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queers-gambit · 1 year

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When Pride Married Prejudice part two

[ part one ]

[ series masterlist ]

prompt: moments at the beginning of your marriage.

pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Velaryon!wife!reader

fandom: House of the Dragon

word count: 8.6k+

warnings: cursing, nothing but filler and fluff, marriage smut, stop giving author internet access cause literally what is this ? not edited.

Your wedding was something small by other royal comparison, but neither you nor Aemond seemed to mind; he was the one who wanted it much smaller, but the King was feeling festive. So, the whole of the court was invited - minus your family, which felt glaringly obvious.

You married in the Sept and hosted a banquet in the Red Keep's Great Hall. The King hummed along with the music, tapping his fingers in rhythm, before exhaustion set in and he was being escorted back to his rooms. The Queen departed soon after, and your new husband lead you away rapidly right after that. Behind you, there were a few inappropriate comments hurled your way; but Aemond was quick to shield you from them.

He moved his body as if to physically protect you from their vile words, an arm protectively around your waist to guide you forward; your first sign of his deep-running loyalty.

When you got to your new shared chambers, you found the room in disarray - gasping your shock and wondering if someone had ransacked his room. "Were you robbed?" You had asked.

"No," his cheeks flared, "I was trying to move things around, make room for you, but I realized I did not know what you would arrive with, so, it has come to... This..."

"So, what I'm hearing is that your room needs organized, huh?"

He smirked at you, "I'll order us some wine, but yes, if you'd like," he gestured you forward.

That perhaps was your second sign of his unwavering support of you.

The third was when, during your room-rearrangements, he promised to not share your bed, "unless you ask me to."

His hands also idly toyed with your own, the two of you facing one another; his fingertips tracing down the scar on the palm of your hand. He was quiet as he did, but you weren't bothered - he was usually always quiet.

Anyways, your marriage wasn't consummated that night, but you got to know Aemond on a much deeper level after proposing a drinking game where you each told three statements - two that were truthful, and one that was a lie. It made you both snicker gently and lounge on the bed together after the room was put in relative order.

He did not share your bed, as promised, for a full week after your wedding; but he spent time with you after his training sessions in the courtyard. Apparently, his mother thought it important you and he bond, so, Aemond was excused from afternoon lessons in favor of spending time with you. You both liked to stroll through the gardens, sometimes with a book shared between you both; other times, with an escort through the city streets.

But only eight days after your wedding, there was a rapid knock at your chamber door, and just as you rose from your vanity to answer it, your husband was entering. He swung around to shut the door and lean on it for a moment, making you smirk. "Well, hello there. Nice fo you to pop in, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry for the intrusion, my Lady," he sighed, shaking his head, "but Aegon was being his usual self and I needed to get away - then apparently he followed me and I didn't need him seeing me waiting..."

You nodded, "You know, you're allowed to stay here, too. I would not put you out."

"I do not wish to crowd you."

Your shoulders shrugged, "I think I'd like it, actually."

"Oh?" He breathed.

"Sure," You nodded in agreement. "I mean, we should get used to one another, should we not? I do not wish to put you out."

"Lady - "

"Please, stay?" You pouted dramatically. "C'mon, maybe I'll let you do my hair, huh?"

He chuckled and pushed off the door, glancing at the hand you outstretched. Aemond slowly reached for it, taking a moment to breathe before speaking softly, "I did not mean to interrupt you."

"You're not," You assured softly. "I was getting ready for bed, but between you and me, I'm kinda into this book right now."

"So, you're not tired?" He smirked slowly.

"I'm almost afraid to answer that," you eyed him up and down. "Why?"

"Perhaps you'd like to get dressed? We can sneak out," he sighed some. "Think I could use some air, thought perhaps a walk around the city would do us both some good?"

Your grin slowly stretched as you considered his offer. "All right, yeah. But we go in disguise."

"You think we'd walk around, bare?"

You shrugged and moved for the wardrobe. "I only mean to show you some places and it wouldn't be exactly proper if word reached the palace of our misdoings."

"I thought I was sneaking you out?"

"You are," You assured with a grin, "but perhaps I'll show you a thing or two while we're out."

"All right," he sighed, nodding softly and wiping his palms on his pants nervously. "Whatever gets us out of here."

"What did your brother say that upset you?" You asked, eyeing him slightly before moving for the changing screen. "C'moooon, I know you wanna tell me. I can see it on the tip of your tongue."

He chuckled some, "He's just tiresome."

"Noooo, really?" You mocked gently as you changed from your nightdress into something plain.

"We were at dinner..."

"Mhm."

"And he had choice comments about something that doesn't pertain to him in the slightest."

"Might I ask what that was, husband?"

There was silence as you laced the trousers on. "Our marriage," Aemond finally admitted.

"Hmm," you considered, situating the tunic. "And what was said? What were these choice comments?"

Aemond sighed heatedly, "Something - I don't even know. It was about how you won't let me near you, how this marriage is like all others and it's a farce, telling me to get used to you being absent - and that my one obligation is to put a babe in your belly, but it was the way in which he spoke that drove me up the fucking wall."

"Mhm."

"As if he even gets an opinion on this..." Aemond ranted as you stepped out from the screen, moving for the vanity again to wrap your hair up in a tangle of scarves. "As if his own marriage isn't some sham!"

"Is it?" You wondered gently.

"They were betrothed as children, Helaena's never known different but Aegon does as he pleases - no matter his marital status."

"So, your older brother doesn't respect you," you sighed gently, still fixing your hair to hide it. "But you know what's different now?"

"Hmm?"

"You've a wife who does," you turned to smirk at him, hands dropping to slap your thighs gently, "and Aegon can be jealous all he wants. It's not gonna be a concern of ours, we don't live the same truths."

He paused for a moment, nodding, "You're right..."

"But when you're feeling stressed," you offered your hand again with a grin, "your wife is here to sneak out with you for a bit of fun."

He chuckled and took your hand with his, "We'll need to stop at my room."

"Kinda hate that, but okay," you mused gently, letting him lead you from what was supposed to be your shared quarters. However, just as you were about to pass into his room, Amira rounded the distant corner, and your husband called for her.

"Could I ask for a discreet favor?" He asked, opening his door to lead you both inside.

"What is it, my Prince?" Amira asked, looking you up and down. "Oh, no, you're sneaking out, aren't you?"

You only shrugged with a broad smirk, making her sigh as your husband found his cloak. "Might you bring my things to our room?" He asked your hand maiden.

"Oh," she blinked, nodding, "yes, of course, my Prince. Um...?"

You smirked at her, "I didn't realize the lengths my husband went to to ensure my comfort, so, I've invited him back to our rooms."

"Oh, that is good to hear," she breathed, patting your shoulder. "All right, yes, I'll move your things, my Prince. Might I ask the reason for discretion?"

"Aegon's a dick," you shrugged, making Aemond say your name in reprimand. "What? Am I wrong?"

"Well, no - "

"So, that's the reason," you told Mira, "and we'd appreciate Aegon, you know, not knowing about this, so discretion is paramount."

"I gotcha," she winked, nodding with assurance. "I got this... Yeah, I got this... This is nothing..."

"Mira?"

"Hmm?"

"You got this?" You checked, Aemond tucking his hair beneath his hood.

"Oh, yeah, for sure," she sighed, waving you off. "Just be careful tonight, please. The city's changed, Princess, lots of crime has gone up in rate. Stay close to your Lord husband."

You chuckled, "Maybe I'll save his arse, you never know."

"You'll probably start a fight and he'll have to rescue you," she laughed you off. Aemond offered his hand silently, leading you to a hidden passage at the back of the room.

It was easy enough to sneak through the back passages of the Red Keep, and you quickly realized that this must've been common enough for Aemond - given how well he knew his way around. When you broke free of the Keep, you breathed deeply.

"All right?" Aemond checked, tightening his hand in yours.

"Mhm," you assured, needing to jog slightly to keep up with his long legs and quick pace. "Where to first, Princey?"

He chuckled dryly, leading you down around a few turns. "Perhaps a drink?"

"Hmm," you considered, peaking around alleyways.

"No?"

"I didn't say that," you chuckled. "But could we go this way?" You pointed.

"Why?"

"There's a few fun vendors this way," you smirked, leading him away. For the remainder of the night, you and Aemond crept around King's Landing - hopping around taverns, and you're pretty sure you didn't stop smiling once since leaving the Keep.

Aemond seemed different, too.

He was quiet, still. But he was relaxed, kept a hand on you at nearly all times. He chuckled when something was funny, smirked when someone made a fool of themselves, but mostly, he sat beside you all night. His legs straddled the benches to keep you close to his body, and you'd feel his idle touch as time passed.

Touches to your hand, waist, ribs, back, shoulders, and once even, he smoothed his hand over the back of your head in an affectionate gesture when you had made a particularly funny joke.

It was as if your warm touch reassured him.

So you did not mind, and in fact, found you reveled in it. It was your first real indication that his love language was primarily physical touch and while words did not come easy, his touch lingered.

And when you snuck back into the Keep, the ale you both consumed made your steps clumsy and for you both to snicker as you tried to shush each other. When you fell into your room together, you noticed Amira had, indeed, packed the Prince's things and moved them into your rooms.

It became a comfort that for each night the following five days, Aemond would read aloud from your book as you organized his belongings and clothes around the room. He liked pausing to consider the passage read, making the both of you bicker gently - even if he didn't have a varying opinion, he liked pushing you to see how far you'd go to make a point. You caught onto his game and didn't find it as annoying as when Jace or Luke did it.

Then came your first 'family' dinner that you'd attend at Aemond's side. He paced nervously by the window, watching the sun sink, and you perused your wardrobes for something to change into.

"You're nervous," you mentioned softly, laying a gown out to the bed.

"A bit," Aemond agreed.

"Is there reason, husband?"

He sighed, turning from the window with hands behind his back. "Father's not doing well..."

You nodded slowly, "He's been on a decline for quite some time now."

"And now it's enough for Mother to call for weekly family meals," he sighed, wiping a hand down his mouth.

"'S all right," you assured, "might be kinda nice."

"Nothing's really nice with Aegon around," he frowned, shaking his head to send some strands of gloriously long hair around his shoulders.

"Still mad about what he said?"

Aemond sighed, shrugging some. "In truth, I am unsure what I feel."

You nodded slowly, "That's alright. Family's a confusing matter."

"It is," he eyed what you had laid out for him.

"Yet, I must ask for your forgiveness," you smiled at him, stepping closer as he slowly turned to lower himself onto the bed. He reached for you, taking your hands to pull you between his wide-set legs.

"For what, my wife? I have not been wronged," he sighed, fiddling with your fingers.

"I have let you endure this alone the past two weeks," you spoke gently, slowly raising your hands to pet over his silver locks. "That's not what a wife does, hmm?"

He let his own hands raise to gently wrap around either of your wrists. His eye examined the one as his fingers caressed your skin, leaning in to gently press a kiss to the appendage. "It is of no trouble," he told you, "because you're here now, yes?"

You smiled at him, "Yes, I am here now. The support of a wife, something your brother does not know - should you need to use that to your defense."

He chuckled and tugged you so your hands went to his neck and his own settled heavily on your waist. "Something tells me with you there, wife, I will have little reason to defend myself."

You chuckled at him, giving his cheeks a quick squeeze, "Yes, yes, you get a wife and personal attack dog - aren't you lucky?"

"Terribly," he smirked, leaning forward slightly to rest his forehead against your stomach. He groaned, "Must we go?"

You chuckled and let your arms wrap around him in a hug, folding slightly to peck the top of his head. "Yes, we must. C'mon, it will not be for long."

He sighed, "Might I use you as an excuse?"

"Depends on the excuse used," you teased gently.

"Hm... What if I cited newlywed duties?" He picked himself up to stare up at you with a growing smirk.

"I think I'd kill over from embarrassment," you gasped, nudging his shoulder; making him grin at you. You found, each day, he loosened up - but always tensed up when others were around. When it was just you two, my Gods, he was entirely different; making you feel grateful that you could see him as such.

He sighed and let his hands settle back on your waist, "All right, maybe not. But, perhaps, I could say it to Aegon? Yes?"

You chuckled, hands caressing his jaw to force his eye to your own. "All right, yes, but do not let your Mother hear - please. Or Father. He's still my Grandsire and while I know he knows what happens in a marriage, he does not need be reminded."

"All right, deal," he agreed, sighing again.

"It will not be so bad, come now, we should change," you chuckled, gently pulling away from him. His hands fell from your body, and you instantly missed the warmth.

Though, after changing behind the screen, his hand was back in yours to lead you from the room. You swung your conjoined hands gently, smiling at him when he offered you a curious look. He ended up cracking a smile, unable to help it, but quickly sobered up when you arrived at the private dining room.

It was mostly just an outside terrace with a long table, but it made do for tonight's gathering. And with the fortunate weather, you were almost excited for the meal, if only for the location.

Aemond lead you both in stoically, and surprisingly, you were the last to arrived. Even Viserys beamed, teasing, "Well, this is a surprise."

"Apologies, Your Grace," you offered instantly. "We did not realize the time."

"No, no, no need, I was once newly married," he chuckled, waving you offer as both you and Aemond froze momentarily. You were quick to laugh at the King's joke, and with your hand to Aemond's arm, discreetly directed him towards the only two chairs left at the head of the table. Apparently, it became Aemond's common seating arrangement after the loss of his eye, but you didn't mind much.

Otto was in attendance, and Heleana greeted you happily; all but jumping from her seat when you neared her. You kissed her cheek in greeting, giving her a loving squeeze.

Aegon looked mildly annoyed but hid it behind his cups of wine, slouched in his seat; and making you ponder what seed he came from, since surely, it was not Royalty.

"Here," Aemond muttered to you, dishing something onto your plate. "You've gotta try this."

"It looks strange."

"Just a taste," he nodded, smirking at you. You sighed, eyeing the food with disinterest. "Come now, you mean to say you do not trust me?"

"Well, that's a loaded question."

He chuckled, "Let this be a test, then. Go on, just a taste. For me?"

"Well, way to guilt me," you teased him, nudging his arm before taking a taste from your fork. You pondered the feeling on your tongue, manicured hand over your lips as you chewed and considered the flavors. "It is... Strange."

"Is it?" Aemond smirked.

"I do not think I dislike it," you nodded at him, "though, I am unsure if I like it, either. Hang on," you moved for another bite, and before long, you'd finished the bit he'd spooned to your plate. "What was that?"

He chuckled, shaking his head slightly, "You told me on our wedding night you fancied those mangoes from Pentos, did you not?"

"I did," you nodded, narrowing your eyes at him at you glanced at the dish. "Do not tell me..."

"Apparently, stewed mangoes is popular over there," he shrugged a bit, glancing up to his family to ensure they were all still in their own conversation. They were.

"Would you do me a favor then?"

"Hmm?"

"Bit more?" You smirked, nudging your plate once. He chuckled and reached for the dish, dolloping another spoonful before you scooped a bit of rice to your plate and mixed them together.

"How's that?" He wondered in genuine curiosity when you tasted the new dish.

"You know what?" He nodded at you. "I don't hate it. Here, try it."

He nodded slowly and took up his own fork to try a bit, making your head cock in wonder as you waited for his opinion. "'S not terrible," he agreed with you, chuckling dryly before reaching for his goblet.

"So," Viserys boomed down the table, making you jump slightly. "How is married life treating you both?"

You smiled at the King, "You've raised your son well, Your Grace." Your eyes cut to Alicent, knowing she was who truly raised the children. "Married life is... Going well," you glanced at Aemond.

"Like a built-in companion," he mused to the table, taking a sip as Viserys chuckled.

"It is good to know you are getting along," he granted. "Surely, we'll see your face more often, Princess?"

"Of course, Your Grace," you agreed.

"Good," he nodded, smiling lightly.

"Unless my brother actually manages to get it up," Aegon snickered into his, oh, maybe, third cup in an hour? "Then, we'll never see you, will we, sister?"

"I'd mind my tongue, Aegon," you mused, taking another small bite of your meal. "Might start to sound jealous. Though, we know your brother has the injury and one less eye, you've always been jealous of him, heaven't you?"

"Aegon," Alicent warned when his face heated in anger.

Aemond chuckled a bit and let his hand drift to hang off the arm rest. You silently reached for his hand, finding relief when it fell naturally to your lap - turning over for you to hold. The other hand rose his goblet again.

"Do you think you'd like to take lunch sometime this week?" Heleana asked you, leaning over. "I've some questions of my own," her voice lowered to explain.

"Sure," you agreed easily, nodding at her with a smile.

Aegon rolled his eyes, "Oh, what questions could she answer? She's been married all of two weeks."

"I wouldn't take that tone, brother," Aemond warned.

"Boys," their Mother snapped. "Not now."

"Not ever, hopefully," You offered a sweet smile with your words.

"I'm not quite sure how it was done in your Strong Family," Aegon sneered, sitting up in his chair, "but here, we - "

"If your only means is to insult a silly rumor pertaining to my family, then, I'm afraid you might want to silence yourself," you chuckled, staring your uncle down with anger burning your gut. "You are only making my point for me."

"Please," Alicent asked of the whole table, "can we not get along for a single meal?"

Your hand tightened in Aemond's, asking him, "Surely, this is not common?"

"What, sweetheart?"

You paused at the use of the nickname, finding you enjoyed it more than you should - before finding your voice again, "Your brother thinking it is appropriate to speak in such a manner?"

He smirked at your tactic to publicly embarrass his brother, nodding at you, "You will grow used to it, sweetheart, I promise."

"Hmm," you mused, leaning into his arm more as his hand released yours in favor of holding your inner thigh instead.

"So," Otto cleared his throat, "how're you finding the city, Princess?"

"Very well, yes, thank you," you assured with a nod of your head. "Aemond and I might've gone out almost everyday this past week."

"The weather held," he shrugged a bit, cheeks heating at the knowledge that his family knew he was soft on you. It was obvious, if the time together was any indication.

"It was nice," you assured, one hand holding his forearm and giving a squeeze. "I'll have to take you sailing some time."

"You know how?" Otto asked in surprise.

"Yes, my father and his father took me out," you smiled softly. "Taught me how to fish, too, if you'd believe it. Never thought I'd live long enough to watch Corlys Velaryon fish for his own meal. But I must admit, it was incredibly satisfying. Father and I caught this sort of tuna," you told Otto - who was staring at you with the slightest amount of pity, "it must've weighed some 80 pounds." You chuckled at the memory, sniffling lightly, "Father and I nearly fell in trying to wrangle that bad boy from the waters."

It was quiet for a moment before Aemond cleared his throat, lowering his voice, "We did not yet find the time to extend our condolences for your father, my wife. And how sorry we all are for your loss."

"Mother got your letter," you nodded softly. "But thank you for verbalizing it."

With a returning nod, your husband tried to focus on his meal; but before you could, his sister was starting a new conversation. He was quiet most of the remaining meal, just content to listen; and any time Aegon got lippy, even Alicent started to sit back - because your wit outmatched all of their own. You easily fended the boy off.

Heleana simply adored you, and let that be known.

Viserys was oozing pride, as if taking personal responsibility in the match made between you.

Alicent smiled and actually asked a few questions to better know you.

Otto was just as ever - kindly, old, and soft spoken. He also knew some really good riddles that you liked to try and work out - his grandchildren giving up on most of them. Imagine your surprise when you asked, "Is it a mountain?"

And Otto beamed, "Yes! Dear girl, yes! I've been telling that riddle for months and none has solved it!"

It was an overall nice dinner, but truly, by the end, you were exhausted from keeping appearances. There were a few times you wanted to snap at your brother-by-law, but held your tongue; doing little to hide the irritation in your tone when you shut him down.

When Viserys was taken away for bed, Otto escorted Alicent away, and to your surprise, Aemond ushered you to your feet, "C'mon, come with me."

You let him pull you by your hand, jogging again to keep up with his long strides. When you were out of the dining room, you looked around and wondered, "Why're we in a rush to get to bed?"

He chuckled, shaking his head, "Got something on my mind."

"Wanna share?"

"In our rooms," he nodded, glancing at you only as he kept his quick pace - ignoring your whine of annoyance. The moment the doors opened, he pulled you in and shut them after you - pushing your body against the wood as his nose pressed into your neck.

"Aemond," you gasped in shock, holding onto his shoulders; not pushing him away.

"I-I wanted to let you come to me," he rushed, hands bruising your hips. "Yet I do not think I can wait longer."

"What changed?" You smirked, petting over his cheeks as he nuzzled your neck. You wanted to feel his mouth, but he did not dare yet - showing an ounce of restraint.

"Dinner," he sighed, sounding as if he was straining. "Watching you with them all, Gods... I know I am not who you wanted, but I think I need to start giving thanks for having a wife who can keep up."

"That got you going, did it?" You smirked against the shell of his ear; hands petting down his neck. His hands tightened and your hips rose up the wall to let his growing bulge press into you. Your breathing stuttered as his head lifted to leer over yours, your fingertip ghosting over his bottom lip.

"In truth, it's been hard to give you space," he breathed, "but yes, my wife, seeing you with my family was enough for me. You showed no fear in talking to the King and Queen..."

"Hmm?"

His lips pulled in a smirk, hands moving up to hold the base of your ribs. "It was impressive," he whispered, "and listening to you put Aegon in his place? Lady wife," he chuckled, slowly letting a leg raise to press between your thighs, "that did something to me I cannot explain nor control."

"Power turns you on, does it?" You chuckled.

"Only a bit," he nodded, "now," his thigh pressed more securely, "might I kiss you, Lady wife? Or might you haunt me further?"

You chuckled, but he clocked your nod before surging forward to connect your lips in a searing kiss. You let out a shrill whine when his hands drove you down onto him, his bulge more prominent.

"Aemond."

"Tell me, sweet girl," he spoke in your ear, letting his tongue flatten against skin that made you moan, "what it is you want."

But worry knotted your stomach.

"Wait, wait," you pulled back as much as you could, but pushed his shoulders some; making him pull away.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just," you sighed, head thumping back to the door in exasperation. You sighed through your nose.

"You can tell me," he nodded, lowering his leg to give you room to breath. His thumbs started to swirl comforting circles around your hip bones. "You want me to trust you, but it goes both ways, pretty girl. Speak your mind."

"Well, for one, in truth, I think I prefer being called pet names rather than the name my mother gave me," you chuckled some, hands drifting down his chest.

"Noted," he nodded, leaning in to rest his forehead on your own. "Come - tell me what bothers you."

"I've not done this," you whispered. "I worry it will not be satisfying."

"With the way I've been ramped up the past two weeks, there is little you can do to dissatisfy me," he chuckled. "Though, might I tell you a secret?"

"Mhm."

"Think you got me started the day you saved my life," he whispered, "and I never even thanked you for it."

"We share blood, Aemond, I would not have walked away. You needed help, and I knew how to give it."

"Thank you," he nodded, sighing. "I never got to thank you for what you did, but I am grateful."

"'Twas a dramatic night, there was little room for anything else."

He hummed before telling you, "Look, you do not need to worry, this is another learning experience for us to endure together."

"Oh, you must 'endure' laying with me?" You whined, heat flaring up your chest and neck.

"I did not mean that," he relented softly. "Only that I am no expert, either, but this is something between us - something we will learn to do together. As husband and wife."

You sighed, nodding, "Just be patient."

"I know it does not mean much now," he let his lips peck over yours, "but this is between us, sweet girl. You can do no wrong with me."

You sighed, "You say that, yet..."

"Yet?"

"I do not know of a single marriage where either, nor both, were ever happy. I fear that this could be a partnership, but not much else. I understand you've an obligation to sire children, but I am only nervous - "

"You do not need to be," he sighed softly. "It's just me."

You nodded, brows crinkling gently. "It's just you..."

"Your husband."

You nodded, "My blood."

"I am not here to wrong you, nor harm you," he promised. "And while I agree, I do not know of a marriage myself that has been... Happy... I do know that marriages are between spouses, and we get to not just make our own rules, but play by them, as well."

You sighed gently. "How you've been without a Lady all this time is beyond me. You might be the sweetest man I know, and my father was Laenor Velaryon."

He smirked against your lips, letting you gently pull his cheeks to kiss him to time. "None ever bothered to try and know me," he whispered. "You are different, pet, and you always have been."

"You are different with me," you noted, nose rubbing up his. "Why is that?"

He sighed, "You... Provide me with a sense of safety, I think. It is difficult to explain - "

"'S not," you smiled at him, "because I understand perfectly well. I fear I might feel much of the same, as well."

"Hmm," he considered, "that is good. I would hope my wife feels safe with me."

"I do," you nodded in assurance. "That if you'd like to move for the bed, I would not disagree..."

"Are you sure?" He asked, frowning.

"If you're willing to take this slow?"

He chuckled, "As slow as I can bare."

You laughed against his lips, leaning in to trap him in another kiss. "I have to admit..." You pulled back to peck his lips, "You're mildly addicting to kiss."

He grinned, licking over your lips slowly. "Might find more than my kisses addicting,"

"Oh?" You laughed, holding onto his neck tightly as his own arms snaked around your waist to hold you against him. He sighed, nuzzling into your neck as a hand pet down the back of your head before settling around you. "All right?" You whispered.

"Mhm," he hummed, "just appreciating the feel."

You smiled against his temple, laying a kiss there as the mood in the room shifted; and his hands bore the weight of the world. "Aemond?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you show me all of you?"

You felt him pause against you, but his sigh was sad, "Not tonight."

"But would you?"

He nodded as he pulled back; leaving your cheeks brushing against one another. "One day," he sighed, making your heart plummet in sadness. The abuse the boy endured was more than you were willing to admit, but you'd try to understand it best you could and offer him comfort. "For now, let me see you," he whispered in your ear, the fire crackling behind you both as the room flickered and glowed in the light. You did not protest when his hands rose to undo the laces at your back; pulling apart to loosen your gown.

You feared he would not like what he found, but your resolve was crumbling as his mouth opened against your neck. You moaned faintly as his hands easily yanked behind you, freeing more of your flesh for him to grab at.

He pulled back first but you could not meet his eye. His fingers tipped your chin up to let your eyes meet, breathing one breath as his lilac gaze raked you in.

"You're absolutely stunning," he whispered, holding your gaze, and making you feel like he was staring through you. But his eye did not drop from your own as his hands pulled at your dress, freeing your shoulders and upper body.

Your lungs shuddered in nerves as you helped pull the garment down, freeing your breasts, and then down to your hips. His hands moved, his eye did not; only bowing to his knees to hug your waist, looking to the floor, and pulling the clothing from your hips.

Your hands shot back to hold your position against the wall; keeping balance as Aemond freed your legs of shoes, stockings, then your hips of any under garment. But he kept his gaze on the ground as he rose, letting your hands mimic his from earlier, and tip his chin so his eyes met your own.

"See me," you requested in a breath; holding it then as his eye soaked in all you were.

"Gods," he breathed, taking half a step back to get the full image. When his eye met yours, it was almost as if he could not stop the words from flooding out, "You're breathtaking."

"We are married, you do not need to compliment me," you teased gently, leaning back to the wall. "Do you need a moment?"

"I might," he mused. "You're incredible... And you're truly mine?"

"That's what the law now says," you teased. "You know, standing here, naked, 's bit cold."

"You don't say?" He chuckled, reaching a hand out to sweep his thumb over your pebbled nipple. But that was it - that was all he did. "Come, lay on the bed, pet."

He turned from you to give you space, bare feet muted over the bare stone as you moved on the balls of your feet. Look - standing in the nude was one thing, but sitting in the nude? That was something entirely, and you reached for a pillow to hold against yourself the moment you reached the mattress - and climbed upon it.

Aemond turned from the window to look you over, then started to undo his jerkin. "You've never been with a man?"

"Never even kissed one till we got married," you admitted.

"So... You're all mine, is it?"

"Seems so," you chuckled. "Though, I am afraid to ask in return."

His head cocked, wincing, "Lost my virginity at ten and three."

"Truly? To whom?"

He freed his upper half of the leather jerkin, revealing a thin tunic. "A whore, no less."

You hummed in thought, watching him undress without abash. "That was it?"

"If you'd believe it," he pulled the tunic off his torso.

"And how is it you've come by scars when there is no war?" You asked, letting the pillow fall to the side in favor for drawing a single leg up and into your chest.

"Same way I came to lose an eye, pet," he sighed, now avoiding your gaze. "Though accidents - no matter how unfortunate."

Your heart weighed to your feet, slowly finding them as your fingers nervously twisted together. He was distracting himself with pouring a goblet of wine, but stiffly turned when your hands deftly asked him to. They smoothed over rigid, pink-going-on-white scars, asking, "Where did this one come from?"

He glanced at your hand on his upper arm. "That was a lancing accident gone wrong."

"Hmm," you nodded. "And this?"

Your fingertips pressed to his pectoral. "Swordplay with Aegon... Gone wrong."

You smirked, "And this one?"

He breathed uneasily as your hand pushed at the scar on his lower belly. "Hmm... That was from a spoiled organ."

"Come again?"

He smirked as your hands rimmed the hem of his pants. "When I was, possibly, oh, maybe ten and five? There is a little organ that, if ruptured, can ooze toxic waste back into the body. Maesters were quick to remove it."

"How interesting," you spoke softly, watching his throat bob as he took a drink. "And this one?" Your lips asked, nearing his ear.

"Which?" But he flinched with a laugh when you bit his neck. It wasn't hard enough to break skin, but against his pale skin, it was enough to leave a small red mark. "Oh, you devil of a woman," he chuckled, letting an arm wrap around your bare waist.

"Apologies, dear husband," you smirked, reaching your arms around his neck to allow your breasts to press into his chest without barrier.

"Perhaps I can be persuaded into forgiving you," he hushed against your lips, licking over them before trapping you in a kiss so searing, it pulled a moan from your throat.

"Just ask it of me," you whispered to him, daringly letting your hands drift when he pulled you in for another kiss; fondling his growing length over his trousers.

He hissed lightly into your mouth, muttering, "Perhaps this will be new for us both, after all... Gods."

You smirked against his mouth, feeling emboldened to now sweep your tongue over his lips and into his mouth; hand solidifying around his neck to keep tight. He blindly set his wine to the table beside him to then press both hands into your warming flesh under your rib cage. His hands pushed, and you were lead back towards the bed; where you were sat on the edge for your husband to gaze down at. His hand cupped your jaw, gently caressing your cheek; yanking the laces of his trousers at the same time.

"Let me," you whispered, mostly curious - reaching for his breeches, and keeping eye contact as you unlaced him.

You fist the material by his hips and yanked down, still staring up at him - even when his cock sprang free to gently bob in your face.

"Fuck," he seethed, reaching to pull your hair back. "Might I teach you something first?" When you nodded, he almost grunted, "You can use your mouth."

Your brows furrowed, "On your cock?"

Aemond let himself chuckle, "Yes, sweet girl. But not your teeth..."

"I think I could've figured that one out, Aemond, Gods!" He laughed with you, but sharply inhaled when your hand reached for his thick member; giving a few curious strokes. "I can ask you something?"

"With my cock in your hand, you can ask me anything," he breathed in tune to your pumping hand, twisting wrist. "What is it, pretty girl?"

Your breath fanned across his public hair, head tilted to gaze up at him and wonder, "It... Will fit?"

He snickered, "Yes, sweet girl."

You nodded, "And are they all... This size... A-And girth?"

"Perhaps not, but I'm not running around, whipping my cock out to compare it to others,"

"Pity," you pouted at him, seeing his teeth flash in amusement, and lean in to take a tentative lick. His hand tightened in your hair and you understood what he meant; slowly, surely, and very sloppily, figuring it out. What your mouth didn't fit, your hand twisted around; and Aemond's knees were slowly buckling.

"Slowly, slowly," he whispered to you, thumb sweeping a tear from your cheek when you tried to take more of him. "That's my girl, good fucking girl," you preened at his praise. "Easy, don't over do it - that's it, good girl. Use you spit - fucking Gods, that's right - there - wait, wait, less teeth, sweet girl - slow yourself."

You listened to him as you went, feeling sweat start to slowly streak down your skin as heat sweltered in the room; skin at the base of his cock turning salty from his own exertion.

"All right," Aemond hissed, nodding to himself as he took hold of your cheeks and pulled his cock from your mouth; leaving a trail of saliva. "Seven fuckin' Hells, girl, I told you I'm not fucking anyone else, you're not in competition here."

You grinned up at him, rolling your eyes right after as you understood his teasing tone. "C'mere, please," you whispered up at him, hands curling around his neck to thread into his hair when he loomed over you. Your lips met in a frenzied mess again before one of his hands held his balance and the other pushed your knees apart.

"Easy," he whispered against you, tracing slow patterns up your inner thighs. "This is where trust comes in, sweet girl. I've got you."

"Yeah?" You nervously checked, nodding at him; hands holding onto him as if a lifeline.

He sighed softly, "I'll always have you, sweet girl. Today, and everyday."

You pet down his chest and tried to relax as his lips met yours again in a frantic mess of lips, tongues, and teeth. His fingers then were dusting up your crotch, and you all but flinched as a jolt of pleasuring electricity shot through your veins.

"Aemond," you breathed as one hand darted out to wrap around his bicep; fingers sweeping up and down your wetted heat. "Gods," you squeaked when he pushed to let his face rest against your neck; arms tight around his neck for anchoring, letting a finger sink deep into you. Your legs opened wider to accept him.

"Good girl," he growled, your hand feeling his arm flex as he started to pump his finger messily through your sopping folds. "So fucking wet for me, Gods. I heard rumor virgins were wetter, but fucking hell."

"Or perhaps it's just for you," you whispered in his ear, holding on tighter as a coil slowly tightened in your lower belly. Almost on instinct, your hips moved to hump into his hand.

"Hmm," Aemond considered, "say that again, but without the perhaps."

You chuckled, pausing for a moment before telling him in his ear, "'M just so fucking wet for you, and only you, my Prince."

"Gods," he groaned, pulling his hand free to straighten up. "On the pillows, love, go on." But you paused to beam obnoxiously at him. "What? What is it?"

"You called me 'love'."

He chuckled against you, leaning in to kiss you happily. "Got issue with that, Lady wife?"

"You will not hear complaint from me, Lord husband," you assured.

"Good - back on the pillows, then." When you pulled yourself back over the bed, he was quick to follow overtop of you; pressing another kiss to your lips as he settled between your legs. "I will warn you, there might be some complaint the first few minutes."

"Oh," you nodded, "yes, I-I was warned of that. And it is common for there to be a bit of blood, too."

"Good to know," he smirked, pecking your lips. "You need only tell me if it's too painful, but it will be before the pleasure takes over. But if it's too much, just tell me."

You nodded and pet over his cheek, promising, "I will."

He smirked, "Spread your legs, pretty wife."

You both paused, shaking your heads at one another, and you deciding, "'Pretty girl' is a solid option, 'pretty wife' sounds strange to my ears."

"Strange on my tongue, too," he agreed. "Pretty girl, it is."

You hummed in agreement, bringing his lips to yours as he helped shift your hips slightly. Then, his cock's head was sweeping up and down your slick - like his fingers had - and just paused to linger at your entrance.

"Hold onto me," he whispered, slowly pushing in - and feeling you instantly freeze.

"Fuck's sake," you wheezed as he went.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"There's more!?"

Aemond was unable to fight off his laughter, leaning down to push his tongue into your mouth before pressing forward the rest of the way - pressing his hips to yours in full.

"Fucking hell," you whispered against him. "Oh, wow, okay, okay..."

"All right?"

"I don't know," you admitted. "Feels very strange."

He nodded, leaning in to kiss you softly. "Tell me when it's okay to move. This will be uncomfortable until you're acquainted, and then it'll feel better - I swear it."

You nodded, "Go ahead."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," you whispered, moaning when his tongue swept into your mouth again. "Holy shit - Gods be good," you whined when he began to retract his hips and push forward again; the friction created something mouthwatering.

"Fuck," Aemond panted, humping a little faster. "Ah, shit, you feel fucking divine, sweet girl. Fuckin' made for me."

You readjusted your hips again and let him work at a new angle. His mouth hung open for a few thrusts, eye fluttering close as your hands gripped anywhere they could reach. And with his motions, you started moving your own hips; fucking him back, to his approving groan. His mouth found purchase against your neck, biting, sucking, licking; humming into flesh as pleasure coursed.

"Aemond, fuck, fuck, fuck, harder," you pleaded, letting your knees reach your chest as his hands pushed the backs of your thighs in a new, bruising grip. His balls slapped against the apex of your cunt, creating something of a rhythm amongst the room that met the chorus of your moans, groans, and his grunts.

"Take it," he growled, hands sliding up to hold the back of your knees. His hips were relentless. "Oh, fuck, good girl - 's my good fuckin' girl. Feel so fuckin' good, taking all of me your first time," he smirked down at you, reaching a hand for your throat when he felt your walls tightening as his cockhead pounded into that soft, spongey spot.

You whined against the pressure on your throat - not enough to constrict but enough to feel all the way down into your toes.

"Gods," he groaned when your velveteen walls stroked him for all he was worth, "look at you, so fuckin' ready for me."

"Yes," you whimpered, reaching for his neck to yank him closer. "Please, please - "

"Tell your husband what you need, Princess," he smirked, dropping his lips to stick to yours - and pull apart messily.

You whined lowly in your throat, "Wanna cum."

"Where?"

Your hands shook as you held his cheeks in your grip, "Around you."

"That's my girl," he purred, moving himself at a renewed pace. "Where do you want me, pet?"

"In me," you didn't even realize you moaned that aloud until he groaned from deep in his chest; brows furrowed, and one hand holding himself up as the other dropped to your cunt. "Wait, wait, wait - "

"That's the feeling, my girl," he promised, fingering your pearl. "Chase it, let it come for you - let it come, good girl," he praised, catching your body when you arched into him and came with a soft cry.

"Ae-Aemond," you begged still, eager to please. His hands held your hips in place, face held to your neck; hips pumping relentlessly to chase his own end now. "Please - oh, fuck!"

He came with a shout of his own, hips swooping to thrust into yours once, twice, a third time, then grinding to a slow halt as his balls contracted to release his load in your warmth.

"Shit," he panted, body giving up some to collapse into your own. It pushed his cock further up, making your mouth open in shock; arms coiled around him to keep him against you.

"Yeah," you agreed, letting a hand smooth down his hair. His breath fanned across your collarbones, and readjusted your hold on him to press a kiss to his forehead. "All right?"

"Yeah, yeah, good," he chuckled, pecking his lips up your neck. "Are you all right?"

"Mhm," you nodded at him, noses brushing together before his lips met yours - again - slowly. "So, that's what we've been avoiding?"

He smirked, "Well, you've been avoiding, Lady, and I've been dreaming."

"How'd it match up in life?"

Your husband offered a soft smile, "'S like you're a dream come into my arms. If there is a heaven, I think I've found it."

"Oh, please - "

"No, truly, Lady," he nodded, letting his lips peck yours again. "Here, with you, I am at peace."

"Then make a bargain with me?"

"Cock's still in you, so, ask anything of me - 's yours."

You giggled lightly and rolled your eyes as he fixed himself up to his elbows to keep the pressure off your chest. "Spend some time alone with me in the next few days?"

"Lady - "

"No, I mean, let us take a period of time away from everything and just," you shrugged a bit.

"Hump?"

Your eyes rolled, "I was aiming for something a little more poetic, but sure, yes, yes, stay with me and fuck me properly."

"My Lady wife," he teased, "I did not think you so brash."

"You've not been paying attention," you teased. "Please?"

He chuckled through his nose, nodding as he shifted himself towards your side - huffing a bit when his cock pulled free of your warmth. "Whatever it is you want in this life, wife, I'll give to you," he decided as he crashed to the bed beside you, offering an open arm for you to curl against his chest.

"You sound smitten, Prince," you accused gently, nestling into your new home - at his side.

"Perhaps I am, Princess," he told you, eye taking in your entirety. "Perhaps you have me enraptured, and I am unwilling to leave your clutches."

You hummed and let your lips press to his, slowly increasing the tempo as your own libido felt newly heightened. How strange, the moment you lost your virginity, you suddenly crave the action of another warm body - or perhaps, you craved the body of your husband.

None the less, Aemond let loose the faintest of moans; hand coming up to hold the back of your head, mouths moving in sync.

When you pulled back, it was only just to mutter, "Perhaps the feeling is mutual."

"Good," he whispered, licking into your mouth again. He hummed and pressed one last hardened kiss to your mouth, then pulled back. "Give me time to nap and I will spend days worshipping you. Yes?"

"Deal," you agreed against his swollen lips, breathing stuttering when your teeth caught his bottom lip and pulled.

"Devil woman," he whispered, hand wrapping around your throat. "Behave."

"You're not making the point you think," you whispered.

"My girl likes my hand at her throat?"

"Only in this sort of position," you smirked, lips catching his own again to tangle together in a frenzied dance of passion and newly found, newly formed love.

[ part one ]

[ series masterlist ]

#aemond targaryen #prince aemond #aemond the kinslayer #aemond one eye #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x fem!reader #aemond x reader #aemond imagine #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond smut #aemond targaryen smut #house of the dragon #hotd #hotd x reader #hotd imagine #hotd smut

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runnning-outof-time · 1 year

Note

I’ve been sitting on this for a few days wondering if I should request it. For the blurb request if no one else has requested it - soft kisses on both cheeks and tip of the nose for Tommy Shelby.

Thanks for sending this in, Ace! 💕 I’m sorry I sat on it for a few weeks (maybe months at this point 😬) … I’m about a quarter of the way through the latest Birmingham chapter and I needed a break, so I decided to take on this request — I hope you like it! I think it turned out rather cheesy, but who cares…right? 😅

How Much I Love You

Tommy Shelby

Warnings: allusion to suggestive situation, Tommy’s a little mopy in this one, but then again, when isn’t he?

(Y/N) takes the opportunity to tell Tommy what she thinks when she finds him still in bed.

“Is the world going to end?” (Y/N) questioned as she shut the bedroom door behind her and pulled the corners of her robe tighter around her body. She’d got up to check on the baby about an hour ago and thought for sure that Tommy would have trailed out right after; heading to lock himself in his office for the day. To see him still in bed was a surprise.

“Huh?” Tommy questioned her, not making much effort to look in her direction as he kept his hand rested on the pillow behind his head.

“You’re still in bed,” she pointed out as she walked over to him.

“And that’s a crime now?” he raised his eyebrows as he was finally able to look at her.

“For you it might as well be,” she teased him, cracking a grin, one that he didn’t return. “Is something on your mind?” Tommy furrowed his eyebrows as to ask the silent question: ‘what?’. “You’re brooding…I can see it in your face. The only difference is that you’re doing it in here instead of your office,” she pointed out, explaining the reasoning behind her first question. Tommy sighed and looked away from her, his fingers tapping away on his chest; another one of his mannerisms that showed he was consumed by thought. “Scoot over,” she mumbled to him then, not waiting for him to do much before she sat on the side of the bed so that she could be closer to him. “What’s going on in that mind of yours?”

Tommy sighed and stared at the ceiling for a few moments before glancing over at (Y/N) again. She was waiting expectantly for him to answer her question. “I’m just wondering where we all go next,” he began.

“Go next with what?” (Y/N) asked him to clarify.

“The business…the family…” he trailed off, scratching his eyebrow with his thumb, “they all hate me now.”

“I don’t think they hate you,” she disagreed with his statement.

“I’ve put them in prison, (Y/N),” he didn’t dare dance around the subject, “sure they hate me.”

“They hate what you’ve done,” she suggested another way to look at it, “they may hate you now…they won’t hate you forever.”

“There’s no way you can know that.”

“You’re right.”

“So why bother bringing it up?��

“Because I wanted to get your mind off of it…” (Y/N) slowed their conversation down as she trailed off and took a breath, “I know how you get when your mind gets stuck on something…you become a problem unto yourself, and you cannot go down now…not with the family being where they are,” she tried to speak some sense into him. “Why don’t you go visit them?”

“(Y/N)…” Tommy spoke in a warning tone, showing her how against the idea he was.

“They ask what you’re doing, you know,” she commented, “it almost always comes up when I’m there.”

“They’re probably wondering if I’ve still managed to keep going,” he mumbled, adding in his own thoughts on the matter.

“They may be…” she trailed off, feeling stuck in the arguement at this point. Tommy could argue like a child who wasn’t getting their way, and he wouldn’t quit until he did…it made her nervous for the future arguements she’d inevitably have with their son. “But they still ask about you…you’d probably benefit from going to see them,” she shrugged her shoulders, deciding to see the light in the situation.

“Can we stop talking about this, love?” he asked her, a pleading look present on his face as he dropped his hand onto her thigh and squeezed it gently.

“What do you want to talk about then, hmm?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at him. She didn’t ask her question in any sort of tone, instead she was curious. “Should we talk about the weather?” she continued, her words making Tommy’s eyebrows furrow.

The confusion became even more apparent when she moved from sitting next to him to straddling his waist, a grin forming on her face as she leaned in closer to him. “What’re you doin’, love?” he questioned her, his hands automatically moving to the sides of her hips to hold her in place.

“I was thinking maybe we could talk about how much…” she paused, her hands moving up to take hold of his jaw. She leaned down even further to brush her lips against his. He tried to follow her, but she was too quick, and his actions made her giggle. “I…” she stopped again, kissing his left cheek, “love…” she kissed his right cheek, “you…” she pressed a kiss to his nose, making him scrunch his face at the unfamiliar feeling, which made her giggle again. She pulled back to smile at him, feeling butteflies erupt in her stomach as his eyes danced across her face. “I love you, Tommy,” she repeated herself, dropping her lips onto his then for a proper kiss.

Tommy took the opportunity, tightening his hold on her as he deepened the kiss. (Y/N) giggled against his lips before she managed to pull away and slide to lay on the bed next to him. “I should go check on the baby again,” she said to him, grinning as she spoke.

“That’s all?” he questioned her, surprise etched into his features.

“Hmm?” she played innocent, her eyebrows raised.

“You can’t do all that and then go check the baby,” he told her.

“Well I have…I’m going to check the baby,” she stuck to her guns, smiling before going to get off of the bed.

“You’re not,” Tommy managed to grab her hand and bring her onto her back once more, “because I’ve now got something to talk to you about.”

A giddy feeling arose in (Y/N)’s stomach as she saw how Tommy was looking at her. She could tell by the smirk on his face that he wasn’t going to be doing much talking. At least she’d managed to get his mind off of things.

———

Tagged: @mgcldydrms @the-anxious-youth @cloudofdisney @look-at-the-soul @elenavampire21 @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing @evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @notyour-valentine @shelbydelrey @december16-1991 @onlydeadcells @peakyswritings @just-a-blackhole @watercolorskyy @strayrockette @peakyduchesss @alexxavicry @captivatedbycillianmurphy @yummycastiel @dark-academia-slut @tommystargirl @stevie75 @lyarr24 @signorellisantichrist @zablife @anotherblinder @midnightmagpiemama @cillmequick @rangerelik @dandelionprints @letal-y-poetica @itscheybaby @gypsy-girl-08 @insanitybyanothername @depxiety @raincoffeeandfandoms @dragons-are-my-favorite @acewritesfics @forgottenpeakywriter @cilliansangel @cljordan-imperium @areyenotfondofmelobster @little-diable

MASTERLIST

#tommy shelby #tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby x y/n #tommy shelby imagine #tommy shelby blurb #tommy shelby fanfic #tommy shelby fanfiction #peaky blinders #peaky blinders x reader #peaky blinders x y/n #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders blurb #peaky blinders fanfic #peaky blinders fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic

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seungkwansphd · 1 year

Text

to boil a frog

pairing: seungcheol x reader wordcount: 15.6k summary: you & cheol go back, like way back. growing up together, you never felt anything more for him than a proximity based fondness, but things are a little different since you moved back to town. genre/themes: tattoo artist!coups, childhood acquaintances to lovers. brother’s best friend (but it’s not so much a theme as it is just a statement of fact). S L O W B U R N. idk that this is even fluff but more like just romance? mention of alcohol, tattoos, needles...cat?

a/n: truly idk what this is and why. it’s so long & self indulgent, but i’m in my soft era i guess, hah!

“Hi, I’m here for my tattoo with Seungcheol?” you checked in with the unfairly stylish receptionist at the front desk of the tattoo and piercing studio. “I booked for 3pm.”

“Okay, yes, here you are!” they smiled up at you, “If you want to just take a seat, I’ll see how he’s doing with prepping the room.”

“Perfect!” you smiled before moving towards the waiting area.

Your foot bounced excitedly as you waited. In addition to being excited to get your first tattoo, you were doubly excited because you had history with Seungcheol. He’d been one of your brother’s closest friends growing up and despite not keeping in touch since they’d left for college, you’d really enjoyed following his artistic evolution on social media. You weren’t sure if he’d recognize you anymore, to be honest. It would be funnier if he didn’t.

“YN?” the receptionist returned, greeting you with a smile, “He’s ready if you’d like to follow me!”

“Sure!” you stood, “I love your dermals, by the way! The placement is so good,” you gushed as you followed them through a short hallway.

“Ah, thank you so much! They’re probably the piercing I worry about ripping out the most, but I do love them,” they chuckled before gesturing to an open door. “He’ll be right through here.”

“Awesome, thank you so much!” you grinned before stepping through.

“Hey,” Seungcheol greeted you after hearing your footsteps. His back was still turned to you as he finished wiping down his countertop. “YN, right? You know what’s funny, one of my friends has a sister who shares your exact name. Like last name and everything,” he chuckled before turning to greet you.

“Huh that’s weird,” you mirrored his laugh, trying to hide your curiosity as his eyes finally met yours. His eyes scanned your face for a few moments before he rolled his eyes and let out a loud laugh.

“Oh I’m a fuckin’ idiot,” he laughed, “What the hell are you doing here?” he leaned back in his chair, looking at you with slight disbelief.

“Mm, here to get a tattoo,” you deadpanned.

“Yeah no shit, but why are you home? I thought you were living that big city life now,” Seungcheol rolled his eyes at you again. You had always been a sarcastic scamp as a kid and it didn’t surprise him that this was still true.

“Oh did he not tell you?” you asked, referring to your brother. “I’m moving back. Well closer at least. I got a different job offer out here.”

“Oh no, I hadn’t heard,” Seungcheol shook his head, “To be honest, Jihun and I don’t talk all that much anymore. Not since he moved, at least.”

“Ah,” you nodded, “That makes sense. Time zones and whatnot.”

“But that’s cool! New job and I bet your parents will be glad you’ll be closer.”

“Yeah,” you nodded, “They are verily psyched.”

“Well that’s dope! It’ll be good to have you around again,” Seungcheol laughed before shifting topics, “So this tattoo. Did you have something in mind? You’re my last appointment, so we can take some time drafting and working on things.”

“I was actually planning on just picking something from your available flash,” you confessed, “I’m a big fan of the latest set. But��,” you flashed him a cheesy grin, “If you’re offering, I’m not gonna turn down a custom design from you. And I expect a friends and family discount, of course.”

“You haven’t changed a bit, have you?” Seungcheol laughed heartily. You were making the same face you used to make at him in high school when you were in a bind and needed help.

“Not much,” you laughed, eyeing some of the designs up on the walls. “Honestly, I’m down for whatever,” you shrugged.

“How about this? Pick out a few of the flash designs that you like and we can weave something together. I think that’d be fun.”

“Deal,” you grinned, accepting the binder of flash sheets from him. Pursing your lips, you flipped through it in its entirety before going back to the beginning to point out the ones that had caught your eye.

Seungcheol couldn’t help but approve of the way you reviewed the designs in full before pointing out your favorites. You seemed to gravitate towards botanical, insect, and occultish designs which made sense, given how many times you’d attempted to cast spells on him and Jihun as children. More than a few times at sleepovers, they had woken up to find that rocks, leaves, and twigs had been strategically placed around them while they’d been sleeping. He couldn’t help but chuckle fondly as he recalled a specific incident where you’d snuck up on him to pluck out one of his hairs. When pressed on the issue, you’d calmly explained that you needed it for a spell to make him go bald.

“Okay, those are all the ones I like best,” you nodded at him, waiting for feedback.

“Alright, let me work something up. You can chill in here,” Seungcheol took the binder back from you, flipping between the designs you’d marked with sticky tabs and moving to draft up something new.

“How long’s it gonna take?” you made a face at him, “Can I go look at the piercing portfolios instead?” you asked, not really appealed by the idea of just sitting and waiting.

“I mean sure,” he shrugged, “Ask Wren for them,” he pointed back towards the reception area, “I’ll come get you when I’m ready.”

“Yay!” you popped up excitedly, clapping your hands together as you walked back towards reception.

“Hey Wren, can I take a peek at the piercers’ portfolios? And also can I ask you where you get your hair done? I’m moving back here soon, but I haven’t lived here in a while and could use a stylist rec.”

“Oh of course!” Wren smiled brightly at you, “So do you know Cheol from when you lived here before?” they asked as they pulled out the piercing portfolios to hand to you.

“Yea, we grew up together,” you nodded, flipping the binders open, “I wouldn’t say we were friends? But he was close friends with my brother so he was at our house a lot.”

“That makes a lot more sense,” Wren nodded with understanding, “I was wondering why he was so chatty with you! Usually his room is way more quiet.”

“Oh yeah, we go way back. A lot of shenanigans,” you grinned as a few septums caught your eye.

“So where do you live now?” Wren inquired after giving you the Instagram handle of their current stylist.

“I’m actually in the process of moving back! I got a job in the next town over, but I was thinking I’d move back around here since there’s more to do? This is actually mostly an apartment hunting trip.”

“Oh my goodness, well let’s be friends when you move back! I’ve been trying to get Cheol to come out and do things more with me and my partner, but he’s kind of introverted so he doesn’t bite all that often.”

“I don’t know that I’ll be able to convince him either,” you laughed, “We’re not exactly close. But I would love to be friends! I don’t know too many people who live here anymore.”

“Okay, deal! Let’s exchange phone numbers then. It’ll be good to hang out with someone less grumpy than Seungcheol,” Wren teased, eyes dancing at the man in question as he entered the reception area.

“So grumpy!” you giggled playfully at his expression, “I’m going to leave you a bad review for poor bedside manner,” you couldn’t help but tease him.

“You’d be grumpy too if you had two imps bothering you!” Seungcheol protested with a pout, before beckoning you with his hand, “Now come on, I’m done with my draft.”

“Okay,” you shrugged, following him back to his room.

“What do you think? It might be a little bigger than you had planned, but we can scale down if needed.”

“No, I love it!” you sighed, eyes sparkling as you looked at the design. The final draft was a staghorn beetle with a third eye on its thorax surrounded by a wreath of botanical work that included some of your favorite plants and flowers.

“I had a hard time deciding between a moth or the beetle,” Seungcheol mused, “But you were always a little…unique, so I went with the beetle.”

“Thanks, I think,” you narrowed your eyes at him, unsure if he was sassing you. “I’m a huge fan of this. I think you chose great. Now as far as placement, I am thinking thigh? Left thigh?”

“Do you wanna go this big?” Seungcheol asked. The tattoo artist in him thrilled the idea of the placement, but he wanted to make sure you weren’t overcommitting.

“I mean, I’ll be honest, that wasn’t what I had planned. But don’t you feel like…it deserves it?” you pulled up the leg of your shorts in the mirror to try and envision the placement and it just felt right. “I think at least let’s pop the stencil on so we can see it. But my gut says yeah.”

“Okay,” Seungcheol nodded. That was a good idea.

“Yeah. Yeah, yeah,” you nodded furiously at him after he had placed the stencil on. “She’s just gonna be a big bitch, I don’t know what to tell you, Seungcheol. It just feels right, right?”

“Yeah, I agree,” Seungcheol grinned at you, “We can do this in multiple sittings too, so don’t feel like it needs to all be done in one day.”

“I’ll let you know,” you smiled up at him, “Eee! I’m excited!”

“Alright skippy, let’s get you up on this table and we’ll get started,” Seungcheol patted the tattoo table. He made a few adjustments so that your thigh was positioned at a comfortable working height before getting started. “How’s that?” he asked above the buzzing of the tattoo gun.

“Not too bad, actually,” you were surprised to find out, “It’s just…buzzy?”

“Hah! I mean that’s good, okay I’ll keep going then,” he laughed, ducking his head back down to continue working.

The time passed surprisingly quickly. You and Seungcheol caught up on a variety of topics until you ran out of things to talk about. After that, he let you choose some music and you simply watched him work quietly. By your math, it had been around two years since you had last seen him and seven since you’d had an actual conversation with him. Somehow he looked both the same and different. He had always been sturdy, especially in the legs, but he seemed to have filled out more in the arms and shoulders in recent years. His face looked exactly the same, but his hair was now longer than you remembered it ever being in the past. It suited him.

“Doing okay?” he checked in as he worked on a section of shading. He had been going over the same area of skin for a while and was wondering how you were holding up.

“Yup,” you nodded. It was starting to get a bit sensitive, but you weren’t ready to tap out just yet. You focused on inhaling deeply through your nostrils and exhaling slowly through your mouth, which helped.

“Good girl,” he murmured approvingly as his left hand moved to grasp you at the knee, turning your inner thigh out to face him a bit more.

Your eyes flashed to him and your breathing pattern halted as you processed his words. With the soft praise, the somewhat breathy tone of his voice, and the pressure of his fingertips at your inner thigh, you found yourself shivering. Whether Seungcheol was aware of it or not, you found yourself deeply flustered by his praise and wildly confused at your reaction. Swallowing, you tried to gauge whether he even registered what he had just said, but he seemed to still be deeply absorbed in shading.

“Should we take a break?” he looked up suddenly, “You’re getting squirmy, it seems like.”

“I-, uh, yeah,” you did your best to act normal, “Yeah a break would be good, I think,” you managed to answer him.

“Okay,” Seungcheol stood up, “I could stand to stretch my legs anyways.”

“Sounds good,” you gave him a thumbs up as you raised your arms above your head to do some stretching yourself.

Seungcheol peeled off his gloves and turned to take a sip of water. His expression creased once his back was turned to you. Why the hell had he said that to you? It certainly hadn’t been on purpose, but as soon as it left his mouth, he’d wanted to wince. He could only hope that you hadn’t heard it or registered its weirdness.

“Do you need any water or a snack? We’ve been at it for a while,” he offered, pulling open a cabinet to reveal a handful of water bottles and a variety of snacks.

“I have water in my bag, if you don’t mind grabbing it for me? I would eat something though.”

“Should we order something? It’s getting to be around dinner time, I wouldn’t mind eating something proper,” he suggested as he handed you a granola bar.

“Oh yeah! Build in another break in a couple of hours, that sounds good. What’s good to eat around here nowadays?” you asked through a mouthful of granola.

“Tomato Pie is actually still open, if you feel like pizza,” Seungcheol chuckled as he scrolled through restaurants on his phone. “Otherwise it just depends on what you want?”

“I’m not feeling pizza. Let’s save TP for another time,” you shook your head, “What about sushi? Something light or fresh.”

“Oh sure! Um, how about this place?” he offered you his phone. You scanned the PDF menu before nodding.

“Yeah that looks good! I’ll do roll 37 in a combo.”

“Cool, I’ll have Wren order for us. They might want to eat too,” he nodded, stepping out of the room momentarily. Before too long, the sound of the tattoo gun was droning and you fell into an easy quiet with Seungcheol again.

“Please tell me more about Cheol as a kid,” Wren asked desperately as they swirled udon around their chopsticks.

“No,” Seungcheol grumbled.

“Of course!” you answered over him.

“Do y’all have a favorite memory together? Or a most distinct one?”

“Favorite?” your brows furrowed in concentration as you tried to think. “Like I said, he and I weren’t really friends? But, oh!” you clapped your hands together suddenly, “But this one stands out! It was the end of summer before Jihun and Seungcheol were leaving for college.”

“Please don’t tell this story,” Seungcheol buried his face into his hands, ears turning pink.

“Oh it’s cute though!” you argued, but you wouldn’t tell it without his consent. You waited a moment for him to lift his head again, eyebrows raising in a way that you knew to mean ‘go ahead’.

Eyes sparkling, you recalled the night before your brother and Seungcheol moved away for college. You had been nearly inconsolable as you and Jihun really had been close growing up and you simply couldn’t imagine finishing high school without them. He and Seungcheol had tried all manner of things to cheer you up, but nothing worked until they whipped out an emergency dance routine to your then-favorite boy band. They hadn’t really put all that much effort into learning it and mostly tripped over themselves, but it had done the trick and you’d laughed so hard that you cried. That was still an incredibly fond night for you.

“Oh and he was blonde then too! That was an era,” you wrinkled your nose as you finished telling the story.

“He can dance?” Wren looked at you incredulously.

“No, he can’t! But he tried, and that was what was important,” you chuckled heartily. “Honestly, Cheol was kind of just a good person. He was usually nice to me, but generally I just saw glimpses of him around.”

“You’re failing to mention all of the times that I bailed you out when Jihun was busy,” Seungcheol gave you a pointed glance.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” you shook your head playfully at him. “He’s always been an old man like this.”

“He is responsible like that, isn’t he?” Wren nodded at you. “Our Studio Daddy.”

“Eugh yuck!” your skin crawled as you heard Wren refer to Seungcheol as Daddy. “No no no, don’t like that one bit!”

“You and me both,” Seungcheol rolled his eyes at both of you as he finished up his food. “You done? Let’s finish this bitch up. We’re getting close.”

“You good to lock up, boss?” Wren asked as they cleared their dishes.

“Yeah, you’re good! Just turn off the reception lights and lock the door when you leave. Don’t want any randos wandering in.”

“Sure!”

“So are you in charge?” you asked after Seungcheol had settled back into to finish up the last sections of shading on the beetle legs. Wren kept referring to him as ‘boss’, but you couldn’t tell if it was just good natured ribbing.

“Kind of. I hate being called boss, but I do own the studio now. The last owners were ready to retire and move, so they made me a good deal. I don’t feel like the owner yet, but I guess technically I am.”

“Wow, that’s…that’s really impressive, Seungcheol. I’m proud of you,” you smiled genuinely at him.

“This is weird, you’re never this serious,” he raised an eyebrow at you, a little uncomfortable to receive your genuine praise.

“I know, but I am serious!” you laughed, “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’ve been following you for a while. I’m proud of how you’ve developed your art form and now you even own the studio! I think that’s super dope.”

“Thanks,” he grinned, ducking his head down to hide his blush under the guise of inspecting his work. It wasn’t too much longer before he was finished and applying tattoo dressing. “So for aftercare. Everyone has their own opinion, but I like Saniderm. Keep this one on for 24 hours and remove and wash. If you want, you can apply another sheet. Try to wear loose clothing as much as you can, but life is life. You can always call if you feel like it looks weird, but basically treat it like a wound cause it is.”

“Cool, sounds good!” you gave him a thumbs up. “What’s the damage, boss?”

“Shut up,” he rolled his eyes at you before working up a number that was on the low end of reasonable.

“That’s too low,” you decided, counting out bills until you reached a number that seemed more fair. “Dinner money’s in there too.”

“I-,” Seungcheol was slightly surprised. Not that he thought you’d be stingy, but because he was still accustomed to the you that begged rides off of him and never had gas money.

“I’ve had a big kid job for years now, don’t look so shocked,” you smiled at him, tucking your things back into your bag. “It was really good to see you, Coups. Maybe Wren and I can talk you into a night out sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he half smiled at the old nickname as he waved you out the door. His lips curled into a full smile after the door swung shut. It had been good to see you.

…

“Hey boss?” Wren popped into Seungcheol’s office, trying to seem casual.

“I told you don’t call me that,” he looked up from his sketching. “What is it?”

“Do you have any strong friends that could help move some furniture this weekend? They will be paid.”

“You’ve never paid me to move furniture for you,” he narrowed his eyes at Wren, “Also didn’t you just move like a couple months ago? Why are you moving again?”

“Not me, YN. They just texted me. I guess the moving company cancelled at the last minute, so she’s scrambling for options.”

“Oh, shit. That sucks,” Seungcheol crossed his arms, brow furrowing at the situation. “I mean I could probably scrounge up a few friends.”

“Huh, okay!” Wren fixed their boss with an odd glance before plopping into the empty chair across from him. “Did you and YN ever date? Or like…have a thing?”

“What? No,” Seungcheol made a face of slight distaste at his receptionist. “That has never even crossed my mind until now. And I find it unpleasant.”

“Ugh, boo! Friends to lovers is the best trope,” Wren frowned, “I should’ve known you’d be a party pooper about this too. Oh well, I’ll let YN know that she can count on at least one of you meatheads to show up. I’ll get the address and stuff from her too!”

“Sounds good,” Seungcheol nodded, making a quick note on a scrap piece of paper to see whether Mingyu would be free and to exchange phone numbers with you so you could contact him directly.

…

“Hey Cheol?”

“Huh?” Seungcheol looked up from his desk. He had been very much in the zone, so the interruption had him slightly befuddled. “Oh, YN? What are you doing here?”

“Do you mind if I chill in the lobby and charge my phone? I didn’t see Wren, they must be doing something else, but I didn’t want to just be like a loiterer without someone knowing,” you huffed.

“Yeah, I mean, but you didn’t answer my question. Are you okay?” he asked. You didn’t look completely upended, but you were a little frazzled.

“Oh, yeah I’m fine! I just got lost and my phone battery died so I couldn’t pull up a map,” you grumbled, shuffling back to the waiting area and setting your bag down. You rifled through briefly to pull out a charging cable. “I decided to bus and walk home after work, since I’m still trying to get the layout of the city, but I got super lost. I slightly recognized this neighborhood from when I drove in for the tattoo. So here I am!” you gestured as if to say ‘ta-da’.

“Ah, I see,” Cheol couldn’t help but laugh as he took a seat next to you in the lobby. “How is work going?”

“Pretty good! I’m picking up the quirks of the software that they use, but for the most part, the job is very similar to my old one and I’ll be good at it. I like my coworkers too, which is always good.”

“Good,” he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“How was your day? Busy?”

“It was okay,” he shrugged, “No tattoos today, I have Wednesdays set aside for bookkeeping, paperwork, and other businessy activities. Not my favorite, but gotta do it.”

“And how’s that?” you grinned at him, “If I remember right, you weren’t the most mathematically inclined.”

“You remember correctly,” Seungcheol grimaced.

“If you ever want help with the bookkeeping stuff, let me know. I can build a mean spreadsheet,” you offered. Despite not having been close with him in years, you felt invested in his success.

“Really?” he cocked his head at you, surprised.

“Of course! We were friendly before, right? We can be friends for real this time,” you scrunched your nose playfully at him. “Plus I definitely owe you for sending me Mingyu and Chan. Lifesavers, those two.”

“Yeah, they’re alright,” Seungcheol chuckled. “I might take you up on that spreadsheet thing, cause doing the math by hand is strange and unusual punishment.”

“Sounds good, just text me,” you nodded, eyes lighting up when your phone had charged enough to power itself back on.

“YN!” Wren called your name excitedly as they returned to the reception desk. “Sorry, I was taking inventory. What are you doing here?”

Seungcheol returned to his office as you gave Wren the rundown of your unfortunate turn of events. You wanted to be friends this time around, huh? That could be alright.

…

“I’m starting to regret this whole ‘friends’ thing,” Seungcheol groaned as you dragged him towards the bar. The rest of the studio staff was already there, but he had taken his time closing up, hoping that Wren would’ve run out of patience and just left without him. In the past, this strategy had been successful, but that was before you were part of the equation. You had a longer attention span and just when Seungcheol thought he’d gotten away with it, you’d popped up at his side, asking him if he was ready to go.

“No take backs,” you teased, only releasing the grip on his sleeve after you’d pulled him full inside the establishment. “Wren! We’re here!”

“Finally! Did he do his usual thing of taking way too long?”

“Yes, you were right,” you laughed, hopping onto an empty barstool.

Cheol narrowed his eyes at you. While he had grown to be able to handle Wren’s brand of shenanigans, he wasn’t sure how to feel about your powers combined. He watched you chat excitedly with Vernon about lizards or something before deciding that he needed a beer.

“Anyone else need drinks?�� he asked, glancing across the table.

“If you’re buying, then yes!” Hoshi jumped up excitedly and appeared at Seungcheol’s side.

“YN, what do you want?” Wren tapped on your shoulder gently as they moved to order with Cheol.

“Oh, whiskey soda with a cherry?”

“What?!” Wren’s eyebrows pinched together, “Miss girl, this is a dive bar. Can you please

order something normal?”

“Hah! Well then just get me a beer or something,” you shrugged, eager to get back to discussing the Galapagos marine iguana’s algae based diet with Vernon.

“What the hell are they even talking about?” Wren did a double take before their boss tugged them towards the bar.

“It’s better that you probably don’t ask,” he chuckled as he hailed the bartender.

“Hey what can I get you?”

Wren rattled off the group’s order before looking back at you. “Shit, and some sort of beer,” their brow furrowed as they scanned through the options.

“You got cherries back there?” Seungcheol cut through Wren’s thinking.

“Yeah,” the bartender fixed him with a surprised look.

“Okay, then a whiskey soda with a splash of sour and a cherry. Nix that beer.”

“Weird, but sure,” the bartender laughed, moving to fill the order.

“I don’t think she asked for sour?” Wren asked Seungcheol.

“She always forgets to say it. She won’t like it without it,” he shrugged with a wry smile.

Wren watched their boss out of the corner of their eye. In the few weeks of knowing you, Wren had done a little bit of poking and was surprised that you and Seungcheol both independently maintained that nothing had ever happened or even threatened to happen between you two. In fact, you both had such a surprised reaction that made it seem like neither of you had even entertained the possibility. Yet, small things like this happened every so often and would surprise Wren anew that things were just platonic between you two.

“You got it all?” the bartender asked again, watching Cheol and Wren haphazardly gather up the six drinks between them.

“I think we’re good,” Wren finally nodded, leading the way back to the table. “Okay, so…,” they trailed off as they doled out the drinks around the table.

“Oh! I thought I was getting beer?” you were surprised when you received your drink.

“They had cherries,” was all Seungcheol offered up in explanation.

“Oh, well thanks!” you beamed at him before taking a sip.

“So what was the name of that documentary again?” Vernon asked, drawing your attention back, “I might just leave now to watch it,” he mumbled to himself as he pulled out his phone to make a note.

“Oh come on,” you chided him, “We just got here! I’ll give you the name of the documentary at the end of the night, as incentive,” you suggested.

“That’ll work,” he grumbled slightly, slipping his phone into his pocket and turning his attention back to the group’s conversation. Hoshi was regaling the group theatrically about something or the other.

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow. He was surprised that you’d managed to convince Vernon to stay out. That was something that even he couldn’t pull off sometimes.

“So YN, are you liking your new job?” Hoshi asked after sharing his many personal thoughts and feelings about Tiger King.

“Yes!” you nodded, “I really like everyone at the practice! My trainer is super funny and nice and she said I’m basically ready to fly solo next week,” you grinned, a little nervous now that all eyes were on you.

“Remind me what you do again?” Joshua asked kindly. He was one of the piercers at the studio that you had probably spent the least amount of time with.

“I’m a vet tech! So, you know, helping with exams, running analyses, and giving vaccinations. That kind of thing.”

“Ah, so we have some things in common then,” Joshua quipped about the vaccinations.

“Hey if you’ve got a passion for stabbin’, might as well get paid for it,” you joked, prompting a chorus of laughs.

Eventually, the group broke off, some heading to the dance floor and others moving to play darts. You watched the game of darts until you were ready for a refill. As you waited for the bartender, you fished the cherry out from your melting ice cubes. It was the best part, after all.

“What’re you drinking there?” a voice to your right drew your attention.

“Hm,” you regarded the man with a suspicious glance, “I don’t think I'll tell you. You look like you’d tease me for it.”

“Oh? Well it’ll be tricky to buy you a drink, then,” he chuckled, a little taken aback by your response.

“I-,what?” you blurted out after processing his words.

“I’m Yejun,” he smiled at you, “Can I buy your next drink?”

“Hm, I suppose you can!” you chuckled. You observed his side profile as he flagged down the bartender. “So do you live here, Yejun?”

“I do,” he nodded, “Do you?”

“I do now,” you grinned, “I actually grew up around here and recently moved back for a job. Things are kind of the same, kind of different.”

“Oh really? How long has it been since you lived here? And what’s different?” he asked, smiling charmingly as he leaned against the bar, turning to face you fully.

Seungcheol watched intently as you chatted with this man. His brow furrowed slightly trying to gauge whether he needed to intervene. For a while, your expression was wary, but eventually you broke out into a teasing smile and he could tell that the attention was welcome. You were more than capable of holding your own, Cheol knew that, and so he returned to watching darts.

Wren was stumped as they watched Seungcheol watch you. For a moment he’d almost looked jealous, but that tension eventually dissipated and he returned to darts as if nothing had happened. When Wren looked at you again, you were happily chatting with a man at the bar, which was somehow even more confusing.

…

“Ah, I’m so glad you were free this weekend! You’ve been so wrapped up in Yejun that I feel like I barely see you anymore!” Wren tittered animatedly as they wrapped you up in a hug.

“Wren we hung out on Tuesday,” you laughed, shaking your head.

“Yes, and it’s been far too long between then and now. Speaking of, how are things going with Yejun? If he’s not treating you well, I will bring the boys to beat him up!” Wren threatened.

“There’s no need for that at all,” you shook your head vigorously, “Things are going good! I don’t know that I feel super…serious about him, but it’s been fun so far!”

“Hm. Well if you’d rather just date someone at the studio, I’d prefer that so I could see you all the time! I think Vernon is single, and you both love those damned lizards.”

“Hah! Iguanas,” you corrected them as you scanned down the list of cocktails. An aperol spritzer sounded good in the day’s warm weather. “No, I won’t date anyone at the studio. I don’t date friends, that’s a recipe for disaster.”

“You’re smarter than most,” Wren laughed. Couldn’t fault your logic.

“How are things with the boys? I feel like it’s been a bit since I’ve seen everyone. Anything interesting happen lately?”

“Oh, we might have a stray cat hanging around?” Wren clapped their hands together, “There’s a calico that showed up both yesterday and today.”

“Really? No collar or anything, I assume? Does it have a clipped ear? Is it friendly?”

“No, no, and yes,” Wren answered, “Should we do anything special for it?”

“Honestly, we should try and grab it so that we can take it to a vet to get it checked out. See if it’s microchipped. I can bring some stuff from the office and maybe let’s pick up some wet food after lunch? You can bring that to the studio.”

“Sounds good!” Wren nodded gamely. “Aside from that, nothing new at the studio. We’re a boring bunch these days.”

“You know honestly, that’s not a bad thing,” you smiled.

“We should go out for a happy hour sometime this week,” Wren suggested as your entrees arrived. “Maybe Thursday? You can bring Yejun!”

“Oh sure! Are we going to try and bring Seungcheol? Or not worth the fight?” you scrunched your nose up playfully.

“I mean, I always want the whole gang to be there. But might need your help again.”

“I can be on Coups duty,” you laughed, “It’s light work.”

“Alright, well if you’re in then I’m in,” Wren laughed. You did seem to have a way with Seungcheol that nobody else did.

The rest of lunch was filled with odds and ends of conversation before you and Wren walked to the supermarket to pick up a few cans of wet cat food. Wren headed back to the studio and you drove to the veterinary office to pick up some supplies. A humane trap, a cat carrier, and a kitty straightjacket accompanied you back to the tattoo studio.

“I’m here!” you announced as you brought the trap into the reception area.

“Um, what’s happening now?” Minghao, one of the other tattoo artists, looked on curiously as you fiddled with the gate of the humane trap.

“I told YN about our new friend! She’s going to help us trap it so we can take it to the vet.”

“Oh, I see,” Hao chuckled before returning to his room. Since you’d moved back home, you’d clearly established yourself as Wren’s new partner in crime. It was usually entertaining.

“Okay, I think I got it,” you nodded before grabbing a can of food and walking back outside to place the trap against the side of the building. You popped the can open and placed it at the back of the trap. “Now hopefully we catch the stray cat and not some other beastie,” you muttered to yourself as you walked back inside. Last time you’d set up a humane trap, you’d woken up to a livid raccoon instead of the stray you’d set out to capture.

“Hey Wren, can you order more of these supplies please?” Cheol dropped off a list at the receptionist desk, barely registering your presence. Between your help setting up his profit and loss statements and just general shenanigans with Wren, you’d become somewhat of a regular at the studio.

“Sir, yes sir!” Wren saluted playfully before waving you out the door. You had errands to run yet, but you let Wren know to call you if and when the stray showed back up.

…

“Oh my gosh, she is so so cute! I have named her Sausage Patty, we shall call her Patty and I love her very much,” you gushed over drinks. The studio had organized a staff outing again and Yejun had opted to join, so all of your people were in one place.

“You said this was a cat?” Yejun asked, “I thought your place didn’t allow pets?”

“It doesn’t,” you sighed, “But Cheol can keep her in until I can find a new place, right? It isn’t too terribly long before my lease is up,” you pleaded with him hopefully.

“Ah,” Yejun shifted uncomfortably, “I, um. We should talk later,” he ducked his head to whisper in your ear.

“Oh, okay?” you nodded at this ominous feeling request.

“So Yejun, tell us about yourself,” Wren prompted, eager to get to know the person you’d been dating. “YN has mentioned some things, but I’m nosy.”

Yejun chuckled good naturedly and shared his age, where he had lived before here, and that he worked as a financial advisor at the local bank.

“Oh interesting, do you enjoy that?” Joshua asked, eyes dancing.

Seungcheol fixed Joshua and Hoshi with a warning glance as Yejun answered Joshua’s query. He could tell that the boys did not find Yejun particularly interesting, but they didn’t have to in order to be nice. You were the one dating him, after all.

“It’s alright,” Yejun shrugged, not picking up on Shua’s teasing. “There are things that I like and things that I don’t, but that’s any job, isn’t it?”

“Sure is!” Hoshi chimed in mischievously, “For example, Seungcheol is the thing that I don’t like most about my job.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cheol laughed, “If this is where the conversation is going, then I’m going to grab a beer,” he announced. Joshua took the opportunity to join him at the bar.

“My god, our YN is dating a banker? Where did we go wrong, Cheol?” Joshua bemoaned jokingly as he leaned against the bar.

“Joshua,” Cheol warned him, the slightest edge audible in his voice. “Be nice.”

“He’s so dull,” Joshua pressed on, “She can do better.”

“That’s not our business,” Seungcheol shrugged as he accepted a fresh beer from the bartender. “If you can’t be nice, then I suggest you stay away. YN will take it personally if you tell her you don’t like him. Just leave it.”

“Fine,” Joshua ran his tongue over his teeth with displeasure, “A banker of all things. Please.”

“You remember when you dated that flight attendant, right? We all kept it to ourselves until things ended. YN is our friend now, so you can do her the same courtesy.”

“I wish you’d given me your honest feedback then. That was a major waste of my time,” Joshua bristled as he recalled that toxic relationship.

When they returned to the table they found that Hoshi had wandered off with Vernon to play darts and Wren was doing their best to hold the conversation with Yejun. There really wasn’t anything specifically wrong with Yejun, he just didn’t have much in common with any of them. Seungcheol briefly wondered what you two talked about, but it left his mind just as quickly.

“So what did you want to talk about earlier?” you asked Yejun hesitantly as he walked you to your door. There was a nip in the air and your cheeks were flushed pink as you looked up at him.

“Oh, yeah,” his expression filled with unease, “I guess I should let you know that I’m allergic to cats. It hadn’t really come up before, but it’s relevant now.”

“Oh,” your expression fell at this news. Somehow it was both a big deal and not a big deal. On the one hand, you were still in a very casual stage with Yejun and wouldn’t be able to live with Patty for a while even if you and Seungcheol did manage to work something out. But on the other hand, if this was a deal breaker, you wondered if you were just wasting your time. You loved animals and couldn’t envision a future without them. “Are you allergic to other animals too? Or just cats?”

“Mildly allergic to dogs, but my cat allergy is quite severe,” he answered apologetically.

“I see,” you nodded, “Well…I would say that since I’m still not sure I’ll be able to convince Seungcheol to keep Patty for me in the meantime and I’m at least five months out from being at the end of my lease, I’m not sure this needs to change anything between us? What do you think, though?”

“I agree,” Yejun smiled with a sense of relief.

“Great,” you grinned up at him. “Well, I’m home. Maybe we can do something next week?”

“That sounds great!” Yejun pulled you in for a quick peck before moving to drive himself home.

…

“Hello?” Seungcheol’s brows furrowed as he read the name on the incoming call. “YN? Are you okay?”

“Hey,” you sniffed, second guessing yourself. You briefly considered hanging up, but decided it would be helpful to have a sounding board. “Are you busy?”

“No, what’s up?” he shook his head, noting that you hadn’t answered his question.

“Can I swing by? I need some advice. Or maybe just to talk, I’m not sure,” you muttered, pressing your palm against your cheek.

“Yeah, of course,” Cheol nodded, “I’m home right now so come by whenever. Patty would like to see you too, I’m sure.”

“Okay, I’ll be over soon then,” you nodded forlornly before ending the call.

You second guessed yourself the entire way over. Maybe this wasn’t a big enough deal to bother Seungcheol about. Maybe you should’ve called Wren instead. But you knew that Wren would not be impartial and you knew, in your gut, that if it wasn’t a big enough deal to bother Cheol about, then you wouldn’t have called him. Before you knew it, you were parked in front of Seungcheol’s place and you weren’t about to drive right back home.

You walked up the steps and tried the doorknob. With all of the shared cat custody, he had gotten into the habit of leaving the front door unlocked when he knew you were on the way. Today was no different.

“I’m here,” you announced generally as you slipped off your shoes. Cheol appeared with a beer before you had gotten the second one off.

“You sounded like you needed a drink,” he smiled sympathetically at you.

“You know all about me nowadays, huh?” you laughed, taking the cold beverage from him.

“Little bit,” he grinned, “So what’s up?” he asked after you took a seat at his kitchen table. You gestured for him to sit down next to you before you answered.

“Yejun and I broke up…I guess? Is it even breaking up if you were just kind of dating?” you thought aloud. “Whatever you want to call it, we will no longer be a thing.”

“Ah, I’m sorry to hear that,” Seungcheol’s expression creased with worry. “Do you want to talk about what happened? Or what’s helpful?”

“I’m not too torn up about what happened,” you thought for a moment, trying to identify your feelings, “But I am sad. But I don’t feel like I should be sad because it wasn’t that serious? Also he was allergic to cats so was it gonna work out anyways?” you were surprised when you felt the tears pricking at your eyes. You had done such a good job of keeping it together all week, but now talking about it in such clarity really broke something free inside of you and suddenly you were crying.

Seungcheol froze. He had never seen you cry before and he was at a loss about what to do. He wanted to be supportive, but didn’t really know what that should look like for you. Did you want a hug? Did you hate hugs? It frustrated him deeply that he didn’t already know the answer.

“What would be helpful right now?” he found himself asking.

“It’s silly, but I could use a hug,” you sighed, almost rolling your eyes at yourself. You’d never really been one for physical affection, but the thought of being wrapped up in Cheol’s arms seemed comforting in a way that you needed desperately right now.

He moved immediately, standing over you with his arms outstretched. You stood up to fit yourself into him and his arms folded around you without thought. You were surprised at how natural it felt. You allowed yourself a few more sobs into his chest before letting yourself just feel warm and secure in his hold.

Seungcheol experienced the whole gamut of human emotion as he held you. Anger at Yejun for causing you to feel this way. Empathetic sadness. Relief when your crying stopped. And…pride at the feeling of being able to provide you comfort. It was very different and new to Seungcheol to see you in this emotionally vulnerable state, but not unpleasant by any measure.

“Okay, I feel better,” you chuckled sheepishly, pulling away from Cheol and wiping at your cheeks. “I should go home and get some sleep.”

“Okay,” he nodded at you, surprised at the instinct he felt to pull you back in.

“Thanks Cheol. Seriously.”

…

“I think I’m getting cold feet,” Seungcheol grimaced after seeing you mix up the bleach in a somewhat alarming way.

“No, no take backs!” you frowned, turning your foil-covered head towards him.

Several days ago, you had bought the largest containers of bleach powder and developer that they sold at the beauty supply store. You kept saying that you weren’t torn up over Yejun, but you figured why not allow yourself to partake in some of the traditional post-break up rituals? An entirely new haircut didn’t appeal to you, but adding some vivid color did seem fun. You weren’t totally sure how Seungcheol had caught wind of this undertaking, but when he’d thought out loud about going blonde again, Wren had been insistent. Whether it turned out looking good or his hair fell off, it didn’t matter too much to Wren. Both outcomes were equally pleasing.

“I-,” he grimaced, “If I end up having to buzz my head, you’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Cheol, relax,” you tried to reassure him, “I have done this before. Now just sit still.”

Seungcheol sucked on his teeth before acquiescing and sitting down on the stool in front of you, allowing you to get started. You grinned happily as you ran your fingers through his hair, sectioning them off and applying the bleach to the foils. The way he enjoyed feeling your hands running through his hair was a little surprising to him, but soon he found himself just watching you and smiling at the way you smiled.

“Are you excited to be blonde again?” you asked around three quarters of the way through. “Was the last time in high school?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Cheol thought for a moment, “Didn’t you help me and Jihun that time too?”

“Probably? Like your guys’ senior year?”

“Yes,” he smiled, “That was a good look, if I do say so myself.”

“I agree,” you nodded as you grabbed a spare grocery bag to pop over his completely foiled head. “Okay, now we can let that process for 30 minutes. It should start to feel warm, mine kind of does already,” you touched your own foils gingerly.

“Okay, you wanna watch something while we wait?” he shrugged, flipping on the television.

“Sure,” you nodded, sitting down on the couch. You giggled happily when Patty hopped onto your lap and you scratched her under the chin.

“She loves you,” he chuckled, watching you interact with the cat.

“She loves you too!” you insisted, “Go see your dad,” you whispered at her playfully, which she ignored.

“No, she’s your cat and your cat alone. I’m just her landlord,” Seungcheol chuckled, unable to keep himself from thinking about the implication of ‘dad’.

“Okay, time to check!” you jumped up when the timer sounded. “Let me check mine first and then I’ll check yours,” you announced as you moved to the bathroom mirror.

“How’s it lookin’?” Cheol asked, leaning against the door jamb.

“I think a little longer, I’ll check again in fifteen. Now come here,” you beckoned him over. He moved to face you and spread his feet apart until you could see the top of his head. You peeled back a few foils and were surprised to see that it had lightened sufficiently. Lucky bastard. “I think you’re good to go, Seungcheol! You can rinse that bleach out and then I’ll tone you.”

“Word,” he nodded, helping you remove the rest of the foils and tuck them into garbage. You massaged your fingers through his hair, evaluating the rest of the strands before confirming he was ready to rinse. Without a word, he tugged his shirt up over his head before moving to grab the shower head.

“What are you doing?!” you almost shouted, alarmed by the shedding of clothes.

“I don’t want to get my shirt wet,” he shrugged, somehow pleased at the way you jumped.

“Let me get out of the bathroom first,” you grumbled, flushed in the cheeks as you made your way back into the living room.

“Okay, I’m done. You wanna check your foils again?” he emerged from the bathroom, rubbing his hair with a towel.

“Yes,” you nodded, trying to look anywhere but at him as he had not put the shirt back on.

After you had also rinsed the bleach out from your ends, you started mixing up toner and color. For a second time, you were applying and massaging solution into his hair.

“This feels nice,” Cheol remarked with his eyes closed, enjoying your touch.

“Does it?” your eyebrows raised, trying to stay composed. You didn’t need to look at his bare chest. You didn’t. “I guess that makes sense, like a scalp massage, right?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, eyes slowly opening again to meet your gaze through the mirror. His lips had curled into a half smile and the way he looked at you made your heart stop for a moment.

“Okay, go pop another bag on your head and let that process for 20-ish minutes?” you glanced away, clearing your throat needlessly. As Seungcheol flopped onto the couch, you applied the tanzanite hair dye to your bleached ends, doing your best to avoid staining his bathroom permanently.

“Okay, my timer’s up!” Cheol announced as he burst into the bathroom again unceremoniously. Apparently you’d zoned out after applying the purple dye and you jumped at his intrusion. “Scoot,” he grabbed you at the waist and relocated you easily. He grabbed the showerhead and leaned over the tub, rinsing the silver toner out of his hair. You intended to leave, you wanted to leave, but when it came down to it you couldn’t do anything but stare at his broad back, mind frazzled at the way he had lifted you up so easily.

“Damn,” Seungcheol whistled appreciatively, regarding himself in the mirror, “This looks good!”

“You’re welcome,” you nodded surely at him, “And you doubted me.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry, you killed it,” Cheol grinned at you. Without thinking it through, he pulled you into his chest and gave you a squeeze.

“Cheol, dye!” you panicked, pushing him away. “See, now you’re purple,” you frowned, looking at the splotch of purple on his chest that had transferred from your hair. Without thought, you swiped at it with your fingers, hoping to wipe it off before it stained too badly. It took a few passes, but eventually you gathered it all and rinsed it down the sink drain.

“Thanks,” Seungcheol coughed, nerves alight at the friction of your fingertips woefully close to his nipple. A quick shudder ran through him before he could gather his thoughts and compose himself.

“Okay, now get out, I’m going to rinse out my color. Mine’s gonna be messy, so I’m just gonna take an actual shower,” you shooed him out insistently.

After you closed and locked the door for good measure, you let out a sigh. What had you been thinking, touching his bare chest like that? You must be out of your mind. Jumping into the shower, you let the water wash the dye from your hair and the thoughts from your mind.

Seungcheol ruminated while you showered. He had already acknowledged that something in him had shifted after you’d visited him last week. You had always just been Jihun’s sister and that hadn’t really changed much since you’d moved back. However, seeing you in that emotionally vulnerable state last week had started to chip away at the way he thought of you.

“Whew, okay, the ordeal is done!” you laughed as you emerged from the bathroom pointing at the towel wrapped around your head. “I picked a darker one, but I can’t promise that the purple is gonna wash out,” you chuckled sheepishly, skin pink and glowing from the shower.

“I’m not worried about that,” Cheol shrugged, “Now take a rest, stylist,” he teased, patting the couch cushion next to him. Patty chirped in protest at the noisy impact, but settled back into his lap eventually as you finished the show you had started earlier.

…

“Cheol, Cheol!” Wren beckoned Seungcheol as he was walking through the hallway towards the stockroom.

“What?”

“What do you think about starting a Tiktok account for the studio? People seem to really like them, it could help us drum up some business!”

“I don’t know…,” he rubbed his chin contemplatively, “Are you going to run it? I want no part of it, to be honest.”

“Yes, I will!” Wren nodded furiously, “This looks way more fun and I could definitely do it between my normal job responsibilities.”

“I-, okay. But people have to agree to be in your videos, okay? None of this sneaky filming business,” Seungcheol furrowed his brows at them before returning to his office.

To Seungcheol’s surprise, Wren really took initiative of the social media management and within a month or so, had amassed a significant number of followers. Wren was always on their phone anyways, and so kept on top of the latest trends and viral sounds. Seungcheol was also surprised at the ways in which the internet seemed to love their ragtag group. Folks found Joshua to be painfully handsome, Vernon and Hoshi to be side bustingly funny, and Wren to be endearing. You had even featured in a handful of videos when you’d happened to be at the studio and commenters the entire week afterwards playfully demanded ‘more YN content’.

“Cheol, have you reconsidered showing your face on Tiktok?” you asked after watching a ‘the art versus the artist’ tiktok.

“No,” he shook his head firmly.

“Aw man, this would’ve been a good video too!” you pouted, turning your phone to show Wren.

“Oh damn it, yeah it would be!” they shouted woefully.

“What is it?” Coups asked, feigning indifference.

“Okay, so the concept is showing art and then the artist that made it. Cheol you’re so talented, I feel like this is such a nice way to showcase your work!” you pleaded with him, though you were not particularly hopeful. When he didn’t reject you outright, you offered him your phone to show an example.

“Hm,” the corner of his lip pulled back as he contemplated. Your heart rose hopefully in your chest, was he genuinely considering this?

“YN can be in the video too! She’s a good example of healed work!” Wren clapped excitedly at the prospect. “We can start the video zoomed in on her thigh tattoo and then zoom out to show you!”

Seungcheol raised his eyebrows at you in an unspoken question. It seemed that he was in if you were too. Holding back an ecstatic squeal, you nodded, over the moon at finally getting Cheol to agree to be in a Tiktok.

The first section went smoothly. Wren positioned you in front of the studio window for flattering lighting and then zoomed in on your thigh. The second part where they would zoom out to a video of Seungcheol was not as seamless. First they wanted to try a solo shot, which didn’t pass muster. Then you tried posing next to Cheol, which Wren deemed ‘too stiff’. Finally, they took over full creative control and positioned Seungcheol behind you with his face above your shoulder. After a few more failed takes, he didn’t even register it when he leaned forward to mumble idle threats into your ear. Something about ‘never should have agreed to this’ and ‘I don’t know that we need a receptionist anyways’, which made you chuckle.

Wren stilled in the midst of filming. Their gaze moved from the screen and lifted over the phone to observe you directly. The sight of Seungcheol with his face tucked into your neck and making you laugh was so tender it made Wren want to scream at the both of you.

“You got it?” Seungcheol looked up suddenly.

“I mean…I got something,” Wren replied, bemused.

…

You were excited. Jihun was coming home for Thanksgiving! By your math, it had been well over a year since you’d last seen him, so your parents were going all out. They’d invited all of your friends, but Seungcheol had been the only one to take them up on the offer. It was going to be nostalgic, the five of you together, but holidays were all about nostalgia, right? You’d spent the day with your parents, helping them prepare the house and meals. Seungcheol had been assigned to pick up Jihun from the airport when his flight arrived that afternoon, so you were surprised when you heard a knock on the door a little after noon.

“Oh, who-?” your mom wondered as she opened the door, “Seungcheol, darling, you’re early!”

“I know, but I thought I’d come see if I could help with anything until then,” he shrugged, stepping into the threshold.

From the kitchen, you did a double take. Seungcheol was wearing an unbuttoned button down with a matching t-shirt underneath and accessorized with a medium weight chain necklace. He looked nice, which made you momentarily self conscious that you were still wearing chores clothes. You threw him a quick smile before returning to finish washing the sheet pans that were no longer needed.

“Can I help?” he offered.

“You wanna dry?” you suggested, pointing out a dry towel. He nodded and settled in next to you, drying off anything you handed to him. “What time does Jihun’s flight get in again?”

“Three, so I’ll probably leave around two. There’s probably airport traffic today.”

You nodded as you finished up the dishes and set the gloves aside to dry.

“Mom, what else can I help with?” Seungcheol had already wandered off in search of your mother.

You rolled your eyes. He had called your mom ‘Mom’ since you were kids. The first time had been an accident and you had replied ‘No, she’s my mom!’ quite indignantly. Your mom had chuckled and patted young Seungcheol on the head, reassuring him. At first he continued to call her ‘Mom’ mostly to irritate you, but over time, it sort of just became reality. Seungcheol was over at your house so much that he really did feel like family at times.

“You’re so thoughtful, Cheol,” your mom beamed up at him, “You can come help Dad and I wrap dumplings if you like.”

“Sure,” he nodded, hip checking you away from the kitchen sink so he could wash his hands. You huffed indignantly as you took your seat at the dumpling table as well.

“So Seungcheol,” your dad cleared his throat, “How are things at the shop?”

“Good! Not much has changed since you were last there,” he cocked his head thoughtfully.

“You’ve been to the studio?” you queried, confused at the idea of it.

“Yes, of course! We had to congratulate him once we heard he was taking it over. I’m not sure we’re tattoo people, still, but our Cheol is a business owner now!” your dad laughed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“It’s still a small town, YN,” Seungcheol chuckled, “Not much happens without everyone knowing about it.”

“That’s true,” your mom nodded. For example, she had heard through the grapevine that you often hung out with Seungcheol and his staff at Anne Kim’s bar. Apparently quite an edgy group of youngsters. The Kim’s had long ago given up running the establishment themselves, but it was a good source of passive income and town information.

“That’s so funny, I can’t imagine you there!” you giggled.

“They brought me a cake and everything,” Cheol chuckled, recalling that day fondly. It had taken some explaining to get everyone to understand that they were not, in fact, Seungcheol’s own parents and the cake had done a good job of quieting them all down.

“That’s so cute,” you gushed.

When you’d been younger, it had sometimes bothered you how easy it was for your mom to love your friends in what felt like the same way that she loved you. Now that you were older, you could appreciate her capacity to love in a different way.

“I should go get Jihun,” Seungcheol announced, placing one more lopsided dumpling onto the tray before standing up.

“Drive safe!”

“Will do,” Seungcheol smiled at your mother, disarmingly charming.

“What a good boy,” she preened happily as you finished wrapping up the dumpling filling. “Have you hung out with Seungcheol much since you’ve moved back?” she asked, even though she knew the answer already.

“Occasionally,” you shrugged, but as you did the math you realized that you’d probably seen him more than anyone else in recent days. “I’ve probably hung out with his receptionist, Wren, more though. They’re nice!”

“Oh, Wren! Yes, I remember from the studio. They’re just cute as a button, aren’t they?” your mom chirped. So you weren’t willing to admit that you were closer with Seungcheol than you’d ever been before. That was okay.

“Yes, they really wanted to come for Thanksgiving too, but they decided to go to their partner’s family’s instead.”

“Well, you know you don’t need an excuse to bring them around. Our house is always open. You too,” she gave you a pointed look. You grinned sheepishly. You knew they always wanted you to visit more.

“I’ll bring them around!” you nodded affirmatively.

“In fact, the rest of the shop can come too! They’ll keep us young,” your dad added suddenly. Your dad had always been quieter than your mom, but every so often he said something that left you absolutely slack jawed. This was one of those times.

“I’ll let them know,” you shook your head with a chuckle. “I’m going to go shower and change now.”

Your parents waved you off goodnaturedly and you retreated to your childhood bedroom. Everything you needed was in your duffel bag, but you couldn’t help from getting distracted by all of the stuff that your mom had kept exactly the same. Filled with nostalgia, your fingertips skimmed across the figurines, books, and other memorabilia. Your diary caught your eye and you pulled it out by the spine, curious to read some of your old thoughts. It was all cringey as hell, but it made you laugh as you thumbed through. As you reached the end, something fell out from the pages which surprised you. A polaroid of Seungcheol from the night you had told Wren about many months ago at this point. It was from the night before he and Jihun had left for college and the last time you remembered him being blonde prior to this most recent bleach job. You smiled softly as you peered at it in disbelief. Seungcheol looked the same, but different. His roots were a touch more grown out than they were right now and he was wearing that dog tag necklace that he had felt was so cool back then. What a handsome doofus.

“Woof, nostalgia is one hell of a bitch,” you muttered under your breath, surprised at your own reaction.

Shoving your thoughts aside, you jumped into the shower and focused on getting ready. The warm water soothed you infinitely and you hummed contentedly to yourself as you finished getting ready. You changed into a cute yet comfortable outfit and headed down the stairs to join your parents. You were in the middle of contemplating a cookie when the front door opened dramatically.

“I’m home!” Jihun announced excitedly as he entered the house. To your surprise, not one but two figures followed him inside.

“Jihun-a!” your mom cooed excitedly as she moved towards the door. “Oh who’s this?”

“Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend Hyejin!”

“Oh my goodness, what a surprise!” your mom tittered excitedly. “Why didn’t you tell me so I could have prepared?”

“Mom, you’re always prepared anyways! I wanted to surprise you,” Jihun shook his head.

Your parents tsked appropriately at Jihun while ushering Hyejin inside. As they tittered over her, you threw a look at Seungcheol.

“Surprise!” he wiggled his hands weakly, which made you burst out laughing. You rolled your eyes before joining the family in the living room.

“Hyejin, this is my sister, YN,” Jihun gestured towards you as you entered.

“Hi,” you grinned excitedly at Hyejin. “I’m very excited to share with you all of Jihun’s most embarrassing stories!” you shook her hand with a little too much vigor for your brother’s tastes.

“I’m so excited to meet you all!” Hyejin smiled. She was so pretty!

“Genuinely, you’re so pretty, what the hell are you doing with Jihun?” you couldn’t help but ask mischievously.

“YN,” Seungcheol furrowed his brow, “Easy.”

“You’re right, I’ll let you settle in. I’ll ask later,” you whispered surreptitiously to her, drawing a small chuckle. Instead you joined Seungcheol as your parents lightly grilled Hyejin and Jihun about their relationship. “I can’t believe he didn’t tell any of us,” you mumbled at Cheol. “Did he share much on the drive with you?”

“No, not much,” he shook his head. “I was surprised too, I haven’t seen her on his socials or anything. Must be recent?”

“Hm,” you shrugged.

Seungcheol watched you as you looked on with interest. You looked really cute in your holiday cardigan. You could feel Seungcheol’s gaze on you. You kept your eyes facing forward, but you couldn’t help a light shiver before you decided it was time to rejoin the fray. Seungcheol looked on from the kitchen, allowing you this familial moment. Dinner passed quickly, everyone enjoying the opportunity to catch up with or get to know each other. You found that you were a big fan of Hyejin. She was funny, clever, and so easy to talk to. Seungcheol and Jihun caught up easily, like old times. Your parents looked on happily at their lovely little family.

“Okay, time for a movie!” your mom announced once everyone had finished eating.

“Movie?” Hyejin wondered and the rest of you stood.

“Family tradition, movie theater after an early dinner,” Cheol answered with a smile. “Are we playing for right to choose? Or perhaps because we have a guest…?” he gestured to Hyejin.

“Oh I think guest chooses,” you nodded supportively.

“Really?” Hyejin was surprised. “Okay, let me see what’s showing,” she laughed, pulling out her phone.

“Ooh I'm excited, good choice again Hyejin!” you bounced on the balls of your feet as you waited in line for concessions.

“Behave,” Seungcheol grabbed you by the shoulders, pinning you in place.

A jolt of heat darted through your chest at his grip. You suddenly flashed back to the day of your tattoo. This was a very similar feeling to when Seungcheol had grasped your upper thigh and murmured ‘good girl’ to you, effectively knocking the wind from your lungs. You stilled, unable to face him.

“Good girl,” he went on to commend you thoughtlessly as he perused snack options.

You blinked. A sharp exhale left your lungs as you struggled with the effect this was having on you. You wanted to punch Seungcheol, how could he be so careless with his words!

“Popcorn,” you answered the teenager when you got to the front of the line.

“What size?”

“Large,” you answered. You had saved room.

“Should we just share a bucket?” Cheol suggested.

“No! Get your own popcorn,” you scrunched your face at him. The possibility of accidentally brushing hands with him was too much to consider right now.

“Okay, damn,” he chuckled bemusedly as he went to order his own popcorn.

You knew you were acting odd, but you couldn’t help yourself. In an effort to distance yourself from Seungcheol, you wandered towards Jihun and Hyejin, eavesdropping on their conversation. They were discussing something boring so you wandered towards your parents instead.

“YN-ah,” they beckoned you towards them. “How are things since moving back? I know it was always a little small for you here,” your mom asked genuinely.

“You know,” you thought for a moment, wanting to answer honestly, “I was worried I wouldn’t be happy moving back…but I’ve made some good friends and I’m actually pretty happy!”

“That’s great,” your dad smiled at you.

Your mom studied your expression closely, but you didn’t give much away. She was curious whether your contentment was tied to Seungcheol as much as she hoped it would be. Your parents had always been big fans of Cheol throughout childhood. Part of it was proximity, of course, as Seungcheol had been at the house almost constantly throughout middle and high school. But the other part of it was that they saw the ways in which Seungcheol complimented both you and Jihun. Seungcheol had always had a calm energy and presence that didn’t hinder you from being yourself, but also tempered your personality when occasionally necessary.

“Movie time!” your parents announced, ushering everyone towards theater six. As everyone paired off, you found yourself sitting next to Seungcheol.

“We should’ve just shared a popcorn, we paid basically double to have the same amount in separate bags,” he pouted at you.

“I want to have my own bag, leave me alone!” you whisper shouted at him, scrunching your face at him in the dark.

Hyejin giggled as she watched you and Seungcheol with fascination. Jihun had mentioned that you all had been childhood friends, but not that you two were dating. She wondered how long it’d been since you and Seungcheol had gotten together and whether Jihun even knew. She’d have to ask after the movie was over.

“That was good,” you nodded surely as everyone piled into the car. “I was especially a fan of the scenes where the fruit and vegetable carts were upturned. Love me a good ‘my cabbages’ moment!”

“Me too!” Hyejin giggled

The ride back was filled with excited discussion, laughter, and some good natured teasing. Your parents helped themselves to a slice of apple pie and let you all know you were welcome to the leftovers if you got peckish before they retired to bed. Eventually Jihun and Seungcheol wandered off to look at something in the basement, which allowed you to visit with Hyejin more.

“So how long have you and Seungcheol been dating?” she asked.

“W-what?” you sputtered. “Me and Cheol? No, we’re not!”

“Oh, I’m sorry! Are you really not?” she flushed, “You two seem so close!”

“No, no, don’t be sorry!” you leaned towards her, not wanting her to feel embarrassed, “We are close! But we’ve known each other for years,” you tried to explain.

“That really surprises me. You two seem very much in step with each other,” she mused. She had literally watched him eat the chestnuts that you’d pulled out of your stuffing and set on a side plate.

“I-, I mean I guess we are closer than before these days. I moved back to town a few months ago and Seungcheol is probably one of my closest friends right now,” you thought out loud. You weren’t sure whether it was just the longevity of the relationship, but there was a deep comfort that you had with Seungcheol that just couldn’t be beat.

“Ah, I see,” Hyejin nodded, tipping the rest of her wine back.

“Do you want another drink? Or maybe we can go bother the boys?”

“Why not both?” she laughed, so you led the way.

“Oy, degenerates! What are you doing down here? Smoking weed?” you teased as you bounced down the stairs.

“I mean we could be,” Jihun’s voice called back.

“Holding out on us,” you rolled your eyes playfully at Hyejin as you rounded the corner.

“Hey,” Hyejin grinned, looping an arm around Jihun’s waist and squeezing affectionately.

“Yo,” you punched Seungcheol awkwardly in the shoulder before flopping onto the futon next to him. “It’s been a damn minute since we were all down here, huh!”

“Yes it has,” Cheol’s eyebrows raised dramatically as he considered the length of time. “Probably haven’t been back since before college started.”

Jihun nodded in agreement and they both took turns sharing fun stories with Hyejin until your eyes started drifting shut. These beers really took a toll on you these days.

“Hey, YN,” Seungcheol’s voice and shoulder nudged you awake.

“Hm?” you murmured.

“You should go to bed,” he suggested.

“No, I’m fine! I’m just resting my eyes,” you protested, struggling to keep the aforementioned eyes open.

“Oh not this again,” Seungcheol shook his head. He had fallen for the ‘resting my eyes’ line a grand total of twice before he’d learned his lesson. That just meant you had already dozed off and were going to fall asleep again shortly. “YN, if you don’t go to bed now, I’m going to carry you up.”

“Do it, you won’t,” you goaded him sleepily. You managed half a yawn before he had hucked you over his shoulder and carried you up the stairs.

Jihun had been scrolling through his phone, and so looked up with slight confusion to see Hyejin grinning knowingly.

Seungcheol dumped you onto your bed as gently as he could manage, but you still landed with a loud ‘oof’. He scoffed as you curled into your pillows and comforter like a caterpillar into a cocoon. Why couldn’t you just admit you were tired like a normal person?

…

A few weeks after Thanksgiving, you were at Seungcheol’s again spending quality time with Patty when Jihun Facetimed him unexpectedly. Patty was sitting on your chest on the couch when Seungcheol picked up.

“Hey man, what’s up?”

“Not much, I was just calling to check in. Thanksgiving made me realize that I’ve done a shit job of keeping up with you so I want to change that!”

“Oh, for sure,” Cheol laughed, a little surprised. “Oh, YN is here too!” he directed the phone to you and Patty. You waved from underneath her.

“Oh, YN is there?” you heard Hyejin’s voice in the background. “That reminds me, I’m gonna to text her!”

[hyejin]: ‘hey, I saw an ad for this yesterday and it made me think of you!’

You squealed in excitement at the attached screenshot she sent of a frog stun gun. It even had a little butt on the back! Patty jumped off of your chest in protest of your loud noise, but your excitement was difficult to contain.

[yn]: ‘OMFG. THNEED’

[hyejin]: ‘right?!? when they do their next shop update, i’m ordering for both of us!’

“Coups, look!” you hopped off of the couch excitedly to show Seungcheol, completely derailing his conversation with Jihun. “It’s a frog. And a self defense stun gun. And it has a butt!” you flipped through the pictures excitedly. Seungcheol nodded good naturedly at you before returning to his discussion with Jihun.

“I didn’t know you had a cat,” your brother's voice floated across the room. Seungcheol explained the situation, to which Hyejin sent you a slew of texts rapidly.

[hyejin]: ‘are you sure you’re not dating seungcheol?!?’

[hyejin]: ‘you can tell me if you are. i wont tell jihun!’

[hyejin]: ‘im cool!’

[yn]: ‘im not!’

You furrowed your brows slightly. You and Hyejin had kept in touch since Thanksgiving and she had taken to fussing over you like an older sister. For the most part you loved it, but this probing about Cheol made you feel…confused. It wasn’t the first time that people had mistaken you as a couple and you almost understood why. No, the thing that was difficult to contend with was the fact that you…didn’t hate it?

[hyejin]: ‘okay 👀 im just sayin not many people would let a cat live at their house just for a friend’

[hyejin]: ‘but maybe im wrong!’

You sat up and watched Seungcheol over the back of the sofa as he chatted with Jihun. You didn’t bother to process what they were saying, but you watched the way the corner of his lips lifted into a half side, revealing one of his dimples. You’d seen his dimples a million and one times before, but this time it felt like your heart shot up into your throat, clogging it. It didn’t seem to matter how many times you tried to clear it either, that bitch was stuck. Seungcheol threw you a ‘you good?’ glance before returning his attention to your brother. There was nothing remarkable about it. There was no reason it should make you nervous. And yet, the slight pinch between his brows and the clear concern in his eyes made you squirm.

“I gotta go!” you announced to Seungcheol and Jihun, waving casually at them before pulling on your shoes. Patty gave you a departing headbutt and you were out the door.

“I thought she didn’t have plans today,” Seungcheol’s expression was clearly confused after you left.

While you drove home with all of the windows rolled down in an effort to regain composure, Seungcheol tied up his conversation with Jihun. The house felt quite empty now that he wasn’t on a call and you were also gone. It was a surprising thought for him to have, since he’d long ago gotten accustomed to being alone and in fact quite liked it. But he’d be an idiot to ignore the fact that his life had changed dimensionally since you’d come back into it.

You’d coaxed him into a closer friendship with his staff members, gifted him the furry little gremlin that he now looked forward to coming home to, and you yourself had become someone that he thought of often and cared for deeply. He’d been unsure whether it was the same kind of proximity based fondness that you had shared before, but upon further consideration, he concluded that this was not the case. These days he didn’t just tolerate you. He sought you out. He wanted to fill his time with you. He wondered if you felt the same.

…

[wren]: ‘come on, please?!’

[yn]: ‘i’m tired 😩’

You frowned at your phone. You weren’t actually so tired that you didn’t want to go out, but you felt a sort of reluctance to go because you’d been avoiding seeing Seungcheol. It had taken some time to sort through your feelings, but you’d finally accepted that you were struggling with an attraction to him that you needed to get over. You were sure you could, you just needed time.

Seungcheol ran his hands through his hair as he finished up his profit and loss statements for the month. It had been a good month. In fact, an extraordinarily good month, which also meant that there were many more transactions to account for. In the past, he probably would’ve rather walked off of a bridge than do his P&Ls, but the spreadsheets that you’d help build for him were a genuine lifesaver. You’d even helped with figuring out how to automate data downloads from the PoS system which saved him and Wren a huge amount of headache. He really needed to treat you to dinner or something as a thank you.

[seungcheol]: ‘when are you free?’

You stared at your phone. What the hell was in the water today? Your heart had jumped when you’d seen Seungcheol’s text. You were of two minds: one wanted to read and respond to it immediately while the other wanted to throw the phone into a garbage chute. As usual, you let both sides percolate before reaching a happy compromise. You read the text but didn’t respond until later.

[yn]: ‘kind of depends. what for?’

[seungcheol]: ‘i want to take you out.’

[seungcheol]: ‘as a thank you for the p&l spreadsheets’

Your hopes rose and fell just as quickly as you read the texts in sequence. It was a professional matter.

[yn]: ‘that’s not necessary! friends help each other’

His brow scrunched upon reading the word ‘friend’. It sent such a pang through his chest that he wasn’t expecting, but he felt persistent today.

[seungcheol]: ‘i dont see why that should stop me from showing you that i appreciate you. let me know when you’re free for dinner’

Your heart flip flopped in your chest. How could you get through a dinner with him when just a text affected you like this? And yet you had no valid reason to say no.

…

You tapped your toe nervously as you waited for Seungcheol. You had decided on Friday after work and he had insisted on driving you, because he had wanted to keep the restaurant a surprise. So here you were, 6:12 pm on Friday and incredibly, unreasonably nervous about dinner. You wondered if you could still cancel.

[seungcheol]: ‘here’

“So much for that,” you muttered to yourself before stepping out of your apartment. The only indication of dress code that Cheol had given you was ‘don’t look like a hobo’, so you’d chosen a simple black dress with a colorful and fun cardigan. There was a slight chill in the air, so you pulled the cardigan a little tighter around yourself as you climbed into his car.

“Hey,” he broke into a smile as soon as he saw you. “You look nice.”

“Thanks,” you replied as you buckled your seatbelt. You gave him a quick once over as he backed out of the parking space. He was dressed in all black and the visual focal point was a half-pearl, half-chain choker necklace that really stood out. “Oh I like that!”

“I thought you might,” he grinned at you as he leaned back, settling into his seat after getting onto the highway. “It seems your kind of style,” he explained when your brows furrowed.

“Ah,” you nodded, not quite sure what to say. “So where are we eating, will you tell me now?”

“Yes. We’re going to Kyōten, in the city.”

“What?!” you glanced at him, slightly alarmed, “That’s kind of a haul!”

“It’s not too bad. Plus our reservation is at 7:30. I budgeted enough time.”

“Still, you don’t have to drive that far! We could’ve eaten somewhere in town,” you grumbled.

“I’ve been wanting to try this place too. Not everything’s about you, baby,” he teased. This was true in part. Seungcheol was interested in the omakase menu at this restaurant, but he likely wouldn’t have gone by himself. “How’s work been, by the way? I feel like I haven’t seen you around much lately.”

You flushed at the moniker ‘baby’ before pushing through it to answer him. It was true, you’d been working a handful of extra shifts at work here and there in preparation for the holiday season. But you’d also been making yourself scarce because you still couldn’t control the physical reaction that you sometimes had to Seungcheol. You omitted that part in your answer, but did share a handful of funny stories that had happened at work lately. Seungcheol, in turn, updated you on some of the interesting happenings at the studio as of late. Hoshi had finally been able to do the largest tiger flash that he had available, which had been incredibly exciting to him. Joshua had attended the annual APP conference and made a lot of good contacts. The studio was working out details on a guest piercer spot in the near future. Before you knew it, you had pulled into the parking ramp near the restaurant.

“Oh it’s windy!” you remarked as you stepped out of the car.

“Here,” Seungcheol pulled a spare puffer jacket out of his backseat and handed it to you. You’d wrapped it around yourself gratefully as you completed the short walk to Kyōten.

“We have a reservation for 7:30. Seungcheol,” he informed the hostess. She nodded kindly and led you through the dark space towards the sushi bar. You remarked at the beautiful architecture and decor as you hopped onto the bar stool. “I’ll just stand, if that’s okay?” he asked the hostess, tucking his stool slightly to his left under the bar.

“Have you all done this before?” you asked the people sitting next to you as you waited.

“No, we haven’t!” they shook their heads, “Have you?”

“Oh thank god! No, I definitely haven’t. You haven’t either, right?” you asked Seungcheol, realizing you didn’t know.

“No,” he shook his head.

“Don’t be nervous! Just eat what they give you,” the couple on the other side of the bar from you smiled kindly. “The chefs here are great, they’re very interactive and fun. Just have a good time.”

Reassured now that the ice was broken, the six of you chatted before the chef came. The pair next to you shared that they were celebrating their second anniversary. They had also driven in and were staying for a long weekend in the city.

“That’s so fun, I love that! We’re just here for the night,” you smiled at them, the sake warming you from the inside out.

“What about you two? Is this a special occasion?”

“Sort of,” Seungcheol answered, draping his arm across the back of your stool as he did so. “It’s a thank you dinner for YN. She’s been a huge help with my business this year, so I thought I ought to show her my appreciation properly.”

“What do you do?” Miseon asked curiously.

“I run a tattoo and piercing studio,” he answered.

As he explained in more detail, you felt like your back was itching, the way you were hyper aware of his arm draped behind you. Seungcheol had gotten closer and closer to you as he’d engaged in the conversation with Miseon and Nuri. It wasn’t like you weren’t used to physical closeness with him, but the interior of this restaurant was so intimately lit that it tricked you into overthinking the whole situation. Even after the chef arrived and dinner commenced, he didn’t distance himself from you at all.

“Would you like to join us for a few drinks? We’re having such fun with you!” Nuri asked once you were all back on the sidewalk.

Seungcheol looked to you, indicating that he was game. The way you smiled back at him, flushed in the apples of your cheeks, made his breath hitch.

“Sure!” you nodded excitedly. You’d also really enjoyed Nuri and Miseon and were happy to keep the night going.

The four of you did some quick googling before settling on a bar a few blocks away. At the second crosswalk, you’d been a little too engaged in the conversation and nearly stepped into oncoming traffic. Without thought, Seungcheol had hooked his arm around your waist to pull you back and simply left it there. Your eyes flew to him at this touch. He was looking straight ahead and you were surprised when the idea of planting a kiss along his jaw popped into your mind. You flushed and shook your head when his head turned to look at you again.

The bar was cute and the next hours passed quickly as you chatted with Nuri and Miseon and enjoyed the ambiance and music. A few times you had looked up to see Seungcheol’s dark eyes trained on you from across the bar and you’d flushed each time. Before too long you were saying your goodbyes and driving back home. The car was quiet as you and Seugcheol both reflected on the night.

Even though he had framed it up as a ‘thank you’ dinner, you felt like that label didn’t quite fit. You might have been overthinking it, but Kyōten had been so intimate and the way that Seungcheol’s touches seemed to linger felt different than your usual closeness. You’d also been mistaken as a couple a few times and neither of you had bothered to correct them, which you usually did. Perhaps it was the context of being in a city you didn’t live in, but it just didn’t seem important this time.

Seungcheol tapped his fingers against the gearshift as he drove. He’d known Kyōten might be a little more romantic than your typical dinner with a friend, but he’d chosen it because he’d overheard you share with Wren that you were really interested in trying omakase style dining. It hadn’t been totally conscious on his part, but he’d found himself finding ways to be closer to you throughout the evening and he’d been surprised at how you’d responded. You hadn’t shied away from his touch and he’d seen you blush a few times throughout the night in ways that made him wonder if his attraction towards you wasn't completely one sided.

“Did you have fun?” he asked, glancing towards you as he drove down the dark roads.

“Yes,” you beamed at him, “Although you spent entirely too much money, Cheol.”

“Hey!” he cut you off with a stern look, “I told you, this is a show of my appreciation. Let me just appreciate you.”

“Hm,” you pursed your lips at him, trying and failing to not imagine those words in a different context.

Seungcheol pressed his tongue against his cheek. He’d always enjoyed the way you reacted when he teased you.

“Thanks for driving,” you threw him a smile before reaching for the door handle. You were eager to get out of this car, which felt entirely too hot right now.

“I’ll walk you,” he announced, leaving the car as well and stepping to your side.

“Oh?” you were surprised. This was not typical.

“I really enjoyed tonight,” he commented as you stepped onto the front stoop of your apartment building.

“Me too!” you beamed, eyes creasing softly at him.

“I want to tell you something,” he cleared his throat and your heart stopped.

“O-kay,” you nodded a moment later when you were actually able to retrieve your voice.

“I-, uh,” he cleared his throat again when he tried to speak. “You are very important to me, so I want you to know that nothing has to change between us after I say what I say.”

You blinked at him, heart racing so fast that you were worried you wouldn’t be able to hear him over its beating.

“My life has changed a lot since you moved back. I am closer to my friends, the shop is doing really well, and I have a cat that I guess I love now. And that’s mostly because of you, so thank you for that. But also, I, uh, my feelings about you have changed. I think about you often and my house honestly just feels empty when you’re not there. So I like you,” he felt like he was shouting now, so he tried to reign it in, “I like you and you don’t have to say anything, I just want you to know.”

Your brain had screeched to a halt and you were frozen throughout most of his confession. The cogs started turning again as he planted a soft kiss on your forehead and let you know he’d text you tomorrow. He was back in his car when you’d gathered yourself enough to run after him.

“Hey!” you practically jumped out in front of his car as he tried to leave the parking spot.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” he shouted, jumping out of the car after slamming on the brakes and putting it back in park.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” You couldn’t explain why, but you were fuming. “You need to be less careless with your words!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Seungcheol threw his hands up, completely caught off guard by the fact that you were…yelling at him?

“You can’t just call me ‘good girl’ while you’re tattooing my inner thigh or tell me you like me and then leave? What about me and my sanity?”

“What?” Seungcheol’s eyebrows raised into his hairline as he processed what you had said. Surely you didn’t mean…?

He was taking too long to understand so you walked towards him, grabbed him by that damned pearl chain necklace, and pulled him into a kiss. He was surprised for just a moment before he was kissing you back intently.

“Were you doing it on purpose?” you asked between kisses.

“What?” he asked, not totally grasping what you were asking.

“Was it on purpose?” you reiterated, fingers teasing at the hairs on the back of his neck. “Your little touches, grabbing my waist? You were driving me crazy,” you exhaled sharply.

Seungcheol paused at this confession, drawing back to look at you fully. His eyes raked over you and you grew hot under his gaze.

“It wasn’t, but I guess I couldn’t help myself,” he chuckled, lips curling into a half smile.

“Turn your car off,” you demanded and Seungcheol was more than happy to comply.

#scoups fic #seungcheol fic #scoups fluff #seungcheol fluff #svt fic #svt fluff #scoups fanfic #seungcheol fanfic #svt fanfic #svt imagines #seungkwansphd:writes #kpop fanfic

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milaisreading · 11 months

Note

can u do its our girlfriend (ryusei shidou version)?? 🙏🏽🙏🏽 w/ sub20 time? 👀

Author: Here it is! I hope u like this one and thank u for the request🩷

Warnings ⚠️: Reader uses she/her. Requests are open

⚽️Blue Lock belongs to: Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

The U-20 team felt a pretty huge shift in the dynamic when 2 certain players joined the team. One of them being Shidou Ryusei and the other one being Itoshi Sae. Now, Oliver as the captain did try and was somewhat successful with getting along with Sae, meanwhile Shidou... well he is a great player but really hard to get along with. But one thing Oliver noticed was that there was a rift and tension between Sae and Shidou, who were by all accounts always the closest to each other. The issue started a month ago when Oliver, and later on the team would notice how much bossier Sae was with Shidou, and the boy was in return a lot snappier with him. It was really getting out of hand and Oliver was ready to rip his hair out. Japan's U-20 team had an image to uphold and the last thing Oliver needed was their manager yelling at him to get them in line.

"You dumbass antena man, focus on the goal!"

"Under eyelashes senior is now the boss around here, huh?"

"Can someone shut them up?" Sendou pointed, tired from all the yelling.

"Why are they even arguing?" Teru questioned.

"God knows." Hayate shrugged his shoulders, watching as Oliver and Niou walked over to the bickering duo and pulled them away from each other.

"Alright! Enough!" The team flinched at Oliver's yell, but kept quiet.

"What's the issue you two? You have been acting like you killed each other's families!" Oliver started as Niou sighed and continued after the captain.

"We are just worried. Not only is this giving an issue to us as a team, but also to you two as a duo on the field." The long-haired boy explained as Sae and Shidou sent each other a side glare. The rest of the team kept quiet and watched the two as the huffed and looked away from each other. Oliver was pretty much speechless, he expected this from Shidou... but never from Sae of all people.

"This must be quite serious, Sae would act more mature otherwise." Teppei whispered to his friends and Miroku told them to be quiet.

"Spit it out." Oliver demanded and it seemed like Shidou finally broke.

"Under eyelashes senior here is butthurt his crush likes me more."

"I am not! All I said was that (Y/n) picking you as her boyfriend will come to bite her." Sae said back, shocking the team even more now.

'Shidou...Shidou has a girlfriend?!'

"Did I just hear correctly?" Hayate questioned with wide eyes and looked at his friends. Miroku and Teru slowly nodded their heads as Teppei and Sendou kept quiet, but were equally wondering how truthful that statement was.

'No way... he got a girlfriend before me?' Sendou thought with a huff.

'Ehh? I can't imagine Shidou with anyone.'

"What?" Niou raised an eyebrow as he closed Oliver's open mouth.

"Shidou basically got a girlfriend, way above his league if I may add." Sae repeated.

"Shut the hell up!"

"You know I am right. She literally could have had anyone, why you?" Sae said as his anger raised again, causing Shidou to smirk.

"Turns out my personality is more appear to her."

"Wait... Shidou has a girlfriend?" Oliver blurted out, causing the two to look at him.

"Yeah, they have been going out for a month." Sae rolled his eyes.

"Something you will never experience, might I add." Shidou chimed in.

"You two...are joking with us? Right?" Sendou suddenly spoke up as they raised their eyebrows.

"No?"

"You sure? Sae that was a good joke." Miroku let out a laugh as Hayate and Teppei held back their laughters too. Niou tried to calm them down while Oliver tried to stop Shidou from yelling.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" The blonde asked, taking offense at their reactions.

"It's just...you don't seem dateable..." Teppei answered, earning a nod from Hayate.

"You are too loud."

"And you say weird stuff at times."

"Sorry, but there is no way someone is dating you." The statements caused Shidou's anger to rise even more, but along with that also came the insecurities. He could handle Sae saying those things, since he is pretty jealous of his relationship, but hearing people who are pretty much strangers to him say those things... it really stung.

"I think you are capping."

"Yeah... Sae and Shidou stop joking around-"

"Wait Sendou... who is your girlfriend?" Oliver asked, trying to wrap his head around this whole concept. Shidou wanted to answer the question, he did. He wanted to show off his cute, beautiful and funny girlfriend to everyone. But one part of him wanted to keep that part quiet, private. Sae knowing about her was enough as it is, he didn't need them to know it too.

'Especially when they don't seem to believe it anyways.' Shidou said nothing as he walked off towards the locker room, sending a warning glare as Niou and Teppei tried to get the name out of him.

"Enough joking... let's just get changed. Our training session is over." Hayate said as he pointed at the clock.

"Sae, can you please tell us who the girlfriend is?" Teru wondered.

"Yeah, otherwise we will think this is a joke." Oliver added in but the redhead just shrugged his shoulders.

"Believe whatever you want. I am not saying anything out of my respect for her. When she feels like meeting you guys, you will know."

While everything was going on outside, Shidou was in the locker room enjoying how quiet it was. He somewhat cooled down from the fight and his mind kept wandering off to (Y/n).

'Ahh~ just her cute face could make any of my bad days good. She is so kind and sweet, the World really doesn't deserve her. I wonder what she is up to.' Shidou thought, growing a little agitated.

'I didn't see her at all in the past 3 weeks, stupid Blue Lock and Ego... keeping her away from me like that.' Shidou pouted. He really missed her and hoped to get the chance to see her before that match with her team.

'Seems like it's just wishful thinking.'

Teru yawned as he walked down the hallway from the bathroom. After such an eventful day he just wanted to get dressed and go home to sleep.

'Maybe a good dinner and some movies would be a good idea.'

"Excuse me, do you know if Shidou Ryusei is still here?" The boy jumped up at the sound of a unfamiliar feminine voice from behind him. Turning around, Teru was surprised to find none other than Blue Lock's manager, (L/n) (Y/n). The boy's face turned beet red and slowly nodded his head.

"Y-yeah... why do you need him?" Teru asked shyly as the girl grinned at his answer.

'She is even prettier than on TV!'

"I need to see him, can you please call him or bring me to him?" She asked and Teru quickly nodded his head, laughing nervously.

"Of course! Follow me, sorry if I am jumpy a little."

'She will think I am weird now...' Teru thought nervously, internally facepalming at his own behavior.

"It's fine, my team is the same right now. Probably excited for the match coming up?" (Y/n) asked in a reassuring manner as Teru slowly nodded his head.

"Y-yeah..."

'Her voice is so soft...'

"Shidou!" The group turned to look at Teru as he ran into the changing room.

"What?" The blonde asked in annoyance, still mad at the way they spoke to him earlier. Teru took a few deep breaths as he tried to calm the redness on his face down.

"The...the manager fo Blhe Lock wants to see you..." Teru panted out. The blonde's frown turned into a grin as he quickly packed his things.

"What?! (Y/n) is outside?" Teppei and Miroku asked with wide eyes as Oliver grinned at the news. Niou and Hayate kept quiet along with Sae. The older Itoshi became restless at the mention of (Y/n)'s name while the other 2 grew a lot more nervous.

"Later, losers." Shidou chuckled and ran out with his bag.

"Hold it- Why is she even here?" Niou wondered as Teru spoke up again.

"It turns out the girlfriend Sae and Shidou talked about was (Y/n)."

The room grew quiet as Sae quietly left the room, hoping to catch up to the duo before they left.

'Shidou...'

'Is dating...'

'(Y/n)...' Sendou, Hayate and Miroku thought as Oliver's eye twitched.

"What do you mean?! No way did that guy get to her first!" Oliver yelled as Niou nodded his head.

"She was probably blackmailed into dating him."

"True. (Y/n) seems so sweet and kind..." Teppei started.

"And beautiful, she puts all the idols I know to shame." Sendou sighed dreamily.

"I also heard she is so considerate. I heard she always makes snacks for her team." Hayate chimed in.

"Forget that! Did you see the way she holds herself when talking to the reporters?!" Oliver added in with a blush.

"Yeah...she has to be blackmailed." Miroku concluded as silence fell among the group.

They looked between each other and at the door as Niou cleared his throat.

"I need to go to the toilet."

"Hold it! Why did you take your bag-" Before Hayate could finish his sentence, Niou was already outside the locker room.

"Hey!" Oliver yelled, running after his teammate and the rest joining in.

"I hope you like it! It's like a good luck charm for the upcoming matches!" (Y/n) grinned as Shidou held the necklace she bought him a few days back. It was a simple, 4 leaf clover pendant on a gold chain, but it did make Shidou's heart race a little and his face turned red from the attention.

"Thanks, th-this means a lot. I didn't get anything for you." Shidou said, getting a little shy from the sudden gift and (Y/n) shook her head.

"I am happy and fulfilled as long as you are, Ryu."

'So adorable! And all mine!'Shidou thought as his cheeks started heating up and he coughed.

"Want to eat something? There is a good restaurant-"

"Are we eating somewhere?" Shidou felt like all the rage he previously felt came rushing back as Sae appeared put of nowhere, putting his arms around (Y/n)'s shoulders.

"Sae-san?! Where did you come from?" The girl wondered, a little startled by his appearance. Shidou watched with a snarl as Sae turned his stone cold look to a much softer one as he glanced at (Y/n).

"Good to see you, (Y/n). You look just as pretty as the last time I saw you." The girl blushed a little at the comment as Shidou pulled her our of his grip and glared even harder at Sae.

"We, as in (Y/n) and I will go and eat now. You can go somewhere else." Shidou said as he started pushing (Y/n) in front of himself.

"Ryu, you don't have to push me.... but I feel a little bad..." (Y/n) admitted in embarrassment as the two stopped and looked back at Sae. Shidou raised his eyebrow, wondering what she actually meant.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Sae is your friend, maybe we could invite him along. He probably wants to eat with us too." (Y/n) smiled softly as Shidou felt his heart crack a little.

'She is so considerate! That Itoshi doesn't deserve this level of kindness! My cute, little girl.' Shidou thought as he poked her cheeks.

"Ryu~" She pouted as the boy chuckled.

"You are so adorable... Fine, we could invite Sae along." Shidou sighed, as he really couldn't say 'no' to (Y/n).

"Ahh~ Shidou? Is that your lovely girlfriend?" The blonde boy flinched as he heard Niou's voice and the two turned to look at the group. The blonde tightly grabbed onto (Y/n)'s hand as they observed the group. Shidou watched in horror and anger as he noted all their expressions as (Y/n) waved at them.

"Hello!" She exclaimed.

Niou, Hayate and Miroku had the most normal expression, just a small blush on their cheeks. Teppei hid behind a blushing Miroku as he sent (Y/n) a few glances here and there.

'So cute~ she is even more adorable in real life.' Teru, Oliver and Sendou where meanwhile blushing messes as they stared at (Y/n) and waved at her.

"It's so lovely to see you, (Y/n)-san. We weren't aware you and Shidou were dating." Niou spoke up as he walked closer to them.

"Yeah! Congratulations." Miroku added in as Teppei followed them.

"Can I get a picture with you?"

"Me?!" (Y/n) asked the boy in confusion as Sendou and Oliver chirped in.

"Yes, it would be lovely."

"You look even lovelier than a kpop or jpop idol."

"A-ah... Thank you, Sendou-san." The girl blushed a little as Teru and Hayate chimed in.

"Move a little, Shidou- Can I get a picture with you too?"

"Can you please be our manager? The old man is annoying." Hayate groaned, earning a hit on the head from Oliver.

Shidou watched in disbelief as his teammates tried to chat up his girlfriend, his jealousy close to reach its limit.

"Told you that (Y/n) is a real eye catcher." Sae snorted, equally annoyed at the scene.

"Shut it! I know...it's my (Y/n)... my girl we are talking about."

#bllk #blue lock anime #blue lock manga #bllk x reader #blue lock x reader #blue lock requests #manager reader #shidou ryuusei x reader #shidou ryuusei #blue lock shidou #oliver aiku #sae itoshi #blue lock hayate #haru hayate #blue lock teru #blue lock teppei #blue lock miroku #sendo shuto

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howlingday · 7 months

Note

Hello Hollowing, my prompt is this: After team RWBY finds themselves in the Ever After, they are met by a small child happily waving and guiding them towards the Tree instead of a certain Cheshire cat. Soon they were guided to the tree, with a mansion carved within. With children that looked like recoloured versions of their guide happily waving toward RWBY. They meet Neo, and Jaune, the small older woman clealry pregnant, along with Mint, and Trivia, and a woman similar to neo called CC... basically I want Jaune to explain why he has a harem of Neos with constant flashbacks of each neo having babymaking sex with him. With CC requires everyone else to overcome her instability. Blame Fatally Obsessed. I do not know why I make statements instead of questions.

Ah, okay.

This is way less terrible than I thought it would be.

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

This world is weird. Like, super weird. No, but like, SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER weird! Like, think of the weirdest thing you could think of, and it wouldn't be half as weird as what this was.

Okay, maybe not THAT weird, but it was weirder than Remnant, at least. Game pieces moved around, walking and talking like all the faunus and humans did back home. Not only that, but there were also talking animals, too! So yeah, this fairy tale world was weird.

But not as weird as what happened next.

"Hey! Over here!"

Team RWBY looked behind them and found a little girl waving at them. She had short, blonde hair, pale skin, and, as they got closer, blue eyes. Her dress was pink with a black sash wrapped around her belly.

"Um, hi?" Ruby awkwardly waved.

"Are you a Huntress?"

The question shocked the group. This was the first person they met in the Ever After, and she KNEW what a huntress is! Who was she?

"Um, ye-"

"Nilly!" A girl with long, brown hair ran up to the other girl and grabbed her wrist. Her dress was white with a pink sash wrapped around her belly, similar to the other girl. "We're not supposed to talk to strangers!"

"It's okay, Gats!" Nilly replied. "They don't look bad!"

"Don't you remember what Dad said?" Gats wagged her finger. "Looks can be decieving!"

"Um," Ruby stuttered, "we're not bad. Uh, y'know, if you wanted our opinion."

"She's right." Weiss added. "We're just trying to get to the tree."

"Oh! That's easy!" Nilly yanked her hand away. "Daddy can take you!"

"Daddy?" Yang asked.

"Mhm!" Nilly nodded. "Daddy is, like the best person to take you to the tree! He was up there before, y'know?"

"Nilly!" Gats chided. "They're bad guys!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-huh!"

As the girls bickered, Team RWBY gave each other glances. This was very uncomfortable.

"Were we..." Ruby looked to her sister. "This bad?"

"Eh...." Yang shrugged. "Kinda?"

"Well, none of my siblings were like this." Weiss said with an unamused look.

"Pretty sure you're not as close with your siblings as Ruby and Yang were." Blake added. "It kind of makes me wonder what it's like."

"It's not great."

Suddenly, in the center of Team RWBY, stood a small girl with pink hair done in a ponytail, wearing a black dress with a white sash. She was so quiet, none of them heard her! As she walked to the other girls, they noticed she had a pink tail sway from under her dress.

"Nilla. Gats." She addressed the girls. "Mother's waiting for us." At this, the two girls stopped bickering. The leader looked at Team RWBY. "You come, too."

The little girl in the pink dress then walked forward, followed closely by the other two. Following the trio was Team RWBY. From a distance, a pair of eyes watched the seven girls curiously.

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

Neo sipped her tea, enjoying the quiet of the house. Her girls were out playing while her husband had left to run errands. They would all return before supper, as they always did. She looked down, admiring the one change to her otherwise routine life she'd made in the Ever After.

Every morning, she woke up, had breakfast, woke up her daughters, and then spent the rest of the day planning dinner. Tonight's dinner would be stewed vegetables.

"Ugh... Couldn't we have something with more meat?"

Neo cast a glare at the whining voice. The voice belonged to another Neo, though the voice was not quite her own. Instead, an annoying creature had taken residence in her body, wearing it like a coat, doing with it as they pleased.

"Oh, don't give me that look." The being replied with a roll of their neon-blue eyes. "Even Trivia is sick and tired of it!"

The woman in question, hanging clothes to dry outside, flinched. She shivered as Neo quirked a brow at her former self. She hid herself behind a wet sheet.

"Ow!" Mint, a disguise of herself used to infiltrate Beacon during the Vytal Festival with Cinder, flicked the being in Neo's ear. "Oh, I was not being mean to her!"

Neo hefted herself to her feet, hands to her back for support. Soon, it would be her turn to bring life into this world. She couldn't help but wonder what her child would look like. What mother didn't?

"Oh, and before you set the table," the being said, "we're going to have guests tonight. Four of them."

Neo eyed the being, unsure of what they meant. For all their schemes and plots, the creature wasn't a liar and often made use of their ability to see and hear things outside their home. If there were guests coming to visit, then there would be guests coming to visit. Neo would need more vegetables, and hands to pick said vegetables.

"Speak of the Grimm, as you say."

Neo looked to the door, and a tiny knock came from the other side. She opened the door, finding eight familiar faces.

"Mother." Greeted Berry with stoicism.

"Mommy!" Squealed Vanilla joyfully.

"Mom?" Called Gateau in concern.

Neo glared past her daughters to the four huntresses behind them. They swiftly reached for their weapons.

"Neopolitan?!" Litte Red exclaimed in her surprise.

"Of course she'd be here!" The Ice Queen growled.

"Is she pregnant?" The Kitty Cat asked.

"Guess she found someone dumb enough to knock her up." The Blonde Bimbo rudely remarked.

"Now that's just rude." All eyes focused on the timbre voice in the distance. A figure in rusted armor dismounted a large jackalope, named Juniper, and removed his helmet. Beneath was a ruggedly handsome bearded face with tired, blue eyes. He gave a chuckle. "Rude girls don't get dessert."

#rwby #silent knight #jaune arc #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #neopolitan #the curious cat #rwby au

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runningfrom2am · 10 months

Text

big reputation - (r.c)

summary: Rafe drives you and your hardly conscious friend home from a party.

This can be read as a stand-alone but it's technically a part two to getaway car

pairing: rafe x reader

wc: 3k

tags/warnings: mean!kook!reader, bullying i guess?, highschool!au, swearing, drinking, emetophobia warning, smut (its implied nothing actually graphic happens)

requests

nav/masterlists

Loud music shakes the floor of the beach house you're in, filling your ears with Taylor Swift's 'End Game'. One of your favorites. You smile leaning over the railing of the loft, the world spinning as you talk to a giggly Bella, forgetting every sentence the second it leaves your lips.

"Bells, I just love you so much. Have I ever told you that before?" You say, cutting off your friend as she talks.

"Aww, I love you too. So, so much." She replies, throwing her arms around you as you both stumble and fall against the railing.

"Woah! Careful ladies." You hear a male voice close to you and a hand on your back.

"Hi! Quinton, oh my god." Bella giggles before you can identify him, pulling him into what is now a group hug.

"Had too much to drink tonight, huh?" The boy asks and you both furiously shake your heads.

"No! We would never." You say, stopping the head shake as it makes you dizzy.

"Just the good kind of drunk then? I'm glad to hear it." He laughs, dropping his arm from Bella's shoulder and leaning onto you still. You reach up and place your hand on his arm as it falls over your body.

"Yeah! It's so good. It's been too long since we've had a good party, you know?" Bella says, smiling between the two of you.

"Literally! I missed being drunk." You giggle.

"Me too, you're so funny when you're drunk," Quinton says, patting your shoulder.

"I like to think I'm funny all the time." You say, raising an eyebrow as you turn to look up at him.

"Well, duh, just a different kind of funny. More carefree." He explains. "Less... uptight, you know?"

"Oh please." You roll your eyes. "You pretty much have to be uptight to even get into Kook Academy. Bells is an outlier." You laugh.

"So true, actually." Quinton agrees.

Before you can reply, Bella speaks up and proves her right. "I'm gonna go get another drink, I think. Do you want one? Or a water? Actually, yeah I'll get you a water, Y/N/N. It'll be good for you. Yeah." Bella rambles on, quickly tapping you on the shoulder and pointing at you before heading unsteadily toward the stairs. "I'll be right back!" She shouts over the music as she gets farther away.

"Thank you, Bells!" You call after her.

"Come with me," Quinton says, leaning down to speak in your ear, then placing a kiss on your neck.

Shivers run down your back even in your drunken state, looking down the stairs and seeing Bella stopped at the bottom talking to some girls. "I should probably wait here for Bells." You reply, in contrast to you leaning your head to the side to give him more access to your skin.

"She'll be at least ten minutes. Come on." He whispers, dropping his arm from your shoulder and grabbing your wrist, leading you away from the railing and back to a somehow unoccupied bedroom. You suppose she'll be fine, she's got those girls with her and you'll find her in just a few minutes.

Downstairs, Bella stumbles into the kitchen, looking around for an empty cup, and checking all the plastic red cups littered across the countertops. "Bella!" She hears her name and turns.

"Hey! Topper! How are you?" She slurs, immediately walking up to him and giving him a hug.

"Wow, you've had a few, haven't you?" He laughs, patting her back and then pulling away.

"How could you tell?" She giggles.

"Just a guess." He shrugs. "Hey! We're about to start up a game of Chandelier- you want to tap in? We're gonna team up on Kelce, at the very least it'll be a funny watch." Topper says, laughing through the end of his statement.

"Yeah, for sure!" Bella nods, then looks down at the cups in her hands. "Oh, well, I need to get Y/N some water first. Do you think I have time?"

"She'll be fine for a few minutes, you know her." He insists. "If you don't want to drink anymore, someone else will drink for you I'm sure."

Bella thinks about it for a second and nods. She knows you're as independent as they come, but she still does worry about you. She dismisses the thought, remembering you're with Quinton and would probably like some time alone with him anyways. "Okay, sure. Sounds like fun." She agrees, following Topper out to the patio where the game table is placed.

"Hey Bella, you gonna play?" Rafe asks her as she takes her place at the table, squeezing in between Kelce and Topper.

"Yeah! I've never played this before so I'll have to learn as I go but you guys might need some patience for me." She giggles out, not really standing steady on her feet as it is.

Rafe raises his eyebrows and nods, looking at her a little surprised. "Right, yeah." He gives Topper a look, suggesting it may not be the best idea for her to play. "Hey, Bella, where's Y/N?" He asks, leaning over the table a little as the boys work on filling up all the cups with various drinks they had on hand.

"Oh! Uh, she's upstairs." Bella answers, smiling and leaning in a little bit. "With Quin. I figured I'd give them some alone time." She giggles, winking at him.

"Oh, gotcha. Cool." Rafe finds himself looking up towards the windows on the second floor, not sure what he was expecting or even wanting to see.

"Yeah, I'm excited for her! I think she's really into him. Well, that's what she says. She never seems interested when I want to talk about it, though. She does have some issues so I think it could be about that. Sorry, no. I shouldn't say that- I mean, I just worry about her because of some stuff that's happened to her and I definitely shouldn't be telling any of you this so I'm gonna stop talking right now." Bella rambles on, slowly trailing off toward the end of her sentence.

"No you're fine- we won't tell anyone," Topper says, shaking his head. "Who hasn't had a sprinkle of trauma in their lives, you know?"

"Let's just play," Rafe says, quickly polishing off what's left in his can before tossing it over his shoulder. "Me and you start, Top. That way Bells can see how it's done."

It's been about half an hour since Bella left to go get your drinks, and part of you feels guilty for disappearing on her. Realistically, though, you know she doesn't mind finding someone else to talk to for a bit while you're sitting on the ensuite bathroom counter with Quinton's head between your thighs. She's got tons of friends- and god knows she'll love to hear about it later.

Your head is leaning back against the mirror, eyes closed and all you can hear is your own heavy breathing and the music shaking the walls from downstairs. That's until you think you hear someone calling your name, then a hand on the bedroom door handle which is in full view of the open bathroom door. Why did you not lock it? You shove Quinton's head away as quickly as you can, just in time to push your skirt down before the door swings open.

"Y/N-" It's Rafe, and he freezes for just a moment, clearly processing what he almost walked in on as Quinton stands up, wiping his mouth on his shirt which he just picked up off the floor.

"Hey, Rafe- what's up?" He asks casually, pulling the fabric back over his head. As you stare at the boy, stunned and red in the face.

"Uh- I need Y/N. Something happened." He explains vaguely, grabbing your arm and pulling you from the room.

"Jesus Christ, Rafe! What the fuck?" You say once you're out of earshot, letting him pull you down the stairs.

"It's Bella, she keeps asking for you. She's like, super fucked up." Rafe huffs, pulling you out onto the patio.

"Okay yeah, aren't we all?" You scoff and he shakes his head. You take one look at your friend, laid out on the grass on the back lawn and quickly run over to her, kneeling by her side.

"Hey, Bells? You alright, babe?" You say, a sympathetic smile on your face. She absolutely does not look good.

"No..." She groans, opening her eyes to look up at you. "Can we go home?" She asks, and you quickly nod.

"Of course. Uh... yes. Do you think you're gonna be sick? Will you be fine if I call an Uber?" You ask.

Rafe is quickly kneeling next to you. "I got some water, here, Bella, let's get you up." He says, and you both help her slowly sit up, then he hands her the cup.

He leans in close to your ear to talk to you so she doesn't hear. "She puked all over the table- she's probably done for now but she's gotta get home."

You wince and look back up on the patio where Kelce and Topper are throwing cups into a garbage bag and dousing the surface with any cleaner they could find under the sink and covering it in paper towels. "Yikes." You chuckle, turning to look back at him.

"Yeah, it was not pretty." He laughs a little, shaking his head. "Do you guys have a DD?" He asks.

"No, we were going to Uber- but I don't know if they'll let us in." You sigh, sitting back on your heels.

"No, no. 'm fine, guys. I take it back. I wanna stay." Bella insists, handing you the almost empty cup.

"Well, I think I'm ready to go home, babe. That okay?" You smile at her and she nods.

"Of course! Yeah, let's go home." You giggle at how quickly she changed her mind.

"I think I can drive," Rafe says, looking between the two of you. You hesitate, thinking it over. "I haven't had much. I was going to drive myself anyways. Do you trust me?"

You find yourself nodding. He seems sober enough for you. "Yeah, okay. Rafe is going to take us home." You turn to your friend, patting her leg.

"Oh! Thank you, Rafe. You're so sweet." She slurs, reaching forward and placing her hand on his cheek.

He laughs, shaking his head. "That's a new one for sure. Come on. Let's get you home."

You both help her up, letting her drape her arms over both of your shoulders and holding her waist as you walk out to the street, towards where Rafe says he parked. Luckily he didn't take the bike, he was thinking he'd probably have to drive Topper and Kelce too.

He watches you as you talk to Bella quietly, giggling to yourselves. "Oh god, wait! Y/N I'm so sorry- you were with Quinton!" Bella says suddenly, now loud enough for Rafe to hear. "I hope I didn't ruin anything- oh god..."

"No, no. Bells, it's fine." You insist, shaking your head. "It wasn't good anyways." You shrug, making Rafe choke on his laughter.

"What? Why?" Bella gasps, looking over at you. "Was he-"

"Uh-" You laugh nervously cutting her off as you briefly make eye contact with Rafe over her head. "I'll tell you about it later, okay?"

"No, please- share with the group," Rafe says, raising an eyebrow at you.

You roll your eyes. "I'm not gonna 'share with the group', let's just say, I'm over him now and I'd like to thank you both for getting me out of there."

The two of them laugh at that, and Bella tries to lean in to whisper to you. "You'll still tell me the details later though, right?" She says, trying to be quiet but it was still loud enough for Rafe to hear.

"Yeah, yeah of course." You giggle, making eye contact with him again.

"Uh, this is us," Rafe says, digging in his pocket for his keys to unlock the vehicle. He opens the back door, and you both help Bella in. "Okay, not to be that asshole, but Bella; if you have to puke, now is the time because I really don't want it to stink in here." He says as you buckle her in. She nods and gives a thumbs-up.

"I'm good. I promise."

"Okay, Bells, if you think that you're going to puke while we're moving, say something, okay? We can pull over or roll down your window or something." You tell her and she nods again.

You hop in the passenger seat and Rafe jogs around to the driver's side, climbing in and starting it up. You drive in the direction of Bella's house, putting on any Taylor Swift he had on his phone at her every request- not that you minded. It was mostly Reputation, which was fine by you since that was your favorite as well.

Luckily, you make it to Bella's without a hitch, jumping out to go enter the gate code to be let onto the property. You quickly jump back in and Rafe pulls up the long driveway to her house.

"Rafe! Here, hold on- how much do you want?" Bella asks, digging through the bag on her lap.

"Don't pay me." Rafe laughs, shaking his head.

"Okay, well, I guess I'm just going to accidentally leave this fifty back here where you can't reach it. Oopsies." She laughs, tucking it in the back seat and wrapping her arm around you again as she pretty much falls out of the car.

"Yeah, whatever Bella." Rafe chuckles, shaking his head. "Hey, Y/N, are you staying here? Or do you need a ride home?" Rafe asks as you're about to shut the door.

"Uh, I think I'll go home if you're okay to wait a couple minutes while I get her to bed?" You ask and he nods.

"I'll be here." He assures you and you thank him before shutting the door, helping Bella up to her house, and entering the code to get in.

"Wait, wait, tell me about Quinton!" Bella whispers once you're inside as you help her upstairs to her room.

"I'll tell you tomorrow- we'll debrief at brunch, yeah?" You laugh, shutting the door to her room behind you.

"Okay, okay." Bella sighs, flopping down on her bed as you grab her a makeup wipe and some pajamas from her drawer. "You know what I've been thinking?"

"Hm?" You hum in response, placing the pajamas on the bed and sitting down next to her, holding her chin as she sits up so you can gently wipe off her makeup for her.

"I think you and Rafe are like, the same person. You have a lot in common! You're both the oldest of three, you both are a little bit mean, but like in a fun way, and you have virtually the exact same sense of humor." She says and you laugh, shaking your head. "If you're over Quinton now, like you said, maybe- I don't know, just a pitch, maybe you should consider all your options. That's all I'm saying."

"Bella, come on. Rafe is... Rafe." You laugh, carefully wiping her lashes.

"Yeah, and you are you. And I'm me. And you're kind of friends, so like- what's the harm? Also, I can see it in the way he looks at you." She says, eyes still closed. "Besides, I've heard it's big."

"Bella!" You laugh, your cheeks burning as you sigh. "I've heard that too." You admit.

"Okay! You can get us evidence and give me all the tea. Neither of you are the relationship type either so there's no pressure." She explains. "But also, like, I really don't think a relationship would be bad for you. Or him. If you are as similar as I think you are. Also, you kind of went on a date the other week! Like, come on. You get on so well."

You smile to yourself and shake your head, getting up to throw out the dirty wipe. "I've got to go, Rafe is waiting." You giggle and she nods, laying back down. "Hey, put your pajamas on before you pass out. Okay? I'll see you in the morning." You head back to the door.

"Go get your man, Y/N/N. I love you." Bella yawns, already half asleep.

"Love you too. I'll call you in the morning." You whisper, stepping out and closing the door softly behind you, careful not to wake her parents.

You sneak outside, running over to the car where Rafe is still waiting, looking at his phone when you jump in.

"She good?" He asks as you close the door.

"Yeah, passed out instantly." You chuckle, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Sweet. Yeah." He agrees, sensing a shift in tension. He starts the car and you start back down the driveway, getting back out onto the road after closing the gate behind you.

"So, did you tell her about Quinton?" Rafe laughs.

"No, that's a breakfast conversation for sure." You chuckle.

"A breakfast conversation? Really? Why do you have to put other people through that?"

You shrug in response. "Because I don't give a shit if anyone knows."

"That guy is a dick, you know that right?" Rafe says suddenly, and you look over at him as he stares at the road.

"Well, yeah, but we're kind of friends so..." You reply defensively.

"He's not worth your time. I know him pretty well, and just like, don't bother." Rafe says, glancing over at you for a second.

"Maybe I'm not worth his time." You reply.

"Nah. You can do so much better. And it wouldn't be hard." Rafe insists.

"Thanks." You say hesitantly. You've never been the best at accepting compliments, but Bella has told you to work on it, so when in doubt, just say thanks.

Luckily you don't live far from Bella, so you pull up to your house in just a few minutes. You open the door, grab your bag off the floor by your feet, and going to shut the door. You've been sitting on what Bella said, really just marinating in the thought of you and Rafe together. No harm in trying, right?

"Aren't you coming in?" It comes out more passive-aggressively than you intended when what you meant to ask was if he would like to come in, but that's just not how your mind works sometimes. His head snaps up at this, and he's already undoing his seatbelt.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure." He agrees quickly, turning off the car.

part one

taglist: @slut4drudy , @madelynie , @mutual-mendes , @sadfury , @totallynotkaibiased (i also tagged some mutuals who like my other stuff so if you want to be added or removed lmk!!)

#rafe cameron #obx fanfic #obx #outer banks #rafe obx #rafe cameron x oc #rafe fanfiction #rafe fic #outerbanks rafe #rafe cameron fluff #rafe cameron x reader #rafe imagine #rafe outer banks #rafe x reader #rafe x you

346 notes · View notes

shadowynn · 1 year

Text

| the paradigm complex | two |

pairing: ot8 ateez x fem! reader

genre: yandere!vampire!cult!poly! ateez au

warnings: yandere behavior, cursing

They'll do whatever you ask. Anything you need. Anything you want. It's yours. They'll fulfill your every desire and whim. Give you the life you had always dreamed about.

And in exchange, you wouldn't just give them your soul. Oh, no. They weren't demons. What good was your soul alone when your purpose was better served alive and well? Your soul was nice, sure but it wasn't all they wanted. It wasn't all they needed. They needed your body, your mind. Your blood. You entirely. Every single fiber of your being was essential and would soon be theirs and theirs alone.

The moment you signed that contract, everything would change. For them and for you.

You just didn't know it yet.

And there was nothing you could do about it.

wordcount: 6.3k

a/n: okay, okay, so i totally went into this as like a fun little side project, so i was and still am absolutely blown away by the support you all gave me for part one. like, i was not expecting that at all and just want to thank you all for all the love you sent my way and i'm so appreciative of you all. i totally planned on getting this part out sooner, but writer's block hit a little hard and i spent more time editing and rewriting than the first part due to the interest the part received. so, once again, thank you all so much and i hope you enjoy part two. :)

| one | two | three |

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"You're really going to wait and pretend to leave when she gets here and then sneak your way inside?" Seonghwa's arms crossed, shifting his weight against the doorway to the front office when he saw San idling near the building's entrance. "Just so you can 'accidentally' bump into her and introduce yourself."

"Yup," San replied without any hint of shame, simply bouncing on the balls of his feet next to the entrance. "It's only right that I go out of my way to introduce myself since we will be living right next door to each other and make sure she knows I'll be right there if there's ever anything she needs."

"Oh, wow, really? Who would have known?" Wooyoung's voice floated out from further within the office, heavy with sarcasm. "It's not like you haven't rubbed that fact in about a hundred times by now."

"Shut up, Woo. We all know you, Seonghwa, and Yeosang are going to get to see her the most." San's smirk slipped. "After all, you are the ones who'll be getting to work with her."

"Perhaps, but why do I get the feeling someone will be abusing their power to tweak the schedules and benefit themselves." Wooyoung's voice grew louder as he left his desk and made his way to the doorway Seonghwa leaned against, stretching out the muscles in his back from sitting. "I wonder who that would be, huh?" His eyes narrowed in Seonghwa's direction.

"Well, I am the senior manager." The elder made no attempt to rebuke Wooyoung's statement, simply smirking at the implication.

"A title you only got by fucking age, you bastard." Wooyoung rolled his eyes. "And if I start to notice a trend, I'm going to tell Hongjoong someone hasn't been playing fair."

"And you don't think he's not going to use his seniority to influence her either?" Seonghwa asked, shifting his position against the doorway. "We might all be sharing, but that doesn't mean it won't come down to every man for himself when it comes to who gets to have her first. And we all know playing fair won't be a part of this game."

At the thought of finally having you, finally tasting you, San was unable to keep his fangs from growing as a newfound thirst took over. His tongue rolled over their sharpened points, the image of your body beneath him and the supple skin of your neck bare and exposed just for him, all but begging for him to take you, filling his head.

"It'll be a while until we fully get to savor her though," Wooyoung interrupted San's thoughts, taking note of the direction his mind had gone from the fangs that had extruded past his lips. "Yeosang says she reeks of him. It'll be a few weeks before we get his blood out of her system."

"What was it I said?" Yeosang interrupted their conversation when he suddenly rounded the corner from the stairs, a cup of tea in hand and looking like he had just tumbled out of bed with the messy state of his hair and the yawn that followed. "Oh," his face fell, "she's not here yet."

"Fucking hell," Seonghwa sighed, shaking his head. "You too?"

"Me too, what?" Yeosang cocked his head, an overtly innocent expression on his face as his thumb pointed to the mailboxes at his right. "I'm just here to get my mail."

"Dressed like that?" Seonghwa's eyes glittered dangerously as he took in the casual outfit Yeosang wore, the tight-fitting sweatpants and loose tank exposing his sides all but screaming for attention. For your attention. "And precisely," he paused to check the time on his watch, "two minutes before she's supposed to be here?"

"Precisely," Yeosang smirked and took a sip of his tea, making no further move to get his mail like he had claimed.

"And here I was thinking you were better than this."

"Then clearly you don't know me half as well as you think you do if you believe I'm going to waste an opportunity as this one." There was a slight edge to his tone, yet his expression remained playful, reminding Seonghwa and the others of the darker side beneath Yeosang's generally easy going attitude.

It had been a long time since someone had piqued his interest anywhere close to where you had, and his reaction only served to excite the others even more. If you had him this riled up, this eager for your attention, you must have been something quite extraordinary.

"I am the one who found her, after all," he quipped, leaning back against the wall behind him, "and I won't just stand aside to let the rest of you catch up."

"You didn't find shit, Sangie, and you know it." San shook his head, rebuking his statement. "She came to us, remember? Willingly. You just happened to be the lucky bastard who was working that day."

"Perhaps," Yeosang shrugged, "But that doesn't change the fact I was the one who convinced her to fill out the application and I'm the one she'll be thanking for helping her get accepted."

"God, why the hell did you give the open house to him?" Wooyoung whined.

"Because the one time I left you in charge of an open house, you ended up killing one of the attendees and then Hongjoong and I had to spend the rest of the day fixing things," Seonghwa answered, giving Wooyoung a pointed look. "And we all know Yeosang has the best sense of smell out of all of us, so it's only natural he's the one that picks. He hasn't failed us yet, has he?"

"It's a good thing I did it too because I highly doubt the rest of you would have been able to pick it out," Yeosang replied. "Sure, I was suspicious as to why another vampire's scent was all over her, but it wasn't until we were outside and the wind blew just right that I noticed the subtle hints of her own scent coming through. And trust me, there's no way she's not a-"

Yeosang was interrupted when the office phone began to ring, alerting them all to what was about to happen and ending their current conversation. In a matter of seconds, each man was moving towards the task at hand to ensure your first interaction with them was nothing but flawless.

Wooyoung collapsed into his chair, hurrying to press the button that would open the front gate for you, more than eager to finally see you face to face. He had seen the pictures Yeosang had snapped of you without your knowledge, and these had only added to his excitement, your beauty more than evident.

San kept his place next to the front door, checking his appearance one last time in the nearby mirror as he waited for the perfect moment to 'leave' the building and bump into you.

Yeosang took his time finding his mailbox, casually shifting through the few pieces it had contained while he waited for you to enter the building and have a chance to speak to you once more.

Seonghwa rolled his eyes as he strayed for just a minute longer, eyeing both of their childish antics with partial annoyance. He couldn't really blame them, not when this day was something each of them had waited centuries for. Not when this was something they had all begun to believe would never happen to them, all but losing hope someone like you would come walking into their life. If the roles had been reversed, he knew he would have been acting similarly to them, but today's events were important. What happened today would dictate your future with them and the last thing any of them needed was to fuck it all up because some of them couldn't be patient.

He knew their behavior wasn't really a cause for concern, however they might have annoyed him. You may have not been legally theirs yet, but you had sealed your fate the moment you had stepped into their domain and nothing you said or did would change that.

When neither one showed any intention of giving you space for the time being, Seonghwa sighed before following Wooyoung back into the office, taking a split second to check his own appearance in the mirror. Over the centuries they had been together, he had long learned there was little he could do to control any of the others. No matter what he said, they would do whatever it was they wanted and damn the consequences. Instead of concerning himself with their shenanigans, he needed to focus on the task he had been given and ensure you sighed the contract.

And you would. Willingly or not, it didn't matter. You wouldn't step a foot outside this building until it was signed. And if you showed any sign of hesitation, he would simply push you in the right direction with a little coaxing, your kind's mind weak and powerless to his power of persuasion. In the next few hours, you would sign your way over to them. He would make absolutely certain of it.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Oh, sorry!"

You stepped out of the way as the door to the building swung open before you had a chance to find the button to buzz the office. A man stood on the other side, head and attention directed behind him as he finished up his conversation with whoever was back there before he left.

At your soft apology, he turned to face you and you had a hard time stopping your cheeks from tinting pink as you took in his features. He was beautiful. A few inches taller than you, black hair effortlessly swept back from his face, bringing full attention to his strong cheekbones and sharp jawline. All of which made it more difficult to control the blush blooming at the back of your neck. And when he smiled down at you and motioned for you to come through first, you knew there was no way your cheeks weren't at least a little bit pink by now.

"Thanks," you reply, returning a timid smile of your own before tucking your purse closer towards you and slipping past him inside.

"Oh, hey, y/n!"

Your gaze was directed past him and to the right when you entered, surprised to hear your name being called out. A man stood near the mailboxes, smiling and waving at you as he shuffled through his mail. It took a few seconds for you to recognize him, the addition of glasses and casual wear a stark difference from the man who had been your tour guide a little over a week ago.

"Are you here to sign the lease?"

"Yeosang, hi!" You returned the wave, unable to stop your eyes from momentarily roaming over the rest of his body and wondering how you hadn't noticed just how attractive he was before. "And yeah, I think so. I was told to come in and meet with Seonghwa to finalize everything."

"Oh, you must be the new tenant of 604 then," the man who had opened the door for you spoke up behind you, directing your gaze back towards him. "I'm Choi San. I live in the unit right next to yours, 603."

"Oh, hi." You hesitantly took the hand he had extended in greeting. This? This was who you would be living next to? God, you could already hear the jokes Felix would start when he found out who your new neighbor would be. "I'm l/n y/n. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," San replied, an easygoing smile still stretched across his features. "I'm also one of the people in charge of maintenance here, so please just let me know if you ever have any issues with anything and I'll be more than happy to help."

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."

You had to admit that having maintenance right across the hall from you was nice, but as sincere as his willingness to help seemed to be, you knew it would be a while before you ever approached him for any help. The last thing you wanted him, or any of the other workers here for that matter, was to think you would be taking advantage of them in any way. They had already done so much for you with the new job and new housing, the last thing you wanted was for them to think you were trying to wring more out of them. No, you would do your best to pay them back for the kindness they had shown you and ensure you weren't a burden on anyone. Ensure that you didn't need to depend on anyone anymore.

"y/n, I presume?"

You turned in the direction the new voice had come, finding yet another very attractive man around your age leaning against a nearby doorway. He appeared slightly taller than the other two, hair dyed a bright, startling white.

"I'm Park Seonghwa, the senior manager here at the Paradigm."

Shit.

This was Seonghwa? This was the man who would likely be serving as your new boss?

"Hi, yes, I'm l/n y/n." You nodded, making your way over towards him. "I'm so sorry I'm late. I had some issues getting a few of the documents you needed and then there was a wreck on my way here that slowed everything down."

And by issues, it seemed someone had conveniently forgotten to give back the key to your lockbox that you kept on your keyring. It wasn't until after nearly ransacking the apartment looking for it that you remembered you had stowed a spare key in your car a year ago that you were finally able to get the identification documents you needed without having to call your boyfriend and ask him where the hell he had taken it and raising unnecessary suspicion.

"Don't worry about it," Seonghwa waved your concerns away, motioning for you to follow him inside. "I had a few things I still needed to finish up for your arrival, so your timing is perfect."

"Oh, well, I'll still apologize nonetheless. I'm incredibly thankful for this opportunity you've given me here and I don't want you to think I'm taking any of it for granted."

"I assure you, it's fine," Seonghwa replied. "Things are pretty relaxed here for the most part, so no one's worried about a few minutes here or there. And it's not like I haven't had to drag Wooyoung or Yeosang out of bed before when they've slept through the first hour of their shift."

"You're one to talk, Hwa." Hearing his name mentioned, the other man inside the office spoke up, alerting you to his presence. His head was propped up in his hand and a teasing smile was directed towards the man in front of you. "Or have you forgotten how you missed half your shift the morning after your birthday last year."

"Like I said," Seonghwa's eyes narrowed back at him, but he didn't try to rebuke his statement, "we're fairly flexible around here."

"I'm Wooyoung by the way." The red haired man's eyes moved towards you. "We spoke on the phone earlier."

"Right." You nodded, returning his smile and fully realizing how much more awkward you would have felt in that conversation if you had known just who you had been talking to in that moment. "It's nice to meet you, Wooyoung."

With greetings out of the way, you followed Seonghwa to his desk in the back, sitting down in the chair he pulled out for you. As he began to go over everything pertaining to your time with them, you slowly began to relax. Despite being originally intimidated by his appearance and status, Seonghwa truly was nice. He was easy to talk to and just as it had been with Yeosang, you felt a pull towards him and could see yourself fitting in well here with them. Easily slipping into the casual workflow they had here, much less stressful than anything you had to deal with at your current place of work.

But before you got around to signing the multiple documents to seal everything in place, Seonghwa walked you down to the on-site clinic to get your blood drawn before the doctor on schedule closed for the day. The nerves that had previously been quelled by Seonghwa and the others' affable personalities slowly crept back at the notion of having your blood drawn. You had done your best to push the thoughts aside when Wooyoung had mentioned it earlier, but you had a hard time remaining calm as you followed him, your fear of needles beginning to get the best of you.

You didn't know what you had expected when Seonghwa mentioned Yunho would be the one to draw your blood today, but it sure as hell wasn't the tall, gorgeous man smiling at you when you entered the room. But then again, after everything else you had experienced here this far, should you really have been surprised by the real life equivalent of Carlisle Cullen - minus the vampiric qualities of course.

"Are you okay?" Yunho asked as he sat down on the stool next to you, taking the arm you extended towards him to begin prepping it.

"Yeah," you nodded, attempting to still your fidgeting nerves and praying you wouldn't come close to passing out like you had the last time you had been stuck. "I'm just not the biggest fan of needles, but it's fine." You were quick to add the last few words before he could say anything, not wanting him or Seonghwa who was still hovering near the entrance to the room to think you were trying to talk them out of this. "I used to give occasionally when I was younger, but then something must have happened because the last time I attempted to give, it didn't go well and I haven't been able to give since. I've wanted to start giving again though, so perhaps this is just the push I need to get over the fear."

You really didn't know what had happened to cause the fear. You had never liked needles before, but you had always been fine with them. It wasn't until two years ago that you had your first panic attack from them when you had gone in for your flu shot and very nearly passed out. And when you had tried to give blood a few months later, you had passed out and found yourself growing antsy at the mere thought of needles. You had no idea what had caused this sudden onset, having no bad occurrences with them in the past, but whatever it was, was enough to keep you avoiding them.

"Well, I assure you I will do my best to make this as quick and painless as possible." The smile he sent your way nearly had you melting in your spot and you felt your nerves begin to relax the slightest. "Just try and focus on me instead, okay?"

You nodded, unable to stop the blush that tinted your cheeks at his words, embarrassed at how your childish fear was playing out in front of him and all the more flustered by him because of it.

"So, y/n, tell me about yourself," he began in an attempt to distract you from the needle sliding in, but you still flinched, turning your head in the opposite direction. Looking at it was only going to make you more woozy than you already were. "What do you like to do?"

"A little bit of everything, I guess. When I have the time, I like to read, but with school and work, I don't have nearly as much time as I used to. I also enjoy both volleyball and skiing, but only really get a chance to do either of those during school breaks," you began, doing your best to focus on the conversation at hand and not on the fact there was a needle inside you at this moment, a thought that had you closing your eyes and sinking further into the chair. "And then I do quite a bit of art as well, which I suppose I would have to, seeing as I am getting a degree in graphic design."

"Seonghwa, I think we're all good here now. Feel free to head on back and I can walk y/n back to your office when we're done." Yunho diverted the conversation for just a second, turning his attention to the other male in the room before focusing on you once more. "You said you're getting a degree in graphic design. What do you want to do with that when you're done?"

"I'd love to work in the video game industry, but it can be a tricky field to get into and make a living off of, so who knows." You took a sip of the drink Yunho had handed you before he had begun, hoping the sugar from the juice would help keep your head level. So far, you were still feeling okay, but knew it could change in a second if you let your head dwell elsewhere for too long. "But my friend Felix is a computer engineering major and is also interested in gaming, so we've actually been working on creating our own game this past year. He handles all the coding and logistics, while I work on the artwork, animation, and story design."

"What's the game about?"

"Oh, well, it's still in pretty early development as neither of us ever have much time to work on it, but the gist of it is that you play as a character who has been transported to the middle of a giant labyrinth and must survive long enough to find a way out before it's too late. As you journey through, you'll find both enemies and potential allies and it's up to the player to decide just how you'll escape and who all will make it out with you. And with the labyrinth randomizing with each game, you'll be guaranteed a different playthrough each time. Or at least that's the goal."

It was hard to tell if Yunho was truly interested or not as you began to ramble on about your project, but his trick to get your mind off the matter at hand was working and you didn't dwell on the matter too long before you continued, unable to stop yourself from rambling with the nerves coursing through you.

"Felix also thought it would be cool if there was some form of romance in the game, so we've also recently started working on implementing some sort of relationship aspect to it. One which will not only allow you to form romantic relationships with the companions you meet along the way, but also friendships and enemies as well. So, if you end up making one of the npcs mad, you might just want to sleep with one eye open. Otherwise, you might just wake up with all your supplies stolen or a dagger to your throat depending on who you upset."

"And it's just the two of you working on it?" Yunho asked, to which you nodded. "That's impressive. It sounds very cool."

"You think?" You took a risk and turned your head towards him, attempting to gauge his response.

"Of course. It sounds like something I would enjoy playing." His eyes lifted upwards for a moment, giving you a reassuring smile.

"Oh, well, maybe I can show you what we have done so far sometime."

"I'd like that."

His smile was infectious and you couldn't hold back your own grin at his words before turning your gaze away once more. Was there anything about this man that wasn't perfect?

"Does that mean you like to play video games too?" you asked after a few moments, taking another sip of your drink to try and get a hold of yourself once more.

"Maybe not as much as some of the others here, but yes, I have played quite a bit over the years," he replied. "In fact, there's a group of us that usually gets together on Tuesdays for a game night. You should join us sometime when you're all settled in and feeling up to it. We'd love to have you, though I must warn that things can get heated at times. Some of us have a harder time taking a loss than others."

You laughed, knowing all too well what he was talking about. Your friend Felix also fell in that category of people. "Sounds like fun. I'll have to keep that in mind."

"And on that note, we are just about all done here," Yunho said as he applied a cotton ball to the crook of your arm to stop the bleeding before beginning to bandage you back up.

"What? Really?" His words surprised you, too distracted by your conversation to notice he had slipped the needle out already. "Wow, you're good. I didn't even feel it."

"Not so bad then?" he asked, collecting the vials of your blood and standing up to properly store them before they got sent off for testing.

"Well, considering I passed out the last time my blood was drawn, I'd say this was a vast improvement." You could feel the endorphins kicking in now that it was over, a huge wave of relief washing over you. "After that, I sort of stopped going around needles as a whole. My mother wasn't very happy when I stopped getting flu shots, but seeing as I haven't gotten sick in years, I'd say I'm okay."

"Here, why don't you eat one of these." Yunho extended a plate of cookies in your direction. "I didn't take too much since we just needed a sample, but you should still probably eat just in case, especially if you're going to be driving later."

"Did you make them?" you asked, taking one from the plate and giving it a try. "They're really good."

"No, sadly that credit has to go to Wooyoung. Despite how he may appear at times, he's actually a really good cook."

"Really?" Like Yunho said, this fact did surprise you. You hadn't pictured the playful redhead as someone who might have enjoyed cooking, let alone be good at it. But here you were. Was there anything about these men that weren't perfect? "I'll have to let him know if he's still around when I get back."

You waited there with Yunho until he was done putting everything away, taking the time to recover and sneak another cookie or two before getting back on your feet. Once you were good, and certain you wouldn't be passing out anytime soon, you followed Yunho back towards the front office when he had closed everything up.

You chatted idly with him as you went, finding him just as engaging as the others. When you arrived back at the front office, however, your attention was stolen by Wooyoung. You were too distracted by praising him for his baking skills that you didn't notice the additional male that had made his way into the room in your absence. It wasn't until you had finished up your brief conversation with Wooyoung and began making your way back to Seonghwa's desk that you finally noticed the man beside the senior manager. He was seated on the edge of the desk next to Seonghwa, and though his back was directed towards you, his head turned in your direction when he noticed your hesitant approach.

"y/n, this is Kim Hongjoong, the owner of Paradigm."

Once again, the introduction took you for a spin. Of all the mentions you had heard about the man, the person sitting before you was the very last thing you had ever imagined in your head. He looked no older than the rest of the occupants here, including yourself, making you wonder if he had inherited this place from a family member or bought it with a fortune he had inherited. It was the only two plausible explanations you could think of.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kim." You had a hard time stopping yourself from wriggling in your spot as he took you in. Not just from knowing this man was the one responsible for your admittance here and his role as your boss, but also from his appearance, easily just as attractive as the other coworkers you had met up to this point. "I'm extremely thankful for the opportunity you've given me here."

"Please, just Hongjoong. Mr. Kim makes me feel old." He smiled, alleviating a bit of your nerves. "And after everything Yeosang and the others have had to say about you, we're all excited to have you on board with us here. I just came down to introduce myself and make sure Seonghwa had everything in order."

"I believe we've just about gone through everything." Seonghwa motioned for you to sit down. "All that's left is to sign everything and you'll be all set." He pushed a stack of papers alongside a pen towards you. "Feel free to scan through these, but all of it is just a reiteration of everything we've already gone through or just a part of the lease agreement attached to the email Yeosang had sent you earlier. I've also gone through for you and highlighted each of the sections you need to sign or initial to make things easier."

You nodded, taking the pen that sat on top of the stack before beginning to go through and sign the various documents. You briefly scanned through the first few pages before signing them, but upon seeing Seonghwa was right, and each sheet was just a repeat of everything you had already talked over, you eventually began to just skim through the pages in search of the areas Seonghwa had highlighted for you.

"I think that is everything," you began, finishing your signature on the last page and briefly flipping through the previous documents in search for any spot you might have missed before handing the stack back to Seonghwa across from you.

Seonghwa took a second to flip through the pages as well, double-checking your work. "It appears everything is signed and in order." He dropped the stack back on his desk before opening one of the drawers to his left. "Congratulations on your new apartment, Miss l/n." The object he had reached for was a small bag which he now extended towards you. "I know you said you wouldn't be able to move in or start until two weeks from now, but your unit is ready and everything is in order, so here are the keys to your apartment and mailbox, alongside the card you'll use to unlock the doors to the building and the sticker you'll need to put on your windshield to unlock the gate to the garage. So, feel free to come and go as much as you'd like until then because for all extents and purposes, you are now officially a resident of the Paradigm."

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Felix, I swear to all things holy, this place is going to be the death of me." You could hear the laughter this statement elicited from your best friend through the car's speakers, and you had a hard time hiding your own flustered smile despite knowing he couldn't see it. "No, I swear, Felix, how the hell am I supposed to work and act normal when everyone around me looks like the physical embodiment of a god. We're talking Haneul level here, Felix. Haneul."

High on finally finding a place of your own, and at The Paradigm no less, you had gone up to see your new apartment one more time before you left. You had spent longer up there than you anticipated, fully basking in the realization that this was now yours and no one else's. Just yours.

It hadn't taken long for the thought to overwhelm you, causing you to break down in the upstairs bathroom for a few minutes. The realization you were finally getting out and starting over hitting you hard.

Once you had finally gotten a hold of yourself, you had taken a picture of the lower level with your newly acquired keys to the place and sent it to your best friend in order to update him on your decision. It had only taken a few seconds after you sent the photo for Felix to call you, nearly as excited as you were.

"Haneul level?" At the mention of the coworker the two of you had both been admiring from afar the last few weeks, Felix's voice took a slightly more serious tone as you were finally able to drive your point down to him. "All of them?"

"Well, all of the ones that I've met so far, but yes!" you cried, though the hint of a giggle did break through, still giddy from the day's events. "Now do you see my predicament?"

"y/n, I don't think that's a predicament," he began, "I think that's heaven. And as your best friend, I think it's only right for you to let me come see your new place in person... and perhaps these gods in the form of your new coworkers."

You giggled once more at the way Felix quickly spit the words out at the end, rushing them to make it harder for you to make out. "Well, Felix, you're in luck because I just so happen to need some help moving a few things into the place this Saturday."

"I thought you weren't moving in until the following weekend."

"I'm not, but I figured I could get some stuff done this weekend since Jae is still on weekends." Despite the joyous occasion, you still felt your spirits fall at the mention of your soon to be ex-boyfriend, wondering just how you were going to pull this all off successfully. "I thought I would go out and get some of the items I need and move them in so I don't have to worry about all of it the following weekend."

"And you still plan on keeping it all a secret from him until the last moment?"

"Yes," you sighed, running a hand through your hair and wondering just how you were going to make it through the next two weeks without letting anything slip. If you had it your way, you would have moved in today, but knew that wasn't a smart move to make, not when you planned to finish up your scheduled shifts at your current job. If you were to break things off with him now, you knew he would come find you and convince you to change your mind and go back with him. "I know it's not right, disappearing with little more than a note after all these years, but I'm terrified of what might happen if I try to tell him in person. You know what happened last time I tried, Lix. What if it happens again and I ruin everything I've finally managed to set up for myself."

The last time you had pulled the courage to end things, Felix had offered you a spot at his place until you got back up on your feet. Everything had been set up and packed, and yet, when you had stopped and told Jae what was happening when he came home from work that evening, he had flipped. You didn't remember much of what happened afterwards, but just as before, all your belongings had been put back up and away. He had been extra attenuative to you that following week, even calling out of work to spend more time with you, making you wonder for a moment why you had ever tried to break things off.

"I'm not judging you, n/n. The guy's a piece of shit and doesn't deserve a proper break up after all the shit he's put you through," Felix replied, taking note of your fallen mood. "You, however, deserve the fucking world, including this new start with your supposed godlike coworkers, and I swear if he tries anything to fuck it up, I will personally kill him."

"Thanks, Felix. I don't know what I would do without you," you mumbled back, comforted by his constant support and friendship. You truly didn't know where you would be without him. "But if I'm being honest, as attractive as these men may be, I think it's time to take a nice, long break away from any sort of relationship and focus on myself for a little bit."

Sure, they were attractive, but you truly didn't have any intention of acting on anything at the moment. And even if you did, the chances of them not already being in a relationship or even remotely interested in you was slim to none and setting yourself up for something that was never going to happen would only make you feel worse than you already did. Though time had numbed the pain, you knew you were hurting after years of being stuck where you were now. Pain that would quickly resurface if you attempted to bounce back into the dating game before you were ready. You needed time to heal, time to recover from the shit you had been put through these past years. And the only way you were going to do that was if you spent a good bit of time focusing on yourself.

And this might have been what happened if you were heading to some place normal, some place sane. If you hadn't just unknowingly signed your entire being over to the very men you were just talking about. Each of whom had no intention of letting you do anything on your own now that you were theirs.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

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a/n: please let me know if i missed you, added you to the wrong taglist, or if you would like to be added/removed :)

#ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez x reeader #vampire ateez #ot8 #ot8 x reader #hongjoong x reader #yunho x reader #mingi x reader #seonghwa x reader #san x reader #yeosang x reader #jongho x reader #wooyoung x reader #yandere ateez #yandere

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abbonation · 11 months

Text

Swimming Through Starlight

(18+ MINORS LEAVE THE PREMISES)

The hunt for a bounty presents you and your Mando with an impromptu vacation opportunity.

Tags/Warnings: Din Djarin x ForceSensitive!Reader, Language, Smut, No use of Y/N, PinV sex, Creampie, Breeding kink if you squint, teensie bit of assplay 🤭,

You had been doing.. whatever this was for nearly a full cycle now. Traveling with Din and his kid, Grogu, fixing shit on the Crest- but somewhere along the way you had accidentally found an actual home with them and now… Well now they were stuck with you, you guessed.

Niamos was the current destination, a planet covered with glittery beaches warmed by its star and a reputation for being a cozy hideout for felons and the like.

“I’m not going to lay on the beach in just my helmet.” You can tell he must be straight faced under that visor by the tone of his voice.

“What would it take to convince you?” You smirk and rub your hand up his calf under the blanket in his bunk.

Mando sits up and looks at where your hand is moving, “Kriff- fucking… nothing, don’t use your magic on me,” He scoots down the cot to start preparing for landing. Loading blasters, rations and med-kits into the bag he so lovingly has you carry while he lugs whatever scumbag he’s picking up here. You’re sure to stuff the one and only thing you own that could pass off as swimwear into the bag too- just in case.

“Mando look! Ice pops!” You beckon towards him- grab Grogu from his sling on Din’s hip and practically skip towards the stand.

He scolds out your name, “We’ve barely been on the ground for ten minutes,”

“But- they have Moonberry flavor,” you put on your best pout up to him and watch as he analyzes your face from behind the visor.

The baby gurgles up at the both of you, and Din sets a couple credits down on the counter. The stall attendant pulls your frozen treat out of the case and hands it to you, “One Ice pop for the beautiful lady and.. the baby...” He ends his statement as if it was a question and you giggle, turning back to Din.

You bite off a tiny piece for Grogu and put the rest in your mouth- holding it with your lips as you feed the broken piece to him. Finally you get your turn to enjoy your treat when the baby realizes he can hold it himself, and you notice Din staring down at you as you walk side by side through the bustling little city.

“What?” You ask, knowing exactly what.

“Nothing.” He turns back to the road ahead.

—

“So this is the guy, huh?” You stand from the sandy ground, where you’d been sitting with Grogu, letting him run through the puddles the sandbar left behind when the tide went out.

It had only been a few hours since you parted ways with Din to go catch his bounty, and while he was gone you started brainstorming the perfect way to get him to enjoy this beachy getaway while he could.

“Yup,” Mando jerked the male human's shoulder, “He thought he’d be able to hire some of his buddies to hide him.”

“Ah,” you look at the bounty’s face, scrunched in pain from Din’s hold on him, “That never works, see, he’s got this tracker on his helmet-“

“Alright, enough,” Mando interrupts you, “It’s time to go.”

You pick Grogu up from where he was playing with a little crustacean and walk towards the Crest with Din

Mando wrangles his bounty into carbonite while you tuck your green toddler into his floating crib and watch him drift off, sending soothing emotions to his brain, before meeting Din back by the door of the Crest.

“So,” you start, “Do you think we could stay for a while?”

“Where, here?”

“Well, maybe not here in town, I’d just like to enjoy the beach a while longer,”

“I don’t know, cyar’ika,” Din returns, shrugging.

“I saw a more secluded part of the beach while we were waiting for you, you’d just have to move the Crest out of town. Maybe you could rest for a while while we have dinner,”

He looks down at you once again and you try to pick at his brain, finding nothing.

“Please.” You once again pout up at him.

“Fine, just for a little bit, though.”

A distance down the beach, away from the small city and in the cover of the dunes and vegetation Niamos provided, you stood in the ‘fresher, ditching your normal shirt, chest wrap and cargo pants for the one and only pretty piece of underwear you owned. A strappy purple thing that hugged your breasts together; no matter if you had to wear a pair of your regular undies, this would surely get the job done.

“Hey, Din,” you step down the ramp to join your Mando down on the sand that was cooling in the late afternoon sun.

Din turns towards you from where he stands and you can visibly see the way his helmet drops to stare at your body. He’d never been the boldest with his public affection, but while in private he was nearly insatiable with his hunger for you.

“Din?”

He jerks his helmet back up to your face.

“Did you hear me?”

“What?” The vocoder sounds low and gravelly as he chokes out the single word.

You giggle and walk towards him, “Do you want to swim with me?”

“Uhh,” he gulps, “The uhm- my helmet,”

You feign annoyance at him, “Oh fine, you can watch me play then.”

You tap his chest plate on your way past down into the waves, making sure to swing your hips as seductively as possible.

You walk into the gently lapping waves up to your calves and toe around in the wet sand, then turn back to where Din sits on the beach, just watching you.

“It’s warm, Din. I wish you could feel.”

You splash around for a bit, now wishing Grogu wasn’t asleep on the Crest so he could play too.

You decide if he’s gonna stay asleep for a while, and Din isn’t gonna come in the water, you should have some fun of your own. You face the sunset, the water up to your hips; and almost against your own volition your hands reach to the back of your neck and untie the knot holding your top up. You lift the straps over your head and drop them down, freeing your nipples to the crispy air.

“Hey-“ Din shouts your name from the beach, trying to get your attention.

You don’t turn around, instead running your fingertips over your skin and through your hair, reveling in the tingles you give yourself.

You hear splashing behind you suddenly and turn to face him, Din stops mid journey out to you in the water- still wearing all his armor.

“Hey what’re you-“ He cuts himself off with a huff of breath audible through the vocoder.

You walk toward each other, Din molds his hands behind your neck and brings your forehead to where his would be behind his visor in a Keldabe kiss.

“You are so fucking pretty.”

You close your eyes and shiver at the sheer eroticism of the moment. You reach up and move his hands down to your breasts, asking him to touch you without words.

His eyes stay on your face as he pinches and pulls at your nipples with his leather covered fingers, you moan at his touch, growing wetter with each second you spend so exposed for him.

You move your fingers up to run through the loose curls at the bottom of his helmet and he arches his shoulders into your touch, huffing a breath, “I want you.” He whispers.

Running your hands down his chest you respond, “Then come get me.”

You jerk out of his touch and start for the beach, struggling to push your legs through the water.

He turns instantly and shoots his arm out towards you, at the narrow miss you shriek and push harder, now only a few feet from land. You hold your tits and make for the small patch of trees at the top of the sandy hill the Crest is parked on. When the sounds from behind you turn from sloshing to heavy footfalls you turn, Mando is just seconds behind you and you’re sure to be caught any moment.

In an instant his hand is on your shoulder, and you trip, landing softly on the mossy sand below. He grabs your hands and pins you as you wiggle beneath him, you’re no match for his muscles though, he mounts you and places his weight down where he sits on his knees above your thighs.

“No getting away from me now, C’yare.” His modulator puffs next to your ear. You whine out when he grinds his cock into the cleft of your ass. “Do you want this? . . . Do you want me?” He continues rubbing against you through his flight suit.

“Mando, please,“

“Finish your thought, Mesh’la,”

You groan into his palm when he turns your head and moves his helmet right down beside your face. “Say it.”

“I- I want you, Din. . . so badly-”

He drawls put a beautiful sound from the back of his throat and scoots down your thighs, pulling your wet underwear with him, “Look at this perfect ass sweet girl,”

He squeezes your cheeks and spreads them apart, running his first two gloves fingers between your lips and over your asshole.

You squeal at his boldness, deciding you like it.

You can’t see him, but you feel him lay down behind you, “Don’t turn around-“ and then the unlocking of his helmet.

He spreads your cheeks again and this time he surprises you when he licks his way through your pussy, you moan for him and he groans in return. The tip of his tongue flicks over your clit and his beautiful angular nose rubs over your entrance, you can’t help but grind back on his face as your hands try to find purchase in the cool ground.

He moves up further now, licking over your rear entrance and moving his palms over your thighs and sides of your torso, it feels so fucking good to have him like this, desperate to hear you feel pleasure.

“You want my cock, sweet girl?” He finally relents as you get closer to the edge, sitting back up on his knees.

“Fuck yes, Din, put it inside me please,”

He moans at your words and licks a line up your spine, letting the breeze give you goosebumps as he frees his cock and notches the tip inside your dripping cunt.

“Oh baby,” he starts, “Fuck- look at this beautiful pussy,” You back up onto him to finish the job.

“Ngh- fuck Din, I’m so full-”

He can’t help but start at a fast pace, notching his hands above your hips for leverage.

“You wore this skimpy little thing for me, showed off your gorgeous tits,” he keeps his pace, “Oh fuck- C’yare.”

You move your hands under your tits to once again massage your nipples and rub your clit down onto the moss underneath you- clenching your pussy around Mando’s cock at the sensation.

He’s pistoning into your cunt so fast, hitting your front wall so perfectly- taking you both to the edge so quickly.

Your brain conjures the image of how much you wish his skin was rubbing on yours like in the darkness of hyperspace, how much you wish you could see his face.

“Ohhh fuck, sweet girl- what are you doing to me, what is that?”

Without noticing, you’d begun using the force to touch him where you’d been imaging- running your fingers over his scalp, down his chest and over his thighs.

“I’m- not gonna last,” he chokes out. You feel a vibration settle on the hood of your clit and immediately grind back and forth over the stimulants to your body. You catapult over the edge when Din whimpers, “Oh, maker- please-”

Euphoric bliss washes over your brain when orgasm takes you, and Din follows right behind, staying inside to push his spend deeper as you flutter around him. He collapses onto your back and moves his hands up to support himself over you, brushing your hair behind your ears.

You keep your eyes closed, just in case, and you’re glad you did when he kisses the shell of your ear and groans out, “Thank you, Mesh’la.”

He leaves you to lay while he replaces his helmet and spreads your legs to clean you with your underwear- then tucks them safely into a pocket on his belt.

#din djarin #din djarin x reader #din djarin smut #din djarin one shot #din djarin x you #the mandalorian #the mandalorian x reader #mandolorian x you #mandalorian smut #starwars smut

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mysteryshoptls · 2 years

Text

Friendship Level Up Lines

Below are the friendship level up lines from the newly implemented Guest Room function in-game.

HEARTSLABYUL

Riddle

Your guest room is quite lovely. I'll return again soon with a small token of my appreciation for you.

Max Level: Being a Dorm Leader means that I am constantly busy, but… I cannot ignore your hospitality. Next time I have time available, I shall come visit.

Ace

Looks like a pretty snazzy room, but I bet you've just swept all the trash under the furniture! ...I'm kidding, I'm not gonna go look for any, so don't kick me out!

Max Level: Hey, can I put something in this guest room, too? I bet I’ll be coming around a lot more often, and it’s a pretty big room, so I can have a little space, right?

Deuce

I feel bad you're always inviting me over. I'd offer to have you come over to my place, but because I'm in a shared dorm room it's not that easy to.

Max Level: The other day, I saw something that’d be perfect for this guest room in the school shop, so I’ll get it. Hey, don’t worry about it, we’re buds, right?

Cater

Thanks for the great time! If you ever want to invite me back over, I'll definitely come. I'm sure the guest room will look even more amazing next time I come, right?

Max Level: Maybe I’ll try making some furniture with you next time. The style you got going right now’s pretty rockin’, but we do a collab, maybe you’ll end up even more attached to Cay-kun. What if, right? ♪

Trey

At first, when you said you wanted to extend your hospitality to me, I thought to myself, "what are they scheming?", but... Haha, you're always full of surprises.

Max Level: I need to give you proper thanks for always inviting me. …Eh? Hey, it’ll be troublesome if you ask for that much. Do me a favor and don’t expect too much, okay?

SAVANACLAW

Leona

I don't like being constantly disturbed. So in that sense, this place is perfect and quiet.

Max Level: I don’t mind coming by this guest room once in a while. Make sure you have a place to nap and some food ready for me.

Jack

I mean, I'm pretty busy with my studies and training, but... Hey, wait, I didn't said I wouldn't come! It would be rude to not show up when you've invited me.

Max Level: Oh yeah, why don’t we put a cactus in your room, too? It’s not that hard to take care of, and you’ll end up enjoying raising it.

Ruggie

You wanna know if I'll come back again? Hey, 's long as it's free, I'll come anytime! And hey, if I get some snacks out of coming here too, that'd be even better. Shishishi.

Max Level: I gotta make sure to thank ya for always invitin’ me. Oh right, let me know if any of your furniture breaks. Not sayin’ I’ll do it for free, but I can give you a friend’s discount to fix it.

OCTAVINELLE

Azul

Thanks to your efforts, I was able to spend quite the worthwhile time here. ...If it pleases you, do not hesitate to invite me back.

Max Level: I dislike being in debt to anyone. Next time, I shall play host to you. I’ve already scheduled it. I cannot wait to see your surprised look.

Jade

It seems I cannot help but stay longer than intended here in Ramshackle. I do hope I am not disturbing you.

Max Level: Thank you for everything. Your hospitality is pleasant and appreciated. Perhaps I could receive some guidance in these matters sometime? Of course, you’ll be fully compensated

Floyd

Hey, make a chair just for me. One that's round, but also sharp; that makes a statement, but is also subtle. Thaaaanks~

Max Level: I feel like I’m one of your regulars here, huh. It’s kinda rare for me to be able to hang in one place for so long without gettin’ bored. Keep it up, I’m counting on ya.

SCARABIA

Kalim

Can I come again sometime? Thanks! You should come visit my dorm sometime, too. Me and Jamil'll totally treat you well!

Max Level: Thanks, as always! I wanna give you something in return, so I’ll send some jewels and clothes over to Ramshackle soon! …Eh, you don’t need it? Then, what do you want?

Jamil

I'm usually on the hosting end of these kind of things, but it's not that bad to be a guest for once. If you'd like, invite me again sometime.

Max Level: When I’m in this room, I feel so at home. May I come again? I thought it’d be nice to spend some quality time talking with you sometime. Of course, I’ll definitely bring a gift with me when I come.

POMEFIORE

Vil

When I'm with you, time just seems to fly by so quickly. It may be because I am so absorbed in our conversations. You've successfully kept me engaged, well done.

Max Level: Do you fully grasp just how much of a sin it is to monopolize my precious time like this? If a fan were to hear of this, they may faint from shock… Fufu. That is fun to imagine.

Epel

It's kinda calming to spend time in this room. It's dangerous, though, 'cause I might get so relaxed that I let my real words slip out... But I still want to come over anyway!

Max Level: This place is so awesome with how I can spread out and relax! Thanks for everything. I’m gonna make sure you can have just as much fun over at my place, so you need to come over next time.

Rook

All this time I get to spend with you is filled with new discoveries, it is absolutely spectacular! May I come visit again?

Max Level: You are a dangerous one. Time and time again, I feel as though my innermost thoughts may come spilling out. Oh, this delightful feeling of tension… Beauté! I shall come visit again.

IGNIHYDE

Idia

Y-You've got some ulterior motive for being so nice to me, don't you? Honestly, I'd feel more relaxed if you'd say that you did...

Max Level: When you first said you wanted me to come to your guest room, I thought you were being forced to on a dare or something, but… Guess I was wrong. Uh, well… I’ll come again. Yeah.

Ortho

Your room is such a mysterious wonder. It makes me want to come back over and over again. I'd like to solve this enigma, so please call me over again!

Max Level: I want to help you with setting up your room, too! Let me know the next time you’re redecorating, if you need anything heavy moved. I’ll change into a heavy-lifting attachment!

DIASOMNIA

Malleus

I cannot believe that there would be someone out there who would invite me like this... Wait. I wasn't barging in uninvited, was I?

Max Level: I suppose it’s not a bad feeling at all to have such gentle hospitality like this. Right now, I am in a fantastic mood. Fufufu, if you have any favor you wish to ask of me, now may be the time to do so.

Silver

I haven't had much opportunities to visit another person's home. If I do anything discourteous, I shall remedy my actions. So please, welcome be back again sometime.

Max Level: Thanks to you, I have been able to thoroughly enjoy myself. I am still figuring out how I could possibly relay these feelings of gratitude.

Sebek

From the way you keep trying to talk to me, I can see that you've nothing to do. I'll allow you to join me for training, then! ...Why are you declining...?

Max Level: I’ve gotten used to listening to you ramble on. From now on, you’re free to call on me whenever you want. …I can’t promise that I’ll always listen though, you understand?

Lilia

This place is filled with things that pique my curiosity. Of course, that includes you. Kufufu.

Max Level: I cannot believe I’ve gotten to this age, and I’m still making new friends that I can confide in. Kufufu, it’s a blessing to be able to live this long. Keep up the good work!

Crowley

I don't quite mind being so beloved by my students. I shall whole-heartedly accept your adoration, so please, keep it up for as much as your heart desires.

Max Level: I cannot just let you host and not return the favor. After all, I am so bountiful in my generosity! Please come by my office sometime. I shall treat you in grand fashion!

Grim

Nyahaha, yeah, yeah! I told you, good things happen when you're under my wing. Here, I'll give you a bite of my tuna! ...Just one bite, okay?

Max Level: Hey, look! I dusted the guest room for you. You’re always working so hard, so I gotta help ya out once in a while. Did it make you happy? Hey, did it?

Rollo

I have no recollection of ever accepting such gracious hospitality… How dubious. You would do well to tell me honestly of whatever nefarious plans you may have. What, you have none? …If that is true, then this is even more troublesome.

Max Level: I cannot help but pity you for residing in a place such as this while unable to use magic. If you find you cannot suffer these wicked mages, you should come to me. I shall gladly lambast them.

1K notes · View notes

apomaro-mellow · 9 months

Text

Wingman Nancy 5

hey @an-entity-i-think how does it feel being a psychic?

“If it matters at all, I hate this”, Nancy said.

“Noted”, Eddie replied.

“I don’t know if I’m on board with our mediator”, Robin said. “Was Argyle not available? Or...Will? Or Lucas?”

“I gotta say, I didn’t intend to spend my day like this either”, Hopper blew a puff of smoke as he stood on the porch of his cabin. “You said this was an emergency”, he pointed the statement to Eddie.

The four teens stood outside Hopper’s cabin, waiting to be let in.

“It is”, Steve said.

“I fail to see how teen relationship drama is any of my business.”

“Because relationship dynamics effect the group as a whole”, Eddie explained. “And if Nancy Wheeler falls apart because her heart is broken then your whole squadron of monster hunters is severely crippled!”

Hopper didn’t look impressed. Or convinced. “You’re not gonna get off my porch until I let you in, huh?”

Very reluctantly, Hopper allowed them inside. Everyone else was out and about on this lovely Saturday morning, leaving him alone. Well, alone until the Hormone Brigade invaded.

“So what exactly is the issue? And before you start, are you absolutely sure you don’t want Murray to weigh in?”

“No!”, Steve and Nancy yelled at once.

Hopper held his hands up and sat down in the well-used chair in his living room. Nancy took the other chair, Steve and Robin took the loveseat, Eddie sat on an ottoman.

It was silent for about thirty seconds as Hopper looked at each of them.

“You know I actually can’t help until I know what the problem is.”

Eddie looked to Nancy expectantly and she just glared at him. Steve bit his lip as he spoke up.

“It’s kind of...complicated.”

Hopper’s brow furrowed. “Complicated how?” He then looked to Nancy, then Robin. “Please tell me you didn’t let one of these duds knock you up?”

Eddie cackled so hard he fell backward off the ottoman and the others allowed themselves to smile. Somehow that issue seemed simpler than the real one. Robin let out a breath, feeling some tension already released.

“So um, you remember how Will uh, you remember how he told everyone that he’s...he’s into guys?”

Hopper nodded slowly.

“Well...surprise!”, Robin said weakly with the most pathetic jazz hands.

“Oh, oh okay then”, Hopper replied. “But what’s the got to do with....”, he trailed off when he looked at Nancy, who’s eyes were flitting from ceiling to floor to wall. “Ah, okay, well, now what do you-” He was about to ask Steve, only to follow Steve’s gaze to Eddie, who was looking right back at him like they were the only ones in the room.

Hopper let out a long breath and slouched in his chair a bit. “Right, that does make things a little...complicated.”

“That’s not really the issue here”, Nancy said. “Since we’re all...you know. It’s not a compatibility issue it’s just...baggage.”

“A lot of baggage”, Robin agreed.

“Can I get the short version?”, Hopper asked.

So Steve started the story with him and Nancy. He told Hopper how they had been dating, he thought they were happy, but then had a nasty breakup. Robin wanted to date Nancy but was having second thoughts because of how things ended between her and Steve. When the bare bones were explained, Hopper turned to Eddie.

“And what exactly is your horse in this race?”

“Me? I just wanna jump on Steve’s horse, sir.”

Steve tossed a throw pillow at Eddie so hard he fell back onto the floor again. “Eddie and I aren’t really, involved. But this is happening to our friends. We want to help. I just want Robin to know that I’m okay and I’m not against her dating Nancy.”

“You guys talked about it?”, Nancy asked.

“Yeah. Didn’t you talk to someone about me?”, Robin asked.

“I-we-”, Nancy glanced at Eddie. “That’s different. We had to make a plan.”

“Wait, you guys planned this?”, Steve looked to Eddie.

“Nancy thought she couldn’t make any moves on Robs while you were still single. And I happened to be available and very, very willing~”

“So you were thinking of Steve’s feelings”, Robin pressed. “I mean, this time you were.”

“I...”, Nancy turned her eyes to Steve. “I wasn’t thinking of how you would’ve felt, when I hooked up with Jonathan. I convinced myself you wouldn’t care, that you’d just go on to the next girl like you always did. I thought what we had wasn’t real because how could it be? Everything you said and I, I was sure you did it for other girls.”

“You were a serial dater, Steve”, Eddie added.

“Well Steve? What do you have to say about that?”, Hopper asked. The Harrington reputation got around.

“I meant everything I did with you Nancy. Yeah, a lot of it was just the usual boyfriend stuff and yeah I did things for other girls like, got ‘em flowers, or drove them around in my car, but isn’t a boyfriend supposed to do that?”

“A boyfriend is also supposed to know when his girlfriend is grieving.” Nancy’s eyes hardened.

“I knew that, that’s why I was trying to keep your mind off it.”

“I didn’t want to keep my mind off it! I wanted to think about it, wanted to do something about it. You just wanted to push everything down!”

“Nancy, it was over! If I had known that it was-that it was something that could come back, maybe I would’ve wanted to talk about it but it was supposed to be in the past!”

“But it wasn’t in the past for me. Especially when they were lying about Barb, I couldn’t let them get away with it. Steve, think about our friends now. If Max had died fighting Vecna and the government covered it up, would you have let them? Would you have just forgot about it?”

“Nancy....I didn’t understand back then what you were going through with Barb. And I’m sorry.”

Robin put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. He put his hand on top of hers and shared a smile with her.

“You have to promise me”, he said to Nancy, “That whatever you’re doing with my Robin is serious. You’re not just going for her because you’re experimenting, or trying to break out of a cookie-cutter life, or anything like that.”

“Steve, I never meant to hurt you-”

“But you did. You just came back after that tunnel shit and you and Jonathan were a thing. And I had to act like I was okay with it. Do you know what it’s like, watching someone you love with someone else?”

“Yeah”, Eddie, Robin, and Hopper said.

Nancy’s eyes were glistening a little. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for disappearing on you like that, for not ending things cleanly, and...and for calling you bullshit. I feel like I see better now. Maybe it wouldn’t have worked out for us in the end, but you would’ve given it your all, wouldn’t you?”

“If you had let me, yeah”, Steve smiled.

Nancy gave a light laugh as she looked down at her lap, shaking her head. “Six kids and a winnebago.”

“I’m sorry, what?”, Robin’s eyes got wide.

“The hell does that mean?”, Eddie asked while Steve put his face in his hands.

“Please don’t tell them. I’ll never live it down.”

Hopper cleared his throat. “Seems like we’re close to finishing so let’s wrap this up. Steve and Nancy both apologized, so Robin? Anymore hang-ups?”

Robin held Steve’s hand, intertwining their fingers. “If he can forgive you after all that...well let’s just say his title ‘King of Second Chances’ is pulling a lot of weight here. If this reformed, prom king jock asshole says you’re worth the heartbreak, then yeah. No more hang-ups.”

“There was a compliment somewhere in there, I’m sure of it”, Steve said.

“So, I get a second chance?”, Nancy asked.

“Tuesday is discount movie day”, Robin beamed. “We could get a double feature.”

“And while the girls are away, the boys can play”, Eddie rubbed his hands together while looking at Steve.

“Oh I’m so glad this ended happily ever after. Now get out of my house”, Hopper pointed to the door.

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

l0st-strawberry explicitly said they were being a good boy so you guys get steddie’s date night

Steve checked the time. Robin was being picked up by Nancy right about now and Eddie was due to arrive any moment. He looked himself over in the mirror, hoping he didn’t come off as too ‘date-ready’. This was supposed to be a casual hangout between two buddies.

Except Steve was 60% sure Eddie was into him. Either that, or he was trying to learn his ‘jock language’ as Robin had called it. Helping him practice with Lucas, going out on jogs, flattering him about his muscles, it was totally out of character for Eddie.

But if he was trying to get on Steve’s good side....and if he was doing that because he liked him then...

There were the little touches too, small things he did that could just be friendly but....well Steve really hoped there was a ‘but’.

He heard the doorbell ring and checked himself over again. He was wearing a green polo and some jeans.

“Very simple, very casual”, he said to himself in the mirror. “You’ve got this Harrington.”

The bell rang again and he tore himself from the mirror to answer the door. He let Eddie in and they went right to the TV.

“Alright, on three, whip ‘em out”, Eddie said when they sat down on the couch.

Steve rolled his eyes at the wording, but on 3, pulled a movie from behind his back. They had agreed on an exchange, both picked a movie they wanted to share with the other.

“Question, why does it not have a cover?”, Steve asked. It was just a title.

“Because what I have here is an extremely rare bootleg. And I see you’ve picked a classic yourself.”

“Rock paper scissors for which we watch first?”

Steve ended up losing, so they were going to watch Eddie’s movie first.

“You go ahead and put it in, I’ll get the popcorn and drinks”, Steve said.

Since he was walking away, Eddie let himself stare at his very valuable assets before going to put the movie in and get it started. He could do this. He could be smooth and flirtatious and totally get Steve Harrington to fall in love with him.

Steve knew when someone’s eyes were on him and couldn’t help but smile to himself for his choice in jeans. “Beer or coke?”, he half-shouted from the kitchen.

“Coke!”, Eddie answered back.

Steve returned with a bowl of popcorn and two cokes. When he sat down, there was about a foot of space between him and Eddie. Eddie closed the space a little by putting his arm across the back of the couch. Every time, Steve took a sip and put his can back on the coffee table, he moved just the teensiest bit closer to Eddie.

“So this is a bootleg?”, Steve asked.

“Yeah. Got it off a guy when me and the boys were doin’ a gig one night. You can’t find this anywhere.”

“You like stuff like that? Rarities?”

“I wouldn’t call myself a collector by any means. But if I find something good and I think I’ll never see it again, I can’t help myself.”

Steve bit his lip. He wanted to be that for Eddie. Something he just couldn’t help himself around.

“You know, I’m kinda like that. When I see something good, I go for it.” Steve turned a little towards him.

“Oh yeah?”, Eddie grinned, any feigned interest in the movie completely gone now. “Do tell.”

“You know, sometimes I want a pair of shoes, I got for it. Or if I really want a position on a team, I go for it.”

“Got any relatable examples?”, Eddie asked, turning his own body towards Steve.

“Every time I’ve liked a girl, I asked her out. There was only one time I didn’t.”

Eddie swallowed. “What stopped you, Steve the Hair Harrington, from asking out a girl?”

“.....It wasn’t a girl.”

Eddie gulped again. “Shit.”

Steve met his eyes, trying to assess if that was a good ‘shit’ or a bad ‘shit’. Eddie could see he was trying to read him and smiled.

“Still not hearing a reason why you wouldn’t ask.”

Steve let out a breath and ran a hand through his hair like he had really been sweating Eddie’s reaction. Like Eddie would run out this house just because he liked guys.

“Well, even if I asked, I’m not sure he’d say yes. See, I still can’t tell which part of me he likes.”

“I mean, if he’s into guys, typically they’re into one specific part”, Eddie’s eyes drifted to Steve’s crotch before rocketing back to his face.

“Okay you perv, I mean my personality. Like, would he be into King Steve? Or is he more into the Steve I am now?”

“Are you still King Steve?”, Eddie asked.

“Not...entirely. But I still do things I did from back then. I work out and Robin calls me a meathead. I hang out with nerds but I can’t for the life of me get interested in Dungeons, no offense.”

“None taken”, Eddie shrugged. “We can’t all have taste.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I’m saying, sometimes it feels like I haven’t changed. So how can I ask this guy out? What if he still thinks I’m that guy? What if he wants that guy?”

Eddie wanted to kiss the sadness right off his face. “Steve?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you. All of you.”

Steve felt his heart quicken. His arm rested against the back of the couch. “Even the me that goes for jogs at 6 in the morning?”

“I will be up at 9 to have breakfast with you.”

“And if I never, ever, ever get into that game with you guys?”

“I could think”, Eddie started while letting his fingers walk up Steve’s arm, “of some other games I’d like to play with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Their knees were touching now and Eddie had walked his fingers up to Steve’s bicep. Eddie bit his lip. Then made his fingers tap dance on Steve’s skin while he scatted.

Steve giggle-snorted and then leaned into Eddie’s space. “You’re such a dork.”

“Hmm, but a cute dork, perhaps?”

“Cute, some might even say hot.”

“Now who would say that?”, Eddie grinned with a shake of his head.

“Eddie.”

“Hm?”

“Kiss me.”

“O-okay.”

Eddie closed the very short distance between them and kissed Steve, finally. The next thing he felt was Steve’s very strong hands on his waist.

“Damn”, he breathed out.

“Sorry”, Steve pulled back a little. “Too much? I’ve never-mmf.”

Eddie nipped any second guesses with a kiss. “Stevie baby, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what I wanna do to you.” He felt him give a little shiver and Eddie licked his lips. “You like when I call you baby?”

Yes, Steve liked it but he wasn’t gonna say that out loud so he just kissed him again. He also liked Eddie’s little promise. He wanted the whole iceberg, whatever that meant. Eddie pressed more into him and Steve let himself be pushed down onto the couch. Steve had been under girls a few times but typically he was the one on top. And even when they were, usually they were smaller than him. He’d never been under someone like Eddie, someone who was nearly the same size.

His weight, combined with Eddie’s hair falling over like a curtain and the kisses that never let up and Steve felt like he was drowning in the man and he never wanted to come up for air. Eddie’s knee came up a little between his legs and Steve couldn’t stop the way his hips jumped to meet Eddie’s, who let out a hiss of pleasure just as the phone began to ring.

“It’s just telemarketers. Ignore it”, Eddie said.

“At this hour? I doubt it. I should-”

“Stay here and be kissed by me?” Eddie gave his lips a peck. “Wait, I think I missed a spot.” He kissed him again and got a little bold, starting to kiss his jawline.

Steve let out a gasp and was halfway to letting Eddie’s lips find their way wherever they wanted when all the worst what-ifs came to mind. With a sigh, he pushed Eddie away and got up, jogging over to the phone before whoever it was hung up.

He picked up and heard Robin’s voice.

“Please tell me I just interrupted you and Eddie running a marathon.”

Steve took a moment to catch his breath. “You knew what might be happening when you called. By the way why are you calling? Your date with Nancy finished already?” He checked the time. The movie was sure to be done by now but would they have ended the date right after?

“Oh we’re finished alright.”

Steve frowned. “That doesn’t sound good. What happened?”

“Are you sure it’s more important than Eddie’s blue balls right now?”

He had the decency to blush. “Robin you’re way more important than Eddie’s balls.”

“Hey!”, Eddie looked up from the couch. “I heard that Harrington!”

With a broad smile, he turned to look at Eddie. “She’s more important than your dick too!”

“Steve, you have no idea how much that means to me.”

Robin didn’t sound right. Something really bad must’ve happened during her date. He turned his back on Eddie as he spoke again.

“I mean it. If you wanna talk I can send Eddie home and you can come. Or I’ll go to you.” He’d drop anything for Robin and hopefully Eddie would understand that.

“Your courting suitor won’t mind being booted?”

Once again, Steve turned around and saw Eddie, watching him with a dopey smile on his face.

“No, I don’t think he’ll mind “, he twirled the cord around his finger. “I’m like….85% sure he’s super into me and will let me get away with anything.”

“We can talk tomorrow. You know, when he’s not humping your leg.”

“First thing in the morning”, Steve promised. “Good night.”

“Night, Steve.”

Steve hung up and was able to give his full attention to Eddie, who was still staring at him.

“85% sure, huh?”

“Give or take a few percents”, Steve sat back down on the couch.

“So, what’re we gonna do now?”

“Well, your movie finished. Let’s start mine.”

It was all a cover, for what neither knew because as soon as it started playing, they were making out again. Then the movie ended and before Eddie could even suggested heading home, Steve was pulling him upstairs.

“It’s late. And I bet you’re tired, right?”

“Yeah, tired, yeah”, Eddie said as he found himself in Steve’s room. He then found himself in Steve’s bed, wearing Steve’s clothes, kissing Steve again. Kissing his beautiful, spotted neck again and pulling out sounds he only dreamed of.

Steve was a delicious combination of nervous but eager which paired great with Eddie’s eager but nervous energy. What started as not-so-innocent kissing lead to definitely-not-innocent handjobs and Eddie was pretty sure he died and went to heaven.

When morning came, the heaven thing still made more sense because where else would he wake up with his face buried in Steve’s hairy chest?

Steve took heaven away when he got up and had to go to Robin. But Eddie sucked it up and decided to seek out Nancy. If not to make sure she and Robin were fine, then to assure his and Steve’s alone time didn’t get interrupted again.

Part 7 (END)

I chose Hopper because he literally could not give a shit in any way or form. Everybody else they know would have an opinion or a bias.

Tag Team

@goodolefashionedloverboi @rainydays35 @desert-fern @alienace @homohomohoe @savory-babby @gothwifehotchner @gregre369 @estrellami-1 @l0st-strawberry @dreamlandforever @justforthedead89 @hallucinatedjosten

#apo writes #stranger things #fanfiction #steddie #ronance #platonic stobin #platonic edancy

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