#[whatever. I did this randomly in the morning and managed to finish it today. Felt like making a messy sketch lol]

[dadbots]

[4/15/24] Vergil save me…. save me Vergil......

[moralalee]

21/08/2024 (2)

It is still a Wednesday. Just barely, it’s about 12:30am so technically I’m going to be talking about yesterday.

Woken up by Luca again. Again, a struggle to get out of bed. Some things never change. I got up, fed the baby boy, took my pill and knocked on BF’s door to make sure she was awake. She was meant to have gotten up at 6 but hadn’t managed to. She was supposed to have already gone for a shower. I apologised and told her I had to go for mine and that I always do at the same time every day. She understood.

CW had sent a bunch of long paragraphs to the group chat. He had spent the night hanging out with the girl he likes, who he’s totally not in a situationship with and who had already told him she doesn’t want a relationship. He was ecstatic cause they had been blurring the line between friends and more, and he was surprised when the rest of us told him he was playing with fire. It’s hard to sit back and watch someone do something you know is just going to get them hurt. He says he knows what he’s doing, but I think if he really got it, he wouldn’t put himself in the position he is. He just keeps getting his hopes up and thinking she’s going to change her mind.

Had my shower, got dressed while responding to the group chat. Was feeling pretty awful this morning. Maybe I was just tired or maybe it was due to something else, I don’t know. Got to work early, as per. SC told us that BR is going to be out for two weeks on a sick line. This sent me spiralling a little bit. I know realistically we’ll be fine, but I was feeling so awful at that moment and I knew that this meant I had to hold things together. I can’t be feeling sorry for myself because there’s just too much to be done.

Side note, I just had to get up and check on Luca and he’s randomly so obsessed with the kitchen sink. Doesn’t do anything, just sits and stares at it. And earlier today he started yowling and I went through and he was just sat inside the bathtub. He was totally fine, could jump out himself, it just seemed like he wanted me to see him there.

Back to it, work was uneventful aside from that. Got on with things, felt like I wasn’t pulling my weight enough, CA checked in with me which was nice of him. It’s started raining really heavy today which has made me happy. I love the rain and I feel like we haven’t had any properly in a while. Yesterday (well, Monday) when I drove home from mum & dad’s it was raining hard and I was listening to the Life is Strange soundtrack, it was so nice. I hope we start getting more rain in autumn.

Another side note, Luca just did the tub thing again. Reddit said maybe he just likes the sound of his own voice or maybe he’s thirsty (he has a cat fountain so shouldn’t be really) so I turned on the tap and now he’s just playing in the water. It’s nearly 1am, lmao. He’s now figured out how to turn the tap and moved it so there was tons of water.

In the afternoon at work, I had nothing left to do. I had already finished up my tasks in the morning and the phone was barely ringing. Tried asking SC for more stuff but really there was nothing I was needed for. I had a thought before then with my baking about how it would be fun to sort of log it and keep track of my progress, like vlog or something. And then this afternoon I thought “Maybe I could blog, it would be easier to write things out and I could talk about things I’m interested in too, like if there’s a game I’m into or a topic I’m passionate about.” I thought about different ways I could do that, like Squarespace or whatever but I knew it would be ridiculous to pay for my own website. Then I remembered Tumblr exists. I went to sign up with an email address I assumed I didn’t have an account with already, but it turns out I did. I reset my password, logged in and found all of this. I had nothing to do anyway, so I sat and read my old entries and listened to the music I posted. When I reached the end, I kind of felt like crying (although I had felt pretty weepy today anyway).

I had a whole different life back then. I had so many people I used to think about and be friends with, so many worries, and now everything is different. The crush I wrote about, the pandemic, skiving like half my classes (seriously, pretty much every entry I read had “I skived this class today”).

I considered archiving the old posts and setting the account up fresh for my baking idea, and then I thought I should keep the old posts. They are a part of me and it makes me happy having them here, I want them to exist in the same space as the new posts I make.

When I got home, I yapped away to BF, just blabbering really. I had felt so bored in the afternoon that it felt good to just chat about nothing. She was trying to read though and I didn’t want to interrupt her by watching stuff or anything, so I decided to go nap even though I wasn’t really tired. It gave me a chance to reboot a bit though. I felt better afterwards. Had pizza for dinner and watched Law and Order: SVU. All in all, a pretty typical day. I’m gonna make a little list though of things I want to get done tomorrow, because currently I’ve been feeling so exhausted that I’m getting lazy with it.

• Wash dishes - ridiculous pile there, needs dealt with

• Clean Luca’s litter tray

• Do a partial water change of William’s tank

Luca is being particularly active right now so I’m really hoping he settles now that I’m going to try to sleep. He’s been bouncing about for the half hour I’ve been writing this. Instead of the usual gif, I’ll have our footer be the picture I took of Luca when he decided to sit in the bath. Goodnight!

[myherowritings]

of gold stars and lotus crisps

SUMMARY. You didn’t always get along with your roommate. But with his disarming charm and genuine kindness, you soon found yourself taking a liking to Zhongli and all the little gifts he got for you. 

PAIRING. zhongli x reader

WORD COUNT. 3.0k

GENRE. roommate au, modern au, fluff

A/N. i’m in love with zhongli, did u know? 😳 anyway i think i had way too much fun writing this ahdjksd so pls enjoy 🥺💓 xx sof

Your roommate wasn’t particularly airheaded, you wouldn’t say. But he did seem to either forget or not care for the mundane, everyday things in life. 

Mundane, everyday things such as closing the door as he entered, turning the faucet off after washing dishes, bringing his wallet with him when he went shopping, eating enough meals throughout the day needed to properly sustain his health... 

Honestly, you had to wonder how on earth he’s kept himself alive all these years. It wouldn’t surprise you if he was pampered and spoiled rotten all his life. (Though, after getting to know him, you started to realize he did nothing out of malintent and he wasn’t actually a spoiled brat.)

Still, it was annoying at first—you couldn’t lie. 

Those weren’t characteristics you wanted in a roommate, but with how high rent was these days, it wasn’t like you had much of a choice. You’d rather split rent with someone who seemed fairly harmless, albeit a bit of a handful, than go house-hunting all over again.

In the beginning, it was a chore. Constantly closing the door after him or reminding him to lock it himself, paying attention to the running water in case he left the faucet open and accidentally flooded the place, cooking extra for breakfast so he could have something to eat instead of just skipping the meal— It was a lot to deal with at first.

But he was receptive to communication. After you sat down with him one night and genuinely told him about the things that bothered you, Zhongli tried to be more mindful of his surroundings and checked the sink before leaving the kitchen. He brought his keys with him and closed the door. And he even remembered to bring his wallet whenever the two of you went out to eat together! That was a feat in itself, you had to say. 

One thing he never quite got the hang of, however, was not skipping meals due to sheer forgetfulness.

“Did you eat breakfast yet?” you would ask. 

He would pause, putting his book or whatever else was capturing his attention at the time down. “Breakfast… I’m afraid I can’t remember if it was yesterday or the day before when I last ate it.” 

And that simply wouldn’t do. 

You found yourself waking up a little earlier before Zhongli had to go to work and cooking a little more than usual in order to ensure he had something to eat. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day, after all! You couldn’t just let your roommate (and friend) miss the best meal. 

It became more and more frequent for the two of you to eat breakfast together to start your day, bonding as you passed a pitcher of orange juice and shared smiles as the sun shined through the glass windows.

Mornings became a million times more pleasant with him around. 

And it wasn’t as if your friendship was purely one-sided, with you giving more than you were getting. In his own ways, Zhongli would express his gratitude and liking towards you. 

Most days, he’d come home from work or from hanging out with his friends with a gift in his hands. Whether it be a shiny figurine from an anime you liked or an obscure snow globe with indecipherable writings on it, he would offer it to you with a wide-eyed look on his face, as if he was deliberately gauging your reaction. 

“Y/N, would you care for this gift? It reminded me of you and I thought you would like it.”

Or—

“You said you were a fan of this show, correct? I’m not sure who the character on this sweatshirt is, but it seems to suit you.” 

Soon, you found all of Zhongli’s gifts to you taking up a whole corner in your room, from the clothes in the dresser to the trinkets resting on the shelves atop. You couldn’t help but smile fondly whenever you glanced at it. 

The routine became second nature, with you cooking meals for him and eating breakfast and sometimes even dinner together, him giving you random gifts and treating you out (when he remembered to bring his wallet, of course). The two of you seemed to settle into a nice, content rhythm. That was, until the past few days when you started feeling an odd flutter in your stomach and an unfamiliar race of your heart in Zhongli’s presence.

You didn’t sense those physiological changes when you were around him before… Why was it happening now? 

After hours of thinking, you came to the conclusion that these symptoms could only be one of two things: Either you randomly caught the case of a stomach bug, or you developed a crush on your roommate. 

You couldn’t say which would be worse. 

And to add insult to injury, you were having this sudden revelation only minutes before Zhongli’s arrival back home. He was out for the weekend and would be here for dinnertime. 

You decided to make a meal of Bamboo Shoot Soup with Lotus Flower Crisps for dessert— Something a little fancier than usual and something you knew he liked, and for some reason, you felt nervous at the thought of him tasting your cooking this time. It was often the case you cooked for yourself and made enough for him to have some servings, but today, you wanted to make things he enjoyed in hopes of having him be pleased by the effort you put in. 

Sure, he would’ve appreciated a sloppily put together Adventurer’s Breakfast Sandwich, but an annoying part of you couldn’t help but seek praise from your crush for a dish you put your heart into. 

Soon enough, you heard the familiar jingling of keys and unlocking of the door as Zhongli stepped inside, slipping his shoes off and removing his overcoat. From the corner of your eye, you saw him pull out a small box from the inner pocket of his coat and slip it into the pocket of his slacks. 

“Hi, Zhongli! Welcome home,” you greeted from the kitchen as you shut the stove off. “You came just in time for me to finish making dinner.”

Home. Was calling your shared space ‘home’ strange? It seemed oddly domestic and you felt your heartbeat pick up speed. It felt right to call it home, and that made you nervous. 

“It smells delectable,” said Zhongli with a smile, rolling his sleeves up his forearms before he washed his hands in the sink. While he dried off, he watched as you scooped the contents of the pot into two bowls. “The bamboo looks perfectly cooked and the pork seems tender and succulent. It’s lovely; thank you for taking the time to cook it, Y/N.” 

You felt heat flood your cheeks at his flood of praises, puffing your chest up ever so slightly. “Well, maybe you should taste it first before you shower me in compliments— What if it’s not as good as it looks?” 

“Having knowledge of your culinary skills from past experiences, I believe it’s unlikely for this meal to be anything less than delicious.” He helped you carry the bowls and utensils to the dining room table, sitting down in front of you with a fond look on his face.“After all, you made it.”

Stuffing your mouth full of bamboo shoots to prevent a dopey look from spreading and inevitably outing your newfound crush on him, you mumbled a quick, “Thanks.” 

He nodded, promptly settling into a comfortable silence as he enjoyed every bite of the soup. Like usual, the meal was on the quieter side, save for his occasional compliments and hums of satisfaction as he ate your cooking. 

“Somehow, you manage to outdo yourself each time,” he commended as he finished his bowl, carefully folding his napkin in a neat square after dabbing it across his mouth. “Thank you for the meal and company, Y/N.”

“Of course. I always enjoy having dinner with you.” 

“Maybe tomorrow, you would allow me to take you out for dinner at Xinyue Kiosk? You recently expressed an interest in having Yue cuisine so I managed to talk to the owner and secure a reservation.” 

Your eyes widened. Xinyue Kiosk was known for having a waitlist that was over three-months long— Travellers from overseas waited years just to get a taste of their Fullmoon Egg and Golden Crab. 

Just a few days ago, you told Zhongli you were craving some Crystal Shrimp from the restaurant and, while he wasn’t fond of seafood, he promised he’d take you to get some soon. Now, you knew he had some pretty powerful connections through his line of work, but you didn’t know it was strong enough to wiggle his way past a three-month waitlist. 

Did he sell his left kidney for a spot? you wondered, only half-joking. 

“Xinyue Kiosk? Tomorrow?” you repeated, wanting to make sure your ears weren’t deceiving you.

“Yes, tomorrow.” He hesitated, an unfamiliar flash of uncertainty crossing his features. “Unless, of course, you are unable to accompany me or do not wish to do so— I apologize if I have made any rash assumptions—” 

“No, no! That’s not it at all! I’d love to go with you! I was just surprised you got a reservation on such short notice,” you said hurriedly, shaking your head. “But maybe I shouldn’t be too shocked; you are amazing after all.” 

“You flatter me. I simply called in on a favor once I found out you wanted to dine on some Yue cuisine,” he brushed off nonchalantly. “It’s the least I could do for you.”

“The least you could do for me is take me on a fancy date to the most exclusive restaurant in Liyue Harbor, hmm?” you teased. “Is this a grand gesture of your affection towards me?” 

“Yes.” 

His answer was so straightforward and brief, you almost didn’t catch it. “P-pardon?” 

Zhongli smiled but didn’t say a word in response.

Was he just joking around and teasing you back? Your stomach churned in excitement but you didn’t want to get your hopes up. You tried to shake off your nerves. 

There was a beat of silence. 

“I made some Lotus Flower Crisps for us—!” “Would you care for a gift I got you—?”

The two of you blurted out your sentences at the same time, trying to patch the lapse of quiet from settling in.

“Apologies,” said Zhongli, tilting his head to the side. “What were you saying again?”

“Oh, no, it’s fine! You can go first!” 

He studied you closely but eventually relented. “If you’re sure.” Zhongli stood up to gingerly pull a mint-colored box out of his pocket, walking around the table until he was next to you. “I was only saying I stopped by the jewelers on the way home from work and picked this up for you.” 

A silly smile spread across your face as you accepted the box into your hands. The jewelry box itself felt durable and luxe, and you opened it up to see cushions of velvet holding a delicate-looking necklace in place. The chain was gold and shiny and there was a small star pendant in the center.

“Stars are bright and brilliant and never fail to light up the darkness. Such a necklace seemed only fitting for the likes of you.” 

Your stomach felt like dolphins were flipping and doing tricks inside. Comparing someone to a star didn’t seem like a ‘just roommates’ thing to do, but you’d rather not assume anything only to be let down. So instead, you just grinned. “It’s beautiful— I love it so much, Zhongli! Thank you.” 

“I’m glad it’s to your liking. Do you need any assistance putting it on?” 

“I’d appreciate that very much,” you said with a nod, watching as his nimble fingers removed the chain from the velvet cushion and gently draped it around you. 

The cool metal brushed against your warm skin, startling you enough that you almost jumped up in your seat. But that feeling of shock didn’t compare to the sparks that came when Zhongli rested his palm against the nape of your neck, taking his time to secure the gold clasp.

“It’s 24 karat gold which means the pendant, though small, may be more malleable than jewelry made of alloyed gold. If you wish to engage in more strenuous physical activities it may be best to take it off then to keep the piece in best condition. Only if that’s to your interest, of course. It’s yours and you may do with it whatever you please.” He removed his fingers from the back of your neck and you felt disappointed at the loss of warmth. “All that to say… I hope you like it.”

Zhongli seemed to have a shy look on his face, a stark contrast from his usually confident and self-assured features. As if he didn’t look cute enough already, you internally swooned. 

“Are you kidding? I love it!” You threw your arms over his shoulders, overjoyed at your new gift. A pure, 24 karat gold piece wasn’t something that sounded inexpensive, and you’d be sure to treasure it for as long as you could. “Thank you so, so much, Zhongli.” 

“You’re more than welcome.” He looked happy that you were happy, smiling as he admired the delicate chain of jewelry around your neck. “It looks stunning on you.”

You glowed at his flattery, but attempted to play it off with a small shrug. “Only because you have good taste.”

“What use is good taste if not to complement the recipient of the present?” said Zhongli, taking a seat back down on the chair across from you. “Now, what were you saying earlier?”

There was a moment of confusion before you remembered the dessert you made for him cooling on the counter. 

“Oh, right!” You stood up in excitement, bouncing over to the kitchen to pull out a tray of Lotus Flower Crisps. “I made these for you,” you said nervously, placing the sweets in the center of the dining table. “It’s probably not as good of a gift as the necklace you got but—”

“It’s better,” he said with certainty.

You blinked. “Better?”

“Yes. After all, you made it.” His voice was confident and his smile was firm as he looked fondly at you. “A gift that requires time and effort to create is the best one a person could receive.” He admired the blooming fried pastry, gently touching the part that was meant to resemble a petal. “Maybe I can make you a gift instead of buying it one day as well.”

“I’d appreciate anything from you,” you said plainly. “If you came home with a half-off candybar, I’d love it nonetheless.” 

Zhongli chuckled, taking a bite of a Lotus Flower Crisp. “You’re very generous. That’s just one thing I like about you.” 

You grew bashful. Just one? Then what were the other things?

“This tastes absolutely delicious, by the way,” he said, the last piece of his pastry disappearing between his lips, the pink tip of his tongue poking out to sweep a loose crumb off the corner of his mouth. “Thank you for making this, Y/N.”

Forcibly tearing your gaze away from his lips, you took a drink of water to clear your dry throat. “You’re welcome. I’m happy you think so. I was worried the taste wouldn’t be to your liking.” 

“No need to worry then, I trust in your culinary skills completely.” 

You shared a smile as you ate the pastry in contentment. The sweet crispness of the pink flower felt light in your stomach, the perfect dessert to complement the mood. 

Once the two of you were stuffed full, you couldn’t help but let your mind wander to your conversation at the beginning of the night. 

“So…” you trailed off, promptly gathering Zhongli’s full attention. “Earlier, when I asked if dinner at Xinyue Kiosk  would be a date and a way for you to show your affection and you said yes… You weren’t joking around?”

“I wouldn’t jest about such a thing,” he stated. “Besides, I was talking to Aether about you and he said we were practically dating already. I wasn’t too sure what he meant at first, but apparently it’s not commonplace for roommates to give each other gifts and spend meals together like this.” 

You flushed, having the decency to look sheepish. “Well, I guess he’s right about that. Not that it really matters what’s common or not as long as we both enjoy it,” you said assuredly despite your fluttering heart. You found your hand gravitating towards the small star pendant around your neck. You held it between your thumb and forefinger, finding both comfort and courage in the smooth metal. “Still… I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea of dating.”

He smiled when he noticed you holding onto the gift he got for you. “I agree. With you as a partner, the prospect of dating doesn’t sound particularly tedious. Perhaps a nice dinner out would be a good starting point into something more… Official, I believe is the word Aether used?” 

Official. You quite liked the sound of that. “I’d love that. A real, official date sounds nice,” you said with a grin, removing your hands from your necklace only to place it over his, clasping them gently. “Anything to spend more time with you.” 

Zhongli gave you a gentle squeeze back. “It’s a date then. And I’m rather looking forward to it.” 

Fondly, you wondered how your roommate who you once could barely even stand turned into someone so important to you. You went from two objects repelling each other in space, to a binary star system, gravitational bound together. 

“I’m looking forward to it too.”

[punkpoemprose]

Advent 2021: December 8th-  Virtual Chemistry Pt. 5

Universe: Modern AU/ College AU/ Cam Boy AU

Rating:  E (Explicit, this is filth)

Length: 2052 Words

Kristoff pushed the doors to the campus technology services office open. He’d turned in early the night before and despite some coursework he needed to finish, he’d been lucky enough to have his morning free. His first ever “subscribers’ session” hadn’t gone at all as planned, but he was comforted by the fact that the five paid followers he’d managed to amass had all been very kind about his technical difficulties. They’d been a little invasive, but not as much as he feared they would be. No one asked for his full name, or where he was from, and thanks to his webcam deciding to just stop working on him, he hadn’t needed to show his face yet either. He wouldn’t luck out again though. He knew that he’d have to show his face the following Friday, and that so long as he could get his laptop fixed today, he’d need to show something much more private, but far less concerning on camera in just a day.

He’d remembered how much of an internal battle it used to be to perform for the camera, and he was still surprised by how quickly he’d gone from being concerned to feeling comfortable with it. People liked to watch him, they found him attractive, and he’d never been shy about his body, so it seemed like a fair trade. He knew there would come a day that he’d stop doing it, and for now it was fine enough work.

He was surprised to see Anna in the office.

I can’t decide if the universe is rewarding me or torturing me.

She was sitting in one of the chairs against the wall, a fair distance from the front desk, looking distraught. His stomach flipped, thinking about how he’d told everyone listening to what had essentially been a “porn podcast” that he had a crush on her. He’d just been so relieved that everything had worked out in the end, even with his webcam issue, that he’d maybe said more than he planned to.

Not that it really mattered, she didn’t know, she’d never know, but he still felt guilty about it. He did like her, he thought that maybe he liked her a little too much for both of their good, but she could never know. He’d have to be content to see her, to have her friendship if she’d give him that, and then maybe someday, years down the line, he could have more than that with her.

She’ll still be out of my league.

He huffed out a breath and brought his laptop over to the desk. He thought that maybe campus technology services would be able to fix whatever was going on with his webcam, and he did have some confidence in his ability to at least clear his browser history and camera roll before doing so, so it seemed like the cheapest and best way to get everything back up and running before the end of the week.

A bored looking man on the other side of the desk tagged his laptop with his name and gave him a clipboard with a form to fill out, which of course, meant he had a choice to make. He could sit somewhere randomly in the room and leave before she knew he was there, or he could sit near her and hope she wanted his company. He wanted hers.

The choice was simple, he realized, when he saw Anna put her head in her hands from out of the corner of his eye. No one really liked to visit tech services, but she looked a little more upset than a trip would normally dictate. It hurt him in ways it shouldn’t to see the defeated posture she carried herself with as she curled in on herself in the chair. It made him want to do things he shouldn’t, like put his arms around her or brush the hair from her face.

It was easy enough to sink into the seat at her side. Easy enough to start filling out the paperwork about his laptop and let her decide whether she wanted to talk to him.

He tried not to look over at her as best as he could, answering questions, checking boxes, and taking his time to outline what was wrong. He wasn’t necessarily the “techy” type. He could run lab equipment well enough; he could do as much digital work as was necessary for class, but he had no idea whether he should check the “hardware issue” or “software issue” box. He was fairly certain that it was their job to figure that out, but within a few minutes of filling in as much as he could, he knew it was time to hand the sheet back in and find out whether he needed to sit there or whether he could pick it up later.

There was a nagging sense of hurt in his chest when he finished his paperwork without any reaction from Anna whatsoever, but as he stood to hand it in and felt her hand catch his sleeve, he turned to her and saw that she was flushed and staring up at him.

“Hey,” was all he could manage at first, staring down at her, looking into her eyes as they met his. She looked like hell, her eyes were red like she’d been crying, her hair was in a messy bun, and she looked the least put together he’d ever seen her.

She was beautiful. She was always beautiful.

“Hey,” she replied, her voice small in a way he’d never heard it before.

“Are you…” he was going to ask if she was okay, but there was a flash of surprise in her expression when he spoke and he thought that maybe she didn’t want to talk about it. Changing direction seemed wise.

“I mean… would you, uh… I was going to the gym after this, but… do you want to do something today? My schedule is a little clearer than I thought.”

He’d expected to be up later so he’d expected to sleep in longer. He’d also expected to need to do some weekend grading, but the professor he worked with had been kind enough to do the quiz grading after a few complaints crossed his office about “vague” questions, so he did have an unexpected break. The idea of spending it with Anna had come suddenly and he couldn’t deny the appeal it held. He just hoped that maybe a distraction was what she needed.

“Are you…” she gave him a curious sort of look, “Are you inviting me to work out with you?”

He felt himself flush. She was still holding onto his sleeve. He could feel her fingertips through the fabric, and he was hyperaware of it as he tried to stutter out an explanation.

“Well, no… I mean, that’s just where I was planning on going next. I mean, if you want to, sure? I just meant that we could do something, it doesn’t have to be that of course.”

When a soft smile came to her lips, one that was reflected by amusement in her eyes, he almost sighed with relief.

“Well I mean, we could do something else, but I wouldn’t mind going to the gym. I don’t normally do the morning yoga class, but it could be fun.”

He smiled back. Seeing her relax a bit was a comfort, and even though what he’d really meant to do is invite her for breakfast or coffee or something, he’d take the gym.

He held the sheet up to her and gestured to the desk. She let go of his sleeve, understanding, and he was glad that she turned to her phone to send a text before she could see the reflexive frown that came to his lips at the loss of contact.

He wondered whether she’d laugh when she realized that he’d never done yoga even once in his life.

***

Anna sighed when she got out of the shower. It had been a good session, maybe too good really. She’d gotten a good stretch, and she’d been able to enjoy the sights, which was something that she normally couldn’t say for yoga as most of her usual workout group was just other ladies. She hadn’t purposefully put her mat right behind Kristoff’s borrowed one when they arrived to the gym, but when she found herself staring at his butt for most of the session, she couldn’t say that it hadn’t been a wonderful decision.

It had been very obvious from the start that he’d never done yoga before and watching him stumble a bit through it was endearing. She remembered the light flush on his cheek when he turned back to look at her through his legs in the midst of downward dog, and it had taken all her focus not to giggle. He had looked good though, even fumbling and doing his best.

They were going to meet up for brunch after going their respective ways to shower after leaving the gym, and all said he was doing a great job at taking her mind off of the fact that her laptop was sitting smashed at a tech desk in center campus. The trouble was that it wasn’t the real problem that had her anxious. She couldn’t help but stare at him and wonder if she was going crazy, because there really was no possible way that Kristoff her TA, and Kris, the cam boy she’d been lusting over for months, was the same man. Or at least she felt like if it were true it would have to be one of the crazier things that happened to her and given her life thus far she felt like it was some pretty stiff competition.

When she slipped down the hallway in her towel, a short walk from her dorm room, she huffed out a sigh. She needed not to think about it, even if it was impossible to not think about when she examined her rapidly developing feelings for Kristoff. He was sweet and attractive, and even if he was her TA, she thought that maybe he was a little interested in her as well. At least she hoped he did, but she thought that maybe even just being his friend was something that would bring her joy, if of course, she could stop thinking about sex every time she looked at him.  

That she dressed herself in her best pushup bra, and her favorite dress was of course, just due to her good mood, and had nothing to do with the fact that she was going to meeting him at the little diner just off campus.

Anna Arendelle, world’s worst liar.

She just felt lucky that he hadn’t asked her why she was at the tech desk in the first place when he’d approached her. Of course, she hadn’t asked him either, but she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to lie to him if he asked. It was more likely that she’d just combust on the spot and it would be the end of her.

“How’d I break my laptop?” she mock replied to her mirror self as she brushed out her wet hair and started the process of putting it into braids, “Oh, it’s a funny story. I was just watching porn, well not watching it really, there was no video. And I mean it wasn’t really even porn this time, it was just a conversation. But anyway, yeah, while I was not watching not porn, the guy I’ve been watching jack off for over a month started talking about having a crush on a girl named Anna. So of course, I knew he was talking about me, and I just launched my laptop across the room in surprise. By the way Kristoff, do you do cam porn? Because this guy sounds like you and I imagine you look like him naked.”

She was pretty sure she pulled a good chunk of hair out of her head brushing through wet snarls but didn’t check the brush out of respect for her last shreds of sanity. Spending time with Kristoff was probably going to kill her at this rate.

But what a wonderful way to go.

[crescentsteel]

Keeping a Secret - Part 2

pairing: Tsukishima x f!manager of Sendai Frogs genre: sexual tension/crack/fluff/slow burn warnings: lots of swear words, tsukki being a a closet softie wc: 6k (lol no chill as always)

[a/n]

Sorry for the delayed update. I added almost 1k words just to solidify the characters to give depth even more to the story. Feel free to reread. (It's totally not because I started a different series altogether.)

When I say this is slow burn, I meant sloooooooowww burn. 

Let me know if you want to be part of the taglist. :)

AO3 

Part 1 || Part 3 || masterlist

What were you even thinking? Actually,  why weren’t you? Had you used at least two brain cells of yours, you wouldn’t have momentarily lost your mind and kissed Tsukishima. You could’ve justified your actions if you were drunk, but you ingested not even an ounce of alcohol that night.

History will remember yesterday as the day a a sober you and a very displeased Tsukishima who found yourselves smooching publicly in the middle of a club. You’re just glad that no other member of the team goes to the same university you both go to. Else, you'd run the risk of getting seen.

Were so touch-deprived that you couldn’t resist even Tsukishima? And what about him? Why did he get along with it? You don’t think he actually hates you. Hate is such a strong word. He just exceedingly dislikes you. So why would he make out with you? Maybe he thought of it as a way of finally standing up to you?

Ugh.

You’re thankful that you didn’t have training yesterday. You were a mess the whole day trying to make sense of what happened. Not that you’re any better today; you’re still baffled as fuck. But you’re glad you had that day off so you wouldn’t have to face him immediately. 

For the first time ever, you’re dreading going to the gym. Even if you’re tired or you lack sleep, you’ve never felt distressed as the manager of the Sendai Frogs. All this because of Tsukishima. But can you really put the blame on him when it was you who initiated it?

“Good morning, y/n,” Eiji, the captain of the team greets you.

“Morning, Eiji,” you say back. Even though he’s older than you, you dropped the salutations already, same with everybody else. 

“You okay?” he asks worriedly. 

“Oh! Yeah, absolutely! When am I ever not okay?” You toughen it up and erase the troublesome kiss in your head. You are their ever shining manager, first and foremost. Anything outside of that has no place in this gym. 

“Never. It’s almost scary actually,” he answers with jest.

“Right? ‘Cause I’m a freaking goddess.”

He gives you a noble bow. “Indeed, you are, my lady.”

You giggle softly. Your players really are the best on and off the court (except for Tsukishima). “Go do your drills instead of buttering me up, ‘captain.’” He gives you a mock salute then jogs off towards the net. 

“Y/n!”

You saunter off to your coach after you were called. “Yes, Coach?”

“Can you help tape the blockers?” You nod willingly, quickly discarding unnecessary thoughts of Tsukishima. 

“Tsukishima’s free. Go start with him.”

You almost flinch upon hearing his name.

‘Great,’ you groan internally as you get the wrap from your kit and drag your feet toward the source of your uneasiness. But what did you expect? Of course, you’d have to deal with him sooner or later.

“Morning, Tsukishima,” you greet him with forced normalcy, acting like nothing’s wrong. As you take his left hand and you’re instantly reminded of what happened the other night -- how this hand gripped your waist while his mouth moved against yours… how his skin felt against the palm of your hand as he towered over you, body against body in a dance so dangerous and so hypnotizing that you lost yourself in the moment.

You tried your best to calm down yesterday, but seeing him right now makes you want to smack yourself from your momentary insanity that led you to kiss him.

Instead, you give him the nicest, brightest smile to channel your frustrations as you start taping his fingers. You just hope and pray that he doesn’t bring it up.

“Morning,  manager .” It was an indirect jab at you. Even when he says it with a dead tone, you know he’s taunting you by addressing you as manager - a tortuous reminder that what happened last Saturday night wasn’t forgotten.

Instead of yielding to the provocation, you respond with your own. You might have messed up, but you’re not letting him get the upper hand. “How was your weekend, Tsukki?” 

“Horrible,” he quickly answers without even thinking.

“Ditto. What happened to yours?” you ask with fake curiosity, already knowing why. Even if you didn’t kiss him then, he was already acting up like an angsty teen forced by his mom to attend a children’s party within the neighborhood.

“Went to a disgusting party.”

You nod pretentiously. “Mine’s horrible too. I got g-”

“I didn’t ask,” he interrupts.

“Well, you’re still going to hear it,” you respond just as distastefully as he cut you off. “I got groped by some perv, but I kinda punched some good manners unto him.” You release his left hand and take his right one to tape it as well. 

“And?” He asks.

You shrug your shoulders. “That’s it. After that, I just went home from how  horrible  the experience was.”

You look up to him, meeting his sardonic gaze paired with a raised eyebrow from what you just said. You know that he understood that you were referring to something else other than the perv incident as horrible.

“How about you? What happened to that disgusting party of yours?” you press on.

“I bumped into someone I didn’t really want to see.”

“And?”

“Do you really wanna know how horrible it was for me?” A smirk creeps up on the corner of his mouth as he asks. There were many times before that you’ve wanted a taste of Tsukishima’s vile sarcasm, just to know what he’d say to you. Today is not one of those times. You don’t want him using that reckless kiss against you. 

“Actually, no. I don’t really care.” You let go of his hand you just finished working with and look around to look for anyone you could use as a distraction from Tsukishima’s attempt to retell the kiss from his perspective.

“Kogane!” you brightly call the setter as you bounce cheerfully towards him. 

Even if you don’t show it, Tsukishima knows he’s gotten under your previously impenetrable thick skin. He detests what happened last Saturday. The more he remembers it, the more he abhors it. The only reason he’s not totally hating himself for getting swept along with your shit is because he knows you hated it too, probably more than he does since it was you who kissed him first.

His smug grin only spreads when you march to Kogane with that cutesy act you only show to players from opposing teams to unsettle them before matches. You take both Kogane’s hands and beam at him. “Do you want me to tape your fingers?”

“Y-you don’t have to, y/n. I can do it myself!” Kogane blurts out, panicking at your sudden closeness and physical touch.

“But I love taking care of you guys,” you pout at Kogane, which only makes the setter blush a shade almost close to red.

Tsukishima follows you to help his babbling, flustered teammate.

“You’re going to kill him, y/n,” he says as he passes by you and Kogane who now looks like he stopped functioning.

You blink at Kogane, realizing what you’re doing to the poor guy.

You must have been really bothered by Tsukishima and unknowingly projected it to someone else.

Tsukishima sneers as he sees you try to ease Kogane from his severe fluster but only make it worse by rubbing his shoulders. 

A dash of pride and satisfaction swells on Tsukishima’s chest as he watches you get agitated with the situation you, yourself caused. Getting back at you feels even better than he imagined it would be. 

--

Even though you and Tsukishima are in the same class, you don’t really notice his presence. Sometimes you’d even forget you’re classmates. Now, though, you are more aware of the fact that he’s actually there than you ever have.

“Alright, class. For your main project this semester, I’m going to have you partnered up. You need to come up with a comprehensive report on mating behavior of reptiles. I’ll randomly generate your assigned reptile.”

You groan. Another collaborative work in the same subject. You don’t like working with others because you don’t want to adapt to anyone’s schedule. You like to get things done ahead of time. You hate procrastinating because you don’t want your uni requirements getting mixed up with potential tasks from your managerial job, especially whenever tournament seasons come. 

The last collaborative work you worked on is a group project where you did most of the work yourself. You wouldn’t have minded if you didn’t have fucking freeloaders as groupmates.  The little shits made you do 90% of the project because you wanted it done early.

You just pray that this time, you get to be paired with someone responsible. You tap your pen on your desk while you wait for your name to be called.

“L/n and Tsukishima.”

You drop your pen at your professor’s announcement. It bounces twice on your desk before rolling to the floor, but you don’t move to pick it up. Your gaze immediately flies to where Tsukishima is seated and find him glaring at you already. You almost want to laugh at how ridiculous this entire situation is.

Seriously? Were you a serial killer in your previous life or something? Did some higher power decide to punish you for your grave sins like this? 

Whatever. You’re not having any of this shit. 

You wait until the class is over and approach your professor. “Sir. I’d like to do this project alone.” Or at least with someone else. 

He continues to type something on his laptop, not bothering to look up at you, as he asks, “Why is that?”

“I just feel more comfortable doing things on my own, Sir. Please.” You try to give him your nice student smile but his eyes don't leave his screen.

“Then what? Have you increase my workload?”

Shit. You forgot that this particular professor of yours is known to not budge to anyone. You scramble your brain for another excuse.

“Sir. Can I do this project alone?” you suddenly hear Tsukihima’s voice behind you.

Finally, your professor closes his laptop and eyes you two unenthusiastically. “My answer is no to miss Y/n, so my answer to you, Mr. Tsukishima, is also no. I don’t know what the deal is between you two, but you’re doing this together.”

You can’t help but scowl despite being right in front of your professor. If it wasn’t for that darn kiss, you would’ve loved working with Tsukishima. Even though you don’t have the same classes, his schedule won’t be that hard to match up with because you two have the same training days. Secondly, he’s smart. You won’t have to carry the whole weight of the project. 

“You know what, I’ll reconsider.” A glimmer of hope lights up in your chest as you hear your professor’s words. “I’ll allow you two to work individually — but with an automatic ten point deduction for this project.”

“No,” you and Tsukishima respond at the same time. 

“Great! You’re already getting along swimmingly.” Your professor picks up his stuff and stands up. “Enjoy,” he waves a dismissive goodbye and leaves.

You slowly turn around to face Tsukishima and find that you share the same lour that he has. You cross your arms and lean on your professor’s desk. “Guess we’re together, Tsukishima.” 

--

You allowed yourself one week to compose yourself before you agreed to start the project with Tsukishima. You still saw him at training days, and even then, you tried to have the least amount of interaction with him so the ‘incident’ wouldn’t be brought up again. Meeting him for a project where it’s just you two is different and you needed time.

As much as you don’t want to be with him, you told yourself that it’ll be over soon. You just pushed the kiss in the back of your head and convinced yourself that it was just a stupid kiss. It didn’t mean anything. He probably just went along with it out of spite, so it’s best you think of it as a spur of the moment madness. That way, you won’t be bothered if he sordidly brings it up again. At least now, you can go back to your usual, cheeky self around him.

You’re about to text Tsukishima that you’ve arrived at the station you agreed to meet up at but you already see him there standing while he’s scrolling his phone with his usual white headphones on.

Unfortunately for you and him, the reptile assigned to you two are crocodiles. It’s the worst possible assignment you could get among the roster of reptiles assigned. You need to travel all the way to Wakabayashi for a legitimate crocodile farm to observe, compared to other reptiles which are easily accessible with nearby zoos in Miyagi. You just pray that you’ll only need this one trip to get all the data you need for your report.

You walk towards him and instantly regard how he looks. Despite being in the same university, you don’t see him around much. Even in your sole class together, you’re seated way too apart from each other to even look at each other’s direction. Not that being seated beside each other would’ve made a difference. You’re not friends. There’s no need to talk to him since everything that’s volleyball-related is relayed through line. To you, he’s just one of your players. As far as you’re concerned, the only Tsukishima you’re aware of is the one sweating his white shirt and training shorts during practice. 

To have this much involvement with him outside the gym is throwing you out of your usual loop. You continue studying him at a distance. Today he’s wearing white plaid pants, black turtleneck (probably long sleeves) with a lighter shade of black coat on top, and a brown wool scarf. He also has a gray bonnet that makes his blonde locks frame his face nicely. 

What the heck? Did he always dress like this even in class? How come you never noticed? 

He finally notices you. He puts down his phone and removes his headphones. “How long have you been there?”

“Wow, Tsukishima. You look kinda hot,” you blurt out without thinking.

His eyes expand at your statement that came out of nowhere. “Huh?!”

“Oh, sorry. That must’ve been random. But you look really good though. I kinda feel like I’m meeting a date,” you say with objective candor as you continue to stare at him. 

That catches him completely off guard. The other day you’re on the edge around him. You weren’t even paying much attention to him during training, but now you’re back to being a headache whose mouth knows no bounds as you faze him with your unfiltered thoughts. Now, it’s him who is uncomfortable again with your thorough eyes scanning him approvingly. 

“As if I’d ever date you,” he snaps back at your remark to which you scoff at.

“I didn’t say you would. Maybe you’re forgetting, I’d never go out with a member of the team.”

“Right. But kissing one is totally fine, huh?” he retaliates in an instant with a condescending look. He waits for your reaction, eager to see you distraught and bothered by it. To his dissatisfaction, you don’t behave in such a way. Instead, you sigh defeatedly.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. I got a little crazy that night,” you say casually to a degree that you sounded like it was just a petty accident. “You kissed me back, so I’m sure you were too. Right?” 

The last word is conniving, and he can tell why you phrased it that way. You’re leaving him no choice but to disregard what happened or else it’s going to seem like it meant something to him. The hell it does. It simply resurfaces back on his mind sometimes because of how unpleasant the memory is. 

‘Devious woman,’ he snarls in his head.

It should be okay. Your reason for what you did can also be his excuse for how responded to it. What he didn’t like is that he hasn’t even managed to make the most out of that incident, while you immediately found a way to undo the grave you dug for him to bury you into.

Plus, the only advantage he sees out of partnering with you for this project is the possibility of being able to pester you the way you pester him during practice. Obviously, that’s already thrown off the window. Now, there’s nothing in it for him for the duration of the project. He is left with nothing but the fact that he has to endure your company. To think that he’s already so miserable when this afternoon has barely even started.

“Yeah,” he answers with contained resentment. “Can we go on the bus now?” He asks to deviate away from the topic already. He was hoping he could still use the incident to unnerve you, but it’s for naught now. 

He enters the bus first and assumes you’ll follow him, which you do as you take your seat beside him. You get your shoulder bag and take out a notebook.

“Can you take a look at this outline I made for our report?” you ask while you hand him your notebook opened at a certain page.

“I can’t read while the bus is moving,” he says then waits for a lame comeback from you. But you don’t comment about it. Why must you keep on being such a wildcard?

“Ah, okay. I’ll just tell it to you then,” you smile at him. “This trip is going to take long. It’d be a waste of time to not make use of it, right?”

He groans internally. Why must you be right all the fucking time?

He also made an outline last night, but he didn’t tell you because he thought it’d be better if he just did the data-gathering himself and let you take the pictures the report should have. He forgot that you’re not as irresponsible and carefree as you present yourself to be.

He listens to you explain your outline, looking for flaws in it for the sake of his grade and also for his self-satisfaction. And he does find a few.

“You should have separate discussion points for mating characteristics for male and females. I’m sure they have distinct traits. Also, I think we should include more than just one species, preferably three if the farm has it.” He continues, “Maybe we can note certain unique behaviors per species. It would be inconclusive, but it would still be nice to include it as a commentary.”

He hopes to extract even just a tiny hint of embarrassment from you for he’s thought of it better than you did. But you just stare at him for a good few seconds before you break into a dazzled smile.

“Oh my God. Yeah, you’re absolutely right!”

You open your notebook and scribble the changes in your drafted outline. “Is there anything else?” You consult him genuinely. You accept his criticisms with an open mind, which vexes him even more. 

“Nothing,” he grumbles.

“Alright. Let’s just revise it again once we see what’s on the farm.”

He doesn’t bother replying anymore since you’re once again right.

He puts on his headphones again to drown out whatever chatter you plan to have with him since you’re done discussing the project for now. Instead of bugging him, you take out a bunch of readings and focus on them intently, completely ignoring him. 

With nothing to entertain him aside from the music on his ears, his peripheral keeps going back to you and how hard you’re concentrating with the papers in your one hand and a pen in the other. 

He removes one muff of his headphone from his ear and asks you, “Don’t you get motion sickness?”

You really must be into what you’re studying because you flinch when he speaks, causing you to drop your pen. 

He feels responsible for it so he leans down to pick it up, but you also do the same. As you both reach down to grab your pen, your temple collides with his. 

“Ow,” your fingers go to massage the spot, failing to notice as he does that your faces are too close for comfort. He watches you wince for a quick while before looking at him, finally realizing that he’s within a proximity familiar to you both. 

It’s reminiscent of that night except this time, the natural light affirms that it wasn’t just the ambiance of the club that made you attractive enough to pull him in and share that heinous kiss. With your well-lit features, he can see that you’re thinking about the same thing he is.

Your eyes fall on his lips and for some illogical reason, he does the same.

Like last time, you’re the first to act on it. The major difference is, instead of leaning in, you retreat. You sit up straight with your fingers still on the side of your head and smile graciously at him. “It’s fine, Tsukishima. I’ll get it,” you say, which he finds half-witted because he’s still bent down and he can already grasp the pen.

He sits back up and hands you your pen. You use the hand on your temple to get it.

“Oh, thanks.” You stare at the pen for a second, then tuck it in your pocket. “Anyways, yeah. I don’t have problems reading in a moving vehicle.”

You dive back to his question and disregard what just happened. It works for him. He’d rather not think about it as well. 

“Have you not seen me scrambling paperwork on our bus rides to and from tournaments?”

“No.” He prefers not to pay attention to you. Hell, he pretends you don’t exist when he can. So naturally, he doesn’t know what it is you do when you’re not being your pestering self. It pains him to admit it, but you do get shit done -- efficiently, too. He should be glad because at least, you won’t be like his previous groupmates.

Still, just you being … you, ticks him off.

You laugh out of nowhere. “For someone who doesn’t speak much, you’re so fucking transparent.”

He frowns, not being able to grasp what you meant.

“Okay, look. I like pissing you off. I really do. And you, you don’t like me a lot. But for this project. Can we pretend that I’m not your annoying manager and you’re not the nasty Tsukishima I know?” 

“How the fuck can I do that when we see each other almost everyday as such?”

You roll your eyes and smirk. “Right. What was I even thinking? Go ahead and be emo with your music over there while I study here, yeah?” You pat him on the shoulders twice with that patronizing grin you always give him before pulling your pen back from your pocket and focusing once more on your readings, completely paying no attention to him for the rest of the trip.

—

As soon as you reach the crocodile farm, Tsukishima suggests that you two roam the area separately to cover more ground. In reality, he just wanted to get rid of you even for just a few minutes. He needed a break from you.

He does so by taking his time strolling around the place, observing how the area is situated. It looks like a park with its vast lush green environment and man-made waters to habituate the crocodiles. There are four main areas: the museum, the hatchling house, the zoo, and the breeding pens. He first goes to the museum, looking at the skeletal structure of some crocodiles. It isn’t really significant to the project but he can’t help admire it.

When he realizes that he’s taking longer than he initially thought, he starts looking for you. He sends you a text, but you don’t reply. You had gone to the zoo’s direction so he assumes you’re somewhere around that area. 

When he does find you, you’re not alone.

There you are near a crocodile pen, getting friendly with a guy he’s sure you just met.

It’s so familiar. The only difference is that you’re not wearing the Frogs’ jacket and you’re not in the Sendai gymnasium. He walks towards your direction, not caring if he’s going to cut off your little chat. You’re there for the project, not to snag some random bozo.

As he closes in behind you, he hears your conversation.

“Actually, birds are more closely related to dinosaurs than crocodiles. You couldn’t tell, right?” you explain with zeal. 

Tsukishima stops in his tracks at the foreign feeling in his chest. Wait a minute. Is he actually impressed? Moreover, what the heck is he impressed for? You should know that. You are both in a higher herpetology class. Even though it hasn’t been discussed during lectures, it’s natural that you know that. However, the guy you’re talking with isn't as enthusiastic. 

“Can’t blame you though. Crocs and dinos share the same sexy vibe with those chill eyes and scaly skin. Also, look at those smokin webbed feet. Fucking work of art, dude. You feel me?” you press on fanatically.

The stranger looks at you with a forced smile, obviously weirded out by your ‘passionate’ description of the reptile. “Yeah, sure. I have to go now. Bye,” the guy bows and storms away from you. 

You turn your attention back to the lowered pen in front of you with a satisfied smile and shudder when you see Tsukishima already there beside you. 

“Gah! You scared me. Why didn’t you say anything?” you ask with your hand still on your chest.

“I didn’t want to interrupt you creeping out that stranger.”

You tither at his answer. “Glad you didn’t. It was fun seeing him all freaked out.” 

He finds it weird. He thought you just had an aversion towards athletes. That’s why you keep driving away anyone who’d approach you during matches. Apparently, that’s not the case.

“He looked like he’d follow you back to Miyagi if you didn’t go all freaky nerdy on him.” 

You jeer at his comment. “He could follow me to the ends of the Earth and I still wouldn’t give him my number. I’d rather date Mr. Crocodylus siamensis over here than boring dum dums blinded by how hot I am.” 

“Then why do you entertain them?” he follows up.

“Caaaauuusse it’s fun to see them squirm,” you declare cheerfully as you veer your gaze at him. “Why the sudden interest with the way I handle men, Tsukishima?”

You raise an eyebrow, the corner of your lips tugging up to form a playful smirk. “Don’t tell me you suddenly find me interesting?”

You really do know how to push the right buttons to provoke him. He grits his teeth from your audacity.

“I’m joking for fuck’s sake! My god. I already know that even if it’s just the two of us on this planet, and we’d have to procreate to restart the world population, you’d rather choose to doom humanity than have anything to do with me.”

Among all the correct things that came out of your mouth, that was the only thing he could verbally agree with. “Good you know,” he retorts. 

You don’t seem to take offense though. You still keep your unwavering smile as you get your phone out and take a picture of the Borneo crocodile. 

“Should we go see the breeding pens now?” you ask nonchalantly, dismissing the previous conversation like it was nothing. 

--

You both decide to hire a designated tour guide to assist you while you observe the crocodiles, particularly the ones for breeding. 

“Hi, Ms. l/n. I’m Sara and I will be your guide for today,” she introduced herself with a dedicated smile.

“I’m so thrilled that you and your boyfriend decided to learn more about crocodiles for your date,” she adds. 

You and Tsukishima glance at each other before turning back to her. 

“She’s not my girlfriend.” “He’s not my boyfriend.”

You both say simultaneously, except yours sounded like a friendly correction while his sounded like a dead announcement. 

“We’re just classmates for a project,” you correct her.

She bows apologetically with embarrassment and worry. “I’m so sorry for assuming that.”

“No worries, Sara,” you reassure her before Tsukishima says something unnecessary. “Can you lead us on the breeding pens? We’d like to observe the whole thing.” 

“Of course. Right this way.”

Aside from the mishap earlier, you find Sara competent at her job as she fills you in with details not included in the sign boards in the pens. She gives you information about the mating process that you didn’t find when you researched about the subject. You assume Tsukishima’s thinking the same because he doesn’t say anything out of the blue.

“By any chance, will we see a pair mating today?” he asks after a while.

“I’m not really sure, Mr. Tsukishima. It’s really up to the animals.”

You tug on Tsukishima’s sleeve when you catch sight of one crocodile latching himself on top of another.

“What?” he asks irritatedly, but follows your line of sight. 

“Oh, lucky. There you go.” Sara announces with a pleasant smile.

You get your phone and your notes. You multitask listening to Sara, taking photos, and scribbling notes on your paper pad. 

On the other hand, Tsukishima multitasks observing the crocodiles in action and observing you. 

You’re asking important questions to the guide while juggling other tasks. Yes, he doesn’t like you and loathes being partnered with you. However, that doesn't mean he won’t cooperate with you. He won’t mind if you ask him for help, but you seem to have even forgotten that he’s there. 

He grabs your phone from your hand, garnering a confused look from you.

“I’ll take the photos. You take down notes.”

You flash him an honest, grateful smile. “Thanks, Tsukishima.”

Then, you proceed with the things you’re doing more at ease. 

He can’t tell who he’s more pissed at, you or himself. Something about that display of productivity and wit unnerves him. It’s as if it’s telling him that his chagrin over you is unreasonable because you’re actually reliable when it counts. What’s worse is you’re completely oblivious to it. In fact, you’re almost ignoring him.

Goddamn it. What’s he doing? He’s completely distracted now from the project and is solely focused on you. He quickly shakes it off and calms himself down. His attention should be on the reptiles, not you.

He turns his attention back to the crocodiles, but the mating act only lasted a few minutes. After that, you both barrage Sara with an array of questions that she looked too overwhelmed by the end of your tour. 

You’ve covered almost everything for the day and it’s already around 6 in the evening when you get on a bus on the way back to Miyagi.

“That was fun!” you comment ardently with an abnormal shine on your face when you sit down on the bus on the way back. He wears his headphones on before you start a conversation he’s not willing to have. From his peripheral, he sees you turning to him and as he predicted, your mouth begins moving while you animatedly narrate words he could not hear. 

He’s already acting as if he can’t hear nor see you, but you still don’t stop. Knowing you, you will not stop until you make sure he notices you. He wearily removes his headphones only to see you not saying anything and only mouthing words with hand gestures. 

“Seriously?” He scowls at you. He’s already exhausted at having to deal with you even for just half a day, but you still have the energy to mess with him. 

You cover your mouth with your hand as you snicker but it erupts into a hoot of laughter shortly. You gasp ridiculously after you ride out your stupid amusement from poking at his patience. “Tsukki, I swear to God. You make the best faces,” you say while wiping away your joyous tears.

“Were you even going to say something worth listening to?” he questions sourly.

You study him then shake your head. “I think you’re tired, so let’s just discuss what we gathered next time. You can go ignore me now,” you tell him with an understanding smile despite the slight banter.

You tilt your body in his direction and hoist yourself up a bit to put his headphones back yourself like it’s no big deal.

You settle back into your seat while he stills on his seat, stunned with what you just did while you get your readings again and shrink to your own bubble. You don’t seem to make anything of it, so he doesn’t as well. It was very you to mindlessly get on anyone’s —  particularly his — personal space anyways.

He increases the volume of his headphones and tries to relax. Yet, his attention keeps swerving back at you every now and then. You’re really concentrating hard with your brows burrowed while you stare at your hand-outs. After a while, he notices you bobbing your head from the corners of his eyes.

He can tell you’re as tired as he is and trying hard to fight the sleep that’s taking over you. The bunch of papers you previously held are now clutched on your lap.

On the last bob of your head, you snap out of it. You blink repeatedly and return your eyes to your readings again. To no avail, you’re shutting down with your eyes fluttering when you try again. You look like you decided to give it a rest and put your papers back in your bag. You cross your arms and lean back to your seat. 

He feels relieved that you finally yield to your physical exhaustion. He doesn’t need an additional bullet point to his list of why he can’t fully hate you. Also, you won’t run your mouth at him if you’re asleep.

He feels the soft thump of your head on his shoulder. You probably did too as you suddenly bolt up and tell him ‘sorry' which he only understands based on how you mouthed the word. You lean back again and try to settle back to sleep. But when you start dozing off, you sway to the other side of your seat which is the aisle of the bus.

He grabs your shoulder to prevent you from tumbling down to the aisle. Your disoriented self looks around, alarmed at his sudden touch.

“Just fucking lean on me,” he spits out, irked that he has to say it out loud. It’s not like he pushed you away. You could’ve just stayed as you were and he would’ve turned a blind eye at it out of recognition of the effort you put in today. He’d just consider it one of those times that you do something annoying and he just ignores you as a response.

You regard him with dazed eyes. You open your mouth as if you’re about to say something but decide against it as you shut your eyes again and you let your head rest on his shoulder. But even then, your head still falls forward from time to time. He puts a hand on your forehead to settle you back on his shoulder and slides a bit downward on his seat to accommodate you. 

Jesus Christ, you can study in a moving vehicle but can’t even do a simple thing like sleep properly on it. Why does he even have to adjust for you?

He heaves furiously in contrast to your steady breathing, letting him know that you’re easing deeper to your sleep. 

He distracts himself by looking at the window, witnessing the unmoving dark sky and the changing scenery below. He lets out a sigh.

Maybe he should’ve just accepted the ten point deduction.

Part 1 || Part 3 || masterlist

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[newbie-whumping]

So something most of you probably don't know (and frankly, not your fault! I usually don't talk about myself on here) is that I really love Billie Eilish. Realized today that she released a new song and holy shit the mental PMV for this -

Anyway, as such, say hello to a whump songfic :)

Sometimes you look the same / just like you did before the accident

It's been years since Gaster died, years since they've all been finally, finally free of that man. So much has changed - Asriel can walk again, mostly without help. Kat is smiling again and purring as strong as she ever had. Ky is physical, and as ever, Brooke's best friend - and yet so much is the same. Looking over at her husband's sleeping face, she smiles. Sometimes, especially when they're asleep, it's just like when they were kids having sleepovers at Asgore's, huddled together in a cuddle puddle.

God, she loves him so much. She loves them both so much. She sits up, careful not to disturb either, and heads into the bathroom for her morning routine.

When you're staring into space, / it's hard to believe you don't remember it

She catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she splashes water on her face and pauses for a moment, halfway to reaching a washcloth. Out of the three of them, she feels she looks the most different. She's grown her hair out, a personal act of healing, since she usually kept it short during the rebellion. She still has a scar across her cheekbone that strains to reach the bridge of her nose - a souvenir from a particularly annoying run-in with the Secret Police. There's lines marking her skin, testaments to her aging. Remarkable how fast that seems to happen for someone in their thirties.

Brooke shakes her head, her hand finishing the motion of grabbing the washcloth to dry her face off. She proceeds to use the toilet and then shower. She's been getting lost in the past a lot lately, thinking a lot about the rebellion, about things that could've been, could've changed. About Kat in the hospital, all but lifeless, struggling even with the hope Ky brought. About Asriel and his hobbies, the track meet he never got to attend because of the accident. She doesn't know if he remembers it that well. He never claims to.

Woke up in the ambulance; / you pieced it all together on the drive. / I know you don't remember calling me, / but I told you even then you look so pretty. / In a hospital bed, / I remember you said / you were scared, / and so was I

She sat in the chair next to his bed, more numb than she wished she was. He wasn't awake yet, and she just waited. It felt like hours, weeks, seconds, before he finally spoke.

"Hey B."

She glanced up, shifting to sit straighter. "Hey fluffy boy." She managed a weak smile, which he returned.

Silence prevailed for a while. "Your mom's doing okay," she finally said.

"I know. She came in earlier. She doesn't really remember how we crashed; people seem to think it was a drunk driver."

"Do you?"

He paused. "I don't really know what else it could've been," he responded. "Mom didn't just randomly lose control. Or have an episode. They usually don't happen when she drives, y'know?"

"Yeah." Brooke had a suspicion that was partly a product of Gaster's doing. As ever when it came to him, though, she had no proof. "At least you get to rock a hospital gown."

He cracked a smile. "Leading the fashion front this year."

"You totally could. You could rock anything." She smiled in return.

He laughed a bit. "You're biased 'cause you love me."

"Maybe so, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong."

"If you say so."

They fell into a comfortable silence. After a moment, she asked hesitantly, "Do you remember anything about it?"

He shook his head, wincing a bit. "No. I know it was bad, though. Couldn't even heal me with magic."

"Guess that rules out the upcoming track meet then, huh?" Brooke tried for a bigger smile. She knew he would be fine, he'd come back from worse. He came back from dying so many times; whatever injuries came from the crash, he'd get over them easily.

He looked away. There was a beat before he responded. "Might not do track next year."

"You'll be better by then," she shrugged.

Asriel sighed then. "No. I don't think I will."

"C'mon, Azzy. It's not like you to be pessimistic," she frowned.

"I'm not being pessimistic, Brooke. You know I'm not." He looked back at her, green eyes holding a world of exhaustion.

"I don't know that, actually." She felt anger starting to bubble up, brought from annoyance. "Cause it really sounds like you are."

"I'm really not. Doing track next year would be a miracle," Asriel persisted.

"I don't see how. You're gonna heal up in maybe three months tops, and I know you're gonna be itching to get back into it."

"Stop it," he said.

"Stop what? Trying to remind you you aren't hopeless?" Brooke's voice rose. "I'm not doing that, Azzy."

"Stop trying to act like everything is fine," he said, voice hardening.

"Everything is fine! Not now, but it's gonna be!"

"No it's not. Stop acting like it."

"I'm not gonna stop, Dreemurr! You're not acting yourself!" Heat and anger were seeping into her voice.

"I'm not going to be able to do track, Brooke! Not ever!" It was his turn for his voice to rise.

"One car crash isn't the end of the world; Jesus!"

"How am I supposed to do track when I'm paralyzed, Brooke?" he shouted.

She froze, the sudden silence deafening. "You're what?" she managed.

His anger still showed on his face, despite his voice returning to an inside level. "You didn't know?"

"I - no. No one..." It was like the anger was punched right out of her, replaced by shock.

"Well. Now you know." He looked away again.

Brooke tried finding something, anything to say. Finally, she managed, "I'm sorry."

He shrugged bitterly. "Sorry isn't gonna fix me."

"I know." She was quiet.

After several minutes, Asriel spoke again. "You know, I've lived through so much. Done so much, things I'm not proud of. Lived through so many timelines. But I think right now I'm something I haven't been since... Since Chara died, and that whole - fiasco." He finally looked back at her, and the vulnerability she saw there broke her heart right along with his next words. "I'm scared, Brooke."

She went to respond, to hold his hand, to offer reassurance. She never got the chance as a nurse entered, looking concerned. "Are you alright, Asriel? I heard shouting."

"Yeah. We're fine." His voice had returned to the tired tone from before.

The nurse took a look at the heart monitor, then at the clock on the wall. Addressing Brooke, it said, "Asriel needs to rest. It's getting late."

"Okay." She glanced at him. He had returned to looking at the wall. She got up. "See you tomorrow?"

"Sure." He tried to smile at her. She offered one back.

Brooke nodded thanks to the nurse as she left. She felt tears prick her eyes and fought them back.

In a standstill on the 5, / thought it was unusually early traffic; / usually I don't panic. I / just wanted to be on time. / When I saw the ambulances on the shoulder, / I didn't even think of pulling over. / I pieced it all together late that night

Brooke still remembers that conversation more vividly than she wishes she did. It was such a hard thing to accept. Especially when she'd realized that night that she'd seen the ambulances around the crash site on the way to visiting Kat.

Her mom had rocked her as she'd cried on the couch. They were sixteen at the time - she felt so childish for needing the reassurance, the comfort - but it was nice to be held after Toriel's call. Her mom knew how much Asriel means to her - they'd been dating, of course he meant so much to her.

And I know you don't remember calling me, / but I told you even then you look so pretty. / In a hospital bed, / I remember you said / you were scared, / and so was I

The worst part had been being the one to tell Kat. The small monster had been in love with Asriel since... Well, none of them are really sure. Brooke thinks it was when they were going through the Underground, Kat thinks it was when he regained his body, Asriel thinks it was sometime long before either of those. Brooke and Kat disagree with him on the basis of him getting time confused a lot where the Underground is concerned, aside from when she'd been there.

The look on Kat's face had been pure devestation. Brooke couldn't even hold her hand because of the restrictions the ward had, and that still hurts to this day. She'd had her own mother, but Kat couldn't even be comforted by her best friend. The best she could settle for was asking for updates, and she did, constantly.

Brooke dresses and pulls her hair into a ponytail to dry, heading for the kitchen. She casts a glance at the bed as she passes - Asriel and Kat are still asleep, with the latter snuggled up to the former, as always. Brooke smiles a bit and continues on so she can make breakfast.

What if it happened to you on a different day? On a bridge where there wasn't a rail in the way? Or a neighborhood street where the little kids play? Or the Angeles Crest in the snow or the rain? What if you weren't alone; there were kids in the car? What if you were remote, no one knows where you are? If you changed anything, would you not have survived? You're alive, you're alive, you're alive

She gets to work on some hash browns, choosing to make them from scratch instead of grabbing the bag from the freezer. It's not something she does often - usually Azzy is the one to put more effort into food - but it feels right today.

Her mind continues to think about the past, stubbornly centering around Asriel and the accident. Even today, they don't know how the crash happened. She, Kat, and Ky are pretty certain it was engineered by Gaster - Asriel lost his ability to reset around the same time, not that he tried to use it much once they left Mt. Ebott - but whatever investigation went on was quickly wrapped up, and there was never enough evidence gathered to be conclusive. So the official statement is that it was a drunk driver hit and run.

In some ways, Brooke is glad that it happened near the town hall. Night Vale is many things, with many different levels of danger in any given area. The town hall is relatively safe. He and Toriel could've been out by route 800, somewhere where there wasn't a railing, and they could have gone spiraling into the desert. It could've been near their house, where kids have always been known to run around and play. It could've been out in Desert Bluffs, so vastly different from Night Vale at the time, when they had a blizzard or pouring rain; it could've been somewhere on the way to a different town entirely, somewhere they didn't have connection to Night Vale, somewhere no one would be able to find, it could have been in Radon Canyon where few can survive without masks or air, they could've been destroyed by the day's calamity, anything could have happened and he would've been gone right alongside Toriel, two people who have been there for her and loved her even if she wasn't a monster or had any obligation to them and how could she have lived and how could Kat have lived she loved him so much she loved Toriel so much it would've destroyed her Brooke could've lost her too and she's panicking now she knows she is it's okay Asriel is alive he's alive he's alive he's -

A gentle touch to her back has Brooke whirling around to fight because here, now, it's inevitable with Gaster in charge, and she's already holding something so she swings and -

She finds herself immobile and then turned carefully, sees the brown-tipped ears come into view followed by the cream head and baby blue pajamas and then she turns and -

It's just Kat, looking at her with a face full of concern. "Brooke?"

As she takes reality back in, Brooke recognizes a burning smell, and a burning sensation in her hand. She reflexively drops whatever she's holding, and it clatters to the floor.

And I know you don't remember calling me, / but I told you even then you looked so pretty / in your hospital bed / I remember you said / you were scared. / And so am I

"Are you okay, love?"

Kat, sweet Kat; always concerned for others even when she could be in danger. Brooke tries to get her mouth to work properly, but it won't cooperate. She dimly recognizes she has full control of her body again, and that she's leaning against the counter.

Kat moves to rest against her, both supporting her and giving her the ability to ground by purring and letting her run her hands through her thick, soft fur.

"The hash browns," Brooke finally manages.

"I moved them, don't worry babe." Kat butts her head gently against her wife's.

"Thanks."

Kat nods, hopping off the counter and taking Brooke's hand. She leads the human over to the couch, where she proceeds to cuddle up and continue to purr. Brooke resumes petting her, feeling the anxiety slowly ebb away.

"I was trying to make the good ones," she says after a moment. "Did they burn?"

Kat hesitates. "I think they did," she admits. She sits up, reaching for Brooke's hand. "I think you burned your hand, too."

"It's fine," Brooke says, flexing it and immediately feeling the burn flare up.

"May I?" Kat glances up at her.

Looking at her wife, Brooke can't find a no in her, so she nods. Gently, always gentle, Kat takes her hand in her paws. They glow for a moment, and Brooke feels the pain fade. It helps to bridge that last bit between her and reality as well, and she kisses the top of the cat monster's head. "Thanks babe."

Kat smiles at her, but it fades quickly. "Are you alright, Brooke? You weren't answering me, and you were really startled."

The human exhales slowly. "I... Got a little too caught up in the past," she says, adding quietly, "Thinking about Azzy."

Kat nods, leaning against her. "He's okay now. We all are. More or less," she adds as Brooke snorts.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess we are." Brooke smiles faintly. "He up yet?"

Kat shakes her head.

"Good. I don't want him to know about the hash brown failure."

That gets her wife to giggle. "He'd eat them anyway, you know he would."

"Yeah, but he shouldn't," Brooke snickers. She gets up. "Wanna help me with something simpler?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Probably scrambled eggs."

"Sure."

[anakinlove]

Hi wow okay, so I definitely cried whilst writing this. I absolutely took this great romantic prompt and deSTROYED IT I am so sorry anon 😭😭

If enough people come into my ask box and yell it me I could be persuaded to write a part 2 happy ending 😌

✨requests are open✨

See my Valentine’s Day post!

My Masterlist

(Join my taglist in my bio!)

Set It Free

1.5k words (angst)

Sometimes, when Y/n thought about her boyfriend, she thought about the avril. Native to Yavin 8, the bird was a large hawk-like lifeform. It was beautiful as it soared high in the air. Being the top of its food chain, the avril was also ferocious, swooping in and killing its prey in one bated breath. Anakin was a lot like the avril, both beautiful and ferocious, and so completely beyond Y/n.

She wonders now, how she had ever let herself fall so completely for him. But then, there always was something so freeing about his smile, his eyes. Y/n remembers with such clarity the first time she saw that smile,

“Hey! Y/n, wait up!” Y/n whipped around, looking for the source of the voice, only to see Anakin Skywalker jogging after her. 

“Skywalker. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Y/n raised her eyebrow at the boy, looking him over. She couldn’t deny that he was attractive, but with his usually shorn hair overgrown he looked a bit like a narglatch. 

“Well, I uh, I noticed you looked confused today in class?” That was funny. In all her years of classes with Anakin, Y/n had never known him to stumble over his words. The boy was always so confident, cheeky even. 

“I guess you could say that. The Huttese dialect is much more…” Y/n bounced her head, looking for the right word, “well, less refine than basic.”

Anakin snorted, looking down at his toes. He didn’t say anything. Y/n waited for him to speak but he just stood there, looking down.

“Skywalker?” Y/n prompted. Anakin whipped his head up.

“I was just going to offer, as I’m fluent, if you might want a tutor?” Anakin said softly. Y/n was thoroughly confused with the Anakin was acting. First, he stumbles over his words, and now one could say he looked bashful! Still, she really was awful with Huttese, and of course she knew the Chosen One to be from Tatooine, therefore he must know the language well.

“Yeah, okay, I’d really appreciate the help. Does today in about four standard-hours work?” Y/n smiled up at him.

“Yeah, yeah that works great!” Anakin grinned, bouncing up and down, “Sorry, but I’m late for meditation with my Master, I have to go!” He looked one last time in Y/n direction and walked back the way he came.

Y/n could only stand there, speechless. In all of the time she’s known him, she couldn’t remember ever seeing him smile like that. It left her breathless, standing like a fool in the middle of the hall, staring after him. 

Looking back on it now, it was so clear to tell that he had just wanted to spend time with her. Get to know her, be her friend. He never had that many friends in the temple, Y/n knows. Choosing to spend his time with Master Kenobi or tinkering with droids in his quarters. Sometimes spending time with Aayla Secura, but only when they both had time, which was few and far between.

Y/n reached their shared apartment, separate from the Temple. It was eight months ago when Anakin suggested finding someplace where they could be themselves, away from the rules of the Jedi. Together, they found this place. It was small, but it was them. It was Anakin’s boots by the door, his tools scattered randomly, oil staining parts of the carpet no matter how much either of them scrubbed. It was Y/n’s robe by the door, her favorite mug left on the counter from her morning coffee, hair ties left in every crevice of the couch. 

Y/n’s heart hurt looking around the room, and his smell suffocated her, leaving her more choked up than she already was. She looked at the chronometer on the counter, its time indicated that Anakin should be home, and squared her shoulders. She found him just where she knew he would be, hunched over his desk, fiddling with something so small It should have been impossible.

She stood in the door, watching him, for what felt like an eternity. Taking in the pattern of his curls today, the way he bounced his knee, and the back of his shoulders as they rose and fell with each breath. She knew that he knew she was there. He was so attuned with the force that he probably felt her four blocks away. His power was unimaginable. He was radiant, a glowing force that any force-sensitive could have felt him from a mile away. All the more reason, for Y/n to not be the one to dampen him. 

After a while, or probably when he finished whatever he was doing, he placed his project down and stretched. If Y/n wasn’t already devastated, she might have laughed at just how many joints he popped with one movement. It was a wonder that Y/n had managed to shield her feelings from him so well, knowing that he should have felt what was wrong the second he felt her. 

“Hi, angel, how was your day?” Anakin finally looked up, a smile softening his features. Y/n could say nothing, staying in the doorway. 

“Y/n?” Anakin stood, slowly walking over to her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in. Just for a second, Y/n told herself, you can indulge yourself for only a second. Y/n steeled herself, forcing herself to pull away. 

“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Anakin scrunched his eyebrows, staring down at her. He was unnerved at how blank she was, scared even.

Wanting it all to be over, to be able to never have to do it again, Y/n prepared herself to speak. 

“I think,” she paused to try to control her tears, “I think we should stop.” And there, the words that had been controlling her all day were finally out. 

“Stop? Stop what?” Anakin’s voice was measured, words slow. 

“This. Us” Y/n looked down, unable to look him in the eyes. 

“Us. Us? Why? Why would you ever think that? What’s happened? Have I done something? Y/n you can’t just walk in and say that what is it?” Frantically Anakin tried to catch her eyes, ducking his head down into her view. Y/n shook hard, doing everything she could to hold in her breakdown, despite her efforts, tears began to track down her cheeks. She took measured breaths, counting each one. 

“I cannot be the one to hold you back.” Her voice cracked, more tears leaking through.

“Hold me back? Hold me back from what? You could never hold me back! If anything, I’m where I am because of you!” Anakin raised his voice but didn’t shout. 

“No, Anakin, you deserve to be the greatest jedi of them all, to have everything you’ve ever wanted. I cannot take that away from you. I won’t.” Y/n voice shook, but she was determined as ever, trying to just make him understand that this was for him. Not her. 

“But I want you, not to be some… some great jedi! I want you.” He pleaded. 

“Anakin you don’t understand, your place is on a throne!” Y/n sobbed, backing away from him. 

“No, my place is by your side!” He walked towards her, reaching for her. She evaded his every attempt, solid in her decision. 

“Y/n, please, stop. Come back, think about this. Let’s talk about this.” Anakin begged. 

“There’s nothing to talk about, Ani. This is all for you, for your life.” She replied. 

“But I don’t want this!” Anakin tried again, once more advancing. 

Y/n shook her head and backed further away, towards the door. Taking a quick look around the room, she thought of every happy memory here. All the times they cuddled on the couch, the one Life Day they spent here, every moment. Each called to her, and she longed to answer, to stay. But she couldn’t.  Looking once more at Anakin, at his state of disarray. The tears in his eyes, his hair mussed from his hands, his body shaking. It broke her more than any of the words she said did. 

“I’m sorry.” Y/n cried, turning around for the final time, grabbing her robe and walking out of the door. 

“Y/n! Y/n wait!” Anakin lurched forward, desperately calling out for her. By the time he reached the door, she was gone. He fell to his knees then and cried. Cried for Y/n, for their life, for the ring he was working on a room over.

As Y/n walked away, hood drawn, she thought once again of the avril. Free to soar high above, without anything shackling him to the ground. A force of nature, unbelievable, and so, so beautiful. 

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[kittenwhiskers]

Smartass - Peko x gn!Reader x Fuyuhiko

Peko and (y/n) have been spending the past few days pestering their yakuza boyfriend. Though they were fully expecting consequences, they would never have predicted the results!

A/N: Yes, this is a "no one dies" AU. Because we like it better that way.

!This is a poly gender-neutral reader-insert tickle fic that contains a bit of swearing!

It had been a rather chaotic morning on the island on this particular day. The majority of the class had decided today would be a beach day, and so, the morning was spent by (y/n) and most of their classmates on the golden sand. The early hours saw sandcastle competitions, water fights, and much more. By the time the afternoon rolled around, much of the class had dispersed. A few stayed behind at the beach, while most went to their cottages to rest before returning. There were only a handful of students that actually showed up to the restaurant, that being (y/n), Akane, Chiaki, Byakuya, and Teruteru. Everyone could tell the little chef was worn out from that morning’s activities, but he still insisted on preparing food for the handful present. No one was about to fight with him on that one.

(y/n) had been engrossed in some conversation they were having with Chiaki in between bites of food, when they felt a gentle hand lay on their shoulder.

“(y/n), are you almost finished with your meal?”

(y/n) turned around to see a pair of sharp red eyes staring back at them.

“Yeah, Peko, I guess I’m pretty much done,” (y/n) said with a smile, placing their eating utensil down on their plate, “why, what’s up?”

“Fuyuhiko-sama has requested us at his cottage right away,” she explained very matter-of-factly, though (y/n) could sense a tinge of dread behind her words.

The request confused (y/n) at first… until they remembered. They were filled with the same dread as they remembered all the pestering they and Peko had subjected the yakuza to over the past couple days. The three of them all understood it was all in good fun, but pestering was called “pestering” for a reason. (y/n) and Peko both knew this was coming, it was inevitable.

With a sharp inhale, (y/n) rose from their seat and nodded.

“Right then,” they said, pushing their seat back into place, “let’s go meet him, we shouldn’t keep him waiting.”

Peko nodded without a word, and headed for the stairs leading to the lobby, expecting (y/n) to follow behind, however, they were stopped by Chiaki clearing her throat. They turned to the gamer girl, who proceeded to mouth the words “good luck”, and gave them a subtle thumbs-up. (y/n) returned the favor with a half-smile, before turning back and quickly following Peko down the stairs and out the doors of the building.

On the walk to the cottages, (y/n) tried their best to prepare themselves for a fight of some sort. They knew Fuyuhiko wasn’t going to actually hurt either of them, but whatever he had planned in retaliation was probably going to be intense. Peko already knew she was going to accept whatever was coming her way, she would never fight back against Fuyu… but she also knew (y/n) well enough to know that they wouldn’t go down without a fight, and she wouldn’t hold them back from that either.

It only took a few minutes before the two students had arrived, and were now standing outside of the short-tempered blonde’s cottage. They both stood tensely, looking at the wooden door, then at each other.

“So, are you gonna do it, or am I,” (y/n) asked Peko softly, referring to which of the two would knock on the door.

Peko seemed to grunt nervously, looking back between the door and (y/n). There was a moment of silence between the two of them, before Peko’s eyes finally stopped on (y/n) again.

“I don’t wanna do it,” (y/n) finally said with a laugh, which in turn caused Peko to laugh as well. If there was one thing (y/n) could be counted on, it was lightening a tense situation.

Peko finally stepped up and knocked on the door. As she stepped back next to (y/n), footsteps were heard inside the cottage. The two practically winced as the door finally swung open, revealing the smug-faced yakuza standing on the other side.

“Thought you two had pussied out or somethin’,” he said with a grin, motioning for them to get their asses inside, “what took so long?”

“My apologies, young master,” Peko apologized as she walked inside, “I had to retrieve (y/n) from the-”

“Hey!” Fuyuhiko snapped, cutting her off, “what’d we talk about? No more calling me that.”

“M-my apologies, Fuyuhiko-sama,” Peko corrected, nodding in understanding, “it’s a force of habit.”

Fuyuhiko grunted softly, shutting the door behind him once the two students were inside. He then turned back to them, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smirking a little.

“Well, I’m sure you two know why I called you here,” he said rather casually.

“Mm, beats me,” (y/n) said, waving their hands around their sides, “I got no clue!”

Peko had to fight back the urge to smile at her partner’s sarcasm as Fuyuhiko shot them a deadpan glare.

“Really?” he asked flatly, “no clue whatsoever?”

“Nope,” (y/n) continued, “but it must’ve been bad to make you drag us all the way out here! God, we must be awful!”

Fuyuhiko sighed, taking his hands out of his pockets.

“I shoulda’ seen this coming,” he growled. (y/n) didn’t know when too far was too far.

Peko was now giggling up a storm at (y/n)’s remarks, and (y/n) couldn’t hold back their own cheeky grin as they continued to tease the Yakuza.

“Or, maybe, we’re totally innocent, and you just wanted an excuse to get time with us to yourself-”

(y/n) was cut off by the wind practically being knocked out of them as Fuyuhiko tackled both them and Peko to the bed behind them, pushing them down on their backs and hovering over them.

“You think you’re real fuckin’ funny, huh, smartass?” he growled, pulling the two students close together on the mattress, “if you’re really as dumb as you’re acting, then lemme spell it out for ya. I brought you both here to show you why you don’t fuck with a yakuza…”

With wide eyes, (y/n) tried to make a break for it, wiggling to get up off the bed. Unfortunately for them, Fuyuhiko had faster reflexes than they could’ve anticipated. He grabbed them by the shoulder, pushing them down into the bed and keeping them pinned in place as he crawled up onto the foot of the bed, sitting up on his knees, and using his legs to pin Peko’s left thigh and (y/n)’s right thigh together, effectively trapping both the students in place at once.

“It took me a while to think of just the right punishment for you two,” he said, leaning over the two ultimates beneath him with a sadistic grin, “but I think I have something perfect planned out here…”

Faster than they could blink, Fuyuhiko’s hands shot down to (y/n’s) and Peko’s sides, squeezing with a purpose, causing both the students to break out in frantic giggles, and attempt to either wiggle out of Fuyu’s restraint, or swat his hand away. Perfect, Fuyuhiko thought, everything was falling into place.

“Neither of you are going anywhere,” Kuzuryu sneered, working his way up to Peko’s ribs with one hand while the other shot up to (y/n)’s armpit, “don’t waste your energy on trying to get away~!”

Peko only managed to cover her face with her hands, somewhat muffling her laughter as she arched into Fuyuhiko’s touch, meanwhile, (y/n) pinned their arms to their sides (which only trapped Fuyuhiko’ hand in place) and squealed loudly. This earned an amused laugh from the yakuza, who drilled his fingers further into their underarm.

“Jeeze, (y/n),” Fuyu chuckled, “You might be even more sensitive to Peko, listen to you!”

“SHUHUHUT AHAHAHAP!” (y/n) cried, twisting to pry Fuyuhuko’s hand away from the sensitive area. Fuyuhiko narrowed his eyes at this.

“Shut up, huh? Shut up, huh???” Fuyuhiko growled, lowering his hand just enough to drill his fingers into the top of (y/n)’s ribs, forcing their laughter up an octave, “you think you’re in any position to tell me to shut up, huh???”

“NOHOHO NOO, I’M SAHAHARRYYY!!!” (y/n) squealed, only earning a small chuckle from Fuyuhiko in response. He seemed like he was about to say something, before he was cut off by Peko’s pleas.

“Young master, plehehease!” The swordswoman cried through her hands, “n-nohoho mohohohore!”

“What did I say about callin’ me that, Peko?” Fuyuhiko warned in a low tone, moving his hands up to gently tickle Peko’s neck.

“NAH! F-FUYUHIKO-SAHAHAMA, NOHOHOT THERE!” Peko squealed, craning her neck to avoid Fuyu’s merciless fingers.

Fuyuhiko continued to tickle the two students like this for another minute or so, before pulling back and allowing them to breathe. He smirked at the mess of giggles on the bed beneath him, nearly satisfied with his work, before cracking his knuckles in preparation for his next move.

“Now, I got one more thing I wanna try here,” he said almost excitedly, “but since I ain’t got any straws to draw, it’s gonna come down to this, whoever laughs first, gets it first.”

“Fuyu, nohoho,” (y/n) whined pathetically through their giggles, “I cahahan’t take much more of this!”

“Aww, is that so?” Fuyuhiko cooed mockingly, bringing his hands down over each of their bellies, spidering at them through their shirts, “then it’d do you well to keep your mouth shut, huh?”

Almost simultaneously, Peko and (y/n) slapped their hands over their mouths to fight back the giggles threatening to bubble up from their throats.

“Nah-ah, hands away from your faces, that’s cheating,” Fuyuhiko scolded, “if you don’t follow the rules, I’ll just pick randomly!”

Upon hearing this, both the ultimates hesitantly pulled their hands away from their mouths. Peko raised her arms above her head obediently, while (y/n) reached down and gripped at the bedsheets. Both of the yakuza’s victims strained and whimpered to hold back their giggles as Fuyuhiko’s hands freely explored their tummies. This only lasted about 30 seconds before (y/n) thought they’d break… but relief washed over them when they heard Peko titter with giggles.

“N-nohoho, Fuyuhiko-sama, I’m sohohorry,” Peko begged as Fuyuhiko grinned down at her, “plehehease dohohon’t!”

Fuyuhiko only shook his head at her, still wearing his menacing grin as he reached over and pulled Peko’s shirt up enough to show her tummy, before firmly taking each of her wrists in one hand, and leaning down to pepper her belly with kisses! (y/n)’s eyes went wide at the sight before them as Peko squealed with high pitched laughter and giggles, wiggling every which way to avoid the ticklish sensation. (y/n) turned their head to the side and looked away, not being able to handle the anticipation of knowing they were next. It didn’t help much, though. They could only listen as Peko’s laughter grew louder and more frantic with each passing second, indicating that Fuyuhiko was doing more than just planting little kisses now. Still, they couldn’t bring themselves to look!

(y/n) practically jumped out of their skin when they heard Fuyuhiko deal a raspberry against Peko’s skin, followed by Peko’s squealy laughter hitting an all-time high!

(y/n) couldn’t help but try to wiggle their way off the bed, but was only met by a warning squeeze to the side by Fuyuhiko’s hand, causing them to yelp and recoil.

It wasn’t long before Peko’s hysterical laughter was reduced to a feeble wheeze, at which point, Fuyuhiko finally released his restraint on Peko, allowing her to curl over onto her side.

“You’re up, (y/n)~” Fuyuhiko taunted, straddling both of (y/n’s) thighs, and reaching for their shirt to pull it up. He was stopped by (y/n’s) hands grabbing his own, but the yakuza only chuckled and began to wrestle their hands away. He looked over at Peko, who had now sat up and wiped the tears away from her eyes, and smirked.

“Hey, Peko, babe,” he said, “come help me get this little brat under control, will ya?”

Peko looked down at (y/n) reluctantly, who looked back at her with a pleading look in their eyes as they continued to fight Fuyuhiko off.

“I could always tickle you again,” he hummed with a shrug. This caused Peko to jump, and crawl over behind (y/n), grabbing their hands and pinning them above their head.

“I’m sorry,” she mouthed down to her partner. Though (y/n) felt completely and utterly betrayed, they understood. It was clear now that Fuyuhiko was a ruthless tickler… and unfortunately, they were about to face his finale.

Fuyuhiko smiled wickedly as he rolled up (y/n)’s shirt, and leaned down to their tummy, planting light, ticklish kisses across every inch of it, making (y/n) throw their head back with laughter and drum their heels against the bed frame. They had no idea kisses alone could tickle so much! Little did they know, it’d only get worse from there…

Their laughter rose to frantic squealing as Fuyuhiko focused most of the kisses around their navel, and used his thumbs to pinch and massage the sides of their tummy.

“FUYU I CAHAHAN’T TAHAHAKE IT!” (y/n) cried, fighting as hard as they could to fight out of both their boyfriend’s and girlfriend’s restraint, “PLEHEHEASE STAHAHAHAP!!!”

Fuyuhiko only scoffed a little as he pulled his face away to look at (y/n), his thumbs still drilling into their sides.

“You can handle it,” he sneered, “a little tickling’s never killed anyone.”

(y/n) froze and tensed up as they heard Fuyuhiko begin to inhale, but before they had time to react, the yakuza had already buried his lips into their flesh, blowing raspberry after raspberry into every inch of their tummy, driving them up the wall! Poor (y/n) shrieked and howled with laughter, making the other two swear the others could’ve heard them all the way from the beach!

Fuyuhiko smiled through all the raspberries he delivered as he spidered his fingers up and down (y/n)’s bare sides, before focusing the last few raspberries directly on top of their incredibly sensitive bellybutton.

This seemed to throw (y/n) over the edge, as their laughter quickly turned into silent wheezes. With a final amused chuckle, Fuyuhiko sat up and patted (y/n)’s tummy, rolling their shirt back down and scooping them up, allowing them to lean against him as they recovered from the tickle-attack. As the yakuza stroked their hair, he patted the bed to his left side, inviting Peko to snuggle in on his opposite side, to which she complied, allowing Fuyuhiko to wrap his free arm around her.

“You two know I love you, yeah?” he asked with a smile, resting his head against Peko’s shoulder while keeping (y/n) wrapped in his other arm.

Peko chuckled and smiled down at her shorter boyfriend.

“Of course we do, Fuyuhiko-sama,” she replied. Even though Fuyuhiko acted all big and tough, he still needed reassurance from time to time. Peko and (y/n) were more than okay with that.

“Wehehe’re still getting you back for this, though,” (y/n) giggled weakly.

“Oh, most definitely,” Peko agreed.

“H-hey, that’s not how this works,” Fuyuhiko argued, “This whole thing was supposed to be getting us even!”

Kuzuryu would never catch a break with these two, he should’ve known that by now...

[carnationcreation]

Front Row Seat (Tommy Oliver x  Sister!reader)

TITLE:  Front Row Seat (Tommy Oliver x  Sister!reader)

Masterlist

Prompt/summary: (Takes place in MMPR season 3, no specific episode) Tommy misses opening night that the reader thought he’d be there for. 

Word Count: 1,865

Warnings:  none

Tommy Oliver is the most forgetful person on the planet.

Well, to his sister at least. From dance recitals to school plays Tommy had forgotten every one of them until last minute. He’d always tried to make it up to her, rather it be getting her flowers or fixing the piano in the house so she could finish her vocal lessons. He hated his sister being mad at him. It’s not his fault after all being a power ranger and all. He tried his best to make every performance and event his sister participated in but Lord Zedd never seems to rest. 

He was late. Again.

He told me he was going to pick me up from my rehearsal for the spring musical but here I am, still sitting after over an hour of waiting on him. I really shouldn’t have expected anything else. Even my stage manager was skeptical about leaving me alone this late but I assured her that I would be fine and my brother was on his way.

Eventually anyways.

I gave up and pulled out my AP US History book. What kind of teacher assigns a three page homework assignment with essay questions? Eventually a two-door white mustang pulls up to the curb in front of me. I checked my watch, and he made it right at two hours. 

Adam got out, flashing me a sad smile before pulling back the seat so I could get in the back.

“Hey (y/n),” Tommy said quietly as I got in the car.

I didn’t say anything as I buckled up my seatbelt. Adam got back in the car and Tommy pulled out of the school’s parking lot. 

“How was practice?” Adam said, trying to make the silence less awkward. 

“Good.”

Adam frowned at Tommy for my short response. 

“Look (y/n), I’m sorry I was late I was-” Tommy started.

“Practicing? Lost time while you were with your friends? Doesn’t really matter. I should've just walked home,” I cut him off.

Tommy went silent and kept driving. Adam’s house slowly came into view and he flashed me a small smile as he stepped out of the car. Eventually Tommy popped a CD into the player, as he pressed play the sounds of my favorite Broadway musicals flowed through the speakers. I knew what he was trying to do but I really wasn’t having it. He knew that the music would get me to let my guard down so he’d be able to apologize.

“Listen I’m sorry I was late. I promise I will be there tomorrow.”

“It’s whatever. And I won’t need picked up till after the show tomorrow. You are coming right?”

“Would I really miss my little sister’s opening night? You’re gonna be the star of the show!” Tommy smiled.

I smiled slightly at his compliment. The streetlights went by slowly and before I knew it we were pulling up our driveway to our house. Our parents car was parked out front but their bedroom light was off.

I hopped out of the car and ran to the front door, my backpack swinging behind me. I kept my script tucked under my arm as I went upstairs to my room.

“Hey,” Tommy said from the bottom of the stairs, “you know we’re proud of you right?”

“Right,” I said quickly before turning around and rushing into my room.

_______________

I sat in my dressing room feeling exhausted as I applied the bright green paint on my body. Beverly, my co-star playing Galinda, was next to me removing her pin curls to the blonde wig. 

“Is Tommy coming in tonight?”

“I don’t really know, knowing him he’s probably still at the gym practicing with Rocky.”

“Don’t be bummed, (Y/n). I’m sure he’ll turn up. You’ll do amazing regardless. He’s always talking in History class about how excited he is about your acting gigs,” she smiled as she applied the bright pink blush to her cheeks.

“Does he really?” I said. I was shocked. For all I knew he never talked about me. I wouldn’t think he would be that proud of me, especially with all his accomplishments he could talk about instead.

“Yes! He even handed out flyers for the show with the seniors yesterday.”

Before we could finish the stage manager called five minutes to places and we hurried to finish getting ready.

_______________

The music slowed as I finished belting out the last bars of the finale. I panted as the lights went down. FInally glad the show was over but I loved every second of it.

At curtain call I looked out at the audience. Nope. No sign of my brother anywhere. I sighed but wasn’t that surprised. 

I made my way back to the dressing room to take a break and get ready to go home. Sliding into my comfy clothes to wear home and wiping all the makeup off.

“Hey! Why aren’t you out there with Tommy?” Beverly asked as she walked into the dressing room.

“He wasn’t here.”

“What? But he kept telling everyone he was gonna be here?” she said confused.

“Well he says a lot of things,” I said as I grabbed my bag and rushed out the door.

_______________

Tommy rushed into the theater right as curtain call ended, a bouquet of flowers in hand in (Y/n)’s favorite color. He looked around for his sister in the clumps of families taking pictures with the actors but didn’t see her anywhere. He knew he messed up.

Kimberly and the rest of the rangers came up behind him, “It’s okay Tommy we’ll find her, maybe she didn’t notice you weren’t here.”

“She always looks for me, I always promise her I’ll be there,”Tommy said. His head hung and his eyes started to tear up. 

“Hey man let's go see if we can find her backstage, maybe she’s just getting ready?” Adam said. 

Kim grabbed his hand and the group headed to the dressing rooms.

“Tommy!” Beverly yelled running up to them.

“Hey Beverly,” Kim said, “Where did (Y/n) go?”

“She headed out the back to walk home. Tommy, she was so excited before the show, I told her about the flyers you handed out and everything. Where were you?” Beverly said, placing her hands on her hips.

Tommy sighed, “I got tied up.”

“Uh-huh. Just like you were in the fall too when you didn’t even get to see her solo at the chorus recital. Maybe if you get in the car now you can grab her before she gets home.”

Tommy hid his face in his hands as the girl walked back into the dressing rooms to finish changing. 

_______________

Tears blurred my vision as I tried to focus on the sidewalk. My bag was heavy against my hip and the street lights flickered in front on the ground. Why did I think anything would be different this time? 

I saw headlights from a car pull up beside me. Rocky’s red jeep came into view and I kept walking. 

“(Y/n)?” Tommy yelled.

I pulled my hair down over my face.

“(Y/n) please listen!” 

“Why?” I snapped back.

“(Y/n) please get in the car so we can go home,” Tommy said.

I still kept walking. The car pulled ahead quickly before Tommy hopped out and stood in my path.

“(Y/n) please,” he said. I could tell he’d been crying because of the lift in his voice.

I looked up with puffy eyes only to be met with his own.

“You promised Tommy,” I sobbed.

“I know, I know,” he said as he pulled me into his arms, “I’m a terrible brother I know. Please get in the car and I’ll explain when we get home. It’s getting dark.”

I nodded and Kim opened the door for me to slide in between her and Adam. Kim grabbed my hand and rubbed circles on to the back of it to try and calm me down. I ended up falling asleep on Adam’s shoulder.

I felt Tommy pick me up and carry me into my room. He kissed my forehead and I fell asleep with my comfy clothes still on.

_______________

The next morning Tommy was gone before I could corner him and question him about last night. I dressed in my casual outfit before trying to call Kimberly to see if maybe he was with her.

I decided to go to the juice bar to track him down. I took a shortcut through the park and put earbuds in and my walkman in my back pocket. I felt the air suddenly go cold and I whipped around to strange creatures popping up out of the ground.

I’d heard about the Puddies that will randomly attack but I had never seen them yet. Luckily Tommy made me learn a few moves from him just in case. I quickly began to try and fight them off but there seemed to be too many.

“(Y/n)!” I heard someone yell. I turned to see Tommy and his friends running towards me.

“Tommy! Help!”

They quickly made work of the puddies, me helping out when I could but leaving most of the work to them. Soon enough the puddies were gone but a monster appeared in front of us. What is it today?

“(Y/n) get behind us!” Tommy yelled.

“Do we really wanna do this in front of her?” Rocky said.

“Got no choice Rock, it’s morphin time!”

I stood in shock as I watched my brother and his friends morph into the power rangers.

“What!’ I yelled. 

“(Y/n) get to safety!” Kimberly yelled. 

I didn't wait around to see what happened next.

_______________

I waited nervously at the juice bar for the rest of the afternoon. As soon as I saw Tommy walking in the door I tackled him in a hug.

“Omg what happened? I was so worried I didn’t know what was gonna happen to you guys please tell me you’re not hurt-” 

Tommy cut off my ramble, “(Y/n), we’re fine. Let’s go somewhere quiet where we can talk about this.”

He led us out to his car. As the door closed behind me my mind started racing.

“So,” I started, “The reason why you’re always late is because you’re a power ranger?”

Tommy sighed, “Yes, for the majority of times at least.”

I nodded, still trying to process everything that just happened today.

“Are you mad?” Tommy asked nervously.

“Of course I’m a bit mad! You could get hurt!” I said. 

Tommy nodded and laughed slightly, “Yeah yeah I know. I promise we stay as safe as possible and Zordon can heal us if we do get hurt.” 

“Zordon?” 

“It’s a long story. Wanna get ice cream?”

I scoffed but smiled at my brother, “Bribing me with ice cream now?”

“To make up for keeping that secret.”

“Hmmm… alright,” I smiled.

“Let’s go!” he said.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with ice cream and some well deserved quality time with my brother. I’d missed these days. And come the next show on Thursday, all the rangers gave me a giant bouquet of my favorite flowers. Tommy made sure he was in the front row seat. 

[captainsassmanes]

Follow up to It’s the Little Things

Alex poked his fingers between the blinds and slowly lifted them, hoping not to draw attention to himself. 

It was 9am on a blazing hot Saturday and he’d been woken by the sound of a weedwacker whirring right outside his window. He didn’t have to look to know exactly who it was, but he was curious as to what the fuck Michael was doing.

He’d be lying if he said the image of Michael, shirtless and sweating, didn’t turn him right the hell on but this was getting out of hand.

After Alex had spilled his guts, throwing his insecurities into the wind before thinking about where they’d land, he couldn’t get up. He lived for helping Michael, for finding ways to give back, to make some kind of difference, however small, in the other man’s life. 

Michael had managed to call him on his bullshit, though. It was Alex’s way of staying involved, of being as close to Michael as he could be without physically being near him.

But he’d pushed too hard and it really was over. 

That first night was awful. He replayed their conversation, or the word vomit he’d spewed, nonstop. He drank, and then drank some more, until he woke up on the couch, stiff and barely able to move with a headache that made blinking agonizing.

After a puke, a coffee and some eggs, Alex had taken Buffy outside and sat in one of his patio chairs, taking in his house, his car, his stuff.

It meant little now.

The thought of Michael, of their potential relationship, possible future, had quietly been keeping him going all these years. To have that hope extinguished...he didn’t have the words to describe how empty he’d felt.

His chest ached as he went inside and opened his laptop, starting his search for the country’s top cities. He knew he’d want to live somewhere busy, populated, but safe. His job could easily be remote once his re-enlistment period was up, plus he had quite a bit of money saved so he could take his time getting readjusted.

New York City and LA definitely had his attention, the music scenes alone would be worth the trip, but the apartments were tiny, and he may end up having to sell a kidney to pay his rent. Miami wasn’t his scene and Seattle looked like the type of place to send his depression spiraling.

He grabbed his third cup of coffee and moved to the living room, getting comfortable on the couch and making room for Buffy to rest her head on his lap. He found another one of those top cities lists and was intrigued by Portland. LGBT friendly, relaxed people, music scene, not so far that he couldn’t visit if he wanted to.

That afternoon was spent clicking through photos, checking out postings for apartments, falling down a YouTube spiral of some artists who got their start in the city.

The next day, feeling a bit better with a plan under his belt, he’d ventured outside to Beam Me Up for a cup of coffee and a snack. On his way out, he literally bumped into Maria.

“God, sorry. Did any of that spill?”

Alex just blinked, an uncomfortable wave of jealousy moving over his skin and pinching him where it landed.

He shook his head and said, “no. It’s okay.”

She gave him a smile as they stood awkwardly in the doorway. He wanted to say something, even if it was small or unimportant, just something to break the ice, but his instincts telling him to get home were clouding his thoughts.

“Michael mentioned he saw you the other day.”

Alex’s eyes grew wide. They hadn’t spoken in weeks; nothing more than worthless pleasantries and she knew why; he’d been honest with her. He’d also felt he’d been fair, leaving them both alone to their relationship, not interfering or getting involved.

At least he’d thought that was what he’d been doing.

But now, as he stared at his oldest friend, watching as her face changed to apprehension, maybe realizing that playing the we can connect over Michael card was the wrong move, he felt angry.

“I’m moving.”

Maria stepped back, surprised. “What?”

Alex nodded, looking around the street, hoping he looked as relaxed and casual as he was aiming for. “Yep. When my enlistment period is over.”

Her mouth opened and shut a few times, small sounds trying to become words escaping. Eventually, she was able to croak out a, “where?”

Alex shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. “Portland looked interesting. I’m looking at a few apartments there.”

The silence took over again as the street became a bit busier with the weekend tourists coming out to enjoy the weather and the sights. Maria’s hair bounced, the ends of her head scarf wrapping loosely around her throat. “You’re leaving because of me, right? Because of me and Michael? You can’t just go because – “

“I have no reason to stay, Maria.” Their eyes met and both sets were filled with a sadness neither could describe. Alex’s heart felt too heavy in his chest, memories of late nights and shared shakes and tears and joints and hugs threatening to leak out of his eyes. Instead, he smiled. “My time here’s up. I did my part but it’s time to see something new.”

With that he turned and walked to his car, coffee cup shaking in one hand while his fingers curled painfully around the bag in the other. Fuck he missed Maria. But he didn’t know if he’d ever be able to look at her the way he used to again.

It was that night, his excitement dwindling and replaced by a quiet desperation, when the first text had come through.

Don’t leave.

Alex stared. Obviously, Maria had told Michael about their chat. Maybe he felt bad, a twinge of guilt. Alex hoped he did, then felt guilty for hoping Michael felt guilty. This was exactly why he had to leave.

He ignored the text and went back to his computer, sipping on a beer and occasionally giving Buffy some nice scratches behind the ears.

His phone pinged again. Alex stared at it, hoping his glare would make it blow up or something. In the end, curiosity got the best of him and he looked at the text.

Don’t leave me.

Alex’s heart raced as his fingers moved without thinking.

You wouldn’t come with me anyway.

He turned his phone off and tossed it across the room, not caring when it bounced along the wood floor a few times.

He didn’t sleep well after that. Thoughts of car rides and spaceships and apartments and soft blankets and bright sunshine and honey curls played behind his eyelids every time he tried to rest.

The further away from Michael he was, the better it’d be for everyone.

The next morning his doorbell rang at 8am. Alex had thought it was a part of his dream at first, cuddled up on a firm, warm chest, wiry hairs beneath his fingers while nails scraped his scalp, lulling him back to sleep. When the buzzing continued, he was thrown back into reality with a big, empty bed and a headache to boot.

Grabbing his crutches, he went to the door and threw it open, shocked to find Michael on the other side looking clean shaven with a cup of coffee.

Michael looked…different. Yes, the beard was trimmed, maybe his hair, too? His clothes were definitely clean. But there was an energy, an aura, around him that Alex hadn’t seen in years. One side of Michael’s mouth lifted, an almost bashful smile, and he held out the coffee cup. Even Michael’s fingernails were clean. Alex lost some time staring at those nails and remembering the comfort they’d brought him in his dream just moments before.

Michael cleared his throat, bringing Alex’s attention back to the moment. “Whole milk and one sugar.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

Michael shrugged and pushed the cup gently into Alex’s chest. “Bringing you a coffee. Good morning, by the way.”

Alex would later blame the broken night’s sleep for the dreamy way he’d whispered out, “good morning,” while accepting the cup. He took a sip and was instantly in his glory. His favorite coffee from his favorite café made perfectly delivered by his favorite…

“Well, have a good day, Alex.”

While Alex stood in the doorway, mouth hanging open at a loss for words, Michael sauntered back to his truck and drove away.

It had fucked with Alex for the rest of the day.

After that morning, Michael made appearances most days. A delivery of a burger and fries one afternoon, randomly bent over the hood of Alex’s Jeep for a tune up a few evenings later, dropping off a case of Alex’s favorite beer. Each time Michael came around, the conversation was limited. Michael would smile, explain why he was there and, as soon as he was finished, he’d smile and say goodbye, driving off once again.

Alex hated it. It was so confusing and contradictory, it made him fucking furious.

Alex really loved it.

He was seeing more of Michael than he had in years and Michael was absolutely different but in a way that suited Michael, not as though he’d changed to fit someone else’s wishes. He looked great and seemed healthy. Happy.

Apparently, today was clean up the yard day. With a sigh, Alex turned from his window and looked at Buffy with her head raised and cocked to the side in concern.

“Yes, it’s Michael.” Buffy’s tail wagged furiously. “You little traitor.”

Alex watched him for a few quiet minutes, taking in every detail, from the way his curls looked almost blonde when the sun hit just right, to the pattern of body hair scattered across his torso, to the flex of his legs when he bent and stretched.

He’d realized the other night, as he sipped on one of the beers Michael had bought him, that he’d stopped looking at apartments, collecting more information on Portland. All it took was for Michael to notice him and his universe tilted, and its center of gravity became Michael once again. That was the first night since their fight he’d allowed himself to cry again.

With a sudden surge of resolve, Alex threw open his drawers and grabbed whatever clothes his hands touched. He took the time to get his leg on, wanting to feel stable and steady for whatever came next.

By the time he got outside, Michael was leaning against the bed of the truck looking like a tan god, bottle of water to his lips, head tossed back with his face covered in sunlight.

Taking a deep breath, Alex charged ahead.

“I want a reason.”

Michael startled a bit, lost in his own thoughts, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Alex couldn’t help but stare at the dampness his hand missed.

“What reason?”

“Don’t be coy, Michael. It’s not cute.”

Playfully, Michael pouted while batting his lashes. Alex wanted to laugh and scream and cry and hold Michael, confusion and caution warring within him.

Alex looked at the ground, noting a nasty scuff across the toe of one of his boots. He pushed his foot into the sand and whispered, “why are you doing this to me?”

Michael made a quiet noise that sounded hurt and stood straight, blocking out the sun from Alex’s face. “To you?”

Alex looked up and fell into hazel eyes. He nodded. “You’re not actually trying to talk to me. But you’re being- being really kind and generous. I don’t understand.” He shook his head this time and took a step back so he could think. “You told me to get out of your life, I say okay, and then you come flying back into mine.”

Michael shook his head and started digging around the bed of his truck, apparently looking for his t-shirt to throw on as well as his trademark hat. Turning back to Alex, he shrugged and pulled out his car keys.

“I have no idea what I’m doing, Alex.” The silence between them felt thick with opportunity; to be honest, straightforward. Just a chance. “But that night I…” Michael scoffed and broke eye contact, looking around at Alex’s house. “You’ve got a loose shingle up there – “

“That night you what, Michael?”

With a sigh, Michael continued, “I knew that might be it. I know I’ve pushed, and you’ve walked and recently I’ve been pushing a lot harder but I just, I dunno, never let myself imagine you not being in my life somehow.”

Alex crinkled his eyebrows, confused yet again. “If you didn’t want me to go then why say all that shit about – “

“I have been drowning for years, Alex. In booze, in sex, in work, in regret. Just fucking drowning. Then you came back, and your dad was the fucking devil and then my mom and Max. I couldn’t separate it all out. Everything felt like it went back to you.”

Alex nodded, feeling the familiar creep of guilt working its way into his gut. “And I said I understood all of that. I gave you as much space as I could.”

“Did you?”

Alex sighed and dug his hands into his pockets, wishing he had something in his hands to keep them better occupied. He could either choke Guerin at the moment or pull him into a suffocating kiss. He couldn’t decide.

“I guess I didn’t.” He blinked as the next thought smacked him across the face. “I’m not as strong as you, Michael. I can’t know you’re nearby and struggling and do nothing.”

Michael shook his head, taking a step closer to Alex.

“That’s why I’m moving. I can’t stop myself from being in your orbit and you made it clear that’s what you wanted. It’ll give me a fresh start, too, you know. No one’ll recognize the Manes name. No one will care. I can just be another face out there, have a little anonymity and figure out what I’m doing.”

“I don’t want you to go.”

Alex groaned. “C’mon, Michael! You just came here not that long ago bitching that I sent you some food! I’d think you’d be thrilled that I’d be gone.”

Michael laughed. Alex watched as his face changed with the humor and his heart broke a little to see how much younger Michael could look when he relaxed. Even if just for a second. “I told you stay away. You didn’t. I told you again stay away and then you did. Then I couldn’t stay away and now you’re gonna leave. Can we just say the fucking things we need to say and stop doing this?”

Alex took the challenge at face value and straightened up, nodding his head. “Fine.”

“Why did you do all those nice things for me even when I told you to stay away?”

“Because I love you.”

The ease with which those words slid from Alex’s mouth surprised both of them. There was something freeing about the honesty, of finally just saying the words out loud to Michael without fear of rejection or consequence.

He took a deep breath. “Because I love you and I was worried about you.”

Michael licked his lips and looked away, nodding in understanding.

“Your turn,” Alex whispered, pulling Michael’s attention back. “Why do you keep showing up here when you told me to stay away?”

“Because I regretted everything I said as soon as I said it.” Alex lifted an eyebrow, not fully understanding. “I thought I needed distance. Not seeing you all the damn time helped me focus on other things. And I did tell you the truth; I didn’t think we were good for each other and I really, really wanted to be good for Maria.”

Alex took a step back, feeling the burn in his throat start at the mention of his friend’s name when Michael’s callused fingers wrapped around his wrist. “The second I realized I probably pushed you completely out of my life, I regretted it. I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want you to stop caring. I want to be better. I just – “

Michael stopped and took a deep breath, clearly overwhelmed as his voice began to crack. Alex slowly shifted his wrist from Michael’s grip and gently held his fingers in his own.

Michael sighed, “can you ask me one more time?”

Alex nodded. “Why do you keep showing up here when you told me to stay away?”

“Because I love you.”

They stood together in the blazing sun, sweating and staring at one another as though the world had fallen away. The moment was broken when Alex’s eyes shifted to Michael’s turquoise belt buckle. “But you love Maria, too.”

Michael nodded and watched helplessly as Alex let go of his hand. “I do. But I love Maria the same way you love Maria.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what that means.”

“She’s my friend, Alex. That night we fought I had an epiphany.”

“An epiphany?”

“Yeah. You probably already know this but I’m an alcoholic.”

Alex’s head whipped up with concern in his eyes. His mouth moved but he couldn’t think of anything to say.

Michael took it as his cue to continue. “I’ve also been a shit brother to Isobel, so I’ve been working on that. But the morning after I left here, I talked to Maria. Told her how I was feeling, she talked about her feelings and, we both just told the truth.”

“Which was?”

A smile tugged on Michael’s lips. “That we both love you.”

Alex cleared his throat, doing his best not to start crying. “I’d like to get back to the alcoholic piece of this, and I’m glad you’ve stepped up to support Isobel but, uh, are you and Maria still together?”

Michael shook his head. “Not for about, what? Two weeks now?”

Alex nodded. “Okay.”

“Go out with me.”

Alex waited a beat, making sure he’d heard clearly before repeating, “okay.”

“The Crashdown? Lunch tomorrow? Around 12?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah. I’ll meet you there.”

Michael smiled and closed his truck. Slowly, he took off his hat and leaned in, kissing Alex on the cheek. They were both just piles of sweat and beet[TS1]  red, but Alex thought it might be one of the most romantic moments of his life.

“I wanna do this right, Alex. From the beginning.”

Alex smiled. “Me, too. I’ll see you tomorrow. For our first date.”

Michael laughed, his youth bursting through every pore. “For our first date.”

[wichols]

Haruhi x Takashi fluff with "are you blushing?" Prompt. I'm so excited that you are writing again. Take your time and have fun with this and all your other prompts that you receive 💞

Love Over Reason

Pairing: Takashi x Haruhi

Word Count: 2,106 I went from staring at this prompt for weeks and having nothing to writing this down in one day and making a monster-sized one-shot. Hope this is fluffy enough for you! I honestly tried to make it as fluffy as possible! Nestled into the quiet corner of the coffee shop Haruhi sat idly behind her most current textbook watching other patrons chatter quietly amongst themselves. Year three of law school was turning out to be more difficult than she anticipated. Longer nights spent toiling over books and notes. Even less time for a social life outside of when she would be randomly drug away from her studies. And whatever time was left over was spent working her part-time job at a small supplies store at the edge of campus.

“Just one more semester, then bar prep.” She mumbled more so to herself than anyone in particular. A mantra that has circled around her head when she feels like slacking off as of late. Looking back down at her book she sighed before closing it and placing it back into her bag. 

“Fujioka?” The smiley barista chirped from behind the service counter. The girl’s ponytail swished back and forth looking for the owner of the beverage.

While she had debated for a while earlier about getting another cup of coffee she ultimately passed and opted for a glass of water while she continued her studies. Weird. Scooting her chair back she approached the counter to politely decline the drink. “I’m Fujioka but I didn’t order another drink. Could this possibly be a mistake.”

The girl motioned for her to lean in closer. “I know but tall and handsome bought it for you.” Making a subtle pointing gesture behind her hand to the man sitting in the opposite corner of the small cafe. “He’s been watching you for over an hour while you were distracted by your books!” The woman was practically bouncing herself silly.

Spinning the disposable cup in her hand she looked back up to the barista. “Could you tell me what’s in it at least?” “He said it was your favorite. A medium black coffee with two sugars.” Her eyes bounced quickly back to the man tapping away at his phone. “Do you know him?” “Yeah, but it's been a couple of months since we saw each other in person.” Grabbing the cup, she smirked and made her way up to the front window. “You didn’t have to do that Mori-senpai.” “I know but you looked like you needed another. Care for a few minutes of distraction?” Glancing back at her empty table in the corner she sighed. “Sure Mori-senpai.” “Takashi. Please?” Something seemed to linger behind his half-lobbed smile. “Takashi.” The familiar name slipped out of her mouth with painful ease. He watched her slide easily into the seat across from him. His mind racing a million miles an hour. His original intention was to slip into the calm atmosphere to check in on her and pay for her coffee but some small part of him wanted- no needed- to stay and look at her for just a while longer. She was in his favorite form today, her hair messily tossed into a bun on the top of her head accompanied by her favorite oversized hoodie while pouring herself into her studies. He loved watching her eyes scan the pages rapidly while bouncing her pen lightly against her lips. “Sorry I haven’t been around much, you know how year three can be.” Her voice sounded more distant than she intended. “How has work been at the firm?” “No need to apologize for prioritizing your schoolwork. We all know how important this is to you.” Bringing up his coffee he took a light sip while watching her nervously squirm in her seat. “Between everything else, it's been hard to make time for anything outside of what I am already obligated to not excluding personal relationships.” Silence hung between them as they looked at each other. “I told you I was a patient man.” Clasping his hands together on the tabletop he watched her eyes fall to her lap. “Even after all this time apart, my feelings for you have not changed.” Haruhi could feel her face heating up by his straightforward confession. Was he ever this blunt before? It wasn’t as though her feelings had really changed but she just couldn’t justify being in a relationship with him during her final year of school on top of everything else. “It seems as though we share mutual feelings towards one another.” “I’ve missed you.” Her voice hovering just above a whisper. “As have I.” He could feel himself beginning to slip back into those all too familiar feelings he held for her. The distance they created had made the absence more bearable but the heart yearns regardless of rational thinking. 

A shiver went down her spine as another person exited the cafe causing a gust of wind to funnel through the door. Her hands subconsciously cupped the warm beverage seeking out what little warmth it provided her hands. “I can see why your preferred spot is as far away from the door as possible, awfully breezy here.” He remarked softly, extending a hand towards her. “Let me help?”

Looking at his hand tentatively she felt her heart churn in her chest. Holding his hand was simultaneously the best and the worst idea. She would never admit it to anyone but Haruhi missed the physical touches that were given to her by her friends, the past few months without physical touch had eaten away at her soul. More than anything she wanted to bury herself into his embrace. To be held without end. To be utterly surrounded by someone’s presence. She missed him more than she thought she would. Holding his hand, right here and now, would be another reminder of their agreement. “We shouldn’t.”

They both knew that. 

He couldn’t help himself. “I know.” His brain has thought of no one other than her. Her expressions flooded his senses in the quiet hours of the morning. Touching her again would ignite his soul on fire. It would threaten to consume them both in a blaze of love and passion. He sat there watching her conflicted feelings flash across her face. He wanted her to choose him. He wanted her to realize that their love was something that could not be snuffed out by absence. Takashi wanted her to understand that the love he has held for her all this time has not diminished but grew. 

Haruhi felt her hand ever so slowly leave her cup and move towards the waiting hand. Her brain and her heart fought against each other. It’s only a few more months. It will be that much harder to be apart from him. But I miss him. I need this. Be strong for the both of us. Holding his hand will only hurt him more. The final though ringing loud and clear through her heart. His heart pounded hard in his chest at the sight of her hand moving towards his. Six months? Has it really been six months since we’ve touched? Six months since he felt her hands touching his. Six months of missing her touch. His mind silently screamed for hers. Please, just let me touch you? I won’t ask for anything else. Just let me touch you again. And just like that, his heart dropped into his stomach. Her hand was moving away from his. I need you Haruhi. Her fingers curled into her palm before she stuffed her hand back into the hoodie pocket. Lifting herself up from her seat she watched his demeanor change. Either way, I hurt him. He deserves someone who has time to love him as he should be loved. “I’m sorry Takashi.” 

Was I imagining it? Her hand was moving towards mine for just a split second, wasn’t it?

“Thanks for the coffee.” No matter how hard she tried, she was stuck staring at his profile. He was even more handsome than the last time they had seen each other. Leaning down, her lips pressed lightly against his cheek.

Takashi’s eyes fluttered closed. The warmth of her lips sent a wave of electricity ricocheting through his body. She was like the moment of silence he experienced before the crowd started to cheer after a victorious match against the toughest opponent. Being with her was indescribable. Haruhi broke off the kiss and leaned closer to his ear, her lips practically brushing against the shell of his ear. “Don’t let my personal goals hold you back from your own.” With a gentle squeeze on his shoulder, she moved away. He sat frozen watching her pack up the rest of her things and leave the cafe. Moments passed and again he was without her till god knows when. “Hey, handsome?” The barista called out from behind the bar. “Are you blind?” He looked back at her shocked at the accusation. “No.” He managed to sputter out. “Then go get her.” “Right.” His body rushed out the door in the direction Haruhi was walking. Stopping himself in the middle of the sidewalk he called out to her. “Haruhi!” He watched her hesitate before turning around slowly, her face hidden underneath the hood. “Haruhi, are you blushing right now?” The question seemed innocent enough.

Haruhi paused. She didn’t want to give him any more definitive proof that she was struggling with her feelings. “Yes,” she answered weakly, unable to bring herself to look at Takashi.

“So you felt it too?” “Yes.” “Then why did you leave?” “Because I love you.” Finally finding the courage to look at him she swiped a few stray tears away with her sleeve. “Admitting that I love you means that I have to admit to myself that I need you. And right now I can’t love you the way you deserve and finish school.” “Haru-” “Let me finish. Please?” Closing the distance between them he nodded for her to continue. “I cannot bring anything into our relationship other than myself. I do not come from money. I am a no-name girl who just so happens to be friends with some of the richest people in Japan. I don’t deserve your friendship let alone to be loved by someone like you. You deserve so much more than I can give. I thought by forcing myself away from you that you would grow tired of me and that you would find someone deserving of your love.” Takashi stood there breathless. His hands clenching open and closed was the only thing keeping his mind focused. I deserve better? He couldn’t stop from propelling himself forward to wrap his arm tightly around her small frame. “All I have ever wanted from you is you.” He said it so plainly, as easy as breathing. “From the moment we first met my heart was yours. No one before or after you has come close to making me feel the way I feel about you. You claim that I deserve better than you but anyone but you would be pale in comparison. What you are asking of me and forcing yourself to do is to live a life without the love we both deserve. You are asking me to choose a runner up. If you love me the way you claim then you have lived every day of this past six months in literal hell.” He felt her body shaking in his grasp. 

She was getting in the way of her own happiness and she knew it. “Yes,” she cried out into his coat. For the first time in six months, her heart hasn’t clenched at the thought of him with someone else. The raging fears of insecurity dulled by his touch and words. “Please don’t push me away again.” He leaned down to press a soft kiss on her forehead before cupping her cheeks between his chilled hands. “I don’t care how little time you have for me, anything is better than the utter silence I have been living. Please Haruhi? I will take crumble of your love than nothing at all. Don’t make me live with nothing for four more months.” Her eyes watched a single tear slide down his face. “Oh Taka, I’m so sorry.” Bringing up her hand she wiped away the tear, allowing herself to caress his cheek. Takashi could feel himself melt right back into her touch, leaning into her was all he wanted for so long and he would be damned if he ever let her go again. “Let me love you the way you deserve to be loved and I promise that from this day and on I will love you with the whole fullness of my heart.” She smiled sweetly back at him, teary-eyed and puffy cheeks. “Deal.”   

[samcedeswannabe]

Prompt: Soul mate AU where soul mates can hear whatever music your soul mate listens to and you’re forced to sing whatever song your soul mate is singing

The Bond

The nineteen year old slept peacefully on his bed. One of his legs was bent at the knee, while the other remained extended. He had only managed to fall asleep around two that morning after studying for hours with his best friends in his room. Boss was sprawled out on the floor with a pillow tucked under his head and Man’s face was buried against the cushions of Sarawat’s couch, both snoring softly in their slumber. As if possessed, Sarawat sat up with a loud gasp disrupting the quiet of the room and placed a hand over his panicked heart. Fuck, not again. He groaned as the now familiar music in his head played once again. His eyes travelled over to his phone and looked at the time, it was four am. What the fuck? Why was his soul mate listening to music so early in the morning? Again! Please don’t sing, please don’t sing, please don’t freaking sing. He begged in his mind, hoping that their soul mate connection extended beyond hearing the music that the other was listening to and of course the other dreaded thing that was also part of their bond. The singing.

Sarawat normally loved to sing. He was part of a band and often substituted with others. But this was different. This was singing beyond his control and he hated it. He could still communicate with his expressions and through writing, but whenever his soul mate decided to randomly sing, he was forced to sing as well. Even if he was minding his business in the men’s bathroom, he had to sing. Even if he was in a quiet movie theatre, he had to sing. Not only did he have no power over when it happened, he had no control over what was being sung in the first place. And he had officially determined that his soul mate was either a member of a band called Scrubb or his soul mate was absolutely insanely obsessed with the band. Day in and day out, Scrubb. He didn’t even know who Scrubb was before all of this and now he hated them with the fire of a thousand burning suns all thanks to his bloody soul mate. Why couldn’t his soul mate connection be like Man’s where he could write on his arm and his soul mate could respond to him the same way? Or like Boss’ where he had miraculously adapted whatever skill his soul mate learned. Why did Sarawat’s connection have to be a damn mind thing? Ugh. He was over it and he was tired. His mouth began to tingle and his lips parted as he began to belt out the lyrics to the song playing in his mind. Fuck. Why did his soul mate have to sing at this time in the morning? Upon hearing the loud singing, Man woke up with a start and rolled off of the couch with a loud bang. Boss bolted upright with his eyes still shut and his hands balled into fists as if he were going to fight someone. Sarawat frowned as he continued to sing the upbeat ballad in a blind duet with his soul mate.

“The hell?” Man groaned as he rubbed his head and glanced over at Sarawat who couldn’t stop singing. “What time is it?!” He reached into the cushions of the couch and pulled out his phone. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Man turned to Boss who had now opened his eyes and was bobbing along to Sarawat’s talented vocals.

“Oh I like this one. This one’s Together right?” Boss asked and Sarawat nodded while he sang. “Your soul mate really likes that one.” Boss mused out loud before he yawned. Sarawat rolled his eyes. He wished more than anything that his soul mate would switch it up. He had even curated a whole playlist to listen to so that his soul mate could hear a variety of songs. But nope. It was Scrubb. Always Scrubb.

“This has got to be mental warfare.” Man declared as he crawled on to Sarawat’s bed once he had managed to stop singing. There was a new slower song playing in his head now. “We need to do something.” Man continued.

“Like what?” Sarawat frowned, “This has been going on for weeks.” Officially it had been going on since his nineteenth birthday, the age when everyone’s soul mate bond became activated. He had been initially intrigued about it, but now all he felt was annoyed.

“I say, you sing embarrassing songs out loud during the night and wake them up. Their neighbours will think they’re insane.” Man smirked as he looked over at Boss.

Boss nodded, “Oh yea, like the itsy bitsy spider.” He suggested.

Man shook his head, “Bigger than that.” He turned to look at Sarawat who was entertaining the idea.

A mischievous look transformed Sarawat’s features. He smirked and looked at his two friends, “I have an idea.”

---------

Tine sat at the back of his class with his best friend Fong. They were reviewing the slide show they had created for their presentation before they were called up. He had spent all night working on it along with the countless number of other assignments that he had due that week. To say that he was exhausted would be an understatement. He felt bad because he needed his music to keep him awake the previous night despite knowing that he had woken up his soul mate as well. He just hoped that she was a forgiving soul who would understand that their soul mate bond was stressful for him too. Based on how much the girl sang and how it always happened at a consistent time of the day, he assumed that she must have been in some type of band. It helped to know that she usually sang around lunch time and after class hours. That way he had been able to go home and sing it out where no one else could hear him. He was a horrible singer and he didn’t think it’d be appropriate to subject others to the whale noises he felt like he made. Sometimes he would be singing, but there was no music in his head. Yet, the words tumbled out of his mouth. It was like the music was coming straight from him, but he knew that it wasn’t. He had told Fong about it and his friend suggested that maybe the music wasn’t coming from his soul mates mind, but from their heart. Tine thought that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard.

“Tine” Fong snapped his fingers in front of his face to get his attention. Tine blinked and looked over at him.

“Yea?”

“It’s our turn to present. You sure you’re good to do this?” His friend asked him. Tine nodded and flashed a tired smile.

“For sure, look” He waved his cue cards at his friend, “-I have my cards all done up. Notice that I used colourful ones to make us look fancy.” He patted Fong’s shoulder, “We are going to kill this.”

Fong gave him a weary look and then shook his head, “Alright. Let’s head up.” Tine grabbed his laptop and placed it on the desk near the front so that he could hook up the adapter to it and project their presentation on the screen. Once it was up, he stood beside Fong and smiled out at their classmates.

“Hey everyone, I’m Fong.”

“And you all know me as Mr. Chic, but for the purposes of this presentation, I shall go by Tine.” He grinned as some of the girls giggled and others rolled their eyes. Well, you can’t win them all. Their teacher gave them a warm smile as she looked up at the screen.

“So our case was about a young wife who recently-“ Fong began explaining their case, but Tine’s eyes widened in fear as he heard music playing in his head. It wasn’t unusual for his soul mate to listen to music throughout the day, and he normally didn’t have difficulty focusing on his studies when it happened. But he had heard the girls’ music now for a few weeks and this song that was now playing in his head, was very different from her usual tastes. The hell? He frowned and was snapped back to reality when Fong shook his shoulder.

“It’s your turn.” He whispered from the side of his mouth.

“Shit, sorry.” Tine cleared his throat and looked at his first cue card, when his lips began to tingle. No. NO. His lips parted just like it would any other time when his soul mate was singing. What? No, she can’t sing now. It’s too early. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Beads of sweat pooled on to his brow as he realised what was about to happen. He squeezed his eyes shut and belted out the lyrics like his life depended on it, “I like big butts and I cannot lie, you other brothers can’t deny, that when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face, you get sprung, want to pull up tough, cause you notice that butt was stuffed.” He clapped his hand over his mouth and continued to sing a muffled version of the song as his classmates erupted into laughter and his teacher pressed her lips into a firm line. Fong’s jaw dropped as he watched Tine struggle.

“Um, sorry Miss, it’s his soul mate bond. When one sings so does the other.” Fong frowned as he tried to explain, “Tine, go to the hall. I’ll finish this.” Fong gave him a sympathetic look and pushed him towards the door. Tine hoped that his friend knew how grateful he was as he closed the door behind him and ran as fast as he could to the bathroom.

------------

After hours of singing up the most embarrassing songs that he and his friends could think of, Sarawat finally sat down on his bed with a satisfied sigh. There, that would keep his soul mate quiet for a bit. He pulled the air pod out of his ear and paused the song ‘Sexy and I Know it’ on his phone and laid back on his bed. It was exhausting singing all of those songs and they definitely weren’t the kind of music he listened to, but it was all worth it to get his point across. He spent the rest of the night reviewing his notes, getting take out, and taking a shower before he got ready for bed. It had been a quiet night, which he appreciated after all the music he had listened to earlier that day. Hopefully he hadn’t bugged his soul mate too much. He just wanted to tease them a little bit. The more he thought about it, the guiltier he felt. Hopefully nothing serious or important had taken place today. He frowned at the thought as he pulled his sheets over him. Nah, what were the odds. Sarawat smirked to himself and fell into a deep sleep after having had such a disrupted one the night before.

He woke up in a terrified panic and clasped his hands over his ears as the death metal pounded into his head. Scrambling and flailing on the bed as the music continued to wrack his brain. He scooted too close to the edge and fell off the side on to the floor. Fuck. He groaned as the music continued to play. Great, he definitely had pissed off his soul mate then. The music suddenly stopped as he laid down on the floor. What the hell was that? He rubbed at his elbow and his lower back as he climbed back into the bed to go back to sleep, only to be woken up again in the same way with the same song two hours later. That time it played for an entire hour. Scared that it would happen again, Sarawat sat up in his bed, opened up his computer, logged on to Netflix and watched shows until the early hours of the morning.

At the sound of banging on his door, he winced and groggily walked over to open it. He grimaced as the sun poured through the opened door.

“Rise and shine beautiful!” Man said loudly as Sarawat squinted at him. “Oh shit. What happened? I thought you said the plan worked.”

Sarawat sighed and stepped back for Man to come in, “Oh it worked. It worked so well that my soul mate decided to blast death metal in their ears in the middle of the night.” He pinched his lips together, “Not once, but twice Man.” His eyes widened in shock, “Twice!”

“You look bad. Like real bad.” Man exclaimed, “Like horrible.”

“Yea, I get it thanks.” Sarawat scowled and sat down on the side of his bed. “I need to meet them.”

“How?” Man asked, “I mean I only met Type because I wrote to him on my arm saying, hey wanna meet? And he was like you’re not a murderer are you? And I was like, well I hope not.” He smiled, “And the rest was history.”

Sarawat stared at him and then glanced away, “My soul mate loves Scrubb right? So maybe I can get the music club to get them to come here.” He thought out loud. “They’ll definitely go to the concert. Then I can tell them to cut the shit out or else.”

“That-“ Man paused, “could work.” He laughed, “Aren’t you and your soul mate supposed to be all lovey dovey? I don’t think threatening them will help.”

Sarawat narrowed his eyes, “Don’t care. I need to sleep.”

Man folded his arms across his chest, “What if you don’t find them at the concert? How will you even know who they are?”

Sarawat scoffed, “I never heard of this band before, I doubt anyone will show up.”

-------

As they stood among the hoards of concert goers, Sarawat knew he had messed up. “No one will show up huh?” Man teased as Sarawat shot daggers out of his eyes at him.

“After hearing you sing their songs so much, I love Scrubb!” Boss said excitedly beside them as he smoothed down the front of his Scrubb T-shirt, “I told everyone in the faculty to come.” He admitted.

“You what?!” Sarawat whipped his head at him. Boss nodded.

“Yea, Scrubb’s the best! I have deemed myself an official Scrubber,” Boss smiled, “It’s what we fans call ourselves. We were thinking about calling ourselves sponges, because you can scrub things with it.” He explained, “But we didn’t want people to get confused and think we were into Spongebob Squarepants because let me tell you, that fandom is insane.” He chuckled, “Absolutely nuts I tell ya.”

“Scrubbers?” Sarawat asked, “Boss that’s the dumbest name.”

Boss rolled his eyes, “Sarawat’s a dumb name too.” He muttered under his breath but Sarawat still caught it.

Sarawat dragged a hand down the front of his face as he looked at the hundreds of people. This was never going to end. He and his soul mate were just going to continue their song battle until one of them gave in and it was not going to be Sarawat. He was not a quitter. So what if he had headaches and his eyes had begun twitching? It was all worth it.

Despite hearing the songs over and over again, he caught himself bobbing his head in time to the music. It wasn’t so bad now that he was hearing them live. However, it was very loud because he was hearing the music inside and outside of his head. He knew that his soul mate had to be there. Man and Boss jumped excitedly beside him as the music electrified the atmosphere, making everyone around them hyped up. Sarawat noticed one tall boy in front of him who was really into the music. He was jumping around, twirling, smacking his friend on the shoulder, dancing with his friend, and just straight up enjoying the experience. Sarawat couldn’t help but smile at how happy the boy in front of him was. After the nightmare he had recently been living, it was nice to see. The guy in front of him continued to jump and jump until he ended up jumping right into Sarawat. Ugh. He reeled back and touched his chest where he had been bumped. The boy in front of him immediately turned around and bowed low in apology. Despite feeling grumpy about his situation, Sarawat didn’t feel mad or annoyed. He touched the guy’s shoulder. The boy stood up to his full height and stared at him. Sarawat stared back. His lips parting as he took in the other. The mystery man was incredibly handsome with his neat eyebrows and gorgeous does eyes.

“I-I’m,” The boy stuttered as a blush dusted the apples of his cheeks, “so sorry.” He finally got out.

“It’s fine.” Sarawat offered him a rare small smile, “You okay?”

The boy in front of him nodded, “Yea. Are you?” Sarawat returned the nod. “Okay.” The other said slowly as he continued to stare.

“Um,” Sarawat glanced away as his heart pounded in his chest. What was this?

“Tine you’re missing the concert.” The boy’s friend shook him. Tine? Nice name. He looked back at this Tine, who was giving him the goofiest of smiles.

“Hey Tine! It’s me Boss, from the fan club!” Boss waved excitedly. Tine tore his eyes away from Sarawat and looked at Boss.

“Hey dude!” He gave him a high five, “Amazing concert right?”

Boss nodded, “The best! I was telling Sarawat that we’re called the Scrubbers.”

Sarawat watched as Tine beamed even more proudly, “Yea, Boss came up with that one. Pretty cool name right?” Tine asked him. Sarawat personally thought it was stupid, but like hell was he going to say that to this ethereal looking man.

“I love it. So much.” Sarawat lied through his teeth.

“But you said it was d-“ The rest of Boss’ words were cut off as Sarawat placed his hand on his friends mouth.

“I said I love it. It’s great.” Boss licked his palm, “ugh.” Sarawat wiped his hand on his shirt and tried to look unbothered. Boss looked proud.

Tine raised a brow at him and chuckled, “Ok, well sorry again. Sarawat.” He turned around and continued dancing with his friend. But Sarawat didn’t miss the other’s occasional glance over the shoulder at him. He rubbed the back of his neck shyly and tried to focus on the concert in front of him.

-------

It had been weeks since the concert and for some odd reason Tine’s soul mate had stopped tormenting him. He didn’t know what had gotten into her, but he figured that maybe he had messed something up by developing a random crush. On a dude. On a dude he had never seen before. A dude that he couldn’t stop thinking about. He had asked Boss for all the information that he could tell him about Sarawat, but Boss just said he was a moody cool guy that liked to keep to himself and was currently going through some things. So to sum it all up, the dude he was crushing on was emotionally unavailable. Which was fine, Tine was willing to wait it out. He slightly felt bad anyways, as if he had betrayed his soul mate somehow. But he figured she must be into someone too because she had been listening to a lot of love songs lately. He didn’t mind that because it definitely made him feel much better and many of the songs she listened to were Scrubb. Tine could now understand why they might have been soul mates. They both obviously had impeccable music tastes. She must have been at the concert and he had missed her.

Oh well, he missed her, but had found Sarawat. Not too bad of a trade. He plopped down at a table at the coffee shop and began sipping on his Blue Hawaii as he scrolled through his IG on his phone. Was it weird that he was looking at Sarawat’s page, maybe, but it was all in the sake of research of course. He was curious if Sarawat had already found his soul mate. That way Tine would know if he needed to back off.

A familiar song past his lips, but once again it didn’t go through his head. He didn’t know what it was and he had tried to look it up, but the song didn’t seem to exist which was weird. Tine figured that it was one of the heart songs that Fong had told him about earlier. It was a bit concerning, because Tine knew for sure it was a love song and wondered if his soul mate could sing his heart songs too. Meaning that she knew he was thinking of someone else. That would be one awkward conversation once they ever did meet.

He heard the sound of the chair directly behind him scrape across the floor and a clunk of a bag on a table. The person behind him was also whispering something that he couldn’t quite figure out. But it was none of his business anyway. He took a sip of his drink and continued to sing the song and then suddenly stopped. The whispering behind him stopped too and then started up again. Tine began to sing the song once more and then again abruptly stopped. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to face the person behind him. His eyes widened and he could immediately feel himself start to blush.

“Oh, hey.” He tried to say casually, “Sarawat right?” As if he didn’t know. The other boy’s eyebrows were raised.

“Yea. Tine?” He asked and Tine nodded. “What?-“ He paused, “What were you singing?”

Tine’s blush deepened, “Oh god, sorry was I too loud. Did I hurt you ears?”

Sarawat shook his head, “No, it just sounded like-“ He paused again and studied Tine’s face, “What song was it?” This was weird. Tine had hoped to see Sarawat again, but he had different ideas of how this conversation was going to go.

Tine shook his head, “Uh, I actually don’t know.” He shrugged.  Sarawat cleared his throat and Tine’s lips began to tingle. Oh shit not now. He didn’t want to sing horribly in front of his crush. Sarawat began to belt out the same song that Tine had been singing earlier, and it took Tine a moment to realise that he was singing too. The patrons of the cafe turned to look at them as they continued to sing and then abruptly stopped. Tine’s eyes widened and Sarawat chuckled. “Wait a minute.” Tine stared, “Am I-? Are you-?”

“I wrote that song. “ Sarawat nodded happily. Woah. Fong was right. The songs that had no music in his mind had come directly from his soul mate’s heart. “So you’re the nuisance who kept me up at night.” Sarawat accused and then smirked.

Tine frowned, “Only because you were an asshole and made me sing about butts in class, yea.” They looked at each other and then started to laugh. “I thought you were a girl.” Tine stated. Sarawat looked down at his body.

“No, don’t think so.”

Tine rolled his eyes, “You know what I mean.”

“Yea. I figured you were a boy, but I wasn’t sure.” Sarawat admitted, “It would have been awkward if you weren’t I guess.” Tine stared at him, “I’m gay.” Sarawat stated.

“Oh, okay yea.” Tine laughed, “I got you.”

“So...” Sarawat started.

“So...?” Tine repeated.

“Is it weird to say, that I’m happy it’s you?” Sarawat gave Tine a shy smile.

Tine chewed on his lip, “No,” Tine paused and glanced to the side before he looked at Sarawat again, “Because I’m really happy it’s you too.”

“Alright.” Sarawat gave him a lopsided grin, “Now that we got that out of the way.” He paused, “What is your deal about Scrubb?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you all about it.” Tine laughed as he brought his things over to Sarawat’s table. “How much time do you have?”

Sarawat scratched his chin, “For you? I have all the time in the world.”

Tine snorted through his nose and immediately explained everything and anything Scrubb related to his soul mate.

[sabineelectricheart]

The Ochre Eagle

Summary: Ferdinand and Byleth have been maintaining a relationship for almost five years. When a letter arrives from Duke Aegir, decisions must be made.

Rating: K+ - Suitable for more mature childen, 9 years and older, with minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes.

Words: 2300

Notes: Today’s supposed to be Ferdinand’s 859th birthday, I am to guess. That’s a lot, so it ought to warrant a fic, does it not?

Anyways, Gerusia is the name of the senatorial body in the Byzantine Empire. Since there is a ministry cabinet and so, a senate would also to be expected, right?

There was something beautiful about the Aegir coat of arms, which Byleth can admire whenever she looks at her ring finger. The same coat of arms that the letter that came along that morning bore on its seal.

The Imperial tetragrammatic cross, a one-headed eagle and the bugle horn of the Gerousia on its claws. For all her detachment and ignorance of worldly matters in Fódlan, she understood what all of those things meant and the weight they held over her.

Sometimes, when the young professor thought about her boyfriend of almost five years, she was reminded of the eagle and the bugle on that coat of arms.

Eagles are endemic in Fódlan only to the large forests within the mountainous northern Imperial lands, and it was an offence punishable by death to kill or maim a specimen within their borders. The bird was beautiful as it soared high in the air. Being the top of its food chain, it was also ferocious, swooping in and killing its prey in one bated breath.

Ferdinand was a lot like the eagle that adorned and symbolizes his homeland, the both beautiful and ferocious bird, and one that ought to fly so high in the sky that the land-dwellers may never reach it.

Byleth wonders, now, how she had ever let herself fall so completely for him, but then again, there always was something so freeing about his sunny smile, his amber eyes full of determination. She remembers with such clarity the first time she saw that smile directed at her.

*_*_*_*_*

“Hey! Professor, wait up!” A voice called for Byleth as she was leaving the classroom courtyard for the day.

The blue-haired woman whipped around, looking for the source of the voice, only to see Ferdinand von Aegir jogging after her.

“Ferdinand.” Byleth greeted succinctly but politely, as she raised her eyebrow at the young man, looking him over. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She could not deny that he was attractive and very well put together, but with his usually shorn hair overgrown, he looked a bit like the careless mercenaries on her father’s band.

The Moons were quickly passing them by on her first year as a professor. Her days were mostly unassuming and unremarkable ever since Byleth and Jeralt relocated to the monastery permanently.

“Well, I, uh, is this yours?” He held out a book on proper speech of High Imperial Fódlan.

That was funny. In all her time of classes with Ferdinand, Byleth had never known him to stumble over his words. The boy was always so confident, cheeky even, she cannot help but wonder whether he thinks he is shaming her by asking whether the volume belonged to her.

It did. As she mostly interacted with commoners and uneducated people, she was perfectly fluent in the lingua franca of the continent, the significantly simpler Low Imperial Fódlan. However, ever since she joined the Church, she felt the need to learn more refined varieties, especially the High Imperial, the default choice for Manuela and Hannemann.

“Yes, it is.” She bowed and held out her hand to take the book. “Thank you, Ferdinand. I have not yet realized I had misplaced it.”

“It was no trouble. You have returned many prized items to me these last few Moons.” He smiled softly at the memory, but then hardened his expression once more. “Are you struggling with your language skills?”

“I guess you could say that. The language I am used to is much more…” Byleth bounced her head, looking for the right word. “Well, less refined than just basic.”

Ferdinand snorted, looking down at his toes. He did not say anything. Byleth waited for him to speak but he just stood there, looking down.

“Ferdinand?” Byleth prompted, curious.

Ferdinand whipped his head up.

“I was just going to offer, as I was educated in High Imperial, if you might want a tutor?” Ferdinand said softly.

Byleth was thoroughly confused with the Ferdinand was acting. First, he stumbles over his words, and now one could say he looked bashful! Still, she really was awful with High Imperial, and of course she knew the nobleman’s son to be from the Empire, and therefore he must know the language well. Better than most, for all that matters.

“Yes, very well, I would really appreciate the help.” Byleth smiled up at him. “Are you available tomorrow, after the lunch bell?”

“Yeah, yeah, that works great!” Ferdinand grinned, bouncing up and down. “I apologise, but I am late for my duties at the stables. I must go.”

He looked one last time in her direction and walked back the way he came.

Byleth could only stand there, speechless. In all of the time she has known him, she could not remember ever seeing him smile like that. It left her breathless, standing like a fool in the middle of the promenade, staring after him.

*_*_*_*_*

Looking back on it now, it was much too clear to tell that he had just wanted to spend time with her. Get to know her, be her friend.

He never had that many friends in the monastery, Byleth knows. Ferdinand usually chose to spend his time with his so-called noble pursuits or working with the horses in the stables or the weapons at the armoury. It was rare indeed that he deigned himself with having tea with one of his classmates or decided to spar, and his choice was nine out of ten times Edelgard, the Princess Imperial.

Byleth reached their small cottage, a short walk off the Garreg Mach village. It was rather detached from the religious structure, but still within the monastery’s walls.

It has passed over eight Moons since Ferdinand suggested finding someplace where they could be themselves, away from the rules of the Church and the Imperial nobility. Together, they found this place, abandoned by the sands of time, uninhabited since times immemorial.

After graduation, Ferdinand had refused to return to Enbarr just yet, electing to remain in Garreg Mach, ostensibly to further his training with the Knights of Seiros and provide the Church with his service, as a form of a tithe from House Aegir. It was, of course, all a lie, as he merely wanted to stay with his girlfriend.

Alas, five years have passed, and the Duke was growing impatient. It was high time for Ferdinand to come back to take over the Aegir territory and wed a Hresvelg princess or a Bergliez lady. Though, he could not, as he was already engaged with Byleth, a commoner and former mercenary. It would not go well over at the Empire, and so Ferdinand stalls and stalls his father.

The tiny hovel was small and poor, the kind of place a Duke’s son would never set foot, much less live in, but it was theirs. It was Ferdinand’s boots by the door, his weapons scattered randomly, oil staining parts of the tapestry no matter how much either of them scrubbed. It was Byleth’s grey robe by the door, her favourite mug left on the counter from her morning coffee, hair ties left in every crevice of the couch.

The professor’s usually cool heart hurt looking around the room, and his smell suffocated her, leaving her more choked up than she already was. She looked at the sun out the window, she wagered that Ferdinand should be home, and squared her shoulders. She found him just where she knew he would be, hunched over his working table, fiddling with some strange and horribly rusted blade.

Byleth stood in the door, watching him, for what felt like an eternity. Taking in the pattern of his curls today, the way he bounced his knee, and the back of his shoulders as they rose and fell with each breath.

She knew that he knew she was there. He was well-trained in the martial arts, he must have heard her coming since she set foot on their small produce garden out front. He was a very talented warrior and noble. He was radiant, a glowing force that any man with the power of sight could have felt his imposing presence from a mile away.

All the more reason for Byleth to not be the one to dampen him.

After a while, or probably when he finished whatever he was doing, he placed his project down and stretched. If Byleth was not already feeling devastated, she might have laughed at just how many joints he popped with one movement.

It was a wonder that the former mercenary had managed to shield her feelings from him so well, knowing that he should have felt what was wrong the second he looked at her.

“Hi, angel, how was your day?” Ferdinand finally looked up, a smile softening his features.

The woman could say nothing, staying in the doorway looking away and in absolute silence.

“Byleth?” Ferdinand stood, slowly walking over to her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in.

Just for a second, she told herself, you can indulge yourself in his embrace for only a second. Byleth steeled herself, forcing herself to pull away.

“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Ferdinand scrunched his eyebrows, staring down at her.

He was unnerved at how unresponsive she was, scared even. Wanting it all to be over, to be able to never have to do it again, the stoic woman prepared herself to speak.

“I think…” She paused to try to control her tone of voice, as to not betray her feelings. “I think we should stop.”

There they were, the words that had been controlling her all day, ever since she read that stupid letter from Duke Aegir, a letter that was not addressed to her, mind you, were finally out.

“Stop? Stop what?” Ferdinand’s voice was measured, his words were slow and tentative.

“This. Us” Byleth looked down, unable to look him in the eyes.

“Us. Us? Why? Why would you ever think that? What has happened? Have I done something?” He stuttered and starts to say whatever comes to mind in despair. “Byleth, you cannot just walk in and say that what is it!”

Frantically Ferdinand tried to catch her eyes, ducking his head down into her view. Byleth shook hard, doing everything she could to hold in her breakdown, despite her efforts, tears began to track down her cheeks. She took measured breaths, counting each one.

“I cannot be the one to hold you back.” Her voice cracked, more tears leaking through.

“Hold me back? Hold me back from what? You could never hold me back!” Ferdinand raised his voice but did not shout. “You have been, you are my professor. If anything, I am where I am because of you!”

“No, Ferdinand, you do not understand. You must return to the Empire, and you must do it alone. You have to and deserve to be the Prime Minister of them all, to have everything you have ever wanted, but I cannot go with you. It has been your goal for so long and I cannot take that away from you. I will not.” Byleth voice shook, but she was determined as ever, trying to just make him understand that this was for him. Not her.

“But I want you, not to be some… Some filthy noble! I want you!” He pleaded.

“Ferdinand, you still do not understand, your place is not at Garreg Mach, is at the Gerousia! My place is here in the monastery, teaching.” Byleth sobbed, backing away from him. “Your father is waiting for you. He has a betrothal contract for you to sign and a position for you to assume. You must arrive to Enbarr before the Moon changes.”

“No, my place is by your side!” He walked towards her, reaching for her.

She evaded his every attempt, solid in her decision and motives. This hovel is nowhere for a noble to live, and sooner or later he would realize that. It might be a little painful now, but if Duke Aegir makes do with his threat of disinheriting his oldest son, if he comes with a militia to punish them, it shall be much, much worse.

“Byleth, please, stop.” Ferdinand begged. “Come here, think about what you are saying. Let us talk about this.”

“There is nothing to talk about, Ferdinand. What I am doing is all for you, for your own good, and I will not reconsider.” She replied.

“The hell with my own good! I do not want this!” Ferdinand tried again, once more advancing.

Byleth shook her head and backed further away, towards the door. Taking a quick look around the room, she thought of every happy memory here. All the times they cuddled on the couch, the one Saint Cethleann Day they spent here, every moment.

Each called to her, and she longed to answer, to stay, but she could not.

Looking once more at Ferdinand, at his state of disarray. The tears in his eyes, his long and silk-soft ochre hair mussed from his hands, his body shaking. It broke her more than any of the words she said did.

“I am so sorry.” She cried, turning around for the final time, grabbing her robe and walking out of the door.

“Byleth! Byleth, wait!” Ferdinand lurched forward, desperately calling out for her.

His betrothed, however, was an agile warrior. By the time he reached the door, she was gone. He fell to his knees then and cried. Cried for Byleth, for their life, for the ring she left him on the dining table.

As Byleth walked away, hood drawn, she thought once again of the eagle. Free to soar high above, without anything shackling him to the ground. A force of nature, unbelievable, and so, so beautiful.

*_*_*_*_*

Fire Emblem Masterlist

Three Houses Masterlist

[ateezthings]

ATEEZ Reaction: S/O being really anxious

*Trigger warning*: DO NOT Read this if you’re uncomfortable with talks about mental health, anxiety, eating disorders and depression in particular or if you feel like this could trigger you in any way. Please take care of yourselves.

Angst

Gender neutral

Whining ahead: Since temporarily moving to Korea, my anxiety and depression have been through the roof and I don’t know how to fix it anymore. I don’t know anyone here and it feels like all the other international students have already made friends and I feel left out because I naturally take a really long time to warm up to people in order for me to feel comfortable around them. I’m scared of leaving my room and my anxiety levels are high constantly. I feel like I’m constantly watched and judged and I feel misplaced like I’ve never felt before to the point where I wish I didn’t wake up anymore. I don’t know what’s freaking me out exactly and I don’t know why I thought I could do this since I’ve had mental health issues for many years now. I know I have to endure this until I get back home again so I’m not suicidal but I’ve had a really hard time here. I’m scared of leaving my room to go eat because I’m scared my housemates are gonna judge me for whatever reason. This has gone to the point where I’ve starved myself for a whole day because I was too anxious to leave my room. I feel like every shop employee is judging me for everything. The uni where I’m studying is so huge and confusing and I’m scared of being the only foreigner in my classes. I feel like I’m going insane so I wanted to write this to distract me for a little while. Sorry that this is so angsty and dramatic but I had to get that off my chest.

Seonghwa

‚Seonghwa?‘ You’re voice was merely a whimper.

‚What’s wrong, baby?‘

‚It’s getting worse again, could you come over?‘

- He didn’t need to hear more

- you were sitting on the couch, eyes wide open with worry, fidgeting with your nails, when he arrived

- he immediately put his arms around you

- you could feel his warmth and his steady heartbeat

- after a few moments Seonghwa looked you in the eyes and told you to breath with him: in for 5 seconds, out for 7 seconds

- after that you were able to calm down a little bit

- you spent the rest of the evening cooking together

Hongjoong

Did you eat today, babe?

- This simple text from Hongjoong made your anxiety explode: right you haven’t eaten anything all day, you have to eat. But what? You didn’t want to go outside, not today. But you’re fridge was empty, what were you supposed to do? you needed to buy food bt you couldn’t leave the house because your anxiety was so bad today

- in the end you decided to lie to Hongjoong, you sent him a ‚sure‘ back

- he responded with a ‚don’t lie to me‘

- of course he knew you were lying, so he showed up at your place 20 mins later with some Tteokbokki and his cute smile

- after he greeted you with a sweet kiss, he got two plates and made you sit down at the table

‚You feeling better now?‘

‚A little‘ you smiled, it was nice knowing that someone cared

Yunho

- you were in class, supposed to be dividing up into groups when everyone around you was already in a group

- that was it for your anxiety: no one wants to work with you, what if it was something you said? What if they all secretly hate you and laugh about you behind your back, maybe you should just drop out, but what would you do then? Probably nothing, cause your mental health destroyed everything

- after about 5 minutes your teacher noticed you weren’t in a group so he just randomly put you in one

- you felt everyone staring at you, it was horrifying

- after that class you immediately went home

- Yunho knew something was up when you didn’t respond to his texts the whole day so he decided to drop by your place after his schedule

- you didn’t realize you missed him until he was standing in front of your apartment

- you told him how bad your anxiety was today and he listened to everything you had to say

‚These thoughts that you’re having are just thoughts you know? That’s not the whole reality. And also you’re not on this earth to please the people in your class… You know I love you right?‘

- the whole thing didn’t seem so severe after you talked it out with Yunho

Yeosang

- Yeosang knew the four character long password to your house and also to your room, he wanted to surprise you with his visit

- what he didn’t expect was to see you in fetal position on the floor, shaking and breathing unsteady, having a full on panic attack

- he dropped everything he was holding and tried to put you in a sitting position

‚Y/N? It’s going to be okay, I’m here alright? Can you breath with me?‘

- he made you take a few deep breaths with him

- after you had calmed down a bit you two cuddled in your bed, first he was the big spoon, after a while you requested to be the big spoon

- while you were cuddling you talked to him about what was making you so anxious

- at some point Yeosang wanted to show you some of his favorite calming songs (some of my personal favorites: Coldplay - O / Oktoba - Chance / Before you exit - clouds)

- listening to these songs and having him around made you feel more okay

San

- San asked you out to dinner in the morning, you panicked all day

- you knew he didn’t wanna cause any discomfort for you but it made you anxious: what if you couldn’t find the restaurant, what if you had to wait a long time for San and then people start looking at you, what should you order that you felt comfortable eating around so many people, oh god there would be a lot of people at the restaurant right? You felt extremely uncomfortable around that many people, what if San didn’t have time to walk you home and you had to walk home by yourself, what if there was a burglar waiting for you around the next corner, it surely would be dark outside when you two finished at the restaurant

- all those thoughts were running through your mind, it was overwhelming

- so you asked San if you could just cook something at your place and he obviously agreed, it was much more comfortable that way

- he brought all the ingredients for some pasta, which you both loved

- you spent the evening making a mess in the kitchen, kissing in front of the overflowing pot of pasta water and just making jokes

- a little later you told him about your anxiety

- San was a little shocked when you told him but he reassured you that you could always tell him when you were feeling anxious

Mingi

- it was a miracle you actually got out of bed today

- you told yourself you had to eat, starving yourself was not an option anymore, so you ventured out into the world

- you decided on buying some Kimbap from the convenience store, everything was fine

- until the shop assistant looked at what you were buying and then scanned you from top to bottom with his eyes

- was there anything wrong with your face? Did you look so depressed? They were definitely judging you

- you practically ran out of the shop after paying, heading straight home

- when you looked at yourself in the mirror at home you couldn’t see what the shop employee was staring at which only made your anxiety worse

- having a full fledged panic attack you somehow managed to call Mingi on his phone

‚Babe, are you okay?‘

‚No… I’m uh... having… a panic… attack‘

- honestly Mingi was really freaked out when you told him that

- after a moment he remembered you telling him that he could help you breath very deeply, you two had only faintly spoken about your anxiety and Mingi hadn’t witnessed you having a panic attack

‚Okay babe, now you need to breath very deeply with me okay? Breathe in…1…2…3…4…5 and out…1…2…3…4…5...6…7… Do it with me again!‘

- breathing deeply like that helped you regain control

- in the evening Mingi showed up at your place with some camomile tea and some lavender oil, apparently he read online that these things are supposed to feel you calm

- after that incident he was so sweet and thoughtful towards you, even more than he already was

Wooyoung

- it was a new semester at your new uni/school, this one was much bigger than your previous schools

- at one point you needed to print something important so you went looking for a printer, you knew it had to be on this floor somewhere

- after 30 mins of walking around the same floor you where completely freaked out, all the other people where staring at you like you were dumb or something, this was bad

- but you couldn’t ask people where the printer was because then they thought you were stupid and that also involved social interaction which you avoided at all costs

- so you hid in the toilets

- after panicking in there for about 10 mins you texted Wooyoung

- he replied: ‚I have a break in 15 minutes, meet me at the entrance‘

- he knew you needed help when you were anxious like that

- as soon as he met you he took your hand and guided you to the floor the printer was supposed to be on

- when he couldn’t find it, he just asked a student that was sitting in the hall

- for Wooyoung everything seemed so easy, you admired him for that and you told him that

‚Not at all, but I just freak out at different things, everyone has these moments.‘ and he gave you a little smile

- he invited you to dinner later, where you talked everything out, it really calmed you down

Jongho

(I love this look on him sm)

- you had to go to the embassy to take care of something

- problem was it was on the other side of the city and you had to change trains a bunch of times and also walk a bit and just the thought of getting lost made you sick with anxiety

- so you texted Jongho if he had some time to come with you

‚You’re lucky, we finish early today. Will be at your place in 1 hour‘

- knowing Jongho was gonna be with you eased your mind a little

- even if you got lost you had him, even if the people at the embassy looked at you weird, he was gonna be there with you to help you

- you were safe with him

- he held your hand all the way to the embassy and squeezed it occasionally when he noticed you got too into your anxious thoughts

[sunlightwoo]

You Are The Reason

in which Josh thanks you for being the reason that he is who he is today.

a/n: this lowkey hurt to write but i am whipped happy with how this came out :))) i think this is also my longest one shot that I have ever written on here. 

update: wow 2,235 words im proud of myself-

Reason #1

He wasn’t sure why his heart had been beating so loudly in his chest. You were only cuddling with him like you always had as the both of you had your movie days together, but this time it felt different. It was weird when Joshua suddenly asked you to have a movie night on a Tuesday, rather than your usual Fridays, but who were you to deny it when he offered to buy dinner before you both returned back to his house?

Your head was already on his chest, both of your breathing were in sync as the movie in front of you continued playing on the television. After some time, he looked down to see your eyes already closed, resting on top of him softly as your lips were slightly pouted, but he knew that if he didn’t do what he wanted to do today, then he wouldn’t get another opportunity like it again.

“Y/N?” He softly whispers to your sleepy figure and you hum in response, looking up at him with one eye sleepily opened as he took a deep breath in, ready to spill everything to you from then on, but he couldn’t because of how cute you had looked in his eyes. 

Before he could even confess to you, he felt you lean up just slightly so that your lips were pressed against his softly and he immediately reciprocated the kiss as a small smile played on your lips. It was making his head spin as he started to think about whether you had done so because you were sleepy, or because you had the same feelings that he had in his chest, but you had already spoken up before he could say anything. 

“You had that look in your face when you looked back at me, so I did what neither of us had the balls to do.” You teased giggling a bit lying your head back down onto his chest as he had hugged you closer to his chest, knowing that from then, it was going to be a long journey with you beside him.

But at least he was happy that the confession process wasn’t hard, because you were his best friend that had liked him back, and became his significant other the next day when you both woke up. 

Reason #2

It was in the blur that happened as he watched you take small sips from your cup of coffee in front of the window, watching the little kids in your neighborhood play with one another in the snow. A small smile that was spread on your face was able to be seen from where he was standing, making a smile spread on the corners of his lips as well as he watched you. 

The sight of your fondness for the little children on your block made him feel warm, despite the coldness that you were both feeling this winter. He puts down his pre-made coffee that you made for him before he woke up onto a coaster on the coffee table and quietly walked over to where you were, moving over to embrace you for even more warmth. 

“Whatcha thinking about, in that pretty head of yours?” He teases, his lips coming close to the shell of your earlobe as his arms were slowly wrapping around your waist as he could feel your giggles resonating against him. 

“Good morning to you too,” You smiled while looking over to where he had already been staring at you with a happy smile on his lips before you started teasing him, “Affectionate today, aren’t we?”

“What? I can’t show my girlfriend love anymore? Guess I have to make an ad now, the requirements are having to give good cuddles and be able to make funny raps with me.” He playfully retorts and watches as you moved a it to turn towards him with your eyebrows raised. 

“You lose anyways, Joshua, so there’s no use of finding one. Besides, I was just watching the kids on our block play in the snow.” You snickered and looked back outside to see that they were all having a snowball fight with one another. 

“Do you think we can have kids that are like that one day?” He randomly blurts out and your eyes widened at his words in shock, before he could even process that he actually said it out loud from his thoughts, “Unless-”

“You actually think of us having a future one day, Hong?” You teased while poking his cheek and he smiles softly nodding as he continued on with his thoughts. 

“Yeah, I mean it would have to be in the future when we get married, you know? Like maybe one day we could move out of this small apartment and get a bigger house, have maybe 2 kids and live a happy life. But in the future.” He says blushing a bit that he had already thought it all out as you nodding, not being able to hide the smile on your face at how cute he was being.

“Maybe one day...” You whispered while turning away from him to hide the deep blush that was appearing on your cheeks, but it was no use as he had already started tickling your sides after putting down your cup of coffee. 

He had already known that it was you that he wanted forever with.

Reason #3

This was one of the many days that Joshua would ever be anxious in his life, that is if you say yes to him today. He had planned to propose to you at the playground that you both had met as kids, where he had told you earlier in the day that he wanted to go out with you on a picnic after you were finished working today. 

Agreeing to meet up with him at the park, he had already spent the entire afternoon putting things in place with the help of his other members, making sure that every single detail was absolutely perfect. He wanted it that way because he thought that a perfect person like you should have the perfect proposal. 

The only minor problem was that you had gotten earlier than expected and caught them in the middle of doing it all. Letting out a small sound of his name, he instantly turns around to look at you surprised as you looked at him in shock, not knowing what to say as you read the big words in the tree that were made up of little fairy lights that he had gotten Mingyu to hang up. 

“Y/N, what are you doing here? I thought you were coming by later?” He looks at you in confusion and you shrugged before looking back up between the tree and him simultaneously. 

“I got out early...” You trailed off before walking over towards where he was so that he could hear you clearly, “You planned on proposing today?” 

He wanted to say no, but since he knew that you had already caught him in the process, he could only nod his head in response while taking out the small velvet box that he had in his jacket pocket. A small gasp escapes your lips as you looked at the small ring that was encased in it and locked eyes with him as tears had pricked your eyes already. 

“You already know I’m going to say yes, because I love you, you dork.” You said smiling a bit as you pushed him slightly to the side and a laugh resonated from him while he was already sliding the ring onto your finger as he kissed your knuckles softly. 

“I know, that’s why I saved the speech and instead wanted to ask if you wanted to have another rap battle with me while eating the food Mingyu packed for us.” He smiles softly as you nodded in agreement and placed a small kiss on his lips as he was able to hear the members that were behind him cheering him on. 

“Yes I do, as long as they don’t eat our food.” 

Reason #4

He was nervous throughout the entire day, yet he somehow managed to find excitement in the adrenaline in his veins as well. Today was the day that he was finally marrying you, his best friend, his rock, his entity. Words couldn’t describe how much he had already wanted to marry you, even after the endless months of planning all of what was going to happen in a few moments from then. 

However, by the time that you were already walking down the aisle towards where he was at the alter, he could already feel tears pricking the ends of his eyes as he realized that you were both finally getting married. Even with conjoined hands, he couldn’t help but thank God and fate for allowing him to be lucky enough to marry you, in which he did as you both went on with your vows. 

But before then before you both could, the officiant had asked if there was anybody in the audience that had objected to your marriage, but it was only as a joke as Jeonghan had sprung up from his spot. However, Joshua laughed as you both had come to agreements to adopt a puppy together as a mediator while he thought that you and Jeonghan would be funny co-owners to a small puppy in the future. 

That was until it came time to actually say one another’s vows, in which he had began first since you mentioned that you would cry if you said them first.

“You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me in this world, Y/N. Thank you for always being with me, whether its between our schedules, or when we have a fight that needs to have communication between us, thank you for never leaving when I was at my lowest. I promise to always continue loving and cherishing you with every single bone in my body, and promise to make sure that whatever may happen in the future, its us that will endure it all. You are my best friend, my partner in crime, my rap battle opponent,” He says laughing a bit through his teary eyes while choking back the last few words of his vows, “But most importantly, you are my soulmate. Thank you for being the reason I am who I am today, and for showing me what it is like to love someone unconditionally. I am in love with you, Y/N Y/L, and I can’t believe that I get to be the honor of being your husband.” 

It wasn’t like the entire audience had been silent because of the fact that it was a ceremony, but mainly because of his heartfelt words that also had you tearing up because he was your soulmate, like you were to him. 

But all he was able to see was you, the light of his life and his now wife that he can finally show off to the world. 

Reason #5

The empty feeling beside him felt foreign as he was blinded by the sunlight that was shining in from your windows. Joshua was confused as to why you had already left the bed without your usual tickle fights or kisses in the morning, but what made him even more suspicious was how quiet the house was, especially at 12 in the afternoon while calling out for your name.

“Y/N?” 

However, his thoughts were immediately answered by the time that he had stopped calling your name as his daughter had suddenly bursted into the room with poppers that had streamers out of them. She instantly ran over to where he had still sitting up and tackled him into a tight embrace, just as he had already started blowing raspberries onto her stomach, her giggles loudly echoing throughout the room. 

“Happy birthday, Daddy!” She cheers, still laughing at his ticklish actions, and kisses his cheek once he had stopped while climbing onto his lap. 

“Thank you, sweetheart, where’s Mommy?” He smiles kissing her head and just right on cue, you had walked in with a cake and a large smile on your face. 

“Surprise- wait, didn’t I tell you to cover his eyes, Jieun?” You laughed softly, watching your daughter already finding solace in her father’s lap while walking over to sit on your bed with the both of them as she shrugs softly. 

“No...” 

Shaking your head softly at your three your old daughter, you looked at your husband with a happy expression and turned on the electronic candle while pecking his lips. A small ‘ew’ was heard from Jieun as you both laughed at her silliness before he had looked between the both of you guys while looking down at his cake. 

“Happy birthday, Joshua. We love you.” You smiled and watched as he pretended to blow out the candle while moving the cake in order to engulf the both of you into a large embrace.

He places a lingering kiss on both of your foreheads and he felt as though he had everything he could ever ask for in the world, while a small sniffle was able to be heard from him.  

“Thank you to my beautiful angels, for being the reason that I am happy for the rest of my life.” 

[love-fireflysong]

Day 9: Pet

Fandom: Until Dawn Character(s): Chris Hartley, Ashley Brown  Words: 3506 Rating: General  Author’s Notes: Fucking hell. This is so late. I am so sorry. I didn’t expect this to get nearly as long as it did. But to make up for the absolute horror I wrote yesterday Monday, here’s just the worst pining. Like the worst. It’s awful. Nothing but the purest, free-range Chrashley pining here folks! There isn’t even a plot, or at least there wasn’t supposed to be. Apparently I can’t write fluff without a build-up. 

Neither couldn’t place exactly when it all started. Or at least, when something changed between them. Really changed. They had always been more obvious about their affections then either would have liked, not that the other had ever noticed of course. Fond smiles when the other had said something even a little bit endearing. Longing looks when backs were turned. Touches and hugs that always tended to last a linger or last longer than what would have been appropriate for friends who absolutely did not have a crush on each other. 

Each day they spent together was a torture, a reminder that no matter what, there was no way that they felt the same way about each other. But it was always better then the alternative, feeling like a dagger was being shoved into their hearts every moment they were apart. So they endured, hoping in equal turns for either the feelings to fade (it didn’t) or for the other person to finally look their way (they always had).

And while they don’t know when things changed, they can pin point the two singular moments when it shifted.

-----------------------------------------

"Just use a pillow, Chris.”

“I would love to Ash, I really would. But I seem to recall that you stole all the pillows and are holding a monopoly on them right now.”

Chris wasn’t lying. He and Ashley were hanging on out on the couch in his and Josh’s dorm room, and she had shoved every single pillow (all two of them) in the dorm behind her on the couch.

“It’s not my fault that your couch has the worst lumps I have ever felt before. And some how only on the back and arms of this thing. Seriously, how do you two sit on here?”

Chris poked at one of the said lumps as he regarded Ash with a flat look. “We don’t. Unlike you, Josh and I don’t read on the couch—”

“I have never once seen either of you read a book that wasn’t a comic.”

“Really not the point, Ash. Also, rude. You’re not wrong, but you’re also being very rude.”

From where she had curled herself up in the corner, legs tucked under her, Ashley stuck out her tongue at Chris. “I still don’t understand why you or Josh haven’t replaced the thing yet. It’s not like neither of you could afford it.”

Chris gave a short snort. “It’s not like Josh couldn’t afford it. Do I look like I have a couple of hundred chilling for a couch? I barely have enough money to pay Josh when he gets back with the pizza. Anyway, it came with the dorm so it would be a big no-no if we tossed it.”

“I still don’t understand why Josh had to go to get the pizza in the first place.”

“The place doesn’t like to deliver on campus. Apparently a delivery driver got their car completely covered in spray paint or something when they had to deliver during frosh week a few years back.”

“...How much longer till he gets back with the pizza?”

As if knowing that he was being talked about, and honestly with Josh, it was entirely probable, Chris’s phone went off with a beep of an incoming text message. “Uh, hold on. He just texted.” Chris looked at the screen for a moment, and groaned. “Shit. He says that something happened at the restaurant and they managed to lose our pizza. Gave it to the wrong Josh W. apparently. So they’re making us a new one.” 

“Are you serious? Really?”

“Unfortunately. Wait. He’s sending something else.” Chris’s face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. “Oh fuck yeah!”

“What? What?! You can’t leave me hanging like that Chris!”

“He says that as an apology, the place is giving us a free order of garlic cheese breadsticks!”

“Ooooh. That is good news.”

Chris nodded excitedly. “It’s gonna be another half-hour or so until they finish making it though.”

“That’s fine.” Ash shrugged, and then sighed happily. “It’s worth the wait for some of the cheesy garlic-y goodness coming our way. Plus, I’ll be able to finish another chapter or two of my book while we wait.”

“Gee thanks, Ash. Glad to know that you would rather read a book then spend your time with me.”

“Oh, Chris,” she smiled brightly and reached out to pat his leg comfortingly. “You’ve always known that.”

Chris narrowed his eyes. “Oh, I see how it is. Fine then, if that’s the way you want to play it...” Before he could think it through, or she could react, he flopped over onto his back and placed his head onto her lap.

“Chris! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

He shrugged as he shifted around a bit to make himself more comfortable. You stole all the pillows to read your book, so I decided to do the same. You’re my pillow now.”

“Oh my god. You don’t even have a book.”

Chris waved his phone in front of her face. “Newsflash, I don’t need a book. Got all the things I could ever read right here. Twitter and facebook and tumblr and games all at my fingertips. God. Join the 21st century Ash.”

She didn’t say anything, just smacked him lightly in the forehead with her book.

“I don’t think pillows are supposed to fight back.”

“Then get off, dingus.”

“Too late, I’m comfortable now. And I don’t think pillows are supposed to talk either.”

Conversation between the two of them trailed off after that, Ash opening her book to where she had last left off with an long-suffering sigh, and Chris turning on his phone. Except, as he mindlessly scrolled through whatever social media app he had randomly clicked on, his mind was not on the phone. Not at all. Nope, his mind had suddenly realized that his head was in Ashley’s lap and it was all he could think about.

It shouldn’t be awkward though! Friends did stuff like this all the time, using each other for pillow, right? At least, Josh certainly did. He was liable to sprawl across anyone’s unguarded lap if they weren’t careful. Hell, he had done it to Chris just this morning! But Josh didn’t have a huge, stupid crush on the person’s whose lap he was sprawled on (or at least, Chris didn’t think so?). But this was fine. It was normal and he could do this! He would not panic and turn into a blushing moron! Which was the mantra he kept up in his head, over and over to distract himself from the realization that she really did make a good pillow.

Which was why he didn’t notice that Ash’s fingers had been running through his hair for the last couple of minutes.

The moment he did though, Chris froze like a statue. His eyes slowly moving so he could look at her in the face. But her eyes were on her book, moving back and forth as she continued to read, and she flicked a page one-handed with practiced ease. She had no idea what she was doing. Probably thought she was petting a cat or something. Yeah! He thinks he remembers her mentioning once or twice that one of her cats at home likes to curl up into her lap when she reads. So she probably just thought that she was petting her cat! That was a thing, right?

He catches her lick her lips when she flicks another page, and averts his eyes, face turning a shocking shade of pink. Only to completely forget that when one of her nails lightly scrapes his scalp by accident and he sucks in a gasp between clenched teeth. It hadn’t been a gasp of pain though, no siree Bob, not at all! It was almost scary how intense the jolt of pleasure that shot up his spine was. He nervously chances another glance at Ash to make sure she hadn’t caught that,  only to watch her wet her lips again and swallow. 

Chris can honestly say in this moment that stopping her is the last thing on his mind. In fact, if he were to make a list of all of the things going on in his mind right now, stopping her isn’t even on it.

So instead, he closes his eyes, phone long forgotten, and just centers on the feel of her fingers running methodically through his hair. On her nails catching every so often on his scalp to scrape at it.. On the sound of her peaceful breathing. On the rustle of a page turning every so often in semi-regular intervals.

He decides that if Josh takes a little longer to bring the pizza, then that’s fine. Chris is more than happy to just stay here like this.

---------------------------------------------------------------

She really hoped that one of them was home. Really, really hoped as she banged on the door to the boy’s dorm with her fist. She was ready to admit that maybe she should have texted them first, but well, today just really hadn’t been her day so far.

Finally, finally, she heard movement on the other side of the door.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Hold your goddamn horses!”

Chris. Part of Ash was really, really glad that it was Chris. Another, just as large, part was really, really bummed that it was Chris.

Yup, it really wasn’t her day. She continued to bang in hope that it would get him to the door faster anyway.

“Holy fuck, I said I was coming! If this is you Brian, then I swear to God—” the door swings open inward and Ash gives a bashful smile. “—Jesus H Christ Ash! What the hell happened to you?!”

She knows that she’s a sight. Dripping wet and covered in mud, and dripping all of this onto their entryway. She sneezes and smiles weakly.

“Hey Chris. Mind if I steal your shower?”

Chris doesn’t even answer her, pulling her into the dorm room and yelling over his shoulder towards the bathroom. “Josh! I need you to get your ass out of the shower! Now!”

She makes out Josh’s voice muffled through the shower and the door separating them. “What the hell, dude! I just got in here!”

“Don’t give a shit! Ash needs it more!” Chris moves to grab her unsurprisingly also soaked school bag and begins to hurriedly remove her thankfully still dry textbooks and binders from within. He places them carefully on the nearby table and she finds herself falling further in love with him all the more for it.

“Ash? What’s she doing here? Doesn’t she have her own shower? She can go home and use that one! This one’s got my name all over it for at least the next twenty minutes!”

Cold and miserable and soaked to the bone, Ashley finds she just doesn’t care anymore. “Joshua Washington! You get your goddamn ass out of that shower in the next five minutes or I swear to God I will rip you out of there myself!” She catches Chris staring at her in a mix of fear, awe, and something else she can’t quite place but makes her stand just a little taller despite the fact she’s shivering and literally looks like a drowned rat and creating a puddle the size of Moscow on his floor. 

There’s a stumble and what may be the sound of a bottle dropping onto the shower floor. “I’m moving, I’m moving! Fucking hell, can’t a guy even shower in peace anymore?”

To his credit, Josh is only in the shower another two or so minutes, and when he opens the bathroom door he stops to stare at her stunned. “Holy Hannibal. What happened to you?”

Ash growls as she pushes past Josh (or would have, if he hadn’t jumped out of the way) and into the sanctum of the bathroom, already dreaming of the hot water on her skin. “I’ll tell you after. Shower first, story second.” With that, she slams the door behind her.

She’s also ready to admit that she spends an altogether too long amount of time in the shower. But she’s covered in mud and cold so really, who can blame her? She also spends a far longer amount of time staring at the bottle of body wash that she knows is Chris’s as she debates whether to use it or not, but she’s less likely to admit that one.

Finished, her skin and hair no longer a muddy brown, but the usual pasty white and dull auburn, Ash feels better then she has in hours. Refreshed and ready to take on the world, or at least the asshole in the Chevy. A hesitant knock at the bathroom door startles her, and with a grey and green striped towel wrapped around her, she opens the door a crack and stares out into Chris’s face, eyes upturned and face pink as he resolutely does not look at her but at a dark stain she knows is just above the doorway. Before she can say a word, Chris shoves an old grocery bag at her and a set of dry clothes.

“Here. Put your clothes into the bag and I’ll throw them in the washer downstairs.”

Ash feels her face redden to match his and reaches out to carefully grab the bag and clothes (where did he manage to find some clothes for her?). “Just give me a sec.” Keeping the door open just a crack, she starts shoving her sopping wet and muddy clothes into the bag and hand it to Chris. “I don’t have my wallet, sorry. Forgot it in the English building earlier.” 

“It’s fine. We’ll figure something out.” With that, Chris grabs the bag and turns to  walk stiffly away,probably to go and search for some change she assumes. She can’t help the stupidly fond smile that comes to her face as she closes the bathroom door and starts to get changed. Only for the smile to drop when she realizes that the clothes she’s holding is a sleep shirt of Chris’s that she is able to recognize on sight, an old grey number with the classic PlayStation logo he had found in a game store years ago, and a pair of dark blue sweats with a waist cord. Oh. 

She spends a moment to debate even putting on the clothes, but realizes that her choices are either a: walk around the dorm in a towel (nope, not happening), b: confine herself to the bathroom until her clothes are clean (at least an hour’s wait, not ideal), or c: wear his clothes (towel is starting to look like a more attractive prospect honestly).

Feeling like her entire body is blushing, she puts on the shirt and pants, thanking the heavens that her underwear had managed to survive her unexpected bath relatively dry. The shirt is almost comically large on her, the collar keeps slipping to showcase one shoulder bare of any bra strap (her underwear may have survived, by the bra unfortunately did not), and the sweats she has to roll up at least five times so she won’t trip and break her neck. As she tightens the cord around her waist as much as she can, Ash stares at herself in the still foggy bathroom mirror, face as red as her hair and wearing her best friend/major crush’s clothes. 

She is suddenly really relieved that she opted not to use the body wash now. Wearing his clothes and smelling like him? She probably would have self-combusted on the spot.

Grabbing an extra towel on the rack, she takes a deep breath for courage and opens the door of the bathroom. She notices Chris’s back as he’s standing in front of the microwave and hurriedly starts to towel dry her hair as a way to hide her burning face.

“I’m making you some hot chocolate if you’re okay with that. Figured that you might want some.”

She sighs happily at that. “You figured right. Hot chocolate sounds like heaven right now.” She takes a moment to realize that someone is missing. “Where did Josh vanish off to?”

“He’s digging in the car for some spare change for the laundry room, should be back up in a—” he turns around and starts choking on nothing.

“You okay?”

Still coughing and face just as red as hers, he wave a hand though his voice is strained when he speaks, really, wheezes. “Fine, I’m fine! Just-just dust, you know? Really should dust more often.”

Ashley tilts her head to look at him in confusion. “I guess?”

“Yup. Just dust. Go and sit down on the couch, I’ll bring you the hot chocolate when it finishes.” His voice is still strained when he waves her towards their lumpy couch.

She sits on it, and abandons the towel to run her fingers through her hair to try and break up knots and get some degree of neatness without a brush. Barely a minute later, Chris walks over and hands her the mug of cocoa. Somehow, they manage to get the mug to exchange hands without their fingers brushing. Good, she’s already obvious enough with how red her face still is.

Slowly, Chris sits next to her on the couch, his fingers tapping a beat on his knees. “Why were you using your fingers?”

Ash blows on the mug, hoping that she can claim the steam as an excuse for her face. “Forgot my brush in the English Building, too.”

“Oh. Um.” she watches Chris take a deep breath, his hands now digging into the fabric of his jeans, holding on as if his life depended on it. “I-I can help with that?”

Ash blinks, not quite understanding where he’s going with this. “I mean, sure?”

To her absolute shock, instead of just leaving to go and grab her stuff from the English Building like she expected, he instead starts to comb his fingers through her hair. The only reason she doesn’t drop the mug in shock is because she immediately tenses at the contact and just grips onto it harder.

For a moment, both are silent, nothing but the sound of Chris running his fingers through her still damp hair, breaking tangles and knots as gently as he can. It’s all she can do to stop from flinching when his hand reaches the bottom of her hair and brushes her bared shoulder.

“So,” Chris’s voice is high-pitched and strained as he speaks, “what happened?”

“What?” Unfortunately, hers is just as strained and somehow pitched higher then his.

“You came here looking like you decided to take a walk through a hurricane, but it’s not even raining outside. What the hell happened to you?”

“Oh. That.” Hands shaking and face burning, Ash struggles to take a sip of the hot chocolate with dumping it on herself in the process. His fingers through her hair is entirely too distracting but she can’t bring herself to make him stop. “You know that huge puddle by the library? I was walking by it to get back to the English Building when some dick in a Chevy decided to drive right through it and soak me. I only came here because your shower was closer.”

“Are you serious? What a fucking asshole. Why didn’t you text though? I would have picked you up at the library and brought you to the campus.”

“Yeah, well, unfortunately I left my phone in the English Building too, I was in such a hurry to leave and study, that I managed to forget an entire bag there.”

Chris gave a short, quiet laugh behind her. “Just not the one with the books of course.” His fingers catch on a particularly large tangle and her breath catches. She can hear him suck a breath in behind her. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Don’t be sorry.” It is. It’s really, really fine. She kinds wants him to do it again, and her face somehow burns hotter at the the thought.

“Okay, If your sure.” He continues with with calming motion, conversation done as she just closes her eyes and decides to fully enjoy and embrace what will never ever happen again. Until that is, he accidentally rubs his fingernail along the back of her neck, the blunt edge scraping the skin slightly as it runs down. 

She can’t help the gasp that leaves her as it happens, her back arching a bit at the sensation. She turns around and looks at Chris, knowing that there is no explaining away her reaction just now.  Both their eyes are wide and and they’re breathing far too heavily for what had just happened.

Behind them, the front door slams open and they spring apart. “Hey Cochise! You got another twenty-five cents hidden around somewhere? We’re short a fucking quarter to run the dryer!”

--------------------------------------------------------

So yeah. While they don’t know when things changed. They sure as hell know when they shifted.