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#I gave him a test doodle to get used to him but the immediate next go was this haha - it only takes one!!
sysig · 8 months
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Art trade request for my darling child Lucifer please!
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Day 21 - Quiet please, you're blushing very loud
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earthwormjimnocontext · 8 months
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How did you get into Earthworm Jim in the first place?
Oh it is a long and bittersweet story.
Spring of 2019, I was in 6th grade. I was at my mom's house, this was back when my best friend Tom, was dating my mother (that's how we met and became friends), and was watching some sort of WatchMojo countdown on my TV in my room (I think it was for funniest game endings) and Earthworm Jim appeared on #2. It immediately caught my attention. Something in me immediately wanted to know more about it. So I went downstairs and asked Tom (he was a twitch streamer so I figured he knew the most about video games) "What's Earthworm Jim?"
Tom was so excited he jumped up and told me "I'll tell you in the morning!" And so the next morning, he set up his Xbox One and sat me down to play Jim HD. I fell in love with the game immediately, I've only ever really played this kind of game I only affiliated it with Mario and DuckTales (I was a Wii U baby) and it felt more like DuckTales with the 2D animation. It spoke out to be as being unique being weird being funny I could use a gun, I can use myself as a whip! And it was challenging the levels were memorable. When I struggled my way to the end for the first time, I was so mad because I found out that Tom set the difficulty to me to easy so I didn't get the ending, that by the time he got home he heard me cursing and yelling from outside "FUCK YOU, I'M BEATING IT ON ORIGINAL." I played the game all over again.
Then, Tom showed me the cartoon in the summer. I was already into stuff like the Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain because it was on Hulu, so the Earthworm Jim cartoon hooked me. Not only did I love something but I love something with a friend, this was me and Tom's show, whenever mom would be sleeping for work (night shift), the two of us would go out to Popeyes, pick up some chicken (she prefers KFC), some root beer, (there is a local brand that has the absolute best and it was made with honey) and then watch the show together all throughout the summer. I very frequently borrowed his DVD.
Then it became fall and I was a 7th grader. I had the worst English teacher I could have possibly had, she wanted everything on paper if you go over to her to get some revisions on a computer she would demand that you print it you print it and then she points out the revisions so you have to type it out again and then you have to print some more. she tried to force paper on everybody including the parents, it was a nightmare. So while she had an audiobook on I started to doodle. And what was on my ASD laced mind?
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This. I wrote it down on tests and papers to let myself know that I was doing a good job. My doodles were not very good at first and I never really considered art because I just hated coloring originally. Then Christmas came, and I got given an Earthworm Jim lunch box, and it was my favorite Christmas present of that year. That Christmas was the last Christmas with Tom and my Mother...
And then came January of 2020. I went to Magfest on an invitation from Tom, I got to play the original version on a Super Nintendo and my mom was just laughing at me failing everything because even though I could beat the HD version easily I never touched the original. One night I accidentally left my journal at the dinner table and Tom found it, it was filled with Jim sketches. He immediately brought it to me and gave me constructive criticism and praise, I felt absolutely proud because I never really got complimented on that kind of thing before on something that wasn't math. One last grace before...
February of 2020. Tom and Mom broke up. Their relationship didn't work out for a number of reasons, and Tom had to leave to go somewhere to find a job. Before he left, he gave me his copy of the Earthworm Jim cartoon, installed Jim 3D on my mom's computer, and I gave him some traces I did of the Jim 3D bosses.
Then the pandemic happened right on my birthday, and right at the perfect age of turning 13, and having the ability to interact with the internet.
I'm sorry for the long ass story that's genuinely what happened.
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sallyf4ce · 3 years
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wolves
chapter IV
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-> sally face x f!reader
-> enemies? to lovers
-> previous | next
cw: drugs, cigarettes, violence, homophobia
*does not follow original plot of sally face*
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summary: (y/n) and travis make up (ish), (y/n) gets hurt again (you really shouldn’t be surprised), larry gets a little moody (i don’t think he likes (y/n) very much), sal makes a move on (y/n) (although he doesn’t know he did)
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“You’re (y/n), right? New kid?” Travis looks at you as you press the wet cloth to your nose. You nod.
“How’d you know?”
“Sal said it. he muttered. The disgusted look on his face was proven a facade by the blush on his cheeks.
“You’re in love, buddy.” you laugh.
“No i’m fucking not! You’re so fucking stupid, what the fuck? Who could love a faggot like Sally f-” you cut him off my shoving his head into the wall roughly. You don’t know what came over you, but being homophobic is still homophobic even if you’re in denial. You convinced yourself that it wasn’t about sally, it was just you being an ally. Way to kill the mood, travis.
“You pull that shit one more time and I'll leave you without teeth, blondie. Or would you rather i tell your dad that you hit girls?”
He squirms underneath your palm. “Sorry.” he looks at you with a pleading face.
You sigh and let him go. “S’fine. You need to learn how to control your anger, though, fuckface. You’re not gonna get anywhere with that attitude.” stuffing the bloody towel in your bag, you lead him out the door.
“I hate you.” Travis scoffs.
“What did i say?”
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
“Larry, she’s already closer to travis than she is to us and they just met. Travis is a full-on dick, and they’re being all friendly! I didnt even know that was possible!” Sal chucks his bag in his locker. He hasn’t known you for long, but longer than travis! Plus he’s way nicer, too! Why’d you have to go and get all friendly with his bully?
“I don’t fucking like it either, sally face. Maybe we should just stay away from them.” Larry crossed his arms and leaned against the lockers.
Sal didn’t want to stay away from you, though. You were sweet, he was sure, just a little distant. Plus you just sort of intrigued him. He wanted to know why you were like this, what happened to you, why you had a prosthetic. Maybe it was hypocritical of him, though. He's only told Larry and Ashley about what happened to him, so he shouldn’t be picking at your trauma. you’ll tell him when you feel comfortable with it, but you’d need to be comfortable with him for that. and right now, it seems like you’re pretty comfortable with his bully.
“let’s go, dude. class starts in 5.”
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
After grabbing your schedule with Travis, you set your stuff in your new locker (which smelled pretty good, surprisingly.) and began walking to your first class, math. Travis laughed at you when you read your schedule outloud and you gave him a whack on the head. What an idiot. He headed off to his first class, english.
you opened the door to the classroom and coughed to get the attention of the teacher, Mrs. Packerton.
“Ah, lovely! Class, say hi to (y/n) (l/n)!” she smiles as you awkwardly wave.
“You’ll be sitting in the back, right beside Sal.” an inaudible groan leaves your cracked lips as you make your way towards him, trying not to make eye contact.
“uh, here.” he moves over. you plop yourself down next to him and open your notebook.
“we’re doing a test right now. i’m pretty sure you won’t have to do it, since it’s your first day and all.” his blue hair bounces as he looks over to you again. it looks fluffy.
“you wanna touch it?” he chuckles. you don’t want to come off creepy, but he’s offering, right?
you reach out your prosthetic hand but quickly pull it back and switch it, realizing you can’t actually feel with it. he chuckles at your mistake and leans in to your touch.
you were right. it felt like clouds, puffy but still silky. it wasn’t combed properly, though.
“Mr. Fisher and Mrs. (L/n), you little lovebirds. hands to yourselves, please.” Mrs. Packerton laughs a little. “Ah, young love.”
you quickly pull your hand back and flush.
“stupid old lady.” you mutter.
“Mrs. P’s nice, she’s just a little… enamoured in her students’ love lives.” sal laughs.
“stop, you’re making her sound like a pedophile!” you cover your mouth to suppress your laugh and sal’s face heats up even more. He made you laugh!
You both quieted down as Sal continued his test and you doodled in your sketchbook.
“are you okay? after travis, you know.” he hummed, a mix of concern and jealousy swirling in his eyes.
“uh, yeah. i’m fine.”
“You sure? Your lips look pretty busted.”
“It’s all good.”
“why do you hang out with him, anyway?” he turned his test upside down and faced you again.
“what do you mean?” you’re confused.
“he hit you in the face first thing in the morning. If i was you, i wouldn't really like him.” sal gripped his pencil.
“are you jealous?” you question, a smirk on your face.
“No.” his expression is hidden behind his mask. you look into his eyes, trying to make him blush.
the blue is a different blue than the one you saw yesterday. it’s lighter, almost like a porcelain blue.
“whatever you say, porcelain face.”
“porcelain face?”
“your mask, and your eyes, i guess. they’re like a porcelain doll’s.”
he hums.
“what are you then? metal hand? cyborg? fist of steel?”
“you forgot iron fist.”
“iron fist?”
“sure.” you grin. sal’s heart flutters again.
“Alright children, please hand in your tests and nicely file out the class. The bell will ring any moment.” Mrs. Packerton smiles sweetly and starts collecting tests. You grab your bag and leave the class.
Sal looked around the room for a bit, looking for you. A flash of (h/c) hair leaving the room catches his eyes. He tries running after you, but you’re already heading towards your next class.
•Lunch time•
“Shut the fuck up, Trav. I said she was stupid, not stupid hot. I don't know where you got hot from! I literally never said it.” You shoved his shoulder. He just snickered and continued teasing you.
“Hey, (y/n)! Come have lunch with us!” Sal saw you walking with travis. He waved you over from the cafeteria. Travis immediately stopped laughing and sneered. He quickly began walking over to sal, raising his fist.
“Leave us alone, fucking fag-” travis swung at sal but you stepped in front of them, raising your arm to cover sal’s face since he was taller.
Travis throws punches like a wrestler, You already knew that. Maybe you shouldn't have used your real hand to catch it.
His fist slammed into your forearm roughly and you flinched.
“Fuck- travis, go cool off. Now. Leave.” you hold onto your arm. It stings, but it's not broken. You’ll be fine.
“You’re all a bunch of-” he stops mid sentence as you give him a glare. It sort of said ‘you’re gay too, dumbass.’ he scrunched his eyebrows and walked off.
“Oh my fucking god!” a girl with brown hair ran over to you and lightly grabbed your arm.
“This her, sal? Are you (Y/n)?” she looked at you. She seemed very sweet. Kind of reminded you of your cousin.
“Uh- yeah- can you let go?”
She smiles in apology and lets go.
“You didn't have to do that, (y/n).” sal scratches the back of his head. You’ve gotten hurt twice because of him. How are you supposed to be friends if the only thing sal does is hurt you?
“I think maple might have an ice pack in her lunch. Can you come sit with us?” He hopes you say yes.
“Yeah, okay.” you needed the ice pack and travis was nowhere to be seen, so you didn’t really have a choice.
“Hey, (y/n).” Larry grumbles as you walk to their table. It seems he’s upset with you.
“I just saved your buddy from travis. Not to your liking or something?” you look up to him. If something’s wrong, he should just fucking say it. Not beat around the bush like a pussy.
“Yeah. you and travis seem to be getting along well.” he finally makes eye contact with you. Sal and the girl seem uncomfortable.
“We all got our issues, asshole. Some of us just know how to deal with them better than others.” You sneer. He’s allowed not to like Travis, but he’s not allowed to be a bitch to you because you actually understand his actions and choose to help him instead of ignoring him.
“Whatever.” he spits. You turn to sal.
“I’ll get my own ice.” you begin walking away. “Also, watch your dog.” you hear sal chuckle as larry groans. He walks up to you before you can leave, Larry throwing his arms up in the air in disbelief.
“Hey, uh, (y/n)? I’m sorry you got hurt. Could- could i make it up to you somehow?” his hand is on yours. It’s warm, he’s probably blushing hard under his mask.
“Sure, sally. How would you do that?” you spin around to face him. You can see his mask rise a little and his smile peaks through.
“Do you have a phone?” he pulls his cell out. It’s just a simple black flip-phone with a few paint splatters.
“I do, it’s in my locker. I dont have my number memorized, though. Stupid area codes.” you mumble. “You wanna come get it with me?”
Sal looks back to his friends. Ash is nodding frantically while Larry twirls a cigarette through his fingers, still mad.
“Alright.”
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taglist: @purelydarling @deadpoetsandhoney @ghostfacefricker6969 @percyyzz @whatsurgamertag @kiillian @potatochic2003 @beingaweebishell @glitterydonutangel @izzydrawsandwrites @angellicbitch @elebeleb @dream-of-eros @mr-bombastic
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eureka-its-zico · 3 years
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Irrevocably Yours Pt. 2
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Part 1 
Request: hey! can i request a scenario of jungkook being a rich kid who has some of his legs is leg failure , basically can't walk without a cane , And he falls in love with a normal girl , and they end up running away , happy ending plz , also if u can , LIT IT Up with smut ' thank u ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
A/N: So Part 2 is that slow burn build up (with possible cute moments?) and part 3 will be the actual SMUTTY goodness. Hopefully this is something cute and fluffy that is enjoyable and helps progress the story a little more so when a full length next part of a bunch of smut comes it all makes sense. Or idk anymore lol I edited this thing four times and I just really hope you all like it  Please enjoy this wordy mess. I wasn’t sure how to properly write it out the end and yeah...I winged it. If it needs to be fixed lmk please!! As always, I hope you all enjoy. Much love, Jenn
P.s. when I wrote this I listened to Lauv’s “I Like Me Better,” and Pink Sweat$ Feat. Kehlani’s “At My Worst,” on repeat like crazy.
Jungkook x Reader
Word count: 15,496 (I know:it’s a hefty boy)
Genre: Fluffy/Smutty, slow burn, 
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The next day at school you weren’t a hundred percent sure what was going to happen. And sure, maybe you did wake up from a dream replaying that moment in the mud. The ending is a little bit different. This time, dream you didn’t let your chance to kiss him go by. When the opportunity presented itself, and you were both looking at one another like before, you’d leaned forward and kissed him. You weren’t surprised to feel him kissing you back. 
You could still feel the ghost of the imagination of him leaning down to press his lips against yours. The way he leaned in; eyes soft with longing as his body leaned deeper in against you. The weight of him pressing you into the mud until you were sure an imprint of this moment would be there forever. This imaginary kiss you’d shared was sweet, chaste, and everything you could’ve hoped for. Deepening at the last second as your alarm blared you back into realty. 
It made you want to ring your hands through your hair in frustration. 
Your whole walk to school was nothing but foggy images of the dream on repeat. A mixture of yesterday’s events accompanied them with each frame until you weren’t sure which was the actual moments or what your head had created. I mean, you did know he didn’t kiss you, but...the look in his eyes. Maybe Jungkook hadn’t, but there was that moment you swore maybe he felt the painful comedic romance moment of it all too. 
All these unanswered what if’s you'd created had built an impossible chasm that seemed to stretch infinitely wider between you in your head. In the end, you were your own bully as your mind stayed up until three that morning playing out every scenario you could think of. Even the ones that ended with you probably reading everything wrong, because what did you know about body language? Or, more specifically, boys built like Jeon Jungkook.
It didn’t matter that you had two tests today and never finished your homework for home period, but what the hell. Nothing like hopelessly daydreaming about the boy who may or may not have flirted with you and harmonized along to songs with a hidden voice of an angel, am I right? And sure, a large part of your night was  spent chastising yourself half the time to remind you there was no way in hell Jungkook could feel that way towards you. Even just a little. Your inner monologue of bringing yourself back down to earth, another culprit in the growing list of reasons why none of your assignments were completed. 
What can you say? You were a mess.
Your only game plan you’d been able to agree on was just to daydream out the window. Writing out your own hapless love story starring the boy who sat across from you in the home room. With a silent plea to the universe that you weren’t called on to answer any questions. 
Your arrival at homeroom was met with barely seconds to spare. The bell rang behind you, and a few other students, as you rushed towards your desk. 
“Hurry, hurry to your seats! Or I’ll write you up as late!”
Mr. Choi was all talk. Everyone knew it and his excessive arm movements to rush every body that passed his desk made him look exactly like a conductor. His crazy movements were enough to distract you for a split second from the one person you were desperate to ignore. 
“Good morning, class. I hope you are all fully rested and awake for class this morning. Let’s have us open our books to page two hundred and forty-two and continue on with our lesson.” 
In unison the sound of backpacks unzipping with students reaching in their backpacks to bring out textbooks filled the class. The only person who didn’t currently have said book was holding his hand up, and seated directly across from you. 
“Yes, Jungkook?”
“Seonsaengnim, I’m sorry. I haven’t received my textbooks yet.”
“Ah, that’s alright, Jungkook. You can go ahead and share with Y/N, again.”
You hoped your face wasn’t giving away the panic you felt rising up to match the blush that was streaking across your cheeks. Jungkook’s hand was already on the leg of your desk. His fingers tips grazing across your knee in passing as his hand wrapped around the bar and used it to bring you closer to him. You kept your eyes glued to page two hundred and forty-three and refused to look in his direction. Jungkook seemed to find a way to remedy this; his hand came into view and grabbed hold of the book corner and slid it over to his side. And as if he was the world’s greatest magician, he now had your attention. 
Your eyes immediately shoot up to acknowledge his presence, instead of staying on the book. You knew that devilish smirk of his would be there to greet you even before you actually saw it. 
“Well, good morning to you too, Y/N.”
His voice practically hummed a tune as he spoke. His eyes heavily searched your face, and you prayed whatever he found wasn’t any lasting signs of rosy cheeks. 
“Good morning, Jungkook. I hope you slept well.”
“I slept very well, thank you.”
“That’s good-“
He cut you off fast, his next words a hush of teasing: “Even though some crazy girl tried to smother me in mud yesterday.” 
Your world narrowed in on his smug position in his chair, but quickly realized he just wanted your attention. The smile he wore softened around the edges as his eyes tried to look away from you and yet found their way back. You did your best to hide your smile and must have failed miserably for his face noticeably brightened. 
“I’m sure if that’s what she was doing - which I doubt - you probably deserved it.” 
Jungkook pretended to be wounded and caused you to practically jump out of your seat when his free hand landed on top of yours. 
“I can’t believe you think I deserve to be smothered,” he pouted. 
You rolled your eyes in a weak attempt to look away from him. Anything to not be swallowed up by how stupidly cute he looked in this exact moment. The fingers that held your pencil lazily tapping on the pages of the math book to bring his focus to something else that wasn’t you. 
“We need to pay attention.”
It was the only valuable excuse you could come up with to look away from him. But who were you kidding? You didn’t have to be looking in Jungkook’s direction to be painfully aware that he was there. His own gaze burned straight through you and left a trail of heat everywhere his eyes seemed to land. 
Right now, you were aware they were on your lips and stirring every emotion from your dream you tried to suppress. Plus, you weren’t being cute. Unless Jungkook found the sight of you chewing your bottom lip into dust attractive. 
It was a terrible nervous habit that seemed to only backfire right this second. You were sure he was ready to make a comment on it. You waited patiently for it to come in between you mindlessly copying equations off the board and the sea of arms flying up to answer whatever it was you’d just written. My gosh, you were trying so damn hard to not pay attention that you were doing nothing but paying attention to him. 
Please don’t let him just see I’m doodling. 
Mr. Choi was in the middle of showing how to work out a long equation when you decided it was safe to give Jungkook a glance. It was instantaneous how quickly you regretted it. 
You jumped back against your seat in a weak attempt to recover some space. You weren’t exactly sure how you’d missed it -missed him- getting so close, but you had. Jungkook’s face was mere inches from yours and it took everything to not show him you weren’t at all bothered. 
“Jungkook,” you whispered fiercely. “What.are.you.doing!”
Jungkook ignored your question. His eyes squinting as they looked around the side of your head. The gesture made you increasingly subconscious until you couldn’t keep your hand from going up to brush alongside it. 
“What? What is it?”
You were expecting the worst. 
“I think I see some mud still stuck inside your ear.”
And like magic your earlier blush reappeared. Your tongue rolled against the bottom of your teeth in a weak attempt to keep yourself from smiling. Unfortunately, you weren’t able to stop it as the urge to give in tugged mercilessly at your lips. The playful glint in his eyes was enough to keep the panic of how incredibly close he still was. Your eyes hopelessly glancing at the pair of lips that plagued your dreams. 
Jungkook noticed. 
And how did you know this, you might ask? 
Jungkook gave it away by the dramatic way his lower lip was drawn in by his teeth. Every movement he made sure was exaggerated and stupidly slow. His eyes watch for your reaction. He didn’t have to wait long; your eyes were glued to them long before his teeth joined the equation. You should’ve felt more embarrassed at your own blunt display - or maybe at his -but, god help you, you weren’t. 
You tore your gaze away from him and did your best to pretend whatever part of the lesson you’d missed was interesting. The dirt on your shoes could’ve been more interesting at this moment; anything to keep you from looking back at him. 
“I rinsed my hair three times in the shower. Thank you very much.” 
“Did you think of me while you were washing yourself clean?”
If what Jungkook was after was seeing your face light up brighter than a tomato he’d succeeded. Your cheeks instantly flushed and felt scolding hot. The only line of defense you could think of to fight the devilish look in his eyes was to give him a smack on his arm. The motion only caused his sinister smile to turn into a full blown grin; a bark of laughter leaving him seconds later. 
Jungkook chuckled out an, “Ouch!” His body leaning back, faux wounded, and rays of sunshine pouring out of him in waves. 
“I meant when you were getting the mud out of your hair.” His voice carried the singing sweetness of his laughter; airy and light. This boy who you did think of in the shower. All hard edges and softness; sour and sweet. Your very own sour patch kid. “I mean, I thought of you when I tried scrubbing it out from behind my ears.”
Your heart gave a brief jump at his omission. What you wished you would’ve focused on was the fact he’d admitted to thinking of you...in his own shower. But nope! Instead, your mind appeared to focus more on the fact it was while he scrubbed at his ears. 
“I scrubbed my ears too.”
Oh. My. God, you inwardly cringed. 
Is that really what your magical brain decided to say in return? Jungkook leaned back in, eyes inspecting not just your ear, but your entire space. Recklessly moving in dangerously close, and your heart was ready to beg for mercy. Whether to completely close the space between you or to stop teasing, of which you weren’t sure. 
“It appears you didn’t do that good of a job,” he huffed.
A gurgled scream flew into your throat; the sound was utterly ridiculous and Jungkook ate it up. His head flew back in laughter as your hand moved to swat at him again. 
The disruption turned the attention of your teacher directly to the two of you, and Mr. Choi was quick to address it. 
“Jean Jungkook! Y/L/N, Y/N!”
The both of you rose from your seats in unison. Jungkook’s rise the definition of graceful, while yours in comparison was met with anxiety and your knees colliding with your desk. Your small “Oomph,” of pain sending him into a fit of giggles beside you. The hand you sent in to pinch at his leg only sent him into another fit. 
“Y/N!”
Stupid, stupid! Of course he would see.
“Seonsaengnim!”
To appease him, you felt your body respond in a ninety-degree salute. Your face keeping down to stare at your shoes and praying you weren’t about to be sent out of the room. 
“Would you mind explaining what Jungkook and you found so interesting that the two of you felt like you didn’t need to be a part of class.”
God, it wasn’t a question. He really wanted you to tell him, and what could you say? 
“Oh, he was just asking me if I was in the shower...thinking of him. And he was thinking of me too!”
Which wasn't a lie. Maybe it wasn’t as dirty as he might have intended, but it was enough to make your cheeks flush to life with their usual color these days. Your mind was still racing with an appropriate answer for Mr. Choi. You were taking so long you were ready to blurt out anything he might want to hear. 
“Seonsaengnim.” Jungkook gave a respectful bow and lifted his head. His full attention now resting on the impatiently waiting man at the front of the class. “We were discussing the fact that you, respectfully, have written the equation wrong on the board.” 
The entire class seized up. A collective air was taken at Jungkook’s bold attempt to correct him. It was awkwardly obvious that he wasn’t happy at the idea of being corrected. However, Jungkook remained unfazed and waited for the right time to speak. 
“Is that so?” He snapped. “If it is so wrong, Jeon, then please, come and fix it for me.”
You were sure his order for Jungkook to go to the front would make him back down . No one enjoyed doing class work on the board up front for all to see. But you’d forgotten Jungkook wasn’t like everyone else. He kept his head high and moved to grab his cane; his hand wrapping tightly to its handle. Jungkook stepped out from inside his desk and let his feet carry him forward. He walked with a noticeable lack of a limp and you were willing to bet that strike of pride was costing him. 
It wasn’t that you couldn’t believe that Jungkook was able to walk without it. It was just that your memory forced you to recall the pain he was in during the field trip. The flashes of frustration as his eyes threatened to spill over with tears. 
Jungkook came to stand beside Mr. Choi. His hand reaching out to take the marker that the older man had held out waiting for him to prove his equation wrong. He plucked it from the older man’s hand and moved the last few inches to stand in front of the board. His eyes scanning the problem quickly. Your breath held tight in your chest as you watched him get permission to grab the eraser. The class transfixed on his every movement.
You wondered how many of the girls in your class focused on him like you were. The same way your eyes ate up every simple movement he made. The notable flex of his back while he stretched to erase the middle and last part of what Mr. Choi had written out. 
“You had a good start here, Seonsaengnim.” Jungkook paused to stretch out his hand. Fingers marking underneath the start of the problem. “But you didn’t multiply these after they were divided, and because of this the middle became wrong. With your core of the problem being wrong the solution was never able to end in its final conclusion.”
With every word, Jungkook’s voice became more self-assured. His presence enveloping the room and demanding the attention he’d already received without question. Mr. Choi watched on with his arms crossed; index finger hugging his mouth in concentration as he watched Jungkook work. From the back of the class, you could see students writing down the new formula. Some of them realized the obvious error Mr. Choi had made. 
Jungkook looked at the problem over again on repeat. If it’d been you, you would have left it where it was knowing you’d done what no one else did. But Jungkook wanted to know, for himself, that it was correct. 
Finally, he stepped back from the whiteboard and handed the marker back to Mr. Choi. Who looked measurably impressed with him. His index finger he’d used for thinking now covered up a timid smile before he dropped it to grab a hold of the marker. 
“Go ahead and have a seat, Jungkook.”
Jungkook gave him a passing bow as he made his way back towards the back of the class. Back to you. It took everything you had not to notice how everyone’s view of him seemed to change. Even the honor students; the ones bound for scholarship glory to prestigious colleges now seemed to take new interest in him. 
You’d heard stories about Jungkook, like everyone else did. The Boy Wonder. The boy who seemed unfairly good at everything. Before you’d ever met him, a part of you believed there wasn’t a way the universe would seriously do that. And yet, as he moved to sit back down beside you, you suddenly felt the overwhelming sensation of being below average. Your subconscious rose up to stop whatever sunlight you’d felt at his earlier words, and crushed it until it began to dim. All but snuffing it out. 
Jungkook fell back into the seat at his desk riding the high of confidence he’d gained from proving he’d know how to fix the answer. Not just know it; teach it. The air around him completely changed. He was the sun and the rest of you were becoming helplessly lost in his orbit. From the backwards glances of the others around you, you were pretty sure they weren’t going to mind one bit. 
Either Jungkook was honestly oblivious to all the attention or he just didn’t care. He practically beamed as he leaned himself closer to you completely unaware at how breathless he made you. That smile you’d admired during your field trip showed itself beaming and bright. He was so damn pleased with himself his eyes sparked with joy and you wish you could’ve pouted. Maybe found the strength not to care or to wonder if he could see how he affected you. 
You wanted to pout and be in your own bubble, damn it. 
“Don’t worry, Y/N. I don’t think he’ll bother us again.”
Us. 
Those butterflies you’d sworn to yourself you were not feeling towards him began to come to life. Or were they butterflies? You weren’t sure what to call the feeling Jungkook gave you. 
Sure, Jungkook made your heart thunder in your chest like a caged animal. And yea, maybe you swore to yourself there was an attraction there that you couldn’t explain, but that was just your dopamine talking. That didn’t mean the two of you were soulmates or the universe decided to bring you both together by a mess of unseen choices. 
But...when Jungkook looked at you this way it was hard to tell your thundering heart anything else. 
The two of you continued to look at one another. A heartbeat of time passing between you with Jungkook waiting for your reply. You watched the edges of his smile start to wilt as realization set in that you weren’t planning to  reply. No smile or teasing remark was headed his way, and just as fast as he noticed it, determination swiftly replaced the light weighted joy he’d shown moments earlier. 
“Hey, you don’t have to worry. I’m positive he will leave us alone the rest of the class. I promise.”
God, why did he have to make things so difficult? When Jungkook spoke the words, “I promise,” they’d been so earnest. He meant them. Here he was trying to turn the tables and be your knight, instead of you being his. It would have worked, but what he didn’t know was that you weren’t worried about Mr. Choi. Not really. 
No one could tear you down further than you were able to do to yourself. 
He was still waiting for the answer that you would never give. You turned to face forward in your chair and tried to forget the ripple of sadness that moved over his face. The cost of your stubbornness suddenly felt too high. No matter how it made you feel though, you refused to look over in his direction. 
An awkward chasm had built between the two of you. Mostly, well, obviously it was all because of you. You figured Jungkook would eventually stop looking at you. You prayed he would stop. Every time he did it your body became painfully aware of his gaze, and the longing it held for you to acknowledge him. And every time you remained facing front. You no longer could pretend to focus, however, and that seemed to be all the signs Jungkook needed to know you were in some way paying attention.
Your notebook that’d been left unattended on the desk became his private art museum. The doodles started off silly and slowly morphed into small faces and objects that held impressive detail. You tried your best to ignore it; his arm practically took up most of the space on your desk. The angle forced him to shoulder into your space to the point that if you did finally turn to look at him you’d run inches away from his cheek. 
You were doing your best to pay attention to whatever your teacher was doing at the front. Your eyes watched as a wave of hands went up to answer questions you’d never heard. Yours kept sliding back down to the latest doodle he was making. The latest one he was working on had forced Jungkook to move further inland on your notepad. His forearm getting dangerously close to having to rest in your lap. 
It continued like this the remainder of class. For all the effort you’d put in the last half hour of pretending he wasn’t there, Jungkook shattered it within seconds. 
He’d repositioned himself with each new doodle he started. His shoulder wedged itself against yours and his forearm had completely taken up what little space was left on your desk. You were trying very hard to not pay attention to how said forearm was dangerously close to your chest. There was no hiding the redness of your cheeks. 
Without thinking, you whipped your head to look at him and almost yelled. You knew he was close, but nothing prepared you for this.
“Excuse me,” you whispered, voice incredulous. 
Jungkook turned to look at you and...was he pouting? His eyes played up on the childish quality as he turned to you and batted his eyes.
“Can I help you?”
“Ugh, can I help you? Do you need paper or something?”
“I have paper right here. Thanks.”
Jungkook patted the notepad with the end of his pen. Satisfied with his answer he turned his attention back to his latest artistic endeavor. 
“You know this is my desk. Right?”
“I like to think of it more like our desk. Sharing a space like we shared music.”
“Ya, Jungkook. You realize you blackmailed me into using my ipod.”
Jungkook feigned shock. His mouth dropping open and his eyes brows going too high up into his hairline. The entire scene was exaggerated and ridiculous. The scene forced you to roll your lips against your teeth to keep from smiling. The effort it took to hide your grin wasn’t unnoticed by Jungkook, and you couldn’t help but wonder if that’d been his goal all along. 
“Blackmail sounds so crass. I like to think of it as bargaining.”
“So we agree it’s called blackmail, then.” 
The theatrics of his face dropped into a serious stare that left his face completely blank. Void of all emotion except the annoyance that drew a heavy frown from his face. It was stupidly cute and this time you did allow yourself to smile. Your fingers reached out to grab one of his puffed out cheeks and gave it a sweet pinch, like a grandmother, and cooed in his direction. 
“Oooooh Jungkookie, don’t frown. We’ve all gotta be wrong sometimes.” 
He playfully nipped at your hand to make you snatch it away. It took everything in you not to make a sound at his sudden movement. Your mouth hung open in an awkward smile-shout as you brought your handle against your chest. 
“I think you’re misinterpreting the facts here. Maybe you hit your head on a small pebble or something when you fell in the mud.”
“You mean when you pulled me in.”
He shrugged and replied nonchalantly, “I don’t think I recall any force being used yesterday. You just fell on my chest trying to take advantage of me in my time of need.”
Now it was your turn to look deadpanned in his direction. Jungkook didn’t try to hide his wicked smile, however, and the cage of butterflies that were housed in your gut were released all over again. 
“Your appa must be a lawyer. It’d explain why you’re so good at bullshitting.”
“CEO, actually. But I would say you’re close. They are also full of shit.” 
You weren’t sure what to say to this omission about his father. Underneath the sarcasm felt like a heavy chasm that spoke of the death of a relationship. Your curiosity threatened to get the best of you, but you decided to just throw it away. Filing it away inside a little folder you’d made for little known facts about him. 
The bell rang and the mass of bodies in class all began to rise from their seats. All of them eager to rush from the classroom and do whatever plans they’d made to enjoy their little bit of freedom. You were reaching for your bookbag when Jungkook’s hand was just there. A part of you worried he’d decided to play a game of keep away, or something that fit his playful mood, Instead, he placed it down on the desk. 
“Oh, thank you, Jungkook.”
God. Why were you staring? Why was he staring?
The room was still filled with the small display of chaotic teenage energy. Most of them had already filed out of the classroom, while some were still putting things away. Honor students were arguing with the teacher about markings he’d left on papers. Small groups of friends chatting happily as they moved in tight clusters through the door. So much was going on around you, and yet the only person you were aware of was him. 
“You’re welcome. Have a good lunch, Y/N.”
The playful air that’d been around him had completely disappeared. This boy who stood before you now was more reminiscent of when you’d first met than the boy you’d grown to like. What had made him grow so distant?
“You too, Kookie.”
It slipped out. You couldn’t stop yourself. He’d already started to walk away in his retreat. As soon as his pet name you’d given him hit his ears he completely stopped moving. His head whipped around to glance at you with that devilish grin raised high on his cheeks. 
“Kookie? Are you calling me a snack?”
If your eyes could’ve gotten any wider, they would’ve left your skull. The embarrassment was hot on your cheeks and you knew Jungkook would tease you without mercy for the slip up. By the look in his eyes you could tell he was never going to let this go. Not ever. He would be too happy to remind you of this until the day you died. Or until graduation. Whichever came first.
This time you scooped up your bookbag and snatched your book off the desk clutching them to your chest. In your haste to grab them and go, your knee collided with the edge of the desk, but you’d worry about that possible bruise later. You just needed to flee before Jungkook got any closer. 
“No, no. It was an accident.”
“You called me a snack by accident?”
You were backing up towards the safety of the open hallway. Your shoulders shrugging too high and your laugh too high-pitched in your attempt to play it cool.
“No snack nicknames here. It was just a slip of the tongue. I must just be hungry, ya know.”
“Are you hungry for me?”
Oh, he was intolerable sometimes. It didn’t matter how flustered he made you. A part of you knew his endless teasing was growing on you. You liked it, and the sane part of you wondered if you’d gone crazy. 
“Ya, Jungkook-”
“I think you mean, Kookie,” he cut in. 
Jungkook held a single finger up to silence you. He’d stopped moving towards you and let out a laugh as you tried to swat his hand down. He looked so much happier than he did moments ago. That alone made his teasing at your expense worth it. 
“No I mean, Jungkook. It’s the name your parents gave you.” You stated, proud that your voice sounded more stable than you felt. “I’m gonna go eat my lunch now. You should do the same and I’ll...see you later.”
You waited for him to argue. To continue to make comments in passing to keep your face rosy and flushed. He surprised you by just standing there in silence. His smile wide on his face and eyes looking at you like you’d held the moon. A look you weren’t used to and made you unsure how to respond. 
You started to walk back towards the door and found yourself disappointed when he didn’t follow. You sent him an awkward wave as your arms still held onto your things from your desk. Jungkook showed his amusement by giving you a wave in return.
“See you later, Y/N.”
At his words you turned on your heel and headed out towards the courtyard. No longer eager to eat your lunch that you’d packed. Your mind replayed his words and knew, without a doubt, he would keep his word.
—————-
Lunch went by as quickly as it came. Instead of eating your lunch with friends, you’d opted for sulking in the auditorium. Absentmindedly taking small bits off your food as you considered what had happened between Jungkook and you. 
There was flirting there. You may be a little delusional, but you weren’t delusional about this. It was obvious to anyone who witnessed it and yet you tried to deny its existence at every turn.  Of course, you knew why. 
It just didn’t make logical sense. You were two opposites that shouldn’t be in the least bit interested in the other. Well, that didn’t really seem correct when it came to Jungkook. He was attractive to everyone and probably even inanimate objects. But you...you just couldn’t see yourself that way. You’d only ever had one relationship in your life and it had been short-lived and in the third grade. 
Throwing what little was left of your sandwich back inside it’s little brown coffin, you removed yourself from your spot. A huff left you as you reached out to pick up your mess and started to hop back down the steps one-by-one. 
You weren’t sure what walking around was going to do. For the hundredth time since this day started, you were lost in your own head. The only thing you knew for certain was that you’d hoped to run into him again. A thought came to you that maybe, just this day, he’d shown up in the school's cafeteria. 
You could think of a million excuses for why you’d need to go into the cafeteria and it wouldn’t be weird. Just the thought of not coming off weird, while most certainly being weird, made you beam at your own creativity. 
You’d reached the last step and we’re crossing the field when you noticed, on the other side, the very boy you were looking for. He was alone and sitting under the shade of the only tree next to the amphitheater. His back against the bark and a knee drawn up to give his notepad a place to perch. Whatever he was writing, drawing, or formulating held his interest and refused to let him look up. 
All your previous bravado deflated in a second. It would be harder to deny you weren’t actively seeking him out if you went to him now. But, who said that you wanted too? 
Grabbing the strap of your book bag tight, you started back on your mission. Your legs made quick work across the field. It wasn’t until there was only a few feet left between you that he looked up. His brow still furrowed in tight creases of concentration as he decided if you were a friend or foe. Your feet almost tripped over themselves when he smiled at you. 
“Y/N!” He called happily. “What brings you over here?”
“I came looking for my snack.”
The surprise on his face made your bold choice of a response worth it. Jungkook, being who he was, quickly recovered and set his notebook and pencil down beside him. He placed his arms casually on his propped up leg and leaned forward as if he was about to tell you a secret. 
“Well, you found me. Why did you come looking for me? Really.”
You tried to think quickly of what to say. The idea of telling him the truth, that you’d just wanted to see him, felt painfully honest and might press him to ask for you to explain. How could you explain that in the short time you’d met him he was both the most interesting and infuriating man you’d ever met. But he was also the most beautiful, and had a delicate softness under his hard exterior that you were growing to love. He was basically the perfect description of the onion from Shrek. 
An idea clicked in your head and your hands quickly moved inside your bag and produced another brown bag. 
“I wanted to come see if you’d eaten. I had some spare kimchi rice ball’s my omma made.”
You extended the bag out to him. Your eyes locked together as you waited for him to either accept it or deny it. Jungkook surprised you by leaning forward and taking it gently from you. It took some effort, but he crossed his legs -his bad one in an awkward position - and plopped the bag down between his legs. 
You moved to sit beside him in the grass and took your book bag off your shoulder and into your lap. You watched as he moved to open the bag and peered cautiously inside. 
“It’s not a bomb,” you chided. 
“I never know with you.”
You rolled your eyes with a smile spreading like wildfire across your lips. Jungkook was so charismatic it felt inevitable and fighting against it was futile. He took a large bite of the rice ball and practically swooned. His eyes had fallen shut and a ridiculous chanting of endless “Mhm’s” had started rising up around you. 
“Should I leave you two alone?”
Jungkook’s eyes snapped open and for a moment you were worried maybe you did pull him out of some weird food ritual. His eyes were blank and then, all at once, he was back to being his usual animated self. The hand that held the rice ball shaking in your direction before shoving what was left inside his mouth. 
“This is unbelievably delicious.” He mumbled around his food. “You said your omma made these?”
“Yup!”
You’d said it in English just to dramatically pop the P at the end. Extending out your own kind of dramatics to match Jungkook’s. You leaned your hands back into the grass and noticed Jungkook watch your every move as you did. 
“Is your omma married?”
Your face fell into a deadpan stare as you replied, “Seriously? Of course her and my appa are still married, you creep.”
“If you can cook like your omma, Y/N I’m willing to lend you my amazing tutoring services. All for the low price of making things as delicious as this.”
He was already mid-way through shoving the second rice ball in his mouth. His head tilted back to drop it down. A piece of rice must have dislodged itself from its balled shape, because he erupted in a coughing fit. You couldn’t help but laugh as you handed him your water. 
“I think I’ll steer clear of rice treats. Just to make sure you don’t kill yourself.”
Jungkook was about to lift the bottle up to his lips and stopped. His eyes falling on you with a playful glare. You held your hands up in mock surrender as you leaned forward. Your hands clap together to get pieces of grass and soil from your hands. 
While he drank the water you’d offered up the two of you fell into companionable silence. You didn’t mind waiting and Jungkook was happy that you did. When he’d finished with the bottle, he set it down beside him. His hand moving like a flopping fish in your direction to make you give him something that you’d had no idea he’d asked for. 
“Come on. Let’s see your math homework.” 
“For what?”
“To start your tutoring. Duh.”
You hated how cute he’d made the word sound. The way his lips smiled around it and left him beaming at you like a little kid on Christmas. 
“Can we pass? We just left the class and I hate math. A lot.”
Jungkook tsked you but didn’t look disappointed. 
“You can’t get better at something if you give up on it. Luckily for you, you’ve got the best person in the subject to tutor you.”
“For a fee,” you pointed out. 
“All the best things come with a price. I’m most definitely one of them. Now. Book.”
His hand movements were more controlled now. His fingers simply waved once -twice- for you to hurry it up and place what he’d asked in his hand. You really didn’t want any part of this. The thought was sweet, but when you said you hated math you meant it. So yeah, maybe you were grumbling a little as you reached inside your book bag and taking a little longer than was necessary to hand it over. 
Jungkook took it from you in one smooth motion and had it open to the spot previously in class. All your homework problems you’d left unfinished glaring against the white of the page. His eyes were already scanning over what little problems you’d written down. A clicking noise from his closed mouth reminding you why exactly you hadn’t finished more of it. The reason was sitting right in front of you. 
His hand flicked back out and he held it open. His eyes never lifted off the page as he demanded, “Pencil.”
“What the heck? Why am I supplying everything.”
“Cause I’m supplying myself,” he shot back. His hands taking the pencil you handed over to him. “Plus, I also can’t seem to find any in my bag.” 
“You didn’t even look.”
Jungkook gave a graceful shrug. His attention was fully engrossed in the problems. You weren’t ready for how cute he looked. How adorable those concentration creases in his forehead made him look, even deadly serious, with his fingers tapping the pencil absentmindedly on the paper. When he figured out what was missing from the equation he quickly erased and reconfigured everything on the page. 
You were staring intently at him, both because his angle’s were ridiculously handsome but also, the way the sun fell down on him here, peaking through the trees, felt like magic. It was hard to believe the universe was more than just molecules and that luck was thrown out randomly. If it was, maybe you’d caught some. 
Your thoughts were running wild and your concentration was no longer in the safe zone. Maybe that’s why when he finally looked up from the notebook and found you staring he’d smiled. Not his teasing one. Or the condescending either. This smile was soft like a secret, and directed only at you. \
“See something you like?”
His voice was gentle in his playfulness. As if he wanted to take the cautionary approach in case you were spooked. 
“Maybe I do.”
A smile of your own spread to match his and Jungkook wasn’t surprised. He was just happy, and it was a lovely sight to see. He looked away from you with his hand moving up to smooth out the hair on the back of his neck. He flicked the pencil down on the notebook and brought it forward for you to see. 
“Let’s get back to this. I’ll be honest with you. It’s pretty bad. You missed a whole line on the third problem that left you with an incomplete answer. Not to mention,” he lifted up the notebook and motioned towards the whole page, “Where is all the rest of the homework?”
Jungkook’s voice was filled with the beginnings of laughter. Not specifically towards you, but just the blatant fact you did not care. You gave him your best nonchalant shrug. In reality, you did care. It bothered you it wasn’t finished. 
Your fingers were digging in the grass and ripping some of it up and throwing it out into the field. 
“I had a hard time concentrating last night. Plus, if I’m being honest math has always been the hardest subject for me.”
“And that is why I’m going to help you.”
“For a fee,” you reminded him. 
“I’ll teach you the easiest way I know how to do these and I promise you, you’ll be flying through these problems in no time.”
The sincerity in his voice was evident. Jungkook really believed it and he wanted you to believe it too. You just couldn’t understand why and you found yourself speaking your mind. 
“Why are you wanting to help me?”
It was his turn to shrug his shoulders. His face went blank as he looked at you one last time before he looked away. Whatever he was looking at he wasn’t really seeing. He just needed someplace else to look than the person he was talking to you. You did it plenty of times yourself. 
Whatever he’d decided on to say had caused his shoulders to square. Determined that whatever he needed to say he would make sure it meant something. 
“I like spending time with you.”
The smile you’d worn completely shattered as you stared at him. The butterflies rushed up and up until they trapped themselves in your throat. Jungkook’s admission was basically three words dropped away from just saying he liked you. 
This surprising admission should’ve been enough to make yourself not care who you saw walking. Or care when he stopped, his small mob with him, and start gesturing at his imaginary watch. His fingers rubbing together for money owed. 
It was worse when Jungkook looked back and took notice. Even worse when he looked back at you with questions swirling in his eyes. 
“Everything okay?”
Your eyes looked down to the safety of your hands. The way they were helplessly fidgeting back in the grass and tearing it apart like a miniature tantrum was brewing inside you. You hated that after all this time, you let Lee Kwon upset you by making you feel embarrassed about your dad. That he felt the need to tell everyone the business deal between his father and yours. How every time he told it he’d turned him more and more into a villain of his own misfortune. 
Without a reason why you took back your notebook from Jungkook and shoved it inside your bag. You were ready to leave. You didn’t want to explain, but you knew Jungkook wouldn’t let you just leave without one. 
He reached out and his hand gently wrapped around your wrist to stop you. There was no force. Nothing that hinted that he would keep you there if you didn’t want to be kept. Looking at him felt harder. His genuine worry almost threatened to let the tears from your frustration spill forward. 
“Hey, Y/N, what’s wrong?”
You shook your head. Your vision dragging away from him and back to the retreating back of the sociopath, Lee Kwon. 
You didn’t try to shake him off. You actually felt comforted by his worrisome touch. The way he leaned in closer as if he would pull you into his arms at any moment. As much as you wanted that to happen, you knew it wouldn’t happen. A deep sigh had built up in your chest and you released it while you looked back at him. 
“Look. Eventually, I know you’re going to hear about it: my dad, I mean.”
“That’s kind of odd high school kids would talk about someone’s appa.”
“You and me both,” you agreed. “But Kwon’s dad is a banker who doesn’t believe in client confidentiality. So he tells his son about his day over dinner and-“
“And he decides to bring it to school to make your life miserable,” Jungkook finished for you. 
He understood and didn’t need you to simplify it anymore. His hand left your arm and you suddenly found yourself missing his comforting touch. It was still there, that comfort, in the way his eyes softened and he leaned in intent to listen to whatever you needed to get off your chest. You appreciated his attention, but also hated it at the same time. 
“What’s your Appa’s thing?”
God. He did understand. Maybe just a little too well for your liking. 
“Gambling. It started when I was in the seventh grade. At first it wasn’t anything too crazy. He’d always been able to even it out. But then he became obsessed with the idea of winning big. Kept betting on things we couldn’t afford to lose. Eventually, he bet too high and ended up losing the business he and my mom built together and our house. They had to pay the bank back.”
“A bank this dude’s Appa works at.”
“Correct. My Appa...he isn’t a bad man. He’s paid his debt and hasn’t gambled since. What good is it for me or anyone else to make him feel bad for the rest of his life?”
“I don’t get it. Why does that have to do with you, though?”
You’d wondered the same exact thing half of your adolescent life. You shrugged and looked at Jungkook wondering if maybe he’d be able to make sense of it better than you could. 
“Twelve year old boys enjoy making up stories. First it was that we became so poor we lived with pigs. That's why I smelled.”
You put air quotations around smelled and Jungkook practically howled with laughter. You tried your best to show no emotion, but could feel the corner of your lips threatening to curl into a smile. 
“He probably said it because you didn’t know how to wash back then and, judging from earlier, I still don’t think you do.”
You moved to playfully shove at his shoulder. A scoff of laughter leaving you even though you told yourself you wouldn’t. Jungkook was waiting for you to make a move and when you did he easily grabbed a hold of you. The feeling of intimacy, just like yesterday in the mud, was swimming back to the surface. 
Your eyes looked up into his with your laughter being met with a wide grin. The way he was looking at you now made you believe in fairytales and left your lips aching to be kissed. 
Before either of you could decide what to do next, the bell for the end of lunch sounded. You could hear it going off all around you, but still the two of you stayed holding each other. Your bodies close enough that if he wanted to make a move all Jungkook needed was to lean down. To say your heart dropped a little when he moved away was an understatement. 
You focused on getting up from the grass. Your hands patting down your uniform as you struggle to find something not so awkward to say. You wanted to sound confident. You wanted to sound like you weren’t affected by him at all. 
“Well, I’ll see you around.”
God, you sounded awkward. You turned to start heading to your next period. You closed your eyes tight and mouthed, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” You’d gotten a few feet away when you heard him call to you. 
You turned to look back at him and found him still standing under the tree. His hands in his pockets and his eyes solely on you. 
“Would you let me walk you home?”
Did he really have to ask? You’d let him walk you to the edge of a volcano. You didn’t say that, however. You wanted to play it cool, but on the inside you were screaming. 
“I’d like that.”
When you turned back around to make your way to class, the memory of how his face had brightened at your reply, stayed with you. You couldn’t wait for the day to end. 
_________
True to his word Jungkook waited for you after school. You couldn’t help looking for him over the countless shoulders as you walked with the sea of students towards the entrance. The hole in the pit of your stomach opened back up from the underlying dreadful thought. That he wouldn't show up. You’d be left standing there waiting for him forever. But Jungkook continued to prove your pessimism wrong. 
The closer you got to the school’s gate, you were able to spot him instantly. He was leaning coolly against the gate. His bag at his feet and his cane positioned strategically out of view. If anyone just casually walked up, they would’ve never been able to tell he’d needed one. Maybe that was why he’d done it. 
He looked to be searching for someone in every face that passed him. It came to an end the minute his roaming eyes found you. No longer did he appear cool and composed. His body became animated with what you could only explain as a giddiness at your oncoming presence.
By the time you reached him, Jungkook was wearing his backpack on his shoulder and his cane in his hand. He was standing and waiting for you. The happiness at being next to you was intoxicating and you could only hope you looked the same. 
“It felt like I was waiting forever,” he admitted. 
The two of you started in sync out the gate and turned left onto the main road.
“It felt like an eternity just to get to you. I have Mrs. Chun’s chemistry class for the last period. The classroom is pretty far.”
“Mhm, like on a planet far far away.”
Your eyes rolled up to look at him. The affection you found in the warmth of his eyes was startling, but not a surprise. 
Your mom used to tell you to always be careful with smiling. It caused laugh lines. It helped make crows feet. That smiling was a woman’s secret enemy she never knew about when it came to aging. She told you over and over to be careful who or what you wasted smiles on. Smiling up at him now, Jungkook was definitely worth it just to see him respond with his own. 
“Don’t be so dramatic. It’s only, like, one planet away.” 
A soft hush of laughter left him as he looked away. His gaze roaming around the street signs and their multiple names before looking back at you. 
“Are we going the right way to your place? I just realized I never even asked for your address.”
“Does it matter? I mean, with your leg and all.” You hated yourself for spoiling the moment by bringing it up. You knew it was a touchy subject when it came to his leg for Jungkook. So you weren’t surprised to see that spark of warmth fade ever so slightly from his face. His smile wilted at the edges of his lips before it all but disappeared. “You know I’m sorry I said anything. I shouldn’t have. I mean obviously you know yourself and your limits. You wouldn’t have asked if you weren’t able to do it.”
You were rambling. You were fidgeting and waving your arms around while you talked, because why not? You were doing everything else besides hyperventilating at this point. All you knew was that you felt like a jerk for even bringing it up. When all you wanted was to know he was okay. 
You were so lost in the space inside your head and worrying that you didn’t notice him laughing at you. You were mid-arm swing. Inhaling for another round of mouth babble to start asking for forgiveness when he waved for you to stop. A finger tip landing on your lips to quiet the words in your throat by shocking you into silence.
“You really don’t have to apologize so much, Y/N. It’s alright. I understand why you would ask.”
You were tempted to lick his finger away, but it felt too intimate. But so was a finger on the lips. Before you could decide your next move from your internal dilemma, Jungkook solved it for you. His finger detaching from your lips as quickly as it’d come.
“No, you don’t. I’m just worried about you. I know I should trust you to know yourself better, but-“ you did an over exaggerated shrug as you finished: “I’m a worrier.” 
“I’m flattered, I have you to worry over me.”
You knew he was teasing you and you couldn’t have been happier. You preferred it to making him sad. Plus, he was back to looking at you like you controlled the stars and oh, what a wonderful look it was.
“You should be. I’ve only got so much extra space up here.”
You tapped your head for added effect and were rewarded with a soft laugh that was followed up by a smile. God, you could get used to this. 
“I guess I need to work harder to take up more space.”
“Please, no. Let’s not do that. I need my sanity.”
You couldn’t believe you were doing so well at flirting. Usually, your sarcasm won out and you resorted to awkward winking, but this was definitely an improvement. 
“I’m not sure you have much of that left either,” he joked. 
You tried to hide your laughter with a scoff. You knew you were failing miserably at being offended. Your mouth fighting too hard to ward off a smile as you playfully bumped your shoulder into his arm. Jungkook was ready for you with his cane digging into the sidewalk to give him extra stability. 
“Ya, if I do finally go crazy it’ll be your fault, specifically.” 
“I think you’d have a hard time proving that in court. My counter argument would be pretty persuasive.” 
You looked at him in shock. 
“Court? Wow...that escalated quickly.”
Jungkook nodded his reply. He stopped in front of a bookstore and pointed at a manga in the window. You weren’t too familiar with the title, but it's a cover you’d seen plenty of. 
“It would happen as quickly as an infection from a zombie’s bite. It would seem all slow until suddenly you jumped up and tried to eat me.” 
You couldn’t keep the amusement off your face as you glanced at him and back down to the manga. A part of you wondering if it was one he’d read before or just wanted to use to make his point. 
“Question: why are we together during a zombie outbreak?”
“Isn’t it obvious? It’s because I’ll be walking you home. I’ll try and save you and while feeling all heroic about it, I won’t even realize you’d been bitten until it’s too late.”
The two of you moved away from the bookstore window and began to walk back down the sidewalk. Your mind trying to dissect what he was trying to say, but all it left you with was imagining a zombie version of you trying to take a bite out of him. 
“You must watch too much Walking Dead.”
“It’s a good show,” he shrugged. 
“Did you know that there’s actually a fungus out there that’s sort of like a zombie infection. It’s called Ophiocordyceps. It basically infects the host and within nine days of infection it takes control of the host's body movements.”
You were still walking and looking around while you spoke. Your fingers running gently over a row of gardenia’s that were planted in carefully placed pots in front of someone’s home. You were aware Jungkook had left your side by the sudden coldness of his absence. You turned to look for him and found him standing a foot away from you. A mixture of astonishment and amusement etched on his face. 
“Why do you know something like that? Actually, how do you know something like that?”
His eyes were dancing with curiosity as he moved to fall back into step beside you. 
“Let’s just say I like to read. I like strange things and facts. And science is full of both facts and strange things.”
With each small statement you held up a finger. When you ended on the third and final small fact about yourself, you wiggled all three fingers at him. The motion earned you a giant smile that only seemed to grow wider as his head shook slightly back and forth. 
“You are the strangest girl.”
“How am I strange?”
“You just told me about a body snatching fungus,” he chuckled. “What other girl is going to do that?”
Jungkook had a point. A very strong point. For all your new found confidence when it came to him, you couldn’t keep the heat from rushing to your face. Or the back of your hands from trying to hide it. 
“I would tell you to stop being embarrassed but it’s cute when you blush.” 
The two of you came to a complete stop at the crosswalk. The red light blinking to tell you two it wasn’t safe to cross. It felt like a weird metaphor for this moment in your life. 
Stop! Do not keep staring back at him as if he strung every star in the sky. Stop! Don’t continue to entertain the thought that he looked like he wanted to kiss you or that you desperately wanted to kiss him back. Stop! Even though you already knew it was too late. 
You had plans. It’d all been strategically mapped out in your head until you could read it forwards and backwards to yourself. Do your best to graduate high enough in the percentage range to get into a decent college. Get a degree for a job, it didn’t matter what it was, that made enough money to help your parents. For all your careful planning, none of it had included him and yet, the universe had you both standing at a stoplight looking at each other like there couldn’t be any other reality where you weren’t meant to end up right here. Standing at this exact light and looking at one another like no one else existed. 
Luckily, the light changed signaling for you to begin to cross. The mass of bodies that had accumulated behind you began to push you both forward and, reluctantly, broke your gaze free from him. Your brain was scrambling to pick up a conversation you weren’t sure how to resurrect. Your mind too busy daydreaming all the scenarios you would’ve taken in different realities if you were braver. Clearing your throat, you did your best to wipe the thought clean and focus on your current reality.
“If it makes you feel better,” you started your body turning to consider him as you spoke, “the study was only ever done on the tropical ants that resided in the forest. The actual effects and what it could do to humans has never been studied. Yet. But I’m willing to bet it would take longer than nine days for it to take hold of a grown adult's nervous system and larger batches.”
He was looking at you in inspired mock horror. You weren’t sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. Or if your unusual fact telling about zombie fungus had completely killed the mood. You got your answer in an excited hush of, “Holy shit it’s like you’re writing your own super villain backstory.” 
A smile erupted on your face as you playfully rolled your eyes away from him. It was hard to miss the mischievous glint in his eyes or the way his whole face still swam with the playfulness that lurked underneath his teasing. Jungkook was so alive. A force that required you to hang on or else you would get swept up in him without even realizing it’d happen. 
You wondered if this is what falling in love felt like. 
“I would make a terrible villain. I’m too clumsy,” you stated. Your weak attempt at downplaying yourself being met with a stern look. 
“How clumsy are we talking?”
“Hmm, I would say, ‘Kronk giving the llama potion to Kuzco,’ kind of clumsy.”
A hiss of air whistled between Jungkook’s teeth. A mock look of worry on his face as his hands moved to reposition his bag. 
“Can we call that clumsy, though?”
“What else would it be?” You asked. 
You could feel the lines grouping together in your forehead just trying to figure out what he was getting at. Jungkook didn’t seem to be in any rush to answer you. The two of you walking a few feet before he must have decided you’d waited long enough for him to reply. 
“I always thought Kronk was stupid throughout the whole movie, but really, he was just a good person. He’s a good guy tasked to do a bad thing and he just wants to make people happy. Even if it means doing the wrong thing.”
You wanted to ask if maybe he was talking more about himself than The Emperor’s New Groove at this point. He faced forward with his brow creased in deep thought and whatever it was that held his thoughts didn’t appear to be anything good. 
“Or,” you started, voice light enough to drag him out of his head, “it’s just a kids movie.”
Sure, Jungkook was looking at you, but he didn’t seem to actually see you. Somewhere inside his head, he was reenacting or seeing something that ate up all the sunshine that lived in his bones. It felt silly to feel a sense of panic about something that might not even be true. And yet, you couldn’t stop the awful thought that sadness was trying to make a home inside his soul. 
Without giving it another thought you reached up and pretended to wipe away a pretend rogue eyelash from his cheek. The suddenness of your fingers brushing on his skin jolted him from wherever his thoughts had held him hostage and back into the present. His eyes darted around your face and his own hand came up to gently take yours. 
“Sorry.” Your words came out breathy as you struggled not to focus on how he was practically holding your hand. “There was an eyelash. The wind must have blown it away.”
The earlier sadness that’d hollowed out his eyes was gone. What replaced it was one of knowing you weren’t telling the truth. His head tilted slightly down to inspect your empty finger of the proof you knew your words didn’t have whose eyes sparked with his usual teasing and something else. Something that left a different kind of heat flooding your cheeks. 
“I’m sure there was.”
Reluctantly, you removed your hand from his and continued to walk. It only took him a couple seconds to fall effortlessly into step beside you making you wonder if his leg was as injured as it seemed. 
A warm silence swelled around you as you continued to walk. A comfortable pace setting between you as he looked in the windows of every store you passed in between the changing streets. He never once asked if you were getting close to your home or how much farther it might be. It was like the moment on the back of the bus. The two of you enjoyed that the other was there without ever feeling the need to say it.
But you knew it was soon coming to an end. In only a few blocks, you’d be home and your fairytale moment would end. You were struggling on how to break this, more to yourself than Jungkook, when you noticed he pulled a Nikon camera from the side of his bag. He was squinting through the lens and taking photos of something up ahead. Of the landscape or the people and buildings that framed it you weren’t sure. 
He must have sensed your silent question as he snapped a few more quick photos before turning to acknowledge you. 
“Y/N, I have a serious question for you.”
It was hard to keep the amusement off your face as you both came to a stop. The place felt random, but it was anything but that to Jungkook. Whatever he saw in this space you both inhabited must have felt like magic to him. 
“Okay. Shoot.”
“Do you think we have enough time for me to take some photos?”
It felt like such an odd request. Why should anyone have to ask to do something that they loved? Jungkook didn’t fully say he loved doing it, but no one spent that much money on a nice camera if it wasn’t something they enjoyed doing. The look on his face was just an added bonus of proving your answer meant something. One that made you wonder why he felt like he needed your permission at all. And then it hit you: he wanted to stay in your company while he did it. 
You considered teasing him, but he looked too vulnerable standing there. You weren’t even sure if he was breathing. A pleading in his eyes that reminded you of a child asking a mother to go on just one more ride before they were forced to go home. You considered giving him the bad news that you had more than homework to do when you arrived home. But that could come another day. On this day, with him, you could spare an hour just to make him happy.
Instead of coming right out and letting him know you’d made up your mind, you decided to play coy. A soft, “Hmm,” hummed around you as you looked everywhere but him. Your index finger tapping on your lips for dramatic flare.
"Ok," You shrugged. "I think I have some free time I could spare."
His eyes squinted in question as you moved to stand in front of him. The movement simply to let a couple go by in peace, but somehow placed you closer in front of him. Jungkook’s gaze was roaming your face to find an answer to a question he hadn’t yet asked. 
“You planned on saying yes this whole time, didn’t you. You were just trying to make me suffer waiting for you to answer.”
You gasped in pretend shock and did your best not to smile at his accusations. By the growing smile on his face you knew you were failing miserably. 
“Me?! I would never do such a thing.”
“You’re secretly a sadist!”
Jungkook’s smile only widened as a scoff of disbelief passed from your lips. Your own smile grew to match his own when his hands lifted up his camera. Seconds later the sound of the shutter clicked and you felt your soul leave your body. The earlier playfulness was swiftly swept in your own dark cloud and the idea you probably looked hideous in that photo. 
“Oh god, Jungkook delete it,” you pleaded. 
Your hands were reaching out to grab tightly at this shirt. Your fingers curled in the white fabric until there was a small chance you could tear holes. The camera in question was being held far from your reach. His hand easily held it above his shoulder as he used one hand to steady you against him. You’d invaded his space without even realizing, but you had no time to be embarrassed. Not when he had a picture of you forever saved on that camera. 
“Why would I delete it?”
He was his usual amused self you could tell, but he wasn’t egging you on. His question was out of curiosity. His own eyes brimming with it as you considered keeping one hand tightly wound in his shirt and the other to jump up and reach for the camera. 
“Because Jungkook I’m not cute. You’ll be lucky if it doesn’t ruin the camera.”
All his earlier playfulness drained from his face and what was left made you instantly feel like you were about to be scolded. His hand that had firmly planted itself on your hip was achingly apparent now as his fingers gripped you closer to him. Your own awareness at how close you actually were to his chest made your lips feel dry. Your tongue flicked out to wet them and god, it took everything in you not to focus on the fact his eyes had followed the movement. 
“Y/N, why would you say that? You shouldn’t let anyone talk down about you, and you shouldn’t do it to yourself either. You’re beautiful.”
He spoke like it was a fact. A statement that not just the two of you knew, but the universe did too. And what were you supposed to say back? While you were held captive to the thought he was still looking from you to your lips. The determination for you to understand his words and believe them setting soft lines in his face. You tried to keep looking at him, but under his watchful gaze you couldn’t keep yourself from fidgeting. Your eyes moved down the line of his body until it landed on the tops of your shoes. 
You weren’t sure what to say back. Thank you didn’t fit here. It didn’t feel like a moment where he was trying to boost your confidence the way a friend did. This felt more like someone who noticed something in you while you hadn’t been looking. 
So instead of saying anything remotely clever back you began to dislodge yourself from him. Your hands releasing their hold on his shirt and forcing his hand off of your hip. Standing there with only inches between you, your body was achingly aware that his hand was gone. It’s weight leaving a burning of longing to have it back forced your hands into your pockets and your body turning away from him. You waited for him to start moving back down the road. The motion forced him to either join you or stay where he was. 
“We should get going before we run out of time.”
You hated yourself for dismissing him. For not being bolder like you’d promised yourself earlier in the day. It would’ve been the perfect time to thank him. To tell him how you were pretty sure there wasn’t a soul on earth more attractive than him, but that what made him beautiful is what he refused to let people see. The soft tone of his voice still singing along to the songs on the back of the bus had ended up being an unspoken lullaby when you’d gone to sleep. 
A part of you considered turning on your heel and telling him this. To tell him that you saw him; actually saw him for who he was and not who he felt like he needed to be. But you just kept moving forward and weren’t surprised when Jungkook found a steady rhythm back beside you. 
The both of you stayed quiet. This time it felt more forced than the easiness of earlier. Like the two of you had so many missed starts at creating a conversation that neither of you could understand why it ended.
You watched him as he focused on the area around him. His camera training on an old couple who sat waiting for the next bus. The husband had clutched his wife’s arm close to his side. In his hands he was peeling what appeared to be an orange and with each freshly peeled slice, he gave one to her and one to himself. No one knew what they were conversing about, but it didn’t matter. To them, they were the only two people there. The wholesomeness of the moment made you wonder what they were like back in their youth. 
You listened to the flutter of the shutter click repeatedly. His hand twisting on the lens to bring it in and out of focus, while he himself remained deadly focused on capturing their moment in time. You were curious how the photos would turn out in the end and wished there was a way to show them how their love translated on film. 
You were in the middle of watching Jungkook turn his attention to a couple birds inside a cherry blossom when he spoke.
“Thank you for agreeing to walk with me while I do this.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Jungkook.”
A sad smile curled his lips as he dropped his camera down in front of him. His thumb skimmed over the buttons to quickly go through what he’d previously taken. The last one he landed on made his entire face light up and you felt a pang of jealousy at what it could be. How you wish he would look at you like that. 
“Maybe, but I feel like I do. Ever since my accident, my appa hasn’t been able to force me into things. For once, I get to just do what I want. Sucks it only had to cost me a friend and a leg to get some freedom.”
Your feet had carried you to the next stop sign. The sudden halt in moving forced you to look at him, really look at Jungkook, like you’d never seen him before. 
He wasn’t looking at you now. His ears a screaming red while his fingers danced over every part of the camera. His eyes roaming over its edges and flicking too fast through pictures to actually even be looking at them. For the first time since you’d met him Jungkook was scared to look at you. Scared for what you might see if you did. 
Looking at him now, you couldn’t have been happier to indulge him. You’d indulge him for the rest of your life if he’d let you. 
“Well, I’m happy to be of service.”
You mentally smacked yourself at your choice of words. Jungkook, however, was backing to his beaming self as he finally glanced in your direction. His eyeing ate up your embarrassment as it was your turn to face forward. Your feet hopping in place as you waited for the light to flash it was okay to walk. 
“I’m supposed to be at physical therapy right now.”
“Wait, what?”
The light was flickering finally for you to all move. Your feet moved to carry you forward unintentionally, just to keep with the flow of traffic, as Jungkook gave you a small shrug for an answer. 
“Did you say you were supposed to be at physical therapy?”
Another shrug and another long pause with no answer. It seemed he had been waiting for you to round the corner onto a quieter pedestrian free street before he replied, “After school. I have appointments almost everyday and I never go.” 
“But why? It’s meant to help you get better, isn’t it?”
“Get better to do what, exactly?” He huffed. Jungkook’s entire body took on a broodier tone. His cane practically dug small holes with each press into the pavement. “Who even says that I can get better?”
“Well, doctors for one,” you pointed out. “I’m sure they wouldn’t have signed you up for it if they didn’t believe you could get better.” 
“If I was going to get better it would’ve happened already.”
It felt like walking on eggshells. This side of Jungkook was the boy you’d met on his first day of class. His guarded demeanor up on high alert, as he kept his gaze stoically forward and his chin held high. 
“You’re not an idiot, Jungkook. You know injuries take time to heal from. It doesn't just magically happen overnight.”
“Who says that I want to get better?”
The coldness in his words forced your legs to stop working. Your feet were unable to move as he continued to push on ahead of you. His own movements became slower now as the long walk was beginning to take its toll on his leg. He knew you weren’t beside him anymore and still he tried to keep pushing forward, before eventually he had no other choice but to turn around. 
The look on his face was as defiant as ever. Underneath that defiance was a sadness so raw you only wanted to reach out and hold him. If just to remind him that he was seen and that his pain mattered.
That’s when the realization hit you.
“Unless you feel like you deserve this.”
The stone façade he’d worked so hard to create in the past few minutes began to chip. His eyes being the first to show by the soft uprising of tears that you were right. Somewhere deep inside Jungkook believed that he deserved what happened to him. That this was punishment for losing a friend at his own hands, even if it wasn’t his fault to begin with. 
The tears that threatened to spill never did, but they were there. They floated dangerously at the surface of Jungkook’s control and he refused to let go. The rawness of his pain hit you and all you wanted was to help ease it. You weren’t sure if he would accept any kind of affection, even in a small hug. So your only option was to move closer to him. As close as he would allow without pushing you away. 
With each step you could see his jaw clenching tighter; pulsing like he was fighting from saying something wicked to send you skirting back. He was just as afraid of what you were about to do as you were at being the one to do it. 
When the tips of your shoes nudged against his you drew your eyes up until they landed on his. A spark of something; fear or uncertainty, flashed in his eyes. Was he expecting you to be cruel? To yell at him to stop being a child and to grow up? How much had he already heard those words shouted by adults? How long had he been standing there like this, in a world full of grief, and no one there to pull him out to breathe before the next wave suffocated him once more. 
You weren’t sure if it was you or if what you said would matter, but it was important he heard it. It was important he knew that this was okay too. 
“You got to forgive yourself sometime, Jungkook.”
The words themselves were simple. Simple and spoken between you as if there was a secret meant only for the two of you to hear. All you really wanted was for him to feel the sincerity of your words for him to know it was okay. Okay to feel sad, unsure, and helpless at times when all the world felt against you. It was okay to not know your first steps and okay to take those first steps when you were ready. Eventually, we needed to forgive, if only to give ourselves the chance to heal and move on. 
His gaze was still misty with unshed tears and still they refused to fall. The pain and defiance that had turned his features harsh began to soften. All that hardness he struggled to keep himself in and others out was beginning to fade and the only thing left was him. All that sunshine that you’d seen lived in his smile and echoed in his laughter that crinkled in the corners of his eyes. The way he cared for others and making them feel cared for. The softness of his singing and the way he eagerly filmed people at their most vulnerable: at their most beautiful. 
It was at this moment you felt your universe shift and tip until it realigned itself. With your fingers back to holding the edges of his shirt it took everything in you not to close those final inches and hug him. Jungkook closed that distance for you instead. 
His lips crashing down on your cheeks causing a soft squeak of surprise to push free from your lips. A chuckle came as he came back into view and your mind struggled to comprehend what happened. 
It wasn’t a kiss on the lips but…
“Did you just kiss my cheek?”
Your hand was up to the aforementioned spot. A wicked smile wiping away all of his sadness until you weren’t sure if it had been real at all or if you’d imagined it. 
“I could kiss your lips if you’d like that instead.” 
If your cheeks could get any hotter you could’ve fried food on them. You felt a surge of disappointment when Jungkook took a reluctant step back from you as his eyes dropped to check the time on his phone.
“As much as I hate to say this: I have to go.”
“All of the sudden you have to go,” you huffed. 
Your words felt brave, but inside your heart was thundering wildly against your chest. 
“I could stay if you want?”
Smoother than expected, Jungkook slid his way back to you. His chest bumping against you making you lose your footing just enough that it forced you to grab on to his shirt. Jungkook’s own hand had moved behind your back to steady you and bring you closer to him all at once. 
You playfully smacked his chest and earned a soft laugh from him. Unfortunately, you found yourself peeling away from him. Your hands grasping at the strap of your bag to keep them from reaching back out for him. 
“Not a chance.”
Your reply earned a playful pout from him as he started walking backwards away from you. 
“I’ll remember that, Y/N!”
You rolled your eyes and turned around to start walking the rest of the way home. You didn’t get more than a few feet before he called back to you. Your eyes found him instantly in a crowd of people that continued to pass in front of him.
“I forgot to ask: what’s your number!”
He held up a pen expecting you to come back to him and write it down presumably on his arm or hand. You didn’t see any paper and could only assume. You knew it was all just a ploy to get you to come to him. The knowledge evident by the wicked grin on his face. 
“You’re a math wiz, right?” Jungkook was perplexed for a second before you started reciting your number as loud as you were willing to shout it. The wind blew it away as he no doubt struggled to listen. 
“Wow! What a way to play dirty.”
“If it’s meant to be you’ll figure it out.”
And maybe that was true. Maybe you both had a chance to write your own love story like from the movies and shows you used to watch with your mom. Like Rose and Jack from Titanic or Ross and Rachel...okay...maybe more like Chandler and Monica. Or maybe you were an idiot and should’ve just gone and wrote it down. It was too late now as he was already on the other side of the street. 
You were ready to walk the rest of the way kicking yourself for being so lame when you heard him call your name again. When you turned you didn’t expect him to be trotting across the road. You didn’t expect him to stop in front of you and give you another quick kiss on the cheek, this one gentler than before, with every fiber of your body remembering just how soft his lips felt. 
“I could fall in love with you, ya know.”
You watched as in the same breath he hopped back across the street and couldn’t help but think you already had. 
————-
Later that night you were snuggled up inside the sheets of your bed. The only thing sticking out was the current book you were reading and the top of your head. 
You hadn’t heard from Jungkook the rest of the day. Your heart hammered inside your chest every time your phone chimed with a new message only to deflate when you realized it wasn’t him. You loved your friends and all, but they weren’t who you’d been looking forward to all evening. 
Maybe you should’ve just gone to him and written down your number. Like a normal human being would’ve done. You just had to be clever and yell it out like a lunatic. For all you knew, you could end up with a random stranger texting you at all hours. 
Your current book that you were supposed to be reading but couldn’t really read because you couldn’t focus was now face planted onto your nose. A soft groan echoing into its pages as you fought not to close it and throw it somewhere in your room. You were a hundred percent sure you’d read the same sentence a few dozen times at this point. 
In the morning, you decided, you most definitely were just going to write it down. Like a sane person would’ve done. You closed your book and placed it down beside you. Your eyes roaming up to stare at your ceiling and wondering if you were ever actually going to go to sleep when your phone chimed off. 
You weren’t in any hurry to look. It could just be your parents from the restaurant making sure you were in bed. It could be one of your friends asking about making plans this weekend. It was probably still everyone but Jungkook and yet…
Your curiosity got the better of you. You shuffled inside your comforter, reached an arm out to grab your phone from the nightstand, and quickly pulled it back inside. You waited for your facial ID to unlock the screen to see who or what you’d received. Your own mind hyping up the suspense of the moment until it read over a reminder text from your dad about your chores for the upcoming weekends. 
You hated you’d let yourself have even a glimmer of hope. It was official. You’d ruined your chances when it came to giving out your number. A groan was creeping its way up your throat as you quickly sent back a text. You knew your chores took over almost every weekend. Even when you’d made plans with friends, you’d ended up never going. 
As soon as you’d hit send you were rolling over to put your phone back on your nightstand. The shrill sound of pinging messages stopped you cold. There was no way your dad had learned to text back that fast. You laid yourself flat back against the mattress and brought the phone to hover above your face. 
Y/N?
Is this the right number finally? 
Hello?!!
If this is the wrong person, I’m sorry. I swear I’m not crazy. Just looking for a girl. 
Your heart leapt into your throat. It was beating so hard you were scared it would burst from your chest. Your eyes were still skimming over the line of text messages when another one sounded. You were so caught up in reading the next line you weren’t aware your clammy fingers had let the phone slip and it crash landed down on your face. 
“Ooow!”
One hand scrambled to pick it back up off your face, while the other massaged the now swelling brim of your nose. 
How many people have you texted before me?
There wasn’t a need to send a hi. To give him a coy response to continue to tease him or make him believe he’d gotten it wrong again. Your curiosity at the desperate way he seemed to have been looking for you was endearing. The thought that he’d spent so much time sending out random messages for a response, no matter how crazy he looked, felt silly but cute too. 
Jungkook thought you were worth the trouble. 
OH MY GOD IS IT REALLY YOU?! And maybe like... seventeen. 
You snuggled deeper into your comforter as a soft giggle joined the growing smile across your face. 
I’m sorry I should have just wrote it down when you offered the pen lol
It definitely would’ve made it a lot easier.
You’d asked yourself that question all evening while you’d waited for him. You bit your lips as your fingers hovered over the keyboard. Unsure if you should take the chance and tell him. 
“Screw it,” you whispered as you typed. 
Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting forever. 
Well, I’m sorry to keep you waiting. This girl thought it was a good idea to shout random numbers at me 😅😂.
Your head was shaking as you tried to figure out something witty to say. You couldn’t believe you were here. Inside your comforter cave smiling at your phone like a lunatic and wondering if maybe Jungkook was doing the same. Or what was he even doing? You were getting ready to type out that exact question when your phone pinged to life. 
So, ugh, on to more important matters. It read. I was thinking about your love of random facts and I think I got one for you. 
Ooooooo kekeke this should be good 
Do you want to know it or not? 
Okay okay! Lol please tell me Kookie
You could practically feel him screaming through your phone as a sideways glance emoji was sent back in a long lined response. You wondered if you’d completely ruined his fact telling when your phone went off. 
I found this article that said the chances of finding your soulmate out of 500,000,000 people was impossible. But, if you just place it to where you are, to your age group, and timing it narrows it down to a 1 in 10,000 chance. What I’m trying to get at is...I think your my 1 in 10,000
You read the message on repeat. Over and over until you were sure you’d practically memorized it front and back. You wanted to ask him for his source material. Where such an article could exist. None of that really mattered to you and how could it? 
You must have spaced out because you never sent him a reply. Your thoughts were still spinning in a world all their own as you wondered if he was sitting at his desk doing homework or lying in bed. If he was inside or outside and what had made him so brave to send that message: believing you felt the same. 
The vibration of the phone brought you back down to earth. You expected to see question marks or another line of, “Hello?” To have left him on read. Instead, the only thing that greeted you was a simple, Goodnight, Y/N. 
This time there was no hesitation from you. 
Goodnight, Jungkook
See you in the morning ?
His text felt so hopeful. A silent undertone that if you said no there was a chance you’d break him. You bit your lip as you thought about what this meant. The beginning of small promises that eventually grew into bigger ones. 
I’ll meet you at the gate
You both finished up with another round of good night’s that felt like the embarrassing texting equivalent of “no you hang up! No you!” And placed your phone back on your night stand. It took forever for the sandman to finally claim you. Your dreams consisting of the magic of being Jungkook’s 1 in 10,000. 
313 notes · View notes
shin-city · 4 years
Text
Attentive Detention [Denki Kaminari x Reader]
a/n: kaminari is aged up to 18! (see end for more notes!)
genre: smut
word count: 3.8k
tags: sexual content, pwp, a sprinkle of dubcon, a pinch of humiliation, degrading, oral sex (female receiving), fingering, squirting, quirk play, overstimulation, Denki is a sadist lol
~
“This is all your fault,” you grumbled, glaring at the back of the blonde head of hair sitting in front of you. He instantly turned around, returning a glare just as icy.
“My fault? You’re the one who can’t take a joke,” he whispered angrily.
You rolled your eyes, dropping your pen that had stilled in the middle of writing, “I will not fight with Denki Kaminari,” for the 59th time out of 100.
“Okay, for the thousandth time- shocking me in the middle of class is not a joke.”
Yes, your classmate had an annoying habit of using his quirk on you at the most inappropriate of times, despite how many times you’d told him to stop doing it. He would always get a kick out of how flustered you’d get before halfheartedly smacking him and telling him off.
You both turned your attention to the front of the classroom once you heard a throat clear, being met with the hard stare of your teacher.
“Surely the two of you haven’t finished your sentences already,” Mr. Aizawa declared, raising a brow at the both of you.
“S-sorry, Mr. Aizawa. I’m almost done,” Kaminari smiled at him, although looking over his shoulder you could see that he’d only written, “I will not fight with y/l/n y/n,” 20 times before beginning to doodle random images all over his paper.
Following your outburst in class earlier that day after Denki had shocked you one time too many, Mr. Aizawa was fed up with the two of you bickering and gave you both detention. He’d lectured you on how it was important for you to get along seeing as you were teammates, and made the two of you promise to stop fighting with each other. He’d also assigned the two of you to write it 100 times each.
Aizawa stood up, eyeing both of you momentarily before shuffling lazily toward the door. “I’m going to the teachers lounge for a bit. I trust that the two of you will behave, because if you don’t,” he mumbled, pausing to glare at both of you over his shoulder. “You’ll be writing those sentences 1,000 times each.” He pulled open the door, adjusting his scarf before making his exit.
Kaminari waited until Aizawa’s footsteps could no longer be heard before spinning around entirely in his desk to face you. He had that signature smirk of his on his face, which could only mean he was up to no good.
“Turn around,” you said firmly. “We’re never gonna hear the end of it if he comes back and we’re arguing.”
He chuckled at that, snatching your pen from your hand and tucking it in his pocket. “Why do we have to argue? Can’t we just talk?”
You clenched your teeth, your hands balling up into fists as you glared at him. You knew you shouldn’t give him the satisfaction of getting you so riled up, but he was so annoying sometimes that it was hard not to.
“Maybe if you didn’t do stupid shit like that, we could just talk,” you spat, holding your hand out in front of him. “Now give it back.”
He looked down at your palm, a sinister smirk on his lips. You should’ve known what was coming next, but you didn’t register it quickly enough and before you knew it he was pressing his index finger against your palm, a small shock diffusing throughout your hand.
“D-Denki!” you whined, immediately pulling your hand away and dramatically clutching it to your chest as if it hurt that badly. It didn’t; in fact, it almost felt... good, but you would never tell him that.
He threw his head back in laughter, but returned his gaze to you in time to see your cheeks flush. That was his favorite part about teasing you.
“It’s not funny,” you mumbled through a bitten lip, grateful for the desk that covered your thighs, which had involuntarily clenched together the moment he touched you.
As Kaminari’s laughter died down, you noticed him staring at you intently, his smirk fading along with his laughter. His eyelids lowered ever so slightly, and this new expression he’d taken on had you blushing even more. His eyes glinted with mischief as usual, but...there was something else...
“Hey, why’re you looking at me like that....,” you seethed, turning to look away from him as you cheeks grew hotter. You tensed up when his hands extended toward you, but you relaxed a little when they grabbed the edges of your desk.
“You know,” he began, leaning over your desk until your faces were just a couple of inches away from each other. “I think you might like when I do that to you.”
Your eyes widened as you gawked at him, sitting back in your seat in an attempt to close the distance between you, but he only leaned in closer.
“What are you talking about? What’s gotten into you?”
It was like a switch flipped in him or something. He’d tease you all the time, yes, but never like this. But Denki had realized something. He’d noticed how your brows furrowed when he touched you...how you tensed up; how you’d whimper his name, practically moaning it. How had he not noticed it before?
You liked when he electrocuted you.
“What’s gotten into me? What’s gotten into you?”
He smirked as he tightened his grip on your desk, the legs scraping against the floor as he slid it away from you. You didn’t even try to stop him. All you could do was stare pathetically as he moved it until it was no longer between you. The only thing separating you two was the back of his chair, which he slouched over seductively. Slowly, he reached a hand toward you, and you watched in anticipation, frozen in your seat. He gave you ample time to stop him, but you never even attempted to. Before you knew it, his fingertips were brushing against your bare knee, just below your uniform skirt. You could see the electricity buzz around his fingers as he gave you a light shock.
You bit your lip in a failed attempt to hold back a whimper, your thighs pressing together which Denki could now fully see.
“It’s just as I thought,” he chuckled, pulling his hand away and turning back around. You thought he was done messing with you until he spun his whole chair around, now facing you with nothing in between you. He scooted closer and closer, until your knees were almost touching. “You’re so naughty, y/n,” he mused.
Your mouth fell open at his comment, not knowing how to respond. Usually you’d call him a name or two and hit him a couple of times, but that was when he was teasing you playfully. Now, he was teasing you lustfully and your body was responding to him better than your own mouth could.
“I...I...,” was all you could sputter, becoming very aware of the dampness between your legs. You desperately wanted him to touch you again, your worries about crossing that line with him settling in the back of your mind.
“You what?” he asked, sinister smirk playing on his lips. “C’mon, spit it out. You always have so much to say, don’t you?”
His fingertips graced your knee again as he shocked you, this time giving it a little bit more than he normally did. He was careful not to over do it; testing your limits to see how you’d react to different wattages.
“Denki,” you whined, becoming very aware of the growing dampness between your legs. “Please.”
“Please what?” he retorted. “Tell me what you want.”
You tried to find the words, but you couldn’t concentrate on anything except his hand on you. Even if you could manage to utter a comprehensible sentence, you weren’t even sure what you’d say. You weren’t sure if you were pleading him to go or stop. A part of you knew you shouldn’t be letting things get this far with him, especially in the classroom. But another part of you was eager for more; craving his touch. You were curious as to just how far this would go, as was he.
Following your silence, his hand spread out to firmly grip your thigh, fingertips digging into your flesh as he upped the wattage just a little bit more. That was all it took to break through what was left of your restraint, a moan emanating past your lips before you could stop it. Your thighs clenched once again, this time trapping a part of his hand between them as your body trembled.
A wicked grin spread across his face as he watched your body shudder under his touch. “Look at you...such a dirty girl.”
Your stomach did somersaults as he stood up, his hand never leaving your skin as he loomed over you. When you lifted your gaze to look at him, his face was only centimetres from yours, his hair tickling your check as he hovered his lips just over your ear. “I wonder...” he began, his free hand now gripping your other thigh. “Just how many times I made you wet from doing this...”
He activated his quirk through his other hand, both of them now shocking your thighs rhythmically. He snickered menacingly as you cried out his name, your hand reaching out to clutch his arm because you felt as though you’d fall over if you didn’t.
“That’s it, baby, let me hear you.” His warm breath fanned your ear as he whispered sinfully into it, and another series of shocks rattled your body. “Tell me how good it feels.”
“Denki...,” you mewled, clutching desperately at his sleeve. “We... someone might walk in.”
“And? What, are you worried someone might see what a little slut you’re being for me right now?”
Kaminari’s fingers inched higher up your thighs, his fingertips now underneath the hem of your uniform skirt. You wondered how far he’d go, because despite your feeble warning about getting caught, you knew you weren’t going to stop him. You both did.
“Do you want me to stop? All you have to do is say so,” he mumbled into your neck before placing a soft kiss on the delicate skin just below your ear. His hands crept further up until they disappeared underneath your skirt, though he no longer shocked you; waiting for you to tell him what he already knew- what you couldn’t deny any longer.
“N-no...,” you uttered, fidgeting as his tongue darted out to lick at your neck. “I don’t want you to stop.”
That was all the confirmation he needed to resume his ministrations on your thighs, buzzing at them more feverishly after your admission had caused his pants to grow tighter. He detached his lips from your neck, peppering kisses across your cheek until he was at the corner of your mouth. He pulled away from you slightly, gazing hungrily at your lips. He desperately wanted to feel them on his, but he wanted you to initiate it. He wanted you to show him just how much you wanted him.
“Kiss me,” he ordered, his tone playful, but demanding as well.
You didn’t hesitate, meeting him halfway and closing the gap between the two of you. You pressed your lips against his, wrapping a hand around the back of his neck, and another in his soft, blonde locks. He returned the kiss with fervor, immediately deepening it and sliding his tongue into your mouth. He swallowed your moans, returning them every so often when you’d roll your tongue slowly against his, or when you’d tug at his lip particularly hard. He’d removed his hands from underneath your skirt and placed them on your knees, gripping them needily. He broke the kiss shortly thereafter, attaching his lips to your throat instead.
“Open,” he commanded, tapping at your knees to signal you to open your legs for him. You complied, blushing as you shifted in your seat into the lewd position. You grew even more flustered when he knelt before you, his face right in front of your aching core. He drummed his buzzing fingers back up your thighs, gazing up at you as he gripped the hem up of your skirt and slowly hiked it up towards your hips- just enough to see a peak of your dampening underwear.
You averted your gaze from him when he began to snicker, licking a stripe on your inner thigh. “I can’t believe how wet you are already.”
The way he kept laughing at you had you soaking your panties even more. It was embarrassing yes, but something about his teasing tone sent shivers down your spine and straight to your dripping cunt.
You gasped when Denki pressed his thumb against your clothed clit, rubbing small circles through the wet patch on your panties. Small moans broke past your lips as he played with the speed and pressure, watching your face to gauge your reactions.
“I bet you want me to shock you here, don’t you?” He paused the movements of his thumb and looked up at you, indicating that the question wasn’t rhetorical, and that he was waiting on an answer.
“Y-Yes,” you whimpered, pathetically grinding yourself against his hand. “Please, Denki, I want it.”
He laughed against your thigh, his hands disappearing under your skirt to grip the waistband of your panties.
“Look at you- begging, and I didn’t even have to ask you to. You really are a slut, aren’t you y/n?” He dragged your panties down your thighs painfully slow, before letting them drop around your ankles. “Say it. Tell me what a little slut you are so that I can treat you like one.”
Kaminari’s hands gripped your thighs firmly as he spread them even further, your dripping heat glistening in front of him like a meal waiting to be devoured, and oh, was he going to devour you.
Your face went crimson at his vulgar words, but you still uttered what he wanted to hear. “I’m a slut, Kaminari. I’m such a s-slut. Your slut.”
“Yeah, that’s right you are,” he mused from between your legs before leaning in to lick along your folds. Your body trembled immediately. He hadn’t even used his quirk there yet, but still you felt like every one of your nerve endings were live wires. He continued to lap at your cunt, relishing in the taste of your essence that had accumulated there. He mumbled something about how sweet you were, but you couldn’t quite hear him over your own moans.
He began to softly flick his tongue against your clit, shocking you both figuratively and literally as he channeled his quirk through his tongue.
“Ohhh my f-, Denki~” you cried out, bucking your hips against his face. He grunted and groaned into your pussy, lapping at you faster and harder and zapping at you just the same. There was no way you were going to last much longer like this, and he could tell you were nearing your climax, prompting him to wrap his lips around your clit and suck- hard, buzzing at the nub with his tongue.
Your hands flew to his mop of blonde hair, tugging at his roots as you ground your pussy against his mouth. “Denki- ahh~, I’m g-gonna c-”
“I know, baby,” he murmured into your cunt. “ Cum for me, my naughty girl. Let me taste you.”
Your mouth fell open and your moans caught in your throat as you teetered on the edge of your climax. The lewd sounds of Denki sucking and licking at your pussy filled the classroom. He shocked you for a particularly long period of time, and that was all it took to push you over the edge. You cried out his name as you came on his mouth and chin, Denki lapping it up diligently.
“So good,” he groaned into your cunt, not letting up even a little bit. “So sweet.”
You tugged at his hair in an attempt to pull him away, your clit feeling over sensitive and over stimulated, but he didn’t budge. In fact, he only devoured you more feverishly.
“W-Wait I... c-can’t, it’s too much Denki,” you mewled, trying to close your legs but he wouldn’t allow it.
“Oh, baby,” he smiled into your pussy, kissing your swollen clit. “Yes you can. Because you’re my little slut, aren’t you? That’s what you said, right?”
He spared you no time to respond, sinking two fingers whirring with electricity into your dripping heat. He pressed them against that soft, spongy spot inside you, rubbing at it as he shocked you rhythmically.
The combination of electricity on both your clit and your g-spot had you seeing stars and grabbing fistfuls of his hair as you moaned out for him.
You felt him snicker into your core. “Don’t you think you’re being a little loud? Someone might hear you.”
You weren’t even paying attention as he dragged his free hand down your leg, his fingers hooking around your panties that now hung around one of your ankles. He pulled it off, detaching his mouth from your clit as he did so. You opened your mouth to protest, and he used the opportunity to reach up and stuff your balled up panties into your mouth.
He stood up, slouching so that he was eye level with you, never once ceasing the driving of his fingers into your cunt.
“So cute~” he mused, pushing a third finger into you like it was nothing. “I bet you can taste your sweet little pussy now, too. I’d ask how it tastes...but I guess you can’t answer me, huh...”
You whimpered and whined pathetically around the makeshift gag, saliva dribbling out of the corner of your mouth as your body shook with pleasure. You were so embarrassed, and yet so aroused all at once. It didn’t help that Kaminari darted his tongue out to lewdly lick up the small stream of saliva that escaped your mouth, before pressing his lips to your ear.
“Let’s make you cum one more time, yeah? Before Mr. Aizawa comes back and sees you like this. Though, you’d probably like that, wouldn’t you?”
You blushed as you shook your head feverishly and mumbled around your panties, denying the accusation.
“No? Is that why your tight, little pussy clenched around my fingers when I said that?” he snickered, nibbling on your earlobe before growling how dirty you were into your ear.
The blend of his fingers and sinful words had you peaking again, so close to coming, and he could sense it too. He upped the wattage of his fingers just a little bit more, smirking into your skin as you writhed beneath him.
“Cum for me, baby,” he moaned sensually into your ear, stopping to kiss your jaw. “Cum on my fingers like the good slut you are.”
The room filled with the squelching of his fingers pounding relentlessly into you. You reached a hand out to grip his bicep, digging your nails into his arm. He used his free hand to rub furiously at your clit, pushing you over the edge. Before you even knew what was going on, a clear fluid was streaming from your fluttering cunt, soaking your thighs.
He didn’t stop until the squirting did, watching in awe as you spurted out so much.
If you weren’t so dazed by your mind-numbing orgasm, you would’ve been embarrassed. There was no point in being shameful anyway. Denki proudly licked up every last drop from your cunt and thighs.
He suckled on your neck as he waited for you to calm down, your convulsing body settling into a light tremor as you came down from the euphoric feeling.
He pulled the damp panties out of your mouth, and replaced them with his cum-covered fingers, discreetly tucking your underwear in his pocket as you sucked your flavor off of him.
“Who knew you were so naughty,” he smirked at you, his cock growing harder as he took in your drained expression. “Imagine all the fun we could’ve been having.”
He desperately wanted to fuck you; to feel your tight pussy wrap around his cock like it did his fingers. But it’d have to wait for another time, for your teacher would probably be back any minute now.
“Denki...,” you whimpered around his fingers before he pulled them out of your mouth. “That was so-”
Your eyes widened as you heard heavy footsteps trudging down the hallway, a telltale sign that your teacher was returning. Denki found amusement in your horrified expression, grinning wickedly at you.
“I’d keep those legs closed if I were you. Wouldn’t want to give Mr. Aizawa a free show, now would you?” he chuckled, returning your desk to its place in front of you before sitting in his own seat.
He turned around to look at you once more, a smirk playing on his lips. “Oh, and you’d better hope he doesn’t see what a mess you’ve made, either.”
Kaminari looked down at the floor below you, and your eyes widened in horror as you followed his gaze to the small puddle under you, expanding as more of your essence dripped off of your chair.
He laughed as you brought a hand up to your mouth and gasped, your face flushing crimson. You felt your stomach drop as the classroom door slid open, a groggy looking Aizawa lumbering into the room.
“I take it the two of you behaved,” he grumbled, sitting down at his desk.
“Yes, Mr. Aizawa,” Denki responded confidently, before turning to look at you. “Didn’t we, y/n?”
Aizawa and Denki both looked at you expectantly, awaiting your answer.
“Y-yes. We behaved, Mr. Aizawa,” you lied.
Aizawa took notice of how flustered you looked, and how pink your cheeks were. His brows furrowed, head cocking to the side as he stared at you.
“Are you alright? You look a little rattled. He didn’t do anything to you, did he?” he inquired, throwing an accusatory glance at Kaminari.
“N-no, sir. I’m fine,” you assured him, offering him a small smile as you lied once again.
He looked at the both of you suspiciously before clearing his throat. “Well, you two are free to go. You can leave your papers on your desks. Enjoy your weekend,” he muttered, averting his attention to some assignments that needed grading.
You were very aware of the small droplets of liquid that dribbled down your legs as you stood up to gather your things. Denki noticed too, not even trying to not make it obvious. You were just grateful that Mr. Aizawa was too preoccupied to notice.
You left the classroom with unfinished papers and a puddle on the floor, both of which the two of you would probably have to answer to when you returned to class the following Monday. But you both were too excited about the new dynamic of your relationship to care in that moment. All either of you could think about were the inevitable escapades that were surely in your future.
~
a/n: that escalated quickly 👀 a sequel to this can definitely be expected to come in the near future!
2K notes · View notes
blog4snape · 4 years
Text
What if I Meant it? (2)
Pairing: (young) Severus Snape (M) x Reader (F) 
Genre: Fluff with some soft angst
Rating: Citrus (very safe for work)
Summary: A follow-up from the previous chapter. After Severus leaves your classroom, you notice he left his book behind.
Warnings: *spoilers* invasion of privacy
Word Count: 1.7K
Date Written: 9/10/2020
~~~~
June 18th, 1978
After Severus left your classroom in a huff, you sighed, turning your gaze over to the indentation he had left in the pit. He had forgotten his book. You pulled yourself up from your chair and crossed the room to the fortress of pillows, gingerly picking up the discarded item. The book opened naturally to an outlined message, the words smudged from constant touch. Several pages were folded into the shape of a heart with notes written hastily into the inner margins. Curious, you squinted your eyes trying to read the blotched and scribbled writing in the inner corner of the book. Your face flushed, immediately snapping the book shut and holding it farther away from you.
After a moment of collecting yourself, you stared down at the cover of his book. It was an outdated divination book, one he must have gotten from a secondhand book shop for next to nothing. ‘But then again,’ you thought to yourself, ‘all of divination is quite outdated.” You scratched your scalp. 
In your syllabus and throughout the first week of classes, you had expressed that there was no need for any of your students to buy the books. You didn’t require any of your students to purchase divination books, as most of the lessons you taught were hands-on anyway and the books were frankly full of rubbish. Tracing a finger over the worn-out cover, you smiled softly to yourself. Severus was an excellent listener--it couldn’t have been a mishearing--he must have taken an interest in the subject to go out of his way to purchase a divination book. 
‘Or in you.’ The words floated in your head, reminding you of the notes you had just seen scratched into the book still in your hands. 
You sighed, laying in the pit. It was still warm from where Severus had been resting, and you caught a hint of the scent of pine and lavender that would tend to cling to him. You opened the book once more, flipping through the notes he had written.
“That dunderhead Potter wasn’t paying attention to the lesson on Ichthyomancy. He got slapped by the fish we were working with today-”
You laughed, remembering the giant trout that smacked James Potter’s face last week when he decided to mess with it during your lesson after your instruction not to. “You deserved it, Potter,” you laughed, causing other students to follow your footsteps. You said it then and you’d say it again now. 
“-It was pretty great, even the professor laughed at him. She has a cute laugh.” 
As your eyes traveled further down the page, seeing what Severus thought of your laugh made it halt in your throat. Your cheeks burned as you continued to read the comments he wrote. The majority of all of the writing was about divination class- most of them were notes he had written from the lectures. You allowed yourself to have a new teacher’s proud grin, seeing that he was getting a lot out of your lessons. But as you kept turning pages, you found yourself appearing in the margins more and more. Not all of the words were about you, but many of them mentioned you in some way or another. 
‘I told her I had taken quite a liking to ferns. The next week she waved me over after class with a huge smile on her face. She looked so excited. She gave me a tiny fern plant whose sparse fronds had yet to unfurl.’ 
Next to the note was a small doodle of a baby fern. You grinned, it was the cutest drawing you’ve ever seen.
‘She tutored me after class today. She told me to “keep up the good work” and hugged me afterward.’
You nodded, glad to help your students feel more confident in their abilities and glad that Severus Snape was one of them.
‘She baked us biscuits because we all got high marks on the test last week. They tasted good.’
You smiled, happy to know your students liked your gifts. For every test they aced, you would give your students biscuits as a reward. You figured the upperclassmen deserved a treat every now and then, as they’re usually stressing about the OWLs and their NEWT classes.
‘She has pretty eyes.’
Your smile faded. You had to read that line again. You adjusted the book in your hands, moving one hand to your temple. Were you reading that right? 
‘She held me while I cried. It was all I’ve ever wanted. I want her to hold me again.’
‘She doesn’t want to tell me about who she saw that night. But, she didn’t ask me about the werewolf. So I guess I’ll stop asking her. For now.’ 
That night a boggart was in your classroom. You bit your index nail, images of your boggart pressing into your mind. With all that had been happening lately, you didn’t even realize he had stopped asking you but you instantly felt gratitude blossom in your chest. You read the past two notes again, feeling regret at the way you handled the situation. You wished you had been harsher. Any other teacher wouldn’t have given in to his demands. But he wasn’t just your student--he was your old friend.  
‘Her hands are soft.’
Was he just your friend? Your heart thumped, wondering if he only thought of you as his friend, also.
‘I like her plants. She’s got a bunch all over the classroom. Whenever I ask her about one, she gets so excited and tells me all she can about it. I already knew most of it, but I haven’t the heart to interrupt her. I like when she gets passionate about something, and the way she rambles about plants is cute.’
The note was surrounded by small drawings of the plants around your classroom. You stroked the ink outlines of the leaves with an appreciative grin. He was rather talented.
‘She’s so cute when she’s setting something on fire.’
Despite the flush on your cheeks, you chuckled a bit. Divination allowed you to set a lot of things on fire, and sometimes you seemed just a bit too eager. ‘So are you,’ you murmured, thinking of Severus’ passion for learning.
‘She smiled at me today and told me something. I was too focused on her mouth to remember what she said.’ 
You absentmindedly stroked your lips. You took a moment to swear at yourself- urging yourself to stop reading this book, to stop reading Severus’ private feelings, and to stop feeling your own feelings, but you just kept going. 
‘She named one of her plants, “Snargs.” I don’t know why, because it wasn’t even a Snargaluff, but it made me chuckle anyway.’
You smiled at the mention of your plant. Next to the note was a drawing of Snargs, your forever-flowering cactus with the name ‘Snargs’ written in a curly font above the plant. You looked up, seeing Snargs sitting on the high windowsill with his petals dancing in the soft summer breeze. You blew a kiss to him, placing his weekly watering schedule at the back of your mind as you kept reading.
‘She gave me a gift last Christmas. It was a new bag for my books. I saw her staring at the holes in my old bag the month before. The box didn’t have a sender, but I knew it was her. I could smell her perfume on it and it was her handwriting on the note inside.’
Embarrassed, you scratched the inside of your arm. You tried to be sneaky about your gift but it was certainly difficult getting anything past someone as observant as Severus. The two of you didn’t participate in the holiday’s secret santa event, but you could tell he desperately needed a new bag. His previous bag looked a century old, full of holes and nearly falling apart at the seams. His materials constantly fell out of his bag, and you had grown sorrowful every time he had to backtrack with downfallen eyes and a red face to retrieve his dropped items. You knew he didn’t want your pity, and you were afraid if you gave the bag to him in person he’d reject it, so you decided to be as anonymous as possible. You were glad he decided to use it anyway despite knowing where it came from in the end. Smiling, you wondered if he’d accept the gift if it came from anyone else.
Then, for the next few pages shaped like a heart, he had written your name in the margin in his best calligraphy, with pulsing hearts, twinkling stars, blossoming flowers, swimming fish, and tiny sketches of tarot cards. You stared, mesmerized at his magicked art, caressing the moving lines with your fingers. He wrote your names together in a heart, side by side with his. You couldn’t help the smile bubbling onto your curious face as you slowly took in every addition, fiddling with the corner of the dog-eared pages that had been shaped into a heart. You flipped the page, confused--there were tiny hearts drawn around an inky black mass. The mass was a jumble of rough sketch-lines, but they started to move. Your breath caught in your throat as the lines scribbled down on the paper formed an image of you, turning around and smiling. Nothing but astounding brightness was in your features, a direct contrast to the next notes he had written down. 
‘I wonder if she feels the same as I do. She has to, right?’
You just couldn’t answer that question right now. You bit your lip, glancing up at the door as if Severus could burst in at any moment. You sighed, thinking about him as your eyes dropped back to the writing. Swallowing the lump in your throat, you stroked the next horrible words beneath your finger, feeling his self-doubt emanating from the paper.
‘But who could ever like someone like me?’
The next note was a long paragraph, but whatever words you could see were smudged and crossed out. Ink had been spilled on top of the page, the black streaks marring the yellowed pages. The corner of the page was brandished with scorch marks. 
~~~~
A/N: Thank you for reading!  These “one-shots” (lol) are from a series called Afterimages of You. Here’s the masterlist for all of the one shots I have posted in the series. a big ol thank you to @thats-mrs-snape-to-you​  @bush-viper-cutie​ and @littl-prince​ for helping me, i love you guys!!
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stardestroyer81 · 3 years
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With the arrival of September at last, we're now closer than we've ever been to the spook-tastic month that is October! It was around this time of last year that my love for plague doctors really began to blossom, too; even though I had designed her in July, I didn't get around to showing my first plague doctor OC, Patricia Ravenwood, until mid-August.
But this post isn't about Patricia, as her time to shine was back in July when I celebrated the one-year anniversary of her initial design. Now, a one-year anniversary of my other plague doctor character's initial design is upon us, because on September 4th of last year, my very own plaguesona Quincy T. Page was conceived...
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And now he's back just in time for Autumn, sporting a new look!
It shouldn't come as much surprise that Quinn is one of my favorite characters, which is exactly why I leapt at the chance to get to draw him for the one-year anniversary of when I first drew him! Since Quinn's first outing, he's had a few minor changes in his design here and there, the most prevalent of which (That I find, at least) being the super curved beak on his mask.
But I couldn't help but feel like that his design was... missing something. Don't get me wrong, I was really happy with the original version of Quinn's look when I first drew him, but I felt as though there could be a few touches-up that could be made to really make him stand out.
Enter Quinn's hair! The addition of Quinn's hair is the single most obvious change between this iteration and the previous, and what's interesting about it is that it started out as a mere test. In a previous post that detailed all kinds of Quinn trivia, I noted that he has fluffy, copper hair when he isn't wearing his mask and balaclava.
I mentioned having a sketch of a maskless Quinn drawn, which ultimately featured what his hair looked like, but other than that, I continued to draw masked Quinn with a balaclava that concealed his hair... until I wondered what he would look like with the mask and without the balaclava.
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So, I took to MS Paint and whipped up a quick concept doodle of what it would look like, and I fell in love with the result immediately. I knew right away that this would be Quinn's definitive look from then on, and all that was left was to wait until the next time I drew him to put the concept I had drawn to good use!
You'll notice that Quinn's mask in the above doodle has a noticeably straight beak, and that's only because I couldn't get the curve to look right as I drew the whole thing by mouse. However, you'll also notice the addition of some smaller details on his mask, which I've included in his final design to a greater degree!
And finally, the last change I gave Quinn were the lazy daisy patterns (As suggested by my wonderful mentor @plague-doctor-queer!) on the blue fabric highlights on his robe. Originally, this design was exclusive to the fabric stripe on his hat only, and that's merely because I had a little trouble getting the pattern to look right anywhere else, but once I learned how to use the material dialog in Medibang, it made it a whole lot easier!
It was really wonderful to get to draw Quinn again, and with how wonderful he ended up looking, I do intend on drawing him a whole lot more in the future! I hope you've enjoyed his new design and the deep dive detailing the process of it!
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lovinkiri · 3 years
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My Muse
Tenya Iida x Reader
Description: Reader is an artist who is shy about their art work. Due to an accident, their sketchbook ends up in Tenya's hands. Why are there hearts around his name?
Thank you for the request @coleluuviida ! I had fun writing this and I hope you like it! 💞
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You bit your lip in frustration, knowing you were going to fail the test you’d have coming up this week. The lesson was difficult, sure, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was how good Tenya looked. 
Damn, he was such a distraction. 
You watched as he raised his hand to answer another question, he’d already answered most of them so Aizawa-Sensei probably wasn’t gonna choose him. 
You couldn’t help but admire his broad shoulders, strong hands, and chiseled jaw. The details of his neck and his focused stare. And before you know it, you were slowly opening your sketchbook so as to not let Aizawa-Sensei catch you.
You were just going to doodle for a bit, then you’d get back work. Easy peasy.. Well, that’s what you tried to tell yourself.
But you couldn’t help it. It went from an outline to a full, detailed drawing, and of Tenya nonetheless. You’d forgotten how many times you’d drawn him in class.
You rarely even had to glance up, only looking to double-check the finer details. But why wouldn’t you be so sure? He was practically all you could think about sometimes.
You smiled softly, unconsciously doodling hearts around the drawing midway through before continuing. 
And before you knew it, today’s lesson was over. “Alright, everyone. Class is dismissed, and I expect tomorrow’s homework to be done.” Aizawa-Sensei said grumpily. Everyone gave him a “Yes, Sensei!” or a “Yes, Sir!”, knowing any other response was not an option.
You looked down at your drawing and hummed in approval. Done right on time.
“Hey, Y/n-Chan! What’cha got there?” 
You blushed darkly and quickly closed your book, turning to see Uraraka. “Ah, nothing! Just some sketches..” You quickly attempted to dismiss.
Most of the rest of the group right behind, Todoroiki slung his bag over his shoulders. “Is it me or was today’s lesson particularly harder? You think Aizawa-Sensei’s still mad about Kaminari’s presentation on the word ‘Yeet’ and it’s appropriate use?”
“You were listening?” You raised an eyebrow. He gave you a look that read “Why wouldn’t I?” And you chuckled at the obliviousness. “Well, I’m not sure. I wasn’t paying much attention.”
“Have you been feeling alright?” Tenya’s asked you from behind. You turned to see a worried expression on his face. “You’ve been out of it a lot during class. And you don’t eat much at breakfast.”
You couldn’t help but smile. “I’m fine, really. I just can’t believe you noticed all that.”
He smiled gently at you. “Of course. Your health is very important to me, so I hope you’re eating and sleeping well.”
You felt yourself begin to blush as you tried reasoning with your feelings, telling yourself he simply worried for you as a classmate would.
If only you knew of the special place you had in Tenya’s heart.
“I will. Thank you.” You nodded. He went to speak but was promptly cut off.
Midoriya gave you a smile. “Probably drawing in your book huh?”
You chuckled at that. “You’ve got your book, I’ve got mine, Midoriya.” You said. He sheepishly laughed and scratched the back of his head.
“Seriously, Y/n, I’m super curious as to what you draw!” Uraraka said with a grin.
Shaking your head, you looked at the book. “They’re not all that good. And some of them are kinda embarrassing." Of course, you meant your many drawings of Tenya.
“Y/n, c’mon, they’re giving us the art room for an hour!” Kyoka called out from the door. You quickly rushed to put your books away, knowing the time frame would be str
“Gotta go, guys!” You rushed over to Kyoka who smirked at you. You did your best to ignore the look on her face as you both walked down the hall. 
Breaking the silence, she raised an eyebrow. “Flirting with Iida finally?” 
You sighed, not thinking your face could feel any hotter. “Noooo.. I wish..” You said mumbling towards the end.
She chuckled and lightly nudged your shoulder. “Oh, c’mon. You might as well tell him. It’s obvious he has a soft spot for you.” She shrugged, smirking.
Rolling your eyes, you shook your head. “Yeah, yeah. You got your tablet?”
She nodded. “Of course.”
~~~~
The Dekusquad continued to grab their things in a hurry, as Aizawa-Sensei was not in the mood to just stand there all day. As they left, Tenya held a book. Your sketchbook.
“It’s surprising that they’d drop their book. I wish we’d seen it sooner.” He stared at the cover in slight shock. This was your sketchbook, one of the most important things to you. He felt wrong holding it.
“You guys didn’t see Y/n drop their sketchbook when they left?” He asked, looking at them. All of them immediately looked over in surprise.
Tenya proceeded to make a chopping motion. “Why didn’t you tell them when it dropped?” He exclaimed.
Todoroki sighed softly. “They left in such a rush.” He shrugged.
Uraraka plucked it from Tenya’s hands. “Hey, guys? I know they said they didn’t want us to look, but one peek wouldn’t hurt right?"
Asui made a small ribbit noise. “I have to admit I am a little curious, ribbit.”
Uraraka opened the sketchbook, Tenya now chopping the air faster. “Guys! We need to respect Y/n’s privacy! It’s their private property and it wouldn’t be right for us to look at it!” He exclaimed.
“Wow! They drew Aizawa-Sensei so well! And All Might!”
Asui looked over the other girl’s shoulder. “And Present Mic, ribbit.”
The three boys tried to not seem interested, as they wanted to respect your privacy like Tenya had said.
“Is that us?” Asui asked, drawing the attention of Midoriya and Todoroki. Hesitantly looking over their shoulders, they immediately began to admire the art. 
“Woah.. That’s amazing!” Midoriya said, not being able to hold back a smile as a drawing of him became visible.
Todoroki’s drawing was on the next page. “The attention to even our quirks is great. They put a lot of detail into these.”
Asui flipped the next page. “It’s Iida in his hero costume!”
Tenya quickly took the book but closed it. “Where is your self-restraint? You have broken the trust of our classmate!” He sighed, shaking his head. “I am studying with Tokoyami and Shoji, so I will bring this to the boys' dorms and keep an eye on it!”
It was obvious the Dekusquad wanted to continue looking through the book, but they knew Tenya was right.
Carefully placing the book in his bag, he walked off.
~~~~
Tenya sat in bed, unable to look away from his school bag. He knew it was wrong, especially after he lectured the others, but he couldn’t help it. 
You’d always interested him, from your drawings to the sound of your voice. Dare he say he had a huge crush on you.
Unable to help himself, he got out of bed and walked over to the bag. He proceeded to pull out the book. He’d only look for a bit.
Sitting back in bed, he started flipping through the sketchbook. The rest of the group was right. Your drawings were amazing. And to think of all the time he’d heard you talking about how your drawings weren’t that good. 
After a while, he landed on a drawing of himself. Not in his hero costume, not training. Just him behind himself. 
Taking in the details, he blushed as he noticed the hearts surrounding the drawing.
Could it mean..? No, no.. But the others didn’t have hearts drawn around them. Why else would all his drawings have hearts?
~~~~
Tenya walked in to see his four closest friends bowing to you. 
“We’re sorry!” The four of them exclaimed. You simply sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose.
“It’s fine. But where is the book?"
Walking over, Tenya cleared his throat and held out the sketchbook. You quickly took it, giving Tenya a bow of your own. “Thank you so much!”
Tenya looked away with a blush. “It’s quite alright, but please be careful next time. Anyone could have found it.”
You nodded, laughing quietly. “Yeah. I should have been more careful.”
“Now.. At the risk of embarrassing myself... Could we spend some time together after class?” He asked, trying to block out the excited stares of his classmates.
Behind Tenya, you watched Kyoka give you a thumbs up and a grin. So with a smile, you nod. “I’d like that.”
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chaislatt · 3 years
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WAYV AS HOGWARTS STUDENTS
QIAN KUN
ravenclaw , head boy, muggleborn
excels in every class he takes
when he first discovered he was magic, he flipped out
he had a matilda episode in his room one night
he was staring intently at his toy planes, wondering how it would be like to fly one someday
then suddenly it just?? levitated??
as an eight year old, he did the only thing he could do in such situations—scream bloody murder
first year : in his newly pressed robes and neatly gelled hair, sat at an empty compartment and started reading his textbooks
until the compartment door opened and a cat just walked over him
“oh sorry, leon doesn’t behave very well” says ten who he did not think would stick around but guess what? his cats liked him
being sorted into ravenclaw, he quickly became famous for being the smartest and wittiest most sensible? wizard of his year
he was especially great at charms got so surprised that there was an incantation to make things float, since all he has been doing is just think it (flitwick got a shock at his first year doing wandless magic)
as he grew older, almost everyone depended on him for help in everything
he couldn’t go a day walking in the corridors without someone asking to meet up at the library or thanking him because they aced their tests
but of course, this little ravenclaw had a limit
he didn’t mean to, but one day he just snapped at a poor gryffindor who kept bugging him to meet at the courtyard to practice spells (everyone finally left him alone, too scared to face the wrath of a wizard who knows all the spells for duelling)
OWLS year—the most memorable year for him, as he and ten spent nights in the library (and sometimes in the kitchen but if anyone asks only ten was in there) studying their bums off
that summer, ten just received a holler from him (surprise! he got all o’s)
naturally, he had been picked for prefect and head boy
the first years LOVED him
he taught them all the secrets to their tower and even handed them a parchment full of riddle answers, because let’s be real, even though you’re a ravenclaw doesn’t necessarily mean you want to use your head all the time
eats at the hufflepuff table because they have better breakfast items
adopted a whole assortment of kids with ten (winwin kinda just sticked around because yangyang was his buddy)
would be the boys’ go to— from pesky spells, ink blotts on their robes, th right grams for mandrake powder, they all depended on him for it
hendery was once asked why he wasn’t scared of him (knowing what happened before)
“he’s not dumb enough to duel someone because they’re bugging him. that’s why he’s in ravenclaw”
overall 9/10. minus one point because he still feels the need to get the last remark in everything.
LI YONGQIN
hufflepuff, pureblood
loves hanging out at the common room
doesn't really care much for grades, but does his best when studying
his housemates call him a sloth
moves so slow, especially in the mornings
likes taking walks along the corridors because it's fun to see other students rush and run to their classes while he walks a leisurely pace
always has his tie loosened
sometimes, he doesn't even tie it, he just wraps it around his collar and hope no one notices everyone does
has a talent for transfiguration
will turn anything into cat snacks
he once turned his homework in kibble and his excuse was "my cat ate it"
befriends all the cats in hogwarts
sometimes he lays down at the courtyard and they all just gather around him
one legendary moment (as lucas likes to call it) was when he was walking down the corrider and a train of cats just followed behind him in a single file
sweet wizard boy, befriends humans as well
he's so likeable, everyone just feels drawn to him
has this laidback energy that feels like a breath of fresh air when things get hectic in the castle
speaking of fresh air
he likes to stroll around outside, most of the time dragging yangyang and winwin out with him
"winwin could use the fresh air and your voice doesn't echo" - ten to yangyang
his sister is friends with yangyang's sister, so growing up he kind of babysat the three whenever their families would be together
he didn't imagine that it would continue during school, but poor winwin looked like he just wanted to get his head bitten off
despite having a lot of friends, he sticks with kun most of the time because he's not as chatty when he's focused (and kun is focused all the time so)
his favourite thing to do anywhere is lay down on his back and play with his wand, sending wisps of magic swirling around in the air, creating beautiful artwork
received pencils and a notebook from kun so he could just draw because "your magic might hit someone and i do not want to be involved with any of that"
doodles all the time
he likes to draw butterflies and magic them off of the paper and makes them follow his friends around
doesn't really say much when no one's talking to him, but will keep the conversation going casually
wanted to become a prefect so he could have his own bathroom
would patrol around at night with his cats (hendery jokes how he looks like filch and now he takes his filch impersonation seriously)
when catching students, he makes obvious remarks like "oh wow good to know that there aren't any gryffindors in this corridor! it would be an awful hassle to report them. good thing everyone's in their chambers!"
very lenient on students he doesn't know, but will threaten those he does and ask for something in return
accidentally gave yangyang the idea of becoming a prefect so he needn't have to worry at night
also accidentally gives yangyang dare ideas to give to hendery
he doesn't mean it! most of the time
overall 10/10. everything is cancelled out by the fact that he goes around the castle with atleast 2 cats following him around.
DONG SICHENG
slytherin, pureblood
mr frowns-a-lot, mr don’t-talk-to-me, mr i-want-to-go-back-to-my-dorm
the most stereotyped slytherin
first years believe that slytherins are scary because of him (but they immediately get debunked by hendery “you’re scared of a tall dude who gets tired from talking and likes to eat chocolate? yeah okay”)
but yes this not so little bean finds talking draining
it’s not that he doesn’t want to, but why would he have to talk about his day when as far as he knows, everyone just did the same thing he did??
you can barely get a sentence out of him
will reply with nods or shrugs and just point or look at things
only talks during class when the professors ask him questions
yangyang bugs him the most
when he got assigned to take care of this chatty, full of energy first year he almost cried
ended up just following him around and yanking the back of his robes to stop him from getting into trouble
because of this, yangyang’s friend are his friends
first got introduced to xiaojun, lucas, and hendery
ended up becoming a babysitter for four
when he met ten, he almost cried again, but now out of happiness  because he got yangyang to shut up
met kun last, and immediately took a liking to him for no reason at all
no one knows how, but suddenly mr-i-dont-want-to-do-anything started getting more mischievous and talkative
the whole hall got surprised when he laughed at lucas’ lame joke
this may be an exaggeration but the boy doesn’t even smile
after this incident, lucas just kept talking to him and he just kept replying, and pretty soon the four little troublemakers would joke around with him and he’d just sit back with kun and ten when he got too tired
this made him attractive
but unlike lucas who got confessed to everyday, there was no one who confessed to him
he didn’t really talk to anyone else and just minded his own business when he was alone, so everyone was too scared to confess to him
which is a huge relief to him because the not so little bean is actually very awkward
proven when hendery accepted yangyang’s dare of going right up in winwin’s face omygod when i tell you his whole face turned red
he avoided hendery for a week until he realized it was too hard since they have most of their classes together??
speaking of classes, it’s a miracle how he just passes everything since no one actually ever sees him studying or doing homework
it’s like everything he does is magic well
overall 7/10. doesn’t really try that much and will only voluntarily hang out with kun.
HUANG XUXI
hufflepuff, halfblood
was tiny, like a little bug
no one knows when he got so tall (summer of second year, he had to buy new robes for third year because they were already too short)
spends breakfast half awake, focusing on eating his meal and listening to yangyang complain about how hard his transfiguration classes yesterday were
he’s never around for dinner because he’s always at the pitch and no one has the energy to talk to yangyang in the mornings so he’s the poor guy
everyone loves him, no one can find a single thing to hate about him even if they tried
loves care for magical creatures with hagrid (he measures his height with the half-giant)
other classes? not so much
sure he tried a little bit, but why would he need to transfigure something into a pen when he could just look for one, and why would he need to concoct a drowsiness potion if he can just will himself to sleep
speaking of sleep, he does that a lot
he likes to wait for xiaojun during fourth period because they had arithmancy next, and he would lean against the corridor and sleep
learned how to sleep hunched over so it looked like he was focusing on class (begs whoever he’s sitting with to wake him up)
why does he do this?
“i’m saving up my energy for later”
he’s a quidditch beast
part of the quidditch team, originally tried out for seeker but they realized he couldn’t go fast enough without loosing his balance on his broom
he switched to being a beater, which the team found out he was very good at aha great power comes with great biceps
everyone falls in love with him when he’s on the pitch
he looks big and scary and ultra focused
and they realized after 3 games that he focuses so much because he aims the bludger to hit the player’s upper thigh only (this prevents player from taking a fall and just bruise, not break a bone)
once he accidentally sent his bludger flying too hard and knocked the chaser off, but he was faster than the seeker and caught them (followed the poor chaser for a week saying sorry and giving them semi burnt cookies he made with xiaojun)
gets confessed to every other day and just says “thanks”
but why don’t you ever reject them? 
why deny that i’m handsome?
that makes no sense
as with rejecting them! 
but truly is an angel
he even got winwin to actually converse with him
he makes everyone feel comfortable, talks to everyone and just hangs around when they don’t want to, offering company
overall 10/10. his cockiness about his looks just makes him endearing since everyone knows he can’t break someone’s heart.
XIAO DEJUN
ravenclaw, halfblood
kun’s reincarnation
but there’s one problem
he’s still immature
you would think he’s the prime example of a ravenclaw
practices his passions all the time
likes doing brain-productive things
reads about anything he finds interesting
goes in and out of their tower because he thinks solving the riddles is fun
but ho ho ho oh oh no
he’s a little devil
makes snarky comebacks under his breath that takes a little bit for you to understand
makes things harder on purpose just for fun and because he’ll be the only one able to do it
has a joke for EVERYTHING and never repeats them so i guess he can get away with that
he’s a little menace to the society but he can get away with it because it’s all just minor inconveniences
but we all know minor inconveniences are the most annoying things
likes to annoy kun the most because he understands and reacts immediately
doesn’t like to annoy the hufflepuffs because they just smile at him in confusion
despite that, he’s also a little sweetheart
remembers everything his friends say, so he’s always there to remind them
reminds kun about a test he has to retake, ten about his changing patrolling schedule, winwin’s meeting with a professor, lucas’ need to polish his broom after dinner, hendery’s homework, and yangyang about that incoming howler from his parents
when he realized he’s such a great asset, he became a bit nosy too
likes to meddle with all of his friends’ business
so if someone wants to find any of the six, he can tell you a vague description where they are
because of course he’s not gonna tell you lucas is by the lake practicing his swinging, he’s gonna tell you he’s brushing up on his quidditch skills so you’d go running to the pitch
this way he’s not technically doing anything wrong to both parties
one day, kun asks why he likes doing this
“it makes me feel like a king maker. feeding things into their tiny brains and knowing exactly what they’ll be doing”
“that’s not exactly what a king maker does”
“yeah but does it look like i want them to be more powerful than me?”
co-parents a dog with lucas
aka lucas asked him to take care of bella while he’s in practice but he forgot to take her back with him for 2 days so now bella thinks she lives in the ravenclaw tower too
does random errands for his friends as a way of apologizing (but really just as a leverage so he can cause more trouble)
his ultimate goal was to brainwash everyone so they couldn’t live without him and he succeeded????
now they’re the receiving end of all the sermons his professors give him (you wouldn’t expect it, but he causes quite a ruckus in class)
but still, at the end of the day, they choose to sit next to him at the ravenclaw table during dinner
overall 7/10. he’s annoying, but he’s good at everything he does and helps his friends out in different ways. which makes him more annoying because why? why not
HUANG GUANHENG
gryffindor, muggleborn
does not understand magic. like at all
the only reason he’s still managing is because he refuses to be beaten by xiaojun
he doesn’t know why he’s in gryffindor but anyone who’s ever met him can vouch for the sorting hat
he’s courageous in the way he faces learning magic (it won’t hurt me, i’m magic) he's brave to speak up to anyone and ask for help when he needs it, and most of all, he has the nerve to get right into winwin’s face
surprisingly good at harder spells than that of his year level, so he’s in a few higher level classes
the reason being he wants to save face when with upperclassmen so he actually focuses real hard and actually understands 
because when he’s with his friends, his mind goes wandering and he can’t focus his magic 
a very strange wizard indeed
imagine getting help from xiaojun to levitate a piece of parchment but can explain to ten how to brew an advanced potion
he’s very confident in his abilities
why would he be nervous to stay after curfew??
if filch catches you
then don’t i just have to avoid him??
but has realistic fears
will not go near a broom
yeah okay the broom can fly, but can he?? he can’t even levitate a piece of parchment, how can he levitate himself?
also very practical
lucas kept struggling since he kept spilling his ink pot so he handed him a pen
“dude i forgot these existed!” “who writes with feathers??”
the most laid back yet extra ordinary wizard ever
you can start a conversation with him and he can keep it going for hours on end
very friendly, will talk to anyone but the downside to this is that he talks to everyone like they’re his friends asdkjshjkd even mcgonagall
overall 7/10. uses magic to solve trivial muggle things and still makes bets with yangyang up to this day.
LIU YANGYANG
slytherin, pureblood
a force to be reckoned with
spend a day with him and your ears will bleed
why?? does?? he?? talk?? so?? much??
his friends always complain but everyone else in the castle can’t see why
in the eyes of a stranger, he’s actually cold and reserved, hard to approach
but if you actually knew him
oh boy you’d want to not
can talk for hours
he and hendery wanted to know just how long he could talk
so they timed it
talked for 9 hours straight, no one knows how they managed
good thing this talking is actually useful
he likes to recite during class, always has a lengthy explanation for his answers
people aren’t the only one he talks to
he talks to the ghosts and to the paintings, greeting them a lovely day or whatever
besides talking, he also has another passion–quidditch
he plays as chaser for his house, often times taking his time to freshen up, so he goes back at about midnight during thursdays
good thing ten patrols during thursdays
speaking of ten, he’s been a brother figure for him all his life
so when he was introduced to winwin, he got so excited because he had another brother
by the end of the night, fourth year winwin knew everything about first year yangyang
he loooves his buddy
tries to do everything with winwin but he doesn’t let him
despite being too much to handle, winwin actually likes him too (but don’t let yangyang know)
likes to do dumb dares with hendery
isn’t really into pranking and getting all up into other’s business, so they manage their mischief between the two of them
and the whole of hogwarts just enjoys and guesses which of the two would be the one running around the great hall in their pajamas
yangyang actually encourages his fellow slytherins to stop sticking among themselves
mostly because he’s tired of them bugging him to “go ask your gryffindor friend if there’s homework on-”
at the end of the day, all his slytherin friends have been adopted by ten, took a liking to kun, and watches lucas, xiaojun and hendery fool around for entertainment
that being said, he loves his friends
thankful that he has classes with at least one of them for all his classes
all his professors have learned to sit him next to them, otherwise he’ll just slack off and stare into oblivion
he’s actually more productive when he has someone to remind him to be
okay maybe sitting him next to hendery wouldn’t result to school productivity
overall 9/10. it would be an 8 but he actually does acknowledge he talks too much.
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realcube · 3 years
Text
christmas gifts you give haikyuu!! characters and how they react 🎁
pairings: daichi x reader, sugawara x reader , akaashi x reader, bokuto x reader, yachi x reader
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tw// swearing, she/her reader
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Daichi Sawamura 
you got him a toiletries set!
y’all both agreed to keep it simple and small in terms of christmas gifts
so you just bought him the first toiletries set you found in the shop
it wasn’t necessarily cheap, you probably got him a branded one so you were confident in the fact that the product wouldn’t give him a rush or anything
he found the gift really cute, especially because he got you a eau de toilette 
great minds think alike i guess
(but because he was lost when it came women’s perfume he spent a while with the sales person, bombarding them with question - not to be rude but just so he doesn’t something you hate)
(”so, she has [e/c] eyes - what sort of scent would suit that?” he asked the perplexed sales assistant.)
anyway, he really liked the gift and he gave you many kisses (づ ̄ 3 ̄)
it also brought him great relief that you bought him something small - like he bought you - so he didn’t look like fool 
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Kōshi Sugawara
you made him a cute hamper!
filled with a plushie, chocolate, sweets, some toiletries, a water bottle, a necklace and a few polaroid pictures of you and him 
he adored it
literally as soon as he opened it and noticed the amount of effort you must’ve put into it, he wrapped you in the biggest hug and gave you all the kisses (〃` 3′〃)
and he loved every single item in that box as well; like, he admired how well you knew him
it kinda made him feel bad about the gift he gave you because the theme y’all decided on was ‘handmade’ and yeah..you arranged the hamper yourself but you must’ve bought most of the contents
while sugawara went handmade handmade and created a scrapbook of y’alls relationship so far 
you assured him it was fine though because his gift was so fkn cute like- how could you be mad?
anyway, sugawara loved the gift so much that he put it up on a table as a decoration of sorts because it looked so pretty
and he only took the first thing out of the hamper in February because it was so well-made and he hated to ruin it
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Keiji Akaashi
you got him a book/library scented candle and a DVD of your favourite  movie!
you and akaashi decided to do a thing that you saw on pinterest where you exchange copies of your favourite books but added a bit ✨spice✨
this was only because akaashi’s (and perhaps your) favourite ‘book’ was in fact a fan fiction in the internet so the next best thing he could think of was giving you a DVD of his favourite movie
as for the candle, the orginal plan was just to do the DVD exchange  but when you saw the book scented candle in a store while shopping for cards, you just had to buy it
like a decent person, you texted akaashi saying you bought him a lil’ something extra so he did the same and bought you a simple, dainty bracelet with your initials on it 
it wasn’t even an issue either bc he was a whole list on his notes app which consisted of things he could buy you for any occasion and it’s like 2 pages long
anyway, when y’all exchanged gift of the day, of course he loved your taste in DVD for him 
“Barbie and A Christmas Carol?” He inquired, resisting the urge to smile. 
“A classic.”
As for the candle - as much as he liked to savour gifts like that - once he got a whiff of it’s amazing scent, he just had to light it immediately
needless to say, he loved it - unable to hide how happy to scent made him and the fact that it was from you just made it ten times nicer (╹ڡ╹ )
so, your christmas with akaashi smelled like the library and looked like cuddling by the fireplace, watching the movies you exchanged 
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Kōtarō Bokuto
you got him a massive, fluffy blanket! (like, 150x200cm)
ok so i have a headcanon bokuto is a huge cuddle bug!
after an intense volleyball match; all he wants to do is go home, take a shower, eat and then cuddle with you 🥺
literally anywhere, he is not picky: on the couch, in bed, on the floor, the dinner table works too, the carpet- anywhere!
but he is picky about temperature - especially after showers 
since he takes cold showers (bc he is an athlete >:) ) whenever he gets out, he wants to warm up immediately so he’s always complaining while y’all cuddle
“(Y/N).” He whined, “Stop stealing all the blanket; I need some too! My feet are sticking out and they are cold!”  
“(Y/N), my perfect angel lady.” He spoke sweetly, like he always does when he wants something, “Turn the radiator on? I’m freezing..”
“Why can’t you do it, Bo?” You groaned.
“Because I am asleep.” Cue unrealistic, exaggerated snores
anyway, you had known for a while that a big fluffy blanket would solve all your cuddling problems but it took you a while to find an affordable, good quality one
and once you did, christmas approaching anyway so you held off giving it to him until then 
and as soon as he tore the present open and laid eyes on the solution to his temperature issues, he freaked out v(゚Д゚)v
“FUCK YES!” he yelled, squeezing the warm blanket to chest and appreciating it how fluffy it is, “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!
he didn’t stop beaming for the rest of the day
and he insisted you try out the blanket with him immediately so he was just laying on the couch, the blanket draped over him with his arms wide open and an inviting space beside him
“Let’s give it a test-drive! I’ll put on a movie!” He lured, fiddled with the remote as he waited for you to lay down beside him.
You laughed, gently sitting down next to him before sinking into his arms, allowing him to toss the blanket over you
3 movies later, the sun had went down and you were both still snuggled up beside each other, slowly finding yourselves drifting off 
“Thank you, (Y/N).” He whispered in reference to how great the blanket was how thoughtful you are to have given him the best gift ever, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Bo.” You said softly, smiling into his chest at how much he liked you gift - be proud 💕
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Hitoka Yachi
you got her a cute stationary set!
yachi is definitely one of those girls that takes the most beautiful notes and put a lot of effort into their school work
like she has a new notebook for every unit of every subject, a highlighting scheme, stickers for decoration, the prettiest study planner and the most detailed diagrams
and she always has dainty notebooks, adorable washi tapes, glittery highlight, cool pencil cases and those pens with cute lil’ sanrio characters at the ends 
needless to say, she goes through her stationary pretty quickly with how organised she likes to keep her stuff
especially her pens because she uses them to not only take her mass amounts of notes, but to also do little doodles on the side of her jotter or on her hand 
oh! and at lunch, you’d shuffle over to her desk to compare Pinterest boards or revise together and you’d notice the cute little drawings of flowers, smilies, sparkles and hearts on her hand ✨❤
yachi would notice the mesmerised look in your eyes and offer to draw on your hand too and obviously you said yes so you’d go around the rest of the day with matching doodles on your hand with yachi ヾ(≧ ▽ ≦)ゝ💓
and whenever y’all go shopping together, you notice how her gaze lingers on the cutesy stationary in a shop’s window for a bit longer than she should 
so of course you bought her the one she’s been staring at
and she was absolutely ecstatic 
“Oh my god, (Y/N)! These are so cute!” she shifted through the many types of stationary in the bundle, “I’m gonna use these all the time.” q(≧▽≦q)
You smiled, quite chuffed with yourself before sitting yourself beside her and putting your hand on her knee, “Yachi?” 
Yachi giggled as that tone was all too familiar
so she popped open one of the pens and began sketching away on the back of your hand; drawing little candy canes, gingerbread men, snowmen, snowflakes and other festive things.
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silveanna · 3 years
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Nct 2020 + You as Class E
Y/N:
-Had bad records in your previous school and now you’re here
-plays around with ChenJi
-gives helpful advices to everyone
-likes to break the rules
-doesn’t get involve to gang fights cuz Taeyong did not allow you to
-you’re their precious little flower
-the boys have a lot of respect for you
-started a food fight once and got suspended
-“im like earth, already in a state of global warming”
Taeyong:
-the president
-always late
-is quiet and always frowning
-looks like he might suddenly punch someone
-but when you get to know him he’s actually
a nice person
-“I repeat, once you got in Class E, you’ll graduate as a student of Class E”
Kun:
-Class A banned you guys inside the cafeteria
-most of you are too lazy to cook your own food
-so Kun had to use his skills and cooks lunch everyday for his dear classmates
-the most decent
-always present
-the one who just watches when there’s a fight
-“I’m not giving you guys lunch for free, now pay up”
Taeil:
-looks innocent but not really
-always asleep
-would even sometimes sleeps on the floor and use his bag as a pillow
-easily catches up on the lessons/discussions
-“what’s our next class? homeroom? ok bye”
Johnny:
-the chill kid
-but when he gets angry u better run for your life bro
-the tallest so he sits at the very back of the room
-vibes with everyone
-damage to school properties is the main reason why he’s in the fam
-⚠️Don’t laugh AT him⚠️
-“not my problem”
Yuta:
-the arrogant one
-probably imagines beating the shit out of someone in his mind sometimes
-superior at sports
-paints his nails
-“I’m tired of seeing the same faces everyday”
Doyoung:
-The Vice President
-also a decent one
-is tired of taking care problematic dudes everyday
-doesn’t look like it but he’s a nerd
-is seatmates with Taeyong
-Cold af
-“shut up I’m trying to study here”
Ten:
-one of the moodmakers
-mocks his teachers
-always rest his foot on top of his table
-brings his pet cats to school
-puts big ass rocks inside his classmates bags
-“I just downloaded tiktok, follow me guys:)”
Jaehyun:
-the escort (duh)
-doesn’t give a fuck
-always a pageant candidate
-records the fights for ✨memories✨
-varsity player
-“can I go home now?”
Winwin:
-a very nice person
-became friends with you on the first day
-eats a lot
-shares his food with you
-“I only gave Y/N food! Why are you guys eating too?!!”
Jungwoo:
-a literal softie
-gets along with everyone
-the first one to be thrown in Class E
-others call him Zeus
-hides his classmates bag
-“I believe in hate at first sight”
Lucas:
-Chick boy
-also eats a lot
-but doesn’t like sharing his food
-no one wants to be smacked with that big ass hand
-steals pens
-“if you’re more handsome than me then she’ll probably choose you. Better luck next time bro”
Mark:
-got low grades and now he’s stuck with a bunch of intimidating guys who teases him everyday
-but he loves them
-is starting to adapt
-brings his guitar to school
-“wanna listen to some music?”
Xiaojun:
-plays games with yangyang at free time
-SMART
-goes with the flow
-jams with mark
-helps you with your math class
-“just tell me if you need help”
Hendery:
-looks normal but isn’t
-also a mood maker
-almost sets the school on 🔥
-lives at the same neighborhood with you, so he walks home with you sometimes
-“life is so hard I just want to be a fly”
Renjun:
-small but terrible
-likes astronomy
-would not hesitate to choke someone
-likes to tease others but when he’s the one being teased he gets angry
-doodles whenever he’s bored
-debates about the existence of aliens
-“i don’t want to live on this earth”
Jeno:
-also a varsity player
-the one who suddenly throws crumpled papers
-bad fingered his teacher
-plays with Ten’s Cats
-“If you want to rock, you gotta break the rules man“
Haechan:
-cHaOtic
-most likely to start a fight lol
-was caught stealing and now he’s in the family
-helps everyone cheat on their exams
-the only one who cleans the room
-“don’t worry I got you”
Jaemin:
-doesn’t like being called “nana”
-the super quiet one
-stays at the very corner of the room
-sleeps on the floor with taeil
-number one complainer
-“close the curtains, it’s too bright here”
Yangyang:
-the prankster
-drag racer
-makes fun of his hyungs 24/7 with haechan
-would step in a fight even though he doesn’t stand a chance at all
-just to protect his friends
-“Haechan! What’s the answer to number five test B?”
Shotaro:
-a cutie
-but a freaking gremlin like everyone else
-learns new tiktok dances with ten
-this boy may look innocent but in reality he beat up 5 grown ass men alone
-“^_^”
Sungchan:
-Class A’s president has a huge crush on him
-so he’s the only one allowed inside the cafeteria
-pretty chill
-looks up to Taeyong
-Hacker
-“I’m going to the cafeteria, does anyone want some snacks?”
Chenle:
-RICH KID
-🐬🐬🐬
-loud asf
-sings randomly
-“I kissed Class A’s president that’s why I’m here”
Jisung:
-sticks around with you all the time
-cuz he sees you as his older sibling
-adored by everyone
-got transferred in the wrong class but he likes it here
-“I baked cookies want one?”
Bonus:
It was a Normal day at NCTY High, you and sungchan were headed back to the classroom after being sent to detention. You bumped into a group of guys from Class D, half of them were smirking, the others glared at you and sungchan. It was strange to see them in a abandoned building since Class E is the only class who uses the building.
You and sungchan exchanged looks and shrugged.
Everyone was chaotic as always, you sat in your usual spot and chit chatted with the guys until Chenle started screaming and there’s fire crackers blasting everywhere making everyone left their seat and gathered at the very corner of the room.
Kun immediately opened the windows to let out the smoke, Doyoung and Taeil tries to calm everyone down but FAILS.
“WAAAHHH!!! We’re being attacked by terrorist!” Chenle screamed and hugged you, Jisung did the same.
“JOHNNY YOU’RE BIG ENOUGH! SHIELD US!”
“FUCK YOU!”
“WHERE’S XIAOJUN?!”
“I DON’T KNOW! MAYBE HE’S DEAD!”
“I CAN’T FIND MY CATS!”
You counted them all and noticed there was one missing aside from Xiaojun, PRESIDENT!
You looked around and saw Taeyong in his spot, idiot was still peacefully sleeping. “How could he even— Argh!” You reached for a book near you and threw it at Taeyong’s head. “WAKE UP YOU DOOFUS!”
Eventually he woked up and yawns, Taeyong cursed under his breath after he realized the situation. He came to you and also tried to calm the others down, Haechan hugged him from the back tightly “Pres! We’re all gonna DIEEE”
“Shut up! Doyoung! Get your ass over here!”
“Get a fire extinguisher! Quick!” He commanded.
“I can’t! The fire crackers are blocking our only exit, and I can’t jump off the window we’re on 4th floor” Doyoung explained, Taeyong couldn’t think and do anything but to face palm himself.
A cold breeze blows your skirt up midway, everyone stopped panicking and there was a figure at the door. It was Xiaojun, he was holding a fire extinguisher. Face almost covered with bruises Did Someone beat him up?. “Class D.. It was Class D!”
Knew it.
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jeonsblackgf-writes · 3 years
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CRUSHES AND DATES || 1 ||
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summary: Jaewon has had a crush on Nia since 6th grade but is too afraid to speak up.
pairing: jung jaewon x black!OC
genre: fluff
word count: 2k
___________________________________________🖊
Jaewon sighed as one of his friends and fellow classmates pressure him yet again to ask Nia, one of the prettiest girls in school, out on a date. Two reasons why he was scared... 1. She was insanely pretty. 2. She doesn't go out with just "anyone". She's only had one boyfriend and that was their freshmen year of high school....They're seniors now. Jaewon heard the guy cheated because she wouldn't have sex him or some shit like that.
He couldn't stop eyeing her. Everything about was beautiful. The way she laughed, smile and talked to people. Jaewon only had a few classes with her and only one of them he say directly beside her, and that was music class. Her voice was heavenly too. She sounded like an angel, even when she came to school sick that one time, she still sounded like the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. She's perfect in his eyes...which is exactly why he's scared, adding onto the more and more reasons.
Jaewon felt like he wasn't anything special. Yeah he had a few tattoos and a couple piercings but what else came after that? He was an anime freak, he was in the chess club in school and everyone called him weird because he was Valedictorian. He was an insane nerd and honors student, never went to a party, function, or anything that involved socializing.
"Kris, It's not that easy." Jaewon mumbled, nibbling on his half finished food. He watched from across the lunch room to see Nia laughing with her group of friends, some were nice some were mean as ever.
"You won't know until you try—Look, you're a good looking guy with a great personality, plus I heard from a little birdie that Nia's been checking you out for the past two weeks." Kris informed, patting Jaewon on the back, who started to choke on his bubble tea.
The subtle information have Jaewon a wee bit of confidence but still not enough to get up and ask her out on a date. So he just sat there, with his head resting in his hand as he watched the love of his life laugh it up with her friends, as he wished it were him making her smile.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the cafeteria, Nia and her friends laughed at a joke she told the small table, before the laughter died down and things got a little serious.
"So when you gonna stop being a pussy and go ask the nerd out?" One of her friends asked, nodding to Jaewon who subtly kept staring their way. Nia gave her friend a small smile and nodded her head.
"I don't know, I really like him, but you know I ain't been in a relationship in a lil minute." She explained, pushing her mushy food away. Her friend rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Why waste your time? He's been crushing on you since 6th fucking grade and we're in high school! He's a fucking wimp!" Another friend spoke up, annoyance etched in her voice.
"If you finna keep that nasty ass attitude you can get the fuck away from my table. Negative Nancy." Nia retorted, causing them friend to roll her eyes and keep her mouth shut, letting the other two continue their conversation.
It was no secret to her friends that Nia was head over heels for Jaewon, but it had only been known around the school for a week or two. She's been crushing on him since their junior year of high school when they had a music project together. She didn't get to see how much of a good person he really was but she saw some aspects of him and it was enough for her to take an interest in him.
"Girl. Shoot yo damn shot!" The encouraging friend exclaimed, as the hell rung. The small group gathered their things and headed to their next class. Nia was a little excited, because she had music after lunch and she sat right next to Jaewon.
Walking into class, Nia sat down in her seat and grabbed her notes from her last time in the class, going over them briefly before she felt a figured beside her. She turned around to see Jaewon shyly sitting down in his seat as he too pulled out his notebook. Nia looked at him for a few seconds before she decided to give small talk. The teacher was always 20-30 minutes late so they had time.
"Hey Jaewon." She spoke lowly, scooting her seat closer to him. He widened his eyes and looked around the classroom to make sure she was talking to him but the class was small and he was the only Jaewon around so ... She was.
"H-Hey Nia." He mumbled, tracing his tattoos, something he did when he got nervous. Nia immediately picked up on that.
"You don't have to be so nervous around me. I don't bite...hard." She smiled, leaning close to him. He yet again widened his eyes and nodded his head. His heart was beating fast as hell right now.
"I don't wanna be rude, but why are you talking to me?" He asked. This felt like some sort of sick joke, and he wasn't finding it funny.
"Because I like you..a lot." She responded boldly, deciding to just sit out her feelings.
Jaewon's heart rate increased with rapid speed. What she joking? This had to be a joke. The girls he's been pining after... for years, just told him that she likes him.
"W-what?" He asked, not knowing what to say. She laughed and gave his flushed cheek a kiss.
"You're adorable and an amazing person." She complimented, doodling on her paper.
"A-am I amazing enough for you to go on a date with me this weekend?" He asked, testing his luck. Friday was the perfect day for them to go on a date, they didn't have school because of teachers work day or some shit like that.
Nia smiled, and nodded her head, ignoring the fact that on the inside she was bursting with happiness and butterflies. Jaewon let out a breathe of relief before he nodded his head and smiled at her.
Soon the teacher came in and the two didn't bother to even pay attention, too focused on each other.
{after school}
"I did it!" Jaewon yelled, running into his friend, who stood beside his car waiting for him. Kris gave him a proud smile as his friend excitedly unlocked the car door and hopped in the drivers side.
"So you finally had the balls to ask her." Kris acknowledged, feeling like a proud father. Jaewon nodded his head and started the car, immediately pulling out the of the drive way and going to his house since it was closer.
"Well, she admitted to me that she liked me! Then that's when I asked her out! Then we exchanged numbers!" He replied, speeding down the road. Kris gave his friend a shocked expression but nodded his head in approval.
"See, you did all that procrastinating and self doubting yourself. Only to find out she likes you too. Match made in heaven. Black girl and asian guy BOOM!" Kris rambled, making his shy friend blush, as he pulled into the driveway.
The two got out of the car and walked to the door...well Kris walked to the door, Jaewon ran like his life depended on it. He hiked upstairs and hurriedly opened his MacBook. Soon Kris came in and plopped down on the bed, immediately taking a nap, not even caring that he wasn't in his room. Jaewon started to begin his homework until he had a sudden facetime call. His heart dropped at who was calling.
Nia💞💍 would like to facetime...
He pressed the green button and was welcomed with the beautiful face of the girl he’s been in love with for nearly his entire life. She gave him a smile.
"Hey, I was doing homework and I thought about you so I decided to call." She spoke, writing on what Jaewon guesses was paper. "I hope you don't mind,"
Jaewon shook his head and gave her a smile, "Oh no, not at all, I was just getting started on my homework."
The next few hours the two spoke over the phone, exchanging more laughs and smiles before it was eventually time for her to get off. Nia hung up the phone. Jaewon sighed lovingly and smiled...again.
{Friday}
When Friday rolled around, Jaewon felt knots in his stomach. The entire week of school he had been sitting with her at lunch, walking her to class, giving her subtle kisses on her cheek, and at home they stayed on the phone all night until they both saw each other's faces at school. Jaewon hadn't felt this happy in a long time, and he hoped it lasted forever.
"Jaewon pay attention to me." Nia whined as the two were cuddled up in lunch. She was almost sitting in his lap because of how close they were and both her legs were in between his.
Jaewon laughed and gave her a kiss on the cheek, "You're really needy today."
"Ever since I've been seen with you, all these girls keep trying to talk to you. You're mine." She grumbled, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulling him into her chest. Jaewon sighed blissfully, he felt like he was in pure heaven right now.
She noticed a change in his appearance too. He changed his hairstyle a little bit. He started to wear short sleeves more. He was becoming more confident around her...and it scared her a little because with good looks and confidence, comes girls.
Jaewon was about to respond to what she said but a random female came up to him. He ignored her and continued to eat but Nia didn't, she mugged the girl as she sat directly in Jaewon's lap, slightly catching him off guard but went with it anyway and wrapped his arms around her waist as he continued to eat his food.
"Hey Jaewon, you busy today?" The girl asked, tilting her head at the handsome senior. He gave her a blank face and nodded his head, tightening his grip on Nia's waist.
Nia didn't say anything, she took off her earrings, then her necklace, then her jordans, then she tied her hair up in a lie pony tail. Jaewon widened his eyes and held onto her harder, already knowing what she was about to do.
"Bitch you better be glad he holding me down. Disrespectful hoe, you gone try to talk to him when you see me sitting in his lap? Get the fuck away from us before I fuck yo ass up." Nia growled. The girl rolled her eyes and walked away, mumbling whatever under her breathe. After the girl was far enough away she sighed and slumped in his lap.
"Nia I would never let a female get in between us. You can trust me," He reassured, resting his head on her shoulder, giving it a shirt kiss.
From around them, people were whispering and pointing but they paid no mind. The continued to be in their own world.
{Time skip after school cus i'm lazy}
"Where we going?" Nia asked as the two headed to Jaewon's car right after school. He gave her a smile and shook his head.
"It's a surprise."
Almost an four hours later, when Jae said their date was a surprise, Nia wasn't expecting them to be pulling into an abandoned house covered in graffiti. She didn't know where they were until realization struck her.
"Oh hell no I know damn well you didn't take me to the Yeongdeok Ghost House!" Nia exclaimed in horror.
"W-well yeah. I thought it'd be a cool first date." He spoke, suddenly becoming shy again. Nia sighed as she tried to sympathize with him.
"Can we get food after?" She asked, Jaewon smiled and nodded his head as they walked towards the entrance.
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bffsoobin · 4 years
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Iced Chai
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↳ you had a small obsession with drinking iced chai lattes between class, and it just so happened that the coffee store on campus had the best ones. when a new barista replaces the one who used to make your drink, you put him to the test. he makes the most wonderful iced chai you’d ever had. he’s also one of the most handsome boys you ever seen on campus.
➤ fluff, college!au, shy barista!hueningkai
Word Count:3,830
A/N: yes, this fic is very much influenced by my massive love for iced chai lattes and the way I consumed them up until March when we had to leave campus. Sadly I didn’t have any cute boys serving me :(. Anywho, I hope you enjoy it! Please keep in mind that I haven’t proofread, so there may be some small mistakes!
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Calculus was a pain in the ass. Obviously, you knew this well before you scheduled for your freshmen year of college, but there was no way to avoid the reality handed to you by your major. So every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning at 8 am you endured the rambling lectures of your less than spry professor who could barely work his desktop computer. You tried your best to pay attention, you really did, but there was only so much you could do when the conversation shifted from tangent lines to the best way to reheat fast food french fries.
As you doodled in the margins of your lined notebook, your mind wandered to the only good thing sitting through this class does for you. Other than the credits. As soon as the clock struck 9am, you had a date with the on campus café. The roughly hour break between the end of calculus and the beginning of chemistry gave you the perfect window to enjoy some alone time. Homey, student run and always playing some version of a coffee shop playlist; the place was your haven on campus. Not only did you love the atmosphere and the fact that it was the best place on campus to study, but they also serve the best iced chai latte you’d ever encountered. The thought of the drink alone made your mouth salivate. From your first hesitant order, you had become hooked. Within your first week on campus, you had easily drank 10 cups of the chilled goodness before your roommate expressed concern for the sheer amount of sugar and dairy you’d been consuming. 
Due to the timing of your tri-weekly trips, you had always been served by the same lovely barista, Rachael. She was stylish, down to earth and always told you a good joke when you showed up looking especially out of it. Most importantly, something about the way she mixed the drink convinced you that she surely was sent from the heavens.
When your graying professor finally let your class go for the day, you walked on clouds to your favorite spot on campus. It had rained during class so the air was chilled and the ground was still damp. The telltale scent of rain invaded your senses and a chill ran through you. Most people would be craving a hot coffee or steaming cup of tea- but all you desired was the smooth flavor of your favorite drink. The walk to your beloved café wasn’t long, but you always found yourself in a bit of a rush to get there as soon as you possibly could. In a moment of carelessness, you stepped right into a rather large puddle and soaked one of your feet right through your shoes and your sock. Disgusting you thought as you finally arrived at the door. The handle was slick with moisture thanks to the weather, but you wiped your hand onto your sweatshirt as you stepped inside and let the familiar scent of coffee grounds occupy your mind. Your shoulders relaxed simply at the relaxed atmosphere.
A few students who also frequented around this time were sitting at their usual tables, and you waved at them politely before taking yourself- and your squelching shoe- over to the small booth you’d come to know and love. You ditched your bookbag on the table with a thud, feeling secure with the knowledge of your agreement with the girl who sat at the table next to you to keep an eye on your things. 
As you headed toward the counter, you belatedly noticed that the line seemed a bit more backed up than usual. It wasn’t too big of a concern, as your college was relatively small and waiting an extra five minutes would by no means ruin your timing. It was just curious. Usually Rachael ran the counter with the ease of an experienced sailor, but that ease seemed to be missing today. Nevertheless, the line inched forward steadily. Engrossed in your phone, you hadn’t noticed the glaring difference in your routine until you got to the cash register. While placing your plastic ID card over the scanner, you chirped “just my usual, Rachael!” 
Despite what your mind told you would happen next- she would laugh, say okay, maybe ask about class while handing over a receipt- you were met with an awkward stutter that your trusty barista certainly didn’t make. 
“I-I’m sorry, I don’t know your usual,” upon finally looking up, your brain processed the sight of a new boy. A new gorgeous boy. Did they only hire beautiful people here? His black hair was falling into his eyes, charmingly shaggy and exposing just enough of his forehead to make you oddly wish you could see more. His cheeks were dusted in a light pink blush that both charmed you and made you feel bad at the same time. He seemed so fresh. Upon further inspection, you caught his handmade name tag written in slightly shaky handwriting that was so cutely boyish. Hueningkai. He had decorated one corner with a smiley face and the other with a drawing of a coffee bean that looked suspiciously like nothing more than a dark brown blob with a small accent line down the middle. 
“I’m sorry, Hueningkai,” you didn’t miss the way his eyes widened slightly at the use of his name, “usually Rachael is here to take my order. But I’ll take a large iced chai latte, please.” He nodded quickly, reverting his eyes to the LED screen which his eyes bounced around for a few seconds before he finally found the correct button. This must have been why the line seemed abnormally long. As the sound of your receipt printing filled the silence, you asked; “first day?” 
A melodious laugh fell from his lips, causing a scrunch of his perfectly pointed nose that you felt honored to have seen as he stepped away from the register to start making your drink. “That obvious, huh?” Another worker came to take his spot and serve the next student but you followed Hueningkai to his new destination. For as shy as he was at the cash register, he moved with much more confidence when it came to actually making drinks. His earlier hesitation was totally gone as he got to work mixing up your drink. In his new position, you could get a better look at his hands, adorned in simple silver jewelry that embarrassingly made your breath catch in your throat. His actions were over almost as quickly as they began, and his earlier hesitation seemed to return as he slid the drink to you over the granite counter top. You grasped at it eagerly in the same moment he reached to balance a straw on top of the lid. 
For a brief moment your fingers lingered and your mind went wild at the absurdity that you honestly felt sparks pass between the two of you. 
“Oh, uh, sorry,” he mumbled, dipping his head down awkwardly as he finally tore his hand away. You smiled back earnestly, hoping to make him understand that you weren’t bothered at all by the contact. 
Back at the safety of your table, you took a second to collect yourself. Surely you were overreacting to the small interaction. After all, you were already having a pretty weird day. Looking down at your clear cup, you remembered the beginning of your dilemma- the absence of amazing barista Rachael. Hueningkai was adorable, but could his skills hold up to the woman who made drinks you literally dreamed about? Tentatively, you took a sip of the drink and immediately cocked your head to the side. On the off chance your taste buds had totally deceived you, you took another long swig from the cup. 
Hueningkai’s drink was even better than Rachael’s.
——
The next morning, you awoke before your alarm even started to beep. Thursdays meant no class until 1 o’clock, so you had almost all the time in the world to catch up on assignments and homework and do your errands. Instead of doing anything constructive, you found yourself craving yet another iced chai latte. As you voiced this desire to your roommate, she looked at you as if you’d just admitted to the murder of 4 people.
“Are you insane? Do you not remember how miserable you felt after drinking two a day? I can’t let you do that again. You can go to the café but at least drink something different!” You knew that she was right, but something inside of you- that shitty little perpetual teenage boy who hides in a corner of your mind- told you to do the exact opposite of what she said.
“I’m sorry,” you shuffled through the shirts hanging in your closet, the sound of the plastic hangers clicking together resonating in the otherwise quiet room. “But you have to go to class so there’s no way you can police me. Plus,” you pulled a shirt out of your closet and slid over to your cheap full length mirror to inspect yourself. “You didn’t see Hueningkai. He is...” your cheeks flushed as your roommate began to let out a high pitched squeal. “Shhh! The walls are thin!”
“Oh don’t act so scandalized. I guess it makes sense that you’d have a crush on the boy who feeds your addiction.” You rolled your eyes at her, lobbing a pair of rolled up socks in her direction in retaliation. They hit her side softly before bouncing to the floor dejectedly. “You,” she pointed a finger your way as you rooted through your drawer for a pair of jeans, “are ridiculous. Have fun with your dreamy boy while I’m at class.”
Despite the familiarity of the path to the café, you still felt a bit out of place making the trip on a Thursday. Even the other students passing you by felt wrong in a way you couldn’t quite place. There was also the lingering worry that Hueningkai wasn’t even working today, and you’d show up to the small building just for a dose of disappointment. In you worried haze, you had barely noticed you arrived until the door was pushed open from the inside and a small pack of students held the door aside for you.
Inside of the building, a blanket of warm air surrounded your form and the faint smell of cinnamon drifted easily through the air. You were instantly calmed by the scent until someone bumped into your shoulder. With wide eyes, you looked around to see about double the amount of people your usual visits yielded. You were in no way prepared for the absolute mass of bodies that filtered between the tables and comfortable sitting areas. 
Feeling a bit lost, you put yourself into the line of waiting students and tried your best to peer over heads and around bodies to see if you could catch a glimpse of the barista that had captivated you so easily. It didn’t look like he was making drinks, but you held out hope that he was manning the register that was blocked from your sight. After what felt like forever, you reached the register and came face to face with...not Hueningkai. Despite your disappointment, there was no way you would turn down a drink, even made by a non-Hueningkai. 
Once you had the chilled cup cradled in your hands, you took a hopeless look around at the full dining room. Almost every table looked to be occupied, and some students had even resorted to leaning against the walls to chat and sip their drinks. The back of your neck began to heat up as you wandered around hoping for anyone to decide they were done and get up to leave. You had almost given up and decided to just go back to your dorm and lick your metaphorical wounds when a voice called your name. It only took a second of looking around to lock eyes with the one who was calling for you. 
Hueningkai. He had a light blush filling his cheeks as he waved a hand noncommittally your way. He looked ethereal sitting at the table, hot cup of something steaming next to his sticker covered laptop. His eyes were wide and adorably eager; akin to the look of a puppy who had just seen their owner after a long day. Your feet were working before your brain, so when you arrived to the table you had to scramble for an opener. 
“Hey! I was looking for you!” you winced. Way to go, Y/N. Out yourself on the second meeting. “I mean, uh,” you felt the cup in your hand start to slip with the sweat your palms produced, “I was hoping you’d make my drink again.” 
A smile spread like wildfire on Hueningkai’s face and his eyes crinkled adorably in the corners.
“You liked it that much?” His voice was meek, oddly shy for the way he beamed up at you with so much ease. 
“Yeah! It was really good. Even better than Rachael’s, to be honest.”
“Really? She was the best barista here!” He brought a hand up to his mouth in shock. 
“Yeah, really! Anyway, I can get going if you...you look busy,” you gestured toward his open laptop and drink that you were sure was rapidly cooling the longer you distracted him. 
“No!” he blurted the word before visibly flinching at his actions. At least it wasn’t just you feeling like a fumbling idiot. “I called you over cause it looked like you needed a seat? And if you want to sit with me, you can. I’m just working on a presentation and you won’t distract me, I promise.” There was no way you could deny the eagerness lacing his voice, so you pulled the chair opposite him across the floor and settled in. 
----
“That sounds like a date. A hangout at the very least,” your roommate asserted as she typed some code into her computer. 
“It was not a date!” You whined, glaring up at your ceiling from your spot on your twin XL. “He just saw me looking for a place to sit and offered.” She scoffed. 
“Yeah, and then he proceeded to ignore his homework to talk to you. And then he asked if you were coming back to the cafe tomorrow. And then he-” 
“Okay, I get it! But what am I supposed to do? Ask him out?” A bubble of nerves was resting heavily in your stomach at the thought. As much as you liked him, who were you to think that he wasn’t just being kind? When you voiced this concern to your roommate, she tossed her computer to the side and strode over to your bed to not-so-gently pull you out of it. Without an idea of what she was doing, you stood dumbly until she put on her slippers and drug you out of your room. 
“What are you doing? I didn’t even put my slippers on!” Your sock covered feet slid across the tile of the hallway as your roommate finally hauled you into the common room of your floor, where a few small groups had gathered to do various activities. 
“Hi everyone! My lovely roommate Y/N and I have a question for you. Do any of you know Hueningkai? He works at the cafe, really tall, music major?” A few people nodded in confusion, surely wondering why the hell one of the polite tenants of room 112 was conducting some kind of survey in the lounge. 
“Great. Has he ever shown interest in any of you? Asked you to sit with him in the cafe? Spent about an hour inquiring about your life instead of quietly working? Gave you his number?” Everyone who had previously nodded stood still, not moving an inch as they whispered between each other. “Okay, that’s all!” Your roommate left with no further elaboration as you called out a weak apology to everyone. Back in the safety of your room, you stared at her, scandalized. 
“What was that?” 
“That, my dear Y/N, was proof. He likes you!”
----
A nervousness you hadn’t felt since move in day was crawling through your body the closer the clock ticked to 9 am. Theoretically, you could just skip going to get a drink today, and therefore avoid the source of your nerves; but you knew that Hueningkai was expecting you to show. He had even sent you an eager text this morning with a series of heart wrenchingly adorable emojis. There was no way you could avoid him after that. 
Late fall weather had surely settled in today and you felt the chill settle into your bones as soon as you stepped out of the math building. For a few seconds, you stopped to watch a rough breeze rustle browning leaves across the concrete paths of campus before simply digging your hands further into your pockets. You had to power your way through this. Worse case scenario, he says no and you can never show your face on campus again. Simple. 
The door felt especially heavy under your hands as you hauled it open. The much more familiar, sparsely populated shop greeted you but only ratcheted up your nerves. With less people milling around, there was no way to delay your conversation with Hueningkai. As soon as you began to approach the counter, you could see him stumble over to the register before the other working student could even attempt to. He tried to casually lean his elbow onto the half wall to his left, but he miscalculated and ended up shyly tucking his hands into the front pocket of his apron. 
“Hi,” you swallowed the lump in your throat and hoped that he hadn’t notice the shake in your voice. The familiar beep of the card reader interrupted your worries momentarily as you heard the boy in front of you exhale a greeting. 
“Your usual?” He inquired as if he hadn’t already seen you with the drink two days in a row. Not trusting your voice, you simply nodded and waited for him to punch the order into the screen. His hand hesitated as he glanced up at you again. “You’re the only person I know still ordering cold drinks in this weather,” a teasing smile had blossomed on his pink lips and your heart jumped at the sight. 
“Well, I guess I’m just a bit stuck in my ways,” you followed him, as always, to the other side of the counter where orders were placed when finished. 
“I like that,” he commented as he grabbed a cup, “it makes my job a whole lot easier,” your eyes locked onto his hands out of instinct. Yesterday you had noticed the addition of a thin silver chain around his wrist, and you would be lying if you hadn’t spent a few minutes admiring the delicate chain contrasted against the strength of his hands. A pour of ice pulled you out of your thoughts, and you caught the back half of a question from him. 
“What’d you say?” You felt as if lava was bubbling right under the surface of your skin as you reeled in embarrassment. You couldn’t believe that you’d let yourself miss a chunk of conversation for something so stupid. 
“Oh,” he seemed equally embarrassed that you hadn’t heard him, and it hurt your heart a little to see the way his eyes shook. “I just wanted to know if you had a good night yesterday. I mean because you-you told me when we hung out that you had a lot of reading to do, and I wasn’t sure if you got it all done. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with readings that I don’t do any of them, and Taehyun yells at me for that but I just can’t seem to stop doing it.” He was rambling, and you both knew it, but you let him continue as he shyly looked away in order to pour your drink over the ice. 
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I had an okay night. My roommate was a bit much, but I love her, so it was okay.” His eyebrow quirked softly at the mention of your roommate, but he seemed afraid to broach the subject just yet. He gave your drink a good swirl after sealing on the lid and slid it over the smooth counter to your waiting hand. Unlike the first time you had met, you had already grabbed a straw from the small display and plunged it into the drink. 
Although you should have walked away, something kept you rooted to the spot, Hueningkai seemed to be under the same kind of spell as he looked over his shoulder to see that no one else had lined up to be served quite yet. 
“Hey, I was wonderi-”
“This might be weird-”
Your sentences clashed in the air as you spoke at the exact same time. Your mouth hung open like a fish out of water and Hueningkai waved his hands around wildly in your direction. “Go ahead!” He enthused, looking as if he was going to melt into the floor as a side effect of interrupting you. 
“No, I mean, you can say your thing first, if you- if you want,” you offered weakly. 
“No, it’s okay, you definitely spoke first. G-go ahead,” he nodded rapidly in order to convince you further. You raised your eyebrows in a silent question of ‘are you sure?’, to which he nodded again. 
“Okay, I was wondering if you’d like to, uhm, go out sometime? On a date?” The words felt like weights rolling off of your tongue. Hueningkai blinked once, twice, a third time before he broke into a peal of laughter. A sudden wash of panic, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over your head, filled your senses. This was it. You would have to transfer schools and change your hair color to get rid of this incident. Goodbye, life you had come to know and love. 
Hueningkai must have recognized your panic as he took a harsh breath and surged forward to reach for your arm. 
“Wait! I wasn’t laughing at you! It’s just that I was, um, also going to ask you out.” This time, a laugh bubbled up in your throat at the confession. 
“You’re right. That is pretty hilarious.” You admitted, feeling the tension around you totally dissipate. 
“Well, I think this bodes well for us. We’ve only known each other for a few days and we already have telepathy. My roommate will be so jealous. He’s been trying to meld our minds for weeks.” His personality was beginning to peak through when he spoke about his friends, you noticed. It was charming. He was charming. Not to mention, he still made the best damn iced chai latte you’d ever had. 
236 notes · View notes
lilikags · 4 years
Text
Trash Talk & ‘Evil Plans’ (Oikawa Tooru)
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I sincerely wonder if gossip might be a better word, I don’t know.
Pairing: Oikawa Tooru x female reader Type: Fluff (?) I don’t think it could be much of anything else so Words: 3542
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"(y/n)... I think we should break up."
Tears formed in your eyes. You expected this- you knew it would happen, for a long time. Yet, you were still surprised. It didn't make sense to you. It was just what emotions did, you figured.
"Yes, we should break up. Enjoy your time with your new girlfriend. Don't come back to me when she gets together with someone else though. I'm not your pillow."
You walked away, holding back your tears. Your slow gait soon turned into the fastest you could run, in the direction of your house. You didn't want to see him tomorrow, but you knew you were going to anyways at school.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
You watched him with his new girlfriend. It's not like you really wanted to- you couldn't care less. It just happened the three of you were in the same class and it was break. Meaning, there was nothing for you to do. You didn't have any inspiration to draw anything, and no one to talk to. He used to be the one you talked to during break, but you didn't want to talk to him anymore. Actually, it's been like that for a while. He's had his eye on her for a while, and you noticed that early on. Sometimes you wish you weren't observant.
But sometimes, you liked being observant. You could pick up on things others couldn't. You were in the same class as her in every class, meaning you had a lot of opportunities to observe her. You observed everyone in class, but ever since she had taken a slight interest in Mitsuo, your boyfriend at the time and the one you recently broke up with, you started to take a closer look at her. No matter how you looked at it, she was an Oikawa fangirl. He was the most popular guy in the entire school. You understood that though- he had the looks, the personality, and he even played volleyball. You've never had such an attraction to him. It looked fake to you- the happy smiles, the nice talk. You bet he thought his fangirls were annoying. What mattered to you was personality- someone who cared. You wanted someone who loved you in a special way, an you were the only one they loved that way. Maybe you set the bar too high from the romance novels you read. But your expectations were your expectations, and of course you didn't expect something like that right away, but that was what you wanted.
You thought you could have that with Mitsuo. He was smart, and he was nice to you. You got along well, and he respected your wishes. When you couldn't make it to plans you had made, he said that it was okay and that things that needed to be done had to be done. He treated you different than any other girl; he showed a lot more interest and was often protective of you. That was before he started liking her- the Oikawa fangirl. Her name was Yumi- Yoshino Yumi. Her family was much more well off than yours, and she had chill parents who let her date whoever she wanted. Their philosophy was "A textbook lesson can teach one lesson. Experiences can teach a hundred." Yumi always had a bright smile on her face. It made her look pretty and happy and always gave her positive vibes. She was new to the school, and Mitsuo liked her from the start. Apparently she had been the most popular girl in the school she previously attended, and asked Oikawa if they could date after they met a few times. He refused her like any other girl, and you assumed she was angry. The next day, she didn't show up for class. She must have cried and you figured she didn't want to come back to school with eyes red from tears. Her excuse was that she had come down with a fever.
You once saw her take out her phone during break. You didn't mean to look; she was just right next to you and you just happened to see it. What you saw was her lockscreen- and it had Oikawa on it. She and Mitsuo shared the same look when they saw each other, as if saying, "Are we meeting after school today? (y/n) won't know." Being next to her, you ended up seeing her lockscreen a lot. You noticed some things. First, they changed every week. She never repeated a picture nor did she change it mid-week. Second, they were all touched up with editing apps, having filters and other "beautifying" tools available. Third, they were all of Oikawa. No matter how you looked at it, she still liked him.
You felt pity for Mitsuo- having a girlfriend with no real interest in him. She probably got together with him because she felt he was the best option after being rejected by Oikawa. She would probably break up with him when she found someone more attractive than him.
The bell rung and everyone returned to their seats. The teacher for their next class arrived in the classroom and started the class. You went back to taking notes and doodling on the paper when she went on a tangent. She often did that and said, "Ah, I went off-topic again. Sorry about that!" Class went by pretty quickly that day, since you were just focusing on school. When the dismissal bell rung, you packed your things in your backpack and headed to your locker. Now that there wasn't much to think about, your mind drifted to Mitsuo. You missed how he acted before, how he used to walk with you to your locker after school and you used to have conversations all the way home. You absentmindedly opened your locker, with almost an emotionless face.
"(f/n)-chan!" (b/f/n) tried to jump scare you from behind. You turned around. "What's up, (b/f/n)?" you asked, unfazed. You knew all her shenanigans and tricks. After all, you two were best friends, and the two of you were very close. You had told her about what you noticed with Mitsuo and Yumi the first day you noticed something was up, and you confided in her with just about everything. "Wanna go hang out today? And it'll be at your house, because my brother has his friends over. It won't be fun with them around," she suggested, shaking her head when she mentioned her brother's friends. They were loud and annoying, and they often liked to bother (b/f/n) when they saw her. "Sure," you agreed, closing your locker's door after getting all the things you needed. You put the lock back on and the two of you headed to your house. It was quite close to the school, and you often walked home. Usually with Mitsuo, but now it was going to be (b/f/n). You felt that was better; after all, you didn't need someone who didn't care to walk you home. At least (b/f/n) cared.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
By nighttime, the two of you were done with your homework and had studied for the one upcoming test you both had. You were now just hanging out, sitting in your room and talking. The two of you sat on your bed, scrolling on your phones. She had decided to stay the night- something she did often since you were young children. Your parents considered her somewhat like their own daughter, since she was basically half living in your house and half living in hers. She even wore your clothes, and it was okay since you had been sharing clothes since you could remember. The two of you were the same size, so it didn't really make much of a difference.
"Hey, (f/n)-chan, ya up to a date?" (b/f/n) looked up from her phone. "Wha-" you looked at your best friend. "Aimi and I arranged a blind date with some guys at school and I think we hit jackpot this time!" She gave you that face, the one where she was begging for you to go and you could absolutely not refuse. "Fine..." you sighed. "It can't be that bad, after all, maybe you'll find the right guy this time," you thought, getting up to stretch. "When is it?" "Tomorrow! I don't even need to ask if you're free: you are. What else do you have to do?" she giggled. "Right. When exactly, tomorrow though? I know I'm free but I need to have an idea of when it'll be, so I can get ready," you took out your phone again, putting a reminder on your phone. "Lunch, right at noon. Don't you forget!" "I have a reminder right here- I won't forget," you put down your phone and plugged it in to charge it and pulled the covers over you. "Night, I'm tired now." "Night! Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite!" You  laughed at (b/f/n). It was a childish thing to say, so like her, "Yes, yes."
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
"(y/n)~ Wake up~" you heard (b/f/n) say in you ear as she pulled the blanket off of you. "Argh, stop, I'm still sleeping," you turned back around. "You're going to wake up in two seconds," she declared. "1! 2!" As she counted to two, she pulled the blanket off again, this time making it out of your reach. You frantically reached for the blanket, waking yourself up in annoyance. "You got me there," you said, getting up and rubbing your eyes. You looked at the clock. It was 10:24 AM. "Let's go get ready! The blind date's gonna be soon~" (b/f/n) hopped over to the kitchen to find your mom cooking breakfast. (b/f/n) got even more excited when she saw the waffles being made and immediately grabbed a plate and the whipped cream from the fridge. She sat down on the island table, sitting at a place she could easily see the waffles being made.
You still sat on your bed, stretching. You definitely didn't feel like going out today, not one bit. On days like these, Mitsuo would come over and the two of you would just talk all day, sitting on your bed in your room. You would talk about anything, from what you did in the morning to a huge event that was happening. It was easy to talk to him, easy to tell him all your worries, easy to listen to him. Maybe that's what love did.
Nonetheless, you had to get up. You promised (b/f/n) you would go, and you weren't going to break that promise and trust you had built up over your whole life. She was a sensitive person, and you would rather deal with some annoying people then lose her. So, you went to get ready. You headed over to the bathroom and turned on the shower, so that you could get your clothes while the water warms up. You then walked back into your room and over to your closet, picking out a cute outfit to wear. It was warm today, so you decided a t-shirt and denim shorts would do. You picked out a simple white t-shirt with a cute duck drawn on it and a pair of shorts made from ripped denim. You spotted a light jacket with a flower design made of almost see-through fabric you recently bought and figured it would be a good time to wear it.
You went back to your bathroom and lay the clothes onto a dry part of the countertop by the sink and felt the water from the shower with your hand to see if it was warm yet. Drying off your hand with your pajamas, you took them off and headed into the shower. Meanwhile, when you were in the shower, (b/f/n) started talking to your mom while she was making the waffles. You hadn't told your mom yet about the breakup with Mitsuo, and you planned on telling her eventually, when she noticed something. (b/f/n), being (b/f/n), just had to go tell your mom about it. "Did you notice something about (y/n) today?" (b/f/n) got up to take a closer look at the waffles. "She does seem a bit down, but it could be due to many things. I'm sure it'll be over soon," your mom replied, focusing on the waffles. "Well, actually, she broke up with Mitsuo. More like Mitsuo broke up with (y/n), but nonetheless they broke up." Your mom stopped what she was doing for a second, "Huh? But I thought they were doing so well!"
When you were done with your shower, you turned off the water and grabbed your towel, which had your name on it. You mom thought it was a good idea to have everyone's names embroidered on their towels, and she had that done for New Years a few years back. Once dried, you quickly put on your clothes and brushed your hair, fixing it in a (hairstyle). You then put on some light makeup and headed out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, smelling the aroma of fresh waffles. You heard the name Mitsuo as you walked in and stopped before they could see you, listening in a bit on their conversation. "(b/f/n), seriously? I know you're the type to do that, but still, ugh," you thought to yourself. After a few minutes of listening in on the conversation, you decided to come out, hungry. You didn't eat that much last night, and waffles were delicious. You acted as if you didn't hear anything and got a plate of waffles for yourself, until your mom said, "(y/n), you broke up with Mitsuo?" "Yeah, we can talk about it later," you said, starting to eat your waffle at a faster pace.
You went back to the bathroom to brush your teeth, thinking about what you were going to say to your mom about Mitsuo. You'd known about this for a long time, yet you hadn't thought about what you were to say to your mom about what happened. Were you going to tell her the truth? It seemed like a favorable option, until you realized she'd make a big deal about it. You didn't want that; it would make it seem you were still hung up about that, and that was one of the last things you needed at the moment.
You headed back to your room to wait for (b/f/n) as she got ready. It always took her just about forever to get ready, especially for an occasion as big as this, so you laid in bed, playing games on your phone. They weren't exactly engaging, you would say, but they were definitely intriguing and good time passers. "Hey (y/n), Aimi can't make it to the blind date, and one of the guys too. Apparently her mom is dragging her to some class because she didn't get a good grade. Aimi, don't die! The guy that isn't coming is in the soccer club and there was an emergency meeting. So, it's just the two of us and the other two guys. This'll be interesting!" (b/f/n) said from the bathroom as she was fixing her makeup. You nodded in response, but internally, you were freaking out. Aimi was always good at making things less awkward for you, gladly taking the attention you didn't want in socially awkward situations. She was your saving grace in these kinds of situations, and you didn't know what to do without her.
After what felt like forever, (b/f/n) finally finished her makeup and got out of the bathroom. You stopped playing the game you were playing and got up from your bed. You walked over to the front door, slipping on your shoes and started heading your way to the bus station. The cafe Aimi had the arranged the blind date at wasn't far, but it was much quicker to get there by bus. After all, (b/f/n) took forever to do everything.
It wasn't long until you arrived at the cafe, with a wooden and plant themed aesthetic. There was a vine wall, which you thought was neat and the colors matched well.  A lot of wood was used throughout the cafe, but it all matched and didn't feel repetitive due to the different types wood used. The two of you sat down at a table Aimi reserved and waited for the guys.
The two of you didn't wait long before one of the guys showed up, and (b/f/n) instantly started talking to him. You knew who he was- he was on the basketball team and was pretty popular among the girls. Aimi had liked him for a long time, no wonder she was eager to talk to him. The two, being pretty similar, hit it off pretty quickly, leaving you to sip your (drink) by yourself while you waited for the other guy. You started to think he wouldn't come, and that was alright with you since you weren't thinking of dating someone yet.
After a while, and you had almost completely forgotten about the mysterious guy who wouldn't show up, until someone in a volleyball uniform showed up. He seemed tired, though he didn't how it much. He smiled and looked as if he was enjoying the attention given to him by both (b/f/n) and her partner. You felt you shouldn't care less, but you couldn't help but want to get out of there already. You knew who it was- Oikawa Tooru- and you already didn't want to talk to him. You were already in a bad mood and someone with a personality like his did not seem like a good combination to you.
"Hey, you're pretty cute. You're (y/n), right? I think I've seen you in the hallways before," he started. "Yeah," you put down your phone and looked at him with the most "can I go home, this is the most boring thing ever and I couldn't care less" face. "You know, you were half an hour late. Shouldn't you have learned manners?" "I did learn manners! I was just busy and forgot to notify Aimi about it." He then struck back,  "Oh, I heard you broke up with your boyfriend recently. Mitsuo, was it?" he asked, ordering a drink of his own. Your mood went even more south, when he asked that. That was your business, what right did he have to ask about it? "Yeah. He cheated on me with one of your fangirls." "Oh wow." "That's all you have to say?" "Well, it's not like I'm in control of my fandom." "Yeah, but you have the power to influence them into not doing rude things, like interfering with other people's business." "You're saying that I should have stopped that girl from going to Mitsuo?! That makes no sense." "You could have been nice and tried." "It's literally that witch who started it. She goes around asking certain guys out one after another and if she gets rejected, she goes to the next one. She did that to me too. She's so annoying, honestly." "Yeah. Honestly, I feel pity for her. She doesn't have anyone, so she just goes around searching for someone until she gets somebody. I bet she doesn't even like Mitsuo." "The way she acts, I bet she's just using them, till she can find a guy she likes." "Exactly! Honestly, I want to see her face when she realizes that people don't like her. Honestly." "That's a genius idea."
The two of you then started with the prank planning, putting whatever ideas out there and concocting a vicious plan to expose her. On the other hand, (b/f/n) and her date were having a pleasant conversation. They talked about a number of things, mostly funny stories. You didn't even realize she told him about that time you messed up cracking an egg while saying you were better than her at cooking.
Before you knew it, you had spent hours talking to him, forming a plan to expose this entitled brat and see the face the two of you wanted to see. It was around 3 when the other guy had to leave for practice with his team, and (b/f/n) exchanged contact info with him and waved him goodbye. With a smile on her face, she looked towards the two of you. Both you and Oikawa wore grins that signaled trouble, and (b/f/n) wondered what happened between the two of you. She nudged you that the other guy had left and she was waiting, and it so happened that the two of you were wrapping up your brilliant plans.
"Hey, maybe we should exchange phone numbers so we can finish up our plans? They're gonna be great." you said to him, standing up. "Yes, that would be awesome," he took out his phone as you took out yours.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
"Hey, (y/n), I wonder what you two were talking about. The two of you looked like you were evil villains in a movie planning something," (b/f/n) said to you on your way home. "Oh, you'll see, (b/f/n). It'll be glorious." you smiled.
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˚₊·͟͟͟͟͟͟͞͞͞͞͞͞➳❥ ꒰ ⌨ ✰ Lili ⁱˢ ᵗʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ··· ꒱ | ೃ࿔₊•
A/N: Hey! Sorry this took a whole month to write, school started and everything's been a mess. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this! Question: did it feel like it dragged or was it good?
Also, this is dedicated to my friend Hyacinth :3 (and tagging @kisasaysmuah because (yes this is the reason))
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Image credits: Daan Evers on Unsplash
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2. The Stars Are Only the Beginning
Everything was beautiful! She saw things that she hadn’t seen before, things that she believed to be long gone, like fruit trees and people with pets. On the bus ride to the Academy, she counted 57 people with pets! They had little animals in their bag, or bigger ones, on a leash. The air smelled cleaner and there were fountains lining the school grounds. She was reminded of an old book where a boy goes to magic school for the first time. This. Was. Like. Magic. 
The world that Nana had known wasn’t dead. She was just not able to be a part of it anymore… And now, Shani would be! She would be able to live out her Nana’s dreams. That’s what she thought. The childlike wonder burning bright inside of her for the first time in real life.
One of the first things that happened upon leaving the bus was decontamination. The students went into a chamber that served as a huge shower, placing their bags on a conveyor belt to be scanned, searched, and disinfected. After the showers, they were given uniforms to put on and handed the rest of their uniforms. They were taken to treatment, where they were tested for diseases, lice, etc. 
“You’ll have to get rid of your hair,” the lady told Shani.
“Oh no! Do I have lice?” She panicked. She had heard about lice before, but never had it, as far as she knew.
“It’s too much,” the woman said.
“I can handle it,” Shani promised her. She had never cut her hair before, ever. The woman informed her that she had to get on that right away because photos for IDs were next and her hair was against protocol.  Shani tried to recall being informed of what protocol for hair was. She didn’t remember seeing that in any manual, but she had not yet accessed the Student Handbook, as it was an online handbook, and she wasn’t inside of the school yet to have access to online resources. She looked around. Other kids had either straight hair or tamed their curls into flat styles that only betrayed their texture in certain areas and with certain eyes. 
She watched a boy with pretty well done locs cry silently as his head was shaven. There was no way! Most of Nanefua’s stories happened during the lengthy process of maintaining Shani’s hair, to the point where Shani tended to style her hair as she read a book, reminiscing of that feeling. 
For the moment, she got her bags back and rushed as quickly as she could to put her hair into two french braids. It was puffy at the edges, but the lady shrugged her shoulders and simply reminded her that if she looked like she wasn’t at her best, they would respect her less every time they looked at her files. Panicked she looked at the clippers, considering it - though years later she would never admit so. One of the other girls tapped her on the shoulder and handed her something. Shani read the container: edge control. The girl mouthed to her, with only a muffled sound coming out of her lips, “This will help in a pinch, but you really should get someone to put it into a protective style for the semester.” 
Shani spent the next few minutes smoothing her edges and touching them up with the toothbrush she packed for her hair, then gave it back to the girl, signing “Thank you,” to her. 
The girl seemed surprised, but signed back “You’re welcome.”
They parted ways as Shani headed for the ID section. Her photo was taken and uploaded. Her stats were programmed into a brass plated electronic cuff, which was then placed around her arm and secured. She looked down at it and several lights were flickering, a few whirring sounds were made and finally it tightened around her arm and announced, “System activated.” 
The woman explained to her the meanings of the lights and sounds, “Whenever everything is paid up, all of the lights are gold. Whenever you need to pay, the segment that needs payment will light up green until it's paid. If you get behind a payment, it will light up red, and your academic experience may be interrupted.” She wore a stern face as she said, “And failure to pay, even upon removal from the program could result in sentencing.” The woman’s smile returned and she tacked on, “Between you and me, sometimes, you can pay through extra credit work and extracurricular interests that lead to revenue.” She winked. Shani nodded. “Perfect attendance also helps, and is one of the biggest determining factors in being in the Gold League.”
“What’s the Gold League?” Shani asked, already determined that whatever it was, she was going to do it. But, the woman had other students to prep and she was sure that it was in the Handbook.
Meanwhile, the deaf girl wasn’t getting an arm cuff. Instead she held her wrist forward and they scanned a chip inside of her forearm. “Welcome back, Miss Charming. How was your trip?” The person asked, but Miss Charming wasn't looking at her and didn’t immediately answer. However, a holographic interpreter appeared from her bracelet and signed the words. 
“Wonderful, thank you,” the girl finally answered. 
Shani noticed, only then, that though the girl had on the same royal blue color as the rest of the students, she wasn’t wearing one of the uniforms that they had been given. As they headed for orientation, Shani wondered where she got her outfit and if it was within regulations for the uniforms. It was a blazer and a pleated skirt, with a necktie and a red ribbon on her left lapel. On the right were a slew of pins, and ribbons, and she wore a gold badge on her coat.
She awkwardly smiled and signed to Shani, “I’m in the elite program.”
“I didn’t know that they let people into the elite program with…” Shani froze, unsure of what the correct word to use here was and feared she had already said too much to backtrack.
The girl looked upset, but she managed a smile as she passionately let her know, “I can do anything that I set my mind to do! Nice to meet you.” She hurried off to two other girls who were in a similar attire as hers - the royal blue of the Academy, but not the exact uniform that Shani and the others had on. She announced, in that muffled tone, “I am approaching!” And one of the girls (a brunette with short hair) gasped and turned to hug her. The other (a blond with long hair in a braid like Rapunzel) was smiling. She had already noticed her come up. They were signing and the one that Shani had spoken to, the Black one… She couldn’t tell if all three were deaf or not, was talking for both her and the other girl. Shani watched them longer than she intended - until they were out of sight, then she realized that she had to rush to orientation!
Shani watched as the board addressed the students. Well, the board was seated on a panel and a spokeswoman addressed the students. She noticed one of the board members in particular, who was as dark skinned as she was, with hair as coiled, though her hair was tied up in an intricate style, much like Nana might have done, and adorned with gold embellishments. 
The board was dressed in two golds. Genuine, authentic gold that Shani had only ever heard of in books, and then the gold that she knew of, but hadn’t really seen much of, now that she thought about it. But, there, she saw full outfits of it. A bright tone in super expensive seeming professional wear, accented by jewelry. The school board was the most regal thing she had ever seen in real life. She read that it was “the luxurious Spanish yellow hue (that the Academy bought rights to) which could only be purchased through the Academy, and only worn by members of the board and members of the Gold League.
“I have to get into that.” She read the requirements. All A’s. Perfect attendance. Good citizenship, as determined by the board. Superior presentation, as determined by the board… She… did not know how to make notes on her new device… yet. So, she broke open her paper notebook, and scribbled in red: Goals 1. Gold League. 2. Find paper version of handbook. 3. Research the history of this Spanish yellow hue. 4. Find out that deaf girl’s name and where she gets edge control…
After orientation, a member of faculty dismissed the kids to find their dormitories and let them know the bell schedule for the following day. “Is there a map?” Shani asked a boy seated next to her. He turned up his nose and kept going. She sighed and found staff. “Hi. Is there a map?” 
“There’s GPS in your device,” she said, smiling and went on with her business, not hearing Shani say that she didn’t know how to use or find the GPS in her device.
Her chest felt… pained? Excited? Scared? Restricted. Her chest felt tight. Her breathing was difficult. She wanted to scream and insist that someone help her find the dorms. She wanted to. But, you can’t do things like that in real life. She tried not to cry, though she was very frustrated, and she reminded herself that you need to have a plan and a path before moving forward. She moved against the wall of the auditorium and sat on the floor. She scribbled: How to Use My Device at the top of the page and doodled a happy ladybug on a flower. She studied the device for hours before someone came up to her, after everything was cleared out and nobody else was supposed to be in here. 
“Girl?” They said and used a scan gun to pull up the info from her arm cuff, “What are you doing?”
She looked up and realized that he was talking to her. He had on a gray uniform, so she knew that he wasn’t faculty. They wore a Midnight Blue attire. This was a gray uniform like people she knew from home. He probably lived in the Outskirts and worked in the city. She hoped that her being here wouldn’t get him into any trouble! Mama told her that Outskirters could get into trouble on a job for just about anything. “I’m sorry! I hope I don’t get you into trouble. I didn’t know how to find my dorms and there was nobody to help me, so I was just here, teaching myself how to help me…” 
She looked embarrassed as she put the device away into her issued backpack. “I was taking notes of the instructions of how to use my device, and drawing a map on paper, in case I couldn’t get the device to work, even with my notes…”
The man was sympathetic. “Listen, Miss Moore…”
“That’s not my last name!” She panicked, “They must have put the wrong information into the system for me!!” 
“No. They just… rebranded you. There’s… Nobody of stature with your last name, as it appears on your birth records, so they granted you a more acceptable name, for room to grow.”
“They… Took my last name away?”
“It’s in the school system. It just won’t appear on any of your achievements.”
“But…”
“As I was saying, we need to get you to your dorms! It’s your first day and we don’t want you to get in trouble for wandering the halls unauthorized. Pop out that map and lets see if it gets you where you need to go, Miss Moore.”
“I don’t like that name. Can you just call me by my first name?” She asked, looking at the map, “Or did they change that too?”
“Is it Shani?”
“That’s my middle name.”
“The middle name is listed as your first name, now.” She felt that tightness in her chest again. “Listen. When I was your age, I couldn’t DREAM of getting into school. You made it here and with hard work, you’ll probably make it to a seat at the table. When you get there, you can be whoever you say you are.”
“I am who I say I am, right now!”
“As long as you know it, nobody can take that away. Even if they’re calling you something else.”
Shani laughed to herself… That’s not REALLY how the conversation went. That’s how it would have went if she had been the adult. What really happened was he was very short with her. 
“Look. Your name is Shani Moore and you need to get to the dorm, so hurry up, before both of us lose this!” She shuffled, trying to keep up with his long strides and consult her map and see through tears burning in her eyes and the smears they made on her recently drawn map. When she got to the dorms, it was spacious, but seemed cramped, because all of the space was being used. There were rows of loft beds with work spaces beneath them, and a wardrobe beneath the stairs. All of the other girls were comfortably in their issued pajamas and staring at her in disbelief. 
“You missed showers,” one girl said and everybody started laughing. Why? That shit wasn’t even funny, even by her 10 year old standards. She sat at the desk and unloaded her device. She would learn this stupid thing if it took her the rest of the night! And since there was no physical book about it, it nearly did. That was her first day of school. 
But, that wasn’t the version that she gave to incoming kids. She gave the story that felt good. She gave the story that inspired hope. 
Luna Charming passed by her, SO PRETTY in her royal blue pantsuit with a half pony and a red bow. She signed to her friend, “Working for free AGAIN?” 
Shani shrugged her shoulders and signed back, “SOMEBODY’S got to help these kids!” 
Shani usually went to the auditorium for orientation, seeing if she saw lost looking kids to assist and guide to where they needed to go. Most of them, she never saw again, but she felt better than she did that first day and she hoped that they entered their academic careers feeling better than SHE had. She fell in step with Luna and the two signed to each other as they walked, then parted ways whenever they got to Shani’s dormitory. Luna’s quarters were in the “alter ability” wing. 
Luna, being deaf, although she was in the elite program, did not share chambers with other students in the program. She shared chambers with other students who lived with various conditions, but were smart enough or rich enough to gain their way into this school. Luna was both. 
She had been purchased as a dependent when she was a toddler through an agency that paid poor parents for their children and sold them to rich people. It wasn’t considered an adoption, because the process was far less formal and not at all scrutinizing. But, Luna had been purchased by a wealthy couple that was into adoption for their charity phase, but didn’t feel like the hassle of the process. She was 2. She ONLY knew the Charmings as her parents and wouldn’t have never known about the way she came to be theirs if mean rich people didn’t have kids her age. She found out when she was 5. In their guilt over her upset, the Charmings spoiled Luna, a little more than their other children (who they collected in the same manner). They were also “into” disability awareness those years. They bought Luna and two of her sisters, one who didn’t talk (Taraleigh) and the other blind (Lorilei), and to this very day, there is a baby photo of the three of them, from a set in which they were See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil…
The older Luna got, the more she hated that thing. It was massive, and hanging in the parlor of her parents’ mansion. Yet, despite being less than civil people in certain aspects of humanity, they were decent parents. 
Of course, Luna knew that she thought this perhaps because she was the favorite of the three. They were only at the academy because she was, and they weren’t in the elite program, so even though Luna was, she bunked with them, instead. A waste. That was what Luna had told Shani the headmaster said of her intelligence whenever she thought that she wasn’t paying attention enough to read his lips. “A waste of intelligence when she’s like this.”
“I have other attributes,” Luna had said, surprising him. He even had her tested again to see if she could hear and was for whatever reason lying. When he was satisfied that her records were in order, he told her that her parents had given her leeway to put herself on record with a first name of her choice. (They had the money for it, you see, and the successful last name to boot.) “Luna,” the 6 year old said, “I’m going to be an astronaut.” She knew that face. You poor child. He must have been thinking. She ignored it and pressed forward, officially in the Academy records as Luna Charming. 
“Of course you are!” He cheered. Even not being able to hear his patronizing, she knew it was there. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she could tell something was off. It was probably his insincere smile, or the thing that she had seen him mumble before. “All of the payments for your entry into the elite program on an astronaut’s trajectory is in the system and your personal interpreter will be arriving with all of your special needs materials.” She nodded. She didn’t necessarily need an interpreter, but she knew that the state of the art materials she would bring along would be very useful. Years later, Luna was above and beyond her… well… it would be ridiculous to call them peers. 
Nobody was in her league. She had worked with the intent to be the first 14 year old deaf astronaut. She had gotten the credits to receive credentials. On. Record. She met her goal. But, she was informed that she would definitely have to finish several other certifications, and was recommended another trajectory… to TEACH others. A teacher? Sure… privatized schooling was lucrative and her field of study would be booming… but that wasn’t what she wanted and she felt that if she was only a little closer to their normal, they wouldn’t have even suggested it. 
Both of her sisters were back in a special needs school by the time she was 14. They not only didn’t cut it at the Academy, but even being rich kids, they always felt like everyone was trying to make it harder on them there. Sure they were. Luna had peeped that by the time she was 8. Their parents were willing to pay whatever it took to make sure that their children were the best. Teachers could say that Lorilei needed a new device that was patent pending to access computer systems in a way that blind children never have before! And the Charmings were going to pay for it. They had paid for numerous surgeries to help Taraleigh to be able to speak, even experimental transplants, until the moment where she forgoed the desire and settled uponed a first edition customized speech box that allegedly would give her the voice she would have had, had she had one.
“You’re different, Beth. You’re gonna reach those stars” the voice had said to her when she hugged her sisters goodbye. 
“The stars are only the beginning,” she told them. That became her mantra. 
Now, she was opening her video mail to see Shani excited to finally get her Gold League badge. Luna sent her a congratulatory gift basket with some of her needs in it - edge control, plantation credits, and a few Spanish yellow accessories to start off the freshman year. 
With her sisters gone, Luna didn’t even leave the old quarters. She didn’t feel like having to get used to new neighbors and stuff and at least she had some memories here. But, she had ALWAYS had sisters, and now she was on her own in a wholly different way than whenever she had to go to class. They weren’t there when she got back.
She looked at a notification blinking on her screen. A message from Mom. “Annabeth, are you going to need us to pay for the elite quarters? We have to know by the end of the day.”
“No Mommy,” she said and the message was sent. At least she still had Shani.
A/N: I kinda hate how I jumped around in this one and might wind up tweaking it later on. It didn’t seem to transition seamlessly for me. Anyways, as much as i have ideas, I’ll go ahead and put them out there. Thanks for reading!
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desdemonafictional · 4 years
Text
Sunstorm
We’re currently working on a pretty long fic but I REALLY want to show you this part because I’ve been holding on to it since like March
Banners from the Turrets AU, set after Apotheosis
--
Rung peered through the viewing window, a long pane of reinforced crystal with enough radiation shielding to make the room beyond look fuzzy and gossamer. It was a shame, then, that the vision beyond was no image of gods and glory out of a golden age light sculpture. It was only a young jet-engine in an otherwise empty room, in that scrawny stage as his last round of frame growth endeavored to pad his armor out around his protoform.
“You can’t seriously mean to keep him in there,” Rung said, taking in the absolute lack of enrichment material. Not even a pad to doodle on, honestly. “He’s been picking at his paint, look there, you can see he’s scratched off a whole section over his thruster. This is no place for a growing mechanism.”
“We gave him all his post-natal downloads,” one of the doctors said, resentfully. “He’s got plenty of material to review if he wants.”
The sparklings were coming out of the new hotspot at whatever rate they were growing, which was normal. This one was from an earlier protoform harvest, but not long ago, judging by his armor growth. He would have been moved through the nursery into the creche by now, normally, but...
“Cybertronians are intensely social beings, Kaput,” Rung said, pressing his palm to the window. “Maybe a war-hardened soldier with a lifetime of experience behind him can handle days of unbroken isolation, but look at that bot, doctor. He’s barely grown in his cladding. He’s been out of the dirt for what, a week?”
The golden seeker looked up, optics zeroing in on Rung’s palm at the window pane, and then his wings started to vibrate. His biolights swelled with so much light that just imagining their heat output was enough to make Rung wince. And then the mech started to cry.
Rung turned a hard look on Kaput. The sparkologist scowled and shuffled, avoiding Rung’s eye. The rest of the attendant nurses backed up and found other things to look at.
It must be difficult for them, caught between their immediate supervisor and--for all intents and purposes--God. Rung frowned at the new-build, who had begun to emit waves of radiation on a near visible spectrum.
Glit, off to the side of the gaggle, made a polite little noise. Rung turned with some relief to the beastformer, who has always been one of the more communicative members of Rung’s wartime staff. A familiar face was helpful. Facilities where Rung was not in charge had become unexpectedly difficult for him to navigate, over the years.
“The thing is,” Glit said, “we can’t let him out. He’s too dangerous. If he starts to get worked up like that around anyone who isn’t designed for long term space exposure, he’ll melt the circuitry right out of them. He’s a walking timebomb. And we don’t have any shuttles cross-trained as medics, so I can’t even get anyone in there to examine him.”
“Another belated gift of functionism,” Rung murmured. They shared a moment of pained resignation, two off-mode medics more than fully aware of how little they’d ever had to work with.
“So we thought,” Kaput cut into the moment, “maybe you could go in there. Bring us back some close readings. You were a medic during the war, right?”
Rung turned on him. “You want me to go in there?” he rapped the window with a knuckle. “Is this some sort of very polite assassination attempt? Doctor, I’m certainly not shielded for interstellar flight.”
“Well no,” Kaput said. “But you, ah, you are God aren’t you? You’re immortal, basically. Everyone’s heard about how you grew back half your head after that terrorist blew it off.”
Rung pushed his glasses up and rubbed his eyes. This was the kind of manner the medical practice had come out of the war with. Truly disheartening.
Rung was lost on how to deal with the whole divinity problem, such as it was. In fact he was fairly sure he could be killed--an impressive healing factor was no guarantee of true immortality--but would letting people make their own assumptions about it discourage other trigger-happy atheists with a bone to pick? Or would it only tempt hotheads to try their luck? He didn’t know, he couldn’t say, and meanwhile Starscream was halfway to reinstating a theocracy on his behalf.
He looked at the hiccoughing newframe in the isolation room, radiation pouring off him, and thought about the medical examination of his own scheduled for later that day. If he slagged anything, surely Wheeljack would notice and address it before it became too dire.
“Alright,” he said, pulling off his glasses with their delicate mechanisms, “I’ll go.”
In the next several minutes Rung experienced deep space preparations in amazingly short order. Before he could think twice, he was sprayed down with an aerosol protective coating, bagged into some kind of hazmat suit, and shoved through the thick lead door into the room beyond.
For a moment Rung worried that the jet was going to rush the door, and given his size--easily as tall and heavy as Starscream’s earlier war frames--but then he fell back, curling into himself, as the door closed behind Rung. The whole place smelled faintly of singed circuitry.
Rung held out his opened palms. “Hello,” he said. “My name is Rung. I’m here to help you.”
The jet regarded him with a helpless expression. “My name’s Sunstorm,” he said.
“That’s a lovely name,” Rung said, and meant it. “My very good friend is a seeker, like you. I know a little about jet engine frame types. Would you let me take a look at you?”
“Are you going to jab me with something?” the jet said, wings flaring as if to make himself look bigger. “They were jabbing me with things and then I started to burn them, so they put me in here. I finished my testing files. I didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t have to stick things in me.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Rung said, “they weren’t punishing you. They were just trying to get your levels, for medical reasons.”
“I passed all the cultural data tests,” Sunstorm insisted. “I even passed the test on historical figures, and some of those classical composers had really confusing names!”
There was a growing physical discomfort inside of Rung’s frame, hot and staticy. He winced, and tried to ignore the smell of charred circuitry inside his olfactory receptors. He took another step closer, palms out, trying to seem small and harmless. “Those can be confusing, can’t they? The names? Some of them are written in old Cybertronian, and I bet you don’t have the language database for that yet, do you?”
“No,” Sunstorm said, and wiped some fluid from his face. “It’s a different language?”
“A different writing system,” Rung said. “Well, a different form of the same language too, but if you knew how to pronounce the glyphs, it would still make the same sounds. But don’t worry about that right now. Did they give you anything about more recent history? The last couple thousand years, maybe?”
Sunstorm shook his head.
“Okay,” Rung said. “That’s okay. Some of the medics haven’t dealt with young people in a long, long time, you see? So they don’t remember that sometimes, it can be scary when you don’t know what’s going on. It’s okay to be confused.”
“You’re not angry?” Sunstorm said.
“Of course I’m not angry,” Rung said. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Everyone was really mad before,” Sunstorm said. “They locked me in here and they won’t let me out.”
“I’m sorry it’s been a stressful first week on the planet,” Rung said. His more delicate components were starting to sizzle faintly. “I’d like to get you out of here as soon as we safely can. Will you come down here? I’d like to take a look at you.”
Rung reached up. Sunstorm glanced nervously at the viewing window.
“What are you worried about?” Rung asked.
Sunstorm curled back from him. “When I touch people, they scream. And the nurses grab me and drag me around. I don’t want them to come in.”
“It’s okay,” Rung said again. “They sent me in here to get readings, no one will be mad at you for touching me. Come on, kneel down.”
“I’m sure you’re not doing it on purpose, but do you feel that difference in the air now?” Rung asked. “Do you feel how hot it is? Can you feel something happening inside you that’s different from how you were a few minutes ago?”
Sunstorm closed his hand around one broad shoulder. His mouth wobbled.
“That’s radioactivity,” Rung explained. “There’s something inside of you generating these radioactive waves, and it’s very dangerous to the rest of us. They can’t let you out until they know how to stop people from getting hurt by it.”
Sunstorm’s face screwed up in acute distress, his fingers squeezing his shoulder reflexively. “You mean I’m hurting you? Right now?”
“Shh, sweetie, it’s okay, don’t worry about me.”
“But I’m hurting you!”
“It’s alright, I’ll be alright,” Rung said. He took Sunstorm’s face in his hands and gently pulled it into the crook of his shoulder. The bagging that Glit’s nurses had wrapped him in immediately melted open, exposing his shoulder to the hot jab of Sunstorm’s nose. “Relax your wings, sweetie. That’s good. There you go. Now open up your vents. Don’t worry about me, just try to get your frame to cool down.”
Slowly, as Rung walked him through the venting exercises he had taught to countless patients before, Sunstorm began to cool off. First it was just the heat of his out-vents, but then it was a gradual cooling in the air around them, and then the low grade itch of radiation dying away. A little at a time, Rung’s delicate circuitry stopped sizzling under the stress. 
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