*GIF not mine*
Summary: After Bakugou saw you “flirt” with Kirishima, he wasn’t very happy with you. Gee, I wonder what you could do to make him forgive you. On a completely unrelated note, did you know there was a tree outside his window?
A/N: Just some more writer’s block killin’, don’t mind me. Got this idea from @otpdisaster with this prompt. Hope you like it!
Word count: 2305
It began with small pebbles.
Dink.
Dink.
After twenty minutes of that, you ran out of rocks. Now, you scaled the tree next to the dormitory building of Class 1-A like Rapunzel’s prince, prepared to get Bakugou’s attention by any means necessary. A branch, not exactly sturdy-looking, but enough, extended out perfectly to your boyfriend’s window. Before you tapped on it, you grimaced at the sight of the small cracks you had left in the glass from rock-throwing.
Oops.
The night was cold but the full moon provided enough light for you to koala-climb your way across the tree branch to his window, hanging on for dear life whenever it swayed in the wind. The bark made indents in your hands from you gripping it like no tomorrow, but you were desperate to speak with him. Finally, you made across enough to reach out with one trembling arm.
Tap tap.
“Why did he have to live on the fourth floor?” you mutter to yourself shakily, knocking on the glass once more before pulling back and clinging to the tree as evil winds from Satan himself tried to blow you up and away. So… guess I have a fear of heights now.
At last, the curtains covering Bakugou’s window were ripped away as the blond glared out into the night, only for his eyes to widen in surprise.
“YN?!” he exclaimed. Or at least you think he did. The thickness of the building muffled his words, so it was actually more like “Mphfmpfhmlpfhf?” He was now enraged and shouting at you through the pane, eyes glaring furiously in true Bakugou fashion. He was about ready to throw hands, approaching your form with heavy stomps you could hear from all the way outside, but he… you know, couldn’t reach you.
Throughout this whole fiasco, you were chuckling under your breath while watching him like a wild gorilla in a zoo enclosure. Then suddenly, Bakugou’s expression saddened and he withdrew from the window, sitting on his bed and just staring at you with arms hanging motionlessly at his side. You figured he was bummed he couldn’t beat the shit out of you when you were swaying back and forth on a forty-foot tree. You puffed a warm breath on the glass and reached out with a trembling hand, shakily writing “r u ok?” backwards.
Bakugou’s brows furrowed as he read the note (you wrote the “k” wrong) before scoffing and hissing words at you. Either he hadn’t figured out you couldn’t hear him, or this was his last push for you to learn how to read lips. Either way, you were over it. You shook your head and pointed to your ear, only to scream in fright when you lost balance and almost dropped to your chilly, forty-foot death. Bakugou jumped up from his bed and sprinted toward you, his palms slamming against the glass barrier while he shouted your name in a panic.
You, on the other hand, prayed to every god above and under the sun while you swung back and forth, hanging upside down and hugging the tree branch tightly to your chest.
“Oh, son of a bitch, thank God!” you laugh in relief before wiggling yourself upright on the thin, outstretched bark. Bakugou’s forehead slapped against the window as he sighed thankfully, his breath causing the pane to fog. He caught sight of this and wrote you a message with a clenched jaw.
“R u ok???” In his haste, he had forgotten to write it backwards, and you giggled at the sight before nodding. He narrows his eyes at you and flips you off. You laugh and do the same while straddling the tree branch, clouds streaming from your mouth every time you breathe with the chilly temperatures.
“Goddamnit it’s freezing out here,” you mumble, teeth chattering. Normally, you would hug yourself and rub your arms up and down to gather warmth, but right now… no. Never. Yes, you were the idiot who climbed a tree to ask her boyfriend for forgiveness, but you weren’t the idiot who died falling out of a tree after climbing it to ask for forgiveness. Stupidity was your style, but dying stupidly was just pitiful.
Ever so slowly, you scooched your way down the branch, holding in a breath as it dipped with your weight while you reached out to write another message. “I’m sorry.”
The blond read the note while a muscle in his jaw twitched. His arms hung limply at his side once more, but his hands still curled into fists at the words. With glowing, scarlet eyes, he snarled at you and plumped down into his spinny desk chair, fingers gripping the arm rests tightly.
“At least he didn’t close the blinds yet.” Your chest fills with hope and you smile gently, wiping away the old message and drawing a new one.
“I didn’t mean to piss you off.”
Your brain hurt from the amount of effort you had to put into writing that whole spiel backwards, but he was worth it. Your fingers turning blue? Yeah, that was kind of a problem. You blow hot air on the one hand before transferring and blowing on the other, watching and waiting for Bakugou’s reaction as you do.
His eyes run over the note once, then twice, then one more time until you realize he’s actually watching your form and rolling his eyes. Still, the blinds remain open, and you whisper a “Yes!” Extending your arm once again, you write another message.
“I love u.” You sketch a heart along with it, although it looks more like a fat, seated camel thanks to your trembling hands.
The message, however, still pleases the furious boyfriend, and you’d like to think he had whipped out his phone and taken pictures of you to remind himself on a terrible day that you loved him dearly. You know, rather than the less desirable, more realistic theory that he was going to blackmail you with it later and present it to his friends.
“Oh, fuck you, dickhead!” you shout at the window, shaking a middle finger at him as emphatically as you can. Shit, why aren’t there any other physical gestures of hatred? My finger’s getting cold. It was getting more of a work-out than the rest of your hands, so you supposed you couldn’t complain too much. With Bakugou as your boyfriend, you were surprised your middle fingers didn’t have six-packs by now.
Ooh, speaking of six-packs.
The blond cackled in his room while reclaiming his seat, the motion causing his shirt to fly up slightly and reveal- Jesus fuck. Who gave him permission to have that?
Shaking away the distraction, you give him a sarcastic smile and laugh before writing one last time.
“Ok, so do u forgive me?”
You lean back and huff, waiting for his response while he assesses the message. At last, he purses his lips and rises slowly from the chair. The light glowing from his room pushed away the darkness around you enough for you to inspect your bluing fingers while you waited for a response.
Inside the warm, toasty building, Bakugou scoffed at your trembling form. That didn’t stop the fond smile from growing on his face, but maybe, just maybe you deserved it this round. Ah, fuck it. His eyes glinted when he came up with the perfect message.
“Yes, I love u too.”
However, halfway through drawing this on the slightly-chilled glass that froze his precious fingertips, your form disappeared from his peripheral vision.
What.
Bakugou’s face turned into pure panic when he spotted the cracked, jagged edges of a broken tree branch in your place.
“Oh shit! YN!”
Your boyfriend charged down the stairwell, loud curses trailing behind him in echoes as he busted ass down the steps. At last, the door was in sight as he blasted through it and out into the dark night, setting off the occasional explosion to light up his surroundings. Then he spotted your form, silent and unmoving next to a broken tree branch.
“YN!” the blond roared, sprinting towards you at break-neck speed and dropping on his knees next to you. Your eyes were shut and your lips were barely open, releasing small puffs of air every few seconds. Still, you didn’t make a sound, even when Bakugou patted you anxiously on the cheek.
“YN wake up, I swear to God.” You didn’t respond. He fell back on his knees and reached up to his scalp, hands digging in and yanking on the strands frustratedly.
“Fuck, YN, please!”
Nothing. Tears pricked his eyes.
“Come on! I forgive you, just please come back!” Your eyes peeled open at that and you let out a snort.
“Seriously, I have to fall out of a tree to get you to forgive me? You’re kind of a dic- foof.” Any air in your lungs was forced out as Bakugou snatched up your cold body and held you close, squeezing you tighter and tighter with every passing second. It was warm at first, so you relaxed into it, but then it started to feel like a strangling.
“O-kay,” you choked out, patting his back, “I yield, I yield.” He held you impossibly closer just one more second and your eyes almost bulged out of your head before he leaned away, glaring at you with damp cheeks.
“Don’t ever do that again.”
“Do what? Flirt with Kirishima or fall out of a tree?”
“Both.” He avoided your tender gaze and tensed up when your hands palmed his cheeks, wiping away any and all stray tears.
“Okay,” you whispered. “I promise.”
“Good.” He pushed away your grasp and rose up off the ground, glaring at his feet while holding out a hand. “Now come on. Your hands are fucking icicles.”
You scoff. “Yeah, no thanks to you, dipwad.” Nonetheless, you accept his offer and stand up, cringing at his white-knuckled grip on your hand while he leads you into the dorm building.
“I didn’t ask you to scale a fucking tree to beg for forgiveness,” he grumbles.
“I didn’t ask you to get all jealous and mopey after I asked Kirishima for a pencil!” you counter.
“You didn’t ask for a pencil, you asked for his wood!” You can’t help but snicker at the memory.
“Hehe, yeah. You should’ve seen how red his face got, too! Especially when I reached over and stole it.” You smack your knee while wheezing with laughter. “He looked so fucking scared!”
“It’s not that funny.” Bakugou shook his head and rolled his eyes. Your hands were so concerningly blue that all he could focus on was leading you back to his room.
“-and his face was all like, ‘Oh shit!’” Your amused howls echoed throughout the dorm halls before stopping suddenly as the smile dropped off your instantly serious face. “I think the cold is getting to me.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Bakugou grumbles, kicking open his door and slamming it shut after tugging you inside. “Strip.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re excused. Now strip.” Your brows furrowed and you smacked his chest lightly.
“Listen up, pervert. I’m not stripping for you or anyone el- O-okay.” Mid-sentence, Bakugou had whipped out his trump card on you. Now, he stood shirtless and pantless in the middle of his room, giving you an expectant look. My man is hella ripped. You gulped while eye-fucking him. You wished there was no eye.
“Who’s the pervert now?” he smirked, taking a seat on the far end of the bed so his back faced you. “There, I’m not looking. Now strip.”
To be fair, you knew there was some logic to his words. There was something about having to be completely nude, or at least in drier clothes, when someone was trying to fend off hypothermia. You didn’t care to think too much about it. Right now, your herculean boyfriend was demanding you to hop into bed (partially) naked with him. You weren’t always stupid.
After tossing your clothes into his laundry basket near the door, you slipped under the covers and poked him in his sturdy back. Are back muscles a kink? Shit, those temperatures out there had really messed with your head. Or maybe it was the fall? He got the message and joined you under the blankets, his arms instinctively wrapping around your frozen waist and pulling you close. You sigh and nuzzle into his warm chest, relaxing easily thanks to his body heat. Finally having a moment of clarity, you decided to apologize.
“I really am sorry for pissing you off like that.” You stared deeply into his eyes while nervously picking at the bedsheets.
“It’s okay.”
“It was pretty romantic when I climbed that tree for you, though, wasn’t it?” Bakugou sighed and tugged you closer by your cold hips.
“Yes, yes it was-”
“I knew it!” you shouted, wiggling next to him in bed with victory.
“Shut up over there!” Kirishima shouted from next door. Your eyes widened with shame.
“Sorry!” you shouted back before groaning and running your hands down your warmed face, peeking out from in between fingers when Bakugou released a small chuckle. The noise was deep and melodic, and you were addicted to it the instant you heard it.
Yes, you were an idiot. And you would gladly stay one if you got to end every day with that laugh in your ears.
You were his idiot.
I don’t think your posts are showing up in the tags ): cause when I searched a couple of them from newest your new post wasn’t there
damn that sucks😔 but I also get it. It’s been a while since I posted so I understand why the tumblr algorithm wouldn’t put at the top of the tags no matter how recent I post. I’m just glad at least a few people got to read it and enjoyed it💜 thanks for telling me!!
So while I really like your writing, I am here on a different mission today. Is your profile picture your cat? If so, they look so done with your shit 😂 gotta love em
Pfft yes his name is oreo and he hates my guts🥲
But it’s okay bc I have enough love for the both of us🥰
Could I please request a one shot of Garou meeting up with a childhood friend? Said childhood friend grew up to be an freelance assassin to financially support their younger siblings, and proven to always be freakishly strong such as hugging a younger Garou too hard one time to the point they broke a rib. Sorry if this is too long or doesn’t meet qualifications, I don’t know where to find the rules list😅
Ah it's all good bc there's no rules list, we just go with the flow here, i'll write it if i wanna write it, but you can submit anything to my inbox
cute idea for sure! I just hate writing overpowered readers with garou. In my opinion it's so much cuter when the reader is implicitly weaker so much to the fact that he feels the need to go overboard protecting them. I'm all about dodgin them mary sues😤
one idea for this tho abt the broken rib is that garou totally feels the need to prove she isn't as strong as him anymore. "Hug me, do it. I can fucking take it, I swear! HUG ME!" and like he's causing a scene in the frozen aisle of a grocery store or some shit. Some grannies walking by are all like "well don't just stand there, hug that poor boy!" and yn is just like "garou ur a fuckin dumbass"
totally get the freelance assassin drift tho, I love those plots i just can't write em worth shit :( i just imagine that for this fic garou had no clue that yn grew up to be like that, so he feels extremely proud that she goes against status quo like he does, but also deep down he's scared that she'll be in danger so he'll start following her on jobs.
once she gets contracted to hunt and kill the hero-killer (i hope that's garou's name i totally forgot), and while garou is following her YN is just running in circles looking for this bastard only to feel a pair of eyes and disappear into a bathroom where garou can't follow. When he tries to find her he hears the click of a gun and turns to see YN aiming at him. when she sees his face, tho, she sudddenly can't breathe. cue ANGST
Yn and garou avoid each other, both feeling betrayed at the other's secret lives a lil bit, but also ashamed to be caught. Finally, garou shows up one night while yn is tucking in her siblings and she whispers to him that she has to do it--for them.
garou's hand would slip into hers, and she squeezes it
fin
*GIFS not mine*
Kuroo and Kageyama Version
A/N: I’ve got like a million ideas for these, so just be prepared. (PS: someone needs to tell the star wars writers to get some yandere kylo ren out here😤 like yall im thirsty)
Word count: 1269
Bokuto Koutarou:
He’s the type to spring to the other side of the room the second he hears the word “Chumbawumba” fall from your lips.
It’s a mewl and whimper all wrapped in one that swiftly and harshly rip his heart in two.
While you crush a pillow against your chest to try and assuage the pain, a wave of horror dawns on Bokuto’s face. He’s watching every move you make to ensure you’re still actually breathing just as the first tear slips.
Soon, it’s not alone as he starts bawling, his whimpers and sniffles leaving his face a damp, mucus-drenched nightmare.
“Oh Bo...”
“YN I HURT YOU!”
You could physically watch as that fact ate him up from the inside out. First, he crumpled to his knees, and then he hugged them to his chest. Muffled sobs echoed around the room louder than your cries of pleasure ever had, leaving you to wallow in pity as your boyfriend beat himself up.
“Bo, I’m okay, I promise.”
It’s a struggle at first, but you still attempt to ease yourself off the bed. Bokuto’s ears perk and his head raises but the second he spots you reaching out for him he springs to his feet.
“NO!” Tears start falling even faster when he notices how you flinched at his cry.
“Please, YN,” he continues, voice lowered, “I don’t want to hurt you again.”
Pursing your lips, you try to take another step but he presses himself harder against the door, hand scrambling for the knob. Just as he finds it, you pounce on him, snatching his wrist and yanking it towards you.
“YN wait-”
“Shut up,” you huff out, gripping him even tighter when he starts twisting and tugging his arm. Without missing a beat, you yank the hand towards your body and press it just over your heart.
His fingers are cold against your hot, sticky skin, but that doesn’t stop you as you watch his expression, waiting for a reaction.
“...Why?”
“Because Bo,” you roll your eyes and press both hands over his own, “my heart is still yours, no matter how many times you get a little rough in bed.”
He’s silent as he studies your hands on his, even more so when he raises his other to wipe the saltiness from his cheeks.
“I... I never wanted to hurt you, YN. Not in a million years.”
“I know, babe. And that’s what the safeword is for,” you gesture back to the bed. “Remember? We came up with it so you wouldn’t accidentally hurt me, and that’s all that was--an accident.”
He sniffles once more before nodding. “Okay.” The hand on his own cheek transferred to yours with a hesitancy you had never felt before. When his fingertips met your skin, he sighed in relief, cupping the side of your face and running a thumb just over the rosy apple of your cheek.
You smile and press a kiss into his palm. “All right, how about we watch a movie instead?”
“I don’t think-”
“If you go out and get my favorite candy, I might just give you forgiveness cuddles.” His eyes glowed with anticipation.
As always, Bokuto was only willing to accept your kindness by working for it; he never thought he deserved it otherwise. That’s why the second you suggested the offer, he zipped out of the room in only his boxers and T-shirt.
“I’LL GET YOU ALL THE BOXES, BABY, JUST YOU WAIT!”
“Bo, don’t forget-”
“SHIT, MY SHOES!”
Tsukishima Kei:
He knows it before you even whisper “ginger shrimp.”
Your lips formed into an “o,” but not a good “o.”
Tsukishima’s eyes widen before he turns away, climbing off you and reaching for his glasses. They clatter to the floor and he leans down to grab them, trembling hands unfolding the lenses and pushing them up his nose.
“I’m sorry,” he grunts. His voice is hoarse and quiet; less scathing than you had ever heard it. Even in a moment like this, you wish you could see his face but his back is turned toward you completely.
“Tsukki...”
“I’m going to... go get you an aspirin and a glass of water. E-excuse me.”
Shock encompasses your face the second you hear your boyfriend--your overly-critical, always-sarcastic boyfriend--stutter for what must have been the first time in his life.
You don’t bother to point it out though because the door is already closing behind him the minute you shake yourself out of the daze.
His bedroom is silent, but not the comfortable silence you and him are both used to. It’s painful and awkward and worries you about whether Tsukishima will even bother talking to you for a while.
You can’t even hear a sound in the rest of the house because the atmosphere is so dark and heavy. A lump forms in your throat and you glance at the clock.
Ten minutes.
Ten minutes have passed since he said he would leave to get you a painkiller. It didn’t even hurt anymore at this point, and truly what surprised you the most was how hard Tsukishima took it on himself.
You decided to go investigate after another five minutes ticked by.
The hardwood floor left a flood of chills racing up your body as you tiptoed through his room and out into the hallway. With only his thin sheets to keep you covered, you sneaked down the stairs and padded into the kitchen.
No luck.
His white blanket dragged along the floor as you traveled past the small opening into the living room, finally spotting your boyfriend.
Long fingers tangled into blond hair as his back curled over, elbows stuck on his knees while he cradled his head.
You chose to stay silent and not disturb him, instead making your way over and plopping onto the cushion next to him on the sofa. He raised from his position and turned to you, eyes snapping open.
“Sorry, I didn’t get your-”
Your arms wrapped around his neck as you twisted your body to trap him in a hug. The sheet slipped down your body but you didn’t bother adjusting it, not when there were more serious matters to handle.
“YN...”
“Shut up,” you dug a hand into the nape of his neck, shoving his face into your collarbone. “I’m fine, you doofus. You didn’t kill me; I’m not as fragile as you think.”
You felt his jaw clench against your chest before he huffed, not-so reluctantly returning the hug with his arms around your waist.
The living room was silent for a moment, just you and Tsukishima soaking up each other’s presence in the early midday hours with only the birds outside to keep you company. His skin was warm and bare against yours, but, unsurprisingly, his fingers were colder than ice.
“I told you that was a bad idea, you know.” And there it is.
At least it was nice while it lasted.
Tsukishima pulled away and glanced your body up and down in what he must’ve thought was a discreet way.
“It sounded like fun, you know. At least I thought you would’ve liked it.”
He set his jaw. “If it meant you never getting hurt again, I’d say we should stick to vanilla from now on.”
“Aww, but where’s the fun in that?”
Hey, you. Yeah, you. Reading this right now. Stop what you’re doing for a few minutes and read this, okay? It’s important. It’ll only take a few minutes, I promise.
Let me start off by telling you how incredibly brave you are. I’m serious. You’re living in an uncertain world, and you still woke up today. It doesn’t matter if you got out of bed. If you got dressed. You’re awake. You’re here, with us. With the community online that loves you. You’re here. You could have hidden yourself away today. But you didn’t. You were brave and came to be with your friends today.
You know what else, though? You’re a wonderful person. No, don’t argue. Just listen for now. It’s okay. You don’t have to believe it for it to be true. You have been through so much. It has made you stronger. You are so strong. That doesn’t mean you have to be strong all the time, though. You’re allowed to be weak. You’re allowed to need to lean on someone. It’s okay. Nobody is going to judge you for that. If they do, they must have forgotten that they’ve had to lean before, too.
You are not a mistake. You’re not worthless. You bring joy to peoples’ lives. You might not even know the people that you bring joy to, but they’re there. They exist. Just like others bring joy to your life. That’s an important thing to be a part of. We need more joy in the world. I’m so glad that you’re here to help with that. I’m so proud of you for being here.
You are wanted. You are needed. If something were to happen to you, there are people that would miss you. People who would ask what happened to you. There are people that care about your wellbeing. We love you. It’s okay to come to us when everything feels hopeless. You’re not worthless. I promise.
I’m so, so proud of you and so happy that you’re here, reading this right now. I’m so happy that you’re still with us. Please don’t go where your friends can’t follow. Nobody in the world can replace you.
You can keep scrolling now. Just remember that there’s someone out there that cares about you, okay? Have a good rest of your day.
I swear the first time his s/o sits on his face Tendous probably like "If I die, its cause the pussy was too good. I want you to put *death by pussy* on my tombstone... And remember to add *He died happy* on it too"
Agajdjssjjs bro you made me w h e e z e😂
If you ain’t right tho😤😤
The darling escape scenarios are sooo good, I love this series 😭 the fact that bokuto was afraid above all else hurt me even though I know he’s so messed up LOL but the kags and kenma scenes really surprised me! my heart usually sinks when the yandere gets out and captures reader again but this time it sank in a completely different way, watching the emotional manipulation working into reader’s thoughts 👁👄👁 I always hope for reader to succeed in escaping though, so I hope they did make it out and got away for good 🤞thank you so much for writing these fics, they’re always so fun to read!
😭😭this is so sweet!! I’m really happy you enjoyed the post as—ngl—I wasn’t really feeling too confident about posting it. The positive reviews it has been receiving in just a few short hours makes me want to write so many more though💜💜 thank you so much for this, and thank you all for the support recently🥰
I promise there is plenty more yandere content to come😌 and I’m glad you enjoyed the way I write them😚
*GIF not mine*
Summary:
Gaz wants you, but the hotel bar you work at has rules; when a bartender calls dibs, all others have to back off. It’s how the peace is kept, and as the new girl just trying to rack up some savings, you’re not willing to rock the boat.
But Gaz doesn’t take kindly to you avoiding him, and he’s never been one to beat around the bush. From confessing his love on the first night you met to shouting your name seven times from across the bar, he’s not letting you off the hook that easy. Not when he’s seen the proof that you’ve fallen just as hard for him.
A/N: umm so good news is second part is out as promised. Bad news is....this is not the end. I totally plan on making another part, but I don't know how soon that can be done considering life just began again. Guess we'll see. Enjoy!
Word count: 8193
Part 1
In hindsight, you’re not quite sure when you started falling so hard for the handsome guy from the bar.
Yes, okay, there was initial attraction. Kyle was one in a million when it came to that.
Then it was the way he looked at you. Like you saying his name and pouring him more scotch made his world spin.
Kyle just made it so easy. Too easy.
So dang easy that you felt guilty Jeanne was attracted to him too. You tried to convince yourself for a long, long time that he looked at her the same way. At every girl the same way.
But that first night turned into the first week, which then turned into the first month.
Your poor heart ached each time he slipped through the glass doors, grinned at you in relief.
“Thank fuck you’re ’ere, love. Nobody in this bar knows how to pour a scotch better than you.”
And after that first touch, his warm fingers grappling after yours around the glass, you couldn’t fight it that easily anymore. Sure, you preferred people sober, but each time Kyle imbibed, he wanted a brush of your fingertips, and you did to.
Everything about him screamed hard yet warm. He was big—special-forces big, apparently. And he had these little scars on his cheeks that you dreamt of at night.
Where did they come from? Where else was he scarred? Why did a guy like him ever choose war over modeling?
Confounding.
Even more confounding was that he liked teasing you, and only you. It was a little trampling over your feelings at first, all that fresh hope and nervousness each time he showered you with attention. But then it was steamrolling, too much all at once that you couldn’t think of him without your entire body slipping into a nervous tremble.
Worst part was that you didn’t even know why he liked you so much. You were just as shitty a bartender as you were a failed medicine-or-anything student. You had nothing too offer him, not your too-big body nor your underwhelming lifestyle.
But Jeanne… Jeanne was perfect for him. Loved all the stuff he did, hiking and swimming and everything you couldn’t do for five minutes without sweating up a storm.
And just when it’s been a month and you think you’re so far in the hole for this hot tease of a customer who can’t seem to leave you alone—hot British tease, by the way, because how dare you forget him calling you “darling” with that accent—that you can’t even sleep at night without tossing and turning…
He’s gone.
Kyle just disappears.
The same Kyle who leaves a perfect, Kyle’s-butt shaped butt-print on the dusty corner seat he loved so much.
The same Kyle who, on the first night you met, was so damn snockered after seven scotches that he wouldn’t stop professing his love for you. (Not that he seemed to remember that the next day, or any day following, but you still hold the memory near and dear to your heart like the masochist you are.)
The same Kyle who stopped smelling like cigarettes after a while. Who once leaned over the bar just to push a little strand of hair behind your ear, rough fingertips pausing at your temple and brushing the skin in a small circle. “Just makin’ sure you’re safe ’nd sound” was the short mumble from his lips.
Gone.
Gave you his phone number before he left, and then hasn’t shown up to the bar for the last two weeks.
He could’ve—well, he could’ve told you he was leaving. Warned you. Instead of this cold-turkey bullshit, you could have actually prepared.
God. You wished you’d had time to prepare for this guy you’ve basically just met leaving you?
He’s made a mess of you.
Kyle, though… he’s Kyle.
And two weeks without him has left you with a Kyle-hangover. You’re all achey and sad and bored—fucking bored. What happened to you being able to occupy yourself with thoughts twenty-four seven and treating men like a distant daydream?
Ironically enough, you miss not missing men just as much as you miss that man.
Not for the first time in the last two weeks, you clock off after what has become some of the most miserable shifts of your life, and go home, curl up on your couch, and think about Kyle.
You think about that moment where he’d demanded you for your phone, long fingers curling in a “give it here” gesture, so stern you barely recognized him. You huddle deeper into the leather cushions, feeling in your pocket for your phone.
Timezones are tricky. Couple that with the fact that you have no idea where he even wound up, and you’re blindly searching through your phone for his contact with both eyes pinched closed, as though you’d be incriminated for the act if you saw yourself do it.
A ringing hums through the air, and you peek just to make sure you’re not being a fool for the second time tonight. Kyle (Hot Guy from the Bar) Garrick slides along your screen, bouncing back and forth so you can catch the entirety of what he’d typed.
You can hear him saying it, like it’s tainted with his soft, playful tone.
It’s the same voice telling you to leave a message now, and you’re so stunted by the familiarity of the sound that you don’t speak for another few seconds, having to reassure yourself that, no, that wasn’t actually him.
A voicemail. You could leave that.
Like all social interactions, you prefer them with a bit of distance and disconnect anyway, whether that be through phone or several glasses of alcohol.
“Umm” is all you say for a while, staring down at the ticking seconds in your lap.
Then “Hey” and “it’s me.”
After another pause, you realize he probably doesn’t know who “me” is, really, so you tag on your name.
And another “umm.”
“I’m calling because…”
You don’t know. Honest to God.
You don’t know why you’re sitting here on your couch, back straight as a pin, anxiously tearing your fingers through your hair and watching your phone screen with eyes so wide someone’d think it’s going to eat you.
“You know, I—I don’t really know why I’m calling. I mean, you asked me to, and now that I’m sitting here, doing it, it kinda feels like a mind game or something. You could still pick up, you know. Put me out of my misery.”
You pause.
Wait a few seconds.
“...But I guess you won’t be doing that. That’s great. Um.” You poke your tongue into your cheek, practically seizing up at this point. “I hope your mission’s going well. You know, stopping the… the bad guys and all that. And I hope that you’re—” safe. You don’t know if anything’s happened to him. It’s been two weeks, maybe that’s why he hasn’t called.
You think you’re gonna be sick.
“You know, it’d be really shitty if you gave me your phone number just to up and die on some top secret mission to save the world. I think that’d be pretty rude of you.”
Quiet, again. Still. You’re not even sure why you’d thought maybe you could hear his response.
But he’s the superhero guy, the special soldier on a secret mission that involves killing bad, bad men and even worse organizations.
So maybe it’s a little selfish of you to miss him.
“Be safe. I mean, I’m sure you already know to do that, but, you know. Try harder at it, I guess. For me.”
You end the call and fight the urge to throw your phone as far away as possible, and go about your night like Kyle doesn’t even exist.
This distance thing’ll be… easy. Maybe.
~~~~~~
You call him the next morning. Can’t help it.
Hearing his voice, even if it’s from the damn voicemail thingy, is soothing. Like a balm over your twinging chest.
Leave him a message at the beep. Oh, you plan to.
“It’s been,” you glance at your phone, “six hours since I last called you. I can’t sleep, so that’s gonna be your problem too. I had this dream where I was riding a unicorn—and I know you think this is gonna be cute or something, but just give me a second—and so we’re just galloping along in the forest, all magical like, and then suddenly I’m surrounded by these guys in SWAT gear and those helmet-binocular deals that you guys wear.”
You’re picking at your blanket, morning gunk still grimey over your teeth, wondering why your first thought of the new day—five a.m., by the way, and you have work until one a.m. tonight—was to call Kyle (Hot Guy from the Bar) Garrick.
“It was a bloodbath. My poor unicorn had to stab military men, so I’m blaming you for giving me a horrific dream like that, Mr. Military Man. Awful rude of you to drag me into the horrors of war like that. And no, you will not be forgiven until you call me back. Goodbye.”
You can’t go back to sleep. Not after that. You’ve scarred yourself sending something so mindlessly ridiculous to a man who has legitimate work to do—might even have one of the most valid jobs on the planet, and you were whining to him about your weeny nightmare.
So you spend the rest of your day meaninglessly-choring your way to the beginning of your bartending shift.
Jeanne hasn’t asked where Kyle’s been. She’s got a new target, a rich businessman who mainly operates in the field of pool floaties. Luckily for him, it’s almost July, which means business is lively, and so too is her interest in him.
It’s around that time that you realize Kyle was valid in denying her at every turn, but your guilt is still slow to fade.
Then your phone buzzes in your pocket.
Kyle.
You whip your finger across the screen, almost dropping the phone in your haste, and read the text.
Reread it a couple more times, because you kind of don’t understand it.
It’s not heartfelt by any means. Not Earth-shattering. And you ponder over it for the rest of your shift, glancing at it every few minutes instead of responding, because it’s so short and succinct that you get the sense it’s all he could manage during his mission.
All it says is “More.”
~~~~~~
Calling Kyle becomes a comfort. During breaks, after bad days, sometimes early in the morning when you were too exhausted the night before.
You feel like a fool after some time. He never once sends another text or calls back, and this time you really think he’s gone.
But there’s a hole your apartment’s silence can’t quite fill anymore, a quiet where Kyle’s lively chatter used to be at the bar.
So you fill it like he’s still there with you.
The third voicemail that you leave him begins with “You never told me your favorite drink.” You spend a half hour rambling about the different drinks you could have made him, how you’re getting better at it in his absence—you’ll even make him another Mai Tai to prove it, if he promised to come back—and how scotch is horrible. You’ve tried it for the first time, and you don’t believe for a second that it’s his preference, even if he’s a hardened soldier trying to wash the pain away.
You don’t buy it. He’s an umbrella-drink kind of guy.
The fourth is about how you’re rethinking things. So many things, while he’s gone. You’re rethinking what you want from life, considering going back and giving school the old college try one more time. You’d had these big dreams before you’d been cowed into submission by doubts and debt. Doctor of… well, something. Anything, really. You’d just always thought doctor looked good in front of your last name.
It looks good in front of Garrick, too. Doctor Garrick, that actually sounds pretty cool, and—oh shit, you don’t mean it like that. Not like you’d be his…
Anyway.
The fifth through twenty-seventh voicemails follow the same pattern. Random thoughts you’ve come up with throughout the day combined with ponderings cranky customers have drawn out of you.
None of it, you’re certain, is interesting to Kyle at all.
Not when he’s on a mission, taking down the evil guys and saving lives. Risking his own in the process.
But you can’t bring yourself to stop, too caught up in the text he sent you and how blatant he’d been about his interest before he left.
No funny business. Just you.
That’s what he’d wanted.
And he’d wanted “more,” too.
Good thing you’re willing to give it to him, highly concentrated and in a large number of doses.
You’re a giver, after all. Maybe he hasn’t noticed it yet, but if he needs these calls from you, obnoxious little chats about the mundane side of life, you’ll do that for him. Because Kyle is a good guy, and you want that chance, however slim it may be, to prove that he passed on his number for good reason.
So you keep calling, let the voicemails stack up and up as weeks go on, continue working behind the scenes of his life, hoping it’s not all in vain.
~~~~~~
Gaz lets the phone drop back down to his side on the barracks bunk, smiling like an idiot at the ceiling.
He’d been a tad nervous that you’d stop after a while, sometimes considered breaking Price’s no phone rule—he never would, of course; AQ can track the IPs of outgoing signals, and the last chance he’d had to send you a message was just before moving hideouts.
But they’ve been in too deep the past few weeks to let his wants trump the importance of the mission.
Plus, you’d obviously understood what “More” had meant. You certainly hadn’t given him less, at any point. There was only one three-day hiatus that made him strangle the shoulder straps of his chest gear so hard the fabric cinched and remained wrought.
And then you’d called, all apologetic and sniffly because you’d gotten some kind of bug despite it being the middle of summer—which was so fucked, in your opinion.
They’re flying back tomorrow. Through pure luck alone, it was a shorter mission than most, a two-month intel grab that ended with only enemies KIA, but Gaz knew what was coming.
Short missions like this meant something big was on the horizon.
Which meant that he had to make a decision soon to lock you down or let you go.
Not getting to hear your voice during a mission like he did now? It sounds fucking devastating. But asking you to stick around for his flighty lifestyle, spend months mucking about on your own, worrying about him and his lack of contact—it was a lot. Ultimately it’d be your choice, and Gaz is terrified that he can’t predict what you’d choose; it feels like defusing a bomb with sweaty fingers, or running out of mags in the middle of the field.
Things were out of his hands the second he put his phone number into yours and begged you to stick around.
He’ll have to get on his knees this time.
He’s already asked a fellow soldier, one of the American Marines who’d been recruited for a building sweep, for a ride to the hotel. By his count, he’ll be there around eight in the morning, just early enough to catch you and only you.
Gaz isn’t quite sure what he plans on doing. Something horribly twee, if past experience is anything to go by. Can’t quite get a conscious hold of himself when he sees you.
And it’d be bloody fuckin’ embarrassing, the way his nerves buzz just under his skin, if he was this excited for anyone but you.
But it’s eleven pm where he’s at and you just left a message bellyaching about his radio silence again. You’ve found a way to make scotch even worse and you’re going to torture him with it next time you see his face—you promise. Unless and only unless he messages you in the next five minutes with his favorite drink so you can practice.
It’s terrible and a bit rude, the way you can toy with his feelings through kindness. His little puppet master twisting his heartstrings so tight he can never truly unravel, all with the tenderness of a damn saint.
Gaz stares at your name in his phone. He works out the hours, then the minutes and eventually seconds until he gets to see you, and can finally stop fawning over the photo he’d found from your public high school’s online yearbook. He’s pretty sure you don’t have that zit anymore, at least, but it’s been too damn long and he’s due a verifiable fact-check.
His return can’t be too big. You’re not a pomp-and-circumstance kind of gal, too uncertain of your own worth to ever happily accept flowers and fanfare, even if it was just the two of you.
He’ll work you up to things like that. Over months. Years, hopefully. A lifetime, if the universe ever acknowledges the debt it owes him for the shit he puts up with.
But for now, he plans for small. Modest and tame.
Something to soothe that little prey heart that itches to run each time he flirts too loud and smiles too widely (because for some reason you can’t believe you draw it out of him, which, admittedly, preserves his pride a bit).
Suddenly, he’s got just the thing.
~~~~~~
Eight-fucking-thirty a.m.
Who on God’s green Earth opens a bar at eight-thirty a.m.?
Surely not the hotel director, who you’ve only seen once and with pinot staining his white mustache, of all things.
Couldn’t be one of the many, many bar managers who, thank God for them, only work at night. They couldn’t imagine working a bar in the morning, only serving those depressing early birds and the real addicts, haha.
Real. Fucking. Funny.
You’re not a morning person. Never have been, never will be.
But when Jeanne says these are the hours that nobody else wants, during which almost no customers show up, and implies that you’ll pretty much be paid to sit on your ass and do nothing, well… by God, you will be there at eight-thirty sharp, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
Except the only thing that’s bright is the goddamned sun outside the windows—too bright—and your bushy tail is more of a bushy mane, as you woke up about thirty minutes ago, almost late to serve fucking no one, and didn’t bother to tame it with any manner of spray or hairbrush.
To be frank, you’re a disaster. You look like you were caught in the Tasmanian Devil’s warpath, and you have the attitude to match.
You thunk your bag down on one of the few empty shelves in the bar’s storage room and groan, wiping a hand over your face. The only thing that could make you feel better right now would be…
God, you just love to torture yourself, don’t you?
It’s been two months. Kyle’s not going to answer. He hasn’t responded to your texts. You don’t even know if he’s alive.
But you miss him like he is. You miss him like you know he’s on the cusp of returning any second now, and you’re standing at the door, waiting to tear it open and pull him in so close you can smell that cheeky cologne he barely deserves to wear.
Woodsy musk and cinnamon. Shameful that you remember it so distinctly. That you’d once wandered into the men’s shampoo aisle in a Walmart to try and figure out the word for the dark, elusive scent that clung to him like a second skin.
It wasn’t there, which means he’s fancier than your budget can comprehend.
Or that’s just him, and he exuded it so robustly when he’d been here that you can smell it now, drawing you out of the backroom with your phone in hand, thumb hovering over his name.
Music is playing, which is confusing because you haven’t touched the radio yet. It’s the slow croon of your guilty pleasure song, the one you love ‘ironically.’ The song you’d confided in only one other soul about.
“Careless Whisper” plays with a slow cadence in the furthest reaches of the bar.
It comes from the same place where two brown eyes are sliding over you at a debilitating pace.
“Fuck me” falls from those lips, that wicked British accent, as he takes in your hips for a while, then your chest, where your heart pounds so damn hard you think he can see it. Then he watches the little jump in your throat as you swallow, and he wets over his lips before glancing up to yours. Stays there, for a long, long time.
Then he meets your eyes, and the stutter in his breath is so damn loud.
Kyle.
Your soldier.
The man you’ve been calling for months, with no response.
His face is littered with an array of new wounds, like little scrapes on the apples of his cheeks you get the most bizarre urge to run your tongue over. A split in the smooth skin of his forehead, a paling scar seated in his unshaven jaw.
His hair’s a little more clean-cut. Perks of heading out for a mission, maybe.
And his long lashes shadow over the yearning look he’s got locked on you, sharpening and honing it like they’re fibrous whetstone.
You’re a bit breathless as you round the bar, even more so when Kyle jolts toward you. Out of his devilishly tight black tee peeks a strip of white wrapped around his bicep, and one of his thighs is thicker than the other, suffering the same treatment under his jeans. But he makes his way closer—too slowly—and tries to stave off a wince when he gets too excited, takes a step a bit too fast.
“Been waitin’ out here for hours, love,” he murmurs, voice breathy but rough. He holds out a hand, curls his longer fingers over yours so tight they can barely tremble. “You still got that scotch ready f’me?”
Your mind floats over the joke completely, instead filling you with worries and urges you can’t fulfill all at once.
Because, God, it’s Kyle. Your Kyle. And he’s looking at you like that’s all he’s wanted to be.
And he’s injured.
He tries shrugging off your hand the second you reach for his face, fingertips hovering over the stiffness under his right eye as he mutters a “Love, don’t worry about it. ’S’better than it looks.”
“Kyle,” you whisper. His other hand falls to your hip, constricting iron-stiff around the soft flesh.
“M’not broken, darling. Promise.”
And, because you’ve always wanted to, you cup his cheek, a puff of air bouncing off your lips when he leans into it. Turns towards the pliable skin of your palm, like he’s going to run his lips over it, but pauses when he feels you tense up.
Something in his eyes darkens, makes you feel almost ashamed at the nervous reaction, but it’s just so much. You’ve missed him. You’re not accustomed to this, and it’s starting to dawn on you that this moment, however right and perfect and perfect perfect perfect it feels is still so fast.
Two months. You haven’t seen him for two months.
And now that he’s back, it feels like the two of you have been greeting each other like this forever.
How can he make you fall so fast and still have you feeling like you’re pacing yourself?
This can’t be right, it can’t be—
“Dance with me. C’mon, before that horrible brain of yours blows a fuse about all this.”
“Careless Whisper” and that dashing smile of his, and all of his touch and proximity gets your mind all fuzzy. A good fuzzy. A quieting fuzzy.
He’s getting too good at this is a thought that tries to stick, but recedes back into the murkiness when Kyle starts to sway.
He urges your hips and feet to follow his lead. It’s far too easy to give in and let him have control, especially as he pulls you in a little closer, rearranges your hands and bodies until the noticeable space becomes the noticeable lack thereof.
You’re tucked into his broad chest, warm and sturdy against you.
He’d placed your hand right over his heart with a meaningful look in his eyes, waited until you felt the frantic thumpthumpthumpthump that leaves your face hot.
Kyle was always confident around you. He always seemed to know what he was doing, because he was always obvious about what he’d wanted.
But you didn’t know that you, of all people, could have this effect on him.
That flutter of pulsations under your fingertips.
His head ducking low until his face is nestled into your collarbone.
The arm that swings around behind you until the crook of his elbow is caught in the dip of your waist and his broad palm is flattened against your opposite hip.
It’s a little hard to face this moment, being how you are. It feels beautiful. Too beautiful for someone like you. You’re chest is so full, heart so quick, head so wondrously empty.
You can’t think past the back-and-forth scrape of Kyle’s fingers underneath your shirt’s hem.
But you feel like apologizing for something. Maybe you’d say sorry for how you feel in his arms, too big surely, despite the way he’s wrangled around you and holding so tight it’d take a solid minute for him to let go. Maybe you should apologize for the stupid song that’s playing, the one that everybody hates, you guess, even though you love it. Maybe you’re sorry about—
Wait.
“You listened to all those messages?”
Kyle doesn’t make a sound. At first, at least.
Then…
“They were the only things that kept me hangin’ on, love.” Where his lips brush these words into your skin, the nerves underneath throb.
A sorry feels cruel on your tongue after that.
Kyle hums into the silence, singing along a bit when the song repeats for a third time, then a forth, and your hair sticks to his face as he draws away.
He looks like a fool, but a lovesick one more than anything. It’s dumb and stupid and ridiculous that he has to brush your hair off his face, and even more dumb that he looks like he’s enjoying it so damn much his face is split in two, top and bottom with only pearly whites in between.
A fool for doing all this for you, for wanting you so bad when he could replicate this with anyone, someone much prettier, and have them forever.
“I don’t even wanna know what that dreadful mind of yours is concocting right now, darling. Don’t wanna hear a lick of it, because I know it’d make me so mad, too mad for a moment like this.”
“I don’t want to hear it either,” you whisper, letting your gaze fall to where your hand lay, to where Kyle’s heart gives off an indignant thud.
The knuckle of his index finger knocks against your chin. “Let me silence it then, yeah?” His head tilts in an innocent way, almost distracting from how quick his heartbeats are now, agitated into a frenzy.
You nod, only partly because you’re a little worried he’ll go into cardiac arrest if you don’t. Mostly because you’ve heard about half of what he’s said by now, the rest of your brain designated to determining what he’s drawing into the curve of your hip. The hard press of his fingers is ruinous to your mental stability.
That—right there—has to be a G. That’s the first symbol you’ve managed to decode so far.
Kyle’s lips are so close when you tilt your head up again, and the intensity of his attention has increased tenfold. You wonder if you’d ever considered this to be the end result of all your phone calls, those nonsensical anecdotes every other twelve hours that you’d felt so guilty about sending. It felt like you’d been wasting his precious time.
But his fervid grip on your body has you thinking the complete opposite way—that instead, you’ve been feeding this needy man before you far too much, a gratuitous enough amount that you’ve tracked him back to your house like a wild wolf you’re not really sure how to treat in the confines of your own home.
You meant it when you said the distance made it easy.
A is the second letter.
You wonder distantly if its shape is now bruised into the fleshy tissue of your side.
And you wonder if he’s ever going to kiss you, leaning in so close like that.
~~~~~~
Gaz has to draw the line soon. He’s gotta find it first, but he’s so damn scared he’s gotten too close without even realizing it.
The skin at that little sloping line between your neck and collarbone is all hot and smooth. He almost sunk his teeth into it, wanted to bite you a little and hear that little rabbit squeak of yours before you tore away, flustered.
He can barely fight off the urge of giving the same treatment to that trembling lower lip, the fatty one you’ve ran your tongue over deliciously quick, like you thought he wouldn’t notice.
Would it be so bad if you let him worry at it with his own teeth? Let your lips get all puffy and red from his touch, and only his?
But he’s pushing the boundaries too much all over again, and you’re back to shaking. It’s a good tremble, one he can feel through the muscles of his forearm, the one that’s flush with your spine. You’re all excited, and it’s because of him.
All good things.
But he knows you, knows the martyr that you are. Knows that if he feeds you now, you’ll think that’s the only meal you need and deserve, and you’ll tear away from his hold all over again, because you haven’t been giving enough. You’ve received too much already; he can see it in your eyes.
Gaz walked in here a little too generous after all those phone calls. He thought you’d expect a reward for your diligence, and instead you’re acting like it was a burden. Undue torture for him to draw away like that, in his humble opinion.
But fine. He won’t kiss you. Not yet.
He pulls back a bit, unraveling his arm around your waist and settling for spelling Garrick into your other hip with a bruising pressure. It’s high time the other side of your body received the same treatment, anyway.
If he’s tasked with quieting your mind, he’ll have to do it the less fun way.
“So,” he mumbles, a bit ticked at how the words disturb the air, “come here often?”
A surprised laugh tears out of your throat, and you tip your head back until the delectable line of your jaw is all he can see.
Foul play.
Patience. Fuckin’—God, patience. He almost forgot.
Almost slipped that fucking leash.
“You’re horrible,” you admonish with a grin, fingers curling up at his left pectoral.
“You love it,” he whispers back. If there’s any shred of him that’s lost faith in how you feel for him, it’s the same hand that forces his last name into your hip. It wanders, for a second, up your back, behind your ribs, until he can feel that off-kilter thrumming that matches his own.
Feels that stutter at his words.
“Love, huh?”
He tries not to freeze up. If you felt that from him, you’d have a little spike of doubt pierce right into that ever-working brain of yours.
Gaz is so pissed he let that word slip, even casually, and scans over your face, trying to read how it landed. You were casual about it, too, but he knows that’s a touchy subject to push on. He’s toppling into bad territory. If you pulled away from him now…
“Cheesy shit like that is all I hear at my job.” Garrick Garrick Garrick. He’s pressing the letters into your spine now. “Honest. Dad jokes every morning. I’m the last one you have to worry about. It’s like going on a mission with a comedy club, that crew.”
Your smile eases up a bit, and you relax into the moment again.
“You barely talk about your job.” You look away, seemingly finding the wooden-paneled walls far more interesting. “I didn’t know that topic was on the table.”
“The good parts are. That’s all I’ll ever want you to hear about.”
“I didn’t know you were so protective.”
Gaz is nipping at the bits to respond to that exactly the way he knows how. Of fucking course I am. It’s you. But he can’t rephrase it in any way that would soothe and not scare you off.
So he lets your comment hang in the silence as you sway.
~~~~~~
When Kyle leaves the bar, at first it feels an awful lot like when he left that very first time. A bit disappointing that the hot, crazy drunk guy won’t be entertaining you for the rest of the night. Won’t be screaming I love you sooooo much, miss bartender gal until you clock off.
The feeling makes you wistful.
Then—
Oh fuck—
It starts to feel like when he left for his mission. When you didn’t know if he’d ever come back, and you just missed him so damn much you couldn’t think straight, wanted to hear his voice one more time and not just saying “Leave a message at the beep.”
When you drove yourself crazy thinking about the little touches. When you dreamed about him far too much than was normal. When, more than anything, you wanted him to give in to all those little urges he seemed to hold back from you, that little grimace winding his lips when you swept to close or said something even remotely suggestive.
And you know you don’t deserve it. You’re not fit to be the girl of his affections, the one he comes home to each time he returns from a mission and greets with a kiss.
But it doesn’t stop you from imagining that you could be.
You’d try to repay him for his love each time he comes home by greeting him with his favorite meal and drink. You’d massage the corded muscles of his arms and back, lead him with a shy smile into the bath set for two, and he’d have that same hungry look as you stripped to join him, splashing water everywhere in effort to tug you over to his end of the tub.
You’d sit on his couch each day, scratching his scalp as you read a book, listening to the soft snores as he napped. You’d dance with him in the kitchen like you did today, slow sways to a song he liked this time, and then you’d play your favorite again, just to listen to those soft hums of his crooning along…
Oh God.
You want Kyle. So damn bad.
You want his body. You want his hands all over you, eyes raking over your face, legs twisting against yours.
You want every little thought running through his mind. You want his attention. You want his laughs, his cries, his silence when he’s protecting you from his memories.
You want him shamelessly. Constantly. Perpetually.
You want him so bad that you could give two shits whether you deserved him or not.
You’d do everything in your power to earn it. Pour in your love and heart and soul into building something with him.
And best of all, you can’t bring yourself to regret it.
You don’t regret the way you call him that night, pleading for him to come over. It’s three a.m., and his voice is groggy and exhausted over the phone, accent thick as he grumbles, “Love, what’s wrong? What’s happened? Oh, you’re cryin’, darling, tell me where you are. I’ll be there sooner than possible.”
You relapse so hard that night. The second you saw his face all over again, you knew you couldn’t go without him. A Kyle-addict, and you didn’t even notice until it was too late.
He’s shouting, yelling at your door like a mad drunk, but you didn’t give him any scotch that morning. None of that whiskey sour either, the one he revealed was his favorite, but knew Americans wouldn’t get right.
You tear open the door. His clothes are in disarray, buttons all wonky. His eyes are wild and wandering over you. His hands are curled tight around your doorway, blood sapping away from his knuckles because he’s holding himself back so hard.
You don’t care. He shouldn’t bother anymore.
You make the first jolt toward him, and his face melts into awe.
Kyle’s lips, they taste like….
Fuck, you whine a little into his mouth.
Like fucking rain. Like a dream. Like clouds and floating untethered.
But also corporeal, grounding. Like plain chapstick and a bit of toothpaste. They taste like fingers winding so deep into your hair and hips pushing at yours until you stumble into your living room. They taste like Kyle blindly kicking the door shut, like him pulling back with a gasp and being aglow with ardent moonlight, like him reading every little emotion on your face and shaking his head, mumbling a “fucking finally.” He tilts your head up a bit higher, swivels your face to the side so your moans bounce off the walls as he drags his tongue along your jawline, down the warm column of your throat. And then you lurch, eyes flying open as he bites into the crux of your neck and shoulder.
“Kyle!” Your nails dig into his back, drag down and dig in again at the same tempo as his bite-pull-back-bite-again. And he does the same to the rest of your body, every little inch that gradually presents itself when the clothes come off. His lips and teeth wander without bias, but each time you try to speak he drags himself back up to your ear and shushes, soothes your concerns with mindless mutterings along the lines of “Just lemme—gimme a bit to—fuck, love” and “Need a bit of patience, darling. I’m tryin’ to play here.”
He controls every second of it. All of it.
Like he wouldn’t stand for a single mistake. Like he needs you to know it’s worth it.
The sun showers over him when he’s trembling, sweating, hovering over you, hands intertwined with yours, peppering your face with kisses despite his rapid chest rising and falling, when he finally collapses against you, around and inside and generally being everything he can to you in this moment. He’s bigger than the bed, bigger than the apartment, bigger than that bar and your world.
Kyle’s smile, still charming and exhausted, is the last thing you see as he coos you to sleep.
~~~~~~
Gaz has to bat your hand away from your phone for the seventh time. “Jus’ fuckin’ ignore it,” he hisses into your stomach. “Bloody fuckin’ thing ruinin’ this beautiful mornin’ we’re having.”
“It’s two in the afternoon.”
“Yeah, what about it?”
Despite your phone—Jeanne calling, apparently, because you’re three hours late to work, and you could’ve at least warned her you were going to be honeymooning off with the newly returned soldier boy (she’ll give you a sick day)—ruining the moment, it was still the best awakening he’s had in his adult life.
Maybe even better than birthday chocolate chip pancakes when he was a kid.
No. Wait.
Definitely better.
He woke up to a soft caress against his cheek, found himself buried into your chest. Your breasts, as it turns out, are even more beautiful to begin his day with watching than any sunrise.
He tore his gaze up higher and found you staring down at him, gentle smile on your lips. Your fingertips were tracing over his scars, thumbing at his lips every now and then.
It’s not right that he hasn’t woken up like this before. Part of it makes him think he hasn’t really been living until right now, when he can’t think past your hot skin and plush thighs nuzzled close to his stomach.
“Don’t mind this one bit, darling,” he’d said, dropping his head to feather his mouth over your belly button. “Can we stay like this forever?”
It’s genuine, and he can tell you know he means it because your cheeks turn pink. Surely it’s a lot for you in this moment. Your split-second decision last night was just that, and on his taxi ride over he’d worried himself over how you’d react the next morning.
Your brows furrow, and your lips purse real tight while you think.
Gaz’s trained himself to fear your thinking, but he holds off on distracting you from it now. Plays fair, even though he could be kissing his way down further and further until he could force a promise out of you; a gaspy, whiney one.
But that wouldn’t do. He needs that rabbit brain of yours that likes to kick out and scurry away to agree with him for once, that yes, you want him to stay. You always will.
And before he knows it, you’re cupping both sides of his face, drawing him up onto his forearms, making him crawl up your body until you press one long, hard kiss to his lips before muttering, “Yes. Let’s do it.”
Your thumbs swipe under his eyes, no doubt bothered by the dark circles, but the rumble of his voice as he praises you for giving in must tell you he’s gotten plenty of sleep. He made sure he did all of the work last night, had you follow each and every one of his commands to sit, stay, and let him take care of you, for fuck’s sake, or it’ll kill him.
All his energy, all that stamina was worked to the bone, and he feels like a puddle of goo against your form. He presses another kiss to your lips before trailing his way back down, nestling into your stomach while informing you that you’d make a damn good pillow every morning.
~~~~~~
You’re certain nothing could ruin this moment.
Kyle’s already back to snoring softly, little grumbles against the skin between your breasts, hands starfished at your thigh and lower back. He looks ten years younger curled up against you, the wrinkles of his face smoothed out through thorough exhaustion.
Just seven hours ago he’d smiled at you, somehow more doting than the last, his skin dewed with sweat, and collapsed into your hold. He’d been content to run himself ragged, and now that he’s got you thoroughly trapped underneath his muscled, form, he seems intent on not moving an inch.
His wounds still unnerve you. The bandages from yesterday could use a change, damp and wrinkled around his bare thigh and biceps. But from your position, your head leveraged on a pillow, you can see pale, ravaged skin from botched stitches and bullet holes. Uneven gouges and linear scrapes, wounds whose origins would surely pain you to listen to—most of all because he’d say it with such nonchalance.
It’s hard to turn the sweet Kyle from the bar into this war-broken soldier before you, hard to combine them into one person and have it make complete sense. Like water and oil, the pair of them refuse to mix into one.
You’re running the tip of your middle finger along one particularly horrifying line running diagonally down his nape when he wakes up again. His head lifts, and you let your hand slide with the movement until you’re cupping his cheek and he’s leaning into your hold. A wet kiss cools on the inside of your wrist when Kyle gets close enough.
His limbs wrangle even tighter with yours. “What time is it now?”
“Two-thirty.”
His pretty brown eyes are locked on your face, a gentle roaming back and forth in rhythm with the slow strokes of his index finger against your knee.
“Good. A few more hours and I’ll have kept you here all day. A personal record, one I’ll flaunt with honor.”
“We’ll have to get up at some point.”
“Maybe I’ll trap you here all week,” he ignores you, all serious consideration now. “I’ll have to check my rope supply.”
“You know, there are easier, less illegal ways to entice me into staying.”
“Don’t like riskin’ it with you.” He draws himself up and leans in, and you tilt closer to accept his peppering of kisses over your forehead, across your cheeks, down your jawline. “Each time I try to do it the nice way, you manage to slip away from me. Have to start playin’ for keeps now.”
You’re not sure if you love Kyle.
You know you’re not quite in the same place as he is emotionally. But he certainly knows how to put you on the fast track to get there, and it starts with the way he cradles you closer—always a little bit closer—and nudges his nose just underneath your ear, releasing a sigh like touching you can make all the horrors, worries, fears slip away. Like you’re a magical woman.
You feel like you’re made of magic, anyway.
And you don’t regret any of the decisions you’ve made since calling him last night. Hell, since calling him that first time, when he was thousands of miles away, and all he wanted was more.
~~~~~~
Gaz has a bad urge. A terrible one. Bloody fuckin’ day ruiner of an urge that has him peeling away and hiding out in your bathroom for too long after relieving himself.
He’s staring at himself in the mirror while he dries off clean hands, investigating that dark mark you’d sucked into the side of his neck before he could untangle from you.
Bad, bad, bad Gaz.
It’s too soon.
You don’t take “too soons” very well. Can’t handle them.
But, well, biased as he is, Gaz thinks he looks more alive than he has in months.
And all it was was you, injected into his veins and flowing back to his heart before being properly dispersed throughout the rest of his body, even distribution of needing you every hour of every day until he can’t even curl his toes without thoughts of you.
No. He really, really shouldn’t.
He won’t.
Gaz steps out of your bathroom and fumbles his way through your apartment, following the sounds of humming and beeping.
Almost blacks out at what he finds.
You, bent over and retrieving a frying pan from your cupboards, rising up until your standing tall, wearing his goddamned shirt. The black cotton hugs your thick figure tight, but it’s too long, caps off somewhere near the tops of your thighs, lace panties barely twinkling at him just underneath
Fuckin’ Christ, bloody Jesus, Hell on a—
“Love,” he chokes on the word. “Darling. You’re killin’ me here, bunny.”
Fuck it.
Seriously—fuck it.
He’s gonna ask. It’s not too soon. Not for him. Not when it comes to you.
You laugh a little. “Sorry. I know, I know, it’s too tight. But I was too lazy to find something else, so if you really want it back—”
“No.”
You pause, smile locked on your face. “Okay then. Good. Glad that’s settled. I’ll just keep making breakfast then.”
You’re on your tippy toes now, reaching high to the small pantry above your stove, fingertipping at a box of pancake mix.
“Could you…?”
“Yeah.” He’s behind you in a matter of blinks, broad chest brushing your back before you can dart out of the way, even grasping your hip with one hand and passing you the box with the other.
You take it from him with a fumbled thank you, the words stuttering their way out of your mouth as he swipes your hair back and behind your ear. “What’s on the menu, then, love?”
He can practically feel the current of chills slinking down your spine. He follows you, chest still against your back, step for step as you putter around, finding a whisk, a carton of milk, and… a bag of chocolate chips.
Fuckin’ hell, don’t tell me.
“Pancakes. I’m adding chocolate chips because they’re my favorite, so don’t you dare bitch about—what, what is it?”
You palm at his forehead in confusion when he buries his face into your shoulder and groans.
Fool. Bloody fuckin’ fool, dumbass bastard ruining everything after one goddamn night. It’s too damn soon. It’ll ruin everything.
“Love, I hafta—”
A cacophony of beeps cut through the air, and your attention slips to the microwave, where a cup sits aglow in the yellow light.
“Sorry, that’s for my tea—”
He’s really doing this.
Fuck it.
Fuck.
It.
“Move in with me.”
~~~~~~
Part 3
Just finished shoving the third part down my throat. God! It was so good. I am beyond excited but also patiently waiting, for anything you make next. You've got a talent and I must applaud you for it!
I'm so glad you liked it! I'm just glad I survived to the end of this fic and didn't leave it on a cliffhanger like most of my stories😭
Thank you so much for these kind words---they make me want to keep writing, and there's no better feeling than that!!!💜💜💜
Can I be on the 'Reborn' taglist🥺👉👈
hell yeAHHHHH🤩
18+, minors dnrI write sometimes ig maybe, we’ll see🫠Masterlist . . . . . . Side BlogRequests? What requests?
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