that you can fall out of love with someone or whatever, but I did rearrange my life for her, so you know, if she was having doubts back then…” He let his voice linger. It’s been a while since he thought about her, even the last time they accidentally crossed paths a few months ago, he hadn’t really felt anything anymore.

“She should have said it,” Katie finished his thought and he nodded.

“Yeah. It felt a little out of the blue. But it’s been over a year now, so I’ve dealt with that. It was the most exciting story about my life, though. Other than that it’s just work, footie, pub quizzes and booze,” he chuckled, taking another gulp of his beer, as to prove his point.

“A boring life is the best kind, though,” she noticed. “I think it’s so underrated. I’d take stability over drama anyday.”

“Yes! Thank you!” Niall got excited, scooting a little closer and even pointing a finger at her through the screen. “That’s what I think too.”

“Great minds think alike,” she laughed, moving her finger between them two.

It was probably the most personal conversation she had ever had with Niall. And it felt good. Maybe not exactly because their stories were good, but because she felt like there was a certain level of understanding. He was such an easy person to talk to, no matter the subject. And this conversation, hearing his story, made her appreciate him even more, especially his character. Being willing to sacrifice himself for love was a big thing. She just hoped that he still had it in him, that the past didn’t make him close his heart off, but by his honesty and vulnerability, she didn’t think that was the case. And that really did make her happy.

They were quiet for a moment, at first just kind of looking at each other with soft eyes, feeling somehow connected, even through a computer screen. But then Katie furrowed her brows before crossing her eyes, which made Niall also pull a face, before they both burst out laughing.

“Well, I didn’t know the friends who took her side, but the ones you have now are pretty great,” she said, closing the subject. “Thanks for inviting me to the quiz last week, it was a lot of fun.”

“Thank you for joining us. And you know you’re already invited to the next one.”

Katie smiled, looking down for a second. When she raised her eyes again, Niall was giving her a weird look, like he couldn’t figure her out.

“What?” she asked.

He shrugged. “You say thank you too much.”

She chuckled, “well, I was raised right.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to say it for everything. We’re actually just hoping you won’t blow us off when your quarantine is over,” he said.

“You? Never,” she said, her words making matching grins appear on both their faces.

1 day after quarantine

To be honest, Katie didn’t know what she was doing. It was the first day of her freedom and she invited Niall for dinner. She was making a dish that was his favourite when they were younger, her mum used to always tell Josh to invite Niall around, when she was cooking it. She wanted to do something nice for him, to repay him for all the help. Another reason might have been the fact that she really wanted to see him. As nice as texting and skype was, she wanted to be face to face with him, hear his voice clearly, not slightly distorted by her laptop speakers. Maybe even touch him.

To say she was nervous would be an understatement. She went crazy yesterday, cleaning the entire flat, then ironing half of her clothes, because she couldn’t decide on one outfit she might want to wear. She eventually settled on a casual black skirt, with a slightly sheer, emerald blouse. Her hair was pinned up a bit messily, while she still hadn’t decided if she’s gonna keep it that way or let it loose, or maybe tie it up… She put some makeup on, but didn’t want to overdo it. It was just a casual dinner with a childhood friend, after all.

Just seconds after she turned off the stove, her doorbell rang. It was like the sound went to her heart instead of her ears, making it beat just a little bit faster, excited about the person waiting outside.

Katie pulled off her apron quickly and went to welcome her guest, finally.

“Hiya,” Niall said as soon as she pulled the door open. He squeezed in next to her, handing her a bottle of wine and taking off his jacket. “Oh my god, do I smell chilli?” he asked, turning to face her as soon as he hung it up.

Katie smiled, just seeing him made her happy, but his words and the excited glint in his eyes made her even happier. “Yeah. I got my mum’s recipe, so hopefully it’ll be at least half as good as hers,” she shrugged innocently, trying to check him out as discreetly as possible.

He looked good, the screen did him no justice and he looked good even then. In the flesh he looked more buff, definitely spent his lockdown working out. His hair looked softer and more fluffy and there was a slight stubble on his face. The simple t-shirt he was wearing clung beautifully to his bicep.

“That recipe is like your family’s best kept secret,” he said, eyes wide.

She laughed. “It’s really not, my mum just didn’t want yours to have it, because she loved you coming over and praising her.”

“Oh and you’re hoping for that same praise, aren’t you?” Niall asked, with a raised brow.

She chuckled again, shrugging her shoulder like she didn’t even know what he was talking about. And then he took a step closer and wrapped her in a hug.

“It’s good to finally see you properly. You look beautiful,” he said so close to her ear, she could feel his breath on her neck, raising goosebumps on its way.

It only took her a second to settle into the hug, her arms around his waist, her face nuzzled into his neck, breathing in the mixture of freshly washed clothes and his cologne. The thing was, Niall was an amazing hugger. She knew it before, but now that he was slightly bigger, he was even better. And he smelt amazing. Katie had to force herself to pull away before it became an awkwardly long embrace.

“You look good as well, it’s nice to actually hang out.”

“Thanks for inviting me.”

“Thanks for all the help. Come on, I just turned the stove off, so we should eat while it’s hot.”

She gestured for him to go first into the kitchen, creating herself an opportunity to unashamedly look at his ass, which looked pretty good in his dark grey trousers.

Katie had been stressing all day if they’d have something to talk about. They had skyped twice and texted throughout most days, they were about to run out of topics to discuss at some point, right?

Well, apparently not anytime soon. They spent the whole meal talking between bites, Niall pretty much moaning at the first taste of chilli, which made Katie laugh unattractively, covering her mouth in an attempt to keep the food from spilling out. But the conversation just flowed so naturally between them. They actually sat at the table, in front of empty plates for almost an hour, just chatting, before they ran out of wine which eventually prompted them to move. They cleared the plates, opened another bottle of wine, this time the white one Niall had brought, and moved to the sofa.

“Can I ask you something?” Niall asked, waiting a second after they settled, while she was quickly responding to a text from her mum.

“Sure,” she said, putting her phone down and twisting her body towards him, one leg bent on the couch.

He looked down for a second, then licked his lips, before meeting her eyes again carefully. “Is this a date?”

“Well…” She bit her lip. “It was meant as a thank you, but I guess…” She hesitated for a second, but then saw a small flash of light in his eyes, which gave her that little bit of courage she needed. “It could be. If you want it to be.”

“See, that’s a tricky question,” he said with a grin, which made Katie raise her brows in question. “Because yes, I would very much like to be dating you, but it’s also weird not being the one organising the date, especially the first one. I just showed up, while you planned the whole thing.”

She laughed, her heart feeling instantly lighter, looking at him with admiration. “You can always take a lead with the second one.”

“Deal.”

He brushed the hair that escaped her updo out of her face, putting it behind her ear. Katie was pretty sure he was about to kiss her, but she didn’t want to wait a second longer, his earlier words giving her enough courage to lean in and be the one to initiate the kiss.

He tasted like wine and chilli, probably exactly the same way she did, but somehow the kiss was sweet, their mouths finding their rhythm easily, almost like they were meant to work together.

When they parted, she let out a soft laugh. One of disbelief. And happiness. She just kissed Niall. And now she had a bunch of butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

“What are you laughing about? Was it that terrible?” he asked, his voice a little bit panicked.

“No, god no, it was great,” Katie rushed to assure him, in case he couldn’t tell her emotions by the huge grin on her face. “It’s just… Unexpected. I really did not think we would end up like this.”

“How so?” His arm was holding her hip, as if he was making sure she didn’t pull away.

“I mean… Well, did you ever think we’d be here?” she asked him, not really sure how to explain her thoughts.

“Um… Not really, no. I used to think we’d date at some point, but when we had both gone to uni that hope kinda died,” he admitted.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Why are ya so surprised?” He chuckled at her reaction.

“I mean…” Katie hesitated for a moment, reaching for his hand to play with the ring on his finger. “Yeah, we apparently had a crush on each other back in the day. And we’ve known each other forever, but we also didn’t know each other that well, not really.”

“Yeah,” Niall sighed in understanding, “it’s this weird feeling of knowing someone for years while also just truly learning about them now. But it’s not necessarily bad though, is it?”

“Not at all, I like learning more about you. Getting closer to you.” She gave him a gentle smile, which he returned right away,

“That feeling is very mutual.”

“Life just works in a weird way, doesn’t it? We’ve been living pretty close to each other for months without even realising. And we haven’t spoken for over a year, but now it just…”

“Something clicked,” he shrugged, flicking her palm to trace mindless patterns on the back of it.

“Yeah, it did.”

“Maybe it was meant to be.” His words were so light, but at the same time, they held so much conviction, they made Katie’s heart soar.

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see, huh?” she asked cheekily. “I think it all depends on what you’ll prepare for that second date.”

He chuckled. “Oh wow, well, that chilli is gonna be hard to beat. But I feel like all the shopping I’ve done for you should count for something, you know, like a little advance.”

“Oh great, we haven’t even started dating properly and you’re already slacking. Nice one, Horan.”

Her words made him let out a booming laugh, his head thrown back. And all she could do was look at him and admire the beautiful man beside her, thanking the universe for giving them a chance to find each other.

“Do you have a morning shift tomorrow?” Katie asked, when another episode had ended. They talked some more, then kissed some more, before eventually settling down to watch some tv, enjoying the quiet moments of just holding each other, having more than enough words between them that night.

Even the small fact of him choosing a tv show to start watching together instead of a movie made her do a little mental note in her head. Because it was one more thing indicating that he wanted to do this again. If she even had any doubts still.

“Mmmm, no,” he says, rubbing at his eye sleepily. “I’m starting at two in the afternoon.”

Katie learned he had 3 possible work shifts when he texted her at midnight that he’s at the shop and they’ve run out of the cereal she wanted. He was an IT support specialist, which she found very interesting, although she didn’t understand a lot of his explanation when she asked him about his job.

“Do you wanna stay the night?” she asked. When he looked at her surprised, a flush appeared on her cheeks. “Just to watch another episode and go to sleep, I didn’t mean… like..”

“No, yeah, of course, I wouldn’t want to…” he rushed to say.

“Oh, you wouldn’t?” She looked at him with an arched brow, playful smile on her face. “So you’re not into me?”

“What? Shit, no, of course I am, come on, you should know that.” He raised his brows and both their minds went back to a moment when they were kissing earlier (well, some people would probably call it making out) and she felt his hardening dick on her tight.

She bit her lip to sustain a smile, because it was nice to feel that way, to feel wanted, but also for the other person to be open about it, not afraid to admit his feelings towards her. It’s been a while since she felt like that. Sexy, free, confident. A bit vulnerable, but safe.

“Yeah, I guess I do,” she said with a wicked smile, planting a kiss on his lips.

It was crazy how comfortable she felt with him. She didn’t hesitate to cuddle up to his body, didn’t think about going in for a kiss, even despite it being just hours since their first one. With Niall, there were just no doubts, not anymore.

“So sleep or one more episode?” he asked, his arm tucking her closer to him.

“Are you gonna fall asleep halfway through?”

“Nope, I’m pretty awake now, your proposal made me come alive again,” he chuckled, tickling her side, which made her yelp in surprise.

So they watched two more episodes before eventually getting ready to sleep. Katie took pride in being a good host, providing Niall with fresh towels and a toothbrush, before he even got the chance to ask. She also made him take the bathroom first, so she could put the blanket covering her bed and all the extra pillows away. She did a quick scroll through her socials, deliberately avoiding a text from Frankie, asking how the night had gone. She could wait until tomorrow, when Katie would call her for a proper gossip.

“Do you mind if I sleep in just my boxers?” Niall asked, walking out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped securely around his waist, his glistening chest on full display. He had definitely been working out. “I can wear a shirt too, if you want me to.”

Katie shook her head. “Whatever you’re comfortable with, I’m good with whatever,” she said, passing him with a smile to take her turn getting ready to sleep.

She tried to be as quick as possible, removing her makeup and brushing teeth. When she emerged, Niall was tucked in bed, on the left side, which was exactly the one that had always been empty, since she slept on the right.

Her pajamas were simple, consisting of cotton shorts and a simple t-shirt. After all, they still had time for something sexier, you shouldn’t play all your cards right away.

“First date and you already got me into bed,” he said watching her climb under the sheets. “Damn, woman, you’re good.”

There was a huge grin on his face, which made it impossible for her not to mirror his expression.

“You took my side,” she said, fluffing her pillow before lying down. The bedside lamp was the only source of light in the room, which bathed them both in the golden glow. Niall couldn’t tear his eyes away from her, she looked stunning.

“Oh shit, sorry, it actually looked less slept on,” he started explaining, making a move to get up. “We can switch.”

Katie laughed, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “I’m just messing with you, you got it right.”

“Uhhh I hate you,” he whined, burrowing his head in the pillow. For a second he wished he really was on the wrong side, because then the pillow would smell of Katie and not fabric softener.

“Oh but you don’t. I’m pretty sure you said you liked me, actually,” she chuckled, loving the joking atmosphere that felt so natural between them.

“You’re lucky I have a soft spot for you,” he turned his head to look at her again. She moved closer, resting her head on the edge of his pillow, before moving after a second to plant a kiss on his lips.

It was impossible to not feel how his lips stretched into a smile during the kiss. It seemed like they spent the whole night just smiling and kissing. But neither of them were complaining.

With Niall it was all so easy. Sure, at times she might be a bit nervous, especially right before seeing him or talking to him, but once she felt his presence, most of it went away. She felt free. He had seen her do so much stupid shit over the years, she just knew he wouldn’t judge or be put off. It was just that level of comfort and familiarity, that was what he brought her. And she didn’t understand how, but at the same time he made her feel giddy and excited. It was like he calmed her and made her heart beat faster at the same time. It was against her logic, but she decided not to question it. Because there was no question to her that it was a good thing. She liked that feeling. She craved that feeling.

It was crazy how unexpectedly things could happen. Two weeks ago she didn’t even want to call him, not wanting to bother him, any relationship between them vanished over more than a year ago. And now she wanted to keep in contact with him as much as possible. She wanted to talk to him everyday. Somehow, over such a short time, he became a constant part of her day, whether it was sharing memes, random thoughts or having actual deep conversations. She never even thought she’d be here, falling for someone so fast. Least of all, falling for Josh’s best friend. But that was a funny thing about life and love, it crept up on you when you least expected it. And sometimes, it did so in simply the best way.

The pandemic was a horrific thing that affected countless people’s lives, but in a surprising twist of events, it gave Katie a light in such a dark time. And that light went by the name of none other than Niall Horan.

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warpspeedchic · 3 years

Text

liminal spaces - three

chapter one. chapter 2.

1627 words, read on ao3.

2013.

Stevie felt her phone buzz beneath her cheek. She hadn’t remembered falling asleep, but she had gotten ready for bed earlier than usual that day, hoping her brain would have reset by the time she woke up. Her phone buzzed again. The screen lit up with another text notification, blinding her in the darkness and letting her know that it was almost 4:40 in the morning.

Squinting against the brightness, Stevie unlocked her phone. It opened up on her text thread with Matt. She had turned down his invite for their first night back in town, just like she had done with Nick’s invite earlier that same day. She had one unread message from him that he had sent after she had already fallen asleep, calling her an old lady for turning down the invite to the old dive bar for their first night in town.

Then, another message came through; one from Alex, and instinctively Stevie tapped the notification, even though simply seeing his name pop up on her screen had made her insides turn to lead.

He wasn’t online, but since his last text had been from that very moment, it didn’t do much to quell the vague anxiety Stevie felt. The idea of a conversation with him, even through text, was, at that moment, oddly terrifying. That was new.

What do you mean ‘new’? It’s a rerun, we’ve seen this episode before. She shoved the thought aside, it was normal for friends to… drift apart. She refocused her eyes.

You up? [3:30 AM]

Where are you? [3:54 AM]

I wanna see you [3:56AM]

Why no answer? [4:02AM]

Text me so I know you’re ok. [4:37AM]

Automatically, Stevie's fingers tapped out her response. It was habit for her, at this point, to reply "i'm okay" when someone asked.

i’m ok. [4:46AM]

The ellipses popped up, and Stevie, oddly numb to it all, she stared at the screen as he typed.

I’m outside. [4:47AM]

That hadn't been the response she was expecting. Frowning, she shuffled out of her bedroom to the front of her house. Squinting out her sitting room window, she saw no sign of Alexander on her front steps or the street. Glancing up and down the road, she actually saw no signs of anyone, which she was hardly surprised about, given that it was almost 5 in the morning.

no u aren't [4:50AM]

?????????? [4:51AM]

Stevie huffed, his message lighting up her phone as she stuck her feet into boots and threw on a coat. If she weren't so sleepy she would probably be angrier at him, for not bothering to text her when he was back in town, ignoring her for months, and making her act like a nanny, picking up his drunk arse. Regardless of whether she was or wasn't annoyed by him, that had nothing on the annoyance she felt for herself, because she had it so bad for him and she just couldn't help acting like a fool, could she?

Grumbling internally, Stevie stuck her phone in her coat pocket before heaving her front door open, sending a text to Nick to ask him where her idiot best friend had last been sighted.

---

Her half-jog slowed to a walk as she got to the end of a street of nice townhouses, when she finally spotted one Alex Turner. Yawning and rubbing her eyes, she took her phone out to snap a picture to send to his fellow band members, to assure them he wasn’t dead.

“Come on, get up, you prick,” Stevie grumbled half heartedly, nudging the slumped over figure who was sitting on the front steps of a house with a nice garden that certainly couldn’t have been hers. She nudged him again, harder this time, and with a little snort, he woke up.

“‘Ey,” Alex grinned sleepily, his eyes half-squinted. He was huddled up not unlike a homeless person, his arms resting on his knees. He was dressed weird, at least to Stevie. She knew this get-up was his “new thing”, the leather jacket and slicked back hair and all, but it was his fault that she hadn’t had much time to get used to looking at him like that.

“Hey, Al,” Stevie said, nudging him again, this time with the toe of her boot. “Come on, it’s like 5AM.”

“‘M sleepy,” Alex said, yawning and taking his sweet time getting to his feet.

“And what do you think I am?” Stevie rolled her eyes, looking down at her phone when it lit up with a reply from Matt, which also forced the fact that it was 5:05AM onto her. Scowling, she looked back at Alex, expecting to see him asleep again, but surprised to see him looking up at her, smiling vaguely. He looked good. He always did, but privately, Stevie loved how he looked when he was sleepy, something about it made him look young and boyish. This wasn’t the worst way to be introduced to Alex Turner: Greaser Edition; sleepy, cheeks pink from alcohol and cold.

“Get up, please,” Stevie said, offering him a hand. She was tired, and cold, and did not want to have to be conscious while she was wishing she loved him like a friend more than she loved him like anything else. After a beat, he took her hand, getting to his feet. His hand was somehow warm, like it always was, even though he had been sitting on that step for longer than Stevie had been out looking for him.

Sighing, they began walking back towards her place, Alex trailing almost like a puppy, Stevie leading, weary and sleepy and heavy hearted.

“‘Ve missed you,” Alex said after a moment of walking in silence.

“Yeah, missed you too, Al.” Stevie replied, not looking up. Focus on getting home, going to sleep.

“...Are you mad at me?” Alex asked, and she could hear the frown in his voice. He sounded hurt, and she didn’t have the energy to get annoyed by that.

“I’m not mad at you,” Stevie said. Maybe she was lying a little. Alex stayed quiet then, and she gave his hand a squeeze out of habit. “Promise.”

“Okay,” Alex said, sounding happier. “Y’know… I thought- Been thinkin’ about you all night.”

“Yeah?” Stevie said, almost laughing, though immediately she wished she hadn’t. She didn’t want to hear it.

“Yeah… Saw you snoggin’ some bloke at the bar… and- saw you on a motorbike… and in a taxi… Wasn’t you, was it, love?”

“Unless I’ve been sleepwalking, I’m quite sure it wasn’t.” Stevie chuckled a bit. “You’re just drunk off your arse, is all.”

Alex hummed and squeezed her hand again, and they continued walking.

---

Stevie remained patient but mildly exasperated the entire time she helped Al up the stairs to her front door. When he had just about made it up the last few steps, she turned to unlock her door, confident that he wasn’t about to topple backwards down her stairs again.

Out of nowhere, Alex hugged her, and Stevie jumped at the sudden contact. He was warm, though, and he smelt like ale and something that was probably hair product, but he also smelt like himself. He sighed contentedly and rested his cheek on her neck as Stevie fumbled with her keys and got her door unlocked.

“You’re warm,” Alex said, his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her towards him and almost making her fall backwards. His cheek was pressed onto her neck, which was flushing like her face was, and his hair was tickling her ear. “You smell nice…”

“I want to go to bed, Al,” Stevie said quietly, pushing his arms off her waist and pulling him into her flat. She shut the door, and bit the inside of her cheek when she turned and they locked eyes. He was looking at her like she had been giving a speech, like he was hanging on to her every word, waiting intently for what she was about to do or say next.

“Come on.” Stevie took his hand and led him to her bedroom, her sheets thrown aside where she had left them. She took off her coat and kicked off her shoes, before going to her dresser to pull out some shorts and a different t-shirt. She changed shirts before dropping down on the bed, too tired to stand while rolling off her leggings from her cold legs. She threw her leggings aside; Alex was still getting out of his jeans, just managing to undo his belt.

Stevie went to her kitchen to get him a glass of water and when she was back, he wasn’t in the bedroom. Figuring he was in the bathroom, she left the water on her nightstand and unplugged her phone charger to use in the sitting room. She took one of her pillows off her bed and collapsed on her sofa, leaving her phone on the ground where her hand grazed the floor.

She had almost immediately fallen asleep, willing herself into not thinking any thoughts, when she heard Alex mumble her name. She held her breath, the knot in her chest tightening, trying to ignore him.

After a moment of silence that Stevie thought was Alex returning to her bedroom, she was almost fully asleep, and surprised when she felt him pick her up and put her in bed. He crawled in next to her, lifting her head gently to place her pillow under, brushing her hair out of her face. Weak-willed and half-asleep, Stevie put her arm out and found him. Her head was on his chest and he smelled like himself. He wrapped his arms around her, and she fell asleep.

#alex turner fanfic #arctic monkeys fanfic #alex turner fluff #alex turner x reader

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rat-runner · 3 years

Text

I’m deleting my tiktok...

After months of being nagged by my friends, I finally downloaded TikTok a few weeks ago. I never had anything against tiktok…at least I didn’t before.

I honestly ended up liking the app way more than I thought I would and finally learned first-hand how addictive it could be. It quickly became part of my morning routine, just mindlessly scrolling through videos before starting the day.

Overall things were normal with the app until one day I suddenly got a notification telling me I got a new follower. I didn’t think anything of it…until I saw myself smiling back at me. Not only was the profile picture a picture of me but it was also a selfie I had taken the night before and decided not to post.

I immediately froze, feeling dread start to form in the pit of my stomach. I stared at the screen for what felt like ages. It was almost as if my mind couldn’t process what I was looking at, as if I was looking for a hidden solution that would make this all go away, something that would make this all make sense – but nothing ever came. In fact, somehow things only got worse.

Looking back, I should have deleted the app then and there…but I didn’t. At the time it strangely felt scarier to not check the account. So, my morbid curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on account name: “EUN-EYCON-EHOB-VES”.

The account’s description was just a bunch of random letters: “AINÓINCICI” with a smiley face at the end, somehow that small detail just made the whole thing more unsettling for me. I decided to take a screenshot in case I needed it as evidence for something later.

Again, I know I should have stopped then and there but I didn’t, I just couldn’t.

There were just three videos on the account. Each of the tiktoks had a black screen and were labeled from 1-3 in the preview, what was even weirder were that the numbers were a bright sparkly pink font. I started with “1”, though my thumb hovered over the screen for a few seconds, I mentally fought myself before finally giving in.

The first one was only a few seconds long; a shaky first-person view of someone walking through some woods at night, using a flashlight to light their way. If that wasn’t ominous enough, whomever was filming was either breathing heavily or loudly shivering, I couldn’t tell, and it made my skin crawl. Everything about the video felt off, despite it showing nothing, it felt as if I had just watched some sort of snuff film I wasn’t supposed to see.

I then felt my hands start to slightly tremble, my anxiety starting to rise as I reluctantly kept going. The second video was in the same perspective but this time the person was filming a small apartment complex, releasing a shaky breath while zooming in on a certain balcony. it took me a few seconds but once I realized what I was staring at my heart skipped a beat.

It was my balcony, my apartment building and that’s when I connected that the woods from previous video was in fact, the trail near my place. To say that my heart was racing would be an understatement, I was starting to feel lightheaded and fucking terrified. My mind screamed at me to run, to do something, anything! But my body was frozen in place. I didn’t know what I was more afraid of, what I had watched so far or what remained for me in the final tiktok.

I don’t remember clicking it but suddenly “Part 3” was playing and what I saw still haunts me to this day.

I immediately saw myself, wearing the same outfit from earlier. I’m cooking dinner, completely unaware as someone films me through my balcony’s glass door. The person zooms in on me, the camera much shakier this time around as their breathing suddenly gets more aggressive…it’s as if they’re excited. The violent camera shakes only adds to nauseum I feel, I feel like I need to hold back the bile starting to rise in the back of my throat.

They then point a gloved finger in my direction, breathing ragged when I notice them holding a photograph of me, one I’ve never seen before in the same hand. Finally, then, I hear something that makes something in me click; they quietly sing my name in an eerily high voice. I immediately closed my phone then and there, never watching the end of that god forsaken video.

The room feels completely off kilter, like I can’t stand straight, and I could throw up at any minute. But I somehow managed to call mom in my panicked state. Thankfully she’s on her way over and she’s called 911 but I can’t stop shaking you guys. I know my front door and balcony are locked but what if it’s not enough? What if they get in?

#mine #creepypasta #horror #creepy

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lonelyreputation · 4 years

Text

Different (part one)

A/N: Unrequited love! Unrequited love!! UNREQUITED LOVE!!! AHHH!!!

Okay here is the unrequited love that you’ve all been patiently waiting for!! Thanks for that! So I combined two requests together for an overarching theme and will circle back to those a few times during this mini-series!! As always, let me know what you guys thought of it!! I love hearing every detail of your thoughts!!

THANKS A MILLION for all of your support! Reblogs are never expected, but always appreciated!! 🤗💞🌻

REQUEST/PROMPT: People talking a room away & Fighting the urge to cry

Let’s Chat!! | MASTERLIST

Warnings: Few swear words, some self-doubt, and ANGST!!!

Word Count: 4.3K

You’ve found yourself in this position before: lounging on Shawn’s patio couch on a warm summer’s night, the lights of the CN Tower illuminating the bustling city streets below, nestled into Shawn with your head resting on his chest, arm lazily draped around your shoulder.

The fire pit in front of you was giving off heat, but it was nothing like the warmth you felt in Shawn’s arms. His arms, always tightly wound around you, felt like they were protecting you from anything on the outside. And at times, you even felt as if they protected you from your own dismissive thoughts.

Brian was telling a story, one that you had heard before, but since it was one of Shawn’s first night’s back from touring, he was telling it as if no one had heard it. But you didn’t mind tuning out his voice, it gave you an excuse to give all of your attention to Shawn.

He was gone for so long. Seeing his face through your iPhone wasn’t enough to ease the ache of your heart. Whenever he laughed on screen you yearned to hear his laugh in person, and now you were granted with the pleasure of hearing it and feeling it rumble through his chest.

Shawn’s fingertips lazily grazed your shoulder blades, sending electric jolts all the way down to the tip of your toes.

“So, Shawn,” Brian let out a little laugh, taking a sip of his beer, as he gave Shawn a pointed look, “Any girls on tour?”

Shawn’s fingertips paused their languid movements and you felt your breath hitch in your throat.

“Got my girl right here,” he squeezed your shoulder and pressed a kiss to the top of your head. The familiar tickling sensation inside your stomach caused the corners of your lips to lift up in a small smile.

Brian let out another laugh, “Dude, c’mon, I’m not talking about your best friend––It’s just us,” he waved his hand around to gesture at the three of you sitting around the fire, “Secrets are safe here.”

The longer Shawn stayed silent, the further you felt your heart drop in your stomach. Was there another girl? If there was, he made no mention of it to you on your every other nightly FaceTime calls. The rational side of your brain was having a lethal fight with the irrational part.

He tells you everything, the rational part of your brain concluded, you would know if there was a girl.

But, the irrational section of your mind weighed in, he’s a young, single and very good looking guy there’s no way he went on tour and didn’t meet an equally beautiful girl.

A girl more beautiful than you.

It was times like this where your insecurities were too much to handle. Your own thoughts maliciously attacking you. It was times like these where Shawn’s tight hold on you was all you needed to feel safe from yourself.

“Swear on it man,” Shawn raised both of his hands up in surrender, briefly losing contact with your shoulder. He leaned his body toward the table, and since your head was still resting on his chest, he took you with him, as he grabbed his glass of alcohol and took a sip, “No one for me.”

Brian didn’t look convinced, but you were more than happy when he dropped the topic and changed the conversation. But with the way Brian kept glancing at the both of you cuddled up on the couch, you wondered if there was something you should be aware of.

•••

The next night you were over at Shawn’s it was just the two of you. It was a tradition to get together within the first five days of him returning from tour and having a night reserved for just spending time together; it was always a movie night with tacos.

You brought all the ingredients over; spices, tortillas, condiments, and meat. While Shawn provided the cooking equipment and his company. You were never too fond of tacos, but when Shawn had returned home from touring his Handwritten album and crashed at your house, all he wanted to eat were tacos. You remembered how excited he was to make the tacos, catch up with you––his best friend––after months of being away, and picking out the perfect movie to watch.

His idea of a perfect movie was 10 Things I Hate About You and he fell asleep halfway through it.

So, within five days of returning from a tour, without fail, you and Shawn always ate tacos and watched 10 Things I Hate About You.

That’s exactly where you found yourself now.

Shawn had a fairly large kitchen, definitely bigger than the one in your apartment, and you cooked with a smile on your face with all the space you had to move around. You chopped up the lettuce while Shawn took out a frying pan.

“Did you mix the spices together?” You called out over your shoulder.

You heard your answer when Shawn let out a deep sigh, “No,” Turning your head around you saw him holding the frying pan limply in his hands as he looked at you with hopeful eyes, “Can you mix them?”

Placing the knife down on the cutting board, you walked over to him with a smile, “It’s not that hard.”

Another sigh, “But you have to measure them and there’s a million fucking little spices––“

“Hey,” you placed a hand on his bicep and gave it a slight squeeze, “Don’t worry, I got it.”

When your hand touched his arm, all you felt was warmth. Shawn was an abnormally warm person, but this kind of warmth was felt deeper within. The warmth you felt whenever your skin touched his reminded you of home. His presence was so caring and thoughtful that his whole body seemed to radiate that warmth. And you would do anything in the world to savor that feeling for the rest of our life.

His eyes flickered down to where you held your hand as a shy smile lit up on his face, “I love you.”

I love you.

It wasn’t an uncommon phrase said in your friendship. You both had said it countless times to each other before disconnecting your long distance phone calls, sent voice notes of the phrases to each other, and said it a million more times face to face when you were finally reunited.

But he didn’t mean those three words in the way you wanted to hear them.

You mixed the spices and Shawn took over your role of cutting up the vegetable toppings as your teasing drowned out the music in the background. Cooking was something that was enjoyable and relaxing, but with Shawn, it brought a whole new layer of excitement. You would smack his hand away from eating the cheese, scold him for touching the hot pan, and he would always give your hips a light squeeze whenever he walked behind you.

Once Shawn had cooked the meat and you set up everything in a buffet style, you two had taken to sitting on the barstools instead of at the kitchen table. He was typing something on his phone with a smile on his face when you sat down next to him and asked what it was about. He quickly locked his phone and placed it face down on the counter, looking at you with the same smile he had while looking at his phone. Don’t need to worry about it now, he said, I’m with you.

It was silent as you both started eating the meal you prepared together.

“I–ve––Ote––A––Ong,” Shawn spoke with his mouthful as he went to go in for another bite of his taco. You tilted your head and raised your eyebrows, telling him you understood nothing of what he had just said.

He held up a finger as he finished chewing, and after he swallowed his food he said, “I wrote a song.”

You rolled your eyes, “That’s what you get paid for, no?”

Shawn took another bite of his taco and slightly pushed your shoulder. And with the skin to skin contact, you tried to bottle up that warmth that made your stomach do summersaults.

“I mean like,” he was thinking; eyebrows tightly pulled together as he bit the inside of his cheek trying to find the right words to say, “A song song,” your eyebrows continued to stay raised, having no idea what he was alluding to, “Let me just,” he fumbled with his phone that was sitting on the kitchen counter top, “Play it for you.”

The music he was playing from his iPhone throughout the speakers in his apartment cut off as a melody of guitar strings plucking together filled the room. Shawn’s eyes were trained on the stings of his hoodie, avoiding your curious stare.

Twenty-five seconds in, the voice of the boy sitting across from you––the voice that you loved hearing ramble on about nothing in particular––started to sing.

You could be in Toronto, and I can be in L.A.

Your mind flooded with memories of Shawn always jetting off to L.A., while you were stuck in Toronto always patiently awaiting his return. He’s been on more flights to Los Angeles than you had been on flights in your entire life. And it never got easier driving him to the airport and squeezing him extra tight praying he would change his mind and stay in Toronto.

And if twenty years went by without you, I’d know our feelings wouldn’t change.

Your heart leaped in your chest, feeling as airy and happy as the guitar melody sounded when the chorus of the song came around. You’ve always wanted to bottle up the warmth Shawn held, but this feeling was better. This feeling of pure bliss––like everything in the universe was aligning just for you––made your toes tingle and the hair on your skin stick up.

You barely registered the lyrics in the second verse as you stared at Shawn with eyes wide in astonishment. His way with words blew you away. From the kid who was so nervous to pick up the pen on his first album to now not being able to put the pen down…He absolutely amazed you.

We’ve got that we don’t have to talk to know this love will never stop.

There weren’t many dry spells of conversation with your friendship with Shawn. You could count on one hand when the two of you were too busy to talk to each other, but whenever the two of you would pick up your conversations, it was like no time had passed.

Oh, we’ve got it.

He looked up, staring into your eyes. You thought you were seeing the same different kind of love in his eyes that you’ve been holding in yours for too long now.

Oh, we’ve got that different kind of love.

•••

It wasn’t unusual for Shawn’s lavish Toronto apartment to be the place for parties. Even when he was away on tour, Brian still managed to either sneak in with a few friends or have a full on party. And where you found yourself now––politely saying excuse me while trying to slide behind two people to get to the kitchen––it was one of those full blown parties thrown by Brian for Shawn.

It took a bit of convincing, but Brian wanted to really celebrate his best friend’s return after a successful leg of his tour. His apartment wasn’t packed, per se, but everyone seemed to be congregating in his living room area.

The music could barely be heard over the hoots and hollers of the guests, there were a few sticky spots on the ground where your shoes stuck (you made a mental note to clean it up in the morning), and nobody seemed to understand the concept of personal space.

You finally escaped into the kitchen where people only came in for a second to make another drink and then went back out to join the party. You broke the status quo by leaving the party in the living room for the tameness of the kitchen. The air felt cooler around you, not being pressed up against so many bodies, and you took a deep breath.

“There you are,” your ears perked up at the familiar voice, “Was looking for you.”

You didn’t even have to turn your head to know who was talking. All you had to do was listen to the increased beat of your heart in your chest. His arm curled around your stomach as he pulled your back into his chest. The warmth you felt was in overload.

Shawn pressed a quick kiss to the top of your head, “You weren’t gonna leave, were you?”

You shook your head, grateful that he wasn’t able to see the blush on your cheeks, “Leave a Shawn Mendes party early?” You let out a small laugh that you hoped covered up your nervousness, “Never.”

Shawn let out a boisterous laugh as he spun you around, out of his grasp. Your back was now pressed against the cool kitchen countertop you had made tacos on a few days prior. The hand he had gently placed on your hips was getting all of your attention.

“Good,” he whispered, “Don’t know what I would do if you left.” He pressed a quick kiss to your cheek, “Brian doesn’t know how to handle his alcohol.”

You wanted to let out a loud laugh, but he was so close, if you moved your head just an inch forward your noses would brush up against each other, and you didn’t want to scare him away.

“Lucky me,” you contained your laugh into a wide smile, “To play the responsible adult.”

Shawn moved his face the inch closer to yours. You didn’t know what to do as the tip of his nose slightly brushed against yours. There had been a few drunk kisses shared between the two of you, but you were sober and so was Shawn. At least he seemed sober in your eyes when he whispered the next words with a bit of edge to them.

“Lucky me.”

Your eyes stayed wide open as his fluttered shut for only a second before someone yelled out his name. And that someone was Brian.

You stayed pressed up against the counter, eyes wide open as you stared over Shawn’s shoulder to see Brian looking at you with the exact same facial expression; confused, but not all that surprised at how you found yourself pressed between Shawn and the counter. While you were starting to feel unease from the situation, Shawn stayed firm in his place, his hand was now rubbing soft circles into your side.

“Hey, Uh––“ It was the first time you had heard Brian speechless, “Cleaning supplies? Tyler just–––“

Shawn let his head drop to your shoulders, “Fuck,” he whispered only loud enough for you to hear, already knowing what Brian’s sentence was leading to. His breath was hot against your neck, causing your own breath to just stop. And just like how fast his eyes closed in front of you, Shawn let go of your waist and walked out of the kitchen with Brian trailing behind him.

You stayed in that position for five minutes staring blankly at the wall across the way, still not believing what you thought was about to happen.

“Y/n?” Snapping back into reality, you saw your friend Olivia mixing herself a drink with a look of concern on her face, “Good?

Your mouth went dry as you tried to string together your thoughts, “I––Yeah there’s––Why wouldn’t I––“

“I saw you with Shawn.”

Her blunt words cut you off. You didn’t think anyone, save for Brian, had caught you in that compromising position with Shawn. But it wasn’t like you and Shawn were an item. You weren’t anything but friends. Best friends.

You tried to wave her off as you joined her to make your own mixed drink, telling a little white lie, “He’s an affectionate drunk,” the coldness of the glass wrapped inside of your hand served as a wake up call.

Olivia gave you a pointed look as she took a sip of her drink, “Y/n, you should tell him.”

You pretended like you didn’t hear her as you continued taking sips of your drink. Olivia was a good friend of yours, and it was on your second bottle of shared wine after a much too stressful exam season, that you let it slip that you were in love with your best friend.

You set your near empty glass on the counter, “I can’t–––He doesn’t feel the same way.”

Olivia raised her eyebrows, she didn’t believe you, and neither did you for a minute. In that moment Shawn had you pressed against the counter, you believed that maybe he did feel the same way about you. But he was so quick to remove himself from you that it diminished any hope you had.

“He was all over you,” she smirked, “Got some heads to turn into the kitchen.”

You blushed at the thought of anymore people intruding on your little moment with Shawn, “He has been acting a little differently since he’s gotten back,” you tried to rationalize with yourself, “Maybe he…does?”

There was skepticism in your voice, mixed with a little bit of hope, like the vodka coke you had in your hand.

“Go,” Olivia offered you a reassuring smile as she nodded her head in the direction Brian and Shawn walked off to, “Tell him.”

With a single nod, you downed the rest of your drink, but kept the glass in your hands. You needed something to keep your hands steady and in place or you would be more of a nervous wreck than you already were.

Confessing to your best friend that you love him? The irrational part of your brain spoke up, you know he doesn’t feel the same so save yourself the heartbreak–––

But, the rational part of your mind interrupted, he is your best friend, you should be able to trust him with anything, and if for some reason he doesn’t love you back it shouldn’t change your friendship.

You fought to silence both parts of your brain, neither of them helping your confidence right now, as you walked down the hall to where you knew Shawn and Brian were. He always kept his cleaning supplies in the linen closet in the hall bathroom. Each step you took felt like twenty, but before anymore anxiety ridden thoughts could swarm your mind, you found yourself outside of the bathroom door.

The light that illuminated from under the door told you that they are still in there. The door was cracked up a smidge, and you were able to see a sliver Shawn’s side profile. With a deep breath, you raised your hand to knock on the door, but stopped mid-way when you caught wind of their conversation.

“So,” it was Brian who started talking first, “What was that back there?”

“What was what?” He was playing dumb, just like you had done with Olivia.

Brian let out a scoff, “Y/n? Dude, c’mon, you know what I’m talking about.” His words were slightly slurred together, letting you in on that Brian was tipsy.

There was a pause on the other side of the door and you could see Shawn slightly shrugging his shoulders, eyes avoiding Brian’s questioning gaze.

But then he spoke up, changing the conversation completely onto someone else, “Miranda keeps texting me.”

You had never heard that name before.

“Miranda?” Brian asked, “Is she the one from L.A.?”

Brian spoke as if there were other girls he kept around the world for whenever he traveled. And he spoke her name as if he was familiar with it.

“Yeah,” Shawn said as you heard a cabinet door shut, “She came to the shows out there.”

“And?”

You were pressed up close to the door, torn between wanting to hear about the girl who Shawn was smitten with and wanting to run out to the kitchen to continue living in your head, convinced that Shawn loved you back.

“I like her,” but what made your heartbreak even more was how you could hear the smile on his face, “I like her a lot.”

You held your breath. The vodka coke that had coated your throat in confidence was now as dry as a desert. You swallowed the lump in your throat, but it came right back.

Brian sounded just as shocked as you felt, “But––A few minutes ago––What about Y/n?”

There was a pause. You pressed your lips tightly together in hopes for it to stop the trembling you felt coarse throughout your body. Hands balled in fists at your sides, you screwed your eyes shut and started to count to ten, wishing you could wake up from this nightmare.

One…Two…Three…Four…

“She’s different.”

Different. You were different in every way possible than this new girl who had captured his attention. You were different in that he didn’t have feelings for you like he did for this new girl. He didn’t love you like you loved him.

The tightness in your throat was beginning to be too much, your throat scratchier every time you swallowed your tears back. The piercing sting behind your eyes started to hurt. You had never been pricked with tiny needles on your skin, but you imagined it felt something similar to the pain behind our eyes.

“Besides,” Shawn cleared his throat, “She’s just a friend.”

He didn’t even call you his best friend.

And when you thought that the boy you loved so fiercely couldn’t say anything more to ruin your confidence, he decided to speak once more, “I’ve never––I don’t love her.”

It was with that last sentence, the one sentence Shawn spoke with an unnerving amount of confidence, that hit your heart like a hammer. Throughout this whole conversation, you slowly felt your heart being picked away at with an ice pick. Each part of your heart that broke off held a memory full of love that was now forgotten in the pit of your stomach.

“Who said anything about loving her?” As tipsy as Brian was, he was quick with his question.

Shawn avoided his question all together, “We’ve got some cleaning to do.”

The hall bathroom wasn’t large, so you knew they would be out in a matter of seconds. And if you didn’t move fast enough, it would be revealed that you had heard their whole conversation.

You ran down the hallway, feeling your heart being destroyed even more with every step back into the kitchen. The conversation played in your head, having a hard time believing what you had just heard.

Told you so, the irrational part of your brain mocked you.

The rational part of your mind stayed silent.

You angrily wiped away a stray tear that had leaked past your eye, cursing at yourself for being so stupid.

With the scattered state your mind was in, as it uselessly tried to mend your heart, Brian and Shawn’s footsteps caught you by surprise. The glass in your hand fell from your grasp as it shattered into little shards on the floor.

The broken glass looked a lot like how your heart felt.

Quickly, you dropped to the ground, collecting the little pieces of glass in your hand. You pricked yourself a few times, but you were numb to everything around you that it didn’t matter.

“Y/n––Hey, stop-–Let me get it––Y/n.”

You stopped picking up the shards of glass when you felt his hand circle around your wrist. You didn’t look up at him until he said your name again. There had never been a time where you didn’t want him to touch you. That’s all you yearned for when he was away; his touch. Whether it was an accidental brush of your fingers, a slight squeeze to your hip when you were cooking, or his head on your shoulder when he fell asleep during 10 Things I Hate About You…His touch was all that mattered to you at one point.

But even after unknowingly breaking your heart, his touch was still warm.

“Are you okay?” He still kept a hand locked around your wrist, “What happened?”

But now you wanted nothing more than to rip yourself of his hold. You felt uncomfortable under his gaze, nauseous as he looked into your eyes with such concern, but the worst part was, you still loved him.

“Yeah, I…” you broke eye contact with him, knowing that the sting behind your eyes was begging for another reason to overflow. And staring into his eyes would cause the floodgates to open, “Just clumsy.”

You let out a small laugh as he slowly released his grip in your hand, “Leave it, I’ll clean it up after I take care of Tyler’s mess.”

And just like he did earlier in the night, he left without a second thought.

Knowing Shawn like the back of your hand was a skill you were proud to have. You could always tell by the tone of his voice if something was off and wouldn’t back down until he told you. Every eyebrow raise, nose twitch, certain looks he would get in his eyes that let you into how he was feeling…You were able to pinpoint his emotions in a matter of seconds.

Maybe, you thought to yourself, just maybe he doesn’t know you as well as you thought.

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sulfurousdreamscapes · 4 years

Text

"When I was a kid, I thought Marathi was a forbidden magic language." Jaya smoked and counted the birds on the telephone poles. One, two, three, four, she mouthed the words in what I presumed was English.

"Chār," she finally said and smiled at me from under her sunglasses. "Did you feel that? There's a power there, in that word. When you think of the word 'char' in English, you're thinking of something burning, something on fire. Dark marks of a painful oxidation. And Marathi just uses that word to mean the number 'four'."

I aimed my phone at the telephone pole and took a picture of the birds. One of the birds ended up blurred as it took flight exactly when I pressed the fake button on the screen.

"My dad taught me, when I was a wee lass," Jaya said. "He wanted me to know my heritage, where I'd come from. He always said that if you don't know where you're coming from, how will you know where you're going?"

I checked the picture in my phone gallery and wondered if I should delete it. "I don't know if that makes much sense," I commented.

"Right?" She turned to me. "He was that sort of man. But right, yeah, he taught me a lot of words. Each word was like a talisman, something with a special, hidden power. Everything sounded so occult. Man, everything sounded so wrong."

"Did he teach you grammar?" I asked.

"A little bit. After he became project lead, he just went from one task to another, and he spent less and less time with me. That just made the words all the rarer, you know? It made them more forbidden. The little grammar I knew became incantations, spells, like dark mantras that you can use to curse your enemies."

"Did you?" I asked.

"Yeah. There were a couple boys back in school, they used to annoy the shit out of me. I cast a spell on them."

"What was the spell?" I watched her look away.

"I'm too embarrassed to say."

"You've made it this far, might as well go all the way."

She shook her head a little. "I said, Āmbā mānzar khāto. It scared the shit out of them, they thought I was a voodoo bitch." Jaya spat out her words, like she wanted to get to the other side of the sentences as soon as possible.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

She laughed. "Mango eats cat," she said. "Or maybe it's the other way around, I can't tell. I never really figured the grammar out very well."

I didn't laugh, but I could have, if I was less dead inside.

"He taught me these words, but we still spoke in English all the time. So he'd tell me that 'zhāḍ' means 'tree', and I was supposed to believe that. I mean, that sounds like the name of a vampire demon or something."

This time, I laughed.

"But I kept the words, yeah," Jaya finished her cigarette and pressed on the stub with her sneakers. "Kept them locked up here, in my head. I couldn't use them with anyone, and I couldn't see any reason to use them with myself, so they just... floated in there, I guess. In my head."

"A forbidden magic language," I said whimsically. "That's a very alien concept to me. I've only ever known one language, so I can't even imagine what it's like to understand another."

"But that's the thing," Jaya took her sunglasses off. The sun had retreated, and the sharp orange sunshine had melted into a twilight. "When I went to Dad's hometown, I was eighteen. I didn't know what to expect. But then, there was everyone there, saying words I new, stringing them together into mantras and spells. And none of them were occult."

I opened the car door and got into the driver's seat. She went around and sat in the seat next to mine.

"My grandmother would just say 'Yeīl tenvhā dūdh māse ye... or something like that, I forget how you string them together. Anyway, it sounded so surreal, and all it meant was 'Get milk and fish on the way back'. Bit by bit, I felt like all the secret, forbidden, occult magic words I'd learned were slipping out of my grasp."

I pulled the car onto the highway and pressed on the accelerator.

"I think around then is when I began talking less to dad. The mystique was gone. It was like the rain had washed away something about our relationship. No, it had washed away something about me."

"No more magic," I said dryly.

"No more magic," she repeated and didn't say anything after that for a while.

Later, when the twilight was giving way to the dark, she groaned. "It's a sad thing," she said, "When magic leaves the world, that is. It's not a sudden death. It's more like the realisation that someone you knew online is probably gone, and they've been gone for a long time, and no matter how many times you text them, they're never going to text you back."

I glanced at her to check if she was okay.

Her eyes were closed. She mouthed the word 'bābā'.

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justfangstvdto · 3 years

Text

Open Coffin 2 | Chapter 04 “Word travels fast among the Damned”

Disclaimer: This is a sequel! Find Part 1 here. For some context, I´d advise you to watch The Originals to understand some occurrences.

Chapter warnings: typical TO violence and fighting, a dash of ptsd, glimpse into messed up childhood, oh and some new spells and practices, also this took so extremely long so please feel free to wait until more chapter are here

Word count: 6664

Tags & Author Note at the bottom. Feedback is my lifeblood and keeps the writing coming (eventually...lol)

Your name: submit What is this?

At certain times in life, there is this premonition, a sense of knowing that something is coming. It is felt in the air in every passing breeze, and there is nothing one can do to stop it. It blows from the environment to throw its opponent off balance. Could be a monster with sharp claws, a bullet, a virus or bacteria. Or, in your case, a wooden and deadly staff handled with ancient vampire strength.

The attack came from the left side, poignant and with precision. The wood colliding with the carved stick in your hands send vibrations through your arms, that travelled to your shoulders. Strike blocked. Another attack came swiftly, this time from below in an upwards angle calculated just right to throw you off balance. Blocked again. You could see it in Mikael´s face; he was growing frustrated by every passing round of attack. He threw his weight behind his next attack, that edged closer to your face. Pain erupted from the point of impact as it sliced through the skin just above your cheekbone. Mikael doubled up again and brought the staff to your knees, swiftly knocking you off balance. You fell backwards like a sack of wood but caught yourself midair before landing on your stomach.

He's good.

He forced you down with the edge of the staff, burying your face in the dirt. He could kill you with a push of his weight, but he relented. You heard his feet cracking the ground beneath him as he turned his back and walked away as the champion.

Or so he thought.

You pushed yourself up with your dirt-covered hands, using your vampire speed and the element of surprise to your advantage. Holding the staff in a horizontal line, you went after him. He let out a huffed gurgle when you pulled back on the wood you pressured against his neck, pulling him against your torso. Mikael reacted swiftly and brought his weight forward to overthrow your chokehold like a bull trying to buckle of its rider. You let yourself fall over his back with your hand around the staff, nearing the ground with your backside, only to switch to your front as you easily grasped the staff out if his hands. Swiftly and without hesitation you plunged the staff into his face before you brought it down to his feet to trip him over. He landed into the dirt as you did before, face red with anger.

“I told Klaus already," You said, pointing the end towards his heart, while the Mikaelson family runic crest buried itself into the flesh of your hands "never turn your back on a Salvatore. Especially not me. ”

He was hurt in his pride, that much was evident, but there was a glimmer of surprise in his eyes that made you proud. You've beaten the vampire that hunts vampires. Granted, he had lost his touch over the years on the other side, but he still had centuries on you. It was a cause for celebration, or at least it was something to hold over him if you needed to.

Mikael scrambled to his feet, dusting off his dirt-covered clothes tainting the afternoon sun with dust particles "You fight well.“

"That's what happens when you grow up with two brothers that constantly had to one-up each other. You learn to fight if you're the one in the middle.” You said, sparing a thought to how you´d find Stefan and Damon in front of your house, fighting each other with their bare hands or loose wood from the barn a few ways down from the front door. You would always see them through the smudged window in the housekeeping room where your mother used to teach you what a girl should learn to become a proper woman. But you never cared for it. Instead, you would run outside your dress dragging in the dirt as you pushed your brothers apart even onto the dirt if you had to.

You pushed that memory aside, and you bend over to grab the staff on the floor, your fingers gliding over the ornate wood once more “The crest.” You continued “What does it mean?”

Mikael seemed surprised by your interest, even if it was covered with a loud sigh of contentment. Yet, he complied and drew the crest in the dirt beneath him “Long ago this was the Norse alphabet rune “Gebu”. It´s meaning varied from spear to gift but has been used to refer to Odin's spear Gungnir. It was believed that it had been given to Odin by Loki and is known for always hitting its mark, no matter the obstacle.”

“Always hitting bullseye no matter what? Yeah, that describes your family pretty well.” You shared a quick look with him before you turned away, heading for the cabin. You always wondered if Mikael missed his northern home - his true north so to speak- or if rage consumed him entirely without leaving a trace of the Wikingr he once was. And if the same thing will happen to you if the seething anger you developed over the last 3 years, triumphs over your sanity. Only time and its unrelenting grasp knew.

Glancing into the window beside the door you stopped to check your phone that was still outside since last night. You turned it over and unlocked it with a click, groaning when you saw the notification. Twenty-eight missed calls. Most of them were Klaus, a few from Marcel and then…

No way.

Stefan's name glared at you through the screen and with it a little icon next to him. He left a voicemail. What gravely thing had to occur for him to call you after years of silence? Did Mystic Fall finally burn down to ashes? Perhaps someone scarier than Klaus rolled into town and he just needed help? Whatever it was, the feeling of impending doom lingered in the air when you locked your phone and left it on the table outside. There was no time to linger in what-if scenarios.

No unnecessary attachments. No distractions - That's how you get things done.

Opening the cabin door a swift of charcoaled sage penetrated your senses, pungent with every step you took. Kaleb stood near a table, an unbuttoned shirt hugging his frame as if he was about to embark on a tropical cruise. He had the table decked out in front of him with elongated squares of stone which looked like they were engraved with runic symbols.

You closed the door behind you, the remnant of your late-night drinking session from the night before, collided together with the door´s vibration against the brittle wood. Last night you sparsely told Kaleb why you brought Mikael back, but your conversation quickly dissolved to more than just small talk. The alcohol loosened your tongue to a comfortable degree. It was strange to be unburdened by the fear of judgment. There wasn't any lasting damage that you had to fear, nothing you had to be ashamed of when looking him in the eyes and nothing you had to live with forever. Maybe the prospect of dying and not be burdened by anything that lasted had its advantages after all. It was easier at least.

When you stepped further into the room, Kaleb looked up from the bowl he had in his hand. Passing him, you discarded the sheer jacket that was stained with the particles of your meeting with the dirt floor outside. You flipped open the cooler filled with the blood bags, taking inventory of how many remained. Two. Great. Hunger was plaguing you more than it ever had. The cooler was full yesterday.

You jumped when Kaleb’s fingers gently wrapped when he turned your shoulder towards him to inspect the damage that had already healed, the only reminder of it a sheer layer of red. You pushed his hand away, regretting your action within a second after witnessing the guilty look on his face.

He shuffled back to where he was standing previously and cleared his throat before he spoke: “I don't think sparring with him is a good idea.”

“What, do you think he'd kill me? I´m a dead vamp walking no matter what, so who cares?”

“Don't you mean an undead dead vampire?” He joked before his face contorted into a questioning gaze “Wait…” He laughed. When you returned his laughter with a chuckle, he seemed proud, face beaming with a sense of accomplishment.

So he likes to make people laugh. Noted.

Kalebs gaze lingered for another moment, then he glanced out of the window to watch Mikael train with nothing but the wind as his opponent." You´ve told me how you brought him back, but not why." He continued, a worried tone now coating his voice "I assume it is more than just as a sparring partner?"

You shook your head “You should know as little as possible. They will come after you if they find out you know something. ”

“You're still not the trusting sort.” He noted, “And I thought we've bonded.”

The truth was you had bonded to a certain degree, and you were wary of the developing attachment.

“Well, do you trust me?” You questioned.

“Are you slicked? Those sad eyes might fool some people, but not me. I know what you're after.” Stoic and calculated he stared you down before his mouth contorted into a lighthearted smile “You've got a lecherous heart, Y/N! I won't be used, not for my body, nor my magic!”

You turned your head to hide a smile, but he caught on and lid up with pride. "Speaking of magic.” You nodded towards the table next to him “How's all this supposed to work anyway?"

“This-” He stepped closer, pointing with his fingers to the runes surrounded by a salt and ash circle “Is an ancient runic foretelling. Like a, uh, prophecy.”

“So like a fancy version of tarot cards?” You said bluntly, “How is that gonna help?”

“Depending on what runes appear, we will have a vague indication of what's causing the bleeding; Spell, curse, your vampire body rejecting magic… whatever it may be. If we know what it is, we can reverse it. “

You looked at him and wondered how someone like him came across a spell this old and what atrocities he had to commit to get a hold of it. Magic like this was not given out to anybody without affiliating to one of the more eclectic covens. You should know, that's what you´ve been doing for the past years.

You were about to litter him with questions, but the opening of the screeching cabin door made you pause, and all questions washed away.

“What have we here?" Mikael said from the doorway before stepping closer to examine Kaleb’s spell. " I have not seen this kind of magic in centuries.“ He looked at him with questioning eyes, observing his reaction as an indication as to end him or not. “How did you come to this knowledge?”

“Well, I've read a lot. You pick up a few things over the years.” He shrugged, and it was clear he had no intention of answering any questions “For example, this is based on a Viking age foretelling where they cut off a branch and sliced it into strips and marked them with different signs and threw them at random onto a cloth. Whatever stripes they picked up was the works of the gods. This is just a more definitive version.”

“Sounds easy enough. What do you need me to do?”

“I just need your blood” Kaleb replied.

Ah, blood. The ingredient that was most dangerous in combination with magic. It was used for curses, binding spells and all sorts of nasty spells. Could you say you trusted someone you barely know with an ingredient like this? No. But Shank´s research from two days ago was fruitless besides revealing Kaleb's last name, so you had nothing to go on but your gut feeling.

You bit into the thick flesh of your hand, and your blood pooled in your palm, ready to be used “Where do you want it?”

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The minutes dragged on with slow intent, waiting for them to die and move on to the next. The spell brewed, Mikael had left to an adjoining back room to rest and prepare for an uncomfortable fight he claimed to feel in the air. One would write off this premonition as ramblings of a crazy old man, but you can feel it too. Eyes somewhere distant, watching your every move. Claws ready to rupture skin. The question was, whose claws would draw blood first. The list of people that want to execute lethal force upon you had gotten embarrassingly long over the years, and guessing who was on top of that list equals a horse race with bets running high at all times.

You used the waiting time and tried to decode the unlinking spell you had been working on for the last year. But the advanced incantations and spellwork scribbled on the dusty pages were more than you were capable of understanding. Still, you had to try. Not to kill Klaus, but to ensure your brothers and everyone in his sire line was safe if his enemies decide to multiply further. Knowing Klaus, he will trample on everyone's sandcastle like a toddler to prove his point and make enemies out of everyone if he had to.

You glanced over to where Kaleb was chanting with his eyes closed, entirely concentrated on the whispered spell that´s supposed to reveal what the hell was wrong with you. You´ve been trying to find that out for centuries, so you did not hold out hope for a spell like this to work.

Out of nowhere, your senses alerted you of a rustle in the bushes, very soft steps were coming from behind. So faint, it was almost mistakable as the wind. Your ears twitched. Two-legged. Not an animal then.

Kaleb picked up on the sudden change of stature and paused the chanting and shared a look of alertness. "You think it's him? The original?”

“Probably. Or about a thousand other people that want me dead, take your pick. You know of all the places to die this didn't make my list. Where is the blaze of glory and a badass backing track?”

Stepping outside into the cooling night air you kept your eyes on the treeline beyond where the sound came from, but it was clear without sparing too many seconds that there was only one person who would chase you here despite all spoken cautions. And that one wouldn't hide in the bushes. He would instead break a window in or kick the door down rather than hide like some common thief. So why was he silent? Something wasn't right.

"Hey, I'll get some wood for the stove." You stated at high volume, masking your approach to whoever was out there. Wrapping your hands around the axe that penetrated a tree stump, you stepped into the open.

The rustling sound of bushes was persistent, dominating over the deafening sound of crickets near the body of water down the way. They moved from the left to the right, your eyes impulsively trained to pinpoint their movement.

He watched as you disappeared into the bushes, only to appear seconds later, dragging someone behind you in the dirt.

“Got him,” You said, hurling the unconscious stranger over your shoulder.

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Minutes easily passed waiting for the stranger to wake from his scare. But he had no intention of cutting the wait short. His head was hanging low, almost touching his knees. Softly breathing he sat there, while you waited for any sign of movement.

“How is he still unconscious?” You sighed.

"You gave him quite the scare, I'm sure."

"To be fair, that guy looks like he would be scared by a kitten." You said, eying him with pity "I think a nice wakeup call is in order."

"What are you thinking? Fire?" Kaleb chimed in.

"You do know all of this is made out of wood, right?" You asked, pointing on the wooden interiors.

"Don't tell me you don't like to set things ablaze."

"I'm not one for setting anything on fire these days." You muttered, pushing the rush of guilt that enveloped you down where it belonged. Only thinking about the smell of fire, the embers that sprinkle into the air and the blasting heat that melted skin from bones, was enough to wish that you could dig a hole and be swallowed into the earth without abandon.

But there was no time for it now. Perhaps there never will be.

"You know let's not go the magic route." You continued "Sometimes all you need is a good slap in the face to get the day started."

"Sure, who needs caffeine if a slap in the face will do." Kaleb chuckled.

You closed in on the stranger and slapped him in the face with gusto, stirring him awake like an unexpected thunder. Realisation dawned on him when he blinked through his tired eyelids and saw your face

“Oh shit, you're Y/N.” He tried to make a run for the door, but you pushed him back where he came from “Oh God, I'm so dead.”

“See?" You looked over your shoulder gesturing your hands toward the tied up stranger "That is how they usually react. With fear. Not all cocky and all-knowing like you were.”

“Well, I find your intimidation charming.” Kaleb grinned.

"Sure, because me being scary is such an admirable quality."

"You know numerous ways to kill a man. It's hot." He shrugged unapologetically.

“Uh... "The stranger uttered, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "You know I´m still here, right? Not that I don't condone this flirting but-”

"I'm not flirting." You defended adamantly.

"Maybe. But he is, clearly not successfully.” The stranger let out a chuckle and immediately regretted it by the way Kalebs face delved into anger.

Was that how people saw your early partnership with Kaleb? Did they assume you'd just fall into the arms of somebody else that quickly? If a stranger saw it, everyone else would too. You could already hear them talk behind your back, laughing at your broken promises and weak composure. What if those rumors were the only thing Kol would hear when he'd walk the earth again when you were dead and gone? You could not are the thought. However useful Kaleb was maybe you had to get rid of him after all.

“Listen," You continued "If you tell me who sent you, I might let you live. Spoiler alert, probably not.”

"He said to look out for any sign of trouble, that's it. I'm- I don't want any trouble.”

“Who sent you. I want a name.” You asked again, all the while trying to think of who would send an amateur like him after you. These days everyone knew that he'd be gutted if he crossed your path.

Following his continued silence you lowered yourself to his seated level, and with your fingers grazing his clothed chest you said “I wonder if you´ve ever had your chest opened before? Or do you prefer something more magical like boiling from the inside? I don't have much time to spare. So If you don´t talk, you´ll find out.”

“Marcel, okay?!”The stranger spoke with hurry, “He was worried about you hanging out with this guy.” He nodded towards the door. You looked over your shoulder where Kaleb rolled his eyes so hard you swore they'd pop out any second. Eying the stranger again you took notice of his swooped dark hair, overly nervous yet intrigued inquisitive nature and his questionable taste in overly printed dress shirts. It dawned on you that this must be Marcel's friend he had been talking about endlessly.

“Oh, you're his buddy. Josh!” You retreated your hand from his chest and stepped out of his personal space “Sorry for the well, unwelcoming welcome.”

"Yeah, it's becoming kind of a thing with everyone that hangs out with Count Dracula."

You grimaced at his words. "Do I look like I hang out with Klaus in my free time?"

Josh considered for a moment, then shook his head "Yeah… probably not. From what I've heard you're more the stabbing him in the back type." His face fell when you raised an eyebrow and he added "Not that he didn't deserve it."

Ah, that word again. Deserve. Nobody deserves anything. Often neither happiness nor grievances come to those who truly deserve them. It comes to those who consume them if they're entitled to them or not. The ones that persevere and push themselves up by kneeling others into the dirt. Those are the ones that take the good parts while the ones that truly deserve it shoulder the rest. That's the way of the world. Especially the supernatural one. And Klaus was both kneeling in the dirt and pushing others in it. You were unsure if he truly deserved what failed assassination attempt you brought upon him. You were not so sure you were worthy of being the judge, jury and executioner all on your own. Not anymore, and you had no idea if that was a good or bad thing.

“So uh.” Josh looked around the room awkwardly, an unspoken question written over his face. It was nothing new, they all had one if they dared to speak it out loud.

“Ask what you want to ask.” You sighed.

“The stories about you. Are they true?” He asked. Kaleb was interested too as his head snapped towards you in interest

“Most of them.” You shrugged as you leaned against the table's edge behind you. You're not really in the mood to play interview with a vampire "And I think the worst is yet to come so better hurry back and tell Marcel to call off his protectors. I can handle myself. ”

“Yeah, I'd say. You're scary.” Josh headed for the door and dipped to the right only to appear a second later “Uh, I have no idea where I am. "

“I assume you left your car near the church?” You asked and Josh nodded “It's about 20 miles northeast from here. Cell service is fickle, so just follow the trodden path.”

"North East. Yeah right okay." He turned on his heels and headed outside again looking left and right to determine where to go.

"That way." You pointed in the right direction and he thanked you with a round of finger gun before he disappeared. How Marcel has not gotten rid of him yet was beyond you.

“Why does everybody keep saying that?" You returned to Kaleb side "Am I that scary?”

“Terrifying. In the best way.” He smiled and his gaze drifted to the floor before snapping back to your face. There was an intensity in his stare, unwavering and unrelenting in a way that kept your focus longer than it should have.

When Kaleb's fingers drifted over your hand his breath hitched and grew still, and you had no intention of moving away. His calloused fingers grazed over your skin and had it not been for the immortal-ish aspects of you, your hands would be as callused, if not worse.

When you slowly lifted your head to look at him he was so focused on his hand on yours that he did not seem to notice your shifted gaze. Your eyes drifted over his shadowed face, trying to pinpoint what about him it was that kept your attention. There was something familiar about him. The way he held himself, this unwavering confidence and charm that revelled in his authenticity. Perhaps you've met him before when grief had its hold on you, or during one of the anger engulfed moments or perhaps just passed by him on the streets.

He felt familiar in a way that was comforting. Like a song you heard in passing that resurfaced with questionable intention and you´re left wondering why it felt as if you´ve heard it before. He felt like bonding on public transport travelling with the same people day in and day out, only to miss them when they take a different route. Or the passing by someone on the streets wondering if it was a ghost of the past or someone that's just bearing a similar face.

Reality hit soon after your wondering thought and unwavering guilt crushed you under its weight. You drew your hand away and Kaleb jumped at your sudden movement.

Get a grip. What the fuck are you doing?

No attachments. No distractions.

“So, uh... “You cleared your throat, putting some distance between you. “The rune thing. You find anything?”

“Let´s see.” He burdened a smile and returned to the table to find that etched lines have appeared on the bare stone tablets.

“Interesting. These two are next to each other, almost connecting."He said, pointing at the first two stones. The first one symbolises strength. You're bound to an unmatched power, yet no that can't be right.”

“What is it?”

“This rune," He said and pointed to the second one "It symbolises power but as an outside force. You´re not tied to your own power."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"You're bound to something powerful and that power depletes your own when it is being used. Like a battery of sorts."

"Too much power for me to handle, huh? Explains the nosebleeds, I guess. But what is it?"

"Whatever it is it's unlike anything I've seen." Kaleb's further words drifted out of focus when a shower of calculated noises drenched the room. There was someone outside yet again.

You interrupted his foretelling, holding a finger to your lips "We have another visitor. Stay here and don't come out."

Kaleb reached for your upper arm when you turned away from him and said "Don't go out there."

You snapped out of his grasp swiftly glaring at him as you said; "You don't tell me what to do." It was a low blow, sure, but perhaps he would keep his distance or disappear before things got even more complicated. Perhaps acting like this will cast him away.

Turning the corner on the far side of the cabin you were met with a suave demeanour full of torment and rage and a newly found hopelessness you had yet to pinpoint its location.

“Oh good, you're here. Want a drink?” You offered a swig of the bottle on the table outside.

“I'm in no mood to socialize,” Klaus declined sternly, the darkness parting for his body as he stepped onto the splintering wooden walkway.

“When are you ever?" You deadpanned, but Klaus was far from being amused. You tried to lighten the mood, but it was of no use. He was furious. No doubt Esther or her bootlicker of a son spilt the beans about the white oak. Handling matters delicately was never their strong suit.

"I can tell by the look on your face that you're here to kill me.” You said, trying to soothe the oncoming onslaught of judgement that was heading your way “I assume I deserve it, but can you tell me why this time? Just so I can keep track. ”

Klaus dragged his tongue over his parsed lips letting out a pitiful hushed laugh before he sat next to you, staring ahead. “I was simply minding my own business - ruling, killing my enemies and what not - and low and behold what do I hear? The white oak stake has resurfaced in the hands of my mother. My my, word does travel fast among the damned, now doesn't it?“

“Well, I'm sorry the world isn't arranging itself for your schedule.” You peered back at his expectant face. Anger was flaring through your blood, an amplified sensation whenever Klaus was near. “But I don't see why this is my problem?”

“Don´t be coy with me. This has your name written all over. Disruption the order of long-established rules of battle for your twisted little schemes." He trickled his fingers against the wind as if he was holding strings attached to a marionette to control at his will. No doubt, he viewed you as a puppeteer master these days. High praise indeed, especially coming from someone as wicked as him.

“I want to know why." His voice was quieter, soft almost, as he spoke into the wind "Why did you defy me when I gave you nothing but trust?” The way he stared holes in the floor uttering these words rattled a rush of guilt that you never expected to be directed at Klaus of all people. Klaus was confident with threats and violence, but bearing himself open was something he barely had the courage for.

“Let's not pretend that we trust each other just because we shared a sentimental moment. Once.”

“You know, I find it fascinating that you believe you are invincible to my wrath.” He continued harsher, covering his vulnerability “Our agreement has been made null and void by your actions, and you don't seem to care. More so you seem to enjoy it. Why is that?”

“You´re the master schemer here, tell me, what do you think I'm doing?” You leaned forward, eager to know what he had to say. No doubt he´d see right through the parts you wanted him to see. The question was if he had any idea beyond that. He was the mighty Klaus after all, and more so he was smart.

“I'd say you're playing both sides, though the recent events convinced me of something else entirely. You're bold, fearless; striking without weighing the consequences. Suspicious, isn't it? Unless you have the upper hand.” He turned his head again, observing your reaction like a hawk. “Is this charade your grand plan? Aiding my mother in her endeavors by handing over the only weapon that could kill my family? I must say, I'm not impressed.”

“You think that's the only part? Just another revenge fantasy? And here I thought you finally learned not to underestimate me.”

“It is because I do not underestimate you that I came here.” He said. It was high praise indeed coming from him, even if it came with a trickle of insult to be compared to the likes of the big bad Klaus.

“Good call, not sending Elijah then. He'd kill me just for ruining his shoes in this terrain. But if this is the only reason you came then you can go right back to your castle and rule your kingdom because Esther doesn't have the real white oak. It's s copy.”

Klaus cocked his head to the side, the lamps fire now perfectly reflecting in his eyes. The look of distrust was written over his face, yet there was no doubt that he was intrigued by the information you laid out.

“See? I´m not trying to play games here. I give you my word.” You added with the hope that at least your word had not lost its ´s value when everything else had.

He paused, dragging his tongue over his bottom lips swiftly, weighing his responses. “Your word means nothing until you live up to it.” You nodded, a silent promise you had no idea if you could uphold. Who were you kidding, of course, there wasn’t any way you would not place his head on the chopping block if it came to it. This whole thing was nothing but polite stakeouts as a way to keep up with the other´s schemes. Problem was, Klaus would offer you up just the same without blinking.

The old Klaus anyway.

If you would listen to the things circulating about him as of late, you'd think he had lost his old tyrannic ways. Found some way to soothe his grudge with the world and became a better person. It was laughable. People don´t change, you found that they mask themselves, sculpting a new life out what the fires left behind. They don´t change, they overpaint. And it was time that the ones whispering about Klaus alleged newly-found compassion, learned that lesson too or they´d head for disappointment. Either way, they'd wake up.

Shuffling from inside averted your attention to the cabin where Mikael and Kaleb were still hidden. Klaus' interest was peaked when your eyes slanted over to the side and remained there for a moment.

“What is it?” He questioned.

You forced your eyes forward, despite the impending doom running through your veins. “Thought I heard something. Probably just an animal somewhere. Or someone who wants to kill me. Take your guess. These days I'm almost as unpopular as you.” You laughed, quickly glancing through the window again.

Klaus followed your gaze again but saw nothing but an empty cabin. He turned and walked across the porch to look into the other window and although he could not see anything, Mikael was inside with his hands around Kaleb´s throat demanding him to grant his release from your boundary spell. Klaus knew that dealing with witches- even a half witch like you- did not mean that what was in front of your eyes was necessarily what was truly there.

“Well here's to living up to my promises.” You said as you made your way to the door. I guess I'll see you back in town, yeah?” You tried to get rid of him, but it was too late. Klaus' paranoia had already sounded the alarm in his head and snapped the door closed with a push of his hand.

"Who is with you?" His voice was dangerously low and calm, which only predicted the worst.

"No one. You know I don't do well in team scenarios." You waved him off. You had to get rid of him or this whole plan will go to hell. Plus your new friend in there would suffocate if kept fighting Mikael.

Without being aware, you took a step back on the brittle flooring denting it enough to let the staff that was still leaning near the door fall from his resting place. It rolled on the angled flooring right towards Klaus’ feet. At first, he glanced at it, but at the second look, his eyes grew wide. He'd recognize the bearing crest anywhere. Within the next heartbeat, he dragged his eyes from the floor and you were granted a look that put hellfire to shame.

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

Your heartbeat beat so loudly it seemed to want to escape your chest, to flee the oncoming slaughter. You were not one to run, to hide and cower in fear. But this was different. Klaus knew you brought his hateful father back to life and he was right outside a spelt door, ready to burn this place down if he had to. There was no reprieve. You knew that the beating of your heart was numbered, counting down to your own demise.

You could´ve made him bleed, unconscious or writhe in pain, but it would not hold him down forever. Nothing could. So you headed for the door which gave you the luxury of a few more minutes before he would skin you alive. Distance was all that mattered, even if that distance was a brittle door that if not for the magic seal would break in two by the way Klaus was hammering against it.

“If you want to fight me, why are you running?” Klaus yelled and paraded on the porch like a lion in a cage that was ready to end his captors. You turned your back towards the rattling door, your attention now focused on Mikael who still had Kaleb in his grasp.

“Release me or I will end him!” Mikael said, his fingers digging into Kaleb´s neck, cutting off his air supply, ready to snap his neck like a twig if he had to.

You balled your hand to a fist forcing Mikael to his knees to bear the pain of your magic “You think you're in any position to make demands?” You shared a look with a heavy breathing Kaleb and he nodded while grasping his neck, signalling he was fine, though hurt in his pride.

“Enough games, Y/N!” You jumped at Klaus´s voice which invaded through the cracks in the walls. “Let's finish this. Is this not why you brought him for? I'm not afraid.”

You opened the door with a flick of your free hand while Mikael was kept in place with the other.

If you cannot fight them on your own, let them fight each other.

There you stood between the devil and the deep blue sea, one decision worse than the next, one would bring hellfire while the other would leave you stranded on the bottom of the ocean. There was- without a doubt- no silver lining at the crossroads you arrived at. If you released Mikael and held up your end of the bargain Mikael would slay Klaus and with him his entire line. Your brothers would die. You would die sooner than expected and thousands of vampires would die by your hand. Your chance of getting Kol his life back would slip through your hands like sand in an hourglass.

However letting Klaus in to fight his father would either result in the same outcome or he'd kill Mikael and with it every bargaining chip - and if necessary threat- you had hidden in your hold. Either way, you were backed into a corner, and an animal in a corner always fought back.

You took a breath that was loaded with thought. The men in the room picked up on your hesitation and Klaus was the first that dared to speak. “Let him go. I can't wait to stand over his burning corpse. Only this time, I intend to enjoy it more. ”

He knew what was on the line for you if you let them fight. He knew. And something in his face told of nothing but victory. So you let them go and chase each other to death. Hatred was useful in a fight and Klaus had more than anyone. He will win. He had to.

Right?

Kaleb watched from behind as you drew the curtain open to and surely enough there in the distance, beyond the scarce line of trees you saw them fight. They managed to disrupt each of their blows but even from afar you saw Mikael had the upper hand. He kicked Klaus onto the ground and knocked him flat on his back towering over him.

"And you're going storm after them right about…" Kaleb counted on his wrist as if checking an imaginary clock. Now."

You shot him a glare with the doorknob already in your grasp. You exited with Kaleb only a few steps behind. You were already vamp speeding away when Kaleb collided with the boundary spell

"Of course." He sighed and took in the room he was now trapped in "I guess it's time to set this thing on fire."

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

A/N: I know it has been....months. 2020 y´all. Shit´s crazy. In all seriousness, my life did a 360 this year - as it did with everyone- so please excuse my absolute snail speed with writing these days.But thank you to everyone that´s here right now at the end of yet another chapter. Please let me know if you have any thoughts!!

Also I was proud of my little sneak sentence when she talks about Klaus being hopeless. Because you know, he´s without Hope. I rather liked that.

Open Coffin Series Taglist: (message me if you want on or off this list!)

@shadyladyperfection @akshi8278 @thegoddessofvampire @newurleans @originalbish98 @acourtofhopeanddreams @bonniebird @imnoaingeal @cherryblossomllama @relmi-llorrac @piercethepottorff @maliae14 @5-seconds-of-animals @the-geeky-engineer @rock-n-magick @flymeawayworld @givemesomehybrid @mikealsonlover @nuteller28 @fandoms-fandoms-everywhere99 @drkplum @fandooomqueenforyou @free-the-fangirl @clockworkballerina @twisted1ginger @superwholocksociopath474 @pacifyprincessxo @mustachio1616 @thealyana @sandyclaws @unicorntrooper @buckysummers @sanity-is-overratedxp @lunna-star-8 @graysonmalfoy @woodworthti666 @elenavaldez02 @lilulo-12 @selmasemlan @thelostallycat @characterobsessed @cococola-cocaine @crazyinternetgirl @codenamewitcher @-thatgirloverthere- @alwxadria345 @trymexo @mizzezm @willieshakesqueer @spunky-89 @putyourherohaironstefan @xxdragonagequeenxx @thegingerthatwaited @shootingstarsaretearsofheaven @hinata7346 @controloffandoms @sabrielflowers

#kol mikaelson #the originals #the originals imagine #kol mikaelson imagine #the originals fanfic #open coffin

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coffeeew · 4 years

Text

rainy days | yoon jeonghan

❀ → genre: |fluff |

❀ → synopsis: you loved when the rainy season came, going to the park near your house's pavilion and just sitting there while the rain poured over the city was one of your favorite activities, and it became more entertaining when you saw him doing the same thing.

❀ → pairing: jeonghan x female reader.

❀ → warnings!: my first language it´s clearly not English, excuse any grammar mistakes.

❀ → word count: 1.5K

❀ → note: I don´t know if it´s offensive that I upload this while the whole situation involving some of the members is going on since I´m not part of the culture that´s being affected, if it is, please let me know and I will take it down and upload it when the apology is given. Treat People With Kindness Loves.

You opened your eyes as soon as you heard the constant and harsh sound of the raindrops against your bedroom window. A sigh came out of your mouth as you saw the darkroom that was bright when you fell asleep. It happened again, you fell asleep and ruined your sleeping schedule. You turned your head to your right and grabbed your phone that was lying beside you.

As soon as you turned it on the light coming from it made you close your eyes again. You opened one eye and reduced the light coming from the screen on the settings. 7:26 was the hour marked on your phone's clock. You frowned your nose in annoyance and reunited strength to sit down. You shake your head, making your messy wavy hair get into your face. You cracked your neck by tilting your head slightly to the right, making that satisfactory sound of your bones cracking. You stretched your muscles by intertwining your fingers together and stretching your arms up and to the sides.

Once you felt a little bit less tired you stood up, feeling the cold wood of the floor against your feet, making a shiver run through your spine. A yawn came out of your mouth and you walked out of your room to go to your mother's room and maybe lay with her while watching a movie, but as you came out you saw how every light on the house was off and you remembered she was not home. She had gone on a trip with her friends to Jeju last night. You groaned while walking to the living room, turning the light on to just see the unecessarily big window behind the TV soaked with raindrops and the dark grey sky welcoming you.

The rain was pretty aggressive today and you weren't sure if going to the pavilion today was a good idea, you liked watching the sky cry while smelling the scent of the wet wood and dirt but you didn't want to get sick. You thought about it by just staring at the white walls of the living room.

"fuck it."

You told yourself while walking back to your room, this time at a faster pace since your body had a little bit more energy than some minutes ago. When entering your room you decided you needed to change from your hello kitty pajamas to something more... appropriate. You opened a drawer from your dresser, taking out a pair of black jeans and a light green oversized sweater that was your mom's when she was young. You changed into the clothes and checked your hair on the full-length mirror that was leaning beside the dresser. It was wavier than usual, almost curly. You shake it a little bit and ended up not wanting to deal with it, after all, it didn't look that bad.

You graved your headphones from your night table and plugged them into your phone and then placing them into your ears. You unlocked your phone and went into Spotify, shuffle playing your playlist, making Cartoon from Zico sound into your eardrums. The music was in that volume that could make you deaf, but honestly, that's how you liked it. You walked out of your room, yet again, and walked to your home's main door. You sat on the floor and stretched yourself to grab your black vans that laid beside the door, putting them on while you hummed the melody of the song playing. Once you finished tying the laces you stood up and grabbed the black umbrella that remained leaning against the door, as well as your house keys that were hanging on that old wood keyholder your family liked so much for a strange reason.

You opened the door, stepping out of your home's warmth and opening the umbrella, placing it on top of your head. You closed the door behind you and locked it with the keys. Once you where sure the door was well locked you turned over, looking at the street filled with puddles due to the intense rain pouring on the city.

You started walking on the sidewalk taking a deep breath of the calming smell of rain, pulling one of the earphones to also listen to it slamming against the floor aggressively but yet calming. A sigh came out of your mouth as you turned on the corner of the street, making the image of the park come into your sight, the big wood pavilion looked so nostalgic right now.

The first time you went there was after a terrible day in school. You had had a terrible and stressful science test that even though you studied for it, you couldn't remember a single thing, you also discovered your friends had been talking shit on your back and when you thought it couldn't get worse, your mom called saying that she wasn't going to be able to pick you up since she had a lot of work and needed to say extra hours. You were fourteen when you ran from your school building, tired of waiting for the rain to stop, till' finding another sealing to protect yourself from the rain, that's when you found the pavilion and went in, you stayed there until the rain stopped while shaking and knowing you were going to get sick the next day.

You cut your thoughts once you are in front of the wooden stairs of the pavilion, starting to step up until you got to the hollow floor of the same material. You closed the umbrella and sat on the last stair, watching how the rain started pouring more aggressively as the seconds went by. You leaned on the stair rail, closing your eyes as you slightly sang the lyrics of M.I.A by Stray Kids.

It was just as calming as ever, you love the cold breeze that made your body shiver from time to time, you wished you could stay like that, it´s not like you had a bad life to think like that, but the feeling you had right now was just as overwhelming as crying, but the one crying was the sky. People always said that rain made them feel oblivious or sad but you felt clean, you felt like the tears the sky was pouring made all the bad thoughts and feelings wash off.

"that´s so cheesy."

You told yourself, laughing by the way too "poetic" thoughts you had.

"you said something?"

You jumped in your place due to the male voice that you weren´t waiting for. You looked at your left, just to see a boy in a black shirt and a squared unbuttoned shirt on top of it, dark brown hair and laptop on his thighs.

"I- no... Since when are you there?"

He smiled brightly making his eyes turn into half-moons and small marks appear on the corner of his lips. How is someone this attractive?

"Almost at the same time as you, I saw you getting here when I was walking in this direction."

He said while pointing on the opposite side from where you came from.

"Oh..."

You responded then pressing your lips together. How do you act when there´s a boy this pretty in front of you?

"I didn´t mean to scare you, sorry."

"No, it´s okay, I should have noticed there was someone else here."

You laughed to try making the air less tense and awkward, but it seemed like you were the only one that thought it was awkward since the boy´s shoulders where relaxed and his hands where comfortably laying on the keyboard of his laptop, that was when you also noticed the backpack beside him.

"You come here often?"

You asked genuinely curious, you were on the pavilion very often recently since the rainy weather had come, but you never saw him and since he even responded to your murmurs you could´ve noticed him before since you talk to yourself all the time.

"It´s that a pickup line?"

He asked with a goofy tone while raising one of his eyebrows. You opened your eyes on surprise and shook your head almost aggressively.

"No, no, no I-I´m, I really mean it, I´ve never seen you near here."

He slightly giggled.

"It´s easy to make you nervous. And no, It´s the first time I´m here, I wanted to go to a nearby cafe but it was closed and it started raining, so I saw this from afar and ran here, didn´t want my stuff to get too wet."

He said by lifting the laptop. You nodded, thinking the conversation was over, but he continued talking.

"What about you? You come here often?"

You nodded yet again.

"Yeah... It´s calming to come here while it rains."

"So you only come here to watch the rain and sing?"

A slight blush came to your cheeks by the stranger´s comment.

"I´m sorry you had to listen to that."

You laughed awkwardly, again.

"You do it pretty well actually, I like it."

"Oh, thanks."

"Not a problem."

You licked your dry lips and gained courage from who knows where and talked again.

"by the way, my name´s y/n "

He smiled again.

"I´m Jeonghan."

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taina-eny · 4 years

Text

Bad Dream

As promised, this is the one shot I wanted to upload last Weekend.

Enjoy, and if you see mistakes, please tell me^^

G Callen x Reader

Prompt: none

Words: 3.352

Tagged: @imnot-typical-92 @susan1333 @coffeebooksandfandom

“You shouldn´t eat so much sugar.” You told your boyfriend as you two walked through the halls to the bullpen.

“I like sugar, what is wrong about it?” He asked with his big bag slung over his shoulder. You looked at Callen.

“Nothing is wrong about liking sugar, but only if it isn´t the base of your nutrition. We should cook more.” He looked at you and raised his brow.

“I can´t cook and we both don´t have enough time for it.” You sighed and walked towards your desk.

“I know, but maybe we could buy healthier take out?” You looked at G hopefully with your big (E/C) eyes. He put his bag down and went over to you.

“Of course (Y/N).” He gave you a quick kiss and you smiled. You looked in his blue eyes.

“Thanks.”

“Everything for you.” He whispered and put his hands on your waist. You locked your arms around his neck and leaned in for another kiss.

“Good morning!” You broke your kiss and turned your head to Sam. You smiled.

“Morning Sam!” Sam smiled at you two. “Had a nice night?” He asked innocently, but you and Callen knew his intentions.

“It was a good workout.” Told your boyfriend his partner and both you and Sam began to chuckle.

“What was a good workout?” Asked Deeks curiously when he and Kensi turned around the corner. Now Callen was the one chuckling with a smug smile on his face, while Sam just shook his head with a smile on his lips. Deeks stopped in the middle of the desks, while Kensi just sit down and started to smile too. You walked out of Callens grip and took your bag. When you walked past Deeks with a smug smile on your lips and winked sheepishly, it was only a matter of time until you heard his “oh”. It let your smile brighten up on your way up to OPS. Up there you began to work with Nell and Eric, when a new case came in.

“I get the others”, said Eric and walked out of the room. In the meanwhile you looked at the screen.

“There are too many”, you whispered.

“Exactly.” The prompt and unexpected reply would cause anybody to jump out of their skin, but not you. You merely turned your head to look at your small boss.

“And that´s why the team needs help.” You were about to ask her what she meant with that, but Eric came back in with the team in tow. You took some steps back, so you wouldn´t stand in front of the screen, and ended up between Kensi and Deeks.

“We found the video footage from this night ten minutes ago.” Explained Nell and started the video. You could see one victim and about ten attackers. They were brutal, the victim didn´t stand a chance against their hits. In the end they burned the victim alive, even though he was unconscious.

“Wow.” Deeks flat comment was the mood of everybody.

“Yeah, the victim was one of our informants”, told Nell and Eric continued.

“The attackers are all part of a Mexican cartel. We suppose they are still in LA.”

“Why do you think so?” Asked Sam, who leaned against the table with crossed arms.

“The victim was just one of our two informants. He was the older brother and his younger brother is still alive and somewhere here in LA. If they want to finish the job, they need to find the younger one”, you explained while you put a picture of the victim and his younger brother on the big screen.

“So, we don´t know where the younger brother is?” Asked Callen and looked to you, but Hetty beat you to the answer.

“Exactly. This is your job Mr. Callen. Find the boy and protect him. The cartel shouldn´t get a hold on him.”

“We don´t have enough time to search everywhere for him, we aren´t enough people.” You shared this opinion with Kensi. Your time was limited and you´ve got to many opponents to find and beat.

“I know Ms Blye. That´s why Ms Jones and Agent (L/N) will help you in the field.” You stared wide eyed at Hetty. You were shocked, but in a very positive way. You were a trained field agent after all.

Two years ago you were assigned to Callens team by Hetty, when your old team got separated. Well, you were alive, two of your three team members were killed and the last one was chained to the wheelchair. To be honest, you survived by mere luck, nothing more. This was your last job out in the field and since you came into this team, you were banned into OPS to work as an analyst and advisor.

At first you begged Hetty to let you work in the field, but after months of begging and nothing happened, you just accepted your fate. One year ago you and Callen started to date, and your ache for the field was gone. But now you realized that this fire was still burning inside you, this ache for the field was still there and you were eager to go out and fight the bad guys. You smiled, but before you could open your mouth, someone beat you to it, again.

“What?” It was Callens voice that reached your ears. You looked to your boyfriend and saw his worry.

“No, we are able to do it alone.”

“Mr Callen” Hetty stood her ground against your boyfriend and you were glad she did.

“Your girlfriend is a perfectly trained field agent and was stuck too long up here. If you already forgot it, she worked on more difficult cases then you and always succeeded with her team.” Callen wanted to argue back, but Hetty raised her hand and with a pointed look, he kept his mouth shut.

“Ms (L/N), if you would follow me?” She begged you to follow her and as you walked past Callen, you shot him a pissed look and an ironic thanks. You followed her into the weaponry.

“Ms (L/N), here is your clothing and the weapons you prefer.” She pointed to a stack of clothing and to the different weapons that laid on the table.

“Thank you” you told her surprised, “but how do you know all of that?”

“I would be a bad boss if I didn´t know my agents. Now get changed and come in the bullpen when you are ready.” She smiled and left you alone. After you were ready, you walked into the bullpen. Even though no one was directly looking at you, you felt every stare of your team, and your boyfriend in particular.

“I´m ready Hetty.” You called to your boss. And on cue, Nell walked down the stairs, also in another set of clothing.

“Shall we?” She asked you and gave you a weapon. You took it and gave her a small smile.

“We shall.”

After that the whole team left HQ and searched after your target. The day was very exhausting, but eventually you found a lead. You were currently in the weaponry to prepare your weapons. The whole team worked in silence. When everyone was finished, they left quietly, so at the end only you and Callen were left. He eventually stopped and looked at you, but you just ignored him and prepared for the strike.

“Are we gonna keep this silence?” G asked you. You shrugged.

“Hell, (Y/N)! Could you please talk to me?” You set the weapon down, a bit harder than necessary, and looked sharp at him.

“What do you want me to say?” You asked sour. He looked at you quizzically.

“What?”

“You wanted me to talk to you. About what?” Callen rounded the table and stood behind you, so you had to turn around.

“Are you gonna be angry with me forever?” He cocked his head and looked into your (E/C) eyes.

“You questioned my skills as an agent in front of the whole team. What do you expect me to be? Grateful? Happy?” “I was worried about you.”

You snorted.

“I´m worried about you too, but I don´t question you in front of everyone. That stings, G. It hurts.” You turned around and looked over the weapon. You heard a sigh behind you. Callen wanted to say something and opened his mouth, but Eric ran into the armory.

“We know where they are.” You grabbed your weapons and left, leaving Callen to follow your lead.

You haven´t found your informant, but you found the guys that wanted to kill him.

“Everyone ready?” questioned your boyfriend with a small voice through your earpiece.

“We´re at the back”, said Kensi.

“We´re at the side entrance”, you replied, confirming the position of Nell and you.

“On my mark…now!”

As Callen gave the clear, Nell opened the door, so you walked in first, a small detail, but you wanted to make sure Nell was save. You heard shots being fired over your earpiece, but you needed to focus on you and Nell and every possible threat. You saw a man behind crates and fired your gun. Three shots and he went down. You spun around and saw how a second man was shot down by Nell. Both of them were armed with machine guns.

“Everything alright?” You asked her and waited.

“Yeah.” She nodded and you signaled her to search the room. After you looked everywhere and no enemy was found you turned to Nell and nodded.

“Everything is clear”, she told you.

“Status?” Callen asked over the earpiece.

“Everything´s clear”, explained Deeks.

“Same goes for us”, replied Nell and you walked to the man you shot down. Neither Nell nor you saw the woman, who came in from the floor.

Callen nodded to Sam, after everyone told him they were alright. He looked around in the big hall. Kensi and Deeks walked to them, when he suddenly heard a shot.

All four of them went down. Then they realized, that the sound came from the other room. He shot up again as he heard a second one directly afterwards. He could feel his heart beating faster with each passing second.

“(Y/N)? Nell?” He asked with wide eyes and heavy breathing. He looked at his team, when Nells voice rang through their earpieces.

“Eric, I need a helicopter, fast!” He felt a sudden pressure on his chest.

Without a second thought he started running to the other room, all caution to the wind. He heard the footsteps of his team following. When he burst through the door, Nell turned around and pointed her weapon at them. When she realized it was Callen, she turned back around, her focus at the limb body lying next to her.

“No”, he whispered.

He didn´t saw the dead woman at the other door, neither the two dead men. He just saw the limp body that wore the same clothes as you.

When Nells sob reached his ears, he broke out of his trance and ran to you. Falling to his knees, he skidded to a stop next to you.

He felt a pressure behind his eyes.

He stared at you.

Your already dull eyes looked at the ceiling, your mouth gaped open like a fish out of water. When he saw the cause of your state, his tears slipped out of his eyes.

“I- I don´t know how to put more pressure on it without strangling her.” Nell´s voice broke at the end. Her hands were full of your blood.

He put his hands over hers, adding more pressure on the wound. He lifted his hands when he heard a shocked squeak from you, knowing he cut off your airways.

“Don´t,” he sobbed, “don´t die on me. You can´t die on me. You hear that? I don´t allow you to die (Y/N).”

He felt his own body beginning to shake.

“Eric? How long?” Sams voice was something he could focus on.

“Three minutes.”

“That´s too long. She won´t survive!”

A sob escaped his lips at his partners statement.

“G.” He looked down. Your weak voice sounded like heaven to him, your dull (E/C) eyes looked as radiant as ever. You could talk, you could survive. You looked directly at him.

“(Y/N)…”, he whispered, hope filling his voice.

“I love you.” Your voice sounded better, but why were your eyes rolling back? Why couldn’t he hear your gaping after air? Why couldn´t he feel your pulse any longer?

“No…” He searched your face. “No.”

He took his hands from your wound and started to reanimate you. After some seconds, he cried harder.

“No!” He said loudly. His tears were streaming down his face freely, his sobs ragged his body.

He took you in his arms, don´t caring that your blood would be all over him. He put his head against yours, his nose softly nuzzling yours.

“No…“ He couldn´t believe it.

“It´s too late Eric, she´s gone.”

He lost you. He lost the love of his life.

The next day Callen sat on the couch at the bullpen. He stared in the room, not focused on anything except his aching heart. He was so sad and angry. Angry with himself, with you and with Hetty. You died, and the last thing you two were talking about was a stupid argument, because he was worried sick about you. But you didn´t saw this, you saw him as a backstabbing boyfriend, who didn´t trust in the skills of his girlfriend.

“Mr. Callen?” He looked up at his boss. He didn´t knew she was there. He changed his position and opened some space for Hetty to sit next to him.

“What is it, Hetty?” “The autopsy of Miss (L/N) is finished. I need to talk to you about the results.” He furrowed his brow.

“She was shot in the throat, the bullet hit the artery. She bled out.” It felt wrong to talk about you just like another victim. Hetty sighed.

“You are right. But the medical examiner found something. Something different.” She paused. Hetty wasn´t someone to pause, only if it was a difficult situation.

“Hetty?” He asked and leaned forward to look at her.

“Miss (L/N) was pregnant.” He felt like throwing up.

He let himself sink back in the couch. A lump was suddenly in his throat. He felt his eyes burning again and he couldn´t feel anything except the sorrow. He gulped.

“How long” he asked breathless.

“At the beginning, third week. She didn´t know.” He nodded.

“If she knew she-“, he sobbed quietly. “She wouldn´t have gone in the field. She would protect the child.” He knew that, they talked about it, when she thought she was pregnant. This was before they were in a relationship, and after the shock she was on birth control, or so he thought.

“Thanks Hetty” he told her quietly and focused on nothing, he just stared in the room. He didn´t realized when Hetty left. He was just so hurt.

First he felt all alone on this world, with the whole foster families, than with his jobs. The first family he had was his team here at NCIS. Then he found you, the new addition to his team. You weren´t very open, no one of the team was, but you weren´t even friendly or tried to get along with the team. At the first case everyone was pissed at you, even Eric and Nell. You worked on your own, so he thought you were a lone wolf, like him, but then he overheard a conversation between you and Hetty, just a week after you first showed up.

“This isn´t fair!” You sounded angry. Callen hid at a spot, where he couldn´t be seen, but could hear you perfectly.

“This isn´t about fairness, Miss (L/N). It is about you and your ability to work as a field agent again.” You were an agent? He didn´t knew, he thought you were a profiler or something like this, or a technician, because you worked up in OPS.

“And as far as I can see, you aren´t able to work again.” He heard you snort.

“I am perfectly fine. I am healthy and the psychologist and the doctors gave their all clear, so what holds me back?”

“You aren´t working with my team, you were incredible unfriendly and cold towards them, how am I supposed to let you work with them?”

“That´s because I don’t want to work with them. See, I´m grateful that you took me under your wings, without you I wouldn´t be standing here, I would´ve lost my job, but I don´t want to work with anyone, I want to work alone.”

“That´s not possible. You are a team player and we both know it. You´re staying in OPS until you learn to work with my team.” Callen heard your footsteps and watched you leaving.

“It isn´t nice to eavesdrop on someone.” He looked at Hetty, who was standing now.

“What do you mean that she is a team player?” He didn´t even try to lie to Hetty.

“That, Mr. Callen, is a question you should ask her.” He huffed.

“She doesn´t even talk to me.”

“Then you should find another way. It´s worth a try.”

It was worth it.

It was totally worth it.

He trusted you like no one else, even if it took its time.

“G?” Callen heard your voice, he was crazy. He felt crazy. He felt sleepy.

“G.” He felt heavy, he couldn´t keep his eyes open.

“G!”

He woke with a start. He didn´t know where he was. He started to panic.

“Shhh. Everything is alright, you´re safe.” He could hear your voice, loud and steady.

He realized he was in his bedroom, or better in his and your bedroom, in your shared bed.

He looked to the side and saw you there, healthy and alive. You have cocked your head, and he could see the worry in your (E/C) eyes. He couldn´t believe his eyes.

He frantically cupped your face and went down to your neck, where the bullet opened your skin and you bled, and now was your strong and steady pulse. He let his hands wander all over your body.

You sat quietly there and waited for your boyfriend to finish his checking. You knew how he was when he had a bad dream, but this was even new to you.

When he cupped your face on both sides, and put his forehead on yours to lightly nudge your nose, you knew something was very wrong. You waited in this position until his breathing got even.

“You wanna talk about it?” You asked him, knowing that he would possibly deny your question. So you were surprised when he nodded and started kissing you. You broke the kiss and lay down, guiding his head to your chest, so he could hear your heartbeat during his telling and you could cradle his head.

You listened to him till he finished, never pushing him to tell you something he didn´t want to and waiting for him on difficult passages. He finished and you didn´t know what to say. You died in his dream and were pregnant.

“G?” A humming noise came as response.

“You know I´m on birth control, right?” He made an approving noise.

“And you know I want to work in the field again?” He nodded.

“But you know, I wouldn´t decide anything without talking with you first. We are a couple, we should decide together about our future.”

“You are right.” He murmured. You decided to talk with him now.

“G? Do you want children?” You stopped caressing his head, when he put his head up to face you.

“Do you want children?” He empathized your addressing. Slowly you began to nod.

He leaned forward to capture your lips with his. The kiss was passionate, the way his lips moved over yours was feeling like caressing.

When he backed away, you slowly opened your eyes to see him smirking at you.

“Then let´s start, and stop the birth control.”

#g callen #g callen fanfiction #g callen fanfic #g callen x reader #callen #callen x reader #ncis la #NCIS Los Angeles #ncis reader insert #ncis x reader #ncis la x reader

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phati-sari · 4 years

Text

Arshi FF: Charade - Chapter 35

Chapter 34 // Read on FFnet // Read on Wattpad

Chapter 35: Constellation

Khushi

“—I’m here!” Mami-ji flounced into the study. “I asked Hari Prakash to make us some popcorn. Now we can watch.”

She settled on the sofa next to them, eyes already eagerly trained onto the screen. “Hello, hi, bye-bye. I’m eager to see who this Tanya is. In the precap last week she looked so good. All modern and beautiphool!”

Exchanging a look with her Jiji, who sat next to her on the couch, Khushi responded, “The actress is very pretty. I hope Sagar is nicer to her than he is to Muskaan.”

Jiji reached for the popcorn Mami-ji had placed on the table.

“Here, I think he was right to be angry,” she said. “She can’t just do whatever she wants without thinking about the consequences!”

Gasping, Khushi stole some popcorn from her sister’s hand, “It was a mistake, she didn’t know it was his house!”

“You just watch,” Mami-ji gestured at the screen. “You know how these serials go. She’ll vow to never see him again and end up working in his media empire as a receptionist, hello, hi, bye-bye.”

They subsided as the disclaimer came on the screen. Khushi returned to her phone, deleting two emojis from her message before pressing send.

“Payal?”

Just outside the sitting area, Aakash-ji held a shirt as he stared bemusedly at the television.

“Bitwa, what do you want?”

“N-no, Maa, I was looking for Payal.”

By now, Jiji had met Aakash-ji at the threshold of the room, “What is it, Aakash?”

They stepped away to hold a short, murmured conversation. Khushi looked at her phone in an effort to give them privacy, just as it lit up. The screen showed her message and the response:

Khushi: We’re watching Rabba Ve in the study, in case you come home and can’t find me. You should watch with us!

Arnav-ji: Very funny, Khushi.

Smiling, she quickly typed out a reply. He responded almost immediately.

Khushi: Aakash Jija-ji is here too, watching with us. Why don’t you ever join us?

Arnav-ji: What Aakash does in his marriage is his own business. I’m in the car, see you soon.

Jiji returned to her place on the sofa after a few minutes, the shirt and a needle and thread in her hands. Aakash Jija-ji flopped next to his mother after snatching up some popcorn.

“This is nonsense,” he interrupted a few minutes later. “Why are there so many shots of him walking dramatically? It’s taken him five minutes to reach his office and now he’s leaving again.”

“You just shut-up-iyai, Aakash-bitwa. This is no place for your logic, it’s a serial.”

Khushi heart swelled with gladness as she watched Aakash-ji exchange a contrite look with Jiji, who had to stifle a giggle.

The episode was almost over by the time the doorbell chimed. Khushi stood, waving away Jai Prakash-ji on her way to open the doors. Arnav-ji gave her a small smile as she took his laptop bag.

“How was your show?”

Khushi bounced, “It was good.”

They stopped to say hello to Di, who paused in her reading of a magazine to ask Arnav-ji about his day. And again to chat with Aakash-ji in the study.

“Do you really want me to watch it with you?” her husband asked when they were in their bedroom.

Khushi closed the door with a soft click, “No, I was just teasing you.”

He took the laptop bag from her and placed it on the table before taking her into his arms. She exhaled shakily as the tension she hadn’t realised was there left her body.

“I’ve been thinking about something,” he spoke softly. “Will you come back here with me after dinner?”

Khushi peered up at him, “Why?”

“Just come up here with me. It’s important.”

She stretched up to kiss his jaw, and whispered in his ear when he bent his head, “I told you last night: don’t tell me what to do.”

A laugh that lit up everything inside her. He was still smiling when he kissed her, slow and playful. He left her briefly to change and freshen up, and then led her downstairs with his fingers twined in hers.

Shyam-ji had arrived in time for dinner, much to Di’s delight. She showed everyone the tiny pink cap she’d knitted for her rajkumari as the servants set up the dining table.

“Chhote, look, isn’t it cute? I’m thinking of making matching socks.”

The cap looked even tinier in Arnav-ji’s hand. “This is nice, Di.”

“Rani Sahiba is so talented, don’t you agree Saale-Sahib?”

Arnav-ji didn’t reply, though his smile became strained. Di shoved good-naturedly at Shyam-ji as she spoke again.

“You know, the doctor said that it would be good if we played soft music for our rajkumari.”

“I can get you CDs,” offered Aakash-ji. “Payal and I are going out tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Di said brightly, “I’ll make you a list.”

After dinner, Arnav-ji sent her upstairs with a promise to meet her after a few minutes. Khushi climbed the stairs with her sister, who relayed a list of all the things she intended to buy the next day before mentioning a tentative plan to have dinner in Laxmi Nagar. Twirling in excitement, she promised to ask Arnav-ji and let Jiji know in the morning.

Inside their bedroom, she sat on the recliner to wait for her husband. He arrived a few short minutes later laden with blankets and pillows, which he took straight to the poolside. She locked the bedroom door behind him and followed, watching as he set all the blankets on the ground and arranged the pillows.

“You like the stars, don’t you?” he noticed her hovering. “Come, sit.”

She knelt on the edge of the blankets, something unsettled inside her. Arnav-ji reached up to tug her wrist so she fell against him.

“Arnav-ji … someone will see,” she tried to get up.

“What the—? Who will see?”

Khushi shifted nervously, “Mami-ji, you said she was watching with binoculars the other day.”

He made a sound of amusement and held her close, not speaking until she’d tucked herself into him.

“I spoke to her about that. I reminded her that I could have cameras installed all over the house if she was so concerned about what happened in my bedroom.”

“Arnav-ji!”

He was unrepentant, “She agreed that there’s no need for her binoculars.”

They spent a few minutes watching the stars, with him pointing up and naming a few constellations before telling her stories about them. When she accused him of making them up, he claimed the stories were quite famous in history. He stole a few kisses, let her steal a few in return, and covered them both in a blanket when she shivered.

“Khushi,” he began after a short silence, “a while ago you said there’s so much you still don’t know about me. I told you that all you had to do is ask.”

“I remember.”

“Well, then … ask.”

She shifted onto her elbow to look at him, “What can I ask about?”

“Anything.”

She started small. His favourite colour was red, as Di had once told her. His favourite subject at school had been science.

“Who took the photos,” Khushi gestured inside, “the ones on the walls?”

“Me.”

“You!?”

Arnav-ji kissed her soundly, his hand skimming up her side. “No need to be so surprised.”

It took her a while to catch her breath.

“What happened to Sim-ji and Pam-ji from the office? I haven’t seen them since I returned.”

His response was carefully measured, “They felt I’d treated Lavanya badly and asked me to find them new jobs. I did.”

“Oh.”

She fell silent, at first surprised by the loyalty shown by the women, and then not surprised at all.

They were her friends.

“Have you heard from Lavanya-ji? How is she?”

Arnav-ji tucked a curl of hair behind her ear. “That’s one of the things I wanted to speak to you about. I hadn’t heard from her in months but she emailed today. She wants to go into modelling and asked me to connect her with an agent.”

A burst of happiness for her friend. “That sounds great. Are you going to help her?”

“I wanted to ask you first. Does it … will it bother you if I speak to her?”

“No!”

Instantly, she knew she’d answered too quickly. Arnav-ji stroked his finger across her cheek.

“How about,” he said softly, “I tell you when I speak to her?”

Khushi smiled widely, “It’s okay, you don’t have to.”

He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip before dipping his head to kiss her. “She knows we’re married. Said congratulations.”

“Were there other women?” she blurted, “before Lavanya-ji?”

He froze on his way to kiss her cheek.

“Khushi, I want to answer all your questions but some of the answers will hurt you.”

She shook her head, “I’m not asking because it will hurt. I want to understand you. I want to know you.”

With a sigh, he turned onto his back and tucked an arm behind his head.

“Lisa. You met her on the night of the photoshoot.”

This, Khushi had suspected as soon as the woman had leaned in to sniff Arnav-ji’s cologne and run possessive hands over his suit.

“She seemed so …”

“… high strung?” Arnav-ji chuckled. “I know. We only saw each other a few times. She always made it into a bigger thing than it was.”

“That’s it?” Khushi asked, feeling a little better.

“And … Sheetal in college.”

Unlike when he spoke about Lisa-ji, the cadence of his voice indicated happy memories.

“At … Ha … Harv … ?” she tried to remember the writing on his jogging clothes.

“Harvard,” Arnav-ji said easily. “Yeah, she did her MBA with me.”

“MBA?”

“Masters of Business Administration.”

He seemed to relax as their conversation shifted away from his past relationships, and for the first time, Khushi realised how hard it’d been for him to speak about them. The fact that he’d still done it filled her with happiness. Scooting across, she rested her head on his shoulder and slid her arms around him. His fingers found their way into her hair.

“And that taught you to run a business?” she asked.

“The theory of it, yes. When I came back to India, I found it was much harder in practice.”

Under the cover of the blankets, she ran her hand under his shirt and sweater. He jumped a little — “your hand is cold!” — but trapped her fingers there when she tried to retreat.

“I’d used all the money I had just to get through college. When I returned I had next to nothing. Mami believed in me. She sold her jewellery, broke her FD, gave me everything she had. She was my very first investor.”

“Does this mean she owns some of your company now?”

“Everyone does. Di and I control it together, but Mami, Mama, and Aakash all have shares. Aakash gave some of his to Payal. I’ve put through some paperwork, you should have yours soon.”

He wanted to share his life’s work with her. Her heart seemed to swell with the warm and golden sense of belonging. Of rightness. Khushi flattened her palm against his stomach, murmuring a request so he shifted until she could kiss him. He groaned, flipping them around and deepening the kiss. When they came up for air, he was shirtless and her dori was undone and she’d made a mark on his shoulder. Her bangles lay in a neat column above their heads.

“Let’s go inside,” he whispered.

They made it there somehow, though she lost her dupatta along the way, and fell onto the bed in a tangle after closing the curtains. His kiss was hot. The rough tenderness of his touch undid her, a leisurely exploration that had her gasping his name. Never had she felt more treasured, more wanted. Arnav removed the overcoat of her outfit and tossed it onto the floor. He held her in place for another kiss, whispering her name against her lips.

She moved restlessly against him, her hips rolling towards the hardness she could feel pressed against her thigh. He groaned, his hand slipping from her nape, down to her hips, and lower to curve over her bottom. She sucked in a breath when his stubble scratched her skin. An apology mumbled against her neck, his hand angling her so they fit perfectly.

When he traced his fingers lightly over her lips, she remembered the clench of her body as he’d taken her fingers into his mouth. Desire coiled hot and tight in her belly and made her brave enough to tilt her head so his fingers slipped between her lips. A low, taut moan escaped him. Then he turned her into her front with gentle hands. Straddling the backs of her thighs, he dragged the zipper of her dress down. Khushi curled her fingers into her pillow, feeling her breath catch. His hands traced up her spine, unsnapping her bra when he reached it.

“I don’t think you should wear this to bed,” his touch was warm on her skin.

“Wh-what? Why?”

“Less for me to take off.”

She heard the smirk in his voice. Her giggle turned into a moan as he settled on top of her, the heat of his chest on her almost-bare back. When she turned her head to ask for a kiss, he gave her one. It was deep, slow, and made her toes curl as her body throbbed with wanting him. The kisses moved to her nape and then down her spine. She made a soft, desperate sound, feeling as though everything inside her was melting.

Almost without permission, her body arched towards his, and he took advantage to slip his fingers inside the dress and around her ribs. A hand on her breast. She fell forward with a small cry, trapping it there.

“I like you like this,” Arnav spoke in her ear as his hand moulded her. “All mine.”

More kisses, his mouth moving over hers in time with the movements of his hand. And when she thought she couldn’t take much more, he moved away.

“No,” Khushi tried to sit up.

“Take off the dress,” he murmured.

He helped her undress, tugging at her clothes until she was left face down on the bed with nothing but his body covering her. He was still mostly clothed. Another kiss, his tongue inside her mouth as his hand slid under her to resume its play on her breast. Her hands clenched into the sheets. She felt utterly at his mercy, trapped under the heat of him as he had access to every part of her body. But she also felt safe, surrounded by his strength.

By the time he stroked his hand downwards she was almost quivering with need. It was natural to lift her hips a little to give him room. He didn’t hesitate. Her gasp became a moan as he slid a finger down her centre. And then back up, all the while whispering into her ear. All the words he didn’t say in the daytime now spilled out of him, words of love, of adoration.

Arnav’s fingers dipped even lower, breaching her for one breathless second before stroking back up. It was agony. He did it again and again, teasing, playing, sliding his finger deeper each time before retreating, and chuckled at the frustrated sound she released.

“We’re working on your patience, remember?” a kiss to her shoulder.

But the next time, he stayed. Kissing her deeply, he did something that made her frantic. She stopped thinking, pleasure burning like wildfire in every cell of her body. It was different from the night before. Tighter and hotter and just more. When her pleasure crested she muffled herself in a pillow, feeling wave and after wave of sensation crash into her. It turned the world red.

When she came back to herself he was still astride her, lazily stroking his fingers down her back.

“You okay?” he asked.

Khushi hummed, trying to turn, and smiled when he rose just enough to let her. He placed her hands on his chest after nibbling each finger in turn and shuddered as she ran her nails down his body. A kiss, tender and possessive and full of desire. A renewed tension twisted inside her as he ran his hands over her body and his mouth followed.

He seemed to get distracted by her breasts, lingering as he took a long, slow taste. His hair felt soft against her fingers. She accidentally pulled at it when she felt his teeth, causing him to groan. He asked if she liked this or this, or maybe this, and with each whispered question, each thrilling demonstration, the frenzy in her body built. His fingers became urgent on her hips and thighs.

“Again?” he spoke against her lips when she arched into him.

Something in her tummy swooped low at his question. She nodded, and Arnav shifted so he could press directly against her. He’d gotten rid of his pants without her noticing, and the material of his underwear did nothing to disguise the scorch or shape of him. He seemed to lose control, his hand plumping her flesh before he sucked a peak into his mouth. She cried out when he rocked, her hands locking onto his shoulders.

He returned to her lips, “Hold on.”

Then he moved, each circle of his hips causing stars to explode behind her eyes. She forced them open to find him looking down at her, eyes ablaze and mouth slightly open, his hair falling across his forehead. The muscles in his shoulders bunched as he moved. It was the unprecedented intimacy of it that did it. She reached the cliff and hurtled over it again, her mouth shaping his name as pleasure rippled within her. He continued to press against her, speeding up as he pushed once, twice.

“More,” he groaned into her hair.

Khushi ran her teeth over the jagged pulse in his neck and bit down. He shuddered, swearing, and froze for several long seconds. His breath was harsh against her ear as he seemed to collapse, feeling heavy, as if — until now — he’d been careful not to let her feel his full weight. Heart still racing, she stroked a hand through his hair until he stirred, taking her with him as he rolled onto this back. His stubble was rough on her skin as he pressed lazy kisses wherever he could reach.

“Give me a moment,” he spoke softly, “and then we’ll get cleaned up.”

There was a pressure in her chest, as if she couldn’t contain the happiness she felt inside. Khushi fought a yawn, “Okay.”

#ipkknd #iss pyaar ko kya naam doon #arshi #ipkknd ff #arshi ff #iwrotethis #mine #ff: charade

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