#I might’ve done the math wrong

[touchmycoat]

check out the jiggle on my sourdough

[pathologicalreid]

everything is gonna be alright | s.r.

in which Spencer comforts your seven year old when he feels like he's unable to live up to the expectations set for him

who? spencer reid x fem!reader category: fluff (hurt/comfort) content warnings: dyslexia, boy dad!spencer, bearcia, bullying, feeling like the weight of the world is on your shoulders at only seven. word count: 1.96k a/n: listen i know i'm usually pushing the girl dad!spencer agenda but there's something about boy dad!spencer that i think would be so healing for him and i especially love jamie and his little teddy bear with matching glasses :-(

There was a heavy fog that had settled itself over the Reid household, Spencer could feel it in the air the moment he walked through the front door. Instead of being met by two running kids, excited to see their father after he was gone for two days, he found you in the kitchen, chopping vegetables for dinner. 

Your youngest was sat at the kitchen table, scrawling the answers to her math homework on a worksheet while music played softly in the background. It might’ve looked perfect to the average passerby, but something was missing from the image. Someone. 

“Hey,” he greeted you, leaving his go bag in the mudroom and pressing a gentle kiss to your temple. 

Not looking up from the cutting board, you hummed in response, “Hey, baby.” Any other day, he might’ve assumed he’d done something wrong to cause you to be short with him, but this time he knew. It was what the day had done to you that had caused your sour mood, not caused by the actions of another person. 

Spencer squeezed your hip comfortingly, “How did it go?” He asked, your five minute phone call before the jet had taken off hadn’t left much time for details, just the Reader’s Digest version. 

This time, you set the knife down, laying your palms flat on the countertop and sighing, “Exactly the way we expected it to.” You were disappointed, despite the fact that you’d been given the answer you’d been expecting, you had dared to dream. A mistake, as it turned out. “He’s upstairs in his room. I couldn’t get him to come out for a snack after we got home, but I thought maybe he’d let you in.”

He nodded in understanding, “I’ll go check on him.” He offered, separating himself from you before making his way to the kitchen table, “Hi, Rosie.” 

Your three year old sighed despondently, “Hi, daddy.” Her voice was tired, as if spending the day at preschool had really taken it out of her. 

“What’s wrong, honey?” He asked, making a quick pit stop to crouch next to her, a small cushion beneath her so she could properly reach the tabletop. 

She pouted down at him, “Math.” 

Her disdain for the subject had become apparent in the weeks since the school year had started, while she seemed to enjoy every other subject that school had to offer, she and math were off to a bad start. Though, calling her homework math was a bit of a reach, all she needed to do was color in the correct number of fruits for each problem. Spencer certainly wasn’t going to be the one to point this out to her. “How about this? What if you finish up your work, and I’ll come back down and check your work before we put it back in your packpack?” 

Rosie beamed at his proper use of the word packpack, nodding excitedly at the offer of having her dad check her homework. She turned back to her worksheet, hesitating for a moment before asking, “Are you gonna see bubby?” 

Spencer nodded softly, “Yeah, I’m gonna go talk to him for a little bit.” 

“Mommy says bubby’s sad,” she told him mournfully. “Can you make him happy?” 

He frowned at the sensitivity of your youngest child, her wish to make everyone happy had a tendency to make him sad. It wasn’t the first time his heart ached at his inability to make the entire world happy, just to put a smile on his daughter’s face. “I’m certainly going to try my best,” Spencer answered, reassuring her that he’d do what he could to make her big brother smile. 

Ruffling her hair, Spencer stood up and walked away, making his way upstairs to James’ room. Unsure of what he was walking into, he paused before knocking on the door. It was silent for a moment, the soft scratching of paper could be heard on the other side before a small voice spoke, “Yeah?”

Slowly, he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open so Jamie could see who was home. “Hey, buddy,” Spencer whispered, his heart breaking at the red-rimmed eyes that stared back at him. 

“Hi,” Jamie said meekly, shoving something behind his pillows before fiddling with the colored pencil in his hand. “Is it dinnertime?” 

Spencer shook his head, walking inside and closing the door behind him, making sure no little siblings would accidentally wander into his room. “Not yet, I just got back though, and I wanted to see you before we had to sit down to eat.” He sat down on Jamie’s bed, leaning against the wall and peeking at the page he was drawing on, “What are we working on?” 

Silently, Jamie handed the paper over, letting his father look at his most recent project, “Scarabs,” Jamie answered, pointing to the one that was still being colored in. “Rosie thought they were scary, but I told her they were rainbow colors,” he explained patiently. “She wants a purple one to put in her cubby at school.” 

He looked around his son’s room, all along the walls were different drawings that he had done over the past few years. His sister’s room had one wall that was dedicated to drawings from her big brother, the fridge was almost solely occupied by his artwork, and each member of the BAU had a specially made drawing for them. Bugs had been his favorite lately, a common interest for seven year old boys, and when he wasn’t chasing his little sister around with pictures of spiders, Spencer found himself in complete adoration of his son’s talent. “Do you remember the word I told you to describe the rainbow scarabs?” 

“Iridescent,” Jamie answered, sounding out the word from memory and pointing to the sticky note that Spencer had made for him, now hanging over his bed in a place of honor. “I wanted to make this one yellow,” he said, pointing to a colorless beetle on his paper, “but the colored pencil is running out.” 

Spencer hummed thoughtfully at the sight of the yellow colored pencil, sharpened into an oblivion, nothing but a nub. “We’ll get you new ones this weekend,” he offered. “We can go to the art store near mommy’s work, and you can pick whichever ones you want.” 

Your son shook his head dismissively, “No, I can just use the crayons.” He pointed to his art supplies, separated by things he was allowed to use in his bed and things that were for deskwork only. Too many sets of sheets had been ruined before you had to put those rules in place. 

“We’ll get you the colored pencils,” Spencer repeated, worry flooding his chest, that Jamie was somehow punishing himself for things outside of his control. 

Jamie nodded, setting down his yellow-green colored pencil and shifting uncomfortably on his bed, “I’m sorry.” 

And there it was, the proverbial shoe that Spencer had been waiting to be dropped. Of course, Spencer already knew what had happened, and there was no reason to make your seven year old recount the events of the day. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Spencer assured him, ruffling his hair softly and silently willing the solemn expression on his son’s face to go away. 

His creative, gentle, caring, perfect son had been taken down by a test result, and it broke his heart that he couldn’t do anything to make it all go away. “Am I stupid?” 

“No,” Spencer answered immediately, nipping any use of the word stupid in reference to his son in the bud. He would never tolerate anything like it. Stupid, dumb, idiot - they’d all be banned words in this household if that was what James needed. “You’re not stupid,” he corrected him, “You have a learning disorder. Being dyslexic doesn’t mean you’re stupid. In fact, I never, ever want to hear you use that word again, okay?” 

Jamie nodded slowly, fully processing his father’s words. “Is that why I can’t read good?” 

He opened his arms for Jamie, letting him climb into his father’s lap like he had when he was much smaller, but Spencer’s arms would always be open for him. “Yeah,” Spencer admitted, “Do you remember when you told mommy and me that when you read sometimes the letters get all mixed up?” 

The seven year old nodded, “Yeah, and we had alphabet soup for dinner.” 

When you first decided to get Jamie tested for dyslexia, you’d sent Rosie to be doted on by the BAU ladies for an evening so you could talk to Jamie in private, and you’d given him alphabet soup because he said that was what his brain looked like. It had given you something to use when you explained dyslexia and that you wanted to get him tested. 

You’d gone in for the test last week, but this afternoon was when you went over the results with the educational psychologist. It had turned out exactly how you suspected, but no number of childcare books could’ve prepared Spencer for how awful it was that his son was being so hard on himself. “That’s all it is, Jamie. Your brain just works differently than other people’s. It doesn’t make you any less intelligent, okay?” 

Jamie didn’t look entirely convinced, “Roger told me that I was dumb when I couldn’t do my reading aloud in class.” 

Spencer’s chest ached, this wasn’t the first time he’d heard Roger’s name in relation to name-calling. He just hoped that was the extent of the bullying, making a mental note to call his teacher tomorrow. “Roger’s wrong, and I’d imagine he has no idea what he’s talking about. You’re not dumb, you’re lightyears from it, really,” Spencer promised him. “You just need a little help figuring out what works for your brain, and mommy and I are going to help you, okay?” 

Nervously, Jamie nodded, “Okay.” He smiled shyly up at Spencer, “You’ll help me read?” 

“Yes,” Spencer confirmed, hoping Jamie knew how much he intended on keeping this promise. “We can read together every night if you’d like. In person or over the phone - whatever you need, lovey.” 

Leaning his head against his father’s shoulder, Jamie sighed in relief, “Thank you.” 

He pressed a soft kiss to the crown of Jamie’s head before asking, “What were you hiding in your pillows when I came in?” The question made him nervous, afraid of the answer and hoping it was something simple like a snack that he’d snuck from the pantry, which is why he was surprised when Jamie clambered off of his lap, producing a familiar stuffed animal that had been wedged between the pillows. 

The brown bear brought a warm feeling to Spencer’s heart, recognizing it immediately without seeing its face. “I don’t sleep with him every night,” Jamie insisted, feeling the need to defend himself. 

Spencer shook his head, “You can sleep with Bearcia all you need, bubby,” using Rosie’s nickname for her older brother. “And you don’t need to hide him beneath your pillows,” he mock scolded, “He won’t be able to breathe.” 

Jamie looked fondly at the bear, and Spencer wondered if he thought of the same memories as him when looking at the thick black frames, stitched on by his namesake, that so closely mirrored the frames of James’ own glasses. “Then maybe he can stay on my bed again,” Jamie concluded, holding the bear tightly in his arms, just like he did when he was three and the scariest thing out there was thunder and lightning. 

Smiling at the memory, Spencer reached out, gently pushing Jamie’s glasses up on his nose before repeating the motion for Bearcia. “I think that’s a brilliant idea,” Spencer agreed.

[elvensorceress]

Sunday Sentences

way more than 7 of them because it's been a while and you deserve all of these 💕 tagged by @eddiebabygirldiaz @spotsandsocks @wikiangela @monsterrae1 @messyhairdiaz @theotherbuckley thank you, beloveds 💕 tagging @shortsighted-owl @hippolotamus @disasterbuckdiaz @housewifebuck @hoodie-buck @the-likesofus @bekkachaos @loserdiaz @wildlife4life @giddyupbuck @911onabc @eddiediaaz @thespermdonorstorylineisstupid @ronordmann @shitouttabuck @babytrapperdiaz @fleurdebeton @buddierights if you haven't posted yet and want to share something 😘

from the Unless finale

Eddie leans in closer, pressing harder, more securely against Buck from shoulders to thighs. “I wanted you,” he whispers and leaves a light brush of a kiss on Buck’s lips. “I want you.”

Buck holds onto him but leans to the side to look at him with a puzzled expression on his face. “You want me?”

What sort of question is that? No, Eddie does this all the time to everyone. He’s the one stealing firetrucks and hooking up in bar bathrooms. Because those are things Eddie would do. When he can’t even talk about having sex even with the man he loves without panicking. Whatever. Of course he wants Buck. “Do you think I don’t?”

“N-no. No, I don’t mean. I mean— what? What do you mean?”

Eddie means this is the strangest conversation he and Buck have ever had. Which says a fucking lot. “What do you think I mean? I want you. I wanted more. I wanted you to stay. You and your hard-on. We could have—” Eddie’s still not sure where they might’ve landed on the they could have had sex spectrum. But it would have been something more than Buck running to jerk off alone because he was too turned on and thought it wasn’t welcome. “I mean maybe you aren’t ready to have sex yet. I get that. We haven’t even said if we’re dating dating and it’s only been hours that we’ve been together. So… maybe this was better. Maybe we should wait. But…” 

But he doesn’t know how to finish that thought other than Buck should have stayed. He needs Buck to stay. He wants Buck with him. He wants to take care of him and love him and be good for him. 

Buck blinks at him then leans back even further and stares with a scrunched look of trying to do complicated math and failing at it. He even holds up a hand like he needs a teacher to call on him and answer his questions. “What? I just. I don’t understand. What do you—what?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’?” 

“I mean who are you and what have you done with Eddie and I don’t know what you mean by, I want you. And we should wait? And you think I’m not ready to have sex yet? Why do you think we’re going to have sex? What do you want with me? Of me? What do you— w-what do you want when you say, you want me?”

What else might it mean? Were they not just making out all over the kitchen? Is it not obvious? Eddie didn’t think he would have to spell it all the way out. But maybe direct and to the point is the best approach? 

He rests both his hands on Buck’s chest. His very soft, very warm, very muscled and beautiful chest with his beautiful beating heart that Eddie swears he can feel racing beneath his fingers. “Buck,” he says slowly, passionately, with as much warmth and love as he can possibly pour into his words. “I want to have sex with you.” 

It doesn’t quite have the reaction Eddie was expecting. Or hoping for. Not that he knows exactly what he thought might happen, but Buck just blinks at him like Eddie’s suddenly confessed he was wrong and actually does believe in jinxes and the “q-word curse” and other stupid superstitions. 

But he’s not the one who responds to Eddie’s declarative wanting anyway. 

“Uhhh. If you’re going to do that, can you not do it in the kitchen,” Chris says from the doorway. “I eat here. We all eat here. It would have to be some kind of health hazard violation.”

Chris is leaning against the doorway. Without his crutches. Which somehow makes him far too stealthy and quiet. Either that or Eddie was just way too distracted with... never mind.

Eddie’s stomach, lungs, liver, kidneys, heart all plummet out of his body. Metaphorically of course because literally dying of mortification would give him an out from this situation. That would be too easy. 

He pulls away from Buck and steps backward until he’s at the opposite side of the room, while Buck is left with his arms hanging in midair, curved around where Eddie used to be. 

“We’re not,” Eddie says. “We weren’t doing— anything. We weren’t going to. We were just talking.”

Chris gives him a withering, skeptical look that only makes him look a thousand percent like his mother. 

Which Eddie absolutely cannot handle right now.

“H-hey, Chris,” Buck steps toward the doorway, coincidentally or maybe not so coincidentally between Eddie and Chris, and turns into his bubbly, eager, friendly self. “Are you— are you hungry? Do you still want those pancakes? Cinnamon swirls and cream cheese icing? I was getting ready to make them for us.”

Chris wrinkles his nose and shakes his head. “Not hungry anymore. What’s going on? When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Buck looks back to Eddie with clear worry all over his face, and Eddie tries to silently convey that everything is okay. Chris isn’t in the dark about how Eddie feels about Buck. He’s not angry with them. 

Eddie’s pretty sure anyway. “It only just happened. We weren’t keeping anything from you.” 

Chris gapes at him with wide, horrified eyes. “It just happened? That’s how you told Buck? By saying that? Oh my god, Dad! What were you thinking? That is so embarrassing.”

Eddie’s mouth falls open. “N-no. No! That wasn’t— That wasn’t how.”

Chris’ very disbelieving, very Shannon-face comes out again, and Eddie sags against the counter and rubs a hand over his suddenly aching head. 

“No. Chris,” Buck says gently but solidly. Something firm and stead through storms and Eddie just wants to hold onto him and never let go. “Your dad told me last night that he’s in love with me. And I love him, too. I love you both more than anything.”

Chris turns his scrutinizing gaze on Buck this time and still looks skeptical, but also not so horrified. Just wary. 

At this point, Eddie will take what he can get. 

[brandogenius]

hihihi!!! okay so hear me out i'm a barista so i had lots of thoughts and delusions about jb and barista!reader...

when jb comes in, reader definitely says the order at the same time as jb and smiles every time they accidentally talk in sync and jb is grinning and apologizing for talking over her and lowkey panicking while reader is writing her order on the cup and some doodles

i know DAMN WELL julien is giving hella tips, at my job our cash tips are split evenly between baristas so i just have the feeling jb is counting the visible baristas and doing the math for how much of a tip exactly she needs to give all together for reader to get the tip jb wants to give her (does that make sense??) + reader is always shocked at how big of a tip julien gives

reader giving her the cute/silly steam stickers that go on the hot drink lids + julien definitely has a little collection in her car on some random paper of every single one she gets (at my job rn we have valentines stickers and they're like conversation hearts with words on them...im imagining reader trying to shoot her shot and putting a sticker on her cup that say 'kiss me' or 'ur cute' or something similar and julien is about to frame this sticker on her wall)

after a certain amount of time (assuming the shop doesn't ask for names) reader learns juliens name and when jb comes in with the boys reader greets her by name and phoebe and lucy are like :0 and juliens grinning walking up to the counter with them and she's like "hiiii 😇🥰"

when there's a rude customer and julien happens to be there she stops reader when they bring her drink be she sees how overwhelmed and frustrated they are and she apologizes for the customer being rude and says something super nice about how important customer services jobs are and how employees deserve sm more than they usually get from those jobs (like that interview she had talking about how she doesn't tell waiters when her order is wrong esp if she can see they're stressed out) and accidentally starts rambling with her big girl words and reader is barely taking in what she's saying but is also on the verge of tears at how sweet jb is

julien comes in and orders her drink but orders something to bring to lucy or someone and reader is like "oh?" and jb is so quick to reassure that it's for her FRIEND not ANYONE in particular just her BESTEST BUD

could you imagine how cute it'd be if the place had themed drinks and stuff for pride month and jb is asking reader about said pride specials and reader is so excited about it all and julien is silently taking notes making sure reader is in fact gay and not an extremely passionate ally

one of these days jb comes in and it's not busy at all so reader and julien get to chit chat about random stuff until she has to actually leave so julien orders and reader writes her number on the back of the cup and says 'text me! :D' or something cute that tells julien she wants to keep talking and julien doesn't even realize bc the writing was facing away from her and when she does notice there's more on the cup than usual she like dies on the spot

OKAY IM DONE I COULD GO ON FOR FOREVER IM SORRY FOR YAPPING SO MUCH AHHH i just LOVE this hc and i can make it sososo accurate as a barista

-🪷

LOTUS ANON!!! THIS IS SO CUTE I LOVE THIS SO MUCH AHHH!

learning juliens name because they talk so much and reader knows her order like at the beginning it might’ve been like “hey it’s ice latte girl, how are you?” to knowing exactly what time jb comes in she doesn’t even need to wait because you have the coffee just made by the time she walks in

reader listening to her ramble about customer service and the use of big words intrigues them, reader is like… woah

reader who started to draw little hearts on juliens cup 😭 when jb orders something for lucy and reader stops her drawings like “shit shit shit” and jb catching on like NO WAIT IM SINGLE!! bit of angst to add but maybe the next few times reader doesn’t draw any doodles on jbs cup and she misses them until jb is like “you don’t doodle anymore :(“ and readers like “sorry - i didn’t know if i was coming off as weird or something”

STOPPPPP!!! brownie points if reader has a lesbian cup in the corner with their own drink and julien looks at it like 👀 👀

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH TELL ME MORE IM ADDING THIS TO THE COFFEE SHOP AU!!!

[color-coded-cryptid]

my new headcanon is that atem became pharaoh as soon as he turned 14 years old

in the manga and anime, we know he was appointed king after his father died, and he looked to be fairly young

he defeated bakura and sealed his soul away *right before the day of his 17th birthday

*so he died at 16 but only just barely

i thought it would be cool and mean to make atem’s dad die right before his 14th birthday

*both atem and his father died on the 18th day of the 3rd month of Shemu

also known as june 1st

just three years apart

buuuuut

i’m also considering making atem 10 or 11 when aknamkanon died — 11 or 12 when he became pharaoh

so possibly five or six years apart

possibly five or six years he ruled as king

i wrote it down so i understand it a bit better

[aknamkanon]’s death: 13/10/11

1st year/age of pharaoh/reign: 14/11/12

last year of pharaoh/age of death: 16/one day before 17

14-16/17: ~3 years

11-16/17: ~6 years

12-16/17: ~5 years

years of reign rounded up one day to make it land right on his birthday rather than right before ; tildes added because of that

i might’ve done some math wrong or confused myself during the process so feel free to go through it and patch it up to make it more understandable for your thought process if you’d like

it’s a fairly flexible hc when it comes to the age of when he became king, but i’m holding strong on the “dies before 17—exact day dad died” part of it

(*hc parts, specified for those who struggle with processing environmental context and the like (me with my autism)) /lh

[maladaptvs]

sad and tired and wishing i had a Pip and thinking about my oc going nonverbal with him

i know it’s a messy intro

“Megan?” Pip doesn’t wait for an answer. “Stay.”

His voice bounces off the back wall and rings in her ears.

She’s not seen him this angry in a while. It triggers a choking knot in her throat, more than it’s ever before.

The quiet beep and the jittering mechanical sound of the door accepting a key card

“Megan?” Pip’s voice is soft and solemn. She hears an apology in the way he says her name. “Did you sit there this whole time?”

He didn’t think this would happen. If he were to find her here at all, he’d pictured her sprawled out on the bed, past it already, moved on to entertaining herself by scrolling through channels of shitty cable tv. He didn’t imagine she’d even acknowledge him upon his return, and if she did, he figured it would be only to scold him for another outburst. Another all too casual nag about how he was crazy and she couldn’t believe he’d gotten this far in life - or in crime - without her help.

But she’d just… stayed. For hours. While the sun set and the ac squealed, she’d stayed put on the floor, waiting for him to come back. His eyes narrow and his brows pull together - a guilty frown. Pip sighs and walks past her to set the bag on the desk. The paper groans and Pip understands. He bites his tongue. His stomach aches for a new reason.

She hasn’t moved yet.

Pip sits next to her, facing the window while she stays put toward the door. He sets a hand on her knee.

“Megan,” he whispers.

She’s got tear stains on her cheeks.

“I’m sorry.”

“Megan?” Pip takes a breath. “I had meant… I had wanted you to stay in the room.”

His stomach churns. It’s sick. All of it. He’s sick. But he hasn’t meant to do this to her, whatever this was.

Megan thinks she knows that. It didn’t really matter, at the time, what he’d meant. She might’ve sat here no matter what he’d yelled. He's yelled before, of course, but this was different. It was a new anger, and a new dynamic. She was scared of it.

Not that he would hurt her. He wouldn’t. Not really. That’s why he’d left. Megan was scared that she’d done something wrong. She had, clearly. The consequences were all but irrelevant.

He’s worried on another level now. She’s still not moving. A nagging voice in his head complains that the food will get cold. He swats it away internally.

“Megan?” Pip leans into her eyeline. He reaches slowly for her chin, and she lets him lift her head with ease. His breath quickens. She’s all too malleable. Her eyes are too dim. Too distant. She’s too easy. Where’s her terrible cheerleading confidence - a demeanor to scare every math club kid into silence? Where’s the brat that had criticized his hostage-holding skills, slipping out of her bounds and tutting away? Where’s the strength that had brought him down in that hallway?

Where’s Megan?

“Come here.”

[bts-reveries]

feelings | 8.5

“Welcome to my dorm~” You say, moving out of the way to let Hobi walk in. He looks around, nodding his head.

“I know, it’s messy, but I didn’t really have much time to clean. I thought you’d be away from campus right now,” you say, closing the door and walking by him. When you texted, he happened to be right outside the dorm building. He laughs at you.

“It’s fine, really. The boys are much worse than this.” He sits down at the foot of your bed. “Is there a reason why you invited me over?”

“Yes! Actually. I wanted to talk with you,” you tell him as you sit down beside him. “I didn’t have anyone else to talk about it with and out of the group, I’d feel like you’d be the best person to help.”

“What is it about exactly?” Hobi asks, turning his body to face you. You could already tell that he would give you solid advice by the way he looks eager to listen. 

“My feelings.. About Jungkook.. I- I usually talk to him about everything and … well this is about him so I can’t. And I can’t talk about this to Jin, because I feel like he’s helping him out and so his advice would be biased.” Hobi smiles at this, but you didn’t notice because you were looking away from his face. “And, well, Taehyung would want us to be together, so his advice wouldn’t be helpful at all. Lastly, I don’t know if Jimin would even give good advice! He’s good at math, but I just have a feeling he’d suck at this,” you say, turning back to look at Hobi. He has a big smile on his face now.

“What?” you ask him, awkwardly scratching your arm.

“Okay, well first of all, I’m honored that I’m the one you’re trusting with this. Which is a valid choice considering all the reasons you mentioned about the boys. They are correct. They made a group chat with all of us in it, without you, to help Jungkook out.”

“REALLY?” you yell out of surprise, making Hobi jump a little. “Oh my gosh, I’m sorry,” you say, putting your hand on his arm, letting out a giggle. You didn’t know he was jumpy. “But ugh, I knew it!”

“I saw the messages before I got here, they were texting in the group chat. I haven’t gotten to respond because your message popped up for me to come over. But I saw that Jungkook was a little upset that you left or he thinks he might’ve scared you off.”

“Noo, ugh, it’s not his fault, it’s mine,” you say, burying your face into your hands. You drag your hands down just slightly for your palms to cup your cheeks. “He was being his normal self but I was overthinking everything. And I’m sure the guys are giving him advice on what to do but it honestly felt like we were doing the same thing we always do. Does that make sense? 

It’s just… now that I know that he likes me, they started feeling different. Like we always go on breakfast dates and cuddle when watching movies.. But for some reason my mind is going everywhere and I can’t focus on what we’re doing.”

“It seems like you’re starting to like him,” Hobi says. His face was serious. 

“No,” you say.

“Is it wrong to like him?” Hobi asks you. You nod. 

“He’s my best friend,” you say. “If I like him, I’d lose my best friend.”

“No you won’t. He likes you, and if you like him, you’d both like each other. You would have a best friend, and a boyfriend.”

“But what if something happens? What if our relationship doesn’t work out?”

“Then if you two have loved each other enough, you can just go back to being friends.”

“That sounds easier said than done,” you say with a slight laugh. “How can you go back to before like nothing happened.”

“Some people were able to go back to being just friends and end up perfectly fine,” Hobi says. 

“That’s just some people. Just because it’s happened to someone, doesn’t mean it’ll happen to me.” Hobi quirks an eyebrow at you and starts to slowly smile.

You furrow your brows at him. “What…”

“I wasn’t going to mention it, but since you said that, I will,” he laughs. You started to get nervous. “When we were out getting ice cream yesterday, I asked you if Jungkook and you were together and you said no. Then I said, oh, you two would look like a cute couple and you laughed and said we could never be together and I said why not? and you said my friends in high school dated each other and it didn’t work out and it ended up breaking our friend group apart, i don’t want that to happen to me and Jungkook.” Your eyes widened as he said it word for word.

“You just said just because it’s happened to someone, doesn’t mean it’ll happen to me,” Hobi says. “What are you doing right now? You like him don’t you?”

๑๑๑๑๑๑๑

feelings

๑ part eight.five: word for word ๑

pairings: jungkook x reader

a/n: 🧍🏻‍♀️thoughts?

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[writesology]

Conversations with a Hedgehog

read on ao3 here, please check tags for pairings/characters!

Deuce hurriedly ran through the halls of Heartslabyul, a small hedgehog angrily squeaking in his hands. Rushing up the stairs, he put the hedgehog on his shoulders and knocked on Riddle’s door, trying to ignore how the animal bit his neck. It wasn’t long before Riddle opened the door, and as soon as it did, Deuce put his hands together in a pleading fashion.

“Dorm head Rosehearts! I’m so sorry to have to impose on you like this, but could you please take care of this hedgehog for me?” Deuce cried, prying the hedgehog off him and holding it out to the redhead.

“A… hedgehog? Why don’t you just go put it back in the cage where it belongs?” Riddle asked, tilting his head.

“I- I have remedial lessons with Professor Trein soon and I can’t afford to be late! He’s also kind of my hedgehog, so I can’t put him back in the usual cages. Please, dorm head, you’re the only person I can trust with him!”

“Say no more. I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you, dorm head!” Deuce quickly handed the hedgehog to Riddle and turned on his heel. “I’ll be sure to pick it up when my lessons are over!” He quickly disappeared down the hall, and Riddle turned his attention to the small orange hedgehog sitting in his hands.

“How did Deuce even manage to find a hedgehog outside the dorm… well, I suppose I should at least finish my assignments before doing anything with you. It’s a good thing I’m almost done with them.” Riddle returned to his desk and sat in the chair, placing the hedgehog on the table. “Don’t mess anything up, alright?” It squeaked in what seemed to be agreement, and Riddle nodded as he picked his pencil up and began work on his papers again. He worked quietly for some time, the hedgehog content to explore his desk, until he came to the final problem of his math worksheet. 

“Ugh, wrong number… now I’ll have to go back and erase it all.” Something soft and rubbery was pushed into the side of his hand, and when Riddle turned to look, the hedgehog looked up at him triumphantly and patted the eraser. “Ah, thank you.” He quickly fixed his mistake, then placed the completed worksheet on top of a pile as he leaned back in his chair. Riddle’s gaze lingered on the hedgehog as it began playing with his pencil, and a sudden thought occurred to him. 

“Wait, how did you know I needed that? Can you understand what I’m saying? Here. If you know what I’m saying, put your paw in my hand.” Riddle held his hand out, the hedgehog gently putting one paw atop his fingers, but it soon climbed into his hand and curled up on his palm, and the redhead laughed as he gently pet the hedgehog’s spiny back. “I suppose that’s a yes, then.” Riddle lifted the little hedgehog closer to his face as he continued petting its back with two fingers, watching it close its eyes out of relaxation. 

“Upon closer inspection, you’re not one of Heartslabyul’s hedgehogs, are you? I’ve never seen you in the cages before,” the redhead noted. The hedgehog’s eyes flew open, and it jolted as it looked up at him. “Ah, sorry for startling you. At first I thought that Deuce might’ve taken you from the cages, but now this poses the question of where he managed to get you from. Perhaps the woods behind campus?” It answered with a barrage of angry squeaks, and Riddle laughed softly.

“I won’t abandon you, don’t worry! Deuce trusted me to watch over you, and I’m not a person to go back on my word. Besides, you’re quite the adorable one, aren’t you?” The hedgehog leaned up to gently press his nose against Riddle’s in response, and the redhead chuckled as he continued petting it. “And affectionate too, it seems. Good on you, since you’re so cute.” Suddenly, its stomach grumbled, and Riddle smiled as he gently poked the hedgehog with one finger.

“Hungry, are you? I believe it’s almost tea time. Care to join me?” The hedgehog squeaked excitedly in response, and Riddle laughed as he let it climb onto his shoulders. “Ever the excitable one, I see. Right, let’s be off.”

~-~-~-~-~

By the time Riddle walked into the kitchen, his new hedgehog friend had climbed to the top of his head. “Hedgehogs sneak out again?” Trey asked, glancing curiously at it as he set a tart and a cup of tea on the table.

“Not this time, thankfully. Deuce gave him to me to take care of until his lessons are over. Ah, don’t dig your claws in like that!” Riddle lifted the hedgehog off his head and placed him on the table, letting it take a bite out of his tart. “He’s certainly hungry. Do we have any berries we could feed him?”

“Of course! There should be some in the fridge.” Trey filled a bowl with them and slid it in front of the hedgehog with a hearty chuckle. “Here you go, little guy.” The hedgehog squeaked happily and began devouring the berries.

“He’s cute, isn’t he? Even though he’s not technically mine, I’m starting to grow quite fond of him.”

“Well, if he belongs to Deuce, you’ll be able to see him around the dorm, won’t you? I wouldn’t get too down about it.” Trey dusted his hands off and hung his apron on the back of a chair before gently patting Riddle’s head. “I should go help Cater with potionology homework. I’ll leave you and your little friend to it.” The redhead nodded gratefully and cut into his apple tart, letting its mellow taste roll over his tongue. This was normally the time Ace would come and join him for some kind of snack, Riddle recalled, and without him, it seemed much too quiet to be his usual tea time.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Ace since classes ended,” he thought aloud. “I wonder where he could be.” The hedgehog, having finished all the berries, looked up at him strangely and squeaked in what Riddle felt was either confusion, curiosity, or both.

“Right, you don’t know who that is, do you? Ace is one of the more… mischievous, shall we say, first-years of my dorm. He’s got orange hair, just like you, and a heart over his left eye.” Riddle smiled fondly as he ate more of his tart. “At first, I found him annoying, a troublemaker, and a massive headache. That boy, in the very first week of school, snuck out of orientation, broke a priceless chandelier, and stole one of my tarts. Back then, he was nigh unbearable. Now, though… well, I can only say that I’m where I am today because of Ace. I’ve made friends, been happier, and overall improved as a person, and it’s all thanks to him. I won’t get into the details of how, though. I don’t think hedgehogs really know the concept of an Overblot, and besides, those are memories I don’t feel like revealing at the moment.

“As for my thoughts about him now… well, I can certainly say that he’s no longer all that annoying, and I think of him quite fondly. Of course, part of it is because he drastically changed me and my worldview, but I think there’s more to it than that. I find myself always wanting to spend more time with him, and my heart can’t help but race when he smiles at me. Being in his arms feels safe and welcoming, and he always manages to make me feel happier no matter what. Cater told me it was love, and I wholeheartedly believe him because… it feels good to love and to be loved. My mother, on the other hand, would’ve told me that it was foolishness. And if it wasn’t for the dorm and for my friends, I probably would’ve believed her.”

Riddle’s fork clinked against his empty plate, and he set it aside as the hedgehog nuzzled against his fingers. “Why am I even telling a hedgehog all this… maybe it’s because I know you won’t tell anyone else.” Suddenly there were footsteps in the hall, and a voice called out to them.

“Dorm head! I’m back!” Deuce exclaimed, rushing into the kitchen. “Thank you for taking care of him! I hope he behaved well for you.”

“He did, don’t worry. You’ve been a very good hedgehog, haven’t you? Yes, yes you have,” the redhead said, picking the hedgehog up and holding it in both hands. “Alright, back to your proper owner you go.” Riddle gently kissed the hedgehog’s nose, but right as he was about to hand it back, there was a huge puff of smoke and both Riddle and Deuce were sent sprawling to the ground. When the smoke finally cleared, Ace was lying on top of Riddle, and Deuce was nervously staring at the entire situation.

“Finally! Back to my old self again,” Ace said, stretching. Then he realized that the redhead was under him, and he stood to let the other boy free. “Ah, sorry dorm head!”

“A-Ace?! Where did you come from?” Riddle exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. Then he flinched, and a dawning look of terror slowly came upon his face. “W-wait. Don’t tell me you were the…”

“Hedgehog? Yeah, that was me the whole time. So you see, someone in alchemy class messed up their potion right as I was walking by, and it-” Ace stopped his sentence midway as Riddle closed his eyes and his cheeks slowly got redder. “Hey, dorm head? You ok?” The redhead stood silent for a while before stomping his foot and dashing out of the kitchen, face completely flushed. But as Riddle rushed right past them, Ace realized that the other boy didn’t seem angry- only flustered- and Ace started to go after him, only for Deuce to grab his arm.

“Don’t, Ace. I think dorm head needs some time to himself for now.” Despite that, Ace couldn’t help but gaze down the hall that Riddle had disappeared into, and as Ace heard a door slam somewhere else in the dorm, he knew what he had to do.

~-~-~-~-~

Later that night, Ace made his way to Riddle’s room, fidgeting with his hands as he lingered in front of it. He took a deep breath to steel his nerves, then knocked on the door, the sound clear and sharp. There was no answer from the other side. “Dorm head? Riddle? I wanna talk with you about something,” Ace softly called. There was still no reply, so he sat down with his back to the door and leaned his head against it. “It’s alright. I know you’re in there anyway, so I just wanted to say thanks for taking care of me while I was a hedgehog. And about everything you said in the kitchen… I won’t say anything about it to anyone, promise, but I do wanna tell you what I thought of it. For one, I didn’t know I was that much of a pain to you at first, or I did and I didn’t care. But maybe that was a good thing, right? I sure think it was.”

The silence continued, but Ace swore he heard something shifting behind the door and he smiled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile the way you did at me earlier. I mean, you definitely smile a lot at Unbirthday parties or when you hang out with everyone at the dorm, but never like that. It was softer and kinder, and knowing that I’m probably the only person who’ll ever see it is really special to me. Hah, who knew our strict crimson ruler could be so soft around hedgehogs? But really, dorm head, if one thing’s for sure… I’m glad you feel that way. I’m glad that you can love and be loved because of me, even if that sounds really sappy. So you’re welcome for everything… and thanks again.” Ace got up from his spot on the floor and was just about to leave when he heard Riddle’s quiet voice.

“It’s unlocked, you know.” 

At that, Ace grinned and pulled the doors open, but to his surprise, Riddle tumbled backwards, a pillow securely held in his arms, and landed on the floor. “Heya, dorm head~ you were listening behind the door the whole time, weren’t you?”

“S-so what if I was?!” Riddle gazed at the floor, squeezing the pillow as he pulled himself into a sitting position, cheeks still red. “I was stuck between staying in my room so I wouldn’t embarrass myself again and wanting to hear your voice.” 

Ace knelt down to Riddle’s level, gently holding his face with a light smirk. “And? What were you thinking of doing before I came?”

“In the end, I couldn’t decide.” Riddle grinned as he tossed his arms around Ace’s neck. “But it seems I didn’t have to.”

“Dorm head, do you still think I’m a hedgehog? ‘s not like you to show me this much affection out in public.”

“Can you blame me for it? You were a very well-behaved one.”

“Only because of you! Seems like I’ll have to repay my cute, adorable, affectionate dorm head for taking such good care of me then.” Ace playfully poked the other boy’s nose as emphasis, which instantly turned Riddle’s face red as he glanced away. “And spend more time with you so I can help you feel safe~”

Riddle sighed, burying his face in his hands. “I take back what I said. You’re still annoying.”

[ravagedarkness]

Spider-Man: Home Rebuilt, Chapter 45: Up To Speed

We were all able to fly back home without any more incidents. By the time I was awake, we were already just outside of New Jersey, getting ready to land. Well, not really land – but hover in place. Since we had everything packed away in the SUV already, we were ready to go by the time the Airbus “landed” in Teterbero Airport.

As we stood outside of the SUV, Happy and Scott had a short chat.

“Pepper is going to want to know what happened,” Happy informed.

“Tell her to call me, and I’ll explain everything,” Scott replied. “But for now, I think we need to get as much rest as possible, as soon as possible. After what we did, Justin Hammer will want his pounds of flesh.”

At that, Happy scoffed. “Shocking news, I’m sure.” He then looked towards me. “Um… can you guys give me a few minutes with Peter?”

“Everything okay?” I asked, a bit surprised by his request.

“Yeah, kid, it is. I just wanted to have a word alone with you in the kitchen, if that’s okay.”

“Go ahead, man,” Craig assured. “We’re not going to leave without you.”

“It’s not like we’ll have to invade a secret facility to come and get you,” Carmilla deadpanned. Everyone turned and looked at her with slight glares. She looked back at us and scoffed. “Look, it’s either I laugh or I cry, and I’ve been all cried out for months. Let me laugh at my pain, okay?”

I raised my eyebrows briefly before I looked back at Happy. “Okay, let’s go.”

The two of us walked into the kitchen. Happy gestured me to stay in on spot before he made his way over to one of the fridges. He opened it up and reached inside before he pulled out two bottles of Ironbeer. After closing the fridge, he walked back to me and handed me a bottle. Quietly, I took the bottle before I twisted off the cap.

“How are you holding up, Peter?” Happy asked. “You’re not injured or anything, are you?”

“No,” I replied. “But honestly? I feel stuck between being happy that the mission was a success and worried about what Justin Hammer has in store for us next. I’m no expert on evil masterminds or anything, but I’m pretty sure they tend to get pissed off when the heroes gets away with invading their secret facility.”

Happy nodded as he twisted off the cap of his bottle. “Yeah, I remember reading that in this book called Hero-Villain Relations for Dummies. I think that might’ve been chapter four.” I chuckled as I took a sip of the soda. “You’re not shook, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I’m just…” I trailed off for a moment. “…I’m just… I just want to be done with Scorpion and Hammer already. I fought him all of two times and came across Justin Hammer once, but just their very presence is enough to make me want to dropkick them into the path of an incoming train.” I shook my head. “How you ever felt that way about a person before?”

“Hmmmm…” Happy looked up at the ceiling in thought. “Well, there are the people we have in common – Justin Hammer and Quentin Beck, that is. Um, other than them… I say a few exes, all the mothers of said exes, my ninth grade math teacher…”

I tilted my head. “Way to live up to your nickname, Happy,” I deadpanned.

“Well, blame Tony for giving me that nickname,” Happy responded with a scoff. “His love for acronyms is rivaled by his sense of irony.”

I was given pause as I raised my eyebrows I then nodded slowly. “Okay… you’re not wrong.”

Happy nodded. “Listen kid.” He pointed at me. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. I know you can handle yourself. You went up against Toomes and beat him, and that was despite the fact that Tony took your suit away, forcing you to wear that thrift store outfit of yours. You went up against Beck when he had Edith. Granted, I did help out by providing the fabricator, but you did all of the heavy lifting, and things turned out fine… until, you know…” He cleared his throat. “And now you’re a part of the X-Men. I get all that. But… I still feel… well not obligated, but… compelled… to check up on you every now and again.”

I looked at him for a moment. I then nodded. “Thanks,” I said. “I really appreciate it. I always have, really.” I really did. Really, I felt like he was really downplaying how much he helped me during my struggles with Mysterio. If it wasn’t for Happy, I don’t think I would have been equipped to defeat Mysterio. That meant he had a huge hand in saving my friends, my classmates, a whole lot of innocent people… and Flash and Brad.

“Just remember I’m in your corner… along with a lot of people,” Happy reminded. “But, for now, go home and rest. Catch some Z’s, read a feel good book, go watch Star Trek with MJ… Just do something for leisure, okay?” I really wanted to correct him and say I watch Star Wars. But I was really touched by the sentiment, so I couldn’t bring myself to do so. So, instead, I nodded.

“I will,” I promised.

It was during this time that Craig and Joanna walked into the kitchen.

“I hope we didn’t interrupt anything,” Craig apologized.

“No, we’re just about done,” Happy replied. “I understand you guys really want to go home, but it’s only been a few minutes.”

“Yeah, we didn’t come here to grab Peter,” Joanna explained. “It’s just that… well… this whole trip we took happened during when I usually do grocery shopping.”

“And Carmilla said she was starving and insisted we all have dinner tonight,” Craig added. “So… yeah, we’re raiding the kitchen. I hope that’s not a problem.”

Happy stared at the two of them, looking a bit dumbstruck. Meanwhile, I looked up at the ceiling in thought.

“I could use some food for the house, too, now that I come to think of it,” I mused.

Happy glanced at me. He then looked off to the side in thought before he tilted his head briefly.

“I mean… it’s not like it’s even going to scratch the surface of S.I.’s hospitality budget,” Happy conceded. “Okay, because it’s you guys, and you all had a long weekend, grab what you want. But Peter, Craig, you two can’t grab alcohol.”

“Fair enough,” Craig conceded.

After we raided the fridge, we made our way back to the SUV. Once we were inside, Scott drove off. During the drive back to New York, I dozed off, only to be shaken awake by MJ when we arrived at the secret base. While Scott, Joanna, Craig, and Carmilla stayed behind, Kitty drove the rest of us home. Ned was dropped off first. He quickly apologized to Kitty for bringing up the idea for a group date. Kitty assured him it was okay. After that, Betty and MJ were dropped off at Betty’s place. It was Betty’s idea, figuring that MJ should spend at least some time at her place in case she gets called about the sleepover that never happened. That also meant that she needed some of my clothes.

“I can’t promise you’ll get all of these back,” MJ told me as I hoisted the suitcase containing my clean clothes out of the trunk of Kitty’s car.

“Even the boxers?” I joked.

“Not my usual type of undies, but I do find them rather comfortable. So… yeah, you might be missing a few.” I chuckled. But I knew she wasn’t really joking about that. I didn’t mind, though. Lots of couples wear each other’s hoodies and jackets, and us wearing each other’s clothes was our version of that. MJ smiled at me. That smile faded when she looked down towards the ground. “…Hey Peter… I think I’m going to take you up on that offer and take that spare key from you.”

I smiled. “I’ll have one ready for you by Tuesday.”

MJ looked up at me and smiled. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” She leaned slightly and placed a kiss on my cheek. My smile became wider. “See you at dinner.” With that, she grabbed the suitcase and made her way to the front door of the building, where Betty was already waiting. Betty waved at me, and I waved back at her. I then walked around to the passenger side of Kitty’s side before I opened the door and moved into the shotgun position. I closed the door and put on my seatbelt. Kitty drove off.

“So, how’d you enjoy your first time in California?” Kitty asked.

I took a moment to think about it. “You know, all things considered… I didn’t hate it,” I replied. “We got Carmilla back. I can’t ask for much more.”

Kitty scoffed. “Don’t pretend you didn’t have fun. I saw you and MJ on the dance floor at The Bar. I didn’t know you could get so… frisky.”

I cleared my throat as I looked out the window, getting a bit warm in the face. “It was the alcohol.”

“…You do know we could still hear you over the communicator, right?”

I suddenly turned my head towards her with my eyes widened and eyebrows raised. “…That means you heard…”

“The moonshine story? Yes I did.” She smiled slightly. “I wanted to laugh. A part of me did find it funny. But… at the same time, it just makes me glad that we all got to you when we did. Because, sweetie, that story is pretty sad.”

“I told Joanna this at the gas station, but you guys – the American Idiots and the X-Men – you saved my life figuratively and likely literally, too.” I turned my head and looked out through the windshield. “I didn’t recognize it then, but… with the way things were going for me, I wouldn’t have lasted long.” I looked back at her and smiled. “So… thanks for that.”

“Hey, we’re family, Peter. We’re supposed to be here for each other.”

I nodded as I looked at her. I then frowned. “But, seriously… are you okay? You kind of gave Ned a glare he brought attention to your relationship status back in Cali.”

Kitty sighed. “I’m fine, really,” she assured. She paused for a moment. She then briefly tilted her head. “It’s just…” She trailed off for a moment. “Look, I’m happy we got Carmilla back, since Craig missed her for a good while. And I’m happy that Scott may or may not have found someone in Joanna, because his dating life since his wife Jean has been dry, save for the occasional flirting with a certain woman who runs a gentlemen’s club and…” She looked over at me and gave me a wry smile. “Well, I’m not exactly her number one fan.” At that, I chuckled. She looked forward as she continued to drive. “But… as happy as I am for them… I’m also a bit envious.

“I wouldn’t say I’m desperate for a relationship, but I’m far from opposed to being in one, and I do feel a bit lonely. It was easy to deal with it before. Scott, Craig, and I were three single people in a household with a lot of time on our hands, jobs aside. So we would often hang out and do stuff together, mostly at home. But now, with me being the only American Idiot and X-Man that is single, I’m starting to miss my old relationship.” She frowned.

I gave her a sympathetic smile. I felt what she was saying because I knew that feeling, in a way. I remembered the days after Liz left Midtown and moved to Oregon. During those days, it seemed like people around me were either getting into relationships or showing how much they enjoyed their relationships in a publically affectionate way. Add the fact that Flash had to constantly remind me how I blew things with Liz and, well… I really wanted to quit being Spider-Man. I didn’t tell Kitty this, though – not during this conversation, anyway.

“I’m sure you’ll find someone,” I told her in a near-whisper.

“Are you saying that to be encouraging, or do you really believe it?” she asked jokingly.

“I believe you will. You’re an awesome person all around. And if someone like me can actually end up with someone like MJ, then it’s only a matter of time until you find someone.”

Kitty smiled as she shook her head. “While your self-deprecation wasn’t necessary, it was appreciated.” She glanced over at me. “You wouldn’t happen to have a brother who is at least 6’4”, would you?”

I chuckled as I shook my head. “No. Well, not that I know of, anyway.”

“Well, if you do, tell him I’d like to meet him.”

When I got home, I didn’t do much. I checked my messages. I put my clothes and suits away, making sure to put my dirty clothes was put in the hamper. I then set my alarm and went to bed. After I was awakened by my alarm, I took a shower and got ready before I headed out.

I arrived after MJ and Betty, but before Ned, Joanna, and Scott. The latter had to step out to talk to a detective named Misty Knight. I never met her at that point, but I heard her name come up quite a bit in Queens. Apparently, her name held a lot of weight in Harlem.

I greeted everyone before I grabbed a drink from the fridge. I noticed that Carmilla no longer had the metal cylinder over her left forearm. However, she now had on a silver metallic gauntlet that left nothing but her fingers exposed.

As promised, Craig cooked, making oven roasted beef ribs, stove top cornbread, cooked peppers, and mashed sweet potatoes. When the food was ready, we took our seats at the table. On one side of the table was Betty, Ned, MJ and I. On the other side was Kitty, Carmilla, Craig, and Joanna. Scott sat the head of the table, adjacent to Joanna. After the food was served and a few minutes into eating, we all took time to explain to Carmilla everything that happened since she’s been gone. That meant me, once again, telling my whole story regarding The Spell to a couple of people not in the know – namely Joanna and Carmilla.

Once the explanation was done, Carmilla looked at all of us with a blank expression. She then closed her eyes, took in a breath, and shook her head.

“Okay,” Carmilla blurted out as she opened her eyes. “…I don’t even know what to say. That was just…”

“It’s a lot, I know,” Betty replied soothingly.

“I’m like… I’m still stuck on The Spell part,” Joanna stated as she looked at me. “Like, goddamn, kid. How are you still able to keep it together? I’ve heard of servicemen eating their gun over lesser things.”

“Like I told you at the gas station, the people you see here are the reasons I’m still able to live again,” I replied. At that, Joanna tilted her head briefly in acknowledgment.

“I’m still a little mad I thought that Mysterio was on the up and up,” Craig spoke up.

“Yeah, about that.” I looked towards Craig. “Did you feel some type of way about me? About Spider-Man, I mean.”

He shook his head. “Nah, not really. I just figured the video was doctored. It was The Daily Bugle who dropped the video in the first place, and we all know The Daily Bugle ain’t exactly a news organization that Nellie Bly would approve of.” He then looked at Betty. “Respectfully.”

“Craig, my boss has a hand in Justin Hammer sending Scorpion after Peter,” Betty pointed out. “By all means, slander away.”

“Speaking of Hammer,” Scott chimed in, his mouth slightly full. He took a moment to continue to chew before he swallowed. He looked at Carmilla. “How did you end up being captured by Hammer in the first place?”

“Yeah, turns out, when I’m heartbroken, I can be quite the dumbass,” Carmilla replied as her expression became a bit downcast.

“Join the club,” I commented, prompting MJ and Ned to chuckle while Betty gave me a sideways glare.

Carmilla took in a breath. “Okay so… after Craig and I had our huge argument and breakup over the phone, I was more than a little upset, to say the least. I was angry at Craig, angry at myself, angry at my whole situation. So, I just left. I left the X-Men, I took a leave of absence from SHIELD… I self-isolated, for the most part. For a few months, I took different jobs from different people, mostly to make money. I was in mercenary mode, caring less and less about what kind of jobs I took and who I took them from. I did some jobs for some very awful people and I was doing everything I could to try and distance myself from the X-Men. But, no matter what, I was still Scorpion. I didn’t want to be a Scorpion anymore, and I spent days wishing I wasn’t. Well, you know what they say about being careful what you wish for."

Carmilla paused for a bit as she looked down towards her plate. With a fork in her hand, she jabbed at a bit of cooked peppers. “I was contacted by Hammer Industries. I didn’t think I’d be hit up by a legit corporation. But there I was. They wanted to talk to me about a potential job that could pay me a ridiculous amount of money. I wanted to say no, but I figured the money they offered was worth the conversation. So I fly out to California, and I end up meeting with Hammer Industries executives in Palm Springs. Lo and behold, Hammer himself was there. He talked about how he’s a changed man who turned over a new leaf and how he wanted to redeem himself by helping support the Accords. And he wanted me to help with his efforts. He wanted to make me the new arachnid hero of New York. Apparently, the government wanted someone to sway public opinion in favor of The Accords while also hunting and taking down the vigilantes in The Big Apple.

“I declined. I may not want to be Scorpion anymore, and I was no longer an X-Man at the time, but…” She looked over at Craig and smiled slightly. “No matter how upset I was… I still cared about the X-Men. I still cared about Craig.” Craig smiled back at her and nodded. Carmilla turned her attention back to the rest of us. “I wanted to come back to you guys, if only to warn you about what Hammer Industries had planned. I figured I owed you guys that much. When I left the meeting, I thought that’d be the end of it. So, stupid me, I violated one of my own rules – never stay at a hotel longer than you need to. Instead of checking out early and going straight to the airport, I decided to just stay the night. So, of course, the hotel gets raided by quite a bit of armed men that were heavily trained and were looking for me. I tried to escape – I ended up gunning down quite a few of them, too. But I barely reached the front doors of the hotel before I got taken down with XREP shells.”

“XREP shells?” Betty asked as a look of confusion came over her face.

“They’re basically Taser projectiles in the form of shotgun shells,” Ned explained. Betty nodded as she mouthed an “Oh”. “Please Carmilla, continue.”

Carmilla nodded and did just that. “Well, once I was down, I was handcuffed and got a bag put over my head before I was dragged off and put into the back of a vehicle. And then I ended up in cell, dressed in a stupid prison uniform. That was when Justin made his presence known, telling me that he was going to take my name and give it to someone more deserving.” At that, Carmilla scoffed. “Apparently, I was less deserving of my name than a criminal who is a multiple offender. Anyway, I was trapped there for a while. That day, when I sent you guys the message, there was a whole breakout on the fifth floor. During it, there was enough damage done to the door of my cell to allow me to slip out. I grabbed a keycard from one of the downed guards and managed to get to the ground floor. There was one lone guard there. I took him down and grabbed his cellphone. After using his phone’s GPS to find the coordinates of the place, I used it to send an e-mail from his company account. I got captured and put away again. And then you guys eventually came to get me.”

We all stayed quiet when Carmilla finished speaking. I closed my eyes and bowed my head. I heard MJ turn in her seat.

“Are you okay, Peter?” MJ asked.

“I’m fine,” I replied. I took in a breath before I lifted my head, opened my eyes, and looked towards Scott. Scott had a stone like expression on his face. “Scott, I know you like to do things at your own pace, but I really think we need to – ”

“Deal with Scorpion?” he asked rhetorically. He paused for a moment. He then looked around at all of us. “Do you think six days is ample time to prepare?”

“Honestly, if you say the word, I can be ready tonight,” Craig replied. “Granted, I’d prefer to rest, but…”

Scott nodded. “And rest we shall. I’ll take the next couple of days to think of some plans.”

“Some plans?” Ned asked. “Like a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C?”

At that, Scott chuckled. “Ned, I never label my plans with letters. That implies I go into a situation with 26 plans at most.” He looked at everyone. There was a red glow behind his glasses. I knew that what he was going to say next was going to be rather serious. “We’ve been dealing with Scorpion and Hammer for weeks now. And during that time, we’ve basically been playing defense. While I’m sure Hammer and the people backing him will be a long term problem, Scorpion is one we can put away. He’s been lucky enough to only have to fight one or two of us directly. But if we work together, things should go in our favor.” He then turned and looked at Joanna. “I know you already fulfilled your job, but… I could use your help on this.”

“…I’ll do it,” Joanna said quietly. “But it’s going to cost you.”

“How much this time?”

At that, Joanna scoffed and shook her head. “The cost won’t be monetary. I’ll tell you the details later. But, you can consider me on board.” She then turned her head and looked at MJ, Ned, and Betty. “And I’m going to ask that you three don’t make another surprise appearance. If you do, I’ll carry you guys home personally. And you do not, want, that. Understood?”

“Understood,” MJ replied calmly while Betty nodded frantically and Ned visibly gulped. She then smirked as she looked at Scott. “Your girlfriend is rather pushy.”

Scott breathed in. “She’s not my girlfriend,” he insisted.

“Yet!” the rest of us replied, causing Scott to groan in annoyance.

After the dinner, we all went home. When I went to bed, I stared up at the ceiling. I had the next couple of days off. Homework and my daily trip to Peter Pan aside, I didn’t have anything I needed to do other than getting MJ a spare key for my place. I was ready to take full advantage of the next two days. So, I closed my eyes, ready to sleep. That was when I heard my phone vibrate. I reached over and grabbed my phone before I checked the screen, seeing I got a text. I unlocked my phone and checked my messages. I saw one from Scott. I opened it up and read it.

“Wednesday. The Daily Bugle. Tune in.”

[mc-lukanette]

Hey, hi! I was reading one of your fanfics at AO3, "Memory Serves" wich is one of my favorites Fix-it ever, really, I'm not really into fica where Marinette is not longer Ladybug-Guardian but this one keeps dragging me back! ♡

I hope this doesn't bother u, but I wanted to add a little bonus (really hoping this doesn't came out rude, and also, sorry if my english is a little basic!) I really love that fic, and have a very large amount of time thinking about it, so this came out

So, the day of the loss, just after Luka finish hugging Marinette, she looks around and her expresion changes, Luka —still a bit shaky— also looks the same place, and notices that she's looking at the Adrien's photos in her wall.

Of course, he thinks resigned, her feelings for Adrien are obviously still there.

But Marinette's voice when she asks: "Who's he?" Isn't the voice of someone happy, or in love, damm she even spound... uncomfortable?

"Is Adrien, your classmate?" And Marinette is even more confused, and scared, and Luka with her. She can remember him, but not Adrien? How does this work? What else whe doesn't remember? She said that everything related Ladybug will be gone...

Trying to stay calm, Luka works his way figuring out the memory loss and how it works, Marinette seems to remember all of her classmates just fine, except for Adrien...

...

Luka deals with the aftermath, now with the help of Sabine and Tom (who quickly noticed that something was wrong with their daughter), he even uses the Ladyblog, studies it, doing maths, seerching for dates for akumas and important days in Marinettes life, nothing important or necessary is missing, the only thing Luka can't understand is why Marinette doesn't remember Adrien, and she's even uncomfortable with him! (Maybe she met him for the first time when she was Ladybug? Luka is now aware that the first time Ladybud aparred was in the first day of school last year, if he recall correctly, also the first year Adrien started attending school in his life) but to forget him completly...

Until a little concert with Kitty Section later, Luka understands, before they start playing, there was an akuma hours ago, and Ayla is speaking about that, the new heros, everyone is sharing their opinion...

Then Adrien is speaking against the new hero couple, and he is really pissed: how Chat Noir and Ladybug didn't deserver that, how awfull are the news one, and they don't even compare to the past. Adrien moves his hand, trying to touch a ring that no longer is there...

And Luka knows.

Adries is Chat Noir.

Adrien was Chat Noir.

Hope you like! ☆☆☆

omg, I like it very much!!!

Thank you~! This is pretty close to how I might’ve done it had I made a sequel.

So cool!

[kunimikat]

hi! i'm having a hard time mentally lately and i recently found out that i kind of erm,,,,, when my mental health is really bad my brain is like "no!😀" and skyrockets me into absolute baby mode and just want cuddles and love and i feel really lonely and don't talk a lot. bokuto is my comfort character so if you woudlnt mind could you do some headcanons or whatever you want- about him helping? feel free to ignore this i know it's a bit strange💔 but i thought i'd throw it out there :) 💞

I really hope it gets better for you, I hope my shitty HCs somehow makes your day a little better. Lots of love 🥺🤲❤️oh and this might’ve come off more angsty but I promise I put fluff at the end. And listen to this while reading cause it just makes this- 💔🦟🦗🦟🦗❤️

Requests are open! And if you have requests like this I’m happy to do them :)

Also proof read but still might be mistakes.sorry, there might be some triggering things in here, but there is nothing crazy so I think it’s ok 🧍

Before you guys even got together he’d always check up on you.

To the point were he subconsciously did it anywhere, and anytime

He’d give you small owl knickknacks or a snack before school started, or when it ended. Making sure you ate something that day.

Or he’d just try to make you laugh as much as he could during then

But sometimes he’d drop everything, and just give you a tight hug. Anywhere, no matter who it was in front of. Holding you close to him, not saying anything but you could hear him tripping over the words he wanted to say but just couldn’t.

He could tell it was a bad day where you’d come in and just sit on the benches or bleachers with both in mind but staring at the bright fluorescent gym lights. Where you’d just zone out mid-conversation and look at your feet or phone in disinterest. When you’d throw in a sarcastic self-deprecation joke when someone would ask if you’re ok.

Or when you’d have days where you’d stay up studying, doing your homework, and not sleeping for who knows how long when you come in with the energy drink in hand. Or the days when you’d get nothing done, and just sleep everything away and just deal with it the next day.

It didn’t take a therapist or a mastermind to tell you weren’t ok.

The nervous tics, the small lip bites, the impulsive “Let’s do something and think about consequences later!”

Bokuto knew he was just like the latter but at least it wasn’t all the time, so when he saw his bestfriend and crush slowly killing themselves mentally (and maybe physically, he was hoping not), yet cracking jokes about it the next second. All he wanted to do was run in and kiss you until all you felt was loved.

He just wanted to see you happy again

He felt like fainting everytime he saw you giggle or laugh at his antics(knowing Bokuto that has probably happened)

Or when you and Ahgkaaashi would hang out with him at the Owl section of the Zoo and pick out your favorite ones

When you two would try cooking some dish either of you couldn even try pronouncing and it ending in a mess. One he didn’t mind cleaning up when he got to talk to you throughout the whole time.

The times you’d have to turn in your work a little late because you were helping Bokuto cope after losing a game, which he felt bad about but you brushed it off with a genuine smile saying “I can’t leave poor Akaashi with Bokuemo for the rest of the week can I?” “H-Hey!”

When you and Bokuto would hang out in the bird themed cafe on the end of the street from school. And just be yourselves without having to impress anyone.

How you excuse yourself from the group of people you barely knew the names of, to go cry in the bathroom then come back as if nothing happened.

Times where you both forget your in highschool with insecurities, voice cracks, stress, and having to make a decision regarding the rest of your life by the end of it. And just laying in some random parking lot, staring into the blaring street lamp light and the stars behind it.

Bokuto loved it when you didn’t use the jokes to cover up how you felt. Or how you jumped to another subject when he would ask. When you tell him everything you’re feeling.,

The confusion, the way you didn’t know why your mind worked the way it did and why you felt horrible all of a sudden but fine the next.

You wanted it to stop, to have an explanation for the way you think and why. Yet now you’re telling no one, and clearly holding it in. Bokuto was now watching you letyour emotions eat you alive from the inside out.

He just wanted the you he knew. The you that he had so many fun memories with. Not the forced persona you played when you needed a cover up for how you truly felt.

This wasn’t the way he wanted to confess but it was getting all too much for Bokuto to watch,

Bokuto’s tears were streaming down his face as he had you held out in front of him. His body was trembling and his grasp was so shaky it was easy to break away. But you knew you could ever do that to him, or yourself. He clenched his jaw , not being able to lock eyes with you, a painful tug at his heart everytime he locked eyes with your hopeless look. You felt tears brimming your eyes yet you didn’t even know why he sat you down here. But you felt it was your fault, so immediately you let out a ‘Sorry-‘

Instead of an answer Bokuto pulled you toward him, pushing your head into the crook of his neck. You let out a choked noise as surprise, instinctively wrapping your arms around his waist.

“Why...why’re you saying sorry Y/N? I should be saying sorry for not helping you, I-“

Bokuto lost his breath for a second as a silent sob wracked his body, bringing you closer to him. Tears were falling down from your eyes but you could barely feel them as they became a stream.

“Y/N, I love you, I love you so, so much. Why are you doing this to yourself? You know you could come talk to me, I-I’m not the the best therapist but,-“

He let out a shaky breath, pulling you back out to look at you directly. You squeezed his arm that was holding you, reassuring him you felt the same way, but also to go on. Puffy eyes and a tear stained face looked at you sternly. “Please, please don’t keep these feelings to yourself Y/N. It hurts, it hurts me so much when I see you like this. Especially since you feel like you can’t come to me. I-, I-“

Bokuto bit his lip, clenching his eyes tight, forcing the tears that were already threatening to fall out. “I don’t want to see you like this. I love you, I love you.”The only thing lacing his tone is the sincerity in it.

He says it again to make sure you understood every word that came from him. But he didn’t need to. His grip so tight on your arms it almost hurt. But in a way, you didn’t mind it as it showed you how much more serious this was to him.

“You have me, Kaashi, the team, and honestly anyone! We all love you and what you have to say!”

You both give small shaky laughs, despite the situation, the tension slowly melting. He wipes the tears that were flowing down your cheeks, kissing each one after he did. You held each one of his hand. Squeezing them to give yourself courage, and to know this was all too real.

“Bokuto...I’m so sorry to you and everyone else. I- I locked myself away because I thought I would be bothering you and everyone and could just get over it then push the feelings down. But now seeing you...seeing you so much...pain, someone I love hurt because of me. I...I really realize how I was affecting everyone.”

Bokuto tried denying but you shook your head, your eyes that were looking down were now up at him.

“I’ve come to reality especially after seeing you like this Bo, I love you too, and I want to make it up to you this whole week! No, month...year? Whatever. I’ll be better for our future. And you know what, why don’t I help you with that math homework so we’re both gonna get better at something by the end of the week!”

Laugher filled the once cold room with a feeling of warmth that you couldn’t explain. Bokuto leaned in and gave a small peck. You were about to give a small hum in happiness. Until he pulled far back away from you in panic.

“I-Is something wrong Bo? Does my breath stink-“

“N-NONONO NOTHING LIKE THAT. ITS JUST...I just kissed you without asking...a-and I read in a magazine you’re supposed to do that or your crush won’t like you back!”

Silence.

But you interrupted it with your laughter, holding onto to one of his shoulders to not fall over. He had a confused look on his face as he fidgeted, not knowing what to do. “Y-Y/N! What?”

“You’re so stupid Bo,”

And like that you pulled him into a kiss, one he quickly melted into. He made a small surprised noise, but that was the only noise of complaint. The kiss turned into Bokuto giving you pecks all over your face. A giddy feeling in your stomach with each one. Between the kisses you say “Y’know I’m surprised you decided to sit down and read a magazine without testing on the real deal.” His face has a small flush, instead of saying anything he just kisses you aggressively all over, causing you to reel back and laugh harder. He pulls away from the assault and grabs your hand. He leads you over to the couch and hugs you as you both flop onto the couch. You looked at him confused, “Bo?”

But he just turned the TV on, clicked through the channels, until he found one he liked. He looked over at you excitedly, “Let’s cuddle and watch the movie I was talking about last week!”

The genuine excitement in his voice was all it took to have you wrapped around his finger. So now it was getting late and you were falling asleep to Bokuto gently rubbing his hand in circles on your back. And his faint smell of cologne luring you to sleep.

Hey! Sorry if this is on the shorter side, but I tried packing as much emotion as I could into it to make up. I hope you enjoyed this, cause I added a few of my little issues into it so I hope you don’t mind. (Also along with some people ik) I really hope it gets better for you, hopefully by now even though this came out late (sorry really busy this month for some reason🧍) if you need anyone to talk to I’m always open to hear❤️..

[taxicabinmemphis]

I don't care what ship but give me a fic where two characters are interacting and one notice that oh my goodness their eyes are so pretty oh no they're so pretty oh no

tw swearing, making out (if it’s not making out and just kissing I’m sorry I have no idea how kissing works all I know is they’re in love mmkay)

post fwsa

The excitement of the day's events had yet to wear off. While Roman was much calmer than before, he was still giddy and happy. He had sunk out with Virgil to give Thomas time to fill in the other sides without Roman and Virgil interfering with their then-uncontrollable excitement. Now, they were in the mindscape commons.

Virgil fell on the couch. He maneuvered himself into a sitting position, immediately putting his head in his hands.

Roman laughed, sitting beside him. "You alright, Virge?"

"Alright?" Virgil asked incredulously, lifting his head from his hands a fraction of an inch. He made a noise too positive to be a scoff and let his elated open-mouthed smile show clearly on his face. "I'm fucking fantastic!"

Roman's heart stopped. He finally noticed Virgil's eyeshadow. It was purple, not black. A brilliant, glittering purple. And oh, stars above, was Roman gay.

He could only manage a short laugh in response, eyes still trained on Virgil.

The eyeshadow didn't just make Roman gayer, it brought out Virgil's eyes. Roman decided then and there that he could drown in those eyes for all eternity and call it an honorable death. Virgil's chocolate brown eyes, previously shadowed by the pitch-black eyeshadow, were now showing their unfathomable beauty to Roman in a way he was unsure if he could handle. He was torn between wanting to stare at them for the rest of his life and wanting to never have to look at and be caught off-guard by those eyes again. He was leaning towards the former because he knew it would be impossible to avoid seeing Virgil's eyes again, and now that he knew of all the heavenly wonders they held, he wouldn't be able to ignore their beauty, even if Virgil went back to black eyeshadow.

Despite being a prince and a warrior, Roman couldn't find the strength to look away. Any worries of Virgil taking notice of his staring either weren't there or were too far at the back of his mind for him to register their existence.

Virgil's laughing started to awkwardly cease. "What is it, Roman?"

Roman's trance was interrupted, the confused look on Virgil's face finally registering in his brain. He lifted his head a bit and blinked animatedly three times in succession, running over Virgil's question in his mind multiple times to make sense of it.

"Is something wrong?"

Roman finally realized that this was a result of Virgil noticing his staring. Wherever those anxieties were when he was entranced, whether it be in the back of his mind or nonexistent, were now loud and clear at the front of his brain.

"Oh! Uh...no. No. Nothing is wrong," Roman said, words speeding up as he spoke. "Everything is fine and nothing bad or out of the ordinary is going on."

Virgil looked unimpressed. "Seriously. Is there, like, something on my face?"

Roman opened his mouth to mention the eyeshadow but realized the eyeshadow was black again. Roman frowned.

"No..." he said pensively. "No, there isn't."

Virgil gave him an unreadable look for a moment, as if waiting for him to continue.

"Alright, what's up?"

Roman blushed at his forward tone, scratching the back of his neck. "Nothing, you just...your eyeshadow was...um...purple."

Virgil's eyebrows raised in mild surprise. "Was it? Huh."

"Yeah...."

Virgil suddenly looked worried. "Is there something wrong about that? I'm so-"

"No!" Roman exclaimed quickly, covering his mouth the second the word had escaped it. He had been a bit too loud. "Um...no. No, it was fine. Quite nice, actually."

Virgil blushed at that. "Oh, well...thanks. I think."

Roman almost swooned—Virgil looked so cute with a blush adorning his features and a cautious smile on his face. His eyeshadow may have been back to black but now that Roman had seen the figurative light, he was noticing just how stunning Virgil was. Of course, he'd vaguely acknowledged Virgil's attractiveness before, but this, especially with the pure ecstasy he was radiating, this was a whole new level. This realization was different.

Roman didn't know much about what he was feeling at that moment, and the only thing that seemed to be clear was his incredible desire to sweep Virgil into a passionate kiss.

"Roman...you're still staring," Virgil observed nervously. "Are you sure it's just that? Have...have I done something?"

Roman's face immediately fell into sympathy. "Oh, my darling, no. You have done nothing wrong, nothing near it."

Virgil blushed, likely at the pet name. "Then why are you staring?"

"Sometimes I can't help but appreciate beauty," Roman said thoughtlessly, "and your eyes, mi corazón, outshine all the jewels on Earth."

Roman wasn't exactly known for thinking before he spoke. This was a prime example of this, and of the immediate regret that typically followed. Roman hadn't meant to be that forward. He'd likely ruined everything he had with Virgil for forever.

Virgil's face was aflame. He put his head in his hands. He flipped his hood up and Roman could hear a muffled scream from within the fabric.

Well, there was no going back now. If he backtracked, he'd only make things worse. So, he rolled with it.

"What are you doing? While I know they are your eyes and you can do with them what you wish, I'm really hating being deprived of my view."

Virgil screamed again, higher.

"Are you alright, my dear? Is there anything I can kill for you to relieve you of your anguish?" Roman asked in concern.

A minute of silence passed, and Virgil slowly removed himself from his hoodie. His cheeks were still redder than Roman's sash, but he seemed to be in a place where he wasn't going to scream anytime soon.

“I’m okay,” Virgil said slowly, the words leaving his mouth over enunciated and like he didn’t believe what he was saying.

“That’s wonderful, Stormy Knight! However, it would be an honor to kill something in your na-”

Virgil grabbed Roman’s collar and pulled him closer, before putting another hand on his chest and leaning him backwards slowly. Roman was now blushing up a storm, looking up at Virgil weakly as he was taken off-guard and no longer had anything to say.

So, he started rambling. “I-Virg- um...I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry if I’ve ruined things. I just said something without thought, you know how I am, and I went with it ‘cause I didn’t wanna worsen th-”

“Are you gonna kiss me or not?” Virgil growled harshly.

Roman’s words cut off and he looked into Virgil’s eyes, shocked and alarmed. He noticed that his anxious side had his hypnotizing eyes set on Roman’s lips. Roman gulped in worry and in discomfort at being looked at in such a way, but managed to stumble out a response.

“I...I mean... if, um, if you’re offering...”

Virgil crashed his lips against Roman, sending his back to the couch cushions and Virgil properly on him.

The kiss was passionate, searing, and had a fire so hot that no star could compare. While Roman might’ve been oblivious of his feelings for Virgil until a short while ago, this had clearly been building up for a long time.

When they separated, they were both panting and were staring at each other like there was nothing else in the world.

Roman smiled slightly.

“What?”

“Your eyeshadow...it’s purple again.”

Virgil smiled in return, before returning his lips to Roman’s.

~

That was so weird I’m sorry I have no idea how kissing works. They’re just in love, okay? I’m sleep deprived and have to go to math tutoring in ten minutes so please bear with me. I hope you liked it! Sorry these prompts are taking so long, I just have school as well as limited motivation and three ongoing wips.

[hournites]

A lot of ways to love you (teach me through your eyes)

Hournite Week Day 7: Love Languages 

Summary: Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Gifts, Quality Time, Touch. Or, Rick, Beth, and their many languages of love.

Thank you for coming along on this first HN week journey with me! ❤️

~.~

Words of Affirmation

  Beth found Rick by himself at the corner of their shared history class, carving his initials into the desk. She didn’t understand why he’d put himself there. It was like a brooding corner to be miserable. 

  “Hey,” she said, taking the seat in front of his desk. “What’s wrong?” 

  Rick dug deeper to splinter the wood. “They think I cheated on my chem test.” 

  Without asking, Beth unzipped Rick’s bag to pull out the test. Rick let her. 

  She gaped at him as she scanned over the F and comments from the teacher. He always treated Beth kindly when they passed in the halls, but she never actually had Mr. Geralds. Chemistry wasn’t her strong suit like Rick, but there wasn’t a doubt that she’d given some of the same answers with a great grade from the other science teacher. “Are you serious? That’s crazy. You’re going to contest that, right?”

  “You’re not going to even ask if I did?” 

  “I know you didn’t, you’re too smart.” 

  “I used to steal shit,” he muttered under his breath and dropped his pencil. “Haven’t heard you say I’m too smart for that.” 

  Beth slipped his test into her folder to return to at a later time, right now focusing on Rick. 

  “Hey, that’s not fair.” When Rick wouldn’t meet her eyes, she leaned in closer. “Look at me.” 

  Rick did. 

  “You know you deserved a good grade. And you’ve done what you did to get by.” She glanced at the vandalism briefly. “There are people here who know you’re better than what the majority of the town thinks.” She lowered her voice to keep her next words between them. “You’re a hero. You’ve helped save everyone in this town. So show them who you really are.” 

  She smiled when he let out a small huff, she knew he was listening. “I’ll go to the principal’s office with you, and we can get Pat to vouch for us. We both know that for Chem you should be in AP.” 

  “It’s really not that big of a deal,” he lied, shifting uncomfortably from all her nice words. 

  “If it weren’t a big deal, you wouldn’t have done that.” She pointed at the roughened mess he’d made of the school desk. “I know you better than you think.” 

  Act of Service 

  “Has anyone seen Beth?” 

  Rick walked around the main area of Pat’s cabin. It was after 2 AM. Barbara and Jennie were making late-night comfort food in the kitchen. Pat was manning the first aid station, tending to Mike, Jakeem and Yolanda’s injuries from Sportsmaster. Courtney was bonding or something with the staff in some strange ritual she had after a life-threatening mission. Rick just stepped out of the shower, washing the grime from his arms and face. 

  “She’s upstairs, I think!” Yolanda called, holding her ribs from her seat on top of the table. Rick shook his head when Pat admonished her not to yell. Rick made it up the stairs two at a time, stopping when he found Beth with her packed school bag on the floor in front of the couch. She was searching through papers, openly crying. She hadn’t even taken her cape off yet. 

  Rick crouched down beside her. “Hey,” he said softly. She looked utterly exhausted. “Are you okay? You said you didn’t get hurt.” 

“I’m not hurt.” She hiccuped, flipping through more papers, a little hysterical. It looked like it was for school. “I can’t find my math assignment. It’s due tomorrow morning.”

  “Did you finish it?” he asked. 

  “I don’t remember.” She wiped at her tears as she cried harder. “I might’ve left it at home, I can’t find it. I’m too tired, I can’t think.” 

  “Yeah,” Rick agreed. His bones were weary but he had always felt the least affected after battling it out with the ISA. He suffered plenty of superficial cuts and bruises, but he hardly felt them because his hourglass really protected him. He couldn’t imagine the hit the night must’ve taken on Beth’s body. Pat was going to be driving them back to main Blue Valley at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning to get them back to school. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a random Wednesday. It’s not like they had a choice. 

  “Did you ask Chuck?” 

  “No.” Her lip wobbled, face contorting into another sob. Rick regretted asking. It was clear she was far too drained. It would’ve been simple to have asked Chuck to scan her bag to find out, but she hadn’t thought of it. 

  “Okay, okay,” Rick said. “Go to bed. You’re not going to be able to do the homework now even if you found it.” Rick got up to get to the top of the stairs, calling down for Barbara. 

  When he returned, he helped her up and managed to get her to let go of her school bag. “We’ll look for it before we leave, okay?” Rick ran a hand through his damp hair, his own eyelids started to droop. “I promise you’ll get it done before school.” 

  Barb joined them upstairs and coaxed Beth to change out of her suit, leading her downstairs with her regular clothes and a promise of a warm bed and tea. 

  Rick followed to grab Chuck when Beth wasn’t looking, turning him on once alone to help identify if this alleged math homework was even in her bag. Together they found what she was talking about. Ten problems of pre-calc. She was right. It was rushed and not done. 

  Rick sighed, tucking it under his arm. He said goodnight to the rest and retired to his assigned room. He turned on the lamp on the desk where he first solved the code of his father’s journal, spreading out the assignment and using Chuck as a calculator. It dawned on him an hour later as he rubbed at his tired eyes how he would be staying up all night to finish homework that wasn’t even his. 

  Gifts 

  Beth was immersed in her book when two hands landed on her collarbone. She looked down, touching the skin at the opening of her shirt when she felt the weight of something new at the base of her throat.

  “What’s this?”

  Rick murmured in her ear from behind. “An early birthday present.”

  She let out a soft gasp when he finished with the clasp. A tiny brass hourglass pendant with sand just like Hourman’s trickled steadily beside her rainbow pendant. 

  “Woah.” She glanced up at him. “You got me an hourglass?” She bit down on her lip, dread creeping into her mind when she realized this had to be expensive. She struggled to voice what she was feeling out loud, but Rick must’ve caught the complicated expression on her face. He smoothed his hand along the sleeve of her cardigan and reassured her the cost didn’t push him into any kind of financial ruin. 

  “Did you not realize I’ve been working for Pat before school? I had some spare cash. Trust me, there’s nothing better I’d spend my money on.” 

  The puzzle clicked into place. Beth had been meeting Rick at the Pit Stop every morning before school for what felt like months now. It made sense he was there to work on the cars. Beth felt her face heat up at his implicit soft-spoken confession. “Thank you,” she said in a whisper, still in awe. The necklace was beautiful and she felt fuzzy ever since his hands were on her neck. “I love it.”

  His eyes, usually hardened and defensive, skilled at warding off unwanted attention, now creased at the corners. Gentle, quiet, yearning, he watched her accept his gift. “I’m glad.”

  Impulsively she asked, “Could you unclasp the rainbow one?”

  Rick did. The chain pooled in her palm. She shook her head, pushing it to his chest. “You should have it.”

  His brows furrowed in response. “You want to give me your... rainbow necklace?”

  She flushed when he said it like that. She toyed with her new one, looking at him from beneath her lashes. “Well…” she said. “I have something of you, now you can have a symbol of me.”

  Rick let out a small laugh. Beth was pretty sure if this were anyone else he’d say it was stupid, so she couldn’t help the surge of pride when he nestled her necklace around his own neck. 

  “How does it look?” 

  It was actually twisted. She flattened it so it would look the way it was supposed to over the collar of his shirt. Rick didn’t complain, but it was bright and cheery and clashed with his entire self. Beth bit her lip, withholding another laugh, and took pity on him, changing her mind to tuck the necklace underneath. “Perfect now.” 

  “Beth, I hate to interrupt this moment but you will be late for school if you don’t leave the Pit Stop in the next five minutes.”

  Chuck broke them out of their weird double transfixion. They both found themselves smiling shyly at each other, neither truly wanting to move. 

  “Come on,” he said after another few moments of them smiling at each other without moving. “Put your bike in my trunk. I’ll drive you.”

  Quality Time

  When Rick stopped by at Beth’s locker, she was talking to Charity, a new close friend she made over the summer volunteering at the Blue Valley Community Centre. 

  “Hey,” Rick greeted, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, waiting for Beth to visit. 

  “Hey,” Charity said back. She swept her blonde bangs out of her face to continue their conversation. 

  “Charity had a great idea that we should enter for the sustainability case competition,” Beth filled in.  

  “We’re going to need at least a month to prepare. I was thinking we could meet Tuesdays and Thursdays after school?” 

  Rick stuck a hand in his pocket, sullen. Thursdays were their days, unofficially. Not that they’ve ever said so out loud, but with JSA training afternoons the rest of the week, Beth working on a case competition their days off basically meant not getting to see her. Which was fine. It happened. Rick just wishes it didn’t have to. 

  “I can’t on Thursdays,” Beth told her. She glanced up at Rick to give him a smile. He straightened up, meeting her gaze with obvious surprise. “Those are our nights.” 

  Charity paused, watching the two with curious eyes. 

  “We can cancel,” Rick found himself saying and actually meaning it. “You don’t have to stay on my account.” 

  Beth’s nose scrunched up as she shook her head, mind already made. “Nah. Sorry Charity, Thursday doesn’t work for me. Take out your schedule, maybe we have a shared free period somewhere.” 

  “Oh, yeah, sure! Okay!” 

  Rick ducked his head to hide his smile as Charity fished through her bag for her agenda.

  Touch 

  When Beth stumbled out of the cell she’d been bound in, she hadn’t realized just how long she’d been gone. She was hungry and exhausted and felt horrifically dirty in her soiled Dr. Mid-Nite suit, but then she got a glimpse of Hourman nearly pushing the others in his rush to get to her all she could feel was relief. 

  Rick cupped her face, eyes squeezed shut as he held her close, his thumbs brushed along her cheeks, under her dry eyes. She felt the buzz of adrenaline rushing through him just by being so near, but the way he touched her was gentle, so gentle.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he whispered, a startling unfamiliar word to fall in succession like that, coming from Rick. His hands flew to the crown of her cowl, tugging it down to kiss her forehead again and again. “Thank you.” 

  I’m okay now, she tried to comfort him, though her words were choked, smothered out by the crushing weight of it all. He was crying as his lips brushed over her face. It wasn’t his stamina. The buzz, she felt. Rick was shaking. It hit her then, that maybe he wasn’t sure Beth was ever going to come back. Beth had scared him. He was scared.  

Beth vaulted with her tired, numb legs, reaching to wrap her arms around his neck. Her mind went calm for the first time since before they left home, muscles relaxing as she let Rick scoop her up. 

  She was safe. She was home.

Beth was loved. 

[dirkcresswcll]

AN INDUCTION & THE GLASS CEILING.

Dirk learned about the Order of the Phoenix when he was sixteen years old. Of course, he didn’t know the name at the time, but The Daily Prophet was delivered to him by owl every day - and, as any muggleborn would agree, war wasn’t just outside the castle when you had non-magical parents. 

It was nothing he went seeking, however. But, just like in his fantasy novels, sometimes fate sought the person anyway. For Dirk, fate came in the form of Hestia Jones. She’d brought something by Runes and More for ol’ Thorn to take a look. Dirk was fresh in his career - only a few months after graduation and he’d finally found a job that would hire him, albeit only for the back of the shoppe.

The rune that Hestia wanted deciphered was a complicated series of symbols on an old block that looked as though it had been blown off something disastrous. Dirk spent three days cracking the code, which warned of what would happen if the pieces were reunited. Without the rest of the object, he couldn’t know for sure - but, when Hestia came to pick it up, he’d been the one to explain what it meant. Unbeknownst to him, Hestia brought it back to the Order of the Phoenix and, as a team, they destroyed it so the Death Eaters would never have the chance to activate the destruction.

Hestia came back again the next day, asking Thorn to speak to the boy in the back. And Dirk, a wide-eyed eighteen year old muggleborn, had been worried he would be fired for talking to the customer the day before. But Hestia just wanted to know how he’d done it. She wanted the process. Dirk told her he had to finish work for the day but, if she wanted, they could meet after. Great! she told him and her voice was cheery. The Flaming Dragon at 7 o’clock!

Dirk had never been inside the pub before and, upon stepping in, thought that maybe he’d never want to again. But he sat with Hestia and they talked for hours. About runology - but also maths and arithmancy. What do you think of the war? she asked suddenly and Dirk had balked before looking her in the eye and giving her a straight answer. It’s all numbers. Whoever has the most with the best strategy will win. I just hope I can stay alive if it turns out to be the wrong side.

And maybe that solidified his fate. Like The Reluctant Hero, Dirk had later accepted Hestia’s proposal to join the Order of the Phoenix when she came asking again only a few weeks later. She’d wanted him for his mind - not his skills on the battlefield which, at the time, Dirk had no idea would be good or not.

He’d joined her and Alastor Moody - Holy shit, the Auror Alastor Moody is in the Order! Dirk thought wildly - in the Strategy Room and the rest was history. He was good at it, too. He looked at planning like a puzzle - approached missions as though he were solving a complicated arithmancy equation. He wasn’t loud and mostly kept his mouth shut until he needed to speak. In the Strategy Room, he held more confidence than most other places in his life. He definitely wouldn’t talk over James Potter and his group if everyone was arguing during the big Order meetings, but with Hestia in Strategy, he’d speak up.

Still, the battlefield called. They needed numbers, just like he said, and he was swept on his first field mission under Mica Talkalot. And he froze. It was nothing serious - Mica had only taken a curse to the arm, but nothing that Evan Rosier couldn’t fix. Dirk had felt stupid and embarrassed, even if Mica had taken him under his wing after that, reassuring him it was fine. He’d do better next time.

And there was a next time, of course. They still needed the numbers. He did better, then. Better and better each time, as he looked at the field in the same way he might’ve a map. He wasn’t very flashy - he held back as often as he moved forward. And he realized that, the reason he never excelled in Defense Against the Dark Arts was because they rarely learned actual defense in school. Despite the name, the Wizarding World valued offense over anything else. 

More often than not, however, Dirk still found himself back in the Strategy Room. There was subtlety in the way people viewed his skills - how, as a muggleborn, that initial mistake was often what stuck in people’s minds whenever they thought of him. Had he come from a more magical background, then perhaps his nerves would’ve been accepted. But, as a muggleborn, he wasn’t afforded that luxury. He needed to do things twice as well to even be viewed as equal. 

Except with Mica. Whenever he was pulled up from Standby Lead, he asked for Dirk on his team. It was as though the wizard could see potential in a place that no one else was able to. But then Mica died. Dirk hadn’t been there, but it was the first person he’d ever had to help bury. After that, he retreated and Hestia opened her arms to the Strategy Room and, there, it felt safe. He knew numbers and puzzles and maps - and maybe he could help make sure there were no more Micas. And, if no one else could recognize his skills whenever he did go out on the field, well... that was no surprise. Just the plight of the muggleborn - and there weren’t very many of them to fight against their situation anyway.

It was all numbers, after all.

[washymylifeaway]

MatsuHana fanfic recs

HI LOVES :D MatsuHana is one of my FAVORITE ships and I always love reading their fics! I’m procrastinating my other wips rn, so that do be why this is coming out rn LOL. Also that ask really made me get onto writing this, so anon thank you for sending it in LOL. There are some with VERY sensitive topics and they’re very BOLD, but I hope you all are safe while going through this list <3 (also matsuhana leans more to lots of drinking, spicy smut scenes, and teenage boy humor (like d*ck jokes and sexual innuendos) and sometimes I don’t remember to warn for that, so again CAUTION)

As always, pls check WARNINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES for fics before reading and make sure you’re taking care of yourselves (since mental health is key!) Stay healthy loves <3

CP:

plus one by orphan_account (G) 6.1k // this fic made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside LOL. It’s also hilarious and is definitely worth a read! When will I get to share a heart shaped bed with someone :( But I really love it when they just go with the flow of things, and other people are like,,, aren’t you already dating? BUT THEY’RE LIKE UMMM NO? HSAKJSH.

rated m for by orphan_account (T) 10.7k // I love this fic it made me laugh so much throughout the whole thing! The vibes in this fic are immaculate and give me life (we love a good reunion with mystery writers), it is SO good! That’s why you should never leave/stop listening prematurely (@ iwa when he was a single dad fic). 

This gets annoying fast, Makki by Ink_stained_quills (G) 2.3k // IM IN LOVE WITH THIS FIC PLS I COULD NOT STOP CRYING TEARS OF LAUGHTER. This AU needs more fics PLEASE. It was SO freakin’ funny and the other teams KILLED ME. Like how they all approached the problem differently and how some of them (KUROO) asked for help LOL. Please this is so freaking funny go read it.

quidditch gloves, parchment, and custard cream by h_lovely (T) 12.4k // THIS IS SO GOOD, I love this fic. It really takes you through the emotions, and I love all the development in it!!!! Their relationship with one another (but only as homies right? ofc ofc), and even their families loving the other, this fic is so good! Read it even if you don’t like slow burn, you won’t even notice <3333

call me maybe by totooru (T) 33.6k // okay yea another (semi) chat fic,,, fight me. MatsuHana are just funny in general but throw some other characters (like Kuroo) into it and it turns into a comedy show. But the main point of this fic was like the near miss meetings and I think that the misunderstanding were hilarious (as much as I hate misunderstandings LOL).

Magical Mishaps and How to Deal by plumtrees (M) 10.9k // I lost this fic once and I searched for it FOR THE LONGEST TIME. But that’s cause I wanted to reread this masterpiece. IT’S SO FUNNY AND CUTE AND DOMESTIC AND UGH. Also the small angst made me SO SAD. But the ENDING? THE KISSES AHHHHHHH. (I’m yelling a lot BUT that’s cause I really love this fic <3333)

hang out fall in love by carafin (T) 8.6k // I love the Makki hates Mattsun initially but then falls for the irresistible charm he posses trope. It might be my favorite trope for MatsuHana specifically LOL. Like I really love this fic and it has MAGIC. It’s like a magical version of the VA one LOL. But like no radio shows or reunited best friends in this one :(

THESE ARE VERY ANGST!!!!!!!

boiled frogs by reginagalaxia (E) 91.5k // is it possible to hate a character this much? I never realized how much hate/rage I had in me. Really. Like. Imma boutta fight this MF LIKE SQUARE UP. The way I tried to manifest a fake characters death like,,,, Anyway. If my RAGE doesn’t explain how good of a freakin writer they are, then idk what will. PLEASE READ THE TAGS AND WARNINGS, THERE ARE VERY SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!!

Even Though it All Went Wrong by plumtrees (T) 9.2k // THIS IS THE REASON THIS POST CAME TO BE. I love this fic with all my heart (or what’s left of it). Like LOVE as in, this fic really broke me beyond just breaking me. Like. When Oikawa says what he says to Mattsun after the thing (you’re sorry __ _____ __ ____) and the Iwa right after (we know __’__ ___ ______ to make you ____ __ ____) (if you’re wondering wtf I’m putting here, just ctrl F you’re sorry and you’ll see), you cannot believe how hard that hit. GOD. (I am okay if you’re wondering :’)) This is my #1 favorite angst fic of all time and if you are okay mentally and have read the tags and warnings and are fine with them, then please read it. PLEASE READ THE TAGS AND WARNINGS, THERE ARE VERY SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!!

The Truth Comes Out by Your_Friendly_Neighborhood_Pigeon (T) 10.2k // this made me so sad and empty after I read it. Like I just sat there being like wtf did I just read I’m sad now. Again read the tags, there is a suicide attempt but there’s also some cheating in this one. This one also ends happy. PLEASE READ THE TAGS AND WARNINGS, THERE ARE VERY SENSITIVE TOPICS!!!!

New:

kiyala // this writer has a LOT of fluffy MatsuHana and I really love their works! It’s just all (for the most part) really cute and there’s a lotta blurred lines and boundaries that get cleared up (they define what their relationship is but with ~love~) in their fics :) My fav? Making Sense by kiyala (T) 1.5k // it’s very cute and I am one who loves when things just fall into place :D

tookumade // this writer has some of MY FAVORITE MatsuHana fics in it and I’m kinda really sad I don’t get to ramble on about them here :( (dw I will elsewhere LOL) If I had to choose, I would say Remind Me by tookumade (T) 28.6k and Zenith, Nadir by tookumade (T) 10.7k were my absolute favorites, but I cannot choose between them so don’t make me.

plumtrees // I LOVE THIS WRITER OMG. Again, someone who has written my all time FAVORITE fics (did I mention OF ALL TIME?) and I’ve obsessively read some of them too many times :’) Because I already recommended my other faves above, Captured Light by plumtrees (T) 3.5k will be my acting favorite rn. It’s really cute and depicts some really sweet moments between MatsuHana too!

h_lovely // this writer has SO MANY GOOD FICS! I really love their series and their getting together fics are all SO GOOD UGH. I recommended my favorite teen one above, but the other ones I loved are explicit so just check out this writer in general LOL. (I REALLY love mirror flower, water moon, it’s my favorite but it’s E cause some smexy scene happen, but it’s really SO good omfg. Also the roses series IS AMAZING as well!!!!)

cream puffs and carnations; by crossbelladonna (series) 11.6k // AU SERIES!!! I love the AU’s in this series and I really liked the prompts they chose for this MatsuHana week :D My favorite from this series might’ve been there he is again by crossbelladonna (T) 1.6k cause a) I love the mattsun hc in this (for his appearance) and b) IT’S CUTE :D I definitely related to Makki and his not very subtle crushing, and also I like the IwaOi + Makki as friends trope (and then they meet Mattsun), if you couldn’t tell yet LOL.

on the anatomy of crushes by carafin (T) 2.3k // (kinda cp but not LOL) it’s very short and cute and I love it a lot LOL. I love medical AU’s (even though it’s very back burner LOL), but also, like Mattsun saves the day is the move. Like the dedication he has even going on the bus? Especially for a guy? Amazing. I could never :’)

Parallel Lines by orphan_account (T) 16.3k // IN LOVE WITH THIS FIC LIVES IN MY MIND RENT FREE CONSTANTLY. I hate math. Just putting that out here. And while it’s a math fic, IT? IS? SO? GOOD???? And like I love it when characters are smart, like I love intelligent characters so like this was just ajndf. (also same Mattsun, I am allergic to normal math.) 

live it up, drink it in by punybastard (T) 2.1k // GAH this one! This is a pretty iconic fic in MatsuHana hell (in my personal opinion) and if I didn’t have that two fic limit on my staple fics, this would be there. I really loved the ending of it (v cute and v well done), but also the small side stories that were inserted made it all the more entertaining :D (aka the volleyball) But they are drinking underage, so if you’re not about that BE WARNED.

it's cold out here by bishounen_curious (M) 8.6k // PLEASE I LOVE THIS FIC. YES READ YESYESYES READ. OKAY FIRST check tags and warnings, there’s a lot going on in this fic. Like don’t be stupid like them, drinking underage, and don’t do drugs not a good idea very very bad. Aside from that, I am in love with sad sad sad Makki (along with stupid IwaOi) and him being a sad drunk made me ajhkjdfs. Just read it and feel the akfnakjs with me LMFAO.

poolside by tothemoon (T) 4.1k // I’m starting this out with I LOVE the ending and I REALLY LOVE the way this confession panned out. It’s such a great concept and it made me ajhfldshf inside!!! Also, recursive endings are some of my favorites (if you couldn’t already tell LOL), and I think it really makes something so nostalgic and adds depth to a fic.

The Courage of Stars by FairyLights101 (T) 7.1k // AHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS FIC YES!!!! OKAY TW CANCER THERE’S CANCER IN THIS NO DEATH JUST PAIN and chemo (which basically is pain). Some controversy, but the angst part of me wanted him to die DONT GET ME WRONG, I’m glad he lived, but like imagine. I really love this fic, and his efforts in the bucket list were admirable :’)

we could be the greatest team by anyadisee (T) 5.7k // it’s my crack fic :D Yes, this is just Seijoh messing around, boys being boys, relationships being compared with other relationships. No pining, just me with my established relationships (and Iwa fanclubs cause those are a thing. ALWAYS).

Wet Your Whistle by darkmagicalgirl (E) 5.4k // SMUT ALERT okay but like while it’s a major plot point (lmfao I can’t believe myself), the storyline itself is good. Also, I’m all here for bartender Makki and tattoo Makki and not subtle at all Makki and basically everything Makki. I like banter and stupidity okay?

[obnoxious clucking noises] by parenthetic (renaissance) (T) 3.4k // some more crack fic for you <3333 Literally, just idiots being idiots. That’s the fic. LMFAO but seriously, I would like to participate as well,,,,, I have yet to lose a game of gay chicken cause of my lack of fear akdjaslk.

that's what you get (for waking up in vegas) by skittidyne (T) 4.2k // THIS IS SO FUNNY. I love Elvis cause he’s always officiating marriages in my fics LMFAO. But also IwaOi in this added some real nice comedy, and overall another crack fic but I really liked this one (AGAIN LMFAO).

A Bouquet of Flours by guyfierimpreg (G) 5.2k // first I want to know how they got the flour to scream, I just can’t figure it out so if anyone would like to send me pictures that’d be great. Second, they would do this bs and this is all canon. I said what I said, and I don’t take criticism. Like, matsuhana best parents proven by the magical mishaps fic (LMAO).

texting (with a capital S) by parenthetic (renaissance) (M) 2.1k // okay I just wanted to say that the accuracy in the math stuff being mentioned makes me feel like this writer was in calc ab or something and that’s trauma right there. Anyways, it’s a texting fic kinda sorta getting together kinda sorta not? Idk how to explain it, but it was funny and then smut LMFOAJIAHFSJS (the derail was just like IwaOi in gay chicken, someone call the police LMFAO).

nebulas by tothemoon (T) 10.8k // I like the casualness of it. Like the confession was just so casual (smooth Mattsun) and like the progression was GOOD. Like, it’s a very poetic fic and there’s lots of thinking of deeper meaning, but its still got some comedy sprinkled throughout. I really loved the flow of it!!!!

my heart beats for contract law by orphan_account (T) 4.4k // I too would have a breakdown over school (me pretending like I haven’t already done that ahaha), but I really love so many things about this fic! Everything was just so ajsdfljdsn and I really love the 3 part plan Mattsun comes up with :DDDD (esp pt 3). Also, to propose while having an emotional breakdown at 3am in a McDonalds drive through. A mf dream.

Reflex by hiuythn (T) 2.3k // PLEASE IF THEY DIDN’T MEET AT HS THIS WOULD BE CANON ASF. You cannot tell me you don’t think this would not be cannon asf. They would meet like this. Also poor Teuchi stuck in the middle of all of this. I haven’t watched naruto, but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is random emotional sexual bonding over something. That is important. (THE ENDING AJKFHKJ)

You're in Pink (and I'm in blue) by Hyeyu (T) 4.4k // whooooo Hanahaki whooo anyway, despite how it seems, I like the hanahaki trope. I don’t fully understand it sometimes (most of the time tbh), but it adds some nice angst and desperate confessions, and I do appreciate those :D Honestly, I really liked the way this fic panned out, and I felt really bad for Iwa LOL.

stranger things by tinypersonhotel (G) 10.2k // I really like this one :D:D:D I love Makki + Oikawa friendship and they’re really the best to each other :’) The ending was satisfying, and the PLOT omg. It was SO good. I feel like I say this a lot though LOL, but I’m just really into fics with good plot progression (or else I don’t read them OOPS).

something of a disaster by latenights (T) 1.4k // chaos ahahhaha. Another crack fic? I hope no one is surprised LOL. It’s just a really short and simple, cute getting together fic with a LOT of insults LOL. I love this one in particular, “Tooru’s dinner special”.

snakes, meth labs and something like love by orphan_account (G) 3.6k // THE ROOMMATE AD PLEASE. I honestly would never think Oikawa would get a snake, but that doesn’t matter LOL. This was me indulging myself in the makki IwaOi best friends and mattsun stranger agenda but it’s a great agenda okay? It’s a good fic and there’s a microwaved fish :D

Lemonade by carriecmoney (T) 4.1k // okay once again, responsible drinking and don’t drink underage bad idea smh. But MatsuHana just making out where they want? I could see that. Yeah. Anyway, as much as public make out seshes make me *gag* feel embarrassed, what made me feel more *gag* embarrassed was the fact that the girls? just? stood? there? Like why are you watching this. Is that just me? I feel like they should’ve left smh.

surprise, surprise by airblends (T) 7.6k // some more pining and dancing around the issue whoooo. As much as I hate them not getting to the point (almost as much as I hate misunderstandings), it was a great fic. This is nosebleed c*ck block (idk if I needed to censor that but I did fight me).

A God for Every Season by timkons (T) 18.4k // I love the Hades and Persephone trope! Okay, I just love mythology leave me be, but anyway I really love a lot of this fic. Like how Mattsun thinks it’s a little brighter with Makki? CUTE I LOVE. But also, the fish funeral is ridiculous but also very on brand for Oikawa. And some BokuKuroo (idk is that their ship) in here as well :DDD

The Best/Worst Places to Cry in the City by AngryKitten (T) 4.4k // literally it is the title. Just you know, looking for the best place to cry in the city,,,, I’d like to say, don’t cat call people cause we’re not about that here. Even if it worked out for them, just don’t do it :/ Also don’t follow strangers. I feel like that’s a given but jic ya know?

this isn't exactly how i thought i'd be spending my adult years by jadedpearl (NR) 7.5k // okay petty Makki is yes and so is my Makki + IwaOi agenda LOL. (I’m thriving here can’t you tell? Yes regular skype/phone calls constantly) Anyway, blackouts and sickness really be here getting people together. (I’m asking nicely, nike.) And Makki is smooth with his words. (SHORTER MEN MADE ME LAUGH)

chocolate by tellalie (T) 3.6k // the dedication in this fic was amazing. Like making a whole a cake? Someone go do that for me. (For mankind.) Fake dating is really something else, but fake dating to out gag your best friends? Seems like I need to step up my game (but no seriously, my best friends are PDA monsters I hate it here). Also practice confessions are wack.

FINALLY I MADE IT. You don’t know how many times I almost gave up on finishing LMFAO. Is this my longest list? Idk. But I just know that I would’ve finished faster if I didn’t end up rereading almost every fic on this list LMFAO. Like no seriously I almost had to make a post saying this wouldn’t be coming out cause I got distracted by one of the longer fics (I’m blaming Mirror Flower, Water Moon specifically). But I hope you enjoyed this, and once again go thank that anon for spurring me into finishing this list LMFAO (am I a horse? Yea, probably but if one thing, I’m not sturdy).

[pan-fangirl-345]

Pictures and Words

Summary: You love the little works of art that pop up on your skin, the little flower doodles, the night sky, an owl, but every once in a while, you wish you were that talented, so you find a way with something else.

TW: A little angsty, not too bad though, considering I really only write fluff and some language, but it’s nothing too out of the ordinary.

A/N: I was reading through my old likes on tumblr and I suddenly had a though and this is the product of that thought.

You glared out the window of your classroom like the protagonist of an anime, wondering how long this class was going to drag on for.

You really just wanted to get home and plug your earbuds in so you could drown the world out.

You absentmindedly touched your thigh where the image lay, the one that had appeared a day ago, making you smile softly at it.

Soulmates were a rare thing, especially ones that had a physical appearance. Most people, if they even had soulmates, had a mental bond of some sort.

One your friends was able to telepathically communicate with their soulmate. Your parents had been able to hear whatever music they had been listening to.

You had one of the rare links. Whatever you drew on your skin showed up on your soulmates and vice versa. It had been more widespread when your great-grandparents were kids, but this it had died out after too many people tried faking bonds, though you weren’t sure how it worked.

Soulmates and their bonds had always stumped scientists, and while some people were skeptical about them, it wasn’t something you worried about too much.

When you had woken up yesterday your thigh had been covered with the image of the night sky, stars and constellations painted on your skin. Black and blue and purple blended together into something beautiful with dots of white and yellow splashed in a sensible pattern. They were an artist, whoever they were.

You smiled and looked down at your hand as it tingled slightly. You watched as a small flower appeared on the skin right by your thumb.

They must’ve been bored. Things very rarely appeared during school, they tended to appear late at night or early in the morning, though you had no idea why.

You picked up a pen from your bag and doodled a small smiley face back to them.

Neither of you had actually had a conversation with each other. It was like some sort of unspoken rule that you were waiting to see each other in person. You hadn’t written because every time you thought you had the courage it slipped away from you.

An owl appeared next, cartoonish with fluffed feathers and big eyes, but it was cute and you had to bite your lip to keep from laughing.

They got a small heart next to owl in return, and you waited for another drawing to appear, but it didn’t.

You wondered for a moment if you had done something wrong, but they might’ve been busy with something.

You sighed, trying to force your mind back onto the subject at hand, which happened to be some sort of math class, but you couldn’t make yourself focus on it for long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was easy to forget sometimes, that there was person on the other end of your link, that there was actually someone seeing the words you scribbled on your skin to remind yourself of things you needed to do.

You sighed as you ran your hands through your hair, pausing to scribble another little note on your arm.

Pick up cat food.

Hand in essay.

Read chptr 56 of lit bk.

You felt bad if they were trying to decipher your shorthand, but you never remembered to write anything in a planner and you always managed to lose whatever paper you wrote on.

“Testu, I’m headed out,” you called to your brother.

“Be careful (Y/F/N)!” he called then yelled something about Kenma beating him in a game.

You chuckled as you grabbed your hoodie and headed out.

It had been a long day and you sometimes hated the fact that your parents were almost as forgetful as you were.

Both of your parents were working late again tonight so it was just you, Testu, and Kenma at home.

Kenma, despite his nonchalant attitude, was a very good other brother. He was good at just sitting there and listening, even if he wasn’t really listening half the time, and he was always there when you needed someone to just sit in silence with.

Your phone buzzing in your pocket caught your attention and when you pulled it out you groaned.

“Yamamoto, why am I not surprised you��re the one that’s calling me?” you asked when you answered the call.

“Did Kuroo tell you?” he asked.

“Did Testu tell me what?” you inquired, stopping your walking.

“Did he tell you that Karasuno is going to golden week with us?”

“No! Are they seriously?” you asked, practically bouncing.

You hadn’t met any of the Karasuno boys yet. Testu had just caved in on letting you be the manager for Nekoma, and you were excited to meet everyone. Especially Hinata since it was so rare for Kenma to get as excited about something as he did playing Hinata.

“Yeah, I just thought I would let you know. We finally have a hot manager so I can brag about it to Ryunosuke.”

“That’s one of their wing spikers right?” you asked.

“Yeah, the bald one.”

You had seen pictures of Karasuno, and you had heard from all of the boys that they had a hot manager named Kiyoko, but you still hadn’t talked to any of them yet.

“I’m so excited! Thank you so much for calling me and telling me!”

You hung up shortly after that, and you couldn’t keep the smile off your face.

This training camp was going to be great!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This training camp was terrible! You hadn’t met Hinata, since he had gotten stuck at school with Kageyama, so they were late, Karasuno’s manager Yachi was terrified of you, though you weren’t sure why, and for some odd reason, the setter for Fukorodani had been staring at you every chance he got.

Normally, having a beautiful guy like Akashi stare you wouldn’t be a bad thing, but there was something about the look on his face made you nervous.

“Lev, move your legs you moron or I’ll break them!” you shouted.

“You sound like Yaku,” Lev grumbled at you, but he knew you were joking.

“(Y/F/N), stop threatening the first year!” Testu called, hands on his hips.

“I don’t even play volleyball and I know you need to move better than he does. You’re too busy playing right now, let me help.”

“Just stop shouting at him.”

“Hey, if you tell him what he’s doing wrong he’ll do it right eventually,” you muttered.

“Constructive criticism tends to work better with him,” Kenma told you.

“Thanks pudding,” you replied, ruffling his hair.

He grumbled, moving to set it back into place.

When the doors burst open you turned with everyone else to look.

“Shoyo,” Kenma breathed, and you caught sight of the red-head.

So that was Hinata, and the scowling black-haired boy must’ve been Kageyama then.

You glanced at your shoulder, making sure that the picture there was still covered by your Nekoma jacket.

That was one of the few things Kuroo had told you to do, make sure your ink was covered up during the practices.

You weren’t sure why he wanted it that way, but you had no problems with it. Those drawings were something that were special to you, they were in places that they wouldn’t be easily seen, you wanted them to stay that way.

You had rinsed the words off your arms when you had showered this morning, then written a new set of words.

You weren’t an artist, you could barely draw an okay heart, but you wanted to give something back to the person that was drawing such beautiful pieces of art, even if they weren’t meant for you.

You had written the words ‘Just look down, we are both above the same starry night sky’ under the picture of the sky on your thigh. You had seen a quote along the lines of that once and it had made you think of your soulmate, so you had adjusted it a little bit.

When a small forest appeared on your arm like a tattoo sleeve, you had written the words ‘And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul’. You hadn’t gotten a response, but that was okay.

A small beach at night had appeared on your arm the day after that and you smiled.

‘Let’s go somewhere where the stars kiss the ocean’ had been printed in the sand. There was no response other than they had made some adjustments so that it looked the words were drawn in the sand.

Today you had woken up to a small ring of waves around you bicep and you had touched it lightly. 

‘Life is like a wave, flow with it’ had been added just below it in a ring.

You touched it now as you watched Nekoma face Karasuno.

Hinata really was a little spitfire, and you had a feeling that Kageyama was about as emotionally mature as an eight year old who thought girls still had cooties.

“(Y/F/N), why is Akaashi staring at you?” Testu asked during a break.

“Who? Oh, Fukorodani’s setter? I have no idea, he’s been doing it all day,” you admitted, touching the small ring of waves.

It was comforting to you, though you had no idea why. It just helped you stay calm.

Akaashi saw you staring and looked away quickly, a small blush dusting his features and you frowned a little bit, biting your lower lip.

You hadn’t had a conversation with him besides introductions, so you had no idea what you had done to ignite such a reaction.

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Testu asked, like his protective brother mode had been activated.

“No, it’s alright. He’ll stop eventually right?” you inquired, turning to face the game again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You frowned as you ducked into the Nekoma room. You couldn’t find your brother anywhere. You had already checked with Karasuno and the other Tokyo teams except for Fukorodani, though, now that you were thinking about it, he was probably with Bokuto.

Those two were thick as thieves even though they tended to share the same braincell when they were together.

You sighed. “Mom, give me a minute, there’s one more room I have to check and then I’ll head to the gym if he isn’t there, alright?”

“Okay, I just wanted to tell him goodnight. You’ve never both been gone for this long at the same time,” she told you.

“I know Mom, but as the manager I have to be here, and Testu’s the captain and one of their strongest players, he can’t just skip. Besides, you know how much this game means to him. Give me a moment Mom.”

You opened the door to the Fukurodani room after a small knock and entered when you got a reply.

“Nekoma’s manager?”

“Hi, sorry for the interruption, but have any of you seen my brother?”

“Who’s your brother?” It was Konoha. You remembered him from your brother’s matches against Fukurodani.

“Kuroo, Nekoma’s captain? Screwed up hair and acts like a hyena on coke?”

“Oh yeah, he’s with Bokuto and Akaashi down in the third gym, they wanted some more practice.”

“Alright, thank you so much,” you replied, ducking back out. “Mom, he’s in one of the gyms, can you and Dad wait a little bit longer, it won’t take me long.”

“Sure honey. How have they been doing?”

“Really well, Lev is still an idiot, but this is going to be good for us,” you told her. “Hinata is about as loud as Kenma said he was, but he’s a good kid.”

“That’s good. And you’re sure that you’re having fun?”

“I love it, I can see why the boys like this so much,” you assured her with a small laugh.

“Speaking of boys, Testu is making sure that they’re keeping their hands to themselves?”

“Yes Dad,” you told him, stepping into the third gym in time to see Akashi do a setter dump.

You smiled for a moment, then said, “I found him.” Heads turned towards you and Testu wandered over. “It’s Mom and Dad.”

You handed the phone over to him, rolling your eyes as he widened his in exasperation.

“Yes Dad, the other guys are keeping their hands to themselves, you don’t have to worry about it. If anything, you should be worried about whether they’re scared of her or not.”

You stifled a small chuckle as your brother stepped out to take the rest of the call.

“So you’re Kuroo’s sister?” Hinata asked, bounding over.

“Yup, I’m Kuroo (Y/F/N), but you can all call me by my first name if you want. It makes everything easier on us.”

“I didn’t know Kuroo had a sister,” Bokuto admitted.

“He doesn’t talk about me much. I’m the annoying little sister that followed him and Kenma around when we were younger.” You glanced back at him. “That, and I think he just doesn’t like people knowing about me in general. He’s protective like that.”

“You’re Nekoma’s manager? Why haven’t I seen you before now?” Hinata asked.

“Well, I just joined on as their manager, a lot like Yachi, actually. Testu didn’t want me to join for some reason, and I finally managed to convince him. Nice setter dump by the way Akaashi, I saw that when I walked in.”

“Thank you,” he replied, looking at his feet.

“So did you see my spikes earlier (Y/F/N)?” Bokuto asked, getting that look on his face that reminded you of a puppy.

“I did. I’m glad I’m not playing against you, Bokuto, my arms would ripped right off. I don’t know how my brother does it,” you admitted, laughing when Bokuto’s chest puffed out a little bit.

“Please don’t inflate his ego,” Akaashi muttered. “He’s insufferable when he gets like this.”

“I live with Tets0u,” you told him. “I’m used to this. Bokuto, you really should work on not getting down every time you mess up though.”

He pouted, but he said, “I know.”

“Mistakes are going to happen, especially in a game like volleyball when everything moves so fast. Besides, you guys are human, it’s in our nature to make mistakes. Just don’t let them get you too down, alright?”

“Thank you,” Akaashi muttered again.

“Of course,” you replied eyeing the door as your brother came back in, running his hands through his hair. messing it up even further.

“Bad?” you asked.

“I don’t understand why they call when they know we’re busy. And you know how much Mom likes to talk.”

“You get it from her,” you reminded him, making him squawk.

“I do not!”

“Keep telling yourself that Tetsu,” you told him, laughing. “Anyways, it was nice to talk to you all. Remember, the cafeteria is going to be closing soon, so you might want to hurry the game up otherwise you guys are going to be hungry.”

They were all right behind you after that, chanting the word ‘food’, save for Akaashi, who seemed to have a little more poise.

“Have you eaten already?” Akaashi asked, appearing beside you.

“Yes, I ate with the managers earlier, thanks for asking.”

“I’m sorry,” he blurted, making your eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“For what?”

“I know you caught me staring,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable, I was just trying to place where I had seen you before.”

“I don’t think we’ve met before, have we?” you asked. “I feel like I would remember someone so . . . pretty.”

You felt your cheeks heat, realizing what had slipped out, but he just glanced at you with a small smile. 

“I could say the same thing about you,” he replied.

You smiled back at him, then groaned when Lev spotted Yaku.

“Oh shit, I have to go. It was nice talking to you Akashi!” you told him, smiling quickly before you headed to make sure Lev didn’t say anything too dumb to the libero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Lev, move your ass,” you snapped, bouncing a ball off his back from where he collapsed on the floor of the gym.

“(Y/F/N), what did I say about picking on the first year?” Tetsu asked, chugging his water bottle.

“You literally said the same thing to him twenty minutes ago Tetsu, so shove it!”

“Are you gonna let her talk to you like that Kuroo?” Bokuto asked, smirking.

“You have no room to talk Bokuto,” Akaashi muttered.

“Yeah, I saw that pitiful attempt at a lob Bo,” you added. “Don’t think I didn’t.”

“Hey!” he shouted.

Did his hair just . . . deflate?

Lev snickered and said, “Finally, it’s not me getting yelled at.”

“Shut it Lev,” you snarled. “Now get off the floor, I’m not helping if you don’t train.”

A small shudder went up your spin and you turned your head just enough to see Akaashi standing there, watching you.

There was something in his eyes though that made you pause. He wasn’t looking at your face, his eyes were on something else.

You followed his gaze to your arms. You winced when you saw the ink that was peaking out of you t-shirt sleeve.

You hadn’t been getting as many drawings lately, but that was okay, there were less that you had to cover up that way, but it made you wonder what they were doing on the other end of the link.

You tugged your sleeves down again, wondering if you should start using bandages or gauze to hide the art that was decorating your skin more and more.

“(Y/F/N), your mom is calling!” Hinata shouted.

“Again?” you muttered, wandering over to the bench. “Mom, seriously, we’re in the middle of something. What’s the matter?”

“We can’t check in on our kids?”

“You can, but we’re doing things on our end, we can’t answer every call. I have to go, call us in like, two hours and we’ll be free. Seriously, keep calling and I’m turning my phone off completely.”

You hung up before she could say anything else and you sighed, running your hands over your hair.

“You do realize you just screwed yourself right?” Tetsu asked, making you wince.

“Yeah, well, I said ‘we’ not just ‘I’. Besides, you were thinking it too. I’m just the only child that checks their goddamn phone.”

“I answer my phone.” Tetsu paused, then added, “Sometimes.”

You glared at him, punching him in the shoulder. “You do not and you know it. Why do you think I call Kenma for everything?”

“You really should start answering your phone more Kuroo. She does call me for everything,” Kenma muttered, looking as bored as usual.

“I feel ganged up on,” Tetsu muttered.

“Shut up Tetsu, you and your friends used to gang up on me all the time. Now karma’s being a bitch. And when she’s not, I am.”

“Language, little sister,” he muttered, almost absentmindedly.

You raised your eyebrows and crossed your arms over you chest. “Do you really wanna start this now Tetsu? Do you remember what happened the last time we started down this road?”

He paused, blinking for a moment before he paled a little bit. “I’m going to make the smart move and shut my mouth. I don’t want to go down that road again.”

“Your sister is such a badass Kuroo,” Bokuto mused, laughing.

“She gets it from our mother,” he muttered.

“Shut up Tetsuro,” you grumbled, tossing your phone into your bag. “Don’t you have a three on three match to get back to?”

“Oh shit, full first name,” Tetsu muttered, eyes widening.

You snorted, shaking your head at him.

“Alright, well, you guys don’t need me here, I’m gonna head back to the room. I have an essay to write for school anyways,” you admitted, taking your hair down so you could put it up again. Running around with the boys meant that it came undone a lot more than you would’ve liked.

You blew a small flyaway away from your face, glaring at it for a moment before you turned and headed away from the gym, wondering how they managed to do this.

You were tired and you weren’t even playing the way they were.

“(Y/F/N), you forgot your bag,” Akaashi called.

“Ack! I did. I would forget my head if it weren’t attached to my neck I swear,” you muttered, taking it from him. “Thanks Akaashi.”

“No problem,” he murmured. He paused, touching the spot on your arm where the ink rested and you winced a little bit.

He noticed, taking a small step back. “Sorry, I saw it earlier and I was curious. You seem to have a soulmate, but you don’t show your ink.”

“Tetsu said I should cover it up, and I don’t like showing people. These are special to me I guess,” you confessed, touching your arm lightly.

“The words you write are special to me,” he blurted and you paused for a moment.

“No way,” you muttered, eyes wide.

Akaashi’s eyes widened, and you realized belatedly that he hadn’t meant to say that to you.

He bit his lip for a moment before he rolled his sleeves up.

The ring of waves was right there as it was on your own arm, and there were the words you had written days ago.

“Permanent marker does wonders I guess,” Akaashi said, a small amount of pink dusting his cheekbones.

“I guess it does,” you murmured, touching it lightly.

“I thought it was you,” he admitted. “I saw some of it on the first day of training camp, but I didn’t want to say anything to you about it. I saw how protective your team is.”

“You have nothing to worry about when it comes to them,” you assured him, rolling your sleeve up to show him the matching ink. “They’re protective, but they like you.”

“I’m assuming you liked them? The pictures I mean,” he asked.

“I loved them, I would’ve drawn something back, but I’m not much of an artist, I thought words would be my way in.”

“We never actually wrote to each other.”

“I was nervous every time I was about to,” you confessed, feeling your cheeks heat up.

“Akaashi, what’s taking so long?” Bokuto asked, sticking his head out of the gym.

You tried to roll down your sleeve, you weren’t sure if you wanted everyone to know yet, but he saw it anyway.

“Yo, Kuroo, you might want to see this dude,” he called.

You winced. It was one thing for the team to know, it was another for your brother to find out the way he was about to.

Akaashi glanced at you, gauging your reaction, and you sighed, rolling your sleeve down, moving to stand beside him.

“If he’s gonna chews us out, we can do it together,” you murmured as your brother stuck his head out of the doorway.

“So you finally found out,” was all he said.

“You knew?” you asked, jaw dropping.

“Yeah, saw some ink during a practice match we had with each other a while back and remembered that you had shown it to me earlier.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? Do you realize how huge this is?” you inquired, feeling a little betrayed.

You and your brother didn’t tell each other everything, but you hadn’t thought he would keep this from you. He knew how much this meant.

“I know how huge this is for you, (Y/F/N), but I just didn’t want this to distract you.”

“How is this any different from when you met Tsukishima?” you asked. “Or when Lev and Yaku met? Is it because I’m your sister?”

As much as Lev made fun of Yaku, you knew that they cared for each other, in a way that was uniquely them, even if it didn’t make much sense to anyone else.

Your brother didn’t seem to have much to say to that, so he shut his mouth, clenching his jaw.

“Answer me Tetsuro,” you snapped.

Akaashi reached for your hand, though whether it was to hold you back from your brother or to try and calm you down you had no idea.

It did the trick though. You took a deep breath and took a step back, shaking your head at your brother.

“I can’t believe you,” you whispered, taking more than a few steps back from him. “I’m going back to the room. You stay away from me alright? I don’t want to see you until tomorrow.”

You glanced at Akaashi, squeezing his hand for a moment before you shouldered your bag and heading for the room.

You heard Tetsu call after you, but Akaashi said something to him quietly.

You were almost in tears when you got back.

Kiyoko and Yachi were already there, and they wrapped their arms around you, asking you what was wrong and if you were okay.

You told them everything.

When the other managers started trickling in they were told what was going on and they all wrapped their arms around you too until your tears ran out.

It turned into a girls night of sorts, and you were grateful for them.

“I would appreciate if you guys could keep this between us. I just . . . I’m not sure how I’m going to go about this,” you admitted, wiping your eyes for the millionth time.

“We totally understand,” they all agreed, making you smile.

“Thank you guys, it means a lot,” you told them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apparently, Bokuto couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it.

By the next morning, everyone knew what was going on, and Hinata had given you a big hug, telling you that he was sorry.

“You have nothing to be sorry for Hina, it’s not your fault my brother has a skewed version of what’s protecting me.”

“I have a little sister,” he admitted. “I don’t think I would do that, but I know I would never want to see her hurt.”

“She has a very good brother then,” you told him, smiling.

“You’re very easy to talk to (Y/F/N), and everything’s going to work itself out,” he replied.

“I wish I could have that sort of optimism Hina, but I’m not like you,” you told him, ruffling his hair softly.

“If it makes you feel any better, your brother looks like a zombie. I don’t think he got much sleep.”

“That does make me feel better actually. If only because I like to see my brother suffer after things like this, since they rarely happen.”

“Can I talk to you?” Akaashi asked, tapping your shoulder.

You glanced at your team, who nodded, then back at him, nodding.

“Alright.”

You followed him outside, trying not to bite too hard on the inside of your lip.

“I’m sorry about what happened last night. That wasn’t how I wanted you to find out,” Akaashi said, looking mildly uncomfortable.

“It’s alright.”

“I have to admit love, that I wasn’t completely honest with you last night.”

‘Love’? you wondered, but you didn’t say anything about it.

“Not you too,” you grumbled. “Is there anyone else in on this conspiracy?”

“Just . . . hear me out,” he pleaded. “And no, it was just him and me. And you, to an extent.”

You stared at him for a moment before you nodded. “Alright. Spill.”

“Most of your brother’s story was true. He caught sight of one of the drawings I had done and he figured out we were soulmates. But he came up to me and told me about it. He said that he knew who the person on the other end of my link was. I asked him about it. I wanted to meet you. So he called you.”

“I remember that,” you whispered. “He called me after a game and asked me about the ink that had appeared on my hand.”

“He saw it on me when we played. Your voice sounds different, better, in person, but when you answered the call, you had the most beautiful voice. I was struck by how you sounded, and I knew you would be just as beautiful when I finally saw you in person.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” you muttered.

“I wasn’t disappointed,” he told you, giving you a small smile. “I was right, when I saw you for the first time, I couldn’t say anything, I was so amazed by you that there were no words. Luckily for me, it wasn’t out of character not to talk.”

You couldn’t help it, you laughed. He smiled at you and you wondered for a moment what he saw.

“Anyways, I was listening to the two of you bicker back and forth and it was all I could do to not laugh. I didn’t think anyone could knock Kuroo or Bokuto down a few pegs other than a few people, but I knew you would be one of them. Kuroo ended up asking me if I wanted to meet you, but I didn’t have the guts. I was worried you’d be disappointed.”

“I’m not,” you said quickly. “Disappointed, I mean. I’m not disappointed.”

He gave you a bright smile for a moment. “The whole reason I wanted to talk to you was so that you would stop being mad at Kuroo. The only reason he kept it from you was because I asked him to.”

“So that’s why he was so adamant about me not being the manager. He knew we would run into each other,” you said, finally putting two and two together.

“Your brother loves you more than almost anything (Y/F/N),” Akaashi told you. “He was just trying to protect you.”

“I’m sorry you were so nervous to meet me,” you told him. “You should’ve been excited.”

“I was, I am,” he assured you quickly. “But I wasn’t sure whether you wanted to meet me. I thought maybe you would want to wait until college or something.”

“Even my brother knows that I wanted to meet you as soon as possible,” you told him with a small laugh.

“Why though?”

“I figured high school would be better because it gives us time to get to know each other, figure out what we want to be, that kind of thing. I also thought we would have more free time and a little less stress, but you have to deal with Bokuto all the time, so I’m not sure if ‘less stress’ is accurate.”

Akaashi laughed and you couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the way it changed his face.

“If you want to hold off on anything though, I would completely understand,” you added. “I’ve waited this long, might as well wait a little longer.”

“If you were expecting me to forget about you until we’re older than I’m sorry to disappoint. Now that I’ve met you, I’m not entirely sure I can just . . . walk away when this is over.”

“Which means?” you asked hopefully, even though you tried to hide it.

“We’ve never had a conversation before this training camp, so what do you say to getting to know each other?”

“I think we can handle that. Whether our respective teams can or not is another matter though,” you said, glaring at your brother and Bokuto, who were sticking their heads out of the gym doors.

“Aw, and it was just getting good!” Bokuto whined.

“Shit, she’s pissed,” Kuroo said, backing away.

“Tetsu,” you growled, stalking closer.

“Hide me!” he shouted, running through the gym.

“You want to go after him or me?” Akaashi asked.

“Nah, let’s let him sweat on it for a minute. He’ll come crawling for mercy in ten minutes or so,” you told him. “Break times over, get your drama loving butts back onto the courts.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe the week is over already,” you muttered, throwing the bags into the bus.

“It went too fast,” Akaashi agreed, helping you with the team’s stuff.

“You don’t have to help me ‘Kaashi,” you told him. “Don’t you have to help your team too?”

“No, they told me I should be over here helping you.”

“But still. You don’t have to help me. You were the one that was training for most of the week. Aren’t you sore?” you asked, tossing another bag.

“I want to help you, it gives me an excuse to be over here other than to spend more time with you. Besides, it means Kuroo gets to irritate Tsukishima for a  little longer.”

You chuckled, watching as Tsukishima pushed up his glasses as your brother probably told really bad scientific jokes.

“Is it wrong that I want you to stay?” Akaashi asked, taking your hand hesitantly in his own.

“No,” you replied, squeezing his hand lightly. “I want to stay too. Luckily, unlike my brother and his soulmate, we live in the same city. We don’t live two hours apart.”

“Fair,” he admitted. “Get some sleep when you get back alright?”

“Only if you do, you’re getting bags under your eyes,” you told him. “And I’ll know if you don’t.”

“That’s not our bond, how will you know?”

“I’m psychic,” you told him. “It’s an instinct. Besides, it’ll show up on my skin. You always do your best work at night.”

Akaashi brushed a strand of your hair out of your face and you smiled at him.

“You’ll text me right? We only have so much skin you know,” you told him.

“Of course,” he said. “Besides, we’ll be seeing each other soon. The tournament is coming up soon.”

“Oh no, then I’ll be torn between how to cheer for, my soulmate or my brother, oh the drama!” you wailed, flailing exaggeratedly, making Akaashi laugh.

“How do you even know it’s going to be us playing against each other?”

“I have faith in both Nekoma and Fukurodani’s abilities.”

“You have more faith than some of our players.”

“That’s alright, you don’t need to have faith all the time, there will always be someone with more faith than you on your side.”

“Words really are your thing, aren’t they?” Akaashi asked.

“I told you that.”

“I know, but this means we go even better together.”

“Sweet talker,” you teased, making him smile.

“Akaaaaaashiiiiiii! We have to go!” Bokuto yelled.

Akaashi sighed, squeezing your hand for a moment before he started to walk away.

“Hey, ‘Kaashi!” you called, running up to him, wrapping your arms around his waist. “Be careful on your way home alright?”

He stood frozen for a moment before he wrapped his arms around your waist hesitantly. “You too.”

“I will.”

You pulled away when your brother yelled at you and you sighed. “Text me. Or find a pen. Just let me know when you get home safely alright?”

“I will if you do,” he replied, smirking.

“Agaaaaashiiiii!” Bokuto called.

“I might murder him,” Akaakshi muttered, eyes steely with annoyance.

“Don’t do that, I don’t want my soulmate in jail for murder. Go,” you told him, pushing him towards his bus.

“I’ll see you later?”

“Yes, now go,” you said laughing.

This was going to be interesting.