#It's so fun to see him interact with everyone!! And try to get some extracurriculars in on human relationships hehe

[sysig]

Kissing Strangers 💋 (Patreon)

[hellfire--cult]

Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

wc: 10.1k

HEAVY TRIGGER WARNINGS: +18, suicide attempt, reader is suicidal, PAS (Physician Assisted Suicide), neglectful parents, weed and alcohol, feelings of loneliness, hurt/comfort (?), fluff, kissing, some mentions of nausea, smut implication, angst. So much angst.

Plot: Eddie was new to the group, and he connected with you after an unfortunate event. You were excited to finally put an end to your suffering, of all those years of feeling nothing, and you had made a list of things to do before going.

a/n: I cannot stress this enough, please, do not read if this will be triggering for you. If you read PAST the warnings, it is your own responsibility, and I will not hold myself accountable for it.

This is somewhat inspired by the movie and book Me Before You. So yeah, have fun.

Always reblog your artists, likes don't do much.

Please, Trust Me

Eddie came into the group a little bit late, so to speak.

He was assigned to do a project alongside Steve Harrington in Psychology class. College was just something Eddie wanted to focus on studying since he had a reputation of repeating his senior year two times in a row, but Steve was friendly. Eddie, well, he didn’t realize how badly he needed social interaction until then.

So Steve introduced him to his group. Robin Buckley, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, and you. Now, Eddie got to know everyone, except yourself. As Nancy put it, you were in many extracurricular classes, so your time was limited. Eddie, of course, understood, but he also felt you were scared of him somehow. You always averted your gaze from him in the little moments you spent together, so he gave up on trying to talk further with you.

Holidays were approaching, and Eddie had the opportunity that his uncle was leaving the nice house he finally got to purchase near lover’s lake in Hawkins, his hometown, so he thought it would be a great idea to invite everyone over… Well, not everyone.

Since he thought you were scared of him, he believed the invitation would be rejected, but everyone else agreed to come over to his place. It was just a two-hour drive, and he couldn’t wait to get drunk and high with everyone else.

Robin told him that you didn’t have time anyway to assist, seeing that you were going to visit your mother for Christmas, so Eddie’s guilt vanished completely. He felt horrible for not inviting you, that’s why he asked Robin to ask you about your plans for Christmas.

So off they went, having a great time by the lake, drinking beer, eating grilled burgers and sausages, and then on Christmas night, the fireworks went off, and everyone was already drunk by that time, messaging loved ones and wishing them great holidays.

The next day, you called Robin, wishing her a happy Christmas. Eddie was packing the suitcase to go back to Indianapolis, when he overheard Robin tell you that they were spending New years there too, completely surprising him. He expected to return on the 26th, but he was excited to spend more time with his friends. Once again, you told Robin that it was fine since you were still at your mom’s.

And so, new years went by. Now on the 2nd of January, they all finally returned completely drained from all the alcohol and food, but still with smiles on their faces. Robin then turned to Eddie with an innocent smile on her face as she sat on the passenger’s seat.

“Eds, can you drive me to Y/N’s place? I want to show her the rocks we picked up at the lake, and I will likely stay the night at her apartment.” She batted her eyelashes at him and he rolled his own eyes.

“Okay, let’s take you to the rich girl’s place.” You explained to the group that you weren’t good with a roommate, so you rented a place near the campus to live in until your studies finished. Eddie realized you weren’t a middle-class person just by knowing that, and he doesn’t know why you would choose a college like this one instead of Harvard or something like that, as rich people do in movies.

Robin met you thanks to you being signed up to tutor her in a particular class she was struggling with. She and you immediately clicked, despite you acting a bit shy and reserved at first, as if not trusting Robin at all, like a scared animal in the wild meeting another species.

Once they arrived at your apartment complex, Robin once more looked at Eddie with a pouty lip.

“And help me with my bag? My shoulders hurt from swimming all week…” And once more, Eddie rolled his eyes, sighing as the two of them got out of his van and he went to the back to get hold of her bag, swinging it over his shoulder.

“You can just say you are lazy as fuck Buckley.” She giggled at his response and they both walked into the reception, calling the elevator to go up to your floor. Once they were at your door, Robin knocked a few times, only to be met with no response. Her smile faded slightly and she tried again, and once more, met with silence.

“Maybe she didn’t return from her mom’s.” And she bent down to look under your mat, finding the spare key. You told her she was welcome at any time, to simply look under the mat for the key and make herself comfortable, knowing Robin likes some quiet away from the dorms now and then. 

She opened the door–

“Hey, you–”

And she and Eddie immediately winced at the strong smell of unwashed dishes or something of the sort. 

“Jesus Christ, what is that smell? Did she forget to wash the dishes before leaving?” Eddie replied, looking over at the kitchen counter, his eyes furrowing together as he looked at a particular tray that was filled with gingerbread men cookies. They were all with a bit of fungus, and one had been bitten, one of its arms missing.

Robin closed the door behind her as she looked around, finding that there were bottles of different alcoholic beverages on the sink, a cup of ramen noodles on the coffee table in front of the TV, half-eaten, and then she spotted the small Christmas tree in the corner of the room.

She remembers how excited you were, buying your tree, telling her that you never had the chance of decorating one before because it wasn’t truly celebrated in your household. Dread immediately invaded her as she remembered that, slowly walking towards it and Eddie following behind, dropping Robin’s bag to the floor.

Robin gasped as she kneeled to the floor, finding different presents under the tree, one for each person in the group, including Eddie. His heart plummeted to the floor as Robin showed him the small present, and you didn’t even know what he liked, yet you bought something for him. 

Robin then turned while getting up, looking towards the door of your bedroom that was shut. She rushed towards it and she felt her heart starting to want to come out of her mouth as she swung it open as quickly as she could.

And there you were, in your bed, resting, and Robin felt herself breathe in relief, but Eddie didn’t. Not when he noticed the bottle of wine next to you, on your nightstand. 

“Maybe she didn’t think she was gonna go to her mom’s and she forgot about the cookies.” Robin said as if almost trying to convince herself. Trying to make a reasonable explanation other than the most horrible one that she could think of because of course, she doubted it when you said you were visiting your mom.

Because you mentioned to her that you two weren’t close.

Eddie slowly walked towards you, not caring about the smell that lingered in your room, knowing that you probably hadn’t showered or cleaned the place in a while. He looked down on you, tilting his head. You had the blankets all over you while you rested on your belly, eyes completely closed. 

He raised a hand towards your face, under your nose, and his breathing stopped. Your breaths were slow, not even deep, and you were drooling, all over your pillow. He grabbed onto the edge of the blanket and Robin moved to stop him, yet he yanked it off. 

“Robin… call 911.”

But Robin was frozen as she looked at your frame, her lip starting to shake as she inspected your right hand. A hand that was holding something that looked empty. Something that she saw was half full the last time she came over.

That orange flask that contained your sedatives.

And you chugged them down with alcohol.

Steve was rubbing Robin’s back as she sobbed into her hands, hunched over the chair of the waiting room. Eddie was on her other side, his leg bouncing up and down as he bit his nails. One day he was laughing with everyone and now he is waiting for some good news regarding your health, someone he barely knows, yet he is worried shitless for.

Loud heels were heard across the hallway, a woman in her late 40’s, wearing designer clothes, looking rather stern as she got closer to the door of the room you are in. Her arms are crossed as she stands next to it, tapping her heel on the floor, catching the attention of the three people sitting on the chairs.

“Excuse me?” Robin’s weak voice called out and the lady snapped her head towards her with an eyebrow raised up.

“Yes?”

“Who are you?” 

“I am this girl’s mother. Who are you?”

And the three friends froze in their seats. It was your mother. The person you supposedly spent the holidays with, yet, she didn’t look concerned for you, but rather she looked angry, or disappointed.

“We– We’re her friends.” Robin replied with a small voice, because could she even say that? Do you deserve someone like her as a friend? Even as a partner? Someone who forgets what you told them almost a year ago? The woman scoffed, shaking her head.

“Friends? That is surprising. Were you there when she did this?” Her voice was cold, and anger started filling inside of Eddie’s chest. Why is she acting this way when her child is inside that room, fighting for her life? A life she almost took herself?

“N-No, we found her like that…” Robin looked back down again and Eddie could only look at her wrecked face with pity, yet, he could not comfort her. 

“I see. Did the doctor come out or something yet? I have somewhere to be, and I cannot waste my time on this. Not again.”

And the three sitting people shot up from their seats, all with alarmed looks on their faces.

“I’m sorry… again?” Robin asked, the answer scaring her yet she needed to know what it meant. She needed to know if she was an even more horrible person than she was ten seconds ago. Your mother scoffed, shaking her head again and Eddie’s hands turned into fists.

“It’s the third time. I already sent her to a psychiatrist, a mental hospital, and therapists, and yet she still tries. That girl has everything, and yet she always craves attention this way. I’m sick of it.”

And Robin wanted to puke, right then and there, while Steve looked at Eddie with tear-filled eyes and the metalhead could see how bad his friend felt. How evil he must feel. Steve gulped and looked back at your mother, clearing his throat to be able to talk.

“W-Why would she do this?” And your mother scoffed, looking for her phone in her purse as she talked.

“Just because I forgot about the holidays and her birthday. I already sent her a message apologizing and telling her she could ask for anything she wanted, but she went and did this.”

And Robin froze. 

Birthday. 

December 28th.

Your birthday. 

And she couldn’t handle it anymore, yanking herself away from Steve to rush towards the toilet. Steve called out to her, rushing to her aid as tears rolled down his cheeks and Eddie was frozen in place.

Not only did you spend the holidays alone, but you also spent your birthday by yourself, while they were all having fun in Hawkins, shooting fireworks and drinking alcohol to their heart's content. And you were alone, with a bottle of wine and instant noodles.

He was about to talk to your mother, about to insult her, to drag her on the floor, but the opening of the door in front of him made him stop in his tracks as the doctor walked out with a board in his hand.

“Okay, so, we got her blood cleaned up. It’s good that you caught her at such an early stage. Her vital signs look stable now, but she will have to stay here for a few days, two tops, so we can monitor her a bit more.” Your mother cleared her throat and the doctor looked up at her with a tilt of his head.

“So, she’s okay.” And there was such coldness in your mother’s voice that Eddie felt his vile rising in his throat. The doctor only sighed, taking his glasses off.

“She is, but we cannot overlook a suicide attempt. Does she have anyone to talk to? Maybe I can give you brochures for–”

“I already sent her to an institution once, but it didn't work. That child is an attention seeker, pay it no mind.” 

Eddie’s eyes were burning in anger at her words and the doctor looked as surprised and hurt as he did. He cannot bear to hear your mother’s words any longer, so little care, with lack of empathy and lack of love. He wondered how many things you endured with a woman like this in your life, and honestly, he was afraid of finding out.

“W-Well, since you’re the mother, maybe you should–”

“She is a grown woman now. She can make her own decisions as you can see. I shall not worry about her anymore.” And just like that, the heels echoed in the hallway once more and Eddie’s eyes were wide as he looked at her retreating figure. A mother leaving her child after they tried to end their life, like no care in the world, as if she hadn’t given them their life to begin with.

Three times? Three times she did this? Walking away from you? How could she call you an attention seeker? How could she even acknowledge something like that when you were screaming for help?

“Ahem.”

Eddie blinked as he looked towards the doctor who had a confused yet pained look on his face.

“She is awake if you want to see her. I assume you are a friend of hers?” 

Is he? He is not a friend, but you cannot be alone, not here, not right now. Robin is probably trying to breathe while Steve is comforting her, but maybe… Eddie knows you probably don’t want to see them either. None of that group. So he gave the doctor a nod, and he slowly opened the door of the white room.

His eyes scanned it, and finally, they landed on you. Your arms were connected to an IV and a blood transfusion bag, the heart rate monitor beeping right next to you as your back rested against the pillows, letting you sit on the bed. You looked emotionless. Eyes empty. Hand on each side of your body and Eddie knew your mind, your feelings, were completely shut off. 

He gulped with nerves and the door closed behind him, making him wince, but it alarmed you that someone came into the room, making you look up. Your eyes twitched in surprise, yet if you were, you didn’t express it, nor show it. 

“I guess you’re the one that found me?” Your voice was empty, with no tone, as if it were a recording or an AI robot. Eddie slowly nodded as he took a few steps toward the chair that was on the other side of the bed. 

“Robin and I found you.” You gave a slow nod, looking back down to your lap. He didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know anything about you but he feels like he should have. He cleared his throat to continue talking. “I, uh, liked the necklace you got me. Pretty metal.” He winced at his words because it was something he shouldn’t have brought up at all.

Your eyes raised to meet his, another nod going towards his way, diverting your eyes back to your lap. He looked around for a second, the nerves all over his body. He was almost trembling with the need to talk to you, but what can he say? What could be something you want to hear right now? And coming from him?

“Ask away.” He startled at your voice, jumping on his seat as he looked at you once more.

“What?”

“I know you want to ask. And maybe you can also help me by telling the rest about it and how I am not going to talk to them again.” You were still not looking at him and he cleared his throat as he felt his mouth going dry, but now he knew you weren’t going to talk to the others about this. The relationship is already broken inside of you.

“I– Okay, um… I guess the first question is, why?” He slowly asked, afraid of even being able to talk to you about this, but sometimes they say that a stranger is the best listener, and maybe Eddie was just that.

“Why… Only child, homeschooled all my life so no interaction whatsoever with the world, absent mother, holidays and birthdays by myself, father was never found. Need to say more?”

And shit, Eddie was not expecting that at all. You had been miserable from the very beginning, unwanted by your own mother, and now he realized how horrible you must have felt with the whole group. Your first ever friends and they forgot every single detail of you. How you never spent a holiday with people, and was so excited you even baked cookies to share and bought presents for a gift exchange, your first ever most likely, only to never happen.

And now, he realized that… His other friends do not deserve any kind of pity, or forgiveness.

“Okay, then… Why were you scared of me?” At his question, your eyebrow raised up, and turned your head to look at him.

“Is that what you thought?” You asked with complete confusion in her tone. He looked at you with his own frown, tilting his head.

“Well yeah, you avoided me like the plague…” And you looked up at the ceiling, closing your eyes, and shaking your head with a sigh.

“No. I don’t trust people easily as you can see.” You looked down at your lap once again and he wanted to sigh a little bit in relief at that, knowing that his clothes or his whole demeanor didn’t actually scare her. She was just shy and probably nervous.

“Right… Um, Robin and Steve are here as well, do you want me to–”

“No. I don’t want to see them.” And your words spoke for your pain, and Eddie was not going to argue against it. They honestly didn’t deserve your forgiveness or kindness, that much he knew, but he also felt guilty. Really guilty.

“I– I am sorry… I didn’t invite you because I really thought you hated me– and I took everyone away, I didn’t know any of this, I am so sorry if I knew–”

“You weren’t the one who forgot. You don’t know me, but they did.” He gave you a nod in understanding, yet the guilt is still lingering in his stomach. He cleared his throat and he wanted to ease the tension for you, to relieve the somber moment that filled the room.

“So uh, you knew I liked Metallica huh? Is it because of the hundreds of shirts that I own?” Your eyebrow raised at him and you turned to face him while he gave you a cheeky smile of his own. You squinted slightly at him, but a small tug on the corner of your lips gave you away.

“Well yeah, all the times I’ve seen you it was either Metallica or Black Sabbath. It had to be one of the two.”

“What if I only liked their logos, huh?” At that, you rolled your eyes at him, but he kept making jokes at you, and a giggle here and there could be heard in the room. 

Robin and Steve were hearing the both of you outside your room. They looked at each other for a minute before hesitantly walking away. Robin turned her head at almost every step, wanting to barge into the room to hug you, to say she was sorry. But she knew it meant nothing, not anymore, and not ever again.

What she did, what they did, cannot be fixed.

Eddie was lounging with his headphones on as he listened to music while resting against a tree trunk. He was bobbing his head as he wrote some lyrics on the notebook he had over his leg. For the past three days, he hasn’t heard of you. He tried visiting you yesterday only to find out you were discharged and he felt too embarrassed to just go to your apartment.

He had also distanced himself from the group. It didn’t sit right to be with people who could easily forget about something so important like a birthday. You didn’t have any social media, so the least they could do is put the birthday in their own cell phones, like Eddie did as soon as he left the hospital.

It’s not like he didn’t talk to them, he just made excuses when they asked to hang out with him. He just couldn’t shake off the bad vibes from it all. 

He looked up from his lap only for his eyes to bulge out of his skull as he saw you almost prancing in happiness while walking through campus. That’s a good sign, isn’t it? He immediately put his notebook into his backpack and pulled his headphones down, resting them around his neck. He got up, almost tripping as he did so, as he rushed towards you.

“Hey! Hey!” He yelled at you to catch your attention as he got closer. You turned to face him, still with a wide smile on your face.

“Hi, Eddie.” You were smiling, that’s good, that’s really good. He was almost breathing heavily from the run he just did. He wasn’t athletic and the smoking surely doesn’t do him any good.

“Yeah– I just– give me a minute.” He huffed as he tried taking a deep breath in, and you giggled motioning to him to sit on a bench near the both of you. You sat down as soon as he plopped down, taking another huff of air as he turned his head to look at you. “So, what got you all smiley?”

“Well, I just dropped out of college!” You announced with a smile and jazz hands, startling Eddie completely. His face was contorted in confusion and wonder.

“What? Why? You didn’t like what you were studying?” You shook your head as you looked at the horizon, not anything in particular.

“It’s just pointless now.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m going to California in three months.” Your head turned to look at him still with a smile on your face. “I’ve been offered P.A.S.” 

He frowned, not knowing what those syllables meant at all. He tried putting them together in his head but nothing was coming up.

“What’s that?”

And Eddie didn’t know why you opened up to him with that. He didn’t know why he didn’t care that you did. He didn’t know why this relationship between the two of you evolved in this manner, as quickly as it did… but he never expected to hear the response you gave him.

“Physician Assisted Suicide.”

And now, Eddie knew that term, and his eyes bulged out of his skull. You were… offered that? How can that happen? You had no health issues to go through something like that, so why would you consider that? Why would the doctors even consider that for you? His heart was just hammering in his chest as dread invaded his gut.

“W-What? Why– how?” He was speechless, not really knowing what he was asking or what he wanted to know at this point. He felt his gut turning at the information like he couldn’t believe someone as young as yourself could even consider that way out. 

“Well, it was due to all my medical records, be it psychological and physical. My mindset never changed.” Your gaze turned from him to nothingness once more. “I go, get help, only to get out and for everything to be the same. It never changes, because it was never me who had to change.”

Eddie slowly blinked at your wording and his eyes drifted to the sky as his thoughts raced through his mind. Can he even talk you out of this? How can he even do that? You seem happy, way too happy with this solution… You were excited.

“You’re not… scared?”

“No. Not at all. I am ready to go. My heart can barely handle it anymore.” And Eddie’s eyes turned towards the profile of your face. You had made your decision clear, and he wouldn’t be able to stop you now. No one can. The group was no longer part of your life, your mother didn’t care about your decision so it seems… and he is no one to stop you.

“Alright… You– um, what are you gonna do until… you know, then?” He asked and you smiled at him, grabbing your backpack to take out your notebook, and flipping a page to show him a list, which made him frown in confusion.

“These are things I never tried because the opportunity never presented itself. Before, I didn’t know–” You cut your voice short at what you were about to say, and then you continued. “Now that I know when it’s gonna happen, I don’t want to go with any regrets.” 

Eddie looked at the list, and he couldn’t believe… how trivial some of these things were. 

- Go to an amusement park

- Smoke a cigarette

- Buy a Barbie Dreamhouse

- Eat a cake for breakfast

- Get high

And then he saw more complicated ones.

- Go skydiving

- Learn to drive (or attempt)

- Try to skateboard

- Ride on a jet ski

- Attempt to make a rainbow cake

And so many more. You had filled an entire page with things you wanted to do and he looked up at you to see you looking up at the sky with a smile on your lips.

“I think I should get the Barbie Dreamhouse first. Oh, maybe get some alcohol, I never got fully drunk, but maybe tonight I can since I don’t have to wake up early anymore–” And you went on with your plans and Eddie was just staring at you as the thoughts ran through his brain.

Everyone else was walking all around the two of you, and nobody knew that you were going to die in three months. No one knew you had made an entire bucket list with things to do before going. No one knew about this decision of yours, and he wasn’t going to let you be alone in this. He doesn’t want you to live these last few weeks with no one at your side.

“You know, or I can make one of your wishes on the list come true.” Your head snapped towards him with a surprised look on your face.

“Oh, what?” And a smirk formed on Eddie’s lips.

“Getting high.”

“Did you prepare the pan?”

“Uh…” 

“Eddie!”

He immediately rushed to grab onto the pan as he burst into giggles thanks to the weed in his system. The munchies came to life with you two after smoking a whole joint from Eddie’s stash. You had the open bag of pizza rolls in your hands, the oven already turned on as you waited for Eddie to put some oil spray on the pan.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just– I was stuck looking at the wall.” He simply replied to you, making you burst into laughter, trying not to let the pizza rolls fall to the ground. He followed you with chuckles as he sprayed the pan and handed it to you so you could throw the pizza rolls on it and then begin cooking them in the oven.

You were relaxed, that much Eddie knew, and he was smiling as you tip-toed in a dance towards your couch, plopping down. He followed soon after, sitting next to you. You giggled as you stared at the ceiling.

“I feel like I’m on a cloud.” Eddie stared at your profile for a while before he began talking once more.

“I wanna help.”

“Hmm?” You turned to face him still with a dopey smile on your face.

“I want to help you complete some things on your list.” 

And your smile fell as if becoming sober out of nowhere. Eddie then gulped but his resolution was already said and you moved uncomfortably in your place.

“You don’t have to pity me. I can do these–”

“No, you can’t. Learning to drive a car? How do you plan to do that?” At that, you opened and closed your mouth many times and then cleared your throat.

“An instructor!” Eddie rolled his eyes at that, and put his hand up, his fingers up.

“Getting drunk, you need supervision.” He put a finger down. “Going to a concert, you’re gonna get squashed.” He put another one down. “Playing Mortal Kombat, you need an enemy.” He put another and then you stopped him completely, shoving his hand down.

“Okay, okay, okay! I see your stupid point.” You sighed as you threw your head back against the headrest of the couch, looking at your ceiling. He knew you were overthinking it, but he honestly wanted to help you in any way he could. 

“C’mon, there are a few things in your list I am dying to try too. Like– Eating Argentinian food. I never tried that shit, I bet it’s fucking delicious.” You giggled at his expression and then nodded at him.

“Okay, fine. You can help. You will also help me bake that stupid rainbow cake I always wanted to try.” He laughed at that with a shake of his head.

“Another thing I never did in my life was bake. It’s gonna be a journey. Do you have insurance here? We might burn it all down.” At that you punched his shoulder lightly, causing him to laugh it out followed by your giggle. 

And what a journey it was gonna be.

“Seriously, YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO GET ME INTO THIS TOO!” Eddie almost screamed as he looked out the window of the helicopter with a frightened look on his face. Harnesses were all around his body, a man behind him strapping himself closer to Eddie’s back.

You were in front of him, holding your laughter as you held onto a handle on the side of the big machine that was now miles and miles above the ground. The helmets on both of your heads almost crushed your skulls but the protection was needed. Another man was strapping himself to you behind your back.

“Oh come on! You wanted to try new things!” You yelled at him so he could hear you over the loud sound of the helicopter.

“Yes! BUT NOT SKYDIVING! I WAS HAPPY TO WAIT FOR YOU WITH EARTH BENEATH MY FEET!” He yelled back and you were trying really hard to contain your laughter. Suddenly the big door next to the both of you slid open and the wind immediately pushed your body and Eddie’s back from the force but the guys remained still as they held onto the handles above the door.

“You guys ready!?” The one behind you asked and Eddie rolled his eyes behind the goggles.

“DO I HAVE A FUCKING CHOICE?”

“Nope.” The guy behind him said before jumping out with no warning, dragging Eddie with him, and then the guy strapped to you followed close behind. You were screaming your lungs out, and Eddie was shrieking. The adrenaline of falling was making him feel butterflies in his belly, almost making him feel sick.

He can hear you closer now and he raised his head to see you in front of him with your arms splayed out and reaching out for him. He could hear your laughter through your screaming and he reached out, fighting the strong wind, to finally lock his hands with yours as you two were freefalling towards the ground. 

He couldn’t help but smile and cheer out from how extreme the whole situation was. He didn’t know how you weren’t hungover, you had gotten yourself as drunk as possible yesterday night while dancing to his music. He showed you how to headbang properly, and he took care of you when you started letting the contents out in the toilet.

He held your hands as tightly as possible, your fingers intertwined with his, as you both yelled with excitement and fear as you plummeted down and down. You only separated when the men behind your backs tapped on your sides so they could pull the parachute open. 

Your bodies jerked as you started floating in the sky, and Eddie was left laughing as you both glided downwards towards the ground again. He could see the entire city and the fields as you both kept coming down. He turned his head to see you laughing as well, your head looking up at the sky in bliss and he felt his heart tug on him slightly. 

Once you two touched earth again, Eddie let the air out of his lungs with relief and the guy behind him unstrapped himself so Eddie could catch a proper breath, taking the goggles and helmet off. You followed a few seconds later, walking towards him with a smile on your face and taking your goggles off.

“It wasn’t so bad, was it?” You were breathing heavily and he scoffed at you with a shake of his head, flicking his fingers on your forehead.

“I won’t let you drag me into something like this ever again.” 

You laughed at him and you both walked back to Eddie’s van after you paid for the experience. You didn’t let Eddie pay at all, since you dragged him into it. He was going to invite you for dinner though, and you wanted McDonalds, so he was driving back towards town as you two talked in the van.

“So, you never told me about your parents.” You blurted out, catching him by surprise, but you were indeed right. He gripped his steering wheel a little tighter, but he kept a small smile on his face.

“Oh, where to begin? My mother died when I was young and my Father was… very abusive, and often dragged me into stealing with him. He got caught and he’s been in jail for a while now, he’s charged with robbery and homicide attempt.” He took a big gulp in as he kept driving, not used to letting people into his life in this way. “But, my uncle Wayne took me in at fifteen. He is the father figure my father failed to be.”

You were silent as you listened to him. He didn’t hear anything from you so he turned to face you, only to see you looking at him with tears running down your cheeks. He wondered what was going on in your head at that point. He was about to ask you what was wrong and you sniffled, wiping the tears away with the back of your hand.

“I’m– sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.” You said regretfully and he instantly shook his head.

“No, no… don’t worry. I’m past it.” He was worried about what you were thinking about at the moment since you remained silent for a while.

“I’m a little jealous to be honest… You had someone that…” And he waited for you to continue, but when you didn’t, he pressed forward.

“Someone that what?”

“Wanted you.”

And his heart broke at that, immediately so, and he knew his eyes started burning from the incoming tears and he shook his head to keep focused on driving. You didn’t need him to cry, you didn’t need that. 

But should he tell you what he thinks? Should he tell you what has been on his mind for the past month that he helped you tick things off your list?

“I–”

“Oh! Before I forget–” You looked through your purse, pulling out your phone as you started scrolling, and he frowned as he tried to look at what you were doing and then back at the road. You giggled and moved away so he couldn’t see. “No peeking!”

“Oh come on, you can’t just do that and not expect me to be anxious!” He laughed as he kept his gaze on the road and then he saw light in his peripheral vision and he looked quickly to see you were showing your phone to him. He switched from the road and to your phone but he couldn’t quite read it. “What’s that?”

“You know how one of the things was to go to a concert?” He nodded and you giggled, putting your phone down again. “I got us two tickets to go see Megadeth!” 

His jaw could just fall from his skull at this point as he tried to focus on driving and not the shock from those news. Did you say Megadeth? Are you serious? Eddie has been dying to see them live but when he got into the virtual line they got sold out in just a few seconds. 

“What?!” He yelled and you kicked your feet on your seat as you stared down at the phone. He was speechless, a smile spreading on his face, only for it to fall back down. “Wait, do you even LIKE Megadeth!?”

“Well, I haven’t heard much, BUT YOU LIKE THEM, and I assumed that we should go to a concert we both can enjoy. I doubt you want to go to a Taylor Swift concert.” You replied with a wiggle of your eyebrows only for him to scoff.

“Taylor Swift has some sick songs. But– Yes, I do prefer Megadeth sweetheart.” He smiled widely at you and then looked back at the road, cheering as he hit the steering wheel with excitement. “Fuck yeah!”

You were laughing on the passenger’s seat and Eddie was smiling all the while as realization started to dawn on him that… he may like something more than Megadeth’s music.

It was a special kind of tune.

“Seriously, how long are you gonna take darling, we had to go like yesterday!” Eddie yelled with a pissed-off tone as he paced in your living room. 

“It’s my first time wearing something like this, it needs to be perfect!” He heard you yell from the bathroom and he sighed, but a smile was splayed on his lips. He was looking out the window as he waited for you in his Megadeth tank top with a black leather jacket on top. He heard the bathroom click open and he sighed in relief, turning around with a roll of his eyes.

“Finally–” And his breath was knocked out of his lungs. Your hair was messy, completely batted, wearing heavy black makeup on your eyes, strong lipstick on your lips, a black top with a black long-sleeved fishnet shirt on top, and then black leather pants below. You gave him a twirl and wiggled your eyebrows at him.

“So!? I had to look at a tutorial on YouTube to get this done, but I think I did pretty good–”

“You look beautiful.” And it was natural. It came out without doubt, without him thinking too much about it, and you were shocked, yet, he noticed how you diverted your gaze away from him, and he chuckled at how embarrassed you got from a compliment regarding your physique. 

“I– uh, it isn’t weird?” You asked and Eddie knew you felt a little self-conscious of how different you looked. But you were indeed beautiful, this just enhanced it in ways he didn’t think could be possible and he felt his knees bending for you.

“It isn’t darling…” 

There was a moment of silence between the two of you and Eddie could only stare at you as he walked closer to your frame. He saw how your shoulders went up and down a littler harder than before, signaling him that you were taking deeper breaths, maybe from nervousness, he didn’t know.

“Um–”

“Sweetheart…” You finally looked at him and he smiled, rolling his eyes. “Can we please go now!?”

And you giggled at him, the tension leaving the both of you as you made your way out to head to his van. 

The ride to the stadium was filled with music, mostly Megadeth which you started listening to since you showed Eddie the tickets three weeks ago. Today signaled the second month of you two completing your bucket list.

One more month to go.

And the concert was filled with screams and laughter from your part, Eddie protecting you from the people pushing against you, but you didn’t care, experiencing your first concert ever, and you wanted to share it with him. This was your first and last concert, and you decided it was gonna be Megadeth, for his taste.

“That was AWESOME! My neck needs ice from all the headbanging though.” You sighed as you two got back into the van after almost three hours of jumping around. Your make up was smudged, your hair looked a little sweaty, and your lipstick had washed away from the sweat, yet, you looked as beautiful as you did hours ago. Even before the makeup. Maybe even more.

“Hey, you were great for your first metal concert.” You giggled at his words and gave him a nod.

“I am a natural.” You smiled at him and he just kept staring at you, licking his lips as he looked down and then moved his whole body in order to face you. The nerves were almost killing him as he tried to formulate the following words.

“I uh– I can help you cross another thing off your list.” You tilted your head in question and you pulled out your notebook from the bag you left in the van with your bucket list and then a green highlighter. 

“What is it?” You smiled at him as you handed them to him and he scanned the whole list, looking for that one thing and when he spotted it, he felt his heart in his throat as he slowly showed it to you, pointing at the line.

Have the first kiss

You blinked once, twice, and then looked up at him with a confused frown in your eyebrows. He gulped loudly and he might have overstepped it, but he still waited for your response and he could see the incoming tears in your eyes as he felt his hands becoming sweaty.

“You– You don’t have to do that… I– You don’t have to do something you don’t want to–”

“I want to. I really want to.” 

He could see that you were nervous, looking everywhere but his face. You didn’t reject him. You were worried that he didn’t want to do this and felt pressured because of your list, and that was far from the truth. 

“I– How does this go?” And he wanted to smile at your innocence, but he felt sadness that you never experienced any kind of physical interaction in all your life. But he smiled anyway, in order to calm your nerves down. He raised his hand towards your cheek once you moved to face him in the passenger seat. Your breathing hitched at his touch, finally looking at him, directly into his brown eyes.

“Just close your eyes. You can tell me to stop whenever, I won’t pressure you, sweetness.”

And his voice was soft, and caring, his thumb smoothing your cheek in circles and when he saw you close your eyes, he took a deep breath in as he slowly leaned in. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, the blood rushing to his head at a quick pace, but he had to focus. He knew his face was flushed, but he couldn’t help it.

He could smell your perfume still, despite all the jumping, all the sweat, it was still lingering on your body. He finally closed the gap between the two of you in a soft peck on the lips, staying there for two seconds before pulling away as a chill ran down his spine. He wanted to dive into it, take your lips completely, but he didn’t want to overstep. He opened his mouth to ask if you were okay, only to be surprised by your hands grasping his face, pulling him towards your mouth again.

He gasped into the kiss, and he took it as a sign that you wanted to know more, experience more, learn more. So he kissed back, his hand moving towards the back of your head in order to push you further into him as you two hovered over the console. He started to move his lips, slowly, and he felt you follow him, hesitant at first, maybe doubting what you were doing. 

He was having a hard time focusing on not letting his instincts take over, a very horrible time. This was a bad idea. This was a terrible fucking idea and he knew it, but he couldn’t help it. He needed to be the one to give this to you, because if someone else did… he wouldn’t be able to bear it. He didn’t want anyone close to you, not like this.

He felt your hands moving to the back of his head, your fingers digging into his curls, and he held a groan in, trying to not let it show how carnal he was becoming. He was nervous but he wanted to see if you wanted to take it even further, so he poked his tongue out, licking your bottom lip tentatively. 

He heard a gasp coming from you and he noticed that you didn’t get the idea of what he wanted to do, so he tried again, licking in between your bottom and top lip. You seemed to know what part comes next, so you slowly opened your mouth, and he met his tongue with yours, earning another gasp of surprise.

He wanted to know what thoughts were running in your mind right now as he kissed you. Did you feel the heat rising? Did you feel scared like he does? Did you feel happy? Confused? Nervous? What is going on in that head of yours?

He didn’t want to break it apart, he really didn’t, but it’s been minutes, and he didn’t want to overdo it at all, and he can’t hide his real feelings for much longer. He slowly pulled away from you, the smack of lips separating and vibrating all over the van. You two were breathing heavily as you stared into each other’s eyes.

“So? How was that for a first kiss?” He asked breathlessly and he could see something in your eyes that he couldn’t quite describe. It was a mixture of emotions, not one in particular, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. He was still holding onto your face, waiting on your response.

“It–” You opened your mouth to say something, only to shut it seconds after, and then a smirk appeared on your lips, pulling away from him to sit straight in the passenger seat. “I don’t know Munson, got nothing to compare it to.”

His mouth fell open, a laugh escaping his lips as he poked the side of your body, making a giggle escape your lips, flinching away from him as he kept poking you repeatedly. 

Yeah… your laugh was better than any song out there.

Five days.

Five days and you were leaving.

And it’s not like you were going to come back. You weren’t going to in any shape or form.

Eddie was lounging on your couch as you put things in cardboard boxes. Things you wanted to donate since you weren’t going to need them any longer. He closed his eyes tightly, his heart aching and wanting to stop you, to yell at you that you didn’t have to do this, not anymore. 

“Okay, I think I’m done for today. You sure you don’t want any of this?” You asked him and he felt as if a knife was stabbed into his throat. He wanted to cry like he had been doing alone at night whenever he went to bed. Sleepless nights were plagued by the thought of not seeing you anymore, of not being able to hug you, of not being able ever to cuddle you like he wanted. 

“Yeah, pretty sure.” He didn’t want to sound bitter or angry, but he couldn’t hide it. You didn’t acknowledge it of course, so you shrugged, closing the box and standing up from the floor before heading to your room. 

He stared at your open door, needing to hype himself up. If it’s not now, he won’t have the chance to do it again. He needs to kiss you once more, he needs to hold you close, he needs to show his feelings through actions.

So he stood up and slowly walked towards your room. You were cleaning up your closet, looking through your shirts. He watched you move through your room, and he looked over to your desk, seeing the almost completed bucket list. Some were just impossible to complete, like riding a kangaroo, but there was a particular one that he wanted to fulfill, and not because it was on the list.

If this was the only chance he could do it, he would take it. You noticed his presence when you turned around with a shirt on your hand and saw him looking at your notebook. You tilted your head to the side as his fingers trailed one particular line that was yet to be highlighted.

“Eds? What’s wrong?” Your voice held worry as you put the shirt back in the closet and Eddie turned his head up to look at you. He turned to close the door behind him, to face you again, taking a few steps forward to stand in front of you.

“I saw one more thing on the list… a thing I want too.” His voice was small, lacking confidence, filled with nerves, but he needed this. He needed you. He hoped he wasn’t getting this wrong, because ever since that kiss the two of you stole glances from one another, laughter as friends turned into flushed giggles. 

“And what is that?” You asked with a frown on your eyebrows, in question. He wrapped an arm around your waist, flushing your body to his, his breath most likely hitting your face as he felt your shoulders move even quicker than before, signaling him you were taking fast breaths.

“Do you trust me on this?” You stared up into his eyes for a full five seconds before slowly nodding at him. He lifted his other hand to cup your face in his palm, and he leaned down to take your lips with his. 

Electricity ran through his body, and he wanted to smile, he wanted to cry, he wanted to yell, he wanted to rip and break the walls, he needed to destroy something, he needed to hug someone, he needed comfort but he also needed the rage. 

Your arms wrapped around his shoulders, holding onto him as your lips moved together, soon tongues intertwining as the seconds passed, and your breathing turned jagged as you pulled away for some air. Eddie leaned down to kiss your jaw, startling you, to then move downwards towards your neck, planting soft kisses onto your skin.

A gasp escaped your lips at the sudden sensation, new, raw, and Eddie felt you shiver under his touch, but instead, you were gripping his shoulders in order to pull him closer as the hand that was on your waist started sneaking under the hem of your shirt so he could touch your skin. 

“Eddie…” It was a partial moan, but he took it as a green light, moving you towards the bed so he could lay you down but before he crawled on top of you he took the chance to take his jacket off, throwing it across the room, not caring where it landed. 

If this was going to be the only time to have you like this, he would make sure to make you feel like the most adored person in the world. He will make sure of it. Even as your moans filled the room, he couldn’t help but want to record them, knowing he won’t ever hear them again.

And that line was highlighted in green when you both woke up the next morning.

Make love

He didn’t want to look at you. 

He couldn’t.

The sun was shining through your curtains as you walked around the apartment with the small carry-on waiting for you at the front door. The past few days the two of you dipped into the sheets, all day, cooking when necessary only to return to bed. 

He really wanted to cry and yell, and he almost left in the middle of the night in order to not see this day. In order to just run away from the fact this was your last hour with him, and you had asked him to take you to the airport. He can ditch you, tell you he wasn’t going to do it, that you could get a cab. 

But he couldn’t do it. His heart was ripping out of his chest at every step you took in your apartment, the seconds ticking closer and closer to the departure of your plane. A plane with no return at all. A one way ticket. 

He looked around your apartment, and boxes of stuff that you wanted to donate surrounded him, as well as bags of your clothes. You told Eddie that he was the only one in your will. That fact broke him to the core, knowing that you were leaving everything to him, but the only thing he wanted was you, and you were going to leave him. 

He didn’t want your pans, your apartment, your cutlery, your game consoles, or TVs. He wanted you, and only you. He didn’t notice that his tears were falling down his face as the lump in his throat became bigger and harder to swallow at every gulp he tried to take. 

“Okay, I think I’m–” You stopped on your tracks when you saw his profile, noticing the tears, your eyes widening as you approached him, your hands cupping his cheeks for him to look at you. “What’s wrong?”

“You’re leaving me.” He wasn’t going to hold back his feelings anymore. He showed you through his actions, but he never said them out loud, and the least he can do is let you know this.

“What–”

“I love you.” Your eyes widened and your mouth hung open at his confession, but Eddie didn’t stop talking. “You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met, and fuck, you need to know how much I fucking want you.”

You were stunned into the ground and that’s when Eddie turned to look at you, only to see tears running down your face as you covered your mouth, taking steps away from him.

“You– You can’t say that to me, not now. Please– Please– not now.” You were choking into your sobs as he stood in front of you, coughing to be able to speak.

“I– I want you to stay… Please, don’t take that flight… I beg of you, please, stay with me…” His lip was trembling as he felt nausea fill his stomach, taking a few steps towards you as the crying finally was heard through the apartment.

“I– I don’t need your pity! I– I am happy I am doing this! You’re lying in order for me to stay, and I’m not going to buy it!” You yelled through your sobs, and Eddie felt his chest ripping open at your thoughts.

“I am not lying! I am in love with you! Why can’t you believe that!?” He was screaming now, trying to get his point across but you also didn’t back down, yelling back to him with the same confusion, with the same anger, with the same sadness.

“Because how can I trust that!? How can I trust you!?” And Eddie grabbed you onto your shoulders, squeezing you tightly in order for you to look at him and not run away. His eyes were on fire as he gazed at you through his tears.

“Trust me just like you trusted me to hold your hair back when you got too drunk and you were in the toilet! Trust me just like you trusted me to teach you how to drive! Trust me just like you trusted me to protect you in your first night club outing! Trust me just like you trusted me when I made love to you!” 

And the screaming ceased, eyes locked into one another’s, tears still streaming down, never stopping, heavy breathing trembling against every wall. You were shaking under his touch, your lips trembling as your hands shook on your sides while he still gripped onto your shoulders. You opened your mouth to talk once more, your voice small, broken.

“You… One day you will get tired of me, but you will feel bad for leaving me, so you won’t… I can’t– I can’t chain you like that–” Your voice was breaking his heart, even more than before, and he shook his hair desperately as he let go of your shoulders so he could grab your hands and hold them with his, getting closer to you.

“No, no… I won’t ever get tired of you… Not you, not in a million years…”

“Eds…”

“Please… Please don’t go… Please, trust me.” 

You sobbed a gulp of air and you raised in order to give him a soft kiss on the lips. His breathing hitched at it, but kissed you back, dread filling his core, every vein, every blood cell instantly freezing at what the future will hold, of what this kiss meant. You pulled away with a small smile on your face. Small, authentic, yet sad.

“I love you, Eddie… I’m sorry…”

And your flight took off that day.

“Mr. Munson…”

“Mr. Munson…”

“Mr. Munson!”

Eddie jolted in his seat as he put his wallet down to look up at his group of students. Gregory was raising his hand and Eddie pointed at him so he knew he was acknowledged.

“Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. What’s wrong Mr. Gill?” He asked and his student asked something about the textbook they were all reading. His college students. He began explaining the paragraph that seemed like a puzzle to students from the book “Down the Rabbit Hole”.

He graduated in Psychology three years ago. He was offered a job as a professor in the same college he graduated from, and he was more than happy to pass his knowledge to other students to help them understand how the brain works, and the many branches that can come out of it after every single situation in life. Traumatic or not.

Once his students went back to reading, he grabbed onto his wallet again, looking inside to see a picture of you and him, completing one of your bucket list’s objectives. 

Go to an amusement park and get pictures taken in a photo booth. 

He chuckled as he remembered that outing, how you had screamed at your first ride on a roller coaster.

He became friends with Steve once again but was still not fond of the rest of the group. The only reason he got close to Steve again was because he was also a teacher in the same college. He was a professor in physical trauma, so, in their breaks, they would smoke together as they walked through campus. 

The bell rang and it was time for him to finally head home after a long day of having four classes in the day. He grabbed his suitcase, hoping no student would stop him on his way out and gladly it never happened. His hair is still the same length, but he is always using a ponytail or a bun on his head. 

He has heard rumors that people always gossip about him, asking if he was single, or what was his life like outside college. He shrugged the comments away as they weren’t important at all. He just came to work and that’s it.

He got into his car, a black jeep he saved a year for in order to buy it. He missed the van, but he had to upgrade it once and for all. His van was a little old so replacement parts were a bitch to get. He turned on his car and then started his drive back to his home, a two-story house. It wasn’t big or luxurious, but it was his home.

He sighed in relief as he opened the door, throwing his suitcase on the couch after slamming the door closed. He cracked his neck a few times before taking his blazer off and then his tie, unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt and opening the cuffs at the end of the sleeves. He groaned with satisfaction as he sniffed the air.

He smiled as he walked towards his kitchen, leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, his teeth showing into a massive grin. 

“Hi baby.” You smiled widely at him as you took the pan out of the oven, filled with cookies that were freshly baked. He walked towards you, his hand stretching out in order to grab a cookie, only for it to get slapped away by you. “They’re hot!” 

“I am strong, I can handle a little bit of burning.” He grinned down at you, leaning down to give you a soft kiss on the lips in greeting. “Were my princesses hungry for cookies?”

“Are you talking to me or…” He chuckled at the pout on your face and he bent down to kiss the big bump on your belly, standing up straight later on, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you close to him.

“Those two are my princesses, you, my love, are my queen.” You rolled your eyes at his antics but you giggled either way. He gave you a smooch on the cheek, making you laugh, trying to push him away. He spotted something on the kitchen counter, pulling away from kissing you and getting the item in his hand.

“Oh! Yeah, Chrissy gifted that! She said–” Eddie laughed as he looked at you and then putting the two pink pacifiers that you can put flavored ice in so they can chew and help with the heat.

“Another gift!? Damn, she really wants to be the godmother of one of our princesses huh.” You pushed onto his shoulder with a pout on your bottom lip.

“Hey, she is going to be the best aunt.” Eddie nodded at that and he really wasn’t angry at Chrissy. You met her after you moved out of your apartment to go to Eddie’s. She was moving in at the same time you were, and you two helped each other in bringing the boxes in. 

Yes, your flight took off that day… Without you in it.

You stayed with him, wrapped in his arms as you cried, not being able to stop as your feelings confused you, scared you, your mind a jumbled mess but Eddie held you through it. Eddie wasn’t going to let you go, never, and he promised it, over and over again into your ear, hoping it stuck to your brain.

“Oh no baby, I don’t doubt that.” He smiled at you as you started taking the cookies off the tray, taking care of your hands so that you don’t burn yourself. Eddie just stared at you with adoration in his eyes, as if you held the entire world in your hand, and you did. You are his world. You are everything.

You turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow in question, wondering if he was scheming something that you didn’t know about.

“Now, what is going on in that mind of yours Munson?” He found it ironic that you can easily ask that question to him when he wanted to ask that to you many times before. He smiled at you, wrapping his arms around your waist from behind, his hands resting below your bump, holding onto it as he felt his two daughters moving inside of you.

“I just love you Mrs. Munson…” You turned your head to give him a soft kiss on the cheek, before focusing once again on the cookies.

“And I love you.”

After a moment of silence, he pressed a soft kiss on the side of your neck, surprising you, yet a giggle escaped your throat.

“Thank you.” That confused you, turning your head to look at him and he was already smiling fondly at you.

“For what?”

“For trusting me.”

The end.

a/n: this story explores the idea of death, the idea of being ready to receive it with open arms, with a rational head. But it also explores the fact that things get better if you meet the right people. It might not be now, it might not be tomorrow. It might take years for you to do so, and people in your life will come and go.

But there will always be that one person. And that is all you will ever need.

Taglist of people I mentioned this to: @littlesubbyflower @munson-blurbs @andvys

[juyeonszn]

PARTY O’CLOCK

PAIRING choi chanhee x f!reader

WORD COUNT 5.39k

GENRES fluff ﹒smut

WARNINGS 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT, mature language, tau beta zeta frat treasurer!chanhee, reader is a stereotypical party girl, she’s also an astronomy major, mentions of alcohol, i’m pretty sure everyone makes a cameo at some point, kevin moon playing matchmaker, we escalate a little fast so, intense making out, marking, vaginal fingering, brat tamer!chanhee, dom!chanhee, lowkey pussy job for like 1 second, nipple play? kinda?, unprotected sex, wall sex, missionary, multiple orgasms, creampie (yk… the usual), overstimulation

SUMMARY in spite of being a frat boy himself, chanhee could never actually see himself enjoying the luxuries of the title. besides, how could he with all the responsibilities of being treasurer? enter you and your carefree spirit and chanhee’s got a real big problem on his hands.

MORE … don’t yell at me PLEASE. i know this is 2 days overdue. I KNOW I KNOW. i’ve been so busy these past couple days and my time management is ass we already know this. BUT IM HERE AND SHES FINISHED AND ITS CHRISTMAS EVE SO??? 🙏🙏😍 anyways. i hope u guys enjoy i had a fun time writing this. i’m a firm believer in dom chanhee 😋 if u liked this pls don’t forget to reblog!

SERIES MASTERLIST

PERM TAGLIST @winterchimez @maessseongs @itsbeeble @zzoguri @deoboyznet @cloverdaisies @vernyangel @ericlvr

TAGLIST @millksea

“Who’s that?”

The question comes out before you can even stop it, eyes focused on a guy sitting on one of the couches in the living room, complete disinterest all over his face. He’s pretty. Prettier than any guy you’ve ever seen. But he also looks like he’d rather be anywhere else than at this party.

“Who?” Your friend Heejin asks, following your gaze.

She finds out pretty quickly, especially because of how intense your stare is. She racks her brain for his name, sure it’s somewhere in her catalog of the student body. Heejin was the kind of person who knew everyone even if she didn’t exactly know them personally. She was both sociable and obsessed with gossip, sticking her nose in the business of those around her.

“Ah! That’s Choi Chanhee,” she nods, index finger tapping her chin. “He’s the Tau Beta Zeta treasurer actually. That’s probably why he looks like he wants to kill himself. Dude doesn’t really want to be here, but fraternity brothers are required to attend every party.”

She’s right, it appears, when you see some of the members you do recognize make their way over to bother him. He definitely does not look like the fraternity type, but you guess it also makes sense in a way. Maybe he needed an extracurricular or something that would be nice on his resume.

It’s hard for you to enjoy yourself for the rest of the night, too concentrated on the treasurer who’s lips stay pressed into a frown the entire time. You try to take shots with Heejin, but your eyes gravitate back to the sofa. Ji Changmin and his girlfriend even convinced the two of you to play them in beer pong. (Worst mistake you’ve ever made. You sucked at beer pong.) You finally draw the line at a game of Rage Cage, when you strategically get placed between Lee Juyeon and Heejin, arguably the best drinkers at the function.

Everyone laughs at you when you take a step back and recall your decision to join. And just as you suspected, you end up back in the living room, right where you wanted. Chanhee hasn’t moved from his spot, occasionally taking sips of whatever he’s drinking and scrolling through his phone.

You remember when that was Jacob Bae’s thing to do, and then he went and got himself a girlfriend. Perhaps that’s what Chanhee needed to do. A girlfriend was a little bit of a stretch, but someone to help him loosen up at these things was plausible. Girls weren’t even trying to hit on him left and right like they usually did with the Tau Beta Zeta boys, which was even more surprising considering most of them had their own partners now. Desperation was an ugly look on the university female, you know.

Which is exactly why you don’t make any moves that night.

Initially, you think you’ll wait a week. You happen to see him on campus a few times. The first time is in the library studying with some headphones on, in his element. The second time is in the cafe on campus, again, doing coursework with the intention of being left alone. Then it’s when you’re leaving your Fundamentals of Astronomy lecture, walking to one of his own classes. In your head, you’re being tested, like a dog with a bone being dangled in front of its face. It’s tortuous, wanting to go up to him and introduce yourself, but you don’t do it.

Heejin “drags” you to another TBZ party the following Friday and you put extra effort into your outfit. You walk in with the hopes to sweep him off of his feet, strutting into the fraternity house with a confidence that throws you off. Just when you’re getting ready to walk up to him, Kim Sunwoo intercepts and you backtrack. That ruins any of the lingering self-assurance in your system. So you push things back another week.

The next time you plan on striking, you and Heejin had said you’d meet at the party since she had something to do prior. You arrive at around 11 PM, prepared to shoot your shot and score. The kitchen is the first place you go, concocting yourself a drink that doesn’t get you trashed, but provides enough liquid courage. Then Heejin texts that her project partners wanted to grab food and she wasn’t going to make it. The thought of being alone without moral support effectively kills your mood, so you only stay for another hour or so before leaving.

It’s annoying, really. Every single time you attempt to set your plan into motion, something has to interrupt and mess things up for you.

This is your dilemma for roughly every weekend for a whole month. By the time you know it, it’s midterm season and you’re too stressed out over exams to think about Choi Chanhee. Divine intervention was a crazy concept, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Maybe this was your sign to just call it quits and give up on your weird fantasy of being the girl who charmed him.

“Do you wanna go to the TBZ party Saturday? We can celebrate finishing these stupid fucking exams and just relax for another couple months before we have to worry about finals.” Heejin asks through a mouthful of instant ramyeon. You sigh.

“Sure, whatever.” Your lips purse, pushing around your own food. She raises an eyebrow, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

“What the hell happened to you? You were jumping for joy when it came to going to them all semester, but now that I want to get shitfaced, you don’t seem all that excited.” She puts her chopsticks down, narrowing her eyes at you from across the table. You shrug.

“I don’t know,” you rest your cheek on your palm, huffing. “I guess I’m not really in the party mood anymore.”

“Bullshit,” she scoffs. “You’re the girl everyone thinks of when they talk about the typical university party girl. There must be a reason you’re suddenly Miss Debbie Downer.”

You could just tell her the truth, tell her about your delusions and the need to be different. As your roommate and best friend, she wasn’t at liberty to judge you. But this was so unlike you, so you knew she would anyway. It was out of character for you to be this enthralled by a man, let alone a stranger you’ve never spoken a word to. In fact it’s even thrown you for a loop, this mental break giving you clarity about your recent actions.

“That time I asked you who Choi Chanhee was,” you start after some silence. “I thought about going up to him and finding out why he’s so uptight. I sorta wanted to be in a ‘not like other girls’ situation. But whenever I wanted to swoop in, something always interfered. And now I’m just over it.”

“Y/N. You cannot be serious,” Heejin gawks at you like you’ve grown a second head. “Chanhee’s very picky about the girls he talks to. I could probably name on a hand the ones who’ve successfully snuck their way into his pants. He has specific taste, too; pretty ones who know when to shut their mouths.”

Your jaw drops, because what the fuck? He’s not a raging virgin with that personality? No wonder there wasn’t a line of single ladies attempting to land in his bed. They all knew they didn’t stand a chance. It kind of encourages you to resume your mission. You were never one to back down from a challenge.

“In that case…” A mischievous glint sparkles in your eye.

“Good god,” she rolls her own. “I’m warning you now, I highly doubt this will end in your favor.”

“You know me, Heejin. I never take no for an answer.”

It’s the day before the party and you’re walking out of your last midterm exam, a new light in your eyes now that you’re somewhat free. You step into the quad with your arms stretched above your head, a yawn pushing through your lips. You were long overdue for a good nap.

“Y/N!”

You whip around to find Kevin Moon from your Music Appreciation class stalking towards you. Part of you wants to pretend you’d never heard him and keep walking, drained of energy after that Intro to Astrophysics exam you’d just taken. Your brain felt like mush at this point. But you were kind, and you would’ve just felt bad about ignoring him anyways.

Kevin catches up to you rather quickly, hands hidden inside of his hoodie pockets. He lets out a sigh, both of you watching the puff of air that forms in front of him. “You’re going to the party tomorrow right?”

“I am…” You furrow your eyebrows, narrowing your eyes skeptically just a bit. “Why?”

“I have a huge favor to ask you.” He clasps his hands together, as if he wasn’t above begging on his hands and knees. You’re confused even further, because what could Kevin Moon possibly want from you?

“Okay… What is it?” The suspicion in your tone is so strong, that there’s no doubt he hasn’t noticed it by now. He holds the heel of his palm to his forehead.

“So, I was supposed to go with my friend Chanhee to try out that new outer space themed coffee place just outside of campus later today, but I got put on alcohol duty and I won’t be able to. I know you’re an Astronomy major so I figured that was something you’d like. Do you think you could go in my place?” He bats his eyelashes at you, like doing puppy dog eyes will convince you. You stare at him blankly. He wants you to do what?!

Meeting Choi Chanhee before the party tomorrow was not in your itinerary. Usually you were decent at adapting to changes in your plans, but this? This was more than just something minor that you could acclimate to. You had to psych yourself for hours in order to execute something of this caliber. Was Kevin Moon trying to send you into cardiac arrest?

“W-Wh— I mean— well—” You fumble over your words— something you never do— and Kevin breaks into a wide grin. You’re not sure if the blush across your face is from the cold weather nipping at it, or the thought of being put between a rock and a hard place.

“Perfect! I owe you one! Meet him in like an hour.” He pats your back like you’re one of the homies, not giving you any room for refutation. You actually feel like throwing up. How were you supposed to just show up without qualms?

Did he really expect you to just do this out of the goodness of your heart? No complaints stacked up to be hurled in his direction? You’d known Kevin Moon since freshman year orientation, but you didn’t think you were close enough for him to throw his dirty work at you. You can’t help but stand there dumbly as he walks away, a pep in his step that nearly has tick marks forming on your temple.

Okay, you know what? This is fine. This was totally fine. All you had to do was sip on some coffee, make some small talk, and then you could be on your way. It wasn’t that hard… was it?

You could throw on an act, pretend like you were one of those pretty girls who knew when to shut their mouths just like Heejin said he was into. You could give him a false glimpse into who you were and he wouldn’t know what you were really thinking of doing. The you of tomorrow would be a complete 180° turn around from the you of today, and Choi Chanhee would be the one groveling at your feet.

As soon as you walk into the cafe, your throat feels narrow, like it was closing in on you. You’re not sure why you’re so nervous. It’s not like Chanhee knew you. He couldn’t possibly be aware of your existence, much less of your little fascination with him.

You see him sitting at a table for two, the straw of his drink trapped between his lips. He sips leisurely as he scrolls through his phone, likely waiting on Kevin since you’re sure he left his friend in the dark. You pick at a thread on your sweater as you stop in front of him, raising your hand in an awkward wave. Chanhee glances up, confusion in his features at first and then it morphs into something else.

A laugh has to be held back when he chokes on his drink, slapping a hand over his mouth. He stands up quickly, wiping his palms on his pants.

“Hi,” your voice is small, so far off from your usual boldness. “I’m Y/N. Kevin sent me.”

“Fucking Kevin,” he curses underneath his breath, forcing a smile. “Um, please sit.”

You take the seat across from him, eyes flickering around the coffee shop to absorb your surroundings. It’s pretty, the stars and planets painted all over the walls and ceilings. Even the drinks had celestial themed names. Your friend was right, you would love it here. It was right up your alley.

“I— uh— Kevin had texted me and told me what to order for him, but I’m assuming he meant for you, because he never told me you were uh— that you were coming.” He scratches the back of his neck as a server leaves a drink in front of you.

“He stopped me in the quad after my midterm and asked if I could fill in for him. Something came up apparently.” You explain, humming in appreciation when you taste your coffee. “He remembered that I was an Astronomy major and figured I was his best bet I guess.”

Chanhee purses his lips, it’s almost like he knows something you don’t. He nods slowly. “Yeah… I’m sure that’s why…”

The impromptu formal introduction between you goes on without a hitch. It goes so well, that the time flies faster than you’d hoped it would. You get a tiny peek into Choi Chanhee and his life as the TBZ fraternity treasurer, but it’s not enough to satiate that unbearable curiosity that pricks at you.

Thankfully, you have tomorrow to do exactly that.

Heejin and yourself arrive at the Tau Beta Zeta party that Saturday with a goal in mind; Getting Choi Chanhee into bed with you.

Okay. Maybe that wasn’t actually the main objective, but it was definitely a side quest. What you really wanted to do was get him to let his guard down. Like your friend said previously, you were the stereotypical party girl. Had there been a picture beside the term in a dictionary, your pretty little face would be there, a red solo cup in your hand and all. If he wound up being entranced by your womanly witchery, that was on him.

Just like your first go at wooing him, you decided to pull out all the stops. You’d worn your shortest, tightest fitting dress despite the weather not necessarily permitting it. It was a cute black strapless number that you paired with some long heeled boots and a warm fuzzy jacket. You looked hotter than the sun itself, and deep down you’d feel extremely disappointed if he wasn’t falling to his knees for you by the end of the night.

A sense of déjà vu washes over you the moment you step through the front door into the jam packed fraternity house. The bumping early 2000s music and the thrumming of the bass gave you an adrenaline rush like no other. Nothing could waver your confidence this roundabout. He wouldn’t even know what hit him.

Before you sink your claws into the treasurer, you need to grab yourself a drink. You and Heejin take a shot from one of the various liquor bottles on the counter, serving yourselves each a cup of whatever Jacob Bae threw together for the party. It was kind of funny that the resident bartender for these things wasn’t even a member of the frat. You and your friend cheers to the night ahead of you, manifesting that things go your way.

It’s rather easy to catch his eye even in the bustling crowd of drunk college students, glued in his usual spot on one of the living room sofas. His dark hair falls into his eyes when he glances down at his phone to check the time, almost as if he was counting down the hours, the minutes until this party was over. He brushes it out of his face with his index finger at the same time he raises his cup to his mouth, knocking back the contents with a slight wince.

He espies your presence immediately after that, raking your figure with an unrecognizable look in his gaze. Though you were shivering upon entering the house, your skin felt hot to the touch now, the burning intensity of his stare melting away any nerves that might’ve been lingering. You pull your jacket off of your shoulders, tossing it over your forearm as you snake through the bodies sardined between the two of you.

“Hi,” you greet once you’re in front of him. “I’m Y/N.”

His lips quirk upwards and he stands so you’re no longer peering down at him. In spite of meeting each other yesterday, he decides to play along. “I’m Chanhee.”

“Well, Chanhee,” you bite your acrylic nail, not bothering to hide the unabashed desire in your expression and drinking in his appearance like a glass of water. “I couldn’t help but notice you from across the room. You looked bored and I was wondering if I could change that. I know how to have a good time.”

Chanhee thinks it’s cute, the amount of effort you’re putting into this little charade. He doesn’t doubt that you knew of his reputation when it came to sleeping with girls. He knows he’s a bit conscientious when it comes to this sort of thing, but that’s only because he doesn’t want to deal with being seen as someone who’s ran-through. (For an example, please see (No) Strings Attached™.)

However, you were different. Chanhee thought you were cute from the very first time he saw you, which happened to be at a Tau Beta Zeta party last semester. He knew you were friends with Kevin, so maybe it was on him for the delay of your union, but he’d grown a little tired of always making the first move. He’s somewhat grateful that you were the type of girl who set her sights on something and never backed down from it. You were headstrong and that was exactly what had him hooked.

Nevertheless, it would be a bit of an issue. The only part of the rumors surrounding the treasurer that was true, was the part about him preferring his partners to be on the quieter side. There was something about them following his every demand, kneeling at his beck and call, that lit a fire underneath him. The mouthier they were, the less he enjoyed himself. But for some reason, he doesn’t think it’ll bother him as much with you. In fact, he thinks he’ll have fun putting you in your place.

“You know, Y/N,” he pushes your hair over your bare shoulder, letting his thumb graze your warm skin with a small but conniving grin. “I’m not too sure you’ll be able to cure this boredom that’s been plaguing me. It depends on what you have in mind.”

You might cry. A strained groan stays stuck in your throat, fighting to inch its way out of you. Fuck this stupid party. Fuck your stupid idea. You had a new mission. You needed him now and you needed him bad.

Your lips are on his in a matter of seconds, rushed and desperate. You don’t have the strength in you to act like you weren’t just about ready to combust. The curve of a smile can be felt through the kiss, his hands coming to rest on your waist and dig into the fabric of your dress. Had this been any other guy, any other day even, you would’ve freaked out over the PDA. Right now, though, you’re too lost in the moment, too absorbed in the high that kissing Choi Chanhee is providing.

His mouth travels along your jaw and neck, finally snapping you back to reality. With shaky breathing and a wavering voice, you step back from him. “Don’t you want— don’t we need some privacy?”

He laughs like he’s on the inside of a joke you’re unaware of. “Oh, so now you care about privacy? You didn’t when you were trying to seduce me ten minutes ago.”

Your cheeks flush impossibly more, cowering into the space where his shoulder meets his collarbone. All that confidence and for what? He really could not wait another second to see you crumble beneath him.

“Too shy for me to fuck you in front of all these people, sweetheart?” He asks in your ear, leaving a gentle kiss on the lobe as he does so.

You’re dizzy, so dizzy you might faint in the middle of this living room. Who would’ve known that such a pretty boy had such a filthy mouth on him? He knows he’s got you right where he wants you when you fist the material of his shirt, the vibrations of a whine on his neck. It’s kind of comical how little it took for you to crack.

He hauls you away to what you assume is his bedroom, fingers caressing the inside of your wrist. You think maybe he’s all talk, that he’s actually a big softie who couldn’t hurt a fly. The way he’s careful with his touch and making sure he doesn’t lose you as you weave through the other party attendees. At least, that’s what you thought.

But then he’s slamming his door shut and pinning you against it face first. His lips return to their prior position, sucking in the plush skin on your throat and your shoulders. You can feel him pressed into your lower back, hard and ready for you. He doesn’t seem to pay much attention to it, instead trailing his fingers down your front and sneaking under your dress.

He bunches it up around your hips, middle and ring digits circling your clit through the lace of your panties. Everything is escalating too quickly for you to comprehend. You whimper into the wood of the door, drool beginning to pool in your mouth. You’re so needy that you’re salivating over the prospects of what’s to come.

“Want more, Chanhee,” your words are muffled, but he understands you nonetheless.

“You want more?” He pouts, a false tone of sympathy in his voice. “Poor you, asking for something you can’t even handle.”

You squirm, raising your leg in an attempt to reach a different angle. The pads of his fingers apply an increased pressure on your clit, the friction caused by your underwear skyrocketing your heart rate. You know he can feel the pulse when his lips reconnect to that sensitive area just under your jaw. Your back arches, still craving and yearning for additional touch.

His fingers slip into the waistband of your thong, collecting your arousal and using it as a lubricant to glide through your folds. He thrusts two of them in and out of your entrance, the heel of his palm rubbing up against your clit. You moan, louder this time. His free hand shoves the top of your dress down, groping and kneading your bare breast. You wanted more, he’ll give you more.

You’re a whining, squirrely mess, humping his hand like a bitch in heat. It’s hilarious, really. The way you wanted him begging, but the tables seemed to have turned, flipping it the other way around. He ensures that he leaves his mark on you, biting your skin with the intent to bruise. He doesn’t care if you looked like you were attacked by a vicious animal. If Chanhee was anything, he was possessive, wanting everyone to know what was his and not to get near it lest they wanted to keep their lives. What better way to stake his claim than on your body, where anyone could see?

He senses that you’re close to your release, your walls clenching around his fingers and sucking them in further. Most people would’ve been generous, making your orgasm smooth sailing. But Choi Chanhee was not like most people. That much is obvious when he adds a third finger, restraining himself from groaning at the feeling of your cunt constricting and contracting. The stretch has your stomach tying in knots, each one growing tighter and tighter until they just about untangle altogether.

You cum with a guttural groan, nearly convulsing in his hold, but he keeps you pressed to the surface of the door. He doesn’t stop his motions, fingers curling and uncurling like he was reaching for something inside of you. You push your ass into his crotch, another whine escaping your lips when you feel his cock impressing into it. He bites his tongue to refrain from evoking a sound.

The poised nature of your regular personality makes a comeback, one of your hands cupping the side of his face. You pant as you speak, rasping slightly after all the moaning you just did. “Can you fuck me for real now?”

Chanhee forces your underwear down your legs roughly, kicking them out of the way once they hit the floor. “You’re such a goddamn brat. Nothing is ever enough for you is it?” You can hear rustling behind you, the unbuttoning of pants and the discarding of his shirt. And then you feel him. God, you might die. He’s flush between your lower lips, his teeth grazing your earlobe. “Gonna have to fuck you until you learn your place, don’t I?”

He squeezes your cheeks together with his thumb and forefinger, relishing in the adorable pout it forms. All you can do is nod, eyes fluttering shut when he finally slides inside of you. The weight of him sits heavy in your cunt, the singular drive of his hips causing your clit to bump into the door. It sends a rippled shockwave throughout your body, a voluminous moan breaching past your lips. Chanhee rests his forehead on your shoulder, staying still for a moment to gather himself.

It’s not long before he’s pistoning his cock into your pussy like a sword being sheathed and unsheathed. You claw at the wall as a means of grounding yourself, inconsistently paced cries and mewls of pleasure bouncing around the room. He hikes up your leg higher, palming at your tits so he can override your senses any way he can. You’re so lightheaded and tears have begun to spring at the corners of your eyes. It feels too good.

“O-Oh my god, you’re s-so— f-fuck Chanhee,” you babble, gasping for air as he continuously punches it out of you with every inch his cock buries into you.

He’s enjoying himself too much, loving how fucked out you look. He’s reduced you to an incoherent state of being. You curve your back a bit more for him, allowing the depth at which he slips in you to go further.

Unfortunately for you, it doesn’t take much to wind you back up to that summit from previously. You’re on the brink of your second orgasm, your chest heating up and your abdomen contracting. He doesn’t let up, pinching and thumbing at a peaked nipple to egg on your release. This one feels a lot stronger than the first, your knees nearly giving out on you.

“C’mon sweetheart, that’s it,” he coaxes, stroking your hair from your face.

Chanhee fucks you through it, allotting space for you to recover before he’s knocking you onto his bed. He removes your dress entirely and rubs up and down your thighs. The exhaustion is already beginning to settle in, but you realize that he hasn’t finished not once and you’d be hitting your third at this point. You’re overstimulated and your body aches all over, but you push through.

He finds your entrance again, pressing into your cunt with more ease. You whine, smushing your cheek into the mattress. Your toes curl and you fist at the sheets, eyes all but rolling to the back of your head where you see white spots and stars coating your vision. He grips your hips to hold you still, starting to rock back into your pussy with practiced aggression. He’s carnal with his movements, but it’s careful, almost like he doesn’t really want to hurt you.

“It’s too much—“ you interrupt yourself with a wail, the tears from earlier tracking along the sides of your face.

“I’ve fucked you stupid, haven’t I? Thought I was done with you?” He strains, folding over so he can kiss the skin of your collarbone and trail up to your mouth. His lips brush yours when he talks, teasing you as if he hadn’t already fucked you within an inch of your life. “Do you think I’m having fun yet?”

Your cunt sucks him in like a vacuum, your volume rising the closer you get to what you hope is your last orgasm of the night. What you needed was the best sleep ever after this. Your brain can barely form sentences, and you struggle to give him a proper response. “Y-Yes, Cha-Chanhee— oh god— s-so much fun,”

Your breath catches in your throat when that familiar sensation reappears. Chanhee is in his own world, focused on chasing his own release. His nails dig into the fat of your thighs, thrusts becoming deeper and slower. You reach between the two of you to swipe at your clit with your middle and ring fingers, the extra stimulation tipping you over that sweet edge.

Your orgasm crests upon you with so much intensity that you can’t even make a sound. If you do, it’s so far away from you that you don’t hear it. The uncontrollable fluttering of your walls sets Chanhee’s into action, his hips stuttering with a groan that doesn’t meet your ears. He fills you up with enough cum that it begins to spill out of you in spite of his cock still plugged inside your cunt. You both take a moment to recollect your bearings, chests clashing with each rise and fall from your breathing.

After what feels like forever, he pulls out and collapses on the bed beside you, the back of his hand thrown over his forehead.

“Holy shit— I mean— wow I really— I really didn’t think you were so…” You don’t finish your thought, head still stuck on the actions you’d committed prior.

“It’s always the quiet ones.” Chanhee shrugs, sighing dramatically.

“You are not quiet,” you turn your head to give him a pointed look. “But, I’m not complaining. I got my insides rearranged six ways to Sunday. Who’s the real winner here?”

“Me, actually,” he says, his thumb caressing your cheekbone. “I’ve had the longer crush.”

“Y-You— huh?!” Your eyes practically bulge out of your head, comically wide like a deer’s caught in headlights. He laughs at your expression.

“I’ve been wanting to make a move on you since last semester,” he admits. “But I was kinda… discouraged? I guess? I feel like I’m the one who puts in too much effort all the time, with everything that I do. I wanted to see if maybe someone would do the same for me. I’m just lucky that it worked out in my favor.”

Your bottom lip juts out and you flip over to peck the tip of his nose tenderly. “Choi Chanhee, you’re extremely lucky. I almost gave up on you, like, a couple days ago.”

Chanhee’s laughter grows and he kisses you softly. “Well, I’m glad that you didn’t. Now I can take you on a real date to that space cafe. Not one that Kevin forced on us.”

“I like the sound of that.” You smile, cuddling into his side.

© juyeonszn. do not steal, claim, or repost.

[genshin-scenarios]

Highschool AU (Sumeru)

Summary: Like the title suggests, here are some highschool routes with some of the Sumeru characters! These got a little long, but hope you guys will enjoy them nevertheless!

Characters: Cyno, Tighnari, Alhaitham, Dehya

He’s the resident ‘cool guy’ because of his personality and handsome features (if your classmates were to exaggerate and swoon, they’d say he has an aloof or calm charm to him).

Cyno is part of the student council’s patrol team (they just make their rounds to confirm nothing is going haywire in the school) - but on quieter days where you’re hanging out together, it’s not uncommon to see him stealing glances at a group playing his favorite card game.

Cyno’s aware that people tend to be intimidated by his presence, so he hesitates before you give him a supportive smile and loop elbows, dragging him there to help him join the fun. (Once he cracks a bad joke, everyone finally lowers their guards. They can tell just from the way he interacts with you that Cyno is a chill and good guy, so they invite him back to play again whenever he has time.)

Because of how he tends to attract attention, Cyno sometimes uses himself as a shield for you; if you’re feeling embarrassed or overwhelmed by attention (for whatever reason, be it coming into class midway late or teased for your mutual affections) - Cyno doesn’t hesitate to draw the attention back to himself to give you space to breathe.

He’s able to do it in such a lowkey way that people don’t suspect a thing, but one look towards you and you realize Cyno’s intentions. He sometimes drags Alhaitham down with him (picking a fight or randomly putting him on the spot), so it’s kind of amusing for himself too.

You once played the pocky game with Cyno in homeroom (urged by your classmates because of your obvious crushes on each other) and to your surprise Cyno turns towards you and asks if you’d like to (admittedly, he just kind of wanted to show that he was also interested in you)

–But after you got close enough to brush noses and he hears people rushing over to see what’s going on, Cyno backs off and grabs your hand, running out of the room to escape from your friends who’ve just arrived and are demanding he faces justice for doing such a thing to you (it’s all in good fun, Dehya and Tighnari are just annoyed that the one time Cyno makes a move, it’s one that’s going to make your short circuit really badly).

When you’re running away together (for both your sakes, the two of you are blushing like mad) - Cyno uses the hood of his jacket to cover his expression, trying to regain his train of thought. You finally find shelter in an empty classroom, where Cyno mistakes your flustered complexion as something medical: “Are you feeling alright? You’re feverish, maybe we should go to the nurse’s office.”

…Yeah, when it comes to matters of the heart, Cyno sometimes can be pretty daft because he’s worrying about your health or some other practical thing. Once you become more established though, you learn that he likes to end his goodbyes to you (after school or a date) by touching noses or foreheads. It’s definitely an endearing sign of support and trust, but you sometimes sneak in a kiss on his cheek just to see Cyno shy away in soft embarrassment.

The pretty person you noticed once, studying at the library. Tighnari generally keeps to himself, but smiles a lot more when he’s with the friends he’s comfortable with, or instructing those genuinely interested in the gardening club. He sometimes gets invited to the science club after school to help with some projects, but prefers to relax for his extracurriculars after a long day of school.

…Oh, during the summer break though, Tighnari gets involved with much more active stuff. (Volunteering at a forest reserve, somehow having an encounter with wild animals and saving one of his juniors from a flock of birds. No matter where he goes, Tighnari’s sharp mind and no-nonsense attitude can really save the day.)

During the new academic year though, you end up in the same class with him as deskmates. Consequently, you’re paired up for class activities more often than not, allowing you to learn more about Tighnari; you admired him before, but now that you’re up close it’s hard not to become enamored.

His smart mouth and willingness to reject people outright (RIP student council that’s been trying to recruit him, Cyno has to remind them that pestering won’t help) is a sharp contrast to how soft his gaze can be at times. Once, Tighnari spotted you stuck at campus because it was a rainy day, and he walked over to offer to share an umbrella with you.

Ever since you got close, he still teases you about needing a ‘friendship certificate’ or something to assure you he does enjoy your company: “Should I include clauses underneath? ‘Tighnari agrees that by signing this, your existence does NOT annoy him, and–” “Alright I get it! Put that pen away!”

Likes to walk you home and maybe visit a cafe or bookstore on the way. If you pass by a stray cat, Tighnari definitely stops for a moment to greet it, but he doesn’t normally try to pet them unless they’re obviously friendly. It’s still cute though, how you’d see him crouching just to appear less tall to the cat and quietly observe it.

Tighnari is surprisingly attentive to your emotions or when you need help; passing you stationary when you forgot yours before you can even ask, and giving you a smile and nod if your energy levels seem low.

One occasion he’ll take to his grave though is when you fell asleep at the library, and Tighnari put his blazer around you so you wouldn’t be cold - while brushing a strand of your hair away so it doesn’t tickle you awake, he catches himself staring at your lashes and just how serene you look while asleep.

When you wake up Tighnari is scrolling through his phone next to you. He glances over and asks if you slept well, saying there’s a cat cafe he saw on instagram earlier if you want to check it out. (Totally wasn’t scrolling through socmed earlier to calm himself down for admiring you).

Rivalry energy!! It doesn’t matter if you’re just competitive overall or just in one/two subjects you really love - you indirectly announced a war on Alhaitham after being inspired/annoyed (depends on you) by his matter-of-fact way of living. It’s not really intentional on his part, Alhaitham kind of just speaks so smartly that it becomes provoking to people like you and Kaveh.

One day you join forces though! After the student council put forward a plan for the school festival, the head-teachers vetoed it and asked them to draw up a more ‘serious’ one, because so far the plan seemed to lack focus on showing off the school’s academics compared to just being a fun festival.

Suffice to say, none of the student body took that without a fight. After much protest and debates with the teachers, Alhaitham finally took it upon himself to draw up a scheme to work around their requirements, when in reality it’s actually the original festival everyone wanted. (He prepared countermeasures for when you guys get caught)

He says he’s just doing this because he’s tired of everyone coming up to him (the student council’s secretary) with ideas of how to overthrow the teachers. Though no matter what Alhaitham’s own intentions are, it’s true that everyone’s touched that he hatched such a convoluted plan for your sakes.

Throughout this arc you definitely got a lot closer to him, seeing as you volunteered to help put his plan into action. A bit of your rivalry is still evident in meaningless arguments, but it changes from you being infuriated to quietly smiling and shaking your head after you part with him.

Unbeknownst to you, Alhaitham has grown used to your company. Sometimes he even sends people away and asks them to have you relay info to him instead, because you know how to get to the important bits (eventually you just become known as the person to find if anyone is looking for Alhaitham.)

Your ‘fights’ extend to the point of beefing outside of school, which is just a roundabout way to say that the excuses for your ‘not-dates’ are to challenge one-another’s tastes and competency (movie tastes, skill in the arcade, dinner… because you’re proper hosts with manners, yep.)

It’s unspoken knowledge that the both of you are together, though your friends (Alhaitham’s in particular) get exasperated when you’re not even hiding it anymore, but still never publicly made things official; even when you post a picture of yourselves on a ferris wheel ride with a beautiful night view, sitting much closer to one-another than you would’ve months ago, you’d just shrug and give them a playful smile when they ask how it’s going with Alhaitham.

Okay, so maybe you’ve turned a bit insufferable after getting close to him - but that’s just how it is, right? Couples adopting the traits of the other person? It just goes to show how comfortable you are now.

Literally every sports club in your school is trying to recruit Dehya to their team. She’s nothing if not practical though, and is only officially in one that she dedicates her time to.

You stay behind to watch her practices and walk home with her! Ever supportive, Dehya was surprised you were serious after mentioning you’d like to do that. These days it doesn’t take more than a few glances around to find you helping out their manager as you wait.

Dehya is popular (she’s cool and sporty, everyone respects her strength), but it’s really her warm and down-to-earth nature that won you over as you slowly became friends. In turn, Dehya likes how genuine you are when it comes to supporting her in the things she does - maybe it’s that pretty smile or sparkle in your eyes when you look at her? She can’t bring herself to look away.

Similarly, she loves it when you ramble on and on about your interests. Even if she isn’t personally as passionate about them, she likes seeing you so lively when it comes to something you love. You’re each other’s rock, and that’s never been truer than the time you were going through a rough/stressful patch, and Dehya was right there by your side.

Everytime you bring it up and dramatically call her your hero, Dehya tries not to get embarrassed at the title and just tells you to treat her to lunch if you’re so thankful - well, that or if you’re expressing your thanks in a quiet moment, she just smiles her usual smile and clasps you on the shoulder, saying she’d do it again ten times over if it means you’ll come out of it alive.

Dehya is a realistic person, both in terms of her personal expectations and looking after those around her. She’ll notice if you haven’t been smiling as much in a while, and whenever you look after her in the same way she feels caught off-guard that you paid that much attention to her, but is grateful nonetheless. (“How could I say no to that? Sure, I’ll smile for you - just the thought that you noticed is enough to make me feel better.”)

Once you were in the same team for a relay race during sports day, and after your team won Dehya doesn’t stop running, instead turning around so that she can pick you up in a celebratory hug. No matter how many times she’s proven she can carry you, it still makes your heart skip when she sweeps you off your feet.

Bike rides with Dehya through the city!! She has a license and was worried about your safety at first, but after you showed that you really enjoyed it and asked if you could do this together again, she can’t bring it in herself to deny you. Just don’t do something over-the-top like buy a bouquet to greet her, alright? She doesn’t know how to react to that sort of thing - though if the darkening blush on her cheeks is any indication, Dehya isn’t too opposed to your gestures of affection either.

“See? The flower in your hair brings out the color of your eyes!” If not you, who else would Dehya fall head over heels for?

[jvngkook97]

The Final Countdown

pairing; non-idol!kim seokjin, student!kim seokjin x non-idol!reader, student!reader ft. ot7

genre; angst, fluff, s2l, college au, soulmate au

warnings; cursing, jealousy, a lot of college stereotyping, jin is a nerdy fuckboy in this one, but taehyung is worse, reader is very blunt and has no filter, has moments of narcissism, all the boys will make an appearance at some point and interact with reader in…various ways, some flirty, some not

rating; 18+

w/c; 7,125 oops they just keep getting longer

a/n; it’s been awhile since jin has seen some love, so let’s give him some, yeah? having fun with these soulmate au’s, not gonna lie! hope y’all like this one just as much as the others! like + reblog if you enjoyed, and feedback is always appreciated. <3 ps. this wasn't proofread and done through mobile so be kind pls + ty

soulmate au masterlist ~ coming soon!

Kim Seokjin. Certified campus playboy extraordinaire. Known to woo his fellow classmates not only with his good looks, but also his quick wit. His style always stayed on trend. He kept good repertoire with all his teachers, especially with the Dean. He did a lot of community work to add to his stellar college résumé, keeping up his 4.0 GPA despite his nightly and weekend activities with his frat boys, BTS, as they called themselves. No one knew what it stood for. They always seemed to travel in a group, or pairs. Rarely ever were they seen alone other than when partaking in their daily classes.

Kim Namjoon was the right hand man of the playboy, known to have a good head on his shoulders despite his choice of company. He also made sure to keep up with studies and extracurricular activities alike. Always there to bail out his best friend in times of need, and was actually good at keeping decent conversation. Unlike some of the other group members, he was the most pleasant one of the seven. Very respectful towards women, so you’ll have to give him a great mark for that fact.

Keeping up with the Kim’s, there’s Kim Taehyung. He was known as the ‘grandpa’ of the group. His clothes mainly consisted of sweater vests, corduroy pants, and shiny dress shoes. His signature was his various style hats he wore. From Fedora’s, Derby hats, Bowler hats, Newsboy hats, you name it, he’s probably worn it. With his suave charm to match, he always has some girl on his arm. Definitely one to watch out for, despite his nickname.

Jung Hoseok was the labeled ‘sunshine’ of the group. Always sporting a sparkling, white smile on his face whenever you see him. Majority of the time you would hear his loud voice, before seeing his figure literally skipping over to you. He was always on the move it seemed, being a lover of dancing. He always had headphones secured around his neck, when they weren’t positioned on his head. Wearing extremely vibrant colored clothes, it was easy to spot him from a mile away. He was the life of the party, and flirty to boot. If he beckons you with a pick up line that’s ready to fall from his lips at a moments notice, you better beware, cause that meant you were in his line of sight and he always gets what he wants.

Park Jimin shared the same sentiments as his fellow dancer, Hoseok, when it came to dancing. But other than that, they were the complete opposite. He didn’t wear vibrant clothes, but he wore a lot of designer. His grades were average, passable. Which is all he cared about when it came to doing homework. Though, if we’re being honest, a lot of the time it was someone else doing it for him. His charm knew no bounds when it came to the freshmen girls who were oblivious to his underlying motives of sudden attention towards them. But worry you not, he never slept with any of them. He had higher morals than that.

Min Yoongi was the ‘quiet’ one of the group. Like Hoseok, his own pair of headphones were basically attached to his body in some form. Everyone knew that if they were over his ears, you had no chance of getting his attention. So don’t even try. Opting to keep to himself, it was rare to see him in conversation with anyone other than his teachers when needed and his fellow group members. But he had high marks in all his classes, so not even the teachers bothered the reserved student too often. There was even a rumor going around that he must not have any teeth, cause he never smiled. Always wearing the same blank expression on his face, no matter the mood or atmosphere that hung around him.

And last, but not least, was Jeon Jungkook. He was labeled the ‘bad boy’ of the group. Piercings and tattoos alike could be seen on various parts of his pale skin. He always wore his signature leather jacket, never letting it out of his sight on the rare occasion that he took it off. Other than his jacket, his outfit always consisted of his shiny, platform, combat boots and various clothes only in the colors black and white. He carried an aura around him that was intimidating to those that didn’t know the male’s true nature. Which you would soon find out was the complete opposite of what everyone pictured him as, much to your amusement. Oh, and he had the literal voice of an angel.

So there they were, the OT7, as fans of the group called them. The ‘one true seven’. How did you get to know so much about them, and more importantly, why? Well, fortunately for you, it’s because you were assigned to the group to be a mentor of some sort, due to your higher marks and pristine reputation that even surpassed Kim Seokjin’s. Him being none the wiser, still believing that he was the best in his class or of the school itself. The Dean himself appointed you to the position in discretion, his secretary being the one to fill you in on each member, unbeknownst to the seven men. The only catch being, they could never find out what your true intentions were. So it’s like you were undercover. A spy, you thought with glee.

The mission? To survey and get close to Kim Seokjin specifically, and see if he’s truly worthy of receiving the same full ride scholarship that you are to a company only two students get accepted to every four years. Both his dream company, and yours. Luckily, that four years is during your shared senior year. The information you received of his group of friends was solely to help you get close to Seokjin through them. All becoming extremely valuable assets to your cause.

And what the Dean didn’t know, was that you had your own motives. Glancing down at the invisible counter on your wrist that only you could see, you saw the numbers decreasing rapidly. It made your once giddy smile fall flat from your face in humbling realization. You needed to find your soulmate, and you needed to find them, now. Before it was too late and both you and your soulmate would cease to exist, or in other words, you would die. And you couldn’t tell a single soul, which means neither could your soulmate. So no one could help you, but yourself. How fitting. And equally as cruel.

Thankfully, the universe had other plans for you. One being, you were able to receive one hint as to where your soulmate was located. But that one hint could only be revealed when you had 48hrs remaining on your time left. Which is exactly what you had left, give or take a few hours less. And the hint you received?

It wasn’t BTS, it wasn’t OT7, it was just Kim.

That’s all you had to go off, literally. The only way to find out if they truly were your soulmate? A kiss. A fucking kiss. Getting past the fact that it’s so cliche it physically makes your body cringe, you now had to potentially kiss three different guys who shared the same family name. And you weren’t the type of person to just go up to a random guy you never met and kiss them. That’s insane!

With no time to lose, you collected the pile of Manila envelopes that were on the Dean’s desk. Carrying the various confidential intel in your arms, you bowed to them respectfully, and made your way out of the office.

It was time to get to work.

——————————————————————

Your first victim? Kim Namjoon. The one that could hold a decent conversation and was respectful towards women. And with your luck? Hopefully he would be the only one you needed to kiss. Plus, having someone like him wouldn’t be so terrible as a soulmate. He could fit well with your ideals and future plans, you thought with a subtle nod of your head as you approached the unsuspecting male.

He was lost in his own world, reading a book on a bench that was shaded by the tall, full, tree that was located a few feet behind the bench. His legs were crossed, one hand holding the book open in front of his face that adorned his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose and the other was casually leaning against the back of the bench. Your little bookworm heart swooned at the sight before you.

Looking down at your book of choice, ‘The Great Gatsby’, a classic, you walked towards the other side of the bench that was unoccupied and sat down. Sliding down your own reading glasses on the bridge of your nose that were haphazardly just resting on the top of your head previously, you pretended to start reading. And you waited.

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.’”

Grinning to yourself inwardly, your assumptions were correct. The male next to you took the bait you unknowingly dangled in front of him, and couldn’t help but quote the book you were currently ‘reading’. Perfect. Not the quote you would’ve personally went for, but it still works. Now, to turn on the oblivious charm, you thought rather maniacally.

“Excuse me? What was that?” You asked the male next to you with feigned confusion and just a hint of mock anger, making him believe that you thought he was judging you. He couldn’t help but find your expression cute. And your literature of choice made him all the more curious about you. He wanted to find out more.

“I was uh–I was quoting your,” he gestured with the hand that was settled a hair width away on the back of the bench from your shoulder, hand dangling from his wrist, he twisted it, pointing towards your book. “–book. I hope you didn’t think I was judging you.” his eyes went wide with sudden terror. Oh shit. You didn’t think that did you? Now becoming flustered, he tried backtracking his previous, seemingly rude, statement.

“I hope she'll be a fool–that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” You quoted perfectly to the still visibly semi panicking male next to you, deciding to end his torment. Placing a hand over your mouth, you let out a small laugh. You think he had enough for the day.

His panicked face turned into one of relief, body sagging as he let his head fall into the middle of his opened book. Shoulders shaking lightly as he let out a chuckle of his own. Straightening himself up, he doggy eared the page he was reading to mark his place. Shutting the book with a satisfying sound only true bookworms would enjoy.

Turning his body to face you, he let out a dimpled grin. Moving the arm that once rested on the bench, he held out his hand towards you to shake and gave you the luxury of his full name. You returned the sentiment in kind.

“Nice too meet you, y/n. Hopefully, we can see more of each other in the future?” He not so subtly suggested, still wearing the same dimpled grin. How could you say no to that face?

——————————————————————

Having secured a contact with Namjoon during your first successful mission yesterday, where you put your phone number in his phone. You used reverse psychology on him that put the ball solely in his court if he wanted to see you again. He will, you thought confidently. And you know for a fact that they’re having a party tonight he can use as an excuse to hang out with you. Perfecting timing, considering you now have less than 24hrs to find your soulmate, no big deal.

He then calls, or texts. You’ll act like you can’t make it on the facade of having plans with a friend. Then you’ll give false hope that maybe you can, if so and so cancels on you, which they just so happen to randomly get sick out of nowhere. And BOOM. You show up in all your glory, surprising him at the party.

Which is where you were currently at, now.

Your plan working to a T.

With several bodies gyrating next to each other in the cramped house the party was located, your eyes catch sight of your next eligible bachelor, Kim Taehyung. He was leaning with his back against the wall, a random girl you’ve never seen before already pushing her boobs shamelessly into the side of his arm. You could tell he was both aroused, yet unamused at the girl’s antics. He was probably used to girls throwing themselves on him. You were about to change that fact.

Maneuvering your way through the crowd, you hiked up your already short school girl style skirt, showing more of your thighs, leaving what was almost visible to the imagination of wandering eyes. Thigh length, white, long socks encompassed your legs. Feet were clad in your black, red bottom, stilettos. Contrary to your skirt, your boobs were safely tucked away, yet still perky and full, beneath the straining buttons of your white button up, long sleeved blouse. A beige colored sweater vest was worn on top of the long sleeved blouse. And a perfectly placed, black ribbon, was tied neatly in the middle of the vest. You were the epitome of every guys sinful, school girl uniform wearing, wet dreams.

A look that caught Taehyung’s attention the instant you walked right past him, and outside into the almost semi-fresh air, if it wasn’t for the smokers that littered the backyard in groups. If only there was a designated smoking section, you thought bitterly. Not that you weren’t whole pro ‘your body, your choice’. No, you were. And some of the best people you knew chose to smoke, you just hated the putrid smell they emitted once burned. Turning slightly to make your way to the various alcoholic drinks that lay neatly spaced out by type on a large table, courtesy of Namjoon, you have no doubt, him being the perfectionist that he is, you glanced sideways. Sure enough, you could see that he was following you. Success. God, you were good.

Mixing yourself a random concoction of the various alcoholic beverages supplied, you placed the red solo cup to your lips, and taking a swig, you yet again waited. Sure enough, only a few moments later, he sidled up next to you at the table and poured his own choice of drink, whiskey. It suited him, you thought. As soon as he was about to open his mouth and address you, a voice could be heard calling out your name from behind you. Ah, two birds with one stone, you inwardly smirked at your luck. You immediately turned towards the voice, completely ignoring the presence of Taehyung next to you.

“Hey, y/n! Glad to see you made it!” Namjoon gracefully walked up to you, his dimpled grin on full display, one you never got tired of seeing. A smile could be seen on your face as well as you looked at the welcomed intruder.

“Joonie!” You replied with the unsuspecting pet name, hoping it would make the male behind you jealous. Your own smile on full display, only growing wider, upon further realizing a second body appear from behind his figure, flanking him. Jeon Jungkook. Seriously, how good was your luck right now? You should get a lottery ticket!

Mildly amused by the pet name, he laughed. Then proceeded to engulf you in a hug, where you realized just how tall the guy was. Your head barely making it a little below his chest, where his abs surely were. Returning the hug just as enthusiastically, you both pulled away from each other. In that split second, you saw how his eyes traveled down your body, checking you out. He gave another grin of approval, but didn’t outwardly say why he smiled. But you knew. Oh, you knew.

Introducing you to his shadow, who you already knew the name of, you feigned ignorance.

“This is Jungkook, or JK, as we like to call him.” He pointed behind him, where Jungkook still stood, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else but this party. That’s something you two could agree on. Surprisingly, he gave you a small smile in greeting, nodding his head at you.

You gave a polite smile back. Glimpsing at his outfit, you saw a small, barely noticeable charm stick out from the black of his leather jacket, what with it being the same color. It was a symbol you only ever saw within the confines of your dorm room, where you played your music loud in your ears so as not to wake your neighbors. So it made no sense why you saw it displayed on Jungkook’s beloved jacket of all places. But, you figured you could use it as a talking point to get the guy to open up to you more.

Stepping to the side of Namjoon, you leaned forward towards Jungkook, making him eye you warily, wondering what the heck you were doing. Namjoon turned his body sideways to watch you himself, curious. And Taehyung just took the divine opportunity to stare at your ass cheeks that were now out in view for him to admire due to you bending over the perfect amount to stare at Jungkook. Much to his disdain, Namjoon noticed him doing so and smacked the pervert upside the back of his head, glaring at him. Taehyung just gave a shrug of his shoulders and gestured to your ass in a silent way of saying ‘well what do you expect, it’s right there’.

Squinting at the upside down font of the artist in question, you had to make sure you were correct before continuing with your plan. You were right. Straightening yourself back up you gave Jungkook a smile.

“I like your charm.” You stated casually. His eyes narrowed in confusion for a second, before widening in disbelief. No one has ever acknowledged the charm on his jacket before. He was starting to like you now, even though you were acting weird just a second ago. He’d look past it though for a fellow Ariana Grande fan.

The comment made Namjoon smile knowingly, and Taehyung scoff from behind his red solo cup he was currently drinking out of. Swirling the cup of whiskey in his hand, he decided to finally join in on the conversation.

“Don’t tell me you’re also a fan of hers? That’s sorely disappointing.” He sighed in disdain, looking at you with half lidded eyes, clearly feeling the effects of his choice of drink already. A lightweight, you thought in amusement. You expected a guy like him to handle his liquor better.

Jungkook was about to speak up in the singer’s defense, like the black knight he is. Much to everyone’s surprise, including his, it was your voice that spoke up before he could. Yeah, he definitely liked you now. Especially after the jab you sent at Taehyung that had him keeling over with laughter that was a rare sight to see. Namjoon joining him in the raucous laughter, gaining the attention of the rest of group members, making them start to walk over to your group.

“Now I get why they call you grandpa!” You snapped your fingers, proceeding to point at Taehyung with your pointer finger, widening your eyes in mock shock. “Cause you nag like one, grandpa.” You emphasized on his nickname, crossing your arms over your chest and popping your hip out to the side in a sassy pose.

You expected Taehyung to get upset and stomp off in hysterics. Not what he did next. Sauntering over to you, unphased, he leaned extremely close to your face. Getting dangerously near your slightly parted lips, he then pivoted towards the side of your ear at the last second. He sultry whispered in your ear something that had you letting out a quiet gasp only he could hear. Your arms tightened underneath your breasts, pushing them up subconsciously into his chest. The cocky bastard smirked knowingly at you.

“That’s not the only reason they call me grandpa, y/n. It’s also because with age, comes experience. And I have tons of experience I wouldn’t mind showing you, all you have to do is ask. I’d love the opportunity to slide your purple thong you’re wearing down those beautiful legs of yours.”

With a kiss on your cheek, he clinked his red solo cup with yours. Taking a swig of his drink, he walked off into the crowd of party goers.

“Sorry about Taehyung, y/n. He means well, just has a funny way of showing it.” Namjoon came to his friend’s defense, as he stared at your still turned back.

“That, and he’s just a cocky asshole.” Jungkook chimed in after him. That one, you could agree with. Just as you were about to turn and face the two, yet another unexpected guest made themselves known. And not the good kind.

Apparently, you pissed off the girl from earlier that was shoving her boobs into his arm. Having witnessed your interaction with him, she probably thought that Taehyung had a genuine interest in you, which, she would be sorely mistaken, you’re sure. She strutted up to you, attempting to look intimidating. Your eyebrows raising to your hairline, you went to ask her what her problem was when she suddenly threw her drink on you, successfully getting your entire top soaked through with what smelled like straight Vodka, unfortunately. What a waste.

“Stay away from my man, you slut.” She sneered at you with her average looking face, you’ll admit. Not even giving you time to reply back, she wandered off in the direction she saw Taehyung go before her little act of vengeance.

Some party goers stopped to watch the show, but most just ignored it completely. They’re probably used to shit like this happening on a daily basis when it comes to these parties.

Without thinking, you grabbed the hem of your sweater vest and pulled it off and over your head, before turning around to face the boys again. With a look of disgust on your face, you flung the soaked material on the beach chair next to you as you spoke your thoughts out loud. You’d collect it later when it hopefully dried up.

“Who the hell just drinks straight up vodka?” All you got in return was silence, which made you confused, so you asked.

“What? What’s wrong?” You asked oblivious to your now see through attire. Forgetting you only wore a long sleeved white blouse underneath your sweater vest. The only thought on your mind being to get out of what clothes you could that made your nostrils flare in disgust, and stomach turn from the onslaught of strong alcohol.

Jungkook wordlessly shrugged off his prized leather jacket, and walked towards you. He shuffled the jacket over your shoulders, gesturing for you to put your arms through the holes, which you complied just as wordlessly. He then proceeded to zip up the jacket with his tattoo clad hand, once again taking a step back from you and giving you your space, but still close enough to hear him whisper his reasoning to you.

“Your shirt turned see through when she threw her drink on you, and you took your vest off, so–,” he awkwardly raised one tattooed hand and gestured to his jacket. “You needed it more than I did.”

When you say that your heart just about burst from the warmth of his heartwarming action–

Not thinking clearly, you threw your arms around the so called ‘bad boy’ and gave him a gentle, but firm hug in thanks. He returned the hug politely, awkwardly patting your back. You could tell he wasn’t used to affection from the opposite sex. It was endearing. Who said chivalry was dead? A voice cut through your your moment with JK. One you’ve been waiting to hear all night. The last Kim on your list, Kim Seokjin.

“Does our JK finally have a girlfriend?” He asked to the embracing duo playfully.

Mutually pulling away from the hug at the same time, Jungkook turned to the older male with a roll of his eyes, just flipping him off with his ring clad finger in the air.

You don’t know why, but as soon as you made eye contact with the eldest member, your body felt like it wanted to turn to mush. You felt hot, and it was a decently cool autumn night. You sucked your bottom lip between your teeth out of pure habit and bit down on it with little force. It’s just something you did when your anxiety started to go through the roof as a way to ground yourself again.

A pulsating feeling could be felt coming from your counter, and what felt like a bolt of lightning shot through your arm and straight to your heart, squeezing it painfully. Your counter being something you purposely haven’t looked at all day, in dread of seeing just how much the numbers are quickly changing as the day goes by. A shaky exhale made its way out of your mouth, and you suddenly felt lightheaded. Weird. Very weird.

Taking a small step forward in your heels towards Jin, your ankle decided it was the opportune moment for it to give out. Collectively, there was six pairs of hands out to catch your fall, which you were thankful for. And it was Jin’s that ultimately were connected to the arms that were currently holding the weight of your body up. Heavily leaning against the male, you breathily let out your worries.

“I think–I think something’s wrong?” Your statement came out more like a question when you were done, making all the male’s near you furrow their brows in worry at your sudden state.

“Is she okay?” Min Yoongi’s voice came from out of nowhere. Jung Hoseok’s chimed in voicing his concern as well. Jimin’s head popped up from behind Jin’s shoulder to look at your now dazed face.

Having already finished your drink of choice, you let it fall to the floor. So they couldn’t check to see if maybe someone spiked your drink. But Namjoon saw when you made your drink, and didn’t see anything suspicious happen. However, you made a mixed cocktail of various opened bottles that anyone could’ve slipped something into at some point during the party. Though, looking around, he didn’t see anyone else in the same state as you, so he was out of ideas. Then it hit him, like the genius he is.

Glancing down at his own invisible counter, seeing the numbers not changing much cause he still had a lot of time in finding his soulmate, it made him think of the different textbooks he read on the matter. All the symptoms you’re showing could very well occur due to a harrowing fact that your time was almost up, and your body was starting to shut down prematurely to your end time.

Namjoon cleared his throat loudly to gain the attention of the group of males that still hovered over you with worry on their faces. They looked to him instantly and watched as Namjoon subtly gestured to his wrist. All of their eyes now looking down at their own counters, except for Jin, whose arms were still occupied with holding your body upright. Even Taehyung, who came back to the group upon the whispers he heard inside of what was occurring outside with his friends. All of them shook their heads, silently letting Namjoon know that all of their counters were perfectly fine.

Now it was Jin who suddenly felt all hot and bothered as several pairs of eyes looked at him in wonder. It made him even more flustered, and equally as confused.

“Why are you all staring at me like that?” He asked nervously.

Surprisingly, it was the quiet one that spoke up first among the male’s. Yoongi.

“Jin, check your counter.” He remarked quietly so as not to gain the attention of party goers around him. Once again, he gave a look of confusion, and now frustration. Seriously? Of all things, they think it’s cause of the soulmate shit? Yeah, right. He scoffed inwardly. No way.

It was your pathetic sounding whimper that made Jin feel differently. He looked down at your now closed eyes and saw the visible sweat forming on your now pale face. His whole body reacting when Jungkook came forward to replace his arms with Jin’s in holding you up, stiffening before relaxing because it was just Jungkook, his brother. Except he opted for the ‘bride’ hold, with one arm secured underneath your legs, and the other behind your back. He grunted towards Jin in a ‘hurry the fuck up’ kind of way. You weren’t heavy by any means, no. And he wasn’t necessarily a weakling if the size of his biceps were any consolation. But he would rather not be the center of attention either, holding the now passed out girl in his arms. He didn’t want people to get the wrong idea.

Jin sighed anxiously and shoved the sleeve of the maroon sweater he was wearing up halfway to his elbow, letting him see his counter in full view. He involuntarily gasped in shock, making his friend’s around him stare at him with a look of equal shock. Cause–

“–no fucking way.” Taehyung stated bluntly. And loudly. Getting shushed by all six members and receiving a collective, scathing, ‘shut the fuck up, you idiot!’ said in various different ways. For once, he listened.

“You good man? What’s wrong?” Namjoon asked his best friend calmly, but his face showed his true emotions to the matter at hand. If this was real? They needed to help you as soon as possible. Jin needed to help you as soon as possible.

———————————————————————

Not giving Jin the time to stutter out a response, already knowing the answer to his own question by the look Jin still wore plainly on his face, Namjoon realized they should probably take this elsewhere, and away from the million pairs of eyes that surrounded them. Nodding his head towards the direction of the house, they all followed him in a single file line inside. Walking up the stairs that were always off limits to guests, he figured this would be the best bet for some privacy with what little amount of time they apparently had. Jungkook making sure to tuck your head further into the crook of his neck to avoid you hitting your head on the wall as he walked up the stairs carefully with you in his arms.

Opening the door to his master bedroom that could easily fit ten more people, he knew it was more then enough room for all of them to stand or sit comfortably while they figure this out. Filing into the room, Jungkook hastily, but carefully, made his way to the california king sized bed located in the middle of the room and set your passed out body on top of the covers with your head landing on the fluffy pillows. Heaving out a sigh of relief as he felt the weight lift off his shoulders, he stood back up straight and stretched. He needed to start working out more, he vowed internally.

Jin cautiously sat on the bed near your feet, making the bed dip underneath his weight, and your body shift towards him unconsciously. This felt wrong, how his body seemed to naturally want to gravitate towards yours. He physically had to restrain himself from brushing the hair that fell in front of your seemingly peaceful sleeping face with his fingers. He decided it would be best to just sit on his hands to rid himself of the temptation.

Then he spoke the answer everyone was waiting for with bated breath. They stood in a semi circle around him, Namjoon laid a comforting hand on his shoulder in support. Jin gave him a small smile in response to his kind gesture.

“I think she’s my soulmate, my time is almost–,” Jin winced with a sudden pain in his chest, his hand coming up to clutch the area around his heart. His breaths came out in shallow pants. Right, he thought bitterly, you’re not supposed to talk with anyone about it until after you were officially connected to your soulmate. Stupid universal rules.

All the males threw up their hands towards their hyung in worry. Namjoon now opting to kneel next to the inwardly wounded figure in front of him.

“Jin, you know what you need to do, so do it.” He demanded, not going to take no for an answer. Now was not the time for the male to suddenly become shy around women.

“I can’t do it while she’s asleep!” He gestured wildly towards your form on the bed.

“Then wake her up.” Taehyung bluntly said, as if it were that easy. Well, maybe it was just that simple for the grandpa of the group. His antics with the opposite sex clearly impacting his way towards women, making him too abrasive to the situation.

They all collectively deadpanned at Taehyung.

You shifted your body on the bed closer towards Taehyung, your own body wanting to be closer to his. His hands twitched underneath his bottom half of their own accord, making him groan in frustration.

“Jungkook, you wake her up.” Jin announced suddenly, making the maknae’s eyes widen in fear.

“Wh–what?!” He sputtered nervously, eyes meeting his fellow group mates, wanting them to vehemently deny the suggestion for him as if he wasn’t the only one who thought it was a ridiculous thought.

“I literally just met her 20 minutes ago, like the rest of you! Why does it have to be me?!” He pointed to himself to further make his point.

“I was the one that invited her–,” Namjoon meekly tried to input into the conversation, and failed, being ignored.

“You did give her your jacket.” Jimin stated factually, not helping Jungkook in the slightest.

“It’s called being a gentleman! I was just being nice!” He yelled in sheer frustration. Just about ready to pull his hair out of his own head.

“Jesus, can you all just shut up for five seconds!” A voice could be heard coming from the bed, and it wasn’t Jin’s.

Now in a sit up position on the bed, you stared at the men surrounding you with a calm look. In doing so, it halted their previous conversation and at the same time, resolved it. Jungkook plopped into the desk chair next to him, head laying against the back of the chair in relief. Thank the fucking lord, he thought inwardly.

The next words that came out of your mouth had them all flabbergasted, especially the one closest to you, staring at you as if you were some alien.

“Jin, just kiss me for fuck’s sake so we can get this over with. Cause if it’s not you, I desperately need to figure out who it is. And you two,” you pointed aggressively at Namjoon and Taehyung, “are next if it isn’t him.” You said so matter of fact that all three men nearly fell over in sheer denial and nerves for potentially getting to kiss you.

It was Jungkook who snorted in laughter at their faces from his sitting position on the wheelie chair. Karma was a bitch.

“If you don’t want to kiss her first, I wouldn’t mind.” Taehyung raised his hand, cheekily volunteering on first dibs. Jin’s eye twitched in a random surge of anger that came over him at the mere idea of you two kissing. Fuck that.

“I’ll do it.” He said more confidently than he felt.

Namjoon stood back up straight from his kneeling position, backing away from the two figures who were about to share their first kiss, on his bed, no less. He cringed at the situation, but knew there was no other choice.

“Let’s uh,” Namjoon awkwardly cleared his throat. “Let’s give them a bit of privacy and turn around, yeah?” He looked at each member next to him who nodded in agreement. Even Jungkook wheeled around in his sitting position on the chair to give you both the needed time to yourselves.

Nodding your head in determination, eyes glancing down at the counter on your wrist, seeing the numbers plummet drastically, made your body vibrate in anticipation of what’s to come. It was now or never.

Shifting positions on the bed, Jin turned his body to now face you properly, before leaning forward on his now free hands that laid flat on the bed on either side of your closed legs supporting his weight. You leaned in, in kind, using your own hands as leverage to propel your body forward in your sitting position.

“Are you sure?” He quietly whispered, a millisecond away from touching your lips with his, searching your eyes for any hint of hesitation or doubt.

“Positive.” You whispered back confidently. Looking directly into his eyes.

Being all he needed to hear to continue, he proceeded to kiss you, eyes closing. Yours soon doing the same. It wasn’t rushed, it wasn’t sloppy. It didn’t even feel like it was a first kiss, if you’re being honest. Lips molding in a way that felt like you’ve done it together countless times in the past. And maybe you did in your past lives. Who knew?

A burst of air emitted from your bodies in a tidal wave towards the unsuspecting victims that still had their backs turned. Said victims stumbling forward on their feet, Jungkook’s chair even wheeling forward on its own from the sheer force of impact it held before coming to an abrupt stop as the gust died down.

All of them slowly looking back toward you both at the same time, had them all witness a once bright glow that formed around the outline of your figures, now fade into nothing as you both pulled apart from each other.

Eyes opening at the same time, you stared at each other with the same knowing grin. Both of you not even bothering to look at your now bare wrists, knowing it no longer carries the same weight it once did prior to your shared kiss. Though yours held more than excitement for finding your soulmate in time. It also held a secret you were about to share not only with him, but with the six males that also resided in the room you were in.

And thus you proceeded to enlighten OT7 with the mission you received, giving Jin another kiss once telling him that you’ll both be going to work at the same company at the end of the year when you graduated. All six boys erupting with cheers, high fives, and fist bumps for your soulmate’s bright future.

And then you donned a cheeky, albeit slightly bashful grin and look on your face as you recounted the ways you met a few of the members. Even telling Namjoon how you baited him with ‘The Great Gatsby’ on purpose, making him chuckle at his own obliviousness to the situation, giving you a fist bump of your own as kudos for your brilliant plan.

Then you told your reasoning behind your outfit, shamefully admitting you only wore it to gain the attention of Taehyung. Which had said male grinning in utter delight, him clapping theatrically for your outfit, giving you two thumbs up. And causing Jin to scowl at him from his position underneath you. You now choosing to sit on his lap while his arms wrapped around your torso possessively. Hand flying up in the air to give Taehyung the middle finger.

Angling your body to Jungkook you once again thanked him for being such a gentleman and lending you his beloved jacket in your time of need. You going to take said jacket off to give back to him, before he vehemently denied you, telling you that your shirt is probably still see through and you should keep it on until you find something else to wear. Jin smiled warmly in response to Jungkook and his actions towards you, before letting go of your torso to shrug his maroon sweater he was wearing off, holding it up in front of you in a silent way of telling you to wear it instead.

You inwardly cringed at your display of a lovesick schoolgirl when he handed you his sweater, blushing profusely at the sentiment. Unzipping Jungkook’s jacket, you shrugged it off carefully, and extended your hand out to Jungkook who took it with a fondness only he would have for the jacket, before grinning softly at you in thanks.

Tugging the sweater on you that was two sizes too big for you, you could’ve worn it as a dress. The sleeves dangling off your arms, you clutched the ends with your fingers and brought them up to your nose, shamelessly inhaling the scent that was wholly Jin. He stared at you with a look of love that didn’t go unnoticed to anyone but you. Before he thought back to something you said during your long rant of your mission that had his eyes narrowing at you playfully.

“Wait. So you’re telling me that you have a better relationship with the Dean than me?!” He asked flabbergasted, causing you to scowl at the insinuation that you shouldn’t be the one with the better relationship.

“Excuse me?! And you should?” You narrowed your eyes back at him, challenging him.

The six males in the room looked at each other with the same ‘let’s get out of here’ face, and quietly walked out of the room the same way they came in, in single file. Jungkook being the last one out, he carefully shut the door behind him cutting off your voices successfully and followed his fellow hyung’s down the hallway and back to the party that was still raging on.

Smoothing out the jacket he now donned again, he stopped midway down the stairs. All of a sudden a certain song came blaring through the speakers, one he knew all too well. Taehyung whined in frustration, the others snickering in amusement as Jungkook loudly belted out the lyrics to his musical crush and muse, Ariana Grande.

“All that you got, skin to skin, oh my God. Don't you stop, boy–“

[s-uwu-binie]

— tug on my heart༺ ˎˊ-

➻ kang taehyun x reader (gender neutral)

➻ fluff ⌯’ㅅ’⌯

➻ soulmate!au 'red string'

⤷ in which taehyun doesn't like it whenever you tug at your red string. it irks him, but in a good way. the boy just needs a little teasing here and there to get him smiling.

You twirl your pen mindlessly on your hand, evidently bored out of your mind. There wasn’t much to do, and it was free time, this granted by the substitute teacher. The woman on the desk scrolled through her phone, ignoring the loud chatters and laughs filling the classroom as she minded her own business.

You looked back down to your notebook to see that you already finished taking down notes, meaning you’re finished with everything for this class. A sigh broke out of you as your eyes trailed around your surroundings. And that’s when you saw the boy sitting down in front of the room.

Kang Taehyun sat across the room, his hair almost covering his eyes when he read the book laid on his desk. It was a sight. Golden boy, as everyone calls him in the school. He’s the best at everything. He excelled in both academic and extracurricular activities. And recently, the talk of the school was about who could be his possible soulmate. Unbeknownst to everybody, that soulmate is you. Red strings can’t be seen by anybody unless they were the person attached on the other end.

Finding out about the whole soulmate thing was awkward and light-hearted. Both of you decided to take it slow. Taehyun took the chance to know more about you, besides you being his soulmate. And you, in return, did the same. Because of some circumstances, both of you also decided to keep the soulmate thing a secret. You thought it would be fun if everybody were to find out that you two are together on the last day of school. And lucky for the both of you, the last day of school is only a month away.

Being Taehyun’s significant other brought many things. Things like you discovering that he liked having his forehead kissed before classes, Taehyun also loved it when he plays with your red string, and you know Taehyun hated when you playfully pull on the said string because he claims it’s annoying, but really, it was because it tickles him.

And what better thing to do now than annoy your boyfriend?

So that in mind, you slowly reached for your string and tugged. You waited for a reaction but got none in return.

Maybe he didn’t feel it? You thought.

You tried again, and this time you pulled harder, but not enough force to hurt him. And by your second try, Taehyun slightly glanced back at your form in the back of the classroom. His eyebrows raised as your eyes met his. Now that you have his attention, you chose to annoy him further. Your hand tugged on the red string again with more force.

And when you saw that his hand with the attached string lightly jerked away from his book, you laughed. You laughed partially because of this but also because of the way his eyes twitched and the way his cheeks bloomed bright red, almost matching your strings. And possibly the way his lips lifted into a smile reserved only for your eyes to see.

However, this interaction didn’t go unnoticed by Taehyun’s seatmate. With a loud voice, the girl stood up from her seat and pointed at you, “You’re his soulmate!”

The only running thought in your head was, shoot. You lifted your head in embarrassment as you felt all of their burning gazes, including the curious look you got from the teacher behind the desk. Taehyun sat shocked in his seat, but he quickly regains his focus as he eyed your shaking form with your head down on your table. This made him frown.

You didn’t expect him to say anything, but that thought immediately exits your brain when you felt a slight tug on your pinky finger.

“Yes, they are.” Taehyun's voice echoed in the classroom. His eyes yet again met yours when you raised your head to look at him.

The same thought ran in your heads as you shared a look that only both of you could decipher.

We’ll be okay.

all rights reserved © s-uwu-binie

[beameized]

Boyfriends Webtoon: An Impression and Analysis

NOTE: Before you do read this, please note that I am Native SouthEast Asian (SEAsian) so I'm viewing it wholly from the perspective of someone who is SEAsian and living in SEA. The Artist is also a SEAsian trans guy from Indonesia and the characters in the webcomic are either SEAsian or East Asian. So I think there are some things that would fly over westerners' head (and yes, even western-based POCs cuz while our cultures may overlap, there are still variances. It's not a bad thing tho. It's just some things are different but nothing to worry about. It doesn't mean you are less Asian, just mean you are Asian in a different way).

A short impression and Summary

As a short summary, Boyfriends Webtoon is a lighthearted romcom story featuring a polycule of four guys who are basically the archetypal jock, prep, nerd and goth but they remain nameless aside from their archetypes (unless you go to the artist's patreon apparently, where they do have names. Don't follow the artist's patreon tho so idk what they are). They all go to the same college and it's pretty much just soft and cute moments, nothing heavy. The later part of the story also feature a polycule of four women too who are also archetypal jock, prep, nerd and goth. The two polycules interact as friends but still focus mainly on the guys, hence the title "boyfriends."

It's very tropey especially in the first half and it features a lot of pop culture memes but it's expected since the characters are based on pop culture archetypes. For the first parts, it feels too plotless, too general and very light to read. I can't say for sure though if it's done to ponder to a wider audience or if it's because of the artist's lack of experience in writing. In the later portions though, I think he's started making some liberties as there's already an established audience. I'm seeing more and more SEAsian easter eggs and the main characters are interacting more with others. The characters are starting to feel more animated and there's definitely improvement in how the artist writes his story. All in all, it's a fun read. If you're looking for stories that dive deeply into being queer and queer relationships, this one just isn't it.

2. On the characters and their cultural background

The bf polycule are exactly what their archetypes are so expect the tropes (won't explain that either) but I love that the artist interweaved some very common SEAsian dynamics into some characters in a matter of fact kinda way, which is nice especially in the later parts. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Jock (bf) is Vietnamese and has a thing for cooking. He's been featured making ca phe trung (Vietnamese egg yolk coffee), bahn mhi (Vietnamese baguette sandwich tho the word itself can also just mean bread) and Banh Bao (steamed buns). His graduation pic also featured his mom in Ao Dai (Vietnam's national outfit). He mentioned getting hand-me-down clothes before (THIS MUNDANE ASIAN THING IS BIG OKAY?! I'VE NEVER FELT MORE REPRESENTED) and he has a high-functioning older sister (who is the jock in the gf polycule). One time he's asked why he is like "so good at everything" and his reply was something like "trying having an older sibling who is an achiever." Out of everyone, I think he's the one with the most SEAsian easter eggs. He's also bi and we see him flirting with women too (at least before they were in a closed polyam relationship).

Prep (bf) is Singaporean though haven't seen anything particular Singaporean about him (others might. I admit, don't know much on Singaporean culture). I feel tho, he is written as the SEAsian rich kid at your school who "has to be good" at both studies and extracurriculars cuz their parents are mega rich. It hasn't been touched but this could be a really good way to address the very real asian issue of Asian parents expecting too much outta their kids simply because they provide for them. It is reflected in his chara too. Like the whole "am I likable" drama at the start is less imma drama queen and screams "I'm an SEAsian kid and parents expected too much from me so now I've set unrealistic expectations for myself" energy. He uses the rainbow flag but idk if it's used to mean he's queer in some way go guess what or if he's like gay.

Goth (bf) is Chinese while Nerd (bf) is Japanese but I think they pander more to East Asian pop culture that's like prevalent in SEAsian rather than actual JPN/CHN culture but ngl, I get why the cultural portrayal is watered-down. Japan (contrary to how Japanese were treated poorly and unjustly so in the USA due to racism) invaded Southeast Asia first during WW2. This led to destruction of infrastructure, hunger, abuse and even death of countless Southeast Asians at the hands of the Japanese military. China, on the other hand, is one of the biggest imperialist/neo-colonialist powers in Southeast Asia, right next to the USA (not to mention Chinese mainlanders are one of the biggest gentrifiers of SEAsian neighborhoods in SEAsia). There's stigma that's hard to process outside of pop culture, as well as a lack of insight on how irl Native East Asians actually live their lives. Nerd (bf) is pan though and Goth (bf) is trans. I think his transness is handled pretty well but since the artist is also trans, it's right up his alley.

As for the gf polycule, there's not much cuz they are fairly new characters. Jock (gf) also Vietnamese. Prep (gf) is Korean and a transwoman. Goth (gf) is Indonesian and Nerd (gf) is Filipino and trans/non-binary. Nerd (gf) used "hay nako" which is a phrase often used by us Filipino when we are exasperated or in disbelief. It's kinda funny though cuz after saying it, they go on to do the task the the phrase was directed to. (If that ain't Filipino, idk what is).

3. On the setting

Boyfriends webtoon is set on a College but on exactly where, it is up for interpretation. Interestingly though, everyone has different nationalities (Artist used nationalities, not ethnicity or race) so makes me wonder if they're like in an international school or something. But like because the setting is a blank slate, it can be set anywhere. Not to say this is a bad thing because again, panders to a more general audience, but it can also be a weakness since it's gonna lack nuances that are pretty clear when the setting is established. It's lost in translation.

A prime example would be western people mistaking Prep (bf) as a white guy even though he's actually a SEAsian rich kid and only SEAsians can truly see this nuance either through shared experience or like knowing people like him. But if say, the setting was established as in South East Asia, it'll be easier to frame his character.

4. On the language

I think I'd give the artist pretty decent points on this one. While it is true that the writing in general feels limited (partly too cause the story is quite simple), y'all have to understand English is not the first language of South East Asians. One thing I've heard people note is that sometimes the conversations feel like they are in group chats/chatrooms rather than speaking in a conversational level and that's a valid point. These people are probably native English speakers who speak the language very casually and it's understandable why they'd feel a dissonance cuz it's not the type of English they are used to.

But let's try to meet half-way. SEAsians rarely use full English in conversational levels. For conversations, English is often mixed together with the local languages like Taglish, Singlish, Kapampanglish and Chinglish and it is forced to adapt to our intonations and language quirks, or we just don't use English at all. Full English is only often used in formal school/office settings or when, you guessed it, talking to people in chat groups where only English is the shared language. US/UK-based conversational English isn't something we can acquire without actively looking for it and even then, it would be a totally useless skill aside from making online content that panders specifically to US/UK-based casual English speakers. I think it is unreasonable to require this type of English mastery to SEAsian content creators. Add up the fact that US/UK are SEAsian colonizers and English remained popular as a language here due to US/UK imperialism. While it is constructive criticism and I do think there is also room for improvement, it translates to insensitivity to people already trying to speak another language to accommodate you, at least the way I see it.

5. On themes

The theme of the webcomic is very escapist. From the pastel design to the very simple cutesy storyline, it doesn't have like this ~realistic queer experience~ energy to it but I think that's the point. It assumes a world that's pretty much the same as ours but virtually without any transphobia, polyphobia, homophobia and just general queerphobia. This is why we get scenes of Jock's mom calling all his boyfriends her future son-in-laws (as Asian moms often do when they see their daughters bring home a good guy) or like scenes where they are very embarrassed about the PDA (like queer PDA is gonna legit get you expelled in a lot of SEA countries or worse, you can go to jail). It's written very simply but its has a queer escapism theme of like "would be nice if my life and future wouldn't be on the line just for being queer." And while I'm not often into overly fluffy media, that theme is one hell of a mood.

6. Final Note

Honestly, I think that the allegation against this webcomic are blown out of proportion. I don't think it's like groundbreaking queer media but there's nothing particularly fetishy about it. It definitely is tropey though but that's also kinda the point. The characters are, after all, pop culture archetypes. I also feel it is like written for a younger audience but there's nothing particularly wrong about that either. If you like very light reads and meme energy romcoms, I would recommend it. But if you don't or if you tried to read it but didn't like it, that's okay too. A content that's queer doesn't have to be liked by all queer people. I just hope that if you don't like it, you are at least civil with those who do and don't fall into hate/cringe culture hole. On a personal note, I think I might read future chapters but what I like about it is the SEAsian tidbits I'm seeing in the later chapters. I don't wanna oversell that though lol (but considering how few SEA queer pop media we get, I'm taking it).

[poetrusicperry]

the poets and their first summer jobs

i’ve seen some discourse about how rich all the boys/their families are, and of course there would be like very little reason for them to work, but i couldn’t help wondering who would do what for their first jobs (summer jobs bc they couldn’t work while they’re at school). andddd that led me to writing this lol

neil: so neil would have like absolutely zero time for a job between all his normal coursework/extracurriculars and his summer classes (”you know me, always taking on too much”), but i guarantee you he would still take the time to get a job and have his own money to do with whatever he chose. mr. perry wouldn’t care much because it showed neil “taking initiative” or whatever. neil would likely work at a diner as either a bus boy or a waiter. he’s super personable, so he’d always strike up conversations with people sitting at the counter, and he’d get loads of tips bc he’s cute (: he’d bring his summer school work with him to do during lulls in business, which his boss didn’t mind because it’s neil and everyone knows how responsible he is. the poets would come visit him pretty much every day (to eat, see neil, and escape the heat in the air conditioning), likely taking up a whole booth, and making an absolute mess of the area. charlie would be making spitballs, aiming at cameron and knox every time (earning a “charlie, knock it off, i told you three times already! so mature of you, really.” from cameron) and meeks/pitts would try to see how many straws they could connect to make “ultra straw.” todd would come hang out at the counter when neil was closing, admiring his pretty bf as he worked (’: neil would always make todd a chocolate milkshake with whipped cream and rainbow jimmies on the house, claiming, “we have to empty out the ice cream machine anyway” (but really he’d take the cost out of his paycheck, just wanting to make todd happy). his boss would hire him back every summer, loving how much business neil drove in (even if the poets made a mess every time they hung out and ate) and absolutely adoring how much effort neil put into what anyone else would seemingly call a “meaningless” job.

todd: you can’t tell me that todd wouldn’t look forward to working. especially during the summers, it would get him out of the house and away from his parents judging his every move. being the shy introvert he is, he’d likely do things like mowing lawns or gardening for people around his neighborhood. minimal interactions, but still decent pay (as all the people in his neighborhood were likely super rich and could afford to pay him well). the poets’ parents would hire him, after much convincing from their sons (”todd’s just trying to make some money, dad. please?”) and todd would appreciate this more than they ever knew. he’d become super familiar with flower types and he’d become a lot more nurturing after taking care of plants and grass for multiple summers. he’d keep a little journal or notebook with drawings or sketches of the flowers he’d taken care of, complete with descriptions and magazine/newspaper clippings from his mom’s better homes and garden subscription (a lot of his poetry would become nature-related as well). it would be his late night project, or something he’d do if he couldn't sleep (which was pretty common for todd). he’d call neil on the phone some nights and just gush about all kinds of flowers or tell neil how he accidentally got stung by a bee and cried about it because he knew the bee would die (all the while, neil would be listening so intently, taking note about which flowers were todd’s favorites for future use (’: the calls would have to be pretty planned, bc if neil wasn’t working, he was doing school work, or his parents were keeping an annoyingly close watch on him. but sometimes neil would call him impromptu and that made todd just the happiest little camper ever). todd’s nails would be really short (he’d cut them really often because he doesn’t like the feeling of dirt under his nails), which means he couldn’t bite his nails anymore, causing him to pick up a new anxious habit of biting the inside of his bottom lip ): overall, though, todd would like his job, and even find pleasure in being surrounded by little flowers all day. also if/when neil ever got the chance, he’d absolutely tag along to see his sweaty boyfriend in action (come on, neil would go absolutely nuts for todd in a cutoff shirt, 5″ inseam shorts, and converse mowing a lawn looking all manly and tough). 

charlie: obviously, charlie wouldn’t need to work because of his financial situation, but his mom would 110% make him get a job just so he wouldn’t be around the house causing trouble/bothering his siblings for fun (”i’m hosting a lot of book club meetings for the country club this summer, i can’t have you putting spiders in the ladies’ hats again, charles”). similar to neil, mr. charlie dalton would work his summers at an ice cream/custard stand. he’d have to wear a white, short sleeve button up, a red and white striped apron, and one of those white, rectangular hats (his least favorite part HAHA, stating, “my hair is one of my best features and this just takes it all away. it’s unfair.”). the poets would visit often, both for ice cream, but primarily to give him a hard time about his uniform (”i’ll give you twenty bucks to wear this on our first day of classes” meeks would tease, completely gobsmacked when charlie showed up to their first chemistry class in his uniform, earning lots of demerits, but also twenty dollars). charlie would hate it at first, but obviously he’d adjust, being the extroverted/personable person, not taking himself too seriously and being one of the best ice cream slingers anyone had ever seen. he’d give the cute girls (and boys) extra scoops of ice cream for free, winking as he handed them their orders. like neil’s boss, charlie’s boss was even more thankful for charlie’s presence because they’d likely be raking in at least triple the income they would in a summer without him. he’d become a sundae expert, spending many dead poets meeting making them for his friends while they read poems and stories. that being said, he’d come to hate eating ice cream, publishing an article in welton’s honor demanding that they remove ice cream from their dessert menu (yes, almost exactly like the “girls at welton” prank, but he’d make the call collect this time. mr. nolan would be fed up to the point where he wouldn’t even punish charlie physically, just suspend him from rowing [which charlie wouldn’t mind at all HAHA]).

meeks & pitts: after their hi-fi success and the fact that they are seemingly inseparable, they both sought out jobs at the local radio station where they were hired as interns/assistants, running errands and picking up coffee or lunch for the station. but sometimes, when they worked pretty late, the night shift dj would let them pick the records and show them how everything worked (: after nights like that, meeks and pitts would go to one of their houses and add modifications to their hi-fi radio, staying up all night modifying and researching (by the end of the summer, they had made another hi-fi (portable) and their og hi-fi would have been morphed into a huge nationally reaching radio that they keep in the cave (since it would be disallowed in their room at welton). another job that the two of them would have would be answering calls for the station about song requests. with this knowledge, charlie and the other poets would hang out at someone’s house, calling and requesting the same songs over and over and over again. their biggest task for the summer would be organizing the shelves with all the records into alphabetical order (”duh, we should go by first name, meeks. which other way would it be” pitts would argue, only to find out that after they had spent about three weeks alphabetizing by first name, they were supposed to go by last name. “now who’s the idiot?” meeks would jeer, beginning to pull the records off the shelves). they’d also learn a lot about music from their night shift coworker, which would help in their quest to woo some ladies the following school year.

cameron: cameron liked spending his summers doing research projects for fun and just reading a whole lot, so you can imagine his displeasure at when his parents asked him to get a job (presumably to help with paying for his schooling). while upset about it, he wouldn’t complain, and took it on the chin, understanding the reasoning. he’d apply to a couple places, but ultimately end up as a grocery store cashier/stock boy. much like charlie, he’d have the same kind of uniform, but with a green apron instead. he’d spend most of his shift ringing people up at the register, being friendly and personable (something no one ever really realized about him !!). the poets’ moms would always see him and choose his register on purpose, using it as a chance to catch up or tell him to tell his parents that “the overstreets say hello!” or “mrs. anderson says hi!” pitts, meeks, and charlie would utilize cameron’s position at the supermarket to buy nudie magazines unembarrassed/slightly illegally HAHA (”come on, cameron! it’s not like you won’t be included in seeing them next year, too. we bring them to the meetings, you know that!” charlie would say, leaving cameron at a loss, reluctantly scanning the magazines and bagging them as pitts and meeks sniggered). charlie would wave, blow him a kiss, and wink as they left, “love you, richardddd.” sure enough, the magazines would make an appearance during the following school year and cameron was glad he had decided to let them buy the magazines lol. 

knox: out of all the poets, i feel like our knoxious would be the least inclined to work (yes, even less inclined than charlie). his parents wouldn’t even make him get a job because he simply didn’t need to, but to everyone’s surprise, he would volunteer at the animal shelter. the poets would later find out that it was a great way to meet girls (which is why he did it lmfao so they endlessly goaded him about it). charlie would visit often, and even took a rescue puppy home, much to charlie’s younger sister’s delight. charlie even wanted to start volunteering at the shelter to also meet girls, but he was too busy at the ice cream stand (plus, he had really grown to like it there so he didn’t want to leave). another effect of volunteering made knox super interested in zoology and animals, which brought out a newer, more nurturing/caring side to him, and who knows, maybe he’d go vegetarian somehow. he’d want to pursue a career in animal science or becoming a veterinarian, but mr. overstreet was hellbent on knox taking over the firm, so it seemed like a pipe dream. knox would continue to volunteer at the animal shelter, well into his career as a lawyer, and would even go to veterinary school in his 30s (when he was a nationally famous, established lawyer) to get certification to work with animals in a broader way (: 

hope you guys liked these. it was pretty fun to write, and i'd pay such good money to see neil, charlie, and cameron in their uniforms (and todd, but that’s neither here nor there). happy thursday !! let me know what you guys think of these <3(:

[all-might-can-smash-me]

Hogwarts AU Headcanons

Aizawa Shouta/Eraserhead, Toshinori Yagi/All Might, Taishiro Toyomitsu/Fatgum, Mirai Sasaki/Sir Nighteye, Keigo Takami/Hawks

Masterlist

Slytherin 🐍

He was the odd ball though when it came to his own house since he hung out with a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor

Would every now and then find himself in some trouble alongside his friends with the professors

Especially for being late to class, his two friends goofing off around the grounds, and trying to sneak around late at night.

Was in possession of the Maurader’s map with his friends....but Filch took it...

Also was friends with you as well, ever since the first train ride to Hogwarts, but the two of you start to date in your 6th year.

He excelled with all his subjects and O.W.L.S. and graduated almost at the top of his class

The two of you married not too long upon graduating Hogwarts.

Became an Auror and was pretty great at his job, but with the offer of a position at Hogwarts recommended to him, he decided to give it a go

The two of you move to Hogsmeade to be closer to his work.

I picture him teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts

He’s a strict teacher, but only because he needs the students to know the ways to defend themselves and be knowledgeable of the dangers in the wizarding world.

He is also runs Wizarding Duel Club, which is actually quite popular despite him being so strict with his teaching methods

Enjoys roaming around Hogsmeade with you on the weekends he and over the holidays

Frequents the Three Broomsticks and Honeydukes with you (especially honeydukes when you fall pregnant during his 2nd year of teaching)

Students were SHOOK to see their professor at Madame Puddyfoot’s Tea Shop with a heavily pregnant you on Valentine’s Day

Students since then have introduced themselves to you and enjoy talking to you....despite Shouta wanting a student free weekend in Hogsmeade.

But he can’t help but like it when students request to feel your baby bump and you happily let them....the happy look on your face makes his heart flutter

Will invite you to eat at Hogwarts with the students and professors that stay for Christmas because he feels bad for the students who don’t go back to their families

Gryffindor 🦁

Was extremely popular in his Hogwarts years

Won the triwizard tournament his 7th year

His academics though? They weren’t out of this world, but they were pretty normal, he was better when it came to his extracurricular activities such as Wizarding Duel and Quidditch

He would secretly go to geek out about the muggle world with the Muggle Studies professor every now and then

Upon graduation he was a pretty popular quidditch player for the United Kingdom, but suffered a life changing injury

Decided live in the muggle world and study their way of life for a bit after the injury, he ended up composing a text book with all the basics he scrounged up together

It’s even used for the curriculum at Hogwarts

Though Hogwarts offered him a position as well as the Muggle Studies professor

Hell to the yes he went! He become head of Gryffindor house and helped give pointers to the quidditch team

Started a weekend club where students would meet in the great hall to observe Muggle Artifacts, it wasn’t really that popular, but it didn’t matter, the few students that joined was enough for him.

Met you shortly after beginning to teach at Hogwarts

You taught herbology and would sometimes listen in during his Muggle club in the great hall and would sometimes ask questions about the object he was talking about.

After that he would invite you out to Hogsmeade to get a butter beer and talk about muggle things since you showed an interest in wanting to know

The conversations soon turned into what would go on between two friends and it flowed so nicely, so after that he would ask you to meet up a few more times before going on a date.

The fact that two of you dated was no secret as your dates were of course held at Hogsmeade and the students could very well see the two of you chatting away.

So it wasn’t a surprise when the two of you got married and you fell pregnant during one year of teaching.

He totally invited the members of his muggles club to the wedding and totally didn’t get emotional when they gifted him a rubber duck (his absolute favorite muggle artifact)

Hufflepuff 🦡

Known as the gentle giant while in school

Supper nice and was friendly with absolutely everyone, so he was highly respected and adored by his peers

His academic life was pretty normal, excelling in the subjects he needed to become an Auror, he was also the announcer for the school’s quidditch matches.

Also liked to spend his time in the library to study....also snuck snacks in as well and would share with the other students that were studying

Met you on the train ride to Hogwarts his 7th year, he was trying to enter your train car since the others were full but he only managed to bang his head upon entering

You two were joined at the hip ever since then and started dating

The two of you married after graduation

You came into the ownership of honeydukes at Hogsmeade while Taishiro spent most of his time away for his job as an Auror

Quite his job though once the two of you had your 5th child to move to Hogsmeade to be with you and to help you run the candy shop.

The students love interacting with you and Taishiro, talking about their classes and their stuggles and asking for advice as they would purchase their chocolate frogs and other confectionary

Your older children, who all happen to be girls, love to go visit you and Tiashiro ok the weekends and sometimes hang out with their friends there.

Your younger girls would give advice to the students who are purchasing candy on which one is the best and will also look longingly to them because they wanted to be at Hogwarts already.

They would also brag that they had like five of the cards that a student would get from their chocolate frogs, but Taishiro would soon put them on blast and say they didn’t

Became instant BFFs with the Weasley family thanks to being able to relate on having big families, so holidays together are chaotic but fun

Is a huge advocate for house elves rights along with his daughters and you

Ravenclaw

Was a little quiet during school, a little mysterious

People either liked him or just really didn’t know him, mostly people from his own house liked him.

Excelled in academics and was at the top of his class and was viewed as the brightest wizard in his year, but sucked when it came to quidditch.

Really, really, really, really loved quidditch though and really wished he was good at it, but you can’t help some things.

Upon graduation he took up a position at the Ministry of Magic as the head of the Department of Mysteries

Worked extremely close with the Hall of Prophecy thanks to his gift of Divination (divination was his favorite course in Hogwarts)

Met you through work after becoming head of the Department of Mysteries

Your were the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement

You two had a meeting for damage control because a worker on the Hall of Prophecy managed to drop on of them and the even needed to be documented

You had a framed signature from a famous quidditch player on the wall that caught his attention after the meeting, which he pointed out and the two of you had a conversation about your shared love of quidditch

After that, he was hooked and asked you out on a date, which went well and the two of you were married a year or two later.

He would read your tea leaves or your palms about your future to impress you

It always impressed you and it will always impress you no matter how many times he would do it.

The two of you live in an apartment in London and will often go to the Leaky Couldron and Diagon Alley

The two of you would deck yourself out in your favorite teams for the quidditch World Cup, which includes painting your face

Gryffindor 🦁

EXTREMELY popular in his Hogwarts years

Literally all the girls loved and pined after him, all the boys wanted to be him, and all the teachers were always impressed with his work.

Was the best seeker for the Gryffindor quidditch team

All around perfect student and he always seemed to do everything with so much ease and stress free

Always managed to dodge the love potions girls would try to slip him.

He met you one day while messing around with his friends at the lake skipping rocks, you were under the shade of a tree studying.

His friends went to start messing with you, which he soon told them too all ‘fuck off’ when he could tell that you were visibly annoyed with them.

Always hung out with you since then, becoming almost like your gaurdian angel

Upon graduation he struck a job being an Auror, you the potions master at hogwarts.

He was pretty dang awesome in his job and honestly everyone knew the amazing work he did as Auror, so he was pretty popular amongst the Aurors as well

He quit his job though to begin teaching the flying lessons to the first years at Hogwarts because he really did enjoy quidditch and flying

Also was in charge of quidditch as a whole

And he also just really missed you

He finally asked you out on a date towards the end of his first year of teaching at Hogwarts and you said yes, then towards the beginning of the next year, the two of you got married

The students love Keigo, he treats them as equals, mostly because he’s honestly not that much older than them and was in their position not to long ago.

Girls swoon over him and are low key jealous that you are married to him.

He likes to pop his head in to bother you during, or before and after your classes

Plays quick games of quidditch on the quidditch field with the house team that are practicing for fun

Will tug you into the potion’s closet for a quick kiss, despite how unprofessional you think it is

[hopelikethemoon]

Cracks (Reader x Javier) {MTMF}

Title: Cracks Rating: PG-13 Length: 3000 Warnings: Therapy Notes: You can find the Maybe Today, Maybe Forever Timeline here. Set in late September  1997.  Summary: Reader goes to therapy.

Taglist:  @grapemama  @seawhisperer @huliabitch @pedropascalito @rogrsnbarnes @thewallpapergoesorido @twomoonstwosuns @gooddaykate @livasaurasrex @ham4arrow @hiscyarika @plexflexico @readsalot73 @hdlynn @lokiaddicted @randomness501 @fioccodineveautunnale  @roxypeanut @just-add-butter @snivellusim @amarvelousmandalorian @lukesrighthand @historynerd04 @mrsparknuts @synystersilenceinblacknwhite @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @exrebelshocktrooper @awesomefandomsunited @ah-callie @swhiskeys @lady-tano @beskar-droids @space-floozy @cable-kenobi @longitud-de-onda @cool-ultra-nerd @himbopoes @findhimfives @pedrosdoll @seeking-a-great--perhaps​ @frietiemeloen​ @arrowswithwifi​ @random066​ (more tags in the replies)

You settled into the right side of the sofa, leaning against the arm as your eyes flickered around the room. “You got a new bonsai tree.” You pointed out, pointing to the larger tree that sat beside the smaller one that had previously adorned her table. “I didn’t know they bloomed.”

“It’s an azalea. I have a client who enjoys gifting them to people.” Nancy smiled a little at you. “You should see my house.”

You laughed, pushing your hair behind your ears. “At least it’s something lovely.” 

Nancy flipped her notebook open, shuffling through a few pages before making a note. “I thought that today might be a good day to discuss Javier.”

“Oh.” Your brows furrowed together and you shrugged. “Sure.” Honestly, you thought you had covered a lot about him in that first session. 

“Your relationship with Javier was rather unconventional, wasn’t it?”

You nodded. “We’ve definitely done things backwards.” 

“When did you realize you loved him?”

That was an easy enough question to answer. You still remembered the look on his face when you finally admitted what you both already knew. 

“I told him that I loved him the Christmas before Josie was born.” 

She shook her head, “Not when you told him. When did you realize?”

Your brows drew together. “Well…” You dragged your teeth over your bottom lip, thinking back over the years. It was hard to pinpoint the precise moment you realized you loved him. “I think I realized I had feelings for him when I was still dating Lance. I would catch myself comparing the two of them. I just assumed it was because I spent most of my time with Javi.” 

“But you had another partner too. Did you ever compare Lance with Mr. Murphy?” She questioned, referring to her notes. You watched her as she wrote something down, glancing back at you expectantly. 

“No.” You stared down at the ground. “It was always Javier I compared everyone to. But things were complicated back then. He led this life that I knew I didn’t factor into. I just bottled up those feelings and hid them away.”

“And what sort of life is that?”

“Uh, well…” You swallowed thickly. “I’m fairly certain he knew the name of every hooker in Bogotá.” 

“And how did that make you feel?”

“I didn’t feel anything.” You pushed your fingers through your hair. “Javier was my friend and that was his thing. Trust me, I even encouraged it.” 

“Encouraged it?”

“Yeah.” You shrugged. “We both encouraged each other to have a little fun.” Nights out at the bar with Javier had been some of your favorite memories from Colombia.

“But never with each other?”

“We worked together.” You rubbed at the back of your neck, fluffing your hair. “I was content with just being his friend.”

“You were content?”

“I mean… not always. But it was easier to go home with a stranger, rather than screw up a good thing.” You shrugged. “I know it’s hard to believe, but that was never really a problem for either of us. We were both very supportive of our extracurricular activities.” 

“But your opinion changed on that. Didn’t it? What changed?”

“It all happened so fast.” Though, maybe it had been a gradual slide towards something. “Steve left Colombia and I felt like my world was falling apart. I figured it was only a matter of time before Javier left too.” You admitted quietly. Reflecting back on that night, you now understood what you were feeling. You were lost and Javier was the only thing that made sense.

“So you slept with him?”

“I think that oversimplifies it. I think it was more like we both realized that life was short and sometimes it changes fast. Why delay the inevitable?” 

“So you believed that your relationship with Javier was inevitable?”

“I believed that we would eventually sleep together, yeah.” You hugged your arms around yourself, feeling exposed to Nancy. “Look, I wanted to stay. I wanted to tell him that I wanted more but… like I said, I knew all about the life he led. He wasn’t the relationship type. He had his hookers and.. I felt like I was no better than a one night stand.”

“But that wasn’t the case. Was it?”

You shook your head slowly. “No. I didn’t know that though. For three months I ran from him. It was fucking unbearable.” You rubbed at your forehead, “To have someone who means the world to you, but you just… you shut them out for your own sanity.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Because I was afraid.” Your shoulders sank. “I hardly looked at him for three months. And that was a feat. Our desks faced each other. I was fucking terrified that if I looked at him I would see just how little he really cared about me. That I was just some stupid woman that fell into bed with him.”

“Stupid?” Nancy questioned, furiously writing notes. “Why that word choice?”

“Because I felt stupid.” You rubbed at your eyes, sighing heavily. “There was so much love in the way he touched me that night and I just… I assumed it was how he was with everyone. He had a good reputation. Those women loved him. I’m sure I made a few hookers weep when I pulled him off the market.”

“And did he keep up his interactions with them after your relationship began?”

You frowned, sinking back against the sofa as you stared at her. “Yeah. But it was just for work. She was an informant of his. In his defense,  we weren’t even together. It happened while I was avoiding him.” You shook your head slowly. “But I think that eats at him. You should ask him about it.”

“Why?”

“Because I know how he felt. We’ve discussed that — all of this. This conversation has come up before. And I know that it’s one of the many things he still dwells on.” He dwelled on a lot of things about the past. Things that couldn’t be changed. 

“And why do you think that?”

“I just do.”

“Do you want him to dwell on it?”

“No! I want to move past all of that.” You chewed on your bottom lip. “I know you’re trying to find out if I’m jealous, but I’m not.” You told her earnestly. “You can even ask him. When there was this ridiculous rumor about him fucking a student — I knew he never would do that. I didn’t even consider it as truth. He was scared shitless that I would believe it, though. I know he loves me and I know he loves our family. That isn’t something I worry about.” 

“Interesting.” She nodded approvingly, turning the page. “What drew you to Javier?”

“Day one... I felt this kinship with him. He really challenged me, which I appreciated. I think I did the same for him.” You rubbed your hands together slowly. “He was a jackass and he was handsome. It was a fatal combination.”

“Fatal?”

“I just mean…” You laughed. “He was definitely my type.”

“You’ve mentioned your previous relationship before. Was he anything like Javier?”

“Complete opposite. He had a terribly dry sense of humor, he was very straight-laced, and physically night and day with Javier.”

“How was your relationship with him?”

“I was bored.”

“How long were you with him?”

“Nearly a year I guess.” It probably said something about you that you didn’t know how long you dated Lance. “We broke up because he wanted me to leave Colombia with him. I couldn’t even picture it. My life was there. I was happy.”

“Was?”

“I am happy.” You assured her. “Javier and the girls are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Nancy nodded her head slowly. “In our first session you mentioned Javier’s guilt. What is it about the way he dwells on things that frustrates you?”

Oh, you hated the way she took everything you said and presented it back to you. 

“Javier has convinced himself that he’s not a good guy. There was a lot of shit went down in Colombia. Stuff I can’t really talk about.” People who died, people who were killed. Shit that weighed heavily on both of you. “But he carries a lot of that with him. Constantly.” You pinched the bridge of your nose and sighed. “And I don’t know how to help him do that. I’ve tried.”

“That didn’t answer my question. Why does that frustrate you?”

You blinked. “Because I know that he’s a good man. He’s an incredible father, the best partner I could ever imagine, and his students adore him despite how hard he is on them. He’s caring, loyal, passionate. He’s always been all in with me. But he lets things get under his skin and eat at him. Anything that goes wrong is instantly his fault. I mean, the garbage disposal could break and somehow he’d rationalize that it's his fault. That he didn’t think of it last week.”

“Why do you think Javier does that?”

“I’m hoping you’ll help him figure that out.”

Nancy’s brows rose upwards as she stared at you. “But this isn’t just about him.”

You dragged your fingers through your hair, sighing heavily. “No, it’s not.” You glanced towards the window, brows furrowed. “I’ve always had this theory… And it’s just a theory.” You glanced back at her then. “His mom died when he was young. Sofía is named after her.”

“I see.”

“I think sometimes that he is overcompensating because he has had such a complicated relationship with women throughout his life. Starting with his mother dying.”

“Why do you think that?”

“This thing we have is the most serious relationship either of us has ever been in. He was engaged once before, back when he was much younger. He left her at the altar.” You grimaced. “I know that there is a part of me that worries that the only reason we ended up in a relationship is because of Josie. That he’s still here because he wants to do right by our girls. But I know that isn’t true. Josie didn’t make us love each other, we already loved each other. She was just the linchpin that made us own up to it.” 

“So why the worry?”

“Because I still catch myself feeling like that stupid girl who did the walk of shame out of the apartment of the man she loved. Who felt stupid for weeks and months, even after things were good between us.” You covered your face then. “I think I’m still waiting for the day that he leaves me at the proverbial altar.” 

“And how long have you been together?”

“Five years.”

“Has he ever given you a reason to think he’s going to leave you?”

You shook your head. “My only reasons for even thinking that it could happen are my own. He is incredibly committed to our family. He’d do anything for us.”

“Then why do you feel that way?”

You wiped away a tear as it slid down your cheek. “Because I love him and I don’t want to lose him. We have been through so much. And frankly…” You laughed softly. “The thought of doing any of this on my own makes me sick to my stomach. He keeps me grounded. And he has for ten years.”

Nancy nodded slowly. “Why do you think you both struggle to communicate?”

“Because we both want to protect each other.” You chewed on your bottom lip. “And sometimes we are protecting each other from ourselves.”

“An astute observation.” She took a few more notes before closing her notebook and leaning back in her chair. “I think we made progress today.” 

“I thought we’d talk more about me.” You admitted, wringing your hands together.

“Is there something that’s on your mind?”

“Not really,” You pressed your tongue to the inside of your cheek, brows furrowed. “But you’re right. I felt like I made progress this week.”

Nancy opened her notebook again and wrote something down. “And why do you think that is?”

“Well, writing things down has really helped. It’s nice to have something to reflect on when I feel like everything is falling apart. I mean, I couldn’t get Sofía to settle at all on Thursday. I ended up having to pump because she refused to latch on.” You frowned at the memory. “I felt like shit. But I looked back on Monday and Tuesday which were really good days.”

“You’re not going to have an overnight success. You went through a deeply traumatic experience.” Nancy reminded you with an even voice. “What you’re going through is understandable. We’re going to work together to give you the tools to overcome this.” 

“Also,” You laughed with a roll of your eyes. “Javier wanted to make sure I told you that he’s doing his homework.” 

“And how has that helped you?” Nancy arched a brow.

You chewed on your bottom lip, trying to ignore the way you felt heat rush to your cheeks. “I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s not even about the sex. It’s the closeness I crave. The attention.” You laughed nervously. “So thank you for encouraging him to do whatever you encouraged him to do.” 

“Intimacy is a vital part of a relationship.” Nancy explained, “Even if it is as simple as holding hands. It keeps you connected to each other. Keep working on that until your next session. Focus on documenting the good things that happen.” 

 ———

 “How did it go?” Javier questioned as you slid into the passenger seat. 

“I think it went well.” You shrugged, glancing into the backseat. “Did you have fun at preschool today, Josie?”

“We did some math today.” She told you with a grimace. 

“She had an issue.” Javier explained, reaching over to give your leg a squeeze. 

“Oh no. What happened, sweetheart?”

“They had us counting with candy!” Josie said excitedly, though her expression faltered. “She had us subtractate-“

“Subtract.” You corrected 

“Subtract three candies.” She stared down at her hands bashfully. “And when she said to put one back I couldn’t.”

Javier whispered, “She ate them.”

You snorted, trying to keep composed. “And then what happened?”

“I cried.”

“I had to talk to the teacher. It’s fine.” He assured you. 

“Did she say you could eat the candies?”

“She didn’t say I couldn’t.”

Javier chuckled, rubbing his thumb over your leg. “She’s your daughter.”

“Always looking for a loophole.” You shrugged. “That’s okay Josie. It happens.”

“I know mommy.” Josie pursed her lips, looking rather dejected about the whole thing. 

You reached back and gave her hand a squeeze. “Now you know not to eat them in the future.” 

She nodded her head and clasped her hands around your hand. “I told sissy not to eat the candies when she goes to school too.”

“And what did she say?”

“She just stared at me.” Josie looked at her sister, brows furrowed. “She doesn’t like to talk yet.” 

“That’s because she’s a little baby, JoJo.” Javier told her, looking back at them in the rearview mirror. “Remember what we talked about?” 

“I remember.” 

“What did you talk about?” You questioned, settling back against your seat as you looked at Javier. 

“Josie was very disappointed that Sofía wasn’t fun. She’s used to Olivia and Emily. So we had a nice conversation about how she’s the big sister and she has to help us take care of Sofía until she’s bigger.” 

“Daddy said sissy is like a puppy and I’m a big dog.” 

“You called our daughter a puppy?” You slapped his leg playfully. 

“I had to use terms she understood.” 

You scrunched up your nose, “I suppose that’s excusable.” 

As Javier slowed down for a stoplight, he reached over and took your hand into his, interlacing your fingers. “Did you tell her I was doing my homework.”

You squeezed his hand and laughed. “Seriously?” You grinned at him. “Don’t worry it was discussed. In fact, you were the topic of most of the session.”

“I was?” His brows drew together. 

You nodded your head slowly, “You were indeed.” 

Javier clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Should I be worried?”

“No.” You reassured him, rubbing your thumb over his knuckles. “It helped me realize some stuff. Crap I’ve been holding onto for too long.” He definitely wasn’t the only one who hauled around shit from the past. “I think we’re going to come out of this better than before.” 

“I hope so.” Javier squeezed your hand three short pulses, before he had to let go to drive the car. “How does ice cream sound?” 

“I thought you’d never ask.” You grinned, reaching over to steal the aviators off his face, leaning across the center console to press a kiss to his cheek. 

“Thief.” 

“And proud.” You said smugly, pushing the glasses up the bridge of your nose. 

You definitely had worries about your relationship, worries that you had neatly compartmentalized and tried to pretend them away. And maybe that showed. Maybe that was why it was so easy for Javier to believe you were done with your relationship, because he’d seen the cracks in the facade along the way. 

You had always prided yourself on believing that you didn’t hide anything from Javier, but the truth was you were hiding things from yourself. 

[koinoyokvn]

*  /  𝐈 𝐍 𝐓 𝐑 𝐎 𝐃 𝐔 𝐂 𝐓 𝐈 𝐎 𝐍

* JOSHUA HONG, CISMALE + HE/HIM  | you know CHANHEE ‘SOUR PATCH’ BAN, right? they’re TWENTY-TWO, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, THIRTEEN YEARS? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to OCEAN DRIVE BY DUKE DUMONT like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole glitter stippled onto his cheeks, swinging at the playground at midnight & neon lights at a nightclub thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is july 1st, so they’re a cancer, which is unsurprising, all things considered.

hewwo everyone !! i’m kacchan n i, personally, am a bit of an idiot but !! do not let that distract u from the fact that i hav a few fun muses to write w !! i’ve been out of the rp scene for about a year but i’ve been spurred by rekindled inspiration !! i’m rlly excited to meet everyone n i hope we can get some delicious plots n connections that r chef’s kiss <3 

trigger warnings: death tw, fire tw, alcohol tw

*  /  𝐁 𝐀 𝐒 𝐈 𝐂 𝐒

hair: blackest brown

eyes: chestunut brown

build: slim & active

height: 5′9″ or 177 cm

weight: 127 lbs or 58 kg

distinguishing features: two lobe piercings on each ear, three helix piercings on each ear, an industrial piercing on his right ear, and a small tattoo with the roman numerals “XXIX - MMIX” written on his left wrist

distinguishing style: pastel colours & sparkling pieces make up most of his fashion, very bright jackets and very blushed makeup, designer outfits when he’s told to be on his best behaviour

*  /  𝐇 𝐈 𝐒 𝐓 𝐎𝐑 𝐘

chanhee was born along the coast of north carolina, though not quite irving. he was born to a head butler and head nanny of a wealthy estate on irving. very old money, invested in the surrounding agriculture and lumber of the area. his parents were live-in employees, constantly tending to the estate. chanhee lived on the estate as an infant but, as soon as he was old enough to go to school, he lived with his aunt in the city he was born in and only spent summers on the estate.

his mother was kind and charming, graceful with the way she tended to the children of the wealthy family. she always had stories and was filled with compassion. his father was surly and deadpan, a cynical man that always saw the worst in things. but it’s his cynicism that allowed him to thrive as the butler, as he feared the worst, he prepared for it, and all his father’s plans would turn out seamless. chanhee loved the summers. he loved spending every day with his parents. when he was at school, he told everyone that he would become the head butler of the estate just like his father. the family career, so to speak.

chanhee quickly befriended the children of the estate. when they would go to tutors, he would go to the laundry rooms and the gardens. but whenever it was free time, he was stuck to their side. he would join them on their fishing adventures and beach escapades, but he didn’t know much about irving beyond the estate. he was just a visitor, a tourist, every time he would go downtown. 

he though life would always be like this. going to school and being with his aunt during the winter, and enjoying every moment of the day during the summer. and when he would finish school, he would move to irving and work under his father’s eyes. that was his destiny... only, it wasn’t.

his father loved stage plays. it was the only thing that could make him smile, other than his family. when chanhee was 10, he was having a “sleepover” with the children of the estate while his parents took the night off. they drove to chanhee’s hometown, met with his father’s sister, and they all went to a stage play. but they didn’t come home. the theatre caught on fire and the building was brought down. eight casualties, three of them being chanhee’s mother, father, and aunt. chanhee wasn’t the wiser until the next morning.

chanhee had no grandparents. his aunt was his only immediate family. he had an uncle from his grandmother’s brother in korea. the only extended family he had. chanhee... to go all the way to korea? and if his uncle was contacted and said no, he would be placed into the foster system. this wasn’t supposed to be the way his life panned out. he was supposed to be the head butler of the estate, wasn’t he?

the wealthy wife hadn’t stopped crying since the funeral. and the wealthy husband, holed up in his study and only coming out to get more drinks, muttering how he only trusted chanhee’s father to hand him things. the wealthy family was mourning, too. while chanhee’s custody was in limbo, he was staying with the wealthy family. an act of compassion brought him to hold the wealthy wife and weep with her, telling her that everything would be okay because his parents are still in every inch of the house. they made their life here and that can’t be taken away. very profound words and chanhee was speaking each from the memory of his mother and what she would always say. that was it!

the next weeks were getting the paperwork settled. the uncle from korea was never contacted. instead, the wealthy family adopted chanhee as their own. that way, chanhee would never be far from what he knows and the wealthy family would have always have his parents’ spirit with them. chanhee was now a permanent residence of irving. he was allowed to keep his surname, a request from chanhee himself. 

the transition was a little rocky. chanhee would always drift away from his lessons to help around the estate and get caught by his tutors, disciplined for being tardy or absent. he was critical of food being cooked for him as he learned how to cook quite young and would always help his parents. this transition created a sort of dependency on chanhee’s favourite treats: sour patch kids. he would always have a bag near or around him. when he was upset, some would be brought to him. it got to the point where his newly adopted siblings would call him “sour patch”. eventually, the nickname stuck and never left. he was now sour patch ban, newfound heir. 

he never meant to be unruly. but when his troublemaker sister asked him to join her on a party, he couldn’t let her go alone. he wouldn’t be a very good brother if that were the case. it quickly escalated, however, once he let alcohol into his system. soon, it was him and his sister, sneaking out every weekend to find trouble. high school was spent falling asleep in classes but doing stellar on tests and assignments, many thanks to private tutors. it was spent dreading his extracurriculars, though it helped him learn how to play piano, guitar, and the drums. he was also a talented singer, though he does get a bad case of stage fright if he’s asked to sing in front of a crowd.

now that he’s graduated high school, he’s kind of drifting. not sure where he wants to go or what to do. his parents always assured him that he would be loved and taken care of no matter what he decided to do. so for now, he takes a lax business course at the university, just to say he’s trying. otherwise, he’s out on the town, drinking and smoking and laughing and playing away. sometimes he thinks about making his music career, even joining a band with his friends, and maybe making that his life. but something always gripes about him, how that estate is supposed to be his life. anything beyond it almost seems... inauthentic. is that why he spends so much time drinking? never committing to anything? hm, who knows.

*  /  𝐏 𝐄 𝐑 𝐒 𝐎 𝐍 𝐀 𝐋 𝐈 𝐓 𝐘

sour patch is definitely someone who tries to make everyone around him smile. he’s kind, affable, super sweet, and thoughtful. he makes an effort to remember the small things people tell him. he’s a bit of an over-analyzer this way, trying to figure out what people want. his motif is to always help people.

but that’s not to say he doesn’t have problems of his own. he’s scared of commitment in any regard and he hides his true feelings quite a lot. he doesn’t want to seem a burden or something to invoke pity, so he never lets on how much something hurts him. he’s quite emotional and can cry at the drop of a pin. he just invests a lot of himself into other people and, of course, that never bodes well.

he’s also a huge romantic. now, mix that with his commitment issues and his mask-wearing, it’s not a pretty trait of his. he has a tendency to fall in love with anyone who shows him a remote kindness. he scoops up opportunities to be intimate while he’s partying because they simulate true affection just enough for him to get addicted to it. but, he’s sensitive and noncommittal, so he can fall out of love just as easily.

*  /  𝐂 𝐎 𝐍 𝐍 𝐄 𝐂 𝐓 𝐈 𝐎 𝐍 𝐒

save your tears — sour patch went all in with his chips with this relationship. he really thought that he could unlearn his life of flimsy whimsical habits. but, that’s not the only thing that’s stopping him from being a good partner. maybe it was the nonstop drinking, the hesitancy to show vulnerability, or his inability to get out of his daydreams. but it fell apart. sour patch never stopped caring about this person, however, and he wants to try and be better for them. but will they let him? ( 0/1 )

banana brain — sour patch isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. although he’s always kind to everyone, he can come off ingenuine. however, he’s determined to be this person’s friend. he feels like he can help them, even though he knows that his presence is unwanted. extravagant gifts, surprise visits, the whole shebang. sour patch is persistent even though it’s a futile mission. ( 0/3 )

i wonder — the current pinnacle of sour patch’s affections. maybe this person is a classmate, or a regular at one of his regular spots too, or just happened to perform a random act of kindness. sour patch is quite the romantic individual and overthinks any minute interaction. this is amped up with this person. be prepared. i would prefer if this is unrequited but we can see how it goes, too! ( 0/1 )

eyes closed — sour patch is using this person to distract himself from something he can’t attain. does this person know that? well, only time can tell. it’s hard to see beyond sour patch’s masks sometimes. maybe it’s mutual and this person is also distracting themself from something else. however, it almost feels real. every touch and whisper. it’s just missing some sort of spark. that inescapable romantic ideal that it’s meant to be. ( 0/1 )

SPECIAL MENTIONS: sour patch adores having friends and is a very social creature, he wants to be close with everyone. sour patch also has his share of one night stands and drunken encounters, and not all of them are good. these connections won’t have limits because i’m a fiend for friends/fwb/rivals. 

[okwillthewise]

In absolute honour of Will Byers birthday though also because i just really want to post a section of it I'm posting a section - though to be honest, it's a oneshot in itself - of my Will Byers fanfic wonder if he'll ever know.

In this section, Will knocks on Jonathan's door one night after The Snowball and they have a little discussion.

(It's still a little bit of a work in progress, so somethings may change but there we go. I hope you enjoy!)

It’s not particularly late though it’s not particularly early either when he knocks on his brother’s bedroom door and Will hopes that Nancy isn’t here tonight. They’re home alone this evening, their mom visiting Hopper and El at the cabin. She’d been visiting a lot since her arrival to their house in November (not that Will was remotely aware of that El had done so) insisting that there was no reason she couldn’t give Hopper some help now that the secret is out. El still wasn’t allowed anywhere but the cabin - The Snowball being an exception to the rule - so Will hadn’t had much interaction with her, though he supposed that he was content to learn about how she’s doing and what’s she’s like from The Party and his mom for now. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see her, but more that he was increasingly aware that El wasn’t his friend, not really. He didn’t have the shared experience that she did with his friends, despite their lives being so closely intertwined and, if he’s being honest with himself, right now he’s not sure if it’s something that he’s longing for.

“She does want to talk to you. Properly. I think you’d really like her”

Mike often said after his secret visits to the cabin. And Will is sure he would but for now, he’d nod, listen to Mike sing her praises and subtly suggest that maybe they could do something else now.

On the subject of secret visits, Will wondered if maybe his brother was the only one that wasn’t aware that the household knew of the, now regular, nighttime visits of Nancy Wheeler. It seemed to happen all of a sudden if he thinks about it - somewhere between possession and The Snowball just a few days prior, he can’t quite pinpoint when. Did I really miss that much? It was odd to think about - just as it was odd to consider that maybe this time it was over.

There haven’t been any surprise blips into the Upside Down either.

So did this mean they could move on? He guesses it did, his friends were clearly doing as much and he was happy for them, he was. Maybe it was selfish but it felt weird seeing them move on from everything - or maybe everyone’s actions at The Snowball being something to latch onto in an attempt to say ‘Look! See! We’re fine! Everything's a-okay’

There’s no answer from Jonathan, his music a little too loud. Maybe Nancy is there, gross.

“Jonathan? Can I talk to you - (and please say you’re alone) -” He knocks again, and puts his ear to the door. He hears the music soften, the shuffling of papers and Will exhales knowing it’s just him. He doesn’t have a plan, not really, and part of him wonders if just maybe he wishes Jonathan were busy with something.

“Hey.” his brother pulls open the door fully, leaning against the frame, “You ok, bud?”

Will nods, raising an eyebrow at his casual pose “Are you?”

“What? Yeah, of course I am. Want to come in?”

With no affirmation, Will enters his brother’s room, taking everything in - his record player playing David Bowie, the poster decorated yellow walls. Jonathan’s room, just like Castle Byers was a safe space, if he thought about it maybe safer than his own. Through everything with their dad, readjusting after The Upside Down, the one thing that had remained consistent was his brother, and for that he he was grateful.

“I’ve got some really good photos from the dance - stayed late in the dark room the other day after school. Want to see?”

“You willingly stayed past school hours just to process some photos?” Will smirks, pushing himself onto Jonathan’s bed a little further, now more situated in the middle, and crossing his legs. “Haven’t you got anything better to do?”

“Hey, I used it to process some of ours too. My life isn’t just extracurricular.” He laughs before his expression turns to one more serious. “I remembered, on my camera I took a few of mom and - well, you know. I’m not sure if she’d want them after everything but it’s coming up to Christmas and - I don’t know, it might be a bit too soon. What do you think?”

Bob Newby: Superhero.

There’s an indescribable guilt that Will feels he can’t shake, not really. It was peculiar; he knows it wasn’t really him at least that’s what they’re telling me but there’s this part of him that can’t shake the feeling that it was. Him in mind but Will in body; who was in control really? He was in control enough to tell his mom that he was sorry, in control enough to tell them to leave, in control enough to know what you did. His mom has spoken with him about it since, as much as she could (and as much as Will would let her). He didn’t like to hear her talk about Bob, not just for himself but her too - his mom’s smile never quite meeting her eyes whenever she mentions the good times and the crack in her voice in casual conversation. Yet, despite her reassurances that -“It wasn’t you. It was that thing inside you”

He sometimes wondered if there wasn’t even just a few times in which she felt differently.

Jonathan asks again, concern now laced on his face and Will becomes increasingly aware that maybe he let down that guard just a little too much.

“I- I don’t know. It’s not the easiest subject for mom right now-”

Jonathan hums in response, picking up the photos from his desk and joining Will on the bed.

“-but maybe her birthday? He filmed loads on his video camera. We might be able to give her both?”

And Jonathan smiles, simply saying “Sounds great Will”

Jonathan looks down at the photos in his hand, shuffling them a few times before passing them over to Will, “Here. I’ve got some great ones of you and that girl” he nudges him and Will grimaces.

She was nice enough, well nice enough for someone that called him Zombie Boy as a means of getting him to dance with her. He studies the photo, zoning in more than anything at the expression on his face - he doesn’t look uncomfortable per se, but there’s a definite underlying feeling of ‘I want to be anywhere but here’. He switches the photo, flicking through and Will thinks back to the day, thinks back to looking around the almost unrecognisable school gym and seeing his friends so happy - Dustin grinning though there’s an almost bewildered look on his face as he holds onto Nancy’s waist; Lucas giving him a waggle of his eyebrows as he catches Will’s eye as he dances with Max, her head on his shoulder; Mike, resting his forehead against El’s, a stupid look on their faces.

And then there’s Will, arms outstretched, loosely placed on the girls hips, her hands firmly on his shoulders.

-

“Hey, Zombie Boy?” - It’s Will - she’d said a few minutes into Every Breath You Take. “This is fun, right?”

“Um - yeah, sure” Will had replied, forcing a grin. His eyes flicker to his friends again before his focus is immediately pulled back to the girl in front of him, her face edging nearer to his own.

Oh god. Is she? Um.

He’d felt frozen, as her eyelids fluttered, beginning to close, edging ever more closer towards him. You could just get it over with is one of many thoughts spiralling around his mind. Get it done and then that’s it. He looks over to Mike, his eyes still on El, only El, then to Lucas who’s now attempting to flirt (“wow stalker, what a line”). Sighing, about to pull his attention back to the girl, there’s Dustin, giving him a look he can’t quite decipher. Will didn’t know what he expected, after Mike’s heavy encouragement to dance with her earlier, but as Dustin’s eyebrows furrow, he knows his answer.

-

“I said no” Will mutters as he reaches another picture of himself, this time in mid-conversation with Mike and Lucas. “Should I have said no?”

“Kind of hard to answer that if I don’t know the question”

He snorts, placing the photos down next to him on the bed - between himself and Jonathan . Will shifts slightly, one leg on the bed, so he can face Jonathan a little more. “She tried to kiss me. I said no. Should I have said yes?”

“Did you want to?”

“I don’t know. Everyone else was doing it” Will shrugs, pushing the photos closer to his brother, who picks them up and shuffles through, until he’s back and the picture of Will dancing with the girl.

“Who’s everyone?”

“Mike and Lucas - don’t worry, Dustin didn’t try anything with Nancy”

Jonathan gives him an incredulous look, “Will, I am not worried about Dustin dancing with my girlfriend” he scoffs - so he finally admits it - “Besides, I’m pretty sure Mike and Lucas don’t count as everyone”

“You know what I mean”

Jonathan sighs standing from the bed. Will watches as he puts the photos down on the desk before picking up a vinyl and slipping it out of the case. He takes the disc and slots it into place on his record player, carefully placing down the needle. Jonathan picks up the, now empty, sleeve once again, showing it to Will. “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust? I know you like this record” and Will just nods.

Five Years rings out and Jonathan makes his way back, and takes to sitting cross legged on the bed, now fully facing Will.

“Do you remember what I said? It was a few years ago now, but do you remember?”

“Kind of hard to answer if I don’t know what you’re talking about” Will throws back, echoing his brother’s earlier remark who simply rolls his eye in response, though a smile is evident on his face.

“You shouldn’t like things because people tell you you’re supposed to. I know it’s not completely the same but it works. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do Will, or feel like you should be doing something just because everyone else is. If no-one else was doing it, would you have kissed her?”

“No, I don’t think so, no.”

“And that’s fine.” Jonathan reaches out and places a reassuring hand on Will’s shoulder squeezing it slightly.

Bowie’s vocals ring out throughout the room and Will can’t help but really take in the lyrics. People, places, all caught up in time, the end of days and he can’t help but draw comparisons to what they’d all been through. A Soldier with a broken arm, the nobody people, the somebody people, if Will’s being honest, he doesn’t quite know who he is. Nothing quite fits into place. But he wonders if maybe that’s ok for now, it’s ok knowing some things and not others. He’s still got time.

More than Five Years anyway.

“You ok, bud?”

“Yeah, of course. Just thinking about things.”

[veioviswilliams]

HPHM OC: Veiovis Williams

Name: Veiovis Williams

Nicknames: Veio, Pip, Vei, Will

Name Meaning: from Vejovis, was a Roman god of Etruscan origin, said to be one of the first gods to be born.

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Bisexual

Age: 15 (year 5)

         17 (year 7)

         22 (became an Auror)

Birthday: 10/24/1972

Zodiac: Scorpio

Blood Status: Half-blood

Ethnicity/Nationality: Yellow, half Vietnamese half American

Language: Vietnamese, English, 

Appearance

Body:

Height: 170cm (5′5′’)

Weight: 50kg (110.2 lbs)

Eyes: light sky blue 

Hair: Short white

Skin tone: Tanned

Misc: wear glasses when study; have a burn on the left hand at 20 when played with dragon

Material Items:

Clothing: usually oversized clothes, basketball sneakers and not fond in wearing dress, skirt.

Accessories: a silver bracelet, a dragon necklace from Charlie and a Golden Snitch pin from Murphy.

In their school bag: sketchbook, notebook, lots of pencil and eraser, an old Walkman, a comb, a scissors, her wand and hair bands, an Invisibility Cloak

Personality

Traits: 

+  Reliable, kindness, intelligent, humorous

+/— Sarcastic, calm, tight-lipped

— Cruel (sometimes), mischievous (when with Tulip and Tonks), overprotective, workaholic, blame everything to herself

Description:

Veiovis is the type of people that cold outside but warm inside. She care really deep about her friends, sometimes can be overprotective due to the lost of her brother Jacob. Not very talkative with outsider, only start to talk when she sit with her friends or when need. She is kinda lack of optimism and fall into depression after Rowan’s death. Veiovis is like a listener, a secret holder to others and she is tight-lipped when they asked about other secret. Feel angry and offended when someone talks bad about her friend and ready to punch them although her friends aren’t cares much about it.

Other:

Likes: drawing, reading about Dark Arts and Magical Creatures, duelling with friends, fly on broom and sing at the commentary at Quidditch pitch with Murphy

Dislikes: cockroaches, bullies, too talkative (except for Tonks and Tulip)

MBTI: INTJ

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Hogwarts

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

OWL Classes:

Astronomy: Exceed Expectations

Charms: Outstanding

DADA: Outstanding

Flying:  Exceed Expectations

Herbology: Exceed Expectations

History of Magic: Acceptable

Potions: Exceed Expectations

Transfiguration: Exceed Expectations

OWL Electives:

Care of Magical Creatures: Exceed Expectations

Muggle Studies: Exceed Expectations  

Study of Ancient Runes:  Outstanding

NEWT Classes:

Charms: Outstanding

DADA: Outstanding

Herbology: Exceed Expectations

Potions: Outstanding

Transfiguration: Exceed Expectations

Extracurriculars:

Clubs: Dragon Club

Quidditch: Beater from 4th year to 6th year

Prefect or Head Boy/Girl: None, lack of performance and duties

Best Classes:

Defence Againts the Dark Arts: Veiovis’s desire make her have to do her best at DADA in order to become an Auror

Worst Classes:

HIstory of Magic: Veiovis is bad at remember date and year

Favorite Professors:

Professor Flitwick: Always cheer Veiovis in testing new spells and care about her after Rowan’s death (well he is Head of Ravenclaw so...)

Least Favorite Professors:

Madam Rakepick: everyone already know why

Magic

1st Wand: Laurel wood with a dragon heartstring core, 12 ½" and solid flexibility

Laural wood: 

• It is said that a laurel wand cannot perform a dishonorable act, although Ollivander has known them to perform powerful and sometimes lethal magic in the quest for glory.

• Seems unable to tolerate laziness in a possessor, and in such conditions, it is most easily and willingly worn away.

• Otherwise it will cleave happily to its first match forever and can issue a spontaneous lightning strike if another witch or wizard attempts to steal it.

Dragon Heartstrings: As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner.The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.

2nd Wand: Vine wood with a phoenix feather core, 12 ½" and solid flexibility

Vine wood:

• Owners are nearly always those who seek a greater purpose, who have a vision beyond the ordinary and who frequently astound those who think they know them best.

• Vine wands seem strongly attracted to personalities with hidden depths and are more sensitive than any other when it comes to instantly detecting a prospective match.

• Reliable sources claim that vine wands emit magical effects upon the mere entrance into their room of a suitable owner.

Phoenix feather: Phoenix feathers are capable of the greatest range of magic, though they may take longer than either unicorn or dragon cores to reveal this. They show the most initiative, sometimes acting of their own accord, a quality that many witches and wizards dislike. Phoenix feather wands are always the pickiest when it comes to potential owners, for the creature from which they are taken is one of the most independent and detached in the world. These wands are the hardest to tame and to personalise, and their allegiance is usually hard won.

Special Abilities: 

Animagus: Cheetah

Legilimency 

Somehow understand what the dragon said (only Charlie know)

Boggart

Form: Jacob become Death Eater and kill her friends

Riddikulus: Jacob is wearing his lame pyjama and a sunglasses, vibing when listening to his music

Amortentia:

What they smell: vanilla, burning wood, smell of grass, rain and sunlight

What they smell like to others: chocolate with mint and smell of rain, sandalwood smell

Patronus

Form: Formerly a cheetah, later change to a dragon

Memory: Veiovis with her brother Jacob sitting next to each other, eating chocolate frogs and listening to music together; Veiovis shared Christmas with the Weasley at the Burrow

What they see in the Mirror of Erised: Standing with all of her friends, Jacob and family, happily together.

FAMILY

Father: Siegmund Williams (deceased) (1940-1979)

Her father is American pure-blood, live at Scotland. Graduated Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, worked as a Healer and help a community of Muggle-born outcasts. Met Mai when shopping, fall in love with her and followed her home (not trying to stalked). After many attempts, finally they got married. Died in a car accident, after Jacob disappeared for 1 year.

Mother: Mai Williams (deceased) (1940-1972)

Her mother is Vietnamese and study aboard at England. She is a muggle, worked at a small hospital as a doctor and later, she moved to Scotland and nursing old people at an aged care center. At there, she met Siegmund wanderer around, trying to find an opportunity to talk to her. After many attempts, finally they got married. Died when give birth to Veiovis.

Brother: Jacob Williams (1967 - now)

Hard headed and hot-tempered, like to solve mystery and get evolved in troubles. Got expelled at 4th year after a very serious case that cause death to his friend, Duncan Ashe. Wandered to find “R” and got assassinated, escaped death but gone blind (his right eye). Discovered the Buried Vault but trapped in a portrait for 4 years. After being saved, works as Curse-breaker for Gringotts Bank.

Pets:

A cat named Ginger and a toad named Will

FRIENDS

Best Friends:

Rowan Khanna: Veiovis’s first friend in her life. Always by Veiovis’s side and go everywhere with her. The first person actually loved her after her father’s death.

Good Friends:

Bill Weasley: brother figure to Veiovis since Jacob disappeared. Always want his attention and look up at him. Likes to make fun of his hair

Fred and George: plays mischief and break rules together

Penny Haywood: Brew Potions and talks about school rumors, girl stuff, etc... 

Ben Cooper: overprotective for first 4th year, later become her bodyguard although Veiovis still didn’t know why

Murphy McNully: sing with Veiovis at the Commentary, explain rules and strategies, support her dream to become Auror when Veiovis left the Quidditch team.

Nymphadora Tonks: taught the Patronus Charm, worked together as Aurors, later teach Teddy (Tonks’s son) Charms.

Friends:

Badeea Ali: invented and researched spells together.

Chiara Lobosca: help her to become Healer, have each other’s secrets.

Chester Davies: used to be Ravenclaw’s Perfect, still scold Veiovis even they graduated Hogwarts long times ago (his instinct when lose House Points)

Barnaby Lee: became friend right after Barnaby took a curse for Veiovis, both have interest in Magical Creatures

Cedric Diggory: help him with his homeworks

Diego Caplan: dance with him when they want

Percy Weasley: remind her of some of school rules

Tulip Karasu: searched the Cursed Vaults together, sit next to each other after Rowan died

It’s Complicated:

Merula Snyde: not that hate but not that close, have interested why Merula care so much about the Cursed Vaults.

Love Interests:

Charlie Weasley: really like his expression and smile when talks about dragon although Charlie doesn’t realize. Right before Charlie went to Romania, Veiovis expressed her love. Love from afar until now. 

Dormmates:

Rowan Khanna: After her death, Veiovis stayed alone

Doesn’t Interact:

Ismela Murk: no interest in talking

Enemies:

R, Madam Rakepick, Death Eaters, Voldemort,...

Story

Childhood:

Born in Vietnam, live in Scotland with her dad and Jacob until she became an orphan. Stayed with her dad’s friend who actually doesn’t need her, only care about her money. Learn Vietnamese through books and Jacob’s Walkman. Right before she attended Hogwarts, she took all of her money with her, left house right away, never came back.

Hogwarts:

During Hogwarts, Veiovis shows no interest in making many friends but life slapped at her face. Began to search the Cursed Vault in year 1, gone through many things and broke the last Vault, save Hogwarts. Fall into depression after Rowan’s death and after the last Vault but with her friend's help, she successful surpassed it.

Adulthood:

Become Auror and works with Tonks. 

Miscellaneous

Song that usually sing with Murphy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRfmrE0ToTo

Listens to all kind of music

Likely to hit a Bludger at whom she hates

When angry, Veiovis will fight with Muggle-style (punch in their face)

[slywrites]

“Aren’t we supposed to be working?” & “Okay, so maybe I didn’t see that coming.” with Chris Redfield? Maybe like a competition or something during a slow day at work? (Am I basing this off of Brooklyn Nine Nine? Yes I am) S.T.A.R.S era please? Seriously congrats on 100 Sly! 💛

Ness, this.....became a whole lot longer than I expected. I hope you enjoy this bc I had a lot of fun writing it!! Thank you <3 I cant believe I’ve made this milestone I’m so happy :D 

I also might be writing a BSAA Chris one as well bc I love Chris 

Warning: cussing and fluff 

prompts from this post

Chris kicked the S.T.A.R.S. office door open, the sound of the wood slamming against the wall startled you. You scanned the rest of the office. Brad, Barry, and Jill continued on like nothing had happened. As soon as the door closed, everyone closed the files they were reading and turned to Chris who stood triumphant in front of the door. You noticed he had set a large duffle bag on the ground. You were the only one that was visibly confused and Chris took notice. He gave you a brief nod then turned to the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. team.

“It’s cluster meeting day,” Chris smiled, “Once a year, all leadership in the department are whisked away to an all day meeting. Usually, Wesker has us catch up with case files, but we use it for more extracurricular activities.”

Jill turned to you, as her desk was across from yours, “We call it team building.”

“But aren’t we supposed to be working?” You questioned.

“We work every other day of the year, this is our one day to strictly not do work and have fun,” Chris smiled and winked at you, “You’ll enjoy it.”

You nodded, “Okay, um, what kind of activities do you do?”

“All sorts of things,” Barry interjected, “Last year we sumo wrestled in the bomb squad gear.”

You chuckled at the thought of seeing that.

“Did we do taser darts last year or the year before?” Jill asked.

You mouthed ‘taser darts’ to yourself both curious about what that meant and not wanting to know at the same time.

“Year before,” Brad answered at his console behind you.

What were you about to get yourself into?

“We leave coming up with the games to Chris,” Jill smiled, “So what’s in the bag Redfield?”

“Well, Valentine you’ll just have to wait and find out.”

Jill leaned back into her chair and watched Chris intently. Chris only smiled and checked his watch before the office door opened up behind him. Rebecca Chambers from Bravo squad walked in with a shy smile on her face.

Chris turned, “Right on time, Becca.”

Everyone gave Rebecca a ‘hello’ as she stood next to Chris.

“This year won’t be a physical challenge like before. Rebecca wanted to help, so I put her in charge of our very first scavenger hunt.”

“You don’t know what’s in the bags do you?” Jill smirked.

“Not a damn clue,” Chris returned the smirk and moved to his desk, “Take it away Becca.”

You had only interacted with Rebecca a few times. Since she was on Bravo team, you two just naturally worked opposite shifts. But in the times you have talked with her, she’s always been so lovely and kind. She stood where Chris was and unzipped the bags on the ground. Inside the large bag were three smaller ones.

“There will be three teams consisting of two people each. Each team will get one bag. You all have different clues and items you’ll need to receive and put in your respective bags. There will be four items for each team. Whoever gets back to this office with all their items first, wins,” Becca smiled then she pulled out a small box from the bag, “To make it fair, the teams will be picked at random.”

Rebecca walked up to you and held the box out. You stuck your hand in the precut hole and felt ping pong balls. They all felt relatively the same as your hand grasped one and pulled.

“Hey, looks like I’m number one,” you joked and showed the ball with a one written on it in permanent marker to the rest of the team.

Jill went next and she got….number one! There wasn't any other person you wanted on your team other than...

“We are going to destroy them,” Jill smirked, taking you out of your thoughts.

You gave her a nod and smiled. Then you and Jill watched Barry pull number three. Then Brad pulled two. Which left Chris and Joseph. Chris had his hand in the box. His tongue stuck out the side of the mouth and he felt around between the last two ping pong balls. It was comical to say the least and as he pulled his number which had a large two on it.

“Good luck Rookie, Brad and I are guaranteed to win,” Chris smirked.

“That’s a lot of talk Chris,” Barry said, “Joseph and I are going to kick your ass.”

“I’d like to see you both try, I’m not losing,” Jill cut in.

Rebecca placed the box back in the big duffle bag and picked up the individual bags. She gave you, Chris, and Barry a respective bag.

“Okay, you have five minutes to get ready, then the games begin!” Rebecca jumped in place a little, excited to see her hard work and planning actually coming together.

Jill stood from her desk and walked around to yours.

“I know this station pretty well, we’ve got this,” Jill mused, “Let’s look at that first clue.”

You unzipped the bag and pulled out a small replica mannequin. Confusion was evident on your face and Jill smiled. Carefully she took the item from your hands and inspected it.

Jill leaned in to whisper in your ear, “I know exactly where to go, make sure you can keep up.”

You nodded quickly, “Can do.”

“Okay,” Rebecca called out, “Your time starts now!”

Quickly Chris dashed towards the door and Jill followed. They both fought to get out the door first. You couldn’t help but laugh at them as you followed through the door. Jill was almost at the end of the hallway when you made it through.

“Come on! We have no time to waste,” Jill yelled as she headed to the first location, where you didn’t really know, you just jogged behind her.

After ten minutes of jogging through the station, trying to dodge the other police officers and employees, you made it to a storage room you’d never been to before. You took a second to catch your breath, tired of having to go down stairs then up stairs and around to get to this one storage room. The design of this building was horrible and made absolutely no sense, but Jill ran through it with no problem.

The most surprising aspect of this challenge was how unphased the other officers were. Some of them even cheered you two on. It was something you’d never experienced at your previous job before and you couldn’t help the smile on your face.

Jill found a small slip of paper and another trinket. As she read the clue, the radio at her hip went off. It was another officer, someone you didn’t recognize calling in.

“Valentine, come in. I got a hit on Redfield.”

Jill smirked, “Where is he?”

“He’s in the library right now. Looks like he’s alone.”

“Thanks for the tip, I owe you one.”

You heard a laugh from the radio and a ten four.

“Okay,” Jill started as she threw the second trinket in the bag, “Splitting up is probably a good idea. Why don’t you distract Chris while I continue? I’ll radio you on channel 1 when I need help. What do you think?”

You listened to her suggestions and she was right. She knew the department way better than you did and being a distraction wasn’t that bad of an idea. There were no rules against it, and you were S.T.A.R.S. after all, you had to be able to adapt on the fly.

“Good idea, Jill,” you smiled, “I’ll make sure to take Chris out.”

“On a date or with a sniper?” Jill hid the smirk with a dip of her head to study the clue.

The storage room warmed considerably, or maybe that was just you, “Uh-”

“The next clue is in the records room!” Jill shouted and started a slight jog.

You followed her movements out of the storage room.

“Library is that way. Make sure you keep him busy!” Jill yelled as she ran ahead of you.

This was not how you expected your day to go. Here you were sprinting towards the library, trying to figure out how you could possibly keep Chris busy as Jill traverses through the RPD by herself figuring out the clues alone. Jill was more than a capable partner, and you trusted her to find the rest of the items. You just had to make sure that you kept up your end.

The door to the second door of the library busted open at your momentum. Below you could only see Chris. It looked like he was going through various books, probably had to do something with his clue. You didn’t see Brad at all. Chris might have sent Brad to do the same thing Jill did to you.

Chris didn’t see you or hear you above him, he was too engrossed in his search which helped to your advantage. You kept your eye on him, making sure to keep yourself low. You had no idea exactly what you were going to do now. Your first thought was get here now your mind went blank.

Below, Chris made an ah-ha sound as he pulled out a book. You strained to see what he found. It looked like the book was fake, from your point you could see that a large hole was cut out of the pages and there laid something inside but you couldn’t see it. Chris stuffed whatever it was inside the black bag in his hands and started reading the next clue. You saw him walk in a circle around the two large tables then he made a headway towards the stairs that were to your left.

Shit.

Your nerves started to buzz as you saw him ascend the stairs towards you. Your body reacted before your mind does as you stood and ran towards him. Chris looked up from the clue for a second before your body collided with his. Your shoulder dug into his stomach, your arms wrapped around his torso, making his feet come up from underneath him as you both flew down the stairs. Chris instinctively held you close against him and rolled his body so that every hit down the stairs he took instead of you. The momentum threw you both against the wall at the landing between upstairs and down. Neither of you could stop, sending you down the last bit of stairs. You landed on top of Chris at the base of the stairs on the first floor.

Chris groaned with you on top of him digging into his ribs.

It took you a second to realize you were at the bottom of the stairs laying right on top of Chris. You scrambled to get up. He was still in a shock that you fucking tackled him down the stairs, which you used to your advantage. You quickly straddled his waist pinning his hips to the ground. Your hands grasped his wrist and kept them to the floor.

Chris blinked trying to get his bearings.

“I can’t believe you tackled me,” Chris laughed and you felt the rumble of his chest beneath you.

“I want to win,” you breathed, “By any means necessary.”

“Including bodily harm?”

Your heart rammed against your ribs, be it the adrenaline or his comment. You didn’t think you just acted and didn’t consider the consequences of your actions. The grip on his wrist loosened, your mouth opened about to apologize. Before you could even say anything, Chris took advantage of the moment.

Quickly, Chris grabbed your wrist. He planted his feet. His thighs stretched as his hips bucked up. The force threw you right over his head. You landed with a thud on your back. All the air in your lungs left with the hit.

Chris clambered to grab his scavenger bag that laid a few feet away. You were stuck trying to get air back into your lungs to realize what Chris was doing. He was a S.T.A.R.S. member for a reason.

But that wasn’t going to make you back down from winning your first cluster meeting activities. You moved, though slower than Chris. He bolted out of the closest door to him which led to the Reception and the Main Hall if you weren't mistaken. You sprinted, following him intently.

“Jill, I stopped Chris for a bit. I’m pursuing him through the main hall now,” You radioed.

“I’m on the last clue, stall him for a little longer,” Jill heaved, she sounded as breathless as you.

“Gotcha,” you stowed the radio back into your hip pouch.

Chris took the stairs two at a time, his laugh echoing in the large hall. You were right on his heels. Some officers cheered and laughed at you two, but you didn’t have much time to pay any attention to them.

“I never knew I liked being chased, until right now,” Chris shot over his shoulder with a stupid smirk on his face.

You brows knitted together in anger, deciding not to indulge in his talking. You just had to stall, a little longer like Jill said. The victory was just in your reach.

It didn’t seem like Chris had any destination in mind he just ran through door after door with you right behind him. But Chris took a corner too quickly for you. You weren’t able to stop your motion, your feet skidded and you felt yourself about to fall.

On instinct your eyes squeezed shut, your hands came out in front of you to try and catch your fall. But the fall never came. You opened your eyes to see the floor, but you were still standing. You looked at the arm around your waist. Then you twisted to see who caught you.

“Are you falling for me, rookie?” Chris blatantly flirted.

Your face heated. You regained your footing, with his help. His hand still hovered on your waist. You both stared into each other’s eyes, though there was something different in this look than the one in the library. Chris’ eyes darted to your lips for a quick second, the scavenger hunt all but forgotten as you mirrored his actions.

Then you both leaned, the distance between you two closing till your lips pressed together lightly. Chris’s lips were softer than you expected. You couldn’t help the smile that pressed against him. Your hand came up to rest on his cheek holding him gently in place not wanting to part just yet. Until you heard the muffled voice at your hip.

Slowly, you two pulled away your eyes half lidded as you focused on his lips.

“Okay, so maybe I didn’t see that coming,” Chris breathed, his hands still resting on your hips.

The edges of his lips tugged into a smile. You heard your name again, glancing at the radio.

“Sorry,” you muttered, pulling the radio out.

“I got it! Head to S.T.A.R.S NOW!” Jill screamed.

You glanced at Chris, a devilish smile on your face as you pushed him away, then bolted down the hallway. You heard a faint hey as you ran. The biggest smile on your face. Not only from the kiss, but from the prospect of winning.

Within a few minutes you made it to the S.T.A.R.S. office a light pep in your steps until you heard a loud scream from behind the door. Your fighting instinct kicked in and you pushed through the door. Jill stood staring at Barry and Joseph in the office. Joseph took his feet off the desk with a meek smile on his face. Barry had the largest smile you’d ever seen.

“How?!” Jill exclaimed.

“We knew you and Chris would go after each other,” Joseph stated simply like it just made sense.

“We even took our time,” Barry laughed.

Chris and Brad came in a few seconds later with their bag full. Rebecca took the bags from everyone and put it back in the large duffle that sat next to the door.

“What did you think?” Rebecca asked.

“It was fun, Becca. We’d all be happy to have you help out again,” Chris turned slightly to make eye contact with you, “I don’t think I’ll ever forget this year.”

Rebecca smiled and clapped happily at the statement, not fully realizing the intentions behind the last statement. The scavenger hunt felt like it went by extremely quick but it took up a good portion of the afternoon. Everyone went back to their respective desks to finish up the menial amount of work they started on earlier this morning.

You could barely focus with Chris’ adjacent to yours. He smiled as he looked back and forth from glancing at you to the case file on his desk. Soon, the Bravo team would be here for a shift change.

You started to gather your things to head out. Jill looked sullen at coming in second. You stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. She squeezed your fingers.

“There’s always next year,” you tried to sooth.

Jill nodded, “At least we weren’t last.”

You held the laugh back with a cough and you saw the little mischievous look in her eyes. Chris stood from his desk and moved towards the armory doing final checks before heading out.

Jill looked at you and tilted her head towards Chris behind her shoulder, “So, date or sniper?”

Your face flushed, “I’m about to take you out with a sniper.”

She just smiled and shook her head, “I’ll watch my back. See you later.”

With that she left, you still stood by her desk, your eyes focusing on Chris at the far end of the office. He turned, and saw you staring. A dumb smile crossed his face, and yours. He walked straight towards you.

“So,” Chris started.

“So,” you repeated.

“Did you enjoy today?”

“Yeah I did, are cluster meetings like this every year?”

Chris took a second to think, “If you’re talking about our kiss, no. But the fun? Yes.”

You punched him in the shoulder, unable to say anything. Chris just laughed and rubbed the spot on his arm.

“You’re an idiot,” you laughed.

Chris shrugged, “Am I still an idiot if I ask you out for a drink?”

You pouted as you pondered his words. You grabbed your jacket off the corner of your desk.

“No,” you beamed, “That’s probably the smartest thing you’ve done.”

“Ladies first,” Chris extended his hand towards the door.

You shook your head and exited the S.T.A.R.S. office with probably the biggest smile on your face.

[yaziciyasemin]

📝📝📝📝 bitch you know it.

SEND 📝  AND I’LL SUGGEST A FEW MUSES THAT I’LL LIKE TO THROW AT YOUR MUSE(S)

eleonora langston + finnley hawthorne: instantly love the idea of them together simply because they are both sitting at the 'we married into the family and the lifestyle' table, both because of their mother's too. and that feeling of not quite truly belonging but at the same time enjoying every single perk of the life they have now. i'm thinking the families could know each other for a long time and so they always go on vacations at the same time, and their fathers work together here and there so they are always meeting. and then, ellie and finnley are just leaving mid dinner to get on a plane and go to paris because finnley feels like having a croissant tonight. finnley is probably obsessed with her and she could have him wrapped around her fingers because he will easily simp. maybe they have a bit of a will they won't they relationship going on, they are always together when they meet and everyone knows about his crush, everyone sees them together but he's also known for never sleeping alone and never really had a real relationship so there's that.

keller langford + sarah martins: ahem! so sarah is a new muse of mine, i literally haven't added her to my blog so you get her first okay. long story short sarah fell in love with a guy. he was gorgeous, a very good hockey player, popular around college and all that jazz. (you'll know him soon, maam) anyways it their first year of college, she gave him her heart on a silver plate only to have him humiliate her by sleeping with one of her friends, telling everyone they were never truly together just having fun. as revenge, sarah wrote an essay for a class (she's a creative writing major) about this rich guy who was too weak to let people love him, she published it around campus and everyone pretty much knew who she was talking about. after that she became a bit of an outcast, everyone loved the hockey players and so they all took his side instead. soooo, you say keller is involved in many extracurricular activities, maybe they end up in the same club together...forced to interact. him using his money to get things easier and bending the rules? sarah would absolutely despise him from the second they met, and cue to a very sexy enemies to lovers plot. 

francine hopkins + arthur hawthorne: i went back on the plot inspo channel on our server to look for some inspo and hehe... i’m feeling this for these two. i don’t think you got arthur yet and i don’t know miss francine so HELLO. arthur is just a very destructive man, will get himself fucked up in a bathroom by the end of the night if things don’t go the way he planned them to go. will get too drunk to walk himself home after his father gives him some hard time at work and i feel like francine can relate lmao. think they could get very destructive together, probably lashing out a lot. they both that very complicated relationship with their parents, living under their shadows and trying to come out. 

jackie fowler + jack hughes: last one i promise! jack is...another new muse. a very dumb and impulsive boy witht he best intentions. i have his board here and it still needs a lot of work but i think we could work this plot for them. jack..does not get in touch with his feelings very often. he is a romantic deep deep down and the most loyal person you will ever meet but understanding his feelings is just...complicated. i'm thinking they could be long time friends, maybe even hooked up once and it didn't go any further so they just stayed friends (maybe their significant others were always jealous of their friendship and that's how they get to the whole fake dating thing?? i don't know) but jack is the perfect type of dumbass to start something like that thinking it's the greatest idea and end up catching feelings after a while.

[mizzprouds]

Get to know PENELOPE “PENNY” PROUD who is often mistaken for DIAMONTE “SAWEETIE” HARPER. People say she reminds them of PENNY PROUD from THE PROUD FAMILY. 

the little things. 

hometown: wizville, corona

birthday: august 12 / 25 (leo) 

occupation: employee at the sugar rush arcade, aspiring singer/rapper & soon to be ceo of viperion records. 

education: senior at corona college

extracurriculars/things she’s a part of: member of the roller derby team. on the soccer and basketball teams. the first girl to be on the varsity football team. part of gaming squad. prescott’s acting class 

headcanons. 

Penny first starts dancing when she’s seven years old. She signs up for a talent show at the Wizard Kelly community center. Another group of kids were thinking of doing a dance to Independent Woman by Destiny’s Child and she joins their group. They lose the talent show in the end but she had fun. 

Shortly after this she begs her parents to sign her up for dance classes. At first Oscar is adamant that he’s not wasting money on dance lessons, even when her mom tries to reason with him. In the end Suga Mama ends up paying for the dance classes. 

It’s no secret that Penny is extremely close to her beloved grandma. Often times when she couldn’t see eye to eye with her parents she’d go to Suga Mama’s house for some clarity. Suga Mama always found a way to meet Penny in the middle and provide her with the guidance and wisdom she needed to make the right choice. Suga Mama’s house was also the birth place of her love for music.

Uncle Bobby, who still lived with Suga Mama after his own music career failed, would never know what to do with his frustrated niece when she’d come by looking for a reprieve from her parents. All Bobby knew was music and the way it healed, and so he’d put on his old records and they’d dance around the house until there was nothing but smiles and good vibes.

Bobby insists on teaching Penny how to play at least one instrument. She initially has no interest in learning the guitar or piano. The music she likes is heavy with bass and 808s. But then she hears Fallin’ by Alicia Keys and she changes her tune. Penny dedicates every bit of free time she has to learning how to play. She never gets to be as good as Alicia Keys, but she can read sheet music and has an easier time composing because of it and that’s helped her exponentially in her studies. 

The first song Penny ever performs by herself is One, Two Step by Ciara. She choreographs a dance to it with the help of some of her dance class friends, and she even copies Ciara’s outfit from the video. Her mother loves to show everyone the tape of the performance any chance she can. If you’re invited to the Proud house chances are you’ve seen that video and Penny hates it. 

Avid Hip Hop Helicopter fanatic. It being the island’s version of TRL, Penny would rush home so she could catch the video countdowns and special performances. She rewatches her favorite videos and tries to mimic everything the artist does. One time her father caught her trying to do the ‘Check On It’ choreography. He took away her TV privileges for five months. 

Growing up in the Proud household was never easy. Penny and her father have never been able to see eye to eye on literally anything, and Trudy could be just as hard to deal with as Oscar at times. Penny often felt trapped under her parents set ways, and there was never any chance of expressing those frustrations out of fear of her parents taking it as disrespect. What her parents didn’t seem to understand was the tighter the leash the more willing she was to pull on it. Penny knows she gave her parents their fair share of headaches with how often she snuck out of the house and disobeyed their wishes, but she just couldn’t help it. She was young and curious. Hell, she still is. She was always a good kid at her core though, and she tried her best. Her dad just never seemed to see it that way. 

Their fighting turned to near radio silence over the years, especially now that she’s away from home. She understands his feelings ultimately, and misses him of course, but she’s not necessarily sure she wants to be the one to make amends. Or even how to go about it. Penny feels as if she’s always the one bending over backwards for her father and he never once tries to see things from her point of view. She’s a little tired of constantly being the bigger person in their relationship.

Penny and Oscar are cut from the same cloth. Theyre both hard headed, passionate, persistent and stubborn. It’s the main reason why they can’t see to eye to eye. She thinks he’s overbearing, annoying and unbearable, and no matter how much she loves him she can’t change the fact that in the end she can’t stand him most of the time (when she’s not getting her way.). Trudy has once implied that Penny and her father have a hard time with each other because they’re so similar and Penny did not take it well. So, never compare her to her dad. Ever.

Boy! Crazy! Mostly when she was a teenager. Oscar banned her from dating until she was his age, and Penny never listened to a single thing he ever had to say. You could always catch her chatting up the cutest boys at the mall or at school. She’s still a little stuck in the habit of having to keep her relationships a secret. It takes her a while to feel comfortable posting a significant other on social media out of fear her father will see. 

Penny was originally on the high school cheerleading team, but she realized she much rather preferred football. Getting into football was literally just because one of the boys said girls are too weak for football, and if there’s one thing about Penny; she’s not going to be underestimated. 

Not the best driver. In fact, one would argue she’s a terrible driver. She failed her drivers test three times. She’s easily distracted. If the radio is on she can’t focus, and Penny is almost always listening to music. 

Her brief brush with fame was humbling. LPDZ’s (and more so her own as a solo star) failure made her re-analyze what she wanted out of the industry in the first place. She and Luka are currently working on starting their own label together, but in the meantime she’s focusing her efforts on perfecting her own sound. Penny would best describe her sound as undefinable. She doesn’t want to be classified as a rapper or an R&B singer. She just wants to make music. Women are often put in a box when it comes to the entertainment industry as a whole, and Penny doesn’t care much for the idea of playing by the rules. Because of this she is willing to try her hand at everything, experimenting with anything new at least once. 

The rise to fame is moving slow without the backing Wizard Kelly Records anymore. She kind of hates it. In an effort to keep herself occupied and build a name for herself independently, she utilizes social media. She has a YouTube account where she posts covers of songs bi-weekly, as well as the new music she’s been working. She also has a YouTube series called The Icy Life, which is literally just her vlogging about her stupid ass life. The channel is doing extremely well, thanks both to her bright personality and her proximity to various celebrities from the island (The Muses). She also livestreams on Instagram a lot, sometimes she writes songs on live but mostly she just interacts with her fans. She’s content with her 600k followers but she personally won’t stop until she has millions of followers. She wants to be as big as Beyonce. 

Penny, while focused on achieving her goals, is still the fun loving girl she’d always been. You can’t keep her from a party and she’s easily spotted on the dance floor having the time of her life, or hanging with friends.

Penny has always been understanding and passionate, and she likes to think that she will always stand up for/do the right thing in the end. She’s the queen of the pep talk and long winded speech about what’s right. She’s a leader and doesn’t even really realize it.

Penny’s biggest musical influences include: Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Lil Kim, Lauryn Hill, Beyonce, Rihanna, and Missy Elliott.