#FUCK THIS STUPID ASS BUS DRIVER FOR NOT LETTING ME ON THE BUS EVEN THOUGH I GOT THERE RIGHT AS IT TURNED 4:35 AND BEFORE

[starrynyxa]

IM GPING TO KILLMJUSELLLFFFF

[timeofjuly]

i keep thinking of the scenario if electrician were to run into ppl of her past like izzy from new years… i like imagine her going “ bunny it’s been so long you look better then ever “ and electrician is like 😀 do i know you..? due to their gaps in memory (i’m also interested how much their memory will affect them as the story progresses, i myself suffer from the issue and being young it’s kinda scary sometimes 😞)

This ask made me write something! This is set pre-RTC in the earlier days of MC’s sobriety. They’ve just moved to New Ebott here. 

Read it on AO3 or read it below!

Licence

You’re leaving the DMV, of all the fucking places, when it happens. 

Most people hate the DMV but you had practically skipped into the place for your eleven am appointment, overcome with joy at the thought of getting your driver’s licence back. The public transportation in New Ebott is great and your ass looks amazing after all the cycling you’ve been doing when the weather is nice, but there’s something about the independence of a car that you’ve missed. With your licence back, your employment prospects won’t be limited to the boundaries of public transport and your stamina when pedalling. 

With your licence back, you’ll be able to go to school. 

That’s the thing you’re most excited about. School. College. University. Whatever. You just want to learn something, to use the brain that you’ve let go to shit. You don’t even care what - at this point, with your dismal record and embarrassing results from high school, you’ll take what you can get. 

You’ve wasted enough of your life and you don’t want to squander a second more. 

After tucking your brand new licence safely in your back pocket, you leave the DMV, still smiling, and make your way to the bus stop. You’ll miss catching it; all the drivers are lovely and it’s nice to be driven around the city, like your own personal tour. 

You’ve got time to kill until the bus arrives, so you open your phone and start scrolling through hundreds of second hand car listings. 

You’re not picky; you have a tight budget and will probably hit your fair share of curbs in it anyway, but it’s nice to look at the fancier ones and dream. A convertible sounds nice; there’s a bright red one for sale, way outside of your budget. You imagine the wind in your hair, the sheer cool factor of rolling down the street with the top down. Oh, or maybe a motorbike; you had loved your stupid, ugly little scooter, and a motorbike would be even better. And you’d get to wear all the sexy leather gear. Double win. 

“Oh my stars, do my eyes deceive me?”

The cold hand of panic twists through your ribcage and wraps around your heart, fingers taking hold and squeezing. 

You know that voice. 

You turn around.

On the sidewalk are two people staring at you with equally ecstatic expressions and you only recognise one of them. 

Izzy looks… well, she looks good, you suppose, clothes fashionable and scales polished to a sheen, though you can see a few of them are missing. The spines on her head are droopy, a little paler in colour than what you remember, and there’s a beadiness to her eyes that you never noticed before. 

You haven’t seen her in months but from how unfamiliar she looks, it feels more like years. 

“Damn, you’re looking good!” says the man you don’t recognise. 

And you know that you knew this person once, can hear the echo of his voice through the fog of your memory, even recognise his hands for the way they’d felt on your skin, but there’s something missing, something your stupid, ruined, useless brain is unable to grasp.

“Hey,” you say, affecting your brightest party-girl smile. “Long time no see.”

“Fucking hell, no shit!” the man laughs. He’s handsome, tall and very blond. “How’ve you been? You look so different.”

With each month you add to your sobriety, you’re told that with increasing frequency. You don’t really see it yourself - you feel like the exact same person most of the time. Worse, even. You’re horrible to be around when you’re in pain. 

“Good, really good,” you say. “How have –”

“Dude, I thought you were dead!” Izzy crows, looking delighted. “You just disappeared, like that.” She snaps her fingers, a jarring scrape of scale-on-claw. 

“Yeah, we all thought that Jesse threw the bunny out with the bath water,” the man says. His tone is light, like it’s a fucking joke or something. 

This person is a stranger to you. You couldn’t even guess his name if you tried. And yet he knows about that —

You tense. Pull a smile to your face. Do your best to shake off the phantom feeling of ice crystallising on the tip of your nose. “Nah, I’m not that easy to get rid of.”

And he laughs and so does Izzy and you laugh too, even though it feels like glass in your throat, because what else can you do?

“Well, I’m glad,” says Izzy and then she sweeps you up into a hug. She smells like old perfume clinging to unwashed clothes and you can feel a faint tremble in her hands as they grip your back. 

You hug back, even though you suddenly feel strange and unwieldy, like your arms aren’t your own. 

I want to go home, you think. Another thing you’d be able to do if you just had a fucking car and hadn’t lost your fucking licence in the first place. 

Izzy pulls back but then the man swoops in to take her place. You’re pressed to the line of his body, and though you’ve probably seen it naked, touched it all over, the feel of it is foreign to you. 

You let go first. 

“What’re you doing in New Ebott, anyway?” Izzy asks. 

“Just passing through,” you lie, because fuck if you’re letting her know that you live here now. “What about you guys?”

“Same thing,” Izzy says. “We’re crashing with Palyso at the moment, remember him?”

Nope. 

“Oh, yeah, totally.”

“Yeah, good guy, really funny. Hey, he’s actually having a party tonight, you should come! Just like old times.” The stranger waggles his eyebrows at you. 

You don’t need to remember the specifics to work out what he means. 

“Yeah, come with us,” Izzy begs. “Everyone’ll be so happy to see you. I’ll make it worth your while, I promise.”

The itch you’re not allowed to scratch burns. It’d be so easy, so fucking easy, to say yes. What’s one night? You don’t even need to use; who says you can’t have fun sober?

The word yes sits in your mouth like a hot coal and then the memory of water, cracking with thin shards of ice, washes over it. 

The desire is gutted out. Not even smoke remains. 

“I’ll sit this one out,” you say. 

“Aw, c’mon, bunny! You’ve gotta—“

The sound of an engine rumbles behind you and your soul sings with relief. 

Thank you, timely public transportation of New Ebott. 

“This is me,” you say, hoping you sound apologetic. “It was nice seeing you guys!”

You don’t wait for a reply, practically flinging yourself onto the bus. The driver gives you a concerned look - you’re a regular and most of them know you by name  - but you just give her a reassuring grin, because you’re fine. You’re fine. You’re completely, one hundred per cent fine. 

You take a seat near the front and stare down at your hands. You think of the way Izzy's shook. The way yours had once. The way they don’t anymore. You hadn’t noticed that until now. 

God fucking damnit. 

Stupid, unwarranted tears prickle hot at your eyes and worse, there’s something sharp poking you in the butt. 

Fearing that you’ve sat in something that’ll rip a hole in your pants - wouldn’t that be your fucking luck - you lift your hips and grope blindly at your ass. 

Oh, right. 

You forgot that you wedged it in your pocket after leaving the DMV. 

You look down at your brand new licence, turning the shiny plastic card around in your hands. Your own face stares back up at you. 

You dig around in your purse and from the very bottom, unearth the remains of your old licence, kept purely for sentimental reasons. It’s cut clean down the middle, made unusable the moment you’d lost it, but the image of your face is still intact. 

You compare the two, side-by-side. In the new one, your face is fuller and your skin smoother. Your lips have colour to them and your eyes are bright and awake, the whites white rather than bloodshot yellow. 

In the new one, you’re smiling. 

Huh. You see it, now. 

You do look different after all.

[beann-e]

Bnha Characters reacting to when you quit your job

bakugou

your steps were quiet as you tried to work up the energy to unlock your front door. Your hands sweating and cold when you finally got the energy to put the key in the lock a deep exhale leaving your lips when you finally walked in.

Your Body only carrying you to your kitchen counter before you dropped your keys and bag on the same counter your body now rested against.

The room heating up and shifting from the ice quiet atmosphere youd created when you felt strong arms wrap around your waist and pull you back to meet a hard chest

Small kisses being planted on the side of your neck as you let out another sigh of relief as you spoke trying not to drown in the comfort being given to you “ baby “

Your body shook as you heard a deep grunt of acknowledgment “ we — we need to talk “

you felt as another set of kisses were placed to your neck before his head snuggled into the spot between your neck and shoulder “ I— I think I made a mistake“

You bit at your lip as you kept going “ I— I was trying my best to stick up for myself y’know like you told me”

“ mm—and did you“

“ I did —I mean I did stick up for myself and I had to I needed to bu—”

“ slowly losing interest y/n “

you let out a shallow cough “ but I think I did it at the wrong time “

his body stood up a bit straighter head still remaining in the same place somehow “ baby I —i lost my job “

You felt as your boyfriends body went hard almost as if he was trying not to slam your own body into the floor in anger his grip around your waist only getting tighter “ like I said I — I wrong time“

“ wrong time? — y/n wrong place “ he screamed as he jolted your soul out of your already shaken figure. His head flying back to look at you conveying all the anger and annoyance he held, “ what the fuck do we do now “

you let out a small laugh to try to ease the tension “ we — we rely on your hero check ? “

You watched as he sucked his teeth and moved out of the kitchen “ I can barely feed a fucking roach with my salary y/n “ his voice getting louder as he walked into the living room you following closely behind “ i — i can barely feed you — us — y/n this is why we don’t have little crumb snatchers running around now “

his voice deep and heavy “ cause we’re broke do you get that babe ? huh no — fuck — you— fuck fuck fuck you gotta go back — you can’t just be chilling around the fucking house while i’m working my ass off that’s not how starting a family works y/n “

“ baby it’s just until I can get a new job “

“ tch— and how long will that take y/n “

“ well I— “

“ huh months ? “

“ well n— “

“ couple weeks “

“ I mean hopefull— “

“ babe you don’t even fucking know “ he sighed as he griped the skin on the bridge of his nose “ so fucking stupid — so so so fucking stupid “

the room went quiet as your eyes dropped to the ground. “ wel— no — I — I don’t know kats” you shook your head “ I— I really don’t“

“ and that’s the problem y/n “ he screamed eyes finally opening to look at you.

God, he loved you but seriously you just didn’t think sometimes

It’s not that he was calling you stupid it’s just that he really really loved you

He loved that you listened to him. That whenever he gave advice you heard it and went with it.

The night he told you to speak up he was honestly just fucking with you. He always forgets that he has someone who loves him now meaning he’s taken seriously. He always forgets he’s not in high school anymore.

He can’t say something crazy and asshole—ish and expect to just be ignored. He has someone that loves him and will truly listen.

Your not the stupid one

nor the one in the wrong he is

and he knows he is because he heard everything you said about your situation. Yet, he knew you were different from him whereas he had been speaking his mind for years regardless of ranks.

You couldn’t.

You had a job where everything relied on ranks and status. You couldn’t just say whatever the fuck you wanted to like he could and yet he convinced you that night to speak up whenever your boss gave you extra work you didn’t wanna do.

His eyes felt heavy and so did his body his brain automatically beating himself up as he stared at you imagining the rough day youd had. If he was pissed off with the current situation he could only imagine how you felt.

Someone who hated to rely on others yet, now having to rely on their boyfriend.

“ come here “ your eyes lit up at the statement as your tired body wobbled over and into bakugous arms. Head hitting his chest as he crushed you “ I love you and i’m proud of you “

your heart sank.

“ fuck those idiots you only have room for one anyways and hes— fuck trust me I know i’m enough “

Shoto

“ so “

“ so “

You sat on the couch legs splayed out in front of you and hands playing with the tassels of the pillows placed next to you.

God you loved these pillows. You actually remember the day you bought them.

Y’know back when you had money

“ y/n “ you watched as shoto shifted uncomfortably on the couch next to you “ my love what are you doing home “

He shook his head confused at the body placed comfortably next to his own “ your not supposed to be home for “ he looked down at his watch moving his suit jacket up his arm to create space and to make sure he was seeing the time correctly “ for 7 more hours “

you let out a short laugh “ you sound like you just got caught cheating sho “

his eyebrows crinkled together as he stared at you in disgust “ y/n I would never “

His hand moved to be placed on your thigh “my love is that what you think ? — if that’s why your here then I can assure you tha—I mean honestly if so I would never be stupid enough to disrespect you in our home— you could’ve went to my office at least I mea— “

“ I lost my job shoto “

The air shifted as the hand on your thigh suddenly felt colder than before “ I— I lost my job “

you took a deep breath shaking your head “ it’s a long story on why but i’ve been leaving the house — pretending really— to go to work “

You chuckled “ god i’m sucha bad person “ your small chuckle turned into a hearty laugh as you felt your body go slack “ A fucking horrible timekeeper too if I managed to forget my husband gets off before me on weekends “

“ do not say these things about yourself “

“ it’s not like it’s a lie “ your tear filled eyes coming up to look at his. ” right “

“ I will not stand for this y/n “

“ for what — having an unemployed s/o—i mean you already have one so not much to do about that “

you scoffed “ why don’t you want a housewife ? huh“ you smiled “ I can wear the skirts for you y’know with the aprons cook you dinner and maybe we can have kids y’know we can even get —“

“ enough “

your body shook your eyes widened facing the 6 ft male now towering over you “ your always joking about serious things and I — I don’t understand “ his eyebrows creasing in desperate need to understand you. Eyes darting around your face “ how “

his voice going deeper as he got angrier “ y/n you lost your job“ his eyes grew wide “ do you realize how serious this is “

“ wh— “ you shook your head letting out a short scoff “ of course I do —I mean sho i’m the one who qui—lost it “

“ no you clearly don’t “ he scoffed “ not if your sitting here making jokes in my face “

His mouth quirked up in disgust “ it’s almost insulting — disgusting really “

“ wh— sho—“ you felt as a tear fell from your eye “ baby what could be so disgusting huh ? so ‘ insulting ‘ about me choosing to leave huh “

his eyes softened “ because of your reason to leave “

“ my reason ? “

“ my love I know you — I know you didn’t get fired and I know you wouldn’t just leave you loved it there “

your head dropped as your fiddled with your fingers “ so that means something led you to make that life changing decision and it hurts me that you were forced to make it “

Your heart broke, he was right he was always right, for days at work youd been dealing with an overbearing co worker who would tell you to do everything they didn’t feel like doing and when you finally decided to say no to them

They went and told your boss. Who even though you’d been working there longer than your so called coworker still believed everything they were told.

That was the day that you sadly found out your job favored years over hard work.

Due to the other person being there longer you were trumped in telling your story. It was seen as not necessary because , someone who was there for so long would have no reason to lie on someone like you.

A newbie

“ someone made you quit this job “

“ sho no they— I decided “

You felt as the couch shifted from him kicking it. You thinking he was moving to grab his shoes except walking past them and unlocking the door instead.

“ baby where are you going — we need to talk about how we’re going to split the bills now that i— “

“ i’ll handle it “

“ shoto you can’t put everything on your dads card we’re not “ you let out a soft exhale “ we’re not children anymore “

“ i’ll pay for it all myself — and you can be my little housewife “ he scoffed as your expression grew sour “ it was so funny a moment ago right “

“ shoto i’m not gonna ask again where are you going “

“ where else “

your eyebrows came together in a furrow “ wh— “

“ my love you work for my company ? obviously who ever I put in charge “ he shrugged walking barefoot to his car unlocking the door “ isn’t doing a very good job if they fire their bosses s/o ? “

He got into the drivers seat as he turned the car on and reversed the car “ needs to learn respect no ? so i’ll just have them switch places with you“ he smiled softly “ i’ll see you when I get home “

His once furious eyes turning soft at your body hidden in pajamas “ go inside baby —it’s cold —go order us some takeout i’ll be back in a little ok “

“ sho “

“ just let me handle this —i love you and i’ll be right back my love—go “

You shook your head softly “ go y/n “

[neoculturetravesty]

We met in online class - Part 7

Image adapted from here.

Pairing: Renjun x Reader Genre: College AU, romance, angst, fluff Warnings: Strong language, descriptions of a shiner, a character gets Covid-19 Word Count: 7.3k

Navigation: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | You are on Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Last Part

A/N: I’m sorry for all the angst, you guys.

You only stop walking when you’re out of the apartment building. Eyebrows scrunched, face scowled like you were trying to hold onto the anger. But the more you had walked, the more you had realized that you couldn’t hold onto something that wasn’t there in the first place. It would be like holding onto smoke: futile and baseless. You weren’t angry. You stop moving to just breathe for a moment. And as the cool night air hits your face, you get a little more clarity in your thoughts. No, you weren’t angry. Not really.

Suddenly, you find yourself smiling to the sky and scoffing. Oh, how stupid. How stupid and how typical. This was classic you. Only this time, you couldn’t believe you had fallen for the broody artsy boy type. The kind of boy that blew hot and cold. The kind of boy that would keep you on edge and never like you as much as you liked him. God, you were such a cliché. Fuck, how embarrassing. So no, you weren’t angry. You were embarrassed. You had spent the last few weeks simping over a boy that never really liked you. God, you were so stupid.

‘The only reason I’ve kept you around for so long is because I wanted to get to your brother.’ His voice echoes in your head. 

Your friends had told you that you were doing way too much for a boy you weren’t even official with yet. You had literally spent the past couple of weeks running to him to dote on him. Bringing him food and checking up on him even though you were drowned in work, and making sure he was okay. And all this time, he had been using you. Oh, God. You were like the embarrassing second female lead in every drama ever. The kind that would bring cartons of milk to her crush in the hopes that he would like her back. Only you had actually believed that he liked you back. Oh, how embarrassing. 

‘Y/N, you are not my girlfriend. So stop acting like it.’

Oh, how freaking embarrassing. You had been acting like the girlfriend. But you had been the second female lead all along. 

You groan and make yourself keep walking. You didn’t want to be near his building anymore. Not where he could step out any moment and humiliate you some more for reading the signs all wrong. You keep walking as your phone keeps ringing. You don’t pick up. You wanted to put as much space between yourself and the building as possible. You walk and you walk till you reach the bus stop. And then you finally sit and take your phone out.

There are around 8 missed calls from Haechan as well as a string of texts. You sigh and hail a cab from an app before you get the spirit to read his messages.

‘Y/N, please pick up.’

‘Where are you???’

‘I can’t find you. Where are you???’

‘Pick uppppp’

‘Can you at least tell me where you are?’

‘I’m calling Yeri.’

That’s Haechan’s last message and you let out another groan. Why did he have to call Yeri? She was going to be worried for no reason. She was already under so much stress with her thesis. You didn’t want her to sit in the apartment and have all sorts of thoughts going through her head about what happened to you. So you text him back.

‘I’m just going home. Don’t worry.’ you write back. Not even ten seconds pass by before he replies.

‘How? You don’t even have your car! And you’ve been drinking.’

‘I called a cab. Don’t worry.’

‘Y/N, please tell me where you are? Let me take you home.’

‘The cab’s already here, Haechan. It’s fine. I’ll text you when I get home.’ you say as you get into the car.

‘No way. Share your location.’

‘The cab’s already moving.’

‘Okay, but share your live location so I know you’ve safely gotten home.’

You sigh and give into his wish. ‘Happy?’

‘I’ve shared it with Yeri as well.’

You groan again, making the cab driver give you a quizzical look through the mirror. ‘Haechan, please don’t bother Yeri.’

‘Text me as soon as you get home. I’m coming over first thing in the morning.’ 

‘Okay.’ you reply and sigh again, resting your head against the window because it felt like the sort of thing to do in this situation. But it only makes your temple awkwardly rattle against the glass as the car moves. How did people do this in dramas? Look so elegant as they pensively looked out the window? Because right now, you neither felt elegant, nor pensive. You just felt stupid. You feel your phone buzz again and see another text from Haechan.

‘You’re my best friend and I love you to the moon and back. Nothing changes that, okay?’ the message reads and suddenly, you feel tears brimming in your eyes. That’s the first time he had called you that. What a stupid boy he was, Lee Donghyuck. Why did he have to attack you like that with all the feels? Silly boy. Well, at least there was something that came out of this mess. 

How had you been so stupid? Renjun had practically told you of his motives on the very first date. He had told you that his lifelong wish was to get into Midnight fucking Arthouse. And instead of staying away, you had run to your brother the very same day to fulfil that wish. The thought chases away the tears that Haechan’s text had brought. You were so stupid. Even your brother had warned you.

“Y/N, I don’t trust his eyes.” Doyoung had told you that afternoon at the party. And you had laughed at him.

“What does that even mean?” you had rolled your own eyes at him, because really, you were watching Renjun into the distance as he talked to another artist. God, he looked so handsome, you had thought as you ogled.

“He just seems like he’s hiding something. He just seems like a guy who would have something to hide.” your brother had warned you and you had just laughed and joked it away.

“I mean, sorry to break it to you like this, big brother, but he’s a serial killer by night. The art student stuff is just for show because when people aren’t looking, his ass goes full Joe Goldberg in You.” you had teased your brother who had exhaled long and put his arm around you.

“Fine, fine. Don’t trust your big brother. Do what you want. I just don’t like him for you.” Doyoung had cut it out for your sake and you had cuddled into him happily because you were so giddy that day. Nothing could’ve spoiled your mood then because the boy you liked had just kissed you. He had held your hand and held your face and kissed you and kissed you and kissed you.

“Of course you don’t like him for me. You won’t like anyone for me because you’re my big brother.” you had baby-talked at Doyoung and cuddled him till he had ruffled your hair and pushed you away.

God, you were so stupid. Did everyone know but you? Could everyone see how he’d been using you? Had your crush on him really been so bad that it blinded you? Oh, how embarrassing. How fucking embarrassing. Well, at least the two of you weren’t official yet. That was a plus. Otherwise, there would’ve been a break up involved. Then again, that would mean that Renjun liked you enough to make you his girlfriend. Or that he would have gone so far as to exploit you like that. Would he have done it? You don’t even want to think about it.

You were fine, really. This was okay. It’s good that he cleared that you weren’t his girlfriend. This whole situation would’ve been sillier if the two of you were official. You chuckle as you enter the elevator of your building. You were fine. Everything that had happened was just a silly misunderstanding. You had just read the signals all wrong. You knock your knuckles on your head. Silly you. It was just a silly crush. You had just chased a boy you had a crush on and it hadn’t worked out. There was nothing wrong with that. These sorts of things happened all the time. You were fine. 

But Renjun hadn’t been just a boy.

He had been the boy of your dreams. He had been the boy that had smiled at you over his coffee cup on your first date and you had felt that he looked into your soul. He had been the boy who would wait outside your lecture hall with the most hopeful look in his eyes and you would melt because he wore that look for you. He had been the boy who had laid his head on your shoulder and opened his heart to you and you had thought that you would do everything it takes to give him the world. He had been the boy that had held your hand and made you feel so incredibly safe that day at your parent’s house that you had found yourself falling. He had been the boy who had taken you in his arms and kissed you so sweet that you had felt like flying. He had been the boy who would lay out in the sun next to you and you’d think that everything was alright. 

Renjun hadn’t been just some boy you had chased. You couldn’t lie to yourself like that anymore, even though you were trying. He had been the boy you had given your heart to. 

You don’t realize that your feet had carried you all the way home till you look up to the door opening on it’s own. And Yeri is standing there like she was expecting you.

“Haechan called me.” she says and you have no idea what she sees on your face because she says “Baby…” in the softest voice before she grabs her Lysol concoction and starts spraying you carefully.

You stand there in the doorway, watching her as she sprays at your feet and takes your shoes off for you with so much love. You don’t know what it was about seeing her face. But anytime you did, all your walls came tumbling down. You could never hide from her.

She looks up at you and whatever she sees makes her speed up her sanitizing ritual. And you realize your shoulders are shaking. You feel the wetness on the tops of your cheeks. You feel the scrunching between your brows. You hear your breath coming out in sniffles. It probably looks like the strangest scene in the world. You, standing there unmoving, looking at her as you crumble in the doorway. And her looking back at you worried, and hurriedly soaking you in Lysol.

Yeri takes your hands in hers and sanitizes them, then takes your purse from you while you do nothing but just stand there, looking at her. She takes your jacket off and then your mask and then finally kisses your cheek and pulls you into her arms. She holds you and kisses your forehead and strokes your hair.

“You will always have me, okay?” she tells you and this time, you’re fully aware that you’re sobbing. Because she puts an arm around you and walks you to your room. She lets you cry as she takes your makeup off for you and brushes your hair. And you watch her attending to you with so much love in her eyes, that for a moment, you’re not sure what’s making you cry. Your broken heart, or her pure, unadulterated love for you.

For as long as you could remember, this girl had been there for you through all your highs and lows. She hadn’t just been a friend. She had been more like a sister. Come to think of it, she had been more a parent to you than your actual parents. You could never hide from her. So when she puts you to bed, you cuddle into her and cry when you tell her,

“I really liked him, Yeri.” Because what was the use of lying to yourself or anyone else? You liked him. You had unabashedly, completely and without any sort of a restraint given him your whole entire heart. And he had broken it. This was something that had happened. So why would you deny it? You had been hurt so you were going to cry to your heart’s content. That’s what people do when they have been hurt.

“I know, baby girl.” she strokes your hair and holds you and kisses the top of your head and your eyes go to your nightstand. You see things that would look like trash to other people. But to you they were the most important treasures.

A paper napkin folded up into an origami crane. Renjun had made it on your very first date.

A can of coke, flattened and leaned against your nightlight. Renjun had drunk from it the first time he came over to your apartment.

A scrap of paper taken from a notebook in a photo frame. Renjun had doodled on it one day as you two had waited for class to begin.

A daisy, pressed and preserved in a little glass disc. Renjun had randomly plucked it from the grass and given it to you as you two had lazed about. It was the first flower he had given you.

God, you were such a sentimental hoe. This boy had broken your heart and you had kept his trash in your room, right on your nightstand so his would be the last thought on your mind as you went to sleep. Realizing that just makes you cry more.

“It’s okay, baby. Your heart’s been broken so you’re going to cry. It’s okay to cry.” Yeri coos at you, echoing your own thoughts. But somehow hearing it from her makes it more soothing. She was right. You had liked a boy and he had broken your heart. It had happened. You were going to cry. 

So you laid in Yeri’s arms and let her comfort you. Even Galbi the asshole had joined your pity party as he sat on top of your head and purred, as if he realized you needed comforting and all the purring was going to heal whatever hurt you were feeling. You laid and you cried and you cried till you were all cried out and sleep was taking you.

“That is a shiner.” you say, eyes wide.

“Mhmm. It’s my mark of honor.” Haechan smiles his smug, annoying smile as he leans back in his chair.

The library was emptier than usual, because really, exams were over for most students. So people that lived in and around campus were basically using it as a common room.

“I mean, it’s a shiner as big as I’ve ever seen.” you say, leaning over and lightly tracing the hues of red, purple and black under your friend’s eye. And he just sits there, chin jutting out, smiling broad, proudly allowing it to be touched like a trophy.

“It’s the outcome of me being the biggest little shit, so it goes with the vibe.” Haechan says and you make a face at him.

“Honestly, I’m surprised it took someone so long. Lowkey impressed that you’ve avoided these so far, despite being that professional little shit.” you lightly press the pad of your index on a particularly discolored area and watch as he moves away.

“Guess I’d just been looking for the right reason to get one.” he says, still wearing the smug look on his face. But he must have noticed a change in your expression because he gives you a look of disapproval. 

“Hey, stop that.” he snaps at you.

“Stop what?” you retort defensively.

“Stop it with those sad puppy eyes. I don’t like it.” he almost scolds.

“I’m only sad because it’s making you look uglier than usual.” you reply pouting.

“Please. It’s making me look sexier than usual.”

“If ugly was the new sexy, then sure.”

“Yo, he’s not ugly, he’s just not in his moment right now.” he pouts and nothing on Haechan’s face says that he’s joking which somehow makes it funnier.

“What’s that even supposed to mean?” you wanna smack him on the head.

“It means that you need to give it till tomorrow to finally see it in it’s full bloom.” he says with the most satisfied look on his face but it deflates you. Shit. This wasn’t even the worst of it. He was probably going to look worse in the next couple of days.

Haechan sighs because you figure he finally sees that this conversation isn’t exactly making you feel any better. So he addresses the elephant in the room.

“He’s an asshole.” he says simply.

“Haechan…” you stop him because honestly, you didn’t really want to talk about it anymore, especially not with him. You didn’t want to be that person that makes mutual friends pick a side. Besides, Renjun had been right. They were technically his friends. But they were also your friends. This was a hot mess already and you didn’t want to add to it.

“I’m only saying it because it’s true. But, also, Y/N…” he’s taken your nickname and his voice has suddenly gone small and so apologetic that you look up, just to check if he’s the one talking. Your stupid friend had a way of never reading the room and keeping up his joking antics no matter the circumstance. So hearing his voice do that got your attention to say the least.

“I, uh…” he goes on and he looks like he’s uncomfortable, like he’s trying to find the words to break some bad news. “He’s an asshole and all, but… I’m kind of the one that put that idea in his head in the first place.” he fesses up and finally meets your eyes.

You jump a bit as you see a strong arm reach over your shoulder and set down a coffee cup on the table with a resounding thud. Jeno has appeared as if on cue and he now has those arms crossed over his chest as he pins Haechan down with a death stare.

Haechan looks up at his audience of two and decides to address the boy that stands there looking like he would most likely complete his shiner set. “I just told him Y/N was Kim Doyoung’s sister! You know he had been dying to get into Midnight Arthouse! And Y/N was the one that asked him out! Didn’t you, Y/N?” he looks at you with eyes that plead for help “I only told him he should accept her date, I promise. But yes, it was my stupid idea and fuck, I wish I could take it back. I’m an idiot and I deserve whatever you want to do to me, Y/N.” he holds his hands up as if in surrender as he watches Jeno’s cold expression and your unreadable one. 

You reach your hand over towards him and watch as he closes his eyes and braces to perhaps be punched in the face again. But you don’t punch him. You ruffle his hair.

“Don’t do it again, okay?” you scrunch your nose at him and give him a smile to put him out of his misery.

Heachan lets out a long, dramatic exhale that finally matches his true personality. “Cross my heart and hope to die.” he says, actually crossing his heart over his chest and he looks up at Jeno to seek his forgiveness as well. 

Jeno’s expression has softened and he’s smiling, almost as if he had expected this confession and its outcome. He was always more perceptive than he let on. Although his arms are still intimidatingly crossed over his chest as he says

“Follow me to the rooftop, Lee Donghyuck.” 

“Yes, yes, I know I deserve it, because I know she’s your childhood friend. But she’s my best friend now and if she’s forgiven me, then--”

“--you’re a piece of shit.” Jeno declares and takes a seat next to you, laying out the rest of the breakfast he got. You snigger and hug onto his arm, as if to thank him for... everything. You and Jeno had never been one to talk things out, but an advantage of being friends for so long was that you didn’t have you. He would understand what you mean, even though all you’d done was held and leaned into his arm.

Haechan looks at the two of you fondly and waits a couple of beats. His voice is soft and empathetic when he says, “He probably didn’t mean those things he said, you know? He was drunk.”

“We were all drunk.” you agree, tracing your finger over your coffee cup.

“He’s an asshole, but… he likes you, you know?” Haechan says and suddenly, you can’t look anybody in the eye anymore. You don’t want to say anything either, because you’re afraid your voice would give you away. 

So you purse your lips and take a deep breath before you say “Yeah, well… it doesn’t really matter now, does it?”

“I’m going to kick his stupid ass.” Haechan mutters but it only makes Jeno chuckle.

“You mean when you’re not too busy getting your ass kicked by him?” he pokes fun while he feeds you a bit of his croissant. And despite everything, you find yourself laughing out loud.

“Hey! I could totally take him down if I wanted to. I was just holding back.” Haechan puffs his chest and Jeno smiles wider, shaking his head.

“Ugh, you know what. We’re on semester break. We’ve literally been waiting for this time. Let’s just chill before I have to leave.” you declare.

Haechan snaps and points his finger at you. “That is the right attitude, Y/N L/N.”

After that, he goes on and on, talking nonstop about everything you could do while you didn’t have classes, doing the most to make it up to you. You listen to him fondly as you happily enjoy breakfast with your friends.

Down the rows, Renjun had walked into the hall, hoping the library could be his sanctuary for the day. How very wrong he was. Because now, he just watched into the distance as you reach out to ruffle Donghyuck’s hair and Jeno smiles down at the two of you. Unbelievable. Renjun turns on his heel right away and leaves. Because this was unbelievable. 

How come Lee Donghyuck came out of this situation unscathed? It was his stupid idea to begin with. Renjun had been happy living his life normally till Donghyuck encouraged him to date you. So how come neither you nor Jeno were mad at him? Renjun was the only one that came out of this as the bad guy. And everyone else just continued on to be one big happy fucking family.

Last night, Jisung had left to stay over at Chenle’s, and Renjun assumed it was so he didn’t have to be in the same room as him. He hadn’t seen Jeno, and it was probably because he had woken early morning to have breakfast with you. The only one of his friends that Renjun saw this morning was Jaemin. But the only thing he had said before he walked out the door was that he was spending the day with his girlfriend and won’t be home either. 

It seemed like everyone around him was doing their best to avoid him. He felt like a dementor. Like he was putting out lights wherever he went. Like he was draining hope, peace and happiness out of everyone that came in contact with him. That’s perhaps why his friends wanted to stay away from him.

There was maybe some advantage to that. Renjun wanted to be alone. You had pretty much stolen all his friends. It was clear that they had taken your side in all of this. No one had wanted to know what Renjun was going through. But they were all too concerned about the poor little rich girl. It’s why they were with you this morning and not him. Poor little rich girl that got her heart broken by Renjun the asshole. Of course, no one would want to know the other side of the story, Renjun thinks bitterly.

What was the other side of the story, anyway? That you had been too kind to him? That you had been thoughtful and understanding? That you made so much effort to be a part of his life, and he had made none? That you had put a word in with your brother right after you had first met Renjun, before your relationship had even begun? 

You had done everything in your power to make Renjun look like the bad guy. And he realizes that this was precisely the reason he never wanted to look at you ever again. Renjun feels nothing but bitterness in his heart. He had spent all those weeks exploiting your feelings for him. Making you believe that he was interested in you so he could get close enough that you would introduce him to your brother. But all of it had been for naught. Because you didn’t need a relationship or a reason to be kind to people. You had just heard Renjun’s dream and fulfilled it that very same day you had met him. You had granted him his biggest wish whilst wanting nothing in return, expecting nothing back. You had put him in your debt. And he hated you for it.

Renjun needed a break. Because his life seemed to be throwing him more curveballs than he could possibly manage. He wanted to reverse it all. Go back to the time when he hadn’t met you. He should’ve turned you down during that ill-fated online class. Then none of this would’ve happened. 

But almost as if the heavens wanted to give him a cruel reminder that all of it, in fact, had happened and he, in fact, had exploited you, he gets a phone call. Whilst he can barely make out the number through his cracked screen, he recognizes the voice right away.

“Huang Renjun!”

“Kim Doyoung.” Renjun replies automatically, because his mind is still processing the irony of it all.

“I have a proposition for you.” Doyoung goes straight to the point and Renjun realizes that he’s not talking to him as your brother right now. He’s talking to him as the owner of Midnight fucking Arthouse.

“Uh, okay?” Renjun says and almost instantly regrets it. He should’ve said something more professional, but he has to admit he has been caught off guard.

“Can you come meet me at the studio in an hour?” he states more than he asks. And Renjun gets the feeling that this man hasn’t been told ‘no’ enough. At least not in this context.

“I… I can.” Dammit. Why wasn’t Renjun able to put more than two words together today?

“Great. Let’s have a lunch meeting at my studio.” Doyoung once again states. Renjun would usually be annoyed when someone was this imposing with him. But for some reason, Kim Doyoung’s boss voice is working on him. 

“Okay, see you in an hour.” Renjun says and he’s glad he’s spoken a full sentence this time.

“Great. Oh, and Renjun?”

“Yes?”

“Bring your portfolio along.”

Renjun doesn’t know how long he sits there. The steak that was served to him in a pretentiously off-centered plate remains mostly untouched. Because Renjun couldn’t keep more than two bites down. Not when Kim fucking Doyoung was standing up and flipping through his portfolio without a sound. 

This portfolio was Renjun’s lifelong work. Who knows how long he had spent on each piece. Some day, when he had the time, he was going to calculate the number of man hours he spent on building the whole damn thing. And then calculate how many days, weeks or months it amounted to in total. Because the way Kim Doyoung was flipping through it without much care minimized his life’s worth to mere seconds. He had spent hours and hours on each work and Kim Doyoung didn’t even spare more than half an eyeful on each piece.

And not a single word. 

Doyoung seemed to be a different person at work than he had been at the party at his parent’s home. Here, he was the Kim Doyoung, and for a moment, Renjun could finally see how he might have risen all the way up to the top. Because every single minute of his life was accounted for. From the moment Renjun had walked in, all he could see was how his assistant kept pushing him from one task to the other. He hadn’t even spent too long on pleasantries before he took Renjun to his office for lunch. And if he thought that lunch for Doyoung would be a time of peace, he was wrong. Because he ate quickly and Renjun couldn’t possibly meet his speed. He supposed that’s how successful people ate. Because every minute they ate was every minute they were not making money. Renjun was only halfway through his lunch when Doyoung had gotten up and started going through his portfolio.

And Renjun hadn’t been able to take a single bite since. His stomach was in knots. He felt small, sitting here in this grand old office in one of the biggest arthouses of the country. Weirdly, Renjun finds himself internally smiling at the fact that Doyoung had called this place a studio. Because, no way. The place that Renjun interned at was a studio. This was a fucking art museum and nothing less. 

A finalizing shut of the portfolio is what breaks Renjun out of his thoughts.

“Okay, Huang Renjun, I’m going to cut to the chase.” Doyoung says and Renjun sits up straighter, his eyes and ears attentive and open. “I need new artists for the 2021 Midnight Arthouse Annuale. Every artist that I’ve ever introduced in spring has gone on to become a best seller by winter.”

Of course he knew that. Renjun could name every single artist that had gotten that exposure. But hearing it straight from the man that gave it to them was making goosebumps run down his spine.

“I’ve got two spots to debut artists that no one has ever heard of. And someone put in a very convincing word for you.” he says and Renjun feels his stomach do a flip before it drowns in guilt, because he knows that the both of them know who that someone is. “But I’m going to be honest with you. Nothing I see in here is worthy of the Annuale.” he says plainly. Renjun looks up. His heart drops.

“Um… nothing?” Renjun asks stupidly. Suddenly, he doesn’t feel like the big man that had punched someone in the face from an inflated ego the night before. He feels like the little fish in a sea of big fishes. He feels like someone is finally showing him the mirror and telling him exactly what he’s worth in the context of big names and big opportunities. And it’s a humbling and sobering experience. Because Renjun feels his hangover dissipating. 

“This is basically an art student’s portfolio. What you’ve shown me is essentially a series of assignments you’ve made for your professors. Nothing is inspired. Nothing has vision. Nothing in here jumps out at me and tells me who Huang Renjun is.” Doyoung is speaking to him straight up. No niceties. No filters. He’s speaking to him like the owner of a huge motherfucking company and nothing less.

And maybe someone had to speak to Renjun this way and deflate his ego, so he could finally open his eyes to the real world. Because Renjun doesn’t feel angry or broody or venomous over these words. He feels like he has been sobered. He finds himself agreeing with everything that has been said. Like he’s opened his eyes for the first time and finally seen what he’s actually like without his ego or conceit filtering his vision. He was absolutely right. Kim Doyoung had been the one to tell him this before. But sitting here in his huge fucking office, in a building where he was surrounded by art that was in every way better than his… it puts everything in context, and Renjun finally realizes that he had been right all along.

“So, here’s my proposition.” Doyoung begins. “Make me something worthy of the Annuale. And I’ll help you make your debut.”

Renjun’s eyes widen. His mind races. He didn’t have much time. And the stakes were too high. How could he possibly make the best work of his life, the work that would help him launch his dream in a span of two weeks? It wasn’t enough time.

Then again, this was the opportunity of a lifetime. This was make or break. So Renjun doesn’t even think much before he replies “I’ll do it. I’ll show you.”

Doyoung smiles. “I had a feeling you’d say that. In that case, I have another meeting to go to. But my assistant will help you sort out the details. I’m sure you’ll understand.” he says, already getting up and putting his jacket on. 

Renjun stands with him. He doesn’t believe it. Suddenly, this opportunity feels too big for his breaches. But it’s there for the grabbing. And he could only ever miss the shot he never shoots. 

Yet somehow, Renjun also feels like he’s about to make a deal with the devil. Is this how the unassuming hero feels in movies when he’s made an agreement with the mob boss? Renjun reckons it comes close. He’s not sure whether to shake hands or to bow in these situations. So he stands there awkwardly and does neither as Doyoung walks to his door.

“My assistant will be in contact with you. I look forward to seeing your masterpiece.” he smiles a loaded smile and in that moment, Renjun decides that your brother was nothing like you. 

“Oh, and Renjun. The theme is ‘The Past Year’ but don’t tell anybody that.” he smiles and Renjun nods as Doyoung takes his leave. He’s not sure why he’s been given that extra bit of information. He’s not sure if that pointer has come from Kim Doyoung of Midnight Arthouse or Y/N L/N’s older brother. It is a bit of a mindfuck, but Renjun tries not to dwell on it too much. He had to leave his intellectual capacities free for his bigger purpose.

Renjun looks up to see Doyoung’s assistant smiling professionally at him. “Would you like a tour, Mr. Huang?” she says and Renjun once again gets the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory feels he always got around your family’s grandeur. But this was more than riches. This was art from people Renjun had admired and closely followed. Maybe this would give him some inspiration and put him in the right headspace.

“Yes, please.” Renjun says a bit too eagerly before he is led outside.

It is once again, a humbling experience. Renjun had already seen most of the work displayed here in one form or the other. But watching it with the naked eye and up close was a different experience altogether. The art here was in a different league and now Renjun starts to understand what Kim Doyoung had meant. None of Renjun’s existing works came close to what he was seeing displayed right here. He had thought Midnight Arthouse was some sort of a viral launcher. The kind of company that only looked for social media sensations rather than trailblazers and actual talent. But Renjun realizes that he had been massively underestimating them. Kim Doyoung knew what he was doing. Renjun did not. 

All this time, Renjun had walked the earth with a chip on his shoulder. He had been envious of everyone who ever did better than him. He had resented every artist that had risen to fame for reasons Renjun could not understand. He had judged every person ever who was well connected enough to rise to the top. 

And now, standing here in the majesty of Midnight Arthouse’s proud displays, all Renjun feels is small. Like he’s been served a slice of humble pie. For the first time in a long time, Renjun feels inspired, but not from a place of envy or jealousy or bitterness or vengeance. He feels inspired to make the most out of the opportunity that his life had given him. Because who was he to judge anyone that used connections when he was standing here doing the same? The mere fact that he, a junior in college had gotten a meeting with Kim Doyoung over lunch in his office while his assistant was personally showing him around… that was proof that Renjun had become one of those well-connected people.

Renjun’s initial feeling had been right. This was a deal with the devil. Because Renjun had paid a pretty big price for it. His stomach feels queasy. Was it only last night that he was going around throwing punches and being a general asshole? He doesn’t want to think about it. Because then he’d be forced to remember the faces of all his friends, and he didn’t want to revisit that memory through the lens of a deflated ego and a dissolving hangover. So Renjun is almost thankful when Doyoung’s assistant speaks to him.

“Are you ready for some paperwork? Just some general entry applications and agreements.” she says, still smiling that strictly professional smile.

Renjun takes a deep breath in. He feels unprepared, yet ready. He was going to take this opportunity. Or everything he had done this past year would have been for naught. 

“Let’s do it.” Renjun says, nodding.

“Great. Follow me.” she says and Renjun starts walking. Each step forward feels like a heavy, purposeful and loaded step towards his future. Here it was, a few strides away from his grabbing. Forget the past year. His whole life had been amounting to this moment. 

Every stroke of his brush had led him here. Every drop of his sweat. Every sleepless night. Every decision he had made. Every heart he had broken. Every friend he had lost. 

Renjun was walking towards his goal a man with nothing left to lose. And he had heard that they made the most dangerous men. His future was two strides away now. Two more strides and he’d be one step closer to achieving his life goal.

But when he’s about to make the final stride, Renjun receives a phone call that shatters his entire world as he knows it. 

And in that moment, he turns on his heel and runs faster than he ever had in his entire life. The future that was so close that he could almost taste it, now becomes smaller and smaller as it fades into the background behind him. Because Renjun had run in the opposite direction and left it in his dust.

Renjun pushes through the doors and doesn’t even absorb the pain he should be feeling in his shoulder from the force of the contact. 

“Where is she!” he yells. He doesn’t feel like a person. Because how much could one person take, anyway? How many times could he be beaten down by the universe before he would fall to his knees and beg to be spared?

He looks around and finally spots the man he calls his father standing near a watercooler, talking to someone he doesn’t recognize. So he has no care about rushing up and getting in his face. Because what more was there left to lose?

“Where is she?” he yells at his face. His father nods a farewell at the unassuming man before he turns to his son.

“In the isolation ward, Renjun. Where else would she be?” his father says and his voice is so calm that Renjun wants to grab at his collar. But he takes in a deep shaky breath to calm himself. It doesn’t happen. So he finds himself yelling again.

“How did this even happen! She hasn’t even been outside her house this entire time!” Renjun is trying so hard to hold back the tears of rage. But they’re threatening to explode any minute now.

“What does it matter how she got the virus? It’s a global pandemic. She has it now, like thousands of people around the world. The doctors are doing all they can.” his father says and if Renjun had been in his right mind, he would’ve realized that this was the first time he had spoken to him in over a year. But all he could think of right now was so what if others had it? So what if every fucking person in the world had it? How dare his father say that? 

“How are they doing all they can when she’s on fucking life support?!” Renjun growls through his teeth and he’s inhaling sharp breaths to keep himself from breaking.

“Your mother is with her, Renjun. The best you can do now is pray.” he replies and Renjun wants to hit him. He wants to punch that holier than thou look off his face. His grandmother was probably on her last breath and his father had the audacity to ask him to pray.

“I have to go see her. I have to take care of her.” Renjun turns and looks around, breathing heavily before he begins to move. But his father grabs at his arm.

“You can’t see her, Renjun. Are you even listening to me? Your grandmother is in the isolation ward. There’s only one family member allowed and your mother is it.” he has raised his voice at him.

“She doesn’t know! She doesn’t fucking care about her! I’m the only one who knows! I have to be there with her!” Renjun shouts at him and he’s only acutely aware that he’s sobbing because his words are loud but inchoate. 

“Renjun. Son. There’s nothing we can do.” his father shakes his head at him and watches with his mouth open as his son sobs and barges to the door like a madman. Because Renjun will find a way to get to her. No one cared about her like he did. No one loved her like he did. It had always been him and his grandmother against the world. He needed to be there for her. But the hospital staff is grabbing at him and pushing him out while his father watches from a distance like a helpless man. 

Renjun is barely aware that he’s doubling over because his tears are blinding him or that he’s been led outside because the cool air is hitting him. He gets up to charge back in but his resolve is so much weaker now and he feels another hold around him, keeping him back. 

"Renjun I'm so sorry. Your mother called me. I don't think she knows about us." Yoo Jimin whispers softly as he falls to his knees. She crouches next to him and puts her arms around him.

And in this strange, awful moment, Renjun finds himself realizing that the arms that are holding him aren't the arms that he wanted. The arms that are soothing him and holding him while he cries into the ground are not the arms he craved.

He wanted the arms that had held him that one night while Renjun had laid his head on their shoulder and bared his heart for the very first time. He wants the arms that had enveloped him and had, for at least a moment, made everything alright. He wanted the arms of the person whose heart he had cruelly broken.

Copyright © 2021 NeoCultureTravesty. All rights reserved.

[imgonnapanic]

Miyagi Setter Squad Responding to “I Love You”

I can’t condition because I sprained my ankle again so here you guys go. Also I’m so sorry for the oddly specific name but if you want the other setters lmk 😭 I’ll do them later I’m too tired. ⚠️SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 ⚠️

Oikawa Tooru

You were over at his house to study and maybe pass around a volleyball for a couple hours.

It was a pretty peaceful setting, you were splayed out on the floor looking at the ceiling

And he was on his computer doing god-knows-what.

It definitely wasn’t homework-

The silence is destroyed by your phone buzzing.

Your ride was here.

So you pick up your stuff, and you’re just about to walk out the door when it slips out.

“I love you, bye!”

This smooth fuck will pretend to be totally chill on the outside.

But on the inside he’s probably exploding.

He has seen this in movies, read it in books, seen it told to other people.

A couple of people have even said it to him.

(Even though he had no idea why because he had only known them on a last name basis for thirty seconds.)

So he knew alllll about it and exactly how to respond.

But...He didn’t execute as well as he wanted to.

So he ends up giving you some weird ass eyes as his whole face flushes.

“I love you tOo, Y/n.”

You don’t know whether to laugh at him or just leave

But you’re grinning the whole way home.

Yahaba Shigeru

‘Yahaba does not get annoyed at much’

Lies. He gets annoyed at so much that he thinks he might have some repressed anger issues.

The butt naked screaming in the bath after losing to Karasuno helped him come to that conclusion.

But not much actually sets him off.

In other words, he’s not slamming anyone against the wall unless it’s really fucking important.

Or, nowadays, when someone does something to cross you.

Now, you did not know that Yahaba was capable of throwing hands until today.

Because most of his wounds were dealt out verbally.

However, you figured the guy that stole your gym clothes deserved it.

You were just planning to leave it alone, but there he was.

Off campus.

Tackling this random dude.

The fight lasts about thirty seconds before you can run into certain death and break it the fuck up before someone goes to jail.

The dude has a bloody nose already and he listens to you and steps back.

“Apologize.”

He mumbles out a sorry before stalking away.

Yahaba is looking way too pleased with himself.

“That’s assault.”

“That’s chivalry.”

“Shigeru, I love you, but don’t fucking do that again.”

He mumbled a response back. “Yeah yeah I won’t. I love you too.”

It will probably take him at least an hour for that to hit-

Kageyama Tobio

He doesn’t have a very affectionate family, so that phrase has probably only been used sparingly around him.

But he has been silently willing you to say it to him for a while.

He’s already on top of the world when he beats Aoba Johsai.

You are so proud of him for finally taking down his rival.

When that final point is scored, you’re going crazy in the stands with Yachi, Saeko, and Shimada.

It was the most excited you had seen him in a long time.

He achieved his goal! He was now the best setter in the prefecture.

Not that he wasn’t before, obviously 🙄

But you’re sitting on the bus with him after they win, and it’s quiet.

Kageyama’s happy, you’re happy, and there’s almost no one on the bus.

You rest your head on your shoulder.

“I’m so proud of you. I love you so much, Tobio.”

*bang bang there goes your HEAAAAART*

On the outside he gets that wobbly look on his face, but on the inside he’s like

TWO IN ONE DAY?!

You’ve just been watching him smile at the bus driver for twenty seconds before he snaps out of it.

“Ah-I love you too, Y/n.”

You didn’t expect him to be so excited about that.

It was the sweetest thing ever.

Sugawara Koushi

It was after he came up to you and told you that he would no longer be in Karasuno’s starting lineup.

And at first you’re like.

“Bull-fucking-shit Koushi, what do you mean you’re not starting?”

He explains that a new first year setter had arrived with much better technique.

And that the coach had sat him down and explained that to him.

And that he knew that Kageyama was better and that he would be supporting the team from the bench.

You can tell his heart is breaking with every second he tells you this.

So you need to shut him up. Getting mad at the coach wouldn’t help.

You start telling him all the things he can do to still be a significant player.

He could stat games, keep a notebook, make hand signals, paint the notebook-

You can tell he’s feeling much better about himself by the end of your talk.

You pick your next words very carefully.

“You’re gonna have a great season, trust me. I love you, okay?”

Alllll the color just drains from both of your faces.

He’s like “yeah-wait. You love me?”

You rethinking your life decisions: “Yeah?”

“I love you too.”

“...Good.”

“Good.”

Shirabu Kenjirou

MotherfUCKER-

Well, he’s flustered, he’ll give you that.

But you’re not living that one down anytime soon.

You were on your way to school, making fun of stereotypical romance mangas.

“Sh-sh-shirabu-kun!! I guess you have to get to class now...😞🥺💞🌸”

“...we’ll see 😶”

“OHHHHHMYGOSH💞💞💞💞🌸🌸🥺”

By this time, you’re on campus, getting weird stares.

Past, single Shirabu would have given a shit.

But he only had a couple more minutes of making fun of people with you before he had to go to his classes.

Stupid 4.0

So now, you’re just pointing out random things that the horses were doing.

One of them kicked its own shit, and both of you lost it.

You guys were folded in half until coach Washijo came up behind you, and ordered you both to get to class.

As soon as he was out of earshot, you guys started laughing again.

“Well, I don’t wanna be taken out of the starting lineup, so let’s get to class.”

“Okay, love you.”

Oh shit. You did not mean to say that. For Christ’s sake, it had only been a month.

He looks like he’s seen Goshiki fall down the stairs. Almost triumphant.

“I love you too, Y/n. Now go attend to that math grade of yours.”

“Shut the hell up :)”

Semi Eita

Was very well planned out and very thought through.

It was ✨Valentine’s Day✨

And you had it written down in a card because you were pussying out you were a little nervous.

Plus, you could always brush it off and pretend like writing it down wasn’t as big of a deal as saying it.

On the other end, Semi was also planning to tell you.

Like, he was sure you already knew.

And he was sure he was making it into a bigger deal than it should have been.

But whatever, Semi’s never been one to do things halfway anyhow.

He just wasn’t obvious about it.

So, Shiratorizawa was just g l i t t e r i n g that morning.

Which was why you both were currently at a cafe, very far away from it.

This had also been planned, because his coach would not like it very much if he knew he didn’t have the Flu.

So you guys are laughing, talking, awkwardly holding hands over the table.

It’s so obvious that both of you are nervous.

And Semi’s like “wHats wRoNg bAbY?”

As if he’s not in the exact same situation.

So you just hand him the card and the gift you got him for Valentine’s Day and he opens it up.

And you’re basically ready to melt into the floor when he puts the card down.

“You love me huh?”

No answer.

“Well, I love y o u t o o.”

He got so quiet at the end, but the words were finally said, and you were both satisfied.

[varietaltiger23]

DIDN'T MEAN TO POST THIS YET BUT HAVE A TEASING OF IT

Part 3 and final

so here is here is part 3 and i hope i did them justice and I'm glad yall like the other ones. here you horny fucks go cause yall have been waiting long enough for this. and sorry for misspelled words

this has/contains and talks about : getting fucked from both ends, nipple sucking, fingering, stuffed full of cum, cum and dick worship, gang bang, public sex cause you are on a bus, choking, face time and picture taking, this is still filthy smut that focuses on their dicks and cum, name calling, pet names/endearing terms, they call a friend that had a crush on you to show who you belong to, daddy kink, listen this some freaky shit

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

sanzu wasn't wrong when he said he would have you begging. though they were another long trip, sanzu didn't have any mercy for you since you had already went through with in terms of him gentle people.

so of course you needed to be reminded how much of a god damn whore you are, after all you loved it when you felt like he was breaking you in two and sometimes he would convince akkun to fuck you while pulling and twisting your nipples while you begged to have sanzu fuck you and akkun treating you all nicely.

"you don't know all the things me and akkun could to you if you didn't insist on getting to school on time, right akkun ?" sanzu said while thrusting as hard as he could with every word to let his point be know.

" they're friends are texting, asking what they plan to do after school. maybe we should send a picture or even a video. after all it's that one who is in love with you." inui said as he scrolled through your messages. each attempt of hanging out away from school shot down.

"you're right about that sanzu and catch a little video of sanzu or better yet facetime them. let them watch their pretty little crush be ravaged by gang members." akkun answered as he moved you to be sucking and swirling your tongue around his tip while he rubbed one hand through your hair to give you a little comfort since you would be on camera soon while sanzu destroyed your hole as if you weren't on a bus but in the bedroom.

"probably what they want, all eyes on them while they get fucked brainless." angry said as he and smiley were picking up where sanzu and akkun left their tic tac toe.

"remind me to always pick sanzu if i want an easy win in tic tac toe," smiley replied since he had picked akkun. sanzu had lost every match.

"Did you hear that baby, smiley hurt my feelings. Wanna help me fuck it out you nasty fucking whore." Sanzu said as he slapped your ass. And oh did the sound fucking ring in your ears. The whole bus heard it but who would be stupid enough to stand up to toman plus the bus driver couldn't hear all that well so they were out of the picture.

"I wish you would have waited ot told me so I could FaceTime the hopelessly in love fool." Inui said as he started the FaceTime and hit the mute button.

The fool was inlove with you and needed to be shown that they were inferior to your gang. Plus they didn't deserve to hear your beauty sounds.

"Hey, did you wanna talk abu-....what the fuck, no what the actual fuck is going on."

Was all you could catch as felt a wave of bliss pass over you. Getting fucked so good with everyone's eyes on you and them listening to your sloppy kisses on akkun cock while listening your hole get abused.

Were you bleeding down or was it just some precum from sanzu. You didn't know and you honestly couldn't care. You were getting treated like royalty and that annoying pest was finally gonna leave you alone.

"Think we lost them, probably in sub space. Let's finish up so they can go to a gentler group." Akkun said as he pulled you off his dick and helped finish himself off. After all if you were feeling so good from them then maybe some extra affection was in order.

"You're such a good bunny , letting us ravage you in every way we want. Giving your daddies everything they want huh."

[anotheronechicagobog]

Rangers, Lead The Way - Chapter 3 - Kenny with Maggie

written by @anotheronechicagobog

warnings: swearing, nudity, profanity, mention of school shooting, guns, weapons, I’m pro gun control (even though I’m Canadian) and this kinda reflects that, mention of PTSD, child neglect, also I fucking hate nazis

When someone called before seven in the morning it was work, a death notification, or one of his fellow trio of lovestruck fools. So when the annoying ringtone Hana installed as a prank and he couldn’t figure out how to remove started blasting on his nightstand at 2:17 in the morning, he was more annoyed than apprehensive. “Crosby.”

“Hey man, sorry to call you so late, but it’s about Maggie.”

“What’s going on?”

“One of her first arrests as an FBI agent just broke out of prison, and she’s been temporarily assigned to the unit being tasked with finding him. Yours. I expect you’ll be getting a call in the next five minutes or so. Maggie can take care of herself, I know that, but...”

“It’s hard when you’re not there to watch her back. Don’t worry, I’ve got her.” 

“Thank you. So much. I appreciate this, so, so much.”

“Hey, a couple of months ago I was you. I feel you man, don’t worry. She’ll be fine. Listen, I’d love to keep talking but I’ve got another call coming in and it looks like that work call you were warning about. Talk to you later.”

“See you on the flip side, man.”

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

Jess stood in front of everyone with that look on his face that vaguely reminded Kenny of his stern ex-navy fourth-grade teacher. “Everyone, this is special agent Maggie Bell, you may remember her from when we worked with her unit on a couple of cases, but this time it’s just her joining us. Is there anything you’d like to add, Bell?”

“I’m excited to work with you all, but please, call me Maggie.”

“Alright, let’s get to work, then. Maggie, Jason Anderson was one of your first arrests with the bureau, can you brief us on that case and highlight any details you think may be pertinent?”

“Definitely. Well for starters, Anderson is a cheating scumbag and it only gets worse from there.” Maggie’s bluntness broke through the formality that was stifling the bus, smirks and chuckles abound, and it seemed that only he didn’t have the sense to at least try and hid his amusement. An understanding but disapproving look had Kenny composing himself to speak up. “Well then, let’s jump down this rabbit hole.”

Maggie was sitting next to Hana, giving details about the fugitive they were currently after. He was one of Maggie’s first arrests as an FBI agent, so the bureau thought it would be beneficial to have her work with the team. So here she was, dressed in jeans and a sweater as opposed to her usual suits, combining her razor-sharp intelligence with Hana’s. They’d commandeered the top floor of a police station in Boston and were relying on Maggie and Hana’s wit to find out where he was. Jason Anderson, 42, was an illegal weapons dealer. He’d previously been put in prison for distribution and possession of prohibited firearms, and for giving an AK-47 to a school shooter. He was being transferred to a higher security prison because it came to light that he was continuing his business from behind bars, but the security team had been too small and unprepared for the escape plan pulled off by a team of eight. Those eight men were their biggest clue oddly enough, as they’d been dropping like flies since the escape. Michael Howard, 40, was Anderson’s ex-brother-in-law. And the connection between all the, now dead, prison breakers. Unfortunately, Howard’s sister, and Anderson’s ex-wife, had cut contact with both of them along with the rest of their families after Howard introduced Anderson to his mistress and encouraged an affair that created two children. The mistress, Bethany Karnstein, had gone AWOL hours ago when she left her job in the middle of her shift and didn’t pick her kids up from school. 

The kids were safe with Anderson’s parents, but they couldn’t answer their questions when they asked where their mother was. The kids did identify Michael Howard as one of their mom’s friends though, he’d come to watch them while their mother was in the hospital about six months prior. They didn’t look shocked that FBI agents were asking about their parents, but they still didn’t know anything. 

At the moment, they were splitting up. Jess and Barnes were headed to follow up with Bethany’s clueless boss, he and Clinton were about to go follow up on a possible sighting, and Hana and Maggie were staying on the bus. Thankfully, since Kenny was stressed out enough at the prospect of having to watch out for Maggie on top of worrying about Hana, them being assigned together eased his mind. 

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

It was around midnight when he and Clinton were finally able to rendezvous with the rest of the team. There was no sighting, Bethany had one of her affair partners call in a false tip, and when he and Clinton had quickly sussed that out it lead to a shootout and car chase. Jason, the dumbass stupid enough to commit six different felonies for a woman who has two kids with a violent arms dealer, was lying in a heavily guarded ICU bed. They’d managed to get his cell phone but he was beyond unconscious when they’d finally managed to get him to stop shooting at them. “Hey Hana, I brought you something.”

“Jason’s cell?”

“That too, but I was actually talking about this.” He held out a large coffee that she desperately needed if the way her eyes lit up was any indication. “Thank you.” Hana let out an over-dramatic groan as she downed the first sip. “Hey Crosby, thanks for my coffee too.” He looked at Maggie sheepishly, realizing that he’d only gotten two, one for himself and the other for Hana. “I was the one who drove to and then parked in front of the coffee shop while he went and got those, how do you think I feel?” Clinton’s playful jab caused a round of giggles but the knowing look from the older man made Crosby a little nervous. He was sure his feelings towards Hana weren’t super well-hidden, but he really didn’t need anyone on the team tipping Hana off. “Anyway, here’s Jason’s cell. Do you think you can crack it?”

“Normally with this many characters I’d say no... But, his password is seven characters long and his lock screen is Bethany, so... There we go, unlocked.”

“... That was a really poor choice of password.”

“And girlfriend.”

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

After working for fourteen hours straight they were all spent and headed to the hotel that the FBI had secured rooms at for them. Jess, Barnes and Clinton were all in one car that was headed straight to the hotel to get everyone checked in. Kenny, Hana, and Maggie were in the other car that was making a detour on the way to pick up Thai food. Hana and Maggie were chatting amongst themselves, but Kenny was still kicking himself for the slip-up he’d made while placing the order over the phone. 

“Hi, can I place an order for pickup? Great. The name’s Kenny and the phone number is 123-456-7890. Okay, I’ll get two orders of shrimp rolls, one vegetable pad Thai, one pork Mee Khob, one chicken pad Keeng, and two orders of chicken Kao pad puk, hold on one second- Maggie you want green curry, right?”

“... Yeah, how did you know?” I’ve heard your partner talk about you almost non-stop since he met you because he’s head over heels in love with you, but I can’t say that, can? Especially because you, Hana, and Hailey don’t know that OA, Jya, and I know each other... For some reason, so sorry Maggie, Hana but I’m going to have to lie my ass off here. “Uh, sorry, I thought I heard you mention it earlier, plus you look like a green curry kind of person.”

“Ha, alright, yes I’d like some, thanks.”

“- Sorry about keeping you on hold, I’ll add one green curry to that order. Do you want me to pay over the phone or is it okay if I pay when I get there?”

“Kenny!”

“Sorry, what’s up?”

“Our exit is coming up in... 150 metres, you need to turn right.”

“Shit, thanks, Hana.”

“Are you okay? You seemed like you were in your own world there.”

“I’m fine, I was just thinking. Where do I go next?”

“Go straight for another 700 metres, it’ll be on the right.”

“Got it.”

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

“Alright everyone, the food’s here!” They’d all decided to gather in one of the meeting rooms the hotel had to the left of the lobby, Kenny had admittedly bellowed a little loud, but it brought all of his straggling coworkers into the room from their various spots in and around the lobby.

“Finally, what took you guys so long?” He knew that Jess was just hangry, and frustrated that they hadn’t caught the fugitive yet, so he let the snappy comment slide.

“Crosby almost missed the turn.”

“You let Crosby drive? Rookie mistake” He gave Hana a teasing look of betrayal before turning to Clinton. “I’ll have you know I am an excellent driver.”

“You’ve driven into a lake.”

“That was one time three years ago! And we were in a high-speed chase with a guy on a BMX bike who made a sharp turn near a kid’s birthday party, I didn’t exactly have many options.” He sounded more upset than he actually was. Moments like these were nice, where they got to hang around each other and just be friends, and Maggie was fitting in wonderfully with everyone but especially Hana, who sat in between him and Maggie as she started telling a story about OA with her face absolutely glowing.

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

Jason’s cell proved to be far more useful than he was. Bethany had been texting him from a rural address that turned out to be a cottage rental that was supposed to be vacant. The owners had a basic security system that had alerted them that someone was in their cottage, when the local LEOs investigated they immediately recognized the suspect but were able to play it off as having gotten a noise complaint, before going back to their vehicle and calling the FBI, while hiding their vehicle so that they could keep watch over the cottage. There was always a tense atmosphere when people were getting greedy for a raid, Kenny supposed the fresh air and appealing scent of pine trees eases tensions slightly, but not by much. Everyone knew that the worst could happen. That their loved ones could get an overly formal call at an unholy hour, telling them that the worst would happen. Everyone always did their best to try and prevent that, but there was only so much that they could keep out of fate’s unforgiving hands. His heartstrings pulled slightly as he flicked his eyes over to Hana. She was his special someone, even if she didn’t know it, and for a brief moment, he wondered what it would be like for her if he- No. Nope. You can’t think like that, especially not before a raid, and especially not about a woman who was only supposed to be your friend. The final preparations were complete and they were getting in position to breach. Hana still hadn’t been cleared for the field yet, so in the back of his mind, he was appreciative that there was one less person to worry about, with her wirelessly monitoring their body cams and coms. Although that was kind of moot point honestly, because Maggie was with them, in fact, Maggie had taken Hana’s position behind him. “You ready Maggie?” She put her hand on the back of his vest as the SWAT leader started counting down. “Always.”

The door was busted down and all the FBI and SWAT agents funnelled into the house through the three entrances. The sliding glass back door was where Jess was entering, the side door was for Clinton and Barnes, and He and Maggie were going through the front door. The front door went straight into the family room to the right, the eat-in kitchen was on the left, and directly across from the sliding glass door. Flashbangs went off as everyone started shouting, announcing themselves. There were screams and cries of panic, something not unusual in their line of work, what was also not unusual was finding Bethany naked on her knees with Michael Howard standing in front of her dressed in the same manner. Michael’s eyes went wide, and his thought process played out like an open book.

Shit. Feds.

Get gun.

... Gun is not in my holster because I’m not wearing clothes.

Run.

... Can’t run cause Bethany is clinging to my legs.

Kenny had to give the guy props for trying to tackle him linebacker style naked as the day he was born as he stood firm and checked him, sending him flying onto the ground. “Turn onto your stomach, now!”

He writhed around, trying to resist arrest, shouting “SUCK MY DICK YOU PIGS!” And trying to thrust his bare nether regions at everyone, Kenny in particular. “Howard Michael, you are under arrest, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you acknowledge that your rights have been read to you?”

“FUCK YOU!”

“I’m gonna take that as a yes.” One of the SWAT officers approached them with an itchy-looking wool blanket and took their suspect into custody. Maggie and Kenny shared a look before making their way to the two bedrooms that were to the left of the kitchen, they hadn’t been cleared yet and now they were trying to move fast to make sure that no other accomplices got away. Kenny took the right door, Maggie, to the left. “FBI! Freeze!” Kenny was met with the disturbing sight of a dead body on the bed. His throat and wrists had been slit and he was surrounded by lumped together blood-soaked sheets. He immediately recognized the dead body as the last remaining accomplice in the breakout. “Hey, Crosby? I need your help in here.”

“What’s up Maggie?” When he entered her room he stopped in his tracks. There wasn’t a bed, instead, there were two cribs for two babies, both of whom were in an equally freaked-out Maggie’s arms. “Here, let me help you.” Kenny helped lighten her load by taking a baby in his arms. “Hi sweetheart, what’s your name?”

“Kenny, these babies can’t be older than six months, you know she can’t respond to you, right?”

“I know, but they’re so little and scared, I want to at least try to comfort them.” The little girl hard curled up into his chest and nestled her face into his neck. “It looks like you’re doing a great job to me.”

“Who’s kids even are these?”

“I’m really trying not to think about it.”

“I’m praying to every deity there is that they’re not Bethany and Howard’s kids.”

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

There had to be thousands of deities, gods, godlings, divine beings, and not one of them could come through for those poor kids? The six-month-old twins Baxter and Hazel were the children of Bethany Karnstein and Michael Howard, who had murdered a man in the room next to their children’s room. The social services department where they were was basically non-existent, so while they waited for a social worker to drive from four and a half hours away they were watching the babies at the local police station while Jess and Clinton were questioning Michael. Baxter was much more social, jumping between the FBI agents, SWAT, and local LEOs, but he was now babbling quite happily on Maggie’s lap, whereas Hazel had immediately taken to Hana and refused to be held by anyone but her and Kenny. He looked at her fondly, Hana was holding the baby close to her chest and humming the tune to a melodic song he couldn’t remember the name of. Hazel looked up at Hana with wide, enchanted, trusting eyes, and all Kenny could do was feel his heart melt. A stray thought placed itself at the forefront of his mind and before he could stop it, he was picturing Hana as a mom, and as captivating as that thought was Kenny had to shake his head to stop it from going too far, they were just friends, it wasn’t Hana’s fault that he’s in love with her. I need to look somewhere else, anywhere else. 

His eye-line shifted to Maggie and watching as she bounced an absolutely delighted Baxter on her lap. He knew that OA wanted a family, wanted a wife and a couple of kids, and looking at the tender way Maggie was holding and entertaining Baxter, he could see her being a mom too. Man, if OA saw this he’d have a heart attack, it’s his dream come true.

Kenny saw Hana shift positions out of his peripheral vision and turned to look at her and was immediately concerned. She had a look of discomfort on her face. “Hana? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Her tone was tense and Hazel immediately picked up on it and made a scared noise. “Are your arms tired? Do you want me to take her?”

“No. We’re fine. Maybe you should hold Baxter instead.” She snapped and finally looked him in the eyes, she was clearly angry and upset, but she seemed betrayed as well. Kenny leaned back into his chair his shoulders sinking in tandem. He was silently thankful that since everyone was milling about and talking it didn’t seem that anyone heard the exchange, though Maggie did look at him with a raised eyebrow. He shrugged his shoulders in response, completely bewildered. Maggie shook her head sharply, rolled her eyes, and scoffed. ‘Men.’ She mouthed. Kenny was completely clueless, had either of them noticed him watching them at they were offended at that? He watches Hana work away on her computer all the time and it’s never been an issue, but then again that was always subject to change. His inner ramblings were cut off when Jess and Clinton came back from the interrogation room. “Michael didn’t talk much, but Hana decrypted his cell and he has incoming and outgoing calls to a recluse retiree Evan DeLuca who lives forty minutes from here. Crosby, Bell go check it out, Clinton and I are going to take a break from interrogating Michael for an hour or so, Gibson and Barnes, you two can interrogate Karnstein, see how much she knows and just how involved is she in all of this. We can watch the babies while you’re in there...”

“Admit it, boss, you want a break just cause you two want to hold the babies.”

“Get moving Crosby, Barnes is already out the door.”

“You got it.”

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

They were twenty minutes into the tense car ride when Maggie finally spoke up. “Just so you know, you’re an idiot.” Flabbergasted Kenny let his mouth fall open and close a couple of times before tightening his grip on the steering wheel only to release it after taking a breath. “You’re probably right, but can you please tell me why I’m an idiot? What did I do wrong?”

“Can’t tell you that.”

“Why not? You were the one who brought it up.”

“Just... Focus more on Hana, okay?”

“Are you sure? I mean, I thought about it, and maybe that’s the issue?”

“Trust me, it’s not. Just focus on her, got it?”

“Okay... I’m confused as hell, but okay.”

“Isn’t that your usual state of mind?” He didn’t have to look over to see the teasing grin, he could feel it. “Woah, low blow, Maggie, low blow.”

“If you want to hear about a low blow, you should hear about how OA and I had to chase a clown fairy princess twelve blocks at two in the morning.”

“Please, go on.”

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

Well. That went terribly wrong. As much as Kenny could appreciate the peace and aesthetic of small towns and cottage areas, he hated working in them because there was never any backup! Forty minutes may not seem like a lot of time, but when you’re in a firefight against a man who has access to a seemly endless supply of weapons of war, that was an eternity. He’d literally fired a bazooka at them, how in the fuck did he get a bazooka?! So, the good news about this situation? They’d found Jason Anderson. Bad news? They’d found Jason Anderson with an arsenal large enough and powerful enough to take down a small army. They’d managed to take cover, but Anderson clearly had night-vision goggles because, despite the fact that it was past eleven and pitch black, he always knew where they were. Oh, and Evan DeLuca was probably a dead retiree, not a recluse. That’s just great, another body to add to Anderson’s growing total. Now, all that he and Maggie had to do was not become part of that number. If only it were that easy. They’d managed to get around the side of the house where there were only two medium-sized windows on side of the house facing them instead of a large doorway like at the front and, presumably, the back.

When Kenny got Jess on the phone it was nothing but panicked observations, and the notification that they’d found Anderson, as he and Maggie ran for cover. His phone wasn’t even near his face when he made the call, so he’s not quite sure what all made it through, only that they were still thirty minutes away from the address.

“We need a plan.”

“He can see our movements so we’re going to have to be sneaky about it.”

“I’ll fire on him, cause a diversion, do you think you can try to sneak around back?” 

“Are you crazy?! We didn’t have time to grab our vests, that’s suicide. Besides, how many rounds do you even have left?”

“I’ve got a mag and a half.”

“Really? I thought you fired a bunch of shots at him earlier.”

“I did, but I’ve been carrying extra ammo for this case, I figured I’d need it at some point considering we’re going up against a weapons dealer.”

“Smart-” She was cut off by another several hundred rounds being fired at the, thankfully incredibly thick, tree they were hiding behind. “We don’t have much of a choice Maggie. Head around back, I’ll try to distract him and not get shot.” He knew she’d argue with him, so he didn’t give her the chance to. He ran out from behind the tree and fired through the only window of the two that was open. There wasn’t any light on in the house, so Kenny really wasn’t sure what he was aiming for. After the sixth shot he heard “fuck! Fucking fuck!” And felt a wave of relief; he’d hit Anderson. Hopefully enough to keep him subdued. He ran around to the front of the house only to be met with the sight of Anderson pulling the pin out of a grenade. He ran back out faster than he entered and hugged the outside of the entrance just outside of the doorframe. “GRENADE!” The explosion went off where he’d been standing when he burst through the front door, shrapnel from the grenade exploded through the doorway seconds after he’d gotten out and he could hear some of it embed itself in the interior of the wall behind him.

When Kenny entered through the doorway, they were face to face. Kenny's gun was raised aimed at his forehead, and Anderson stood there weaponless. Pulling the trigger, Kenny made the mistake of thinking that it was over, that Anderson was done for. Click. Horror and vindication simultaneously coursed through Crosby and Anderson. The gun was empty. He'd spent all the rounds. Before he could lower his useless gun Anderson was on him like a feral animal. Despite the gunshot wound to Anderson’s right shoulder, he was just as lethal without a weapon as was when he had one. Anderson had him by the throat up against the wall and was pressing his thumbs into Kenny’s throat. Kenny threw two quick punches to Anderson’s jaw, releasing him and making them stumble away from each other. It quickly turned into a fight on the floor. They were biting, kicking, hitting each other, trying to get the upper hand. Kenny managed to land a solid elbow to Anderson’s head but that seemed to be the tipping point that only enraged him. The next thing Kenny knew Anderon had pushed him up and smacked him on the ground, knocking the air out of his lungs, and started to choke him again. Kenny tried to lay in a punch like the first time, but Anderson saw that coming, just dodged away from the fist and started pushing his thumbs into the centre of Kenny’s neck harder. 

“FBI! Put up your hands!” Anderson growled but did as he was told. Kenny lay there gasping for breath knowing that it was too easy, Anderson had another trick up his sleeve, and Maggie was too smart not to know it too. She stepped closer, her gun pointed to the back of Anderson’s head, one hand reaching to her waist to grab her cuffs... That’s when Anderson made his move, spinning around and grabbing her by the waist, Anderson pulled her to the ground, the force caused her to let go of her gun. She tried to reach for it but Anderson pulled her towards him by her hair and put her in a chokeholdJaytill hazy from the lack of air Kenny grappled at him from behind. Trying to do something, anything, to save Maggie. Whatever he did worked because Anderson turned back to face him only now he had a bruise on the side of his face that was already swollen. Anderson tried grabbing Kenny by the neck again, but it was clear he was low on energy and just trying to fight until his last breath. Too bad for Anderson that Maggie wasn’t going to let that happen. 

Crack.

And then Anderson was unconscious, lying on top of him, and Kenny barely had the strength to move the gun dealing scumbag off of him. “You good?”

“Yeah, thanks.” He looked at the gun in Maggie’s hand and Anderson on the ground. She was holding her gun by the barrel and there was some blood on the handle. “You cold-cocked him?”

“Yeah, I tried shooting him, but I mistook my gun for yours. I told you that you wouldn’t have enough ammo.”

“That you did. Thanks again, for saving my ass.”

“Any time.”

“I’m gonna call the team and let them know they don’t have to come in guns blazing... Especially because we are surrounded by improperly stored weapons and ammo. I’ll probably call for an ambulance too, to come to check you out.”

“What? Me?”

“Yeah, he had you in that chokehold pretty hard.”

“He strangled you, twice!”

“Three times actually, you weren’t here for the first one.”

“Even if you have to be dragged over by the ear, you will be getting checked out by the ambulance too.”

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

“I’m going to preface this by saying Maggie’s fine, she doesn’t even have a concussion.”

“... That was the absolute worst way to start this call. Are you aware of that? Oh the heart attack you’re giving me? What the fuck happened?”

“Long story short, we found Jason Anderson and he tried to kill us.”

“And the long version? Actually, wait do I even want to know?”

“Probably not, but you want to know anyway because you think it will make you worry less, even though we both know it won’t, don’t you?”

“... Yes.”

“We got shot at a lot, got pinned down behind one of the massive trees they have out here, split up with me providing the distraction, I almost got blown up, my magazine was empty from providing cover so we went hand-to-hand, the door at the back was blocked by crates of uzis so it took her a while to get back, I got strangled three separate times, managed to land good hits, so did he, he threw Maggie on the ground when she showed up and she hit her head, he put her in a chokehold, I got her out of it by pinching his armpits really hard after punching wasn’t working, he tried to strangle me for the third time and Maggie cold-cocked him with my empty gun cause she couldn’t find hers. The paramedics cleared her, she’ll be fine. I think that Hana’s gonna try to drag us to the local clinic when we get back to town.”

“She’s okay?”

“Completely, she doesn’t even have a headache or sore throat, and she really saved my ass back there. She’s good. She’s with Hana right now actually. Hana was really off when everyone showed up, she’s been pretty worried and she won’t believe me when I say I’m okay but she’ll believe Maggie. You know you could probably call her, check up on her yourself? We were talking with the paramedics and she kept talking about this halal burger place you brought her to and she’d do anything for one of those right now... But from the look on her face when she brought you up, I’d wager she was actually talking about you. She misses you, even spent an hour talking about you when we all got Thai food in Boston.”

“Alright, thanks, man. I don’t know what I’d do if she wasn’t okay.”

“Gee, thanks for showing your concern for me. You know, your brother in arms-”

“Alright-”

“Fellow ex-ranger-”

“Okay-”

“Favourite blonde-”

“I’m glad you’re alright Kenny. I just can’t believe you two went up against Jason Anderson and walked away unscathed.”

“Actually my throat is pretty sore and the paramedics found some shrapnel in my right leg, all of it was shallow but some of it got pushed in deeper during the fight.”

“... Just go to a hospital, man. Seriously. Also, Hailey is my favourite blonde now. Sorry.”

“What?!”

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

“We have a problem.”

“What kind of problem, Hana?” Jess may have sounded cool, calm, and collected, but anyone who knew him was able to tell it was the opposite. Jess LaCroix likes for things to get done and stay done, according to Tali that’s why he hates doing the dishes, and this threw a serious wrench in everyone’s plans to escort the culprits, and children because children’s aid still hasn’t shown up, back to Boston and then go home to New York.  

“Anderson’s set up a buy, a big one. Everything in that house except for two AK-47’s, ten grenades, and eight rounds of ammo for the AK-47, is for a single buyer, they’re meeting at the base of a hiking trail in two days.”

“Fuck. There were uzis and bazookas, who the hell are these guys.” Anderson was just a weapons dealer, and he was dangerous enough, Kenny really wasn’t looking forward to meeting whoever the buyer was. “I don’t know, I couldn’t find out, but there is some, I guess, good news. They think that he blew up an FBI agent and that that’s who’s in the hospital under armed guard. They think he got away, want to do the exchange earlier than planned, they want to meet in two hours, the same location.”

“Hana, we have the opportunity to also take down some pretty dangerous buyers too, that’s great news, why don’t you think so?”

“Kenny, they don’t know his exact face but they have a description. Six feet tall, blonde, blue eyes, muscular-”

“You think I have muscles?” Kenny realized his attempt at lightening the mood wasn’t welcome when no one chuckled along with him, muttering a quick apology before looking back at Hana, whose face displaced what he could only describe as contained distress. “Kenny, you’re pretty banged up, you shouldn’t be going out there.”

“Hana, I’ll be fine. Everything’s mostly superficial, SWAT hasn’t gone back to Boston yet, and we may not get another chance to get these guys. It has to be done, and quickly. I’ll be okay.” She took a deep breath and looked down at the papers on the table in front of her. She did not like it, that much was very obvious, but she looked frustrated that his logic was right, and that they’d have to go through with his, admittedly not very well thought out, plan. “Alright, I guess I’ll go and get the tech set up.” Jess coughed to draw attention to himself, along with everyone else in the room they’d been ignoring, and Kenny felt his cheeks heat up. “Sorry, is this the plan we’re going through with and should I get the tech together?”

“While I get the local LEO’s to give us some info on the terrain?” Jess looked them both over before nodding. “Sounds like that’s what we’re doing, thanks for doing all the planning guys, everyone, go get prepared.”

“Kenny, can you come and find me after you’re done talking to the LEO’s? I’d like to talk for a sec.”

“Sure thing Maggie.”

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

His talk with Maggie ended up just being a quick, and confusing, talk.

“I know that it’s been a rough couple of days, but I’m still you really need to be careful.”

“I know, it won’t be like back at the house, there’ll be back up this time, and I’ll have ammo in my gun this time.”

“This isn’t the time to joke but... Okay. And one more thing, be nice to Hana.”

“Aren’t I always nice to Hana? I feel like she’s upset with me but I don’t know what I’ve done wrong.” Maggie sighed before giving him a long look and was clearly debating whether or not to say something. “It’s not that you’ve done anything wrong, it’s just that... current circumstances have been stressing her out. Like me being your partner right now, it’s thrown her off a bit. And she said you’ve been acting strange so she’s worried about you for that on top of your physical safety, and Zadie has been calling and texting her quite a bit asking for updates about you, and it’s just been a lot for her.”

“Why didn’t she tell me any of this?”

“Sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone who isn’t directly involved in the issue. Look, all I’m saying is that you need to be careful, and maybe tell Zadie to not ask about you while you and Hana are working.”

“I didn’t even know she’s been doing that, it doesn’t matter that Hana isn’t in the field, her work is still crucial and she can’t afford to be distracted. Are we good?”

“Yeah, we’re good.”

“Good.”

Maggie was still pretty vague, but when Hana was wiring him up, he promised her he would be careful and cautious, that he was sorry if he worried her, the relief on her face made his heart twinge. He hadn’t meant to make her so concerned.

Two sets of headlights drove up the gravel road that leads to town, bring Kenny back to the present. Two men stepped out of each car and he immediately had to stifle a groan. He was now standing alone in a hiking trail parking lot alone, but with back up hiding in the trees, with four nazis. They were all in their fifties wearing blatant white supremacist clothes. He counted a trump shirt, a confederate flag, an all lives matter shirt, and a swastika shirt. “You Jason Anderson?” Confederate spoke first, and his voice was so loud and boisterous it shook his beer belly. “I am.”

“Is that FBI agent you blew up dead yet?”

“I really didn’t come here, when the feds are really pissed and packing heat, to make small talk. Are you buying or not? I’ve got them all loaded up in the back.”

“Can we see them first?”

“After I see the cash.” Trump shirt looked at confederate for confirmation before walking to the second pick-up truck, because of course, and returned with two stuffed duffle bags. Kenny unzipped them the second they were in front of him, and sure enough, stacks of $100 bills shoved inside in a disorderly fashion. Kenny pretended to count but he was really biding his time, trying to find ways to get them to spill their guts. “What do you guys want with this much firepower, anyway? It’s a bit much for hunting.”

“There’s an abortion clinic a couple of hours away in Boston, we’re going to teach those whores to respect life.” And here I was thinking that these scumbags couldn’t get any worse. Kenny sighed and popped the trunk, revealing the crates of guns, that all had the firing pins removed making them useless, but assholes one through four didn’t need to know that. “Alright, take a look. What do you think?”

“I think... That we just got an arsenal for FREE!” All four aimed their newly attained weapons and... Didn’t fire. “Really? Did you honestly think I’d put ammo in there? Whatever, FBI YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!” They didn’t even have time to start running before the most wanted unit, Maggie, SWAT, and LEO’s had burst out of the trees, guns raised.

Fucking morons.

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

“Hey man, how’d the bust go?”

“Great, we arrested the head of the local faction of the KKK and his minions, apparently. You know, the second the guns were in their hands they tried to blow me to pieces. They thought we, or Anderson rather, would have them all loaded up for them so they could make away with the guns and the cash. You should’ve seen them when they were arrested, they were genuinely surprised that their plan didn’t work, and that no one wanted to hear their bigoted crap. And Anderson’s ex-wife decided to take in all four of Karnstein’s kids, those he had with her husband and brother, which is great because we were worried about what was going to happen to them, but she said she just wants to keep all the siblings together and that’s an example of sainthood if I ever saw one. And before you ask, yes, Maggie’s fine.”

“I’m getting a little predictable when it comes to her, aren’t I?”

“A bit, yeah- hold on one second... I’m back.”  

“What was that?”

“I got another call.”

“From who?”

“Zadie.”

“The girl you’re dating who happens to be the roommate of your best friend and the girl you’re in love with?”

“... Shut up.”

“Hahaha no. Look, we’re both idiots, all three of us were until Halstead figured out how to get off. I can’t talk to Maggie about how I feel, not yet and maybe not ever. Losing her husband left horrendous scars and she needs me to be her partner and her friend, she doesn’t need to deal with how I feel. But you and Hana? You could happen, you could talk to her, I know that you spoke with her about your PTSD and she’s told you about serious things in her life and herself. Both of you have a trust and bond that doesn’t need to be tested. It’s tried and true. You don’t deserve to be miserable, drowning yourself in distractions and being a distraction. Just promise me you’ll think about it.”

“Okay, I will. And for what it’s worth, I don’t think you and Maggie are as far away from each other as you think. She talks about you all the time, she told me so many stories about you two in the field. She trusts you implicitly, and the face she makes when she talks about you... There’s nothing platonic about that. So you need to think about talking to your girl and moving forward too, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Am I really not your favourite blonde anymore?”

“Haha, no you’re not, sorry.”

“You knew her for like three days!”

“Eh, still.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t.”

“... No, I don’t. But... Maggie told me about the clown fairy princess and I’m gonna tell Halstead about it the next time I call him, which we’ll be in an hour cause I want to catch him before he goes to work. So, HA!”

“Crosby!”

[sugarbooger513]

Holding On (Chapter One)

I love writing OCs so much. This is the beginning to a fun JJK fic I had some ideas for. It will include spoilers and end up straying from the canon story. Please beware of that. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do <3

Mara belongs to @katgalle

Warnings: soft Gojo, mentions of guns, Gojo being... well, Gojo.

How long had it been exactly? Nine, maybe ten years? Nova blinks slowly before closing her eyes. It hadn't exactly hit her that she was back where she grew up. Maybe Tokyo hasn't changed much.

Sadly, she had changed a lot from that day.

She can still remember the laughter they would share. The simplest things would send them both into fits of hysteria. She hasn't looked at stupid cat videos the same since her second year of high school.

"Nova? Are you asleep?" "If you thought I was asleep," Nova sighs softly, "why would you ask?" When she peeks her eyes open, Mara smiles sweetly. "Ah, just thought I would be a bit polite. How are you feeling about moving back?" Nova's nose scrunches slightly. "It hasn't hit me yet."

Nova knows that Mara can read her better than she lets on. It's the curse of being twins.

"What about you? We've been in Osaka quite a while now." "Well, I can't say I'll miss it. I don't care where we go. It's just nice still being beside you." Nova can't help but smile softly. Truly, Mara has been there when she had no obligation to be.

When Nova's phone rings, she answers it with a sigh. "We should be pulling into the stop within the next ten minutes or so, Aunt Cammie." "Oh, good! I can't wait to see you two again!"

That's one of two reasons Nova can think it's a good thing to move back home. Aunt Cammie gave up her entire life to move to Japan in order to raise the twins. She could have allowed them to go into foster care, but she didn't. She could have forced them to move back to America with her and leave behind everything they ever knew, but she didn't.

Shortly before the twins went into high school, both of their parents were killed by a special grade curse. The worst part was that their mother wasn't even a Jujutsu sorcerer. She just happened to be around their father when it attacked.

"We'll see you in a few. Love you." "Love you too, sweet pea." When she lowers her phone, Mara places a gentle hand on her sister's shoulder. "She's been texting me non stop since we got on the bus." "Yeah, I kinda figured she would. She's excited to have us home."

"You called it home, Nova." "I'm trying to get over what happened. I really am. It just hurts." Mara leans over, resting her head comfortably on her twin's shoulder. "You're allowed to grieve as long as you need to, sis."

They stay quiet for the rest of the bus ride, casually leaning against one another. When it finally comes to a stop, the first thing they see from the window is their Aunt's flaming red hair, which both of them somehow inherited.

Mara races off the bus, grabbing her suitcases on the way, while Nova takes her time making sure everything was taken off the bus. Before walking off, she leaves the driver a tip.

"Nova!" Aunt Cammie engulfs her niece in a tight hug full of love. Nova drops her bags so she can return it. "I missed you girls so much. It's been so long." "I now, Aunt Cammie, but we're here now." She places both of her hands on Nova's face to stare lovingly into the eyes that match her dear sister's.

"You both still look so much like your mother." "Somehow we got your fiery hair though." Mara giggles and makes a point by swishing her flaming red hair around. Aunt Cammie gives both girls a kiss on the cheek before she starts helping them load her car.

"Your rooms are set up just like they used to be, right next to each other. I put some new sheets and blankets on the beds, new carpets are in the rooms, and- " "Aunt Cammie," Nova stops her aunt's ranting, "we still plan on getting out own place. For Christ's sake, we're twenty-seven."

Cammie's smile makes both girls feel a bit lighter. "I know, baby. I don't expect you two to stay long, but I want you to know that you will always have a home with me. I don't care what age you are."

Mara spends the entire ride singing her head off with Aunt Cammie in the front. Nova's phone starts exploding with texts from her second reason for coming back.

'I can't believe you're back! We have to catch up ASAP! Coffee later?' 'I didn't take you as a coffee person, but that sounds amazing.' 'Really, I'm not. The shit makes me feel like some old geezer, but I remember how you would get some every morning before school. Is your sister going to hang out with us?' 'Maybe? It'll depend on how well she can compose herself. I'm not sure how much she knows about you now.'

"We're home! Nova, what are you doing?" "Just texting a friend. He wants to hang out today, so we're making plans." Aunt Cammie grins like the she-devil she can be. "Really? I'm so glad!"

Mara had already made her way out of the car to start unpacking, so Nova does her best to catch up, but the twin is just too excited to be back home and races ahead of her into the house. "Well," Cammie rubs the back of her neck, "that probably isn't good." "What did you do?"

"Uhh, well, your friend had texted me this morning and asked if he could hide out here so he could greet you as soon as you got back.." Nova's eyes widen in shock. "It.. wouldn't happen to be the friend from high school, would it?" Cammie laughs a bit awkwardly. "The white haired boy.. that Mara always had that massive crush on..?" Nova drops her bags and races into the house without another thought.

Once she makes it inside, she sees Mara staring, slightly confused as the tall man towers beside her. "Why are you in my aunt's house, dude?" "Huh, you aren't running from me? Does that mean you're over that high school crush?" To Nova's own surprise, Mara only tilts her head. "Who are you again?"

The sound of that question is enough to make Nova let out a snort of laughter. The sound catches Gojo's attention, and he smiles brightly. "There's the woman I wanted to see." Gojo slips past Mara with a soft pat on the head.

Nova doesn't really expect Gojo to hug her, but he puts his infinity down just to wrap his long arms around her. Her head rests just below his shoulders. "Gojo," she laughs and places her arms around his lanky body, "I've missed you so much." "I've missed you, too. I see you haven't gotten any taller." "And I see you've grown even more, fucking string bean." He lets out a small chuckle as he pulls away from her.

"Sorry about the surprise. I just wanted to see you." "No, I appreciate it a lot. It's nice knowing you still care." Gojo's gorgeous blue eyes seem to sparkle behind his sunglasses. "Of course I do. Keeping in touch for nine years would make most people bored out of their minds, but I'm not like any other person."

Despite him trying to be cocky, he has a point. Anyone else she went to school with stopped talking to her less than a year after she moved. While they didn't talk daily, Gojo always sent her random texts throughout the week.

"I know, Gojo. Trust me," she walks forward and lays her head back on him, "I know. I'm so glad to have you back." His long fingers rake through her red curls effortlessly. "I'm right here, Nova. I'll be here as long as you need me to be."

"I didn't get to say good morning to you, Satoru! It's nice to see you again." Gojo chuckles and gives aunt Cammie a quick hug. "I should visit more often, work just keeps me away." "Well," she smacks his arm softly, "I hope Nova will entice you to come over more." "Of course, Aunt Cammie."

"Nova, love," Gojo leans to whisper in her ear, "tell Mara to put the gun away." "Mara! You know Gojo!" Mara scoffs slightly. "Can't believe I didn't recognize him. Sorry, I don't well to men showing up form nowhere." "Technically," Gojo turns to face her, "you showed up here. I've been here for at least an hour." "I still have a gun out. DO you want to continue this argument?"

He smirks, suddenly leaning down close enough that Nova can see his lips brush against her ear. Mara's eyes widen in shock as he chuckles. "Go ahead, sweetie. I want you to do it."

Nova can't help but let a small fit of laughter escape her, which earns her the look of all death looks. "Anyways," Gojo leans back up and turns to walk out the door, "I'm gonna pull my car around. I owe you a coffee date. Don't keep me waiting, baby."

Once he shuts the front door behind him, Nova sighs softly. "One of these days I'm going to- Holy shit, Mara! Your face is so fucking red!" Mara hides her now tomato colored face in her hands with a small squeal.

"I know it is! Damn it, I thought I was over his dumb ass!" Nova rubs the back of her neck. "Well, you didn't run from him this time." "Oh, I wanted to. I really wanted to, but instead I summoned my fucking glock!"

Aunt Cammie takes over calming Mara down while Nova rushes off with a bag to change. Opening her old bedroom door hits her with a wave of nostalgia. It really is how she left it.

On the bed is a basket filled with all kinds of goodies from Aunt Cammie. She even remembered that Nova's favorite animal is a buffalo, and included a cute stuffed one.

However, when she starts digging through the basket, she notices a few pictures that she printed off.

The first is one of Aunt Cammie, Mara, and herself. It had to have been long before the girls' parents passed away. Actually, if she remembers correctly, it's form the first time they met Aunt Cammie on a trip to America. They were no older than four.

The second picture is one of the girls getting accepted to Jujutsu Tech. Aunt Cammie must have taken the picture because the girls were busy being hugged to near death by their parents.

The third one is form her graduation. Gojo had graduated the year before she did, and he made it to her graduation when he wasn't sure he would be able to. In this picture, he has his arms around her and his face buried in her red curls. Truly, he was the only non family member she ever went to after her second year.

The last one has a note attached to it. She places it aside to stare at the picture. It had to be from her first year of high school. She was sitting on a pier, and next to her was a boy. His raven colored hair was pulled into a man bun. Behind their backs, his hand was on top of hers, almost enclosing the entire thing.

Thinking of that day brings tears to her eyes. She places it on her bedside table to grab the letter.

Nova baby,

I doubt this picture will bring you a real smile, but when I saw it in your box of memories I had to pull it out. No matter what life looks like now for him, or even for you, the two of you shared something special. Despite him only being a stepping stone in your life, he helped shape you into the strong woman you are today. Don't think about who he became because that isn't the same boy you found your happiness in. Think of the boy who made it a point to buy you flowers once a week before school, the boy who always asked me permission to take you to dinner, the boy who you and Gojo spent hours with daily. Think of the boy who loved everything about you. I love you babygirl, and I know that your journey in life has just begun.

Aunt Cammie

[futurebicon]

Tiktok

Just Leo being a tiktok addict

“Interior crocodile alligator I drive a Chevrolet movie theater”

Logan and Finn gave him weird looks from the other side of the couch where Leo’s legs had been thrown over theirs.

“It’s a tiktok”

“Famous quote” Celeste picked up a card for the game they were playing.

“Alive, ahaha, fuck” Leo hit the button.

James and Kasey cackled.

“That’s not a quote!” Sirius exclaimed. “You made that up.”

“Did not”

“Did too”

“It’s a tiktok”

“Show us” Logan told him.

Leo clicked his phone on and pulled up the video.

“That shouldn’t count” Dumo argued. “It doesn’t even make any sense”

“You’re alive, sad laughing, fuck being alive” Leo explained.

“Don’t say that” Finn hit his arm.

“Knock it off or I’ll make you do 15 more laps.” Sirius threatened with no bite behind it. Practice was easy going. It was optional and just for fun really.

“You stupid fucking dinosaur” Leo shook his head.

“What just say?” Kuny asked him in confusion.

“Stupid fucking dinosaur”

“Don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious, oh a don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious” Leo sang as he snuck a cookie.

“Leo-“ Logan shook his head in disappointment.

“Don’t be suspicious” Leo shrugged his shoulders.

“And you did this for what?” Leo asked when he saw that they were playing aggressive teams two weeks in a row.

Finn raised an eyebrow, used to his weird saying but never failed to be confused by them.

“I hate stupid drivers” Thomas shook his head after a car ran a red light.

“That is very much adequate.” Leo nodded from across the isle.

“We really do be vibin doh” Leo threw up a piece sign, the bus had been stuck in traffic for an hour.

“You’ve made 15 tiktok references in the last half hour, how is that even possible?” Finn asked him.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, sweetheart”

“You just made another reference didn’t you?”

“No, very much I did not. What are you talking about? Not me, wrong bitch”

“I give up”

“Love that for you”

“The views pretty” Finn said as they sat on a hill, over looking the city skyline.

“You’re my best view”

“That was so cheesy babe” Finn shook his head and kissed his cheek.

Leo failed at hiding his grin.

“That was a tiktok wasn’t it” Logan shook his head.

“Oh my god” they pushed him playfully.

“This is for Rachel you big, fat, white, nasty, smelling, ass, bitch. Why you took me off the mother fuckin schedule with your trifling, dirty white, racist ass, big, fat bitch. Oompah Loompa body ass bitch. I’m coming up there and I’m gonna beat the fuck out of you bitch.” Leo muttered to himself.

“What?” Logan laughed, looking down at his youngest boyfriend, whose head was in his lap.

Everyone else that heard him on the relatively quiet bus also gave him a look.

“It’s a tiktok.”

“Look at that bird” Finn pointed at a blue jay with pretty colors.

“The birds work for the bourgeoisie”

“What the hell, Leo.”

“It’s the favoritisms from the refs for me” Leo shook his head on the bench.

“I want to know but I also really don’t” Dumo said beside him.

“What’s wrong, love?” Finn asked Logan, who had zoned out with a sad expression.

He shrugged, “Don’t know. Just sad”

Leo walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around his neck. “Don’t be sad. Because sad backward is das”

His boyfriends gave him a look, having no idea where this was going.

“And das not good”

“Oh my god” Logan smiled and let out a laugh. “You’re an idiot”

“Made you smile though” he kissed his cheek.

“Fuck 12” Leo said out of nowhere.

“What?” Logan asked him. “I mean agreed, but what?”

“Just fuck 12”

“Trader Hoe’s” he said as the bus drove past a Trader Joe’s.

“Wow didn’t know it did that” He looked at Kasey when he won Uno for the first time ever.

Logan slowly leaned in for a kiss, Finn already kissing Leo’s neck.

Logan stopped just before their lips could connect, letting their breath mix.

“Are we about to kiss right now?”

“I fucking hate you” Logan pulled back with a groan.

“No tiktok references when we’re making out or having sex” Finn made a new rule.

“I don’t want to be really old. I feel like that’s just boring you know? Like, a 90 year old just waiting to die.” Nat said. “And you’re so ugly when you’re really old.”

“True” Leo pointed at her. “And I would rather die hot than live ugly”

“Preach, bitch” Nat nodded and took a drink of wine.

“Finn right arm” Leo shouted.

“I don’t fucking get this” he shouted back.

“Renegade, renegade, renegade.” Logan said, not paying any attention to his boyfriends as he leaned back as he crossed his arms down in a ‘x’.

@lumosinlove

[equizona]

Hi it’s okay thank you for letting me know! I’ve sent something similar to other blogs too so yeah... ❤️

Would you be okay writing just a Bakugou x reader fic? It can include any darker themes I’m comfortable with most and yeah? Or a separate one with Karma? If not then that’s totally okay too! ☺️

Alright, you got it! I opted to do one with Bakugou, no matter how much I love Karma, because I got a great idea for a fic with our blonde boy. Hope you enjoy it.

Warning! This story has a warning of Alchahol, abuse, bullying, mental-health issues, drugs, rape, insecurities, and the etc.

Truth in a star.

[Bakugou x Reader]

Aldera high, the school you had gone to for the seven most miserable years of your life. To be honest, this new school year was shit as well, but nothing was worse than those years.

Why? Because you started your dumbass habits during those years. It wasn't an unknown fact that most of the students from that school did some stupid shit while they went there. You were 99% sure one of your old classmates had even raped a girl at one point. Nothing was certain though, so you kept quiet.

Of course, you never went that far. You stuck to the usual drugs, smoking, alcohol, and the etcetera. You'd first get high on alcohol, then some drugs. Then you'd smoke for the rest of the night, refilling the drugs or alcohol whenever you were starting to get sober.

Even the quirkless dumbass by the name Midoriya had done something stupid once. Smoked. He regretted it, and never went near it again, but still, the boy had done it.

Everyone except Bakugou Katsuki. Every time anyone had tried to get him to do it, he would do a stern no. Nobody could convince him. That's why you were laughing your ass off when the league of villains had decided to try and sawy the boy to their side.

The boy was going to be the number one hero, he made his mind up as a kid. Nobody could sway him from that path, no matter how hard they tried. He had the strongest will you had ever seen. Even the Midoriya boy didn't compare.

You hadn't been to close to Bakugou, but you were sort of friends. The occasional hang-out, conversations. He wasn't half bad most of the time either.

You remembered when the two of you went to watch a movie with some other classmates. But surprisingly, he was not the one yelling. He was the one telling people to shut up whenever they got to loud.

It was great. And honestly? You missed the guy. That's why you tuned in on the news for once in your life, bottle in hand, wanting to see what would happen to your childhood friend.

And man did you regret it. The boy nearly died, All might retired, the dumbass Midoriya and some other stupid fuck decided to save him. And you had done nothing. Like you always had done. Nothing.

You were a failure. Always had been. You had no plans, no goals, na-da. One of the reasons you always admired the blonde. He had his plan set out for him his whole life. He was strong, amazing.

Except, on the news, you could see he wasn't all that.

Well, he was. But he was also more than that. He wasn't the all mighty god you had thought he was. No, he was a human. A person. A human being with emotions, feelings, and all that stupid shit.

And suddenly your life didn't seem so bad. Because if he could do it, so could you, right?

Yeah, you could do this shit.

_______________________________

You had been right. You could do it.

It had been a few months, mabye four now? And your life had been getting so much better.

You decided you would work towards becoming a teacher and a florist as a part timer. Sure, your teachers had been worthless at helping the students, but you wanted to be one who could help.

Your teacher had ignored bullying, depressed teenagers, fed the god complex of a guy who needed help. He had made school so much worse for you, and your classmates. For Bakugou too, even if he would never admit it. You hoped the blonde had a nicer teacher now.

Actually, you were also doing pretty good in school. You didn't want to waste your life studying, so you had a schedule that had both studying, general needs, chores, and free-time on it. Your life was doing great.

Which is why you had decided to go visit Bakugou Katsuki. You knew that the Yuuei school had gotten dorms, and you knew where the school was, so it wasn't to bad of a task.

You also had a bouquet of flowers. You had arranged it yourself. It had orange lillies, orange tulips, Calla Lillies, and spray roses. It turned out quite nice if you said so. You hoped the blonde would like it. You hadn't seen him in almost a year and a half now, so you weren't sure if orange was still his favorite color, but you had gone with it anyways.

Less romantic than red roses. You weren't here to ask the guy on a date, rather, you were here to thank him. Thank him for being a bitch, a God, an idol and a human being. Because what else would you do.

Even if your life had taken a turn for the better, you were still a sassy piece of shit.

Still a hot piece of shit though.

Hotter than Bakugou.

That last one was a lie, Bakugou was pretty damn hot. But you also knew he could be cute at times, handsome, down right beautiful. You guessed having a model and fashion designer helped him with that.

The boy was a spitting imagine of his mother, and you had seen her modeling, she was fucking stunning.

Also, you were betting Bakugou would be like Hawks and take modeling on the side. After all, he had already done quite a few modeling gigs before. You had seen him. He invited you once.

You clocked the button for the bus you were on to stop. On your way out you gave the driver a thank you. You saw him give a short nod in the mirror.

You stretched a bit. It wasn't the prettiest, and it was pretty cloudy, but you could manage.

You didn't wait around long before you started making your way to where you knew the giant school was. Hell, you could even see it where you were right now.

_______________________________

"Bakugou Katsuki! Over here!" You yelled out, hoping he blonde would hear you. Luckily for you, he did. His red eyes snapped towards you, leaving the group of five he was in.

His eyes were confused for a few seconds, before they flickered with recognition. You didn't hear what he said, but soon the four were waving him off and he was joggibg towards you.

The boy was fast, just like he had always been. "What the fuck are you doing here extra?" You chuckled lightly, before pushing the bouquet into his hands. His eyes shot up to you in confusion. "What the hell is this?!"

You gave him a small shrug. "I'll tell you, if you spend the day with me." The boy blinked at you, before glaring. But it seemed mabye his curiosity beat his hatred, and he killed over the pink. She gave you a quick smile, intredoucing herself as Ashido Mina. You gave your name back to be polite. Then the girl ran off with the flowers you had given him.

And then the boy was dragging you by the wrist. Not that you minded. His hands where warm, and comfy, so it was okay.

_______________________________

It was getting late, and he two of you should be heading back.

The two of you had mainly just been walking around. You went to a restaurant and an arcade at some point, but mainly just wondering.

"You never said what the flowers where for dumbass." You looked at him, giving a smile. "Let me tell you a story." He glared. "I want to know about the flowers, not your life story." You shrugged again.

"Some time ago, I had a lot of shit going on. I was doing drugs, drinking, and all that shit. I also had no career I wanted to do, and I was in a shitty place. Since we had been going to the same school for so long, you kinda grew to become my idol. The only one who knew what they were going to do."

"So when you got kidnapped, and I saw you were only human? Also human? That you had flaws, and emotions, and all those things, it hit me. Because you still had everything figured out. So why couldn't I? I'm now working to become a teacher, along with a florist on the side. I'm the one who arranged the flowers I gave earlier, like them?"

The teenager kept quiet, not bothering to reply until about ten minutes had past. "Sure." You gave a small chuckle. "I'm like, 100% sure that's not how it works." "Shut up extra."

The two of you were quiet for a while after that. Just walking in silence towards Yuuei high. You were greatful that it wasn't awkward at least.

Soon enough, the two of you were standing infront of the school gates. You saw him look up, making you follow his vision.

A star.

It was cloudy, and you hadn't been expecting to see a star tonight, but there it was. You smiled lightly, tapping Bakugou on the shoulder. He turned around and gave you a look.

"The first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, get the wish I wish tonight." You said, making a wish on the star. He raised an eyebrow at you.

"What?" He shook his head.

Neither of you spoke, or moved for at least two minutes. It was starting to get awkward.

"So, uhm..." you tried speaking. "You know, I'm kind of happy." You blinked. "What?" "Well, I was kind annoyed when you first started speaking on how you got everything figured out. The fact you didn't have shit figured out was the reason I fucking liked you."

"What?!" You whisper-yelled. "Just fucking listen to me. Anyways, I always thought you were cool for still going, despite the fact you didn't have shit figured out. Then I realized that because you kept on going, you had stuff figured out. And now I'm kinda happy for you."

You smiled, trying to contain the excitement. Then you realized something. "Wait? What do you mean you liked me?" He looked at you, and you almost managed to get lost in his crimson eyes. "Yeah, I've liked you since kindergarten dumbass. Still do."

With that he walked through the gate. You just stood there shocked for a minute, absentmindedly watching Bakugou walk further away. You shook your head, brining yourself back into the world.

"HEY! BAKUGOU! YOU CAN'T JUST DROP A BOMB ON SOMEONE LIKE THAT AND JUST LEAVE?!" He ignored you and kept walking. Your eye twitched. "FINE THEN, I'LL JUST TAKE MYSELF ON A DATE!" You yelled.

That git his attention, as he spun around to look at you. You grinned. "I LIKE YOU TOO DUMBASS! YOU STILL HAVE MY NUMBER RIGHT? FRIDAY, 4PM IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND!" With that you turned around and started walking home.

[x-ia-n]

━ sun&moon.

➞ including: kei tsukishima, gn!reader

overview: in which ❛your hearts are connected under the same sky.❜ ↦ sun&moon by nct127

word count: 4.3k

➼ haikyuu masterlist

↳ main masterlist

↦ fluff, tsuki is sometimes uncharacteristically soft, alcohol consumption [legal age!], timeskip

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

he always found it cute how deep your blush would get whenever he called you his star. even more so when he would refer to you as his sun. 

granted, you aren’t dating. just friends, best friends. best friends who knew each other since high school and kept in touch despite both your hectic schedules as university students. as you watch the snow gently falling through a window, you’re taken back to the memories, bitter and sweet, that come along with winter.

you start to remember your first heartbreak...

it didn’t take long for him to realize what was happening, as you barely held a smile when you walked in the gym. he saw the first signs of pain and disappointment flash through your eyes. he and yamaguchi excused themselves and walked you out the door, and you bursted into tears.

he let you cling onto him as you blabbered on about how the person you were dating dumped you out of nowhere; the freckled boy gently rubbing circles on your back. you went on for a few minutes, explaining everything to your two best friends. yamaguchi went back inside to get you some water when you finally calmed down. you lifted your head from the blond’s chest, sniffling slightly.

tsukishima is awkward when it comes to feelings in general, but that didn’t stop him from trying to comfort you after your break up. he draped his volleyball jacket over you, shielding your reddened and puffy face from others. tilting his head, he says, “you look like an idiot crying over someone who clearly doesn’t appreciate you.”

yamaguchi peered out the gym building doors to see you stare up at the blond like he hung the moon in the sky. he knew what you feel for tsukishima, and he made you aware that he was aware. he slowly closed the gym doors, trying not to make any noise, and politely asked yachi and the managers-in-training to subtly guard the door.

the freckled teen has been your biggest supporter from day one, and he’ll be damned if anything ruined this moment for you.

he found it cute how you would hide behind your hand whenever you’d try to reassure them both that you’re fine.

...and the first time you saw him shatter.

the whistle blew, and the cheer of the crowd nearly left you deaf. the crowd wasn’t cheering for them, though. karasuno lost an important game, and you saw the faces of the team, all looked so heartbroken. you couldn’t blame them, they worked so hard and-

if there’s one thing you take pride in, is knowing what either of your best friends are feeling. yamaguchi has tears in his eyes while tsukishima… his face is void of emotion, but you can see the pain and guilt flickering in his eyes. you can feel it in your gut that he’s blaming himself. 

you ran down the flight of stairs just in time to see the team exit into the main lobby. you glanced at your green haired friend first, who then nodded at you, telling you he was alright. you turned to tsukishima, and promptly held out a hand. he paused, his golden-brown eyes swept across your face then to your outstretched hand. you swear you could hear the gears turning in his head as he weighed his options. 

the blond gingerly took your hand in his and let you drag him somewhere secluded, somewhere you’re both positive no one would come across by accident. “it’s not your fault.” you said, slightly squeezing his hand. he was looking anywhere but you.

he sputtered out, “if i had blocked it properly then-” 

“you managed to slow it down, which gave karasuno a fighting chance. kei,” his eyes snapped up to meet yours, an unreadable expression graced his features. it was so uncommon for either of you to use each other’s birth names despite being so close. 

“kei, it’s not your fault.” your voice softened, and he felt his walls break. tears glistened his eyes, which he hastily blinked away. you slowly took off his glasses, hooked them at the collar of your shirt, and placed your free hand on the back of his neck. he dropped his head on the crook of your neck, and took a deep breath. 

one of the things he appreciated at that moment is how you never mentioned the tears you felt hit your skin, or the broken sobs you heard escape his lips. you didn’t even mention how he trembled in your arms as he let out his frustration, anger, guilt, pain—  his everything. you held him together as he slowly fell apart. “i’m sorry” he muttered.

you let out a chuckle. “if you’re apologizing for displaying emotions, i’m taking out your kneecaps.” 

you beamed a bright smile up at him as he pulled away. he let you clean his face with a handkerchief, and place his glasses back on his face for him. tsukishima ruffled your hair, and led you both back to the bus where the rest of the team were waiting for the both of you.

he found it cute how you tried extra hard to cheer him and yamaguchi up. that, and how you never pulled your hand away from his.

your mind drifted to the time you first felt your heart skip a beat because of him.

two of you were stupid and young, and you somehow managed to convince tsukishima to go on a little trip with you. it was spontaneous, and unfortunately, yamaguchi was sick, but he made you promise to buy everything that reminded you of him; not that he needed to, you were planning to do just that. you three have your licenses, but you decided to use tsukishima’s car as it was more spacious, leaving both of you a lot of room to lay back and sleep. 

you both didn’t have plans on where to go, your recklessness speaking to him that you both ‘should let fate decide where the road will take you’. 

the road led you to a small village, celebrating a local festival. you remember being so excited that you dragged him to every historical building, every booth that peaked your interest. a narrow stone path at the edge of the village led to a small flower field on a small cliff, one you took great pleasure in being. 

he picked a dainty, yellow flower and placed it in your ear. “there,” he whispers, and your breath catches in your throat. your heart is pounding in your ears as you silently prayed to any and every divine being that the moonlight is dim enough for the blush in your cheeks to go unnoticed. after what seems like both seconds and hours, he says the only thing that could ruin the moment.

“now the bees will go after you.”

you huffed out, hitting him in the arm as you hear him laugh. “i can’t believe you.” 

his laughter died down as he spots a firefly come towards you. he saw how your entire face brightened up as you watched the insect carefully, completely mesmerised as more flew around you. “hey, what do you think of me calling you ‘hotaru’ instead of ‘kei’?” 

“i would leave your ass here, and you can either walk home, or hitchhike.” tsukishima grumbles, but there was absolutely no malice or harshness in his voice; a tone he subconsciously reserves for you. he felt his heart stop at the sound of your laughter in his ears. 

“you wouldn’t dare, tsukishima kei.”

of course he wouldn’t leave one of his best friends, you both could say that in confidence, but something stirring in his chest tells him that there’s more than that reason.

the sound of fireworks interrupted both your thoughts, and it was then you’d realize you were staring at him for way too long. you turned your gaze to the firework display that the small village was putting on, but you ended up staring at the features of the blond next to you, who was too preoccupied with watching the show.

you took in every detail of his face, watching the contrast between the moonlight forming shadows on his face and the brief flashes of color illuminating and possibly even making some of his defining features pop out.

as the last of the fireworks died down, he grabbed your hand and let you back to the festival grounds where he bought you your favorite street food. he handed it to you while munching on his own, clearly showing you that he’s eating. you both picked out little trinkets for yourselves and yamaguchi, buying only a few; not wanting to  spend most of your money. a little firefly charm caught your eye, but decided against buying it.

hours later, you find yourself waking up in the passenger seat, the sunlight hitting your eyes not too harshly. you turned to the driver’s seat to see the blond groggily open his eyes. he reached out to grab his glasses from the dashboard and turned on the ignition. “let’s go home.” he says, before pulling out of the parking space. 

the ride was peaceful, you were singing your lungs out to the songs playing; the most you heard from tsukishima is him humming along. he stops by a food truck park on the road and tells you to grab a table while he parks the car. 

you sat at one of the many empty tables, pulling out your phone. it was seven in the morning on a sunday, normally, both of you would be well asleep at yamaguchi’s place on a normal day.

he jogged to the table and asked you for your order in a fashion a server would. you laughed at the obnoxious voice he made, and told him to get you whatever is cheap.

as he ordered at one of the trucks, you find yourself staring at him again. how royally fucked you are for falling for your best friend. he came back with a tray of two orders of pancakes, both drizzled in syrup with strawberries at the side and two glasses of juice. 

"don't think about paying me back." he says before you could even open your mouth, giving you a pointed look. there was no point in arguing with a tsukishima kei so early in the morning; you learned how stubborn he could be in one morning during your first year.

you ate breakfast, talking about the festival you both attended the night before, and caught up on each other's lives. it never did occur to either of you that this is the first time you hung out together without the presence of other people, yamaguchi included.

on the way back, you felt yourself succumb to sleep, your head leaning against the passenger side window. tsukishima kept stealing glances at you, and he will take this secret about what he feels for you to the grave; rather choosing to settle as friends than lose you forever. 

he found you gorgeous in the moonlight, but even more so in the sunlight.

you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. pulling it out, you see text messages from a certain green-haired friend of yours asking where you were. quickly typing a response, a smile tugging at your lips. it's been more than half a year since you saw tsukishima and yamaguchi, your conflicting schedules made it already hard to talk to each other, and sprinkle in the fact they're both in miyagi and you in tokyo.

you could still hear the fight you had during the first year you left miyagi.

"aren't you tired of this?" he asked.

you scoffed, your grip tightening around your phone. "i'm not the one picking a fight every call."

"you didn't have to leave miyagi. there's universities here that offer your course and-"

groaning, you argued. "there are better opportunities for me here in tokyo. it's not like i'm in another country, tsuki."

this particular fight went on for an hour, maybe two? you can't remember anymore. it was the same argument, over and over again. you know that your friend has major trust issues, and being one of the only people he can open up to, led him to be extremely attached and you fear that you leaving may result in some form of fear of abandonment. 

you didn't care anymore at this point. you're tired, stressed, and overall not in the mindset to speak to someone, especially someone who just picked fights with you since the start of the academic year. 

"just stop." you said, the other person on the other end of the line did, mostly because he has never heard that tone from you before.

you sighed, "i know, okay? you have to understand why i chose this, though… you know what? i'm tired, i'll just go to sleep. good night."

you hung up before he could get a word in. you hated fighting with him.

tsukishima stared at the phone in his hand, the realization that he may have fucked up whatever relationship you had. he didn't call you or message you back, but it's not because of pride. he knows if you're ready to talk, you will, but that didn't stop him from staring at his screen the entire time while waiting for you to reach out. he prayed that he didn't lose you just like that.

he didn't sleep a wink that night.

the train was nearing your stop, and a familiar sight out the window brought you back to a fond memory.

"star, hand that to me." tsukishima said, holding out his palm, looking at you expectantly. 

you were nearing graduation, and so you're helping him pack his stuff to move to an apartment that's closer to his university. you stuttered, "star?" 

he blinked slowly, as if he's processing what he just said, but nodded, "yeah, star. or would you rather have me call you ‘sun’?"

you handed him what he was asking for, a grin plastered on your face. "uh, where did that come from?" you asked, genuinely curious about his new nickname for you.

the blond shrugged, turning away from you, silently hoping you won’t see how red his face is. "only fair since you call me 'tsuki'. and i'd rather have you call me 'tsuki' than 'hotaru', which is by the way, an incorrect way-"

he was cut off by you asking a question he never expected from you.

"can i give you a hug?"

you sounded so shy about it as well. he swears he almost feels his heart burst out of his chest. seeing him nod, you launched yourself to him, arms around his torso and your face buried in his back. 

what a shame you both couldn't see how red the other is.

like a scene from a movie, the moment was interrupted as akiteru knocked on the door, briefly asking if both of you needed help. you detached yourself and politely told the older tsukishima that both of you were fine, and that you'd call him if you ever need help.

as you faced him, the blond practically shoved a little jewelry bag in your hands, telling you to open it. you've always had a knack for accessories, so you excitedly open the bag to see a familiar firefly charm.

"is this-"

"the one at the festival? yeah." he rubbed the back of his neck. "i saw you staring at it, so i thought why not give it to you as a reminder of the festival and a graduation gift."

oh, your poor heart didn't know how to function. 

tsukishima saw your reaction, and you didn't have to worry about any feelings you can't express. for the first time since you met, he was the one to initiate a hug. you felt his arms wrap around your torso, and you melted into his embrace. 

he smelt like home. he felt like home.

“tsuki? i think i like ‘sun’ more.” your voice was gentle, and muffled as your face was against his chest.

he found it cute how despite being friends for so long, you still ask him if he's comfortable with skinship. he's learning, don't worry.

you found yourself, standing on the sidewalk, taking in how different miyagi seemed to look. you gave a cab driver tsukishima's address, as he's the one that hosts you whenever you visit. you entered the building and went up the stairs to his floor. you knew where the spare key is, so you don't have to worry about having to call yamaguchi to let you in. the apartment sounded empty, only the creak of the front door was heard as it echoed against the walls. 

you locked the door behind you as you took off your shoes, leaving them at a shoe shelf you made for the tall blond. despite living in tokyo, you basically live in his guest room, seeing how you already have clothes in the closets. you set your bags in the room and settled down on the couch as you sent a text message to yamaguchi.

you fiddled with the charm in your bracelet as you read his text. 

'your loverboy and i are on the way back to the apartment.' it says.

—

tsukishima prided himself in reading people, and he could read his friend walking beside him. it is painfully obvious that he's hiding something.

"don't tell me you proposed to yachi without telling me." he said in a teasing manner, his hands shoved deep in his pockets as he glanced at yamaguchi. the poor guy almost tripped on his two feet. “tsukki! no, i haven’t. and if i did, you’d be the first one to know.”

they continued to walk down the familiar path leading to tsukishima’s apartment, their arms carrying bags of groceries.

“tsuki!” he heard from behind; he braced himself before you launched yourself on his back. he hooked his arms under your legs and continued to walk while giving you a piggyback ride. tsukishima could see your face in his peripheral vision as you propped your head on top of his shoulder. 

“i bought strawberries.” you said, your breath colliding with the cold winter air produced fog. that fogged up his glasses. you noticed and started laughing, slightly blowing cool air on his glasses to lessen the fogging. he could smell faint traces of hot chocolate in your breath.

he continued carrying you to his apartment complex, where he set you down upon arriving. you tugged at his sleeve, dragging him up the stairs and taking the spare key from where it’s hidden. you went on and on about how you’re going to make the best strawberry shortcake he’s ever had, that you gained favors from people you met at university to help you in making a recipe.

you took over his kitchen that day, only letting him do simple tasks like sifting the ingredients, or preheating the oven. you beamed as you presented the final product to him, gently holding the plate between your hands. tsukishima saw how your eyes sparkled underneath the kitchen lights.

you also took over his heart, unknowingly holding it in your hands.

he found it cute how you get excited about the small things in life. 

“tsuki!” his eyes widened as he saw you standing in his living room, your smile as bright as he’d always remember. the blond didn’t even think twice and set the bags on the floor before enveloping you in a tight hug. he felt another person’s warmth, knowing full well you pulled in yamaguchi into the hug.

you released them from your hug as you said, “i can’t believe it’s been so long.” 

“that’s because of your busy schedule.” the freckled man flicked your forehead. you felt his piercing gaze at you, and he hasn’t even said a word.

“well, sunshine, when did you get here? why didn’t you call either of us to pick you up?” he nagged, but all you could feel was your heart stuttering in your chest at the nickname he rarely used for you. 

you babbled on about when you got here and why you didn’t tell him (he gave yamaguchi a look after hearing that he knew you were coming) as you made yourself feel at home. and you are home.

yamaguchi will never tell anyone how you looked at the blond with stars in your eyes, or how tsukishima looked at you like you are the light of his life.

the two men aided you in making your shortcake, with them doing the more tiresome tasks. the comfort of each other's presence in tsukishima's small kitchen is enough for all three of you.

you decided to watch a movie while waiting for the cake to cool down. the younger male excused himself as his phone started to ring in the middle of the first half, leaving you and the blond in the living room. he peeked back in a few minutes later, informing you both that his girlfriend needs to get picked up.

you felt your heart race as you continued to watch the movie, the literal love of your life just within arms reach. he looped his arm around your shoulder, your breath stuttering. tsukishima then retracted his arm, now holding the bowl of popcorn. "why're you red, star?" he asked in a teasing manner.

as you struggle to give a response, the middle blocker is internally beating himself up. he chickened out on actually putting his arm around you. to ease the tension, he suggested, "i'll go get the karaoke machine."

your eyes shined as you nodded, offering to clean up as he set up the machine. you grabbed two bottles of beer from his fridge, handing him one. you settled back on the couch as you twisted off the bottle cap. 

one bottle became two, then three, and you lost count as you both drunkenly sang to cheesy love songs. one caught your eye in particular, and you almost kneeled down trying to convince the blond.

"please~ come on, tsuki! kei, please!" you dramatically begged, shaking him back and forth. you peered up at him with the biggest, saddest eyes you could muster, and pouted. "i won't even take a video! it'll be our little secret." you promised, raising three fingers with your right hand and placing your left on your chest.

he clicked his tongue at you. "i'm only doing this because you're cute."

neither of you could tell if the red in both your faces is because of the alcohol or because of the blood that flushed your cheeks. you broke eye contact first, clearing your throat. grinning at him, you punched in the code, hearing the starting notes of the song 'because i am with you'. 

he grumbled in annoyance, but the look in his eyes showed he isn't bothered by singing in your presence in the slightest. when he starts singing, tsukishima is staring intently at you, eyes drifting everywhere from your eyes, your lips, your nose. you couldn't help but feel that he's actually serenading you. 

every time the chorus comes on, he stares deep into your eyes, as if trying to tell you something. he uses his other hand to cup your cheek as he sings the final lines.

"i really love you for the rest of my life," his voice lowers at the last three words as the instrumental slowly fades. "be with me." 

his golden eyes drifted to your lips. "stop me if i'm reading this wrong."

you didn't, and tsukishima gladly took that as an invitation. he sets down the microphone before he leans down and presses his lips against yours briefly before pulling away. he saw that there wasn't any sign of protest in your expression, and kissed you once more, both your eyes closing.

your hands rested around his nape, pulling him impossibly closer to you. his free hand is placed on the side of your hip, the one cupping your jaw pulling you into him.

pulling away for breath, you open your eyes to see his own fixated on you.

he paused for a moment. “you are actually the sky to my moon— no, the sky, the stars, and the sun to my moon. i’d be incredibly lucky if you loved me half as much as i love you.” 

time stops for you. the one you have loved— the one you'd always love, just told you he feels the same way. tears made their way to your eyes as you asked him a simple question. “since when?”

he chuckled, “since that little festival we went to.”

“so you’re telling me,” you started, rising from the couch and standing in front of him. “we fell for each other at the same time?”

tsukishima blinked. 

gears were turning in his head at rapid speeds as his tipsy brain tries to process what you just told him. “you… feel the same way?” he asks in shock, his voice soft. the expression on his features showed you that he wasn’t expecting this in the slightest.

before you could ramble on what you do love about him, he stands on his feet and engulfs you in a hug, slightly picking you up. when he sets you down, the sparkles in his eyes are undeniably bright.

“i can’t believe it. sunshine, all this time? i mean, i didn’t want to tell you because i didn’t want to ruin our friendship and—”

you shut him up with a peck, and he malfunctions then and there. 

you ask, “what does this make us?”

he tilts his head. “well, now we’re basically in a relationship, but we’ll take it one step at a time. whatever pace you’re comfortable with.”

when his moon rises, your sun rises as well under the same sky. 

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[angstylittlecatboy]

Thought dump about cars and their community, from a voyeuristic perspective of someone with no driver's license

[TW: term with racist (anti Asian) roots]

My dad owned a Bricklin SV-1 for most of my life and let me tell you, reading stupid car community comments has given me a new appreciation for the things. "Safety doesn't mean uncool" was the idea. It was unsuccessful, Bricklins aren't iconic and are generally thought of as shitty, but I appreciate that someone was trying to prove selfish assholes wrong in the 70s.

The car community is the only hobby community where I understand why it's overwhelming conservative to some extent tbh; the liberals are impeding on their fun. It's not an excuse (I hate conservatives more than most liberals and leftists do, I guarantee you) but it's about the only place where conservatism within it isn't either random or psyop-driven. It's driven by a worry that advancing technology, EVs, safety regulations, self driving, will take their hobby away from them. Not unfounded, IMO; "daily driver" cars have way less of what car enthusiasts like about cars than they used to with automation doing so much for you, and safety regulations at the very least have made cars look less cool and unique (though, aerodynamics plays an equal part in that.)

That said...no, your hobby is not more important than pedestrian safety or the fucking planet we all have to live on, you coal-rolling ass-bastard. Pop up headlights are cool, but you can't prioritize "cool" over "human lives" (with enthusiasts clamoring for em, I'm surprised they have yet to make them in a way that doesn't run afoul of regulations; they're not directly banned.) And while enthusiasts are probably a drop in the bucket in terms of emissions, the ICE should not stay around because you don't like the feel of EVs. And yes, we should have more available public transit and walkable cities (I actually think this might help car enthusiasts; motorcycles do not need to cater to non-enthusiasts because nobody who isn't an enthusiast owns a motorcycle. If very few commutes [I don't think they can be completely eliminated because some jobs need them] required a personal vehicle, it would require the car companies to make cool cars because the enthusiasts would be all the buyers) because even though their lifetime EVs have less emissions than an ICE car, the manufacturing process still has sky high emissions.

I cannot sign onto self driving cars though. I used to, but the sketchy cabal of private corporations known as "big tech" is running them and they'd likely have the effect of reducing use of public transit which is bad for the environment. They're safer I guess. I'm for their use in public transportation (trolley buses are better for the environment but lack flexibility often needed for bus routes) but I'd rather not see everyone own a personal one.

My limited understanding of EVs is that they're moddable despite what ICE diehards think, but it's a different skillset, and RC car people and computer engineers are more equipped for it than ICE auto engineers. There's also less to mod because EVs are less complex machines, and a lot of the mods that can be done are software which doesn't appeal to people who like working with their hands. The introduction of DRM and mandatory firmware updates before you can drive is fucked, but you can blame Elon Musk for introducing the Apple model to cars, not the EV concept itself. If Tesla were just a somehow hypersuccessful gas car company that did this the other companies would probably follow suit too. Trust me, tech guys hate Apple's influence because of shit like this. I hope right to repair is bipartisan, it fits the "freedom" ideals of the right and the pro environment ideals of the left. In general I think EVs try too hard to be futuristic, give me one that's just like an '00s shitbox such as the Saturn SL, but electric please. Okay maybe not that far back idk just don't make the entire center console including AC and radio controls a bigass tablet, give me tactile because I can use tactile without looking at it, it's safer. Also apparently EVs can have manual transmission, no idea how that works

And also, I feel car people forget that most people don't love cars. They're appliances to most people. You'd love a car where everything is manual and you do it all yourself, but most people just want to get to work comfortably and alive. Don't expect car companies to cater to you beyond one or two models, unless they're a performance car only manufacturer like Ferrari or Caterham.

I think the fact that Zoomers and Millennials don't have money has shrunken the hobby at that. Cars are an expensive hobby, and most young people don't have money for a car that they want, only the bland econo-SUV or econo-truck that they need, and that's why cool cars like the Lancer Evolution get discontinued. Forza Horizon should probably be the kind of boon to the car community's numbers that Gran Turismo, Need For Speed, and Fast and Furious were in the 90s and 00s. But nobody can afford a cool car.

I recently realized how much I like Miatas. I feel they represent me well. Small, cute, and feminine, but far from edgeless and not family-friendly, and very pro-mod. If I could have any car it'd be a Miata. The EV Miata if it's a full EV and they somehow nail it (keep it lightweight) it'd represent me better because I'm quiet. I will never have a Miata. Because I can't justify a vehicle, and if I could it'd probably have to be an SUV econobox even though I dislike how many SUVs and trucks I see on the road (they represent the American impulse to make everything BIG because BIG is POWERFUL and MANLY. The opposite of a Miata.) But SUVs do be more practical than a small convertible two seat coupe that will cost me more in insurance. My brother who has never particularly liked cars said he wanted a truck so people can call on him. I guess he really is less selfish than me, who wants a two door convertible because I think it fits my image. And yeah, he is. I can try and fail to be selfless to someone I truly like which is almost nobody, but I'm ultimately selfish, at the most selfless I just want a friend's smile. I care about my ingroup I guess. But then again my brother wants a car because of freedom where I believe the selfless option is not having an automobile, particularly since public transit is good here, because automobile manufacture, gas, and electricity all cause emissions to some degree

I really dislike the community's hate of "ricers" (cars with only aesthetic mods, especially if they're either extremely flamboyant or imitate race cars without any actual performance parts) because bruh, performance mods are every bit as impractical as rice. Racing is not important, you both do what you do for fun unless you're the well under 1% who races professionally. I know some just dislike race inspired rice which is more understandable because pedigree or something, but ultimately what does it matter? I know some people try to pretend they're racers with riced cars and that's cringe but like...just don't posture bro. I've heard the hatred of ricers is mostly an American thing but idk.

idk I think I could get into cars but it's prohibitively expensive I don't like the community and i low-key think it's an immoral hobby

yeah ive been playing forza horizon

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 58 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Katya found out she might be pregnant, the assistant network caught on to BDR’s latest paramour, and Violet was ordered to go home and rest.

This Chapter: Gigi’s new look gets the reaction she’d hoped for, the twins enjoy some one on one time with their respective partners, Courtney has a rain-soaked nightmare, Pearl looks (but doesn’t touch) and Katya stresses.

***

Courtney knocked softly on Ivy’s door, a smile on her face that had been there almost all day. Fame had thankfully left early, she and Patrick spending the evening at some fancy opera event at the Met, leaving Courtney to get ready for her date in peace.

Her first official date with Bianca. It was almost too exciting for her to comprehend.

“Hey Courtney, what’s up?” Ivy asked, looking up from her computer, beckoning Courtney inside.

“Well, I have a date tonight...and it’s really important and I need to look hot and...I thought maybe I could borrow something from the closet again?”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s fine. Um...let me just finish this email and then I’ll help you. Feel free to go have a look around, though.”

“Thanks.” Courtney bit her lip, sensing that Ivy was decidedly less enthusiastic about this than the last time she’d helped. She was probably in the middle of something important, maybe anxious about her own Friday night plans. Courtney felt bad, and would have told her to forget it if she had literally any other options. “I promise to be quick!”

“Yeah, no worries.”

Courtney kept her promise, pulling a short, royal blue dress with a high slit and a pair of strappy aqua shoes.

“Are you sure you wanna wear those shoes, Court? It’s kind of horrendous outside,” Ivy said, but Courtney shook her head.

“It’s fine, I’m just gonna be going into a cab and then inside. Thank you so much for your help!”

“No problem,” Ivy said, always gracious even when Courtney was obviously annoying her. “I hope you have a good time.”

“I’m sure I will!” Courtney exclaimed, taking the dress and shoes back to her own office to change, already feeling giddy with excitement, wondering what Bianca’s idea of ‘wining and dining’ would be like.

She took her time getting ready, freshening her hair with a curling iron she’d stashed in her desk and giving herself what she hoped was a sexy smoky eye. She kept an eye on the clock, knowing that Fame expected her to be in the office until 7:30. She chose a berry-colored lip gloss from the samples that Alaska had given her, and then stepped into the bathroom to get dressed, thrilled that the dress fit perfectly. She checked her phone and computer one more time before signing out, making sure that there were no last-minute requests from Miss Fame, and then made her way downstairs to grab a taxi.

She’s just settled into the backseat when a message came through that made her heart sink.

FAME: Dogwalker sick. Need you to walk Charles ASAP.

Courtney groaned, tapping on the glass partition to redirect the cab driver, and then texting Bianca.

COURTNEY: Still dealing with a work thing. I’m so so sorry, I might be a little late.

BIANCA: No rush. We can always push the reservation.

COURTNEY: I’ll tell you the second I’m on the way.

BIANCA: XX

Courtney knew that dog walking was an occasional part of her job, although it hadn’t come up yet before. However, she’d carefully read the 7 pages of instructions Violet left about him, knowing that Charles was Fame’s treasured companion and she would be toast if anything ever happened to him, and prepared for the time when she’d have to step up. She wasn’t terribly worried--after all, she loved dogs, and her own family had German Shepherds, so a big dog shouldn’t be any trouble.

But Charles wasn’t just big. He was massive, outweighing her by a hefty amount, first fighting her as she tried to put on the raincoat that he apparently hated, and then dragging her down the street so fast that she slipped on some ice, falling to her knees on the corner, immediately cursing herself for not listening to Ivy about those stupid shoes.

“Charles, sit!” Courtney was terrified that he would run into the street without her and get hurt, rain and sleet pummeling her face as she sacrificed her umbrella to grip the leash with both hands. As she tried to stand, a bus drove by, sloshing icy gutter water all over her. “Fucking shit!”

Charles, of course, paid no attention to her predicament, still single-mindedly bound for the edge of the park where he was trained to do his business. Courtney got up, shivering, and took him across the street, finding herself soon faced with picking up a steaming, human-sized pile of shit in the pouring rain. By the time they got back to Fame’s mud room and Charles properly toweled off (with him stepping all over her chest with muddy paws in the process), she was soaked to the bone and shivering like crazy.

She glanced at herself in the mirror, wincing at her soggy, lifeless hair and smeared eye makeup, knowing that there was no way she could show up for a date looking like that. She got out her phone, dialing Bianca’s number with shaking fingers.

“Hey, sunshine,” Bianca answered, and Courtney closed her eyes, cringing at how wrong that nickname was at the moment.

“Hi. Um...I don’t think I can make it tonight,” she said, trying her best not to cry.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just...I had a situation with Fame’s dog and I’m soaking wet and I look an absolute mess and I can’t-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa...are you okay? It’s freezing outside!” Bianca exclaimed.

“Yeah...I just...I should go home, I can’t-”

“You’re not seriously thinking about getting on a train to the Bronx right now, are you? You’ll die of hypothermia. I can hear your teeth chattering, for fuck’s sake.”

“But I can’t go out, I look-”

“Okay, then we’ll stay in.”

“But you wanted to go out, and-”

“No, I wanted to spend time with you. I’m starting a hot bath right now. Get a cab, come over, I’ll see you in ten minutes,” Bianca instructed, and Courtney couldn’t help but feel a bit of relief that someone else was taking charge of the situation.

***

Gigi couldn’t stop staring at herself in the hallway mirror, her fingers gliding through her silky soft hair for the third time.

It was the most gorgeous deep auburn red, the color bringing out her freckles and playing up her grey eyes.

She looked like a completely different person, and she loved it.

“Looks like someones been to Juju’s.”

Gigi turned to see Symone leaning against the doorframe, a smile on her face, the adorable gap between her white front teeth stupidly charming.

“What gave it away?” Gigi giggled, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

“Just wait til you go shopping.” Symone grinned, her jeans slung low on her hips. “The underwear I have now is more expensive than any other clothes I have ever owned.”

“You got new underwear?” Gigi felt her eyes widened. “With like… With Sutan?” She bit her lip. Sutan had gone with her to the salon, him and Juju talking quietly while she was getting her hair washed by an assistant. They had obviously made the right choice, Gigi feeling like a superhero, but she couldn’t imagine any man coming with her to a lingerie store.

“Sure.” Symone shrugged. “It’s all ‘foundational undergarments’ and ‘French cut’ this, ‘t-shirt bra’ that. ‘You need a secure adhesive backless’. Where I’m from we just call those chicken cutlets.” Symone smiled. “For my first fitting, he asked me to wear high rise briefs and a seamless bra. I felt like my grandma.”

Gigi laughed, the tiny worry she had felt flare up already gone again.

“Do you want to cook dinner together?” Symone pushed out from the door, and Gigi nodded, this modeling thing already so much better than she had dared hoped for.

***

“Ah!” Violet moaned as Sutan pushed her forward, his body boxing her in and keeping her in place. They were in the kitchen, the counter digging into her hips.

“Hey gorgeous,” Sutan’s voice was low, his lips against her neck, his warmth breath tickling her skin. She felt him grab the edge of her skirt, hiking it up and over her knees, thighs and even ass as he pulled it higher and higher, pooling it on the counter, forcing Violet to hold it herself, his hand guiding her before he let go.

“Please-“ Violet groaned, his fingers digging into the fabric, every move she made exposing herself further.

“Please what?”

She could feel Sutan’s fingers glide up her outer thigh and Violet blushed, her core burning hot, her panties getting wetter by the second.

“Please-“

It felt absolutely filthy, and so fucking good, Sutan in complete control and Violet loved it.

They were both tipsy, their wine glasses and dinner plates in the sink, the dishes completely forgotten when Sutan had given Violet a quick kiss that had developed into so much more.

“Please what lovely eyes?” Sutan’s voice was silky smooth, nothing in his tone betraying the way his fingers danced over her ass cheek, nails scratching on skin, a fingertip sneaking under the lace.

“I-“ Violet swallowed. She felt like she was drowning, wanted to drown, wanted to disappear in everything Sutan was. “I-“

“Tell me,” Sutan whispered, his lips against her ear. “Or I might punish you darling.” He leaned forward, pushing her that little bit further, and that was when it happened.

“Ah!” Violet closed her eyes, a blinding pain shooting through her. “Wait! Wait wait wait!”

Her foot had gotten caught on an angle, and Sutan jumped backwards.

“Wait,” Violet took a deep breath through her nose, the pain already disappearing, frustrated tears welling up in her eyes. “Fuck-“

“Everything okay?”

Violet turned around to see that Sutan had taken literal steps back, his trousers still tented, his dick obviously hard underneath the zipper.

“Mmh,” Violet nodded, the delightful embarrassment from earlier replaced with something that felt a lot more like shame, her eyes focused on Sutan’s feet. “I-“

“Can I touch you again?”

Violet’s head snapped up, Sutan looking at her, a glimpse of insecurity in his eyes, almost like he was the one who had done something wrong.

“Please-“ Violet opened her arms, and seconds later she could bury her face in his neck, his arms around her, holding her tight, kisses pressed into her hair.

“I’m sorry,” Sutan murmed, his voice low. “I didn’t mean to-“

“I know-“ Violet smiled, the apology so unnecessary it was almost comical. “I know.”

“Good.” Sutan pulled back, a hand in her hair tilting Violet’s head upwards so he could look at her. “Good. I shouldn’t have-“

Violet leaned forward, shutting him up with a kiss, her arms going around his neck as she held him tight.

***

When her cab pulled up in front of Bianca’s building, the doorman immediately rushed forward to open her door. She was fumbling with her credit card, fingers still stiff and cold, but he gestured for her to put it away.

“Ms. Del Rio is taking care of that,” he said, handing over some cash to the driver, then covering her with an umbrella and walking her to the lobby, where she was sent up in a different elevator than last time, directly to Bianca’s second floor, right outside her bedroom.

Courtney clutched her soaking wet jacket, trying to get her bearings when Bianca appeared around the corner, looking at her with concern and dismay.

“Omigod, baby, come here…”

Courtney barely knew what was happening as Bianca rushed her into the bathroom, helping her strip off her wet things.

“What the fuck are you doing in these shoes in this weather? And this jacket--why aren’t you in a winter coat?” Bianca asked, dropping it to the floor and then unzipping her dress, her voice gentle despite the scolding words.

“Th-that is my winter coat.”

“That’s not a winter coat,” Bianca informed her, pulling the dress down.

Courtney didn’t have the energy to protest, and besides, she was much more concerned with the dress.

“The dress isn’t mine, I think I ruined it-” she began, voice breaking, and Bianca looked it over while she stepped out of her panties and placed her jewelry on the counter.

“It’ll be fine, it just needs to be cleaned,” Bianca promised, leading her, still shivering, over to the jacuzzi tub, where a huge pile of bubbles was waiting for her. “I didn’t make it too hot, because I didn’t want to shock your system. But you can change the temp if you want.”

Courtney sank into the bubbles, the water silky and warm as a hug. After a few seconds, she finally began to feel her fingers and toes again, flexing them under the water, a sigh leaving her. She looked up, where Bianca was setting a remote control at the edge of the tub--which apparently controlled the jets and the temperature and even the lights. Courtney had never seen anything like it. She’d also put out a whole basket of bath products and lit a couple of candles.

“I’ll give you some privacy now,” Bianca said. “I left some towels and a robe on the warmer, and uh...if you need anything else, just let me know, okay?”

“Can you stay?”

It was embarrassing to admit, but Courtney didn’t want to be alone right now. Bianca didn’t make her feel weird about it though, simply took a seat on the ledge beside her, chatting about her trip, the trouble her staff had created while she was away, her voice soothing as Courtney leaned back against the terry cloth pillow with her eyes shut.

After she’d warmed up a little, Bianca washed her hair, strong and sure fingertips massaging the lather into her scalp as the other hand cradled her neck. She then helped her dry off with heated towels, and finally wrapped her in a warm fluffy robe while she ran a blow dryer through her hair. Courtney couldn’t remember ever feeling this cared for in her life, not even as a child, and if it wasn’t such absolute heaven, she’d probably feel ashamed at how much she enjoyed it.

She managed to swallow down a few mouthfuls of soup from the Chinese delivery that Bianca had ordered for dinner before her eyelids began to droop. Bianca noticed immediately, pressing a kiss to her forehead and then leading her to bed. She curled into Bianca’s arms, limbs growing heavy as hands stroked her back soothingly.

“Do you feel better now, angel?” Bianca asked.

“I felt better the second I walked in the door,” Courtney murmured.

“Yeah?”

“I guess there’s not really a door. The second I stepped off your elevator,” Courtney said, making Bianca laugh, her sleepiness causing her to be more honest than was probably called for, adding a whispered, “You make everything better.”

***

Pearl sat at a stool towards the back of the club, nursing a drink while telling herself over and over again that she was doing nothing wrong.

For one thing, she and Adore were over. Actually, fully over. And for another, she had no idea if Dahlia was even dancing tonight. She’d just come by for a casual drink...for the third time in 3 days. Just to see. Just to look.

And there was nothing wrong with looking, right? Even if she had lied to Trixie and Katya about where she was.

Pearl had already brushed off a parade of girls, tipping all of them, but saying no to everything else they offered, since she didn’t want to miss her chance of seeing Dahlia.

She was just about to give up, when one of the last dancers of the night came on, and there, there she was.

Dahlia was just as beautiful as Pearl remembered her, even more beautiful actually, since her costume for the night was the naughtiest sheer black teddy and lace panties, tiny little pink bows attached to the spaghetti straps of her top.

Her brown hair was styled in a delicate mess of brown curls, her plump lips painted pink, her eyes heavy and sultry, Dahlia looking like a sex kitten getting ready to go on the prowl.

Pearl swallowed as ‘Kiss It Better’ by Rihanna started playing, taking a big gulp of her drink.

Pearl hadn’t known if she wanted Dahlia to notice that she was there, hadn’t really thought this through at all, but when Dahlia dipped down on the pole, her ass beyond perfection, their eyes met across the room.

Pearl watched as Dahlia’s lips parted for a second, her eyes widening, but then, she smirked, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

***

“Mmh,” Raven moaned, her fingers in Raja’s long dark hair, her fiancée's lips on her neck, one of her hands up her top. They had been watching a movie on the couch, staying in just the two of them such a rare treat that they had even made popcorn. “Please-”

“Please?” Raja grinned, her long body on top of Raven’s under their blanket, their movie completely forgotten. “Are you being polite princess?”

“Fuck off.” Raven showed Raja’s shoulder, which only made the older woman laugh. “I’m perfectly polite.”

“Sure,” Raja smiled, shifting her knee so it slid in between Raven’s thighs, her skirt riding up to make room for Raja’s pant covered leg. “That’s what I love about you. How polite you are.”

Raven pulled on Raja’s hair, a surprised gasp leaving her girlfriend. She thrusted her hips, forcing Raja off balance and down in a messy kiss, teeth clacking, their lipsticks smearing, Raven taking charge.

***

“Just a few more minutes.” Trixie smiled, his open palm resting on Katya’s knee, his thumb rubbing up and down, trying his best to be comforting.

They were in the bathroom, Katya sitting on the closed toilet while Trixie knelt on the floor next to her, the elephant in the room the pregnancy test that was lying on the edge of the sink, both of them doing their damndest not to look at it yet.

He could tell she was anxious, knew that from the second she told him that she’d bought the test after work, even before she admitted that she was afraid to take it.

Trixie had always assumed that one day he’d be a father, and he was certain that Katya would be the best mom ever, so in his mind, this news was either amazingly exciting or slightly disappointing.

But Katya was another story, her clear terror making him dampen his own enthusiasm so that she felt safe to express herself. The last thing he wanted was to make her feel guilty for being scared on top of everything else. He knew, also, that there was a chance that she wouldn’t want this potential baby, so he prepared himself mentally to support her in whatever she wanted to do.

“I love you,” he offered softly, adding, “And it’ll be okay, no matter what it says.”

“Mmhmm,” Katya murmured agreement, though her eyes said that she didn’t fully believe him.

“Yo yo yo, where my bitches at?!” called out a voice, the slur telling them that Pearl had been drinking quite a bit.

Trixie assumed that Katya wouldn’t want to be interrupted during this private moment, but apparently, he was wrong.

“We’re in here!” Katya called, and Pearl’s heavy footsteps approached the door, pushing it open.

“This is a weird place for a party, dudes,” Pearl said, jacket hanging off one of her shoulders. “What’s going on?”

“Umm…” Trixie considered how to handle the situation delicately.

“I might be knocked up,” Katya said quickly, and Pearl’s eyes grew large, her mouth falling open.

“Wh-how?”

“Probably sex,” she answered, and all three of them laughed, breaking the tension just a little.

“So…” Pearl plopped down beside Trixie on the tile floor, and a rush of gratitude flooded his heart, relieved for the distraction, understanding why Katya called her in. That is, until she asked, “Have we thought about names? Cause I’d like to submit ‘Pearl Junior’ for consideration.”

“Pearl Junior?” Trixie scoffed. “Why, you’re not the father.”

“Come on! Little Pearlie J. P.J.?!”

“I don’t hate it,” Katya said, and Pearl cheered, giving her a fist bump. “But remember, I might not even be pregnant.”

“True, but you guys are getting married. It’ll be relevant eventually.”

“Not necessarily,” said Katya, gripping Trixie’s hand tighter. He squeezed her back in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.

“Yuh huh! That’s why we call you ‘breeders’!” Pearl insisted.

“But I just don’t-” Katya began, but was interrupted by the timer on Trixie’s phone.

“You ready?” he asked, taking both of her hands in his.

“No.”

“Well...remember, sometimes these tests aren’t 100% accurate. So whatever it says, it might not mean...” He reached out, catching a tear that had slipped down her cheek. “Babe…”

“I know. But I...can’t look.” Katya curled into his arms, burying her face in his neck. “You do it.”

Unfortunately, the stick was just out of reach, unless he let go of her, which he wasn’t prepared to do.

“Pearl, can you-”

“Sure.” Pearl snatched the test off the sink, looking at it, brow furrowed. “What the fuck does 11 mean?”

Katya’s head snapped up, reaching for the test while Pearl picked up the box.

“Why would it say 11? That’s so dumb, how do you know if...ohhhh.”

[sick-atsumu-side]

Hello! I recently just read your "Before a Match" fic and I absoluty loved it! I was wondering if you were interested in writing a fic where the roles are reversed (so Osamu is the sick one). Or maybe one where the team is on a long bus ride and Osamu gets really car sick? If these don't interest you at all that's fine! Just figured I'd ask! I really admire your stories and I love your writing style! :)

Hi! First, thank u! I’m so happy that you liked it💘 and second, I loved both of your ideas because I love Osamu like a lot aaaand I didn’t knew which one to choose so I thought it was better doing the two of them. So first this is the carsick prompt, and next time will be the reversed roles. Hope you like it! I tried my best💘

B. Saturday | Miya Osamu

So it was saturday. A perfect day for every sports team, because it means a lot of practice and maybe a few practice matchs. This was good for the Inarizaki team actually, since they were a week ago from Nationals and they still had to improve their skills in that short time. The only problem on this day was, that they would have to spend eight hours on road to get to the gym of the other team, the one who would join them in practice. At least that was a problem for Osamu.

Because that’d meant eight hours with Atsumu as his fellow traveler. And at first he didn’t minded, because the two were used to travel together. However, Atsumu was clearly a thing no easy to deal with and he had a lot of energy to talk every minute on rides. It was exhausting.

He still listen whatever his brother says with attention, though. However, after being five hours on road without any stop, Osamu started to feel a bit off. His head was hurting and the movements of the bus were making his stomach turn, like if something he ate was starting to rot inside of it. He felt uncomfortable and Atsumu was making things worse with his talking.

Ugh, he’d be glad if he could sleep through his now bad mood.

“Samu.”

“Uhm?”

“I think I have to make a new change on my serve today, maybe something like the ball rolling or whatever fuck. Like Omi-kun does.”

Osamu nodded at him, like he had been doing the past five hours when Atsumu talked to him nonstop. Why was he so energic at 9 am? The gray haired twin couldn’t understand it, because for school his brother would wake up all grumpy and lethargic, not too energic like today. Today he was the twin in a bad mood and feeling off, why he couldn’t notice that?

Atsumu was clearly a thing no easy to understand.

A wave of dizzines crossed Samu’s head and he grimaced because of it, closing his eyes instantly as he tried not to look on the bus aisle, because that was making him more dizzy and even nauseous.

“But- what can I do to make something nasty like that? They look so damn easy, but- aaagh.” Atsumu was on his own crisis, but when he got no answer he turned to look at Samu. Clearly pissed off. “Can ya’ please at least pretend to look a bit more interested in your favorite brother‘s problems and not ignore me? Can ya’, Samu?”

“I’m listening.” Osamu muttered, without opening his eyes. “I don’t hear with my eyes you know.”

Atsumu rolled his eyes and crossed both arms on his chest, clearly annoyed. Osamu tried to sleep, because yes, maybe that would help. He needed to sleep. His pained head would really enjoy that.

“Well.” Tsumu cleared his throat, and Osamu sighed. He was clearly not shutting his mouth. “I was saying that Omi-kun do those serves so easily but I can’t fackin’ do them like he does. He’s a freak, this is so damn frustrating Samu. What should I do?”

Osamu inhaled deeply at the feel of nausea increasing on his stomach. No, he couldn’t be carsick right now. He ate a lot this morning, this couldn’t be happening. Geez.

“...maybe if I put my fingers on the edge of the ball I can make them on my own. But I don’t know.”

Osamu opened his eyes.

“I don’t like the feeling of grabbing that way the ba-”

“Tsumu, wait, can you open the window? It’s suffocating here, can’t breath.” the twin moved his shirt collar, shifting uncomfortably in his seat as he swallowed. Atsumu sighed, still annoyed.

“Really? The air conditioning is on, ya’ know.”

“Yeah.”

Osamu made him a glare and Atsumu did was he was told, since he was at the window seat. The air made Osamu sigh in relief, but the dizziness and nausea wouldn’t go away. He swallowed again and shifted uncomfortably in his seat like he had done before. The rest of the team were playing cards or some of them were fast asleep, so they couldn’t notice the discomfort in Osamu’s face. He was glad about that.

“Samu, ya’ okay?”

The gray haired boy was so focused on keeping his breakfast inside of him that he hadn’t listened what Atsumu said before that.

“I’m feeling a bit dizzy, that’s all.” Osamu swallowed again, feeling a bit of bitter saliva filling his mouth.

God, the movements of the bus now were like if the entire team was inside a roller coaster. He couldn’t understand how he was the only one feeling that nauseous because of it. They were like strong waves in the ocean. He was even blaming the driver.

“Ya’ sure?” Atsumu peered at him, kind of afraid and worried at the uneasy breathing of his brother. “Wan’t some water? Maybe you should sleep a bit, you look kind of... off.”

Osamu groaned slowly, as he shook his head with eyes closed at the thought of water. If he drank some, he was afraid that he couldn’t kept it down.

“Just give me some air, Tsumu.” He said, shifting again on his seat with a groan. “I’ll be fine. Just shut up and let me sleep.”

“If you puke in here, I’ll throw your fackin’ ass out of the bus I swear.” Atsumu sounded mean, but Osamu knew he was worried. “Ya’ don’t get carsick easily, Samu. What happened? It’s kind of weird coming from you. I’ll call Kita-san so he can be here sitting with ya.”

“Don’t bother Kita-san, stupid.” Osamu breathed deeply again, feeling like absolutely shit.

“Okay. Enough.” Atsumu said, trying to stand up from his seat.

“The fuck you’re doing?” Osamu felt something revolt in the pit of his stomach as he moved but still, he putted down Atsumu back in his seat. “Don’t be a dick, Tsumu. I just need to sleep, my head is killing me right now.”

Atsumu crossed his arms around his chest and looked outside the window with a sigh, clearly mad at Osamu for not letting him escape. However, Osamu was so nauseous and every bump of the bus was making his entire stomach lurch that he let it pass.

He tried several positions to make the trip more comfortable and to sleep well in his seat. Nonetheless, none of those did work, so he tried to join the conversation between Atsumu and Aran, who was in the front seat with Suna by his side. This way, he could distract himself from the nausea and at first it seemed to be working, until something bitter and sticky got stuck on his throat. Geez, he felt so sick.

“Tsumu, I feel bad.” Osamu suddendly admitted, groaning at the end. “Can you ask the coach if we can pull over please?”

“Wait, are you going to be sick now?” Atsumu was starting to freak out and Aran looked at them, clearly confused because he didn’t heard exactly what Osamu said.

The gray haired boy didn’t reply to his brother and just covered his mouth with his fist, as an airy burp bubbled up in his throat. Everything was spinning around him and he felt so bad, his headache was much worse than before.

“Coach!” Atsumu stood up from his seat, trying to catch the coach’s attention, who was sitting in front of Suna and Aran. Osamu swallowed saliva again, moaning a bit as he placed a hand on his already uneasy stomach. He let out a tiny burp too. “Coach! Fuck, maybe he’s asleep. Samu don’t ya’ dare to puke right know, got it?”

Aran turned on his seat to look better at them, a bit confused and now worried at the sight of Osamu. Suna made the same face when he saw them as he turned in his seat. Samu burped slightly on his fist again, his face crunched in pain as he felt the taste of acid.

“Aran-kun, can ya’ ask the coach if we can pull over? Samu’s feeling sick.” Atsumu said, before Aran could even ask what was going on. The rest of the team didn’t put attention to him, so they were fine by now.

“Pull over now?” Aran asks and Atsumu nodded, clearly worried as he looked his teammate standing up fast to go and wake up the sleeping coach.

“Is he fine?” asked Suna, a bit nervous when he noticed the sweat running down Osamu’s forehead.

“Yea, just carsick.” Atsumu responded, unsure of his answer when he looked at his brother. “How ya’ doing?” He asks, sitting down again as he rubbed Samu’s shoulder.

Samu tried to breath deeply in and out with both eyes closed, and he didn’t respond. He couldn’t. He just shook his head as he muffled a belch on his fist.

“Fuck.” Atsumu muttered to himself, still rubbing Samu’s shoulder. “Focus on breathing, Aran went ta’ ask if we can pull over. Just wait a bit.”

Wait a bit? He thought, swallowing down several times as he felt his breakfast coming up over and over. This was bad. He felt so sick and dizzy.

“The coach is asking the driver, but for now he said we should pass him a bag or something, just in case.” Atsumu looked at Aran when he came back and swallowed down, feeling a bit anxious.

“Do you have one?”

Aran shook his head.

“Tsumu’.” Osamu barely said, urgency filling his shaky voice. “I- I don’t feel good.”

“I know, I know.” Atsumu rapidly said, this time looking at him. “Just focus on breathing Samu, hear my voice or whatever. Remember when you spun me around on the swing so much that I almost threw up? Well, I didn’t because you distracted me. So please try, don’t be a dick right now.”

“Tsumu, he’s trying.” Suna interrumpted in the conversation, as he looked desperately for a bag inside his backpack with no results. “Look at his face, he doesn’t look good.”

Aran went fast to the first years seats to ask them if they had a plastic bag, while Tsumu was still rubbing Osamu’s shoulder with a mad look. Everyone knew that he was worried, but still, he seemed angry with the world.

Osamu breathed shakily on his fist, his eyes were still closed and he looked like a mummy for being so tensed. A sharp bump suddendly moved the entire bus and Osamu felt a shudder on his spine. He wouldn’t last long, something wet and warm was coming up through his esophagus again and he didn’t felt like swallowing it down like he had been doing the past few minutes.

“Tsumu’.” he choked out with urgency again, as he removed his fist from his mouth to say he was going to throw up. “I-”

Atsumu let out a yelp and moved away fast when Osamu retched a mouthful of his breakfast on the ground between his legs, which he managed to move in time so he wouldn’t soil his pants. Aran came back as fast as he heard the sickening splash.

“Geez.”

“Fuck, Samu. Why today?” Atsumu cursed.

The gray haired boy jerked again and belched sickly another mouthful, soiling again the floor of the bus and this time his front seat with more putrid undigested food. The entire bus filled with the bad smell too, and now some of his teammates were yelling in panic or disgust.

“Look what you’ve done, shity pig.” Atsumu said, watching the scene with disgust, still away from him as he clung to the window with both feets up. Osamu raised his middle finger to him, as he coughed more vomit into the pool on the ground. Aran sighed and started to rub his back in small circles. Osamu was greatful of that.

“Just let it out, don’t hear your shitty brother.” Aran said.

“Ahh?!” Tsumu was getting pissed off.

“Here.”

Aran turned to face the sudden appearing of Kita, who passed him a plastic bag as Atsumu relaxed a bit in his seat, covering his nose because of the smell.

“This wouldn’t happened if you had woken me up.” Kita was firm, as Aran putted the bag in front of Samu, who grabbed it and immediately retched hard inside of it. Feeling like a pile of crap. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“Sorry.” Osamu breathed shakily between rounds of vomit, as another wave of nausea overwhelmed him.

“Kita-san, I told him I was going to call you but-”

“No excuses.” Kita said, still firm with a serious look as he saw the coach coming back to them.

“Sorry guys, I didn’t ask in time.” The coach said, as Osamu burped more stinky liquid inside the plastic bag. “But we’ll pull over at the next station.”

Atsumu noticed how Osamu’s body lurched with every gag and he noticed the tears he had in his eyes too. No, this feeling wasn’t guilt. He told to himself, but... he didn’t like seeing his brother like that. He was in pain, he knew it better than anyone.

“Hey, you’ll be fine when we stop.” Atsumu suddendly said, removing Aran’s hand to put his and start to rub Osamu’s back slowly. The same way his mother does when they are sick. “Don’t cry.”

“M’ not crying.” Osamu gagged bile and saliva this time, his entire body jerking under Tsumu’s hand. Aran smirked a bit when he saw Samu almost leaning on Atsumu as Kita was telling the rest of the team to stay calm, that they were going to a stop in a few minutes. “But thank you, I appreciate your worry.”

The nausea was still on his body and his head was still hurting too. However, he already had emptied himself, so the only thing that was coming from his mouth now was saliva and awful dry gags. His stomach sounded angry too, so he tried to ease it by rubbing the organ up and down as he leaned on Atsumu’s shoulder.

“Here.” Atsumu said, passing him the bottle of water he had before. “You’ll feel better after washing your mouth.”

Osamu accepted it and took small sips of it, after that, he returned it to Tsumu and blew his nose on the bag. Atsumu closed the bottle for him with a disgusting look, because Osamu still had vomit on his chin but he wouldn’t say a thing about it. The floor was a putrid mess and so were Osamu’s shoes. It was a bad situation.

The only thing that made the situation better for Osamu, were the vague attempts of Atsumu to make him feel better. His brother was a thing no easy to deal with and he was totally an asshole, especially when he was sick but... He was a good brother in his own way. And he was greatful of that.

[fandomfanfics12]

10,000 Hours-Part 1

Title: 10,000 hours Pairings: Steve x Tony Warnings: swearing, fluff, angst, slowburn. Summary: Tony’s a hotshot lawyer in upstate New York. Steve’s a single father in a small town out in North Carolina. When Tony’s law firm suggests he takes a year off after his Uncle Jarvis passes, Tony and Steve’s lives entangle themselves together. But their time together is limited, and their lives are so different that it may be impossible to ever make it work.  A/N: A new fic that i’ve been working on, hope you like it. 

Tony stared out of the window of his big fancy office, and admired the skyline of New York City. It would be the last good Friday night he’d get to have for a while. In exactly one weeks time, he had to defend his client of the charge of first degree murder. He heard the door open and sighed, Pepper’s heels clicked on the hardwood floor.

“Tony.” Her voice was calm, stern and he spun around in his chair. he plastered a smile onto his face, her blonde hair tied back in a tight bun.

“Hey Pep, is the car ready?” he asked and watched as her eyes darted down to the opened bottle of whiskey on his desk.

“We need to talk.” She said and Tony rolled his eyes, she knew how to ruin a good mood.

“Can we leave it for Monday? It’s eight o’clock on a Friday night, what are you even doing here?” Tony asked and she sat down across from him, a deep frown set upon her face.

“This is serious Tony.” She told him and he shrugged. It was always serious.

“Did dear old dad call?” Tony asked and stared up at the roof, not able to stand Pepper’s disapproving and pitying frown any longer.

“He did, actually.” Tony sighed and looked back to her. His father owned the law firm that Tony worked at, and it was nothing more than a royal pain in Tony’s ass.

“And what did Howard have to say?” Tony set the glass of whiskey down on the oak desk and Pepper glanced down at the tablet which she was holding a little too tightly in her hands. “Pep?” Tony asked, frowning and she looked back up at him.

“It was about your uncle Jarvis.” Tony rose a single brow.

“Uncle J? what about him?” Tony began to rifle through a drawer, looking for his phone which he’d dumped that morning.

“Tony he died.” Tony’s hand stilled in the drawer. He didn’t know Jarvis all that well, but the man had been nothing but kind towards Tony.

“Oh.” Tony looked back to her, her eyes shone with tears.

“I’m so sorry.” Tony shook his head, he didn’t want her to pity him.

“It’s alright Pepper. Death is a part of life.” Tony shrugged and she sighed.

“That’s not all I have to tell you.” Tony nodded and leaned back in the chair, Pepper tucked a piece of hair back with a trembling hand.

“It’s alright Pepper, do you need a moment?” she shook her head and Tony nodded.

“Jarvis had this big beach house up in North Carolina, he’s left it to you.” Tony nodded and tapped his fingers on the desk. He had no use for a beach house.

“Okay I’ll have it looked at and put on the market.” Pepper sighed.

“The funeral is next Friday.” Tony sighed and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Could it be pushed to Thursday?” he asked and when he opened his eyes, Pepper was tapping away at her tablet.

“No it can’t. Friday is the funeral.”

“But I have to be in court.”

“The other partners have put it to a vote and you’ve been kicked off the case.” At that, Tony snorted.

“Kicked off?”

“They’ve given it to Bruce.”

“Banner?” Tony shrieked and Pepper nodded her head. Tony swore, anger radiated throughout him.

“it’s non-negotiable Tony.”

“But doesn’t Banner have his own cases to work?” Tony asked and she shook her head.

“The other partners also agreed, upon your father’s recommendation, that you should take some time off.” At that, Tony snorted.

“Time off?” he lived and breathed his job. Time off was a foreign concept to him.

“A year.”

“A year?” his brows rose and she nodded her head.

“They’re all worried about you.”

“They’re my colleagues, it’s not their place to worry.” Tony said and Pepper sighed.

“You’re twenty-seven years old and you act like a toddler.” She told him, it was rather blunt but Tony took it in stride.

“And?”

“And the partners want you to clean your act up. If you don’t then it’s more than likely you’ll be pushed out of the company.” Tony sighed, he really didn’t have a choice then.

“So what? I just stay at home for the next year?”

“No. Your dad had the locks changed today.” Tony rose his brows.

“are you fucking serious?”

“He emailed me, he wants you to spend this time in North Carolina. Get some perspective.” Tony shook his head, this couldn’t be happening.

“Perspective?”

“I think it will be good for you. take the year off, come back hungry for the job.” Tony looked at her and then nodded.

“Alright, but only because I literally have no other option.” Tony ran a hand through his hair and Pepper visibly relaxed. Obviously she’d expected more of a fight from him.

“Great, your flight leaves in three hours.”

“three hours?”

“I sent someone to pack your bags earlier today. Happy will take you to the airport.”

-

Steve started the engine, the truck sputtered to life and he relaxed in his seat.

“Seatbelt.” He said as he put his own one.

“you really should get the engine looked at.” Peter said and Steve nodded.

“Yeah I know.” He thought of the jar of money he had underneath the bed, he’d get it looked at as soon as he could afford it.

“Dad?” Steve reversed out of their driveway and began the route to school.

“yeah Pete?”

“Are we going to Jarvis’ funeral on Friday?” Steve sighed and stopped at the red light.

“I dunno, I’ll see if I can get off work.” He promised and Peter looked out the window.

“so that’s a no.”

“Peter…” Steve trailed off and Peter shook his head.

“he was our neighbour dad.”

“We didn’t know him that well either kid.” Steve said and Peter sighed.

“I know, but Jarvis kept to himself. What if no one goes to the funeral?” Peter glanced over at Steve.

“people will go to the funeral Pete. Besides, you have school so you can’t go anyway.” Peter rolled his eyes and Steve pulled into a parking spot at the school.

“We should go.” Peter said and Steve looked over at him.

“since when did you care so much about Jarvis the next door neighbour?” Steve asked and Peter unbuckled his seat belt.

“It’s stupid.” He got out of the truck, Steve grabbed Peter’s bag before he could take off.

“Pete?” Steve rose a brow and Peter stared down at his shoes.

“I guess I was just hoping that we could go see mom while we were there.” Steve let go of the bag and sat back, he stared straight ahead and took a deep steadying breath.

“We can go see her on Friday if you want.” Steve’s voice was strained and Peter groaned.

“Dad-“ Steve shook his head, then cut Peter off.

“You should get to class, you’ve got that math test right?” Peter nodded and then slammed the door shut. he only looked back at Steve once. Then disappeared into the crowd. Steve rested his head on the steering wheel and forced himself to calm down. Now wasn’t the time, and it wasn’t the place. He pulled out of the school parking lot and drove to work, pushing away any thoughts about his dead ex-wife.

-

Tony had to catch a bus into town. Then he had to walk with his suitcase trailing behind him to the house with dodgy instructions from the bus driver. The house, was large, wooden and sat right on the beach. But it was also a mess, completely falling apart.

“Well this is just great.” Tony grumbled as he approached the front door. Only his father would be capable of not only shipping Tony away, but shipping him off to an inhabitable nightmare. Tony climbed up the rickety steps, dragging his suitcase up behind him and stood before an ancient door. Tony sighed and then shoved the rusted key into the door and unlocked it. he then had to throw his shoulder into it and the old door groaned as it swung open.

“Hello?” he called out, even though he knew that the house would be empty. There was no response and he stepped inside, leaving his suitcase on the old and rotting porch. It was worse on the inside. everything was covered in dust, and a foul smell hit Tony’s nose.

“Oh that’s disgusting.” He grumbled and pulled out his phone. He called Pepper and she answered on the third ring.

“Tony?”

“Hey Pep, I’m inside the house and I am telling you that I have learnt my lesson. Very funny. When’s my flight out of here?”

“In three-hundred-and-sixty-two days.” She said and Tony let out a humourless laugh.

“That’s funny. But seriously Pep I need to get out of here. This house is…” Tony trailed off and heard Pepper’s impatient sigh.

“Tony I told you that Jarvis hadn’t actually lived in the house for three years leading up to his passing.” At that, Tony snorted.

“That explains a lot.” The windows were covered in a gross film that made Tony second guess himself.

“I had the house checked before you arrived. It’s been given the all-clear.”

“Of what? I’m probably breathing in toxic fumes as we speak.” He shook his head, were they really forcing him to live there for the next year?

“I wouldn’t let you stay there if it were dangerous. You’re being overdramatic. Try and relax, or fix the house up. I don’t have time to listen to you whinge.” Pepper said and Tony sighed.

“Fine, I’ll let you get back to helping Banner on my murder trial.” He flicked on the lights and flinched at the sudden brightness.

“Bye Tony.” And then she hung up on him. He shoved the phone back into his pocket and looked around the house. Fix the house up. He shook his head, he could head back into town and see if anyone would do it for him. Or Tony could do it himself. He had vague memories of helping his uncle build up old cars when he was a kid. He had enjoyed being a handy man mechanic at the time. But rebuilding and fixing up an entire house?

But then again, it wasn’t like Tony had anything better to do.

“There must be at least one clean room in this house.” Tony grumbled to himself and then ventured further in, hoping to find a space he could dump his stuff.

-

When Friday rolled around, Peter had stopped talking to Steve. Steve had promised he’d take Peter to the cemetery but said he couldn’t pull Peter out of school for the funeral. But it was dead quiet at the hardware store where Steve worked, only him and his co-worker, Sam, occupied the place.

“Do you mind if I pop out for a couple hours?” Steve asked and Sam shrugged.

“you going to the funeral?” Sam asked and Steve nodded his head.

“Yeah, Peter made a big deal about it and he was my neighbour.”

“Steve you don’t have to reason with me, just go. I’ll makes sure the place doesn’t burn down while your gone.” Steve smiled and nodded.

“thanks Sam, I’ll see you later.” And then Steve was out the door, climbing into his truck. The funeral had started at two, and according to the clock on the dash it was now two-thirty. He might be able to catch the tail-end of it. Steve hoped no one would mind the old jeans, black t-shirt and blue flannel that he had on. He pulled into the funeral home and noted that there were only two other parked cars.

“Peter had a point.” Steve grumbled as he climbed out of the truck. He slipped inside to the funeral where there were only four other patrons. Steve sat down in the back, a part of him regretted coming in the first place. Three of the four people were unfamiliar to Steve. There was an elderly couple who had probably lived with Jarvis in the old-people’s home. Then there was Doc Strange, who had looked after Jarvis in all the hospital visits over the last few years. And then there was the man up the front.

Steve couldn’t really see him, but from the suit alone he knew the man wasn’t from around here. Jarvis had never mentioned any family. But then again, maybe they weren’t that close. Steve wondered what Peter would think of the man. Probably be relieved to know that at least someone showed up for the funeral. No sooner than two minutes since Steve had sat down was it over.

“I would now ask that everyone leave the room so the family can have a moment.” One of the attendants announced. The man at the front hunched over, was he crying? He looked over his shoulder and surveyed the room, and then his eyes met Steve’s.

Holy shit.

-

Tony wanted this to be over with. As soon as the funeral was done, he’d go to the town bar for a drink and tell Pepper to send him back home. He turned around in his seat to thank the doctor and the old couple for coming when he saw the man in the back. The guy had let his hair grow too long and it desperately needed a cut. The dirty blonde hair stood out on odd angles. Then there were his clothes, jeans and a flannel? Tony really did need to get the hell out of here.

-

Steve’s breath was taken away by the man’s face. He was hot, and he seemed arrogant enough to know it. there wasn’t even a hint of sadness on the man’s face. But he had to be family, otherwise why was the attendant ask everyone else to leave? Steve got to his feet and the man turned back to the front, was Steve supposed to say something to the guy? He decided it was better not, and stepped outside. He needed to pick Peter up from school soon anyway.

-

Tony sat down at the bar, beer in hand and stared at his cell phone. The first three times he’d tried Pepper, she hadn’t answered. He’d texted Bruce on how the case was going and got no response. How was he supposed to get out of here, if no one would answer their damn phone? Tony didn’t want to go back to that nightmare house of his, not tonight. He hadn’t expected the funeral to be so emotionally draining and he felt exhausted. He just wanted to turn off his emotions for a little while. He brought the cheap shitty beer to his mouth and took a swig, wishing for the scotch back home.

“Shut up!” someone yelled across the bar. Tony glanced over and recognised the dirty blonde mop of hair from the funeral. The guy was heavily intoxicated, but in better shape than the drunk he was yelling at. The drunk in question wore a dirty old baseball cap and an oversized shirt that was covered in grease stains.

“Everyone knows it was your fault that she died, did you kill the neighbour too?” baseball cap slurred his words, but they were loud enough to silence the room.

“I said shut up Benny.” Blonde guy snapped and Tony frowned. They needed to calm down.

“is the kid next? I bet he’s next, you’ve never treated him right.” baseball cap laughed, blonde smashed his fist into baseball caps nose.

“Steve!” a bartender cried but it was too late. The two men were on the floor, landings punches and kicks into one another. Tony stepped forward before he could think his decision through. He grabbed the blonde by the back of his shirt and dragged him back.

“Alright buddy you’ve had enough. Walk it off.” Tony told him and he scowled but didn’t argue.

“I hope you know that you won’t get away with this! I’ll be pressing charges and that kid will go to someone better!” baseball cap called after them. Tony walked the blonde outside and noticed the blood on the blonde’s knuckles.

“You alright?” Tony asked and the blonde glared at him.

“Do I look alright?” he snapped and Tony shrugged.

“You look drunk, where’s your kid?”

“At home.”

“you left your kid alone at home?” Tony asked, suddenly feeling a little apprehensive to the blonde.

“Peter, he’s sixteen and his friends were coming over. there’s this girl he likes so I thought I’d give him the house and…” Blonde trailed off and shook his head.

“Teenager.” Tony said and Blonde nodded.

“Yeah, drives me crazy sometimes but I love him.” Tony looked down at the concrete between them.

“Thanks for coming to the funeral today.” Tony said and the guy tensed beside him.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Tony’s head snapped up at that.

“How’d you know Uncle J?” Tony asked and blonde rose a brow.

“Uncle J?” he shook his head and Tony tilted his own.

“Something funny about that?”

“No it’s just, the Jarvis I knew wouldn’t answer to anything other than Jarvis.”

“Sounds like uncle J.” the night grew silent around them, Tony eyed his left hand where the knuckles had all split open.

-

“Jarvis was my neighbour.” Steve said at last, remembering that the brunette had originally asked Steve a question. His hands was killing him and he felt incredibly embarrassed for losing his temper. He hoped Benny would forget to lodge a complaint tomorrow, this would blow over. Peter would lose it at Steve if he knew. Steve had spent the whole afternoon in the cemetery with Peter, sitting at Peggy’s grave. Peter had told Steve he had friends coming over and Steve had said he’d stay out, Peter had argued but Steve had wanted a drink.

“You’re the neighbour?” Brunette asked and Steve nodded his head.

“I’m Steve.” He held out his hand and the brunette shook it.

“Tony.” Steve smiled and let his hand drop back to his side.

“Nice to meet you Tony.” His head was starting to pound and Tony’s eyes darted back down to Steve’s swollen and injured hand.

“Well, since we’re neighbours, walk back with me?” Tony asked and Steve nodded his head.

“Yeah, alright.” He glanced at his truck in the parking lot and Tony shook his head.

“Nope, you are in no state to drive and I’ve had one too many. Hand me your keys.” Steve rose a brow but did so.

“I wasn’t going to drive.” Steve told him and Tony nodded.

“Sure you weren’t. so were you close with uncle J?” Steve shook his head and they began to walk back home.

“No, he mostly kept to himself.” Tony nodded his head, there was a light breeze and it was warm. Nice weather for a walk.

“That’s uncle J, even I didn’t know him that well.” Steve nodded and then silence settled around them.

-

They arrived at Steve’s house and Tony noted that the lights were still on.

“Well, thanks for the walk.” Steve said and Tony nodded his head.

“Well we were going the same way. Put some ice on that hand.” Steve laughed and nodded.

“Yeah, will do, thanks for pulling me off the other guy, I’m not usually that aggressive.” Steve scratched the back of his head and Tony shrugged. He could already tell that, Steve seemed so calm and collected. He didn’t seem like the type of guy that just randomly exploded.

“Anytime.” Tony smiled and Steve nodded. A solid five seconds passed and Steve still didn’t move.

“my keys?” he asked and Tony felt his cheeks flame with embarrassment.

“oh, right, sorry.” He let out a nervous chuckle and dug through his pockets. He found the keys and handed them to Steve and Steve nodded.

“alright well, guess I’ll see you around?” Tony nodded his head.

“Yeah, see you around.” And then Tony headed back to his own personal monster house, suddenly not hating this town as much as he had originally.

[calumance]

LA Devotee - Part II

Warnings: Cussing, drinking, talks of toxic relationships, fluuuuuuff

Word Count: 3.6k

Summary: After Calum and Emily leave the club together, they stay up all night talking. Even though it is completely one sided, maybe having Calum in her life is what Emily needs to finally get her life in order.

A/N: I hope you all enjoy part 2! Feedback is always welcomed 😊

Part I

           I followed him around the corner to the parking garage that was attached to the club. He lifted his hand and pressed the button on the key fob. The head lights on a blacked out Range Rover lit up and suddenly my mouth was salivating. After you spend the good part of seven years working in a car dealership, you become familiar with cars, and I am familiar with the fact that this is not a cheap car. Calum opened the passenger side door for me and I felt something inside of me telling me not to get in with the chance that I somehow ruin the interior of the car. That must’ve been portrayed on my face because suddenly Calum laughed, “You’re fine, get in.” Reluctantly, I sat in the passenger side and he closed the door. As he walked along the front of the car, he fingered through the multiple keys on his keychain and then dropped his hand to his side. The driver’s door popped open and he dropped himself into seat. After he started the car, I smoothed down my dress and then sat on my hands as to not touch anything, like a little kid in a museum. “Do you want to go to your apartment- “

           “-No!” I cut him off, knowing what that place looks like. “No, please take me anywhere but my own apartment.” He nodded, pushing his bottom lip out to think for a second. He shrugged and shifted the car into drive and pulled out of his parking spot. As he turned onto the main street, and the engine roared with acceleration, I suddenly found myself turned on, by the car, by him? Who am I? I shook my head and closed my eyes to try to get my thoughts straight. After my thoughts became silent, I stared out the window. The only travel pattern I am familiar with in this city is the one I take, on the bus, to and from work, so it is no surprise to me that I have no idea where we are. I put my hand over my face realizing just how easy it would be to kill me. Just as I thought about potentially being murdered, he pulled in front of a house that was easily bigger than any house I’ve ever seen. “Where are we?” I was aware of the fact that this was probably his house, however, I didn’t want to believe it. My eyes stayed glued on the house in front of me as he turned the car off.

           His eyes were on me, and he was smiling, “This is my house, I didn’t really know where else to go since you didn’t want to go home, so I took you to my home.”

           My head snapped over at him, “Okay, let me get this straight,” He nodded, “I am sitting in a car that costs,” I pause and pull my hands up so all of my finger tips are touching my thumb, “Roughly one hundred thousand dollars?” He shrugs and nods, “And that,” I point to the house with my right hand, leaving my left hand in the same position, “Is your home.” He nodded again, “And you’re not trying to get into my pants?” He shook his head, “Who are you?” He laughed, causing that resonating sound to ring through my ears again. He popped open the door and I watched him walk to the other side of his car and open my door, offering me his hand. I grabbed his hand, still slightly confused on what I had gotten myself into. After I was soundly on my own two feet, he walked a head of me and unlocked his front door. He held the door open for me, and once we were both inside the house, he pushed the button to lock the car. The honk caused me to jump in the midst of me looking around the foyer.

Suddenly, I see a little black and white dog trotting up to us, his tail wagging furiously. “This is Duke, I’m going to go let him outside. Feel free to kick your shoes off and make yourself comfortable. There are some drinks in the kitchen if you want to help yourself to anything.” Calum walked away and I lifted one foot while holding onto the wall to slip the shoe off my foot and repeated the motion with the other shoe. I pulled my jacket off my arms and hung it on the rack close to the door. For some reason, I tiptoed my way into the kitchen. As I opened the door to the refrigerator I saw Calum standing outside, his back towards the door with his phone pressed to his ear. I grabbed a bottle out of the fridge and looked at the top, seeing that it says to use a bottle opener. Although Calum said I could help myself to anything, I still felt like it would be weird to go through his things.

Reluctantly, I headed for his back door, and slid it open, quietly enough that he didn’t hear me. As much as I hated when people eves dropped on me, curiosity killed the cat, “Yeah, I know, we have to be in the studio by seven tomorrow morning. I’m already at home, I can’t stand that stupid club, I don’t know why I keep going back.” He paused while the person on the other line said something, “I mean, yeah, I did, but I think this time it’s different.” He paused again and he shrugged as if the person on the other end could see him, “It just feels different. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” He hung up and looked at his phone for a minute. I pulled my eyebrows together, what felt different, the club? I closed the back door, making sure I made a noise so that I would catch Calum’s attention. He jumped a bit, and put his phone in his pocket while turning his upper body towards me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to come out here, but this needs a bottle opener and I don’t want to go through your stuff.”

“Oh, yeah.” He called for Duke who came running around the corner and then inside. “I’m sorry, I should’ve showed you where it was before I came out here. I’ll go back inside with you.” Calum let me lead the way back into his house, but then he quickly moved passed me to start rifling through a drawer. He pulled out his bottle opener and opened the bottle for me. I took a drink as he reached into his fridge and grabbed a drink for himself. “Do you want to sit outside? It’s a beautiful night. After the drink left my lips, I nodded.

Calum sat down in a padded chair and pointed to the one that was next to him, but at just the right angle that we could still talk face to face. As I sat down, I place my right leg underneath and crossed my left leg over my right knee. A weird position to sit in, but I was wearing a dress, and wanted nothing to be showing. We sat in silence for a minute, and just as it started to get awkward, Calum spoke up. “Tell me about yourself, Emily.”

That is probably the one question I would rather die than answer. I hated talking about myself, and I certainly didn’t want some guy I met two hours ago to know how much of a mess I actually am. Then again, I’ve always been that way. I remember in college they would make everyone in the class say their name, their major and what they like to do for fun. Moments like those always made me cringe. I was there to learn, and then go the fuck home. I’m here to not be at that night club and then go the fuck home. “Pass. Tell me about yourself. How did you wind up with this big ole house and a fancy car?”

He laughed, a bit confused on why I passed on talking about myself. “Uh, I’m in a band. I guess we’re pretty big?” That’s when the ton of bricks fell on top of me, reminding me of how stupid I actually am. I knew there was something about him that I recognized, and his name, ‘Calum’ is not a common name, at least not from where I’m from.

I took a large drink from my bottle, thinking back to when I first found out about them. It was back before I got married, back before I even met my ex-husband. They were always playing in my car, and I would belt out every word to every song whenever I heard them. But then I met my completely toxic ex-husband who forced me to change my interests to fit his interests and I stopped listening to them, and stopped paying attention to them. As I set my bottle down on the table, I licked my lips and raised my eyebrows. “So, you’re Calum Hood,” I stated calmly, “I knew that name could not be that common.” My eyes found his face and I noticed a slight smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. “You look different with blonde hair.” I placed my fist under my chin and he ran his hand through his hair in nervousness, “Back when you guys first came out, you guys were all I listened to, but I kind of stopped about 5 years ago, not because I don’t like you or the band, just things happened in my life.” I shrugged and focused my attention back on my drink sitting on the table.

Calum waved his hand, dismissing my half apology, “You don’t need to apologize to me. I kind of liked the fact that you didn’t know who I was. Sometimes it’s nice to not have people constantly recognizing you and taking pictures of you and screaming your name.” He turned his bottle in his fingers and I watched the tendons in his hands flex with all the movement. He raised his eyebrows and back pedaled he last words, “Not that I don’t enjoy our fans, because I do. Just, sometimes it’s nice to have something different.” He closed his eyes and ran his fingers across his forehead, “Sorry, I sound like a complete ass right now.” He chuckled.

I hummed and took a drink from my bottle, “Sorry I ruined your something different.” We laughed at each other, then continued to talk, not about me though, which I was thankful for. A breeze came through, sending a shiver down my spine that told me it was getting late and that I still needed to ‘go the fuck home’ as I stated earlier. Except, I had no idea how I was going to get home. There was the option of taking an Uber or Lyft but that would be terrifying at this time of night is Los Angeles. Of course, I could ask Calum to take me home, but then there runs the possibility that he would want to walk me upstairs, because he’s a gentleman, and then he finds out how sad my life truly is. “I think I should be heading home. Thank you for having me over, I appreciate it.” I say after finishing the last of my drink.

As I stand up, Calum stands up with me, and follows me to the front door, objecting to me leaving the entire way. I ignore his objections and grab my jacket, searching the pockets for my phone. He hovers over me, well aware that I am ignoring him, but suddenly he asks a question that rings through my ears, “How will you get home?”

I tuck my hair behind my ears and look at my phone. Mikayla has called me fifteen times. Maybe if I called her back, she’d come pick me up, but then she’d know that I went to a perfect stranger’s house and I’d never hear the end of it from Mom-kayla. I hold my phone to my chest and pull my lip down into a frown and shrug. “I don’t know, maybe I’ll walk or something. I don’t think we’re that far from where I live.”

Calum took a step closer to me, reaching his hand out so that his fingertips just barely graze the skin on my arm, “Well if we’re not too far, maybe I can just drive you home?” He started to reach for his keys, but that is just not happening tonight.

“No!” I stopped him, putting my hand over his then letting out a really dumb sounding nervous laugh. His eyebrows furrow. “No, it’s late, you shouldn’t have to drive me home, and we’ve both been drinking. I’ll just walk, I’ll be fine.”

He looked at me like I was insane. “Listen, there is no fucking way I am going to let you walk home. So, if you don’t have a ride and won’t accept my offer, then I guess you’re just going to have to stay the night.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Excuse me? I met you like four hours ago.”

He shrugged, “Okay, and? I wouldn’t let anyone walk home this late at night, because that would be stupid on my part. So, either accept my offer to drive you home, or sleep on my couch and take an Uber in the morning.”

No matter what I do, I am going to get some type of lecture from Mikayla, and everything in my body was telling me to go home, but the little voice in the back of my head telling me to stay was getting louder and louder by the second. My eyes flickered between his, his facial expression did not waver, he was completely serious about me staying the night at his house. This was not how I expected this night to go. I drop my head and rub my hand on the back of my neck, “What will I sleep in?” I ask, sheepishly giving into him.

Calum walked away from me without a word and still without a change in facial expression. I stayed frozen in my spot until he turned around, “Well, you coming or not?” I jumped and ran to catch up with him, my bare feet making a slapping noise on his tile floor. He continued to walk through the hallways of his house, and I followed behind him just like a lost puppy. “There’s a bathroom right here if you need to take a shower or anything, towels are in the cabinet. There’s probably some girly body wash or something in there from the last time my sister stayed with me. Feel free to use as much of it as you want.” He continued to walk, and I continued to follow him. In one fluid motion, Calum grabbed the handle and opened the door into a room that was perfectly decorated and perfectly lit, with a view of the city from the bay windows. He started to dig through a drawer while I stepped forward and took in the amazing view of the city. “Here’s a pair of sweat pants that I keep meaning to get rid of, and a hoodie because it gets cold in the living room.” I took them from him and he walked back out of the room. As I followed him back into the living room, I held the clothes to my chest.

The smell radiating from Calum’s clothes forced me to pull his clothes from my chest and to my nose to inhale the aroma further. If he had seen me, I’d probably look like a serial killer, but he didn’t and his cologne just smells so good. He opened a closet door and pulled out a blanket and dropped it on the couch. He told me about the fireplace in case I got cold enough to need it and then put his hands in his pockets. “Uh, thank you. If I need anything, should I just knock?” I secretly inhaled the aroma of his cologne again.

“Yeah, I have to leave for the studio pretty early tomorrow morning, but if you wake up before me, feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen.” He smiled and rocked back and forth on his feet. We bid each other a goodnight and he headed back down the hallway towards his bedroom, Duke close on his heels. I listened for the door to shut and made my way to his guest bathroom after being sure he was in his room. The warm water felt amazing against my skin as the shower pecked at my tired skin. Even though I could get lost in the shower, I found myself being hyper aware of my surroundings. As much as I was absolutely exhausted, I was in a strangers house and had to be careful. After I dried myself off and pulled on the clothes that Calum had given me, I walked back to the living room. The house was dead silent, I wondered if he would be bothered by the sound of the TV but I decided to leave it off. I gently sat on the couch and flicked the blanket over myself. My back pressed so hard against the back of the couch that I was sure I would become a part of it by morning. My eyes started to feel heavy, even though I felt completely uncomfortable in someone else’s house, but eventually, the sleep overcame and I was out like a light.

The feeling of a wet, slobbery tongue on my face woke me up, followed by a voice behind it saying, “Duke, buddy, I told you to let her sleep.” My eyes opened, and I pet the small dog in my face to bid him a good morning back. As I sat up, he jumped off me and ran in the other direction. “Sorry about that, we had a talk before we came in here, but apparently he didn’t listen. So, I have to head out, but if you want I can call you an Uber or something. I’d offer to take you home myself, but I’m running late, even after I told them I wouldn’t be.”

I stood up and folded the blanket, dropping the square on the arm of the couch. “I can order an Uber, don’t worry about that. Do you want me to change and leave your clothes somewhere?” I ran my fingers through my hair, hoping that sleeping with wet hair didn’t turn out the way that it usually turns out. By the feeling of it, it did.

“No, you’re fine, maybe you can give them back the next time we see each other.” Butterflies came to life in my stomach hearing that he assumed we’d see each other again. I just nodded and grabbed my phone to get an Uber. After it confirmed my pick up, Calum and I walked out together, me holding my clothes and shoes to my chest, him carrying just his keys. He was wearing a pair of black joggers and a white t-shirt that was loose fitting and topped it off with a grey beanie. Casual, but I can only imagine how long his days are when he is in the studio. “Let me give you my phone number so you can let me know you made it home safely.” He said right as he got to his car. I unlocked my phone and handed it to him as he punched a number in and then handed it back to me.

Nothing else was said as he got into his car and drove off. After he was gone, I sat on the sidewalk and waited for the Uber. It wasn’t long until it came, and it was definitely an awkward drive back to my apartment. As soon as I walked into my apartment, I looked at the stacked boxes and sighed. I dropped my clothes and shoes onto the floor and kicked them off to the side then ran my hands down my face. As promised, I texted Calum to tell him I made it home okay. My fingers grazed the divorce papers sitting on my counter as I dropped my phone into the pocket of Calum’s sweat pants which were way too comfy to take off; something I would never admit out loud. My hands gripped the edge of the counter while staring at the papers.

It’s not that I haven’t moved on, or that I don’t want to move on, because I’m pretty sure I had moved on long before we decided to actually get divorced. He treated me like shit, and I was tired of being treated like shit, but the reason I didn’t ask for a divorce sooner is the exact reason I am standing here with a rage burning into my soul as I stare at the papers. He took everything from me, and he was the one who asked for the divorce. Imagine what he would’ve taken from me if I had asked for the divorce. My heart began to race, and my breathing became labored the longer I looked at the papers. The rage boiled over as I swiped my hands across the counter, causing the papers to scatter across the floor of my apartment. Fuck this, I thought to myself, It’s time to get my shit together. Leaving the papers on the floor, I grabbed a box and started unpacking.