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theclairvoyage · 11 hours

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Sour Lemonade (One-shot)

AO3 | Main Masterlist

Your nephew's little league baseball games take up many of your summer evenings, and it's not the dust or the concession stand treats that keep you coming back - it's one of the coaches, Joel Miller.

Pairing: Little league coach!Joel Miller x f!reader

Warnings: 18+, MDNI! alternate universe, adult language, alcohol consumption, smut, unprotected p in v, oral (f receiving), fingering (f receiving), fluff, flirting, angst, mentions of physical violence, light choking, baseball talk, mentions of child death, mentions of infidelity

WC: 12k

Divider by @firefly-graphics

Dust flies into your face, obscuring your view of the baseball diamond. “Fuck,” you spit, the sudden inconvenience enraging you. Aggressively, you wipe your lips with the back of your forearm, noticing now how sticky, slimy, and itchy your skin is from all the sweat and dirt. And the pirate bugs are relentless, tiny daggers pricking your pores at every moment. Each swat of your exposed skin produces a tiny black smear, only to be replaced by another miniscule, predatory black dot.

“Does anyone have some goddamn bug spray?” Anger invites itself to the baseball game now, alarming some of the innocent parents watching their 8-year-old sons try to play America’s favorite pastime. Your sister, who dragged you to this hell hole, tugs on your sleeve as she hops up from the bleachers.

“Jesus, can’t go anywhere without you cussing up a storm… no wonder your nephew knows all these colorful words,” she scolds you, your name rolling off her tongue with a sharp bite as she stomps over to the bathrooms. The rage inside you cools a bit, returning to its home in the corner of your stomach. She swings her tote from under her arm to her front, digging in the bottomless pit for some bug spray. She pulls out a pink spray bottle with feminine letters, and you already know it doesn’t have DEET.

“Sorry, Mer—for the cussing. But also, do you have anything containing any carcinogens? Need ultra strength right now,” you say, trying to ease the tension. She snorts and rolls her eyes, exchanging the pink bottle for a familiar green one. OFF! is plastered in big font on the front.

“Ahhhh,” you sigh, spraying the familiar harsh scent on your skin and clothes. She laughs, taking a big step away from the cloud of haze surrounding you. The mist cools your skin, though you know it’ll stick once it’s dried—you don’t care at this point. It’s the third inning, and you can’t handle another hour and a half of being a trained insect assassin.

“Thanks. Also, how d’ya know Noah isn’t learning cuss words at school? Or on YouTube,” you remind her, pointing a DEET-covered finger in her face. She ponders it for a moment, jaw ticking back and forth.

“Well, either way—these parents are going to blacklist you if you don’t put a filter on it.” You wave her off, grimacing.

“Meredith, let me put it bluntly—I don’t give a fuck,” you say, accentuating the last word and sticking your neck out. She laughs loudly and smacks your shoulder.

“Y’know, Noah loves that you come to his games. And I want to keep you around, so… I guess I can tolerate it,” Meredith says with a half-smirk, snatching the green bottle from your sticky fingers. “Let’s go back before the damn game is over.”

“Hey! Language!” you point at her, eyes widening in mock shock. A throaty laugh leaves her lips. The wind picks up again, sending a twister of dirt and dust your way, so hard it stings your legs. You curse yourself for not wearing pants.

Back at the bleachers, you find that your language is the least concern of these parents. It’s the bottom of the fourth inning, and the score is 2-9. Noah’s team looks somber as they take the field. Moms are perched on their bleacher chairs with crossed legs, quietly fanning their faces with paper programs with pursed lips. Dads spit their sunflower seeds and tobacco into the grass aggressively with arms crossed, shaking their heads with each dropped ball and fumbled groundout. A sharp contrast is the cacophony of shrill screams and boisterous laughter from children running around the nearby empty fields, with not a care in the world. They’re just happy to be here.

“Sheesh… tough night,” Meredith says solemnly in your ear. You nod, sucking your lips into your mouth. The pitcher on Noah’s team walks another batter, and a man, presumably one of the coaches, emerges from the dugout and steps onto the field, holding his palm up to the umpire.

“Time!” The umpire calls, waving both hands in the air a few times. You study the man as he approaches the pitcher, surprised at what you see.

He’s taller than average, but not too tall. His trim body is lined with lean muscle, though he’s somewhat soft in the middle. Broad shoulders stretch his gray t-shirt. Graying brunette curls peek under his hat, kissing the top of his strong, tanned neck. Strong legs stride quietly, though confidently, toward the poor boy, who is clearly distraught. The man kneels and puts a hand on the pitcher’s shoulder as he speaks to him. The boy nods, cracking a small smile and sniffling as the man jostles him softly. He told a joke, perhaps—whatever it took to get the kid to smile. You find yourself smiling, too, watching the pair interact. The man has a calming presence that seems to have trickled into the crowd. The tension in the air is less frigid, palpable. He high-fives the boy and stands, returning to the dugout. His gaze sweeps the field, giving his players a thumbs up, before turning to the crowd and locking eyes with you.

Shit. His face takes your breath away, complete with a curved nose, high cheekbones, plush lips crowned with a full mustache, and an angled jawline dotted with brown and gray hairs. His smoldering chocolate eyes, though, are what hypnotize you the most. He’s still staring at you, likely analyzing the structure of your features like you are to him. You notice his stride falters momentarily before catching himself, but his eyes never stray from yours as he returns to the dugout. Heat radiates from your cheeks. Your heart thuds in your chest, pulse racing at this gorgeous stranger checking you out. Meredith nudges you with her elbow.

“I’ve never seen anybody get eye-fucked like that,” she whispers, and you can’t prevent the loud guffaw that escapes from your mouth. You clap a hand over your mouth quickly and whip your head toward her.

“Who is that?!” you squeal, clutching her wrist.

“That’s Joel Miller, one of the coaches,” she whispers, craning her neck to look at him in the dugout. “His nephew is on the team. Brother is that guy sitting behind home plate here,” she points, alerting you to an attractive Latino man with shiny black curls and a similar strong nose. Damn. He’s fine as hell, too. Before you turn to look at him again, Meredith grips your leg.

“He’s staring over here, don’t look,” she whispers. You can’t help but smile and feel giddy, like a sixth grader developing their first crush.

The game ends on a higher note, with Noah’s team lessening the gap and ending 6-10. As parents trickle from the stands to wait for their boys out by the dugout, you try to catch a glimpse of Joel, who is picking up stray baseball bats and gloves, handing them to their rightful owners. Noah ambles over to Meredith and you, grin plastered on his dirt-stained face. He wraps his sweaty arms and hands around your midsection.

“Hey, buddy. You did great,” you beam at him. He sighs heavily and looks up at you, big blue eyes laced with disappointment.

“We didn’t win, though,” he laments, wiping his dirty face off on your shirt.

“S’not all about winning, my dude. Gotta have fun and try to get better every day,” you comfort him, patting the back of his sweaty jersey.

“That’s some good life advice right there,” a deep, sexy, Southern-accented voice interrupts. You snap your head up and see Joel, who’s already looking at you. God, he’s even more attractive up close, and he smells good, like pine and musk. His eyes travel your face before dipping down to your lips, quickly reverting to your eyeline.

“Joel! This is my sister,” Meredith introduces you, pulling Noah from your grasp. Joel holds out a hand. You grab it and shake, relishing the warmth and size of his hand. The two of you stare at each other for a moment before he lets go.

“Nice to meet ya. I think some of the parents are gettin’ drinks later, after puttin’ the Rugrats to bed,” he says, flashing a jaw-dropping smile at you. Meredith chimes in, saving you once again from your own awkward silence.

“That sounds great! We’ll definitely stop by, right?” she asks you, nudging you. You tear your eyes from Joel’s and nod.

“Yes—though I need a shower. I stink,” you admit, scrunching your nose. A deep chuckle emits from Joel, shoulders shaking with laughter. Your heart skips a beat.

“Y’can’t be that bad—at least y’look good,” he says with a grin, pearly whites blinding you. Your heart falters completely at his compliment and you’re frozen, like a mosquito inside a solid block of amber. Meredith, for the umpteenth time today, saves you from looking like an absolute fool.

“Joel, wait ‘til you see her all cleaned up! We gotta go get this kiddo showered and ready for his sleepover, see you in a bit!” she says, clutching your wrist and leading you and Noah toward the parking lot. Peering over your shoulder, you catch Joel’s eyes drifting up and down your figure. His smile fades, expression morphing from excitement, to astonishment, to desire. Oh, fuck.

Two hours later, Meredith and you are arm in arm, walking up to the bar the parents and coaches had chosen for the rendezvous. The summer heat has loosened its grip on the city, with gentle summer gusts and a Starburst-colored sunset replacing it. Your dirty and sweat-ridden clothes are replaced with some jean shorts and a fresh muscle tee, and you remembered to put lotion on your legs for once.

Meredith opens the creaky wooden entrance door, and you spot the baseball group in a corner of the bar. Eight parents and all coaches are here, each sporting a mug of some light and probably domestic beer. All greet you with either a wave or a loud greeting—they must’ve gotten started drinking early. You spot Joel sitting next to his brother, Tommy—both are staring at you as you approach the group.

“Since you’re late, you have to buy shots,” says one of the moms, lifting her empty beer glass.

“Fine, Katy—but it’s gonna be tequila!” Meredith quips, inciting a grimace from Katy and cheers from all the men at the table. “Let’s go up to the bar,” Meredith murmurs in your ear, setting your purses down on two empty chairs the group saved for you. You try not to look at Joel but feel his magnetizing gaze on you, and you make eye contact with him. His eyes are molten dark chocolate, sweeping over your face with a glimmer of want. You crack a small smile and his eyes latch onto your lips immediately. Before your knees buckle, you break eye contact and follow Meredith to the bar.

“So, you gonna fuck him, or what?” She teases once you’re both out of earshot of the group. You land a playful slap on her arm and drop your jaw.

“Mer! I don’t even have his number! Or know how old he is, or if he’s an ex-con, or a child molester, or a serial strangler,” you ramble, pulling a laugh from her.

“He’s not any of those things, but he’s in his fifties, I know that. Doesn’t look like it, though,” she says, eyebrows arching. He’s got some years on you, for sure, but you’ve had an experience or two with an older man—though this one terrifies you. His eyes alone could convince you to do almost anything.

The bartender pours up double-digit tequila shots, garnished with salted rims and limes, and plops them on a serving tray. Meredith hoists it up and you walk back to the table, making sure to put some extra swing in your hips in case Joel’s watching. You can tell from your peripheral that he is, in fact, staring at you. Something fizzes in your chest—warm, wanting.

“Cheers to not getting run-ruled today!” Tommy cheers as everyone clinks their shot glasses together. You down yours quickly, anticipating the spicy aftertaste. And boy, it burns like hell as it glazes down your throat. You suck on the lime and try not to shiver. Whoops and cheers fill the empty bar as everyone finishes their shots.

After a few beers and shots later, you’re feeling loose and giddy. Your end of the table is talking about the godforsaken umpire from tonight’s game, somewhat split from the other half of the table, which is discussing the MLB playoffs. Feeling a familiar pull, you turn and see Joel smiling at you. Once you make eye contact, he winks, which sends you reeling. He’s about to get up from his seat when one of the moms waltzes her way over to him, curling her polished claws around his shoulder.

You wouldn’t be surprised if he preferred her over you—she’s petite, with long blonde hair, tan skin, blue eyes, and perky fake boobs. She looks great, you admit, and she’s closer to his age. Sadness looms in your belly and your smile fades as his attention diverts to her. Oh well, you think. Good thing it didn’t go too far. Resigned, you join the conversation and try to focus on anything but Joel.

The night carries on, and you find yourself unbothered by Joel. Meredith completely let loose, singing along to the music echoing throughout the bar. Everyone at your end of the table is telling jokes, clinking glasses, and enjoying each other’s presence. It’s a fun night, you admit to yourself. You made every effort to not pay attention to the other end of the table but felt Joel’s eyes on you constantly.

What you didn’t realize was how much he wanted you to be the one pressed up against him, with his arm curled around your waist or his rough fingers stroking the smooth skin of your thigh. He needed to get away from this kid’s mom—she was newly divorced and obviously ready for a rebound. Yeah, she was attractive, but nothing about her excited him—if anything, he was irritated by her blatant advancements. The final straw was when she crept her hand up his denim-clad thigh and squeezed close to the apex.

“The hell are you doin’?” he says with a laugh, incredulous. She licks her glossy lips and leans in toward his ear.

“Oh, I think you know, big boy,” she murmurs in her sexiest voice. Joel is turned off. Not wanting to be rude, he lightly grips her wrist and pulls her hand back. You, unfortunately, look over right as he grabs her hand.

“Not interested, dear,” he murmurs back, watching the frustration grow on her face.

“Fine, Miller—there’s plenty more who want it,” she boasts. She snatches her manicured hand away and moves onto your side of the table, picking another innocent victim.

Annoyed, you stand and walk up to the bar, back facing the group. Guess her little routine worked on Joel—he really ate it up, even touched her arm. You chide yourself for letting this unnerve you—you don’t even know the guy, and for all you do know, he might be a sleazeball.

“Need a break from the loudmouths?” the bartender asks, half smiling. You nod, rolling your eyes playfully.

“Too much testosterone over there,” you retort, “I’ll take a Sprite.” She nods and punches a button on the soda gun, filling up a tall glass. Staring at the bubbles fizzing over the ice cubes, you feel a breeze on your side. It’s Joel, finally separated from his bimbo of the night.

“Hey, darlin’, can I get you a drink?” he asks, smooth, sugary voice tickling your eardrums. He sounds sexy as fuck. You hold his gaze but don’t smile, creating an icy wall between the two of you.

“Is your girlfriend okay with that?” you sneer, turning to take a sip of your Sprite. His shoulders sag just slightly, but you see it from the corner of your eye.

“She ain’t my girl, promise. She’s tryna find a rebound,” he murmurs apologetically. You shrug.

“Seems like she was getting close to getting one.” Ouch. It hits low and painful in his belly, though he understands.

“Listen, I know what it looked like. Promise ya, it ain’t nothing. She ain’t my type,” he says, eyes sweeping your face. Guilt pangs you, and you turn to look at him. Fuck. His eyes are solemn, repentant—he’s saying sorry, and he doesn’t even need to. You sigh deeply, feeling that the alcohol is forcing you to be honest with him.

“Joel, look—I’m sorry, I shouldn’t ha—,” you start, but he interrupts you, putting a calloused palm up and shaking his head.

“No need t’apologize, sweetheart. I get it. She was all over me,” he says, end of his sentence filled with a playful tone. You giggle quietly.

“Oh yeah, she was two seconds away from sinking her teeth into you,” you joke, chuckles exchanging between the two of you. Relief fills you, warm and cleansing. He stares at you for a moment before speaking again.

“So, that drink…” he says, a lopsided grin plastered on his rugged face. God, he’s handsome. You can’t hold off much longer.

“I ‘spose,” you tease, “Guess you owe me one, anyway.” His half-grin turns whole, smile sending a zip of desire down your spine. He leans close to your ear, sweeping your hair over your shoulder. The touch of his warm skin on yours and the proximity of him almost makes you jump.

“I’ll make it up t’ya, swear on it,” he says, voice an octave lower and Southern accent dripping with something you’re not quite ready to identify. You clamp your thighs together instinctively, another shiver rippling through you like that of the tequila shot. Joel waves the bartender over and orders your drink of choice and whiskey neat.

“So… you live with Meredith?” Joel inquires, watching you as he sips the amber liquid. You shake your head, twirling the straw around your drink.

“Nope, but I might as well with how much I’m over there, helping with Noah and whatnot.” He nods.

“I had a daughter once. Y’know what they say… it takes a village,” he says, tone laced with melancholy. Once?

“I hate to ask, but… what happened to her?” you ask carefully, hesitant to look at him.

“She passed away when she was little. Car accident. S’alright, though—it was a long time ago,” he says, smiling at you wistfully. You put a hand on his bare forearm, and he almost melts into a puddle.

“I’m sorry, Joel. That’s so awful. I can’t imagine experiencing something like that. Noah’s my nephew, but I wouldn’t be able to go on if something happened to him,” you add, hoping to soothe his pain.

“Enough about me, darlin’, I wanna know more about you,” he says, covering your hand with his. His touch is electric on your skin.

“Nothing exciting, trust me,” you say with a shrug. He scoffs.

“I’d be shocked to hear that you’re single,” he says, winking at you again. You shove him playfully.

“Prepare to be shocked,” you quip. He shakes his head and looks up at one of the TVs.

“S’a damn shame,” he laments. The alcohol sends courage racing through your veins.

“For whom?” you tease, mirroring his wink. His smile fades just slightly as he takes you in, desire washing over him. When he speaks again, his voice is even deeper than before.

“Not for me, that’s for sure.” Your stomach drops at his admission, though your face doesn’t show it.

“Yeah? Why’s that, Miller?” He takes another sip of his whiskey, eyes locked on yours.

“You kiddin’? Look at you,” he says, whistling lowly, eyes traversing your frame. If you weren’t blushing before, you are now. You wave him off and sip your own drink.

“Oh, stop. I bet you get the best of the best coming up to you,” you say, playing it cool. He takes another sip, swallowing with a hmm-mm.

“Darlin’, the best of the best is sittin’ next to me, and I reckon I got some groveling t’do if I wanna see her again,” he admits. He takes his baseball cap off, revealing thick, gorgeous curls, hairline swept with gray locks. He runs a hand through them before sliding the cap back on. Admiring his profile, you watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows. Your gaze travels down to his neck, which might just be your favorite part of him at the moment—thick, tan, jugular vein bulging. You can almost see his pulse pounding at his carotid. Fuck, he makes your pulse pound. Sucking in a deep, calming breath, you avert your gaze to your near-empty drink, swishing the ice cubes around nervously. Joel nudges your arm with his elbow. You look at him, trying your hardest to maintain a straight face, but seeing his smile makes you grin.

“What?” you ask, noticing his eyes dipping down to your lips.

“Was just thinkin’,” he says, finishing the last of his whiskey as he eyes you inquisitively.

“About?” you press, tilting your ear toward him and raising your brows. He laughs at your facial expression and leans in, lips brushing your hair and nearly grazing your ear.

“’Bout what it would be like t’kiss you,” he hums, voice dripping with lust. Your eyes widen briefly, shock quickly morphing into nervousness, then anticipation as your stomach twists.

“Think I need another drink before then,” you say, slowly turning to face him. He’s close, close enough that you feel his breath on your face. He’s half-smiling again, brown eyes spanning your face.

“Nervous?” he taunts lowly. You look up at the TV and nod slowly.

“Darlin’, y’got nothin’ to be nervous about. I ain’t gonna make ya do anything y’ain’t comfortable with,” he says, face still close to your ear. You face him again, staring intently into his eyes.

“Oh, it’s not that. I’m afraid… you’ll be hooked,” you test him, hoping your bravado overshadows your nerves. His nostrils flare just slightly before he clears his throat.

“Reckon I need another drink, too—I might not survive,” he says, catching you off guard. A loud laugh escapes your lips. Joel is delighted at the sound and wonders how you’d sound doing other things, like underneath him or as his tongue unravels you. Suppressing an erection, he waves the bartender over and orders both of you another round.

“Wanna get some air?” he questions you, tipping his head toward the patio area. You nod, chewing on your straw nervously. The idea of being alone with him makes you squirm. You stand and he guides you outside, firm hand on your lower back. His fingertips burn into your back.

“Lemme just tell Mer I’m stepping outside,” you say. He nods. “Meet ya out there?” he offers, and you clink the rim of your glass to his in agreement. You watch him saunter over to the patio doors, salivating at the way his jeans hug his hips and ass. Meredith isn’t worried by your absence at all, still laughing and talking loudly with the group. She’s drunk.

“Mer, I’m stepping out back if you need me,” you say into her ear. She turns to you, holding your chin.

“Y’gonna kiss him, finally? He’s been tryna do it for the last hour!” she spits into your ear. Your lips quirk into a smile.

“Maybe, dunno. We’ll find out shortly,” you reply nonchalantly, shrugging as you turn to leave the table. She pinches your ass as you walk away.

Anticipation bubbles in your chest as you get closer to the patio. With a deep breath, you push the doors open and see Joel leaning up against the railing, hip cocked to one side. The patio is dotted with dim string lights and overlooks a small pond with a fountain, moonlight glimmering on the surface. The trickling of the water is soothing, a nice contrast to the loud music and voices inside the bar. He turns his body toward you, arm leaned against the railing as he watches you.

“Thought maybe I scared ya off,” he teases. You stand next to him, arm brushing his as he turns to face the pond again.

“Not in the slightest. Your girl back there, though? Not going within 20 feet of her,” you tantalize him, and he rolls his eyes as he chuckles.

“She ain’t even a blip on my radar, darlin’,” he says, voice shifting from playful to sensual. You feel his hot gaze on your face. Slowly, he dips his head closer to yours. You turn and lock eyes with him. You want him, though your expression is almost hesitant—his is pliant, asking permission. You look down at his plush lips and lean in while closing your eyes.

When your lips finally meet, a sensation roils through you like you’ve never experienced. You feel like a fishing boat in the North Sea, tossed around, dizzy, and soaked by the icy waves as they threaten to pull you under. You’re completely at the mercy of his lips, his touch. The kiss is slow, yet fiery—unlocking passion in both of you that has either been dormant or never existed. At some point, Joel turned to face you and pulled you flush to him, thick arms wrapped around your torso, squeezing you like he can’t afford to let go. You reach for his hair and knock off his baseball cap, and he laughs against your mouth.

It doesn’t take long for your tongues to tangle and the kiss to reach a new level of hot and heavy. He’s gripping your ass; you’re shoving your hands up his shirt. He’s breaking the kiss to nip at your neck and jawline; you’re moaning softly. He’s groaning into your skin at the sounds you make, telling you how good you are; your nails are carving shapes into the skin of his back.

You pull back, panting, fingers still latched onto his curls. Concerned eyes stare into yours, worried he crossed a line. You shake your head and laugh incredulously, glancing over at the moonlit pond. It’s surreal, the way you’re feeling now—none of your dreams have ever been so enchanting as this moment. Joel strokes your cheek softly, needing to know your thoughts.

“Everything alright?” he murmurs, pressing a gentle kiss to your cheekbone.

“Yes! Oh god, everything’s—amazing, I just didn’t know if—,” you stammer, trying to force the thousand thoughts swirling in your mind into a coherent sentence.

“D’you wanna get outta here, darlin’? I understand f’you say no, but good lord, I want you,” he breathes, searching your eyes for a semblance of hesitation or uncertainty. He doesn’t find either. Your pupils dilate ever so slightly, tongue darting out to lick your lips.

“Fuck yes,” you breathe, sending him over the edge. He smirks and releases you momentarily to pick up his fallen ball cap, tossing the sweaty fabric over his curls before grabbing your hand to guide you back inside. It’s hasty, the way he closes his tab and signs his receipt, tossing the pen back behind the bar with a chuckle.

“Let me tell Mer I’m leaving,” you tell him. He nods.

“I’ll wait here for ya, don’t need ya walkin’ in the dark parkin’ lot alone this time of night.”

“A gentleman, too? Hopefully that doesn’t carry over to the bedroom,” you coo, putting on your sultriest voice. His eyes are black as sin, sweeping over your body slowly.

“Oh, I am—ladies first,” he quips, enjoying the view as you turn to walk toward the table. Meredith is perched on the lap of one of the dads, whispering in his ear.

“Mer—I’m leaving. I’ll call you in the morning, yeah?” You shout over the loud chatter of the group and the music. She winks at you and gives you a languid thumbs up. Still drunk. You narrow your eyes at poor lad she’s sitting on, giving him a silent warning. He throws his palms up in the air in surrender. Meredith rolls her eyes at you before turning back to him.

Joel takes your hand as you walk out of the bar, giving the back a quick kiss. The excitement and thrill of leaving with him has you giddy, springy. Your steps are bouncier than before, confidence buzzing inside you. This fine man wants you, has wanted only you since he laid eyes on you, and is taking you home. Your past one-night stands have never been so exhilarating.

Joel leads you to a big silver truck, opening the passenger door for you and helping you into the plush leather seat. He swats your ass as you hop in, laughing at the yelp that escapes you. Trotting over to the driver’s side, he hops in and wastes no time getting out of there.

“Your place or mine?” He asks as the truck cruises onto a main road.

“Mine,” you reply, starting to feel nervous. Maybe a familiar location will calm your nerves a bit.

“Lead the way, darlin’.” You guide him to your apartment, which is maybe 10 minutes from the bar. He grabs your hand as you both speedwalk into the building, eager to rip your clothes off and finish what you started at the bar.

As soon as you’re inside your apartment, Joel rips his cap off and hoists you up, your back pressed against the door. Your legs encircle his waist and pull, crashing your hips together. His lips devour you hungrily, teeth nibbling your lower lip and hands frantically roaming over you. “Where?” he murmurs in your mouth, and you point to your agape bedroom door. You didn’t make your bed, but you couldn’t give less of a fuck right now, and neither does he. He carries you inside the dark room and lies both of you on the bed, your legs still wrapped around his midsection.

“Need t’see you,” he pants, and you point to the lamp on your bedside table. He twists the knob, filling the room with dim, amber lighting. His mouth latches back onto yours before moving down to your soft neck and collarbone.

“Off,” he says, tugging at the collar of your muscle shirt. You lift your arms up and let him tear the fabric from you, remembering that you didn’t wear a bra once you hear him curse.

“Fuck,” he groans, “look at you.” He squeezes your breasts, taking a nipple into his warm mouth. You inhale sharply, running fingers through his tousled curls as he sucks on one and moves to the other. He kisses down your stomach until he meets denim, sitting up and grasping the waistband of your shorts. He peers at you from poignant, hooded eyes.

“Can I take these off?” he asks softly, surprising you. He’s gentle, obedient, almost submissive to you, though you don’t realize what a treasure you are in his eyes. He wants to savor this, make sure it’s perfect for you. Your chest is heaving, nerves so alight that you almost forget to respond.

“Please,” you affirm, and he doesn’t need to be told twice.

You’re already soaked—you felt it once you sat down in his truck, the damp fabric of your panties pushed up into you. He unbuttons and slides your shorts off, leaving your green thong on and licking his lips as he notices the wet spot.

“Jesus… this for me?” he says, returning his needy mouth to your hot skin. You’re squirming in his grip, breathless.

“Yes, fuck,” you huff, whimpers leaving your mouth as he kisses his way down your left hip and bites your inner thigh. You moan, the painful prick of his incisors heightening your pleasure.

“You like that, baby?” he asks, peeking up at you from down below. Bashfulness washes over you at the sight of him between your legs, worshipping your body. You nod feverishly, lower lip between your teeth. He growls lowly and kisses down your leg, stopping at your instep and watching your response before retracing his path. He stops over your clothed mound and kisses featherlight, pulling a groan from you. You feel his smile curve against your core, but he doesn’t oblige you—he kisses down your other leg. You tug on his hair, needing his mouth on your most sensitive spot.

“Needy, ain’t she?” he teases you, breathing hot air on your clothed, throbbing pussy. Your back arches and you sigh heavily at the sensation.

“I’ma give you just what y’need, darlin’, just hold on for me,” he soothes you, teeth pulling the waistband of your thong back slowly. He needs help from his hands, though, so he loops his fingers in the waistband and rids them from you. His gaze is boring holes in you, looking at you like you’re the most precious thing he’s ever seen.

“Tongue-tied?” you tease him, watching his eyes roam over your naked body.

“Fuckin’ perfect,” he growls. He shifts downward, lower half on the floor before hooking his arms under your thighs and pulling you toward him. He stares at you as he blows softly on your clit. The chill of the air on your wet core drives you mad, your hips circling involuntarily under his grip. At what seems like a glacial pace, he leans in until his lips touch your clit in a featherlight kiss. Though light, the contact feels like the floor has dropped from underneath you, making you dizzy. His teasing has you so riled up; it won’t take much for you to reach the zenith. His tongue slips out and slowly, almost agonizingly, licks from your entrance to your clit.

“Shit, Joel,” you gasp. He smirks against your core, impressed with himself for learning your cues early on. He continues licking you languidly, sensually, changing his approach based on your moans, curses, and sighs, each twitch of your hips and death grip of his hair and arms, relishing all of you.

“Like hearing y’say my name,” he purrs, “Y’taste so good.” White-hot pleasure keeps shooting up your spine, like fireworks on July fourth. Your stomach feels tight, like you might snap any second.

“I’m close,” you whimper, hips rolling on his face. He hums in approval into your pussy. You reach down and grip his hands before he pulls one away to prod at your entrance. He curves two broad fingers into you, groaning at how warm and tight you are. A strangled cry escapes your throat at the stretch, part of you worried about how his cock will fit. He pumps his fingers quickly, and you snap, your orgasm taking over every fiber of your being. He talks you through it, praising you and trying not to come himself at the sight of you trembling, arched in pleasure.

After a beat, he removes his fingers and slots himself between your legs, head dipping down to kiss you, giving you a taste of yourself on his wiry mustache and smooth lips.

“Taste good, don’t you?” he croons into your mouth, pulling a low moan from your throat. Gripping the fabric of his shirt as you kiss him, you realize he’s still fully clothed. You tug the hem of his shirt up and he sits on his heels to pull it off, revealing a strong, toned torso with a softness that makes you melt. He notices you admiring him.

“S’not as good as it used t’be,” he chuckles, smiling at you as he tosses his shirt to some corner of the room.

“Shut up. You’re perfect,” you breathe, hands roaming his chest and stomach before landing in his waistband, pulling him back to you. He resists, only to unbutton his denim and slide it off his legs, leaving only his boxers. You reach out and grab his hard length through the thin fabric, gasping at the girth of him. Your fingers don’t even reach all the way around. His head tips back, breathy sigh escaping his lungs at your gentle but firm touch.

“Off,” you parrot his command from earlier, fingers tugging at the elastic waistband of his boxers. Eyes locked on yours, he stands and pulls them off his figure, cock springing as it releases. A mischievous grin creeps over his features after seeing your reaction to his manhood.

Fuck. He’s big, probably bigger than most you’ve had. The length is up there, but the girth is what worries you—he’s so thick.

“Don’t worry, darlin’, I’ll take care of you,” he soothes you, settling between your legs. Confusion contorts his face, like he forgot something—until frustration sets in.

“I don’t have protection, d’you have anything?” he asks, stroking a slow path from your inner thigh to your hip, making you squirm.

“No, but I’m good—I’m on birth control, and it’s been forever since I’ve had sex with anyone, so I’m clean,” you reply. You can’t even remember the last time you slept with anyone—months, perhaps.

“Me, too,” he adds, “minus the birth control.” His witty response makes you giggle. You sit up and lean forward to kiss him, stopping just before your lips touch.

“I want you inside me. Now,” you whisper, gaze flicking over his face. His eyes flash obsidian before he crashes his lips against yours and lies you both down. He rubs the head of his cock against your soaked folds, the sensation setting your body on fire. Aroused and impatient, you tip him back until your positions are switched, Joel’s head almost hanging off the edge of the bed. He chuckles at you but beams at your confidence. Perched on his lap, you lean back slightly and grind your hips, guiding your lips over his rock-hard length.

“Need a picture of this,” he says, bewildered at the gorgeous woman grinding on his lap, naked and needy for him. His rough palms caress your hips, stomach, breasts, before landing at your shoulders. He pulls you down for a kiss, the new angle pressing your slit flush against his cock, and you shudder.

“Fuck me,” he rumbles, mouth agape, messy salt and pepper curls dipping down to his brow. You sit up, bracing one palm on his chest and using the other to guide him to your dripping entrance. Making sure to watch him, you slowly sink down on him, the stretch splitting you open almost immediately. Your mouth drops and eyebrows arch, the pain and pleasure slowing your movements.

Joel’s face mirrors yours, your tight, soaked cunt squeezing him deliciously. He grits his teeth and grips your ass so hard you’ll have bruises, urging you down further onto him. You slowly take inch by inch until bottoming out, the sudden press of his tip against your cervix making you yelp.

“Okay, baby?” he asks. Your eyes are squeezed shut, breath coming out in heavy pants and hands clawing at his chest as you adjust to the size and thickness of him. A strand of your hair has fallen in your face, moving with each puff of your breath.

“Yes, j-just need a sec,” you whimper. Finally, your inner muscles acclimate to the intrusion of his cock, and you start to move. Each roll of your hips pulls a filthy moan from Joel, whose calloused hands are guiding you up and down his length. You’re whimpering with each thrust, the tip of his cock sending painfully pleasurable shocks up your spine as it slams into the deepest parts of you.

“Just beautiful,” he groans as he watches you bounce on him. It’s a good thing you’re on top, because he would’ve come by now had he been spearing himself into you. “Not gonna last long. Where d’you want me?” he spits.

“Inside me,” you mewl, and before he can react, you take the opportunity to press your chest against his, sweaty foreheads stuck together as you clap your ass against him as hard as you can. Your second orgasm washes over you suddenly, causing you to tuck your head in the crook of his neck as you cry out. Joel takes over, thrusting up into you a few times before grunting your name as he spills into you. Both of your pants and whimpers fill the room as you come down from your high. You’re still on top of him, arms wrapped around his neck, pussy wrapped around his cock still as he softens. He rolls you over and pins your arms above your head before dipping his lips down to meet yours in a messy postcoital kiss. You moan into the kiss, and his cock twitches at the sound inside you—he’s not quite hard, but enough to still stretch you out.

“Wanna do it like this next time,” you pant, cupping his cheek. He turns to kiss your palm and moves down to your wrist before latching his lips onto the slope of your shoulder.

“I’d like that, baby,” he purrs into your sweaty skin, “And I like that there’s gonna be a next time.” He rests against you for a moment before slipping out of you with a grunt and standing to find your bathroom. He returns after a minute with a towel, sitting next to you on the bed and wiping his spend from you.

A pang of disappointment washes over you suddenly, not wanting him to leave. One-night stands really aren’t your thing—you don’t want him to get the idea that this is a frequent habit of yours.

You speak his name softly, quietly. He slides back into bed, propping himself on one elbow and giving you his full attention. He tucks some stray hair behind your ear, your eyes closing at the tenderness of his touch.

“Hmm?” he hums, thumb tracing your eyebrow, forehead, temple, whatever part of your face is closest. You open your eyes and see warm, affectionate amber staring back at you. His eyes are so beautiful, so full of emotion, you find yourself unable to talk for a second. He quirks one eyebrow at you, lips sliding into his cheek as he waits for your response.

“D’you wanna stay?” you ask, hesitant. You really don’t know him, or if this is something he likes to do often, or if it was a spur of the moment decision made during your moment of passion at the bar. He leans down and kisses your forehead before pressing a slow kiss to your lips. Pulling back ever so slightly, his breath fans on your face and gaze flicks between each of your eyes before he opens his mouth to reply.

“Yes, I’d love to,” he says. You can’t help the grin that pulls at your cheeks. He twists the lamp, darkness spilling into the room, and tucks you into his chest before pulling the covers over both of you.

“Goodnight, darlin’,” he whispers into your hair, and before you can reply, you’re sound asleep.

Morning rolls around, and you find yourself pressed against Joel’s warm back, arms wrapped around his torso and moving up and down with his expanding ribcage. He’s still sleeping, or you think—he woke up not too long ago with you curled into his chest, torn between needing to use the bathroom, and not wanting to let go of you. You looked so serene, so beautiful as the sunrise painted your features. When he came back and tucked himself under the covers, you immediately latched yourself onto him, arms wound tightly around his belly.

Now, you find yourself in the same predicament, needing to use the bathroom but not wanting to disturb him. You slowly unfurl yourself from his broad back, stand from the bed and tiptoe to the bathroom connected to your room.

Joel had opened his eyes once he felt you rise from the bed and watched your naked figure travel across the room, the sight stirring his already half-hard cock. Fuck, you were gorgeous, and he wanted desperately to see your body trembling with pleasure again, the memory of your face twisted in euphoria sewn into his brain. When he heard the bathroom door open, he snapped his eyes shut again, wanting you to think he was asleep.

You, on the other hand, didn’t want to wake him and had a primal urge for some fresh coffee. You search the room for your robe, startling when two warm hands grasp your waist and pull you onto the bed. Joel props himself up against your headboard, legs spread as he pulls you into the open space between them. His strong arms loop around your stomach, pulling you tight until your back is flush with his chest. He tucks his face into your neck, pressing gentle kisses behind and beneath your ear, down the column of your neck.

“Where d’you think you’re goin’?” he croons, Southern voice raspy with sleep, igniting something inside you. You moan as his lips and teeth mark spots on the map of your skin.

“Coffee, I swear,” you groan, covering his arms with yours and squirming as his mouth continues adorning you.

“Mm. Not done with you yet,” he murmurs, unwrapping one hand from your stomach to palm your breasts. You arch into him, head tipping back on his shoulder. He growls.

“Feel good, sweetheart?” he presses, rolling one nipple between rough fingertips before moving to the other. You gasp sharply and nod against his shoulder, hips gyrating and ass rubbing against his hard length. He inhales deeply, the scent of your hair invading his space and heightening his arousal for you.

His palm dips lower, spanning your soft stomach before reaching your inner thigh, goosebumps erupting in its path. Lightly, he scratches at your skin there, loving how pliant your body is underneath his touch. He needs to see your face.

“Look at me,” he orders softly, and you turn your head to see him. God, he looks fucking good. His hair is fucked up from slumber, eyes wanton and full of sleepy desire. There are hints of intrigue and mischief sketched on his face.

Then, he kisses you, teeth tugging on your lower lip. It’s hot, the way he needs you in this moment, the way his tongue reaches for yours, the way his grip tightens around you. His hand dips further south, fingers feeling firsthand how much you want him. He moans at it, the wetness trickling from you.

“Joel,” you whine, his calculated touches teasing you. He swirls his fingers around your bud, almost excruciatingly slow.

“You want me this much?” he breathes into your mouth. Your hips are still rolling, ass feeling how much he wants you.

“Yes—please. Need you,” you moan softly, eyes opening to see him. He looks down, watching and moaning at how your slick coats his fingers. He prods his middle finger at your entrance, inserting it lazily into your tight heat with a groan. You gasp at the soreness of his cock from last night and at the stretch—his finger is thick, close to the size of two of your digits.

“Baby—need to stretch you out. So tight.” He pulls his middle finger out and adds his ring finger to the mix. He curls them once they’re fully sheathed inside you, pads stroking your soft walls. He pumps them in and out of you slowly, yet with enough pressure to send you reeling. The pleasure builds inside you, knotting tightly in your belly. You moan as he continues to unravel you, hips circling around his hand, his teeth sinking into your shoulder.

“Come for me, sweet girl,” he coaxes you, mouth moving to graze your earlobe. He holds it there, between his teeth, pulling it as you come apart on his fingers.

Your orgasm rolls through you slowly, vision spotting as the knot untethers inside your stomach. Joel fucks you through it and praises you, spurring you on more. It’s new for you, someone talking you through your orgasm, and something you didn’t realize you needed.

“Good girl, just like that—did so good for me, baby,” he soothes you, removing his soaked fingers from you. He takes the middle one into your mouth, brushing your tongue, and you suck lightly, moaning at the taste of yourself. His cock jumps.

“Need to taste you again,” he hums, placing his ring finger in his mouth. You watch him relish the taste of you, eyebrows arching and a deep groan escaping his throat.

“Can I fuck you now, baby?” he asks, syllables like chords of a sweet cello. You nod, tugging the back of his head down for a passionate kiss. He maneuvers both of you until you’re underneath him and he’s hovering over the cradle of your hips.

“Gonna go slow,” he says, palms cradling your face.

“Want you to fuck me however you like, Joel,” you whisper, searching his eyes. Brown irises flecked with gold, desire-filled pupils threatening to swallow them. He sits up, tugging your thighs toward him and tucks your knees at his sides. He grips himself and breaks eye contact to watch where your bodies are about to join. He looks up at you as he slips the head of his cock inside your warm entrance, jaw dropping as your walls swallow him.

Carefully, he feeds you inch by inch, eyes never leaving yours until he’s at the hilt. He commits to memory the morphing of your facial expressions as he fills you up—wide eyes, mouth dropping slowly, head tilting back and eyes snapping shut once he reaches the end of you. Only then does he look down to see where he has vanished inside you, moaning at the way your pussy stretches around him as he pulls out slowly.

“You feel so good,” you whine, fingernails lightly scratching his chest and stomach. His head tips back as he sets a pace, your muscles squeezing him and coating him in warm slick.

“Best I ever had—fuck,” he curses, fingertips bruising your hipbones. He pulls you up so your hips are propped up on his lap, leaving space between your back and the bed. You arch, head lolled back and hanging off the edge of the bed.

“Beautiful,” he moans, reaching a palm down to lightly squeeze the column of your throat as he continues pounding into you.

Blood rushes to your head, heightening the pleasure of each thrust. Your body is tingling, almost levitating.

With no notice, your second orgasm zips through you like a gasoline fire, flames scorching your neurons. Joel follows suit, lifting you into his lap, arms wrapped around your torso as he cries into your chest. You tug his curls, tipping his head back in a kiss as he finishes emptying inside you.

You pull back and run your fingers through his hair, stopping to cradle his face in your hands. He beams at you.

“Can I make coffee now?” you tease him, pressing a light kiss to his nose. He laughs warmly, squeezing you tightly and picking you up as he stands from the bed.

“I think that’s acceptable,” he replies, squeezing your ass before letting you stand on your own legs.

“So… when can I see you again?” Joel asks as he puts his shoes on. You’d typed your number into his phone per his request just moments ago and sent yourself a text with his name.

“Are you saying… you want to do this again?” you say, winking at him and dropping your mouth open in mock surprise. He rolls his eyes, standing to pull you into a hug.

“Yes, but not just sex. Unless, uh, that ain’t your thing,” he says, hesitation flashing over his features. You shake your head.

“What we just did isn’t usually my thing. I’d love a date. And more sex if that’s okay.” He snorts.

“It’s more than okay. You showing up to the baseball game tomorrow evening?” he asks, absentmindedly stroking the skin in front of your ear. You nod.

“Got a thing for the hot coach. Need to make sure I have my best jean shorts on.” He snorts again, raising an eyebrow at the prospect of seeing you with some short shorts on.

“How about I take you out later this week, then?” You swipe your eyes around the top of the room, lips sliding into your cheek as you try and remember your schedule.

“Friday? I have a busy week at work. Late nights, probably,” you offer. He nods with a big grin.

“It’s a date.”

The next day arrived in blistering fashion. Not a single cloud graced the blue skies, nor the tiniest gust of summer wind. By 5:00 PM, it was still in the lower 90s. You packed a large cooler full of water bottles, Gatorade, various other liquids stashed in your fridge, and snacks for Noah’s baseball game. Excited to see Joel again, you made sure to wear your best jean shorts and threw on a cropped tank top.

You pull up to the baseball field, searching the parked cars for Meredith’s SUV and Joel’s silver truck. You find both, parked at opposite ends of the lot. Your stomach drops slightly when you see his truck. He’s here, obviously—he is one of the coaches. Meredith waits in her SUV for you, hopping out when she sees you strolling up, big cooler in tow.

“Any booze in that?” she winks at you. You nod.

“I had some stray shooters in the fridge. All yours.”

“I believe you have something to tell me, yeah?” she says as both of you walk up to the entrance of the baseball complex. You look over to the field and see Noah’s team warming up in their familiar navy and red uniforms.

Joel is in the grass, hitting pop flies at the outfielders. His broad back is turned to you, the familiar shape sending a pang of anticipation up your spine. The flexing and jumping of his muscles and tendons is getting you hot. Meredith nudges you.

“Hey, I’m talkin’ to you here! Stop reminiscing,” she scolds you.

“I kinda have to if you want my account of the story, yeah?” you add, mocking her tone playfully. She guffaws.

“Spill. The man was obsessing over you since he saw you at the game.”

“Let’s just say he’s very good at what he does. And he’s a gentleman. He’s taking me out later this week,” you gush, cheeks burning at your recollection of yesterday’s events.

“Knew it. Could tell by the way he walks and looks at you. Mans is whipped. My guy on the other hand? Couldn’t even get it up. Passed out before anything meaningful could happen,” she seethes, eyes rolling.

“All old men are not created equal, Mer,” you joke, jostling her with your elbow.

As you two find home in the bleachers, you see Miss Blonde Ambition eyeing you from the concession stand. She looks pissed off, Juvéderm-filled lips contorted in a scowl and lifeless eyes swiping up and down your frame as she sloshes her Stanley cup around aggressively. Meredith notices, too.

“Guess she’s not too happy her usual antics didn’t work,” she gripes. You try not to give too much attention to the woman.

“What’s her name? I don’t even think Joel knows it,” you ask, noticing her return to the bleachers from your peripheral.

“Cassie. Divorced. Her kid is one of Noah’s closest friends on the team, unfortunately. I think he spends most nights with his dad.”

“Can’t imagine why.” Meredith chuckles at your jab.

A cloud of strong, overly floral perfume invades your nostrils, and you turn to see Cassie, manicured hands planted on her hips and face pinched in irritation.

“Hey, Cass,” Meredith says coolly, not looking in her direction.

“Is this your sister?” Cassie spits. Her voice is shrill, accent almost Valley girl. It would make a lot of sense if she was from Southern California. Meredith, having none of this hostility, whips her head at Cassie.

“It is. You got a problem? Because this is not the time nor the place,” she says, eyes narrowing briefly at Cassie.

“Just wanted her to know that she shouldn’t get too excited about her little escapade with Joel. He does that with every young thing that sits on these bleachers,” she boils, face and neck turning red. Ouch. Joel never seemed the type, but then again, you don’t know him. She could be telling the truth.

“Except you, yeah?” Meredith shoots back, unfazed by Cassie’s low blow. You, on the other hand, don’t miss how your stomach sinks and throat dries up at her words. Cassie’s mouth drops open. She cocks her hips to one side and lifts a finger at both of you.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve been there, done that. Nothing to ride home about. Enjoy my sloppy seconds,” she hisses. Meredith stands up, hackles raised and blocking you from Cassie’s view.

“S’at why you were all pissed off he didn’t want you last night? ‘Cause it’s ‘nothing to ride home about’?” Meredith fires, neck rolling. Anger boils in your belly, though you find it best if you don’t speak—Meredith has always been the verbal fighter, you the physical one. It’s not a road you plan on traveling any time soon.

Other parents in the bleachers are observing the confrontation, along with some players in the dugout, little claws gripping the chain link fence and wide eyes glued to the scene. You’re glad you have sunglasses on. You notice Joel turn his attention to you, shoulders drooping at what he sees. Embarrassed, you look down at your feet as Cassie continues her tirade.

“Tell your slutty little sister he’ll find a new spectator to fuck very soon—and I think it’s best if our sons don’t hang out anymore!” she screeches. It’s silent at the ball field—both teams have stopped their warmups to tune into the drama. A pin could drop here, and everyone would hear it.

Meredith hops off the bleachers and gets close to Cassie’s face. She points in her face.

“Slutty? That’s rich, coming from the lady who cheated on her husband with half the single dads at the last State Tournament!” Cassie’s mouth drops open in shock, taking a few steps back from Meredith. Some gasps ring out in the bleachers. Tommy walks over, stepping between the two sparring women and putting his hands up.

“That’s enough!” he booms. Meredith, nostrils flared and fists clenched, points a finger at him.

“Tom, you know damn well what she’s trying to do here. I’m not about to let it happen. She chose to do this in front of everyone to embarrass my sister. Ain’t my problem what comes out.” He pinches the bridge of his nose and closes his eyes, shaking his head.

“I get it, Mer. Just didn’t need the kids hearing this stuff.”

Nausea squeezes your stomach and takes hold of your throat. You stand and grab your purse. Meredith turns to you, worried.

“Y’alright?” You shake your head.

“Need t’go sit in my car for a bit,” you reply, voice shaky. You turn and walk to your car, paying no attention to wandering eyes. Joel sees you ambling to the parking lot and sets his bat down, raking a hand through his stubble as he walks toward the dugout and out to the bleachers. He’d heard the entire conversation and knew you were probably hurting from Cassie’s remarks.

“I’ll talk to her, Joel,” Meredith says, stepping in between him and you, though you’re far away by now. He shakes his head.

“She needs to hear it from me. None of that shit is true,” he huffs, frown lines etched into his forehead. He jogs frantically to your car.

Hunched over your steering wheel, a knock at your window interrupts you. You jump and look up to see Joel. He looks worried. Shoulders sagging, you unlock the doors and tilt your head as you wait for him to get in. The door opens and he reaches for your hand. You snap it back involuntarily.

“I just wanna be alone right now, Joel,” you lament.

“Just let me explain, alright? I heard everythin’ she said to you,” he says, voice calm. You refuse to look at him, knowing that if you do, you won’t be able to stand firm.

“Look at me, darlin’,” he pleads, voice quiet. You sigh in defeat and turn to look at him. His amber eyes are filled with sadness and frustration.

“None of that shit she said is true. I’ve never slept with anyone that comes to these games, save for you and my ex-wife. Ain’t she ain’t been to a game in many years. Swear,” he says, voice tight, speech rushed.

You look back and forth between his eyes. Why would he lie to you? What could he possibly gain from fucking you—after all, he is a coach, and it might make him look bad to the parents and players. If anything, it was a risk on his part.

“I believe you, Joel. It just hurt,” you finally speak. He reaches for you again, hesitant from your previous rejection. You give him your hand and he kisses the back of it, eyes locked on your face.

“M’sorry. I knew she wasn’t gonna let it go easy. Promise ya, ya got nothin’ to worry about. I—I really like you,” he says, pained. You lean over the center console and kiss him, almost feeling his relief pouring into you.

“I really like you too… old man,” you tease. He roars in laughter.

“Y’gonna pay for that one, darlin’,” he says, half-grinning at you. He kisses you again before pulling back and checking his watch.

“Game’s gonna start soon, I gotta get goin’. I’ll see you later, alright?” You nod, smiling weakly at him. He gives you a quick peck before exiting the passenger side and trotting back to the field.

Noah’s team played an excellent game, which lifted the moods of all the parents and coaches. Cassie’s ex-husband, Byron, showed up and convinced her to leave, which was a relief for everyone. He apologized to you and Meredith for her behavior. Apparently, he already knew about her cheating escapade before they divorced.

Meredith, feeling badly for you, decided to splurge on concession stand snacks and got you a giant Bavarian pretzel and cotton candy, and supplied hot dogs to all the parents. You had fun, too—apprehension quickly turned to relief as parents took turns sympathizing with you and making you feel welcome. This was not Cassie’s first run-in with another woman in the bleachers, you found out—she made this sort of thing a habit.

Noah hit his first home run of the season, eliciting cheers and whoops from the stands. Joel, who had been working with him on his hitting mechanics, gave him a big hug after he returned to the dugout. The team finished 10-3, a great turnaround from yesterday’s loss.

The parents were eager to return to the bar and close it down again. You opted not to, feeling tired and needing a hot bath from the sticky summer night. You and Meredith chatted with Byron for a long time in the parking lot as families filtered out, discussing how to best keep Cassie away from the boys. They had a strong friendship, and neither Meredith nor Byron wanted anything to affect it. Byron shared that Cassie didn’t even have custody of their son—her cheating and drinking during their marriage put a bad taste in Byron’s mouth, and apparently the judge’s—he was awarded full custody.

After saying goodbyes, you were eager to get home, almost forgetting the most important goodbye. You scan the parking lot and see a familiar handsome shape leaning against the bed of his silver truck, eyeing you as you saunter over to him.

“Good game, Coach Miller,” you say slyly, sticking your hand out for him to shake. He grasps it, glancing down with one eyebrow cocked, before pulling you into his chest.

“Lotta motivation coming from the stands tonight,” he croons, wrapping his hands around your waist.

“For you or the boys?” He chuckles.

“Take your pick.” You shake your head and smile, watching the sun drop the last of its shape underneath the horizon. The sky is a beautiful cotton candy color, not unlike the treat Meredith bought for you earlier tonight. You two stand there for a moment, the only sounds being the quiet buzzing of the cicadas and crunch of cars leaving the gravel parking lot.

“Headin’ to the bar?” Joel asks you, holding your chin with his forefinger and thumb. You shake your head.

“Need a hot bath and some relaxation. You?” He smirks, thinking of your naked body undressing and stepping into a bubbly tub.

“Nah. Need the same.” Your lips twitch as you study his face, painted with a little mischief and a little fatigue.

“Want to join me?” you offer, watching a slow grin creep on his face.

“Hmm, need t’think about that one,” he says, eyes flicking over your face.

“What’s there to think about? You, me, naked in a tub. What could possibly go wrong?” You’re flirting now.

“That’s exactly what I’m thinkin’ ‘bout, darlin’, not whether I wanna go,” he says, pulling a goofy laugh from you.

“Meet you over there, then,” you say, turning to leave. He holds onto one of your fingers, preventing you from walking to your car.

“Y’want somethin’ to eat first?” he says, rubbing the skin of your finger.

“Sure. Something on the way?”

“I’m thinkin’ McDonalds. Text me what you want, and I’ll bring it over.”

“It’s a date.”

Not too long thereafter, you and Joel are sitting in your bathtub, backs at opposite ends. He’s tracing shapes on the skin of your knee, asking you every question that pops into his head.

“Shoe size?”

“Eleven. I have big ass feet,” you say, sticking a foot out of the water. He chuckles.

“D’ya want kids someday?”

“Nope. Noah is good enough for me. Never really wanted to be a mom. Would you have another?” He shakes his head.

“I’m too old to be a new father again. S’a lotta work. I had a good run with Sarah,” he says quietly, hand tiptoeing further up your leg.

He stares into your eyes, slicking his wet curls back from his forehead with his free hand.

“Why are you single?” His gaze bores into your face. You avoid it, focusing on mussing up some bubbles floating by your knee. You shrug.

“Haven’t had time, or the energy,” you finally say after a beat. “Haven’t found anyone worth giving either of those things to,” you add, tilting your head and meeting his gaze. He half-smiles at you.

“Yeah, me neither. ‘Til now,” he says, deep voice echoing throughout your bathroom.

“Oh yeah? Cassie, right?” you tease, and he snorts.

“Y’got me there. Alright, last question,” he says, hand stopping at the seam of your thigh. You tighten your muscles a bit, nervous.

“Shoot, Coach,” you say, flicking a bubble at him.

“Can I touch you, baby?” your eyes widen briefly, aligned with the quickening of your pulse. You’ve been wet since he ran the bath water for you and undressed you, fingertips gently tracing your skin as he removed your damp clothing.

“Yes,” you breathe. His finger grazes your mound, the sharp stubble like sandpaper against his skin. He grips your knees and pulls you into his lap. You look down at him, mesmerized by his face and the way he stares at you.

“One more question,” he says, warm, pruny hands traversing your back, warm water trickling from his fingertips to your skin. You thread your fingers through his wet tendrils, leaning your lips close to his, but not touching.

“I’ll allow it,” you whisper.

“Can I kiss you?” You nod, closing the gap between your mouths with ease. His lips are gentle against yours, somewhat chapped from the dry heat of the summer day and salty from sweat. He tastes like salt and mint, which he must’ve snuck into his mouth after you ate earlier.

The kiss deepens, wet sounds of your mouths and the splashing of water now echoing in the bathroom. He’s rock hard against you, cock only a few inches from your needy hole. He pulls back and stares at you.

“Alright, promise this is the last question,” he coos, rubbing his nose against your jaw and then your neck as you tip your head back to give him access. The stubble of his mustache and chin scratch at your skin.

“Fine. Last one,” you agree.

“Can I fuck you?” You nod.

And he does.

Some months and many bubble baths later, Joel wormed his way into your heart. And your apartment. He’s got a baseball cap or two hanging on your mantle, throws his keys in the dish on the kitchen counter when he walks in.

You spend most nights together during the week, either at his cozy home or your apartment.

He calls you his, you call him yours.

He fills your car up with gas when you’re out and about and your fuel light comes on, holds your hand when you walk into a restaurant, tells you how beautiful you are at least a few times a week—and not just when his cock is sheathed inside you.

He kisses you each morning before he leaves for work. Shares his food with you, even when he’s starving. Washes you in the shower and puts lotion on the spots you can’t reach after he dries you off.

Introduces you to his family, and shows you pictures of his late daughter.

Goes to the movies with you and doesn’t complain that you talk during the. Entire. Movie.

Lets you wear his ratty, baggy tees around the house, and even asks you to keep them on sometimes when he makes love to you.

Makes fun of how you use a hammer and that you can’t name the 31 different types of wrenches but corrects you each time with a warm smile.

Plays catch with you before the boys show up for warmups and lets you set up the dugout, though he’ll redo it later on anyway.

And when he finally tells you how much he loves you, you’re not shocked. Warmth ebbs inside you, like it does most days with him. You knew it all along, even if he never had the courage to say it—it was evident with each kiss, touch, and thrust, each bag of food he brought for you, each time he held the door open for you, each time he guided you somewhere with his strong hand on the small of your back.

You oftentimes wonder if he is your soulmate, though you already know the answer.

He makes lemonade with each lemon you give him, without complaint or judgment. And that’s all you can ask for.

#joel miller x reader #joel miller smut #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x you #pedro pascal smut

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zedif-y · 23 hours

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something that i keep coming back to is the idea of what would've happened if impulse or bdubs ate that golden apple in double life.

would it have unsynced their hearts? would it have unravelled their soulbind?

would one of them have survived?

maybe the realistic answer is that they both die anyway. maybe things stay the same and they end up bleeding in the snow as pearl trudges out of the fight alive. maybe it wouldn't have made much of a difference at all.

but what if. what if.

what if they were the only ones left? what if the apple made all the difference?

...i like to think they would've gone home.

home is a bit of an overstatement at that point, what little is left of it just barely standing, their items destroyed. there is no more bed to sleep in, no dinner table nor warm food.

but.

(impulse looks up, squints.)

there is still the roof.

(he nudges bdubs with a grin. bdubs grins back.)

so they make do.

(they're damn good at that, if nothing else.)

i think that it's late in the afternoon when they settle on the roof of their old home, limbs aching from the battle and dried blood on their clothes.

i think that they put together a makeshift bed, barely big enough for two.

i think that the sky begins to grow dark as they patch each other up, scraps of bandages tied lovingly around shared wounds.

i think that the world slows, turning into shades of pinks, oranges, and purples.

i think that they sit side by side.

bdubs sighs, his head on impulse's shoulder.

"what a day, huh?"

impulse huffs a laugh, "you can say that again."

his hair's a mess, ruffled like all the mornings before, the ends singed from lava and explosions. his lip is split, the sting echoed. the colors of the sky sit reflected in dark eyes. dried blood stains his cheek.

bdubs lets his gaze linger, drinking in the sight.

in the still quiet of the world, bdubs looks at his husband and thinks him beautiful.

then, impulse turns to him, a teasing smile on his lips.

"are you just going to sit there and stare at me?" he asks. "there is an entire sunset in front of us, you know."

"maybe i'd just rather look at you," bdubs replies, easy as breathing. impulse laughs, but his cheeks are pink, warm under bdubs' kiss.

i think that they sit there until the moon rises, laughing and bickering until the stars light up the night.

the question, then, is what happens next?

perhaps there is a lifetime more painful than this one. perhaps it is multiple. perhaps this universe holds no room for kindness towards its victors.

but pretend with me, for a moment, and imagine a world where the universe says sleep.

you may rest now, it whispers, soft as the wind as they close their eyes. you have earned it. you have done well.

under the stars, side by side, two heartbeats start to slow.

until they finally, finally stop.

(here, they are the first to win happy.)

#impdubs #impulsesv #bdoubleo #bdouble0 #bdubs #hermitshipping #hermitshipblr #hermitfic #double life smp #dlsmp #trafficblr #trafficshipping #trafficshipblr #ryan's writing #idk . word vomit or whatever

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dollyyun · 4 hours

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𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍'𝒔 𝒌𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔' 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒚 | part 3.1 (park sunghoon)

SYNOPSIS: For some reason, Park Sunghoon utterly despises you ─ how you are the literal definition of a good girl who avoids all sorts of troubles, how you remain loyal and abide by the rules, how you dress modestly, the fact that you're best friends with the popular girls who are his kind of girls, the way your eyes sparkle with fascination, and the dimples on your cheeks whenever you smile or laugh ─ you are every bit of a girl he has no desire to fuck. However, being naturally competitive even against his best friends, he is determined to be the one to break you, poison you with his corruptive ways, and change you for the worse.

PAIRING: non!idols enha hyung line x fem!reader, sunghoon x fem!reader

GENRE: 18+ (mdni), semi-college au, adulthood, reverse harem, dark themes.

WARNINGS: fem!reader is a saint(good girl), reader has thick thighs, mentions of christianity, smoking, alcohol consumption, mild bullying, assault, humiliation, profanities, manipulation, possible violence, tsundere, smut, unprotected sex (no!), pool sex, shower sex, rough-hate sex, meandom!hoon, slight voyeurism, degradation, name calling (slut, bitch, princess), cock-warming, oral, blowjob, handjob, lots of manhandling, hair pulling, choking, 'sir' kink, spitting kink, spanking, markings(hoon has a biting kink), corruption kink, overstimulation, multiple orgasms, crying, just pure filth, hoon lowkey develops a soft spot for reader, hoon is obsessed with reader's neck and lips, threesome with jakehoon.

WORD COUNT: 11k+

FEATURING: txt, le sserafim, ive, aespa.

DISCLAIMER: this fic is inspired by devil's night series written by penelope douglas! also, i am not a Christian, and i didn't bother to do thorough research on the religion, so pardon any false facts or errors.

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3.2, PART 4, PART 5, PART 6, PART 7

PLAYLIST: Six Feet Under - The Weeknd, Heartless - The Weeknd, Reminder - The Weeknd, Lost in the Fire - The Weeknd, think later - Tate Mcrae, Swim - Chase Atlantic, Devillish - Chase Atlantic, Soaked - Shy Smith, Swimming Pools - Lloyd, Where Them Girls At - David Guetta ft Nicki Minaj, Agora Hills - Doja Cat.

RUBY'S NOTE: as always, please lower your expectations because it might not turn out good as you hoped and i apologise for the bad written smuts and if it bores you with how lengthy it is. also, i tried shortening chap 3 and blr won't let me post all 37k+ words in one post, hence, there is another part (which is part 3.2). nevertheless, enjoy reading!

🖤 SERIES MASTERLIST 🖤

It is getting rather irksome at this point. The stark image of your glistening eyes as they brimmed with tears and the distinct heartbreak contorted in your face remain unabating in his mind, as though to taunt him and evoke a sympathetic chord in him, which is nearly impossible because he is not a man of deep benevolence.

If anything, the sight of you in tears should have gladdened his tainted heart. He should be deriving great delight from your unveiling woe, but instead, a certain chord that feels foreign strikes him in the chest, and he doesn’t like it. Not one bit.

Park Sunghoon despises you.

No, you didn’t commit any wrongdoing towards him. He simply hates you and your whole being. Even the mere glimpse of your face is enough to kindle the burning hatred he has always harboured for you.

Sunghoon can’t exactly pinpoint the very moment he started hating you, but it was around the first half of the semester during freshman year.

Initially, you were a nobody ─ just a girl who managed to enrol in this prestigious university thanks to scholarships. You’re not a Chaebol like him or like most of the student body here. Usually, a student like yours with no status rank or whatsoever would be an easy target for the delinquents to tyranny with their corruptive tendencies and, essentially, to bully.

However, unlike the other delinquents, Sunghoon didn’t want to squander his time tyrannising students like you. He really couldn’t care less since, at that point in time, he was busy targeting and luring girls to his bed, since he used to be a fuckboy after all.

Truth be told, Sunghoon didn’t know of your existence in this school until one day, when your name reached his ears from the nebby peers of his. Words spread throughout campus like wildfire within one day ─ about you being a devoted Catholic girl, the professor's pet, and other things that were rather unpleasant from the mouths of his peers.

Sunghoon really didn’t want to get caught up by the tattles, but his interest piqued when a specific yet cliché moniker was accorded to you by most of the student body.

Crestview Meadow’s official good girl ─ Y/N Kang.

Hence, from there, you earned quite a reputation amongst the Crescents here. But Sunghoon firmly believed that the only reason you had a reputation was solely because of the it girls of Crestview Meadows ─ the very same girls are actually his kind of girls to be associated with, whereas you are every bit of a girl he has no desire to fuck.

Sunghoon thought that you didn’t deserve to have a reputation, albeit your reputation was meant to be disreputed, considering almost everyone dislikes you except the it girls, three of whom are your best friends and roommates, all because you’re the epitome of a good girl, a good daughter, and the ideal student that professors prefer to teach.

Oh, how he hates the way your eyes sparkle with fascination and your animated face that displays dimples on your cheeks whenever you smile or laugh, and even the sound of your laughter and chuckles irks him greatly. He also finds you tedious with how you are known to be loyal and often abide by the rules, and with how you dress so modestly that even your shortest skirt length reaches approximately four inches from your knee.

Not to forget the annoying satin bow piece that you often tie your hair in a half-up-do with and your thigh-high socks clad, as though you are gatekeeping your long porcelain legs from any prying eyes, since after all, you gain negative attention to your thick thighs.

Getting a little sidetracked, his mind briefly drifts to the plush of your thighs. No doubt, anyone who meets you for the first time will notice your thighs at first glance. His pulse starts to drum in his ears the longer the image of your thighs, which he finally saw how smooth and flawless your skin was on Devil’s Night, remains abating in his mind.

Fuck, even to this day, he still can’t remove another image of you in that skimpy, tight dress from his mind. He ignores the way his dick twitches as he subconsciously fantasises about you ─ his nails digging into the plush as he holds your thighs, his hand moving to your neck and giving it a good squeeze while he fucks his hatred into you.

A muscle pulses in his jaw before his hand reaches out to snatch the bottle from his best friend’s grasp and pours himself another glass of Bourbon, in dire need to drown his amorous thoughts about you. He disregards his best friends’ collective odd expressions that are directed at him by the table.

Sunghoon finds the whole concept of you being the renowned good girl on campus utterly absurd. There is no fucking way that you are entirely pure. Surely, beneath that pristine facade of yours is someone who is waiting for the right moment to spread her legs for anyone to give her a good fuck just like the other girls he had slept with, and he intends to bring the slut out of you and prove that you’re not the saint you thought you were.

“Ignore him. He’s spacing out as usual.” Jay’s annoying remark, which is obviously targeted at Sunghoon, causes the latter to roll his eyes before he takes another sip of his Bourbon. “He probably wasn’t listening to what we were saying.”

“I know that you were talking shit about me.” Sunghoon scoffs, shifting his gaze to his best friends, who are settled around the table. “A guy can multitask, ya know?”

“So how was it?” Heeseung shoots his inquiry to Jake, intervening between the two Parks before they can bicker as usual, which is the norm for the group.

“How was what?” Sunghoon raises his eyebrow inquisitively, now directing his full attention to them.

“About Y/N, of course.” Heeseung answers, his face remaining calm and collected, whereas Sunghoon internally groans at the mere mention of your name, which has his mind drifting back to the image of you in that white fucking skimpy dress out of all of the images of you.

Sunghoon’s steely gaze settles on Jake, who is seated directly across from him, and when their eyes meet fleetingly, Sunghoon finds it hard to decipher the sentiment reflecting in his eyes. As always, Jake is hard to read and predict, despite them being close enough to regard each other as brothers.

To anyone outside of their inner circle, they perceive Jake as the most amiable out of the four leaders, with a kind and sweet disposition despite his playboy tendencies. But to Sunghoon, as well as those who are much closer to Jake, only they know the real Sim Jaeyun is the total opposite of the frontage he displays in everyone else’s eyes, or at least Sunghoon presumes since he can never interpret his best friend.

Sunghoon recalls a certain period of time where Jake completely ghosted all of them and didn’t give them any explanation or whatsoever; he simply left them hanging and wondering what they did wrong until Jay was determined to knock some senses into Jake, which led to a nasty brawl between the two, but in the end, all was well.

“Yeah, was it any good?” Jay leans his body forward, his keen interest is evident by the grin on his lips, eliciting a scoff from Sunghoonn before the latter downs the remnants of the bourbon.

Sunghoon raises his eyebrow just slightly at the smirk tugging at Jake’s lips while something dark glints in the latter’s eyes. “Too good. Even better than I expected.” Jake finally puts an end to their curiosity. His smirk deepens as he brings the glass of Bourbon near to his lips. “She’s adorably loud, by the way.”

“Fuck you, man.” Jay groans loudly as he leans back against his seat, annoyance tinges in his face while he takes a drag of smoke from his vape before puffing it out. “Seriously, screw off, Jake. I wanted to get to her first since I’ve never fucked a virgin before.”

“She’s truly exquisite. Sweet angel took me like a champ.” Jake is obviously taunting Jay, as evident in the dark mischief dancing in his eyes. “I’m betting on my Chevrolet that you can’t make her cum more than I did.”

Jake’s goading appears to have affected Jay, as the latter seems exasperated. Jay turns his attention to Heeseung, his steely eyes hardening with resoluteness. “I call the next fuck. It’s my turn to prey on her.”

Amidst the R&B music that is playing in the background as it bounces off the walls of the bar, Heeseung’s silence is resounding, directing their attention to him. An inexplicable emotion paints across his features. “I’m not sure about that, Jay. I don’t think she would want to lower her guards around us anymore, especially after a certain someone decided to act like a dick towards her earlier on campus.”

Sunghoon watches with curious eyes as Heeseung turns his head to Jake, his gaze sharper than usual. “Apparently, Beomgyu informed me what you did and said something to her that made her cry.”

Something flickers past Sunghoon’s gaze. So your tears were because of Jake, but it is rather peculiar, especially since Sunghoon long had an inkling that you might like Jake better than the other knights, so he presumed that it would take Jake a shorter time to achieve his goal without any issues.

Although the smirk on Jake’s lips persists, Sunghoon is surprisingly able to read through him and notice the deflation. “So what?” He asks gruffly. “I already did my part, so why are you annoyed by the fact that I made her cry?”

“Because you were supposed to bring her closer to us, dumbass.” Jay shoots Jake a scowl, blowing out another puff of smoke. “Just great! The more reason for her to avoid any of us now!”

“Why did you do it?” Heeseung presses on the matter, but all the while he remains calmly collected, eliciting a subtle grimace from Sunghoon since the latter knows well that what frontage Heeseung displays doesn’t always match the inexplicable storms within him.

Sunghoon shivers lightly. It’s always the quiet and stealthy ones who turn out to be the scariest motherfuckers.

Jake’s chiselled jaw is locked as he averts his gaze. “I had to. Besides, she wouldn’t bat an eye at me since it’s one of your turns to take charge now.”

“Jake, getting her closer to us is crucial, remember?” Heeseung heaves a sigh, his hand brushing away his magenta-red locks. “This isn’t the first time you love-bombed and ghosted a girl. I don’t know what your issue is, but you really need to sort your shit out.”

“Don’t tell me to sort out my shit when you don’t know what I’m dealing with.” Jake snaps at Heeseung, a rare occurrence that has the two Parks widening their eyes, thunderstruck.

They know that Heeseung is Jake’s most favourite person, and this is not to say that the latter isn’t close to the two Parks, but they have a special bond that is inexplicable to them, so Jake rarely gets angry at Heeseung.

Heeseung narrows his eyes at him, darkness glinting in his eyes dangerously. “Then tell me. What is going on with you?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. You wouldn’t understand.” Jake murmurs the last part, but Sunghoon is the only one who catches on to the dejection in his tone.

“Anyway,” Jay raises his voice just slightly, drawing their attention. “We’re seriously getting sidetracked here. Who will be going after her next? Unless there is any objection, I’ll go next.” An anticipating grin smears across his pink lips.

“Nahhh, I don’t think so,” Sunghoon objects, a cold smirk touching his lips. “because I’ll be going for her next instead, and shut your mouth, Jay. You’re not getting to her until after I’m done.”

The three of them, completely bewildered, stare at Sunghoon as though he were an alien. They know that Park Sunghoon feels disdainful towards you for some reason, so they never anticipated his assertion to go next. However, they had momentarily forgotten that Sunghoon is naturally competitive, even against his best friends.

On the other hand, while he has been silent, a newfound resolve that dawned on him felt profound, and so he is driven by the same resolve, determined to be the one to fully break you on the inside, ascending his corruption upon you, and if his luck is strong enough, to change you for the worse.

“That’s settled, then.” Heeseung concludes while dissatisfactory gleams in Jay’s eyes, but the latter doesn’t make any objection. Heeseung meets Sunghoon’s gaze. “Do you think you’ll succeed? Considering you hate her, it'll be harder for you to prey on her.”

“When have I ever failed at anything?” A cocky smirk tugs at Sunghoon’s lips. “Best believe that when I’m done with her, she’ll be pliant and all yours to deal with.”

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

The soft luminesce of the moonlight streams into your window, painting delicate tapestries weaving across the ceiling while you wallow in despondency in the confines of your room as you lay limbs-sprawling on the bed. A rare bleakness shrouds the heartbreak in your eyes as they stare numbly at the ceiling.

The red rims of your eyes are fading, but they are still noticeable enough for your best friends to catch on to the fact that you have been crying. Although you doubt that they would care enough, considering the last argument you had with them and the fact that they did warn you, you didn’t want any of them to see you in this state.

Your phone buzzes in silence as it vibrates on your bed, but you choose to ignore whoever is calling or has sent you another text, most likely Winter and Kazuha, since you accidentally bumped into them just yesterday while you were still in tears. You ran before they even had the opportunity to speak to you.

The image of Jake and that girl is not something that can be erased so easily from your mind. Sure, you were slightly heartbroken when you found out Jake was a womaniser during the period you had a crush on him, but this is different. The heartbreak feels so profound that, despite the air of despondency hanging heavily around you, a part of you feels vehement enough to get even.

The thought of revenge entices you, wanting to get even by doing the same thing he did to you, but you shake away that ill-intent of retaliating. No, you can’t behave indecently again, especially after going to the church to confess your sins and be pardoned earlier in the morning. Besides, Jake even told you that you were delusional, so he probably wouldn’t get the slightest jealous if another man touched you intimately the way he did before.

A knock pulls you away from your muddling thoughts before the door slowly pushes open. Remaining motionless on your bed, you lazily turn your head to the side and meet Karina’s eyes, softening with concern.

“Hey, I heard from Winter and Kazuha that you were found crying yesterday.” Karina treads carefully with her words as her sharp eyes examine you. “What happened?”

It touches you that Karina even bothered to check in on you, despite the irony that she hated you in the beginning. Your heart aches at the thought of Wonyoung and Yunjin, already regretting your actions and missing them.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” You murmur in a plea, your eyes stinging with dryness after shedding tears almost the whole night.

“Okay, I won’t pressure you. Just come out and eat something, please.” Karina’s gentle voice compels you to heed her words, and when she extends her hand towards you, you stare at it for a good minute before accepting her assistance in rising from the bed.

“Are Wonyoung and Yunjin around?” You ask tentatively as Karina proceeds to drag you and her out of your room.

“No. They’re busy with their boyfriends or whatever.” Karina mutters under her breath, and like a mother tending to her child, she instructs you to sit on the high stool by the kitchen island while she serves the food she bought for you.

“Thank you.” You say softly when she places the bowl on the table in front of you. The gratitude feels like a lump in your throat as you get a little emotional with her mere act of kindness for thinking about you even after you had been eccentric towards her.

Karina watches you in silence as she takes sips of her smoothie. “You know, I’m not mad at you.”

You lower your spoon to the bowl, and your face contorts into confusion. “You’re not?”

“I mean, sure, I was annoyed at first, but I could never be mad at you.” Karina gives you a small smile that sends a wave of assurance to you. “You’re a grown woman, Y/N, and it’s about time the girls and I stop babying you. Besides, who am I to dictate and judge you when I have my fair share of questionable decisions I made in the past?”

A moment of clarity dawns on you, and you have a sudden urge to confide in her, which you rarely do. Tucking your bottom lip in between your teeth, you contemplate hard and fast while the steaming bowl of porridge is forgotten by you.

“There was a reason why I allowed myself to get close to him, because I had a crush on Jaeyun when we were freshmen.” You start off, your eyes flickering to the interest in her eyes that encourages you to continue, and this time, your voice remains unwavering. “Of course, who wouldn’t be over the moon that their ex-crush finally noticed them and was brought to bed by the said crush?” You chuckle dryly. “But what broke my heart was the fact that he ghosted me the next day when we spent the whole night talking and flirting over the phone, and he even called me his girl.” You whimper out the last part.

Karina’s tongue hits the roof of her mouth. “Fucking hell, Jake Sim.”

You bury your face in your palms, trying your utmost to suppress the tumultuous emotions that storm within you. “I found him with a girl on his lap, and they were making out. Of course, I confronted him, and he told me I was delusional to think that I meant something to him just because we slept together.” Your lips quiver in sadness while tears sting in your eyes.

A loud thud of a palm hitting the table startles you, prompting you to look up, and your eyes widen at the sight of Karina’s glaring anger. “That’s it. I’m about to murder a man. There is no way fucking way he love-bombed my best friend and got together with some girl afterwards. He’s about to get a taste of my fist.”

You lean forward to grab her hand on the table before she can even move. “Karina, don’t.” You plead, squeezing her hand. “I don’t want to be the reason why you get into trouble. What’s done is done. I should move on from this ridiculous heartbreak of mine.”

Karina’s eyes soften at the sight of your glistening eyes and wavering voice, but the resentment persists within her. “What about revenge?”

You deflate slightly. “Revenge?”

“Yeah. I mean, don’t you want to get him back? Make him jealous?” Karina probes, her eyebrow arched inquisitively. “Come on, Y/N. He deserves it after what he did to you.”

Her words are starting to get to you, enticing you, but you shake your head, knowing that it would be rendered useless to seek revenge against the same guy who told you that you’re delusional. “Trust me, Rina, he wouldn’t get jealous. He has other girls to keep him occupied.”

“You may never know, Y/N. There is a chance that he’s dismissing his feelings for you, but at the moment he sees you with another guy, then maybe jealousy will strike him, so he’ll have no choice but to push his ego aside and grovel to win over your heart.”

“Rina, you watched way too many romance dramas.” You roll your eyes, chuckling lightly.

“It’s a maybe, but it won’t hurt to try, right?” Karina casts you a grin, sweet mischief glinting in her eyes. “What do you say, Y/N? You’re up for some sweet revenge?”

Knowing that Karina won’t stop until you cave in, you release a reluctant sigh. “Fine.”

“Perfect.” Karina smiles gleefully. “There will be a pool party happening at the resort chalet owned by Yeonjun’s family tomorrow night exclusively for the seniors, so it’s a perfect opportunity for you to find some guy who is willing to play along.”

“A pool party?” You frown. “I don’t know, Rina. What if Jaeyun won’t be present and all of those efforts for my petty revenge go to vain?”

“Trust me. He will be there,” Karina rises from the stool to walk over to you and grabs your hand, leaving you no choice but to allow her to drag you in the direction of her room. “and when he finally sees you in the gorgeous two-piece bikini, he’ll be regretful for letting you go.”

“Bikini?!” You shriek, mortified by the thought of every inch of your skin blatantly displayed for anyone to feast their eyes on. “Look, I’m fine with revenge, but to wear a bikini?!”

“Don’t be dramatic, Y/N.” Karina rolls her eyes, finally arriving in her room. You watch, flabbergasted, as she proceeds to rummage through her wardrobe drawer. “Your body is to die for. No more gatekeeping your curves. It’s about time that you flaunt them and prove to everyone that the renowned Crescents' good girl has a killer body.”

You turn your head to the side, looking at your whole reflection in the vanity mirror. You swallow hard as you reach up for your silver cross pendant to fiddle with it, as though you are silently pleading for forgiveness once more.

“What’s your favourite colour again?” Karina asks without looking over her shoulder.

You contemplate between white and pink. “Pink.”

Karina goes silent briefly before she gasps and lifts the bikini. “This will definitely look good on you.”

You stare at the dusty pink bikini in dubiety, and although you already feel revolted by the indecorous image of you in that bikini, you can’t deny that it looks cute. “I’m totally going to regret this.” You mutter under your breath, hoping that Karina won’t catch on to your words.

But the cheshire grin smearing across her lips says otherwise. “I have a feeling that you’ll be thanking me instead. Now, get dressed.”

Your face contorts into confusion. “Where are we even going at this hour?”

Karina points her acrylic index finger at you. “You, my girl, will be accompanying me to the bar. It’s clear that you and I need some drinks. Plus, some of our girls will be there.”

“You know that I don’t drink.” You strongly oppose.

“Too late. You’ve already broken one of your codes when you drank some on Devil’s Night.” Karina states, and upon seeing the grimace on your face, she releases a sigh. “Drinking some won’t kill you.”

“Yeah, but drinking some will eventually turn into drinking excessively, which will essentially kill you.” You say dryly.

Karina makes a hand gesture of 'shooing’ you. “Don’t get all smart on me now, Missy. Now go and get dressed, or do you need me to drag your ass back to your room and clothe you instead?”

In return, you make a face at her before departing from her room.

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Karina ended up lending you her garments since, according to her, you really needed a wardrobe makeover. Surprisingly, the low-waisted denim jeans fit you perfectly, but you have yet to grow accustomed to the skin of your stomach being displayed due to the white crop top tee and denim jacket hugging your figure.

The moment you and Karina entered the bar ─ the very same bar where you once came across the seven delinquents ─ Winter, Kazuha, and Rei spotted both of you and were shocked by your new look, but nevertheless, they showered you with compliments and gushed over you while shyness coloured your cheeks.

“Don’t look now, but the four leaders are just across the bar.” Rei's hushed tone garners all of your attention as the five of you are seated on the high stools by the bar.

Your body goes frigid just as you are about to take your second sip of the cocktail. You don’t miss the way Winter, Kazuha, and Karina collectively spare glances at you. Just before the five of you decided to order your drinks, Winter and Kazuha were adamant about getting the truth out of you — the reason why you were crying yesterday while Rei was utterly lost.

And so, you had no choice but to reveal the truth. The revelation rendered them shocked and angered, but none was more shocked than Rei, since she was always in her own little world. You did make them pinky promises with you that not a single word about the revelation goes out to others.

Karina hums, her hand leisurely moves her half-empty glass of drink in circles while her sharp eyes are trained on a certain someone. “What do you girls think? Should I head over to their table and give Jake Sim a good punch or two?”

“Hell yeah!” Winter and Kazuha agree earnestly as they high-five each other.

“No, please no.” You discourage them, groaning as you do. “Don’t cause a commotion in the bar.”

“Come on, Y/N.” Winter whines at you. “He deserves at least a punch!”

“As much as I would love to see that happening, I have to head outside to answer a call.” Rei interjects before she excuses herself from the bar.

“Please.” You plead once more, giving Karina your sparkly doe eyes that you know she will have a hard time resisting. “I’m perfectly fine now. Besides, sweet revenge tomorrow, remember?”

Karina eventually concedes as she heaves a sigh. “Fine. Just be sure to make him really jealous.” She throws her head to the back as she downs the rest of her vodka before placing the glass on the table. “Anyone wants to join me in playing the game of pool?”

“Loser will be drinking the nastiest drink ever made?” Kazuha shoots Karina a smirk, to which the latter reciprocates. The two of them proceed to make their way to the pool as they venture further into the establishment, leaving you with Winter.

“So….” The awkwardness is palpable in her. Her fingers drum lightly on the countertop. “You’re no longer mad at me, right?”

“No.” You give her a small smile that diminishes the awkwardness she feels. “You were right. I should’ve known that he was an asshole.”

“But do you still like him?” She asks gently while there is a knowingness glinting in her eye. “He was your crush, after all. So it’s understandable if you find it hard to move on.”

“I don’t know what to feel, Winter.” You tell her honestly before taking quick sips of your cocktail in an attempt to reinvigorate yourself, but your mind remains in a tumult. A derisive chuckle leaves your lips. “I was a fool for believing in the fact that he meant what he said about me being his girl.”

Winter squeezes your shoulder, denoting her sympathy for you. Her phone rings on the table, prompting her attention to divert to it. “Oh, shoot. I forgot to return Giselle’s call. Be right back.”

Winter shoots you a quick smile before grabbing her phone and proceeding to make her depart, leaving you entirely alone and vulnerable for anyone, specifically for a certain someone with steely eyes who has been watching you, to approach you with ill-intent that you won’t even expect.

You decide to quell the bitterness by downing the cocktail until there is nothing left. With a sigh, you rise from the stool with the intention to head for the restroom, but as you lift your gaze, your heart nearly lurches in your chest at the sight of the man who never fails to evoke a familiar fear in you.

Even if he is standing a few metres away from you, the ambience emanating from him is domineering enough for you to recoil, but you try your utmost to remain rooted to the ground, your eyes unwaveringly meeting his steely ones before they betray your inner turmoil by scanning his appearance.

You are no stranger to the fact that Sunghoon’s fashion sense has always consisted of a variety of leathers. Tonight is no exception ─ a black leather jacket that clasps his athletic physique, as evident in the way the material of his black tee stretches against his muscles beneath the jacket, paired with black-washed denim jeans and a pair of Timberland boots.

As your eyes return to his face, something stirs within you amidst your turmoil at how attractive he looks. The black browline glasses adorning his face and the wisp of his raven strands hovering below his thick eyebrows, nearly to his eyes, do nothing to obscure his penetrating dark gaze on your face.

Despite the dim lights in this specific section of the bar, you can discern the familiar sentiment lurking in his steely eyes. Disdain. But your eyes narrow at his pink lips, which turn into a small smirk that adds weight to your turmoil.

“Who would’ve thought I’d be seeing you here out of all places, Y/N Kang?” His snide remark makes you curl your hand into a fist at the side.

“Park Sunghoon.” You finally utter his government name for the first time throughout the years you have known him.

For reasons beyond your comprehension, Park Sunghoon has despised you ever since freshman year. His glaring hatred is perceptible whenever you often cross paths with him since he is an architecture major in the same department as Jake.

You have heard some things about him, thanks to your tattling friends, allowing you to gain some sort of insight about who Park Sunghoon is ─ he used to be the captain of the ice hockey team and a major fuckboy in freshman and sophomore year until he stopped being the renowned fuckboy out of the blue when junior year entered. Plus, out of the people in his inner circle, he is known to be the coldest and meanest, which has already been proven in the past when he cruelly rejected some of those girls who had slept with him in the most humiliating ways.

Despite all of the words and rumours circulated about him on campus, just his dark gaze alone is enough for you to get the memo that fucking around with him would result in grave consequences. To get on Sunghoon’s bad side or any of the devil’s knights’ leaders' bad side would mean that you have a death wish.

Just like the other two knights’ leaders, Jay and Heeseung, Sunghoon intimidates you greatly. You feel daunted even by a single glance spared to you from him, so you often avoid him like the plague, until recently. Genuinely, you are curious to find out the reasons why he hates your guts when you did not commit any wrongdoing towards him.

You recall the other day when he sided with your deceased bullies. The concoction of abhorrence and wickedness that danced delightfully in his eyes has embedded itself in your mind, and you know that you ought to be leery of him.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t a good little Catholic girl like you be in bed by now?” He takes slow, deliberate steps towards you, his lips curling into a sneer that displays his blatant disdain for you. You don’t miss the way his gaze flickers down at your bare abdomen fleetingly.

“My being here is not in any of your concern.” You accidentally allow the words to slip past your lips before you smack them closed, facepalming at yourself internally for your retaliation against him, but you can’t ignore the niggling annoyance at the back of your mind any longer.

Sunghoon cocks a single eyebrow at you. He totally did not expect the minuscule spark of feistiness within you, as evident in your tone and your unwavering eyes. “A bit brave to be talking back now, are we?” He asks, unrelentingly advancing towards you and leaving you no choice but to back up until you hit the countertop behind you.

The fusion whiff of smoke and strong musky cologne pervades your senses, and you can almost feel the warmth emanating from his body as he stands close to you. His steely eyes penetrating into yours feel unbearably suffocating, as though he has you locked in place just by his gaze alone.

“N-No.” You stutter, and your hand goes flying to the back to grip the edge of the countertop until the tension colours your knuckles white.

As you finally muster the courage to look away from his eyes, the bad shivers run down your spine as you become rattled by the cold derisive chuckles emitting from him. “No?”

At the moment he grabs your chin tightly with his fingers, your heart rattles in your ribcage as he forces you to meet his eyes once more, and this time, contemptuousness hardens his sneering features.

“You think you’re so cute, acting all tough earlier. Now look at you.” Mockery drips from his tone while his deep voice manages to have an impact on you despite the commotion in the background.

Unfortunately for you, the people in your vicinity seem to mind their own business, and some are slowly making their way out of the area. Even the bartenders have gone to the personnel backroom, leaving you completely vulnerable and easily preyed on by the very man looming ominously before you without your friends in sight as well.

You muster courage while releasing a shaky breath. “Get away from me, Park Sunghoon.”

“You dare to make demands now?” Sunghoon’s chuckles sound so lethally cold that your instinct is imploring you to run from him. Your breath hitches in your throat when his fingers make their ascent to your jawline until they reach your ear and sensually stroke the shell. “Keep them coming, because I’m getting real impressed by your audacity, princess.”

The endearment strikes a chord in you, and you swear it sounds oddly familiar to him because it reminds you of one of the predators who chased after you on Devil’s Night. Silver.

“Get away from me, please.” You repeat your plea, but only this time you decide to display your desperation, which softens your features.

“I don’t think so, not until you finally get this into your fucking skull.” Sunghoon says lowly, the familiar cruelty forms a smirk on his lips. You attempt to jerk your head away from him, and he effortlessly cups the cusps of your jaw, holding you in place. “The next time you have the audacity to make demands, you'll do well to remember who I am and that I fucking own you now.”

An anger flares behind your irises. “I don’t belong to any man, and especially not to you.” You manage to deliver your vehemence to him despite the fear that is raging within you. Mustering courage, you glare at him. “For your information, I’m not an object, nor am I a girl with no dignity for you to toy around with. Now, if you’ll excuse me, you’re invading my personal space.”

You force yourself to shove past him, hitting his shoulder roughly as you meander your way to the restroom, which is nearly in the secluded, dimly lit area of the bar, wanting to get away from him before he completely suffocates you with his domineering emanation.

Of course, there is absolutely no way he would follow you all the way here─

A firm hand latches onto your arm, startling you greatly as your heart lurches in your chest, and before you can make any protest, he rips off any opportunity for you to do so as he quickly drags you over to the gentleman's toilet and pushes you roughly inside, nearly sending you to tumble, but he is swift enough to steady you.

“Sunghoon─” You gasp at the impact as soon as he slams you against the wall, which is undoubtedly unsanitary, and the unpleasant smell of faint piss and vomit that pervades the space is revolting to you, as evident in the grimace colouring your face.

“You can’t just drag me whenever you want! And for that matter, we’re in the guys toilet!” You hiss at him, your heart pounding hard against your chest at the palpable tension that is slowly deriving from the glaring contest both of you are in, as does the close proximity. “I’m leaving.”

“You’re not going anywhere until I’m done with you.” He snarls coldly just as you are about to walk past him, grabbing you by the arm again and nearly pinning you against the wall, but this time, you gasp in utter shock when his hand grabs a fistful of your hair and tugs it hard to the back.

The back of your eyes burns at the stinging pain in your scalp. There is not an ounce of clemency in the way he is treating you, matching the sentiments reflecting in his steely eyes. “What do you want from me?” You ask in a whimper, your hand flies to the back and claws at his, denoting him to release you.

“I already told you, princess, that I own you.” He smirks cruelly, his eyes holding indifferently upon seeing your glistening ones staring into his, pleading. “Now that Simon and his two bitch friends are gone, good fucking riddance, you’ll be dealing with me now. Meet your worst nightmare, Y/N Kang.”

“Why are you doing this? I did nothing to you.” You whisper weakly, allowing a traitorous tear to betray your semblance of bravery.

“You always piss me off, princess. You didn’t think you could get away after your display of defiance earlier, did you?” He takes you by surprise as he moves you over to the sink and turns you around before forcing you to bend down until your boobs are mashing against the top beside the sink, with his palm on your back firmly pressing you down.

A painful whimper clogs at your throat as soon as he grabs a fistful of your hair once more and tugs it to the back until you are able to meet his cruel gaze in the mirror. The red LED fluorescence illuminates his face, complementing the menacing ambience he exudes from behind you. You ignore the way your heart flutters at how oddly attractive he looks in the red luminance with the smirk on his handsome countenance.

“I’m a man of my words, so when I said that I would do you much worse, then you best believe that I will.” His tone is laced with malicious intent that is nearly resonating throughout these septic walls. You bite down your bottom lip until you swear it draws blood as you withstand the pain at the moment he tugs at your hair again. “You’re going to be my bitch and do exactly as I say from this moment onwards.”

“S-Sunghoon, please.” You whimper, your hands are outstretched in front of you, clawing on the surface in an attempt to seek some semblance of alleviation from his cruelty to you.

“I haven’t even done anything yet, and you’re already begging?” Sunghoon cold chuckles ring through your ears and send goosebumps on your skin. “Oh, princess, you’ll be doing a lot of begging.”

You exhale in relief as soon as he releases your hair, but his hand makes its descent to your neck. His long, slender fingers curl around your neck in a threatening manner while you still have your head raised.

The pressure he adds to your constricted neck causes your back to arch just slightly, but this catches his attention and subsequently arouses an emotion he thought wouldn’t surface at the sight of your curve accentuated by the mere action of your arching.

“Sunghoon.” Your gasping plea goes unheard by him as his eyes darken with lust while his mind is imbued by the concoction of eroticism and repugnance at the sight of you being utterly helpless under him, arousing the image of you being fucked by him from the back at this very moment while his palm covers your mouth to muffle out your moans.

Once he returns his gaze to the mirror, his dick twitches beneath the confines of his garments. Even the sight of your eyes glistening with tears right now fuels his avidity for destroying your pussy, destroying you.

Sunghoon leans down, his chest pressing against your spine, and his hard-on allows you to feel him distinctly. Your eyes widen in shock at the unmistakable sensation of his dick beneath the layers of his garments pressing into your ass cheeks, and you swear you can almost feel how thick he is. Perhaps even thicker than Jake’s.

Your heart remains pounding hard out of fear and involuntary anticipation as he angles his head to brush his warm lips against the shell of your earlobe. “Now, princess,” He begins to speak in a deep, gravelly voice while he tightens your neck, nearly blocking the airways and bringing more unshed tears to your eyes. “You’re mine to be dealt with for now. Whatever you do, don’t piss me off, and it would be wise for you to heed my command.”

The moment he releases your throat, you gasp loudly for air, but he is quick to cover your mouth and nose with his palm, muffling any noise from you. Goosebumps arise on the surface of your skin as his other hand touches your ass cheek to give it a sensual rub.

He continues to speak beside your ear as his hot breath hits your skin. “If I tell you to bend over, you will bend over. If I tell you to crawl for me, you will crawl. If I tell you to get down on your fucking knees, you will get down on your knees.” He takes you by surprise when he nips at your earlobe. His eyes meet yours once more in the mirror, patronising you with a smile. “Look at yourself right now. You look pathetic, princess.”

You should be despising his assault and every word he spoke to you, but an involuntary yet familiar arousal stirs in your core while his palm on your ass that is rubbing sensually leaves you yearning for more, yearning for him to touch you where you want him too.

“You’re going to take everything I give to you like a good fucking girl you are, understood?” His low growl sparks something in you amidst your fear, which you discern as excitement.

Your eyes are dazed with forbidden desire for the man behind you as you stare at him in the mirror, and hearing no response from you, he presses his body into you deep, causing your hip bone to hit the edge of the sink painfully while his fingernails are digging into your clothed bum as he grips it tight. “Understood?”

You nod your head frantically while your ‘yes’ sounds muffled by his palm. Something stirs within you again when you catch a glimpse of satisfaction in his eyes before he releases you and leaves you to finally gasp for air. You slap down your palm on the surface in an attempt to assist yourself in raising your body, wincing at the painful throb in your hip bone from the prior impact.

“Sunghoon─” You are left speechless when he spins you around and places both hands on your waist to hoist you, settling you on the surface next to the sink. Despite being seated, he manages to tower over you by a few inches.

Sunghoon forces your legs to part as he stands in between them, the lack of space between your bodies is nearly nonexistent while you become lightheaded by his cologne and cigarette scent.

His hand latches on your nape while the other brushes your brunette waves to the side before he angles your neck to his preference, causing you to arch and strain your neck due to his firm grip, allowing his eyes to feast on the porcelain skin that was once bearing Jake’s marks.

The moment his warm lips come into contact with your skin, where your pulse is, you gasp softly in shock, unable to comprehend the fact that the very guy who despises you is kissing your neck. “W-What are you doing?” You ask shakily while you make feeble attempts at pushing him away, but your body betrays you, succumbing to his allure.

“I’m leaving my mark on you.” His murmurs against your skin send familiar shivers to you. He doesn’t say anything next, only administering his kisses and licks on your skin before stopping at a specific spot on your neck.

You can’t help but release breathy moans at the heavenly sensation of his lips kissing and his teeth nipping your skin while your chest heaves up and down. Feeling his arm slithers around your waist, you arch your back and allow him to pull you closer to body heat until the heat of both of your cores hits and brushes against each other.

Trepidation sizzles through you when a commotion of laughter can be heard faintly from the outside. “Sunghoon, someone might walk in on us.” You whisper fearfully to him, and yet, you find yourself grinding your clothed cunt against his hardened dick that is in dire need of being freed from the confines.

Sunghoon simply ignores you, sucking your skin hard, which elicits another moan from you while you don’t stop grinding on him, needing to feel some form of friction to relieve your aching clit.

After what feels like forever, his wet muscle licks your now-bruised skin as though to balm it. Tears of frustration prickle in the corners of your eyes when he steps away from you, just before you can even reach the peak of your orgasm. When your gaze settles on his face, you notice how swollen his pink lips are as they upturn to a smirk upon seeing his masterpiece on your skin.

Getting off the countertop, you turn around to get a better look at yourself, and when your eyes land on your neck, your lips go parted, dumbfounded by how explicit his mark looks on your skin, which is sheening with the residue of his saliva. Fresh, purple-red hickey that you know will probably take a week or two to fade.

“No.” Your whisper of mortification elicits more contentment from him as his smirk widens.

Your breath hitches in your throat when he presses his body into you from behind, his hand on your bare waist holding you in place firmly while the other brushes your hair away from obscuring his mark on your skin.

“Oh, yes, princess.” He croons to you, obviously taunting you. His dark gaze holds so much danger as he meets your glistening eyes. “This will serve you as a reminder every time you look at yourself in the mirror that you belong to me.”

“But my friends─ they─” Panic settles on your chest while your voice remains shaken from the aftermath. “They’ll see it.”

“That sounds like a ‘you’ problem, princess.” His fang-like teeth peek as he chuckles lethally softly. “Now, if you try to escape from me, know that there’ll be consequences.” He can’t resist himself the longer his gaze remains lingering on your dainty neck, so he leans in to kiss on your hickey, causing your body to jolt slightly from the abrupt sensation of his warm lips once more.

“Yeonjun will be hosting a pool party at the resort chalet his parents owned, so I’ll be expecting to see you there.” He murmurs as soon as he pulls away from you.

You swallow harshly in an attempt to moisturise your dry throat as you lock eyes with him in the mirror. “Why are you doing this? I thought you hated me.”

“I still do, which is why I’m doing this.” He smiles coldly in response. “By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be crawling back for more.”

You hold your chin up in subtle defiance. “No, I won’t.”

“Don’t fool yourself. Deep down, you know you want me.” He scoffs lightly. “Now off you go.”

You don’t need him to tell you twice as you flee the gentleman's toilet. Panic returns to your chest as you spot your friends by the bar, drinking and conversing amiably amongst each other.

You clench a fist, ruminating whether to head over to them or just leave the bar and walk back to your dorm since it will take no more than twenty minutes from the bar. Heeding your intuition, you whip out your phone to send Karina a text while making your departure from the establishment.

Y/N: Hey, I’m calling it a night.

KARINA: So soon? Where are you now? I’ll drive you back.

Y/N: It’s fine! I’ve already headed outside. Don’t worry about me, and just enjoy the night with the girls.

KARINA: If you say so. Just text me once you arrive at our dorm.

Little do you know that you have forgotten to text her when you step foot into your room as you are preoccupied in the bathroom, relieving yourself to attain the orgasm Sunghoon ripped from you.

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Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he is unable to erase the image of your pliant body being forced to be bent down by him, and the tears that leaked from your eyes as you stared at him in the mirror undoubtedly stirred an arousal within him, but even in his slumber, you managed to appear in his dream, resulting in him waking up with a fucking morning wood.

The steam from the hot shower begins to fog in the spacious bathroom as the water continues to run while he remains stark naked, his palm pressing firmly onto the tempered glass as he continues to masturbate.

A muscle pulses in his chiselled jaw while his eyes darken with a carnal lust as he recalls the delirious dream of him giving you backshots with your arms locked in place on your back as he delivers unforgiving thrusts into your cunt while you were fucked dumb by him, moaning and blabbering incoherent words.

Never has Sunghoon ever thought that you would be his wet fucking dream.

Droplets of the steaming moisture drip down his neck to his chest as he throws his head to the back, grunting out a moan at the moment his orgasm reaches its peak before familiar white essence sprouts from his engorged cock, aiming messily everywhere, staining the shower tiles and the tempered glass.

Fuck, it has been more than awhile since he came hard like that, and he’s not even the slightest bit satisfied. Sure, he could get any other girl to satisfy his libido and get them to suck him off, but it has been long since he even lured any girls to his bed since he decided to cease his fuckboy tendencies.

In the beginning, it was exhilarating to lure those girls to his bed without any effort, and the sex was good since he managed to fuck different girls with different kinks, which subsequently led to him exploring and developing kinks of his preference. But as time passed, it got tedious. It was always the same boring shit, but mainly because those girls’ vigours matched with his, which is confounding. Every other fuckboy would want girls to match the level of his energy.

However, Sunghoon wanted something different for once. He didn’t want to fuck girls who were the same stereotypical flirtatious and vivacious kind, but at the same time, he also had no idea what type of girls he wanted. Hence, he decided to put an end to his renowned fuckboy reputation.

No girl could ever satisfy him in the way he desired.

That was until now. As your beautiful face with crystalline tears glistening on your cheeks appears in his mind once more, his once softened dick twitches.

Shaking his head, he quickly rinses himself and any evidence of his stained cum in any parts of the shower before grabbing the towel at the side to dry himself and making an exit out of the shower room.

With the towel hanging loosely below his waist, Sunghoon raises an eyebrow upon seeing Jake, clad in denims, sauntering around his room and seeming to be inspecting anything that captures his attention as though he is in an art exhibition.

“The fuck you’re doing here?” Sunghoon asks in a grumble, completely undeterred by Jake’s gaze on his half-naked glory, while he makes his way to his closet room, which is situated across from the shower room, which he finds tedious.

Since they have been living in this very palace where they hosted Devil’s Night, the rooms each of the leaders occupied are equivalently massive.

Jake is unfazed by Sunghoon’s vulgarity since it’s the way he is, watching as the latter ventures into the wonder of his closet. “Are you staying overnight at the resort?”

Sunghoon manages to catch on to his inquiry despite his hands being occupied with searching for some good fits. “Maybe? It depends if I’m too lazy or not to head back to the palace. Why?”

Jake heaves a sigh, his fingers running through his long, tousled strands. “I don’t know if I should go.”

Silence is all Jake receives for a protracted moment before he hears some shuffling, prompting him to look up and spot Sunghoon, now decked out in all-leather, exiting his closet.

“Why?” Sunghoon asks, frowning while drying his damp hair with the towel.

“Because Hana will be there.” Jake groans, inviting himself to plop down on Sunghoon’s bed with the sheets now crinkled beneath his weight, which elicits a scowl from the latter since he is particular about neatness.

“Hana who?” Sunghoon’s tone denotes that he couldn’t care less about the unfamiliar name.

“The girl I used to make Y/N jealous.” Jake’s admission has Sunghoon diverting his full attention to him. Jake’s tongue hits the roof of his mouth, his annoyance is more than apparent. “She won’t stop pestering me and just won’t get the fucking hint that I’m not into her.”

“Wait, you used this Hana to make Y/N jealous?” Amusement is laced in Sunghoon’s tone as he stands across from Jake. Sunghoon’s interest in the matter is piqued. “So did that happen on the same day Beomgyu saw her cry and informed Heeseung?”

“Yeah.” Jake clenches his jaw. “Now I’m starting to regret picking Hana out of all the girls.”

“Pray tell, why did you decide to make Y/N jealous?” Sunghoon cracks a grin despite his curiosity. Jake’s silence draws a scoff from Sunghoon. “Come on, man. You can always tell me.”

“Yeah...that's not happening.” Jake tells him flatly before rising from the bed and making his departure from Sunghoon’s room. “See you there.”

Annoyance seeps into Sunghoon at Jake’s blatant avoidance of the topic since yesterday, when Heeseung confronted him. A part of him really couldn’t care less and is only driven to achieve his goal by doing his part, but another part of him remains lingering with curiosity about what exactly happened and why.

Just then, your face appears in his mind, and he wastes no time to grab his phone by the nightstand and go to your contact to send a message. Sunghoon got your number from Jake, though the latter seemed rather reluctant to give him what he wanted.

SUNGHOON: I’ll be seeing you at the resort chalet. You do know where it’s at, right? Or do you need me to fetch you? This is Sunghoon, by the way.

Surprise tinges in his chest when you respond to him more quickly than he expected.

Y/N: How did you get my number????

SUNGHOON: I have my sources, princess.

Y/N: Okay, totally not creepy at all, and stop calling me princess.

SUNGHOON: I can call you whatever the fuck I want. Now, answer my question.

Y/N: You’re so demanding. Yes, I know where it’s at. I’ll be going with Karina and the other girls.

SUNGHOON: Good. Text me once you arrive, and then I’ll tell you where to meet me.

Y/N: But I don’t wanna…..

SUNGHOON: You have no choice, princess. Have you forgotten what I told you last night?

Y/N: Fine, fine. Just please don’t be so obvious. I don’t want any of the girls to find out about this.

SUNGHOON: Again, princess, it sounds like a ‘you’ problem.

Y/N: I don’t like you, you know that?

SUNGHOON: The feeling’s mutual.

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To say you are in a predicament is an understatement. Not once have you stepped foot outside of your room since you woke up, and you don't dare to either, especially when the hickey on your neck is glaringly conspicuous.

With your bottom lip tucked between your teeth, you have been prancing around your room that if your soft toys, which are arrayed meticulously on your bed, could magically talk, they would probably tell you to sit your ass down as you’re making them dizzy by your unceasing prancing.

You worry gravely that your hickey being seen by your best friends will result in another altercation, and you fear that Wonyoung and even Yunjin might grow to resent you for such indecent conduct that was not expected from you.

You tried applying an excessive amount of concealer, but it was rendered useless because, no matter what, the hickey would remain noticeable. As you are mindlessly fiddling with the silver cross hanging from your neck, you release an annoyed sigh while a growing headache begins to form that is in a muddle of tumultuous emotions.

You blame Park Sunghoon for leaving his ludicrous mark on your neck.

Speaking of him, you halt your steps, your eyes glancing down at your phone screen that displays Sunghoon’s last text. You have an inkling that he must’ve gotten your number from Jake. You ignore the throbbing ache afflicting your heart at the thought of Jake.

Not only are you caught up in a predicament with the unresolved issue between you, Wonyoung and Yunjin, as your friendship with them is strained, but that predicament also includes your heartbreak inflicted by your ex-crush and your cluttered feelings for the guy who hates you.

For once, you genuinely want to scream and pour out your pent-up emotions that are brimming, but you maintain decorum. Your stomach grumbles with a low growl for the third time, denoting that it needs to be stuffed with food.

It’s like there is a lightbulb switch in you. You nod your head to yourself, agreeing that the reason you’re feeling all angsty is because you've neglected your hunger since morning. After all, you’re a major foodie.

You rummage through your closet to grab a baby pink hooded sweater before wearing it with the hood covering your head. You examine yourself in the mirror, adjusting the collar in an attempt to cover up the hickey with the additional help of your hair, which you let loose.

Although uncertainty remains lingering in the air, you decide that this will do it. Plus, you can’t afford to neglect your hunger any longer, as it gnaws in your tummy relentlessly.

Your heart pounds against your chest as you slowly push down the handle before opening the door. With your head peeking outside, you can hear the sound emitting from the television. You look across you, where the door to Wonyoung’s room is ajar.

With an inaudible sigh, you proceed to leave your comfort zone. Like a clandestine spy on a mission, every step you take is light, moving stealthily. The only goal you have in mind is to get to the kitchen and cook something you hope will be edible, considering that cooking is not your expertise.

When you reach the living room, you notice that the couch is vacant, leaving only the television playing the drama idly for no one. Naturally, you loosen every tension in your muscles and lower your guards before making a beeline for the kitchen.

You have been craving your comfort food, and so you proceed to make yourself a bowl of instant ramyeon. Although you’re not supposed to indulge your cravings since you’re somewhat on a diet, you can’t help it.

Since cooking instant ramyeon is convenient, time passes quickly, and you are finally seated on the high stool by the kitchen island with the steaming bowl of ramyeon in front of you.

Just as you are about to take a slurp of the noodle, your body goes frigid at the sound of footsteps approaching the living room and their voices teeming in the cold air. You decide to act as normally as you can before taking your first slurp.

“A certain someone is finally out of hibernation, I see.” Karina’s voice is laced with mischief as she teases you, prompting you to look up and spot her entering the kitchen with Yunjin and Wonyoung trailing behind her.

“I was tired.” You tell her with a faint smile, disregarding Wonyoung’s eyes that are attentively trained on your face, whereas Yunjin heads for the refrigerator.

“So you decided to sleep in until noon?” Wonyoung’s tone causes you to flinch lightly at how sharp it is.

Although there is sadness, annoyance overweighs your entire senses towards Wonyoung’s change of behaviour when it comes to you.

”Give me a break. It’s a Saturday.” You say dryly without sparing a glance at her as you slurp your noodles. It’s flavorful, indeed, but it does nothing to distract from the tension that you can discern between you and Wonyoung.

Wonyoung doesn’t like your tone, not one bit, as evident by her sharp gaze on your face. “You don’t usually wake up this late, Y/N. Seriously, what’s going on with you?”

“Everything is fine.” You grit your teeth in annoyance, slowly losing your appetite. “Just let this drop, Wonyoung.”

“If everything is fine, then why are you wearing a hoodie when the temperature is not even cold?” Wonyoung remains vehement, irking you greatly.

“Yeah, what’s with the hoodie?” Yunjin joins, though by her nervous chuckles, it’s clear that she doesn’t wish for things to escalate into some altercation just like the other night. “New look?”

“You girls seriously need to lay it off.” You finally divert your full attention to them. “I don’t get why you are so insistent about trifling matters like this.”

“It isn’t trifling when you’ve been acting all weird.” Wonyoung raises her voice just slightly. Her glaring eyes meet yours. “Ever since you slept with Jake, you’ve become a little different. It’s like I almost don’t recognise you.”

“Wony’s right, Y/N.” Yunjin says quietly, and despite her tone remaining neutral, you hate the way she is looking at you right now, the sentiment matches Wonyoung’s. “You’re different now.”

“I’m not.” You object vehemently, and by now, your ramyeon is forgotten as you are preoccupied with defending yourself. “I can assure you that I have not changed. Ask Rina!”

“If you asked me, I’d say you’ve changed a little, but in a good way.” Karina adorns a grin, unaffected by the sizzling tension between you and Wonyoung. Karina darts her eyes between Wonyoung and Yunjin at their glare on her face. “What? Come on! Aren’t you girls glad that Y/N finally knows how to have fun? Speaking of which, Y/N! You definitely need to wear this dress I got for you to Yeonjun’s pool party.”

“She’s going to Yeonjun’s pool party?” Wonyoung’s high-pitched tone denotes disbelief. “And you’re encouraging her when you’re supposed to be on our side?”

“Is there a problem if I go to Yeonjun’s pool party?” You ask Wonyoung, your chin has a tilting defiance. “You and Yunjin are going too, so I don’t see why I can’t go.”

“It’s a pool party, Y/N! It’s not your type of scene! You’re not even brave enough to wear a bikini!” Wonyoung displays her exasperation. “Plus, the senior knights will obviously be there, including Jake!”

You scoff out a dry laugh. “If you’re worried about me bumping into Jake, don’t be. I don’t have any intention to associate myself with him anymore.”

“Did something happen?” Yunjin takes a step forward upon noticing the fleeting heartbreak in your eyes.

Before you can speak, Karina intervenes loudly. “Oh, look at the time! We really need to start getting dressed up and stuff.” She chuckles before directing her eyes to yours, and you instantly receive her silent message.

You take down a mental note to return for the remnants of your ramyeon later, as you get off the stool. Just as you walk past Wonyoung, you spare her a glance. “Maybe you don’t know me, but I can be brave at times, Wonyoung.”

In return, Wonyoung chuckles coldly at you, and the disappointment can be seen in her eyes. “You’re right. Maybe I don’t know you at all, because I only know the old Y/N Kang.”

TAGLIST: @aishigrey @kgneptun @b3tt7boop @smg-valeria @lhspeachie @enhaverse713586 @strxwbloody @firstclassjaylee @jwnghyuns @luminouskalopsia @deobitifull @loumin908 @sousydive @pinkkami @skzenhalove @caravm @shinrjj @loljaeyunz @star4rin @darkjongsung @mlywon @yorukoshii @nshmrarki @lol6sposts @lilyuwon @enha-crumbs @slut4hee @capri-cuntz @kaykay11sworld @firesunflames @notevenheretbh1 @parksunghoonsgf @luvkpopp @superbbananananana @eastleighsblog @in-somnias-world @nyxtwixx

#the devil’s knights’ prey #enhypen smut #enhypen hyung line x reader #sunghoon

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timwhore · 3 days

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step-son! peter parker x step-dad!reader - okay so bear with me but ! alternate universe where peter parents never die, but his parents divorce so for a bit of time, while the divorce go thru and everything related to it get done, he goes and life with his aunt and uncle, but the regular events happen ( his uncle dying and him becoming spider-man ). and as soon as he get used to him being spider-man, he goes back to living with one of his parent and,

he learn that he has now, as step-dad (you) ! he isn't exactly super happy about it, but he doesn't hate you from the get-go. he just feels weird around you, he's too old to act like a kid and despite you for 'remplacing' his real parent but he's too young to just, totally ignore you. after all he still is in college and is staying at his parent house - not the dorm, he of course considered that but living at your parent house while being both a uni student and a super hero was better.

so he just, tries his best to no be too awkward around you, which is hard. he quickly admitted to himself that you were - really fucking attractive. the time he accidentally saw you shirtless while getting out of the bathroom rewired his brain, and may have caused him to jerk off multiple time the same day.

since that day, everything was just so much more awkward, whenever he saw you, his mind started to go astray and he could imagine what you looked like, down there, he could wonder about how you were in bed, first when fucking his parent - then him.

he obviously couldn't face you, when whenever he saw you, he started getting hard, so for two weeks straight, he avoided you as much as he could, ignoring you whenever you were in his close vicinity.

but at some point you are feed up with this, you didn't expect to have the best father-son relationship with, well, your step-son but still, your relationship was so awkward but when you thought you advanced and manage to get him to be more comfortable with you, he suddenly pull back and just, isn't interacting willing with you. so logically you decide to confront him.

one day when he gets home from class, you wait for him in the corridor and force him to sit in front of you at the dinner table, and you ask him why he's been like this.

at first, peter tell you he doesn't see what you are talking about, faking being confused, but after a bit he reluctantly admit the real reason as to why he was acting so distant. you laugh and tell him it's nothing to be ashamed of. that being turned on by your step father is not big deal, after all you aren't blood related.

and then you get a bit more bold, and ask him if he was currently a boner because of you, to which peter simply nod, you get up from your seat and tell him to follow you to the couch. he is a bit confused as to why but he follows you without asking question.

you sit down on the couch and pat the spot next to you, for him to seat. once peter is seated, you start palming his erection and your own, all the while telling him that jerking off together is a pretty normal bonding exercise, telling him that when you were his age you used to do it pretty often with your friends.

by that point, peter is just a blushing mess, and probably has already cam from your hand alone, his hand makes his way toward your pant, get under it and your boxer to fish your dick out of them, he shyly start to jerk you off

#my masterpiece tbh #took me 3 days to write ... i kept getting sidetracked lol i want to write more abt that tho #but the concept has been in my head for a while so #peter parker x reader #peter parker x male reader #peter parker smut #peter parker x you #spiderman x reader #spiderman x male reader #spiderman smut #x reader #x male reader #male reader #peter parker x step dad reader

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chaifootsteps · 2 days

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Funny how Hazbin voice actors and Viv try to portray the show as "good start of introducing children to queerness", but through whole series, not once, even in infamous 4th episode, any of the characters uses word *rape* nor they aknowledge that's what is happening to Angel.

Correct me if im wrong tho, but literally how can you introduce such a problem in your story and not use the proper wording to explain it. I understand that many people may be triggered by it, but there is enough censoring in the media and the word itself exist for a reason, so why won't you use it in your edgy demon show where you aren't afraid to show character getting pounded on screen multiple times.

Also I haven't heard any words like "gay", "lesbian", "trans" etc., but again, correct me if I'm wrong.

So much for being serious queer media, honestly Amir Talai, shut the fuck up, you were taking pictures with a 9yo who's watching this shit and not for a second you thought something is wrong.

At this point, I'm almost certain that voice actors haven't watched the show at all, watched only clips, or watched it but lack media literacy on an atomic level.

An actual good start to introducing children to queerness: Watching Steven Universe, talking to them about queerness, reading And Tango Makes Three.

Not a good start to introducing children to queerness: Watching Angel fuck his abuser on screen, watching Angel be violently gang raped, watching Sir Pentious dragged off to be gang raped for laughs.

#Anonymous #vivziepop critical #viv stuff #hazbin hotel critical #actual blog post

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reqxxyt · 2 days

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pls write a part 2 for the ethan fic ahh!! its so good

secrets out

pairings: ethan e. x f!reader

summary: after a late night, you and ethan, whom you've used to hate, grow closer, feelings blossoming once again but you tell yourself you can't risk breaking the friendship for a silly thing like your heart leaping every time he passes your thoughts.

warning: rushed ending, cheesy asf, cussing, a bit anti-climactic, maybe a bit frustrating (??), mentions of alcohol consumption

masterlist requests are open (pls be patient)

[unedited] wc: 3.6k

part one.

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐

Laughter echoed through the empty halls, stumbling footsteps as the two messed around, freshman nostalgia coursing through their smiles. It didn’t matter that the two hadn’t talked in nearly two years, rounding the start of the spring semester, all that did was the energy radiating between the two. A strange rhythm of the steps mixed with the buzzing of smiles brought comfort to both parties.

“C’mon, you seriously didn’t know?” Ethan finally got out through his fit of laughter, easiness in the flow of conversation. You shook your head fighting the urge to laugh again, you blamed the alcohol, ignoring the factor that by now the two of you had been sober, only taking a few sips a couple of hours ago.

“No, why didn’t you say anything?” you asked, just having discovered that the mysterious guy you had been texting the past few weeks turned out to be the boy you unknowingly kept blushing over the past hour. It turned out to be pretty anti-climactic, so apologies for not including it, but to summarize:

“I remember when you called me drunk out of your mind, professing your love to me” he continued to laugh but yours quickly died down, smile faltering soon after. Before this, you two were talking about all favorable previous times but this one made you stop in your tracks.

“What?” you swore you could feel your heart drop, trying to think back to all the times in freshman year drunk but quickly ran to the result of 0 times. The laughter had stopped, Ethan looked confused and you looked nearly ready to faint.

“You called me. We’ve been texting,” he said, looking hesitant now, but you only kept raking your thoughts, going through everything until it finally hit your brain, almost embarrassingly slow, must be the alcohol.

“Holy shit it's you” you blurted out with wide eyes. Of course, it was him. Him. Ethan. The universe either hates you or loves you at times and you couldn’t decide which emotion it was at the moment, whether this was a good or bad thing, all you knew was that your head was banging and the world kept spinning around you.

He blinked, realization hitting him “You didn’t know?”

“I thought you didn’t either?” you could pull out your phone right now and show him all the texts that implied he didn’t know about you either, completely forgetting that on the day of the drunk dial, he had interpreted your voice the second he picked up.

“I thought you were playing around” The two of you now stood in the hallway, looking dumbfounded at each other.

“Why would I do that?” you silently exclaim, it was midnight and you didn’t want to wake any grumpy students.

Yeah, fun times. You speak of it like it was years ago and not 10 minutes ago, you two laughed it off because, of course, it was him. The mysterious guy spoke the same and had the same teasing tone he would reserve for you and you only, you could now practically look back at the texts and see Ethan’s smile through them. It was so obvious. And you decided then it was a good thing.

“Maybe you aren’t the smartest person I know” The laughter quieted down once again and by this point, you were engulfed in his scent, distance no longer in the same room as you found your room number. You shoved him playfully at his tease, only a side of his smile curved upwards and you suddenly found it difficult to breathe.

The silence as you two were standing outside your door felt like the two of you were secluded from the world, just gazing at each other for quiet moments until your lips parting sent the two of you out of your world. You forgot how strange that was, it wasn’t a common nor rare thing that occurred; it was strange but not… weird.

“Will I see you more often now?” his voice was soft, almost gentle, never breaking eye contact with you and you wondered how that was possible because when you went to reply, your eyes looked down,

“Yeah, if you’re up for it” Your head couldn’t wrap around the idea that he wanted to continue to have a friendship and go back to the way things were before you completely shut him off. You looked back up at him and you swore that you never witnessed anyone's eyes twinkle, always found it ridiculous how eyes were described in that manner, but here you are seeing his eyes glisten under the dim lighting of the hallway, crinkle under the pressure of his smile.

“‘Course I am” The response was casual but you two knew the excitement boiling down from this. You nodded, a large smile threatening to spill but you contained yourself, as the two of you departed, shutting the door behind him before resting your back against it, really getting a chance to listen to your heart make its nostalgic rhythm.

But you couldn’t ruin it.

Not now, not when you’ve already established a friendship with him. So you dug your feelings deep and hoped they never resurfaced.

Easier said than done y/n.

— the next day

“Are you serious?” Isabella barged in once again. One of these days you’ll sneak out your apartment keys from her bags but knowing that it wouldn’t do anything for her to get them back you flopped your head back into pillows, ready for another deep slumber you were rudely taken out of. “Y/n, this isn’t funny. Get up”

“What?” your voice came out muffled and you swore you could feel drool pooling on the edge of your pillow, dry drool on your chin. You rubbed your eyes, discovering the excess mascara and you groaned remembering how you nearly passed out last night after being dropped off.

Ethan. Memories of last night flashed back and you nearly let out a giggle right there and then as you turned to your back.

“Why didn’t you mention Ethan walking you back to your apartment last night?” she hit you with a pillow, frustration growing bursting your bubble of giddiness and you groaned once again.

“You were with Mark,” you said shortly, looking over at her to observe her reaction and she only scowled, acting as if it wasn’t an excuse. “You wouldn’t have seen my text until afterward and seeing how you’re here in last night's clothes at” You look at the clock “7:00, you just left his place”

Her blush resurfaces, shoving a pillow at you for the 3rd time. A question quickly settled in your half-asleep brain.

“How’d you find out anyway?” you sit up, finally taking in most of your surroundings, those involving scattered papers and clothes you kept telling yourself you’d eventually get to. Isabella, without saying anything, pulls out her phone to scatter the evidence and shows you the doorbell camera catching the two of you. Instantly, you could feel your face heat up, realizing just how fawned you appeared over him.

“Ew is that what I looked like?” you cringed, never wanting that video to resurface, wondering how you even set it off. Your hair had become frizzy—stupid midnight humid air—, your makeup slightly smudged, much worse now but at least you weren’t in front of the boy you once liked.

“Shut up, you look fine” Isabella stood up, her hand tightening around her phone. You can’t help but smile, memories resurfacing as you tumbled to her before you loudly gasped, remembering the knowledge you gained last night.

“Isa Isa Isa Isa” You jumped out of bed, wide awake now, repeating her name and she only grew confused, able to tell your growing excitement and grew excited with you but wasn’t sure why.

“What what what” Her smile grew and you suddenly calmed down, taking a deep breath. “You can’t leave me hanging, what?!”

“Ethan is the guy I’ve been texting,” you say, breathless now from all the jumping around like teenage girls. Isabella shrieked and you had to take a step back before she shoved you away, it was her way of showing excitement, “No, this is terrible” You shoved her lightly and she furrowed her brows now, growing confused.

“If you don’t stop with your overthinking. He likes you! You like him, what’s the problem now?” she was frustrated now, and if you were being honest you were too but you promised yourself last night you wouldn’t risk hurting the friendship again.

She waited for your response but you only shrunk, knowing how stupid it would sound. “I don’t want to…” you couldn’t finish your sentence, afraid if you put it out into the universe, it will only entice it to make it occur.

But she understood, seeing your conflicted expression, whispering a simple “okay”, she was the last person to judge her overcomplicated relationship but she couldn’t help but still feel a pang of frustration for her friend.

Not leaving her so easily on the subject of last night, you asked her how it went and her smile grew, going on to ramble about how well it went and you smiled with her, sharing excitement and forgetting about your complications of last night, even if was just for a few minutes. You two shared a rested day, using the excuse to clean up your room and settle back down after the day, reaching for your phone that held minimal notifications.

(user) liked your most recent post.

Mom: are you coming this weekend or next?

But one stood out among the others, a text from Etham – having just changed his contact – asking if you were free next weekend. You briefly looked through your calendar in hopes you had nothing planned to have an excuse to hang out with him and luckily you didn’t, just minimal studying.

I am, why?

Way to make me ask you directly, y/n.

Do you want to hang out this weekend?

You find yourself smiling at the texts, feeling a certain flutter blossom before you clear your throat, attempting to regain composure.

I would love to :)

I’ll pick you up at 6 then

You shut off your phone after that, a smile slowly stretching out again. You felt like a teenager again talking to her first crush and you couldn’t decide whether or not you hated it but the smile remained minimal this time.

The week went by, no spottings of Ethan, and you found yourself blaming the campus for its size. The two of you would constantly check in on each other for the most random things, however, finding any excuse to talk to one another, and by the end of the week, you accepted the way your heart leaped at the sound of his text arriving. But still, you told yourself you wouldn’t act on it. Not anytime soon at least.

Isa took the last bit and ran with it, still believing the two of you had a shot no matter the number of times you tried to shoot the idea down.

“Where are you two going anyway?” she asks, staying over on Friday night. The two of you tried being roommates again sophomore year but it complicated the friendship, spewing over the stupidest things so while you two don’t live together anymore, she constantly stays over.

You shrug, looking over your closet, sighing once more at the minimal options, “he’s so cruel, he said he wanted it to be a surprise”. Isa smiled at your frustration, finding it adorable how you kept insisting it wasn’t a date but treated it the same.

“The worst” she mocked, a smile stitched to her features, you could see it even with your back turned to her simply by her tone. Isa no longer tried to argue that you two were undeniably attracted to each other but rather leaned back and began to treat it like a soap opera.

You tilt your head, giving the closet another angle, hoping something will pop out like it was made for this non-date that is very much a friendly hangout. Definitely. You finally decided on an outfit, one that accommodated most temperatures, not expecting much out of tomorrow.

6 in the afternoon the following day arrived quicker than you had wanted, still fixing up your hair before you heard a knock. Soft curses as you hurry to put on your shoes, grabbing your phone before you open the front door, letting out a breath.

“I forgot how punctual you are,” you said and he chuckled, finding it comical how you thought that because everyone else experienced the complete opposite. You locked your door behind you and looked back at him, really analyzing his outfit in order to gather an idea of where he’ll be taking you.

He wore his navy blue long-sleeve, usually reserved for practice, and black sweatpants. You can’t help but furrow your brows, confused, asking “Did you get back from practice?”

Not wanting to ruin the surprise and not exactly lying, he just nodded, “something like that” should’ve been the first sign but your half-dazed state from rushing on getting ready didn’t notice it.

“Can I at least get a hint?” You ask, rubbing your palms against your jeans, realizing just how much lotion you had put on, definetly no other reason. He shook his head, not giving in and you sighed.

“It isn’t a far walk, maybe a block,” he said and you ran through all the different places that could be, stumped at the knowledge. A side of his mouth quirked up, already guessing what your mind was running through, “Don’t start guessing, just let me lead”

“Right, that helps,” you say sarcastically, rolling your eyes and he laughs, the sound echoing the hallway. He knew how much of a leader you were so allowing anyone to lead the way usually ended with you being anxious the entire time. A lack of trust did that.

Yet, you allowed him to anyway, following his steps, your head not rushing at the ideas anymore, just trying to enjoy the moment as the field cleared, not as many students present, most having already left for spring break and you couldn’t help but feel your heart flutter from being secluded with him. You thought you had grown accustomed to it, all those times alone in the library finishing up the project or studying, but that seemed to deem itself impossible.

Not long after, you two arrived and you only realized once Ethan stopped in his tracks.

“The ice rink?” you ask, a quirk of an eyebrow, intrigued but confused and Ethan just turned to you, a smile that had you feeling a bit nervous, your stomach flipping.

“You said you always wanted to learn” he grabbed your hand before you could argue and while you wanted to pull toward the opposite direction, the contact between the two of you had distracted you enough to follow him.

“You remember that?” You ask, surprised at his memory from freshman year when he was talking about hockey and you shared your admiration for skating, saying how you wished you had learned when you were younger. You weren’t threatening to pull away anymore but that didn’t stop Ethan from keeping a hold of your hand, instead intertwining them and you felt your stomach erupt butterflies.

“I remember everything you say” his simple words had you feeling warm all over, you were only glad he was the one in front and hadn’t turned to you for a while. You press your other hand to your cheeks, trying to cool them down which only works minimally while he is busy on getting the door unlocked.

“Is this even allowed?” you can’t help but ask, the risk of getting caught still making you hesitant but he only tugged you inside and let go of your hand, swinging it back to your side.

“Don't worry, I told them I was just going to practice by myself after the team's practice” he shrugged as if lying wasn’t such a terrible thing. You eyed him, giving in once more as I followed him. “I rented skates for you. Remember, I’ll be here. Don’t feel too scared and if you feel like you’ll fall either way, squat”

“Right” you nodded, your heart pounding as you sat on one of the chairs, tying your skates. He briefly checked them before giving you the thumbs up, entering the ice rink first. “Ethan, I don’t know if this is a”

“Don’t finish that thought, y/n. Trust me” he had his hand reached out to you, patiently waiting for you to take it and you looked down at the skates, praying to anyone who would hear that you wouldn’t end up in the emergency room over this. His voice turned gentle, “Hey. I got you, remember?”

Your eyes found his again, laying down your fears, and stepped on the ice with your hand on top of his. You tried taking your first step but nearly slipped, Ethan’s arm coming around your back, his hand burning a hole through your shirt, feeling his tight hold on your waist.

He gave you a small smile “I got you” he repeated, his hand tightening around yours and you pulled yourself away from his waist hold, standing beside him now. “If you need to grip on the walls, don’t hesitate to, okay?”

You only nodded, feeling your face heat up as you looked down at the ice beneath your blades. Breathing in deeply, trying so hard to calm down the rapid rhythm of your heart.

“Let’s start with marching,” he said softly and you looked at him, time standing still for a moment before his lips curved in that familiar comforting smile, his feet moved slowly, making smaller steps, accommodating for your own and you followed, at times losing your balance but the second you began to wobble, his hands found you, helping you steady yourself.

The two of you made small conversation, still focused on your steps before they soon turned to small gliding, a smile stained on your face as you realized that you were skating. Not the best but you still were on ice without falling face-first. Ethan remained at your pace, small glides as his hand never left yours, feeling your nerves dissipate as his encouraging demeanor turned more of pride for your small achievements on the ice.

He admired you for silent moments while you looked down, admiring how your legs moved at ease. His smile dropped a fraction, his heart thundering at how you looked, a cute smile on your features, imagining how he would do anything to keep it there. Under the rink lights, you were out of your comfort zone and he had never found you so beautiful. So outstanding, persistent, and determined. You could’ve stopped at any point when you fell the couple of times you did but instead, you stood back up and tried harder than before.

“What is it?” your voice was soft, he shook his head, realizing just how long he had been staring at you for, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink and you’d be lying if you thought you didn’t notice. After all, he held the same effect on you.

“It’s nothing” he brushed it off, instinctively loosening his hand from yours, excusing it as letting you glide on your own. Your hand balled into a fist while he stretched out before putting it in his pocket. Don’t say it. Don’t say it. “I don’t want to be your friend, y/n”

Your heart felt like it had stopped just then. Hearing those words nearly cracked your heart, you swore you heard it. “Oh… yeah. I get that” A frown tugged at your lips. Of course, he wouldn’t want to be friends with you. You had stupidly broken this friendship for the dumbest reason years ago, it would make sense how he wouldn’t forgive you for that. He stood a couple of feet from you now, silent as you said what you guessed would be your final words to him “I guess I’ll get going now”

“Y/n,” he said your name before you could even turn around and you stayed in your spot. “I didn’t mean I don’t want to be your friend. I meant I don’t want to just be your friend.”

You lost all words that you had practiced, telling him how you understood but instead, your lips parted and closed like a gaping fish. “What are you saying…” you asked but you knew damn well what he meant, you just refused to believe the idea that he’d like you as anything more than a friend.

“I heard about how you… didn’t want to tell me how you felt because you thought somehow that it would ruin our chances of being friends again.” he stood now only a foot away, his jaw clenched, looking down at you. “You couldn’t have been more wrong.”

And if it wasn’t for him pulling you into a kiss that massacred all thoughts, you might’ve interrogated him about how he had found out. His hands cradled your face, while yours wrapped themselves slowly to his wrists, wanting to keep his touch where you swore they belonged.

You never thought you’d be sharing a kiss in the middle of an ice rink with your freshman friend, that you promised yourself you’d never fall for. Easier said than done, y/n. Easier said than done.

You later found out who exactly told him. Isa confessed and while you threatened to drop your friendship with her if she ever thought of doing that again, you told the story like it was engraved into your memories, secretly thanking her for the last couple of weeks.

#reader insert #fluff #ethan edwards #hockey #umich hockey #michigan #ethan edwards x reader #hockey x reader #ethan edwards x y/n

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11rosebunny · 19 hours

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Bofurin and breakup(end of a relationship). Glass is not always good, but it is also necessary, isn't it?

Breaking up (BOFURIN)

-Decided to split this up into two parts.

Haruka Sakura

In reality, Sakura is the type of person to be the one asking to breakup, even if you wanted to as well.

His reason for breaking up is due to the fact he finds himself too caught up in his High school, looking after the town, being the class representative, and following the orders from the higher-ups in the school is an overload of work and he constantly finds himself stuck on trying to find time with you.

It got really bad, sometimes he wouldn't speak to you for two whole days. Not even a single text or a call to see what you were doing and he explains that he was tied up in a fight during that time. It's come to a point where he hasn't shown affection to you in so long to where you've forgotten how his touch was. In doing so, you're the one that breaks up with him.

At first, he's shocked to hear the words coming out of your mouth, saying you want to breakup, thinking about what could have possibly gone wrong. But when he recalls all his moments spent together with you, not even he can remember the last time he saw you smile.

He puts on a poker face and understands your wishes to depart from him, so when you two agree to finally put an end to your relationship, he walks away and continues with his life.

For the first few days of being separated for, a tiny part of him winces when he thinks about how awful he treated you. He tries to get it off his mind by going out with his friends more often and submerging himself into events even though he acts like he doesn't want to be there. It's only at night when he's alone in his room does he think about you. He can't believe that he thought your relationship with him was doing well and nothing was wrong. When the memory of your first date pops in his head as he lay in bed looking the ceiling, only then he remembers the swollen face of yours due to how much you were laughing with him. They way both your hands intertwined together for the first time, and the moment where he saw you and looked at you.

'She's everything to me.' He thought in a daze.

Now that he was all alone once again, he turned away and shut his eyes and began to feel the ache in his chest for the first time in years.

Hajime Umemiya

It would be impossible for you to breakup with him. He's possibly the best boyfriend you've ever had in your life. He's respectful, understands your feelings, learns about you the most than anyone has in your entire life. So what could have possibly driven the both of you away?

The answer: University.

You met each other in your third-year, everything up till that time was amazing, it seemed like nothing could separate the both of you. But when life continues, so does after High school when you two are found deciding your feature careers. And sadly, they didn't match up. His pathway was way far off yours to what you wanted to pursue. The both of you knew of that but with very little time left you had with each other, you pushed it away and left that for last.

The deadline was coming up, and the last few days of summer was to be gone. Eventually, he did have that beach party where he wanted everyone to come. It was something so surreal to him, a core memory of his he would like to think about the future to tell his kids. However, he knows they could never be yours.

The moment when the party dies down, and all take their leave, now it's just you two—sitting on the beach, watching the sunset hues cover the sky look into a beautiful shade of an orangey-yellow colour illuminating in both of you eyes. Sitting next to each other, side by side as you watch the sun take its leave. But when will you?

It's silent. He knows it's not the time to speak and splurge out any unethical topics. And so he sits there, waiting for something to happen, although, he dreads for anything to happen.

He knows it's his last time with you. When the silence overtakes everything, he grows sick of the deafening waves crashing against one another loudly as the wind propels your hair. He takes this chance and looks at you. And there he catches a glimpse of sorrow in your eyes. He widens his eyes slightly at the way tears begin to cloud your vision.

It took a while for any of you to speak until he broke it.

"It was fun today. Very fun." His voice was low. It didn't sound like his usual tone. Instead, it was replaced with an ordinary tone.

It was then, you let your tears go wild. The sounds of your choked breathing going rapid and sniffles filled his ears painfully as you tried to wipe away your tears each time managed to escape. But with the amount of liquids that spewed from your eyes, it was impossible to reach for each one and take them away.

A regretful smile plastered his face as he brought you closer to him, wrapping a hand around your back and placing his hand on your waist to bring you in.

"Ah, there's no need to cry [Name]..." Your cries grew louder as soon as he started speaking. It was amazing how he didn't burst out into tears right now. Your hands covered your face as you weeped noisily.

"But tomorrow, is..."

"I know."

Your cries went quieter. Once again, silence overtook the both of you.

"It's okay, we'll meet again." He said. This time, when he turned to look at you, you looked back and there he witnessed the features on your face sunkissed by the golden hues.

"But when?" You asked with glassy eyes. The breeze of the winds blew roughly on the both of you. Both your hairs flowing in the wind just like the first time you met each other. Then you noticed the way his pupils watered his vision.

"When the universe brings me to you again."

Toma Hiragi

Your relationship with him began to falter. Both of you were aware when it started to fall apart, with the daily arguments over little things that could have easily been solved, the way he grew distant and stopped checking up on you decreased drastically in the same way you have been ignoring his texts and calls for hours till you felt like it was the right time to speak to him again.

In beginning, everything was alright—amazing even. With the way you two hung out everyday, called each other every night, and walked to school each morning, it slowly turned into vacant little argument about waking up a little too late, not replying fast enough, miscommunication, and jealousy issues in his side of the relationship.

He started to become a bit possessive of you and controlling, to where it felt like you couldn't speak to anyone and had lost many of your friends due to him not liking some of them. He didn't see anything wrong with it until your arguments with him had the tendency to increase into an even uglier fight between the both of you.

You had gotten sick of all the sleepless nights of crying and wondering if he still cares about you, so when you meet up with him for the last time asking him to speak about your relationship with him, he is terrified. Before meeting with you, he knew by the tone of his voice something bad was going to approach him, and he knew he couldn't do anything about that.

So when the both of you stood under the tree where you two met for the first time, he feels his heart drop when you say you want to breakup. He mentally prepared himself that it was coming and this was one of the few times where he didn't care about the anger that brewed from his behaviour, but now he was seen as the most fragile person ever when he had no other choice but to accept your wishes.

He doesn't walk you home anymore and instead watched you walk away from him for the last time. He doesn't look away, not till you've completely disappeared from his sight otherwise if he were to look away, he's afraid that he won't see you ever again.

As soon as he gets home, he barricades himself on his room, deciding to not eat dinner that day after your last encounter with him. He goes on his phone and the first thing he sees in the wallpaper of you and him sitting on a bench watching the sunset go down. He takes in your features with cold eyes, the way you're kissing his cheek in the photo as he cheekily smiles.

'Wow.' He thought. He remembers how happy he was during that date and cracks a smile to himself. Until he realizes, you're no longer here anymore, and there was nothing he could do to stop you from leaving.

After all, he knew he was the reason why you were driven away.

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therealitysculptor · 2 days

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"aut viam inveniam aut faciam." — i will either find a way, or make one.

🥀 𝐊𝐀𝐈𝐊𝐄𝐘𝐈, she/he/they, 21. shifting + law of assumption sideblog.

TERMS & CONDITIONS: By agreeing to interact with this blog, you understand that: 1) I am an adult and that I may talk about 18+ matters at any point in the future. If that so happens to be something that makes you uncomfortable, I encourage you to take this moment right now to block me. Rest assured, I bear no hard feelings! 2) I ask for cordiality, and if I do not receive that, I will block as needed. Just as you are entitled to your curated space, so am I. This is less directed towards the shifting community and more towards those outside of it. Why let my beliefs incense you, when you can laugh to yourself and move on with your life? You deserve peace. If you are ready, please SIGN HERE: x ____________________________

MASTERLIST | Current DR: Villanueva University (Ask about it!) | Kaia's List of DRs

#intro.#shifting realities #reality shift #reality shifting #desired reality #shifting #shiftblr #shifting community #shifting antis dni #law of assumption #loa #loa blog

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yongility · 3 days

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NEO TV # ROCKABYE (taeyong x reader, slightly yuta x reader) 3/?.

genre: single dad au, ceo au, fluff, slightly angst, smut. nurse au.

warnings: adult language, death mentions,taeyong's mom is kinda mean. idk there's not a lot of warning for this one.

word count: 8k (not proofread!!!)

a/n: if you want to be in the taglist, just lemme know;) enjoy!

Second month.

Week one, Saturday.

(Y/N)'s gaze lifted momentarily after hearing the notification from her phone, she stretched her arm to grab the device in her hands and smiled slightly as she read the text content, biting her lip softly, amused.

Taeyong.

"Well, so has Mr. Daddy finally deigned to send you a message?" a voice interrupted her trance, and she turned her head to see the person who had just sat beside her.

"Ew, Ten. What do you mean by Mr. Daddy?" she asked with a laugh.

"What's wrong with that? The guy is totally a DILF*, I saw him the week he was coming by, I mean, guy in his twenties, attractive, with more than triple the money we can earn in a year... single and with a daughter," the guy recounted, counting off on his fingers the descriptions of Taeyong. "Sweetheart, if that's not your weakness, it's definitely mine," he finished, taking a sip of his coffee and giving her a playful smile.

"Oh my god, Chittaphon. At least, make your daddy issues a bit more discreet," she said, lightly hitting his arm while shaking her head and laughing.

Ten burst into laughter, throwing his head back as he stroked his own arm, then said, "Well, the point is, he's sent you a text, right? Has he asked you out?" he asked.

"Hmm, yes. I ran into him on Thursday at the supermarket and he invited me for coffee," the nurse replied, looking at the food in front of her, and her friend noticed how her cheeks turned crimson.

"It's about time you had a date."

"Who's having a date?"

A voice in front of them made both of them turn their gaze in that direction, finding Dr. Yuta walking towards their table with a mischievous smile and holding his coffee in one hand.

"No one."

"(Y/N)” Ten and the brunette replied in unison, and upon hearing the guy's response, she widened her eyes and looked at him, shaking her head.

"Oh, so did I lost?" Yuta asked playfully. (Y/N) shook her head again, this time quickly, and cleared her throat.

"No. It's not a date," she turned to her friend and then to the doctor in front of them, "it's just someone thanking another person for a favor they did. That's all," she replied, glancing at her own hands, feeling embarrassed.

"Hmm, okay," the Japanese muttered, "but I still feel offended that someone else managed to take you out before me. I'm quite competitive, especially when it comes to someone as beautiful as you," with a flirtatious smile, Yuta took a sip of his coffee, and (Y/N) choked on her own drink.

"Oh, I better go. I don't want to be involved in any love triangles," Ten spoke, getting up from his seat, "good luck with your date," the guy added, laughing quietly and walking out of the hospital cafeteria.

"Chittaphon!" (Y/N) exclaimed, watching her friend walk away and covering her face slightly with her hands, feeling embarrassed by the words that had come out of his mouth.

"So... if that date doesn't work out... can I take you out?"

Yuta Nakamoto had recently arrived in Seoul. After graduating from one of the top universities in Tokyo and being one of the top students in his class, it wasn't difficult for him to immediately find a job thanks to the recommendations from his close teachers and doctors.

The trip to Korea had been a bit chaotic for the guy. Firstly, because of the abrupt weather he had encountered that day, which caused his flight to be delayed for a couple of hours, then upon arrival, with his minimal experience with Hangul, it was initially difficult for him to communicate. However, after many books, hundreds of YouTube channels, and a tutor, Yuta began to master the language a little more.

The Japanese still remembered his first day as the new pediatrician at Seoul General Hospital; as soon as he set foot in the large hallway of the maternity care area, all eyes turned to him. And how could they not? With his handsomeness, he stole glances as soon as he arrived. He was the new talk among all the nurses and interns. Yuta stood out among all the other doctors, perhaps because of his good looks or his youth, perhaps because he was a foreigner or because he was very flirtatious. However, Yuta's gaze was fixed on one person from day one, and it was the nurse in front of him, and no matter how much he wanted to find the reasons why... he couldn't.

But there he was, hoping that someday he could properly ask her out.

"Yuta... I won't have a date," the girl clarified with a small smile, "and I've been waiting for that coffee from this café you talked about since the day Kaeyoon was discharged," she finished with a giggle and could see the big smile spreading on the doctor's face.

"I'll take you to a place better than this café, I promise," he winked.

The girl sighed in mock surprise and opened her mouth, "A better place than the break room café? Is that possible?" she joked, earning a laugh from the doctor, who nodded happily and reached his hand to caress hers, an action that caused the nurse's breath to catch for a few seconds as she looked into his eyes.

"You'll be surprised."

______________________________________________

With one last look at his daughter in his arms and a small kiss on her forehead, Taeyong handed Sun Hee over to Johnny, who carefully held and gently rocked her after the baby let out a small whimper, not feeling her father's warmth.

"If my mother weren't busy, believe me, I wouldn't leave my daughter with you guys," Taeyong clarified, looking at the three guys in front of him and sighing lightly.

May the universe take care of your daughter, because your friends...

"You have no faith in us, Taeyong," Jaehyun muttered with furrowed brows. "We're the best uncles Sun Hee has!"

"You're the only uncles Sun Hee has," the father specified, shaking his head. "Just take good care of Sun Hee, it shouldn't be a problem; I've given her formula before you arrived and I've prepared another one that just needs to be warmed up if you need it. She'll probably sleep for the rest of the afternoon, but if she wakes up crying, give her a bottle or her pacifier," he explained, taking his jacket and putting it on, grabbing his keys, phone, and wallet to put them in his pants and jacket pockets, then looking at his friends. "Don't make too much noise, I know how you guys get when you're together, if you let her sleep in the bed, put pillows around her, but not too close to her that she could suffocate!" Listing things with his hand, the three guys watched him attentively. "Sun Hee likes to be held if she's about to wake up, so do it and cuddle her. If she wakes up and cries, you can play lullabies in the background, apparently they calm her down somehow," he paused for a second to think. "Oh! And if..."

"Taeyong, calm down," Doyoung stopped him. "You're leaving for a few hours, not for a year. Sun Hee will be fine. We'll take good care of her. It's us."

"That's what I'm afraid of," the guy confessed, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Oh, come on! As if we don't know the basics of taking care of a baby, I remind you that Doyoung has been an uncle before," Jaehyun explained, sitting on the couch and leaning back on it.

"Alright... just... if anything happens, call me right away, and I'll come as soon as possible, okay?"

"Yes, Taeyong! We'll call you, now go and enjoy your date," Johnny spoke while continuing to rock little Sun Hee and giving his friend a warm smile.

"It's not a date," Taeyong clarified as he turned around to walk towards the door of his apartment.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you say."

_____________________________________________

With a slight tilt of her head, the girl's gaze fell on the window next to her, admiring the complete panorama. Snow was falling lightly on the streets of Seoul, decorating what were once cherry blossom trees and covering them with a thin layer of ice. Then, she could see a couple of families walking together. Some couples. Someone accompanied by their pet. Some children running excitedly as they scooped up some snow from the sidewalk to play with and enjoy a great time.

A melancholic smile spread across her face. Remembering the time when she was still a child and she and her siblings would get excited as soon as the snow season arrived in the city, when her family was complete. When her father was still with them and when no responsibility weighed on her shoulders. It was simply about enjoying the moment, and now, longing for it with all her might.

With a sigh, she dispelled those memories, taking her gaze away from the window and turning to the package on the table. She ran her hand over it and nodded with a half-smile, then the door of the café made a small ding, causing the girl's gaze to focus on that point and staying in place as she saw how handsome Taeyong looked that afternoon.

It was impossible for him to look so good every time they met.

Especially when his teeth showed through his smile as he approached the table where the girl was sitting. The girl got up from her seat and both bowed their heads in a slight bow, silently, they sat each in their respective place and looked at each other shyly.

"Haven't you forgotten something?" the girl asked slightly confused, which also confused Taeyong, who frowned.

"Something?"

"Yes. A small one," she replied and Taeyong slightly opened his mouth.

"Oh, are you talking about Sun Hee?" he questioned and she nodded slightly. "Oh, I thought... I thought it would be good if we went out alone... Sun Hee... is at my apartment with Johnny, Jaehyun, and Doyoung. I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Oh no! No, no. I'm completely fine with that, it's just that... I've brought this for Sun Hee," the girl commented, stretching out the package from the guy to hand it over. "It's just a small gift, not much, but I thought of Sun Hee when I saw it," she explained with a smile. "You can open it if you want, it's not like Sun Hee can do it," they both laughed and the guy with the package in his hands began to open it carefully, then he took out a onesie with rose and heart prints and letters printed that said "daddy's girl" right in the middle.

"Since that time in the hospital, I knew Sun Hee would be a daddy's girl, for some reason, sometimes parents take longer to make a connection with their children... I've seen it a lot in maternity care, but with you... I don't know. It seems like you connected as soon as you had her in your arms, I'm really glad Sunnie has someone like you as a father. I know you'll give her the best," she confessed as her cheeks turned crimson and she shrunk in her seat slightly, shyly.

Taeyong's throat threatened to knot and he swallowed hard to avoid it because whenever someone talked about his fatherhood or whenever he remembered the day he had truly experienced love, his heart shrank because he never thought that something as unexpected as Sunnie would fill his heart and soul completely.

"Thank you... really thank you. You didn't have to do this," he sincerely thanked.

"But I wanted to. I bet Sun Hee will look great in it," she affirmed with a smile, which was followed by Taeyong's.

"It will be the clothing she wears the most," they both chuckled softly, "would you like to order something?"

Talking between them seemed natural. As if they had gone out together before. Although there was a bit of shyness at first from both sides... it vanished as the conversation progressed. Taeyong liked listening to her and hearing her talk about growing up as the middle sister, how those afternoons of her childhood turned into countless adventures with her brothers. He liked hearing her talk about how she became interested in her career and how she developed a love for the pediatric area while growing up working at a small daycare a few blocks away from that same café.

And (Y/N) liked hearing about how passionate Taeyong was about his work, even when at first in his life he didn't know that was what he wanted for himself. She liked hearing him talk about his incredible travels around the world and all the things he managed to learn before he was 26, earning a little admiration from the girl, who found herself smiling throughout.

And in the eyes of anyone in that café, Taeyong and (Y/N)'s table seemed like a table of two young people deeply interested in each other, because it only took the wise eyes of one person to see it in the gaze of each and what they expressed.

But being able to genuinely and properly notice it always took time.

"I swear you should have seen his face. Johnny had never changed a diaper in his life," the guy finished telling the story as he let out a laugh.

"Oh, and what about you, mister who looks up tutorials on YouTube on how to change his own daughter's diaper?" she defended jokingly, earning a fake offended expression from the guy.

"For your information, I like to do my own research."

"Yeah, sure," she replied, rolling her eyes slightly before ending with a smile.

"It's been really nice this afternoon," Taeyong confessed with a small sparkle in his eyes. "I think it's the most relaxed I've felt in a while, I mean, with all this parenthood stuff, it's sometimes hard for me to take a break... I think it's the first time I've been away from Sun Hee for so long and even though she's with the guys, I don't feel pressured to come back so soon, I think I can start to step out of my comfort zone," he admitted. "Don't take it the wrong way, spending time with Sun Hee is one of the things I enjoy the most, but the time for me has been so reduced that I...," he sighed, "I just appreciate that you accepted my invitation."

The guy's words touched something inside the nurse, who with a warm smile, dared to place her hand on his, which rested on the table, and give it a little squeeze, as a show of support.

"I'm glad I accepted. You're a great guy, Taeyong, and I'm sure you'll be a great dad. Sun Hee is very lucky."

At the precise moment Taeyong would respond to that comment, the sound of his phone interrupted him. Moving his hand away from the girl's and immediately feeling an absence of warmth; Taeyong took the phone in his hands to answer the call: "Doyoung? Is something wrong? Is everything okay?" he asked quickly, catching the girl's attention.

"Yes... no... well, I don't know," Doyoung quickly replied, "Sun Hee has been awake and crying for a while... we've tried everything, lullabies... even Jaehyun tried singing to her," the guy continued, "but I think Sunnie has a fever, she's a little irritable."

Taeyong closed his eyes for a moment and got up from his seat, which was followed by the girl.

"I'm sorry, Taeyong, I wouldn't interrupt your date if it wasn't necessary, but we don't know what to do anymore," the guy apologized.

"No, it's okay, Doyo. Don't worry, I... I'll be right there. I'll be there in fifteen minutes," he affirmed, ending the call and turning his gaze to the girl, who was slightly worried.

"What's wrong? Did something happen to Sun Hee?" she asked with concern.

"Umh, I... I'm sorry. I don't know what happened, it seems like Sunnie has a fever... I should go... I'm so sorry. Aish, I knew it wasn't good to leave her alone..."

"No, no, no, don't worry, Taeyong. It's probably just a little cold, the weather is cold. Do you want me to come with you? I'd like to help if I can."

"I don't want to bother..."

"You're not bothering, neither you nor Sun Hee. I thought I had already clarified that," she said firmly.

"Thank you, really thank you."

The way to the apartment was a bit silent, with Taeyong driving impatiently and (Y/N) reminding him to calm down from time to time and by the time both were in front of the apartment; Taeyong entered hastily upon hearing his daughter's cries. The nurse followed him, earning a couple of glances from the guys in the apartment.

The guy immediately took the little one from Johnny's arms and brought his hand to the baby's forehead, where he could feel a slight warmth emanating from her. He turned to (T/N) with concern, who approached them and imitated the guy's action.

"I can call someone, I have a friend who is a pediatrician, maybe he can come. Sun Hee surely has a cold, but it would be better if someone gives her a check-up to know how to take care of her," she commented, receiving an immediate nod from Taeyong. Moving away from the guys, (Y/N) took her phone to continue her call and after a couple of tones, she could hear a familiar voice: "Yuta? I'm sorry to call you right now, but you're not on duty, right? Do you think you can come to this address?" After explaining the situation a bit, Yuta agreed and assured her that they would meet there in a few minutes.

____________________________________________

A couple of minutes flew by for Johnny, Jaehyun, Doyoung, and (T/N), but it felt like an eternity before the apartment doorbell rang, and the girl approached to open it, finding Yuta standing in front of her, already smiling warmly.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your Saturday, Yuta," the girl immediately apologized as she stepped aside to let him in.

"Oh, don't worry about that. You know I'd do anything for you, love," he assured her, and Taeyong was greatly surprised when he managed to hear those words over his daughter's whimpering, who was still trying to calm her down.

And he couldn't help but notice the blush on the girl's cheeks when she turned to him.

Clearing her throat, (Y/N) approached the doctor and spoke: "Taeyong, this is Yuta. He's a pediatrician at the hospital I work at: Yuta, this is Taeyong, a friend, and this is Sun Hee, she's two months old. As I told you on the phone, she seems to have a common cold, but Taeyong is a first-time dad, and I think he would feel more at ease hearing the verdict from a professional," she said as they introduced themselves.

"Of course, nice to meet you. I'm Doctor Nakamoto, there's no need to worry. I'll do a quick check-up on the little one and see what's causing this cutie's fever."

Starting the procedure, Sun Hee was placed in her crib where Yuta could easily take all her vitals and properly examine her. Starting with his stethoscope and her lungs, carefully checking the baby's ears, not letting any detail slip. With Taeyong and (Y/N) at the door, the former feeling nervous as he watched his little one fuss in her crib, resisting the urge to go and pick her up.

Taeyong had heard from his mother and aunts that seeing their own children with a doctor was always difficult, and right now he could experience it firsthand. He knew that a little cold couldn't be serious, however, it hurt to think that somehow his little one wasn't feeling comfortable and that there was something bothering her inside, so he was tense.

Something that didn't go unnoticed by the girl, who dared to place a hand on the guy's shoulder in support and managed to receive a small smile from him. With Yuta glancing at them out of the corner of his eye, he shook his head and straightened up.

"It is indeed a cold what Sun Hee has," Yuta announced, turning to look at them and fixing his gaze for a couple of seconds on the touch that both guys in front of him had, "it's nothing serious, don't worry. Her lungs sound good, so it shouldn't escalate to anything else. The only thing I can recommend, considering that Sun Hee is only two months old, is to feed her formula constantly, the fever will pass on its own, it's just a reflex of her system. You can buy a nasal bulb to help with her nasal congestion and use a humidifier in the room where she sleeps to keep her breathing normal and prevent congestion," he explained, "Sun Hee will be fine, colds in babies are more common than they seem, especially with this cold weather and considering the baby's age, her system is just starting to develop the necessary defenses to protect her. The cold should go away in about a week, but if you see any difficulty breathing or she has trouble sleeping at night, you can take her to the hospital or call me, I'll tell (Y/N) to give you my work number so you can contact me."

"Thank you very much, Dr. Nakamoto. I feel more relieved after you checked her."

"It's nothing," he replied with a sly smile.

"Do I owe you anything?" Taeyong asked, reaching for his wallet in his pants but was interrupted by Yuta.

"No. Don't worry. (Y/N) was the one that called and anything she needs, I'll take care of it without a problem," the Japanese man winked at the girl, who averted her gaze to anywhere in the room except for the two guys who were there.

Where was she?

A farewell to the doctor later and a sleeping Sun Hee in her rocker, Taeyong could feel a small weight lifted from his shoulders. His friends, after making sure everything was okay, said their goodbyes one by one, assuring the father that when Sun Hee was feeling a little better, they would come to visit her, as they preferred not to disturb her for the moment.

Leaving Taeyong and (Y/N) alone... well, with a sleeping Sunnie a few meters away from them.

"I think... it's best if I go. It's getting late, and I think you should take advantage of her sleeping so that you can rest too. She might wake up in the middle of the night, and you might not be able to do it," she commented, getting up from the couch and facing Taeyong.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," he admitted, stretching his body slightly and letting out a yawn.

They made their way to the door, where they stopped to look at each other once more and smile at each other. "Thank you for today, I had a good time even though our outing had to be interrupted," Taeyong confessed, "and thank you for caring for Sunnie the way you do. I'm glad to have someone besides the guys I could lean on and support Sunnie."

"Of course, Taeyong. I'm delighted to be with you guys, how could I not?"

With a glance into his eyes, she could notice the sparkle in them; something she found beautiful. And at that moment, they knew there were no necessary words to say, nor actions to perform, just silently thanking each other for their companionship.

"I hope we can see each other again."

And as if their relationship thrived on interruptions, hurried knocks on the door stopped (Y/N) from replying to the guy, who, with a furrowed brow, turned completely to the door and opened it, feeling and seeing his mother rushing toward him and exclaiming dramatically.

"Oh! What happened? Doyoung told me they had been taking care of Sun Hee because you had gone out and she got sick? How is Grandma's little sugar cube doing? Huh?" she asked fluently, separating from her son upon feeling a third presence in the room. "Oh, isn't she the nurse who took care of Sunnie at the hospital? How nice of you to call her to help you with the baby! But I think you should have called a pediatrician instead."

"Mom..." he called her to stop, "a pediatrician has already come, and Sun Hee is fine. Yes, she's the nurse, but her name is (Y/N), and I didn't call her to take care of Sunnie, I went out with her in the afternoon."

His mother's gaze went directly to the girl, and she looked her up and down, causing the brunette to feel small in her place and swallow slightly. "Good evening, Mrs. Lee. Um, I'm (Y/N). Nice to meet you," she offered her hand, which the lady observed for a few seconds before taking it and shaking it. "Taeyong, I think it's best if I go... it was nice seeing you today, I hope Sunnie gets better, give her a kiss from me. Good night," she said goodbye and moved from her spot to leave, with Taeyong wanting to follow her properly but being stopped by his mother.

"Mom, you didn't have to act like that."

"Have you had a date with her?" she questioned, raising one of her eyebrows.

"Mom, we've just been out today. Don't make a big deal out of it," Taeyong sighed, closing the door and walking to the living room to slump onto the couch.

"I'm just saying, be careful, son. Look, you're a very handsome and young man with money. Anyone could take the opportunity, and you have to be aware that you can't go around like a teenager when you're not one anymore. Now you're a dad, and you shouldn't only look out for yourself, you should also look out for Sunnie and what's best for her," his mother continued, making a slight pause and taking her son's hands after sitting next to him, "I've talked to Mrs. Park, and she told me Joy is back in town, maybe you and her..."

"Mom, don't start with that," he interrupted, taking his hands away from hers and bringing them to his face.

"I'm not starting with anything, Taeyong. You should consider it, Joy is an incredible girl, with good status, and she would surely come back to you if you asked her to."

"I'm not twenty years old for you to try to choose my relationships again, mom," he snapped, getting up from his seat and walking to the kitchen.

"Look, Taeyong, you're not twenty years old anymore, but you have a daughter, you should think twice before going around like a teenager."

"I don't have time for this, mom. I'm tired. So if you've just come for that... I'd prefer you leave. I'd like to rest now that Sunnie is asleep."

His mother got up from her seat and silently walked to the door, grabbing the doorknob and pausing before opening it. "If you change your mind, Joy's number is the same... I'm just telling you that it's hard for a young girl like her to look for a serious relationship with someone who's already committed to fatherhood."

She left the apartment, leaving Taeyong leaning his arms on the kitchen island and with a bunch of things running through his head, one of them being the image of Yuta and (Y/N) smiling at each other.

Would it be so hard?

_____________________________________________

Second month.

Week three, Friday.

With Sun Hee finishing her cold phase, Taeyong feels a little relieved.

Nights that felt endless, waking up at three in the morning after hearing his daughter's soft whimpers, which later turned into muffled cries. Nights trying to control the little fever his daughter experienced and where he couldn't feel at peace until the little baby fell asleep as needed, Taeyong truly knew what fatherhood was.

He didn't care how much his schedules had changed, the little rest he was getting, Sun Hee would always come first in every sense. As long as she was well, nothing else mattered.

Working from home these past two weeks had been difficult. The office he had set up at the end of the hallway was a mess, just like the rest of his apartment.

He didn't understand how, after all, Taeyong was someone who cared a lot about order, and it drove him crazy not to see things in their place... he supposed all of that came with the stage of becoming a dad overnight, the only organized place was the corner of his room where Sun Hee's crib was installed and the room he had been setting up right next to his for his little daughter's space.

He hadn't seen his friends frequently these weeks, despite receiving their calls and attending to them when time allowed, he hadn't wanted to receive just any visit, since, according to him, Sun Hee got irritated quickly.

He promised to see them as soon as Sunnie's cold disappeared.

His mother appeared a couple of times in the apartment, either to bring him some food or see how her granddaughter was doing, but he didn't know if his mother's visits were beneficial or not. After all, every time she came, she brought up the topic of him getting back with Joy Park and trying to start a life with her again because, according to his mother's words, a decent family man needed a good woman by his side. One who could stay at home and help him with Sunnie.

He disagreed.

He was too much in disagreement.

He could be the only responsible, and more.

Taeyong couldn't believe he was just over a week away from Sun Hee's three-month mark. He couldn't get over how much his little one had grown since that moment when he wrapped her tiny hand around his big pinkie. It really all still felt like a dream.

Sunnie was starting to outgrow her clothes from a couple of weeks ago, and Taeyong knew her small wardrobe would have to be replaced frequently.

Three months filled with emotions and different feelings. Three months in which he had been present for the development of a new life as he never thought he would experience it. Sunnie was starting to babble more, sometimes it seemed like she really wanted to have a conversation with him, and that seemed funny to him. She often brought her little hand to her mouth and loved being face down on her dad's big bed.

What was this? Why did he feel sentimental about believing his daughter was growing up fast?

Today they had gone to her appointment with the pediatrician.

Not with Doctor Nakamoto. Clearly.

But Taeyong decided to look for another pediatrician privately, one he was sure he could take his little daughter to during her childhood and part of adolescence.

Oh, but he wouldn't think about her adolescence right now, because he'd surely burst into tears right there.

The time they spent in Doctor Moon's office was a roller coaster. That morning before leaving home, he had showered and made sure to look presentable, he had shaved the little beard that was starting to grow, and had combed his hair decently. For her part, he had put a cute reddish bow in Sunnie's hair and put on her the gift that (Y/N) had given him two weeks ago.

She was right, Sunnie looked very cute in that outfit, and Sunnie was definitely daddy's girl.

During the short trip from his building to the doctor's office, Sunnie spent her time babbling in the back of the car, while the speakers played farm songs, which were of great help when it came to trying to calm the little one. Although Taeyong was sure that Sunnie loved those songs more when his uncle Jaehyun played them through his phone.

In the waiting room of the doctor's office, Taeyong felt weird. The stares of the mothers carrying their children were fixed on him and only him. Making him feel a little uncomfortable and unable to wait any longer for his turn. For a moment, Sunnie let out a sob that didn't stop until Taeyong stood up and rocked her in his arms.

He was grateful when her name was mentioned by the doctor's assistant, announcing that it was time for her appointment.

He felt proud of his little one and how healthy she had been growing, according to Doctor Moon, her cold was over, and everything sounded perfect. Sunnie was at the right weight, and the colic she had had during her first month would not be a bother right now. The doctor explained to Taeyong what this new stage of his daughter's life would be like entering her third month of life and the new habits the little one could develop. He recommended a new formula for her feeding, some motor activities he could try with her to strengthen her little bones.

With a couple more check-ups later, thanking and saying goodbye to the pediatrician, Taeyong and Sunnie returned home. This time, Sun Hee managed to fall asleep on the way back to the building, something Taeyong totally thanked internally. Arriving at his apartment and placing Sunnie's seat on the couch, taking off his shoes to change them for slippers and taking off the dress coat he was wearing... Taeyong let out a long, heavy sigh.

He watched his daughter peacefully asleep and couldn't believe all the work it took him to get there: all the nights where he barely slept for thirty minutes, all those shirts stained after Sunnie had taken her formula and repeated on him. The cries, the babbling, the whimpers. The times it took him to properly place a diaper, the few lullabies he had to learn to be able to calm his little one, and all those nights full of doubts about the work he was doing regarding his fatherhood, hit him coldly.

Still, Taeyong knew there was nothing else he wanted and would do well than to take care of that little human being with all his might.

He approached her and lifted her carefully from her car seat. Placing her gently in his arms and admiring her as she slept peacefully. Her reddish bow was slightly askew, and its color matched her rosy cheeks. Because if something characterized little Sunnie, it was that most of the time her cheeks were rosy, almost like Taeyong's when a drop of alcohol entered his system. Johnny, Jaehyun, and Doyoung thought this was funny and at the same time cute.

Then he brought his nose to Sunnie's crown, inhaling the particular baby lotion scent and feeling the softness of his daughter's thin brown hair. Sun Hee made small movements and babbling in her dreams, managing to draw a smile from him. He closed his eyes, leaned his forehead against hers, just as he had done the first week he held her in his arms, and experienced that feeling in his chest again, he realized that a small tear threatened to come out, and he sighed.

"I love you," he murmured. Sunnie babbled again— "you're my little ray of sunshine."

One more babble that turned into a little hiccup, and Taeyong let out a low laugh, finally letting the tear fall on his cheek.

You're doing well.

"Daddy loves you so much, I want you to always remember that."

_______________________________________________

Taeyong didn't know if "brave" was the correct adjective to describe what he was doing right now.

He knew it was something he eventually had to do, and it was time to start doing it, even if it was by taking baby steps.

He checked that everything in Sunnie's diaper bag was all set: her bottle, enough diapers, changes of clothes, baby wipes, her pacifier, and anything else his daughter might need during the couple of hours he would have to spend in his company.

Finally, after almost three months of working from home, he had to attend a meeting with some of his partners that he couldn't reschedule. If he wanted to maintain the international relationships he had fought so hard for his company, he had to responsibly take charge of his role as CEO, and hopefully, Doyoung and Johnny would help him with their parenting duties while Jaehyun and he attended the meeting.

At first, although the company employees tried to hide their glances when Taeyong finally showed up at the big building, this time, accompanied by a little human being with him, they couldn't go unnoticed by the CEO. Until that day, no employee knew about the possible new heiress of the company, and it's not like Taeyong had to make his private life public, but the news caused a stir in the hallways.

When he entered his office, he felt relieved not to perceive all the vibes his employees were transmitting and to have stopped hearing the murmurs they made as he took one step further.

He placed Sunnie's car seat on the couch in his large office and took a quick look around the place that three months ago was more his home than his own home, and everything really seemed to be in the exact place he had left it. After the observation, he decided to send a message to Doyoung, letting him know about his arrival so they could come and take care of Sunnie temporarily while he waited for the meeting to start.

Luckily, Sunnie was asleep, and he was sure she would stay that way for a while longer, so it shouldn't be a problem for her temporary babysitters.

Soft knocks on his door pulled him out of his thoughts, and he frowned, believing that Doyoung and Johnny had arrived too quickly at his office; but still, careful not to make noise and wake up Sun Hee, Taeyong opened the door only to be taken aback when he realized who was standing in front of him.

He didn't know if his surprise had been evident, but he really felt his blood disappear from his system and cleared his throat when he finally noticed that the person was indeed in front of him.

"Taeyong!" the feminine voice exclaimed as she threw herself into his arms.

"Joy?"

The mentioned woman let go of him and offered him a big smile as she nodded. Perplexed, he observed the girl, who was wearing a white button-up blouse and a pencil skirt. She hadn't changed at all; she was still the same as a few years ago when they had decided to end their relationship.

"Your mother told me you would come to your office today, and I thought it would be a good idea to visit you like old times," the girl commented as she walked through the office and stopped right in front of the couch, cautiously looking at the little one who was there—"Oh! So, this is the little one your mother was talking about," by the tone she used in her voice, Taeyong couldn't tell if she had said it in a good way or not—"such a cute little thing," the girl commented as she approached to get a better look.

And Taeyong still couldn't recognize the tone of her voice.

"Joy?" he asked again, confused.

"Yes, Taeyong. It's me, aren't you glad to see me?"

The brunette thought for a moment and, clearing his throat, he replied—"Uh, yes! Wow, it's been a long time since the last time we saw each other, three years?"

"Oh, yes. After our breakup, I went abroad, I was in Europe, but it was time to come back, and what a surprise I got when your mother told me you're a dad now!" the girl looked at Sun Hee and quickly returned her gaze to Taeyong.

"Hmm, yes. A couple of things have happened since you left," the guy confessed, making Joy let out a little laugh and approach him.

Taeyong was sure that physically Joy was still the same, but there was something in the tone of her voice that he didn't like. Had her attitude changed in those three years?

He wasn't sure.

But Taeyong was someone who usually offered the benefit of the doubt easily.

"It was a pity our breakup, wasn't it?" Joy said "I know we weren't in the right moment back then, but what if you invite me to dinner later?"

That comment caught Taeyong even more by surprise, and he immediately didn't know what to say. Simply mentally praying that Doyoung and Johnny would appear right away.

He couldn't help but think that all of this was his mother's doing, who had insisted too much that he should get in touch with Joy Park. However, the guy had been avoiding this precise encounter as much as possible.

And he didn't know if he would be able to go through the same thing he had gone through three years ago. He didn't want to feel pressured again, and again, his only priority at that moment was Sun Hee.

And he knew Joy wouldn't understand that.

"Joy, I don't know. I've been a little busy lately, and I don't think..."

"If your worry is your daughter," Taeyong interrupted.

"Her name is Sun Hee," he explained firmly—"and of course, my concern is my daughter, my life isn't like it was three years ago, Joy. Things are different, and..."

"Your mother told me you would be excited to see me again," Joy commented with a slight pout—"doesn't seem like it."

They looked each other straight in the eyes and shared glances for a couple of seconds.

Why did his mother have to get him into such big trouble?

Although through her eyes, he wasn't sure if he saw Joy, who had once been his partner. Maybe being out of the country changed her because if he remembered the look she used to give him a few years ago, the current one transmitted something completely different.

"Don't take it the wrong way, Joy," Taeyong spoke quickly—"it' difficult. Sunnie comes first, and I don't know if..."

"A dinner, Taeyong, just a dinner, and we'll see how things go. Even if..." she paused and turned to look at the baby behind her—"if Sun Hee, um, is there , is not a problem."

Why did it have to happen right now?

_______________________________________________

It had been an exhausting day.

Returning to what used to be his daily routine, now accompanied by a little human being by his side, had tired him out.

Nevertheless, the meeting had been a success. Jaehyun and he had managed to improve relations with their partners, and he was sure good things were coming for his company. Amidst paperwork, signatures, and discussions, Taeyong received countless congratulations for his new life and fatherhood.

But he didn't appreciate being asked about his love life.

Why did it seem like nobody could understand that he could be a great father even if he didn't have a partner by his side?

Now wasn't the time to think about that. He repeated to himself as he opened the door to his apartment.

Sunnie had fallen asleep on the way home, and he was deeply grateful that she hadn't caused any trouble during her time at the company. Doyoung and Johnny had taken care of her too well, so much so that when Jaehyun and he returned to their office, both of them were asleep with Sunnie in between them, fast asleep, and the big TV on the wall in front of them playing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

But the fact that Sunnie could be comfortable in what was his workplace opened up the possibility of him returning to it, maybe not on a full-time basis, but a couple of times a week, and the rest... working from home.

He picked up Sunnie in his arms and placed her in her crib carefully. He knew she would wake up in at least an hour to ask for her bottle. He put away the things he had brought from the little one in their place. He took off his tie and dress coat. He unbuttoned his cuffs and, opening his shirt a little, sank into the couch in the living room, his fingers on the bridge of his nose.

And with the door to his room slightly open.

His eyes closed for a few seconds as he leaned his head against the back of the couch. His body was screaming for him to rest, to sleep, but he knew he needed to shower first, wait for Sunnie to ask for her bottle, and then, finally, he could rest.

He opened his eyes for a moment, seeing that his watch already read ten o'clock at night, his stomach grumbled for a moment, and he remembered he had only had some breakfast on the way to work.

Apparently, it was time to order some food.

Because lately, his diet had been based on takeout.

He should do the groceries and start eating healthy again.

When his eyes closed for the second time... the doorbell of his apartment rang throughout the place, and with a grunt, he got up from the couch. He ran his hand through his hair, possibly messing it up; but he didn't care, after all, he was in the comfort of his own home.

Walking with his bare feet to the entrance of his apartment, he sighed before opening the door, and after a few seconds; a smile formed on his face.

Wait... were his cheeks red?

“ I hope I'm not bothering” the person's voice in front of him sounded, and he quickly shook his head.

“Of course not” Taeyong said. “Hi, (Y/N).

She laughed softly and then smiled at him.

“Hi, Taeyong” she greeted, then raising the bags she was carrying to face level. “I…uh... my mom prepared a little too much” she laughedactually, too much food and... it's been a while since we last saw each other, I thought it would be a good idea if we shared some”

“That... that would be great” the smell of homemade food reached the boy's nose, causing his stomach to rumble for a second, and making both of them laugh. “Oh! Sorry, come in, how rude of me.

(Y/N) took a few steps until she was in front of the couch where Taeyong had been moments ago. She left the bags with the food on the coffee table.

“My mom made some bulgogi and bibimbap, hope you like it” she said

“My favorites” Taeyong replied, approaching her— would you like something to drink? Maybe a glass of wine?”

She nodded, and the chestnut-haired man immediately walked to his kitchen, took out his favorite wine from his cellar, and poured it into two glasses. As he did, he glanced at the girl out of the corner of his eye, who was starting to take the containers out of the bags and open them carefully. The outfit the brunette was wearing was casual, white cargo pants, and a baby blue cardigan. Her hair was slightly wavy, and she seemed to have lip gloss on, looking absolutely cute.

He smiled to himself and took the glasses in his hands.

“How is Sunnie? Has she recovered from her cold?”(Y/N) asked when Taeyong handed her the glass, and both sat on the floor. Their bodies at table height.

“She's doing great, just yesterday we went to the pediatrician, and...”

“Oh, you've visited Doctor Nakamoto” she interrupted him, and Taeyong took a sip of his glass.

“Um, no. No, we're seeing a private pediatrician... Doctor Moon Taeil” Taeyong replied so that the girl's mouth formed an "O," and let him continue “Sunnie is growing well, her cold is gone, and... everything seems to be going smoothly, next week she'll be three months old, and oh, God. You don't know how sentimental it makes me to talk about that.”

Both laughed lightly, and with the chopsticks offered by the girl, they proceeded to have lunch while continuing their conversation.

“The gift you gave her turned out perfect; I even took a picture of her before leaving” Taeyong commented as he brought a piece of food to his mouth.

(Y/N)'s eyes lit up, and she bit her lip: "Can I see the picture?"

The boy nodded and stretched in his place to take his phone out of his pants pocket, giving the brunette a perfect view of Taeyong's discreetly exposed torso, causing her to swallow hard and move her gaze anywhere but at him.

Don't look. Don't look. Don't look.

Unlocking his phone and checking his gallery, Taeyong showed her the picture of Sunnie asleep in her car seat in the back of his car. With the rose jumpsuit and the reddish bow, which made her look absolutely adorable.

“Ow! I'm going to die of cuteness!” (Y/N) exclaimed as she focused on the phone. Lucky for her, that would distract her “she's so precious! She looks like a little angel”

Taeyong smiled at the compliments the girl gave him tonsmall ray of sunshine. He noticed the proximity they were in, very close, and the warmth emanating from the girl's body was enough to make him feel at peace.

“With that picture, I feel like giving her kisses all over her face, she's so adorable” she murmured, and Taeyong couldn't help but think of a mental image after the girl's words.

How beautiful it would be to see that.

Although there had been few times he had spent alone time with the girl; Taeyong enjoyed her company. There was something about her that made him feel comfortable and confident, especially knowing that she was someone he could trust to be with Sunnie.

But sometimes he wished their moments together wouldn't be interrupted, like right at that moment when Sunnie's cry echoed throughout the apartment. (Y/N) stopped looking at the phone and changed her view to the boy, now realizing how close they were.

“I'm sure she woke up just to eat” Taeyong murmured.

“Can I... can I feed her formula?” the girl asked timidly, to which Taeyong nodded without hesitation and with a smile on his face.

“Of course, we just need to prepare it” both got up from their place and walked to the kitchen, where Taeyong had a thermos that kept Sunnie's formula water warm all the time. He poured it into the bottle that best suited the little one, dropped a scoop of formula into it, and closing the bottle, shook it with a little force to mix it well. Every little action being watched by the girl, who didn't know exactly what to pay attention to, every tiny thing Taeyong did was enough for her to get lost in her thoughts.

Leaving the bottle on the kitchen island, Taeyong spoke: “ I'll go get Sunnie.”

The boy disappeared but immediately returned, trying to calm his little one in his arms. (Y/N) smiled and extended her arms while Taeyong placed Sunnie in them.

“ Hi, little one” the girl whispered as she rocked her gently “you're so beautiful, you're such a cutie... yes, you are” her voice had risen about two tones in pitch, the typical baby voice she used when talking to her kids at the hospital. She took the bottle in her hands and brought it to Sunnie's mouth, who immediately accepted it.

A very beautiful image in Taeyong's eyes.

Sunnie kept her eyes open while (Y/N) talked to her softly. He was sure Sun Hee still didn't recognize people well, according to Doctor Moon, Sunnie's sight would still see slight shadows until she developed her sight better, but he knew she would recognize the nurse's voice since she seemed too comfortable in her arms.

It was definitely a beautiful picture.

But he cleared his throat when he heard himself in his thoughts.

“Um, I, uh, today I went back to the company, and Sunnie kept me company” Taeyong suddenly let out, causing (Y/N) to finally take her eyes off the little one and change her gaze to the boy.

“Taeyong!” she exclaimed “I'm glad to hear that, I'm sure this little one behaved incredibly well. I'm glad to hear you're starting to adapt again to your old life”

“Sunnie behaved phenomenally. Doyo and Johnny took care of her while I was in a meeting, and she didn't cause any trouble. Still, it was quite a surprise for everyone to see me arrive with a baby after being absent for so long” he chuckled, infecting the girl.

“It must have been. Seeing your boss arrive and seeing this beauty by his side” the girl booped Sunnie's nose. must be quite a surprise... I hope it was a good day.”

“ Well, it was. Apparently, and seeing that Sun Hee has behaved so well, I'll be able to go back to the office from time to time and work there while it's not necessary to find a babysitter.”

“ You know that anytime you need me to take care of Sunnie, I can do it, as long as I'm not on duty” she offered sincerely, receiving a sincere smile from the boy.

“(y/N), I mean it when I thank you for being here, you were a great help when we were in the hospital, and... I don't think anyone else would have wanted to stay in touch with a patient after being discharged. I really appreciate your... friendship.”

The brunette brought the little one a little closer to her chest, who babbled for a moment, as if she were also talking to her, which made (Y/N) melt with tenderness right there.

“I think Sunnie also thanks you for being here.”

“Sunnie stole my heart when she arrived in the maternity ward, I think it would be impossible for me not to know more about her after you left. I also thank you for trusting me; I know as a first-time father it's hard to do, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making me part of it.”

He wanted to know exactly what it was that ran through his body when he was close to her. He seemed like a teenager rather than an adult... why couldn't he behave like an adult? To be able to make decisions without so much thought behind them? His blood seemed to run faster through his body, and he hated himself when he remembered that alcohol made him blush quickly and, putting together how he felt next to her... he must look like a tomato right now.

Something inside Taeyong screamed at him to approach her and envelop her in a hug... maybe because of her words or because of the cozy scene it felt like to see her there with his little one in her arms, but just as that, there was another part that screamed at him not to do it, to stay there and not lift a finger.

He knew he had to hold himself back, it wasn't appropriate. His trust was just beginning to grow. Would it look bad to skip all that just for a hug?

Maybe not... maybe yes...

Maybe he should enjoy her company as he was doing until today, without crossing the boundaries of what was just forming.

Oh, Taeyong. You don't even know what you want.

What did he want?

And another interruption came at the worst moment.

Both of their views quickly changed to the hallway entrance when the door opened abruptly, heels were heard walking towards them, and both frowned not knowing who it could be.

Although Taeyong could imagine who it might be.

“ Honey! You have no idea how happy I was to hear that you're going to meet Joy in a few days!” his mother exclaimed, making herself present in the kitchen.

And then, the boy cursed under his breath.

His mother stopped when she noticed the two guys and her gaze fell on the girl, who felt like she was being silently judged.

“Oh, Taeyong, has Sunnie gotten sick again?” his mother asked, causing the boy to furrow his brow.

“ No, mom. Sun Hee is fine.”

“I see, it's just that I saw the nurse here, and I thought maybe Sunnie's cold had returned” Mrs. Lee commented, still looking at the girl.

“Mom…”

“Good evening, Mrs. Lee” the girl greeted kindly, still holding the little one in her arms.

“Mom, I remind you that (Y/N) stopped being Sun Hee's nurse when she was discharged. She's here because she's my friend, and she's part of all this just like Doyo, Jae, and Johnny are.”

His mother let out a heavy sigh and turned to the girl.

“I'm sorry, dear.”

(Y/N) just nodded without saying anything and continued her task of feeding the little one, trying not to listen to the conversation that Taeyong and Mrs. Lee were having... which was impossible for her.

“Mom, what's the reason for your visit? I would appreciate it if next time, you rang the doorbell before entering, please.”

“Son, since when do I have to do that? I remind you that I have the keys to the apartment” she commented, still not taking her eyes off the girl, and then smiled and addressed her son “I heard that Joy is coming to visit you, you have no idea how happy it makes me to see our children together again.”

“Mom, this is not the time to talk....”

“No, son, of course it is” his mother continued “Joy's mother called me, and you have no idea how happy we are, seeing our children together again...”

(Y/N) raised her gaze quickly and looked at the two silhouettes in front of her. Together?

She could see they were still talking, but her ears were no longer receiving any words. She didn't know why she had blocked herself, was it because she thought maybe she shouldn't be there at that moment? Or thinking that Taeyong might be with someone? But why would she feel that way if it happened? Shouldn't she be glad to know he could have company for himself and Sunnie?

“Mom, mom. Joy and I are not together “the boy denied.

“For now, Yong. Are you going to dinner, aren't you? It's just a matter of time, honey.”

“Ummh, excuse me “(Y/N)'s voice surprised both of them, and they turned to look at her “I think... I think I should go. It's getting late, Sunnie has already fallen asleep” she commented, and Taeyong briefly closed his eyes.

“ Are you sure? Don't you want to finish dinner?”

“Don't worry, Taeyong” the girl smiled “I have a shift tomorrow morning and... I should rest. It was nice to see you... to see Sunnie... I'll leave you the food; I hope you enjoy it.”

“(Y/N)....”

“I'll come by later” she assured him, approaching Taeyong to leave the little one on his arms “rest, well pretty baby” she murmured, leaning to Sunnie's forehead and placing a soft kiss on it. Taeyong stared at her intently, watched her lips touch the baby's soft skin, and move away to look at him for a few seconds in his eyes, smiling slightly “have a good night” this time, she addressed both adults.

“Goodnight, dear” Mrs. Lee quickly said goodbye.

The girl looked at the lady and nodded. She stroked Sunnie's hair and gently moved away.

And for the first time, Sunnie moved uncomfortably in her father's arms.

His mother, for the second time, had arrived at the wrong time, and once again, had caused the girl to leave.

Would it be like this every time she wanted to meet her?

I'm sorry I took too long for posting this!!

Taglist is open, just lemme know if u want to be added! You can ask me something if you want here!

Taglist: @geminiml95 @zooana @cathamada

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halothenthehorns · 2 days

Text

Chapter 2: The Ties that Bind

The Athena cabin was the most brightly lit in Camp.

Not Apollo's, whose kids spent to much of their time outdoors or they'd all kill each other. Their music got the best volume and audience down in the amphitheater anyways, and the others dispersed in the archery range or med bay or anywhere else they pleased, like flirting down at the lake. No, the sun god's cabin got the most warmth through the beautifully constructed windows, but the lights inside were rarely on.

The large gray cabin had every light in the house on, often times bright as the crack of dawn in the dead of night. Currently, with one lone occupant in its center. Her curly blonde hair was a tangled mess, her orange shirt was more wrinkled than her bloodshot eyes as she stared down at a test with a B- on it as if it held the answer to all her prayers.

The name at the top said Percy Jackson.

He'd kissed her goodnight with one of the proudest smiles she'd ever seen on his face. He'd been going on about mailing this to his mother and threatening Hermes himself if it didn't arrive, he didn't want to wait for winter break to end to show his mom.

It was just a mock test, they'd come to camp together that winter holiday teasing and laughing each other they wouldn't get anything done, but he'd sat dutifully beside her every day after training. She gave him the test verbally, and it turned out she'd found a very helpful way to encourage him to focus on his studies involving gummy worms.

She'd never seen him smile so bright when she swore on the Styx she hadn't curved the grade for him, that had been his work on that paper, and he'd looked at her and said, "maybe I should go back to slacking off," teasing and squeezing her hand. "I'm worried if this becomes a thing Wise Girl, you'll stop calling me Seaweed Brain."

"I wouldn't dream of it," she'd kissed him gently and promised they'd drive to New York to hand deliver it to his mother. They'd spend the whole drive bickering where they'd spend Christmas. With Sally and Paul, or here at Camp, or maybe even risk finally introducing Percy to her dad as her boyfriend...

There was a corkboard, books, maps, a full plate of food, and more books piled around her than even her mothers temples could imagine holding as she sat in the center. Her siblings must have been staying at the Big House or something after the last time she'd chucked her earrings like throwing stars at the door for Malcolm opening it with worried eyes on her. They were still embedded. Her gray eyes fractured as the fluttering of pages went unnoticed by her from where she'd hurled her last attempt to find an answer against the wall.

He hadn't shown up at breakfast, a worrying thing all its own...

Annabeth felt the presence of someone arriving, but she didn't take notice. If it was one of her siblings crawling through the window for their toothbrush or Chiron again to exchange plates of food and no new answers, they held nothing important for her.

His cabin had been spotless. His bed made, not a speck of dust in sight, the wrappers stacked in the bin rather than ringing it. Somebody had cleaned up.

She was alone again.

Don't do this to me, she wanted to scream in Zeus's face or the universe itself. Haven't I suffered enough?! Please, do not do this to me! I can't take anymore!

The best outcome was a quest, one so time sensitive he had to go before he could tell her, to save someone. The logical answer.

But she was only mortal. It had been to long. There was another solution to this.

He was dead.

Or he had abandoned her too.

When exactly panic had turned into reality he was just, gone, vanished into thin air had been no set point in time. She kept expecting the terror to fade, dull slightly, but it never did. It was always there, like she'd grown a second heartbeat, pulsing away no matter what little sleep her mind claimed from her brain's frantic searches before she snapped awake again in full panic.

Calling Sally had been the worst of it. The dead feeling she knew she could never resuscitate in herself no matter the outcome. Her last desperate chance he'd just taken off to see her alone, and the choking words to explain when his mother was as lost as she was.

Will Solace had threatened to carry her over his shoulder to the med bay and strap her down if he heard of this continuing, and she'd chucked her backpack at him, dislocating his shoulder last she heard.

She'd prayed to every single God, sobbed until she passed out for air into Grover's shoulder as he held her tight, but they were the wrong arms. Pleaded with her mother to give her another clue and she wouldn't fail her again. Demanded of Hera to take her instead if this was some punishment. Waded into the frigid December Long Island Sound up to her chest and begged for Poseidon's help, sacrificing her hat strung onto her beaded necklace into the still water.

There was just a moment. A warm flash. It had felt like a promise her sacrifice had been seen, but dismissed.

She'd stood there waiting until she was blue for more, Chiron had dragged her out kicking and screaming because it didn't vanish. Her most precious object only stayed floating on the surface. He put it on her nightstand for her where it stayed.

The clock on the wall kept ticking. Over seven days. In mere hours it would be one hundred and ninty-two hours. Every second was another moment for her world to fall apart beyond the scope of her putting any of it back together.

Chiron had been beside himself trying to comfort her, trying to get her to sleep and eat. Will had apparently gone missing too, but all she'd heard was that the wisest person at Camp didn't have an answer for her if more were on the way. She hoped she was next.

All she'd found at the Grand Canyon were angry storm spirits as lost as her, empty and chasing their own tails...

Her dreams were a worse torment than being awake. She never knew if the awful pain she kept seeing Percy in was real or her imagination. The whispers of her mother's voice that things were wrong and out of place, like missing chess pieces on a board. She'd felt a presence snatch her away, she'd felt the distaste in that flying sensation and knew it must be Hera, showing her a vision, that a boy with one shoe would be her answer- there had been a fraction of a second, where she'd stopped in a room and looked right at Percy before it all went black.

"Annabeth Chase."

The use of her last name speared something in her, the last dregs of her sanity she'd been clinging to. She was on her feet with her dagger drawn to sever ties with anyone on this mortal world who dared imply she had anywhere to go back to.

"Artemis!"

She sat delicately on a stack of discarded books over Tartarus's many entrances, the number of which people could accidentally fall into much larger than Annabeth had anticipated.

The goddess of the moon and hunt had the same sad, soulful silver eyes as when she'd taken the burden of the sky away from her.

"Thalia," Annabeth's voice came up as her last breath, her knees trembled. "Is, is she..." of course. Of course this had happened. She'd begged for her sister's help that first day and Thalia had sworn she'd find him, slashing the Mist connection with vengeful eyes practically before Annabeth had finished explaining to get started. Now her patron goddess was here to tell her Thalia was dead in the search too-

"My Lueatinent is safe," Artemis said evenly, but there was a tick to her mouth. The kind of anger that a goddess could use to level natural disasters if she didn't smooth out her features again. "I can take you to her, and the one you seek, Percy Jackson."

There was no sense of movement. Annabeth's knife was embedded into the floor point first, she was on her knees in front of her savior once more as she spoke without hesitation, "I swear on the Styx, I'll do anything to help. What do you need?"

No god did anything without wanting something in return. She would pay that price.

There was a rumble of thunder in the distance, and her cold eyes turned warm as she smiled and stroked her hair. Artemis reached for her hand and Annabeth blindly took it without care of what came next. "That answer will suffice."

...

They interrupted the Titan of the Ocean and the Titan of Fresh Water and Nourishment having dinner.

Annabeth landed on the kale chips and heard the disturbing crunch under her rump while Artemis delicately plucked a shrimp out of her loose, brown hair.

The canyon like room was so dark Annabeth couldn't see the walls, the mosaic tiles were grimy and the floor had more tread it in than her favorite book. There was an empty chandelier hanging on by a single bolt above her head threatening to give out any moment with empty candle holders and dripping diamonds. The ceiling's white marble was so structurally unsound not even the best job involving duct tape would fix it. The one decoration that stood the test of time was an enormous, lovely stained glass window above the arched door. The happy couple gazing into each other's eyes in every shade of blue and green. It glowed as the only source of light.

Oceanus's bursting sigh caused it to quiver in its frame and one of the mottled chairs to collapse out of sight from her perch on the center of the long table. "Listening to Kronos really was the worst decision of my existence," he said as he stabbed at his salad. "Those kids don't go five minutes without disrupting my peace, now we can't get through dinner without gods popping in on us?"

"Artemis, it is lovely to see you again," but Tethy's smile was strained even as she pulled out a clipboard and flipped to a new page. "Something we can help you with? Why have you brought this mortal."

Oceanus stared blearily at her like he was seeing her for the first time through the mirky swill. There were cobwebs swaying around on his bullhorns.

"I cannot stay long, my lady," she tipped her head respectfully, but there was still a tightness about her Annabeth wasn't used to seeing in how the gods carried themselves. It seemed as if she was concentrating on her every word. "Poseidon played a dangerous move interrupting Hera's plan," Artemis kept her childlike appearance, sitting smaller than Annabeth in her chair, her forehead only just visible from where Annabeth sat. Her voice carried power in the room. "I do not follow Zues's wishes, and I do not appreciate being kept out of the loop."

A silver fork leapt off the table and flew across the room into the darkness. There was an ominous blue glow of a fish Annabeth couldn't hope to identify coming to life and eating it before the light faded back away.

"My second greatest regret," one of Oceanus's crab claws jutting from his ear started tapping his temple. "Harboring these children has been nothing but a miserable headache! If we didn't share a domain I wouldn't even care to make peace, but the fight isn't worth another pain in my-"

"You have not just dishonored Poseidon," Artemis's voice stayed calm, but Annabeth was starting to wonder if she had better luck against the fish too at the danger in the air. Some of the other silverware was starting to gravitate towards the goddess, and she didn't want to know what Artemis would do with a butter knife. "Typhoon nearly destroyed Olympus, you did us all a disservice by attacking Poseidon's home and keeping his attention from the true battle."

"Poseidon's choice-" Tethys came to her husband's defense.

"Now listen here young godling," Oceanus's flower robes began swirling dangerously around him and Annabeth really wished she hadn't left her knife in her cabin.

"I have come to offer a solution," Artemis smoothly kept talking as if Annabeth's hair wasn't standing on end from the danger crackling in the room. Perhaps the goddess could meld all of the silver to her in defense. Annabeth didn't like her chances as much.

Silence, and then the two Titans finally seemed to remember to look at her.

"Me?" Annabeth squeaked.

"She is a natural leader, she will keep your charges calm. She should have been there in the beginning," Artemis's voice was laced with mercury, it was plain as her forehead she was still angry Thalia had been taken without her knowledge, but the slight rift of movement in her auburn hair meant she probably just crossed her ankles and smoothed her shirt before continuing. "I am offering her to be in your court now to keep the god's children in a more quiet peace."

Silence was her answer, Annabeth felt sweat break out on the back of her neck, but she jumped to her feet with confidence. Crumbs fell from the seat of her pants. Her empty hands wished to readjust the straps of her bag and twist up her cap, but she had nothing but her wits about her. The same she'd always had.

"I will not only do this," she promised, wishing she knew what in the god's grand scheming was going on she was promising to do, "but I will do you one better Lord Oceanus. I will design you a new home, an even better retirement home. With soundproof walls."

That got his attention. He finally stared directly at her, his fractured eyes like a tempest.

The Titan was unfathomably old, and tired. Whatever Kronos had promised him for his services, Annabeth had a feeling it had not come to pass.

"I thought you were already in that room," he finally said.

"No dear," Tethy's voice was still patient and calm, if just as strained as her husband's. "The two that are giving me insurance hell are still in there. I'm still on hold, and haven't gotten a single call back from my representative of claims!"

"Ah," he tapped his chin, or tried to, as he tapped one of the crab claws that tapped back like a strange miniature version of paddy cake. "On one condition Artemis. You must take one of them with you. If you're down here interrupting my dinner, than we may have even less time before the rest of the gods such as Hera herself figure out our ploy and I have been assured I will not be involved in that business. My hands are free of this mess once those kids finish their homework and are gone. Any extra soul is already pushing the boundaries."

"A fair trade I will see to myself," Artemis assured. "I have permission to enter your bathhouse?"

"Yes, yes," he waved, eyes still on Annabeth who mouthed bathhouse with dread. "I have your word mortal? On the River Styx? Soundproof walls?"

"With luxury recliners and the best earmuffs in immortal existence," Annabeth assured.

There was no other explanation before Armies jumped on the table and took her hand again, and the last glimpse she had of one of the first immortal beings was the couple exchanging hopeful smiles again like the picture behind them.

...

They were standing in an empty hallway on the cracked floor right in front of a door that had a massive hole through the middle. Inside was a circular room that gave her heart failure, it was in more disrepair than the room she'd just left, its structure hanging on by divine intervention.

There were people inside sitting on green couches and cushions. Strangely only one of them seemed to be talking, their voice coming to her a bit forced as if they were reading something rather than just speaking. She'd practiced enough speeches in the mirror from her many botched and rewritten battle plans to hear the difference in someone's voice.

That voice, she knew that voice...she'd heard it so many times in her life. Exhausted, strained, about to crack with stress, but forcing a smile like nothing was wrong. Happy, laughing, saying her name in every way possible-

Without another glance at the goddess, she pushed the door open as Percy said;

"So," Beckendorf said, "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth."

"Oh, gods," I muttered. "Don't even think about it."

"Tell Annabeth what?" Annabeth said from the doorway.

#pjo #Percy Jackson #rtb Percy Jackson #reading the books #Annabeth Chase #alex fierro #Magnus Chase #nico di angelo #will solace #Jason Grace #Thalia Grace #percabeth #solangelo #fierrochase #HDYSG

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