Bucky-centric world

You had looked up when a foam cup was plopped right in front of you. You set your clipboard down as you follow the arm of the culprit. Conrad has his head tilted, a sweet smile gracing your very long morning. “Beautiful.” He compliments your very clearly disheveled state.

You roll your eyes but take the coffee he brought for you. You mouth a thank you before giving him your full attention. “What’s the catch?” You smirk.

Conrad chuckles at your remark. His brown orbs scan your tired features. “There you go again, assuming I have some ulterior motive.” He says, feigning offense. He leans a hip against your desk as he watches you take a drink of the coffee he so graciously retrieved for you. “Can’t I bring my fiance a cup of coffee out of the pure goodness of my heart?”

“You can…but something lies behind those devious eyes.” You squint up at him, swirling the end of your pen in front of his face.

Conrad laughs, his grin wide. He tilts his head, his light curls bouncing lightly. He brings his index finger up, gently pressing your forehead so you’re no longer squinting. “There. Much better.” He teases. He shakes his head, the playful smirk never leaving his features. He crosses his arms, leaning in to get a closer look at your tired state. “Rough night?”

“More like rough morning. Your number one fan is here…again.” A teasing smile begins to form on your face.

Conrad raises an eyebrow at that. He knew exactly who you were talking about. “What is she being admitted for this time?” He says, unable to contain the amused smirk.

You sigh and gesture to the paperwork sitting in front of him. He meets your eye and then turns the clipboard around and begins to read.

Conrad can’t fight the scoff that escapes his lips as he reads through it. The same symptoms as last time: elevated heart rate, high blood pressure, and dizziness, among many other minor symptoms. Every time it was the same. Other than the fractured radius and ulnar, today. Nothing was ever, truly, wrong.

“Broke her arm chasing after her dog…” Conrad shakes his head as he gently sets the clipboard back on your desk. “Nic around?”

“Just missed her. She just finished her double shift.” You shook your head.

Conrad’s eyes widened in surprise, though he didn’t know why. Nic’s determination to overwork herself was no secret. He huffed a heavy sigh, taking a seat on the edge of the desk. “Of course she did…” He mutters under his breath. “You’re with me today.”

“Can already feel my day turning around, but I figured so I checked her vitals and heart already. So you just need to repeat everything I just did, doc.” You chipped with a smile on your face. You gather your things and make your way to Grace’s room. Conrad's number one fan, or rather his stalker as you like to secretly call her.

Conrad rolls his eyes at your comment and follows behind you, his long strides easily keeping pace with yours. “Careful,” He warns, unable to contain his smile, “flattery will get you everywhere.”

The pair of you enter Grace’s room where she is, unsurprisingly, perched on the edge of her bed. Her broken arm is clutched to her chest, a pout on her face. Upon seeing the two of you, her face lights up.

“Dr. Hawkins!” She squeals, waving and making grabby hands in his direction. Conrad sighs, a forced, painfully fake smile on his face as he approaches her to examine her. He casts a sideways look in your direction as if to say ‘Save me’.

“Hi nurse, Y/n.” She makes sure to greet you with a warm welcome.

“Hi Grace, how’s the morphine doing, kicking in a bit I see.” You contain your laughter as you see her more giggly than how she was when she first arrived.

Conrad looks over at you. He has to hide his chuckle as you tease her for her morphine-induced goofy behavior. “So,” He starts. “The dog was too much for you I see?”

“Yes. I don’t think I’m much of a dog person. Any other pets you could recommend for me, Dr. Hawkins?”

Conrad looks over at you.

“You could always try a Guinea Pig. My niece has one. Easy little things to take care of.” You shrug. Grace locks eyes with you, considering your suggestion. She nods then looks back to him.

“Is a Guinea Pig easy to take care of, Dr. Hawkins?”

Conrad hums, pretending to think. He scratches at his chin, pretending as if there is some deep thought going through his head. “A Guinea Pig is very easy to take care of Grace.” He says, a playful smirk growing on his face. “Very easy.”

He turns an expectant look in your direction, his lips twitching to suppress a grin.

“Yes, very easy. A Guinea pig is less likely to cause fractures. No running, no need to train them. Easy as pie.” You breathe out a laugh.

Conrad has to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing. He can’t fight the way his eyes gleam at how thoroughly you are enjoying yourself teasing his…fan. “No risk of broken bones chasing them around. Sounds like a good fit for you.”

"I'll have to stop by a pet store later then." She nods. Unlike Conrad, you had a feeling she would stay true to her promise to get the damn rodent. The idea unsettled you just as it did the last time when she bought a dog after he recommended getting one, to keep her company as he lightly put it.

Conrad’s stomach drops at the thought of Grace following through on her promise. He knew she was gullible, but if what you were saying was true and she took his recommendation to heart and bought a dog…he would have to be more careful with what came out of his mouth.

“Maybe…stay away from animals for now?” He suggests, casting a concerned glance your way. "Alright, Grace I'm gonna go ahead and order you an x-ray and an MRI just to be on the safe side. You said you've been experiencing a bit of a headache, you said you hit your head when you fell?"

"Yeah...on concrete, is that bad?" She moves her eyes back and forth from you two. Conrad cast you a glance.

Conrad winces at her casual response. “Well, you’d probably be experiencing something a bit stronger than a minor headache if there was anything truly wrong.” He says as a means to comfort her as she sits at the edge of her bed.

He reaches out, gently prodding at the back of her head. He pulled out a light and had her follow his finger. “How hard did you hit your head?”

"My vision was blurred for a few minutes. I think someone asked if I was okay before I got up, took Ceecee home, and then came straight here." She blinks up at him. "You'll fix me right up though, right, Dr, Hawkins?"

He gives her a nod and a reassuring smile. “You’re in the best of hands.” He reassures her, ignoring the skeptical scoff you let out beside him. “I’ll make sure we get to the bottom of that headache.”

"In the meantime, just wait here, I will be back to reset your bones." You pat her shoulder.

She looks at your hand and then nods. Conrad casts her a wink before exiting with you, not thinking anything more by it.

Conrad takes your elbow, a light tug letting you know that he wants to leave the room. He gives Grace one last comforting smile, "We'll be right back." He said, opening the door and ushering you out.

Once out of the room, Conrad's smile falls from his face and is replaced with a concerned frown. He lowers his voice slightly, so only you can hear him. "She actually bought a dog?"

"Well Dr. Hawkins…when you flash her that dazzling smile and hold her gently, how can she resist doing everything that comes out your damn mouth!" Your smile vanishes as you smack him. "She's getting worse. Okay, this is turning into outright obsessive behavior, and if you don't put a stop to her Conrad, she'll display stalker-like traits."

Conrad flinches at the smack to his chest, a glare tossed right back in your direction. "Not funny." He points at you and the way you emphasized his name like she had.

“What do you suggest I do, hm?” Conrad asks, a hint of irritation in his tone. “Walk up to a patient and tell them to stop getting hurt, to call for another doctor?"

"Well that idea sounds a whole lot better than the Guinea Pig-" You jump away with a laugh when he scoffs and tries to tickle you.

Conrad lunges at you, grabbing a flailing arm and tugging you back in his direction. He takes advantage of your distraction, going straight for your sides, his fingers digging into your ribs. His own smirk grows wider as he hears your laughter fill the hallway.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Your head falls. "I can't breathe."

Conrad stops and grins, but he doesn’t release you. He keeps his arms loosely wrapped around your waist and watches as you struggle to catch your breath. He laughs softly as he watches you lean forward, your head resting against his chest.

“You’re impossible.” He says, his fingers idly rubbing against your side.

"That's improbable to you." You lift your head with a teasing smile.

Conrad groans, rolling his eyes at your quip. He can’t keep the smile off his face, though. His fingers still rubbing against your sides. "Pain in my ass…" He said, but the words lacked any real bite behind them. He leans in as you hum in amusement.

"That so, Dr Hawkins."

Conrad huffs, his chest rising and falling with his laughter. His eyes darken as he looks down at you, his smirk turning more wicked. He leans in further, his face only inches from your own. "Say it again." He says, his voice now a few octaves deeper than normal.

"Dr Hawkins." Your laugh is stifled when he presses his lips to yours in a sweet long kiss.

Conrad hums against your lips, an arm snaking around your waist to drag you closer. He leans back against the wall that the two of you were standing in front of, a hand coming up to cup the back of your neck. He deepens the kiss, a sharp pang of desire striking at his core as he pushes you gently back against the wall.

But before it could escalate any further, your pager goes off. You groan and push him away slightly. "Duty calls." You whine.

Conrad groans at the noise and he steps back, reluctantly tearing his gaze and his arms away from you. He pushes his messy hair back off his forehead, still slightly breathless. He lets his eyes wander over your disheveled form, knowing full well that the two of you would've gotten caught up in that hallway had the pager not interrupted.

He brings a hand up to his own pager in his pocket that went off, shutting it off. "Duty indeed calls." He sighed, his heart still racing. "What would you like for dinner?"

You gasp. "Are you offering to cook?" You hum at the idea.

Conrad laughs and shakes his head at your excitement and enthusiasm for the idea of his cooking. "Don't look so surprised." He remarks, his expression changing to a playful smirk. "Yes, I'll cook tonight. What do you want?"

"Surprise me." You shrug, walking backwards.

Conrad rolls his eyes, though he's smiling as he watches you walk away. He can't help but admire the view, his gaze lingering on your form for just a little too long. "You got mad last time when I did." He calls after you.

"Chicken, with Pasta!" You call out as you reach the corner you need to turn.

Conrad huffs a laugh at the request. "Done!" He calls out to you as he heads in the opposite direction. "Chicken and pasta it is..." He sighs, then laughs to himself.

What you both hadn't realized was the shadow lurking and watching from afar. A scowl replaced her sweet smile moments before when she heard his voice outside her room. Her breathing picks up as she heads back into her room. Grace sits at the edge of her bed and looks down at the fractured bones, broken at a dipped angle. Before she could even think twice about it, she settled them back into place.

The pain was nothing like how betrayed her heart had felt. Conrad had his interest in someone else. You.

-

A few minutes had passed before you had gone to check up on Grace again. To ensure that she was situated with the cast that she would need to wear for a few weeks. "Grace?" You announced yourself, as you peered down at your clipboard again. When you looked up, your heart dropped upon seeing her bed empty. It was only when the door slammed behind you that you grew scared. "Grace?" You looked at her and then at the knife she held in her left hand, how she came into possession of it you hadn't known.

"You kissed him…" She muttered softly. "I didn't realize he had his eyes set on someone else. I thought what we had was just between us. I'm so stupid!" You flinch at her exclaim.

Your eyes widened when you saw the tears in her eyes. The grip she held on the hospital knife was tight, her knuckles almost turning white. "Grace, no, listen to me!" You quickly moved to try and reach out to her but stopped short when she snapped.

"Stay back!" You held your hands up in surrender, holding in the sharp inhale you desperately wanted to take. "You took him from me!"

"I didn't know..." She looks up at you. "If I had known how much you liked him. I wouldn't have kissed him." You play along with her in hopes she won't hurt herself, or you. It was only then that you realized her bones were settled back into place. "Grace what happened to your arm did you- did you put them back into place?" You were shocked.

Grace's eyes flit down to her arm, a frown on her face. "I needed to feel something…" She said softly. "I needed to feel something other than the pain in my heart."

She looks up at you again, her grip on the knife never faltering. "Why was it you, huh? Why not me? What do you have that I don't? I go out of my way to have him examine me, and spend time with me. I was this close to getting him alone today, but then I saw him kiss you..."

"I ask myself that every day, Grace. I don't know why he chose me. Things just happen, people come into your life and you go from there with them."

She scowls at that response, her eyes narrowing into a glare. "You're around him too much…" The knife trembles in her grip. "That's why he's been distracted lately."

She took a step closer, and you instinctively found yourself stepping back in response. Her glare darkened, now laced with jealousy and possessiveness. "I wonder…" She says slowly, almost as if she's contemplating her next words. "Maybe if you weren't around so much anymore, I could finally have my chance…"

"Grace, please don't!" Your plea is ignored. She continues to step closer to you, her eyes glued on you and the way you flinch away from her.

"Why not?" She presses. "You get to be around him, you get to kiss him. It's not fair. He's supposed to be mine! I should be the one that gets to kiss him!"

"If you hurt me, Grace. Conrad will never forgive you. He won't want to kiss you."

Grace's bottom lip trembled at your words. It's clear that your words are getting to her, her eyes filling with tears and her gaze averting down to the floor. She knows that you're right. But her jealousy and obsession over Conrad was too strong. Her head lifts and she looks at you again, her grip on the knife tightening. "I don't care…" She whispers, her voice now trembling, and before you know it the end of the knife had met your abdomen, and then your chest. "If I can't have him, neither will you." She lowers you to the ground gently, caressing your hair as you wheeze for air.

"Grac-" You muster before, she gets up and leaves the room.

Grace was gone as quickly as she came, leaving you in a quickly darkening room as the edges of your vision slowly started to blacken. You hear a faint 'excuse me' in the distance, then another voice saying to go up the elevator, but they all turn muffled as you feel your consciousness slowly slip away.

-

"I'd probably run a CT Scan. Make sure we're not dealing with any internal bleeding-"

"Dr. Hawkins..." Conrad and Devon looked up in time to see Grace stop a few feet away from them. Both Conrad and Devon's eyes widened when they saw the blood on her shirt. Conrad's breath caught in his throat in his own wave of panic, but he forced himself to remain focused, to remain calm.

Conrad put down the clipboard Devon had given him and put his hands out cautiously. The two main things that caught his attention were the blood on her shirt and left hand and the fact her bones didn't appear to look broken on her right arm especially since there was no cast on it either. "Hi, Grace...You okay? Wanna tell me what happened?"

"I'm better now seeing you." She smiled earnestly, though hesitation still arose behind her eyes as she realized she had an audience.

Conrad forced a smile onto his face, glancing briefly in Devon's direction, signaling to the crash cart discreetly. He took a few steps forward, keeping a safe distance from her, but still close enough that he could reach her if he needed to. "That…That's good to hear, Grace." He said slowly. "But I was referring more to the blood on your clothes. Grace, who's blood is that? I won't be mad if you tell me."

Grace shook her head. "You will. She said you wouldn't kiss me if I hurt her. I don't want you to be mad at me."

Conrad's heart dropped at her response, though his expression didn't give it away. "…You didn't." He muttered, and it was more of a statement than a question. He took another few steps forward, his eyes boring into hers. “Who told you that, Grace?” Conrad asked, his voice now taking on a slightly lower tone. "Did you accidentally hurt someone? Someone you didn't mean to hurt. You can tell me I won't get mad." His tone was soft again, his eyes still focused on her. The gears were already turning in his head on who her victim was but he didn't want it to be true. "But I need you to tell me who's blood that is, Grace."

"I'll tell you, b-but you have to kiss me first. She said you wouldn't and I want to prove her wrong."

Conrad was tempted to grab her and shake her, to demand answers. But he knew that wasn't the answer. He kept his cool and took another step forward, so he was now directly in front of her and within reaching distance. "Okay," He said slowly, his eyes searching her face. "You want a kiss first, I'll kiss you."

"You will." Her eyes lightened with hope.

Conrad swallows the lump in his throat and slowly steps closer, bringing a hand up to cup the side of her face. He leans in, pausing for a moment. His hand brushed back a strand of her hair as she gazed at him like he hung the stars in her sky. He stalls and presses his head against her as he watches Devon come in from behind her. A sedative in his hands. Conrad tries once more hoping she'll open up about your whereabouts. "Where is she, Grace?" He whispered.

"I don't like pasta very much, but maybe we can get takeout sometime." Is as much as she lets out before the syringe is plunged into the vein on her neck.

Conrad watches as Grace's eyes widen and slowly glaze over. A moment later her body goes slack, and he catches her before she can fall. He sighs, running a hand through his hair as he watches her body drop into a deep slumber. The realization settles, how Grace had been listening to the conversation you both had been having. You both hadn't been far from her room either. Devon appears at his side, a nervous look on his face. "Conrad, what the hell just happened?" Devon questions, checking Grace's pulse. "Conrad!" He yells after him as he sees him begin to take off into a run.

"Start prepping an O.R. now! Page Mina and possibly AJ! Page anyone to floor 3 now!" Conrad doesn't wait for a response. Devon ordered a few nurses to watch over her, giving orders on where to take her. Before taking off after Conrad.

"Conrad!"

"It's Y/n's blood!" Devon's face pales as he tries to keep up with him.

-

Conrad pushes through the doors, cursing under his breath as he sprints down the halls of floor 3. Fear and adrenaline pump through his veins, his heart thundering in his chest.

Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay…please. His thoughts chanted as he reached Grace's room.

Conrad doesn't think twice before bursting into the room. He chokes back a sob as he sees you in a puddle of your own blood. He acts fast checking for your pulse. "Baby hey, can you hear me?"

"We need a gurney and crash cart, now! Some gauze!" Devon orders to anyone listening in the halls. "Conrad, what the hell is happening, who was the girl?"

"Her name's Grace she comes in twice a month to see me."

"To see you?"

"Y/n thinks she's obsessed with me. Turns out she was right. Last month Grace had mentioned how lonely she felt living in her apartment. Now I'm starting to realize she probably meant other forms of company. I suggested she get a dog…"

"She bought a dog didn't she...oh god!"

"Y/n, baby, can you hear me!" Conrad continued patting your face. "Grace came in this morning, she broke her hand chasing after the suggested dog. I didn't think- I should've realized! Where's that damn crash cart!" Conrad yells out angrily.

A scowl takes over his face as he checks for any other wounds, but all he can see is the deep stab wound in the side of your stomach and on your chest. The nurses arrive wheeling along a gurney and a crash cart. Conrad snaps out of his thoughts and focuses on the situation at hand, grabbing the gauze from one of the nurses and pressing it firmly to your bleeding wounds.

"Damnit, baby, just hold on okay? Keep fighting." He muttered, eyes trained on your face.

He doesn't wait for the nurses to transfer you to the gurney, instead, he picks you up himself, holding you to his chest as he carefully lays you down on the gurney. Devon and the rest of the staff stand off to the side, watching as Conrad moves around you, keeping a firm grip on the gauze on the wounds as the nurses wheel you out into the hallway and towards the E.R.

-

"She was stabbed. Wound to her chest, and to her abdomen."

"Her pulse is barely there."

"She's in v-tech," Irving announced as he looked up at the monitor.

"Lost a pulse!"

"Someone get the defibrillator."

"They're gone we don't have one." Ellen reminded them.

"It's her heart..." Conrad was sure Grace had stabbed you right where she knew it would hurt you.

"We need to set up an OR now, we're losing her!" Conrad insisted urgently.

"Do we even have a functioning OR?"

"We'll put one together!" Bell and Kit said.

"Call staff back in, now!"

They began wheeling you to the OR when a wheeze and a cough broke out from your unconscious state. Blood spilled past your lips onto your oxygen mask.

"She's haematemesis!" Conrad exclaims. "Hold on for me baby, stay with us! She's choking on her own blood, she's bleeding internally!"

"Conrad we got her from here." Mina reassured as they crossed passed the red line he couldn't walk past.

Conrad reluctantly backs away from you, letting them take over and wheel you away. He stands just before the red line, a hand coming up to rub his face as a mixture of emotions fills him - guilt, worry, anger, and fear. He feels a hand on his shoulder, and he looks over to see Kitt's face etched with concern.

"What can I do?" She questions, her grip on his shoulder tightening.

"Call my dad and her sister. They need to get here now!"

Kitt silently nods at his request, and Conrad hears her calling someone as he turns to stare at the double doors you were just wheeled behind, disappearing from his sight. The only thing he could do now was wait. He looks at his hands behind sliding down to the floor. Various flashes and reminders of your voice and the conversations you had, ran through his mind, along with the ones that ran a chill through his spine.

Beautiful What’s the catch? Can’t I bring my fiance a cup of coffee out of the pure goodness of my heart? You can…but something lies behind those devious eyes. In the meantime, just wait here, I'll be back to reset your bones.Well Dr. Hawkins…when you flash her that dazzling smile and hold her gently, how can she resist doing everything that comes out of your damn mouth! Well, that idea sounds a whole lot better than the Guinea Pig- Stop, stop, stop! I can't breathe. You’re impossible. That's improbable to you. Pain in my ass… That so, Dr Hawkins. What would you like for dinner? Are you offering to cook? Yes, I'll cook tonight. What do you want? Surprise me. You got mad last time when I did. Chicken, with pasta!

You will. She said you wouldn't kiss me if I hurt her. I don't want you to be mad at me. I don't like pasta very much, but maybe we can get takeout sometime.

A sob rattled through him as he brought his palms up to his head. Hoping and praying you'd make it through. It wasn't long before he moved up to watch in on your surgery. The entire operation felt like never-ending hours.

-

He hadn't known how long he had sat in his chair. He was just waiting for the aftermath to finally hit him. And it had, as soon as Kitt walked in after some time, letting the door shut behind her. She stood there for a moment contemplating how to gather her words.

"Just give it to me straight..." Conrad looked up at her.

"She lost a lot of blood and she was down for a long time. We won't know her neurological status until we wake her up. They're moving her to the ICU."

Conrad nodded at this newfound information. He broke down again when her gentle hand touched his shoulder.

"There's one more thing..."

Conrad's entire body went stiff. He knew whatever else Kitt had to tell him was either really good or extremely bad. He silently nodded for her to continue, mentally bracing himself for the next words that came out of her mouth. Conrad lifted his head slowly. His brows furrowed as Kitt sat down beside him. She grabbed his hands.

"Come on, give it to me straight here." He urged her, the suspense killing him.

"Y/n was pregnant."

Conrad's heart dropped to his stomach and he was positive someone just dumped a bucket of ice water on him. He stares at Kitt in disbelief, unsure of whether he heard her right. His chest ached and all of the air was knocked out of his lungs as he sat there stunned, staring at her.

"Was?" He whispered, his voice cracking.

Kitt shook her head, disheartened. "She lost it."

Conrad felt as if he was going to be sick. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the chair as he took in a shaky breath.

"How far along was she?" He managed to get out.

"She hadn't told you yet did she?" Kitt inhales. "S-She was about 18 weeks along from what we could tell…I'm so sorry Conrad."

Conrad's breath hitched at the response, and he struggled to hold his emotions together. He gripped the arms of the chairs, his knuckles beginning to turn white. The room was beginning to spin and the news hit him like a ton of bricks. He took a moment to collect himself before looking at Kitt again.

"18 weeks," He repeated, unable to believe it. "And I didn't even know?"

"You still have her Conrad. If I know Y/n, she's a fighter, she'll pull through her recovery."

Conrad nodded at Kitt's words, trying to find comfort in them, but the pain he felt was almost unbearable. He felt responsible for not paying closer attention to you and to your behavior. He had overlooked the fact that you hadn't been feeling well due to the added stress. He should have caught the hints.

"I should have…" He began to say, but the words caught in his throat. "I should've listened to her…I should have realized sooner I-" A sob broke out of him. He clung to Kitt as she consoled him into her arms. Shushing him and saying everything was going to be okay.

After Kitt calmed him down, she left to give him a few moments alone. As he sat there, staring at the wall. Images of you and his unborn child filled his thoughts. He tried to imagine a life with you and your little one. He imagined teaching them how to walk and talk, tucking them into bed, holding your swollen belly, and feeling their kick. He imagined the life of fatherhood.

As he sat there, a wave of anger and determination washed over him. He needed to see you. He needed to see you, to feel you. To hold you in his arms and never let you go.

Taking a deep breath, Conrad stood up and slowly made his way to the ICU. The halls were eerily quiet as he walked through them, the sound of his footsteps echoed off the walls. When he reached the ICU room, he stopped and peered in through the door. He saw you lying in bed, surrounded by machines and tubes. Your face was pale and your chest slowly rising and falling in a steady rhythm.

He let out a shaky breath and leaned his head forward, letting it gently rest on the wall. He closed his eyes and silently willed himself to remain calm. He couldn't break down in front of anyone else, not here. He took in a few more deep breaths and slowly began to regain control of his emotions. As he stood there, his mind racing with thoughts, the silence around him felt deafening. He wanted nothing more than to have you crack a joke just to put him at ease.

"Hey baby, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon okay." Conrad sat down on the chair by your bed, his hand grasping yours gently and his eyes studying your features. Everything felt so familiar - his hand wrapped around yours, your skin, your hair, all of it. He felt a small wave of relief wash over him, knowing you were at least here, right in front of him. Slowly, he brought your hand up to his lips, pressing a soft kiss against it. "When you wake up, I'm taking you home once you're allowed to be discharged. I'll cook you anything you want okay? I'll cook you chicken and pasta for the rest of our lives if that’s what you want, cause I know it's your favorite. Anything you want...you name it, baby." He chuckles lightly to himself but breaks down once more. Tears fall down his face onto your sheets as he tightens his hold on your hand.

⛧ the first stream he stumbled across was relatively inconsequential. you weren’t a huge streamer by any means— not even that big in your specific community— and he had really only found you because he was just clicking around, jumping from stream to stream anything something lost his attention.

⛧ you were… cute. interesting, at least. he liked your voice, and your stream wasn’t mind-numbingly boring. in fact, it was kind of fun. he didn’t even really notice it at first, but he found himself chuckling at your little jokes, tilting his head as he took in the sunshine of your smile, eyes glued to the screen. his hand that had been incessantly clicking to the next stream, the next link, the next site suddenly stilled.

⛧ and then suddenly it was hours later, and you were logging off for the night, and he was smacked with the realization that he had stayed to watch nearly your entire stream.

⛧ he’s… curious. so he subscribes, and comes back to view your next stream when he gets the notification, and within less than a week— he’s hooked.

⛧ soon enough, you had a new biggest fan.

⛧ he’s dipping into his savings for the first time in his life, spending money on you every chance he gets. you’re getting anonymous donations like crazy out of nowhere, everytime you stream; if you have a wishlist of any kind, he’s clearing it out, buying everything. it feels… right to him. like he’s meant to be taking care of you like this, providing for you, being the one that makes you so happy. the way your face lights up at each donation notification could melt anyones heart, he’s sure.

⛧ you create inside jokes with him, because he’s always around. it’s an easy way to tell him apart from the other occasional anonymous commenters and messages, which he covets. he loves when you recognize when something came from him, even if you don’t know who he is yet.

⛧ he never misses a stream. he doesn’t care what he’s doing— as soon as he gets that notification on his phone, he’s dropping everything else to see you. he’ll leave in the middle of work if he has to.

⛧ he never knew anything could feel like this. this… warmth in his chest, these feelings that feel so big he doesn’t know how to keep them all in his chest, worried that the magnitude of them might just drive him insane— that they’ll crack right out of his ribcage and pour out. and it’s so sharp, so agonizing, when you’re not online, leaving him cold and desolate.

⛧ eventually… watching you through the screen isn’t scratching the same itch it used to. he just needs more— more of you, your voice, your time.

⛧ it’s not nearly as difficult to figure out where you live as it should have been. it probably helps that micah is singularly dedicated— and never focused his energy on anything else. by this point, his job at the gas station has more or less fallen by the wayside, and he’s pretty sure he doesn’t have it anymore. he just had to find you, had to see you in person, had to know everything about you, not just the sanitized stuff you put on line to look like the best version of yourself. he wanted to know the real you; he deserved to, in his mind. no one else may have understood you, but micah did.

⛧ the first time that he sees you in person… it’s like his entire world tilts on its axis. it feels like one of those cheesy, slow motion scenes in one of those movies he’s always hated, but for real this time. his heart pounds in his chest so hard he’s sure his ribs are going to crack, and you’re standing right there on the same street as him, and when you walk past him he can smell your shampoo. you don’t even notice him, but that doesn’t matter. you’re probably busy; he knows you have a ‘real’ job during the day, and plenty of hobbies and other things you have to do. if you knew who he was, who he really was, you would have stopped and noticed him, right? of course you would.

⛧ it doesn’t start slow. he follows you home immediately. he practically lives in his car, parking nearby, sleeping for only a few hours at a time, always waking up to check your windows— is your light on? are you still home? you didn’t leave without him knowing, did you?

⛧ by now, he has your schedule completely memorized, knows every time you leave and every time you come back. he knows what days you go to the coffee shop, what days you go grocery shopping, even how long it usually takes you and the things that are always on your list. from that, he knows your favorite snacks, the kinds of meals you tend to eat, what you drink, what you indulge in.

⛧ he tells himself that this information will be useful for later, of course, when you’re living with him and he has to take over the shopping— because there is nowhere else you could possibly end up in his head, than living with him. he wants to be able to get you your favorite things, to cook you your favorite meals and always have your beloved snacks and drinks on hand! he tells himself it’ll smooth over the moving in process; make his home feel more like your home. he knows he could take such good care of you. you have become his life’s purpose, after all.

⛧ right now, though, knowing your schedule like the back of his hand is the most useful bit of information he has… because it makes it so much easier for him to sneak into your apartment.

⛧ it takes you a bit of time to notice it at first, but every now and then something seems a bit off. you can’t find that one really comfortable pair of underwear in your drawer, or in your washing machine, and there’s nowhere else it could have gone. and then you notice that things on your desk aren’t how you left them… at least, you’re pretty sure you left that book on the other side, didn’t you? but no one else has been around to move it, so… maybe you just remembered wrong. but then, your favorite t-shirt goes missing, and you tear your apartment apart looking for it, and it’s just… gone.

⛧ sure, some of these things are… scary. if you think about them for longer than a few seconds, anyway… but then you tell yourself it has to just be that you’re forgetting where you set things, or that a friend borrowed something and you just forgot. there isn’t another explanation, and even if something else was going on, it’s not like you have the money to just pack up and move to a different apartment. no, you have to stay, you have to make this work.

⛧ he gets bigger and bolder. honestly, to him, it really just feels like… he belongs there. after all, he belongs with you— your space should be his space, and vice versa. your underwear goes missing, then comes back, and it smells like a laundry detergent you don’t use, tucked into the drawer where you definitely already looked for it. you find another can of your favorite soda hidden in the back of the fridge, when you’re almost 100% sure that you drank the last one a few days ago.

⛧ it’s not really a huge problem until the day that he figures out the password to your macbook.

⛧ at first, he’s just looking for photos. family photos, childhood pictures, anything and everything that can allow him to absorb more of your life. but then he just starts… going through your files. games, work files, text documents, saved images, absolutely nothing is safe from his prying eyes.

⛧ and then he sees all of your imessages. everything is synced up from your phone— messages to your parents, your friends, the boss at your day job… and then he finds a message thread with one of your coworkers. he reads through everything, of course, and it… nauseates him. who the fuck is this guy? why do you text him so much? why does he call you so late at night? why do you send him heart emojis?

⛧ to micah, there’s obviously some… plot here. this guy, simon (which is a dumb fucking name, if you ask micah), is bad news, has to be, but he’s not just fucking with some random person. he’s fucking with *you,* and you belong to micah. he has to do something about this, has to find some way to protect you from this man who obviously wants to use you, who could never *really* love you, not the way micah could.

⛧ and the more micah thinks about it, the more he starts to realize that there’s really only one solution that will remove this obstacle from your lives forever.

10:46 PM. MICAH.

it’s surprisingly easy to manipulate a situation to your advantage when all of your energy is focused on it. micah learns that pretty quickly. he also learns how easy it is to get a burner phone and clone yours, gaining all of your contacts, your photos, your notes… everything.

it’s a night when you’re out of the house, out with your friends, and he knows you’ll reliably be gone for at least long enough for him to finish what he needs to do. using his burner phone, cloned to be yours, he reached out to this coworker of yours— simon— and told him you needed him to come over, that you needed help and it was urgent.

then— he blocked the number. you wouldn’t receive his response. no one would. but simon would be on his way over, likely expecting something to have gone wrong… and so he won’t question the front door being slightly ajar once he makes his way inside, presumably to look for you— to come to the rescue for whatever emergency you had found yourself in. how fuckin’ quaint.

the thought of it made micah’s hand clench tight around the handle of the knife in his hand.

it would be a little messy, at least at first. that was what the ripped open trash bags were for. he figured lining a bit of the floor with that, instead of going out specifically to buy some sort of tarp, would be less… conspicuous. buying duct tape and plastic tarps is a but more suspicious than just buying duct tape and getting your own trash bags, after all. the crinkly plastic lay silent now, covering a little more than a human sized area on the floor of your living room. not right in front of the door— that would be too noticeable. it was just out of view of the light from the hallway, a few steps inside, barely noticeable with the room around it pitch black.

he wouldn’t notice it until he stepped on it, and by then, it would be too late.

micah leaned against the archway that led from the foyer and the living room into the kitchen, somewhere behind him lying the entrance to the hallway that housed your bathroom and bedroom. his gaze was focused, practically unblinking, on the sliver of dim light that came in from the outside hallway; he had unscrewed the first light, leaving most of your hallway darker than normal. propped up a foot or so away from him was a cheap, rolled up carpet— cheap for him, anyway. he bought it second hand at a thrift shop. it didn’t matter what it looked like, just that it was big enough to safely and inconspicuously house a human body. a bit cliché perhaps, but it would work fine.

and then, finally, he heard footsteps coming down the hall. he stiffened up, trying not to get too… eager. it could be a neighbor, after all. but as soon as he heard the stranger stop in front of your door, tentatively calling out your name in a voice that made micah’s blood boil, he knew it wasn’t.

the door creaked open as simon fell for the trap, placing his hand against it and calling your name once more in that worried tone. however, the silence of the apartment was the only thing that answered him, which lured him further inside. micah watched from the shadows as the man— boring, unassuming, so plain, what could you have ever seen in him?— slowly stepped inside.

he could see simon squint, his eyes trying to adjust to the complete darkness inside your apartment. he calls out again, venturing further inside. micah hates how comfortable he seems in your space, how easily he navigates from the front door to the middle of the living room. his eyes shift from simon momentarily, to the door. luckily for him, simon hadn’t pushed it all the way open— just enough to get inside. not that it mattered. he could have taken it off it’s hinges, and micah wouldn’t have cared.

his eyes dart back in time to hear simon’s shoe make contact with the first of the plastic bags as he moves a few inches past the archway, a few inches further than where micah is standing in the shadows, and simon stops. looks down at his feet. furrows his brow.

micah’s on him before he can make a sound.

the knife sinks into his neck, slicing through an artery and ripping through vocal chords. micah can feel a warm spray of blood on his face, but when simon tries to stumble, gasping like a fish out of water, micah reels him back, makes him stay put. he can’t get blood all over your floor. It splurts out a bit around the blade, especially with simon moving around like a fucking idiot, but it isn’t the geyser like spray micah had half expected, not with the knife still lodged inside. 

simon claws at him, but with the amount of blood pouring from his throat, micah can tell his limbs are already feeling weak. micah practically snarls, bares his teeth at the man who had fucking dared to even breath the same air as you, and twisted the knife. 

simon fell to his knees, and micah released the handle of the blade as he went down. simon claws for the knife in his throat, begins trying to pull it out like a fucking idiot. micah moves around to the back, and planted his foot on simon’s spine, kicking him forward just as simon succeeds, the metal blade removed from his throat with a slick, fleshy sound– and then his chest smacks into the trash bag covered floor, the pool of blood gathering underneath him soaking into every inch of his clothes. he coughs it up, wet splatters of it coming out of his mouth, pooling out between his lips.

his chest heaving, limbs feeling tingly with adrenaline, micah stood over the body for a few long seconds. simon’s fingers twitched, accompanied by a few more choked gurgles and some more blood leaking from his mouth, but then he was mostly just… still. micah tilted his head. he thought he would feel something… more. something emotional. but he didn’t.

instead, he could only think of this as a turning point, a night where everything was happening— everything was coming together. he knelt down, beginning to wrap the body in the garbage bags he had neatly laid out beneath it, not bothering with gentleness or respect for the dead. he moved quickly, ripping long strips of duct tape to keep the seams between each plastic sheet closed, ensuring no blood escaped.

once that was done, the body practically a plastic mummy now, he kicked it onto it’s side and grabbed the carpet, plopping it down next to him. he unrolled it, bit by bit, before rolling simon’s corpse onto the other end. he rolled the whole thing back up with the plastic covered body safely inside. he wrapped it up in a bit more duct tape, to keep it closed, then dragged it with a bit of effort to the window.

then, he dumped the rolled up carpet out your window, off the fire escape, and into the alleyway where he had already parked his car. you were only on the second floor, so it wasn’t much of a drop, but he still heard the loud thump. he climbed out after it, giving your apartment one last glance as he slowly and gingerly lowered the window as far as he could from the outside, his latex gloves squeaking uncomfortably against the glass panes.

tonight was the turning point. he’d be back.

3:14 AM. YOU.

it was darker than normal when you stumbled back into your apartment, leaving the laughter of your friends behind. one of the lights in the hallway outside your door was out, a small annoyance that you catalogued somewhere in the back of your slightly-buzzed brain, hoping to remember to call someone about it in the morning.

you fumbled a bit with your keys, jamming it into the lock of the door and twisting before pushing it open. flicking the light on while you kicked the door closed behind you, your keys were unceremoniously dumped onto the table next to your door, and you wandered immediately from the living room, down the hall, and into your bedroom.

you push the door open, moving across it to your bed to flick on the lamp on the bedside table, not so eager to turn on all of the brightest lights possible. as you stripped your jacket and shoes off, you yawned, choosing not to go through the hassle of sticking your shoes back in your closet for right now. you’d do it in the morning.

you turn towards the bathroom after kicking your shoes off. your shower needs a few minutes to heat up to the right temperature, so you kick that on first before going back to gather some underwear and pajamas. you’re more than ready to wash the smell of alcohol and strangers off of you, to climb into bed and sleep in tomorrow. you push back the shower curtains, the shower empty and cold as you lean into it and turn on the faucet, then the shower head.

you sigh, heading back out of the bathroom as the water runs behind you. you rub your hands over your face as you cross the threshold back into your bedroom, blinking your eyes against the dim lighting—

and you pause. your closet door is open. you definitely didn’t leave it like that, did you? you glance back to your bed, and your shoes are right where you left them.

just as the confusion, the slight twinge of fear, is beginning to claw it’s way up from the pit of your stomach and into the forefront of your tired, buzzed brain—

there’s quick footsteps, and then arms around you, some kind of damp cloth pressed against your face, blocking your vision. you scream, but it’s muffled, and your immediate, panicked instinct to flail your arms is thwarted by the arm locked tightly around your torso, keeping your arms pinned to your sides. your panicked breathing has a chemically, sweet smell invading your senses, like fruit and disinfectant or maybe chlorine.

you try to kick, to struggle and flail and fight against him. he turns, dragging you a step back into the hallway, before pushing you firmly into the wall, trapping your body between him and the cold surface. it limits the range of motion you can get from kicking, your knee slamming painfully into the wall as you twist and try to turn your head, still shrieking into the fabric and inhaling more of whatever the fuck is in there. it’s making your head hurt, and you can barely hear the sound of this person— this man, based on his voice— shushing you softly, his breath ghosting over your ear. but your body is feeling weaker, your lungs burning as your struggles weaken after a few minutes.

you’re not even entirely unconscious when he removes the cloth from your face, but you couldn’t have fought back now if you tried. the entire world floated and blurred like a dream, and you couldn’t move your limbs very well. you felt heavy, like you were suddenly made of some kind of metal, and then your world is spinning as the stranger lifts you up.

your head lolls back, and your mind shuts down as dizziness overtakes you. your eyes slip shut, and the world goes black.

intellectual property of ©️darling--core. do not copy, repost or translate my works without my explicit consent. do not use my works to train ai.

☆༉ — taglist: @lumi-cent @locallyloathed @prettyinblack231 @suechii @nyanbary @doejohnsonva @lorgeturtle @marsbarsstarss @moila-xx @pedrosexual @eliijah-xo @sakusadirtycumslut @samiam42 @gyaruismind

Toge Inumaki had kept to himself when it came to the dating field, actually, he's completely unaware of the dating field. He's had so many doubts in himself as he can't communicate normally, so he thought nobody would ever take an interest in him.

But, once he had found out that you had feelings for him, my jujutsu sorcerer, did he put in sooo much effort. Before going out to training everyday, he would make sure that his hair was neat and shiny.

Make sure his clothes are freshly washed and he sprays his cologne on, just a hint, so that when you walk past him, you'll want more of the comforting scent.

Inumaki would make sure to train with you everyday, lingering touches would be exchanged and long stares. Stares that are too long and would almost burn into your eyesight, making your heart pound at a thousand miles per hour.

Maki would always shove Toge towards you, shoulders bumping together and tiny gasps leaving both of your mouths as you touch each other for a brief moment. Panda and Maki would be a few feet away, giggling and turning away rapidly when the two of you glance over at them.

Though with Inumaki not being able to communicate normally, he has his insecurities. The way you look at him though makes all his doubts go away.

Everyone can tell how much you adore Inumaki, even him, himself can tell how much. So much that he works up the courage to ask you on a date. Of course, his hands are so sweaty and you can see a hint of pink on his cheeks even with his uniform covering most of his lower face.

Before the date, Maki and Panda prepare him. Maki lowkey exposes you though and gushes to Toge about how you brag about how cute he is and how kind he is as well.

He brings flowers and your favorite candy to the date that is amazing the whole time. Toge is complimenting you the whole time whether it's through pen or paper or words that have a deeper meaning behind them...

Life has been great.

Ever since you broke up with Inumaki things have been just fine. Both of you decided to end up as friends. Which might be awkward between the both of you but when you’re together around other people it wasn’t that bad.

You decided to focus on your training, even though it became a little bit too much to be at the same place with your ex… so you decided to live alone and start a new life. College is a new experience and it has been really fun! Training at home wasn’t as effective and efficient as training with Gojo-sensei and your friends… but, you felt more comfortable this way.

Some days you felt like exorcizing some curse and just walked through the city and found one.

Just for fun.

That’s what Maki told you. ‘Let’s hang out all of us together like the old times! Just for some fun!’

And everything was going great! But you never expected Yuuji to enter next to Inumaki into Maki’s room. You haven’t seen him in like four? six months? It’s been a while…

And to say he looked even more handsome than last time is understandable. Half a year and he grew up. He seemed taller than last time, his shoulders broader, and his hands…

You scold yourself for staring too long at him. His eyes locked with yours and a small awkward silence was in the room. But thankfully, Yuuji couldn’t tolerate silence and proposed to order some pizza and talk about how things have been.

You told them about your new friends at college, how you've been auto-training yourself, and how you felt like a new person.

Inumaki felt nostalgic. Watching you grow up and create a life without him made him sad. Thinking about the old times and how you talked to him for hours about having a family. How you stayed with him even if he couldn’t communicate himself like others, he loved you, and he missed you.

You missed him too, and when Maki asked if you were comfortable right now, even if your ex is literally like less than two meters in front of you, you said, ‘yeah! why not, we didn’t end on bad terms! can’t do people reconnect? I only see him as a friend.’

The biggest lie you ever said.

But the both of you knew those glance you gave each other, you needed the other… So when Maki accompanied Yuuji for the pizza you couldn’t control yourself.

And I mean like you couldn’t control yourself literally, he controlled you. He took his hands off.

‘Follow me.’

Your body was moving without your permission. Following Inumaki to what you assumed was his room. A tingly feeling dressed as nervousness was appearing in the low part of your tummy.

You felt anxious? excited? euphoric?

You missed him so much it was hurting, so when you got inside his room, thinking about if what’s going to occur was correct, you stared at your phone for some second before murmuring to yourself ‘fuck it, it’s fine’ —the first thing you did when you had control back was send a text to Maki.

‘I’m sleeping in another place.’ Maybe she’ll think you didn’t feel comfortable enough and needed to leave.

But maybe that’s not the case. You might sleep on someone else's sheets.

‘Inumaki…’

‘Shh… Undress yourself.’— You wanted to first kiss him, but he seemed eager to have you— and how could you say no? Maybe he wasn’t even controlling you and you were doing it for your own taste.

Feeling vulnerable in front of him— he grabbed you by the waist pulling you closer to his clothes body and started kissing you like a hungry man— You missed his touch and he missed yours.

Coming here wasn’t a bad idea… right?

Wrong.

Your body was sore and twitching of how many times he has made you cum. He’s been eating you out for hours now— with just one word making you cut whenever he felt like it. Making symbols on your pussy of what you suppose it’s his curse marks— Your eyes were full of tears, vision blurry and feeling dizzy.

‘N-no more ‘Inu..’

‘Osaka ‘ Was all he said, keeping a straight face before watching you before continuing eating you out— ‘Squirt.’ Your body shook before your vision turned black and everything felt a thousand times more— his fingers inside of you, slurping your fluids out of you. It was a disgusting mess— but he loved watching you turn into a mess thanks to him. It was his mess.

He never abused so much of his power on you, but this time it was different. He needed you, he wanted you.

Once he felt he got enough of your poor and used pussy, he got up— Watching you trying to keep your eyes open. Makeup ruined, hair tangled and tears coming down your eyes. You felt fucked out— feeling sore on parts of your body you never thought could get sore. Trying to plead for your sanity was met with deaf ears.

He started unbuckling his belt, and turned his middle and ring finger down, making the sign ‘I love you’ before signaling he missed you so much and needed you. Sign language was a common thing between the both of you because of his cursed technique. Just a few words, because it’s like destiny brought the two of you together because in some ways you always knew what the other needed.

He teased your cunt with his dick before inserting it in. You were on missionary, him on top of you while he admired the mess you became. He thrusted inside of you with no warning, your fucked up pussy with no need to make it even more sensitive for you to cum, he just started searching for his release.

When he watched you not even being able to say coherent words, tears just streaming down your face, your eyes almost closed and moans coming out of your mouth was enough for him to cum inside of you. The fucked up image of you— thanks to him— will be forever engraved in his mind. He needs you, he needs to be back together.

He groaned at the feeling of your cunt hugging his cock once he came, his body shaking before laying down beside you. Heavy breathings filling the room, he looked back at you and found you staring at him too. A smile adorned his face, moving his body so he could hug yours— playing with your hair and giving you small pecks he heard a knock on his door. 

He supposed you’re still in a subspace and grabbed his boxers, slightly opening the door so only his face was visible— a confused blushed Yuuji was in front of his door. ‘Inumaki, the pizza is here. We can’t find Y/N though… Do you know where she is?…’

‘Go with Maki.’ Were the words he let out, Yuuji’s body moved without his permission, leaving him alone. 

He looked behind and saw you taking small breaths, your chest going up and down— He smiled to himself, before he grabbed a warm cloth and and started cleaning you up— He searched for some candy he used to have in his room since you were always craving them, he grabbed one water bottle too and repositioned you so your now resting on his pillows. He sat next to you, playing with your hair, waiting till you came back to reality.

Once you opened your eyes, the first thing you saw was Inumaki staring at you— Eyes full of love while he played with your hair. You moved so your body was not sitting on his bed, you noticed you’re wearing one of his t-shirts and your panties— You supposed he put them on, he touched your arm and gave you some water and your favorite candy. You looked back at him— surprised he still had some of them here, you smiled at him and drank some water.

You didn’t notice he grabbed a notebook and was writing something until he gave it to you.

You'd met Suguru upon moving into your apartment complex, the two of you forming a connection after he'd helped you unpack your car. You'd been a student at the Kyoto campus, so while you did hear about the special grade duo that Geto and Gojo were, you'd never actually gotten the chance to interact with them.

Other than that, he was pretty much the only other person around your age in the apartment complex. Your other neighbors were around their forties or older, giving you a 'good morning/afternoon' every time you saw them or giving you an extra cup of sugar when you needed it. But you couldn't deny that it was nice to speak to someone around your age, the connection between the two of you forming with ease.

It started off with the two of you walking to the Tokyo campus together, talking about how the students were progressing before steadily moving onto sharing a cup of coffee in the mornings. He usually came over to your balcony, leaning it against it as he listened to whatever you had on your mind. He'd usually have a cigarette dangling from his fingers, occasionally offering a tidbit of advice if you asked for it.

He started coming over for designated movie nights on Fridays, the salty taste of the popcorn shared between the two of you helping get rid of the taste that curses left on his tongue. The two of you shifted movies from week to week, with your picks varying from action to romance and his were mainly picked on the basis that it was cinematically pleasing.

And Suguru would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy these daily hangouts as well. He valued Satoru’s friendship more than anything in the world, but he enjoyed the different experience of being your friend. The early mornings he spent over at your balcony quickly became the highlight of his morning, of seeing the sun shine down on your tired features as you talked about whatever came to mind.

"You seem distracted, what's up?" You threw a popcorn kettle at the side of his cheek, his attention going from the tv screen over to you. You knew that the movie wasn't that good for him to be engulfed in it, even if you'd been the one to pick it out this week.

"Satoru’s going out on a date and he wants me to go along for some kind of double date situation. Problem is, I don't have any interest in going through the motions of getting to know his date's friend," he finally spoke up, picking up the piece of kettle you'd thrown and popping it into his mouth.

"So if you're not interested, then why does it need to be a double date?"

"Well, he came up to me practically spazzing with the idea and I couldn't say no after that seeing that stupid smile on his face," Suguru explained, almost like it was enough reason for him to go through with this crazy plan. Though, you knew that Suguru would do his best to maintain Gojo’s happiness.

"So why not just tell him you're seeing someone? Obviously, a relationship wouldn't be feasible but I'm sure you could convince him with that."

"Where am i going to find someone that's willing to go through with the crazy idea of going on a fake date with me?"

He seemed to be lost in thought as he looked over at the tv, occasionally reaching out for a piece of popcorn to pop into his mouth. You could practically see the lightbulb ignite on top of his head, his head snapping to face you. "Well since you're crazy enough to suggest it, I guess it wouldn't be too far fetched to ask you if you want to be my fake date?"

You almost choked on a piece of popcorn, coughing until it came out. You wiped away the tears that ran down your face at the motion, looking over at him in surprise. "Me? No, there's no way. we're too friendly for it to be believable," you spoke up, taking a few sips of water to help the sting in your throat.

And you would've guessed that it would end there, right?

Wrong.

"Please, I'll even get on my knees for you."

You paused for a couple seconds, more so out of obligation rather than actual hesitation. You didn't want to give him the impression of being too excited, that you were secretly hoping he'd ask you out one day. But before a word could even escape from your mouth, he was already down on the floor looking up at you.

You never would've imagined anyone to look good whilst begging on their knees.

Well, that was until you saw Suguru in that same position right in front of you. He almost looked like a fallen angel with the way he was looking up at you.

He looked the most vulnerable you'd ever seen him, completely at your mercy. You couldn't deny that seeing him like this made your insides completely turn to mush. his hands came up to yours, clasping them tightly as he if it needed to be you. "Please. I don't have anyone else to ask for this other than you."

"Okay, stand up. I can't take you seriously like that."

Suguru stands up, dusting his clothes off before taking his place on the couch. He scooted a bit to be closer to you, his hand lingering on your thigh. You'd be lying if you hadn't thought what it would be like having those hands all over you. "If anybody asks, no, I did not get on my knees. I have a reputation to uphold."

"Ah yes, most likely to be a cult leader. Can't disregard that god complex," you responded, using the honorary that had been placed on him in the high school yearbook.

"Exactly."

"You know, this could all just be easily avoided if you told Gojo you weren't interested in dating."

"Then he'd just think I'm miserable seeing him in a relationship while I'm alone."

His hand began tracing small circles on your thigh, your attention going back towards him again. His touch felt like a magnet, pulling you in towards him. "Please. I don't have anyone else to ask and even if I did, I can't think of someone who'd do this better than you."

"What about Shoko?" You countered, knowing that it was a weak argument on its own. You'd heard from Utahime that Shoko would rather let earth freeze over than ever be involved with either one of them. Suguru raised a brow, confirming your thoughts with that one simple gesture.

"The chances of Satoru believing I'm dating Shoko are much lower than him believing I'm dating you."

"Alright, I'll be your fake girlfriend.”

After all, what was the worst that could happen?

Famous last words before disaster.

Suguru wasn't one to indulge in romance, sticking to what he knew wasn't going to get him hurt. Which usually tended to be one night stands. The whole concept of being emotionally vulnerable was typically one he liked to avoid, hiding his feelings with a cold exterior. But he was willing to learn for you, For the sake of making this all the more believable to Satoru. At least that's the lie he fed himself to be able to sleep at night.

Truth was, you weren't that difficult to hang around with the purpose of dating. He'd had experiences where some of his one night stands took him on dates, only to find out that the connection they shared was physical. But these hangouts with you felt like they were meet-ups within friends, something that was out of pleasure instead of obligation. His only concern was that maybe he'd grow to like these 'dates' between the two of you as something more than just hangouts.

"So, what are we gonna tell them if they ask how we started dating?" You interrupted his train of thought, his gaze focusing back on you. or more specifically, on your lips. You had a straw in your mouth, some of your lip gloss transferring onto it to form a ring at the top of the straw. His hand twitched with the urge of wiping your lip gloss away, wondering how those pretty lips would look wrapped around his thumb. Around his co-. Nope. He wouldn't allow himself to indulge in those thoughts as much as he wanted to.

After all, this was all fake right?

Hell, this whole fake relationship had an expiration date.

"So, we'll just tell them that we met when you moved into our apartment complex. We'll keep in the details of how we became friends as the truth, and then the only part we'll be lying about is that I asked you out on a date after we cooked dinner together," he responded after a couple seconds, almost having to force himself to look up at you instead of your lips.

The two of you continued to go through some details, of how long this had been going and what your goals were for this 'relationship.' Anything that was a possibility Gojo would ask, the two of you discussed. Eventually, the conversation morphed into more intimate details about the two of you. awful first date stories, birthdays, and hobbies. Anything that would give the illusion you two weren't just friends.

"You're an Aquarius?" You asked, finishing up with the drink you had in hand. You'd recalled asking him about his birthday one morning, but he claimed that it wasn't that important to him. The only reason he even bothered to celebrate it was to indulge Satoru in having birthday cake. Even if he ended up finishing up a majority of the slices. "Yeah, I'm not completely sure what that means though. I'm not that involved in astrology."

The two of you headed back to complex together, spending most of the walk in silence. He kept a close proximity to you, his arm interlocked with yours. Upon seeing you look over at him, he let out a chuckle. "Don't worry. just so you get adjusted to the whole physical aspect of it," he told you, looking back over at the bustling streets ahead. You could feel yourself starting to like this, of having your body pressed against his.

The lines between what was fake and real were starting to blur quickly and you were unsure of what to do about it.

You hadn't realized the two of you arrived at the complex until Suguru spoke up. "Do you want to come in?" It was a simple offering, his voice snapping you out of your thoughts. You'd been more distracted than usual lately, overthinking your ability to be able to see this through. You'd been quick to accept his request but you'd neglected to think about your personal feelings involved. Not that you had any time to think about that right now. "Yeah, sure," you finally agreed, walking behind him inside.

This was the first time Suguru had taken you into his apartment, exposing an intimate part of himself with you. You'd hardly seen anyone come out of it other than him with the exception of Shoko and Gojo. It was simple, the walls were chosen to be left bare. He had a couple knickknacks around his apartment, a canvas in the corner of the living room and a bookshelf on the opposite corner.

What really did capture your attention about the apartment were the two aquariums he had set up. you stepped closer to inspect them, seeing a black betta fish in one and a white one in the other. Their aquariums looked the same, a rock in each one and faux seaweed floating around. Even the way they swam around seemed to be in perfect synchrony.

"Pretty cool, huh? Satoru got me that two years ago for my birthday," you didn't notice when sugar came over to you, his voice making you jump a bit. Now that you looked closely, you could tell the resemblance between the two of them and the fish. You'd never stood the complexity of their friendship, but it seemed more like they were soulmates than just friends.

The word 'friends' seemed too simple to describe the relationship between the two of them.

Even if the idea was a bit farfetched to you, it made perfect sense why Suguru was willing to put himself through the whole fake relationship thing. Of why he didn't think twice to reassure Gojo he wouldn't be miserable if he pursued happiness separate from him.

"They're very beautiful. They look pretty well-taken care of too," you noted, noticing how healthy their fins looked and how clean their environment was. You couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of research that it took for him to properly take care of the two of them. "It took a bit of work but it's paid off. they seem pretty content in their little tanks," he murmured. You couldn't help but notice through the corner of your eye that his attention was on you rather than the fish.

"You've never thought about getting any more?" You inquired after a couple seconds of staring at the fish in silence. You looked over, expecting to see him still next to you but he'd walked over to the kitchen. He grabbed two cups from the cupboard, setting them down before turning around to look over at you. "Not really. Those two take enough time as it is and I don't really want to get a pet just to neglect them," he responded, turning the sink knob and sliding the cups under it.

"Feel free to sit on the couch, I'll be right over," Suguru called out from the kitchen. You headed over to his black leather couch, taking a seat. You grabbed the cushion behind you, noticing that it was in the shape of a chocolate bar. Another gift from Gojo if you had to assume. Suguru approached with the two cups, extending one over to you before taking a seat.

"Thanks," you told him, taking the glass of water that he was handing over. The two of you sat in a comfortable silence, the sounds of the water rippling as background noise. While the two of you covered major ground in terms of knowing enough about each other to make this seem believable, you still couldn't help the tiny doubts planting themselves in your head.

"So what exactly are you expecting out of this fake relationship?" You broke the silence after a couple seconds, setting your glass of water down on the floor. You hardly had experience with real relationships, so you were uncertain if you would manage to pull a fake one off. You were worried and the date wasn't even for another week. Suguru set his glass down, turning his body to face you.

"Well, I'm hoping that you're okay with lying to Satoru for a couple months and then we can just make something up. That the relationship isn't working out for us or we're too busy with work," he responded, his hands folded on his lap. Not that it'd be too much of a lie, jujutsu sorcerers were notorious for being chained down to their work.

While, it was nice to know that he'd at least planned some aspect of it out, it wasn't exactly what you were asking.

"No, I mean, like in terms of affection and whatnot. To sell the story," you corrected yourself, looking at him expectantly.

He hesitated for a couple moments like he'd forgotten to consider this aspect, making your nerves rise. You'd be lucky to convince Gojo the two of you were dating for at least fifteen minutes at this point.

"Well, we'd start with the nicknames like baby and stuff. Or if you don't like that, then just let me know what works for you. After all, it's your comfortability I'm concerned about."

"Okay, that makes sense. How about the physical aspect? Like hand-holding and all that?"

"Well yeah, if you're comfortable with it. We can also include kissing in that list. Completely platonic kissing with the intention to deceive."

Yeah, the words didn't sound convincing to his own ears.

Yet, you seemed to actually be considering the possibility. Maybe this wasn't destined for disaster.

"I don't really have that much experience kissing."

Suguru nudged closer to you, his knee touching yours as he brought his hand over to your chin. he directed your gaze towards him, your throat bobbing at the proximity. "Do you want me to teach you?" you didn't trust yourself to answer him properly, so you simply nodded. "Words, sweetheart. Tell me that you want this."

"I want this."

He leaned in, his hand coming up to rest against your cheek. You instinctively found yourself leaning in closer to his touch, the palm of his hand turning you into putty. And he hadn't even done anything yet. You leaned in as well, your eyes closing once you were halfway there. You felt his lips hovering against your own, making your eyes shoot open.

"Okay, so I know everyone says do what comes naturally but what exactly is that supposed to mean?" You blurted out, pulling away from his touch when you felt him get too close. Suguru opened his eyes, looking over at you as he bit down on his lower lip. "Don't you dare lau-" you weren't even done with your sentence when you heard him erupt into laughter. You folded your arms across your chest, feigning annoyance as you waited for him to finish.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, feeling your palm slap his thigh gently. Upon seeing your expression, he couldn't help but burst out into laughter once more.

"I'm being serious!"

"Okay, okay," the syllables came out broken as he willed his laughter to stop, taking a couple deep breaths to calm down.

"You know you're supposed to part your lips slightly right?"

Your brows furrowed slightly at his question, your arms folded across your chest once more. "Yes I know that. I'm not that clueless."

"Okay, just making sure. After that, I’d say just do what I'm doing. As long as you don't bite my tongue, I don't think you'll be that bad."

Now you were starting to get tempted to bite his tongue just to spite him.

He positioned himself the same as before, the palm of his hand resting against your cheek. His thumb gently ran circles against it, almost like he wanted to calm you down. "Any other questions before a repeat of last time?" He asked, looking over at you. And you almost wished he hadn't. The late sunlight was peeking in through the window, making his eyes look like melting chocolate. "No."

He leaned in, waiting for you to do the same before shutting his eyes. the two of you bumped noses on contact, a small chuckle emitting from his lips. "Keep laughing at me and I'll look for kissing tutorials on Youtube instead," you muttered, tilting your head to the other side to avoid bumping noses again. You felt his lips on your own, waiting for access. your lips parted, allowing for him to slip his against your own.

Though you had no idea what you should be doing, you decided to follow the movements he was making. You must've been doing something right since he leaned in closer to you, his other hand wrapping around your waist to close the distance. You moved your hand from your side, pressing your own against his cheek. You were starting to forget where your body began and where his body ended.

His tongue prodded against your bottom lip, almost as if asking for permission. You gave him access, parting your lips a bit more. The sensation of his tongue against yours was a strange one, a welcome one nonetheless. He tasted like mint, an aftertaste of the gum he'd been chewing on the way back. It wasn't oversaturated, it'd been diluted enough to the point where it was pleasing to the tongue. You copied the movements he was making with his tongue, the two of you moving in a synchronized manner.

The taste of you was intoxicating. For someone who claimed to have no experience when it came to these matters, you followed instructions pretty well. It was easy for Suguru to get lost in the feeling of your lips against his own, of the feeling of your lipgloss transferring onto his lips. Of pretending that this wasn't just practice for a fake arrangement. He was stepping onto unprecedented territory, but he couldn't help but want more. Even if it ended up in heartbreak at the end.

The two of you pulled away, a string of saliva in the middle connecting you both. You could see a look of longing on his face, like he missed the feeling of your lips resting against his. And if you were to look into a mirror, you were certain you'd be able to see that same look on yourself. What would be so bad about kissing him again? Well the fact that you couldn't use the excuse of practicing this time.

"I'll see you for the date," you managed to muster up, standing up from the couch. Suguru brought his hand up to his mouth, almost like he needed the reassurance that it'd been real. "Yeah, I’ll see you then. And don't worry about those Youtube videos, you're a natural," he replied, getting up as well. He dusted off imaginary dust from his clothes, walking over to the front door. You stepped out once he opened the door, turning back when you reached your apartment to give him a small wave.

You couldn't deny that it was one of the more pleasant kisses that you've had. The past experiences you had in your repertoire ranged from cracked, chapped lips to having them slobber you up like a dog. Suguru wasn't too rough with it, putting your pleasure above your own. You wondered if maybe that translated to other aspects of his life? Oh, you were so screwed. So so screwed. 

Though you were essentially prepared in every aspect, from knowing every important detail about Suguru to what to do to convey affection, you still couldn't help but feel a surge of nervousness as the date approached. What if you messed it all up? And then Suguru never talked to you after that? Your mind was practically buzzing with what-ifs, ignoring the buzzing at the front door.

Suguru stood by the doorway, looking over at you as you paced through your room. At this rate, you were certain to make a hole in the floor. "Hey, what's wrong?" He decided to speak up at around your third lap, his hand gently wrapped around your arm. He managed to pull you out of your thoughts and back to planet earth, your eyes widening once you realized you had an audience.

"I'm fine, sorry about that," you told him, pulling away a bit to finish getting dressed. His sudden appearance didn't scare you, the two of you had exchanged house keys in case of an emergency. "You're not fine. Talk to me," he wasn't letting you off the hook easily, taking a seat on your bed as he waited for an explanation. You took a deep breath, bracing yourself to tell him.

"Just the usual, you know? I just don't know if I'm ready to pull this off," you told him, unsure of how to vocalize your issues. He got up from the bed, wrapping his arms around you. The gesture was unexpected, much like most of his actions recently. Maybe you didn't know him as well as you thought. You felt your body melt into his, your breathing steadily slowing down. "I just don't want you to find out this was a mistake and I end up losing you as a friend."

You'd expected for this constant reassuring that things would end up fine would get on his nerves, That he would seek out someone else for this arrangement. Someone that didn't overthink about it too much. But yet, here he was. Hugging you. "I appreciate you for even agreeing to this, I know it's not an ideal situation," he started off, his hand rubbing small circles on your back. "But I wouldn't end our friendship over this. I know it's a lot to ask from you."

He continued to hold you for a couple more minutes, waiting until your chest stopped heaving and your breathing returned to normal before stepping back. "Do you think this looks good on me?" You asked him, doing a 360 so he could capture the outfit in its true form. You weren't sure where the date was going to be so you settled with a backless black top and a pair of jeans. Not too modest but not overly casual. "It looks good," Suguru assured you, standing up to help you clasp the necklace you'd been struggling with for the past twenty minutes.

You should've gotten used to being so close to him by now, you were practically pressed up against him just a week prior. You found the hairs on your neck rising as he stepped closer to you, taking the two ends of the necklace from your fingers. It felt like every nerve was ignited with every brush of his fingertips against your neck, a shiver running down your spine. If he didn't hurry up, you'd doubt how long you could remain standing. "Done," he whispered in your ear, the shiver turning into full blown goosebumps.

He'd only stepped back enough for you to turn around, his eyes immediately darting to your neck. like he wanted to make sure he did a good job. "You almost ready to go?" He inquired, sitting back down on your bed. He picked up a stuffed animal you had near your pillow, throwing it up at the ceiling and catching it. "Almost," you responded, taking your heels off the floor and going over to the bed to sit down.

"Let me," Suguru spoke up before you even got the chance to put them on, taking the black heels away from you. You extended your foot out, mentally thanking whatever entity above that you'd gotten your toes done before this date. He slid the heel on with ease, strapping it up to where it wouldn't be too tight or too loose. He did the same with the other, extending his hand out for you to stand up once he was done. "Okay, let's go girlfriend."

The walk over to the restaurant was relatively short, his hand intertwined with yours. you were mentally willing your hands not to sweat, not at this moment. "Relax, we went through what we needed to go through multiple times already," Suguru told you, almost as if sensing your nervousness towards the matter. "Well yeah, but what if I just blank out," you muttered, keeping up the pace he was setting. "Then I'll fill in for you. I won't let you drown, I promise."

"You must be Suguru’s girlfriend. I'm Gojo Satoru," he introduced himself to you, extending a hand out towards you. As if most of the sorcerers in japan didn't know who he was. You shook his hand, giving him your name. "Nice to meet you," you told him before he went over to talk to Suguru. You faced his partner, exchanging pleasantries with them as well before a waiter came over to lead the four of you to a table.

Upon sitting down, you took a glance around the restaurant. A fountain lied in the middle of the establishment, a chandelier dangling overtop as the crystals each reflected a light beam from the lamps on the ceiling. Gojo truly spared no expense when it came to spoiling his date. The waiter came over after a couple minutes, jotting down on their notepad what drinks the four of you would have before leaving once more.

You were pretty certain Gojo had to be a detective in another life, with the way he was rapidly firing questions at the two of you. Since he didn't know anything about you, most of the questions directed to Suguru were regarding about where the two of you met and how'd you gotten up to this point. Towards you, though, the questions varied between what Suguru’s life aspirations were to what his favorite flavor of ice cream was in the month of April.

"So how long have the two of you been dating for?" You were starting to miss the waiter's presence upon being bombarded with another question. You looked over at Suguru, letting him take the ropes on answering this one.

"You don't think you're asking too many questions?" his date spoke up, letting out a nervous laugh like they were apologizing for his behavior. Not that they needed to, a part of you was somewhat expecting this already.

"Nah, they're fine with it. Plus, I want to get to know more about the woman that managed to tie Suguru down. Last time I heard, he was only interested in one night flings."

"We've been dating for about two weeks now, though we've been somewhat talking for about three prior to that," Suguru responded calmly, taking a sip from his drink. "As for the one night stands, I haven't been in any. Not since I met her."

He sounded too good at this, convincing almost you as well.

After the mini-investigation that Gojo held, the dinner went by pretty smoothly. The food was good, as you expected and the conversation flowed with much more ease. You learned from Gojo’s partner that they were a second grade sorcerer but they decided not to pursue teaching. Gojo also attempted to make some conversation with you, asking you about what things you liked to do and what type of snacks you preferred.

"Sorry about all the questions, I hope he didn't make you uncomfortable," Gojo’s partner spoke up, looking at you with an apologetic smile. The two of you had been left alone after Suguru and Gojo went to talk alone before you each took your route back home. "Don't worry about it, it wasn't that bad," you reassured them, looking over at where the two stood. You couldn't help but wonder what the two were talking about, if Gojo was making some kind of convincing argument that Suguru dumps your ass.

You hoped not.

Part of you wanted to prolong this fake arrangement even if that's all it would be. Just fake.

"I'm so full," you grumbled to Suguru as the two of you headed back to the apartment complex, your hand resting on his shoulder for support. He wrapped an arm around your waist, letting you lean your body against his with much more ease. It didn't help that the heels you had on were starting to make blisters on your feet, the skin peeling with every little step that you took. "You want me to carry you?" He offered like it was the most obvious solution, looking over at you. "Are you sure?"

"What kind of fake boyfriend would I be if I just let you walk back in pain?" He mused, scooping you with ease into his arms. You wrapped your arms around his neck for more stability, burying your head into his shirt. The scent of his cologne was heavenly. No man alone should have the power to smell that good. The walk back home seemed longer than usual, the two of you enjoying the night breeze rather than being in a rush. A couple of crickets filled the atmosphere, the usually loud streets gone quiet when the sun went down.

The date had gone swiftly, at least from what Suguru told you at the end of the night. "He pulled me away to tell me how happy he was that I found someone like you," he assured you, leaning on the balcony next to you. Suguru took a cigarette box out of his pocket, sliding one of them out. He knew better than to offer you one, sliding the box back into his pocket. That was the last thing you'd expected, you were somewhat convinced you'd blown it. That Gojo was being polite to you out of obligation.

"That was better than I expected, then," you told him, looking over at him as he lit up the cigarette. He dusted it against the balcony, charred pieces falling onto the floor below. "Thank you for this, by the way. We probably won't have to be together for a couple more dates," Suguru remarked, taking a hit from the cigarette. What should've been something to reassure you only served to make you a bit upset. You'd taken a liking to hanging out with him despite the circumstances. "Right. Well, at least we're still on for Friday movie nights."

The one good thing that came out of this was that you didn't hang out with Gojo and his partner that often, other than a dinner once in a while and an arcade date. Though they weren't exactly bad company, you couldn't help but feel your guilt increase the more you lied to them. How would they react if they found out about the news? Would they take it as a betrayal or would they find some kind of amusement towards it?

You wished you could turn off your mind just as easily as Suguru seemed to do.

Suguru came by your office unexpectedly, bringing a bento box that he'd gotten back at the city. He placed it down on your desk, taking a seat across from you. The training field could be seen from the window, Panda and Maki sparring against one another. "What brings you here?" You asked, opening up the bento box to see some of the favorite foods you'd shared with him inside.

"So I'm hoping that the food might coax you into saying yes though I understand if you don't want to. Satoru’s inviting the two of us to go with him and his partner out to this beach. I'm not sure where it's at but the transportation and staying arrangements would be settled," Suguru spoke up, waiting for you to finish chewing your food. Just in case you ended up choking on it.

You took the news more calmly than he'd expected, no coughing or eye widening. "I’ll have to clear my schedule with Yaga so I'll let you know after that," you responded, setting down your chopsticks. "If that's all that it takes for you to agree then let me take care of it," he told you, getting up from the chair. He was about to leave, his hand on the doorknob before turning around to face you. "Thank you."

Suguru had kept true to his word, getting Yaga to clear up your assignments for the remainder of the week so you could go. You'd gotten the message just a couple hours after Suguru had departed from your office.

You had a couple days to pack up your things, all of what you'd need tightly packed in a black suitcase. A couple bikini sets, clothes to go out in, an oversized shirt you liked to excuse for pajamas, and a couple of your necessities. You were going through your suitcase for what seemed to be third time, a pair of hands coming to rest on your waist. "Knowing you, I'm sure you're just being paranoid. you have everything that you need," Suguru spoke up from behind you, making you close the suitcase.

The drive towards the hotel had been a fairly long one. The two of you had gotten into the car at around 2 pm and you'd arrived longer after nightfall. Just like everything that Gojo set up, he'd bothered to spare no expense with the hotel arrangements. The walls inside were painted between white and gold, the marble floors underneath your feet shining pristinely. Nothing was out of line or out of place.

"Hey, nice to see you again," you greeted the two of them upon seeing them at the hotel room, exchanging pleasantries. "Nice to see you again!" Gojo’s partner called out, embracing you in a hug. you almost tumbled backward, but you managed to regain your balance. You wrapped your arms around them, returning back the hug. If the hug with Suguru was just a hug between friends then why did it not feel anything like this one?

You shouldn't have been surprised to see one bed in the center of the room, yet here you were with your mouth agape. You looked over Suguru, expecting some kind of protest to come from him but you were only met with silence. You convinced yourself not to think too much into it, that it was just the exhaustion from the drive taking a hold on him. Even if he didn't do any actual driving.

You grabbed your pajama shirt from the suitcase, heading into the bathroom to change into it. The night just kept getting more and more interesting. Upon coming out of the bedroom, you were met with Suguru just in a pair of grey sweatpants. He had his back turned towards you, his back muscles rippling with every movement that he made. "Damn," you didn't mean to say that out loud, Suguru’s head turned to face you with an amused expression on his face.

"I mean, you're gonna sleep in that?" You managed to ask after you'd stop ogling, putting up a shocked facade that you weren't even sure was believable to yourself. Not that you'd be complaining if he did. Even this was worthy of being put up in the Louvre.

"I usually sleep naked so be grateful," he responded, not helping at all with the images running through your head. Now your mind was getting clouded with thoughts of what it would actually be like to sleep next to him while naked. You cleared your throat, putting your dirty clothes in a pile on one of the seats. You'd fix them tomorrow, for now you'd just will yourself to fall asleep and stop thinking about what effect Suguru had on your body.

Everything in the room seemed to fade away when Suguru laid down next to you, your attention solely focused on the close proximity he was in. Despite the fact that the two of you had your backs turned to one another, you still couldn't help but hyperfixate on every little shift that he made on the bed. It took you a while to fall asleep, even throughout your attempts of trying to count sheep, cursed spirits, or just pieces of candy. No matter what the substance was that you were counting, you couldn't get rid of the desire brewing inside of you.

You woke up in the middle of the night, awakened by your immediate thirst. You rubbed your eyes, letting out a yawn before reaching out to the nightstand to grab your bottle of water. You couldn't move that much, though. You looked down to see Suguru’s arm wrapped tightly around your waist in his sleep. You could tell that it wouldn't easy to get out from his grasp, at least not without waking him up.

The oversized shirt you'd worn to sleep had ridden up to your stomach, your panty-cladded ass in direct contact with his crotch. You tried to keep your wiggling to a minimum, hoping that you wouldn't end up stimulating both yourself and him. You'd almost managed to reach out for your bed stand when Suguru pulled you closer to his chest. He let out a small groan, eventually shutting his mouth back up and going back to sleep.

You looked down at his fingers splayed across your lower torso, trying to pry them off one by one. You'd almost managed to get his pointer finger off you, when all four of his other fingers wrapped themselves around you. You let out a huff, trying to brainstorm a solution to this that didn't involve waking him up. Maybe if you just moved on the bed a bit, he'd stir? You wiggled against his lap, hoping that the motion would be enough to wake him up a bit.

"You just don't stop moving, hm?" His voice came out a bit hoarse, dripping with sleep. Maybe you should've apologized, yet again, you weren't exactly the one who'd put the two of you in this position. "I didn't mean to wake you up. Just got thirty," you responded, keeping your voice in a light whisper. He let go of your body, allowing you to get up and go towards the nightstand.

You moved back on the bed, his arm wrapped around you once more. With your back pressed against his, you could feel something hard pressed up against his. You tilted your head to look over at him, seeing him already fast asleep. His hips gently rocked into yours, small broken moans of your name escaping from his lips. You'd been so worried thinking about the effects he had on your body that you hadn't even begun to account for the way he felt towards you.

Yet again, he'd never made any attempt to let you know he felt anything. Everything that he'd done for you, he'd made sure to remind you it was fake. Maybe it was a reminder for you, or maybe it was just a reminder for himself?

You felt your slick clinging onto your panties, his hips bucking into you as if he desperate for some kind of release. You moved your hips against his tentatively, nibbling down on your bottom lip so you wouldn't say anything. You eventually started moving against the rhythm he was setting, though it wasn't enough. You were about to slide your fingers down to your panties when suddenly his movements halted.

"Don't do that just for my sake," his voice came out groggy, his hands around your hips. The grip wasn't tight enough to hurt, but it was hard enough to stop every movement that you made.

"Who said I didn't want this too?"

Suguru hovered on top of you, his lips brushing against yours before parting them. This kiss wasn't like the one you two shared prior. He kissed you like he was a man starved, like he needed this to anchor him to earth. The kiss itself was nothing more than a clash of teeth and tongue, though you could feel the desperation that he held behind it. He needed you as badly as you needed him. If not even more.

He moved lower, slotting himself between your legs as he kissed down your neck. You weren't sure if he made it a point to mark you because of the stupid agreement the two of you had going on or because he genuinely wanted to see you like this. He ran his tongue across the crook of your neck, sinking his teeth just hard enough to leave a hickey. "Can't wait to see you at the beach tomorrow like this."

He slid your shirt up, completely exposing your upper body to him. His pupils practically doubled in size, completely overtaking his irises at just the mere sight of you. He hooked one of his fingers along your panties, looking up at you. "Is this okay?" He asked as if he couldn't feel the arousal practically leaking out of you. "Yeah, it's okay," you consented, his fingers continuing with what they were doing.

Suguru slid your panties down at a torturous pace, if only to get you more desperate for him. to get you as desperate as he felt towards you. He spread your legs open, the pale moonlight shining on the slick coating your folds. Maybe he'd make this favorite meal from now on. The vacation now seemed pointless, all that he wanted to do was stay here with you in the hotel room and worship your body the way it made for.

His mouth attached itself to your breast, sucking on it like he depended on it. he pulled back, swirling his tongue around the nub until it hardened. With this, you also felt his fingers tracing the outline of your folds before slipping his fingertip inside. "That feel good?" He asked, though the slick running down his finger should've served as enough evidence. He enjoyed seeing you struggle with your words to give him a coherent answer.

"So good," you whispered, your voice cracking a bit as he slid the entirety of his finger inside. His finger curled upward with every stroke that he made, determined to find your g-spot. He wouldn't be satisfied if you weren't. His teeth gently pulled at your nipple, his mouth clasping around it once more. You tried to close your legs together, letting him know that he'd found your g-spot. "Try to keep them open for me, princess."

As much as you wanted to clamp your legs around his hand, you forced your legs to stay open. "That's it, good," Suguru didn't dare speak above a whisper, slipping his middle finger alongside his pointer. You felt your walls getting stretched out, your walls tightly wrapped around his fingers. Almost like you wanted to trap him and never let him go. His mouth moved to your other nipple, giving it as much attention as he was giving to other one.

He pulled away when he sensed your impending orgasm approaching much to your complains. "Only place you'll be coming around tonight is my tongue," he told you before scooting back on the bed. He had his lower body pressed against the mattress, his face in direct contact with your cunt. The way he examined it almost made you want to close your legs, but he had his arms hooked around your knees. Spreading you open the way he wanted you to be.

"Patience," his voice practically came out in a purr, his lips attached to your inner thighs. He planted a couple open-mouthed kisses, making his way up to your cunt before returning back to your thigh. It was agonizingly slow, your cunt clenching around pure air at just the anticipation of feeling him inside of you. "Please," your voice came out in a whisper, overwhelmed by all the sensations flowing through your body.

"Please what?"

“Please just touch me already,” he had the temptation to continue teasing you after hearing just how desperate you sounded but he doubted his self control would allow for that.

He, himself, had to resist the urge to let out a moan upon the first taste of you. Your pussy quenched his thirst like no other, a delicacy that he couldn't help but want to indulge in. He looked up, seeing your eyes half lidded as you leaned back on the bed. You were truly a sight to behold. Only problem was that he wanted to be selfish and have your attention solely focused on him.

"Come on, princess, look at me."

You opened up your eyes, looking in between your legs to see that he was already looking over at you. He maintained that eye contact, licking up a stripe from your weeping cunt up to your clit. "That's it," he hummed against your cunt, the vibrations shooting straight up your spine. You bucked your hips into him, one of his hands coming down to press against your stomach to hold you still.

You could've sworn you saw stars the moment his tongue plunged into you, his eyes almost rolling to the back of his head at the mere taste of you. If his fingers had made you feel ecstasy, his mouth was a completely otherworldly experience. He ate you out like no other, like he was set on this earth solely for this purpose. Your mouth parted, a moan slipping past your lips.

You couldn't help but instantly regret it, his tongue slipping out of you as he licked his lips before speaking, "As much as I'd like to hear your pretty little moans, try to keep quiet. Satoru’s in the room next to us. Your noises belong to me solely."

All you could do was nod, overridden by lust and the need to have his tongue inside you once more. You pressed your hand against your mouth, a couple heavy breaths escaping from you. Your other hand was weaved around his hair, gently tugging at the strands to guide him where you needed him the most. He tentatively stuck the tip of his tongue into your cunt before retracting. You almost let out a whine at his relentless teasing.

He stuck his tongue into you, the feeling of your walls clenching around his tongue almost too much to bear. He took one of his hands off you, using it to palm himself through the material of his sweatpants. He slid them down just enough for it to hang underneath his balls, his hand coming back up to your mouth. "Get them all nice and wet for me, please?"

You opened your mouth, allowing for him to slip his fingers inside of your mouth. you swirled your tongue around them, coating them with your saliva before he pulled away. His hand wrapped around his cock, giving himself a couple strokes before going back to eating you out. He sucked on your folds, not letting any of your slick go to waste before licking a stripe up to your clit.

His mouth clamped around your clit, sucking on it and swirling his tongue around the nub. It practically throbbed with every movement that he made, your pussy leaking out like a waterfall. He was exploring what exactly made you tick, what made your grip on his hair tighten. Your nails were practically digging into scalp but he reveled in the feeling, of seeing your eyes wide in pleasure.

He sped up the rhythm he was stroking his cock in, estimating the time of your orgasm to match his own. By the increase of the muffled moans you were letting out, he could tell that you were starting to get close. "That's it, let go for me," he spoke against your clit, the vibrations that you felt from his mouth sending you into overdrive. You bit down on your palm, your cunt clenching around nothing as you came.

He pulled away, giving himself a couple more strokes before eventually releasing all over his palm. You looked over at him through dazed eyes, seeing just how much a mess he looked. His chin was completely covered in your slick and the bun that he'd made before bed now had a couple strands sticking out. He didn't seem to have any complaints, though. He walked over to the bathroom, grabbing a towel to presumably wipe himself off.

He went in between your legs once more, cleaning you up with his tongue to the verge of overstimulation. You practically had to pull him off you, the sensation feeling like it was too much. He slipped your panties back up, sliding into bed next to you. Your breaths still came out heavy as you rode out the remnants of your orgasm, your body turning to face his. There was no way that the two of you would be able to go back to being just friends with what happened tonight.

"We're not going to..?" You left the final part up for interpretation, looking over at his face. Even if you'd pushed him when he tried to eat you out again, you still couldn't help but want to feel what his cock would be like deep inside of you. If his fingers almost brought you to an orgasm, you had no doubt his cock would make you cum multiple times. His hand came up to your stomach, pulling you closer to his body once more. "First time you and I have sex won't be in the confines of a hotel room. I'll have you all to myself along with those pretty moans."

Though, you understood his point, you still couldn't help but feel frustrated. The past orgasm hadn't been enough to satiate your want. You tried to rub your thighs together, seeking out some kind of reprieve for the lack of friction before you felt Suguru’s firm grip on your thigh.

"Go to sleep. We have an early morning tomorrow."