#making small talk with your tablemate

[junkworldusa]

Okay so I was at Buffalo books earlier today but I was too scared to say anything…. How did it go for you ..??

This is what I bought btw.. ^^

aww come say hi next time, i'm nice i promise!

i had a great time, here's my little zine haul (mostly trades but i paid cold hard cash for sexy horse linocut)

[closerstars]

small favors

mingyu x oc reader

fluff, friends to lovers

note: this is purely self-indulgent because i have a big fat ass crush on mingyu. havent got the time to proofread and fancify everything but pls enjoy!!!

—

"This is my third glass already. If that girl in the red dress doesn't stick around, I'm tapping out," you sigh, your face resting on your hand while the other holds onto your margarita. Mingyu had come up with the plan for you both to team up and help Wonwoo find a date at Seungcheol’s sister’s wedding party, and you had readily agreed.

You've known Wonwoo since childhood, introduced by his mom at the playground, and you've been the best of friends since then. Mingyu joined your circle in high school, and the three of you have been inseparable ever since.

"Hang in there. I think the girl in red might be the one. They’ve been chatting for a good ten minutes now," Mingyu remarks, checking his watch.

"Yeah? Let's see," you reply skeptically.

"Such a pessimist. Remember, she's your candidate," Mingyu teases.

"I don't know, I just don't see Wonwoo fully engaged in the conversation. She had that charm when I talked to her," you admit, though it's hard to tell from three tables away whether Wonwoo's truly interested or just politely listening.

As you both observe, Soonyoung joins in with his drink. "What are you both up to now?" he asks, following your gaze to Wonwoo and the girl in the red dress, looking at you and Mingyu with a confused expression.

Turning to Soonyoung, you ask, "Soonyoung, what do you think? Will the girl in the red dress be able to break through Wonwoo's defenses?"

He takes a sip and frowns at the aftertaste. "How come you never set me up? We're friends too, you know, both of you."

"Just answer the question," you roll your eyes.

Soonyoung takes another look at Wonwoo and the girl in the red dress. "I think she might," he finally answers, earning a nod of agreement from you.

"Hey, look! They're laughing!" Mingyu giggles at the sight of Wonwoo saying something that earns a laugh from the girl.

"Oh my god," you gush with Mingyu. "She just handed him her phone."

You playfully slap Mingyu’s arm. "Dude, they're exchanging numbers!"

Both matchmakers celebrate with high fives until the girl in the red dress exits their view and waves goodbye to Wonwoo.

"Wait, where's she going? Is she heading home already?" you wonder aloud, checking the time on your phone. When you look back up, the girl in the red dress passes by your table and greets you with a nod, saying, "Nice to meet you again, Y/N. Gotta go."

Wonwoo follows after her, approaching your table. As he sets his drink down, you immediately ask, “So?”

Wonwoo takes a sip of his drink. “She was alright,” he says nonchalantly, earning a disappointed expression from you, which he finds amusing.

"What do you mean she was alright?" Mingyu prompts.

"Well…" Wonwoo tilts his head, trying to recall the details. "She’s a photographer. So that’s a good start."

Impatient with his lack of detail, you sigh. Typical Wonwoo, a man of few words. "Okay. And?"

Wonwoo takes another sip. “She suggested I visit her photo exhibit sometime. So she gave me her Instagram page and I gave her mine too.”

Realizing your mission was a success, you grasp Mingyu's shoulder. Mingyu raises his glass, proposing a toast among the four of you.

"I'm so happy right now, I need another glass," you giggle, taking a sip of your margarita.

“Okay. Wonwoo’s got a date. How about me?” Soonyoung pouts, making you laugh. You then ask Mingyu to switch seats so you can play matchmaker with Soonyoung this time.

As you're in the middle of interviewing Soonyoung and scanning the crowd with him to find someone he’d want to talk to, Dami, Seungcheol’s sister in lawapproaches and grabs your arm, pulling you to her.

“Y/N! I have someone you should meet!”

With wide eyes, you look at your tablemates and mouth "Help," but they only laugh at you.

“Bye!” Wonwoo teases, waving to you.

Meanwhile, the three guys left at the table continue drinking and talking over the jazz music playing in the background. Mingyu notices you at a table with Seungcheol as Dami walks through the crowd with her arm looped around some guy in a tux.

He figures maybe this is the guy Dami wanted to introduce you to. Guess they aren’t the only ones playing matchmaker that night.

Wonwoo notices his best friend looking intently from afar. He turns his head back to see you shaking hands with a handsome stranger. Mingyu’s eyes start to wander, trying to distract himself from the hint of jealousy he was feeling

“When is the DJ set going to start? I am so bored,” Soonyoung pouts as he scrolls through his phone, then gets nudged by Wonwoo, directing his attention to you observing something from a distance.

Soonyoung couldn’t help but tease. “Oh wow, Dami’s got good taste. I’d like to see how Y/N would play the game tonight.”

“What?” Mingyu snaps out of it and pretends not to hear.

“Good luck stealing her back, man. Just letting you know I’m always Team Mingyu.” Soonyoung pats Mingyu's back, gripping his drink and takes off.

Wonwoo then slides closer to Mingyu. “You know you’ve always had the advantage, right?”

Mingyu looks at him, confused. “Advantage? What are you talking about?” Mingyu knows what his best friend was talking about. Wonwoo is direct, but this conversation feels different. They've never discussed about him and Y/N before.

“Oh, come on, Mingyu. I've noticed the way you look at her lately. If you like her, just tell her and let it happen the way its fated to happen,” Wonwoo says, taking a sip of his drink, as though confessing to Y/N were as simple as ordering another round.

If telling Y/N what he felt was that easy for him and her, he could’ve done it sooner. But no. He wanted to be sure. He wanted to be sure that this wasn’t just some sort of crush.

“Okay, let's calm down,” he chuckles nervously. “I’m just taking my time, hyung. And I also want to give her all the time and space she needs if…” he pauses. “… if she ever feels the same way.” He adds hastily, gulping down the rest of his drink. “This stuff is good. I need more.”

Conveniently, Seungcheol appears out of nowhere with two glasses in hand, setting them down their table. “I thought you might need another round,” he says, chuckling softly.

Mingyu thanks him, but before he can even grab his drink, you swoop in and snatch it from his hand, leaving the three of them surprised.

“Thanks,” you say, taking a sip and letting out a relieved sigh. You hadn't expected to meet one of your biggest radio DJ crushes, Joshua, at a wedding party. As the brief conversation with him ends, you hurriedly excuse yourself from Seungmi, feeling your face grow warmer by the second.

As you return to your table, Cheol gives Mingyu a teasing glance while sipping on his drink. “Y/N's pretty cute when she's flustered.”

“Oh shut up.” You playfully roll your eyes and then offered to get Mingyu a new glass which you did.

As you stepped away, Wonwoo chuckles at Cheol’s comment, earning an eye roll from Mingyu. “This is so annoying.”

“Why are you annoyed? Oh, I see. You know I heard that Joshua invited her to visit him at the radio booth sometime.” Cheol prods.

“She'll probably be too busy to go,” Mingyu counters.

“How would you know? Are you her manager?”

“What if I am?” Mingyu retorts, trying to play it cool.

They stop abruptly when you came back with a new drink in hand and gave it to Mingyu. “Gentlemen. I am back. Here’s your drink, sir.”

“So how’d it go meeting one of your celebrity crushes?” Wonwoo asks. He wanted to see how his bestfriend will react.

“Oh. Pfft. Yeah I think I played it real cool. Did I?” You turn to Seungcheol for affirmation but he laughs at you instead.

“You were good. Charming at least.” He winks at you and you mouthed a ‘thank you’ You then proceeded to rambling about Joshua’s radio show Sunday Mornings aired every Sunday morning.

“So annoying.” Mingyu mutters as he side eyes Seungcheol.

Wonwoo tries to hold in a laugh, covering his mouth with his drink. Mingyu takes another big sip from his drink thinking this was going to be a long night for him.

—

The tension Mingyu was feeling inside eases off as the night progressed. He has the alcohol to thank for that as well as when the dj finally starts his set for the after-after party.

You, however, was on a high and was extra loud for the night. Never in your life would you think you’d have the energy to goof around and match Soonyoung’s on the dancefloor considering that you weren’t that good of a dancer.

With your confidence at its peak you even pulled the bride to dance with you twirled her over to her now husband. The warmth and joy you felt was incomparable as you watched the newly weds dance and then seal everything with a kiss as the song ended.

Another song plays as you wanted to rest because your feet was starting to hurt already so you head to the bar for another drink as if you weren’t tipsy enough. You scan the room for somewhere to sit on but all you found was the flight of stairs from where the bride and groom had their grand entrance earlier that night.

Wonwoo was sitting down a step checking his phone. He then notices you approaching. He scoots a little and sweeps the space beside him with his hand for you to sit on.

“Tired?” He says with a welcoming smile.

“Yeah. A little.” You sigh as you carefully take a seat.

“Did you at least have fun tonight?” He asks like a dad asking his daughter if she had fun.

“Yes, dad. There were lots of boys hitting on me though.” You joke and scrunch your nose waiting for his reaction.

Wonwoo chuckles and plays along. “Ah my pretty daughter. The boys must’ve had a hard time getting your attention.”

“They’re just boys. I’m here for the party.”

“Really? No one caught your eye?” He points to the small crowd of people enjoying the music, dancing, having drinks.

You casually pretend to scan the crowd until you notice Mingyu was fast approaching still looking to be at full energy.

“I dunno. This guy seems pretty decent.” You shrugged. “Pretty. Decent. Kind.” You said that in a very smug way but heaven knows you meant it.

You’ve developed a skill of being friends with Kim Mingyu. And that was suppressing even the slightest infatuation that eventually grew over the years. Who wouldn’t have a crush on Kim Mingyu anyway?

You’ve had plenty of experience with girls befriending you just to get close to him, some would bribe you with coffee to have you give them his number. You get the coffee, ask Mingyu for permission if he’s comfortable with his number being given and then hand him the coffee you got for free.

With your sibling-like dynamic, he was so comfortable with sharing even his dating life sometimes it wasn’t as fun anymore because you realize how good of a person he was it’s almost unreal that some girls think of him as too naive when he’s really just that kind of person who always believes there is something good in everything.

You were glad to be his friend. You continue to learn a lot from him. There’s an internal struggle however, when that dreaded question “what if you wanted something more than being friends” comes to mind. It scares you. Scared that he might get to close to see through the cracks.

“What are you two doing?! Sitting down?! Really?!” Mingyu reaches for your hand while his other hand reaches for Wonwoo’s and then pulls the both of you up like his ragdolls.

This was always the dynamic between you three. Mingyu being the energetic golden retriever, Wonwoo being the calm black cat, you being the confused chihuahua to balance them out.

—

Later that night, you find yourself assisting a drunk Kwon Soonyoung to his hotel room.

As you search your purse for Soon’s key card he has entrusted you earlier that night, Wonwoo was trying to restrain Soon who was trying to kiss him while he laughs and giggles. Same with Mingyu. But he just talks to Soon in his state.

The door beeped and clicked open so you successfully assisted Soonyoung to his room. You help remove his blazer and then finally made him lay in bed.

Thankfully, your rooms were on the same floor so you all went your separate ways for the night.

Once you settled in and changed to a shirt and sweatpants. You were in the midst of removing stubborn makeup when you decided to open a bottle of beer to cap off the night

As you were quietly browsing photos you took in your hotel room you notices Mingyu’s coat that you lazily hung to a chair.

You text him.

“You still awake??? forgot to give your coat back sorry”

“i’ll go get it in a minute” he replied

You continue browsing the photos you took for tonight and you stop at photos Soonyoung took of Mingyu and you making funny faces. Your lips curl to a smile as you remember this was taken after you sent Wonwoo off with a girl to talk too.

You heard knocking so you toss your phone to your bed and set the beer bottle down. You get Mingyu’s coat and open the door.

“Hey.” You were greeted with Mingyu hair still a bit wet from the shower, obvious from the droplets of his hoodie.

“I was going to give it later in the morning but you were eager to get it.” You hand him your coat.

“You can just tell me you’re gonna hug it to your sleep if you want to you know.” He reaches for it and your hands slightly brush together.

Your face contorts. “Ew. Why the hell would I do that? Creepy.”

“So you can dream of me. Duh.” He is still at it.

“I’ll pass. Good night, Gyu.” You were not having enough of it you rolled your eyes and was about to close the door but his hand stops it.

There was silence between you two for a few seconds. He then takes a step closer, height towering over you. At this moment you felt as if you were put under his spell. Unable to move, you focus on his forehead since your legs might just give up if you look straight into his eyes.

His eyes traveling from your eyes nose and lips.

He softly touches your fingers, moving up your arms barely touching it with his fingertips then tracing your jaw.

You feel your breath slowing down. Your eyes trying to read his. Was this really happening? Should you let it happen?

“Can I kiss you?” He says quietly.

You nod slightly, closed your eyes then it happens. You felt the warmth spread to your face.

Mingyu smiles as he pulled away. Both your eyes meeting each other. You sigh a little. Your foreheads against each other.

“You taste like beer.” He giggles softly and you let out a shy laugh.

You weren’t sure what got to you as you reached for his neck to kiss him again.

After you break it off there was a pause and then you both go back to laughing faces against each other. You have no idea if it was just the high of finally doing what both your hearts wanted to do for a long while. And finally meeting halfway with what the score is between the two of you.

You were both interrupted with the sound of the door being opened. You both straighten up as if nothing happened.

“I-uh…” Mingyu clears his throat. “Goodnight, Y/N.

You touch your nape and avoided eye contact. “Yeah uh. Good night, Gyu.”

—

It was another long day for you and Mingyu at work. While you were busy writing and revising scripts and trying to help your editor with the video editing, Mingyu was busy shooting new content for the project you were working together for. He was the director this time and you were one of the writers.

No one has said a word ever since that kiss. You were at your best at pretending that it did not bother you at all and kept busy at work.

He asked you to eat lunch with him at your favorite sandwich place.

The whole time you sat there were complaining about how you were frustrated at one of your scripts keep getting scrapped by one of the hosts you were shooting.

“Can I talk to you about something” He asked softly.

You peel off the wrapper of your subway BLT “Yeah go on.“ And then you took a big bite.

“About that kiss.” His eyes not leaving yours. Observing how you’d react.

You somehow mastered controling your reactions being with Mingyu for years.

“What about it?” You said nonchalantly. “I was pretty drunk that night.” No you weren’t. You were having a beer and completely aware.

“You…were?” He tilts his head like a confused puppy. “Okay. But I remember you kissing me back.” He was taken aback by your reply. You were clearly not as kissing anyone she sees drunk level as Soonyoung.

“Yeah, cause I was drunk. We do and say stupid things when we’re drunk. I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.” You meet his eyes this time to make your lie more convincing to him but moreso yourself.

Mingyu was left confused. You were not drunk that night.

He raised an eyebrow because you were obviously lying. You were more stern, retained more eye contact when you lie. It’s the same strategy you do when you’re pushed to do revisions to scripts that you did not want to do because it’ll only change the story.

“Look I just want to you to know that I don’t regret doing that.”

“Mmhmm.” You were busy chewing your sandwich and back to avoiding eye contact.

“And that I have liked you long enough for me to have the courage to do that.”

He can see your eyes widen and proactively try to avoid his. Your gut goes crazy until your eyes meet his. You stay there and your gut eases.

You were about to say something but couldn’t find the words so you just closed your mouth and looked into his eyes now and sighed.

“But please don’t say anything. You don’t have to answer.”

“And just tell me if you’re not comfortable with this. I mean we do work together almost all the time.” He then takes a big bite of the sandwich he barely touched after all that.

“It’s fine. I mean… It was a drunken mistake on me. I just-” You sighed again and wanted to say something but your emotions were all over the place. “Thank you. For telling me this.”

“Are we cool?”

You smiled. “Course we are.”

—

“So… Wonwoo told me something earlier before he left.” You peeked through your laptop and glanced at Mingyu who was cooking.

“What’d he say?”

“Nothing. He just told me that he… saw us kiss that night at the wedding.” You shrug trying to keep your tone as casual as you can.

“Okay. And?”

“He said that whatever that was, it’s safe with him. It’s none of his business.” You stood up from your seat and walked to their fridge.

“I just told him that it was nothing. I was drunk.” You said as you searched for a can of soda and then reached for it.

Mingyu’s eyebrows were raised at the sound of you saying you were drunk excuse again. He turns to face you with arms crossed across his chest. “It was nothing huh? And you were drunk.”

“Yeah. I was. Haven’t we talked about this?” You opened the soda but almost fizzed out but you drink it up with your mouth before it spills.

Mingyu scoffs. “You can’t keep convincing yourself that you were too drunk to kiss me back that night,” Mingyu finally snaps, his frustration boiling over. He’s tired of you dismissing your kiss as a drunken mistake. It wasn’t just about the kiss he was frustrated about.

You were a mess. You were going on this push and pull game of yours. You would be sweet one day and then the next one push him away. It wasn’t as if Mingyu didn’t see this coming knowing you.

Your eyes widen in disbelief. “What did you just say?”

“You were sober,” Mingyu states firmly, taking a step closer to her. “You kissed me back.” He removes his apron this time and carefully sets it aside.

Your arms cross defensively. “And what if I did?”

“Just admit it,” Mingyu insists, his voice tinged with exasperation. “I kissed you because I like you, you kissed me back, and now you keep saying you were drunk and it was nothing?”

“Stop saying the word ‘kiss’!” You retort, your irritation becoming more obvious.

“Stop acting like a child!” Mingyu shoots back, his frustration building up.

“I was just experimenting, okay? Can we drop it now?” Your tone softens slightly as you resigns herself to the conversation.

“Experimenting? For what? You’re unbelievable! Are we guinea pigs now to experiment your feelings on?” Mingyu’s disbelief is palpable.

“I was trying to see if it was real,” you admit reluctantly, her voice barely above a whisper.

“What is?” Mingyu’s gaze softens as he meets her eyes.

“You and I,” you replie quietly, your defenses crumbling. “Whatever this is.”

There’s a moment of silence as they both process your confession.

Finally, you sigh, tone resigned. “I was just checking. Making sure what I felt was real. So I can confront it and have the guts to tell you.”

“But you kissed me, so I kissed you back, and then I went crazy, so I wanted to think about it for days, hence me trying to convince myself and you all that I was drunk!”

Mingyu’s eyes soften, a hint of understanding dawning in them as they trail from her eyes to her lips. “Well, do you want to check again?” he asks softly.

You chuckle, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “You’re so stupid,” you murmur. “I’m not kissing you again.”

“You want to,” Mingyu insists, leaning in closer.

You place your palm on his chest, stopping him from closing the gap. “Yeah, I kinda do,” you admit, before leaning in for a short kiss.

[bgomtori]

☆ colours - c.bg

synopsis - despite everything you two have been through, all good things must come to an end right?

-> beomgyu x reader

-> listen to colors by halsey for an experience 🤍

-> friends to potential lovers to acquintances, highschool au

-> warnings! beomgyu pushes reader away, angst, talks on mental illness and eating disorders, yn becomes an insomniac, beomgyu's a year older than you

-> notes! i've gotten back into jjk for the 7th time, and i saw like 3 edits abt stsg to the song colors, so i just wanted to LET IT OUT. GEGE AKUTAMI WATCH OUT

love is the most twisted curse of them all

tired eyes scanning through the folder of memories on your phone, your head dipping into the fluffy cushions underneath you. you didn't want to go through it again, but you couldn't stop your fingers from moving. your eyes watered, tears dripping from the corner. this was at least your 50th time rereading past messages, past folders, and old voicemails you had with choi beomgyu

choi beomgyu, the man that he was. talented, charming, and pretty. he was constantly bombarded with the squeels from your schoolmates along the hallways. however, he would always stick to you like glue, to him, you were everything he wanted. what a trope, maybe opposites do attract.

he was the light to your darkness, even if he stuck onto you like a emotionally attached puppy, you appreciated his presence. as much as you wanted to ignore his pestering, you enjoyed it, too much, to the point where your heart starts beating rapidly whenever he's around.

"ynn, let's go to the arcade after school. you don't have anything after right? let's go." the way he drags his words to persuade you into doing something he wants to do with you, and how your name rolling off his tongue perfectly, has an effect on you. his arms leaned on your desk, giving you puppy dog eyes.

"beomgyu, we have a test next week, i can't just waste my time playing games with you." you closed your textbook, placing your pen back into your pencilcase, making eye contact with beomgyu.

"come onn, you've been studying so much this entire week, you've barely hung out with me." beomgyu whined, using the tip of his shoes to kick your shins.

"beomgyu. this test is important for my final grade." you firmly stated your point, hoping that it'll get through beomgyu's thick skull. you sigh when beomgyu continues to look at you with the same puppy eyes, your words going deaf to his ears.

"fine.." you muttered out, you could have sworn that you saw beomgyu's eyes sparkle when you said that. he jumped out of the random chair he stole from the person who sat infront of you.

"i'll wait for you outside your class! see you!" beomgyu beamed, messing your hair before skipping out of the class like a lunatic. you watched as he left your class, smiling to yourself.

"are you giggling over choi beomgyu like everyone else?" your tablemate, natty, commented. knowing the teasing glint she had in her eyes, you glared at her.

"shut up."

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

"i'm graduating in a month, will you miss me?" beomgyu smirked, biting on the straw of his drink. you took small bites out of the bread beomgyu got for you, giving him a disgusted glare.

"what's with that look." beomgyu gasped, swinging his arm around your shoulder, pulling you closer to him. the side of your body was completely squished against him, you could feel your heart about to jump out of your throat. he was too close, too close for your liking.

"i'm going to miss my favourite junior ever, you know that right? you're my favourite junior, no one can ever compare to you." beomgyu reminded you, your lips pursed into a line, pushing his body away from yours.

"don't you have other juniors to care about? why me?" you asked, your eyes not leaving his own round ones.

"isn't it obvious.." he mumbled, not loud enough for you to hear.

"huh? speak up."

"it's nothing! come on hurry, i have a new song to play for you on the guitar." beomgyu grabbed your hand, running towards the direction of his house. you screeched as he pulled you at a speed you were not ready for. you felt like you were running a track competition at this point, just how much stamina does choi beomgyu have?

your head was dizzy, you haven't ran in such a long time at a distance you don't even want to remember. the click of beomgyu's door caused your head to look up from your phone.

"sorry for making you run, i was just excited." beomgyu apologised, placing a plate of fruits and a cup of water on the floor, finding himself on the floor beside you.

"it's fine." you shook your head, poking the fruits on the plate, not having an appetite for them. beomgyu noticed your odd behaviour throughout your entire conversation with him, from the way you just took small bites of the fruits and taking huge gulps of water.

"have you been eating these days?" the sudden question had you panicking, is he always this observant? your eyes darted around his room.

"i ate the bread earlier, doesn't that answer your question?" you replied non-chalantly.

"i meant like proper meals, when was the last time you have eaten an actual meal?" his face has gotten serious, you thought to yourself, your nails dug into the flesh of your thigh, trying to think of a plausible answer.

"i can read you like a book yn, you can't lie to me." beomgyu sighs, his hands reaching out for yours, pulling them away from your thighs.

"i know i'm always not serious around you, but this has to stop soon okay? don't starve yourself, it's unhealthy, and i'm worried for you okay?" beomgyu carressed the knuckles of your fingers. slowly, you calmed yourself down from the unsettling thoughts that were eating you alive, smiling at beomgyu,

"i'm sorry, i'll stop. i don't like seeing you all worried because of me."

beomgyu's lipped tugged up into a smile, standing up, "i'll make something for you to eat, wait here."

from that day on, you knew you could rely on beomgyu with whatever problems you had. he's your best friend either way, opening up to him was easy. he was your solution to everything.

that was until a week before beomgyu's graduation, you've noticed that his radiant aura was turning dull, his eyes slowly getting more tired by the time. despite that, he has been wearing a fake smile around his batchmates, smiling whenever he was with them, returning the same energy they were giving him. your eyes squinted at his odd behaviour, you too, could read him like a book.

"you're not actually that optimistic right?" you stated, trailing behind beomgyu. beomgyu paused in his tracks, turning to face you.

"what are you talking about yn?"

"you know what i'm talking about. if you need it, i'm here to help you." you inched closer to beomgyu.

"please, if you're hurting let me help you too. let me return that favour. isn't that what friends are for?" you gagged at your words, friends? of course. you two were just friends, nothing more.

"aren't you cute? don't worry about it yn, i'll tell you everything soon." beomgyu patted your cheeks, waving a quick goodbye to you before disappearing into his classroom. you stared at the empty spot infront of you, why isn't he telling you anything after everything? didn't he tell you that he trusted you with all his life, if not, why isn't he opening up to you?

you bit your lips, trying to suppress the tears that were about to flow out. you groaned, walking back to your class as if nothing happened, but your mind was overthinking, again.

what you failed to notice was that beomgyu was watching you from the window of his class, his heart ached seeing your pained expression. he then felt a tug on his sleeve.

"when are you going to tell her?" seungmin whispered, his eyes watching beomgyu's actions carefully.

"soon enough."

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

it was finally the day every senior had been dreading or anticipating. you stayed back after school to watch the ceremony, in hopes of seeing your seniors for one last time before they leave, including choi beomgyu.

you felt so proud for him, he's finally done with this hell, and now he can follow his dreams. however, you couldn't escape the feeling of emptiness, without him, what were you? ever since he started distancing himself from you, you felt horrible, you felt like shit.

before you knew it, the ceremony was over, the crowd screamed in joy, running to find their best friends in the crowd. you did the same, dashing to where beomgyu might be at. you hated running, but in order to talk to him in school one last time, you ran as fast as you could.

finally, you found him, your eyes watched as he took multiple pictures with the girls from his batch and yours. your face fell as you realise that the crowd practically engulfed him, you probably wouldn't have enough time to have a decent conversation with him.

however, your eyes met his, your body tensed up, he looked exhausted, yet he was still able to flash you a cute smile that you reciprocated. he signalled you to go towards him, telling the crowd that he needed to leave soon, and that was when you walked towards him.

"congrats on graduating." you hugged him, feeling his body slowly soften under your touch.

"lovebirds, wanna take a picture together?" seungmin shouted, his hand stretched out, asking for your phones. both you and beomgyu handed him your phones. seungmin smirked, snapping numerous shots for the two of you.

when he returned your phones, he whispered something in beomgyu's ear, causing him to blush and yell at him to shut up.

"don't mind him. come with me, i have something to tell you." beomgyu shoved his phone back into his pocket, dragging to towards a familiar direction.

the walk was comforting, you talked about everything that came to mind. beomgyu stared as you rambled, watching you as if you hung the stars in the sky, you were stunning.

"sorry, was i saying too much?" you mumbled, sitting beside beomgyu on a bench at the park where you first met. beomgyu shook his head.

"i like hearing you talk don't worry." reassuring you.

"what did you want to tell me anyways?"

"before that, take this, i want you to cherish this forever, as if your life depends on it okay?" beomgyu pulled out a ring, placing it on your pinky. your heart raced, the butterflies in your stomach turned into a whole zoo, your face felt warm.

"what for..?"

"i'm leaving daegu to pursue my dreams, i may not be able to see any of you again, so i just want you to have this as a reminder of me." beomgyu suddenly announced. your eyes widened, a lump formed in your throat, leaving your mouth dry.

"what are you saying? can't you at least keep in contact with me? that's stupid, you can't just cut everyone out of your life like that." you argued, biting back the tears that were watering your eyes.

"you're making this harder for me." beomgyu laughed, "you'll distract me from achieving what i want, my priority isn't you."

you were smacked with the hard truth, beomgyu was more determined to pursue his lifelong dream, and in order to do this, he has to let go of one of his dreams, and that dream was to be with you forever. your goals were completely different, you would only hinder his progress towards success. your eyes stung with tears, it hurts.

"gyu, you can't do this, maybe we can figure something out?" you pleaded, you couldn't live without him by your side. beomgyu wiped your tears with his thumb, making you look at him.

"you know i love you right? if you love me back, promise me that you'll let me go." beomgyu forced a smile, trying to calm you down.

"you? what? why didn't you tell me this earlier? we could have spent more time together as a couple." your voice was shaky, you wanted to leave, but you wanted to stay by his side till the end.

"yea i could have, but i guess i was too scared, so were you though." beomgyu shrugged, laughing dryly to himself. he hated this, he hated the fact that you were crying because of him, he hated that he can't do anything to stop you from crying. beomgyu watched you sobbed, his eyes beginning to sting, but he blinked the tears away.

"this is just a bad dream right?" you looked at beomgyu. beomgyu held your hand, shaking his head slowly, your eyes tearing up once more.

"sometimes love can be the most twisted curse of them all." beomgyu chuckled, looking off to the side.

"then at least curse me a little at the end." you hiccupped. beomgyu's eyes widened, softening once he made eye contact with you. he pulled you into a kiss filled with longing and desperation. you were quick to kiss him back, you didn't want this to end, you wanted him to stay by your side forever. you slowly pulled away from him, wiping off the dried up tears from your face. beomgyu took your pinky, intertwining them with his,

"i'll go now, take care of yourself for me okay? please eat well." beomgyu kissed your lips once before walking away from you. leaving you to cry by yourself on the bench, at the park where you first met, and now you've ended it at the same spot.

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

bonus!

beomgyu started sobbing when he walked away from you. you must have endured so much pain when he left you in the dark for so long. his first love, a love where it could have blossomed into something more than friends, crumbling down like that. he hated himself for that, he hated seeing you hurt, but you would still suffer the same fate if you stayed by his side. thus he made his decision that week prior to his graduation.

perm taglist! (send an ask to be added) @mrsyawnzzn @tinyelfperson @woncheecks @boba-beom @naveries @be-argyu @defnotleee

[brynnterpretations]

Hi! I'd love a bowers gang ship request for my IT OC Marilyn Fenix! I have a bio page for her that might be easier to read rather than me sending her info all here if that's okay ! The banner has a few tabs that I hope help <3

https://venuscheered.carrd.co

As a side note, I've really liked seeing your IT OCs as of late! I'm such a sucker for fan characters!

Thank you so much for the ship, kind words, and sharing your wonderful OC! I didn't check out the bonds list because I didn't want to be biased, so I hope it's fine if the "meeting" section doesn't align with anyone in the gang! (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

I ship Marilyn Fenix with...

Henry Bowers ♡

Boyfriend

GIF Source: @pennywise-fucker ★ (link)

Henry and Marilyn likely have known each other since there are children — after all, Derry is a tiny town. Throughout it all, Henry and Marilyn honestly hadn't interacted much; while Henry thought she was pretty when she was younger, and enjoyed her former timidity, as the two of them grew older, their social circles completely changed. However, he never really stopped looking at Marilyn. It wasn't intentional; he did it to all the girls at school who he thought were "bangable", but with Marilyn, it was a bit different. She was the kindest person he'd met around Derry, but there was an inherent unattainability to her: her seeming perfection made him feel insecure, causing him to project a quality of "stuckupness" to her.

In a twist of fate, the two were paired as tablemates in English, and later, partners. Henry does not talk to her at first; when she says hi, he'll say it back, sure, but if she asks him about his day or anything, even, it's always a one-word answer. Our boy Henry is not a man of words. But...

Henry's awful at English, and regardless of Marilyn's abilities, she's 100% going to be leagues better than Henry. Because of that, he starts engaging with Marilyn more — though mainly because of Marilyn's consistent kindness towards him. She's never too pushy, but still offers him help with classwork when she sees him struggling, and even sometimes gets a tiny exhale of a chuckle from him.

Time goes by with them exchanging some awkward words that eventually turn into more sentences on Henry's end. By that point, they're paired together for a Fahrenheit 451 project. Henry does not fuck with this. Marilyn fucks with this better. As such, Marilyn takes the lead, much to Henry's gratitude, though he doesn't show it. He just sits there, occasionally giving a single nod as Marilyn talks about the project, letting her do all the work.

They begin getting closer through this, particularly because of the form: a massive trifold, which is impractical to work on at school. Marilyn, bless her, proposes her house to work at, which relieves Henry so much. As such, they begin meeting whenever the two of them have the time. Henry would immediately feel out of place in her home, and, noticing his anxiety, Marilyn would never call it out, only doing things to subtly make him feel more comfortable.

This would make Henry soften to her even more as they continued to work on their project. As they continued to work together, Marilyn would definitely be able to notice small cracks in Henry's exterior. Still, she doesn't push him, something Henry desperately needs in any sort of romantic relationship. As they continue to spend time at Marilyn's house, they'd have a lot of more organic conversations that flow far more naturally than the ones at school. He's not a big talker, of course, but he'd start talking a lot more willingly, though not sharing much about himself.

Eventually, Henry and her begin hanging out outside of her house, particularly after a rough day of Henry's. After getting into a rather vicious spat with the school janitor, Henry ended up in detention, only getting out after Marilyn's cheer practice had ended. Upon seeing his face, which looked more like a kicked puppy than anything, Marilyn — bless her soul — came over to talk to him, even if out of sight of the rest of the cheer team (maybe intentionally, maybe unintentionally). Henry asks, without making it clear that it was any sort of date as the romantic he is not, asks if she'd want to come with him to the quarry.

And... she does. The two head to the quarry, sitting below the bridge that overlooks the quarry, staring into nothingness. It's not uncomfortable, though. The two talk about Henry's awful day, which Marilyn makes him feel better about, as well as talking about other things: Marilyn's involvement on the cheer team, the things she does for fun, and maybe even her family.

Eventually, these hang-outs become a regular occurrence, and finally, Henry asks her if she'd like to come to a bonfire the Bowers Gang hosts every month at Victor's house.

She comes, and things just feel... right. The Bowers Gang are quite nice to her, excluding Patrick being weird ("that your eye candy for the night?" followed by a disgusting Hockstetter-signature cackle), and there's plenty of beer: something that may likely contribute to Marilyn's substance abuse issues.

When they're both drunk and getting ready to leave — Belch is the sober-monitor for the night but is incredibly forgetful, and has to find his keys — Henry initiates the first kiss. It's clumsy — Henry has not had any romantic interests that have led to any skill — but it's as sweet as a kiss from Bowers could possibly be.

Henry's wishy-washy about immediately putting a label on their relationship, and I'd imagine Marilyn might be too; Bowers is basically a walking hazard label, but could be used as leverage against her parents (though that's not to say she'd be using him), so she'd have a lot of mixed feelings, while Henry would simply not feel too much rush to make things official.

After about a month, though, Henry asks her point-blank if she'd like to be his girlfriend. Marilyn says yes. Queue flying doves and falling petals and beautiful lighting.

Just kidding! It's at the quarry, and it smells like wet grass.

Once dating, Marilyn would both be and provide a safe haven for Henry, and he'd spend a lot of time at her place to escape his father. He'd slowly be able to ease into physical intimacy with her, even letting her hold him sometimes. I could also see her patching him up when he's hurt, and being a borderline mother figure for him, because... trauma.

Henry would be understanding of her frustration with her family, considering Butch only pays attention to him when he's abusing him, but would be irritated with it too. How he sees it, Marilyn's getting fed and going to bed without any blotches or marks on her torso; after a tough day, if she mentioned it, he would 100% would blow up on her.

However, I don't see him physically hurting her. While Henry has no qualms with hitting girls in relationships, especially because his father taught him that it was how to "keep a woman in her place", I can't imagine Marilyn ever pushing him enough to get him to that point. It would probably just be some awful arguments that left Marilyn crying, and Henry simply... leaving the room.

Still, he'd make it up in his own ways: being slightly more caring and gentle, though never apologizing directly. This could also lead to some arguments if Marilyn ever spoke up about it.

Henry would also be super possessive over her, and might even become jealous of her cheerleading. They would go to parties a lot, and if he saw a guy looking at her in any way, shit would go down.

But, back to the nice stuff: Henry's a shower rather than a teller, and would always do his best to give her small trinkets, be there for her physically, and make space for her, be it in Belch's car, parties, or general Bowers Gang hangouts.

And that brings us to...

Bowers Gang ☻

Friends

GIF Source: @pennywise-fucker ★ (link)

Henry wouldn't have any qualms about introducing her to the gang. He is obsessed with coming off as tough and masculine, so he wouldn't even really think of the implications it could have on Marilyn's social status unless he noticed she was trying to avoid being seen with them (which, if that happened, would lead to a massive argument).

So, if all goes well: they'd all end up your friends (though Patrick's personal definition of "friend" varies wildly from the standard). Henry would likely insist in a Henry way of her riding home with them, essentially just saying, "get in" — he's not a charmer

Belch would have a massive crush on Marilyn, which he would be terrified of; with Henry, that's essentially a death sentence. Because of that, he'd be cordial.

However, he would definitely drunkenly talk to her whenever they went to parties — never confessing his feelings for her, but being far more open than he'd had before, and getting to know more about her and her life.

Queue super cute conversations between the two of them; maybe not romantic, but still, cute, platonically (though not on Belch's end, painfully; bless his heart).

Now, Patrick... he's gross. He's attracted to basically every type of girl, and finds "goody-two-shoes", happy-go-lucky, sweet girls very, very fun. He'd not just make weird comments to her when she was around, but he'd try to test her boundaries: getting her to smoke, encouraging her to shoplift, and trying to make her say words she'd never usually say (E.G., if she doesn't curse, try to get her to).

If Henry saw this, he would immediately put a stop to it, so he pretty much only does it when Henry's not around. However, I could see Marilyn possibly going along with some of Patrick's suggestions.

And, once he sees that? She's good in the gang. He's got a huge thing for corruption, and he loves to see it in Marilyn.

Also, he would 100% steal her cheerleading stuff to fuck with her. He sucks.

Due to Belch's crush and Patrick's general instability, I think Victor would be her closest friend in the gang. He's the most intuitive of the gang, so he'd pick up on the substance abuse issues that Henry does not, and gently try to make sure she's not drinking too much and trying to avoid having too much alcohol or weed around her on non-weekend days.

Marilyn is very easy to talk to, which is nice for Victor; he's not shy, just introverted, and having someone who has such ease in conversations is nice. They talk about everything; their home lives, music they like, their plans for the future, everything.

He, too, also becomes quietly protective of Marilyn, shooting Patrick dirty looks or even telling him to fuck off when he tries to pressure Marilyn, even comforting Marilyn if she ever came to him about Henry's hot-and-cold behavior, so on and so forth.

It's a rare pure friendship when it comes to the Bowers Gang, and I love to see.

As a group, they'd all do a lot together: bonfires, parties, late night junkyard trips to unload steam on random garbage, and occasionally diners (though most refuse service to the Bowers Gang due to their tendency to dine-and-dash).

So, all in all: Marilyn's got some guys who would drop everything for her (excluding Patrick, who's just there to escalate, let's be real), and I'm glad she's got that, even with the highs and lows there are with Henry. Stay safe, girl, and don't let Hockstetter be around you alone.

[recurring-polynya]

Izakaya Kamenoya, part 3

It's been so long, and I kept getting busy with stuff, but rest assured, I have not stopped thinking about every shinigami's favorite watering hole, Izakaya Kamenoya, for even one second of that time, and today I am going to talk about what's really important: what kind of booze can you get there.

The multiplicity of drink options is honestly the thing I really love about Kamenoya. On a meta level, someone has to draw all this stuff, like, with their hands. I have no idea, actually, if the animators consider this sort of thing a break from all the powering up and sword fights and rolling across cave floors, or if they consider a Trip to the Bar to be really tedious. My point is, they very well could have just always drawn people drinking out of the same cups, except they didn't, they drew a series of loving close ups of sake-pouring and a variety of drinkware styles. On a more Watsonian level, I just like the idea that, like Alice's Restaurant, you can get anything you want at Izakaya Kamenoya. So let's get into it!

I think the thing that really made me notice this was this scene from the Amagai Arc, where you see Kira doing mokkiri, or overpouring his sake. (At least I think that's what he's doing. The articles I read sounded more like the server is supposed to do it, which emphasizes the establishment's generosity, so maybe Kira is just being a messy drunk. I'm pretty sure you're also not supposed to pour yourself sake, you're supposed to do it for your tablemates)

Often, mokkiri is done into a masu, which is a small square box that was used as a standard measure for rice. You can see Nanao drinking out of one here!

What kind of cup to drink your sake out of is a huge topic, but basically, it depends on the flavor and characteristics of the sake. The fact that Kira and the Lads are drinking out of clear glasses might imply that they're drinking chilled, summer-style sake (or possibly trying to appreciate the clarity of the vintage, as if this is what you call up Iba and Renji to go to the pub for).

I am not an expert, so I'm not going to attempt to identify exactly what these different cups would be classified as, but you can see a variety of shapes, sizes and materials.

I found less information on different shapes of tokkuri (that's the slightly bigger bottle that you serve from), but those come in a variety, as well. Mostly, they have either the large, oval-shaped jugs you can see in the first picture, or the more slender white ones in the second. I am really fond of these tall boys that Kira and Hisagi have, which seem to have straighter sides than the other kind, kind of like a milk bottle.

While we're looking at that picture, there's an ad on the wall for beer. Beer!

In modern times, beer is actually the most popular alcoholic beverage in Japan, which Wikipedia tells me came about after WWII because of restrictions on the use of rice. They've had beer since the Edo era, though, and many of today's major breweries got started in the late 1800s. I love the idea that beer is a thing you can get in Soul Society, but it's clear that it has not overcome sake in popularity the way it did in the World of the Living--which makes sense, because of they never had those restrictions. (In other words, throw this in the bucket of stuff like tattoos and attitudes toward homosexuality that I think diverged from the Living World because of weird quirks of history).

In fact, Kamenoya apparently imports beer from the World of Living (maybe it also has local brews as well).

Look how lovingly that bottle of Kirin is drawn. 😂 The fact that it's shown in a glass mug in the ad, but served in a Pilsner glass here supports the idea that there are multiple kinds of beer available. Now, I believe that Kirin Zero is non-alcoholic. It's surprisingly hard to do research on beer labels from 20 years ago. I couldn't find a label that looked exactly like that, and Kirin's non-alcoholic offering seems to be called Kirin Free now (Kirin Zero is now zero-carb and I couldn't figure out if it's alcoholic or not). In any case, I am choosing in my heart to believe that this is because of weird TV censorship and in no way implies that Rukia is not one of the champion drinkers of the Gotei-13.

Don't get me wrong! I love a bar that offers non-alcoholic options! You can also get tea at Kamenoya, which you can see Tobiume and Okyō drinking below; Momo has some as well (they also have a discussion about it)

earlier posts in this series: (part 1) (part 2)

[spicyspiders]

what about Eddie with a male reader who has an obsession with Eddie’s lips (not speaking from experience) like he could spend hours playing with Eddie’s lips, biting on them, kissing, watching eddie suck on his fingers, etc (srry if this is too vague lol)

This isn't really what you asked for, I kind of took the prompt and ran with it, so I hope you still like it. Eddie gives the reader a tattoo, so warnings for unsafe tattoos, needles, and blood. Also, thank you all for 400 followers, and happy 69th post! Thank you all for all of the support!

There wasn’t a lot you knew about Eddie Munson. He wasn’t someone that was exactly on your radar. The most you knew of him was from the rumors you heard about him around the school. You personally thought the rumors were too farfetched to be believed, but others around school found them plausible. 

One thing you did know, at least before the new school year started, was that you found him attractive. You found a lot of guys attractive though, so that wasn’t anything new. Now that it was a new school year and you had a class this year with Eddie, your attraction grew. 

Sometimes you wondered if your attraction to Eddie was so strong because Eddie was someone that you longed to be. He was loud and confident in many different aspects. Like in the way that he spoke and in the clothing that he wore. 

Also the tattoos. You really liked those too.

When the school year began, your teacher let you pick your seats, but it only took a few weeks for that to change. Your desks were pushed together to make small groups of four. At the beginning of the year, Eddie sat in the group all the way in the back of the class, you sat in one near the middle of the room. You normally got to class early, so when you walked in and were told where your new seat was, you had the opportunity to sit and wait to see who your tablemates would be. 

When Eddie strolled in a few seconds before the bell rang and your group was still only just you, you could only watch as Eddie strolled over to come sit at your group. 

“Ms. Peter thinks you’d be a good influence on me,” Eddie said as he sat down at the desk across from you. He looked over into your eyes, a smirk on his face, “I guess you’re Mr. Good boy,” he craned his neck to yell in your teacher’s direction, “and I’m such a piece of shit, right teach?”

Ms. Peter’s looked up from her desk, an unimpressed look on her face, “watch your language, Eddie,” she said tiredly. A few students around the room snickered, while others just gave Eddie dirty looks. 

When Eddie turned his neck back to face you, he winked at you. 

-

Now that you and Eddie were the only ones to sit in a group together, it gave you ample opportunity to watch him. You were fairly certain Eddie got a new tattoo. It took a few glances for you to make it out, but it looked like a group of bats. It was on his forearm, and below that were his wrist and hand. You’ve been staring at those a lot, and you didn’t know a few simple pieces of jewelry could make your mind race. 

When your mind would race, it would always go back to the same questions. Questions like where he bought his jewelry, how expensive it was, and if at the end of the day when he took them off, would his jewelry be as warm as he looked?

“That’s a cool colony,” you said quietly, not to draw the attention of your teacher. 

“What?” Eddie asked, he raised his hand up to rest it under his chin, and you watched as the bracelet he wore fall down his arm. 

“That’s what a group of bats is called.”

Eddie nodded, glancing down at his tattoo before he placed both arms on his desk and leaned in, “I could give you your own if you wanted,” he whispered, wiggling his brows. 

“Are we listening back there, boys?” Your teacher asked, startling you. You could only watch in embarrassment as Eddie laughed when you jumped. 

You didn’t talk to Eddie for the rest of class, and you were too embarrassed to risk looking at him and making eye contact. Eddie was the one to break the silence when he found you at your locker. 

He came up beside you, placing a small piece of paper into your locker that you were currently putting books in. You looked up, Eddie stood close to you, closer than he had ever been before, close enough that you could see the small patches of stubble he had growing in. 

“That’s for when you want the tattoo,” you glanced at the sheet, seeing it had a set of numbers on it. If it wasn’t already, you could feel your heart starting to beat quickly in your chest when you looked back over to Eddie and saw his eyes go from your eyes to your lips, then quickly back to your eyes again. “Or even if you don’t want the tattoo,” Eddie whispered. 

And just like on the first day that you were placed together, Eddie winked at you before walking away. 

-

As the semester continued on, you became bolder, going from staring at Eddie’s new tattoos or his jewelry, to his face. 

His face was always framed by his hair, hair that you longed to run your fingers through. You could catch hints of the smell sometimes, a smokey, earthy scent. Like his hair, Eddie’s eyes were huge. They were also brown and warm. 

One of the more common rumors about Eddie was his drug use. You knew that he smokes, could tell by his moods on certain days he would come to class, but a rumor that you would hear would be about the harder drugs he would take. You knew the effects of them, how some would cause dilation of the pupils and it made you wonder. Wonder how those drugs would make his eyes look. Would the brown be taken over by black as the drugs took effect? Would that make his eyes look even more intense than they already were?

“What the fuck are you thinking about so hard?” Eddie whispered from across from you, an edge of concern in his voice. 

“Nothing,” you whispered back, shaking your head. 

He stared you down, and you kept a smile on your face to try and not concern him further. “You know what I’m thinking about,” Eddie asked. 

You were supposed to be working on a worksheet. You were about halfway through yours when you had placed your pencil down and began looking at Eddie. Eddie, well Eddie only had his name written on his. 

“I’m not psychic, Eddie,” you picked up your pencil and resumed working. When you didn’t hear Eddie do the same, you smiled up at him, you were met with a flabbergasted look on his face, making your smile grow wider. “I’m joking.”

That made the look deepen on his face, “wait, so you’re joking about not being psychic, so you’re actually psychic?” he whispered. It wasn��t a whisper, more like a mix of a scream and a whisper, one that cause a few students to glance in your direction. 

You chuckled under your breath, “what’re you thinking about, Eddie,” you said, looking back down at your sheet. 

“Why you haven’t called me.”

His words made you pause in what you were writing. You slowly looked back up at him. This time, you were met with an expression that was nearly blank, save for a hint of sadness in his eyes. 

“I can’t think of what to get,” it wasn’t exactly a lie. When you had gotten home from school that day, you wrote down his number on another sheet of paper in case you lost it, (you honestly wrote it on a few. Just in case) but every time you would pick up the phone, it’s like you forgot how to use your phone. When you glanced up at Eddie, he didn’t look totally convinced, “why don’t you design one for me?” You asked, looking back down at your paper. 

“Yeah,” Eddie said quietly, “why don’t I?” He asked quietly. When you glanced up, Eddie still wasn’t working on his paper, instead, he sat there, twirling his pencil, a small smile and a look of determination on his face. 

Before you left class, you reached over to Eddie’s sheet and wrote your number. Beside it you put a small message: when you finished designing my tattoo. 

-

It didn’t take long for Eddie to call you. 

His voice was full of excitement when you answered, and then a few hours later, he was letting you into his trailer, the same excitement in his voice. 

It shouldn’t surprise you when Eddie brought out a beaten-up-looking sketchbook. You didn’t know that he drew, but you did ask him to design your tattoo, so it makes sense for him to have. 

What did surprise you was how when he flipped open the book, the nervousness you felt about getting the tattoo went down. The drawings he showed you when he flipped open the book screamed Eddie. You chose one that looked similar to the same bat one he had. It should scare you, the thought of having something on your body that was so permanent that when you looked at it, would remind you so heavily of him, but it only made you giddy. 

“Where do you want it?” Eddie asked.

You held up your left arm and pointed to your inner wrist, “here.”

“Okay.” Eddie breathed out, “want to go sit down and I’ll go get everything?” He asked. 

You nodded and went to go sit down on one of the couches in his living room. It was silent for a few moments while Eddie was gone until the sound of music began to play somewhere from the back of Eddie’s house. After the music came on, Eddie returned quickly, with him the sketchbook held under his arm, a tattoo gun in one hand, and two beers in the other. 

Eddie sat down on the coffee table in front of where you sat. He sat close enough that your legs were touching, the warmth of it was like a hot brand on your knees, even through the layers of your jeans. He placed the gun and sketchbook on one side before using both hands to open the beers. 

He held one out to you, his fingers brushing yours when you grabbed it. You held it in your hand as Eddie took a long swig of his beer. “Oh fuck,” Eddie exclaimed, “I forgot to cheers you,” he held his beer out in front of him. 

Your bottles softly clinked together, and after you pulled yours back, you took a small sip. 

“Ready?” Eddie asked. You wordlessly nodded, but Eddie wouldn’t accept it, “look at me,” he commanded softly, when you made eye contact with him, he continued, “I can’t stop once we start. Unless you want a fucked up tattoo.” He chuckled softly. 

“I’m ready,” you said. Eddie nodded and grabbed a pillow. It wasn’t the sturdiest surface, but it worked so that your arm was elevated in front of you. 

The noise of the tattoo gun was louder than the music that played from the back of the house when Eddie turned it on. Eddie locked one of his hands around your upper wrist, just above where the tattoo would be placed. It was like you were holding hands. 

“Will you judge me if my hands get sweaty?” You asked, and Eddie chuckled. Eddie moved his hand up and adjusted his grip, now you were actually holding hands. 

You were proud of yourself for not flinching when the needle came in contact with your skin. It hurt, but it wasn’t the wrost pain in the world. 

When Eddie finished one line of the wing, he stopped and looked up, “okay?” He asked, looking at you through his lashes. 

“Yeah,” you responded, “feels kinda good.”

“Yeah?” Eddie asked, a slow smile spreading across his face. “I’ll be right back,” Eddie said, using your knee to push himself up. 

Eddie returned shortly after he left, this time hold a few paper towels and a clear cup of water. When he sat back down and continued your tattoo, your knees came back into contact. 

You didn’t watch the process of your tattoo, instead you would go from watching Eddie’s hand in yours and Eddie’s face. He had an intense look on concentration as he worked and what would pull your gaze from his face would be when his fingers would run back and forth over the skin of your hand in comfort. 

“Almost done,” Eddie said quietly, almost too quiet to be heard over the music and the noise of the gun. He picked up one of the paper towels and dipped it in the cup of water and used it to wipe away the blood on your wrist. Something about Eddie carefully wiping away the blood on your skin made a weird feeling stir inside you. 

You took a slow sip from your beer as he continued on. 

After a few more minutes of work, he stopped with the line work and started the shading process. This was more painful than the line work, painful enough that you accidentally let out a low hiss. 

“Almost done,” Eddie continued on until the bat was completely filled in, but the grip he hand on your hand tightened, running his fingers over the skin to help you through the pain. He wiped away the blood one more time, and then it was done. 

Eddie left for a third time, and while he was gone, you held up your wrist to look at your new tattoo. A smile lit up your face as you looked at it, and when Eddie came back and sat down and you looked up at him, he had a matching smile on his face. 

“I love it,” you said. 

“Good,” Eddie said softly. He grabbed your wirst and pulled it towards him to put on the ointment and then a bandage. 

“What do I owe you?” You asked after he was done bandaging it. 

Eddie sat in thought for a long moment before he asked softly, “a kiss? Please?”

Wide eyed, you nodded, and Eddie answered you with his own nod. Eddie moved from the table to beside of you, his leg pressed to yours. 

You moved in first, and pressed a kiss to cheek. You pulled back only by a small amount and opened your eyes. Eddie’s eyes were big and brown this up close, and they looked from your eyes to your lips. This time, it was Eddie who moved in to press his lips to yours. 

When the kiss ended, Eddie pulled back and raised your bandaged wrist up to his mouth and pressed a soft kiss to the bandage, “you did so good,” Eddie whispered. 

The muscles in your skin jumped at the press of his lips, it made your skin ache. “Just one kiss?” You asked. 

Eddie chuckled softly and lowered your hand into his lap where he tangled his fingers with yours. He moved back in and the two of you kissed and kissed and kissed until you were breathless and Eddie felt satisfied with the payment you gave him. 

[siempre-bucky]

HEY!!! just wondering how orla and rory's first days of school would be like?

<3

Dad!Druig x Reader

Druig would have a hard time letting his little girl go

he'd stand by the gate on her first day and ask constantly if she was ready to attend in-person school

you absolutely noticed how his blue eyes got all watery

"You've gone soft," you chuckled as he watched her enter the building with a fond smile

"You're funny, m'lady," he grumbled with his face covered in annoyance

Orla was more than ready

she felt going to school in Dublin could give her a fresh start

no one had to know she was from the Amazon

until the teacher presented her in front of her class

"We have a new student joining us this year all the way from the Amazon!"

the 7 year old froze "I-I'm actually from South Dakota...in America."

the teacher hummed in question but went along with her

Orla got on well with the other kids in her class

she liked being able to talk and color with her tablemates

oh and she especially loved the little reading nook her teacher had made in the corner with a small library and bean bag chairs

she made her first friend on the playground

that girl would turn out to be her lifelong best friend

you and Druig stood at the gate after school, hesitating to see the look on her face

but to your suprie she was grinning and giggling with a couple of other kids

"How was school, love?" Druig asked as he scooped her up in his arms

"It was so much fun! We colored and we're gonna get a class pet!"

Orla buried her face in his neck and mumbled "Missed you."

Rory's first day of preschool was a a bit of a mess!

you and Druig tried your best to prep him with babysitters and time a part but oh man did he have separation anxiety

he clug to your neck as his teacher tried her best to be patient with him

"I don't wanna go mama!" he sobbed in your neck

"I know, I know. You're going to have so much fun. New friends, maybe some snacks?"

Rory shook his head

"My turn," Druig sighed as he peeled the boy from your arms

he placed him on the ground and got on his knees

"Look at me," he told him gently, brushing the hair out of his sons eyes

"I don't want to go."

"Why not?"

"I want you and momma," he sniffled

"You gotta be brave, yeah? We will be the first in line to pick you up."

Rory aggressively shook his head

you bent down and held his hand

"We'll be with you the whole time."

Rory sniffled "you will?"

Druig eyes flashed gold, making Rory smile

He giggled and finally nodded "alright."

[levantea]

Day 2 | hyunjin *ೃ༄

╰┈➤ 14 ways to say”i love you” series

Pairing: hyunjin x y/n

Genre: fluff, tablemates!

Rating: PG

Warning: none

Word Count: 1.79k

⇢ ˗ˏˋ prompts: 18 — “Here, drink this. You will feel better.” + 31 — “Don’t worry about me” + 44 — “I’ll drive bring you to the hospital”

My stomach hurts.

My stomach hurts badly.

Your brain has chanted these 2 sentences repeatedly since the start of the day as your period came right before you left the house. You had to rush back in to grab your sanitary pads and make sure it doesn’t stain over your skirt.

Females having periods are always at their most vulnerable state as some will experience bad cramps and backaches. Nonetheless for you, you always struggle alot during your first day and you were silently manifesting that this month will treat you better, but seems like it got worse.

Morning was still fine, you were able to walk around and talk to your friends across classes but when afternoon strikes, you started to feel the awfully familiar cramps at your lower abdomen. You felt your nerves harshly clenched together and you can barely stand straight. You were trying your best to hide your sufferings from your other classmates but your tablemate captures all.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly as you clutched onto your stomach, biting on your teeth as you cursed at the pain you are experiencing. Your gripped on your pen so tightly that it looks like it is going to break and your the folds of your fingers are getting redder, causing your tablemate to frown.

“Yeah, trying my best,” you mustered your energy to reply him while trying to wipe off some cold sweat. Didn’t want to get him worrying, you faked a weak smile before putting your head on the table, grabbing your bag to hug against your stomach, in hope that the pain will subside soon as you have music lessons in a different room.

“You don’t seem fine, do you want to go to the infirmary?” he leaned closer to you he checked your complexion. You sensed it because you saw a shadow hovering from the sunlight as you closed your eyes, and his steady breath against your cheeks.

“Don’t worry about me, i just need to rest abit, let me know if Mrs Jeon calls me,” you uttered softly that is only audible enough for Hyunjin to hear as he replied with an ‘mhm’, shifting his body back to his table, not forgetting to check you out in constant intervals.

The bell rang and your music lesson is starting soon. You thought that you felt better but the moment you shifted your body, the pain pierced again and you instantly sat down.

“Y/n, i guess its better if you sit here and rest, i’ll tell Ms Molly that you are unwell, do you need anything? I’ll grab for you before i go,” your closer friend in the class approached you and suggested as she saw you couldn’t stand at all.

“Would be great, thanks Shyan,” you waved a small goodbye to her before placing your head back down on the table. You turned and saw your tablemate still sitting there, looking at you with concern.

“Hyun, you should go, Ms Molly will kill you if you don’t attend, you are her favourite student,” you poked his arm as he catches it, making your heart skip a beat when you feel the heat radiating from his palm to yours.

Your relationship with your tablemate is pleasant — Hyunjin has been a wonderful table partner as he always make sure you finish your work on time, reminding you about the to-do lists for the week, helping you with your studies as he is a top scorer and other miscallaenous stuff that you can’t even count with your 10 fingers.

There have been rumours spreading around the cohort that both of you are dating and you did deny a few times before, but to no appeal. You questioned Hyunjin before if he wanted to clarify, which you are happy to do so (to avoid more misunderstandings between the both of you since you guys are pretty close as friends) but he said that just leave it be.

You probe again but he merely said that it was unnecessary to respond to such rumours, which may backfire the intention of trying to clarify. You agreed to his point and hence, leaving the tea stirring and people are still speculating both of you from time to time.

Putting all these rumours aside, if you were to touch your heart and be truthful, you would admit that you had crush on him ever since he sat next to you. Who wouldn’t be fond of such boyfriend material tablemate?

He is smart, talented, artistic, hardworking, humble, alluring…whatever good vocabularies you can use on him. Nevertheless, he is such gentleman towards you. Whenever you need assistance, he would definitely be the first one to hop right infront of you and do everything. Unsure if it is a tablemate’s privilege, you never once saw him going to this extend for someone before, except for his close friends and family.

Sometimes you felt the connection between you and him is complicated because there isn’t a fine line between close friends and lovers. He do some weird but heart racing things such as: lending you his textbook when you forget to bring yours and he received the punishment; he would ruffle your hair gently when you are satisfied with your results and praises you “good job”; he will take good care of you when you are in PE lessons and never forget to bring you a bottle of 100plus to quench your thirst.

Maybe we could be something more than that? You always wondered that to yourself, but you just didn’t have that courage to take one more, just one more step further, because you are worried this friendship is either going to progress or break.

“I’m worried about you, are you really sure you don’t wanna go to infirmary? or hospital even,” he tucked a strand of your fringe behind your ears, gently carassing your temple as you shake your head.

“I’ll sit here first and observe, will consider that if it still doesn’t turn better, just go, anything i’ll call you,” you patted his hand as he acknowledged it, leaving the classroom after gently closing the door.

Now the classroom only left with you and you took some tissue paper to wipe off youe sweat from your table, only to realise that the cramp has worsened until you start to feel your lips getting drier and body becoming numb.

“Screw my life,” you tried your best to stand up and walk towards the door, praying that you can sustain until the infirmary room that is located 2 levels below. However, the sight of seeing a few flights of stairs made you growl as every steps taken felt like a torture.

As you were going down, you noticed your vision is getting blurrer every second ticks by and you hold onto the handrail as if holding onto your life. You shook your head abit, trying to regain your vision but oh well, it got worse.

You collapse to the ground first and lay there, still having last bit of conciousness before you heard fast footsteps. You were trying to call for help, but nothing came out of your mouth as you were too weak to even make a sound.

“Y/n? Y/n! Are you okay?! I’ll bring you to the hospital,” you heard your tablemate’s voice as he kneeled beside you, elevating your body and pull closer towards his legs, calling for you to stay awake.

“No…don’t… just- infirmary…” you forced a few words out before passing out. He instantly carried you in bridal style and rushed to the infirmary to get you treated.

—

“Y/n? Y/n! Omg you are finally awake,” you slowly opened your eyes, finding yourself lying on a bed and an unfamiliar white ceiling. You tilt your head abit towards the left, seeing Hyunjin’s worried face and grabbing onto your hands tightly without hurting you. You forced a smile to reassure him that you are okay, making him on the verge of tearing.

“You are obviously not okay, i know you are not, don’t be stubborn,” you heard his sound contains a tinge of breaking down as you rub slow circles around his hand, soothing him from his emotion.

He went silent for awhile before speaking, “i’ll go get you some warm water, stay here.”

You chuckled lightly at his actions. “Your boyfriend is so cute,” the nurse commented as you darted your eyes at her.

“Boyfriend? He’s not-“

“You don’t need to be shy! He already admitted it, even if he didn’t, i would have guessed it as well because he was so so so worried about you… literally begging me to help you when it was just menstrual cramps and he was sitting here for the past 1 and half hours holding your hands watching you,” the nurse laughed at your tablemate’s movements, causing you to burst out laughing too. “And he keeps asking me when will you be awake.”

He is that concerned about me?

“Haha, i see, he is, very nice to me…” you looked across the window, seeing him running back to you with your thermal bottle in his hands.

“Here, drink this. You will feel better,” he opened the lid and blow gently before passing over to you.

Would be nice if he is really my boyfriend…, you wondered as you take a sip.

“I’ll leave you 2 lovebirds here,” the nurse winked at you and left, causing the both of you to be flustered.

“Was it true…? Like what she said…” you started the conversation after it went silent for a good 5 mins, seeing Hyunjin sitting and fidgeting with his fingers, as if he got something to tell you.

He looked at you for a short one second before looking down at his hands again. “I mean, i was so worried and… urgh, y/n i really can’t get you out of my head…like everywhere i see is just you and only you…” he shifted his eyes back to you, looking into your eyes when he confessed in his last sentence.

Badump, badump, badump.

Is that what like means?

“Likewise,” you replied one word before taking another sip of your bottle, side eye seeing him widening his eyes and lips curling up.

“Really? You feel that way?” his voice filled with hope and ectasy, taking your hands back into his.

“Really.”

You looked back into his eyes, seeing him smiling like a fool while giving a light kiss on your hand, leading you to laugh at his action as well. It seems like ‘tablemates’ will not be the right term to describe both of you anymore, but something else more than that which you both long hope for.

-> Navi | Masterlist | About

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© levantea — all rights reserved. No plagarising, editing, claiming as own without permission.

[deezeyrabbidy]

Midnite AU Lore; part 2! (CW for kids calling each other nasty cuss words)

 She was unlike any of the girls at school, that’s for sure.

   Midnite had been crying at the time. Things had finally come to a head with one of her worst harassers so far; Virmina. Ever since her first years attending the academy, Midnite could seemingly never hear the end of it from her. Somehow, Virmina had gotten it into her head that her far richer classmate was nothing more than a ludicrously rich dumbass who coasted off her parents’ success and sat around doing nothing useful all day. Virmina had gotten an offer to transfer to this school after a mere three years of public education, boosted here by her near-perfect academic record, as well as a list of outstanding extracurricular achievements. She shined above her peers like the sun outshined a bunch of melted, gooey candles lit by a soggy match. Being a transfer of this nature, she stuck out for being one of the few students who didn’t exactly come from biggish money. Of course, this led to some friction between the parties involved, but nobody seemingly understood why Midnite in particular got the brunt of her ire. Insults, shoving, petty namecalling. It just kept escalating between the girls, with Virmina being the first to usually start shit every single time. A calm, quiet girl who didn’t want any trouble and kept her problems bottled up inside her. A girl who was just different enough to feel separated, vulnerable, and anxious, but not enough to earn pity from nearby adults. That’s what Midnite was, and that was why she was being targeted. She just knew it. She was the only one weak enough to push around to this extent for so long. What was wrong with her?

   And then, this happened.

   “So, whatdya think you’ll be doin? Y’know, after we all leave this place?.......” A strawberry-blonde classmate had piped up, smiling at the lunch table, “Mom says I’ll be great atda family company! And I think all the people there are so cool and smart and I wanna be like em!”

   Midnite sat back and forced a small smile as her other tablemates excitedly began to share their own ideas for the future; doctor, travel blogger, actor, dancer, scientist, and even pet shop owner were among the various professions being brought up as she idly picked at the herring-and-cheese sandwich on her plate. She hadn’t been planning on joining in, but she was beginning to sense some stares and curious glances being directed her way……

   “Ahem, uhm……T-to be honest, I don’t really know, uhm, what I’ll wanna do as a grownup,” She rubbed her shoulder nervously, coughing slightly as she sat up straighter, “I haven’t really given it much thought to be hones-”

   “Because you’re a filthy little freeloader, yes, we get it.” Everyone nearly dropped what they were eating as they whipped their heads behind them……Virmina was trudging up from behind, snorting in seeming disgust at the stunned Midnite.

   Her throat felt dry as everyone’s gazes turned back to her, her entire face flushed a brilliant red as she struggled to regain her bearings.

   “T-t-t……..that’s……not true…….that’s not true at all………” She looked down, distressed.

   Virmina snorted loudly, looking even smugger than before as she saw her designated enemy embarrassed and triggered. “What, cat got your tongue there? Or are you speechless cuz I’m right?~” She cackled vilely. 

M: “W-what did I ever do to you!? Just leave me alone! I don’t want to talk to you!”

V: “Fine! I don’t wanna hang with some stupid, rich, useless bimbo anyways!”

   It felt like the world paused for just a moment, Midnite felt like she had gained tunnel vision. Nine, they were NINE years old, Virmina (and herself, for that matter) shouldn’t even know that word, much less have the nerve to call her it! Her heart pounded in her chest. She stood up. The few tables around them went quiet as everyone turned to face her. Everyone was staring. Everybody had heard Virmina call her a fucking bimbo. 

M: “You take that back!”   Everyone gasped softly at her raising her voice.

V: “Make me, talentless loser bimbo! Bimbo girl!” Her smile was shit-eating as she pointed, irate. 

   And then she just fucking lost it.

“WELL AT LEAST I’M NOT THE DEAN’S LITTLE BITCH!!!!!!”

   Multiple of the other girls shrieked in surprise, others covering their ears or mouths and some even running off, definitely to tell the dean or a teacher. She was right in Virmina’s face now. Fists clenched, teeth also clenched. She had never felt this damn angry. 

   The way Virmina’s face twisted into a look of horrified rage made her smile a little.

V“Why, you have some nerve you little-”    

M: “FUCK YOU!”   With that, Midnite felt her arms shove Virmina right off her feet. Her lunch went flying across the floor, spilling cheese, mayonnaise, and smelly sardine scraps all over, as well as her open milk carton and mixed fruit salad. 

   There was some kind of odd disconnect she felt, really. It didn’t feel like she had pushed her, more like her arms had acted on their own accord, out of sheer frustration and pent-up grudge. But damn, it felt good hearing that haughty brat unironically shriek in fear for once!

   It felt less good as Virmina’s hand grabbed at her skirt, sending her tumbling to the hard tile floor along with her, in what could only be described as a food-covered ball of furious schoolgirl.

   There was even more shrieking and yelping from her classmates, who by now had formed a wide circle around the brawlers. Fists were flying, with Midnite feeling a solid blow to her shoulder and promptly flinging her right fist in retaliation. Punches, kicking, slapping. It all was a bit of a blur of violence and struggling. As quickly as it started, however, it seemed to end, as Midnite felt herself yanked back my the shoulders, vaguely hearing the voice of Miss Whynter, angry and panicking as a few teachers had come to tear the two students, now bruised and beaten, apart.

   Welp, she was screwed now.

   Or at least, it sure seemed like it. With the expressions on the teachers’ face being that of pure contempt and annoyance, both girls were lead up to the dean’s office, kept apart from each other for obvious reasons. Midnite could only stare in slow-dawning realization and dread as she was sat across from the Dean, at his large, intimidatingly ornate deskspace.

   “......Surely this must be some sort of misunderstanding!.......They were doing WHAT you say?!?.........I see……………I’ll attend to them shortly, this is deeply disappointing to hear…….”

   He was in the next room over. And he was PISSED. ‘It’s all over’, Midnite thought, shifting in her seat as Virmina shot a shit-eating grin her way, ‘She’ll be fine…….She’s the dean’s precious pet. I’ll probably be kicked out of school and maybe my home………’. She wondered just how well the local orphanage would treat her once she arrived.

   “Girls……mind giving me an explanation for such unacceptable behavior?..........”

   ________________________________________________________________________

Midnite stood bitterly outside the doors of her school. Disciplinary Action papers in hand. Tears still streaming down her face, refreshing the dried up streaks from older tears as they did so. 

It wasn't fair

IT. WASN'T. FAIR.

She may have not gotten expelled, through some miracle; mainly for this being her first ever offense throughout her academic career here. But her past behaviour still had not saved her from a week's worth of lunchtime detention. On top of that, she owed that bitch Virmina an APOLOGY! Handwritten and signed! It didn't even matter that Virmina had received the same punishments, this was so unfair! Midnite hadn't called her a BIMBO or been tormenting her for almost a year and a half by now! And now......her parents would.........

She gulped and shook as she took a deep breath. Both Virmina and Midnight had been let go from school early for the day, and were to report home to their guardians with previously mentioned disciplinary papers to be signed, overviewed, and agreed upon by them.....But Midnight didn't WANT to go home after what had just happened. How could her parents even look her in the eyes after this?! Their precious, innocent, sweet child, put in detention for fighting in the cafetorium! What sort of Snowholme would she be with such a horrendous blotch on her records? She……she couldn’t go home right now. She just couldn’t. 

This just sucked. This entire day had just fucking sucked so far. 

Midnite glanced out at the distant cluster of shops and low-rent apartments to her northeast.......Well.......It wasn't that far away.......Perhaps she could cool down browsing some of the stores before coming home to face the inevitable. It was really all she could think of at the moment......

With a sigh and an adjusting of her scarf, she headed off, feet falling softly in the snow as she tread along towards the town. The walk wasn’t exactly brief, but the cold weather was mild enough at the moment to keep the trip bearable.

It was surprisingly lively today for such a small little pocket of urbanization, really. Perhaps she had just never been here at this time to see it?

She rubbed her mittened hands together, feeling the chill of a wintery breeze run down her spine despite her decently layered attire. The shops around were nothing really out of the ordinary; a rather sweet-smelling bakery with mouthwatering cakes, buns, and loaves in the display window, two stores who were either thrift shops or antique stores (she really couldn't tell, their branding was so generic and vague, all she could gander from a peek though the window was they sold a bunch of random junk), a recognizably-branded clothing boutique that she wasn't too fond of, a family-owned toy emporium, and a small, boxy grocery mart with worn-away white paint on the walls and less walking room than most of the local apartments. 

   There were a few or more establishments she had yet to reach when the incident that would, unknowingly at the time, change the entire path of her life, drastically and in ways she could never have even imagined, happened.

   And it started with a hard bump to the shoulder.

   “Aghhh!” Midnite felt her arms instinctively move to cover her face as she stumbled, her schoolbag’s strap unclipping from the force of the jolt as it fell to the ground next to her. 

   “Sorry.”

   The voice that responded to her was mumbling and flat in tone, and as Midnite turned to look towards its owner, she saw a flash of movement as her bag was swept up in one smooth motion, quickly followed by the sound of mad-dash footsteps against the stone pathway. 

   “H-hey! What are you-?!”

   Her bag! This random fucking stranger on the street had stolen her bag, including her disciplinary papers!

   No, no, no! She was screwed! She might actually get expelled for real if she lost those! And literally everything else in that bag was important in at least some kind of way to her schooling career! She couldn’t let them get away!

   She dashed blindly in the direction of the now sprinting stranger, following their crunching footsteps against the snow and ice that littered the roads. She pushed past startled strangers who turned in both worry and confusion as they watched the ensuing chase around town, But it seemed like none of them actually were even that bothered by such a frantic occurrence…if anything, Midnight swore their stares at both her and her target looked more pitiful than anything else. 

   It seemed like this person was experienced at this sort of game. They were having a much easier time navigating the twists and turns that the township had to offer, and slipped through small crowds of rabbids as if they were liquid through a crack. Midnite’s breath felt ragged, her throat dry and her knees aching from all the running, she was so tired….She stopped and gasped for air in her lungs, looking up, only to catch a glimpse of long black hair whipping around the corner ahead of her……right into a dark, scary alleyway. 

   “N-no………..”

[lucidtobio]

drawing on their hands !

w. ushijima , semi , goshiki

[ fluff , gn!reader ]

ushijima wakatoshi

you guys sit next to each other in your japanese history class

aka the most boring class of them all -_-

usually when you lose focus, you take out whatever colored pen you can find and start doodling on yourself

but with wakatoshi next to you,,,

a brand new canvas !!

scooting your desk over slightly, you nudge ushijima with your pen

"hey. hey, wakatoshi!"

he just like, looked over at you and blinked

you made grabby hands and flicked your eyes down to his hand, which was resting on his desk

ushijima's eyebrows furrowed bc he's a little dense

"give me your hand, dummy" you harshly whispered

despite not quite understanding your motive, he gave you his hand anyways

uncapping the pink pen, you pressed the tip against his flesh

one hand laying lightly over his fingers, the other gripping a pen, you started drawing a small cat

wakatoshi's curious gaze was fixed on your movements on his hand

the two of you spared occasional glances towards the teacher at the front of the classroom, but that was all

other classmates had been dozing off or talking in hushed whispers

"(y/n),," "yeah?"

you looked up at him, faces only a few inches apart

the olive haired boy sucked in a small breath while you appeared unphased

"can you draw a volleyball?"

giggling quietly, you nodded and made a circle right next to a patch of stars

a few minutes later, his whole hand (including his fingers) was covered in pink ink and your art

"do you like it?" "of course"

semi eita

sitting next to semi at lunch was,, interesting?

the third years from the team sat there, as well as a few other mutual friends

usually you were pretty spacey, not paying attention to the conversation

tendou (and occasionally semi) liked to tease you about your dreamy gaze

though you always had your special blue pen with you at all times

you and semi had been shopping together when you saw it in a stationary store, and he bought the cute tool for you

at the moment, you were sitting at the table, fiddling the pen between your nimble fingers

clicking the coil repeatedly sparked an idea

you quickly snatched eita's hand, eliciting a small "hey-" from him

running the ink over his skin, you started to draw a flower curling around the curve of his palm

semi's cheeks tinged pink at the feeling of your smaller hand gripping his wrist to keep him still

tendou's attentive eyes were drawn to you two

he didn't hesitate to silently grab the attention of the other table members and motion to where you and semi were seated

at this point, you were just absentmindedly doodling nonsense on his skin

forgetting who it was, you lazily scribbled out his name in a pretty font

"ah, (y/n)-" "hmm?"

you were yanked out of your thoughts before locking eyes with eita

a small smirk played on his lips as your face conveyed confusion

"my name, huh? do you have some secret feelings for me, (y/n)?" the ash-haired boy teased

a harsh blush colored your cheeks as you detached your fingers from him

"shut up, baka."

needless to say, semi was stabbed by the same pen that decorated his hand a few moments later

goshiki tsutomu

okay, let's start by saying that if you got within two miles of him, he would be so flustered

you are doing partner work in your biology class and sitting at the two people tables (idk if that makes sense but hopefully yk what i mean t-t)

the tables themselves weren't that large in the first place

so your thighs were already touching underneath the tabletop

goshiki's heart raced as soon as you sat down, bare thigh brushing against his clothed one

"hi tsutomu~" you greeted, placing your notebooks and stationary on the table

"h-hey"

poor boy can't think straight around you

the period was spent completing a lab with your tablemate; if you finished early you could just hangout

with your smarts and his motivation it wasn't surprising you guys finished first

a slightly awkward silence hung over you two as you both waited for the other to speak up

"so-" "do you-"

opening and closing your mouths at the same time, goshiki quickly attempted to hide his blush by looking away

you snickered at his cute behavior before grabbing his hand

"woah there (y/n). you can't do that,, people might think we're..." goshiki mumbled as you started to draw lines down his fingers

he trailed off, entranced by the way your marker moved against his tanned flesh

finally the lines started to come together to form bones

your face leaned close to where you were working, nose almost bumping against the back of goshiki's hand

when you finally finished your artwork you sat back and sent the bowlcut boy a beaming smile

"done! do you like it? is it too much?"

tsutomu aggressively shook his head, blabbing something along the lines of "i love it as long as you did it"

a soft smile graced your lips as you ruffled his hair slightly

"ahh (y/n) why :(" pls he's too cute skldjfkl

"promise me you'll hit your best spikes with this hand, okay?" you said sternly, holding out your pinky to him

goshiki quickly linked his little finger with yours and nodded

"of course! i have to be the best ace there is!"

coach washijo is gonna beat his ass when he sees what's on tsutomu's hand-

anything for you tho <3

a/n: this was way too fun to write, even if it didn't turn out good kekek

⤿ written 3.25.2021

⤿ masterlist

[twstinginthewind]

[  MOUTH  ]:     could see this for Carol Punch

[  LAUGH  ]:     this for Joker April?

"I Love You" prompts

[mouth]

Punch met his sister at the entrance to the Heartslabyul rose garden, waving cheerfully. "Thanks for letting me come to the Unbirthday party! I heard this is a tough event to get invited to, for non-dorm members."

Joker made a face. "You know how it is, there's a zillion rules. But I was able to stress how it wasn't going to impact the unbirthday status, since, you know." She gestured with her thumb and pinky between them, moving her hand back and forth. "Twins. No risk." She took him by the arm and lead him forward. "I got you a seat with me and my roomie and a couple of in-house friends, you're gonna get along smashingly. Just follow our lead, and remember the poems Pops used to recite to us. You'll fit in perfectly!"

He self-consciously tugged at the jacket of his own dorm uniform. The stark black and blue seemed a little out of place among the warm colors around him. Joker noticed, and gave him a sympathetic look.

"For what it's worth? I think you'd've looked smashing in checks. We can still see about a transfer..."

"Nah; I think I'll be okay where I'm at. I think I get how the place works, now. And besides, the mirror saw what we needed in our reflections, right? We are where we're meant to be." He gave his twin what he hoped was a reassuring smile, and she relaxed a little.

(Continued and the second story under the break!)

"ANYway. Here we are!" She brought him over to a small table at the side of the garden, covered in a white lacy tablecloth and set with colorful dishes. Three of the five seats were occupied by other Heartslabyul members, who nodded at Punch genially. Joker leaned over and whispered to her brother. "I think you've already met everyone at some point, but if you need a refresher, just throw a sugar cube at me."

"I should be fine," he laughed, and greeted their tablemates as he sat down.

Joker patted his shoulder, still standing. "I'm gonna go and make sure Ace and Deuce aren't setting anything on fire, bro. I'll be right back. Get comfy; the fun starts soon."

She darted off, brown curls bouncing behind her, and Punch began making small talk with the tiny bespectacled girl in the seat next to him. As they chatted, a flash of green caught his eye.

He turned his head, trying to find the source of the odd color out of this red, black, and white landscape, and his mouth dropped open. There, behind Deuce and Ace (who were laughing at something his sister was saying, as all three made ridiculous arm gestures), stood his girlfriend Carol, lovely in a bright green sundress. He heard a tiny giggle from his tablemate, and he apologized.

"No, don't worry," the girl said. "It's unusual to have more than one outside guest for this event. I'm sure that she'd be as shocked to see you, as well." She leaned an elbow onto the table. "I wish I could have drawn your face, though. It was quite the look!"

Punch reddened a bit at that, and smiled sheepishly. "Make sure you have your pencil next time I'm amazed, then." He kept watching the group across the garden, hand raised slightly to give a wave when she looked his way.

And... yes. Joker was pointing towards their table, and the other three turned his way. He gave them all a weak little wave. The two boys nodded a greeting at him, while Carol looked like she was saying something. Punch squinted slightly to see it better.

What he thought he saw her say, was: Hello, Punch! Didn't expect to see you. We'll talk soon. I love you!

His cheeks went even redder as he gestured back, fingertip and thumb forming a little heart, and the girl next to him giggled again. "Now I really wish I had my sketchbook."

[laugh]

A week later, at a café in town, Joker and April sat together, sharing an apple tart and a little pot of rooibos tea. A small bunch of red and white roses tied with a checkered ribbon lay on the table between them, traces of paint on their leaves. Joker was mid-anecdote, her face animated as she told her story.

"... and even though we ALL saw it, me an' Ace an' Deucey, do you know what Carol told us she was trying to tell him? She said that what she was saying was OLIVE SHOES. Can you stand it?" Joker slapped her hand against her thigh, hooting with laughter. "I mean, don't be all embarrassed about it. I'm only his sister, lady. You're allowed to be nice to him."

"That must have been mortifying, though," April said with a giggle, wiping the corner of her uncovered eye with a napkin. "I mean, trying to cover like that? Did your brother find out that she said that?"

"Nope! I ain't gonna tell him, neither." Joker smugly picked up her tea, tossing her ponytail back. "He deserves some happiness, and if it's a cute girl saying nice things that brings it to him, all the better." She raised the teacup to her lips, and took a sip.

"So that means you both like the same things, huh?" April deadpanned, making Joker almost pass her sip of tea through her nose. "Twins, go figure."

"Oh my SEVEN, April. That's so cute. I love you," Joker spluttered as she put her cup down, shoulders shaking with laughter. "You're too funny."

April wanted to respond in kind, but she was too busy being uncomfortably aware of all the blood in her body rushing to her face. She picked up her own teacup and took a long sip of her own, to try and downplay the blush.

[icedthoma]

12c with Kuroo if neither are taken already lol happy 2k!

listless

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x Reader

12c.  Accidentally falling asleep + bookstore/library au

You weren’t an expert on reading people or anything, but you were pretty sure the guy sitting in the seat diagonal to yours was about to fall asleep right on top of his rather alarming stack of textbooks. 

It was finals week, and like one would expect, the library was packed. You recognized several Nekoma uniforms among the assortment of students gathered to do some last minute studying. This resulted in you not having a table to yourself like you would prefer. But then again...

This situation you had landed yourself in wasn’t too bad. 

A familiar Nekoma jacket draped around his shoulders, your table partner let out another yawn, resting his cheek on one hand while the other brushed away the long fringe of dark hair over his eye. You suppressed the urge to yawn yourself, grabbing the edges of your book just a little tighter as you shot another quick side glance his way. Of course, you weren’t shamelessly staring for no reason. It was just that he looked so familiar, you could barely come to a conclusion as to where exactly you had seen him before. 

It was bothering you, and it was frustrating how your brain decided it couldn’t focus on a single thing in your own textbook until you matched a name to the face in front of you. 

(Granted, it was a rather nice face, but that was besides the point.)

Pull it together, you angrily thought to yourself, snatching up your empty water bottle and sliding out of your chair. Do you want to fail your exams?

Looking out the window, you noticed that the sun was beginning to go down. The library would close soon, and some students passed by you on the way to the water fountain, already on their way home. 

You wished that was you. 

Quickly filling your water bottle, you made your way back to your small rectangular table and was met with a surprising sight. 

It seemed your mystery fellow Nekoma student had lost the battle against sleep in the time you were gone, his head peacefully rested against his forearm on the table. All you could make out was his black hair that seemed to defy gravity. 

Several minutes later (which had been more productive than the past hour you had spent at the library) you looked around for a specific worksheet you remembered setting to the side earlier before you left to refill your water. 

You spotted it, but unfortunately, it was stuck under a book that belonged to your tablemate, who’s arm was also pinning said book to the table as he slept. You sighed. You really needed that paper, but didn’t really want to wake him up...

Leaning over the table, you took the exposed part of your paper in your hands and gently pulled. It didn’t budge. Brow furrowed, you applied slightly more force in your pull, just enough that it wouldn’t rip the worksheet, and it finally came free. 

Of course, it was at that exact moment a nearby librarian came by and informed you that the library was about to close in a few minutes. 

The boy in the blue jacket sat up. 

Hurrying to straighten up yourself, you nodded to the librarian and said you would be leaving shortly, trying to avoid eye contact with the recently awakened, who was currently blinking rapidly and checking the time on his phone. 

He sighed and murmured something about unproductiveness, then turned a shocked look at you. 

“Y/n, was I accidentally asleep on something of yours?”

Your eyes widened. “Yes, but wait--how do you know my name?”

“Well, Lev wouldn’t shut up about his nice upperclassman who helped him with some of his work,” he laughed, rubbing a sheepish hand around the back of his neck. “He’s pointed you out to us a couple of times.”

Us? The only large group you could remember Lev being a part of from your brief interactions was the...

Volleyball team.

But of course, how could you be so--

“Ah--I just realized I never introduced myself to you. I’m Kuroo Tetsurou,” he said, thankfully not afraid to talk at a louder volume now that the almost empty library was nearing its closing time. You noted how warm his hand felt around yours as he shook it firmly. “And...I’m sorry again about crashing on your stuff. My sleep schedule’s been all out of whack recently, haha.”

“Yeah, I feel you,” you sighed, overcoming your initial shock that he had known who you were this whole time, while you were over here losing braincells trying to remember where you had seen him in the first place. You swept all of your stuff into one pile. “And in addition to that, I’ve been so unproductive as of lately. It really adds up."

Kuroo made a humming sound of acknowledgement as he too began to pack up his things, and eventually the two of you exited the library and stood at the sidewalk outside. 

“Oh, and by the way, I would really appreciate it if you didn’t mention this little incident in the library to Lev the next time you see him.”

“Oh?” you asked, unable to resist the teasing grin that spread across your face. “And why is that?”

“I would never live it down,” Kuroo said with a groan. “I have a reputation to uphold, you know.”

“Fine, I promise,” you laughed. “Kuroo Tetsurou, your secret is safe with me.”

He smiled and sent a short wave your way as he headed off in a different direction. “Thanks. See you around!”

“Yep.” 

Though your only connection to the volleyball captain was by this chance encounter and a mutual acquaintance, you couldn’t stop yourself from slightly hoping you would start to run into him more often at school as the two of you parted ways under the gradually darkening sky. 

Was that bad? 

2k event masterlist

g. tag list: @lambotski @softdazais @animatedarchives @wompwomphq @kiyoobi

hq taglist: @citrussaurus

send an ask to be added, removed, etc

[bosspigeon]

maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me

Pairing: Gen, with Tina Poname & Male Detective Friendship Word Count: 2187 Summary: Tina Poname’s the new kid in a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere, and is learning the hard way that making new friends in a place like Wayhaven is easier said than done. Luckily, she’s got a can-do attitude and a forceful personality to help her befriend even the surliest of loners.

I just think Tina’s such a good character, and I loved trying to write from her point of view, and I love thinking about her friendship with the Detective. Especially with my boy, Arlo. I also read a bunch of articles trying to put together his infodump on the Satanic Panic fhdasjhgjskahg. Title, of course, taken from “Teenagers” by My Chemical Romance. (I like to think I’m Funny)

Tina takes her lunch in the courtyard.

It’s overcast outside, looking like it might rain later, but the courtyard is nice enough, landscaped with flowering plants and rustic stone pathways, though it is kind of small. She’d rather sit inside, just in case it does start pouring, but every table in the cafeteria was full, and the ones that weren’t very quickly became full when she walked past with her lunch bag. She’s learned quickly that small towns like Wayhaven tend to be pretty… insular.

She’s trying not to let it get her down. She’s the new kid, and with time other students will warm up to her, but for now she feels like she’s the ugly duckling set adrift in a little pond, and all the other ducklings think she has the plague or something. The metaphor gets away from her a bit, but her head’s been a bit of a jumble since the last move. But that’s leading towards things she’d rather not think about, so she doesn’t. Simple as that.

Instead she looks around her, taking in the very pretty little courtyard, even if it’s washed in the moody tones of the grey sky overhead, made more moody still by the shade of a tall, gnarled old ash tree in the center. There are a few wooden picnic tables scattered about, all of them empty.

All of them but one.

Tina almost doesn’t see him at first. He’s hunched over at a table directly under the ash tree, his back to her. His long black hair hangs almost to the bottom of his shoulder blades in loose waves, and all she can think is that he’s never seen a boy with hair so pretty before. Every time she sees a boy with long hair, it’s always a frizzy mess, and whenever she brings up that they really shouldn’t use all-in-one shampoo, they get all annoyed with her.

She makes the decision to flounce right over, rounds the table, and wiggles into the bench across from him. “Your hair’s so pretty!” she chirps by way of greeting, unzipping her lunch bag and beaming at him. He looks up at her, and she’s a bit stricken when she sees his face properly. His dark brows are bold slashes scrunching over pale grey eyes lined in smeary black makeup that streaks down his freckled cheeks. He’s got a square jaw and a strong nose, but he still leans more into pretty territory than handsome, and she’s beginning to figure out that the uniform guidelines in the student handbook are taken as more suggestions than law, given that his lip, nose, and ears are pierced.

He doesn’t respond, squinting at her, his mouth twisting into a frown.

“I’m Tina!” she offers cheerily. “I like your makeup!”

He frowns harder, almost snarling, with a bit of teeth showing, like he’s hoping to scare her away. Well, Tina Poname isn’t so easy to scare, and she’s determined not to spend lunch alone. She just smiles right back and starts rooting through her lunch bag, pulling out the neatly packed containers of healthy fruit and veggies and hard boiled eggs to find the yogurt-covered pretzels hidden at the bottom. She crunches on one while she eyes her new tablemate, who seems to have resigned himself to her delightful company and has turned his attention back to a notebook he’s doodling in while absently eating something she thinks is a kind of pretty little spring roll. It looks really good, and she’s a bit jealous.

He staunchly ignores her eyes on him, shifting a bit and tossing the hair hanging in his face over one shoulder, so she can properly see the black enamel inverted cross dangling from his ear. Without thinking, she leans across the table and flicks it.

He flinches away from her and glowers with such ire she’s surprised her clothes aren’t smouldering. She smiles sheepishly, but brushes off the surprise and barrels on. “I can’t imagine you’re too popular wearing those in a quiet little town like this,” she chimes in a teasing sing-song. “Wonder how many old die-hard religious types burst into flames at the sight of you?”

He scoffs and rolls his eyes so hard it gives Tina a headache. But she’s also more than a little pleased she’s gotten a reaction out of him.

She leans into it, figuring she’s found her in. “So, are you a Satanist or what? It’s cool if you are! Just think it must be hell in this place.” She can’t help but cackle at her own joke, slapping the tabletop and wheezing. When she recovers enough to notice, she catches him eyeballing her like he can’t quite figure out exactly what’s wrong with her. It’s a look she knows pretty well at this point.

“I’m not an anything,” he sighs, tapping his fingers on the wooden tabletop. His nails are painted black, but they’re chipping at the tips, and he’s wearing a few really cool rings, a couple of which looks like they might be antiques. “Besides that, the whole inverted cross being a symbol of Satanism is bullshit.” His voice is pretty deep, but not nearly as deep as she expected it to be, and softer besides, with a light, lilting burr to it. Regardless, Tina’s delighted to have gotten anything more than grunts and glares from him at all. She leans forward, crunching another pretzel. “Wait, really? What’s it mean, then?”

“It’s the cross of Saint Peter,” he almost bursts out, and then pinches his lips shut, like even he’s surprised he said anything. He looks at her warily, but she just waves at him to go on. He hesitates for another moment, before he continues haltingly, “When Peter the Apostle was supposedly executed under Nero, he’s said to have requested he be crucified upside-down, because he felt he wasn’t worthy to die the way Jesus did.” His broad, tight shoulders are loosening bit by bit the more he talks. “It’s a symbol of humility. It’s even used in the design for the papal cross, because the Pope is supposed to be the successor of Peter. And because of its mistaken associations with Satanism, now people like to claim the Pope is the antichrist.”

He rolls his eyes again and picks up another spring roll, gesturing at her with it before taking a bite and continuing while he chews. “I’m not sure exactly when people decided turning the cross upside-down suddenly makes it evil, but it can probably be traced back to the whole Satanic Panic debacle that kicked up in the 70s through the 90s. Anton LaVey—fuck that guy, by the way—published The Satanic Bible in ‘69, but most of it was pretty much plagiarized from a lot of other authors who philosophized about self-actualization and whatnot, including Ayn Rand—fuck her too—and then The Exorcist movie came out, and those things combined with the whole Manson cult thing earlier in the 60s and kicked off this sort of pop culture fascination with the occult and macabre. A lot of metal bands and other counter-culture music artists started using them in album art along with other bastardized religious imagery, and it turned into a whole thing with religious pearl-clutchers.”

Tina is astounded. Not just by the subject of the conversation (which is really cool, in kind of a weird way?) but with the way the boy  turns into a completely different person in the blink of an eye. Just a few minutes ago, he was all dour and moody and mean, looking as if he was a second away from biting her head off, and in the space of a few seconds, he’s morphed into someone totally different. His eyes are brighter and more expressive, he’s talking with his hands, and even the kind of monotone voice she’d heard from him before has changed. “Wow,” she says with no small amount of awe.

He seems to regain himself when she speaks, as if he’d forgotten he was talking to another person entirely. She watches him shrink, hunching his shoulders and looking down at the table, scooping up his pen and viciously scribbling a little spiral into the top corner of his notebook.

“No, seriously!” she blurts, standing up and bracing both hands on the table so she can lean into his space. “That’s really cool! How do you know all that?”

He gives her that same wary, hunted look from earlier, and she can’t help but pout. She wants to see what she saw just a second ago, when he looked like he was excited to talk about something. “Just stuff I picked up a while ago, and thought it was cool, I guess.” He shrugs and looks away, tugging at the spiked chain around his neck partially hidden under the crooked collar of his uniform shirt. “There’s this bookstore a couple towns over that kind of specializes in this stuff.” He lifts his hands and wiggles his fingers, mouth cocking in a wry almost-smile. “Plus, there’s always the magic of the internet.”

She laughs brightly, and it takes every ounce of her meager self-restraint not to reach out and try to physically drag that other boy out of him. “Oh, that sounds fun! We should go together sometime!”

He blinks at her, like she’s hit him over the head with her lunch bag. “Wh… what?”

She leans forward harder, until she’s essentially standing on her tip-toes and bouncing. “We should hang out! I’m sure if I ask really nice, my stepmom will drive us out there. It’ll be great!”

He keeps staring at her. She bounces a bit faster, hoping he doesn’t notice the pimple she couldn’t quite cover with foundation before she had to leave this morning. And if he does, she hopes he doesn’t say anything about it, because she doesn’t think trying to fight him will ingratiate her to him overmuch.

“I’ll buy lunch and everything,” she wheedles.

“I…” He looks away, eyebrows all scrunched again, but she can see him wavering. She wants to punch the air. Never doubt Tina Poname! “I guess? But why?”

Her smile falls a little at the genuine confusion in his voice, the way he’s not looking at her anymore, even to glare, the way he’s twisting one of his rings around his finger and almost hiding behind his thick, dark hair. She tilts her head and blinks at him. “Because I think you’re cool? Besides that, this town is kinda weird about new people? And you’re the only person who didn’t put a bag or book on every available seat when I walked by.”

“Mostly because I didn’t see you coming,” he mutters under his breath, and she barks out a laugh.

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve ambushed potential friends,” she giggles. “Hasn’t failed me yet. Except when it has, but I don’t count those.”

He finally looks at her again, still kind of hidden behind a curtain of hair, but she thinks he’s actually smiling at her. He starts to open his mouth to say something, but flinches instead when the shrill ring of the bell indicating the end of lunch interrupts him. He swears under his breath and starts to gather up his things, and Tina starts shoveling pretzels into her mouth while pushing her untouched plastic containers back into her bag. She’s going to regret eating nothing but pretzels later, but at least they’re more filling than melon or carrot sticks.

“Hey wait!” she exclaims through a mouthful of pretzels as he begins to stand, almost tripping over the bench to block him in before he can leave. She’s staggered, suddenly, when he rises up to his full height and she’s looking very up at him. She’s been taller than most boys all her life, so this is a bit bizarre. He looks down at her with his brows raised, tucking his notebook into a satchel covered in patches and pins. “Wow, you’re tall,” she says astutely, swallowing her pretzels.

“Uh… yeah, I am,” he responds.

She shakes off her shock and backs up enough to let him out of his side of the table, but she blocks his path to the door still. Though she’s not sure she could stop him from going anywhere if he really wanted to get past her, with those long legs of his. “I forgot to ask! What’s your name?”

He hesitates again before he quietly says, “Arlo.”

She shoves a hand out at him, “Tina Poname, at your service!”

He grants her a shake with his big, ring-laden hand, obviously bemused, but he’s doing that maybe-smile again, so she thinks she’s done pretty well here. “Yeah. Nice to meet you.” He turns and walks a few long steps away, then pauses and turns back towards her, waiting for her scamper to his side.

“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way,” she says a little breathlessly, swinging her bag and turning to him with a sly little smile “since you’re the local here, what teachers will let me get away with eating in class?”

[izzielizzie]

I love your one shots so can you do one of everyone hanging out at Addy's apartment?

Yes, under the cut. I wrote this with the AMAZING @forjusticeandspite​ and it’s long but SO worth it and also going to be on my ao3

“My apartment is haunted!” Addy declares as she sits in her chair at lunch. Her tablemates glance at each other for a moment.

“Okay I’ll bite,” Nate says, his arm draped over Bronwyn’s shoulder. “Why is your apartment haunted?”

“How exactly am I supposed to know why ghosts have taken residence in my house Nathaniel?” Addy asks.

Nate shrugs.

“Then how do you know you’re haunted?” Luis asks good-naturedly.

“There are weird noises all the time, stuff keeps falling, and it’s really cold.” The look of genuine terror on Addy’s face keeps Maeve from laughing. Barely. 

“What are you going to do with these ghosts?” Cooper asks, putting an arm around Addy’s shoulders and pulling her into a hug. 

“Well, actually, I was hoping we could deal with this as a... group? Ash is away this weekend and I’m throwing the track part Saturday night so you know… I gotta clean the place.”

Maeve raises an eyebrow. “You want us to clean your apartment for you?”

“Well, that and also deal with the ghost,” Addy says, nodding solemnly, her purple hair bouncing around her face.

Maeve catches her sister’s eye. Bronwyn shrugs, and Maeve makes a face at her. “We’re in,” Bronwyn says, speaking for both sisters as Maeve shakes her head vehemently.

“Aww thanks!” Addy says brightly into Cooper’s shoulder. 

“I’ll be there with Kris too,” Cooper adds. Addy squeezes him tighter. 

After a couple kicks to the ankle from Bronwyn, Nate relents and agrees, leaving only Luis. Addy turns to him expectantly. He runs his hand through his hair as he avoids Addy’s pleading eyes. 

“You know, well, I was going to… not clean an apartment on my Friday night.”

“I’m with him,” Maeve says, perking up. She pauses for a minute, knitting her eyebrows together. “Well, not with, with him. Just, you know. Not going.”

Bronwyn glances between her sister’s red face, and Luis’s equally flushed face, her eyes narrowed. She’d been sensing some sort of… awkwardness between the two of them lately, but Maeve had refused to answer any questions. 

Nate just giggles under his breath watching Maeve be a wreck. To him, this is entertaining. Addy winces. Secondhand embarrassment is her worst enemy. 

Maeve glares at him and kicks his other ankle. “Remind me not to sit between the two of you,” he grumbles as the sisters let out identical snorts.

“Please come Luis,” Cooper says, steamrolling over the looks Maeve and Luis are giving each other.  

“Only if Maeve goes,” Luis says with a shrug. Maeve narrows her eyes at him. 

“She’s going!” Bronwyn says pleasantly. 

“Says who?” asks Maeve, shocked at this development. 

“Says the person driving you.”  

“And if I just happened to avoid said person driving me?” Maeve answers cheekily.

“I can take you. Would you avoid me?” Luis asks. 

Maeve sputters, turning to him. “What?”

“Would you avoid me?” Luis repeats, smirking at her.

Maeve opens and closes her mouth for a moment as Addy burrows her head further into Cooper’s shoulder. The secondhand embarrassment is steadily becoming worse.

“The guy asked a question Maevey,” Nate says, smirking. 

“Stop enjoying this,” Bronwyn mutters under her breath, leaning into him. 

Nate shrugs and whispers under his breath again, “It’s funny though!” as Maeve finally answers.

“I don’t know what you want me to say? I…” She trails off, sounding panicky and confused at the same time. 

Addy whimpers. She really can’t handle this sort of thing. 

Even Cooper, who doesn’t want this interaction to be happening at all, buries his head in his hands, sending Addy crashing against him.

Maeve glances between her sister and Luis for a moment. “Okay sure, yeah I’ll go with you,” she says finally.

Nate stage whispers, “Are you sure we’re still talking about coming to Addy’s house to scare away a ghost? Or am I just reading this wrong?” Bronwyn lightly smacks his shoulder as she looks at Maeve’s face.

“Yes we’re still talking about the ghost,” Maeve snaps, her patience for boys finally worn thin. 

“Great, we’ll reconvene after the last bell,” Addy says, sounding like a tour guide as the warning bell rings.

Bronwyn and Cooper nod and start to leave. Nate saunters after them but turns back and smirks at Maeve before he says, “Maevey, you might want to splash some water on your face. You look a little… overheated to say the least,” He grins and turns around.

Maeve looks as if she wants to die. Luis grins to himself as he swings his bag over his shoulder, heading off in the opposite direction, leaving Addy and Maeve at the table. Addy turns to Maeve, a smirk on her face. “So,” she starts.

“Oh shut up,” Maeve says, looping her bag over her shoulder and stalking off. 

Addy calls out behind her, “I wasn’t going to say anything!”

Maeve chooses to ignore her.

---

Three hours later, Maeve taps Luis on the shoulder. He’s sitting on the front steps of the school, tapping away at his phone. Bronwyn and Nate had just walked away, heading hand in hand to Nate’s motorcycle. Addy and Cooper had left too, planning to pick up Kris before they headed to Addy’s apartment. 

“Hey,” Luis says, glancing up at her, squinting as the sun hits his eyes. 

“Hey,” Maeve responds, shifting from one foot to another, uneasy. She’s not quite sure when it happened, but lately Luis had gone from a mildly cute nuisance to someone she can’t keep her eyes off of. 

“Hey,” Luis says, both of them too busy staring at each other to notice he’s already said that. 

“Well, we should go,” Maeve says, waving her arm at the parking lot. Or at least what she thinks is the parking lot. 

A slow smile forms on Luis’s face looking at her. “Unfortunately, I was unable to park my car in the football field today, so you might have to make do with the parking lot.” He points in the opposite direction as Maeve’s face flames.

“Right, I forgot.” Maeve mumbles.

“Clearly, even though, correct me if I’m wrong, you’ve been here for three years now? Maybe I’m wrong though, who knows?” Luis says, his voice filled with laughter. 

“Two,” Maeve says.

Luis’s mocking smile drops. “You’re a year younger than us.”

Normally, Maeve would give a nonsensical answer, waving her arms around until the person asking forgets what the conversation is about, but for some reason, she finds herself looking up (and up -- Luis is tall) into his deep brown eyes. She’s never noticed how friendly they are until now. “I had cancer. For seven years. I started freshman year too late.”

Luis doesn’t respond for a moment, looking down at her. His arm moves forwards for a moment, as if he’s intending to take her hand in his, but he pulls back. “That sucks,” he says after a moment. 

To her surprise, and his too she guesses, Maeve starts laughing. He stares at her for a moment until he laughs too. She reaches forward, her hand on his forearm to steady herself. “You summed that up pretty well,” Maeve says when she catches her breath.

“I guess I did.”

Maeve’s hand is still on his arm, and they realize at the same time, stepping back.

“Well we should go…” Maeve says as Luis mutters something about how ghosts wait for no man. 

Luis leads Maeve to his car, muttering about how his brothers leave all their junk in his car instead of their parents’ and she should really be careful, as she assures him that she doesn’t mind, but neither of them are really listening. 

They arrive at Addy’s apartment nearly twenty minutes after the time they agreed on. They separate instantly, Luis heading towards Cooper and Kris. Maeve floats towards Bronwyn as if in a trance, wrapping herself around her side. Bronwyn and Addy exchange surprised looks over Maeve’s head. Clearly something had happened, and they silently agree to figure out what. 

“So, what’s going on with the ghost?” Maeve asks. 

“Well, nothing has happened yet,” Addy says, rolling her eyes. 

“Except it’s really cold,” Nate adds, he’s relinquished his jacket to Bronwyn, who drowns in the jacket because she’s 5’ 4” and Nate is almost a foot taller. It’s quite cute. 

“So?” Maeve asks. She looks around. The apartment is sparse and it honestly looks a bit creepy. She figures a ghost might like a place like this. 

“Yeah, this is an old apartment. Old apartments are cold,” Luis says.

“But why would it be cold? It’s April and we’ve had a heatwave, and also, California?” Kris says. He definitely has a point. 

“Okay so free air conditioning. What’s wrong with that?” 

“You’re very antighost, aren't you?” Maeve asks him.

Luis raises an eyebrow at her. “And you’re not? You didn’t even want to come.” 

Maeve tilts her head in acknowledgement. “Fair.”

Cooper looks between the two, sensing a shift in their relationship. It’s a small shift, but it’s there nonetheless. And he doesn’t like it. “Why don’t we start cleaning, and if we come across some ghosts we’ll act accordingly?”

“Sure Dad,” Addy mumbles as she leads her friends to the kitchen where a variety of cleaning supplies are lined up. Brooms, mops, bottles of liquids and rags are all on the table. Addy was serious about the cleaning. 

She points at Bronwyn and Nate and says, “You guys tackle the hallways,”

Pointing at Kris and Cooper she says, “You guys do the kitchen,”

Pointing at Maeve and Luis she says, “You guys will do the living room,”

And then she points to herself. “Because I’m nice, I will do the bathroom.” 

She claps her hands and then points to the stuff in front of them. “Grab what you need and go!” 

Maeve steps forward first and grabs a broom, everyone moving behind her to grab what they need. She turns around and Luis is standing in front of her. Face deadpan, he says, “Let’s chase the ghost away with our impressive brooming skills.”

She smiles at him, ‘Let’s do this.”

“Okay remember guys! If you see a ghost, just call out!” Addy calls from the dining room. 

“Can you see ghosts?” Luis asks Maeve as they start in the kitchen. 

Maeve tilts her head, considering the question as she pushes the dirt in a neat pile. “Yes? Maybe? I don’t think so?”

Luis nods one short nod. “Thanks for laying out all the possibilities Maevey.”

Maeve tries not to blush at his use of “Maevey”. It’s always been a name reserved for the people she loves the most. The time Evan called her “Maevey” she nearly threw her phone at his head. But there’s something tender about the way he says it. Like he loves her as much as her sister does, or maybe he could, if she let him.  

Has Luis wormed himself into being one of those people yet? Someone who loves her enough to know that she’s always considered nicknames to be a display of affection? A gesture that shows love? Does he know? Maeve isn’t sure. 

Luis looks at Maeve expectantly, and she realizes that she hasn’t yet responded to him. “Any time,” she mumbles, glancing down, expecting to see the pile of dust she’s been methodically adding too, but to her surprise, it’s gone, and her broom has been pulled out of her hand. “You finished?” she asks in surprise.

“You were taking too long,” Luis says with a shrug as he steps towards her. Maeve involuntarily moves towards him too, and she’s not quite sure where this is going when she hears a voice call out “Are you two working over there?”

Maeve turns to see Cooper and Kris in the arm chair, Kris sitting as straight as a pin in the middle, his hands by his side while Cooper lays next to him, his feet at the top and his head on the bottom. Why Cooper sits like that Maeve has no idea. Kris looks amused, and Cooper looks… not amused. Maeve shakes her head at them. 

“You’re not working!” Luis calls from behind her. 

“Couples get breaks!” Kris calls, holding up his right hand, which is intertwined with Cooper’s. 

“Well what if Maeve and I are paired up for the day, hmm?” Luis asks.

“She won’t even answer if she’d avoid you,” Nate says, emerging from the dining room where he and Bronwyn had been vacuuming the rug. 

Maeve rolls her eyes, face slowly reddining as Bronwyn appears next to Nate, vacuum cord in hand. “This thing is dead,” she announces as she catches sight of Cooper and Kris. “Oh are we taking a break?”

“Only if you’re a couple apparently,” Cooper says with a shrug. 

“Good, I’m sitting,” Bronwyn says, dropping onto the couch and dragging Nate after her. 

 “Who’s sitting?” Addy asks, sticking her head out from her room.

“We are,” Nate calls. “Well everyone except Luis, Maeve, and youuuuu,” he says all sing-song. 

“It’s because we’re single,” Maeve explains in response to Addy’s confused looks.

Addy frowns. “But I have a girlfriend? She’s just not in the country?” 

“Wait what?” Cooper asks, trying to sit up.

“Yeah, I thought I told you. Oh wait maybe I wasn’t going to tell you because you dated her.”

“What?” Kris asks.

“Wait, are you dating Keely?” Bronwyn asks, piecing together the information faster than everyone else, as usual.

“Are you opposed to Keely?” Addy asks, crossing the kitchen to pull open the fridge and extract a Diet Coke. 

“No, I’m not. But why didn’t you tell us?”

Addy shrugs. “Well, you know, Luis and Cooper dated her and I thought it would be awkward.”

“It’s not awkward,” Cooper says, swinging his legs over the side of the armchair to stand and cross the apartment, pulling her into a hug.  

“I’m happy for you,” he says into her hair. 

Addy giggles a little as Cooper rocks them back and forth. “Thank you!” she says as she pulls away from. 

Nate just looks confused. “Keely is gay?”

Addy rolls her eyes. “She thinks she’s pan but she’s not exactly sure what label yet.”

Nate nods, a slow grin stretching across his face. “Oh no, what are you planning?” Bronwyn asks with a resigned tone. 

“Just the best way to tease Addy mercilessly to make up for all the teasing she did when you and I started dating.”

“Oh I could get behind that,” Bronwyn says with a sly smile. 

“No you can’t,” Addy says quickly. Bronwyn and Nate just smirk at her. 

“Well, I guess that leaves Maeve and Luis,” Nate says, redirecting his smirk to the pair who had been rooted to their spots for the past few minutes. 

Maeve rolls her eyes. “I’m exhausted,” she says, sliding past Addy to the couch. Luis follows her, but they stop short when the coffee table suddenly lists to the side, sending the papers on top flying. Maeve and Luis, who are closest, bend down to pick up the papers. As Maeve gathers them in a neat pile, Luis turns to the table.

“It’s the ghost!” Addy cries out, pointing to the table. 

“I thought that ghosts couldn’t touch stuff,” Kris says as she leans forward on the armchair.

“They don’t need to touch stuff, they have powers. God Kris haven’t you watched any TV?” Addy asks. Kris opens his mouth to argue when Luis interrupts him.

“It’s not a ghost. The table leg collapsed.”

“And why would it do that, hmm?” Addy asks.

“Maybe it was shaking,” Bronwyn suggests.

“Yeah, this is California after all. Are we near a fault line?” Nate asks.

Bronwyn groans. “Buildings this tall can’t be built near a fault line, Nate.”

“Sorry,” Nate mumbles, catching Maeve’s eye. She smiles and rolls her eyes, telling him that her sister meant no harm. He grins at her.

“Well, whatever it is, the table needs to be fixed. We can prop it up for now.” Luis says, slightly impatient. He hauls himself to his feet and glances down at Maeve, who’s still crouched on the ground. He holds out a hand, and Maeve shifts the papers so she can take it. She tries to use his hand as momentum to pull herself up right as he pulls her up on his own, causing her to lose her balance and stumble forward. 

Right into his chest. 

They stare up at each other awkwardly for a beat, his hand on her waist. Then Nate coughs indiscreetly and Maeve quickly steps back, almost tripping over her own feet. “Shut up Nate,” she mutters, already missing the weight of Luis’s hand on her waist. 

Luis clears his throat. “Right, so, anyway. No ghost. Just shoddy carpentry.”

For the second time that day, Bronwyn looks between Maeve and Luis with a smirk playing at her lips. “Agreed. I think we’re all good with cleaning, don’t you Addy?”

Addy tears her eyes away from Maeve’s red face with a smile. “Oh yes. Take a seat you two.” She pats the couch next to her, and Maeve and Luis oblige, sitting as far from each other as they can on a couch that really only seats two people. 

“So, now what do we do?” Kris asks.

“Don’t say ghost hunting,” Bronwyn advises Addy, who sinks back into the couch.

“Monopoly?” Addy suggests instead. 

Bronwyn nods, a mischievous grin forming on her face. “Monopoly,” she confirms.

Maeve gives her sister a look as Addy gets up to get the game out of the closet. “What’s up with you?” she asks her sister.

“Nothing. Oh by the way there’s a spider on your arm.”

Maeve jumps, ending up pressed against Luis. He moves his arm from around the back of the couch, his hand on her shoulder.

“There was no spider,” he informs her dryly. 

“Then move your hand,” Maeve responds, glaring at her sister. Bronwyn smirks as Addy returns, dropping a box on the floor. 

“Okay you guys, Monopoly is a no-go,” Addy says solemnly. 

“What? Why?” Cooper asks.

“I can’t find the box. Maybe Ash ate it who knows, anyway,” she says this all very quickly. Everyone stares at her, trying to figure out what she said. 

“Ash what?” Kris asks.

“Nothing anyway I found a couples’ game!” she says brightly, pulling the top of the box off. 

Maeve begins to shake her head. “No, no, no, Addy why?” 

“What, you don’t like couples?” Luis asks her, smirking. Maeve shakes her head at him, her eyes narrowed. 

“You be quiet,” she grits out between her teeth. 

Nate interjects, “Now, now Maevey. Don’t be couple-phobic, c’mon now,”

Maeve looks at him incredulously. “Couple-phobic? What? That doesn’t even make sense!”

“It makes perfect sense. If you looked it up in the dictionary, you’d even find a picture of you next to the definition.”

“Nate you pulled that out of your ass. If I was really ‘couple-phobic’ I’d tell dad you climbed through the second story window the other day,” she sneers. 

‘Maeve!” Bronwyn says quickly. 

A look at the faces in the room was quite a sight. Addy looks amused, Kris looks shocked, Cooper looks disapproving, and Luis looks delighted. 

He leans back in his chair. “Well Maevey, you have to understand them. I’m willing to bet you wouldn’t care if you were in a similar situation?”

Maeve’s eyes widen. “I have morals!” 

Luis smirks at her. “We’ll have to see how long those last then.”

“Luis Santos,” Bronwyn says harshly. Luis just shrugs at her. 

“Let’s play the game!” Kris interjects before Luis can say anything. 

“Good idea,” Addy says firmly. She pulls the cards out of the box and shuffles them with a flourish. “As the person reading these cards, I get to pair you guys up.” She grins. 

Maeve sighs as Addy slowly spins in a circle, analyzing the people in the room. “Kris with Cooper. Bronwyn with Nate.” She pauses dramatically. 

“It took you that long to choose preexisting couples?” Maeve asks sassily. 

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Addy responds cheerfully, tapping the cards on Maeve’s nose. Maeve waves her off with a huff. “And that leaves,” Addy turns towards Maeve and Luis. “Guess what? You two together!” She smiles like the cheshire cat and Maeve looks like she has never wanted to disappear as much as she does now. 

Luis on the other hand, looks very comfortable. He slides across the couch to Maeve’s side, throwing his arm over the back of the couch like it was before. Maeve vows to murder Addy the first chance she can get. Not that sitting with Luis is that bad. She likes it actually, but still. She has principles to maintain. 

And she also has no idea how to deal with the ever growing feelings towards Luis. Not that she even knows what exactly they are, but she does know she’s not ready yet. For whatever it is.

“Okay first question!” Addy says as she takes a card. 

Cooper asks, “Wait. What are the rules?”

Addy looks up. “Oh right! Every card has a question. For the first round, one person has to go and answer the question. If they get it right, they get a point. There are three questions per round. Whoever has the most points at the end of the round wins!” 

“Sounds good,” Cooper says, settling back against the chair, his fingers still intertwined with Kris’s.

“So, first question, we’ll start with Bronwyn and Nate. What annoys your partner the most?”

Nate answers this round: “People who don’t say what they mean.”

Addy turns to Bronwyn. “Is he right?”

Bronwyn takes a moment to answer as her eyes trail over her sister. “He is indeed.”

“Alrighty then, one point to Bronwyn and Nate. Maeve and Luis, you’re up next! What annoys your partner the most?”

Before Maeve can answer, Luis leans forward with the smirk and shining eyes Maeve has learnt means danger. “Me,” he says.

Addy raises her eyebrows and looks at Maeve. “Is that correct?”

Maeve looks confused. She turns to Luis. “You think that?” she asks him. 

Luis’s smirk disappears. “Wait, I was just-” but Maeve cuts him off when she pulls him off the ground with unprecedented strength and pulls him away from their group, out of the doorway and into the hallway.

“Ow, you don’t know your own strength,” Luis says, massaging his arm as Maeve lets go of him. 

Maeve ignores him as she crosses her arms and glares at him. Luis mimics her pose - down to the exasperated expression - and he holds it until she laughs. She quickly straightens her face. “What do you want from me?” she asks bluntly.

“What do I… what?” he asks, confused. 

“Want from me?” Maeve repeats dangerously. Luis had always been scared of Bronwyn Rojas, and it isn’t until now that he realizes that he should be just as, if not more, scared of her sister. 

“I don’t…” Luis trails off, studying her face. “I don’t know Maeve.” Maeve scoffs. “I don’t know what you want me to say.” Luis waves his arms around in frustration.

“And I’m supposed to know? I was perfectly happy without you pushing your way into my life and flirting every other word! And now you have the audacity to say I don’t like you? I didn’t ask for that! I don’t want that!”

She’s nearly yelling now and Luis’s patience is running thin, maybe because he’s never really been asked a question like this before. “Then what do you want, Maeve?”

If Maeve took a moment to think, then maybe she’d realize that what she wants is for Luis to smile at her the way he did in his car when he thought she wasn’t looking. She wants him to put his hand back on her waist like he did when she nearly fell. She wants him to say her name and never stop because somehow he turns five letters into the most wonderful sound in the world. But, unfortunately, thinking when angry isn’t part of Maeve’s extensive skill set. 

“What do I want? What do I want? What do you think I want? I want you to not break my heart!” she yells, then freezes, staring up at him in shock. Luis was not expecting her to say that, and clearly, she didn’t mean to. Luis can hear a muffled “finally” from the apartment, followed by a harsh shhh.

Maeve and Luis look at each other through the awkward tension between the two of them and come to the same conclusion: there never was a ghost. 

“They set us up,” Maeve huffs as Luis says “something tells me this was planned.”

Maeve and Luis push open the apartment door, sending Addy and Bronwyn scurrying off to their seats. 

“You two are something else,” Maeve says as she picks up her school bag, swinging it over her shoulder. Luis mimics her movements. They might not know what to say to each other, but they know what they’re thinking.

“Going somewhere?” Addy asks brightly.

“Home,” Maeve and Luis say in unison, storming out of the apartment, shutting the door as their friends break out in laughter.

“Some friends they are,” Luis mutters.

“Agreed,” Maeve says, ignoring the times the two of them had worked together to get Cooper and Kris to admit their feelings, and to get Bronwyn and Nate to start talking to each other again. 

“Like, they actually made us believe there was a ghost!”

“The audacity,” Maeve adds as they stomp down the stairwell together. “I can’t believe Addy lied about Monopoly.”

“And she pinned it on poor Ashton.”

“I know!”

Neither of them bother to admit that they believed there was a ghost and that Ash had consumed a board game. Being friends with Addy leads to some interesting things, and the two have become immune to weird. 

The push through the front door of the building and into the evening sunlight. “Can I drive you home?” Luis asks. Maeve doesn’t look at him when she says “sure”.  Luis pauses for a moment before reaching out and grabbing her forearm. “Maeve wait.” Maeve turns to him, her hair swinging over one shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want my heart to break either.”

Maeve smiles a little at him as she climbs into the passenger seat. 

Maybe neither of them needed to have their hearts broken in the end. Maybe they could figure it out. But for now, Luis knows Maeve wants coffee. So to Contigo it is.

[teamred]

blooming day

summary: just a boy standing in front of a girl’s front door, asking her to be his girlfriend. or, how peter parker fell in love with you through the stages of a blooming flower.  pairing: peter parker x reader warnings: fluff word count: 1.2k words notes: tried to do @stuckonspidey​‘s writing challenge, this is for day 5 - no dialogue. honestly, super hard for me because i love dialogue, but it was fun!

gif created by me, please credit if used

Peter paces in front of your door, hand ruffling through his hair. 

He’s trying to remember to breathe, but he worries that you won’t want anything to do with him, especially after last night. He stares at the bunch of flowers in his hand, wonders if he made the right choice in choosing them or if he should’ve even brought any in the first place. 

But he can do this. He has to at least try.

Just a knock, a hello, a how are you, and a small question. How hard can it be? 

The seed was planted in math class. You were a transfer student and sat at the table to the right of him, so Ned was often in the way when he peered over to steal a glance at you. A friendship may have blossomed between you and your tablemate, but a silent love sprouted nearby at another table with every laugh and smile you emitted. 

The roots began to develop and spread as Ned and MJ invited you to sit with them during lunch. You were still new to the school and friends were scarce, but you unintentionally often sat near where they were in the cafeteria. They introduced themselves to you and when you reached Peter, you pointed out how you and him, along with Ned, all had math class together. Heart pounding and turning a shade of pink, he bashfully acknowledged the fact, especially as it was well-known to him. 

The budding occurred a month later one Friday evening when Peter was late to MJ’s birthday party. So late, you and Ned were just about to head out for the night after you mostly finished helping clean MJ’s place up. He uttered endless apologies, but Peter’s two best friends were strangely okay with him being late, especially the birthday girl. 

The four of you continued to clean up, now in pairs, and the two of you talked endlessly about each other’s day. It felt like forever since you talked to Peter, especially since he was so busy with the Stark Internship and extracurriculars. Unfortunately, at some point, MJ had to kick everyone out. You all may have said your good-byes, however, the two of you continued to stay up and FaceTime. Night became morning, and you both fell asleep while the sun started to rise the next day with your phones still in hand. And the next day. And the next day after.    

Prior to the final stage, some time after MJ’s party, a school dance was coming up. Like everywhere you constantly went, the four of you went as friends. For Peter, the dance was cut short. At this point, you realized why MJ and Ned were desensitized when he was often tardy or had to leave early.

Despite him leaving early, he had the chance to have you for a moment during a slow dance, since Ned decided to pair with MJ. Both of your hands were lax on his shoulders, and his were gingerly hovering your waist. Like clockwork, you two were making conversation, even on the dance floor, but somewhere between pauses, you became lost in each other’s eyes. 

Each party’s heartbeats grew louder and louder, overtaking the soft music and the noises of everyone else in the gym. A tingling reached both of your cheeks. You both may have looked away, but you decided to step closer towards him; the great space between you was painful and you just wanted to be near him for once. 

You were never ever this close to Peter. Your scent washed over him and he had to restrain himself from pulling you in further. 

Would it be weird if you leaned your forehead against his? Something in you desired to, but you drowned it out and decided to lean your cheek against his instead. Pretending the proximity of your bodies was nothing, you progressed in your conversation from before. 

The boy in the suit and tie held you safely as he closed his eyes, listening to your whispered conversation and endless thoughts. Since he was closer now, he casually breathed in your scent a little deeper than previously. You’d be lying if you didn’t admit you weren’t submerging yourself in the faint hints of Peter’s scent either. 

And suddenly, the dance went back to fast-paced music. You two stopped moving side to side, and pulled away just a bit, but still stayed close to each other, about an inch from the other’s face. You swore you felt Peter’s breath against your face and began to feel a little conscious that he could feel yours too. 

Then, as if on cue, the moment truly ended as Peter’s phone vibrated. A small half-smile formed as you watched him turn away from you, as always, to glance at a text to signify his exit. 

Normally, you didn’t care if he had to go early, or if he arrived late, because it was the fact that he was there that counted. This time was different though. His mouth was moving and apologies drifted throughout the air; always the same old tune. 

As he was about to turn away from you, your fingers grasped onto the ends of his. It was the first time words couldn’t come out of your mouth in front of Peter Parker, but your eyes begged him to stay, even for just a little bit longer. 

Nor could he say a word to you. He was shocked that you held his hand and stared at your hand grasping onto his, before looking back at you. God, he had so much to say to you, more than you could ever know, but now wasn’t the time to say it, or else both of you would be in the school for a lifetime. 

Impetuously, he kissed the top of your hand, then stepped closer to you. His hand raised and held your head carefully as he pulled you in to kiss you on your forehead. 

Peter ran off. You touched the spot where he kissed. It was a little damp and a warmth lingered against your touch.  

Prior to leaving the gym, he held the door half open and looked at you one last time. 

You, who was giving a small grin and waving good-bye, even though he had no choice but to leave you and his best friends on the dance floor. You, who seemed to understand him when he had to mysteriously run off or be overly late to events. You, who still talked to him practically every day and always brought colour to his life, especially when things were blue. 

Finally, you officially bloomed inside of Peter’s heart. 

The crowd of flowers encompass him and fight for his attention. He Googled the meanings of every flower before coming into the shop. 

Sunflowers are pure, but tulips are for declaring love, so they must be the most appropriate. He personally loves the pink and red hues of the amaryllises, but what if you prefer lilies? Carnations are so simple, but delphiniums symbolize heavenliness, and you had an angelic glow wherever you went. How could he forget the classic red roses? 

Staring at the rows and rows of plants with a pair of squinting eyes, he almost fell back when the older lady who owns the store asked if she could help him. 

He expresses his dilemma and she follows along, nodding kindly, as she had an easy solution for him the second he stepped into the store. 

The boy in the jacket blows a big sigh and nods to himself fervently. He can do this. He can do this. He’s a superhero for crying out loud. 

He rocks on the balls of his feet when his fist taps gently against your door. 

A warm smile welcomes him, excited to see him since last night at the dance. 

Air’s caught in his lungs and even though he sees you practically every day, and maybe something changed last night, but he cannot believe what a breathtaking sight you are. 

And your smile widens. You notice the small multicoloured arrangement of flowers in his hands, almost as if he chose one of every kind from a store. 

Peter closes his eyes for a second, inhales deeply. Then, he opens them, blinks a little more than usual, and bites the inside of his cheek, before he speaks. 

[tbehartoo]

Dungeons, Dragons, and Dating

A Present for @justknitstuff my giftee for the @lukanette-exchange. This sort of turned into a beast of a chapter and they haven’t even got to the game yet! I promise to get chapter two out as soon as I can.

Summary: Luka knows it’s hard to make new friends when all you do is work and study. He can’t believe it, but Rose and Juleka have finally convinced him to come to the university’s gaming club with them. There he meets some unique characters, and he’s not talking about the ones they create for their Dungeons & Dragons game. Hopefully among this room of strangers he can find some good friends for these hard times.

Author’s note: Set in a post pandemic world. After multiple plagues have swept the world, some daily things will have changed, but there are other things, such as the need for connections to each other, that haven’t.

Beta’ed by:  @soloraven​ and @platypan Thank you both for your amazing help! They did their best, any mistakes are mine alone.

First Club Meeting

The first meeting of the University’s Gaming Club of the fall semester was full of nothing but the sound of rolling dice, the muttering of voices and the flipping of papers when Luka followed his sister and her girlfriend through the door. One of the lounge rooms off the cafeteria had several round tables with various people spread thinly around them. The room’s HEPA filters were humming quietly in the corners, a sound so common that it barely registered but comfortingly underlying the feel of the room.

A man hurried towards them while they stowed their masks in their packs. Luka thought the black eyebrows on the man’s head looked more like wings than brows. They were excellent at drawing attention from the guy’s balding head but couldn’t disguise how short the man actually was.

“Welcome, Rose! Welcome, Juleka!” he called as he passed out papers to the newcomers while they each took turns to put their hands under the automatic hand sanitizer dispenser. “It’s nice to see you back again this semester. Hope the summer break treated you well.”

“Oh, it was busy for sure,” Rose said as she smiled at the professor. “I did an internship at the library and Jules was able to pick up some work for local commercials.”

“Wonderful, girls! Wonderful!” He looked at Luka and picked up another bundle of papers. “And is this a friend of yours?”

“This is my brother Luka,” Juleka said as she took a packet from the man. He was practically vibrating with energy. “Rose has finally convinced him that he needs to come with us to the game club.”

“I’m Professor Damocles, the faculty advisor for the game club, and my pronouns are he/him,” he said nodding at Luka. “I ask you to please fill that packet out tonight. It goes over the club’s rules and by-laws as well as our expectations for following the university’s current pandemic procedure plans. The last page is for you to sign agreeing to abide by our rules and give us an email to contact you. You can use your school email or a personal one.  Later, when we’ve got it processed, you’ll get your own invitation to our Discord channel and be able to look over what games the club has, as well as respond with your interest in each game. Go ahead and review the papers while we wait for the meeting to start.”

“It looks like you’ve already started,” Rose said and waved at a girl with black hair sporting bright blue streaks in her ponytail sitting a couple of tables over. Luka saw Juleka wave as well so she must be a friend of both of them.

“Oh, well not yet,” Professor Damocles said as he cleared his throat. “Our club president from last semester isn’t here to open the meeting and start the vote for club leadership. She said she had to stop off for something, but she should be here soon. In the meantime, I’ll have the vice-president-” he turned back to the room, “- ah, Adrien?” A blond young man looked up at the name. “Do you think you could get these three set up at a table while we wait for Marinette to get here?”

“Sure thing,” Adrien said as he came over, giving the three of them a small nod of acknowledgement. He scanned the tables before beaming at the girl Rose had waved to before. He nodded at the young man sitting a chair away from her. The guy wearing the baseball cap nodded and Adrien moved in their direction.

Those two don’t seem to be dating, Luka thought. Though they do seem pretty comfortable with each other, he noted they were both writing on something between them. 

“Have any of you played Dungeons and Dragons?” Adrien asked as they wove through the tables.

“I have,” Rose answered, “But Jules and Luka refused to come to my game group with me.”

“It’s your time to be with your friends,” Juleka said with a chuckle. “We both have time away from each other,” she poked her girlfriend in her shoulder, “And you like to spend that time with them.”

“Her group always wants to meet while I’m at work,” Luka added on. He looked at Rose and smiled. “I’ve met them all as they seem to order from my pizza place only when I’m working and always request me as their driver.” He rolled his eyes, “I can’t even recall all the weird scenes I’ve walked into during  their game nights, but I’ve never had a chance to play.”

Rose scoffed, but Juleka nodded to strengthen Luka’s claim.

“Well, last semester the club decided to try out twice monthly D&D games,” Adrien told them. “That way we can get a campaign going but still play our game closet every other week. Those who have played are helping the newbies roll up characters. Rose, if I put you with Kagami and Nino, do you think you can help Juleka and,” he paused before continuing both his eyebrows raised, “Luka?”

Luka nodded.

Adrien’s shoulders relaxed. “Yeah, uh, Luka, to roll up characters?”

“Sure thing, Adrien,” Rose said as she sat down at the table leaving two chairs between her and Kagami. 

Juleka sat next to Rose while Luka claimed the seat next to Juleka.

“It’s good to see you again, Gami,” Juleka said, peering closely at the stacks of paper in the middle of the table.

“You, too Jules, Rose,” Kagami greeted the girls with a nod of her head. She raised a questioning brow at Luka.

“Oh, this is Luka, my brother,” Juleka said then tacked on, “-we all share an apartment off campus.”

"Ah, that's why you're not observing the mandatory one seat apart rule,” Kagami replied.

“Well it doesn’t apply to us as we share living quarters,” Juleka said with a small sigh.

“This is Nino,” Kagami said, indicating their other tablemate with a tilt of her head. “He’s Adrien’s brother from another mother and soon to be best man.”

Rose squealed and clapped. Juleka’s face broke out into a big smile.

“So who asked first, you or Adrien?” Rose demanded.

Nino barked with laughter. 

“They had the audacity to ask at the same time,” he informed the beaming listeners. “So all bets have been cancelled.”

“Alix must be in a mood about that,” Juleka said with a grin.

Nino nodded. “She wouldn’t talk to either of them for a month. But now she’s working a couple of bets on swimming challenges between Kim and Ondine if you want in on that action.” He used his head to point out a girl at the next table. She was kind of short, wore clothes that Luka associated with skaters, and sported hair in a pink Mohawk with short cropped sides.

The whole group had a small laugh before Kagami’s face grew serious.

“Okay, I’m sure you’re familiar with the game, but here’s the short, short explanation just so we’re all on the same page. D&D is a group storytelling game. Every person has a character who has both strengths and weaknesses based on things like what fantasy race you’re from, like troll or elf, as well as what level you are in a certain job known as a class, like a fighter or sorcerer. 

“You know, like my tenth level high elf pirate, Mistress Delores Myra Woodfield-Dee,” Rose said.

“We’re familiar with her,” Luka said nodding his head.

“Very familiar,” Juleka murmured.

“The Captain was so flattered when you made your character, well, her,” Luka grinned.

“Yeah, mom wouldn’t stop asking about her and suggesting things for Mistress Dee to do next,”  Juleka informed Kagami.

“Mom didn’t understand that I had to listen to the directions from the DM,” Rose sighed. “She thought I could just take my pirate crew anywhere I wanted.”

“The DM is the one in charge, right?” Nino asked Rose.

“Yeah. The DM, a.k.a. the Dungeon Master, is the one that leads the story and settles disputes,” Rose said.

“It’s not an easy job, even though Adrien makes it look like it is,” Kagami said. “He’s been playing for years and DMing almost as long. He’s learned a few tricks to make things flow easily and he’s so nice that he rarely has people rules lawyering at him.”

“Rules lawyering?” Luka asked as he looked at Kagami then turned to his housemate, “I haven’t heard Rose say that before.”

“That’s because Skylar, my DM, doesn’t let James play anymore,” Rose grumbled. “He would argue over every little thing and try to pull out the rule book after nearly every play. It got so bad that Claire and Gia refused to play any more and the others in our group started to dread going.” She huffed and put a hand on Luka’s forearm. “If you really have a question about what happened or why something turned out the way it did, then, yeah you should ask the DM for clarification, but in a nice way.” Luka nodded at her as she continued, “Don’t be an ass about it.”

“I usually try not to be one in my day-to-day life. Why would I change that because of a game?” Luka asked.

Kagami shuddered, “Because when people really get into character and the game gets intense then you can have the sweetest, kindest person you know,” she looked directly at Rose, “Turn into a blood lusting, amoral, beast that makes you worried to try the cookies she brought.”

Rose’s jaw dropped. “Those cookies were from T&S! How could you question their fitness for consumption?”

“Because you set fire to the orphanage with the orphans sleeping inside it, for one,” Kagami said “And then you rolled a boulder through the school house while classes were in session!”

“Surti Snan was a chaotic evil Kobold!” Rose said defensively. “You cannot hold him to human standards of behavior.”

“I most certainly can and will,” Kagami replied with a smirk on her face.

“Besides,” Rose almost pouted, “My plan to lure out the mindflayer worked.”

“Only after you decimated three-quarters of the town we were sent to save!” Kagami pointed out.

The two stared at each other for a moment and Luka worried that they might need to figure out a way to deescalate the situation when the two girls broke out into laughter.

“We were fortunate that Marc was the DM that night as they were the one to get everyone to cool down after the orphanage incident,” Rose said with a grin. “I didn’t end up banned from the table or the game.”  

“And that is why you need a good DM,” Kagami said. “They have to keep everyone working together and keep emotions from overpowering the game. They’re also responsible for adding in all the little things like descriptions of people and places and being all the NPCs.”

“Non-player characters,” Rose said as she saw the furrowed brows of Luka, Nino, and Juleka, “are like the shopkeepers or the townsfolk that you meet along the way, but aren’t permanent members of the party like our characters will be.”

“Oooh, Adrien told me that Damocles is going to pop in as some of the NPCs for our game this semester,” Kagami told the table.

Rose squealed, happiness showing clearly on her face, “He’s going to be the funnest little blacksmith!”

“I don’t think funnest is a word Rose,” Juleka said with a smile.

“I can totally see him as a blacksmith, too,” Kagami said. “He’s got all the in-depth history of historical weapons. I bet armor shopping with him would end up being a small comparative history lesson on why a Japanese Do would be better than a French cuirass for a specific race or class.”

“No one told me there’d be actual lessons involved with this,” Nino said with a scoff. The effect was ruined by the huge grin he was throwing in Kagami’s direction.

“Well you’d better get practicing your math facts before we start,” Kagami said as she pulled the visor down on his cap. “There’s a lot of adding and subtracting once the dice start rolling.”

“What are we using the dice for?” Juleka asked.

“Pretty much everything,” Rose said as she leaned into Juleka’s side. “They add chaos and luck into the game so it’s not just a match where you look to see who has the highest AC-” noting the confused looks of the uninitiated she added, “armor class.” Juleka still looked confused. “Dice are used for movement during confrontations to see if your actions hit and how much damage is done. But another important thing the DM uses the dice for is when we roll initiative before there’s a fight to figure out what order people go in, including the bad guys.”

“Does that even matter?” Luka asked skeptically.

“Yes, yes it matters a lot,” Kagami answered quickly. “If you have a party of five brawlers going up against two archers, and the archers go first, they can have the brawlers down on the ground before they ever get close enough to lay a finger on them.”

“But if the brawlers go first, they can get to the archers and overpower them while their bows become useless because the archers don’t have the distance any more,” Rose tacked on.

“And it can get real tricky and dicey, no pun intended, when they’re mixed up,” Kagami said.

“So is it better to be an archer or a brawler?” Nino asked.

“Yes,” Rose answered with a grin and Nino just groaned.

“Well, every character has strengths and weaknesses,” Kagami replied slowly. “It keeps the game more balanced and keeps even the gods from being too OP. So the answer to your question really is that it just depends. That’s why we’re hoping that not everyone will chose to be an Orc Barbarian or the only thing we’ll be able to do is be murder hobos.”

“Murder hobos?” Juleka asked with a wince.

“That’s when the group’s answer to every problem is to stab, club, or smite it and hope that makes it go away,” Kagami answered.

“It gets kind of boring when fights are all you do,” Rose said.

“But Rose,” Juleka said with a frown on her face, “every character you’ve ever talked about was a fighter of some kind. Your pirate, your kobold, the chef from the insane asylum,” she was ticking them off on her fingers, “there are a lot of others that you’ve made, and they’re all fighters.”

Rose blushed a little before answering. “Well, yes, I do like to play fighters more than say clerics or warlocks, but that’s because I use my characters to get out all the aggression I can’t use in real life. It’s just not appropriate to hit the library patron over the head with the book he keeps requesting, but then says it’s the wrong book every week.”

Everyone at the table chuckled.

“So if we’re not just getting into fights, what else is there to do?” Luka asked.

“There can be riddles, murder mysteries, royal court intrigue, puzzles, and, well, it is called Dungeons and Dragons,” Kagami said while shrugging, “so besides slaying dragons or raiding their hoards, there are also dungeons or other structures to explore. Some, well okay, all of them have traps of some kind or they might also have monsters in them.”

“One time Marc did a dungeon crawl where you had to come up with a rhyming couplet to get out of the rooms using the name of the treasure found in it,” Rose said thoughtfully. “We spent so much time trying to figure out a rhyme for the handy haversack,” she murmured.

“What did you rhyme it with?” Luka wanted to know. He was already creating a list in his head.

“We, ah, put it in the middle of the line and just rhymed floor and door,” she admitted. “Then we did that with the rest of the rooms and pretty much made Marc cry that night.”

Kagami was nodding along with Rose’s story. She looked at the three sitting at the table. “One thing you should always keep in mind,” she said to them, “is that the party always ruins the DM’s plans. The DMs know this and they try to be ready for it, but sometimes they just have to call a break or end a session because the group has gone off on a tangent even they didn’t predict.” She smiled at them. “It’s kind of fun, but it’s not something you want to make a habit of or the DMs don’t want to play.”

“What I’m hearing,” Luka said to Kagami, “is that we all just need to play nice with each other and the game will be fun.”

“That pretty much sums it up,” Kagami smiled back at him.

“So how do we get started making our character?” Juleka asked.

Kagami pointed to the piles of paper in the middle of the table. “If you haven’t played before, there’s a few races and classes to choose from on the papers. The more experienced players can bring in other races or classes if the DMs approve. Our DMs are Adrien,” she pointed at the young man they’d met answering a question for a girl in glasses with hair that started a rich brown but changed gradually into a deep red color, “and Marc” she pointed to another person sitting at the adjoining table with short black hair and some killer eye liner. Marc was helping someone with long, bright red hair pulled back into a bun that helped their mask stay in place. She gestured back to their table. “The pink papers have races on them and the details that you should know for that race. The green papers have classes on them. So you can either choose two papers at random or you can look through them to see what sounds interesting. To make things easy on all of us, we’re all starting at level one.” 

“This all sounds pretty easy,” Luka said.

Kagami’s face lost all expression.

 “That’s what I said to Adrien when he first introduced me to the game,” she shook her head. “You might want to get out now-- while you can.”

Rose reached a closed hand over to gently nudge Kagami’s arm. “You don’t mean that,” she said.

One side of Kagami’s mouth quirked up. “No, I don’t. It’s a wonderful game, but it can be kind of overwhelming, especially when you’re new at it.” She slid the stacks of paper towards the little group along with the bottle of hand sanitizer. “As Adrien’s one of the DMs, he asked Nino to play a paladin for story reasons so he just had to choose a race. These are free for you to look at.”

Rose took the sanitizer and squeezed some into her palm before passing it down the line. Luka knew that her time in the library made her very careful to clean her hands before handling something others might also have to touch. She took the pink stack while Juleka looked at the green. Luka said he was going to do the random thing so he started filling out the club rule packet.

A few moments later, a young woman burst through the door carrying a large box of what turned out to be individually wrapped treats from T&S. Tom and Sabine, the proprietors of the bakery, always greeted everyone with warm smiles and tasty samples. T&S was a favorite with students for having delicious pastries, as well as simple sandwiches on freshly baked bread, at prices even those struggling with their finances could afford. 

Luka heard the girl apologizing to Damocles for being late, but she’d had to wait for her order to get finished- at this point she nearly dropped the box as she tripped over something by her rushing feet, but Adrien was there to catch both the box and the girl. He didn’t even hesitate to wrap an arm around her shoulders as he moved them over to a table at the front of the room.

They can’t be dating, Luka thought to himself. Adrien and Kagami just got engaged. And neither of the girls asked Kagami about how her or Adrien’s girlfriend was taking the news so they probably aren’t in a poly relationship together. They certainly don’t look like siblings, but I know well enough that siblings don’t have to be little carbon copies of each other. Maybe they’re roommates? Quick, be cool Luka, they’re coming this way.

Adrien walked the girl over to their table where she sank into the chair next to Nino and Luka felt his heart drop to the floor. 

She must be dating Nino, who is Adrien’s best friend, so they’ve probably been around each other a lot. Which is why she’s sitting next to Nino and why Adrien felt comfortable enough with catching her, Luka reasoned.

Adrien put one hand on Nino’s shoulder as he leaned across the chair between him and Kagami to give his fiancee a quick kiss. He straightened up and gave Nino’s shoulder a squeeze before removing his hand.

“How are you so late?” Nino asked the girl with a teasing tone. “You left the house with an hour and a half’s head start.”

The girl blushed before she started talking. “When I got to the bakery, Felix was there,” she began. Luka noticed that Nino, Adrien, and even Kagami suddenly tensed up and Nino’s lips formed into a line. “He thought that just because I couldn’t be the club president this semester that I’d stop coming, even though I told him I still had to come tonight to open the meeting and to take nominations for the new president. He-”

“He just went all Felix on you didn’t he?” Nino said followed by a short huff.

She nodded.

“I know he’s my cousin,” Adrien said to her, “but sometimes I really wish he wasn’t related and could have gone to a different school instead of our family’s Alma Mater.” He reached around Nino and gave her a couple of pats on her shoulder before leaning back toward Kagami and grasping her hand. “Then you’d never have met him and all our lives would have been easier.”

This Felix guy must be, what, pestering her? They don’t seem to be worried about her safety, so he’s probably not stalking her. I guess everyone has that one friend you just have to limit time with, Luka thought.

She gave Adrien a strained smile. 

“But then I never would have met you or Kagami,” she said. “You would have just been that one weird guy that Nino was in a bromance with in his Roman history class. The one who has an unnatural affinity for Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood,” she added scrunching her nose up.

Adrien’s laugh was loud and free. Kagami, Nino, and the girl all relaxed at the sound and smiled at one another. 

“Okay, you got me there,” Adrien said. “But don’t knock the bromance.” He batted his eyes at Nino. “The feelings of the bros are true, pure, and noble.”

At that, Nino pretended to swoon as he murmured, “Bro, don’t do this to me in public, bro.” He looked up at Adrien, his eyes open wide and a pout on his lips. “You know I can’t handle it when you declare your love for me.”

Both of the men tried to hold onto their awkward posing, but Kagami poked Adrien’s side and the girl leaned into Nino. They started sniggering immediately.

“If you’re really that taken with him,” Kagami said to Adrien with a grin, “I could always give him the engagement ring.”

“You’d do that for me? For us?” Adrien cried melodramatically. 

Luka could see why Adrien would make a good DM if he was always this theatrical. Kagami and Nino also seemed able to drop into a performance easily. Even as a stranger, Luka could tell this was all in good fun and that Adrien seemed quite devoted to the girl whose hand he’d yet to let go of.

“Don’t worry Kagami,” Nino said to her solemnly. “I would never want to be the one to ruin you and Adrien’s happiness.”

Kagami pinned the boy with her stare. “You are the only one who ever could come between us, Nino,” Her tone icy, almost menacing. “ You know the terms: Sabers at dawn.”

Nino sat back quickly holding up his hands in surrender, clearly dropping out of the scene they’d been playing.

“Unh-uh! No way!” He made an ‘x’ with his arms. “I have seen you with your saber and I want no part of that,” he declared.

Kagami and Adrien both smiled fondly at Nino as they chuckled.

“A wise decision,” Adrien remarked. “Oh excuse me, it looks like Alya has another question.”

He pecked Kagami’s cheek before hurrying back over to glasses girl.

When Luka looked back at the table, after watching Adrien go over to the girl who must be Alya, it was to see Nino with his arm around his seatmate’s shoulder.

“Are you sure you’re alright, Marinette?” he’d asked quietly. “I know how Felix can get when he’s...disappointed.”

Luka was pretty sure that the only reason he heard the question was because he was seated on the girl’s other side.

Marinette took a deep breath in and let it out before nodding her head. 

“I’m good Nin,” she’d replied.

The look on Nino’s face seemed to sport a trace of disbelief, but it was gone so quickly that Luka wasn’t sure that’s what he’d seen. Before he could think about it more, Professor Damocles stood at the front of the room to call for attention.

After introducing himself to the group and welcoming everyone to the club, he turned the meeting over to Marinette as club president. She called for nominations for a new president and the club officially got under way. 

Soon enough Adrien, as the new club president, addressed the gathering.

“Well, as your new president, I’d like to welcome everyone here. I hope that we can all have a great time getting to know one another and having some fun playing games.” He grinned as his eyes scanned the crowd. Luka was sure he wasn’t the only one to notice the wink he threw at Kagami. 

“Our good friends over at the Crazy Squirrel,” he gestured to a table covered in dice, velvet bags, trays, books, and brightly covered boxes with two smiling people seated behind it, “have brought a small selection of what they have on offer at their game store. You can look over the merch at any time tonight and be assured, they take all forms of legal tender. If you don’t find what you need, they’re willing to give student discounts all next week as long as you show a valid student I.D. Who knew those cards were good for anything, right? If you aren’t going to use an app for your dice rolls, you will need to make sure you also purchase a tray.” The smile dropped from his face. “We can’t have stray dice roaming the tables.” At this statement, there were various murmurs of assent.

“Marc and I will be DMing this semester,” he pointed to the student Kagami had indicated earlier, “so if you have any questions please feel free to ask us, but we’ve made sure there are two or three people at each table that can help you make a character if you’ve not done that before.” He smiled at the group. “We have a lot of plans for our game but tonight is going to be dedicated to creating your character and getting familiar with the mechanics of how things work. There’ll be several links to videos up on the server so that you can watch the pros in action, but please don’t expect that level of ability of your DMs.” 

“You’re no Matt Mercer, but you’ll do,” a young man with brown skin, dark glasses, and blond dreadlocks pulled into a top knot said to the president who returned his smile.

The crowd broke into snickering.

“We know we’re not Max,” Marc replied from his table, “but then again you’re no Taliesin Jaffe or Travis Willingham either,” an ‘oooooooooooo’ ran through the room, “but you don’t see Adrien and I complaining.” Marc grinned at Max.

That got another round of chuckles from the group.

Adrien hastily added, “We’ll all just have to do our best.”

Professor Damocles stood up and Adrien ceded the floor to him.

“Alright everyone, back to your characters,” the professor said with enthusiasm. “Make them unique and special. Try new classes. Find out where your character came from, even if it’s a roll of the dice by the fates, and then prepare them to go out adventuring!” He practically vibrated with excitement.

“I am way too sober for this,” Alix mumbled into her travel mug before taking a long drink.

“One more thing,” Damocles said after Marc whispered something into his ear. “This is meant to be a friendly game, but permanent character death can happen.”

“You don’t say,” a female voice carried through the quiet room.

“Let’s have a moment of silence for Kagami’s weak ass tabaxi bard,” the pink hair girl called to the room. Everyone chuckled, but a few bowed their heads in Kagami’s direction. While a voice chided with a hissed, “Alix!”

Professor Damocles continued as if nothing had been said, “So, you might want to make a backup-” he looked directly at the source of the voice, “-or two-- Kagami.” He beamed at the room. “Let’s get busy!”

Kagami and Nino immediately put their heads back down to the paper they’d been working on. Kagami pointed to something and Nino’s phone sounded out the rolling of dice. Rose and Juleka each chose a paper from their stacks and then switched colors. Luka looked at Marinette for a moment. She seemed to notice his stare and turned to him.

The first thing he noticed was how very blue her eyes seemed. They were eyes he felt he could gladly get lost in. The second thing he noticed was how expressive her face really seemed to be. The expression right now was curiosity bordering on concern.

“Um,” he had to clear his throat before he could continue. “Doyou- haveyou-” he took a short breath to slow his words down, “Have you already made a character before?” he asked hesitantly.

“Oh yeah,” she answered. “I showed Adrien my character last week when he was over for Brotherhood night.” 

“Oh, well, could you-” he tried not to look as pathetic as he felt, “could you help me?” He had to look away as soon as he’d asked.

He heard her giggle before she shifted over to be only a chair away from him, carefully observing the university seating policy, while still showing her willingness to help him out.

“I’d be glad to help you with your character,” she said and grinned.

Luka tried to get his face to move from its stunned expression, but all he felt was a bit of heat forming in his cheeks.

“Thanks,” he croaked out. 

Juleka was quick to nudge him with her elbow while muttering, “Stop acting like a weirdo, ya weirdo.”

Rose giggled at his behavior, but issued a soft, “Jules, leave him be,” in his defense.

“I’m Marinette,” the girl in question said as she smiled at him again. “Nino and I rent a house close to campus-”

“Because you just have to have your craft room,” he mumbled without looking up from his phone.

Okay, they’ve got to be dating if they aren’t already married, Luka told himself. They’re living together and they’re close friends with Kagami and Adrien who just got engaged. Statistics show that you tend to mirror the actions of your peer group so why wouldn’t they be married? It’s so weird to think of people my age as being married. Why does it even matter? You’re here to make new friends and get away from work and school. This isn’t a dating service, Luka. And now you missed what she was saying.

“-but we’ve lived in each other’s house since forever. Nino’s dad and my dad have been friends since kindergarten,” she threw a smile in his direction. “I grew up calling Nino’s parents Uncle Sami and Auntie Halima and wondering why he had aunts and uncles I never saw at our family reunions, but never questioning that we were related,” she laughed a little at herself. “What about you?”

“Well, um, Juleka and I grew up on a houseboat with our mom. And Rose started coming over a lot when she and Jules were what, twelve? thirteen?” He looked over at his sister who nodded and then smiled at Rose. “She kind of joined the crew when her dad proved to be less than ideal as a parent.” He scowled remembering the night that a tear soaked Rose showed up on the boat and he had to hold Juleka back from killing a man while the Captain held the sobbing girl that was to become a second daughter to her. “It was obviously his loss, but certainly our gain. Mom keeps asking Jules when she’s going to make Rose official,” he stopped when he heard Juleka groan.

“She preaches free love and that marriage is just a piece of paper then goes and asks about ‘the wedding’ and ‘how soon am I gonna to get some grandbabies’,” Juleka grumbled.

“The Captain is a woman of many moods and an example of the most conservative rebel you’ll ever meet,” Luka confirmed to the half of the table that was looking at him with stunned expressions.

“Well she certainly sounds like an interesting character,” Marinette said.

At that, the rest of the table broke up into laughter.

“What did I say that was so funny?” she asked the group.

“Rose is way ahead of you on that one, Nettie,” Nino replied.

She looked at Rose. “Is she--Mistress Dee?” she asked with delight.

Rose just nodded.

“Oh. well then, I stand by what I said- Quite the character.” 

Luka merely grinned at this assessment of his mother while the others returned to their own character creation.

“So,” Marinette said as the table got back to work, “Are you ready to make your fighter?”

“Does it have to be a fighter?” he whined, then the dumbest line that he’s ever heard slips off his tongue as he leaned directly into their shared space, “I’m more a lover than a fighter.” He grinned at her as he winked, then proceeded to blow her a kiss.

She stared at him dumbstruck as he saw Juleka facepalm out of the corner of his eye. Marinette hastily moved back a chair. She seemed to be almost terrified of him and he felt his gut clench in worry that he’d somehow offended or intimidated her.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me,” he apologized as he sat back with his hands up trying to make himself seem less of a threat. 

“You’re doing your flirty delivery persona,” Rose said through clenched teeth, not even looking over at him. “It might get you more tips at work, but Marinette has a-” she paused and Luka was worried to find out what the next words out of Rose’s mouth would be, “-protective boyfriend so you’d best stop,” her voice had dropped to a dangerous whisper.

Luka looked anxiously over to Nino whose lips had flattened out from what had seemed like a permanent grin, as he put an arm around Marinette. He gave a short nod in Luka’s direction to confirm Rose’s statement. 

“He’s not here Nette,” Nino murmured as he patted her shoulder. “He can’t give you crap over Luka’s fake flirt.”

“But he’ll know, Nin,” the shaken girl whispered. “He always knows.”

Nino just shook his head and sighed as he tried to get Marinette to breathe slowly and tell him everything she was going to do to the plain wooden box she’d picked up at the craft store.

Great, I’ve already insulted Marinette and made Nino distrust me. A wonderful way to go about making new friends, Luka, he mentally chided himself. You went overboard on the flirting. Just because they play along with Adrien and Kagami doesn’t mean they’d let me play the same way. How many times have I said that to the kids?

Luka’s head dropped to his chest in defeat. “Rose is right and, again, I am-- so sorry. I can see that I’ve caused you a lot of distress and that was never my intention. Please believe me when I say, it will never happen again.” He hadn’t even looked over at Rose as his whole focus was on Marinette. “I understand if you don’t want to help me with this after... that, but I do want you to know that I would never want you to feel unsafe around me.”

Marinette was still taking deep breaths and holding them before letting them out slowly. A nervous giggle escaped her.

She grinned timidly at Luka. “It’s not your fault,” her voice had a faint tremor. “You don’t know Felix or that we’re dating,” she said as her voice started to lose it’s warble. She looked at Nino for help.

“Felix... is mostly all bark and no bite,” Nino tells him sincerely. “The only problem is that no one has fitted him with a shock collar to keep him from barking all day and all night.”

“Nino, he’s not that bad,” Marinette protested.

Nino just gave her a flat look. “Do you not live in the same house I do?” he asked incredulously. “I’ve known him to call at 3 am to ask where you are and who you’re with,” his eyes dared her to dispute the fact. “And then there’s the morning and evening check-ins.”

“It’s nice to get texts first thing in the morning,” Marinette argued.

“No doubt about that, but he blows your phone up until you respond, and while I know you can sleep through a tsunami I cannot tell you how much I hate your phone’s notification sound.”

Rose laughed at that. “Oh man I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to tell these two off for leaving their phones on the charger and then not answering them when they’re getting notifications.”

Both Luka and Juleka looked sheepish.

Marinette looked back and forth between Luka, Juleka, and Rose and grinned.

“I see Rose is the one who rules the roost,” she teased. 

Luka nodded and Juleka mirrored the action.

“Do not get Rose mad,” Luka whispered to the whole table. “You wouldn’t like it when Rose’s mad.”

Everyone including Kagami and Nino laughed and the tension round the table seemed to ease. Luka couldn’t help but notice the look that passed between Marinette and Nino.

“Sounds familiar,” Nino said as he grinned at Marinette and waggled his eyebrows.

“Shut it,” Marinette said, her confidence returning to her a little, as she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Make me,” he taunted back.

“Careful, Lahiffe, I know where you sleep and also where you keep your gear.”

At Nino’s gasp and look of mock horror, Luka asked, “Your gear?”

“Yeah, I’m an EMT and also in the nursing program. I have a lot of emergency supplies,” he looked back at Marinette, “Which you promised to never touch again unless I ask you to.”

“You have a tape emergency one time-” she grumbled. “Besides you just asked me to shut you up. Sounds like asking to get in your kit to me.” She singsonged at him. “I could probably tape you to the bed without you knowing, you sleep so deeply once you get off shift.”

“How many times must I say it?” Nino said as he rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Don’t use expensive, high-quality medical tape for something that duct tape can do better.”

Marinette smiled as she bumped into his side. “I know where we keep the duct tape, too.”

The entire table had a laugh at their antics before getting back to their characters.

They really are a cute couple, Luka thought as he watched them. Nino seems like he’d be a better match than this Felix. At least, I don’t think Nino would be setting off a panic attack if some goon flirted badly with her. Luka couldn’t help the frown that crossed his face as he tried to puzzle out the two.

“And now we see who runs the place at your house,” Rose said with a giggle before instructing Juleka to grab one of the white character sheets so they could start rolling up her tiefling fighter.

After a moment of awkward silence between the two, Marinette began with, “So?” 

“So?” Luka repeated, not understanding what she was asking. 

“Are you ready to make your fighter?” She shifted to be a chair closer again. 

This time, Luka thought of the space between them as a vast wall to keep her safe from his own apparent foolishness.

“Oh, um, Kagami said I could just pick one from each pile to make my character,” he said mostly to the table in front of him. He looked up and saw the scowl that Marinette shot the mentioned girl. “Isn’t that okay?”

Marinette’s lips pressed into a thin line. “It’s true that that is one way to create a character, but it makes you less invested in your player and by association into the game.” She huffed in Kagami’s direction, “Just because she’s gone through so many characters that she no longer cares-”

A muffled protest “Hey, you try to care about your fiftieth character your boyfriend has killed off this campaign alone,” came from across the table. “I can’t find anything he won’t take out. And I don’t mean on a date!”

“- that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t at least look and see what’s out there. This way, even if you don’t choose that race or class you’ll still have some idea of what’ll probably show up in our game,” Marinette supplied. “Though personally, when I have time, I do like to get deeply into creating my characters, especially their backstories.”

Nino snorted. “Please tell them about the time you created a complete novella of your dwarven mage only to have him k.o.’ed by the first henchman your party crossed,” he laughed again, “and you hadn’t even got to tell them your name yet!”

“They buried her with a headstone reading ’To the unknown dwarf. Gone and now forgotten.’,” Kagami added with a grin.

Marinette shook her head. “All that dwarven lore and history gone before it could be shared.” She looked at Luka, “I spent three nights typing up Thomyll Tharrgrisson’s clan affiliation, genealogy, home life, general education, apprenticeship, and mage studies.”  She smiled and sighed as she seemed to drift off into another world. “If I’d had another night, I would have gone into his courtship, marriage, and widowhood as well as his daughter’s apprenticeship as a baker and his sons’ work in the war forges of their people. Thomyll and his family always felt most at home around a fire.”

Kagami snickered and the sound brought Marinette back to the table. “That’s what makes his death so epically ironic,” the laughing girl told Luka. “It was a freaking first level fireball that took him out.”

Nino joined in her laughter, but Marinette just rolled her eyes and turned her back to them.

“I was down to a single hit point,” she grumbled. “We’ll just ignore them,” she instructed Luka. “Nino is barely starting and Kagami hasn’t yet learned the importance of,” she changed her voice to be pitched lower and more nasally as she said, “Backstory! Backstory! Backstory!”

“Too bad you’re stuck with me and not Perry the platypus then,” Luka said with a small grin as he’d recognized the voice she’d been trying to imitate. Her thumbs up made him hope that maybe he hadn’t ruined everything.

“And when do you ever have time to write something that epic?” Juleka teased.

“Probably not much this semester,” Marinette answered her with a wry grin. “There’s already a student showcase to be prepping for this year. Fortunately they’ve all been told they can only use the black blocks we have as their sets and most of the student directors are doing one act plays that are set in modern times so their casts are using their own clothes.”

“Marinette’s a drama major and is into major drama,” Nino confided to Luka with a grin.

“Ugh, Nin that line is getting so old,” she said with a small eye roll. Nino didn’t look put out in the least. She thought for a moment. “I think they’re not going to be allowed to request any backdrops for the showcase either, so I just have to get all their props. Which is good since we only have one stagecraft class and they’ll be responsible for the main play this semester.”

“Oh is it that Voltaire play you were so excited about doing costumes for?” Rose asked.

Marinette nodded, “That’s the one.”

Rose’s eyes widened considerably. “Are you going to have to make dresses and suits for the whole cast?”

Marinette burst out laughing. “No, I won’t be making everything from scratch. Thankfully our costume storage has a lot of pieces that can be altered to fit our needs as well as our actors. It’ll still keep me plenty busy.” 

“Well we know you’re really good at altering a situation for the best,” Nino said out the corner of his mouth, not really looking up from something Kagami wanted him to re-do.

Marinette reddened around the ears, but looked at Juleka. “Are you going to try out for this one?”

Juleka shook her head. “Madame Haprèle made me the lead make up designer.” She smiled a huge smile. “I get to design or approve designs of all the cast’s make-up and then I’m responsible for making sure everyone in the costume/make-up class knows how to read their sheet and apply the design to their actors.” 

Marinette’s smile broke across her face and Luka could clearly read just how happy she was for his sister.

“That’s excellent, Jules!” She seemed to dance in her seat. “That’ll look really good on your résumé and it’ll be some sweet, sweet make-up.”

Juleka hid her face in Rose’s shoulder. It was a familiar action Luka knew she did when she was a little overwhelmed by any intense emotion.

“Thank’s Nette,” she said muffled by Rose's sweater.

“I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Marinette said quietly as she tried to dial down her excitement. “But you should know I only spoke the truth.”

“She’s right and she should say it,” Luka said as he nudged Juleka’s shoulder with his.

“Don’t you meme me boy,” Juleka said as she pushed back at him. “You may be older, but I’m trending.”

Luka laughed a little too loud at this. “You’ve got me there,” he conceded. He looked back over to Marinette. “Anything else that you’re doing this semester that’ll stand in the way of developing your character’s backstory?”

She thought for a moment. “I know that they were thinking about adding a comedy at the end of the semester to try and help the rest of the student body keep their spirit’s up before the winter break, but I haven’t heard back about it.”

“Didn’t you tell me the dance program was doing something from the Nutcracker?” Kagami asked. “You wanted to borrow my saber for it.”

Marinette facepalmed. “How could I forget that I’ll be trying to get about twenty bon-bon costumes made or borrowed?”

“What? Why?” Luka asked.

“She’s the headmistress of the costume department,” Nino told him. “Only the dean has higher authority about what goes on stage. So when the dance department tries to do some kind of cross study with local dance studios to keep the littles doing ballet--” he pulled a face at Marinette and she shakes her head at him, “--to keep them dancing until they’re in college, it’s Marinette’s responsibility to make sure everyone from Sugarland is dressed as cupcakes or whatever.”

“I keep telling you there aren’t any cupcakes in the Land of Sweets,” Marinette grumbles at him.

“Then how can it truly be magical?” Nino demanded. “You know your parents would never approve of a magical land of every good dessert if it didn’t include cupcakes and pain au chocolat.” 

“Why not?” Luka asked.

“You know T&S?” Marinette asked in reply. At his nod, she went on, “Well Tom and Sabine are my parents.”

“Oh, well, yeah,” Luka said as he smiled at Nino, “You’re right about that. No magical world would be complete without T&S pain au chocolat.”

“I knew you were a man of good taste,” Nino said. Behind Marinette’s back, Luka saw Nino point at him and then her and flutter his eyelashes.

Luka’s face began heating up. Okay Nino was turning out to have a good sense of humor, even if it was at Luka’s expense.

“Any way,” Marinette said thoughtfully, “I think that’s everything big going on stage this semester.” She thought some more then mumbled more to herself than to anyone in particular, “Of course we still have to do preproduction for the spring musical…”

Luka was just staring at her while Juleka and Rose were nodding along. “You have all that on top of classes?” he asked with a low whistle. “And I thought doing a double major and part-time work kept me too busy.”

“Oh Nettie never stops moving,” Nino said. “In her spare time,” he said the phrase dripping with sarcasm, “she’ll work on crafting things like some of the dice boxes over there,” he pointed at the table from the Crazy Squirrel.

“Nin, I don’t make the boxes! I just, like, add to them,” Marinette protested.

“And Michelangelo just added to the Sistine chapel’s ceiling,” Nino retorted. “As well as fighting the Foot Clan’s ninjas at night.”

Luka laughed, but Marinette glared at her housemate.

“Wow,” Luka said  as he squinted over at the table with the boxes as Marinette seemed to shrink in on herself. “That’s seriously impressive.”

“It’s not that big-” she began only to be interrupted by Nino again.

“It is,” Nino said looking directly into her eyes.

“Nino, stop,” Marinette whined. “Go back to plotting with your co-conspirator. Help me out here, Gami.”

“Sure,” she said. Kagami looked Luka directly in the eyes and said with the most deadpan expression he’d ever seen, “Marinette is an angel come down from heaven. She does what no mere mortal can and her sweetness and kindness knows no bounds. She has been cursed to suffer us unworthy mortals as she is forced to live amongst the most idiotic and stubborn of humans.”

“Hey, no need to tear me down as you build Marinette up,” Nino offered in mock protest.

Kagami flashed him a smirk, “I didn’t mention you by name but if you feel the description fits...”

Nino and Kagami chuckled and the others grinned at their shenanigans.

“Hey Luka I just had a thought,” Marinette said as she looked determinedly away from Nino and Kagami. “Rose and Juleka need time to roll up their characters and you’ll probably want a set of dice even if you do eventually just use an app. Why don’t we go over to the vendor table and let these people work? You can even see my embellishments, up close.” 

“You’re just going to avoid us now?” Nino asked with a grin.

“Yes,” Marinette said as she got up. 

Luka was quick to follow her lead. They didn’t say anything until Luka was looking at the display of the different sets of dice and dice trays.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked her quietly. “You seem a little-- distressed.”

Marinette bit one corner of her bottom lip, but shook her head. 

“It’s an old argument,” she said. “Nino thinks I should speak up more about my job titles and accomplishments, but that seems so much like bragging and I hate people that do that. Like, my accomplishments should speak for themselves, you know?”

Luka hummed for a moment before replying, “I see where you’re coming from, but the problem is that you can’t let your accomplishments speak for themselves if you don’t let people know you’ve accomplished them.”

“And am I supposed to go around telling people that I’ve eaten all of my sandwich as well as my chips today?” she asked without any heat.

“Do you have problems actually eating your lunch?” he asked with a grin.

She looked away, but quickly looked back. “Maaaaaaayyyyyybe,” she slowly admitted.

He laughed at her sheepish expression, “Well then maybe you do need to tell people, but only if they ask. Or if you’ve done something hard that you are proud of and a good friend would be happy for you, uh, for.” He smiled at her. “If Nino hadn’t jumped in, would you have told me about being in charge of so much?”

“I might’ve,” she replied truthfully. “If you’d asked about it. But why go over all of that if it isn’t your jam? If you’re not into theater then giving you my titles will only be confusing and lead to misunderstandings,” she did an involuntary shudder at some memory. “But if you are into theater than me saying that I work in props and costumes lets you either ask more or tells you that we have some common interests we can discuss later. Right?”

He nodded as he picked up a set of teal dice that were transparent like glass and started looking at the trays. Most were plain boxes, some also had velvet lining.

“These aren’t the fanciest boxes to choose from,” Marinette said as she looked over the selection with him. She looked at the dice he’d chosen. “With the white numbering you’re probably going to want a mid to dark color inside to help make reading them easier, but something like black might make it harder to find your dice in the tray.”

“Well they only seem to have the plain wood or the black velvet,” Luka murmured.

“I bet Marinette could help fix up a tray for you that would be perfect,” the woman behind the table said. “She’s done almost all of these, but I know she has an Etsy where she sells the real fancy ones that most of our clients just can’t afford.”

“Thanks Ms. Watson,” Marinette said with a grin. “You know I offer you a first chance at the more ornate ones.”

“Don’t you be tempting me with any more of your magic boxes,” the woman said with a smile. “I’ve already bought more than my husband realizes. I’m just fortunate that he keeps putting off making the display for them or he’d realize how much the pile’s grown,” she mock whispered.

The man helping Max with his purchases couldn’t help but turning his head and saying, “Oh I know that it’s grown, but it’s so big she doesn’t realize how many I’ve snuck onto the pile.”

“And this is why it’s dangerous for two pack rats to own a game shop,” she said to Luka. “You know Marinette, if he buys one of the plain boxes you can probably fix it up for him in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

Marinette paused for a moment then grinned at Luka.

“I think I have some gray velvet at home that would be perfect for your needs,” she closed her eyes and seemed to be scanning something with her forefinger. She brightened up before saying, “I even know where it is. If you buy one of the plain boxes, I can fix it up before our next meeting.”

“But you just said how busy you were going to be?” Luka objected.

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Those things all have their timelines and we’re at the beginning of the semester.” He didn’t look as if he believed her so she continued on, “You know what classes are like the first week. They'll only be going over the syllabus and discussing which books you must have, which books are extra reading suggestions, and which ones are only required because they were written by a member of the faculty but you can totally not go to this specific web address to get the text in question. Hint. hint. So it’s not like they’re even assigning homework this week. Or not on the first day.” 

She grinned at him and he nodded, having had several of those classes previously. “If you suggested this project two weeks before winter break, I’d probably have a break with reality as I tried to be several places at once including my house working on it but-” she shrugged her shoulders “- like she said, I have an Etsy where I do stuff like this all the time. It brings in a little extra income and gives my hands something to do while I listen to lecture notes or my e-reader.”

“How much would you ask for a project like this?” Luka wanted to know.

“Well, you’re already going to be providing the box so it’s just parts and labor you’re paying for,” she said. “If you just want the velvet, which I already have, it’ll take me about ten minutes to cut and use spray adhesive on it-- then I’d say about five bucks. If you want me to give it a bit of a stain for some color then add another five?”

“You’d be getting a good deal,” the vendor said. “Our prices are pretty low this week because we remember what it’s like to be in school and want all the cool stuff, but don’t want to have to survive on ramen. However, we can’t sell them this cheap forever. And even though the box will only cost you ten dollars, once Marinette’s done with it, it’ll look like a million bucks!”

Luka picked up a basic pine box that had a small compartment for carrying his dice and the rest was an open tray. “So for twenty bucks, I can have this turned into that?” He pointed at a similar box that had a royal purple stain and black velvet lining.

Marinette smiled before saying, “Sure if you want purple, I could do that or something else if you’d prefer.”

“And it won’t be a problem for you?” he asked with real concern. “It won’t be stressing you out?”

She shook her head. “I promise, it won’t stress me out.”

“Okay, it’s a deal,” he said to both the women. Luka used his card to pay before asking Marinette, “So do you take Paypal, Venmo,” he paused before asking, “maybe cash?”

They started walking back to their table.

Marinette shook her head. “I try not to deal with cash if I can help it, but I do have Paypal set up with my Etsy or you could Venmo me.”

“Well, what’s going to make you more comfortable?” Luka asked as he sat back down next to Juleka.

“Oh,” Marinette brightened as she pulled out her purse. “I have a business card. Do you want to grab a pic of that? It has all the needed information on it”

Luka smiled as he pulled out his phone. “That would be perfect.”

He snapped a picture of the card before grabbing shots of the people at their table and then the rest of the room. After he played with the screen, Juleka and Rose’s phones both pinged. A few seconds later Marinette felt her phone buzz, too.

“Did you just send us pics of ourselves?” Juleka asked.

“Yup,” he grinned, “Sent them to the family chat. You know how the Captain is- Pics or it didn’t happen.”

Rose smiled back at him while Juleka rolled her eyes.

“Did you get the payment?” he asked Marinette. “Let me know if it didn’t go through and I’ll cancel that one to make sure you get paid.”

“What are you paying her for?” Juleka demanded.

“For your information I have just commissioned, uh, an angel from heaven I believe were the words, right, Kagami-” he lifted a brow in her direction and she nodded, “-to take this drab little box,” he held up the plastic bag containing his purchase, “and change it into the ultimate dice throwing experience.” He shrugged, “Well as ultimate as $20 can buy, anyway.”

The table laughed as he passed the bag over to Marinette after first wiping it down. She put it next to her purse and then grabbed a blank character sheet and the rejected pink and green sheets from Rose. 

Marinette rifled through the class sheets while asking, “Do you really not want to be a fighter? I think there are a couple of other things in here like, um,” she pulled out one paper, “No, that’s Barbarian which is the opposite of not a fighter. Here’s wizard,” she lifted a few other pages, “-or there’s a bard.” She pulled out another paper, “or sorcerer.” She seemed to deflate. “That’s it for the less stabby, stabby occupations, unless you want to be a cleric or paladin which are more like holy fighters.”

Rose snickered. 

“You should totally be a bard,” she said. She wiggled her eyebrows at Kagami who also broke out into snickers.

“Yes,” she agreed with Rose. “A bard would be perfect for you.”

Nino’s eyebrows contracted as he looked at Luka. “I don’t know if he’s got it in him to be a bard. His first attempt at barding was pretty lame and I don’t think he should be barding all over Marinette.”

Luka looked at his sniggering tablemates and then at Marinette who had some pink in her cheeks as she facepalmed.

“Okay, what’s up with the bard?” he asked everyone in general.

Marinette whispered, “Stop it Nino,” threateningly in his direction before answering Luka.

“Bards have a bit of a reputation for being highly charismatic, or thinking they are highly charismatic, and then trying to sleep with everything that moves and even some of the furniture.”

The table erupted into laughter.

“Oh,” was all he said even as he processed the earlier tittering. “I thought Rose was suggesting bard because I can play several instruments.”

“That never even entered my mind,” Rose said unhelpfully.

“You do?” Marinette asked. “What do you play?”

“Well, pretty much anything with strings but mostly guitar. Then I play percussion, some piano, clarinet, and sax and occasionally I play the bagpipes, badly.”

“I keep telling you,” Juleka piped up, “no one actually plays the bagpipes well. Otherwise they wouldn’t sound like that.”

The whole table broke into laughter.

“Are you in a band, dude?” Nino asked.

“Not right now, but I still sit in with a couple of guys I played with in high school. I don’t have much time with my job and trying to fit a double major into a single major time frame.”

“Oooh. What are you majoring in?” Kagami asked as she leaned over to hear his answer.

“Well music, obviously, but my other one is psych. I’m hoping to be able to do music therapy with children. Especially in lower income schools as they have kids that have high stress situations but low avenues for expression.”

Nino whistled. “That’s so cool man. What types of music do you even play?”

“Oh, I like folk, rock, pop, and metal, but I’ve also tried to branch out into punk and rap. I want to be familiar with the forms that the kids are used to and then help them express themselves through that music. It’s going to be tough though.”

“Why’s that?” Marinette asked.

“Because the school I was doing training in last semester has lots of kids whose families are from Mexico, Laos, and Pakistan and I just don’t know enough about traditional music for any of those groups. Not that they only listen to traditional at home, but those can be familiar to riff off. I mean I’ve heard of Mariachi music before, but it’s not the only traditional Mexican music.”

“Dude, you can’t be expected to know everyone’s music. You should probably let the kids show you what they like,” Nino said even as he motioned for Luka to continue.

I know that it’s not the only music they’d be exposed to or familiar with, but I only know about four phrases in Spanish-’ Mas, por favor, tortilla, and sí’. I don’t know any Hmong or Laotian words, and I’d like to think my little Pakistani friend wouldn’t try to teach me bad words, but I’m afraid to use what I learned from him in front of his mother. I’ve seen My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding!”

The group laughed again

“You certainly have your work cut out for you,” Marinette said.

Luka nodded then looked away. Seeing Kagami, he said, “Kagami you’re the only one here I haven’t really heard about majors or working. So, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Kagami said with a grimace. “I’m a math major because I love it and a science minor because chemistry is just amazing, but I’m not sure what I plan on doing with either of those things.”

“It’s okay not to know what you plan to do yet,” Luka said gently.

“Doesn’t Adrien want to be a professor of History?” Rose asked, with a sly smile.

“Yes, what about it?” Kagami asked, raising an eyebrow at the grinning girl.

“Think about it, Gami,” Rose said with a sigh. “You and Adrien could be that cute professor couple that all the students ship! You could teach chemistry, because you seriously were the only one that got me through that class last semester, and Adrien could teach ancient Mediterranean history. And you could sneak into each other’s offices for lunch dates. I bet you could even keep the students guessing if you’re in a relationship or not for years. It would be perfect!”

Kagami smiled at her friend. “I don’t know if it works that way, but it might be something to look into,” she said to the girl who looked like she was actually making heart eyes at the prospect.

“Okay Luka,” Marinette said. “Grab a white paper and we can start creating your bard.”

The genuine smile on her face was something Luka couldn’t help remembering even after they left the club for the evening. He carried home his new dice and the hope that he’d actually found some new friends.

Two nights later, Luka was pulling up to an unfamiliar house with a very familiar person standing out front. He secured his mask and the pizza carrier before walking up the steps to the landing. Nino’s expression was a mixture of embarrassed and pissed, and when Luka heard the discussion coming through an open window he understood why.

Nino spoke up quietly while Luka was climbing the stairs, pausing at the top step.

“Um, sorry about this, but I kind of walked out without my mask or my wallet,” he apologized. “It’s just that whenever she’s talking to Felix, I end up wanting to punch a hole in the wall and we can’t afford to lose our deposit.” He smiled, but the joke attempt fell flat. “Can you just hang here for a bit? They’ve almost got to the end and then I can go get your money.”

“How do you know they’re almost done?” Luka asked.

Nino glanced over his shoulder and grimaced. “I’ve heard it enough times.”

In the awkward silence that hung between the two of them, Luka heard Marinette’s voice.

“I can’t afford to break my lease and leave Nino in the lurch for the rest of the semester as well as contributing to your rent.” There was a silence before she continued, “Because he’s my very good friend and you don’t do that to friends and then get to keep them afterward.” Her voice rose in volume, “No, I can’t just move in with you and have your parents pay for me, Felix. I’m not going to sponge off of your parents or have them telling me I owe them for this for the rest of our lives.” Her voice suddenly sounded tired. “There’s nothing wrong with where I work. I like it. No, it doesn’t pay as much as where we were, but it’s not as stressful.” And now she sounded just done. “I’m not having this argument again Felix.” 

Nino just sighed heavily, “She says that every time, yet here we are.”

Luka tried not to make eye contact with Nino or eavesdrop, but, well, there wasn’t much else he could do unless he wanted to pay for the pizza himself and then leave.

“I can’t come right now, I just ordered food and it’s on the way.” Her voice had lost all it’s color and vibrancy. “Nino’s not in. I can’t ask him to get it.”

Luka couldn’t help glancing at Nino when she said it. He had the decency to look away. Her next statements sent up red flags for Luka.

“No, I’m not meeting someone.” Her tone got higher, a little more insistent. “No, I’m not cheating on you with the delivery driver! Nino’s on his way home. He’s probably going to be pulling up just as the food gets here.” 

This time Nino watched him as he looked away. He knew there was nothing going on between himself and Marinette, but still he felt the blush as the accusation fell from her lips. 

Her voice got low, she was pleading with him now. “Felix, I’m going to eat my dinner and finish my homework so that tomorrow I won’t have anything hanging over my head when we go on our date.” 

Another pause before, “You’ll have me all to yourself, just the way you like.”

“Please, Felix, I can’t.” Each sentence was more full of begging for understanding. “Not tonight.” She got quieter. “Don’t be mad.” She started to sound like she was talking in a fake, cutsie  voice- more childlike and with less adult authority. “Okay, you’re not mad.” 

“Don’t be upset, Fe,” her tone was wheedling for his favor.

“Yes, of course, I want to see you!” 

 “Yes, I’m being good for you.” 

They do this all the time? he thought. Luka was finding it hard to keep his chill and looking at Nino’s drawn brows and thin mouth the other man wasn’t liking what he was hearing either.

“You’re the only one for me,” her tone cowed and sweet. 

“Bye now sweet-” apparently Felix already hung up as they could now hear Marinette taking in great gulps of air.

Nino took that as his cue to hurry into the house calling, “Pizza’s here!” In a few moments Nino returned with his mask on and wallet in hand.

The sound of ragged breaths was the only thing they heard as Nino rummaged in his wallet for his card to tap on the card reader Luka held out for him. Luka couldn’t help the incredulous look he gave Nino as he slid the box out of the carrier onto Nino’s waiting hands.

“Yeah, I know,” Nino said to the silent accusation. “I’ve tried to talk to her about it, but she insists that she loves him.”

Luka nodded as he closed the carrier.

“It sure doesn’t sound like love on this end of the line.”

Nino’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I know.”

Luka nodded to him and hurried to his car.  As he started up the engine, he pulled out his phone and made sure his ear piece was on. He was pulling away from the curb when his call was answered.

“Jules, I’m screwed,” were his first words to his sister. “It’s Marinette. She’s a princess in distress and I want to save her from her a-hole boyfriend because, as we well know, I have a savior complex.” 

He listened to her talk him through a grounding exercise before they continued their conversation. 

“I know. I’m not responsible for saving anyone. We all have to save ourselves,” he sighed. “All I could ever hope to be is support. She has to want to get out of the situation and from the sound of it, she’s in it for the long haul.” 

Juleka’s anxious voice mumbled the name Brinley. Luka laughed mirthlessly. “I’ve learned my lesson--no white knighting for me.” 

He thought back to the overheard conversation. “But if I ever meet the guy in person, I’m going to deck him. I swear I’ll... I’ll give him concrete shoes and drop him over the side of mom’s boat at midnight. What do you mean what for?” he asked in surprise at Juleka’s question. “For making her feel bad for wanting to keep her friends, her independence, and her mental balance.” 

Luka laughed at Juleka’s squawk and her subsequent expletive filled threat for Felix. 

“No way, Jules! Rose’ll only have enough to bail one of us out and we both know she’ll choose you.”

Juleka’s bright laughter rang through the ear piece. 

“Thanks, Jules,” he said quietly. “Yeah, I’ll bring home a Julerose special.” He smiled, grateful for the friendship of his sister. “I should be done in about an hour, yeah. Love ya!”

As he drove back to the pizza parlor, he couldn’t help but recall the quiet sobs at the end of Marinette’s call. His heart went out to her. He’d been there before, and it well and truly sucked. He determined that he’d try to be the best support he could for his new friend.