Bakugo is halfway off of the couch, ass in the air as he tries to reach for his pants. He had dropped them in the middle of your living room, legs turned inside out and socks jammed inside. He manages to nab them by rolling over your leg, so you sigh again. "Ugh."
"Fuck off."
"Just get up!"
"I'm fucking tired. Someone needed to get dicked down three times-"
A hard shove nearly topples him off of the couch all together. "You liked it."
Katsuki's eyes flicker to your tits, then your eyes, then your tits again and it nearly, nearly, nearly makes you want to climb on him once again. Though, you're afraid if you move, you'll end up staining your couch-
"Don't you work in design? Why does your place look like dogshit?" Katsuki reads your mind. This the third time he's been to your place and it feels more embarrassing each time. His own place is nice, with a feminine touch that makes you feel sour.
"Tell your mom to pay me more."
"Oh, yeah," he rolls his eyes. "Hey, Mitsuki, I'm sick of looking at your interns ugly ass, lumpy couch, when I should be looking at her tits. Can you give her a raise? Also, she does this thing with her tongue that's worth a bonus-"
"Fuck off!"
The toothy smile he gives you is shortlived.
"Listen, we can't tell her. Or anybody. none of my friends can keep a secret." He leans back. "Things are... weird with my ex still."
You sit up, hand flying to cover yourself.
"Did you just cheat on her with me?"
"Fuck no, that's over. It's dead, but the old lady doesn't want it to be dead. She's still friends with her and everything. It's just... Some of my friends feel the same way, I think. It's just weird."
This feels a bit too personal for what you and Katsuki have. Neither of you have ever mentioned your personal lives before, other than your dire love for creampies.
"I'm sorry," you say, because you can think of nothing else. "Wanna see my pussy again? Would that make you feel better?"
the atmosphere was calm, well as calm as it could be with sukuna there.Â
you sat curled up in his lap while he yelled at toji through his headset for the nth time. you shifted slightly before slowly sliding out of sukuna's lap, he muttered a quickÂ
âwhere ya goin?â his eyes shifted towards you, now fully out of his grasp.Â
âbathroom.âÂ
he let out a low hum and returned his hard gaze back to his monitor.Â
-
âholy shit ryomen, yer washed.â toji snickered through the mic.Â
âeasy to talk when you pick OKC every fucking round.â sukuna snarled back.
âaye back to back dubs speaks for itself.âÂ
âits been two rounds already?â sukuna checked his phone, its been almost 2 hours since you left his lap.Â
âtwo rounds of belt? yea bro.â a snort came out from sukunas headphones.Â
âim hoppin off anyway to go out with my girl. cus i got other shit to do, like my girl. get it? cus i have a girlfriend.â sukuna teased.Â
âblah blah blah we get it asshat.âÂ
sukuna chuckled to himself before logging off and heading over to barge on you in the bathroom, which was locked? he lifted a heavy knuckle and tapped on the door twice.Â
âbabe, you takinâ a shit?âÂ
a small snort escaped from the other side of the door, âyea ryo ive been shitting for two hours.âÂ
his crimson eyes fluttered into a roll before he twisted the knob again, âokay brat then why is the door locked, let me in.âÂ
needy bastard. âkuna you can wait for like two minutes, im almost done.â you added the final touches to your face before adjusting your dress again. kinda short. eh its fine.Â
he leaned against the door frame, arms crossed âalmost done what? I can smell your body wash, did you wanna go on a date ton-âÂ
the door swung open, revealing your finished look. hair done and neat, makeup on point, gold jewelry layered all over your body, and your new brown mini dress that hugged your body perfectly.Â
sukuna paused, looked you up and down, eyes immediately turning hungry.Â
âblack shoes or brown shoes?â you cocked a brow at him.Â
âfuck, you look gorgeous baby.â he answered completely ignoring your question, âwhere we goinâ?âÂ
you puckered your lips and smiled back at him, âthank you. okay so black or brown?âÂ
âbrown. and give me like fifteen minutes, I'll be ready.â he bee-lined straight to the bathroom before your manicured hand pressed against his chest, stopping him right in his tracks.Â
âryo you canât come to girls night. I've told you this like a thousand times.âÂ
girls night? It was like someone shot him in the chest right then and there. not only were you looking absolutely beautiful on a night the both of you had off, you were going out with your friends. instead of sukuna. not to mention how much they hated sukuna. the burly mans shoulders tensed,
 ânonono, the hell you mean girls night? I thought WE were going out tonight.â it was almost pathetic how whiney his voice sounded. to anyone else it would've been a once in a blue moon sight, unfortunately for you it wasnât.Â
âryo I told you last night that I was going out with them.âÂ
âdid not.âÂ
âdid too.âÂ
âdid not.âÂ
âryomen i literally told you before we went to bed and you said âokay ill drive you.â you pushed past him and slipped on your brown kitten heels, before admiring your full look in the mirror.Â
âThere's no way I said that, I was out cold before you even shut off the light.â he followed your trail like a sulking puppy`. a large six foot something sulking puppy.
âsukuna i promise you iâm not lying.â you paused with your purse and keys in hand. Â
âfine. but if i get handsy in the car, you cannot blame me. you look so hot.â he grabbed the keys from your hands and opened the front door.Â
you tsked, âmhm mhm no touching while my girls are in the car.âÂ
âwhat.âÂ
âweâre picking them up, remember?âÂ
âyouâre shittinâ me.â
-
after thirty minutes of being interrogated, looped into gossip, and asked the âyouâre a guy what do you think?â question approximately fifteen times, sukuna finally got to the restaurant.Â
your girls murmured a bunch of rushed thank yous before quickly hopping out of the car and heading into the restaurant. sukunas hand still gripped the wheel,Â
âthank you for dropping us off kuna.â you leaned over the center console and gave him a peck on the cheek, causing him to turn his head.Â
âcall me if anything.â he responded in a low mumble.Â
âi know i know.â you smiled before turning to open your door.Â
âwait.â you paused and turned to look back at your boyfriend who was already outside of the car, he made his way around to your side and opened your door. He held your hand in his large gruff one before pulling you into another kiss, he pulled away just an inch from your mouth, his breath still on yours,
âiâm fucking the shit out of you when you get home.âÂ
you felt the warmth pooling in your cheeks, you bit back a smile and mumbled backÂ
âpromise?âÂ
sukunas hands gripped at your waist, before dropping to his sides, a slow huff escaped his nose, âpinky.âÂ
you snorted before walking off, feeling the sting of sukunas hand slapping your ass as you did so.Â
-
sukuna knew as soon as you called three hours later, slurring every other word, that he would be eating his words that night.
 after dropping off your equally drunk friends, he carried you into bed, taking his time removing your make up because he knew you would yell at him if he didnât, then taking off your heels and dress, changing you into one of his shirts.
âryo.âÂ
âhm.âÂ
âmy friendsss saidd they loveeyou.âÂ
âreally?â shocking. considering they mean mugged him all night. didnât even bother to say his name properly.
you nodded slowly under the sheets.Â
âwhyâs that?âÂ
a hiccup escaped your lips, eyes fluttering shut âthey said⌠youmake mee glow.âÂ
âtheyâre idiots.âÂ
you snorted, âloveeyouu.âÂ
âi love you too brat.âÂ
he couldnât even be mad at you for blue balling him all night.
horny y/n jumping on bkg even though heâs exhausted from work and still helps her đ¤¤
i love goofy ideas like these. u WIN
you were the brave one today. working from home⌠all alone⌠unable to adjust to your lover not being around⌠even if he was at work and you planned for this weekday to be at home. especially when you heard him let himself into your apartment while you had to finish up a work call. it was the hastiest, a borderline unprofessional goodbye how you rushed to end the call because he was here finally.
you only saw him a few days ago after all.
stepping into your living room, bakugou katsuki is hard to miss. massive body sitting in the centre of your sofa, heâs got his head in his hands, elbows on his knees in silence, sporting a black hoodie and shorts.
âyou okay?â you ask, practically floating to stand in front of him, tugging his hand so he can uncover his face for you.
when he pulls away, looking up at you, your heart drops to your clit. in sickness or health, whatever words youâll be saying on your wedding day to this man⌠well, you get it now.
katsuki meets your eyes with these droopy ones, cushioned with two dark bags underneath them. to anyone else it looks like heâs gonna curse you out any second, his eyes are practically slits but you can note, itâs just tiredness, especially when he leans his head into your palm.
his posture is slouched, body completely and utterly exhausted. this pro hero, one of the best in the world, needs to be on at all times, ready for anything but you, you get the privilege of seeing him off. ready for bed and a hot shower.
katsuki rests his cheek in your palm, those angry ruby gems becoming puppy like, ââm fine.â
next, his hands hold onto the backs of your thighs keeping you still so he can press his face into your stomach. you feel his whole body sigh into you.
âyou donât look it. you look like shit,â you offer and you get two bouncing shoulders in a short laugh.
âyâgot a lisp now? you mean sexy?â he muffles into your stomach, then presses his chin into you so he can look at you properly.
you smooth down his eyebrows with your thumbs. you notice a touch of hoarseness in his words. you press your thighs together.
your smile is apparent in your voice, âyouâve got this defeated look going on.â you bite down on your bottom lip, âit is a little sexy. maybe a lot.â
bakugou thinks heâs in with the joke at the beginning, till you shuffle in closer to him, the press of your hand on his cheek gets harder and he notices the change of pitch in your breath. even the black of your pupils widen, he sees this in real time. youâre not joking at all actually.
that gets him sitting up slightly, a smirk falling on his features. you pout when he does, staring at his lips like a wife separated from their husband for years. he knows his smile is a killer for you, a soft sigh leaving you at the sight of his gold canine and white teeth.
âgimme a kiss,â he demands and the good listener you are, you lean down to press yours against his.
itâs family friendly for the most part, three pecks until his pawlike hands sneak up your thighs to under your ass cheeks.
when you both pull away, youâre staring at each other for a few seconds until you lick your thumb and rub under his eyebrow.
âyou didnât get all your eye stuff off,â you whisper, referring to his eye makeup he likes to put on under his mask.
bakugou grunts in response, letting you clean up the left over marks he didnât scrub.
âhow long have you been waitinâ for me?â
always so perceptive. it makes your eyes widen like youâve been caught out. âwell iâve been workingâ,â
âbaby,â he soothes, in that soft way like youâve done something silly and you wonât get in trouble for admitting whatever it is. even though he already knows.
âsince the morning,â you breathe, eager to undress on the spot, to get his hands on your bare skin, to jump on his lap and pull down his shorts.
but the exhaustion is still apparent on his body. his movements are noticeably slower now that he can let his guard down.
âhm,â he replies and you run your fingers through his hair, pushing all his blonde locks back to reveal his face. your boyfriend is incredibly handsome. you press an extra kiss to the scar on his cheek and bakugou pulls you in. your knees sink into the sofa as you straddle his lap.
hot hands that were under your ass, sneak under your blouse. theyâre like a relief patch, causing your skin to buzz in anticipation.
âwhat dâyou want?â he hums and youâre already ready for your body to bounce on something, fingers twitching as they rest on his shoulders.
âkatsuki,â you whine, rubbing your nose against his. his eyelashes brush against yours. âdonât ask me that.â
nimble fingers shift to the little buttons at your blouse. bakugou works on you while youâre fighting your own internal battle.
âwhy not, baby?â
âyouâre tired from saving the city. iâm not going to make you have sex with me because iâm horny.â
bakugou rolls his eyes, completely humoured by the way you let him shimmy you out of your blouse, now sitting on him in your pretty lace balconette bra. he kisses the softness of your breast and youâre completely reactive, arching your back into his face.
âyâthink i donât wanna love you?â
the wording makes you mewl, hugging katsukiâs big head to your chest. your body blushes with heat, unable to look him in the eye, âdonât be adorable when i want you to put me in doggy.â
bakugou chuckles, âon your knees. let me do it.â
âdidnât you have a long day today?â
he looks you in the eye, âthe fuckinâ longest. sixteen hours, everyone was on my ass.â
âthen you need to sleep.â
âor i can have sex with my girlfriend.â
you have the audacity to look shy, knowing thereâs a damp patch if he checked your panties right now. âbut youâre exhausted.â
âbabygirl.â
âbabyboy.â
bakugou raises his eyebrows, âthatâs new. i dunno if i like that.â
you shuffle on his lap, your crotch right over his. youâre delighted to find heâs sporting a semi, in fact, it makes you want to rabidly rub yourself over him like an animal in heat.
you kiss the corner of his jaw, tugging the neckline of his hoodie so you have space to kiss his neck. bakugouâs eyes flutter shut in response, hands on your bare waist.
âyouâre my baby and youâre my boy.â
bakugou tuts, grabbing the back of his hoodie and tugging it over his head. heâs got nothing on underneath it to your joy, leaving his bare chest on display for you. you lowly moan at the sight of his biceps, the scars that run through them, the discoloured skin that merges with his blushed skin. one hand on you, another giving his toned abdomen a necessary rub.
âiâm your man.â
âfuck,â you whisper, standing up to pull off your leggings and sitting back on his lap like you never left. âand youâre sure? not too tired?â
heâs uncouth when he hooks a finger in your underwear, then runs the pad of his thumb to gather your wetness over your clit. your body slumps into him, giving bakugou all your weight for him to hold up.
âyou underestimate how easy it is for me to get you to come.â he smirks, chuffed at himself for how well he knows you. âcould do this half asleep. i have done this half asleep.â
referring to the four am sex you had a few days ago when you came all over his fingers with his tongue in your throat. eyes closed and half conscious.
âdonât be so cocky,â you moan for the wrong reasons, loving the slow comfortable pace of his thumb. pleasure rolls through your body softly, your hands mindlessly palming him.
âtake him out then.â
âdonât him your dick.â
but still you do, yanking down his shorts and feeling the saliva build in your mouth at the feeling then sight. his adonis belt, deep ridges and harsh muscle. then him, thick and heavy. his cute red tip with veins running up the length of him.
âyou love it.â
youâre nodding without realising, placing your palm on the scar on the centre of your boyfriendâs chest.
âfuck me,â you whine, sitting on your knees and shuffling to adjust to sit on his cock. âwanna feel you, âtsuki.â
though he stops you, hands on your hips.
âon your hand and knees, babygirl. like you want.â
ÂˇĚŠÍ ď˝Ľáżž áľ rq â âbakugou and his girlfriend ⌠started to date ⌠still new ⌠in the dorm ⌠a messsyyyyy makeoutâ
âYou donât have to, like⌠sit on me or anything.â
Bakugo said it while you were already halfway into his lap.
You frozeâhalfway between kneeling on his bed and planting your ass right on his thighs.
ââŚShould I not?â you asked, suddenly unsure.
He looked like he regretted speaking. âNoâshit, no. I justâfuck, you can.â
You raised an eyebrow. âYou sure?â
âYes. Justâdo it quick before I die or something.â
That made you laugh. You climbed the rest of the way onto his lap, settling carefully on his thighs with your hands braced on his shoulders. His arms stiffened at his sides. His entire body felt like a coiled springâsolid muscle, warm under his shirt, and completely overwhelmed.
âYou okay?â you whispered, tilting your head.
âIâm fine,â he grumbled, eyes darting from your face to your mouth to the corner of the room and back again. âTotally fine. He was not fine. He was flustered as hell. The blush across his face was criminal.
You leaned in and kissed him. Just once. Soft and quick. And then again. And again, And suddenly, it wasnât soft anymore.
He kissed you like his body caught up before his brain couldâhands finally landing on your waist, gripping, like he didnât trust himself to let go. His lips moved like heâd been thinking about this since your first date and trying not to. A little too rough, a little messy.
You gasped when his tongue brushed yoursâand he immediately froze.
âIâshit,â he breathed, pulling back an inch. âSorry. Was thatâtoo much?â
You blinked. âNo. No, it was good. Youâre good.â He looked like he was short-circuiting. âOh.â
You giggled. âYouâre really bad at this, huh?â
âShut up,â he muttered, trying to scowl, but he still had his hands on your hips like they were glued there and his ears were turning red. âI donât do this shit.â
âYou donât kiss girls?â you teased.
âNot ones I like.â Your brain short-circuited. Before you could say anything, he muttered,
âForget I said thatâshitâfuckââ
You kissed him again to shut him up. This time he kissed you back with a little more confidenceânot much, but enough to make you melt into him. His hands gripped your waist tighter, tugging you closer, and when your body pressed into his and your skirt slid a little too high, he made a sound in his throat that was pure, panicked arousal.
âKatsuki.â
ââŚYeah?â
âYouâre, like, really hard right now.â
âDonât say that out loudâ!â
You buried your face in his neck, laughing, and he groaned like he wanted to sink into the floor. But his arms wrapped around you anyway.
And his voiceâmuffled, mumbled against your shoulder,
âCan we just⌠do that again? The kissing part?â
âYeah. We can.â
You kissed him again, deeper this time. And something in him broke.
His hands moved like they were figuring it out in real timeâgripping your hips, then sliding up your sides, then back down again, like he couldnât decide what he wanted more: to hold you still or pull you closer.
Your fingers twisted in the front of his shirt as you tilted your head, kissing him harder now, mouths warm and open and clumsy. When your teeth bumped, you both flinched and laughedâbut then he kissed you again before the moment could even end.
His breath was hot, ragged against your lips. âFuck, you taste goodââ You moaned softly, and he shuddered.
âDonât make that sound,â he muttered, trying to pull back. âSeriously. Iâll combust.â
âThen donât kiss me like that.â
âYou kissed me like thatââ
You rolled your hips just slightly, and he whimperedâan actual, involuntary noise punched out of his chest. His head fell back against the wall.
âYouâre gonna kill me.â
Š 2025 chaeuvy ; â do not copy or translate my work .á
eren's canonically pathetic. just saying. don't come for me lol.
a princess and her knight; eren jaeger
things to know: one-shot, knight!eren, princess!reader, medieval era, forbidden love, angst, lowercase intended, use of y/n but with purpose?, not proofread, yes this is based on that tiktok trend sue me
"thank you for everything, lady yvette," you abruptly said in a soft tone, an octave higher than a whisper. "i can take care of the rest. i'll see you outside, okay?"
your handmaiden brushed your hair one last time before looking into the mirror and noticing why you had stopped her. your father, the king's most trusted knight, was standing outside your doorâeren jaeger.
you had known eren ever since you turned seventeen, which was over three years ago. he was young, just a year older than you when he sought asylum from his home country, germany. he was appointed to be a knight for your kingdom, but your father had other plans for him.
eren had shown the most dedication, resilience, loyalty, and strength amongst the other soldiers of the batch. because of that, your father decided he could take on the responsibility of being your personal guardâyour knight in shining armour. your life or death would be in his hands. if anything were to happen to you, eren would be executed, and he agreed to those terms.
being a knight meant having status. whatever conditions that status came with, he would take onâbeing shunned, imprisoned, stoned, lynched, beheaded; anything that resulted in his inevitable death, he was more than willing to endure. he was confident in his skills and knew it would never have to come down to that. as long as he had decent food, clean water, warm shelter, and an income, he was content with his way of life. it would be better than the life he left behind in germany.
what he wasn't prepared for was falling in love with you.
his great helm was off, revealing his messily tied hair that you barely got to see. you had a full view of his green eyes, dark eye bags, lively skin, and soft nude lips. his helmet was cradled in his left arm as he patiently waited for lady yvette to say her goodbyes.
"no, thank you." she had a tainted smile resting on her face. she wrapped her arms around your shoulders and chest, giving you a tight hug. "i'll miss you, princess. don't you dare forget me."
you held back tears. tears that your handmaiden failed to keep in. lady yvette had taken care of you ever since you were born, probably even more than your mother. she knew everything about you, the good and the bad, but still loved you unconditionally.
she also knew about your feelings for eren.
your affair with eren.
"don't be ridiculous, lady yvette." you held onto her arms, voice slightly wavering. "i could never forget you. may the lord strike me down if i ever do."
she held onto you for as long as she could before leaving the room and shutting the door, giving you and eren privacy. you stayed seated in your chair, watching him from the corner of your eye as he gently placed his helmet beside your white wedding gown laid out on your bed.
he stood behind you, where lady yvette stood. "are you ready?"
you couldn't make eye contact with him. you weren't sure if it was guilt, disdain, or the impending misery. "i need to put my gown on. i'll need some help tightening it."
"of course."
he turned around while you put your wedding gown on over your petticoat and slips. it made your heart sink deeper. he was acting as though he hadn't seen your body before.
the gown was made for royalty, stitched with a future that was already decided for you. the upper half was a corset, made with the finest silk and lace. the bottom half puffed out a bit, and a long train followed it. your veil was made with the same lace as the sleeves and corset of your dress.
it was a beautiful outfit. what a shame it was worn for the wrong person.
it should have been eren.
"i'm ready," you muttered.
he turned around. as soon as he got a good look at you in your wedding gown, he wasn't sure he could do this anymore. something in him broke. he was no longer the king's strongest knightâhe had fallen, succumbed to you.
he stared at you like a man staring at the life he could have had.
if only he'd been someone else in this life.
he inched closer to you, beginning to tighten your corset. his fingers carefully grazed your spine, as though he feared the silk might bruise beneath his touch. you felt his breath on your skin, his lips placing soft kisses from your neck to your shoulder bladeâone kiss after another, slower than the last, like a farewell disguised as affection. "you look beautiful, y/n."
you turned to face him. neither of you moved for a while. his eyes dropped to your lips, and he let out a shaken exhale that sounded like he had been holding his breath for years.
he kissed you like a man who had already chosen to lose you. the kiss was tender. it hurt even more because it wasn't rushed or desperate. it was slow and familiar. it was second nature. a habit. a memory. home. your home. his lips moved with devastating patience, like he was engraving the memory of your touch into his soul.
when he finally pulled away, he rested his forehead against yours. for a moment, it felt like the world outside of your bedroom did not exist. it was just the two of youânot a princess and her knight.
"eren," your breath hitched. you placed your hand on his jaw. "let's run away."
he suddenly tore himself away. it's not because he wanted to, but because he knew he wouldn't stop if he didn't. he knew he would give in to your absurd plans if he didn't. the warmth from his touch bled away as he stepped back. "i'm sorry, princess."
"stop calling me that," you shouted before stepping closer to him. you held his hands, lowering your voice again. "eren, please. i'm begging you. please-"
"i'm sorry," he repeated, pained. "i should not have done that. you're spoken for."
"to hell with that!" your lips quivered, still trying your hardest not to cry. "you're supposed to protect me. that is your duty. so please, eren, protect me. save me from this marriage."
"y/n-" he stopped himself. "bounties would be put on us. they would look for us until every corner of this earth has been searched. we would always be on the run. no money, no security, no freedom. that is no way to live. you do not deserve to live like that. trust me, i would know."
"i am fine with that," you replied. "believe me, i am fine with that. as long as i'm with you, i don't care. i will be fine. don't decide that for me. don't take that away from me."
his expression softened. it wasn't cold or dismissive. it was unbearably mournful.
"i love you, y/n. i'd die for you," he murmured, bringing your hand to his lips and pressing a kiss onto your ring fingerâthe one soon to be bound to another man. his touch lingered, and his eyes were closed. "but i can't ruin your life."
when he finally let go, he set your hand down gently. he put his great helm on, straightened up with his shoulders squared, and stomped his right foot once, reporting for duty once again. "let's go, princess. your groom awaits your arrival."
the ceremony was held in the grand cathedral at the heart of the capital. sunlight filtered through stained glass windows, casting deep reds and golds across the marble floors. the air smelled faintly of jasmine and burning incense, and a choir sang from the upper balcony, their voices echoing against the high ceilings.
white o'hara garden roses lined both sides of the aisle, tied with silk ribbons in the pink and gold of your kingdom. nobles filled the pews, dressed in their finest. everything felt still, reverent, as if everyone in the room understood the weight of the occasion.
it felt like a moment carved into history at the cost of your misery.
you stood at the altar beneath a towering arch of flowers and fabric, hands joined with your groomâs. the priest spoke ancient vows written for royalty. your now-husband slid a victorian pearl and ruby ring onto your finger. you adjusted it, trying to settle the weight of it. the wedding band felt strangely cold against your skin. it was nothing compared to the warmth it held when erenâs lips were there instead.
once the ceremony ended, the church doors opened and a breeze carried in the faint sound of bells from the kingdom outside. guests tossed petals as you and your husband walked down the aisle together, arms linked. the choir continued singing, softer now, harmonizing with the muffled cheers from beyond the cathedral steps.
your gown trailed behind you in a long sweep of lace and white fabric. your veil caught the breeze softly every few steps. your husband kept a gentle pace beside you, offering his arm, occasionally glancing down with a quiet smile.
the knights on both sides of the aisle dropped to one knee as you approached, armour clinking in unison. heads bowed, swords grounded in front of them in a formal salute, their right hands over their hearts with their fists closed as a gesture of unwavering loyalty to the crown.
you kept your eyes forward at first. it was easier that way. easier to pretend this was just another procession and not the start of a life you never asked for. but you should have known by now that nothing in your life would ever go according to plan.
your eyes shifted ever so slightly, barely noticeable enough to betray that you were looking for him.
eren was the final knight on your left. his armour was polished, reflecting stained glass light across the steel. he knelt like the others, sword pressed to the floor, but his posture was straighter. his helm tilted just enough to face forward, not fully bowed.
you weren't supposed to look at him. you didn't turn your head. you just let your eyes slide toward him for half a millisecond, like second nature.
through the narrow slit of his helm, his lashes shimmered, but it was distinct from steelâthey were tears. tears held painfully still. one clung to the edge of his eye, refusing to fall. he didn't blink. he didn't let it move. he held himself together for as long as you stayed near him.
that's when you broke.
all of a sudden, tears were involuntarily flooding down your face. they hit fast and hard, your face crumpling before you could stop it. your breath came out uneven, like a choke, and you tried to swallow it down, but it only made the next sob louder. you didn't cry gracefully. you couldn't. you were falling apart.
he didn't falter. he didn't reach for you. he only bowed deeper at the exact moment you passed, as though honouring the crown while mourning the end of you two.
your husband's grip on your arm tightened for a moment, forcing you to relax. your skin under the ring felt even colder. you tried to control yourself to the best of your abilities before you looked forward again.
the sunset hit you, bright and loud and undeserved. as the kingdom roared and followed you out, eren stayed inside alone. he remained knelt behind you like a prayer no one heard. you didnât need to look back to know he had fallen apart too because your heart felt it.
he gave the kingdom his loyalty and gave you up with it. he would regret it for the rest of his life.
for eternity, even.
you kept walking because your body was moving on its own. your heart hadn't caught up yet.
Eren lets out a groan that borders on obscene the second your feet hit the last stair, and you laugh as he throws his head back with his eyes shut. âYouâve got to be doing this on purpose.â
Youâre both going to a hot yoga class, something Annie and Armin are forcing all of you to go to as a âbonding experienceâ. Youâre using it as a way to make Eren suffer for the âNo Nut Novemberâ stunt he and the boys agreed to.
âYouâre being dramatic, Im not doing anything on purpose!â
You absolutely are. The workout set is far from conservative, shorts riding up every time you step, and sports bra small enough that you're genuinely a little concerned for downward dog.
He comes over and rests both hands on your hips, leaning down to catch your lips in a heated kiss.
You pull back once you feel his tongue slide across your bottom lip, but not before pulling his between your teeth and gently tugging.
Youâre being mean, and you know it.
He lets out a whine that borders on pathetic, lips chasing yours as you turn to bend and put your shoes on.
You don't acknowledge him again, even as he huffs every few seconds like a small child not getting their way.
Not when you stand, not when you grab your water bottle, not even when he lets out a quiet, frustrated sound behind you.
âCâmon,â you say over your shoulder, already heading toward the door. âWeâre gonna be late.â
You can feel his eyes on you the entire walk to the car. Itâs definitely worth the price you'll have to pay to sway your hips a little as you walk.
By the time you get there, the room is already warm, and you drop your bag and unroll your mat next to Annieâs, saying hi to all of your friends as the instructor starts walking you all through a warm up.
Eren lingers next to you for a second, turning his head to see all of the men and women behind you on their own mats. He sighs, dropping his mat a little too close to yours.
You giggle a little to yourself at the small display of possessiveness.
ââŚyouâre unbelievable,â he mutters.
You glance over your shoulder, all innocence. âWhat?â
He just deadpans back, and you smile sweetly in return.
âHurry up and sit,â you whisper, âI canât focus with you hovering.â
His eyes widen and his mouth opens in protest.
âYOUâ He lowers his voice, âyou can't focus?! Iâve been half hard since we left the house and you cant focus?â He whisper yells as he finally plops down and begins following the stretches.
Jean, on his other side, quietly snorts to himself as he tries his hardest not to make eye contact with you.
It takes everything in you not to laugh out loud, and you have to turn your face into your arm to stop the noise from escaping.
âShut up and pay attention, weâre supposed to be aligning our chakras.â
âOh good, letâs start with the stomach.â
This time you do laugh, and you silently thank God for the level of noise the music makes to cover it.
The instructor guides all of you into, you guessed it, downward dog, and you send up a silent prayer that this is going as well as it is.
You lift your hips up, and turn to look at Eren, whoâs still staring right at you, ass still on his mat.
Heâs leaned back on his hands, the perfect angle to stare right at your ass without making it too obvious. And you laugh to yourself as his brain finally reboots itself and he starts placing his hands in front of him. âIâm gonna blow up.â
The class continues on, and you actually start getting into it.
The instructor starts wrapping up the class, telling everyone about the upcoming classes while you all start rolling up your mats and returning your foam blocks to the front.
You, Mikasa and Annie are still laughing to yourselves when you feel Eren press up behind you, hands settling on your stomach right below your belly button. Bending his head to whisper in your ear as Annie and Sasha turn to say hi to Jean and Armin as they start walking toward you all.
âIf we donât leave right now I'm going to scandalize every person in this room.â
You giggle and turn in his arms, hands coming up to rest on the back of his neck.
âWhatâs the matter baby? Did you not enjoy the class?â
He bends his head to kiss you, mouth sliding from your lips to your ear.
âKeep going baby, letâs see how much you enjoy being teased later.â
Your face warms, and you swat his arm, stepping back to say bye to your group.
Armin cuts in before you can say anything. âAnnie and I are going to grab lunch, you guys should come!â
Before anyone else can cut in you hear Eren let out a loud, humorless laugh. âAbsolutely not, Iâve been suffering for the last two hours- scratch that, Iâve been suffering for the last two weeks.â
Your face gets even warmer, but Jean and Armin are loving every second of watching their friend fray at the edges.
âWe will not be making it to lunch,â He cuts himself off to reach into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet. âFuck this stupid challengeâ, He shoves a hundred into each of their hands, âwe will see you all later, donât call or text either of us for at least 24 hours.â
Both Jean and Armin start hysterically laughing, and you feel your face blazing hot as Eren proceeds to grab your hand and start walking out of the yoga studio.
You turn, waving bye to your friends as they all wink and shout their goodbyes and good lucks.
You reach the car, sliding in as Eren opens the door, holding it for you before crowding you back against the seat.
His mouth is on yours instantly, and he gives you zero time to react before his tongue is down your throat, licking across the back of your teeth. It's filthy and you have half a brain left to be concerned about the people around you still getting into their cars.
He pulls away, a string of spit connecting you both before it snaps. He brushes the hair back out of your face and reaches over to buckle you in.
He rounds the car, starts it, and turns his upper body, hand resting on the back of your headrest, backing out of the parking lot.
âI can not believe you just said that to our friends, you're never going to live losing the challenge down.â
He doesnât even look embarrassed about it, turning to look at you as he pulls up to a light.
âI dont care, I was four seconds away from chewing on my mat like a dog.â
You throw your head back laughing, and he continues on.
âThis challenge was the worst idea weâve ever had, and you enjoyed fucking with me too much.â His eyes darken, voice dropping into that tone that sends chills through your spine, âLetâs see how funny you think it is when you're bent over.â
sundress season. nsfw. fem!reader. | not proofread.
sundresses hit different when he can't keep his hands to himself in the grocery store (but you're not exactly complaining).
cw; mature content, smut, fingering. wc; 2.1k
more of your favorite boys!
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a/n; Hello hello! I'm sorryy for slow updates again. busy bee once more... hope everyone is doing great and thank you for reading!! (we are overdue for some freaky cough cough wink wink in honor of spring season here hahah â¸( *ËáľË* )â¸
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
The dress was a mistake.
Not because it's not cuteâit is. And not because it's inappropriateâit's perfectly modest, sweet even, and makes elderly shop owners smile at you.
It was a mistake because heâs losing his goddamn mind.
He's been half-hard since you left the apartment, since he caught sight of you smoothing the fabric down over your thighs, adjusting the ribbon at the waist. It makes you look soft and untouchable all at once.Â
You're ahead of him now, standing on your toes to reach something on a high shelf. The dress rides up just slightly, exposing the backs of your thighs. He stops walking in the middle of the aisle and stares, because what the fuck else is he supposed to do?
"Babe, can youâ"
You turn, catching him frozen, and raise an eyebrow.
"Can I what?" His voice comes out rougher than intended.
"Grab that?" You point to the shelf. "The rice crackers."
He moves forward and reaches over your head easily, but instead of stepping back, he stays there, crowding into your space, one hand braced on the shelf above you. You tilt your head back to look at him, and he watches your throat work as you swallow.
"Here." He drops the package into your hands, but doesn't move away.
"Thanks," you whisper, and something in your eyes tells him you know exactly what you're doing to him.
He lets you slip past, but his hand catches your hip briefly, fingers pressing into the soft fabric, into the softer skin beneath.
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
The dairy aisle is his downfall.
You're reading the label on a container of Greek yogurt, completely absorbed, and heâs standing behind you trying to remember how to act normal, trying not to think about how the dress clings when you bend slightly or how he can see the outline of your underwear when the light hits just right.Â
"Hey."
He blinks. You're looking at him over your shoulder, concern creasing your forehead.
"You okay? You look weird."
"I'm fine."
"What're you staring at?"
"I'm thinking."
"About yogurt?"
"Very deeply about yogurt."
You turn fully, and he's forced to confront how close he's gotten.Â
"What's wrong?" you ask quietly, and the genuine care in your voice does something catastrophic to his chest.
"Nothing's wrong." He reaches out before he can stop himself, fingers catching a strand of hair that's fallen across your face. He tucks it behind your ear, lets his hand linger against your jaw. "You just look pretty today."
Your breath hitches, and thenâgod, help himâyou smile. That sweet, utterly oblivious smile that makes his brain short-circuit.
"Oh! Is it the dress?" You do a little spin, completely uninhibited, and the fabric flares out around your thighs. He's going to have a fucking aneurysm. "Yuki and I got matching ones when we went shopping last weekend! She got the pink version, but I liked the cream better, and she said it would look good on me, so we both got one, and I wasn't sure about the length at first because it's a little shorter than what I usually wear, but the lady at the store saidâ"
You're rambling. You do this when you're excited or nervous, words tumbling out in that animated way that's so fucking cute he can barely stand it. Your hands are gesturing as you talk, eyes bright, completely unaware that he's having very detailed, very filthy thoughts about bunching that dress up around your waist andâ
"âand the fabric is so light, which is perfect for this weather, right? I was worried it might be too see-through, but it has a lining, soâbabe? Are you listening?"
No. He's thinking about how easy it would be to slide his hands up under that "light fabric." How you'd sound if he pressed you against the shelves and kissed you until you forgot about everything except his name. How fucking perfect you'd look with those innocent eyes all wide and dazed while heâ
"Bubs?"
"Yeah." His voice comes out strained. "Listening."
You tilt your head, studying him with that open, trusting expression that's going to be the death of him. "You sure? You look kind of..."
"Kind of what?"
"I don't know. Intense?" you giggle. "It's just a dress. You're acting weird."
Just a dress. Just a dress. Just a dress, his fucking ass.Â
You're standing there looking like every fantasy he's ever had.Â
"It's a nice dress," he manages, thumb brushing your cheekbone.
"Awh, baby!" You beam at him, and thenâbecause you're completely innocent and have no idea what you're doing to himâyou lean into his touch. "I'm glad you like it. I almost wore a different one, butâ"
Fuck.
He can't take it anymore.
"Come here." He moves, fingers wrapping around your wrist, pulling you to follow him.
"What are youâbabe, where are we going?"
He finds what he's looking for, a narrow space between the refrigerated section and the endcap display, hidden from the main aisle.Â
It's ridiculous. Youâre both in a grocery store, but he can't think about that right now, can't think about anything except getting his hands on you properly and ruining you in the best way possible.
Your back hits the wall gently, and he presses close, one hand planted beside your head.
You're breathless, eyes wide with confusion and something else, something that makes his blood run hot. "We're in public."
"I know." He dips his head, nose brushing your temple. "I know, pretty girl."
The pet name makes you shiver.Â
"Youâre so crazy," you whisper, but your hands are curling into his shirt, pulling him closer instead of pushing away.
"No." His lips find your forehead, pressing a kiss there that's too tender for what he's thinking. "You're driving me crazy." His other hand finds your waist, fingers spreading over the fabric, over your ribs. "In that fucking dress."
"Baby, seriously, we're at a grocery storeâ" Your voice is getting breathier, even as you try to sound rational. "There are peopleâwhat if someone seesâand we still need to get the eggs, remember? You literally finished the last ones this morning, and I wanted to make that frittata tomorrow, the one with theâohâ"
He's not listening. He's too busy kissing down the column of your throat, finding that spot just below your ear that makes you melt. Your skin is so soft, tastes faintly of that lotion you use, and he wants to mark you up, wants everyone to knowâ
"âand we're in the dairy section, this is insane, what if we bump intoâ"
"Shut up, baby," he mutters against your skin, and you let out a cute moan that goes straight to his cock.
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
He's gone.
Heâs so gone.Â
His hand slides down, over your hip, gathering the fabric of your dress slowly. You're trembling against him, fingers tight in his hair, and he wants to memorize this: the way you look flushed and wanting, the little sounds you're making, the trust in your eyes even as they flicker with nervousness.
"Is this okay?" he asks, palm flat against your thigh now, thumb stroking small circles. "Tell me if it's not."
"It'sâ" You swallow hard. "Yes. But we're in aâ"
"I know." He kisses you again, softer this time. "I've got you. Just be quiet for me."
Your eyes roll slightly at that. His hand moves higher, and your head falls back against the wall, lips parting on a silent oh.
He watches your face as he touches you over your underwear, learning what makes your breath catch, what makes your hips cant forward seeking more. You're so responsive, so perfect, and he has to kiss you again to muffle the sounds you're making.
"Ah, pleaseâ"
"Please what, baby?" His fingers slip beneath the fabric, and you keen softly. "Use your words."
"I can'tâwe can'tâ" But you're moving against his hand, desperate and needy, and he loves you like this, loves seeing you unravel.
"Yes, we can." His voice is low, commanding in that way that makes you shiver. "You're going to be quiet, and I'm going to make you feel good. Okay?"
You nod frantically, and he rewards you by sliding two fingers inside, slow and careful, watching your face the entire time. You're so wet, so ready, and it takes everything in him not to groan out loud at how you feel.
"Fuck," he breathes against your ear. "You're soaking, baby."
You whimper at his words, hips rolling forward to take his fingers deeper, and the movement is so needy, so fucking perfect that his cock throbs painfully against his shorts. He sets a steady rhythm, curling his fingers just right; you respond immediately, grinding down on his hand, unable to help yourself.
"That's it," he murmurs, his free hand gripping your hip to steady you. "Take what you need."
And you do. Your hips are moving in small, desperate circles, riding his fingers while trying to stay quiet, and the wet sounds are obscene in the quiet corner. He can hear itâthe slick slide of his fingers inside you, the way you're dripping down his palmâand it's driving him fucking insane.
Your voice breaks on his name, barely a whisper. "Oh fuck, Iâ"
"Shh, pretty. I know." His thumb finds your clit, circling with the same maddening patience he uses for everything, and you bite down on your lip so hard he's worried you'll draw blood. "You're being so good for me. So fucking perfect."
You're babbling now, soft little nonsense sounds and broken fragments of his name, your inhibitions melting away as pleasure builds. "PleaseâI needâpleaseâmoreâ"
He gives you more, adds pressure, keeps the rhythm steady while you grind shamelessly on his hand. His mouth finds your throat, teeth scraping over your pulse point before biting down gently, and you keen, the sound muffled only by your hand flying up to cover your mouth.
"That's my girl," he growls against your skin, sucking a mark into the soft flesh just above your collarbone. He'll have to be carefulâcan't mark you anywhere visibleâbut fuck, he wants to, wants to cover you in proof that you're his. "Look at you, grinding on my fingers in the middle of a grocery store. So desperate for it."
The filthy words make you clench around him, and he grins against your throat, teeth tugging at your skin again. You're so close. He can feel it in the way you're tightening around his fingers, in the desperate rolls of your hips, in how wet you areâgod, everything is so fucking wet, his fingers sliding easily, your arousal coating his palm.
"You're making such a mess, baby," he whispers, and the words are barely out before you're whimpering again, hips stuttering. "Can you hear how wet you are? How good you sound taking my fingers?"
"AhâmmâI'mâ" You can't even finish the sentence, too far gone, and it's the hottest thing he's ever seen.
"I know. I've got you." He increases the pressure slightly, keeps the pace steady, grinding the heel of his palm against your clit with each thrust of his fingers. His teeth find your earlobe, tugging gently. "Come for me, baby. Lemme feel it."
It's the command in his voice combined with one more curl of his fingers that does it. You break, shaking apart in his arms, face buried against his neck to muffle the sounds as you pulse around his fingers. He works you through it, gentle now, kissing your hair and murmuring praise while you ride out the aftershocks, still grinding weakly against his hand.
"So perfect," he says, over and over. "So fucking perfect for me."
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
For a moment, neither of you moves. You're still trembling slightly, forehead pressed against his shoulder, breathing hard. That is until reality crashes back: the fluorescent lights, the hum of refrigeration units, the distant sound of a shopping cart squeaking past the aisle.Â
"Eggs," he says suddenly.
You blink at him. "What?"
"You wanted eggs. For your frittata." He steps back, adjusting himself discreetly, still painfully hard.
"Oh. Right. Eggs." You sound dazed, and he has to resist the urge to kiss you again. "Yes. Eggs. That'sâthat's why we came here."
"Among other things," he mutters, and you turn bright red.
The egg section is mercifully close. You grab a carton with shaky hands, barely looking at it, and practically throw it into the basket. "Got them. Okay. Good. Let's go."
"What about the vegetables?" he asks innocently, and you shoot him a look that could melt steel.
"We have lettuce. That's vegetable enough. We're leaving."
"I thought you also wantedâ"
"Leaving."
He grins, satisfied, because you're adorable when you're flustered. "Yes, ma'am."
synopsis: Sukuna doesnât fall for people,he wins them, then gets bored. Frat king, reckless, used to easy victories, he notices you because youâre different,too quiet, too soft, too unaware of how pretty you actually are. So he turns it into a game,slipping into your days, earning your trust, getting you comfortable⌠until getting you is easy. And when he finally does, he leaves like he always does.
Only this time,you donât chase. You donât fight. You just⌠disappear,And for the first time, Sukuna realizesâheâs not done with you.Even if youâre done with him.
So will he learn to live with it⌠or do whatever it takes to make it right?
Wc: 12.2k!!
warnings: emotional confrontation, misunderstandings, mutual yearning, kissing in the rain, sukuna is DESPERATE, grovelling, emotional intimacy, soft happy ending
Chap 1 ch2 ch3
After the last time you spoke to him, things didnât break the way you expected them to.
Nothing around you changed. Classes went on, people talked the same way, the campus stayed just as loud and careless as it had always been. There was no visible change, no moment where everything slowed down to acknowledge what had happened. If anything, the world felt almost indifferent to it.
And that made it easier.
You went back to your routine without interruption. You reached class on time, sat where you always did, kept your focus where it needed to be. No one stopped you in the hallway anymore. No one stepped into your space like it belonged to them. You didnât have to anticipate anything-no unexpected conversations, no presence you had to prepare yourself for.
It was simpler like this.
You didnât have to think about him.At least, not intentionally.
There were moments that slipped through anyway.
They were small enough to ignore if you wanted to. A pause before leaving a classroom, like you were waiting for something without realizing it. A glance toward a corridor that didnât need your attention. The faint, unnecessary awareness of absence,something missing that you refused to define.
You noticed it once.Then again.After that, you made sure you didnât because there was no reason to.
The first time you saw him again, it wasnât because you were looking for him.
You were just walking between classes, focused on getting through before it filled up, when your gaze lifted just enough to register movement on the other side. Recognition settled before you could stop it.
Sukuna.
He looked exactly the same.
Same posture. Same presence, people moved around him like he pulled attention without trying. There was nothing about the scene that stood out, nothing that should have made you pause.
And yet,you did.
Someone was talking to him. Laughing, standing too close, brushing against his arm like it was natural. It was the kind of thing you would have ignored without thinking before.
You should have.Instead, your steps slowed just slightly.
He didnât lean in.Didnât respond the way you expected.
There was no shift in him, no engagement that pulled him closer into whatever was happening.
He just stepped back,it was small and barely noticeable to anyone else,
But you saw it.
Your gaze lingered a second longer than it should have before you looked away and kept walking.
It didnât matter.You told yourself that immediately.And for the most part,you believed it.
On the other hand,for him,
He sees you before anything else registers.
Itâs immediate. The second you step into view, his attention shifts without asking him first, like itâs already decided where it belongs.
He doesnât move ,thatâs the only difference.
Before, he wouldâve crossed the distance without thinking. Wouldâve stepped into your path, said something just to get your attention, just to see how youâd react. It used to be easy,instinctive in a way he never questioned.
Now, he stays where he is.Not because he doesnât want to move.That part hasnât changed.
The instinct is still there. His body reacts the same way it always has,the pull to close the distance, to step into your space before the moment passes, before youâre out of reach.
It hits just as fast.Just as strong.
He just doesnât act on it andâŚ.itâs because of him that he canât.
His jaw tightens slightly, gaze fixed on you longer than it should be.He tells himself itâs nothing,that this is how it should be now.
No interruptions. No stepping into something he already ruined. No pretending it can go back to what it was.
It should have been simple.It isnât.
Because now that heâs not moving toward you, he notices everything else instead.
The way you walk past without looking at him. The way your attention doesnât move, not even for a second. The way thereâs no hesitation in your steps, no awareness of him anywhere near you.
Like heâs justâanother person.
That is harder to accept than he expects.
Someone beside him says something,he doesnât catch it.A girl laughs, closer than necessary, her hand brushing his arm like itâs nothing.He doesnât react or lean in like he would have.He just steps back ,subtly, it comes to him naturally.
His attention is still on you.For a second, he thinks about it.
Moving. Calling out to you. Stopping you before you disappear into the crowd like another face.
The thought settles in his chest, sharp enough to make him shift forward without realizing it.
Then,he stops, he knows its not like before.
So he stays where he is and watches you walk past,and doesnât follow.
To him,that restraint doesnât feel like control.It feels like losing something,and not being able to do anything about it.
â-
Days pass as usual,
The routine doesnât break.
It holds in place, steady enough, You move through your days the same way you always have, lecture, notes, the quiet discipline of keeping your focus where it belongs. Itâs controlled. Measured. Exactly what you wanted.
And still something keeps slipping,Not enough to disrupt anything.Just enough to be felt.
You notice it in the middle of things. When your pen pauses longer than it should, when your thoughts drift somewhere you didnât send them, when your attention shifts before you can catch it.
It doesnât stay long enough to take over,But it happens.
You donât look for him.You make sure of that.
But your awareness shifts anyway.
A door opening.Footsteps slowing.
Someone taking a seat behind you,and your body registers it before your mind does.
You donât always turn.But sometimes,you already know.
It gets harder to ignore than it should be.
You donât let it settle.You donât give it space to become anything more than a passing thought.
Still,it lingers just long enough to leave something behind.
A quiet, persistent awareness that doesnât belong,but refuses to leave.
For sukuna,It stops being unintentional. Thatâs when it gets worse.
At first, itâs easy to dismiss.
Same classes. Same schedule. Same places he wouldâve been in anyway. Thereâs nothing strange about ending up in the same room, nothing that needs explanation.
But then,he starts adjusting.
Not enough for anyone else to notice or make it obvious.Just enough for Him to know
He gets there earlier.Not by much.But enough that heâs already seated when you walk in.
He tells himself itâs nothing.That it doesnât mean anything.
And still he waits, Although its not something that heâd admit.
But the moment the door opensâ
his attention locks.Every time.
He watches you walk in.Watches the way you move without hesitation, like nothing around you matters enough to interrupt you.
And something in him tightens feeling so sharp.Like itâs been building all day just for that moment.
He doesnât move toward you.But he doesnât stay away either.The distance changes.
A seat closer than before.Then another.Not beside you yet.
But close enough that he doesnât have to look for you anymore.Close enough that if you look up,
youâll find him-
And you do, more and more each time.Enough that it stops feeling like coincidence.
The first time your eyes meetâ
he doesnât react.He doesnât smirk or say anything.Doesnât turn it into something lighter than it is.
He just-holds it.
And thatâs where it goes wrong.Because he doesnât want to look away.
Atleast immediately, because it finally feels like thereâs something there , that it hasnât completely disappeared.
Even if itâs just a second.Even if itâs nothing more than this.
You look away first. of course you always do.But itâs enough.More than enough, Because,that moment.That look.
That brief, unguarded awareness that slips through before you shut it down again.It stays with him longer than it should. Long enough to follow him out of the room,to settle somewhere he canât ignore.
It makes everything else feel less.He notices it everywhere.
The conversations that donât hold.The people who expect something from him that he canât seem to give the same way anymore.The way he steps back without thinking, like his bodyâs already decided itâs not worth it.
The problem is not them, its you.
And the way everything else falls short of something he didnât even realize he was holding onto.
He exhales sharply, dragging a hand through his hair, irritation settling in where something else is trying to take shape.
It doesnât make sense,shouldnât matter.And yet heâs here earlier.Sitting closer.
Watching you like heâs waiting for something he doesnât know how to ask for.
Thatâs not something heâs used to or something he knows how to handle.But it doesnât stop,Nothing about it does.
ââ
The lecture ends in the usual way,chairs scraping back, voices rising, people already halfway into their next conversation before theyâve even left their seats.
You close your notebook and gather your things, taking your time the way you always do, to avoid getting caught in the rush.
When you step into the aisle, you expect it to be clear.
It isnât.
Heâs there.
Standing in the way , not really blocking you orâŚNot trying to.
But heâs close enough that you have to acknowledge him.
For a second, you think heâll step aside but he doesnât.
You glance up and heâs already looking at you.Thereâs something different in it.
The usual sharpness is nowhere to be seen, that easy, unreadable confidence he used to wear like it cost him nothing, also not there.
This has a hold in it.
Like heâs been standing there longer than he should have, something he decided to do.
Your grip tightens slightly around your bag.
You wait.So does he.
Thenâ
ââŚYouâve been leaving early.â
Itâs not what you expect.
His voice is lower than usual. Doesnât sound careless or thrown out just to fill space.Its Measured.
You blink, caught off guard for half a second.
âI havenât.â
He nods once, like heâs already thought that through.
âEarlier than before.â
Thereâs no accusation in it.No edge.Just quiet observation.
And the fact that he noticed at all lands heavier than it should.
You shift your weight slightly, eyes flickering away before settling back on him.
âIâve always left like this.â
A small pause.
âMaybe you werenât paying attention before.âItâs quiet.But it lands.
He doesnât react the way he used to.No pushback.
Insteadâhis gaze drops briefly, like heâs considering it.
Like he knows itâs true.
ââŚYeah,â he says after a moment.
Itâs softer than you expect.
For some reason that unsettles you more than anything else.
The silence stretches again, but itâs not empty.
Thereâs something in it now. Something held too tightly, like it might slip if either of you moves too fast.
He shifts slightly, not stepping closer,but not giving you space either. Like he hasnât decided which one heâs supposed to do.
âIââ
He stops.Your attention sharpens. Because him hesitating? Is new.
He tries again, slower this time.
ââŚI didnât come last week.â
You nod once.
âI know.â
The words come out before you think about them. And the second they do,you feel it.That small slip.
His gaze lifts fully to yours.With no intent of searching or questioning, its just there.
ââŚYou noticed.â It isnât a question.
You hold his gaze for a second longer than you should.
âI notice things.â
Itâs controlled and Careful ,But itâs not nothing.
He exhales quietly, like something in him eases and tightens at the same time.
âI didnât think you would.â Thereâs something off in that. Almost as if its uncertain.
You donât answer immediately. Because that doesnât match him,none of this does.
âYou still came today,â you say instead.
Itâs a small thing,It shouldnât matter.But by now you know it does.
His jaw shifts slightly, like heâs holding something back.
âYeah.â
A pause.
âDidnât want to miss it again.â
The words sit between you. The words are simple but anything but casual or empty.
You stand there for a bit. Because you can hear what he didnât say. Because it feels like something is trying to reach you,and stopping just short.
You look away first,Of course.
You step past him, keeping just enough distance, your shoulder brushing the air between you but not him.
Stillâ
you feel it.
The way his attention follows.
He doesnât turn right away.He lets you go.That is in his control.
What isnâtâis everything else.
His chest feels tighter than it should. Not enough to hurt, or so he thinks,but its noticeable.
Because that wasnât how he meant it to go. He had more.He just couldnât get it out right.
His hand lifts briefly, dragging through his hair before dropping back down, like heâs trying to shake off something that wonât leave.
You noticed.Thatâs what stays. Not what you said or how you said it. But That you were paying attention at all. Even now.
And that changes something.
Because it means this isnât one-sided, it means he didnât lose it completely.
He exhales slowly, eyes shifting forward before he finally starts walking.
This isnât enough.He knows that.Not even close to enough.
But itâs the first thing that hasnât feltâempty.
Sukuna doesnât just want to be near you.He wants to get it right.
He just doesnât know how yet,but heâll do what it takes to figure it out.
ââ
The library is quieter than usual.
Calm enough that every small sound feels sharper. Pages turning. Chairs shifting. The low hum of people trying not to disturb each other.
Youâve been here long enough to settle into it , to be focused.Almost.
You donât notice him at first.
Itâs only when the chair beside you pulls out, not across or behindâ
beside.
That gets your attention. Just slightly.
You donât look at him immediately. You donât need to. You already know.
Your fingers still against the page for a second before you turn it. You continue writing. Like nothing changed.
Sukuna sits down slower than he means to. Heâs careful with it. Like heâs aware of the space heâs stepping into.
He doesnât say anything right away.
The silence stretches.And its different from before,tense.
He glances at you once.Then again.
You donât look up.
Your focus stays on your notes, your posture steady, controlled,but your pen presses harder than it should.
He notices that.Of course he does.
â..You always sit here?â
Itâs quiet but itâs not casual, like youâd expect from him.
You nod once.
âYes.â
A pause.
âYouâve seen me.â
Itâs not a question. Your hand stops. Just for a second.
Thenâ
ââŚIâve seen you everywhere,â you say, before you can stop yourself.
Silence.
You feel it immediately ,What you just admitted.
Your gaze lifts, And heâs already looking at you. Closer this time. Too close to ignore.
Something shifts between you.And its feels so real.
His brows pull together slightly, not in confusion,something else. Something you canât name yet.
ââŚI didnât mean it.â
The words come out before he can adjust them. Your expression changes.
âMean what?â
He exhales slowly, looking away for a second before forcing himself back.
âThe way I said it.â Itâs not a full apology. But itâs not nothing.
Your chest tightens.
this is different.
You donât respond immediately.
âYou said what you meant.â Your voice is steady but softer than before.
He shakes his head slightly.
âNo.â A beat.
âI said it like it didnât matter.â
His words hit. Because it did.
You donât look away this time. And for a secondâŚneither does he.
The space between you feels smaller. Not physically ,justâŚcloser.
Like something is about to shift into something neither of you knows how to handle.
His hand moves slightly on the table, theyâre not reaching but theyâre closer.
Then stops.
ââŚIt did,â he adds, quieter. thatâs the closest heâs come.
You inhale slowly, steadying yourself. Because a part of you,wants to believe him. And thatâs exactly what you donât trust.
You close your notebook.
âI should go.â
He nods immediately.Too quickly.Like he expected it. Like he knows you wouldnât want tostay.
âYeah.â
You stand.He doesnât stop you or reach for you,doesnât even say another word. Doesnât say anything else.
But when you walk past, you feel it again.That same thing.
Stronger this time , and you know this time that its not just awareness but something stronger pulling, something which is unfinished.
He doesnât move for a long moment after you leave.
Because âŚ..that was close. Closer than heâs been. Closer than heâs comfortable with. And still its not enough.
His jaw tightens slightly as he looks down at the table.He meant it. Not the words but what he tried to say. And it still came out wrong.
He exhales sharply, leaning back in his chair.
This isnât something he can force like before ,something he can win by pushing harder. If he does,he loses you again. And,thatâs not something heâs willing to risk anymore.
He just wants to keep this from slipping through his hands again. And maybe thatâs why he starts paying attention to details he wouldâve ignored before.
The crease between your brows when you reread a line too quickly. The way your fingers pause against the page whenever your concentration drifts. The quiet habit you have of tapping your pen twice before continuing your notes.
Tiny things.
The kind of things that settle into him before he realizes heâs memorizing them.
The distance between you changes slowly after that.
He starts sitting closer during lectures, close enough that your shoulder brushes his line of sight whenever you shift in your seat. Somewhere along the way, it stops feeling strange to find him there.
You stop reacting to his presence immediately. Your body no longer stiffens every time he sits beside you, and your gaze doesnât dart away as quickly when you catch him looking.
The tension remains.It simply changes shape.
One afternoon, you miss part of a lecture while searching through your bag for a pen you swore you packed. By the time you look back up, his notebook is angled slightly toward you.
The missing lines are already there.
Your eyes linger on the page for a second before you copy them down quietly.
When you finish, he pulls the notebook back without comment and continues writing like nothing happened.
Something about that stays with you longer than it should.
Not the gesture itself. The ease of it. The fact that he noticed at all.
You begin expecting him in small ways after that.
A seat occupied before class starts. A familiar presence beside you in the library. The low sound of pages turning a few minutes before the lecture begins.
The awareness settles carefully, slowly enough that you almost miss it happening. Almost. Sukuna notices the shift immediately.
Your guard still exists. He can see it every time your attention catches itself lingering too long. Every time you seem to remember, halfway through a moment, that you should probably pull back.
But you stay. And for him, that changes everything. Because every second you allow him near you feels painfully earned. And every second makes him want to keep earning more.
Somewhere along the line, the space between you changes as well, without either of you acknowledging it.
It shows up in small ways first.
His shoulder ending up close enough to yours during lectures that you become aware of the warmth before you realize why your focus slipped.
You notice it. You stop reacting to it. Thatâs the dangerous part.
youâre reaching into your bag for a pen when your fingers brush against his by accident.
The contact lasts less than a second,your hand stills immediately after. So does his.
Neither of you says anything.
You pull your hand back first, finding the pen a moment later than you should have.
When you finally look up again, his attention is already on the front of the room.
But the grip he has on his own pen has tightened slightly. And for some reason,it came to your notice.
Another time, the lecture hall empties too quickly around you.
You stand at the same moment he does, both of you stepping into the narrow aisle at once. Too close. Your shoulder brushes his chest lightly before either of you can stop it.
The contact is brief.Its barely there.
Still, something in Sukunaâs posture changes instantly, his body going still in a way youâve never seen before.
Like he felt all of it.
You murmur a quiet apology and try to move past him.
His hand lifts instinctively. Not grabbing or holding. Just settling lightly against your waist for half a second to steady you before letting go again.
The touch burns long after itâs gone. You feel it all the way back to your seat. Sukuna feels it longer. Because you didnât pull away immediately.
You looked at him first. And for one dangerous second neither of you moved.
After that, he becomes more careful with himself.
Ironically, it only makes everything worse. Because now every accidental touch feels deliberate in the moments after.
Every brush of your hand. Every shift of your knee beneath the desk. Every second you remain close instead of creating distance.
And you let it happen. Slowly, reluctant. But enough that the tension between you begins settling into something warmer. Something softer around the edges. Something that almost feels safe.
Thatâs what ruins him.
The way he starts getting used to it. The way he starts waiting for those tiny moments like they mean more than they should. Like theyâre proof that maybe, slowly, youâre letting him back in.
ââ-
The cafĂŠ was loud in the comfortable way it always was around them.
Gojoâs voice carried over half the room effortlessly, something animated and exaggerated spilling out of him while Geto sat across the table looking deeply regrettable about ever responding in the first place. Shoko was barely participating, curled into her chair with a drink in one hand and the expression of someone enduring a long-term inconvenience.
It felt normal. Easy.
The kind of scene you hadnât realized you missed until you were standing in front of it again.
âThere she is,â Gojo announced the second he noticed you. âThought you died.â
âI was in class.â
âExactly. Suspicious.â
You rolled your eyes softly, shifting your bag higher onto your shoulder as you stepped closer to the table.
Geto gave you a small nod in greeting. Shoko lifted two fingers lazily without looking up from her drink.
And despite yourself,you relaxed.Just a little.
âSit down before he starts crying,â Shoko muttered.
âI cry beautifully,â Gojo said immediately.
âYou cry loudly.â
A quiet laugh escaped you before you could stop it.
Gojo pointed at you triumphantly. âSee? She likes me.â
âThatâs not what happened.â
âIt basically was.â
You shook your head, still smiling faintly as you moved around the table,then stopped. Because Sukuna was walking toward the group.
Your attention caught instantly. Not intentionally, It just did.
He slowed slightly when he reached the table, gaze flickering toward you first before anyone else. The look lasted maybe a second. Still enough that something low in your chest shifted unexpectedly.
âMove,â he muttered toward Gojo, nudging the empty chair beside you lightly with his foot.
Gojoâs grin appeared immediately.Dangerous.
âOh, this is interesting.â
Sukuna ignored him completely. Which somehow made it worse.
The chair scraped against the floor as he pulled it out and sat beside you like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Not across from you. Beside you.
You became suddenly, painfully aware of how close he was.
The warmth of him settled near your shoulder almost immediately, familiar enough to make your chest tighten before you could stop it.
Gojo looked delighted.
Geto looked like heâs fighting a smirk.
Even Shoko glanced up briefly over the rim of her drink before looking away again like sheâd expected this already. And that unsettled you more than anything else.
Because suddenly it didnât feel contained anymore. Whatever had been happening between you and Sukuna over the past few weeks had stopped existing only in quiet moments and lingering eye contact, Other people could see it now.
Your fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the table.
Instinctively, your gaze shifted sideways, And found Sukuna already looking at you. Not intensely , not carelessly either its,
JustâŚ.there. Aware.
Like his attention kept settling on you before he realized he was doing it. Like it happened naturally now.
Your breath caught softly.You looked away first.
Conversation drifted around you again after that, easy and overlapping, but your awareness stayed split strangely in two.
Half listening to Gojo argue dramatically about something meaningless. Half aware of Sukuna beside you. Every small movement registered.
The brush of his sleeve near your arm when he reached for a drink. The quiet shift of his posture whenever you spoke. The way his attention flickered toward you before anyone else whenever the group laughed about something.
None of it was obvious. That was the problem.It felt unconscious. And somehow that made it harder to dismiss.
âYouâre quiet,â Gojo said suddenly, looking between the two of you with immediate suspicion.
âSheâs always quiet,â Sukuna answered before you could.
Your eyes lifted immediately.So did Gojoâs brows.
There was something strange about hearing him say it. Not teasing butâŚfamiliar. Like heâd spent enough time paying attention to know.
The realization hit harder than it should have.Because he had.
Sukuna seemed to realize it a second later too.
A faint tension pulled briefly through his shoulders before he leaned back slightly in his chair, gaze shifting away.
Gojo looked moments away from losing his mind.
âThis is insane,â he muttered dramatically into his drink.
âPlease shut up,â Shoko sighed.
You tried focusing on the conversation again. It didnât really work. Because every few seconds, your attention drifted sideways again without permission.
And every timeâ
you found Sukuna already there.
Then Gojo spoke again.
âSo,â he said lazily, stretching back in his chair, âweâre all still alive enough for tomorrow night, right?â
Shoko groaned immediately. âNo.â
âYou say that every time.â
âBecause every time I mean it.â
Geto glanced toward you. âYou coming?â
You blinked once. âComing where?â
âThe party.â
The word settled strangely in your chest. Your gaze shifted toward Sukuna automatically. His expression flattened almost immediately, like he already disliked where the conversation was heading.
âAnd our Frat king here actually agreed to show up.â Gojo continued, far too entertained by this entire situation.
âHistoric moment, honestly.â
The thought caught uncomfortably against everything else that had been building these past few weeks.
The carefulness.The lingering looks. The quiet touches that never seemed intentional until they were over.
And thenâa party.
Crowds. Music. Girls draped across him like before. Like nothing had changed at all. Your chest tightened unexpectedly. Because you suddenly couldnât tell which version of him was real.
The one beside you now,or the one youâd spent so long trying to forget.
âIâm only showing up because you people wouldnât shut up about it.â Sukunaâs voice cut through the table quietly.
âYou donât have to come.â He said to you, carefully.
You looked at him immediately. He was already watching you again. And there was something restrained in his expression now. Almost wary, like he was trying to spare you from something before it happened. The look settled somewhere dangerous beneath your ribs. Because it felt sincere.
And that,that was becoming harder to protect yourself from.
âââ
The conversation happens later, after the noise of the cafĂŠ has faded and everyone drifts off in different directions.
You end up outside one of the campus buildings with Shoko almost by accident, the evening air cooler now, carrying that faint tiredness that settles over campus after sunset. Sheâs leaning against the railing near the vending machines, tapping the bottom of a cigarette pack against her palm while you stand beside her with your bag hanging loosely from your shoulder.
For a while, neither of you says anything. Itâs comfortable enough that the silence doesnât need fixing.
âYouâve been weird lately,â Shoko says eventually.
You glance at her immediately. âThatâs rich coming from you.â
âIâm always weird. Yours is recent.â
You let out a quiet breath through your nose, looking away toward the dim lights scattered across campus.
âIâm fine.â
Shoko hums softly like she doesnât believe you for even a second. The image from earlier keeps circling quietly in your head despite yourself.
Sukuna beside you at the cafĂŠ.The way his attention kept drifting toward you without meaning to. The way he sounded when Gojo brought up the party.
Flat.Detached.Different. Dangerously easy to believe.
âYouâre thinking about him again,â Shoko says observing you.
Your shoulders tense slightly.
âThat obvious?â
âTo me? Yeah.â
You stare ahead quietly for a moment.
The worst part is that you donât even know what exactly youâre thinking anymore. Not clearly. Not in a way that makes sense. Because things have changed. You know they have.
You feel it every time he sits beside you without hesitation now. Every time his hand brushes yours and neither of you pulls away quickly enough. Every time his gaze settles on you like itâs become instinct.
And somehow,thatâs exactly what scares you.
âI donât know what he wants,â you admit finally, quieter this time.
Shoko glances sideways at you.
âNeither does he.â
A small laugh escapes you before you can stop it. Tired. Brief. Then the silence settles again.
Not awkward. Just thoughtful.
âYou going tomorrow?â Shoko asks after a while.
You already know what she means.
âI wasnât planning to.â
Shoko finally pulls a cigarette free but doesnât light it yet, rolling it slowly between her fingers instead.
âYou should.â
You blink once. âWhy?â
She shrugs lightly.
âBecause youâve been orbiting this thing with him for weeks.â
The words land more directly than you expect. Your brows pull together slightly.
âIâm notââ
âYou are.â
Still calm. Still matter-of-fact. Shoko tilts her head back slightly, looking out across campus.
âAnd honestly? Whether heâs miserable or having some identity crisis over you isnât really the point.â
Your chest tightens unexpectedly at the word miserable. You hate that she notices. Because of course she does.
âThe point,â Shoko continues, âis that youâre allowed to exist outside of whateverâs happening with Sukuna.â
You stay quiet.
âYou donât have to avoid places because he might be there,â she says. âAnd you definitely donât have to sit around wondering whether every look means something.â
That one hits a little too accurately. A faint smile pulls at the corner of Shokoâs mouth when she notices your expression.
âGo to the party. Have fun. Ignore him if you want to. Talk to other people. Remember your life doesnât stop every time Ryomen Sukuna starts acting emotionally constipated.â
You laugh despite yourself. A real one this time. Your fingers tighten around the strap of your bag as you stare ahead quietly. Maybe sheâs right.
Maybe youâve spent too much time reading into every glance, every careful touch, every almost-word like they carried more meaning than they should. Maybe going would finally settle it one way or another.
âI guess I could go for a little while,â you murmur eventually.
Shoko snorts softly beside you.
âThatâs the closest thing to recklessness Iâve ever heard from you.â
You roll your eyes lightly, but a small smile stays on your face this time.
And somewhere deep down,beneath all the hesitation and caution and doubt a quieter thought lingers.
You want to see him there.
ââ-
The party swallows you in pieces.
First the music. Then the heat. Then the blur of bodies moving through colored light like the whole house is breathing around you.
For a moment, you linger near the entrance beside Shoko, fingers curled around a drink you havenât touched yet while people brush past your shoulders laughing too loudly, already drunk enough to lean into each other without caring.
Rain taps steadily against the windows outside, soft beneath the bass vibrating through the walls.
You tell yourself to relax. To stop thinking so much.
âYou look like youâre preparing for war,â Shoko says beside you.
âIâm standing.â
âYouâre standing aggressively.â
You glare weakly at her over the rim of your cup.
Shoko only snorts softly before glancing around the room.
âYou know, normal people usually come to parties to enjoy themselves.â
âI am enjoying myself.â
âYouâve looked at the door six times.â
Heat crawls unpleasantly into your chest.
Because the worst part is, you hadnât realized you were doing it. Not consciously.
Your attention just keeps shifting every few minutes before you can stop it. Toward the hallway. Toward the stairs. Toward every flicker of pink hair moving through crowded rooms before disappointment settles quietly afterward.
You hate it.The automaticness of it. The way some part of you keeps waiting anyway. You came here for yourself. You remind yourself that immediately.
Because Shoko was right.
Your life shouldnât tighten around Sukuna every time he enters it. You shouldnât still be carrying him around inside your head this heavily after everything.
Tonight was supposed to prove that. That you could still exist somewhere he existed too and remain untouched by it.
And maybe, if you were being honest, some quieter part of you wanted to know if heâd look for you too.
The thought settles heavily enough that you immediately shove it away.
Gojo appears before you can spiral further. Naturally.
âThere she is!â he announces dramatically, nearly sloshing his drink onto both of you as he throws an arm around your shoulder. âI knew you secretly wanted to comeâ
âYou invited me three hours ago.â
âAnd yet you still came. Beautiful character development.â
A laugh escapes you despite yourself. Real enough that it surprises even you.
âSheâs been here five minutes and youâre yelling.â
âIâm creating atmosphere.â
âYouâre creating public disturbance.â
The night gets easier after that slowly.
You let yourself get pulled into conversations instead of standing quietly at the edges of them. You argue with Gojo about something stupid enough that halfway through neither of you even remembers what side you were defending anymore. Someone drags you into a blurry group photo you definitely didnât agree to.
And somewhere along the way, the tightness inside your chest starts loosening. Not completely, Never completely. Because Sukuna still exists in every corner of your awareness whether you want him there or not.
Every low laugh behind you makes your attention shift instinctively before your brain catches up. Every tall figure moving through crowds pulls at your focus for half a second first.
You keep wondering if heâs seen you yet. You hate that you keep wondering.
But eventually even that begins softening beneath the warmth of the night around you.
Shoko disappears somewhere upstairs. Gojo gets distracted by literally everything at once. Rain crashes harder outside now, silver streaks racing down dark windows while thunder rumbles faintly overhead.
And for the first time in weeks,you breathe. Actually breathe.
Maybe this is what you needed. Maybe Shoko was right, whatever has been. happening between you and Sukuna lately doesnât have to consume every part of you. You can exist around him without unraveling,perhaps.
And beneath all those thoughtsâanother one slips in quietly.
You want to see him tonight. Not for closure or for any answers. Just to know if heâll look at you the same way he has lately. Like something in him shifts every time you enter a room. Like he feels this too.
Your chest tightens around the realization.
Because somewhere along the way, you stopped being afraid of wanting him.
And started being afraid he might not want you back in the same devastating way.
The thought is still sitting low beneath your ribs when your attention shifts suddenly. No reason.Just instinct.
Your eyes lift across the room, and find him immediately.
Your breath catches so sharply it almost hurts.
Sukuna stands near the open patio doors, rain-heavy air curling into the house around him while dim gold light cuts across the sharp line of his jaw. His dark shirt clings slightly at the collar like heâs already stepped outside once tonight, pink hair damp near the edges from rainwater.
And even from here,he looks restless. He doesnât seem drunk or entertained, like the Sukuna everyone else sees at parties.
His gaze moves distractedly through the crowd, shoulders tense beneath the flashing lights like heâs searching for something without fully realizing it.
And suddenly, your chest softens.
Because some horrible, hopeful part of you wonders if heâs been looking for you too.
The thought lands gently.Deeply.
Enough that your pulse stumbles around it.
Then someone stumbles into him. A girl.
At first, you barely react. People have been colliding into each other all night ,but she doesnât move away after.
She grabs onto his arm laughing breathlessly, body swaying slightly from alcohol as she nearly slips near the wet patio entrance. Sukuna catches her automatically before she falls, one hand circling briefly around her waist while the other steadies her wrist.
Your stomach drops. The girl laughs again getting closer this time.
Her fingers slide upward slowly against the chain resting near his collarbone while she leans toward him, saying something near his ear with the kind of easy familiarity that makes your chest tighten instantly.
Sukunaâs brows pull together immediately. Not softened or amused.He looks Distracted. Like he barely even registers what sheâs saying.
His hand stays at her waist only long enough to steady her before it loosens again, attention already shifting elsewhere through the crowded room.
But from where youâre standing that distinction barely matters. Because suddenly it all comes rushing back at once.
Every party you ever saw him at before this.
Girls draped across him effortlessly. Lipstick-stained glasses. Hands touching him like everyone already knew heâd let them.
The version of him that never belonged to anyone long enough to matter.
Your throat burns violently. And the worst part?
For weeks now,you let yourself forget. You let yourself believe in quieter things instead.
Library tables.Lingering eye contact. The warmth of his hand steadying your waist.
The way his gaze softened around you lately before he even realized it was happening.
The almost apology in the library.The carefulness.
God.
The carefulness ruined you most. Because you believed it. You actually, genuinely started believing he meant it.
Your eyes sting immediately.
Hot enough that you blink hard against it on instinct. Because standing here now, watching another girl lean into him while rain crashes outside the windows and music drowns the room around youâ
you suddenly feel unbearably stupid.
Not angry.Not even jealous.
Humiliated.
Like every hopeful thing you carried carefully these past few weeks existed only because you wanted it to. Because you kept mistaking scraps of softness for something real.
The girl says something else, leaning closer into his space.
Sukuna looks like heâs about to answer when his gaze shifts absently over her shoulder instead, restless, searchingâ
Then stops,
On you.
Everything in him stops,like the world stopped. You see it happen in real time,the confusion first,then recognition.
Then absolute fucking horror crashing across his face so fast it almost doesnât look real. His hand drops from the girl immediately like the contact burns him alive.
The color drains from his face. His entire body goes rigid. Because he knows.
He knows exactly what this looks like. Exactly what youâre thinking. Exactly what just shattered inside you.
âWaitââ
The word rips out of him rough enough that several people nearby actually turn. The desperation clear in his voice.
The girl beside him startles when Sukuna jerks completely away from her now, attention locked entirely onto you with something frantic breaking apart behind his eyes.
Like heâs watching a car crash happen in slow motion and canât stop it. But itâs already too late. Because something inside you has broken open completely. And suddenly you canât breathe in this room anymore. Canât stand inside his world another second.
Not where you let yourself believe, even briefly, that maybe this time, maybe this time he was finally reaching for you the way youâd been reaching for him all along.
You turn before he can get to you.
Rain crashes violently outside as you shove through the crowd toward the front door, pulse hammering painfully beneath your skin while behind you-
you hear Sukuna calling your name.
And for the first time since you met himâ
Ryomen Sukuna sounds terrified.
ââ
Sukuna doesnât think.
The second you turn away from him, something primal tears through his chest so violently it almost knocks the breath out of him.
Pure panic.
Heâs moving before the girl beside him even finishes reacting.
Her hand slips from his sleeve as he jerks away from her completely, eyes already locked on the space where you disappeared through the crowd.
âWait, Sukuna, I was justââ
He doesnât hear the rest.Doesnât even register her voice.
Because all he saw, all he can still fucking see âŚis your face. The look in your eyes. It wasnât anger. He couldâve handled anger, You yelling at him,Hating him,Slapping him across the face. Anything.
But that lookâ
Like something inside you had quietly given up. Like every fragile thing heâd spent weeks trying to rebuild between you collapsed in a single second.
Like you finally regretted believing him. Fear hits him so hard it borders on nausea.
People turn as he shoves through the crowded house, shoulders slamming hard enough into strangers to send drinks splashing onto the floor. Someone curses at him. Someone says his name.
Gojo maybe, maybe Toji, He doesnât know.
Nothing matters except getting to you before that look settles permanently into your eyes.
Rain crashes against him violently the second he steps outside. Cold enough to sting. Heavy enough to soak through his clothes instantly.
His eyes search frantically down the street before he finds you halfway across the sidewalk, walking too fast through the storm with your arms wrapped tightly around yourself like youâre physically trying to hold your chest together.
And something inside him fucking caves in. Because youâre crying. Not loudly, or dramatically but,
Worse.
Silent.
Your shoulders shake once beneath the rain before you wipe harshly at your face, still moving like if you stop for even a second youâll completely break apart.
And Sukuna,
Sukuna has never felt terror like this before. Because this is his fault.
Not the girl. Not the party.
This.
You hurting like this because he was too late. Too stupid. Too fucking blind to realize how fragile your trust in him still was.
âHeyââ
His voice comes out wrecked and its barely recognizable.
You donât stop walking.Panic claws viciously through his chest. Sharp enough to hurt.
He catches up quickly, shoes splashing hard against flooded pavement before instinct takes over completely and his hand closes around your wrist.
His touch is Warm,desperate,shaking slightly.
You gasp softly as he pulls you back before you can slip against the slick pavement, your soaked body colliding lightly against his chest for half a second before you stumble back again.
But not before he feels it. How badly youâre trembling.
And God.
That nearly fucking destroys him on the spot.
Rain pours violently between both of you now, thunder cracking somewhere overhead while water streams endlessly down Sukunaâs face, his hair plastered against his forehead, his chest heaving unevenly beneath a shirt soaked through completely.
And for a second,he just stares at you. Because you look heartbroken. Painfully heartbroken. Your eyes are red beneath the rain. Your lashes clumped together with tears and water.
Your mouth trembling slightly every few seconds like youâre trying so hard to stay composed and failing anyway.
The sight tears something open inside him so violently he almost physically recoils from it.
Because he did this. He did this to you.
And suddenly Sukuna realizes with horrifying clarity that he would rather let someone carve him open alive than have you look at him like this again.
âIt wasnâtââ His voice catches hard.
His voice catches hard.
Too many things trying to come out at once. He tries again immediately.
âIt wasnât like that.â
You laugh softly. And the sound absolutely fucking ruins him. Because it sounds exhausted. Humiliated.Like youâre trying not to completely fall apart in front of him.
âPlease donât,â you whisper.
Rainwater drips endlessly from your lashes as you look away from him, jaw tightening hard enough to shake.
âI canât do this right now.â
Sukunaâs chest caves inward so violently he physically steps closer without meaning to.
Because you sound done. Not angry. Done.
âNo.â
The word leaves him instantly in such panic. Desperate,Almost pleading.
âNo, donâtâ donât fucking say it like that.â
You finally look at him again. And, heâs losing you. He can feel it happening in real time. Like sand slipping violently through his hands no matter how hard he tries to hold on.
âShe grabbed onto me,â he says immediately, voice uneven in a way heâs never heard from himself before. âI wasnât even fucking paying attention to her.â
Rainwater drips from his jaw as he drags a shaking hand through soaked hair.
âI was looking for you.â
Your breath catches. Tiny.
And suddenly heâs talking too fast, panic ripping every sentence out before he can think.
âIâve been looking for you all fucking night,â he says roughly. âThatâs why I kept looking around. I didnât even realize she was talking to me untilââ
His voice breaks violently.
âUntil you looked at me like that.â
Your throat moves sharply as you swallow. But your expression doesnât soften and somehow that terrifies him more than if you screamed.
âOkay,â you whisper.
Okay. Thats all you say.
The word hits him like a knife straight through the chest. Because it doesnât sound like belief. It sounds like surrender. Like youâre already trying to kill your feelings for him before they hurt you worse.
âNo.â
He steps closer immediately. Too close now. Close enough that your rain-soaked breaths mix between both of you.
âDonât say it like that.â
Your composure finally cracks then.Not dramatically but if thereâs something Worse than that.
Your face crumples slightly before you look away again, one shaking breath leaving you hard enough that Sukunaâs chest physically aches hearing it.
âThen how am I supposed to say it?â you ask quietly, voice breaking apart. âHow am I supposed to react to this?â
Sukuna freezes Because there it is. Not jealousy. Not anger. But pain.
Raw enough that it strips him open instantly.
âYou know what the worst part is?â you whisper, eyes burning now despite the rain washing endlessly down your face. âI actually started believing you.â
Something inside Sukuna shatters completely.
âYou looked at me likeâŚâ Your voice breaks so hard you stop speaking entirely for a second, shaking your head once like you hate yourself for even admitting this. âGod, you looked at me like I mattered to you.â
âYou do.â
The answer leaves him violently fast.
Immediate ,Like breathing ,as if him not saying it fast enough would make it worse. Your eyes widen at his words slightly.
And Sukuna steps closer again before he can stop himself, hands hovering helplessly near your arms like he wants to hold you together physically but is terrified youâll pull away.
âYou do,â he says again, rougher this time, rain soaking through every word. âYou matter so fucking much itâs driving me insane.â
Your breath catches sharply. And suddenly Sukuna canât stop anymore. Weeks of restraint split open all at once.
âI canât fucking sleep anymore,â he admits, voice wrecked now. âEvery room I walk into, I look for you first.â
Rain streams endlessly down his face while his eyes stay locked desperately onto yours.
âI sat through that stupid fucking party hoping youâd show up.â
Something in your chest twist sharply.
âAnd when you didâŚâ His voice catches roughly. âFuck.â
He laughs once in disbelief Like even now he canât believe how badly this has ruined him.
âYou looked so beautiful tonight I couldnât fucking think straight.â
The confession lands between both of you like lightning. Its raw, ugly and honest .
âAnd then you looked at me like thatââ
His voice cracks completely this time. Actually cracks. Like he physically cannot survive replaying that moment again.
Before you can reactâ
he drops.
Straight onto his knees against the flooded pavement. The sound of it shocks you visibly.
âSukunaââ
âI donât care.â
His voice is wrecked now. Absolutely wrecked.
Rain pours over him mercilessly while he looks up at you from the ground like heâs watching his entire life walk away from him in real time.
And maybe he is.
âI donât care if this is pathetic,â he says hoarsely. âI donât care if I look fucking insane right now.â
Your chest tightens painfully. Because Sukuna never begs. Never. But he is now.
âYou can yell at me,â he says, breathing unevenly. âYou can hate me if you want to. But donât stand there and tell yourself none of this was real.â
His voice breaks hard around the last sentence.
And suddenly he looksâŚsomething which isnât,arrogant like his usual self, he looks ⌠terrified.
âI meant every fucking thing,â he says desperately. âEvery look. Every touch. Every second.â
Your composure visibly splinters then.
A shaky breath leaves you as your hand rises instinctively toward your mouth.
And Sukunaâs expression crumples completely the second he realizes youâre crying harder now.
âFuck,â he whispers brokenly, like the sound physically hurts him. âBaby, please donât cry.â
The nickname slips out accidentally.
Raw. Unthinking. And somehow that ruins you even more. Because Sukuna is kneeling in the middle of the storm looking at you like losing you would destroy him completely
Rain crashes endlessly around both of you. Cold water streams down Sukunaâs face, soaks through his clothes, drips from his lashes every time he looks up at you from the pavement beneath your feet.
Still, he doesnât move. Doesnât even seem aware of the storm anymore. The only thing he sees is you.
Shaking. Crying. Looking at him like heâs broken something fragile beyond repair.
And itâs killing him.
âSukunaâ you whisper shakily.
He looks up immediately.Like your voice physically pulls at him.
âStand up.â
He shakes his head once instantly. Small.Desperate.
âI canât lose you.â
The words leave him before he can stop them. Raw enough that your breath catches.
Rainwater slides down the sharp line of his jaw while he stares at you like heâs drowning in front of you and doesnât care who sees it.
And suddenly he looks nothing like the Sukuna everyone else knows. No arrogance. No control ,just fear.
âSukuna,â you say again, voice cracking harder this time. âStand up.â
Slowly,hesitant enough,he does.
But the second heâs close again, your hand presses hard against his chest instinctively. Holding space there.
Keeping him from getting any closer before you completely lose yourself in him again. Your fingers fist weakly into his soaked shirt.
Sukuna looks down at them like the contact alone nearly destroys him.
âYou donât get to do this to me,â you whisper.
Rainwater clings to your lashes while your voice trembles apart more with every word.
âYou donât get to look at me like Iâm everything to you and then make me feel this replaceable.â
Sukuna physically flinches. Like the words hit somewhere deep enough to bruise.
âYou think I wanted her there?â he asks roughly.
Your jaw tightens immediately.
âThatâs not the point.â
âI know itâs not the fucking point.â
His voice breaks suddenly. Violently. And that shocks both of you into silence for half a second. Because Sukuna never sounds like this. Never.
Rain crashes harder around both of you while he drags a shaking hand through soaked hair, chest rising unevenly like breathing itself hurts now.
âYou know what the problem is?â he says hoarsely. âI donât know how to do this right.â
Your eyes flicker toward him again despite yourself.
âI donât know how to stand in front of you without feeling like everything Iâve ever been is suddenly disgusting.â
The confession lands hard between both of you because its Ugly and honest.
âYou look at me now and I can see you trying so hard to trust me again.â His voice roughens further. âAnd every fucking second Iâm terrified Iâm gonna ruin it.â
Something in your chest twists painfully.
âYou think I donât know what people say about me?â he laughs once softly.
Thereâs no humour in it.
âTheyâre right.â
You shake your head immediately. But Sukuna keeps going before you can stop him.
âNo, listen to me.â His eyes lock onto yours desperately. âI spent years acting like none of this mattered. None of them mattered. Drinking too much, sleeping around, acting like I didnât give a shit about anything because it was easier thanâŚâ His voice catches hard. âThan feeling something real.â
Your grip tightens involuntarily against his chest.
âAnd then you happened.â
The words leave him quietly this time.Almost disbelieving. Like even now he canât fully understand what you did to him.
âAnd suddenly I couldnât breathe properly every time you looked at me.â
Your breath catches sharply.
âI started noticing everything.â His voice shakes. âThe way you play with your rings when youâre nervous. The way your face changes when youâre trying not to smile. The way you always look for everyone else before yourself.â
Rain drips endlessly from his chin while his eyes stay completely fixed on you.
âI tried so hard not to want you this badly.â
The honesty in his voice hurts , it hurts so much.
âBut you kept getting under my skin anyway.â He laughs again softly, devastated this time. âAnd then one day I realized I was rearranging my entire fucking life around the chance of being near you for ten minutes.â
Your composure visibly cracks.
âI stopped going to parties because they felt empty without you there.â His voice lowers roughly. âI sat in classrooms I didnât care about because you were in them.â
Tears mix endlessly with rain on your face now. Sukuna notices every single one. And it destroys him more each time.
âWhen you stopped talking to meâŚâ His throat moves sharply.
âFuck.â
He looks away for the first time. Only for a second. Like the memory physically hurts to touch.
âI thought that was it,â he admits quietly. âThought I finally pushed too far and lost the only person Iâve ever looked at and thoughtâŚâ
His voice breaks completely. You stare at him with your heart hammering.
Sukuna swallows hard, eyes finding yours again with something unbearably vulnerable split wide open inside them.
âThe only person Iâve ever wanted to be better for.â
Something inside you caves inward violently.
âAnd tonightââ His breathing turns uneven again.
âWhen you looked at me like thatâŚâ
He presses a shaking hand briefly against his own chest like he physically canât steady whatâs happening inside it.
âI swear to God it felt like someone ripped my fucking heart out.â
Your eyes sting harder instantly.
âYou wanna know why I panicked?â he whispers.
He steps closer despite your hand still against his chest. Not enough to overpower you. Just enough that warmth collides between your soaked bodies again.
âBecause I knew exactly what you saw.â
Your breath trembles.
âYou saw every reason you ever had not to trust me standing right in front of you again.â His voice cracks hard. âAnd I couldnât fucking survive knowing I put that look in your eyes.â
The storm roars around both of you. Neither of you notices anymore.
âYou donât understand what youâve become to me,â Sukuna whispers brokenly. âYou walk into a room and suddenly everything else disappears.â
Your hand tightens in his shirt. Instinctively.
âAnd yeah,â he laughs softly again, devastated. âMaybe this is pathetic.â
His eyes burn into yours.
âBut Iâd rather kneel in the rain begging for you than spend one more second pretending I donât belong completely to you already.â
Sukunaâs words hang between both of you beneath the storm. Heavy. Breathless. Still vibrating somewhere deep inside your chest. For a second, neither of you move.
Rain crashes endlessly around you, soaking through everything, thunder rumbling low somewhere above the city while your pulse pounds so hard it almost hurts.
And suddenly, you realize Sukuna is shaking. Your hand is still twisted tightly in the front of his soaked shirt, fingers trembling against his chest while he looks at you like heâs waiting for the final blow. Like he genuinely believes you might still walk away. And somehow that hurts worse than anything else tonight.
âSukunaâŚâ you whisper.
His eyes close briefly at the sound of his name in your voice. Like it physically wounds him. You hate this. You hate him. You hate the terrifying amount of power he has over your heart.
âI hate you,â you whisper shakily.
The words collapse halfway through because neither of you believes them anymore. Something helpless flickers across his face. Not defensive or angry. Just devastated.
âI know.â
Your throat burns harder instantly. Because he sounds like heâd let you.
Like heâd stand here and let you destroy him if thatâs what you needed.
You shake your head sharply.
âNo, you donât.â
Rainwater slips down your cheeks endlessly now, your breathing uneven and fragile while Sukuna watches you with complete, terrifying attention.
âYou donât understand how terrifying this is for me,â you admit finally.
And there it is.The truth. Raw and shaking between both of you.
Sukunaâs expression crumples instantly. Because suddenly he understands. This was never about another girl. This was about you finally allowing yourself to hope. And thinking he destroyed it.
âI know,â he says again, rougher this time. âI know I fucked this up, I know I scared you, I know Iâve given you every reason not to trust me butââ
His voice breaks hard.
âBut please donât give up on me nowâ
The plea nearly destroys you. Because Sukuna never asks for anything.Never. And yet here he is in the middle of a storm looking at you like youâre the only thing keeping him alive.
Your composure finally gives out completely. A broken sound leaves your throat before you can stop it, fingers tightening harder in his shirt as tears mix violently with rain against your face.
And the second Sukuna sees it, something inside him snaps.
He stands abruptly. Not to leave but to catch you. His hands find your waist instantly, careful for all of half a second before he pulls you against him like he physically cannot survive another inch of distance between you.
You gasp softly against his chest.Warm. Solid. Shaking just as badly as you are.
âSukunaââ
âIâm sorry,â he says immediately.
The words spill out against your wet hair desperately, uneven and wrecked. âIâm so fucking sorry.â
Your chest aches violently. Because he means it. Every single word.
âI didnât know how bad this got,â he admits roughly, hands tightening at your waist. âI didnât realize how much of you I already had until I thought I lost it.â
Your eyes squeeze shut instantly.
âAnd you have me,â you whisper brokenly before you can stop yourself.
The confession hangs there. Both of you freezing slightly beneath the rain. Sukuna pulls back just enough to look at you. And the expression on his face absolutely ruins you. Because he looks stunned. Like nobody has ever handed him something this precious before.
âYou canât say shit like that to me right now,â he whispers hoarsely.
Your breath catches sharply.
âWhy?â
A broken laugh leaves him. Wrecked.
âBecause Iâm already one second away from losing my fucking mind over you.â
And suddenly you canât take it anymore. Not the way heâs looking at you. Not the honesty splitting him wide open. Not the unbearable tenderness underneath all that desperation.
So you kiss him.
Your hands slide into his soaked hair before you pull him down toward you hard enough that his breath catches violently against your mouth.
And for one stunned heartbeat, Sukuna freezes. Like he canât believe this is happening. Like he thought you were about to leave him here instead.
Then he kisses you back. And it isnât smooth , Isnât polished. Its desperate. Weeks of restraint collapse between you all at once beneath pouring rain and shaking breaths.
Sukuna kisses like heâs starving.
Like every quiet look and lingering touch and swallowed confession finally shattered open inside him at once.
And God, the sound he makes against your mouth nearly breaks you apart completely. Because it sounds relieved.
His hands slide up your back instinctively, pulling you impossibly closer while rain pours endlessly over both of you. You can feel his heart hammering violently through his chest.
Feel the way he keeps holding you like heâs terrified youâll disappear if he loosens his grip. When the kiss finally breaks, neither of you gets far.
Your foreheads stay pressed together, breaths tangled, eyes still half closed while the storm rages around you unnoticed.
And finally in the entire night, the panic inside Sukuna finally starts settling. Only slightly. Just enough to breathe again.
âI meant everythingâ he says quietly .
Your eyes open slowly. Sukuna looks wrecked still.
âI know,â you whisper back this time.
And the relief that floods his face is so raw it almost makes you cry again. A quiet laugh escapes you suddenly through the remains of tears.
Youâre an idiot.â
Sukuna huffs out the faintest laugh against your forehead.
âYeah,â he murmurs. âProbably.â
Rainwater drips from his lashes while his thumb brushes gently beneath your eye, wiping away tears even though more immediately replace them.
The touch is impossibly careful. Like he still canât believe heâs allowed to hold you like this.
Then quieter he says,
âSo donât scare me like that again.â
You blink at him in disbelief. A laugh escapes you despite everything.
âYouâre blaming me?â
âNo.â His arms tighten instantly around your waist again. âIâm saying I almost fucking died.â
The dramatic sincerity in his voice makes another wet laugh break from your chest. And Sukuna stares at the sound like he wants to memorize it forever.
The storm hasnât softened yet. Neither have your feelings. Neither have your feelings or hurt.
But for the first time in a while, neither of you is running from it anymore.
Sukuna presses one last lingering kiss against your forehead before resting his against yours again, eyes finally closing properly this time.
And standing there beneath pouring rain with your heart still shaking violently inside your chest,
you realize something quietly. Youâve never seen Ryomen Sukuna look more terrified. Or more in love.
ââ-
The storm still crashes endlessly around you, rain soaking through your clothes, dripping from tangled lashes and trembling fingers, but somehow it feels farther away now.
Muted.
Like everything narrowed down to this one moment instead. To him.
Sukuna keeps his forehead pressed against yours, breathing unevenly while his arms stay locked around your waist like heâs still scared youâll disappear if he loosens his grip even slightly.
And Maybe he is.
Your heartbeat hasnât settled yet. Neither has his. You can still feel it hammering violently through his chest every time your body shifts against his.
Still feel the occasional tremor running through his hands when they tighten unconsciously at your back.
Then quietly, almost too low beneath the rain, he says,
âIâm sorry.â
The words land differently this time. Because the words arenât out of panic, but honesty.
Sukunaâs eyes close briefly, lashes wet against his cheeks while he exhales shakily through his nose.
âFor all of it.â
Your eyes sting immediately. Sukuna notices.
âFuck,â he whispers softly, thumb brushing beneath your eye carefully. âDonât cry again, baby, Iâm hanging on by a thread here.â
A watery laugh escapes you despite yourself.
And the relief that floods Sukunaâs face at the sound of it is almost unbearable to look at.
Like hearing you laugh again physically brought him back to life.
The storm softens slightly after that. Not fully.
But enough that the rain becomes steadier instead of violent, washing quietly through empty streets shining gold beneath streetlights.
You finally become aware of how cold you are.
Your clothes cling heavily to your skin now, fingers stiff from rain while your entire body shivers suddenly beneath Sukunaâs hands.
His expression changes instantly.
âYouâre freezing.â
âIâm fine.â
âYouâre shivering.â
âYouâre also shivering.â
âDoesnât matter.â
You stare at him tiredly.
âYouâre impossible.â
âAnd youâre cold.â
Before you can argue again, Sukuna is already shrugging off his soaked jacket despite the rain still falling lightly around both of you.
You blink immediately.
âSukuna, thatâs literally worse.â
âI donât care.â
âYouâll freeze.â
âI said I donât care.â
The jacket settles around your shoulders anyway, still warm somehow despite the storm. And your chest aches quietly at the gesture. Because old Sukuna wouldnât have noticed. Wouldnât have cared enough to.
This Sukuna does.
You just stand there beneath dim streetlights while rainwater drips steadily around your feet.
And then, Sukuna reaches for your hand.
Heâs careful, no confidence just care. Like heâs still asking permission. Your fingers slide into his before he can second-guess himself. And even such a small gesture makes his breath hitch.
The walk back is quiet. Not awkward. Just soft.
The frat house comes into view slowly through the rain after that, lights still glowing warm behind fogged windows while distant music hums faintly from somewhere inside.
For a second, your steps slow down, he sees that.
His fingers tighten around yours slightly.
âYou okay?â
Your eyes linger on the house quietly.
This place used to feel like proof that you could never have him properly.
Too many stories attached to it. Too many girls. Too many nights where Sukuna belonged to everyone except himself.
But tonight, standing here soaked through while his hand holds yours so carefully it almost hurts,
the feeling is different.
âYeah,â you whisper finally.
And Sukunaâs shoulders loosen so subtly.
The second you step inside, warmth wraps around your skin hard enough to sting. The party has mostly died now.
Music still hums quietly somewhere downstairs, low conversations drifting through the house alongside the smell of alcohol and rain-damp clothes.
Gojo looks up first from the kitchen island. Then pauses dramatically. His eyes flick toward your joined hands. Then your soaked clothes.
Then Sukuna standing absurdly close beside you like heâs terrified distance might happen again if he allows it.
Silence.
âOh my God,â Gojo breathes.
Shoko looks up from the couch immediately afterward.
One glance at both of you and understanding settles across her face instantly.
âYou cried and fixed your lives in the rain, didnât you?â Gojo whispers dramatically.
âShut the fuck up,â Sukuna says immediately.
But his grip on your hand tightens instinctively afterward.
And Shoko nearly smiles into her drink. Nearly.
âCalled it,â she mutters quietly.
Geto looks deeply exhausted by all of you.
Heat creeps unexpectedly into your face which doesnât go unnoticed by sukuna. And before anyone can continue further, his hand settles gently against your lower back.
Protectively, guiding you toward the stairs.
The walk upstairs feels strangely intimate now.
The frat house quieter here, distant bass fading beneath rain tapping softly against windows while Sukuna keeps glancing back at you every few seconds like he still needs visual confirmation youâre following him.
And suddenly,you realize heâs nervous. That realization nearly ruins you all over again.
Because Ryomen Sukuna can beg in the rain, confess his feelings with his heart practically bleeding out of his chest,
and still look scared bringing you into his room.
Sukunaâs room is warm. Warmer than the rest of the house somehow. Maybe because itâs quieter here.
No flashing lights. No shouting. No chaos vibrating through the walls.
Just soft rain against the windows and the faint sound of both your breathing still trying to settle after everything.
The door clicks shut behind you.
Sukuna just stands there staring at you like he still hasnât fully recovered from the fact that you followed him upstairs willingly.
That you stayed.
Then his expression tightens suddenly.
âYouâre still freezing.â
Before you can answer, heâs already moving.
âSit,â he says, grabbing a towel from somewhere near his closet.
You blink once.
âYou sound bossy for someone who cried in public ten minutes ago.â
Sukuna pauses mid-step. Looks at you completely seriously.
âIâll cry again.â
A startled laugh escapes you instantly.
And the relief that flashes across his face at the sound of it is almost embarrassing in its intensity.
Like hearing you laugh physically keeps him alive now.
You settle onto the edge of his bed while Sukuna kneels in front of you again, towel draped carefully over your head before he starts drying your hair with surprising gentleness.
The intimacy of it nearly undoes you. Because Sukuna touches you now like heâs aware you can bruise.
âYou really got on your knees in the middle of the street,â you mumble again while he works carefully through damp strands.
He exhales quietly through his nose.
âYeah i didâ
âYeah?â
You glance down at him finally.
His pink hair still damp. Sleeves pushed up slightly. Eyes softer than youâve ever seen them before.
âYou looked one second away from proposing.â
That actually gets a laugh out of him. Its small and rough around the edges but its real.
âWouldâve if you kept walking away.â
Your chest tightens painfully at how honest he says it. No ego. Just truth.
âYouâre insane,â you whisper.
Sukunaâs hands still briefly in your hair.
âProbably.â
He disappears for a moment after that before returning with one of his hoodies.
Black. Too big. Still warm from the dryer somehow.
âPut this on.â
You take it slowly, fingers brushing his accidentally. Sukunaâs breath catches so softly you almost miss it.
Almost.
By the time you finish changing in his bathroom, the rain outside has softened into a quiet steady rhythm against the windows.
When you step back into his room wearing his hoodie, Sukuna looks up from where heâs sitting against the headboard.
And completely freezes.
Your stomach flips instantly beneath the intensity of his stare.
âWhat?â
Sukuna blinks once like heâs trying to recover from a thought.
Then he says,
âNothing.â
A beat.
âYou just look really good in my clothes.â
Heat crawls immediately into your face.
âYouâre annoying.â
âYou love it.â
The words leave him easily. Then suddenly both of you go quiet. Because that means something different now. His expression softens afterward.
Like heâs still getting used to the idea that heâs finally allowed to say things like that openly.
âCâmere,â he says quietly after a moment.
You go without hesitation.
And Sukuna visibly melts the second you settle against him. Actually melts.
His arms wrap around you carefully at first before tightening slowly, like heâs still convincing himself this is real.
Your head rests against his chest while the steady sound of his heartbeat fills the quiet room between rainfall and distant music downstairs.
And for the first time in weeks, neither of you feels restless.
Sukuna presses a lingering kiss against the top of your head.
Then another. Like he canât stop.
âYou know,â you mumble sleepily against his chest after a while, âGojoâs never letting you live this down.â
Sukuna groans softly above you.
âIâll kill him tomorrow.â
âYou cried in the rain for me.â
âI said donât tell people that.â
A tired laugh slips from your chest.
And Sukunaâs arms tighten around you immediately at the sound.
Silence settles softly after that and this time its Warm.
Outside, the storm finally passes.
Inside, Sukuna keeps one arm around your waist while his fingers trace absentminded patterns against your skin beneath oversized sleeves.
Still touching you like heâs afraid this might disappear by morning.
But it wonât.
And this time,
when he reaches for you,
you reach back. âĄ
note:AHHHH i know that this took so long, but i didnât want to rush it, i needed some time to think because i wanted it to be as realistic as it can be đ
Also thank you to the reader who gave me the idea for the rain scene in the comments in the previous part. This is the last part but Iâll post some drabbles for this couple <3 it was so hard to fit 12k words in one post omg , tell me what you think??
please write an eren one-shot with exactly what Anon said about him being the guard and sneakily calling u princess in public in front of everyone know damn well ur getting flashbacks from last night Iâm begging this is so eren heâd be so smug about it Iâm foaming at the mouth đđ¤đ¤ also can u imagine royal guard eren with his hair down and just looking gorgeous Iâm going crazy
YES, PRINCESS
pairing: eren x reader
plot: being the princess has its perks... and disadvantages
warnings: 18+, and I think that's it lol
wc: 9.1k
Being a princess comes with a lot of responsibility. A lot of pressure. A lot of strict discipline and a tight schedule. As the first born child and the heir of the throne, the king and queen put a lot of effort into raising you, fit to marry a prince and rule the country one day.Â
And to the naked eye, you are the perfect crown princess. Caring toward your people. Present at every charity, every hospital visit, every ribbon-cutting ceremony the palace can fit into a calendar week. You do all kind of sports, play all kind of instruments. You give speeches with a steady voice and a steadier smile. You are poised. You are composed. You are pristine. You're the princess every other kingdom could only dream of.
But as they say â the stricter the upbringing, the more rebellious the result. And safe to say, neither the king nor the queen expected this level of rebellion.
You're walking through the grand hallway of the morning lit palace with practiced poise, chin lifted, hands folded neatly in front of the silk of your gown. Every step is measured. Every breath is controlled.
Because you have to be controlled right now.
Because he is walking three paces behind you.
You can feel him there, that gravitational pull that Eren Jaeger carries with him like a second shadow. The soft, rhythmic weight of his boots on the marble. The faint creak of leather from his fitted guard's uniform. The warmth that seems to radiate off him even from a distance, or maybe that was just your body rememberingâ
Don't.
You swallow hard and kept your eyes forward.
You've barely slept. How could you, when he kept you up until the candles had burned themselves into pools of wax and the moon had crossed your entire window? When you've had to bury your sounds into a pillow, and at times into his hand, so the night patrol wouldn't hear? When he finally left your chambers at some ungodly hour, pressing one last kiss to the inside of your thigh before slipping through the servants' passage like a ghost?
You watched him go from your bed, still breathing heavily, and he'd looked back at you from the doorway, hair loose around his shoulders, and he'd had the audacity to smile.
That lazy, slow, unbearable smile. Like he knew exactly what he'd done to you and was already thinking about doing it again.
And now here he is. That smug son of a bitch.
Three paces behind you. Back in uniform. On duty. As if nothing happened. As if he hadn't spent half the night between your legs whispering things against your skin that would make the entire royal council faint dead on the chamber floor. As ifâ
"Good morning, Your Highness!"
You blink. One of the senior advisors, Lord Smith, had appeared at your side with a deep bow.
"Good morning, my lord," you say, quietly proud of how steady your voice comes out even though your mind is trying to pull you down to the trenches with it.
"The council session has been moved to the east chamber. Shall I escort you?"
"That won't be necessary." The voice comes from behind you. "I'll see the her there safely. Is that fine with you, princess?"
Princess.
The word rolled off his tongue like honey and smoke, perfectly proper, perfectly respectful, and your treacherous brain immediately went back, further down the damn trench. A violent, full-body flashback to roughly seven hours ago, when that same voice had been pressed hot against your ear, rough and needy and breathing hard:
That's it, princess⌠just like that⌠you're doing so good for meâ
Heat floods your face, burning across your cheeks, and you have to look away from Lord Smith before he notices.
"Yes, well, very good then," Smith says, bowing again. "Captain Jaeger, always diligent."
"Always," Eren answers.
You doesn't have to turn around to know he's smiling.
Eren Jaeger been assigned as your personal guard eight months ago.
He was youngest to ever hold the rank of captain, transferred from the border regiment after what the military advisors called "an extraordinary display of tactical brilliance" and what the palace gossips called "being too pretty for the battlefield." Both assessments, you'd come to learn, were accurate.
The first time you saw him, he was standing in the throne room with his hair pulled back in a low bun, jaw set, green eyes sharp and serious as your father formally introduced him as your new shadow. He'd bowed an exaggerated bow and said, "I'll guard you with my life, princess."
And you'd instantly thought: Oh, I'm in trouble.
Because Eren Jaeger is the kind of beautiful that feels can't be overlooked. The kind that makes you forget your own name if he looks at you too long. Sharp cheekbones. Long lashes. A mouth that always seems to be on the edge of either a scowl or a smirk. Those eyes, oh my those eyes, green like sea glass, like the deep woods, like something wild that had been temporarily caged in a guard's uniform.
And his hair.
God, his hair.
Usually he keeps it neatly tied back for duty, pulled away from his face in a way that highlights the cut of his jaw and the column of his throat. But sometimes strands fall loose during training, or at the end of a long shift, and they frame his face in dark waves and you'd have to physically look away.
You hadn't known then that he looked even better with it completely down. Spilling over his shoulders. Brushing against your bare skin. Curtaining both your faces when he hovered above you in the dark.
You knew now.
That was the problem.
Because you're the damn princess, for Christ's sake. You've never been compelled by boys like this, usually it's the other way. Princes from neighboring kingdoms would visit the palace with their tailored coats and rehearsed compliments, and you'd smile politely through every boring dinner and every painful garden walk. You'd let them kiss your hand. You'd let them tell you how radiant you looked in candlelight. And then you'd go to bed and forget their names by morning.
You were untouchable. That was the whole point of you.Â
Princes bored you. Diplomats bored you. Every suitor your parents paraded through those palace doors with their lineage and their wealth and their land and their tedious, rehearsed charm â they all blurred together into the same forgettable silhouette. None of them ever made you feel anything. Not a flutter. Not a crack in the composure.Â
You'd started to wonder, privately, in the quieter hours of the night, whether something was simply missing in you. Whether the crown had hollowed out the part of you that was supposed to want. If all the responsibilities, all the pressure, all the expectations had made you incapable of feeling.
And then Eren Jaeger walked into the throne room, and since that day your theory went straight to hell.
The hallway to the east chamber is long and lined with portraits of your ancestors, and blessedly empty from other people roaming around.
You can hear his footsteps behind you. They're closer than three paces now â two, maybe. The distance has been shrinking since you left the main corridor, and you can feel the shift in the air like a change in temperature.
"You seem tense this morning, princess."
His voice is conversational. Almost innocent. Almost.
"I'm fine," you answer, too quickly to be honest.
"Did you not sleep well?"
You're going to kill him. You're going to have him executed. You're the princess of this goddamn kingdom and you could technically have him thrown in the dungeon forâ
"I slept just fine."
"Yeah?" He answers. "Fine?"
You clench your hands into fists in annoyance, quickly looking around to make sure one more time that no one can hear you. Then you hiss, "Yes, it was perfectly fine."Â
A pause. Then, softer, closer, barely above a murmur:
"Mm," he hums, and you can hear his fucking smirk. "'Fine' is not what it sounded like at two in the morning."
You stop walking, right there in the middle of the hallway with the portrait of your great-grandmother staring disapprovingly down at you, and you turn on your heel to face him.
He's closer than you realized. Much closer. Near enough that if you lean forward even slightly, the silk of your bodice would brush the dark fabric of his uniform jacket.
His hair is tied back today, but loosely, a few dark strands falling around his face, catching the light from the arched windows. His uniform is pressed and perfect, fitted across his broad shoulders and tapered at his waist, the royal crest embroidered in silver over his heart. His sword hung at his hip. His gloves spotless.
Nothing looks out of the ordinary, completely proper like a normal royal guard, but it's his eyes exposing him. His eyes are anything but proper.
"You need to stop," you whisper.Â
"Stop what?" He says, feign innocence. "I'm simply checking on your well-being. It's my job, princess."
There it is again. Princess. And this time he leans into it slightly, lets his voice drop just a fraction on the word, give it the barest edge of warmth that transform it from a title into something intimate, something that belongs in dark rooms and tangled sheets and the sound of your own broken gaspingâ
'You feel so fucking good, princessâ no, don't hide your face, let me see you when youâ'
You inhale sharply.
"Stop," you repeat, voice firmer now. The voice you use when you're holding speeches. "It's an order."
Eren's smile widens.Â
"Got it, princess. I'll stop. We should keep moving," he says lightly, straightening up, clasping his hands behind his back like the model soldier he absolutely is not. "Don't want to be late for the council session."
He steps to the side and extends one arm in a gentlemanly gesture for you to proceed.
You stare at him for a long, seething moment.
Then you turn and walk quickly toward the east chamber, the click of your heels echoing like a rapid heartbeat.
Behind you, barely audible, you hear him chuckle.
The council session is a special kind of torture.
Not because of the politics, you were used to the politics, the droning discussions about trade routes and border disputes and grain tariffs. You'd sat through hundreds of these since you were sixteen. You could handle the politics.
What you could not handle is Eren Jaeger standing at parade rest against the wall directly in your line of sight, looking like that.
He'd taken his position by the door as protocol demanded: feet apart, hands clasped behind his back, eyes forward. The picture of discipline. Every other guard in the room is doing the same, blending into the background like furniture.
Eren does not blend.
Eren could never blend. Not with that face, not with the way the morning light from the tall windows catches the sharp line of his jaw and turned his eyes to molten green. Not with the way his uniform pulls across his broad chest when he breathes, or the way one stubborn strand of dark hair has escaped his tie and is resting against his cheekbone.
He is staring straight ahead, expression neutral, and he looks every inch the professional royal guard.
Except.
Except that every now and then â every ten minutes or so, timed perfectly, infuriatingly â his gaze shifts. Just slightly. Just enough to find yours across the room. And the corner of his mouth twitch, barely perceptible, and his eyes would warm by a single degree, andâ
"Your Highness?"
You're awaken from your daydream with the entire council table looking at you. Shit.
"I â forgive me. Could you repeat the question?"
Advisor Arlert, too perceptive in a way that unnerves you, tilts his head. "We were asking whether you'd reviewed the proposed amendments to the eastern trade agreement?"
Oh shit. Okay, time to lock in. Time to stop getting distracted by the sexy guard eye fucking you every ten minutes.
"Yes. I have." You straighten in your chair, pulling yourself together. "I believe the tariff reductions in section three are too aggressive. We should counter with a graduated decrease over two years instead of one."
The council murmurs in approval. You catch your father's eye at the head of the table; he gives you a small, proud nod.
Good. Fine. You're fine. You're a competent, intelligent member of the royal family and you're not going to let the memory of Eren Jaeger's mouth between your legs derail an international trade discussion.
The session continues. You keep your eyes on the documents in front of you, on the speakers, on the map spread across the table â anywhere but the wall where he's standing.
It worked for almost an hour.
Then there's a break, servants entering with tea and small pastries, and the formal structure dissolved into casual conversation. Council members stand up, stretching, creating clusters of smaller groups.
You stay seated, reaching for your tea with a hand that's definitely steady, thank you very much.
"Can I get you anything, princess?"
The voice that suddenly comes from besides you, sneaking up on you, makes you freeze in your movements. He'd leaned down slightly to ask, the way a guard should address his charge in a public setting. But he's close. Close enough that his breath graze the shell of your ear. Close enough that you can probably see the fine stitching on his collar, the steady pulse in his throat, the place just below his jaw where you'd left a mark last night that's now hidden by his uniform's high neck.
You'd bitten him there. You remembered the sound he'd made, the sharp inhale through his teeth, his hips stuttering forward, his hand tightening in your hair.
'Fuckâ do that again, princess, Iâ fuckâ'
Your fingers tightened around your teacup.
"No," you answer. "Thank you, Captain."
He doesn't move immediately, he lingers for just a heartbeat too long, and in that heartbeat his gloved fingers brush the back of your chair, not touching but close enough to make every nerve ending in your body light up.
"Let me know if you change your mind," he murmurs.
Then he straightens and steps back, returning to his post, and you let out a breath you hadn't realized you'd been holding.
Across the table, Advisor Arlert is watching you with an expression of polite curiosity.
You take a very long sip of tea.
The session ends at noon. You sweep out of the east chamber with as much dignity as you can muster, nodding to the guards who open the doors, smiling at the advisors who bow as you passed.
Eren falls into step behind you. Three paces. Professional distance.
You make it as far as the second-floor corridor, the one that leads to the private wing, the one where the only traffic is the occasional servant, before you crack.
"I need a new guard," you mutter frustratedly under your breath. Empty threats. "You're doing this on purpose."
Eren is unfazed, not a crack in his voice when he speaks. "Doing what?"
You don't stop walking. Can't stop walking, because if you stop and turn around and look at him, you're going to either combust or climb him like a tree, and neither is appropriate behavior for a damn princess.
"You know what."
He shrugs but you can tell by his smug grin that he knows exactly what you're talking about.
"I really don't. I'm performing my duties. Escorting you. Ensuring your safety." A beat. "Addressing you by your proper title."
Your jaw clenches. "You are using my title as a weapon!"
"Princess." He says it slow. Lets every syllable land. Like he's rolling it around in his mouth and enjoying the taste. "That's a serious accusation."
You point at him, frustrated. "And that, right there, that's exactly what I'm talking about!"
"What? I said your title. Respectfully. The way I'm supposed to as a royal guard."
"There is nothing respectful about the way you say it and you know it."
He shrugs again. "Sounds like a personal problem to me."
You reach the door to your private study and stop, hand on the ornate handle, and finally turn to face him.
He's still three paces back, standing in a shaft of sunlight that has no business making him look that good. The light turns his eyes translucent, catches the dark silk of his hair where it's starting to slip from the tie, gilds the sharp edges of him until he looks less like a soldier and more like a painting. Something from the old masters â Portrait of a Man Who Knows Exactly What He's Doing.
His expression is composed. Hands behind his back. Posture textbook.
But his eyes are burning.
"Inside," you hiss through clenched teeth. "Now."
He doesn't even try to look surprised by your conclusion. "As you command, princess."
"Don't start."
The study door barely clicks shut before he's on you.
Or maybe you're on him. It's hard to tell since it happened so fast, the distance between you collapsing like it had been held together by nothing but the thin, fraying thread of public propriety. His gloved hands find your waist, your back, pulling you against the solid wall of his chest, and your fingers are already in his hair, yanking the tie loose so it spills down, that dark cascade of waves framing his faceâ
"You are insufferable," you murmur against his mouth, waiting for him to close the gap between your lips.
"Yeah?" He answers, grinning. You can feel the shape of it against your lips. "Elaborate."
"You stood there in the damn council chamber for three hours, looking likeâ"
You trail off, not wanting to feed this man's ego more than you do by how easily your legs fall apart around him. But it's too late.
"Looking like what?" He says, voice full of pride.
"Don't fish."
"I'm not fishing. I'm asking." He pulls back just enough to meet your eyes with his teasing half-grin. "What did I look like?"
"Like you were thinking about something you shouldn't have been thinking about."
Eren hums. "Bold of you to assume you know what I was thinking."
You feel heat rise to your neck. "You had your tongue against the inside of your cheek, Eren. You only do that whenâ"
When you're imagining what I sound like when you split me open, is what you're thinking. But you'd rather die than feed his ego by telling him that.
"When what?"
Your face burns. "You know when."
His grin widens. "Say it."
"No."
"Say it and I'll behave."
"You have never behaved a single day in your life."
He laughs, the sound vibrating through his chest and into yours, and then he kisses you. Deep and and thorough, the way he does everything, one hand sliding up your spine to cradle the back of your head while the other presses flat against the small of your back, anchoring you against him. The low sound he makes when you tug his hair sends a bolt of heat straight through your core.
"I thought about you all morning," he murmur between kisses, lips trailing from your mouth to your jaw to the sensitive spot below your ear. "Sitting there in that council room, looking so proper, so composedâ" His teeth graze your pulse point, biting sharply and you gasp. "âknowing that you're nothing like that behind closed doors. Knowing you gasp and cry and beg me to fuck you to tears."
You can't help but moan from the sensation of his lips on your neck in combination with his too sexy words. "Erenâ"
"Knowing what you look like underneath all these stupid layers of clothing," he interrupts, his hands finding the buttons at the back of your gown with a deftness that spoke to practice. "Knowing how sweet you taste."
Your back meets the bookshelf. A volume of something heavy and probably priceless wobbles and falls, and neither of you care enough to pick it up. His thigh presses between yours, pushing up against you and the pressure is so perfect and so sudden that your head falls back against the leather spines.
"You can't keep doing this," you manage, gasping when he slowly grinds up against you. "Teasing meâI-In front of the council â knowing that Iâ"
"That you what?" He pulls back just enough to look at you, and the sight of him steals your breath.Â
Hair loose and wild around his face. Pupils blown wide, leaving only a thin ring of green. Lips swollen and slightly parted.
When you don't answer him, he repeats his question. "That you what, princess?"
The word hits you as if it was a physical thing. Your hips buck involuntarily against his thigh, meeting his grind, and his expression shifts from teasing to something darker, hungrier.
"Oh," he breathes. "You really can't handle it, can you?"
"Shut upâ"
"No, I don't think I will," he says, leaning in, lips brushing your ear. "Got a problem with that, princess?"
Your eyes snap open. "You absoluteâ"
He kisses you again. Harder this time, one hand fisting the hair at the nape of your neck, angling your head back. When he pulls away you're both breathing hard and his composure has finally, finally started to fracture.
"For the record," he says, voice rough now, the teasing stripped out of it, "I wasn't thinking about something I shouldn't have been."
"No?"
"No. I was thinking about something I'm absolutely about to do again," His thumb traces the line of your jaw. "Tonight. If you let me."
Your heart is pounding in your chest, and it takes every ounce of willpower you have to not pathetically blurt how badly you want him now, not tonight.
"And if I don't?" You attempt, as if there'd be a single universe where you don't let Eren fuck you into the mattress past bedtime.
"Then I'll stand outside your door with a boner and think about it some more." He shrugs, but his eyes don't move from yours. "I'm a patient man."
"You are the least patient man I've ever met."
Eren grins. "Part of the job." Â
You roll your eyes and pull him down by the collar, closer to you.
"Don't stand outside my door tonight," you murmur against his mouth. "Do something now. That's an order"
That grin again. Slow and devastating.
"As you command, princess."
His mouth drops to your neck, just below your ear, and the scrape of his teeth against the thin skin there pulls a breath out of you that's suspiciously close to a whine. He works his way down along the column of your throat to the dip of your collarbone, and each press of his lips sends a wave of heat pooling low in your belly. His hands slide from your hips to the small of your back, pulling your body into an arch against him.
Your fingers clutch at his shoulders. The fabric of his jacket is rough under your nails and you want it off â want all of it off â but he's still moving at his own maddening pace, mouth dragging along the neckline of your gown, nudging the silk aside with his nose to reach more skin.
"Erenâ" Your voice is thin, fingers tangling into his hair. "I gave you an order. I said now. That meansâ"
"I know what it means." He bites down on the curve where your neck meets your shoulder before he soothes the spot with his tongue. "It means you're horny and needy. It means that every time I called you princess todayâ" his hand finds the hem of your skirts, gathering the fabric upward, "âyou thought about the way I said it when I was three fingers deep inside you."
A sound escapes you that embarrassingly sounds like something between a whimper and a moan, and his free hand comes up to press gently over your mouth.
"Shh. These walls aren't as thick as your bedroom's." His eyes are wicked. "And we both know how loud you get."
His gloved fingers trace up your inner thigh, agonizingly slow. Your hands fist in the front of his uniform, dragging him closer, needing him closer.
"Eren, pleaseâ" you murmur beneath his palm.
He releases your mouth, patting your head gently.
"Please what?" He coos, watching your face with a focused intensity that makes you feel cracked open, exposed, seen. "Tell me what you want."
"You know what Iâ"
"I want to hear you say it." His fingers stop their ascent, hovering just shy of where you need them most, and you could have screamed. "Use your words, princess."
That goddamn word again, delivered with his lips against your temple and his hand between your thighs and his body pressing you into a bookshelf in your private study in the middle of the afternoon and youâ
"Touch me," you gasp against his palm. "Eren, touch me, I needâ"
He doesn't make you ask again.
His gloved fingers slide against your core and you both groan â you at the contact, him at what he found.
"Fuck," he breathed. "Already this wet? Wet enough to soak through my damn glove? Just from me calling you princess?"
You're about to answer, what you'd answer you don't know but you don't get that far because his gloved finger finds your clit, moving in slow circles, earning a quiet whimper from you, your hips moving in small movements to grind down onto his finger more.
And of course, Eren doesn't let your needy little movements go unnoticed. Because he pulls his hand away, a small grin tugging the corner of his mouth when you whine at the loss of contact, before he peels the glove off with his teeth â his teeth â and the next second you feel the rough warmth of his bare skin against you.Â
The contact makes you gasp, and he watches your face with that expression of rapt, almost reverent attention, cataloguing every twitch, every gasp, every flutter of your lashes.Â
"So beautiful," he murmurs, more to himself than to you. "Do you have any ideaâ in that council room, with everyone around you, all I could think about was this. How pretty your sounds are? How greedy this pretty little pussy is?"
His fingers dip lower, two of them pressing inside, and your back arches off the bookshelf. Another book falls. You don't care. The world has narrowed to his hand, his voice, the impossible green of his eyes.
"Erenâ ahâ"
You're interrupted by Eren pulling his fingers out almost all the way, before shoving them back in again.
"I've got you." He curls his fingers, finds the spot that makes your vision white out, and sets a rhythm that's calculated, merciless, perfect. "I've always got you, princess."
And that â the softness underneath the heat, the tenderness braided into the filth â that was what undid you every time. Because Eren Jaeger is smug and infuriating and too gorgeous for his own good, but he also held you like you were precious. Watched you like you were miraculous. Said princess like it wasn't just a title or a tease but something sacred, a word he means wholeheartedly.
"More," you breathe. "I need more, I need youâ"
"Yeah?" He kisses you, his tongue sliding against yours in a way that mirrors the movement of his fingers. "How do you want me?"
"Oh you know damn well," you groan against his mouth, growing increasingly frustrated. "C'mon, Eren, we don't have time forâ"
"Then I'll decide," he grins again. "Suit yourself."
You don't get to ask what that means before his fingers still inside you. You nearly sob at the loss of rhythm, but then his hand pulls out completely and with both hands he's gripping your waist, and he's lifting you like you weigh nothing, and the raw display of strength makes your stomach swoop. Before you can even register what's going on, you're being set on the edge of your writing desk. Inkwell and papers scatter. A quill rolls off the edge and disappears.
And you don't get to scold him for that either, because Eren is sinking to his knees in front of you and the sight of him in full uniform on his knees between your legs short-circuits every functioning part of your brain.
Your mouth literally starts watering from anticipation, that second pulse from between your legs so loud now that you wouldn't be surprised if he could hear it.
"Erenâ"
"Patience, princess," His hands slide up your thighs, pushing your skirts higher, bunching silk and petticoats at your waist with an urgency that contrasts sharply with the steadiness of his voice. "I've had to wait all day, watching you debate trade policy." He presses a kiss to the inside of your knee. Open-mouthed. Slow. "When all I could think about was getting between these thighs."
He presses his mouth to your inner thigh â high, so high, right where the skin is thinnest and most sensitive â and drags. Lips, then teeth, then tongue, tracing a slow, devastating path toward where you need him most while his hands grip the outside of your thighs hard enough to leave impressions.
"Eren â" you gasp again, fingers threading through his hair.
And then his mouth seals over you and every thought you've ever had in your entire life exits your skull simultaneously.
He groans against you â this deep, vibrating, obscene sound, like you're the best thing he's ever tasted, like he's been starving for this â and the vibration alone nearly sends you over the edge. His tongue moves in broad, flat strokes at first, tasting, savoring, and then narrows to a point against your clit and your hips jerk so hard you nearly slide off the desk.
His hands catch your thighs. Holds you in place. He doesn't even pause.
"Oh my God â" Your hand flies to your mouth, the other in his hair, fingers tangling in the dark waves.
He's good at this. Obscenely, unfairly, almost offensively good, like he's spent dedicated time studying exactly what makes you come apart and has committed every detail to memory with military precision. He reads every sound you make, every shift of your hips, adjusts his rhythm and pressure with an attentiveness that borders on devotion.
His tongue pushes inside you and your thighs clamp shut around his head.
It's involuntary â pure reflex, your body curling in on itself from the intensity â and for a moment he's trapped there, caged between your thighs, and you hear him make a muffled sound that might be a laugh.
Then his hands come up.
He grips your thighs, one in each hand, fingers sinking into the soft flesh, the pads of his fingertips pressing hard enough to feel the muscle underneath, and forces them apart. Inch by inch, your muscles resisting and his strength winning easily. He pries your legs open with a controlled, almost lazy power that makes something liquid and molten pour through your entire body â pooling low in your belly, dripping between your legs â because his hands are so big and so strong and he holds your legs spread like it costs him nothing, like your resistance is a minor inconvenience, like he could keep you pinned open like this for hours and not break a sweat.
"Uh-uh." His voice is rough, wrecked, his lips shining and swollen as he pulls back just enough to speak. His eyes are nearly black, pupils blown wide, and there's a flush across his cheekbones that you want to trace with your tongue. "Keep these open for me."
"I can't â it's too â"
"You can." He turns his head and presses a kiss to the inside of your thigh â right where his fingers are digging in, right where you know there will be bruises tomorrow. "You're going to keep them open and you're going to let me finish. Understood?"
The command in his voice â the captain's voice, the voice that commands soldiers, directed at you with his face between your thighs â makes you whimper.
"Y-yes â"
"Yes what?"
Oh, he's a bastard. He's an absolute bastard. He knows what he's asking for, knows that making you say it right now, when you can barely remember your own name, is cruel and unusual punishment.
He waits patiently. His thumbs trace slow circles on your inner thighs, holding them spread wide, and he's so close, his mouth hovering maybe an inch from where you're swollen and aching and so wet you can feel it on your thighs. His breath ghosts over you in warm, rhythmic waves and it's maddening. And he can tell you're going mad.
He presses his lips together and blows a single, directed stream of cool air across your oversensitive clit and your whole body spasms.
"Fuck â yes, Captain," you grit out through clenched teeth, and the sound he makes in response, a low groan ripped from somewhere deep in his chest, tells you that landed exactly the way you intended.Â
You feel it in his hands, the way his fingers tighten on your thighs, the way his composure cracks for just a second. The knowledge that you drive him insane as much as he drives you insane is a power trip that goes straight to your head.
"Fuck," he breathes, and then his mouth is on you again, and this time there is no teasing, no preamble, just the hot, slick, relentless pressure of his tongue working your clit in tight, fast circles.
Your hand tangles in his hair and pulls. He moans against you, like he's the one being taken apart, and the vibration pushes you right to the edge. Every now and then his teeth graze the delicate skin of your folds, a tiny flash of danger that makes you clench and leak more onto his tongue.
He notices. Of course he does.
A dark, satisfied chuckle rolls against you. "Greedy little thing. You like my mouth this much?"
He proves your greed by sliding two thick fingers back inside you without warning, curling them hard against that spongy spot while his lips close around your clit and suck. The dual sensation the stretch and pressure of his fingers, the pulsing suction on your clit feels so fucking good, so good it rips a broken cry from your throat. Your thighs shake violently in his grip, trying to snap shut around his head, but he just pries them open wider, spreading you so far your hips ache.
The air feels cool against your exposed, glistening pussy every time he pulls back to breathe, only for him to bury his face again like he can't stand even a second apart. His tongue is everywhere â licking, swirling, fucking, devouring â obscene sounds of him eating you like a man starved filling the quiet room.
He pulls back just enough to speak, his lips and chin shiny, absolutely drenched, strands of your slick stretching between his mouth and your cunt.
"Look at me, princess," he murmurs affectionately, voice wrecked. "Watch how I fucking devour this pretty pussy."
Then he's back at it, faster, messier, tongue working your clit in tight, frantic circles while his fingers pump deep and steady. The coil in your belly winds tighter, hotter, until it snaps.
"Eren â I'm closeâ I can't â"
You look down, only to be met with his gaze. He's looking up at you without stopping. Looking up at you from between your spread thighs, hair a wild dark mess, mouth glistening, eyes blazing with something that is equal parts tenderness and absolute filth. His fingers are still pumping inside you, curling on every thrust.
And against your clit, pressed right against the throbbing center of every nerve ending you possess, you feel him smile.
That's what does it.
You come so hard your vision goes white, then black, then white again, like a star collapsing. Your spine bows off the desk in an arch that would be painful if you could feel anything besides the orgasm ripping through you like a tidal wave. A loud sound tears from your throat as your walls clamp down around his fingers, moaning his name and God's name and something that isn't a word at all, and you clamp both hands over your own mouth and bite down on your finger because if anyone in the hallway hears this you are both dead.
He moans right back into you, loud and shameless, drinking down every drop like he's dying of thirst. He works you through it, tongue continues moving, a little gentler now, licking you through every aftershock, drawing out the pleasure until your vision whites out and your legs turn to liquid.
His fingers slow but still move, a gentle, rhythmic pulse inside you, coaxing out every last flutter and clench. His free hand releases your thigh and slides up, over your hip, your waist, your ribs until he reaches a breast that he squeezes through your dress.
He presses one last kiss to your inner thigh, absurdly tender given the context, and then rises to his feet, and the image of him standing between your spread legs with your slick on his chin is almost enough to start the whole cycle over again. He swipes with his thumb over the residual arousal on his chin, and then puts in his mouth. Sucks it clean. Holds your eye contact while he does it.
Your cunt clenches around nothing so hard it almost hurts.
"That," he says, voice raw, scraped down to something barely above gravel, "is what I was thinking about during the trade tariff discussion."
You stare at him, body still trembling. Your thighs are shaking where they hang over the edge of the desk, your skirts are a bunched-up disaster around your waist, and you can feel how wet you are, dripping, actually, a slick mess on the polished wood beneath you that would be mortifying if you had any capacity for shame left.Â
You don't. He's fucked it out of you with his tongue.
"Come here," you order. "Now."
Something shifts in his expression â the smugness cracking open to reveal the raw want underneath, the hunger he's been holding on a leash â and he leans forward, caging you in with his arms on the desk. Towering over you.
You reach for his belt. Your fingers are shaking, which is embarrassing, except that when you press your palm against him through his uniform pants and feel how hard he is, he shudders and makes a sound that dissolves any embarrassment into pure, electric want.
"You're just as needy as I am," you accuse breathlessly, curling your fingers around his length through the fabric and squeezing. His hips buck forward involuntarily, chasing the pressure. "Don't try to paint me as this crazy nympho when you're this hard from eating me out."
"Oh, princess, I've been needy since I saw you." He helps you with the belt, both of you fumbling until you manage to pull his pants down. "Do you know what this neckline does? I spent the entire trade discussionâ"
You get his pants open and shove the fabric down his hips along with everything underneath, tired of all the talking. His cock springs free, flushed and hard and leaking from the tip, a bead of precum smeared across the head. Your hand wraps around him before you even make a conscious decision to move.
"Shitâ" His whole body jerks. You stroke him once, base to tip, your thumb dragging through the wetness at the head and spreading it down, and the sound he makes is obscene. "âthinking about putting my mouth on every inch of skin this dress is showing."
"You're supposed to be guarding meâ"
"I am."
His hands leave the desk and find your thighs, sliding beneath your knees, fingers curling around the backs of them, and he pulls. Drags you forward on the desk until your ass is barely on the edge, until your hips are flush against his, until you can feel the hard, hot length of him pressed against your soaking core and the contact makes you both hiss.Â
"Ahâ! E-Erenâ"
"I'm guarding you very thoroughly. Very closely."
He hooks your legs around his waist, your ankles crosses at the small of his back and the position tilts your hips up and opens you, the head of him notched against your entrance, slick sliding against slick, and the tease of it makes you want to scream.
His hands grip your hips. Thumbs pressing into the bones, fingers splayed across the swell of your ass, holding you exactly where he wants you. The desk is the perfect height, puts you right at the level where he can slide home without adjusting, and you can tell from the look on his face that he's realized this too.
"Think they know?" he breathes, rocking his hips forward just enough to drag himself through your folds â a slow, slick grind that coats him in you and makes your eyes roll back. "Think the people know? That their innocent little princess loves to get her pretty pussy stretched likeâ"
"Stop talking andâ"
He lines himself up. The blunt head of him presses against your entrance and pauses. Meets your eyes, then he pushes inside you. Slowly.
Inch by devastating inch, a long, relentless slide that stretches you open around him and steals every molecule of air from your lungs, punching a moan out of your lungs.
"My God," you sigh, pleased. "Oh, Eren, pleaseâ"
You pull him deeper. Your legs tighten around his waist, heels digging into the small of his back, and the shift in angle sinks him in to the hilt and your mouth falls open in a silent scream.
His forehead drops to your shoulder, and the sound he makes against your neck is low and guttural and wrecked.
"Every time," he grits out against your skin, the words vibrating into your collarbone. "Every fucking time, you feelâ" He pulls his hips back, a slow, dragging withdrawal that makes you both groan, and then snaps forward and the desk jolts beneath you. "âfuck you feel so fucking good."
Your hand flies to your mouth to muffle the loud shriek coming from your throat, but he catches your wrist. Pins it to the desk above your head breaking rhythm.
"That's my job," he pants, replacing your hand with his, palm warm and slightly rough against your lips. "I'll shut you up."
You moan against his hand and his hips stutters from the vibrations before he regains control.
He set a pace, deep and precise, each thrust angled with a focus that make your eyes roll back into your skull. The desk scrapes forward on the floor with every snap of his hips, an inch, then another, a slow migration across the study punctuated by the rhythmic thunk thunk thunk of the desk legs on hardwood.
"You're going toâ" you gasp against his hand, the words muffled and half-coherent, "âdestroy my studyâ"
"I'll clean it up later," he breathes, and then shifts his angle, adjusting the tilt of your hips with the hand on your waist, and the head of him drags against that swollen, spongy spot inside you and your vision whites out.
You moan against his hand, tears prickling the corner of your eyes.Â
"There?" Eren asks, watching your face with laser focus, reading you like a battle map, and when you nod frantically beneath his hand he does it again.
Same angle, same depth, same merciless precision, and the sound that tears from your throat is barely human.
The world dissolves into sensation. His hand over your mouth, his hips snapping against yours, the obscene sound of skin meeting skin that you're both too far gone to be embarrassed about. His hair curtains your faces when he leans in to kiss your neck.
"You lookâ" His voice is fraying, losing his composure with every thrust. "âfuck, you look so good like this. Taking me so well on your pretty little deskâ" A thrust that makes the wood groan. "âwhere you write your correspondenceâ" Another, harder. "âwhere you meet with your advisorsâ"
"Eren, stop," you shake his hand off your mouth, struggling to free your wrist but failing. "I'll never be able to work here againâ"
"Good," he mutters against your throat. "Think about me every time. Think about this."
He pulls almost all the way out, just the tip inside you, stretching your entrance, and the sudden emptiness makes you clench and whine, and then drives back in with a thrust so deep you feel it in your spine. Your back arches off the desk, your head thrown back, and his mouth latches onto your exposed throat â sucking a bruise into the skin above your collarbone that you'll have to hide with a high-necked gown tomorrow.
He's losing control. You can feel it â the rhythm getting harder, faster, less precise and more desperate. His breathing is ragged against your neck, each exhale a hot, broken sound. His hand on your hip is gripping hard enough to bruise â five fingerprints that will match the ones on your thighs. The desk is moving with every thrust now, legs scraping, drawers rattling, the whole piece of furniture shaking like it's in an earthquake.
Your ankles lock tighter behind his back. Your free hand that isn't pinned tangles in his hair and you fist it, pulling his head back so you can see his face, and the sight nearly stops your heart.
Eren Jaeger, completely undone. Flushed from his cheekbones to his chest. Lips bitten red and parted, panting. Eyes glazed and dark and desperate, locked on yours with an intensity that borders on devotion. Sweat at his temples, hair a dark storm around his face, and he's looking at you like you're the only thing in the world that matters, like the kingdom could burn outside these windows and he wouldn't look away from your face.
The pressure inside you coils tighter with every savage thrust, threatening to snap. Each drag of his cock against that perfect spot makes your walls flutter and squeeze around him, greedy and uncontrollable. Heat floods your belly, spreading like wildfire through your veins until every nerve feels raw and electric.
You can't breathe. Can't think. There's only the slick, filthy sound of him pounding into your soaked cunt, the wet slap of skin on skin, and the low, guttural groans tearing from his throat every time you clench down on him. Your clit throbs against the base of his cock with every grind, swollen and aching, sending sharp sparks of pleasure shooting up your spine.
"Erenâ" His name breaks on a sob as the coil snaps. "Oh, Eren, fuckâ I'm gonnaâ"
"Come for me," he murmurs against your throat, and his "Can you do that, princess? Can you come for me?"
Princess.
"Say it again," you whisper.
He understands immediately. Of course he does.
"Princess," He breathes it like a confession and thrusts deep â so deep your breath catches in your throat and your nails rake down the back of his neck. "My princess." Another thrust, harder, the desk slamming against the wall with a sound that would be alarming if you could think about anything besides the drag of him inside you. "You feel so perfect â this pussy feels so perfect, squeezing me so tight â"
His rhythm is stuttering now, losing its precision, the thrusts going harder and more erratic as his control frays.
"Fuck â fuck, I'm close â" he mutters, the words come out broken, almost slurred, and you've never heard Eren sound this stripped of everything that makes him composed and controlled and untouchable. His hips snap forward and he groans, a sound that starts in his chest and tears itself out of his throat. "Where can I â shit â where do you want me to finish, tell me now because I'm not gonna â"
Usually the answer depends on the night. On the mood. On whether you want to feel him on your skin â the hot, obscene splash of him across your chest, your stomach, the arch of your back. On the nights when he finishes on your face â your tongue out, eyes up, watching him stroke himself over the edge with his jaw slack and his eyes burning.
But tonight, today, you know exactly where you are in your cycle. You tracked it this morning the way you always do, marking the days in the small leather journal hidden in your nightstand that would cause a diplomatic incident if anyone ever found it. Today is safe. The math is certain.
And you want him. Want all of him. Want to feel him come apart inside you and stay there.
"In me," you breathe. "Cum inside me, Eren."
The sound he makes is inhuman.
A low, shattered groan that cracks in the middle â half your name, half a curse, half something that sounds terrifyingly close to a prayer. His entire body jerks, his hips slamming forward, and you feel the moment the last thread of his control snaps.
"Are you â fuck â are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm sure. I want to feel you â please â"
"Oh, God â"
His pace turns brutal, not in a way that hurts but desperate, fast and deep and unrestrained in a way he rarely allows himself to be. Each thrust drives you up the desk, the wood scraping against the floor.
"You're going to â shit â you're going to make me cum so hardâ" His forehead is pressed against your temple, lips moving against your skin, and the words spill out of him like he can't stop them. "Want to fill you up â want to feel you come on my cock â please, princess, I need you to cum, I need to feel itâ"
"I'm close â Eren, I'm right there, don't stopâ"
"Never." He adjusts his angle, a tiny, precise shift that shouldn't be possible given how far gone he is, and suddenly he's hitting that spot on every thrust, the one that makes your vision go white at the edges. "I've got you. Cum for me, princess. Let go. I'm right here."
And you do, the orgasm ripping through your core and radiating outward until every nerve ending in your body is firing at once. Your back bows off the desk. Your legs lock around his waist like a vice, heels digging into the small of his back, pulling him deep, as deep as he can go, because some animal part of your brain is screaming at you to do some.Â
Beneath his hand you cry out his name with an abandon that would carry through stone walls, that would echo down the corridor, that would alert every guard in the palace wing if not for the press of his palm.
Your body clamps down on him, waves of muscle contracting around his cock in a grip that you couldn't release even if you wanted to, and you feel the exact moment you tip him over.
His hips slam forward one final time, burying himself so deep you feel the bruising pressure of his hipbones against your thighs, and he breaks.
"Fuck â oh fuck, I'm â princess â"
He cums with your name â not your title, your actual name â ripped from his throat in a sound that is so raw it makes your eyes sting. You feel the hot, thick pulse inside you that makes your breath catch and your cunt clench tighter, which drags another groan from his chest. He spills into you in waves, each one accompanied by a shallow, instinctive thrust of his hips â his body pressing as deep as it can, as close as physics allows.
The warmth of it. The intimacy. The knowledge that he's filling you up, that you can feel every pulse and twitch of him, that your body is taking everything he gives â it triggers another aftershock that rolls through you and makes you moan against his hand, and he whimpers. Captain Jaeger, decorated soldier, feared on battlefields, whimpers into the crook of your neck.
His hips twitch a few more times, chasing the last dregs of his orgasm, and then still.
For a long moment, neither of you moves. Just breathing. Your forehead against his. His hand gentling on your face, shifting from a muffle to a caress, thumb tracing your cheekbone. The aftershocks rolling through you in warm, electric pulses.
"You," you finally manage, "are fucking crazy."
He laughs that quiet, real laugh that's nothing like his public demeanor, that belongs only to you. "You like it."
"I tolerate it."
"You like it." He pulls back to look at you, and his face in the afternoon light is something out of a fever dream, so full of emotions in those green eyes.
He kisses you. Gentle this time. Slow. The kind of kiss that isn't about want but about something deeper, something terrifying and enormous and real.
"We should get you cleaned up," he says softly. "You have the garden reception in an hour."
Reality. Right. You're still a princess. He's still a guard. The world outside this room still exists, with all its rules and expectations and reasons why this could never be publicly acknowledged.
He helps you off the desk carefully, steadies you when your knees wobble (and looks annoyingly pleased about the wobble), and begins the meticulous process of making you both presentable again. Buttons refastened. Hair smoothed. Uniform straightened. He ties his own hair back with practiced hands.
"Stop looking at me like that," he murmurs, catching you staring at him through the mirror while he's refreshing himself, "or we're going to miss the garden reception entirely."
You shrug. "Maybe I want to miss it."
His expression softens. He steps behind you, hands settling on your shoulders, and pressing a kiss to the crown of your head.
"Tonight," he promises quietly. "I'll come to you tonight."
You wish you didn't feel as much anticipation by his words, but you do. Because the garden reception will be nothing out of the ordinary. You'll smile and nod with the visiting dignitaries, discussing summer harvests and what not. And Eren will stand at the perimeter among a row of guards.
And no one will know. No one will know that the composed, professional Capital Jaeger had the princess' thighs pried open on a desk with his hand pressed over her mouth.Â
And everyone is going to try and tempt you with princes from all over the world, not knowing that the only thing that's on your mind is what's waiting for you when everyone else goes to bed.
Sukuna knows he fucked up.He knows he deserves the award for The Biggest Dickhead of the Year.
You spent your birthday alone because he was too busy being a selfish prick to remember the one person whoâd been there for him for literally everything.
You were there when his mom got sick.You were there when his dad was a drunk asshole. You were there when he failed maths and thought his life was over. You were there for every birthday, every breakup, every panic attack about nothing and everything. And somewhere along the way you stopped being his best friend and becameâŚ. just a girl he fucked.
When did he stop seeing you?
When did he stop noticing you were there?
Whatâs killing him is that you just gave up on him. You didnât scream or throw shit or demand explanationsâŚhe could handle anger. You looked exhausted. Tired of him. Tired of being the person who cared more.
Fix it. He has to fix it.
But how the fuck do you fix fifteen years of friendship that you torpedoed in six months?
âžâžâž.
Heartbreak, as it turns out, is fucking exhausting.
Not in the romantic way movies portrayed it. No standing in the rain, no meaningful stares out windows while sad music played.
Just bone deep exhaustion.
Youâre extremely fucking confused when Sukuna shows up at your apartment ten days after your birthdayâŚ.. ten days of radio silence, ten days of you ugly crying into ice cream and deleting his number only to restore it from recently deleted like the pathetic creature you areâŚâŚ. with flowers and mochi. Not just any mochi. Mochi from your favourite place thatâs twenty three minutes across town in traffic. You know because youâve driven there multiple times. Usually when you were having a shit day and needed something that felt like a small extravagant fuck you to responsible adult decisions.
Heâs holding it out like a peace offering. Like itâs a white flag. Like itâs anything other than what it actually is, which is a desperately transparent attempt to buy forgiveness.
You stare at him through the crack in your door chain lock still onâŚ.. and he looks⌠bad.
You can tell he hasnât slept properly, which you know because youâve seen Sukuna on two hours of sleep after exam season in university and he still looked better than most people do on a full eight. There are actual shadows under his eyes.
And his usual expressionâŚ. that infuriating smirk that says he knows heâs hot shit and youâre probably thinking about him naked⌠is completely absent. Replaced by something that looks almost⌠nervous?
Ryomen Sukuna. Nervous. The same man who once fucked you against your kitchen counter, maintained eye contact the entire time, and then had the audacity to eat your leftovers after.
âWhat do you want?â Your voice comes out flat, which is good. Flat doesnât show that your heartâs jumping just from seeing him standing there.
âTo talk.â He lifts the mochi box slightly.âPlease.â
âSlam the door in his face.â Thatâs what your best friend would say, right?
âDonât be his friend. You know youâre gonna wake up in his bed in the morningâ At least listen to Dua Lipa. Youâre undoing all the progress youâve made.
What progress? Youâve made zero progress. Youâre a mess.
So you undo the chain and let him in, because apparently self respect is a myth and youâre living proof.
He steps inside and immediately your apartment feels smaller, which is saying something because itâs already pretty fucking small. Itâs not even that Sukunaâs particularly huge, heâs tall, yeah, but itâs more about the way he takes up space. The way heâs always had this gravitational pull that makes you orbit him whether you want to or not. Youâve been orbiting him since you were kids. Maybe thatâs the whole problem. Maybe you never learned how to exist in your own solar system.
âYou have five minutes,â you say, crossing your arms over your chest, which is definitely a defensive position but also necessary because youâre not wearing a bra and youâre not about to let him think this is that kind of visit.
âI fucked up.â The words come out so fast like heâs been practicing them.
You canât help it⌠you laugh. âOh, wow. Groundbreaking. Should we call the press? Alert the media?â
His jaw does a tiny clench that youâve seen a thousand times, usually right before he says something he knows is going to start a fight. But he doesnât. He just takes it. Absorbs your sarcasm because he deserves it.
âI know sorry doesnât fix it,â he continues, and his voice has this quality to it that youâve never heard before. Itâs rough.âI know showing up with flowers isnât enough. I knowâŚâ He stops and runs his hand through his hair and you watch it happen, watch the way his fingers drag through the pink strands and leave them sticking up at odd angles. âIâm fucking drowning without you.â
Your chest squeezes painfully. Like your heartâs being wrung out like a wet towel. You ignore it. Youâve gotten good at ignoring things. Six months of practice.
âYou forgot my birthday, Sukuna. You went on a date with someone else and then you showed up here expecting me to be available? Like Iâm some 24 hour convenience store for your dick?â The words come out quieter than you intended. Less accusatory and more⌠hurt. Which you hate. You wanted to sound angry.
âNo, IâŚâŚ.â
âDo you even know what that felt like?âThe words explode out of you and youâre not yelling, not quite, but your voice is definitely raised and you can feel the tears threatening and fuck, you donât want to cry in front of him. Not again. âWaiting all day for a text. Checking my phone every five minutes like a fucking idiot?
He looks wrecked. Absolutely fucking wrecked, and some petty part of you is glad. Wants him to hurt the way you hurt. âYouâre right. About all of it. I treated you like shit. I took you for granted because you were always there and Iâm so fucking sorry.â
âApology noted. Was that all?â you say, and youâre proud of how steady your voice is. How calm. Like youâre not actively falling apart inside.
âWhatâŚnoâŚâŚâ He runs a hand through his hair again, frustrated. âWhat do you want me to say?â
âNothing. I donât want you to say anything.â And oh, thereâs the anger. Itâs bubbling up now, hot and acidic. âI want you to leave me alone.â
âI canât do that.â
âSure you can. Itâs easy. You just walk away. Youâre good at that.â
He flinches at your words âpleaseâŚâ He pauses âThe last ten days have been hell without you. I miss you.â
âYou miss fucking me.â
âNo.â His voice comes out sharp. âI miss hearing about your day. I miss you stealing my hoodies. I miss the way you laugh at stupid shit. I miss you falling asleep on my couch during movies. I miss you.â
âDonât do thatâ You can feel tears burning behind your eyes. âDonât try toâŚ. â
âIâm in love with you.â
The words land and it feels like getting punched in the stomach and kissed at the same time. White noise fills your ears where thoughts used to be. Youâre vaguely aware that your mouth is openâŚ. definitely looking stupidâŚâŚ. but you canât seem to close it. Canât seem to do anything except stand there and replay those four words over and over
âWhat?â
âIâm in love with you.âHe steps closer and you step back. Your spine hits the kitchen counter. âIâve been in love with you for⌠I donât even know how long. Maybe always. Maybe since we were kids. I donât know. But I know that I fucked it up because I was scared and stupid anâŚ.â
No.
No, he doesn't get to do this.
He doesn't get to say the words youâve been dying to hear for monthsâŚ. not now, not after everything, not when youâve finally started to piece yourself back together.
âBullshit.â Your voice shakes. âNo feelings, no strings, remember?â
âI was wrong.â He moves closer. You let him this time, too shocked to move. âI was fucking wrong about everything.â
Tears are streaming down your face now. You don't even try to stop them.
âTen days,â he continues, voice raw. âTen days without you and Iâve been losing my fucking mind. I canât sleep. Canât eat. Canât think about anything except how badly I fucked up.â
âStop.â You are full on sobbing now âJust stop talking.â
âI love you.â He reaches for you, then drops his hand when you flinch. âIâm sorry, I know I donât deserve another chance, but Iâm begging. Please. Let me fix this.â
You stare at him through blurry vision. This is what youâve wanted, isn't it? For months, this is all youâve wanted⌠for him to choose you, to love you back.
But now that you have itâŚ
âI canâtâŚ.. after everything, I canât just jump back in like nothing happened.â You want to believe him. You wantto believe him so badly it physically hurt. Itâs like this ache in your chest that radiates outward, makes your fingers tingle and your throat tight. But youâve been hurt before. So many times before.
âIâll wait.â He says it without hesitation. âHowever long you need. Iâll wait.â
This is stupid. This is the kind of shit that happens in romance novels where the emotionally constipated man child suddenly becomes a feminist poet who understands feelings and the girl forgives him and they have passionate sex in the rain and everyone forgets that he was a dick for the first two hundred pages.
Real life doesnât work like that. Real life is messier.
You wipe your eyes and try to compose yourself. âI need you to leave,â
That hurts more than he expected. More than anything has hurt in his entire fucking life.
He nods, stepping back immediately. He makes it three steps before you stop him. âSukuna?â
He turns back
âYeah?â He looks at you with so much hope in his eyes it hurts to see.
Giving Sukuna a second chance to prove himself is like giving a gambling addict chips and expecting them not to hit the casino. Itâs like trusting a cat to guard your sandwich. Itâs doomed to fail.
But a stupid, naive part of you wants to believe that he can change. âIf you actually mean thisâŚâ You wipe your eyes. âIf youâre serious about thisâŚprove it.â
Relief crashes over his faceâŚ. Like you just told him heâs been pardoned from execution. âHow?â
âFigure it out.â
And for the first time in ten days, Sukuna feels like he can breathe.
You donât t know if this can work.
But maybe it is worth finding out.
If he proves it.
â˝â˝â˝.
He proves it slowly.
Not with flowers (though he sends them anyway, your favorites, every Sunday). Not with expensive gifts (though he leaves your favorite mochi on your doorstep some mornings).
And somewhere along the way, you soften.
You let him take you to dinner (not a date, you insist, even though it feels like one). You let him drive you home (you donât invite him up). You let him text you (and you text back).
Three months after that night, you let him kiss you.
Itâs different this time⌠Softer. Like he's cherishing every moment, memorizing the feel of your mouth, the taste of you, the way you sigh against his lips.
Six months later, youâre in his bed (your choice this time, youâd insisted), and heâs holding you like you might disappear if he lets go.
âI love you,â He presses a kiss to your shoulder.
You turn in his arms to face him. Your eyes are heavy with sleep, your hair a mess, and youâve never looked more beautiful. âI love you tooâ
This is for my bb @sugusplaything just this once event âĽď¸
Tw: MDNI, 18+
Loving Ryomen Sukuna is a bit like willingly walking into a burning building and being surprised when you get third degree burns.
You knew the fire was there. You saw the flames. You smelled the smoke. And your dumb ass walked in anyway because the warmth felt nice.
Sukuna Ryomen: A selfish bastard, commitment phobe, serial heartbreaker, occasional decent friend, andâŚfor the past six months⌠the man whose bed you crawled into like a pathetic little moth drawn to an extremely hot, emotionally unavailable flame.
Friends with benefits.
Six months. That's how long you'd been doing this little dance with him. Six months of watching him leave your bed to go to someone elseâs and telling yourself it was fine because you agreed to this.
No strings. No feelings.
The problem? You forgot to tell your heart about the arrangement.
Your phone buzzed at 11:47 PM. You already knew who it was
Sukuna: you up?
And there it was. The modern equivalent of a booty call smoke signal. Your thumb hovered over the screen while your dignity staged a small protest somewhere in the back of your skull.
Don't do it, the last remaining brain cell screamed. Have some self respect.
You typed back: maybe
See? Growth. That was practically playing hard to get.
Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again.
Sukuna: that a yes or a no?
You: depends. what's in it for me?
Sukuna: me.
God, the audacity of this man. But It worked. It always fucking worked. Because you were a clown, and this was your circus.
Twenty minutes later, you were in his apartment, and his mouth was on your neck, and his hands were everywhere, and for a few blissful hours, you could pretend this meant something. That the way he held you afterâŚmeant something. That when he murmured "stay" against your hair, he meant it the way you wanted him to.
You'd known Sukuna since forever. Since you were eight years old and he was the mean kid who pulled your hair on the playground. Since you were fourteen and he showed up at your door at midnight because his dad was drunk again and he had nowhere else to go. Since you were seventeen and he held your hand at your fatherâs funeral without saying a word because he knew you didn't need words.
He was your person. Your best friend. The one constant in your life.
And then, six months ago, shit happened. Maybe it was the way he looked at you⌠both of you drunk on cheap wine. Maybe it was how he said "I've always wondered" before he kissed you
"This doesn't have to change anything," you'd whispered after, your forehead pressed against his.
"No feelings," he agreed.
"No strings."
Famous last words.
The first time you saw him with someone else, you told yourself it was fine. Expected, even. That was the deal, right? He could do whateverâŚ. whoeverâŚ. he wanted. You had no claim to him. No right to the jealousy that clawed at your throat when you watched her laugh at something he said.
You went home and cried in the shower for forty five minutes, then texted him like nothing was wrong.
The second time, you learned to swallow it faster. Shove it down into that little box where you kept all the feelings you weren't supposed to have.
The third time. The fourth. The fifthâŚ.
You got good at it. You could watch him flirt with someone at a party and still end up in his bed two hours later, because you were built different. Damaged different, but who's keeping score? Pathetic, really. Truly embarrassing behavior for a grown woman.
March 15th.
Your birthday.
You woke up to seventeen texts from various friends and family, a call from your mom that went to voicemail, and radio silence from the one person who'd never missed it.
Sukuna had remembered your birthday since you were nine years old. The year his mom was sick and his family had no money, he'd stolen flowers from the neighbor's garden and presented them to you with dirt still clinging to the roots. "They're not dead yet," he'd said, like that was the selling point.
You'd kept them until they were.
But today? Nothing. Not a text, not a call, not even a stupid meme with the crying cat that he always sent because he knew it made you laugh.
He's busy, you told yourself. He'll remember later.
You checked your phone at least eight thousand times throughout the day. Totally normal. Just a girl, standing in front of her phone, waiting for a man who promised her nothing to give her something.
By 7 PM, you'd graduated from "he's busy" to "maybe his phone died" to "maybe he's dead in a ditch somewhere and I should call hospitals."
9 PM, you were on Instagram.
And you saw his story, time stamped thirty minutes ago. Sukuna at some fancy restaurant with fairy lights and candles, and across from him sat a girl with perfect hair and pretty eyes,
He was on a date.
Something in your chest cracked. Like ice under pressure, spiderwebbing outward until the whole surface was compromised. You stared at that story for longer than you'd ever admit. Watched it loop three times. Four. Let the image burn itself into your retinas.
And then, finally, something clicked.
You were hurting yourself.
Every time you answered his late night texts. Every time you convinced yourself that maybe this time he'd look at you different. Every time you swallowed your feelings . You were doing this to yourself.
He wasn't the villain here. He'd been honest from the start. No strings. He'd kept his end of the deal.
You were the one who broke the rules.
You crawled into your bed, and let yourself cry. Ugly crying that leaves you dehydrated and blotchy
~~~
You're packing when he finally texts. Not packing packing. Just... putting things in boxes. His hoodie that had somehow came to your closet. Little pieces of him scattered around your apartment like landmines.
For one stupid, hopeful second, your heart leapt. Maybe he remembered. Maybe this was him texting to apologize, to explainâŚ
Sukuna: come over
Translation: Iâm horny, come over and spread your legs.
Ah, the late night classic. The mating call of the emotionally unavailable fuckboy. Your fingers itch to respond.., muscle memory at this point⌠but you don't.
When have you become this person? This pathetic, desperate girl who waits by her phone for scraps of attention from a man who canât even remember her birthday?
You stare at the message until your screen goes dark, then you go back to shoving his things into the box
Twenty minutes later, there's a knock at your door.
Of course. Because god forbid Sukuna not get what he wants.
You consider ignoring it. But then he knocks again, harder, and calls out: "I know you're in there. Your light's on."
Oh ffs
You yank the door open. Sukuna's standing there in that leather jacket you've always secretly loved, hair pushed back
"Didn't answer my text," he says, inviting himself in.
"I was busy."
What are you doing?" He leans against the doorframe, arms crossed, eyebrow raised like you were the confusing one here.
âCleaning."
Sukuna pushes off the doorframe and walks toward you, and God, you hate how your heart still stutters. How your body still remembers every place his hands have been.
"You're being weird," he sys, reaching for the box. "What'sâŚâ He stops and stares at the contents. "Why is my shit in here?"
"Because it's yours." You yank the box away. "Take it.â
Sukuna stares at you. That look he gets when he's trying to figure out an angle. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing's wrong.â you say, starting to feel numb. You are so tired you can barely feel anything at all.
He steps closer. That gravity pulling you in, same as always. His hand comes up to cup your jaw, thumb brushing your cheek, and your treacherous body leans into it
"Can I stay," he murmurs. The voice that's gotten you into bed more times than you can count.
And for one pathetic second, you almost say yes.
Then you remember⌠The candles. The other girl's hand in his.
You pull back. "Not tonight."
He looks confused because Sukuna doesn't hear "no" very often. "Why?"
You look up at him, his eyes are fixed on you, waiting for your response. "I'm tired. JustâŚ. go home, Sukuna."
He doesn't move. "Did I do something?"
"No. You didn't do anything."
That's the problem. You didn't do a single fucking thing.
"Then whatâŚâ
"It's my birthday." The words fall out flat and exhausted.
Silence.
You watch it hit him. The slow widening of his eyes. Confusion, then realisation, then guilt showing on his face before he smothers it
"Shit," he breathes. "Fuck, IâŚ.."
"Don't." You hold up a hand. "Don't do the thing where you apologize and I pretend it's fine and we fuck and nothing changes. I can'tâŚ. " Your voice cracks. Goddamn it. "I can't keep doing this."
Sukuna's face has gone still. You've never seen him look like this before.
"You were my best friend," tears stream down your face "For fifteen years. And now I'm just... what? Just someone you fuck when you're bored?"
Your heart was hammering so hard you could feel it in your throat.
âWe agreed no feelings.â He finally says. And there it is. The rejection youâve been expecting, wrapped up in his typical Sukuna way.
A laugh rips out of you. You are crying and laughing at the same time. You wipe your eyes roughly with the back of your hand. Your face is probably a mess⌠puffy eyes, snotty nose
"You're right," you whisper. You feel like throwing up. Youre so exhausted but the only thing you can think of is how you needed to get out and away from Sukuna âI think we should stopâ
You expect him to argue. To charm his way out of it like he always does.
"Okay," he says finally.
Okay. Just like that.
You weren't expecting it to hurt this much.
He leaves.
You sit on your bed and cry until you can't breathe, then cry some more.
Happy fucking birthday to you.
~~~
What you don't see is Sukuna in his car, parked outside your building for two hours, staring at his steering wheel.
What you don't see is him pulling up fifteen years of photos on his phone. You at eight, cake on your face. You at sixteen, asleep in his passenger seat. You at twenty, laughing so hard you spilled champagne all over your clothes.
What you don't see is the moment he realizes the hollow feeling he's been ignoring for months isn't boredom, isn't restlessness, isn't anything fixable by another nameless girl in another forgettable bar.
I DESPERATELY NEED A TOXIC HOCKEYPLAYER!PORCO ONESHOT THAT IS ALLLLL SMUT NO PLOT or JUST A ONESHOT WITH FWB!PORCO WHO IS slightly TOXIC BUT HE FUCKS TOO DAMN GOOOOOD SO HEâS OUR #1 FUCK (also pure smut no plot) đĽšđĽš
ROUGH PLAY
pairing: porco x reader
plot: hockey player!Porco is a dick but unfortunately the dick attached to the dick is too good
warnings: 18+, uhh i usually don't put warnings but toxic dynamic and rough sex with barely any plot
wc: 6.2k
You've been fucking Porco Galliard on and off for eight months now, ever since that stupid after-party following the Marley Warriors's brutal overtime win against Shiganshina Titans'. He'd scored the game-winner with thirty seconds left, ripped his helmet off on the ice, and skated straight to the glass where you were screaming in the front row like an idiot.Â
Maybe, you should've known better than to mess with the star hocket player. But when he tossed the winning puck over the glass for you, you knew you were going to that after-party. And you were not the slightest bit surprised when the night ended up with your chest pressed flat against a wall and no one other than Porco between your legs.
That night turned into a pattern. He texts you after every home game, usually just a location pin to his apartment. Sometimes he's still half in gear, pads half-off, smelling like that sharp, metallic edge of fresh ice. Other times he's already pissed for whatever reason; bad loss, bad ref call, bad teammate, whatever excuse he can make up, and he takes it out on you in the filthiest, most delicious ways.Â
You keep telling yourself you'll stop answering those texts one day, but you never do. Because no one else has ever fucked you like Porco does, mean and rough, like he's trying to carve his name into your cervix.
It never got deeper emotionally than that with him. He never stayed when he was done. He never offered you something to eat. He barely says hi to you when he sees you at the rink before the game. Outside of the bedroom, it's as if he doesn't know you.
But it's how he treats you behind closed doors that makes you run back every time he texts.
And unfortunately, tonight is no different than any other night. The phone screen lights up at 1:47 AM. You know he had a game today, and you didn't wish him good luck. In fact, you shouldn't give a shit about him, but no matter what you do, he gets his way anyways.Â
With a sigh, you reach for your phone to see the notification.
Porco: You up?
You stare at the ceiling. Stare at the message. Stare at the ceiling again.
Three days ago you'd told yourself you were done. Done. He'd left you on read for seventy-two hours after fucking you so hard you had to call out of work, and when he finally texted back it was a fucking meme. Not even a good one.
Your thumbs move before your brain catches up.
You: No.
Porco: Funny. Come over.
You: It's almost 2am.
Porco: I know what time it is. Door's unlocked.
You lock your phone. Set it face-down on the nightstand. Pull the covers up to your chin with the firm, righteous conviction of a person who is absolutely, unequivocally done being Porco Galliard's 2 AM thing.
You lasted four minutes.
His apartment smells like body wash and cold air, like he has just gotten out of the shower and cracked the window because he ran hot. He always runs hot. You know this because you have memorized the temperature of every inch of him, which is pathetic, which you are going to examine never.
The entryway is dark. You kick off your shoes and pad down the short hallway toward the sliver of low golden light spilling from his bedroom, and you tell yourself with each step that this is the last time. The last time. You are going to get what you came for and then you are going to delete his number and block him and move on with your life and find someone who texts back within a reasonable timeframe and take you on actual dates andâ
Porco is sitting on the edge of his bed in gray sweatpants and nothing else.
Hair still damp. Towel slung over one shoulder. The lamp on his nightstand casting warm shadows across every cut line of his stomach, the ridges of muscle that comes from skating six days a week and fighting on ice for a living. His jaw is bruised in a fading yellow-green color, a gift from last week's game against Trost.
He looks up from his phone with those sharp amber eyes and gives you the laziest, most insufferable half-smile you'd ever seen on a human face.
"Four minutes," he says. "New record."
"Fuck you."
"Yeah," he says, locking his phone and tossing it aside without looking. "That's the idea."
You should have left. You should have turned around and walked out and preserved what remained of your dignity, which at this point was roughly the size of a postage stamp.
Instead you stand there in his doorway in your hastily thrown-on shorts and his hoodieâhis hoodie, with his name and number on its back that you kept telling yourself to throw awayâand feel the familiar, infuriating pull of him settle low in your belly.
Porco's eyes drop. Tracks down your body. Lands on the hoodie.
"That's mine," he says, doing his best to hold down a grin but failing. "Cute."Â
"I was going to burn it."
"No you weren't," he sits back on his hands, legs spread, completely at ease, nodding towards his lap. "Come here."
"Say please."
His jaw ticks. The half-smile sharpens into something that makes the backs of your knees feel unreliable.
"I'm not gonna say please. And you're gonna come here anyway."
The worst part, the truly, genuinely worst part, is that he is right.Â
You cross the room. Stop between his spread knees. He reaches up, hooks two fingers into the waistband of your shorts and harshly tugs you a half-step closer, looking up at you from under damp hair with an expression that is somewhere between hungry and amused.
"Missed you," he murmurs and if you hadn't rode this rodeo this many times already you'd mistake his smug voice for affection.
Spoiler: It's not.
"You left me on read for three days."
"I was busy."
"You posted an Instagram story of you playing Mario Kart with Reiner."
His mouth twitch. "I was busy beating Reiner at Mario Kart," His fingers slides beneath the waistband, knuckles brushing your bare hip. "You keep track of my social media updates? That's cute."
"I hate you."
"Mm-hm," he leans forward and presses his mouth to your stomach through the hoodie fabric, and you feel the heat of it radiate straight down. "You hate me so much you drove across town at two in the morning wearing my clothes."
His hands pushes up under the hoodie. Finds bare skin. His palms are warm and rough and they map upward over your ribs.
"No bra," he observes against your stomach.
"I was literally in bed," you explain, which is obviously an excuse. "Why would I wear a bra to bed?"
"Admit it. You were waiting for me to text."
"I was sleepingâ"
He bites you, cutting your sentence in half. Right through the fabric, teeth pressing into the soft flesh just above your hip boneânot hard enough to actually hurt, just enough to make you gasp and grab his shoulders.
"Porcoâ!"
He looks up with his sharp and knowing amber eyes. "You were saying?"
You fist your hand in his damp hair and pull. His chin tips up and his throat works and for one satisfying second you watch his composure crack with his eyes going half-lidded, lips parting, a rough exhaleâ
Then he grabs your hips and yanks you forward so you tumble into his lap, knees landing on either side of his thighs. One hand at the small of your back, the other cupping the back of your neck, and his mouth is on yours before you can get your balance.
He kisses mean. He always kisses meanâhard and deep and biting, like he is trying to eat you alive, like he needs to be inside you in every possible way simultaneously. His tongue slides against yours, his hand tightens on your neck and you grind down against him involuntarily because your body is a traitor that had long since stopped listening to your brain where Porco Galliard is concerned.
He is already hard. Of course he is. You can feel the thick ridge of him through his sweatpants, pressing right where you need it, and when you roll your hips he makes a low, guttural sound against your mouth that goes straight through you like a current.
"Fuck," he mutters, pulling back just far enough to yank the hoodie over your head and throw it somewhere behind you. Cool air hits your bare chest and then his mouth is on your throat, your collarbone, teeth and tongue marking a hot path downward. "You know what I was thinking about during the game today?"
"Your job, I hope?"
He bites the curve of your breast. You arch into it, nails digging into his shoulders.
"I was thinking about the sound you make," he says against your skin, "right before you come." The tip of his tongue circles your nipple, slow and teasingly. "That littleâ" He sucks, hard, and the sound you make as an answer is embarrassingly close to the one he is describing. "âyeah. That."
His hips roll up as he says it, grinding his cock against you through layers of fabric that suddenly feel offensive, and your head drops back.
"Porcoâ"Â
"Coach asked me why I was distracted," he switches to the other breast, and you feel the scrape of his teeth first, dragging along the sensitive underside in a slow line that makes your stomach flip.Â
Then the flat of his tongue, hot and wet, tracing upward. He circles your nipple once, twice, then draws it into his mouth and sucks hard enough that the sensation shoots straight down your spine and pools between your legs like liquid heat.
Your fingers dig into his shoulders. The muscles beneath your hands is absurd, the product of years on the ice, years of checking men twice his temperament into boards.
"I almost told him," his voice is muffled against your breast, the vibration humming through your rib cage. He pulls back just enough to speak, lips still brushing your skin, breath hot and damp. "Almost saidâ" He presses an open-mouthed kiss to the valley between your breasts, tongue tasting the thin sheen of sweat that had gathered there. "âsorry, coach, can't focusâ"
He kisses lower. Then drags his mouth back up, nose skimming along the swell of your breast until his lips finds the peaked nipple again. He flicks his tongue against it and you squirm in his lap. His hands tighten on your hips. Not letting you move. Not letting you escape.
"âbecause I had this girl bounce on my dick three days ago, and now it's all I can think aboutâ"
Ah. You only made it three days? Felt like an eternity, almost comparable with how addicts feel about relapses.
His teeth closes around your nipple. Not hard, but sharp enough to make your back arch and your hips jerk and a sound slip out of your mouthâa thin, reedy whimper that you'd deny to your grave. You can feel your own pulse between your legs now, throbbing in time with your heartbeat. Your underwear is ruined. Had been ruined probably since you'd walked in and seen him sitting there shirtless and damp like some kind of off-season Calvin Klein ad designed specifically to destroy your life.
"You're so full of shit," you breathe, but your voice is shaking so it's not nearly as convincing as you wish for it to be.
He huffs a laugh against your skin, kissing his way back up your chest with an agonizing lack of urgency. Your collarbone. The hollow of your throat, where he pauses to feel your pulse hammering against his lips. The hinge of your jaw.
"âbut I figured that might affect my ice time."
He pulls back.
The sudden absence of his mouth leaves you cold and aching and irrationally angry about it. You open your eyes and find his face inches from yours, close enough to see the ring of dark gold around his blown pupils, the fine scar above his left eyebrow from a high stick, the way his damp hair has started to dry in messy, uneven waves that fell across his forehead.
His thumb comes up and traces your lower lip slowly. The rough pad of his callus catches on the soft skin and drags, pulling your lip down just slightly before releasing it. His gaze follows the movement like it is the most fascinating thing he has ever seen.
"You're dripping," he says. "I can feel you soaking through my sweats."
Your face burn. "Iâ"
What? What are you going to say? I'm not that wet, actually? The physical evidence is literally soaking into his clothes. You don't affect me? You are straddling him half-naked at two in the morning on a work night. There is no spin you could put on this. No defense. No plausible deniability.
He watches the embarrassment move through you with a kind of dark, quiet satisfaction that makes you want to crawl under his bed and also grind against him until you can't remember your own name.
"Don't be embarrassed," his voice drops to a softer tone, but not gentle. The kind of soft that a predator uses when it's already closed the distance. "S'what I wanted. You know I like it when you're desperate for me."
His big hands settle on your hips, gripping them. His fingers press into the flesh hard enough that you can feel each individual point of contactâthumb on your hip bone, four fingers splayed across the curve toward your ass, the heel of his palm firm against the jut of your pelvis.
He rocks you forward in a slow grind, using the strength in his arms to drag you along the length of his cock through layers of fabric that suddenly feels paper-thin. You feel the thick ridge of him pressing up against your soaked shorts, the head catching against your clit through cotton, the heat of him radiating through the damp barrier between you. Your nerve endings lights up and you make a soundâsomething between a gasp and a whineâand your hands flow to his biceps to steady yourself.
The muscle under your palms flex as he pulls you back. Rocks you forward again, slower this time, in a syrupy, filthy roll of your hips against his. It's like he has mapped the exact angle, the exact pressure, the exact speed required to take you apart at the seams.
He has. He absolutely has. That's the thing about Porco: he pays attention. Not to your texts. Not to your feelings. Not to basic social contracts of decency and communication. But to this. To the way your breath hitches when he angles your hips just slightly to the left. To the way your thighs tighten around him when he presses up at the same time he drags you forward. To the way your eyes go glassy and unfocused when the friction hits just right, which it do now, and which makes him smile like he has scored on a breakaway.
"Why do you think I texted?" he murmurs.
"Because you're a selfish asshole who only calls when he's horny?"
He grins widely and you want to slap it off his face and also kiss him until neither of you can breathe. It's a complicated situation, really, where you're constantly fluctuating between wanting to block him and craving him.
"Both things can be true," he hums, still grinning. "You know why I texted, can't get enough of this greedy little pussy."Â
You roll your eyes and try to roll your hips harder against him, but his hands held you to his pace.
"Ah-ah," His thumbs rubs slow circles into your hip bones. "I set the tempo. You know that."
"Porcoâ" Your voice cracks. Your fingers are digging into his biceps so hard you'll probably leave marks, and some petty, vindictive part of you hopes you did. Hopes they'll show in the locker room. "Please."
"Please what?"
He rolls you forward again and holds you there, pressed flush against him, the hard line of his cock grinding directly against your clit, and your vision goes white at the edges. Your mouth falls open. A sound comes out that you didn't authorize. His eyes drops to your lips and something shifts in his expressionâa fracture in the composure, a flash of raw need that he almost managed to hide.
Almost.
"Tell me what you want," he says, and for the first time his voice isn't smooth.Â
There is a rasp to it now, a hoarseness that tells you the wet heat soaking through his sweatpants is affecting him more than he is letting on. You can feel his cock twitch against you, a reflexive, involuntary pulse, and the knowledge that he is fighting for control just as hard as you are sends a vicious thrill through your chest.
"I want you to stop being a tease," you breathe needfully, "and touch me."
Thankfully, he listens.
That's the good thing about Porco, hell, maybe the only good thing: he's the no bullshit type of guy. He slides his hand down the front of your shorts without preamble. Under the waistband, his knuckles dragging against the soft skin of your lower belly, leaving a trail of heat in their wake.Â
His fingers push through the ruined cotton and find you slick and swollen and aching, and the sound he makes? A sharp, punched-out exhale through his nose, followed by a low sound from the back of his throat that borders on a groan. His fingers slide through the mess of you, through the slick, the heat, the obscene wet that coats his fingers the second they make contact. His free hand grips your hip hard enough to leave half-moons from his nails.
"Jesus Christ," he breathes, eyes almost rolling back into the back of his head from the sensation. His fingers slide up, then down, parting your folds slowly, spreading the slick around. "All this for me?"
"Don't flatter yourself, youâ"
He sinks two fingers inside you and you choke on whatever you were about to say next.
His fingers are thick. You know this. You've known this since the first time he touched you, when he'd barely said fifteen words to you all night and then slid his hand up your skirt and made you come so hard you saw static. His fingers are thick and long and slightly calloused at the tips and the texture of them inside you, dragging against your swollen walls, is enough to make your brain short-circuit.
You clench around him involuntarily. He feels it, of course, and that half-smile is back, sharp and knowing and insufferable.
"What was that?" He curls them, finds that spot immediately because he has mapped you like a territory he intends to conquer and he never, ever forgets. "Didn't quite catch it."
"I saidâahâ" Your sentence is cut short by another harsh curl of his fingers straight into your g-spot.
"You said ah. Got it."
His fingers pull back slowly, dragging along your front wall, letting you feel every inch of the withdrawal, then push back in. A steady, rhythmic pump that your body opens for without resistance, your muscles fluttering around him, trying to pull him deeper. The wet sound of it is filthy. You can hear it in the quiet of his bedroom, the slick, sucking noise of his fingers working in and out of you, and your face burns with a fresh wave of humiliation that somehow only makes you wetter.
"You know what your problem is?" he says, pressing his thumb against your clit.
His thumb circles, perfectly synchronized with the pump of his fingers so that every inward stroke is met with a downward press on your clit, the dual stimulation building a pressure behind your navel that feels like a fuse burning toward detonation.
"You," you manage through a gasp. "My problem is you."
He chuckles.Â
"Your problem," he says, working you open, "is that you keep telling yourself you're done with me."
He adds a third finger.
The stretch punches a whimper out of your chest. Three of his fingers is a lotâit's fullness bordering on too much, a burn that blurs the line between pleasure and pain in a way that makes your eyes water. Your walls clamp down around him, resisting the intrusion for a moment before relaxing, accepting, opening, and the groan that comes out of him tells you he felt every second of that adjustment.
You're clutching his shoulders with both hands, nails embedded in the muscle of his traps. Your hips are moving, rolling against his hand in a rhythm you didn't consciously choose, riding his fingers with a desperation that your brain is screaming at you to be embarrassed about but your body has zero interest in moderating.
"And then I do thisâ"
He presses hard against that spot inside you, all three fingers grinding into your g-spot with a pressure that makes your stomach muscles seize. Simultaneously, his thumb bears down on your clit and rubs in a tight, fast circleâa sudden escalation from the slow, teasing pace he'd been maintainingâand your whole body jerks.
Your back arches. A cry tears out of you and you walls clamp around his hand like a vice. The pleasure is blinding. It radiates outward from where his fingers are buried inside you, cascading through your belly, your chest, your limbs, and for one terrifying, exhilarating second you are right on the edgeâ
"âand you remember why you're not."
He's right.
As you keep bouncing yourself on his fingers, shamelessly riding his hand in his lap like you have no dignity and no pride and no higher brain function. burning under his observing gaze, you realize how right he is.Â
His amber eyes are fixed on your face with an intensity that makes you feel peeled open, exposed, like he can see every thought you've ever had about him. Every time you swore you were done. Every time you deleted the your message threat only to undelete it twenty minutes later. Every time you lay in your own bed and touched yourself and thought about thisâhis hands, his fingers, his cock.
He knows. He's always known. And you're going to come on his hand in about thirty seconds if he keepsâ
He pulls his fingers out.
The loss is violent. One second you're fullâstretched and stimulated and hurtling toward an orgasm that was building behind your navel like a thunderheadâand the next you're empty. Clenching around nothing. The sudden absence of pressure, of fullness, of his fingers against that spot, is so jarring that a high-pitched sound rips out of you before you can stop it. A whine that borders on a wail, shameless and undignified and so nakedly desperate that you'd be humiliated if your body wasn't too busy screaming at you to get those fingers back.
"Noâ"
"Shh," he hushes you.
He brings his hand to his mouth, holding your gaze as he slides his fingers past his lipsâall three, glistening, coated in the evidence of exactly how much you need himâand his cheeks hollow as he sucks them clean. His eyes never leave yours, and you watch his tongue work between his fingers, watch his throat bob as he swallows, watch his lids go half-heavy with a satisfaction so deep it borders on bliss, and the look on his faceâ
It's obscene. It's pornographic. It's a man savoring something and making sure you know it. His mouth is slick when he pulls his fingers free, his tongue tracing his lower lip to catch what's left, and the sound he makes is quiet and low and content, like you're the best thing he's ever tasted and he wants you to live with that knowledge.
You want to scream. You want to grab his face and kiss him and bite him and force his hand back between your legs and ride it until you finish what he started. Your clit is throbbing. Your inner walls are clenching in rhythmic, involuntary pulses around nothing and the ache is so acute it's almost painful.
But he seems to have another idea.
"Get on the bed," he says.
"You're the worst person I've ever met."
"Yeah, yeah," he says, completely unbothered. "On the bed. Now."
You climb off his lap. Shove your shorts and underwear down and kick them off because you are past the point of strategic undressing, past the point of pretending this is anything other than exactly what it is.
It is pure and undeniable lust. You and Porco have this unsaid contract, where both of you know from countless attempts, that no one else is going to come close. No one will fuck you as good as Porco does, and Porco will never find someone he enjoys fucking as much as you. That's why both of you are very on track with what your meetings mean: nothing.
You lay back on his sheets and watch him stand and push his sweatpants down, andâ
God.
You've seen him naked thousands of times by now. You have the image filed in long-term memory, backed up to the cloud, engraved on the inside of your eyelids. It shouldn't hit you like this anymore. You should be immune by now. But Porco Galliard naked is an event that your nervous system refuses to normalize, and every single time feels like the first time you saw him strip with that careless, unselfconscious ease.
He's built like something sculpted for violence and sexâbroad shoulders that taper to a narrow waist, the V-cut of his hips sharp enough to cast shadows in the low light, thick thighs corded with the kind of muscle that comes from skating hard since childhood, from explosive starts and sudden stops and the raw power required to hold your ground when a two-hundred-pound defenseman tries to put you through the boards,
His cock is hard. Flushed dark. Thick. Curving slightly upward, heavy enough that it doesn't stand flat against his stomach but rather juts forward. A bead of precum glistens at the tip and your mouth waters on reflexâa Pavlovian response so deeply conditioned at this point that you'd probably salivate if someone just said his name in the right tone of voice.
"See something you like?"
That comment from his makes you realize you're shamelessly staring at him.
You shrug. "I've seen better."
"Liar," He crawls over you, caging you in with his arms, hovering just above your skin. "Name one person who's fucked you better than me."
Silence.
His grin is filthy. "That's what I thought."
He kisses you again, slower this time, deeper, his tongue sliding against yours in a way that makes your toes curl. You wrap your legs around his waist, pulling him down against you and the feeling of his cock sliding through your slick folds makes both of you groan into each other's mouths.
He rocks against you, the thick length of him dragging over your clit with every roll of his hips, and it is goodâso goodâbut it's not enough.
"Porco," Your nails rake down his back. "Please."
"There it is," He nips your jaw. "Knew you'd be the one to beg first."
"I swear to God if you don'tâ"
He reaches between you. His hand slides into the narrow space between your bodies and wraps around himself. You feel the shift of his forearm against your inner thigh, feel the subtle flex of his wrist, and then the blunt, broad head of his cock is pressing against your entrance.
He doesn't push it, he is just resting against you with a pressure that is maddening in its restraint. The head is hot, flushed and swollen and slick with your arousal and his own precum, and it nudges your opening with a precision that tells you he's lined up perfectly, that all it would take is one shift of his hips, one flex of his body, and he'd be inside you.
He holds there.
One second. Two. Three.
You look up at him through the haze. His jaw is clenched. A muscle ticks in his cheek. The arm braced beside your head is trembling. He wants to be inside you so badly his body is shaking with the effort of not.
That's when his restraint snaps, and he pushes in. One long, slow, devastating stroke, all the way to the hilt.
Your back arches off the bed. The stretch is overwhelming, it's always so much with him, that first moment of being split open and filled completely, his cock pressing deep enough that you feel it in your chest. Your fingers scrambled for purchase on his shoulders, his back, anything solid.
"Fuck," he hisses through his teeth, forehead dropping to yours. His hips stutters slightly, and the crack in his composure sends a thrill of power racing through you. "Fuck, you're tight. Three days and you're squeezing me likeâshit."
"Move," you whisper. "Please, move."
He pulls back slowly, then pushes in hard.
Your moan bounces off the walls of his bedroom and he swallows it with his mouth, kissing you deep as he set a rhythm that is punishingâlong, hard strokes that bottoms out each time, his hips snapping against yours with a force that scoots you up the mattress.
"This isânghâthis is why you keep coming back," he pants against your throat, fucking into you with a precision that shouldn't have been possible at this pace. "Not because I'm nice. Not because I text you back." He hooks his arm under your knee and push it toward your chest, changing the angle, going deeper, and the sound you make is barely human. "âBecause you know I'm neither of those. It's because I fuck you like no one else can. Say it."
You shake your head, stubbornly. "No."
He slows down, not stopping fully, but instead pulling almost all the way out and pressing back in at an agonizing crawl, and the sudden loss of friction makes you want to cry.
"Say it," he repeats. His lips brushed your ear. "Tell me I'm the best you've ever had and I'll give you what you want."
"You'reâahhâyou're a manipulative piece ofâ"
He thrust hard. Once. Then goes back to that torturous slow pace.
"Porco!"
"I've got all night," he says, looking at an imaginary watch on his wrist. Another slow, deep grind that grazes your g-spot just enough to make your eyes water. "Do you?"
Your pride held out for approximately four more seconds.
"You're the best I've ever had," you gasp. "You're the best, you asshole, now pleaseâ"
He slams into you so hard the headboard cracks against the wall.
"Good girl."
And then he fucks you.
There is no other word for it. He braces one hand on the headboard and the other grips your hip hard enough to bruise and he drives into you at a pace that is borderline feral, the wet sound of skin against skin filling the room, his bed frame protesting with every thrust.
You can't think. Can't form words. Your body is a live wire, every nerve lit up, and the pressure building in your core is a wave that keeps climbing and climbing andâ
"I can feel you clenching," His voice is rough and breathless hinting that you're not the only one losing your mind over the ridiculous pleasure. "You gonna cum? Gonna cum on my cock like you've been thinking about for three days? Bet you missed it, didn't ya'?"
"Yesâyes, I'mâfuck, Porco, right there, right thereâ"
He reaches between your bodies, pressing his thumb to your clit and rub in fast, tight circles, and his mouth finds your ear.
"Cum for me. Now."
And you do, the orgasm ripping through you like a detonationâwhite-hot and blinding, your whole body locking up, clenching around him so hard he swore viciously into your neck. You shake with it, wave after wave, his name tearing out of your throat in a sound you'll be embarrassed about laterâa broken, desperate, pathetic sound that echoes off his bedroom walls.
He doesn't stop.
"One more," he says, and it isn't a question.
"I can'tâ"
"You can."Â
He pulls out, but before you can mourn the loss he flips you onto your stomach with the kind of effortless strength that reminds you he throws grown men into plexiglass for a living. His hand press between your shoulder blades, pushing you down into the mattress, and then he grips your hip, thrusts back in from behind and the new angle is so deep you scream.
"Yeah, that's it," he mutters and leans over your back, his chest hot against your skin, mouth at your ear. "Be loud. Want the neighbors to know how good I'm fucking you."
He fucks you face-down into his mattress with a hand fisted in your hair and the other braced beside your head, and each thrust punch a sound out of youâbroken moans and gasps and fragments of his name that you couldn't have held back if your life depended on it.
"This is mine," he growls, punctuating it with a thrust so hard your vision goes white. "You hear me? I don't care how long I go without texting. I don't care if you say you're done. Thisâ" Another devastating thrust. "âis mine. And you'll come back every single time because nobody else can fuck you the way I do. Got it?"
It's toxic. It's possessive and arrogant and objectively terrible and it's also making you cum so hard your legs give out. You would've collapsed if it wasn't for the iron grip Porco has on your hips.
The second orgasm hits like a tidal waveâbigger than the first, deeper, rolling through you in relentless pulses that make your fingers claw at his sheets and your toes curl and tears leak from the corners of your eyes. You clench around him, pulsating in a way that earns a groan from him.
"FuckâI'mâ"Â
His hips stutter, rhythm finally fracturing. He pulls out at the last second and you feel the hot spill of him across your lower back, his cock pulsing as he cums with a guttural sound that is half your name and half something profane.
For a long moment there is nothing but breathing. Heavy, shattered breathing, and the distant sound of his neighbor's TV through the wall, and your own heartbeat thundering in your ears.
Porco collapses beside you. You lay face-down in his pillow, boneless and trembling, every muscle in your body reduced to liquid.
After a minute, you feel a warm cloth on your back. Okay, so no matter how big of a dick he has and is, this he always does. He cleans you up afterwards with a care that directly contradicts everything that came before it and comes after.
He tosses the cloth toward the bathroom and lies back down. Pulls you against him. You go, because your body is a traitor and he is warm and solid and his arm is heavy around your waist.
You lie there for a few minutes. Feel his breathing slow against the back of your neck. Feel the ache between your thighs settling into something deep and warm that you'll carry around for days like a bruise you can't stop pressing.
Then you get up.
He doesn't try to stop you. He never does. He just rolls onto his back and watches you from the bed with one arm behind his head, watches you find your underwear, pull on your shorts, tug his hoodie over your head.
You don't look at him as you find your shoes in the hallway.
"Drive safe," he calls from the bedroom. Casually, like you're a friend leaving a dinner party and not a woman who just screamed his name so loud his neighbors probably filed a noise complaint.
You don't answer. You close the door behind you and walk to your car in the cold night air.
You won't text him tomorrow. He won't text you either.
Not for a few days, at least. Long enough for the bruises on your hips to fade. Long enough for the sense memory of his mouth and his hands and the weight of him to dull from a roar to a hum. Long enough for you to almost convince yourself that you're done. That this was the last time. That you are a person with self-respect and standards and the ability to simply not drive across town at 2 AM for a man who treats his phone like a suggestion.
And then he'll text.
And you'll go.
Because that's Porco.
He fucks like he plays: hard, mean, and way too fucking good to quit.
kiss it better with suna. fluff. fem!reader. | not proofread.
[best friends, blurred lines.]
you've been kissing suna's injuries better for three years, but when you accidentally catch the corner of his mouth, you have a full meltdown.
more suna here! and more sugar from suna here!
more reads!
a/n; sorryy i've been busy I have disappeared again haha, sorryy, but oh how our sunarin deserves all the love even though he's such a sneaky fox. I miss writing for him! â¸( *ËáľË* )⸠thank you for reading!!!
ŕŞâđđ¤đą
The first time you kissed Suna Rintarou's injury was three years ago.Â
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
It's the Championship GameâCollegiate Nationals, the culmination of four years of blood, sweat, and dreams. You're in the stands with the rest of the student section, screaming yourself hoarse as the team battles it out in the fifth set. Your eyes are locked on a certain player, watching him move across the court with that deceptive laziness that hides how lethal he really is.
The final point is a block. Suna reads the setter perfectly, jumps at the exact right moment, and slams the ball down on the opponent's side with finality.
The arena explodes.
You're jumping, screaming, cryingâeveryone is. The team wins nationals for the first time in a decade, and you get to witness it happen.
After the medal ceremony, after the photos and the interviews and the chaos, you wait outside the locker room like you always do. The team files out gradually, still high on adrenaline and victory, clapping each other on the back and making plans to celebrate.
Suna emerges last.
He's showered, hair still damp and sticking up in odd directions, wearing his warm-up jacket and a rare, genuine smile. When he sees you, something in his expression softens.
"Hey, angel," he says, and the nickname still makes your stomach flutter even though he's been calling you that for months now.
"Rin!" You launch yourself at him. He catches you easily, always does, and you wrap your arms around his neck. "You did it! National Champions!"
"We did it," he corrects, and his arms tighten around you, face buried in your hair. "Thanks for being here."
"Like I'd miss it."Â
You pull back to look at him properly, and your hands find his without thinking. It's just something you do, this habitual reaching for each other, fingers lacing together like puzzle pieces that have always fit. His hands are so much bigger than yours, long fingers wrapping around your smaller ones, and you start to smile at the familiar comfort of itâ
Until you feel the wetness.
Your smile falters. You look down at your joined hands and your heart drops.
"Rin, your handsâ"
His palms are destroyed. Blood seeps through the tape that's barely holding on, staining the white fabric red. The skin underneath is scraped raw, swollen, split open in places from the force of his blocks. You can see bruising already forming, dark purple spreading across his fingers.
"It's fineâ"
But you're already pulling him away from the crowd, gentle despite your horror, refusing to let go of his hand even though it's bleeding. "Fine? Rin, you're bleeding through the tape."
"Doesn't hurt." He's lying. You can tell by the way his fingers tense slightly in yours, the only tell he'll give.
"Come on." You tug him toward a quieter corner near the vending machines, still holding his hand like you can somehow keep him together through touch alone. "Sit."
He sits on the floor without complaint, long legs stretched out, and watches as you finally, reluctantly, release his hand to dig through your bag. You always carry basic first aid supplies to his games; you learned that necessity freshman year when he'd split his lip and tried to spit blood into a towel like that fixes it.
"You don't have toâ"
"Hush." You kneel in front of him, reaching for his hands again. Your fingers are gentle as you begin to unwrap the tape, but you can't help the way your thumb strokes across his wrist, a soothing gesture. "Let me take care of you."
He goes quiet at that, unnaturally still as you work. The tape pulls away to reveal worse damage than you thought. His fingers are a mess of broken skin and bruising, an injury that's going to hurt like hell tomorrow when the adrenaline wears off.
You're still holding his hand, cradling it in both of yours. "Rin," you say softly, something aching in your chest. "You played so hard."
"Had to win." His voice is rough. "Last chance."
You know what he means. Senior year, final tournament, the end of collegiate volleyball. After this, he'll go pro, already has offers from several Division 1 teams, but it won't be the same. It won't be this team, these people, this chapter of his life.
"Well, you did win," you remind him, trying to smile as you clean the wounds as gently as possible. Your fingers never quite leave his skin, always maintaining that point of contact. "You were amazing."
He makes a dismissive sound, but you can see the pleased curve of his lips.Â
You work in silence, applying antiseptic and fresh bandages. Your hands are steady despite the way your heart is racing from his proximity, from the trust in the way he lets you hold him, touch him, care for him.
"There," you say finally, tying off the last bandage. "All better."
Except, it's not all better, is it? He's still hurt. Heâs still bleeding under those bandages. Heâs still pushed himself to the breaking point for this win.
Without thinking, operating on pure instinct and emotion, you lift his handâthe one you've been holding this entire time because you just couldn't bear to let goâto your lips and press a soft kiss to his wrapped knuckles.
"Okay," you whisper. "Now it's better."
The words hang in the air between you.
Suna has gone completely still, eyes wide in a way you've never seen before. You're suddenly very aware of what you've just done, of the intimacy of the gesture, of the way his hand is still cradled in yours.
"Iâ" Heat floods your face. "Sorry, I justâit's something I do with my nieces and nephewsâ"
"Don't apologize." His voice is strange, rough around the edges. His free hand comes up to cup your cheek, and his thumb brushes just under your eye. "It's... it's good. Fine. Good⌠really good."
You've never heard Suna Rintarou stumble over his words before.
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
Which brings you to now, three years after that first kiss outside the locker room.
The action is so ingrained at this point that you don't think about it anymore. Suna comes home hurt, you fix him up, you kiss it better. It's just what you do, as natural as breathing.
You definitely don't think about the implications.
Definitely don't notice the way his eyes linger on your lips afterward, or the way his breathing changes when you're close, or the way he seems to find excuses to need your care more and more often.
Definitely don't acknowledge the growing tension between you, the weight of all these unspoken feelings, the way every innocent touch feels charged with something dangerous.
Definitely don't let yourself want more than these stolen moments of intimacy disguised as first aid.
(Definitely lying to yourself about all of it.)
So when he comes home from practice with split palms (again), angry red marks across his fingers from where he'd blocked one too many of Washioâs spikes, you move on autopilot.
"Rin!" you scold, already reaching for his hand. "Come here."
He doesn't argue. He never does, not about this, at least. He follows you to the bathroom, where you keep the first aid kit and sits on the edge of the tub, watching you with those half-lidded eyes that always make your stomach do something complicated.
You clean the cuts carefully, gentle fingers dabbing antiseptic. He doesn't flinch. He's used to pain, has a tolerance built up from years of diving for balls and throwing his body around like it's expendable, but you're not used to seeing him hurt, even in small ways like this.
"You need to be more careful," you murmur, wrapping gauze around the webbing of his fingers.
"Yeah, yeah." His voice is flat, bored almost, but there's something soft in the way he lets you fuss over him.
You tie off the bandage. Then, without thinking, the same way you do with your nieces and nephews when they scrape their knees, the same way you've done with him dozens of times before, you bring his hand to your lips and press a gentle kiss to his knuckles.
"There. All better."
You're already turning away to put the first aid kit back when you catch the look on his face, something arrested, almost stunned, though it smooths over so quickly you might have imagined it.
Exceptâyou've seen that look before. Three years ago, outside a locker room, after a championship game.
Some things never change.
"Thanks, angel," he says, and his voice sounds different. Lower. Rougher around the edges.
You shrug it off. It's just Rin being Rin.
But what you don't see, what you miss because you're already walking back to the living room, is the way he stares at his hand like you've branded him. The way his fingers curl into his palm, holding onto the phantom warmth of your lips.
The way he smiles, small and secret and wanting.
The same way he's been smiling for three years.
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
It becomes a thing.
(It's always been a thing, but you're committed to not examining that too closely.)
Suna Rintarou is not a careless player. He's calculated, precise, moves with the kind of lazy efficiency that makes it look easy, but volleyball is a violent sport for all its grace, and he comes home marked by it more often than not.
Blistered palms from too many serves. Bruised ribs from bad falls. Split skin on his fingers from blocks that connect just wrong. Each time, you pull him to the bathroom, and you clean him up.
And each timeâmuscle memory, instinct, habit, whateverâyou kiss it better.
A soft press of your lips to his palm. The inside of his wrist. Once, memorably, his shoulder when he'd landed hard enough to leave a bloom of purple-blue-green across his skin.
You don't think about it. It's just what you do, the same way you breathe or blink or say his name.
But Suna thinks about it.
Oh, does he think about it.
He thinks about it during practice, when Komori asks why he's smiling at nothing. He thinks about it at night, lying in his bed on the other side of the apartment, knowing you're just a wall away. He thinks about it when he wakes up and finds you making coffee in one of his old hoodies, the sleeves too long on your arms.
He thinks about the softness of your lips, the careful way you touch him. He thinks about the little furrow between your brows when you're concentrating, the way you bite your bottom lip when you're worried.
He thinks about all the places he'd like you to kiss.
It's torture, sweet and slow and perfect.
He's addicted to it.
So maybeâmaybeâhe gets a little less careful at practice. Maybe he goes for blocks he doesn't need to, dives for balls that are already out. Maybe he lets his hands take more hits than necessary.
Komori notices. "You're playing sloppy today, Rinnie-rin."
"Am I?" Suna examines his reddened palms with satisfaction. "Didn't notice."
His teammate gives him a long, knowing look. "Uh huh. This wouldn't have anything to do with your cute little roommate, would it?"
Suna's expression doesn't change, but something sharp flashes in his eyes. "Careful."
"I'm just sayingâ"
"Don't." The word is flat, edged with warning. "Don't talk about her."
Komori raises his hands in surrender, but he's grinning. "Man, you've got it bad."
Suna doesn't dignify that with a response.
Mostly because it's true.
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
Today's practice is brutal.
EJP has an upcoming game against the Adlers, which means everyone's on edge, pushing harder. The gym echoes with the sound of balls hitting the court, bodies hitting the floor, Coach calling out plays in that commanding voice of his.
Suna's in the zone, that flow state where nothing exists except the game. Reading the plays, watching the angles, timing his blocks perfectly. He's always been good at this, the mental chess of volleyball, staying three moves ahead.
Which is why he definitely, absolutely, one hundred percent does not mean to miscalculate the trajectory of Washio's spike.
Definitely does not turn his face at just the wrong angle.
Definitely does not let the ball graze his jaw, right near the corner of his mouth.
"Shit, Suna!" Washio jogs over immediately. "You good?"
Suna probes his jaw with careful fingers, feels the sting of abraded skin. Not bleeding, but it'll bruise. And more importantly, it's in a perfect spot.
He fights down a smile.
"I'm fine," he says, flat as always. "Lost focus for a second."
Komori appears at his elbow, takes one look at his face, and starts laughing. "Oh my god. You did that on purpose."
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"Youâre so full of shitâ"
"Aren't you supposed to be practicing receives?" Suna cuts him off mildly. "That last one looked a little shaky."
Komori flips him off but jogs back to position, still grinning like he knows all of Suna's secrets.
Maybe he does.
Suna touches his jaw again, feels the tender skin, and thinks about your hands. Your soft, careful hands, and your lipsâ
Yeah. Komori definitely knows.
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
You're chopping vegetables for dinner when you hear the door open.
"Rin? That you?"
"Yeah." His voice sounds normal, that familiar drawl that always makes you smile. "Smells good."
"Stir-fry," you say, not looking up from the cutting board. "How was practice?"
There's a pause. "Fine."
Something in that pause makes you turn around, andâ
"Oh my god, Rin!"
There's a scrape along his jaw, red and angry, and you're moving before you can think, abandoning the vegetables to cross to the genkan.
"What happened?" Your hands flutter nervously around his face, not quite touching. "Does it hurt?"
"Took a ball to the face." He shrugs, but you catch the way his eyes track your movements, intent despite his casual tone. "It's nothing."
"It's not nothing, you're hurt." You're already pulling him toward the bathroom, fingers wrapped around his wrist. "Come on, sit. Let me clean it."
He follows easily, and you try not to think about how he always does thisâfollows you, indulges you, lets you take care of him like it's a privilege instead of a chore.
The bathroom is small, too small for two people, but you've done this enough times that you've figured out the choreography. He sits on the edge of the tub, long legs spreading slightly to make room, and you step between them to get close enough.
You're concentrating on dampening a washcloth, adding soap, but you can feel his gaze on you, heavy and heated.
"This might sting," you warn, bringing the cloth to his jaw.
"I can take it, angel."
The nickname makes something flutter in your chest, the same way it always does. He's called you that for years nowâeven before that first time you kissed his injury, actuallyâand it still affects you, still makes you feel safe and soft and wanted.
You clean the scrape as gently as possible, hyper-aware of how close you are. He's so much bigger than you like this, sitting down but still somehow taking up all the space. You have to lean in to reach properly, and suddenly, you're surrounded by him: his scent, his warmth, his presence.
"There," you murmur, setting aside the cloth. The scrape is clean now, not bad enough to need a bandage. "All done."
You donât step back yet. You're still between his legs, close enough to see the different shades of green in his eyes, the way his pupils are dilated.
And then, that ingrained response you've built over three years of this, you lean in and press your lips to his jaw.
Right at the corner of his mouth.
It's barely a kiss, the same soft peck you always give, but the placement is different. Intimate. You can feel the edge of his lips against yours, feel the sharp intake of his breath.
Time stops.
You realize what you've done, where you are, how close you are. Heat floods your face as you jerk back slightly, eyes wide.
"Oh! Sorry, Rin, I didn't meanâI meanâ"Â
The words tumble out in a rush, your face burning hotter with each syllable.Â
"I've just been doing this for years now, habit, so why not continue to kissâwait, that came out wrongâ"
You slap a hand over your mouth, mortified, but the damage is done and your brain won't stop.
"Wait, not that I donât want to kissâ"Â
Your eyes go even wider as you realize what you just said.Â
"I meanâugh!"
You make a frustrated noise, covering your face with both hands now, and your next words come out muffled and pouty. "This is your stupid fault for having your stupid face in the stupid wrong place."
There's silence for a good two minutes.Â
Then Suna laughs, actually laughs, a real one, not his usual quiet huff. The sound is warm and genuine and oh so delightful.
"My stupid face," he repeats, and you can hear the grin in his voice. "In the stupid wrong place."
"Shut up," you mumble into your hands, refusing to look at him.
"So let me get this straight." He's definitely enjoying this now, voice lazy with amusement. "You've been kissing my injuries for three yearsâ"
"You know I have, don't be smug about itâ"
"âand you're upset because this time you kissed the wrong spotâ"
"It wasn't the wrong spot, it was justâcloseâ"
"âexcept you just admitted you didn't actually mind kissing meâ"
"I did not say that!" You peek at him through your fingers, face absolutely flaming.
"Pretty sure you did, angel." He reaches up and gently pulls your hands away from your face, and the smirk on his lips is absolutely insufferable. "Something about 'not that I don't want to kiss'â"
"Stop talking."
"Make me."
It's such a childish quip, delivered in that deadpan way of his, and you're so flustered you can't even think of a comeback. You just stand there between his legs, hands captured in his, face burning, with the cutest pout on your lips. You make another frustrated sound, somewhere between a whine and a huff, and his lips quirk. Not quite a smile, but close.
"You're cute when you're flustered," he says, because apparently, he's decided to just destroy you completely today.
"I'm notâyou can't justâ" You're sputtering now, and his grin widens.
"Can't just what?" He tugs you slightly closer, voice dropping. "Point out that you've been thinking about kissing me? That you just confessed that you want to?"
"That is not what I said!"
"It's what you meant."
"You're impossible."
"And yet." His thumb traces circles on the back of your hand, and his eyes are dancing with mirth. "Here you are."
Your breath catches. "Iâyouâ"
"In fact," he continues, and now there's a slight smirk playing at his lips again, "I think my jaw still hurts. Might need proper treatment."
"S-so annoying," you finally manage, and you hate how breathless you sound.
"You love it." His eyes are soft despite the teasing. "Don't you?"
And the worst part isâhe's right.
You do.
"Give me one more, angel." His voice is softer now, almost vulnerable beneath the playful exterior. He releases one of your hands to tap his cheek. "Right here. Please?"
"I'm notâyou know what, never mind."
"Smart choice." His hand comes up to tap his cheek once. The gesture is casual, expectant, like he's owed this.
You stare at him. "Seriously?"
"Seriously." His expression doesn't change, but there's the barest hint of satisfaction in his eyes. "Doctor's orders."
"You're not a doctor."
"Patient's request, then."
"Rin!"
"Angel." He taps his cheek again, patient and waiting. "I'm in pain here."
âUgh.â
You press a kiss to his cheek just to shut him up, lingering a little longer than necessary. His skin is warm under your lips, and you can feel his smile widen.
"There," you say, pulling back and trying to sound stern despite your burning face. "Better?"
"Much better." His arms come around you, pulling you back in, and he buries his face in the curve of your neck. "You know, I think it still hurts a littleâ"
"Suna Rintarouâ"
He laughs against your skin, the sound vibrating through you. "'M sorry, 'm sorry. Kidding."
You try to pull away, but his hold tightens. Not constraining, just keeping you there. Close.
"Rin," you sigh. "I need to finish dinner."
"In a minute." His breath is warm against your neck. "Just... give me a minute.â
So you do.
At first you stand there awkwardly, arms at your sides, not quite sure what to do with yourself while he holds you. But after a few moments, when it becomes clear he's not letting go anytime soon, you give up.
Your arms come up to rest on his shoulders, hesitant at first, then more certain. You give him a gentle squeeze, and you feel him exhale against your neck, some tension you hadn't even noticed leaving his body.
"You're never going to let me live this down, are you?" you murmur into his hair.
"Not a chance." You can feel his smile against your skin. "You're lucky I like you when you're all pouty and rambling."
"I wasn't ramblingâ"
"'Wait, that came out wrong,'" he quotes in a terrible impression of your voice, and you swat at his shoulder.
"Stop it!"
"'Not that I don't want to kissâ'"
"Oh my god, I hate you."
"No, you don't." He pulls back just enough to look at you, and his expression is unbearably fond. "You love me."
And damn himâhe's right again.
You do.
â Ë・âŕ¨âĄŕ§â Ë・â
And later that night, Suna touches his cheek where you kissed him, then the corner of his mouth where you'd gotten so close, and smiles.