#pls tell me this picks up some steam at some point...

[britneyshakespeare]

My Ántonia by Willa Cather, chapter XI

[g1rld1ary]

pushing it down and praying - ex! james potter x fem!reader

part 2 to let things go wc: 5935 cw: angst with some comfort, lots of crying, swearing, blood and cuts, toxic partners, kind of misogynistic speech? sex but not in graphic detail, pls lmk if i miss any me: has taken me a hot minute but part 2 is finally here! it ended up being so much longer than i expected so i assume there will probably be a part 3 at some point bc theres so much to explore with this dynamic

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Lily’s apartment was cozy but refined, absolutely perfect for her. You could see furniture and decorations you recognised from when she first got her place with Mary, but it was clear she’d grown up, and the flat had matured with her. Your heart clenched as you realised you’d missed it all.

Thankfully, Lily hadn’t commented on your absence, hadn’t made any snide remarks that you were crawling back because you had nowhere else to go. She just held you in a long embrace the second you walked through her door, rubbing your back softly as you began to cry again.

Remus was standing behind her, a pitiful frown on his face.

“Long time no see, love.” He pulled you towards him, his knitted sweater warm and soft against you.

“I’ve missed you,” You mumbled against his chest, holding him tighter until you were almost sure you weren’t going to bawl anymore.

Remus and Lily fussed around you until you were wrapped in a thick duvet, sitting on Lily’s couch with a steaming mug of tea.

You were glad you’d let everything out over the phone; it negated the necessity to explain it under their pitiful, sympathetic gazes. Instead, you let them both fill you in on their lives.

It seemed like everything had changed, yet was still exactly the same. The friendship group had stayed, but jobs, partners, and living arrangements had shifted and altered in the time you’d been away. You hung onto their every word, filling in the gaps that had slowly appeared over the years.

Then Lily asked you to return the favour. You hesitated, unsure of where to start. You started on something safe: your career. Objective achievements, a linear progression between positions and responsibilities. You told them about the hobbies you’d picked up and those which you’d long abandoned. Finally, you told them about your flat.

You described the shitty heating that only worked once every four or five days, meaning you had blankets ready on every surface just in case. You told them about the single square metre kitchen (only a slight exaggeration) where you had to contort yourself to open any of the cupboards, but how you turned it into a game and had even started to love it. You told them about your bedroom and the sanctuary it had become, with eccentric lamps you’d found antiquing and the same cozy bedspread you’d had since adolescence.

Speaking about your bed brought you back to thoughts of Adam, though, and you could feel your spirit sink again at the idea of him moving in. Remus and Lily exchanged concerned looks, unsure of how to broach the subject.

“So, Adam’s moving in?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Can I ask something that might be uncomfortable?” Lily continued at your nod, “You and Adam have been together for, what, a couple years now, and he still hasn’t moved in? What’s your hesitation?”

You looked around at both your friends for a long moment, feeling bile rise in the back of your throat. It was bitter and burned inside your mouth, echoing how you’d been feeling all day.

“I don’t know,” You croaked, staring daggers through your tea mug, “I mean I love him! I think. But, I just… I don’t know if I want to wake up next to him forever, you know? If he moves in, it feels like that’s it. It’s permanent.”

Lily looked at you in a way that was very familiar, eyebrows knitted together in pity. You kept your eyes anywhere but hers, carefully examining some of the framed photos on the wall.

“You know it’s okay to not want what someone tells you you’re supposed to, right?” Remus said, pulling a blanket over himself on a plush armchair. You nodded, duh, but really hearing it, you bit your lip.

“It’s just, like, it’s been years, right? He’s been asking to move in since before we hit a year, and it just feels like if we don’t do it now, then he’ll break up with me. And I don’t want that! I don’t think, or — or, I didn’t, but now things are extra weird and… Ugh.” You didn’t mean to ramble or reveal so much, but you were sure it wasn’t such a surprise after the previous events of the night, and the way that Remus and Lily had known you for a million years and were intimately familiar with your tells. Evidently, you hadn’t changed that much with Adam.

“Lovely, you can’t be making huge lifestyle changes just to hope that someone doesn’t break up with you. If Adam is really the one for you, he shouldn’t mind if you tell him you’re not ready for it yet.”

“Besides,” Lily added, “We’re all still young. It’s okay to just want to experience living alone in your twenties. There’s no timeline that you have to do anything.”

“Okay,” You nodded shakily, “I’ll tell him tomorrow that I’m not ready for him to move in, but that I want us to stay together. Maybe we can reevaluate or something in a few months?” You missed the look that Remus and Lily exchanged — not ideal, but it’s a start.

“That sounds good, honey.” Lily smiled, asking if you wanted any of the ice cream she had left in the freezer.

Ten minutes later, you were all chowing down on chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, giggling over much lighter subjects.

“Is Sirius still working on that bike?” You asked, remembering the broken-down motorcycle he’d bought for almost nothing right when you graduated. He’d still been trying to repair it the last time you saw him.

“It’s working now, he’s even managed to get it flying,” Lily replied with a smile.

“God help us all,” Remus interjected, shaking his head, which made you giggle.

“You’ll have to come round and see it sometime, it’s actually quite a good-looking bike. ‘Course we’re all scared half to death whenever he rides it, but you know Sirius can’t be dissuaded.”

You asked a few other questions — had Marlene made much progress with the electric guitar? Was Peter still the best in the group at chess? Then, quietly, nervously, you asked, “How’s James?”

They both paused before answering, clearly choosing words carefully.

“He’s good,” Remus said, “Still playing quidditch, of course, but he’s beginning to think of life outside of playing and branching out to other projects. Have you seen any games?”

You shook your head. “Not since… it ended. And Adam doesn’t know I’m a witch, so it’s just easier to tune out of it all.”

“Still?” Lily asked, disbelief clear in her raised eyebrows, “They’re at the top of the ladder this season anyway, maybe you can come over and watch a match one time if you’re not up to attending in person — they’ve finally caught up with muggle television.” Remus brought over one of the framed photos sitting beside the television as Lily spoke, clearly a recent one. James looked good, like always.

“Outside of work?” You poked, trying to talk around your point. Remus just raised an eyebrow. He always was too smart for his own good.

“He’s had a few short-term girlfriends, but nothing more than a few months. I think he’s looking to settle down, though.”

“He always wanted a family.” You nodded.

“As do you,” Lily said, though it sounded more like a challenge. You choked on your ice cream at the implication, shaking your head.

“I’m with Adam,” You confirmed, partly for yourself.

“Never said you weren’t” She held her hands up in surrender, “Just something to think about.”

The next night, you invited Adam over for a home-cooked dinner. An apology of sorts for the night before, and a softener for what was to come.

You sat across from him, pushing your pasta around the bowl as you tried to broach the subject. Adam was focused on his food, attacking the bowl like he had something to prove.

“So, um, I have to tell you something,” You said, fork scraping against the porcelain bowl.

“What?” More of a statement than a question, but you proceeded anyway.

“I don’t think we should move in together.” Adam’s head snapped up to face you, already clouding over with anger. “But I don’t think we should break up! Not at all, I want to be with you, I do. Just… I’m only getting started in my life, and I think I need to have this time where I’m figuring so much out to be okay with being alone and self-sufficient.”

“And you can’t figure that shit out with me in the flat?” He asked, unimpressed.

“It’s not about you, Adam,” You sighed, running a hand through your hair, “That’s the whole point. It’s about me. I want to be a fully formed woman, I need to know who I am in my soul before I attach my identity to yours!”

“I don’t get it, isn’t that the fucking point? This is a serious, grown-up relationship, is it not? What are you waiting for? Do you not love me, is that it?” It wasn’t like Adam was yelling or flipping tables or anything, but tears welled at your lash line, threatening to bubble over and down your cheeks.

“Can we just take a minute?” You begged, hands splayed out on the table like they were keeping you upright. “I don’t want this to be a fight.” Adam huffed but nodded, and you went to go sit in your bedroom while he took the couch as you both cooled off — well, Adam cooled off and you cried.

Your bedroom was still a mess from your attempts at cleaning out yesterday, but you sidestepped the piles of junk in order to throw yourself across your mattress, sobbing into the pillow as you clutched it tight between your arms.

It went exactly how you thought it would — Adam taking it overly personal and blowing up. He just didn’t get it. He’d already done all his figuring out by the time he’d even met you; he was almost thirty! Adam had his whole life planned out, and you were dragging him behind.

In your devastation, to your entire shame and disgrace, you began to think about James. What would your life be like now if you hadn’t broken up? Would you have moved in together by now? Or would you be resisting it like you were now? A memory struck you, one that had you crying harder.

You lay on James’ naked chest, hand softly playing with his curls. You’d both just lost your virginities and were basking in the post-sex haze in his bedroom over the summer holidays, shrouded in white sheets, orange sun rays filtering through the window.

“How long do you think we’ll be together for?” You asked, voice small, though you didn’t pull away from him. It was an insecure question, you knew, but it had been a vulnerable day.

“As long as you’ll have me,” James answered without hesitation, hand drawing gentle circles in the small of your back. You smiled, so big James could feel it against his skin.

“Will we get married?” You followed up, tracing his jawline featherlight.

“Somewhere gorgeous,” He replied, “In a garden with those flowers you like, the purple ones.”

“Sirius will be your best man, and Lily will be my maid of honour, and your mum will cry buckets.” You were both giggling, giddy in the way only teenagers in love can be.

“Will we have children?” He asked, pulling you so you were directly on top of him, the two of you nose to nose.

“Yes,” You paused to think, “Two or three maybe. One boy and two girls.”

“Sounds good to me, lovely. Can’t wait for forever.”

You were smiling through the tears, the nostalgic joy of the memory flooding through you. A knock at the door had the warmth seeping out of you, pulling you back to the moment you were living in. You made an affirmative noise, and Adam cracked the door open, looking a little like a kicked dog.

“I don’t want to fight, babe. I won’t move in yet.”

You managed a weak smile, nodding as you blinked a few times until your eyes were dry.

Adam sat next to you, the mattress dipping under him. He put an arm around you, your muscles tensing under his touch.

“It’s okay, babe. I get that you need time to grow up or whatever, but we love each other, so it’s fine. I can still stay over, right?”

“Yeah,” You hesitated, “Yeah, of course.”

“Good,” He said, leaning over to kiss you, “Because I couldn’t live without you.”

You let Adam kiss you, malleable under his direction. He pushed you back onto the mattress, and you let him slide your red woollen sweater over your head, kissing down your neck and collarbone.

Soon you were naked, lying still underneath Adam as he slid in and out of you, his eyes screwed shut in pleasure. I love him, you told yourself, I love him. And so you kissed him, craning your neck to reach him, hoping he couldn’t see written on your face what was creeping into your heart.

You closed your eyes, a big mistake. In your head, instead of Adam fucking you it was James, his doe eyes boring into your own. Fuck, you wanted to feel guilty. You knew it was wrong, Adam was your boyfriend. Not James. James hadn’t been your boyfriend for years.

And yet, you didn’t feel guilty that you were fantasising about your ex whilst you were actively having sex with your current boyfriend. In fact, you’d just started feeling good. Your back arched up into Adam’s chest as you moaned, “Fuck, touch me.” You fell just short of crying James’ name, thank god.

Adam finished, collapsing on top of you and wrapping his arms around your middle.

“Love you,” He mumbled, holding you tighter.

“Yeah,” You whispered, rolling onto your side, “You too.”

You were still awake an hour later, staring at the wall, bathed in silver light from the moon outside the window. On your nightstand stood two framed photos, one of you and Adam early in your relationship, his arms around you as you both stood in a nightclub, wide smiles on both your faces. The second was of your Hogwarts friends when you were much younger, at Remus’s sixteenth birthday party.

You were all squished around the armchair that Remus sat in, a crooked birthday crown sitting on his hair. You were next to James but your arms rested on Remus’ shoulders so it wasn’t obvious that you guys were a couple at that time — but you knew his hand was resting on your arse behind the back of the seat. If Adam was privy to that knowledge, then you knew the photo would have been thrown away years ago.

You couldn’t help staring at James. He looked the same as he did when you broke up, bright grin and mischief in his eyes. His glasses were crooked across his nose, you remember reaching up to adjust them after the picture was taken. You missed him; you couldn’t deny that to yourself. But it wasn’t romantic, you reasoned, just nostalgia spurred on by the past few days. You only pictured him instead of Adam because it was an experience you were used to, no other reason. You repeated that mantra until you fell into an unsatisfying sleep.

A few weeks passed, and you were making a conceited effort to stay in touch with your old friends. At first, it was just Lily and Remus, confident in knowing that they still liked you. But eventually, you reached out to the rest of the girls too, pushing through an awkward coffee date to reestablish your previous connection. You hadn’t reached out to Sirius yet, and you knew you’d never contact James, but you were content that you were taking steps to bring back the old part of your life.

“I’m off,” You said one evening, pulling on your coat, “Headed to the pub with Lily and some of the girls.”

“Since when are you hanging out with them?” Adam asked, looking up from the football match he was watching on your couch.

“Just recently,” You answered blithely, “I realised I hadn’t seen them in forever! Crazy.” You purposefully left out any suggestion that it was Adam’s doing; it would just cause another fight.

“I thought you didn’t like them anymore? Remember you said they were too immature?”

“I didn’t—” You cut yourself off, shrinking in shame when you recalled the moments the words left your mouth, trying desperately to seem cool in front of Adam’s older friends. “Well, um, you know. It’s been a couple years, maybe they’ve changed.” You slipped out the door before Adam could say anything else about it.

Later that night, or earlier the next morning, you stumbled in, blissful from a night of laughter and dancing with your friends, just like when you were younger. You didn’t expect to see Adam still up, a sitcom rerun playing, but he clearly wasn’t watching.

“Where’ve you been?” He asked, standing.

“I told you, out with the girls.”

“Til two in the morning?” He took a step towards you, and you headed towards your bedroom.

“We went dancing.”

“Great, so you were probably grinding on some other fuckin’ guy,” He huffed, and you hurried over to him, a soft hand on his bicep.

“I would never! Adam, you’re my boyfriend.”

“Prove that you love me.”

You were beginning to have a problem. Lying naked in bed, Adam inside you, yet you couldn’t enjoy it unless you were picturing James instead. You had to imagine it was James’ lightly calloused fingers running up and down your sides to derive any pleasure from it.

And still, you couldn’t feel guilty, because when you closed your eyes and James’ kind smile replaced Adam’s, your insides finally ignited, giving you a release you’d been waiting for. The same which convinced Adam you hadn’t cheated on him. Funny how that works.

Things were shaky, but mostly alright, for a few more weeks. You saw your friends when you could, but tried not to bring it up very much in front of Adam. He got moodier every time you mentioned them. Snide comments, subtle insults, you had no idea why he hated them so much.

It all came to a head a few weeks later.

“I’m off to lunch, you can stay here if you’d like,” You said, applying your mascara in the hallway mirror.

“And I wonder who you’re going out with.” He rolled his eyes with a huff.

“It’s Remus’ birthday,” You pleaded, “I have to go.”

“But Remus hates me, how could you be friends with someone who hates your boyfriend?”

“He doesn’t hate you.” He does. “Besides, it’s his birthday, and it’s just lunch. I can’t miss it.”

“Fine, whatever. I just can’t believe you’re choosing them over me.” Adam turned back to the television, your shoulders slumping as you sighed, hand making its way up to your forehead.

“I’m not choosing either of you — whatever, I’ll be back in a few hours. Let yourself out.”

At your lunch, you recounted the story to your friends with a casual air, scolding Remus when he interjected with a deadpan “I do hate him.”

“He’s really not that bad, Remus. He’s just not maybe your kind of guy.”

“He’s no one’s type of guy,” Marlene snorted, “He’s barely a man. Six years older than you and acting like a child.”

“Come on, guys,” You sighed with a small smile, “We’re here for Remus, not to rag on my boyfriend.”

The conversation moved on to lighter subjects, but you couldn’t help the sinking feeling that maybe your friends had a point. It wasn’t like they would lie to you, right? Surely if all of them thought Adam wasn’t right for you, there was some truth to the statement.

You figured it was an issue you’d deliberate over when you were home alone, not when you were in the company of friends.

Even Sirius was there, giving you a long embrace when you reunited, though the energy between you wasn’t as effortless as it had been in the past — you couldn’t blame him. You were told James couldn’t make it because of quidditch training, but Remus said he saw James enough that it didn’t really matter whether or not he was there for the official celebration.

You stumbled along the path with Mary, who lived nearby, giggling as you’d perhaps gone overboard at bottomless lunch. You were unaware of Adam still in the apartment, watching you with contempt from your front window, three stories up.

“See me soon, okay?” Mary made you pinky promise, kissing you on both cheeks.

“Of course, we’ll go see that movie you were talking about — the one about the cowboys.” You nodded eagerly, squeezing her hand as you turned towards your door.

You fumbled with the keys, missing the slot two or three times before pushing into your flat. To your surprise, instead of the tranquil apartment you were expecting, Adam was standing in the middle of your open plan area, clutching something tightly in his hand.

“Hey,” You said lightly, stepping closer. You could finally make out James’ postcard wrinkling under Adam’s grip, and your face fell. Looking over, your room was in disarray, your memory boxes strewn across the floor.

“What the fuck is this?” He held up the postcard, practically vibrating in his fury.

“Adam…”

“No, what the fuck is this? How can you possibly defend having all this just sitting in your bedroom?”

“Adam, it’s not what you think.”

“Not what I think? You’ve got boxes full of shit from your ex-boyfriend, how can there be any other explanation?”

“It’s stuff from my friends too, it’s just from my school years!” You tried to defend yourself.

“Don’t lie to me!” Adam yelled, and you faltered, shrinking away from him. “You’re still fucking in love with him, aren’t you?”

“I’m not,” You protested, tears welling in your eyes.

“You know, my friends all told me you weren’t worth it. That you were immature and hung up on that dick, that I was dating below my league. But I defended you, said you were mature for your age, that you were cool. And this is how you fucking thank me? By emotionally cheating on me with your fucking teenage boyfriend? You’re just a pathetic girl.”

You could only watch, paralysed, as Adam ripped up the postcard, tossing it to the floor. A fat tear rolled down your cheek.

“Adam, please, can we just talk about this, it’s not like that!”

“Talk about what? That I’ve given you years of love just for you to run back to some washed up high school jock you dated when you were sixteen?”

“I haven’t seen James in years!” You yelled over him desperately, sobs wracking through your body.

“If you’re going to act like a child, I’ll treat you like a child. I’m fucking done.” Adam stormed past you, pausing only to throw your framed graduation photo on the floor, the glass of the frame shattering into a thousand pieces at your feet.

The door closed with a violent slam, and you sank to the floor, hardly noticing the shards of glass tearing up the skin of your knees. You clutched the remnants of the photo, too distraught to care about the blood dripping from your hands as you grasped the ruined frame hopelessly.

You cried for what felt like hours, alone in your dark apartment, unable to gather the energy to even switch on a lamp. It was only when you had no tears left to cry that you pushed yourself up onto shaky legs, stumbling out of your flat in a daze.

You wandered down the streets, limping from where a particularly deep cut had sliced into the join of your knee. You weren’t bothered by the disturbed stares of passersby, too emotionally drained to even be self-conscious.

You didn’t stop until you were standing at Lily’s doorstep, weak hand extending to the doorbell.

Inside, the gang had continued Remus’ birthday celebrations, everyone giggling over wine and a Bowie record. When the doorbell rang, clear and piercing even through the joyous noise, no one expected the visitor waiting to be let in.

Of course, it was Lily who opened the door, gasping in horror as she took you in, grabbing the attention of the rest of the party.

You stood in the doorway, mascara running down your cheeks, your hair a mess. You were still wearing the mini skirt and blouse you’d worn to lunch, but your bare shins were covered in blood, matching your hands, from where you’d been cut up by glass shards.

Lily ushered you in, and you followed her numbly down the entrance way toward your friends.

“Hey,” You croaked, voice rough from harsh sobs.

They all spoke at once, questions of what happened and whether you were okay, exclamations of horror at your sorry state.

“Did he do this to you?” Sirius asked, and no one had to clarify who ‘he’ was.

“No,” You shook your head, “Not directly.”

“We need to get you cleaned up,” Lily said, comforting hand warm on your back. For the first time, though, you’d noticed James.

He looked the same, yet entirely different. The years had changed him for the better. James had grown into his features, strong jawline just dusted with a five o’clock shadow. His curls had grown out slightly, sitting just below his ears, but his glasses were still crooked on his face, just as you remembered them always being.

Right now, though, his face was far from the sunny, mischievous expression you were used to seeing. As you locked eyes for the first time in years, conflict was clear on James’ face. You were sure yours was exactly the same.

“Uh, come on.” Lily pulled you gently, leading you along to the bathroom. By the time you arrived, you were crying again.

Lily didn’t question you as she sat you on the closed toilet lid, letting you silently cry as she wet an old rag. There was a knock at the bathroom door, just two quick ones which echoed against the tiles. Lily cracked the door open, a slight gasp escaping her as she came face to face with James.

“What are you doing?” She asked softly, a hand reaching out to comfort him. There was no reason he should be coming after you.

“I’m the only one here with any first aid training,” He replied, studiously avoiding you, “Glass is trickier than a plan cut.”

“Oh, ok,” Lily nodded, “Do you want me to stay?” She whispered, and you pretended you couldn’t hear despite the three of you all occupying the same square metre. James shook his head, and they swapped places, Lily giving him a long look before leaving you two alone.

James didn’t say anything at first, simply taking the rag that Lily had left in the sink, wringing it out so it wasn’t dripping, before making his way over to you. You didn’t make eye contact.

“I’ll just clean off the dried blood first, shouldn’t hurt too bad.” James’ voice was more gruff than you remembered, but maybe that was because he was with you. You didn’t say anything, but gave him a small nod.

James started with your knees, pressing the rag lower on your shins where the blood had run to. That part didn’t hurt, so you sat in silence, the only reprieve coming from the music floating softly from the living room. The bathroom door was only open a crack, closing by itself in the movement before.

“What are you holding?” He broke the silence. You looked down, snapping out of a daze. You didn’t have the words to describe the picture without absolutely sounding weird or talking yourself into a hole, so you just held it out for him to inspect.

James took it from you, careful not to cut himself on the sharp edges. You watched in real time as his eyes softened, the beginnings of a smile twitching at his lips as he examined it.

“From graduation?” He asked. You nodded, your own smile threatening your lips.

“It made me happy every time I looked at it; I had to keep it.”

You locked eyes, and for a moment, it felt like nothing had changed, that you were both freshly out of school and in love. Then, in an instant, you were both back in the present moment. You both averted your eyes quickly, examining your injuries.

“Um, this part’ll hurt. I would do it with magic, but honestly, the glass kinda stresses me out, I’d rather just do it by hand.”

James dug around in Lily’s bathroom cabinet until he found a pair of tweezers, and you winced before he’d even approached with them.

It took fifteen minutes for James to fish all the shards out of your knee, the only sound being your whimpers and James’ quiet apologies.

“You ready for the hand, or do you wanna take a break?” He asked softly, still not looking at you.

“No, do it. I just want this whole nightmare to be over.”

You whimpered as the tweezers fished around in your cut, screwing your eyes shut tight as you tried to stay still.

“It’s almost over, love, you’re alright,” James said, before visibly remembering where he was and becoming serious once again, “Uh, I’ll be quick.” You didn’t say anything, too focused on trying not to jerk away from James’ intrusions.

James pulled out a bandage and some rubbing alcohol, preparing to treat the wounds. You hissed as James cleaned the wound, the alcohol burning inside the raw flesh. He put a hand on your thigh to comfort you out of past habit, thumb caressing the skin gently.

He wrapped your hand up in the bandage, touch soft though you still weren’t talking.

At long last, you were finished, yet James didn’t move from in front of you. You stared at each other, years of unsaid feelings coming to the surface.

“Did he hurt you?” James asked, tone low and dangerously controlled.

“He didn’t do this.” You looked down at your bandaged hand and knees.

James just nodded curtly, clearly satisfied that he didn’t have to go kill a man. He stood, holding the door open politely so you could rejoin the others.

You took a seat next to Remus on the sofa, smiling weakly when he put a comforting hand on your thigh.

“Do you wanna tell us what happened, honey?” Mary asked sweetly, bringing you a tea from the kitchen.

“I don’t know, it seems so stupid now…” You recounted the afternoon anyway, tears burning behind your eyes. Your friends all looked to be in various states of shock and horror as you told them what Adam said to you.

“You’re acting like a child? Be fucking for real,” Remus snapped to no one in particular.

“So what now?” Marlene asked.

“Well, ‘I’m fucking done’ was quite clear. We’re broken up.” You didn’t look at James, too afraid of his reaction.

There was a moment of silence in the room before your friends erupted in thunderous applause, hooting and hollering as Lily fetched a bottle of champagne from the kitchen. James didn’t partake in the external celebrations; in fact, you couldn’t read his face at all.

Still, when a bubbling glass was handed to you with an accompanying congratulations, you couldn’t help but smile through your upset.

“Our girl is free!” Sirius sang, draping himself across Remus to cheers your glass, pressing a wet kiss to your cheek.

“Shove off,” You laughed despite yourself, “I’ve just been dumped, you dick.”

“Yeah, by a man who we’ve been hoping you would see the light and break up with for years!” Mary cackled, and you giggled, the bubbles already floating up to your head through your bloodstream.

“Where do you go from here, practically?” Lily asked kindly, always the one to be thinking pragmatically.

“Well, thank god he didn’t move in, so I don’t have to deal with any lease stuff. Honestly, the only thing I lose is his friends, but they never liked me anyway. They thought I was immature, or too much or whatever.”

“So literally no loss,” Remus said casually, “You’re better off, even. Though we could have told you that after the first date.”

“Hindsight’s 20/20, right?” You said weakly, revelling at least in your friend’s laughter. “Lils, would it be possible for me to stay here tonight? There’s still a bunch of Adam’s stuff in my flat that I couldn’t bear to look at tonight.” Lily agreed in a heartbeat, of course.

The night wore down, and your friends all eventually set off for their own homes. You were mostly left with congratulations and celebratory hugs, but you stood in front of James as he set off for the door, tension thickening before your eyes.

“Thank you for helping me,” You said earnestly.

“It’s no problem, wouldn’t want you to have to deal with a messy breakup and glass embedding in your body,” He tentatively joked, the new dynamic between you entirely unexplored.

“It was really nice to see you, James.”

“Yeah,” He hesitated, “Yeah, you too. You deserve so much more than that jerk ever gave you.”

With that, he walked off, leaving you stunned and conflicted in the middle of Lily’s living room.

Half an hour later, you were lying beside Lily in her double bed, the moment feeling perfectly like you were having your childhood sleepovers again.

“Thanks for letting me stay,” You whispered, squeezing Lily’s hand under the covers.

“Anytime, you know that.”

“Thanks for letting me come back.” You both paused, the weight of what you’d let happen over the years sinking in. You’d missed so much. Nobody was the same as they were, including you.

“This is your chance, my love. Figure out who you are. Not who he wants you to be.”

[lillypad910]

Pass Her Over

Pairing: Big Dick! Billy Hargrove x Whore! f! Reader

Warnings: Smut! Filth, literal filth, slut shamming, p n v, oral (m receiving), unprotected and protected sex (wrap it up pls), "pet" names (Doll face, Baby, slut, whore, bitch). Let me know if i missed something. This isn't pre-read, may have errors.

Summary: You are the school's slut. All the guys have at least fucked you once. You enjoy it, the attention, the play, all of it. Billy is the new "It" boy, the new King of Hawkins. Just makes sense he comes to proposition you eventually.

A/n: The purring is loud with this one...

You lay out over one of the benches in the boys locker room, your skirt hiked up as Jason thrusts into your cunt. You moan as you feel him twitch inside you.

“Fuck, you feel so good…” Jason groans into your ear, leaning over you.

“So good, Jason. Fuck- just like that,” you encourage him, humping your hips back into his.

You are the whore of Hawkins High, if one of the boys needs to let off steam, you were the one to go to. You were everyone’s dream fuck, and you weren’t hard to get either. You’ve fucked every guy on the basketball team, except one. The new guy.

You don’t know much about him, other than his name is Billy and apparently he’s a total douche. You were going to probably meet him tonight at Tommy’s party.

You both finish, Jason discarding the condom while you pull back up your underwear. You both leave separately out back into the school, being sure not to get seen together.

You meet up with Carol and Vicki, who stand out in the hall. “He’s got some tutor session…” you catch Carol say as rolls her eyes.

“Who?” You ask, moving closer to the group of seniors you associate with.

“Tommy. He said he has a tutor now, for Chemistry. And he’s having to meet up with them during lunch today so he can’t sit with us.” She explains, sounding agitated.

“That sucks.” “Yeah, and not to mention you can’t! You have your cheer thing, which means it’s just Vicki, Tina, Nicole, and I with the new guy.” Carol groans, “which I guess is fine because he’s hot, but damn.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that!” You try to change the topic, “He’s hot? Did you two already see him today?” Carol and Vicki make eye contact because turning to you.

“Smoking. That man is a meal. (Y/n), you have to tell us how he is when you fuck him.” You sigh.

“‘When?’” You question.

“Bitch, yes! When! I need to know the details, unless Nicole can dive in first.” Carol mentions which gets Nicole’s attention.

“Maybe, god would I give to ride that man…” “Nicki!” Carol smacks her shoulder, causing the group to giggle.

“Well, I have to go, my uh… practice start soon.” You explain before walking off.

You weren’t totally lying, the cheerleaders of the Junior class were getting together during this lunch period to practice some more, but that wasn’t what you were doing.

You step into the boy’s bathroom connected to the gym, only to get yanked by your next fuck into one of the stalls. “Tommy! Jesus Christ, you scared me!” You smack him on the arm.

“Sorry, god I just couldn’t wait any longer, Carol is great, and I love her. But you are just too good to pass up.” He locks the stall door before picking you up, wrapping your legs around his waist as he shoves your back into the door.

It doesn’t take long before your underwear is dangling on your thigh as you holding the top of the door as his cock drills into your needy cunt. You enjoy it, your cunt still a bit raw from the fuck it got from Jason.

“You fucked Jason earlier, right? Jackass wouldn’t shut up about it.” Tommy groans.

“Oh yeah? Ah- Is he trying to use me a-as brownie points or-“ you moan as he thrusts harder.

“Guess so. Trying to act all big saying he’s not a loser virgin.” Tommy grabs your hips and yanks you down on his cock, making your toes curl. “Doesn’t know we all fuck you though.”

The rest of the day goes by quick, classes pass by in a blur between your other “appointments.” When the last bell rang you were under the bleachers, two guys fucking you. Your mouth wrapped around one cock while your pussy is fucked by the other. You are dropped quickly when people start talking, walking into the gym. You straighten out your clothes and head out, going home to get ready for the party later.

You get out of the car, straightening out your little dress, wiggling the tight fabric back down your legs. Carol presses the lock button on her keys after the others get out as well. You follow the girls into the house, where Tommy walks up and greets you all, kissing Carol and throwing his arm over her shoulders.

"You girls want anything to drink?" He asks, gesturing to the kitchen with his free hand.

After everyone gives their drink orders, Tommy makes a sophomore get them for you. Before the drinks even make it to your hands, Tommy suddenly gets really excited and runs outside to the backyard. Carol rolls her eyes and you all follow him, only to find him cheering on some guy on the keg. After the guy chugs doing a keg stand, he falls back down with the beer dripping down his chin and onto his exposed chest. Something about it is... hot.

"That's the new guy," Nicole whispers to you, "His name is Billy Hargrove, fucking sexy."

"Have you fucked him yet?" You ask looking over at him, which she just sighs.

"Unfortunately not, but maybe tonight." She gives you a wink before walking over to him. God the look he gives her says everything you need to know about how he is. Toxic men just do something for you.

"Oh! (y/n)!" A very cheerful voice calls out to you which you turn around to see your friend and fellow cheerleader, Chrissy, "have you seen Jason? He said he would be here tonight..." You loop arms with her so she doesn't get lost and look around for her.

"I think I see him over there," you point in the direction of the backdoor, where Andy is clinging onto some whore with Jason just awkwardly standing there.

"Oh, gosh, thank you!" Chrissy runs off to her lover boy.

A good hour into the party someone comes up behind you, wrapping one arm around your waist. "Having fun?" A voice, this time sounding much nicer than Chrissy's, comes from behind you. You don't look over your shoulder, instead you grind your ass into the guy's crotch.

"Better now," You finally look over your shoulder to the guy, shockingly having to look up a good bit to meet his eye. Billy Hargrove now stands with his fingers already tangling into the fabric of your dress on your hip. You don't even react at how the fabric lifts up to your hip, practically flashing your ass to the rest of the party if he wasn't right behind you.

"Oh?" Billy leans down a bit, giving you a little nudge to get walking, leading you away from your friends. "I heard from Tommy that you know how to show a guy a good time, is that true, Doll face?" He lifts his free hand up to your hair, brushing a strand out of your face.

"Maybe," you smirk at him, depends on your definition of 'fun' honestly... personally mine is sex." You are being forward sure, but how where you supposed to act when a new guy with an obvious big dick that you can feel rubbing against your ass propositions you?

"Forward, good. I like a slut who knows what she wants." He squeezes your hip, messaging the fat there. "How about we go upstairs? Tommy says he has a free room for us to use." You nod, letting him lead you, guiding you to the stairs and up them, a few soft moans leaving you when his bulge rubs against you.

You shoves you into the nearest bedroom, which happens to be the master bedroom, and shuts the door by slamming your back into the door, locking it. His hand instantly yanks your dress up over your hips before he shoves his hand down into your panties. His fingers run over your already soaked cunt.

"Fuck, already wet, Slut?" He sinks two fingers into you, earning a beautiful moan from your lips. "Oh yeah? You like when your cunt is used? Like being the girl who gets passed around?" He watching your face twist up as his fingers curl inside you, hitting that perfect spot.

"Ah-!" You reach for his arm, grabbing it as your legs already buckle, the previous fucks of the day finally catching up.

"Oh, fuck no. Whore needs to be treated like one." Billy scoops you up before throwing you onto the bed. "Strip." His voice is demanding, powerful. You obey him, yanking your dress over your head and pulling down your underwear, kicking them off and onto the floor. "God, look at you. No bra too?" Billy grins, "Are you like this with every guy? Needy for a dick?" Billy unbuckles his belt, yanking it out of the belt loops without any issue.

"Do you talk to all your fucks like this?" you give him a grin. "Cause I really like it." Billy chuckles, pulling off his jacket.

"Be a good bitch and come here." He waves one finger at you, beckoning you to him. You obey, crawling over to him, getting on your knees on the foot of the bed. "Good. Now undo my pants for me." You do so, unbuttoning the jeans on his hips before pulling them down. The tent of his boxers looks even bigger without the heavy denim holding it down.

Fuck, he's got to be huge.

"Go ahead." He stares down at you, not even tilting his head, just watching you with his eyes. You take his words as an ok, reaching up and tugging his boxers down. You don't even flinch when his huge cock springs up at you, smacking your cheek. "Suck it."

You feel your cheeks heat up. You've sucked lots of dicks before, but you've never had one this big. God and he's supposed to go inside you?

"Suck. it." His voice is more firm, catching your attention. You swallow hard before taking the base of his cock in your hands, one hand around it just barely covering the circumference. You take his swollen tip into your mouth, licking the bit of precum that leaks out before slowly moving your head to take in more. Billy groans, the noises he makes not helping your situation as your bare cunt barely rubs against the comforter.

"That's it, Baby. Take it nice and deep." Billy watches you take more of his cock into your mouth, the drool dribbling out from the corner of your lips. He moans, bucking his hips forward which causes you to gag. You try to pull away, but his fingers lace into your hair, pushing his fat cock further down your throat. You feel your eyes water.

"Come on, Bitch. You call this a blowjob? You can take more of me." He shoves your head further onto his cock, your instinct being to grab his muscular leg, trying to brace yourself in some way. You moan, the feeling of your throat being just so full.

"Mmm-!" You gag on him again, but then he starts moving your head for you, thrusting his hips as he fucks your throat so brutally. It feels like you're properly being used. For once you don't have to ask for the guy to be rough.

"That's it, such a good slut, take my cock deep into that used throat." You can hardly breath as he goes faster, your eyes rolling back as you feel your cunt clench around nothing.

Fuck... fuck... Are you actually about to cum from this?

He continues to fuck your throat, his cock twitching as your tongue works skillfully around it.

"Fuck yeah, just like that." His hands yank at your hair, causing you to moan, the small breaths you can get only pushing you closer to coming undone. He thrusts one last time deep into your throat, and you feel your cunt spasm as you cum onto the comforter under you, creating a wet spot. He rips his cock out of your mouth, causing you to gasp for air and collapse onto the bed.

"Shit. Did you cum? Just from sucking my dick?" He grabs your ankles and shamelessly lifts your legs, spreading them wide so he can see the embarrassment of your cunt twitching and dripping. "Shit, look at that." He climbs onto the bed, sitting on his knees as his huge cock slaps down onto your stomach. You moan, his large balls smacked up against your cunt.

"Beg, bitch. Beg for my cock like a good fucking slut." He orders, bucking his hips against you.

"W-Wait, no condom?" You're still trying to catch your breath from sucking that monster. Now he wants to put it in you?

"Don't you wanna feel my cock fill you?" His question is rhetorical, "It feels even better without the condom, plus I always break them anyways. Now, be a good bitch and beg." He orders, moving your ankles to be over your head.

"O-Oh, fuck..." You look down at his fat cock as it rests against your stomach, the swollen tip angry for attention. "Please... God, please, Billy." you can't even believe you're doing it.

"Please what?"

"Please fuck me. Please, ruin me. Please, Billy- Ah!" You gasp as you feel his tip press against your slit.

"Better take it all, bitch." Billy growls at you before thrusting hard. His cock forces inside you, practically ripping you open. "That's it, Slut. Nice and deep." He grips your hips and yanks you down, pressing his body against yours so your legs stay over your head. You feel him. Not like every other guy you've fucked, you fucking feel his cock inside you. Every bump, every vein, shit, every inch, you feel your cunt clenching around him.

You feel yourself going dumb, your eyes flashing with every twitch his cock makes inside you.

"Fuck, look at that." You feel his palm rub over your stomach, looking down to see the bulge his cock is making. "Ever had a guy this deep in you before?"

You don't have time to process the question as he begins thrusting into you, hard and fast. You can't help but just moan and gasp with every tiny movement, so a full thrust feels like fucking heaven.

"Such a good bitch, taking my cock so well." He pushes your legs further down, forcing your hips to push up, giving him better access to you. "Fuck," he pushes down on your stomach, right on top of the bulge his dick is making and that sends you over the edge.

Your cunt spasms, toes curl, tongue hangs out as your head falls back, back arching, god, all the things. You've never cum so hard in your life, but he doesn't stop. He thrusts you through your orgasm, bucking his cock somehow deeper. You can't think, can hardly breath, panting like a bitch in heat as his big, fat cock ruins your cunt.

"Fuck, fuck!" You moan, whimper as you come undone again. Shit, are those stars?

Your vision blurs as you go limp, your mind fucked out as you just try to focus on the feeling of his cock drilling into you.

"Fuck, that's it. Like getting this pussy ruined? Won't be able to take any other cock now, huh, bitch? You'll only be able to get off from mine." He goes harder, faster, causing you to gasp.

"Y-Yes! Hah- Yes!" You feel stupid, your mind not able to focus on words, just his cock. This thick cock drilling into you, ruining you. Filling you oh so well.

"God, look at you. You're going stupid." Billy grins, watching you go dumb on his cock. "Love when this happens. A whore loosing her mind over my dick." He laughs, "Fuck, your pathetic cunt is gonna make me cum." He thrusts faster.

"Do you want me to cum, Bitch? Want me to fill your filthy cunt up with my cum?" He thrusts harder, hitting so deep you can feel his cock pounding against your cervix. "Gonna fill you up, you whore. You fucking whore, gonna knock you up with my kid. You'd like that, though wouldn't you? Being my pregnant bitch living off my cock." You feel his cock twitching inside you, swelling at the friction. He's gonna cum. He gonna fill you up.

He gives one more good thrust, hitting his cock as deep as possible before stopping. You feel a warm rush inside you as he finishes. You both sit there for just a moment as he catches his breath, before he finally pulls out of you, his cum leaking from your cunt.

You feel suddenly empty, your poor cunt sore and legs feel like jelly. Oh you aren't gonna be able to stand....

"Shit, you're pathetic. Can't even take a good fucking... How disappointing." He slaps your ass, hard. "Get dressed, we have to go back downstairs and act like nothing happened."

Tag list!

@cagethemunson

@spikeybatt

@cherrycolas-things

@r-a-d-i-0-n-0-w-h-e-r-e

@ali-r3n

[ducktoo]

Syncing Dream [Aespa x M!Reader]

Side 2. Rina, Rocket Puncher

Note: someone pls tell her to stop punching the phone-

This took place between Chapter 35 & 36

The Smash Room was not the type of place Y/n had expected to visit that day. The walls were covered in padding, and an impressive assortment of “smashable” items—plates, bottles, electronics—lined the shelves like some dystopian buffet. Karina stood beside him, grinning from ear to ear, holding a bat like it was the best gift she’d ever received.

“Are you… sure about this?” Y/n asked, eyeing a particularly delicate-looking lamp.

Karina rolled her eyes, thrusting a bat into his hands. “Yes, I’m sure. Trust me; you’ll thank me later.”

“But smashing things on purpose… it feels wrong,” he admitted, staring down at the bat.

Karina laughed, already cracking her knuckles in anticipation. “It’s supposed to feel wrong! That’s the point. I needed a place to blow off steam, and I thought it’d be way more fun if you came along to try it out.”

"…I don't really have anything to blow off steam, though?" Y/n questioned.

"Lies." Karina deadpanned. "You're dating Minjeong. Surely there is something you find annoying about her."

"Oi, you're trying to rat me out now?" Y/n widened his eyes.

"It's between us." Karina giggled. "…unless?"

Y/n gulped, but Karina’s enthusiasm was infectious. “Fine… let’s do this.”

-

When they finally suited up, helmets secure and armed with a stack of plates, old electronics, and an assortment of glass bottles in the centre of the room, Y/n couldn’t shake a lingering sense of hesitation. He’d been dragged here, no doubt, by Karina’s insistence that “everyone needs to smash something every once in a while.” She practically glowed with energy as she scanned the items around them, clearly fired up for what was about to go down.

“Ready to blow off some steam?” Karina asked, eyeing a nearby plate with a devilish grin. She picked it up and weighed it in her hands like a pro, already looking to him for the go-ahead.

“Uh, as ready as I’ll ever be,” Y/n replied, still clutching his bat with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. “You seem a little too excited about this.”

“Oh, trust me, I am,” Karina laughed. “You don’t know how badly I’ve needed this!”

With a wild swing, she sent the first plate crashing against the wall, bits of ceramic scattering in every direction. She let out a triumphant yell, her face lighting up.

“Jeez,” Y/n said, raising an eyebrow. “Is that plate supposed to be someone in particular?”

Karina grinned, winding up for the next throw. “That one was for all the times I’ve had to work late for a last-minute meeting. And—” She smashed another plate. “—for every time I had to remind everyone to be on time, especially NINGNING!”

Y/n snorted, gripping his own plate. “Ning just use her aespa time….a bit too much, huh?”

“Oh, and don’t get me started on the stress of managing appearances and, like, fifty different social media expectations!” Karina vented, smashing another plate with gusto. “Not everything needs to be perfect, but the pressure is still there! SO DAMN ANNOYING!”

“YES!” Y/n said with feeling, setting up his own bottle to smash. He hesitated for a moment, thinking back on his recent frustrations with Winter, from her infamous ‘kiss prank’ to the slightly overwhelming reality of actually dating her…which came with some undisclosed baggage. He swung, and the bottle exploded in a satisfying burst.

“OHHH SHT! That felt good!”

From the bottom of his heart, he loved Winter, but that was liberating.

Karina, catching his thoughtful look, nudged him with a knowing smile. “That looked personal. Care to share?”

He grinned, a little sheepishly. “It’s just… Jeong. There’s so much about her that’s awesome, but dating her is a whole new experience. I mean, she’s perfect, but also impossible. She just, like, invades my space EVERYWHERE, which sounds great…"

"Uhuh" Karina was intrigued.

"…until she messes with all my stuff and stole my oreo stashes I kept for myself.”

“Oh, I get it. Minjeong does have that… selective attention to detail,” Karina laughed, setting up another bottle. “She’ll memorise every outfit in her closet but will still ‘forget’ to tell you she invited the whole group over to your place.”

Y/n laughed, nodding. “Exactly! And it’s like the more time we spend together, the more I realize she’s just as rowdy as the rest of you—if not more. But… it’s hard to stay annoyed when she gives me that look, you know?”

Karina grinned as she grabbed a plate, holding it up like it was a prized possession. “This one? This is for every time a schedule’s changed last minute, throwing off everything we’ve worked on!” She wound up, smashed it, and let out a satisfied sigh.

Y/n found himself nodding along. “You know, Jeong has this habit of casually dropping huge things at the last possible moment. Like, ‘Oh, by the way, I promised my mom I’d come by for dinner’—while we’re already on our way somewhere else.”

“Oh, she finally did that to you!” Karina laughed, taking a quick swing at another bottle, the glass shattering on impact. She turned back to him with a playful glint in her eye. “Sounds like you’ve got your hands full.”

“Tell me about it.” Y/n lined up another bottle and smashed it with a swing that was a little more enthusiastic than he’d intended. “I love her for how she is, but…those will kill my sanity.”

They both shared a laugh, the cathartic smashing of objects somehow loosening up more than just physical tension.

-

“Alright, Rina, use Rocket Punch!” Y/n challenged, feeling his earlier nervousness fade as he grabbed another plate and handed it to her.

"Ya, I'm not a Pokemon!" She took it, eyeing him with a mock-serious expression.

"Whatever, do it!" Y/n cheered.

“This one is for all the choreography changes we go through in the middle of a tour,” she muttered with feigned gravity, before smashing it so hard that tiny ceramic pieces ricocheted off the wall.

"Perfect shot." Y/n winced and gave a low whistle. “Remind me to never get on your bad side.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Honestly, I think all of us need this every once in a while. You can’t keep everything bottled up without it exploding, right?”

He nodded, a grin spreading on his face. “Speaking of which, I think it’s time for the grand finale.” He held up an old radio, raising its high for dramatic effect.

“Ohhh, nice choice!” Karina cheered, standing back to give him space.

"KIM MINJEONG! STOP DOODLING ON MY FACE!"

With a loud yell, Y/n hurled the radio against the wall, bits of plastic and metal scattering everywhere as they both burst into laughter.

Breathless, Y/n leaned back against the wall, shaking his head. “Holy….I seriously didn’t think this would be so… satisfying.”

Karina nodded, grinning at him. “I knew you’d come around. It’s not just about breaking things; it’s about letting go, you know?”

He looked at her, her usual serious leader demeanour replaced with a relaxed, genuine smile. “You know, I think we all see you as this powerhouse who just handles everything. It’s easy to forget that you need to punch things.”

Karina’s smile softened. “I guess I do. It’s just… hard sometimes. When you’re the leader, there’s this pressure to always be ‘on’ and ‘perfect.’ But, it’s nice to have these moments where I can just be myself. Not ‘Karina the leader,’ just Karina.”

“Well, for the record, you’re pretty cool Rina, leader or not,” Y/n said, giving her a sincere look. “I think we’d all be a little lost without you, to be honest.”

“Cool? Not cute?”

“Erm. Sorry, I have a Minjeong.” Y/n denied.

She let out a soft chuckle, bumping his shoulder. “Thanks, Y/n. It’s nice to hear that, especially from someone who has to put up with us 24/7.”

"You're welcome." Y/n grinned. "Now, please stop punching the camera."

-

Exhausted and a little breathless, they finally put down their bats, slumping onto a bench in the lounge area. Bits of dust and tiny shards clung to their protective gear, but they looked thoroughly exhilarated.

Y/n turned to her with a smile. “You’re living up to the name Rocket Puncher, you know that?”

Karina shrugged, though her eyes sparkled. “I guess I just have a habit of punching things.”

Y/n laughed. “Just don’t go overboard. We can’t have you smashing plates left and right during practice, alright?”

She laughed, nodding. “Fair enough. I’ll keep it contained to smash rooms.”

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes before Karina pointed toward the photo booth in the corner, her eyes lighting up. “Hey! Before we go, we should take a picture. Just, you know, to remember today.”

Y/n followed her gaze and groaned. “Are you serious? We look like we just walked out of a war!”

“Exactly! That’s the point!” Karina insisted, practically dragging him over. “C’mon, tough guy, one picture won’t kill you.”

As the camera flashed, Karina made a series of increasingly ridiculous faces, pulling Y/n into the antics with her. By the last frame, he was laughing so hard he barely noticed the camera snapping.

When the photos printed, Karina held up the strip with pride. “This is definitely going up on the fridge. Maybe I’ll even show Minjeong.”

Y/n’s eyes widened. “Please don't. She’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

Karina just smirked, pocketing the photos. “Consider it payback for letting me rant today. And don’t worry—I’ll only tease you a little.”

“Tsk.” Y/n sighed. “ But thanks for this, Rina. I think I needed it more than I realised.”

She smiled, looping her arm over his shoulder. “Anytime, Y/n. A little smash helps wonder.”

They sat in comfortable silence, the weight of the conversation lingering, but in a way that felt comforting rather than heavy.

-

Karina’s usual habit was quickly taken up by a notch in the dorm. No one could resist teasing her after each new incident, and her reactions—half-defensive, half-mortified��only added to the fun.

Which happened sooner than expected.

One evening, everyone was gathered around the dinner table for takeout night. Y/n watched with an amused grin as Karina grabbed her chopsticks with a little too much enthusiasm, causing her plate to slip and crack against the table.

“Welp, another one bites the dust,” Y/n quipped, leaning back with a smirk.

Karina gave him a narrowed look, cheeks flushed. “You know what? Maybe plates these days just aren’t made to last!”

Winter snorted. “Or maybe you’re just turning into some kind of superhero with ‘smash’ as your only superpower.”

“Sooo…Hulk?” Giselle questioned.

Karina huffed, crossing her arms. “Well, I didn’t ask for this power.”

Ningning leaned in, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Yeah, but if you keep breaking things, people might actually believe you’re the leader of a super-powered girl group.”

Giselle clapped her hands, laughing. “Imagine if they replaced our choreo with you smashing props on stage!”

Y/n’s eyes lit up with mock seriousness. “Rina, think of the fan meetings. You’d just need to sign autographs on concrete blocks with a sledgehammer or something.”

Karina tried to stifle her laugh but couldn’t. She finally gave in, laughing as she tossed a crumpled napkin at Y/n. “You’re all just jealous of my raw strength.”

-

The next morning, Y/n and Karina found themselves in the kitchen, prepping for a long day ahead. Karina was trying to work the espresso machine, but it seemed to be giving her trouble. As she pulled the handle, the coffee machine sputtered and stopped working entirely.

“Did it just…?” Karina blinked, staring at the lifeless machine.

Y/n, stifling a laugh, leaned in to inspect. “Hmmmm, let’s see, it was perfectly fine this morning, and now it’s dead. Who could possibly be responsible?”

Karina swatted his arm. “Hey! I didn’t even touch it that hard! I just… pulled the lever with a bit of confidence.”

“Oh, ‘confidence,’” Y/n said with a grin. “That’s a nice way of putting it. You know, you’re like a coffee machine whisperer… except in reverse.”

Karina glared at him, then let out a laugh. “Fine, maybe I got a little too eager. But you’re making the coffee, then.”

Y/n shook his head, feigning exasperation as he grabbed his phone to put in a delivery order for iced lattes instead. “I’ll be sending this bill to the SM. You know, at this rate, you’re going to single-handedly ruin every appliance in the dorm.”

“Then maybe you should start getting unbreakable appliances,” Karina shot back, grinning as she took a seat at the counter.

Winter wandered into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes. She looked between the two and yawned. “What happened now?”

“Coffee machine casualty,” Y/n explained, waving a hand at the machine. “She claimed another victim.”

Winter shook her head with a small laugh. “Great….another funeral?”

Karina shrugged, holding up her hands in surrender. “Apparently, I’ve just… developed an ult.”

-

A few days later, Karina and Y/n were shopping for some supplies when they wandered into the electronics section. They’d been joking about her newfound “habit” all morning, and Karina couldn’t resist poking fun at herself.

“Ya, Y/n, think they sell smash-proof headphones?” she asked with a grin, picking up a sleek pair.

He laughed. “If they did, you’d be their first customer.”

Karina nodded thoughtfully, pretending to examine the headphones. “Maybe we should just go all out and buy everything in metal. Like, imagine an indestructible blender or a phone that can survive anything.”

Y/n snorted, crossing his arms. “What, you’re planning on hurling your phone across the room?”

Karina gave him a playful nudge. “Not *intentionally*. But you never know.”

She picked up a ceramic mug, examining it thoughtfully. “Hmm. You think this one would survive me?”

Y/n raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you try holding it like a normal human, and we’ll see?”

Karina broke into laughter, the two of them gathering curious stares from other shoppers. “Fine, fine, I’ll keep my grip to a minimum.”

-

That night, back at the dorm, the members were lounging around after a busy day. Y/n was tidying up the living room when he heard a familiar *crack* from the kitchen. He didn’t even have to look to know who the culprit was.

“YOO JIMIN!” he called, trying to sound stern but barely hiding his amusement.

Karina peeked around the corner, looking sheepish. “It was just a spoon…”

Winter groaned dramatically. “Do we even have spoons left at this point?”

Ningning held up a plastic spoon with a grin. “These are the only safe ones left. And I’m not taking any chances.”

Giselle couldn’t resist piling on. “At this rate, we’re going to have to wrap everything in bubble wrap. Including you, unnie.”

Karina laughed, her face flushing pink. “It’s not my fault! Everything’s so fragile!”

Y/n rolled his eyes, though he was smiling. “Okay, you and I are making a pact. Once a month, smash room therapy. But no more ‘practicing’ in the dorm, got it?”

Karina raised her hand in mock seriousness, nodding. “Fine, deal. Monthly smashing sessions only in the smash room. But only if you join me.”

The others burst into laughter as Y/n sighed, defeated. “Alright, alright. As long as you promise to keep your ‘smashing’ in the smash room.”

Winter nudged Karina, grinning. “This is really gonna be a thing, isn’t it?”

Karina shrugged, laughing. “Guess so. Let’s just hope I don’t smash anything important, like, I dunno… the door.”

“Or my boyfriend” Winter instantly glared at her leader while hugging Y/n. “Only he can deal with our rowdiness here.”

The entire group laughed, shaking their heads. Despite the accidental destruction, they couldn’t help but enjoy every minute of it. Karina’s “habit” had become an endless source of entertainment, and Y/n knew he’d never look at a coffee machine—or a remote—the same way again.

-

The next month rolled around, and true to their agreement, Y/n and Karina made another trip to the smash room. Karina was fired up, armed with a bat and practically bouncing on her heels as she looked at the new array of breakables.

“Oh, you’re going down this time,” she taunted, tossing Y/n a helmet. “Get ready to lose, mister.”

Y/n scoffed, slipping on his helmet and giving her a playful glare. “Is that so? We’ll see about that. Just don’t go breaking anything else when we get back to the dorm, okay?”

With that, the smash room countdown started, and they both went at it. Plates shattered, vases exploded, and Karina laughed wildly with every hit. They were neck and neck, neither one letting up as they plowed through piles of items. But just as they were about to swing at the last piece—a towering stack of old electronics—they paused, catching their breath.

Karina raised her bat, grinning. “Alright, let’s end this. Whoever smashes it first is the ultimate champ.”

Y/n, equally competitive now, rolled his shoulders, raising his bat. “Prepare to lose, Rocket Puncher.”

“Three… two… one!” They both swung, aiming straight for the top of the stack.

But just as they were about to hit, Karina’s bat connected a split second sooner, sending pieces flying—and her bat continued on its path, grazing Y/n’s arm as he tried to dodge.

“Ow!” he yelped, dropping his bat and clutching his arm, though a grin tugged at his lips.

Karina gasped, immediately dropping her bat. “Oh my gosh, Y/n! I’m so sorry!” She rushed over, her hands hovering as if she wanted to check on him but didn’t want to make it worse.

Y/n burst into laughter, holding his “injured” arm dramatically. “You actually smashed me, Karina! I didn’t know I’d signed up for *full-contact smashing.*”

She smacked his shoulder playfully, though she was still red-faced with embarrassment. “You were in my way! And stop laughing—I thought I broke your arm!”

He couldn’t help grinning. “Next time, we’re putting a strict no beating your manager rule in place. I barely survived.”

Karina laughed, shaking her head as she helped him up. “Guess I did win the smashing contest, though,” she teased, flashing him a victorious grin.

Y/n chuckled, rubbing his arm with a smile. “Yeah, yeah, Rocket Puncher… but the prize is definitely on you. Because from now on, I’m giving you a permanent smash ban.”

She pouted, though she couldn’t hold back her smile. “Fine. But don’t be surprised if I accidentally ‘smash’ something again. Just… try not to stand in my way next time?”

“That sounds wron-“

“Finish that and you will eat this bat.” Karina glared.

“Yes ma’am”

With a shared stifled laugh, they both left the smash room, Karina proudly claiming her “victory” and Y/n mentally preparing to dodge any “unintentional” smash attacks back at the dorm.

As they finished their monthly agreement and left the smash room, a renewed sense of camaraderie between them, both feeling lighter than they had in a long time. There was certainly mild hostility between the two of them when first met, but things changed for the better.

It wasn’t just the smashing or the laughs—it was the reminder that they had each other, through all the chaos, and that was a pretty solid foundation to lean on.

[unabashegirl]

Different 15 — college hs

Harry's quiet, routine-driven life changes one weekend when he meets Y/N through a mutual friend at her party. She comes from a superficial, materialistic world with absent parents who believe money solves everything. Despite their differences, something clicks that night, and Y/N can't stop thinking about him.

Author's note: Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! Here is a new chapter of Different. Here are a few things I would like you to know!

I'm trying to come up with new ideas for one shots. Pls vote! Especially if you are subscribed to Patreon! Help Decide the Next One-Shot!

I'm still trying to gather the money to continue my journey to medical school in January. I've only gotten 1% of my goal. I'll leave the link here in case you would like or are able to help me. Please I am desperate! 🥺 https://ko-fi.com/mariabernal8706

check out my patreon (starting at $2) and get full access to the rest of the chapters, various one shots and much more :)

--> different masterlist <--

WARNINGS: mentions of sexual abuse and violence.

Harry found it weird that so many people at the university knew about her. He hated that they knew her for the wrong reasons.

“Styles!” Ezra Hart called out to Harry as he had just walked out of the classroom. Harry was going to make his way to the pool, wanting to blow off some steam before meeting up with Y/N later.

“What do you want?” Harry asked dryly. He never stood up to Ezra’s constant condescending comments. Ezra chuckled and smiled at his friends that stood with him.

To Ezra, everything was a big game. He was kind of surprised that Harry had responded to him in that sort of tone. He enjoyed pushing Harry’s buttons. It was fun.

“How is your girlfriend?” He decided to brush off his rude tone. He wanted to know how he had managed to catch the attention of Y/N.

“Who?” Harry frowned as he took a few more steps closer to him.

“Her” Ezra showed him Y/N’s Instagram account where she had uploaded a lovely picture that Sarah had taken of them. It was a picture of them on the train, as he was about to kiss her. It was the first picture that she had ever uploaded of them. Harry’s heart felt like it was about to explode. He felt all fuzzy inside and giddy. As opposed to other men, he felt incredibly happy to be shown off on his girlfriend’s social media. It also meant that she wasn’t embarrassed of him or to be seen with him.

“That’s you, right?” He asked again, capturing Harry’s attention again.

“Yeah,” He confirmed proudly. “That's my girlfriend.”

“Congratulations. You’ve finally grown up” He joked, “Now. Tell me. How is the sex? Good? Is she as good as everyone says? Or bad?” He smirked, “Because after all she has been with multiple other men,” Harry clenched his jaw which didn’t go unnoticed by Ezra, who could tell that he was pushing the right buttons. “How does it feel to have the leftovers from everyone in Chicago?” Ezra laughed.

Harry was never able to remember how everything in the following seconds unfolded. He just remembered coming back to his senses and finding himself on top of Ezra after his fist had already come down on his face a few times.

Mitch had been walking past that all when he had noticed that people were gathered. Him being very noisy, he approached to check it out, come to find out that it was his best friend. Mitch was quick to pull him off Ezra, not wanting Harry to get in any sort of trouble.

“Don’t you ever fuckin’ talk about her!” He yelled as Mitch tried to drag him off the scene. “You twat!” he said under his breath just as he picked up his bag and left.

No one could believe what had just happened. People hadn’t gotten involved because no one thought that Harry was capable to fight with someone. People knew him to be very serene and quiet, and today he had proven a point. Harry had proven to everyone that he was more than capable of fighting for the people that he cared for, and he wasn’t going to be pushed around anymore.

“What the fuck?” Mitch exclaimed as they walked out of the building. “What happened? Breath, Harry” He patted his back, hoping that the chilly wind would calm him down. His hands were shaking as he ran them through his hair.

“Who the fuck does he think he is?” Harry whispered as his eyes filled with tears. He was filled with rage and just wanted to go back and finish what he had started. He was tired of feeling so helpless and powerless. Mitch looked at him with concern and didn’t know what to tell him or how to call him down. He had never seen him such as.

“Should I call Y/N?”

“No!” Harry stopped walking, “Please don’t tell her” He sniffed as he tried to stop the need to cry out of anger. “Just give me a few minutes.” Mitch allowed Harry some minutes of utter silence as they walked in the direction of the athletic center. “I am sorry,” he said as they stopped in front of the building.

“What are you apologizing to me for?” Mitch chuckled, “I am just sad you didn’t break his nose sooner” He joked, earning a small smile from Harry. “Proud of you for standing up for yourself and her”.

“I am just going to blow off some steam and do a few laps before Y/N gets here.”

“Is she picking you up?” Mitch asked him not wanting to leave him alone in case Ezra’s friends came looking for him.

“Yeah, in an hour or so”

“Alright. I’ll see you. Text me if anything” Mitch called out the building’s door closed behind Harry.

Y/N arrived an hour and twenty minutes later. She pulled over outside the building and waited patiently until he died off and threw on some clothes. She hadn’t had class all day, so she wore sweatpants and a hoodie. Y/N had just left the apartment to pick him up. She had been in bed all day sleeping. She had been having nightmares that involved Brian. They had woken her up multiple times at night and had made her night a living hell.

As soon as her eyes landed on him, she knew that something was wrong. She could see it. He was in much discomfort as he walked up to the car.

“Hi,” She smiled at him as he got into the car. Harry kept his head down and gave her a weak smile. Y/N frowned and started to drive toward her apartment. She didn’t push him knowing that whatever had happened, it had affected him. She drove quite quickly and was soon enough parking. “What happened?” Y/N finally asked when the elevator doors had closed.

“Nothin” Harry shook his head at her. He wasn’t proud of what he had done. He wasn’t the kind of man that gloated after a physical altercation. He had been feeling very guilty to have resorted to fists. So, Y/N took the cue and instead of asking again, she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his torso.

“Sorry, I didn’t make the bed” She sheepishly said as they walked straight into her bedroom after taking off their shoes at the entrance and dropping the bags at the door. “I’ve been having a lazy day” she explained, “Last night, I didn’t catch much sleep”.

Harry nodded and helped her to make the bed in utter silence. He threw himself on it as soon as Y/N disappeared to the kitchen. He closed his eyes for a second as he went over everything that had happened earlier. He was exhausted. The swimming had drained the last bit of energy that he had.

“What are you doing?” He asked as she felt her cold fingers on the hem of his shirt. “I - I’m not in the mood”.

“Just shut up” She demanded as she started to undress him. Y/N pulled him into the bathroom where she had prepared him a bath. She wanted him to relax and get the chlorine smell off his skin and hair. “Get in” she encouraged him. “See? Not everything is sex” Y/N pointed out before turning to leave.

“You are not coming in?” He asked as he soaked his body up to his chin with hot water.

“This is meant for you” Y/N smiled, “Let me just do something and I’ll be right back.”

Harry sat in the warm water, enjoying the sensation of relief and the smell of eucalyptus that the water had.

“Here” She had prepared him a cup of tea using her favorite cup that had pigs on them. “I’ve never made tea before, but I hope it’s drinkable” Y/N explained nervously as she sat on the floor by the edge of the tub. She rested her chin on the edge of the tub and smiled at him. “Is it okay?”.

“I’ve had worst” Harry smiled, feeling cared for and thankful to have her in his life.

“Now. Let’s see those hands” Y/N had brought out the first aid kid after noticing that the skin over his knuckles had opened without much dialogue, she had figured out that he had gotten in a fight with someone. Although she was concerned, she wasn’t going to push him or interrogate him.

“We need to talk.”

“What do you want to know?” She asked as she used hydrogen peroxide to clean his knuckles.

“Everything”

“Our freshman and sophomore year is a big blur to all of us” Referring to James and Sebastian in us. “We partied and drank until we couldn’t remember who we were and regretted it the morning after” Y/N shrugged, “and like most privileged kids spent our time traveling, spending money on unnecessary things.” She chuckled, “Not my proudest moment” Y/N regretted it every day and even though all those experiences had made her closer to James and Sebastian.

“I met Brian my sophomore year. I found him very charming, and he was in the same social circle as us, so we clicked. Plus, he was very nice to me.” Things hadn’t been that bad at the beginning which was why she had never seen it coming. “What an idiot” she shook her head in disbelief. “Everything carried on well for a year and a few months. There was a huge party at the end of junior year. I don’t know if you heard of it, but it was at the home of this new kid who lived on the Magnificent Mile” Y/N decided not to wrap his hand, so she was done tending to his wounds very quickly. “We met up with Brian at the party. James and Sebastian had gone with me. By the time we found him, Brian was already drunk. He and I went upstairs after I persuaded him to take a nap and drink some water. The issue was that he wasn’t just drunk. He had also taken something else” Y/N paused and fiddled with her fingers as she tried to gather up the correct words. “I don’t remember what led to it, but we started arguing back and forth and he suddenly got very violent and attempted to abuse me after I refused. Thankfully, James busted in before anything else could happen. I’ve never seen him angrier. It was punch after punch. Sebastian ripped them apart before he killed him” Y/N wiped her tears, “We hid at home for a week before flying out to Spain where we detoxed ourselves from all the shit that we had put our bodies and mind through.”

Harry was shocked. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He had thought that things were less complicated, and it had been a cheating incident something more benign.

“I never told anyone else because no one would believe me. I had been sleeping around before Brian and he could have used that excuse. I kept it to myself and asked the boys to do so too. I just wanted all of us to forget about the whole thing and enjoy the last year. I wanted things to go back to normal. Come to think of it was very selfish of me to ask them to forget about it as quickly as they did and not let them process everything at their own pace”. Y/N exhaled loudly as Harry leaned over and placed the cup of tea on the counter. “And now you know”.

Harry leaned over and gripped her chin, forcing their eyes to meet.

“I would’ve” He whispered to her, “I would’ve believed you.” Harry pressed their foreheads, “I believe you” he repeated just before he kissed her.

-> Chapter 16

[arcadia-of-pluto]

Twist of Fate; Chapter Thirteen

Parings; LADS OT4 x reader

Word count; 2,982

Themes; isekai, eventual smut

Rating; 18+ for some mature content and swearing

Notes; I've got almost 3k written in my Rafayel trope one-shot 😭 pls send help. Rafayel hasn't even shown up in it yet. Also, don't forget to vote on Sylus's trope for my one-shot mini-series!

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Masterlist

I just realized that if Caleb becomes a love interest in the future, my whole story is ruined– WELL, no time to panic about that. Even if he becomes a love interest, he won't included in the relationship 😭 Love him to death but, for me, I see him as a brother. But if he becomes a love interest, I can always write fluff and angst for him in the future. My whole fic is built around him being like a brother 😞

After a few hours of thinking and trying to sneak the brooch from Sylus, you decide to go for a different approach. You’d wait for him to take a shower and then search his room for it since he can’t possibly keep the brooch on him in the shower.

You crouch walk into his room, trying your best to keep your balance and not fall to the floor. As you look around the room, you notice his room has more of an open plan- meaning his shower is full glass and visible from his room. Your eyes widen as you spot Sylus’ bare shoulders as he washed his white hair, water droplets gliding down his skin…You quickly look away, shooting a glare at Mephisto from his perch as you make your way to Sylus’ bed. You pat over his folded red robe, murmuring under your breath, “Not in this pocket…or this one either..” You groan to yourself. “It’s not here or there…It’s gone.”

You run a hand through your hair, panicking just a tad bit since you had no idea where the brooch was or even how to get it, but you still had a few hours before your deadline. “I searched every nook and cranny. Where else could it be?” Your brows knit together in annoyance and your head starts to pound, hurting as you try to wrack your brain on where else Sylus could’ve hid it. You don’t think he’d hide it anywhere you wouldn’t be able to get to- that’d definitely be cheating.

“Did he take it into the bathroom?” You mumble to yourself, glancing toward the large open shower. Steam from the hot shower obscuring most of Sylus’ body besides his wide shoulders. Your eyes dart over to Mephisto on his perch and you point at the bird. “Tell me. Did you eat it? I know crows like shiny things,” You whisper to the bird, trying to keep your voice low. You make your way over to the crow, picking him up as you try to search him for the brooch, “Yes or no?” You spin the bird around, lifting his wings before you full on pause as you hear the shower shut off. “Fuck- I need to hide…” You set Mephisto back down, looking around before you duck behind a table.

You watch as Sylus steps out of the shower, a towel hung low around his waist as water drips down his chest. His hand rubbing at his neck as he steps further into the room. “Now’s my chance to escape,” You mutter under your breath, but you barely take a few crouched steps before you hear a phone ringing. Your eyes widen and you grip the edge of the table that you’re behind. Sylus walks toward the phone to pick it up and you get a close up look of his bare chest as he stands next to the table you’re behind. You can only see him from his chest up and damn…Ahem, pull yourself together.

“Mr. Sylus, we found a list of all the attendees from that night at the Nest.” You hear a voice say from the phone and Sylus hums, turning his back almost to you and you get a nice view of his back.. “About that night..” The voice on the phone continues and you realize they must be talking about the night you showed up at the Nest- well, it might not involve you but it could be if Sylus was interested in more information about it. You shift your body a bit to get comfortable and your knee pops. Loudly. Your body freezes up and you press your lips together in a thin line, slowly turning your head toward Sylus as you internally pray that he didn’t hear that. Your eyes meet his crimson ones. His hand rubbing against his neck as he pauses his movements. A smirk tugs at his lips as he scoffs. “Mr. Sylus?” The man on the phone tries to continue the conversation but it’s clear Sylus is done listening.

“It’s nothing. Just a stray cat who happened to barge in.” As Sylus says this, he doesn’t take his eyes off of you. His eyes narrowing down at you and he turns his body to face you . Suddenly, you feel his evol wrap around your wrists as the man on the phone questions, “...A cat?” Sylus lifts you up to your feet using his evol and you groan, “You…You didn’t need to do that! I’ll just-” You let out a grunt in your struggle and the man on the phone clears his throat, “I-I’ll leave you alone now!” Aww man, now that guy got the wrong idea! Sylus guides you back to your knees with his evol and you have a small pout on your lips.

After a few moments, you look away and sigh, looking down at your bound hands to give him a bit of privacy. You notice he put on his clothes as he re-enters your vision, running his finger across a few records before he picks one up. He looks at it as he speaks, “Y/n, this is the fourth time we’ve met since last night, kitten.” “...You set a time limit for finding the brooch, but you didn’t say how I should find it. I doubt I’m breaking any rules. You should’ve been more specific,” You say with a pout as you try to tug your wrists apart, the dark red smoke swirls around your wrists. You drop your hands in your lap in defeat and Sylus goes back to looking at his shelf, “Do I need to remind you about your so-called “methods” from before?” You recall the last time you snuck into his room. He was in his dark red robe with a pair of glasses on and reading, he had you binded almost immediately and told you to get out. The next time, he caught you even faster and again, told you to leave after he binded your wrists. The most recent time, you tried to barge straight in with your gun but, instead, you were met with Sylus in his robe once more.

All he could do was sigh disappointedly at you.

Sylus keeps his robe clad back to you as he puts a record in his antique looking record player. “Have I underestimated your determination or overestimated your intellect?” He asks and you bite your lip, resisting the urge to puff your cheeks out, “You’re the one who suggested a deal. But here you are making things difficult-” Once you look back up, you notice he’s standing in front of you, his robe open enough to show a bit of his chest and muscled torso. “You’ll have to work harder.” He reaches down to grab your arm and drags you toward the door. “What’re you doing,” You huff out and have no choice but to follow him. He lifts your wrist up, turning his gaze to almost glare down at you, “Leave. I’m going to bed.” He pushes you out the door and you quickly turn around after he lets you go. “You-!” Sylus looks annoyed for once, sighing as he looks away and shuts the door in your face.

You sit down in your room after changing into something more comfortable, a pair of black shorts that Sylus had the twins procure for you and again, one of his shirts. It seems like either he doesn’t want to waste money buying you a shirt or would rather you wear his own. But that’s not what matters right now.

You grumble as you cross your legs and pick up a blank journal you were given, looking down at your drawings. A crow, which you crossed out, an angry crow yelling, and a picture of Sylus with devil horns and a tail. “Now I get it. He never intended to make a deal with me in the first place,” You angrily say to yourself as you scribble out your drawing of Sylus. Unable to take your anger out on the real thing, so you settle with the drawing. “You’re pulling your hair out over this, huh? If you want to do something, maybe we can help you,” Kieran speaks up and you quickly look up, just now realizing the twins are in the room with you.

They were both at the table in front of you, Luke having his head resting on a hand while Kieran sat on the table. “What do you mean?” You raise a brow, setting your journal to the side. “If you want to conquer our boss’s heart, you’ll have to use a different approach,” Luke says with a hand and you pause, eyebrows furrowing. Did they…have the wrong idea too? Well, it doesn’t matter. Whatever helps you get your hands on that damn brooch.

Luke opens up a book, reading aloud, “For some people, they get bored once they have everything. So only those who dare to challenge their authority can catch their interest.” He shuts the book and sets it down on the counter as you sigh, standing up to walk closer to get a better look at it. “When you’re dealing with such a person, you bow down and submit or take them out in one go. In other words-” Kieran slides a pair of handcuffs and a pretty pink and blue gun across the table to you after you pick up the book.

“Uh, what-” You look down at the items, ear tips turning a bit red. “Strike when they’re off guard!” The twins say at the same time while Luke holds both of his hands up. “Boss is the least guarded when he’s sleeping,” The twins bounce off of each other. “You only have one shot. Don’t waste this chance. Just do it!” You run your hand through your hair with a sigh, “I can’t believe I’m doing this…”

Three hours later, you make your way to Sylus’ room, trying to hype yourself up. “Evol sealing handcuffs and a tranquilizer gun…This is a terrible idea. I’m definitely going to get killed the moment I do it.” You hold the gun tightly in your hand, the handcuffs in your other. “I might as well try anything I can,” You sigh to yourself as you open the door and step inside the room. You notice Sylus is asleep, sitting up in his bed, his back against the headboard and his bedside lamp still turned on. You make your way over to the bed and rest your knee on the bed as you lean forward to lightly shake him. “Sylus?” You whisper, trying to make sure he is indeed asleep. You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding when he doesn’t move. You hold up the cuffs, looking around for something to cuff him to before you point to the headboard and nod to yourself. You gently lift his hand up, wrapping the cuff around it to make sure it’s secure and hook the other side to the headboard. “Let’s see you get yourself out of this mess,” You murmur before turning your gaze to his robe.

You pat your hand lightly across his chest, trying to see if he hid the brooch inside of his robe, your hand going down lower since he definitely could’ve hidden the brooch there but as your hand neared, a hand caught you around the wrist. You let out a squeak of surprise, quickly looking up to meet Sylus’ dark gaze. A smirk ghosts across his lips as he raises a brow, “Showing up uninvited at this hour…want me to tell you a bedtime story?” He drops your wrist and you try your best to retort, “Obviously I’m…-” You honestly have no excuse, this looks weird regardless of whatever you were trying to do. But then you remember the handcuffs are supposed to seal his evol and you scoff, “Actually…You should be the one to figure out what’s going on here.” You smirk, cupping his cheek with one hand as you raise one of your eyebrows and tilt your head to the side. “These handcuffs nullify a person’s evol for an hour. No matter how powerful you are, you’re helpless as of right now.” “Really? What do you plan to do then since I’ve become your prey?” Sylus questions, still seeming like he’s in control even though he’s the one handcuffed.

“Where’s the brooch?” You ask, unphased as you hold out your hand toward him. Sylus pushes your hand to the side, a laugh leaving him as he gets comfortable, “Help yourself.” “Don’t mind if I do.” You hum, feeling rather content, albeit a bit nervous with his gaze staying on you. “From the beginning, you trapped me here, forced me to resonate with you, and even said we’re ‘the same’...” You mutter through gritted teeth as you run your finger down the inside of his robe, trying to see if he pinned it inside there. You rub your hand down his side, continuing your search, “One wouldn’t treat a stranger like that so…” You look back up at him as you tilt your head to the side with a finger to your lips, “Don’t tell me you like me. Is this all so you can get my attention?”

Sylus laughs, the corner of his lip curling up into a smirk, “Clearly you’ve read too many fairy tales.” He looks off to the side before bringing his narrowed gaze back to you. You sigh from your nose and continue your search, feeling down the collar of his robe. “Does my answer matter?” Sylus asks, which causes your gaze to go back to his face. Though before you can reply, your fingers brush against cool metal and you grab hold of it with a smile on your lips. The black crow brooch with a red gem was in your hands. You did it.

“Now it’s not important at all. I won.” You say with a smile, clearly proud of yourself and hold the brooch in front of his face. Though all he can do is let out a scoff. “Don’t tell me…” “I won’t go back on what I promised you,” Sylus tells you, leaning forward to continue,”However, games are fun because of how thrilling they can be. Your attitude makes things boring.” After he says this, your eyes dart to the handcuffs which were now glowing dark red. “Oh shit-” You curse as they come undone, Sylus smirking at you as you try to scramble off of the bed in a panic. The older man catches you around the waist, spinning you around before tossing you back onto the bed. Your vision spins before you land on your back, looking up at Sylus and your heart almost stops beating in your chest. You throw your hand up to try and push him away, but he catches you by the wrist. “You’re pretty good at running away,” Sylus chuckles, looking down at you while he brandishes the tranquilizer gun in his hand. “Give it back-” You whine before he raises a brow, “Are you using this on me?”

He takes a look at it before closing his eyes and laughing, shaking his head at you, “So brash, aren’t you?” He opens his eyes, tossing the gun next to your hand as he puts his hand down on the bed next to your head to prop himself up over you. The brooch held tightly in your palm as he continues, “I’m keeping you around because you’re still useful. And…I truly enjoy watching my little prey struggle.” Oh fuck. That’s ho- Your train of thought is cut short as Sylus grabs your hand with the brooch. You struggle and try to jerk your hand out of his grasp, but he pulls it in-between you both, looking down at your hands, “Especially when it thinks it can escape from me.” His voice dropping to a whisper and you glare up at him, “Let me go! I already have it.” You jerk your hand and he finally pins your hand to the bed, your hands hitting the gun off to your side.

Bam

The gun goes off, pink and blue confetti explodes from the barrel. The colourful pieces of paper scatter through the room and cascade down on top of you both. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot a pink heart shaped smoke that must’ve also come out of the gun. ‘Love’ was written in the smoke. “You’re so gullible, kitten.” Sylus comments and raises his eyebrows as he looks at you, letting out a sign of disbelief as confetti covers his room. “Those two-” You groan and Sylus takes the brooch from your hand. He inspects it, before he brings it toward you and you grab at his hand. “Don’t move,” He murmurs, pinning the brooch to your borrowed shirt. “Does this count as passing your test?” You ask, fingers brushing against the brooch.

You look up at him as he finally moved a bit away from you. “Barely. The auction is about to start, but what will happen after that…” You prop yourself up on your elbows with a determined look on your face, “I’m ready for whatever is going on here!” He glances over at you, looking you up and down as he chuckles under his breath, “Deal..Don’t lose this brooch. It proves you’re allowed to come and go in the N109 Zone as you please.” His gaze was on the brooch, but it felt more embarrassing since it was pinned above your breast. You clear your throat as Sylus rises to his feet. “Now hurry and get out. You’re really testing my patience, kitten.” He motions toward the door and you scramble off of the bed and to your feet. “Yes, sir.” You mumble under your breath.

While I'm holding you guys hostage here, I thought it would be fun to show off some banners for my soulmates mini-series that I recoloured! I'm also really excited and happy with the titles I gave the one-shots (they were gemstone names but that felt too basic–)

I believe you can make a guess at whose is whose, especially if I hint at the colours I've assigned to each love interest.

But yeah, they're all so pretty and I can't wait to use them. I've decided to finish my tropes mini-series first though and then move on to this one. If you haven't checked it out yet, I posted my Xavier one-shot for it! It should be my current pinned post.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this last update for the weekend! I'll be working on chapter twenty and also my Rafayel one-shot so you can look forward to the latter in a few more days! <3

Taglist; @orphicmeliora , @yoongi-tunes , @mitzkooni , @hiqhkey , @tanspostsblog

[spicy30]

Girl are you still alive 😭😔 haven't heard from you for almost one month😟 but I hope you are doing okay and if you are taking a break, feel free to take one pookie. You deserve one because you have been feeding us good🙏💕

Yeah, I'm alive, currently studying for a chem exam💔 (I hate chemistry) I was going on tik tok on my computer and without looking I clicked enter and it took me to Tumblr (#recoveringaddict) bc yk when you search something up so much it's just auto. I haven't been on Tumblr since March 5th. 😭 (I am catholic and I gave up anything having to do with FF including reading and writing for Lent) So a ton of notifications, and being as starved I looked through them.

I'm not supposed to be here rn, but! Here I am!

This isn't a break bc it's actually been hell without my support FFs. It's more a forced break that I inflicted on myself bc I didn't want to give up my tik tok streak (105 days and going strong 🤑) I've desperately wanted to write and read (Just found a new fandom I didn't even know existed for one of my shows, but I discovered it in the middle of lent so my enemies are working hard against me) but my indomitable will to not fail this commitment to myself and to my faith is stronger.

I also gave up fast food and for the first two weeks I was good, then my mom came and told me to give in. Devil couldn't reach me so he sent my mother to tell me that I'd start balding if I didn't start eating meat. (I live alone bc I attend school elsewhere and thus was only surviving on fruits and veggies and no meat bc I'm broke and I'm too lazy to cook.) Despite my will, I will not let my luscious locks fall from my head. (I need it to survive these next years of my engineering degree 💔 and I'm only in my first year so it's only down hill from here) —Have you seen those first year to fifth year engineering tik toks?😟 Pure horror(Waterloo Uni)— In any case I ate chicken teriyaki and steamed vegetables from Panda Express (Which was horrible bc I prefer them raw) —Pause— anyways. Yeah, all last week during my spring break I broke my 'fast' three times bc I was celebrating my birthday. (Desperately hanging on to my childhood) and then I went to go get my fav fast food bc it's a little tradition to eat it when I leave and come back. (Bc I don't have a car here and I have walk everywhere and last time I did, bad things happened.🥀 So the only time I can eat it is when my parents come and pick me up and drop me off every couple of months)

Now I'm back and back on my grind to not eat any fast food but never have I broken my streak of reading ff (Except my own bc I get comments on Ao3 and I have to reread my works so I can laugh bc I find myself funny) But yeah I've written nothing since March 5th (Which is rlly more Feb 13th cuz I had to lock in for exams) and as soon the clock strikes 12am on  Apr 17, I'm hopping back on to write everything bc my mind was been cooking up ideas (Despite the fact that I'm not even supposed to entertain the thought) so I can't wait to start again.

Chapter 12 will be extra long. Maybe 25k? Or more. Probs longest chapter (Longest one rn is chap 11 sitting at a cool 20,284 words exactly)

Also due to extending time and the newest plot point (Said plot point will probably make many upset as it is a VERY unpopular trope but I have decided it is a necessary evil to get to the end.) which I have decided add in the this excruciatingly long 'break', instead of 15 chapter total it'll be a cool 20-25 bc I need to have a better build up for the finale.

SO FAREWELL UNTIL MID TO LATE APRIL! GOTTA GET BACK ON THIS GRIND!

MY ENEMIES WILL NOT SUCCEED!

(Pls don't take me for some crazy religious freak who has religious psychosis. This is all jokes. I do not actually believe the devil is in everything and is out to get me. All jokes. Have a wonderful next couple of weeks.)

That being said, wish me well bc this exam for chem I have tomorrow, I'm not so sure I'm gonna to too well on it. (I hate naming chemicals. FUCK THEM POLYATOMIC IONS AND FUCK WHO EVER CREATED THEM)

[khaoala]

I keep thinking about that awful Pluto lunch with mays “favorite ex”. Oon is basically too blinded by her crush on may to even realize that all of Mays people are sus of her! SHE CANT SEE PAST HER HEARTEYES!

I was feeling pretty confident in assuming that may knew Oon wasn’t Oom and that lunch all but confirmed it. I mean did Oom and May never share a single meal together when they were dating and therefore didn’t know about mays dislike of spicy food!? Oon should’ve told may that she too was in an accident and had some memory loss due to it just to try to cover for all of her fumbling lol

Now for the other three…

I am honestly not sure how pang is gonna come back from this to be apart of the throuple, I mean unknowingly picking the cafe where she and pim (phim?) first met as the place to break up with her!? DAMN WOMAN 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️!!! And pim, baby, what are you doing begging her to not breakup cmon you deserve to be with someone better than her!!! That someone, of course, being Jan who always seems to be at the right place at the right time (it’s fate!). Pang can keep her unrequited crush and I’ll be over here sailing on the PimJan ship! Full steam ahead baby!

Ok sorry that ended up just being a bunch of rambling 🙈.

-🤫

pls anon, ramble away, i know i've done that to you countless times at this point, feel free to return the favor.

but honestly, that lunch was awful. for some reason, i thought ploy would be good to stir up some fun jealousy, not awaken all of oon's deepest insecurities all at once. a part of me also think oon knows how much people in may's life are suspicious of her, she just doesn't care. she cares about may and how much she can care and support and look after her. as long as she can provide may with a good company, she doesn't care for what others have to say, unless the pretty and rich and favorite ex comes along to show how unfit she actually is to be by may's side.

you have a point there, too, anon. i've said this before. may ain't stupid. that woman is a respected and famous lawyer. she can smell bullshit from meters away (her calling out ploy and covering up saying she didn't want anyone to steal oon/oom and that's why she didn't tell anyone they were dating, and when she refused to eat ploy's food too? very hot of her, if you allow me), so i'm pretty sure she's aware this isn't the same woman she was dating before. why would a flight attendant not have enough money to buy a simple lunch from a vendor in the street, after all?

dude, you have no idea how much i wanted to like pang because she has my girl ciize's face, but pang is so sighs (at least she knows she's toxic but it's also in that "oh my god you know, you deserve better because i'm such a bad person, i don't deserve you" kind of way that just feels… idk, condescending?) she doesn't give a damn about phim. it's clear as day to me that she was only with the hot police officer bc oon didn't want her and well, having a hot gf who gives you head in the middle of the day is fine and all, so let's keep her. i think pang coming to the throuple thing will be more of a pride/i'm alone now, oon really doesn't want me (as she told you before), than actually developing feelings for phim again. here i am hoping my girl will get the love she deserves in the form of a bubbly and cute fortune teller who offers to feed her when she's hangry.

[moon-sang]

ᗷᖇEᗩKIᑎG ᑭOIᑎT ~ ᴅɪɴ ᴅᴊᴀʀɪɴ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

REQUEST: I would like where din and reader get into a heated argument about something (possibly almost losing grogu /not being careful enough or anything better you could come up with). din gets physical + hits reader then fluff at the end

I hope you like this anon. :)

SUMMARY: After half a week of seeing you not sleep at night, and you not telling him why, Din finally looses it. 

Happy ending. 

WARNINGS: Sleep deprivation, hallucinations, reader get’s hit, mature language, angst, fluff, gender-neutral reader, force-sensitive reader, Din is described as broader and taller than reader, angry!Din, pls tell me if i miss anything!

~~~~~~~~~~~

You were tired. 

Kriff, you were so tired you felt like you could fall onto the floor, and still sleep. 

But that wasn’t an option. 

.....not after the last time you slept. 

You didn’t exactly have a plan of action... it wasn’t like you could never sleep again...  You were just... prolonging it. 

The nightmare still rung clearly in your head. Din’s limp body as he laid on top of Grogu, most likely shielding him from whatever killed them. Despite the fact it was a nightmare you could still feel the hot tears as they marked your skin. You sniffle at the mere thought of the nightmare... you’re not going through that again. And you certainly weren’t going to tell Din. You couldn’t. If you couldn’t save him in your dreams... then how were you going to save him in your reality? 

Din was definitely aware that you weren’t sleeping. Kriff he knew everything, had a sharp eye. When he had brought it up you made up the excuse that you  would “Stay up in bed in your own world for a few minutes before you nod off.” You didn’t expect the bounty hunter to believe it... but you at least hoped he would take the hint that you didn’t want to talk about it.  Of course he didn’t. So he asked again. “Why aren’t you sleeping?” 

“Just a little restless” You’d lie again. He never pushed past that point, he’d keep bringing it up, obviously concerned, but he never said anything more, not wanting to push boundaries. That was until you started hallucinating. 

It happened after a rather difficult bounty. Din was visibly agitated, hands gripping the controls of the Crest a little tighter than usual. The bounty put up a little more of a fight than he had expected, stabbing him in the shoulder. 

Purple bags loomed under your eyes, and your skin was more pale than usual, of course you covered it up best you could with makeup. It had been 5 days since you last slept. Your heavy eyes begged for a goodnight’s sleep, but as you had for the past few days, you ignored it. 

Grogu was sitting next to you, cozily sleeping, nuzzled in your left arm. “He’s so cute when he sleeps.” you whispered to Din, brushing your fingers through Grogu’s silk-like hair. Under the helmet Din raised a brow. Who? “Who’s so cute when they sleep?” Din almost cautiously asked. “Grogu, duh.” You chuckle, still stroking your hand through his grey hairs. Din spun around on his seat. “Y/n?.... Tell me... where is Grogu.. now?” he questions. You raise a brow at Din, baffled. “He’s right here... can’t you see him, he’s sitting next to me, asleep. Din felt as his gloved fingers clenched together then unclenched. He was sure you could see the steam coming out of his helmet. You cock your head at him. “Din... are you ok? If you want I can pilot the Crest, whilst you go for a nap.” You offered. Din stands up, and approaches you, menacingly. Once his arms length from you he stares at you. “I’m not the one who needs a nap.” He growled. “What?” You ask, features laced in confusion. “We left the kid with Peli two days ago, so we could get the bounty. We’re going to pick him up now, he’s not on the Crest.” He seethed. You felt your chest stiffen. Were you hallucinating? No, you could still see him... this was a joke, he was right next to you, you could feel his small breath on your arm. “is this some sort of joke?!” you whisper-yell. Din grits his teeth, shaking his head, trying to keep his cool. “You’re going to bed, and i’m not going to leave until I am sure you are sleeping.” He practically yells. Without a moment to process what he was saying Din yanks you up off the co-pilot’s seat. “Wha- hey! No!” You yell as he practically dragged you down into the hull. You try pulling away from him but his hold was not letting loose. Kriff you forgot how strong he was. You weren’t going to sleep... that nightmare made you suffer, and so did the one before that, and so on. So you did the next thing that came to mind. Knowing it wouldn’t hurt him, due to his armour, you lift a crate in the Crest up with the force. It hovered in the air, and then smacked into the side of Din’s helmet. Din stumbles, and the minute of shock gave you the advantage to twist out of his grip. 

You took two large steps away from him. “Why won’t you just sleep?! It’s not like i’m asking you to kill someone!” he yells. Tears blurred your vision. You found yourself hiccuping every few breaths. You can’t tell him why... just need to tell him more excuses, he’ll stop worrying then. “I’m restless! I told you that! Plus, I want to check on the kid before I sleep and --” Din cuts you off. “Stop making up excuses and just tell me why you won’t sleep!” Din again yells. “You can’t force me to tell you something I don’t want to tell you Din, fuck off, just drop it!” You scream voice turning hoarse. Din walks over to you, you find yourself taking a few steps back, until your back hits the cold wall of the Crest. Din hovered over you. Fuck he was tall. Your breathing picked up, but you weren’t going to give in, he could just learn to drop some things. “Go to sleep.. now” It wasn’t an order it was a command, one not to be questioned. But of course you pushed. “No! You wouldn’t sleep either if you knew what was going on!” You yell, tears now spilling over and streaking your face. “Then tell me what’s going o-” You cut him off, already knowing what he was going to ask of you. ”No!” you shout straight to his visor. Then there was a harsh pain. It blossomed in your cheek and shot up to your head instantly. You found your body hitting the crest floor from the impact. Your hand cradled your now tender cheek in your palm. You look up at Din, who still stood above you, chest heaving. Your glossy eyes were reflected back at you through his visor. Your mouth was agape, any anger evaporated and turned into pure shock. Your whole body was tense, and you were sure Din’s was too. 

What the kriff just happened? Din internally screams at himself. Did he... Did he just... h-hit you? He couldn’t talk, couldn’t breathe for that matter. He had never been that angry around you... he wished he could undo the action. The fear in your eyes felt like a dagger being plunged deeply into his heart. What had he done. Your cheek was red... kriff did he even hold back a little? He forgot how much bigger he was compared to you.. he could have really hurt you. “Mesh’la... I-... I’m sorry!” He instantly whispers, dropping down to where you layed still in utter shock. Your breath’s were shaky and your whole body trembled when he pulled your hand away from your cheek. What made him think he could do that?! His hand gently ran over your cheek and you winced in pain. “I’m... cyare.. I-” You yet again cut him off. “Nightmares.” you breathe out, sniffling shortly after. “W-...what?” Din gasps, surprised you’re even talking to him. “I’m not..” You sniffle, taking in a shaky breath. “I keep having nightmares... every night.” You sob. “I can’t deal with them anymore, I-I didn’t want to tell you be-because I was too embarrassed.” you cry, heavy sobs wracking your body. Din felt guilty now. If he had known you were in pain he would have approached you more gently, he just thought you were trying to get a reaction out of him. “I.. I’m sorry, I didn’t.... know.” .... he doesn’t  give you a chance to reply when he speaks again. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed to tell me about a nightmare, everybody has them.” he whispers, tucking a loose strand of your h/c hair behind your ear. You nod. “But you need to sleep cyar’ika.” he huffs out. Frantically you shake your head. Din sighs. “I’m going to stay with you ok... and if I think you’re having a nightmare I’ll wake you up.” Din offers. You shake your head slowly. Instead of getting angry this time, Din offers more. “Would you like me to do something else then, that will help you sleep?” He gently whispers, voice like honey, despite the modulator. He really just wanted to help you... maybe you should meet him in the middle, no matter if it was a little scary to sleep. “C-Could you .....hold me... until I fall asleep?” You practically whisper. Din doesn’t even reply when he picks you up, bridal style and walks you over to his cot. After you climb in he lays next to you, pulling you into the comfort of his bare arms. He must have taken the beskar off when you were climbing in. Immediately your tired eyes fall shut... and instead of forcing them back open like you had so many other times, you let them have some rest. 

The last thing you felt was the rim of Din’s thumb rubbing soothing circles on your skin, and a small kiss on your head, before you fell straight asleep. 

And this time you had dreams. 

I’m sorry I feel like I didn’t incorporate as much fluff as I wanted to, I know you said you wanted a fluffy ending, but I couldn’t think of what to add! Anyway I hope you still like it and if you want anything changed just msg me <3

[arieschaos]

Raft City Builder?

For transparency - so far I've only played the free demo... But I am very tempted to grab the full game (only £14!)

Havendock popped up on my steam store front page yesterday and I dove right into the demo. I played for about 5 hours straight.

Simple gameplay, very easy to pick up

Casual, cute and fun

Time sink with lots to do

Relaxing soundtrack

Co-op/Multiplayer available (very buggy - see note by devs on storepage)

From what I can tell, there's some extra exploration and underwater building/expansion possible in the full release of the game - I had just researched and build a SUBMARINE before hitting the limits of the demo version. There's also mentions of boats and flight, but again, seems to be in the paid version only.

There's a good chance I'll be grabbing said paid version to play on Steam at some point in the next week, so if you're interested, come hang out, or watch a VOD over at my Twitch channel.

Edit: Husband used his build up of steam credit to buy full version for me, and in his message he wrote “I sent you my dock, pls respond.”

This is why I married him, obviously.

[sirenfromthelostcity]

Movie Night Pt 2. Starry Night

A/N: I don’t even know why it took me so long to finish this. Anyways though, I switched the POV real quick because I thought this way just suited the story better now that’s been extended? Idk but it’s done. Y’all pls let me know what you think of it! Did I get Damian right? I just started getting into DC and so far he’s one of my fav characters so someone pls tell me if I’m doing a good job 😂 also I’ve been feeling kinda like not bad but not great about my writing so I’d really appreciate some feedback/constructive criticism. It’s bad how I need this validation but it also is what it is. To make things easier I’m just putting yours and Damian’s age here at 14-15. I’m already thinking about a 3rd but let me know if y’all want it, you’d be more aged up in it (still debating just how much though) We get a lot more background on you in this part so I hope you enjoy. Also I’m kinda mixing in stuff from both the Titans from the animated movies and the Teen Titans show from the early 2000’s such as the setting because I couldn’t tell if the setting in the animated films was San Francisco or not. Also I loved the TT show so much as a kid and my lil heart just couldn’t help not including it in this lol. I actually also included a villain from the show as well but I did research his comic abilities too, it’s just all a big ole mix that I hope you enjoy lol. I don’t think I have anything else left to say. Enjoy!

Part 3!

Word Count: 3,368

The low ticking of the timer and the sound of Damian’s sword clashing with that of his opponents echoed throughout the training room. As soon as he defeated one hologram two more would appear, as per the setting he picked when he initiated the training sequence. Sword training always helped him blow off some steam and quite frankly, he was on a roll. Damian was successfully dodging every attack and striking back powerfully and efficiently. He was well on track to beat his own personal record. Then he heard her laugh. 

It was faint at first but he could hear it getting closer. Instinctively he turned towards the entrance but no one was there yet. Just then one of the holograms went in for a strike, Damian countered it at the last second causing him to mess up his footing and fall. He groaned in frustration and got back up to attack but the timer beeped and the holograms disappeared. 

He scoffed, angry with himself for having been so easily distracted. He became even more displeased when he saw it was Jamie whom she was laughing with.

“Greetings, Damian,” (y/n) smiled upon finally entering the training room, Jamie trailing close by. “I hope we are not interrupting.”  

“What do you need?” he asked, already making his way to the control table to reset the training simulation. 

“Straight to the point as usual,” Jamie rolled his eyes. “We’re all gonna go get some smoothies in a bit, wanna come?”

“I’m going to patrol tonight,” he curtly replied without looking up from the controls he was handling. 

“I understand the desire to protect the city. But it is also to my understanding that criminal activity has been at an all time low as of late,” she said hopefully. “Perhaps you can spare a night to join us in the relishing of juiced fruit and in having the fun?” She looked to Jamie for support.

“She’s right,” he chimed in. “It’s just one night man, live a little.”

“I live plenty on my own,” Damian responded. 

The timer reappeared along with three holograms and Damian began to make his way to the center of the small arena. Taking that as a clear indication that he was done with the discussion, Jamie and (y/n) walked towards the exit. Damian did not miss the dejected look on her face but he ignored the sharp pang of guilt for he knew was responsible for it. 

A moment later the timer started and Damian resumed his battle with the holograms.

Later into the night….. 

Damian stood perched on one of the highest buildings in Jump City, scanning the streets below for any suspicious activity. To his boredom, nothing was going on. 

“Hmmph, she was right…” He muttered to himself. 

It was obviously a very good thing that the crime rate has recently decreased in the city. But tonight Damian could not be more annoyed by the lack of it. It wasn’t simply a matter of being bored but a matter of not being occupied. 

The training simulations are extremely helpful in maintaining one’s physique but for him, it was also just great for keeping his mind and body focused and busy. It was working so well for him today. Until (y/n) walked in. 

(Y/n)

He started to reminisce on her smile upon greeting him and then on her disheartened expression when leaving. The pang of guilt returned but there was no hologram to fight to forget and move on. There was no crime to focus on to stop. There was nothing to stop his mind from wandering to her. Specifically his encounter from last week’s movie night. 

Not only did he look back on how physically close his teammate was to him but on how oddly nice it felt to have her by his side. It felt gratifying to have been chosen by her as protection from what was scaring her. Sure it was simply a movie but that’s what made it all the more amusing to him. Here was a girl who battled aliens and several other criminals yet a horror film is what had her seeking shelter behind her teammate. To him it was comical but not in a bad way.  

Damian had tried to not ruminate on the event and when he did think about it he’d downplay it. He’s been telling himself that it was just a matter of convenience for her that he was nearby and didn’t immediately reject her actions. But then he’d remember what she told him at the end of that night and their hug. Convenience or not her words and embrace were both warm and touching, regardless of how much he didn’t want to admit it. 

He rolled his eyes at his own thoughts and began pacing to different sections of the rooftop. Again he scanned the streets for anything to do. Of all nights, why did the city have to be quiet tonight? 

Suddenly, like an answer to a twisted prayer, Jamie’s voice echoes through his comm line.

“Titans! Dr. Light is robbing the CNP bank on west 24th, regroup there now!”

A smirk quickly formed on his lips before retrieving his grappling hook and jumping into the city streets.

____________________________________________

(Y/n) and Raven sat on the outside tables provided by The Groovy Smoothie shop and contentedly slurped their drinks. Jamie and Garfield had sat with the girls earlier but decided to check out the new arcade that recently opened nearby. (Y/n) and Raven were of course invited to tag along but they opted to stay instead. Having never tasted these concoctions before coming to earth, (y/n) quickly became obsessed upon trying them. 

“Are you starting to feel full yet?” Raven asked with a small but amused grin on her lips. 

(Y/n) was on her fourth smoothie of the night.

“Not quite. But I think it is worth mentioning that I have nine stomachs. However, I am feeling quite satisfied.” 

“You must also have a killer metabolism. Guess that’d explain how you can handle Gar’s cooking,” Raven chuckled.

“His diet and cooking style is certainly unique and I have never had anything like it before on Tamaran. I imagine it would be a popular new cuisine.”   

“I’m sure he’ll be glad to know that if it doesn’t work out for him he could always go to Tamaran to become a chef,” Raven jested. 

(Y/n) lightly laughed but chose to steer the topic away from her planet.

“I hope Damian likes the smoothie I got for him. I had meant to ask what flavor he likes the most but he had already left to patrol.” 

“Believe me, I think the gesture alone coming from you would be enough for him.”

What does she mean by that?

Before she could ask Raven to elaborate on her comment they both receive Jamie’s distress call on their comms. They shared a brief look of concern and in an instant they were both phasing into their uniforms as they flew to meet with their teammates. 

By the time they arrived on the scene, Jamie and Garfield were already engaged in a fight with a man in a black suit and a goatee. Actually, they were engaged in a fight with multiple copies of this man, holographic copies to be exact. 

Someone certainly picked up on a few new tricks while they were in hiding. 

Upon seeing the big lightbulb icon in the middle of the man’s suit, and along with the fact that Jamie and Garfield were fighting his copies, (y/n) concluded that this was Dr. Light. He hadn’t noticed her and Raven’s arrival yet but she could immediately see his next plan of attack. 

With a sinister smile on his face, he raised his gloved hand and pointed it at an occupied Jamie. He shot a light beam but before it could cause any harm to Jamie, (y/n) quickly summoned a red forcefield around him. The light beam deflected onto a lamp post causing it to nearly fall on Dr. Light. He huffed in annoyance at the close call but his evil grin returned once he saw who was responsible for his near demise. 

“Ahhh I don’t believe I’ve seen you before,” he directed at (y/n). “Which coincidentally gives me a new idea for my next trick.” 

He activated a switch on his suit and in an instant he was gone. She looked around but he was nowhere to be seen. 

Did he teleport away?

A light beam suddenly shot out from behind and struck her. (Y/n) shrieked in pain and shock causing her to lose her flight and fall. Instead of feeling the hard concrete from below that she expected, she felt another body collide with hers before landing safely on the ground. 

“(Y/n),” Damian quickly scanned her for any injuries. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she groaned. “I just require a minute.” 

“Stay here,” he said before promptly rising and joining his teammates. 

As she regained her senses, (y/n) could see that Dr. Light had conjured even more holograms. A distraction tactic no doubt. Dr. Light had yet to physically reappear but she knew he was still there. She could hear his malevolent laugh as he began to take down each of her teammates one by one. 

He threw a metal contraption at Jamie which then trapped him into a giant transparent orb. For both Raven and Garfield he threw another mechanism that blinded them both and stunned their senses. Damian managed to defeat the rest of Dr. Light’s copies but before he could look for the villain he was suddenly blasted with a light beam, effectively subduing him. 

“Foolish children,” Dr. Light laughed again. “Can’t hurt what you can’t see now can you?”

At this (y/n) growled, growing more and more frustrated, her eyes began to glow a deep red. She floated up from the ground with red energy culminating around her body. She expanded her arms causing the red energy to erupt from her body, not only forcing Dr. Light to reveal himself but causing him to stumble back from the impact. She immediately spotted him and with a swift motion of her hand she encased Dr. Light in her power and brought him closer to her in a menacingly slow pace. 

To say Dr. Light was paralyzed in fear would be an understatement. He was incredibly afraid but he was also actually paralyzed. Even if he did have the courage to try and escape this death grip he could not physically will his limbs to move. He was completely at her mercy and she didn’t have a particularly large amount left for him. 

She flicked her wrist and piece by piece his suit was falling apart until he was left in nothing but the undersuit of his suit. Powerless. 

With the dismantlement of his suit, his mechanisms began to fail and her teammates were freed from their contraptions. 

“Um, I think you got him (y/n). We’re good now, you can let him go,” Garfield had told her.

But that did not stop her. Overcome by her anger, she flew higher, bringing Dr. Light with her, and she began to suck the air out from his lungs. He was uncontrollably gasping and at this her teammates finally realized just what she was doing. 

They called out to her to stop but she did not listen. Jamie quickly flew up to confront her. 

Not registering that it was her teammate, (y/n) instinctively raised up her other hand with a ball of red energy in the center, ready to strike. The scarab instinctively reacted and aimed its blaster at her. 

“(Y/n), it’s me” Jamie calmly stated. “Let him go.”

She did not back down but neither did he.

“Please don’t make me do this,” he implored. “Let him go, now. I won’t ask again.” 

(Y/n) blinked, looking between Jamie and a dying Dr. Light before coming to her senses. Slowly she and her hostage descended. 

She landed on her knees with her gaze cast down and shoulders slacked. Meanwhile Dr. Light was profusely coughing and gasping on his hands and knees, finally able to breathe. 

“I am sorry,” she said before promptly rising up again and flying away.

Damian called after her but to no avail. If she heard him she made no attempt to show it. All he could do was watch as she flew away. 

____________________________________________

Finding her wasn’t hard. Damian had placed a tracer on all of his teammates upon meeting them long ago. Within seconds he knew where she was heading. To Titans Tower, back home.

He decided to not immediately seek her out. He knew she’d need some time to be alone. But when he did he knew where to look. And that’s exactly where he found her, sitting on the rooftop with her feet dangling in the ledge. 

“May I join you?” he asked. 

(Y/n) looked up at Damian, he was still in uniform but he wasn’t wearing his mask. She briefly nodded and returned her gaze to the oceanview before them. 

He took a seat next to her. 

“Are you alright?” he asked. 

She silently nodded. 

Damian knew that physically she was fine but mentally she’s had a day. Still, he didn’t want to push so he silently waited in case she wanted to share more.

“I did not mean to take it that far.” She started. “I was not even aware that I could… do that.”

He looked at her and her gaze fell to her hands. “It’s okay. It was an accident.”

She shook her head. “But it was not. Although I did not mean for it to happen that does not mean I did not want it to.”

Damian frowned in confusion and she continued. 

“He was hurting everyone. I knew I had to stop him and I did. I should have stopped as soon as I had rendered his suit useless but I could not. It did not feel like enough. My powers are strongly driven by my emotions and… I lost control.” 

“I understand,” he said, earning a glance from her. “When people you care about are hurt or in danger you want nothing more than to exterminate that threat. I’m still learning that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. My father taught me something for moments like those, a sort of mantra. Justice not vengeance.”

“But how can one not strive for vengeance when the people they care about are being hurt?”

“It definitely takes practice,” he said, recalling the first time he was introduced to the saying. 

“But what about achieving justice through vengeance?”

“Father says those two things aren’t interchangeable. If you fall for vengeance you’d be falling farther and farther from the justice that you initially sought. It’s what separates us from the criminals, or so he says.”

“Hmm,” she hummed. “He sounds wise.”

“He is, amongst other things.”

(Y/n) giggled at his last comment and he lightly chuckled with her.

The two teens rejoined in a comfortable silence once again. The setting is incredibly serene so neither one of them felt compelled to really say anything else. But then he saw her glance ascend from the ocean to the night sky and could not help himself from asking. 

“Do you miss Tamaran?”

She briefly looked at him then back to the ocean.

“Sometimes. I was born and raised there after all. However, times have changed. With how the planet is currently ruled, I would not be welcomed back.”

“Why not?”

“Well,” she looked down and fidgeted with her hands. “When the citadel captured me they didn’t just torture me. They conducted several experiments on me. The last one was with this ancient stone they found. I had overheard some of them talk about its power and danger. Truthfully, with the way they spoke of it, I do not think they anticipated my survival. I did not either... But when they used the stone on me it somehow bonded with me. It was a welcomed surprise as it aided my escape. However it also altered my DNA. I no longer physically appear Tamaranean, therefore, I would not be accepted back as such.”

Damian didn’t realize but his features were softening at her words. He knew all about the Citadel and their history with Tamaran, courtesy of the computer in the Batcave. He knew that her powers came from experimentation but not that she was alienated because of it. He knew much less of the extent of torture she endured.

“However, I did retain some latent characteristics. Tamaraneans are very emotionally driven people and I vividly exemplified that today. I have also retained my nine stomachs and the ability to instantaneously learn any language through lip contact.”

That last detail was also something he was aware of. Her confirming it merely gave him a thought that caused him to blush. Thankfully she was too focused on the night sky to notice. 

“Well that explains why your eyes don’t glow. Most of the time at least.”

A small smile formed on (y/n)’s lips. She brought up her hand and a small ball of red energy began to flow between her fingers. 

“It is still alien, yes but not technology. It is something else…I am something else.” 

“No,” he interjected. “Your power may have physically changed you, but you’re still (y/n). You’re nice, strong, valiant, and you care about your teammates. You’re a Titan and this is your home.”

 Damian didn’t know what came over him to say such words but he knew that he meant them. And more importantly (y/n) knew he meant them as well. 

Not being one to hide her emotions, although the same cannot be said for the other, (y/n) threw her arms around Damian and captured him in yet another hug. 

He slightly jumped at the suddenness of it. This was his second hug in two weeks. He valued his personal space and everyone knew about that. Yet he didn’t mind when she invaded it. Or at least it didn’t feel like she was invading it, it wasn’t a nuisance when she did it. He didn't mind when she entered his space. 

His heart rate had increased at her sudden action but now it was steadying to a normal beat. Tentatively, he raised his arms and hugged her back. 

“Oh my X'hal!” she abruptly broke away.

“What, what happened?” he frantically looked around their surroundings. Did she sense something he could not see?

“I have left your juiced fruit drink back at the Groovy Smoothie,” she sighed. 

“What?” he asked, confused. Then it clicked for him. “You bought me a smoothie?”

“Yes. I had planned on retrieving it once we defeated Dr. Light but with everything that happened I forgot it. It is long gone now,” she sulked.

“That’s what you were so concerned about?” he asked, the ends of his lips curling into an amused smirk.

“Yes,” she seriously replied. 

Damian couldn’t help but lightly chuckle. His arms relaxed at the false alarm and that’s when he realized he was holding onto her. He quickly let go and brought his arms back to his sides. (Y/n) didn’t think much about it but she smiled at how bashful he was.

“I thought you would enjoy one when you returned from your patrol. I am sorry I left it behind.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he shrugged.

He did a great job at playing it nonchalant but Damian was really touched by her gesture. It was a simple smoothie, sure, but he liked that she thought about him.

“We can get smoothies together some other time,” he added. 

“Tomorrow?” she asked.

“Sure.”

Again, he was casual but he was already looking forward to their plans. It’d be ideal to not be interrupted by any more criminals but Damian knew that he and (y/n) would be more than capable of handling them. 

A/N Again!: I didn’t wanna spoil it by putting it in the beginning but I was trying to write your powers to be like that of Scarlet Witch. Yeah I’m mixing in Marvel too now sue me (pls don’t I don’t have any money). I think she’s super badass and to be honest I kinda felt like I cornered myself by making you an alien bc I just didn’t really know what to do with that and Starfire is another one of my favorite characters so I took pieces from her origin story and that of Scarlet Witch’s. Hope it made sense and I hope you liked it. Also I really wanted to make your character powerful and imo Scarlet Witch’s abilities are super powerful. Like I’m sure the Titans always appreciated you being on their team but now they’re extra glad you’re on their side lol.

[shurisneakers]

harmless (ii)

Summary: Bucky volunteers to go stop a small time villain, but nothing can prepare him for what exactly he has to deal with. (Bucky x villain!reader, drabble series)

Warnings: cursing, stealing cultural landmarks, frustrated bucky

Word count: 1.6k

A/N: made a header 4 this fic but i couldn’t take it seriously enough <3 

if you have any ideas for future inventions/evil plans, lemme know! it’s always fun to hear from y’all. 

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Previous Part || Series Masterlist

It’s roughly a week before he sees you next.

Right on time too, according to the briefings he had received. Once a week you’d come up with your next batshit crazy idea and someone would be sent to make sure you didn’t execute it.

It was more of a babysitting gig than anything. Most people would do one, maybe two assignments before asking to not be sent again. 

He was not most people. He volunteers to go again. His afternoon is relatively free and he’s bored. 

Also, and more importantly, he needs to get out of the house before Sam finds out what he did.

“You’ll find her near the Statue of Liberty.”

“How do we know?”

“Oh, she tells us.”

“...she tells us where to find her?”

“Most times, yes. She says it’s time efficient.”

Absurd. He thinks you’re absurd.

Bucky finds you in line to board the ferry. You’re dressed to the nines like an obnoxious tourist, even though you were a local, topped with binoculars and a bucket hat. 

On an unrelated note, he thinks that maybe the mission today is to kill you for daring to wear sandals with socks like a suburban dad. A shudder runs through his body when he sees it.  

He’s wearing all black and a baseball cap. Somehow he’s standing out more than you are.

He boards the ferry behind you, keeping a close eye on all your movements. You take your place near the railing, a seat near the front of the boat. 

His phone rings. He answers it, expecting Sam to screech at him for painting Redwing neon pink again. He should have known it was coming after he shoved Bucky off the quinjet before he had time to strap his parachute on properly. 

“I thought I told you to bring a cape.” 

He quickly looks up at you but you’re not facing him. You have your phone held up to your ear, however.

“How did you get this number?” he asks icily.

“I knew you’d show up again.” Your head tilts to look at the statue in the distance. “Also, thanks for the door money, but I’m not sure I appreciate how you think the least creepy way to give someone money is to drop it off anonymously at their doorstep.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” He swiftly gets up, stalking over to where you’re sitting. He was advised not to do anything aggressive. Advised was a flexible word. 

“Because I wasn’t going to answer it.” You look up at his figure looming over you. “Oh, hey.”

The phone is still pressed to the side of your face even though he’s right beside you. He cuts the call, shoving it back into his pocket.

“Allow me to introduce my pl-”

“What are you doing here?” He cuts to the chase. 

You send him a glare. “I was going to say it before you told me to. And sit down before everyone thinks you’re going to kill me.”

“Why are you going there?” He doesn’t have time for this, he thinks. He has important things to do. Like watching the reruns of Masterchef Junior. 

He sits in the seat beside you.

“Look at us.” You grin at him. “Me with the evilest outfit I could think of, you with your... Addams Family cosplay. We’re like, two peas in a po-”

“Start explaining,” he interjects. 

You roll your eyes. “I’m going to shrink the Statue of Liberty and use it as a keychain.”

“What?” It’s probably the most benign plan he’s ever heard in his life.

“I’m kidding.” Oh, good. “I’m not using it as a keychain, I’m taking it to class.” Nevermind. 

“What?” He finds himself repeating his previous question.

“I’m shrinking all the statues I can find. I want to use it in my classroom to teach the kids.”

“You’re... a teacher?” He blinks.

“You got a problem with that?” You look offended, to say the least. 

“No.” It’s not what he would peg your occupation as. He didn’t think you had one at all. “How are you planning on shrinking it?”

You rummage through the ugliest fanny pack he has ever had the misfortune of seeing. You pull out a small ring box, complete with a bow tied neatly on top. 

“I was saving this for our third anniversary, but-” you offer him a nervous laugh.

His stony expression doesn’t change, not even a blink. 

“Fine, Jesus, you’re no fun,” you huff, dropping the emotional act when he doesn’t look amused. 

You flip open the lid. Inside there are a few small disks. It looks familiar, he realises.

“Your friend Ant-Boy didn’t file a patent, so I just took his whole shtick.” He wants to defend Scott’s honour; it’s Ant-Man not boy. He doesn’t. He’s too transfixed on what you have in your hand.

“Pym particles.”

“The diet version.” You pick up one of them carefully. “A ripoff, but effective. Just gotta attach it to the thing I want to shrink and give it a few minutes.”

“You’re going to steal the Statue of Liberty,” he says, frankly a little taken aback that you were serious.

“Would you relax? I’ll put it back.”

“That’s not the point,” he damn near exclaims. “You can’t take away the Statue of Liberty just because you feel like it.”

“I literally can.” You point to the chips in your hand. “That’s the point of this, keep up.”

He feels exasperated. He didn’t sign up for this when he became an Avenger.

“Give me the box.” He makes a grab for it but you yank it away from his reach.

“What do you think you’re doing?” 

“I don’t have time for this.” His reruns would begin in an hour.

“That’s my problem, because...” you trail off. 

He rolls his eyes, makes a grab at the box again. His tactic is different this time. He stealthily pins one of your arms down so that you’re basically incapacitated.

“Hey! Stop that.” You fumble against his reach, shoving him with your elbow.

“Just give me the thing and we can all go home for the day,” he huffs, unfazed by your squirming.

“No! Over my dead bod-” 

He doesn’t immediately notice what goes wrong in the scuffle. 

Until you look at the ground near your feet. A disk lay there, undisturbed.

“Is that-” All of a sudden, either he’s getting taller or the ceiling of the boat is getting lower.

“Oops,” you say, not remorseful in the slightest. 

“Are we going to-”

“I’d give it five minutes max.” 

Great. He was stuck on a boat that was beginning to shrink. The other passengers were either oblivious or ignorant to seats that were starting to become too small for them, but Bucky’s heightened senses and extreme reflexes made it hard to skip.

He nudges the piece of tech with his foot. Maybe he can kick it off the boat.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” you warn solemnly. He wants to disagree but doesn’t know enough about the device to dispute you. 

“Fix this,” he hisses, panic slightly rising. His fingers find their way to his phone to send out an emergency text requesting backup and mass evacuation. 

“I think it’s a rather lovely day for a swim, don’t you?” You stare dreamily at the waves that were inching closer up the boat. 

Or you were inching closer to the water. Technicalities were frivolous. 

“There are other people on this boat.”

“River’s big enough for all of us, I reckon.”

“Fix it.” 

“Or what?” There’s a wicked gleam in your eye. “We both know I have the upper hand here.”

“Or I call the entirety of the Avengers here and haul your ass to prison.”

“Will they bring snacks?”

You’re insufferable. You know it. But you also are the fastest way to get out of this situation and right now, he didn’t want to be responsible for a shipwreck simulation. 

“Fine. Tell me what you want.”

“I like soy chips.”

“Soy chi-” He nearly throws his hands up in frustration. “You know what I’m talking about.” 

“I want one historical artifact so I can impress the kids. They think I’m the cool teacher and I want to keep that reputation alive.”

“What makes you think I can arrange for that?”

“You’ve been alive since goddamn dinosaurs roamed this earth, I’m sure you have some connections.” You pause to assess his face. “You know, you don’t look a day over 29. Dermatologists must hate yo-”

“I’ll get you an artifact, now fix the fuckin’ boat.”

“You promise?” You grin brightly. 

He stares at you. You are unyielding. 

The boat’s uncomfortably small and people are beginning to take notice. Worried murmurs fill the air behind him.

“Yes.”

“Okay.” You shrug simply.

You kneel over, picking up the chip from the ground. You do nothing else for two minutes, instead turning away from him to look at the Statue of Liberty that was coming closer.

It takes him a while to realise that half his body isn’t hanging off his chair anymore. The ceiling is moving further and further away from the top of his head. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He wants to strangle you. 

Why did he listen to you when all of this would have been over the minute he kicked it off the ship. 

“You can drop it off at my lair on Monday and pick it up on Friday.” You gather your belongings, leaving him steaming behind you. “Nice talkin’ to ya, Sergeant.” 

You step over him, flashing him a quick smile before walking off the boat with the rest of the tourists as if nothing had just taken place. When he looks down, the stupid ring box is on his lap.

He sits there, unmoving, eyes fixed on the container.

The ferry conductor asks if he’s going to get off the boat. 

He simply shakes his head.

Next part

[peaches-writes]

penalty kick

description: maybe you got off on the wrong foot...actually, jisung did actually pushed you off the wrong foot.  member: jisung / han  genre: fluff, slice of life, coming of age, childhood frenemies / rivals to lovers au, idiots to lovers au, neighbor au, high school au, college au, lil dashes of soccer baseball musician & campus dj au bc jisung ace, female reader, off-season universe (mc from naturally is jeoyeon, mc from tumbles & turns is bora, and mc from off-season is kira hek)  word count: 12k warnings: explicit language, alcohol (a tiny mention of underage drinking pls drink responsibly!), mentions of injuries, jisung issa lil dumb & a lil shit but issokay hes an adorable lil shit note: @crscendoforsung so i scraped the witch jisung au (but i’ll come back to it in the future maybe it’s still in my drafts lol) so here is dumbass jisung for now + im away on christmas day so here’s my gift a day in advanced lmao

Age four. Your neighbor and favorite playmate, Han Jisung, pushed you so hard on the swings at your neighbourhood playground that you literally flew out of your plastic curved seat and bruised your knees, elbows, and chin. 

Maybe you did had it coming from continuously complaining that he ‘pushed like a sissy’ and even standing up on the swing set just to brag that you can balance all of your body weight on such flimsy material. Maybe your neighbor has always had a secret grudge on you finally enacted through this incident. Either way, the next thing you knew, a wide-eyed Jisung was on your side alternating between calling for adult help, crying over your bruises, and muttering curses he probably heard from his older brother under his breath. 

“Shit, shit shit...” He squeaked out frantically in his tiny voice, gently moving you to a sitting position on the stone pavement and dusting the dirt off of your bleeding injuries despite your loud complaints that your entire body was hurting. Looking around your surroundings, his breath then got caught up in his throat at seeing your mother fast-approaching with a mix of furious and worried in her expression. “Auntie! Help!” 

Your mother was hovering over you in an instant, examining your bruises with furrowed brows and clenched teeth. “Ah, dear God, what happened here?!” She exclaimed in a scolding tone, piercing gaze darting between your tearful eyes and Jisung’s panicked ones. “Jisung, did you do this?” 

“It was an accident auntie!” The boy in question answered immediately as he shook his head nervously and scooted away with his hands up in defense. “It was an accident, I promise!” 

However, with your back turned to him then, you naturally had a different impression of the incident as you quickly retorted, “He pushed me, mommy! He pushed me off of the swing!” 

Your mother never made any clear indication that she believed you as she simply shook your head and lifted you by your shoulders and knees, carrying you to a nearby bench to treat your wounds. 

Angered by your outburst, Jisung reluctantly followed you and your mother to the bench then glared at you until your injuries were cleaned and bandaged. With his arms crossed and a permanent frown bordering a pout on his lips, he stood next to you in his attempt at looking visibly angry for a puny five-year-old while you hissed and whined in pain the entire time. 

What’s worse is that his own mother made him apologize by sending him off to the nearest convenience store to buy you apple juice and steamed buns. Because of this, you’ve been mortal enemies, rivals, each other’s designated future potential killer, whatever you want to call it ever since.

Age seven. Han Jisung helped perpetuate a wild rumour that you and the rest of the class’ female population had ‘cooties.’ 

It’s only natural for boys at this age to gravitate to similar actions, of course. After all, you’ve heard worse from boys in the other classes (read: Hwang Hyunjin crying and demanding to get sent home because a girl kissed him on the cheek on the first day of classes). It’s the fact that Jisung actually seemed to have to believed it for a brief period of time in your first grade, however, that completely threw you off. 

He pulled on your braids during the time he sat behind you and kicked your shins while in line for P.E. class to ‘test your anger patience’ that was apparently fueled by cooties and occasionally stole your snacks for actual ‘DNA evidence’ of said cooties among other petty little things. It was nothing short of annoying and the very bane of your existence then. 

“Han Jisung cut it out!” You yelled at him one day, hitting him on the shoulder with the curved end of your wooden broom during after-class cleaning time. In this particular incident, the boy managed to swiftly take one of your pigtails out while wiping the windows in an attempt to ‘examine’ the DNA in your hair. 

“What?!” He snickered, taking a big step away from you and lifting up the blue scrunchie to examine it for miniscule strands of loose hair. “It’s for research!” 

You groaned in annoyance, reaching forward to retrieve the scrunchie with one hand while the other instinctively ran through the messed up half of your hair. “Jisung, give it back, you weirdo!” You scolded through gritted teeth, rolling your eyes when he shakes his head stubbornly and takes another step back from your reach. 

“Tell me the secret first!” 

“Secret of what?!” 

“Do you girls actually have cooties?” He quirked a genuinely suspicious eyebrow at you, raising the scrunchie above your heads after when you proceed lunge forward at him. “Does it actually make you guys this irritable all the time?” 

Somehow, the questions struck some kind of nerve in you. You were tired from classes, cleaning, and having to put up with Jisung’s childish antics. Maybe 1st grade girls did have cooties but for tapping into unbridled anger. “I’m going to kill you!” With the broom in your hands and the dust pan you snatched from his in retaliation, you then proceeded on repeatedly hitting Jisung in the forearms and shoulders until he surrendered with his arms protectively over his head and your scrunchie finally within reach. 

He also offered to fix your pigtail back for you but given the amount of distrust you already had for him, you simply smacked him one last time and went to the other end of the room to fix your hair. 

Age nine. Maturing a little bit through summer camps and classes, you and Jisung redirected all of your energy from physical violence to outsmarting each other in class. 

It started in English class when Mrs. Lee introduced the idea of recitations garnering students points and a fancy award at the end of the school year. Coming from the same piano class in the summer prior wherein you and Jisung also competed for your instructor’s attention, the two of you were quick to consider this as another one of your competitions. 

You devoted most of your time to studying the lesson from the what’s, who’s, when’s, and where’s while Jisung thought that focusing more on the deeper why’s and how’s would somehow garner him better points no matter how many times Mrs. Lee reiterated that all recitation points are given in 1 point’s. 

As the school year progressed, especially after the first semester report cards came out and the two of you were tied to first place in English to the very third decimal, the academic rivalry immediately extended to competing for the most amount of extra-curricular activities. You were more favored with the way you handled baby animals at the local shelter and competed in debates and quiz bees while Jisung was mainly noticed by the soccer and baseball coaches and the school choir’s moderator for his skills in sports and music. 

Jisung’s mom, who always picked the two of you up from school in her minivan, obliviously thought it was cute. 

“You know, instead of competing over everything all the time, you guys can take some notes from each other.” She pointed out one time after hearing your comment on Jisung ‘smelling like a polluted Pacific Ocean’ as he climbed in the backseat of the car. The sentiment almost went in one ear and came out of the other with the two of you, however, as Jisung proceeded on complaining that you smelled like ‘Cruella de Vil’s fake fur coat’ then hitting you on the head with his soccer ball. “Especially you, Sungie. You can learn a thing or two of keeping a goldfish alive for more than a week from Y/N.” 

You laughed at Jisung’s immediate shocked reaction of wide eyes and gaping mouth at this, slapping his arm in amusement and toppling over the backseat in laughter. “Yeah, Sungie, you really need help from that department.” You stuck your tongue out at him teasingly, laughing even more when he groans and hits you back with a light punch to your own arm. 

“Stop it.” He hissed at you before turning to his mother again, meeting her gaze through the rear view mirror. “Mom! You’re supposed to be on my side!” 

Mrs. Han was also stifling her own laughs then, forcing herself to focus on the road ahead instead of checking for her son’s pouting expression and crossed arms through the mirror. “Okay, okay.” She chuckled playfully with a dismissive hand, catching your eye after with a giggle. “Y/N, you should learn how to commit to exercise more with Jisung, then. There? Happy?” 

Satisfied, Jisung stuck his tongue out childishly at you as if completely forgetting the fact that he was attacked by his own mother first. “Bleh!” 

You rolled your eyes at him with a light-hearted scoff of your own, laughing away the way he proceeded to exaggeratedly tease you. “You’re so childish, Sung.” 

When your moms did seriously consider this idea later on, you were then forced to dedicated one weekend to taking each other to your respective extra-curricular activities. It was right before your final examinations and Jisung ended up getting scared over a golden retriever giving birth while you received severe cramps from the elementary soccer team’s rigorous conditioning training. 

It was a recipe of disaster, basically, and it ultimately led you and Jisung to cram knowledge for your exams on Sunday night in his bedroom. When you stubbornly didn’t learn anything from going to each other’s favorite extra-curriculars, you unconsciously ended up learning from each other in the six hours you both stayed up trying to review your notes. Miraculously (as in the miracle of hot brewed Milo-induced sugar rushes), it went well and the two of you tied or were close in grades at the second release of report cards.  

The only downside of it all was just the fact that the fancy recitation award in your English class that started it all somehow went to Hyunjin. 

“Ah, this is so frustrating!” You exclaimed on the ride home from school. You had your report card in your hands like Jisung, looking back on it all the while stressing out about Hyunjin winning the award the two of you spent a whole school year competing for. 

On the other side of his mom’s backseats, Jisung then turned to you and suggested, “Want to prank him? We’re playing soccer next week, you can swap his Cola for soy sauce.” 

You glanced over at Jisung, your pout slowly turning into a mischievous grin at his raised brows. “You’re onto something...” 

Age ten. You went on your first class field trip with a stuffed purple lunch bag of snacks.

Your mother specifically suggested that you share it with Jisung, thinking that the two of you would sit next to each other on the bus since he’s your only classmate she’s actually familiar with. But of course, when Jisung didn’t bring up any hints that he knew of this while waiting for the school bus to arrive, you immediately thought against it and planned out how you were going to hide your seemingly endless supply of snacks from him on the back-and-forth rides to Namsan Tower.

It was a well thought-out plan involving sitting near to the front and as far away from him as possible with your own group of friends then hiding the lunch bag under your seat until you caught Hyunjin not-so-discreetly trying to steal from you while he re-checked attendance after a stop-over.

“Jisung put you up to this, didn’t he?” You frowned, candy successfully retrieved from Hyunjin’s prying hands and popped into your mouth as the lanky boy scratched the back of his head in shame. “It’s okay, Hyunjin, I won’t kill you. It’s Jisung’s corpse I’m planning to roll down Namsan if he’s actually behind this.”

After a few more coaxing, Hyunjin eventually nodded sheepishly and admitted to Jisung convincing him to take a candy bar from you.

“Ya! Hyunjin!” Jisung whined from across the bus, peeking his head up from the identical red seats with balled up fists. “I told you not to rat me out!”

“Y/N was being scary!” Hyunjin argues back, sprinting back to his seat as soon as the the bus stopped at a streetlight. Hiding under the sea of seats, he then exclaimed, “You two take me out of your fights! Geez!”

Jisung pouted at you as soon as you lifted your own head up from your seat and turned around to face him, holding his hands out in front of him and then asking, “Can’t I really have candy?”

You shook your head stubbornly. “If I give you one, everyone’s going to ask me for it too.”

“But everyone’s basically asleep!”

“They could be fake-sleeping for all I know!” You hissed, popping another ball of candy in your mouth. “I don’t trust anyone in this class with food but myself.” 

“Y/N!” He whined, only to get pulled down by force when the bus abruptly begins moving again. Scrambling up right after, he then continued pleading, “Please?”

“No.” You firmly concluded, sitting back down on your seat. 

Jisung even tried staying behind to try and steal candy off of you while the entire class was piling outside to enter Namsan Tower, only to trip in surprise when you jumped on him from crouching under the seats. Poor boy almost hit his head on the seats in shock.

“I knew you’d pull this kind of shit.” You tsked in disapproval with a slight stutter towards cursing at such an age, smacking him over the head anyway before throwing the smallest piece of chocolate candy you had from your bag. Moving past him to the bus exit, you then added, “You don’t even do nice things for me.”

You only meant it half-heartedly, though. Whether Jisung actually wanted more candy or he did sincerely felt bad over what you said, either way, he paid for the expensive pink lock you and your friend wanted to hang at the very top of the tower later on but only if you promised to share your snacks.

Jisung received three packets of gummy bears and a bottle of banana milk from you in the end on the ride home.

Age twelve. The Hans temporarily moved to Malaysia in the summer before the seventh grade because of an assignment for Jisung’s father at work.

On the day before their flight, Mr. and Mrs. Han organized a farewell party in their house at the other end of the block and invited your entire class. Jisung tricked you into getting him a farewell present by telling you that everyone was planning to do the same thing as a surprise but he secretly found out thing.

He didn’t actually expect you to get him something, not with the way the two of you have always been at each other’s necks since you were kids, but you ended up surprising him in the middle of the lunch party by giving him a small notebook of useful Malaysian phrases you wrote down yourself. You don’t always agree with Jisung but you think of yourself as thoughtful and civil enough to buy something practical. Also, your parents insisted. 

“O-Oh, you actually got me something?” He fumbled through an intense blush that matched the redness of his Supreme cap, almost tripping over nothing as you both stood on the steps leading down to the back of his house. It didn’t help that a few classmate passersby were glancing your way as well, either cooing or snickering at the awkward sight in the corner of all the socialization. “L-Like—like, this is actually for me?”

You raised a brow in confusion and reluctantly shrugged, releasing the red phrasebook from your grip as he held onto it by the other end. “Yeah, you said you’re getting presents so I...got you one.”

“I actually lied—“

“What?!” You exclaimed a little too loudly for your taste, earning you a sharp glare from your mother all the way across the backyard. Mouthing a quick apology to your her, you then quickly averted your glare back to Jisung who instinctively resorted to looking at anywhere but you. “But you said—“

“I thought for sure that no one would give me any farewell presents since it’s not a birthday or anything but I know you would if you’re like forced to or something so I thought...hehe...” He mustered up a sheepish grin, pressing his index fingers together in a comical shy gesture. When your glare intensifies, he then immediately held his hands up in defense and visibly winced, “Ya, don’t hit me!”

Every fiber in your being really wanted to hit him with the notebook then, maybe even push him down the stairs while no one was looking, but after a moment of thinking your way out of such violent thoughts, you resorted to exhaling a sigh and saying, “Whatever, just keep the notebook or something. I don’t care. It’s not expensive, anyway.”

You chanted to yourself that you’re mature, especially as Jisung’s eyes lit up and he immediately thanked you for both the gift and sparing his life that day.

Though he didn’t hear the end of the other teasing from Hyunjin after that, Jisung kept the notebook around anyway throughout his entire two-year stay in Malaysia. It was helpful but he’ll never admit that to your face.

“You kept it.” You pointed out one day, more as a statement than a question as you realized that the notebook he was using for exam reviewer notes was in the same color as the phrasebook you gave him. When Jisung came back in the summer before the ninth grade, the two of you met again in the same cram school wherein mostly everyone but you and the transfer student, Kim Seungmin, refused to help him keep up with the heavier than usual workload. “The phrasebook...”

“Yeah—well, I didn’t want to waste any of the pages you didn’t write on.” He pouted stubbornly as he flipped through the older pages to compare the amount of pages you used to the empty sheets. His tone actually sounded like he was convincing himself much more than he was trying with you but you missed it complete in the moment. “Be more eco-friendly, Y/N.”

You simply rolled your eyes at him. “Glad to know I kept you alive in another country somehow, then.”

Age fourteen. You went to a soccer game to see Jisung but only because one of your friends, Eunha, developed a crush on the striker and eventually hatched a plan to confess on the game before Valentine’s Day. Fortunately, Jisung barely noticed and didn’t tease you for it since it’s already an established fact that you’re always at his games with either Yang Jeongin or Seungmin to cheer on Hyunjin instead.

You really didn’t get it. Of course, fifteen was the time when some, if not all, parts of your day were starting to become dedicated to vanity and all the artificial things in life to attract kind of puppy love in school but at this point Jisung always wore the same green hoodie, red Supreme cap, and white ‘Eyez on You’ shirt to every school function that didn’t require wearing a uniform.

You understood how your classmates suddenly began fawning over Hyunjin right after the summer when he got his braces removed and then Seungmin for bringing a suit and tie one time for an inter-school debate but the hype over Jisung suddenly bringing in his guitar to class breaks everyday and re-emerging as a star soccer and baseball player throughout the school year is an absolute mystery to you. That or, maybe compared to your junior high peers, you’re just as used to him at this point than they all are. In your perspective, the only legitimate thing he has going on is how he always seems to beat you in most Arts subjects and how annoying it is that he always makes sure to rub that in your face. 

“I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t shower properly right after training.” You shook your head disapprovingly at Eunha during the game. Soccer is an interesting sport for surprisingly bringing you up to stand and cheer at some moments, you’ll give it that, but watching Jisung get cocky and interact to the crowd whenever his team scored a point was somehow cringe-worthy to watch. “And I’m so sure he still doesn’t clean that soccer ball of his right after practice. You deserve better, sis.”

But no matter how much you talked shit about him throughout the entire game, Eunha still held onto the box of handmade candies she coerced you into picking up from Jisung’s favorite candy shop on the weekend prior and cheering him on with the slogan she made herself. It would’ve looked cute and sweet to you if it was some other guy but it’s Jisung—the guy who pushed you off a swing, pulled your hair, stole candy from you, and made all of your elementary after-school rides home an actual rollercoaster—and you would never wish his treatment of you to any other person ever.

“You said that was in elementary, Y/N.” Eunha chuckled softly, nudging your elbow before a sour expression could completely overtake your face. “Surely he’s outgrown that girls have cooties phase every boy had then.”

“No, it’s Jisung and I refuse to believe it.”

You really didn’t want to believe it with your natural instinct to see Jisung as the bane of your existence. What’s worse is that Eunha was right and Jisung shyly accepted the Saturday movie date at the mall that she came up with on the spot when he surprisingly received the candies well, a complete stretch from the Jisung who would’ve lied about being busy or tricked your friend into doing something else altogether. Suddenly, it was selfishly annoying that you’re the only one he actually tortures the life out of.

“Told you.” Eunha giggled throughout the drive back to your house. Your mother picked you up from school right after the soccer game for a sleepover you insisted was a must whether or not your friend scored her Valentine’s Day date. “Ah, I’m glad he accepted. I was a nervous wreck there! You don’t happen to know what kind of movie he likes, do you?”

You never heard the end of it from her for the remainder of the semester. The two were never official—middle school just didn’t have that solid idea of significant others, then—but they did went on numerous ‘dates’ almost every weekend that followed Valentine’s Day. Naturally, Eunha would tell you all about it. 

“He’s so sweet and caring and thoughtful!” The girl endlessly gushed out to you so genuinely you would’ve been happy had you not been sincerely expecting a major fuck-up from Jisung. Nothing romantic really did come out of these dates, even Jisung surprisingly swears by it, but they did become really close friends after and as Jisung’s only other female friend at the time, you can clearly see a point of comparison between his different treatment of you. “Though, I’m gonna give it to you that he is annoying sometimes but he does know a lot of good places to hang out around town for someone who’s been away for two years!” 

“He does the bare minimum for everything, Eunha. I could barely call it sweet.” You scoffed unamused. 

Age sixteen. In the summer after the tenth grade, an upperclassman from school by the name of Lee Minho started volunteering at the same local shelter you’ve been under since elementary after surrendering a lost cat to you while he and Jisung were playing baseball at the nearby park. 

He adopted Dori in the end but prior to finalizing the adoption papers, he actually made the effort to come in at your MWF schedule to help around and see the dark grey kitten. To you, it was endearing and thoughtful since you didn’t have much active co-workers at the shelter your age but to Jisung, it was slightly inconveniencing how Minho would cut off their play-time to see the cat. He even thought Minho had a crush on you and vice versa but you knew that Minho liked one of his own closer friends. 

“Jeoyeon?” Minho scoffed, crouching down next to you one time as you watched over the new litterbox of kittens eating with Dori on your feet. Crossing his arms over his knees, he shook his head and chuckled, “They’re cool and we’ve been friends for a long time but I’m sure they have a big fat crush on Bang Chan. Something happened after their McDonald’s date after our prom, I’m telling you!” 

“No, not Jeoyeon! I meant Bora!” You argued back with a laugh, picking up a white kitten that wanders off to your feet and lifts its body up cutely for a lift. Gingerly pressing the kitten to your shoulder, you then turned to Minho and continued, “The one who came by the other day to see Dori with you. Aren’t you guys rooming together in college?” 

Minho clutched his chest dramatically at this, shaking his head with a comical conviction. “What?! How could you accuse me of that, Y/N? Bora’s from a different cheerdance team! That would be like sleeping with the enemy!” 

You rolled your eyes, knocking him off of his balance by elbowing his sides. “Ya, I didn’t say that, you did!” You scoffed at him, sighing when he laughs off landing on his butt before sitting up in a crisscross position. “Anyway, don’t you like her?” 

“If I don’t like her, we wouldn’t be making all these plans to move in together for college, stupid.” Minho snickered, earning him another elbow jab from you. “Well, what do you want me to say? You asked me if I like her, you didn’t ask me how exactly I like her.” 

"Okay then, you wise wise person: how do you like Bora?” You sighed dryly, plopping down on the ground at feeling your ankles starting to ache from crouching. The kitten on your arm then jumped down to your lap, circling your legs a few times before finding a comfortable position to sleep in. “You know, the more you visit here with this kind of sarcasm, the more I’m starting to understand where Seungmin and Jisung are suddenly getting all of their newfound sassiness from.” 

Minho chuckled next to you, picking up Dori for himself once he saw him finish eating before hugging the kitten gently to his cheek. “Bora’s...someone I’d probably punch a guy in the team for if they ever disrespect her. I mean, I’d punch a guy for Dahyun, Jeoyeon, and Jihyo, too, of course, but Bora’s in the same sport where she’s always getting lifted in the air and touched by who knows who and now that we won’t be in the same team, I feel even more responsible for keeping an eye out for her.” He shrugged casually, ignoring the way your jaw just dropped at how naturally he explained himself. “Plus, it took a lot of convincing to get her to be my roommate so I can’t really have her dying under my care in the next four years.” 

“I—” You furrowed your brows in thought, pursing your lips in a pout. “Wow, I’m jealous.” 

“Then get on my good side, Y/N.” Minho winked with a laugh, holding Dori in front of you. “Let me take this baby home at the end of the summer.” 

You rolled your eyes again at this, shaking your head. “No, I mean...I hang out with Jeongin, Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Jisung and they aren’t really the most well-versed boys on treating girls properly.” 

“That’s why you hang out with me. We all know that Hyunjin just can’t say no to anyone who offers him a slightly more expensive bouquet of flowers, Seungmin’s in a relationship with baseball and academics, and Jisung...Jisung’s just dumb in general.” Minho then pointed out with a somehow knowing tone, smirking when a familiar figure passes by the hallways right behind you. “Speaking of...” 

Jisung joined you and Minho after, making sure to sit in between the two of you and drowning himself in as many kittens who wanted to sit on his lap as much as he can. “Dude, you shouldn’t have left early!” He scolded Minho with a pout and a slightly breathless tone from running all the way from the park. “Seungmin joined us today and he completely wiped out Sunwoo’s team!” 

“Then even more reasons to come here early so you guys could play with Seungmin on your team.” Minho laughed, gently handing Dori over to you from across Jisung before standing up and dusting the lint off of his jeans. “Y/N needed help with feeding the cats and puppies today, anyway.” 

Jisung frowned, turning to you after and asking, “Don’t you have any other co-workers around here?”

“Jeno has allergies so I don’t let him in here on most days.” You shrugged, handing Minho the empty pet bowls nearest to you as he proceeded to clean and collect them. “I can do it myself, you know. It’s just that Minho comes over and insists.” 

“Then you should’ve just told him that so we can play longer.” 

“Why is it a big deal? Do you like Minho?” 

“Do you?” Jisung’s eyes widened, almost getting scratched by a random cat in the process. “Because...because that’d be gross, to be honest...”

At this moment, your eyes accidentally met Minho’s right behind Jisung and the older boy had the audacity to wink at you before sprinting out of the room with a thumbs up above his head. 

In the end, you shrugged and answered, “I like him.” 

“What?!” Jisung sat up so quickly he almost scared a bunch of kittens walking all over his chest into jumping away.

“I’d be a psychopath if I don’t like him but let him volunteer around here, dumbass.” You deadpanned, moving the kittens around him to a safer space on the floor. “Besides, you asked me if I like him, not how I like him.” 

“What the fuck does that even mean?” 

Minho had a whole laugh out of eavesdropping from this conversation that he felt bad and actually adjusted his schedule for volunteering and playing soccer better so ‘Jisung would have one less thing to whine about all the time.’ 

Age seventeen. You and Jisung tried convincing your respective parents that going to prom as a group is the more practical and actually trendy thing to do but your mothers wouldn’t have it. Ultimately, the two of you ended up lying that you’re going as each other’s dates. 

You initially planned on begging to Seungmin until he pulled up balloons, roses, and a song number to his lab partner right on the lunch break that you planned on doing it and, of course, you had enough dignity to not fall in line with the countless of students that basically worshipped Hyunjin’s locker as if it were a shrine. 

Jisung, with Eunha already set on going with someone else she started dating at the beginning of the 11th grade school year, was the convenient choice. Your parents knew each other, he knows someone (his older brother) who can drive, and he’s recently gotten over his Emo-Hypebeast wardrobe phase after joining the school’s radio club with Chan and Changbin. With some convincing (read: an elaborate PowerPoint Presentation he made you do on the spot during one of your lunch breaks), the two of you decided that you would take all the photos your respective mothers wanted, carpool to the hotel, then go on your separate ways until his brother picks the two of you up at the end of the night. 

It was a simple and fool-proof plan, one that you almost forgot when you rented an emerald green and gold prom attire then Jisung’s mother told you right after about hearing her son trying to order a purple callalily boutonniere that clearly did not match your taste nor your colors (you sorted this out by cancelling the order and taking matters into your own hands). Then, the most awkward photo op at your house happened. 

“Sungie, put your arm around Y/N!” 

“Y/N, stop slouching, you’re going to wrinkle your outfit!” 

You were never serious-looking in any photos that had Jisung in it as well, preferring to pose like the two of you planned on murdering each other right after the photos instead, but your respective moms were holding your Instax camera and the family film cameras across the living room in this particular situation and so you reluctantly kept it inside. Straightening up your shoulders and elbowing Jisung to at least wrap an arm over your shoulder, you held up smiles right next to your red rose corsage and boutonniere set until the two women were eventually satisfied with their photos. 

“Aah, you two really make a cute couple!”

“Mom, we’re not a couple!” Jisung whined, glaring at you after which you immediately returned with the same expression.

“God, I’d sell all my limbs first before we actually become a couple.” You deadpanned back at him.

Fortunately, Jisung’s older brother allowed the two of you to basically try and throw each other out of the car windows on the thirty-minute ride to the hotel venue in compensation. You almost had him by the neck and he almost ruined your hair that you spent hours curling until Hyunjin pulled you back with a smack to your head and dragged the two of you away to help in the Prom Committee’s final preparations since Jisung was going to perform with Changbin and you were a part of the Prom’s Logistics team. 

You mostly stayed out of each other’s hairs for most of the first part of the program as you were busy pulling everything together while Jisung was having the time of his life with the soccer and basebal teams. The next time you bumped into each other, you scolded him for running late to his and Changbin’s set after dinner. 

“Where were you?!” You mostly hit him in the back with your clipboard, frantically passing him his already set up electric guitar and a microphone. First, one of your peers got drunk too early in the dinner to help out in the program, then one of the event’s award sashes briefly went missing and, not to mention, a lot of the people from the other committees somehow forgot about their event tasks when you asked in the main groupchat. You really weren’t having anyone’s antics at this point. “Geez, we already practiced this!” 

“Ow, ow, ow! Stop hitting me! Why are you so on edge?” Appropriately, he whined in complaint and took a step back after receiving his equipment, holding his hands up in defense as he always does. “Cut me some slack, Y/N! It’s prom!” 

“You’re so late when your table is literally right next to the side of the stage!” 

“I was dancing with everyone else! You wouldn’t know since you wouldn’t even take a break!” 

“Because I’m busy!” 

“No, you’re just being more irritable than usual!” 

“Fuck you, Han Jisung.” You rolled your eyes with an exasperated sigh, coldly directing him to the stage. “You’re on, get on the stage.” 

You knew he didn’t mean it cruelly, especially when his pupils started to shake and his shoulders instinctively slumped as he glanced back at you right before reluctantly stepping up the star-filled stage, but you were too tired of having to run around and making the event perfect for most of the night to process anything, much less his usual jabs at you. Being in such a tired headspace, you couldn’t enjoy his songs no matter how undeniably great they were, much less meet his eyes when you knew how he kept glancing at you throughout the entire set. 

He even covered your favorite song on the spot (which surprised Changbin and had Hyunjin running around backstage to inform everyone of the sudden extension) but you already sat down on your shared table with Hyunjin, Seungmin, Eunha, and their dates before he could even begin singing the chorus.  

“Hey, you good?” Minjung, Eunha’s date, asked you with an offering of an extra shawl to cover your exposed shoulders from the nearby air-conditioning unit. Eunha had previously left to go to the bathroom after stopping by your shared table. “Y/N, I told you if you needed extra help with the program, you could’ve just told us. We just planned on dancing tonight, anyway.” 

“I’m good.” You grumbled in a half-lie, resting your chin on your propped up hand tiredly, mumbling a small ‘thank you’ for the shawl as you fought away your tiredness. “I think I’ll just sit the rest of Prom out. Hyunjin can run the program on his own.” 

Minjung frowned, sitting down next to you and fixing the loose strands on the haphazard ponytail you managed to pull up in the middle of the program. “Are you sure? Eunha and I can stay with you until you’re feeling better. Besides, the program’s still long, you deserve to enjoy your hard work later at least.” 

Stubbornly, you simply scrunched up your nose and shook your head. “I think I’ve had enough of prom for one night. You should go and dance more, though. I’m okay as long as you guys are having fun.” 

But equally as headstrong as you are, Minjung got Eunha in on convincing you to agreeing to one dance with them as soon as she came back from the bathroom, reasoning out that, “We can stay in the back and just dance silly! It’s prom!” 

The pair proved themselves to be unstoppable in their joint persuasiveness when they got you to stand up and actually join them at the next set, right as Jisung was about to approach you to apologize. The poor boy ended up waiting the entire night until the two of you were alone instead, shivering right next to each other at the lobby while waiting for his brother to pick you two up. 

“Why did you even pick out something off-shoulder? I get that it’s trendy these days but you picked the venue knowing it’s cold and didn’t even connect a few dots there.” He hissed lowly, contemplating on teasing you further or keeping it quiet until he can muster up a ‘sorry’ to you. Shrugging off his jacket, he then gently draped it over your shoulder and added, “Don’t catch a cold or something...your mom’s going to kill me.” 

“Shut up.” You hissed back, crossing your arms further in over your chest as you spotted his brother’s car approaching the lobby’s driveway. You didn’t remove his coat from your back, though, clutching it tightly instead while convincing yourself that he willingly gave it to you so there’s no reason for you to throw it back at him when you really needed it. “ You don’t even do nice things for me.”

The familiar words visibly caught him off-guard, almost foiling his plan of opening the door for you as he freezes in his steps but he regains composure in time and almost trips ahead to swat your hand away from the car’s door handle. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled in the awkward silence, gulping down his fears of your death glare as he briefly averted his gaze away from you. With this, he missed the way your gaze softened. “There’s candies in the pockets.”

And there was, coincidentally enough the same brand he tried stealing from you on your school field trip.

“These aren’t expired, right?” You chuckled, popping a chocolate in your mouth anyway. 

That was enough for Jisung to relax his shoulders and laugh along. “No, promise.” He held a hand up as if he was swearing by his words, easing you into another fit of laughs. “I ran all the way to the convenience store down the block to get you those tonight! I felt really bad...I didn’t mean it.”

He could be sweet if he wanted, you’d give him that. 

“I’m sorry too.” You whispered to him at the end of the night, right after scoffing at him for insisting to walk you all the way to your doorstep of course. “I was so stressed with managing everything that I took it out on you.” 

Standing awkwardly with you right in front of your house’s front door, the sheepish boy rubbed the nape of his neck and shrugged. “Nah, I think I deserve it. I do annoy you a lot, don’t I?” He chuckled, eyes trained to the ground. “I didn’t even ask you to one dance.” 

“Not like you actually had to, we’re no—” 

“But you were still technically my date and I don’t want to be a bad prom date, even to you!” He insisted anyway, only then looking up at you. “I’ll make it up to you in the distant future, okay? Reserve me your next dance in the distant future, no matter where it is!”  

Before you could even retort, he was already running back to his brother’s car. 

Age eighteen and a half. Jisung began dating a girl named Haneul whom he met in one of his general classes and didn’t have one single clue about baseball or soccer. Naturally, his entire friend group was concerned. 

Though you’re much civil friends now, you still didn’t really care. Or maybe you didn’t want to out of spite (or a really really weird and displaced feeling of jealousy?), you weren’t sure. You just thought that Jisung can do whatever he wants even when it’s something that’s generally not advisable when you’re a freshman in college, but it seemed as if it was all Jeongin talked to you about whenever the two of you met up to study for one of your shared classes so naturally you forced yourself to take in all of the gossip. What’s worse is that Hyunjin would come over often to loiter around the library and gawk at the cute student librarian, ultimately encouraging the younger boy to talk about it more. 

“You’re being unfair to her.” You always reminded the two, sometimes Seungmin when he would sit quietly in the middle of the topic and say nothing to defend Haneul. In this particular time, Jeongin took you to watch the baseball team’s Wednesday scrimmage after hours of studying your nursing notes together at the nearby library. “Like, look, I don’t even do any sports myself but you guys hang out with me.” 

“But you’re different, you’re not dating any one of us.” Hyunjin snickered, hugging his helmet to his chest as he sat a step below you on the bleaches. When a thought then crossed his mind, he dramatically gasped over his gloves and added, “Wait, does that mean you have a crush on someone? Is it me?” 

You smacked him in the head with your hand, rolling your eyes after. “You know what I mean.” 

Next to you, Jeongin mustered up a shrug as he tried getting an injured Kira to sit back down on her seat. Your stubborn best friend, after playing at an underground derby game on the weekend prior, kept on moving around because sitting down with her injuries made her uncomfortable. “But at least you make an effort for us even if it’s just small.” He reasoned out, huffing tiredly when Kira finally sits down and promises not to move for the next five minutes. You would’ve helped him but personally you thought he deserved to suffer alone after letting her go out despite her injuries today. “Haneul got dragged by Jisung to watch last week’s scrimmage and didn’t even last a set. She just left in the middle of the game—literally!”

“He made Jisung skip on my derby game to too!” Kira pouted, waving her bandaged hands frantically in the air. “I’m personally offended, Y/N!”

“And she doesn’t seem to like talking to us in general.” Hyunjin shrugged in conclusion. “Like, sports aside, she’s a bit rude and nonchalant when she talks to us in general especially when Sung isn’t around. It’s a bit sus to me.” 

“To be fair, Kira, I wouldn’t be going too if you and Yeji aren’t so insistent on it. It’s so worrying seeing the two of you get hurt.” You pointed out before averting your attention to Jeongin once more. “And Jeongin, you know the only reason I can’t leave baseball and soccer games these days is because you and Seungmin are usually my ride home.” You scoffed. “If I could, I’d be hanging out with Felix more and only going to Kira’s games. Ya, why is he even allowed to skip games and I’m not, anyway?”

“Because he’s taking classes and training with the cheerdance squad until 8 PM and as far as I’m concerned, you’re free after 12 noon like me!” Jeongin simply grinned at you, earning himself a glare. “Also, I need you here with me as the medic team. You know I’ll panic alone!” 

Fortunately, no one ever actually gets injured at any of the games regardless if they were formal or not. By the time the game has finished, you were reminding Kira to rest more at her dorms and sprinting out of the baseball field to the samgyeopsal place the team promised to treating dinner at. You completely missed the boys’ conversation on Haneul in the process but you did get free food.

You really didn’t get it. The one time you met Haneul by chance, when you and Felix bumped into the two at the mall near the supermarket, she seemed a bit distant but she could be polite when she wanted to. Of course, it rubbed you the wrong way but you and Felix thought that it was none of your business anyway, given that neither of you are dating her. 

“When the guys walked me out of the baseball field last Wednesday, they did mention something about Jisung aiming for the soccer national team but who knows if they’re exaggerating again or something.” Kira confided in you later that week when the two of you met up over lunch. “Either way, I’d understand. If I were in Jisung’s shoes, I’d feel a little disheartened if someone I really like doesn’t appreciate the things I’m passionate about!”

Still, you simply let your friends sort it out for themselves. “Jisung’s a grown-up, he can figure things out on his own at the end of the day.” You reasoned out. 

Age eighteen and three-fourths. Jisung asked—practically begged—you to go to the movies with him because he and Haneul broke up the week before his birthday after opening up his worries to her. The other ticket was meant to be a surprise for his ex-girlfriend.

From what Jeongin and Felix have gossiped to you on two separate occasions, Haneul apparently didn’t like you and the rest of Jisung’s immediate friend group no matter how many times the boys tried warming up to her and getting to know her over the summer. She didn’t really support Jisung’s passion for sports, too, and mostly just stuck around for the ‘clout of it all’ or however Felix worded it to you. 

“I’d ask Hyunjin but he has a date with that librarian!” Jisung frowned over the phone on the night before the scheduled screening of Weathering with You. Reminiscent of a similar time long ago, he sounded more like he was convincing himself than you. “And Seungmin’s taking care of Kira, Minho and Felix are training, Changbin’s doing God knows what with his finals, Chan has swim training and—and yeah, you know where I’m going with this!” 

You sighed, rolling over on your back in your bed after submitting your online work. “You can ask the baseball team, the soccer team, your Introduction to Musical Theory class, the campus radio club, and—and yeah, you also know where I’m going with this.” 

“Yeah but—but it’d be weird if I just went with anyone or something!” He mumbled under his breath, pausing on the other line to scratch his head in thought. “Come on, it’s not your midterms week yet, right? Can’t you come over and go to the movies with me?”

“You’ll probably strangle me in the dark or something.” You argued next. 

“But it’s free tickets! At least you’re going to die with free tickets!” 

“So you are planning to kill me! I knew it!” You snorted dryly, rolling your eyes. “Seriously, don’t you have anyone else to go with? Why me?” 

Jisung took in a sharp breath in the longest pause you’ve ever heard from the usually rowdy boy. At that moment, only then did you notice the faint sounds of pre-recorded dialogues for soccer arcade games. He must’ve been at the one near his dorm then as he usually was when he was contemplating on something. “I just—honestly, I’m still processing all of this and I don’t want to open up to the guys...and Eunha’s abroad and I’m not that close to Kira or Bora so I thought of you.” 

Now, it was your turn to be speechless. 

“It’s silly, I know.” Jisung continued with an awkward laugh when he didn’t hear anything on your end. “But even when you’re annoying sometimes and you always get angry at me because you always misunderstand, you’ve known me the longest and I know you listen well and you’re always open-minded about things so I thought I’d vent to you, if it’s okay...” 

You finally released a defeated sigh, sitting up properly on your bed as if he was actually in the same room as you. “God, you’re too good at making me feel guilty.” You mused out loud. “Fine, just text me the place and time and no funny business!” 

You met up with Jisung at the nearest shopping center the following night, surprise paper bags of take-out and a mini cake for two to eat at the cinema. 

“I’m only going to be nice to you this time because you just got dumped and it’s your birthday later.” You explained as serious as you can to a giggling and blushing Jisung, handing him the take-out paper bags. Once the dinner meals are in his hands, you then take out the blueberry mini cheesecake from its separate paper bag and set up the candle you brought along with it. “Now, make a wish and get it over with.” 

Jisung’s eyes widened at the pink candle suddenly being pushed up to his face, distracting him from the passersby cooing and making comments at the two of you. “Really?” 

You nodded impatiently, thrusting the cake further up his face. “Yes! Now, blow on your candles or I’ll do it myself and eat the whole thing!” 

Jisung wasted no time blowing the single candle and taking the cake from you as well, jumping up and down in place as he closed the lid carefully and returned it to its paper bag. “Thank you!” He exclaimed gleefully, pulling you to a side hug. “Now, I feel a bit better.” 

“You better.” You frowned back at him, biting down a small smile when his hug lingered on a second longer. “Now, let’s go or we’ll be late to the screening.” 

Fortunately, Jisung didn’t actually tried strangling you in the dark while the movie played since he became busy with eating his dinner and cake as well as crying over the plot. 

Age nineteen. Jisung took you to the arcade inside the shopping center after to vent while scoring kicks at the mini soccer game. 

“Basically, she said—” Score. “—that she felt annoyed that Hyunjin, Minho, Jeongin, and Seungmin were mostly onto her for ‘seeming off’ whenever they met or interacted.” Another score. Standing outside the protective fence, your gaze darted quickly between Jisung and the small net across the long room. “So I said that’s just how those guys are: they’re very curious of new people and make a lot of effort over it so when they feel that the other person’s energy seems off or doesn’t match theirs in any way, they’d worry.”

You nodded along whenever he glanced over to you, agreeing halfheartedly. “Hm, those guys don’t take bullshit, of course...”

“Yeah, right...” Jisung kicked another ball, barely missing the goal as he thinks of what to say next. “Then she started accusing the guys that they don’t like her because she doesn’t do sports which doesn’t even make sense because I know it’s not superficial like that.” He sighed, scoring again. After this particular kick, he then stopped altogether and turned to you. “The guys just feel off that, as someone I’m dating, she doesn’t make enough effort to watch my games or be familiar with the sports I love. It’s not the same thing.”  

“But does she make an effort to listen to your music?” You blurted out of nowhere, surprising not only Jisung but also yourself. 

It just occurred you to on the spot. All this talk about Jisung’s passion for sports had you thinking if Haneul also disliked the one other thing that Jisung was absolutely passionate about: his music. 

And it seemed to have caught him off-guard as it took the boy longer to contemplate on the question. “I—n-no? No...” He furrowed his brows in thought, walking over to you on his side of the chain link fence. “Come to think of it, she never told me what she thought of the songs I used to send her for feedback...”

You nodded, mumbling under your breath, “So much for defending her from everyone last summer...” 

“Hm?” 

“Like, I’d get it if your friends don’t immediately warm up to her because that really does happen in some relationships and it can be remedied over time but not appreciating the things you, the person she’s dating, are passionate about is another thing. If she doesn’t like the things you’re passionate about, then maybe she really isn’t the one you should be with.” You shrugged nonchalantly. “She could be all things nice but if she doesn’t support your own ambitions, other things that make you really happy, then everything else doesn’t mean anything.”

When he doesn’t speak, you allow yourself to continue. “Kira told me that you’re aiming for the national team in either baseball or soccer which is a bit surprising since I know you’re already being sought after for your music even at university so clearly those things are very important to you. Having someone around that doesn’t see that importance enough to make efforts is a bit meaningless in the long run, if you think about it. You...you deserve better, it’s what I’m trying to get at.” 

Still, he wouldn’t speak after everything you said. Instead, the boy just gaped at you from the fence. It definitely unnerved you as time dragged on longer. 

“I let you vent and made my own input on it like you wanted me here to and you just gape?” You tsked through your nervousness, crossing your arms teasingly and leaning over the fence on your side. “Ji, say something.” 

“...thank you.” He finally breathed out before you could complain further, catching you off-guard this time. “I needed that.” 

“What?” 

“This whole thing just made me feel really conflicting feelings.” He confessed, voice lower than usual now as he mirrored your position. “Thank you for listening and telling me what you thought. They definitely made a lot of things clearer.” 

You smiled, shoving him slightly through the fence separating the two of you. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it birthday boy?” You teased, laughing even more when he pouted at your teasing tone. “So? Feel better, then?” 

“A bit, yeah.” He nodded, grinning widely now. “Thanks for tonight, Y/N.” 

“You won’t admit it to my face but I know you’d do the same for me if I annoyed you into it enough.” You shrugged, standing up properly now and walking over to the entrance. “Now, would you let me play? You’ve been at it for twenty minutes, it’s getting tiring watching you.” 

He laughed at this as you joined him in the arcade space, kicking a soccer ball towards you as soon as you came in through the chain entrance. “What? You think you can do better?” 

“I had to watch you all the time after school back then because you were my ride home and Mrs. Han always picked us up late. I’m sure that could amount to something.” 

Age nineteen and a half. For a mandatory community service class, all of your friends signed up to volunteer at an orphanage. 

The majority vote was actually at the shelter you used to volunteer at but your old neighbourhood was too far from the university you were attending and so the most practical option, the orphanage just two blocks away, was the natural next best thing. And from this one semester’s worth of experience, you definitely learned a lot about your friends. 

For one, Hyunjin, Felix, and Jeongin were only popular with kids but only for their looks (additionally, his baking skills for Felix). Whenever you passed by them during volunteer hours, you would often find the three buried underneath a pile of toddlers hitting them with all kinds of toys. Feeling bad, you actually got the orphanage’s matron to assign them to the older kids after a while. 

Seungmin and Kira, on the other hand, were so awkward at first but naturally got into the groove of it. Maybe it’s because they only started dating then and everything was flustering but they surprised you the most with how much they got along with almost all of the kids regardless of age. 

Then, there was Jisung whom almost all of the younger kids practically fought over to play with at the playground. As if it was an inside joke of some sort, it made you laugh the most how the kids would often ask him to push them at the swings. 

“Careful now,” You reminded him once jokingly, elbowing his side as the two of you approached the swing set where the kids were already waiting to get pushed on their respective seats. “don’t want their knees to get scraped or something.”

He simply scoffed at you, shaking his head in disbelief. “I won’t let that happen, not at this age.” 

“So if I asked you to push me on the swings later, you won’t try and kill me this time?” You asked next, waving hello to the children before going around the swing set to gently push them to momentum. Jisung followed suit, making a beeline to his favorite, a toddler named Ara who always asked to be pushed higher on the swings. 

“That’s a trick question because we’re not actually allowed to play here.” He answered matter-of-factly, turning to Ara right after. “Isn’t that right, Ara? Y/N isn’t allowed to play here because she’s an adult, right?” 

The two of you would sit on the swing set and take turns pushing each other when the orphanage staff weren’t looking anyway, giggling amongst yourselves while watching the kids migrate to the jungle gym. 

“You were so annoying when we were kids!” You mostly complained, letting yourself laugh about it now as it was all in the distant past. “You had the ‘girls had cooties’ phase and everything.” 

“Because the boys all said it was true!” Jisung was quick to say in his defense, twisting the chains on his swing around to make himself spin. “And I was seven so of course I’d believe them that easily!” 

“What about when you pushed me from the swings?” 

“We both know that was an accident.” 

“You could’ve secretly held a grudge against me as early as that time! You were so mad when your mom made you buy me snacks!” 

“Because you told your mom that I did it on purpose! I thought you hated me even before that too.” 

“Well, I never hated you before that, just to set the record straight.” You shook your head immediately, turning your swings to the side to face him briefly. “You? Did you ever hate me?”

“Never.” He shook his head back at you in response, equally serious now. “You were annoying at times but that was because I was kinda annoying to you too.”

“What about now?” You asked next, voice unexpectedly wavering at asking such a question and even more when he chuckled at this. 

“You were with me on my what was almost my worst birthday ever just three months ago. What do you think?” He scoffed playfully, returning to his spinning to ease his flustered face. “Besides, we’re like better less-trying to kill each other all the time friends now! We’re even studying together again these days.” 

“We both know you’re only at the library since you’ve been trying to wingman Hyunjin with the librarian and dote on Jeongin like he’s your baby.” 

“What? No, I’m there for you too! Moral support!” 

Age nineteen and three-fourths. Jisung’s older brother invited you along with your parents to his wedding during the Spring break and Jisung immediately jumped on the chance to redeem himself as ‘the best dance partner you ever had.’ 

You didn’t even think he’d remember something he said himself back then. Personally, you thought it was just his guilt from pissing you off or sleepiness from dancing too much at prom that was talking then. But the moment the dance floor was opened at the rather extravagant cherry blossoms-themed wedding, the best man was by your side within seconds after sprinting from his table across the wedding hall. 

“Y/N!” He called to you as he ran to your table shared with all of your friends, your parents, and a few people from your childhood neighbourhood; his obnoxiously loud voice against the jazz music and his hand raised up above his head to wave at you catching a few guests’ attention. “Y/N!” 

Felix was about to ask you to dance after Seungmin and Kira as well as Hyunjin and Jeongin paired up, your hand already up in the air to accept his, but Jisung was quick to swat your hand away from the other boy as soon as he arrived. “Sorry, Lix, I’m afraid I’ll have to steal Y/N away!” He dramatically interrupted in between tired pants, flashing the confused Felix with a sheepish grin. “I owe Y/N a very important dance!” 

“What dance?” You raised a brow, bringing your hand away from his and back to your lap. 

“The one—t-the one I promised you that night a-at prom.” He sighed, finally catching his breath after. “I promised you then, remember?” 

From the corner of your eye, Felix’s eyes lightened up in excitement as he clasped his hands together and cooed. “Aww!” He giggled, making you and Jisung turn to him after. “If that’s the case, then why should I stop you two? I’ll just see if Chan or Changbin aren’t dancing yet!” 

“But Lix!” 

The other boy’s quick to wave his hands to you snappily, shaking his head. “No buts, Y/N! You two go and do that cute promised dance thing you have going on! I’ll be fine!” He assured, much to your protests. “I knew something was going on!” 

“Nothing’s going o—“

“Thanks, Lix! I owe you, dude.” Jisung pats Felix’s shoulder appreciatively, turning to you after and taking your hand once more to pull you up into a stand. “Now, come on! My brother said he has my songs on queue!” 

He whisked you away before you could protest further, taking you to the dance floor just as the music slows down to his own song. “Right on time!” He even exclaimed happily before placing his other hand on your waist. You’ve heard this one before as the one he would always sing at the Open Mic Nights at university. “Now, to make it up to you...” 

Jisung didn’t dance so bad. He was still playful, making it a game between the two of you on who can step on the other’s feet the most when the next songs became more upbeat, but he was serious when he wanted to, sheepishly apologizing that it took him long to make it up to you. 

“I didn’t even remember it until you brought it up tonight.” You assured with a laugh as the song slowed down once more. Without even realizing it, you’ve danced all of the songs in the two-hour setlist with him. “I didn’t think it was important.” 

“Well, it is to me.” He shrugged as nonchalantly as he can, visibly looking nervous towards the end. When you quietly asked him why, his only response was, “Because that night I really realized that even when I liked annoying you, I don’t like pissing you off so much to the point that you hate me.” 

And at that moment you realized that Jisung has some way of catching you off-guard so randomly. “W-What? I mean—” You wanted to joke something along the lines of ‘wow, took you long enough,’ but the words ultimately never came out as Jisung chuckled at your baffled expression. 

“I mean, trying to piss each other off, joking around, competing over studies—those are our things.” He confessed sincerely, unconsciously tightening his grip on your hand as the song progressed. “But I said something that night thinking of it as a joke and not really considering the thought that it would piss you off so much because you were so stressed already. I didn’t like pushing you on edge like that—” 

“You already apologized and everything, it’s all g—” 

“—But most importantly, I really wanted to dance with you then, regardless of the incident.” He breathed out before you could even finish your thought, rendering you speechless for the second time. “Maybe I’ve always liked you then, maybe even before that; either way, I really wanted to have one moment where we weren’t fighting or anything—and, surprisingly, even when we’ve started hanging out better, I still want one. I still like you.” 

You immediately stopped dancing, bumping shoulders with a stranger behind you which Jisung instinctively responded to by pulling your frozen form to the side of the dance floor. You pursed your lips once to speak, only managing to fumble out, “Y-You...you liked me?” 

“I said I like you. Present tense.” He cleared his throat awkwardly, hands dropping to his sides immediately at sensing how tense and awkward the atmosphere suddenly became. “And I like you the way Seungmin dotes on Kira and Minho’s always protective of Bora and Jeoyeon’s been helplessly pining over Chan, those kinds in case you’re going to pull that how exactly do I like you bullshit you learned from Minho before again.”  

“I—r-really?” Was your only response as you tried your best to process this revelation. “You like me? W-Why—why me?” 

He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the nape of his neck. “Yes, Y/N, how many times do I have to repeat myself?” He teased as casually as he could muster with his growing nervousness. “And why you? I don’t know, either, but I think I can start remembering as far back as the time you teased me at the playground that I push like a sissy but didn’t look for another playmate anyway. I’ve always liked you...just a little bit more now that I’m much more sure of a lot of things.” 

It was all so overwhelming, honestly, but you belatedly muster up a laugh as he recalled such a distant memory from you. “Y-You...God, Han Jisung, you’re insufferable!” You mumbled under your breath, hitting him by his arm with one hand while the other covered your mouth. “Why didn’t you say so?” 

“So, does that mean you like me too?” 

“I let you dance with me the entire night. What do you think?” You scoffed playfully, gaze softening as you looked up at his relieved smile and bright eyes. “You did push like a sissy at the playground when we were kids, though.” 

Age twenty. When Minho bought his roommate flowers to their last cheerdance competition and asked her to be his girlfriend, Hyunjin dared you to one-up the upperclassman and wear Jisung’s jersey to his own final game of the year.

“Well, you did give him that talk over dating someone who appreciates the things he loves.” Eunha told you over video call with the rest of your friend group on the day Hyunjin brought up the idea. Before you could even protest and repeatedly assure that you do support everything Jisung does, she was quick to add, “Yeah, I know you do appreciate them but I just think it’s fitting now! He’s been making a lot of effort for you lately and didn’t you say you wanted to do something in return? Maybe you can finally ask him what you’ve been wanting to ask for a while now too...” 

You hated how she was right and very convincing about it. Since the wedding earlier in the year, Jisung has been nothing short of nicer to you. From actually hanging out with you at the library now (and not just to wingman Hyunjin or dote on Jeongin), buying you food randomly, to letting you vent your own worries and unwind from school by playing soccer with you or playing you music with his guitar, he’s been ‘making it up to you’ with quality time and sweet gestures; the only catch is that he hasn’t officially asked you out like he would. 

The two of you aren’t exactly the direct words type of people but it’s still nice to have some sort of affirmation. 

With a few more coaxing on her part combined with Seungmin’s own persuasiveness nagging at you in real time, your friends eventually got Jeongin to steal one of Jisung’s spare soccer jerseys later that day to give to you for his game on the following Saturday. 

To say that Jisung was flustered is an understatement to say the least. Quickly catching you at the very front of the bleachers before the game started, he waved at you and the rest of your cheering friend group shyly, approaching only when the coach gave him permission to. 

“Hey, that’s mine.” He snickered with even more sheepishness at seeing you up close, holding the jersey he wears by its shoulders before gesturing to the identical one you wear. The two of you stand by the stairs leading down to the field, on the side where you aren’t in the way of passing players and staff. “The jersey—maybe the one wearing it too.” 

You held up the bouquet of daisies in your hands close to your face, effectively hiding the heat rising up to your neck. “I bought your favorite flowers too.” You pointed out next before gesturing to your friends sitting around you. “Those smartasses dared me to outdo Minho’s stunt at the cheerdance competition which I still think is dumb since you were in on that one but, hey, it’s the thought that counts, isn’t it?” 

“Just seeing you is already enough.” He added with a flirty wink, making you cringe teasingly. “The jersey’s a really big bonus, though. I think I can score everything on this one because of you.” 

“You better or else this jerseys’ going to be mine now.” 

“I don’t mind.” He shook his head immediately, pulling you closer by the waist in his now ritual good luck hug from you and placing the flowers back on your sides. “I don’t mind calling you mine too.” 

The cheesy pick-up line makes the two of you laugh. Either way, you push yourself to not let go of him too soon. “...ew, Jisung!” You hit his back instead, heaving a sigh of relief anyway before finally pulling away from his hug to send him off. That’s enough confirmation now. “Now, go win this game and get it over with. We’re still on for movies later, right?” 

“Yep.” He assured, patting your head affectionately before boldly leaning closer again for a kiss. “I’m looking forward to it!” 

[lyricalporcupine]

Talking about how much they love the other to friends/family pls 😊

Here ya go! I did both Yasha and Beau and there is a time skip. I also got carried away with Beau’s part so oops lmao

~~~

“You’re such a fucking sap,” Molly cajoled.

Yasha smirked and shoved her friend, causing him to stumble a bit on the street. He laughed as he regained his balance and turned around to face Yasha, walking backwards without regard to the other people.

“It’s true, darling,” he drawled with his own smirk.

Yasha felt herself flush and knew her face was red to the tips of her pointed ears. “She makes me happy,” Yasha said simply with a shrug and soft smile.

“Ugh,” Molly exclaimed, turning with a flourish that allowed Yasha close the small distance between them to allow them to walk side by side again. “Why?”

Yasha’s soft smile grew. “She’s strong. She’s really funny. She’s smart as hell. She’s honest,” Yasha said with a chuckle, “even if it hurts.”

“She’s an asshole,” Molly countered, to which Yasha laughed.

“I like that she’s an asshole,” Yasha said with a shrug.

Molly smirked at her. “You would.”

Yasha bumped his shoulder and he bumped hers in return.

“Anything else,” Molly asked after a few moments. “What else attracts you to the grumpy one?”

Yasha was silent for a while, hands shoved into her coat pockets. She was quiet for so long that Molly figured she wasn’t going to answer. But then, softly, Yasha said, “She makes me feel safe.”

Molly stared up at his friend. He knew exactly what that meant for her and how important it was. He finally realized that, to Yasha, Beau meant something so precious to her. Something Yasha had been looking for for years that Molly himself had tried to give her. Beau, to Yasha, meant home.

He huffed, his breath drifting up in front of him as steam in the cold air. He linked his arm through Yasha’s and pushed into her side. “You love her.” It wasn’t a question.

Yasha gave a small nod. “So much.”

Molly heaved a dramatic sigh. “Does this mean I can’t tease her anymore,” he asked with a pout.

Yasha chuffed. “She’d probably think you were sick if you didn’t bicker.”

“Well I am all about keeping up appearances,” he said with a self important sniffle.

Yasha laughed outright. “You’re an asshole,”’she said with all the affection she could muster for the tiefling. Which was quite a lot.

“Yes, I am,” he agreed happily. Then he smiled up at her. “But you like assholes. Remember?”

Yasha smirked down at him before kissing him on his horn. “Yes, I do.”

~~~~~~

It was a rare event that Beau visited her parents. She hated doing it, mostly because of her father. But she went, at least once a month, just to see TJ. Beau’s disdain for her parents wasn’t his fault and Beau hoped, that by spending time with him that he wouldn’t pick up their shitty attitude. As the years trudged on, TJ, thankfully, didn’t seem to be anything like their father.

Instead, much to their parents’ chagrin, TJ had instead picked up his sister’s mannerisms, quick wit, and snark. And as a pre-teen, it was only getting worse. Or better, if you asked Beau, who encouraged him.

Despite this, their parents would allow TJ to visit his sister for a week or so, mainly during the summer while school was out. He’d pack a bag and all but run to her car when she showed up and throw himself at her.

Now they sat on the floor of Beau and Yasha’s living room, playing a racing game TJ brought with him. They were neck and neck, tied in their wins. This was the last race and as

Beau was poised for a victory, Yasha walked out of the bedroom and kissed the top of Beau’s head, which caused her to completely forget the game and crash into a wall as she turned her attention to her fiancé.

“I’m meeting Molly,” she said as she checked her purse. Yasha wore a sun dress, something she didn’t often wear, and turned to smile at Beau and TJ when he turned to look at her after crossing the finish line. “I’ll be back later. I was thinking burgers for dinner?”

TJ’s face lit up. “And milkshakes,” he asked hopefully.

Yasha smiled and walked over to ruffle his slightly curly and very shaggy hair. “Only if you let Beau win,” Yasha teased.

“Oh, nevermind then,” he said and turned back to the tv.

“You little asshole,” Beau said with a laugh.

“Beau!”

“What,” Beau asked defensively. “He knows I’m kidding!”

“I know she’s kidding,” TJ echoed.

Yasha sighed and bent to kiss Beau. “Behave,” she said as she headed for the door.

An echo of “No!” followed her out the door.

Beau and TJ smiled at each other as he picked a new game and Beau set her controller aside, content to watch him play.

“Dad says you’re engaged,” TJ said as he got up and shuffled through his games. He looked over at Beau as she relocated to the couch.

“Yuppers,” she replied. “I was gonna talk to you about that, actually.” She smiled at him and asked, “Want to be a ring bearer?”

“I can’t be your best man,” he asked with a grin.

Beau laughed and raised up her arm, flattening her hand, palm down. “Sorry, you gotta be be at least this tall.”

He glared and flipped her off. She only laughed harder which caused him to smile. “Sure, I can be a ring bearer.”

“Excellent,” Beau said. “Yasha will be thrilled I finally asked.”

“When’s the wedding,” he asked as he finished picking a game and came to sit beside his sister, picking up his controller on the way.

“Next fall,” Beau answered. “Yasha likes the colors.”

“Neat,” TJ replied. “You and Yasha have been together a long time.”

Beau chuckled. “You sound like my friends. They think it’s overdue.”

TJ shrugged. “Maybe they’re right.”

Beau shrugged back. “Eh, we got there in the end. All that matters.”

“You inviting Dad,” TJ asked.

“Well if you and Mom are gonna be there, kinda have to invite the old man, too,” Beau said.

“I could accidentally on purpose break his leg so he has to stay home,” TJ offered.

Beau laughed. “Then you and Mom would have to stay home and take care of him.” She gave him a sideways smile. “Thanks for the offer, though, little brother.”

“Anytime,” he said with a laugh. “So, who asked who?”

Beau smiled and flashed her left hand and waggled her fingers until TJ turned to look at the small blue diamond on her ring finger. “She did.”

TJ looked at the ring then up at is sister. “She has poor taste.”

Beau’s mood fell a bit. “Like you’re some ring expert.”

“Not the ring,” he said. “You.”

Beau made a squawking noise and shoved TJ’s shoulder. “Fuck you!”

He laughed as he fell onto his side. “Fuck you, back!” He never paused in his game.

TJ eventually sat back and smiled. “So,how did you know?”

“How did I know what,” Beau asked.

“How did you know she was ‘the one,’” he asked, laying his controller down to air quote.

Beau smirked. “Really want to know? It’s sappy shit.”

TJ shrugged. “I mean. I did ask.”

“Fair.” Beau repositioned herself and draped her leg over the couch arm. “I always thought she was hot, ya know?”

“She is very pretty,” TJ cut in.

Beau smirked. “I’ll be sure to tell her you said that.”

TJ whipped around to face Beau, his dark skin turning darker with a blush. “Don’t you fucking dare!”

Beau laughed and gently nudged him. “Don’t be a shit and maybe I won’t.” TJ pouted at her and Beau laughed harder. “Anyway. She’s always been hot. And she’s sweet as hell. A literal fucking angel, ya know?”

TJ was nodded like he did, in fact, know.

“But there was a moment, so fucking small, that sealed the deal,” Beau said with a dreamy sigh.

“What was it,” TJ asked, finally pausing his game and turned to Beau, wholly focused on her and the story now.

“We’d been dating for a few months,” Beau continued. “And while out doing some errands, we decided, on a whim, to stop at this antiques store. Nothing there caught my eye,” Beau said before quickly standing and heading over to a bookshelf next to the tv. It held books, of course, but also a few knick knacks. Beau reached for a small clay figurine of a dog, one of a set of five, and turned back to TJ.

“She bought this set of dog figures,” Beau said, a dopey grin on her face. “She had been so excited to have found them. As excited as if they’d been real dogs.” Still holding the figure, Beau walked back over to the couch and sat down and handed the dog to TJ to look at. “You don’t really remember, cause you were still pretty little, but Yasha used to be really standoffish. She was quiet and didn’t talk much.” Beau smiled at her brother. “You fell in love with her immediately, nearly forgetting all about me when we came to visit.”

TJ blushed at Beau’s words.

Beau smiled warmly at him. “That was one of the first times she really came out of her shell.” Beau’s eyes slid shut as she recalled the memory, a large grin on her face. “She was so beautiful in that moment.” Beau’s eyes opened but she didn’t seem to really see TJ in front of her, still lost in her memories. Then she blinked and her eyes focused. “It was one of the cutest fucking things I’d ever seen. The way she lit up, little brother. Brighter than the sun.

“That’s when I knew I would spend the rest of my life with her.”

She smiled at her brother, who simply stared back. He finally handed back the clay dog and nodded. “You were right.”

Beau took the figure and cradled it to her chest. “About what?”

“It really was sappy shit.” Then he smiled at her.

Beau launched from her spot and tackled him, lightly pinching his shoulder as she sat on him.

They eventually came apart, laughing and sweaty from their tussle. Beau put the figure back on the shelf, grateful it didn’t break, and sat back on the couch. TJ went back to his game and they were content in their silence.

Finally TJ said, “I’m really happy you have Yasha. And I’m happy she has you, too.”

Bea smiled and ruffled TJ’s hair. “And I’m happy you’re here, too. We both love you.”

“Ugh,” TJ groaned. “Stop.”

Beau laughed and turned back towards the tv, happy with how her life had shaped up to be.

[1tsnoya]

I love ur account I love all of ur work and it really makes my day ! Can u write a HC with kageyama, Tsuki, Tanaka & Noya and how they act when they’re super jealous? Maybe another guy from another team they’re playing against is hitting on u ???

💕💕💕💕 UR SO SWEET BABEY :’) mwah here u go!

✧･ﾟjealous boyfriend ✧･ﾟ headcanons

pairings: kageyama x reader, tsukishima x reader, tanaka x reader, nishinoya x reader

warning: i didn’t proofread it’s 3:30am hehe pls don’t mind

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* :･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

kageyama

↳ baby finally asked you to come to one of his games

↳ of course you were excited, how could you not be ?

↳ so when you went, you made sure to get a good seat

↳ which so happened so be next to some guy from your english class

↳ “(y/n)! right? english class?”

↳ you greeted them so that you wouldn’t be rude

↳ and then the set began

↳ kageyama’s eyes were looking all over the gym for you

↳ and when he finally spotted you... some rando was trying to scoot closer to you

↳ HIS ENTIRE MOOD DID A 180

↳ his eyebrows were furrowed, he was biting his lip, and his eyes were shifting back and forth to you and this guy

↳ you were trying to brush them off but holy shit they would not stop talking

↳ and when a timeout was called, you finally dropped the bomb — “haha yeah.. i’m um actually here for my boyfriend !”

↳ and ofc this dude goes, “oh really? is he on the bench or..?”

↳ so you pointed over to where kags was.. one hand holding or crushing his water bottle with steam basically coming out of his head, just eyeing you two, and waved to him with a smile

↳ so the person hitting on you kinda had a realization like oh shit and scooted away

↳ after the game, tobio rushed over to you, all grumpy n shit like, “who was that guy??”

↳ and you made sure to tell him that you told ‘that guy’ that your boyfriend was the best setter ever

↳ he got all flustered hsjsjhs but he still gets grouchy whenever he sees that guy

↳ and next time he saw him when you were around, he just grabbed your hand and dIPPED-

tsukishima

↳ he asked to meet up with you at the end of the school day

↳ you were due for a date so you told him that you’d definitely be there

↳ and when the end of the day came, you rushed over to your meeting spot

↳ but he wasn’t there :(( so you texted him

↳ “hey you okay?”

↳ “yeah sorry. i was tutoring smh”

↳ then another message, “i’m omw now. be there in 5”

↳ so while you were waiting, you leaned against a wall and put some headphones in your ear

↳ and then someone stopped in front of you...

↳ you took out the headphones and were left to hear the worst flirting in the world

↳ he wouldn’t even let you speak, he just kept going and going and going

↳ you tried to tell him that you had a boyfriend but he would. not. stop. rambling.

↳ a few minutes passed and tsuki was almost at your spot

↳ he saw this all go down from where he was standing... and was uhm... annoyed to say the least

↳ he was very annoyed he was pissed off-

↳ so he walked quicker and then popped up behind you, tbh he caught you off guard

↳ didn’t even say hi, just picked your chin up a bit and kissed you

↳ it was a long and hard kiss... 👀

↳ when he finally pulled away, he just looked at the guy with that smirk

↳ you know THAT smirk

↳ that’ll make ya pussy throb

↳ the guy just silently (and very quickly) walked away lmfao

↳ “hi to you too”

↳ “hi. he looked weird. anyway” he grabbed your hand, “let’s go”

tanaka

↳ you two were out for a lunch date and getting ready to order

↳ and he told you that he’d be right back, he just had to pee super quick

↳ while he was gone, the waiter came by to take your drink orders

↳ the guy taking your order was very nice, maybe even a little too nice

↳ and then he winked at you... sigh

↳ when tanaka stepped out of the men’s room, he noticed how friendly this guy was acting

↳ flames in his EYES bro

↳ this mans SPED WALK back to your table

↳ “oh hi BABE ! are you ready to order yet BABE ?”

↳ he switched from sitting across you to next to you and held your hand while EYEING this waiter

↳ LOL this poor guy got so embarrassed and bowed his head a bit to apologize

↳ “excuse me for one second” HE WALKED AWAY AND ASKED SOMEONE ELSE TO TAKE YOUR ORDER

↳ listen he was super intimidated. it’s canon that tanaka scares people away soo 🤷🏻‍♀️

↳ “yeah that’s right. right (y/n) ! you have a super cool boyfriend right here” he looked at you and just kissed your cheek

↳ “haha yes i do ryu, but don’t make that guys life a living hell!”

↳ “oh i wont...”

↳ anytime he saw that guy come in your direction, he did something affectionate or something to show off that you were his s/o

↳ rip that waiter...

nishinoya

↳ ever since you two started dating, you guys would always meet in the school hallway at a certain time during the day

↳ you would talk before lunch and noya would walk you to your next class, it was one of the longer breaks in between classes so you were good

↳ he was running late one day and you were just looking around the hallway for him

↳ he was on the smaller side but was sUPer quick so you just stayed by your locker to continue waiting, he would be there soon

↳ and then some random person walked by you, “heyy. you look lost, want some uh” he smiled at you weirdly, “help?”

↳ gross

↳ you tried to be polite, “no i’m okay”

↳ he kept INSISTINGGG — “no really. i can take the time out of my day to help you sweetheart”

↳ blegh sweetheart..? really?

↳ “trust me, i’m good”

↳ “i don’t think you are hon-”

↳ and guess who comes bolting up behind you

↳ when noya got close enough, he swung his arm around you

↳ “hi cutie! sorry i was making up a quiz...” he looked at this rando and his face just DROPPED LMFAO

↳ HE GOT ALL ANNOYED “who are you???”

↳ “a friend”

↳ “oh cool you’ve probably heard of me right? i’m (y/n)’s boyfriend” cue the shit eating grin of his

↳ “oh really..?”

↳ noya just got PISSED lol

↳ “oh yes. really” he just turned back to you and gave you a quick peck on the lips

↳ “cya!” he waved back to this guy and held your hand again, just walking down the hallway

↳ “if i ever see him again i’m going to beat the shit out of hi-”

↳ yeahhh you try to avoid that guy now LOL

[reinerispretty]

rotations. (zuko x f!reader) pt19

hello hello hello! i hope you guys liked that last chapter :) thank you so much for reading and i hope you have a great day!! pls share if you can :)

pt1

pt18

pt20

(Y/N) hugged each and every one of her friends as tightly as she could. What they had all been preparing for over the past year had finally been achieved. There was still more work to do, but it made her heart swell knowing that they had each brought fantastic change into the world. 

The sun shined through the tall windows, rousing (Y/N) from her slumber. She groaned and turned over in her bed, throwing her arm over her eyes. A knock came from outside of her door. 

“Miss (Y/N)!” One of the servants called. 

“Five more minutes,” (Y/N) grumbled, sinking further into the comfortable sheets and pillows. After sleeping on the ground for almost a whole year, she found it nearly impossible to get out of her bed in the mornings. 

“You instructed me last night that if you said five more minutes, I shouldn’t back down. Today is Prince Zuko’s coronation day.” 

(Y/N) eyes popped open and she sat up quickly, sliding out of bed. She threw on her robe and stumbled over to the wardrobe. “I’m getting ready now, I’ll be out in a bit! Is the prince up yet?” 

“No, Miss.” 

“Fantastic! I’ll wake him up today, alright?” 

“Yes, Miss.” She heard the servant’s footsteps travel down the hall. (Y/N) flung open her wardrobe to pick out the outfit she had chosen for this day. It was a traditional formal Fire Nation outfit: a maroon colored dress with dark, pointed shoulder pads. She dressed and tied her hair back in a topknot, letting the rest flow down her back. Her arm bandages only barely peeked through the sleeves of her dress. 

She exited her room and walked down the hall. It had been a few days since her fight with Azula and it was surprising how different everything already was. The last time (Y/N) was in the Fire Nation Royal Palace, she was a young girl. She had been in Zuko’s room, begging him not to partake in his first Agni Kai. Back then, the walls had been filled with anger and secrets. Now, as she walked through the halls of the palace, everything felt oddly new. It was like the end of the war had changed the entire atmosphere. 

Since her return to the Fire Nation, (Y/N) had taken on the role of being Zuko’s chief advisor. After the defeat of Ozai and Azula, both she and Zuko weren’t quite sure who in the Fire Nation they could really trust. So, (Y/N) had decided to take matters into her own hands. She had been to the palace frequently enough over the past few years to be able to pretend that her presence required respect. When Zuko had too much on his plate, she was there to make the decisions that reflected his and the nation’s best interests. It made her happy to know that she was making a positive change, especially when her best friend was at her side. 

She walked all the way across the palace, to the Fire Lord’s chambers. She knocked loudly against the door and waited for any sounds. When she heard nothing, (Y/N) pulled open the heavy wooden doors and found Zuko still fast asleep. 

“Up and at em! It’s coronation day!” She shouted, taking a pillow from underneath his head and hitting him with it. Zuko groaned in protest, flipping over on his stomach to hide his face. 

“I don’t think this is the way to treat a Fire Lord,” he grumbled into his sheets. (Y/N) began pulling at his legs. 

“Well, it’s a good thing you won’t be Fire Lord until later today.” She pulled again, letting out a grunt before giving up. “You ask me to stay in the Fire Nation with you to help you bring back peace and now you won’t even listen to me when I try to do it!” 

“How is waking me up early bringing back peace?” 

“It brings peace of mind to me knowing that you won’t sleep through your coronation.” She placed her hands on her hips. “I don’t have all day but I’ll cancel whatever I have to do in order to get you out of bed. Would you like me to sing you a song?” 

Zuko sat up quickly, holding his arms up in defense. “That won’t be necessary! You can leave now!” (Y/N) grinned and walked to the door. 

“Happy coronation day, Fire Lord Zuko,” She said softly. He returned her smile and with that, (Y/N) left to ready the palace for their guests.

Her first stop was the kitchens to ensure that they were preparing enough food for everyone they would be hosting. Representatives from each of the four nations would be coming to celebrate Zuko’s coronation and it was absolutely crucial to both Zuko and (Y/N) that unity be at the forefront of everything they do. So she had invited chefs from the nations to recreate some of their most popular foods. She was sad that she could not invite anyone from the Air Nomads, but she was assured by her chefs that they would try her best to make the culture’s most traditional foods. 

(Y/N) passed by the pots in the kitchens and gagged as she smelled the sea prunes steaming. She absolutely hated them, but she knew they were a Water Tribe delicacy. She just hoped that no one would offer any to her. 

After she stopped by the kitchens, she walked the servants through the timeline of the nights’ events. They would begin with Zuko’s coronation, then the courtyard would quickly be turned into an outside dining area so that everyone could mingle and enjoy themselves. Afterward, she and her friends would have a private celebration with Zuko to celebrate him and his accomplishments. 

“Are you doing my job for me?” (Y/N) paused as she laid out the courtyard blueprints for one of the servants. She turned around and smiled when she saw Zuko, fully dressed in his royal garments. He had pulled his hair back into a topknot that (Y/N) considered to be the cutest thing ever. 

“Someone has to do it while you’re sleeping the day away.” She dismissed the servants, leaning against the table of the meeting room. “What’ve you been up to?” 

“Some council meetings with leaders of the other nations.” Zuko sighed, leaning beside her. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.” 

“We do. But we’ll do it together.” She leaned on Zuko’s shoulder and closed her eyes as he leaned his cheek against the top of her head. Much more had changed than just their place of residence. (Y/N) realized that while she had fought Azula so furiously because of what she had done to Zuko, there was also a deeper reason of why she was so angered. As she watched Zuko lying on the ground, practically dying, she realized that everyone had been right. The feelings that she felt for Zuko surpassed friendship. She loved him and she had loved him for a very long time. 

It was unfortunate that it had taken her until he was mortally injured to realize it, but better late than never, she supposed. 

She was scared to tell him though, which baffled her. She had fought for her life on multiple occasions, survived prison, and defeated one of the most powerful benders in the entire Fire Nation...but she still couldn’t tell her best friend that she was in love with him. 

“Wanna come out to the courtyard with me?” Zuko stood. “Everyone should be arriving soon.” (Y/N) nodded and followed him through the palace and to the steps of the main courtyard. Just as they walked outside, Appa landed in the middle of the courtyard with Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Momo in tow. (Y/N) and Zuko wore bright smiles on their faces as they waved to their friends. The last time she had seen any of them was the day of the comet. While that had only been a few days ago, this was the most time she had spent apart from her friends in a very long time. She ran to the courtyard to greet them as they stepped off of Appa, with Zuko trailing behind. 

(Y/N) hugged each and every one of her friends as tightly as she could. What they had all been preparing for over the past year had finally been achieved. There was still more work to do, but it made her heart swell knowing that they had each brought fantastic change into the world. 

“You look so different,” Sokka exclaimed, admiring her traditional Fire Nation robes. (Y/N) beamed up at him. 

“I used to dress like this all the time before I ran off with you hooligans. Do you guys want a tour? I can’t wait to show you where Zuko and I grew up!” 

“Maybe a little later,” Zuko cut in. “Aang and I have an important meeting to get to.” He gave her an apologetic look. 

“Oh, right,” (Y/N) said, but the excitement didn’t fall from her face. “Very important Fire Lord and Avatar stuff.” She turned back to Sokka, Katara, and Toph. “How about you all come with me to the kitchens? You can taste the food we’ve been preparing and let me know if it’s good enough to serve.” 

“Sounds great!” Toph cheered. “I’m starving. Someone ate all the seal jerky on the way here.” 

All three girls looked at Sokka, who shrugged. “I’m a growing man!” 

(Y/N) led them into the palace. They marveled at the ornate architecture on the inside, and at the portraits of past Fire Lords. Katara halted the group to look at the blank space on the wall of Fire Lords. “What happened here?” 

“We took down the portraits of Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai,” (Y/N) explained. 

“Why?” Toph asked. 

“Zuko and I agreed that we didn’t want our nation to forget its history, no matter how horrible it is. But we also didn’t want to honor those three when all they’ve done was cause pain and suffering.” She pursed her lips as she stared at the empty space. “I’m working on hiring a painter for Zuko, but he’s always so busy.” 

“Are you like Zuko’s assistant now?” Sokka questioned. (Y/N) shrugged. 

“I do the things he doesn’t necessarily have time for, so I guess. Really I just consider myself his friend.” 

“His friend?” Katara asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, Katara, his friend,” (Y/N) said, but the two best friends exchanged a knowing smile that told Katara everything she needed to know. (Y/N) turned quickly on her heel to lead them down to the kitchens. They ate to their hearts content and only barely left the kitchens in time to make the coronation. 

Katara and Sokka stood at the front of the Water Tribe guests with their father. Toph stood at the front of the Earth Kingdom guests with Haru, the Mechanist, and other friends from they had met. (Y/N) stood at the front of the Fire Nation guests, exchanging smiles and greetings with the nobles who were willing to hear Zuko out. 

If she squinted, she could see Zuko standing inside the palace. He looked hesitant, as if he were scared, and (Y/N) cursed herself for not being up there with him. She could have coached him through this or cheered him on. He paced back and forth as he waited to be called out by the Fire Sages. (Y/N) felt herself smile at how nervous he was. Zuko was confident, but never cocky, and it was one of the things she loved most about him. 

Right before it was time for Zuko to walk out, (Y/N) watched as Mai walked up to him. The two exchanged a kiss, resulting in the biggest smile being put on Zuko’s face.

(Y/N) looked over at Katara, whose wide eyes and open mouth let her know that she was just as shocked. But she had no time to react. She swallowed her feelings deep into the pit of her stomach and cheered like everyone else did as Zuko walked out to be crowned Fire Lord. 

---

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