#ALSO. for the number of times I’ve listened to Super Bowl I never realized the song is completely in English until I saw the lyric booklet..

[toxicrevolver]

Thanks for the tag @onlyoneofsideblogtrashheep !!!!!

(Receiptify link)

I’m too tired to tag anyone so if you wanna participate you can!!

[justkending]

The Number One Rule. Chapter 15.

Summary: Y/N has always been seen as “Steve’s rambunctious sister.” However, she grew up, graduated, and moved to London to study abroad for 4 years and get her bachelor's degree. The girl that returns looks nothing like the teenager that left, but don’t worry the attitude is still there and stronger than ever. What’s to come of the two grown adults that used to push each other's buttons, but now have a lot more in common than they’ve ever realized.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Y/N Rogers (Steve’s little sister)

Word Count: 3100+

A/N: Ladies and gentleman. This is in one of my top 3 chapters I’ve written in this series. The next one being my number 1;) I hope you enjoy and I would love any and all feedback you are willing to share!! xoxoxo

Chapter Fifteen:

Eventually when Bucky had snapped out of his thoughts, Y/N had long fallen asleep on him. He smiled down at her with a sad smile. One filled with remorse for everything she had gone through, but pride in how she handled it and didn’t let it destroy her. At least not to the extent that a lot of people get into.

She had years to do that, whereas Bucky was fresh on the subject. It would take him time to move on from that for her. He couldn’t help but feel hate for himself knowing exactly what party she was talking about. 

It was one of the few he and Steve didn’t attend. They had planned on it, but Dot wanted a quiet night in, and Steve just didn’t feel like it or something. It had been a while since that party, so he didn’t remember intricate details. 7 years to be exact. And the only reason he could guess which one it was, was because of how she acted after it. A whole month of depression and guilt she sat with and it showed. For the last 7 years Y/N had carried that with her. The only person she trusted to tell to this day was Beck. Now he was the other. 

He gathered her up in his arms, and she drowsily threw her own over his shoulders and hung on in a sleepy daze as he brought her up the stairs. He laid her in her bed, turned on her fan, and tucked her in. 

But as he stood to go back downstairs, her hand clasped around his. 

“Where y’ going?” she asked. The wine was playing a big part in the sleepiness and he could tell by her weak squeeze to his hand. 

“I’m just going to clean up downstairs. I’ll be back up in a second, sweetheart,” she nodded before giving him another squeeze to his hand and pulling the bed covers up to her cheeks. He smiled at her cute self and bent down kissing her forehead. He moved the strands of hair they fell over her eyes and studied her for a second. 

Eventually, he pulled away and went to do what he said. Popcorn kernels trashed and bowls cleaned. Leftover wine in the fridge and beer bottles recycled. He folded the blankets on the couch and set the pillows back in their original arrangement. Lastly, he went and checked to make sure all the doors were locked for the night. He had spent the night there enough to do a lock up without issues. 

Coming back upstairs, he changed into his own pajamas and snuck into the other side of the bed. Careful not to wake her, he gently and ever so softly, pulled her back to him. In her sleep, she turned to where they were face to face. Curling into his chest in comfort, trying to get as close as she could. 

He couldn’t hold in the chuckle that rumbled through his chest as she nuzzled under his chin. He ran his hand up and down her back and noticed her body relaxing with each stroke. He was glad he had that effect on her. It was the least he could offer after not being there for her in those hard times.

Now when he held her, he wasn’t just protecting her, but also trying to shield her from any more pain. He had been doing that his whole life for the family that the Roger’s had become to him. But now was different. This was a different kind of defense. This wasn’t just family protection. This was protection for someone you love. 

________________

The next morning, Y/N was the first to wake. She found herself practically embedded in Bucky’s arms. He had wrapped his giant self around her waist pulling her in close to his body. 

They had cuddled before, and even had a few sleepovers when Steve wasn’t in town, or if Becca wasn’t going to be home for the night and lent them her space. But it was only enough to count on one hand. That, plus, it never escalated to anything other than cuddling and maybe a makeout session here and there. 

Bucky had been gentle and patient in that area. Even if they hadn’t had that talk yet at that point, he didn’t push. Something she wasn’t used to in most of the guys she had dated. Pietro probably being the only other one that was understanding of it. 

Even if they had been dating a little over a month, she was glad they were taking it slow. Even if they had known each other their whole lifes. 

She somehow was able to turn in his arms and see a soft smile on his lips. He wasn’t awake, so he must have been dreaming of something nice. She took a second just breathing him in and trying to wrap her head around how all this came to be. 

Sure she had crushes on him growing up. I mean who doesn’t form a crush for your older brother's hot best friend. Though if she was being honest, she had always thought deep down that it was never a card that would be played in this game of life. 

Little did they know, it would just take time and growth. Then the fates would do with them what they will. Most card games were just a game of chance. You never know what’s going to come around the corner...

Eventually, she pulled herself away ever so gently and quietly to escape downstairs and make breakfast. She was still in her sleep shorts, but at some point took off her sweatshirt in the night from almost overheating. That plus the surprisingly excessive amount of body heat Bucky gave off made it hard to sleep with it on. 

She found a new one laying over her chair in the corner and threw it on before grabbing a hair tie and brushing her bed head up into a bun. 

Tiptoeing to the door, she slowly closed it leaving it open just a crack. 

Just as she took a step on the stairs, she heard the front door unlock and open. Freezing in her spot she waited a second. The only person who had a key besides their mom and her was…

“Hey, sis,” Steve said coming around the corner seeing her at the top of the stairs. 

“S-Steve,” she said in almost a whisper. Panic. Fear. Dread hit her at full force.“What, um, what are you doing here?”

“It’s Saturday and mom’s out of town, and I knew you were home alone. I thought I’d come over and we can go get breakfast or something,” he said with a sweet innocent smile. 

Running down the stairs a little quicker, she met him at the bottom. 

“Um, why didn’t you call? I would have gotten ready. I just woke up,” her voice was filled with anxiety and Steve noticed. 

“I thought I’d surprise you,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “You ok? You seem off?”

“Um, no. I’m fine. I just got a text from work that one of the projects they had me on needs to be done sooner than I expected.” How she came up with that lie on the spot like that? She had no idea, but she ran with it. “Yeah, not the best thing to wake up too. Making me a little nervous.”

“Oh, well do you want to go get breakfast and we can talk about it? I’ve barely heard about anything with your new job. We need to catch up, Mini,” he said, poking her stomach and making her let out a loud laugh, having always been super ticklish. 

Just seconds after that, having heard voices and a loud almost shout, Bucky swug open the door and peered down the stairway where they were both at the bottom. 

Two seconds. 

Two seconds was all it took for Steve to put two and two together in his head. Bucky acting weird lately. Sneaking off randomly and never telling Steve anything, which wasn’t like him in their friendship. Hell, he had even noticed Bucky’s lingering looks, but always put in the back of his mind thinking nothing of it. 

But now. Oh, he was thinking about something now. 

Bucky was frozen at the top of the stairs, eyes locked with Steve. To make matters worse, he only had pajama pants on and no shirt.

Even from the distance of the stairwell, Bucky could see the storm brewing in the blue eyes of his best friend. 

“Steve,” Y/N started placing a hand on his arm. 

The blonde immediately ripped away from her as he turned to fully face Bucky. The alpha male, big brother, pissed off best friend was in a stance ready to fight. 

“Why the FUCK did you just come out of my sister’s room half fucking naked?” Steve growled.

“Steve, you don’t know the full story,” Y/N said softly, but she could sense the tension and for once in her life, she was slightly scared to enter the fight. 

“The fuck I don’t know the full story,” Steve said finally whipping his head back to Y/N. His blue eyes were carrying a category 5 hurricane in those ocean blues. But they didn’t stay on her long as he turned back to Bucky. 

“Listen,” Bucky said, coming down slowly. 

“I don’t know if I want to,” he responded through his teeth. “Take one more step down here, and you’re going to need some serious dental work and a nose job.”

Bucky froze about 4-5 steps away from the siblings. Finally, he looked at Y/N, worry in his eyes, but they were also apologetic. 

Y/N immediately moved around Steve and stood between the two. Closer to Steve to try and hold him back if she needed to. 

“Now wait a damn minute,” she spoke up looking straight at her older brother even if he was sending a death glare past her shoulder. “You need to calm down before we talk-”

“No. You need to go to your room. Bucky and I need to talk,” he said in an authoritative voice. 

“Excuse me?” she retorted back. Her gentleness in the situation was fading and being replaced with aggravation. “Go to my room? Am I a 13 year old girl?” she said stepping in his eyeline so he was looking at her. 

“This isn’t a fucking joke, Y/N!” He shouted. “Go to your room!”

“No,” she replied, folding her arms across her chest. 

The two had this kind staring contest all the time growing up. Anytime there was a fight, they almost never relented with their stubborn asses. Their mom or dad had to send them to their rooms themselves and kept them there. The time ranging from 20 minutes to 5 hours before they calmed down. 

They were two of the most headstrong ornery people to live in this world. And it didn’t help that they were now pitted against each other. This kind of fight looked as if it could be ranging more into weeks or months. 

Knowing and experiencing situations like this with them before, Bucky spoke up again. 

“Y/N, you should listen to him. We need to talk,” he said sedately. 

“I leave and he’s going to beat your ass,” Y/N said, still staring at her brother. 

“I think he’s going to beat my ass either way,” Bucky mumbled. “Really Y/N. Just give us a second.”

“I’m a part of this equation too,” she said. Her tone easing just enough to be noticed. 

“Yes, you are. But right now, Steve and I need to talk first,” he said trying his best to defuse the fire against the heated situation happening in the entryway of their house. 

There were a few more seconds of silence as they glared at the other. 

“Fine, but I’m coming back down in 10 minutes,” she bartered. 

No one responded as she started to go up the stairs backwards. The staredown did not cease until she was even with Bucky on the steps. 

“If he does anything stupid, I’m going to beat his ass,” she said looking at Bucky. 

“I’m sure you will,” he said with a small smile that was forced for reassurance. 

She placed a hand on his shoulder. A silent good luck as they studied the other in a quick second. 

Turning back to look at Steve, she saw he was still in a rigid stance. The tension in his shoulders doing nothing but grow with every passing second. She would’ve sent him one more warning glare if he was looking, but his eyes were trained on Bucky with a look that could kill. 

Eventually she went into her room and shut her door, leaving it open just a crack. They deserved their privacy no matter how bad she wanted to step in. Deep down she knew, as best friends, they needed to talk on their own. 

Bucky looked back down and saw a bull looking at him like he was a red cape.

“Outside. Now,” Steve commanded before stomping off to the back and letting the screen door slam harshly. 

Letting out a long sigh and running a hand down his face, he finally went down the stairs. He grabbed a shirt from the bag he had left down there and headed to the backyard. Steve already in the grass pacing. 

“Steve,” Bucky said softly as he walked down the porch steps barefoot. 

Instantly, a fist collided with his face. He stumbled trying his best to not fall from the impact. When he looked up, grasping his jaw, he sent a glare to Steve. 

“I’m not saying I don’t deserve that, but-”

“Oh, you deserve a lot more than that, but I need you to explain what the HELL I just walked into and you can’t do that with no teeth,” Steve glowered. 

Looking at him while straightening his posture he wiggled his jaw some feeling just a tad bit of blood on his lip. Damn him for teaching Steve how to make a proper swing like that. 

“You gonna punch me again before I talk, or can I fucking explain myself now?” No response, only a stare was given. “Ok, so I’ve been hiding something from you.” Steve raised an eyebrow. 

“You think?”

“Listen, I’m almost as taken aback as you. One day, she’s like a little sister running around with my actual sister, and the next she's a mature grown adult who knows what she wants, exudes confidence, and is intelligent beyond measure.” He paused before adding. “Not that we didn’t know that.”

“I know what my sister is. What I want to know is why you’re sleeping with her?” Steve said, taking a step closer. 

Bucky just straightened up more as if expecting another hit. But then he processed Steve’s sentence. 

“Sleeping with her?” he questioned almost in shock. Steve not breaking his gaze. “I’m not fucking sleeping with her, asshole! I’m dating her.”

The smallest amount of tension released from Steve’s body and his face wasn’t frowning as much.

“You’re dating?” 

“Yes. Dating.”

“So you guys haven’t-”

“No. I’m a little upset that you think that low of me,” Bucky scoffed. “You think I would really just start booty calling my best friend's sister? If I wanted a friend with benefits, I can easily find a girl at a bar,” he said, taking a deep breath and running a hand through his hair. “You’re sister isn’t a girl from a bar, Steve.”

Steve was silent processing it. He still wasn’t happy, but at least it wasn’t as bad as had thought. 

“Listen, Y/N’s been in my life just as long as she has been in yours. We’ve grown up together, created childhood memories together, picked on each other, and protected each other. She would be the last person on this earth I would want to degrade to a one night stand. She deserves so much more than that.”

“Exactly,” Steve said. 

Bucky paused taking note of Steve’s tone. “Exactly? Why do you say it like that?”  

“I mean she deserves a lot,” he said, confirming Buck’s thought. 

“I see. So I don’t make the cut?” Bucky said, now getting frustrated. The silence was enough of an answer to his question. “Wow. 26 years of being best friends and you think that little of me?”

“She’s my sister,” Steve answered. A slight tone of apology behind his words, but he kept the stoic face. 

“Yes, Steve she is! And 2+2= 4! We know this!” he said waving his arms and scoffing as he turned in his spot before turning back. Hands on his hips before one came up and ran a hand through his slight beard. 

“You know what? Screw this. I’m not going to sit here and be that guy that says, ‘Yeah, you’re right. She doesn’t deserve me. I’m not good enough for her.’ You know why, Steve? Because I know that. And it’s because I know that, that I’m going to strive with every muscle in my body and every might of my being to make sure I can be that for her one day. To make sure I can give her everything and more that she deserves. To make sure she never has to see a sad day again. To make sure she only experiences joy if I have any say. To make absolutely sure that no one ever hurts her. Why? Because I love her!”

Out of breath, Bucky chest heaving up and down showed how hard his lungs were working to get air back in them. 

Steve’s posture had almost gone back to normal. The anger no longer there. Whatever emotion he was feeling, Bucky couldn’t tell. 

“How long?” Steve asked. 

“What?” Bucky asked, confused. 

“How long have you loved her?” he repeated, looking down at the ground. 

Bucky paused. He couldn’t actually answer that. There was no specific time frame. Truth was he had loved her for a while. 

“Honestly, longer than I know... It’s just taken me this long to figure out that’s what this feeling was.”

Steve nodded his head as he put his hands in his pockets and continued to stare at the dirt by his feet. 

“Ok.”

Taken aback, Bucky's eyes widened. 

“Ok?” 

“Yeah. Ok,” Steve repeated before he started walking to the back fence that led to the driveway. 

“Wait. You’re just going to leave it at 'Ok,’ and walk away?” Bucky rushed over to stop him. 

Steve slowly turned from staring at the ground and then back at him. 

“You know, I thought that we were close enough that you could come to me with this kind of thing. That you wouldn’t feel like you had to hide it from me. Y/N and you both,” he said with pursed lips. “Guess I was wrong.” 

With that he turned back and walked to his car. Bucky watched as he started the engine, pulled out, and disappeared. 

What the hell kind of mess just happened?

(Tags for this series will be closing soon as it is getting pretty full, please send an ask if you want to be added:)

I’ll post on whatever chapter I decided to close it down here.

The Number One Rule (TNOR) Taglist:

@shadowolf993 @hello-i-am-daydreaming @jessyballet  @emmabarnes @kmuir1  @beautifulrare4leafclover @thefallenbibliophilequote @l0ve-0f-my-life  @shawnie--jo​ @dontputyourfckingdrinkonmytable @asoftie4bucky​ @katiaw2​ @sheeple​ @sznri​ @bxtchboy69​ @taliarosej00​ @bakugouswh0r3​ @stopjustlovethemcu​ @babemendesxz​ @jenniereiji​ @taliarosej00​ @loveyou5everr​ @natdrunk​ @im-a-light-child​

My Lovelies forever:

@natura1phenomenon​ @lauravicente​ @kakakatey​ @traceyaudette​ @notyourtypicalrose​  @laneygthememequeen​ @awesome-badass-cafeteria-sauce​ @sandlee44​ @thorne93​ @thefaithfulwriter​ @marvelfansworld @essie1876​ @greyeyedsmile14​ @capsiclehan​  @xostephanie​ @averyrogers83​ @awesomenursingstudent​ @gh0stgurl​ @cs-please​ @carls1022​ @jjlevin​ @rainbowkisses31​ @carls1022​ @anise-d-castle6​ @deannotmoose​ @their-bibliophile​ @kitkatd7​ @willowbleedsonpaper​ @mariaenchanted​ @snffbeebee​ @couldabeenamermaid​ @rebekahdawkins​

Bucky Barnes Tags:

@morganclaire4​ @chloe-skywalker​ @charmedbysarge​ @jbarness​ 

@bellamy-barnes

​

Marvel Tags:

@thejourneyneverendsx​ @death-unbecomes-you​ @heyiamthatbitch​ @lizzymacy555​ @iheartsebastianstan @srrymydood​ @xa-dia​ @redhairedfeistynerd​ @morganclaire4​ @connie326​ @captain-asguard​ @mollygetssherlockcoffee​ @teenagedreams-bucky​

[kvj-novels]

Senku x fem named!reader

Rating: this chapter is E for everyone though there is some strong language

Warnings: this fic has elements of smut and a mention of eating disorders THIS CHAPTER DOES NOT CONTAIN THE CONTENT WITH THESE WARNINGS.

Summary: Imogen has been awakened from petrification but she suffers from amnesia upon waking up. Senku and Taiju - her lover and childhood friend (respectively) before the petrification - must do their best to help her recall her past life.

Smut summary: soft sex, first time, no warnings but very NSFW.

Chapter Three

I walked deep into the forest, my feet getting cut up from the rocks and the branches. Eventually I stopped at a river and sat down in the sand. I didn’t notice how bad my feet got until I smelt blood. I looked down at my now red feet and frowned. Inching a bit closer to the shore I slid my legs into the water.  It stung and I hissed when I reached down to wipe the mud and dirt off.  “Damn it.” I whispered. I just let my feet float in the water and let the current wash them. I sighed and leaned back on my hands. Just my luck that the only person who knows me also holds a grudge...I laughed. How perfectly stupid.  I can’t even remember how old I am and here I am already having boy troubles.  I sighed and wiped my cheeks, they were still wet from crying. “Fuck it.” I said to myself. “I got woken up into a future with a brand new slate. I’m 3,700 years older than I was before. I’ll just...be a new me. Forget about trying to remember who I was then.”  That was my resolve. What was the phase? New year new me?  Try new millennial, new me. I think.  I got up to go back to the village. My feet were swollen and burning but I needed to get back so tried to forget about the pain. I think I remember how to get back...it’s not too far. It’s still mid day, too. I just need to listen for the bustle of life and I’ll be fine.  I was about half way there when I get a weird feeling on the back of my neck. I stopped and rubbed my neck. The hairs were standing on end. I shivered despite the heat.  I heard a low growl come from behind me. I froze.  It hit me that this was no longer modern times and that I could be in deep trouble. I slowly turned around to see a large bear a few yards behind me. She was snarling at me but not moving.  I gulped.  A smaller cub came out from behind her. I had a feeling I walked through her home and she wasn’t happy about it.  I took a step backwards while still facing her and prayed that I didn’t look threatening enough to attack, only warn. I kept inching backwards and when she growled again I stopped for a moment. “It’s okay...I’m leaving...please don’t hurt me.” I started to move again but my foot met resistance and I stumbled backwards. Another cub yelped and jumped out from under me as I fell to my ass.  The mom got on her hind legs and roared.  I screamed.  She started to charge and I scrambled to my feet, the adrenaline kicking in well enough to numb the swollen cuts on my feet. I ran as fast as I could but I knew in the back of my mind I wouldn’t be able to out run a bear.  I screamed for help as I ran hoping without hope that I was close enough to the village for someone to hear.  As I ran past a tree, a large figure came slamming into my side. I was scared the bear was super smart and was pummeling me to the ground but when I felt the warmth of human skin on my face as I was held tightly against the bare chest that rammed me to the ground, I realized instead that someone heard my cries. Both of us went tumbling, the man held me tightly as a hill took our momentum and made us tumble faster until we came to stop at a tree. His back took the blow and he grunted.  My head was spinning still even as we were stopped. He picked himself up, one arm still wrapped around me.  “Are you alright?” he asked, sitting on the ground. I grabbed my head to try to make it stop spinning. “Y-yeah...maybe a little cut up.” I responded when I felt a warm trickle of blood down my cheek.  “I’m sorry,” He said. “that wasn’t a very clean save was it?” I finally looked up into his face to see the warm red eyes of Senku in front of me.  “Senku?” “Was getting dressed when I heard you scream. You’re not too far from the lookout. Sorry, I should’ve warned you that it’s dangerous out there. The animals are used to owning the woods.” I swallowed to force my mouth closed as I stared at his chest. His slender frame deceived you when fully clothed. Senku was quite strong and very ripped. And I couldn’t help but a stare a little too long now that he had no shirt on. Senku ripped off a piece of his pants and wrapped it around my head over the cut. The pain from the pressure jolted me out of my daydream.  “Sorry,” he said. “I’m not very good bedside manners.” He tied off the bandage and stood. “Can you walk?” He asked. I looked down at my feet which were even more cut up than before. My legs were bleeding and my dress was almost in pieces.  “Damn,” Senku said before I could respond. “I really did a number on you didn’t I?” He helped me stand and swept me up in his arms without hesitation. He seemed different now, maybe not so on edge.  “I’m...sorry.” I said. “I probably shouldn’t have stormed off like that.” “Don’t be sorry...that was just me, being an idiot again.” He said, easily finding the path to the lookout and walking it back. He set me down on one of the beds that Ruri had previously mentioned was in the small building that used as a hospital.  “Let me get something to clean up all your wounds.” He grabbed a bowl of hot water and a rag and sat down next to the bed.  “Senku?” I asked.  “Hm?” He looked up at me through his brows as he gently wiped down my legs.  “Can we start again?” I asked.  “What do you mean?” “I mean...I can’t remember what happened 3000 years ago...but I want to know you now, here, in this place that you seem very dedicated to. And...well I want to know you the way I did back then but I want to do it differently.” He paused for a moment to think. “Clean slate, you’re thinking?” He asked. I shook my head. He dipped the towel in the hot water again.  “The past doesn’t really matter in this world does it? You’re all just trying to survive. So I shouldn’t focus on the past especially if I can’t remember it.” I said.  “Well, there’s where you’re wrong.” He said. “When I broke free of the petrification, a made it my goal to advance society back to where it was and save all 7 billion people on the planet.” He paused to gently pull some debris out of a cut. “That’s a very ambitious goal...” He chuckled. “Yeah it is. And believe it or not, I’m not an idiot at science. When I got to this village it was in the Stone Age. Thanks to a lot of hard work and some very dumbed down lessons, I’ve not only gotten these people to the age of electricity, I be also helped them understand it so they can make, and explore, and do things on their own.” “So...you’re a big nerd?” A smiled.  He let out a laugh and a flashed a contagious smile. “Yeah, I’m a very big nerd. I’m also the only person on the planet right now with the knowledge to bring the world back to where it was. I guess that’s why they insisted I stay the chief.” He got up when he finished cleaning my wounds and grabbed a large bowl of precut bandages.  Sitting back down to wrap my feet he eyed me for a minute.  I blushed. “W-what?” I asked.  He smirked. “All that talk about forgetting the past...If you don’t want to remember, I won’t tell you. But remembering the past is exactly my goal. It looks a little different for you but I would be happy to tell you everything I know about you. Taiju, too.” “Who’s Taiju?” “Oof. Don’t say things like that to him, you’ll hurt the brutes feelings.” He chuckled. “The guy who was with us in the tower.” “Oh right - sorry. I knew him too?” Senku shook his head, he was suddenly very focused on the wraps, being careful as he went along. “Yeah, we actually met because of Taiju. You knew him before you knew me.” I was quiet so I could listen, I hoped he would continue when I didn’t respond.  “Taiju and you go way back. We were childhood friends, I knew him since kindergarten. But you and Taiju literally grew up together. Somehow I never met you though. Not until senior year anyway.” “Senior year?” “Oh yeah, uh, the last year you have to spend at school. Once you’re senior you can graduate and either move on to college - a more focused type of school. Or you could move on to a job, life, family, whatever the hell you want honestly. After high school, you’re considered an adult so people let you do whatever, you know?” He finished with my feet then moved to the head of the bed to work on the cut on my head.  “Anyway, Taiju introduced us at the end of junior year and we hung out a lot all the next year. I don’t know if that dumb brute was trying to set us up from the beginning but he was really smart about it; just a casual introduction and then bam, you were hanging out in our group all the time.” I flinched when he put the hot rag to my head. “Sorry,” he pulled back.  “No it’s okay.” I looked up at him. “Please, keep going.” He continued cleaning my head and then cleared his throat. “Just before summer break I asked you out on a date. I hung out with you more that summer than I did with Taiju. He didn’t seem to mind though since he had his own love life he was going on and on about.” He chuckled.  “How was it? The date I mean.” “We were both nervous as hell. I took you to a walk through tour of one of the biggest science labs in Japan.” He laughed. “Looking back on it now it probably wasn’t the greatest of first date ideas, but you didn’t seem to mind.”  I smiled.  “What else happened that year?” “Well, summer was over and we had to go back to school.” He paused for a moment to tape a small bandage to the side of my head.  I sat up fully when he finished, carefully bringing my bandaged legs under me. He sat on the bed next to me. “I told you I couldn’t make things official yet...I was too focused on my school and I was trying to figure out where I wanted to go after graduation.” He sighed and rubbed his neck. “That was my first mistake. You understood but I could tell it was bothering you a bit. I psyched myself out because I was overthinking it. If you can’t already tell, I’m very much an idiot at matters of the heart.” I bit my lip. “Is that...when we argued and I got mad?” He shook his head. “I said a lot of thing I really regret. I blamed you as a distraction and I tried to push you away. I hate to admit it, but I was scared. I wanted so badly to not mess things up with you that I fucked up and messed things up anyway.” He let out a deep sigh. “Our last conversation was an argument. I said I cared more about science than I cared about you. You promptly slapped me across the face and said you’d save me some trouble and would never have to talk to me again.” I frowned. He continued, “I don’t think any harsh word ever spoken to me has hurt more than that. And it was my own fault.” I swallowed. I felt a lump in my chest that made me want to throw my arms around him and tell him I’m sorry.  But the mental block of complete emptiness and detachment from not truly remembering this man in front of me, stopped me. I looked down at my hands. “We didn’t have a lot of time together then huh?” I asked.  “No...I didn’t see you for a whole week and then the petrification happened.” “I uh...I still can’t remember any of it. Even though you’ve told me the majority of it.” I forced down the lump in my throat and tried not to cry again. “I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I felt empty. Hearing that story makes me really happy but...it’s like it’s literally just a story. I can’t picture any of it.” “It’ll take time. Amnesia can only be cured by the patients willingness to remember the parts they’ve lost. The fact that you can’t remember what school is tells me that more was happening than just a little bit of love life drama. Whatever it was caused you to block out not just me, but physically every single part of school.” “How do I find out what that was?” “I would suggest you find Taiju. Like I said, you guys grew up together. I think you lived in Taiju’s house. I never got around to asking what happened with your family, so I can only assume that he’s the one who can tell you that part of yourself. I can go find him for you if you like?” “Not right now please...if it’s not too much trouble, I’d really like to stay and keep talking with you.” He smiled a bit. “I’ll go get us some dinner then. Meet me up in the tower, take your time.” He got up and left the small building, headed for the village. I thought about the story he just told me and smiled. Butterflies erupted in my stomach again. I felt like that was proof to myself, a bit. Proof that Senku and I had something together. Proof that I...

Well, I probably shouldn’t get too caught up on that feeling.

********

Tag list @viskafrer @bee-cakes @potatochic2003 @gxldenhunny @cheesey-fox @guijh103 Please DM me if you would like to be added to the tag list!

[thisisawonderfulusername]

let’s save the world

season one, episode ten

five hargreeves x reader

summary: the end of the world is back on, and it’s your job to stop it.

trigger warnings: cursing, violence

word count: 4k

a/n: final episode of season one! i have decided that i will be continuing into season two because i have so many ideas for it and i want to share them :) hope you enjoy this part! also, i think you know this by now, but the italic bits are flashbacks

as you jumped again you see nothing but fire and rubble, the once beautiful streets destroyed. the next moment, you realize five isn’t next to you like he was just seconds ago. your heart dropped to your stomach

what did you guys do?

you turn slowly in a circle, examining the unrecognizable terrain of fallen buildings, ash floating through the air from the fires that blazed on top of the debris.

you shout for five, beginning to walk on shaky legs to hopefully find him nearby. you find a paper lying on the ground, and you pick it up, reading the headline and shaking your head at it, not wanting to believe what it said. you throw it to the side, yelling once again for five.

after a few shouts with no reply, you let out a shaky breath, falling to your knees and feeling the wreckage poke at your legs. when it really sinks in that you’re all alone here, not even knowing where here is, you scream.

you scream until your throat is scratchy and tears run down your face, your chest rising and falling rapidly from your short breaths.

-

the newspaper from the day you got stuck in the apocalypse. there was no difference in what it said.

you stare at it in shock, letting out a shaky breath. there was no way. you guys killed harold jenkins, the target is dead. the man who ends the world is dead, so why is the headline the same?

“y/n?” five stands from his stool, quickly moving past the counter to see what had you so shocked. “what’s wrong?”

your heart was starting to race, and all the memories came back to you. the buildings turned to ash and rubble, the fire burning everywhere. that can’t happen again. you hold the newspaper out to five, trying to calm yourself. “we-” you take in a sharp breath, “we need to get back to the academy. now.”

he looks at the paper, his eyes widening slightly. “shit.”

he grabs your hand not even a second later, and you appear in front of the academy- what was the academy. it was rubble now, just like it was when you got stuck in the future.

the both of you quickly move to get over the rubble, and you hear five let out a sigh of relief when he sees that his siblings are alive. “guys.” he calls out, getting over to where they stood as fast as possible. “this is it. the apocalypse is still on, the world ends today.”

they all look at you two as you stand there, catching your breath as you try to keep yourself from panicking, wringing your hands together. “i thought you said that was over,” luther mentions, taking a few steps towards you.

“we were wrong, okay?” you tell them, grabbing the newspaper from five, “this is the newspaper from the day we got stuck in the future- the headline’s the same, it hasn’t changed.” you wave the paper in the air, noticing that your hands had started to shake.

diego shakes his head, “no, that doesn’t mean anything.” he denies, “time could’ve been altered since that came out this morning.”

“you’re not listening,” five’s says in irritation, “i assumed this place came down with everything else. but here we are. the moon’s still shining, everything’s still in one piece,” he motions around you all, “but not the academy.”

klaus steps forward, snatching the paper from you to look at it himself, muttering something about being confused. “then listen, you idiot.” you seethe, looking around at the fallen building, “vanya destroys the academy before the apocalypse. we thought jenkins was the cause, but it turns out he was only what set off the bomb that is vanya.” you hear helicopters above, getting closer, as well as the sirens of emergency services. “vanya causes the apocalypse.”

luther stares with wide eyes, “we have to find her.”

a bright light shines over all of you, and you cover your eyes to block the rays. “we’ve gotta get out of here,” diego stands from where he was sitting on a pile of rubble, glancing at where the light was coming from. “regroup at the super star!”

everyone starts to make their way over the rubble as quickly as possible, and you grab five’s hand as he jumps away, and you crouch down to catch your breath when you land in the bowling alley. while you were waiting for the others, you look up at five. “okay, if we die, i just want you to know-”

"we won’t die.” he cuts you off, and you force a smile at his determination. you hoped he was right, but you could never be sure.

looking to the door as everyone else walks in, you nod, standing back up straight. “alright. we won’t die.” you run your fingers through your hair, sighing as the others meet up with you all.

you all got a lane so you wouldn’t be kicked out or questioned for just hanging around, sitting around on the seats. the sounds of the balls rolling down the polished lanes and knocking the pins down filled the air, and luther spoke up. “i hate to say this, but everyone needs to prepare.”

“for what?” diego questions.

“to do whatever it takes to stop vanya.” he responds simply, getting hit in the chest with the notepad that allison had been carrying around to write whatever she had to say. he sighs, “we may not have a choice, allison.” he tells her in frustration.

“bullshit,” diego argues, his leg bouncing up and down, “there’s always options.”

you didn’t want to cause a fight in the family, but you didn’t have time to sit around to figure this out. “yeah? like what?” you ask, raising an eyebrow at him.

shaking his head, diego looks away. “i don’t know.”

“look, whatever we decide, we have to find vanya,” luther stands from his seat, shrugging slightly, “and we have to do it fast. she could be anywhere.”

you nod, “or... here?” you turn towards klaus as he speaks, your eyebrows furrowing in confusion, moving to look at the paper as he shows one of the pages. seeing a picture of vanya in one of the advertisement boxes, you grin. her concert.

“hello,” you all turn to look at the woman who walked over, an awkward smile on her face. “i hate to intrude, but my manager says if you’re not going to bowl, you'll have to leave.” she shrugs before walking back to the counter, where a particularly grumpy man stood.

rolling your eyes, you stand from you seat, grabbing one of the bowling balls and carelessly tossing it down the lane, looking to the manager and sending him a mocking smile before sitting back down.

allison writes something on her notepad, showing all of you and tapping on the paper. she’s our sister.

luther shakes his head, “we’re the only ones capable of stopping this.” he tells her, “we have a responsibility to dad.”

“to dad?” diego looks at him in irritation, “no, i’ve heard enough about-”

“he sacrificed everything to bring us back together.” luther argues back, and you sigh at how often they fight.

five looks between them, “i’m with luther on this one.” he looks to everyone else, “we can’t give her a chance to fight back. there are billions of lives at stake, we’re past trying to save one.”

klaus looks around, “hey guys, maybe i could help...”

“now’s not the time-”

diego cuts luther off, “no, let him finish.” when he looks at him in confusion, he defends him, “he saved my life today.”

klaus looks to his side, “yeah, yeah i did... take credit for it.” he nods, “in fact, the real hero,” he pauses for a moment, “was ben.” everyone looks at him, clearly not believing what he was saying. how could you? as far as you knew, he could only communicate with the dead. “today- listen. today, he punched me in the face! and earlier, he was the one who saved diego, not me.”

“you are unbelievable, klaus.” luther scoffs.

“look, you want proof?” he picks up one of the bowling balls, “i’ll give you proof.” he looks past five, and you follow his gaze to... absolutely nothing. “okay, ready?” he breathes, “catch.” he tosses the ball, and five quickly moves to the side out of the way, and you all watch as the ball hits the ground, bouncing a few times before rolling away.

you sigh softly, and luther looks at him in annoyance. “is there any way to silence that voice in your head that screams out to be the center of attention?”

“you know, i liked you a lot better before you got laid.” klaus tells him with a glare, and the monkey man’s eyes widen at the exclamation, and klaus quickly tries to fix it when he sees allison’s look of surprise. “it wasn’t his fault, though, because he was ridiculously high! and the girl- she thought he was a furry-” luther hisses at him to stop, and he nods, looking away.

you watch as allison walks away with luther following, rolling your eyes. your attention is caught by a woman walking over with a kid next to her, “excuse me, it’s my son kenny’s birthday today, and, uh, wouldn’t your son and his little girlfriend have more fun with kids their own age?”

snorting, you look to the side, nearly choking on air as you hold back from laughing too hard. “i would rather chew off my own foot.” you hear five seethe, and you almost fall over from the laugh you let out, seeing the woman’s eyes widen before she quickly lead her son away.

when five stands from his seat and starts walking away to another lane, you quickly get up to follow, catching your breath from your laughing fit as you watch him flip open a part of the machine the balls come back to, your laughter immediately ceasing when you see the canister, labeled as ‘number five.’ “well, shit.” you breathe, holding a hand over your stomach which was sore as if you just did one hundred sit ups.

“how did she find us?” he questions no one in particular, before he starts to dig through his pockets, sighing when he pulled out a few of the candies that she had offered when you guys were back at the commission.

you purse your lips as he opens one of the candies, revealing a tracker. “she’s good.” you commend quietly, nodding your head.

when he opens the canister and dumps the message out, it’s in a fortune cookie, and you furrow your eyebrows as you watch him crack it open.

rain quail, room twelve

he sighs, shaking his head. “i’ll go see what she wants, you stay here and make sure the idiots don’t do anything stupid.”

“wait, are you-” before you can finish, he had disappeared, and you sigh softly, grabbing the open receptacle and screwing the cap back on, sticking it back where it came from before going back to join the others at the lane.

luther and allison come back at the same time as you, and the big man looks confused as he stops behind some of the seats. “where did five go?”

you sigh, shaking your head, “he left. we don’t need to wait around.”

luther glances around, “alright, concert starts in thirty minutes.”

“okay, so what’s the plan?” diego questions him, and he stumbles for words for  a moment.

“well,” he starts, pursing his lips as he thinks, “we should go to icarus theater.”

diego looks at him deadpan, “that’s a location, not a plan.” the other shakes his head slightly, his mouth open but not saying anything. “that’s all you got?” he asks, stepping closer to him, “look, you want to be number one? fine. but you have to get us all on the same page because right now, we’re a mess.”

“he’s right.” you nod your head towards diego, bouncing on your toes for a second, “we need a plan. and we need one now, because the end of the world isn’t so far away.”

before he says anything else, there’s sudden rapid gunfire and you all duck behind the various racks of balls. the party of kids and their parents scream, doing their best to get under cover, and you sneak a glance at who it was.

there were at least ten people, masks over their faces with machine guns firing without mercy. people from the commission, no doubt. you curse under your breath, and diego pops up to throw a knife at one of the men, who stumbles into the sound system, the lights turning off and being replaced with neon colors, music playing over the speakers.

“alright.” you mumble to yourself, taking one more look to see where all of them were, before quickly moving to another rack, closer to a small group of them all. you jump onto one of the guys’ back, your hands igniting with fire and lighting him up. you hear his scream, muffled by the mask he wore as you grab the gun he dropped, shooting the other two men with him.

“the lanes!” you hear luther shout over the chaos, and you look over to see them running down the bowling lanes, bullets flying past them. you quickly sprint across the floor, nearly slipping from the polish on the wooden lanes, but you manage to keep your balance, getting to the end of the lane and sliding through the pins, turning to shoot at a few of the men through the hole before throwing the gun to the side and following the others out of the building.

-

you all ran into the theater, going up the stairs as quick as you could. as you were about to go in, you turn to see that allison had stopped luther, and you sigh heavily, catching your breath.

he looks at her, “allison, you know i can’t do that, she’s beyond reasoning.” he tries to move forward again, but is once again stopped. “do you honestly think she’s gonna listen?”

you tap your foot against the floor, crossing your arms over your chest. “we don’t have time for this, guys.” you raise your voice slightly, your heart beat growing quicker with every second that passes where you haven’t stopped vanya.

looking at her for a second, he nods. “okay.”

allison turns on her heel and quickly runs into the auditorium, and you all stand back. “you’re using her as a distraction, aren’t you?” diego asks luther.

“it’s our best chance to incapacitate vanya.” he reasons, and for once, you actually agree with what he’s doing. when he let her go and do as she wanted, you were ready to run in and do it yourself, but at least he had some sort of plan. “she’ll thank us later.” he sighs.

you follow them as they move to find their way backstage, telling klaus to be lookout- which you felt bad for, but you technically did need it. those men would probably be here in no less than ten minutes, and you needed to know when they did.

you found your way backstage, luther at the right side with you and diego on the other, preparing to run out. when luther made the move, all of you ran out to get her and hopefully manage to knock her out or something to make sure she couldn’t use her powers.

before you got close enough to do anything, she had seen you. she stood from her chair, her skin paler than usual and her eyes icy. she cut her bow through the air swiftly, and all three of you are pushed back from the force, landing in the audience.

you landed on the back, the air being knocked out of you, and you cough a few times as you take heavy breaths. all around you, people from the audience were screaming and running from the room, trying to get out as quickly as possible. the orchestra continued to play.

it wasn’t too long later that the auditorium was completely empty, and the four of you sat behind the rows of seats, yelling over the music to figure out what to do.

you didn’t have enough time to come up with something, as the men who you had expected came back, firing into the rows of seats and the walkways between them. you groan softly, counting in your head.

“what’s with all the lollygagging?” you look up into the walkway next to you to see five, and you quickly grab his arm to pull him behind the seats.

“are you trying to get shot?” you yell at him, and he ducks as more shots are fired.

he looks around, “i thought they would take a bit longer to get here!” he shouts back, and you roll your eyes, glancing up.

“you take out the guys coming down the aisle- i’ll get them.” you point to the small group of guys making their way down the rows of seats on the other side, and he nods, jumping to take out them as you rushed past the seats.

when you got to the other side, they had their backs turned to you, continuing their fire on the seats . “you’re making this way too easy.” you mumble, sweeping your foot under one of the guys’ legs to knock him down before snatching the gun he held, shooting him and his little buddies.

klaus comes running into the hall and when you look over to shoot some more guys overhead, you see the ghostly figure that slowly appeared before tentacles grew out of him, taking out all of the guys with ease.

you watch as he takes everyone out, slightly shocked, before you run to meet up with all of them in the middle of one of the aisles, ready to take down vanya now that the men in your way were taken care of.

“alright, you go stage left,” luther tells diego, “i’ll go right. you three go from the front.” you all nod and move to get into position.

you crouched behind the front row in the middle of the seats, five and klaus on either ends of the seats, and as luther shouts for everyone to go, you hop over the seat and sprint towards the stage with the rest of them.

just as you get to her again, with another swipe of her bow, you’re suspended in the air, gasping for air. you manage to turn your head and see the others in the same position as you, vanya somehow holding all of you in the air and slowly squeezing the life out of you.

your vision starts to blur, but you see allison standing behind vanya, holding a gun to the back of her head with tears running down her face. just as you’re about to pass out, she points the gun to the back of the room and shoots, causing vanya to drop all of you to the floor.

the glass of the skylight above you all shatters as her power is directed towards it, and you catch your breath as you look up and see her fall to the ground. all of you run up onto the stage, making sure that she was alive.

“we did it,” luther breathes out, and you let out a breathy chuckle from the realization. “we saved the world.”

as you sit on the stage, catching your breath, klaus stands up, looking out of the broken window. “guys,” he trails off slightly, pointing out. you look up and see what he’s looking at- the moon, breaking apart in the sky. your eyes widen, “see that big moon rock coming towards us?”

“so much for saving the world.” you mutter, holding your face in your hands as you sigh. “it was great while it lasted.” you chuckle bitterly, shaking your head as you look back up to see the end of the world hurtling towards you in the form of a piece of the moon.

five paces for a moment as the siblings talk, before speaking up. “this doesn’t have to be the end.” he states, turning to look at everyone as they turn to him in confusion, “i think i have a way out of here, but you have to trust me on it.”

they all shake their heads, all deciding that it probably wasn’t the best thing to trust him on it.

standing slowly, you sigh. “are you thinking what i think you are?” you ask, raising an eyebrow in his direction, and he shrugs.

“in less than a minute we’re going to be vaporized. we have to try something.” his siblings turn to look at him, waiting for him to explain his idea. “we use my ability to time travel, and i’ll take you all with me.”

glancing at each other, the men nod, “what’s the worst thing that can happen?” diego shrugs.

“well, we’re fifty-eight, looking like children, so there’s that to think about.” you chuckle, shaking your head.

they all look around for a moment, after a moment all agreeing.

“okay great, luther, grab vanya.” five instructs, and you’re already standing next to him, grabbing his hand in preparation for whatever was about to happen. the others gather around, holding onto each other.

as he picks her up, luther looks at woman who had passed out. “should we be taking her?” he questions, “i mean, she’s the cause, isn’t that like taking a bomb with us?”

“she’ll always cause the apocalypse.” you tilt your head to either side to pop your neck, “unless we try to take her back with us and fix her.”

they all nod, gathering together without saying anything else. five looks up as he focuses on traveling back in time, and a temporal anomaly, much like the one you came out of eight days ago, grows above you all.

“it’s working!” you hear luther yell over the deafening sound of the anomaly growing, hissing and crackling as electricity would.

“hold on!” five yells, holding onto your hand tighter, “it’s going to get messy!”

as you look around at the others, you see their younger selves, and you wonder if the same thing will happen to them, before a large flash blinds you.

suddenly, you’re falling out of the sky.

-

taglists

main: @horrorklaus​

tua: @rasberrymay​ @noodlextrash​

five: @anapocalypseinmymind​ @five-hargreeves-official​ @insatiable-ivy​ @coffee-e-addict @xplrreylo​ @fandomfreakff​ @colie-babi​

lstw: @aspiringwriter1 @thetrashypanda423 @lilacs-lavender @wow-lookit-all-the-fandoms @ohmyitsfaith @xplrreylo @fandomfreakff @onedollarduck @sleepygal124 @faith-quake @stripedchickens @youcandalekmyballs @pettyjayy @libidinexx @bts-chub @theoriginalkat @flowertoty

[wordsoflittlewisdom]

Watching bop again

I kinda forgot Cass was at the roller derby game. Love how all the characters are connected

Why does Roman’s voice...sound like that

Boss Bitch is weirdly nostalgic now

I like that the whole roller derby team is wearing like. team jackets. and harleys got her whole fringe sleeves thing going on

YES LOVE WHEN SHE THROWS THE NECKLACE AWAY

The chemical plant blowing up as fireworks was a very Harley choice

“So I’ll start where I fucking want” four minutes ago

huntress huntress huntress huntress huntress

I read somewhere that this huntress and Montoya scene was one take and they just changed the lighting to show the change

romans middle name being beauvais is probably the clearest clue they could have given that he was from a rich family

Love that Renee finds the necklace and knows Harley and the joker broke up. I like this idea that superheroes/villains are kinda like celebrities in this world

The egg sandwich scene is great what more can I say

Love that there’re cars and people just living their lives in this city

It’s a crime that we never see Harley wear this glittery fanny pack

The music is really good in this

It’s neat how the line between her narration and her dialogue is blurred, like how she’ll say the first part of something in narration and the second part in dialogue

Huntress’s little flute theme

And Montoya knows Cass; c o n n e c t i o n s

Montoya’s been going after Roman, too

And now we’re flipping back to the bertinelli massacre and diamond

Even if the whole missing diamond plot isn’t that unique, everything’s woven together so neatly

And now Dinah and Renee are on the phone about Cass and the diamond

It’s all connected

Harleys whole “I’m here to report a terrible crime”—she could have just run in there but she wanted to be Dramatic

I do wish the vocals were a little louder here maybe?

Big fan of this fight choreography

Harley pausing on a frame where she’s making a weird face before rewinding to explain about the diamond—it’s so rare to ever get to see women like. making weird faces in movies. All the women in his this are gorgeous but they don’t always have to be; they look beat up after fights and get dirty and make weird faces and it’s great

Dinah singing? Exceptional

“Loans, liquidity, laundering” ah yes the three L’s of illegal business

I unironically listen to Black Canary’s man’s world.

I like that everyone just calls Dinah “Canary”

“I’m all on my lonesome. It’s great” Harleys even an unreliable narrator when she’s just talking

I’ve really never seen a movie that feel like it’s from the female gaze visually as much as this one—all the rings and earrings, the hair, the makeup, it feels like what women might fantasize about dressing like

Dinah yelling “you motherfucker!” While beating some creeps up is quality

What time of day is it? Dinah would probably be leaving early in the morning, but I Refuse to believe that Roman would be awake particularly early any morning

She either canary is leaving her nightclub singing gig in the late morning/early afternoon or roman is still awake from the night before and is going to go to sleep soon

Cass and Dinah in the same building. (Bernie voice): I am once again talking about the connections

I’ve riffed on this before but i refuse to believe that Roman can drive

This Dinah and Renee scene establishes character, backstories, and moves the plot along all at once

Jesus some of ewan mcgregor’s acting in this is painfully bad

I love that Cass has a big bomber jacket and longer, looser shorts

Jurnee’s abs wow

The lights from behind the hands with the eyes behind Harley, who’s surrounded by people and then Roman and Victor emerge from the back, whispering to each other? Beautiful

One of the grievances roman has against Harley is “constantly interrupting him, like I’m doing right now”

Harleys “you’re really not as complicated as you think” bit is almost satirical of this cult we’ve created of “complicated” white male movie villains who have massive fan followings (cough cough joker)

Interesting that Roman holds the knife to Harleys face but hands it off to Victor to do that actual cutting

Someone handed Roman a bowl of popcorn

Harleys pocket tampon

It’s diamonds are a girls best friend yeah babey!

The male backup dancers are wearing muzzles/masks (Roman has one too for a split second) is an interesting flip on the way women are typically the ones being silenced, as well as Harleys desire to silence the men around her and be the one telling and controlling her own narrative

“Hey! you’re that singer no one listens to!” “Hey! You’re the asshole no one likes!”

Harley with her glitter gun

Harleys reaction when the sprinklers go off is perfect—Margot makes her feel like a living cartoon

This cell block fight scene is a showstopper

I like that cass doesn’t immediately want to stay with Harley. It gives her some agency in a story where she’s mostly just following the curveballs life throws her

Harleys little stare straight into the camera when cass admits to eating the diamond

Harley at the grocery store really emphasizes that she’s a total weirdo

I think I heard somewhere that the pic of child Harley with the nuns is a pic of young Margot??? Not totally sure though

Cass not knowing who the joker is goes with the whole supers are like celebrities thing—cass probably follows a whole different group of them (like how most kids follow different celebrities than their parents)

Huntress huntress huntresssss

“Give me number 32. Mild”

This kid in helenas flashback doesn’t really look like she’s grow up to look like Mary Elizabeth Winstead

This filming in this flashback has so much style

Helena practicing in the bathroom mirror with her drawing and her multiple bottles of travel mouthwash

We’re in the scene where Roman makes the girl dance on the table and oh god it’s so uncomfortable

No no no no no not this hate this

Alright that nightmare’s done

“and that’s why you should never pay federal income taxes”

Harley offering to bring cass to Roman after hearing doc say “business is business is interesting

OH ITS HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT TIME

Dinahs car is yellow because it’s...canary yellow

Roman putting on the mask is cool and all but he’s just gonna have to take it back off to get changed

This Harley vs Renee fight is fun because they keep mirroring each other—they’re fighting each other, but they’re really on the same side

The way the women all kind of circle each other at first and don’t immediately get along

Cass popping up with the gun also gives her some agency—she’s at the end of her rope with the diamond and being betrayed by Harley

“I am nOT THE CROSSBOW KILLER”

The way Huntress sounds so uncertain when she says “...and now I’m done” Mary’s acting really popped off

Roman’s a bitch but I like his outfits

Helenas little smile when Harley says “you just killed his BFF”

I love how excited Harley is when they all agree to work together

Roman’s giving his little speech in the back of a pickup truck?

When all the guys turned around with masks on I got chills

“I love this chick she’s got rage issues.” “I DONT HAVE RAGE ISSUES”

Huntress stabbing the guy while going down the slide is peak cinema

This set lights up as the scene progresses and reveals more

I love love love that Helena is genuinely caring towards Cass and recognizing that children shouldn’t have to go through trauma like her

“When the fuck did she have time to do a shoe change?”

THE HAIR TIE YEAH

Forgot to mention this but it’s a stroke of genius for this place to be called the booby trap

Love me some canary cry

“Told ya she had a killer voice”

Harleys chase was a real group hurrah—the canary cry cleared the way and pushed her forward, Huntress towed her, Renee gave her the gun with one bullet

Cass and Roman are just sitting in the back seat. That must have been an awkward car ride

Cass pulling the gun away from Roman when he tries to shoot up at Harley when Harleys on top of the car is elite

Damn this is one foggy pier

When Harley starts with “your protection is based on the fact that people are scared of you” you expect her to say that it’s wrong or something but she says “I’m the one they should be scared of” this movie messed with tropes so much

That also includes the whole “one bullet” thing—Harley misses with her one bullet, and you don’t really know what’s gonna happen next

“I took your ring”

You can pinpoint exactly when Harley and Roman realize what Cass did

I’d put the entire taco scene here if I could

Renee moving the drink away from cass shows her caring side—she doesn’t want a kid to get into alcohol and make the mistakes she did

“Does she always talk like the cop in a bad eighties movie?”

Harley and Cass stealing the car is a fun way to show that she may be on the side of the good guys sometimes, but that doesn’t necessarily make her one

“Woman” by Kesha

Wow the outfits in this scene are iconic

I mean they are in the whole movie but I especially like these

Cass riding around with Harley and a hyena, wearing cute outfits and learning the ways of chaos

Harley got her sandwich!

The credit art for this movie is cool

Especially how they represent each character

In conclusion this is still my favorite movie

I know I’ve been kinda absent recently, but watching this again has really reminded me how much I love it. I got really busy but I’m going to Make An Effort to be a contributing member of the bop fandom again.

[fyexo]

200930 SuperM On Album Super One's Message, Friendship & Their Group Halloween Costume

What happens when you put together an Avengers-style K-pop group, featuring the top talent from some of South Korea's biggest boy bands, and unite their individual bands' fan bases? The boys of SuperM—Mark (from NCT and NCT 127), Kai (from EXO), Ten (from WayV and NCT), Lucas (from WayV and NCT), Taemin (from SHINee), Taeyong (from NCT and NCT 127), and Baekhyun (from EXO)—started that journey a year ago and made history.

With their first, self-titled EP, SuperM became the first debut K-pop act to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Nearly a year later, their first full-length album Super One is newly released—and very much influenced by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has stalled most musicians' plans for touring and performing for fans. Songs like "Together at Home" poignantly touch on it, with lyrics focused on finding the silver lining and embracing little pleasures.

Taemin tells ELLE.com that the boys want Super One to bring joy to their fans, and a sense of unity as the world goes through this period of quarantining and social distancing. "We want our fans to know that despite the distance, we are together in spirit," he says. "We created this album wanting to give back to our fans who give us unconditional love and support. Hopefully through our music, they can feel the positive energy and find happiness and hope to help get through this difficult time together."

Below, the boys discuss the album with ELLE, along with insights into how their friendship changed during their first year as a group, their experiences quarantining, and what their group Halloween costume has to be.

How has it felt to watch K-pop, C-pop, and J-pop take off in the West over the past couple years, and be part of that moment?

Taemin: As a K-pop artist, I am very proud. From performing in Paris and L.A. for the first time to having fans recognize me when we were taking photos along Abbey Road in London, these moments don’t seem that long ago, but it’s amazing to see how quickly K-pop has become popular around the globe. I am proud to have been a part of this movement and I’ll continue to work hard to help take K-pop to greater heights.

Last October, you made history as the first debut Korean act to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 with your SuperM EP. How did it feel taking that in? As a group, what is your dream to accomplish in the U.S. music scene?

Baekhyun: To have our first debut album hit number one on the chart was an incredible honor and the happiest, unexpected surprise. This is all because of our fans and I am so grateful for all the love and support they have and continue to give us. This just made me want to work harder to create a better album and provide more amazing content that brings joy to the fans. As for my goal in the U.S. music scene, when everything gets better, it’d be a dream come true to perform during the Super Bowl Halftime Show!

You’ve all known each other for years before working together. What were your first impressions of each other?

Mark: Before coming together as SuperM, I always looked up to them as role models. It was a cool feeling to see them all when we first had our meeting. I was thrilled and really looking forward to being on a team with them. And so, getting close to them as a brother and as a person was a good transition from just knowing them as senior artists. They all have their own brother-like personalities and I’m really happy to be able to see that side of them and have them accept me as a brother too.

Kai told Billboard last October that there was "nothing new to learn" about each other since you’ve all been friends for years. But what has working together as a group on this album taught you musically?

Taeyong: All the members are great artists and performers—each with their own unique, individual charm. Put them together and you get this amazing synergy onstage that’s been fun to show our fans. There are so many lessons I’ve learned from being part of SuperM but I would have to say the older members’ leadership and their ability to empathize with others inspired me to become a better leader for NCT 127. They really listen to what you have to say and always give great advice so I try to be the same for NCT 127 and help bring out the best in each member. I still have a lot to learn but I’m always trying to improve and working with SuperM encourages me to do so.

Ten: I learned so much from all the members while working on this album. They give the best advice, especially the senior members. Taemin gave me great tips on how to better express myself on stage and Baekhyun helped me a lot with my vocals. Outside of work, we can have deep conversations about anything. We all began our career at a young age so they really understand what I’m going through and how I feel. I can always count on them when I need someone to talk to.

How has being bandmates changed your friendships over the last year?

Kai: In the beginning, because we mostly knew each other as juniors/seniors within the industry and label, it was slightly awkward. But once we started to get to know each other, we were all able to connect with each other within the older/younger brother dynamic, so now they really feel like brothers to me. And I want to keep it that way going forward.

What has been your favorite moment from your first year together?

Baekhyun: One of my favorite moments would have to be when we filmed the reality show together. It was fun to do “regular” things together like cooking, playing games, and doing challenges. Everyone has a great sense of humor so we laughed the entire time. It was a great opportunity for us to bond and we had a blast.

Kai: I’d have to say when we were touring around the world together—and more recently, when we got to shoot our own reality TV show. Each of those moments brought us much closer together.

Taemin: When we made our debut as SuperM, and held our very first showcase at Capitol Records. I remember thinking, "This is another new beginning for me" and it brought back old memories of when I auditioned for SM and debuted as SHINee. It felt like another new path was created for me and I remember feeling all kinds of emotions throughout the day.

Taeyong: If you think about it, a year is not that long, but we made so many memories together and I think that’s because we are all positive-minded people. In the past year, we spent almost half a year on a world tour and the other half practicing and preparing for our album. I’ve grown a lot both on a professional and personal level so I cherish every single moment!

Mark: I think it would have to be our debut showcase in L.A. at the Capitol Records Tower. We were nervous but it felt good that we were all nervous together. Sharing the same emotions with the members is a good feeling because you know we’re all in it together.

Ten: When we went on our world tour. Experiencing different cultures and meeting our fans worldwide was unforgettable. Also, we all got very close during the tour from being together 24/7. Because we come from different groups, this was our first time doing a tour together so we were able to really bond.

Lucas: Our first performance of "Jopping" in L.A. It was a great feeling to finally be able to show the world what we’ve been working really hard on. The audience’s energy, the city, and the overall vibe that day was incredible. I’ll never forget it.

What song on Super One are you most proud of and why?

Taeyong: I am most proud of "Together at Home." It’s a little more special to me because I wrote some of the lyrics for the song. I put a lot of thought into the messaging and wanted to say that even though we are not physically together, we can find new ways to be there for each other. With what’s going on right now, I feel like fans can relate to the message and find comfort knowing that no matter what, we’ll always find a way to reach them. It’s a feel-good song that anyone can hum along to.

Lucas: I choose "Infinity." You can really feel our energy and our ambition "to go to infinity." Our title song, "One," is a hybrid remix that combines "Infinity" and "Monster" so it’s fun to hear the two tracks on their own and then hear "One" which has a completely different vibe. Each has its own charm.

Mark, you helped write "100" and Taeyong and Mark, you worked together to write "Together at Home." What do those songs mean to you? How has your songwriting evolved as you’ve worked on more music?

Taeyong: "Together at Home" [has] special meaning to me. When writing the lyrics, I tried to be as honest as possible with my feelings and thankfully, the team loved it, so I was very happy about that. Hopefully fans can also feel the sincerity of the message and like the song as much as I do.

Mark: It was fun writing both songs but I enjoyed "Together at Home" a little more because it really suits the current situation we’re all going through and I could really relate to it. Through this process, I realized how important it is to stay true to yourself. You can get inspired and get ideas from basically everything around you, but ultimately, you need to interpret them in your own way. Staying true to yourself differentiates you from other artists. This is what I always try to bring alive through my music.

Who would you love to collaborate with?

Taemin: I would love to collaborate with Jessie J one day. Her performances are very sincere and I can feel her singing from the heart. I admire her energy and passion onstage and she is someone I feel I can learn a lot from. I also think we would create great synergy together if we collaborated!

You all are incredible dancers. What song from Super One has your favorite choreography so far?

Kai: I personally like "Tiger Inside." The choreography is inspired by the movement of a tiger and fits perfectly with the concept and theme of the song. I like that the choreography has its own storyline.

Quarantine and COVID-19 have drastically changed every musicians’ plans for the year. What is a day in the life of quarantine like for you? What things have you done for self-care when the days have felt harder?

Ten: First, I do the basics like wash my hands often, take vitamins, eat healthy, and exercise. But, most importantly, I’ve been keeping myself busy at home relaxing, practicing my vocals and dancing skills, finding new hobbies, and trying new activities that I didn’t have the time to try before. I was actually surprised at how much you can do at home.

Is there anything you can tease about what fans can expect for your next tour?

Mark: When we are able to tour again, I can guarantee we’ll be preparing the best show ever. As much as we missed out on a lot of shows due to inevitable circumstances, when it’s safe and the next tour opens, we’ll bring everything we have for the fans, especially songs from Super One.

What Halloween group costume will SuperM do this year?

Mark: It would have to be The Avengers! And if I were to do it myself, it would still be a character from The Avengers. Maybe Spider-Man? It’s a character fans really like and I think it suits me really well.

What's an entertainment pick—TV show, music, movie, video game, book—you’ve loved in quarantine?

Baekhyun: I’m sure many people are already watching a lot of Netflix and YouTube videos at home. Rather than an entertainment pick, I think it’s a great idea to take advantage of the time we have and start a new hobby you can do indoors—like learning to play a new instrument. Everyone has something they’ve always wanted to try but never did. Now is a great time to start! If you're interested in learning a new instrument, there are many great books and tutorial videos online so you can teach yourself!

Taeyong: SuperM videos! We created a lot of content for you guys and they’ll definitely keep you entertained and make time go by faster. Hopefully they’ll make you laugh too!

What’s next for SuperM?

Baekhyun: Fans have already seen our powerful, energetic side through our performances. Now, we want to get closer to the fans and show them more of our "human" side—who we are off-stage. Of course, we’ll continue to bring great performances but at the same time, we want fans to feel comfortable approaching us and not feel so distant. Most importantly, I want fans to find comfort and positive energy in our music.

Alyssa Bailey @ ELLE

[mcwriting]

Starstruck (6)

IT’S FINALLY HERE! After revision after revision, I’m done with ch 6! Thank you to everyone who has been soooo patient with me! I’ve finally found a groove with this story and am super motivated to finish. I promise the next chapters will actually include more of Tom and get us into the story resolve!

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Fandom: Tom Holland 

Ship: Tom Holland x Reader

Setting: LA area

Word Count: 1863

Warnings: some “bad” words as usual

Rating: Meh. K+

                            __________________________________

Days later you finally drove yourself to dance, even though it was only a short walk from home

It was a necessary evil to avoid the paps trying to harass you.

The studio would be full today, but you couldn’t keep skipping class. You talked to your instructor privately to ask that she help keep the class from getting “distracted” by your situation.

You were there pretty early and entered the large room to pick a spot on the barre and start warming up. As the time for class neared, students trickled in.

Some of your friends came to give a hug and say they were happy to see you, but the others just wanted to grill you. You ignored them and stayed silent, exchanging awkward looks with your closer friends. 

Class went somewhat smoothly, if you forgot every time someone tried to pull you aside during a water break to squeeze info out of you. 

By the end, you were tired and drained and ready to go home.

It wasn’t until you’d already begun to step out the door that someone tried to warn you about the paparazzi and journalists outside. 

You were immediately overwhelmed by people rushing forward, shouting out questions and statements. Shocked, you stood completely still as cameras snapped and microphones were shoved in your face. 

Obviously, someone had told them you were here, and unfortunately you knew they would be able to follow you home. 

Parents, teachers, and classmates kindly came to your aid, surrounding you to help push through the crowd to your car. 

You dreaded walking towards it and willingly giving away what your vehicle looked like to them because if they happened to capture your license plate number (which was very plausible) they could find you easily. 

As the people supporting you tried moving you forward, you finally sucked up your fears and stepped with them, head held high. You wouldn’t let yourself get caught looking dejected over a stupid, selfish celebrity.

It took a while to drive out of the lot because you had to avoid the sea of people. It wouldn’t look great for you to hospitalize a reporter because you ran over them.

Even if it was their fault for stepping in front of me? you asked yourself.

YES

Cars were tailgating you, as some of the people had been smart enough to hop in their cars when you did so they could follow you home. A sense of panic tightened your chest when you realized how dangerous this might be.

You wanted to call the cops but figured nothing could stop these story-hungry maniacs from trying to dig up the smallest speck of dirt on you right now and running to the police would make you look weak. 

Surely this media storm would end as soon as Kendall Jenner did another Pepsi ad or some rapper got arrested outside the US, right?

Wrong, of course.

Two days later, the tea was that Tom was going from LA to Seoul, and he had been bombarded at LAX with fans and journalists, while others still followed your every move, even going so far as to watching your parents go to work and back. 

Tom had pulled the same stunts as you, practically bending over backwards to avoid answering the difficult questions of what had happened. You had to give it to him, he knew what he was doing, but you couldn’t help but feel a fire in your body every time you caught a glimpse of his management team in the background of pictures. 

It had been so tiring being silent about the matter that you felt like you were bursting at the seams, and you did the only logical thing you could think of:

Pack a backpack and drive straight to b/f/n’s house. 

The only warning you gave was a text saying I’m ready, and I hope you are too. 

She responded with the okay hand emoji and you took that as the “good enough” signal to head over.

                             __________________________________

You knew people had followed you to her house and you would have to apologize for that later, but now you were on the doorstep, nervous to knock. 

Before you could reach your hand up, however, the door swung open. 

Standing before you was your best friend in the flesh for the first time in the longest week of your life. 

She looked at you seriously and then glanced behind you, raising an eyebrow. A small grin crept up your face.

“Sorry about them. They don’t really understand when to leave,” you blurted.

She looked you up and down for a moment, calculating a reply before a smile rose to her own lips. 

“Come on, let’s get you inside before they invite themselves in too.”

She shut the door behind you and locked it, and as soon as she turned around you both embraced in a long, much needed hug. You teared up 

You were still holding each other when a male voice called out. 

“Is that y/n?” her dad asked from the couch. 

You pulled away and sniffled. 

“In the flesh!” you called. 

“Come on, let’s go talk in my room,” b/f/n said, pulling you that way. You waved at her dad and sister as you passed the living room.

Boy did it feel good to be in that house again.

                             __________________________________

Both of you sat on the floor, backs leaned against the bed, sharing a bowl of chips.

You finished summarizing what had happened from the day you went to the premiere until Tom left the city and you were waiting for her to respond. She had been silently listening the whole time, and now you were silent in your wait, except for the occasional crunch of chips.

It had been a few minutes when she finally turned to you.

“Y/n… why didn’t you tell me?”

Your stomach dropped. Of course she would ask you that. You sighed and leaned your head back.

“I know it was wrong, and I’m sorry for that but, b/f/n, I was scared. I know how much you love Tom and I didn’t want anything to go public… even though that ended up failing. I never wanted to be in the public eye and I was afraid that if I told you, you might accidentally let it slip on twitter or insta.”

“You didn’t think you could trust me?” she accused, rightfully. You turned your head to look her in the eyes.

“It’s not that you aren’t trustworthy, I mean, you’re my best friend, I tell you everything. The problem is that this was the biggest secret… ever. No one could know, not even you. The only people who knew the extent of what happened were me and Tom. I don’t think he even told his brothers or best friend everything.” 

You both sat quietly again, studying each other’s faces.

“So when I came over last week? You lied to me about the car picture?”

You cringed a little, but had to tell the truth.

“Yes. You had just missed him leaving the house, too. That was the morning after he stayed the night.”

“WHAT!” she exclaimed. “You’re telling me I could have met him for real and you’re just telling me now??”

You couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

“I guess if I would’ve just let you meet him I could’ve prevented this whole situation, huh?” you joked.

“Honestly, yeah,” she replied with a smile.

“I’m really sorry that I lied to you and hid all of this.” 

B/f/n sighed this time.

“I know I should be mad, but I weirdly understand. If I’m being honest with myself, I probably would have done the same thing. Let’s just promise to be real with each other from now on.”

“Yeah, I like that idea.”

You both leaned over in a hug.

“So, since I need to know everything… where did Tom sleep that night, and are you the reason he liked my post.”

You pulled away.

“First of all, rude that you would ask me about that in my time of need,” you joked, “and secondly, yes I told him to like your post. I told him allllllll about you. Also... we both may have fallen asleep on my bed.”

“YOU SLEPT WITH TOM HOLLAND??” she basically screamed.

You started giggling as you slapped a hand over her mouth.

“Shhhhh! If you aren’t careful there’ll be even worse rumors about me!”

You both spent the night recounting your night with Tom and the other times spent with him, only leaving the room for dinner and more snacks. After your time apart, it was like you were attached at the hips.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, you finally slept soundly, not tossing and turning with the anxiety of days past.

                             __________________________________

You sat at the dining table with b/f/n, laughing like things were completely normal again. 

“Hey I’m gonna grab some more juice, want anything?” you asked, standing up.

B/f/n shook her head and you headed out of the room, beelining it to the fridge. 

In the kitchen stood b/f/n’s older sister, Caroline, who was serving herself some pancakes as you pulled the juice bottle out.

“So… Crazy week I presume?” Caroline questioned.

“Like nothing you could imagine,” you replied.

Caroline was only a couple years older than you and b/f/n, but she had been a confidant for you many times when it came to things like relationships or just more mature topics. She also was getting her PhD in psychology, which came in handy for advice and discernment about different situations.

“Yeah, I’m sure. So do you actually hate him or are you secretly in love with him now?” she deadpanned, causing you to almost spill the juice.

“What?” you asked back, flabbergasted.

What kind of question was that? Was this girl out of her mind?

“Oh come on. It’s like the biggest fanfiction cliche of all time, ‘enemies to lovers’? Don’t think that we didn’t all notice that he had been crying in that live. Also you blushed when I said it.”

“Well obviously any normal person is gonna blush when someone says something embarrassing about them!”

“What does he smell like?” she interjected, and this time you were completely taken aback.

“I- WHAT? How is that relevant?”

“Answer the question, y/n.”

“Fine. He wears this Calvin Klein cologne. Hah, my whole room smelled like it for almost a week... Now tell me why that’s relevant.”

“Your eyes lit up and you smiled when you mentioned your room smelling like him. And you blushed again.”

Do I really? you thought. Sure he’s good looking and we had a great time together, but he was such a dick. He broke my heart and ruined my life. How could I like the guy that did that to me?

“I hate psychology.” you eventually replied, earning a laugh from Caroline. 

I’m gonna have to do some more thinking on this later you admitted to yourself, carrying your beverage back to the dining room.

                            __________________________________

Part 7 is done and hopefully coming soon. It’s looking like this is gonna be a 9 or 10 parter. Love you all!

Taglist: @marvel-lously, @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl, @dreamyvans, @lisannehus, @honeymoonpeter, @shootingstarsaretearsofheaven, @chenellearose 

[dailyexo]

[INTERVIEW] Baekhyun, Kai - 201001 Elle: “SuperM On Album Super One's Message, Friendship & Their Group Halloween Costume”

"What happens when you put together an Avengers-style K-pop group, featuring the top talent from some of South Korea's biggest boy bands, and unite their individual bands' fan bases? The boys of SuperM—Mark (from NCT and NCT 127), Kai (from EXO), Ten (from WayV and NCT), Lucas (from WayV and NCT), Taemin (from SHINee), Taeyong (from NCT and NCT 127), and Baekhyun (from EXO)—started that journey a year ago and made history.

With their first, self-titled EP, SuperM became the first debut K-pop act to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Nearly a year later, their first full-length album Super One is newly released—and very much influenced by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has stalled most musicians' plans for touring and performing for fans. Songs like "Together at Home" poignantly touch on it, with lyrics focused on finding the silver lining and embracing little pleasures.

Taemin tells ELLE.com that the boys want Super One to bring joy to their fans, and a sense of unity as the world goes through this period of quarantining and social distancing. "We want our fans to know that despite the distance, we are together in spirit," he says. "We created this album wanting to give back to our fans who give us unconditional love and support. Hopefully through our music, they can feel the positive energy and find happiness and hope to help get through this difficult time together."

Below, the boys discuss the album with ELLE, along with insights into how their friendship changed during their first year as a group, their experiences quarantining, and what their group Halloween costume has to be.

How has it felt to watch K-pop, C-pop, and J-pop take off in the West over the past couple years, and be part of that moment?

Taemin: As a K-pop artist, I am very proud. From performing in Paris and L.A. for the first time to having fans recognize me when we were taking photos along Abbey Road in London, these moments don’t seem that long ago, but it’s amazing to see how quickly K-pop has become popular around the globe. I am proud to have been a part of this movement and I’ll continue to work hard to help take K-pop to greater heights.

Last October, you made history as the first debut Korean act to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 with your SuperM EP. How did it feel taking that in? As a group, what is your dream to accomplish in the U.S. music scene?

Baekhyun: To have our first debut album hit number one on the chart was an incredible honor and the happiest, unexpected surprise. This is all because of our fans and I am so grateful for all the love and support they have and continue to give us. This just made me want to work harder to create a better album and provide more amazing content that brings joy to the fans. As for my goal in the U.S. music scene, when everything gets better, it’d be a dream come true to perform during the Super Bowl Halftime Show!

You’ve all known each other for years before working together. What were your first impressions of each other?

Mark: Before coming together as SuperM, I always looked up to them as role models. It was a cool feeling to see them all when we first had our meeting. I was thrilled and really looking forward to being on a team with them. And so, getting close to them as a brother and as a person was a good transition from just knowing them as senior artists. They all have their own brother-like personalities and I’m really happy to be able to see that side of them and have them accept me as a brother too.

Kai told Billboard last October that there was "nothing new to learn" about each other since you’ve all been friends for years. But what has working together as a group on this album taught you musically?

Taeyong: All the members are great artists and performers—each with their own unique, individual charm. Put them together and you get this amazing synergy onstage that’s been fun to show our fans. There are so many lessons I’ve learned from being part of SuperM but I would have to say the older members’ leadership and their ability to empathize with others inspired me to become a better leader for NCT 127. They really listen to what you have to say and always give great advice so I try to be the same for NCT 127 and help bring out the best in each member. I still have a lot to learn but I’m always trying to improve and working with SuperM encourages me to do so.

Ten: I learned so much from all the members while working on this album. They give the best advice, especially the senior members. Taemin gave me great tips on how to better express myself on stage and Baekhyun helped me a lot with my vocals. Outside of work, we can have deep conversations about anything. We all began our career at a young age so they really understand what I’m going through and how I feel. I can always count on them when I need someone to talk to.

How has being bandmates changed your friendships over the last year?

Kai: In the beginning, because we mostly knew each other as juniors/seniors within the industry and label, it was slightly awkward. But once we started to get to know each other, we were all able to connect with each other within the older/younger brother dynamic, so now they really feel like brothers to me. And I want to keep it that way going forward.

What has been your favorite moment from your first year together?

Baekhyun: One of my favorite moments would have to be when we filmed the reality show together. It was fun to do “regular” things together like cooking, playing games, and doing challenges. Everyone has a great sense of humor so we laughed the entire time. It was a great opportunity for us to bond and we had a blast.

Kai: I’d have to say when we were touring around the world together—and more recently, when we got to shoot our own reality TV show. Each of those moments brought us much closer together.

Taemin: When we made our debut as SuperM, and held our very first showcase at Capitol Records. I remember thinking, "This is another new beginning for me" and it brought back old memories of when I auditioned for SM and debuted as SHINee. It felt like another new path was created for me and I remember feeling all kinds of emotions throughout the day.

Taeyong: If you think about it, a year is not that long, but we made so many memories together and I think that’s because we are all positive-minded people. In the past year, we spent almost half a year on a world tour and the other half practicing and preparing for our album. I’ve grown a lot both on a professional and personal level so I cherish every single moment!

Mark: I think it would have to be our debut showcase in L.A. at the Capitol Records Tower. We were nervous but it felt good that we were all nervous together. Sharing the same emotions with the members is a good feeling because you know we’re all in it together.

Ten: When we went on our world tour. Experiencing different cultures and meeting our fans worldwide was unforgettable. Also, we all got very close during the tour from being together 24/7. Because we come from different groups, this was our first time doing a tour together so we were able to really bond.

Lucas: Our first performance of "Jopping" in L.A. It was a great feeling to finally be able to show the world what we’ve been working really hard on. The audience’s energy, the city, and the overall vibe that day was incredible. I’ll never forget it.

What song on Super One are you most proud of and why?

Taeyong: I am most proud of "Together at Home." It’s a little more special to me because I wrote some of the lyrics for the song. I put a lot of thought into the messaging and wanted to say that even though we are not physically together, we can find new ways to be there for each other. With what’s going on right now, I feel like fans can relate to the message and find comfort knowing that no matter what, we’ll always find a way to reach them. It’s a feel-good song that anyone can hum along to.

Lucas: I choose "Infinity." You can really feel our energy and our ambition "to go to infinity." Our title song, "One," is a hybrid remix that combines "Infinity" and "Monster" so it’s fun to hear the two tracks on their own and then hear "One" which has a completely different vibe. Each has its own charm.

Mark, you helped write "100" and Taeyong and Mark, you worked together to write "Together at Home." What do those songs mean to you? How has your songwriting evolved as you’ve worked on more music?

Taeyong: "Together at Home" [has] special meaning to me. When writing the lyrics, I tried to be as honest as possible with my feelings and thankfully, the team loved it, so I was very happy about that. Hopefully fans can also feel the sincerity of the message and like the song as much as I do.

Mark: It was fun writing both songs but I enjoyed "Together at Home" a little more because it really suits the current situation we’re all going through and I could really relate to it. Through this process, I realized how important it is to stay true to yourself. You can get inspired and get ideas from basically everything around you, but ultimately, you need to interpret them in your own way. Staying true to yourself differentiates you from other artists. This is what I always try to bring alive through my music.

Who would you love to collaborate with?

Taemin: I would love to collaborate with Jessie J one day. Her performances are very sincere and I can feel her singing from the heart. I admire her energy and passion onstage and she is someone I feel I can learn a lot from. I also think we would create great synergy together if we collaborated!

You all are incredible dancers. What song from Super One has your favorite choreography so far?

Kai: I personally like "Tiger Inside." The choreography is inspired by the movement of a tiger and fits perfectly with the concept and theme of the song. I like that the choreography has its own storyline.

Quarantine and COVID-19 have drastically changed every musicians’ plans for the year. What is a day in the life of quarantine like for you? What things have you done for self-care when the days have felt harder?

Ten: First, I do the basics like wash my hands often, take vitamins, eat healthy, and exercise. But, most importantly, I’ve been keeping myself busy at home relaxing, practicing my vocals and dancing skills, finding new hobbies, and trying new activities that I didn’t have the time to try before. I was actually surprised at how much you can do at home.

Is there anything you can tease about what fans can expect for your next tour?

Mark: When we are able to tour again, I can guarantee we’ll be preparing the best show ever. As much as we missed out on a lot of shows due to inevitable circumstances, when it’s safe and the next tour opens, we’ll bring everything we have for the fans, especially songs from Super One.

What Halloween group costume will SuperM do this year?

Mark: It would have to be The Avengers! And if I were to do it myself, it would still be a character from The Avengers. Maybe Spider-Man? It’s a character fans really like and I think it suits me really well.

What's an entertainment pick—TV show, music, movie, video game, book—you’ve loved in quarantine?

Baekhyun: I’m sure many people are already watching a lot of Netflix and YouTube videos at home. Rather than an entertainment pick, I think it’s a great idea to take advantage of the time we have and start a new hobby you can do indoors—like learning to play a new instrument. Everyone has something they’ve always wanted to try but never did. Now is a great time to start! If you're interested in learning a new instrument, there are many great books and tutorial videos online so you can teach yourself!

Taeyong: SuperM videos! We created a lot of content for you guys and they’ll definitely keep you entertained and make time go by faster. Hopefully they’ll make you laugh too!

What’s next for SuperM?

Baekhyun: Fans have already seen our powerful, energetic side through our performances. Now, we want to get closer to the fans and show them more of our "human" side—who we are off-stage. Of course, we’ll continue to bring great performances but at the same time, we want fans to feel comfortable approaching us and not feel so distant. Most importantly, I want fans to find comfort and positive energy in our music."

Credit: Elle.

[iamtheblondestblonde]

Slides and Serendipity

Part One (4.7 k)

AN: Here it is!!! (At least the beginning of it). Quarantine has finally given me the time to write something that I’ve wanted to for a while. I want to start off by saying that English is not my first language so I want to say sorry for any mistakes in advance. I have decided against using Y/N (so sorry) because it’s going to be long and I need the character to be developed so I might as well name her. There’s also some smut planned but I’ll put a warning when we’ve reached that point. Feedback is always appreciated and with that said, let’s get down to business.

Warnings: language 

It was a beautiful day and the Dallas sun was truly living up to its reputation, beating down at everyone spending their time at the dog park. I had brought along a blanket and watched Yogi run circles around the trees to my left. Even with my light summer dress I was feeling the heat and just as I was considering moving to the shade something bright jumped on my blanket before zooming off.

I hadn’t even fully registered what was happening when a guy literally jumped over me, chasing after what I now recognized as a Labrador.

“Gerry stop that! Drop it right now!”, he was yelling but the dog didn’t listen at all. This caught Yogi’s attention who was now all over the place trying to figure out what caused the commotion surrounding his mom.

It was only then that I realized that one of my slides was missing. I’d taken them off half an hour ago so I could lie down and properly relax in the sun. I cursed before springing to my feet and following the dude that was still chasing his dog around the park, Yogi at my heels. When I finally caught up to him, I couldn’t hold back and said: “You know if you keep chasing him he’s only going to keep running away because he thinks it’s a game.”

He finally stopped running to turn around and for the first time I got a good look at him. I barely reached up to his shoulders, tiny next to his muscular build and even though he hid his eyes behind sunglasses, I couldn’t help the feeling of recognition that surged me. I knew I had seen him somewhere before, but my mind hadn’t caught up yet. 

The lab had now dropped my shoe several feet from where we were now standing and looked up to his owner expectantly.

“What would you propose then?”, he asked while looking down at me with raised eyebrows. For a second I considered sending Yogi after my slide but I wasn’t entirely sure that he’d get the command right and would instead start chasing the lab. Then I remembered his treats in my small cooler.

“Give me a sec, I might have something that could help.”

I had made some dog ice cream last week and after commanding Yogi to stay put I jogged over to my spot and pulled out a baggie with a self-made ice cream sandwich that I had brought to cool my dog off after spending the day in the sun.

“I try to get him over here with this and you go and grab my slide. Don’t worry this is dog-friendly”, I assured him before taking the sandwich and crouching down. Yogi whined when I didn’t give the treat to him but stayed put, even at four months old he was very disciplined.

“His name is Gerry”, the guy next to me explained and I started to call for the dog, cooing for him to come over. After a few seconds he finally realized that I had food in my hands and happily abandoned my slide for the deliciousness that I was offering. Not soon after my hand was covered in slobber and the ice cream sandwich was gone.

“He got your shoe good, I’m so so sorry this happened. I don’t know what’s going on with him today”, the guy apologized before holding out my now ruined slide. He had managed to chew the side in a way that made the top come off at one side. I sighed at the loss of one of my most comfortable pairs of shoes.

“Ugh, this is what you get for wearing Givenchy to the dog park, I should’ve known better”, I responded defeated but I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. The situation was so absurd.

The guy started laughing as well and extended his hand to me to introduce himself.

“These aren’t the best circumstances to meet but I’m Tyler and this is Gerry as you know already, only usually his behavior is at least a little better, I swear. He hasn’t chewed on shoes in months.”

The name was the last piece that I needed to place him and I shook his hand, knowing full well who was standing across from me.

“I’m Olivia and don’t beat yourself up about it, at least your dog has enough taste to go for designer. This is Yogi by the way”, I mentioned to my dog that was now excitedly sniffing Gerry. At least Yogi had taste as well because if he had to make new doggy friends, they might as well belong to famous hockey players.

“They seem to be getting along rather well”, Tyler laughed at the way our dogs were now circling each other before chasing each other around the park. I came here to tire Yogi out so there was no way I was interrupting his play time now. I contemplated for a second before inviting Tyler to sit with me. We moved my blanket over to the shade before sitting down next to each other. I offered him a drink out of the cooler.

“You certainly came prepared”, Tyler commented with a smile before gulping down large sips of the cool water. Relying on my shades to keep me covered I openly ogled the way he swallowed, which was hotter than one might think. I never would have thought that my day would look like this but I certainly wasn’t complaining with that view.

“Yeah Yogi has a lot of energy so I was planning on letting him run around until he was tired and knowing him that can take hours”, I laughed lightly, watching him run away from Gerry at full speed, the poor lab had no chance.

“What kind of dog is it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like him before.”

“I actually don’t know 100%. I found him with the rest of his litter abandoned when I was on vacation in Greece. From the coloring of his siblings we know that one of his parents had to have been a Husky and my guess is some kind of Shepherd-Collie mix for the other one but I don’t know for sure. He’s the only one with a white coat and I knew I had to take him with me”, I explained and leaned back onto my elbows, enjoying the few rays of sunshine that hit my face through the trees.

“Aw. I think it’s great that you rescued him. Did his siblings find new homes as well?”

It was sweet that Tyler was showing such an interest in Yogi and soon after we were trying to trump each other with stupid dog stories.

“One time I was walking into an arena when I saw a super cute dog and, me being me, I stopped to pet him when the little shit jumps up and bites my ass in front of everyone there. It was so embarrassing”, he relayed and at this point I was wiping away tears from laughing so hard.

“Okay you win I give up. I can’t possibly top getting humiliated in front of fans”, I responded, only realizing afterwards that I’d given away the fact that I knew who he was.

“So you know who I am”, Tyler simply stated and I nodded my head.

“I may have only moved to Dallas last week but even I can’t escape the obsession with hockey. I lived in Denver before and I’ve even seen you on the ice a couple of times, but at first I thought you were some football player though.”

“Why football?”, it was now his time to laugh.

“I don’t know. I recognized you from somewhere and your build told me you must be an athlete. Even with you towering over me you’re not super tall or lanky enough so basketball was out, I literally don’t know any American soccer teams or Baseball players and I forgot about ice hockey so that only left football, although I don’t really follow football.”

“I’m just going to ignore the fact that you forgot hockey because the more important question is: Do you follow ice hockey?”

“I’m slowly starting to understand the obsession with it”, I responded, knowing full well that my statement could be interpreted as me flirting, even though I was actually talking about the speed of the games that I sometimes missed in other sports. Partly at least.

Tyler beamed back at me and pushed his hand through his hair, a move I had come to cherish. Before he could say anything else though, Gerry came bouncing over with Yogi in tow, dropping a stick in front of our feet, both looking expectantly at us. Tyler got up first and then extended his hand to pull me up beside him.

“Do you want to do the honors?”, Tyler asked and held out the slobbery stick to me. We took turns throwing it as far away as we could and it was no surprise that his throws were way longer than mine. At some point we’d finally managed to tire the dogs out so we laid back on the blanket, the dogs resting at our feet and sipping some water from the bowl that I had brought.

Tyler and I continued our conversation, soon talking about more personal things than hockey.

“I gave myself four weeks to adjust before starting to work again and I’m really glad I still have almost three of them left to explore the city. I’ve been outside every day just walking around and Yogi has been loving it. We haven’t hit any of the sights though because I wanted him to adjust first”, I explained and pushed up my shades to properly look him in the eyes as he’d done the same minutes ago.

“I can show you around if you want. I mean I’ve lived here for quite a bit and I know all of the best doggy friendly places and if you want to do something without them I know some great spots as well.”

I was surprised at his offer, an international superstar athlete being my guide around the city was something I would’ve never seen coming. Nevertheless, it was a great opportunity because even though I knew some people in the area from college I still wanted to make new friends.

We exchanged phone numbers and seeing as he was off for a bit as well we decided to go hiking together tomorrow.

“Is it okay if I bring Gerry’s brothers as well?”, Tyler asked me as I was folding my blanket.

“He has brothers?”, I asked in surprise because I may have recognized him, but didn’t actually know that much about his personal life besides the stuff that he’d told me.

“Well they’re not actually brothers, but I have three labs in total. Cash and Marshall were just too tired to come with me today. They’re probably wondering where we are though, I was only planning to be gone for like an hour or so”, he added sheepishly, again sliding his hand through his hair before rubbing his neck.

I had ignored my phone for most of the day, but a quick look told me that we had spent four hours talking on that blanket. I hadn’t even noticed how far the sun had travelled across the blue sky until now. Before I could apologize for keeping him he waved me off as if reading my thoughts.

“Don’t worry, I had a great time though”, he assures me with a big smile. A smile that I had come to appreciate over the course of the afternoon. I looked down smiling and it was only then that I realized that there was no way that I could walk back in my ruined shoes, knowing full-well that the hot pavement would burn my bare feet.

Tyler looked down with me and quickly understood my dilemma.

“Don’t worry, I can give you a lift home, it’s the least I could do. I am somehow responsible for this after all”, he laughed and I smiled at him. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d smiled and laughed this much in one day.

We leashed the dogs again and made our way over to where he’d parked his car. As soon as the grass gave way to burning hot concrete he motioned for me to jump on his back.

“You’ll hurt yourself if you walk on this, trust me I know from experience”, he pleaded and crouched even farther down after handing me Garry’s leash as well. I swung my cooler over my back, grabbed both leashes in one hand and hopped on, quickly wrapping my legs around his torso. He straightened up and wrapped his hands around my thighs for stability. For a second the feel of his big hands on my naked thighs was clouding my thoughts. To my defense, with the move and everything it had been a while since I was last touched like this by a guy.

Tyler didn’t seem to notice anything and kept up our conversation all the way to his car. I raised my eyebrows at the black G wagon.

“You know you’re gonna get fur all over those seats, right?”, I asked skeptically because I know full well that this was not a cheap car. Tyler just laughed and opened the door on the back, exposing his trunk that was covered in blankets.

“It’s fine, my dogs sit back here all the time and the blankets make it easy to clean.”

After putting everything and everyone away we hopped in the car and Tyler asked me to type in my address.

“You’re shitting me, right?”, he exclaimed and seeing my confused look he went on to explain “That’s like two streets over from where I live”

I couldn’t believe the coincidence, this was too much, right?

I woke up early next morning, the sun streaming through the big windows in my bedroom and hitting me square in the face. The layout of the house made it possible to watch both sunrises and sunsets from my bed but even with me being a morning person, sunrises were a rare sight.

Yogi started wagging his tail as soon as he saw me and I wasted no time in letting him out into the backyard. The size of the well-kept area was one of the reasons I had bought this house weeks ago and with some furniture changes and other small adjustments I’d truly made this place my new home, loving the way it turned out.

I looked at my phone to see a text from Tyler, still not 100% convinced that yesterday actually happened.

Tyler: Pick you up at 11? Gotta finish my workout first

We had decided that he’d drive again because I knew that there was no way I could fit four dogs into my new car. Even with the G wagon it would be a tight fit.

Me: Sounds perfect. I’m bringing some snacks so do you want me to make some for you too?

The sound of my mixer tuned out the notifications, so it wasn’t until after I’d poured myself my smoothie that I saw his next message, even though he’d only taken seconds to respond.

Tyler: Sounds amazing as long as there’s no olives involved

Me: Olives aren’t a good hiking snack and besides they’re absolutely disgusting

This time it took him a bit longer to reply so by the time my phone pinged I had already finished cutting apples and bananas into my porridge.

Tyler: That sentence just made you 10x more attractive than you already are but I gotta go now, see you later

After my comment about starting to understand the appeal of hockey our conversation had never really lost the flirty undertone, so this wasn’t totally out of place but nevertheless it was unexpected.

With a smile I grabbed my breakfast and sat down on the patio furniture, enjoying the sun and laughing as Yogi chased a butterfly across the yard. I snapped some pictures for social media and my friends and found myself missing my Denver girls all of a sudden. I needed to find new friends here asap.

After some cleaning to waste time I found myself in my closet, trying to figure out what to wear. Even with August coming to an end, Dallas was still very hot and I still hadn’t gotten used to the subtropical climate here. There was no way I’d make it through the day in anything that covered my arms or legs. I finally decided on some running shorts and a light top over a sports bra, praying that the airy materials would help with the heat. To avoid a sunstroke I put on a matching baseball cap, pulled my ponytail through the hole and messed up some strands for that ‘effortless’ look, that was never truly effortless.

Yogi was still in the background by the time I made my way downstairs again, this time heading back to the kitchen. The big kitchen was another reason to buy this house, as I loved to cook and knew my way around the stove. Cutting lemons and cucumber for the water I put two bottles into a backpack and then moved on to cut carrots in sticks and the stuff I needed for sandwiches.

I had just finished stuffing everything into the backpack when my doorbell rang. Yogi started barking of course, a habit I hadn’t gotten him to drop yet, and followed me to the door. Tyler was casually leaning against my entrance and smiled as soon as I opened the door. I let Yogi sniff him, finally deeming him to be safe before reaching out and hugging him. His arms around me were gone too soon though as he bent down to greet his new friend. I grabbed a harness and a leash and followed Tyler to his car.

“I hope it’s okay that I’m gonna put Yogi in the trunk with Gerry. It’s not that I don’t trust him to sit on the backseat with Cash or Marshall, in fact he’s probably already raised better than any of them but I just thought…”

“Tyler it’s fine, it’s your car anyway and besides Gerry and Yogi already know each other”, I interrupted his rambling and waved him off. He opened the backdoor and two labs hopped out before sniffing first Yogi then me. As soon as everyone got acquainted, we loaded up the car again and Tyler pulled out of my driveway.

“See, over there that’s my house”, Tyler explained, pointing to a house on our left as we drove by.

“No way, I’ve walked past this house almost every day because it’s on the way to the park.”

“Just admit that you’re stalking me woman”, Tyler laughed and I hit his arm before laughing as well. The rest of the drive continued with friendly banter and music before he finally pulled into a parking spot. It was a bit of a struggle to finally get a leash on all four dogs and I offered to take one of the dogs to even things out.

“Here, take Cash. He isn’t as crazy as Gerry so you don’t have to worry about him pulling or anything.”

I grabbed Cash’s leash from Tyler and crouched down to pet him, soon surrounded by all four dogs pawing at me because they wanted a share of my attention. Tyler just laughed at my misery without making a move to help me, instead taking pictures of me almost being pushed down. At least he offered to carry the backpack after I’d finally gotten all furry friends to calm down.

Even with it being a weekday, we passed lots of other people enjoying the sunny weather. Tyler was wearing a snapback and sunglasses to avoid attention but we still didn’t get very far without him being recognized by a group of girls. He mouthed a ‘Sorry’ to me while handing me the other leashes. The girls seemed to be in college age and were curiously looking me up and down.

“Do you want me to take pictures of you?”, I asked politely and the girls nodded excited. I tried my best to keep the camera still with the leashes in my left hand but Tyler kept snickering at me pushing the dogs away from me. The girls were surprisingly nice and as soon as they were done they continued walking, only to stop shortly after to ogle Tyler and me.

“Water break?”, Tyler asked and I nodded, walking around him to grab the bottles.

“Damn you even put stuff in it, I’m not used to such luxury”, he joked about the lemon and cucumber slices but I gave him a pointed stare. We both knew that he was used to a lot of luxuries, even if detox water might not be one of them.

The group of girls was still standing a couple of meters away from us and I was pretty sure they were now, rather unsuccessfully, taking sneaky pictures of us. Tyler noticed as well and sighed.

“I’m sorry about them, every time I’m seen with a member of the female species the fans go crazy”, he apologized but I waved him off.

“Honestly it’s fine, it’s a part of your life. I know how fangirls work and while I’m not overjoyed that my picture will be all over social media, I don’t really care because I’m having a great time”, I responded, squeezing his forearm at the last part. I knew I was pushing it, with the girls still watching, but I needed him to know that I wouldn’t let this ruin our time together. Tyler was funny, constantly making me laugh and it didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes as well. I was determined to not let this put a damper on our day.

He squeezed my shoulder in return before muttering a thanks and turning around so I could put the water bottles back. We then continued our hike as if nothing happened, only being stopped by fans a handful of times. After a particularly steep slope Tyler looked down at me in surprise.

“How are you not out of breath at all? We literally spent the last five minutes practically crawling up that hill”, he exclaimed, sounding a little bit winded. I guess even the stamina of athletes had its limits and I started laughing at his incredulous expression.

“I’m used to hiking in mountains Tyler, this is nothing compared to them. Besides, Denver’s altitude is well over a kilometer higher than what we’re currently at. My lungs are still used to a lot less oxygen”, I explained, still smiling. We continued for a little bit before he suddenly stopped in his tracks, almost making me smack into him.

“Wait, you said kilometer, not feet. I can’t believe I haven’t asked this before, but are you not American?”

I looked at him for a second before bursting out laughing again. We’d literally talked over almost anything and everything but somehow my hometown had never come up.

“No I’m not. I’m actually German, I moved to the US when I was 18 and lived here ever since. First in Cambridge, then Denver and now Dallas.”

“But you don’t have an accent?!”, he sputtered, making me laugh even harder.

“Not all Germans have that terrible accent that’s always in the movies. I started learning English almost twenty years ago and I lost the accent at some point. It still comes out a little bit when I’m drunk or angry though”, I told him and he did another double take.

“Now I have to get you drunk to hear for myself but this leads me to another question, and again I can’t believe I have to ask this only now, but how old are you?”

“I’m 25. In Germany they’re big on foreign languages so we started learning English in school when I was 7 or 8.”

After that our conversation seemed to only focus on my home country but I was happy to answer all of his questions. His interest in the culture was kind of cute and he tried his best to remember and pronounce the few words of German he’d picked up from his time in Switzerland. It was no surprise at all that most of them were anything but PG-13 but it was still very entertaining. I only hoped no one else understood him saying that he wanted to hook up with me in terrible German.

At one point we stopped to eat the lunch that I’d packed for us and the dogs were happily munching away on their treats.

“Mmm this is good”, Tyler praised after taking the first bite out of his sandwich. I only smiled at him because I had my mouth full and we continued our conversation between bites.

“So you like to cook or do your abilities only extend to delicious sandwiches?”, he asked me afterwards before throwing three carrot sticks in his mouth at the same time.

“I love cooking and making all kinds of food. In Germany people don’t get takeout as often as Americans so the habit of preparing home cooked meals has stuck with me over the years. It also helps with healthy eating. I don’t diet or anything like that but I still like to keep it clean.”

“So next time I’m hungry but too lazy to make food I’ll just walk over to your place?”, he asked jokingly but I told him that he’d always be welcome and I meant it. Not only was I in desperate need of any kind of social interaction but I’d never turn a hunky hockey player away from my doorstep.

All day I’d secretly checked him out, mesmerized by the way his thigh muscles moved below his shorts, his broad shoulders, and those strong tattooed arms. This guy was the walking definition of a hunk and while having him in my kitchen wasn’t where I wanted him the most, it was definitely a start.

 “About getting you drunk, I’m having some people over for a party starting tomorrow afternoon. You should come if you’re free”, he told me as we were driving back to our neighborhood. I didn’t even need to think about his invitation because there was no way that I’d turn down spending more time with him.

“Of course I’ll come. Do I need to bring anything with me?”

“You should probably wear a swimsuit underneath your clothes, most people end up in the pool at one point.”

By the time Tyler pulled into my driveway it was almost time to start preparing dinner and I had an idea.

“You want to come in and help me cook? I’m not really in the mood to eat alone again.”

It was a risky move but I really hoped he’d take me up on my offer. Eating by yourself night after night could get pretty boring. My friends in the area had all been busy with work during the week and I was sick of Yogi being my only company, even if he was adorable.

“Sure. I should probably shower first though but I can come back after that.”

I told him I’d text him as soon as I was finished cleaning up myself and then he pulled out of the driveway again. I tried to keep my shower as short as possible but the cool water had felt way too good on my overheated body so I’d ended up taking longer than planned. Afterwards I pulled on some yoga pants and a t shirt, leaving my hair to air dry before texting Tyler to come over.

Not even five minutes later he was standing in my doorstep again, now dressed in sweats and smiling down at me. 

Tyler was a great sous chef and while he chopped vegetables, I prepared everything else. The easy flow of conversation continued all the way through dinner and even though you’d think that at some point we’d run out of topics we just kept on talking, never having any awkward moments in between. I was almost sad to see him go after we finished cleaning up but I knew that he was probably exhausted after his morning workout and being on his feet for hours and to be honest I was just as tired.

Part Two here

[cxhnow]

THE KIDS ARE MORE THAN ALRIGHT: CHLOE AND HALLE ARE KILLING IT

At only 21 and 20 years old respectively, Chloe and Halle, the sister singing duo signed to Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment, have an almost preternatural poise and polish. You see it in on-camera interviews, their big smiles never breaking, or when they’re singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, their harmonies as sweeping and pristine as harmonies can be. Even in the homemade YouTube covers which made them Internet-famous as adolescents — a cover of Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” (a song, interestingly enough, about the demands on young women to be flawless) caught the attention of Queen B and got them signed in 2015 in the first place — they have a peaceful and almost uncannily seasoned presence.

This seeming perfection has made them into major role models to young fans, and one of them into a future megastar fronting the massive Disney machine, as the younger Halle takes the lead role of Ariel in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid expected out in 2021. They’ve had real world ambitions for the entirety of their teen years, starting their YouTube channel when Chloe was 13 and Halle 11, criss-crossing the country multiple times as the opening act for their mentor Bey, and dabbling in acting, with roles on Kenya Barris’ sitcom Grown-ish.

But beyond the sheen they’ve developed, it’s nice to hear, on a quarantine Zoom call one Friday morning, that they are more steadfastly committed — even dogged — about their craft than they are the presentation. They write, arrange, and produce much of their own music in their home studio in Los Angeles. While their sophomore album, Ungodly Hour, features guestwork by super-producers Scott Storch and Mike WiLL Made-It, the sisters executive produced the whole thing, and still brought unfinished collaborative tracks home from sessions to tighten them up in their own way, on their own computer software.

Though their debut, The Kids Are Alright — an unlikely but satisfying cross between SZA and Björk — hinted at this artistry, Ungodly Hour is the true breakthrough. It’s a grown-up album in a number of ways, with lyrics about hook-ups, break-ups, and mess-ups. But it’s also just undeniably and straightforwardly cool. In the choreography-heavy video for the excellent “Do It,” their astonishing maturity begins to look more like bravado. They mine sounds from late-’90s R&B, recalling forebears like Aaliyah, Destiny’s Child, TLC, and Blaque, but have come up with something refreshing and personal. There are no lags on Ungodly Hour, no saccharine ballads or misplaced attempts at massive over-the-top pop — just easily enjoyable bops with silky harmonies and relatable themes. That’s an achievement for an artist of any age.

In conversation, they are, yes, incredibly composed, but also engaged and interested in talking about a range of subjects, from 808s and Atlanta to politics and pain. Here, the two sisters offer a little glimpse into their lives — and how they got to be so on top of everything to begin with.

Note: This interview occurred after the death of George Floyd but before demonstrations surrounding the killing fully heated up across the country, and the sisters have since delayed the release of the album from the original June 5 to this Friday, June 12. At the bottom of this Q&A, we’ve included some questions and answers the two responded to by email this week concerning moving the release date and their solidarity with the protestors.

Have you been quarantining together?

Halle: We are quarantining together in Los Angeles. We’re in our family home, so it’s really nice to all be together.

Chloe: I think, you know, with any family being in close spaces, you all have to relearn each other. You can’t, like, escape and go to your own corner.

H: We’re learning more every single day in quarantine what not to do [laughs]. We know the trigger points for both of us. We both love to get our feelings out, so once we do that, I think it’s good.

Let’s get into the album: In the past, your music has had an innocence about it, but this album is pretty grown.

C: You know, with anything in life, we never like to force it. Halle just turned 20. I’ll be 22 in July. Naturally, the music will just grow with that. We’re sharing our experiences, sharing what we’re going through, whether it’s heartbreak or falling in love or our insecurities — what makes us tick. People only really know us as, like, little sweet angels and all of that. And everyone is multi-layered.

“Busy Boy” is about a guy who sleeps around and sends you unsolicited late night photos of, well, a very particular body part of his. Are lines like this born from real life?

H: Absolutely. All the songs on the album are pulled from real-life experiences, real-life relationships. And for “Busy Boy,” everyone can relate to knowing this guy who is just so hot, he is just A+ everywhere. But everyone knows him as a player. They know he jumps around from girl to girl. It was funny to talk about that because in our little girl group [of friends], sometimes we do find that one dude who has tried to talk to all of us. And we laugh about it and we kiki about it.

Are you able to find time to date and have fun, and do what young people do?

H: Of course!

C: You know, we explore. We date around. We’re learning as we experience life. And it helps stimulate the lyrics.

There’s a lot of tense back and forth between the sexes on the album, and I wonder if you thought of it as a kind of break-up album.

C: It’s that back and forth because that’s how it was in our lives at the time when we were creating this album. You know, my sister and I, we’re at that age where you’re learning yourself through relationships, learning how people work. Even though Halle and I are a year and a half apart, we were going through the same thing at the same time when we were writing. We were heartbroken and putting that into the music. But we also wanted to come from a point where we don’t have to be these weak girls crying over it, but instead take our power back.

H: Love is a huge theme of the album. But also feeling alone, and the rawness. These were all themes that we hadn’t really talked about before in music. Our deepest, deepest feelings. The title, Ungodly Hour, stemmed from everything that happens during those hours, you know, in the middle of the night when you’re about to go to sleep. You’re thinking of all your insecurities — your mind is swimming. You’re thinking of lustful things, you’re thinking of heartbreak.

C: It feels conversational because when we were writing it, we were simply having a conversation. My sister and I tell each other everything when it comes to these things. And as we’re sitting down, explaining, “I’m pissed because of this,” or, “I’m happy because of this,” we would just write it into the music.

You worked with the 2000s producer Scott Storch on “Do It,” and there’s almost a nostalgic feel for that time in R&B and pop.

C: He’s really a legend, and just seeing him on the keys when we had multiple sessions together, we were always left in awe. Production-wise, I’ve always been inspired by experimental sounds and the weirder side of music. But while we were making this album, I really started falling more and more in love with ’90s music and early 2000s production; listening to a lot of Kelis. We wanted this album to feel fun and flirty, but also grunge, in a way, and a little dark and mysterious and sexy. And I really feel like ’90s production with beautiful melodies on top truly embodied that. [‘90s producers] weren’t afraid to experiment.

How do you balance creative freedom and experimentation with what I imagine to be a lot of pressure to make a hit?

H: We were feeling a little bit, like, “So where do we go from here? What do we do now?” We were a little bit stuck at the beginning, because we were hearing from the label about doing songs a bit more commercial. Whenever we are given direction, it always throws us off. Whenever somebody tells us what to do, we don’t like it. At the beginning, we were making songs that didn’t really sound like us. And we realized we were trying to please everyone else.

So then we were like, You know what? Scratch that. Let’s go back to the beginning. Let’s remember why we’re doing this. Let’s make the sounds that make us happy. Let’s go back to doing those experimental things that have made us so happy all the time. With these sessions with [Ariana Grande songwriter] Victoria [Monet] and Scott [Scorch], we can also add a bop or two in there and find a beautiful way to do it without sacrificing our musical integrity. We never want to feel like we’re selling out.

You taught yourselves how to produce, arrange, write, and record your music at a very young age, but now that there is this bigger spotlight, is it important to still create in that more organic way?

C: Absolutely. Yeah. If we didn’t keep that, I don’t think we would even have finished this album. We love creating at home so much. You know, [our first album] The Kids Are Alright, we created the whole thing in our living room. [For this album], we converted the garage and carpeted it up and made it into our little studio here. We always prefer home and working on our laptop and arranging all the weird harmonies together and recording each other.

We worked with so many amazing producers and songwriters on this album, but at the end of every session, we would take the stems, and we would revamp them up and really add, like, our sauce to the songs afterward so it really felt like us. But also, half the album is strictly just us and our production and writing as well. We executive produced it. That’s the only way to do it. If it starts to feel forced or bad, we walk away.

What programs do you use to produce on your laptop?

C: I’m a huge Logic Pro girl. When we do live shows, I use Ableton, but when we’re recording each other and I’m making the tracks, it’s all on Logic.

You’re known for your harmonies, and you also produce all your own vocals. How do you think about the resonance and affect and power of your voices? What are you aiming for with a vocal?

H: There’s something really special about singing with your sibling, or singing with somebody who has the same blood as you. The Clark Sisters are one of our favorites, and every time we listen to their harmonies, it just takes us to another world. And I don’t know what it is, but every time I sing with my sister, I do feel like it’s a power, like it’s something special that’s happening when the two of us are singing together. It’s different than when I’m just singing alone.

C: We know how to fit and blend with each other. Usually I’ll take like more of the lower notes, and Halle will take a lot more of the higher ones. For me, ever since I was a little girl, I loved Destiny’s Child and Toni Braxton and Nina Simone. Our family would always play Erykah Badu and Jill Scott around the house. So I have grown up loving soulful tones. As I got older, being a female producer, I was really inspired by other female producers, like Grimes and Imogen Heap and Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards, and I really started appreciating and loving alternative music, where they use different experimental sounds. More recently, I was listening to a lot of Kelis and Missy [Elliott] and Timbaland production, and Aaliyah and all of that. All of my inspirations… I love how it’s in contrast with my sister. Because, you know — and she’ll tell you this — she is a huge jazzhead. She loves jazz melodies. And when the two worlds come together, it kind of creates us.

You mentioned Erykah Badu and Jill Scott as influences, so I gotta ask — what’d you think of the Erykah and Jill Verzuz on Instagram?

H: We loved it so much. We put it on our TV and watched the whole thing.

Who do you think won?

H: They both won. You know, you could sing those songs every single day and never get tired of them. We want our music to live on like those songs live on.

You both have childhood roots in Atlanta, which has become essentially the musical epicenter of America in the last 20 years. Does that influence your sound?

C: Oh my gosh, yeah. Atlanta music is so incredible. We’ve always been so inspired by OutKast. Ciara. Donald Glover.

H: Janelle Monáe.

C: It’s so much soul and rhythm and bounce. And I think that’s why I love big drums and 808 so much. We are true Atlanta girls at heart. And I think that also comes into why we’re really kind. It’s just southern hospitality.

You’re signed to Beyoncé’s management company, Parkwood, and I’m curious what kind of creative notes or advice she gives you when you’re working on an album.

C: She allows us to grow and flourish on our own. And, you know, as we’ve been finding our sound through the past five years, she’s just kind of sat back in the wings and let us do what we want to do. When we feel like we got the music to a special place, we always want her input. It’s Beyoncé! She has the experience, she’s incredibly talented, and she has such good instincts.

With her notes, a lot of the time, we’re on the same page. Whether it’s about what she hears in the layers of the production, if she thinks the production should change on one part, or how we sang a certain word or something, she’ll always recommend, but it’s up to us whether we want to do it or not. She allows us to do what we want to do, musically.

When we sent this album to her, she didn’t have any notes. Halle and I were like, whoa. She must really, really like it. And she could give us as many notes as she wants! She’s Queen Bey.

Halle, you’re about to be Ariel in the live-action version of ‘The Little Mermaid’ for Disney. What is it like wearing the mermaid tail?

H: [Laughs] Well, I can’t really .. [laughs] … that was a good try [laughs]. I can’t really tell you about that [ed. note: Disney is notorious for strictly enforcing a code of silence about a future production]. But it’s really cool being able to play one of my favorite characters from my favorite Disney movie. And show other little black girls that, yes, you can be Ariel too. That the part is not just for anyone who does not look like us. We can do it too.

There was a really dumb conservative backlash when Disney announced it was casting a black woman in the role.

H: Yeah, well, I don’t really pay attention to that stuff. People are hurting right now, so a lot of the times people take their hurt out on you. And you can’t do anything about that. We just gotta move forward in love and light and say a prayer for them, you know?

On one very serious note, you posted a cover on Instagram that blended the hymnals “We Shall Overcome” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as a tribute to George Floyd. I’m wondering how you’re viewing what’s happening in America right now?

H: [That] week was very difficult for us. Just that video of George — I couldn’t watch it. This keeps happening to our people. When I see George, I think of my father, and I think of my little brother, and I think of them just wanting to live and to not be killed just for living their lives. I don’t think we will ever understand why it keeps happening. I don’t think we could ever wrap our heads around it.

So we just thought, What can we do? What can we do to make ourselves feel better? What can we do to make everyone feel better? And we decided to sing those two songs that have been sung for many, many years. It made us feel a little better, but it didn’t take it all away. It’s crazy that this keeps repeating itself. [That] whole week was kind of wonky for us.

When I see you two on camera and in interviews, I’m struck by how poised you both are, from such a young age. You present yourself almost perfectly. But I wonder if that ever feels like pressure? You’ve had to be really mature since before most kids ever really do.

H: It’s not a persona. It’s not something that we turn on and we turn off. It’s just the way that our parents raised us. Sometimes, we do get compliments, like, “Oh my gosh. You guys are always so happy and positive. You guys are angels!” And, you know, that’s one side of it, of course. I know some people put us on a pedestal. And I think that what hones us in on continuing to just be positive beings and lights is the way we grew up, our parents constantly reminding us that all of these things don’t matter. All of these grand things don’t matter.

But there’s also the other layers of us that people don’t see when we’re not in the spotlight. We do overthink. We do have insecurities just like everybody else. And that’s what with this album in particular we wanted people to get through their heads. Like, hello, we are just like you. At times, yes, it does get overwhelming. But that’s just a part of life. And that’s more fuel for inspiration for us to write.

As previously noted, the original interview occurred before demonstrations surrounding the killing of George Floyd reached full steam. Here, the two sisters followed up by email more recently in a joint statement to address changing the release date of the album in light of the uprising and how they are participating in protest.

Originally you were meant to release the album on June 5, but now it is coming out this Friday, June 12. How’d you come to that decision?

These past two weeks have definitely felt like an emergency call to justice that is much needed. It was important for us to push our album and bring awareness to everything else that’s been going on. We didn’t want this moment to be about us, but rather about getting justice for our brothers and sisters and making a change.

What are you feeling in heart and mind about what we’re witnessing?

Honestly, it has been very, very difficult for us this past week. Having to witness someone’s life being taken away just because of the color of their skin is just traumatic. Even though these days have been hard, we are thankful that people are now seeing what has been happening for a while. And we are grateful that the world is finally doing something about it! Seeing these protests happening all around the country and world truly makes us hopeful that a change is coming. We are so much stronger than we think and so powerful when we come together.

It’s your generation that’s in no small part fueling this movement — how does it make you feel to see people in your age group activated in this way?

It makes us so proud to see our peers standing up for what’s right. We are the future and deserve to be in a world that protects us, rather than harm us. We deserve to live a life not in fear.

How are you two approaching contributing to the protests — what do you find effective?

We are doing everything we can to speak up for what’s right: signing and posting petitions online, donating, etc. We will not let anyone silence us. We have also been singing a lot more, trying to use our voices as healing for the world right now. Music always tends to be the best therapy.

Where are you turning for information, solace, discussion, leadership, and creativity in a moment like this?

Social media has definitely been one of our main sources. We’ve been seeing and sharing content from our peers who are actually out there protesting on the frontlines and experiencing firsthand. We can now view videos and photos and form our own opinions, instead of being swayed by mainstream media. There’s a lot of stuff that’s not being shown on the news, that we may find on Twitter or Instagram. Because of social media and technology, more light is finally being shed on the injustices being done to our people. It’s helping change our world for the better!

Though it’s an invigorating moment in a lot of ways, it’s also a difficult one, and I’ve been hearing from people that they’re excited to be protesting but also feeling anxious and not sleeping well. How do you keep your mental and physical health up while staying activated around the movement?

As much as it’s our main source of information, we also take frequent breaks from social media. We will delete the various apps from our phones and almost block out the world, in a way. And when we really begin to feel hopeless, prayer and mediation has been so beneficial during these times. As well as working out, to clear our heads and let out any built-up frustration.

Do you have recommendations for your young fans of readings, songs, or movies that they can watch to further educate themselves on racial justice?

The movie American Son shows firsthand what it feels like for a mother to lose her son to police brutality. The book The Water Dancer reminds us of how our ancestors overcame slavery and found freedom through the pain. And even though Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album was released in the 1970s, it’s still so relevant to what’s going on now in the year 2020.

[Photos were retouched by High Snobiety to make the girls appear lighter. I have included two of the original versions where they are unretouched.]

[storiesforallfandoms]

set ups ~ chris evans

word count: 1626

request?: no

description: you decide to try and set your brother up with your best friend. little do you know, your best friend has the same idea in mind

pairing: chris evans x female!reader

warnings: none.

Your brother bounced on the balls of his feet, anxiously, as you both watched for Scott’s car to pull up. Very recently, your brother had come out of the closet to you and your family and confided in you that he had a bit of a crush on your best friend, Scott. Upon learning this information, you started talking up your brother more around Scott, but made sure it wasn’t too obvious what you were doing, and then finally went for the kill and asked if he wanted to hang out with the two of you sometime.

Despite being extremely grateful for it, John (your brother) was incredibly nervous. He had spent almost an hour trying to pick out an outfit that was nice, but not too try hard, casual, but still nice enough for what could be considered their first date. You had to pull him away from his bedroom and force him into the car before the two of you were late.

You decided on something casual that wouldn’t be considered too “date like”; bowling. The two of you had arrived a bit early and the longer you both had to wait, the more anxious your brother became.

“What if he doesn’t come?” he asked. “Or what if he comes and doesn’t like me? He told you he was bringing someone else, what if it’s a boyfriend?!”

“John chill!” you told him. “He isn’t going to bring a boyfriend. He’s single and said he hasn’t had time for dates. Plus, he’s my best friend, if he was bringing a date he would’ve told me instead of insisting on keeping it a secret. Scott was never good at keeping romance a secret. That’s why we’re such good friends.”

John started nervously biting his thumbnail. “Are you sure this outfit looks alright?”

You looked down at John’s casual jeans and a flannel shirt unbuttoned over his blue t-shirt, which pretty much matched your outfit, except you were wearing a white t-shirt and your flannel was tied around your waist.

“You look fine,” you assured him. “Stop stressing! Look, here comes Scott!”

His car had just pulled into the parking lot and parked. Scott climbed out of the driver’s seat and waved to the two of you. You waved back but stopped suddenly when you saw who Scott’s “surprise guest” was - none other than Chris Evans himself.

Obviously you knew that Scott’s older brother was a famous actor, although you had only seen maybe one or two of his movies, but in the years that you had known Scott, you had never met Chris. Just knowing that he was a celebrity made you feel super self-conscious. You were starting to panic like John, wondering if what you were wearing was nice enough, wondering if your hair looked alright, worried about even opening your mouth the whole night in fear of humiliating yourself.

Scott ran up to you and hugged you tightly. “Hey (Y/N)! I’m glad we could make plans for tonight, it’s been so long.”

“It’s all your fault,” you responded, jokingly. “You had to go off and start actually starring in stuff and being an actor, not having time for plain old me.”

He laughed. “Of course I’ll always have time for my best friend! Oh hey, I hope you don’t mind that I brought my brother.”

“Not at all! You’re joining me and mine.” You tried not to stare at Chris too much as he finally caught up with his brother. “Scott, this is John. John, this is the famous Scott Evans I’m always talking about, and his brother Chris.”

“Whatever she’s said is the truth, especially the bad stuff,” Scott said as he winked at John. John’s cheeks turned a bright shade of red and all he managed was a giggle. “And of course, you know Chris so I don’t need to introduce you two.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Chris,” you said, shaking Chris’ hand.

“Nice to meet you, too.”

“Let’s go in and bowl some, shall we?” you suggested.

The four of you walked into the bowling alley. Luckily, the place wasn’t too busy and it was half dark for a night time “glow bowling”, so there was no chance your planned set up would be interrupted by herd of people who might recognize Chris. Everyone paid for their own separate time and bowling shoes, and decided to make it a 2v2 teams match.

“I say John and I on one team, Chris and (Y/N) on the other,” Scott decided. John turned to look at you with eyes so wide that the whites of them were glowing under the blacklight. You laughed and playfully shoved him.

Everything was going great! John and Scott spent so much time talking that you and Chris often had to remind them when it was their turns to bowl. You weren’t great at bowling, so a lot of your balls ended up in the gutter, whereas Chris was rolling the high scores. Neither one of you were getting many strikes or spares, not that it really mattered.

“Sorry if I’m the reason we lose tonight,” you said as you sat down next to Chris. “My score hasn't moved from 50 in like 3 rolls.”

“I hope you don’t mean that seriously,” Chris said. “It’s only a fun game! Doesn’t seem like Scott and John care all that much.”

You looked over at your big brother and your best friend and found them both laughing at something that was said. Their screen displayed that they were 2 turns behind you and Chris, although somehow they were bowling much better than you.

Chris picked up a ball and rolled it down the lane, hitting the centre pin perfectly and bowling his first strike. You stood up and exclaimed with excitement as you gave him a high five. John and Scott, suddenly tuned into what was happening, cheered as well.

“Good job big bro!” Scott cheered. “This calls for celebratory snacks! Want to come with me to grab them, John?”

Before he could respond, Scott grabbed John’s hand and pulled him to the snack bar. You watched the two of them go, confused by Scott’s sudden urgency. You wondered if it was just him wanting more alone time with John, until something hit you; Scott had been talking about Chris a lot more this week than normal, especially about the fact that he was recently out of a relationship and was looking for a way to get his mind off things.

And then you realized: Scott was trying to set you up with Chris!

“He’s trying to set us up, isn’t he?” you asked Chris.

His eyes widened with surprise. “How did you figure that out?”

“Because he’s been using to same tactics I’ve been using to try and set him up with John!” you said. “Oh my God, we really are scarily a like.”

“You really are,” Chris agreed. “I hope that doesn’t make things too awkward for you. No offense or anything, but I tried to talk him out of this. I’m not long out of a relationship, I’m not ready for something else serious right now. He insisted I come along, he knew you were trying to set him up with your brother so he decided to make it a double date between us.”

“At least it’s working for them,” you said, shooting a glance to where John and Scott were continuing to talk up a storm while waiting for food. “Not that it’s not working for us, just not in the same way as it is for them.”

Chris laughed as your cheeks turned bright red and you buried your head in your hands.

“Sorry, I’m super awkward,” you said, shaking your head.

“Believe it or not, so am I,” Chris assured you.

Scott and John returned with your food and you all began to eat. John and Scott finally caught up to you and Chris and the games ended. After giving back the shoes, the four of you decided to go on a short walk around the block. John and Scott, of course, were walking a bit ahead of you two.

“Looks like everything is going according to plan,” Chris noticed. “I don’t think I’ve seen Scott talking so much to a guy he just met.”

“I hoped it would all go well,” I told him. “Neither of them are great at relationships, and something about them just seemed like a perfect match to me.”

“I’m happy for him,” Chris said with a nod.

You silently agreed and the two of you continued to walk. You felt sort of awkward knowing the true intentions of Scott bringing Chris with him, especially knowing Chris wasn’t exactly ready for another date yet. You also felt awkward knowing that Scott was trying to set you up on a date with his actor brother. Didn’t Scott know how awkward you were?! Too awkward for this!!

“Hey,” Chris finally said after a moment. “I’d like to propose something.”

“I’m listening,” you said, intrigued.

“I’m not ready for a relationship just yet, but I’d like to get to know you more,” Chris started. “So, maybe we could exchange numbers, get to know each other, maybe go out on a proper first date in due time?”

You couldn’t contain the smile on your face as you said, “I’d love that.”

You and Chris exchanged phones and put each other’s numbers in the phones. Finally, you all rounded back to the parking lot and said goodbye to one another. You and John sat down in your car and turned to look at each other, mirrored smiles on both your faces.

“Best night ever,” you both said at the same time.

[puckinghell]

25. with william nylander. y/n doing the trekking and willy asking them? - xo

i love snow days because it means that you trek across town to hang out with me and watch movies on the couch except this time you demand to know who i’m crushing on and i don’t know how to say you (sorry Willy did the trekking I forgot that you specified that!) 

combined with 

you’re sick and I feel bad because I’m pretty sure i gave it to you, so I bring you some of my great grandmother’s soup and watch movies with you

–

“You’re not coming over,” you say into the phone, trying to sound stern despite the fact that your voice is quivering and you’re very clearly trying to hold in a cough. “You can’t. I’m sick.”

“But it’s tradition,” Willy whines on the other side. “Besides, I’m already putting on my shoes.” You can hear stumbling in the background, then some incomprehensible yelling and a door falling shut.

“Will,” you scold, “do not come…” 

“Too late, bye see ya in ten minutes!” Willy all but yells into the phone, and then the line goes dead.

That dick. 

You’ve known Willy for years, so you knew going into this that he was probably not going to listen to you. He never really listens to you, and you’re used to it, by now. 

For as long as you’ve known him - since he was just a wide eyed teenager coming to Toronto to play in the big league and you were just another student trying to get a piece of paper that could launch you into a career - it’s been a tradition for him to come to your house during snow days.

The first time, it happened because snow made him miss Sweden, made him miss Calgary, made him homesick, basically, and Kappy wasn’t home so you offered to distract him with a Christmas movie en hot chocolate.

Now he comes to your house every single time it snows, and you watch Christmas movies - yes, even if it snows in March - and drink hot chocolate and it’s been the cause for some of your favorite memories.

You would never say no to snow-day-Christmas-movies. 

Except now you’re sick, and Willy has a game in two days, so he can’t get sick, so he can’t get close to you and…

The door bell rings. 

“Go away!” you yell, and there’s a giggle from the other side of the door before it swings open.

“Keys,” Willy says triumphantly, as if you didn’t give him those keys in the first place. 

You wrap your arms around yourself and glare at him from under your blanket as he kicks off his shoes, drapes his coat over the chair and starts moving around the place as if he owns it. 

“I can’t believe you came here after I told you not to come.” 

“That’s because you never mean it when you tell me not to come.” Will holds up a sealed container. “I brought soup.” 

You can’t help it; you sit up slightly, peaking above the edge of the blanket.

“Your grandma’s soup?” 

“As if I can make any other kind of soup,” Willy says, and that’s a fair point: he’s not a good cook and probably never will be, but he’s got his grandmother’s soup recipe down to a T. 

“Fine, you may stay,” you grumble, because you love Willy’s grandmother’s soup. “But if I get you sick and the entire city of Toronto comes for my head, it’s your fault.” 

“I’m not gonna get sick!” Willy yells from the kitchen, where he’s messing around with bowls. He doesn’t elaborate until he’s walking into the living room, holding a steaming bowl of soup and a glass of water. “I’m pretty sure I made you sick, actually,” he admits, carefully placing the bowl on the coffee table in front of you, as you sit up on the couch. “Last weekend, when we hung out, I wasn’t feeling too great.” 

“And you didn’t think to mention this to me?” you scold him, grabbing the spoon. 

Willy, to his credit, seems to fluster at that. “Sorry,” he says, a little sheepish. “I just hadn’t seen you for a while and I was really looking forward to it, so I didn’t wanna cancel. I didn’t think I was really sick.” 

You should probably yell at him some more, except his words have something squeeze in your stomach.

Usually, your massive, seen-from-space crush on your best friend is kinda easy to ignore, because he’s oblivious as can be and he flirts with everything and everyone, but sometimes…

Sometimes he’ll say things like this and it hurts a little, to know that it will never mean to him what it does to you.

Right now, your head also hurts, so you focus on the soup. 

“What movie?” Willy ask, and since you known you’ll probably be asleep within half an hour you let him pick. It ends up being some Christmas flick on Netflix.

If you ask, Willy will say he picked it for you, but you know he really picked it for himself. 

When you’ve finished your soup, you lean back on the couch and let your head drop in Will’s lap. He carefully pulls the blanket back over you and lets his fingers softly thread through your hair. 

“Hmm, for someone who never dates, you’d be such a good boyfriend,” you blurt out. Later, you’ll blame the fever and the fact that you’re high on painkillers, but right now you don’t really think about it. 

Will stiffens behind you. You know this isn’t his favorite subject: he’s been crushing on the same girl for literal years, but he refuses to tell you who the girl is. You’ve had legitimate fights about it, you’ve chirped and teased him, you’ve tried to gently coax it out of him: nothing works, he’s never going to tell you. 

“Stop,” he mumbles now, and you would, except…

Well, except you don’t want to, and you’re sleepy and feverish and warm and there’s no reason for you to stop. 

“Why won’t you just tell me?” 

“Y/N, don’t,” Will warns, and usually you would let it go, but you know he won’t get mad at you when you’re sick, and you’re just so annoyed with not knowing.

You sit up. “Fine, if you won’t tell me who she is, tell me something about her.” 

For a second, Willy stares at you, and you can tell he’s trying to figure out if it’s worth it to fight you on this. Clearly he decides against it, cause a small smile curls at the corner of his lips. 

“She’s really great,” he says, and the first piece of your heart cracks. “She’s super smart, and funny. She always makes me laugh, even when I’m upset, but she also knows when to just let me be upset and complain.”

You thought you were the one he called when he was upset, so there goes crack number two. 

“She tells me what to do even though she knows I won’t listen, but I think she secretly likes that I don’t listen.”

Crack number three. 

He talks about her, about this girl, with sparks in his eyes and a lightness to his voice that can only be recognized as fondness, and with every sentence he speaks your heart cracks more. 

She’s got great taste in movies, and makes fun of his taste in music. She doesn’t mind that he can’t cook, always pretends to eat his food anyway, but he’ll find her snacking in the kitchen later at night. She supports him when he needs it and isn’t afraid to tell him to get his head out of his ass when he needs that.

Clearly, she’s everything he’s ever wanted. 

“Well, since you like that,” you mumble, a little sour, “I’m telling you to get your head out of your ass and tell her you like her. You’ve been into this girl forever, Will, it’s worth the risk. And besides, there’s no way she isn’t into you, not when she’s acting the way you’re describing.”

You know this for sure, because this is how you act, and you’re into him. 

“I want to,” Willy admits. He’s staring at the TV but you can tell he’s not really seeing the screen. “But I just really don’t know how.” 

You sigh. You really deserve a best friend award, for doing this for him.

“Fine, I’ll give you a script. Just take her hand, and say: hey, I’ve been too afraid to tell you what I want, but it’s you. I want you for worse or for better. And I’ve waited a long time for you, and I would wait forever if that’s what you want me to do, but I need to know if I’m waiting on nothing. So, is there ever gonna be a chance for us? Or should I move on?” 

Willy smiles and it’s a little sad, like hearing you say those words hurts him, although you have no idea why. 

You lightly bump his shoulder. “And then when she inevitably says, Oh Will, I’ve been into you forever too! You can kiss her. And then tell me who the fuck she is.” 

“Okay,” says Will, and suddenly he reaches out and grabs your hands. “Hey, I’ve been too afraid to tell you what I want, but it’s you that I want for worse or for better. And I’ve waited a long time, probably too long, and I would wait forever if that’s what you want, but I need to know if there’s ever gonna be a chance for us.” 

His bright blue eyes are staring intently into yours and your mouth feels a little dry, your heart beating in your chest. It feels real, too real, and you need to shake yourself out of this before you start hoping for things that aren’t realistic. 

“Yeah, exactly like that,” you manage to bring out, your voice a little shaky. “She’s gonna be on the floor, Will.” 

Willy frowns. “I thought you were gonna tell me you’ve been into me forever too.” 

“Oh.” You can’t, not when it’s not real, not when he’s just practicing his speech, not when it means so much to you… 

“Fuck it,” Willy says, and then he reaches forward, cups your cheeks and crashes his lips against yours.

At first, the kiss is a little incoordinated; his teeth clack against yours and his pinky nearly pokes you in the eye, but then he softens his mouth and everything goes a little fuzzy.

It’s perfect. It’s like it’s always been meant to be this way. 

When he pulls away, you feel dizzy with it, with the scent of his cologne and the warmth of his skin, and perhaps a little bit with fever, and Willy is smiling. 

“It’s you, Y/N. You’re my crush. You’ve always been my crush.” 

And that’s… Oh. Willy’s wide eyes are filled with nothing but love and sincerity and Willy is not a good actor, so that means… 

“Oh no,” you suddenly realize, “now you’re definitely gonna be sick! Will, you have the worst timing, I can’t kiss you when I’m sick!” 

Willy shrugs. “Too little too late.” 

And then he’s kissing you again. 

[suffering-and-happy-about-it]

Only a Girl (Holy, Part 2.)

Series description: Your bestie Kim was a free-spirited person who wasn’t exactly concentrated on finding herself a partner. Yet one day, she recieves a phone number and this time, you didn’t want to keep the person on the other end hanging. And so, you text them, no matter who they are.

Part summary: There was a lot of misunderstanding in the last few days - which lead everyone into thinking that you were more or less obsessed with Stanley Barber.

A/N: I know that I’ve done this with Whatsapp series already but... This just seemed like a super-sweet idea for a closeted queer Sydney is.

Word count: 2.5 K

Tagging: @nemodoren​ @deadpoolcouldshootme​

Sydney’s tape: go fuck yourself

Series masterlist: H E R E

Being the fucking coward you were, you didn't respond to the text. To divert your attention, you went for a shower and then to snuggle with Mr. Skittles, who still kind of didn't get over the part where you almost stumbled over him.

You passed the test, to your surprise. You couldn't pay attention to a single word you've been writing on the exam sheet because one particular head with curly hair was making you focus on something else entirely. Stan Barber was in the said class with you, sitting just a few chairs away from you.

As usual, he was wearing his sunglasses - yet this time, he was writing down the words as if he was trying to surpass the Guinness' record of the fastest writing in history.

Again, you found yourself on kind of an edge. You wanted to ask him about the number. And fuck, you were curious about who the hell was his friend since you've never seen him outside school or his part-time job. But you didn't have enough nerve for that. Like a coward, eh? Yet Stan was quick enough to see that you were staring at him during the entirety of said exam and the rest of the class.

"What?" - The boy snapped suddenly, widening his eyes under the sunglasses. His hand quickly put his curls to place, rearranging them to look a bit more handsome since you were talking to him before he tried something similar to a smile. - "Do I have something on my shirt? Or did you suddenly realized how deeply you've fallen in love with me?" - His eyebrows arched as he leaned down to your desk. Stanley was using a shit ton of deodorants. Holy fuck.

And about that remark regarding you falling in love with him... That was nothing to worry about. He usually said weird shit like that. And the higher he got, the weirder the shit got.

"Keep on fucking dreaming, Barber." - A mutter came back as you grinned, picking your stuff from your desk. - "I was just spacing out and your damn head is right in front of me." - With a sweet smile, you thought you had knocked Stan off his feet, not literally of course, yet the boy wasn't giving up just yet. - "Oh, so you are in love with me. You hadn't said anything against it, so..." - Stanley shrugged his shoulders, grinning at you even more widely.

"I did say something." - You furrowed, having Stan hooked on the small talk, which wasn't happening every day. - "Keep on fucking dreaming, Barber." - You winked at the boy, fired at him from a finger gun, and then you turned on your heels and disappeared in the crowd of people.

You set on a new personal quest for another couple of days - you were trying to spot any suspicious activity going on with Barber... Which just meant that you tried to find out who is he friends with. Yet the level of Stanley Barber small talking to almost everyone to whom he was dealing was too hard for you. It was hard to keep track so you gave up even before the holiday started. Yeah, you were kind of lazy sometimes.

The holiday came in way quicker than you hoped it would. Well... It was starting just three days after the big exam, so you should've seen this coming, but you were surprised nonetheless.

The preparations were completed - Kim has prepared some meat for the grill, Aaron and his boyfriend took care of the alcohol and other illegal instances and you baked some cupcakes. Which, in your opinion, were the absolute peak of deliciousness.

Also, when it came to Aaron's boyfriend, you still didn't know his actual name - but because of the similarity, you all decided to call him Brock, like the Pokemon guy. Aaron was quite big when it came to every animated series ever made. When your holy trinity friendship had started back on elementary school, he was the one to call Kim 'miss Possible' - because of her name and the fact she shared a Kim Possible's most dramatic feature. The hair.

If you were naïve enough to hope to spend a load of fun time with your friends, you were very wrong. Aaron brought Brock with him and Kim, to everyone's surprise, brought one of her ladies with her. She had never done that before, but as they say, there's this first time for everything. Sure, the poor girl was most likely just another one-to-three nightstand, but you and Aaron made sure you're acting your fucking best around Kim's prey. But she wasn't as important for you to remember her name.

Even the first day in the cabin was quite nice. You fooled around for a while, grilled some of the meat Kim had prepared, and set on a long-ass hike through the woods around the cabin. But the other day... Oh boy...

It started with some cooking and beers. When that was done, boys put down a bottle of vodka in front of you, making everyone have at least one shot. And then another one... And another one. It was around an hour ago when Kim and her lady had disappeared somewhere - and wherever they were, you were sure about the things these two were up to. And no offense, but you didn't plan on witnessing any of it.

It wasn't that you would be disgusted or anything like that, but Kim was your bestie since your kindergarten days. And you weren't planning on seeing your best friend's face in someone else's coochie. No, thank you. So you sat in the main living room with Aaron and Brock as you listened to Brock playing his guitar.

About Aaron... He wasn't the smartest to start the conversation. But he never had grades worse than C, that needed to be at least mentioned. And when he started seeing some boy, well, these boys were very smart. Usually, they could do something artistic. Brock could play guitar and his ex-boyfriend was a passionate cellist. Aaron wouldn't say it out loud, but he was a quarterback who had a soft spot for artists. Which was a thing you secretly adored about your best friend?

"And then he... Man, you're not listening." - Aaron sat up suddenly, making you blink a few times in distress. Until then, he was laying with his head on your lap, telling you some story or what. But now, he was staring you dead in the eyes. - "Spill the tea, I've noticed you're different since last Sunday." - Sometimes, you wished for Aaron being the stereotypical gay friend, mainly because of the vocabulary used in so many shows. Yet your Aaron was way better than some random Netflix dude.

"I don't know what you're talking about." - You answered honestly, putting his hand back on your lap as if he was a small baby. Brock straightened up and put his guitar away, watching as you and his boyfriend chattered. - "I'm normal. As normal as I usually am." - "I've heard that you're in love with Stanley Barber, eh?" - Aaron asked almost innocently. For a moment, your face was projecting the empty feeling that struck you at the moment. That was a second lasting state before the panic overtook you.

"What the fuck? I am... I'm not in love with Stan. I've talked to him once after the biology exam and now we're having a wedding? Or..?" - Okay, maybe you were a bit overreacting with that, throwing your hands around, trying to make sense out of that shit. You could try to find out who started to spread this rumor, but it could be even Stanley himself. Which wouldn't surprise you one bit, to be honest? - "No. But you know... People noticed that you were stalking him and..." - Aaron suggestively rolled his eyes, making your mouth open even wider. - "I wasn't stalking Stanley... I... It wasn't like that at all."

You could barely defend yourself against these allegations. The facts clearly showed you watching the poor, unknowing boy almost every day of the last week... To find out who was this mysterious friend. You weren't watching Stan stalk him. But if you'd try to explain this in its entirety, starting from the concert, it would sound ridiculous. And on top of that, almost everyone was pretty drunk. Not like bat shit drunk, but you were more cheerful than normal.

"So you're saying you have your reasons and you're not secretly dating Stanley Barber, the rock king of our high school?" - Aaron looked you in the eyes again as you started to play with his hair again. - "I have my reasons and I wish I could date Stan." - You sighed back dramatically, grinning in the process. - "Stanley is a cool dude. I spent some time with him in the summer since I was at the bowling alley almost every day." - Brock spoke out suddenly. Oh, no. He thought you don't like Stan. But it wasn't like that either. As you previously said, you had a neutral relationship with the young dealer.

"I mean, yea, he's cool - but not 'I would date the hell out of him' type of cool." - That was what you thought about Stanley. He was a cool dude - but it was pretty hard to imagine him dating someone. Let alone dating you. - "Imma be hanging out on the porch if you'd be looking for me." - You whispered and patted Aaron's shoulder, picking yourself up as you left the interior of the cabin to be alone for a moment. With chips in one hand and a beer can in the second one, you turned at your friends for one last time as you heard Brock calling out to you.

"I didn't mean to offend you. It's just... I was just asking, you know that, right, Jessie?" - Oh, you're asking what Jessie's about, hm? When you were going to elementary school, you loved the Pokemon series playing on the TV. You wanted to be Jessie desperately - she had such a cool hair in your opinion. Aaron took the role of James since he was just as dumb as he was. And since there weren't any other roles, Kim took the role of Meowth before Aaron started calling her Kim Possible. You could be the Golden trio as well, but... You weren't into Harry Potter as much as you were into Pokemon, honestly. And from time to time, when Aaron felt that you're mad with him, he used the old elementary school nicknames.

"Not at all, James. I just need some fresh air." - You sent a wink his way, leaving the cabin. You sat down on the porch just as you told Aaron you were about to. So the whole school was under the impression that you're in love with Barber. Well, that was just great. You hoped that Stanley never gets to know about this so you wouldn't have to face some very unpleasant consequences of this made-up story. On the other hand, it was an even bigger failure than you hoped it was. Not only you didn't know who was this secret friend of his, but you were now dating Stanley as well.

And since you set your mind on the friend and you were quite drunk at the moment, you pulled your phone out and looked at the last text you've received from the number.

(Unknown number): Yea, there is. And you are? Where did you get this number?

It was your time to respond. This time, you were almost cool about it, which was most likely caused by the alcohol ravaging your veins. For a moment, you just sat there in the warm September air and watch what the forest was doing. This weather, in Aaron's opinion, was the best one of the whole year. The quarterback hated both hot and cold weather - now, he could wear only his football jacket, a t-shirt, and some pants, not being bothered by being cold or hot, because the weather was a-ok. Kim, as could be expected, loved the hottest summer days - those days when she could pack her shit and peep on a bunch of girls and boys on the public pool. Usually, she took you with her to have a look too, but you usually just tanned.

You: Lovely weather today, whaddya say? How have you been today?

Sydney was laying on her bed with a book thrown on the messy desk. She put earphones on, putting on some of the music Stanley had recommended to her and currently, she was trying to fall asleep. Liam was finally asleep too and her mom had another shift at the bistro. If Syd was right, her mom was about to come home around eleven p.m. Three hours to go, then. When her damned phone beeped all of a sudden, she opened her eyes and looked onto the ceiling before closing her eyes again.

Fuck people. Now, she was in her personal space and she was chilling. No-one, except Liam, was allowed to disturb her. And the text was most likely from Stanley anyway - and she wasn't really in the mood to chat with Stan at the moment. Yet, let's face it, humans are naturally curious creatures. I took her twenty minutes before she glanced over the screen of her old, barely working phone. And the fact it wasn't Stanley took her breath away.

It was the strange number again. This particular person had texted her before and they were, for the better part, pretty weird. No introduction, no clue of who they've been or what did they want. Sydney didnt even know where the fuck did they found her number in the first place. Sure, she tried to pass her number to Kim Miller, a girl going to the same high school, but that failed miserably. Whether Stanley lost her number, or didnt give it to her, she didn't know. One thing she did know - she didn't want this to repeat at all. Strangely enough, as long as the person wasn't rude or weird, she was fine with texting them back. In the end, it was just like when kids entered anonymous chatrooms for fun, wasn't it?

You: I like the clouds today. Pink's a cool color. And I've been fine, feels good to have some time to chill finally. Wbu?

After that, she picked the book again and changes the casette to a different mix of songs. This was more girly and calm, to say the least. It was relaxing enough to listen to while reading a book. And yea - a smile creeped on her face when she saw the screen lit up once more.  

[spiderman-homecomeme]

Day One - Hidden Connections

AN: You guys!!! Spideychelle week is finally here!! Ahhhh I’m so excited to see what everyone else as written and to share my stuff! Here is my contribution to day one! It’s a little short and quick, and there’s a fair amount of non-romantic stuff in it, but I just thought this idea was really funny and had to write it down! A huge thank you to @spideychelleweek for putting this together! 

Prompt: Secret Relationship AU/College AU

Pls enjoy some 2.4k of humor, fluff, and a dash of angst.

.

.

“To whom it may concern,”

“Dear Sir or Madam,”

“Dear Mr. Bugle,”

“Hello,

I hope your day is going well.

My name is Peter Parker, and I happened to film the altercation between the criminal known as Rhino and the heroes Luke Cage and Spider-Man on the intersection of 42nd Street and 11th Avenue. I have some screencaps of it attached, if you are interested in the video for a blog post, let me know. I am willing to sell said footage for a discounted quick-sale price.

Sincerely,

Yours Truly,

Love,

Thanks,

Peter Parker

--

Releasing a puff of air through his lips, Peter hits send.

The clickable ad he’d seen while scrolling through Facebook said: SEND VIDEOS OF SPIDER-MAN. $1 PER SECOND*. It was only after he’d clicked did he notice the fine print: Spider-Man must be within the frame for the whole second, otherwise the dollar is void.

But that doesn’t matter. Peter has a full five minutes that Dronie had so graciously recorded for him of Luke Cage and him kicking Rhino’s ass.

And he really needs the money.

MJ’s birthday is four days away, a day which also coincides with his rent being due, so in other words: he’s essentially broke. While he does have money in his bank account, he only has enough for one of those things, not both, and he can’t really afford to be evicted at this point. He knows MJ won’t leave him if he doesn’t get her anything…

But she at least deserves something nice.

This video should net him roughly $300; he can take her out to a nice dinner, maybe buy her something actually decent for a change. Not another scarf.

And who knows? She might not even want to go out to a fancy restaurant, seeing as she’s turned down every offer he’s given to take her out in the six months they’ve been dating. Every date night, it’s either been take-out, a quick slice, or some kind of fast food. Not that he’s complaining about hanging out with his girlfriend; every minute spent with her was more than enough. And he’d be a liar if he said it wasn’t a little easier on the wallet.

But there was still that seed of doubt. Why did she never want to leave Queens? Why was it always such a rush to get back home? Why hadn’t she introduced him to her parents? The intrusive, relentless thought that her being embarrassed of him might have been a factor whispered darkly in the back of his mind. He knows he can be immature at times, both with his sense of humor and overall behavior, so, albeit shamefully, he could understand where she was coming from.

Maybe a nice present accompanied by a fancy dinner could help to prove that he can act like a grown-up.

Maybe.

--

The next morning, while happily munching on a bowl of Hulk O’s, he’s genuinely surprised to see a reply in his notification bar from none other than J. Jonah Jameson himself.

“I want to see that video. Will talk about your payment after I have it analyzed by my team.

Your appointment is today at 9am. Don't be late.

J.J. Jameson

Editor for the Daily Bugle Heralding Your Daily News │Tel [212] 555-7109│Fax [877] 555-0971

Sent from my iPhone.”

Peter only allows himself a moment to be put off by the the informality of Jameson’s response, brows crinkled as he turns to check the time.

8:30 AM.

He drops his spoon into the bowl, milk and soggy cereal splashing.

Well, shit.

He stuffs whatever clothes he can find into a backpack before roughly yanking his suit on; he flings himself out of his fifth story window, cereal bowl abandoned on the kitchen counter. Phone in hand, following along on Google Maps, he wonders how super heroes were able to find their way around big cities before GPS.

The next thirty minutes fly by in a blur, and Peter honestly doesn’t know how he’s able to put enough brain cells together to find a place to change into his civilian “interview” clothes. It’s a wonder he made it there in one piece.

The lobby doesn’t have any kind of directory, or any indication of where J. Jonah Jameson is supposed to be. In fact, Peter isn’t even sure where he’s supposed to meet the guy, unable to recall if there’d been anything like that in the email.

He gingerly approaches the front desk, ducking his head down slightly as he offers a smile to the receptionist. “Uhm, hello! I’m here to see Mr. Jameson?”

The woman gives him the the quick once over, visibly unimpressed. “You got a delivery, kid?”

“Uh, n-no.” Peter shifts awkwardly, smile fading. “He, uh, he sent me an email. To meet him at nine? Today? Right… Right now?”

“Hold on,” she says, her voice monotone, turning to the phone on the desk and dialing a four digit number with freshly manicured nails.

Peter starts to say, “Thanks,” but is cut off by the woman holding a finger up.

“Hey Ted, I’ve got a kid down here. Says he’s supposed to meet with Jameson. Do you know anything about it?”

She listens for a moment, nodding. “Okay, thanks.”

Click.

“Okay, kid, go over to that elevator. 17th floor. Someone will meet you.”

Peter smiles again, throwing a quick, but polite, “Thank you,” over his shoulder as he moves.

He’s met by who he assumes to be Ted, a slight middle-aged man with tired eyes. “Peter Parker?” He asks.

Peter nods.

“Alright, follow me.”

Peter isn’t taken directly to the office at first, only being seated in the waiting area just outside.

For thirty minutes.

9 AM, he said. Don’t be late, he said.

The door to the office is ajar, the sound of Jameson yelling at and berating some poor unfortunate soul over the phone almost as loud as the clacking of Ted’s typing on his keyboard.

“I don’t care what that weasel said, I want it done right this time! And if you had done what I’d told you to, we wouldn’t be having this conversation!” There’s a pause as Jameson presumably listens to the person on the other line begging for mercy. “Fine. Go with the lilac. It’ll clash with your comforter, you’ll see. Don’t come crying to me when you have to buy a whole new bed set.”

Another beat of just Ted’s typing passes.

“Okay. Love you, Mom. Buh-bye.” Jameson hangs up, before yelling out the door. “HOFFMAN!”

“Yes, sir?” Ted answers quickly.

“MY 9:00 IS LATE. IT’S 9:30!”

“No, sir, he’s here sir. He’s been here since 9.”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME? I COULD’VE HAVE ENDED THIS CONVERSATION SOONER. MAKE A NOTE OF THAT, HOFFMAN.”

“Yes, sir. Will do, sir.”

“NEXT TIME, INTERRUPT MY PHONE CALL. STICK YOUR HEAD IN HERE. GIVE ME A SIGNAL.” He sighs. “Okay. Send him in.”

Ted looks over. “You can go on in. Good luck.”

Peter falters for a moment, wondering if he’s really willing to go through with this.

No. He is. MJ was more than worth it.

He says a quick, “Thank you,” before walking in to the lion’s den.

Jameson sits at his desk, looking up briefly, chewing on an unlit cigar. “Well, quit your dawdling, get in here.”

Peter picks up the pace.

The man glares at him for an uncomfortable few moments, sizing him up, before extending his hand. “You got the video?” He asks, skipping introductions entirely.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah.” Peter swallows, handing him the drive.

Jameson hums. “I was expecting someone… More… professional.”

It’s then that Peter realizes he’d left his apartment without even combing his hair or brushing his teeth. He hadn’t even bothered put on deodorant or to change out of his The Mighty Thorgi t-shirt. He’s wearing a pair of the day before yesterday’s and yesterday’s jeans, and to make matters worse, he’s wearing two different shoes; one grey converse and one blue.

“You homeless or something? Because there’s a soup kitchen around here.” Jameson spends the next few moments trying to plug in the USB to his computer, flipping it over and over. “Damn thing. HOFFMAN!”

Ted practically sprints in. “Yes, sir?”

Peter tries to speak. “I can do it if you—”

“—Don’t patronize me, kid,” Jameson snaps. “Hoffman. Plug this in.”

Peter watches in silence as Jameson’s expression never changes as the video plays out on his computer. Peter knows what’s on the video, he knows it by heart, in fact. He fought in it. When the video ends, Jameson leans back, his blank expression now seems thoughtful.

“I’m gonna give it to you straight kid,” He says. “It’s a good video. Now I can send this down to my lab nerds. They can calculate the exact amount of time that Spider-Man’s in a full frame. I’m guessing it’s gonna be around $120 to $150. But, that’s if we give you credit, of course. If you wanna sign the rights of this video over to us, we’re looking at, say, $350 upfront. You won’t be credited, though.”

To Peter, that actually sounds pretty good; he gets a good amount of money, more than he thought, and his name won’t be tied to his alter-ego. It’s a win-win. “Oh, yeah! That sounds great!”

Jameson’s smile is shark-like. “Great. HOFFMAN! GET ME CONTRACT A27!”

“Do you mean A63, sir?” Ted asks from the door, contract already in hand, placing it on the desk.

“Yes, yes of course. A63.” Jameson shakes his head. “Can’t get decent help around here,” he mutters.

Peter signs where Ted indicates. Jameson signs the last page and hands back the contract.

“I’ll be back with your copy,” Hoffman says as he exits the room.

Jameson then opens his drawer, retrieving a thick check book and grabbing a pen. “Parker Peterson, right?”

“No, no. Just… Peter… Parker.”

As Jameson writes the check, Peter takes the time to take in the office around him, his eyes drawn immediately to the portrait on the desk. His stomach drops as he realizes who it is.

No doubt about it.

That’s a picture of his girlfriend.

Why is there a picture of MJ… on Jameson’s desk?

“Pretty, isn’t she?”

Jameson’s voice startles Peter, and he looks over, the older man glaring right into him. “Huh?” Peter asks.

“She’s pretty, right? It’s okay. You can say she’s pretty. Beautiful even.”

Peter nods, voice soft. “Yeah. Really beautiful.” And he means it, more than anything, nervous as he is; MJ is the most beautiful person he’s ever known.

With the flick of his wrist, Jameson deliberately flips the portrait away from Peter.

In the amount of time Peter’s been in the office, Jameson has had two volumes: Loud and VERY LOUD. There seems to be a third setting, however. In a hushed, threatening tone, Jameson seethes. “Listen here, kid. I don’t need no smelly, grubby, unemployed jackass drooling all over my daughter.”

Wait, what?!

Fuck.

“I don’t know what thoughts were going through your sick little mind, but that’s my little girl, and I will be damned if she fuels your pervy little spank bank! Do I make myself clear?”

Oh, if only he knew...

Even though Peter could easily take down the older man, he still finds himself shrinking back slightly.

He nods profusely. “Yes, sir, of course sir.”

“Good.” Jameson roughly shoves the check at Peter. “Now get the hell out of my office.”

Peter doesn’t need to be told twice as he dashes through the door, nearly running past Hoffman who expertly passes him the contract copy.

“Have a nice day!” Hoffman calls as Peter disappears down the hallway.

--

Omw, the text read from MJ.

Luckily, Peter had already planned for arrival; the apartment’s clean, the floors vacuumed, Febreez has been sprayed. Conditions were perfect. All he needed to do now was sit and wait, mindlessly tapping his fingers against his thigh, the events from earlier replaying in his head on some kind of torturous loop.

The sound of the key turning the lock fifteen minutes later had his pulse quickening. She was here. “I brought Chinese!” She called as she set the bags down on the dining room table.

Peter cuts right to the chase, barely lasting a second. “So. I met your dad today.”

MJ nearly drops the lo mein, her eyes blown wide. “Oh my God.”

Peter shrugs.

“I am so. So. Sorry.”

He tilts his head a fraction, brows wrinkling in confusion. “Why?”

“I don’t know how he find out,” She says, almost to herself. “I tried to keep this— us— hidden from him. He chases away any guy who comes close to me; friend, colleague… One time a teacher said I was a remarkable student and he— It doesn’t matter. I’ve tried explaining this hetero-normative, misogynistic bullshit to him, but it just goes right over his head. He’s always had this… toxic paternity complex. Like, I know that he loves me, I guess, but that’s no excuse.” She folds her arms across her chest, glancing away, her eyes welling in frustration. “And I just didn’t want him to scare you away.”

Peter puts his hands on her arms. “Woahwoahwoahwoah. Hey. It’s okay.” She looks up at him. “He doesn’t know about us. I just went to the Bugle today to sell a video of Spider-Man… and I saw your picture on his desk.”

Relief washes over her, and she puts a hand on her chest. “Oh, thank God.”

“Nothing to worry about.” Peter grins, before growing confused again, expression crinkling. “I thought your last name was Jones?”

“It is.���

“Then…?”

“So’s my Mom’s,” she elaborates. “They just never got married. Or stayed together, really.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Peter nods.

A comfortable silence fills the room, the food on the table surely getting colder by the minute. But MJ finds that her curiosity is growing too strong. She has to know.

“What did he say?”

Peter snorts, face scrunching as he scratches the back of his neck. “A lot. He totally freaked out when I said you were pretty.”

“He yelled at you for saying I was pretty?”

“Well… It wasn’t really yelling. Just angry whispering. And...” Peter turns bashful. “I said you were beautiful.”

A small smile cracks MJ’s expression, and she looks back down at their now intertwined hands. “Gross.”

“I know.” He cups her cheek, thumb caressing the soft skin there as he stares deeply into her eyes. He leans in, placing a loving, lingering kiss against her lips. As he pulls away, they both sigh. “Just so you know…” He starts, voice barely above a whisper.

Her eyes gaze adoringly into his; she’s not even trying to hide how mushy she feels at this moment.

“You’re always the star of my spank bank.”

“Wait, What?”

[k-popscenxrios]

Didn’t Ask For This Pt 6 (Roommate!JK x OC)

A/N: Sorry that I took longer to post another part! I had to work a nine hour shift yesterday and I was super tired when I finally got home. But it’s here now, so I hope you guys enjoy!

Summary: “I didn’t know you hated me so much,” he spoke as he grabbed my wrist and once again turned me around to face him, “and quite honestly, I don’t think I’ve done anything horrible enough for you to hate me to the degree that you do.” “You say that like the hate isn’t mutual,” I remarked as he shook his head. There was a bitter smile on his face as he took a deep breath, “I think you are quite honestly one of the worst human beings I’ve had to come in contact with.”

6.1k words | drama ✞ | fluff ♡

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Finale

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

We all finally got back inside and finished our games. We were all so amazed that the employees didn’t kick us out for taking so much time on the games.

Jungkook spent the whole rest of the game glancing my way every few seconds, and I couldn’t help but notice that Hoseok was catching Jungkook’s glances. I wanted to walk over and slap the man for doing something to further Hoseok’s speculation that we like each other.

I couldn’t help but watch as Jungkook every time he got up to bowl, wondering whether he was going to completely miss or continue with his strike spree. Despite having drank however much alcohol he drank, he still pulled out with the highest score, beating Taehyung by 20 points. And to make everything better, I ended up with the worst score, losing to Jennie by 13 points.

In a way I was relieved to be the person instead of Jennie, but it sucked because I now had to spend more money on this douchebag.

“I think we should call it a night,” Taehyung spoke as I nodded in response. As hungry as I was, I was also more than eager to get out of this awkward atmosphere. Breathing in this stressful and dramatic air was suffocating.

After Taehyung announced the end of the night, Hoseok and I turned to each other to say our goodbyes.

“I’m sorry about… all the drama,” I swallowed as my face heated up, “It’s so embarrassing that you saw me cry like that.”

“It’s okay,” he waved it off as he sent me a soft smile, “despite all that, I actually had fun tonight. I wouldn’t mind doing this again sometime.”

I felt my eyes wander to see Jungkook behind me. He stared into my soul as a shiver ran down my spine. Why was he looking at me so often?

“Me too,” I smiled and looked up at Hoseok. I felt confidence build up in my chest as I stood up on my tiptoes and gave him a short and soft kiss on the cheek. It seemed to throw Hoseok off guard, and when I pulled away and looked up at him, his cheeks were flushed.

My eyes couldn’t help but trail over to Jungkook, but he had looked away. I should have been relieved over that…

I looked back at Hoseok as he just smiled and started to wave, “I’ll text you.”

I nodded and waved back with a smile on my face, right before he disappeared, I realized that I didn’t have his number and he didn’t have mine.

“Wait! Hoseok, I never gave you my number,” I started to walk his way, but he just turned around and gave me a knowing smile.

“I know,” he winked my way as I raised my eyebrows and took a few more steps his way.

“I guess you could-” he disappeared as he walked out of the door of the building, “...get it from Taehyung.”

Was I just rejected? Did Hoseok just reject me?

“Don’t worry. I gave him your number.”

I jumped and turned around to see Yoongi. I sighed and felt my doubt clear away.

“Oh, thank God,” I laughed in relief as I put a hand on Yoongi’s arm, “I just thought he rejected me!”

“No, he didn’t,” he smiled and shook his head, “But I’m going to run and grab something to eat. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me? I’ll pay and take you home,” Yoongi offered as my eyes brightened. I hadn’t hung out with Yoongi one on one before, and the thought of it was actually exciting.

“Of course! You didn’t even need to ask,” I started to feel giddy as I spotted Chaeyoung and Jimin talking to each other. Their conversation actually seemed serious, and I felt worry build up in my chest.

“Do you know what that’s about?” I asked Yoongi, but he shook his head. I’m sure it’s nothing…

“Okay,” Taehyung sighed and walked up to Yoongi and I. I still had no idea what Taehyung knew and what he didn’t know about the situation today, and quite frankly, I didn’t want to find out. I had no idea how he’d take it… “I’m ready to go when you are, Ari.”

“Er, actually,” I started as Jungkook walked up behind Taehyung. I felt my nerves increase as this was the closest I’ve been to him since we fought. “Yoongi’s taking me to eat tonight. I’ll be home whenever he takes me home.”

“No.”

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked over at Jungkook with a dumbfounded look. “Excuse me?”

Jungkook sighed and rolled his eyes, “I said no.”

“You don’t tell me what to do,” I glared as Jungkook crossed his arms across his chest.

“You owe me something, so you’re coming with Taehyung and I.”

“I’m buying you something,” I corrected with a glare on my face. I grabbed Yoongi’s arm and started to pull him towards the door, “I’m not dealing with this.”

“Ari,” Jungkook called out as I saw him try and rush after me. I noticed Taehyung grab Jungkook by the collar of his shirt and violently pull him back next to him. Jungkook slightly choked from the impact, but Taehyung wasn’t done.

I spun around at the sound of flesh connecting with flesh as my eyes widened in horror. Jungkook was laying on the floor, reeling in pain as he had his arms wrapped around his stomach. My eyes widened at the scene, and my nausea came back when I realized that Jennie still hadn’t left yet. She looked worried as Jungkook laid on the floor, but she didn’t rush after him.

“That’s what you get for making my sister cry,” Taehyung said through his teeth as I shook my head and rush up to Taehyung.

“Tae, please never do that again,” I swallowed and looked down at Jungkook with worry, “Despite all the horrible things he’s done to me, seeing that makes me feel horrible.”

I let go of Taehyung and took a deep breath to calm down my nerves. I knelt down and tried to help Jungkook sit up. He cried out in pain and seethed when I touched the place Taehyung punched.

“Come on, stand up,” I said as I helped Jungkook up off the floor. Worry consumed my thoughts so much that I almost didn’t notice the faint smell of his cologne. He smelled stronger of alcohol, but I could still smell that all too familiar scent.

“Are you okay?” Jennie asked as I sent her a look.

“Listen here, Jennie,” I felt my confidence flair up as I heard Yoongi rush over to me.

“Time to go,” he mumbled, but I shook my head. I didn’t care if Taehyung heard this, too. I just needed to chew her out.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but I want you to stay away from both Jungkook and my brother.” I snapped as she gave me a look of utter shock.

“What?” she slightly laughed in disbelief, “Are you kidding?”

“No,” I shook my head and held Jungkook tighter to me. He was leaning a lot of weight on me, and I felt the pressure cause my feet to slightly ache, “I mean every word. I know what you wanted to do with Jungkook despite flirting around with my brother.”

“Th-that,” she stuttered as I noticed Taehyung come to the slow realization of why I was so upset. “I mean, what’s the big deal, anyway? I used to date Jungkook, so now I can’t look his way without wanting to get into his pants?”

I glared at her and rolled my eyes, “You’re right, because you were simply looking his way with no ulterior motives. I stare at people like this all the time.”

I turned to Jungkook and his eyes locked on with mine. I was trying to demonstrate just how Jennie looked at him, but the closeness of our faces caused me to freeze in place. His eyes looked so broken and apologetic, and I wanted to slap the pathetic look off of his face.

I finally snapped out of thought and was about to start demonstrating, but Taehyung broke the silence before I had the chance.

“Okay, please stop doing that, Ari,” he sounded very nervous, and I got incredibly confused and was about to scold him for not letting me get to the point, but he was visibly upset.

“Tae…” I spoke, but he held his hand up to indicate for me to stop talking.

“We get the point, Ari. It was making me really uncomfortable seeing you look at him like that,” he shook his head and started walking toward the doors, “Just bring Jungkook to the car. We’re going home.”

“I’m not riding with you two. I’m going with Yoongi,” I repeated to make sure that he didn’t forget.

“I need you to come home with us,” Taehyung shook his head as I started to guide Jungkook to the door.

“Taehyung, I-”

“I’m not sure that I won’t kill this kid if you’re not there to stop me.”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes in annoyance. Sure, I was worried about Jungkook, but I wasn’t that worried about him. I wasn’t about to let the two of them order me around.

“Maybe he deserves for you to kill him,” I spoke as Jungkook sighed in my arms. I glanced his way with a glare for a few seconds before looking away right before he turned his head my way, “I don’t want to hear a word from you. You’ve ruined my night enough for a lifetime.”

“Oh please,” Jungkook rolled his eyes. I glared his way again and took a deep breath before shoving his side to get him away from me. He stumbled away, grunting in pain from losing my support.

“Stop being a baby,” I mumbled as I turned around to head back into the building, “I’ll see you two at home when Yoongi drops me off.”

The two of them just watched me walk off, and I was relieved that neither of them fought me any more. I was soon back in the building, seeing Jimin and Chaeyoung talking and seemingly joking around again. I was relieved that nothing bad was going on between the two of them.

“Are you ready?” Yoongi asked me as I nodded. I looked to Chaeyoung as she smiled and waved.

“Jimin and I are going to stay and play another game. We’ll see you tomorrow at work, right?” Chaeyoung asked as I nodded.

“I’m working night shift,” I said as she smiled and nodded.

“Me too! Cleaning?”

“When am I not cleaning?” I asked as Yoongi started to pull me to leave the building, “Bye Chae! Bye Jimin!”

“Bye!”

Yoongi and I walked out of the building as I sighed and slightly stretched out, “It feels like we’ve been here all day.”

“Tell me about it,” Yoongi slightly laughed as he unlocked his car. We opened our respective doors and slipped into the car.

We started trying to decide where exactly we were going to eat, and once we decided, we were pulling out of the parking lot. The car was silent for a minute or two until Yoongi spoke up.

“I really hate to… bring it up after finally getting away from the drama,” Yoongi took a deep breath as I turned my head to look his way. “But… You sure do seem to have a lot of chemistry with Jungkook.”

I raised an eyebrow, but my face didn’t fail to heat up, “How do we have chemistry? We hate each other.” “I know, I know,” Yoongi mumbled before glancing at me for a couple seconds, “But just… think about it. If you don’t like the guy, I’d suggest staying as far away from him as possible before you fall for him.”

“That,” I laughed and shook my head, “is never going to happen. We’d kill each other.”

“Then stay away from the guy,” Yoongi advised as I felt nerves build up in my gut. He sounded so… serious. How the hell was I supposed to stay away from Jungkook when we live together?

...But Yoongi didn’t know that part.

“So, I have a confession,” I mumbled as Yoongi looked at me before looking back at the road, “It’s nearly impossible to avoid this guy because he’s rooming with Taehyung and I.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened as he opened his mouth to say something. Nothing came out of it as he closed his mouth again and swallowed.

“I’ve tried to get Jungkook to move out, but Taehyung’s been threatening that he’ll leave if Jungkook leaves.”

“Well then kick them both out,” Yoongi finally spoke up, “Ari, I’m trying to tell you that this guy is going to get you to fall for him. You obviously don’t want that!”

“Why does this scenario always end in falling for him?” I frowned, but I could feel nerves bubble in my chest. I was not falling for Jungkook…

“Let me ask you this,” Yoongi moved his hands to hold the steering wheel at the bottom, “when you were mocking Jennie’s look at him, were you actually mocking Jennie?”

“Well that’s the annoying thing,” I started as I leaned forward to look at Yoongi at a better angle, “I was about to start mocking her when Taehyung stopped me.”

Yoongi stayed quiet at my confession as I just continued to look at him expectantly. His silence was making me feel uneasy as I leaned forward to make sure he was still there.

“Yoongi-”

“Ari,” Yoongi swallowed and sent me a glance before tilting his head to the side, “You might be too far gone.”

…

I stared at the door to my apartment for a few minutes as I thought back to my conversations with Yoongi. He spent most of the night talking to me about Jungkook until I forced him to talk about something else. Yoongi is 100% convinced that I have at least some romantic feelings for Jungkook, but I just didn’t see it.

Why would I like someone who I found so insufferable?

I finally grabbed the door handle and opened the door in a very slow motion. I peeked inside of the apartment to see that no one was in the living room. The place was deafeningly silent and it made me feel nothing short of uneasy.

I walked in and closed the door behind me as I locked the door behind me. No one was sitting at the table, and it didn’t sound like anyone was in the kitchen. They had to be in their rooms by process of elimination.

I felt myself sigh of relief. I was ready to just lay down and go to sleep and pretend that today never happened. I walked down the hallway and saw that both their doors were closed, as was mine.

I slowly twisted the knob and push the door open quietly to not attract any attention to the fact that I was home. I finally slipped into my room, only to jump when I spotted Taehyung sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Taehyung,” I snapped as I felt my heart jump in surprise, “You scared the life out of me!”

He didn’t say anything as he looked down at the ground. He looked really sad, and I felt my heart breaking at the look on his face.

“Tae,” I called, but his eyes stayed on the ground, “Did you need something?”

“Ari,” he replied as I slowly moved to sit next to him. I took a deep breath as he reached out and grabbed my hand, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’ve forced Jungkook in your life, and I’m sorry I ruined your night.”

“Tae,” I shook my head and squeezed his hand, “You didn’t do anything wrong tonight. Jungkook’s the problem and his problematic nature is not your fault.”

“If it hadn’t been for me, he wouldn’t be here,” Taehyung sighed and shook his head, “I just… I don’t want to be the annoying big brother who cockblocks you all the time, but seeing you with Jungkook is just…”

“No,” I shook my head. Jungkook and I were just enemies, “Taehyung, I don’t feel anything for Jungkook.”

“RaeAri,” he swallowed and turned his body to face me, “I love you, okay? But I don’t want to see you hurt by Jungkook. I never imagined that you…”

“I don’t!” I shook my head and my eyebrows creased, “Taehyung, I don’t like him! He doesn’t like me! We hate each other!”

“I know,” Taehyung closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “Just promise me- no. Swear to me that you won’t sleep with him no matter what.”

“I swear I would never!” I felt my face heat up at the thought, “I would never even think about that…”

“Good,” Taehyung nodded and stood up quickly, “I uh… I’m sorry again.”

“Stop apologizing,” I stood up in front of him, “You’re the one who had a rough night, not me.”

“We both had rough nights,” Taehyung corrected with a sad smile, “I mean, I’m not surprised that she wanted Jungkook. Part of the reason I invited her was to see if she was serious about me or not. I now know.”

I frowned and wrapped my arms around Taehyung’s neck. I pulled him to me as he wrapped his arms around my back. “I love you, Tae… and I’m sure that the right girl is just waiting for you to see her instead of Jennie.”

Taehyung continued to hug me, but I could sense a mood change. I slightly pulled away from him to look in his eyes, and it looked like he was coming to some realization. I smiled and ruffled his hair before pulling away from him.

“Do you need to make a call or something?” I giggled as a smile broke out on Taehyung’s face.

“Something like that,” He nodded and started walking out of my room.

“You’re not going to give me her name?” I asked as Taehyung shook his head and sent me a wink.

“I’ll let you know if she agrees to a date with me,” he nodded before closing the door behind him. I smiled and sighed, plopping right back down on my bed. I was so ready for this day to be over.

::

The next morning was very silent and actually nice and relaxing. Jungkook had left early in the morning but didn’t say where he was going and didn’t mention when he was going to come home.

I spent the morning all alone in my apartment like old times, and I started missing living alone. It was nice to have everything to myself once again.

I spent the first half of the day alone, and the longer I was alone, the more I… started to miss Jungkook and Taehyung. It was weird having all this time to myself, and the longer I was here, the more I missed them.

I was sitting on the couch scrolling through Netflix shows when the front door was being unlocked. I took a deep breath when my eyes locked onto Jungkook’s, and my heart grew excited at his presence. It was weird feeling so happy to have Jungkook around since most of the time, I was dying for him to go away.

“What?” he asked as my face heated up. I looked away when I realized how long I was staring.

“Nothing… I just-” I cut myself off before finishing that sentence, and filtered what I was actually going to say. “I didn’t realize you were coming back before work tonight.”

“Well, surprise,” Jungkook shrugged as I took a deep breath. I watched him leave the living room and head into his room. I felt disappointed when I heard the door to his room close, indicating that he was done talking. I guess he wasn’t in the mood for talking?

…

We stayed silent for most of our shift together as I tried to exclusively talk to Chaeyoung. She was good at talking about random stuff, and I was good at listening to her.

“So…” she glanced over at Jungkook when we went on our dinner break. He had walked with us to grab some food, but he didn’t sit down with us to eat, “Did something bad happen between you two? He seems a lot colder than he was before.”

I looked over at Jungkook and then back to Chaeyoung. I wasn’t exactly sure what happened to him, but it wasn’t good. He still hadn’t brought up the fact that I owe him for losing in bowling.

“Hey Jungkook,” I called as I felt worry build up in my chest, “Please come sit with us.”

Jungkook ignored my words as I glared at him. He was seriously ignoring me?

“Jungkook,” I called once more, but he once again ignored me.

“Fine, be that way,” I grumbled before sighing and turning back to Chaeyoung, “This is so annoying. Why am I upset over this?”

“Mm,” Chaeyoung shrugged and looked away. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at her as she bit the inside of her cheek.

“What?” I asked, but she continued to avoid my eyes, “Do you know something that I don’t?”

“No,” She shook her head, placing her straw on her lips before looking back up at me, “I would confront him about it tonight. I’ll leave you two to clean a theater alone so that you can talk to him.”

“...Okay,” I nod, my heart beat increasing in speed at the thought of confronting him. I wouldn’t normally be this nervous, but he was acting weird… I was afraid that he would explode on me if I wasn’t careful.

There was only one way to find out…

…

Jungkook followed me into the theater as I looked down the hallway and checked for trash or stray popcorn pieces. Luckily for us, the theater was fairly clean. There were only five people in the theater for the last showing, so with a quick glance through all the rows, I realized that this theater was a walk through and walk right back out.

“Jungkook,” I called out as we started walking toward the exit. He didn’t stop walking, so I rushed up behind him and grabbed his arm. We were now stopped in the middle of the hall, looking at each other in silence.

His eyes were unreadable, almost angry, and I loosened my grip on his wrist. I swallowed and tried to keep his eyes on mine as I took a small step his way.

“You’re avoiding me,” I said bluntly, but with a quiet and soft tone. I wanted him to understand that I wasn’t trying to have an argument with him. I was actually concerned and wanted to have a serious conversation with him.

“Why do you sound sad about it?” he asked, his voice only slightly snappy as I shook it off.

“It’s not a good feeling to be ignored by someone who I’ve gotten used to talking with. I would rather argue with you all shift than not say anything to each other all night.” I confessed. I felt very raw and uncharacteristically honest with him, but he didn’t seem to care all that much.

“Well I’m getting sick of arguing with you all the time,” he looked away from me and leaned against the wall.

“You’re the one who mostly initiated the arguments,” I thought out loud as I shook my head, “there’s no way that you’re being serious. You’ve done nothing but pick at me since you got here!”

“Well I’m sick of it,” he snapped at me as I narrowed my eyes at him, “I’m sick of you and your uptight ass constantly being around me. I’m sick of just looking at you! Your face alone makes me so angry I could scream.”

I swallowed and took a deep breath to keep myself calm. This wasn’t annoying bantering, this was hurtful yelling. He was going out of his way to say things that he knew was going to make me seriously upset…

“I didn’t ask for any of this, Jungkook,” I glared, tears building up in my eyes. Why were his words bringing tears to my eyes? I didn’t care what he thought about me! “I didn’t want you to move in to my place, I didn’t want to work the same job as you, and I certainly didn’t want to…”

I cut myself off as my next thought caused my eyes to widen. Why was I about to say that? I was about to impulsively lie without a second thought? I was relieved that I caught myself before I said it.

“Didn’t want to what?” Jungkook asked, but he didn’t actually sound interested, “What other horrible things do you have to say to me?”

“It’s nothing,” I shook my head, “The point is, don’t blame me for all of this. I didn’t ask for any of it!”

“You are the same girl that already judged me before we officially met, right?” he pushed himself off the wall and his face moved closer to mine, “You couldn’t stand me and you’d never actually said a word to me.”

“I didn’t have to say a word to you to know you were an asshole,” I spat, trying my hardest to keep back all the tears. I could wait until after this argument to run and cry in the bathroom.

“Well I didn’t have to say a word to you to know that you’re an uptight virgin who thinks she has the right to judge everyone. You know what? You wanted that money for the furniture, right?”

I wrapped my arms around my chest as I felt my body shaking. I didn’t like the feeling, but there was nothing I could do to make it go away.

Jungkook pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and started pulling money out of it, practically just throwing it at me, “You sure think I have enough of this to go around, so here. Have some 20 dollar bills that I was going to just use as tissues.”

My heart felt a stab as I felt a lump form in my throat. “Did you really just throw money at me like that?”

“What are you going to do about it?” Jungkook raised his eyebrows and I looked down at the money on the floor. I knelt down to pick it up as I felt my tears finally break through the barrier that I had been trying to build.

I stared down at the money as Jungkook just stayed unmoving and silent. I reached out to grab one of the bills as a tear fell on my knee. I picked up the money and stared at it for a few seconds before taking a deep breath.

I tried to subtly wipe my tears away, but I could tell that Jungkook knew. The air completely changed after he realized I was crying, and I finally sniffed to completely remove any doubt.

Jungkook was quick to kneel down and pick up the money, and his hand looked like it was shaking worse than mine was. His breath sounded irregular as he gathered the money and slipped it all back in his wallet.

“God, I’m sorry,” he whispered before grabbing my hand to help me back up. I gave in to him as I stood up, but I refused to look at him, “Ari, I just…”

He paused and didn’t finish his sentence as he moved his head to the side. I still refused to look up in his eyes, and it seemed like that was bothering him a lot. The silence was deafening the both of us as I took deep breaths to try and calm my tears.

I was about to turn and just walk away to stop me from this embarrassment, but I was stopped short when Jungkook’s arms snaked around my waist gently, holding me to him in a way I’d never been held before. My heart was bursting out of my chest as I buried my nose in his shirt that housed the heavenly cologne that I couldn’t help but love.

His arms felt more comforting than any hugs before, and I found myself wrapping my arms around him in response. I could feel Jungkook’s heartbeat because of just how close we were standing, but I found the sound to be very relaxing.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into my hair as let my tears soak into his shirt, “I didn’t mean anything I just said… I just- I…”

I swallowed before pulling away slightly to look up at him. Our faces were dangerously close, probably closer than they ever have been, and I didn’t feel the urge to pull away. My eyes met his as my heart leapt in my chest. His eyes were a million times softer and welcoming as I allowed myself to keep my eyes locked on his.

“I never wanted to make you cry again, but I managed to do it again only a day later,” he had a sad smile appear on his face for a few seconds before it faded away. His eyes didn’t leave mine for a second as I felt myself leaning my forehead on his.

“Why were you being so…” I couldn’t finish if I want to keep from having more tears pour down my face.

“I…” he took a deep breath and looked down to keep from looking at me. “Taehyung was really pissed yesterday and he said a lot of things… I thought that the best solution would be to just ignore you, but you obviously didn’t feel the same way.”

“What’d he say to you?” I asked as Jungkook looked back up at me. I felt my eyes flutter closed for a couple seconds and I caught a strong whiff of his smell.

“Just some protective brother stuff,” Jungkook tried to brush it off, but I knew there was more to it.

“Like what? Stuff like ‘stay away from my sister’?” I asked as I could see the discomfort in Jungkook’s eyes. He did not want to talk about it.

“Basically,” he nodded, “I overstepped, obviously… God, I hate seeing you cry.” He shook his head in shame as he moved his hand to brush one of my tears away.

“Should we just call it even, then?” I asked as Jungkook raised an eyebrow in slight confusion.

“Call what even? What are you talking about?” he asked as I slightly pulled my head away from his so that I could get a better look at his expression.

“Instead of buying you anything, let’s just call it even,” I nodded, but Jungkook looked down and opened his mouth to say something. Nothing came out for a few seconds as I just giggled and raised my eyebrows expectantly.

“Well… let’s call even after…” Jungkook mumbled as he removed his arms from around me. I felt my nerves increase as Jungkook just gave me a soft smile.

His hands moved to run up my neck, burying his right hand in my hair. His other hand held my cheek as I found myself leaning into his touch.

Maybe Yoongi was a little accurate when he said that I had feelings for Jungkook.

His eyes disappeared as mine closed all the way. I could feel the heat from his lips radiating onto mine as I found myself aching to feel his lips pressed to mine.

I waited for several seconds, but the contact never came. I gave him a few more seconds before I opened my eyes again, and I was terrified that I was going to meet the eyes of a Jungkook who was going to throw a “Just kidding!” at me.

I jumped when the door to the theater was being pushed open, and I felt my heart drop when Jungkook pulled away. We turned to the door to see Chaeyoung peeking her head through a crack in the door.

“Alright slowpokes, I can’t clean all these theaters by myself.”

::

For the rest of the shift, I spent most of my time giving Chaeyoung short answers and ignoring some of her words. I couldn’t pinpoint if I was upset with her or if I was just too occupied thinking about how… weird everything had just been. Jungkook and I almost…

Jungkook talked a little more to us, mostly Chaeyoung since my mind was elsewhere. Chaeyoung didn’t fail to notice my absence from their conversations, but she didn’t voice anything. I was sure that I would be hounded with questions when Jungkook wasn’t around.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Jungkook and everything that was said…

“Ari!”

I jumped and looked over at Chaeyoung and Jungkook who were walking out of the theater that we were cleaning. I took a deep breath and started walking toward them. My eyes met Jungkook’s as I felt my heart jump into my throat.

Since when were his eyes so… nice to look at? His expressions seemed to be softer than I remembered…

“We’re done, you know,” Chaeyoung pointed to the door, “It’s time to go home.”

“Right,” I nodded and rushed over to them, “Sorry. Let’s get home.”

Neither of them said anything to me the whole walk to the back to clock out. It was relieving to me, because I was hoping and praying that Chaeyoung wouldn’t get a chance to question me. I had no idea what I’d even say if she did.

It was like Jimin swept in to rescue me as he popped into the back as we were clocking out. Chaeyoung immediately drew all her attention on the boy as they started talking amongst themselves.

“Let��s get out of here,” Jungkook pointed to the door after he finished clocking out. I nodded and stayed quiet to keep from attracting attention from either Chaeyoung or Jimin.

We slipped out of the back room and I sighed of relief. Sure, I was alone with Jungkook, one of the most confusing guys I’ve ever met, but at least he’s not throwing questions my way like Chaeyoung would.

“I really am sorry I yelled,” Jungkook broke the silence as we pushed open the doors to exit the building, “I quite enjoy arguing with you, but I don’t like yelling at you.”

“Ditto,” I sighed and glanced his way, “I started thinking… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if we drove to work together sometimes. It’ll give me plenty of time to tell you how much you annoy me.”

Jungkook’s eyes caught mine as he sent me a smile. Our paces slowed the longer we looked at each other, and it wasn’t long before we were stopped still in the middle of the semi-empty parking lot.

“That sounds like a plan,” Jungkook nodded, his eyes not leaving mine. The wind began picking up a little as Jungkook’s hair was being blown around like crazy. I let out a small giggle as he laughed and tried to keep his hair tame. It was a good thing my hair was in a ponytail, otherwise I’d been in the same boat.

The wind blew the smell of his cologne in my direction as we laughed about his hair, and I felt my heartbeat increase in volume. Why’d he have to smell so good…

“I have to ask,” Jungkook moved his hands from his hair as the wind died down, “do I really smell that good?”

My soft expression faltered as embarrassment took over my features. I opened my mouth as my eyebrows furrowed, but my voice was a lot weaker than I intended it to sound. “What makes you think that I like how you smell?”

Jungkook took a step closer to be and leaned his head closer to mine. I narrowed my eyes for that as I tried my hardest to not seem like I was breathing in more than normal.

“Well, first off,” He spoke in a soft voice with a smirk on his face, “you have a habit of leaning closer to me and breathing faster every once in a while. Not to mention that you were deeply inhaling against my shirt earlier.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Jungkook moved even closer to me. He was trying his hardest to get me to cave, but I wasn’t going to. I was breathing like normal, and I wasn’t letting his smell consume me like it was trying to do.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I shook my head, but Jungkook just looked at me with a smirk. I began backing away as I walked to my car, “I’m ready to go home. See you there.”

My exit was not very subtle, and Jungkook seemed to think so, too. He walked toward his car which was parked next to mine, and the smirk never let this face.

“It’s Fierce by Abercrombie & Fitch, by the way.”

::

A/N: God, don’t you just hate it when writers are so lazy that they randomly pop characters into places for convenience? Me too... I’m sorry Thank you for reading! It means so much to me x3 Sorry for being so mushy but I can’t help it...

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

[phoebewallerbrigde]

All For Us, (a Reddie x Euphoria HBO) fanfiction

"It was the end of summer, back-to-school was coming up, I had no intention of staying clean and Richie Trashmouth Tozier was back in Derry." 

Without any filter but with humor and franchise, here's the harsh coming of age story of Derry's youth through the eyes of Eddie Kaspbrak, 17, fresh out of rehab.

read it on AO3 || Explicit || 8k || 1/?

Hope you like it guys !

There was a time in my life where everything was fine, but that, that was before I was ripped out of my mother’s womb. Since then, it’s been shit.

Chapter 1 : Screwed.

I was born on September 3rd, 2002 in a world post 9/11 completely overwhelmed by the mourning and the duty of memory. It has been four months since Sam Raimi's Spiderman was at the top of the world box office and that Peter Parker had managed to give hope to America and New York. Far from everything and from New York, there was my mother and my father, and I was their Spiderman. Nice, huh? I don’t think so.

---

My life begins without warning with a childhood in a big house in the depths of America's asshole. Derry, Maine. A small town so small that everyone knows each other and knows everything. That’s where the problems start. My father became ill when I was 9 years old and my overprotective mother was already beginning to fall into what I call "parental and marital abuse". Life at home was absolutely not great, especially because of my "not fitting" behavior.

"Eddie-bear, is everything okay?" asked Sonia Kaspbrak worried.

A 10-year-old Eddie was still staring at the front door counting seconds every time he heard the clock tick of the dining room.

"Eddie-bear, look at me." she added in a calm voice. "You did not even touch your .."

Eddie turned her head to Sonia and began to cry at once. Sonia and Frank looked at each other in amazement, feeling completely helpless.

They did what every healthy-minded parent would do, choosing to consult several doctors, a psychologist and a children's psychiatrist. I wasn't physically abused, I always drank at least a liter of water a day, my mother prepared me good dishes, my father did not hit me... 

"Your son has OCD, ADHD and anxiety. He has a higher brain activity than the average child for his age, probably due to hypersensitivity and perhaps also to behavioral disorders... But he’s still too young to tell."

The psychiatrist's voice left a blank in the room and Sonia Kaspbrak burst into tears. Frank stroked his wife's back for reassurance and Eddie turned to his mother without understanding what was happening.

So why do I have this?

---

"Neuroatypical, you are neuroatypical, Eddie-bear."

Eddie mimicked his mother while eating his cereal bowl, she glanced him, he stopped and sighed.

"Show me your phone, I'll check your alarms."

An 11-year-old Eddie contemplated the capsules, pills and other medications that his mother was carefully distributing in each compartment of his medicine box. He handed him his yellow iPhone 5c that he had already unlocked on the alarms page.

"You have to take all your medicine, at the times indicated."

"I know, Ma."

Sonia looked at her son, who continued to eat with a peeved look on his face. She sat down beside him, putting down his cellphone and the box of compartmentalized tablets.

"You know ... there are lots of famous people like you - famous people, super creative and smart." She managed to catch Eddie's attention and then continued. "Look, your favorite actor who plays in The Truman Show for example."

"Jim Carrey?" 

"Yes!" exclaimed Sonia with a smile.

Yeah, and we all remember Jim Carrey during the 00s New Year Eve on David Letterman's set.

"A genius." ended Eddie with a smile before getting up and packing his box in his fanny pack.

I don’t really remember my pre-adolescence and all that time when I was 10 to 12. I mean, I remember my friends, how meaningless life was, how fast everything was falling apart for us because of daddy’s pneumonia, and how the world was going way too fast for my brain. And that sometimes, if I happened to think too much about everything, to concentrate too much on an smell or on the number of germs present under the table on which I wrote or on the strange way that I breathed ... I had a violent asthma attack. The space of a moment. But very quickly the space of a moment became all the time and all the time became a fight to fight these crises. And frankly...

"So this day, son?" Frank asked with a smile as Eddie walked into his room still dressed with his backpack.

He could hear his father listen to Queen and David Bowie's Under Pressure, one of his favorite songs who became one of his. That made him sketch a small smile.

"I'm fucking done with it."

--- 

I’m not necessarily proud of the choices I’ve made, but it wasn’t really like my mom didn’t push me. The house was full of meds. Meds here, meds there, meds in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in the guest room, in the garage. My mother ordered meds profusely but gave me "gazebos" when I was perhaps the one who needed treatment the most. A treatment, I needed a treatment. I got it. It was there in front of me, everywhere, I knew every name and every dose of what the psychiatrist was giving me, it was not hard to remember, so I took it. I took but nothing. I did not feel any difference, the asthma attacks, the tremors, the sadness were still there. I took again and again and always more. When I went to the doctors, they increased the doses and I changed my mother's gazebos with my real meds. It made me feel something in the end, but it was too late, I was already addicted. But after all, is it really my fault? Oh, and I think we say "placebos".

12 years old and already on medication dependence. 13 years old and I stole my father’s morphine and other painkillers. 14 years old and I was asking for more with my psychotropics. 15 years old, I took my 1st taz and smoked my first joint. 16 years old and I sniffed my first rail, the first among others. That's why Georgie Denbrough found me unconscious in my own vomit. I had become a junkie ? I don’t know. I just liked the feeling. The feeling that it gave me, the nothingness. For once on earth, for as long as I can remember, I felt something new every time. It was this need that had led Georgie to scream with fear, which alerted Bill Denbrough to run to discover the disaster and tell him to look for my mother as he tried to wake me up. Poor Big Bill, he thought I was dead. I believed it, too.

I spent the whole summer in rehab after that, I never understood why. Well, I did but I didn’t think I was addicted to drugs. Drugs filled the gap that meds sometimes leave when it’s over. But I’ve learned that meds, too, are drugs.

"Eddie!"

"Georgie!"

Georgie ran into Eddie's arms, Eddie couldn’t help laughing and making remarks about how Georgie was almost ahead of him now. This made Bill laugh when he came to give him their secret handshake before taking the smallest in his arms.

"Hey!" whispered Eddie with a big smile.

Sonia in the distance watched her son squeeze the only two friends she had allowed to come with her to pick up Eddie, since they had been present and saved him with the accident. They ended up taking the road with them to their house. 

"I'm so happy you're back home, Eddie-darling, I missed you so much, never do that again, you gave me up for 3 long months, you realize, I could not to do nothing without you, I was so lonely and you know how much I hate it, never do that again, I made an appointment with the hospital for full exams and we will change you your doses, I will take good care of you my ... "

Eddie stopped paying attention to his mother, he looked around, Georgie and Bill cheerfully discussed everything Bill had planned to do to make up for lost time with Eddie. Not to mention the Losers, but Eddie figured out they were in. The brunette one landed on the windowsill and let the wind caress his face. He noticed in the distance a boy on a bicycle, this long and thin figure was telling him something. Brown curls, an alternative style between neglected but sought after, worn out converses, pale skin to death. Eddie’s eyes marveled at his sight when the car passed him. He felt his heartbeat accelerate and his heart pounding.

And that’s when the beginning of the end really began. It was the end of summer, back-to-school was coming up, I had no intention of staying clean and Richard Trashmouth Tozier was back in Derry. I had to talk to the one person who knew everything about everything.

---

"So ... How long have you been back among us? You have completely hidden your return." Mike asked, eating his salad.

"A week and I didn’t hide everything! I was in quarantine between the hospital and at home all week, thanks Ma. Bill didn’t tell you?" said Eddie watching Mike eat.

"Bill and I don’t really talk right now when we see each other. You know that."

Mike is probably the smartest person I know, yet he still didn’t dare tell the love of his life that he loved him. At the same time, he was living on a planet other than ours and didn’t really have time to be a normal high school student. It was easier to fuck Bill and continue to just be his bro than become his significant other. 

"Richie is back, by the way."

"Ah."

"Yup, he went to the farm and got a 50$ of weed. He didn’t even want me to give him a price."

"D'you know more?" "Hm... He’s already been here for two weeks. He seemed pretty happy to be back, California changes you a man." said Mike laughing what made Eddie smile. "We’ll see when we get back to school."

Eddie nodded at Mike.

"How are you feeling ?" Mike asked, carefully watching Eddie.

"Great since I gave my life to abstinence and I stopped jerking off." Eddie answered seriously.

"Oh ...... Cool, cool, cool, I'm really happy for you."

"Mike, I’m messing with you. You should see your face." Eddie laughed while Mike gave him a pat on the shoulder. " Anyway, that’s not all, but is your grandfather here, Vegemike?"

"Are you serious bro?"

"Hey, it's not because I'm doing a rehab that I'm going to stay clean."

"But.... Isn’t that the point of a rehab? I won’t let you do something stupid again."

"Come on, just weed."

"You do not like weed, Kaspbrak."

"Fine but can I at least have your cherry tomatoes?"

Mike nodded and smiled at his best friend who continued to eat his salad with him.

Something I missed this summer? My trips to the Hanlon farm. Mike being a divine cook and plus a vegan, obviously, his food was safe and harmless to me. And the Hanlon house was the best hostess for parties, it was big, rebuilt in recent years and far enough to be quiet. I must have missed a lot of parties, but if there was one coming up, Stanley Uris'. And if you thought I was gonna miss it, the last big party before school, so the most important one of the summer, you can suck my dick. That’s probably why that piece of shit of Henry Bowers brought his ass back to the farm. It’s a good thing the Hanlons were selling him their wares for twice as much.

"Yo, there you go! That’s his mama’s boy!" he cried as he entered the storefront. "I thought you were dead. Good, because my knife will be able to tate the ground."

"Go get your shit and get off him, dude."

"You’re lucky I haven’t touched you since you’re the best drug dealer in town, but don’t trust me, nig.."

Mike rose sharply and faced Bowers. His eyes were black and Bowers backed away.

"All right, all right, I’ll go."

I never liked Henry Bowers, and I truly believe no one has ever loved him. Even his father hates him. If you were looking for someone to identify as the rich cis hit white man in this city, it was him. He was "untouchable" or rather believed himself untouchable because his father was the most influential guy in the city. He had been sheriff but had ended up building his business and it had taken. It was quite unbelievable, however, now Bowers was living his best life and did not think he had to be accountable to anyone when he still had a mullet cut in 2019 and that he should clearly shut up the fuck up. Before, he harassed me as well as the rest of the Losers club, for my part I was entitled to homophobic insults in profusion. But one day we humiliated him front of his friends. Since then he has left us alone and yesterday’s nerds his become today’s popular. Karma, as they say.

 ---

It was about to get dark in a few hours, a young man was cycling in the streets of Derry. He was tall, fine and handsome. A car passed by him and he was destabilized.

"Back among us, motherfucker, this is my secret sauce as a welcome gift, Tozier!"

Bowers' voice was loud and Hockstetter's laugh had not failed him. Richie had managed to avoid the milkshake he had sent him. He gave him fingers as he went away and Richie sighed on his way home. He passed by the kitchen and dropped off his racing bag and went to his room where he threw himself into his bed. He took out his phone and went straight to Grindr. Richie was scrolling, watching nudes, messages, chatting with people, going from Grindr to Tinder, and finally finding happiness. For tonight, anyway, then took a nap.

If there was anyone that nobody expected to see again in Derry, it was Richie fucking  Tozier. He told me he was back from his parents' divorce. His father had kept the old family house in which he lived in Derry. Something must have happened with his mother in California because Richie preferred to come and live with his father in our good ol' Derry, but he refused to tell me what happened. That Tozier really is a moron.

Richie awoke. It was already 7 pm. He sighed, got up, went downstairs to eat with his father who had prepared some homemade pizzas and then went back to his room. It was 8 pm. He got motivated, launched his "Party times" playlist which debuted on Plus Putes Que Toutes Les Putes from the French band Orties. He took a shower and picked out an outfit. When he found the right one, he couldn’t help but smile. A black wide sweater with a yellow stripe in the middle and "The villa hopes" written on it, simple black slim jeans, red socks and its Converses x 70 x OFF Springs Velour Patchwork. He rolled up his sleeves, made himself up by putting on black, blue, yellow and red eyeliner to make an editiorial makeup, nothing too dramatic. He was dancing in front of his mirror and laughing. He passed his hands several times without his brown curls, put big silver rings on his fingers and finally put on his necklaces including his favorite, the one with a red balloon pendant. He took his Lacoste fanny pack and while looking at it, he had a little smile thinking of the one person who had never stopped wearing these before it became trendy again. He went down the stairs and fell on his father.

"Oh, look at yourself ! So, where are you going?" asked Wenthworth Tozier while observing his son.

Richie arrived in front of his father after crossing the living room. They lived in a beautiful house, quite luxurious from the outside as well as the inside. Richie hugged his father to reassure him.

"To a party, with friends."

"Friends ?"

"Yes, my old friends, dad."

Wenthworth nodded and Richie waved his hand with his index finger and middle finger at his temple before moving them away.

"Watch out, have fun and protect yourself, Rich!"

Oh, don’t worry, Mr. Tozier, Richie was sure to protect himself properly with those Saint Laurent condoms in his bag.

Richie smiled at his father before taking his bike and leaving.

Richie did not want his return to make too much noise. Yet it was all the opposite effect. Everyone who had lived in Derry between 2002 and 2016, so everyone, knew Richie Trashmouth Tozier. The first to know about Richie's return was Ben. Simply because the two were following the same two-week artistic summer course that the school had organized. It was a little stupid because Richie was a little genius despite appearances and Ben was just good at everything without having to force. At least Ben had been able to reconnect with Richie and pass the information to the rest of Losers, but except me, of course.

When he arrived in front of a hotel in the city, he smiled at the message of the chosen one and sent a message to Ben.

[Forget me for tonight, I have a date.]

Ben glanced at his phone, and then at Beverly. Both exchanged suspicious looks.

"What’s going on?" Beverly asked.

"It’s Richie. He says he’s not coming tonight."

"What did you told him?" Beverly looked at herself in the mirror.

"Nothing! He’s just gonna do his little business with someone."

"Oh okay, chill, he’ll come later. Why you scare us like that!" replied Beverly getting close to Ben to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Ben went red in action and Betty Ripsom made a disgusting sound. Beverly stopped to look at the brunette, she had completely forgotten her presence. After all, it was her who'll dropped them off at Stanley’s. "Stop. You’ll do the same thing tonight and even more," she said looking at her.

In case you're wondering, yes, Ben is in love with Bev. For far too long for me to remember. For Bev, however, nobody really knows. Bev is a mystery to everyone, I still wonder why she's friends with us. She's a cheerleader, she's so popular, much more than Mike or Bill or Stan. She has a reputation behind her, yet it has never stopped her from being the baddest bitch in town. A real rolemodel to the twink that I am. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that she was fake dated for a month with Bowers just for a bet and it lasted until today, well, until two days ago. She still made 200 dollars on it every month.

"You slept with Bowers, you do not have the right to speak." Betty retorted.

"A hand job. It was a hand job and it happened once during the 3 months of the bet. Then anyway, Bowers is a clown. It’s not Penny Wise who’s gonna say otherwise. I was able to take away as much as I could before I dumped him. And tonight, we move on." she said, turning to Ben.

"Yes, that’s what everyone wants to hear! Shit Ben, tonight you have to fuck! Not just a handjob or a blowjob! It’s not the '80s anymore, you have to catch some pussy."

Ben smiled slightly embarrassed and turned to Beverly who grinned while listening to Betty. He totally ignored Betty’s words, then lowered his head, a little disappointed. He really wanted to disappear underground at this very moment.

In his place, I’d like to, too. Thank you, Betty.

 ---

"Ma ? I’m leaving."

"Where, Eddie-bear? And so late? You can’t leave me like this." Sonia said as her son came into the living room. "And dressed like that? You look like a bad boy, I don’t like it."

"That’s my usual style, Ma. It’s only 10 pm and I’m going to Bill’s. Don’t wait for me and don’t panic. And yes, I took my medicine with me and my insulin just in case. See you, Ma."

A 16-year-old Eddie closed the front door and leaned back against it, looking down the street and sighing. He was divinely handsome, he had combed his hair, put glitter on his eyes and mascara which gave him an even more intense look. He had put on a silk shirt with patterns like the rich women's scarves, the colors were soft and pastel like salmon, beige, yellow or baby blue but it contrasted with his lame bomber and his slightly tanned and brilliant skin. With that, he had put some necklaces and he also let see his chest. He was wearing his white low converses and black skinny ripped jeans. He took a puff from his inhaler and looked at his bike lying on the ground. He turned his head away and began to walk. He took out his airpods and launched one of his Daily Mix on Spotify, he closed his eyes at Alphaville's Forever Young.

It is never easy to leave this house with a mother as unbearable as mine. In fact, I lied. I’m not going to go to Bill’s, it would be too much of a detour. We’ll meet at the party. I preferred to walk because when I drink, I don’t take the road because...

All the times he passed out, in the middle of the road completely drunk, kept coming to his mind as a nightmare.

You got it, anyway. I know, you're surprised that I drink, but alcohol is pretty much the same as my meds. Except for beer, I hate beer.

Eddie was quietly walking around, dancing, listening to Rubberband Man from the Spinners, and clearly living his best life. When a noisy car because of the music made itself heard more and more as it passed by. The passengers listened to Dang! of Mac Miller and that made Eddie smile, he loved Mac Miller.

"Oh my god, stop the car." exclaimed Beverly. "I said stop the car, Betty."

"Why ?" Betty asked, slowing down.

"We just passed Eddie Kaspbrak!" said Ben looking in through the back window.

"Oh my God! I think he was dead." Betty laughed.

"Shut up. You should be the one to die, Ripsom." Ben replied.

Eddie walked in front of them, not paying attention.

"Yo, the comeback!" yelled Beverly what pulled Eddie out of his music.

He turned to her and looked at her with a smile. She had a big smile and he leaned towards her.

"It’s good to see you again, we missed you." she said in all sincerity.

Ben nodded, which made Eddie smile, he almost had tears in his eyes. His best friends had not forgotten him.

"Are you being dropped somewhere?" Betty Ripsom asked.

"Well, thank you !"

Eddie waved to him and Ben opened the back door. He got into beautiful Betty's Volvo and Bev turned to him.

"What the hell are you listening to? Certainly not the New Kids On The Block." She said looking at Ben who shook his head negatively by squinting his eyes.

Eddie looked at his iPhone 8, Rubberband Man was finished, he pouted at the next song.

"London Calling." he answered hesitantly.

"Perfect."

The music started in the car, all four began to jam in the car while singing.

The party was already in full swing when I arrived with the others. Stan’s house was shining from the outside and eclipsing all the other houses, it was beautiful to see. From the inside, it looked like it was going to explode. In every room, chaos. A kind of stifling heat emanated as Megan Thee Stallion’s Hot Girl Summer filled the house. The minute Stan’s eyes crossed mine, he left Patricia for my arms. It was nice, it wasn’t every day that Staniel gave you a hug.

"Oh, fuck, Edward Kaspbrak himself, that's crazy, I .. I'm so happy to see you!" Stan shouted in his arms. Stan held him so tight that Eddie felt he was going to choke him. He must have been a little drunk. He was wearing a stretch short-sleeved shirt in washed jeans with black pants and chelsea boots. It was divine.

He had always been, it was Stan, he could afford it. He was smart, mature, funny, an excellent counselor, the mom of the group and he also organized the best parties in high school. How having money is really cool.

"Hey everyone! Look who’s back! To Eddie!" shouted Bev while lifting up her shot of tequila in the air.

The people present in the room did the same and repeated these two words at the same time. Bill raised his glass in my direction, he gave me a big smile and I was a little embarrassed. Everyone drank their glasses. Bev gave me a shot of tequila, everyone was looking at me now. It was weird. Being the center of attention is clearly not my stuff. But, I drank that shot and after that, everyone screamed for joy. Bev gave me a hug, then Mike just added himself to the hug, then Bill and then Stan. The Losers were together and I could clearly hear Billie Eilish’s Bellyache in my head.

---

The hotel was rather classy, the room too, thought Richie. He did not know that places like this existed in Derry. The chosen one was therefore fortunate. When he returned from a room that served as a kitchen with two glasses of champagne. Richie looked at him carefully, he liked to sleep with older men, but he never imagined that Butch Bowers was that kind of man.

Thank you." he said, looking at the man standing in front of him.

"Your face is familiar to me, have we ever seen each other?" Butch asked, looking at Richie.

Later, Riche told me that at the moment he wanted to say yes. He really should have done it.

"Not that I remember."

Butch nodded and drank his glass of champagne.

Richie had said he was 18, technically he was not lying, he was actually going to have them. The knowledge. And Richie was consenting.

Butch watched Richie.

"We will not fuck, you're too young."

Richie nodded, he avoided swallowing.

"I envy your generation, however. When I see you, I see two life choices."

He stroked Richie's cheek, then his lips with his thumb. Richie was looking at him almost religiously. There was a kind of tension in the room. They were not going to sleep together, but it was almost as if. In a parallel dimension, it was happening.

"You can leave, live an extremely beautiful life elsewhere, be fully yourself, find love, or you can stay here and end up like me, hanging out in fancy hotels." Butch continued looking at Richie's eyes.

"Both choices are possible." retorted Richie.

Butch's thumb sank into Richie's mouth.

"If only I could, I'd smash you." he said in a low voice.

Richie closed his eyes. He could not really say what he was looking for in this kind of completely barge plan. But there was so much he was looking for. One was definitely that special bond he had once bonded with a unique person in his life. When both made leave of this vocal flirtation, this visual fuck. Richie put California by Lana Del Rey in his ears. 

He looked at the door of the closed bathroom because the chosen one was taking a shower, he must have met someone before him and shoot his shot. Richie looked at his phone and left the room without making a noise. Once outside the hotel, he lit a cigarette. He took a few steps to his bike, when the song ended, the cigarette was too. He changed his song and went straight to Stan's house.

And there. The evening went fucking nuts.

The huge stairs in Stan's house were flooded and mobilized by people kissing, drinking or whatever. The music was in full swing, Eddie did not know the song, but he would have sworn it was one of the songs that Mike composed during his free time. He pushed people a bit to pass and went to the nearest toilet. He closed the door and looked at himself in the mirror before taking a breath of his ventoline. He kept looking in his bag with a tiny vial of white powder inside. There was almost nothing, but it did not matter because Eddie knew it was extremely strong. He spread it on a small spatula attached to his keychain which he had disinfected before and sniffed everything. He ran a hand through his hair and left the room. The sensations becoming stronger, his brain seemed to be reviving.

Blackbear’s Hot Girl Bummer burst into his ears. Suddenly, the world around him seemed to be totally out of sync with him. He almost lost his balance. Standing on the wall, clinging to people, Eddie laughed. The world revolved around him and he danced on the music that filled his brain.

All you need to know is that there are several versions of what happened tonight. It all depends on who tells you the story and... I’m not necessarily the most reliable narrator for this evening. But what I can assure you is that Bowers screwed up.

Bowers had been drinking since before with the party. He spent the night looking for Beverly and she wasn’t that hard to find she was in the Uris pool. Even wet, she was still the most beautiful girl of the party. She made a fairly simple make up. You’d think she had nothing if you didn’t know the basics of makeup. She was having fun with Betty and Audra Phillips, Bill’s ex, by doing a water fight and singing along on to Russ’s Do It Myself. And who knows why, Bowers as the fragile man that he is, wanted to break the moment.

"Slut!" he shouted as he reached the terrace.

He pointed to Beverly who turned to him.

"Yes ?" she replied, with a great deal of irony, a smile on her lips.

Everyone laughed and scolded Beverly's name. Bowers turned speechless. Beverly's smile widens.

"Well then, 2 minutes 30 lost his big mouth?" she said, coming out of the water and facing Bowers. "That is what I thought."

Everyone was watching the confrontation carefully. The first one since Beverly dumped Bowers and announced that it was all just a bet between her and Stan.

"Shut the fuck up, you only suck anyway."

"How could you know that since I would never suck you Henry Bowers? Now, please stop humiliating yourself in public. Go back to Greta Keene and forget about me, okay."

Bowers wanted to fight back but Beverly pushed him into the water and Georgie grabbed his leg to make it easier for him to fall. Everyone shouted and laughed. Stanley stood up and turned away from Mike, Bill and Eddie and apologized to see what was going on with Beverly.

"Really ?" He asked.

"You'll pay me Losers." he said as he stepped out of the pool and back inside.

Losers: 1. Bowers: 0. The school year is starting well.

Bill and Mike were laughing and Eddie smiled at Beverly.

It was at that moment that they concluded. The funny thing is that Bill, when he's alcoholic, totally loses his stuttering. So it was amazing to hear him speak clearly to Mike, especially when it was a rim job. I would have preferred not to be here to hear that. But I'm sure I heard a "I love you Mikey" so finally it was worth it.

"Everything's okay, bro?" asked Mike, noticing his presence again.

"Yeah.. Yeah, that’s fine... Glad to see you two are okay." he said, smiling and watching Bill blush.

At the same time, there was another one for whom things were going well. Ben Hanscom. Ben was playing truth or dare in one of the upstairs rooms with several of the Cheerios like Myra Stonehart or some of the guys from our class. Normally, truth or dare was the game we used to play when we were playing between us only, but here, it turned into a conversation about sex. And Ben Hanscom wasn’t a pro on the subject.

"What are you really virgin?" asked one of the guys in the discussion. "And do not say that a pipe, that counts."

"It counts." retorted Myra.

"You know nothing about it Myra. You're the one who wants to fuck Eddie Kaspbrak while everyone knows he's gay and clearly not interested."

Myra looked up at the skies with a grin.

"Who are you saving yourself for, man?" asked another one of the guys.

Beverly Marsh.

"No one. I’m just waiting for the right moment." Ben replied.

"Like, now’s not a good time?" asked another cheerleader. "If, I asked you to sleep with me tonight, what would you say?"

Ben blinked several times at Anna’s question and remained speechless.

Of course, Ben is an eternal romantic. He writes rose water's poems, appreciates courteous love stories and is much stronger when it comes to putting his thoughts on paper than saying it out loud. But, Ben Hanscom was definitely not a coward. He was just a virgin in a society where we wanted boys to breathe and eat porn all day long.

Anna leaned back to Ben.

"You’re super cute, Ben. You used to be before you started working out. In 5 years you’ll be a sex bomb and I want my cut now." she said in a rather serious tone.

The whole room was breathless, Anna was one of the sexiest girls in high school. Ben nodded softly and Anna smiled.

"Everybody clear this room now!"

---

While Ben surely lived what would be one of the most memorable evenings of his life. Richie Tozier had arrived at the party, and I was sprawled on that couch by the pool watching Mike and Bill be in love. Shit, I want what they have. At the same time, Beverly was playing in the pool with Audra and Betty, but you already know the rest.

"By the way, Eddie, you owe me 120 bucks." Mike said looking at his friend.

"Yeah, but I thought our friendship and the fact that I'm alive made up for that." Eddie replied.

"If you say so." Bill replied.

Stan came to join them.

"Frankly, Eddie, I missed you, we missed you all, it was not the same this summer without you, your drug stories make me feel bad."

"Aw Stan, don’t be sentimental."

"No, that’s not it. I love you, man, but... you really scared us." he said, taking a break before turning to Eddie.

Mike and Bill nodded in agreement with Stan.

"We thought you were dead. And seriously, Eddie, I’ve seen a lot of people die, but I would never agree to see you die for that. I’ve seen a lot of people die, but not people like you." Mike added. "I don’t know exactly what’s going on with your brain, but I can tell you one thing, drugs and getting high is not your solution."

A blank settled in between these four. He was not unpleasant, on the contrary. It was peaceful. They watched Beverly and Bowers fight.

"There’s one thing I remember... it happened when I was nine years old, shortly after my father was diagnosed. We were told that he was going to get better, I mean, that he had a chance of getting better. So, we celebrated it, we went to New York, seven hours back and forth. One of the best moments of my life. I told my dad that when I grew up, I would go to New York and live there."

Eddie’s voice started shaking and Stan gently shook his hand.

"Then we came home and I remember... that night, I slept with my parents and suddenly I couldn’t breathe. As if there was no oxygen in the world. My parents called the ambulance thinking I had a violent asthma attack. At the hospital, they gave me opium. Liquid. To calm me down and... then I thought, 'Okay, so that’s what I need'. Not mom’s medicine. That. Because all of a sudden, it was as if everything had become simpler. The noise, the voices in my head, everything was gone. Everything. Being in my head wasn’t a problem anymore. Four years later, he passed away and the asthma attacks that were actually anxiety and panic attacks continued. But that’s okay. I found a way to survive. I have you, guys. I have my psychiatrist. My medecine. Maybe it will kill me..."

Stan kissed Eddie's hand in support then got up and went to see the mess with Bev.

"Hey! Don’t say that!" yelled Bill slowly to Eddie before giving him a pat on his head.

"Touch me again in that ugly mustard buffalo shirt and I’ll kill you, Big Bill." Eddie laughed.

The three friends focused on the story of Bev and Bowers. Then Eddie stood up to give his best friends more privacy. Bowers had stormed into Stan’s apartment in the kitchen to get drunk. Blur’s Girls and Boys was in full swing throughout the house and the first thing Bowers did was not to drink, but to sweep a few bottles here and there with the back of his arm. Eddie and Stan followed Bowers wanting to throw him out of the party and Beverly Marsh had left the pool to annoy Mike and Bill that she had dragged inside after getting dressed.

"Get out of the kitchen!" screamed Bowers scaring everyone. " Get the fuck out."

The people around him backed back carefully to avoid getting a piece of glass, while watching Bowers lose it. Richie dug himself into a corner of the kitchen staring at Bowers totally destabilized by his behavior. Eddie, Stan, Mike, Bill and Bev entered the crowd.

"What's your fucking problem?" he said looking at Richie.

Richie looked at the sides and then looked at Bowers, he didn’t know what to say.

"Why are you here?" he says, moving forward and sticking to him. "Huh? You can't speak ? Aren't you Trashmouth Tozier for nothing?"

At the Trashmouth name agreement, Eddie’s attention got bigger. Shit, what is Richie doing here ?

"Can I know who invited you? You don’t even have any friends here. Everyone forgot you."

"Listen, uh. I don’t want any trouble, I just want to spend a chill night in my corner." Richie said, looking him in the eye.

He didn’t even blink.

"People like you are not here to stay in their corners. You are a problem here, you see, nobody answers. Nobody!" he shouted at Richie.

Richie grabbed the first kitchen knife and pointed it at Bowers, who backed away.

"You think you scare me? You think you scare me, Bowers? You know what we do to sons of cops like you in California?" yelled Richie in turn as he moved towards Bowers. "Back the fuck up!"

"I was fucking kidding. I was fucking kidding !"

"I’m not afraid of you, Bowers."

"W-put the knife down, okay? Put it down! I was laughing."

"You want to hurt me? You have no idea who I am." Richie yelled when he put the knife down.

At the same time he cut his hand without intentionally doing with one of the glass pieces of broken bottles. The spectators cried out in complete shock at this spectacle.

"You see. I absolutely don’t feel pain."

"Are you fucking crazy or something, Loser !?" added Bowers.

Bowers stood in his trembling corner, everyone watching the scene between confusion, admiration, shock and total chaos.

"No, I’m Richie Tozier. And it’s good to be home. Great party tho, Stan the man !" he said while smiling before leaving the room.

Oh yeah... fuck me.

Eddie quietly left his friends after that.

Ben came back down the stairs and saw Richie leave the party in fury.

"What did I miss?" Ben asked Mike.

"Where were you, man? You missed the craziest thing ever !" Mike asked Ben.

"I took care of my business."

Mike stares at Ben not fully understanding what Ben meant.

"I’ve lost my virginity."

"What? With whom?" asked Mike.

"Anna Addams."

"Wow. The Anna Addams?" he said with a smile. Ben confirmed by nodding his head, then Mike took him in his arms. "Well! Congratulations! How was it?"

"You should ask her."

Mike laughed and joined Stan in the kitchen. Stan gave Bowers a broom, cleaning supplies and a shovel.

"Clean up, or I’m going to get Richie." Stan said with a black look and a cold, stern voice.

Bowers took them and resigned himself. He glanced at Mike, Mike supported him, and Bowers resigned himself.

"I will stay in case you botch the job. Oh, after that, you and your friends will leave the party. Thank you." added Stan who was joined by Patricia, his girlfriend.

---

Eddie came out of the Uris house looking for Richie Tozier. He found him quite quickly getting his bike back.

"Hm... is everything all right?" Eddie asked while watching Richie.

Oh my God.

"Uh, yeah, it's good, don’t worry, m... Eddie Spaghetti?"

Richie smiled and blinked several times before moistening his lips. His smile came back, but this time in a corner one. He watched Eddie attentively, capturing every detail of his face. His hair was slightly unscrewed, his mascara had dripped a little and mixed with the glitter on his eyes. His pink lips, his freckles, his smile. Richie hugged him.

Wow. I think I’m getting hard.

"Yes yes, it’s m... Hey, don’t call me that!"

"You look good. It just smelled like trouble in here."

Eddie opened his eyes and began to blush slightly.

"Thank you, you’re not bad either... Yes! Yes, I understand your action. It’s just what you did... It was deadly classy."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Richie noticed the necklace on Eddie’s red balloon pendant.

"You still have it! That’s so cool."

"Oh the necklace? Yes! I’m not leaving it. You too, from what I see! You... you’re going somewhere?"

"At my place." Richie replied.

"I.. Can I come?"

"Yeah, of course! But your mother ? How is she since the last time I fucked her ?" Richie asked while mocking Eddie.

"Fuck my mother."

Yeah, fuck my mom. I found back the only boy I’ve ever loved in my entire life, looking like a fucking greek god and I still have to think about my mom ? Not today, Ma, not today.

The two took the road on Richie’s bike. Bowie’s Heroes passed on Eddie’s little JBL bluetooth speaker. Then, Richie suggested him to put Eddy de Preto's Fête de Trop. He was thrilled, clinging to Richie’s waist and resting his head on his back. He had strangely waited for this moment all week. It may not have happened the way he hoped, but Eddie was appeased.

Once they entered the Tozier house, they both went up to Richie’s room. Not much had changed compared to before, it was perhaps closer and more harmonious. Richie undressed and changed into pajamas, Eddie did his best not to look and Richie laughed at him. He gave her one of his sweaters that turned out to be too big for him, but anyway, he loved it and Richie loved seeing Eddie like that. He was just so...

"Cute. You’re so cute, Eds!"

"Stop it, won't you ?!"

Eddie rushed to clean Richie’s wound and apply a bandage with his first aid kit. Richie teased him by calling him Doctor K. and it was like Richie never left Derry. Richie had always been there somewhere and Eddie had seen him become a young man. Once the wound was cleaned and dressed. They took off their makeup and then the two men went face to face in Richie’s bed. They didn’t really need to talk to each other to say all the things they had on their hearts. They both laughed and Eddie snuggled in Richie’s arms. Nothing has changed. They still liked sleeping together. They still loved each other.

Mike, Bill and Georgie went home to the Denbroughs, Georgie fell asleep in the car, but Bill took him to his room quietly and then brought Mike in, then in his room where for the first time they spent the night talking when they were only the two of them.

Bev had gone home in the early morning and managed to miraculously avoid her father. She took off her makeup and changed her clothes at Stan’s after helping her clean everything up.

Ben had slept at Stan’s with Anna and had also cleaned everything with Betty, Patricia, Myra and others who had planned a sleepover at his house.

Bowers didn’t go home after cleaning up Stan’s kitchen, he went to Hockstetter’s to get drunk until the morning. Humiliated, uprooted, and completely high. He was severely taken back by his father and mother but especially by his father and went to his bedroom having already found his future victim for the year.

The next day, Richie and Eddie woke up early. Richie stopped by to brush his teeth and wash himself because Eddie forced him to do it and then Eddie did the same. Once back in Richie’s room, Eddie stared at him as he sat on his bed.

"I have an idea." he said softly.

"What?" Richie asked while stroking his hair softly.

"Wanna get high?"