#these were all made while procrastinating on a major assignment that’s three days late now btw

[outthewazoo]

Recent Alastor doodles referenced from his sluttiest screen-caps . There will be more.

[yeochikin]

egg tarts. | s. mingi

a/n: thank you for requesting this fic, anon! i do apologise if it is not exceeding to your expectations. but still, i hope you enjoyed this! also, this is not proofread so do excuse any mistakes in this! this is also a long read, 10k words!! so i really hope you guys will like this ✨💖

to say that today was a bad day would be an understatement yet saying that it would be the worst day of your life could be too exaggerated as well. but all you know is that you wanted to go back home and let sleep take over your exhausted body as soon as you jumped into the plush mattress of your bed, wrapped into a cocoon made with your soft blankets. all you wanted today was for everything to go smoothly like it always had been, but life managed to just laugh and add a little spice to it just to stir things up. 

you had the worst sleep last night, courtesy of your neighbour next door who somehow just decided that it was a good idea to rearrange all of their furniture in the ass crack of dawn which had caused you to not only have a little amount of sleep for the night. that wasn’t it, oh no. life would always add a few sprinkles here and there. as if having little hours of sleep, someone had bumped into you during your morning run and spilled their drink onto your pants. you would have cursed the person out but instead, you just made a run for it to run to campus.

like some type of cherry on top, your literature lecturer, professor kim, seemed to think that it was a good idea to suddenly drop a project that was due in two weeks.your professor thought that it would be a good idea to make up an entire storyline with the elements of what he had taught your class. of course it wasn’t bad but for a huge procrastinator like you? it might be a huge nightmare, considering that you had more assignments at hand from your other classes. yet, that wasn’t the core of your dread. 

professor kim just had to pair you up with one of the most obnoxious boys in your class, song mingi.

“i swear, professor kim either hates me or he just really likes to see me suffer.” you groaned into the palm of your hands, both elbows rested on top of the table you and your best friends, yeosang and wooyoung, were sitting at. yeosang could only look at you in a pitiful manner with his large hand patting the top of your head, while wooyoung cackled out next to you.

ah yes, song mingi. the boy that could come straight out of a cliche love story. The boy who was a part of the basketball team of your campus, also known as the captain of the team. the boy everyone loved yada-yada. of course you didn’t hate him, oh no. let’s just say that if mingi were to have his toe being stubbed, you would be the furniture that he stubbed against. So, no, no hard feelings at all.

okay maybe there was some sort of.. unpleasant feelings (as what you had claimed it) between the two of you. 

believe it or not, mingi and you used to be close friends during middle school and high school. you remembered the time where you would always wait for mingi during your lunch with him, knowing how he could take his time during his meals, yet you didn’t mind. sometimes, some of his friends would even join the both of you at your usual table. you would always fill the time by doing your own work or even making some random conversations with him and his friends. truly, you enjoyed spending your time with him. it was after the first half of your final year in high school, was where it started. ever since he joined the basketball team, he had gotten together with a girl that was part of the cheering team. don’t get me wrong, she was nice! everyone seemed to love her sweet nature, and she would even join you and mingi during lunchtime. surprisingly, despite being in a relationship with her, they weren’t too big on the pda. you would be lying to say that you didn’t have a small crush on a certain tall boy but as a good friend, you supported them.

it was during a couple of months before you graduated that the two of you seemed to drift apart. you had tried to contact him yet, it was either a simple one worded answer or none at all, until the two of you finally stopped contacting each other. you would even catch mingi in the hallways talking to his friends, his girlfriend at his side as usual, and tried to make a conversation. but every time you did, he looked at you with an unreadable expression, face all stoic while his friends looked at you in pity. to say you were confused, would be an understatement. it felt as if you were kept in the dark. this went on until it was finally the time where you bid goodbye to your old school and start a new page in your life, your university life.

to your surprise, the two of you had enrolled in the same university. you went to greet him one time with a huge smile on your face but.. he merely looked past you, much to your disappointment. you’ve tried to greet him a few more times after that, and still received the same reaction. like any other person who needed some closure, you had confronted mingi one time when you ran into him in the hallways of your campus to ask what happened to him, to the both of you. you had hoped you could get some valid answers from mingi, hoping that the two of you could ever reconcile once again and go back to being friends who dragged lunch time in the cafeteria.

but there was none. 

mingi merely looked down at you, some type of coldness was held in his eyes, at least from what you remember. without even a word, he walked past you as if you never even asked a question. thus, that was all it took for you to finally accept that he is no longer a part of your life anymore, making the emotions inside you to be all jumbled up, you becoming overwhelmed.

it was now that whenever you see mingi, all of those memories would come rushing back to you. the memories that only made you choke up on your tears from how easily he had thrown them out of the window, just like that. before you know it, the sadness in your chest you felt every time you saw mingi around campus somehow grew into a ball of anger. it also didn’t help due to the fact that mingi is in the same major as you, so whenever you had class with him, you made sure to sit as far away from the tall boy as possible and hopefully, not interact with him at all.

until today.

“oh come on, y/n. i’m sure it won’t be that bad.” wooyoung reassured, pulling you away from the brief time of reminiscing the past, yeosang humming in response.

“who knows? maybe the two of you could finally get that closure.” the blonde male continued.

you merely deadpanned at the two of them, “or i could be the one doing all of the work for this project.” 

wooyoung rolled his eyes at your answer before looking down at his phone. “oh crap, i should get to class, professor park would have my head if i’m late!” 

with the claim, the three of you started to gather your things. you were about to bid goodbye to the two of your bestfriends and head to your respective classes until a deep voice called out your name, your whole body feeling a flash of chills running down your spine. you knew who that voice belonged to all too well. 

before you responded to him, you gave yeosang and wooyoung a reassuring smile, watching as the two boys stared between you and mingi for a few seconds before walking off, wooyoung mouthing at you to text him when you were done.

“what is it, mingi?” you finally said, arms folded in front of your chest as you faced the tall male, feeling the growing anger just bubbling up in your chest.

said boy rubbed the back of his neck with his hand while the other one was hidden in the pocket of his pants, “so.. we got paired up for this pr-”

“ah, yes. tell me something more obvious, mingi.” you cut him. of course, you did not intend to have snapped at him but how could you not from what he did?

mingi, on the other hand, was taken aback by your sudden sassiness before exhaling through his nose, “can you just remain civil for a bit?” he grumbled, only making your eye twitch before scoffing at his words.

“me? why don’t you give that advise to yourself.” you hissed.

“fuck, y/n. i have no time for this.” mingi groaned and ran his hand through his hair.

“me too, so tell me now instead of making me late for cla-” your words died down as you felt a large hand cupping your mouth, effectively shutting you up. with eyes still glaring daggers at the said boy, you raised an eyebrow at him, mingi taking it as a cue for him to finally start talking.

“i know that you will hate working on this project with me but if we want those points we gotta work together on this or we won’t even get to continue this class.” he started, you listening to him intently though still glaring at him.

“so, what do you say about getting that project started after our classes today? in the library?” he continued, teeth sinking down against the soft muscle of his lower lip, albeit nervously. 

it took you a little while to process his words. from the months of not talking to each other and cold glares being thrown every now and then, what gave him the audacity to come up to you and ask this as if nothing ever happened? you could feel blood rushing to your face out of frustration. but, as much as you hated to admit it, he had a point. whether you like it or not, he is still your partner for this project. 

your tense shoulders relaxed ever so slightly, a hand slowly moving mingi’s hand away. with a heavy sigh leaving your lips, you nodded your head and tugged on the strap of your bag, adjusting it on your shoulder. 

“fine. in the library after classes then, don’t be late.” was the last thing you said and brushed past him, heading to your class.

as soon as you were sure that you’re out of mingi’s vision, you felt your legs give out, yet not to the extent of collapsing completely right on the floor. your breathing was ragged as you tried to calm yourself from the sudden crash of emotions hitting right then and there, a hand quickly reaching up to muffle the quiet whimpers you released, feeling the concerned eyes from the other students passing by you, hushed whispers being exchanged with their friends yet you were too overwhelmed to care. 

you don’t hate him. you never hated him. yet why did he do that? why would mingi just shut you out all of the sudden and suddenly started talking to you so casually? you don’t know. but will you ever find out the reason why he acted like he had?

finally having yourself composed, you took a deep breath before standing up, walking off to your next class with one thing left in mind as you did so.

maybe yeosang was right, maybe you’ll soon have that closure from mingi.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

“are you guys up for milkshakes at the diner?” wooyoung asked, running his fingers through his now messy hair from his habit of running through them numerous times, as soon as he saw you walking out of your last class with yeosang leaning against the wall next to him.

yeosang shrugged his shoulders, “i don’t see why not. y/n?” 

you, on the other hand, was staring blankly on the floor, only looking up in shock once wooyoung slung an arm around your neck to catch your attention.

“huh? what?” 

“we asked if you were up for milkshakes later.” yeosang repeated, his brow raised from the distracted look on your face. “you good?” he asked.

“yeah, you’re kinda out of it. wait, it’s because of mingi, isn’t it? let me beat his a-” wooyoung said, rolling his sleeves before starting to walk, only to be abruptly dragged by yeosang by his collar to where you were standing.

“as much as i wanted you to do so, i don’t think it’ll solve anything, no?” you joked, an attempt to lighten up the mood with a shake of your head.

“though i’m gonna have to sit this one out, guys. mingi and i are supposed to be discussing the project today.” you continued, a small pout on your lips from not being able to hang out with the two boys.

wooyoung and yeosang looked at each other then at you, “you’re actually starting your project early at least.” yeosang said.

cue the sounds of a gentle slap on his arm from you and the sound of wooyoung’s high pitched laugh. 

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

your foot tapped against the floor impatiently before looking down at your phone to check your phone. you had been waiting in the library for almost two hours now so where the hell is mingi? your eyes looked around the place and saw some students popping in and out yet still no sign of a certain tall male. with a frustrated huff, you slowly gathered your things, convinced that mingi had somehow blew you off. 

just as you got up from your seat, the doors suddenly burst open, and in came a panting and not to mention, sweaty, mingi. his eyes frantically looked around the library until he finally spotted you in the corner of the library, quickly making his way towards you. upon arriving, he literally collapsed on the chair in front of you, taking deep breaths to catch his breath. raising an eyebrow at him, you were about to ask what took him so long until he raised a finger as if to give him a moment, still panting. you could only roll your eyes and decided to sit back down in your seat, waiting for him to calm down.

“sorry, i had a last minute meeting with my teammates and the coach.” mingi managed to say between his pants. for the captain of the basketball team, he sure seemed like he was struggling for air.

you waited for him to finally calm down his breathing with a finger tapped against the table, eyes looking everywhere but the male in front of you awkwardly. how could someone not be awkward with their supposedly close friend who suddenly dropped them without telling them anything, was in front of them. your nerves were getting the best of you and made you fidget in your seat, much to mingi’s attention.

“you alright there, y/n?” he asked, snapping you out of your thoughts.

‘why did you do it?’ was what you wanted to ask yet it remained stuck in your throat as your eyes were met.

you felt a huge lump threatening to form in your chest, wanting nothing but to just bombard him with questions of what had happened to make him treat you like the way he did, what did you ever do to him, or what had happened to the friendship you both built. yet, you just couldn’t ask him. no, it was more like, you weren’t ready to know the answer. not now, not when you’re letting your emotions almost get the best of you.

“y/n?” mingi called out again, a flash of concern shown in his features.

“huh? oh, yeah. definitely.” you rambled, sitting straight in your seat before clearing your throat, “should.. should we get started?” you offered, busying yourself by taking out your laptop.

mingi could only study your expression for a few seconds before nodding his head without another word before scooting a little closer so the two of you could finally start discussing about the said project, giving each other certain tasks to do. you would have to say, keeping your mind on the project you were working out seemed to be effective in taking your mind away from the gnawing thoughts in the back of your mind, yet a different type of frustration was instead being replaced, a certain feeling that students from all around the world knew all too well. everything was going smoothly, the both of you managed to discuss most parts of your project yet somehow you were stuck on how to actually start with the storyline.

“mingi, for the last time, we can’t suddenly put two of the characters in the script to suddenly start fighting right at the start.” you groaned, rubbing your face in the palm of your hands. with a roll of his eyes, said boy aggressively pressed onto the keys of your keyboard to erase the sentence he had started. 

“uh huh, you say that yet you apply that in real life.” he grumbled underneath his breath, to which made your eye twitch out of annoyance.

“i don’t do that, what are you talking ab-” you started until mingi deadpanned at you.

“when i asked you about this project? or did you hit your head on your way here that you forgot all about it?” he retorted, to which made you scoff out of disbelief.

“if you weren’t being an ass, i wouldn’t do so.” you snapped, clicking your tongue as you snatched your laptop away from him to work on your part.

“says the one who looked like they were about to bite my ass earlier.” 

a loud slap on his arm reverberated throughout the library along with mingi’s yelp that came along with your neverending bickers afterwards, only for the librarian coming up to warn the both of you to keep it down or else she will have to kick you out.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

“you going back home?” mingi suddenly asked, his eyes watching you pack your things. 

the both of you decided to stop the discussion after a couple of hours, agreeing to meet back in the library the next day to finally get a work on the storyline after finally being able to write out some outlines. fixing the strap of your bag, you raised an eyebrow at him from the sudden inquiry. 

“what does it look like?” you answered, though there was a bite in your tone, mingi disregarded it.

“calm down, for fuck’s sake.” he rolled his eyes before getting up from his seat. “i just thought that i could accompany you when you head back.” he offered, much to your surprise.

“ain’t really a good idea to let you walk alone, it’s getting a little dark.” mingi continued, nodding his head towards the windows, to which made you look out.

mingi was right. the sky was turning dark, only a few traces of crimson were apparent in the darkened sky. it didn’t help with the fact that your apartment took a little while to get to by foot. turning back to look at him, you narrowed your eyes up at him.

“how do i know you are not planning to kill me?” you asked, mingi poking his tongue against the inside of his cheek, amused. 

“and what will i even do? knock you out with a basketball?” 

the response was enough to make you snort, a hand coming up to cover your lips to release a faint chortle. the corners of mingi’s lips twitched up ever so slightly from your reaction, a little familiar tug was felt in his chest. he won’t lie. he had missed seeing your smile. he had missed making you laugh. hell, who was he kidding? he missed everything about you. so why was he acting all cold to you? why was he acting like an ass whenever you tried to greet him before?

from your side of the view, you were clueless. But to mingi, somehow he was the conflicted one. he remembered the time when he was on a date with his ex girlfriend in the past. he had recalled the time whenever you and him hung out during lunchtime, he had to deal with the girl whining as to why you would be at their table right when you left the table to head to class. confused, he had explained that you had always been hanging out with him during lunch time, much to the girl’s dissatisfaction. the girl merely complained that she felt threatened, thinking that you were out to steal him away from her. 

it took mingi to put two and two together to realise the situation he was in. he needed to pick a side. It was either his… ‘sweet’ girl or you who was always there for him through thick and thin. but to a lovestruck mingi? he simply chose the girl, listening as she would insult you behind your back to mingi and how she mentioned you were only around him to date one of his friends, even to the extent of not making mingi interact with you in any way possible. hence, the dirty looks he sent you every time you tried to talk to him back then. his friends had noticed the tense atmosphere and decided to confront mingi about it, saying how she was controlling him and how he shouldn’t just drop you because of her. this only led up to a heated argument between mingi and the boys.

fast forward to being in uni, he had finally broke the relationship off with the girl, having enough of her controlling side. the male was surprised that you enrolled in the same university as him, being in the same major even. but.. he couldn’t talk to you. no, he chose not to interact with you at all. it was the guilt that was eating him alive that made him avoid you at all costs, instead, focusing on basketball with all of his practices and games to keep his mind off of you. It was his teammate and one of his close friends he made during his time here, yunho, advised mingi that he should at least give you some closure instead of letting you stay confused and wonder what you had done wrong. the amount of times he had tried to approach you, he chickened out. every time he wanted to approach you, the words were stuck in his throat. he just couldn’t face you. 

that was until, today.

“mingi?” you called out, mingi looking up at you with wide eyes. 

“yeah?”

“you ready to go?” you asked.

“oh.. oh, yeah! right, let’s go.”

with a confused gaze set on the male in front of you, you shrugged it off before walking out of the library with him.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

the walk to your place was a little awkward, mingi looking around everywhere but you, and you leading the way. thankfully, the street lights and neon signs from a few shops here and there were already lit up, so the walk back wasn’t that long. however, the previous thoughts you had started to appear in your head once again, the same heaviness filling your chest. It was when you both stopped at a playground, just a little further away from your block, you called out mingi’s name softly.

you want to ask him. no, you need to.

hearing your voice, mingi turned to look at you, raising his brows as if to say you had his attention. you looked over at the swingset and pointed at it.

“can.. can we sit there for a bit? please?” you asked, mentally slapping yourself from the slight quiver in your voice as you spoke.

confusedly, mingi merely shrugged his shoulders before making his way towards the swings, sitting down on one of them, then looking up as you sat on the swing next to his. silence hung over the two of you, only the occasional squeaking from the rusty chains of the swings could be heard.

‘come on, ask him. you need that closure!’ your mind screamed, you heaving out a shaky breath.

mingi, upon hearing your sigh, furrowed his brows in confusion and concern before asking softly if you were okay, or if you were feeling faint. you slowly shook your head as if to reassure him you needed a moment, to which, mingi quietly complied. with a shut of your eyes, trying to ease the growing anxiety just bubbling up in the pit of your stomach, you took in a few deep breaths. once you were ready, you parted your lips to speak.

“i’m sorry.” 

your head snapped to the side to look at mingi with wide eyes, not expecting him to be the first to say something. the words that you at least wanted to hear from him. mingi’s gaze was set on his feet, teeth gently chewing against his lower lip. your throat felt like someone was squeezing onto it, feeling as if all of the emotions you felt from all the pent up frustrations slowly started to pour out. 

“why did you do it?” you asked, mingi’s heart aching from how shaky it was, somehow feeling how broken it was. and it was all because of him. 

it was when he finally explained everything to you that made you feel as if time had stopped. from how the girl was spreading something about you behind your back, to poisoning mingi’s love struck mind, and to the breakup they had. Your mind was all over the place the longer you listened, heart starting to beat rapidly in your chest as your breathing grew ragged, vision slowly turning red. 

so this was the reason? this was the reason why he was avoiding you ever since high school? thinking you would steal and date his friends? this was the reason that made you think that there was something wrong with you? your eyes welled up with tears of anger, laughing in disbelief before abruptly getting up from the swing to stand in front of mingi, eyes all glossed with fresh tears, along with hurt that was apparent in them.

“that’s it? you avoided me in high school and our time in uni just to believe her words?!” you whispered shakily, clenched fists at your sides. mingi looked up at you in alarm and stood up as well, he called out your name softly.

“y/n..” he started.

“no… no! mingi, did you fucking know how i felt? did you know how many nights were spent thinking that there was something wrong with me? did you even know how hurt i was for you to suddenly drop me like some type of a doll?!” you yelled, tears now cascading down your cheeks, mingi pleading for you to listen to him.

“and you even listened to someone you just met in the span of a few months? and not only that, but implying ever so slightly that i’m some type of whore just to date your friends?” you ranted.

“y/n.” mingi whispered.

“no, mingi! you even had the chance to explain it to me right AFTER you guys broke up, so why didn’t you? were your friends all in on this as well? is that why i was kept in the dark-” 

“i wanted you to hate me! i couldn't live with the fact how selfish i was for choosing her over you, so i purposely avoided you to make you hate me more. i’m guilty!” mingi yelled back, effectively cutting you off.

silence.

it felt as if everything around you was muted, mingi’s last words the only thing ringing in your ears repeatedly. said male’s breathing was ragged from the sudden outburst, his torso heaving up and down. you pinched the bridge of your nose and sank your teeth down against the plush muscle of your lower lip, before looking up at him.

“do you have any idea how fucking stupid this is?” you said, suddenly feeling too exhausted as you gathered your things, swinging your bag over your shoulder.

“y/n, you don’t have to forgive me but.. i just wanted to let you know that i missed you.” mingi responded, his hand holding onto your wrist. 

once again, you felt a fresh wave of tears flooding your vision. you wanted to say that you missed him too. you missed hanging out with him during lunch. you missed laughing at his lame jokes. you missed everything about him.

you missed song mingi.

you wanted to say those words out loud but not even a whisper could be heard. it was when you felt a large hand wiping away the lone tear rolling down your cheek managed to steal your attention away from your now jumbled up mind, looking up at mingi who was staring down at you with a hopeful look in his eyes. the two of you stared at each other, as if waiting for the other to say something. with a low sigh, you finally broke the silence.

“i missed you too, mingi but.. after all of this? i’m hurt, mingi.” you whimpered out, taking a deep breath a few times to stop yourself from breaking down once again. 

“i’m sorry, y/n. i really am.” mingi whispered, eyes casted down on the wrist in his large hand.

“i might not be able to forgive you now. but if you really do want us to start over again.. you need to prove it. mere words are not enough.” you continued as you slowly moved his hand away from your wrist.

“and how do i do that, y/n? i’ll do anything, please.” mingi asked, desperation glinted in his eyes as he tried to reach for your wrist again, to which you took a step back.

“that’s for you to find out, mingi.” checking the time on your phone, you emitted a soft sigh before sending him a faint smile.

“i’ll.. see you tomorrow.”

and with that, you turned around to leave, leaving mingi standing there alone while watching your retreating figure head off to the apartment’s direction. a wave of mixed emotions hitting you like some type of a tidal wave, coming all at once. now that you finally had closure, were you relieved? were you disappointed? you were not sure. but all you know, is that you feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off of your shoulders. 

meanwhile, a heavy sigh was heaved from mingi’s lips before he looked up at the sky, the stars hanging on the canvas of the night sky.

“i promise i won’t let you down again this time, y/n.” he whispered, staring at the sky for a little longer before turning around to leave as well.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

“that’s it, i’m gonna beat his ass!” wooyoung yelled out, only to be dragged back by yeosang to make him sit back down in his seat, other hand holding onto a chicken wing he was eating. of course, you had expected his reaction after you told them what had happened yesterday.

“wooyoung, i swear, he’s just gonna step on you like some type of bug.” the blonde deadpanned, wooyoung pouting in response as he sulkily sipped on his drink.

“guys, please. i’m conflicted.” you groaned, smacking your forehead on the table, yeosang grimacing at the soft thud your forehead had made against the surface before shaking his head. 

“give it time, hm? though, valid. but who knows?” he took a bite from his chicken then continued. “maybe he really does wanna make it up to you?” 

there was a reason why you and wooyoung had called yeosang the reasonable one of the group. he was the one who kept giving some more options before wooyoung or you did anything rash out of impulse. 

“and if he’s not doing that, then i would have to talk to him.” wooyoung grumbled, teeth biting down on the straw he’s chewing. 

of course, a friend group wouldn’t be complete if the chaotic one of the group is not present. and that role would be given to wooyoung, the life of your little circle.

“speaking of the devil..” yeosang mumbled underneath his breath, eyes focused on something, or rather, someone from behind you. 

you paid no attention to it, only keeping your head on the table as you were fighting with your inner thoughts. it was only when a familiar deep voice called out your name that you immediately lifted your head to look at the owner of the voice. however, as you did so, your whole body seemed to jump in place, causing your knees to hit against the table. hard.

a string of curses flew out of your lips, hands rubbing against your poor kneecaps, much to yeosang and wooyoung’s amusement, both boys clamping their mouths shut and started to look around everywhere in the cafeteria but you as an attempt to hold in their laughter. you sent them a glare until mingi mumbled your name.

“you okay there?” he asked, eyes full of concern.

you still didn’t want to look at him, instead keeping your gaze on your knees. you swear you can feel them still throbbing from the impact. 

“what is it, mingi?” 

“can i… can i join you?” he asked out of the blue, making you look up at him in shock. it was only now that you noticed that he was holding a paper bag in his hand while the other held a duffel bag, probably filled with extra clothes for basketball practice later.

wooyoung was about to deny his request until yeosang pinched his thigh, effectively shutting the boy up. with a glare from him, wooyoung huffed underneath his breath yet he behaved, though subtly glaring up at mingi’s way. for some reason, his anger reminded you of a chihuahua.

“oh, what about your friends?” you asked, you didn't hold any malice in your tone, but you were just genuinely curious as to why he had suddenly come up. though to mingi, he flinched at your question as he rubbed the back of his neck in a sheepish manner.

“oh uh, yunho had to go for practice and i haven't exactly had lunch yet since i got out of my previous class a little later than i intended to.” he admitted, a shy smile on his lips.

 “i thought that.. i could sit with you?” he continued. you could only stare at him, losing your voice all of the sudden until yeosang cleared his throat. 

“oh, would you look at that, wooyoung. i think i heard professor park looking for us.” he declared, standing up from the table, much to wooyoung's confusion.

“what do you me-” 

“see you guys later!” yeosang waved and pulled wooyoung away from the table, his eyes catching the panicked look on your face. 

‘talk to him.’ he mouthed before walking off, wooyoung whining next to him. 

as soon as the two boys were out of your line of vision, you turned back around to finally face mingi. much to your surprise, he was already looking at you after sitting down right across from you. this certain moment right here was enough to make you feel like you were in a repeated dream, memories of you and him from back then rushing to your head. Maybe he’s just sitting here until both of you were done with the project? You weren’t sure, yet would it be selfish of you to think he would still talk to you? the both of you sat in silence until mingi’s features flickered, making it seem as if he realised something, before rummaging through the paper bag and pulled out two egg tarts.

“i remembered that you liked the tarts from that old bakery we always hung out at after school. I know that the bakery closed down and these aren’t exactly the same but i just thought that you would like them.” he explained.

at his words, you couldn’t help but smile ever so slightly, touched at his gesture before taking one of the tarts from with a quiet ‘thank you.’ again, you both sat in silence as you ate your tarts, mingi fidgeting in his seat. the awkwardness was so thick in the air that you could almost cut it with a knife. with a clear of his throat, mingi was the one who broke the silence between the two of you.

“so.. how are you?” he asked, a look of uncertainty was etched in his features as if wondering whether it was the right thing to say.

finding it endearing for some reason, you chortled lightly, “i’m.. okay, i guess? and you?” you asked with a slight tilt of your head. 

“i’m fine, good. yeah, good.” mingi rambled on, almost wanting to hide behind his tart at the little crack of his voice. 

another giggle had made its way out of your lips, hand coming up to cover them as you did so. and that was enough to have mingi relax ever so slightly in his seat, at least you are smiling. so that’s a positive thing maybe? he hoped so. he really wanted to patch things up, catch up with each other, but of course, with how he had acted towards you before? It wasn’t easy, but mingi is willing to try. so, the two of you spent the remaining free time you had, just talking about the project you were both partnered for most of the time. occasionally, the two of you would even throw in a few bickers here and there but all were lighthearted. 

it was when you looked down at your phone that you had to cut the brief hang out short, much to your silent dismay, and mingi’s. as you were gathering your things, the male called your name, making you halt in your movements. 

“is it okay if we meet in the library again? for our project, i mean.” he asked, fingers nervously tugging on the ends of his sweatshirt.

you were taken aback from the sudden question but sent him a smile, shrugging your shoulders. 

“i mean, we are partners, no? so, i don’t see why not. same time?” you agreed, watching as the corners of the boy’s lips quirked up.

“oh yeah, definitely.” 

“and don’t be late, mingi.” 

“yeah, yeah. I won’t, see you soon, y/n.”

 ❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

it has been a little while now after that closure you both had. you expected for things to still be awkward. worst case? mingi going back to being a total asshole like before. yet from the amount of times mingi and you kept meeting up to work on your project, you felt as if the awkwardness around the both of you slowly fade away. both of you starting to open up to each other once again, sharing pieces from the past and even what happened during the time the both of you drifted apart, catching up with each other. of course, you were still hurt from the way he treated you from before but, as much you didn’t want to admit it, you still gave mingi another chance. 

even when the both of you had completed your assignment, you were surprised that he came by your table to join you, yeosang, and wooyoung every time the both of you had lunch the day after turning in your assignment to professor kim, even to the extent of bringing egg tarts whenever he came by. you were even more surprised at how wooyoung stopped wanting to beat his ass, instead, laughing his high pitched laugh at mingi’s jokes while you and yeosang would sigh at the lame joke. his friend, yunho, sometimes would join in. despite him being intimidatingly tall, he had a bright personality that reminded you of a golden retriever. before you could even realise, the days of hanging out turned into weeks, and into almost two months by now.  

more often than not, you would even tag along to watch mingi practice. despite seeming like a bouncy kid during most times, he was serious in the court. the way he dribbled the ball across the court away from the opposing players, and made a couple of three pointers easily, it was no surprise at how he was chosen as the team’s captain. whenever he was done with practice, mingi would always ask if you wanted to try playing with him. now, for one, you weren’t exactly a sporty person, so suddenly having to play with the captain of the basketball team? yeah, you would definitely have to pass. 

as usual, you were sitting at the sidelines watching the team practicing their aims and evading, along with mingi trying out new strategies with the team, you couldn’t help but to admire them. occasionally, you would catch mingi staring at you whenever your eyes landed on him after watching his other teammates play in the court, confused when he avoided your gaze as soon as you looked at his way. did you have something on your face? brushing the question away, you continued watching them. It was probably nothing.

everything seemed like a blur, and before you know it, everyone was packing up their things, giving each other words of encouragement on the way out of the court. once his teammates had left, you went up to mingi who was still standing in the middle of the court, bouncing the ball in his hand absentmindedly before getting ready to shoot it into the hoop. 

“you did well today, as usual.” your voice surprised him, missing his timing as he threw the ball, missing the hoop. with a playful scowl of his lips, mingi looked down at you.

“damn, you weren’t supposed to see that.” he complained, making you roll your eyes at him.

“just like how i wasn’t supposed to see you trip a few times today?” you retorted, smiling as mingi rubbed the back of his neck, a clear habit of his whenever he felt embarrassed.

“i thought you didn’t notice.” he chuckled, the timbre of his deep voice somehow sending a chill down your spine yet you kept your calm demeanour.

“i may not know how to play, but that doesn’t mean i don’t notice the small things, mingi.” you laughed and crossed your arms, raising a brow up at him.

mingi mimicked the expression on your face and crossed his arms, lips quirking up as if there was a lightbulb having his switch being flicked on. you knew what was coming up as a groan left your lips, shaking your head at him.

“mingi, for the last time, i don’t wanna play. I don’t even know how to pl-”

“then let me teach you how to play!” he pleaded, pulling his best puppy eyed look. did yunho teach him that?

you stared at his face for a little while, mingi about to give up before he grinned upon hearing the sigh out of defeat from you. well, what’s the harm in learning anyway. at least if you embarrassed yourself while playing, mingi would be the only one to see it. 

“okay, fine. teach me how to play, captain.” 

and with that, you spent the rest of the late afternoon just having mingi teach you the basics of how to play basketball, exchanging laughs and teasings here and there. though you still weren’t entirely a fan of the sport, you find it rather enjoyable. 

“okay, let’s play one game. winner makes the loser do anything they want.” mingi suddenly declared, balancing the ball between his side and arm. 

your mouth fell open. was he being serious right now? you barely even got the hang of all the techniques he had taught you, and suddenly he wanted to one up against him, the captain of the basketball? with a scoff, you shook your head at him.

“mingi, there’s no way i’m gonna do that.” you rejected, clicking your tongue.

“come on, y/n. i’ll go easy on you, please?” mingi whined, nudging your side, you deadpanning up at him in return.

“no.”

“please!”

“i said n-”

“i’ll buy you ice cream tomorrow after classes.” mingi offered, knowing how you had a sweet tooth.

“..fine.” you sighed out, to which made mingi cheer and took a few steps back from you with a huge grin on his face. running over to the side to pull out his phone and placing it on the bench, then running back to where he stood before.

“whoever has the most points before time’s up, wins. ready?” with a look of determination, you nodded your head.

“start!”

before you could even react, mingi ran towards your goal, causing you to squeak at his sudden moves before quickly trying to block him from getting closer. but of course, with the years of experience, and maybe due to his long legs as well, it was almost impossible. he smirked down at you once he made his first shot through your hoop, you huffing up at him. 

‘going easy, my ass.’ you groaned in your head as you narrowed your eyes up at him.

the quiet court was now filled with the sounds of mingi’s laughter mixing with your own, you yelling at him for being ‘unfair’, and the soft thudding of the ball hitting against the basketball court’s floor. this went on for quite a while until the timer in mingi’s phone went off, you two immediately halting your movements, chests heaving up and down to catch your breaths. too tired to stand, you sat down on the floor, mingi doing the same next to you. 

“looks like i won, princess.” mingi teased, earning a gentle slap on his shoulder from you. 

“oh, come on. someone who knew to actually play versus someone who never dribbled a basketball across the court? of course you would win!” you whined, glaring over at the laughing boy next to you. 

“i went easy on you, y/n. be thankful.” he defended, sticking his tongue out.

with a scoff, you turned slightly in place to face him while staying seated on the floor. “okay, okay. now what do you want?” you asked, voice sounding rather sulky.

mingi went quiet for a few seconds, teeth chewing on his lower lip as his gaze was casted down on his fingers that were fiddling with his shoelaces. your eyebrows furrowed, confused as to why he went quiet. surely it couldn’t be that hard in wanting whatever he wished for. you were about to ask whether he was alright or if he did not hear you when you asked before he suddenly turned to look at you, causing you to jump slightly in surprise.

“you owe me some egg tarts.” 

dumbfounded, you could only stare at his face, why would he want some considering he basically had been eating them every time you guys had lunch? but.. you couldn’t complain. he is the winner here, and what a winner wants is what they will get. with a nod, you mumbled out a soft ‘fine’, causing mingi to grin over at you and jump up to his feet. 

“i’ll go and take a brief shower, then we can go to the bakery i always go to!”

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

the sweet smell of various baked pastries filled your nose upon entering the bakery mingi led you to. the bakery wasn’t too small nor was it too big, it was just the appropriate size for people who just wanted to chill or needed to unwind after a long day with a plate of their favourite baked goods of their choice. you noticed the decor a few knick-knacks as well, probably to fill the empty spaces of the bakery. 

“oh, mingi, you are here!” an unknown voice reached into your ears, making you turn around to see a middle aged lady, maybe in her late fifties, giving mingi a hug. 

“hi grandma, i am! I guess i couldn’t resist your treats.” mingi laughed after he pulled away, a hearty laugh leaving the woman’s lips before your eyes met. 

“oh my, i take it you are a friend of mingi’s?” she asked, sending you a smile that somehow reminded you of a mother’s warm smile. not wanting to be rude, you bowed your head slightly in response.

“my name is y/n, y/n l/n. i am a friend of mingi’s indeed.”

right after your name, the middle aged woman gasped as her eyes stared up at mingi’s wide ones, much to your confusion from the sudden reaction. mingi could only purse his lips and gave her a vague gesture, the old woman forming her lips into a small ‘o’ in response. your eyebrows creased together, was there something going on? 

“my, it is nice to finally meet you, y/n.” she giggled, eyes holding a certain glint that you just couldn’t figure out. 

that was until you realised when her words finally processed in your mind. finally? what did she mean by that? you looked over to mingi, his cheeks somehow a tinted pink as his eyes were looking up at the written menu board hanging on the walls. something was going on, you just know it. 

“now, what can i do to help you, lovebugs?” ‘grandma’ had said, making her way to the cashier. 

lovebugs? before you could ask, mingi suddenly spoke up.

“the usual please, grandma.” he chuckled, albeit nervously. why was he acting so weird all of the sudden? yet, you decided to ask later and walked up to the cashier to pay for the treats until grandma tutted. 

“no, no, dear. this one is on the house. consider it as a lil present to meet the infamous y/n our mingi has always mentioned.” she chuckled, hearing mingi slapping his forehead in the background.

thanking her, the both of you made your way to a vacant table just at the back of the bakery right next to the window with some type of device in your hands to inform you when the tarts would be ready. once both you and mingi had sat down, you released a little noise out of interest that piqued mingi’s interest, wondering what had made you to do so. 

“the sky’s really pretty.” you mumbled, irises focused on the sky, mingi doing the same.

it was your favourite time of the day. the sky ranging from how the shades of crimson had mingled with the orange colours, along with a few streaks of pink here and there, looking as if someone grabbed a huge paintbrush and the sky was their canvas. it was always this time of day that made it seem like time around you had slowed down, letting you whisper your goodbye’s to the daylight before finally having to greet the night sky. 

mingi tore his gaze away from the sky to look at you, saving your awed expression in his mind. the male took the brief opportunity to admire your side profile, the familiar tug in his chest reminding him the feelings he thought were long forgotten. but how could he? 

how could he forget when you are just sitting right in front of him? how could he when you looked especially pretty when you briefly stopped in your tracks to admire the things you loved in life? how could he when you genuinely looked at ease? he could feel his heartbeat just beating so rapidly against his chest, his large hand coming up to rest on his chest. With a glance towards you again, he knew damn well what he was feeling.

mingi fell for you.

it would be a lie to say he didn’t. it would be a lie to say he didn’t develop these feelings for you when you would always have that quiet yet snarky side of you. it would be a lie to say that he didn’t purposely make mistakes in the project just so he could hear your voice explaining to him. but.. did he even have the right to do so? he had been an asshole towards you. though with the two of you finally having patched things up, he still felt the guilt gnawing at his mind every time you looked up at him with those bright eyes of yours. 

it was the sudden beeping from the device along with your voice calling his name making him just snap out of it, you looking at him, concern painted over your visage.

 “are you alright?” you softly asked.

he needed to tell you. sooner or later.

“i’m fine! just daydreaming for a bit there. i’ll go get the tarts!” 

as quickly as he stood up from his seat, mingi went off to return the device along with getting the said baked goods. 

you, on the other hand, weren’t stupid. you had noticed the gaze that landed on you while you were looking at the sky, you noticed the way he briefly placed his hand on his chest as soon as he tore his gaze away from you. with a shaky breath escaping your lips, you shut your eyes momentarily. It felt as if you were back in high school again, feeling the way your stomach flipping every now and then.

you had thought those feelings were long gone. yet, with all the lingering gazes that were exchanged between the two of you whenever your eyes met? or how you felt some sort of electricity shooting up your spine every time his arm brushed against yours when he stood next to you? but should you even tell him how you felt? no matter what the consequences will be?

your eyes looked up to the said male as he bounded over towards the both of you, a bright smile on his lips as he mentioned how good the tarts smelt, fresh out of the oven. seeing how his eyes widened ever so slightly out of excitement, you had your answer.

you needed to tell him. sooner or later. 

but for now, you needed the right timing to do so.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

you laughed as mingi had told you one of his rather embarrassing moments during the first few months of becoming the captain of the basketball as you two walked side by side, mingi offering to walk you home considering the two of you lost track of time in the bakery. the crimson sky from before turned into night.you swear that you could feel the little tears just rolling down your cheeks from how much you were laughing as mingi continued on with his story.

“if only my voice didn’t crack that time, the other teammates wouldn’t even start to drag me every chance they get.” he sighed, though the corners of his lips twitching up at the sound of your laughter.

“hey, they do listen to you. your teamwork is great too! i’m sure they would be frozen in place if you kept a strong persona.” you reassured him.

suddenly halting in his steps, his eyes landed on the familiar place. the place where he finally came clean, the place where you burst into tears, the place where… he had promised to himself that he won’t let you down yet again.

turning around, you only noticed he had stopped in his tracks from the lack of presence next to you. “something wrong?” you asked.

pointing at the swingset, mingi looked over at you. “can we.. sit on the swings?” 

deja vu. only, the roles were switched.

without a word, the both of you made your way to the swings and sat down, side by side. the sounds of the creaky swings filled your ears as you slowly swung yourself, both of you growing quiet as if the words in your heads disappeared. that was, until mingi spoke up.

“you do realise that technically you still need to do what i want you to do.” mingi reminded you.

he was right. the egg tarts weren’t actually from you, it was on the house. raising a brow, looked over at mingi. 

“and what are you planning, hm? don’t tell me you want another egg tart.” you joked, an attempt to lighten the mood, mingi chuckling in return.

however, the smile on his lips disappeared as soon as it was shown. you would be lying if you said that you weren’t nervous. suddenly, mingi stood up and knelt in front of you. your eyes widened as you stared into his own intense one, gulping the huge lump forming in your throat, fingers clutching tight on the chains of the swings. 

“min-”

“i want… i want you to like me. to take responsibility for what you are making me feel.” he spoke up abruptly, effectively making you freeze in place.

silence hung over the both of you, the sounds of cars occasionally passing by filling the quietness. did.. did you hear it right? or were you just dreaming? yet, the cool breeze of the night air was enough to tell you this was very much real, you were not dreaming. you could hear the way your heart beating violently in your ears, not being able to find the words to answer him.

to mingi, your lack of response was enough to make him grow nervous. the negative thoughts started to swirl in his mind, scolding him for suddenly acting rather hasty. he was starting to feel scared. scared that you might run away, scared that he won’t be able to watch him during practice, scared that he might not be able to walk you home.

scared that he would lose you once again.

“i’m.. i’m sorry i shouldn’t have said that. you can reject me, y/n. just please.. please don’t leave me again. you can forget this ever happened. you can forget i ever said any-” he rambled.

however, your actions effectively made him stop talking. your hands cupped his cheeks before crashing your lips against his with your eyelids shut tight, couldn’t say the same for mingi though. poor boy was frozen in place. it took him awhile to process what’s happening before slowly reaching up to place his hand on the back of your nape, eyes slowly fluttering closed to reciprocate the kiss. it felt as if time had slowed down around the two of you, lips moving in sync.

both of you wished that you could have this moment forever but the need for oxygen was urgent, burning both of your lungs. slowly, the both of you pulled away, faces just centimetres apart from each other’s. no words were exchanged between the two of you, just staring at each other as mingi rubbed the pad of his thumb along the length of his cheekbone, and your own digits playing with the strands of his hair absentmindedly. clearing his throat, mingi started to speak to break the silence. 

“i guess that’s a yes then?” 

with a jovial titter, you pulled him by the collar of his shirt to place your lips on his once again, mingi happily returning it as he circled his arms around your waist, the twinkling stars on the night’s canvas along with the bright moon being the witness of the start of a new level between the both of you.

❁❁❁❁❁❁❁❁

“are you fucking kidding me?” wooyoung screeched, eyes all wide at the sight of you and mingi coming to your usual table hand in hand. yeosang, who was peacefully drinking his tea, nearly did a spit take at the sight while yunho laughed at their reactions with a shake of his head before looking back at the two of you.

“i’m guessing you have something to tell us?” the other tall male asked, spinning a basketball on his index finger before swiftly catching it in his hands as wooyoung poked it.

“what else do they have to say? the answer is right there, puppy.” yeosang gestured at the your intertwined hands, not missing the fact that both of your cheeks were in a faint tint of pink.

yunho merely raised an eyebrow at the blond, amused, “for someone with a snarky attitude, you sure can’t sense someone else’s sarcasm.” 

wooyoung cackled at the way yeosang deadpanned at yunho, immediately shutting his lips at the sight of the blonde’s glare, though not without letting out a stifled laugh.

you couldn’t help but to laugh at your friends’ antics as both you and mingi sat down at the table, eyes turning into small crescents as you did so. It was when yunho had asked the two of you what exactly went down between the two of you, yeosang and wooyoung leaning in expectantly. you looked over at mingi, who was already looking at you with fondness and adoration just written all over his face, before turning back to your friends to finally tell them.

alas, the rest of the lunch time you had was filled with your friends just teasing the both of you. though you didn’t mind, you were content. 

somewhere in the back of your mind, you thanked the heavens for giving mingi and you another chance to start over. It was a rocky start, yet you didn’t drop each other right then and there. and you were glad that you didn’t.

“wanna go to grandma’s after this, y/n?” mingi whispered into your ear as your three friends bickered in the background.

“just don’t be late, hm?” you teased, making mingi roll his eyes in a playful manner before gently pinching the bridge of your nose.

“hey, don’t make us feel single, lovebirds.” wooyoung yelled.

cue a slap on his arm from you along with the round of laughter filling the air.

[empteygold]

Clockwork (1)

Summary: It was just like any other Sunday, you were on your way out to meet your two best friends for coffee. It’s been a tradition ever since you all began high school. Now you’re all graduated and your two best friends have officially become pro hero’s. You on the other hand, just lived a regular life as you were quirkless, or so you had thought.

Genre: Angst with a little fluff. It’s not much but things will progress as this fic goes on

Cw: Cursing, talks of depression

Notes: Hi guys, thanks for reading, this is the first fic i have written and the first time in a long time since i have written anything. I have plans for this fic and it will evolve so i hope you stat tuned. 

The warm sunlight peeking through your window slowly awoke you from your slumber. You had spent all night tossing and turning. Once you had finally fallen asleep, the sweet bliss was snatched away from you. As a child you remember having recurring nightmares, and now those nightmares were starting to resurface. You weren’t sure as of why they were coming back, since it has been many years since you’ve experienced any form of dreaming. 

Not being able to fall back to sleep, you slowly took your time and finally managed to get out of bed. You reached for an oversized hoodie, one you had stolen from your childhood best friend years ago. It gave you comfort. You remember how when you first got it, it smelled like smoke and sweat. It was all he had on him, but you were cold, so he did what he could do. You never gave it back.

 As you got up you made your way to the restroom fuzzily trying to remember your dreams last night. You couldn’t quite shake the feeling of the agonizing pit in your stomach. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but your nightmare had felt so realistic. It gave you a sense of déjà vu, like you have been here many times before. It felt familiar and warm, but it also made you sick to your stomach. 

You decided to hop in the shower, trying your hardest to push down these feelings. You set the water to an almost boiling temperature thinking it would help. As you stood in the shower crying you suddenly remembered, it was Sunday. Suddenly you felt that ache slowly go away, and you felt a little more at ease. Every Sunday you had a tradition of meeting your two best friends whom you have known the entirety of your life. While you may have known each other longer than you can actually remember, you didn’t actually decide to start this tradition until you started high school.

******

You, Izuku, and Bakugo were completely inseparable up until you all started high school. Both Bakugo and Izuku had gotten into UA, the best school to become a pro-hero. However, you just went to a plain old high school, as you never inherited a quirk of your own. As children you and Izuku had a closer relationship than the one between you and Bakugo. Two best friends basically conjoined at the hip. Izuku was also quirk-less at the time. You all thought he would never get one and that’s how you stayed so close. Two quirk-less best friends. 

Bakugo got his explosion quirk young and spent more time with kids who had quirks. Izuku was always hell bent on becoming a hero even without a quirk of his own. The day Izuku received his quirk you and Bakugo were in complete and udder shock. You weren’t surprised though, you had a gut wrenching feeling that a quirk would arise in him someday. The boys were concerned about you making sure you were okay as you still didn’t have a quirk. You were very content with not having one, and it never really crossed your mind on what you would do if you had ever gotten one. 

You never considered yourself a bad person, but you didn’t considerer yourself a good one either. Saving people in a heroic way seemed distasteful to you. The only downside of not having a quirk of your own meant not being able to see your beloved best friends as much as you would have liked. Hero training and regular study courses at UA made things very chaotic and hectic for the boys. There was little time for you, and you slowly began to fade from their life’s. During this time period, you had struggled with some major personal issues and not being able to see your friends and have someone to vent to made you spiral into an overwhelming depression.

  It had been months since you’ve seen the boys, Bakugo was home for fall vacation and Izuku was out somewhere doing something you weren’t too sure of at the time. Bakugo had called you up and it was so nice to hear his voice. It was low and stoic instead of chaotic how it usually was. When you picked up he could immediately tell something was bothering you and asked if you were free to hangout. 

You met Bakugo at a café in town that was in the middle of UA and your academy. It was a Sunday morning, there was a crisp breeze and leaving of different colors falling around you. The walk was somber your mind kept wandering not being able to control your feelings or thoughts. You kept picking at your scarf as you were over thinking. As you got closer to the café the smell of freshly roasted coffee beans and sweet pastries calmed you down.

 Once you entered the café you immediately saw Bakugo. He looked nervous for some reason, but his expression changed immediately once his eyes met yours. “What’s with that face Kacchan?” you smirked with a flirty tone. ‘Well good morning to you too dumbass. If you must know, I’m just happy to see you.” Bakugo was only sweet when it came to you, he would never let anyone see him like this. Not even Izuku. While you could tell his feeling were genuine you felt as if he was hiding something. “I didn’t order yet, I don’t exactly know what you like.” He mumbled in a soft tone. 

You ordered something new, something you saw one of your favorite American celebrity order in an movie you had to watch for a school project. “I’ll have an oat milk latte with vanilla and hazelnut please.”  Bakugo looked at you with a slightly confused face. “I’ll have that too I guess” he stated. You knew Bakugo too well and knew he wouldn’t like it. “Actually, just give him an Americano with vanilla and hazelnut” you smirked back at him “Trust me.” Bakugo was quite impressed with your drink choice even though he didn’t admit it, you could see the smile after his first sip.

  You spent the next couple hours catching up, as you realized the time you informed him how you needing to get going. Even though it was fall break you had multiple assignments to catch up on as you were basically failing every single one of your classes. You tended to procrastinate as it was Sunday you had to finish it all by tonight. Bakugo was very displeased in hearing this as he is a top student and knew how much potential you really had.

 Upon hearing about what has been going on in your life and how you aren’t doing well in school he decided then and there that every Sunday he would make time for you. He would meet you in this café and he would check on your studies, and even help tutor you. He felt so guilty for not having spent time with you. As he was telling you his plan for the next coming Sunday his little surprised came and plopped down right beside you. “DEKU” you just about cried seeing your two favorite boys together again. Kacchan went ahead and told him his plan and Deku insisted he come along every Sunday as well. Three best friends back together again, and that’s how your Sunday traditions began.

******

After a long-deserved shower, you made your way to your closet, while you knew it was Sunday and the plans to meet with friends was already set in motion, you couldn’t be bothered to put on anything to fancy. Your body still ached from the night before. The fumbling in bed and the jerk of your body as you came pummeling down from your nightmares really put a strain on your body and mind.

 A simple pair of leggings and Kacchan’s oversized hoodie seemed to be just fine. Making your way through your apartment, the coldness of the floor made you shiver. As you went back into the restroom to finish getting ready, the image in the mirror startled you. It’s been years since you’ve felt like this. The nightmares bringing up repressed memories and feelings you’ve buried long ago. 

The bags under your eyes seem darker than normal and it doesn’t seem like a cup of coffee can help you fix this one. You looked back at your reflection, disappointed in what was looking back and sighed “I swear we’ve been here before, and you can’t go back to feeling like this. Pull yourself together. If not for yourself do it for Bakugo, you know he wouldn’t want to see you like this.” With a little self-deprecation and your pep talk you managed to get ready for the day.

 You’re usually known to wear bold eye looks but today you went with something a little softer. A muted brown Smokey eye with a sharp wing liner. As you made your way to your front door, you put on your favorite pair of combat boots. You wore them everywhere, they were in tatters and barley hanging on by a thread, but you loved them more than anything. Upon leaving you felt a slight breeze graze your face.

*Bzzzz bzzzz* You grab your phone from your pocket and answer “Hello?” you mustered up the nerve to get it out as you were not in the mood to be speaking to anyone right at this moment. Once you heard it was Bakugo you felt more reassured. ‘Hey dumbass, where are you?” You didn’t realize the time and how late you had been running all along. “Oh my god Kacchan I am so sorry, I totally forgot about our plans today” a slight hint of sarcasm rolled of your tongue.  ‘YOU WHAT” it sounded far more disappointing then angry.” Nah I’m just fucking with you dummy, turn around” There he stood, his sadden eyes igniting at your sight. 

This man had the purest crimson red eyes, they matched the fire within in soul.  He was beautiful but in the way forest fires were beautiful. He may be destructive, but he did it in the most alluring way. Bakugo made his way towards you wrapping his arms around your waist, you were never one for personal touch even hugs with people you considered your friends was hard for you. With him you felt comfortable, safe even. There was always an unspoken bond between the two of you, after a certain night back in high school but Bakugo would never make the first move and neither would you. 

You’ve never held on to him so long in your life. He never once complained though, he just held you until you decided to let go. As the hug came to an end he could sense the tenseness in your body. Your eyes didn’t have the same sheen to them as they usually do. Even though you were wearing makeup he could see the puffiness that still remained. A thumb landed on the apple of your check and slowly rubbed circles into it.

 Bakugo let out a small sigh “Oi, I forgot to tell you, Deku won’t be meeting us here today, He’s on a mission and we don’t know when he will be back” A small flash of sadness overcame your face as you would have really enjoyed seeing Izuku, but you understood he had responsibilities as a pro hero. Suddenly your thoughts were interrupted as the barista shouted out your order. You hadn’t realized that Kacchan had already ordered. “Oat milk latte with vanilla and hazelnut and an americano with vanilla and hazelnut for Bakugo and (Y/N).” He was absolutely hooked on that flavor combo since you introduced it to him quite some time ago.

 The Barista knew you all by name as they have been working here just as long as you have been coming to this café. Upon receiving your drinks, you make your way to your favorite booth in the corner. It’s hidden away from everyone, it’s nicely lit, and you can see everything happening around you. You’ve always liked to be aware of your soundings in any situations.

 Bakugo stares at you intensely, you know exactly where this is going. You take in a deep breath and sigh as he continued to ask you if you were alright. At first, you’re very hesitant but with sweaty hands and a quivering lip you look up and speak. “They’re back Kacchan. My nightmares, they’re back.” The amount of shock of his face was agonizing to see, he still remembers how bad they used to get. 

Your nightmares would get to the point where you would call bakugo in the middle of the night screaming and crying because of how real the dreams felt.  On days he could, he would sneak out of UA and come to comfort you. He would stay by your side and hold until you calmed down and slowly drifted back to sleep. It was so utterly heartbreaking for him to see you, his best friend so broken and scared. Some days he wouldn’t be able to sneak out but even then he would facetime you until you fell asleep and would stay on until the sun rose. No one ever knew about this not even Izuku. 

As you and Bakugo grew closer you and Deku started to slowly drift apart. Izuku only really cared about becoming a hero and his new friends. He spent all of his time with them training and even doing all the stuff you used to do. It made you feel thrown aside and unappreciated. Just because you didn’t have a quirk didn’t mean you still couldn’t hang out with him anymore. For someone who went most of his life unnoticed and quirk less you though he would understand how you felt but he really didn’t. Bakugo on the other hand made some new friends and they’re all really great but thankfully he always made time for you.

  Bakugo looks up into your eyes glossed over as tears start to form in the corners, he lays his hands atop yours. (Y/N) are you okay, do you know what triggered them to comeback?” He was quiet, worried about the response you may give him. You stare into his eyes thinking of your response, you didn’t know what to tell him. These nightmares you had were the same as they used to be. He’s already heard what happens. Images and scenes of you and the people you love dying in the most gruesome way. So detailed oriented as if they were memories you had once lived. Recently it has been the same recurring dream but last night, there were minor inconsistencies. 

“They’re the same Kacchan, I keep seeing myself and everyone around me die, but the worst part is how real they feel.” As you explained your most current dream to him you could see him become teary eyed. This was a dream that has made you feel so uneasy. This was a dream you had consistently back when you were younger. It started with you walking down an unfamiliar street in an unfamiliar neighborhood. There was nothing unusual about it. You would always pass a thriving Onigiri shop, A couple dogs on a walk and even pass by the most beautiful flower shop. As you come to an intersection waiting to cross the road when you suddenly trip. You fly head first into oncoming traffic and the way your body id torn apart is appalling.

 While you only tell Bakugo the dream ends with you being hit, you don’t go into graphic detail not wanting to worry him more than you should. The strangest part is it always felt intentional, like someone was trailing you. You always felt eyes on you, and even though you never knew how to explain it you described them to be eyes that stared into your soul. You saw galaxies floating around in those eyes, just like clockworks. You always heard ticking in the back of your mind. Was it a count down? Why was this all you could now think about.

 As your mind came back to the realization you were talking to bakugo he let you know that he will always be there for you and in the end, things would be okay. He tried his hardest for you, but deep down you knew he would never understand. As the morning passes by your usually meeting is cut short as Bakugo was summoned to help out in crime that had gotten out of town downtown. You said your goodbyes and headed your separate ways.

As you headed home you decided to take a new route, a longer way home as you still wanted some time to yourself to reflect on everything happening. The walk was cold, but the sunlight made it bearable. The leaves were changing beautiful colors and were slowly falling. You took in the air around you as autumn was your favorite season of the year. Making your way farther into the neighborhood, you stopped as that heavy and unsettling feeling resurfaced. 

You tried to ignore it but as you made your way farther down the street you stop and stared to the building on coming up your right you notice the sign decomposing and falling apart. “Onigiri….” You were in shock, but the place looks like it’s been shut down for years, abandoned even. You continued on your way, but the unsettling feeling kept growing. You next find yourself in front of a flower shop. The flowers are all dead, and the store window was smashed to shreds. Maybe it was a quirk gone wrong. “This has to be a coincidence” you say to yourself trying to believe your own words.

 Suddenly you see it, someone walking two dogs passing you. You’re in a trance, panicking not understanding what’s happening and why you’re seeing everything you saw in your dreams. Without thinking you start running down the street. For a slight moment you glance back, to make sure no one was trailing you. As soon as you turned around you felt it, someone had pushed you right into oncoming traffic.

 As you look up while you fall you finally see her. A woman with galaxies in her eyes, was that apart of her quirk you wonder as you watch her disappear. As you’re falling you hear the ticking of clocks and see a bus heading for you. “This is it, this is how I die isn’t it?” You slowly begin to sob only wishing you had held on a little tighter to bakugo today. As you fall to the ground you’re stuck looking at the bus like a deer in headlights, when suddenly everything around you comes to a complete stop.

 As you’re heaving and trying to catch your breath you look around for a hero who may have been the cause for what’s happening. You’ve heard of hero’s who can slow objects and time around them for short periods of time but a hero who could stop time completely it was unheard of. There was no one in sight, how could that be you wondered to yourself. As you started getting up you heard the ticking of the clock speeding up, for some reason you knew this meant time would be returning to normal, you made your way back to the sidewalk. 

You stared at awe at the street where you just about died. You were quirk-less all your life, or so you thought.

[hyuneio]

Friendship beyond Barriers

pairing: college student!reader × international student!minho

genre: fluff

word count: 1K

~~~

The late Friday night saw you at the dining table of your shared dorm, solving equations and sipping your coffee, the drink begging your eyes to be open for a few more hours. The assignment had to be turned in the following day, and even though you were given a week, procrastination kept it underway till the night of the last day. 

You had chosen to spend the tedious hours in the kitchen because first, it’s warmer than your room and second, the endless (not literally) supply of coffee was right next to you. The night was doing you good, you just hoped to not wake up your housemates with your quite frequent breakdowns because of the seemingly unsolvable math problems.

Although you had thought about it, all of your five housemates were useless to you when it came to homework. Two of them, Cooper and Ashton, were in a completely different major, you reckoned they would probably get scared even if you just show them the equations. The one girl, Leigh, was always out at the library or the cafe, so although she was smart, you had never been able to ask her for help.

The last two were foreign exchange students, one of which had not taken up the same math course as you, named Chan, and the other was not quite fluent in English and he often relied on the former for English to Korean translations.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps climbing down the steps. You held your breath and peered into the darkness, relaxing when you saw it was one of the foreigners. Lee Minho entered the kitchen, in a black t-shirt and shorts, covered in sweat.

You never really had gotten to know him because of the language barrier, though you had shared a few laughs with him during the three months you have been staying together. He appeared the studious yet outgoing type but never really socialized because he wanted to be independent in terms of communication first.

Minho looked surprised to see you there, but returned your smile, all the same, walking over to the refrigerator to pour himself a glass of water. As you went back to your homework, he leaned against the counter, evidently trying to calm himself down, his eyes closed. You noticed his behaviour but decided against asking any questions.

However, when he stood like that for five minutes straight, your forehead wrinkled with worry and confusion.

“Bad dream?” you called out.

Minho’s eyes snapped open, he turned to you with a puzzled look. Knowing the expression all too well, you chuckled.

“Bad,” you slowly enunciated the word “dream?” You even made a hand gesture of sleeping so that he got the message.

He seemed to understand as he gave a slight nod, his lips turning into a pout.

“Do..you..want..to..talk..about..it?” you spoke again, the process taking up a whole seven seconds.

The boy looked confused but nodded, he kind of wanted to get it off his chest. After a little processing time, he mouthed you a “How?” referring to his lack of English vocabulary.

You just shrugged your shoulders and beckoned for him to follow you to the living room. You plopped down on the couch, cross-legged, facing him.

“Talk,” you said, a small smile playing on your lips.

“I-uh,” Minho stammered, his cheeks red with embarrassment.

“It’s okay, talk in Korean,” you urged him, your hands doing a talking gesture. 

He shot you a grateful look before speaking in a familiar yet foreign language, familiar because you had been hearing it every time the two internationals chatted. You had caught on a few words from their conversations and also you would always ask Chan to teach you new Korean words every day.

“Goyang-i! That means cat right?" you exclaimed, excited that you could understand a word.

The poor boy got startled while narrating his nightmare but nodded when he heard the word "cat".

After that, you understood some words here and there, with him throwing in a few stuttered English words like "fell" and "hurt" but the only overall context you got was that he had a nightmare about his precious cats being injured. Precious because you had seen him meowing to them on facetime. 

But you still managed to smile and nod through the whole thing, you could almost feel the pain he went through while he had that nightmare, just because of his passionate narration. With his little movements like actually falling off the couch when he was telling about his cat's tragic fall, you ended up sharing a laugh at his acting skills, both of you thoroughly enjoying the moment. 

As you zoned in and out, you could see how beautiful he looked in the moonlight coming through the window. You had never really thought much about pretty Korean boys until the two friends had arrived in your life. But at that moment, the boy right in front of you seemed like the most perfect sculpture ever made, his eyes sparkling with passion. 

When he had finished, he relaxed back into the couch and smiled at you.

"Did you uh-," he stuttered, "Did you under...s-stood?" he asked, making you chuckle at his cute accent and grammatical errors. 

"Yes I did, kind of," you grinned at him. You stood up and yawned, you still had homework to do.

Turning back, you offered him a hand which he gladly took, squeezing it and he bowed a little, muttering a word in Korean, probably a thank you for listening to him.

You skipped forwards and stopped in front of the stairs going up to your bedrooms.

"You should go to sleep now," you said, making sure he understood the phrase "go to sleep" with the help of hand gestures and sent a goodnight his way, starting to walk away from the stairs.

But Minho grabbed your arm, halting you in your tracks. You turned around to give him a puzzled look.

"S-sleep," he whispered while pointing upwards to your bedroom.

"No, I have to do the assignment," you replied, emphasising the word "assignment". 

"Sleep," he said again, pouting. 

"Minho, I have work to do, I'll sleep afterwards," you smiled at him, starting towards the kitchen but were stopped again.

"Sleep!" he almost shouted, causing your hand to fly over his mouth, to not wake up your housemates from their dreamlands.

"Okay, okay, I'll go, let me put out the lights," you chuckled.

You scurried in the opposite direction, leaving a satisfied Minho behind.

[angelic-rin]

Finally, Someone New: Modern!Jefferson x reader

@justcallmecinammon A/N: GUESS WHO PROCRASTINATED SUPER BADLY ON THIS REQUEST??? ME. Oh jeez, this took forever to write, and it’s long and probably not that good. Agh. I am so sorry. But hey, it’s finished! It’s like half past midnight for me haha. I can’t believe I finished! I was almost convinced I never would. Enjoy this terrible thing. (Also it’s worth pointing out… I’m so sorry, this request was supposed to have a Gwash cameo, but I didn’t remember that until I was like two sentences away from being finished. So I just kinda thought, ‘screw it. This is fine.’ :( Again, I’m sorry. I ended up changing some stuff in your request.)

***

7:30 on a Saturday morning was the perfect time for you. It was quiet, meaning good study time (and time to chat with your friends). Hardly anyone but you and a few pals were awake. And the weather was always decent a 7:30 this time of year. Never too cold or too hot.

Today, however, it was hard to drag yourself out of bed. You would have slept in if it weren’t for the fact that you promised Angelica and Eliza that you would meet them at the library to “study.” (It was almost a joke. Classes hadn’t even started yet. But you wanted to look ahead so you’d know what you were doing later.)

“Morning, (y/n)!” Eliza said cheerfully as you sat down with them.

Angelica grinned at you over her coffee. “Late night?”

“Yeah,” you replied. “Don’t worry, though, I’m fine!” You opened your book, skimmed over the page, and sighed. “Except I totally do not want to study right now.”

“I understand that,” Eliza said. “I was wondering… are you okay? Normally you don’t stay up so late that you’re this tired……”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

The sisters exchanged glances. “Are you sure? I know that today… it’s been a year since….”

“Yeah. I know. And you know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m over it.”

“Okay….” Angelica set her coffee down. “Obviously we’re not gonna be studying. So why don’t we walk to the bakery or something?”

You closed the book. “Sounds great! The one across the street?”

“Yep!”

The three of you started packing up your books, and you let your mind wander. Though it wasn’t a big deal, they were right. There was, in fact, something on your mind. It was exactly a year ago that you ended the longest relationship you had ever been in, because the jerk wouldn’t accept “no” for an answer.

Normally you barely even thought of him. But maybe it was because the one year mark had come that you WERE thinking about it. You didn’t regret leaving him at all, but still. It made you mad to think about him.

“Hey, (y/n)? You passed it.”

You snapped out of your daze and noticed that you had in fact missed the bakery entirely. Your friends were standing about 20 feet away from you. Eliza was giggling. You looked down at your feet.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry,” Eliza said sweetly. She led you inside the warm building, where the smell of bread and vanilla filled the air.

It was fairly empty, except for a group of three boys sitting at a corner table. You recognized two of them: Aaron Burr and James Madison. The third, a taller guy with very wild curls and a deep purple button-up, caught your eye and winked.

“Mmm…. Angelica?”

Angelica, who had been busy inspecting the pastries in the glass case, looked up briefly. “Yes?”

You glanced at the one who had winked at you. He was now talking to his friends again. “Who is he? The one in the purple?”

“Oh. HIM. Thomas Jefferson.” Angelica wrinkled her nose. “Stay away from that one. He considers himself a real ladies man, but he most definitely is not. Kind of a creep if you ask me.” She went back to inspecting the pastries. “Lemon Poppy Seed, maybe…. Eliza will want chocolate…. (y/n)? What do you want?”

“I’ll have (breakfast pastry of your choice), please!” You said. You reached into your pocket for money, but Angelica stopped you.

“Don’t worry. Eliza and I have got you.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind paying for mine.”

“Of course were sure,” Eliza said. “Anything for you!”

You smiled and looked up at Aaron, James, and this “Thomas.” Both Aaron and James waved when they saw you; you were friends with them and were going to be seeing the both of them in your classes. Thoman just smirked and gave a very cocky wave.

You left the bakery with the two Schuyler sisters. Eliza was mentioning how she wished Peggy could have come along, but was still asleep.

“If she wanted to, she would have woken up,” Angelica said. “But you’re right, we had ought to include her more….. hey, (y/n), are you okay? Something on your mind?”

Yes, there was something. A few somethings, in fact. One year without that jerk. Upcoming classes. And, for some reason, the guy with the curly hair. Thomas.

“Yes… But it doesn’t matter. Shall we just sit down somewhere?”

Angelica shrugged. “All the same to me.”

As the three of you walked away from the bakery, you let your mind wander a bit. You still remembered how it went down exactly a year ago…..

“Come on, please? Don’t you love me?”

“I’ve told you before, the answer is NO.”

Your boyfriend of two years was pressuring you to do something you didn’t want. And though at first he seemed understanding, he seemed to constantly ask to take you to bed. Nothing you said seemed to get him off your back.

“If you loved me,” he said angrily, “you’d let me.”

“If you loved me, you wouldn’t pressure me into doing this,” was all you said. And when he still didnt stop, you left him.

You had zero regrets. But if that was the case…

…then why was it on your mind so much?

***

Classes started a week later. You were especially excited for English- that was what you were majoring in. This class also had some of your friends- Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, Aaron Burr, and James Madison. You took a seat with Aaron and James and started up a conversation with them.

“Hey, (y/n),” Aaron greeted. “Saw you the other day, why didn’t you come over and say hi?”

“Ah, I dunno,” you said. “You guys seemed deep in conversation. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“You wouldn’t have,” James insisted. “We like talking to you, you know that.”

“Yeah, but didn’t you have a friend with you? Someone new?”

“Yeah,” James said. “Thomas. He’d been in France, and now he’s starting here.”

As if he had read their minds, the tall boy, 'Thomas,’ sauntered through the door and sat down right next to you. “Aaron. James. Hey, what did I miss?”

“Nothing,” Aaron said. “Have you met (Y/N)?”

Thomas grinned. “I do recognize her. Saw her a few days ago, didn’t I? I wouldn’t forget such a pretty face.”

“I… uh….”

He chuckled. “Aww, look, she’s cute when she’s flustered.

You looked up at him in surprise, and were about to respond when the professor called the class to attention. Thomas faced forward and slid a piece of paper into your palm. "We can talk later.”

You quietly unfolded it. It was a phone number. His.

No one had ever flirted with you that much before. It was weird, but not entirely unwelcome. But still, you didn’t know him. You promised yourself that you would be careful, and tucked the paper deep into your pocket and turned your attention to the professor.

But you weren’t able to concentrate. You kept glancing over at Thomas. Once he caught you and gave a cocky half smile, and you looked away, cheeks burning. There was no way you were going to be able to pay attention at this rate, which really disappointed you. You were determined to do well in this class.

After class, you had hoped to get away, but he decided to walk with you.

“So, (y/n),” he said, “Did you get our firat assignment?”

“Yes, of course I did,” you said, a little too quickly.

“Really?” He raised one eyebrow. “Good, because I completely missed it.”

You looked down in shame. “No, I’m sorry. I actually didn’t.”

He laughed. “I know. I could tell by the way you couldn’t stop concentrating on me.”

“I-”

“Hey, no worries,” he said. “We’ll get it from Alex. He probably paid attention.”

“I would have paid attention!” You said. “I’m a good student! It’s just….” you didn’t finish.

“Yeah… you know what, it’s okay. I’m sorry I was teasing you before. I know I was flirting, but….” he hesitated. “I am gonna need help with this class. James and Aaron said that they’re both gonna help me, but James is always sick and Aaron has other stuff on his mind.”

“So… you want me to text you? When you get the assignment?”

“That would be fantastic.” He smiled, and it was different from his sexy, flirty smile. “Or maybe I should call you. Can I, uh….”

“Sure.” You grinned, took a sharpie out of your bag, gently grabbed his arm, and wrote your number down.“

He smiled. "That’s going to take a while to wash off.”

“You won’t forget it or lose it, this way.”

“You are smart, (y/n). Thanks so much.”

“No problem, Thomas.” You shook his hand and headed for your next class, feeling strangely light and giddy.

***

“So let me get this straight…. you’ve been talking to Thomas Jefferson? And he’s been flirting with you? He gave you his number?”

Angelica sat on the floor of your dorm, looking mildly concerned. You had told her everything, leaving out the light and happy feeling you had after talking to Thomas… You didn’t really want to talk to her about your feelings yet. For all you knew, you’d forget about him by next Tuesday. And judging by her facial expression, she didn’t like Thomas all that much.

“Yeah,” you said. “Why do you seem so upset? He isn’t that bad. He seems kinda sweet, actually.”

“Hah!” Angelica snorted. “If you say so.” Then, after a pause, she said, “maybe he is. But I also know that he can be a bit of a player. I’m pretty sure he had around 10 different girlfriends up in France.”

“You’re making that up! Where’d you here that?”

“I heard him bragging about it to Aaron and James.” She saw the look on your face. “You can… like him if you want. But be careful, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I wo-” you started, but we’re cut off by the sound of your phone buzzing. Thomas.

Angelica saw it too, and sighed. “You’d better take that.” She shook her head as she left the room, but then she smiled. “Maybe he isn’t that bad.”

You picked up the phone. “Hey, Thomas. Did you get the assignment?”

“Hey, (y/n), I- what? No, that’s not what I’m calling for. I mean I did, but I have something else.”

“Oh. What are we supposed to read?”

“First 50 pages of the textbook. But that isn’t important.” You heard him take a deep breath over the phone, like he was preparing himself for something. “We should go out. Together.”

“Like…. on a date?” You smiled. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“I, uh…. yes?”

It was weird, hearing him be so awkward. He had seemed so confident yesterday.

“Oh, Thomas… I really, really would like to….”

“…but?”

“But I don’t think so.” You sighed. “I barely know you. We met yesterday, and… I feel like it would be weird to date if we aren’t friends first. Maybe that’s just me….”

“No, no, that makes sense….” he tried to hide his disappointment. “Okay. That’s fine, we can still be friends.” The confidence returned. “You’re gonna still help me out, aren’t you?”

“Of course!”

“Good. Tomorrow?”

You laughed. “Sure. Don’t sound so eager.”

“Actually,” he said, “I’m waiting at least 12 hours to spend time with my new FRIEND.” He emphasized the word. “That’s a long time.”

“Okay…” you smiled. “I’m gonna go. I’ll see you tomorrow. I promise. And we’ll study. Alright?”

“Perfect.” He hung up abruptly, and you grinned. Such a weird guy, you thought. But you liked him.

***

So as planned, the two of you worked together on the reading. As classes went on, you spent even more time together, 'studying.’ Only you usually spent to much time talking and laughing to really get any work done. A month passed, and then two, then more, and suddenly you were closer than you had thought possible.

Without you realizing it, you had been spending every minute you could with Thomas. Something about his cocky and confident manner drew you to him. Sometimes, it led you to bail on Angelica and Eliza. And though being good friends with Thomas meant that you got to see James and Aaron a lot, eventually, Thomas would abandon them to spend time with you.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Thomas,” you heard James sigh. 

“Of course I know what I’m doing,” Thomas had said, somewhat defensively. “I’ll talk to you guys later.”

Hearing James say that made you think; “Do I know what I’m doing?” You wondered. Thomas was your friend, but he was consuming every part of you. You were always with him, and when you weren’t, you thought about him.

For a moment you forgot where you were and what you were doing. After you remembered yourself, you turned to Thomas. “Study?”

“Actually,” he said, with a cocky grin, “I was thinking that maybe we should do something more fun. Maybe we should just watch a movie or something.”

“That does sound fun,” you agreed. “I don’t know, maybe we should get work done….” You shook your head. “Nah. We have all week. Let’s take a break.”

“Great. Your place?”

“Sure.”

At your dorm, you briefly looked through your decent sized collection of old movies and then held one up. Thomas nodded his agreement, and you both settled on the couch.

A few minutes in Thomas slid his arm around you and you smiled.

'This is nice,’ you thought. 'I’m glad we’re such good friends, this is great.’

And as you thought that, Thomas looked at you with an almost shy look in his eye and said, “I love you, (y/n).”

For a moment you barely processed it and just looked straight ahead at the movie. He did too. But after a bit, you managed to mumble, “I love you too…”

His confident smile returned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that. Say it again?”

Instead of saying it again for him, you thought, 'ah, what the hell. Why not?’ And leaned over and kissed him. Not a soft kiss, either; a passionate kiss, letting him know how much you loved him.

His surprise only lasted for a minute. He returned the kiss, running his rough fingers through your hair.

“(Y/n),” he said when you pulled apart, “You’re so beautiful. I should have told you sooner.”

“I should have too. I guess I was just…” You sighed. “Suppressing my feelings.”

“If you don’t mind me asking… why? We could have been together sooner. Although maybe it’s my fault too. I could have spoken up.”

“It's because… I wasn’t sure about being in a relationship again. My last one ended really badly. I didn’t want to repeat it…”

“Shh, don’t worry,” he said, stroking your hair. You rested your head on his shoulder. “I’m not gonna treat you bad, I promise you that.”

You smiled. “Finally. Someone new. Someone decent.”

“What, never met a decent guy before me?”

“Maybe not,” you said with a laugh. The film was still going on in front of you, but you weren’t really interested at all any more.

“I’ll be good for you,” he promised. “You won’t be disappointed.”

“I hope not,” you teased. “Are you gonna prove that?”

He cleared his throat. “Well, maybe I already demonstrated this, but…. I’m a pretty good kisser.”

[aoi-midori]

Lucid Storm Chapter 3

Chapter 0 (Prologue) | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Solomon [Ren Witten]

One of the more important things I gleaned from that briefing was that Shuuhei was just about ready to explode. I knew it was taking all he had just to keep his emotions at bay while speaking to the lot of us. Once the briefing was over, however, he completely let loose.

As soon as we, Joe and Lex were the only ones left in the room, Shuuhei grabbed the table nearest him and flipped it over onto its side. Then that sent all of his important documents flying up into the air…

“No no no!” I jumped out of my seat and scrambled to pick them all up before they even touched the floor. “Dammit Shuuhei, what do you think you’re doing?!”

“Alright alright, let’s calm down here.” Joe walked over there without a care in the world, stepped over the flipped desk, and placed his hands over Shuuhei’s shoulders. “I don’t think you want to be causing a disturbance this early in the morning, am I right?”

“Phew,” I finished gathering up Shuuhei’s papers and stacked them in a neat pile in the chair I had just vacated. It was only after that when I noticed Shuuhei’s aura. The entire room had taken on a greenish hue, and the air itself felt heavy. It was almost suffocating.

“Shuuhei, buddy, come on,” Joe shook Shuuhei’s shoulders slightly while Lex remained where she was, sitting in the seat by the door with a very anxious look on her face. “Don’t let your emotions get the best of you.”

“I’m going to kill him.” Shuuhei’s hands were balled up into fists so tight, I was afraid they would start bleeding. “I swear I’m going to kill him.”

“Buddy, I know you’re mad, but you’ve got to relax a bit. This isn’t the first time Heng’s caused us trouble. So-”

A small burst of energy shot out from Shuuhei, pushing Joe back several inches as well as scattering all those papers I had just finished reorganizing. “Not again!” I rolled my eyes as I went back to work once again, collecting the papers off the floor.

Joe was sounding a bit more cautious now. “Shuuhei…”

“He’s repeating the incident that got two of my best agents killed. How else am I supposed to react to that?!”

Joe sighed. “Alright, I know, it’s bad.” He took a few steps closer as he spoke. “But you really need to calm down. Getting pissy over it is not going to help.”

“Well, what exactly do you expect me to do then?! Sit on the sidelines and do nothing?! That’s unacceptable!”

And that’s when it happened. Shuuhei started glowing with a blueish tint that made him look almost radioactive. His aura was becoming heavier and heavier with each passing second.

From somewhere behind me, I heard Lex’s voice. “Dad…?”

Joe turned his back on Shuuhei and made straight for the door. “Go Lex! Get out of here now!”

“Dad what’s going on?!”

“Just go! We’re running out of time!”

He knew as well as I did that if Shuuhei lost control of his powers, which he was about to do, the entire building would definitely be gone for good. But I couldn’t just stand there and let it happen! So I ran past Joe, right up to Shuuhei, and took his hands in mine.

“Shuuhei! Can you hear me?!” I flinched as I felt my palms burning. It was painful beyond belief, but not once did I let go. I squeezed his fingers tightly. “Calm down, it’s alright!”

“Ren?!” Joe called back to me. “Ren, what are you doing?! Get out of here!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine! Just get Lex and go!”

Seconds later, I heard their footsteps hurrying out the door. Then it was just me and Shuuhei in there, but I had limited time on my hands. If I was to prevent as much damage as possible, I had to be quick.

I leaned in closer, and with one hand still in his, I reached up with the other and placed it firmly on his shoulder. “Shuuhei! Shuuhei, listen to me! I know that all of this is frustrating! Believe me, I know! But if you lose control now, you won’t be able to get back at Heng later!”

He shuddered slightly under my touch, which meant that he could at least hear me somewhat. I was getting somewhere, but it wasn’t enough yet. And with every passing second, my skin was getting even more singed than ever; that was the cost of standing in close proximity of Shuuhei whenever he got like this. It was painful, but I could handle it. If I didn’t hurry up, however… I wasn’t sure how many people were inside the building at the time, but I was hopeful that Joe and Lex had evacuated everyone by that point. That way, I would be the only one getting hurt.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms wrapping their way around me. A few seconds later, I realized what was going on.

“I’m sorry,” Shuuhei apologized as he hugged me gently. He had finally gained back control, and his aura had now balanced itself back out. “You got yourself injured because of me. I should have been more careful.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. My injuries will heal.”

“I know that.” Shuuhei let go and flipped over my hands to reveal two, singed-black palms. “But there’s no good reason for you to hurt yourself deliberately.”

“Yes there is, actually.” Judging by the tingling sensation I was feeling, I knew that my hands had started healing themselves, but I hardly paid them any notice and looked up into Shuuhei’s face. “If it’s to protect you and everyone else I care about, then I will gladly put my powers to good use. Even if it means taking a bullet for you.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” He sighed and turned to the door. “Well, we should probably give everyone the all-clear now.”

I nodded firmly. “Yeah. We should go.”

The two of us walked side-by-side out of the room and, soon enough, into the open air of the base’s central quad. A large group of people were standing several yards away from the building, and when they got sight of us, they all came cautiously forward.

“Don’t worry, it’s safe now!” Shuuhei told them calmly. “Everything is under control!”

A wave of relief seemed to pass over them as the majority of them headed back inside. The only ones who stayed behind were Joe and Lex.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Joe asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine now.” There was no doubt at all that Shuuhei was still angry, but he was at least in control of himself.

Joe stepped forward and once again, he placed his hand on Shuuhei’s shoulder. “Well, you do seem to be doing a bit better. But just to be sure… Take the rest of the day off!”

“What?!”

“You heard me. Take the rest of the day off! You need at least a little break from all of this.”

All four of us started walking away from the building simultaneously as he continued. “So while the rest of us handle the mission, why don’t you go down to the gym? Take all of that pent-up anger out on the practice dummies! What do you say?”

Shuuhei glared at him, and I couldn’t blame him. This mission had a lot of personal importance to him, and if it were me, I’d want to be involved every step of the way. Though in the end, I had to agree with Joe. Because the mission was so personal, it made sense that Shuuhei should step back from it. Fewer emotions would get in the way, and he’d be less likely to lose control over himself again.

Eventually, Shuuhei gave in. “Alright fine. I’ll go.”

“That’s the spirit!” Joe clapped him on the back. “Now get going and relax a bit. We’ll take care of this.”

“Fine, fine, I’m going.” Shuuhei left our group and headed off down the quad.

“Hell, you can grab your sister even! Get her to spar with you!”

Shuuhei didn’t turn back around, but he gave a single wave to acknowledge the suggestion.

Joe then turned back to me and Lex and, placing his hands on each of our backs, pushed us forward. “Now let’s get going.”

I didn’t protest, and so I let him guide us along. We had a mission to complete after all. While Cho took a group to raid the Melisma headquarters, everyone else was tasked with going to the Element Sphere temples. We were all divided up into groups of three or more, and Joe, Lex and I were assigned to the fire sphere temple. Our mission was to retrieve the fire sphere and ensure it stayed out of enemy hands, meaning the Chang-Los and any potential Melisma agents.

“So we’re going now, right?” Lex asked with her hands behind her head. “And where’s the fire sphere temple supposed to be anyway?”

“Nepal,” I answered as I straightened my shirt out. “Mount Everest, to be precise.”

“Shit. We are so going to freeze.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to bundle up!” Joe moved his hands away eventually, and the three of us walked side-by-side. “But before that, we’re going to take a little detour.”

“Wait, what?!” I snapped my head in his direction. “What do you mean, ‘a detour’?! We have to leave immediately!”

“Relax Ren. We’re going to go soon! Just as soon as we pick up a few things.”

“Oh really?” I had always hated this side of him. While I liked to be prompt and make sure I was several steps ahead of the game, Joe was a serious procrastinator. He typically made excuses to be late, which unlike him, I didn’t find to be funny. And if we were going on a mission, like now, he would wait right until the last minute to do anything that had to be done beforehand. It drove me insane. “What could be so important as to delay our mission?”

“Getting your magi-weapons.”

“Oh.” That was the last thing I expected him to say. “Well if that’s the case…”

Lex and I soon let Joe take the lead, and we followed him a long way to the opposite side of headquarters. I hadn’t been over there before, but I at least knew that this part of ETMA HQ was dedicated to the magi-science division. Few people outside of the division knew what projects they were working on but, whatever they were, I was sure that they would be beneficial to magi-society.

The building Joe led us to was probably the smallest one in the area, though it was big enough to at least hold several offices and such. Once we were inside, we followed Joe a few rooms down until we reached a set of double doors at the back of the building. He pushed them wide open, and…

What I walked into was my worst nightmare. This office, lab, whatever people wanted to call it, was a complete mess. Papers and lab equipment were everywhere, as far as the eye could see. The floor was luckily somewhat bare, but I couldn’t even tell if there were tables and counters at all because there was just so much clutter.

“You have got to be kidding me. Doesn’t anyone know how to properly clean a room?!”

Apparently, the answer was no. Without any hesitation, I stepped into the room and started moving papers.

“Wait wait wait!” I heard Lex’s voice from behind. “What are you doing?!”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m cleaning!”

“But this is someone else’s office! Shouldn’t we wait until they get back before we make any changes to it?!”

“I’m sorry Lex,” I said to her as I stacked papers in neat piles, “but I can’t take it anymore! The state of this room is driving me crazy!”

“I thought you wanted to start that mission as soon as possible,” Joe chuckled.

“The mission can wait. Obviously, this is far more important!”

“You know, maybe the person who works in here just likes things to be messy!” Lex reasoned. “Some people are like that! They keep things unorganized, but if someone else cleans it up, they can’t find anything! Maybe this person is like that!”

I slammed the box of spare parts in my hands onto one of the now-cleared countertops. “Well pardon me, but I just can’t understand how anyone can even focus on work in this clusterfuck of a mess!”

“Dad! Aren’t you going to stop her?!”

“Not a chance.”

Lex remained quiet after that. This left me to clean away as I pleased. Several minutes passed as I moved about, placing the stacked papers on top of each other for easier access and arranging lab equipment by size. It was a lot of work, but knowing that the room was going to look much better once I finished relaxed me, and so I was motivated to finish the job.

I paused for a moment to admire my work. “Ahh,” I sighed with relief as I looked around at the tidied-up room. “That’s better.”

“Ren, I still don’t like this,” Lex cautioned me. “Whoever works here is going to be really shocked, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not…”

“Look, I’m doing this for their own good! And if they don’t like it, then too bad for them!” I grabbed and picked up the box of spare parts again. “Now where should I put you…”

“Hey, the lab looks much better now!”

I shrieked. I turned around on the spot, only to ram into a man in a lab coat. The collision sent both of us onto the floor, and the box I was holding escaped my arms. Its contents scattered across the tile.

“Oh… My god. I am so so sorry!” I apologized profusely as I quickly gathered up those parts and placed them back into the box. “I can be such a clutz sometimes, and I wasn’t paying attention!”

“Hey hey, don’t sweat it! I’m not dead or anything, so it’s okay! Here, let me help.”

I barely even heard him. The only thing I could focus on was cleaning up the mess I had been stupid enough to make.  I only stopped when I felt a warm hand resting upon my own. I looked up to find myself almost nose-to-nose with the man. Being this close to his face, there wasn’t much I could do except look at him. His hair was a light shade of strawberry-blonde, and his cheeks were covered with tiny brown freckles.

Then behind the pair of wired glasses he was wearing, there were these dark blue eyes, and for some reason, they seemed strangely familiar. I wasn’t sure what tipped me off, but whether it was the shape or color, I felt like I had definitely seen them somewhere before.

“... Do I know you?”

“Hm?” He contemplated me for a brief moment before replying. “Nah, I don’t think so. Trust me, I’d recognize a pretty face like yours anywhere.”

“Mm alright then.” I had a slight feeling that he wasn’t being completely truthful, but I soon pushed that thought to the back of my head. “It’s just that you kind of remind me of someone I knew back from when I was a kid.”

Before either of us could say anything else, Joe called out to us from the other side of the room. “Everything okay over there?”

“Yep! We’re fine!” The man took hold of my hand and gently helped me up to my feet. “There you go.”

“Thanks.” I smiled at him and soon after bent back down to pick up the box.

“So, is this your office then?” Lex asked him.

“That’s right! I’m Solomon Owens, it’s nice to meet you!” He then looked to Joe. “I’m guessing you’re here for magi-weapons?”

“Yeah, I figured it would be best for these two to get them before the mission. It’s going to be a mess out there.”

“Right, right. I’ll go and get them, so wait right here for just a sec’!”

Solomon left the room through a side door, and within seconds he came hurrying back with two small boxes in his hands. “Okay!” He placed one of them down on the nearest counter and opened the other one. “Let’s start with this one,” he looked down at the label on the box, “Miss Lex Amara.”

Lex pointed to herself. “Who, me?”

“Yep!” Solomon beckoned her over. “I understand that you’re able to manipulate fire and use a lighter to create it, am I right?”

“Well yeah, but lately it’s been kind of inconvenient for missions. Don’t get me wrong, it works well, but if I have to constantly hold it while fighting…”

“Right you are. Which is why I came up with a better solution for you!” Solomon brought out the small box and showed us its contents. Inside were a pair of black fingerless gloves with red and orange accents. “Try these on.”

Lex took them and pulled them on one by one. “With these babies, you can say goodbye to that lighter of yours! These gloves are your new fire source! Go ahead, try snapping your fingers!”

She did as he said, and with one snap, her right index finger emitted a flame. “Whoa!” She opened her hand, letting the fire move down to her entire hand and making it into a fireball. “It doesn’t even hurt!”

“That’s because the gloves have a safety mechanism that prevents the wearer from burning themselves! Though for the time being, that protection only counts towards the hands, so the rest of your body is still vulnerable. But I think this should do fine for now!”

“Umm, yeah! This is fantastic, thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome! And now,” Solomon turned towards me, “it’s Ren’s turn!”

Despite me being anxious to start the mission as soon as possible, I couldn’t help but feel curious about my magi-weapons. “Alright, what do you have for me?”

“Right.” He moved on to the second, longer box and opened it. He then reached inside and took out a second pair of gloves. The only differences I noticed included the set being full-length, their dark grey color, and the contraption-like devices running down the arms. “Since your fighting style is strictly melee, I wanted to make you something that would complement that. Here.”

Solomon came over to my side and helped me slip the gloves on. They reached all the way down to my elbows, and with them on, I felt like I was wearing some sort of lightweight armor. “I’m assuming these won’t affect my healing abilities in any way, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t think you need any help with those at the moment. But anyway, let’s get down to the details here. See those pads on the back of your hands?”

I looked down to see what looked like black trackpads from a laptop. “Yeah. What of them?”

“Touching those will activate the gloves basically!” Solomon backed up several feet until his back was against the side door. “Now here’s what I want you to do. Place your left hand in front of you so that the palm is facing towards me, and then slap the pad on that glove!”

“Okay.” I put my left hand out like he said, and, after hesitating for a moment or two, carefully pressed the pad on the glove.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Solomon came zooming across the room and stopped right against that left palm of mine. He was grinning from ear to ear. “Pretty neat, huh?!”

“Holy…” I stared between him and the glove, not sure what to think of this. I then tried to move my hand away, but Solomon just moved along with me. “Umm, how do I turn this off?!”

“Oh, just press the pad again!”

I did just that. “That… That sure is something.” I looked down and examined the glove more closely. “So does this work like a magnet then or something?”

“That’s the idea! The left glove pulls in your target while the right glove does the exact opposite.” He took one step backwards. “Go ahead! Try it again with the right hand this time!”

“Alright then…” I did the same as before and pressed the pad on the right glove. At the exact same speed as before, Solomon was sent flying backwards until he hit the door. Then he crumpled to the ground with a thud.

“Ack!” I rushed over to his side and knelt down beside him. “I’m so sorry! Are you alright?!”

“Yep,” he wheezed. He slowly propped himself up with his elbows and then struggled up into a sitting position. “M-maybe next time I’ll set up a mat.”

Lex and Joe had reached us by that point. “You’re not hurt or anything, are you?!” Lex asked anxiously.

“Oh no, I’m fine! There’s nothing to worry about here!”

I placed a hand on his arm. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” he nodded confidently as I helped him back up. “So what do you think?”

“Well… These will definitely take time for me to get used to them, but I think I can make them work!” I had to hand it to Solomon; the gloves really were amazing.

His smile widened. “Excellent! That’s great to hear, especially coming from you!”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, nothing! It’s just that you’re a new recruit and all, and I only just met you! Being complemented by anyone feels good!”

“I see.” Now I knew he was lying. The way he said that first comment suggested that he might know me. I just couldn’t pin down why I found him to be so familiar though.

It was at that moment when Joe stepped in. “I hate to break this up, but we should probably get going now. We do have a mission after all.”

I smirked. “Look who’s talking. You sure you don’t have anymore last-minute things you need to take care of first?”

“Oh no, this was it. I am good to go.”

“Yeah, I should probably get back to work anyway,” Solomon added as he scratched the back of his head. He then held out his hand. “But it was nice meeting you both!”

Lex took it first and shook. “Yeah, you too! And thanks again for the magi-weapons! They’ll be pretty useful during the mission!”

“Eh, don’t mention it! It’s the least I could do!”

Then it was my turn. Our hands seemed to linger when we shook, and when it seemed like neither of us wanted to let go, I took the initiative. “Thanks for everything.”

“It’s not a problem.”

“Alright, let’s get going.” Joe led the way out of the room with Lex close behind him. I made to follow him as well.

“Ren, wait.” Solomon caught up with me and stood by my side. “Listen, if you’re ever interested in watching me work, or even if you just want to hang out or whatever, feel free to stop by and visit. Not that you have to, of course! It’s just a thought I had, you know.”

“Oh.” I could feel myself blushing slightly. “Umm… Okay then. I’ll definitely consider it.”

“Great.” His grin became even wider. “Anyway, I’ll let you go now. But good luck on your mission though! If you run into any enemies, don’t go too easy on them.” He gave me a cocky sort of smirk and winked.

I couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

FEEDBACK FEEDBACK FEEDBACKKKKKKKK!!!!

[clumsyracconking]

A villain

Ch. 14 (1056 words)

I’m literally writing this while I listen to the Hotel Diablo album on loop while I procrastinate 4 assignments, don’t expect much. I am also aware edibles take like an hour to kick in not really mattering how many you eat. I'm just doing what I want at this point, logic be damned. And yeah they're all stoners because they deserve a fucking break man.

“So now that we’ve finished with whatever the fuck that was, you accidentally told your little brother you are his long lost brother and are ghosting Hawks because he has a shitty temper and needs to get that under control.” Toga said with a sigh, giving Dabi what can only be described as a “how the fuck did you manage this” look.

“Yeah that bout sums it up. The life of chaos, how I’ve missed it.” He said with his last statement dripping in sarcasm. “I need to go out, fuck some shit up.” He said getting up off the floor where he and Toga had been sitting.

“Yeah ok I can respect that, see you later Dabi!” She said with her seemingly usual enthusiasm, in reality she was concerned for the two brothers and Hawks’ relationship with Dabi.

After Dabi had gotten his coat he’d walked out leaving Toga alone in the apartment for some unknown reason, probably because he knew she wouldn't do anything terribly stupid, “what are we gonna do with you two?” She asked the empty apartment.

--

Shinso was new here but the kid was interesting that’s for sure, most of them were if Shigaraki was really being honest, he’d spoken without too much fear towards Shigaraki but still a decent amount of respect something he didn’t see often.

“You dumb fuck! Why would you eat three whole brownies?!” One of the boy’s yelled at Hawks who had not been previously informed that he was eating edibles that were apparently ‘not even that strong’ yeah the next morning when he woke up he’d call bullshit on that.

“No one told me what was in them!” Shigaraki was now glad he’d only had one.

“The hell did you think I meant when I’d said the recipe was from Sero, that it would be normal boring brownies?!” Shoto yelled in a slight panic, he didn’t know what three brownies would do to Hawks.

“I don’t fucking know who Sero is!” Hawks yelled back at Todoroki.

“Sho it’ll be fine, one time we watched Midoriya eat like five on accident and the only thing it did was make the evening funny as hell. Remember that night?” Hitoshi said, speaking over his boyfriend and Hawks trying to calm them down.

Shoto let out a chuckle remembering the night in question. “Yeah I do remember that, he went full cowling on Sero the next day for not telling him before he ate them and it was funny.” Ignoring Hawks who’s pupils looked like they were now not doing what they were supposed to.

“You two are gonna make me watch him aren't you.” Shigaraki said his effects still impending because of the quantity and speed he ate his singular brownie at.

“We would never!” Hitoshi yelled hand in hand with Shoto jogging up the flight of stairs.

“Fucking brats. C’mon Kei let’s go play some Mario.”

--

“Hey Hitoshi, what if I got a tattoo?” Shoto asked after they’d made their way up stairs, he’d been thinking about it for a while and he knew damn well he’d look good with one.

“I know how to give them if you're serious.” Toga said from inside her apartment having heard them because her door was open.

“How well?” Shoto yelled back to his friend.

Hitoshi couldn’t tell if they were serious, hadn’t these two only known each other for like two days? That reminded him, “oh fuck, oh shit!” He said pulling out his phone to see dozens of text notifications and even more unopened voicemails, some from his classmates but the majority were from his teacher/father whatever the fuck he was had texted and called him very worriedly when he hadn’t checked in after leaving campus.

“You two be quiet for a second.” He said even though Shoto was already in Togas apartment and talking about tattoo designs because apparently he was like their shared friend and didn’t value his life. “Hey Shouta, sorry, my phone was on silent.” Incoming scolding, “Hitoshi what the hell you were supposed to be back an hour ago! Not to mention you weren't answering your phone you have it for a reason!” He knew how he had to play this and in the long run he hoped it wouldn't fuck everything up. “Yeah I know, again I’m sorry but it’s too dark and late for me to head back now. I’m at my friends house and his parents said I can stay till tomorrow.” He had decided to bite the bullet and ask, technically he could go back to the campus but he really didn’t feel like being around the insufferable people there. He broke out of his little thinking trance when he heard his guardian sigh through the phone, “yeah I guess that’s fine, I want to talk to the parents though.” Well fuck, he hadn’t thought about that part, “yeah give me a second to go get them.” Fuck fuck fuck, he could go find Shigaraki, that probably wouldn't work his dad had heard the man speak before, fuck it. He walked downstairs and gestured to Shigaraki who was playing Mario kart with Hawks to entertain the stoned bird man to come over to him, “help it’s Shouta.” Hitoshi whispered just quiet enough for the phone to not pick it up. “Fucking christ.”Shigaraki whispered, “hand it over kid.” Hitoshi could only hope now.

“Hello this is Horatius Akim, I assume I’m speaking to Hitoshi-kun's guardian, yes?” Shigaraki had put on his customer service voice pitching it up slightly and moving around his speech pattern. “Yes this is his current guardian, I just wanted to be sure you’d said he was ok to stay the night I know he can be a handful sometimes.” Shigaraki fought the urge to laugh. “Oh he’s no trouble at all truly a pleasure. Well if that’s all I’ll hand the phone back to Hitoshi-kun.” He would never hear the end of this. “Yes that’s all thank you very much Mr. Akim.” Shigaraki passed the phone back to a red faced Hitoshi who was fighting a laughing fit. “Well thanks Shouta, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Hitoshi didn’t hang up yet, he never hung up first, “yeah see you tomorrow kid don’t die.” And with that the call ended.

[biofunmy]

Puja Patel’s Pitchfork Work Diary: ‘Our Staffers Decidedly Own the Dance Floor’

Puja Patel listens to a lot of music. The volume has gotten so overwhelming since she was named editor in chief of Pitchfork, she’s had to create a system to manage it all. “I’ve decided to keep my new vinyl purchases to things that I know I’ll keep for the rest of my life,” Ms. Patel said. She puts unreleased albums into a folder on iTunes and streams everything else on Spotify. She also acquired an old iPod Touch to use solely for work, but that turned out to be fruitless when she learned it wasn’t compatible with the latest MacBook.

Pitchfork, with its authoritatively decimalized album ranking system, is one of the most influential music publications in the United States. A favorable rating has the power to propel a below-the-radar artist into the mainstream, while a negative one can sink a well-known performer’s latest effort. “As someone who was obsessively reading the site in college, to imagine running it one day was absurd,” Ms. Patel, 33, said. “And now that I’m here, it feels extremely powerful and correct.”

A child of immigrants — her father was from Zimbabwe and her mother is from India — Ms. Patel worked for a number of outlets, including Fader, The Village Voice and MTV, before joining Pitchfork. “My specialty was really showing that music was about community,” she said. “And how music is an immediate reflection of the tensions of a city, whether that be political or social, or even the way that tech was changing and inducing the way a genre moved.” In 2016, she was named editor in chief of Spin — becoming one of the few women to lead a large music publication — and she reveled in the opportunity to push its boundaries.

Pitchfork was founded in 1996 and acquired by Condé Nast in 2015. The Pitchfork Review, the site’s quarterly magazine, was shut down two years later, and last September Condé Nast asked Ms. Patel to take over from Ryan Schreiber, Pitchfork’s founder and longtime editor. We spoke in March, as she was producing the publication’s first “digital cover.”

Monday

6 a.m. I have this obnoxious tendency to wake up early in the morning and beat my alarm. I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking about our digital cover story, which I was up late editing with our features editor. It’s about the singer Sky Ferreira. I eventually open up the story to see what tweaks were made and do some tweaking of my own. It covers some sensitive subject matter — like her friendship with Michael Jackson when she was a kid — so I think all of us are trying to take some care with how we deliver that.

7:30 a.m. Log into Slack and see that the singer Scott Walker has died. I talk to a news editor and assign an obit. As a music fan, I think one of the really difficult parts of the job is tabling your sadness and grief to be able to react and inform your readers as quickly as possible.

10:30 a.m. Staff meeting. We talk about Scott Walker, and our managing editor updates us on what to keep an eye out for today. I bring up our launch party, which is on Wednesday night, and gently remind the staff to be on their best behavior. I like these meetings — it’s useful for the staff, and it’s nice checking in with everyone, since we have so many sprawling parts of the magazine and all that comes with Condé Nast.

1:30 p.m. More party prep. I’m answering all kinds of questions like: Is this person on the guest list? What artwork should we display? Can you approve these finances? Can we get approval on this partnership thing? These things pop up all day, and I forget how much time they take up. It comes with the territory of being the editor.

3 p.m. I realize I haven’t written my editor’s letter, which is set to run tomorrow at 8 a.m.

4:30 p.m. I started blocking off this hour on my calendar without telling everyone why. I let everyone believe I’m in a meeting so I can do things like write my letter or check up on emails.

9:30 p.m. Running on fumes and finally writing my editor’s letter. (I take breaks to cook dinner, chat with my cousin and try on some clothes that I had ordered online.) The question I get most frequently from reporters and friends is what it feels like to be a woman in charge of a publication that’s been helmed by men until now. I try to speak to that in my letter.

12 a.m. Everything has been filed, typos and final copy-edits have been made. It’s time for bed.

Tuesday

6 a.m. Woke up before the alarm again. Text my mom and brother good morning, and scroll through my international family WhatsApp group thread. There are 30-plus people on it, and it regularly shifts from family updates to Gujarati or Hindi memes or videos.

7 a.m. Make scrambled eggs and check in with editors to make sure we’re set for the cover story rollout.

8 a.m. The cover story is live! I’m so happy that it’s finally out. I’m honestly a little emotional and very proud of how so many people, who hadn’t previously worked together, collaborated to make this come to fruition. Big projects like these always create trust and excitement about what else we can do as a staff — it’s a good sign of what’s to come.

12:30 p.m. I pop in to say hello to Vanity Fair editor Radhika Jones and ask about a Condé meeting scheduled for later today. (We moved floors recently and now share our space with her magazine and Wired.) We end up chatting for 30 minutes.

3:30 p.m. One of two weekly reviews meetings, where we go over our album review schedule, scoring, Best New Music designations and assignments. This is usually the easiest or knottiest meeting of the week, depending on the releases and how strongly the editors in the room feel about them. We try to have at least four people on staff listen to every album reviewed before landing on a precise score. Today, two editors have differing opinions on the score of a smaller album, and we talk about some existential issues with scoring against the legacy opinions of Pitchfork past.

6:30 p.m. Left the office earlier than usual because I need to eat dinner and figure out what to wear to tomorrow’s party. Make a salad and throw a quarter of my closet onto my bed, land on two or three things that could work and kick myself for always procrastinating on shopping.

8:30 p.m. Meet up with an old music friend at Zablozki’s in Williamsburg. We talk about the surge of reporting on sexism and assault in music — the journalist’s duty to the story, and then how women at labels and PR firms do their own reporting and assessments from within.

9:15 p.m. Head across the street to National Sawdust to see Yves Tumor, an experimental electronic musician who has played an after-party for Pitchfork Paris and our Chicago Midwinter event, a music festival in partnership with the Art Institute of Chicago.

9:45 p.m. Pitchfork is hosting an event with Tidal down the street at Music Hall of Williamsburg for Women’s History Month. I drag my label friend with me with the hopes of seeing the duo Girlpool, but we miss them, unfortunately.

10:30 p.m. In a cab home, texting with Pitchfork’s publicist. She tells me an on-camera interview scheduled for tomorrow got moved. I’m thrilled — one less thing to think about.

Wednesday

7 a.m. It’s a normal morning, which means I can spend the first few hours of my day listening to music and albums we’re slated to review.

1:30 p.m. My weekly meeting with Anna Wintour, the creative director of Condé Nast. Anna is a sounding board on anything big or small. We talk about everything: new developments on major editorial plans for the site, design updates, artists who are releasing new music, ideas around covers, the staff, navigating every kind of business change or hurdle while being true to the site’s spirit and point of view.

3:30 p.m. Head out of the office early to meet my mom and brother, who are in town from Baltimore. I spend the travel time going over the syllabus and reading materials of a New York University journalism class I’m speaking at tomorrow.

4:15 p.m. My mom and I get blowouts for the party. I lost my dad to lung cancer a little over a year ago, which was unexpected and sudden and has been very hard on all of us, especially my mom. Sometimes I wonder if I stay so busy so that I don’t let my mind wander into the deep sadness that comes every time I think about him. I miss him every day, and especially during times of celebration.

6:20 p.m. Arrive at Kinfolk for the party. The venue is covered in images and video from the cover shoot and it looks amazing. Events like this always move in a blur, but some highlights: Nancy and Rayna from LCD Soundsystem DJ. Anna Wintour chats with my mom for a while, and it brings me so much joy to see these two singular women in my life in conversation. Sky Ferreira and I talk about the release of her new single and what it feels like to have something new out after so long. The band Empath and two of our staffers decidedly own the dance floor.

9:30 p.m. The staff moves down the street to the Turkey’s Nest after the party. Everyone has their biggest smiles on. I want to take a snapshot of the moment and commit it to memory forever.

Thursday

12:30 p.m. My mom and brother come to our office at 1 World Trade Center for lunch. It’s nice to be able to show them what I do and where I work, especially since online media is an unconventional career path in some ways. The view from the office helps, too.

3 p.m. Weekly senior editorial meeting with team leads.

7:30 p.m. At N.Y.U.’s Bobst library to speak to students at the Clive Davis Institute about “Race, Gender, and Music Writing” for a class on writing about popular music. The students are great. They’re avid readers of Pitchfork and big music fans, and they ask sharp and very specific questions about our editorial process and where we fit in the digital media landscape. This is my favorite part of the day, easily. It reaffirms that, in a different life, I’d like to be a teacher.

9:15 p.m. The professor of the class is the executive editor of Billboard and a friendly acquaintance. We decide to grab some sushi at Lure Fishbar and catch up on industry gossip and media news before calling it a night.

Friday

12:30 p.m. Meeting with our design director, art director and photo director to discuss the big-picture styling and timeline of some new visual projects.

1:30 p.m. Our video lead tells me that Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers are on their way to the office studios to shoot for our “Over/Under” series. Last week we ran into the “Queer Eye” cast in the cafe and taped them for the series, too. It’s one of my favorite franchises because of how genuinely funny and random it tends to be.

5 p.m. A label rep and friend of the staff comes in to play new music from the U.K. rapper Slowthai in our Listening Room. You can tell when the staff are especially excited to hear something, because they all try to cram into a room made to seat eight. The music leaks into the hall and through the walls and is welcome next to the usual sounds of typing.

8:45 p.m. My friend Jia comes over to my apartment in Williamsburg with a bottle of wine. We became friends years ago when we were both bloggers and now she’s part of a close-knit group of women I don’t know what I’d do without. Another writer friend stops by, too. We listen to Solange and Jessica Pratt and eventually let Spotify take over as we recap our weeks and hang. When I go to bed, I don’t bother to set an alarm.

Interviews are conducted by email, text and phone, then condensed and edited.

Sahred From Source link Fashion and Style

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[aquarianlights]

This has been such a stressful start to the semester I cannot even explain...

I am so fucking stressed out and my mother is not making it any fucking easier. I feel *really* bad for saying this, but I really can’t wait until she leaves tomorrow morning. I really do appreciate what she has done for me today and yesterday!! I do! But...my god, just. . .please, I have SOOOOOOOOOO much to do!!! I don’t have TIME for guests.

Like, I just REALLY enjoy living alone. I get SO much done and I can do everything on my own time in my own way and everything is exactly how I like it and everything is absolutely SPOTLESS and nothing is EVER left out and nothing is EVER not cleaned immediately and everything has a place and everything is in its place at all times unless I’m using it and everything is facing in the right directions at all times and everything is so nice and quiet and I don’t have to worry about “Can my roommates in the next room hear me? Am I being too loud?” and I can cry from my excruciating pain when I need to and I can just get up and run errands real quick when I actually am able to get the energy up to do it and it doesn’t have to be a big thing of who’s going and what are we getting and what do we need because I ALREADY KNOW because unlike my former roommates, I am EXTREMELY organized and EXTREMELY clean and EXTREMELY meticulous about my upkeep of everything in the house (taking out the trash, laundry, dishes, etc...). Nothing is ever procrastinated on. Ever. I have not been one to procrastinate in a LONG time. I can’t even REMEMBER the last time I procrastinated on something.

It’s such a surreal feeling to say this, but I actually do not understand people who procrastinate on everything until the last fucking second. Yet. . .I used to BE that person because of my depression for almost my ENTIRE LIFE up until a handful of years ago so I really SHOULD understand but I’m such a different person that I genuinely don’t. I---Quinn or Killian---can genuinely not even IMAGINE procrastinating on ANYTHING. I can’t imagine pushing ANYTHING back even by like... a day.

The SECOND I notice I need to do something, the furthest it will get pushed back is an hour. Idk if it’s part of my OCD now (since I was only recently diagnosed with OCD and only recently developed it, I really do not know much about the disorder. People reference it a lot jokingly like “Oh my god becky you’re so ocd hahaaha” like white people are so terrible about doing that and I HATE it, but BECAUSE of that, I genuinely do not know what this disorder entails......).

Like..... is a lack of procrastination part of OCD? Because after I notice a thing needs to be done, it eats away at me until it’s done.

For instance, let’s say I notice the trash is full and I need to take it out to the dumpster and change the bag. That involves collecting the little bags from the tiny trash cans and then taking the big bag down three flights of stairs and walking across the road to the dumpster and then coming back up three flights of stairs and then changing the big bag and the little bags. I can see why/how a lot of people would procrastinate on that. NOT ME. Why?

The second I notice it needs to be done, I get this weird feeling in my entire body that is more concentrated in my chest than anywhere and it makes it IMPOSSIBLE to get comfortable and IMPOSSIBLE to focus on anything (whether it be homework, a TV show, or even a conversation with a friend) until I have done that thing. So I literally feel like I don’t even have a choice in doing it immediately. Even if I don’t have ANY energy, I just tell myself “Look. All it is is a less than 5 minute thing that if you get done now will be a lot less work later and you’ll feel so much better when it is done and then you won’t have to worry about it tomorrow so just do the thing. It’s really not that big of a deal to walk a bit. It’ll do you good.”

And I do feel better afterwards. I feel much better, like this serene feeling of relief will wash over me after things are done and I have nothing left on my “to-do” list except long term things and my body will allow me to relax in bed and stuff. It’s so nice.

But this is applicable to literally ANYTHING. Making a phone call, homework, taking a shower, chores around the house...EATING... like, anything.

I can’t find a way to put ANYTHING off for over an hour. An hour is the longest amount of time I can give myself to just...chill and relax after getting home from a long day at school before absolutely NEEDING to do the thing.

I’ve been really wondering if it’s an OCD thing lately. Coz I REALLY DID used to be the person who would constantly put things off until the very last second because I had a negative amount of motivation due to my major depressive disorder, which I really don’t have anymore (I think??). I mean, I would put research papers and stuff off until the night it was due and I would speed-write it in the last few hours before the due date time and submit it RIGHT AT 11:59pm when it would be due online at midnight or I’d do them right outside the classroom right before class or even IN THE CLASSROOM DURING CLASS while our teachers were talking about the assignment and collecting it (that last one was mostly during high school). 

A lot of times, I would procrastinate so badly that someone else who loved me would do my work for me because I was so unmotivated that I just literally couldn’t find any motivation to do it and I’d be crying and cutting myself over it instead of trying to do it ...because I just...literally...couldn’t. There was this executive dysfunction block SO BADLY. I mean, I cannot even express to you guys how bad my executive dysfunction was all my life up to a few years ago.

Sometimes I’d just get 0′s because I’d procrastinate to the point of not doing ANYTHING or push myself so far back that I’d only get a part of it done and I am such a perfectionist that I wouldn’t allow my professors to see anything less than perfect, so I wouldn’t submit anything.

Didn’t figure out until a year or so ago that it’s SO much better to submit SOMETHING than nothing at all. Doesn’t fucking matter what or if it’s not good. They don’t fucking care. It’ll save your damn grade.

But I’m REALLY wondering if this INCREDIBLY STARK CHANGE has been because I recently developed OCD. Because this anti-procrastination/get on top of things immediately thing seemed to develop right around the time I developed OCD behaviours, before I developed an OCD diagnosis.

It’s really odd and one thing that I’ve had a love-hate relationship with.

Same thing with my hyper-cleanliness and germaphobic-ness getting worse and worse and worse. Hell, my mom left her tea cup out on the counter like she always does wherever she is coz she has tea periodically throughout the day and uses the same cup. . .and I just fucking FLIPPED! I mean.... I fucking went OFF. I was shaking and about to have a panic attack.

So yeah, albeit it’s made me an INSANELY clean person (whereas in the past, my clothes would be EVERYWHERE and I’d just leave things on the floor all the time, bottles would be everywhere, the trash would never be taken out of my room unless my parents or roommates did it, and my bed was never made and also had a MILLION things on it at all times and barely ANY room for me to sleep EVER), it has also made me VERY panicky about germs and cleanliness and anti-clutter. I guess taking this human pathogens course isn’t exactly helping...lmao. I need it for my profession as a surgeon, though, so there’s no way outta it. Errrghhh....

But it ALL keeps getting worse and worse and worse as the days go on. I’m getting more and more panicky and snappy over the smallest of things. So far, it seems to be localized to my apartment and my car, thankfully. And, ofc, I do pick up and clean at my friends houses/apartments. Which... they certainly do not mind LMAO.

But everyone who knew me growing up and from young adulthood are all just like “WOW You’re so grown up! Wow oh my gosh look at how clean you’ve been and how spotless your apartment is and how ORGANIZED everything is!! You’ve always been clean, but just had that very cluttered style. So everything looked messy. But my god, your apartment is SO spotless and organized. Do you wanna teach me your secret?? Haha. :)”

They don’t see all the breakdowns I have where I am on my hands and knees scrubbing the same spot repetitively for an hour and then deep cleaning the apartment for the third time in the same day because “I’m just not quite sure it was effective the first two times...” and such. And they don’t see that I hallucinate bugs all the time and have freakouts. I mean, I’ve hallucinated bugs for many years. But. . .it’s been SO bad since OCD came about.

ANYWAYS... I’m gonna stop ranting coz it’s 9pm and I am wiped the fuck out. :| I wanna sleep again tonight since I only got to sleep for 15 hours in the span of the past 7 days. Pulled 3 all nighters and didn’t have time to sleep for much of the other days coz of exams. It was fucking rough. :| :| :|

Gonna have some dinner coz I am hangry. [Still mad about something that I won’t even get into here... if you’re on my fb, then you know...sigh.]

I just REALLY cannot wait to go back to my alone routine tomorrow. I quite love living alone. A LOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. :| :| :| :| :| I don’t know if I ever wanna live with roommates again. Lmao. As long as I have friends nearby, living alone is FANTASTIC. ;A;

[and0rk]

Brain Heroin

I remember when I first got hooked on Reddit. It was late in my sophomore year, back when all I did was study, do my cookie-cutter extracurriculars, and play League of Legends. I didn’t have nearly as many vices then as I do now. I can’t remember exactly what drew me there, but somehow I landed on the portal for AskReddit. Specifically, a thread that has since taken off in notoriety and spawned a host of wannabe duplicates: a thread asking Redditors to share their deepest, darkest secret, one that could ruin their lives if revealed.

Immediately, I couldn’t get enough. That thread was peculiar in that, being so popular, new stories kept being shared and kept floating to the top. It transcended the typical ephemerality that characterizes the vast majority of Reddit posts. And young, naïve, impressionable me kept on hitting refresh. Every day I would visit the thread to see what new juicy stories were available. Like the first experience of heroin to a junkie, the effects were devastating. For years I held Reddit as some treasure trove of rich information and enlightening perspectives. After a couple years of lurking on AskReddit, I decided that I could only fully grasp the Reddit experience if I signed up myself and subscribed to subreddits tailored to my interests. Doing so, I believed, would only augment the experience; not only that, it would allow me to better myself by pursuing hobbies and learning useful life skills!

I now sit here, nearly six years removed from that first fateful encounter, in a coffee shop, struggling to state my purpose in applying to graduate school. Every time my brain freezes – which is often – my fingers immediately twitch toward that well practiced combo: alt + tab, ctrl + t, r enter. Without thinking, I know it will bring me to Reddit homepage, where I will be flooded with purple links, rehashed memes, contrite one-liners, and inflammatory hot takes. Along with my then-new account I now have over five thousand comment karma, fifty subreddit subscriptions, Reddit Enhancement Suite (RES) downloaded, a few multi-reddits for my browsing convenience, a Reddit iPhone app, and way too many hours logged on the site. And despite my waning interest in and increasingly cynical attitude towards the content offered on Reddit, I cannot help but going back for more.

What is it that draws me to Reddit? It can’t be the content. If so, I wouldn’t procrastinate until 2am, wasting most of my time on – you guessed it – Reddit, then wake up four hours later and, after minutes of getting up, begin browsing on my phone. After all, over those four hours in the middle of the night, very few new posts are made. I wouldn’t ctrl + w, alt + tab close the browser and flip back to my assignments, then reverse the process five minutes later. Again, in those five minutes, am I actually going to see anything I haven’t seen before? But my fingers keep scrolling; my eyes keep scanning; my brain grows sufficiently numb.

Ah. That’s it. Every hit of Reddit numbs my brain a little more. It dulls my senses. It allows me to forget, even if only instantaneously, the issues I have to tackle in the next month, week, day, hour. The site’s neat interface, particularly with RES enabled, packages easily digestible images and blurbs into a steady stream of nothingness. Posters with short attention spans and commenters with shorter ones offer just a few lines to read at a time – fun to skim, but nothing that would inundate me. If I don’t like what I see, I can just back out and read something else. And if, at the end of the day, my brain is too tired to process even the two or three sentences comprising a post, I can switch to looking at pictures of animals and gifs of people doing stupid things.

It’s not that I like the content. For the most part, I’m not actually learning anything new. For instance, when I first subbed to /r/coffee, I felt like I was seeing so much more every day – and I was! But there’s only so many posts you can read comparing a Kalita Wave with a Hario v60, or contrasting a Lido 3 with a Baratza Encore, or asking about the best coffee shops in Manhattan, until they stop offering anything original. But I still keep cycling back to the sub.

Rather, it’s that I love the momentary distraction. I live for the microsecond of bliss when I can open up that Reddit tab and stop thinking about my looming responsibilities and deadlines. It’s analogous to heroin use. The first uses are glory, bliss, elongated periods of ecstasy and joy. But that ecstasy fades to comfort, then satisfaction, then contentment, until it does nothing more than temporarily numb the senses and the pain. Not that I’ve ever done heroin, or know anybody who does heroin. But that’s how they describe it in the books and movies, at least. And also how they describe it on Reddit. Oh, Reddit.

It’s not really Reddit alone, although this post does seem focused on that one website. You could replace it with Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, Candy Crush, porn; whatever it is that you turn to repeatedly for brief distraction and unfulfilling contentment. Even for me, it occasionally swings between various social media sites, the ESPN fantasy football app, sudoku… whatever my distraction flavor of the day is. Reddit is really just a placeholder for the mind-numbing drug of choice. The advent of the internet and then the development of increasingly powerful mobile devices have placed these drugs within an arm’s reach, within a mouse click. It’s as if you had an unending supply of syringes and a lighter and a little bent spoon, and whenever you want, you just heat up and shoot up. And all those syringes just sit next to you as you do your work. Every time you hit writer’s block again, you close your eyes, plunge the syringe, close your eyes, and forget. Except it’s not heroin flowing through the veins; it’s memes flowing through the neurons.

Like most things I write, this brief blog thing doesn’t have a conclusive end or a moral or anything. It’s just some introspection on why it’s so easy for me to be distracted, and some analysis on one of the more major outlets for my short attention span. It was all done stream-of-consciousness while I should be writing my statement of purpose for Stanford. In a coffee shop. Oh well, at least I wasn’t on Reddit.